louise bourgeois dead at 98

I had to turn the Phillies off in the second inning, after they hit into the second of two inning-ending double plays. Much later when I checked the score online, I read that Louise Bourgeois had died, at age 98, two days after suffering a heart attack in her Manhattan home. Another luminary gone.

Not much to say about the Phillies game. After the offense put on a small spurt to get back into it, the bullpen blew up and the Braves won going away. Their 9-3 victory puts them in first place in the East, while the Phillies sink like stones.

In the past eight games, Utley, Howard, and Werth are hitting a combined .133. Is that even possible? Joe Blanton, meanwhile, has not been much good since coming off the DL. A combination of nagging, serial injuries and down years may make this a lost seasons. Hard to believe, Harry.

today's line-up

The grounds crew busy chalking the lines before a game in Reading.

Today's line-up down in Atlanta: Gload, Dobbs, Utley, Howard, Victorino, Ibanez, Ruiz, Valdez, and Blanton. That will make your head spin.

In a move that smacks of ground hog day, Brad Lidge was activated from the DL earlier today. To make room for him on the roster, Nelson Figueroa was designated for assignment. His time with the Phillies is likely over.

back to ugly reality

Well, that didn't last long. Yesterday's gem perhaps pointed up that with this offense the pitchers have got to be perfect. Five shutouts in the past eight games; 19 runs scored in the past 12 games; a .153 average with runners in scoring position. This offense stinks. Rollins on the DL, Polanco hurting, Utley slumping, Howard hitting singles, Werth looking worthless (four ugly, ugly strikeouts today), Ibanez flailing, Victorino hacking, Ruiz out of sorts, and nobody walking. As for home runs? A distant memory, much like the running game and comeback wins. What is going on with this team? They are better than this but if this is the knuckleball effect, what is going to happen in June, when the Phillies always swoon?

Jamie Moyer was the hard-luck loser today. Anibal Sanchez got the 1-0 win. The Phillies were punchless. Again.

27 up + 27 down = perfect halladay

May weekend
Halladay pitching---
Perfection

The 20th perfect game in major league history--and the second this month!--took place last night in Florida. Roy Halladay was simply awesome. Around the fifth, I noticed he had a perfect game going. Around the seventh it started to seem real. Josh Johnson, the Marlins' superb young righty, hung in for much of the game. Wilson Valdez scored the only run of the game on a three-base error by center fielder Cameron Maybin. That happened in the third, which meant the game was a nail-biter right down to the final out, a grounder to third baseman Juan Castro. As soon as the out was made, Halladay thumped his glove, then waited for catcher Carlos Ruiz to run into his outspread arms. Doc's broad smile said it all.

Halladay threw 115 pitches, including 11 strikeouts. Because of the long holiday weekend there were lots of Phillies' fans in the stands. By the 9th, the atmosphere was electric. After the game, Marlins' owner Jeff Loria had the pitching rubber dug up and, in a generous gesture, presented it to Halladay.

One of the beat writers for the Phillies tweeted that when the modest, reticent Halladay went into the lockerroom, his teammates demanded that he say something. Halladay just pointed at Chooch and smiled--and everyone erupted in cheers.

How amazing is it that two perfect games are tossed in the month of May, one by the Athletics and one by the Phillies? Both teams now have two perfect games in their history. Only five major league teams can make that claim. Go, Phillies! Go, A's!

polanco headed for mri

Another view through the netting behind home plate at First Energy Stadium in Reading, this time of the visiting dugout.

Placido Polanco will again sit out tonight's game because of a lingering elbow problem. He was hit by a pitch about a month ago and the injury just does not go away. Reports have it that an MRI is scheduled for tomorrow. So the infield is now down to Castro at third and Valdez at short.

Pat Burrell, released by the Rays, has signed a minor league deal with the offensively-challenged Giants. He will report to their Triple-A Fresno team.

Dontrelle Willis has been designated for assignment by the Tigers. And Jose Lima has been laid to rest.

little things mean a lot

A query for Davey Lopes, #15, first base coach, and base-stealing guru to the Phillies.

