16 innings

It was not a good night last night, I lost $5 in poker (though I lasted pretty long) and those darn phillies teased again with another close loss. It was a 16 inning marathon. I watched the first nine innings on tv and listened to the next 2 on the radio and decided it would be good to play some poker instead of stressing over the phils game. I got updates on the game from my friend while i was playing. On the phils side it was as expected, never getting a clutch hit, on the pitching side, I was suprised to hear every inning that Madson was still in. I don't blame Madson for losing that game, I dont understand while he was still in the game for his 8th inning of work. He was over 100 pitches and had 7 innings of work. The Phillies still had Tom Gordon and I think Julio Santana, I dont know where he was.
Besides the fact that Manuel should have taken Myers out, the Phils lost because they got no heart or desire to win. Stupid errors and missed oppurtunities to close out the game took the win away from the Phils all 16 innings. I don't want to have to keep saying this about the Phils cause I love them, but its gotta change.

A few notes on some of the players:
David Bell - I'm sorry to have been hating on him so much in the past and wanting the phils to get rid of him because this last month he has really stepped up and started being a decent 3rd basemen. I still the phillies need to find a replacement for him, but does appear to be doing pretty well this year.
Bobby Abreu - I hate to have to say this because I really want to like him, but hes a bum. I dont care about his recent "hit streak." His numbers for the season so far .281 avg - 5 hr - 31 rbi - .450 obp. I do have to give him credit with his on base percentage and that's because he has a great eye and gets a lot of walks, but thats the only good thing he does anymore. Last night i saw him miss a fly ball that I feel like was the opposite of Rowand's face smash catch, he just doesnt try hard for some balls in the outfield. Alright, you can say that he does actually run fast but he makes it look like hes not, alright well i still think he needs to catch more balls in the outfield, hes a fast guy. If the phils can get a good starting pitcher for him, I say definately get rid of him and give the high flyin Hawaiian an every day job. But what they should not do is just sell him to the yankees for cash, I'm not worried because I dont think Gillick would do that. Basically, I dont think Abreu hustles or has enough grit, heart, whatever you want to call it. I love his talent though so if he picks it up somehow I'll definately support him.
Jimmy Rollins - I love Jimmy and I definately don't want to get rid of him, dont think I'm going there with this. I just want Jimmy to get out of his horrible streak. Maybe he needs to get out of the leadoff spot, I don't really know. I just hate seeing him bat and every time he connects with the ball and he can tell its an out his head just drops. I feel for him and I want him to get better. I think Manuel needs to do something to help him out, just throwing him out there every day at leadoff isnt fixing it. Jimmy's average is down to .242 and an on base of .308, that just doesn't work for a leadoff hitter. Whatever Jimmy did last year to start that streak he needs to do it again and find that groove. God Speed Jimmy, we want you back.

The mets got El Duque from Arizona for only Jorge Julio, I think thats a pretty good deal. Julio is good but not that good, he could turn out to be good for Arizona. Duque is a great pickup for the mets though, which i hate. He should give them what they want and need, and thats bad for the Phillies.

Now what has happened to Cole Hamels, hes apparently injured now! This is not good, pisses me off cause i wanted to see him pitch on monday. O well, cant be selfish, just gotta hope that he's alright and doesn't miss too much. Maybe Madson will be back in the rotation after his showing last night. Who knows, i just hope the Phils start doing better and the starting pitchers start giving us some quality starts.