Have Teams Done Enough To Catch The Phillies?
September 4, 2009 by scott eisenlohr
Filed under Fan News
Last night’s 2-1 win by the Philadelphia Phillies over the visiting San Francisco Giants had the makings of a playoff atmosphere.
Pedro Martinez, shown above, outpitched reigning Cy Young winner Tim Lincecome, going seven innings, giving up one run, walking none and striking out nine.
More importantly, he had the trademark scowl and separated himself from just being a bit better than what Jamie Moyer gave as a starter.
No deference to Moyer, who is among the top all-time lefthanded pitchers in the game, but an argument can now be made that Martinez is the better choice, be it one game.
Which lead me to the larger picture: Which National League teams, including the Phillies, have done enough to represent the league in the World Series?
The Phillies
The Phillies got Cliff Lee, who in essence replaces Brett Myers, and Pedro Martinez, who replaces Jamie Moyer. Lee has been amazing, save his last start and will pitch tonight in Houston. How he performs tonight will say a lot about his comeback ability and a peek into the playoffs. Some speculate that Myers will come back to replace Brad Lidge as the closer, but Lidge is starting to return to his 2008 form. Grade: Lee is a stud. A.
The Cardinals
Matt Holliday from the A’s in his brief American League stay. With Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and Ryan Franklin having great years, protection for Albert Pujois is key. Grade: A.
The Dodgers
All season long the Dodgers had the best record in the National League. Slugger Manny Ramirez came back from a 50-game suspension and all was happy in Dodgerland. Then something happened: The Dodgers started to slip and it was the Rockies, not the Giants, who were nipping at their heels.
The Giants and Rockies are now neck and neck. The Dodgers noticed and recently got starters Jon Garland and Vincente Padilla, pinch hitter Jim Thome and infielder Ronnie Bellaird. More name value than substance. Grade: B
The Rockies
Left-handed hitting Jason Giambi, released by the Yankees and righthander Jose Contreras from the White Sox. The team is on a roll again and went with what they had plus a little. Grade: C, but it might not matter if the Rockies repeat their 2007 run, less Holliday.
The Giants
Brad Penny, a solid inning-eating pitcher from the Boston Red Sox and Freddy Sanchez, from the Pirates. The Giants have been well above .500 all year and perhaps didn’t need much. A light-hitting, but good pitching team. Grade: B.
Atlanta, Florida and dark horses Chicago and Milwaukee could contend for the Wild Card, but it seems as if the entrant will come from the West, with either San Francisco or Colorado. St. Louis is the hottest team in baseball, going 8-2 over the past 10 games, and pose the biggest threat to the Phillies.
You might think this is a “homer” argument from me, but the Phillies are the reigning World Champions. And they are finally making All-Star break moves and the front office is making moves worthy of a champion.
There is a different mindset in Philadelphia and a swagger from being World Champions. But they have to stay hungry. The Cardinals and the Giants pose the biggest threats to me.
Ryan Howard has to stay hot, Raul Ibanez starting hitting and climb near .300 again. Jimmy Rollins is making the plays on the field and at the bat again. The Phillies, a notorious home run hitting team, also lead the league in stolen base percentage. They are as good as any team in the playoffs.
That being said, if the Rockies are hot, they could take it all, or make it to the World Series.
Me? I think it will be the Phillies and Cardinals in the NLDS. How the teams perform down the stretch will determine who will go to the World Series.
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Fresh Mangos: Pedro Goes Retro, Outduels Tim Lincecum in 2-1 Win
September 4, 2009 by Josh Nason
Filed under Fan News
Admit it—you are rooting for Pedro Martinez to succeed in Philly, even just a little bit.
In his fifth start for Philadelphia since coming off the D.L. in August, Martinez transformed into the Big Petey Cool of old, outdueling San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum Thursday night to give the Phils a 2-1 win.
Over seven innings, the 37-year-old allowed just five hits and one run while striking out nine—his most since his last start in a Mets uniform on September 25, 2008.
After the first pitch of the game—a solo homer by the immortal Eugenio Velez—Martinez was electric. His pitch total? A paltry 87. Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge finished everything up in a game which lasted just 2:08.
