Phinally Philly

Ross Gload was brought in by Ruben Amaro this offseason in an effort to upgrade the bench a bit. He was supposed to fill the role that the Bearded Wonder Eric Bruntlett occupied last season. Provide some depth in the infield & outfield and be a pinch hitter off the bench.

Gload hadn’t really contributed much so far this season, which can be attributed to him only getting limited opportunities to do anything.

That all changed last night. After Carlos Ruiz (who is having a great start to the season) singled home the go-ahead run in the ninth against Colorado last night, Gload followed with a 3 run homer to give the Phillies some valuable insurance runs. Those are always nice to have when playing in Coors Field.

The game was a back and forth affair the entire night. Both teams came back from deficits to keep the game close, and it wasn’t until the ninth inning where the Phillies finally found some breathing room.

The Phillies are loaded with high quality players in their starting 8, but getting valuable contributions from bench players is absolutely necessary. The 2008 WFCs had Greg Dobbs having one of the greatest seasons a pinch hitter ever had. Things like that are what allows a good team to take that next step to a championship team.

Another interesting development came up in the bullpen last night. After Ruiz gave the Phillies a 1 run lead, Jose Contreras was warming up in the bullpen to come in for the save, not Brad Lidge. While Gload eventually made it a non-save situation, it seemed as if Charlie Manuel was brining in Contreras for the save over Lidge. Contreras has settled in nicely in Philadelphia after a rough start and has been the best reliever in recent weeks.  Giving him the save opportunities while Lidge works his way back makes sense. In addition to that, Lidge said after the game that he was experiencing a bit of pain in his elbow. Could be nothing, but something to keep an eye on.

The Phillies and Rockies are most likely going to be in the thick of things for the National League playoffs and could potentially meet in the postseason for the third time in the past four seasons. They seemed pretty evenly matched last night, but that was with Kyle Kendrick on the mound for the Phillies. The Rockies get to see Roy Halladay pitch in front of his hometown fans tonight for the first time ever, so I think Doc will be pretty amped up for that.

Maybe Doc could do us all a favor and sail a fastball right at that annoying purple fake-Phillie Phanatic monstrosity behind home plate tonight.

When Cole Hamels regressed in 2009, it was like much of the city forgot about where he had led the team just a year earlier. Due to a combination of bad luck and a limited arsenal of pitches, he wasn’t the same pitcher last year, and much of the city let him hear it.

While Hamels hasn’t been untouchable this year, he’s shown flashes of the ace pitcher that he can be against two quality teams – St. Louis and Atlanta.

Today’s 5-3 win at home, wrapped up another series win for the team, and gave Hamels a tough, but quality start and win to put him at 3-2 for the season.

While his previous outing against the Cardinals will likely be remembered more for the jitbag that ran on the field than anything else, his line speaks for itself. In 8 innings pitched, he gave up no home runs, just one earned run, and only two walks. More importantly, it gave him confidence coming into today.

Like many pitchers, Hamels is a guy that can get rattled easily, so stringing together a few quality starts against formidable opponents are going to do him and the team well.

Today’s game began like many others did in recent memory – by the Phils jumping on the board early. With bases loaded, Werth was plunked by a pitch to force in a run. That was followed by a sacrifice fly by Raul Ibanez who looks like he may be starting to find his groove.

The next two innings saw two more runs put on the board courtesy of solo shots from Placido Polanco and Jayson Werth (the 100th of his career), both of whom have been cornerstones of the team in this very young season. There’s nothing sweeter than seeing a ball launched into a massive sea of red.

Hamels did have a tough inning, which came in the fifth. Giving up 3 runs after allowing five straight batters to reach base, he regrouped to get out of the inning with the lead intact. Being untouchable is one thing, but what’s important is getting the win for your team.

Cole left the gave after 5 innings pitched and 97 pitches. The bullpen was in shutdown mode today as Chad Durbin, Jose Contreras, and Brad Lidge pitched four innings of perfect baseball.

Fans should note the continued dominating performance of Contreras out of the bullpen. With today’s clean slate, he has taken his ERA and WHIP down to 0.84 and 0.56 respectively.

With Ryan Madson nursing his broken toe, Contreras has become the natural set-up man. Barring any sort of poor performance, it should remain his job even when our favorite chair-kicker returns.

Brad Lidge nailed down his first save of the season, throwing just 8 pitches. While the wind did help him out a bit, if Lidge is right physically and right in his head, he can be the guy that the team depended on in ’08.

Like many Mays in recent past, the Phils have hit their stride and are playing good, well-rounded baseball against the cream of the league. They lead the division by two games, ahead of the Mets and the Nationals. Yes, the Nats.

