July 8, 2008 by kbreidenstine8
After their third straight loss to the Mets the Phillies stand 1.5 games ahead of the Marlins and 2.5 games ahead of the creeping Mets. As much as everyone would love for Adam Eaton to cut it, he isn’t, and anyone that expects him to is dreaming. By my count, this leaves the Phillies’ two major holes in the rotation.
Phil Sheridan writes that the Phillies are in need of an A-list pitcher to fill out their rotation. We counted on the biggest acquisition coming from within this year, but now Myers is down in the minors. I know I’m hoping he returns to the rotation in the form that we all expected him at the beginning of the season, but at this point, any production from him will be a bonus (though he did have a decent start last night).
It looks as though the dream of getting an A-list pitcher will simply stay a dream. Gillick has mentioned the Phillies will most likely be looking to the B-list for pitching help. He points to the pickup of Kyle Lohse last season. Sheridan writes:
“Funny, that. Now that he has a contract with (and 10 wins for) St. Louis, the Phillies are touting Lohse. During the winter and spring, when he was extremely available, they weren’t nearly as enthused.”
No, the Phillies need someone from the A-list. Yes, it might cost us something in the future, but that looks like a risk they’ll have to take to give the Phils a good shot down the stretch. Keep your eyes on the rearview mirror.
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July 7, 2008 by kbreidenstine8
So a lot has happened over the 4th of July weekend. Namely, the Phillies have lost 2 of 3 to continue their season-long woes against the Mets. Jayson Werth provided the Phillies’ fireworks with a 2-out 2-run homerun off Billy Wagner, but Fernando Tatis hit one of his own in the 12th, securing a 4-2 win for the Mets.
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The Phillies have a chance for some redemption tonight as Adam Eaton sets to face off with the aging Pedro Martinez. Was anyone else just happy that Ryan Howard did not strike out 5 times in last night’s game? Sometimes he looks absolutely lost at the plate. I know he’s supposed to hit homeruns, but he is obliterating his strikeout rate from last season. Anyone think that 230 Ks is out of the question?
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So Chase Utley and Brad Lidge will represent the Phils in the All-Star game. Pat Burrell has the chance to make it with the final vote. If you ask me, Cole Hamels (9-5, 3.22) was snubbed from the All-Star roster.
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July 2, 2008 by Nick
The bats are back. I knew the end of interleague play would restore my faith in the Phillies. They can now focus on beating league and division opponents instead of playing exhibition-like games against teams in unfamiliar cities with rosters they have not had a chance to scout as well.
The Philadelphia offense, led by Shane Victorino’s 4 RBIs, mowed through the Braves by knocking Atlanta starter Charlie Morton out of the game during a 4-run 3rd inning. They tacked on 3 more in the top of the 9th to put the game all but out of reach for the Braves. Kyle Kendrick pitched six strong innings before getting in trouble, and eventually lifted, in the 7th.
The offense ended the day with 8 runs on 14 hits; a sold performance despite leaving the bases loaded in consecutive innings.
I feel confident that now they are back in familiar waters, the Phillies will get back on trackand win this series in Atlanta before returning home for a 4-game set against the New York Mets this holiday weekend.
Tonight Adam Eaton (2-6) squares off against Jorge Campillo (3-2).
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Who would have thought back in spring that instead of Kendrick getting shipped to Japan it would be the prankster getting shipped to Lehigh Valley. Karma is a bitch.
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July 1, 2008 by kbreidenstine8
The Phillies just announced that Brett Myers has been optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. He will make his first start tomorrow night. Myers could have denied the option, but has agreed to accept the demotion.
This is not how I envisioned things playing out, but I can’t say that I’m disappointed. With this demotion, it’s possible that Myers can work things out and be able to contribute later in the year. It also gives them the chance to throw someone out there who might give the Phils a better shot at winning games. It hasn’t been indicated who the Phillies will take on, but I would assume JA Happ will be a stop-gap replacement. It’s pretty clear that the Phillies now need to make a significant move to bolster this starting rotation…
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July 1, 2008 by kbreidenstine8
As of early this morning, the Brett Myers situation is unresolved. According to Todd Zolecki, a decision should be made at some point today.
It’s most likely that the Phils will skip his turn in the rotation, going with Hamels on Thursday on his normal rest. The question is: what do you do his next turn in the rotation? They could simply skip his start and give him the ball his next time around. If they decide to replace him in the rotation, Zolecki thinks the two options they have are spot-starting Chad Durbin, or bringing up J.A. Happ from the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. I’d personally like to see J.A. Happ take his spot in the rotation, for now. He’s having a decent year at Triple-A. Durbin is too valuable in the bullpen. I would not want to see Brett Myers in the same situations that Charlie Manuel uses Durbin.
