Whiz With

Game 121: Phillies 11, Pirates 8

2007-08-18T13:07:00.000-04:00

They've finally done it. The Phillies are now tied at the top of the Wild Card standings. After that 4-11 start and all the injuries, they now "control their own destiny." And they did it last night they way they do it most of the time--with just enough pitching and a lot of hitting.

J.D. Durbin is pretty good, in my opinion. He has one of the two shutouts for the team this year. He has won four straight starts. He's no Cole Hamels, but he has been about as good as Kyle Kendrick. Isn't that what the Phillies want? Don't they want a guy who can go out and provide a quality start and let the National League's most powerful offense do its thing? I mean, Durbin himself said basically that same thing after the game, and he's right.

It's pretty standard that the entire offense (save for Ryan Howard) came out of the funk at once. I don't even know if it was a funk so much as it was the Nationals pitching staff. Those guys are real good, and they could be a scary team next year. So when the Phils got to face the Pirates the true tenor of their offense was allowed to shine through again.

It's a shame that all of that offense was necessary. The fact that the 9-3 laugher turned into a save situation is frightening, but that's a pretty good indication of the front end of the Phillies' bullpen. Truth be told, though, guys like Mesa and Condrey have pretty much only given up runs when it didn't matter, when the Phils were either up or down by a bunch. I'd much prefer that over the alternative, where they blow close leads or don't provide the team a chance to come from behind. So I'll take last night's performance in the grander scheme of things.

Now if only the Mets would lose! The Phillies have won 8 of 11 and haven't gained any ground on New York. At least the Braves lost, though that was bound to happen against Brandon Webb. His scoreless streak is up over 40 innings--I think he might make a run at Orel Herschieser's record.

Game ball: Pat Burrell. It's about time he gets another one, with his 3-for-3, 3 RBI, 2 extra base hit night.

Record: 65-56
Next Game: Game 2 against the Pirates has Jamie Moyer looking for his fifth straight victory, and the first Phils series win in Pittsburgh in 6 years.

Disabled List!

2007-08-15T16:59:00.000-04:00

Breaking news on Philly.com: Adam Eaton is on the disabled list! This revelation surely makes Charlie Manuel's decision on who to pitch on Friday quite a bit easier. Looks like we've got J.D. Durbin for the next two weeks at least!

So let's talk about this disabled list thing:

The Phillies have four decent outfielders and Jason Werth isn't doing anything for them. Then he goes down with a 'wrist injury' that's unrelated to his previous, season-ending wrist injuries. The day after the Phils lose both Shane Victorino and Michael Bourn to real injuries, Werth is back in the bigs looking just fine./li>
Rod Barajas stinks and is useless, suddenly he's got a groin strain. Apparantly he's doing ok, but Chris Coste is batting over .300 in his stead and doling out clutch hits all over the place. And we all knew Coste deserved to be up here instead.
Adam Eaton isn't worth any of the 2.4 billion pennies the Phillies signed him for, but he never complained about being hurt. But with the Phils in a playoff race and every one of Eaton's starts a real chance at a crushing defeat, he develops "inflammation" in his shoulder. The team says he's been showing signs of it for a month, but I think the only thing he's been showing signs of is "sucking."

So that's how they're going to deal with their bad moves--by putting them on the DL. I think that's fine. Whatever. Just get them off the roster, where they can do the least damage.

In reality, I think this is one of the rare instances where the media (bloggers included) helped the team make a decision. No one wrote about how poorly Adam Eaton was pitching until after his last start. I mean, people mentioned it in the recap, but there was no daily update of his terribleness and his impending fate. Then, there was. A lot of it. In every paper. On every blog. "Who will pitch on Friday?" "When will Charlie make the move?" "How does Eaton feel about his job being in jeopardy?" There was so much buzz about it that it actually caused the team to do something. Either that or Eaton has a weird condition where when people talk about him, it's his shoulder that burns instead of his ears. Though throwing with his ear might explain his pitching lately...

One more thing--Russell Branyan. I remember at the beginning of last year Charlie Manuel saying how he wanted bench players to contribute to between 4-6 wins per season. If that's the case, then Russell Branyan has already filled his quota, considering he joined the team past the 2/3 mark of the season. If he can help once more, then he's considered a wildly successfull bench player, at least according to Charlie's book. Either way, he got real lucky and so did the Phils.

Game Ball: Branyan.

Record: 63-55
Next Game: Kyle Kendrick is making the job look easy, and the long article in the Daily News will back me up.

Game 117: Phillies 5, Braves 3

2007-08-13T14:32:00.000-04:00

I am so glad when I get to watch a Phillies win on national TV. See, being in San Francisco means that I don't get to see very many games. I listen to almost all of them on Gameday Audio, but I can't afford to watch them on MLB TV (more because the games are on while I'm at work than financially). So to be able to watch a well played game from the comfort of my couch on a Sunday evening is second only to seeing the games live.

Right from the start of this game you could feel the buzz, and you could see the trend from this whole series against the Braves: scoring early. The Braves had scored twice before my microwave popcorn was ready, and it looked scary for Jamie Moyer in the early going. But he settled and found a nice groove. So that's both Moyer and Hamels who gave up multiple runs in the first inning against the Braves, sandwiching Adam Eaton and his early-game struggles. Naturally, the Phils won both games that the lefties started and couldn't handle Eaton's foolery.

I was pretty disappointed when I saw that single to right in the bottom of the first off of Jason Werth's bat. I mean, I was happy that one run was going to score, but I knew that Pat Burrell was going to be the final out of the inning. It was a full count, two-out situation where all the men on base running with the pitch--running being a relative term in Burrell's case. So there was no way Steve Smith can't send the guy home because he's basically already at third by the time the ball reaches the outfield. But combine the sharpness of that hit with Burrell's tortoise-like speed and there's no need for Jeff Francoeur to be in right, it could have been Tommy-John-surgery-outpatient Kyle Drabek out there getting Burrell by three steps.

At least Jason Werth made it interesting with his cat-and-mouse dance with Brian McCann when Francoeur threw him out in the fourth. Then the Braves rightfielder made some Phillies fans happy when he threw them a souvenier on the fly in the seventh. So Steve Smith got two out of three correct even though the Phils only got one run on plays at the plate--he probably shouldn't have sent Werth with one out in the fourth.

How about the bullpen? I mean, words don't do Antonio Alfonseca's drunken-robot dance justice. I haven't seen guys that excited to get outs since last October. These Phillies are really having some fun when they're winning, and so am I.

Game Ball: Jimmy Rollins. Two hits (including a triple) in three at bats, a walk, and three runs scored. He's doing it all right now.

Record: 62-55
Next Game: Look at the pitching matchups for this next series. These Nationals pitchers are looking pretty good since they dumped all their veterans. And they've been winning a lot too. Not a good time for the Phillies to go into Washngton.

Game 114: Marlins 4, Phillies 2

2007-08-10T12:43:00.000-04:00

I think it's safe to say that Brett Myers shouldn't pitch in a tie game. He shouldn't pitch in a game where the Phillies are down. He should only pitch in save situations. It is where he is effective. It is where he wants to be. It is really the only place that he seems to pitch well.

I realize that, at least on the pitching moves, Charlie Manuel did "the right thing" last night. He put his closer in for the ninth inning of a tie home game. The theory is that the closer holds the opponents and then the home team gets a chance to score off of someone who is not their opponents' closer. And so Myers entered (apparently to Outlaw's "Ghost Riders in the Sky" again). And he gave up two runs, Phillies lose.

This is similar to last Wednesday's game, when he entered the tie game in Chicago and had control problems, attitude problems, and wild-pitched the winning run in from second base. I don't think Myers has the right mindset when it's not a save situation. It's not that uncommon. Tom Gordon had some issues like that last year, and look at how much better Antonio Alfonseca started pitching as soon as he was inserted into the closer's role. And let's not even get started on Jose Mesa during his previous tenure in Philly.

There are some guys who are good when the game is tied. It's odd, but on the Phillies those guys have names like Romero and Condrey, not Madson or Myers. I used to think that each reliever having a specific role was overrated, but now I think it's of paramount importance. And so while you need your eighth-inning setup man and your ninth-inning closer, you should also have your late-inning tie-game pitcher and your late-game-down-by-one-run pitcher. Then a lefty specialist and a long man and one more jack-of-all-trades (see Madson) rounds out a decent bullpen. Of course it's hard to see how each pitcher will react to a role until you put them in it, so it can take the better part of a season to get to a good set. But about this time in the season, I think you know what you've got. It's just a matter of using them appropriately.

That's my opinion about bullpens, but no doubt everyone else has their own ideas, not to mention Charlie Manuel. Since he's the one telling Dubee to call the bullpen, we may not see my ideas get used anytime soon.

Now the Braves come to town, back ahead of the Phillies by a half game. If the Phils can take at least two of three, it would suggest that they're in it for real.

By the way, since I love Pat Burrell and Bill Conlin, I have to plug the latter's column about the former. Read it.

Record: 60-54
Next Game: Cole Hamels starts for the Phils in the opener against the Braves tonight.

Game 113: Phillies 6, Marlins 4

2007-08-09T15:40:00.000-04:00

Somehow, they Phillies manage to keep winning. Even though they have no right maintaining a winning record with their poor excuse for a pitching staff, they're powering forward. They're now seven games over .500 and they don't show any signs of slowing down. Since the All-Star break they're 16-9, which is good for a .640 clip. If they can keep that up they're going to be right there again at the end of the season.

And why shouldn't they be? Ok, their pitching is suspect, but it's been good enough. Somehow with all of the injuries to the offense they're still producing runs. Neither the Mets nor the Braves seem all that formidable, even with the Mark Teixeiras of the world. This race for the NL East is going to come down to whoever can beat the other teams in the division. And the Phillies seem to be picking up steam just in time for that.

Kyle Lohse...good job. Far better than Adam Eaton giving us another "Lidle start", Lohse gave the Phillies a "Kendrick start", which is basically about 6 innings and 3-4 runs (actually Kendrick rarely gives up more than three runs but it's a good guideline). That sort of outing will give the Phillies a lot of wins, because they score runs in bunches.

Somehow Jimmy Rollins is more productive from an RBI standpoing out of the leadoff hole than the three hole. Maybe that's because there's no one else who can get on base enough in the top spot for him to drive in, but I just think he needs to be there. It's cosmic forces. Or the fact that Phillies pitchers hit better than the White Sox. Either way, two RBI last night.

But Aaron Rowand is the big difference. I can't believe anyone thought about trading him, even as long ago as May. Ok, I thought his numbers were going to dip at some point, but they really haven't. He's still up around .320 and he's hitting more home runs than ever before. Half of me says "HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE" but the other half says who cares if he is on it. He's the reason a lot of these games are wins instead of losses.

Oh yeah, and the Brett Myers music thing--my vote is for "Midnight Rider" by the Allman Brothers Band. Myers is from the South, isn't he? No Metallica or AC/DC for him. It's still a good song about the end of the night..."And Ive gone by the point of caring / Some old bed Ill soon be sharing /
And Ive got one more silver dollar"...I dunno it says Myers to me.

Game Ball: Rowand

Record: 60-53
Next Game: Kendrick can make it a sweep if he throws down another patented quality start.

Off Day: What a weekend

2007-08-06T16:57:00.001-04:00

So, I go camping, and the Phillies have three crazy games to come back and try and assimilate. Kendrick pitches as well as he has yet and the Phils lose. Pat Burrell homers. Then Cole Hamels pitches OK but leaves with a lead and the Phils lose. Pat Burrell homers. Then Adam Eaton stinks up the place, the Phils enter the ninth down by five, Jason Werth homers, and the Phils win in 11.

Frankly I'm glad I missed all those games, because I would have been painfully depressed after the first two and I probably would have turned off the last one well before the euphoria.

So the Phillies, even though they went 3-4 against the best in the NL Central, still lost a game and a half thanks to the Mets going 4-2 against the same teams. The Braves springboarded in front of them and now they're in third. How does this bode for the team?

Well how does the whole month bode for the team? They've lost half of their offense to injury and the other half (save for Burrell) seems completely clueless without them. They're fighting, but that may not be enough. They need some pitching. They need to tank Adam Eaton and bring back J.D. Durbin to be the fifth starter, behind new fourth starter Kyle Lohse. Is this really what this is coming to? I'm suggesting that the Phils use two rookies and a lame trade-deadline acquisition as their three righthanded starters. That, of course, after they start the season with four viable righthanders trying to fit into those three spots. None of whom are healthy, effective, or still starters.

So once the allegedly-wife-beating Julio Mateo pitches for the Phils (soon, very soon) they'll have tied the dubious franchise record for most pitchers used in a season. And then when Scott Mathieson comes back from Tommy John surgery in September, they'll make a new record. This isn't really their fault, it's all the injuries. Or is it their fault? Remember last year when the Yankees fired their new strength & conditioning coach after a bunch of regular players all hurt themselves? Do we think there could be some issue with the pitchers not getting the right kind of treatment or stretching programs? Don't you think it's weird that Brett Myers and Ryan Madson, both relatively healthy pitchers throughout their careers, developed the same shoulder injury? I do.

Let's now talk about Pat Burrell. It's not a secret that I really like Burrell and I want to see him do well. And he's been playing quite well over the last few weeks. He hit over .400 in July. In case you didn't know, that's hard. What's even harder is that he's kept it up for another week, batting .412 so far in August. Look, I know he is a black hole in the lineup for a good portion of every season, but when he's hot, he's white hot. Remember a couple years back when he had something like 18 RBI in the first two weeks of the season? He can still be a big run producer. And as far as his contract, I don't have a problem with it. Yes, it's huge, but he signed it after that great 2002 season (.282/37/116) as a contract extension. The Phillies were locking up someone who could be a huge factor in their offense for a long time. If he went into free agency after 2002 (or even 2005, when he basically matched those numbers) he would have easily gotten a 4 or 5-year contract worth about $10 million a year, so the Phillies did what they should have at the time. Let's just let him be and allow him to help this team offensively then get out of the way at the end of games like he's been doing so well this season.

Record: 58-53
Next Game: The Phillies have to play the Marlins for three games. I wonder if they're going to get to see Scott Olsen...

Game 107: Cubs 5, Phillies 4

2007-08-02T12:35:00.000-04:00

Well this was bound to happen. After winning nine of ten games by plating half a dozen men per contest while having an ERA under 3, you knew the Phillies weren't going to play like that all year. And so they went back to their old ways of mediocre starting pitching and maybe some decent hitting.

The hitting nowadays is a bit suspect, without huge top-of-the-lineup people in Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, and even Michael Bourn. Have you noticed that Ryan Howard hasn't been the same hitter since Utley went down? Just having those two guys back-to-back in the order scared opposing pitchers into getting knocked around. Now Howard is all by himself. Even with the 'protection' of Jimmy Rollins before and Aaron Rowand after, pitchers can still throw Howard junk and he's swinging at it. He has six strikeouts in the last two games! He's got to calm down and learn to take walks if he is to get hot again.

The pitching, oh my. Ok, here's the deal. I don't care if Tom Gordon is hurt or not, you don't put your closer on the mound with a tie game when you're the visiting team. Put out one of those other bodies, because if you can manage to get one scoreless inning and then score yourselves, you've still got to hold the other team for another frame. What was Charlie Manuel going to do if the game went to extras? Stick in J.D. Durbin and hope for the best? Might as well have done it in the ninth and saved your just-off-the-DL closer's shoulder the trouble of throwing two wild pitches to give up the winning run. That first pitch that Myers air-mailed looked eerily like the one he hurt his shoulder on in the first place.

That's all I can bitch about now. Crappy starting pitching=crappy games, especially when most of your offense is hurt.

Record: 56-51
Next Game: Kyle Lohse makes his Phillies debut today. Pray for rain.

Game 105: Phillies 4, Cubs 1, Grim Reaper 2

2007-07-31T00:46:00.000-04:00

This has got to stop. The Phillies are having the worst run of injury luck of any Philadelphia sports franchise in the past two decades. They haven't had their bullpen well all season. Their rotation started out with too many pitchers and then was down to three healthy ones for a while. They finally got that sorted out, with Kyle Kendrick looking great and today getting Kyle Lohse, and then their lineup gets shredded.

After the injury to Chase Utley, Pat Gillick made a great move in what I would agree was a compensatory deal with the White Sox over the Freddy Garcia debacle. Tadahito Iguchi is going to help this team while Chase is down, certainly. He did so tonight, with his solo home run and two runs scored. I also really liked his aggressiveness on the basepaths, even though he was caught trying to score on a wild pitch. I guess that counts as caught trying to steal home. I'll take someone trying to steal home any day...I was really hoping Jimmy Rollins was going to give it a shot in the first inning, and so did the ESPN broadcast team.

But the story of the day tonight was, with all due respect to Cole Hamels and another gem, the injuries. So Utley's out for a month, but now both Shane Victornio and Michael Bourn go down in the same game...the Phils had to use three different rightfielders! And those two guys are the two fastest guys on the team, and they both had leg injuries. Based on what they looked like, I'd say Victorino is probably out 7-10 days while Bourn will most likely find himself on the DL after his medical exam tomorrow.

So I never thought I'd be saying this, but the Phillies need Jason Werth to get healthy right now. They really only had four real outfielders on their roster at the start of play today, and two of them got hurt. Greg Dobbs was a little scary out there in right, looking a bit lost on a couple of would-be-routine fly balls. I know he's now played something like 5 positions for the Phils this season, but he's not a long-term solution. And the Phillies have already made a couple of trades so their paper-thin farm system is now essentially transparent, and they're still trying to find a reliever in a trade. I think the best they can hope for is Werth to get healthy and Chris Coste to figure out right field real fast.

Now about the game: Hamels is brilliant, yet again. Brett Myers gets his first save in 10 weeks. Aaron Rowand continues the contract year, and Gooch blasts his first homer as a Phillie.

Game Ball: Hamels.

Record: 56-49
Next Game: Let's make it five in a row tomorrow in Chicago. Adam Eaton starts.

Game 104: Phillies 5, Pirates 1

2007-07-30T15:43:00.000-04:00

So the Phillies managed to have their entire bullpen together and healthy for exactly 2 days. So goes their season. If they can continue their hot second half and somehow make the playoffs, it would be completely miraculous, based on the number of serious injuries that they've had to deal with. Yesterday's win was marred by the loss of Ryan Madson, possibly for the season. He thinks he tore something in his shoulder, which would be worse than the 'strain' that kept Brett Myers out for two months.

Of course not everything was bad for the Phillies yesterday. They did complete the sweep of the poor Pirates and their pitching continued to be stellar. Kyle Kendrick threw another great game, allowing only one run in seven innings. It was a bit tight until Chris Coste knocked in a couple of insurance runs in the eighth, but then the Phils could cruise, allowing Jose Mesa to finish the game. Actually Mesa was going to finish the game regardless I think, since Coste pinch-hit for Antonio Alfonseca in the eighth and Mesa was the only guy warming up. It would have been fun to watch him get another save to add to his franchise record, especially considering he gave up that leadoff double in the ninth.

I want to be really happy about the direction of this team, but every time it seems like things are going right, someone(s) else gets hurt. I would like to point this out, though: right now the Phillies' team ERA over the last 10 games (8 wins) is around 2.3. Back when they won all of those games in May, they gave up 36 runs over 10 games (8 wins)(not counting the blowout to the Blue Jays). That's around a 3.50 ERA assuming most of those runs were earned. Now they've done a lot better in the past 10 days, so why shouldn't they have also won 8 of 10? Especially with the hitting they've been getting.

Game Ball (Sunday): Jimmy Rollins. He's on fire.
Game Ball (Saturday): Coste. The three-run home run he hit was really one of the few times this year that you could see the nail going into the coffin.

Record: 55-49
Next Game: The Phils have to play four games against the white-hot Cubs at Wrigley starting tonight. The only good news is that they won't have to face Carlos Zambrano.

Game 102: Phillies 8, Pirates 1

2007-07-28T15:19:00.000-04:00

Yes, Michael Bourn looked amazing in the leadoff spot last night. But let's not get ahead of ourselves; this was only one game and it was against a team whose sub-.500 record streak is about to get its drivers license. What was really impressive last night was Jamie Moyer.

Seven innings, one run (unearned), six hits, and it only took him 95 pitches. I doubt he would have come out and pitched the eighth inning if there was one (and certainly not after the rain delay), but he could have. I know Moyer has been inconsistent the last six weeks or so, but the body of his work this season shows that he's guy who can get you a win when you need it.

I said the lineup was going to be shaken up, and I stand by that. But I liked what happened last night, especially in that six-run third when the Phillies sent 12 men to the plate. So I say let's keep this lineup for at least one more game. Of course, that won't be tonight, since there's a lefthander starting against the Phils, and because Tadahito Iguchi should be in uniform and probably the starting second baseman.

Here's to Pat Burrell, who is on fire. Please keep it up, Bat.

Game Ball: Moyer

Record: 53-49
Next Game: Tonight it's J.D. Durbin trying to follow up his past two excellent starts with another one.

Game 101: Nationals 7, Phillies 6

2007-07-27T16:09:00.000-04:00

Oh, we're screwed.

Everyone knew the Phillies' problem was their pitching. When the injuries hit the staff, it wasn't all that surprising that they tanked. But we all figured that as long as the offense could keep putting up big run totals, they would be OK.

Then Chase Utley got hurt, and now the team's top RBI man (sorry, Howard, but Utley has been more consistent all season) is out for a month. Now the Phils have no chance, unless Pat Burrell starts swinging the bat like he was back in college. It's a real shame, too, because Utley was going to be making a run at the MVP award this year.

Maybe the worst part of it all is how the lineup will be affected top-to-bottom. The Phils had finally gotten into a groove with their top 6 batters, and they were obviously scoring a lot of runs. Now who goes to the three hole? Do you move Rollins down there and put Victorino at leadoff? Not the way Jimmy has been producing. Move Aaron Rowand up and hope Pat the Bat can protect Howard? Maybe make Carlos Ruiz your six hitter and Abe Nunez, who's going to be the default second baseman now, the eight-hole man? Let's see what Charlie Manuel does.

