Two Pinstripers With Something to Prove: Myers and Vic Take on the Nats

After dropping two of three to a mediocre Blue Jays team, the Phils are in DC to face the Gnats in front of a smattering of fans (many wearing Phillies gear) in their new park. Brett Myers is looking to bounce back after another rough, home-run-ridden gem last week, and he, the team, and the fans could really use a good outing to show he hasn't completely lost his juice. Despite his track record this season, which has him on pace to break the league record for homers allowed, I think he puts in a Quality Start tonight and drops that Eatonian 5.91 ERA a bit.

The early lineups are in at Yahoo, and Shane Vic is starting in center, with Geoff Jenkins in right. The Phils are facing Washington's Tim Redding, and Jayson Werth's numbers against north paws are what's limited him to being a platoon player so far in his career. If Vic wants to stay in the lineup as the starting CF, tonight is a good chance to show Chollie he's not a .235 hitter. Until then, it's hard to complain when a guy who's knocking the cover off the ball is getting your PT.

Comments

[ricky]

"No were not playing shallow center."

Harry is still so classic.

[enrico]

Lotta Philly heads in DC.

[Saul]

OK, we just played the SAME EXACT TWO INNINGS twice over. Astonishing. Innings one and three: J-Roll out, Vic and Utley single, Howard and Burrell out. Innings two and four: Jenkins double, Feliz out, Ruiz advances Jenkins, Myers out. Wow.

[johndewar]

Gotta get down and check out DC's ballpark. Looks great on TV. How far from downtown watering holes is the ballpark?

[Steve]

This is ridiculous. The Phils have had about 14 LOB between yesterday and tonights game.

[jd]

@saul

the park is located in the navy yard-no real watering holes at this point within walking distance that i know of. that will probably change in the next year. as for now, go to capital hill before the game.

walking up to the park reminds one of jacobs field in cleveland. however, i wasn't too impressed. the best feature i saw was the scoreboard, imo.

also, beer is VERY expensive so i suggest smuggling in refreshments. food is meh.

maybe i just was there on a bad day-am willing to give it a second go.

did myers just walk the pitcher?

[Mike L.]

im loving all these hits with risp! stupid phillies. Even utley cant knock anyone in.

[Justin Evans]

Let's face it. The Championship-less streak isn't ending with the 2008 Phillies.

116 games until we're Gillick-free!

[Joe]

I'm not too worried. Yet. At least Myers only gave up 3 runs. Too bad we can't get the run support.

[Dale Hunter]

I thought the Phillies were going to sweep the Nats? Guess not.

[enrico]

Ignore him.

[stevefredericks]

congrats dale, with todays win the nats are now on pace for 70 wins

[Greg]

That's funny that Dale cares about baseball, by the looks of the stands, it looks to be the same amount of people that root for the Capitals before March.

[Joe]

I must not be a good baseball fan, because I don't understand how Myers ERA went up to 6.07 from 5.91 when he only gave up 3 runs in 6. Am I missing some math here? Is there some sort of consequential carry-over when a pitcher doesn't go 7 innings in a previous outing?

[Benjamin]

Joe - try taking his total innings pitched, and earned runs for the season, average it out per 3 outs, and multiply by 9. I'll check it myself, but you're right, at first you'd logically think it'd go down.

[stevefredericks]

joe, his era is now 5.76

[Matt P]

ESPN.com stats, which are updated in real-time, have Myers at 5.76 after tonight's game.

[Benjamin]

Thanks Matt P & stevefredericks. Saved me the time.

The Phillies team is like two sinusoidal waves out of phase with eachother, that sometimes has merging phase shifts. One sinusoidal wave is the starting rotation that is up and down, and the other sinusoidal wave is the lineup. Sometimes we're hitting great, and pitching terrible, sometimes we're hitting terrible, but pitching great, sometimes we're pitching just good enough, but our hitting can't do squat. We can only win when the sum of both waves is greater than zero.

However, there are times when this team is rocking, and both the pitching and the hitting are clicking together on all cylinders, and that's a very dangerous team. If only they can synch up, and get rolling. We've seen it before, we know they can do it, I only wish they could explode early and require less drama in september.

Right now the team needs something to rouse the necessary energy. A big series, a crazy win, something. Losing multiple series to below .500 teams is not helping.

[stevefredericks]

havent heard the word sinusoidal in a while. my day is now complete.

but all i know is the phils are over 500 right now, which usually isnt the case at this point in the season. rollins just got back, howards coming around, myers will improve, the marlins are going to hit reality real hard, and the mets are old.

optimism.

[jtq]

the people of philadelphia reject your so-called "optimism."

[Benjamin]

I accept your optimism stevefredericks. Eternal hope is something I appreciate in someone. Also, I agree that being over .500 now is a rarity. This team perenially goes nuts after the all-star break. Here's to hoping the tradition continues. So who will it be this year to take on DiMaggio's (sp?) hit streak record?