Just when I thought the running game, so much a part of the Phillies' success in past years, had totally disappeared, it came through in last night's 3-2 win over the Marlins. Kyle Kendrick was just good enough, if irritatingly slow to put guys away, for six innings. I was listening on the radio and could imagine how the defenders were shuffling their feet, while Kendrick waffled. But he ended up giving up just two unearned runs, which scored in the third on his own throwing error to first.

The Phillies finally got on the board this week, in the fourth, when Howard singled and Ibanez tripled him home. With no outs, though, Ibanez was then stranded on third.

In the fifth, Utley walked and stole second, for only his second stolen base of the year. Howard then singled him in to tie the game at two. More steals led to the go-ahead run in the seventh, with Victorino and Valdez on base. Vic stole third and Valdez alertly followed. Utley then grounded out to bring in Victorino. Utley had a productive 0-3 night, with a run scored, an RBI, and a steal; he also made a fine defensive play. The bullpen made the 3-2 score hold up, not without some dramatics in the ninth.

It all took only a week. Whew!

zero = zero

The Phillies will score again this season and surely they will win at least another game but since last Saturday (and I was at that game!) it's been all goose eggs except for a feeble ninth-inning rally on Sunday against an inept reliever. This week the Phillies were shut out three times by the Mets: 8-0, 5-0, and 3-0. It's the first time since May 1983 that they have been shut in three consecutive games and the first time since August 1974 that they have been shut out in four of five games. What's to say?

My humble suggestion is that the next time the team faces a knuckleballer they should field as many subs as possible. Most of them aren't hitting much anyway.

dragon tattoo

Just-picked strawberries at my favorite roadside farm in Berks County. Strawberries are early this year but sweetly delicious.

Last night I went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and it lived up, somewhat amazingly, to all of the hype. Noomi Rapace plays the edgy Lisbeth Salander and pretty much walks away with the movie. Michael Nyqvist as the middle-aged investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist is good but Rapace is super. I knew the movie was two and a half hours long but my only thought during it was if there would be enough time for it all to play out. Lots of character development in the book has been inevitably cut, but readers of the books can fill in the blanks. I can hardly wait for part 2 of the cinematic version to arrive in the US. And for the third book in the trilogy, which was, I think, due out yesterday.

What a downer it was to hear when I got home that the Phillies had again been shut out. That's three times in four games that they have not scored against a starting pitcher. In the past eight games they are batting .199. And playing like the living dead. Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy, you are missed.

too much knuckle again

Early fans to Monday night's game in Reading got this free photo of Ryan Howard, a member of the Reading Phillies All-Decade team. Change the uni and it looks like Howard 2010.

The Phillies were again shut out by a knuckle baller, this time journeyman R.A. Dickey. I had to draw a veil quickly over this game. And there it shall stay until the team comes out of this current hitting funk and starts to play crisp baseball again. Ugh.

The IronPigs last night finally won a one-run game. They've been on the losing end of those more times than would seem possible. Of most interest: Scott Mathieson, who needed just eight pitches,a mix of sliders and fastballs, to close out the game. For the year he's got a 0.76 ERA and eight saves. So how about it, Philadelphia?

stanley cup finals, yo

Prospect Domonic Brown in the on-deck circle last night at First Energy Stadium in Reading. Brown later hit a two-run laser beam over the right center wall.

I had fab seats right behind home plate for last night's Double-A game in Reading, except for the boring, banal conversation that went on almost non-stop right behind me. I must give credit, though. At one point in the sixth, the young woman suddenly said, "This pitcher's pretty good." She was right, though I was stunned she or the guy with her had even noticed. Yohan Flande started for the R-Phils and went seven, allowing one run on six hits. I don't know how he does it, throwing basically in the mid-80's, but he does. I can hardly wait to see Domonic Brown at Lehigh Valley.

I left when Flande left, after the seventh. The Flyers were then up 3-1. By the time I got to the car, the score was 3-2. Before I reached home, though, they had finished off the Canadiens 4-2. Off to the Stanley Cup finals!

phillies knuckled under

When Gregg Dobbs let a tailor-made double play ball slip through his legs and into the outfield in the fourth yesterday, I reached first for a glass of ginger wine, then for the media guide to check on Dobbs' contract. Sorry, Dobber, but really! That error allowed two runs to score and gave the Red Sox a 3-0 edge. Until the ninth, when the Phillies finally scored a run, they didn't need much else. Tim Wakefield, filling in for the injured Josh Beckett, kept the Phillies off balance all day with his fluttering knuckleball. Kevin Youkilis, meanwhilie, led the Red Sox charge against Roy Halladay, who lasted just six. The Red Sox won easily 8-3.

