Recap: Phillies 5, Rockies 4
Turning point: The Phillies rallied for three runs in the ninth after the Rockies scored three in the bottom of the eighth to go ahead 4-2. Closer Huston Street had one out and a runner on second when he threw a 3-2 changeup to Chase Utley after throwing all fastballs and walked him. Ryan Howard yanked a 2-1 fastball to right field for a two-run, game-tying double and Jayson Werth followed with a singled that put the Phillies ahead and finished Street.
At the plate: Pinch-hitter Jason Giambi singled home the tying run in a three-run eighth, and Yorvit Torrealba, who went 2-for-4, followed with a two-run double. Carlos Gonzalez went 2-for-4 with singles in the first and ninth and hit .588 (10-for-17) in the series. …The Rockies put runners on first and second with two out in the ninth against left-hander Scott Eyre. Brad Lidge came on to face Troy Tulowitzki and struck him out, throwing five sliders and nothing else. …Shane Victorino in the first and Werth in the sixth hit solo homers for the Phillies. …Jimmy Rollins went 2-for-5 with a double. …Utley went 1-for-2 with three walks and finished the series with an average of .429 (6-for-14) and an on-base percentage of .556.
On the mound: Ubaldo Jimenez allowed those two solo homers and six hits in seven innings and became the first Rockies starter to work past the fifth. …Phillies starter Cliff Lee, who threw a complete-game, six-hitter in Game 1, allowed three runs, one earned, and five hits in 7 1/3 innings. …Street lost for the second straight game and went 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA in the series, allowing six hits, three walks and four runs in 2 2/3 innings.
Numbers game: .200 average (7-for-35) for the Rockies in the series with runners in scoring position, including 2-for-12 in Game 4.
He said it: “We stood toe-to-toe with the defending world champions. It didn’t happen for a number of reasons. I take full responsibility for there not being a Game 5 and not keeping us alive, not giving the guys a chance.”
Street in the aftermath of the ninth inning, when he retired two of the six batters he faced and allowed three hits, three runs and a walk.
Tough end to a memorable season by a very enjoyable team.
Jack, Steve, Tracy: thanks for all the news throughout the season. I hope you guys will be sticking around for the offseason and 2010.
Rockies fans can hold their heads high. It was a beautiful season and we went down fighting.
Three comments on the game tonight. First, the giant American flag they unfurled for the Star Spangled Banner was awesome! Seeing that really watered up my eyes for several minutes. It looked to be 300 ft by 200 ft. Second, standing up in the nosebleed seats, I have to say it is an awesome sight looking down on 45,000 people yelling their heads off waving rally towels. What a difference between regular season and playoff baseball! The fans were great tonight.
And third, and more to the point of the game, some batters are free swingers while some are takers. Howard and Werth are swingers, and I can respect that. But Utley and Ibanez are takers. They don’t swing at anything until they get 2 strikes on them. It frustrated me to no end that Rockies pitchers kept pitching around these two jokers. If they are going to take, and surely the scouting reports must say they are takers, then pound the strike zone! I think Street blew it in the 9th when he fell behind Utley 2-0 and ended up walking him. At that point you just knew it was going to turn out bad, and it did.
Another exciting game that went the wrong way. When Howard came up I was hoping that Tracy would bring in Beimel although I knew he wouldn’t. We wouldn’t have gotten this far without Street but he blew a save in the last week to Milwaukee and wasn’t effective during this series. But managers sometimes get stubborn. Case in point Clint Barmes. He was a liability during the series.
They say no matter how many games you see, keep watching you might see something new. I’ve been watching baseball for almost 60 years. Dexter Fowler’s hurdle was something new and could have been the play of the game if they only had won.
But the Phillies were a better team. They deserved to win. Wait till next year.
Phillies showed which team has the money players. Utley, Howard , Werth all came through during the series. Helton, Tulo did not. Street just didn’t come back from his late season injury–wasn’t the same guy at all. Barmes and Atkins methodically killed tonights rallies. Gonzalez was spectacular unfortunate that following lineup never got on track. Lots of questions to address in the offseason. I think we need some outside seasoning–adding producers to the homegrown talent. In the playoffs you need more than prospects.
Congrats on a great season Rockies. A great foundation was built for many years to come.
The one question that I have is that why didn’t Beimel didn’t come in to face Howard and why wasn’t Gonzales playing back to take away doubles?