Next up is a six-game road trip that begins tomorrow night in Colorado. Kyle Kendrick will be matching up against the Rockies’ Greg Smith. This is the first meeting between the two teams since last year’s NLDS.

Photo Credit: David Maialetti / Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Photographer

After embarrassing the Mets’ two best pitchers last weekend, the Phillies welcomed the pitching-rich St. Louis Cardinals into town for a series that was billed as a match-up between two likely playoff contenders.

Making his first start since returning from an oblique injury, Joe Blanton pitched a decent game, but coupled with silent bats and a bullpen that couldn’t stop the bleeding, the Phillies dropped the opener 6-3. The next three games would be much different.

The oft-maligned Cole Hamels took the mound on Tuesday. After an absolutely brilliant 2008, he regressed last year. With every intention of getting back on track this season, Cole has had his ups and downs, but this start was his most triumphant statement to date.

Against an extremely potent Cardinals offense, Hamels shut them down, taking a six-hitter into the ninth. After getting his rhythm ruined by an overweight wannabe rapper, #35 gave up consecutive doubles to David Freese and Yadier Molina to tie the game and take it past regulation.

What started out as a pitcher’s duel ended as an extra innings thriller, courtesy of Carlos Ruiz. After hitting reliever Blake Hawksworth’s first offering a long way but just foul, Chooch handled a few more pitches until he laced a 2-1 pitch into the left field stands. It was the second walkoff homerun of his career.

Also notable was the continued emergence of Jose Contreras as one of the best options out of the bullpen. While it may be a small sample size, these are numbers that hint at a potential closing role. In ten appearances and 8 2/3 innings pitched, he has a 1.04 ERA and 0.58 WHIP. Not bad at all.

Kyle Kendrick continued the stellar pitching on Wednesday by going seven scoreless innings to help the Phillies earn a 4-0 shutout. Placido Polanco opened the scoring with two-run homer, and Shane Victorino added a solo shot later in the game.

Although it would be great to think that Kendrick has turned a corner with this performance, he has historically dominated St. Louis. In 27 innings pitched over four starts, he sports a 1.67 ERA with a 1.19 WHIP. We’ll have to see a few more starts like this before determining that Kendrick has finally put it all together.

Thursday’s match-up saw staff ace Roy Halladay take the mound, and ironically, he was the guy that didn’t have his best stuff. While the Phils took home a convincing 7-2 win, Halladay labored at times, loading the bases and exiting the game after 119 pitches through 7 innings.

It was a good performance nonetheless, and the Phils’ bats were able to feast off of Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse. Jayson Werth stroked a three-run homer and Raul Ibanez added a solo shot. Werth would go on to add two doubles as well.

Halladay now sits at 6-1.

The victory was a fitting tribute to Phillies pitching great Robin Roberts. The 83-year old passed away earlier in the day at his Temple Terrace, FL home.

Yes, I’ve made many comments before about how it’s still early, but it’s still fun to see the Phillies take back first place in the NL East from the Mutts.

After getting embarrassed on Friday night, the Phillies rallied over the weekend with a huge offensive outburst to take the final 2 games of the series with the Mets.  After struggling to score runs the past few weeks, the Phillies picked the perfect time to find their bats. Scoring 21 runs in 2 games against the Mets, including 10 against the “best pitcher in the NL East” Johan Santana, is great. The Mets were the hottest team in baseball coming into South Philly and leave licking their wounds.

While beating the Mets was nice, an even better measuring stick looms ahead. Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals come to town for a 4 game set. The Cardinals figure to be one of the top teams in the NL, so it will be good to see how these two teams stack up.  The Phillies usually tend to play well against St. Louis, so this will be an interesting series.

The Phillies also get some help in the starting rotation. Joe Blanton gets the start tonight as he makes his 2010 debut. The pitching has come around as of late, but Blanton has been the most consistent Phillies starter since he arrived 2 years ago, so it’s good to see him back.

It’s May 3rd and the Phillies are in first place. While that’s nice to see, it’s even better to see that the Phillies were able to recover from that drubbing on Friday night to take 2 of 3 from the Mets. Every game in the division is going to be important, and starting it off on the right foot against the Mets was great. Now it’s time to see where this Phillies team stacks up against the other top National League team.

The first place in April New York Mets come to Philadelphia to meet the first place when it counts Philadelphia Phillies for the first time this season.

Thanks to their recent 9-1 homestand, the Mutts have taken over first place in the NL East from the Phillies for the first time since last May. The Phillies going 4-5 on their road trip didn’t help matters, but the Mets have been playing good baseball since getting off to 4-8 start.

