Rollins Hurt for the 37th Time this Year

Okay, the number is probably closer to 25. Seriously, it seems Jimmy Rollins just can't stay healthy this season. He left tonight's game with a tight right hammy. He'll be listed the customary day-to-day, but who really knows what that means. Fans wonder the cause of the offensive inconsistency. Well, look no farther than the injury report on our Little Engine That Could (aka J-Roll). Wilson Valdez is the substitute, meaning Jimmy better get some miracle cream rubbed on that flat tire of his and get suited up by the weekend.

Meanwhile, Phils are up 9-0. Most shocking thing- these runs are in support of Cole Hamels who went about 2 months without as much wiggle room. Seems he'll pick up his 10th win of the season and finally drop the "loser" tag due to a sub .500 record.

Oh yeah, Braves are killing the Pirates tonight. Had to be expected. Buccos taking two from them was a gift.

Boobs- On the Field and in the Stands

The Phillies are back in 1st place, and it's been a long damn time. The game itself was pretty ugly (is that an oxymoron?), but in the end the Phils won 8-7 and the Braves lost to our interstate buddies the Pirates. A half game lead never felt so good.

The Good: Victorino going deep and swiping a bag. Ibanez's near cycle, fell a double short. Polly's go-ahead single in the bottom of the 8th. Howard and J-Roll going a combined 4-7 with 4 runs scored and 3 rbi. Werth being originally benched.

The Bad: Werth being inserted into the lineup due to a Dom Brown sore quad and making a retarded unnecessary throw that scored a run for the Marlins. Utley's stupid throw to home with no shot at getting the runner, and the ball sailed about a Randy Johnson above Chooch anyway. Romero balking then walking his only batter on 4 pitches. Ryan Madson wild pitching the tying run in. They played like boobs.

Speaking of boobs...

Don't Call It A Comeback

They've been here all year...

...except they haven't seen first place since May. But all that can change tonight. With a win against the Fish and another Braves loss the Fightins will take back their rightful place atop the NL East.

Now, there are some things going against this reclamation project. First, the Braves are not likely to lose again to the lowly Pirates. Second, Ladies Love Cool Joe is pitching for the Phils. Hopefully he can rebound from his 4 inning, 10 hit abomination last outing.
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Vance Worley > Kyle Kendrick
I'm done watching Kyle Kendrick. He's been really bad recently, to the tune of 2-4 and a 7.04 ERA in his last six starts. His next scheduled start is Saturday against the Mets. I say give that start to young Vance and hope for some "flash in the pan" success.
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Werth to Boras
Werth is dropping his agent, Jeff Borris, and is close to signing with Scott Boras. It's not news to anyone that Werth is looking to cash in on his recent success and will be leaving the Phillies, but hiring a guy like Scott Boras just makes it official. And I'm perfectly fine with it. I'd like to see Werth stay but I can't hate on somebody trying to make money. I just hope he has a horrible 2011 season...

Getting To Know - Vance Worley

Vance Worley is making his first major league start today against the Fish. Let's take a look at how the 22 year old made it the Bigs.

High School - Worley graduated from McCatchey High School in Sacramento, Ca. He was a three-time first team All-Metro League selection and a two-time All-City pick and finished his high school pitching career with a 15-7 record.

College - After high school, Worley escaped the cows and mountains of NoCall and enrolled at Long Beach State, the Los Angeles school that produced major-leaguers Jason Giambi, Harold Reynolds, Steve Trachsel and Evan Longoria. While there, he looked like this (see pic to the right). His college career was less than spectacular (12-13, ERA around 4) but he had a solid Cape Cod campaign. The Phillies took him in the 20th round and he left The Beach after his junior season.

Minors - Worley had a great start to his professional career posting a 2.68 ERA in eleven starts in the Sally League with Lakewood. His next season was a little disappointing as his ERA soared to 5.34 in 27 starts with Reading. During that season, Carson took this picture of him, looking rather goofy and blurry. Worley bounced back in 2010, though. Between the R-Phils and the FeHams Worley's he has gone 10-7 with a tidy 3.36 ERA.

Majors - On July 24th, Worley pitched a perfect 9th inning during a blowout of the Rockies.

Thome Hat Tip, Call-Ups & Stellar Bullpen

Hat Tip to Thome:
WSBGMs would like to congratulate slugging 40 year old Jim Thome on becoming the 9th ranked homerun hitter in MLB history. Yesterday he blasted 2 homeruns, now with 20 on the season and 584 in his career, and passed the steroid denying Mark McGwire. Frank Robinson and his 586 bombs are next on the totem pole of achievement. Thome is a class act all the way. I remember his 400th homerun in a Phils uniform and how his signing brought excitement back to the franchise. Future Hall-of-Famer in my opinion.