Throughout the series, in a tight situation Tracey brought it Beimel or Morales to face Howard and they got them. You expect your closer to do it, but Street was struggling for the couple batters before.
Gonzales was playing way to shallow. If he is playing back, especially with Howard’s tendency to hit it hard and pull it. He probably catches that ball.
I guess from my part and all of us, it is always easier to look back than to try and manage it.
I am looking forward to many more years of great Rockies baseball.
Interesting thing about Charlie Manuel and Brad Lidge’s struggles. Because Lidge has struggled, Manuel has been freed from the tyranny of the closer.
Think about it. Last year, Manuel starts the 9th with Lidge, no ifs, ands, or buts. So it’s Lidge vs. Ian Stewart.
This year, he’s free to play matchups in the 9th. So it’s Scott Eyre on to force Jim Tracy’s hand (given Eyre’s effectiveness against lefties, and Stewart’s very poor numbers against lefties this year).
So Manuel gets Eyre vs. EY, Jr. If I’m a Phillies fan, I’ll take Eyre vs. EY over Lidge vs. Stewart any day.
Meanwhile, Jim Tracy has Huston Street, he of the awesome save percentage (only 2 blown saves) this year. So naturally he has to allow Street to close out the Phillies. So you get less than optimal matchups. 2 on, 2 out, Ryan Howard up (Street having just walked Utley). I want Beimel vs. Howard, given how ineffective (.654 OPS this year) Howard is against lefties. And remember, with his sidearm delivery, Street is significantly less effective against lefties. But under the tyranny of the closer, no manager with a firmly-established closer is allowed to do that. So Street stays on and Howard essentially ends the Rockies season.
I’m not being critical of Tracy. Every manager with an established closer sticks with his closer until the save is blown. Charlie Manuel would’ve put in Lidge and stuck with him last year. It was only when Lidge lost the closer’s job that Manuel was freed up to mix and match to optimize matchups. And tonight, that was very likely the difference.
To the InsidetheRockies guys – Thank you! You saved me a subscription to ESPN, your writing is fantastic and you have helped make this a great season. I truly hope you all are still running in the Spring – this is the best site for following a team I know of.
To the Rockies – Great season. You took your shots and although we fans are disappointed you have given us your all and came within a few plays of facing the Dodgers on Thursday. If the Phils end up going on to repeat I would not be suprised to hear them repeat what the Braves said of the Rockies in 1995 – “They were our toughtest battle this post-season.”
To Rocket-Man’s post, I have to disagree in part. Facing four lefty starters changed the dynamic of the team. Should Tracy have played Stewart and Hawpe? I certainly think that Seth Smith, a very good hitter, looked overmatched against a tough lefty today, and that is what would have likely have happened wtih Stewart.
I do not think there are a lot of tough decisions to make this off-season. Atkins is gone. He is not the 2005-2007 Atkins anymore. His D is a big minus, especially with the emphasis on this team on sinker ball pitchers. We know our starting CF (Fowler), our strating LF (CarGo who took a Carlos Beltran big step this playoff), SS (Tulo struggled the last two games but Lidge has been before this season one of the best closers in the business). Helton will be back at 1B (though where you hit him next year has to be discussed). They do have to decide whether to keep Yorvit or go with a cheaper alternative and hope Chris I goes back to 2008 (a good bet I think). They want to resign Barmes, who gives a great glove and power but yikes, he has to show up in the playoffs where he looked lost. Marquis is gone (he was a replacement for Francis for the season, everyone benefited, but he is too costly for our budget and his 2nd halves have to make you a little hesitant). It looks like Bentencourt will have his option picked up. They have thier closer who will have a chip on his shoulder in 2010 to prove that he was the guy we saw all season and not this playoff (was Huston fully healed after his injury – he did not look as good after he got hurt either in the regular seasons last weeks or here these last three games).
The big issues going forward – Trade Hawpe? What to do with EY Jr (trade chip, convert to super utility, challenge Barmes?)? Who do yuo get to be your lefty out of the pen (Beimel did not make himself invaluable this season)? Do you keep Morales in the pen or make him a starter? Try and trade 2007′s closer or give Manny another shot? Try and get extensions with Barmes and DLR (will his comfort here get us a home town discount?)? All in all these are not that big a set of decisions – most teams have far more questions going into the off-season.
