Friday, April 30, 2010

A Loss, a Win, and Brad Lidge

I've been remiss lately in posting due to busy-ness in life and work, so this will be a rundown of the events of the past few days. We lost a game, 6-2, behind Jamie Moyer giving runs and the offense doing very little Tuesday night. Mr. Moyer continues to inch ever closer to his very own all-time MLB record: most home runs given up by a pitcher. He'll take that away from Robin Roberts, who didn't do so badly as a Phillie a half century ago. Moyer makes his next start against some nobody named Johan Santana pitching for the Mets on Sunday, so that should be quite the pitcher's duel. It would actually be awesome if that were a pitcher's duel, like when Pedro Martinez outdueled Tim Lincecum last September 3rd. Speaking of Lincecum...

Timayyyy!
(Photo courtesy of Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Wednesday's game started out as quite the strikeout pitcher's duel. Through five innings, Cole Hamels had struck out eight and given up one earned run, and Lincecum had struck out seven and given up one earned run, the first Ryan Howard homer in 65 at-bats, a career-high drought for him. Then it came apart a bit for Hamels in the 6th, when he gave up three more runs, though these all came after a questionable decision by Charlie Manuel to issue a one-out, intentional walk to Nate Schierholtz to load the bases for Lincecum. Hamels had also been squeezed by an at times absurdly narrow strike zone. No matter who was to blame, Hamels was out after six and the Phillies were down 4-1, the score that still stood going into the 9th.

(Photo courtesy of Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

The top of the 9th was when the game started getting weird. Well, it really started getting weird when Giants manager Bruce Bochy decided to pull Lincecum after he walked Victorino and put in his closer, Brian Wilson. Apparently Lincecum was on a pitch count after throwing a lot the game before, but Brian Wilson proceeded to load up the bases for Jayson Werth, who hit a fly ball on a two out, 3-2 count, that landed on the foul line for a double on that tied up the game. Wilson got out of the inning after that and David Herndon pitched a scoreless 9th for the Phillies. In the 10th, Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt gave up a run to the Phillies on a wild pitch in an inning that also included him hitting Brian Schneider and Placido Polanco. He managed to get out of the inning with the bases loaded, striking out Howard and Werth. Luckily for the Giants, Ryan Madson gave up a run in the bottom of the 10th, but also escaped a jam and the score was tied 5-5going into the 11th. The Phillies scored two more runs, first on a double by Wilson Valdez, of all people, and on an error by Giants left fielder Eugenio Velez, who dropped a pretty routine fly ball hit by Victorino. With the score at 7-5, the Phillies brought in none other than Nelson Figueroa to get the save, who did. But he gave up a run, and it took a spectacular play by Brian Schneider getting Juan Uribe out at home to save the ball game. So to recap: Madson blew the save and got the win. Nelson Figueroa got the save, his first in his ten year MLB career, and the Phillies won 7-6.

 Brian Schneider, saving the game
(Photo courtesy of the AP)

Coming out of this bizarre but much-needed win, the Phillies face the (I cringe writing it) 1st place Mets for a three game series this weekend. The biggest news of yesterday's day off was that Brad Lidge has been activated and will be available to pitch today, with Antonio Bastardo being optioned to AAA to make room on the roster. I certainly would not have thought at the end of last season that I would be excited for a Lidge return, but I am. As much trouble as the offense has been having lately, we all know they're capable of being one of the best in baseball. The rotation has had some shaky outings, but they have all shown potential and injuries have been a problem there, as well. The bullpen has been the closest thing to a true alarm bell for the season so far, and Lidge might just be the cortisone shot in the arm that the 'pen needs right now. Joe Blanton is also due back from injury soon, as early as this coming Monday, and that should shore up the rotation a bit. Meanwhile, the offense is due to get it going again, and hopefully that will happen against the upcoming series against the Mets and the Phillies will reclaim 1st place. It's time for the team to put this recent rough road trip behind them and start consistently winning again.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

A Loss and a Contract

There isn't too much about last night's game to make a Phillies fan happy. Roy Halladay had his first loss. Interestingly enough, in three career starts in San Francisco, Halladay has given up exactly five earned runs each time. The Phillies offense seemed equally cursed last night, and came up with a less than pitiful performance, considering how many opportunities they had to score. They left the bases loaded three times, and the only run they scored was on a ground out, and even that needed a double steal by Shane Victorino and Placido Polanco following a rare walk of Polanco (only his second of the season). I have to give credit where credit is due, and the Giants offense and pitching were both effective. It was a tough game to watch on all accounts, and if it hasn't come time for this already, I imagine Charlie's going to have a bit of a chat with the team before long.

(Photo courtesy of Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

Now that that bad news is out of the way, it's time to talk about something that happened yesterday of much greater significance than one bad game. That something was the biggest contract in franchise history, handed out to Ryan Howard: a five year extension worth a guaranteed $125 million, plus an option for a sixth year that would bring the total dollar value to $138 million. I have mixed feelings about this. I have written in this space before that Ryan Howard is overrated, but he still remains a great player. Even if all the numbers in the world show that Howard should not be paid such large sums, the market would undoubtedly net him at least as much if he had become a free agent after next season. In the short term, this does not change the payroll flexibility for the Phillies, since Howard will not receive a the bump in pay to $25 million until 2014. Additionally, I have no problem with him being paid $20 million a year in the short term, as the market demands. I, along with most everyone else watching this, do have concerns about Howard being paid $25 million a year when he's 34, 35, and 36 years old. However, what's done is done, and only time will tell now if this deal is a huge success or a huge burden for the Phillies. In the immediate future, on the other hand, this deal puts the spotlight squarely on on another player who is slated to become a free agent after this season: Jayson Werth.

 (Photo courtesy of Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

The looming free agency of Werth has long be a subject of discussion, and I wrote a while ago that he is worthy the value people are assigning to him. It has been something of an accepted fact in many circles of Phillies analysts that Werth will walk after this year and become the subject of yet another Red Sox-Yankees bidding war. The Phillies organization itself has not conceded defeat, however. Even yesterday, as many immediately jumped to the conclusion that this Howard deal means a definite farewell to Werth, Ruben Amaro hinted that this was not necessarily so. Todd Zolecki also wrote that he's "gotten the sense recently that the Phillies think they can sign Jayson Werth to a contract extension." I would have no problem with the team raising the payroll ceiling to accommodate this. It will be interesting to see how the Werth situation develops in the coming months, especially in light of the Howard deal. If nothing else, the Howard deal means that the Ruben Amaro and the front office see much of this current team as the core for many years to come, and it remains to be seen if Werth will be a part of that or not.

