I don't think I can provide a good enough excuse as to why it has taken me nearly a month for a real update. But it's ok now because here it is. And with so much to talk about! So get ready, this could be a long one.
First of all, our race with the Braves. Why do we keep doing this to ourselves? In some way, this has been a really good thing over the past nearly 2 weeks because we essentially haven't lost any ground. In another way, the past 2 weeks have been extremely frustrating because we haven't taken advantage of any opportunities to gain ground. And the opportunities we've been given have not been all that difficult to take advantage of. As the Braves were getting swept in 3 games by the Rockies, the Phils thought it'd be a good idea to get swept in 4 games by the Astros, one of the bottom 5 teams in the NL. We were even curteous enough to go into 16 innings Tuesday night in order to wait and see how the Braves would do out in Colorado before we decided whether we wanted to win or lose. I would find it extremely hilarious and awesome if we were to stay exactly where we are for the remainder of the season only to sweep the Braves in Atlanta in the last 3 games of the season and then win a playoff with them. But I really don't want to bank on that. And I REALLY don't want to bank on the wild card spot. Wild card might make more sense for us in terms of matchups (Padres in the first round instead of Reds), but I'd rather deal with the NL East race that I feel we have more control of (6 games left against the Braves).
Now on to this series against the Astros. It would've been bad to split this series. And if you would've listed our starting pitching performances without me knowing the results, I would've guessed a minimum of 3 wins, probably a sweep. By us, not them. Which has been all too common with the Phils this season. But I'll talk about that later. The main game I want to talk about is the 16-inning game from Tuesday night. It's the only game of the 4 that I actually got to watch the entire thing.
The first thing I want to address is Uncle Chuck's move to start the bottom of the 7th inning. I'll set the scene:
Hamels has just finished the 7th inning of a gem of a start and is leading off the bottom of the inning in a game we are losing 2-1. The 1 run we scored came in the last inning as we finally started putting the bat on the ball somewhat against Astros' starter Bud Norris. Werth singled, Ibanez doubled, Victorino got an infield hit. Norris was over 100 pitches and would be either coming out soon or giving up more hits. We need to pinch hit for Hamels.
So what does Charlie do? He puts in the left-handed Domonic Brown to bat against righty Bud Norris. He does this, however, most likely knowing full well that this will bring on a pitching change for the Astros. They bring in a lefty, and, rather than sucking it up and letting Brown hit, he brings in Ben Francisco to pinch hit now for Brown before Domonic can even step into the box. So we've completely wasted one of our players late in a close game. Obviously no one can predict a game will go 16 innings or that we'll run out of players, but it's still a very stupid move. Why not simply put Francisco in in the first place? Personally, I would rather keep Norris in there when he's visibly wearing down. Too much is made of these righty-righty matchups in my opinion. If we put Francisco in, they try to keep Norris in through Rollins and Polanco to wait and change to a lefty for Utley and Howard. That gives us 3 more than capable hitters batting against a tired starting pitcher in a 1-run game. Sign me up.
But instead, we lose Domonic Brown, they bring in their lefty. It ends up not being so bad anyway as he walks Rollins and Polanco, but then the next stupid thing happens. With Chase Utley up to bat, runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out in a 1-run game, the Phillies think its a good idea to double steal. Rollins is thrown out, there are 2 outs now and Utley flies out to end the inning. I don't think the risk is worth the reward in this situation. Having runners on 2nd and 3rd would be great with 1 out, yes. If Utley gets a base hit, we go up in that situation. And yes he could ground out or fly out deep to score a run as well. But if we don't do that double steal, a base hit ties the game at worst and has Howard up to bat. Or, if Utley gets out, we still have 1st and 2nd with Howard up to bat where they're forced to throw him good pitches. He was awful Tuesday night, so it's hard to really tell what would've or could've happened and all of this second-guessing is easy to do after the fact, but I disagreed with what was happening as it was happening and it may or may not have lost this game for us.
With all of that being said, there is really no reason we're put in a situation like this. scoring 2 runs in 16 innings? Hamels pitched 26 1/3 straight innings without getting a single run of support. That means Hamels could've thrown almost 3 complete game shutouts in a row and ended up not getting a win in any of them. And he came pretty close with the 2 straight 1-run outings against the Mets that we lost 1-0.
I mentioned this once in last year's blog, but it's worth mentioning again. In 2008, Cole Hamels was 14-10. If he would have won every start in which he pitched 7 or more innings and gave up 2 earned runs or less (which should without a doubt be a win with this team), he would have gone 23-7. That's a gigantic difference. And I feel like that has been happening again this season. But it feels that way with every starter. Let's take a look at what some of their records are and what they could be with those criteria:
Halladay: 16-9, would be 19-7
Hamels: 7-10, would be 15-6
Blanton: 5-6, would be 7-6
Kendrick: 8-7, would be 10-7
With Kendrick and Blanton it's not a big difference at all. Two more wins is probably something that most pitchers in baseball get screwed out of by run support in that situation. And they've certainly made up for it by getting wins in crappier starts. But the difference for Hamels and Halladay is unreal. Not only would they have 11 more wins combined for their own personal enjoyment, but they would have a combined 6 less losses. That means that we have wasted 6 fantastic starts by just 2 of our pitchers. That's 6 more wins we should have without a doubt. And on top of those 6, there is one other no decision between the two of them that we lost when they pitched 7+ giving up 2 or less. So that's 7 total wins we have squandered just between Hamels and Halladay. And I'm sure that in some form or fashion this evens out to a certain extent. There was a game where Halladay pitched 7 and gave up 5 and still got a win. So I'm not saying this only works one way. But the good starts we've messed up far outweigh the bad starts we've saved. Especially considering our lineup should be scoring 6 runs a game.
Go back in time to before the season starts. Imagine someone tells you that on August 27, all of the following will be true:
-Halladay will have a 2.22 ERA
-Hamels will have a 3.47 ERA as a number 3 starter behind Halladay and Oswalt
-Kyle Kendrick will have a winning record
-Brad Lidge will have only 4 blown saves
-Polanco will be in the race for the batting title
-Werth will be batting .300 and leading the league in doubles
-Shane Victorino will have 15 home runs
-Ryan Howard will be batting .283
-Chooch will be batting .291
-I actually like Jimmy Rollins
How would that make you feel? How would only hearing half of those things make you feel? For me, I would predict 125-130 wins for us. (In case you didn't know, all of that stuff is true)
(On the flip side of that, if I told you that Utley would miss 2 months and in that time Howard and Victorino would be on the DL as well, you'd probably freak out and say we'd be in last place. But that's not the point!)
I keep thinking that at some point things are going to start looking up in Philadelphia. But if you look at individuals, things are looking up! We just can't do anything in a timely fashion. We have 4 regulars batting over .280, yet none of them seem to be able to get those hits when someone is on base. Everyone is setting the table but nobody wants to eat. (Did I just make that up? Is that the corniest thing I've ever said? I'd argue yes on both counts)
So we have a series coming up with the Padres. They have the best record in the NL. I said to Jeremiah last night that I think we are the same team as the Padres with the only difference being that our players have names. Off the top of my head, I couldn't tell you 2 regular position players for the Padres, nor could I list 2 of their starting pitchers. Adrian Gonzalez and Mat Latos are about as far as my Padres knowledge goes. And who has actually heard of Mat Latos? And who spells Matt with one T? Unbelievable.
But anyway, I say that we're the same because it's all pitching with little offense. The difference is, we have potential to score runs. They don't. We finally have our whole lineup healthy, and somehow we've managed to stay close enough to make a move in the last month. So let's just do it. But we need to start scoring some runs. I'm looking forward to another parade down Broad Street.
The difference being this one will be for the next time we score 3 runs in a game.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Soon
It's purely a lack of time. I have so much to talk about. I would like to thank and apologize to all of my loyal readers. Your support is very much appreciated, and I plan on rewarding that support in the very near future.
Sincerely,
Cameron S. Koehler
Sincerely,
Cameron S. Koehler
Friday, July 30, 2010
Guest Blog Post: Nationals Preview
Another installment of the guest blog posts. This one comes from my favorite brother-in-law Jeremiah. Jeremiah and Brianna live in Virginia, so most of the "baseball" they get to see is the Nationals and Orioles. Not the best options exactly, but Jeremiah is kind enough to focus most of that baseball-watching attention on the Nationals in order to get a good scouting report for when our beloved Phillies play them. So here is what he has to say about the upcoming series with the Nationals, our current chances in the NL East, and a certain German airship disaster:
We are 2.5 games back. We are on an 8-game winning streak. We are playing the Nationals, and the Braves are playing the Reds. We will face the following three pitchers in the next three games: Craig Stammen, Ross Detwiler, and probably Miguel Batista. There has never been a better opportunity to take the lead in our division. But this is 2010, and our team has rarely done what they are expected to do. I think, however, this weekend will be one of the biggest weekends for the Phillies this season.
Game 1: Oswalt v. Stammen
Enter: Roy Oswalt. Leads the league in losses (12), but has a 3.42 era and 120 strikeouts. Because he played for the Astros. Oswalt will do well tonight, especially because he is facing Craig freakin’ Stammen. In two starts against the Phils, Stammen has a 0-0 record with an era of 15.63. Yeesh. On the other hand, Stammen is tied for the league leading 5 potential wins blown by the bullpen (tied with our very own Kyle Kendrick), so in his defense, he could have a record of 7-4 instead of 2-4. But the Nationals also just traded Matt Capps. So Stammen probably won’t win for the rest of the year.
Game 2: Blanton v. Detweiler
If there is a game we should worry about, it would be this one simply because Blanton is pitching and he has been a little less than consistent for us this season. His last start was solid aside from only striking out 2, but in his career against the Nats he is 2-3 with an era around 6. On the other hand, Dettweiler has an era around the same number and is 0-2 against us. It would really help if they traded Adam Dunn soon, but even so we should win this game.
Game 3: Hamels v. somebody
The Nats sent Hindenburg to the DL because of a “sore shoulder”, so lucky enough for us, we get to face whoever they can muster. They currently have 5 pitchers on the DL, and though Jason Marquis is close to a return, most likely we will face someone like Miguel Batista who recently made a start against the Braves. He was pretty phenomenal against them (5.0 innings, 6 K’s and no earned runs), but with the way Hamels is pitching I think we have to have the upper hand.
Something else to think about – the Nats just won a series. So with the way baseball usually progresses – especially for a team like Washington – getting this sweep seems like much more of a possibility. We don’t face Livan or Scott Olsen, so we are set up nicely. Capps is gone – Dunn could leave too – and so it looks really good for us.
Hilarious facts:
1. Strasburg leads the Nationals in strikeouts. He has 75. Oh yeah, and he has started in less that half the games of any other starter.
2. Tyler Clippard leads the team in wins. He has 8. Oh yeah, and he isn’t a starter.
3. Stratosphereburg pitched 55.1 minor league innings. Halladay, Nolan Ryan, Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Mitch Williams, and pretty much every other pitcher ever pitched at least 200-250. At least.
4. John Lannan was the Nationals ace at the beginning of the season. He is currently in the minors. But not because he is hurt.
5. I refuse to spell Debtwiler correctly. Because I respect him that little.
6. I know Strasburg is good. But if he does fail, you heard him referenced as Hindenburg here first.
7. The White Sox play by play announcer. He gone.
Looking at who the Braves are facing:
Medlen (6-2) v. Cueto (10-2)
Jair Jrjrjrjrjrjr (3-3) v. Arroyo (10-6)
Hanson (8-7) v. Volquez (1-1)
I think those are good match-ups, especially with the way the Reds are playing and the way they are and the current semi-struggles the Braves are having. Let’s go Phils.
We are 2.5 games back. We are on an 8-game winning streak. We are playing the Nationals, and the Braves are playing the Reds. We will face the following three pitchers in the next three games: Craig Stammen, Ross Detwiler, and probably Miguel Batista. There has never been a better opportunity to take the lead in our division. But this is 2010, and our team has rarely done what they are expected to do. I think, however, this weekend will be one of the biggest weekends for the Phillies this season.
Game 1: Oswalt v. Stammen
Enter: Roy Oswalt. Leads the league in losses (12), but has a 3.42 era and 120 strikeouts. Because he played for the Astros. Oswalt will do well tonight, especially because he is facing Craig freakin’ Stammen. In two starts against the Phils, Stammen has a 0-0 record with an era of 15.63. Yeesh. On the other hand, Stammen is tied for the league leading 5 potential wins blown by the bullpen (tied with our very own Kyle Kendrick), so in his defense, he could have a record of 7-4 instead of 2-4. But the Nationals also just traded Matt Capps. So Stammen probably won’t win for the rest of the year.
Game 2: Blanton v. Detweiler
If there is a game we should worry about, it would be this one simply because Blanton is pitching and he has been a little less than consistent for us this season. His last start was solid aside from only striking out 2, but in his career against the Nats he is 2-3 with an era around 6. On the other hand, Dettweiler has an era around the same number and is 0-2 against us. It would really help if they traded Adam Dunn soon, but even so we should win this game.
Game 3: Hamels v. somebody
The Nats sent Hindenburg to the DL because of a “sore shoulder”, so lucky enough for us, we get to face whoever they can muster. They currently have 5 pitchers on the DL, and though Jason Marquis is close to a return, most likely we will face someone like Miguel Batista who recently made a start against the Braves. He was pretty phenomenal against them (5.0 innings, 6 K’s and no earned runs), but with the way Hamels is pitching I think we have to have the upper hand.
Something else to think about – the Nats just won a series. So with the way baseball usually progresses – especially for a team like Washington – getting this sweep seems like much more of a possibility. We don’t face Livan or Scott Olsen, so we are set up nicely. Capps is gone – Dunn could leave too – and so it looks really good for us.
Hilarious facts:
1. Strasburg leads the Nationals in strikeouts. He has 75. Oh yeah, and he has started in less that half the games of any other starter.
2. Tyler Clippard leads the team in wins. He has 8. Oh yeah, and he isn’t a starter.
3. Stratosphereburg pitched 55.1 minor league innings. Halladay, Nolan Ryan, Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Mitch Williams, and pretty much every other pitcher ever pitched at least 200-250. At least.
4. John Lannan was the Nationals ace at the beginning of the season. He is currently in the minors. But not because he is hurt.
5. I refuse to spell Debtwiler correctly. Because I respect him that little.
6. I know Strasburg is good. But if he does fail, you heard him referenced as Hindenburg here first.
7. The White Sox play by play announcer. He gone.
Looking at who the Braves are facing:
Medlen (6-2) v. Cueto (10-2)
Jair Jrjrjrjrjrjr (3-3) v. Arroyo (10-6)
Hanson (8-7) v. Volquez (1-1)
I think those are good match-ups, especially with the way the Reds are playing and the way they are and the current semi-struggles the Braves are having. Let’s go Phils.
Oswalt Deal
Before he pitches for us at all, how do I feel about this deal?
Well, not good really. We lose JA Happ, last season's runner up for Rookie of the Year. We don't know what Happ was going to do for us this season seeing as he only made 3 starts, but he was finally healthy and pitching again. So we traded a potentially good pitcher for a better pitcher that seems like more of a sure thing. But we get Oswalt for the next year and a half, possibly 2 and a half years. Happ we could have kept for who knows how long.
The other side of this is that our relationship with Happ was pretty much damaged already anyway. We have been talking about trading him for 2 years now any time a trade comes up. If I were him, I would not have felt too comfortable in Philly. It really seemed like a matter of time before he was gone, so it's good to get some value in return. Also, the consensus seems to be that the Phillies need to win right now. All of our best players are around the age of 30. In baseball, 30 is not really considered old, and many of these guys we could argue are in their primes right now. So getting a player that will help us win right now and losing a player that might help us win 5 years from now is probably a good thing. Also, the prospects we lose are not anything too critical to the system. Right now it's Anthony Gose and some random shortstop. We don't need a shortstop, and Gose is pretty whatever to me. He's one of the fastest guys in the system, but right now he doesn't look like a good leadoff guy at all with how much he strikes out. We can always use outfielders, but I don't feel like he was necessary to keep.
