Phillibustering

Witness to History: Stephen Strasburg

2010-06-09T08:22:00.003-04:00

I don't usually write about something that doesn't involve the Phillies in some way (and in a way this does, further down the line this season), but attending a certain rookie's debut at Nationals Park last night leaves me no choice. I also don't usually give this much of a play-by-play recap, but this experience deserves nothing less.

Stephen Strasburg. 21 years old. The most highly hyped prospect in baseball history, if one looks at the myriad vehicles for hype we have these days. Sure, he was scouted. He was written about by insiders and those with passing interest alike. His minor league starts were broadcast. He was blogged about. He was the subject of tweets across the country. None of that mattered though, for the record books. Last night did.

I arrived at the stadium a little over an hour before the first pitch was thrown. The atmosphere was nothing short of electrifying, if that description even does it justice. I had felt nothing like it at a sports game since going to the clinching games 5a and 5b of the 2008 World Series at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia (See, I can always bring it back to the Phillies). This was the second sold out game at Nationals Park I had been to, but the other was opening day this year, and that crowd was not exactly tilted heavily towards the hometown team. My friends and I settled into our seats to watch the fireworks begin.

(Photo courtesy of Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

The first three pitches to Pirates leadoff batter Andrew McCutchen clocked in at 97, 97, and 98 miles per hour. So that part of the hype was real enough. The umpires weren't calling too many strikes in that at bat or the next one of Neil Walker, but Strasburg still got outs, a sharp liner to short and a grounder to first. Then Lastings Milledge struck out swinging on a filthy curveball. The crowd was on notice.

Garrett Jones started the second striking out swinging on a 99 mph fastball. Delwyn Young followed swinging through another disgusting curve. Andy LaRoche deflated the crowd a bit with a single to right field, but Strasburg and the crowd came roaring back when Ronny Cedeno struck out swinging through a 89 mph changeup. Yes, you just read that correctly.

The third arrived, and Jason Jaramillo (former Phillies prospect) was utterly paralyzed striking out looking at a sick curveball. The Pirates pitcher Jeff Karstens struck out swinging on a 98 mph fastball. Andrew McCutchen grounded out in his second at bat of the game to end the third, and end Strasburg's streak of six straight strikeouts (around Andy Laroche's single) going back to the first. Six strikeouts through three shutout innings. The excitement was building, and I was running out of adjectives to text people about the performance I was witnessing.

The fourth spelled trouble for Strasburg. He made three bad pitches, the last of which was a home run to Delwyn Young. fortunately he had gotten a double play ball right before that, so the damage was limited to two runs. Andy Laroche followed by popping out to end it, but the strikeouts had stopped, the runs had started, and the crowd was clearly concerned. Still, even if he got through just one more inning, with no more runs or strikeouts, that would have been quite the rookie performance.

The fifth began, and Strasburg looked as if the fourth inning never happened. Ronny Cedeno struck out swinging on yet another 99 mph fastball (no tiring out for this Strasburg guy), Jason Jaramillo weakly grounded out, and the pitcher was called out on strikes. The crowd knew that the momentum was becoming unstoppable.

The sixth inning arrived. Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, and Lastings Milledge all came up to the plate. Andrew McCutchen, Neil Walker, and Lastings Milledge all struck out swinging. 11 strikeouts now for the phenom.

With Strasburg's pitch count in the low 80s, it was unclear whether he would come in again for the seventh inning, after Nationals manager Jim Riggleman said earlier in the day that they would limit him to 75-100 pitches and he probably would not go more than six innings. He came right back out though. Garrett Jones reached a 2-2 count in a six pitch battle, then swung straight through the seventh, another incredible curve. Strikeout number 12. The crowd roared. Delwyn Young swung, looked, and swung again and was down on strikes, with the entire crowd on its feet, the fever pitch only increasing. Strikeout number 13. In the final at bat of the seventh inning, Andy LaRoche looked at a curveball that dropped in for a strike. He swung at an impossible to hit curveball. With the count 0-2 and the 14th strikeout at stake, the entire sold out crowd of over 40,000 shook the stadium, yelling "STEPHEN STRASBURG" in perfect unison. Andy LaRoche swung through yet another 99 mph fastball. The crowd exploded. All else is now history.

(Photo courtesy of Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

I cannot do justice in words to what witnessing this performance was truly like. You can read all about just why it was so historic from Jayson Stark's column on the game and all its stats, obscure and obscurer. All I know is that I saw a pitcher pitch, at the age of 21 and in his first major league game, as if he was one of the best pitchers in the game today. Indeed, Curt Schilling said that Strasburg would be one of the best pitchers in baseball immediately, a statement which met with more than a bit of skepticism when Schilling made it a little shy of a month ago. Now there is little doubt that Strasburg can be just that. Though it's premature to say that he will do so, after a few more games like last night's, it will be a matter of when, not if.

Signs of Life?

2010-06-05T14:02:00.002-04:00

Last time the Phillies were discussed in this space, Roy Halladay had pitched a perfect game following an eked out 3-2 win the night before. Not much of note has happened since then, except the fact that the Phillies are out of first place, having been shut out 1-0 by the Marlins following Halladay's perfecto then losing three straight to the Braves, the new team atop the NL East. Chase Utley is having the slump of his career and has to simply wait it out, and Ryan Howard isn't too far behind. That, coupled with the fact that many of the other bats have fallen silent, Jimmy Rollins is still disabled, and Placido Polanco was out for a few games, has spelled offensive disaster.

Chase Utley, wondering where the hits have gone
(Photo courtesy of Wilfredo Lee/AP)

All is not lost, however. The Phillies won 3-2 last night over the Padres, the team with the best record in the National League. Roy Halladay followed up his perfecto with a fine seven inning, two run performance, and he even singled and scored the first Phillies run of the night on a two run homer by Shane Victorino in the 3rd. Victorino later doubled and scored the go ahead run on Jayson Werth's bases loaded walk off Padres starter Mat Latos in the 5th. This was only the third win for the Phillies in two weeks, but the offensive has ended the streak of repeated shutouts. The team still hasn't scored more than three runs in a games since their May 21st 5-1 victory over the Red Sox, the night before Daisuke Matsuzaka nearly no-hit the Phillies and the slump of all slumps began.

(Photo courtesy of David Warren/Philly.com staff photographer)

In the midst of all this offensive impotence, the strength of the pitching staff has been a bit overlooked. Pitching was arguably the biggest question mark going into this season for the Phillies, but the rotation has for the most part been solid through these hellish last two weeks.

We all know the offense will come out of this. Contact has been made more frequently, the runs have started trickling in, and luck will start swinging back towards the Phillies soon enough. The Braves have been on an absurd hot streak, and it would certainly be nice for that to end soon. I don't have as much confidence in the Braves getting a lot worse as I do in the Phillies getting a lot better, but I do believe things will even out. I'd like to think that by the All-Star break in a little over a month, we'll all look back on these last two weeks and wonder where this hiccup in an otherwise great season came from.

Mr. Perfect: Roy Halladay, You ARE the Man!

2010-05-30T10:08:00.003-04:00

I must confess, I was not watching last night's baseball game for most of it. I had to drive somewhere as it began, and I heard the first inning on the radio, where Roy Halladay threw more pitches than I would have liked but had a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. A good way to start the game, I thought, but I turned off the radio to go to a Memorial Day barbecue and didn't think more on the game other than to text Google every so often for the score. About two hours later, I was sitting watching the Flyers and Blackhawks beat up on each other, and after the 1st period ended 3-2 Flyers, my friends and I decided to turn off the TV to go back outside into the nice late spring evening and eat some more delicious food.

Then I got the text message. It read: "roy halladay has retired 24 batters...in a row...consecutively..." I got the message. Frantically, we went back to turn on my friend's TV, which of course didn't have cable. I decided to throw etiquette to the wind and we asked the host if he could get his laptop, and I got to mlb.com as fast as I could and saw that wonderful "live look-in" button. I clicked, and was met with the pleasant blue screen of the middle of the 9th. We sat and waited, crowded around a laptop.

The game returned, and when it did, the atmosphere in my host's tiny living room was electric. Fredi Gonzalez, the Marlins' coach, had decided to throw three consecutive pinch hitters at Roy Halladay in a bid to stop perfection and tie up what was still only a 1-0 game. Mike Lamb was the first, and he hit a pitch about as far as any was hit that night, to straightaway center. Shane Victorino moved back, but clearly had room and made the catch. Wes Helms was next. Halladay threw a 1-2 pitch to the inside corner that froze Helms for a called strike three. I was ready to jump for joy or scream in agony at this point. Finally, Ronny Paulino came to the plate. On another 1-2 pitch, a curveball from Halladay, Paulino hit a grounder to the left side. Juan Castro gloved it on the run, spun around, and fired to first. My heart stopped. The throw could have been too late. The throw could have been too high or too wide. But no, like the rest of the game, it was perfect. For the second time in Phillies history and the 20th time in baseball history, perfection was achieved. As Jayson Stark wrote, it was, indeed, a Halladay to Remember.

Roy Halladay, perfection achieved

(Photo courtesy of Wilfredo Lee/AP)

There are many videos of highlights out there to relive just how amazing this night was for Roy Halladay. Personally, I like watching all 27 outs, which you can see over at the 700 Level along with another great recap of the game. Enjoy.

Slumping Towards Mediocrity, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Slump

2010-05-28T10:02:00.002-04:00

This will be brief, since the Phillies haven't given me much to write about since I last wrote. Since one week ago, the Phillies have scored a total of three runs, all in the 9th inning Sunday afternoon after Tim Wakefield left the game with an 8 inning shutout going. To put it another way, the Phillies have scored runs in one of their last 47 innings of play. To put it another way, they have now not scored runs off a starting pitcher in their last 35 innings facing opposing starters. I could go on, but let's hope tonight makes this all moot. As Paul Hagen wrote today, the Phillies cannot afford to become complacent in the NL East right now. Even a rare team meeting called by Charlie after Wednesday's second shutout in as many nights did not galvanize the team to do much of anything offensively yesterday.

Everyone knows that slumps happen in baseball, especially to this often potent Phillies team, but this one is particularly rough to watch. For some good perspective on it, read Bill Baer's take over at Crashburn Alley on why we shouldn't be rushing for the panic button right now. I agree that it isn't time to panic, but three consecutive shutouts by the Mets of all teams is really, really hard to watch. I know the slump will end, but I don't want have to write a blog post before that happens about how the Phillies have set a new record for consecutive innings being shutout. The players should be in worrying about this right now and be doing everything they can to fix whatever is not clicking. As a fan, however, it's time to stop worrying and love, or at least tolerate, the slump.

Autograph War: Wild Thing vs The Bull?

2010-05-24T06:01:00.001-04:00

Special Guest Post by Skyline Stories (@SkylineStories)

I'm hoping there was an autograph war between Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams and Greg "The Bull" Luzinski on Sunday's Phillies game.

Luz signs at his Bull's BBQ stand. But on Sunday, he had some competition as "Wild Thing" -- the former Phillies closer for the 1993 World Series team and former manager for the now-defunct minor-league Atlantic City Surf of the Atlantic League -- signed copies of his new book "Straight From Wild Thing."

"Please, no memorabilia," a sign read.

Publisher Triumph Books didn't get reviews for the book -- but who needs those when you have THE MULLET on the cover?

From Triumph's Web site:

Though his successful pitching career is behind him, Mitch is still standing up in Philadelphia and telling it like it is. "Straight Talk from Wild Thing" is the story of his career, but more than that, it is inside baseball seen from many perspectives: sitting on a 10-hour minor league bus ride, standing on a pitcher's mound, and sitting in a clubhouse, a dugout, and a ranch in Texas, where a man who"retired" at age 32 struggled to figure out what to do next.

