Should the Phillies Really Be Afraid of the Dodgers

I’ve been hearing all this hype over the Dodgers. But really, what is there to worry about. I know they have this 37-18 record, but the Phillies are the hottest team right now with six straight wins.

I would also easily go as far as in saying that the Phillies and the Dodgers are the two best teams in the National League as of now and could easily repeat the NLCS matchup.

The Phillies will not face star pitcher Chad Billingsley. They are also playing away. When they played these Dodgers in May they lost two out of three at Citizens Bank Park.

Also the Dodgers have faced relatively easy teams so far especially after playing in the worst division in baseball this year.

On the Dodgers page there is an article titled, “No Manny, No Problem”. He is exactly right. Without Manny the Phillies can beat up these Dodgers in LA.

As long as the Phillies bats continue, they can easily take this series from the MLB’s best.

Tonight’s matchup is Cole Hamels vs. Clayton Kershaw. Kershaw is having a pretty nice year, but Hamels is getting better and better every game after returning from injury. Look for the pitcher to stay the longest win.

The second game’s matchup is Jamie Moyer vs. Eric Milton. Milton, the former Phil, is slowly becoming better and pitching faster this year.

Moyer is coming off one of his best starts of the year against the Nationals where he earned his 250th career win. Whoever walks the least will probably win, as both are prone to giving up free bases and having runs come off of them.

Saturday’s game features Joe Blanton vs. Hiroki Kuroda. Blanton has had three straight starts where he has earned a win, and would like to win the fourth. Kuroda pitched his first decent start in nearly a month in his last outing.

If Kuroda can control the Phillies he’ll have no problem. Blanton also might be a little cocky for this game.

In ESPN’s Sunday Night Basball’ game of the week we will likely see Antonio Bastardo go for his second straight win in as many big league appearances. He’ll be dueling with another former Phillie, Randy Wolf.

Bastardo was brilliant in his first start of the year against the Padres and would like to continue to ride that success into the national spotlight. Wolf has been shaky in the few first innings of his starts, but has settled down quite a bit. If the Phillies can knock Wolf around in the first couple of innings, expect the floodgates to open.

The second part of this article is how the Phillies compare offensively with the Dodgers. The Dodgers are in front of the Phills in most of the offensive categories except for HRs where the Phillies have almost double the amount the Dodgers have.

While comparing outfields this year the Phillies have Shane Victorino, Jaysoin Werth, and Raul Ibanez. We all know Ibanez is having a career year and is arguably the best outfielder this year in the Big Leagues.

While he’s been very hot, Werth and Victorino have only been average and need to come on a roll to help the Phillies this year.

The Dodgers list Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, and Juan Pierre. All three have been performing very well this season with Pierre being outstanding this year after being on the bubble this offseason.

Also in the catchers’ department Carlos Ruiz is having his best offensive season ever and continues to be one of the most consistent catchers in all of baseball. Russel Martin is also producing numbers, although not as highly as in years past.

Now finally the infielders. Howard, Utley, Rollins, and Feliz have played consistently this season, but not spectacular.Utley and Howard have put up good stats, but have not exploded when compared to totals at the same time in previous years.

Feliz is having a career year as of now, but still is not producing the big numbers like Howard or Utley have in the past. Rollins has not been playing well and is slumping this year compared to his last and MVP seasons.

Casey Blake, Orlando Hudson, James Loney, and Rafael Furcal make up the Dodgers four infielders this year. Blake has been very good this year with a batting average of .293, and Hudson is also playing well with a .329 BA. Loney is having a consistent year so far, but Furcal is not having the best of his years.

Now personally I think the Phillies should get some sort of compensation for taking Chan Ho Park from the Dodgers. How about a sweep.

Philadelphia Phillies: Say No To Penny, Glavine and Padilla

The Philadelphia Phillies are looking everywhere for a starting pitcher (as if that’s a  surprise to anyone) and they are looking at the top-of-the-rotation to end-of-the-rotation guys.

