First congratulations to the Phillies on a great season. They have a great team, and they even seem like darn nice guys.
Second, why in the world was JP Howell pitching to Burrell? I know Burrell hasn’t been great this post season, but JP shouldn’t pitch to a right hander in that situation. I actually said it out loud as Pat was coming to bat.
Third, why is BJ Upton swinging on the first pitch with Crawford on first? Killer.
Sorry if this is negative but these are my thoughts tonight. Tomorrow I’ll have more on how much I love this team and thanking them for this magical season.
Maddons BRAIN FROZE in the cold air. Very poor decisions in this series but still Manager of the Year. David Price has proved he belonged but I guess he didn’t kiss Maddon goodnight last night. Price is a starter and should have pitched all three innings and more if necessary.
I Wish Perez would have stole third on first move so he could have taged up and he’d scored the tying run. It stinks tonight, but tomorrow we will all realize how wonderful this year was. I Cant wait for pitchers and catchers to report in 114 days. Next year we will be even better.
Why was Bartlett sent home on that single by Aki with only one out? I know their guy faked the toss to first, but Bartlett should have never been sent home in that situation. I think that sunk the ship. dang!
The fake was a good one. If he made the throw to first Bartlett would have scored. I guess you would have to be on the field to see that.
I couldn’t figure out why Maddon let his pitchers hit – twice. I guess he didn’t want to burn up his bullpen, but geez, it was a 1-run game.
Utley totally faked out everyone in the ballpark, so it’s hard to fault Bartlett on that. He figured the Phils would trade the out for a run but Utley doesn’t play that way.
The Rays shouldn’t hang their heads at all. They beat the Red Sox to get there and outside of game 4 they played well.
Next season will be interesting because they won’t be able to sneak up on anyone. They have enough good pitchers to keep them going.
Cathy – there were two outs and I think that was just a great play by Utley.
J – I think you nailed it with the Upton comment. That GIDP sucked the life right out of me last night. To that point, it felt like a good see saw battle and our momentum was building. Course, without all his earlier production, who knows if we’d have been able to overcome Longo and Pena’s drought. Coulda, woulda, shoulda… hopefully it will make everyone wiser next year. At the end of the day, I don’t think there was a single loser on the field at the end of the 9th. What a season. I’m looking forward to your post tomorrow which I’m sure will be Classic Her Rays. Your blog has been a blast this year. Looking forward to your Hot Stove posts. Thanks for your commitment.
Thanks PTownFan and you’re right there were no losers yesterday, the Rays just came up a little short.