You win some, you lose some

Great season, Phils. We know you'll be back in 2010.

That's just vintage Vicente you've got right there

Jon Weisman has a report over at the LA Times that either Vicente Padilla or his bodyguard shot Padilla in the leg at a shooting range today. I'm pretty sure that speaks for itself, so there you go.

In other news, Myers was joking around with Hamels, and it got blown out of proportion by some idiot in the clubhouse who was trying to make a story out of it. I'm pretty sure we all saw that one coming, considering there was one report from one witness that nobody seemed to agree with.

Shane Victorino is "day-to-day" according to Charlie Manuel, but Shane, being the gamer he is, says that he's fine.

Lastly, here's what Scott Lauber considered to be highlights from Pedro's press conference today:

–On his legacy as one of the greatest pitchers of all-time: “I’m pretty sure that my name will be mentioned. I don’t know in which way. But maybe after I retire, because normally when you die, people tend to actually give you props about the good things. But that’s after you die. So I’m hoping to get it before I die. I don’t want to die and then hear everybody say, ‘Oh, there goes one of the best players ever.’ If you’re going to give me props, just give them to me right now.”

–On whether it would surprise him to know Red Sox fans are pulling for him to beat the Yankees: “No, it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t surprise me at all. I know that they don’t like the Yankees to win, not even in Nintendo games. And knowing that I am part of Boston, I consider myself a Bostonian, as well, too, I’ve been a Montrealer, a Bostonian, and now a New Yorker, and somehow, I might become a Philadelphian now. But I’ve only been there for a short period. It’s something that’s a work in progress. I’m pretty sure that every Boston fan out there can feel proud that I’m going to try to beat the Yankees, and I’m going to give just the same effort I always did for them. They’re special fans, and they will always have my respect.”

–On his ability to improvise by changing speeds and location in the middle of an at-bat: “If I say it, honestly you might not believe it, but that’s all created in the middle of the moment. What you see is a combination of experience and instinct. It’s just instinct, surviving. Everybody that grows up in the Dominican and didn’t have a rich life, it’s a survival. That’s what we call it in the Dominican — survival. And in baseball I am a survivor. I’m someone that wasn’t meant to be, and here I am on one big stage. I really thank God for the blessings of being here, because I was supposed to just survive and that’s it. And here you are, guys; I have a lot of you paying attention to me right now. That’s a great joy.”

That's all I've got until tomorrow. Force Game Seven.

Brett Myers continues to be Brett Myers

According to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, Brett Myers had a few choice words for Cole Hamels after Game 5 last night:

As Myers walked past Hamels near Hamels’ locker he said, mocking, “What are you doing here? I thought you quit."

Hamels, the witness said, responded with an expletive.

Before the situation escalated, Myers was guided away by a team official.

That's all according to just one witness, and nobody seems to have corroborated the story, as Brown is the only one reporting it. If it's true, though: Awesome job, Brett. That should help bring the team together for a run at this thing. Granted, nobody on the Phillies was too happy about Hamels saying that he "can't wait for it to end" while referring to this season, but Myers should have laid off the snark a little bit. That's the kind of disunity that could kill this team's chances.

Holy. Cow.

The New York Yankees learned a valuable lesson last night: Don't hit Shane Victorino. After Cliff Lee had a forgettable first inning to put the Phillies behind 1-0, the front four of the Philadelphia lineup all got on base, including Chase Utley with a three-run blast to give the Fightin Phils the lead. The short-rested AJ Burnett put Victorino on the ground just minutes before Utley's blast, and Yanks' manager Joe Girardi argued that Victorino had swatted at the ball. Utley didn't take kindly to the suggestion, and he deposited the first pitch he saw from Pettitte into the rightfield stands.

At that moment, it all seemed possible. The Phillies had Cliff Lee on the mound, and he wasn't going to blow a lead for them. They could head back to New York needing just two more wins, and there would be a real shot at successfully defending their crown. Unfortunately, they got a little ahead of themselves. Up by six runs going into the top of the eighth inning, Cliff Lee started to falter. A single by Damon and doubles by Teixiera and A-Rod cut the Phillies' lead to four and knocked Lee out of the game. Chan Ho Park did a solid job in relief, allowing just one more run to cross the plate and getting all three outs.

Then came panic time for Philadelphia fans, who wondered if Brad Lidge would be strolling out to save the game. Instead, Ryan Madson took the hill, gave up a couple of quick hits, and forced Derek Jeter to ground into a double play. Philly's lead was down to two, but Madson managed to strike Teixiera out swinging to end the game. Holy crap, the Phillies forced a game six.

Now, I'm not saying that the Phillies are the equivalent of the 2004 Boston Red Sox; they are certainly far from it. But with their backs to the wall, they have a pretty good shot at this thing. We've already seen how well AJ Burnett did on short rest (2 IP, 6 ER,) and the Yankees are going to put another short-rested pitcher on the mound in Andy Pettitte. Let's be honest here, Pettitte looked hittable in Game Three, and that was on full rest. Pedro on full rest versus Pettitte on short rest should favor the Phillies. Also, if the Phillies' bats can come alive like they finally did in Game 5, they should be in extremely good shape.

