So far this season, the Phillies' pitching has been down right horrible. Worst team ERA in all the National League. The only teams worse than the Phightins are the Yankees and Indians. The Phillies are tied for last in saves. Yes, I know that saves are a stat of opportunity, but to be tied with the Pirates and Nationals, the NL perenial basement dwellers. On to the positive. The Phillies are in first, yes lead the national league in homeruns allowed. Oh wait, that isn't good news either. Do we chalk it up to a World Series hangover? We did pitch an extra month last year.  Do we chalk it up to really missing JC Romero? Everyone besides Madson and Lidge had their role redefined because of one blunder.

The Phillies are 15-14 29 games into the season. One game over .500 with the worst pitching staff in all the national league. Those rotten dirty Metropolitans had to win 7 straight games to get a game and a half in front of us. The Phillies were one game better after 29 games last year at 16-13. I just hope that the pitching comes around and it appears that it will. Hamels had a good outing against the Braves. Myers got lifted a tad too early, but otherwise pitched pretty well. I don't think that Park will be in the rotation too much longer. The start against Santana was just an aberration. I was very in favor of Happ getting the number 5 spot out of the gate and it didn't happen. That may come to fruition soon enough. If I had to guess that will probably happen right around the same time that Romero comes back. The only way I see that happening before Romero's return would be if the Phils DFA or release Taschner and bring up Zagurski. He is the only LH reliever in the Phils system with a: MLB service time and b: a LH OBA under .200. I would bring up Bastardo, but the Phillies don't seem to be sure whether or not they want him to be a starter or reliever.

Continue reading "Is the pitching staff leaking oil?"

With Monday being an off day for the Phightins, I thought I would take a look at our up and comers. So here we go down on the farm.

Lehigh Valley (AAA): Kyle Kendrick got rocked by Toledo yesterday in a rare mid day game. He gave up 6 earned runs over five innings. He did manage to strikeout 4 and only walked one. The part that impresses me the most about Kyle Kendrick so far is his ERA. The six earned runs brought his ERA up to 3.75. I would say that is pretty respectable compared to what we saw from him the bigs last season. Hopefully this means he is turning it around. You can never have enough sinkerballers at the Bank. Right now Kendrick needs to focus making batters miss the ball. His WHIP and his groundball rate are both hovering right around 1.50. So to get back to the bigs with the Phils or anyone else, he will need to improve both of those.

Continue reading "Down on the farm. A look at the minors."

Jayson Werth was the star of the game last night, capping off a superb performance by stealing 3 bases in the bottom of the 7th inning. To make the feat even better, all three swipes were with two outs. Not one person saw it coming. Not the pitcher, the catcher, the batter, the third base coach, or even the manager. Werth said to reporters after the game that he would rather see them win by the long ball. I would definitely say that manufacturing runs never hurt anyone. Werth was the first Phillie since Carlos Ruiz to steal home and the first Phillies since Gary Maddox to steal four in one game.

Chan Ho Park proved me wrong in his second straight quality start going six innings, giving up 2 earned runs, striking out three and walking none in route to his first win on the season. I think that Park has one, maybe two, more starts before being pushed into the pen. His next scheduled start is Sunday against the Nationals. He will likely be opposed by rookie Jordan Zimmerman or Shairon Martis. Zimmerman, who despite a high ERA, is putting a nice rookie season together.  He is averaging almost a strike out per inning. Martis is 1-0 in 2 starts versus the Phils this season. But don't let that record fool you. Martis has an ERA of 7.15 giving up 9 runs on 13 hits, including a homer, 6 walks and 4 punchouts in 11.1 IP. Martis would most likely face a dominant LH hitting lineup giving Dobbs the start at third as lefties are hitting .447 against him.

Continue reading "Werth helps Phillies steal win, Dodgers hearts."

