It's Him Again!
Sorry for the lack of blogging over the last few days (and commenting!) but I've had an illness in my family. While no one wants anyone in their family to be in the hospital - this situation has reminded me just how much of a family we baseball fans are. Thank you to everyone who has offered their thoughts and prayers and in particular I want to thank the members of the Brownie Brigade - the loyal followers of Ian Browne, the beat writer for the Boston Red Sox - for their continued support - especially my "Whoo Hooo" sister there Ellen. I also owe a huge thank you to my favorite person in South Korea (okay, he's the only person I know in South Korea!) - Mike, I owe you beer - or a bourbon ;-) - when you come home! And I need to send out thanks to all my friends on Twitter - your messages of support have meant a lot. All of you are the BEST!!
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Even though I have been busy - I did happen to watch a baseball game last night. And what a game it was!
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Even though I have been busy - I did happen to watch a baseball game last night. And what a game it was!
My good friend Scott might think that it is enough to say "Back to New York", but as you might suspect - I have a few more things to say!
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So will the Yankees' strategy in game 6 be to walk Chase Utley every time he comes to bat? If they were smart they would! With the two home runs he hit Monday night, Utley now has hit 5 HRs in this World Series (tying him with Reggie Jackson - who did it in 1977) and he has the chance to hit even more! Utley is extremely important to the Phillies' success.
http://www3.allaroundphilly.com
If the Yankees were smart, they would pitch to Ryan Howard. On Monday night he struck out for the 12th time in the WS - tying a record for the most strikeouts in a World Series. And he has the chance to break that record! But as good - or as bad - as the Phillies hitting has been, the key to who will win the World Series might very well rest on how well the Yankees' pitching strategy works. Joe Girardi and the powers to be made a decision to go with just a 3 man pitching rotation in the WS; C.C., A.J. and Andy, after their first start would all be pitching on 3 days rest. It worked okay with C.C.. But for A.J. Burnett?
http://umpbump.comSo will the Yankees' strategy in game 6 be to walk Chase Utley every time he comes to bat? If they were smart they would! With the two home runs he hit Monday night, Utley now has hit 5 HRs in this World Series (tying him with Reggie Jackson - who did it in 1977) and he has the chance to hit even more! Utley is extremely important to the Phillies' success.
http://www3.allaroundphilly.comIf the Yankees were smart, they would pitch to Ryan Howard. On Monday night he struck out for the 12th time in the WS - tying a record for the most strikeouts in a World Series. And he has the chance to break that record! But as good - or as bad - as the Phillies hitting has been, the key to who will win the World Series might very well rest on how well the Yankees' pitching strategy works. Joe Girardi and the powers to be made a decision to go with just a 3 man pitching rotation in the WS; C.C., A.J. and Andy, after their first start would all be pitching on 3 days rest. It worked okay with C.C.. But for A.J. Burnett?
The Phillies might want to see if he is available for game 6!
In 2 plus innings, Burnett gave up 6 earned runs on 4 hits; he walked 4, struck out 2 and he hit Victorino in the hand. (I still can't believe that his fingers weren't broken!) Throughout his career he has had moments when he has been awesome. And times where he has been beyond terrible - and last night A.J. has one of those really bad nights. There was no middle ground; he was unable to place any of his pitches and the Phillies took advantage of it. While the Yankees bats did threaten late in the game, the hole that A.J. dug for them was too great. And that set up a game 6 in New York with this guy on the mound for the Phillies:
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Yeah - him again! Pedro was good last time - but not good enough to win. This time round? He goes up against Andy Pettitte who will be pitching on 3 days rest. Pedro has had his full rest. Can he win this time? I'll have to say - I like his chances! Pedro has played in a lot of big games; he is more then up to the challenge. If the Phillies bat can stay hot, I firmly believe that baseball will still be being played on Thursday night.
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http://www.everyjoe.comYeah - him again! Pedro was good last time - but not good enough to win. This time round? He goes up against Andy Pettitte who will be pitching on 3 days rest. Pedro has had his full rest. Can he win this time? I'll have to say - I like his chances! Pedro has played in a lot of big games; he is more then up to the challenge. If the Phillies bat can stay hot, I firmly believe that baseball will still be being played on Thursday night.
http://3.bp.blogspot.com
It's going to be a wild ride!
It is great that the pitching has set the toner so great during the World Series.
The wins and losses can be directly attributed to the pitching dominace of the starters and some.....questionable pitches by the Bullpens.
But the fun of it all is seeing these two offenses pick apart their at bats and seek out that special pitch they know they can drive into the night sky.
Not until the last out have any of these games been guaranteed, and I like it that way!
Rays Renegade
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The cat in the cage is CLASSIC!!! My daughter and I are still laughing hysterically over that one! :)
Laughter is great medicine. I hope blogging is for you, also. Keep it up--we're pullin' for ya at the Brigade! Take care, Julia!
And for now, GO PHILLIES! (Still too strange to say that...)
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I feel for ya. I had to take some time off from blogging a couple of months ago for my Mom....life has a way of throwing you a curve ball now and then. I'm glad you're back on site, and I hope all is well.
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Okay, A.J. on short rest might not have worked out but here's hoping that Andy Pettitte can avoid a repeat of Game 6 of the 2001 World Series. Maybe he's learned a thing or two since then! Plus, the Red Sox moved on from Pedro so the rest of us should too! The Red Sox management knows all, right? But win or lose, at least we are still talking about MY team! :)
Scott
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Jules - I hope you are right! Baseball fans like you, me and the bazillion others that are watching deserve a Game 7 so we can handle the off season ; )
Buz - http://buzblog.mlblogs.com/
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I hope you and your family are OK!
Utley had a pretty huge series, which was great to watch. It's too bad the 3-day-rest didn't hurt Pettitte--even if the Yankees were to ultimately win, as they did, I was hoping for a Game 7...
~AZ
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You know, I've been in the Air Force 26 years and I've done my fair share of deployments. I'm finishing my last remote tour which also happens to be my last assignment (and best) assignment before I retire. I remember coming home from Desert Storm, the parades, the outpouring of thanks (the outpouring of free beer). Then 9/11. I was in Weymouth that day. The first time I'd been home in 7 years. I remember the first thing that happened was that the thank you's got more frequent, and so did the deployments. I was in Okinawa when we won it in 2004. I was in Afghanistan when we won it in 2007. When we win it in 2010, I hope to be at Fenway! Jules, I'm glad your Dad is doing better. I told you we GI's were pretty tough. He'll be up and around under his own power in no time. I wanted to say you're welcome, but, I really didn't do anything and I'd like to take all that thanks I have recieved over the years and mail it down to my brothers and sisters down at Ft. Hood. Those dudes (and dudettes) really carry the load. They're the real heroes. And if I could box up 26 years of thank you's, I'd come up short of what they earn on an average day.
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Mike,
You might not have thought that you did anything, but you did. Trust me. AND while I am not the least bit surprised that you are "tipping your cap" to the men and women down at Fort Hood (as we all are), you my friend are deserving of every thank you that you get. 26 years is a very long time to be in service to our country - you sacrificed a lot for all of us civilians at home. You too are worthy of the title "hero". And seriously - do you think you're going to win this argument? You know I'm the mom of teenaged boys! And duly noted - free beer coming up! ;-)
Jules
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You are welcome! I couldn't possibly win. I'll take my beer and sit down.
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