There's just this one game left on the schedule. A 1:35 start against the second place Florida Marlins down in South Philly.
Watchin the Phils at Citizens Bank Park, originally uploaded by gophila.com.
The NL East is locked up, with a pennant set to fly in Philadelphia for the third straight year. Home field advantage is here too, with the Wild Card Rockies hoping to reprise their 2007 beatdown of the Phillies. And it's that specter that should be motivating the Fightins today. As we've seen since they clinched the division, there hasn't been much drive from first pitch to final at bat. Maybe fielding a whole new set of faces for a day will help change the luck.
The Phils have lost three straight and are in danger of being swept into the playoffs by a team that has nothing to play for (aside from sweeping a rival and cooling the hot seat under their manager's ass). Before the night the Phillies clinched the division with a 10-3 win over the Astros, the team was stumbling a bit, and confidences wavered in the fanbase. However, with that win, we saw how much one game can turn a tide in terms of confidence, if not momentum; unfortunately, that win obviously didn't result in gains on the field, perhaps because the division and the playoffs were locked, and two of the games saw starters getting rest. Charlie Manuel, with a tired team of players that haven't been rested much lately, is valuing rest and health over ending on a high note, and it's hard to blame him.
Unfortunately for those planning to watch or head down to the game though, the Phillies are celebrating Fan Appreciation Day by resting all of their starting position players except Jayson Werth, who is one RBI short of 100. Werth's not the only guy with something meaningful to play for though. They have no chance of winning this final series, but a win over the Marlins on the last Sunday of the season could still help set the tone for the opening round, even if it's the bench players that do it.
J.A. Happ hasn't been handed his bullpen papers just yet, but most believe he'll be used as a reliever, with Pedro Martinez filling out the fourth spot in the rotation behind Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Joe Blanton.
J.A. Happ , originally uploaded by Harpo42.
Oddly enough, some would argue that Happ's been the best starter of that bunch this season, at least in terms of consistent results. While Lee was brilliant through three quarters of the season, he's been throwing BP for a month. Cole Hamels' loss last night meant he'll finish 2009 with a losing record to go along with a 4.32 ERA. Happ meanwhile leads the team's starters with a 2.85 ERA, and he's lost only four games to his 12 wins. You can bet he's motivated to show where he belongs.
Happ will get one more chance to dominate today, he should see a real challenge with Marlins ace Josh Johnson pitching the bottom halves. In three starts against the Phils this year, the 6'7" Johnson is 1-1 with a 2.50 ERA, holding Phillies bats to a .212 average. In 18 innings, the he's struck out the Phils 24 times. That was against the best starting lineup in the NL, not their backups.
Doesn't exactly sound like a recipe for an emphatic ass-whooping for the home team. But, Johnson is a playoff-caliber pitcher, and that's what the Phillies are about to see. If they don't want to get swept out by the Rockies in the first round again, why not start today?
In another storyline, Jon Heyman of SI is reporting this morning that Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is dissatisfied with the team missing the playoffs, and manager Fredi Gonzalez's job could be in jeopardy. Think Gonzalez will be lighting a fire under his boys today? There may be little in the way of practical incentive for the Marlins to win this, but in many ways, they could be the more motivated team today. A sweep of the Champs, the division winners? You're damn right they want it.
So the question is, how bad do the Phillies' bench players, who are underrated keys to playoff success, want to end the season, and start the postseason, on a positive note?
Original Story:
http://www.the700level.com/2009/10/le...
