Comments on: Who are these %$#@! guys?

By: egrissom

egrissom — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:00:02 +0000

If I have to pick, I’d say Halladay and Oswalt both pitch very well and the Phils win the series. Short series is scary, though, and it’s not a fluke that the Reds scored more runs than the Phillies did this season. They can hit. Even with Halladay/Oswalt/Hamels going, I don’t think the Phils are going to shut down Votto and Bruce worries me as well as hot as he has been. Everyone sees an advantage for the Phils and they have one in the rotation, but their bullpen is not very good. I think the Phils are going to need to go into the late innings with a pretty big lead for anyone to be comfortable. I think we might see a whole lot of Madson. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go more than an inning in a game given how spread out the games are.

Looks like Dobbs is on the roster and the Phils will go with ten pitchers.

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 12:06:34 +0000

Will Doc be Doc? Will Votto disappear? Will Howard disappear? Are the Reds too young to do this?

By: DaMannse

DaMannse — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 01:55:07 +0000

I am feeling good about our pitching against the Reds. For me, I think that will not be the crucial issue. I still think that if the Phillies bats are missing, THAT is when we will have trouble. If both our bats and our pitching are on, we win.

By: egrissom

egrissom — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 16:11:51 +0000

I think the Phils are going to win the series, too. I feel good about the chances for Halladay/Oswalt/Hamels also. I don’t think we should feel too comfortable about it, though. It’s a long, long season and it’s not a coincidence how many runs the Reds scored.

Very interesting stuff on Bruce. The numbers sure back you up — Bruce hit 333/429/1.083 against lefties in August and 300/417/600 against them since the start of September. He hit ten home runs against lefties on the year and six of them came in August. That will help your numbers. He was also good against them in June, posting a 413/438/621 line against them. Overall for the year, though, the difference is huge. Bruce came into August hitting 248/319/380 against lefties for the season and has hit 324/425/941 (!) against them since the start of August.

I’m still not sure who I’m hoping for to pitch to Bruce in a key situation. I think it still might make sense to use Madson against him if you can with the game on the line. I don’t feel the same way about Votto. I think even with everyone available, rested and healthy, I’d still rather have Romero face Votto. Either way, I don’t think the Phillies are going to have the luxury of saving Madson to pitch to Bruce.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:47:10 +0000

Greg, if it makes you feel better, I was confident in 2008. It felt like a team built for playoff series, with no glaring weaknesses, and the “just happy to be here” phase having passed in 2007. The script didn’t play out as planned – Cole Hamels his rotation-mates morphed into Jesus and his disciples while the offense napped – but the result was expected.

For this year, I like our chances against the Reds. I like our chances against the Braves, too.. but the Giants worry me, because they can win 1-0 games with the best of them.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:36:58 +0000

Hello, long time lurker and Phils backer stuck 2/3 of the year in southwest Ohio so I’ve seen a ton of the Reds this season. Just wanted to say that stats don’t tell the story with Jay Bruce. He had an average first half, was so horrid at the plate in July many thought he would get AAA’d for a wakeup call. Only in late August and September has be been completely on fire — and hitting lefties. Because of his ridiculous final month, it looks like he can hit lefties a lot better than he can. He’s still too prone to the strikeout and can get tied in knots by LHP. I am afraid of Bruce right now because he’s still so hot — not because he necessarily hits LHP well all the sudden.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:36:18 +0000

I still feel pretty confident with H20 to deal with these guys. It may be overconfidence, but whatever. It is somewhat worrisome for me that I’ve never been confident for a post-season series before this one, and the team has done pretty well the last 2 years. Anything less than the World Series this year with this team (and the rest of the NL looking like it does) will be a big disappointment.

Hamels will probably lose 1-0 somehow, so the Phils over the Reds in 4.