Wakefield Baffles Batters and Halladay Loses, as Phillies Drop Red Sox Series

2010-05-24T06:00:00.003-04:00

Special Guest Post by Skyline Stories (@SkylineStories)

Who's more likely to throw 8 shutout innings -- Roy Halladay, the former Cy Young award winner who leads the National League in complete games and shutouts, or Tim Wakefield, a 43-year-old knuckleballer whose last win was in July 2009?

If you picked Wakefield, then you'd be nuts. Except the improbable happened, as Wakefield bewildered the Phillies yesterday in an 8-3 win.

The last time I saw the two teams play was for Daisuke Matsuzaka's debut in a Major League ballpark in 2007, the crowd and media buzzing in anticipation of his fabled gyroball. But this was an awful game. The Phils couldn't hit, Dobbs and Hoover had costly errors, and Halladay had his worst start ever as a Phillie, per Philly.com.

Wakefield was only three innings from his first shutout since 1997, and became the oldest AL pitcher to throw that many shutout innings since fellow knuckleballer Charlie Hough in 1992, according to MLB.com. Of Wakefield's 103 slow-slower-really slow pitches (see below), most were knuckleballs that ranged from 65-68 mph, and later mixed in fastballs and curveballs (!).

Though I'm a Phillies fan, I wanted manager Terry Francona to leave him in for the shutout. Instead, he brought in Ramon Ramirez and the Phils rallied for 3 runs, too little too late. But Francona told MLB.com that Wakefield was gassed: "He said in the eighth […] he was starting to feel it. But I certainly would have let him go back out. He said he had enough."

The big concern for the Phils is Halladay. Last outing he threw an unbelievable 132 pitches, and though he looked strong in the first few innings, he didn't have as good location in the later innings. But Halladay and Manuel reject that's why Halladay had a poor outing. "[B]ody-wise I felt great, it was just a matter of making pitches," Halladay said at the press conference.

I disagree with PhilliesNation who thinks it's just one rough start against a "Red Sox team that has owned him throughout his illustrious career," and The700Level who chalks it "up to one of the five bad starts" that Doc says he's allotted. As Baseball Prospectus concluded, after 121 pitches "a manager may be gambling with that pitcher's next 4 or 5 starts at the very least."

We'll see in his next start.

Next up for the Phils are the Mets. Let's hope the Phils fare better on Tuesday night, when the Mets start R.A. Dickey -- another knuckleballer.

2010 Jimmy Rollins, We Hardly Knew Ye Redux

2010-05-22T10:59:00.000-04:00

For the first time since the home opener introductions on April 12, the Phillies were back to their regular lineup in its regular order. Cole Hamels was once again pitching, and all looked right for the Phillies entering interleague play against a struggling Red Sox. I got home in the middle of another nerve wracking 9th inning, just in time to see J.C. Romero walk Adrian Beltre to load the bases with David Ortiz on deck as a pinch hitter. It's a wonderful thing that David Ortiz is no longer the feared slugger he once was, otherwise the ball he hit to straightaway centerfield would have easily been a grand slam that tied the game at 5-5. Instead, Shane Victorino caught the ball to end the game. All seemed good for the Phillies to me, until I read the first recap. Then I discovered that Jimmy Rollins had strained his right calf. Again.

Rollins left in the 6th with a re-strained right calf.

(Photo courtesy of Steven M. Falk/Philly.com staff photographer)

Before I get to the latest in the injury problems for the 2010 Phillies, let's rewind a bit. Where I last left you, Roy Halladay had thrown a complete game loss to the Pirates last Tuesday. This followed a big outing by Kyle Kendrick and the offense on Monday, which saw Kendrick pitch eight innings and the offense score 12 runs to destroy the Pirates 12-2. This followed the weekend sweep of the Brewers, who looked every bit the 2nd to last place team that they currently are. Coming off that and the big win on Monday, Halladay's CG loss took the wind of out the Phillies sails going into a two games series against the Cubs.

The first of those games was another tough loss that saw another wasted effort by Jamie Moyer, who pitched seven innings and gave up only two runs. At this point, I have to say that Moyer, who was demoted to the bullpen last year and had three offseason surgeris, is the frontrunner for comeback player of the year. Hopefully he continues his ageless success. Still, the Phillies only managed one run and lost 4-1.

Thursday afternoon, they managed to score four runs on the long ball, with Chase Utley effortlessly hitting a baseball into the right field seats in the 1st and Jimmy Rollins coming up with a clutch three run homer to break the 1-1 ball game in the 6th. However, Joe Blanton, who mostly mowed down the Cubs through the first six innings, gave up two more runs in the 7th and the game was tied 4-4 on a homer given up by Antonio Bastardo in the 8th. Ibanez came through with a clutch single to make it 5-4, and Jose Contreras had an epic save that followed a hit batsman, a single, two strikeouts, and a pop out. Whew.

Now we can talk about last night, the kickoff bash of 2010 interleague play. The Red Sox came to Philadelphia hoping to continue their hot streak at Citizens Bank Park of recent years, and ran into the wall of Cole Hamels, who had looked an awful lot like the 2008 Cole Hamels in his last four starts. He pitched seven innings, gave up one run, and struck out eight. The offense was keyed by homers Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth, the latter of whom continues to show why the Phillies should pay him lots of money for many years. Between those long balls and Hamels' ace-like performance, the Phillies won 5-1 after the bullpen gave fans a few heart palpitations for good measure.

Cole Hamels, apparently possessed by some sort of demon

(Photo courtesy of Stephen M. Falk/Philly.com staff photographer)

The hitch in the game was the aforementioned re-injury to Jimmy Rollins in the 6th. This was his first game back in the leadoff spot, and probably his last for a few days at the very least. He's saying all the right things and swears that it wasn't nearly as bad as the first time he strained it. For now, he'll most likely rest tonight and tomorrow and then the Phillies will see how he's feeling. I thought I was done saying this for the season, but once again: get well soon, Jimmy.

Unhappy Halladay

2010-05-19T13:44:00.001-04:00

I don't have time for a full recap of the games since I last posted, but last night's loss was a tough one. The offense and defense was shoddy, and Halladay's 132 pitch complete game was a waste behind an offense that couldn't score more than one run against the Pirates though they had their share of opportunities. Roy Halladay may be different from any other pitcher in the game today, but at some point he's still human. He says not to worry about the fact that he's pitched an insane amount so far this year, and for now I'll take him at his word. For more on that check out Matt Gelb's piece over in the Phillies Zone.

Let's hope the Phillies can bounce back and support Jamie Moyer tonight. I'll be off tonight and tomorrow watching the Nats take on the Mets here in DC, and though the Nats are in 2nd place and the Mets are in last, I can't possibly root for the Mets. I'm mostly hoping to catch some fun baseball and maybe a glimpse of recent Nats call-up Drew Storen. I'll try and get a full post about the last few games up before the Phillies take on the Red Sox this weekend in the start of 2010 interleague play. Until then, I'll leave you with the following picture of Roy Halladay after he threw his 132nd pitch last night. I hope the offense thinks long and hard about what it did and gives Halladay all the run support he needs from now on. Oh and Roy, take some bunting lessons before next time, will you?

(Photo courtesy of Ron Cortes/Philly.com staff photographer)

A Sausage Fest

2010-05-16T13:25:00.000-04:00

After a fairly boring week for Phillies baseball that saw two snow/rain postponements in Colorado, the Phillies batters have been on fire, continuing to score runs at the scorching pace at which they began the season. The Phillies have scored 19 runs in two games, and are now one behind their free swinging series opponents in total runs in the NL. Hopefully that will change today.

The sausage race, a highlight of Brewers home games

(Photo courtesy of mlb.com)

Rewinding a little bit, last Wednesday was supposed to be a double header for the Phillies and Rockies, after Tuesday's game was postponed. Wednesday's afternoon game was played as scheduled, but the heavy precipitation came back and the night game was again postponed. The afternoon was a rough one, where Roy Halladay managed to pitch into the 7th inning while getting out of jams left and right and only giving up one run up until that point. He might have pitched out of the 7th inning if not for some errors and a few bad pitches which ended up tying the game up at 3-3. J.C. Romero and Danys Baez managed to keep it tied for the next two innings, aided by an insane amount of luck (read, hard line drives hit directly at Phillies). Chad Durbin still kept it tied in the 9th, but came out again for the 10th and promptly gave up a walk off homer to catcher Miguel Olivo. This was Olivo's 5th hit of the game, so it's probably good the Phillies didn't have to face him again Wednesday night.

(Photo courtesy of Ed Andrieski/AP)

Moving on to the sausage fest at Miller Park, Jamie Moyer was back on the mound for the first time after pitching his historic two hit shutout against the Braves a week before. He had another outing with several solid innings and one bad one, where he gave up three homers, luckily all solo shots. He passed the 500 homer mark with the second of those three, making him the second pitcher ever to do so. As I've mentioned before, the other pitcher is Phillies great Robin Roberts with 505, and Moyer should pass him in the next three or four starts, so keep an eye out for that. It should be mentioned that behind Moyer and Roberts on that list is no shabby group of pitchers. Todd Zolecki pointed out that, "rounding out the top 10 are Ferguson Jenkins (483), Phil Niekro (482), Don Sutton (472), Frank Tanana (448), Warren Spahn (434), Bert Blyleven (430), Steve Carlton (414) and Randy Johnson (411)." If that's not good company for a pitcher, I'm not sure what is. Anyhow, other than those three home runs and a few runs that could have been saved had Chase Utley not committed an error in the 7th, Moyer had himself a solid outing. The offense provided more than enough support, including some fine production by the bottom of the order and homers by Utley, Ryan Howard, and Raul Ibanez. The Phillies, wearing shiny powder blue throwback unis, took this one 9-5.

Ryan Howard, homering in the first

(Photo courtesy of Morry Gash/AP)

Joe Blanton came to the mound yesterday afternoon and, except for three pitches, pretty much dominated the Brewers lineup. Unfortunately those three pitches were hit out of the park for five runs. One has to keep in mind that Blanton is still in recovery mode after his recent stint on the DL, so he should only get better as the season goes on. The offense came through again, with the bottom of the order pulling their weight and then some, which they had also done Friday night. As a good example of this, Paul Hoover, the back up back up catcher, scored three runs after scoring two the previous game. How many runs had this journeyman scored in his entire nine year career up until this point? Why, I'm glad you asked. The answer is four. That's right, he scored more runs in his first two starts this year for the Phillies than he did in his entire career up until now. In addition to that, Victorino continued his recent destruction of opposing pitchers, going three for six with a single, double, and homer and driving in four runs. He now is second only to triple crown contender Andre Ethier in RBI for the NL, and that's all out of the leadoff spot. That's a tribute both to Shane's hitting and the productivity of the bottom of the Phillies order. The Phillies won 10-6, despite a nerve wracking bottom of the 9th where Jose Contreras finally struck out Rickie Weeks and Craig Counsell to end the game and end his first career save.

(Photo courtesy of H. Rumph Jr./AP)

For now, Jose Contreras had better keep pitching the way he has so far because he is the team's closer. Brad Lidge has returned to the DL, after the Phillies announced he was only day to day following an MRI that showed no serious damage to his elbow. Unfortunately, the inflammation that has kept him from pitching for the past week does not seem to want to go away. His time on the DL has been made retroactive to May 10th, so he will be eligible to pitch again on May 25th, and will hopefully get whatever cortisone or joint lubrication injections he needs to be back before then. Lidge's few appearances offered a tantalizing glimpse at what might be if Lidge is indeed healthy again, and I still believe his arm has life left in it. For the sake of this bullpen, let's hope so. Otherwise Ruben Amaro Jr. and the rest of the Phillies' front office might be busier than they planned come this year's trade deadline.

Señor Mayo!