(Photo courtesy of Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Razing Arizona

The title says it all in terms of what us fans might want to do to Chase Field right now. The same Chase Field where the Diamondbacks destroyed the Phillies and Cole Hamels in the first game of this series with home runs. The same Chase Field where the home plate umpire consistently failed to call strikes and this led directly to the go ahead and insurance run scored today in the 8th inning by the Diamondbacks. The same Chase Field located in the state of Arizona, which sees fit to openly discriminate against its residents. Yes folks, besides the Suns and the Coyotes (I'm pretty indifferent in the NBA and in the West in the NHL), there's a a lot to be upset with in Arizona right now.

Ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin with current Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, discussing how fun it is to sign discriminatory bills into law.
(Photo courtesy of Paul Connors/AP)

Friday night's game looked great for three innings, and it included a bizarre four base error on the Diamondbacks on Chris Young, who dropped a fly ball hit by Jayson Werth in the 4th inning and didn't realize the Werth had in fact not been called out as he rounded the bases. That came after a triple by Shane Victorino following a single by Cole Hamels, so the Phillies entered the bottom of the 4th up 2-0. That was when Cole Hamels' night unraveled and he gave up five runs on three homers to Mark Reynolds, Andy LaRoche and Chris Snyder, followed by another home run to Kelly Johnson in the 5th. Hamels still struck out seven batters in six innings. He has the stuff this year, he just gets hammered on his bad pitches, though there have not been as many bad pitches as we saw last year. This goes to show how much of a role luck plays in baseball sometimes. The Phillies would score two more runs, and Kelly Johnson hit another homer off the recently returned J.C. Romero. The Diamondbacks took game one 7-4.

(Photo courtesy of the AP)

Yesterday, Nelson Figueroa made his first and likely only start for the Phillies in 2010, filling in for the DL'd J.A. Happ. Figgy did exactly what a spot starter needs to do in such a situation: last enough innings and give up few enough runs that the offense and bullpen can take care of the rest. Figueroa gave up two runs, both on a homer by Kelly Johnson, an pitched five innings. Chad Durbin, Jose Contreras, and Ryan Madson combined to keep the Dbacks scoreless for the rest of the game. The Phillies offense didn't come through often, but three solo homers, two by Werth and one by Ibanez (his first of the season), was all the Phillies needed to win this one, 3-2. Incidentally, Werth also broke a nearly week-long home run drought for the Phillies when he homered in the 2nd. Good to see the long ball again.

(Photo courtesy of Paul Connors/AP)

That brings us to today's game, with resigned and appointed governors in attendance. The Phillies lineup was modified to include as many left-handed batters as possible against a lefty-free Diamondbacks pitching roster. This unusual lineup came through immediately, when Ross Gload had a leadoff single followed by a Greg Dobbs homer. Kyle Kendrick struggled early but got out of jams and settled in for the 3rd and 4th innings. Then he led off the 5th by giving up a single to the pitcher, former Phillie Rodrigo Lopez. Then a Kelly Johnson two run shot began the unraveling, leading to a five run 5th inning for the Diamondbacks. The Phillies responded with offense of their own in the 6th and took a 6-5 lead. Then Danys Baez pitched a shaky but scoreless 6th, and a shakier 7th where he gave up the tying run before being taken out for Antonio Bastardo, who got out of the inning. Then David Herndon came in for the 8th for the Phillies, and here the home plate umpire's inconsistent strike zone really hurt the Phillies. Hits that Herndon gave up to Mark Reynolds and Chris Young came after pitches that should have been, without argument, called strike threes. Those called balls came back to haunt the Phillies in the form of the go ahead and insurance runs for the Diamondbacks, who went on to win 8-6.

 Danys Baez, wondering why he's giving up hits throwing the same fastball over and over again.
(Photo courtesy of Paul Connors/AP)

The offense once again showed some life today, but the pitching failed. Kyle Kendrick continued to show the same issues he had in his first two starts, and like Hamels did on Friday, followed his previous gem with a weak outing. Both pitchers had their best outings of the season thus far end in Phillies losses the week before. This Phillies team is in a cold streak, even thought they're not on any sort of alarming losing streak. Still, we saw the potential for this team at the beginning of the season, and that feeling that we're watching a team running on all (or most) cylinders has been lacking in recent games. Maybe the injuries have something to do with it, and I hope that all injured Phillies rehab on schedule or sooner. That being said, there's no reason that the current healthy roster can't play better than it has lately. The offense needs to show up for the same games that the pitching does, and vice-versa. Hopefully Roy Halladay's start tomorrow night will once again render all other concerns moot.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Forever Young

47-year-old Jamie Moyer finally had the outing we had been waiting for. Finally, he skipped the one bad inning that plagued him in his first two starts, and pitched as he did in the rest of the those starts. For six solid innings. If not for a pair of Chase Utley errors in the 5th, Jamie Moyer would have given up zero runs in those six innings. As it stands, it's hard to get on Utley's case for those errors after the stellar defense that backed Roy Halladay on Wednesday. Utley's double play that night was more than enough to buy him some breathing room for a few games. Still, it would have been nice to continue shutting out the Braves. The greatest moment in Moyer's outing had to be when he struck out Jason Heyward looking in the 6th after throwing three straight balls to him to start the at-bat. Never mind that Jamie Moyer made his major league debut more than three years before Heyward was born.

(Photo courtesy of John Bazemore/AP)

The offense decided to show up again, tallying up eight runs through good, small ball playing. All of the runs were scored on either RBI single or sac flies, but I can't really complain when they scored more than three runs for the first time since last Friday's outing against the Marlins. Greg Dobbs also went 2-for-3 filling in for a bruised Placido Polanco at third for the first half of the game, and Juan Castro continued his suddenly hot hitting, going 3-for-5 and raising his average to .353. Ross Gload also had the second pinch hit of anyone coming off the bench for the Phillies this year, driving in a run in the 7th.

