I was at the game. If nothing else, it was exciting, all those home runs and strikeouts. Credit the Phils for never giving up, but bottom line is they played just bad enough to lose.

This is going to sound weird, but I thought Hamels looked fantastic. 12 K's in 5 innings gives you the flavor. Obviously he needs to work on consistency, to bear down on every pitch, and not throw change-ups to guys who couldn't hit your fastball to begin with (e.g., Todd Pratt). He dominated through five; as he gets older hopefully he will learn to concentrate and focus deeper into the games, even when your fielders--- or the umpires---- let you down.

It was a very bad night to be Jimmy Rollins. He was 0-6 with five lazy fly balls. Jimmy still hasn't learned he can't beat out a fly ball. The one time he hit the ball on the ground, he did drive in a run. I wonder if he will ever figure it out. Jimmy also failed to come up with some plays on two ground balls hit to him which could have changed the 6th inning around a bit. It was also not a good night for Ryan Franklin, who took some of the starch out of the Phils' comeback effort by giving some runs back to the Braves as soon as he came in.

Manuel has taken a lot of abuse here on the board--- much of it justified--- but he was a class act last night, managing to try and win the game even when his team was six runs down. It set a good example, and his players never gave up trying to win, either.

The Braves played their second string last night. No Andruw Jones, no Chipper Jones, no Brian McCann. They had some stiffs out there, like whoever was in left field and could not get under a high pop fly to him that must have been in the air five or six seconds. If the Phils could not beat these guys, it might just be time to pack it in for 2006.

---- Kurt Straub

Ooops, sorry! Wrong NG . . . .
"Kurt Straub" <jkurtstraub@comcast.net> wrote in message news:IMydnZqabsoxiFvZnZ2dnUVZ_vqdnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
I was at the game. If nothing else, it was exciting, all those home runs and strikeouts. Credit the Phils for never giving up, but bottom line is they played just bad enough to lose.

This is going to sound weird, but I thought Hamels looked fantastic. 12 K's in 5 innings gives you the flavor. Obviously he needs to work on consistency, to bear down on every pitch, and not throw change-ups to guys who couldn't hit your fastball to begin with (e.g., Todd Pratt). He dominated through five; as he gets older hopefully he will learn to concentrate and focus deeper into the games, even when your fielders--- or the umpires---- let you down.

It was a very bad night to be Jimmy Rollins. He was 0-6 with five lazy fly balls. Jimmy still hasn't learned he can't beat out a fly ball. The one time he hit the ball on the ground, he did drive in a run. I wonder if he will ever figure it out. Jimmy also failed to come up with some plays on two ground balls hit to him which could have changed the 6th inning around a bit. It was also not a good night for Ryan Franklin, who took some of the starch out of the Phils' comeback effort by giving some runs back to the Braves as soon as he came in.

Manuel has taken a lot of abuse here on the board--- much of it justified--- but he was a class act last night, managing to try and win the game even when his team was six runs down. It set a good example, and his players never gave up trying to win, either.

The Braves played their second string last night. No Andruw Jones, no Chipper Jones, no Brian McCann. They had some stiffs out there, like whoever was in left field and could not get under a high pop fly to him that must have been in the air five or six seconds. If the Phils could not beat these guys, it might just be time to pack it in for 2006.

---- Kurt Straub