I always tend to think the Phillies' swoon last year started earlier than it did. At this point last year the team was 15 games over .500, coming off a five game win streak and 1.5 games up on the division. On August 6th there was a frustrating walk off loss in 14 innings to the DBacks, where the Phils scored 2 runs in the 7th and 0 in any other inning. But they slightly rebounded to split five of the next ten games and were still 14 over .500 and only a half game back on August 17. Only then did they plummet in earnest, going 6-17 the next 23 games.

Braves have lost 11 of their last 19 games. Unfortunately the Phillies have not been able to take much advantage, winning 11 of their last 19.

swishnicholson wrote:I always tend to think the Phillies' swoon last year started earlier than it did. At this point last year the team was 15 games over .500, coming off a five game win streak and 1.5 games up on the division. On August 6th there was a frustrating walk off loss in 14 innings to the DBacks, where the Phils scored 2 runs in the 7th and 0 in any other inning. But they slightly rebounded to split five of the next ten games and were still 14 over .500 and only a half game back on August 17. Only then did they plummet in earnest, going 6-17 the next 23 games.

Yeah it didn’t really happen until mid-late August, 12-28 their last 40 and 2 of those 12 wins were the last 2 games of the season, so they played .263 ball over a stretch of 38 games

BatFlipsFTW wrote:

momadance wrote:

Wolfgang622 wrote:Has anyone, as a result of the incessant radio commercials during Phillies games, going on for years now, ever checked out seehowtheylie.com for more real life stories of insurance fraud?

And by that I mean anyone.

No but I am fascinated by the commercials and how I only hear them on WIP.

I always wondered you would even begin to pull that scam off. Like you wrecked your car usually involves not being able to get it home in the first place.

I think insurance fraud is one of those crimes that sort of presents itself. You don't go out looking for it, but something weird happens, you give it some thought, and next thing you know you've conjured an insurance fraud scheme. It's like, imagine if the Phillie Phanatic pushes you into a pool. You weren't planning for it, but suddenly you feel that cold sting of the water, and later that day you feel you might have severe and permanent injuries to your head, neck, back, body, arms and legs, bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves and tissues.

it is august 7th, well into the dog days, and scott kingery (325pa) leads bryce harper (497pa) in ave, iso, slg, ops, woba, wrc+, and offensive war (batting + baserunning). good news is we've gotten about the same total production out of the two of them as expected...

Now we have pitchers who discuss the best diners between Philly and Allentown

mtcal wrote:i'm still annoyed wip did not re-up to play doop doop weezer clip and the steel drum part of PIMP or whatever that song is when they come back from commercial

I feel like you single handily keep the local radio stations afloat.

Titlehungry wrote:Now we have pitchers who discuss the best diners between Philly and Allentown

i highly recommend the metropolitan in montgomeryville.

swishnicholson wrote:Braves have lost 11 of their last 19 games. Unfortunately the Phillies have not been able to take much advantage, winning 11 of their last 19.

Can't tell that story without acknowledging that the MFing Mets have been feasting.

momadance wrote:

Wolfgang622 wrote:Has anyone, as a result of the incessant radio commercials during Phillies games, going on for years now, ever checked out seehowtheylie.com for more real life stories of insurance fraud?

And by that I mean anyone.

No but I am fascinated by the commercials and how I only hear them on WIP.quote]

Talked in the office about how weird those are. Entertaining, yes, but heard no where else. What is the specifics to invest in targeted ads on that stations, and during baseball games. what kind of scum are we by association.

phorever wrote:it is august 7th, well into the dog days, and scott kingery (325pa) leads bryce harper (497pa) in ave, iso, slg, ops, woba, wrc+, and offensive war (batting + baserunning). good news is we've gotten about the same total production out of the two of them as expected...

Kingery has been a nice surprise and Harper has been a slight disappointment.

I'm officially 100 percent out on Kapler and whatever fucking group of nerds that trained him. The constant lack of feel for in game decisions, the mindless pitching changes and tinkering of the lineup to gain some sort of edge is infuriating.

Pretty sure Kapler should be gone... too many off the wall decisions which have cost us in the long run... Let's get someone else in here in 2020

The B1G Piece wrote:I'm officially 100 percent out on Kapler and whatever fucking group of nerds that trained him. The constant lack of feel for in game decisions, the mindless pitching changes and tinkering of the lineup to gain some sort of edge is infuriating.