The bullpen decided to return to form last night. Chad Durbin and David Herndon both managed to pitch themselves into and out of jams, but that "out of" part matters much more than the "into." Durbin had the bases loaded for Brian McCann in the 7th, but managed to escape with only one run scoring on a sac fly by McCann before he struck out Troy Glaus, who seems to be booed every time he comes to the plate in Atlanta. In between Durbin and Herndon, Danys Baez had a nice 1-2-3 inning, which was reassuring to see after his last outing a week before.

The Phillies continue their road trip in Arizona tonight, facing the Diamondbacks for the weekend. Cole Hamels will take the mound tonight, and hopefully show that his 8+ innings, 2 ER, 9 K performance last Sunday is going to be the norm from now on. If he does, the bats better not forget to show up this time.

 (Photo courtesy of Todd Zolecki/The Zo Zone)

In the final news for the day, J.A. Happ was put on the 15-day DL yesterday after starting to throwing an abbreviated bullpen session and talking it over with the trainer and pitching coach. This is probably for the best, as the Phillies have Nelson Figueroa to cover tomorrow and can get away with a four man rotation after that through the end of this road trip. Happ's DL stint is back-dated to April 16th, so he'll be eligible to come off on May 1st. At this point in the season, and with a potential lingering injury like the one that Happ has, it's a good idea to err on the side of caution here. Plus, Joe Blanton is getting closer to making his return, so the Phillies have a little leeway in giving Happ extra time off. Still, another injury is another injury. Hopefully this will be the last of them for a while.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Putting on a Show

Roy Halladay. 4-0 for the first time in his career. So far he's got a 0.82 ERA (which Cliff Lee also had in his first four games as a Phillie), 33 innings, three walks, and 29 strikeouts. Just to be clear, half of his starts are complete games, which his first shutout coming tonight. The other two games could have been shutouts: he was only taken out on opening day because the Phillies had a 10 run lead and it was important to give the bullpen some time. Last Friday, he probably would have come out to finish the game if the infield had not been a puddle. To be clear, Roy Halladay was not taken out of those two games because he was struggling. In the last three games, Phillies starters have pitched 26+ innings and gave up two earned runs. Unfortunately the Phillies were only 1-2 in those games. Still, it's good to see Doc getting some company going deeper into games.

(Photo courtesy of Gregory Smith/AP)

The other half of this game for the Phillies was not the offense, which only put up two runs on a pair of RBI doubles by Raul Ibanez and Jayson Werth, who has quietly put together nine doubles in 14 games. No, the other half of the game for the Phillies was the defense. If ESPN was short on material for web gems tonight, they aren't after this game. The highlights were definitely Shane Victorino making a sprinting leaping catch to rob Troy Glaus of a homer in the 2nd and Chase Utley's incredible diving catch to start the inning ending, bases-loaded double play in the 7th. Ryan Howard also had quite the diving stop in the bottom of the 9th to prevent the tying run from coming to the plate. Even Wilson Valdez, who came in for Placido Polanco after he was beaned on the elbow and suffered a contusion in the 1st, made a solid play at 3rd base to end the game. The defense has long been the unsung strength of this Phillies team, and today they showed why they've consistently been one of the best in the league.

Jamie Moyer is on the mound tomorrow night to go for the series win against the Braves. Let's hope he pitches like he did in innings two through six of Saturday night and not like he did in the 1st. Let's also hope that whoever is inevitably called in from the bullpen does his job well. Finally, let's hope the offense gets galvanized by tonight's win and destroys Derek Lowe.

Shades of Spring Training

Last night was another one of those games that turned from beautiful to hideously ugly for the Phillies pitching in the blink of an eye. It also looked remarkably like what we saw in spring training. Kyle Kendrick, he of the 17.47 ERA going into this game, did his best Roy Halladay impression since the Grapefruit League. He pitched eight shutout innings, including working himself out of a jam by inducing an inning-ending double play from Troy Glaus with the bases loaded in the 4th inning. The bullpen, on the other hand, continued to raise major questions that are real cause for concern going ahead. I was not watching this game, having taken advantage of half priced tickets to the Nationals-Rockies game, where I got to see the Rockies put up an 8-spot in the 3rd, but was otherwise fairly bored. Luckily I had that out of town scoreboard to keep my eye on, though I resorted to the more traditional "follow by Blackberry" method for the final three outs of the Phillies-Braves game. Or what should have been the final three outs.

 The AP trying to be artistically black and white with Kyle Kendrick
(Photo courtesy of Gregory Smith/AP)

Here's what I saw on the Blackberry screen. I first saw that Ryan Madson had come into relieve Kyle Kendrick, which made me very pleased that Kendrick had indeed been the pitcher keeping the Braves score at zero that entire time on the out of town scoreboard. Then I saw "M Prado grounded out to shortstop." One out. I saw "C Jones walked." Cause for concern, but not alarm. Then I saw "B McCann flied out to left." Whew, he's always a threat at the mound. Then I saw "T Glaus homered, C Jones scored." Alarm bells time. Still, the Phillies had a one run lead and there were two outs in the bottom of the 9th. Then I noticed Jason Heyward was the next batter and had a bit of a sinking feeling in my stomach that I tried to blame on the brisket sandwich I had eaten earlier from Teddy's Barbecue. However, that feeling proved to be accurate baseball intuition when I saw "J Heyward homered." Lead gone. Then Yunel Escobar grounded out, so the game wasn't over yet. So much for watching the final three outs.

Ryan Madson watching Troy Glaus round the bases
(Photo courtesy of Todd Zolecki/The Zo Zone)

Billy Wagner came on in the top of the 10th for the Braves, and I hoped this would turn out to be a mistake, using the closer to protect a tie, and the Phillies could shut down the Braves for one inning and get to the next reliever in the 11th. However, the Phillies were the ones shutdown, with Polanco, Utley, and Howard going down in order. Then Nate McLouth came up to the plate to face Jose Contreras. The Nate McLouth who went into this game hitting 4-for-27 on the year. At this point, I was hoping for a quick inning out of one of the few relievers left in the Phillies bullpen who hadn't had a bad inning yet. Unfortunately, that same Nate McLouth, 4-for-29 on the year at this point in the game, hit a walkoff home run, which was, of course, his first extra base hit of the year. As Kurt Vonnegut said, so it goes.

