Signs of Life?

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.

Getting It Done

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.

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.

A Loss and a Contract

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

(Photo courtesy of Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

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

 (Photo courtesy of Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

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

(Photo courtesy of Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Razing Arizona

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

Ex-Alaska Governor Sarah Palin with current Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, discussing how fun it is to sign discriminatory bills into law.

(Photo courtesy of Paul Connors/AP)

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

(Photo courtesy of the AP)

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

(Photo courtesy of Paul Connors/AP)

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

 Danys Baez, wondering why he's giving up hits throwing the same fastball over and over again.

(Photo courtesy of Paul Connors/AP)

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

First Series Loss: Reflections Looking Forward

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

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

(Photo courtesy of Tom Mihalek/AP)

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

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

 (Photo courtesy of Ron Cortes/Inquirer Staff Photographer)

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

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

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

Game 8: Jimmy Who?

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

(Photo courtesy of Greg Fiume/Getty Images)

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

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

(Photo courtesy of Matt Slocum/AP)

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

2010 Jimmy Rollins, We Hardly Knew Ye

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

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

(Photo courtesy of Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

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

(Photo courtesy of Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

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

(Photo courtesy of Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

Game 3: You Win Some...

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

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

(Photo courtesy of Susan Walsh / AP Photo)

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

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

(Photo courtesy of Yong Kim / Inquirer staff photographer)

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

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

Let the Roller Coaster Ride Begin

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

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

 (Photo courtesy of Yong Kim / Inquirer staff photographer)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is Werth Worthy of His Worth?

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.

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 in the air...

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.