With the release of a new book reconfirming everyone suspicions about Roger Clemens' use of steroids, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to give it a go. Clemens gave an interview to ESPN's radio show "Mike & Mike" to state his case. Highlights of the interview were that he still denies using steroids or any other PEDs, that he still friends (casuals ones at best from how he spoke of Petitte) with Andy Petitte, and that he feels that the Hall of Fame IS important to him now. The point of the interview that I found to be the most entertaining was the Clemens threw out the statement that he would not ever consider steroids or any other PED because his family has a history of heart disease. He followed that up with his STEP father died of a heart attack and that his brother had a heart attack in his 40s. My question would be then is the brother you are referring to your real brother or your step brother? It makes a monumental difference in his reasoning. How could YOU specifically have a history of heart disease if you aren't even a part of that blood stream. It's like the episode of the Simpsons when Mr. Burns is shot. Marge says she didn't have Bouvier DNA anymore only Simpson DNA.

Continue reading "A steroid users dilemma. To admit or not to admit."

In yet another attempt to achieve career win number 250, Jamie Moyer ran into a team with a vengeance. After being embarassed the night before, the Dodgers were out for blood against Moyer and the Phightin Phils. Moyer was cruising along go three scoreless innings before the jugular was sliced and the bloodbath ensued. He gave up 5 runs in the fourth, all earned, including a three run shot given up to James Loney. Moyer was pulled from the game with one out in the fifth after runners reached first and third. JA Happ came in and could not strand the runners, bring Moyer's final line to 4.1 IP, 7ER on 8 hits and 1 walk and strinking out 1. Happ pitched the final two outs of the fifth inning and was done for the night. That led me to believe before any announcement that Happ would indeed pitch one of the two games Saturday in Washington.

Continue reading "Ageless Wonder left wondering what happened? Los Angeles Dodgers at Philadelphia Phillies 5/13/09"

Cole Hamels pitched gem this afternoon. Nine strikeouts, one walk, and one earned run (HR) over seven innings. The Phils took the lead for Hamels in the bottom of the first with a lead off double from Jimmy Rollins, a sac bunt from Victorino, and a sac fly from Howard. That was all the runs the Phightless Phils had for the young lefty. The Phillies did make a game of it scoring 2 runs with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth off of Jonathan Broxton. On the verge of a 1,2,3 top of the 10th Chad Durbin went two up two down and seemingly melted down after a payoff pitch failed to go his way. Durbin gave up two runs to give away the lead. Rookie Ramon Troncoso came in to save the game for Broxton setting down the Phillies on 13 pitches. It would have been less than 10 if Troncoso didn't hit Utley with two strikes and two outs.

Continue reading "Philadelphia Phillies versus Los Angeles Dodgers 5/14/09 - Hamels shines despite lack of support."

This will probably be my last post of the week barring any trade or situation which may arise. I wanted to encompass not only the Phillies but the farm system as well. Let's start from the bottom and work our way up. The Venezuelan and Dominican Summer Leagues, the Gulf Coast League, and the New York Penn League have yet to start up. The next couple of wrap ups will probably be short until then. On to Class A Lakewood.

The Lakewood BlueClaws went 3-3 since last weekend, winning 3 of 4 against Hickory and losing both games against Kannapolis. Highly touted rookie pitcher Jason Knapp pitched twice against Kannapolis. Lakewood lost both games but Knapp had a Jekyl and Hyde like set of starts. In the first game, Knapp only last 3.0 innings, giving up 6 earned runs off of 7 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts. Knapp faced virtually the same lineup 5 days later, with drastically different results. Although he only lasted five innings, Knapp scattered 3 hits, walked one, hit one, and struck out 9. The most impressive thing about the nine strikeouts is that five of the nine were the first five batters of the game.

