Phinally Philly

Everyone knew it. The Phillies knew it. The rest of the Major Leagues knew it. Even the fans knew it.

There was no way the Phillies’ offense could maintain the pace that they were on to start the 2010 season. No one thought it would crash this hard though.

In the first part of the season, the Fightins cruised against the Nationals and Astros. When facing a rival from the NL East in the Marlins however, the Phillies must have left their bats at home. Besides an 8-6 win behind Roy Halladay in the series opener, the Phillies managed to score 1 run in the next 18 innings, wasting a solid effort by Cole Hamels in the last game. While it was great to see Hamels go 8+ and only give up 1 run, the Phillies offense let him down. This offense should be able to score at least 1 run on any pitcher in baseball, not get shut down by Nate Robertson and Ricky Nolasco.

After opening the season with a string of 10 hit games, the Phillies only managed 9 hits in the last two games against Florida. While the high numbers from Placido Polanco and Chase Utley weren’t going to last, the thinking was that players who weren’t performing, like Raul Ibanez, would come around and make up for the leveling out of those early season number. Ibanez is batting .171 with 5 RBI through the first 12 games, a complete turnaround from his torrid start last season.

Even though the team overall is batting .291 and has scored 78 runs through 12 games, that wasn’t going to last. The NL East will be a dogfight this year. Atlanta has improved, as did Florida. The Marlins played very well against the Phils this weekend and only a terrific outing by Halladay on Friday avoided the sweep. The offense is going to win a lot of games for the Phillies this season, but it went flat this weekend.

With pitchers not named Halladay struggling to start the year, the offense needs to carry this team, as has been the case the past few seasons. There will be the random 1-0 & 2-1 wins for this team, but more than likely, the Phils will score more than a few runs. That has been the key to their success the past few years and will continue for the foreseeable future.

While it was a bad weekend overall, the Phillies will be fine. There will very rarely be times where they score 1 run in 18 innings. They just have to weather those times and make up for it during the rest of the season.

In his much anticipated home debut as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, Roy Halladay goes for his 3rd straight win to open the season.

He was originally slated to make his Philly debut tomorrow, but due to the off day this past Tuesday, he’ll get the start today on normal rest with Marlins killer Jamie Moyer bumped back a day. In his two starts this season, Doc has given up 1 earned run in 16 innings to go along with his 17 strikeouts. I had hoped Halladay would be this good,  but to actually see his stats so far, it’s more than impressive.

Going against the Marlins gives Halladay a chance  to stop an extremely hot Jorge Cantu. He has gotten at least one hit and one RBI in Florida’s first 10 games, a major league record. He extended that streak with an RBI double in Thursday’s win over Cincinnati.  Cantu has been a thorn in the Phillies’ side when he’s faced them in his career, getting 29 RBI in 36 games.  However, he’s never faced the Phillies with Roy Halladay on the mound.

Getting Halladay out there should be good for the bullpen after last night’s meltdown. Danys Baez and Ryan Madson couldn’t hold the lead and the Phillies ended up losing the last game of the series to the Washington Nationals. While 4-2 against the Nationals to start the season is good, a sweep would have been better. If the Phillies are going to increase their win total from last year, they’re going to have to sweep more than a few series from teams like the Nationals and Astros.

The Marlins are kind of a popular pick to make a run in the National League East this season, after finishing second a year ago. With a 6-4 start to the season, they’re right on the Phillies’ heels after the first week and a half. The time to build up a lead in the division for the Phillies is right now, before they get into the tougher games against St. Louis and Atlanta.

Coming off of his 50th career complete game, and 1st as a member of the Phillies, I’m sure Halladay will be jacked up to pitch in front of a packed Citizens Bank Park for the first time. With the bullpen in need of a rest and the Marlins right on their tails, the Phils need Doc to just go out there and do what he does best: Win the game.

Just when we thought the Phillies’ offense couldn’t get any hotter, they decided to play the Washington Nationals again.

With Kyle Kendrick getting off to his second straight rough start, it was clear that it would be up to the offense to earn this win. Kendrick gave up 3 runs in the first inning and 3 more before he could get out of the second inning.

Thankfully, the offense decided to bring their bats to the game tonight. Even without Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth, the Phillies exploded for 14 runs on 14 hits, notching yet another 10 hit game.