By the way, Lincecum was equally up to task, fanning 11 and walking one in his seven innings on the hill. Of the four hits he allowed, one was a solo homer to Jayson Werth while the other was an RBI double to Ryan Howard.
That’s the definition of a hard-luck loss for the 13-5 Lincecum, who has struck eight or more batters 19 times this season and has to be considered the front-runner for the NL Cy Young Award.
But Thursday was about Martinez, who is providing a huge boost for the Phillies as they look to extend their lead in the National League East. So far, Martinez is 3-0 with a 3.52 ERA in six starts. His control has been amazing, walking just three in 23 innings while striking out 23. In short, he has emerged as an important player for Philadelphia at the perfect time.
Of course, Boston fans know what Martinez brings to the table after seeing him here for seven seasons from 1998-2004, two of which were among the most dominant seasons in baseball history. But much like the exit of Manny Ramirez, some choose to remember the antics and posturing more than the actual player, sad considering the 117 wins he amassed and two championships he contributed to while here.
Good thing Pedro is giving everyone a refresher course on what they forgot. Perhaps there will be a return engagement here in October for the World Series.
Josh Nason is the main writer for Small White Ball, a New England-based sports and media blog that has contributed to Bleacher Report since 2008. Reach him via Twitter or josh [at] smallwhiteball [dot-com].
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Veteran Pedro Martinez Wins Duel with Young Tim Lincecum
September 4, 2009 by Nick Poust
Filed under Fan News
He had started in the minor leagues, and was their top prospect entering the season. But, after his remarkable rookie season, there were varying opinions within the Dodgers front office regarding his long term durability and whether he would be best suited to start or continue to relieve.
Since they didn’t know how to use their most talented player, Los Angeles decided to give him up for some loose change.
What?
Yes, then-General Manager Fred Claire pulled the trigger on the infamous 1993 deal that sent Martinez to the Montreal Expos for second baseman Delino DeShields .
It seemed like a great deal for both teams at the time.
DeShields, an incredibly gifted athlete, hit for average and had some power, but his greatest attribute was his speed. He averaged 47 stolen bases over his first four seasons in the majors, all spent with the Expos.
He was 24 at the time of the trade and had come off a stellar season in which he stole 43 bases, had only 64 strikeouts in 481 at-bats (an incredible ratio), and batted .295 with an impressive .389 on-base percentage.
So, Claire wasn’t completely out of his mind, but it wasn’t long before he felt some regret.
DeShields’ first season with the Dodgers was a strike-shortened one, he played in 89 of the teams 114 games, but his batting average dropped 45 points from his 1993 campaign and, though his stolen base numbers were still there, he wasn’t the Delino DeShields the Dodgers traded for.
He played only two more seasons in L.A., and, thanks to a paltry .226 batting average in his final year with the team, was proclaimed a bust.
While DeShields floundered, Pedro flourished in Montreal.
He won 38 games in his first three seasons, and then in his fourth, at the age of 25, he won 17 games. That year, he had 13 complete games, four shutouts, and struck out 305 batters while allowing just 156 hits in 241 1/3 innings.
Then, with the small-market Expos unable to sign him to an extension, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox before he could enter free-agency.
Pedro picked up in Boston where he left off in Montreal, winning 19 games and posting a 2.90 ERA. The following season was one of the best ever by any player.
He took home the Cy Young award with 23 wins and four losses, and struck out one hundred more batters (313) than innings pitched (213), while relinquishing just nine home-runs.
He won the Cy Young the following year by winning 18 games and boasting a 1.74 ERA, then after an injury-shortened 2001 season, won 20 games in 2002.
He was arguably the best pitcher of his generation, while Delino, whose career ended in 2002, was nothing but a .230 hitter with speed. The trade was dubbed the worst in Dodgers history, and rightfully so.
Pedro won 30 games over the next two seasons and helped the Red Sox win their first World Series championship in 2004, ending the franchise’s 86-year drought. He left Boston after that season, the first season in which he recorded an ERA in the threes or above since 1996.
He signed a four-year contract with the New York Mets and, after an outstanding first season, was only a shade of his former self. He won only 17 games over the next three seasons, and, at the age of 37, was without a job.
That was until the Philadelphia Phillies called and wanted to schedule a workout. Pedro impressed the Phillies, and was signed to a one-year contract on July 14.