Names like Erik Bedard, Roy Oswalt, and Jake Peavy have been linked to the Phillies in the last week or so, but the lower-end pitchers have also been somehow linked with the Phillies.

With Brett Myers season likely over after hip surgery, the Phillies are in need for another pitcher, preferably a top-of-the-rotation guy. However, they have been also looking at a middle-to-low guy as well.

Take Brad Penny for instance.

Penny signed a one-year deal with a base salary of $5 million after struggling in 2008 and having a injury-filled season for the Dodgers, which got his option dropped and made him a free agent. He later signed with the Boston Red Sox.

Thus far into the season, Penny is 5-1 with a 5.63 ERA in 10 starts. The record is nice, but the ERA is way too high for my liking. He worries me too much, but you would think that he wouldn’t cost much.

Well that assumption is wrong.

Buster Olney of ESPN reported that the Phillies heard the Red Sox would want Jason Donald for Penny. I would have hung up the phone the second they said Jason and told them no thank you. Penny is not even close of a prospect of Donald’s caliber.

Why waste a talent like Donald on an average pitcher at best? Why not package Donald along with some other top prospects for a guy with the talent of Oswalt or Peavy? That makes more sense to me.

BaseballDigest.com suggested that the Phillies are going to sign either Tom Glavine or Vincente Padilla. Five year ago, I would have said yes to Glavine. Now, that reply would be an easy no thank you. Don’t get me started on the situation with the classless Atlanta Braves and how they handled his Glavine’s release, but he isn’t what the Phils need.

Padilla is a quick no because of a number of reasons. He failed here before, and he hasn’t been all-too-well in Texas. So what makes you think he can do anything with the Phillies this time?  He was waived because he is making way too much money and well frankly, he doesn’t deserve anything over a million or two.

What I would do is keep Antonio Bastardo in the rotation for another week or two, maybe a little longer. See if you can acquire a big-name guy who can not only help this team get by without Myers, but make their rotation dominate and give Cole Hamels another guy to take the pressure off of him (not that he can’t handle it).

Go put together a package for Peavy, have the Padres accept the deal, and then have them go ask Peavy whether he’ll accept the deal to Philadelphia. If not, go after Oswalt and see if he’ll come to Philly. If not, go get Bedard or someone else on the market that we don’t know about yet.

Want to shoot for the moon, call Toronto and offer them a package of your top-five prospect and J.A. Happ in exchange for Roy Halladay. Do something that will make a huge impact on the team instead of small one that won’t help the team get back to the World Series.

The Strongest Division in MLB

With the 2009 MLB season reaching the one-third mark and everybody complaining about their sore hips and knees, I was wondering which division in each league was the best. So let’s take a look at the numbers. There will be some surprises and predictions.

Starting in the American League.

 

Best Overall Record

AL East 143-127

AL West 104-104

AL Central 125-139

AL East vs. AL Central  55-33   

AL EAST vs AL West  27-30

AL Central vs AL West  30-23

So the AL East has winning record against AL Central holds the advantage over the AL West, and the AL West has the advantage on the AL East. Advantage the AL East but only slightly. No big surprise yet. Here is where it gets interesting. There is no team in any division that has a winning record against all three divisions. That certainly tightens it up a little.

In the AL East only The Yankees Red Sox and Blue Jays have winning records against two out of the three divisions. In the AL Central only the Tigers, and the AL West has none. 

In the AL East, only the Yankees have a winning record on the road. They are joined by Texas. That’s it.

Conclusion: The beast still lives in the East. No surprise but I believe the gap is narrowing.

The races by the numbers should produce division winners amongst the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays,Tigers, Twins, White Sox, Rangers and Angels. The rest of the teams better start their selling early. The cream has obviously risen to the top.

The Twins must do a whole lot better on the road 6-16 if they expect to get there in the AL Central. I can’t see any other Division other than the AL East who can produce the Wild Card. I like the Rangers to hang in there to win the West. Right now they own it 13-3.

