Señor Mayo!

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.

Fans and Pitchers

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.

Let the Roller Coaster Ride Begin

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

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

 (Photo courtesy of Yong Kim / Inquirer staff photographer)

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

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

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

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

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

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