2010-05-11T10:04:00.002-04:00

Carlos Ruiz is leading all of baseball in on base percentage (.481), and he's third in the NL and fifth overall in batting average (.354). Take a moment to read that. Read it a few times. If that's not a sign of how weird this baseball season is so far, I don't know what is. Not that I'm complaining. We've all known about the phenomenon of Choochtobre for the last two years, and the bat of the Phillies usually light hitting catcher suddenly catches fire faster than a forest in California. We've long wondered why he couldn't seem to carry those hot postseason streaks over to the regular season. Well Chooch seems to have figured out a way for now, and his plate discipline is second in the NL only to Jayson Werth, who led the majors in pitches seen per plate appearance last year.

(Photo courtesy of David Zalubowski/AP)

Even hitting in front of the out-making machine that is Wilson Valdez didn't stop Chooch from providing key hits against the Rockies last night. As a few people pointed out last night, Wilson Valdez has made an average of one out per plate appearance, offsetting each of his five hits with five double play balls. That's not an easy feat to accomplish, and has made me wishing for the return of Juan Castro while playing the even longer "Waiting for Rollins" game. Shane Victorino also had quite the night at the plate, reaching base five times with three walks and two triples, which looks like what a good leadoff hitter should be doing if you ask me. Finally, Ross Gload hit a three run pinch hit homer in the top of the ninth to seal the deal, putting the Phillies up 9-5, a lead that the seemingly dominant Jose Contreras easily preserved.

(Photo courtesy of David Zalubowski/AP)

Kyle Kendrick had another solidly mediocre performance, pitching six innings and giving up four runs. It was certainly not his worst performance, but not his best. Though we've seen Kendrick pitch seven and eight shutout innings, that seems to be the exception, just as his entire 2007 season now seems to have been the exception, not the norm for his pitching. As for the bullpen, J.C. Romero blew the one run lead in the 7th, but luckily for him David Herndon came in and induced a groundball that looked to be a base hit until future gold-glover Chase Utley made a spectacular diving catch to start the double play. Danys Baez pitched a scoreless but shaky 8th to preserve the 5-5 tie.

The only matter of concern from last night's game, other than the ongoing concerns about Baez and Romero, was that Brad Lidge was unavailable to pitch in the 9th due to elbow stiffness. He claimed this was nothing to worry about and that he would be fine. I seem to remember him saying similar things a lot last year, and we all know how that turned out. For now it's best to give him the benefit of the doubt, but it is a cause for concern. Tonight, none of that matters, since Roy Halladay is on the mound. Tune in at 8:40 PM to watch Roy and the boys do what they do best.

Getting It Done

2010-05-09T21:43:00.001-04:00

Over the last week, the Phillies have figured out how to get it done, one way or another. The starters seem to finally be settling in, and, since Nelson Figueroa gave up a few runs last Monday against the Cardinals, the bullpen has remembered how to pitch. Since my last post, the Cardinals series finished up with Roy Halladay turning in a pretty disappointing performance: 7 IP, 9 K, 3 BB, 2 R, 1 ER. I say "pretty disappointing" mostly facetiously, but it is a credit to his high level of talent that many of us considered that outing a disappointment. Still, the offense continued to look alive and scored seven runs to provide more than enough insurance to get Halladay the win, his sixth on the season.

(Photo courtesy of Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Friday night was easily the highlight of the Phillies season thus far. Jamie Moyer pitched a complete game, two hit shutout. Yes, that Jamie Moyer. The who only said "cool, just doing my job" after finding out how his performance made history. The one who is nearly a year older than the previous record holder for oldest player to pitch a shutout, Phil Niekro, was when he threw a four hitter in 1986. Which happens to be the year Jamie Moyer had his major league debut. I just want to emphasize that so you don't lose track of how old he is. Yes, Moyer, at the age of 47 years, 188 days pitched a shutout, and this is not a record that's likely to ever be broken. Except if Moyer does it again. As I've mentioned before, he's one of only four pitchers to be making starts at his age in all of baseball history. And two of those four only made one start, so he's already in uncharted territory. Moyer performed this feat a day after Robin Roberts, one of the greatest pitchers in Philadelphia history and a master at finishing games, passed away at the age of 83. Roberts must have been smiling down on Jamie Moyer Friday night.

Moyer with the jersey of Robin Roberts, which will hang in memoriam for the rest of the 2010 season

(Photo courtesy of Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Saturday afternoon was another loss from lack of offense. Joe Blanton had a quality start, and he didn't give up a hit until the fifth inning, but the Phillies missed opportunity after opportunity to drive in some runs, and the Braves scored the three runs they needed in the sixth. The bullpen was solid, except for the always-a-concern Danys Baez giving up a run in the ninth. The bullpen limited the damage, but it didn't really matter without any runs to back that up. It did matter the next day...

Say it ain't so, Joe

(Photo courtesy of Ron Cortes/Philly.com staff photographer)

Cole Hamels came to the mound to go for the series win against the Braves, hoping to replicate his 8+ inning gem from last Tuesday night. Unfortunately, he had one of his bad innings today in the fifth, though he limited the damage to three runs after beginning the inning with a walk to Braves pitcher Kenshin Kawakami. The Phillies scored five runs, including one on Jayson Werth's 100th career homer in the third inning. The bullpen had to pitch four innings today, and they did so without giving up a hit. Chad Durbin pitched a perfect sixth and seventh and continues to look like he's back in 2008 form. Jose Contreras continued to look unhittable in the eighth. Finally, Brad Lidge had his first save of 2010, and he is doing a good job at raising our hopes that his 2009 pitching is a thing of the past. I hope that's not false hope.

(Photo courtesy of H. Rumph Jr./AP)

Around baseball, the second no-hitter of the season and the 19th perfect game in baseball history was thrown today by... Dallas "#$#@ A-Rod" Braden of the Oakland A's. For the second season in a row, the Tampa Bay Rays were on the losing end of a perfect game. If this year should come to another Phillies-Rays World Series, as Sports Illustrated predicted before the start of the season, I sure hope the Rays offense of today shows up and not the Rays offense of nearly every other game this season. But I'm getting far ahead of myself. For now, it's on to Colorado for another road trip, and may this one go better than the last one.

Fans and Pitchers

2010-05-05T16:01:00.002-04:00

Lately, the focus at Citizen's Bank Park has been on a the antics of a few fans and the performances and injuries of a few pitchers. First, the fans. During Monday night's game, a 17-year-old fan decided it would be a great idea to run out on the field, after his dad told him not to do so, and was chased around before being tasered by a police officer on the field. This incident would have gotten almost no attention had a taser not been involved, but such is life and yet another story involving Philadelphia sports fans went around national media. This spotlight might have led to a fan deciding last night during the 9th inning to run out on the field once again, though no tasers appeared this time. I don't care for the use of tasers in situations like this, where no threat was posed and the perpetrator had nowhere to run but "around." If the officer legitimately believed that a threat was posed in that moment, I won't second-guess him on that. If he used the taser because he wanted to have the situation resolved more quickly, then that's using force out of laziness and inexcusable. In any event, let's hope the fan on the field streak doesn't continue tonight.

(Photo courtesy of Matt Slocum/AP)

Second, the pitchers. Brad Lidge and Joe Blanton are back, and thus far (in a very small sample of pitching) seem to be in good form. Ryan Madson is out for two months after he broke his toe from kicking a folding chair in frustration. Being so familiar with frustration lately, Madson should be able to identify with all the Phillies fans who now want to kick him for injuring himself in such a stupid way. With Madson out until mid-July at the earliest and J.A. Happ out for at least the rest of May, the pieces that were supposed to fall into place with Blanton, Lidge, and J.C. Romero returning from injury remain as muddled as ever. As with this time last year, the Phillies 5th starter, Kyle Kendrick this year and Chan Ho Park in 2009, has not pitched well (more on that over in the Phillies Zone). It would be nice to say that Kendrick is on a short leash at this point, but as they point out in the post I just linked to, there isn't much of a viable alternative waiting in the wings. For now, we just need to hope that Roy Halladay continues doing what he does best, Blanton stays consistent, and Hamels continues his return to his pre-2009 form (more on that later) so that only two days out of five are a concern.

You think my toe looks bad? You should see the chair.

(Photo courtesy of Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Monday night's game was not the best for a Phillies team hoping to continue the momentum from two straight Mets beat downs on Saturday and Sunday, but there were silver linings. Though they lost 6-3 in the end, Blanton looked like he was ready to continue where he left off last year, as a reliable third starter who can last through the 6th or 7th inning on a regular basis. Leaving him in to start the 7th during this game was a questionable decision on Charlie's part, as was bringing in Nelson Figueroa to get out of a two out jam, which Figueroa was not able to do without letting four runs score, two of which were charged to Blanton. Besides the silver lining of Blanton's performance, Brad Lidge pitched a scoreless 9th while notching two strikeouts. Being down 6-2, it was not exactly a high pressure situation. That would come during the following game.

(Photo courtesy of Stephen M. Falk/Philly.com staff photographer)

Last night's game, with apologies to a timely Raul Ibanez triple in the 7th, was the Cole Hamels, Brad Lidge, and Carlos Ruiz show for the Phillies. Hamels looked phenomenal. He pitched nearly effortlessly through eight innings, except for a jam when, in the 5th, Albert Pujols came to bat with the bases loaded. He then popped out to 2nd on the first pitch. Otherwise, Hamels struck out eight, walked two, and came out for the 9th and gave up back to back doubles to tie up the game at 1-1. Brad Lidge came in with Yadier Molina on 2nd, got a ground out that advanced the runner, then a strikeout and a fly out. The only base runner he allowed was an intentional walk to Colby Rasmus. Both Hamels and Lidge hit velocities with their fastball that haven't been seen from them in a while, or ever in Hamels' case. So far, Lidge appears back in the mid-90s and his slider has the bite that it was lacking last season. Hamels was regular throwing 92-94 mph and even hit 95 once. He also threw his cutter and curveball effectively. On the Cardinals' side, Adam Wainwright also pitched incredibly well, with the only Phillies run coming on a sac fly by Carlos Ruiz to score Ibanez in the 7th following Raul's triple. Ruiz proved to be the hero of the game, when, after Contreras pitched a scoreless 10th, Ruiz hit his first walkoff homer since 2007 off of Blake Hawksworth. Chooch, with the 4th highest OBP in the majors right now, is in Señor Octubre form early this year.

(Photo courtesy of Ron Cortes/Philly.com staff photographer)

I don't have much else to say at this point, but it would be nice to see Kendrick make a decent start tonight. Even when Happ is healthy again, either Kendrick or Moyer will have to be in the rotation, and neither has inspired much confidence so far. I wouldn't be shocked to see the Phillies making a deal with Pedro Martinez again or even John Smoltz halfway through the season to bolster the rotation. As of now, if things keep going as they're going, outside help may be necessary. Fortunately, the 1-2-3 in the Phillies rotation is shaping up to look much better than it did for most of last year. For now, once again to all those injured: get well soon.

Hitting Their Stride

2010-05-03T13:40:00.003-04:00

For now, the Phillies offense appears to be back, after a lackluster road trip that saw some poor pitching and poor offense. Friday night's game looked to continue that trend, with the Phillies losing 9-1 to the Mets. However, after a 10-0 shutout behind Halladay's pitching and a much needed resurrection of the Phillies hitting, they took the series from the Mets on Sunday night with an 11-5 win that included Johan Santana's worst outing of his career. Here's how it all went down.