The Yankees or Red Sox? Who knows, anybody’s guess. My guess, still the Red Sox. Why? Deeper pitching plus they are murder at home 17-6.

 

Now to the National League.

 

Best Overall Record

NL East  153-134

NL Central  162-150

NL West  130-134

NL East vs NL Central  25-34  

NL East vs NL West  25-29

NL Central vs NL West 21-23

This is a hodgepodge. The NL West has a winning record against the NL East and the NL Central, while the NL Central holds the advantage against the NL East.

So how does the NL East have the best winning percentage. Easy enough, the Washington Nationals. Their record throws the best winning percentage totally out of whack. Washington sits at 14-36, 22 games below .500, but here’s the explanation. In their own division they are 5-25 against the NL East and 8-9 against the other two divisions.

The Phillies are the only team in the NL to have a winning record against each division. The Cardinals are next best with a winning record against two divisions and a tie 3-3 against the West. Back to the Phillies.

They are one of three teams along with the Dodgers and the Brewers to have a winning record on the road, which is an extremely important factor in winning a division crown. They are exceptional going 19-6. The Dodgers at 17-12 are not too shabby either. All three division leaders are those with winning records on the road.

The Pirates, interestingly enough, have a winning record against the two other divisions but are 9-19 against their own. The best record in the league within their own division, the Dodgers at 25-9. Good night. I heard they’re printing playoff tickets already.

The Brewers are 21-10 in the highly competitive NL Central, and nobody touches the Dodgers home record of 20-6.

On a very personal note I hope they spank the Phillies this weekend but when you have the best home record against the best road record a sweep by either team I would call extremely unlikely.

 

Conclusion: The NL Central is certainly the most balanced from top to bottom, with only seven games separating the top from the bottom. With that said, you can say goodnight to the Pirates and the Astros there, because they just can’t beat the other teams ahead of them, 20-40.

I like the Brewers and the Reds in the Central based on the numbers so far. They are both winning at home and on the road and in their division 40-23.

Putting my obvious prejudices aside. I still like the Mets over the Phillies because the Mets are starting to dominate at home 17-9 and 15-9 against the NL East. The Phillies are struggling at home and this is a definite disadvantage in a hitters park. Sure they will score a ton of runs there but so will the opposing team.

That race will, in my most humble opinion, come down to their head to head meetings. Right now and it’s early the Mets hold a 3-1 advantage with 3 games next week at Citi-Field.

There aren’t too many “crucial” series in June but this one might be an exception. If the Mets can sweep the Phillies watch out there just may a few Philly fans wearing Mets gear in October.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/93475-accept-the-phillies-mets-challenge

After the Phillies-Padres Sweep, California To Pass New Legislation (Satire)

Those silly Californians will vote on anything.  And after the Phils capped a three-game series sweep, the richest state in the nation initiated legislation to ensure they’re the winningest.  They’ve started “Proposition Raul.”  And unlike other legislation, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has promised to terminate the pesky left fielder.

 

I can see it now.  Dodger fans will show up donning t-shirts with a portrait of the MLB RBI leader outlined in a thick red circle with a line through it.  The caption will read:

 

“Vote Yes on Prop R: No more RBI for RI”

 

or…

 

“Take away his RBIs and what do you get?  -aul –anez”

 

maybe even…

 

“Without his RBI, -aul –anez is just a shell of a man”

 

Actually, I’m afraid for his life.  Really. I think he should hide out somewhere until this animosity blows over.  It just so happens, I know of a safe place.  My house.  It’s secluded and it’s owned by a completely unknown writer, so there’s no danger of drawing attention. 

 

Door’s always open.

 

Now for the tragic news: Shane Victorino left the game with a hip strain. 

 

Ahhhhhh!

 

Don’t panic. Okay, maybe you’re not, but baseball babes across the world are.  Okay, maybe not across the world.

