Game 147 Recap: Phillies 9, Braves 4

by gondeee on Sep 18, 2009 10:44 PM EDT in Game Recaps Comment 28 comments

Every bad break that could happen for the Braves seemed to happen in this game. Every bad call by an umpire, every bad play of infield defense, lackadasical baserunning, it seems like nothing broke the Braves way. Bobby Cox removed Yunel Escobar from the game after he failed to run hard on a grounder that he may have been able to reached base on due to a wide throw. Matt Diaz was called out on a play at the plate, where it looked like he may have been safe. Omar Infante was out at first on the tail end of a double-play when he was clearly safe. Nothing seemed to go our way.

The Braves saw the Phillies starter leave after three innings for precautionary injury reasons, but they couldn't get any runs off of his replacement.

The Phillies early offense was mainly a product of Ryan Howard, who slugged two homeruns off of Tim Hudson. Huddy started real good, retiring the first 10 batters in a row, and was staked to a 1-run lead, but Howard didn't make the lead last long with a 2-run shot in the fourth. He followed that up with a solo shot in the sixth.

With the bases loaded and only one out eighth inning, that's when Bobby Cox called on Manny Acosta, which is Cox essentially saying that the season is over. He allowed two runs to score, and those ended up being big runs since Brian McCann hit a 2-run homerun the next half-inning.

It's the Phillies bullpen that's known for late inning collapses, but tonight it was the Braves pen, as they gave up 6 key late-inning runs -- made even bigger because we scored 3 late-inning runs of our own against the Phils pen.

Final - 9.18.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R
Philadelphia Phillies	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	2	4	9
Atlanta Braves	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	1	4

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Really, really depressing loss. Considering how good we looked early on against Happ, only to get shut down by Kendrick, and then watch helplessly as Bobby seemingly threw in the towel… =[[

by ATLforlife on Sep 18, 2009 11:40 PM EDT reply actions

Well

Thats why we have two more games. Lets recover from this and win 7 more

by drumzalicious on Sep 19, 2009 12:38 AM EDT reply actions

Update

Colorado just lost to the Diamond Backs.

So we stay in the same place in the WC race. We could use the Giants losing as well

by drumzalicious on Sep 19, 2009 12:41 AM EDT up reply actions

It felt like we were playing against:

The Phillies, Umps, and our own BP tonight. It was a very disappointing loss for me :(
Tomorrows another day. We will be playing the same team, and same umps, but hopefully not the same BP.

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

by HEYJUDE on Sep 19, 2009 3:33 AM EDT reply actions

You know, the Braves play the Phillies 19 times every year. You’d think by now they’d figure out either how to pitch to Howard or to not pitch to him.

by redwards95 on Sep 19, 2009 6:33 AM EDT reply actions

It would be nice for a change to read in a headline after a Philly loss:

“The Phillies Beat the Braves” – instead of - “Howard Killed The Braves Again”.

Pitching to him (especially with off speed stuff) boggles my boggler.

by NCChopper on Sep 19, 2009 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes. Sat there dumbfounded as we continued to not walk him. wtf.

by Lizziebeth on Sep 19, 2009 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions

you don’t need to walk him… he Ks a ton… so pitching to him isn’t a bad idea… you only walk players who you don’t think you can get out (i.e. Pujols or Bonds). Howard has tried to shwo we cant get him out, but its not the complicated. If you pitch Howard inside with hard stuff he will struggle. He likes to get extended and hit to center. He likes ball on the middle to outer half, or slow stuff inside he can basically golf out. So you throw fastball up and in and let him handcuff himself, or you throw the slider… or you throw fastballs low and away. But up and away is a bad place to pitch him and thats what we continually do.

Another note… he seems to hit the two seemer really well.

Heyward,Hanson,and Shaffer r ready now!! Why do you think they havent signed the "right handed bat"?

by fatazfoot on Jan 7, 2009 8:59 PM EST

by Swo12bv on Sep 19, 2009 4:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Same here. Or at least throw a high fastball. I’ve seen him take plenty of Francouer-esque swings at impossible pitches. Hell, I even didn’t mind the HBP…at least he didn’t drive in three runs!

It's going to take a little bit of a miracle, but why not? ~ Bobby Cox

by Old Braves' Fan on Sep 19, 2009 4:16 PM EDT up reply actions

and obv lizzie i was not attacking u… i merely wanted to insert my mini rant underneath ur post

Heyward,Hanson,and Shaffer r ready now!! Why do you think they havent signed the "right handed bat"?

by fatazfoot on Jan 7, 2009 8:59 PM EST

by Swo12bv on Sep 19, 2009 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions

no prob, didn’t take it as an attack. And I get and agree with what you’re saying – the majority of the time we face him (nice scouting report on Howard, btw). Just not towards the end of that game – he was so on. It was…scary.

by Lizziebeth on Sep 19, 2009 11:27 PM EDT up reply actions

deju all over again ...

