A Sausage Fest

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!

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.

Hitting Their Stride

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

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.

Shades of Spring Training

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

 The AP trying to be artistically black and white with Kyle Kendrick

(Photo courtesy of Gregory Smith/AP)

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

Ryan Madson watching Troy Glaus round the bases

(Photo courtesy of Todd Zolecki/The Zo Zone)

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

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

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

An Electrifying Olympics Ends. Time for Some Baseball

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 Changing of the Beard

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.

Spring is here!

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:

Welcome: Offseasoning

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.