3 Runs Can Go Either Way

Funny how 3 runs scored one night equals a loss and a complete turd of a game, and the next night the same run total equals a win and a well played game. Thanks to Final Vote hopeful Shane Victorino, the Phils took the game in the bottom of the 9th with his rbi single and remained 2 games up in the standings on the Marlins. Vic may not have the best numbers out of the 5 player group (Matt Kemp, Mark Reynolds, Christian Guzman, and Pablo Sandoval), but he sure is fun to watch. Go vote for him now, no questions asked (T-shirt by Birdland/The Fightins).

Meanwhile, Rodrigo Lopez left after 5 innings with discomfort in his pitching shoulder. This sucks. He was actually doing a decent job, but now it would seem he's DL bound. Myers DL, Bastardo DL, now possibly RoLo DL. Luckily the Phils don't need an extra starter until after the All-Star break, so they time to figure out what to do. Call up Andrew Carpenter and his 8-2 record with a 2.85 ERA? Nah. Trade for Roy Halladay? Hell yes!

Series finale tonight with Grand Pappy Moyer looking to continue his recent string of solid starts against slugger Micah Owings. I drool over the thought of acquiring Owings as a 5th starter/longman and letting him be the primary righthanded bat off the bench. He's 6-8 with a 4.48 ERA, but is also batting .262/.874 with 3 homeruns on the season (Career- .304/.898 with 8 hr in 158 ab). Dammit, Eric Bruntlett is unbelievably pathetic!

For a smile- Ollie Perez may have picked up the win last night, but he did so while walking 7 batters in 5 innings. That brings his season total to 28 bases on balls issued in only 26.2 innings. For a bigger smile- ESPN.com poll asks, "Will the Mets make the playoffs?" 88% of the vote said "No", even the state of New York.

~Carson

Same Old Phils

10 hits, 5 walks, 3 runs, and 2 of the 3 runs came via solo homeruns. That means the Phillies, who were coming off a 22 run slugfest, stranded 13 runners. To make matters worse, they had the bases loaded with no outs and didn't score, and had a leadoff triple and didn't score him (Ruiz). That's the Phillies we've all come to know and hate love. Mr. Sideburns, Greg Dobbs, said it best, "The fact that we scored 22 runs the night before, that's great, but it doesn't mean diddly tonight." Luckily for the Phillies, every other team in the lackluster NL East aside from the Braves succumbed to their opponents last night as well.

Minors:
*Jack Taschner made his Iron Pig debut last night, tossing 2 scoreless innings. He did give up 2 hits and 2 walks though.

*Raul Ibanez (come back soon!) went 1-2, with a walk and a run scored for the Iron Pigs last night.

*To put a smile on your face, a Michael Taylor update. The Reading Phillies stud outfielder swiped 3 bags yesterday (now with 17), hit 2 doubles (now with 20), and knocked in 2 runs (now with 64 rbi). Oh yeah, he's batting .345.

*In the same game, top prospect Carlos Carrasco got lit up for 6 runs in 4 innings upping his ERA to 5.06. That's not very encouraging.

*18 year old Lakewood BlueClaws outfielder Anthony Gose is on fire, upping his average to .284 with an amazing 47 stolen bases.

*A few seasons ago, Corey and I campaigned for a little known minor league utility infielder by the name of Bobby Scales to get the call up to the bigs and displace No-Hit Nunez on the roster. My new cause- Neil Sellers. He bats right, he plays mostly 3rd, but has seen time at 2nd and 1st, and 1 game at SS in his 6 minor league seasons. He was an all-star for the Reading Phillies this season, and he has a decent bat- .310/.854, 41 r, 20 dbl, 9 hr, 48 rbi on the season, which is in line with his career totals. Time to promote the 27 year old and get rid of that worthless sack of potatoes known as Eric Bruntlett.


Tonight:
New hero Rodrigo Lopez makes his 2nd start for the Phils against big hype, small returns Homer Bailey. A win is important here, and despite last night's crapping of the bed, would make the series a success.