Chase Utley went 2-4 with 2 HR and 4 RBI. Shane Victorino, batting leadofff in place of Rollins, went 4-5 with a 2 run HR and a bases clearing triple in the 7th.

Everybody seemed to get in on the action. Ryan Howard had 2 RBI and Greg Dobbs, Placido Polanco, and Raul Ibanez each chipped in one.

Games like this one just epitomize how lethal this Phillies team is. Juan Castro and Greg Dobbs stepped into the starting lineup tonight and the team didn’t miss a beat. Ross Gload and Ben Francisco go some valuable playing time early in the season. Hell, even Mets castoff Nelson Figueroa pitched 3 1/3 solid innings in relief to pick up the win to go along with his 2 hits.

Ruben Amaro set out this past offseason to upgrade the bench and he definitely accomplished that. Rollins will be missed (Werth as well, but for a lesser amount of time), but with talented veterans on the bench, they should be able to keep the offense clicking.

When an offense loses two starters and can still pound out 14 runs the next game, it’s very impressive, even against the Nationals. This Phillies team is drawing comparisons to the 1993 version that won the National League and those comparisons are well deserved. That was a solid team with a tremendous offense and great pitching. Through the first week, the Phillies have all of those traits.

Jimmy Rollins is a vital part of this Phillies team, but no need to rush him back. The offense will still be clicking when he gets back.

After getting off to one of the best starts of his career, Jimmy Rollins was set to make his 2010 he debit at CBP. After being announced as leading off and starting at SS, Rollins was nowhere to be found when the Fightins took the field. Instead, veteran Juan Castro was warming up at shortstop.

The beat reporters eventually flooded Twitter with news that Rollins had been scratched due to a right calf strain. It happened in warm ups, but clearly the Phillies weren’t going to announce that until after Rollins got the Opening Day ovation.

J-Roll had never looked better through the opening six games. He seemed to have found the plate discipline that has always been missing from his game. He had started the season 9/23 for a .391 batting average to go along with 7 walks. Those are the kinds of numbers a leadoff hitter should have.

With Rollins and the rest of the offense off to such a hot start, any missed time by Rollins could hurt. Throughout his career, as Rollins goes, the Phillies go. When Jimmy is hot, the team usually heats up behind him.

There is an MRI scheduled for today and a trip to the 15-day disabled list is likely. No sense in rushing Rollins back 7 games into the season.

The saddest thing to come out of this may just be the fact that Rolllins’ attempt to break the world record for longest batted ball today on the Parkway has been postponed.

The front office has prepared for things like this. Remember the great job done by Eric Bruntlett last year when Rollins missed some time? As much as he disliked around here, Bruntlett did a terrific job filling in when Rollins went down. All he was asked to do was to fill in and not cost the team any games. This offseason, the Phillies went out and got veteran Juan Castro to fill Bruntlett’s spot on the bench. Having someone like Castro around is a valuable asset that every championship caliber team seems to have. Castro even paid immediate dividends yesterday when he smacked an RBI double in the Phillies’ win over Washington.

With Jayson Werth also leaving the game yesterday with a sore left hip, the Phillies should display come caution here. No sense in pushing these two back before they’re ready. Werth seems to be fine and may miss a game or two at the most. Rollins may have to sit for a couple of weeks, but considering that it’s only April, that shouldn’t be an issue.

The only thing that would be of concern is whether Rollins can maintain this plate discipline when he comes back. He might come back and be overanxious, but if he can come back and pick up where he left off, the Phillies’ offense will just keep on ticking.

The Phillies have been compared to the Cincinnati Reds “Big Red Machine” over the past few years, but never has it been more appropriate than this first week of the 2010 season. If J-Roll can come back and keep it up, this Phillies’ team may just be the best in recent history.

For the first time this season, the Phillies didn’t get 10 hits. With Roy Halladay on the mound, they only needed six.

Halladay went the full nine innings to notch his 50th career compete game, and first in his Phillies career. He gave up 7 hits and and unearned run to go along with 8 strikeouts and no walks. We all knew he was the real deal, but it’s still impressive to see a Phillies pitcher throwing the ball like he is right now.

