Yesterday, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reported that free agent closer Jonathan
Papelbon had agreed to terms on a 4-year, $50 million deal with the Phillies.
After a reported 4-year, $44 million deal with last year’s closer, Ryan Madson, fell through earlier this week, Phillies GM Ruben Amaro, Jr. acted quickly, acquiring the player who many analysts considered to be the best closer on the free agent market this offseason. Continue reading
When you are the best team and you know it (clap your hands), you expect to win. Not
only do you expect to win, but your fans expect you to win. The Phillies are obviously in this situation, winning a league best 102 regular season games, and breaking a few team records along the way. So it should come as no surprise that after the Cardinals took game two of the NLDS, evening the series at one game apiece, fans were concerned. The concern was elevated knowing that Cy Young candidate Cliff Lee blew a four run lead, causing the Phillies to lose the game in front of the largest crowd ever at Citizen’s Bank Park. However, after a day of regrouping, the Phillies went into St. Louis, and took a 2-1 series lead, beating the Cardinals by a score of 3-2. Continue reading
There are some things that rain can be great for. Take watering plants as an example.
When it rains, there is no need to go out and water plants, making your life that much easier. Baseball, however, is not something that goes well with rain, as games are easily delayed or even cancelled due to precipitation. However, the weather has not been cooperative lately, and for the second straight night in a row, the Phillies have had a game delayed by rain. Tonight’s game started, but the rain came shortly after, allowing the teams to complete less than half an inning before a two hour and twenty four minute rain delay. Continue reading
Coming into this weekend’s series with the San Diego Padres, nearly every analyst in the Philadelphia area said that if the Phillies wanted
to win, they would need to do it early, because the Padres bullpen is absolutely unstoppable. Though the Phillies found that to be true yesterday, today, the Padres bullpen was their Achilles Heel, allowing the Phillies to pull ahead in the 7th inning against reliever Chad Qualls. Continue reading
In 1984, Cole Hamels was less than a year old, and had probably never picked up a baseball. However, 27 years later, Hamels donned
an ’84 throwback jersey and began his absolute domination of the San Diego Padres on 1980′s retro night. However, tonight’s game wasn’t at all similar to 1984, the year in which both teams jerseys were from. In 1984, the Padres came three games away from a World Series title, while the Phillies finished at a pedestrian .500, but tonight the roles were reversed, as the Phillies controlled the game on the way to a 3-1 victory. Continue reading