2006 Philles Season Thread

[BigEd76]

Geary sent down to SWB to make room for Hamels

[MDS]

Meh. Santana is probably worse. Oh well, if Santana sucks it up a few more times they can always just cut him and bring Geary back up for the essential duty of 7th man out of the pen.

[PhillyPhreak54]

1. Geary was the chosen one because he has an option left. Santana would've had to been DFA'd. But like MDS said, once Julio starts throwing BP, he'll be gone soon.

2. Aaron Rowand's catch was farging amazing. I heard about it at work. Actually, I heard a loud shout come from the inmates watching the game on their TVs and then my Mets fan friend told me about it. I sped home so I could watch the replay of the game and see the catch. Simply amazing.

Anyone see that redness under his left eye? I wonder if that was another cut, immediate bruising or just smeared blood from his nose?

Either way, that was awesome.

3. Gavin Floyd pitched nicely after that 1st inning. He had one bout with wildness and then settled in.

4. I will miss Colbert's start tomorrow night. I'm sad. I will not listen to the radio on the way home and fight everyone who talks about the game at work so I don't have to hear the score.

5. Anyone catch Hayes' piece about Sal The Gritty Blue Collar South Philly Guy whining about Ruiz starting over him last night? Yo Sal, shut it.

6. Rowand tried to talk the EMT's into letting him go into the dugout and they obviously said no.

7. Shane Victorino is playing well too. His hustle out of the box on that single he turned intoa double was nice. Combine that with him trucking Lo Duca the other night and I am impressed with him on the bases..

Also, I was reading on the EMB that Ken Injury Jr. said that Hamels was overrated and a media creation. Anyone else read or hear him say that?

[PhillyPhreak54]

Rowand was admitted to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital where he will undergo further evaluation after his violent collision with the center-field wall. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said a disabled list stint could be likely for his starting center fielder.

"He's hurt pretty bad," Manuel said. "He's going to be out for a while. How long? I don't know yet."

Unfortunately for Rowand, it's probably going to cost him a couple of weeks on the disabled list.
He was admitted to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital late Thursday night with a broken nose and is expected to undergo surgery on Friday. A decision was not immediately made whether to put him on the DL, but that could come as early as Friday.

"He's going to be out for a while," manager Charlie Manuel.

I guess if/when he does go on the DL they will call up Chris Roberson.

[The BIGSTUD]

A couple weeks for a broken nose? Unless he has a concussion that's pretty lame. Rowand is as tough as they come. I have a hard time believing he can't play through a broken nose. It won't hamper his play at all.

[PhillyPhreak54]

If he had/has more damage internally, like a punctured septum or whatever, then it could be the reason. Plus he has that laceration under his eye too. Brendan Donnelly of the Agels got hit in the face with a line drive and it broke his nose and messed up the septum and he was out for awhile too.

[PhillyPhreak54]

Rowand catch: Nose guts, nose glory

By MARCUS HAYES
hayesm@phillynews.com

TOUGH-GUY centerfielder Lenny Dykstra carried the nickname "Nails."

Call Aaron Rowand "Spike."

Rowand destroyed his nose last night against a bared metal strip that runs along the top of the window of the Phillies' bullpen in centerfield - a strip he identified as dangerous as soon as he saw it last month.

He was hurt making a catch that saved three runs from scoring and ended the first inning. It won the game, a 2-0, rain-shortened affair over the Mets in 4 ½ innings.

Chase Utley hit a homer, his eighth, in the bottom of the first off Steve Trachsel (2-3). David Bell drove in a second run, scored by Rowand's replacement, Shane Victorino, who had hustled a single into a double. Bell saved a run with a diving play in the fourth. Gavin Floyd (4-2) pitched a sloppy, scoreless five innings for his third straight win. It gave the Phillies a 2-1 series win, their 10th win in 11 games, leaving them a game over .500 at home as they start a six-game road trip and drawing them to within three games of the first-place Mets.

No one will remember any of that stuff.

What they will remember is that, at 7:17 p.m., a new hero was born in Philadelphia.

"Whump!" said bullpen coach Ramon Henderson.

"Pac!" offered rightfielder Bobby Abreu.

They tried to replicate the sound Rowand's body made when he rammed facefirst into the fence and caught Xavier Nady's bases-loaded drive with two out.