 

But I think I can be of assistance.  It just so happens, I’m a hip specialist.  And I’d be happy to help with that area for free. 

 

Door’s always open.

 

Besides I think the lineup would appreciate what I’ve done with the place.  During the last home game, I saw a vender selling big laminated pictures of the 2008 World Champs wearing black tuxes.  At the very sight of them, I thought what any real baseball babe would think—placemats!

 

I purchased six and arranged them around my dining room table with such precision and care, you’d think I was crazy.

 

Okay, we won’t go there. My husband saw me sitting among them reading my Inquirer sports page and sipping coffee from my Phillies travel mug and said, “It’s official. You’re a Phillies redneck.”

 

My first reaction was to be insulted but then he pointed out my penchant for intermingling Phillies garb with even the most formal of attire. So I pondered for a moment and said, “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

 

And you know what? The Phils are rednecks, too.  They have homegrown pitching talent right here in their own backyard and they still don’t know it.  I guess the grass is always greener…Hell, every player who’s been brought up off the farm this year has won. 

 

That includes J.A. Happ.  He’s now 4-0 and he pitched seven scoreless innings last night.  Phillies management just has to face the bare facts—there’s no place like home.  And there’s no place to see Phil’s pitchers bare than at home—my home.

 

Door’s always open.

 

Why Jake Peavy will Never Be a Philadelphia Phillie

I was listening to 610 WIP in Philly. One caller brought up a very good point, and I thought I would write about it.

If you were a general manager (and I think we all know Amaro is a good one so far): Would you rather have to pay $8 million a year and $52 million the next three or less than 500K a year for a player?

Would you rather have a player who already got his money or a player trying his hardest to earn a spot on the roster?

Would you rather have a player who wants to be in another National League town (Chicago) or a player who needs to prove himself enough just to get a few cracks at the big leagues?

Would you rather have a player with a no-trade clause or a player who’s been on four teams in two and a half years who really wants to stay on his fifth team?

If you’ve answered the second answer as the more logical answer, then why would you want Jake Peavy over Antonio Bastardo.

Now I know Bastardo may not be the immediate solution for the Phillies’ rotation, but it makes no sense to trade for a player.

The Phillies have quality pitching like Happ, Bastardo, Carrasco and Kendrick (maybe) in your minor leagues and on the roster who are perfectly capable of filling in.

Now a lot of you are saying that the Phillies don’t have a second pitcher in the rotation, because of Myers’ injury.

The name that comes to light is Joe Blanton. Hamels is the obvious No. 1, Joe Blanton could be the No. 2, and if Moyer stays OK, then the three top spots are filled.

The four other names mentioned above could have a battle royale to determine who fills in the last two spots. I also like J.A. Happ as the definite No. 4 and the other three could have a couple starts when they’re needed for the fifth spot.

The only bad thing that could come out of this is that Chan Ho Park returns to the rotation to fill in the void.

Park is off to live, or die, with Adam Eaton in the Phillies’ grave of shamed pitchers.

Also I really would like to see Kendrick rise to the occasion and I really hope the prank by Myers didn’t make him quit baseball.

Let’s just see, because it’s all up to Ruben and Chalie.

Raul Ibanez in the Minors

Most Phillies, Mariners, and Royals fans know Raul Ibanez just as a left fielder, but he actually started out as a catcher in the Mariners’ farm system. After graduating high school in Miami as an outfielder, he switched to catcher. Back in 1995, the Tacoma News Tribune explained the reason for the switch: “Left-handed, power-hitting catchers are highly coveted by the front office brass, and Ibanez is just that.”

It’s an understatement to say Raul tore up the California League with Riverside in 1995; he had 108 RBI in 95 games with a 1.007 OPS and 52 extra-base hits. He was named Mariner minor-league player of the year. He won four player of the week honors, hit .419 (13-for-31), scored nine runs, hit two triples, three home runs, and drove in 16 runs in a single week in late August. Ibanez had 29 RBI in two weeks in the second half of August.