The series was the typical start to interleague play. Cole Hamels was outstanding in game one, then the Sox took things in hand the next two games. The annual interleague swoon already seems to be upon us.

no hits, no fun, no jimmy

Lesson from tonight's game: No-hitters should happen only in the pitcher's home ballpark. When the visiting pitcher is throwing one, he only annoys us. In the end we'd rather see a hit than history. So when Juan Castro broke up Daisuke Matsuzaka's no-hitter in the bottom of the eighth with a bloop single, we were happy. Not only was the no-hitter gone but also we could leave. I had been up since four a.m. and was ready to boogie on home. Thank you, Juan!

Matsuzaka, who had his slider working and mixed pitches as the game went along, also had--for him--a relatively low pitch count. He reached 100 pitches only in the sixth inning. After Castro's bloop single just out of the reach of the shortstop Scutaro, DK retired pinch-hitter Ross Gload on a flyout and Matsuzaka's night was, surprisingly, done. So was mine.

Worst news of the day? Jimmy Rollins has again been put on the 15-day DL. Total bummer.

Best? Way to go, Flyers, with another shut-out victory over the Habs.

silver cloud, lead lining

The Phillies beat the Red Sox last night behind a terrific Cole Hamels, who gave up just one run on three hits in seven innings. David Herndon pitched an uneventful eighth, then Danys Baez and J.C. Romero combined to give fans the shakes in the ninth before ending things for a 5-1 win. Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth both homered. Werth absolutely crushed the ball; it bounced in and out of the second deck porch in left field.

Bad news last: Jimmy Rollins left the game with a strained right calf. That's the same one that had him on the DL. He is, for now, day-to-day. This on the day that back-up shortstop Wilson Valdez cleared waivers and was sent to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. We want Jimmy!

just another night at pnc park

Red trumps all as the grounds crew finishes doing their thing Thursday night at PNC Park.

When the Pirates were in Philadelphia earlier this week, they looked like a Triple-A team. They looked the same last night at home aginst the struggling Milwaukee Brewers. The Buccos scored three in the first against Chris Narveson, but that was all she wrote except for a fifth inning of blunders on the base paths. Lastings Milledge got caught in a rundown between second and third for no rhyme or reason other than dumb baserunning. The only good was that Milledge dragged out the rundown long enough for Bobby Crosby to reach second. Then Crosby compounded the stupidity by getting caught in his own rundown. Sheesh. I was at the game with a local curator, who likened the gaffes to ones she often sees at her kids' Little League games.

That inning was the last time the Pirates threatened to take back the lead. In the end, they fell 4-3. It was a lovely night for baseball in one of the prettiest parks in the country. Paid attendance for the night: just over 13,000. That's about 3,000 more than the IronPigs draw on a nightly basis. Talk about Triple-A.

aroldis chapman

Aroldis Chapman warms up before Wednesday night's game at Coca-Cola Park.

I went to the IronPigs game Wednesday night by chance; it was the only night I could make it to the park during this week's homestand with the Louisville Bats. What luck, then, that the Cuban prospect Aroldis Chapman was pitching. No mistake, the long, lanky Chapman was the story. He held the 'Pigs in thrall for six--not that that's so hard to do these days--then left with a blister. He was effectively wild, hitting 98 a couple of times but for the most part hovering around 95. He looked a lot smoother than what I remember from his appearances with the Cuban team. When Chapman left the game, so did I.

132 pitches

On primary day in Pennsylvania, some fans spent their time before last night's game filling out All-Star ballots.

They keep telling us that the ushers are handing out ballots for the All-Star game but I've yet to see one doing it.