A couple other roster moves: Brett Myers is back, and not a month too soon. Maybe a month late...we'll never really know what happened to his shoulder until he needs some surgery. Let's hope that isn't next week or so. They optioned Mike Zagurski to Triple-A, where he needs some time to work on his mechanics. He had a good run to start, but he was blowing saves all over the place lately, and he wasn't even being put in save situations necessarily. And Clay Condrey deserves to stay up in the bigs, because he's been a highly effective long-man, even getting the win in that 14 inning affair the other night by throwing three scoreless innings.

Record: 52-49
Next Game: Tonight against the lowly Pirates, Jamie Moyer looks to start the Phils on another roll. Without Utley, that may be a tall order.

Game 100: Phillies 7, Nationals 5 (14)

2007-07-26T01:20:00.000-04:00

So there we've got another extra inning game, and the Phillies win this one. On a walk off home run. By Ryan Howard.

Ryan Howard who has 60 RBI in the last 2 months. If he hits at that pace all season, he ends up with the major league record for RBI, I'm pretty sure. What I do know is that if he continues at that pace for the rest of this seas, which doesn't seem impossible, he'll easily match his total from last year of 149. He's pretty good.

But that was merely the last note of the evening. Before it, Cole Hamels threw seven innings, giving up only two runs before exiting with a two run lead. And then the bullpen came in. I really like Ryan Madson this year. He's ptiching like he did in his rookie season and the year following, when he was a really useful reliever. After some early-season issues in the setup role, he's been quite effective lately. In fact, he's only given up one run all month.

But Antonio Alfonseca is scary. He's probably only useful for one day in a row, meaning I think he needs rest after every outing for him to be effective. Ditto Tom Gordon, so when Brett Myers comes back (which should be this weekend) and they make him the closer (which should be immediate, according to Charlie Manuel), you can put Alfonseca and Gordon together and get one decent setup man out of them. One decent, 445-pound, 74-year-old setup man. It works.

Mike Zagurski has been going in the opposite direction of Ryan Madson. After showing some real promise in his first few outings, he's now been giving up a lot of runs, and, possibly worse, he's been allowing a lot of inherited runners to score. That's gotta stop. One wonders why Charlie Manuel went with him in the ninth instead of with JC Romero, who's been lights-out since joining the Phillies.

Game Ball: Even though Howard hit the game-winning second-decking homer, this game went to the Phillies because of Jimmy Rollins. The guy who loves to hit in the clutch came up with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and his team down a run. He proceeded to scamper all the way around the bases on a catchable triple+error. High drama. He put a ride on the ball when the Phillies needed it, and so he gets the game ball.

Record: 52-48
Next Game: The last game of the series sees Adam Eaton face a guy who is making his major league debut, John Lannan.

Game 99: Phillies 4, Nationals 3

2007-07-25T14:17:00.000-04:00

Eagles training camp must be starting this weekend, because there's more articles in the papers about various players for the Philadelphia football franchise than there are for their beleaguered baseball squad. Of course, everything that can be said about the Phillies has pretty much been said over the past two weeks.

They need pitching. They have hitting. They don't have enough hitting to give any up for pitching. They're going to hope that the return of Brett Myers and Tom Gordon to the bullpen will be equal to a decent trade. They're going to cling to the tailcoats of rookies Kyle Kendrick and J.D. Durbin because they have no other options.

And they are going to hope.

Hope is what all Phillies fans have in overabundance. I've always had hope, every year, until they're mathematically eliminated. That day has been the last day of the season a couple of times in recent years, and it was fun to hope. The biggest thing you can hope for on a day-to-day basis is a win. You hope that you get the breaks. And they got the breaks last night.

Kyle Kendrick pitched just fine. If he had managed to get one more out it would have been yet another quality start for the kid. As it is he still has 5 in 8 starts, and the Phils have won 6 of his 8 starts, with the bullpen blowing a lead he left them in one of those outings. Last night he actually left down a run, thanks to the one bad hit he gave up--a bases-clearing double to Brian Schneider in the fourth. He's been scuffling with baserunners all season, with the double-play being his savior numerous times. He was bound to get burned. But he only got burned that one time last night, thanks to Aaron Rowand.

Here's a guy who's getting the breaks. He throws out a runner (the pitcher, mind you) to end that fourth inning. Then he scores the tying run after a double. Then in the eighth he gets a non-call on a likely strike that would have set him and the Phillies down still tied. He finds the left-field stands with the next pitch and the Phillies are winners. Rowand is hot. Which is great, because so is Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley...

So they've got plenty of hitting. And just enough pitching, maybe. They're going to need every ounce of both. And we fans are going to need every ounce of our hope.

Game Ball: Rowand

Record: 51-48
Next Game: If Cole Hamels pitches the way he did in his last start, the Phillies can't lose tonight.

Games 95-98: Phillies 3, Padres 1

2007-07-23T12:49:00.000-04:00

Who is this guy, and what did he do with J.D. Durbin? In his last two starts, he's thrown 16 innings of one-run baseball. I don't know how he managed to convince everyone else that he was Durbin, but he better bring him back. I want to see the monster innings of a journeyman pitcher next time he's out or else I'm notifying the authorities.

Not really, of course. It seems that all Durbin needed was to learn to breath while on the mound. With all due respect to Rich Dubee and Jamie Moyer, but I think we all knew that he was choking and could have told him what to do.

Whatever the reasons, though, I just hope he continues this little streak. If he can throw like this and Kyle Kendrick can keep up his string of decent starts, then it's time for the Phils to start moving. The offense is hitting the ball well. They're scoring loads of runs, including four yesterday off of All-Star Starter Jake Peavy. The pitching doesn't look terrible at the moment (knocking on wood) and they're coming out of San Diego having won three straight and taken a series from one of the best teams in the league.

Ryan Howard is looking scary good again, just like after the All-Star break last year when he led the league in basically every offensive category, including all three triple crown fields. I can see him putting this team on his back and carrying them to the finish line, just like he did last year and like Jim Thome did in 2004.

So here we are, with some star hitters and some questionable pitching. What are the Phillies to do? Do they wait and see? Do they hope that Durbin can control his breathing and his ERA? I still say no, that they really could use a veteran pitcher to start for them every fifth day, be it in Durbin's spot, or Kendrick's or Adam Eaton's.

Game Ball: Durbin

Record: 50-48
Next Game: An off day is followed by a series at home against the Nationals. Kendrick will make the start on Tuesday.

Off the Grid

2007-07-19T20:37:00.000-04:00

I'm going on vacation to the mountains. I don't expect to be able to find out much about the Phils-Padres series, which is probably a good thing. The Phillies can't overcome good pitching, and the Pads have buckets of it.

See you on Monday.

Game 93: Phillies 15, Dodgers 3

2007-07-18T12:24:00.001-04:00

I think we're coming up on a new record, if we haven't already set it. How many consecutive games can a team play where at least one of the teams scores double-digit runs? That's an odd statistic, but I'm sure the people over at Stats, Inc. can figure it out. With last night's victory, the Phillies are up at 5--every game since the All-Star Break either they or their opponent has scored in double figures.

A streak like that suggests that the Phillies have a high-octane offense and basically the worst pitching in the league. Which they do, on both counts. It's pretty impressive that either one or the other of those personae come out in every game, but never both. The Phillies haven't really been involved in a slugfest this season, with both teams scoring over 10 runs. The closest they've come is a 9-8 win against San Francisco on June 3rd. You remember that game--Shane Victornio hit a walkoff home run to left field from the left side.

So like I had said earlier, the Phillies love to lose big. On average, about once a week they'll lose by 6 or 7 runs. Since we had the break last week, they had to lose big twice this week, which they did on Sunday and Monday. Throw in a couple of big wins and we've got a .500 baseball team.

Lots of hits last night, one less than the team record. Five each for Aaron Rowand and Shane Victornio, both career highs. Four RBI for Ryan Howard, who is rapidly approaching Chase Utley for the league lead (79 to 72).

So what will this afternoon bring? Feast or famine? Will newly anointed starter Chad Billingsley allow his first loss of the season, or will that fall to surprise phenom Kyle Kendrick of the Phillies? Or will the bullpen blow it (something they haven't really had a chance to do yet this half)?

Game Ball: Oh yes, JD Durbin got his first major league win with six solid innings of one-run ball. Where was that when he was pitching in close games? So you get the ball, Durbin.

Record: 47-46
Next Game: Series finale in Dodger Stadium is an afternoon game.

Game 92: Dodgers 10, Phillies 3

2007-07-17T10:52:00.000-04:00

Just in case someone had miscounted. Just maybe somewhere along the way they tacked on an additional unwarranted loss, either by accident or neglect. Just to be sure, the Phillies lost another one to solidify their five-figure loss column. And they did it in as astoundingly poor fashion as the original #10,000.

Two games in a row over the weekend the Phillies put up double-digit runs. The next two games, they have given up double digit runs. This is not a recipe for success. This isn't even a recipe for mediocrity.

They said they wanted to give Jamie Moyer some extra rest, so he basically didn't pitch for 10 days. Maybe that was a little too long. Or a lot too short. Either way, he got blasted. Ten runs, all earned, though Ryan Howard's error-turned-non-error in the sixth should have been an error.

Suffice to say the Phils had basically no chance to win this game unless Moyer threw a no-hitter, because Brad Penny is that good. And he's even that much better against the Phillies. He now has a 2.12 ERA against the Phils over the last four years (7 games). They can't hit him worth a damn, so when they scratched across a run in the top of the first, I was surprised.

When the Dodgers came and scratched three across against Moyer in the bottom of the first, I knew where this game was going.

So now it's up to J.D. Durbin to keep the Phillies from dropping below .500 again. I don't think he's going to pull that off. Mark Hendrickson had a rough May but otherwise has been stellar this season, and the Phillies' bats are getting cold.

We've all been saying how the Phillies need to get another starter to replace Durbin in the rotation, but with Moyer and Adam Eaton performing like they have been recently, even with Bob Gibson as the fifth starter the Phils wouldn't be able to hold it together.

Record: 46-46
Next Game: Tonight, Los Angeles, Durbin vs Hendrickson.

Game 18,810: Cardinals 10, Phillies 2

2007-07-16T12:49:00.000-04:00

I shouldn't have said anything about the Phillies putting up double-digit runs, since all it seemed to do was provide the Cardinals with the impetus to do so...

I'd like to say we've reached a milestone here at Whiz With--with the Phillies' 10,000th loss comes the 100th post. Now if I continued to post at the same pace, it would only take me 125 years or so to match the number of posts about losses. Maybe even less, given the history of our phavorite phranchise.

It really seemed like it was destined last night, on national television, against the reigning world champions (whom the Phils had a better record than last year but didn't get a chance to play in the playoffs). The ESPN crew of Jon Miller, Joe Morgan, and Peter Gammons spent quite a bit of time talking about the 10,000th loss. And the ball was flying out of the park, at least for the Cardinals...

Seriously, the Cardinals jacked 6 home runs. The Phillies had one, from the lightest-hitting guy on their team, Michael Bourn. I guess that just shows the difference between last night's pitchers. Phillies pitchers Adam Eaton and Brian Sanches throw straight and up in the zone. That equals home runs. At least five of them were solo homers, but a player has to hit a solo homer when the guy before him also hit a dinger.

The Phillies were not getting good wood on the ball, because if they were they would have been keeping pace with the bases-go-round. That speaks volumes about Adam Wainwright, who was pitching just as high in the zone as Eaton but has a bit of a tail on his pitches that sneaks in on righthanders. He fooled the entire Phillies lineup four times. Yea, they got guys on base, but they couldn't get a big hit all night long. Jimmy Rollins looked like he was playing dizzy bat.

At least the Phils won the series. If they do that the rest of the year they're in decent shape. But I don't see that happening...

Record: 8,810-10,000
Next Game: Jamie Moyer opens tonight in LA as the last bastion of a real rotation before JD Durbin starts for the Phils tomorrow. Good luck.

Big Runs

2007-07-15T13:07:00.000-04:00

I'm afraid to say anything, for fear that the Phils will stop their streak of double-digit runs. And I won't, until then. Analysis can wait. Everybody hits!

Ugh, Home Run Derby

2007-07-10T00:59:00.001-04:00

I took an All-Star Break a little early. I mean, I was going to talk about the Phillies' win to salvage a .500 record going into the break, but their groundskeeping shenanigans took all the headlines. Let's look at who's hot and who's not into the break:

HOT
Pat Burrell. Seriously. He's 5-for-11 in the last week with 2 home runs and a 1.000 slugging percentage.
Wes Helms. He's batting .533 in his last four games.
Chris Coste. The journeyman will continue to produce as long as he's given a chance.
Chase Utley. He's been hot all season.
Ryan Madson. The only reliever who's pitched well in the last 10 days.
Jimmy Rollins. Seems to have found his power stroke again.

NOT
Antonio Alfonseca. He's had some trouble of late. Of course, he's just this week's poster child for bullpen troubles.
Adam Eaton. Though he got a win, he's given up seven runs over twelve innings in his last two starts.
Michael Bourn. Only a .222 average in the past week.

What about Ryan Howard? He's got a couple of home runs this past week and he actually is fourth in the NL with 21 home runs at the break, which is damn impressive given his slow start and stint on the disabled list. Unfortunately, he's also got 96 strikeouts, which hurts. But he's got 67 RBI, good for fifth in the league. What to make of him...
Well he only had three home runs in the Derby, so how does that bode for the second half?

Only time will tell.

Here's a prediction. If the Phillies don't average over 5.5 runs per game for the remainder of the season, they won't finish higher than third in the NL East.

Record: 44-44, 3rd in NL East (4.5 back of NY Mets)

Sunday's Game Ball: Shane Victorino. Tarp-grabbing and home-run hitting.

Next Game: The All-Star game. Come on National League, win one during this decade!

Game 86: Rockies 7, Phillies 6 (11)

2007-07-07T12:50:00.000-04:00

I had a lot to say about this game last night but it's waning on me now. Suffice to say that the Phillies need some bullpen help or they're going nowhere but down. Kyle Kendrick provided them with another quality start, his fifth in five tries, and they should have won the game for him. He left after the sixth inning with a three run lead. All the bullpen needed to do was not give up three runs.

In comes Zagurski, Mesa, and then Afonseca. Each of them gives up one run, and we're going to extras. Then when the tenth inning started, I think Charlie Manuel said to J.D. Durbin, "You're going to pitch until this game is over." That was a bad move.

Not a terrible move, though, because the Phillies had only two hits off of Rockies relievers in six innings last night. That after getting twelve in the first five innings off of starter Jeff Francis. I think Charlie knew that the Phils weren't going to win this game because they weren't going to score again. The Phils scored at the beginning of the game, the Rockies at the end. I'd much rather be scoring all my runs at the end...

So until and unless Tom Gordon (who pitched a scoreless inning in Clearwater yesterday) and Brett Myers (...) come back and seem like their old selves, the Phillies are going to keep dropping games and series until their season is totally lost. It's unfortunate, but you need pitching. And the Phils don't have it.

Record: 43-43
Next Game: Jamie Moyer starts tonight in Colorado against Rodrigo Lopez.

Game 85: Phillies 8, Astros 3

2007-07-05T13:43:00.000-04:00

Hey, Wes Helms! Where you been all season?

And Pat Burrell! You raised your average two percent (read: 4 points) with yesterday's two-hit performance!

And Cole Hamels, you finally got your tenth win. Have fun at the All-Star Game.

The Phillies managed to not see a losing record again. Let's hope that's the last scare like that of the season.

Charlie Manuel got an apology. Cute. But it still doesn't change the outcome of Tuesday's game.

Burrell. Helms. Ryan Howard. Jimmy Rollins. Lots of homers + Cole Hamels = win. Every time.

Hamels is back on top of the strikeout heap, though I imagine that Jake Peavy will get one more start before the break.

Michael Bourn had a rough day after having a big day, but he'll bounce back. Luckily the Phils didn't need him to hit.

So one more series before the break, against the Rockies in Colorado. Win two of three and it's not so bad looking out at the second half. Lose more than one and it'll be a long three days off.

Record: 43-42
Next Game: Kyle Kendrick goes for win #4 on Friday night in Denver.

Game 84: Astros 5, Phillies 4

2007-07-04T13:19:00.000-04:00

I really thought that the Phillies would never get back to the .500 mark. Or at least I had hoped it. But a serious lack of pitching and clutch hitting has allowed them to fall back to even. Of course last season they were at .500 as late as the end of July, but I was hoping this season would be better. Of course we all know that ain't the case, so let's just talk about the game.

People are probably going to blame first base umpire Lance Barksdale, and he deserves some serious ire. But he's human and he's allowed to make a mistake. That's the way the game is. OK, his mistake was blatant and lost the game for the Phils, but you can't change anything.

I want to blame Pat Gillick and Charlie Manuel for this loss. Blame Gillick for his offseason acquisitions that blew at least a run in the seventh inning. And blame Manuel for shuffling those acquisitions around in the ninth, leading to an out.

In the seventh, Wes Helms led off with a double. He actually had a good game, going 3-for-4. But he's got lead feet. And the next batter, offensively-challenged Rod Barajas, was asked to lay down a bunt. The bunt went down the first base line (ill-advised with a runner on second) and somehow the Astros got Helms out at third. If that were the Phillies on the field, the end result of that obvious error would be a run scored and a runner on second at least. When it's the Phillies at the plate, they trade an out and a slow runner on second for an even slower runner on first. Typically, the next batter, pinch-hitter Chris Coste, hits a single that would have likely scored Helms from second. Why not just let Barajas bat with no outs? Gimme a break.

Then in the ninth, Barajas leads off with a double. So now you've got lead feet on second with no outs. Sound familiar? So Manuel pinch-runs with a catcher. I know Carlos Ruiz was the only option off the bench (besides Pat Burrell, who is slower and actually pinch-hit in that at-bat), but why use your last bench player to pinch run when he's not all that fast? When you might need him later in a close game? When he's going to make a bonehead move by trying to score from second on a ground ball TO THE SECOND BASEMAN? Possibly one of the stupidest moves of the season. Maybe if they had two Michael Bourns, one to beat out the slow roller and a second to make a mad dash from second base, they would have had an insurance run. But Ruiz must have a big head after stealing home, because anyone in their right mind knows that no matter how fast of a catcher he is, he's still a catcher and he can't score on that play.

So some players deserved to lose that game.. Maybe they all did, based on the numbers with runners in scoring position (5-for-24). Well they got it. They blew that game, as did Barksdale.

Record: 42-42
Next Game: The Phils have to salvage a game in this series to stay at or above .500. Thankfully they've got Cole Hamels to start.

Midway Point: Phillies 41-40

2007-07-03T13:21:00.000-04:00

I'm going to forgo discussing last night's game to look at the team at the halfway point of the season (by games, not based on when the All-Star Break is). Ironically, the game last night was a pretty decent microcosm of the Phillies' season as a whole.

Starting Pitching
First, the bad news. And by that I mean the entire pitching staff. Everyone knew the Phils were going to have bullpen problems, but we all figured that the starters and the offense would give them plenty of chances to overcome a couple of runs given up by relievers. Well, the starters have been a mixed bag.

Cole Hamels - while he is truly the ace of the team, he's still young and he's going to have some off days. Now lately his off days have meant giving up four runs in an outing, and the Phillies haven't been faring too well. But he's a solid pitcher to throw out there every fifth day, certainly top-of-the-rotation stuff. Grade: A-

Adam Eaton - this guy isn't that bad. In fact, his record is the same as Roy Oswalt, whom he faces tonight in Houston. Unfortunately, his ERA is two full points higher than Oswalt's because of Eaton's early-season struggles. I actually like him as a third or fourth starter (preferably fourth). Grade: B-

Jamie Moyer - The guy keeps you in games. He gets knocked around once a month, but gives you lots of innings in every other start. Grade: B

Kyle Kendrick - I can't say anything bad about him until he does something bad. That being said, he's only had four Major-League starts. Grade: B+

Brett Myers / Jon Lieber - These guys should have contributed, but the failing bullpen and injury have removed them from the rotation for the season. Moving Myers to the bullpen wasn't a bad decision in my mind, nor is keeping him there permanently, as long as he can ever get healthy. Lieber, jeez. Grade: D

Freddy Garcia - You know i hate this guy. I hate the Phillies for kicking the tires and assuming that he was just tired at the end of last season. Look under the damn hood! I hate Garcia for pretending he was OK for two months while continually allowing other teams to knock his pitches around like he was Ramon Hernandez at the Home Run Derby. Grade: F

Spot Starters: The Phils haven't won a game yet in which a spot starter has taken the hill. Grade: D

Starters overall: C+

Bullpen
Everyone is saying how Charlie Manuel is doing the best he can with what he's got out there, which is true to a point. But if injuries hadn't hit the bullpen, it might not be bad right now. Think about this possible bullpen:
Brett Myers (closer)
Tom Gordon (setup)
Antonio Alfonseca (7th/8th)
Ryan Madson (7th/8th)
JC Romero (lefty)
Mike Zagurski (lefty)
Geoff Geary (long man/7th)

That setup isn't that bad if everyone is healthy and producing. Only Geary and Alfonseca have been on the team all season. Geary is having a tough time right now but he still would be in the bigs (and probably be pitching all right) if he wasn't so overworked in pressure situations for the entire first half. Of the guys on that list, three have been on the DL (Myers, Gordon, Madson), one started the season in single-A (Zagurski) and one was recently picked up by the team (Romero). If they had all those guys right now (and maybe Franciso Rosario or the like before Romero) they wouldn't be all that bad. They wouldn't be great: 4.59 ERA, but that's serviceable. Not to mention that their stats from this season wouldn't be so bad if Gordon wasn't hurt.

As for the rest of the bullpen, well, yeah, Charlie Manuel is doing what he can. He's trotted out plenty of rookies, as well as seen the return of Jose Mesa. What are you going to do but hope that the offense scores 7 runs a game?