It's up to Roy Halladay to provide some relief from these losses tonight, which, in case you're keeping score, now tallies three straight and the last four of five. We all know he knows how to get it done, and let's hope he does so again on ESPN tonight. Now that Kendrick and Hamels have had some stellar outings, the rotation is no longer looking like the biggest question mark on this team, despite Blanton's DL stint and Happ's recent "mild flexor pronator muscle strain" that's causing him to miss his start tonight, though no DL time is predicted. The offense is fairly lackluster at the moment, but the Phillies offense has long been a streaky one, so that does not worry me. No, it is the one and only bullpen that is the problem going forward. I wouldn't have imagined saying this last season, but Brad Lidge  needs to hurry up and get healthy, as does J.C. Romero. Fortunately both are looking like they'll be back in the next two weeks. I still believe that Lidge is due for a comeback season, and his last few outings have looked solid. If he can get the velocity on his fastball back to the mid-90s and his slider command under control, he'll be an all-star closer again, even if he's not quite as unearthly as he was in 2008.

It's only April, so we're months away from any need for a panic button. These are just the issues that need addressing. I believe the bullpen will right itself in due course with the upcoming returns from injury, but a little help from the outside might be needed if these problems persist. John Smoltz for closer depth, anybody?

Sunday, April 18, 2010

First Series Loss: Reflections Looking Forward

Today was the first series loss for the Phillies this year, and the torrid offense of just days ago decided to take the weekend off, scoring only one run in the last two games. While offenses go through ups and downs, this was quite the precipitous dropoff for a team that went into yesterday's game averaging 7.7 runs a game. If not for a Jayson Werth solo homer in the bottom of the ninth yesterday, the Phillies would have been completely shut out by the Marlins this weekend. First for some recaps of this series against the Fish and then some general thoughts.

Friday's game was Roy Halladay's third start as a Phillie, and once again he did not disappoint. He went 8 strong innings and only gave up two runs. He probably would have completed another game if the field had not turned into a giant puddle by that point from all the rain, a puddle that no amount of Diamond Dry seemed to be able to quell. David Herndon came in for the 9th to protect the 8-2 Phillies lead, and proceeded to get charged with four runs on five hits, only two of which left the infield. The soaking wet infield. Herndon did what the Phillies have kept him around to do: induce groundballs. Unfortunately, ground balls hit into soaking wet turf don't tend to have the same bounce that they would get on dry ground. Madson had to come in to the record the save, which he did, thankfully. It was one quite an ugly 9th inning for the Phillies even though it resulted in a win, but once that win was notched, it was easy to look back and say it was mostly bad luck. It was certainly hard to do that as it was happening. Fortunately the offense had provided more than enough insurance against such bad luck, including solo homers by Polanco and Utley (his fifth in four games) and three RBI on two Juan Castro singles. Unfortunately, that was the last we saw of most of the Phillies offense.

(Photo courtesy of Tom Mihalek/AP)

Saturday night was Jamie Moyer's second start of the year, and as I've pointed out before, he made history with this start by being the first non-knuckleballer to make more than one start at the age of 47 or older. Unfortunately, he showed his age in the first inning, giving five runs including a three run shot to Ronny Paulino, who the Phillies possessed for the 2008-2009 winter but traded him to the Giants for Jack Taschner. In retrospect, not one of the best moves that Ruben has made. Back to the game at hand, Moyer then looked stunning for the next five innings, giving up two hits, no runs, and striking out seven. If that Jamie Moyer takes the mound all the time, he'll be able to keep his career alive a good while longer. If not, we'll see. The other story of the game was the lack of a Phillies offense, except for the Jayson Werth solo homer in the bottom of the 9th, making the final score 5-1 Marlins. I'd say that became the bigger story of the game after today's performance.

Today's game was at times painful and at times great to watch. Specifically, the Phillies offense was painful and Cole Hamels was great. Despite losing 2-0 to the Marlins, I consider this game to be a net positive going forward. The offensive slump is annoying, to be sure, but seeing Cole Hamels pitch 8+ innings with 2 ER (one of which was credited to him but batted in on a double given up by Madson) and  8 Ks was reassuring. First, Hamels is now the only pitcher other than Roy Halladay to pitch past the 6th inning so far this year, and he not only went past it, but he blew past it, throwing devastating change-ups and largely settling into a rhythm after giving up a solo homer to Dan Uggla in the 2nd. The offense, on the other hand, had some issues beyond the fact that they scored 0 runs. A ground rule double by Ben Francisco cost Jayson Werth the chance to score the tying run from first base in the 6th.  He could have scored later on in the inning when Ruiz flied out to center and Cameron Maybin's throw went to the backstop. However, Werth was too tentative in his running and stayed at third, and Hamels grounded out to end the inning. A forgettable day for the bats, but a great day for Cole Hamels.

 (Photo courtesy of Ron Cortes/Inquirer Staff Photographer)

With this latest loss, the Phillies have now lost three of their last four games. This is not cause for alarm, but certainly cause for concern, with the shaky Kyle Kendrick starting the next game at Atlanta on Tuesday and the probable starters after that being something of a murky situation. This murkiness came after it was announced that J.A. Happ has had some left arm soreness which could cause him to miss his last start. That arm trouble could definitely explain why his velocity was a little off in his start last Thursday and why he walked six batters in 5.1 innings. The last thing the Phillies need right now is another player to succumb to the injury bug. Here's hoping for good news when Happ throws a side session during the off day tomorrow. For now, the Phillies leave Philadelphia on a low note after an otherwise great season so far. The question marks are there for this team, but so is incredible potential.

In an un-Phillies related note, last night was quite the crazy night around baseball. First, the Cardinals and the Mets played a 20 inning game, where the first run of the game was not scored until the top of the 19th inning. I had been watching the game in the 9th inning and left my house for a few hours, got back and turned on my TV again, and assumed that Fox was replaying the game. Until I saw that it was the top of the 18th. And Felipe Lopez, a position player, was pitching for the Cardinals. I enjoyed the ride from there until the end of the 20th, and if you missed out on this game, go read the recap. Jayson Stark will undoubtedly write something about it as well in the coming days.

