Philadelphia Phillies Woes: Once Pitching Improves, Success Will Follow

As the Philadelphia Phillies enter tonight’s game with the threat of being swept by the Atlanta Braves, the grumblings about the team’s losing ways has been growing with every popup, error, and run allowed.

Fingers have been pointed various directions—namely World Championship hangover, slumping bats, and injured players.

Many look at shortstop Jimmy Rollins’ struggles as a key reason the Phils have been sliding downhill. Following Wednesday’s game, he extended his hitless streak and now is 0-for-27. True, it’s hard to ignore the team’s leadoff hitter in the worst slump of his career, but the 2007 NL MVP is not the sole reason for the team’s recent failures.

Philadelphia is second the National League in runs scored (392) and lead in slugging percentage (.446). It’s the pitching that hurts.

Their bullpen, featured on MLB Network’s “The Pen,” is not the flawless bullpen of last year. The bullpen’s cumulative ERA stands at 4.08—19th in the Majors. With injuries sidelining Brad Lidge earlier and now Clay Condrey and Scott Eyre, the relief pitchers’ health is something not easily overlooked.

The bullpen woes aren’t what are doing the most harm, however. The starting pitching is ranked 28th in the Majors with a 5.31 ERA—ahead of only the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles, both last place in their respective divisions.

As a reflection of how deep the starting pitching problems go, in Wednesday’s game, Phillies ace Cole Hamels lasted only four innings, giving up nine runs in that short outing. It wasn’t too long ago that Hamels was being paraded around the city and on the small screen as he was the widely celebrated World Series MVP.

With all of this in mind, things are not where many hoped they would be, but the Phillies are still in first place in the NL East. With a little more than half a season left, it’s not time for people to give up on the reigning Champs.

“What?! He’s Still Playing?!” Part One of Five

Have you ever looked at a box score or turned on the TV to a baseball game and seen a name you never expected to see?

A name you hadn’t seen in several years?

I had a moment like that just last week. I looked at a Royals box score and was flabbergasted at their starting pitcher.

“What?! Bruce Chen’s still pitching?!”

Obviously, players who come back to the majors after several years away get some mainstream exposure.

I thought it would be a fun idea to look through the minor leagues and see what former major leaguers are still kicking around.

I’ll do this in five parts. I feel that often, when I’m doing a big list like this, I wind up writing a 10-page article nobody wants to read all the way through, and  I’m losing viewers by cramming four or five articles’ worth of information into one. So I’m trying out a new split-up approach—we’ll see how it goes.

This article will look at the International League (Triple-A) pitchers. The next one will look at IL hitters. Part 3 will be Pacific Coast League (Triple-A) pitchers, and Part 4 will be PCL hitters. Part 5 will be everyone in Double-A or below.

Basically, my criteria for picking these guys is as such:

1. They had a significant big league career.

2. They haven’t had significant big league action in a few years.

3. They don’t really have the “Quad-A” tag, so you wouldn’t expect them to just stay in the minors putting up great numbers forever.

So, here are the International League pitchers that you never would’ve guessed are still playing:

 

John Halama

Take a second to think about that. John Halama is still pitching.

A major leaguer from 1998-2006, the lefty managed to be a useful back-of-the-rotation guy despite throwing just 83-84 mph with his fastball.

He took 2007 off, pitched for the Indians’ Triple-A team last year, and moved on to the Braves Triple-A team this year, where he’s actually made three decent starts.

Halama is 37 and gets very few strikeouts, but he still has good control and keeps the ball on the ground.

Will he ever get another big league look? Not unless the Braves have a ton of injuries.

 

Gustavo Chacin

The one with the weird glasses?

Yep.

The one with the odd stepback hesitation thing in his delivery?

Yep, that’s the one.

Chacin was last seen in the Blue Jays rotation in 2007. His struggles (6.28 FIP), sent him to Triple-A, where he continued to struggle.

Last year, Chacin was sent all the way down to High-A at age 27. He responded by posting a 7.88 ERA and getting released after the year.

Just when his career looked over, Chacin was given one last shot by the Phillies, and now all of a sudden, he looks like he’s back to his excellent 2005 form. Chacin’s got a 3.48 FIP in six Triple-A starts. 

Will he ever get another big league look? Chacin’s just 28 and pitching well. Given how bad the Phillies’ rotation’s been, who knows?

 

Rodrigo Lopez

Lopez was a pretty bad major league pitcher, primarily with the Orioles, for nearly a decade, but after basically vanishing last year, he’s resurfaced with the Phillies. A 3.10 FIP has him back on track to be the below-average major league pitcher he once was.