Overall Bullpen: C-

Offense (opening day starters)
Jimmy Rollins: he's a decent leadoff man and he can come up big at times, but he's really streaky. Grade: B-
Shane Victorino: More of a catalyst than Rollins but just as streaky. I like how he loves to steal bases. Grade: B
Chase Utley: Too good. Grade: A
Ryan Howard: When he's not hurt, he's great. They should have had him start on the DL (it wouldn't have made a difference anyway) and got him straightened out in April, instead of waiting until late May. Grade: B
Aaron Rowand: He's been a key to the Phillies' successes at the plate this year. He's having a career year and everyone knows it now that he's an All Star. Grade: A-
Pat Burrell: I love you Pat, but you gotta start hitting and driving in runs like you used to. Or else you should sit for the entire second half of the season. Grade: D
Wes Helms: You have correctly been removed from the lineup. Grade: D
Rod Barajas: You don't deserve a tenth of the $2.5 Million you're making. Incidentally, that one tenth would be a little less than either of the better-hitting, better-fielding catchers on the team are making. Grade: D+

Opening Day Backups
Carlos Ruiz: This kid's a winner. He gave the ball a ride last night when the Phils needed it, and I think that in any other park he would have tied the game with a grand slam. He can hit. Grade: A-
Jason Werth: Who? Grade: C-
Greg Dobbs: He comes up huge a lot, and he definitely played himself into some more starts. His numbers aren't great, but he likes to get hits that drive in runs, which I like too. Grade: B+
Abraham Nunez: He actually hit pretty well for about a month, but he hasn't been playing consistently lately and that's hurting his production. Grade: C+
Michal Bourn: He can run like the wind and he is hitting pretty decently too. He's a great fourth outfielder, and I'd love to have him in left field over Burrell as long as Rowand is in center for his offense skills. Grade: B-

Other Backups
Chris Coste: He should have been on the team all along. Designate Barajas for assignment. Grade: B+
Pitchers: The Phillies' pitchers are really hitting the ball well this season. Sacrifice bunts, only mediocre. Grade: B+

Overall Offense: Hitting is good. Scoring runs is ok. Doing it when it counts is really the most important. The Phillies haven't totally figured that out yet. Grade: B-

Defense
The Phils' defense has been pretty good. I bitched about their lack of fundamentals in the early going, but I do think they were stressing themselves out. Since that time they have straightened things out and play pretty good D. The outfielders all have cannon arms and get out a lot of guys on the basepaths. The infield is a bit sketchy. Chase Utley leads the league in fielding, and Jimmy Rollins is in the top five. Ryan Howard really needs to work on improving his fielding, and over at third base it's a crap shoot when you've got three guys platooning. The catching has been pretty solid. The defense is not really losing games for the Phils, and the outfield might actually be saving some for them. Grade: B

Management
Charlie Manuel: I thought I was going to bitch about him more (like some people out there) but he makes a lot of the same moves I would. He still could double switch more often, but I think he puts in the right pitcher about 60% of the time and the right pinch-hitter about 75%, so that's not bad. With his bullpen, he's won a lot of games. Grade: B-
Coaches: I can't talk about every coach. Davy Lopes has been really helpful. Steve Smith has had some gaffes. Hitting hasn't been a problem, but they should try and get Burrell fixed up. Pitching, well, the starters aren't too bad. Grade: C+

Upper Management:
Pat Gillick - He has to do something to get the team another starting pitcher. He found Romero for the bullpen. I think that was a good pickup. But he needs to do more. After Tom Gordon comes back, if the bullpen doesn't stabilize, he needs to make a major move. His other moves so far this year: mostly crappy. He signed Helms, Werth, and Barajas. Wastes of money. He signed Greg Dobbs. Good move. He traded for Garcia. Possibly worse than any of the bonehead moves that Ed Wade ever made. Grade: D+
Injuries: The team has had a lot of injuries. They have been severely less than forthcoming about most of them. Brett Myers had a shoulder strain. Seven weeks later, there is still no timetable for his return. There is something seriously wrong with him that they don't want us to know. That is not how to keep your fans happy. I don't think that the injuries are due to any specific cause. I understand that players get hurt. I just want to be told the truth about what ails them. Grade: D

Overall Team Grade: C

Well that's the grade you would expect for a team one game over .500. Without improving the pitching, this team is not going anywhere. Count on that. Here's to hoping.

Current Record: 42-41, 5 games back in the East.
Next Game: Eaton starts against Oswalt. Oswalt is pretty good against the Phillies, with a 2.34 ERA over the last four seasons. Good luck.

Game 82: Phillies 5, Mets 3

2007-07-02T01:05:00.000-04:00

At least the Phillies could win one game against the Mets this weekend. At least one of their rookie starters could keep them in a game and get out with a win. I mean, even Cole Hamels couldn't hold the Mets to only two runs.

The season is long, and it's halfway over now, and the Mets are five games ahead of the Phillies. The Phils have only two starters who were in the rotation in April. It doesn't seem like they have anyone lined up to fill the spot vacated by J.A. Happ after his poor start on Saturday. I really don't know what they're going to do for pitching, but they'd better do it soon. They need a starter on Tuesday.

It was nice to see Aaron Rowand and Cole Hamels make the All-Star Team. I knew Chase Utley was going to win the fan voting. Hamels had a good shot, considering he's second in the league in strikeouts. He hasn't been on the top of his game lately, though. I hope the All-Star Game doesn't mess with him even more. Rowand really deserves it the most, considering how well he's playing and how he could have easily been overlooked given the abundance of good outfielders.

I suppose that, since the season is now half over, I could make an assessment of the state of the team. Well it doesn't look real good. Perhaps I'll get into those details tomorrow.

Game Ball: Kendrick

Record: 42-40
Next Game: The Phils have to go to Houston to play the disappointing Astros. Jamie Moyer starts for Philadelphia.

Games 78-80: Phillies 15, Mets 11, Reds 6

2007-06-30T11:57:00.001-04:00

Bullpen: Ugh

Starters: Ugh

Offense: Meh

Coaching: Not bad

Losing two games in the standings: Priceless

Christ Coste: Obviously comes through in his first at-bat since coming back from the minors.

At least I'm on vacation and I don't have to witness the losses to the Mets firsthand.

Record: 41-39
Next Game: Yet another rookie starts for the Phils, and he'd better keep them close, because they're falling fast.

Game 77: Reds 9, Phillies 6

2007-06-28T11:26:00.000-04:00

Bullpen Meltdown. Of the week. Nothing more to say.

I mean, Jamie Moyer obviously had a Jon Lieber moment in the seventh, when he let the first three batters reach base, but it was Geoff Geary who allowed them all to score. Geary has been pretty much terrible lately. He needs to be relegated to long reliever duty until he can sort out his issues. He came on with the bags full and faced four batters. He only got one out, allowed all of the inherited runners to score, and eventually was charged for three runs of his own after Mike Zagurski couldn't shut down the Reds lineup after Geary.

It's great that Ryan Howard hit his 100th home run. That hit and the three runs the Phils picked up in the bottom of the seventh should have been enough, but the 'pen blew it big time. Those three charged to Geary in the seventh, one in the eighth, and two in the ninth. The Phils couldn't score again after tying it at six, and that's the game.

Good for Howard, smashing the record for least games to 100 home runs by 15%. That's damn impressive. And if he keeps up his pace of late, he's gonna have forty-some homers by the end of the season, which would be really impressive considering he had 6 at the end of May.

Record: 40-37
Next Game: Come on Adam Eaton. Win the rubber match please. Please.

Game 76: Phillies 11, Reds 4

2007-06-27T12:53:00.001-04:00

Kyle Kendrick is like a good luck charm. Perhaps it's because he's basically in the fifth starter slot, meaning that the Phillies face their opponents' worst starter when Kendrick pitches, but the offense really loves to slug with this rookie on the hill.

Three home runs, three players with at least two RBI, a steal of home...this game was all about offense. It was 10-2 after four innings, and that allowed Kendrick to relax and do what he does, which is apparently give up a bunch of hits but not so many runs. He gets himself into jams but he gets himself out of them pretty well, and he keeps the game close. This game wasn't considered a quality start, but four runs when your team scores 11 is pretty decent.

Carlos Ruiz, whoa. A catcher stealing home? Amazing. They say it's reminiscent of Chico Ruiz stealing home to start the Phils' 10-game slide at the end of the 1964 season. Well the Phillies won this game. And now they're back to two and a half games out of first behind the Mets.

Everyone's talking about how Pat Burrell has been sitting a lot. Well I love it. Don't get me wrong, I want Burrell to succeed more than anyone besides perhaps Ed Wade, but he hasn't been. And the way the backup outfielders have been playing (especially Michael Bourn) it's hard to take them out of the lineup. What I really like about keeping Burrell out, though, is the fact that Charlie Manuel doesn't seem to care that he has the highest salary on the team. He benches him anyway because he's not producing. That's exactly what a good manager does. Good for you, Chollie.

An interesting note: When I looked up Burrell's salary, I found that the Phils have $30 million in pitchers on the Disabled List. That's a full third of their team's salary! No wonder they can't win close games.

Game Ball: Ruiz. Three hits, four RBI, and a run on a steal of home.

Record: 40-36
Next Game: Jamie Moyer tries to continue his streak of winning ways against the Reds' Aaron Harang.

Game 75: Phillies 5, Cardinals 1

2007-06-26T13:26:00.000-04:00

I had to wait a few hours to let the buzz cool off on the amazing perfomance of the Phillies' bullpen before I wrote this. At least that's my excuse.

The Phillies' bullpen has no excuse--they stink. Luckily, they don't need one after Sunday's performance. These guys are going to get used early and often in the coming weeks, since it appears that the organization is going to try to fill the holes in the rotation with just-off-the-DL minor league pitchers. So it's good that they get their confidence up against the third-worst lineup in the league (based on scoring runs).

So kudos to Ryan Madson, Brian Sanches, Clay Condrey, and Antonio Alfonseca. They threw a combined six shutout innings against the defending World Series Champs (who had a worse record than the Phillies last year, mind you). If they can keep that scoreless streak up for a series with the Mets at the end of the week, then we'll be happy.

I hate rain delays.

I like Michael Bourn. A lot.

I also like Kyle Kendrick. For now.

Game Ball: Shane Victorino, for that bases-clearing double.

Record: 39-36
Next Game: Kendrick goes against Reds phenom Homer Bailey.

Game 74: Cardinals 8, Phillies 3

2007-06-24T14:10:00.000-04:00

Oh man. Forget about this game: the Phillies couldn't hit, their pitching couldn't get guys out, and they lost by a bunch. It happens.

What I'm really sore about it Jon Lieber. The guy goes from "it'll be fine" to essentially being lost for the season in two days. I seem to recall this happening to him last year--a simple thing (stepping down off the mound for a ground ball) leading to a freak injury (wasn't it the groin last year) that keeps him out for a long time. Well this time he rolls his ankle and it turns into some season-ending pathology. I hate to break it to him, but this isn't going to help his case for a new contract anywhere. He just hasn't been healthy lately, and he certainly hasn't pitched all that well.

So now what do the Phillies do? They went from having six starters in Spring Training to having three healthy ones now. The only one of the three who are injured who really has a chance of coming back from the DL is Brett Myers, and he's going to the bullpen. If the Phils thought they had any chance, I think it went out the window with Lieber's Phillies career.

It looks like Kyle Kendrick is going to stick around for a while. There are plenty of other options to fill the now-vacant fifth spot in the rotation, but none of them are particularly promising. There's a bunch of minor leaguers who have initials for names (J.D. Durbin, J.A. Happ) but that's only a stopgap.

I think what this makes very obvious is that Aaron Rowand isn't going to make it to August with the Phillies. Someone has to be selling off a starting pitcher, and Rowand is the only big-time trading chip the Phils have. You've heard those rumors about the White Sox thinking about dealing Mark Buerhle? And everyone knows that they want Rowand back. And of course the Phillies' last transaction with the White Sox for a starting pitcher worked out so well...

It was fun while it lasted. Now that I'm giving up hope, I expect the Phillies to have an offensive outburst unprecedented in their history. Of course.

Record: 38-36
Next Game: Cole Hamels has to go out and win today against the Cardinals so I can be happy with the Phils taking two of three here in St. Louis.

Game 73: Phillies 6, Cardinals 0

2007-06-23T11:47:00.001-04:00

I don't know what it is about St. Louis the past couple of years, but the Phillies love it there. Since the 2004 season, the Phillies are now 8-2 against the Cardinals in whatever Busch Stadium they play in. That's pretty good, since the Cardinals are as close to a perenial playoff team in the NL besides the Braves. I mean, they won the World Series last year, but the Phillies had a better record than them...

Last night Jamie Moyer pitched his second good outing in a row, giving the Phils the boost they needed after those AL-Central headaches. This series against an NL-Central team should do them some good, as that division is just plain terrible.

Moyer was quite effective at working out of jams last night, which he needed to be, since the Cardinals had almost as many hits (9) as the Phillies did (11). Of course, the Phils made those hits count, with many of them coming in the five-run third inning. That lead was quite more than Moyer needed, and he pitched seven scoreless. Then, isn't it amazing what the bullpen can do when they've got a cushy lead? Ryan Madson throws a scoreless frame and Jose Mesa has an adventurous, Mesa-like ninth but gets out of it by inducing Albert Pujols to ground to third to preserve the shutout. Just like the good old days.

Since the Phils have been so good in St. Louis lately, I would be disappointed if they didn't win at least another of the two remaining games here. They are facing the dregs of the Cardinal's rotation (if you can call 3/5 of something the dregs) and they've got the hot-ish Adam Eaton followed by Cole Hamels going for them.

Game Ball: Moyer

Record: 38-35
Next Game: Today, Eaton vs. Adam Wainwright.

Off Day: The Curse of William Penn

2007-06-22T01:08:00.000-04:00

So I'm sure you've heard of the Curse of William Penn. I mean, if you are an avid enough Philly sports fan to have found this site, you surely have read many of the commentaries on why the Philadelphia teams stink.

Just as a refresher, it goes something like this: For a long time a law stood in Philadelphia stating that no building could stand taller than the tip of William Penn's hat. William Penn, of course, forever overlooks Center City from his perch atop City Hall at Broad and Market Streets. The ordinance limiting building heights below that famous ~~Mormon's~~ Quaker's brow was removed in sometime in the mid-80's, and the construction of One Liberty Place was begun immediately thereafter. Since the time that building was completed, in 1987, no major-league professional sports team in Philadelphia has won a championship. It's up around 94 seasons of professional sports between the Phillies, Flyers, Sixers, and Eagles, and no rings for anyone. This impressive drought (easily the longest current streak of any city with teams for all four major sports) has been attributed to the ire of the statue perched above John Street's office and its likeness, one William Penn. So the Curse of Billy Penn was born.

I have an interesting tidbit to add to the story. The current major skyscraper project in Philadelphia is the Comcast Center, planned headquarters for the evil-empire cable company. This bohemoth edifice, which easily dwarfs the other skyscrapers in the city, is rapidly nearing completion. Earlier this week the final beam was placed atop its massive structure. One of my high-ranking friends (who cannot manage to make parking tickets disappear, despite my repeated wishes to the contrary) fills me in on this piece of information:

Well the Rouse Company decided to try to reverse the "Curse" and at the ceremony they put a tiny statue of William Penn on the top beam of the building to reside there permanently, thus making his hat the highest structure in the city again.

I think this is a watershed moment in recent Philadelphia sports history. I think we're reversing the curse as we speak. First thing that's going to happen: the Phillies win the pennant. I don't know if they win the series, because the American League is crazy good, but the Phils will be the last NL team standing. Then, Donovan McNabb plays out of his reconstructed knee and leads the Eagles to a Superbowl victory. The Sixers and Flyers take all their high draft picks and barrel through their respective Eastern Conferences, only to lost to the Pistons, Hurricanes, and/or any other team owned by that exceedingly rich old guy. Then Barbaro comes back from the grave and sires a steed named Barbaro II that wins the Triple Crown (sponsored by Visa). Just to top things off, Jon Bon Jovi himself becomes starting running back (or whatever you call that guy in Arena Football who starts 15 yards from the line of scrimmage and runs fill-tilt straight towards the quarterback from behind) and leads the Soul to the Arena League championship.

So you can see that I don't think this is going to make a lick of difference. William Penn isn't screwing with Philly. They built One Liberty Place right after the Philly sports renaissance of the mid-70's to early-80's and then all the teams got bought up by either well-meaning-but-perenially-losing gamblers (Leonard Tose) or penny-pinching-good-for-nothing misers (Bill Giles and anyone else on Bill Conlin's kill-list) and they're just now getting out of the holes that were dug for them.

The REAL curse of Billy Penn is that the Big Five dissolved. That might be the most significant tragedy of the Curse of William Penn; it happened a few years later (in 1991) but was much more of a loss than anything else. But it's back, and, like many of the professional teams in town, is a mere shadow of itself in its heyday.

Anyway, I sure hope that tiny statue atop Comcast Center is going to appease Mr. Penn up there in Quaker heaven. I will send a free "Whiz With" T-shirt to anyone who can supply an authentic picture of that statue.

Game 72: Indians 10, Phillies 6

2007-06-21T16:48:00.000-04:00

I said I was only expecting at most one win out of this series in Cleveland, and of course I was right. No matter. The Phillies ended Interleague play with an 8-7 record, which is very respectable. Actually it's tied for second in the National League behind only the Colorado Rockies, who went 9-5. There were only two other NL teams with winning interleague records, both at 8-7, the Marlins and the Astros. Clearly the American League is showing no signs of stopping their dominance of the senior circuit.

As far as Interleague play goes, the Mets (and most of the national media) were whining about their schedule, which included six straight series against teams that made it to the playoffs in 2006. Their opponents were, in order, the Tigers, Dodgers, Yankees, Twins, A's, and Cardinals. I don't think that's too bad. The Tigers and A's are pretty good teams this year still. The Twins are just over .500 in the AL Central, which is decent. The Dodgers are a pretty good team. But the Cardinals stink and the Mets ran into the Yankees just at the wrong time. The Yankees were about 8 games under .500 when the Mets were bitching about having to play them, so they should have kept their mouth shut about them.

And what about the other teams in the NL East? The divison was lined up with the AL Central, the best division in baseball top-to-bottom. In the same span, the Phillies had to play the Royals, the White Sox (who are mostly the same team who won the World Series, minus Freddy Garcia), the Tigers, the Indians, and the Cardinals. The Braves had the Cubs, Twins, Indians, Red Sox, and Tigers. The Marlins got the Devil Rays, Indians, Royals, White Sox, and Twins. No one in the NL East was given an easy schedule for June. So the Mets should feel no slight.

Interestingly, the Mets' streak is bookended by two series with the Phillies, the second one coming next weekend. The Phils swept their division rivals in that first series, so maybe the Mets shouldn't relax after ending their interleague odyssey.

Oh yes, last night's game. I don't think Jon Lieber likes pitching with a lead. He usually holds the game in check until he gets a one or two run lead, then lets it explode. It's usually about the third time through the order that he gets into that major trouble he's been having. He needs another pitch, or he needs to study the scouting reports more closely. He'll get time to work on either, since he's going to get at least 9 days off to rest his sprained ankle.

The Phillies can score runs, but you can't win enough games when you give up 6 or 8 runs. The pitching has to improve. Remember what it was like three weeks ago? That's what the Phillies need if they want to pass the Braves and Mets in the NL East.

Record: 37-35
Next Game: The Phillies try to bounce back against the unimpressive Cardinals. Jamie Moyer needs to find some consistency and produce back-to-back decent outings to do so.

Game 71: Phillies 9, Indians 6

2007-06-20T16:32:00.000-04:00

One win in this series was all I was expecting, so the Phillies are doing ok. Three games in a row against lefthanders causes chills down my spine. Luckily Ryan Howard likes seeing lefties consecutively, and he showed it last night, with three hits and four RBI in five at-bats, including his 16th homer of the season.

I can't say too much about this game, since I didn't get to watch or listen to any of it. But here are some things I can say:

Keep Jose Mesa in the role he is in. If he's effective, don't make him the double-secret-replacement interim closer. Just let him get the types of outs he has been getting.
Continue working with Ryan Howard in the cages and such. He's hitting decently, but not as well as he should be, and he's still striking out a lot.
Cut Wes Helms. Chris Coste can play first and third, you know.
The Phillies claim that both Brett Myers and Tom Gordon could return by July 1, which is a mere 10 days away. I am skeptical, but if they do, this bullpen could be pretty damn good. Stay tuned.
It seems that Pat Burrell likes to get hits in just enough key spots to warrant keeping him in the lineup. Every time you think he should be benched forever, he comes up with a game-winning RBI or something like last night's two-out, 2-run double in the first. Ten bucks says he wears the horse collar tonight.
Kyle Kendrick deserves to stay in the rotation at least until he fails to turn in a quality start.

That's all.

Game ball: Has to go to Kendrick, even though Howard hit the cover off the ball. It's the kid's first big-league win, though!

Record: 37-34

Next Game: Jon Lieber better remember how to pitch tonight, because he's got an ace in C.C. Sabathia to face.

Game 70: Indians 10, Phillies 1

2007-06-19T14:41:00.000-04:00

The only good thing about this game was Ryan Howard's home run, and perhaps the fact that he went 2-for-4 with only one strikeout. That's all we got, though. The Indians' Cliff Lee shut down the Phillies like so many lefthanders before him, and the Phils' dominant lefty Cole Hamels was blown away by an aggressive attack that no one on the team was expecting. Why did they think the Indians were at the top of the best division in baseball?

Here's some really bad news: the Tribe will put out two more lefthanders in the remaining two games of this series. This has all the makings of a sweep. Momentum from a sweeping some division rivals? Gone. Positive attitude from winning nine of eleven? Gone.

I suppose I shouldn't have suggested that the four-run loss to the Tigers where the Phillies were down by eight was a blowout loss. Just to make me eat my words, the Phils came out and lost in a REAL blowout yesterday. We'll chalk up that loss to Detroit on Friday as a hard-fought offensive battle. So it was another week and another loss by at least SEVEN runs. One a week.

I sure hope the Phils can find some offense against lefty Jason Stanford tonight, for their own sake. Maybe they can get out of Cleveland with one win.

Record: 36-34

Next Game: Kyle Kendrick makes his second start of the season against another kid making his second start of the season in Stanford. Based on their previous single performances, Kendrick may end up with his first big-league loss.