He made a few starts in the minor leagues before being added to the roster in early August, and then won his debut. He pitched well in his next three outings, entering his matchup with the San Francisco Giants’ Tim Lincecum on a high.
Tim, 25, reminds me of a young Pedro. His windup is entirely different from Pedro’s, and everyone else’s for that matter, but he has a similar, lanky build, has similar stuff—a 95-97 mile per hour fastball and a devastating curveball and slider—and strikes out the opposition at an alarming rate.
He has a Cy Young award already under his belt (that came last season, when he went 18-5 with a 2.27 ERA; he struck out 265 batters in 227 innings, kept home runs to a minimum, and had a well above average hits-per-nine-innings ratio of 7.2. Sound like anyone?).
It was vintage Pedro versus the usual Tim, and I expected nothing less. Pedro, with two wins this season, matched Tim, who entered the contest with thirteen, inning for inning. Pedro allowed a home-run to Eugenio Velez to begin the game and wouldn’t give up another.
He struck out two hitters in that opening inning, two more in the second, and three in the third. His fastball, clocked at 88 miles an hour, ten miles per hour lower than in his prime, had the same movement, and that’s what mattered.
His curveball had lost a bit of his bite, as had his slider, but the offensively-challenged Giants were still baffled.
The Phillies were similarly baffled by Tim. He struck out eleven over his seven innings, while Pedro whiffed nine in his seven. Lincecum had the lone walk between the two. It was masterful.
Lincecum came up on the losing end, as Philadelphia won 2-1, but even though the Giants need every win they can get, he had to enjoy matching wits with Pedro, twelve years his senior.
Pedro turned back the clock to the glory days of the late 1990s, while Tim was just his usual self. Similar in so many ways, Pedro, the best pitcher of his generation, and Tim, arguably the best of his, dueled like few have this season.
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Best Seat in Their House: Phillies Fans May Have Better Luck with Tickets on the Road
September 3, 2009 by scott eisenlohr
Filed under Fan News
The Phillies 2008 World Series win has caused a ripple effect through the Delaware Valley.
What once was a tough buy is even getting tougher for fans to buy a ticket to get inside Citizens Bank Park for a game.
Sure there are ticket-buying sites, but with tax and surcharges, tickets are even more expensive.
A regular guy I work with saw Cole Hamels 1-0 complete-game shutout on Tuesday, but he bought a standing-room only ticket.
My source for two games a year dried up, as he became the secondary buyer for tickets and not the primary in a 16-game season ticket plan.
With that being said, I present to your “alternate” home-game sites where you and I (wanting lower-level tickets) can enjoy a game to see our beloved Phillies.
Hey, the defunct Montreal Expos played home games in Puerto Rico in its last season, so why not?
Front Office Exec Loses Phillies World Series Ring
September 1, 2009 by don spieles
Filed under Fan News
Here’s a little quiz for all of you baseball fanatics out there…
Question: If you’re lucky enough to get a job with a Major League Baseball team and that team not only wins the World Series, but deems you important enough to get a ring, should you or should you not wear it everyday?
Answer: No
Question: If you do decide to wear your $11,000 ring with 103 diamonds on it everyday, should you take it off in the men’s room?
Answer: No
Question: Finally, If you do take it off in the men’s room, should you put it back on?
Answer: Duh.
Just such a set of mistakes was made by a Phillies “Executive” (read: “a suit in the marketing department who made the ring list”) yesterday. When asked for comment, the individual chose use the word “stolen,” which is technically accurate. When you leave a diamond studded World Series ring in the can, someone’s gonna take it.
The team has not released the name of the loser…of the ring.
According to news reports the ring is indeed officially considered lost and not stolen. Police are investigating the matter and have apparently reviewed security camera recordings and spoken with other employees.
So far the police have identified no suspects. No word on how anyone could be that stupid and still have a job that cool.
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NL East: Down the Stretch They Come
September 1, 2009 by Richard Marsh
Filed under Fan News
If anyone on Apr. 1 would have said to me that on Sep. 1 that the Phillies would be leading the NL East by seven or more games, I would have said, “Wow, I knew they were going to be good but ahead by 7, No way”.