Welcome to Philly, Johan

(Photo courtesy of Ron Cortes/Philly.com staff photographer)

Friday night was one of those nights that Phillies fans would rather forget. After their crazy, improbable comeback win over the Giants on Wednesday, the team was looking to build momentum and stop the Mets' 7-game winning streak. The Phillies apparently forgot that in order to do this, they would need to: A) score runs, and B) prevent the other team from scoring runs. Kyle Kendrick had another outing that saw homers flying on sinkers that forgot to sink. He only gave up four of the nine runs that the Mets would score, with four more going squarely on Danys Baez' shoulders in an awful 7th inning. Brad Lidge, fresh off the DL, gave up a solo homer in the 9th to complete the rout. The Phillies were held to six mostly scattered hits, none of which were for extra bases. They ended the night a half game behind the Nationals and 1.5 games behind the Mets in the standings, which, no matter how early it is in the season, is a painful sight to behold.

Kendrick proving that Spring Training can't be trusted

(Photo courtesy of Ron Cortes/Philly.com staff photographer)

On Saturday night, the ball and the need for momentum went to Roy Halladay, and he did his best job of pretending that his previous five run outing at the Giants never happened. Bolstered by an offense that remembered how to hit, he had his third complete game and second shutout of the year. From ESPN, I learned that he now has more complete games than most other teams as a whole do, and I expect the year to end with that still being the case. Just a quick update from Todd Zolecki from this recent post about Mr. Halladay's season: "Halladay is 5-1 with a 1.43 ERA. He leads the majors in wins, shutouts, complete games, innings (49) and strikeout/walk ratio (9.75). He is fourth in strikeouts (39)." The offense did its part and broke the game open with a six run 4th inning against Mets starter Mike Pelfrey, who entered the game leading the league in ERA. The victory was a much needed rout and it ended the Mets 8-game winning streak and put the Phillies only a half game back in the standings. Their big inning against Pelfrey foreshadowed an even bigger one against an even bigger pitcher last night.

(Photo courtesy of Todd Zolecki/The Zo Zone)

Sunday's series finale match-up of Johan Santana and Jamie Moyer looked to be an easy win for the Mets, pitting their ace and one of the better pitchers in baseball in recent years against, well, Jamie Moyer. For the first three innings, Santana looked like a decent if not stellar version of himself and Moyer looked like Moyer, giving up two homers for a 5-2 ball game entering the bottom of the 4th. Santana was an out away from getting out of the inning after giving up a leadoff double to Chase Utley, when the Phillies decided it was time to really look like the Phillies again. Ibanez singled. 5-3 ball game. Carlos Ruiz walked, but that was okay for the Mets since Jamie Moyer was coming up with the bases loaded and two outs. Seven pitches later, Jamie Moyer was walking over to first base and Ibanez was walking over home plate. 5-4 ball game. Then Shane Victorino hit a grand slam, the second of his career. His first came under eerily similar circumstances, albeit in a more important ball game, game two of the 2008 NLDS, after Brett Myers heroically worked a walk against C.C. Sabathia. 8-5 Phillies. How many players in baseball have had their only grand slams come after pitchers worked walks against former Cy Young winners? Probably not too many. Following Vic, Polanco singled and Utley homered, making it 10-5. For some extra icing on the Mets-destroying cake, Howard singled and Werth doubled him home, to make it 11-5, which would be the final score of the ball game. Johan Santana had the worst night of his career, and Jamie Moyer had a typical night on the mound and an extraordinary night at the plate. As of 11 PM, when the game ended, the Phillies were back in 1st place and all seemed right in the world of baseball.

(Photo courtesy of Tim Shaffer/Reuters)

Going forward, we know that all is not right for the Phillies. Starters not named Roy Halladay remain a concern, though I'm still convinced that Cole Hamels is on the verge of returning to his 2007 and 2008 form. His strikeout and walk numbers are phenomenal, the problem is that opposing hitters seem to pounce on every bad pitch he makes, though they've been aided by a little luck. The bullpen also hasn't calmed down at all, with the revolving door still open for business between the Phillies pitching staff and the disabled list. The latest casualty was Ryan Madson, who of course would go on the DL by breaking his toe kicking a folding chair after his blown save against the Giants last Wednesday. Poor Antonio Bastardo has now been optioned to AAA, called back up, and optioned again in the last five days. This last optioning was to make room for Joe Blanton, who makes his first start of the season tonight in the series opener against the Cardinals. Hopefully Blanton will return as the solid, reliable presence in the rotation that he was for most of last year. And hopefully the wave of injuries ends with Madson and his broken toe.

A Loss, a Win, and Brad Lidge

2010-04-30T12:19:00.000-04:00

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.

A Loss and a Contract

2010-04-27T09:35:00.000-04:00

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)

Razing Arizona

2010-04-25T22:54:00.000-04:00

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.

Forever Young

2010-04-23T09:25:00.000-04:00

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.

Putting on a Show

2010-04-21T22:55:00.000-04:00

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

2010-04-21T10:04:00.001-04:00

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?

First Series Loss: Reflections Looking Forward

2010-04-18T18:15:00.000-04:00

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.

The Bullpen Rears Its Ugly Head

2010-04-15T22:50:00.001-04:00

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.

Game 8: Jimmy Who?

2010-04-14T22:56:00.001-04:00

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.

2010 Jimmy Rollins, We Hardly Knew Ye

2010-04-12T22:36:00.000-04:00

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)

Sweepin' Up the 'Stros

2010-04-11T19:49:00.002-04:00

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.

Game 3: You Win Some...

2010-04-08T23:36:00.002-04:00

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

2010-04-08T11:59:00.001-04:00

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.

Oh What a Day It Has Been!

2010-04-05T17:52:00.004-04:00

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.

These Are the Good Old Days

2010-04-04T19:03:00.000-04:00

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!

Everybody's a Winner!

2010-04-01T20:51:00.000-04:00

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.

Moyer is the Answer

2010-03-28T00:14:00.001-04:00

Of course, right after I blogged that I plan on writing more frequently, events out in life got in the way. So it goes. Here's to a second attempt at getting things going more often here at Phillibustering.

I have an idea: let's declare the battle for the 5th starter spot over right now so the winner and loser can start preparing accordingly. Let's not draw this out; it's been clear for a while that Rich Dubee and Charlie Manuel did not come into this spring really considering this battle an even playing field between Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick (and Jose Contreras and Drew Carpenter, who were just mentioned to make it seem more like a real competition). This seems to be the general consensus after his stellar 6.2 inning, 6 K, 1 hit, 0 R, 0 BB outing against the Yankees yesterday. A brief rundown of the sports punditry:

Anthony DiComo: "Moyer issues bold statement vs. Yankees" (phillies.com)
David Murphy: "Moyer makes strong pitch to stay in Phillies' rotation" (philly.com)
Matt Gelb: "Phils' Moyer makes his case" (philly.com)

(Photo Courtesy of the AP/Mike Carlson)

You get the point. With all due respect to Kyle Kendrick, a great comeback story in the making, I have to award the spot to Moyer. Barring a truly horrible spring, the spot was Moyer's to lose simply because of the numbers. And I don't mean his low 80s fastball that still manages to baffle hitters. I mean the fact that he's 47 years young, makes $8 million, and defies the odds in truly historic ways and knows his craft as few others do. This faced several points in his career when others would have quit, but he quietly continued getting to his current 258 wins total. If he manages even a mediocre season this year after three offseason surgeries, I will honestly believe that this man could pitch into his 50s and get 300 wins.

That being said, I like knowing that Kendrick is not just a viable alternative but a good one should Moyer falter. I do this infrequently in sports, but I say that Jamie Moyer deserves the benefit of the doubt. Kendrick can pitch in the bullpen better than Moyer can, and has a minor league option left.

WARNING NERD PARAGRAPH: Look at it as basic economics. Even if Kendrick has an absolute advantage pitching as our 5th starter, he has the greater comparative advantage in the bullpen, and the team on the whole is the better for it. Alright, I'm done nerding out.

Now for a little history, and I'm essentially condensing what Jayson Stark wrote a week ago, which even those poor souls of you out there without ESPN Insider Access can read. If Jamie Moyer starts more than one game this year, he'd be the first non-knuckleballer at age 47 or older to do that. Period. He'll only be the second pitcher ever to do that, counting the knuckleballer Phil Niekro. The only other players to make even one start at such advanced ages were the seemingly eternal Satchel Paige at 58 (yes, you read that right; once again, read this book) and Jack Quinn, also at 47, who played so long ago that he was born in a country that stopped existing in 1918.

The point of all of this is not to say that history should trump skill here. The point is that the Phillies not only have two options for the 5th starter spot, but two good options based on what we are seeing right now. It makes a lot of sense to start with Moyer on a short leash and pull him for Kendrick if he starts to fail as an effective starter. It makes less sense to do it the other way around. It's also easy to be wowed by the recency of Kyle Kendrick's success, but always remember that the last month means a lot less than the last year of a player's career, which itself means a lot less than the sum total of that career. That statement is even more true when the last month consisted of games that didn't count.

As things stand, both of these guys have their pros and their cons. Contracts aside, it's not an easy choice to decide what's best for the team, but my pre-spring training wish of having a real, spirited battle for the 5th starter spot has been fulfilled. It's really anyone's guess which of these two will be the better pitcher this season, but if I had to guess, I'll err on the side of making history.

15 Days and Counting...

2010-03-21T11:20:00.000-04:00

15 days from today at 1:05 PM, I (and many other excited fans) will probably get to see Roy Halladay take the mound for the first time as Phillie in a regular season game. You would think that there's been adequate time to prepare for this eventuality, and yet I know it's still going to send chills through Phillies fans everywhere. Luckily I'll be kept warm from these chills by my brand new Roy Halladay t-shirt. I imagine my outfit will match a few others in the DC crowd on April 5th.

(Photo courtesy of mlb.com)

That same Roy Halladay did show his human side yesterday, giving up 3 runs, 6 hits, and 2 walks in five innings. He admitted that he was inconsistent and was still working out a few kinks in his mechanics in the process. If an outing like that is what an off day for Roy Halladay looks like, I think we'll be alright. On the other hand it would still be nice for him to go out on April 5th and absolutely destroy the Nationals line-up. Of course, beating the Nationals is more like winning an exhibition game against a nice upstart AAA team. Still if Roy Halladay pitches at even 75% of his potential in that game, it'll be damn fun to watch.

Moving back to my perennial blog topic, the resurgence of Cole Hamels, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly has a great piece up today discussing a rival team's scout's appreciation of Hamels' pitching so far in spring training. Of course, it's easy to let expectations get out of control with a team like the current crop of Phillies and the hype surrounding them going into the 2010 season. Personally, I like to get my expectations built up because it's more fun to feel great about every part of your team. If Cole Hamels doesn't pitch like he did in 2008, I'll take that in stride, but I'd rather start out with the hope that he will, and all signs I've seen point to that.

I'm going to keep this post brief, and start doing briefer posts from now on (unless events call for more) so I can update more regularly. As the season gets underway in a little over two weeks, I'll be trying to update on a daily basis, and I'll hope to add an interesting perspective to all things Phillies-related during the season. As The Phield pointed out, with so many Phillies blogs, it's hard for any one to distinguish itself. While I won't be able to provide any news you can't read elsewhere, I hope to at least inject a little insight and humor into the Phillies conversation. Maybe next year I'll get myself put in a better matchup than against The Fightins, who trounced me pretty well on Friday. Thanks to all of those of you who did vote for me. If The Phield is back next year, I hope to be back in it, with a stronger voice and a year's experience under my belt.

King Cole or Hollywood Hamels?

2010-03-18T22:33:00.004-04:00

I've mentioned a few times over the course of this blog that I firmly believe Cole Hamels is due for a better year than 2009. However, the fact that he has shown us two different versions of himself in begs the question: which pitcher is Cole Hamels?

Warning: Prolonged exposure to photo on the right can cause health problems

(Right: Photo courtesy of the AP;
Left: Photo courtesy of phinallyphilly.com)

On the one hand we have King Cole, the pitcher who had a breakout year in 2007 with a 15-5 record, a 3.39 ERA, 177 K, and 43 BB in 183.1 innings. He followed that in 2008 with a 14-10 record, a 3.09 ERA, 196 K, and 53 BB in 227.1 innings in the regular season, plus a postseason pitching performance that ranked among baseball's best.