I think my main problem in this trade is acting like Roy Oswalt is one of the 5 best pitchers in baseball. We are giving up a "proven" pitcher in JA Happ as well as one of our top prospects in Anthony Gose. This is the kind of stuff we weren't really willing to give up a year ago for Roy Halladay. Roy Oswalt is definitely good, but he's not that good. I just worry that we gave up a ton for someone who will be good but not great. I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But either way, I think not winning the World Series makes this a horrible trade.
Well, not good really. We lose JA Happ, last season's runner up for Rookie of the Year. We don't know what Happ was going to do for us this season seeing as he only made 3 starts, but he was finally healthy and pitching again. So we traded a potentially good pitcher for a better pitcher that seems like more of a sure thing. But we get Oswalt for the next year and a half, possibly 2 and a half years. Happ we could have kept for who knows how long.
The other side of this is that our relationship with Happ was pretty much damaged already anyway. We have been talking about trading him for 2 years now any time a trade comes up. If I were him, I would not have felt too comfortable in Philly. It really seemed like a matter of time before he was gone, so it's good to get some value in return. Also, the consensus seems to be that the Phillies need to win right now. All of our best players are around the age of 30. In baseball, 30 is not really considered old, and many of these guys we could argue are in their primes right now. So getting a player that will help us win right now and losing a player that might help us win 5 years from now is probably a good thing. Also, the prospects we lose are not anything too critical to the system. Right now it's Anthony Gose and some random shortstop. We don't need a shortstop, and Gose is pretty whatever to me. He's one of the fastest guys in the system, but right now he doesn't look like a good leadoff guy at all with how much he strikes out. We can always use outfielders, but I don't feel like he was necessary to keep.
I think my main problem in this trade is acting like Roy Oswalt is one of the 5 best pitchers in baseball. We are giving up a "proven" pitcher in JA Happ as well as one of our top prospects in Anthony Gose. This is the kind of stuff we weren't really willing to give up a year ago for Roy Halladay. Roy Oswalt is definitely good, but he's not that good. I just worry that we gave up a ton for someone who will be good but not great. I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong. But either way, I think not winning the World Series makes this a horrible trade.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Bad
The Phillies are almost as bad at baseball as I am at updating right now.
I read that the Phillies had scored 3 runs or less in 44 of their first 92 games this season. I think I said something at the beginning of this season along the lines of it being impossible for the Phillies to score less than 4 runs in any given game. Yet, somehow, we have managed to do it in almost half of our games.
It's upsetting, but I wonder what the heck we can do about it. The possibility of getting rid of Jayson Werth is still out there and borderline likely at this point, but who can we really add to take his place and then add something extra to that? The most recent thing I have heard involves Roy Oswalt coming to the Phils. Although I would love that, it does not solve the problem of scoring runs. Pitching doesn't really feel like the problem right now.
As Kelsey said in her comment on the last post, Tejada is a possibility as well. That would be a nice replacement for Utley for the time being (move Polanco to second, Tejada plays third). He wouldnt have much of a place on the team once Chase is back, but I think right now we need to worry about actually winning some games. The more I think about it (as I'm typing this without thinking it through first), the more I really like Tejada on our team. But how old is he? Does he even know?
I read that the Phillies had scored 3 runs or less in 44 of their first 92 games this season. I think I said something at the beginning of this season along the lines of it being impossible for the Phillies to score less than 4 runs in any given game. Yet, somehow, we have managed to do it in almost half of our games.
It's upsetting, but I wonder what the heck we can do about it. The possibility of getting rid of Jayson Werth is still out there and borderline likely at this point, but who can we really add to take his place and then add something extra to that? The most recent thing I have heard involves Roy Oswalt coming to the Phils. Although I would love that, it does not solve the problem of scoring runs. Pitching doesn't really feel like the problem right now.
As Kelsey said in her comment on the last post, Tejada is a possibility as well. That would be a nice replacement for Utley for the time being (move Polanco to second, Tejada plays third). He wouldnt have much of a place on the team once Chase is back, but I think right now we need to worry about actually winning some games. The more I think about it (as I'm typing this without thinking it through first), the more I really like Tejada on our team. But how old is he? Does he even know?
Friday, July 9, 2010
Trades?
The latest reports are showing that Cliff Lee is going to be sent to the Yankees. That sucks for everyone, but before anyone complains about us getting rid of Cliff Lee, we need to remember that we got Roy Halladay. Halladay has been fantastic for us. Who knows if he is better than what Lee would have been, but we do know that he has been great.
So why does this trade matter to the Phils? Well, the Yankees will have an extra starting pitcher if they get Cliff Lee. An extra starting pitcher in the form of the struggling Javier Vazquez. Although he has not been very good this season, he pitched extremely well in the NL East last season for the Braves. Although I think we need more help hitting right now than we do pitching, the rumors are that we will trade Jayson Werth for Vazquez. Who knows how much truth there is to that rumor, but it's out there.
I think if we do this, we will undoubtedly need to get a right-handed bat somewhere. I don't know if that would occur in that trade, but it has to happen somehow. Losing Jayson Werth gets rid of our only powerful right-handed hitter. I think the top prospect within our system to replace Werth would be Domonic Brown right now, but he is left-handed. And for whatever reason, he is still only playing in AA Reading. Obviously people get called up from AA all the time, but it seems odd that they haven't made the jump to AAA with him yet.
I don't know what kind of right-handed bats/outfielders are available this year to be traded. I have a feeling somebody like Carlos Lee of the Astros would be available. They're bad, he's old, but he still has some production left in him (in theory). Although he wouldn't be my first choice by any stretch of the imagination, that's just what I came up with in a quick glance around the league.
Of course, we could always call someone up from AAA Pittsburgh. I'm thinking Andrew McCutchen would be a nice addition.
So why does this trade matter to the Phils? Well, the Yankees will have an extra starting pitcher if they get Cliff Lee. An extra starting pitcher in the form of the struggling Javier Vazquez. Although he has not been very good this season, he pitched extremely well in the NL East last season for the Braves. Although I think we need more help hitting right now than we do pitching, the rumors are that we will trade Jayson Werth for Vazquez. Who knows how much truth there is to that rumor, but it's out there.
I think if we do this, we will undoubtedly need to get a right-handed bat somewhere. I don't know if that would occur in that trade, but it has to happen somehow. Losing Jayson Werth gets rid of our only powerful right-handed hitter. I think the top prospect within our system to replace Werth would be Domonic Brown right now, but he is left-handed. And for whatever reason, he is still only playing in AA Reading. Obviously people get called up from AA all the time, but it seems odd that they haven't made the jump to AAA with him yet.
I don't know what kind of right-handed bats/outfielders are available this year to be traded. I have a feeling somebody like Carlos Lee of the Astros would be available. They're bad, he's old, but he still has some production left in him (in theory). Although he wouldn't be my first choice by any stretch of the imagination, that's just what I came up with in a quick glance around the league.
Of course, we could always call someone up from AAA Pittsburgh. I'm thinking Andrew McCutchen would be a nice addition.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Live Blog (From Thursday)
My good friend Ben Follett, the only true Pirates fan in the world, was gracious enough to write another post for this blog. You may recall that he wrote one reflecting upon the first series with the Pirates. He was lucky enough to go to a few games during this series in Pittsburgh. Thursday night, he decided to be the man and live blog during the game. Unfortunately, said "live blog" could not actually show up here live. So here it is now. Although it may be painful to relive this game, it's definitely awesome to see the game through his perspective as it was unfolding. So check it out -
Pirates – Phillies Live Blog (July 1, 2010)
6:24 pm - Sitting in the suite level at PNC Park should be my everyday life. 40 mins until first pitch and currently the phillies fans out number buccos fans 4 to 1
6:43 pm - You know how you make errors in baseball or softball when the ball hit a rock, divet or dead animal because the field sucks? Imagine playing on any major league field, no bad hops...major leaguers should never make an error.
7:05 pm - First pitch, 705 pm, 76 degrees and I love baseball...let's go bucs!
7:15 pm - I hate the shift, if Ryan Howard was smart he would ninth for a base hit down the 3rd base line 10 times in a row until teams stopped the shift and then he would hit for a higher average and I wouldn't have to yell about the shift every day.
7:21 pm - I think good Cole Hamels is in the building tonight, he's touching 95…whoa.
7:30 pm - Daniel McCutchen just struck out the side, lowering his ERA to 10.31...all I can say is Cole Hamels better look out.
7:40 pm - A question for all the readers, what would your walk up song be?
7:50 pm - 1-0 buccos on a bobby crosby single driving in lastings milledge.
7:54 pm - Wilson valdez hits a ball over the north side notch, who the hell is Wilson valdez, 1-1.
8:04 pm - Welcome to the burgh Pedro as he doubles to the notch scoring tabata from first, 2-1 bucs.
8:21 pm - Today is t-shirt Thursdays at the ballpark, I love free t-shirts...scratch that I love free everything, especially the free food and beer I am enjoying in the box tonight.
8:25 pm - Tabata brings in laroche after a perfect sac bunt, 3-1 pirates.
8:35 pm - The pirates throw the ball around a little and let the phillies have a run, 3-2.
8:47 pm - Ryan Howard grounds out to the second baseman in shallow right field, I love the shift.
9:02 pm - I don't like Heineken, but it is the only free beer left and its better than paying for beer I like. Oh by the way, 3-2 bucs, bottom of the 6th.
9:14 pm - I have been making bets with a friend the entire game and through 13 bets, he is up a quarter. As for the baseball, 3-2 bucs after the top if the 7th.
9:35 pm - I wish I could throw upper 90's, that would be awesome. 3-2 bucs.
9:50 pm - Top of the 9th, 3-2 bucs and here comes octavio dotel.
9:55 pm - 2 outs, bottom of the ninth...here we go.
9:59 pm - Raise the jolly roger, octavio strikes out victorino and the ballgame is over baby, 3-2 buccos and there was no doubt about it...thanks for playing Phillies, see ya tomorrow.
10:12 pm – Postgame…I love baseball and live blogging was an experience made all the better by the Pirates winning. I hope everyone enjoyed the comments and Let’s Go Bucs!
Pirates – Phillies Live Blog (July 1, 2010)
6:24 pm - Sitting in the suite level at PNC Park should be my everyday life. 40 mins until first pitch and currently the phillies fans out number buccos fans 4 to 1
6:43 pm - You know how you make errors in baseball or softball when the ball hit a rock, divet or dead animal because the field sucks? Imagine playing on any major league field, no bad hops...major leaguers should never make an error.
7:05 pm - First pitch, 705 pm, 76 degrees and I love baseball...let's go bucs!
7:15 pm - I hate the shift, if Ryan Howard was smart he would ninth for a base hit down the 3rd base line 10 times in a row until teams stopped the shift and then he would hit for a higher average and I wouldn't have to yell about the shift every day.
7:21 pm - I think good Cole Hamels is in the building tonight, he's touching 95…whoa.
7:30 pm - Daniel McCutchen just struck out the side, lowering his ERA to 10.31...all I can say is Cole Hamels better look out.
7:40 pm - A question for all the readers, what would your walk up song be?
7:50 pm - 1-0 buccos on a bobby crosby single driving in lastings milledge.
7:54 pm - Wilson valdez hits a ball over the north side notch, who the hell is Wilson valdez, 1-1.
8:04 pm - Welcome to the burgh Pedro as he doubles to the notch scoring tabata from first, 2-1 bucs.
8:21 pm - Today is t-shirt Thursdays at the ballpark, I love free t-shirts...scratch that I love free everything, especially the free food and beer I am enjoying in the box tonight.
8:25 pm - Tabata brings in laroche after a perfect sac bunt, 3-1 pirates.
8:35 pm - The pirates throw the ball around a little and let the phillies have a run, 3-2.
8:47 pm - Ryan Howard grounds out to the second baseman in shallow right field, I love the shift.
9:02 pm - I don't like Heineken, but it is the only free beer left and its better than paying for beer I like. Oh by the way, 3-2 bucs, bottom of the 6th.
9:14 pm - I have been making bets with a friend the entire game and through 13 bets, he is up a quarter. As for the baseball, 3-2 bucs after the top if the 7th.
9:35 pm - I wish I could throw upper 90's, that would be awesome. 3-2 bucs.
9:50 pm - Top of the 9th, 3-2 bucs and here comes octavio dotel.
9:55 pm - 2 outs, bottom of the ninth...here we go.
9:59 pm - Raise the jolly roger, octavio strikes out victorino and the ballgame is over baby, 3-2 buccos and there was no doubt about it...thanks for playing Phillies, see ya tomorrow.
10:12 pm – Postgame…I love baseball and live blogging was an experience made all the better by the Pirates winning. I hope everyone enjoyed the comments and Let’s Go Bucs!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The Pirates?
Every once in awhile I like to justify to myself why I keep my own Phillies statistics by actually using them to talk about something. Today is one of those glorious days.
In 4 games against the Pirates this season, Phillies starters have pitched 30 innings. They have a 2.40 ERA and a .211 batting average against.
The Phillies' bullpen has pitched 4 perfect innings.
Ryan Howard is batting .500 against the Pirates with 6 RBI.
We have scored 15 runs in those 4 games. The Pirates have scored 9.
All of these numbers add up to a record of 1-3. How does that make any sense at all?
The simple explanation would be: it doesn't. As the guest blogger from the last series against them pointed out, the Pirates are simply better in close games. I must admit, I haven't followed the Pirates all that closely since that last series, but I do know that the Phillies certainly haven't gotten much better in general since then, much less in close games.
Close or not close, the Phillies need to score some runs in order to win games. That now gives us 3 runs in 3 losses to the Pirates. Things aren't looking up with tomorrow's game against Paul Maholm, who has historically dominated us (0.78 ERA in his last 3 starts against us).
This was supposed to be our "easy" series leading up to the All-Star Break. Utley being out until September and 29 of our other 24 regular players being on the DL surely doesn't help our 5-game deficit in the NL East. Since the start of the 2008 season, I'm not sure that I've ever been worried about the Phillies chances, whether it be in a game, a series, or the season. I'm not saying I'm worried now, but I totally am.
And with the help we need right now, I already miss Domonic Brown.
In 4 games against the Pirates this season, Phillies starters have pitched 30 innings. They have a 2.40 ERA and a .211 batting average against.
The Phillies' bullpen has pitched 4 perfect innings.
Ryan Howard is batting .500 against the Pirates with 6 RBI.
We have scored 15 runs in those 4 games. The Pirates have scored 9.
All of these numbers add up to a record of 1-3. How does that make any sense at all?
The simple explanation would be: it doesn't. As the guest blogger from the last series against them pointed out, the Pirates are simply better in close games. I must admit, I haven't followed the Pirates all that closely since that last series, but I do know that the Phillies certainly haven't gotten much better in general since then, much less in close games.
Close or not close, the Phillies need to score some runs in order to win games. That now gives us 3 runs in 3 losses to the Pirates. Things aren't looking up with tomorrow's game against Paul Maholm, who has historically dominated us (0.78 ERA in his last 3 starts against us).
This was supposed to be our "easy" series leading up to the All-Star Break. Utley being out until September and 29 of our other 24 regular players being on the DL surely doesn't help our 5-game deficit in the NL East. Since the start of the 2008 season, I'm not sure that I've ever been worried about the Phillies chances, whether it be in a game, a series, or the season. I'm not saying I'm worried now, but I totally am.
And with the help we need right now, I already miss Domonic Brown.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Summer Camp
A few days ago I arrived at Penn State to work at a camp. It's the same camp that caused me to stop this blog last year, only this year it's even longer...6 1/2 weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to update a few times weekly based on SportsCenter highlights and checking out box scores.
Now would be a great time to let me know if you want to write any guest blog entries. All are welcome, just ask and we can figure out a good time for it to happen.
In terms of the actual Phillies, here are my most recent thoughts...
Good series against the Indians. We are definitely a lot better than them and should have swept. So it's nice that we actually did.
Good series against the Blue Jays. They are a good team this year with solid pitching and guys who are just straight up hitting home runs. That's a great series win for us.