How hard can it be? Ryan Howard beats us again! Can we pitch around or just walk him? This is what a lot of us are saying about Bobby Cox, making the same mistakes over and over again. Letting Acosta pitch with the game still in doubt is just a waste and it usually means it is over and it was. Thankfully, out here in SoCal we have a two teams in the playoff picture with better managers. The Braves have better pitching than the Dodgers and Angels but we seem to find ways to lose and Bobby Cox is the reason for me.

by Fortune favors the brave(s) on Sep 19, 2009 9:13 AM EDT reply actions

deja vu sp

by Fortune favors the brave(s) on Sep 19, 2009 9:16 AM EDT reply actions

Reading the postgame wrapup from the ajc, Bobby said he didn’t want to use the main guys unless we had a lead, which absolutely showcases that he has no clue how to manage a bullpen. 6-0 lead: we better use Moylan, Soriano, and Gonzo. Down 5-3: we get that crap we saw last night. While Nunez is walking Paul Bako and Matt Stairs, no one is warming up in the pen. Oh well, he did do something no one else could: get Howard out.

I hated it that Logan hit Howard (mostly); i think he’s gotten a pretty raw deal this year. I was thinking “well maybe he’ll come through here and Bobby will use him more.” Oh well Boone, enjoy the rest of the year off.

I was there, and got several pics of the minor leaguers, not to mention autographs! I’ll work on putting a post together, unless Lizziebeth beats me to it and blows it out of the water, to which i’ll put my pictures away in shame.

"Matt Diaz is a baseball player."-Joe Simpson

by 10-4 on Sep 19, 2009 9:33 AM EDT reply actions

Put that post together!

In case you didn’t know it, not posting pics is a punishable offense here.
I’m relatively short and couldn’t get too many good, clear shots, so I hope yours come out better. Got a lot of turned heads, too. Kept waiting for you to tap me on the shoulder and tell me to get my fat ass…camera out of the way! Did you get the silent treatment by Barbaro, too?
If you don’t care, I’ll be glad to just add the one or two shots I did get as comments in your post. Speaking of short, did you catch any of Meds dancing in BP? I got a little video of it, but not the really good moves. I did get this nice pic though:

by Lizziebeth on Sep 19, 2009 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, Barbaro did seem pretty cold. RSF was real nice, i have a funny story about him i’ll put in my post. I didn’t catch BP, we got there around 5:30 and went ahead and got in the autograph line, not being sure how many people would be served. I did love the pregame golfing with moylan beating Laroche and the golf pros. and then Medlen catching the first pitch with his little backpack on!

"Matt Diaz is a baseball player."-Joe Simpson

by 10-4 on Sep 19, 2009 2:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Lizziebeth,

Were you wearing a blue, Braves shirt and sitting on an end-of-the-row, aisle seat a few rows behind the Braves’ dugout during the game? I saw a woman on TV there with a nice camera intently taking photos during the game and actually wondered if it was you. If you’re shy or just don’t want anyone to know that was you on TV, I’ll understand. Thanks in advance though.

It's going to take a little bit of a miracle, but why not? ~ Bobby Cox

by Old Braves' Fan on Sep 19, 2009 4:38 PM EDT up reply actions

No, sorry, that wasn’t me! I had one of my white Braves jerseys on Friday night. When I’m not stalking the dugout, I do sit in that general area, but much further up.

However, Wednesday night I did have a blue Braves shirt on (but I had a navy blue rainjacket over it), and I briefly sat behind the dugout in 2 different places in the 7th & 8th innings. Soon after the game started, they made an announcement that because of the rain delay, everyone could move down to whatever seat they wanted to sit in. I still sat in my “usual” spot (my companions didn’t want to move) until the 7th, and then I started moving around taking pics. Here’s a couple of shots from those places:

by Lizziebeth on Sep 20, 2009 1:17 AM EDT up reply actions

Thanks...

…for the in-depth, detail oriented response. Though now I feel a bit “creepy,” like a stalker! LOL

Always love your photos for their quality and composition. I’ve always been a wannabe photog. Keep it up.

It's going to take a little bit of a miracle, but why not? ~ Bobby Cox

by Old Braves' Fan on Sep 24, 2009 5:08 PM EDT up reply actions

On Braves recap:

When the Braves won seven of the first nine games that they played against the Phillies this year, they prevented Howard from leaving the yard. While losing five of their past seven against the defending World Series champs, they have seen Howard homer seven times in a span of just 24 at-bats.

What average - just in homers is that?

Howard, who has hit .342 and homered once every 9.52 at-bats in 82 career games against the Braves, secured his fourth consecutive 40-homer season with the two-out solo shot that he hit over the right-center-field wall.

His career at bats further proove that you’ve not figured this guy out, so our manager saying THIS blew my mind….

“We know what we’re doing with him, but he seems to get us every series,” said Braves manager Bobby Cox in reference to Howard, who has compiled half of his six multihomer performances this year over the span of his past five games against Atlanta.

Really now.

Even Ray Charles would see how to fix this particular thorn in our side.

Pitching to him is like sticking your tongue out at the fans, the players in your dugout and everyone who knows that you don’t let one man beat you time and time again.

by NCChopper on Sep 19, 2009 10:46 AM EDT reply actions

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti

by sddbaker on Sep 19, 2009 10:55 AM EDT reply actions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t48brs4QRjY&feature=related

"My God! Good news fans, the Braves are showing signs of life for the first time in weeks. As a matter of fact, they appear to be beating the crap out of each other."

by bravos1984 on Sep 19, 2009 2:59 PM EDT up reply actions