Another note around baseball: Ubaldo Jimenez, the Rockies number one starter and flamethrower, pitched the season's first no-hitter last night. In case you were wondering, the last time a no-hitter and a 20 inning game happened on the same night was back in 2003 when Kevin Millwood pitched a no-hitter for the Phillies against the Giants and the Cardinals beat the Marlins 7-6 in 20 innings. I mention that mostly to bring up the fact that no one has pitched a no-hitter for the Phillies since. I, for one, would have no problem with another no-no from one of our starters one of this days.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

The Bullpen Rears Its Ugly Head

We knew it couldn't last forever. The offense and bullpen simply could not cover up forever the fact that every starter not named Halladay has gone 6 or fewer innings in each of his starts. The offense didn't get it going until the 6th inning, other than yet another homer by Utley early on. They scored 3 more runs in the 6th, but Shane Victorino left the bases loaded, which would become one of many crucial stranding of runners throughout the game. Still, at the time the Phillies were up 4-1 against a lackluster Nationals offense, Ryan Zimmerman-less, that had only managed one unearned run up until that point, despite the fact that J.A. Happ walked 6 men. He may have a 0.00 ERA through 10.1 IP, but he has a pretty poor WHIP, or walks and hits per innings pitched, at 1.65. Just shows how some of the more traditional stats like ERA don't tell the whole story.

Anyway, on most days, going into the 7th with a 4-1 score against the Nationals would have been just fine. Only it became 4-2 with Bastardo pitching. A little worrisome but not terrible. Then it came apart in the 8th. Danys Baez gave up a home run to Adam Dunn, his first of the year, to lead off the inning. 3 batters later, after walking Ivan Rodriguez, an injured Ryan Zimmerman hobbled to the plate (okay, I'm exaggerating) as a pinch hitter, and of course hit a home run. 5-4 Nationals. Bad, but hey, this is the Phillies offense that scored 64 runs through 8 games so far this season. So after the Phillies were retired in the bottom of the 8th, it was up to Ryan Madson to hold it to a 1 run lead for the top of the order coming up in the bottom of the inning. Instead, he continued the first Phillies bullpen collapse of 2009, allowing batters on 2nd and 3rd for Rodriguez to bat them in with a single. 7-4 Nationals. Still, we believed when Victorino led off the bottom of the 9th with a 405 foot homer and Polanco followed with a single. Then Utley, Howard, and Werth were retired in order. 7-5 Nationals.

(Photo courtesy of Yong Kim/Inquirer staff photographer)

There's nothing left to do after a game like this but dust off and move on. The pitching was ugly, no doubt about that. Roy Halladay will be back on the mound tomorrow, and ideally that will give the bullpen much needed rest after today's implosion. As for the rest of the starters, Hamels has his issues but nothing major as of yet. Kendrick is clearly not going to last very long in the rotation, especially with Charlie moving Halladay up to tomorrow from Saturday, since there was an off day this week. This sets up the possibility that Kendrick's next scheduled start can simply be skipped with another off day next week. Joe Blanton should be close to recovered by then. Jamie Moyer's next start will be against the Marlins on Saturday, and it will be interesting to see how he fares against that lineup. In his last start against the Fish last year, he pitched 7 innings and gave up 1 hit, striking out 4. It will also be his day to make history, becoming the first non-knuckleballer in major league history to start more than one game at his age or older.


(Photo courtesy of Pat Sullivan/AP)

Many consider tomorrow night to be the real beginning of the Phillies season, after warming up against the Nationals and Astros for the first 3 series of the season. I don't buy this, but I do agree that the next series against the Marlins then after that against the Braves and Giants will be a truer measure of what the Phillies 2010 season will turn out to be. Game on.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Game 8: Jimmy Who?

Another win is in the books for the Phillies in this offensively hot 2010 season, with them beating the Nationals 14-7. Yes, the Nationals scored 7 runs, 6 of which were off Kyle Kendrick. Remember how people always said to not trust Spring Training results, no matter how tempting? This is starting to look like a good case for why. Of course, it's only 2 starts, but he probably had the most to prove as a starter going into this, and has not done so, even against the Washington Nationals. Once again, he needs to go back to working out with Roy Halladay.

(Photo courtesy of Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

The story of the night, going in, was the effect that losing Jimmy Rollins to the DL (out 2-4 weeks officially, hopefully on the lower end of that) and resting Jayson Werth. Well, from the 1st inning it was clear that this game belonged to the offense, on both sides. Stammen and Kendrick were both rocked and knocked out in less than 2. Kendrick gave up 6 runs in 1.2 innings, Stammen gave up 7 runs in 1.1. Not exactly your classic pitchers' duel. Once again, the Phillies bullpen was phenomenal, giving up 1 run in 7.1 innings. Figueroa not only pitched effectively, but hit a single and a double. He's looking like a better pick up every time he goes out. Durbin continued to look as effective this year as he was disappointing last year. Bastardo and Herndon combined to pitch a scoreless 8th and 9th.

Back to that offense, Shane Victorino's performance in the lead off spot was simply stellar. He was 4 for 5 with 2 singles, a 3 run triple, and a 2 run homer. That's 4 for 5 and a double shy of the cycle. He was certain doing his best 2010 J-Roll impression. Then there was Chase Utley, with his 2nd and 3rd homers in as many games. Placido Polanco and Ryan Howard also contributed multi-hit games of their own (as did the aforementioned Figueroa). All in all, J-Roll was missed, but not in the box score.

(Photo courtesy of Matt Slocum/AP)

Now, it's on to the final game of the series tomorrow, and Happ will try to bring the second sweep in a row for the Phils. So far, the offense is scary good. There's no two ways about that. You can argue all day long that we've only faced the Nationals and the Astros so far, and there's certainly some merit to that. However, even good teams playing terrible teams don't tend to average 8 runs a game. Winning 7 of 8 is impressive no matter what the schedule is. That being said, it'll be fun to see what happens going forward against the Marlins this weekend and against the Braves after that. I say, bring it on.

Monday, April 12, 2010

2010 Jimmy Rollins, We Hardly Knew Ye

The Phillies had a glorious 5th inning today to come from behind an earlier 4-0 deficit to the Washington Nationals and ended up winning today's game, 7-4. Sadly, the 6-1 (best since 1993) start the Phillies have now pulled off was overshadowed by injury news. After being introduced in the line-up to raucous applause, Jimmy Rollins failed to take the field, and Juan Castro turned up like an unwanted relative. It was like your cool uncle failed to show up to a family reunion and sent your weird, estranged uncle in his place. At least this estranged uncle got himself an RBI double, though he also committed an error that led to runners on the corners and Chad Durbin having to come in and resolve the situation.