The Reds are a very good team this season. I was surprised at how Kyle Kendrick did in Game 1. I would expect him to struggle against them, but not after pitching well to start the game. When I saw the 0-0 score go across the bottom line on ESPN in the 3rd inning, I felt like I knew we would win that game because it was a day Kendrick was feeling good. I guess not. Cueto is a very good pitcher, and that's not really a matchup we should win.
Tonight's game will be interesting. The Reds are starting Mike Leake, the best rookie starting pitcher in the NL since Stephen Strasburg! The Phils often struggle against crappy young pitchers, and I feel like the usually do well against good young pitchers. So I expect a decent amount of offense this game, it's just whether or not the Reds can get more off of Big Joe.
Now would be a great time to let me know if you want to write any guest blog entries. All are welcome, just ask and we can figure out a good time for it to happen.
In terms of the actual Phillies, here are my most recent thoughts...
Good series against the Indians. We are definitely a lot better than them and should have swept. So it's nice that we actually did.
Good series against the Blue Jays. They are a good team this year with solid pitching and guys who are just straight up hitting home runs. That's a great series win for us.
The Reds are a very good team this season. I was surprised at how Kyle Kendrick did in Game 1. I would expect him to struggle against them, but not after pitching well to start the game. When I saw the 0-0 score go across the bottom line on ESPN in the 3rd inning, I felt like I knew we would win that game because it was a day Kendrick was feeling good. I guess not. Cueto is a very good pitcher, and that's not really a matchup we should win.
Tonight's game will be interesting. The Reds are starting Mike Leake, the best rookie starting pitcher in the NL since Stephen Strasburg! The Phils often struggle against crappy young pitchers, and I feel like the usually do well against good young pitchers. So I expect a decent amount of offense this game, it's just whether or not the Reds can get more off of Big Joe.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Jamie Moyer
Unbelievable. Is someone going to tell him he's 47 years old? And does he know something we don't? Is 47 actually younger than 46? Since his first start with the Phils on August 22, 2006, Gramps had pitched more than 7 innings 4 times coming into this season. He has now pitched more than 7 innings 4 times this season. A fantastic game by him when our offense simply couldn't get anything going after the first inning. At some point, his arm will literally fall off during a game. Until then, I'll take him.
Some other notes from the game:
-If the name Jason Donald sounds familiar, it's because the Indians' middle infielder is one of the players we traded to get Cliff Lee. He is the only one who has done anything remotely significant for Cleveland. His most notable achievement: Getting called safe to break up the Tigers' Armando Galarraga's perfect game earlier this season. Oops
-I know I rip on the broadcast team all the time and it may get old, but I just don't understand how they honestly get paid to do this stuff. Let me set the scene for you:
Carlos Santana, Indians rookie catcher is up to bat in the first inning. The first pitch is a low and inside called strike. The second pitch is a low and inside called strike. Santana has yet to take the bat off his shoulder (trust me, I rewound this to check). On the third pitch, in the exact same spot, Santana fouls the ball off weakly down towards the Indians' dugout. Here is, word-for-word, what Christopher Wheeler said after that 3rd pitch.
"Santana's the kind of guy that, if Jamie makes his pitches, he can get him out. Because you can see already how aggressive he is. He looks like he'd check swing at the rosin bag right now. He is up there hackin' away at everything."
Complete majoke. Get a job man.
-How long will the shift continue for Ryan Howard? Sunday, he had a ground ball go in between the 2nd baseman and shortstop despite both of them being on the right side of the field and standing in the grass. Tonight, he hit one right to where a shortstop would normally be waiting to turn an inning-ending double play in the first inning. Instead, it was an RBI single allowing Chase Utley to go from first to 3rd. Jayson Werth then hit a sac fly to score Utley. Both of the Phillies runs were scored in the first inning thanks to the shift. The Big Man's average is now up to .294, and he's still on pace for a solid 120+ RBI.
-Chooch is on the DL. That bites
-Greg Dobbs has been designated for assignment. Hopefully we can hang on to Dobbs. I always liked him, and he was a HUGE part of our 2008 championship team. There is no doubt that he has been unreliable at the plate, and his defense has always been suspect at best. But it definitely hurts to get rid of a good guy like Dobbs. It seems like the right thing to do, especially with Gload having success as a left-handed bat off the bench. But that doesn't mean it hurts my soul any less.
-Jimmy's back! Although he didn't do much at the plate, I think he had somewhere around 46 assists from shortstop in this game. It felt like every single batter was grounding out to Jimmy. It's good to have him back and hopefully he can get back to hitting the ball pretty soon so the rest of the team can follow
Some other notes from the game:
-If the name Jason Donald sounds familiar, it's because the Indians' middle infielder is one of the players we traded to get Cliff Lee. He is the only one who has done anything remotely significant for Cleveland. His most notable achievement: Getting called safe to break up the Tigers' Armando Galarraga's perfect game earlier this season. Oops
-I know I rip on the broadcast team all the time and it may get old, but I just don't understand how they honestly get paid to do this stuff. Let me set the scene for you:
Carlos Santana, Indians rookie catcher is up to bat in the first inning. The first pitch is a low and inside called strike. The second pitch is a low and inside called strike. Santana has yet to take the bat off his shoulder (trust me, I rewound this to check). On the third pitch, in the exact same spot, Santana fouls the ball off weakly down towards the Indians' dugout. Here is, word-for-word, what Christopher Wheeler said after that 3rd pitch.
"Santana's the kind of guy that, if Jamie makes his pitches, he can get him out. Because you can see already how aggressive he is. He looks like he'd check swing at the rosin bag right now. He is up there hackin' away at everything."
Complete majoke. Get a job man.
-How long will the shift continue for Ryan Howard? Sunday, he had a ground ball go in between the 2nd baseman and shortstop despite both of them being on the right side of the field and standing in the grass. Tonight, he hit one right to where a shortstop would normally be waiting to turn an inning-ending double play in the first inning. Instead, it was an RBI single allowing Chase Utley to go from first to 3rd. Jayson Werth then hit a sac fly to score Utley. Both of the Phillies runs were scored in the first inning thanks to the shift. The Big Man's average is now up to .294, and he's still on pace for a solid 120+ RBI.
-Chooch is on the DL. That bites
-Greg Dobbs has been designated for assignment. Hopefully we can hang on to Dobbs. I always liked him, and he was a HUGE part of our 2008 championship team. There is no doubt that he has been unreliable at the plate, and his defense has always been suspect at best. But it definitely hurts to get rid of a good guy like Dobbs. It seems like the right thing to do, especially with Gload having success as a left-handed bat off the bench. But that doesn't mean it hurts my soul any less.
-Jimmy's back! Although he didn't do much at the plate, I think he had somewhere around 46 assists from shortstop in this game. It felt like every single batter was grounding out to Jimmy. It's good to have him back and hopefully he can get back to hitting the ball pretty soon so the rest of the team can follow
Indians Preview
The Indians are not a good baseball team. Not this season, anyway.
In baseball, numbers largely speak for themselves. So here is how they stack up compared to the rest of the majors:
23rd in batting average
26th in home runs
25th in RBI
25th in hits
That's their offense. The pitching is even worse. Remember, these numbers are out of 30 teams:
24th in ERA
30th in strikeouts
29th in saves
28th in WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched)
Although the number could speak for themselves, these may say more than they should. Home runs are not necessarily a big deal for an offense to be successful. The Blue Jays lead the majors in home runs yet sit 4th in their own division. The Diamondbacks are 4th in home runs and are dead last in the NL West. But group no home runs with a low batting average, not many RBI, and a team that struggles to get hits, and things don't look good for the Indians.
Pitching numbers can be deceiving too. ERA and WHIP will generally speak for itself, but strikeouts and saves don't necessarily mean too much for a team's success. The Phillies are toward the bottom in each of those categories as well. Still, the combination of bad stats for the Indians adds up to an overall poor outlook for the team this season.
It seems like this is exactly the team that the Phillies need to be playing right now to help make sure the ship is completely righted. However, all of those numbers can only say so much when talking about an individual series. We know Jamie Moyer, Kyle Kendrick, and Joe Blanton all too well this season. Although all 3 have had moments of greatness (some more than others), Phillies fans have suffered numerous times with any one of these 3 men on the mound.
A statistic that is not kept in baseball (although it definitely is, it just isn't readily available), is games in which pitchers give up an unreasonable amount of runs and really make their offense and bullpen work to win a game. Let's call that number of runs 5. Can we all agree on 5? Ok, 5 it is. So...
In 35 combined starts this season, Moyer, Kendrick, and Blanton have given up 5 or more runs in 15 of them. That's about 43% of the time they pitch, they completely screw over the rest of the team.
In 41 starts by Mitch Talbot, Jake Westbrook, and Fausto Carmona (the Indians' starters this series), they have done this just 9 times. That's about 22% of the time.
These numbers obviously depend on who those players are playing against and things like that, but a disparity like this one would show that a series featuring these pitching match-ups is not one that we should necessarily feel comfortable about. In a way, it's like our pitchers are twice as likely to completely melt down in these 3 games as their pitchers are. I know that Jamie Moyer can go out and throw 7 innings giving up 2 runs. I also know he can throw 4 innings giving up 7. Same with Kyle Kendrick. And same with Joe Blanton.
This is a series that, by the numbers (or at least the numbers everyone sees), we should win. We should sweep it really. But, unfortunately for the Phillies this season, baseball is not played on paper. Let's hope that we can have the good versions of our starters show up along with the offense that we know and love.
I could give a prediction for this series, but these pitchers and our offense have been far too unpredictable for me to do anything that stupid.
(But I think we sweep it, average 8 runs a game. Don't quote me on that)
In baseball, numbers largely speak for themselves. So here is how they stack up compared to the rest of the majors:
23rd in batting average
26th in home runs
25th in RBI
25th in hits
That's their offense. The pitching is even worse. Remember, these numbers are out of 30 teams:
24th in ERA
30th in strikeouts
29th in saves
28th in WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched)
Although the number could speak for themselves, these may say more than they should. Home runs are not necessarily a big deal for an offense to be successful. The Blue Jays lead the majors in home runs yet sit 4th in their own division. The Diamondbacks are 4th in home runs and are dead last in the NL West. But group no home runs with a low batting average, not many RBI, and a team that struggles to get hits, and things don't look good for the Indians.
Pitching numbers can be deceiving too. ERA and WHIP will generally speak for itself, but strikeouts and saves don't necessarily mean too much for a team's success. The Phillies are toward the bottom in each of those categories as well. Still, the combination of bad stats for the Indians adds up to an overall poor outlook for the team this season.
It seems like this is exactly the team that the Phillies need to be playing right now to help make sure the ship is completely righted. However, all of those numbers can only say so much when talking about an individual series. We know Jamie Moyer, Kyle Kendrick, and Joe Blanton all too well this season. Although all 3 have had moments of greatness (some more than others), Phillies fans have suffered numerous times with any one of these 3 men on the mound.
A statistic that is not kept in baseball (although it definitely is, it just isn't readily available), is games in which pitchers give up an unreasonable amount of runs and really make their offense and bullpen work to win a game. Let's call that number of runs 5. Can we all agree on 5? Ok, 5 it is. So...
In 35 combined starts this season, Moyer, Kendrick, and Blanton have given up 5 or more runs in 15 of them. That's about 43% of the time they pitch, they completely screw over the rest of the team.
In 41 starts by Mitch Talbot, Jake Westbrook, and Fausto Carmona (the Indians' starters this series), they have done this just 9 times. That's about 22% of the time.
These numbers obviously depend on who those players are playing against and things like that, but a disparity like this one would show that a series featuring these pitching match-ups is not one that we should necessarily feel comfortable about. In a way, it's like our pitchers are twice as likely to completely melt down in these 3 games as their pitchers are. I know that Jamie Moyer can go out and throw 7 innings giving up 2 runs. I also know he can throw 4 innings giving up 7. Same with Kyle Kendrick. And same with Joe Blanton.
This is a series that, by the numbers (or at least the numbers everyone sees), we should win. We should sweep it really. But, unfortunately for the Phillies this season, baseball is not played on paper. Let's hope that we can have the good versions of our starters show up along with the offense that we know and love.
I could give a prediction for this series, but these pitchers and our offense have been far too unpredictable for me to do anything that stupid.
(But I think we sweep it, average 8 runs a game. Don't quote me on that)
Friday, June 18, 2010
What a Difference a Day Makes
After talking about how much the Phillies have struggled over the past month yesterday, they came out tonight and put on one of their better offensive performances of the season.
The Twins are a very good team, and Joe Blanton has been by far our worst starter this season. I was very happy with counting on Halladay and Hamels to bring in the next 2 games to take the series. Instead, Joe pitched pretty well, taking a no-hitter into the 5th. The offense also showed up, and it was the people that we need to show up that actually did. It's always great when our 6, 7, and 8 hitters can come through for us, but in order to actually put together any semblance of a winning streak, we need the 1 through 5 hitters to get hot. Tonight, they did exactly that. Here are their collective numbers:
9 for 19
9 RBI
8 runs scored
5 extra-base hits
3 walks
1 stolen base
and only 1 strike out
Howard and Baseball did most of that damage, but it was an all-around great performance by the top of the order getting things done at the plate when they needed to in whatever way they could. Five of our 9 runs scored came with 2 outs. Even though I hate this statistic, we were 3 for 8 with runners in scoring position. This is the kind of timely hitting that we need to continue in order to get back to the top of the division.
Other notes:
-This was a great game to watch, despite being one of Thomas McCarthy's worst games. I never know what is wrong with him, but I really didn't know what was wrong with him tonight. I wish I had been writing down things he was saying during the game. He kept doing his signature get-really-excited-and-start-talking-in-a-louder-voice-without-knowing-what-I-really-want-to-say-yet. It ended up with statements like this one:
"And the Phillies have a first inning run! Not only that, but they're leading 1-0!"
Majoke.
-Doug Glanville has written a book about the life of a Major League Baseball player or something along those lines. Guy Smiley, as I liked to call him, was always a nice player to have on the team because he always seemed like he enjoyed what he was doing. And he's a good writer apparently. As for baseball, he rarely impressed when in a Phillies uniform. But as a friend and I always say, he did have 200 hits that one year!
-Joe Mauer, if you didn't know, is the greatest/coolest athlete of all time. In high school, he struck out 1 time. Total. In 4 years. He batted over .500 every season, including .605 his senior year. While doing this, he was named Gatorade National Player of the Year as a quarterback. And USA Today Player of the Year. And he was an All-American. And had a scholarship to play at Florida State. Basketball was his weakest sport, where he only averaged 20 points a game as a point guard and was named to the All-State team his junior and senior years. And he did all this in Minnesota where everyone loves and idolizes him. He then got to continue that success in that same state of Minnesota for the Twins as one of the best players in all of baseball.
The Twins are a very good team, and Joe Blanton has been by far our worst starter this season. I was very happy with counting on Halladay and Hamels to bring in the next 2 games to take the series. Instead, Joe pitched pretty well, taking a no-hitter into the 5th. The offense also showed up, and it was the people that we need to show up that actually did. It's always great when our 6, 7, and 8 hitters can come through for us, but in order to actually put together any semblance of a winning streak, we need the 1 through 5 hitters to get hot. Tonight, they did exactly that. Here are their collective numbers:
9 for 19
9 RBI
8 runs scored
5 extra-base hits
3 walks
1 stolen base
and only 1 strike out
Howard and Baseball did most of that damage, but it was an all-around great performance by the top of the order getting things done at the plate when they needed to in whatever way they could. Five of our 9 runs scored came with 2 outs. Even though I hate this statistic, we were 3 for 8 with runners in scoring position. This is the kind of timely hitting that we need to continue in order to get back to the top of the division.
Other notes:
-This was a great game to watch, despite being one of Thomas McCarthy's worst games. I never know what is wrong with him, but I really didn't know what was wrong with him tonight. I wish I had been writing down things he was saying during the game. He kept doing his signature get-really-excited-and-start-talking-in-a-louder-voice-without-knowing-what-I-really-want-to-say-yet. It ended up with statements like this one:
"And the Phillies have a first inning run! Not only that, but they're leading 1-0!"
Majoke.