~Carson

Dick Pole Can Only Scratch His Head

22-1, that was a the score of last night's game in favor of the good guys. The Cincinnati Reds pitching staff was atrocious and their pitching coach as Tom McCarthy put it, "Dick Pole can only scratch his head." T-Mac probably didn't understand the innuendo he was making at the time, but because of that line he earned respect points in my book.

Stuph:
*Cole Hamels finally pitched a game that is ace worthy, going 7 innings while giving up only 1 run. If not for the blowout, he could have been left in for the 8th and possibly gone for the complete game if need be as he threw only 92 pitches.

*The top two batters in the Phils lineup (Rollins & Vic) were 7-9, with 3 walks, 9 runs scored, and 5 rbi. Martha Stewart couldn't set the table better than that.

*Scott Eyre returned from the DL with a scoreless inning pitched.

*Tyler Walker continues to be serviceable out of the bullpen, dropping his ERA to 1.80 and WHIP to 1.00 with a perfect 8th last night.


*Raul Ibanez finally began his rehab assignment, and went 0-2 with a walk and a run scored for the Reading Phillies. With the R-Phils heading outta town, it's likely Raul will continue his minor league tuneup with the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.

*Because of the 10-run 1st inning, 9 of which were charged to Reds starter Johnny Cueto, he saw his ERA jump from 2.69 to 3.45.

*Same time, same place, same teams tonight with pitchers JA Happ and Aaron Harang tossing.

*In case you live in a cardboard box and haven't heard yet, Shane Victorino is up for the Final Vote as the NL's 33rd player. Vote for him until you get blisters, no 25 vote limit on this folks.


~Carson

The Schadenfreude Post

Here is the Muts lineup from yesterday:
Cora
Murphy
Wright
Church
Evans
Reed
Schneider
Castillo

Here is their disabled list:
Beltran
Maine
Putz
Martinez
Reyes
Delgado
Perez
Pagan
Wagner

Here are Mets fans after the game on some of the Mets blogs:
"This is like a dance contest where the other guy is just doing the headstand spin and wagging his finger at you"
"Words can not express what I just saw and feel right now."
"Hey Hey, Ho Ho. Freddy Wilpon’s got to go!"

Here are the Wild Card standings:


Ryan Church batting cleanup, half of the roster on the DL, unhappy fans, and looking up at seven teams in the Wild Card race are not good things. It's good to be a fan of the WFC but sometimes it's even better NOT being a Mets fan. Celebrate that today.

Corey

A Sweep Would Be Nice

Going into this series against the Mets, I had zero confidence that anything good would come of it. Having taken the first two games rather a-matter-of-factly the Phils are in a position to perform the coveted 3-game sweep. One obstacle- Darth Santana. I don't hate Johan, I fear Johan. The Phillies have never beaten him, lifetime- 4 wins in 8 starts, 55 ip, 49 k's, 2.95 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and a .199 average against. Opposing pitcher for the good guys, Joe Blanton, needs to pitch better than he's possibly capable of to pick up the "W" today.

Stuph:
*Ryan Howard is the 39th highest paid athlete in America according to Sports Illustrated.

*After breaking free of his career worst slump, Jimmy Rollins is 5-12, with 1 runs scored, 4 rbi, 3 doubles, and 2 walks in the past 3 games.

*Grand Pappy Moyer made his 600th career start yesterday and notched his 253rd too.

*Brad Lidge pitched a perfect 9th inning last night, possibly his best outing of the season.

*Jack Taschner was designated for assignment to make room on the roster for Rodrigo Lopez. Makes me like RoLo even more.

*Scott Eyre is likely to be activated for today's game, meaning Sergio Escalona goes back to the minors for the upteenmillionth time this season.

~Carson

New Hero

Rodrigo Lopez did something last night that Cole Hamels hasn't been able to accomplish in a month...win a game. Lopez made his return to the majors after nearly a 2 year absence due to Tommy John surgery. 6 innings and 2 runs usually gets the job done. He's the short term answer for 5th starter, and currently a hero for helping beat the Mets and recapture 1st place. The Phillies are now 1-0 in the new season which began last night.
___________________________________________________

Total Bust:
Remember last year's 1st round draft pick Anthony Hewitt? If you're lucky, you don't recall this absolute bust. In his first taste of professional baseball, Hewitt batted .197 with a .555 OPS in 33 games, while striking out 55 times in 117 at bats, and committing 7 errors at 3rd base for a .848 fielding %. Things have actually managed to have gotten worse this season- .152 avg, .455 OPS, 17 k's in 46 ab, and 8 errors in only 13 games.


