Philadelphia Phillies – Cleaning House In The East

The Philadelphia Phillies won last night completing their sweep of the Washington Nationals.  In addition to their victory the Phightins pushed the New York Mets of of their perch that they held temporarily for the Phillies.  Kyle Kendrick pitched 6 2/3 innings while allowing only 7 hits and 2 runs while striking out 4 on his 9th win of the season.  Kendrick also hit 2 batsmen which in turn had the opposition hit Victorino and Utley.  Both benches were warned by the homeplate umpire after Colome struck Chase Utley and began to approach homeplate as though to get into an altercation with Utley.  Lannan who was the starter for the Nationals tonight was responsible for Chase Utley’s broken hand last year at Citizen Bank Park.

The Phillies offense has remained strong through the series accrueing 31 hits over 3 games.  They were once again vibrant last night with 11 hits bringing the final score to 8-4.  The longball was administered last night by Jayson Werth and Jimmy “The MVP” Rollins.  Rollins was able to take advantge of a foul tip that was not contolled by the Nationals catcher and allow Kendrick to make his way onto base due to a throwing error.  This set-up Rollins for a 2 run blast out into the left field seats.  The Phillies’ Fans were out in droves through the series cheering on their team including the bunch known as the “Flying Hawaiians” on the day Victorino hit a homerun.

The Phils are headed off to St. Louis to face off the Cardinals and add to their current 5 game win streak.  Cole “The Ace” Hamels is looking to rebound from last games 9 run disaster inning against the Braves.  Hamels (3.27 ERA) takes the mound in search of his 10 win against the former Philly Kyle Lohse (3.68 ERA).

 

Philadelphia	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Rollins, SS	4	2	2	3	1	0	1	.272
Victorino, CF	4	1	2	0	0	0	1	.289
Utley, 2B	3	1	1	0	1	1	2	.293
Howard, 1B	5	0	2	1	0	2	4	.239
Burrell, LF	3	0	1	1	2	0	2	.279
Seanez, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Durbin, C, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.167
Werth, RF-LF	5	1	1	1	0	3	4	.271
Bruntlett, 3B	5	1	1	0	0	1	2	.232
Ruiz, C	4	1	1	0	0	1	1	.217
Kendrick, P	3	1	0	0	0	2	0	.125
Condrey, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Jenkins, RF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.242
Totals	36	8	11	6	4	10

image from phillies.com

Philadelphia Phillies – If I Was Pat Gillick For A Day

1.  My starting rotation would look like the following:

1. Cole Hamels
2. Brett Myers
3. Jamie Moyer
4. Kyle Kendrick
5. J.A. Happ

     Trade Adam Eaton or make him another righty in the bullpen to replace Tom Gordon.  Tom Gordon should no longer be in the Phillies future.  He is no Jamie Moyer . . . . .

2.  I would either trade off Carlos Ruiz or reassign him to AA or AAA.  Then bring up Lou Marson as a replacement.  If he is not ready bring up Jason Jaramillo from the Iron Pigs.

3.  Geoff Jenkins needs to be traded off for another lefty to platoon with Jayson Werth in right field.

4.  So Taguchi is an absolute waste and needs to be outright released and can be replaced by Snelling or someone else from the Iron Pigs. (Not T.J. Bohn) !! 

    None of this is rocket science, but all I hear about is getting another starter.  Why?  Okay we do need another lefty in the bullpen, but do not sacrifice our future for it by trading Carrasco or Marson.  If they focus on fixing our current issues like Jenkins, Taguchi, and Ruiz we will be solid enough to go in the post season.  If the front office would not be so proud we could have come back and counter offered Kyle Lohse before he was picked up by the Cardinals.  We would be in excellent shape since we acquired Chad Durbin.  With all of this being taken into consideration I’m sure they will most likely do the exact opposite of everything that I’ve stated.  I’m glad that this is Pat Gillick’s last year with the organization . . . . .