These games are always high intensity and I don’t expect this series to be any different. The Mets seem to think that this first place spot is where they belong and the past two seasons were aberrations. Fans in New York are getting a little worked up over the fact that the Mets are in first, but it’s up to the Phillies to remind them that it’s only April.

Coming off of that wild extra innings win in San Francisco, the Phillies had an off day yesterday and will trot Kyle Kendrick out to face the Mets in the opener. Kendrick has been up and down recently, so hopefully he can rise to the challenge and get a quality start.

Both teams will throw their #1s in this series, with Roy Halladay going on Saturday for the Phillies against Mike Pelfrey  and Johan Santana going in the nationally televised Sunday night game against Jamie Moyer. While it would have been great to see the two aces duel on national television, it is more important to have Halladay pitch every 5 days, no matter what. The Mets will be seeing a lot of Halladay over the next few years, so I’m sure there will be a Doc-Santana matchup in the near future.

Pitching has been kind of hit or miss for the Phillies so far, but expect a nice bump when Brad Lidge is activated off of the disabled list today. He had been pitching well in the minors during his rehab and should make his 2010 debut at some point this weekend. The closer’s spot had been filled by Ryan Madson, but after blowing a few more saves on the road trip, I doubt Charlie Manuel wants to see him in that role again soon.

Seeing the Mets in first place is a good thing. The Phillies-Mets rivalry is good for baseball. How fun was it during the 2007 & 2008 seasons to watch the Phillies chase down the Mutts and keep them out of the playoffs? Last season was also fun, seeing how bad the Mets were, but it’s a lot more fun beating them for the top spot in the East.

While it’s only April, games against the Mets always matter. I expect these two teams to be at the top of the division all season, so every game counts. Let the Mets have their fun now. The Phillies will take back the lead when it matters.

It’s crazy to think that a team from Philadelphia can hold onto first place in it’s division for almost a full year, but the Phillies came pretty close to that feat. After their 2nd straight loss to the Giants last night, the Phillies dropped out of first place for the first time since May 25, 2009.

Since it is only April, this is more a post noting the achievement, rather than a post saying “OMG! It’s all over! The Phillies are done!” Crazy as that sounds, there are some peeps out there that are people who think this slump could be the end of the Phillies in 2010.

While not in first place any more, the Phillies are still ahead of where they were last April at this point, and 2009 turned out to be a pretty good year, except for the ending.

It is crazy though how the season has flip-flopped in regards to the offense and pitching. The offense roared out of the gate, leading the league in almost every offensive category through the firs ten games, while the starting pitching struggled. Now, that’s been reversed. The starters have gotten their act together, besides Roy Halladay. Who told him he could lose a game? It’s the offense that is now struggling.

Granted, Jimmy Rollins going down may have contributed to this little slump, but that’s what it is. A slump. Teams go through them all the time.  We all know Ryan Howard isn’t going to go 60 at-bats between each home run for the rest of the season. He’s got to justify that $125 million somehow.

It all boils down to the fact that it is only April. The team team has only played 20 games. (That leaves 142 more for those counting.) It’s going to be hard to break out of their offensive slump going against Tim Lincecum & Johan Santana in two of the next four games, but it will happen. Hell, the way the Phillies have been going, they’ll score a ton of runs against those two and get shutout in the two games in between.

The bats will be back, and if they don’t come back soon, maybe Cholly can take a page from Union coach Peter Nowak and make the team run sprints after losing ugly. Now that’s a coaching tactic I like.

Word come out today, seemingly from nowhere, that Ryan Howard has agreed to a 5 year, $125 million extension, according to CSN Philly’s Jim Salisbury. The deal also includes a club option for a 6th year.

Heading into this season, it was a hot topic on who would get extended after 2010: Ryan Howard or Jayson Werth. With all of the attention being paid to the team trying to keep the payroll down this past offseason, one of those two most likely wouldn’t be getting an extension.

Since Howard has been the cornerstone of the Phillies the past few years, it makes sense to extend him. Yes, while  power hitters tend to slow down as they age, Howard hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, besides his little slump he’s in now. Letting him walk or trading him would be something the Phillies just couldn’t do.

Werth exploded last year for the Phillies. He’s become an All Star in the past season and a half and is loved by many in Philadelphia, especially for his beard. He will most likely command a significant raise, and I just don’t see the Phillies keeping him unless he takes a below market deal to stay in Philly.

The Phillies have a plethora of young/semi-young outfielders ready to step up and become starters. John Mayberry, Jr., Ben Francisco, & Domonic Brown are all on the verge of becoming MLB regulars. With a year left on Raul Ibanez’ contract and Werth potentially gone after this season, those 3 will be looked at to take their places in the outfield in Philadelphia.

