Here is what one of my Philly fan FB friends posted after the game tonight... feel free to pick his statement apart like I did

 

"the Marlins are tied for first with a team missing half their hitting. Raul Ibanez hasn't gotten a hit in 3 weeks...carlos ruiz took a nose dive, Ben Francisco fell off the table after a hot start, Domonic Brown and Utley haven't played yet this season...Florida is playing at their peak, Philadelphia is not."

 

Here was my rebuttal:

 

Really??? LoMo one of our our best hitters is out, Hanley ain't hitting for crap, Omar ain't hitting much better after a .321 season last year, Stanton is hot and cold and not consistent enough yet ... 2/5 of the rotation (Volstad and Vasquez) need to step it up because they are not gonna make it a whole season pitching the way they are... We have been playing the Rockies, the Dodgers, the Reds and the Cardinals while the Phillies get the Padres, D-Backs, Mets and the Nationals... Face facts, if the Phillies win the division, they will have to earn it from the rest of the NL East, it won't be a cakewalk

There's no sense in trying to make an argument to a hardheaded person if he rejects that.

 

Because you put it nicely.

 

I feel the Marlins are currently being carried by individual players every game in and game out, and when we settle down we'll still be playing at the level we're playing at. Same goes for the Phillies, and the Braves will catch up.

There's no sense in trying to make an argument to a hardheaded person if he rejects that.

 

Because you put it nicely.

 

I feel the Marlins are currently being carried by individual players every game in and game out, and when we settle down we'll still be playing at the level we're playing at. Same goes for the Phillies, and the Braves will catch up.

 

 

He is typical of the Phillies fans around here. They have gotten used to winning and in turn they have gotten complacent in their knowledge of the game and other teams' players / performances. They think the Phillies are gods gift to baseball. I hate getting into it with Phillies fans because they talk out their a**es and have to resort to attendance slams to feel cocky. I have to resort to reminding them that it only took us 11 seasons to get 2 World Series wins while it took their club (which holds the record for most team losses) over a century. They don't like hearing that.

The thing about the Phillies is, they don't even know if Ibanez, Brown and Ruiz will even hit. Ibanez certainly will be better than this, but he is 38 years old. His career is coming to an end. Dominic Brown is an unproven rookie, and Ruiz had a career year last season at the plate. He will play better, too. However, I won't be surprised if he doesn't OPS .800+ again. All the Phillies have coming back that is proven is Chase Utley. So, they can't be making any excuses. The Marlins have been hit by the injury bug and unexpected play just like the Phillies, and we're dead even with them as of May 3.

:lol

 

Ah well. The only thing that gets me mad is shots at the Marlins attendance. Other than that, I tend to ignore what people have to say about the team because the majority of them are ignorant.

The thing about the Phillies is, they don't even know if Ibanez, Brown and Ruiz will even hit. Ibanez certainly will be better than this, but he is 38 years old. His career is coming to an end. Dominic Brown is an unproven rookie, and Ruiz had a career year last season at the plate. He will play better, too. However, I won't be surprised if he doesn't OPS .800+ again. All the Phillies have coming back that is proven is Chase Utley. So, they can't be making any excuses. The Marlins have been hit by the injury bug and unexpected play just like the Phillies, and we're dead even with them as of May 3.

 

 

I agree. No excuses. The teams are what they are. Just go out there and keep finding ways to win. Whatever it takes. As I posted in my reply back, look at the current scheduling: We have been getting tougher teams than what the Phillies have been getting lately. I guess the Phillies didn't get the memo to "Catch Our Moves".

 

I don't expect Chase Utley to be the same. He has been regressing slightly over the last few years before the injury. It doesn't mean he will be terrible or anything but a dropoff in stats is not out of the picture. The Phillies media around here keeps speculating as to whether they will need to unload him at some point while he has any sort of value and trade for an upgrade. Again, that is what the news reports around here on Comcast.

 

- CyggyMarlin: A Marlins' spy in Phillies territory

The thing about the Phillies is, they don't even know if Ibanez, Brown and Ruiz will even hit. Ibanez certainly will be better than this, but he is 38 years old. His career is coming to an end. Dominic Brown is an unproven rookie, and Ruiz had a career year last season at the plate. He will play better, too. However, I won't be surprised if he doesn't OPS .800+ again. All the Phillies have coming back that is proven is Chase Utley. So, they can't be making any excuses. The Marlins have been hit by the injury bug and unexpected play just like the Phillies, and we're dead even with them as of May 3.

 

 

And still no time table on his return

On a fun note: Even though the ESPN power rankings are a crock of crap, there is a ton of pro-Marlins comments about them being higher than the #6 spot. Good to see the love on the ESPN message boards

Marlins are 14-4 in Volstad's last 18 starts :blink:

 

I'd love to see where his run support ranks in the league

Marlins are 14-4 in Volstad's last 18 starts :blink:

 

I'd love to see where his run support ranks in the league

 

 

Well, it means the Marlins know what they have to do to take care of business and pick up the slack :lol

 

If only they gave JJ more than 1 ER a game.

Anyone else think that a Dobbs/Bonifacio platoon at 3B is looking really good right about now? Dobb's defense has been great and he is hitting out of his mind. Boner has been hitting very well too. If it wasn't for those two guys stepping up, I think we'd be in a bit of a hole right now.

Marlins are 14-4 in Volstad's last 18 starts :blink:

 

I'd love to see where his run support ranks in the league

 

He's getting 8.67 runs of support per start this year which is 14th in the league, 6th in the NL. Jeremy Hellickson is the league leader at 10.91, Mike Leake is the NL leader at 10.57.

 

If only they gave JJ more than 1 ER a game.

 

He's getting 6.37.

Marlins are 14-4 in Volstad's last 18 starts :blink:

 

I'd love to see where his run support ranks in the league

 

He's getting 8.67 runs of support per start this year which is 14th in the league, 6th in the NL. Jeremy Hellickson is the league leader at 10.91, Mike Leake is the NL leader at 10.57.

 

If only they gave JJ more than 1 ER a game.

 

He's getting 6.37.

I wonder if there isn't a bit of psychology going on there. When Volstad pitches, the player know they are likely to need to score lots of runs to win, whereas with JJ on the mound, they know they will probably win as long as they only score a few, so they relax more.

 

Alternatively, the opposite could be happening. Knowing they have blown too many JJ starts, the players might be pressing a little too much when he's on the mound, whereas with Volstad, well, if they lose, it's likely because he's given up a bunch of runs, so the pressure's off them a little.

Marlins are 14-4 in Volstad's last 18 starts :blink:

 

I'd love to see where his run support ranks in the league

 

He's getting 8.67 runs of support per start this year which is 14th in the league, 6th in the NL. Jeremy Hellickson is the league leader at 10.91, Mike Leake is the NL leader at 10.57.

 

If only they gave JJ more than 1 ER a game.

 

He's getting 6.37.

I wonder if there isn't a bit of psychology going on there. When Volstad pitches, the player know they are likely to need to score lots of runs to win, whereas with JJ on the mound, they know they will probably win as long as they only score a few, so they relax more.

 

Alternatively, the opposite could be happening. Knowing they have blown too many JJ starts, the players might be pressing a little too much when he's on the mound, whereas with Volstad, well, if they lose, it's likely because he's given up a bunch of runs, so the pressure's off them a little.

 

I don't think so. For as much as every player wants to win games, when you're in the batter's box you're always trying to get a hit (except for a few specific scenarios ) regardless of outside circumstances (like what the score is).