Philadelphia Phillies – Success By Numbers

The Philadelphia Phillies have the night off to prepare for the upcoming barrage of teams that they must face for the next 22 games until the All Star game.  The Series are as follows:

1. Angels
2. A’s
3. Rangers
4. Braves
5. Mets
6. Cardinals
7. Diamondbacks

This is by no doubt a difficult task, but If you research some of the stats it should ease some of your concern.  The Phils also rank in the top 5 in the Major League in Runs, RBI’s, HR, and SLG %.  Even with our most recent slump offensively we are well prepared for the road ahead . . . . .  Go Phightins!

The top 5 Batting Averages for regular position players are as follows:

1. .294 – Chase Utley
2. .289 – Jimmy Rollins
3. .280 – Pat Burrell
4. .278 – Shane Victorino
5. .268 – Jayson Werth

The top 5 players for RBI’s:

1. 63 – Ryan Howard
2. 62 – Chase Utley
3. 47 – Pat Burrell
4. 33 – Pedro Feliz
5. 28 – Jayson Werth

The top 5 ERA for starting pitchers:

1. 3.23 – Cole Hamels
2. 4.09  – Jamie Moyer
3. 4.57 – Adam Eaton
4. 5.06 – Kyle Kendrick
5. 5.58 – Brett Myers

The top 5 OBP for regular position players:

1. .421 – Pat Burrell
2. .385 – Chase Utley
3. .353 – Jimmy Rollins
4. .351 – Jayson Werth
5. .347 – Shane Victorino

The top 5 HR for position players:

1. 22 – Chase Utley
2. 19 – Ryan Howard
3. 18 – Pat Burrell
4. 09 – Jayson Werth
5. 08 – Pedro Feliz

Philadelphia Phillies – Hung Up By The Sox

Yesterday the Philadelphia Phillies dropped the 2nd game in the 3 game series against the Boston Red Sox.  Kyle Kendrick was pulled after 3 innings for walking 2 batters and allowing 6 hits along with 6 earned runs.  The Phillies offense was stagnent once again with only getting 6 hits and Victorino, Utley, Burrell, Jenkins, Coste, and Werth being a non factor.  The heart of the Phillies offensive line-up has had it’s recent struggles with a lack luster on base percentage.  The Phils have only been able to win 3 of their last nine games against the Marlins, Cardinals, and the Boston Red Sox.  With the trade deadline approaching fast the Phillies need to asess what positions if any they intend to improve upon.  They obviously have a need for a starting pitcher by removing Myers as well as a left-hander in the bullpen replacing Condrey, Gordon, or Seanez.  Why be satified there when you could improve on the bench with removing So Taguchi or finding a more stable everyday right fielder and replacing Jenkins who struggles at the plate.  There is plenty of room for improvement with July 31st approaching.  The Phillies must know by now that they are a team in contention for their division.  I would be surprised if there are not any changes made by Gillick to solidify this team.

Philadelphia Phillies – Shuffled By The Cards

The Philadelphia Phillies have lost 2 out of the last 3 games to the St. Louis Cardinals.  This Friday’s game was a complete romping of the Cardinals with the Phils winning it by a score of 20-2.  Then Saturday’s game Kyle Lohse stopped the bleeding of the Cardinals long enough for a win of 3-2 despite Pat Burrell’s 2 run homerun.  Finally tonight’s game at Busch Stadium was rittled with poor pitching by Myers and shabby fielding with a costly 3 errors associated with the Phillies.  Brett Myers pitch 6 innings and allowing 6 runs with 3 of those runs due to the longball issued by the struggling righty.  There was also a throwing error by Chase Utley and a fielding error by Tom Gordon covering 1st base in the 10th inning that cost the Phillies the game.  Unfortunately these losses seem to over shadow Ryan Howard’s 9 RBI’s in the 3 game series.  Monday Cole Hamels (3.27 ERA) takes the mound in search of his 7th win against Bartolo Colon (3.41 ERA) and the the World Series Champion’s Boston Red Sox at Citizen Bank Park.  This will be the start of a 6 game homestand for the Phillies until they go back on the road to continue the interleague play.