Will he ever get another big league look? Supposedly, he’s starting tomorrow. If Lopez struggles, look for Chacin to take his spot.

Consider yourselves warned for the inevitable “What?! Rodrigo Lopez is still pitching?!” moment that you’ll have watching ESPN highlights.

 

Carlos Hernandez

How’s Hernandez for a throwback?

Once thought to be an excellent lefty starting prospect, the diminutive lefty turned in a nice year in 2002 as the Astros’ No. 3 starter before arm problems ended his career.

Or did they?

Hernandez made nine big league starts in 2004 and was awful. He threw 14 Double-A innings in 2006 and was awful. Then, last year, six years removed from his last decent effort of any kind, Hernandez dominated High-A in six starts.

Moved back to Triple-A, Hernandez has put up a 4.05 FIP in 15 starts for the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate.

Will he ever get another big league look? Believe it or not, Hernandez is just 29. If he stays healthy and pitching decently, his chances are about 50/50.

 

Jason Davis

This one might not be quite as surprising.

Davis actually threw 34 terrible innings for a terrible Pirates team last year. Given that the 2008 Pirates weren’t exactly drawing huge TV ratings, I doubt many people even realized Davis was still around. But he is.

With the Pirates’ Triple-A team, Davis has struggled to a 6.02 ERA. He hasn’t been that bad (4.80 FIP), but it certainly doesn’t look like a 2009 callup is in the cards.

Will he ever get another big league look? He’s 29, and he’s been there recently, so his name still has the “big leaguer” tag on it.

Then again, he’s not pitching well, and the Pirates are getting younger and better. He’ll have to look elsewhere and get some luck, whether it’s in the form of injuries to others or a big spring training performance from Davis.

 

Josh Towers

Towers is one of my least favorite players of all time.

I’m not sure why. I think it has something to do with the fact that he’s a pitcher and wore No. 7. It also probably has to do with the fact that he’s not a very good pitcher.

Last seen killing the Blue Jays from within in 2007, Towers was bad for the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate in 2008 (to be fair, it’s impossible to pich there), was released by the Nationals after one Triple-A game this year (that’s when you know you’re bad), and was picked up by the Yankees.

Towers has superficially good numbers, but he’s still a bad pitcher. His miniscule strikeout rate and high homer rate put his FIP at 5.30.

He’s still Josh Towers.

Will he ever get another big league look? I hope not—too many teams have thrown away innings on this guy. He hasn’t pitched well in Triple-A, and he’s 32.

 

Sergio Mitre

Mitre has a good excuse for dropping out of our minds—he missed all of 2008 after Tommy John surgery. Let’s not forget the 3.98 FIP the sinkerballer put up for Florida in 2007. 

Mitre, now with the Yankees, has a 2.60 Triple-A FIP. He’s just 28 and certainly seems ready to pick up where he left off.

Will he ever get another big league look? It’s fairly likely. Mitre has talent and fairly recent big league success. He’d fit well on a team like Cleveland.

 

Jorge Sosa

The journeyman is still journeying. After his horrific performance for the Mets last year (5.95 FIP), you’d think Sosa, who’s pitched seven years in the majors, would be gone at age 32.

Nope.

The Nationals picked him up (Jim Bowden picked up a has-been guy with talent and no clue how to use it? Who saw that coming?). 

To be fair to Sosa, he’s actually pitching very well in Triple-A, with a 3.26 FIP. However, Sosa’s only real big league value is as a starter, and he hasn’t started a game in two years.

Will he ever get another big league look? He shouldn’t get one from the Nationals, who really need to go young, but given the way they’re run, I wouldn’t rule it out. I’d say Sosa has a 55 percent chance of throwing in another major league game.

Can Ruben Amaro Afford To Play the Waiting Game?

It’s July 2. Currently, the Philadelphia Phillies sit in first place in NL east.

Read the last sentence alone, and it’s exactly what you would want as the GM.

Now let’s add in some more facts. The Florida Marlins are only a half game back, the New York Mets are hanging around at two games back, and the surprising Atlanta Braves are only three games back. One bad weekend and the Phils might be fighting for the wild card.

Sprinkle in some misfortune; Brett Myers unexpected injury has affected the entire pitching staff, and not in a good way.