These are pretty incredible numbers, but Ibanez spent the entire year in A ball and then was converted back to the outfield during the winter. The Mariners had a pretty young Dan Wilson blocking his path to the majors and chronic instability in left field to resolve. And, an article at the end of 1995 said Raul “still has a long way to go defensively.” But the failure to promote Ibanez in ’95 was the start of several years of mishandling him by the Mariners.

Seattle could have had an Ibanez-Ken Griffey Jr.-Jay Buhner outfield in the late ‘90s as the centerpiece of an outstanding offense. Instead, after the 1997 season the M’s nearly sold him off to Ichiro’s team in Japan, the Orix Blue Wave. In 2006, the Seattle Times reported:

“Seattle was so close to selling Ibanez to Orix, Blue Wave manager Akira Ogi came to Puerto Rico to visit him. Orix backed off when it was apparent Ibanez was hurting, and he wound up on the 60-day disabled list: his progress derailed and manager Lou Piniella’s patience along with it.”

Raul said of joining Ichiro and Orix: “It would have been something, I didn’t really know what to think then. All in all, I’m glad it didn’t happen.”

Jamie Moyer said of Ibanez’s first tour with the Mariners: “He was quickly given the label he wasn’t going to hit in the big leagues. He’d get at-bats against a front-line pitcher or maybe as a pinch-hitter against a closer. From those situations, it was decided that he wasn’t going to hit.”

Well, you probably know the rest of the story, or at least the part that’s set in Philadelphia. But here are a couple more nuggets about Ibanez in the minors. In August 1993, with the Bellingham Mariners, Raul batted three times in one inning: the M’s had 20 batters, scored a Northwest League-record 17 runs, and had 10 singles, a double, a home run, a hit batter, and four walks. Raul had two of the singles and one of the outs.

More significantly, near the end of the 1995 season, Jim Skaalen, Mariners coordinator of minor-league instruction, said: “You’re going to find a place for him. He hits lefties, he hits righties. He has no fear at the plate. Better than anybody else in our organization, he goes up with the expectation to hit the ball hard and far every time. And if he doesn’t, he’s some kind of teed off…If he doesn’t double, homer, or absolutely smoke something, he’s not happy. And that’s what it takes to be a successful Major-League hitter.”

And here’s Ibanez giving a sign of why he’s adjusted so well to life in Philadelphia: “I want to earn the respect of my peers and the respect of my opponents. Being respected is better than being liked. And I’ve always made a practice of trying to not be concerned with stuff I can’t control.”

Phillies-Padres: I Have a Good Joke For You

Here’s a joke: a South Korean walks into a ballpark…

 

That’s so mean!

 

Now, I like to keep score but in the seventh inning last night when I heard Chan Ho Park was coming to the mound, I grabbed a brand new sheet of paper. Lucky for me I had plenty of space to record his accomplishments:

 

A single, a single, a K, a pop fly, and then a walk to load the bases. Then he allowed an RBI single to raise the stakes. And as if walking in another run wasn’t bad enough, Park faced the NL co-player of the week, Adrian Gonzalez, with the bases still loaded. 

 

Gonzalez had already hit a homer for the fourth consecutive game, so when he stepped to the plate, my son said: “Whoop, there he is.”

 

I guess walking in another run and topping that off with a two-run single wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. Any one of the Padres could have hit a grand slam homer in the seventh and created a crucial save situation, but it took Chad Durbin to make that dream come true.

 

When he jogged from the bullpen in the eighth, my son cried, “Why me, Lord!” I can see Charlie Manuel’s reasoning—Durbin’s worst outing looks pretty descent compared to Park’s. 

 

But when he loaded the bases with back-to-back walks with two out, Manuel folded. He bet on Ryan Madson and won as the reliable reliever threw one token pitch to end the game.

 

So, Park finally ended his outing (and possibly his career) after tossing 33 pitches and reducing the Phil’s lead to five. I haven’t seen that kind of perfection since my husband cleared an entire room with a single burrito fart.

