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Three minor league players added to Phillies’ 40-man roster

GameSetMatch — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:55:19 +0000

Outfielder Quintin Berry, lefthander Yohan Flande and righthander Jesus Sanchez had their contracts selected to the Philadelphia Phillies’ 40-man roster, the club announced today.

Berry, who turns 25 on Saturday, spent this past season with Double-A Reading. He hit .266 with five home runs, 28 RBIs and 48 stolen bases in 135 games and played exclusively in center field. A fifth-round selection in the 2006 draft, Berry has 173 stolen bases in four minor league seasons.

Flande, 23, split the season between Single-A Clearwater and Reading. In a combined 25 starts, he went 10-5 with a 3.40 ERA and allowed six home runs in 145.2 innings. Flande, a native of the Dominican Republic, was originally signed by the Phillies as an amateur free agent in 2004.

Click here to read the full article – By of The Morning Call

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Phillies dethroned in Bronx

GameSetMatch — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:53:15 +0000

For 371 days, over thousands of miles — from spring training in Clearwater, Fla., to 18 cities across the majors, even on an afternoon in May at the White House — they were hailed as champions of baseball. It was an impressive reign, filled with star-making performances and countless memories.

And it ended so abruptly.

It came to a close Wednesday night in the South Bronx. The Phillies passed the crown to the New York Yankees, 7-3, in Game 6 of the World Series, and when it was over, many of them lingered in the dugout and gazed at their vanquishers, who were celebrating with “We Are The Champions” blaring in the background.

“I watched it,” said tortured closer Brad Lidge, the reality only starting to set in inside a quiet clubhouse. “It makes you remember how last year we were able to do the same thing ourselves. We came really close this year, and I think every one of us feels like we have the capability to do it again next year.”

Click here to read the full article – By SCOTT LAUBER of The News Journal

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Utley’s record-tying 5th World Series HR helps Phils cut Yanks lead to 3-2

GameSetMatch — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:21:04 +0000

By the ninth inning, Phillies fans were preparing for the worst.

The New York Yankees were at it again, chipping away at a dwindling lead and threatening to take away the Phils’ World Series title right there at Citizens Bank Park.

Desperate to hang on, somehow Chase Utley and the Phillies did. Derek Jeter grounded into a double play, Mark Teixeira struck out, and Philadelphia staved off the Yankees and elimination with an 8-6 win in Game 5 on Monday night.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

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You can’t blame Pedro

GameSetMatch — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:28:46 +0000

Pedro Martinez was going to be forgotten quickly.

Remember when the Phillies signed him back in July, an aging pitcher who had a deplorable season, who went unwanted through the first half of the season?
Maybe he would give them a few good starts, flash some glimpses of his former self, and win a few games so that the Phillies could get through the rest of the regular season.
Then, he would surely be forgotten in the playoffs.
Yet look at Martinez now.
He has become, along with Cliff Lee, the Phillies’ most important starting pitcher.

Click here to read the full article – By MARTIN FRANK of The News Journal

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Phillies’ bats on fire

GameSetMatch — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:50:19 +0000

The toughest thing about the cross-country aspects of games like Sunday night’s 11-0 trouncing of the Los Angeles Dodgers by the Philadelphia Phillies isn’t just the long-distance travel, it’s the travel from the palm trees and balmy breezes of the West Coast to the deep freeze of the East.

Both California teams have had problems with the cold. On Sunday night it was the Dodgers looking flat and uncomfortable in Game 3 of the NLCS. They now trail 2-1 in the series, with Game 4 at Citizens Bank Park Monday night.

The Philly bats were alive, but it was starter Cliff Lee who contributed most to the Dodger woes with a masterful eight innings in which he allowed just three hits, with no walks and 10 strikeouts.