The Phillies team that is on the field now is due for a major shakeup in the next few years. This is just the first move of many.

During the first week of the season, the Phillies’ looked like they were set to shatter all kinds of offensive records this season. While they still might, the bats have cooled off in a big way over the past few games.

In their first 10 games, the Phillies scored 77 runs with a team batting average of .315.  In the next 4 games, they’ve only scored six runs with a .188 team batting average. There have been some injuries, like Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth, but that’s a severe drop off. Now, with Placido Polanco out at least one game, the offense really needs to pick up the pace and start scoring runs.

Of course, this slowdown in offensive production happens at the same exact time as the starting pitchers start to improve. Last night’s game was the 3rd straight in which the starting pitcher had gone at least 8 innings and given up less than two runs. Cole Hamels and Kyle Kendrick finally showed up and pitched very well in their starts, but didn’t get the offense just couldn’t score. Everyone knew Doc would go deep and this time, 2 runs were more than enough for him.

The offense is going to go through slumps, as will the starting pitchers. As much as we’d like it to happen, Halladay won’t be going 35-0 with a sub 1 ERA this year.  Hamels and Kendrick won’t go 8+ in every start. The offense won’t be shut out and score 1 run in 18 innings.

After splitting the first two games with Atlanta, the Phillies have a chance to leave with a 2 game lead in the East if they can get the win today. Jamie Moyer gets the start against Derek Lowe, whose not the first pitcher a struggling offense wants to face. Moyer got off to a rough start in his last outing, but rebounded nicely. Hopefully he can get off to a better start this time around.

This series has also proved something about Atlanta. Jason Heyward is the real deal.  This kid is going to be a star. Here’s hoping that Moyer can keep the youngster off balance with his scorching 80 mph fastball, like he does with most young hitters.

See what I did there? Two different play on words in one sentence?

Seriously though, the Phillies have hit a rough patch with their pitching. At first, it seemed the starting pitching wasn’t as good as we all thought it would be. Now, the relievers are starting to struggle just as the starting pitchers are rounding into form.

Everyone knows that Ryan Madson blew a 3 run lead in the bottom of the 9th against the Braves last night to take a win away from Kyle Kendrick. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Madson isn’t a closer. Simple as that. There is a lot of bullshit out there about having a “closer’s mentality,” but Madson just falls apart when he comes into to close out a game.  He’s an excellent setup man and will slide nicely back into that spot once Brad Lidge comes back. If/when Lidge gets hurt again, Charlie Manuel needs to go in another direction for picking his closer. He’d be better served by going with a committee than throwing Madson out there again.

While the pitchers in Philadelphia may be struggling now, there are a few pitchers on the way that should help. Brad Lidge is progressing nicely and shutting down minor leaguers in his rehab and should be back in Philly in a few weeks.  Joe Blanton made a rehab start for Lakewood yesterday and got through 2 innings while only throwing 13 pitches. That’s impressive, even against minor leaguers.  Those two should be back at some point in May. Blanton is targeting the first week in May and Lidge shouldn’t be too far behind.

It all boils down to the fact that it’s way too early to be worried about this team. Yeah, they’re going to blow some saves, we all saw it last year.  After the incredible 2008 season, we all got spoiled and expected every time the Phillies had a late lead, the game was over. Doesn’t always happen that way, and it certainly didn’t happen that way last night.

2008 was a lucky season in more than a few aspects, but the health of the pitching staff played a major part. Injuries have been all over the pitchers last season and the beginning of this one, so it’s something that the Phillies will have to overcome.

Then again, it’s only April. I think we all need to relax a bit and remember that there are 149 games left to play, starting with tonight’s game. Roy Halladay gets his first chance as to be a “stopper” and be the ace that he has shown himself to be thus far.

A little over a year ago, we posted this piece about the Phanatic’s Hot Dog launcher. Hatfield had filmed a short documentary  about the makings of the awesome device.

The hot dog launcher was taken out for it’s 2010 debut last week and the Inky has a piece about the new updates it received in the offseason.

Apparently, the launcher didn’t have enough firepower, so instead of using carbon dioxide to shoot the hot dogs, the launcher now uses nitrogen. The switch was made because the launcher has gotten progressively bigger over the years, after debuting as a handheld model and eventually growing big enough to be mounted on the golf cart that it currently rides on.

This launcher is no joke either. The initial velocity of hot dogs coming out of the tube is close to 135 mph. That’s what I call fast food.

The documentary is still a good watch if you’ve never seen it before, so I’ll re-post it here.

I would love to catch a hot dog out of this one day. I’d probably save it and put it with the rest of my Phillies memorabilia. Hell, it’ll probably still be good to eat in 10 years.