Call-Ups:
Paul Hoover/C, Greg Dobbs/3B/OF, and Ross Gload/1B/OF have already been summoned from the minors and reportedly Nate Robertson/LHP is next in line. Don't be surprised to see Vance Worley/RHP, Drew Carpenter/RHP, Scott Mathieson/RHP, Mike Zagurski/LHP, and John Mayberry/OF to also join the Phils for the stretch drive after their minor league seasons end within the next week. Of that group Gload is the one that is the biggest asset, but Mayberry offers some pinch hitting pop and Mathieson has quality stuff that produces strikeouts, so at least we won't have Herndon pitching 4 innings to end a game or Oswalt in the outfield.

Stellar Bullpen:
The bullpen has been a sore subject for much of the season, but the group of Ryan Madson, Brad Lidge, JC Romero, Chad Durbin, and Jose Contreras have done well lately. Even David Herndon has been serviceable. With the starting pitching doing a fine job and the bats possibly coming to life finally in the last month of the season this team is setting up for a run deep into October.

*Old Buddy/Now Enemy Randy Wolf gets the start for the Brew Crew today with Kyle Kendrick looking to secure the sweep.

Kickoff Saturday, Cy Doc & Great Losers

Today marks the kickoff of the college football season. Personally, I am not a fan. I played 4 years of college ball getting my head bashed roughly 75 plays a game, so it lost it's appeal over the years. However, I know many of you will be glued to the televisions watching the eleventy-billion games on ESPN/ESPN2/ESPN-OCHO, whatever. Have fun rooting for your team, I'll be busy partaking of Labor Day picnic festivities...beer, food, games, more beer, more food, getting fatter.


Cy Doc:
Reading through a lot of early predictions for awards and I am noticing many analysts have Roy Halladay as the frontrunner for the NL Cy Young. I agree. Today he needs to shutdown the Brewers and secure himself win #17 and the Phils a chance at tying the Braves for the NL East lead. He'll be opposed by Dave Bush. Two in the bush is worth 1 in the hand...or something like that.

Other key match-ups: Travis Wood/CIN vs. Adam Wainwright/STL, Jair Jurrjens/ATL vs. Josh Johnson/FLA, and Matt Cain/SFG vs. Ted Lilly/LAD.

Great Losers:
The Phillies own the best pair of losers in the majors in the form of Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt. Wait, what?! Losers in the sense that they have sub .500 records, that's all. Fact is, Hamels and Oswalt are having terrific seasons aside from their win-loss record. They have combined to go 19-23 with 357.2 ip, 344 k, 3.10 ERA, and 1.13 WHIP. Get these guys some runs!

*Vance Worley pitched only 1 inning in his start for Lehigh Valley last night, meaning the Phils may be leaning towards calling him up and giving him the ball in one of the games of Monday's doubleheader.

Irrefutable Evidence That The Howard Wins Games

Eight times this season a Phillie has committed the dubious act of The Howard and the Phillies have gone on to win each one of those games. The latest...a MLB tying best 5th Howard by its namesake.

The Howard- a feat accomplished when a player hits a homerun, strikes out, and commits and error all in the same game.

Only 1 of the 3 criteria is something positive that would aid in winning a ball game (HR). However, WSBGMs has uncovered irrefutable evidence to prove that when a Phillie commits The Howard in a game it will inevitably end with a W for the good guys. The same cannot be said for the remaining 29 teams' players that commit The Howard, as it seems it's only Karmic retribution for the Phightins.

2010 Howards by Phillies:
Ryan Howard- April 7, Phils over Gnats 8-4
Ryan Howard- April 28, Phils over Giants 7-6.
Jayson Werth- May 6, Phils over Braves 7-2.
Chase Utley- May 14, Phils over Brew Crew 9-5.
Jimmy Rollins- June 23, Phils over Indians 7-6.
Ryan Howard- July 9, Phils over Reds 9-7.
Ryan Howard- July 27, Phils over DBacks 9-5.
Ryan Howard- September 2, Phils over Rox 12-11.

Please, sir, may I have some more runs...

Joe Blanton needs twelve runs. Ol' Girl Parts only needs half that.

They should be able to get at least six runs off Chris Capuano. He gave up six runs to the Pirates in his last start, which means the Phils should score about sixteen.
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Buy Low…Really Low
Via an AP report:

“Charlie Morton’s 10.03 ERA is the third highest by a major league starter going into September since the 1952 season. Only Roy Halladay of Toronto in 2000 (4-7, 10.63 ERA) and the Pirates’ Steve Blass in 1973 (3-7, 10.40 ERA) had higher ERAs with at least 10 decisions at this stage in the season.”

“It’s been up and down, obviously,” Morton said.