~Carson

New Season

Tonight is the start of a new season. The Phillies, Marlins, Mets, and Braves are all separated by only 2 games. It's Philly versus NY this weekend, while Atlanta heads to Washington, and Florida is at home against Pittsburgh. Come Monday morning things in the NL East could look a whole lot different in the standings.

Game Primer:
*Somehow Rodrigo Lopez, who hasn't started a game since 2007, is the Phils best option to fill the starting pitcher void. I'm rooting for him, but I'm not counting on him.

*The Phillies have lost 14 of their last 18 games. During that span they've hit .233, scored 76 runs (4.22 per game), while the rotation posted a 5.23 ERA, and the bullpen a 6.56 ERA along with four blown saves.

*Jimmy Rollins finally got a hit last night, two to be exact, snapping an 0-28 skid.

*Since June 7th, Carlos Ruiz is 7 for his last 60 (.117 average). The loss of Raul Ibanez surely hurt the offense, but the tailspin of Chooch has only worsened it.

*Speaking of Ibanez, he will not be back for the weekend series against the Mets. Ruben Amaro Jr. wants to make sure he's 100% before he returns. Let's all remember that Raul is 37 years old, so injuries do not heal as quickly.

*Series match-ups: (Fri) Rodrigo Lopez vs. Livan Hernandez, (Sat) Jamie Moyer vs. Fernando Nieve, and (Sun) Johan Santana vs. Joe Blanton.

~Carson

Player Comparison

Player A: .256/.328/.535, 47 r, 76 h, 19 dbl, 2 trpl, 20 hr, 60 rbi, 3 sb, 30 bb, 93 k, and 4 errors.

Player B: .260/.396/.528, 36 r, 70 h, 12 dbl, 20 hr, 56 rbi, 61 bb, 87 k, and 8 errors.

Player C: .270/.357/.554, 50 r, 77 h, 16 dbl, 1 trpl, 21 hr, 56 rbi, 13 sb, and 13 errors.

*Stats through 7/2/09

By looking at the numbers you can see these players are poor fielding, strikeout prone, mediocre batting average sluggers. One player is regressing, one is consistent, and the other is progressing. However, only one of these players gets all the hype. Player A- Ryan Howard, Player B- Adam Dunn, Player C- Mark Reynolds.

Regressing- Ryan Howard set an arbitration record for 1st year eligible players and agreed to a ginormous arbitration years buyout this offseason (3 years/$54M). If you believed everything you read and heard, you would think Howard is the best player in the game, or at least the best 1st baseman. Thing is, he's not, and he's entirely overrated. In fact, his OPS is dipping again for the third straight season after a high water mark of 1.084 in '06 (currently .864). His OPS against lefthanded pitching is following the same trend, and southpaws are dominating him this season (.615 OPS). He's been a horrible fielder up until this season, but he's recently started botching plays again. I watch him on daily basis and am amazed by his power, but I'm also amazed by his inability to make contact with men on 3rd and less than 2 outs, or his errant throws into left-centerfield when he attempts to initiate a double play. People will point to his homerun and rbi numbers, in which he's the MLB leader in both categories since 2006, but the rbi's are a product of the lineup he bats in and homeruns are great, but they're not everything. He's a fine player, and entertaining to watch, but he does not deserve all the praise heaped upon him. Average #'s per 162 games: 102 r, 164 h, 30 dbl, 2 trpl, 49 hr, 140 rbi, 1 sb, 91 bb, 197 k, .276/.374/.583. His batting average hasn't been that high since 2006 or his OPS since 2007.

