Phinally Philly

There have been a lot of complaints about the Phillies as of late, from bad pitching to the lack of hitting with runners in scoring position to stupid mental mistakes. While they didn’t do much to assuage these concerns today, the team made several smart plays and feasted on a terrible outing from Cubs’ closer Carlos Marmol to take the win 4-1.

While it would be nice to say that the Phils won the game for themselves, that doesn’t tell the entire story. Cole Hamels contributed another great pitching performance, allowing just eight hits and one run over seven innings. Once again he received very little run support from his teammates, bringing him awfully close to an undeserved hard luck loss.

The Phils quickly turned their fortunes around in the ninth. With Brian Schneider and Ross Gload on base, Placido Polanco stroked a single to left center, and in a rare brilliant move from third base coach Sam Perlozzo, he waved Schneider home, just barely beating the tag to tie the score.

J-Roll would walk on a wild pitch, which brought Gload home for the lead. Ryan Howard would be intentionally walked before Jayson Werth was unintentionally walked to add onto the lead. Raul Ibanez would cap off the scoring with a bases loaded single to put the Fightins up 4-1.

Brad Lidge came in for the home half of the ninth, throwing a relatively quiet inning to get his seventh save. Although Chad Durbin got the win, I wish he could donate it to Hamels for a job well done. The starter’s season ERA is down to 3.63 after yet another impressive outing.

Tomorrow the Phils go for the series and season split as Roy Halladay takes the hill against the Cubs’ Tom Gorzelanny.

Ageless wonder Jamie Moyer might be putting together a decent season, but his kryptonite appears to be MLB’s oldest stadiums. After getting shelled last month in Boston’s Fenway Park, he made an early exit tonight at Wrigley Field as the Cubs took down the Phillies 12-6.

Although the Phils ended the season’s first half with a bang by sweeping the first place Cincinnati Reds over the course of four games, the best laid plans were quickly tossed tonight.

Ryan Howard’s early two-run homer gave Jamie Moyer a lead to work with going into the home half, but that’s all of the scoring they would do for most of the game. On the other hand, the Cubs came to play. They teed off on Moyer early and often, lighting him up for six runs over three innings and adding two more homers onto his all-time list.

David Herndon, Kyle Kendrick, and Chad Durbin (activated off the DL today) all pitched brilliantly, allowing just two hits between them over three innings. The shit would hit the fan when Jose Contreras took the mound, as he was just putrid, allowing five runs off of five hits over the course of 2/3 inning. Danys Baez was able to stop the bleeding a bit, but he still surrendered a run over four hits.

The bats would finally wake up in the top of the ninth as the Fightins were able push four runs home, which made the final score slightly less embarrassing. Shane Victorino knocked home Wilson Valdez, Raul Ibanez would follow with an RBI single, and then Howard capped off the scoring for the night with another monster two-run blast out of The Friendly Confines.

For a team with a lot of ground to make up in the NL East, this was not the way to start the second half of the season. Although not insurmountable, the Phils now sit 5.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in third place. The underachieving Cubs seem like just the team to beat up on, so the Phillies need to show what they’re made of over the course of the next three games.

With the Phillies struggling over the past few weeks, it seemed as if they would be limping into the All Star break and be lucky to go into the break above .500.

After losing series to Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Atlanta, the Phillies were six games back in the NL East and seemed to be on the verge of falling out of the race before the midpoint of the season.

What a difference three games can make.

With the NL Central leaders Cincinnati in town, the Phillies took the first game on a 12th inning HR by Brian Schneider. Cody Ransom & Ryan Howard followed that up the next night with 2 run HRs in the 9th & 10th innings the next night.

After a brilliant pitchers’ duel between Roy Halladay and rookie Travis Wood, who took a perfect game into the 9th, Jimmy Rollins gave the Phillies a 3rd consecutive win with a hit in the bottom of the 11th to score Carlos Ruiz with the lone run of the game.

Cole Hamels goes for the Phillies in the last game of the series to try and get the sweep, but you have to feel as if the Phillies would rather just keep playing. The momentum from these past three games could be the turning point of the season that the Phillies need. Hopefully, the break won’t sap too much from them.

With Ryan Madson returning last night and Chooch back tonight, the Phillies are starting to get a bit healthy. Placido Polanco is scheduled to start his rehab next week, while Chase Utley remains a ways off from returning.

