I think this is a big series coming up, and this is usually the type of series we do well with. We rarely sweep a division rival or a crappy team in another division, but I feel like this is the kind of series we would sweep. We've lost 4 out of our last 5, all to NL East opponents. The Dodgers are first in the West. Whether they have Manny or not (which they don't), I think this is our kind of series to dominate. We did this last year against the Brewers in September when we needed to keep winning. We did it last year to the Dodgers when we needed to win in late August. We just swept the Cardinals last week when we needed to get back on track. I know I predict great success for the Phillies a lot, but this is one I'm more confident in. The Dodgers have very tough pitching, but I think we can sweep them.
The first 2 games we are facing lefty starters. I don't know if I've said this before, but I think the whole lefty-lefty thing is a little overblown. With that being said, I also know that Charlie Manuel swears by this. So with 2 lefty starters and a team with a few lefties in their bullpen, here's my suggested lineup at least for the first 2 games:
CF Victorino
2B Utley
RF Werth
1B Howard
3B Feliz
LF Ibanez
SS Rollins
C Ruiz
P Park/Moyer
You may look at that and think I'm crazy for batting Feliz before Ibanez. Well here's my rationale for that:
-Feliz has just as many hits this season as Chase Utley does in just 2 more at bats.
-It further breaks up our lefties, causing the Dodgers to go through their entire bullpen in about one inning most likely.
-Feliz has been clutch for us this season. He has 19 RBIs to Bani's 23, and that's batting 7th and behind him. The Naked Mole Rat has been driving in runs like crazy and he's hit 9 home runs. This is limiting any runs that Feliz can drive in, yet he still has 19.
-Putting him behind Howard does not provide as much protection for Howard in the lineup as there would be with Ibanez. This might be seen as a bad thing, but I don't know that it is. Like I said, Feliz has been clutch. I think putting Howard on base will get Feliz going and prove to be a mistake. Then, even if Feliz does end up struggling, we still have Ibanez after him.
-I think this causes more of a discussion in response to this post
There is also the possibility of putting Feliz 3rd and Werth 5th to keep Howard Werth and Ibanez together in the lineup. I'd be interested in what other people think about this
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Since I took the glass half empty approach a few weeks ago when Cam predicted a sweep of the Marlins, I'm going to do the same with the Dodgers series this week (and hope I'm wrong again). So here it goes... There's no way they sweep the Dodgers.
ReplyDeleteCam - your love for Pete Happy is a little much for me. The guy is playing WAY over his career norms - he's never hit over .253 in his life! Not sure if I'm convinced that after a little over a month he can all of a sudden hit like Chase Utley. My prediction is that by the end of the season he won't be over .270 (that would actually be a very good year for him). I hope I'm wrong about that, too.
Let me take a shot...
Vic
Utley
Werth
Howard
Rollins
Ibanez
Feliz
Ruiz
Pitcher
Yes, I am the one who suggested batting Rollins 7th, but I don't know if that's possible with our lefty-heavy lineup (especially against lefties). But he'll get a lot of pitches to hit between Howard and Ibanez.
Here's a question - Rollins was on fire two years ago - he hit 30 bombs - think he was on the juice?
OK I do not think that Feliz will hit like Utley this season, but I am just talking about this series. Maybe in a month or a week or a day he won't be doing so well anymore, but right now he's hitting. I like the idea of Rollins getting good pitches between Howard and Ibanez though.
ReplyDeleteAs for the steroids, it's a tough call. I think when Rollins is on he has the swing to hit homers the way he did. He just needs to hit the ball and that quick and compact swing will take the ball all over the place. And it's not like he was hitting balls into the upper deck or anything. Sure, there is some question, but I also think he got started a little late if he was on 'roids. That was when MLB started cracking down. I don't think even Jimmy is that arrogant
if i had to guess i'd say rollins wasn't on anything, either. i just don't know how a guy can be this bad after being that good - just trying to make sense of it.
ReplyDeleteyou know, if something like 100 people are on this hidden steriod list from the early 2000's that A-Rod was on, that means the liklihood is pretty good that at least one Phillie was on the juice. If you had to guess, what Phillie would you say was on the juice back then? I'm going with Abreu. I hope the list comes out some day so we can check our answers.
If I had to pick one guy...Doug Glanville.
ReplyDeleteobviously kidding.
nice, petzold!
ReplyDelete