In case you wondering, Hamels is one of only 5 players (including some guy named Orel Hershiser) to win two postseason MVP awards in the same year, and one of only 10 pitchers (including the aforementioned Hershiser, Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, and a few other guys you've heard of) at the time to win 4 games in one. Since then, one other guy has earned that latter distinction, though he currently seems pissed that his former team traded him this offseason.

Going into the 2009 season, Cole Hamels worked his way into being a Cy Young and fantasy favorite. He had a magical offseason otherwise, and by magical I mean doing many things not related to baseball. This included posing for the dangerously creepy picture above, and doing some weird ads, including this and a few fake sounding ads for Comcast that seem to have been removed from YouTube. In one of them he talked about how great it was to talk to his grandma in California. I'm all for that, but I'm still struggling to figure out what that has to do with working on his arm strength and breaking ball.

Despite the baseball hype and Charlie calling him the opening day starter, he left spring training with elbow tightness and ended up pitching in the fourth game of the year, at Colorado. He got off to a disappointing start, giving up 7 runs in 3.2 innings. He managed to bring his ERA down to 5.04 by his 6th start, and it continued to hover between 4 and 5 for the rest of the season. Not bad for an average pitcher, but not the Cole Hamels we had come to know.

We also saw a pitcher who seemed to get visibly fed up on the mound, culminating with a disheartening show of emotion in game 1 of the NLCS after Chase Utley botched a double play attempt. That and the following quote that got just a little bit of coverage: "I can't wait for it to end. It's been mentally draining... It's one of those things, a year in, you just can't wait for a fresh start." Whatever Hamels meant by this, and I believe it was blown out of proportion, he should have thought more carefully before saying anything like "I can't wait for it to end."

Hamels finished 2009 with a 10-11 record, a 4.32 ERA, 168 K, 43 BB in 193.2 regular season innings. His postseason included a forgettable 1-2 record and a 7.58 ERA.

Now I wrote in my very first blog entry many reasons why Hamels 2009 season wasn't as bad as it appeared, and that bad luck, including an unusually high BABIP and an ERA higher than his FIP, contributed to his mediocre numbers. However, I also said that the mental aspect of his game did not do him any favors. When he started looking frustrated, as he did in game 1 of the NLCS, it became more likely that he would be pulled early, including in situations with runners on base that he was responsible for. I think that Cole Hamels could have simply worked to keep his physical game at the same high level that it had always been at, worked to improve his mental game, and he would have shown improvement over 2009. Instead he's done much more.

Cole Hamels commercial offseason and emotional season helped reinforceto the "Hollywood Hamels" image. The difference between the 2009 and 2010 offseasons for Hamels was stark, and spring training thus far has been no different from this time last year. Not only did he seriously work on, of all things, baseball during the winter, he worked on being more than just a two pitch pitcher with a good fastball and a great change-up. He's confident in his brand new cutter and seems to be more confident in a curveball that up until now he's pitched more to reassure himself than to get batters out. So far he's given up two earned runs, both solo homers to Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays. Even then he looked more confident on the mound than I've seen him in a long time. Don't just take my word for it though:

ESPN's Buster Olney: "I get asked all the time by friends for fantasy tips, and I've been telling them this over the last few days: Take Cole Hamels."

Fox Sport's Ken Rosenthal: "Scout on Phillies' Hamels: 'The way he is trending, the rest of the National League should be worried.'"

Paul Hagen also wrote an excellent piece in The Daily News comparing Hamels' career to that of Justin Verlander so far, and that's definitely worth a read. If Hamels has a Verlander-like bounce back this year and he's not even the Phillies' no. 1 starter, Ken Rosenthal's scout is damn right that the rest of the NL should be worried. A 1-2 punch of Doc Halladay and a returned to form King Cole could be as formidable as any in baseball. I didn't even cover the Verducci Effect in this post, which predicted a slump in 2009 for Hamels and a return to form in 2010.

That's just a brief portrait of Cole Hamels, a man who could still be the ace for a number of teams in baseball. With new pitches in hand and better emotional control, Hamels has the chance to put "Hollywood Hamels" to rest this season and assume the mantle of "King Cole" once again.

In other news today, The Phield released its previews of tomorrow's match-ups, including the one between yours truly and The Fightins. The Phield had the following to say about Phillibustering:

"Aaron’s Phillibustering has under 30 posts, and is not updated every day, but it’s a worthy entry to the tournament because of its content. He asks the tough questions, like 'Is Ryan Howard overrated?' (the answer is no) and throws some humor into the pot once in a while. Does it distinguish itself? No. But Aaron has a nice template here. Refine and fire. Refine and fire."

For a blog as young as this one, I'll take it. I'm definitely going to be updating more frequently once the season starts, ideally on a daily or more often basis. But as someone new to blogging and sportswriting, I'm flattered to get high marks on content. Remember to vote for me tomorrow and at least give The Fightins a Robert Morris-like scare.

Phielder's Choice!

2010-03-16T22:50:00.003-04:00

Imagine my surprise when I arrived home in a food coma stupor from Legal Seafoods and found that I had been selected as a no. 14 seed in the first ever Phillies Blog March Madness, The Phield!

I'm honored to be up against a phenomenal blog, The Fightins, in my first and probably only round of the tournament. For a blog that's only a month old, not too shabby. I feel like the Florida State Seminoles at a major league spring training game. Or one of those countries that's happy just to be at the winter Olympics, like that Turkish female figure skater. Anyway, thanks to the Phield for the shoutout and the publicity.

In other news, Cole Hamels and Domonic Brown looked pretty phenomenal today. Their lines:

Hamels: 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 4 K, 0 BB, and for the first time this spring , 0 HR. That might have something to do with the absence of Jose Bautista.

Brown: 4 PA, 3 H (including 2 homers and an infield single), 1 BB. Yes, Brown went 3 for 3 with a two homer game, even if one of them was caught by a fan reaching his hat over the railing. Good thing there's no replay in spring training. Oh, and the Tigers' pitcher? Justin Verlander.

Anyway, Brown hit his way out of major league camp, to paraphrase Charlie Manuel today. I have a feeling that's not the last we'll see of him as a Phillie, and I don't mean the Reading variety.

(Photo courtesy of Todd Zolecki)

Overall, a great day for the Phillies not giving up any earned runs and some of the more worrisome pieces and potential pieces of our bullpen (see Bastardo, Antonio and Madson, Ryan) having strong outings. Madson even struck out a guy on a curve ball and threw a few curves for strikes. I don't know who that surprised more, the batter or the commentators.

Spring training continues on with the number of players at camp dwindling and the battle for the 5th starter potentially heating up after the $8 million old man got lit up while facing an almost major-league lineup for the first time all spring. His competitor, Kyle Kendrick, has pitched phenomenally against said major-league lineups, with a 0.00 ERA and a 0.44 WHIP. Not too shabby. It'll still take a lot to dethrone Jamie Moyer, but Kendrick has made the case that we have the depth to keep Moyer on a short leash.

That's all for now, and again, keep an eye on The Phield on March 18-19 and vote for me in the first round match up. If I can't pull off a 2006 George Masonian upset, I'll at least go for a respectable showing. Like that Turkish figure skater.

Phillies Front Office Discussions: Newsworthy?

2010-03-15T20:35:00.001-04:00

No. The answer to the title of this post is no. With all due respect to Buster Olney, and I have a lot of respect for both his writing and the important contribution he makes to baseball coverage, when he broke the "news" that "an idea has been kicked around the Phillies' organization internally, with discussions about proposing a swap of slugger Ryan Howard for St. Louis superstar Albert Pujols," my first reaction was: what is Olney thinking? I realize that this idea involves two MVPs and two of the most feared players in the NL, but seriously, is this what the 24/7 news cycle has brought us to?

(Photo courtesy of Todd Zolecki)

Now it's entirely possible that there's more to this than Olney's reporting, but I'm going to go with what I know as a member of the sports media reading public. If in fact this is just an idea that has been kicked around the Phillies internally, then it does not deserve ESPN column space. It does not deserve an AP article. Not only does it not deserve this attention because it's less than a rumor of a rumor of a trade, but it's just irresponsible reporting.

I, for one, do not like the insane amount of attention that some substantial trade rumors already merit for the way it that this coverage treats players as simple commodities while they still have to go out and play for teams that they're rumored to be leaving. But I accept trade rumors of substance are news, at least at the point in the trade process that these rumors are usually reported. However, if we start reporting internal discussions before they even reach the level that two teams are even talking about talking to each other, then where do we stop? I recognize that Olney is reporting only what he's heard and he's not making this out to be anything more than it is, but by simply using his lofty platform to do so, he elevates this talk to a level that it does not deserve.

I'm going to assume, and I may be proven wrong, that Ruben Amaro's very strong denials mean something in this case, only because the whole idea simply makes no sense. Yes, Ruben made similar denials before Halladay came to Philly and Cliff Lee went to Seattle, and the Cliff Lee side of that certainly shocked me and many others. But if the Cardinals actually parted with Albert Pujols for Ryan Howard, that simply wouldn't make sense to me, on any level. Unless Ryan Howard were willing to take a HUGE discount to play in St. Louis. Unless the Phillies increased their payroll to give Pujols the A-Rod level contract he'll command. Unless Cardinals GM John Mozeliak suddenly went insane. Or, unless Amaro emptied the farm to make an offer that the Cardinals couldn't refuse, and in that case only if they were suddenly no longer a perennial contender. That's a lot of caveats. And maybe all those things will come to pass, however unlikely they may be. If that were the case, and there were be a point that this would actually become a sane idea, it might worthy of reporting. Then, Mr. Olney, report away.

As for the idea itself, a simple swap of these two superstars would be idiotic for the Cardinals. I love Ryan Howard as a Phillie, but I've already written about his weaknesses as a player (see "Is Ryan Howard Overrated?"). Albert Pujols is a cut above even someone of Ryan Howard's talent and athleticism. He does not strike out like Ryan Howard does. He does not have a huge platoon split like Ryan Howard does. In case you were wondering, Albert Pujols has a career line of .330/.419/.622 against righties and .346/.452/.646 against lefties. He doesn't seem to even know the meaning of "platoon split." I could go on, but you get the idea. When I said in my last post that "I would still take Howard at first base over nearly any other in baseball," that "nearly any other" meant "Albert Pujols." Again, as this "trade" idea stands, it simply makes no sense.

So here are the facts: Buster Olney reported internal discussions of an idea for at trade that is reportedly nowhere near being discussed with the other team involved and it is an idea that, as reported, is ludicrous. If people who command the respect that Olney does start reporting every pipe dream of every front office, then the nonexistent attention span of the 24-hour news cycle will truly have taken over sports media.

On the other hand if I'm proven wrong about all this and there's much more to this rumor of a rumor than meets the eye, I'll happily admit I was wrong. I won't care, since the Phillies will have Albert Pujols and the rest of the national league can forget about getting a pennant anytime soon.

In other news, Placido Polanco sprained his right knee in a spring training game today. It was quite a scare when it happened, but it seems like he'll be alright after a week or so, pending a swelling assessment tomorrow morning. It should prepare us Phillies fans for the possibility of injury to a key player, something we really haven't had to deal with on a large scale in the last two years. There was a phenomenal post over at the700level.com today that discussed that we should really enjoy these golden years of the current Phillies team, because it won't last forever. Injury scares like Polly's today really drive home the fleeting nature of baseball. As we go into what will hopefully be another awesome season in 2010, let's stay thankful for the great ride this team gave us these last few years.