-Doug Glanville has written a book about the life of a Major League Baseball player or something along those lines. Guy Smiley, as I liked to call him, was always a nice player to have on the team because he always seemed like he enjoyed what he was doing. And he's a good writer apparently. As for baseball, he rarely impressed when in a Phillies uniform. But as a friend and I always say, he did have 200 hits that one year!
-Joe Mauer, if you didn't know, is the greatest/coolest athlete of all time. In high school, he struck out 1 time. Total. In 4 years. He batted over .500 every season, including .605 his senior year. While doing this, he was named Gatorade National Player of the Year as a quarterback. And USA Today Player of the Year. And he was an All-American. And had a scholarship to play at Florida State. Basketball was his weakest sport, where he only averaged 20 points a game as a point guard and was named to the All-State team his junior and senior years. And he did all this in Minnesota where everyone loves and idolizes him. He then got to continue that success in that same state of Minnesota for the Twins as one of the best players in all of baseball.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
What a Difference a Month Makes
With 2 wins in a row against the Yankees and real runs scored in both of them, it might seem like the Phils are on their way out of their recent slump. Although the series was very backwards (Halladay losing, Moyer and Kendrick winning), it was great to get back to winning ways. We're coming up on another tough series against the Twins. Blanton has been very off this season, but Hamels and Halladay pitch the other two games and will hopefully help to bring home a second straight series win since May 3-9 against the Cardinals and Braves just before this extended skid began.
As of tonight's game on June 17th, the Phillies are 34-30 and in 3rd place in the NL East. Let us rewind one month to May 17th, the night on which the Phillies beat the Pirates 12-2.
The Phillies were 24-13 and in first place - 5 games ahead of the Marlins and Nationals, 6 ahead of the Mets, and 6.5 ahead of the now first place Braves. For those who don't want to do the math, we are just 10-17 since then.
Our pitching has managed to stay pretty consistent during this time for the most part, but the offense has taken a serious hit. Let's look at how things have changed:
-Shane Victorino was hitting .275 on May 17. He's now hitting .255
-Placido Polanco was hitting .316. He has since dropped slightly down to .310.
-Chase Utley was hitting .304 with a .421 on-base percentage. In the past month, he has gotten 17 hits in 91 at-bats to drop his average to an unbelievably low .257. His OBP has also dropped to .377.
-Ryan Howard was up at .299 on May 17. He's now batting .282 and has hit only 4 home runs in the past month.
-Jayson Werth was on track for an MVP and a huge contract while batting .336 and leading the league with 20 doubles. He has only hit 4 two-baggers since then and dropped his average to .281.
-Carlos Ruiz was batting an astounding .341 on May 17, but he has dropped that average to .275 with the help of a recent 0 for 24 slump.
The last game before the All-Star Break is July 11. That gives us a little less than a month to get back on track for good heading into the second half of the season. With Jimmy possibly coming back as early as Saturday, things should hopefully continue to look up for the Phils' offense.
As of tonight's game on June 17th, the Phillies are 34-30 and in 3rd place in the NL East. Let us rewind one month to May 17th, the night on which the Phillies beat the Pirates 12-2.
The Phillies were 24-13 and in first place - 5 games ahead of the Marlins and Nationals, 6 ahead of the Mets, and 6.5 ahead of the now first place Braves. For those who don't want to do the math, we are just 10-17 since then.
Our pitching has managed to stay pretty consistent during this time for the most part, but the offense has taken a serious hit. Let's look at how things have changed:
-Shane Victorino was hitting .275 on May 17. He's now hitting .255
-Placido Polanco was hitting .316. He has since dropped slightly down to .310.
-Chase Utley was hitting .304 with a .421 on-base percentage. In the past month, he has gotten 17 hits in 91 at-bats to drop his average to an unbelievably low .257. His OBP has also dropped to .377.
-Ryan Howard was up at .299 on May 17. He's now batting .282 and has hit only 4 home runs in the past month.
-Jayson Werth was on track for an MVP and a huge contract while batting .336 and leading the league with 20 doubles. He has only hit 4 two-baggers since then and dropped his average to .281.
-Carlos Ruiz was batting an astounding .341 on May 17, but he has dropped that average to .275 with the help of a recent 0 for 24 slump.
The last game before the All-Star Break is July 11. That gives us a little less than a month to get back on track for good heading into the second half of the season. With Jimmy possibly coming back as early as Saturday, things should hopefully continue to look up for the Phils' offense.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
A Broken Bat
Did anyone else listen to Christopher Wheeler argue with himself for what felt like 4 1/2 innings over whether or not Swisher broke his bat on his home run. Just shut up already. If the Phillies plan on having me make it through another full game this season, they either need to start scoring runs or fire Christopher Wheeler and Thomas McCarthy.
And by "fire" I mean actually light them on fire.
And by "fire" I mean actually light them on fire.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
A Bit Off Topic
Perhaps my favorite personal catch phrase is, "Everything's comin' up Koehler!" (edited within the Koehler family to say Cameron instead). Never has this been more true than the past 2 weeks of my life. Just days after I got back from California, I found out I had an interview at Pennridge for a teaching job. That turned into a second interview and finally one with the superintendent this morning. At about 10:00 this morning I was officially offered and officially accepted a job as a social studies teacher at Pennridge High School. I feel I can express my joy on this blog because I know very few people other than close friends and family read it. And if you aren't a close friend or family member, you can comment on how annoying this is. That would actually make me feel really cool anyway because I would find out I have readers!
This relates to the Yankees series because I love the Phillies and hate the Yankees and everything is going right for me right now. Phils in 3.
This relates to the Yankees series because I love the Phillies and hate the Yankees and everything is going right for me right now. Phils in 3.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Favorites
With any sports team, people often talk about who their favorite player is. With the Phillies, I find it extremely difficult to point to one single player as my favorite. Arguments could be made for almost any of them to be my favorite. It seems like every player on the Phillies has been my "favorite" at one point or another, even if it's just for a single game. However, when I really think about it and have to pick someone, I can narrow it down to 3 players.
Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are 2 of those 3. Although both of them have gone through and will go through many slumps, they consistently perform at such a high level. They have been Phillies for their whole careers, and you get the feeling that it will stay that way with the contracts that they have along with their attitudes. Those two were pretty easy picks for favorites.
The third could have been any number of people. Jayson Werth has been one of the most valuable players on the Phillies the past few years yet stayed largely unnoticed throughout the country. Roy Halladay is an incredible pitcher with a great attitude. Chooch quietly gets the job done behind the plate better than most catchers, even if he may struggle at bat most of the time. Shane Victorino always seems to be having a good time while playing, and he quietly puts up some of the best offensive numbers for the Phils.
None of these people are that 3rd person for me though. That answer may surprise you, because it sure as heck surprised me once I started thinking about it.
Despite all of our differences over the years, Jimmy Rollins is one of my top 3 favorite Phillies alongside Chase and Ryan. This blog has been a haven for me to rip on Jimmy for over a year now, even going so far as to strip him of his nickname and refer to him as James Calvin Rollins when he is struggling. I hate his impatience at the plate. I can't stand that he doesn't always hustle. It bothers me that Charlie insists on him being a leadoff hitter when he lacks most of the characteristics of a real leadoff hitter. And, probably worst of all, I just want him to shut his mouth all the time
But the bottom line is, Jimmy Rollins is the Phillies. Nationally, it is probably between him and Ryan Howard for the face of this Phillies team. He has put in far more time with this organization than anyone else on the team. And when his numbers are good, the Phillies just win. It is always crazy when statistics are shown relating Rollins scoring a run to the Phillies winning. There is no doubt in my mind that our horrible play as of late is related to Jimmy being out of our lineup. We can only go so long without our leader. The Phillies offense works when Jimmy Rollins is a part of it. End of story.
So even though I've probably hated him more than I've loved him over the years, I wouldn't want anyone else playing shortstop for us. He helped define this team over the years, and he has earned pretty much anything he gets here due to all the time he put in with those crappy early 2000s teams. In 40 years, when I think back to these Phillies teams and the success we had, I will think of Jimmy first. When I look at who my favorite is, I think that's something that I have to consider. Because of that, there's no way Jimmy Rollins isn't one of my favorite players.
Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are 2 of those 3. Although both of them have gone through and will go through many slumps, they consistently perform at such a high level. They have been Phillies for their whole careers, and you get the feeling that it will stay that way with the contracts that they have along with their attitudes. Those two were pretty easy picks for favorites.
The third could have been any number of people. Jayson Werth has been one of the most valuable players on the Phillies the past few years yet stayed largely unnoticed throughout the country. Roy Halladay is an incredible pitcher with a great attitude. Chooch quietly gets the job done behind the plate better than most catchers, even if he may struggle at bat most of the time. Shane Victorino always seems to be having a good time while playing, and he quietly puts up some of the best offensive numbers for the Phils.
None of these people are that 3rd person for me though. That answer may surprise you, because it sure as heck surprised me once I started thinking about it.
Despite all of our differences over the years, Jimmy Rollins is one of my top 3 favorite Phillies alongside Chase and Ryan. This blog has been a haven for me to rip on Jimmy for over a year now, even going so far as to strip him of his nickname and refer to him as James Calvin Rollins when he is struggling. I hate his impatience at the plate. I can't stand that he doesn't always hustle. It bothers me that Charlie insists on him being a leadoff hitter when he lacks most of the characteristics of a real leadoff hitter. And, probably worst of all, I just want him to shut his mouth all the time
But the bottom line is, Jimmy Rollins is the Phillies. Nationally, it is probably between him and Ryan Howard for the face of this Phillies team. He has put in far more time with this organization than anyone else on the team. And when his numbers are good, the Phillies just win. It is always crazy when statistics are shown relating Rollins scoring a run to the Phillies winning. There is no doubt in my mind that our horrible play as of late is related to Jimmy being out of our lineup. We can only go so long without our leader. The Phillies offense works when Jimmy Rollins is a part of it. End of story.
So even though I've probably hated him more than I've loved him over the years, I wouldn't want anyone else playing shortstop for us. He helped define this team over the years, and he has earned pretty much anything he gets here due to all the time he put in with those crappy early 2000s teams. In 40 years, when I think back to these Phillies teams and the success we had, I will think of Jimmy first. When I look at who my favorite is, I think that's something that I have to consider. Because of that, there's no way Jimmy Rollins isn't one of my favorite players.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Marlins Series
I pointed out yesterday how much success our starters for this series have had against the Marlins this season. On top of that, our bullpen has a respectable 3.60 ERA against them. So pitching is something that we should not have to worry too much about over the next 3 days.
Hitting is a completely different story. As good as we have been pitching against the Marlins, they may be better than us. We are batting somewhere around .200 as a team in 6 games against them, and their pitchers have an ERA of 2.04.
Our best hitters against the Marlins are our possible 7 and 8 batters. Chooch is hitting .417, Brian Schneider is hitting .400, Wilson Valdez is hitting .364, and Juan Castro is hitting .294. Here's everyone else from a normal line up:
Victorino - .217
Polanco - .154
Utley - .211
Howard - .182
Werth - .211
Ibanez - .063
So I take back what I said about expecting us to do well in this series. Expect us to pitch well. Hold your breath otherwise.
Hitting is a completely different story. As good as we have been pitching against the Marlins, they may be better than us. We are batting somewhere around .200 as a team in 6 games against them, and their pitchers have an ERA of 2.04.
Our best hitters against the Marlins are our possible 7 and 8 batters. Chooch is hitting .417, Brian Schneider is hitting .400, Wilson Valdez is hitting .364, and Juan Castro is hitting .294. Here's everyone else from a normal line up:
Victorino - .217
Polanco - .154
Utley - .211
Howard - .182
Werth - .211
Ibanez - .063
So I take back what I said about expecting us to do well in this series. Expect us to pitch well. Hold your breath otherwise.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Another Big One
The series with San Diego has gone as we would have hoped thus far. Halladay won, Jamie pitched a gem on Saturday, and we lost a tough one yesterday in 10 innings. Four-game sweeps are very hard to come by, especially against teams who are leading their division.
The loss yesterday, though, is difficult because of how badly we want to take 3 out of 4 in this series. I like that we have Hamels on the mound tonight for the 4th game, but I feel like a lot more pressure is on this game than I wanted. Losing will either keep us at 2 games back from the Braves (if they lose as well) or 3 games back if they can win against the Diamondbacks. Winning could possibly pull us within 1 game of the Braves going into the series against the Marlins.
Without trying to get too far ahead of ourselves, I like our chances against Florida. The bats have started to wake up recently, and we have Kendrick, Halladay, and Moyer scheduled to pitch in the Marlins series. In 5 combined starts against the Marlins this season, those 3 pitchers have pitched 35 innings, walked just 3 batters, accumulated a 2.06 ERA, and allowed the Marlins to bat just .180 against them. They are 3-2 in those starts with the 2 losses coming in both of Jamie Moyers' starts, mostly due to a lack of run support (a 1-0 loss in his last one against them).
So what does this mean for the game tonight? It means that taking 3 out of 4 against the Padres would be great momentum going into a series that we should win as well. These are very important games because, as was pointed out before, we have 15 games against the American League coming up where we are bound to struggle. Any ground we can gain right now on the Braves is important. Although it's relatively early in the season, not being in first place makes every game feel crucial. Hopefully Cole Hamels feels the same way because he often steps it up in big games. The game will also be on ESPN tonight, and it's always fun to look good in front of a national audience.
The loss yesterday, though, is difficult because of how badly we want to take 3 out of 4 in this series. I like that we have Hamels on the mound tonight for the 4th game, but I feel like a lot more pressure is on this game than I wanted. Losing will either keep us at 2 games back from the Braves (if they lose as well) or 3 games back if they can win against the Diamondbacks. Winning could possibly pull us within 1 game of the Braves going into the series against the Marlins.
Without trying to get too far ahead of ourselves, I like our chances against Florida. The bats have started to wake up recently, and we have Kendrick, Halladay, and Moyer scheduled to pitch in the Marlins series. In 5 combined starts against the Marlins this season, those 3 pitchers have pitched 35 innings, walked just 3 batters, accumulated a 2.06 ERA, and allowed the Marlins to bat just .180 against them. They are 3-2 in those starts with the 2 losses coming in both of Jamie Moyers' starts, mostly due to a lack of run support (a 1-0 loss in his last one against them).
So what does this mean for the game tonight? It means that taking 3 out of 4 against the Padres would be great momentum going into a series that we should win as well. These are very important games because, as was pointed out before, we have 15 games against the American League coming up where we are bound to struggle. Any ground we can gain right now on the Braves is important. Although it's relatively early in the season, not being in first place makes every game feel crucial. Hopefully Cole Hamels feels the same way because he often steps it up in big games. The game will also be on ESPN tonight, and it's always fun to look good in front of a national audience.
Friday, June 4, 2010
The Time is Now
The Phillies' recent struggles need to end soon, but the upcoming schedule does not exactly look promising for that to happen. The series with the Padres starting tonight is an important one, as well as the following series with the Marlins. After these 7 games, we have 15 straight against the American League, against which we have always been horrible. Looking at our schedule up until the All-Star Break, there is really nothing easy about it:
4 against the Padres (first place NL West)
3 against the Marlins (1.5 games behind us)
3 in Boston (who we have already lost 2 of 3 to)
3 in New York against the Yankees (2nd best record in baseball)
3 against the Twins (first in AL Central)
3 against the Indians
3 against the Blue Jays (3rd in AL East but with a better record than us)
3 in Cincinnati (1st in NL Central)
3 in Pittsburgh
3 against Atlanta (3 games ahead of us)
4 against the Reds (once again, 1st in NL Central)
Nothing about this is easy. Yes, the Indians are terrible, but they are still an American League team and we usually suck against them. The Pirates are not too great either, but we can't be too confident about any team when we're playing the way we are.