Consistent- Adam Dunn is only 10 days older than Ryan Howard, both are 29 this season. So why is it that a man coming off of 5 straight 40+ homerun seasons only secured himself a 2 year $20M deal in free agency when Ryan Howard got that mega-deal and he was still under team control? The answer is hype, Howard is hyped, Dunn is not. Dunn is actually slandered for some strange reason, even though they're both essentially the same player. Dunn doesn't possess quite the power that Howard does, but his bat is every bit as potent, plus he works the walk. Put Dunn in the Phils lineup, instead of a putrid Reds or Nationals lineup, and he'd have a better rbi total too. Adam is a terrible outfielder defensively and belongs at 1st base, but he's not much better there either. Average #'s per 162 games: 99 r, 137 h, 29 dbl, 1 trpl, 40 hr, 98 rbi, 8 sb, 115 bb, 180 k, .248/.382/.519.

Progressing- The youngest of the trio is Mark Reynolds at 25, and he's also the worst fielding. This kid has tons of upside and it's starting to show this season. He can't field a lick at 3rd or 1st, but hot damn his bat is good. Strange thing though, you don't hear much about him. Why not? He has more homeruns than Howard. He has more stolen bases than speedsters Jimmy Rollins or Shane Victorino. Put him in Boston, LA, or NY and you've got yourself a bonafide superstar in the making, but alas he dwells in Arizona where he's forgotten. Average #'s per 162 games: 95 r, 147 h, 31 dbl, 4 trpl, 32 hr, 103 rbi, 11 sb, 66 bb, 209 k, .259/.338/.492.

I just don't understand why Howard gets all the love, yet there are very similar players out there that don't.

~Carson

Breaking News...

Ryan Madson sucks!

~Carson

Bad Things

Bad Thing- Jimmy Rollins is hitless in his last 27 at bats. Yes, the same Jimmy Rollins that was the 2007 NL MVP. The same Jimmy Rollins that remains leading off for the defending World Series champions. The same Jimmy Rollins that is batting .205 with a .569 OPS. That Jimmy Rollins is now officially classified in the "suck" department. This isn't a slump, this isn't a funk, it's a shitty season. He is currently ranked 4th from the bottom in batting average among qualified batters and 2nd from the bottom in OPS (Brian Giles is the lowest of the low).

Bad Thing- In 15 starts this season Cole Hamels has failed to go 5 innings in 5 of his starts, that's 1/3 of the time. In 6 of his starts he's allowed 4 or more earned runs. His stats are not of ace quality, with a 4-5 record, 4.98 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, and an unbelievably high .312 batting average against. The 25 year old had two very strong seasons in 2007/2008, but he's completely crapping the bed this year.

Bad Thing- The Phillies grasp of 1st place in the NL East is coming close to being no longer. With last night's loss, they fell to 39-36 on the season with a microscopic half game lead on the Marlins. Let's not fool ourselves, this team is just not the same team from '08. The pitching staff is disgusting from rotation to bullpen and that won't be getting better unless an overhaul is made (like a Roy Oswalt and LaTroy Hawkins addition).

Good Thing- prospects and teammates Michael Taylor and Kyle Drabek continue to dominate the minors. Drabek picked up his 5th win in Double-A Reading last night, going to 9-1 on the season with 2.58 ERA and 104 k's in 101.1 ip. Taylor went deep for the 15th time and upped his batting average to .350. He also has a 1.020 OPS with 14 stolen bases, 53 runs, and 58 rbi.

Tonight- 2009 staff ace JA Happ looks to salvage the final game of the series. However, Javier Vazquez and his 125 k's and 3.04 ERA will likely halt any idea of sneaking out of Atlanta with any pride. The Phillies are his favorite team to face with a career high 11 wins and 138 strikeouts against them.

Awesome- this jersey kicks so much ass! Picture courtesy of Who Does He Play For?

~Carson

"208!, 208!", Check that, "207!, 207!"

Usually Braves fans annoy the piss outta me, but last night I felt compelled to join in their cheering. No, not that politically incorrect tomahawk chop crap, but the heckling they were aiming at Jimmy Rollins. J-Roll, fresh off of a 4 game mind and body refresher was stupidly slotted back into the leadoff spot. Perched atop the lineup last night he set the table beautifully by going Oh-for-Five. In the 9th inning as Jimmy was at the dish, Braves fans started chanting, "208!", "208!", which was his batting average at the time. He promptly struck out lowering his batting average to .207, so hopefully they pick right back up in the top of the 1st tonight with a "207!", "207!" cheer.

