Philadelphia Phillies (43-26) @ Dustin Ackleys (35-34)

[TTown]

Phils actually play again tonight, I'm just getting ahead of myself.

Roy Oswalt (4-4, 3.14) vs. Michael Pineda (6-4, 2.72)
Vance Worley (2-1, 3.75) vs. Felix Hernandez (7-5, 3.30)
Cole Hamels (9-2, 2.49) vs. Jason Vargas (4-4, 4.13)

So all that stuff about Philly and their 4 aces appears to be true, we somehow miss both Halladay and Cliff Lee and we still run into a couple great arms. Actually -- and don't get me wrong, I love me some Cliff Lee -- it might actually be too bad we miss Lee, he's posting an uncharacteristic 5.35 era away from home this year. He's been getting shelled.

ACKLEY!

[Zyme]

Friday boys, lets hope he gets his first hit. And second, and first home run, and first cycle. I'm not asking for much, am I?

[jumanji]

Friday boys, lets hope he gets his first hit. And second, and first home run, and first cycle. I'm not asking for much, am I?

I think we all expect a lot but his game is probably going to be that of very little flash and a lot of substance. I'm dreaming of a lot of 1st and 3rds with no outs.

[TTown]

Well, ignoring the thread title I made, I'm being cautious with him. He's started slowly in West Tennessee and Tacoma. If he starts slowly here, there's precedent to suggest he'll get it going soon enough.

What I want to see: Play. Him. Every. Day. I like Carp; I like Halman. I like Peguero a little less, but I'll be damned if he doesn't have an unquantifiable knack to come up with a big play. What I DON'T like is playing them one day, sitting them the next, and so on and so forth. I understand the platoon approach, I just don't like it with youngins'. I want to see these kids every day, I think it does them a disservice to take away their rhythm. I'd like to see Carp in LF every-stinkin'-day, and IMO we need to send one of them back down... if we didn't already (as I type this, I'm realizing I never read how we made room for Ackley).

So just play Ackley every day. None of this Jack Wilson nonsense anymore. Kennedy can go to 3B, and he can back-up Smoak every now and then.

[Bay_Areas_Finest]

^We sent down Rodriguez to make room for Ackley.

I say send Peguero down to Triple-A. He's the worst hitter AND defender between him, Halman, and Carp. I also want Carp in left just about every day, especially against right-handers.

Ackley at 2nd and Kennedy backing up at 3B, 2B, and 1B. Figgins is doing much better lately so he deserves the time for now.

[TTown]

The Yanks forced extras on Texas, they're in the 10th. If NY can win, we're a 1/2 game out.

Rangers do have 6 games in the next two weeks with Houston, though, so even if can move into first in the next few days, it'll likely be short lived.

[Ex-hippie]

Well, ignoring the thread title I made, I'm being cautious with him. He's started slowly in West Tennessee and Tacoma. If he starts slowly here, there's precedent to suggest he'll get it going soon enough.

What I want to see: Play. Him. Every. Day. I like Carp; I like Halman. I like Peguero a little less, but I'll be damned if he doesn't have an unquantifiable knack to come up with a big play. What I DON'T like is playing them one day, sitting them the next, and so on and so forth. I understand the platoon approach, I just don't like it with youngins'. I want to see these kids every day, I think it does them a disservice to take away their rhythm. I'd like to see Carp in LF every-stinkin'-day, and IMO we need to send one of them back down... if we didn't already (as I type this, I'm realizing I never read how we made room for Ackley).

So just play Ackley every day. None of this Jack Wilson nonsense anymore. Kennedy can go to 3B, and he can back-up Smoak every now and then.

Agreed with all of this. And I'll just come out and say it: Franklin Gutierrez is another guy with too long a leash. In 2010 and 2011, his defense hasn't been so great that it compensates for being one of the worst hitters at his position in baseball. They should try Halman in CF for a while, Peguero and Carp at LF/DH, full-time, indefinitely, until they blow it.

[Bulltalk]

The Rangers 2-8 in their last 10. That helped. 1/2 game back now.

What I'm liking is that we're bringing up some of our own blood from below to find the hitting we need. Meanwhile, we've got one of the top 3 starting pitching rotations, and a bullpen that's proving to be quite effective.

If any two of Ackley, Peg, Carp, Halman, etc... pan out here, Ichiro comes alive again, Smoak continues to improve at the plate, Oliva holds steady, etc.., well....we might be in this thing a helluva lot longer than I ever dreamed we would be.

[TTown]

Since baseball is played almost every day it comes and goes and I barely notice off-days, but it seems like Ackley was called up weeks ago... not yesterday morning. I fear I've built tonight's game into an event in my own head.

[Bay_Areas_Finest]

I'm beyond excited for this game. I can't wait to see Ackley! I feel like Jesus walked into our baseball lives.

1. Ichiro
2. Ackley
3. Smoak
4. Olivo
5. Carp
6. Halman
7. Gutierrez
8. Figgins
9. Ryan

MAKE IT HAPPEN PLEASE!

[TTown]

Ackley gets a hit up the middle in his first AB. 0-2 count, too.

He's batting 7th... Figgins 8th. Naturally, Figgins harmlessly popped up to left to end the inning.

[sharkz]

well well well Pineda has a no hitter through 5 against the PHILLIES

Figgy looks like hes lost the recent hot streak, Ichiro still has it

[TTown]

4-1 M's, bot 7

Ichiro with 3 hits, Ryan's driven him in twice. Love the top of the order action tonight. Ich was down to .252 on July 9, he's back up to .275 by the 17th. 13 hits in your last 6 games will do that for you...

Pineda done after 6 innings and 92 pitches, 2 H/1 ER. Not a hint of trouble until the 6th. Excellent start against a team that can mash... Laffey with a great 7th. Let's go, bullpen.

[Sweezo]

That was a great game. Ackley looked really good at the plate, even though he just got the one hit. The tales of Ichiro's demise appear greatly exaggerated. A great win against a great team.

[Sweezo]

Figgy looks like hes lost the recent hot streak

Ha...that wasn't much of a hot streak. I think the time has come for Figgins to learn what it's like to be a utility infielder.

There's probably some changes coming for the M's bench. Cust is turning into a DH without a position, and Wilson is a serviceable 2B/SS who could probably provide a service to some team who would actually use him.

[Bulltalk]

Figgens just seems a broken player. Is the signing of Figgens Z's worst move since he arrived? Even the best are entitled to their big swings-and-misses. The thing that most gets me about the Figgens signing now (other than the fact that he blows) is the 4th year of the contract. If it was 3 year contract, we might have a little more wiggle room about what what to do with him. It would be easier to write off 1 more year of a mistake than 2 years, or even to deal him with 1 year more instead of 2.

Something has got to be done about the length of these guaranteed contracts in baseball. One deal gone sour by a franchise can hamstring it to death, reduce a franchises' options to improve. It's just too much power for 1 player to have over a franchise and a fan-base. It's just not right.

I think there should be limits to how long contracts can be, or built-in team options after which such a team can opt-out if the player doesn't live up to the contract. It would be better for all, for the fans, for the good of the game to institute such a policy.

[Jeff23]

Rangers won in extras today against the braves.


Looking forward to seeing Mr. Ackley play today... really excited lol

[Jeff23]

and Ackley doesnt disappoint!!!! ties it up 1-1 wooo!

[TTown]

Ackley goes deep!

Ties the game at 1-1. Smoak missed a 2-run HR by about a foot in the 1st inning.

[TTown]

We've left two on in both innings. It'd be nice to blow this thing open early for Felix.