With all of that being said, it is important for us to make a statement in this series against the Padres. They do not have much of an offense to speak of, ranking 23rd in batting average, 26th in home runs, and 21st in RBI. They're in first place, however, because of their pitching. Their pitching staff has the lowest ERA in all of baseball. Combine that with the Phillies scoring less than the Flyers* since last Monday (14 for the Flyers, 11 for the Phils), and we could be in trouble. But now would be the time to get our offense back on track. Against arguably the best pitching staff we will face, it would be huge to win 3 of these 4 games, and I think it is very possible. We shouldn't need to score more than 4 runs in any game in order to beat the Padres. Halladay and Hamels should win their games, and that would leave it up to Moyer or Blanton to pick up a 3rd win. We need to pick up some kind of momentum going into a long stretch of interleague play.
The Phillies often pride themselves on taking the season one game at a time and forgetting about the day before. It is time that they live up to that claim, forget the last 10 or 12 games, and start winning some games that we should win. If it doesn't happen now, it is hard to see when it will.
*On a side note, if you're too depressed about the Phillies right now, check out those Flyers. They'll look to even up the Stanley Cup Finals tonight in Philadelphia. It seems like both the Flyers and Phillies are in must-win games tonight. The Flyers would be in trouble falling down in the series 3-1 and going back to Chicago. The Phillies would be in trouble losing with Halladay on the mound when they need to turn things around. There will be a lot of excitement tonight in Philadelphia all within a one-block radius.
4 against the Padres (first place NL West)
3 against the Marlins (1.5 games behind us)
3 in Boston (who we have already lost 2 of 3 to)
3 in New York against the Yankees (2nd best record in baseball)
3 against the Twins (first in AL Central)
3 against the Indians
3 against the Blue Jays (3rd in AL East but with a better record than us)
3 in Cincinnati (1st in NL Central)
3 in Pittsburgh
3 against Atlanta (3 games ahead of us)
4 against the Reds (once again, 1st in NL Central)
Nothing about this is easy. Yes, the Indians are terrible, but they are still an American League team and we usually suck against them. The Pirates are not too great either, but we can't be too confident about any team when we're playing the way we are.
With all of that being said, it is important for us to make a statement in this series against the Padres. They do not have much of an offense to speak of, ranking 23rd in batting average, 26th in home runs, and 21st in RBI. They're in first place, however, because of their pitching. Their pitching staff has the lowest ERA in all of baseball. Combine that with the Phillies scoring less than the Flyers* since last Monday (14 for the Flyers, 11 for the Phils), and we could be in trouble. But now would be the time to get our offense back on track. Against arguably the best pitching staff we will face, it would be huge to win 3 of these 4 games, and I think it is very possible. We shouldn't need to score more than 4 runs in any game in order to beat the Padres. Halladay and Hamels should win their games, and that would leave it up to Moyer or Blanton to pick up a 3rd win. We need to pick up some kind of momentum going into a long stretch of interleague play.
The Phillies often pride themselves on taking the season one game at a time and forgetting about the day before. It is time that they live up to that claim, forget the last 10 or 12 games, and start winning some games that we should win. If it doesn't happen now, it is hard to see when it will.
*On a side note, if you're too depressed about the Phillies right now, check out those Flyers. They'll look to even up the Stanley Cup Finals tonight in Philadelphia. It seems like both the Flyers and Phillies are in must-win games tonight. The Flyers would be in trouble falling down in the series 3-1 and going back to Chicago. The Phillies would be in trouble losing with Halladay on the mound when they need to turn things around. There will be a lot of excitement tonight in Philadelphia all within a one-block radius.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Fantasy Baseball
The Phillies lost another one, falling 1.5 games behind the Braves for first place in the NL East. I feel there's really no need to worry at this point in the season about where we are in the standings as long as we're staying near the top. It's also tough to gauge what is going on with this team currently with all of the injuries. Because of this, today we'll take a break from talking about the Phillies.
For those who may not know what fantasy baseball is, it's basically a few friends putting together teams of the best players in the league and getting points for different statistics. Whoever's team can rack up the most points for those given statistics over the course of a season then wins.
A few years ago, I heard an idea for a fantasy baseball league that I thought was really interesting. The league would consist of just 2 teams, each team with 15 players. There would be 10 position players (one at each position, an extra infielder, and an extra outfielder) and 5 pitchers (4 starters, 1 reliever). Normal leagues will consist of more teams with less players on each team. But this league gets weirder than that. Of the 30 players that make up the league, there can only be 1 from each team. That means if one person picks Chase Utley for their team, neither person can have Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay, Jayson Werth, etc. There are 30 teams in the league, so it works out to one player from each team - no more, no less. And for a final twist, these teams are to remain the same for the next 5 seasons.
I talked to my brother-in-law Jeremiah about this idea, and we were both excited to have this league together. It's probably the coolest thing we've ever done. A lot of planning went into this, including narrowing down realistic players from each team that one of us would pick and then ranking those players as a guide for us while we were having our live draft at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Richmond, Virginia. We also each had to come up with some type of strategy as to how we would draft our players. We ended up looking at the draft in slightly different ways, and we came up with very different teams in the process. Here's a look at each of our rosters:
Cameron - "Dippin' Dots" (named after the Ice Cream of the Future)
C - Joe Mauer MIN
1B - Albert Pujols STL
2B - Chase Utley PHI
3B - Evan Longoria TB
SS - Troy Tulowitzki COL
IF - Joey Votto CIN
OF - Justin Upton ARI
OF - Ryan Braun MIL
OF - Adam Jones BAL
OF - Andrew McCutchen PIT
SP - Felix Hernandez SEA
SP - Justin Verlander DET
SP - John Danks CWS
SP - Jered Weaver LAA
RP - Andrew Bailey OAK
Jeremiah - "The Flying Cars" (named after what we will be driving in 5 years)
C - Geovany Soto CHC
1B - Mark Teixeira NYY
2B - Aaron Hill TOR
3B - Ryan Zimmerman WAS
SS - Hanley Ramirez FLA
IF - Adrian Gonzalez SD
OF - Jason Heyward ATL
OF - Matt Kemp LAD
OF - Grady Sizemore CLE
OF - Nelson Cruz TEX
SP - Tim Lincecum SF
SP - Zack Greinke KC
SP - Jon Lester BOS
SP - Wandy Rodriguez HOU
RP - Francisco Rodriguez NYM
Jeremiah had the first pick of the draft. I then had the 2nd and 3rd. He then had the 4th and 5th. And so on until the last pick of the draft, which belonged to me. Here is the order the players were picked in:
Jeremiah - 1. Hanley Ramirez
Cam - 2. Joe Mauer 3. Albert Pujols
J - 4. Tim Lincecum 5. Mark Teixeira
C - 6. Chase Utley 7. Evan Longoria
J - 8. Ryan Zimmerman 9. Jason Heyward
C - 10. Justin Upton 11. Felix Hernandez
J - 12. Matt Kemp 13. Zack Greinke
C - 14. Troy Tulowitzki 15. Ryan Braun
J - 16. Grady Sizemore 17. Jon Lester
C - 18. Justin Verlander 19. Adam Jones
J - 20. Geovany Soto 21. Adrian Gonzalez
C - 22. Andrew Bailey 23. John Danks
J - 24. Francisco Rodriguez 25. Nelson Cruz
C - 26. Jered Weaver 27. Joey Votto
J - 28. Aaron Hill 29. Wandy Rodriguez
C - 30. Andrew McCutchen
It can be seen here that Jer decided to focus more on pitching and I on hitting. Neither team is clearly better or worse than the other, and our differing strategies worked out fine for both of us. We were both happy with the teams we had after the draft. If you're into fantasy baseball and have a friend who likes it as much as you, I'd highly recommend trying this out. It's a ton of fun to think about and then draft, and it gives you some type of interest in every team. Also, we decided to make all of our players "starters" on the fantasy teams, meaning they get points every day no matter what. I couldn't decide to sit Felix Hernandez because he's pitching against the Yankees. We get all of the good and the bad with every player, and this makes the league very low-maintenance. All we do is check on how we are doing after each day.
I am leading the league thus far, but not by much. And it doesn't really matter that much at this point, since we still have over 4 1/2 seasons to see how things turn out. At the end of 5 seasons, the loser has to pay for some freak nasty tickets to a Phillies game. And the winner will get to choose if he wants to go first or second in the next draft.
For those who may not know what fantasy baseball is, it's basically a few friends putting together teams of the best players in the league and getting points for different statistics. Whoever's team can rack up the most points for those given statistics over the course of a season then wins.
A few years ago, I heard an idea for a fantasy baseball league that I thought was really interesting. The league would consist of just 2 teams, each team with 15 players. There would be 10 position players (one at each position, an extra infielder, and an extra outfielder) and 5 pitchers (4 starters, 1 reliever). Normal leagues will consist of more teams with less players on each team. But this league gets weirder than that. Of the 30 players that make up the league, there can only be 1 from each team. That means if one person picks Chase Utley for their team, neither person can have Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay, Jayson Werth, etc. There are 30 teams in the league, so it works out to one player from each team - no more, no less. And for a final twist, these teams are to remain the same for the next 5 seasons.
I talked to my brother-in-law Jeremiah about this idea, and we were both excited to have this league together. It's probably the coolest thing we've ever done. A lot of planning went into this, including narrowing down realistic players from each team that one of us would pick and then ranking those players as a guide for us while we were having our live draft at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Richmond, Virginia. We also each had to come up with some type of strategy as to how we would draft our players. We ended up looking at the draft in slightly different ways, and we came up with very different teams in the process. Here's a look at each of our rosters:
Cameron - "Dippin' Dots" (named after the Ice Cream of the Future)
C - Joe Mauer MIN
1B - Albert Pujols STL
2B - Chase Utley PHI
3B - Evan Longoria TB
SS - Troy Tulowitzki COL
IF - Joey Votto CIN
OF - Justin Upton ARI
OF - Ryan Braun MIL
OF - Adam Jones BAL
OF - Andrew McCutchen PIT
SP - Felix Hernandez SEA
SP - Justin Verlander DET
SP - John Danks CWS
SP - Jered Weaver LAA
RP - Andrew Bailey OAK
Jeremiah - "The Flying Cars" (named after what we will be driving in 5 years)
C - Geovany Soto CHC
1B - Mark Teixeira NYY
2B - Aaron Hill TOR
3B - Ryan Zimmerman WAS
SS - Hanley Ramirez FLA
IF - Adrian Gonzalez SD
OF - Jason Heyward ATL
OF - Matt Kemp LAD
OF - Grady Sizemore CLE
OF - Nelson Cruz TEX
SP - Tim Lincecum SF
SP - Zack Greinke KC
SP - Jon Lester BOS
SP - Wandy Rodriguez HOU
RP - Francisco Rodriguez NYM
Jeremiah had the first pick of the draft. I then had the 2nd and 3rd. He then had the 4th and 5th. And so on until the last pick of the draft, which belonged to me. Here is the order the players were picked in:
Jeremiah - 1. Hanley Ramirez
Cam - 2. Joe Mauer 3. Albert Pujols
J - 4. Tim Lincecum 5. Mark Teixeira
C - 6. Chase Utley 7. Evan Longoria
J - 8. Ryan Zimmerman 9. Jason Heyward
C - 10. Justin Upton 11. Felix Hernandez
J - 12. Matt Kemp 13. Zack Greinke
C - 14. Troy Tulowitzki 15. Ryan Braun
J - 16. Grady Sizemore 17. Jon Lester
C - 18. Justin Verlander 19. Adam Jones
J - 20. Geovany Soto 21. Adrian Gonzalez
C - 22. Andrew Bailey 23. John Danks
J - 24. Francisco Rodriguez 25. Nelson Cruz
C - 26. Jered Weaver 27. Joey Votto
J - 28. Aaron Hill 29. Wandy Rodriguez
C - 30. Andrew McCutchen
It can be seen here that Jer decided to focus more on pitching and I on hitting. Neither team is clearly better or worse than the other, and our differing strategies worked out fine for both of us. We were both happy with the teams we had after the draft. If you're into fantasy baseball and have a friend who likes it as much as you, I'd highly recommend trying this out. It's a ton of fun to think about and then draft, and it gives you some type of interest in every team. Also, we decided to make all of our players "starters" on the fantasy teams, meaning they get points every day no matter what. I couldn't decide to sit Felix Hernandez because he's pitching against the Yankees. We get all of the good and the bad with every player, and this makes the league very low-maintenance. All we do is check on how we are doing after each day.
I am leading the league thus far, but not by much. And it doesn't really matter that much at this point, since we still have over 4 1/2 seasons to see how things turn out. At the end of 5 seasons, the loser has to pay for some freak nasty tickets to a Phillies game. And the winner will get to choose if he wants to go first or second in the next draft.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Being Away
Last season, there was a 3 1/2 week stretch of the season in which I was working at a camp and could not watch any Phillies games. Before I left, the Phillies had won just 4 of their previous 18 games. The next game I watched upon my return, JA Happ lost his first start of the season after being 7-0. In between, the Phillies went 15-2. They then lost 6 of the next 9 games right after this.
This series of events indirectly led to the demise of this blog last season. The Phillies seemed to step it up when I was unable to watch, and I brought some type of horrible vibe to the team upon my return as a loyal viewer. This led to an obvious detached feeling from a team that I live and die with. At times, I considered a complete boycott of televised games for the good of the team. I selfishly continued watching, and things eventually turned around anyway.
Leaving for California last Friday was a nerve-racking time as I was experiencing flashbacks to this time last season. Although I was excited for the Phillies to go on a 10-day run, I was nervous as to what horrendous events would transpire as I made it back into the Philadelphia area.
Lucky for me, the Phillies didn't play any games while I was gone (with the exception of Roy Halladay*).
Although looking at results every day proved costly to my morale, I could find a slight silver lining as our offense mustered just 12 runs in 9 games while going 3-6. This meant that the Phillies could actually succeed with me being a regular viewer! While not watching any of the games during my vacation, I realized that there was no way the Phillies could play worse once I was back in the game.
What does this all mean? Well, it certainly doesn't mean that I'm happy or that anyone should be with the way the Phillies have played in the past 3 series. But it does mean that I can continue watching, and, in doing so, I can continue posting on this blog. It also, hopefully, means that the Phillies can begin playing baseball again. It took them awhile today to warm up to my eyes again, but 4 straight doubles today gives us some reason to hope that more hits are on the way.
Placido Polanco** should be back in the lineup tomorrow, and that should certainly provide a spark in Atlanta. He is batting .450 against the Braves this season. A day off for Werth will hopefully have him back on track as well after going 0 for his last 19. He has 2 home runs, 4 doubles, and 7 RBIs in 21 at-bats against the Braves this season.
*Roy Halladay threw a perfect game?! And I didn't get to see it?! Majoke! I am in no way actually angry that he threw a perfect game, and I want to take nothing away from it, but it is definitely a little disappointing that I couldn't witness with my own eyes as it happened. BUT! I would like to thank those people who helped me out in experiencing that perfect game:
Zack Schanz - for texting me with Roy Halladay's stat line at the end of each inning starting with the 4th. He knew something special was happening early, and he managed to avoid jinxing it
Brianna Link - for answering her phone and handing it to her husband and my brother-in-law
Jeremiah Link - for giving me a play-by-play of the bottom of the 9th inning over the phone
Mom - for calling me afterwards to share the good news (after I called her to tell her to turn on the game). Also for DVRing the encore so I can watch it this week
Mike Costello - for calling to share the joy upon completion of the game
Phil Nase - for letting me know that he and his girlfriend made a big scene in a fancy restaurant upon finding out the results. Respect
Cheese - for sitting by (he was in Cali with me) and making sure I didn't have a heart attack while getting the play-by-play on the phone. I've never been that excited/sweaty during a phone call
Ben Link - for reminding me that I got one of my predictions wrong because of this
Alex Schuh and Abbey Fries - for calling me about something completely unrelated while this game was going on. I just thought they'd like to be mentioned
"The Man Upstairs" - because this feels like an acceptance speech, and I'm a young person so I'm required by law to only refer to God as "The Man Upstairs" during this
And anyone else I'm forgetting! You are all so special to me! (*fighting back tears*)
**Placido Polanco will from now on be referred to in this blog as "Duke." First of all, I think this is an awesome nickname, and he definitely needs a nickname. Secondly, his head looks like that of a boxer (the dog, not the fighter), and my good friend Bean has a boxer (once again, canine variety) named Duke. Thirdly, I hate Duke basketball. That just needed to be said.