As a final note, the aforementioned the700level.com announced today that it is joining forces with Comcast SportsNet. This is great news for one of the best Philly sports blogs around and for the network that recognized its value. I wish them the best of luck and the greatest success in this new and groundbreaking collaboration.

3/16 Update: Olney addressed much of what I and many others have written on the subject in a blog post today. If you have ESPN Insider access, check that out at the bottom of this post. Suffice it to say that I didn't expect him to suddenly say "you were all right, I was wrong," but his defense doesn't change my mind at all. I still think it's inappropriate and unproductive to report these things at the stage that this "trade rumor" was at, even if it is credible and could lead to a blockbuster trade in the future. As I said before, if that is the case, it will reach a point where it is newsworthy, and of course the newsworthiness of any story is a judgment call that the reporter has to make. I still disagree with Olney that internal discussions of this level merit the attention he gave it.

Is Ryan Howard Overrated?

2010-03-13T11:02:00.005-05:00

After looking at the worthiness of Jayson Werth last time, I decided to turn my attention to his counterpart in that discussion, Ryan Howard. Now, before any Ryan Howard fans get themselves in a tizzy after reading the title of this post, I have two things to say. First, it's a question that should be posed in the discussion of the future of the Phillies, and the answer is not necessarily yes (you'll have to read on to find that out). Second, for anyone who has read Jayson Stark's phenomenal book, "The Stark Truth: the Most Overrated and Underrated Players in Baseball History," you'll know that calling someone overrated means that have to be pretty damn good in the first place to get that sort of consideration. For example, he considers Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax to be the most overrated right-handed and left-handed starting pitchers, respectively. If I do in fact decide that Ryan Howard is overrated, that's still some good company to find yourself in.

(Image courtesy of Phillies.com)

For a complete overview of Ryan Howard's stats, see his entry on the one and only baseball-reference.com. That's where I'm getting my numbers from and you should too.

I'll start by looking at Howard's OPS+ over the years. OPS+ is a way of giving context to a player's OPS (on base percentage plus slugging percentage, a rough but decent estimate of a player's offensive value). According to The Hardball Times great stats glossary, OPS+ is defined as "OPS measured against the league average, and adjusted for ballpark factors. An OPS+ over 100 is better than average, less than 100 is below average."

With a career OPS+ at 142, Ryan Howard has been 1.42 times as good offensively as the average player. To give you an idea of how that compares to some other feared players, Barry Bonds had a career OPS+ of 182, Albert Pujols has a 172, and A-Rod has a 147. There are many others you could look at for comparison, but this is just to give you an idea of where Ryan Howard stands in the rankings, about 5 years into his major league career. While Howard may not be Bondsian, he is still up there in the rankings.

Now let's look at home runs and RBIs, more traditional measurements that are easier to witness first hand and numbers that Ryan Howard is best known for. He has led the league in home runs twice and RBIs three times, and is one of only three players in baseball history to have 4 consecutive 45+ homer and 135+ RBI seasons. The other two, for those of you scoring at home, are Babe Ruth and Sammy Sosa. Howard also happens to be the player who reached 200 home runs in the fewest plate appearances in baseball history. Not too shabby. Relatedly, Howard also has the highest Isolated Power (ISO) of any active player in baseball today. Put simply by baseballprospectus.com, "Isolated Power (ISO) is a measure of a hitter's raw power, in terms of extra bases per AB." So in terms of his reputation as a feared power hitter, he's certainly not overrated.

Now for the other side of his career numbers. First, the strikeouts and walks. As you can see from the chart, Howard struck out over 180 times each season since 2006, including those two ugly 199 K seasons, which was bad enough to set a new record the first time in 2007. He was saved from maintaining that dubious distinction in 2008 by one Mark Reynolds of the Arizona D'backs who seems to have decided he wants to beat his own strikeout record each year. The good news about strikeouts is that 2009 showed meaningful progress over the previous two years. However, anyone who watched the 2009 World Series knows that Howard still has a serious strikeout problem. As for his walks, they have decreased significantly since Howard's ungodly MVP season in 2006, and this trend continued in 2009. For a better analysis than I can do on these numbers, check out "Fall from Ridiculous Pace" over at Philliesflow.com.

The second part of Howard's weaknesses are two issues that are often pointed to as Howard most important flaws: his glaring platoon split and his relative inability to hit curveballs. These are both very real problems for Ryan Howard, and if he can improve on these then I wouldn't be writing this blog post right now. His career line (BA/OBP/SLG) against right-handed pitchers .307/.409/.661. Those are MVP-caliber numbers in any season. Now for the ugly part: against lefties Howard is .226/.310/.444. Those are mediocre numbers in any season. As for the curveball issue, Tom Verducci over at SI started the most recent discussion on this with an insightful column that points out that not only does Ryan Howard struggle mightily against breaking balls, but the problem has only gotten worse over the course of his career. Verducci is well worth the read so I recommend you go do that and I'll move on from this depressing facet of Howard's career.

So there you have it, a small but important sample of the good, the bad, and the ugly of Ryan Howard's career thus far. My final pronouncement is...

Yes, Ryan Howard is overrated, judging by the number of MVP votes he has gotten since his much deserved award in 2006 and the way that many of us Phillies fans think of him. But as his OPS+ and power numbers show, he is still a huge offensive contributor and one of the best sluggers in baseball, and that's saying a lot. You simply can't argue with those power numbers, from the old fashioned RBI and home run totals to the more advanced ISO stat. But for all that power and fear that he elicits in response, Howard has some glaring weaknesses that will be become easier to exploit as more teams figure them out, if they haven't already. If a player can be effectively neutralized, for the most part, simply with left handed pitching and breaking balls, he would have to put up numbers like Howard did in 2006 for me to write those weaknesses off as insignificant. If Howard has another year like that, I'll be happy to revisit this discussion.

Howard still puts up fearsome numbers and carries the Phillies year after year through the month of September, which is a better month to carry the team in than say, April. He also could be even better simply by hitting a few bloopers out to shallow left field now and again to force teams to stop employing the extreme defensive shift on him. He has already shown the ability to do that in spring training this year and that bodes well for the coming season.

Even with his painful weaknesses, I would still take Howard at first base over nearly any other in baseball, and he has certainly established his place in Phillies history already. If he can solve his lefty and breaking ball problems, he will be well on his way to establishing his place in baseball history as a whole, as well as a nice trip to Cooperstown sometime down the road.

Is Werth Worthy of His Worth?

2010-03-08T21:53:00.003-05:00

I've decided to take a break from analyzing the minutiae of each spring training game and look at a broader issue: the future of Jayson Werth. The newly bearded one has been making waves because of his appearance, and hopefully will start making a splash with his playing once the season starts.

While it's something of a given to many that the Phillies simply can't afford to sign Werth once he becomes a free agent at the end of 2010, some others have thought more outside the box. One of the most provocative suggestions I've read is by Bill Baer over at Crashburn Alley, who set off a bit of a blogosphere and Twitter firestorm with a column arguing that the Phillies should trade Ryan Howard after the 2010 season so that, among other reasons, we can retain Werth.

(Left: Photo courtesy of Todd Zolecki;

Right: Photo courtesy of Big League Stew)

There are a number of ways this move could play out: Baer suggests we move Utley to 1st base, Polanco to 2nd, and use the Howard trade to replenish our farm system and/or get a good replacement 3rd baseman. Another option would be to move Ibanez to first base and take advantage of our stellar outfield depth in the farm system as it currently stands. Anyone who has seen Domonic Brown show off just why he was untouchable in the Lee and Halladay deals can attest to this depth. Tyson Gillies, a part of the deal that sent Lee to Seattle, hasn't been slacking either.

The fact that Werth has edged his way into a conversation like this is remarkable. While I don't think pulling off a Howard trade is feasible for the front office without having a revolt on their hands, the idea of it inspired me to read up on just what Werth has done so far to justify all of this buzz.

According to Wikipedia, Jayson Richard Gowan Werth began his career with the following feat: "Werth teamed up with three other pitchers to combine for a no-hitter in a 56–1 victory en route to a third place finish at Nationals." I have no idea what this means. If anyone does, please let me know.

Moving on to reality, due to injuries, particularly due to an A.J. Burnett-induced broken wrist in 2005, Werth was not a full season every day player until 2009. However, he showed some flashes of the player we saw this past season in 2007 and 2008, with 9 consecutive hits over two games over August 26 - 27, 2007 and a 3 homer, 8 RBI game on May 16, 2008. He still had to split time with the one and only knee slapping Geoff Jenkins, who we last saw with a nice leadoff pinch hit double in sixth inning in game 5.5 of the 2008 World Series.

In 2009, Werth was finally given the opportunity to show his stuff. He showed his ability to hit for power, steal bases (including that great steal home in May), field the ball well, and throw some bullets from right field. He made his first all-star team, though that took Charlie tapping him to replace an injured Carlos Beltran. After Werth hit 6th behind Utley, Howard, and Ibanez for much of the season, Charlie started switching him and Ibanez in the lineup to break up the lefty-lefty-left middle of the order, to great effect. Among other accomplishments, Werth had 36 homers and drove in 99 runs, more than a third of his career homers and almost a third of his career RBI total. He also led the majors in pitches seen per plate appearance, one of the more underrated batting stats.

So Jayson Werth had a career year in 2009. That's indisputable. Armed with his new facial hair, he looks poised to continue the success in 2010, and possibly get even better. If that should happen, Werth will deserve every penny of a Jason Bay-like deal (4 years, $66 million) and more. The Phillies will not have that kind of money barring a significant change in the $140 million budget cap for 2011.

I don't want to make the call between Howard and Werth right now, but I will say that it would pain me to see either of them on a different team. Werth has had a breakout year, but Howard has put up truly historic numbers since 2005, especially in the pivotal month of September in the last few seasons. It's up to Werth to prove this year that 2009 was not a fluke, and I believe that he will do so. If he blossoms into the electrifying player that he's capable of becoming, 2010 will be a great season for the Phillies regardless of what happens after that. If Werth has another career year, then we should be so lucky as to choose between two superstars of his and Howard's caliber.

Doc and Mini-Doc: A Tale of Two Pitchers

2010-03-04T21:43:00.003-05:00

The Grapefruit League has now begun, with the Phillies playing their official spring training game against some team from the Bronx today. The name of that team escapes me right now, but I'm sure I'll remember it sometime this October. The funniest comment I saw today on that subject:

@djforbes77: #Phillies beat the #Yankees today, 3-2. So now it's 4-3, Yankees, in the best of 9 World Series....Go Phillies!!! You can do it!!!!

If only... Anyhow, much has already been made about the work ethic of Roy Halladay and the effect that it's had on Kyle Kendrick, from his early-rising dedication to his new red Halladay-esque beard. We got to see them both put on some good performances today:

Halladay: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Kendrick: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Looks pretty similar, just like the men themselves:

(Left: Photo courtesy of the AP;
Right: Photo courtesy of philly.com)

I couldn't resist putting that photo of Kendrick in, but you'll have to take my word that he looks like a Mini-Halladay. He almost pitched like one too, but giving up that one hit in two innings probably caused him to go and cry because he didn't live up to his man crush's performance in the previous two innings. It's okay, they can always play a little more father-son catch:

(Photo courtesy of Yong Kim/Philadelphia Inquirer)

Maybe Kendrick purposely got himself sent down to the minors to further mirror Roy Halladay's career path. Kendrick already missed having a no hitter broken up on the last out in his second major league appearance, so he's got some catching up to do.

If Kendrick can gain greater confidence and better control than we've seen in the past, he can be a great anchor at the back of our rotation. Today's performance means that the battle for the 5th starter spot has officially begun. Jamie Moyer pitches tomorrow in the B game against Roy Halladay's former team, and people will undoubtedly be comparing his performance to Kendrick's today. The best thing that can happen for the team is that both pitchers perform above expectations and Charlie has a tough choice ahead of him. Ball's in your court, Jamie.