Even though the Phillies remain in 3rd place in the East, behind the Braves & Mutts, at 46-40, they’re only 2 games behind last year’s pace. The rest of the East has improved, and the Phillies remain right in the thick of it all.

WIth one game left before the break, a sweep of the Reds would be huge. I’m sure Halladay would appreciate it. He wanted to come to the Phillies to win a title. He might be the greatest 10-7 pitcher ever heading into the All Star break.

Could this streak signal the return of the Phillies from the past two years? It’s up to Puppy Purse Hamels to finish out the sweep tomorrow.

“Don’t forget what we’ve done the past two years. Don’t throw in the towel. Get behind us.”

Those words came out of Shane Victorino’s mouth after a frustrating 7-5 loss to the Braves tonight. Atlanta takes this series 2-1, sending the Phils to six games out of first place, sitting in third place behind them and the Mets.

After the game, the 80th straight sellout crowd let the team hear it, erupting in boos as the players left the field.

The night began with Martin Prado stroking a solo homerun, allowing the Braves to jump to an early lead. The Phils would tie it up in the second inning and then take take a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 5th off of a two run blast from Ryan Howard.

Most importantly, after Jamie Moyer surrendered the early homer, he was locked in and cruised through the Atlanta lineup. It was easy to think that the Phils would stay on top since coming into the game Moyer had not allowed an earned run to the Braves over 15 innings pitched this season.

Moyer would finally hit a wall in the sixth inning. After allowing another solo shot to Prado, things unraveled way too quickly. After a single, double, and a walk, Brian McCann doubled to clear bases. Matt Diaz would follow that with a two run homerun, and just like that the Phillies were looking up at a 7-3 Braves lead.

While Moyer has been very good this season, tonight just wasn’t his night. With hindsight, it’s easy to say that he should have been yanked after the fifth inning as he had clearly run out of gas by the time he took the mount in the sixth.

The Phillies would add a run in the seventh off of a Shane Victorino solo blast and a Ben Francisco RBI single, but like many times in the last couple months, it was just not enough. Billy Wagner threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning to save the game, sealing the loss for the Phils.

Maybe it’s the heightened expectations we all have for a team that is quite good on paper, maybe even the best in the division, but paper doesn’t always translate to reality. And oddly enough, it’s not the bench players that are the most frustrating right now – it’s the guys that we expect the most from.

We all know the Phillies are a second half team, but watching them play right now is frustrating. It’s easy to point at one or two guys and say that’s who’s not pulling the weight, but in reality, it’s all across the board.

Utley, Polanco, and Ruiz are hurt. Shane Victorino is batting .252. Ryan Howard only has 15 homeruns. Raul Ibanez is the exact opposite of an offensive threat. Jimmy Rollins has been injured multiple times. Joe Blanton has been ineffective. The bullpen has been useless. The list goes on and on.

But most importantly, this is an old team. The only starting position player on the right side of 30 is Shane Victorino, who will be 29 for slightly less than five more months.

It’s not the time to panic or make drastic moves, but we’re getting close to it. The Phillies are by not out of the the division race, but while their competition has improved, they’ve stayed the same and in some ways have regressed.

When the Phils reconvene after the All-Star break, they could catch fire rendering this entire discussion moot. We know they have it in them, but with the injuries and performance issues, they seem like a lost team. They’re not quite in it, but they are by no means out of it.

Are the 2010 Phillies turning into the 2009 Mets? It sure seems that way as this year has already seem multiple injuries to Jimmy Rollins and disabled list stints for J.A. Happ, Placido Polanco, Carlos Ruiz, and Chase Utley. To make matters worse, it came out today that the thumb Utley injured while sliding into second base on Monday would require surgery.

According to MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki, the procedure will happen today and the All-Star second baseman’s timetable is unknown, although Peter Gammons says it’s four to six weeks. (UPDATE: Various sources now report he will be out at least 8 weeks)

This is a huge hole to have in the infield, especially with the intangibles that Utley brings to the team. Although Polanco will be back before the All-Star break, there’s still damage control that needs to be handled.

Despite being in third place, the team is one short hot streak away from reclaiming the top spot. Although bench players like Brian Schneider Wilson Valdez, and Dane Sardinha have been playing very well as of late, that performance is by no means sustainable for these AAAA players. Although Utley hasn’t played as well as expected this season, he has picked it up as of late by hitting .367 with one home run and 11 RBIs in the last 13 games.