Game 69: Tigers 7, Phillies 4

2007-06-18T16:36:00.000-04:00

If the Phillies are going to get blown out once a week, it stands to reason that their bullpen is going to blow another game every week. It's that bad. Given the chance to hold a lead or keep a game tied or within one run, the bullpen will very likely allow quite a number of runs to score.

Yesterday it was Geoff Geary who couldn't get one out, and Yoel Hernandez who let the floodgates blow open by giving up a walk, a single, and a double before getting the only out he needed to escape from the seventh inning. In between we may forget that Bronco Mike Zagurski gets the only batter he faces to tap back to the mound, and that Adam Eaton never should have left the game when he did.

Eaton pitched a pretty decent game up until the seventh, when he ran into a little trouble in the form of runners at the corners, one out. Charlie Manuel promptly removed him for Geary, even though Eaton had gotten 11 groundouts out of 19 total outs so far in that game. There's no way the outcome could have been any worse than it was. Jim Leyland trotted out a bunch of big guns as pinch hitters and the Tigers were off to winning the series.

Geary has been terrible lately, giving up almost a run per inning since early May. He's usually better in pressure situations, like the one he entered yesterday, but the one batter he faced was Gary Sheffield. I don't care what the numbers said, the bullpen's inconsistency in addition to Eaton's effectiveness should have made the choice obvious. Keep Eaton in, give up maybe one run, and escape with the lead. But no...you saw what happened.

A couple more interesting tidbits about the bullpen: Jose Mesa and recent callup Brian Sanches threw six scoreless outs, Mesa's including coming in with runners on first and second and no outs.

And then there's my Yoel Hernandez story. While he's been decent in no-pressure situations, he seems to like to hang his pitches up for batters whenever the game is on the line. Do you remember his major league debut in San Francisco last month? He came in with two men on and promptly gave up a three-run home run. Well apparantly he was still pretty excited about making his debut that day, because he went out on the town in SF that night. A couple of my friends ran into him at a bar and he explained that he had played in his first big-league game that day. Then my friend convinced him to let her wear his Rolex. It seems he was so into partying that he forget to ever get the watch back from her, and so he had to track her down the next day to recover his timepiece. I bet Pat Burrell was very proud.

Record: 36-33
Next Game: Interleague play wraps up with a series in Cleveland, Cole Hamels starting tonight for the Phils.

Game 68: Phillies 6, Tigers 3

2007-06-17T12:39:00.000-04:00

As much as the Phillies tend to get blown out, they also manage to avoid losing in games immediately following those blowouts. After all of the big losses I mentioned yesterday, the Phils have won the following game. That's consistency.

Last night it was Jamie Moyer stepping up, which is notable because he's provided some of the poorest pitching performances (outside of Freddy Garcia) in the last month. But against the major's best-hitting team on a day after they put up 12 runs against the Phillies, Moyer brought his 'A' game. Two runs on four hits (actually on two solo home runs) over seven innings to basically shut down the Tigers.

The offense was effective at plating single runs at a time. A couple of solo home runs from Shane Victorino and Aaron Rowand matched the Tigers' early scoring, then a couple of two-out RBI hits and a sacrifice fly put them ahead for good. That's the kind of clutch hitting that a successful team has on a regular basis, and which the Phillies seem to have been getting a decent amount of for the last few weeks.

Game Ball: Moyer

Record: 36-32
Next Game: Today they go for the series win in the rubber match, with Adam Eaton facing no-hitter-throwing Justin Verlander.

Game 67: Tigers 12, Phillies 8

2007-06-16T14:15:00.001-04:00

I hope we can chalk this one up as the week's blowout. I mean, the Phillies were down by 8 runs at two different points in this game. The fact that they cut that lead in half is admirable, but you don't expect to win any game in which you're in the hole by that much.

Rather than talk about Jon Lieber's disappointing return to his mid-May form, I'd like to further discuss my one-blowout-per-week theory. Since May 19, a span of exactly four weeks now, the Phillies have lost four games by at least seven runs, and three of those by double digits. The starting pitchers in those games, in chronological order, were Jamie Moyer, Adam Eaton, Lieber, and Moyer again. The longest any of those starters lasted was five innings, by Lieber on June 4 in an 8-1 loss to the Giants.

I'm not saying that the Phillies are guaranteed to get a complete crap job from a starter each week. There has been a full seven-day period (actually nine days and eight games) between a couple of these discouraging performances. But they're basically averaging one terrible loss every calendar week.

If we were to count last night's loss as one of those games, even though they lost by only four at the end, that would be two blowouts this week, and there's still one day left in the American calendar week. I know everyone talks about consistency, and what most people mean by that is consistently good play. I don't really care about consistency. I'd rather see you follow up a blowout loss with three good games in a row or something like that. If you can win three for ever blowout like this, and go .500 over the rest of the season, you'd have a pretty good record in my opinion.

So I don't mind the blowouts. I would mind if they got swept in this series, though, because that would be sorely disappointing.

Record: 35-32
Next Game: Hopefully Jamie Moyer doesn't give us another of those two-inning performances tonight against the Tigers.

Game 66: Phillies 8, White Sox 4

2007-06-13T23:01:00.001-04:00

It's the month of June, which means it's Pheast or Phamine for the Phillies. Sweep the Braves, lose a bunch to the Diamonbacks and Giants. Sweep the Mets, lose two of three to the Royals. Sweep the White Sox...and then they have to play the Tigers. Actually I'm thinking they'll play better against the Tigers. The Phillies really seem to be playing up to their competition (or down to it, as the competition might be).

Actually I think they're doing really well because they haven't seen too many lefthanded pitchers lately, but I can't do the analysis right now.

Speaking of playing up to the competition, how about Kyle Kendrick? The kid put together a pretty decent outing for his first big-league start. Six innings, three runs, six hits, two walks, four strikeouts. He showed some pretty good poise in only allowing those three runs. He had baserunners in every inning, so it wasn't real easy, but he kept the damage to a minimum, and for that I think he deserves another start next Tuesday in Cleveland.

Kendrick did just good enough of a job to hold the game in check until Aaron Rowand came in. Normally you don't think about bringing in a position player like this, but Rowand was basically the relief that Kendrick needed. He came in to bat in Kendrick's position in the order as part of a double switch and promptly pulled Kendrick out of any hole he might have been in. He did so, of course, by driving in 5 runs, including the game-breaker, a Grand Slam in the seventh inning. How's that for beating your old team? Why couldn't Billy Wagner pull that out against the Astros two years ago?

So tomorrow's an off day, and I think the Phils deserve it. They've won seven of their last ten and are now tied with the Braves for second place in the division. Pending tonight's game against the Mets, the Phils could be as close as two games out of first place. How's that for a surge?

Game Ball: Rowand

Record: 35-31
Next Game: The Phillies face the Detroit Tigers on Friday night in Philadelphia. Jon Lieber hopes to follow up on his season-best performance from Saturday night. I hope he does something similar too.

Game 65: Phillies 7, White Sox 3

2007-06-12T22:14:00.000-04:00

Can you say "high-water mark"? The Phillies are three games over .500! Cole Hamels has his NL-leading ninth win and ML-leading 104th strikeout! The Phillies have a winning interleague record! Well, for now.

I sure hope this isn't the final high-water mark of the season, but merely a stepping stone. The Phils still have a few games to make up in the standings, but this is quite a difference from a month ago, when they were about 8 games behind the Mets. Of course, the Mets couldn't play .700 baseball forever, and it's actually the Phillies who have the best record in the National League over the last eight weeks.

This team really seems to have found itself. Sure, it loses spectacularly once a week and in a more normal way one other time a week, but they win four or five times to round out every seven-game set, and that's quite a recipe for success.

The hitting tonight was great. Listening to the first few innings was so satisfying, especially after Cole Hamels gave up those two home runs in the first inning. It was great to see the team go out and get him the lead in the bottom of the inning. And it was almost a much larger lead, as Rod Barajas gave the ball a ride for the final out of the inning with two men on base. Five more feet and the Phils would have had at least a four run lead after the first inning.

Actually Barajas had some bad breaks in this game. He hit the ball well all four times he was up but only had one hit to show for it. Of course, it was a homer, so not all was lost for Rod. And going 1-for-4 actually raises his average.

Chase Utley had four RBI, including a two-run home run and a two-run single. He's clutch. Nothing new there. Hamels did his thing, not looking any different after those two first-inning homers than he would in any other stellar outing. The kid went another eight innings and was basically dominant for the last 7 2/3 of them.

So like I was saying, I hope it only gets better from here. An interesting harbinger of that comes tomorrow night, when Kyle Kendrick makes his major-league debut. On the plus side, the White Sox are the worst-hitting team in the majors, so he's got a decent chance of throwing a decent game. If, however, he stinks up the joint against the Sox, uh oh. Freddy Garcia ain't coming back any time soon, not that I would want him to. But the Phils need a full-time Big League starter for the next four months. And if they have auditions for the next six weeks, I don't see them catching up to the Mets. So if it isn't Kendrick, I sure hope it's contestant number 2, whoever that may be. But really, it would be stellar if Kendrick steps up and looks like Justin Verlander for the remainder of the season. Haha I must have hit my head today.

Game Ball: Greg Dobbs. I didn't mention him but Utley's getting a lot of game balls. Dobbs hit the two-run single in the first with two outs to give the Phillies the lead and the momentum to win the game.

Record: 34-31
Next Game: I sure hope we get to see Jim Thome in tomorrow's series finale. It would be a travesty if he didn't get the standing ovation that has been waiting for him since he was traded.

Game 64: Phillies 3, White Sox 0

2007-06-12T00:44:00.002-04:00

If I had told you that the Phillies were going to give up 17 runs over the course of 3 games and score 12 runs of their own, you'd probably expect them to win maybe one game, probably none. The fact is that when this team scores three runs or less, they were 0-17 entering tonight's game.

That winless statistic is no more.

It's funny how the Phils' starters are so unpredictable. Many people describe it as inconsistent. That's true. What can be good about inconsistent, though, is that it's much better than being consistently mediocre or downright bad. A pitcher who gives up four runs in six innings every outing is useless to a team. A guy who gets blown out occasionally but puts together a quality start 60 to 75 percent of the time is much more valuable. Such is most of the Phillies' pitching staff, with the possible (reasonable) exception of Cole Hamels.

Which brings us to Adam Eaton. Just like Jon Lieber did on Saturday, Eaton came out a day after the Phillies had used their bullpen extensively and shut down the opposition. He scattered four hits and his customary three walks and kept the White Sox off the board for seven innings. Sure, Eaton gets bombed every fifth start or so, but lately he's been offsetting those appearances with pretty decent efforts. He's not worth the $7.2 million he's getting this season, but he might be worth a three-year contract, albeit at a lower yearly rate, if he can give enough outings like tonight's.

Actually the only thing, in my opinion, that kept Eaton from throwing the shutout tonight was the fact that the offense could only score via the solo home run. Eaton was pinch-hit for in the bottom of the seventh with runners on the corners and one out. Worst case scenario if he hits is he bounces into a double play, which pinch-hitter Wes Helms did in his stead. Eaton's a good athlete. He has, in fact, already been a pinch-hitter and a pinch runner for the Phillies this season. I think Charlie Manuel should have let him hit. He was right on 100 pitches, and he's shown that he improves as the game goes on. I think the team should have gone for its second complete-game shutout in three days.

As it was the bullpen held it together (yikes!). Mike "Bronco" Zagurski continued his streak of not allowing any runs in a meaningful situation. In fact, he's only had runs charged to him in one game, and that was a blowout loss to the Giants on June 1. He's allowed inherited runners to score once or twice, but if he starts an inning in a close game, he's lights out. Amazing. And Antonio Alfonseca got another save with a scoreless ninth. I'm beginning to think maybe he should stay in the closer's role if/when Brett Myers and Tom Gordon return. Haha just kidding. For now...

Game Ball: For his scoreless seven-inning effort, Adam Eaton.

Record: 33-31
Next Game: Maybe Jim Thome will play in tomorrow's game. Then again, with Cole Hamels pitching, maybe he won't.

Game 63: Royals 17, Phillies 5

2007-06-11T11:57:00.000-04:00

I've noticed that when the Phillies take a terrible blowout loss (like they've done about once a week for the past six weeks), I don't write very long articles. I've also noticed that neither do the sportswriters who are paid to cover the games. It seems that when the home team loses badly, no one wants to hear about it.

I describe some of what I write as 'armchair managing', that maybe suggesting one or two little changes in a game might make a major difference in the overall outcome. In a game like this last game against the Royals, there's no chance of that. The Phillies just got eaten up and spit out. So there's not much to say except, "there's always tomorrow."

Of course, now tomorrow is today and today is when Jim Thome comes back to town. I am real excited for this, I hope he hits a home run every time he's up. As long as Ryan Howard can match him, the Phils can still win.

Actually it will be very interesting to see Howard and Thome play in the same game, something that I don't think has ever happened in the regular-season. I wonder who will be the bigger factor in this three-game interleague series. In all reality it will probably be neither. They will both most likely go 1-for-8 with a couple walks or something like that. But if one of them starts putting on a show, it would be neat to see the other superstar respond.

I know Thome's getting old, and the fact that he's a DH probably makes him much more useful to his team right now, but I would love to have him my team. He plays the game right, and you can't have too many people that do that.

Record: 32-31
Next Game: You already heard who's in town. Adam Eaton starts for Philly.

Game 62: Phillies 4, Royals 0

2007-06-10T11:34:00.002-04:00

That's more than enough out of Jon Lieber. I hope that he's no longer distracted with the birth of his new baby (congratulations, btw) so that he can continue to pitch like this. It's quite clear to me that Lieber lets off-the-field stuff disrupt his focus and preparation for games. Remember last year when he was terrible for six weeks while they talked about trading him? And how he was much better after the trade deadline passed and he was able to get back to work without any worries? I think the same thing happened here with his new baby.

I know a lot of people are suggesting that if Lieber pitches well for the rest of this season, it will be because he is in a contract year. I disagree. I think the Phillies should extend his contract soon, so that he can get that monkey off of his back and pitch games like this one. I think he'll be a better pitcher if he's got job security than if he's worried about throwing well so that he can get a new contract so that he can make payments on his gargantuan planet-killing truck.

Seriously, though, Lieber was phenomenal against a crappy lineup. He struck out 11, including six straight after the leadoff hitter got on board in the first. He only threw 106 pitches, especially impressive because he was at sixty-something starting the fifth inning.

The offense scored just enough to give Lieber a decent lead, thanks to a bunch of doubles in the third inning. It was nice to see the bottom of the lineup contribute again. The Phils have had streaks where either the top or the bottom of the order scores most of their runs. I don't think that's a bad way to have it, where one part of the team picks up the others' slack.

Oh, and Freddy Garcia is on the disabled list now. Please, keep him there. Word on the street is that Kyle Kendrick has the inside track at starting in Garcia's spot on Wednesday. Apparantly I was wrong in thinking that J.A. Happ was healthy, as he is not. Well like I said, Kendrick will give the Phillies some strikes, even if he doesn't instill confidence.

Game Ball: Lieber

Record: 32-30
Next Game: The Phillies can make it two for two in interleague series victories with a win today. Jamie Moyer will make his second interleague start, and let's hope it's better than that laugher he tossed up against Toronto.

Game 61: Royals 8, Phillies 4

2007-06-09T13:51:00.001-04:00

Wow. Freddy Garcia is terrible. I don't care if he's hurt. He still sucks in my book. He sucks for not telling anyone that he's hurt and continuing to go out to the mound every fifth day and look like a guy who the Riversharks wouldn't sign. The guy has to go. Let's see newly (re)acquired Jose Mesa start in his place.

In reality, it will probably be Brett Myers, which is a shame. I really think Myers is a closer. He has the mentality for it. I think that, if Garcia goes on the DL, the Phils should bring up J.A. Happ, whose name I have heard a bit and who is probably the best healthy starting pitcher in AAA-Ottawa right now. They could recall Zack Segovia, who has already started one game for them, but he is 1-7 with an ERA around 5.00 in AAA. Happ is 1-2 with a 4.09 ERA, not great but not terrible. If we look further into the minors, the best bet at AA-Reading is righthander Kyle Kendrick, who is 4-7 with a 3.21 ERA. That's not good enough numbers against double-A hitting to make me feel confident though.

Then again, why do I need to feel confident? All I need to feel is that the Phillies are going to put a pitcher out on the mound who will throw strikes and hustle. Garcia walked two batters in 1 2/3 innings last night and has walked 19 in 58 innings pitched this season and he also walks to first base whenever he hits a ground ball. I don't want that guy on my team. Even last night, when discussing the fact that he might need season-ending shoulder surgery, he talked about being a free agent. The guy doesn't want to be here. They should just release him and then they won't have to pay his medical bills.

At least Ryan Howard seems to be hitting for the first time this season. His 2-for-4 night raised his season average to .245, so he's definitely on the right track. His average has gone up over 30 points since his return from the DL. Let's hope that Myers and Tom Gordon look as good when they return from the DL.

Here's my dream scenario for tonight's game: Jon Lieber remembers what it's like to get people out and does so against the American League's third-worst lineup. He gives up one run and the Phils get three off of Royals ace Gil Meche. Lieber goes eight innings and hands the ball to Jose Mesa, who closes it out by allowing a hit, a hit batsman, a wild pitch for a run, and then strikes out the last batter with the tying run at third. Sounds like an ideal Phillies return for Joe Table.

Record: 31-30
Next Game: You heard it above. Tonight in KC.

Game 60: Phillies 6, Mets 3

2007-06-08T00:33:00.000-04:00

Pat Burrell should hope to stay in the six hole. I mean, the guy was nothing but a slap-singles hitter for most of the last month, until tonight when Charlie Manuel moved him down a spot in the order. He responds by hitting the game-tying home run off of Billy Wagner to lead off the ninth. Tack on another RBI with a double in the tenth and Burrell's got his best game in three weeks. Of course, he wasn't playing in too many games lately, but whose fault is that?

It totally figures that the day that I extol Billy Wagner and his performance against the Phillies since he left the team, he blows a save. And who better to take him yard, in the process getting the first run off of the much-hated ex-Phillie, than Burrell, the much-maligned current Phillie.

Cole Hamels had a rough night, but he limited the damage to three solo home runs, so that's not so bad. He's a fighter, and he's allowed to be (a little) off every once in a while. It was still a quality start. I'm more impressed with Antonio Alfonseca, getting his third save in as many nights with another scoreless inning in the tenth.

So where from here? The Phillies are back at 2 games over .500, looking down over the vast expanse of losses behind them. On the plus side, they're playing the Royals for three games, so they have a decent chance of getting higher over the even mark and possibly staying there. On the minus side, they went 9-18 in June last year. So far, though, they're 5-2 this year. If they can play solid baseball this month, they might have a shot at the postseason.

All that's left to talk about is how I said if the Phils didn't take two of three from the Mets in this series, I didn't see them finishing higher than third in the division. Well they took all three, so there's still hope. A little bit of hope. I mean, they're still in third place and 5 games behind the Mets.

Game Ball: Burrell, but Alfonseca gets an honorable mention.

Record: 31-29
Next Game: Maybe Freddy Garcia can look like the pitcher he was last year against an AL opponent, and he gets a try against the Royals on Friday night.

Game 59: Phillies 4, Mets 2

2007-06-07T15:36:00.000-04:00

New day, same result, except this time it was Jimmy Rollins, with three RBIs including a huge home run, and Adam Eaton, with a quality start, leading the charge. The bullpen pitched really well again, and the pieces seem to fit in beating the Mets for the second straight day in New York.

Let's not get too excited, only because this merely puts the Phillies a game over .500 again and they're playing the ghost of the New York Mets, who have three of their opening-day starting position players on the DL to go along with a couple valuable pitchers. But a win is a win, and it's not like the Phils haven't had injury problems of their own.

Let's look at well a game can go when everyone plays their part. The offense wasn't stellar but they hung in there and took advantage of the Mets' bullpen. The starting pitcher pitched 6 decent innings and was lifted for a pinch-hitter (Caught-Looking King Pat Burrell) in the seventh when the Phillies scored all the runs they would need. The three best relievers in the bullpen each pitched an inning, and, with the help of a mental error on the bases from the Mets (it's nice to see that happen to the other team once in a while), closed out the game with scoreless frames.

That's really nice. But you can't lean on three guys in the bullpen to pitch every game. I realize Tuesday's game went to 11 innings, but I doubt Charlie Manuel will want to use Geoff Geary, Ryan Madson, or Antonio Alfonseca again. Looks like Cole Hamels is going to have to pitch another complete game. Now we have to start worrying about his arm...

I'd now like to talk about Billy Wagner. Wagner was the closer that the Phillies didn't pursue hard enough two winters ago and he signed with the Mets for an obscene amount of money. Tom Gordon, the guy who the Phillies paid an almost-obscene amount to fill Wagner's spot as closer, has been on the disabled list twice in two seasons and was really only a great closer for a couple months last spring. Wagner, on the other hand, has converted 53 of 58 save opportunities (including 13 of 13 this year) and has a 2.03 ERA over the last two seasons. He has been especially lights-out against his former team, the Phillies. In 10 2/3 innings he has allowed nary a run against the Fightins. Where was that against the Astros in 2005? My point is that Wagner is a solid closer and the Phillies lost him by not negotiating when he said he was ready for a contract extension. Poor management, but I guess we can still blame Ed Wade for that.

Game Ball: Rollins

Record: 30-29
Next Game: With Cole Hamels on the mound, the Phils have a decent chance to sweep the Mets. With John Maine on the mound, the Mets have a decent chance of avoiding a sweep.

Game 58: Phillies 4, Mets 2

2007-06-05T23:05:00.000-04:00

This is exactly why the Phillies need Jamie Moyer. If they have any chance at all of making it to the playoffs, it will be because of their lefthanded starters. Moyer and Cole Hamels are the only good things about the Phillies' rotation. Moyer woke up this morning and said, "I'm going to pitch the crap out of this game." He shrugged off some mediocre outings and went toe-to-toe with Tom Glavine, one of the best lefthanders of the past two generations, a man with 295 career wins. Moyer matched Glavine in every category, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits in 7.0 innings. It was a performance the Phillies really needed.