And finish it off with a touch of sub-par performances; Cole Hamels not pitching anything like last year, Jimmy Rollins could easily guest star on Without A Trace (playing the role of the missing person), and the bullpen being asked to “take the ugly friend” like a good wing man, as the starting pitchers remain inconsistent.

If it wasn’t for Raul Ibanez having an MVP-type season so far, this team would be in dire straits.

That’s a good recipe for disaster. So far the Phils are standing pat, content to let the cold hitters work their way out of slumps, and for the current pitchers to find a groove. So far, J.A. Happ has filled in for Myers, but Jaime Moyer is looking his age. In fairness, he had a bad first half last year, and they won the series.

This feels different. I worry that the Phils are blinded by last year’s success, and they think that this will all work out if given time. They can always come back with the overused excuse, “Look what happened last year.”

My fear is this little bruise will grow into a full blown infection very quickly. This team isn’t showing any concern, and I’m afraid that will not change as the losses continue to pile up.

The fan base has given this team a free pass because of the world series win, so pressure is no excuse for a National League worst 13-22 record at home.

Ok, that’s not fair. The Nationals are 13-25 at home, so the Phils are only TIED for NL worst record at home.

I think it’s time for Ruben Amaro to make a trade. We need a starting pitcher or a bat to help jump start this lineup.

Most importantly, this team needs a spark to inject a little desperation, to remind this team they ARE defending champions.

Jimmy Rollins’ Success To Mirror Phils’ Fortune In NL East Race

Recently Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel sat shortstop Jimmy Rollins down for the entire series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Why? The former MVP of the National League was hitting just above .200 and making mistakes on the field.

Rollins came back last night, in a 5-4 10-inning loss to the Braves and went 0-5. What the Phrig is going on here?

The Phillies, at 39-35 heading into Wednesday’s game, are 1.5 games ahead of the Florida Marlins. The Mets could not take advantage of the Phillies recent 11 of 13 loss streak. The Marlins are a young, loose team and will take full advantage if the Phillies slip.

And it starts with Rollins. He is second in the National League All-Star voting behind Florida’s Hanley Ramirez. For Rollins to make the All Star team this year would be a joke.

I still believe he is one of the best players in the league, but that being said, with a .207 batting average almost half the way through the season, I can’t see him hitting more than .250.

Whether it is the pressure of the season, he is hurt, or he simply lost his ability and confidence, which I doubt, the Phillies will not win without him.

Remember 2007? The team to beat? It won him the MVP and pushed the Phillies into the playoffs.

The bottom half of the lineup is carrying this team. Pedro Feliz is having an All-Star worthy season, hitting .295 and playing terrific defense.

Last night, John Mayberry, Jr. and Feliz hit back-to-back home runs to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning. The Braves scored a run in the bottom of the eighth and then won the game in the 10th inning, 5-4.

Last year, the Phillies were undefeated with the lead after the eighth inning. Brad Lidge was a perfect 41-41 in regular season saves. This ain’t 2008.

Ryan Madson could not hold the lead in the eighth and Park was the pitcher of record in the 10th.

It is not Madson-Romero-Lidge for a seventh, eighth, and ninth inning win this year.

So that means the team has to hit better.

If Rollins doesn’t hit well in the lead off spot, another option is to move him to the sixth spot in the batting order. That will mess up the bottom half of the line up if he continues to scuffle. And Eric Bruntlett is only a short-term solution.

Something’s gotta happen. Raul Ibanez is probably a week away from coming back from a groin injury and he is the team’s top hitter.

This is still a strike-out, home run team. And it starts with the top.

Jimmy’s gotta get it going, or the season is done.

Jay Mariotti and the Sports Blogosphere Continue to be BFFs

As many of you know, I love Jay Mariotti and I greatly respect his work as a meticulous and humble conduit between sports fans and the sports that he so diligently covers.

(waiting…)

(waiting…)

Are you laughing yet? You should be. I’m not sure that there are three words that describe Jay Mariotti less than meticulous and humble. (And for the record, the picture to the left — courtesy of KVB’s brilliance — is both a picture of Jay Mariotti and an image of his most consistent source for information. Click here for more on this topic.)

Anyway, you may have heard that Jay Mariotti decided to write about the blogger-MSM debate yesterday on the BLOG that he now writes for: FanHouse. Predictably, Jay uses his column to spew his usual nonsensical venom at the usual suspects (bloggers, the Sun-Times) while either not realizing or not caring about the utter hypocricy and downright laughable irony of nearly every sentence in his post.