While Phillies fans have been told not to panic at each roadblock this season, things may be getting dire. The severely below average bench will surely show their true face sooner than later, and the team can not afford to fall further out of first place.

Options may not exist in-house, but there are a few guys who are on other teams or are free agents that would do just the trick. MLB Trade Rumors’s Ben Nicholson-Smith recently looked at some of the options that might work for the Philles, and while a few of them are obviously out of the team’s price range, like Dan Uggla and Kelly Johnson, names like Adam Everett and Akinori Iwamura would make sense.

Everett and Iwamura could both reasonably play every day, and when Utley returns in August, either one would be an upgrade on the bench.

Utley has been excellent when coming off of injuries in the past, such as after his broken wrist in July 2007 and his hip surgery after the WFC season. Both times he returned ahead of schedule and ready to play, so we can likely expect the same speedy recovery this time around.

It’s not time to hit the panic button yet. The Phillies are within striking distance and are still a very good ball club, but things just got a lot tougher. The braintrust has options out there, and this is the perfect time for them to do a bit of tinkering.

What a difference a few months makes.

Heading into the 2010 season, it seemed as if the Phillies’ bench would be vastly improved over the 2009 version. Eric Bruntlett, Matt Stairs, Chris Coste, & Miguel Cairo were all gone. In their place were Brian Schneider, Juan Castro, & Ross Gload.

When Jimmy Rollins went down early in the season for the second year in a row, the Phillies were able to plug in Juan Castro & Wilson Valdez to replace him. They hit a terrible slump, but they seemed to be coming out of it the past few games.

Now, there’s another huge hurdle to overcome. Both Placido Polanco and Chase Utley were placed on the 15 day disabled list today, Utley with a sprained thumb and Polanco with an elbow issue.

These moves required some call ups to fill the spots. The Phillies were forced to recall Greg Dobbs and Brian Bocock.

Really? The same Greg Dobbs that was sent down to Lehigh Valley last week after being terrible for the big club? The same Dobbs who went 2-17 in four games as an Iron Pig? The same Brian Bocock who was hitting .179 with a whopping one home run? The same Bocock who owns a .143 average in 77 major league at-bats?

This can’t be the same two-time defending National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies we’re talking about right?

When Rollins went down, it started a slump that hit everyone on the team. With Rollins back, it seemed as if the team had regained it’s swagger and was getting back to winning games the way it had been over the past few seasons. Now, with two huge parts of the lineup out, it’s going to be tough to keep pace in the suddenly competitive NL East.

It’s kind of funny that the Phillies are running low on options to replace Polanco & Utley as Polly was targeted in the offseason party because he’d be able to fill in at second if Utley got hurt. That worked out well.

It’s going to be hard to replace the numbers from Utley and Polanco for a few weeks, but the Phillies are going to have to come up big so as not to fall too far back in the East.

Looks like the offensive replacements may have been found already, as Wilson Valdez just knocked a 3 run HR as I typed this after Schneider hit a 2 run HR earlier in the game against Cincinnati.

On second thought, maybe the Phillies will be alright after all….

Heading into this week’s road trip, it didn’t look good for the Phillies. Six games against the AL East powers Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. The Fightins were struggling and it looked like it could get worse.

It did get worse after the Phillies looked terrible in their 3 game series with Boston and the series with the Yankees loomed ahead. After the Yuckees roughed up Roy Halladay, the Phillies had Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick up next. Uh-oh.

To everyone’s surprise, Moyer & Kendrick shut down the Yankees’ offense and the Phillies’ offense actually showed signs of life, scoring 13 runs in the last 2 games. It amazes me that Moyer and Kendrick baffled the Yankees after Doc struggled, but a W is a W and the Phillies will take them any way they can.

The past two games reminded me of the way that the Phillies were playing earlier this season. They got solid pitching performances and the offense pounded out some runs.

With the team getting closer to full health, performances like this should become more regular. Jimmy Rollins & J.A. Happ are starting their rehabs, so they should be along shortly. The Phillies were rolling when they were healthy, and they will soon be healthy again.

A week ago, it seemed all doom & gloom with this team, but after this 3 game series against the Yanks, it appears as if the Phils may be close to turning a corner.