The question for Game 6 will be the bullpen: How long do you leave Pedro in? Who closes in a save situation? Park has looked very good in relief, and the Phils have Durbin and Myers as strong late-inning options. Alright, scratch my original question. What the heck do they do with Lidge? My opinion is that he can do it, but they better have a sizeable lead for him to work with. Anything the hitters can do to keep Rivera and Lidge out of the game would be huge. I am excited. Oh, so very, very excited.

FORCE GAME SEVEN.

The bats are alive!

Now these Phillies deserve to win this World Series

Excuse me while I ramble about Game 4

And so it culminated late on November 1, 2009. The Brad Lidge collapse was all but complete, as he suffered a loss on the biggest stage in baseball, 7-4 to the New York Yankees. Pedro Feliz had hit a solo home run just minutes before to tie the game and overcome the litany of miscues and errors the Phillies had made through the first eight innings. Lidge had even shut down the first two hitters the Yankee lineup had to offer, moving quickly toward the final out of the top of the ninth inning. But, as he had done so many times before, "Lights Out" Lidge handed the game over with little resistance.

What's gotten into Lidge? It hardly seems to matter now that the Phillies are a loss away from being MLB's second-place finisher, but it is certainly relevant when it comes to what the organization does with him during the offseason. After he had seemingly "gotten it back" during this playoff run, it hardly seems necessary to let the guy go. At the same time, the numbers are hard to ignore: 11 blown saves and eight losses during the regular season and one glaring three-run massacre in the World Series. Do his 31 regular-season saves and five-straight shutout appearances in the playoffs make up for those numbers?

The blame for tonight could be put on Lidge, but Brad's pitching doesn't change the mediocre performances we've seen out of the lineup (outside of Jayson Werth, of course) and Cole Hamels. Ryan Howard has been an automatic out during the World Series, Raul Ibanez hardly puts the bat on the ball, and outside of his three solo home runs, Chase Utley has looked weak at the plate. Utley also blew a defensive play during Game 4 tonight, ignoring the fundamentals of baseball and trying to make a spectacular play.

The Phillies are the defending World Series champions. They have the experience and know-how to win against the Yankees. However, while the Yankees should be the ones struggling with the spotlight, the Phils seem starstruck and ill-prepared to deal with the pressure. Throughout the postseason, there was a swagger associated with this Phillies team. They had their heads on straight but were extremely confident in winning. In the World Series, though, they've been lost, especially at the plate. The Phillies that we've witnessed for the last three games don't deserve to win a World Series.

Maybe with their backs against the wall, things will be put into perspective. Maybe they'll realize they can't win it all in one game and take their time. Maybe they won't try to hit home runs with every swing. It's a lot of maybes, and the way they've been playing, I should be phrasing it as "less than likely." But, you know what, it could be exactly what this team needs. All it takes is three wins in a row*, which is entirely possible with this lineup.

It starts with Game 5, it starts with Cliff Lee, and it starts TONIGHT. GO PHILS.

*- The Phillies have had 14 win streaks of at least three games this season

Before they start rambling on about home runs...

We all know that we're about to hear how Yankee Stadium and CBP are launching pads for home runs, and that neither stadium really does much for pitching. However, if you do a little research (a.k.a. Google it,) you'll find that Citizens Bank Park is the most balanced park in terms of home runs. ESPN.com keeps a page that ranks MLB stadiums on their "Park Factors," which are defined as such:

Park Factor compares the rate of stats at home vs. the rate of stats on the road. A rate higher than 1.000 favors the hitter. Below 1.000 favors the pitcher. Teams with home games in multiple stadiums list aggregate Park Factors.

Basically, 1.000 is the perfect balance. Yankee Stadium has a HR Park Factor of 1.261, by far the highest in all of Major League Baseball (Angel Stadium comes in second with 1.220.) Citizens Bank Park, on the other hand, is 16th out of 30 parks this season. Its HR Park Factor? 1.005, the closest to 1.000 there is (Wrigley is 1.006.)

So, next time that someone tries to convince you that the reason the Phillies hit so many home runs is because they play in a stadium that's like playing on the moon, shove the stats in their face. Sure, they won't like you very much, but you'll be right, and that's all that really matters.

Tonight's forecast:

60 to 70 percent chance of rain showers, getting worse the later it gets. Temperatures will be in the low 60s around game time, obviously getting colder as the night goes on. Here's to hoping that Bud Selig doesn't mess this one up. A special tip for him: If you're going to call the game, call it on the end of an inning. Don't wait for the road team to tie it up and call it on a half-inning, just call it at a logical point.

Prediction:

Phillies 5, Yankees 4