Questions:
*Why the hell was Chan Ho Park signed to a multimillion dollar deal? Everyone but Amaro seemed to know he'd be an epic fail in any role, as his numbers away from spacious Dodger stadium depicted.

*I understand playing J-Roll, because sadly enough he's still our best option at SS, but why bat him leadoff?

*Why pinch hit Chris Coste against Derek Lowe? Manuel was afraid he might waste Stairs in that situation, because Bobby Cox would have countered with a lefty, so he should have sent Bako up and then countered with Coste or Mayberry if Cox countered. Confused? Hope so!

*Why does Ryan Madson suck?

Tonight:
Phils supposed ace, Cole Hamels, attempts to even the series with the Braves sending Jair Jurrjens to the mound. Hamels has beat the Braves (7 wins) more than any other MLB team in his 4 seasons. Jurrjens has held Phillies batters to a .212 average in 5 career starts against the team.

~Carson

NL East- Baseball's Worst Division

Heading into the 2009 season, many experts agreed the NL East was one of the most competitive divisions in baseball ranking only behind the AL East. Something happened between March and now, because only 1 team in the NL East currently has a winning record (Phillies). In fact, in terms of winning percentage the NL East is the least competitive division in the majors, and it's not all the Nationals fault.


1st- Philadelphia Phillies (39-34):
This division is theirs for the taking, and could be easily had if they only were able to play winning baseball at home (13-22). They're the only team in the East with a positive run differential (+23), and are are holding on to 1st place because of their astonishing road record (26-12). Pitching has been this team's Achilles heel. The staff sports a 4.80 ERA, the starters continually have short performances, the bullpen blows leads, and they all give up tons of homeruns (107). The offense and defense have kept the Phils afloat with a NL best 5.3 runs scored per game and .990 fielding %. Injuries to Brett Myers, Raul Ibanez, Scott Eyre, Clay Condrey, and Brad Lidge have taken the wind out of the defending champs sails, but better times are ahead.

2nd- Florida Marlins (39-39):
Many figured this team would make some noise with their excellent core of young talent, especially in the pitching department. A lot has gone wrong for the Fish though, with only starting pitcher Josh Johnson holding up to the hype. Even when their pitching does seem to create outs, the defense is liable to cough it up (59 errors). Florida's offense has its moments, but they lead the majors in strikeouts and have instability at a couple positions (3rd & CF). There's no doubting the legitimacy of SS Hanley Ramirez as one of the best all-around talents in the game today.

3rd- New York Mets (37-38):
What the hell is wrong with this team? Their offense has a terrific batting average (.273), yet they lack the ability to drive in runs. There has been a power outage in Queens, as the Mets have hit a MLB worst 47 homeruns so far this season. Their defense and pitching have been good at times and bad at others. K-Rod has been great at the back end of the bullpen, but Putz was a disaster. Johan is still doing his thing and Livan Hernandez has been the durable innings-eater they needed. There have been plenty of injuries though- JJ Putz, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Oliver Perez, John Maine, and Carlos Delgado. Time for the Phils to kick 'em while they're down.

4th- Atlanta Braves (35-40):
With a tremendous pitching staff (3.89 ERA) the Braves should have a far better record than they do. The problem has been their sputtering offense, even with the addition of Nate McLouth. Brian McCann is truly the only position player doing what he is capable of. The left side of the infield has been particularly feeble on defense (Chipper Jones/3B 13 errors, Yunel Escobar/SS 11 errors). This is how bad the Braves offense has been- Javier Vazquez has a 3.04 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 125 k's in 106.2 ip, and has a losing record of 5-7.


5th- Washington Nationals (22-52):
The worst team in baseball, I need not say more.

Tonight:
Joe Blanton against Derek Lowe in Atlanta.

~Carson

Chasing Eaton - Part II

Fifteen starts into the season and Jamie Moyer is still a train wreck. We're keeping track of how this season compares to Adam Eaton's season of 2008. Here are the numbers so far.