If, on Apr. 1, someone said to me the Braves and Marlins would be battling it out for second in the east and fighting for a Wild Card spot, I would have said, “Wow, both their pitching staffs must have held up pretty well.”
Finally if someone told me that the Mets would be about 15 games below .500, in fourth place, and completely out of the race, I would have said, “What the frack, did everyone get injured?”
That brings us to Sep. 1 and, for the first time in a few years, there is little uncertainty about the National League East.
The Phillies have been nothing short of brilliant. Despite early season struggles at home and much inconsistency on the part of their staring rotation, they have met each challenge and have come through like the champions they are. (Boy, did that hurt)
The acquisitions of Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez in August have been an outstanding moves. All they’ve done is win six out of seven games and, with a month to go, they should probably win an additional six.
They have to be the favorites going into the postseason despite the Cardinals’ surge and the late heroics by the Giants and the Rockies.
Their biggest concern will be who will start Game 3 of the NLDS—Joe Blanton or J.A. Haap.
To me it looks like another parade on Broad Street, and me sending pictures of Vegas Rich draped in Phillies gear to every Phillies writer on the BR. Oye.
The Atlanta Braves have surprised me more than any other team in the division. I knew their pitching would be good, but I didn’t expect the consistency that they have shown. I was not a huge Derek Lowe fan and I’m still not sure he deserved a four-year deal, but this year he has been vintage Lowe.
Their bats have kept them from getting any closer to the Phillies than they’re ever going to be. They need a boomer and I was surprised that they didn’t try to get one before the trade deadline.
If they plan to be in the 2010 race, they certainly will need to address that concern. I can certainly see them making a huge run at Matt Holiday. That, in of itself, should tighten the race in 2010.
The Marlins are always an intriguing team. They are like the David Copperfield of the MLB. They are always in the race with a payroll somewhat less than the daily take by the Las Vegas casinos.
I don’t see the usual fire sale at the end of this year simply because, with a new stadium on the way, there will be more money available to keep their budding stars. Their young staff is impressive and it certainly doesn’t hurt to have the number two player in all of baseball roaming the infield for the fish.
Watch out for the Washington Nationals. Not this year for sure, and probably not for the next two years either, but expect an increase of wins over the next three years. This is a franchise that has found it’s leadership and is definitely headed in the right direction. Expect a playoff run from them by 2012.
Finally, my beloved Mets. I have spent the entire season trying to look beyond the injuries because they are a part of the game. But, what those injuries have done is expose this team’s vital organs and they are failing at an alarming rate. Real, quick, drastic change needs to take place at the end of this season.
Omar and his sidekick Jerry need to go. The Mets need to bring back Bobby Valentine and give him complete control over player selection. I could go on for hours on this, but I’ve done it already often enough this year, and now all we can do is wait for next year.
Philadelphia Phillies: Phorecasting the Phinal Two Months of the Season
September 1, 2009 by Kevin Lagowski
Filed under Fan News
Sept. 3
The Phillies lead the Giants 2-1 after three innings when the game goes to a rain delay. Jamie Moyer again comes in to relieve Pedro Martinez, pitching five solid innings. Brad Lidge holds onto the lead by the skin of his teeth as the Phillies prevail 5-4. Charlie Manuel decides to split all of Pedro’s starts with Moyer for the rest of the season.
Sept. 6
Cole Hamels is rocked by the Astros, surrendering seven runs on nine hits in just 3.1 innings in a 10-2 Phillies loss. Afterward he complains to the media that he didn’t get his full four days’ rest since it was an afternoon game.
Sept. 8
In danger of dropping a series opener to the lowly Nationals, the Phillies rally in the ninth inning. The big blow is a home run by Matt Stairs, his first hit in nearly two months. The 10,000 Phillies fans watching in Washington hurl insults at the 500 Nationals fans as Brad Lidge barely hangs on for a 7-6 Phillies win.
Sept. 11
Pitching on four days and five hours of rest, Cole Hamels dominates the Mets in a 5-0 Phillies win that stretches their division lead to a season-high 11 games over both the Marlins and Braves. Paul Bako hits for the cycle.