Back with our new ace, Harry Leroy Halladay, he showed some awesome control for this time of year. Hell, he showed some awesome control for any time of year. Out of 24 pitches, 21 were strikes, and almost none of those were over the middle of the plate. To paraphrase myself, if this guy doesn't make you excited yet as a Phillies fan, please consult a doctor.

If pictures are not enough for you, check out some video of Doc pitching today. If you feel butterflies in your stomach watching it, that's okay. It's a common side effect.

If you have ESPN Insider Access, see the initimable Jayson Stark's take on Roy Halladay's transition to his new team.

I almost forgot to include this, but I can't leave out phillygameday.com:
Report: Halladay retires six Yankee batters on two pitches

An Electrifying Olympics Ends. Time for Some Baseball

2010-02-28T20:13:00.002-05:00

Well, the Vancouver 2010 Olympics have ended, and I have to say that this year did not disappoint. I can easily say that I just witnessed one of the most unearthly athletic performances and one of the most incredible sports games of any I've ever seen. That would be Kim Yu-Na's figure skating performances and the U.S.-Canada gold medal hockey game. Yes, I did just say a figure skater gave one of the most unearthly athletic performances I've ever seen, and in the words of my friend Angel, "I don't care if that loses me man points." As for hockey, the U.S. may have gone home with silver in the end, but that game was something else. Ryan Miller is easily the MVP, and Sidney Crosby continues to do whatever the opposite is of "endear himself to" many American sports fans not from Pittsburgh.

(Top: Photo courtesy of The Chosun Ilbo/Yonhap;

Bottom: Photo courtesty of Harry How/Getty Images)

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming: baseball.

With the first actual spring training games of the 2010 Grapefruit League almost upon us, it's time for another look at what's been happening down in Clearwater and elsewhere in the world of baseball. Here's a quick rundown:

Chan Ho Park said that "Philadelphia was the no. 1 choice." For more on that, see my previous entry, "The Changing of the Beard." I have nothing to add to what I wrote last week except that if that's what he wanted, he blew it even more than I originally thought.

Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels threw some live batting practice Thursday and Friday, respectively. Hitters generally don't swing at pitches this early on, but one young upstart by the name of Domonic Brown decided to try. That went really well for him. Check out some video of that here.

The other good news was that, out of 40 pitches Cole Hamels threw on Friday, 4 were curveballs and 5 were that cutter he's reportedly been working on. Not only did he throw them, but he impressed pitching coach Rich Dubee in the process, Looks like, both physically and mentally, he's well on his way to returning to good form.
The pitching line-ups for the aforementioned Spring Training games have been announced. Some highlights: Roy Halladay against the Yankees this coming Thursday, Jamie Moyer in the B game against the Jays on Friday, and the chance to see what some of the up and coming prospects can do going into this year. I think it's fairly obvious by now why Roy Halladay is a highlight; I included Jamie Moyer because this 47-year-old man is pitching at all at this point after three, count 'em, three surgeries since we last saw him pitch. He's determined and resilient, if nothing else.
Finally, Brad Lidge and J.C. Romero have both thrown off a mound, with little discomfort. This is great news, and signals that the back end of our bullpen might stop giving us all heart palpitations whenever one of them steps up to the mound. Plus, there won't be a TV show to jinx them this year.

Of course, no post would be complete without some pictures of Roy Halladay to get excited for the coming season:

(Photos courtesty of Todd Zolecki)

That's all for now. Barring any unforeseen events, there will be actual baseball games (even if they're just exhibition games) to discuss by the next time I post. Watching Roy Halladay mow down some Yankees in four days will hopefully make for an exciting transition back into the baseball season.

The Advent of @OzzieGuillen - Twitter and Baseball

2010-02-25T20:56:00.000-05:00

Now that the news filtering out of the Phillies camp in Clearwater, FL has slowed a bit in the past two days, the biggest baseball news is that Ozzie Guillen, White Sox manager and philosopher, has a Twitter. I cannot understate the importance of this man's decision to harness social media to bypass the haters in the mainstream media. Already we've gotten these gems of tweets:

"finally I am on this twitter thing it's about time!"

"3 day of Spring Training and im already boreddddddd"

"going to eat in half hour why dye no have a job ?"

"I just finished dinner..I still got it.....BBQ."

And the reason we love him: "I love what I'm doing now,Followers, don't worry, I will be here for all of you."

Behold, the new face of baseball on Twitter

(Photo Courtesy of the Chicago Sun-Times)

This is a man born to tweet, and I'm only half kidding when I say that. Does anyone doubt, with this latest move and the reality show that's due to hit TV screens this summer, that Ozzie a man completely comfortable in any setting. Sure he's uninhibited and speaks his mind enough to give the higher ups at the White Sox heart palpitations. But you have to respect him for giving it to us straight, and Twitter will only help him there.

Hopefully, @OzzieGuillen will encourage other baseball players to join Twitter. Baseball players simply aren't using twitter at the level that NFL and NBA players are, and this is a missed opportunity. What's an even greater missed opportunity is that twitter has only been around since 2006. With apologies to other people who have done this before, imagine the possibilities if it had been around for, say, the last 100 years. Suspend your disbelief and indulge me:

@TheGreatBambino: LOLZ so long beantown u r gonna regret this #redsox #yankees

@SatchelPaige: balk my ass thats a legit pitch #umpirefail

@WillieMays: yeah i just made that catch and throw no biggie #giants #indians

@RogerMaris: @TheGreatBambino just hit the 61st, what now. hof here i come!! #newrecord

@BigMac: @RogerMaris how'd that hof work out for u? 70! #newerrecord

@SammySosa: @BigMac i hit also! #almostnewerrecord

@BarryBonds: 73. thx @greganderson couldnt have done it without u #newestrecord

@RyanHoward: @BarryBonds be glad I got to the majors at 25 #recordsafefornow

Well, that could go on and on. My list might have something to do with the fact I'm currently reading this and this and that I like home runs. As an aside, I highly recommend both books. It's a shame we'll never know just what Satchel Paige really did in his long and storied career, or what Willie Mays could have done somewhere other than Candlestick Park.

But back to the task at hand. In all seriousness, Twitter should be used by more baseball players for many reasons, not the least of which being that most of the writers who cover them use it. The lives of MLB players may not be scrutinized quite as much as those of NFL or NBA players, and that's partially because baseball superstars don't hold the place they once had in American popular culture. If they fail to latch on to new social media, they'll fall further behind.

Come up with your own historic baseball tweets! Leave some comments with them and I'll post some from time to time in future entries.

The Changing of the Beard

2010-02-22T21:06:00.004-05:00

While I don't know or care why Jayson Werth is sporting his awesome new beard (which is a VAST improvement over his old goatee), I do know and care why Chan Ho Park is going to lose his old one. Our former middle relief champ is losing his beard because he signed with the Yankees today. The question is: what the hell is Chan Ho Park thinking?

Let's go over the facts of what's been happening with Mr. Park since we last saw him give up a single to A-Rod in the 7th inning of Game 6 of the
World Series, back on November 4th. The rumors are that, before he became a free agent, Park was offered a one year contract for around $3.25 million to pitch in relief for the Phillies in 2010, doing what he did best in 2009. Instead, he turned down this deal and decided to look elsewhere, reportedly because he still viewed himself as a starter. And we all know how well that went for him in 2009. In case you forgot, his record as a starter last year was a whopping 7.29 ERA in 7 starts, where he was clearly losing velocity just so he could pitch badly in games for longer. When he switched to being a great long relief pitcher, he posted a 2.52 ERA for the rest of the season and regularly hit 94-96 mph with his fastball again. He also averaged a little over a strikeout per inning he pitched. So clearly this is a guy who is meant to be a... starter? If you asked him at the end of last year, that seemed to be the case.

Moving forward to this past week, there were faint signs of life returning to Park's pitching career, when it was rumored that the Cubs had interest in him, including giving him the chance to compete for a spot in the rotation. Meanwhile the Phillies had moved on, given a similar amount of money to what they had offered Park to Cuban Defector #1, Danys Baez, a quality late innings reliever with closing experience. They also signed Cuban Defector #2, Jose Contreras, to do what Park did last year for half of what they had offered Park. So the Cubs are offering the man what he ostensibly wanted, and his prior championship caliber team has moved on, what does he do? He signs with the Yankees. For $1.2 million plus $300,000 in incentives. And why does he choose the Yankees over the Cubs? "I was deliberating on the Chicago Cubs and the Yankees, but their history and championship contention resulted in me picking the Yankees" (from a good ESPN article on the subject). So let's recap:

In November 2009, Chan Ho Park turns down a $3.25 million offer to play for a championship caliber team, in relief, because he wants to be a starter.
On February 22, 2010, Chan Ho Park accepts an offer for $2 million less than that to do what? Pitch in relief for a championship caliber team. While turning down what probably would have been a higher offer from the Cubs to compete for a starting role.

I'll say this, if Chan Ho Park's goal was to give a giant middle finger to the Phillies, he succeeded. I just don't know what the Phillies ever did to him to deserve that. It's also possible the whole thing is another fail on the part of Scott Boras, that baseball super-agent. [Update: Turns out he's not represented by Scott Boras, but Jeff Borris. Those damn homophones get me every time. Thanks to the anonymous comment for that tidbit. You should still read Jayson Stark's piece about Johnny Damon, though, even if it's not quite as relevant.] If you want to see how well listening to Boras did for ~~another~~ one of his actual clients, read up on the saga of Johnny Damon of this offseason, as brilliantly retold by Jayson Stark. Also, for another great take on this whole story, check out Chan Ho Plays Waiting Game, Loses over at Crashburn Alley

But enough about the past. The Phillies position players officially reported today, and Jayson Werth's beard was the star attraction to many observers. If seeing it one time wasn't enough for you to believe it, here it is again:

This beard reminds me (and others who have tweeted about it today) of many things, including: Jesus, Ron Burgundy when he breaks down in Anchorman, the GEICO cavemen (thanks Brad Lidge), and Johnny Damon c. 2004. This last comparison could be both exciting and depressing. The exciting part is that Johnny Damon in 2004 was part of a magical championship Red Sox that broke the curse of a city. Jayson Werth could prove pivotal in the Phillies winning another World Series title this year, cementing this Phillies team and one of the greats in baseball, certainly National League, history. The depressing part is that Johnny Damon turned around and signed with the Yankees the very next year and the beard vanished. Let's hope Jayson Werth doesn't follow Chan Ho Park and do the same next offseason.

Note: Werth photo courtesy of Todd Zolecki; Park photo courtesy of Jeff Zelevansky, Getty Images.

The Doc is in!

2010-02-20T10:23:00.000-05:00

As avid Phillies fans know by now, the media muzzle on Roy Halladay has been removed and this guy sure knows how to endear himself to us fans. Not only has he been arriving for workouts for months already at ungodly hours in the morning, but he's also inspiring certain younger pitchers to do the same. I know it's always a good idea to temper expectations before a season begins, no matter who you're talking about, but Roy Halladay has officially reached "this guy is something else" status. Now he just needs to work on his hitting so he can keep up his absurd numbers of complete games. In case you were wondering, that absurd number is 49 complete games out of 148 total wins in his career. That means one third of his wins are complete games. Oh, and overall he averages nearly 8 innings per start. The term "workhorse" doesn't begin to describe this guy. He even has a zen-like attitude vis-a-vis the pettiness of our rivals to the north. What a stud.

Even Charlie Manuel is getting just as excited as the rest of us watching Halladay throw, judging by where his hands are:

(Photo courtesy of Todd Zolecki)

If you want to read more on what Halladay has the potential for this season, check out Todd Zolecki and that sportswriter extraordinaire, Jayson Stark. If you're a Phillies fan and not excited about Roy Halladay yet, please check your pulse right now.