Rowand caught the ball but could not fully extend his arms in time to soften the blow. His legs hit first, where the wall is padded, but his head struck a metal strip that runs just above the windowed portion of the wall.

The crowd gasped, hung in suspense... until Rowand, on his back, raised his glove to indicate possession, saving starter Gavin Floyd from a three-run, first-inning debacle.

Teammates rushed to his side as he rolled onto his stomach.

"I'm all right, I'm all right," Rowand told Abreu, the first person to arrive. Abreu waved for medical assistance, then plucked the ball from Rowand's glove to indicate that Rowand made the catch.

Catching instructor Mick Bill-meyer scrambled from the bullpen to Rowand's side. Henderson handed him a towel to catch some of the blood streaming from Rowand's nose.

Billmeyer, holding the towel, saturated in seconds, found himself nauseated at the sight until Rowand quipped: "Good thing I've got a hard head."

As the medical staff ran across the field, Rowand saw the blood streaming from his body, from a cut across the bridge of his nose and from both nostrils.

"Squeeze it, Mick," he said. "Squeeze it. Harder."

"I ain't squeezing it harder. It's broke," Billmeyer said, avoiding the pooling blood that fell, said Abreu, "like rain."

"Squeeze it," Rowand said in a nasal growl.

Billmeyer squeezed.

Rowand soon left the game via an exit in the rightfield corner to a standing ovation from a crowd of 28,224, but you can bet that, by the end of the week, 100,000 will have sworn to have been there. He was admitted to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he spent the night, scheduled to have his nose repaired this morning. The Phillies might place him on the disabled list. Victorino will start in his place.

No one can replace his presence. His teammates can only play to repay his commitment.

There were tales of Rowand's toughness before. His teammates know he plays hard. Shoot, this is a guy who broke his left shoulder blade, punctured a lung, broke two ribs and suffered nerve damage in a dirt-bike accident in 2002. The blue-collar Chicago fans gave him the loudest, longest ovation when the White Sox received their World Series rings in April; he is the main price the Sox paid to get Jim Thome from the Phillies.

Thome was a huge fan favorite. His teammates loved him.

This is a different kind of affection.

"Aaron's catch fired us up a little bit," Utley said. "It truly tells what kind of player he is. If people didn't know about him before, they do now."

"The least we could do was win the game," shortstop Jimmy Rollins said.

"That's going to keep us playing hard," Abreu vowed. "That pumps you up. It shows your teammate will give everything - everything - for the team."

"I saw him make the same exact play in Chicago once," said closer Tom Gordon.

In Chicago, Rowand didn't have the same issue he had with the fence at the Bank.

As soon as he arrived in Philadelphia after spring training, Rowand identified the metal strip that crushed his nose as dangerous. He got the team to order padding for the strip. Ominously, during batting practice yesterday he pointed out the strip again to teammates.

The padding arrived Tuesday. It is scheduled for installation while the team is away on their trip.

That didn't happen in time to save Spike's face.

[Don Ho]

On a side note, that Victorino is FAST!

Hawaii state 100 meter champ.  Set the record in 1999.

[Philly_Crew]

Anyone listen to the audio during the rain delay?  A caller made reference to the need for more padding in the outfield.  I don't remember which announcer it was, but basically dismissed the caller saying do they need to pad the dugout floors and the cutouts are needed for the pitchers.  It is easy to see from the video that the pitchers can see sitting on the bench.  They need to close the entire outfield off with pads. 

[Rome]

Rowand guaranteed himself one thing last night:  He'll never, ever have to pay for another meal in Philly again.



I'm still marvelling over that catch and the balls it took for him to give himself up to complete the play.  Just unreal.

[Wingspan]

If he had/has more damage internally, like a punctured septum or whatever, then it could be the reason. Plus he has that laceration under his eye too. Brendan Donnelly of the Agels got hit in the face with a line drive and it broke his nose and messed up the septum and he was out for awhile too.

didnt the same thing happen to Geary last season? i seem to remember him fouling a ball off of his face at the plate and him going on the DL.

[SD_Eagle5]

Actually, I heard a loud shout come from the inmates watching the game on their TVs

The inmates get their own TVs and get to watch the Phils? Maybe prison isn't such a bad idea.

[Rome]

Prison bish?

[ice grillin you]

plus you can farg and both watch the game at the same time

[Rome]

plus you can farg and both watch the game at the same time

Isn't that also the punchline for the NASCAR joke?