This series of events indirectly led to the demise of this blog last season. The Phillies seemed to step it up when I was unable to watch, and I brought some type of horrible vibe to the team upon my return as a loyal viewer. This led to an obvious detached feeling from a team that I live and die with. At times, I considered a complete boycott of televised games for the good of the team. I selfishly continued watching, and things eventually turned around anyway.
Leaving for California last Friday was a nerve-racking time as I was experiencing flashbacks to this time last season. Although I was excited for the Phillies to go on a 10-day run, I was nervous as to what horrendous events would transpire as I made it back into the Philadelphia area.
Lucky for me, the Phillies didn't play any games while I was gone (with the exception of Roy Halladay*).
Although looking at results every day proved costly to my morale, I could find a slight silver lining as our offense mustered just 12 runs in 9 games while going 3-6. This meant that the Phillies could actually succeed with me being a regular viewer! While not watching any of the games during my vacation, I realized that there was no way the Phillies could play worse once I was back in the game.
What does this all mean? Well, it certainly doesn't mean that I'm happy or that anyone should be with the way the Phillies have played in the past 3 series. But it does mean that I can continue watching, and, in doing so, I can continue posting on this blog. It also, hopefully, means that the Phillies can begin playing baseball again. It took them awhile today to warm up to my eyes again, but 4 straight doubles today gives us some reason to hope that more hits are on the way.
Placido Polanco** should be back in the lineup tomorrow, and that should certainly provide a spark in Atlanta. He is batting .450 against the Braves this season. A day off for Werth will hopefully have him back on track as well after going 0 for his last 19. He has 2 home runs, 4 doubles, and 7 RBIs in 21 at-bats against the Braves this season.
*Roy Halladay threw a perfect game?! And I didn't get to see it?! Majoke! I am in no way actually angry that he threw a perfect game, and I want to take nothing away from it, but it is definitely a little disappointing that I couldn't witness with my own eyes as it happened. BUT! I would like to thank those people who helped me out in experiencing that perfect game:
Zack Schanz - for texting me with Roy Halladay's stat line at the end of each inning starting with the 4th. He knew something special was happening early, and he managed to avoid jinxing it
Brianna Link - for answering her phone and handing it to her husband and my brother-in-law
Jeremiah Link - for giving me a play-by-play of the bottom of the 9th inning over the phone
Mom - for calling me afterwards to share the good news (after I called her to tell her to turn on the game). Also for DVRing the encore so I can watch it this week
Mike Costello - for calling to share the joy upon completion of the game
Phil Nase - for letting me know that he and his girlfriend made a big scene in a fancy restaurant upon finding out the results. Respect
Cheese - for sitting by (he was in Cali with me) and making sure I didn't have a heart attack while getting the play-by-play on the phone. I've never been that excited/sweaty during a phone call
Ben Link - for reminding me that I got one of my predictions wrong because of this
Alex Schuh and Abbey Fries - for calling me about something completely unrelated while this game was going on. I just thought they'd like to be mentioned
"The Man Upstairs" - because this feels like an acceptance speech, and I'm a young person so I'm required by law to only refer to God as "The Man Upstairs" during this
And anyone else I'm forgetting! You are all so special to me! (*fighting back tears*)
**Placido Polanco will from now on be referred to in this blog as "Duke." First of all, I think this is an awesome nickname, and he definitely needs a nickname. Secondly, his head looks like that of a boxer (the dog, not the fighter), and my good friend Bean has a boxer (once again, canine variety) named Duke. Thirdly, I hate Duke basketball. That just needed to be said.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
California
Yesterday, I arrived in sunny California to be here for the next week. This means, I probably won't have a real update more than maybe once.
Interleague play starting. Nice win against the Red Sox last night. Interleague play, though, is really not important. We struggle every season in interleague play, and so does every other NL team. Because of this, we don't need to do that well because we can keep up either way. Plus we're in first and awesome against the NL.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
A Tale of Two Cities
*This post has been written by one of my best friends and, in my opinion, the only real Pirates fan in this world. Ben Follett (affectionately known as "B Fresh" by yours truly) is a baseball purist and a fantastic human being. I asked him to write this post to shake things up a bit and get a feel for these 2 games from the perspective of a Pittsburgh fan. This is the first of what I hope will be several guest blog entries this season. If interested in writing one, please let me know. So, shut up Cameron, and here it is:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
- Charles Dickens
When Charles Dickens wrote that famous line to begin his 1859 novel, I don’t believe that he could have guessed that it would ring so true for two cities in
The series was the first of 6 games between the PA Turnpike rivals with the next four coming over July 4th weekend in
Game 1:
The Pirates get smoked, 12-2 while getting dominated by Kyle Kendrick (the Phillies worst starter in my opinion) and the long ball (Werth, Howard). But this game really boils down to two distinct points in the game.
Point #1: First, bottom of the first inning, Pirates up 1-0. The following sequence is the exact reason the Phillies are the best in the National League. Victorino singled on an 0-2 pitch low and away that he merely slapped between short and third. Next, after four pick off moves and a chorus of boos from the Philly faithful, Victorino steals second. Then Polanco hits a ball to the right side to move Victorino to third and Jimmy Rollins in his triumphant return does the same thing to score the run. 1-1. Teams that play small ball to score runs, even when they don’t need to, win baseball games. End of story.
Point #2: In the third, Morton loads the bases with one out and Rollins coming to the plate. He busts him inside and gets him to pop out. Next, with Ryan Howard up and the shift on (which I hate), Howard hits a two strike pitch right at where the shortstop would normally be scoring two run. Werth comes up and hits a home run and the score is 5-1 and might as well be 25-1. Game over.
Game 2: (AKA “fill-in-the-blank Pirates pitcher vs. Roy Halladay” Game)
I made a bet with a guy I work with that the Pirates will win more than 70 games this season. The bet is for a case of beer. I like beer and I also really think the Pirates can win 70 games. Game 2 was not one of those games. But alas, this is the Pirates. Nothing is as it seems. Halladay dominated for most of the game but found himself in the middle of the only thing the Pirates do better than the Phillies, close games. The Pirates are now 12-4 in games decided by 2 runs or less, and the Phillies are now 8-8. This game was about the Phillies not hitting as much as anything else. I would like to attribute that to good pitching by Zach Duke, but I know better (Actually, I’ll give him some credit, good game Zach). In the end the Pirates win, Raise the Jolly Roger, no one ever has success when it is their bobblehead night, and the series is a split. What was painfully obvious during this series is that the Phillies are really good, even when they lose, and the Pirates are bad, even when they win.
Although this series was full of “Expect the Unexpected” like Cameron wrote in his preview, I have learned that the Pirates are exactly what I expect. As naïve as I can be at times because I love baseball and want them to be good; they aren’t good, they won’t win Championships and therefore aren’t the Phillies. For once in my life, I actually wish
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Expecting the Unexpected
Although I cannot claim to be a real Flyers fan, anyone from the Philly area has to be loving the NHL Eastern Conference Playoffs right now. After getting in the playoffs on the last day of the season, facing the 2-seed in the first round, being down 3-0 in the second round, and losing their goalie, the Flyers now have home ice advantage in the Eastern Conference Finals and won Game 1 6-0 last night. I doubt anyone outside of my good friend Bean could have predicted a series of events for the Fly Guys anything like what has gone down in the past few weeks.
Along the same lines, the baseball season thus far has been nowhere close to what most of the "experts" would have expected. Here's a quick look at some things that just shouldn't be happening:
AL East - The Red Sox are in 4th place. The Yankees, commonly picked to win the World Series again, are in 2nd behind the Rays. The Rays are not necessarily a surprise, but the 3rd place Halladay-less Blue Jays certainly are
AL Central - No surprise to me the Twins are in first. To my credit, though, I'm awesome. The Royals winning 14 games with only 1 of those coming from Cy Young winner Zack Greinke is definitely unexpected
AL West - The Mariners were looking mighty good with two aces and the addition of Chone Figgins, but they have one of the worst records in baseball. The Angels, who were the other favorite to win the division, are also under .500.
NL East - The Nationals. Holy crap the Nationals.
NL Central - The largely favored Cardinals are in 2nd place behind the surprising Reds and just ahead of the Pirates. Yes, the Pirates are in 3rd
NL West - The Padres are in 1st place after back-to-back losing season and with no sign of a real offense aside from Adrian Gonzalez
So, although the season is still relatively young, many things are happening around the league that have people confused. It's tough for a team to be a fluke for an entire 162-game season, so things will even out eventually.
In the meantime, the Pirates are in 3rd place and coming to Philadelphia. It's tough to claim the Pirates have been successful this season with a 16-21 record, but it's tough to tell both Pittsburgh baseball fans that the Pirates have been unsuccessful considering the horrendous failures for the past 17 seasons. Third place is a big deal.
Win or lose, the season has been exciting to watch for Pirates fans. They are 11-4 in games decided by 2 runs or less. That means that they get to see other teams score a lot of runs in games they lose. That's exciting, right?
This is good and bad news for the Phillies. We know that we can score a lot of runs. We also know the pain of losing close games all too often. I have a feeling that this 2-game series will see more success, though.
Game 1: Charlie Morton vs. Kyle Kendrick
Charlie Morton sounds like a baseball player's name. That seems to be all he has going for him this season. He has a quality start in each of his last 3 games, and his ERA is still over 9. That means that he has an ERA of 4.50 at the very most in his last 3 games, yet in 7 games this season, he has an ERA of 9.19. I normally do a stupid amount of math and calculations in this blog, but I'm just going to say that he completely sucked for 4 games before becoming decent. This game could end up being something like 12-6 in favor Phillies with the Pirates random offensive success showing up while Kendrick pitches. Kendrick could also end up pitching a shutout. We'll see which Kyle shows up for this game.
Game 2: fill-in-the-blank Pirates pitcher vs. Roy Halladay
I would say sorry, but I hate Pittsburgh.
This series should be a 2-game sweep for the Phils, relying on offense in one game and pitching in the next. But with the way this baseball season has been thus far, we can't really know what to expect.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Brewers Preview
The series starting tonight against the Brewers is not exactly our most exciting series of the season. Our starters will be Jamie Moyer, Joe Blanton, and Kyle Kendrick. The Brewers lucked out by missing Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay. The Phillies lucked out, though, by missing Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo. So what can we expect from this series? Probably a lot of runs.
Randy Wolf and Jamie Moyer will be a good matchup in the first game. Wolf always has an odd, underrated amount of success. Jamie Moyer seems to be the same way. In the 3 seasons prior to this one, only 9 pitchers in baseball won more games than Jamie did. Who are they? Check out this list: CC Sabathia, Roy Halladay, Josh Beckett, Justin Verlander, Dan Haren, Ted Lilly, Johan Santana, Adam Wainwright, and Andy Pettitte.
The Brewers are simply not a very good team overall, but they have been very streaky this season. Their last 19 games: lost 8 out of 10 to the Cubs, Pirates, and Padres; won 5 out of 6 against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks; lost all 3 to the Braves.
Because of this, it's hard to know what to expect from the Brewers. Their offense this season consists mainly of Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee, who are their only regular starters batting anywhere close to .300 (although both are well above) and have accounted for 1/3 of the teams home runs. A team that includes a struggling Prince Fielder (.254, 4 HR, 15 RBI). Maybe he should have stuck with pitching - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcvaYgWc9eY
(Yes, that is Prince Fielder)
So, overall, it is tough to say what to expect from this series. We should expect to sweep them, but I cannot say I would be shocked if it were the other way around. It would be bad, but not necessarily shocking.
Randy Wolf and Jamie Moyer will be a good matchup in the first game. Wolf always has an odd, underrated amount of success. Jamie Moyer seems to be the same way. In the 3 seasons prior to this one, only 9 pitchers in baseball won more games than Jamie did. Who are they? Check out this list: CC Sabathia, Roy Halladay, Josh Beckett, Justin Verlander, Dan Haren, Ted Lilly, Johan Santana, Adam Wainwright, and Andy Pettitte.
The Brewers are simply not a very good team overall, but they have been very streaky this season. Their last 19 games: lost 8 out of 10 to the Cubs, Pirates, and Padres; won 5 out of 6 against the Dodgers and Diamondbacks; lost all 3 to the Braves.
Because of this, it's hard to know what to expect from the Brewers. Their offense this season consists mainly of Ryan Braun and Casey McGehee, who are their only regular starters batting anywhere close to .300 (although both are well above) and have accounted for 1/3 of the teams home runs. A team that includes a struggling Prince Fielder (.254, 4 HR, 15 RBI). Maybe he should have stuck with pitching - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcvaYgWc9eY
(Yes, that is Prince Fielder)
So, overall, it is tough to say what to expect from this series. We should expect to sweep them, but I cannot say I would be shocked if it were the other way around. It would be bad, but not necessarily shocking.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
At This Rate
Following last night's win over the Rockies, we have now played 32 games, which is roughly 1/5 of our season. If the other 80% of the season follows the current pace the Phillies are on, here are some things that we can expect:
-The Phillies will finish with 100 wins, winning the NL East by 10 games over the Nationals. Yes, the Nationals, who will also finish 2nd for the NL Wild Card.
-Roy Halladay will earn a decision in each of his 35 starts this season, going 30-5. This will include 15 complete games, 10 of them shutouts.
-Speaking of 30-5, Jimmy Rollins will only play in 35 games this season. On the bright side, we will win 30 of those, and Jimmy will finish with a .391 batting average and .516 on-base percentage.
-The NL record for most GIDPs (ground into double play) in a season is 30 by Brad Ausmus in 2002. He did so in 447 at-bats. Impressively, Wilson Valdez will do this 20 times in just 170 at bats. Meaning he could reach Ausmus' mark if he manages to get 255 at-bats.
-Antonio Bastardo will compile a 1.69 ERA in 35 appearances this season. Sometime between those appearances, he will be sent to the minors 15 times.
-Jose Contreras will give up 5 walk-off home runs this season. On the bright side, those will be the only 5 earned runs he allows.
-Jayson Werth will hit 85 doubles this season, shattering the previous record of 67, and most likely helping to earn him an MVP award.
-The Phillies will have 3 players with over 100 RBI this season: Werth - 130; Victorino - 125; Howard - 105
-Ryan Howard will have career lows (for a full season) in home runs (25), RBI (105), and strikeouts (170). He will have a career-high 5 triples, though.
-Chase Utley will have a career-high 40 home runs (half of them against the Nationals), yet a career-low 90 RBI.
-Jamie Moyer will win 20 games and throw 5 shutouts, giving him 278 career wins and most likely causing him to pitch at least two more seasons to reach 300.
-Chad Durbin's mother will do a better job in the broadcast booth than Thomas McCarthy and Christopher Wheeler ever could. Five times.
-The Phillies will have 4 players hit .300 or better, after having 0 in the last 2 seasons combined.
-Only 4 players in history have had a quadruple-20 season (20 doubles, triples, home runs, and stolen bases). They are: Frank Schulte (1911), Willie Mays (1957), Jimmy Rollins (2007), and Curtis Granderson (2007). Shane Victorino will add his name to that list with 20 doubles, 20 triples, 35 home runs, and 20 stolen bases.
-Cole Hamels will match his career high in wins with 15 despite only pitching 10 quality starts and having an 0-5 record in those starts.
-Ryan Madson will give up 35 earned runs in 45 innings. By comparison, Halladay will give up 45 earned runs in 280 innings.
-Carlos Ruiz will finish with a batting average (.354) 100 points higher than his current career average. He will also have a career high in hits (145), runs (60), home runs (10), RBI (55), and walks (105)
-The Phillies will finish with 3 players in the top 6 in the NL in on-base percentage (Utley, Werth, Ruiz)
-Brad Lidge will return to his 2008 form and be perfect in save opportunities. Unfortunately, he'll only have 5 of them.
As for the rest of the league, Andre Ethier of the Dodgers will end up winning the NL Triple Crown. This most likely proves that these predictions are complete crap, so everyone will have to pay attention to the other 130 games to see how things play out.