Rollins being out and heading for the MRI machine tomorrow would have bad enough in and of itself, but then Jayson Werth had to go give himself a sore left hip beating out a grounder in the 4th. Luckily, he seems to be alright, and is day to day. Rollins, on the other hand, reportedly has a type 2 calf strain which usually requires time on the DL. As others have pointed out, Shane Victorino had a similar injury in April 2008, stayed out the rest of the month, then came back in early May and did quite well for the rest of the season. Judging by how the Phillies have played so far, if that were the case, I think we could be in far worst shape. In the meantime, all eyes will be on the MRI results tomorrow. It'll also be interesting to see just what Shane Victorino can do in the leadoff spot in the coming games.

(Photo courtesy of Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

The other main story of the day was the second start of Cole Hamels. Once again he worked hard, and he managed to get through .2 more innings this time but did so by giving up 2 more runs than last Wednesday. Still he struck out 6, putting his K rate at slightly above 9 per 9 innings. He just needs to start settling in and not let things unravel in an inning, as they did for him today in the 4th. He needs a few lessons from Roy Halladay in pitching efficiency and getting out of jams. Lucky for Hamels, he got the win with a stellar offensive rally and the work of what is starting to look like a rock solid bullpen.

(Photo courtesy of Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

So there we stand for now, atop all of baseball after a week, according to our record and the ESPN Power Rankings. For now, I'll sure miss the J-Roll of 2010 who worked 7 walks and hit .391/.516/.739 in that first week. Until his injury today, he even had me starting to believe that those numbers weren't a fluke, and while he clearly wouldn't continue at that unbelievable pace, he was showing signs of being close to his 2007 MVP form. For now, because I don't have any reason to be otherwise, I'll be optimistic that Rollins will bounce back from this injury after the appropriate rest and continue to be the catalyst at the top of our line-up that he can be and had been for the first week of the season. I know I can speak for Phillies fans everywhere when I say: get well soon, Jimmy.

(Photo courtesy of Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Sweepin' Up the 'Stros

The Phillies have their first sweep of the season. And wow. Roy Halladay sure knows how to get the job done. Today marks his 150th career win, and 50th career complete game. Yes, you read that right. A full one third of his wins are complete games (Update: It's been pointed out to me that not all of his complete games were wins. Nevertheless, the numbers are still pretty unbelievable). That, my friends and fellow fans, simply does not happen anymore. But it just did, today.

(Photo courtesy of Dave Einsel / AP)

I haven't updated since the Phillies left my area on Thursday, so I'll give a brief rundown of this recent sweep and then some thoughts on what the Phillies have shown so far.

Friday night's game saw a solid start from J.A. Happ, giving up no runs in 5 innings. However, as with Cole Hamels in game 2 against the Nationals, Happ labored through those 5 innings. The bullpen, however sparkled. David Herndon continues to be one of the better Rule 5 picks around lately. His strong innings were followed by an inning each by our favorite pair of former Cuban defectors, Danys Baez and Jose Contreras, who were both unhittable. Among Baez, Contreras, Herndon, and Madson the Phillies have 4 relievers who have touched 95 and above on the radar gun, each with a solid mix of pitches to boot. This raw stuff was simply not there in the bullpen last year. Backing up this combined 4 pitcher shutout, the offense did its job and scored 8 runs on 16 hits, including 3 hits by the reawakened Raul Ibanez. I'm going to pretend that he had a stunt double standing in for him before that point and hope for the best from this point forward.

(Photo courtesy of Todd Zolecki)

Moving on to Saturday night's game, our favorite 47 year old pitcher got his first start of the season, playing on "turn back the clock night" in Houston, where the Astros wore 1965 throwback uniforms. Incidentally, as has been pointed out elsewhere, Jamie Moyer is the only active player who was alive in 1965. It's those little details like that that make his career all the more astounding. His start was not all that astounding, however, giving up 5 runs including 2 home runs in the 3rd inning, which now puts him at 493 homers given up in his career. That means he's 12 short of the all-time record set by the Phillies' own Robin Roberts. Not bad company. That start aside, a 2 run shot by Ryan Howard in the 6th inning put Moyer in line for the win and the bullpen did its job once again, limiting the Astros to one run in 3 innings of relief. Shane Victorino, the last lackluster piece of the Phillies offense, came alive with a 2 run homer in the 8th after an RBI single earlier in the game. The Phillies took it 8-5.

And then there was one. One game left to earn the first sweep of the season. One game left, if all went well, for Roy Halladay to win his 150th game. It was a pitchers' duel from the start, well at least after Roy Oswalt gave up a leadoff homer to Jimmy Rollins, J-Roll's 34th career leadoff blast. That and a sacrifice fielder's choice by Ruiz in the 2nd was all Halladay needed. He went 9 innings, struck out 8, and gave up one unearned run. That included a 6th inning where he loaded the bases with no outs, then got a sacrifice double play and a quick 3rd out when Carlos Lee popped out to shortstop. Halladay gave up 2 singles to start the 7th, then after allowing the runners to advance on a Kaz Matsui bunt, Halladay induced a grounder back to him and a strikeout. Oh, and he even had a single in the top of the 7th. He cruised through the 8th and 9th, though Carlos Lee hit a monster foul ball that was feet away from being a homer to start off the 9th that likely gave all Phillies fans watching a near heart attack. Clearly the baseball gods were smiling on Roy today. When he got Pedro Feliz (yes, that Pedro Feliz) to pop out to Utley to end the game with the Phillies winning 2-1, it became clear to all just why the Phillies went to great lengths to acquire this guy.

Needless to say, the Phillies season so far has been an exciting one. With a 5-1 record, the Phillies came into today leading the majors in most offensive categories, but they showed in today's game that they can win with more than just their frightening offense. The bullpen got its rest in today, but they've all looked sharper than us fans could have hoped for coming out of spring training. About that offense, every single regular has now contributed solidly, even a few of the pitchers, though that's really the icing on the cake. I won't make crazy statements on how many wins, runs, etc. the Phillies are on pace to get, but I will say this. Assuming that there's more to this first week's performance than completely destroying a few mediocre (or worse) teams, this is going to be a damn good year.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Game 3: You Win Some...

Well, it had to happen. We all knew Jayson Werth's bat would come alive, and what a day it was. 3 doubles in 3 at-bats, and long fly out that probably would have been a 4th double if the center fielder hadn't been Nyjer Morgan. It'll take a lot more than that to make us forget about the beard though. Just sayin', Jayson.