Continue reading "Studs and Duds: Philadelphia Phillies Organizational Wrap Up 5/15"

Where do I begin. Its very hard to gauge a team based on their performance against the Nats.  The Phillies could have blown that game WIDE open. On the night, the Phillies had twenty, yes TWENTY, runners in scoring position and only managed to get 8 home. Blanton struggled with command again walking 6 over five innings. Which further proves my point that the umpires have a league wide squeeze on the strike zone this year. I really can't put that much blame on Lidge for blowing the save Friday nights debacle of a game. The first hit barely made it passed the pitchers mound and the one Dunn hit, Feliz did the right thing at getting the lead runner. Yeah Utley through a slider to Ruiz and could have had Dunn out to end the ball game, but oh well. I was actually really looking forward to seeing Happ pitch Saturday night, but it obviously wasn't meant to be. I really do feel for Manny Acta. Does he have anyone in the pen with an ERA under 4? It seems like either the pitching or the defense or a combination of both let him down all weekend long.

Continue reading "Weekend Series Update: Philadelphia Phillies at Washington Nationals"

Slow day as the Phillies had an off day Monday. The Phillies signed Bako to a minor league deal and shipped him off to extended Spring Training. Bako had signed on with Cubs in January with an invite to Spring Training. Bako hit an even .400 in 33 At Bats with 1 homer and 2 doubles. I don't take this as a sign that Coste is in trouble. To be honest, I take it as a sign that they may send him to mentor Marson or any of the other young guys. I could be completely wrong and one could be gone as soon as today. At 4:30 p.m., I have yet to see who the Phils add to the roster to make 25. They currently sit at 24 with the swinging door opening for Escolona and Carpenter has closed and sent them back to the minors and Miguel Cairo being DFA'd. You will probably see some one called up just befo

Continue reading "Phillies sign C Paul Bako to minor league deal"

Even before the game started we had a little action. Charlie Manuel demoted Chan Ho Park from the rotation to the bullpen and promoted JA Happ to the rotation. Happ will get his first opportunity Saturday at the on fire as of late New York Yankees.

But onto the game. The Phillies took the lead early when Ryan Howard blasted his ninth of the season leading off the second inning. Jay Bruce tied it back up in the fourth with his twelfth round tripper of the year. This Phightins did take the lead for good in the fifth after Cueto gave up 3 runs. The Reds got two more off of Hamels in the sixth and it was over from there. Clay Condrey, Ryan Madson, and Brad Lidge gave up a combined two hits, two walks, and two strikeouts over the last 3 innings. Lidge tight roped out of danger in the ninth. He got Darnell McDonald out quickly to start the ninth, but after a hit by Alex Gonzalez and a walk by Chris Dickerson, the game got a lot more interesting. Willy Tavares struck out swinging. Tavares and recently fouled of a couple of the same exact pitches, Lidges go to pitch, his slider. The game finally ended as Jerry Hairston, Jr. popped the ball up into centerfield for Victorino to end the game.

Continue reading "Two Aces in the Queen City: Phillies @ Reds 5/19/09"

Joe Blanton cruised thru the first four inning and hit the wall in the fifth. He gave up 5 runs in the fifth, but only cut the deficit to one run. The Phillies offense cruised, scoring atleast one run in every inning except the the fourth and ninth. Raul Ibanez tied the lead league in homers at 15 with his blast in the seventh. His three rbis (40) gave him the league lead. Up next the New York Yankees, who have been on fire as of late. I for see a couple of 8-7 games. I can't tell you who will be on top, but the fireworks will be going off in the Bronx this weekend.

Continue reading "Blanton Struggles, Pen scoreless in win in rubber match."

The starting pitching was very good over the weekend in the bronx. It all seemed to be on Brad "Lit Up" Lidge as he blew the save and lost the game on Sat. and just blew the save Sun. Bright spot of the weekend was the first hit/HR of prospect John Mayberry, Jr. He got the traditional silent treatment from the rest of the team in response. Lidge's knee is causing such a problem that he is required to wear an orthopedic insert in his right shoe to alleviate the pain. That is a big red flag. He needs to have that taken care of for the second half of the season. I'd rather see him out now than later down the road during the playoff push.

Continue reading "Phils take two of three from Yanks."