YES Network analyst Jack Curry had this to say via his Twitter page today:

Spoke to baseball official who has regular contact w Phils. He said they are itching to add a starter and would love to get Cliff Lee back.

Well of course they do. And I want the original “KITT” from the Night Rider TV series to drive around in all day, but unless several hundred things go my way soon, that isn’t going to happen either.

The chances of the Phillies re-acquiring Lee are slim to none. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has already said that the club isn’t going to make any major moves and trading for Lee could constitute as such. Amaro essentially chose Roy Halladay over Lee last winter and I highly doubt Philadelphia would be willing to part with more of its farm system to re-acquire the Mariners’ starter for half a season. (I’m just speculating here, but I doubt Lee would re-sign with the team that used him to get back to the World Series last year and then traded him away a few months later so they could get Halladay.)

If the Phillies are going to bring any starter back, it’ll be Pedro Martinez – not Lee.

Photo from fOTOGLIF
]]> http://www.scoresreport.com/2010/06/16/report-mariners-want-cliff-lee-back/feed/ 0 http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/11/03/martinez-will-oppose-pettitte-in-game-6/ http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/11/03/martinez-will-oppose-pettitte-in-game-6/#comments Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:59:48 +0000 Anthony Stalter http://www.scoresreport.com/?p=28154

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel has confirmed that Pedro Martinez will start Game 6 of the World Series, while Yankees skipper Joe Girardi has said that Andy Pettitte is on track to oppose Pedro in the pivotal game.

Martinez allowed three runs over six innings while striking out eight in a Game 2 loss. With Philadelphia’s backs to the wall trailing 3-2 in the series, Pedro will be expected to save the Phils’ season.

Pettitte’s situation is interesting and worth following because he hasn’t worked on just three days rest in the past two seasons. In four starts this October, he has worked on extra rest so it’ll be interesting to see how he copes with not having an extra day or two to rest his arm.

There has been plenty of offense on display so far in this series, so we could be in store for a Game 6 slugfest as the pitchers start to wear down.

The Yankees needed a strong outing from starter A.J. Burnett on Thursday, and that’s exactly what they got.

Burnett held the Phillies to one earned run over seven innings as the Yankees won Game 2 of the World Series, 3-1. Burnett attacked hitters with his fastball and his curve was nearly unhittable as he struck out nine and limited one of the best offenses in baseball to only one run. Closer Mariano Rivera didn’t allow a run in the eighth or ninth innings to earn his 38th career postseason save.

This win was huge for the Yankees on a couple levels. Not only did they tie the series, but they also don’t have to go to Philadelphia down 0-2. While the Phillies accomplished their goal of winning at least one game in New York, the momentum has swung in the Yankees’ favor and now they have confidence heading into Philadelphia.

Phillies’ manager Charlie Manuel will get some heat for allowing Pedro Martinez to start the seventh inning (the Yankees wound up tacking on another run to go up 3-1 after Martinez allowed the first two batters to reach base), but Martinez wanted to go back out and Manuel showed confidence in his starter. If Martinez got through the seventh, Manuel would have been lauded for saving his bullpen and trusting Pedro to work through the inning. Instead, he’ll likely receive criticism for not going to his bullpen.

Either way, Manuel doesn’t deserve blame for that decision considering the offense only produced one run. If Manuel is going to take heat about something, it should be for not sending his runners with two on and one out in the 8th inning when Chase Utley was up. Utley wound up grounding into a double play and Ryan Howard was stuck standing in the on deck circle without having the opportunity to possibly tie the game with one swing.

Of course, Utley was absolutely screwed by the umpires on that play because he was safe. It was a horrible call, but to be fair, the umps also blew a play in which Howard appeared to catch a Johnny Damon line drive and turn a double play in the seventh inning. Replays showed that Howard actually gloved the ball on a short hop, which means he probably wouldn’t have turned the DP.

This series has all the makings of a great finish, but the umpires need to do better. Some of these calls are bush league to say the least.

As he prepares to start Game 2 of the World Series tonight against the Yankees, Phillies’ pitcher Pedro Martinez had some interesting things to say about the New York media and fans.

From ESPN.com:

“You guys have used me and abused me,” he said. “I remember quotes in the paper, ‘Here comes the man that New York loves to hate.’ Man? None of you have probably ever eaten steak with me or rice and beans with me to understand what the man is about. You might say the player, the competitor, but the man? You guys have abused my name. You guys have said so many things, have written so many things.

“There was one time I remember when I was a free agent, there was talk that I might meet with [George] Steinbrenner. One of your colleagues had me in the papers with horns and a tail, red horns and a tail. That’s a sign of the devil. I’m a Christian man. I don’t like those things. I take those things very serious. Those are the kind of things that the fans actually get used to seeing, and actually sometimes influence those people to believe that you are a bad person, that you are like an ogre.”

“I don’t know if you realize this, but because of you guys in some ways, I might be at times the most influential player that ever stepped in Yankee Stadium. I can honestly say that,” Martinez said. “I have all the respect in the world for the way they enjoy being fans. Sometimes they might be giving you the middle finger, just like they will be cursing you and telling you what color underwear you’re wearing. All those things you can hear when you’re a fan. But at the end of the day, they’re just great fans that want to see the team win. I don’t have any problem with that.”