Oh, also the Phillies lost. 6-5. What made it worse was that we hit atrociously with runners in scoring position. Meaning we were tantalizingly close to pulling ahead and left runners on base (11 in all), inning after inning, particularly late in the game. The two particularly painful moments: Howard's baserunning blunder in the 5th (probably the fault of 3rd base coach Sam Perlozzo) and Ryan Zimmerman's double in the 7th, which was the rare "blooper" double, thanks to incredible luck of the ball landing inches fair. As for the Howard incident, Perlozzo was waving him right along right until Howard got to the base when he held up a giant "STOP" motion, so it's hard to blame Howard for running hard up until that point, that is to say doing exactly what he was supposed to be doing.

(Photo courtesy of Susan Walsh / AP Photo)

The two bigger issues to take away from this game lay with a certain pitcher and a certain hitter. The pitcher had a stellar spring training that translated into a far less than stellar outing today, with Kendrick's final line being 4 IP, 5 ER, 6 hits, including 1 HR, and 2 K. I guess for all of his working out with Roy Halladay, he still leaves sinkers up in the zone. However, it was just one starts, so I'm willing to cut him a break on that.

The above mentioned hitter had an awful spring training that, so far, has translated into the exact opposite of a torrid start. Raul Ibanez is 1 for 11 after 3 games, though he has scored 3 runs after working a few walks. Still, coupled with his .122 Grapefruit League average and his lackluster second half of the 2010 season, this is starting to be cause for concern. Of course it's early on and Raul has plenty of time to turn things around, but I think all of us would like to see that happens sooner rather than later. Let's face it, he's not a young man anymore.

(Photo courtesy of Yong Kim / Inquirer staff photographer)

The first loss of the season comes with its share of silver linings. Hitters 1 through 5 of the Phillies lineup continued to show why the rest of the league should be afraid of our offense, with each of them having a multi-hit game and going a combined 11 for 23. If they keep this up at even 75% of their current rate, and the 6-8 hitters (though Carlos Ruiz, no slouch at the plate himself in the first 2 games, had the day off today) find their stride, this team could score 1000 runs. Sure, that's wishful thinking, but crazier things have happened in this wonderful sport.

For now, it's on to Houston and time for Happ to show that last season was not all about luck for him. I appreciate the power of numbers, but I hope for the Phillies' sake that Happ proves us statheads wrong this season.

Let the Roller Coaster Ride Begin

Having been at the game once again yesterday, I can easily say that the final score of 8-4 does not do justice to the fact that the real Phillies season started yesterday. That would be the Phillies season where, even when we're ahead, the team still does its best to treat us to a nice roller coaster ride of nerves.

Let's begin with mediums, then I'll get to the highs and lows. Cole Hamels. His much ballyhooed start was certainly not his best. Then again, compared to his first start last year, this one was an absolute gem. He clearly was not hitting his spots all the time, based on the 4 walks he issued in 5 innings. He also struck out 5, so while that's not a great K/BB ratio, it's still a great K/9 IP ratio. It's also one start, but hey, the numbers have to start somewhere. Despite his struggles, he did manage to get himself the win and only gave up 2 earned runs.

 (Photo courtesy of Yong Kim / Inquirer staff photographer)

Hamels showed flashes of 2009, which was certainly cause for a few heart palpitations. However, he never became completely unhinged by a bad inning as occurred a few times last season. The closest it came to that was after he gave up a solo homer to Ian Desmond to start the 3rd, then issued back to back walks and 2 singles. However he got out of a bases loaded jam to end that inning. That bases loaded jam was certainly one of the lows of the game, but Hamels escaped relatively unscathed. His greatest problem and cause for concern going forward, was not so much the damage caused by the Nats line-up, but the number of pitches it took Hamels to limit that damage. Giving up 2 earned runs in 5 innings is fine, but if it takes him 103 pitches to do so every time, he will not go any deeper into games. Which brings us to the Phillies bullpen last night.

On the whole, the 'pen was a high. Chad Durbin looked sharp, after a fairly lackluster 2009 season. Danys Baez struggled, but was bailed out by Antonio Bastardo doing what he's paid to do as the lefty specialist: come in for one left-handed batter, throw a pitch, get an out, and hand the ball off to the next pitcher. That next pitcher was Ryan Madson who registered the four out save and was throwing some sharp stuff. He even got an at bat with the bases loaded, and I was really hoping for a relief pitcher grand slam. I wonder how many of those there have been in baseball history.

Another high was the offense. Rollins had his second 2 BB game in a row. He only had 4 such games all season last year, so that certainly bodes well.  Polanco, Utley, Howard, and Ruiz all had multi-hit games, and Howard blasted (and I mean blasted) his 2nd homer in as many games. Hell, even Cole Hamels had an RBI single, making him the 2nd Phillies starter in 2 games to do so. I wonder how many teams have started off their seasons with back to back games with pitcher RBIs. If anyone has any insight on that, let me know.

So there you have it, game 2 of the 2010 season. The good, the bad, and the mediocre of the Phillies season so far. The offense overall looks great, though it would be nice if the bats of Ibanez and Werth started showing some life soon. The pitching was solid in the end, but not wonderful. Despite the 8-4 final score, there were several near disasters in this game against a line-up that is hardly among the most fearsome in baseball.

In the greater scheme of things, the Phillies added some pitching depth by claiming Nelson Figueroa off waivers yesterday, who is likely to go straight into the bullpen today and replace Drew Carpenter. This strikes me as a good, low-risk move at a time when the Phillies sorely need more major league-ready pitching depth. It also gives Figueroa another shot at proving his value to the Phillies as part of that ill-fated Curt Schilling trade to the Diamondbacks all those years ago.

One final note: Kyle Kendrick has his first start of 2010 today against the Nationals, and his days in the rotation may be numbered. I fully expect him not to take that time for granted and pitch his hardest to make his case for the 5th starter spot when Blanton returns from the DL. Hopefully he'll continue his spring training emulation of his man crush. All Phillies eyes (and ears in my case, since the game will be blacked out on mlb.tv) will be on that starting at 4:35 PM.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Oh What a Day It Has Been!

I just wanted a fun game. I already knew I was getting a Presidential first pitch, and Roy Halladay's start as a Phillie. For all the hype and talk this preseason, I just wanted a decent win. Little did I know I would get so much more.
Presidents, real (top) and fake (bottom).