I think Jim Tracy should be Manager of the year, but I do feel like he managed very differently in the playoffs and it hurt him. Abandoning Stewart and Ianetta for teh whole series? Why go with Hammel at home (3rd highest home ERA in NL) instead of eitherh going with Contreras or pitching Hammel in game 2 and Cookie in 3? And yet, coming back with Huston after throwing a lot in game 3 and not going to Beimel to get Howard? Did Tracy feel the pressure? Hey he was nails all season and deserves the benefit of the doubt. It was the defending WS champs, it was 4 very tough lefties. He was facing the loss of his obvious game 2 started to an injury.
Plenty of time to argue about those during the winter. For now lets watch some good baseball and get excited for next year.
Great season Rockies. Thank you insidetherockies.com guys for not only writing the stories but responding to questions and comments.
I felt really bad for Stewart. He was a big part of our success this year, he’s a great team player and he was taken out of this series. It’s not that I thoght Tracy could have got him more at-bats…it was just sad that a guy plays the entire season and then basically loses his job because of what side of the plate he bats from.
Same with DLR. Just bad luck man. I really feel like he’ll be a long-time CR. Obviously his value went way up over the last four months, but I’d be shocked if teams were willing to completely break the bank and rely on him as a staff ‘ace’.
I don’t think anyone can be too hard on Tracy for leaving Street in to pitch to Howard. I understand that Howard doesn’t hit lefties as well, but Beimel has been far from overpowering and I don’t have a stat to back this up but it felt like he got a lot of his outs through fly balls…which is a scary thought with Howard at the plate. I still thought there was maybe an opportunity to pinch hit for Barmes at some point in all four of these games…the guy just completely lost everything at the plate. I would have rather seen Marquis hitting with runners in scoring position in the 8th than Barmes.
EY Jr. won’t be going anywhere, his potential is huge and I gotta believe he wants to be a Rockie. If Atkins, Hawpe, or both get traded I’ll be pretty sad because they’ve definitely been part of the backbone of this team and they’ve got plenty of good years left, but with YOUNG guys like Gonzalez, Fowler and Stewart playing well there’s just not enough room for everyone. Here’s hoping if they do trade those guys they get a lot back in return in the form of bullpen help. Ubaldo is going to be the guy you can count on to pitch in the big game and between DLR, Cook and (hopefully) Francis, the starting rotation should be fine. It’s the bullpen that needs help.
Enjoy the offseason. Get healthy. I’m already excited for next year.
I just need to say that I haven’t been so emotionally involved with a MLB game. So much that I couldn’t write anything yesterday. I needed to sleep because anger and sadness were going to consume me.
Now I’ve waken up and I see a lot of positive aspects. The Rockies had one of the best season, and I’m glad to be here to enjoy it. And as I said before, I can watch Rockies games in my country so, I have to thank you Insidetherockies.com, for all the news and match recaps. I learned a lot with you.
CarGo was oustanding in this series, 10 for 17 (.588) 5 Runs, 2 2B, 1 HR and 2 SB.
2010 will come, and the Rockies will rise again, with what it seems like a solid, well-based team.
One other note….it is absolutely time to take a look at expanded instant replay in baseball. Some folks say that they wouldn’t like the human element being taken out of the game. Personally, I’m tired of the human element when it simply gets worse and worse. Umpires have a tough job. Give them the help they need. What is more important — getting it right or protecting the “human element” in the game?
Great season Rocks! Tracy should get Manager of the Year for sure, but he wont. Rocks need to address the weakness against leftys which everyone exploits. Atkins and Hawpe are probably gone, but no big loss. Barmes needs to show up or leave. He hurt them in the playoffs. Marquis showed that he has no stamina for a long season and is gone, probably to some high bidder. Hope they like a 4 month pitcher, because that is what they will get. Lets hope that Francis can pitch again like he used to do. Ironic that Street, who did so well in the regular season, melted down at the worst time possible. Maybe just give credit to the Phils, they came thru when they had to. Hammel has to show he can pitch, which is debatable now. Other than that, it was a great season. Who would have ever thought that the Rocks would be playing in October after the terrible start under Hurdle. On the bright side, we dont have to play the Dodgers anymore, who could probably beat us by playing just 7 guys in the field!