Another performance they needed was provided by their second baseman, soon-to-be-All-Star-starter Chase Utley. Utley drove in all of the runs that mattered, and he seems to be the only guy in the lineup who can get a hit when it really counts. His leadoff home run in the eleventh inning said "MVP" louder than anything Ryan Howard has done this season, and that includes that pinch-hit grand slam. Let's see why: the rest of the lineup obviously wasn't going to score on their own, and that was pretty well proven when they had the bases loaded and no outs and managed only one hit and one extra run later in the inning. Utley also hit that blast off of a southpaw, Pedro Feliciano. And he timed it perfectly, because the Phils only had one semi-reliable reliever left in Antonio Alfonseca.

Maybe that extra run was necessary, allowing Alfonseca extra breathing room to tie down the save easily. It would have been nice to get another run or too, though, considering the situation. I mean, how often does someone hit into a 6-2-3 double play? Of course, how often does someone get replaced on the basepaths by a pitcher pulling pinch-runner duty? I mean, I know Adam Eaton 'takes pride in his baserunning' but Pat Burrell has to be feeling like an ass right now. That might have to do with his other ridiculous baserunning mistake, though. Here's an excerpt from an email I got right after that play, titled ":

...he just rounded second and ran to third base. sounds good right?? WRONG!! Chase Utley was still at third. what a f'in idiot...what an idiot. god

This is from a guy who once sat in the upper deck of the Vet with a Von Hayes shirt on and a massive sign that said "Burrell's Boozers". Classic Phillies fan.

I can't let this go without pointing out how valuable Abraham Nunez was tonight in the field. Wes Helms needs to be released. Now. Now. New Campaign: Bench Helms Forever!

Anyway, Moyer held the Mets in check, Utley was the hero, and the Phils are back at .500. Again. For now. Again. Wait til tomorrow.

Game Ball: Utley

Record: 29-29
Next Game: Adam Eaton has to recover from his 90-foot scamper today to pitch tomorrow. Let's hope he can do it.

Game 57: Giants 8, Phillies 1

2007-06-05T16:47:00.000-04:00

So even though no one in the Philly papers mentioned it, Ken Mandel over at Phillies.com took the same angle I was going to, that maybe if Abraham Nunez had been at third base during this game, it would have looked a bit different. There were at least three plays at third base that Wes Helms couldn't make that perhaps Nunez could have. I'm not saying it would have made a difference, but it's possible.

Maybe Nunez would have done more than Helms' 0-for-3, 1 walk at the plate. Nunez has been slumping but at least he wasn't expected to produce a bit of power from the third base spot. Helms was signed to do just that, and he's still waiting for his first home run. Why is it that the Phillies always sign low-to-mid-level free agents who just end up being busts? Why can't they get one of those diamond-in-the-rough players who plays out of his cleats every once in a while? I mean, maybe Greg Dobbs is that guy but there's no room for him in the starting lineup.

Here's an idea: Play Dobbs. Bench Helms or Pat Burrell. I know you can't bench them both, because they bat righthanded versus Dobbs' lefty, and because Dobbs can't play two positions at once. But put Dobbs in every game somewhere. I mean, if it were up to me Burrell would be playing third before Helms did, but of course it's not up to me. I just want to see a team that can hit.

And here's another idea--if the Phillies stink against lefthanders, why not try changing the lineup when lefties are pitching? Instead of loading it with slumping righthanded hitters, why not put the switch hitters and lefties in the lineup that win games when there's a righthanded pitcher? Maybe they would be just as good at hitting lefties if they were given the chance. I mean, Charlie Manuel claims he's all about giving guys chances. That's why Burrell is still batting fifth. Why not give the righthander lineup a chance against a lefthander? How about tonight, against Tom Glavine?

Record: 28-29
Next Game: M-E-T-S METS METS METS! If the Phils don't take two of three in this series, I don't see them finishing higher than third in the NL East.

Game 56: Phillies 9, Giants 8

2007-06-03T23:02:00.000-04:00

Things like this just don't happen to the Phillies. Ok, yes, getting a craptacular start from their big offseason acquisition is the norm. And the horrendous mental errors on defense are par for the course. And the bullpen blowing a late lead is per usual.

But the walkoff home run? By Shane Victorino on Shane Victorino bobble-hula-whatever day? On a day when all of the ballpark employees wore grass skirts and they played Hawaiian music between all the innings? Not a typical Philadelphia story. It's more of a New York or Boston story. Good things like that don't happen to the Fightin' Phils all that often.

Of course, that was the second "no way, not here" moment in this game. The first was in the five-run seventh. After the Phillies got two runs on three straight hits to start the inning, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino failed to continue the rally. With two outs and a new pitcher on the mound in lefty Jack Taschner, Chase Utley worked an amazing at-bat without ever lifting the bat from his shoulder. He watched two excellent sliders for strikes, then four more outside of the zone (two which were incredibly close) to work a walk and give the Phils two baserunners with two outs, down by two, and Ryan Howard up. Howard gets to 1-2 before launching a bomb into the foliage beyond the center-field wall to put the home team up by one. It was the same sort of great moment that I wanted to happen at the end of the game Thursday night, when Howard lined into a double play. This time he didn't disappoint, though, and that great performance was apparantly only the beginning of the good times in this game.

In all fairness neither of those moments should have been allowed to occur. The rain was so oppressive throughout the entire game that they should have called it after the fifth inning. The infield dirt was soaked through and puddling in the seventh. The umpires should have let it become official and then called it off. I'm glad they didn't, since the Phillies would have lost if that had happened, but the right thing to do would have been to call the game.

I really wanted to spend some more time blasting Freddy Garcia and his lackadaisical attitude towards everything baseball related. I wanted to bitch about his nonchalance in giving up home runs to the leadoff batter in each of the first two innings. I wanted to complain about his inability to work deep into games or to get batters out without throwing five pitches to each one. I really wanted to sound off on the fact that he can't be inconvenienced to run--at even half-speed--even a third of the way to first base when he hits a grounder. But I don't want to spoil the mood after such a fun win.

Well we're back at .500 for a day at least. Here's to hoping.

Game Ball: Victorino. Even though he was on the verge of wearing the horse collar in the game on his day of honor, he comes out the hero.

Record: 28-28
Next Game: The series finale gives the Phillies their first look at $126-million dollar man Barry Zito this season. Jon Lieber tries to snap a string of poor outings for the Phils.

Game 55: Phillies 5, Giants 2

2007-06-03T13:20:00.000-04:00

And Cole Hamels did it again. He stopped the losing streak that started the day after he last pitched. He threw his-and the team's-second complete game of the season. He faced Barry Bonds all game long and didn't give up a home run. Almost, but not quite. And he notched his National League-leading eighth win of the season.

There's already enough people who have written articles about Hamels today, so I'm not going to say any more than this: He's real special. And if the management ever lets him go to another team they will be making an incomprehensible mistake.

I'd like to point out that the offense still stinks, especially against lefthanded pitchers. Thank the rulebook for the sacrifice fly, because without it the Phils might not have scored at all in this game. Three sac flies in one game might be a record for this team.

On the upside, this sort of thing might not have happened with the Phillies the past couple of years. They used to strike out or ground out with runners on third base. To see them loft fly balls in such a situation is promising.

The downside is that this team was supposed to be contending for a title, not making incremental progress like they were a double-A team or last year's cellar dweller. It's really quite disappointing.

Game Ball: Hamels, again.
Next Game: Let's try for two in a row today as Freddy Garcia brings his 85 mph fastball to the park.

Game 54: Giants 13, Phillies 0

2007-06-02T13:53:00.001-04:00

I've said it before, that perhaps it's better for your pitching and hitting to be terrible on the same night. It's a reasonable assumption, since if they can both bounce back well then your team is in for a run of good games. It doesn't work out so well if they can't bounce back, though.

The Phillies are currently in their longest losing streak of the season, at four games. I don't know if that says that they have been exceptionally lucky that some of their early-season atrocities ended up in the win column, or if it proves that they really are the mediocre team that everyone admits they are. I'm thinking it's more the second. Their longest winning streak is 5 games, so they're not getting real hot or real cold. They're just average, exactly like their record would suggest.

Of course now to get back to that magical land of over-.500 baseball they have to win out in this four-game series against the Giants. It's possible, but not if the Phils keep hitting they way they have been recently. I can't even comment on their futility with runners in scoring position because they aren't even getting men on to get them in scoring position. Pitiful.

It's worth noting that last night's game was the first time this season the Phillies have been shut out. And that the 13-run loss was their largest of the season. And that they won the day after being blown out by Toronto, 13-2, a couple of weeks ago. Maybe they can repeat the feat.

Record: 26-28
Next Game: Cole Hamels will start for the Phillies, which is good because he's about the only guy that I have any faith in providing at least a decent start anymore.

Game 53: Diamondbacks 4, Phillies 3

2007-06-01T13:01:00.000-04:00

I took a couple days off. I'm hoping the rest has done me well, and I'm hoping that the Phillies' day off will help them recover from their terrible performances against the D'backs.

Here's how Wednesday's game was a microcosm for the Phillies seasons the past few years:

They start out slow (one hit in the first eight innings) and find themselves in an early hole (thanks to a first-pitch-of-the-game homer by Eric Byrnes). Then they right themselves and play mediocre baseball for the bulk of the season (game--no runs by either team for the second through seventh innings). They dig a deep hole at some point (Jamie Moyer gives up three more runs in the eighth). Then they have this big late-season(game) surge (three runs in the bottom of the ninth) and they position themselves for the postseason (tying run on second, one out, Ryan Howard at bat). Then, the wheels fall off in a not-unexpected-but-still-deflating/disheartening/Phillie-like way (Howard smokes a ball right into the glove of the overshifted second baseman, who doubles up Michael Bourn to end the game).

I said at some point during that ninth inning that if the Phillies won, I was going to change my whole outlook on life. Thankfully the cosmos returned to equilibrium before I had to think about changing my career path or anything.

Now for another four-game set against the Giants: let's hope the Phillies rebound against these guys like they rebounded from that three game set with the Marlins 10 days ago--by sweeping their opponent.

Record: 26-27
Next Game: Adam Eaton starts for the Phillies against Matt Morris, who is having an exceptional season. Good luck.

Game 52: Diamondbacks 11, Phillies 5

2007-05-30T12:48:00.000-04:00

And just like that, they were back at .500. I can't even talk about this, for two reasons. One, I didn't catch the last three innings of the game, you know, when the wheels really fell off. And two, what's the point? It seems like the Phillies are going to have one mind-blowingly poor game every week, so let's just let them do it and move on.

I mean, they could have easily won Monday's game. It was pretty close and they had the tying run on third base at the end of the game. They showed some heart and some fight. It's a shame they didn't win because maybe that heart and fight would have carried over into yesterday's game. Instead, they rolled over and gave up in, oh, about the third inning, when they had the bases loaded and one out and didn't score. Of course by that point they had already left three men on base in the two innings previous, so clearly driving in runners wasn't their primary goal last night. Perhaps building Arizona phenom Micah Owings' confidence was what they were really trying to do. Good work there, Phils.

Phil Sheridan has a pretty good take about the state of the Phillies season in relation to seasons past in today's Inquirer.

I've got an idea--let's get Greg Dobbs to switch to a righthanded batting stance and then he can hit fifth and actually produce. Then again, he's already played himself into a platoon with Wesbraham Helnez at a position he wasn't even slated for at season's opening, so pretty soon I see him as the full-time starter at third base. Then he can work on his switch-hitting.

Record: 26-26
Next Game: After their sweep of Atlanta, the Phillies are poised to be swept by the Diamondbacks. Oh fickle fortune! At least Jamie Moyer is pitching.

Game 51: Diamondbacks 5, Phillies 4

2007-05-29T14:56:00.000-04:00

Everyone is all over Charlie Manuel for this one. Give him a freaking break. Freddy Garcia had only thrown five innings and 79 pitches when he stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fifth. So what if the bases were loaded and the Phillies were down by three. There was only one out, and there is no chance that the bullpen is going to keep the game close if you ask them to get 12 outs.

So Garcia bats. I would have made the same move. Wouldn't have thought twice about it, actually. I would sit there and say "Worst-case scenario, he grounds into a double play and we get nothing." So what if that happened? I mean, I would have made him take a strike, but he's hit the ball far before. Give him a shot, especially when the alternative is to have Francisco Rosario pitching at any point in the game.

Truth of the matter is that Ryan Madson is really the one who killed the team. It's not too often that a team scores three runs off of one of the top closers in the league, like the Phillies did in the bottom of the ninth. Then again, it's not too often that one of the top closers in the league enters a non-save situation because he was warming up in the ninth when it was a save situation, before his team scored two more runs (oh wait...). It's a shame that the fine never-say-die effort of the Phillies was wasted because they were down by four runs and not two.

What would have been really interesting is if Rod Barajas' drive had been just a little bit further. What if he had hit a walkoff three-run dinger? Then what? What would the loudass fans be saying then? Would they still be bitching about his plate-non-block or his slightly-above-the-Mendoza-line average? Probably. One heroic act does not outweigh a city's worth of ire, especially when you're blocking Chris Coste from playing in the bigs. But at least the Phils would have won.

Managerial Decisions: You know what I think,

Record: 26-25
Next Game: At least Jon Lieber has a chance for some run support tonight, since the Diamondbacks are going with a righthander in Micah Owings. Then again, this guy pitched seven innings and only gave up two runs on five hits against the Phillies just three weeks ago.

Game 50: Phillies 13, Braves 6

2007-05-28T13:21:00.000-04:00

There's not much to say about a game like this. The Phillies got a quality start from ace Cole Hamels and rung up a baker's dozen on the Braves' pitching staff. The Phils pounded the Braves this weekend, and it was fun to listen to. I would say it's fun to watch but I'm 3000 miles from Philadelphia and we don't get many games on TV here.

What was bad about yesterday's game? Not much. Everybody had at least one hit except for Hamels, and he still got an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Ryan Howard launched two home runs and Greg Dobbs hit the ball over the fence twice as well. Unfortunately for Dobbs one of those two hits was caught by Andruw Jones in typical Gold Glove fashion. Nevertheless, Dobbs ended up with three RBIs and two hits in five at-bats. The team put up its most runs this season in a game and an inning, when they scored seven in the fifth. That was just a great inning, as everyone managed to do their part, especially with a series of bases-loaded at-bats that culminated in Jimmy Rollins hitting a two-run double after Hamels' sac fly.

About the only blemish on the record was Clay Condrey coming into the ninth, facing five batters, and not getting any of them out. Thanks to him the game was almost a save situation when Yoel Hernandez entered. But Hernandez locked it down pretty easily, as he should have when he still had an eight run lead.

In this bullpen Condrey is an enigma. He seems to pitch well in pressure situations but poorly when he just has to log innings. That doesn't help his ERA and it certainly doesn't help his favor with the management. Hernandez, on the other hand, is looking like a great callup. He hasn't allowed a run in 4 1/3 innings since the home run to his first ML-batter. I like a bullpen with him, Mike Zagurski, Ryan Madson, Alfonseca, Geary, and "first closer to come off the DL." Maybe keep Condrey as a long-man, because I'd like to see more of him than Francisco Rosario.

Good work benching Pat Burrell. As much as I love Burrell and want him to succeed, he's mired in another one of his half-season-long slumps, and Michael Bourn provides all the excitement I need at a baseball game.

Game Ball: Dobbs. Howard can hit home runs sometimes, but Dobbs manages to contribute almost every time they ask him to.

Record: 26-24
Next Game: The Arizona Diamondbacks come to Philadelphia to face the Phillies for their second (and last) series of the season. Why do the Phils play all their games against the Diamondbacks and Giants before they play any against the rest of the NL West or most of the NL Central?

Game 49: Phillies 6, Braves 4

2007-05-27T12:58:00.000-04:00

Well finally. If for only this brief moment, the Phillies are over .500. I guess the optimistic way to look at it is that, while it took them a couple months to reach this point, they seem to be playing pretty consistently now. They needed four tries to get over the .500 mark, but, at least, every time they failed, they came out and won the next day to get back to even. They haven't lost two in a row since May 7-8, a span of almost three weeks.

Now they've got yet another chance for their first sweep of the season as they send Cole Hamels to the mound on Sunday afternoon. I like those chances. But first, let's look at Saturday's game.

I like how Michael Bourn got another start, this time in center. He's too dynamic of a player to only bring in for the last two innings of a game. He got a hit and scored in the four-run fourth.

I don't like Rod Barajas. Then again, I'm not sure anyone does.

I do like how sitting Shane Victorino (which happened on Thursday) seems to have an immediate effect, as he's had two big games since then.

I do like Mike Zagurski. He's showing that he's got what it takes to make it. The Braves hit the ball hard off of him in this game, but he didn't let it faze him. He kept pounding the strike zone and, thanks to some good defense, he faced the minimum number of batters he was asked to face.

The relief in this game was pretty good. Like Zagurski, Geoff Geary and Antonio Alfonseca got hit kinda hard, but some good defense behind them kept the Braves off the board. All that adds up to a close win for Adam Eaton and the Phils.

Game Ball: Victorino. He went 3-for-5 with three runs scored and fell a double short of the cycle.

Record: 25-24
Next Game: As I mentioned above, Hamels starts in the series finale.

Game 48: Phillies 8, Braves 3

2007-05-25T22:57:00.000-04:00

This was a good game. It was close and tight up until the late innings, when the Phillies blasted the Braves' pitchers and got away with an easy win. They got a solid start from Jamie Moyer and some good relief from a couple of young pitchers. Their hitting was good enough to plate eight runs, and they even had a couple more chances than the ones they took advantage of.

The Phillies got offense from all up and down the lineup, piling up 13 hits (including two by Moyer) and enough hits with runners in scoring position to plate what they needed. I liked how the old lineup was back, with Jimmy Rollins leading off and Aaron Rowand back in the six hole. While it's not like the lineup I posted, it worked pretty well. Rollins and Shane Victorino, batting second, combined to go 5-for-9 with four runs scored.

It's easy to say that the manager was doing things right when the team wins by 5 runs, but I'd like to point out a couple good moves. One was starting Greg Dobbs at third base. I had no idea until I heard it on the radio broadcast, but Dobbs came up as a third baseman in the Mariners organization. With the way he's been hitting lately (including the go-ahead two-run single in the seventh) he's easily my first choice for starting third baseman, especially while Abraham Nunez has to sit with his minor concussion symptoms sustained on Thursday night.

Another good move was using rookies Michael Zagurski (in his Major-League debut) and Yoel Hernandez to close out the game. Zagurski has been lights-out in the minors this season, and he looks to be the best current option for a lefthander in the Phils' bullpen, especially with Brett Myers going on the DL. Hernandez has actually pitched pretty well since giving up a home run to the first big league batter he faced in San Francisco a couple weeks ago. Maybe these young pitchers are the fix for the ailing bullpen. I'm just glad that Charlie Manuel is giving them a chance, both to see that they might be useful and also to give his other relievers a rest.

One thing I'm not happy about is moving Chris Coste to Double-A Reading. Double-A! There's plenty of people in the organization who deserve to be dropped a couple of levels, but not Coste. He's too useful of a player to stash in the mid-minors. I am on board with plenty of other people in saying that he deserves another chance to play in the Bigs this year. Too bad Pat Gillick is already bootstrapped by his own lame contracts--Wes Helms, Rod Barajas--to go with the real talent.

Record: 24-24
Next Game: Let's not even talk about getting over .500. Adam Eaton pitches tomorrow afternoon against journeyman minor leaguer Buddy Carlyle.

Game 47: Marlins 5, Phillies 4 (11)

2007-05-25T10:58:00.000-04:00

I don't recall getting over .500 being so much of a roller coaster last season, but that was because the Phillies did so during a 9-game winning streak. This season, after winning enough series to get up to .500, they have been playing exactly .500 ball for over a week. This is not the way to be successful. The way the Braves and Mets have been playing, in order to catch them the Phils have to win roughly 2 out of every 3 games they play for the rest of the season. Although that's clearly unlikely, I have to have hope.

Let's examine what has been going wrong with the Phillies in this current stretch of mediocrity. Starting pitching has been decent-to-good, with plenty of quality starts (Jon Lieber's effort last night notwithstanding). Bullpen has actually not been too bad since they hit the .500 mark last Thursday, save for that debacle on Saturday against the Blue Jays. Not great, but they've been keeping the team close lately.

Hitting has been the culprit here--they have scored less than 4 or less runs 4 times in 7 games over that span. They've been batting around the Mendoza line as a team lately, and that has not been leading to wins. I attribute the poor hitting to Ryan Howard being out of the lineup and a bunch of reserves having to play in his stead. Now that he'll be back tonight, I think the best lineup the Phillies can put out there is the following:

Aaron Rowand (CF)
Jimmy Rollins (SS)
Chase Utley (2B)
Ryan Howard (1B)
Pat Burrell (LF)
Carlos Ruiz (C)
Abraham Nunez (3B)
Shane Victorino (RF)
Pitcher

This is, of course, assuming that Nunez is healthy enough to play tonight. If he his, they should trot this lineup out there for as many games as possible (with the exception of perhaps giving Jimmy Rollins a day off soon). They need to find something that works and go with it, instead of shuffling players in and out of the lineup and up and down within it. They need momentum and some good luck, and a good lineup is a great way to get both, in my opinion.

Managerial Decisions: Back to last night's game. Steve Smith has to go. I think he's already cost the Phillies three games as the third base coach. I really feel like the Phillies are making up for all of their own defensive outfield assists by having some terrible baserunning. While Davey Lopes is teaching the fast guys how to steal bases, he also ought to be teaching everyone how to run on batted balls, because it seems like the team has no idea how to do it.

Record: 23-24
Next Game: Jamie Moyer will try to atone for the aforementioned debacle with his start tonight in Atlanta.

Game 46: Phillies 8, Marlins 7 (10)

2007-05-24T13:46:00.000-04:00

Ouch. Let's look at this in a pro/con sort of fashion:

Good News: The Phillies finally won an extra innings game for the first time this season. They are back at .500 and can actually get over the even-water mark and win their fourth consecutive series with a win tonight.