For starters, Ryan Howard had quite the 2 run blast to put the Phillies on the board in the 4th. When he walked up to the plate with Utley on 1st, I turned to my friend and said "I have a good feeling about this at bat." Then he Howard proceeded to kill a baseball. I won't mention the other times today that I said I had good feelings and nothing happened. That was the only good feeling that I actually felt, clearly.

The Polanco grand slam was another fine moment. I seem to remember us signing him for his contact hitting abilities, not so much any hitting for power. Looks like he sure knows how to (re-)endear himself to a fan base.

Then there was Roy. Roy threw 7 innings. Roy gave up one run early in the game before settling down and mowing down the Nationals lineup. That mowing took the form of a solid 9 Ks over those 7 innings. Sure he gave up a run in the first inning, but in the end that almost seemed like he was toying with the Nats. He did a nice job of getting their hopes up before crushing them entirely. Not too shabby, Mr. Halladay.

Doc, the one and only.

Overall, this day was incredible. I got to the ball park early and got to see some of the pitchers not in today's game, including our once and future ace:

Cole Hamels, plotting his comeback.

After a day like today, I can't stop thinking about how much I love baseball and I love the Phillies. Starting the season on such a high note inevitably leaves us fans open to disappointment, but I'm not worrying about that right now. For now, I'm just glowing from this win (and literally from sunburn). Until Wednesday, over and out.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

These Are the Good Old Days

With less than 24 hours to go before the Phillies' 2010 season begins, I wanted to put down some final thoughts. I've blogged plenty about day to day Phillies happenings, about the good and bad of individual players, and about a competition that captured the attention of the Phillies blogosphere. I'm new to the blogging business, but I do have the distinction of having lost that competition to the eventual overall champion, so I can rest on my laurels a bit for that.

Anyhow, here it is: the 2010 season. After questions asked were answered and questions asked remained unanswered, tomorrow is when it all starts to matter again. Forget those Grapefruit league batting averages, ERAs, and exciting walkoff wins over the Yankees. None of that matters as soon as Harry Leroy Halladay III throws out the first pitch tomorrow to Nyjer Morgan. I will be there to witness what will hopefully be a dazzling debut for Philadelphia's new ace.

People love to talk about the good old days of anything, whether it be politics, music, sports, or even the world in general. It is truly rare to be able to recognize the good old days as they are happening, in any of those areas of life. The current crop of Phillies is one such occasion, when we fans can say without a shadow of a doubt that these are the good old days.

On the eve of this 2010 season, I don't know what the future will bring for this team that has capture the hearts and minds of a city. I could make predictions for the coming season, as many have (incidentally, you should check out some of those predictions here and here, and also the always insightful Jayson Stark's take on the upcoming season). I could say that I think the Phillies will win the NL East, beat, say, the Cardinals in the NLDS then the Rockies in the NLCS, then beat the Red Sox in the World Series. That would be awesome if that came to pass.

In the end, I don't really know what will happen between now and October, so I'll sit back and enjoy the ride over the course of the next six, hopefully seven months.What I do know is that these are, truly, the good old days for Phillies fans everywhere. Now let's get out there and win some baseball!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Everybody's a Winner!

Well the 5th starter battled ended as predicted, with Jamie Moyer getting the nod on Tuesday, and Kyle Kendrick going to the bullpen. Everyone said all the right things and the team looked ready to start the season with a fairly set roster. But wait! Faster than you can say pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicavolcanoconiosis, Joe Blanton decided to help out Kyle Kendrick by getting himself a mild oblique strain while throwing in the bullpen, so Kendrick gets to be in the rotation after all! Everyone wins! Except for the Phillies who just lost a reliable no. 3 starter who had never spent a day on the DL before now. It appears he'll be out for 3-6 weeks.

You may remember our friend, the oblique strain, from Clay Condrey's three month absence last year. Team doctors are assuring everyone that Blanton's injury is far milder and more localized than Condrey's, but it seems that they want to be safe by not risking an aggravation to the injury. Am I the only one who thinks "mild oblique strain" doesn't really sound all that bad? I don't doubt that it's serious and good reason to sideline Blanton, but maybe that injury needs some rebranding.

Say it ain't so, Joe
(Photo courtesy of David Swanson / Daily News Staff Photographer)

Assuming Blanton is out for a while, we can continue the battle for the 5th starter just a little longer and see what Kendrick and Moyer do in the regular season. I think they'll both make fairly strong cases out of the gate. Kendrick's move to the rotation does create a hole in a bullpen that's already cause for concern, and it will be interesting to see if Ruben picks up anyone to fill that void or promotes from within. For now, signs point to Drew Carpenter being promoted from within. BJ Rosenberg is also with the team for this weekend's exhibition game, and he's a player I think could make a big league contribution sooner than people expect.

Back to good news, the countdown is now down to less than four days until Roy Halladay pitches against the Nationals in DC, after someone fairly important throws out the first pitch. Now, I don't mind our President being a White Sox fans, but if he starts rooting for the Nats then we'll have to talk.

I just got the baseball preview issue of Sports Illustrated, and might have drooled a bit over the cover:


I learned from Tom Verducci that Roy Halladay might just be the greatest thing to hit Philadelphia since Ben Franklin. Halladay is "the Lance Armstrong of pitchers...the Peyton Manning of pitchers...the Babe Ruth of pitchers...the Cy Young of pitching..." Wow. And here I thought I was getting overexcited by this guy. I hope Tom Verducci didn't hyperventilate from excitement while writing this article. Not that I can blame him. Did you know Roy Halladay has thrown nine complete games in a season more times than all other active pitchers combined? You do now. Did you know Roy Halladay both struck out over 200 batters and had fewer walks than starts in his 2003 Cy Young season? You do now. I'll paraphrase what I've previously said: if you are a Phillies fan and not excited by this guy, you clearly have no capacity for human emotion and may be dead.

Looking ahead, the Grapefruit League is now finished, and of course there were ups and downs. I'm more happy with the ups (Polanco, the starting rotation, to name a few) than I am concerned with the downs (the bullpen, Ibanez, to name a few). Maybe that's holding a double standard on my part, but I'll wait for the regular season to confirm any conclusions I could draw from spring training. All I know is that it's going to be a fun year and I can't wait for Monday.