While the offense had been providing all the pitchers with a ton of runs, I guess they thought they could take the day off with Doc on the mound. Jimmy Rollins led off the game with a home run while Carlos Ruiz knocked in Raul Ibanez for the second run.

While the offensive production has been crazy through the first week of the season, it’s good to see the Phillies being able to win a low scoring game.

It’s a bit of a turnaround for the Phillies, going 5-1 in the first week of the season. Being typically a slow starting team in April, it’s good to see they team getting off to a fast start.

With the Washington Nationals coming to town tomorrow for the first home series of the season, it’s a great opportunity to continue this hot streak.

In a rematch from last week, Cole Hamels goes against Jason Marquis in the home opener. Hollywood labored through his five innings last week, but still got the win. The offense will bail him out more than a few times this season, but he’ll need to improve after seeing what Halladay has done in his two starts.

Being off to their best start since 1993 is a great thing for the Phillies, but we have to bear in mind that it was against the Nationals and Astros. The offensive numbers will come down eventually, but it’s great to see that the Phillies aren’t failing to deliver on the lofty expectations deservedly placed on them.

Kyle Kendrick was kind of at a crossroads this winter. The Phillies had called him up 3 years ago from Reading and he pitched great.  He followed that up with a good sophomore season, but couldn’t hang around the big club and spent most of last season in the minors.  The Phillies needed to find out what they had in Kendrick and the offseason and spring training were going to be very important.

There have been a ton of stories written this season already about how Kendrick took to new ace Roy Halladay like a little puppy dog, but to tell the truth, getting a mentor like Doc might have been the best thing to happen to Kendrick’s career.  He had a tremendous offseason working out with Doc and even beat the famously early Halladay to the ballpark a few times.

Kendrick had a very impressive spring, but it was going to be next to impossible to beat out Jamie Moyer, who had a great spring himself, for the 5th spot in the rotation. Kendrick was slated for the bullpen until Joe Blanton strained his oblique and was placed on the disabled list. In a matter of days, Kendrick went from being a reliever in the bullpen to the de facto #3 pitcher in the rotation, taking Blanton’s spot.

Kendrick gets his season started today against the Washington Nationals, after Halladay and Hamels kept the anemic Nationals offense in check.

As the first pitcher in Philly to wear #38 since that windbag who hasn’t learned to keep his stupid comments to himself, Kendrick is world’s apart from that guy. A softspoken person, Kendrick is much more like Halladay in his mental makeup. Now if he can emulate his physical ability, the Phillies may have a future ace in the making.

After his dominating performance in the 2008 playoffs, Cole Hamels looked to feed off of that and head into 2009 as the undisputed ace of the Phillies pitching staff.  Things didn’t really work out that way for him though, as he finished 10-11 on the season and the Phillies had to acquire Cliff Lee to bolster the pitching late in the season.

With Roy Halladay getting the 2010 season off to a great start by dominating the Nationals in Citizens Bank Park South, Hamels looks to follow that and get back to where he was in 2007 and 2008. He went 29-15 over those two seasons, but has kind of been mediocre since.

With Halladay in town to take some pressure off, it would be easy to assume that he could just forget about being that “ace” and just pitch. However, with his past numbers, he was pitching better when he was generally thought to be the best pitcher on the staff.  Hamels seems to thrive off of that pressure to succeed. I never thought a California kid like him would be able to last very long in Philadelphia, but it seems like he has the mental toughness to get it done, all puppy backpack wearing aside.

Doc may even ratchet the pressure up on Hamels a bit. With a dominating pitcher like Halladay around him every day, Hamels might just try and match that success.  Having Halladay pitching in front of him could do a lot for him, just as having Jamie Moyer around helped Hamels deal with the pressures of being a young star pitcher.

The Phillies are counting on Hamels to get back to where he was two years ago. You can pick up a .500 pitcher anywhere. The Phillies need someone to step right up after Halladay pitches and continue to get the wins.  If and when Hamels can get back to his 07/08 form, the Fightins would have to be considered even more of a favorite in the National League, if that’s even possible.

Seattle can have King Felix and Clifton Phifer. We’ve got the Doc and Hollywood.

With Roy Halladay making his Phillies debut in D.C., I knew I had to go. After a 3 hour bus ride at the ass crack of dawn, we made it to DC.