Philadelphia Phillies – Moyer Chummed The Marlins

Tonight the ageless Jamie Moyer pitched 8 innings allowing only 2 hits and 1 walk while bedazzling the Marlins into a Phillies victory.  Moyer was able to clinch his 7th win of the season improving his record to 7-3 which ties him for 8th place with the likes of Johan Santana and Kyle Lohse in the N.L. for wins in 2008.  The Phillies offense tonight started to show signs of life once again with 11 hits, but they left 10 runners on base (L.O.B.).  The Phils were able to capitalize 2 runs on a pitch thrown in the dirt in the 6th inning by the Marlin’s starter Scott Olsen with the final score being a shutout 3-0.  Brad Lidge was able to record his 18th save with a scoreless 9th inning while improving his ERA to 0.93.  I would also like to thank the Marlin’s fans on brightorangeseats.com , waxheaven.com , and fortheloveofbaseball.com for dealing with my banter over the past several days.  The Phillies are now headed off to St. Louis to play the Cardinals in a 3 game series with Kyle Kendrick (4.87 ERA) taking the mound against Todd Wellemeyer (2.93 ERA).

Don’t forget to vote for Pat “The Bat” Burrell at MLB.com or Phillies.com.  Let’s not forget to also talk up Jamie Moyer for the All Star game remember he is 45 yrs old with a lot of heart . . . . . .

 

Philadelphia Phillies – Swimming With The Fishes

The Philadelphia Phillies lost tonight 6-2 against the Florida Marlins by a walk-off grand slam issued by Tom Gordon.  Cole Hamels recorded a season high record of 13 strikeouts, but was denied a win due to the longballs and Tom Gordon’s inability to shutdown the Marlin’s offense.  He entered the game in the 9th inning and surrendered 2 walks along with 2 hits including the monsterous drive by Florida’s 2nd baseman Dan Uggla whom currently went 0-3 against Hamels.  Gordon has now raised his ERA to 5.19 as the set-up man in Phillies bullpen.  The Phillies offense tonight was silenced by the young Florida southpaw Andrew Miller who gave up 4 hits over 7 innings and only 1 earned run.  The Phils did make a run for it in the top of the ninth inning were they tied the game and had a opportunity to seal the deal until Jayson Werth put on a squeeze play with 2 outs and bases loaded.  Unfortunately he was unable to place the bunt closer to the 3rd baseman and was thrown out at 1st base ending the game by Kevin Gregg the Marlin’s closer.  Tonight the Phils crafty left hander Jamie Moyer (4.56 ERA) will take the mound in search of his 7th win against Florida’s Scott Olsen (3.44 ERA).  Next the Phillies are headed off to St. Louis to have a 3 game series against the Cardinals whom are missing Albert Pujols.

Philadelphia Phillies – Hamels Shuts Down Big Red Machine

The Philadelphia Phillies take 3 of 4 games in the series with the Cincinatti Reds at Citizen Bank Park.  Cole Hamels shoned once again like a diamond in the rough.  He pitched a complete game shut out against the Big Red Machine with only 3 hits accrued with a final score of 5-0.  The offense was lacking again today with 5 runs scored on 5 hits with one being a solo blast from Geoff Jenkins.  Jimmy Rollins was benched today in the 3rd inning by Charlie Manuel for failure to run out a routine pop-up which lead to an error and stranded Jimmy on 1st instead of 2nd base.  Eric Bruntlett was his replacement whom was able to get on base and later score due to Ken Griffey Jr.’s dropped ball in right field.  The Cincinnati Reds earned 3 errors today which puts them in 3rd place with 47 total errors in the N.L. while being tied with the Pittsburg Pirates for the 2nd worst fielding pct.  The Phillies are headed off to their 9 game road trip which they will play the Braves, Marlins, and the Cardinals before returning home to face the Boston Red Sox for inter-league play.  Go Phightins !!