Click here to read the full article – By Richard Griffin of thestar.com

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Myers upset at being left off Phillies’ roster

GameSetMatch — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:32:17 +0000

Twenty-four hours after learning that he had been left off the Phillies’ roster for the National League Championship Series, Brett Myers still was having trouble digesting the decision yesterday.

“I’m upset,” the pitcher said before Game 1 against the Los Angeles Dodgers last night.

Myers, 29, had hip surgery June 4. At the time, team officials thought his season was over. The righthander stayed dedicated to a rehabilitation program and made it back in early September. The club hoped Myers could help in the bullpen, but he had a 6.43 ERA in eight games. He pitched just two-thirds of an inning in the division series.

“It’s tough going through all that [rehab],” Myers said. “This is the whole reason I tried to get back, to be in the postseason. Now they took that away.

Click here to read the full article – By Jim Salisbury of Philadelphia Inqurier

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Phiillies beat Rockies to clinch National League Division Series

GameSetMatch — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:42:45 +0000

The Philadelphia Phillies are headed back to the National League Championship Series, and a familiar foe awaits them.

Ryan Howard continued his clutch hitting with a two-out, two-run double to tie Monday night’s game with Colorado and Jayson Werth followed with what turned out to be the game-winning single in the Phils’ 5-4 win in Game 4 of the National League Division Series at Coors Field.

Philadelphia, which trailed by two going into the ninth inning, won the best-of-five series and now faces the Los Angeles Dodgers in the best-of-seven NLCS.

Click here to read the full article – By Mandy Housenick of THE MORNING CALL

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Lee preparing for chess match

GameSetMatch — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:00:25 +0000

What Phillies lefthander Cliff Lee called the “never-ending chess match” of hitter vs. pitcher goes to a different level tonight in the National League division series.

Lee will pitch against Colorado righthander Ubaldo Jimenez for the second time in six days. Facing the same team in consecutive starts presents a strategic question for each pitcher.

Should he plan to make significant changes, or follow the same approach?

“They’re going to watch the video of the last game and make adjustments,” Lee said last night. “They’d be a fool not to. That’s the nature of this game. If you’re not making adjustments, you’re losing ground.”

This situation rarely arises during the regular season.

Jimenez faced the same team in consecutive starts three times this season. In the rematches, he went 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA.

Click here to read the full article – By Gerry Fraley of philly.com

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For Phillies starter Lee, pressure is all relative

GameSetMatch — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:37:52 +0000

Pressure? Cliff Lee has seen pressure, and starting Game 1 of the National League Division Series today for the Phillies isn’t it.

Pressure for Lee came eight years ago as he watched Jaxon, his 4-month-old son, hooked up to an IV, with tubes dangling everywhere, not knowing if he was going to survive.

Lee and his wife, Kristen, had just heard the devastating diagnosis of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). They were told Jaxon had about a 30 percent chance to live.

Four months later, those chances diminished further when Jaxon suffered a relapse. He had a growth behind his eye that required radiation. He needed a stem cell blood transplant from a donated umbilical cord.

Click here to read the full article – By MARTIN FRANK of The News Journal

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Once again, Phillies to host Rockies in National League playoffs

GameSetMatch — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:24:29 +0000

Two years ago, the Colorado Rockies made the postseason on the strength of a quick and powerful late-season burst of success.

They won 14 of their final 15 games, including a dramatic, one-game playoff – in which they needed a three-run rally in the bottom of the 13th inning – to claim the National League wild card.

The Rockies then won seven straight postseason games to make the World Series, where their scorched-earth run ran out of fuel and they were swept by Boston.

The Phillies were one of the teams that got burned by the streaking Rockies in 2007. Colorado swept the Phils in three straight in the NL division series that year. It was the Phils’ first trip to the postseason in 14 years and it was over in about the time it takes the Domino’s guy to deliver a pepperoni pizza to your door. That’s what happens when you hit .172 (16 for 93) in three games.

Click here to read the full article – By JIM SALISBURY of The Philadelphia Inquirer

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