Sept. 13
Pedro Martinez starts the first game of a doubleheader versus the Mets but has to be relieved by Jamie Moyer after three innings when the game is delayed by hail. Moyer pitches brilliantly again as the Phillies win 7-3. In the second game, Moyer starts and pitches the first six innings, giving way to Pedro, who posts a three-inning save in the 11-4 victory.
Sept. 17
Hosting the Nationals, the Phillies get a scare in the first inning as Chase Utley is hit in the elbow and has to leave the game. Eric Bruntlett replaces him and makes a critical error when he trips over his beard while running to his left to field a ball. The Phillies lose 4-2 but still finish 16-2 against the Nationals in 2009.
Sept. 20
The Phillies leave 22 men on base in a 6-5 loss to the Braves and are swept out of Atlanta. The division lead is now six over Atlanta and seven over Florida.
Sept. 22
The division lead is trimmed even closer as the Phillies drop a pair of games in Florida. The Phillies fall behind early in both games and Jamie Moyer logs 13 total innings of mop-up duty in 8-2 and 12-5 losses.
Sept. 23
The Phillies are swept out of Florida after Brad Lidge blows a save and the Phillies lose 8-5 on a walk-off grand slam by former Phillie-for-a-week Ronny Paulino. The Marlins and Braves are both within four games.
Sept. 27
The Phillies finish off a four-game sweep of the Brewers in crunch time for the second straight year, effectively putting away the division. Ryan Howard hits two home runs in the 9-4 win, capping off a series where he hits six home runs, drives in 14 runs, and steals home twice. People around baseball still think he is overrated.
Sept. 28
The Phillies lose 7-5 to Houston after another blown save by Brad Lidge. Michael Bourn has four hits and steals three bases for the Astros, as a smug Ed Wade tells the media that he really took advantage of the Phillies in that trade last year.
Oct. 1
The Phillies clinch the National League East with an 11-10 win over the Astros. Wanting Lidge to be on the mound for the final out, Charlie Manuel puts him in the game even though the team leads 11-2 entering the ninth inning.
After six hits and three walks, Charlie summons Brett Myers for the final out. He then announces “Brad is still our guy, I just didn’t think he had his best stuff today.”
Oct. 4
After being kicked around in the first two games of the series with the Marlins following the clinching of the division, the Phillies explode for a 19-0 win on the final day of the regular season.
The shutout is a combined effort by J.A. Happ, Jamie Moyer, Pedro Martinez, Chad Durbin, J.C. Romero, Antonio Bastardo, Tyler Walker, Scott Eyre, Andrew Carpenter, Kyle Kendrick, Rodrigo Lopez, Chan Ho Park, Miguel Cairo, and Steven Register. Ryan Howard reaches the 50 home run plateau and Raul Ibanez reaches the 80 RBI mark after being at 79 since Aug. 24.
Oct. 7
The Phillies begin their National League Division Series against the Colorado Rockies, winning 4-2 behind Cliff Lee. Lee throws 110 pitches through eight innings but Charlie decides to stick with him for the ninth after a dozen Phillies fans forcibly restrain Brad Lidge to keep him from warming in the bullpen.
Oct. 10
The Phillies complete a three-game sweep of Colorado with a thrilling 1-0 victory. Brad Lidge faces just three hitters to record the save. He needs an unassisted triple play to end the game again, but it’s still just three hitters.
Oct. 15
Jim Thome cranks a three-run home run off Ryan Madson in the bottom of the eighth to lead the Dodgers to a 5-3 win over the Phillies in game one of the NLCS. The Phillies threaten in the ninth, loading the bases with none out, but don’t score. Jimmy Rollins pops to short left field on the first pitch of an at-bat to end it, the fourth time in the game he’s done so.
Oct. 16
Cole Hamels brings the Phillies even in the series as he cruises to a 7-2 win. Rafael Furcal commits three errors apiece in the second inning and the sixth inning.
Oct. 19
The Dodgers even the series at 2-2 behind Jim Thome, who goes 4-for-5 with two home runs and five RBI in the 8-6 win. Manny Ramirez, 0 for 13 so far in the series, mopes like a child at the end of the bench and won’t eat his vegetables at the post-game meal.
Oct. 23
The Phillies close out a 4-2 series win with a 10-1 thumping at Dodger Stadium. Cole Hamels is superb yet again, although he complains about having six days of rest rather than four. Chase Utley is hit in the eye with a flying cork in the clubhouse after the game and is ruled out for the World Series.