He also addressed the fight he had with Don Zimmer when he was a member of the Red Sox:

“It was an ugly scene,” Martinez said Wednesday during a pregame World Series news conference, adding this was probably the first time he was discussing it publicly. “Zim charged me and I think he’s going to say something, but his reaction was totally the opposite, [he] was trying to punch my mouth and told me a couple of bad words about my mom. I just had to react and defend myself.

Zimmer wasn’t having it though:

“Pedro is full of crap,” Zimmer told the St. Petersburg Times. “It’s what, six years later? If Pedro wants to be a big man, I don’t care what he says.”

Zimmer, however, was more forgiving in an interview with the New York Daily News.
“I told the whole world I was wrong and that I was embarrassed by what I’d done and I apologized for it,” Zimmer told the Daily News. “I was definitely wrong and Pedro didn’t do nothing. I told the whole world that, even though the Yankees didn’t want me to hold a press conference because they were afraid I might say something to stir things up more.”

There’s definitely an added element to tonight’s game with Martinez taking on the Yankees in New York. The Yankees are almost in a must-win seeing as how they lost last night and would no doubt love to stick it to their old Boston nemesis.

Martinez will oppose A.J. Burnett at Yankee Stadium, while Cole Hamels will start in Philadelphia for Game 3. Martinez is obviously familiar with the Yankees from his days in Boston and has pitched in his fair share of tough environments throughout his career. He gives Philadelphia loads of postseason experience.

Held out of the NLCS, Myers was added at the cost of Miguel Cairo, whom was subtracted from the roster. Myers got two outs without allowing a run in his only playoff appearance this year, which came against the Rockies in the NLDS. He had a 6.43 ERA in eight relief appearances after returning from hip surgery in September.

His wife on national TV also rejected him when he went in for a kiss:

Ah, I can’t get enough of that…

It’s getting down to pennant race times and there are some incredibly tight races and a lot of teams that are at least in contention. Here we’ll take a look at who we think the Top 5 teams are right now and who the Bottom 5 are as well.

Top 5

1. New York Yankees (73-43)—Not only did the Yankees sweep the rival Red Sox last weekend and make quite a statement, they’ve won 10 of 11 and are 22-6 (.786) since the all-star break. That is just scorching.

2. Los Angeles Angels (68-45)—You have to feel for the surging Rangers and even the Mariners, because neither one is going to catch this fundamentally sound team. If Mike Scioscia isn’t the best manager in baseball, he’s surely the most underrated.

3. St. Louis Cardinals (65-52)—The Cards grabbed Matt Holliday before anyone else could and he’s batting .493 with a slugging percentage of .813 in his first 75 at-bats with St. Louis. Pujols/Holliday has got to be the most fearsome 3-4 tandem in baseball.

4. Los Angeles Dodgers (69-47)—The Dodgers hung on without Manny for a few months, and then cooled off when he returned. They’ve lost 7 of 11 but still lead their division by 5 games and are 32-14 against NL West opponents.

5. Philadelphia Phillies (65-48)—Suddenly with Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez, and Jimmy Rollins finally finding his stroke, the defending champs are poised to make another run deep into October and possibly November.

Bottom 5

1. Washington Nationals (41-75)—They recently won eight in a row but still trail the Phillies by 25.5 games and the fourth place Mets by 13.5. So yeah, they’re still the worst team in baseball.

2. Pittsburgh Pirates (46-69)—The Pirates actually looked half decent early in the season, but they did what they always do in July—made a whole bunch of trades and pretty much surrendered the season as well as the next three seasons, as they’ve lost 11 of their last 13 games.

3. Kansas City Royals (45-70)—Remember the Royals were 14-12 and everyone started talking about this team being decent for the first time in two-plus decades? We remember, but then they remembered that they were the Royals.

4. Baltimore Orioles (48-67)—This team has some great young players like Adam Jones and Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis, but playing in that division is almost unfair.

5. Cleveland Indians (49-66)—Once again, the Indians have disappointed and started selling off players. Cliff Lee, like CC Sabathia last year, is the reigning AL Cy Young winner, and the Tribe also dumped popular catcher Victor Martinez and infielder Ryan Garko. Next year sure has a familiar ring on Lake Erie.

Pedro Martinez gave up three runs on seven hits over five innings in his Phillies debut on Wednesday as Philadelphia crushed the suddenly lifeless Cubs 12-5 at Wrigley. Pedro also struck out five to earn his first win of the season.

From ESPN.com:

Pitching in a major league game for the first time since last September, Martinez mixed it up, changed speeds and lasted five innings to get the victory for his new team, the Philadelphia Phillies, in a 12-5 rout of the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.

“It was really fun to actually get back to the game. Last year was a horrible year. It was a very tough year,” Martinez said of his final injury-slowed season with the New York Mets. “I actually feel good and it shows.”

Pedro threw 64 of his 99 pitches for strikes and topped out at 93 mph on the radar gun. A 30-pitch fifth inning ended his night but overall, he looked sharp for a guy that could immediately help a World Series contender.