If Myers comes out of the rotation, he will most likely go to the bullpen. They could designate So Taguchi for assignment, though this may leave the bench pretty thin. I think another viable option (though I believe unlikely) is to send Brett Myers to Triple-A for a while and let him try to work things out where the stakes aren’t so high. Whatever the Phillies do, they need to get Myers out of the rotation. It’s time to start pulling things together. The Marlins are now a 1/2 game back. The Mets are 3 1/2. The Phils are 5-1 against Atlanta this year. A turnaround needs to start tonight.
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June 30, 2008 by Nick
There is both good an bad news following yesterday afternoon’s game.
I’ll start with the bad. The Phils dropped yet another game and leave their final American League city with a series loss. Jamie Moyer did all he is supposed to do – allow 3 or fewer runs. This ballclub should be able to win starts like this. The offense, centered around Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard , is supposed to score enough runs to give Moyer a win everytime his ancient left arm can hold the opposition to a 3 run maximum through five or six innings. Even in the hitter-friendly Arlington Ballpark, the Phillies could only muster one run on an RBI single from Ryan Howard. Hopefully, a very welcome return to NL opponents will coax the bats out of the freezer.
And the good news you ask?… The Phils can’t lose tonight.
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June 29, 2008 by kbreidenstine8
Somehow during this slide, the Phillies have yet to cough up the NL East lead. The Marlins, who have been playing almost equally as bad as the Phillies, have not capitalized on the Phillies woes. With the Phils 8-6 victory last night, the Marlins stand 2 games back. The Braves and the Mets, both 39-41, sit 4 games back. Let’s hope the Phils can pull off their first series victory since sweeping Atlanta earlier this month. Tonight’s Matchup:
Jamie Moyer (7-5, 4.09) v. Eric Hurley (0-1, 4.24)
After tonight, the Phillies have an off-day, then they start a 7 game stretch with 3 against the Braves and 4 against the Mets. I know these teams are hanging in third place, but a decent stretch puts them right in the thick of things. The NL East is a weak division, anything’s possible.
I’d feel pretty comfortable if the Phils could get themselves to 10 games over .500 by the All-Star break. This means they’ll have to go 9-5 in their next 14 with one against the Rangers, 3 against the Braves, 4 against the Mets, 3 against the Cards, and 3 against the D-backs. We can always hope, right?
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Dodger’s zero-hit? I knew it was possible, but never really gave it much thought. I can guarantee you Tim Kurkjian has. He’s filled with interesting baseball factoids.
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June 27, 2008 by Nick
Yesterday was supposed to be a good day … The Phillies finally snapped their losing steak with a gem from Kyle Kendrick the night before and a west coast business person’s special meant I could DVR the game and finally get to see the end of one of these games (all the while fast forwarding through the never-ending W.B. Mason commercials).
As the work day was drawing to a close and the anticipation was growing for the chance to plop down in front of the TV and watch the Phillies start winning again, I decided to surf over to the blog and see if we received any comments from previous posts. Instead, I was greeted with a nice update from Kyle that the Phils were already losing 2-0 in the 1st due to yet another rough start from our #5 starter.
I didn’t check back on the blog for the rest of the day because I was certain the potent Phillies offense would overcome the early deficit and I wanted to see the comeback myself.
We all know how the rest of my night went. Oakland’s Rich Harden pitched 8 innings of 2 hit baseball and blanked the Phillies to win the series.
Chase Utley went 0-4 after a great 4-hit comeback the night before. Eaton actually kept the Phillies in the game, going 7 innings and giving up only 3 runs while working out of a few jams here and there. But, the offense was held to just 3 hits (2 from Victorino) and Tom Gordon gave up the final 2 runs in his first inning in almost 2 weeks.
Tonight the Phillies kick off a 3-game series in Texas to square off against the Rangers and the hot-hitting Josh Hamilton to finally end this silly inter-league schedule.
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What would happen if…
July 7, 2008 by NickAn all-star is traded before the All Star game?
This question came to my mind today while thinking about the CC Sabathia trade. What if he had been voted onto the AL All Star team and then traded to the Brewers?
I have been searching Google for the past half hour trying to find the answer with no luck.
I wouldn’t think that the player would represent his new club in the Midsummer Classic, but he also probably would not play for his new league. The logical answer would be that the player in question would not be a member of either squad, but this also seems unfair. What if this was the first all star selection for this individual? Would he miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime because of a trade?
This may have already happened and I am unaware of it. If anyone knows the answer, please reply to this post so I can ease my curiosity.
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