The Phillies Are Clueless!

[flyersvikes]

Yes! Now they follow up with Oswalt, damn are the Phils going to be tough to beat this October.

[Nightshade88]

Speechless

[D Y B FLYERS]

Originally Posted by kiddyidd

our boys are looking good! Let's bring this w.s series home!!!!

gtfo

[jayc948]

I just realized that if the Phillies win a 5th straight NL East title next year, I can go around acting like Booker T.

[KiddYidd]

Originally Posted by D Y B FLYERS

gtfo

You're still a *****!

[D Y B FLYERS]

Originally Posted by KiddYidd

You're still a *****!

****er

[jayc948]

Phillies ready to humiliate all NL opponents

CINCINNATI – As if the Reds needed one more indignity at the hands of the superior-in-every-way-imaginable Philadelphia Phillies. For the second time in a month – and second time ever recorded – reliever Aroldis Chapman threw a pitch that registered 105 mph on the stadium radar gun.

Carlos Ruiz hit it for a double.

But wait, an encore humiliation loomed. Joey Votto came to the plate with none out and one on in the ninth inning, the Reds trailing 2-0, Phillies starter Cole Hamels still dealing. Votto, the likely National League MVP and new face of the Cincinnati Reds. Votto, capable of tying the score with one swing.

Hamels made like Visine and got the Red out: Votto bounced into a double play.

Then Scott Rolen swung through an eye-high, strike-three fastball and the 15-year wait for playoff baseball in Cincinnati ended almost the day it began. The Phillies had swept them behind Roy Halladay’s no-hitter in Game 1, a surfeit of Reds mistakes in Game 2 and Hamels’ five-hit shutout in Game 3.

Yes, superior in every way imaginable.

“It was a humbling experience,” Votto said.

The Phillies can do that. They’ll almost certainly shame their next opponent, be it the San Francisco Giants or Atlanta Braves, teams that already have embarrassed themselves while getting into the playoffs and engaging in an entertaining if gaffe-filled division series.

“Our ultimate goal is to win the World Series and I think that’s where we stand,” Hamels said.

That explains why the Phillies didn’t celebrate on the field Sunday night and conducted only an abbreviated champagne-squirting session in the clubhouse. They beat the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2008 World Series and lost to the New York Yankees in the 2009 World Series. Both of those teams are alive in the AL.

“There’s work to be done,” Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins said before slipping out of the clubhouse, his clothes mostly dry.

[BStreetBullies]

It's hard to imagine a team that can really go toe-to-toe with the Phils right now, even when they play sub-par ball they find a way to win.

They have all-stars at every single position aside from behind the plate, and even Ruiz is considered one of the top, if not the best catcher in baseball. This squad is just stacked now, so as fans, you just gotta enjoy it, because this franchise has been around 127 years, and never have they seen a team like this.

[thekidd21]

the phils r lookin retarded good right now

[Flyers2001]

Halladay vs. Lincecum --- Phucking Classic about to go down. LETS GO PHILLIES!!!!

[Phila26Flyers]

Posted this in the NLCS thread. Will post it here for those who can't bear to look in that thread anymore.


No excuses for this loss. An all-around offensive disappointment. Every single bat disappeared this series. There wasn't one hot hitter on our bench. This was the Phillies' series to lose, and they did just that. We batted .175 with runners in scoring position this series, and, as Churla already pointed out, not much better with the bases empty either.

At least the crowd showed up. My God, the CBP crowd tonight was louder than any other crowd in any ballpark in any game yet this season. The crowd was louder in the first inning of this game than the crowd in Texas was after the Rangers won the pennant.

One positive to take away from this series: the pitching. Our starters kept the fires burning all season, even during our summer-long slump. They blazed their way through the first couple weeks of the playoffs but in the end, it was the offense that continued to let them down, just as they did periodically throughout the season. Our pitchers - starters and bullpen alike - gave the Phillies a chance to win every single game. Can't ask for much more than that from those on the mound.

Jonathan Sanchez is an overrated, overreacting nance. Utley's ball flip was hardly Clemens throwing a broken bat at Piazza. Good on Utley to shrug Sanchez off, and good on the Phillies bench to be the first ones out there. The Philly way.

Ryan Howard just cannot watch that pitch under any circumstance in this lifetime or any other. Unfortunately, it came to no surprise either. Howard is starting to become a bit of a playoff choker. Not of a Nick Swisher type, but certainly enough to wonder why he's going to get $25 million a year starting in a couple seasons. Guy has struck out 30 times in his last 56 postseason at bats going back to last year's World Series. He has put together great series' before that, but ever since winning back-to-back pennants, Howard just hasn't been the same in the playoffs. I will reserve judgment on him though. Hopefully there will be October baseball in Philly next year, and we see that Ryan Howard is no bum.

I think the Phillies bought into the hype a little bit. Never before has a Philadelphia team been counted on across the board in the national media to run the table, and now that the team is consistently in the spotlight, they have lost that underdog role on which they thrived in 2008 and 2009.

That said, I'd be a fool to deny that certain players never really found a rhythm either. Their starting lineup played all of about fifteen games together this season, with everyone but Werth spending time on the disabled list. I think long layoffs due to injury definitely affected Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and even Ryan Howard a bit. It's amazing we won 97 games and finished with the best record in MLB. Some teams completely implode on themselves and tank when faced with injuries to their entire starting lineup, and their fans make excuses. Other teams - championship teams - continue fighting through those same injuries and win the division and come within two wins of a National League pennant. Wilson Valdez, Ross Gload, Brian Schneider, Dane Sardinha, Cody Ransom, Ben Francisco, Juan Castro, Mike Sweeney all contributed in some way during this year and deserve more than a mention in helping keep the team afloat during the ups and downs of a typical baseball season. It would be disrespectful to them to deny acknowledgment.

I do feel terrible for Mike Sweeney (he took last night's loss harder than us), but am grateful he was given the opportunity to play on a contender. Sweeney endeared himself to us right away with his heart-warming post-game interviews with Sarge, and his team-first attitude. This guy made himself at home in the clubhouse immediately, and the team and fans responded well. Often times, he was the first player to the top of the dugout when someone got a big hit or scored a run. Sweeney is a guy who just immerses his soul in the game, and I hope he'll be back with us next season. We can use a former all-star first baseman to give Howard a few breaks.

Mike Sweeney After Game 6 Loss

On more positive notes, we got to see Dom Brown, the future of our outfield, smack a double off the wall in his first major league at-bat. We saw Vance Worley's solid pitching debut, and can look forward to him making the team as our number 5 next year. We saw the addition of yet another ace to our staff, which prompted the immediate cries of "why didn't we just keep Cliff Lee" from those Eagles-mentality Phillies fans who don't glimpse the bigger picture. Looking forward to a full season of Oswalt pitching at Citizens Bank Park, and I know he is too.

Cole Hamels: resurrected. What a bounce back season it was for Cole. Can't speak enough of the mental toughness he consistently showed this season, sans one slip-up against St. Louis when Fan-On-The-Field pt. 2 preceded the tying run for the Cardinals. Hamels dazzled in the postseason, and I'm glad the real Cole is back on our staff.

Gonna be a long but interesting winter. Already cannot wait for spring training.

[jayc948]

I still can't bear to give my thoughts on this series.

[Philly Fan 27]

Originally Posted by jayc948

I still can't bear to give my thoughts on this series.

sh1tty is a good start.

[The Don]

Still depressed.

[jayc948]

It pains me to see Mike Sweeney's face in that video. He was as devastated as us.