Bad News: They looked like a Little League team in the field last night in that horrendous ninth inning. I actually didn't watch it, as I had to go somewhere and I assumed that, after they scored three runs in the top of the ninth and Brett Myers was still coming in, the game was in hand. Boy was I wrong. The defense in that inning was ever more reason to hope to get Ryan Howard back and the start Carlos Ruiz in as many games as possible.

Seriously, Ruiz has shown excellent field command and defensive skills when it comes to blocking the plate and the like. I have seen him make some great tags--you know he's on the end of most of those outfield assists that the Phillies have. And he hits better and the pitchers like throwing to him more. Not much of a question about who to play, Rod Barajas's contract be damned.

Good News: Chase Utley is staying hot. Freddy Garcia dispensed the bare minimum for a quality start. Abraham Nunez stayed hot. The middle relief righted itself and offered 3 1/3 scoreless innings (if you count Clay Condrey's effort to end the game).

Bad News: Brett Myers shoulder exploded on the 27th pitch of the ninth inning last night. All of the newspapers are giving this the angle that he should have been out of the inning were it not for the mental lapses of Barajas and Greg Dobbs during the inning. I say he never would have been there had he not thrown a bunch of meatballs and let the Marlins hit them. He had allowed three straight hits, including a triple, before Dobbs botched the suicide. If he gets some outs, this game looks a lot different.

The first thing that came to mind with this Myers incident is Javon Kearse blowing out his ACL in overtime of the Eagles' second game last season. By all accounts the Eagles shouldn't have blown the 17 point lead they had over the Giants in that game, and Kearse never should have been playing in an overtime. By comparison, if the Phillies had gotten some outs they should have, then Myers wouldn't have strained his shoulder. If he turns out to be lost for an extended period of time, then we can rue last night for that. But currently he's listed as day-to-day pending an MRI exam in Clearwater today. Honestly, I think that if he really hurt himself badly, it was going to happen eventually. It stinks that it happened while Tom Gordon is nowhere to be found, but shit happens--in life and especially in Philadelphia sports.

Good News: Michael Bourn is still fast. He started his first-ever game at the Major League level last night.

Game Ball: Utley. He's getting a lot of these, but he's been carrying the offense in half of the team's games.

Record: 23-23
Next Game: Jon Lieber tries to get the Phillies over .500 against Dontrelle Willis. Good luck.

Game 45: Marlins 5, Phillies 3

2007-05-23T17:51:00.000-04:00

This one stunk. Cole Hamels pitched a pretty decent game, save for a couple of balls up in the zone in the sixth inning. Unfortunately, he had to be near-perfect because the only Phillie who could hit the ball out of the infield besides Hamels himself was fourth outfielder Jason Werth.

I'm sure everyone had some questions about sticking Werth into the lineup last night, but it seems like Charlie Manuel did his homework. Werth hit two home runs that accounted for all the Phils' runs last night. He is now 5-for-7 lifetime against yesterday's starter from the Marlins Scott Olsen. Good work Charlie.

Speaking of Olsen, that guy is an asshole. He admitted to hating the Phillies last year, and he has taken issues with a number of their players. Last night he had to be held back by teammates and the second base umpire during an argument with Chase Utley. Utley had apparantly drawn the hothead's ire when he called time after Olsen had begun his motion. I know it's not a good idea to bean a pitcher, but the next time this guy is at bat against the Phillies, I think it's called for.

When Ryan Howard rejoins the team in two days, there is going to be a logjam in the infield, with hot-hitting Greg Dobbs losing his spot at first base. Throw into the mix the fact that Abraham Nunez has been hitting really well and is a defensive upgrade over opening-day starter Wes Helms and it looks really hairy. I've got solutions:

Howard at first, five-six games a week. I'm sure he's still not 100% and a day off every week would be really key in making him last all season. Once Interleague play rolls around, make him the DH instead of Pat Burrell.
In Friday's game, Helms starts at third and Nunez plays short. Jimmy Rollins is in a terrible slump and he needs to get a day out of the lineup to clear his head up.
Thereafter, Nunez starts until he goes into his inevitable slump, then it's Helms.
Dobbs makes it into every game as a pinch hitter and at first whenever Howard is out.

These ideas do not take into account the contracts of each player, nor of their perceived value to the team. They're based entirely on results so far. The Phillies play better and win more with Nunez and Dobbs in the lineup. They hit better with Howard around (just barely). The coaching staff and management of the team have to start thinking about the best way to win ballgames, and not the best way to keep their overpaid players happy.

Record: 22-23
Next Game: The Phils try to get back to .500 again tonight in Florida. Freddy Garcia starts.

Game 44: Phillies 5, Blue Jays 3

2007-05-21T14:16:00.000-04:00

The Phillies managed to complete exactly what everyone suggested was a good goal for their just-finished 10-game homestand: Finish it at 7-3 and with an overall .500 record. Perhaps from here, we can look up to the future and the possibility of the Phils catching the Mets or Braves (whoever is in first when they get there).

This game was like so many others on this homestand that the Phillies should think about trademarking wins like this. They got great starting pitching, terrifying middle relief, and a solid effort from closer Brett Myers. They got some hits, enough to win, and not much else. They also got some breaks from the Blue Jays, who had a number of mental errors in this game.

Adam Eaton looks better every start, which wouldn't be saying much until the string of quality outings he's provided in his last three appearances. In his six-plus innings he scattered four hits and five walks but allowed no runs. That's probably exactly what to expect from him when he's at his best. It won't be pretty, but hopefully it will be effective.

The offense continues to be supported by a different group every day. This game featured Rod Barajas getting on base four times and scoring twice, an unlikely offensive hero. Another seemingly unlikely offensive force for the entire series struck again last night. Pat Burrell hit a solo home run in the second, his sixth of the season and fifth on the homestand, if my calculations are correct. The hitting is just good enough to win, but that's just good enough for me.

Managerial Decisions: If even your trusted relievers are going to give up a bunch of runs (which, obviously, you don't know for sure), then you might as well give the other guys a shot. Of course, Geoff Geary was the only guy in the bullpen with at least two days' rest, so he should have pitched yesterday.

Game Ball: Eaton. Apparently he is really proud of his baserunning too. Who would have thunk.

Record: 22-22
Next Game: After an off day, the Phils are in Florida to face the Marlins. Cole Hamels will look for his team-best seventh win.

Game 43: Blue Jays 13, Phillies 2

2007-05-19T14:13:00.000-04:00

HA!

At least they got blown out on both sides of the ball...I like to say that if your pitcher is going to give up 7 runs in under three innings, you might as well only get four hits as a team and lose by a bunch. That way you get all of your problems out the door at once, hopefully.

Record: 21-22
Next Game: The interleague series ends with Adam Eaton facing the Blue Jays' Jesse Litsch.

Game 42: Phillies 5, Blue Jays 3

2007-05-19T11:31:00.000-04:00

I might have said that relying on big innings is dangerous, but it seems to be working quite well for the Phillies. They had basically no offense last night, getting only three hits in the entire game. Luckily, they all came in the fifth inning. Tack on four walks and you can produce five runs in an inning, which turned out to be enough for Jon Lieber.

Lieber pitched quite a game, his only real trouble coming from a couple of home runs. He's apt to give up a home run or two because he throws a lot of strikes. As long as he keeps runners off the basepaths otherwise, he gives the team a good shot to win, like in last night's game. For his effort he earned his second win as a starter.

The offense was the real interesting story of the night, though. They were essentially no-hit by four Blue Jays pitchers, except for that fifth inning. On the plus side, they were hitting when it counted, with runners in scoring position, in that fifth inning. It's much better to string together a good series of at-bats and put some runs up on the board than to space them out over the game and not get anything out of it. The downside is the thought that they couldn't get a hit at any point for the rest of the game. Convieniently, baseball forgets everything but the final score, and today is another chance for the team to get 20 hits.

Managerial Decisions: It's about time to play Chris Coste in a game. Either start him at first base or let him pinch hit at some point, but for a guy who produced so much last year, he ought to get a chance to get into a game in The Show.

Record: 21-21
Next Game: Game two of the interleague series has Jamie Moyer taking the hill against the Blue Jays' Shaun Marcum.

Game 41: Brewers 3, Phillies 2

2007-05-18T16:12:00.000-04:00

If only Burrell had hit the ball three inches higher! I had to wait until the morning papers came out to be sure what the verdict was on where that ball actually went. Truth of the matter is that Ben Sheets was dominant and the Phillies didn't have much of a chance.

Freddy Garcia managed to hold the Brewers to just two runs, but he couldn't get out of the sixth inning again. It might have been enough of an effort if the Phillies' bullpen was healthy and/or reliable. Fabio Castro gave up a run in the eighth inning that turned out to be the deciding score. His ERA is up at 19.29 for the season, not exactly the numbers you want out of the only lefthander in your 'pen.

I wish I could say something about the offense, but they ran into an ace with his 'A' game last night. They had a couple opportunities, but they weren't great ones. Burrell seemed to be the only player really on last night, with a home run and an almost-home run in his 2-for-4 night.

Managerial Decisions: As much as Garcia complains about being taken out after loading the bases, he had to be. Geoff Geary did what he does best and got out of the inning with no damage. Good call there. Putting Wes Helms back in the lineup instead of designating him for assignment is something I will never approve of, but there are some things that can't be changed.

Record: 20-21
Next Game: Interleague play starts tonight as the Blue Jays visit the Phillies, who trot out Jon Lieber to pitch.

Game 40: Phillies 6, Brewers 2

2007-05-17T00:31:00.000-04:00

Now they're on a roll. Five wins in their last six games, and they're each more exciting than the last. Now the Phillies have a chance to sweep the Brewers in a four game series and guarantee at least a winning record through this homestand.

This game was all about Cole Hamels. He took a perfect game into the seventh inning before walking a man and then giving up a home run. In a style that is becoming his trademark, he retired six of the next seven batters and left after the eighth inning with a 6-2 lead. It's amazing how hard it is to rattle this kid (basically because I can call him a kid, as he's only 23 years old). He's on pace for about 23 wins, and I honestly think he can get that many.

I have to give kudos to Milt Thompson or whoever has been working with the Phillies' pitchers. They're knocking the cover off the ball, as far as pitchers go. Hamels had two hits tonight, marking his first career multi-hit game to go with yet another double-digit strikeout performance on the mound.

The offense was efficient, knocking runners home when they were out there. Aaron Rowand hit a home run with two on and two outs in the second to stake Hamels to a 5-run lead, which was more than enough he would need.

Managerial Decisions: Way to go keeping Greg Dobbs at first and Abraham Nunez at third. I still think Jimmy Rollins should be batting in the leadoff hole, but putting Rowand there paid off tonight. Questionable about using Brett Myers to close out the game with a four-run lead after he threw 24 pitches yesterday, but Charlie Manuel has consistenly used his closer for the ninth inning in four-run games for over two seasons. That's a move I think is ok based on the performance of rest of the bullpen. It's unfortunate that Myers will most likely be unavailable tomorrow, in what could be a closer game.

Game Ball: Hamels. I think he might get a lot of them this year.

Record: 20-20! Finally at .500! It took about 10 days longer than last year, but they're looking good now.
Next Game: As mentioned earlier, the Phillies can sweep their first series of the year with a win tomorrow afternoon. Freddy Garcia starts for the Phils against Ben Sheets.

Game 39: Phillies 4, Brewers 3

2007-05-16T01:23:00.000-04:00

More late-inning theatrics. I actually really love these nail-biters when my team wins. Thankfully for we Phillies fans, they've been winning most of them over the last week. Tonight it was Carlos Ruiz, blasting a low pitch into the leftfield seats with two outs in the bottom of the ninth.

First, the pitching. Adam Eaton has been surprising me lately. He has been pretty impressive over his last two starts, as has most of the Phillies' staff. If this is what we can expect from him for the rest of the season, the Phillies' chances seem to be improving. So Brett Myers gave up a save-blowing game-tying bomb. Nobody's perfect. He has been basically lights out since he entered the bullpen, so he gets a free pass on this one.

Of course, Myers gets the pass thanks to the bottom of the lineup. For the third win in a row, the bottom third of the order has produced some big hits for the Phils. Greg Dobbs hit a solo shot to give the team the lead in the fifth, and the Ruiz connected for the game winner in the ninth. Those two plus Abraham Nunez make a deadly trio right now. They're all hot, with Dobbs leading the pack by batting .600 over his last four games. Of course he was only 1-for-4 tonight, but it was a big one.

Managerial Decisions: Yesterday I said move those hot hitters up in the lineup. Nevermind that. Keep them down where they are, but reset the lineup by swapping Jimmy Rollins and Aaron Rowand. Rollins fits best in the leadoff spot, and Rowand is a pretty good three hitter while Ryan Howard is out.

Record: 19-20
Next Game: Wednesday's game pits Cole Hamels against Jeff Suppan, who has been almost half as good this season as he was during the NLCS last year.

Game 38: Phillies 8, Brewers 6

2007-05-15T13:30:00.000-04:00

I know one can't count on a six-run inning in the latter half of every game, but they sure are fun to watch. Over the last three games (two wins), the Phillies have posted two innings where they scored six runs. Thankfully, they have won both of those games. Frighteningly, it looked like they were going down in both of them.

In Saturday's rain-delayed win over the Cubs, it seemed as if the Phillies were going to take one on the chin after having a reasonable lead and watching Freddy Garcia and the bullpen squander faster than you can say "Curse of the Goat." In the bottom of the seventh, though, they threw up a half-dozen runs of their own and called on Brett Myers to take them through.

Last night was very similar, except the Phils didn't have a lead going in. Jamie Moyer threw a decent game but it was actually his first appearance that didn't result in a quality start. With the Brewers already leading 4-2, Moyer and Geoff Geary gave up a couple more runs in the seventh to push the deficit to four runs. After trading scoreless half-innings (including Clay Condrey throwing more zeros), the Phillies erupted in the eighth. This time they only needed Myers to toss one perfect inning to secure the win.

Kudos to the entire offense, who realized that Brewers setup man Derrick Turnbow was throwing nothing but fastballs during his stint in the eighth. The Phillies did what any decent double A team should do and knocked the crap out of the straight pitches. If only every pitcher they faced could lose faith in his offspeed stuff...

Back to my earlier point, though. Big innings are great, but you're not going to get one every game unless you're the Red Sox. This Phillies lineup certainly won't, even with the best hitting pitching staff in baseball. They need to do a better job of getting people on base and getting them home. The only inning they really threatened other than the eighth was the sixth, when they had runners at first and second and one out, a threat that produced no runs. Of course you can always get runs via the home run (courtesy of Pat Burrell last night), but for a team with so many fast guys, the small ball has to come around if they want to win regularly.

Managerial Decisions: Leave Greg Dobbs in the lineup. Bench Wes Helms. Pitch Clay Condrey as the reserve-setup-man when Geary isn't available. And even if Tom Gordon comes off the disabled list and trots out of the bullpen having reverted to the age of 28, still leave Brett Myers as the closer.

Game Ball: Chase Utley. 2 runs scored and 2 RBIs is about an average game for him.

Record: 18-20
Next Game: Game 2 of the Brewers series is tonight, pitting Adam Eaton against Brewers righty Claudio Vargas.

Game 37: Cubs 4, Phillies 1

2007-05-14T12:46:00.000-04:00

This game was a shame. I don't understand what it is about this team, but when they get good pitching, their hitting seems to fall apart. Jon Lieber really threw a gem in this game, giving up two runs, only one of which was earned, in eight innings. He had to absorb the loss because the offense couldn't plate two runners over the course of 24 outs.

In all honesty, if I gave out game balls to the opposing team, Ted Lilly would get one. He completely baffled the Phillies hitters, getting all sorts of popups and strikeouts. Lilly got four of his six K's on called third strikes. The Phils couldn't muster anything against him. I'm not trying to give the offense an excuse here, I'm just saying that he must have really had his stuff.

So now that Ryan Howard is out and the offense is faltering (Jimmy Rollins is in a 2-for-23 streak or thereabouts), what does Charlie Manuel do? I think he should move Abraham Nunez up. Actually, move both him and Carlos Ruiz up, and drop Jason Werth/Greg Dobbs/Wes Helms down in the lineup. The bottom of the order has been the only consistent group of hitters over the last few days. Even the pitchers have been getting some hits. Shake things up until Howard is off the DL.

Managerial Decisions: You just can't win with the Phillies' bullpen right now, so I don't know what to say. It seems like Clay Condrey can actually hold his weight, so I'd start moving him into more stressful situations to take some heat of off Geoff Geary and Antonio (crashing and burning) Alfonseca.

Record: 17-20
Next Game: The Brewers were red hot until they went to Shea Stadium and lost two of three to the Mets over the weekend. They open a four-game set on Monday night. Jamie Moyer takes the hill for the Phillies.

Game 36: Phillies 11, Cubs 7

2007-05-12T23:18:00.000-04:00

This was a fun one. That game seemed like, in order, (finally) a good pitching performance by Freddy Garcia, a cruise, a nightmare meltdown, a rainout, and an incredible comeback. In just the span of the seventh inning, I was first expecting an easy win, then I was hoping that the rain would intensify and they would call the game. And finally I was ecstatic as the Phillies batted around and got the lead back with an incredible two-out rally.

First, Garcia. What's the deal? Why does he always fall apart in the sixth or seventh inning? Is his delivery so easy to pick up on that it only takes two at-bats to figure him out? It seems like his third time through every lineup the opponents take him to town.

Second, the bullpen. They're lucky the offense bailed them out in this one. I suppose the entire team should feel lucky that they won a game where their most relied-upon reliever coughs up four runs.

Most importantly, the offense. Clutch hitting, a resilience to come back after falling behind and then waiting out a rain delay, an overall excellent performance. Greg Dobbs had a career day, getting four hits and scoring twice with two runs batted in. Carlos Ruiz and Abraham Nunez both had three RBIs as the bottom of the lineup really came through (including Garcia in the two-run second).

Managerial Decisions: I am really enjoying the starting lineup with Nunez at third and Dobbs at first while Ryan Howard is out. Lately they've been better on both sides of the ball than Wes Helms. I also was a big fan of the squeeze play in the sixth. The Phillies have definitely embraced the manufacture of runs this season, and it's made the games much more enjoyable to watch. I may have tried to use a different reliever in the top of the seventh, but more likely I would have left Garcia in. I would need to see that he can get himself out of jams. I definitely would have used Brett Myers for the last two innings after the seventh inning debacle.

Game Ball: Dobbs.

Record: 17-19
Next Game: The Phillies go for the sweep with Jon Lieber on the hill on Sunday afternoon.

Game Ball:

Game 35: Phillies 7, Cubs 2

2007-05-12T14:14:00.000-04:00

This might be the start of something good. Between Wednesday's win and last night's, the Phillies have put together two complete games. Jamie Moyer and Cole Hamels are the teams two best starters, and they have shown it. The bullpen hasn't given up a run in its four innings, and the hitters managed to score some runs when they needed them.

Hamels was again great, if not dominant. He obviously won't strike 15 people out every time out, but he, like Moyer, gives the team a chance. Last night he gave up two home runs, making me think of spring training when he gave up more than any other pitcher in the majors, but he limited the damage by surrendering only solo shots. His record is now 5-1 and he is certainly showing the ability to win 20 games this season.

As for the offense, the day after GM Pat Gillick pointed his finger at the middle of the lineup, Pat Burrell picked up his part of the slack by blasting two home runs. Burrell went 3-for-4, drove in 5, and flied out to deep center in his last at bat. In the process of tripling his home run total for the season, Burrell put the Phillies in the lead and then stretched it out. After Chase Utley's two-run single in the seventh, the game was out of reach.

Managerial Decisions: Why put your two best relievers (besides closer Brett Myers) on the hill in a five-run game? I know Charlie Manuel didn't want any close calls with this game, but a five-run lead and an available Myers is plenty of cushion to throw out some of the question marks in the bullpen for an inning each.

Game Ball: Burrell. He claims he didn't hear about Gillick's comments, but you know they don't sit well with him now, after being told by reporters.

Record: 16-19
Next Game: Freddy Garcia tries to build on last week's promising 6-inning outing with a start in today's day game.

Off Day: What's up with the Front Office?

2007-05-11T15:57:00.000-04:00

I'm not particularly interested in the inner workings of the Phillies' front office. The way I see it, the owners are there for the long haul, and not much about the way the organization operates is going to change, no matter how hard the columnists cry.

That being said, I love Bill Conlin and everything he and his decades of experience have to say. To that end, you should read his column today about the similarities between the 1980's Phillies (pathetic) and the current incarnation (slippery slope?).

In other news, there's no news yet about Ryan Howard's multiple leg problems. I'll keep an ear to the ~~ground~~ internet, though.

Game 34: Phillies 9, Diamondbacks 3

2007-05-10T16:26:00.000-04:00

You've undoubtedly already heard plenty of talk about how Ryan Howard is ready for action again. Admittedly, his pinch-hit grand slam was a nice moment, but it's only one moment. On the bright side, his last three hits have been home runs. On the other hand, he has twenty-some at bats that resulted in outs between the first and last of those homers.

My sources tell me he had a bit of his balance back, that he waited on the ball. That was what gave him so much success last year (remember all those homers to left field?). I understand that he still wasn't getting all of his weight onto the sore back leg, though. I would caution the casual observer to assume that he's going to go on a hot streak. I think the time out of the starting lineup this week did him good, but coming back too soon won't help anything. If the team physician thinks he should give it a few more days, then by all means sit him again.

Another fine outing by Jamie Moyer, who doesn't only give his team a chance every outing, he gives them a good chance. Seven innings and three runs is an ideal start, especially given the state of the Phillies' bullpen. The 'pen problems weren't real obvious last night, as Brett Myers was filthy in getting his third save (first one of more than three outs). It may be difficult to put Tom Gordon back in the closer role even if he gets a clean bill of health and starts throwing that curveball for strikes.

Managerial Decisions: Obviously everyone thinks putting Howard in for Wes Helms was a good idea; I can't blame them. Since the Diamondbacks put a righthanded pitcher in for Randy Johnson, it makes sense. If they leave Johnson in there, I'd leave Helms in.