There seemed to be a parade of Phillies fans making the trek over to Nationals Park from the parking lots and seeing that, it definitely seemed that there were more Phillies fans in Washington than Nationals fans. With another hour long wait in security, due to Barry throwing out the first pitch, Phillies baseball was finally back.

The big story of the day was of course Halladay. He didn’t look overpowering or anything, but after a rocky first inning, he settled down. Doc gave up 6 hits over 7 innings with 1 earned run to go along with 2 walks. Even without a dominating performance, he still put up a great line. I’m excited to see this guy in Phillies red for the next few years.

The other newcomer, Placido Polanco, made a big splash as well. He went 3-5 with a grand slam and six RBIs. He also more than held his own at third base. He is a former Gold Glove winner, so while he won’t be Pedro Feliz, he’ll be an above average defensive 3rd baseman.

Also good to see the young relievers Antonio Bastardo and David Herndon get some work in. They will probably be counted on with the injuries in the bullpen and could use all the experience they can get.

Overall, it was a great day to be a Phillies fan. Nothing like taking over an opposing team’s stadium and seeing your new ace in his debut.

If the Phillies can keep the bats going, they could get off to a very hot start with their first 9 games against the Nationals and Astros.

As spring training finished up yesterday afternoon in Florida, something finally went wrong for the Phillies.

The Fightins had a relatively pain free spring training this year, with only Brad Lidge and J.C. Romero not expected to start the season with the team.

That is, until yesterday, when Heavy Joe Blanton was placed on the disabled list with a strained oblique. He injured himself during a bullpen session and, while the injury was termed “mild,” he’s still expected to be out 4-6 weeks. Injuries like this are worrisome. Clay Condrey had the same time of issue last season and he ended up missing 2 months.

With Blanton out, all of the bitching about Kyle Kendrick not making the rotation can be put to rest for a bit. He will take Blanton’s spot in the order, behind Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels, with Andrew Carpenter most likely taking Kendrick’s spot in the bullpen.

While stretching the pitching depth a bit, the Phillies don’t have any time to worry about that because they start playing games for real in a few days. They take another step towards the regular season with the annual On Deck series at Citizens Bank Park tonight against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

I’ve never been a fan of the On Deck series. Something about going to CBP when the game doesn’t matter just doesn’t add up for me. I’ll continue to leave these games for people who have never been to CBP or who get suckered in to buying tickets to this game in a season ticket package.

Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, Antonio Bastardo and Jose Contreras are scheduled to pitch against the Pirates tonight in their final tuneups before the regular season.

Baseball will be played in South Philadelphia tonight. The 2010 season inches just a bit closer.

Heading into the 2010 season, the Phillies’ bullpen is the biggest question facing the team, but what about their starting pitching depth?

We know the starting rotation will consist of Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton, J.A. Happ, and most likely Jamie Moyer. It seems as if Kyle Kendrick will be sent to the bullpen to start the season, even after his impressive spring.

That may be a setback for Kendrick, but it is great news for the Phillies’ pitching depth. Having a major league caliber starting pitcher in the bullpen is a huge asset. He will be available to make a spot start if an injury every creeps up in any of the starters. It’s a lot easier to call up a bullpen arm from Lehigh Valley than to grab a competent starter.

Even with Kendrick sitting in the bullpen out in center field at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies also have some starting pitching depth at the AAA level. One of those names is former Phillie Brandon Duckworth. He was signed to a minor league contract this past offseason after a few years in the Kansas City organization. Duckworth hasn’t been able to recapture the little bit of magic that he had in his first season with the Fightins 9 years ago. He’ll be one of the first options for the Phillies if a starter goes down, if he makes the IronPigs roster.

He’ll be looking to follow the same path that Rodrigo Lopez took to the majors last year. Lopez came up from Lehigh Valley and made a few solid starts for the Phillies when injuries crept up for the starters.

Ryan Vogelsong is another pitcher that it slated to open the seaosn in LV. He’s started 33 games for various clubs at the major league level, so he’ll be another option when the need arises. Andrew Carpenter has also started a game for the Phillies.

No team will go through the full major league season only needing 5 starters. A team needs to be prepared for when the need arises for another starter. With the options that the Phillies have in the bullpen and in their minor league system, they seem to be prepared for that.

Now it’s just up to those players to step up when they’re called upon.