Losses 8
ERA 5.80
WHIP 1.64
BAA .310

Losses 6
ERA 6.05
WHIP 1.51
BAA .309

--------------------------
Monday Poll
I have simple question today. Which Phillie would you most like to see get cut/released/sent down/shot/etc.? Your nominees are:
- Paul Bako - A third catcher so Coste can be our main RH PH? No thank you.
- Eric Bruntlett - Useless.
- Jack Taschner - Useless.
- Other - Write in votes accepted in the comment section.

Who Has To Go?
	Bako
	Bruntlett
	Taschner
	Other

---------------------------
WSBGM's Fantasy Standings


Corey

Altercation, Shutout, Uselessness, and Chen

Based on the title of this post you may be lead to believe that it is about an altercation involving Bruce Chen in which he was useless while the team was shutout, but you'd be wrong.

The Altercation:
Eaton still haunts the Phillies. Just so happens it's not Adam this time but some buttholesaurus named Robert Eaton. Eaton told The St. Petersburg Times that JC Romero grabbed him by the back of the neck and shoved him after the two exchanged words about Romero's vitamin supplements performance enhancing drug supplements. Eaton asked, "How about you get me some juice?". JC retorted with the obligatory "shut the f*ck up!". That wasn't it from the ill-tempered reliever as he "He reared back and kinda grazed my chin and grabbed me by the neck and threw me back," Eaton told the newspaper. Eaton sounds like an a-hole, but Romero is clearly in the wrong here and suspension is likely forthcoming.

The Shutout:
JA Happ has sadly become the staff ace. I type that in a mocking tone, if there is such a thing, because the fact that he's pitching well is terrific, but it's sad that he's been our best hope at winning a ball game. After yesterday's shutout of the Blue Jays, Happ went to 5-0 with a 3.00 ERA on the year. That's far better than goldenboy Cole Hamels' mediocre numbers.



The Uselessness:
I understand the use of benching Jimmy Rollins, but I do not understand the use of Eric Bruntlett. The man is on pace to collect nearly 200 at bats, but he wields a putrid bat, and by putrid I mean complete crap. I would rather do something crazy like start Pedro Feliz at SS for a few games and have Greg Dobbs play 3rd. He has the worst OPS in the majors with players of 60+ at bats (.402).







The Chen:
There has been a Bruce Chen sighting and it was against the Pirates with Chen donning a KC Royals jersey. Well, it actually was a Kansas City Monarchs jersey, but who's watching anyway? I somehow fondly remember Chen from his days with the Phils. Oh, how time can play tricks with one's mind.

~Carson

Oh Great, Lidge Is Back...

Brad Lidge and his mole came back last night. He gave up 2 runs on 2 hits and two walks and only got a single out. It's not looking good. Brad Lidge is so bad...

...How bad is he?

Well, he's so bad, that:

- Jose Mesa just bought a new red glove.
- Lee Thomas now thinks Wayne Gomes was a pretty good draft pick.
- The Phils have invited Heathcliff Slocum, Roger McDowell and Jeff Brantley to a workout.
- His performance is more nauseating than the Blue Jays throwback uniforms.
- Ruben Amaro has inquired about the availability of Joel Hanrahan.
- A fan was overheard saying, "Whatever happened to Mark Leiter?"
- Billy Wagner seems like less of an asshole.
---------------------------
Gameday
Lucky for us, we don't have to wait until 8:00 before the fate of the game is decided. Today we'll know the Phils are going to lose by 2:00.

JA Happ goes for the Phis while Brad Mills makes his second career start. You may remember him from his first career start, when the Phils jumped on him for 4 runs in 3.2 innings. Of course, the Jays won the game 8-7. I see similar events happening today.

On a positive note, Jimmy Rollins should be back in the lineup today and the Blue Jays likely won't wear those horrific blue unis. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.

Corey

Phlashback Phriday - Little League Rollins

I'm changing things up a little today for the Phlashback. Usually we focus on a former player of relative obscuratiy but today I want to look at current player and "phlashback" to when he was a kid. Today's subject: Jimmy Rollins.

Here's a video I found on the 'net that shows young Jimmy fine tuning his swing during a little league game in Oakland.



In little Jimmy's defense, that was only strike one. And if he would get that pitch today, he would likely fly out to short left field...

Corey