 

Worst of all, he almost cramped the style of minor league ace Antonio Bastardo. That young lefty waltzed into Petco Park and embraced opportunity like me meeting Jayson Werth—only without getting arrested.

 

Under the direction of Carlos Ruiz, he pitched six innings of four-hit ball and added only one earned run to his resume while striking out five. He may be too young for the majors but he’s of legal age for me. 

 

I’m sorry, was I thinking out loud?

 

It’s newsworthy to add a Happy Birthday to Raul Ibanez. It’s obvious from the decimal level of the Raauuuuls when he hit each of his two-run dingers, that Petco Park was a full-house of Phils fans.

 

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the Phils don’t have fans anymore, they have groupies. They’ve infiltrated major league parks this season like a hookah haze at a Dead concert.

 

With Ibanez’s season stats of 51 RBI, 19 home runs, and all over great team attitude, sports psychologist, Harvey Dorfman has made him his poster child. 

 

I hope he’s naked. I’ll pin him up by my Phillie “Playmate of the Week” calendar.

 

JC Romero returns today and you know what that means. Someone’s got to go. I wonder who’ll make the discard pile?

 

So, this South Korean walks into the ballpark.

 

That’s the joke.

 

Philadelphia Phillies: Meet the New and Improved Bullpen

The Phillies are now 30-20 and have their largest lead in the NL East race of the season at 2.5 games.

Raul Ibanez is playing like a freaking machine, Ryan Howard is heating up, Antonio Bastardo just had a brilliant debut, Brad Lidge had four saves in four games and Cole Hamels is pitching like Cole Hamels.

Can you believe that this team is about to get better, without having made any trades yet?

When J.C. Romero suits up and takes his place in the bullpen tonight, the Phillies will once again have the top bullpen in the National League. Sure, maybe Romero will need a game or two to fully get back in the swing of things (and then again, maybe he won’t) so a slip up in one of his first appearances in the major leagues in 2009 shouldn’t alarm anyone.

But all accounts seem to indicate that Romero is ready to go—and if he is then watch out.

If Charlie Manuel has Romero as an option out of the pen there will not be a need to shuffle his relievers as much as has happened so far this season. A year ago Romero took on the role of the seventh inning pitcher, acting as a set-up man to the set-up man. Scott Eyre, a trade acquisition, was used as a left handed specialist. Ryan Madson was the eight inning arm and Lidge naturally was the closer.

So what can we expect form the bullpen now?

 

Closer

This slot is Lidge’s, no doubt. After some rocky appearances in the first month and a half Lidge has now recorded four straight saves in his four save opportunities. Unless he gets injured, Lidge will be in this role the entire season.

Set-Up Man

Madson made a name for himself last season as he really took to the concept of being the main set-up man in the eighth inning. He has done well in the role once again this season, and gives the Phillies one of the best eighth-inning arms in the National League.

Seventh Inning

Let us assume that the Phillies expect a minimum of six innings out of their starters. As long as the starting pitcher gets through six innings, the Philies will win most of their games because the bullpen starts to become lethal in the seventh inning.

Romero figures to be one of the first options out of the pen. If the situation calls for a right-handed pitcher, then expect Chad Durbin to be the first option.

 

Mop-Up Duty

Clay Condrey saw most of his action in games last year when the Phillies had a big lead. While he has been used in tighter situations so far this season, and has done well, I anticipate that Condrey will go back to being seldom used. Condrey, though, could be a good fit for extra innings as well.

That leaves Chan Ho Park and Jack Taschner. Taschner has not been a train wreck, but his 1.69 WHIP will keep the Phillies from using him in close games. Even more alarming is Park’s 1.81 WHIP and 7.32 ERA.

Park has already been demoted from the starting rotation and I thought he would be a good fit in the bullpen. He has yet to play at the level I expected him to in relief, though. Taschner and Park should only be used in games in which the Phillies are either ahead by ten or down by ten.