It seems obvious to me that Ruben Amaro needs to trade for Charlie Morton. Sure he's been down, really far down. But like Charlie says, it's been up too. And by comparison to similar pitchers, it's likely going to be up and up and up. At best he ends up Roy Halladay. At worst he ends up Steve Blass. Here’s the deal: Frency, Snorty and the other guy we got for Cliff Lee for Charlie Morton.
Make the deal, Rube.

Amaro The (Great?) Trader

Roy Oswalt with the Phillies:
4-1, 1.89 ERA, 0.986 WHIP

Cliff Lee with the Rangers:
2-5, 4.69 ERA, 1.128 WHIP...and one trip back to Texas to check on his aching back.

Because Oswalt has been so good and Lee looks like he's not going to make it through the season, I almost forget that horrible, horrible, horrible trade from last winter...
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Tonight's Matchup
Jhoulys Chacin started the season with two terrific starts. Then he became kind of an average pitcher and was demoted to the bullpen, then AAA. He's back in the rotation now and his last two starts have been great (14+ IP, 1 ER). Let's hope he reverts back to his average form tonight.

For as bad as he's been for most of the year, Joe Blanton has been solid lately, allowing two runs or less in 5 of his last 7 starts. Joe likes giving up fly balls though and in Denver, fly balls become home runs.

Rod And The Phillie Killers

Rod Barajas – OPS greater than 1.100; destroyed Brett Myers' arm
Brian Schneider – 1/6 of career home runs against the Phillies
Brad Wilkerson – OPS of .920 and 13 career home runs
Mark Lemke - .332 average
Matt Diaz - .326 average and 30 RBI

I'm sure there are more (and worse) Phillie killers out there. Feel free to let me know who I should have included in the comment section.

Onward & Upward- LA Bound

Haven't we seen enough of the LA Dodgers over the past few seasons? Who cares, Phils beat them when it matters...sorry Bowa! One positive, no Manny this series, Mr. Fertility Drug is now with the White Sox. Andre "I absolutely slaughter Phillies pitching, makeout with all their wives/girlfriends, and have a voodoo doll of Charlie Manuel" Either will be in the lineup though. Whatever, screw LA. Doc Halladay gets the ball tonight in the opener and he's full of bullets having only thrown 73 pitches last start. He's ripe for a complete game shutout. All this bitching about the offense can cease as soon as the bats getting collectively going, and what better time than against a Joe Torre lead team?

If there are any Phils fans making a trip to Los Angeles for the series, don't forget to stop by one of those fancy-smancy lingerie boutiques on Rodeo Drive (that's Row-Day-Oh) and get something sexy for the misses.

What Up, Uts?

.269 average? Lowest OPS since 2004? What is up with ol' Chase?

I think I may have figured it out. I took a look at some Utley photos from recent Phillies games. I noticed something different. Take a look.




Goatee? Mullet? Dropping batting average? Holy crap, it's Mickey Morandini!

Apparently Utley's thumb has not healed so the Phillies have hired Mickey to "stand in" for Chase until he's ready to play. Well, that solves that mystery.

Antidotes

Sweeping Sunday? We'll see. While we wait with bated breath, here are some antidotes to keep your mind busy...

• Key Match-Ups: Cole Hamels/PHI vs. Clayton Richards/SDP, Josh Johnson/FLA vs. Derek Lowe/ATL, Rodrigo Lopez/ARI vs. Matt Cain/SFG, John Lannan/WAS vs Adam Wainwright/STL.
  
• Hollywood Hamels last win was on July 11th and his last win previous to that June 13th. 10 total quality starts in that span with only 2 wins, c'mon offense!
  
• Joe Blanton is 3-1 with a 3.41 ERA in nine starts since the All-Star break. He had a 6.41 ERA in 13 starts before the break. He followed a similar path last season. He had a 7.11 ERA after eight starts in 2009, but had a 3.16 ERA in 23 starts the rest of the way. (The Zo Zone)
  
• Ryan Howard's .839 OPS ranks 11th in the Majors among firstbasemen. That's pathetic. He was given a massive contract extension and we're already witnessing his decline. Like Corey and I stated from the beginning, this contract is going to become a humongous burden. He's being paid like he's one of the best batters in all of baseball and he's not even in the Top 10 at his own position.
• Greg Dobbs is batting .140/.401 in Triple-A in 43 at bats. Please just release him from the organization so that there's zero chance of him being recalled in September.
  