Cole Hamels also spoke to the media in the last few days, and he and pitching coach Rich Dubee are on mostly the same wavelength about how to get some of that 2008 magic back, which is definitely good news. As I've written before, some of Hamels' struggles in 2009 can be attributed to bad luck, high BABIP, etc. However, the way he responded to much of that bad luck played a significant role in him being pulled from games. When Hamels visually lost his cool after the infielders missed a routine double play, for example, Charlie is going to take note of that and Hamels is less likely to stay in much longer. While Hamels can't control what happens behind him, he can control what he does in response, and that's something he recognizes he needs to work on. He is also in a much better place right now than he was this time last year in terms of arm strength and dedication. I think it's safe to say he knows it's time to get up off the ground from last year, dust himself off, and return to being an ace (well, co-ace).

Don't just take this optimistic fan's word for the prospects of a resurgent Hamels. In addition to the links above, check out a good rundown by the AP, Jon Heyman's column over at SI, and, if you have ESPN insider access, go over and check out what Buster Olney has to say. If you don't have access, this little tidbit from the column should be enough to get you excited:

"In his first start in spring training last year, his fastball velocity was at 81-82 mph. But already he seems to be able to throw much harder than that, and to do what he wants with a baseball."

So there you have it: what is shaping up to be quite the righty-lefty, 1-2 punch for the Phillies. It is without a doubt the best starting rotation the Phillies have had for quite a long time. If our offense keeps doing what it does best and our bullpen manages to stay healthy this year, we can get back to the World Series and win it again. The Phillies have a better team than last year and 2008, and I don't hesitate for a second in making that statement. Of course, there's always the unforeseen, like injuries (see Mets, 2009), inexplicable offensive slumps (see Rollins, Jimmy circa June 2009), and the shockingly resurgent Washington Nationals. Just kidding about that last one, sorry Nats fans. For now, it's still one of the best times to be a Phillies fan in my lifetime, and Roy Halladay is here to make sure it stays that way. If this team lives up to its potential, there's no good reason (Yankees included) why our season shouldn't end just as it ended two years ago:

Spring is here!

2010-02-17T23:10:00.006-05:00

Though pitchers and catchers officially report tomorrow to sunny Clearwater, Florida, many have been throwing the ball around since yesterday. That's right, spring has arrived for the Phillies. Spring has certainly not arrived in Philadelphia, my former home, or in DC, my current one. Hopefully all of this snow will be gone by the time I go see the debut of one Harry Leroy Halladay on April 5th at Nationals Park. That same pitcher looks quite dashing in front of his brand new Phillies locker. Now there's a sight to warm the hearts of Phillies fans. That should hold us over until we have pictures of him destroying the Nats in 40 short days.

(Photo courtesy of Yong Kim at the Daily News)

Speaking of Phillies pitchers, Brad Lidge made himself available to the media today. It sounds like he decided to finally tell the truth about the extent of injuries last year. Either that or he's making a great effort to find a scapegoat for that dismal record of his in 2009, which does not need to be repeated here. As I've stated before, I'm optimistic about his chances for a good, if not great season in 2010, and I do believe that those injuries and Lidge's denial of those injuries last year did a lot of harm. Let's hope we see some quick evidence of improvements, especially a good down fastball and that biting slider that made him the closer we knew and loved in 2008.

For a whole run down of the state of Brad Lidge, check out what Scott Lauber has to say over in his blog, Philled In. In the end, I just want to see more of this in 2010 than we did last season:

(Photo courtesy of Getty Images)

The stories emerging from Clearwater are music to my ears so far. Philippe Aumont's fastball has impressive movement on it. Chase Utley is even faster than last year, when he was certainly no slouch at stealing bases. J.C. Romero is doing better than expected and could be back providing some much needed left-handed relief sooner than expected. Oh, and that Roy Halladay is just as inhuman as we all hoped he would be.

So spring has arrived and there is much to be happy about as a Phillies fan. This is a better team than we had last year. We shouldn't need Raul Ibanez to carry most of the offense until June this year, and Jimmy Rollins will more than likely remember how to hit before July this time around. And we have Roy Halladay replacing half a year of Brett Myers/Antonio Bastardo/Rodrigo Lopez and a half year of Cliff Lee. That's an upgrade we should be able to take to the bank in a few months.

Before the official start kickoff of all things Phillies for the 2010 season tomorrow, I just wanted to leave you with what was the best moment of the entire 2009 season. While there were many contenders in my mind, this was the only one that I can look back at and distinctly remember just how ecstatic I was when it happened. It also happened right before my birthday, so if I didn't say it enough before, I'll say it again: Thanks Jimmy. Enjoy:

Spring is in the air...

2010-02-14T12:07:00.007-05:00

Less than a week to go until spring training kicks off, and the Inquirer has a great preview. I'm looking out for a few things over the coming weeks, and some of this is in line with Andy Martino's take in the Inq's coverage.

I want to see evidence that Cole Hamels actually has a workable slider/cut fastball that he's reportedly going to work on, or even just an effective curveball. I don't want to see him add another pitch like his curveball last year: a pitch he technically has in his repertoire but pretty much only used to say "See? I have more than 2 pitches, I promise."

I want to see an exciting competition for our fifth starter spot between Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick (and possibly Drew Carpenter and whoever else can make it into that conversation). I don't want to see a competition that leaves the Phillies feel like they have to take the least weak pitcher out of an unexciting crop.

It would also be nice to see some of the outfield prospects we have, like Domonic Brown, Tyson Gillies, and Anthony Gose, show some real potential to step in for Jayson Werth in case we have to lose him to free agency in a year. I'm especially looking at you, #1 prospect Domonic Brown. Time to show a glimpse of that untouchable status.

In general, I'm just looking forward to that great feeling of baseball in the air again. Other people have observed this, but Philly certainly has high expectations of its baseball team these days, as well we should. Those expectations made absorbing the Eagles' failure against the Cowboys a little easier back in January. When you hear people in Philadelphia follow a pretty rough football loss with "well, when are pitchers and catchers?", it's hard not to feel like the sports winds have shifted. Time to get in gear for another exciting season.

Check out the whole Inquirer spring training guide here.

The Curious Case of James Anthony Happ

2010-02-11T11:56:00.007-05:00

I've noticed that several writers, particularly the statistically-inclined, are abuzz about our favorite 2nd place ROY finisher and upstart starter, J.A. Happ. The consensus seems to be that he overperformed last year and is headed, as ESPN's Hot Stove U put it, into the "dreaded sophomore slump." Now, I have to be consistent. A lot of the stats, especially BABIP and FIP, that predict Happ having a worse year next year are the same stats that I would point to to say that Hamels will have a better year next year. Briefly, BABIP is batting average on balls in play and FIP is fielding independent pitching. BABIP is generally out of the pitcher's control, while FIP tries to isolate what the pitcher is directly responsible for. So I've already made the argument that Hamels will have a better year because he had bad luck last year, in this case a high BABIP. Happ had an unusually low BABIP. Hamels underperformed his FIP last year, while Happ overperformed his. So based on that, and other stats that you can read about in the links at the bottom, I have to agree that Happ is a candidate for a sophomore slump.

However, no pitcher remains the same from season to season, and Happ is still relatively new to the big leagues. He did show resolve under pressure by coming through time after time with runners in scoring position. Some of his absurdly good numbers in those situations can be attributed to luck, that low BABIP, but he also showed the ability to get batters out swinging after those waist-high (and higher) fastballs. The stuff and confidence is there, even if he did overperform somewhat in 2009. He's also shown that's he's a fast learner, another skill that you can't teach.

I don't remember exactly when it was, but sometime after his beautiful complete game shutout against the Jays on June 27th, Happ said in an interview that someone else on the team told him to throw more strikes, and that's exactly what he did, and that's exactly what he continued to do for the subsequent 3 months. I don't necessarily expect another sub-3 or even sub-4 ERA season out of Happ, but remember, we don't need him to be that guy. That's why we have Roy Halladay, and yes, Cole Hamels.

As promised, some links:

Crashburn Alley: The Case Against J.A. Happ

Phillies Nation: Year in Review: J.A. Happ

If you have ESPN Insider access, definitely read:
2010's Biggest Breakout and Bust

Twitter

2010-02-09T14:51:00.002-05:00

Follow me on twitter @Phillibustering. I'll provide some in game reaction when I get a chance via twitter, so that will be pretty quiet for now.

Welcome: Offseasoning

2010-02-09T13:03:00.002-05:00

Hi all, I figured I'd get this up and running before pitchers and catchers in a week. Phillibustering is a blog about the Philadelphia Phillies from a completely biased fan's perspective. I'll be giving my take on games, trades, signings, and all things related to my hometown team. I'll also be bringing in guest contributors from time to time to give another team's perspective (especially when the Phillies destroy that team). There are also some awesome well-established Phillies blogs out there that will do a much better job than I can breaking down stats, and there will be plenty of links to other analysis when needed (or when I get lazy).

Now that that's out of the way, a few thoughts on this offseason. First, let me just say that the Mets offseason has made me very happy. I'm sorry, but signing Jason Bay and Kelvim Escobar will not revive the team. Maybe they'll be a little luckier on the injury front this season. On that note, in the future they might want to be better informed about surgeries that their stars are undergoing before those surgeries happen. Just sayin'.

On to the Phillies: I like all the signings. Our bench got a nice upgrade, though we could still use a good power bat there. I like the relief pitchers we've added, even if Ruben does seem to have a thing for former Cuban defectors this year. Danys Baez will be reliable and Jose Contreras showed a lot of promise as a reliever with the Rockies at the end of last year. I realize that's a small sample size, but I'm inclined to give Ruben the benefit of the doubt on a pitcher that's one of those low-risk high-reward types he loves so much. I also like the Placido Polanco signing, since we need a situational hitter with good plate discipline. He's also got Gold Glove defensive chops at 2nd base, and I'm going to trust the powers that be in the Phillies organization that he has the throwing range to play 3rd as well or better than Pedro Feliz.

Now the big one. I love that Roy Halladay is a Phillie for the foreseeable future. I love that we got him and $6 million for the prospects that we had to give up. However, I don't like the Cliff Lee part of the blockbuster nearly as much. Not because we should have kept both, though that would be nice, of course. It's mostly because, at first, the two trades were linked because Seattle prospects were going to the Jays, and that seemed reasonable to me. However, when it became a matter of some of our top prospects going to the Jays, the Seattle part of the deal became separate, and I've seen no indication that Cliff Lee was shopped around for better prospects. That being said, all prospects are just that: prospects. None of them is a sure thing, and in the end, we traded away good prospects and got back good prospects. Only time will tell who got the better end of that bargain, no matter what all the scouting reports say.

Some final quick thoughts:

We won the World Series without either Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay. We had another ace then: Cole Hamels.

If Cole Hamels weren't such a big question mark entering this year, there wouldn't be nearly as much of a desire to keep both Halladay and Lee.
Cole Hamels will have a better year this year than last, and a lot of his struggles (though by no means all of them) in 2009 can really be blamed on bad luck. For more on that, see the phenomenal run down of Cole over the last two years at Crashburn Alley: Cole's Curious Conundrum.
Also Brad Lidge will have a better season in 2010. He was clearly injured and whether he admitted it or not, and that's now been reportedly taken care of. It's clear that the injuries physically hindered him from pitching up to his full potential, and it was made worse by the fact that he was in denial about the extent of the injuries and tried to push through, losing speed on his fastball and control on his slider. Watch for those returning consistently and then we'll know he's back. Not that I'm saying he'll be 2008 Brad Lidge, but he'll be a reliable closer again.

This is, of course, all speculation. I could be totally wrong about Hamels and Lidge, but I hope I'm not. In the end, you gotta have a little phaith.