-The Phillies will finish with 100 wins, winning the NL East by 10 games over the Nationals. Yes, the Nationals, who will also finish 2nd for the NL Wild Card.
-Roy Halladay will earn a decision in each of his 35 starts this season, going 30-5. This will include 15 complete games, 10 of them shutouts.
-Speaking of 30-5, Jimmy Rollins will only play in 35 games this season. On the bright side, we will win 30 of those, and Jimmy will finish with a .391 batting average and .516 on-base percentage.
-The NL record for most GIDPs (ground into double play) in a season is 30 by Brad Ausmus in 2002. He did so in 447 at-bats. Impressively, Wilson Valdez will do this 20 times in just 170 at bats. Meaning he could reach Ausmus' mark if he manages to get 255 at-bats.
-Antonio Bastardo will compile a 1.69 ERA in 35 appearances this season. Sometime between those appearances, he will be sent to the minors 15 times.
-Jose Contreras will give up 5 walk-off home runs this season. On the bright side, those will be the only 5 earned runs he allows.
-Jayson Werth will hit 85 doubles this season, shattering the previous record of 67, and most likely helping to earn him an MVP award.
-The Phillies will have 3 players with over 100 RBI this season: Werth - 130; Victorino - 125; Howard - 105
-Ryan Howard will have career lows (for a full season) in home runs (25), RBI (105), and strikeouts (170). He will have a career-high 5 triples, though.
-Chase Utley will have a career-high 40 home runs (half of them against the Nationals), yet a career-low 90 RBI.
-Jamie Moyer will win 20 games and throw 5 shutouts, giving him 278 career wins and most likely causing him to pitch at least two more seasons to reach 300.
-Chad Durbin's mother will do a better job in the broadcast booth than Thomas McCarthy and Christopher Wheeler ever could. Five times.
-The Phillies will have 4 players hit .300 or better, after having 0 in the last 2 seasons combined.
-Only 4 players in history have had a quadruple-20 season (20 doubles, triples, home runs, and stolen bases). They are: Frank Schulte (1911), Willie Mays (1957), Jimmy Rollins (2007), and Curtis Granderson (2007). Shane Victorino will add his name to that list with 20 doubles, 20 triples, 35 home runs, and 20 stolen bases.
-Cole Hamels will match his career high in wins with 15 despite only pitching 10 quality starts and having an 0-5 record in those starts.
-Ryan Madson will give up 35 earned runs in 45 innings. By comparison, Halladay will give up 45 earned runs in 280 innings.
-Carlos Ruiz will finish with a batting average (.354) 100 points higher than his current career average. He will also have a career high in hits (145), runs (60), home runs (10), RBI (55), and walks (105)
-The Phillies will finish with 3 players in the top 6 in the NL in on-base percentage (Utley, Werth, Ruiz)
-Brad Lidge will return to his 2008 form and be perfect in save opportunities. Unfortunately, he'll only have 5 of them.
As for the rest of the league, Andre Ethier of the Dodgers will end up winning the NL Triple Crown. This most likely proves that these predictions are complete crap, so everyone will have to pay attention to the other 130 games to see how things play out.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Witnessing History
I was lucky enough to get to go to the Phillies game last night. A $17 standing room ticket was more than worth what I got to see. Jamie Moyer became the oldest pitcher in Major League history to throw a complete game shutout.
I knew something special was happening as the game went. From the first pitch of every game, I am always thinking about a no-hitter or perfect game. Once Moyer gave up a leadoff single in the second, I could put those thoughts to rest. He then got a double play and the third out with no problem. Until the 8th inning, he did not allow another baserunner. Seventeen straight batters came to the plate and all 17 went back to the dugout without success. It was something I wanted to tell everyone around me, but I didn't want to jinx the amazing performance.
I was actually at the game with a Braves fan, and I told him at the beginning of the game when Moyer was looking good that he could at least count on 2 or 3 innings from our bullpen because Moyer would probably never throw another complete game in his life. Hearing Moyer announced as the leadoff batter in the 9th inning was one of the more exciting things I have ever heard at a Phillies game. And by the end, my Braves friend (oxymoron, I know) was rooting for Jamie Moyer.
Last season, I was at the stadium for a JA Happ complete game shutout. In 2008, I saw Brett Myers do it. I consider myself extremely lucky to have even seen one of these. However, none were anywhere near as exciting as this one. Jamie Moyer is often idolized and often criticized in Philadelphia, and so seeing him, at the age of 47, put together such an incredible pitching performance was truly special.
This will officially go down as the 2nd best Phillies game I've ever been to (behind the World Series clincher).
As for the remaining 2 games in this series, things are looking up for the Phillies. The Braves are nowhere near what anyone would have expected preseason, and the Phillies have absolutely dominated them in 4 games this season. Our only loss was on a game blown by the bullpen when Kyle Kendrick pitched 8 scoreless innings. Our starters have yet to give up an earned run against the Braves in those 4 games, including 2 complete game shutouts. Our pitching staff as a whole has a 1.25 ERA in those games with the Braves hitting somewhere around .176 against us. Compare that to the 5 runs we're scoring per game against them and our position players' .303 batting average, and you have quite a lopsided matchup between these two teams. I would expect nothing less than a sweep of this sad, sad team.
I knew something special was happening as the game went. From the first pitch of every game, I am always thinking about a no-hitter or perfect game. Once Moyer gave up a leadoff single in the second, I could put those thoughts to rest. He then got a double play and the third out with no problem. Until the 8th inning, he did not allow another baserunner. Seventeen straight batters came to the plate and all 17 went back to the dugout without success. It was something I wanted to tell everyone around me, but I didn't want to jinx the amazing performance.
I was actually at the game with a Braves fan, and I told him at the beginning of the game when Moyer was looking good that he could at least count on 2 or 3 innings from our bullpen because Moyer would probably never throw another complete game in his life. Hearing Moyer announced as the leadoff batter in the 9th inning was one of the more exciting things I have ever heard at a Phillies game. And by the end, my Braves friend (oxymoron, I know) was rooting for Jamie Moyer.
Last season, I was at the stadium for a JA Happ complete game shutout. In 2008, I saw Brett Myers do it. I consider myself extremely lucky to have even seen one of these. However, none were anywhere near as exciting as this one. Jamie Moyer is often idolized and often criticized in Philadelphia, and so seeing him, at the age of 47, put together such an incredible pitching performance was truly special.
This will officially go down as the 2nd best Phillies game I've ever been to (behind the World Series clincher).
As for the remaining 2 games in this series, things are looking up for the Phillies. The Braves are nowhere near what anyone would have expected preseason, and the Phillies have absolutely dominated them in 4 games this season. Our only loss was on a game blown by the bullpen when Kyle Kendrick pitched 8 scoreless innings. Our starters have yet to give up an earned run against the Braves in those 4 games, including 2 complete game shutouts. Our pitching staff as a whole has a 1.25 ERA in those games with the Braves hitting somewhere around .176 against us. Compare that to the 5 runs we're scoring per game against them and our position players' .303 batting average, and you have quite a lopsided matchup between these two teams. I would expect nothing less than a sweep of this sad, sad team.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
RIP Robin Roberts
It's just been reported that former Phillies pitcher Robin Roberts died today of natural causes at the age of 83.
Roberts made a huge impact on the Phillies in his time in Philadelphia from 1948 to 1961. He was a part of the 1950 "Whiz Kids" team that won the NL pennant. Roberts started 3 games in the last 5 days of that season to help them secure the pennant.
Two seasons ago, the Phillies honored Roberts at one game that I was lucky enough to attend. His career numbers are incredible, but he also just seemed to be a great guy. He gave a speech before the game which basically consisted of him telling old baseball stories. My favorite story that he told was something along these lines:
Late in his career with the Phillies, Roberts gave up a home run to left field in a game they were losing. The shortstop, whoever it was at the time, started walking toward the mound and looked angry. Robin yelled to him as he got halfway to the mound, "Get your ass back to shortstop and jump higher next time!"
Roberts made a huge impact on the Phillies in his time in Philadelphia from 1948 to 1961. He was a part of the 1950 "Whiz Kids" team that won the NL pennant. Roberts started 3 games in the last 5 days of that season to help them secure the pennant.
Two seasons ago, the Phillies honored Roberts at one game that I was lucky enough to attend. His career numbers are incredible, but he also just seemed to be a great guy. He gave a speech before the game which basically consisted of him telling old baseball stories. My favorite story that he told was something along these lines:
Late in his career with the Phillies, Roberts gave up a home run to left field in a game they were losing. The shortstop, whoever it was at the time, started walking toward the mound and looked angry. Robin yelled to him as he got halfway to the mound, "Get your ass back to shortstop and jump higher next time!"
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Predictions Revisited
Tonight's game was a tough one. Joe Blanton was solid, but that Garcia character is apparently for real.
The real story in this game, though, is the Phillies' 11th loss of the season. Although I did not put this in my 10 semi-possibly-bold predictions for the season, I did say, off the record, that I thought the Phillies would go 152-10 this season. Brace yourself, Koehler fans. I am, after all, slightly human.
This brings us to a good time to look back at those 10 semi-possibly-bold predictions. The season is about a month old, so let's check out my progress.
1. Roy Halladay will win 22 games along with the NL Cy Young Award
Halladay is currently on pace for 34 wins according to ESPN.com. That gives me some breathing room on the 22. He's thrown 2 shutouts, he's first in the NL in wins, 5th in strikeouts, and 5th in ERA with a 1.47. I'll say that prediction looks good right now
2. The Phillies will win 100 games (in the regular season)
They are looking at around 90 or 91 with their current pace, but I think that Jimmy Rollins being out is a big part of the lack of wins thus far. We were 5-1 with him and he was looking really good. Expect this number to spike again once he returns (whenever that may be)
3. Ryan Howard will hit over .290 and win MVP
The Big Man is at .280 right now and is losing the MVP race to Jayson Werth and Chase Utley at least. The batting average is looking possible. The other numbers usually show up when we return from the All-Star Break.
4. Jamie Moyer will become a great-grandfather
Jamie has 8 children, but apparently is not even a grandfather yet. Boy did I drop the ball on this one!
5. Raul Ibanez will miss significant time with some type of injury, and John Mayberry will end up hitting 15 home runs this season serving as his replacement
Still praying...
6. Shane Victorino will lead our team in batting average for the 3rd consecutive season
I meant RBIs. And the first
7. I will have a brain aneurysm listening to the Phillies broadcast team
I'm still going strong! The one positive of my inability to watch every game this season
8. JA Happ will end up having the highest ERA of our regular starting pitchers after having the lowest last season
In 2 starts, his ERA is 0.00. So let's hope he keeps that up with me still making an accurate prediction
9. A Phillies pitcher will throw a no-hitter this season. And it won't be Roy Halladay
Why did I try to make these predictions semi-possibly-bold? I couldn't have just stopped after saying there'd be a no-hitter? Thus far, Halladay would obviously look like the top candidate to do that. But no-hitters are usually pretty random so I've got a shot at this one.
10. The Phillies will win the NL East for the 4th straight time, the NL for the 3rd straight time, and the World Series for the 2nd time in 3 years. They'll beat the Minnesota Twins in 6 games.
We are in first in the NL East, but have struggled against the Cardinals (although in just 1 game) and Giants, 2 of the 3 NL teams with a better record than us. My AL pick looks better just about every day. The Twins are leading the AL Central and are 1.5 games behind the Rays for the best record in the AL. I still like the Twins to be our victims.
The real story in this game, though, is the Phillies' 11th loss of the season. Although I did not put this in my 10 semi-possibly-bold predictions for the season, I did say, off the record, that I thought the Phillies would go 152-10 this season. Brace yourself, Koehler fans. I am, after all, slightly human.
This brings us to a good time to look back at those 10 semi-possibly-bold predictions. The season is about a month old, so let's check out my progress.
1. Roy Halladay will win 22 games along with the NL Cy Young Award
Halladay is currently on pace for 34 wins according to ESPN.com. That gives me some breathing room on the 22. He's thrown 2 shutouts, he's first in the NL in wins, 5th in strikeouts, and 5th in ERA with a 1.47. I'll say that prediction looks good right now
2. The Phillies will win 100 games (in the regular season)
They are looking at around 90 or 91 with their current pace, but I think that Jimmy Rollins being out is a big part of the lack of wins thus far. We were 5-1 with him and he was looking really good. Expect this number to spike again once he returns (whenever that may be)
3. Ryan Howard will hit over .290 and win MVP
The Big Man is at .280 right now and is losing the MVP race to Jayson Werth and Chase Utley at least. The batting average is looking possible. The other numbers usually show up when we return from the All-Star Break.
4. Jamie Moyer will become a great-grandfather
Jamie has 8 children, but apparently is not even a grandfather yet. Boy did I drop the ball on this one!
5. Raul Ibanez will miss significant time with some type of injury, and John Mayberry will end up hitting 15 home runs this season serving as his replacement
Still praying...
6. Shane Victorino will lead our team in batting average for the 3rd consecutive season
I meant RBIs. And the first
7. I will have a brain aneurysm listening to the Phillies broadcast team
I'm still going strong! The one positive of my inability to watch every game this season
8. JA Happ will end up having the highest ERA of our regular starting pitchers after having the lowest last season
In 2 starts, his ERA is 0.00. So let's hope he keeps that up with me still making an accurate prediction
9. A Phillies pitcher will throw a no-hitter this season. And it won't be Roy Halladay
Why did I try to make these predictions semi-possibly-bold? I couldn't have just stopped after saying there'd be a no-hitter? Thus far, Halladay would obviously look like the top candidate to do that. But no-hitters are usually pretty random so I've got a shot at this one.
10. The Phillies will win the NL East for the 4th straight time, the NL for the 3rd straight time, and the World Series for the 2nd time in 3 years. They'll beat the Minnesota Twins in 6 games.
We are in first in the NL East, but have struggled against the Cardinals (although in just 1 game) and Giants, 2 of the 3 NL teams with a better record than us. My AL pick looks better just about every day. The Twins are leading the AL Central and are 1.5 games behind the Rays for the best record in the AL. I still like the Twins to be our victims.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Cardinals Preview
I am sure a lot of the focus of this upcoming series will be Ryan Howard vs. Albert Pujols. Any other season, this would be a nice topic of conversation for any Cardinals-Phillies series, but Howard's recent contract gives analysts around the country something more to talk about.
Does he deserve this kind of money?
What kind of money will that make Pujols get?
Is he the second best player in baseball, as his contract might suggest?
If recent history is any indication, the next 4 games could answer these questions in favor of the Big Man. Howard has always enjoyed success against his hometown Cardinals, and Pujols has surprisingly struggled against Phillies pitchers. A quick look at their numbers over the past 3 seasons:
Howard
85 AB / .412 AVG / 6 2B / 11 HR / 33 RBI / 1.399 OPS
Pujols
67 AB / .239 AVG / 2 2B / 5 HR / 12 RBI / .839 OPS
So if we can expect one thing out of this series, it would be that talk of Howard's contract will annoy us even more than it already has. If we can expect two things, though, it would be that Howard will exceed any contractual expectations.
As for actual matchups, it is hard to say that they really favor the Phils. To our credit, though, it would be hard to say that any team would have a favorable matchup against Cardinals starting pitching.
Monday:
Joe Blanton vs. Jaime Garcia - Blanton is making his season debut after an injury kept him out this long. We can't really know what to expect from him right now. If it's anything like what we've gotten from him in the past, I would say 8 innings and 4 runs. That's definitely something I can live with considering our offense in the past 2 games. Jaime Garcia, however, is 2-1 with a 1.04 ERA this season. That may suggest that 10 or 11 runs will not happen for us. Overall, this game is kind of a coin flip I would say depending upon how well Blanton does and whether or not Garcia can continue his random new-found success.
Tuesday:
Cole Hamels vs. Adam Wainwright - Because this is a big matchup, Hamels will most likely step up his game. Against Wainwright, however, it will be tough for the Phils to provide enough run support for him. Wainwright is 4-1 this season with a 2.13 ERA. His one loss came in a game in which he pitched 8 innings and gave up 2 earned runs. The problem for him was, in that same game, Barry Zito pitched 8 innings of shutout ball while striking out 10 for the Giants. I think this will be a great game for pitching, but don't expect much out of either offense. If it comes down to bullpens in the end, I give the advantage to the Cardinals.