It was a great season but a lousy way to end it. It’s easy to 2nd guess Tracy for not bringing in Beimel to face Howard, which I think he should have, but almost every manager would have done what Tracy did.
The three guys who disappointed me the most, outside of the pitchers, were Barmes, Helton and Tulo. Barmes didn’t do a thing at bat and should have been pinched hit for in most every game and his fielding was only so-so. I believe only one error but he could have made some better plays. Tulo, not only for his lack of the big hit the last two days but for his base-running mistake. Of course the Rockies had lots of base-running mistakes during the year, they need to tighten that up. Tulo is such a great player that we sometimes expect him to be super human when he’s only human.
Helton is another story. His RBIs were always weak dribblers in the infield and his hits were singles with nobody on base. If he had only a couple of hard hit base hits with men on base we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I know it’s almost sacrilegious to criticize him but he was a weak link this series. His fielding of throws in the dirt and off-line were superb as usual but his range at getting to a few hot shots down the line was weak. And he always looked uncomfortable when they showed him on TV. Perhaps his back was acting up in the cold. How many more years does he have on his 17 million dollar contract?
Anyway it was fun while it lasted and since I hate the Dodgers, Go Phillies
Tough way to lose, but if y’all remember back in the beginning part of the season, we were all sitting around moping about how terrible we were.
I said on this site (more than once probably) that the rockies wouldn’t win 65 games. I even went so far as to make a bet with my father in law back in april, and I had to pay him. :)
Hell of a season, this club with some more growth will do better in the post season. Its about keeping focus.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Atkins, Hawpe, Dealin’ Dan, and the man who brought it all together- Jim Tracy.
Thanks to all of the inside the rockies guys, you guys have done a superb job and I look forward to the off season.
Tracy- Thanks a lot for your commentary. You do a marvelous job. I happen to look up to you quite a bit, because you and I share some similarities that don’t have anything to do with baseball. I was a Montana baby and grew up on a cattle ranch down near franktown. Keep wearing that hat and keep up the good work!
I had never heard a stadium that was literally deafening until the bottom of the 8th last night. What a crushing loss, especially with TWO STRIKES, TWO OUTS. That’s what bothers me more than anything.
The postseason was exciting and I actually feel it was gravy, given the amazing turnaround and fantastic, fun summer. It hurts less today because of that. And next year is certainly bright. Every one of them will learn from this and be the better for it.
Thanks to the writers on ITR and all the folks who made so many interesting posts. Now, I am the Angels’ biggest fan and the Phils’ too! A Yanks/Dodgers Series is my worst nightmare. Although one of them would have to lose, so there’s that.
THANK YOU, ROCKIES!!!
Just want to thank the Rockies entire org for a great, fun, rollercoaster, edge of the seat seaon.
As Giamati said “It will break your heart, it was designed to break your heart”
Thanks to ITR and all the people who posted here everyday. I hope the site keeps going, and I’ll check it everyday to see what’s up. Let’s keep the conversations going over the winter. If pitchers/catchers report on 2-12-10 (I hope) then we only have 122 days.
Thanks to all of you and I hope to be reading some good stuff over the next few months.
No haters allowed here. Go Rox!!!!
I was okay with the emotions last night, but I have to say I feel the pain more and more as this day goes by. Call it a delayed reaction, or PTSD, or whatever.
Despite the emotional pain, I am holding my head up about how the Rockies went down. There is only 1 team that will win it all. The other 7 (and the 22 that never made the post-season) will all feel the agony of defeat. The Rockies went down fighting. The crushing 9th inning defeat would not have been nearly as bad as if they had never gotten anything going and meekly lost 2-1 (like in Game 1). They stood toe to toe with the World Champs and were 1 strike away from beating them last night, and one blown call and a hit away Sunday night (or a fraction of an inch in the case of Tulo’s almost-HR). The Phillies were just a little bit better, but not that much. Compare that to St. Louis or Minnesota, or the Cubs last year.
So thank you Rockies for a great season. I hope the complexion of the team does not change too much next year. It would pain me to see Hawpe and Atkins and Barmes go, although I don’t necessarily disagree with you fans who make good arguments for trading/releasing them. Management has to address the problems facing lefties, and I think there needs to be intensive training in hitting fundamentals during the off season. As a former Cubs fan I have never experienced anything like this in baseball, and I can’t wait until next year.