Game Ball: Howard
Record: 15-19
Next Game: After a much-needed off day, the Cubs are in Philly. Cole Hamels will start after Jon Lieber got pushed to Sunday due to a cut on his pitching hand.

Game 33: Diamondbacks 3, Phillies 2

2007-05-09T00:16:00.000-04:00

The Phillies are playing like pussies again. During the nearly-two-hour-long pregame meeting on April 21, Jamie Moyer supposedly fired up the team by telling them that. Actually the newspapers quote "...playing like [wimps].." but I'm using my best judgement as to what he actually said. He was right, and the team won five games in a row. If he said it now, he would be right again.

Their offseason acquistions finally gave them a couple of good games in a row (Freddy Garcia last night and Adam Eaton tonight) and the offense becomes totally anemic. Throw in the fact that, every time the Phillies managed to tie the game over the last two nights, their pitcher would give up a run essentially immediately and you have a recipe for failure.

The offense is in a considerable dry spell. Pat Burrell is somewhere around 1 for his last 30 at bats or so--his average has dropped about 100 points in that span. Ryan Howard is sitting. Shane Victorino was great over the weekend but is 0-for-9 in the two games since. Chase Utley is producing about 1.5 hits per two games. Aaron Rowand has lost his mojo as well. It's reasonable to believe that some of these guys will slump at the same time, but all of them?

Of course their anemic offense coincides with good efforts from the starting pitchers. It would almost be nicer to get blown out and get it all over with at once. That's not how it works, though.

Managerial Decisions: What's the deal with putting Aaron Rowand in the leadoff spot? Shane Victorino stole 6 bases in three games last week. Why are you still batting him second? I understand and like putting Jimmy Rollins in the three hole, especially with Howard out. But put Rowand second and let Shane leadoff. Defensively, I liked putting Greg Dobbs at first and Abraham Nunez at third. Nunez has actually been hitting pretty well, and with Wes Helms' lack of power, I see Nunez getting more starts. That's what I would do.

Record: 14-19
Next Game: The Phils try and salvage a game tomorrow, but they have to do it against Randy Johnson, who hasn't been dominant but is still The Big Unit. That's a matchup of old lefthanders.

Game 32: Diamondbacks 4, Phillies 3

2007-05-08T01:40:00.000-04:00

Well I was wrong about Freddy Garcia. It seems that all he needed to pitch well was to smash his leg into a parked vehicle. The bullpen, however, isn't fooling anyone with their antics.

So somehow Garcia was able to start tonight, despite the baseball-sized welt on his left shin, and he finally looked like the guy that won 17 games for the White Sox last year. He managed to complete the sixth inning with a pitch count of a mere 70 tosses, significantly below his average pitch count for his previous starts. His efficiency may have helped his sore leg, but it didn't help his team score runs. He was appropriately lifted for a pinch hitter in the top of the seventh. The Phils managed to tie the game in that frame, but in hindsight one wonders if it was worth it.

The relievers coughed up the game with a couple of single-run innings in the seventh and eighth, with Antonio Alfonseca (what happened to his great start?) and Francisco Rosario each getting tagged for one. If only the Phillies could have scored anything at all on Doug Davis before the seventh, maybe Garcia could have eaten some of those innings they say he hungers for, and this game could have been a win.

Managerial Decisions: You have to pinch hit for Garcia in the seventh. I doubt it made a difference (Jason Werth walked and was forced out as the next batter), but that's the smart move. With no outs, he could have tried to use Garcia to sacrifice Carlos Ruiz to third, but that's not a good combination--a lifetime AL pitcher sacrificing a lead-footed catcher. As far as the bullpen, I would have tried Clay Condrey out in the seventh. He has posted a pretty decent ERA in the big leagues, and he needs to show what he can do. Couldn't have hurt them too much more...

Oh and the offense needs to step it up, especially with Ryan Howard and his ~.500 OBP out of the lineup until at least Friday.

Record: 14-18
Next Game: Adam Eaton starts game 2 of the series in Arizona Tuesday night.

Game 31: Phillies 8, Giants 5

2007-05-07T12:56:00.000-04:00

I'm all for Cole Hamels showing us his grittiness, but a shutout wouldn't be so bad to watch either.

For the second start in a row, Hamels gave up some runs but seemed to get better as his pitch count rose. He also overcame a poor night in the field from the Phillies for his fourth win of the season.

Hamels pitched well enough to win most games, allowing only three earned runs. It was the two additional unearned runs that could have hurt him. Wes Helms had two errors that led to two runs, and Hamels chipped in with an error himself, throwing wide to second while trying to get a force out on a sacrifice attempt. Add to those actual errors at least three (and I think actually four) near-catches by Phillies fielders that dropped for hits and it's quite surprising Hamels (and the team) came out with the W.

It seems like the Phillies just can't play the field at AT&T (nee SBC, nee PacBell) Park. There were hits to the outfield that normally fleet-footed and sure-handed defenders Aaron Rowand and Shane Victorino just couldn't get to. Chase Utley also had a bloop single nick off of his glove, though that would have been a serious web gem if he had caught it. With all of that defensive difficulty, it's a good thing the offense came out swinging.

Credit Charlie Manuel for getting Victorino charged up for this series. After sitting him for two straight games last week, Victorino went on a tear this series, hitting safely in 10 of 17 official at-bats and stealing 6 bases. He was the first major leaguer to steal at least 2 bases in three straight games in over 15 years (forever-young Giants shortstop Omar "Chico" Vizquel was the last to do it). Victorino started the game off with a two-run homer off of Giants phenom Tim Lincecum, and Ryan Howard hit a bomb in the third. Tack on some great baserunning by Victorino and Michael Bourn and it's a dirty but effective way to end the four-game set in San Francisco.

Managerial Decision: I like letting Hamels pitch seven. The bullpen obviously needs the rest, and Hamels really turned it up in his last two innings, baffling Giants hitters during his third time through the lineup.

Set Up Geoff Bulletin: Geoff Geary actually served as the setup man in this game and he delivered a perfect eighth inning. Of course, Geary will never be the full-time setup man as long as Tom Gordon and Brett Myers are both in the back end, but he's an excellent alternative.

Game Ball: Victorino, if not for his entire series than for his ridiculous baserunning in the fifth. The interference call he snagged on Vizquel reeked of breaking the rules (I thought A-Rod, slap incident, ALCS, 2004), but Shane's ploy got him second base after being completely tied up trying to steal.

Record: 14-17
Next Game: My bet says Freddy Garcia sits out his start tonight in Arizona after getting a pretty nasty welt on his shin, courtesy of a little too much hustle shagging flys during BP. That'll teach him to give his all.

Game 30: Giants 9, Phillies 4

2007-05-05T21:55:00.000-04:00

This game was pretty difficult to watch. It started as most Phillies games do, with the Phils putting a run on the board and then the starter throwing a few good innings. Then Jon Lieber got into trouble in the third, as Phillies starters are apt to do, and when he left the game it was 4-2 Giants.

With the lineup the Phillies have, scoring four runs should be no problem. In fact, today, it wasn't, as the visiting team managed to put up four runs over the course of nine innings, even without the league MVP in the starting lineup. However, the pitchers they called out of the bullpen might have well been from American Legion teams as the Phils pitchers served up another five runs in the last two innings.

Managerial Decisions: Picture this: Bottom of the seventh, the Phillies have just scored to make it a one-run game. The bullpen is pretty well rested, save for Antonio Alfonseca. You've got the heart of the order up in the eighth, and it's probably a good idea to put out a good pitcher to try and keep it a one-run game. I'm thinking Ryan Madson, as he thrives in the seventh, and he's not half bad when he gets to start an inning. Charlie Manuel is thinking just-off-of-waivers Francisco Rosario, who immediately serves up a home run to last night's hero Eliezer Alfonzo. Wrong move.

Then, in the eighth, the Phillies manage to put up what would have been the tying fourth run on Chase Utley's RBI single. Instead of letting Pat Burrell bat, who had stung the ball in two of his three plate appearances (all outs, unfortunately), Manuel pinch hits Ryan Howard. Giants manager Bruce Bochy immediately counters with lefty specialist Steve Kline, who was already warmed and ready. Eight pitches later, Howard flies out to Barry Bonds and that's the end of the scoring for the Phils.

I definitely would have let Burrell bat there, especially in a one-run game, when you can bring Howard in to pinch hit in the ninth to possibly tie the game. Of course no one could have predicted that the bullpen would give up four runs in the bottom of the eighth. Then again, I would have put a real pitcher out there (like leaving Madson in from the seventh or Geoff Geary) over triple-A callups Fabio Castro (3 batters, 1 hit, 2 walks) and major-league-debut Yoel Hernandez (4 batters, 2 hits including a three-run home run to his first big-league hitter).

Let me state my point: in a close game (one-run) where the MVP/home run champ is still available to hit any time, you put good pitchers in and try and keep it close. That's my opinion. Charlie Manuel obviously thinks differently.

*Note: I didn't realize Ryan Madson went to the disabled list today. I guess Charlie Manuel was working with what he had.

Record: 13-17
Next Game: The series in San Francisco wraps up with Cole Hamels facing the Giants' young phenom Tim Lincecum in his ML debut.

Game 29: Giants 6, Phillies 2

2007-05-05T13:07:00.000-04:00

Blame this one on the offense. Blame it on the coaching staff. Blame it on the defense. Just don't pin the loss on Jamie Moyer. The fact that he had to take it on his record is bad enough. This was the first live Phillies game I've gotten to see this year, and Moyer was excellent. Just as good as he was last Sunday, when he had a no-hitter into the seventh. He had a little bit of trouble last night in the seventh, and one bad pitch to a pinch hitter led to the Phillies' loss.

It shouldn't have. The Phillies should have had way more than two runs. They had exactly one hit with runners in scoring position--an Aaron Rowand single in the sixth. Ryan Howard was thrown out at home trying to score on the play. The offense, after a brief respite, is back to their old, painful ways of choking every chance they get. The Phillies had 9 hits, but only 2 runs, and those runs scored on a groundout and a sacrifice fly. There's no excuse for that kind of unproductivity.

Managerial Decisions: Where to start...Finally being able to watch an entire game has really changed my perspective. Send Howard the freight train with no outs in the sixth inning was a bad move, and it's not the first or second one that third base coach Steve Smith has made this season. Intentionally walking Barry Bonds with two outs and none on in the eighth certainly backfired. But what I keep coming back to is the seventh inning, with runners on first and second. Omar Vizquel knocked a grounder to shortstop. It should have been an inning-ending double play. It was hit to exactly where Jimmy Rollins should have been if the infield were in double play alignment. Instead, Rollins was way over in the hole and the ball gets through for a single to load the bases. Two batters later the Giants take the lead for good on Eliezer Alfonzo's pinch-hit double. I still don't understand what was up with that defensive alignment, but I'm pissed at bench coach Jimy Williams.

Also, it's about time to put either Pat Burrell or Aaron Rowand at fourth and Ryan Howard fifth. Howard is not helping this team by getting walks and strikeouts. Until he can find the ball with his bat on a consistent basis, he should drop in the lineup. I don't care if he's the MVP.

Record: 13-16
Next Game: A day game in San Francisco gives Jon Lieber another start against the Giants' Noah Lowry.

Game 28: Phillies 9, Giants 7

2007-05-04T11:10:00.000-04:00

What better way to start the West Coast leg of a road trip then with an old-fashioned slugfest? Well how about anointing your new closer-of-the-future?

Perhaps slugfest isn't the best way to describe last night's game, as there were no home runs in the game. There were, however, quite a few extra base hits. Jimmy Rollins dropped two triples into right-center field to lead the Phillies' attack. They better watch out if Rollins ever gets to free agency--I bet he would love to play in AT&T Park, with its huge triple-friendly area and proximity to his boyhood home.

The Phillies finally found their RBI mojo, as they put up 4 and then 5 runs in an inning. It was all done by hitting with runners in scoring position, too. Additionally, they scored all of their runs in the second inning with two outs. The team still left a bunch of guys on base, but they got home just enough to win.

That 'just enough' was a big number because Adam Eaton continues to allow at least as many runs as innings he pitches. His ERA is up above 8.00 right now. The guy has a 3-2 record but that means nothing. I don't know how much longer I would keep him out there, but I'm also not sure if Joe Bisenius is the right option to replace him.

I am certain that Brett Myers won't be taking his spot in the rotation. Myers' pitches were sick last night, in spite of his inability to get a foothold on the muddy mound. He threw a perfect ninth, including a strikeout, and his stuff was nasty.

Let Pat Bat update: Burrell broke an 0-for-19 streak with an RBI double in the 5-run fourth. Unfortunately, it was his only hit of the night and his average is down to .268.

Managerial Decisions: I guess Bruce Bochy feels like a bum after taking Barry Bonds out in the fourth inning...

Game Ball: Myers. Congratulate him on his first major league save.

Record: 13-15
Next Game: I will be attending tonight's game 2 of the 4-game series, where Jamie Moyer will face Matt Morris.

Game 27: Braves 4, Phillies 3

2007-05-03T11:33:00.000-04:00

As has been the case so many times this season already, the Braves got just that one extra run (or game-winning-home run) to beat the Phillies. It happened twice in extra innings in the season-opening series, and twice this series. Not surprising, the Phillies are 1-5 against the Braves.

The announcers for ESPN (Chris Berman, Orel Herscheiser) had predicted the hindsight on this game by about the fifth inning. They said that if the Phillies lost by one run, everyone would look to their mistakes at the beginning of the game, and that's exactly where I look. Namely, baserunning.

Yes, the Phillies have been more aggressive on the basepaths, which is good. They have been stealing a few more bases because of it. But they are also giving up outs in those 90-foot spans at an alarming rate. It happened a couple more times last night, with Jason Werth getting caught stealing in the second and Freddy Garcia being doubled up on a fly ball in the third. Those type of plays are rally-killers for certain. If the defense wasn't creating so many outs of its own on outfield assists and the like, none of these games would be even close.

The Braves are fundamentally a better team than the Phillies. In fact, the Phillies have been a terrible fundamental team since Charlie Manuel took over. I rarely blast the manager just for the sake of it, but this has to be a truism. When Larry Bowa managed this team, they had one of the best defenses in the league and I can't recall them being caught in between the bags nearly as much. Old Charlie just doesn't know how to stress the fundamentals of baseball--either the physical or mental fundamentals (or both).

The offense of this team needs to learn how to hit lefthanders as well. Their performance against southpaws isn't respectable for a major-league ballclub. That they've faced so many of them this season may be a good reason why their record is so bad.

Managerial Decision: I already complained about Charlie Manuel. Good job on the double-switch that put Victorino in right.

Record: 12-15
Next Game: The opener of a four-game set here in San Francisco means I get to see a couple of these games live and in person. Adam Eaton starts for the Phillies.

Game 26: Phillies 6, Braves 4

2007-05-02T11:52:00.000-04:00

This is the type of game you should expect out of the Phillies. Decent starting pitching, a half-dozen runs out of the offense, and an ugly-but-effective win. The only real surprise was the defense.

Cole Hamels is really coming around, showing some serious resilience after getting knocked around in the first inning. He then went 6 1/3 innings without allowing another run until Chipper Jones tagged him for a second home run in the eighth. You can't find too many young pitchers who can come back from that first inning like Hamels did.

The offense only went 3 for 16 with runners in scoring position, but they managed to put a couple runs across thanks to Aaron Rowand, who had two RBI hits. The entire top of the lineup is pretty hot right now (Rollins-Rowand-Utely), combining to go 7-for-14 last night. I like putting Rowand in the 2 hole, that may lead to more runs being scored than if he's hitting sixth behind the Ryan Howard-Pat Burrell black hole.

Let Bat Pat update: Burrell is currently in the middle of an 0-for-15 streak or thereabouts...Charlie Manuel thinks he's striking the ball well...let's hope he starts finding some holes.

Managerial Decisions: Keep Rowand in the two hole. When Shane Victorino starts, play him eighth. His speed can be a real asset down there, and the reduced pressure of hitting at the bottom of the order may help him get out of the slump.

Game Ball: Rowand. Hamels pitched like a mule but the Phils don't win this game without Rowand's hits.

Record: 12-14
Next Game: The Phillies play a night game for the series finale in Atlanta before flying cross-country to San Francisco. Ugh. Freddy Garcia makes another attempt to make it past the fifth inning tonight.

Out of Beta!

2007-05-01T12:48:00.000-04:00

I have managed to successfully post about every Phillies game so far this season before the next game started, so I think the April experiment was a success. So I'm removing the (beta) tag from the title. Now if I could only get more readers...

Game 25: Braves 5, Phillies 2

2007-05-01T12:33:00.000-04:00

The Phillies need to learn how to beat the Braves. The team from Atlanta is, after a brief vacation last year, again at the top of the division, and they don't look like they're going anywhere this season. The NL East is a monster. The top two teams in runs scored in the National League are the Marlins (3rd place) and the Braves. Then you have the Mets, who ran away with the division last year, to deal with. The Phillies have a real tough road ahead of them and they can't keep getting beat by the teams that they're matching up against in the standings.

This game was a rough one. Jon Lieber again pitched excellently, giving up a mere 2 runs in his 7 innings. Amazingly, that's the most number of runs he's given up in a start this season. Perhaps he really does pitch for contracts. Or perhaps he has fixed whatever was wrong with him at the beginning of last season and is the pitcher the Phillies signed in 2005. Either way, when you're starter holds the other team to 2 runs in 7 innings, you should run away with the game.

That is, unless, the other team has the league's best pitcher on the mound. Tim Hudson has been unstoppable this season. He's finally as good (or maybe better) as he was on the A's, before the Braves got him. The Phils managed only 4 hits off of him, and I think it's impressive that they scrounged together a couple of runs. The guy had the Phillies rolling off everything. Of his 24 outs, 19 were groundouts. He only struck out one batter. His two seamer must have had more sink in it than a plumbing outlet. What are you gonna do?

Interestingly, the team had a chance, since it was tied when Hudson was pulled. Of course, Andruw Jones finally gets going and blasts an Antonio Alfonseca pitch into the leftfield seats. What to say about that? My opinion: at least it wasn't Ryan Madson. Relievers are going to give up home runs, it happens. Alfonseca is about due for a rough patch, and I'd say two straight outings giving up runs counts. He takes the loss, and that's fine. Get them tommorrow.

Managerial Decisions: People were talking about leaving Brett Myers in for the ninth. No way. He pitched on Sunday, he threw nineteen pitches in a labored eighth inning last night, and he's only 10 days into the bullpen. Give the guy a break.

Streak Watch: Chase Utley had a 9-game hitting streak stopped by Hudson.

Record: 11-14
Next Game: Cole Hamels tries to bounce back from his rough outing against the Nationals tonight against Mark Redman, who has an ERA over 10 this season. I don't feel good about it, though...

Game 24: Phillies 6, Marlins 1

2007-04-29T17:06:00.000-04:00

I wasn't going to say anything while it was happening, but the radio guys kept mentioning things about Jamie Moyer's possible no-hitter during this game. Larry Anderson, more than once, said something along the lines of "It's all zeros across the board for the Marlins." I'm not superstitious, but I know that you don't mention it at all.

Oh well. Moyer threw a great game, and he topped it by going 2-3 at the plate. He had the Marlins all sorts of off-balance again, similar to his performance against them from a couple weeks ago. He has easily been the Phillies' most consistent pitcher this season, which is something you should expect from a guy who has been in the big leagues for more than two decades.

While I could continue on about how much fun it was listening to the play-by-play of Moyer baffling the Marlins, I'd like to talk about the offense right now. Four stolen bases on the day, including Jimmy Rollins's first in the first inning that lead to him scoring on a Chase Utley single. I love aggressiveness on the basepaths, and it seems that the Phillies are starting to get a little more intelligent about it.

To add into the mix, the team had the bases loaded for three batters tonight. Two of them got hits, resulting in a total of 5 runs. That's quite a different story than most of the rest of this season. And who got the hits? Bench players Jason Werth and Greg Dobbs. Suddenly pinch-hitting in a situation like that doesn't seem like such a bad idea...

Dobbs is especially interesting this season. His average is low (.192), but his 5 hits have gotten him 8 RBIs. That's clutch hitting, in my opinion.

Managerial Decisions: I probably would have let Moyer get out of the eighth. He had just thrown his 100th pitch and he deserved the chance to get out of the inning. Of course they were only up by three runs at the time so it's not a bad move to put in Myers, especially the way he struck out the next two batters. I also would have left Werth in the game instead of putting in Michael Bourn as a defensive replacement, if only to reward him for the great catch he made in the fourth.

Game Ball: Moyer, obviously.
Streak Watch: Aaron Rowand wore the horse collar, ending his hitting streak at 16 games.

Record: 11-13
Next Game: The Phils open a three-game set in Atlanta tomorrow night. Jon Lieber gets his third start of the season.

Game 23: Marlins 11, Phillies 5

2007-04-29T13:37:00.000-04:00

There are always going to be days like this. I knew the Phillies were going to lose this game during the second inning. Of course, you don't win too many games when you give up 5 runs in the first two innings. I don't have the statistics on that, but I bet it's below 5%.

It didn't matter who the Phillies put out on the mound, the Marlins were going to blast him. That's the way the game was going yesterday. In my opinion, that's a good thing. If members of the bullpen are going to have poor outings, why not have them all be in the same game? You have to lose some of them.

And boo-hoo to everyone who wanted the Phillies to end April with a winning record. Sorry, it ain't gonna happen. But you knew it wasn't going to happen when they opened the season 1-6. I think about it like this: the Yankees have a record of 9-13, which was a game worse than the Phils did entering this game. I am confident that the Yankees will be in the playoff hunt come September, and I am pretty sure that this Phillies team will be there too.

Managerial Decisions: I don't like the lineup shuffle when Ryan Howard sits. If Charlie Manuel really loves Jimmy Rollins as the leadoff man, keep him there! I would. I know Aaron Rowand is still pretty hot, but that's no reason to put him at the top of the lineup. He's been crushing the ball; he should be in an RBI position to drive in Rollins and the like.

Streak Watch: Rowand extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a double in the first.

Record: 10-13
Next Game: Jamie Moyer takes the hill trying to get the Phils their third straight series win.