I think the bullpen order seems pretty straight forward, but what do you think? Also, do you think the Phillies will make any roster moves, whether by trade, free agency, or minor league promotions specifically to change the bullpen?

An Open Letter to Chan Ho Park

Mr. Park,

Why do you not fit in anywhere?

You agreed to come here because the Phillies’ front office said they would insert you into a starters’ role. I was excited to have a decent pitcher (or so I thought) inserted into the fourth or fifth starter spot.

Boy, was I wrong. You came into a game where a 23-year-old rookie pitched a gem. You took over in the seventh inning with a cozy 10-1 lead. Sure, you didn’t lose, but you gave up four runs on four hits and two walks.

Your stats are uglier than Tyrone Hill.

Where do you fit?

You failed as a starter, and now you have failed in the bullpen—even in the blowout spot. I am going to start calling you Wayne Gomes; all you need to do is sweat bullets when they call you in, and you’d be a spitting image (almost).

If I was politically correct, I would say, “go back to Triple-A.” Because I am far from politically correct, I am going to say, “go back to South Korea.”

When you pitch, we should call you Chan Go Park, because you are an instant offense for any opponent.

When you enter the gates at Citizens Bank Park, they should tell you Chan No Park, and tell you to pay the $15 parking fee that the fans “painfully” pay.

Sincerely Yours,

The City of Brotherly Love

Why Peavy Might Accept Trade to Philly Now

The burning question this past week: would Jake Peavy accept a trade to the Philadelphia Phillies?

I figured out the answer to that question.

Yes, he would.

This is what I believe. I think that he hasn’t said that he would or would not accept a trade to Philly, because he wanted to see how good they were in person, and after his one inning of work on Tuesday night, he figured out the answer to that question.

Here would be his response:

“As long as I don’t have to face those guys again, I’ll go!”

Peavy had the start on Tuesday against the Phillies, and lasted only one inning against the defending champions. He allowed four runs on three hits, and two walks in just one lousy inning.

Sure, maybe he had the flu, and maybe that ankle was bothering him, but it just comes to prove, the Phillies are for real, they’re contenders, and he saw that in person.

Peavy refused to answer any questions about trades until after he pitched against the Phillies. I wonder why he chose not to answer any questions until after he faced the Phillies—a team he’s been linked to lately.

Is it because he wanted to see how good the Phillies are? If he would accept a trade to Philly, is there a good enough chance to win the World Series to move his family across the United States? Maybe the reason why he only threw one inning is because he’ll be suiting up for the Phillies in the series finale against the Padres?

Lets face the facts: The Phillies are the best team in the National League, no matter what the Dodgers are doing. To me, the Phillies will remain the best team in baseball this year, until someone beats them in the playoffs, or wins that championship. That’s how it is for any team: you win the championship, you’re the best team…until someone takes it from you.

The Dodgers may be the best, record-wise in the N.L., but when push comes to shove, can they win in October against the Phillies? Who knows. Last year they proved they can’t. This year is probably a different story, but we won’t know that answer until October, when they meet in the NLCS again.

Back to Peavy. I wonder what really was going through his mind when he was walking off the mound after the first inning. Was it, “Damn, these guys are good!”

It’s a known fact that Peavy is not a fan of Citizens Bank Park, he said so two years ago. But he wants to come to a National League contender, preferably on the West Coast. The only contender on the west coast that is in the N.L. is Los Angeles, and if Peavy thinks that the Padres would trade him to L.A., he’s insane.

The only way he can go to a National League team that is a contender is if he packs his bag and move east, whether to Philly, St. Louis, Milwaukee, or even New York, to play for those measly Mets that have no chance.

Peavy, you’ll have to make your decision soon; July 31 will be here before you know it.  Do you want to stay on the West Coast and play for the Padres, who aren’t going anywhere, or do you really want to play for a contender in the National League?

The answers will come, although I doubt he’ll be a Phillie.

« Previous Page — Next Page »