Wednesday (ESPN):
Kyle Kendrick vs. Brad Penny - This game is as much of a guaranteed loss as we can get. We all know at this point about Kendrick's struggles. Brad Penny is 3-1 this season with a 1.56 ERA. Are we noticing a trend with this Cardinals starting rotation? Luckily, we miss out on their ace Chris Carpenter, who is better than each of these first 3 pitchers. Pretty impressive.
Thursday (1:05 game):
Roy Halladay vs. Kyle Lohse - First of all, Lohse pronounces his last name "lowshe." Where does he get off? You're either spelling your name wrong or pronouncing it wrong. Plus, you're bringing down the entire starting rotation of the St. Louis Cardinals. Lohse has yet to win a game and has an ERA over 5. Against Roy Halladay, I like the Phillies' odds in this game. A lot.
One final note in this series. We may get to see my favorite matchup in history: Brad Lidge vs. Albert Pujols. Someone seems to bring up every time these two see each other arguably the most entertaining home run in baseball history. Hopefully we'll be lucky enough to see a clip of it during the series, but if not, I'll put the link below. Basically, Pujols hit a home run off of Brad Lidge that left Houston's city limits to send the Cardinals to the World Series. Yikes. Hilarious
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/player/mp_tpl_3_1.jsp?w_id=455632&w=2005/open/topplays/archive10/05nlcs_gm5_slnhou_pujols_3runhr_350.wmv&pid=mlb_tp&gid=2005/10/17/slnmlb-houmlb-1&curl=custom_context/ps/y2005/lcs_b.jsp&cid=mlb&fid=mlb_tp350&v=2
Does he deserve this kind of money?
What kind of money will that make Pujols get?
Is he the second best player in baseball, as his contract might suggest?
If recent history is any indication, the next 4 games could answer these questions in favor of the Big Man. Howard has always enjoyed success against his hometown Cardinals, and Pujols has surprisingly struggled against Phillies pitchers. A quick look at their numbers over the past 3 seasons:
Howard
85 AB / .412 AVG / 6 2B / 11 HR / 33 RBI / 1.399 OPS
Pujols
67 AB / .239 AVG / 2 2B / 5 HR / 12 RBI / .839 OPS
So if we can expect one thing out of this series, it would be that talk of Howard's contract will annoy us even more than it already has. If we can expect two things, though, it would be that Howard will exceed any contractual expectations.
As for actual matchups, it is hard to say that they really favor the Phils. To our credit, though, it would be hard to say that any team would have a favorable matchup against Cardinals starting pitching.
Monday:
Joe Blanton vs. Jaime Garcia - Blanton is making his season debut after an injury kept him out this long. We can't really know what to expect from him right now. If it's anything like what we've gotten from him in the past, I would say 8 innings and 4 runs. That's definitely something I can live with considering our offense in the past 2 games. Jaime Garcia, however, is 2-1 with a 1.04 ERA this season. That may suggest that 10 or 11 runs will not happen for us. Overall, this game is kind of a coin flip I would say depending upon how well Blanton does and whether or not Garcia can continue his random new-found success.
Tuesday:
Cole Hamels vs. Adam Wainwright - Because this is a big matchup, Hamels will most likely step up his game. Against Wainwright, however, it will be tough for the Phils to provide enough run support for him. Wainwright is 4-1 this season with a 2.13 ERA. His one loss came in a game in which he pitched 8 innings and gave up 2 earned runs. The problem for him was, in that same game, Barry Zito pitched 8 innings of shutout ball while striking out 10 for the Giants. I think this will be a great game for pitching, but don't expect much out of either offense. If it comes down to bullpens in the end, I give the advantage to the Cardinals.
Wednesday (ESPN):
Kyle Kendrick vs. Brad Penny - This game is as much of a guaranteed loss as we can get. We all know at this point about Kendrick's struggles. Brad Penny is 3-1 this season with a 1.56 ERA. Are we noticing a trend with this Cardinals starting rotation? Luckily, we miss out on their ace Chris Carpenter, who is better than each of these first 3 pitchers. Pretty impressive.
Thursday (1:05 game):
Roy Halladay vs. Kyle Lohse - First of all, Lohse pronounces his last name "lowshe." Where does he get off? You're either spelling your name wrong or pronouncing it wrong. Plus, you're bringing down the entire starting rotation of the St. Louis Cardinals. Lohse has yet to win a game and has an ERA over 5. Against Roy Halladay, I like the Phillies' odds in this game. A lot.
One final note in this series. We may get to see my favorite matchup in history: Brad Lidge vs. Albert Pujols. Someone seems to bring up every time these two see each other arguably the most entertaining home run in baseball history. Hopefully we'll be lucky enough to see a clip of it during the series, but if not, I'll put the link below. Basically, Pujols hit a home run off of Brad Lidge that left Houston's city limits to send the Cardinals to the World Series. Yikes. Hilarious
http://mlb.mlb.com/media/player/mp_tpl_3_1.jsp?w_id=455632&w=2005/open/topplays/archive10/05nlcs_gm5_slnhou_pujols_3runhr_350.wmv&pid=mlb_tp&gid=2005/10/17/slnmlb-houmlb-1&curl=custom_context/ps/y2005/lcs_b.jsp&cid=mlb&fid=mlb_tp350&v=2
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Black and White*
Friday night's game and Saturday afternoon's game go a long way to tell us absolutely nothing about the Phillies this season. Just over 17 hours after a disgusting showing at the plate and on the mound on Friday, the Phils were able to score 10 runs against a pitcher with the best ERA in the NL at 0.69 while also shutting out a team that had just won 8 straight games. In defense of that, the team was the Mets, so you can't expect much.
This problem of inconsistency may or may not be something that every team in baseball experiences, but I only ever deal with the Phillies, so it's extra annoying thinking it is specific to them. Halladay turned in another fantastic performance yesterday, and he seems to be the only thing we can truly count on, if for nothing other than giving our bullpen a break (and probably a win).
We play tonight on ESPN, so we get a second day in a row with a break from our favorite broadcast team. It's nice to hear Joe Buck every once in a while (let me finish) just so we can have some appreciation for the Phillies broadcast team. While watching the game tonight, listen to how hilariously Jon Miller pronounces Spanish last names. (i.e. Carlos bel-TRAHN)
What to expect from the game tonight?
Moyer pitches 1 1/3 and gives up 8 runs while Santana pitches a complete game shutout
OR
Moyer pitches 7 innings of 3 hit-ball and the game ends with the Phillies winning 1-0 in 15 innings
OR
Santana gives up 3 home runs in the first 2 innings and is out of the game by the 5th while the Phillies pitching staff manages to give up just 1 less run than the Mets
OR
No one has any clue because it's the Mets and Phillies
I'd put money on the last one
*For the record, the title of this post is not implying whether black or white is good or bad. They are just opposites. I swear I'm not racist
This problem of inconsistency may or may not be something that every team in baseball experiences, but I only ever deal with the Phillies, so it's extra annoying thinking it is specific to them. Halladay turned in another fantastic performance yesterday, and he seems to be the only thing we can truly count on, if for nothing other than giving our bullpen a break (and probably a win).
We play tonight on ESPN, so we get a second day in a row with a break from our favorite broadcast team. It's nice to hear Joe Buck every once in a while (let me finish) just so we can have some appreciation for the Phillies broadcast team. While watching the game tonight, listen to how hilariously Jon Miller pronounces Spanish last names. (i.e. Carlos bel-TRAHN)
What to expect from the game tonight?
Moyer pitches 1 1/3 and gives up 8 runs while Santana pitches a complete game shutout
OR
Moyer pitches 7 innings of 3 hit-ball and the game ends with the Phillies winning 1-0 in 15 innings
OR
Santana gives up 3 home runs in the first 2 innings and is out of the game by the 5th while the Phillies pitching staff manages to give up just 1 less run than the Mets
OR
No one has any clue because it's the Mets and Phillies
I'd put money on the last one
*For the record, the title of this post is not implying whether black or white is good or bad. They are just opposites. I swear I'm not racist
Friday, April 30, 2010
Random Thoughts
I know we have a "big" series coming up with the Mets. We also had a tough trip to the West Coast. Due to all kinds of circumstances, my Phillies-viewing is at just about an all-time low. Therefore, I am largely not commenting on those games since I know little about them. It's also tough to comment too much on this Mets series since I have not been watching. Although it does seem that nobody has had a chance to watch our offense any time recently (with the exception of the last 3 innings of the Giants series)
With all of that said, here are just a few random notes about the Phillies or baseball in general:
- Trivia question: What is the past tense of the word "fly?" (answer below)
- The Mets are currently in first place with our beloved Phils in 2nd. As long as this is the case, I will actually be referring to the Phillies as being in first place. Recent history tells us the Mets are far too hysterically bad to have a shot at finishing in first place. Therefore, we are in first
- I now know what we are missing out on in terms of a broadcast team. Spending 4 days in Virginia and watching some Nationals games, I got to listen to Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble. The beautiful relationship between these two men made me want to be a Nationals fan. First of all, they are both there through the whole game. I don't know why the Phillies insist on doing some type of awkward tag teaming throughout a game. Probably to eliminate any flow. Or else to let Christopher Wheeler look up answers to trivia questions for 3 innings. Aside from that, it just seems like Bob and Rob are two Nationals fans talking about the game together. I don't know about everyone else, but I would like to hear a little bit of bias while watching my hometown team on my hometown station. It makes games more exciting and makes you feel like a part of the conversation.
- If you could only have one current Phillies player for the next 5 years, who would you pick? Jeremiah and I recently held a fantasy baseball draft with a few special stipulations. I'll tell you about that on another day I'm sure, but this draft really made me think about which player would be the most valuable for the next 5 seasons. It seems like you could really count on Chase Utley because it just always seems like you can count on him. Ryan Howard seems very important to the front office judging by his contract, but is he the one player they would pick if they could only have one? Roy Halladay is fantastic, but do we have to worry about him in 5 years when he is 37 years old? Shane Victorino is our youngest position player at 29. Does he do enough to make him worth 5 years and no other players? I have no idea what the heck Cole Hamels will do in his next start, much less the next 5 years. Something to consider
- Apparently the Phillies really do want to keep Jayson Werth around after this season. I wonder how difficult that is going to be, though. Werth is going to want some serious money, especially considering the money given to Jason Bay by the Mets who, I would say, is nowhere near as good as Werth as an all-around player. I wonder how much the Phillies are willing to spend. We are now at the point of selling out every single home game. Between that and $15 for parking (unbelievable, right?!), they've gotta have some spare cash laying around to give him somewhere close to what he wants. It is very true that we need a right-handed bat in our lineup, and without him, we would obviously be lacking one. I would rather pay him more than get someone to replace him that is not a true "Phillie"
- Speaking of "Phillie," is the singular form of "Phillies" really "Phillie?" With pluralization rules, could we not also assume that a single Phillies player is a "Philly?" Everyone assumes the i-e, but if you were to make "Philly" plural, it would also be "Phillies." Who thinks of these things?
- I do. As evidenced in the trivia question. The answer: flew. However, what does a baseball announcer say when someone flies out? "Howard flied out to deep right in his last at-bat." Flied, not flew. So here is how awesome baseball is:
According to dictionary.com, there are 32 definitions for "fly." The past tense is most definitely "flew" for 30 of these. There are only 2 definitions of fly that have the past tense "flied." One of them is related to theater or something. The other is specifically for a fly out in baseball. Awesome
- Speaking of how awesome baseball is, I love random baseball stats that have to be made up. There are so many different statistics in baseball that, if I did not watch basically every Phillies game, I would be convinced that they literally played half of their games on paper. Every single situation you can ever imagine happening has happened at some point in the history of this game. If, at any point in this season, you see that something has happened for the first time, please please please tell me. So then I can choose not to believe you. So here is an awesome stat I heard not too long ago, a perfect example of everything happening in baseball:
The Braves got no-hit by the Rockies on April 17. On April 18, they beat the Rockies on a walk-off single by Jason Heyward.
This was the first time that the Braves* had a walk-off win the day after being no-hit since 1951.**
*Yes, this is specific enough to only apply to the Braves, not baseball in general
**Yes, this has actually happened before. With this team.
With all of that said, here are just a few random notes about the Phillies or baseball in general:
- Trivia question: What is the past tense of the word "fly?" (answer below)
- The Mets are currently in first place with our beloved Phils in 2nd. As long as this is the case, I will actually be referring to the Phillies as being in first place. Recent history tells us the Mets are far too hysterically bad to have a shot at finishing in first place. Therefore, we are in first
- I now know what we are missing out on in terms of a broadcast team. Spending 4 days in Virginia and watching some Nationals games, I got to listen to Bob Carpenter and Rob Dibble. The beautiful relationship between these two men made me want to be a Nationals fan. First of all, they are both there through the whole game. I don't know why the Phillies insist on doing some type of awkward tag teaming throughout a game. Probably to eliminate any flow. Or else to let Christopher Wheeler look up answers to trivia questions for 3 innings. Aside from that, it just seems like Bob and Rob are two Nationals fans talking about the game together. I don't know about everyone else, but I would like to hear a little bit of bias while watching my hometown team on my hometown station. It makes games more exciting and makes you feel like a part of the conversation.
- If you could only have one current Phillies player for the next 5 years, who would you pick? Jeremiah and I recently held a fantasy baseball draft with a few special stipulations. I'll tell you about that on another day I'm sure, but this draft really made me think about which player would be the most valuable for the next 5 seasons. It seems like you could really count on Chase Utley because it just always seems like you can count on him. Ryan Howard seems very important to the front office judging by his contract, but is he the one player they would pick if they could only have one? Roy Halladay is fantastic, but do we have to worry about him in 5 years when he is 37 years old? Shane Victorino is our youngest position player at 29. Does he do enough to make him worth 5 years and no other players? I have no idea what the heck Cole Hamels will do in his next start, much less the next 5 years. Something to consider
- Apparently the Phillies really do want to keep Jayson Werth around after this season. I wonder how difficult that is going to be, though. Werth is going to want some serious money, especially considering the money given to Jason Bay by the Mets who, I would say, is nowhere near as good as Werth as an all-around player. I wonder how much the Phillies are willing to spend. We are now at the point of selling out every single home game. Between that and $15 for parking (unbelievable, right?!), they've gotta have some spare cash laying around to give him somewhere close to what he wants. It is very true that we need a right-handed bat in our lineup, and without him, we would obviously be lacking one. I would rather pay him more than get someone to replace him that is not a true "Phillie"
- Speaking of "Phillie," is the singular form of "Phillies" really "Phillie?" With pluralization rules, could we not also assume that a single Phillies player is a "Philly?" Everyone assumes the i-e, but if you were to make "Philly" plural, it would also be "Phillies." Who thinks of these things?
- I do. As evidenced in the trivia question. The answer: flew. However, what does a baseball announcer say when someone flies out? "Howard flied out to deep right in his last at-bat." Flied, not flew. So here is how awesome baseball is:
According to dictionary.com, there are 32 definitions for "fly." The past tense is most definitely "flew" for 30 of these. There are only 2 definitions of fly that have the past tense "flied." One of them is related to theater or something. The other is specifically for a fly out in baseball. Awesome
- Speaking of how awesome baseball is, I love random baseball stats that have to be made up. There are so many different statistics in baseball that, if I did not watch basically every Phillies game, I would be convinced that they literally played half of their games on paper. Every single situation you can ever imagine happening has happened at some point in the history of this game. If, at any point in this season, you see that something has happened for the first time, please please please tell me. So then I can choose not to believe you. So here is an awesome stat I heard not too long ago, a perfect example of everything happening in baseball:
The Braves got no-hit by the Rockies on April 17. On April 18, they beat the Rockies on a walk-off single by Jason Heyward.
This was the first time that the Braves* had a walk-off win the day after being no-hit since 1951.**
*Yes, this is specific enough to only apply to the Braves, not baseball in general
**Yes, this has actually happened before. With this team.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)