I'm fairly convinced the Phils are going to win the NL East this year. In my mind and probably yours, it's more "when" than "if."
Still, they haven't locked it up yet, and their magic number is on pause at the moment. Some injuries have set in, as have a few slumps. Pedro Martinez will miss his start tonight with a stiff neck, and he'll be replaced by Kyle Kendrick. Other than Ryan Howard, who is passing the RBI crown back and forth with Prince Fielder over the course of this series, the Phils aren't looking very hot. If they don't want to get bounced from the playoffs early, they need to start heating up pretty soon, as well as hopefully getting healthy.
So what does Charlie Manuel say to this bunch that they don't already know? They're the champs, first and foremost, and they're also not lollygaggers. It's also not the end of the world to lose a few games now either, especially if they can use a few of them to rest players and wait out some nagging injuries. But they can't get slow, slumpy at the plate, or lose it any more than they already have on the mound—particularly out of the bullpen. So Charlie needs to keep them a little hungry, even if they're well fed.
Kendrick filled in nicely when needed in his past two appearances, giving up 2 ER over 11.1 IP, both coming in spot start in which he pitched into the 8th inning against the Metsies. Killer K will get Braden Looper, who got rocked in his last start. It's not do or die for the Phils—not even close—but they could use a Looper outcome just like that one to keep rolling the right direction and really start resting some players if they need to.
Game starts just after 7 tonight. Get'cher cheese curds ready.
Original Story:
http://www.the700level.com/2009/09/ph...