Game 22: Phillies 6, Marlins 5

2007-04-28T15:04:00.000-04:00

That was fun. I guess if you load the bases and then hit the ball to the shortstop enough times, it's going to win you a game once a decade or so.

Let's set the record straight. The Phillies didn't deserve to win this game. Not with the terrible pitching and situational hitting they displayed. Freddy Garcia showed why the Phils traded Gavin Floyd for him--carbon copy. Garcia was in more hot water than a littleneck at a clam bake this game. That he only gave up 4 runs was sheer luck. I'm not saying bring Brett Myers back from the bullpen, but this "top-of-the-rotation" offseason pickup better get his act together.

The bullpen was decent...though the only reason they could possibly have for not putting Geoff Geary in for Garcia in the fifth was that Geary pitched the previous two days and may have been unavailable. Unavailable my ass. He is the only reliable pitcher to bring in with the BASES LOADED. Aside from me pointing that out yesterday, there was an article about it on the official Phillies website! Put him in anyway! As it was Antonio Alfonseca gave up an RBI single and walked in a run, but his ERA is still below 1.00 because those runs were charged to Garcia.

The Phillies are starting to put some home runs in at key times, which is good. It would be better if they weren't all solo shots. Jimmy Rollins is on a tater tear, and Chase Utley is raising his average every game. Aarond Rowand has hit three in the last four games, and they've all helped the Phils win games recently. It would just be nice to do it when they have all those runners on base and stake their team to a nice big lead. Oh well.

General Manager update: So minutes after I posted it, the Phillies sent Matt Smith to the minors and brought up Fabio Castro to be the bullpen lefty. We fans aren't wrong all the time...

Managerial Decisions: Besides subbing in Geary in the fifth, I can't say too much more. I wasn't able to follow this game as closely as I would like.

Streak Watch: Rowand went up to 15 games in a row with his 4-5 night. He's unconscious right now.

Record: 10-12
Next Game: The Phillies have to face Dontrelle Willis in the second game of their series tonight. Adam Eaton takes the mound for the home team.

Game 21: Nationals 4, Phillies 2

2007-04-26T20:15:00.000-04:00

I really thought they were going to come back in the ninth inning here, I really did. Who knew that the offense couldn't handle a pitcher with a total of 13 big-league games to his credit before this afternoon? Ok, so they haven't seen too many good sinkerball pitchers lately, but the Phillies need to hit better than that to win games.

Of course, normally that wouldn't matter so much with Cole Hamels pitching. On my way to work today, I was thinking, 'He's got this game in the bag. He won't have a letdown game after that performance on Saturday.' I actually managed to give up my Philly cynicism for a minute, and it bit me. I mean, I guess giving up 4 runs in 5.1 innings isn't terrible. In fact I wouldn't mind it out of Adam Eaton or Jamie Moyer. But this is Cole Hamels. He's the Ace. He should go seven each game and give up 3 or less. So whatever, if this is a bad outing, I'll take it. The offense should score more than 2 runs.

As for the offense, five hits just won't cut it. I guess everyone can't stay hot forever, but Rod "Black Hole" Barajas can't be helping the team score runs. Which brings me back to a campaign of mine, Catch Coste. Let's do it already. People all around are saying the bench is terrible. Why not bring in a guy who hit .350 last year? Come on.

Managerial Decisions: Good job picking the relievers for their roles. Geoff Geary is definitely your strand-inherited-runners guy. Madson is a keep-you-close-while-behind reliever, and who knows about Francisco Rosario. Get him his work, I suppose.

Streak Watch: Aaron Rowand's hit streak got to a new career-high 14 games with a home run in the eighth that finally put the Phillies on the board.

Record: 9-12
Next Game: The Marlins come to town for a three-game set. Freddie Garcia faces Anibal Sanchez.

Game 20: Phillies 9, Nationals 3

2007-04-25T23:28:00.000-04:00

Chase Utley is hot again, Ryan Howard hit another home run, and the Phillies have a 5-game winning streak. I admit that not even I expected five in a row this soon after that terrible start.

So what's behind the turnaround? Pitching, of course. All across the board. Jon Lieber made his second start of the season tonight, and he looked like the Jon Lieber of 2005. In his two starts he has gone for a total of 11 2/3 innings, giving up a mere 2 runs in that span. Is it time for me to say I had this idea in spring training? Not yet, give him another start. Since they moved Brett Myers to the bullpen, no starter on the Phillies has given up more than 4 runs. That's pretty impressive, at least by Phillies standards.

As for the bullpen, well, they're coming around too. Besides Matt Smith, they have an ERA of 0.75 in the last 5 games. Add in Smith and it jumps to a whopping 1.38. They are locking it down.

As for Smith, there have been a couple articles in the last few days about his days being numbered. I'm all for this. If I were to play armchair GM today, Smith is gone and Fabio Castro is back. Or I'm calling up Dan Plesac. This team needs a situational lefty like Mark Prior needs a healthy arm. However they do it, they need an upgrade in that department.

Oh yea, the team is hitting pretty well lately as well. Except for Ryan Howard. I'm worried about him, and I'm not the only one.

Managerial Decision: I would have left Jon Lieber in to bat in the sixth, and that probably would have killed the rally. Chalk that up as a loss for me.

Streak Watch: Aaron Rowand extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a 2nd-inning single.
Game Ball: Chase Utley. 5 at-bats. 5 hits. 3 RBI. 1 run scored.

Record: 9-11
Next Game: The team gets to try for a series sweep with Cole Hamels on the mound. Sorry, Manny Acta.

Around the League: Week 3

2007-04-25T15:01:00.000-04:00

Let's check out our other teams, most of whom seem to be on one sort of streak or another:

A's: Won 7 of their last 10 and are right back up at the top of the AL West. They've had a few injuries, including to starter Rich Harden. Let's just hope that Nick Swisher is OK.

Gigantes: Winning, just like the Phillies, even a little better. The Giants have won 6 in a row and are up over .500 as well.

Yankees: Um, wrong kind of streak, guys. While A-Rod continues to make me feel like Barry Bonds will only be a footnote in total home run production, the Bombers flounder, having lost five in a row and, with the same record as the Phils, find themselves in the basement of the AL East. That's behind the Blue Jays, Orioles, and Devil Rays. Sorry guys.

Tigers: These guys are on the opposite of a streak. They're hovering around .500, are third in their division, have gone 5-5 in their last 10, and showed only moderate signs of life after Jim Leyland's blowup last week. Mediocrity at its best.

Game 19: Phillies 6, Nationals 3

2007-04-24T23:30:00.000-04:00

Go team! Whatever changed in that meeting, let's try and keep it around for a long time. Finally the Phillies are getting some hits with runners in scoring position, and it's leading to wins. Unlike the past two hit parades, today's game had only 7 Phillies hits, and two of their runs were unearned. What does this say? That they are capitalizing on opponents' mistakes.

Wes Helms was involved with both Washington errors. First, he reached on a would-be 5-3 grounder in the second and scored on Aaron Rowand's double. Then, his single with 2 men on in the eighth gave the Phillies the lead. During the play Ryan Church's throw got by third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and allowed slow-footed Pat Burrell to score a second run.

Jamie Moyer supplied a quality start, again, but the Phils couldn't get him a lead before he was lifted. That lead was picked up while Antonio Alfonseca was the pitcher of record, and Tom Gordon only allowed one runner past second base before closing the game out. Gordon's performance should be considered quality based on his previous outings. Of note was a scoreless inning by Ryan Madson in the seventh. That's where he really made a name for himself three years ago, but the Nationals scorched a couple balls off of him today.

Managerial Decisions: I like putting Abraham Nunez in to bunt over the runner in the seventh. Even though it didn't work out, I like small ball. I also like how they sent Chase Utley with the count full on Burrell and one out in the eighth. You gotta take some chances and play aggressive if you want to win baseball games.

Game Ball: Helms, for showing some hustle.
Record: 8-11
Next Game: Jon Lieber makes his second start of the season in the middle game of the Nationals series.

Game 18: Phillies 11, Astros 4

2007-04-23T23:51:00.000-04:00

This winning thing might just catch on after all. A night after setting a season high with 9 runs, the Phillies came around with a double-digit output in this makeup game. Watch out, National League! Here comes the Phillies' offense!

Let's hope that's really true. Every starter had a hit tonight (including the pitcher), with Jimmy Rollins leading the pack with 4. Oh yeah, and the team notched 20 safely hit batted balls in this game. Runners in scoring position, easy. Even with two outs? No problem. Where was this two weeks ago?

And I'm liking the Myers-to-the-bullpen, Lieber-to-the-rotation move more every day. Even though neither of those guys pitched in today's game, Adam Eaton did. And when I was calling for his demotion, I should have been biting my tongue. He's put together three solid starts in a row and his stock is climbing in my book. I'm not ready to say his contract was a good idea, but I'm going to give him a couple more months now.

Oh let's look at some stats. Five of the Phillies' regulars are now batting over .300. The three that aren't are the catcher (either one, but who cares) and All-Stars Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. And I don't think anyone's really worrying about them. I have no idea how Utley is batting below .250 right now unless he decided to ONLY get a hit with runners in scoring position. Works for me.

Managerial Decisions: That 80-minute team meeting on Saturday sure seems like a good idea. Charlie Manuel still hasn't been thrown out of a game, which would have been my first move. Instead, his calm approach to it all has gotten the team on a mini-roll. Good work, Chollie.

Game Ball: Jimmy Rollins. 4 hits, a double short of the cycle, and 4 runs scored.
Record: 7-11
Next Game: The Washington Nationals, who now legitimately have a worse record than the Phillies, start a 3-game set in Philadelphia. Jamie Moyer pitches for the Phils.

Game 17: Phillies 9, Reds 3

2007-04-22T18:30:00.000-04:00

Everybody, we have a winning streak! It only took three weeks of the baseball season for the Phillies to string together two wins. Starting pitching in this series was pretty darn good, and they got a series win to show for it.

Freddy Garcia picked up his first win with five solid innings, though he probably could have pitched out of the jam in the sixth. He threw 89 pitches, so maybe they are still looking out for him a bit coming off of the arm injury.

The bats certainly heated up in this one, especially off of Reds veteran Mike Stanton, with Ryan Howard hitting his second home run of the season in his first start after spraining his knee. All of the regulars in the game got a hit, which I always see as a good sign.

Managerial decisions: I think it was good to put Brett Myers in even after getting the 7 run lead. You can't let him warm up and then not pitch. The way he gets psyched up for pitching, if you kept him out too many times he might blow a fuse. That and he needs to get used to pitching 4 times a week or so.

Game Ball: Chase Utley. In the last two wins, he has gone 4 for 7 with 1 walk, 4 RBI and 4 runs scored.

Record: 6-11
Next Game: Adam Eaton starts for the Phillies in the Jackie Robinson Day rainout makeup with the Astros in Philadelphia.

Game 16: Phillies 4, Reds 1

2007-04-22T13:00:00.000-04:00

Just like they said on Sportscenter, the Phillies needed a game like this. Apparently they can only win games that lefthanders start, but maybe that's because their southpaws are pretty good. Cole Hamels had the ace game out, striking out 15 batters in a complete game. The bullpen really needed that rest.

The lineup shuffle should be noted as well. Shane Victorino moved into the leadoff spot as Jimmy Rollins dropped to third. Charlie Manuel put Aaron Rowand in the two hole and, with Ryan Howard still out, had Chase Utley at cleanup. That worked out pretty well, with Rowand and Utley both going deep while Chase had 3 RBIs. I think we should keep this lineup for at least a week to see if it jump-starts the offense.

I can't get over Jeff Conine. The guy kills the Phillies, no matter what team he's on, but he couldn't do anything for them when he was on the team at the end of last season. If it weren't for him, this game would have been a shutout for Hamels. As it was, he only faced two batters over the minimum, thanks to a nifty 5-4-3 triple play in the fifth, the team's first since 1999.

Managerial Decisions? How about this: leave Hamels in until his arm falls off. Have him pitch today, tomorrow, and every day. Maybe we can win then.

Game Ball: Hamels, obviously.
Record: 5-11
Next Game: We'll see if the Phillies can win their first series of the season in the afternoon finale.

Game 15: Reds 2, Phillies 1 (10)

2007-04-21T11:27:00.000-04:00

Well the Phillies certainly are playing a lot of extra-inning games already this year, and they're losing them all. Of course, they're losing almost all of their games anyway, regardless of how many innings are played.

Jon Lieber put it best, saying that he thinks the Phils are "snakebitten" after he threw one-hit baseball into the sixth inning last night. The Bring Lieber Back campaign is working out pretty well so far, and it seems that Brett Myers may be effective in the setup role. I'm betting that by the end of May Myers will have replaced Tom Gordon as the closer.

Gordon lost this game for the team. I realize that he was the fifth pitcher out of the bullpen for the Phillies last night, but he should have been yanked in the tenth. Put Ryan Madson in there. Isn't it his job to blow the close game in extras? Either way weren't we going to limit Gordon to single innings at the beginning of the season?

We've got to fault the lineup too, here, though. They need to score some runs. Even if Ryan Howard isn't in the game, those hitters should be able to produce more than one error-aided run.

What to do? I can't say much more. They just need their luck to change. Get out the snakebite kit.

Record: 4-11
Next Game: Middle game of the series in Cincinnati pits two lefties in Cole Hamels and former Phillie Eric Milton.

Game 14: Phillies 4, Nationals 2

2007-04-19T21:36:00.000-04:00

So it turns out that, after some debate over who would be in the starting rotation and who would set up and all that...Jamie Moyer is the streak stopper. That is to say that Moyer has half of all of the Phillies' wins on his stat sheet.

While the team continues to struggle with runners in scoring position, they managed enough tonight, almost solely based on Shane Victorino. Shane went 3 for 5 and basically won the game for the Phillies.

With Ryan Howard out, Pat Burrell batted in the cleanup spot, just as I've been suggesting for the last week. He only went 0 for 1 with three walks, but it seems that teams are afraid of Pat the Bat this year, which is important for Ryan Howard's success.

In terms of managerial decisions, I think Charlie Manuel did the right thing by keeping Moyer in for the ninth inning. Even though he gave up a couple of runs, he should have been given the opportunity to complete the shutout, especially with the thirteen inning game from the night before. Tom Gordon comes on and aves and they're all good.

Record:4-10
Next Game: Jon Lieber makes his season debut as a starter as for th 2007 season. Bring Lieber Back!

Game 13: Nationals 5, Phillies 4 (13)

2007-04-19T14:29:00.000-04:00

I don't know what to say about this one, as I didn't get to follow the game. I was a bit surprised to find out that Brett Myers was a reliever, but I think that counts as a win for my Bring Lieber Back campaign, as the team also announced that Jon Lieber would be returning to the rotation.

The game seemed to be pretty frustrating. Plenty of outs with runners in scoring position, as per usual. And continued bad breaks, like the 10-pitch at-bat that Brian Schneider worked against Adam
Eaton. When the Phillies have been engaged in such lengthy at bats so far this season, it ends up in an out. When the Phillie was the pitcher, as in this case, he gave up a home run. I don't know what to say. The luck HAS to change.

On the plus side, as of this writing the team claims that Ryan Howard's injury is not serious. I'm trying to look at the bright side here.

Record: 3-10
Next Game: The series finale is an afternoon getaway game with Jamie Moyer starting for the Phillies.

Game 12: Mets 8, Phillies 1

2007-04-18T01:32:00.000-04:00

This game had all the makings of a terrible letdown from the start. Like I mentioned as a problem yesterday, the rainout days hurt the offense. To make matters worse, Freddy Garcia didn't look too hot. The three runs he yielded belie the eight hits and two walks he gave up in less than five innings. The rest of the pitchers in this game didn't look too hot, either, with each of them giving up at least a run except for Ryan Madson, who allowed two of three inherited runners to score.

What really bothers me is that nothing seems to be bouncing right for the Phillies. Sure, they can't hit with runners in scoring position, but that's not a new problem. What's getting to me is that even when they do hit the ball hard in such situations, it's right at someone. It's like their luck is consistently bad. I know this sort of thing evens out over the course of a season, but this season may be too lost by the time the luck swings their way.

But what to do? I'm sticking with my campaign to Bring Lieber Back. I don't know exactly where yet, but he's got to be a better option than some of the starting pitching they've had. I'll have a better suggestion after the next trip through the rotation. As for the hitting, the lineup needs a shakeup. As an addendum to my Let Pat Bat campaign, I say put Burrell in the cleanup spot and breakup the lefties in the lineup.

As for Charlie Manuel, I would have done the same thing he did tonight. Apparantly he flipped out during the post-game news conference. Good for him. Now get thrown out of a game to show that someone on the team has some fight.

Record: 3-9
Next Game: The Phils travel to Washington. Maybe they can win there.

Rainout 2: Still No Freddy

2007-04-16T22:34:00.000-04:00

I am starting to think I should stop listing the next day's pitchers in my daily post. This is the third day in a row that at least one of my projected starters for the Phillies game didn't pitch. Of course, the last two days have seen cancellations due to inclement weather, so I can't really be to blame.

What I am hoping is that these extra days off do some good to Freddy Garcia and the Phils' bullpen. Of course, the pen hasn't been taxed too much lately, thanks to the relatively effective starting pitching that the bottom of the rotation has put in. Garcia can use all the rest he can get, in my opinion. A guy who has pain in his pitching arm during spring training should take every extra hour he can get.

I'm really more concerned about the offense. Jimmy Rollins was on a roll, and a number of players, such as Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, were showing signs of heating up. A couple of days off can really hurt that momentum. Let's hope that's not the case right now.

Record: 3-8
Next Game: The one-game series with the Mets has someone pitching for each team, but I refrain from saying who. Weather permitting.

Rainout 1: Sorry, Jackie

2007-04-16T13:23:00.000-04:00

And so it goes, on a day when the entire Phillies organization was planning on wearing number 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson, the Storm of the Decade rains out games from Pittsburgh to Boston, ours included. Weather like that makes me glad I'm here in California (high of 73 today).

I don't have a grudge against the Phillies, but judging by the way the newspapers in Philadelphia have been portraying them during the weeklong tribute to Robinson, some do. The Phillies were the last team in the National League to integrate, a full ten years after #42 stepped out onto the field for the first time. I think it's ironic/fitting that their team-wide tribute got rained out. Maybe some other day.

What is also ironic is that, after I slated Wandy Rodriguez for a start against the Phils for a second straight day with the promise that he would pitch, the game is canceled. Perhaps it's not in the cards for Rodriguez to start against the hometown team, but I would be fine with that because he owns them.

Around the League: In a fun game between two of our American League watch-teams, the A's edged out the Yankees on a walkoff home run by Marco Scutaro off Mariano Rivera. That's tough to do, especially after the offense hadn't scored in 7 innings. The Giants haven't played in three days, I think, because of the weather in Pittsburgh. That's gonna be a nightmare to reschedule.

I'm afraid my trip to Pittsburgh at the end of this week will be a nightmare if it doesn't warm up fast. We'll see how my posting is affected by that...

Record: 3-8
Next Game: Freddy Garcia finally, finally (probably) makes his first start as a Phillie tonight against the New York Mets.

Game 11: Phillies 9, Astros 6

2007-04-14T20:58:00.000-04:00

Cole Hamels finally got a win, even though he gave up 5 earned runs in 6 innings. I suppose that's karma for his two stellar outings that the team lost. While he didn't have his best stuff, the offense finally got on a couple little rolls and the Phillies outslugged the Astros in this afternoon affair.

I think it's time to seriously consider moving Jimmy Rollins out of the leadoff spot. Maybe he won't hit as many home runs, but since he's on pace to smack about 81 of them this season, a slowdown couldn't be too bad. Seriously though, Rollins has been basically the only good thing about the offense so far this season, until today.

The rest of the team showed some life at the plate, with Chase Utley also hitting a dinger (along with Rollins), and Ryan Howard had a couple long fouls and and a top-of-the-wall out (all to left field), and Pat Burrell chipped the leftfield wall with a powerful single as well. The Phillies finally hit the ball decently with runners in scoring position up and down the lineup (six players with RBI hits), and they came back from a three-run deficit quickly early on.

I especially like how they scored immediately after the Astros did twice in this game, and I also like that they managed to go ahead in the bottom of the sixth while Hamels was still the pitcher of record.

I like that Francisco Rosario pitched a scoreless seventh in his Phillies debut, and then Antonio Alfonseca and Tom Gordon kept the Astros off the board to nail the game down. Hopefully the bullpen struggles earlier on are sorting themselves out.

On a side note, Carlos Lee was really impressive in left field today. He's just done it all this series.

Game Ball: Jimmy Rollins, for smacking the game-tying home run in the half-inning following Jason Lane's three-run shot.

Record: 3-8
Next Game: Rubber match of the series has Freddy Garcia making his Phillies debut against Wandy Rodriguez (really, I promise this time).

Game 10: Astros 9, Phillies 6

2007-04-13T23:42:00.000-04:00

This is getting pretty bad. Hitting with runners in scoring position. I don't know how to make it any simpler. They Phillies had plenty of chances to tie this game up or go ahead, even late (8th inning) but they couldn't put it together. It's so strange. As soon as they get a man on second, they can't hit.

The hits tonight with runners in scoring position were all singles, two at the shortstop with the bases loaded, total of two runs, one more that scores a run, and two by Ryan Howard, including one where Shane Victorino gets thrown out at the plate. I don't know what it is with Victorino, either, but for the guys who is supposedly the fastest man in the organization, he makes a lot of outs on the basepaths (caught stealing in this game too).

Maybe it's just me fixating on the RISP hitting, but that's my biggest problem. As atrocious as Brett Myers was for the second straight start, the Phils had chances in this game. That's all I can say.

I looked up if the Phillies had any streak where they went 2-8 over ten games last year. They did, actually going 2-9 over 11 games in mid-late May and 1-8 TWICE in June. So, they can recover. It's just really demoralizing for it to happen at the beginning of the season.

I really think they need to shuffle the lineup. Break up the streaks of lefties and then righties. Do something. And bring back Chris Coste to catch.

Record: 2-8
Next Game: Two young lefties battle it out as Wandy Rodriguez starts against Cole Hamels.