I made a promise a while back that I would never link to Jay’s work at FanHouse. However, after railing against MSM writers who discuss bloggers’ work but do not mention them by name nor link out to them, I cannot in good faith write a post about Jay without linking to the article. You see, I try my best not to be a hypocrite. So even though it breaks my solemn vow, I feel obligated to provide a link to a story that, while lame, has sparked conversation. So here it is.

Just kidding. Here is the actual link to Jay’s article.

Okay fine, for real…here is the link. Well done Jay. You must be inspired by all of the adoring comments.

Rather than point out all of the ridiculousness of Jay’s column myself, I will allow my friends in the sports blogging community to do it for me. They are probably much more eloquent and effective in doing so anyway. Plus, I have a vendetta against Jay Mariotti…a very strong personal dislike for his work and what he stands for. Let’s allow more objective folks to tackle Jay the Joke’s latest column. (I encourage you to click over and view the posts in their entirety. All are good reads.)

The Curious Case of Jay Mariotti – Blogger Bashing is Bad Journalism — (Hugging Harold Reynolds)

Here lies the main crux of this column and why I feel so angry and perplexed by the whole issue in general. Like Rosenthal and Buzz before him, Mariotti implores bloggers to uphold the journalistic standards he implies they should have. In doing so, Mariotti is alluding to the idea that bloggers are, in fact, journalists and members of the media- these same individuals he taunts as “wreckless idiots” and stretchers of truth.

Let’s lay it on the table then. Jay, are you willing to accept and treat members of the new media as your peers, uphold them the same rights, encourage your contacts in leagues, news outlets and with teams to treat them equally and fairly as they would any old-school hack, and only then reserve judgment as to whether or not they meet your industry’s self-identified standards?

Mainstream Media Continues to Forget Previous Articles Written About Steroids — (Awful Announcing)

For some reason, mainstream media members continually forget the words they wrote, if not days ago, at least a few years ago. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, what is wrong with speculating? Sports as a whole is speculation, and whether it’s who used steroids?, or will Albert Pujols win the Triple Crown?….What’s the big deal?

…

It’s also funny to me that someone who has been taken for task about doing zero research by both clubs in Chicago, is calling out people for laziness.

Mariotti: Will Leitch Invented Blogging, Bad Journalism — (Can’t Stop the Bleeding)

However, much as I enjoy Jay Mariotti calling out Will Leitch two years after the fact, it goes beyond mere hyperbole to claim what even Will characterized as a huge gaffe, served as any sort of inspiration to Morris. The former threw leaked information (from a less than reputable source) into a public forum and watched the shit hit the fan. The latter engaged in what was meant to be a fairly reasoned analysis of Ibanez’ career trajectory and at no point directly accused the Phillies OF of anything other than getting off to an especially hot start. While Leitch received relatively little flack from the mainstream media or his blog bro’s at the time, Morris was fed to the wolves on national TV.

Creative Writing with Jay Mariotti: ‘Bad Journalism’ — (Alana G.)

I was warned by my “blogging buddies” that Jay Mariotti’s latest piece on FanHouse might make my eyes bleed. 1) It’s an attempted assassination of blogs (on a blog… can’t we stop this blog-on-blog violence please?) 2) It’s completely misguided and about three weeks too late, and 3) It’s 1,800 words long. Well, I’ll let the other buddies tackle points one and two, but below is your solution to the length problem. I’ve taken the liberty of editing Mariotti’s piece down to less than 300 words. All of the words are from Mariotti’s original piece, and they all appear in order. I’ve just cut out a lot of the fat in the middle. You’ll still get the gist: blogs, basements, steroids, desperate media… you know the story.

As far as I’m concerned, the most laughable aspect of Jay’s column is how he lambastes blogs and blogging, yet fails to acknowledge the fact that his current home was built by bloggers. Jay continues to live in his own world where there is no accountability for past statements he has made and seemingly no intent to produce anything other than mindless drivel. Kudos to him for finding a way to get paid for it, but how long before his marriage with FanHouse ends similarly to how his marriage with the Sun-Times ended?

Roger Ebert, his former colleague, said it best last August in an open letter entitled “Jay the Rat”:

…I started here when Marshall Field and Jim Hoge were running the paper. I stayed through the Rupert Murdoch regime. I was asked, “How can you work for a Murdoch paper?” My reply was: “It’s not his paper. It’s my paper. He only owns it.” That’s the way I’ve always felt about the Sun-Times, and I still do. On your way out, don’t let the door bang you on the ass.

Your former colleague,

Roger Ebert

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