After going 1-4 for the Phillies in 2006 and having 2 Tommy John surgeries on his elbow,  Philleis’ prospect (can we even call him that anymore?)  Scott Mathieson finally returns to Philly after an almost 4 year absence. He was recalled today when reliever Antonio Bastardo was placed on the 15 day DL with a left elbow injury.

Mathieson had been pretty impressive in Spring Training this year and had a chance to make the team, but it was a long shot. After spending the first half of this season in Lehigh Valley, he gets another chance to pitch in the big leagues.

He showed good stuff before the injury and has been on a long rehab ever since. He was 2-2 with a 2.43 ERA in 25 games for the Iron Pigs. He also picked up 12 saves while throwing 29.2 innings. He has the potential to be a future closer at some point.

With the way the Phillies’ starters have been getting knocked around recently, Mathieson will most likely get ample opportunities to show that he should stay up. Even if he gets sent back down when Bastardo returns, it’s a significant accomplishment just to get back to this point.

Less than a week after the worst start of his career, Jamie Moyer bounced back and notched the 265th win of his career against the New York Yankees. The win was also Charlie Manuel’s 700th career win as a manger, with 480 of them coming in his 6 years with the Phillies.

In the 6-3 Phillies’ win, Moyer went 8 innings and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits, while striking out 5 and walking 2. With that terrible start against the Red Sox sandwiched between two great starts, it’s the same old Moyer. Teams are either going to rock him, or he’ll get a nice big strike zone and make batters look foolish.

In getting the win, Moyer also became the oldest pitcher ever to beat the Yankees, at 47 years and 210 days. Just seeing Moyer go out there every 5th day and take the ball gets more impressive every time.

In tying a record that he’d rather not have, Moyer also is now neck and neck with Robin Roberts for most home runs allowed in a career with 504. Pitching as long and as much as those two pitchers have, it’s inevitable to have a record like that.

The Phillies’ offense also showed some signs of life as they rocked A.J. Burnett. Shane Victorino knocked a bases loaded triple to drive in 3 runs in the 2nd inning. Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth also reminded us of the power that this team has with back to back home runs in the 3rd.

The Fightins are in a rough spot right now, dropping all the way to 3rd in the NL East, but if they can get back to playing games like this on a regular basis, they’ll be fine. It’s only July. They’ve only played 63 games. Still 99 left to go…

After getting shelled early and often during the past two games, the Phillies needed their closer keep the Red Sox at bay on Sunday. Starter Cole Hamels did just that, keeping the potent Boston lineup quiet over the course of seven innings.

The team ended the weekend on a high note, picking up a 5-3 victory. Brad Lidge pitched the final 2/3 of the ninth inning for his fourth save of the year, giving up just one hit and throwing his slider with an unfettered confidence.

The scoring began when Adrian Beltre blasted a solo homerun for the Red Sox, but the Phillies would take the lead for good in the fourth innning. Jayson Werth singled Ryan Howard in to tie the score, and then Raul Ibanez took Tim Wakefield to deep right field to put the Fightins ahead 3-1.

Before the inning was over, Juan Castro would single Ben Francisco home to put another run on the board.

While the Phils added another run in the top of the ninth, Boston would threaten in the bottom of the inning off of a shaky J.C. Romero.

Romero would manage just one out, giving up a run on a passed ball to David Ortiz, and then walking J.D. Drew before the left-hander got the hook.

Lidge gave up an RBI single to rookie Daniel Nava, but he was able to shut the door from there to nail down the save.

Since the beginning of May, Hamels has looked like the one that helped the team win the World Series in 2008, despite the 6-5 record. He has begun to show that he is this team’s bonafide #2 starter behind Roy Halladay.

Today’s start lowered this ERA to 3.75, and if you take out the rain-shortened 2/3 inning, 3-run appearance in Atlanta, his ERA dips to 3.43. He hasn’t give up more than three runs in any start since May 4th, but in his three previous starts he was tagged with a loss each time.

On top of that, coming into today’s game, he has owned the Red Sox. Over the course of two games, Hamels had two victories, a 1.93 ERA, and a 0.93 WHIP over the course of 14 innings.

The Phillies take tomorrow off before starting a three game set against the Yankees in the Bronx. It will be the first time these two teams have seen each other since last year’s World Series.