• Nyjer Morgan assaulted a Phillies fan with a baseball. Mr. Morgan was being heckled by some fans in the outfield (imagine that?) and tossed a ball into the stands striking a man in the temple (not one of the hecklers). Apparently they were teasing his small stature and wearing of the uniform by calling him a jockey. He has since been suspended 7 games, but is appealing. (ESPN)

Eyes Wide Shut

When Jimmy Rollins slid across the plate with a self-described Karate Kid-like move that ended up being the winning run I was already deep in slumber. I do not regret staving off sleep to watch this victory. Sure, the win brought the Phillies to within 2 games of the Braves and gave them a slight margin for the NL Wild Card over the Giants, but witnessing a catastrophic Brad Lidge meltdown and Charlie Manuel managing idiotfest would have kept me awake with anger into the wee morning hours.

Roy Oswalt was in command of all of his pitches last night and dominating the Padres through 8 innings. His pitch count reached 102, and with his spot up in the order in the top of the 9th Manuel opted to pinch hit for him. Critical blunder. Oswalt is a veteran pitcher and retired the last 13 batters in a row and 17 of the last 19 he faced. He should have been given the opportunity to finish the game himself. 102 pitches is not a lot. I'm f'n sick and tired of these namby-pamby pitch counts. I know, I know, go tell that to Stephen Strasburg. But Oswalt ain't no Strasburg, he's f'n Roy Oswalt, owner of a lifetime 146-83 record with nearly 2000 innings under his belt. He could have handled another 15-20 pitches. That ball game never needed to be in the hands of Brad Lidge.

Ugh, Brad Lidge. He had been very good, actually he was great, since his last blown save. However, last night displayed in glorious high definition why he's a mental midget. How the hell do you balk in the tying run? I'll tell you how- you're confidence incompetent. No excuse.

Some more negativity- Ryan Howard has struck out in 14 of his last 21 at bats.

So, yeah, the Phils won the game, but in tragic fashion. Whatever, onward and hopefully upward.

Bring Back The Duck Pond

Most people watch baseball because of their deep rooted love of the game and of course for entertainment. Viewing the debacle of this past week has tested Phillies fans' love and most definitely was not entertaining (save Oswalt shagging flies). Now it's on to the West Coast to face a hard-nosed squad that has held down 1st place in the extremely competitive NL West nearly all season long- the San Diego Padres. That means 10 PM start times and early AM end times here on the Atlantic shelf. Why bother staying up late to only be infuriated by inferior lackadaisical play on the field and wasted opportunities? It's just as easy to read about another lackluster performance from the lineup in the box score the next day. What would make me tune in though is the return of The Duck Pond. Yes, Brandon Duckworth is worth mucho nostalgia points in my book.

Many casual Phillies fans and even some diehards probably don't know Duckworth has been toiling in Triple-A Lehigh Valley all season long and has done a good job in both the rotation and in relief. In 23 games, 15 of them starts, he has compiled a 5-4 record over 95.2 innings with a 3.39 ERA and 98 k's. Is that going to help the Phillies into the playoffs? Nope, but neither will Danys Baez. Duckworth last pitched in the Majors in 2008 with the Royals. His last days in Philly were back in 2003 before he was swapped to Houston in the Billy Wagner trade. Aside from his awesome fan group, he's a decent hitter too- .221/.541, I mean that's better than our lineup lately.

Okay, by now you should know that this is not serious. It's more of an outlet for the total disgust over the current 25-man roster of the Phillies than an actual plea for Brandon Duckworth's call-up. So, if you care tonight features Roy Oswalt against Mat Latos (yes, only one "t"). Watch it if you want.

Yada, Yada, Bright Side and Crap...

The Phils just got swept by the Astros and show no sign that they might start hitting the ball soon. But again, we have to look at the positives:

1) Three of the next six games start at 10:00 on the east, which means most of us will be fast asleep and miss this horror show.

That's all the positive I can think of right now...

A Look To The Bright Side

It’s time for everyone to take a deep breath. Yes, they’ve lost three in a row to the mediocre Astros, but the team doesn’t suck. They’ll win more games. I know it’s hard, but look at all the positives:

1) They are only 2.5 games behind the Braves.
2) They are .001 percentage points ahead of the Giants.
3) The Braves and Giants are playing as poorly as the Phillies.
4) The Phils have Kyle Kendrick pitching this afternoon, which pretty much ensures victory.
5) Scott Barry will be gone after today.
6) The team can't hit like this forever. Ryan Howard is 3-20 since coming off of the DL. He won't hit .150 the rest of the season.
7) It's very unlikely that another runner gets picked-off today.
8) With Chase Utley back, Wilson Valdez is 20% less likely to hit into a double play.
9) The Phils still have two series left with the Mets, so that's at least 4 wins right there.

Today's game - birthday boy KK (8-6, 4.58) vs. Wandy Rodriguez (9-12, 4.00)

Why Larry Andersen Should Be (And Isn't) On TV

[Hat tip to Preserve Jon for the audio link]