On Roy Halladay bobblehead night, Halladay threw 132 pitches in a complete game loss to the Pirates. It was a chilly night at the ballpark after a day of heavy rains. Winds and mist blew for most of the game. The Phillies played like a warm weather team, making three errors, dropping balls, and generally not executing in the 2-1 loss to Zach Duke. Ryan Howard had three of the Phillies' six hits. Something is up with Howard. He is definitely working on his offensive game.

The sell-out crowd was subdued, maybe by the weather or by the men left on base. Did I mention that both were brutal? When I started sniffling, I headed for the gate, as the Phillies were turning a double play to end the 8th.

The Phillies had the Canadien-Flyer scores posted on the out-of-town scoreboard and lots of fans were getting online updates. It was 3-0 Flyers when I left. And there it stayed. Then I heard the news that the Sixers had won the #2 pick in the NBA draft. Of course, you've got to wonder what the floundering Sixer franchise will do with their pick.

phils roll with rollins

Jimmy Rollins made his presence known immediately last night. Batting third in the absence of Chase Utley, Rollins had an RBI ground-out in the first inning to tie the Pirates 1-1. Kyle Kendrick gave up a lead-off home run to Delwyn Young, then went to work keeping his pitches down and getting the Pirates to ground out. Kendrick went eight innings, giving up just two runs. The Phillies meanwhile got a three-run homer from Jayson Werth (ka-ching, ka-ching) and a grand slam from Ryan Howard, who had six RBI for the game. Antonio Bastardo pitched a 1-2-3 ninth in the 12-2 victory.

Rollins looked like his old self in the field and on the base paths. Great to have you back, Jimmy. The Pirates look like the perennially-rebuilding team they have been for over a decade. The wonder of it is that the Phillies simply cannot win against them in PNC Park. Why is that jewel of a ballpark so inhospitable to Philadelphia?

rollins back, utley out of the line-up

Jimmy Rollins has indeed been activated for tonight's game, which will be his 2010 home debut. As expected, Wilson Valdez was DFA'd. Chase Utley is out tonight, with flu-like symptoms, and Rollins will be batting third. Anytime Utley is out of the line, I am agitated. A couple of weeks ago, he was forced into an off day and the look of the line-up sans Utley and Rollins was alarming.

phils sweep as flyers rock habs

Cole Hamels was again solid, going 6.2 and giving up just two runs, both solo homers, in a low-key 4-2 win in Milwaukee. J.C. Romero came on for the 9th and retired the side. Again, sub-subs Hoover and Valdez were very much part of the action. So was Shane Victorino, who is loving to hit with men in scoring position this year.

For the floundering Brewers, it was the second time this week that they were swept at home. Ouch.

Pending a physical exam, Jimmy Rollins is slated to return tonight. If he does, Wilson Valdez, who is out of options, will most likely be designated for assignment. It's too bad because his play this weekend put all those double plays he kept hitting into just about out of mind. He got hot at the end of his stint with the Phillies and leaves a good impression.

Oh yes, the Flyers took it to the Habs 6-0 in game one last night in Philadelphia. Earlier, the Blackhawks stole one from the Sharks 2-1 in San Jose.

lidge to dl, bastardo recalled, phils win

I cleared my head this morning by making this Raul Ibanez postcard. He's showing signs, I think, I hope, of getting his stroke back.

The Phillies slugged it out with the Brewers yesterday afternoon for a 10-6 win. Shane Victorino led the way with four RBI, including a two-run homer. Paul Hoover and Wilson Valdez again were surprise contributors, though it was mystifying to listen to FOX analyst Mark Grace go on, in reference to the two, about Charlie Manuel playing the 'young ones'. Uh, hardly, Mark. David Herndon came on for a rocky 9th and gave up one run. He left with one out and two on. Jose Contreras, again pitching in front of his mom, came in for the first save of his career, allowing Joe Blanton to get his first win of the season. The Phillies are now 12-7 on the road, the best in the NL.

After the game, it was announced that Brad Lidge was put back on the DL, retroactive to May 10, and Antonio Bastardo recalled from Lehigh Valley. Lidge continues to have problems with inflammation in his elbow and sadly sounds less and less confident each time he's asked about it. Scott Mathesion is looking great for the IronPigs but we should all keep in mind that he is still working his way back from two Tommy Johns surgeries. Let him build up to the high stress of pitching in a big league bullpen.