Observations for early Friday morning

Maybe this is just me -- and I really dislike second-guessing, but then again, that's what we do -- but I probably would have turned to the bullpen to start the seventh inning in yesterday's game vs. the Brewers.

Here's why: Cole Hamels was at 90 pitches after running a bunch of deep counts through the first six innings with a 4-1 lead. His strike to ball ratio, to be frank, was bad. Even more troubling was that Hamels' efficiency was so bad despite the fact that he had been the polar opposite during his quick run through the minors.

At the same time, after 35 minor league starts, Hamels reached the 100-pitch plateau just a handful of times. Sure, earlier this month he tossed 114 in a complete game shutout, but he was throwing strikes back then. Certainly at 90 pitches, the often delicate Hamels had put the Phillies just where they wanted to be where they could go Ryan Madson in the seventh, Arthur Rhodes in the eighth and Tom Gordon in the ninth.

That's how it was set up, right?

Of course there are reasons to allow Hamels to start the seventh, too. For one, he had been pitching well, probably felt good and 100 pitches isn't really that much. Why baby the kid -- he's in the big leagues now.

Besides, Madson, the demoted starter and now setup-to-the-setup man reliever, has looked lost on the mound in his last few outings. To use the old baseball writer cliché, Madson is a fireman whose best weapon is gasoline.

Precious, precious gasoline.

Anyway, perhaps we'll delve more into Madson's troubles tonight, because it's interesting since he is a pitcher who is pretty sharp and definitely gets it. But maybe he would have pitched better yesterday if he had started the inning instead of coming in with runners on base.

As an aside, Cole Hamels is really good.

Here come the Red Sox
This weekend is shaping up to be a pretty exciting one for baseball fans in Philadelphia. The Red Sox, one of the big-money, trendy glamor teams, have a tendency to put fannies in the seats. But more importantly, the series gives the Phillies a great opportunity to show which team they are.

You know, who they are with four months remaining in the season.

But after playing in a bunch of one-run and two-run games during the 3-3 road trip, in which the bullpen wasn't so great, clutch hits came in bunches in the late innings, Ryan Howard went to the hospital with food poisoning but still bashed a pair of homers to win a game, and Hamels made his much-anticipated debut, it should be interesting to see how this weekend shapes up.

Then they go to New York for three games against the Mets.

Thank you, sir, can I have another?
If you're like me, you drive a lot. Not because you want to, but because the office -- via the Turnpike and Expressway -- is roughly 85 miles away from home. That means money spend on gas can add up, so I refer to this site as much as possible, though some of the better (read: cheaper) gas stations are a bit out of the way.

Meanwhile, is it me or are hotel rates and airline fares up significantly this summer?

What's going on? Well, actually, it's not hard to figure out... I just don't want to say it out loud.

Those who can't do...
For the life of me, I never have been very good at fantasy baseball. I can't figure it out, either. I regularly talk to scouts and managers -- both general and field -- and think I have some pretty good insight on which players are regarded as "good" and which ones are not. Based on my insider info, I have put together a team over the past three years that looks good, at least according to traditional baseball folks, but I'm always in the second division of the league.

What's going on?

My guess is that I don't have enough statboy in me. I regard player who can actually play the game with more credence than the ones who simply post numbers. That's might be the way to build a winning baseball team, but not a make-believe one.

Just look at my roster:
P Akinori Otsuka, Tex
P Brad Lidge, Hou
P Francisco Rodriguez, Ana
P Jason Isringhausen, StL
P Trevor Hoffman, SD
P Tom Gordon, Phi
P Vicente Padilla, Tex
P Keith Foulke, Bos
P Bobby Jenks, ChW
P Noah Lowry, SF
P Roy Oswalt, Hou
P Cole Hamels, Phi

BATTERS
C Ivan Rodriguez, Det
1B Nick Johnson, Was
2B Jeff Kent, LA
3B Chipper Jones, Atl
SS David Eckstein, StL
OF Bobby Abreu, Phi OF
OF Torii Hunter, Min
OF Jermaine Dye, ChW
OF Jose Guillen, Was
OF Preston Wilson, Hou
2B/SS Craig Biggio, Hou
1B/3B Brandon Inge, Det
Util Wily Mo Pena, Bos
DL Jason Repko, LA

If anyone has any suggestions on how to get this club out of the cellar, send them in. I think my team might be getting old -- too many veterans, right?