Well put. I hadn't thought of it in these terms before but I agree. It almost seems sometimes he's trying to make some sort of contrarian point/be the smartest guy in the room rather than just using common sense.

JFLNYC wrote:

The B1G Piece wrote:I'm officially 100 percent out on Kapler and whatever fucking group of nerds that trained him. The constant lack of feel for in game decisions, the mindless pitching changes and tinkering of the lineup to gain some sort of edge is infuriating.

Well put. I hadn't thought of it in these terms before but I agree. It almost seems sometimes he's trying to make some sort of contrarian point/be the smartest guy in the room rather than just using common sense.

Also, I apologize for calling the Driveline baseball guys nerds because I love numbers, too.

For a team that struggles to score runs consistently, please find a way to get your best hitter with RISP (Bryce Harper) as many PAs as possible in those situations. It's really not that hard. Instead, we get this...

“This is a game where it’s really important to not try harder in those situations,” Kapler said. “It’s important to breathe, relax and just take your ‘A’ swing. We can do a better job than we’ve been doing with runners in scoring position. One of the ways we can do that is to kind of cut down on our hacks and utilize a ‘B’ swing to put the ball in play, have barrel accuracy over trying to drive the ball.

“I’m not saying that anybody’s not taking the right approach, but what I am saying is there’s always ability to cut down a little bit and look to drive the ball into the outfield.”

Fangraphs has the Mets like 12% more likely to make the playoffs than the Phillies.

The B1G Piece wrote:

“This is a game where it’s really important to not try harder in those situations,” Kapler said. “It’s important to breathe, relax and just take your ‘A’ swing. We can do a better job than we’ve been doing with runners in scoring position. One of the ways we can do that is to kind of cut down on our hacks and utilize a ‘B’ swing to put the ball in play, have barrel accuracy over trying to drive the ball.

“I’m not saying that anybody’s not taking the right approach, but what I am saying is there’s always ability to cut down a little bit and look to drive the ball into the outfield.”

Says the manager who, as a player, had a lifetime .749 OPS, but .714 with RISP.

1 wrote:Fangraphs has the Mets like 12% more likely to make the playoffs than the Phillies.

gotta look at the third order wins

they're 3 for 33 with the bases loaded since the start of july. 0 for 10 since friday. cost them a few wins.

heck with the manager, they need a new optometrist

The B1G Piece wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:

The B1G Piece wrote:I'm officially 100 percent out on Kapler and whatever fucking group of nerds that trained him. The constant lack of feel for in game decisions, the mindless pitching changes and tinkering of the lineup to gain some sort of edge is infuriating.

Well put. I hadn't thought of it in these terms before but I agree. It almost seems sometimes he's trying to make some sort of contrarian point/be the smartest guy in the room rather than just using common sense.

Also, I apologize for calling the Driveline baseball guys nerds because I love numbers, too.

For a team that struggles to score runs consistently, please find a way to get your best hitter with RISP (Bryce Harper) as many PAs as possible in those situations. It's really not that hard. Instead, we get this...

“This is a game where it’s really important to not try harder in those situations,” Kapler said. “It’s important to breathe, relax and just take your ‘A’ swing. We can do a better job than we’ve been doing with runners in scoring position. One of the ways we can do that is to kind of cut down on our hacks and utilize a ‘B’ swing to put the ball in play, have barrel accuracy over trying to drive the ball.

“I’m not saying that anybody’s not taking the right approach, but what I am saying is there’s always ability to cut down a little bit and look to drive the ball into the outfield.”

I've been a bit back and forth on him. I was like, "My God, what kind of idiot have we hired," at the beginning of last year. Then by the 1/4 pole of this year I was happy he made some improvements and was willing to see it through. But his decision-making the past month has just been horrible. Worse, he has put players at physical risk numerous times, starting at the beginning of last year and right up to this week. I'm out on him.

Also, what do you think the chances are that the players are out on him, too? I mean, no player wants to be placed at a physical risk that's unnecessary. It can impact their careers and their ability to make tons of money. Players are also usually pretty traditional and at least some of them probably don't like this "advanced" managing approach. If it works, players get on board, but it has not. I would be very surprised if there isn't a growing number of players in the clubhouse who would like to see him gone. Plus, he's just a weirdo. I like weirdos personally, but I bet he's wearing on them.