Oct. 28
Eric Bruntlett, starting in place of Utley, drives in seven runs to set a World Series single-game record, leading the Phillies to a 9-4 win over the Angels in game one.
Oct. 31
The Phillies take a commanding 3-0 World Series lead with a 6-3 win. Bobby Abreu goes 0-for-4 and drops two fly balls, visibly shaken by the pressure and raucous Citizens Bank Park crowd. Abreu has seemed disinterested all postseason long since he is no longer accumulating fantasy baseball stats.
Nov. 1
Amidst a light drizzle, the Phillies lead 11-1 with two outs in the top of the ninth and an 0-2 count on the batter. As Brad Lidge delivers, Bud Selig sprints from his front row seat and hurls himself in front of the pitch, declaring the game suspended.
In the press conference, he says “We’ll stay here till Pearl Harbor Day if we have to. But we’re not going to resume until it’s 78 and sunny with low humidity and at least a moderate UV index.”
Nov. 6
On an unseasonably warm day that reaches 73 degrees, Bud Selig finally relents and lets the game resume. FOX goes on the air at 8:00 pm to start their pregame show. Brad Lidge throws the only pitch of the night at 10:23 pm, a fastball right down the middle that Bobby Abreu takes for the final strike of the World Series. Adam Eaton is seen amidst the post-game celebration for some reason.
Nov. 8
Three million people again jam the streets for a championship parade. After checking the Doppler and seeing a chance of light showers, Bud Selig attempts to stop the parade but is run over by one of the floats, his legs curling up and disappearing underneath the truck in Wizard of Oz fashion.
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NL Rookie of the Year Candidates
September 1, 2009 by Andrew Godfrey
Filed under Fan News
Doubles – Dexter Fowler 27, Andrew McCutchen 20
Triples – Dexter Fowler 9, Gerardo Parra 8
Home Runs – Garrett Jones 16, Colby Rasmus 14
Runs Batted In – Gerardo Parra 50, Andrew McCutchen 44, Colby Rasmus 44
Stolen Bases – Dexter Fowler 26, Everth Cabrera 20
Batting Average (200 or more at bats) – Chris Coghlan .296, Casey McGehee .292
On Base Percentage – Chris Coghlan .373, Chris Dickerson .373, Dexter Fowler .372
Slugging Percentage – Garrett Jones .602, Andrew McCutchen .497
On Base Plus Slugging – Garrett Jones .962, Andrew McCutchen .852
Extra Base Hits – Dexter Fowler 40, Andrew McCutchen 37
Summary
Dexter Fowler leads in four of the 10 categories listed, while Garrett Jones is leading in three of the categories.
This could be a tough choice for the voters among Fowler, Jones, McCutchen, Coghlan, and Parra.
Jake Fox would be among the leaders if he had more than 168 at bats. If he had the required 200 at bats, he would be fifth in home runs with 10 and fourth in RBI with 39.
He is 11 RBI behind NL rookie leader Parra, despite having 201 fewer at bats. His .530 slugging percentage would be second to the .602 mark of Jones.
It is too close to call today, but I look for Jones or Fowler to win. Rasmus may be a surprise winner, despite his .311 on base percentage because of playing for the NL Central leading Cardinals.
NL Rookie Pitching Leaders
Wins – J.A. Happ 10, Tommy Hanson 9
ERA – Starters (100 innings pitched) – J.A. Happ 2.63, Randy Wells 3.06
ERA – Relievers (50 Innings Pitched) Ronald Belisario 2.18, Danny Herrera 3.00
Strikeouts – Kenshin Kawakami 98, J.A. Happ 97
Saves – Dan Meyer 2, Juan Gutierrez 2, Bobby Parnell (only 3 rookie pitchers with saves in NL while Andrew Bailey had 20 by himself in the AL.
Holds – Luke Gregorson 19, Dan Meyer 17
Lowest Opponent Batting Average Against Starters – J.A. Happ .226, Randy Wells .255
Lowest Opponent Batting Average Against Relievers – Ronald Belisario .201, Luke Gregerson .233
Summary
There is no clear-cut winner among NL rookie pitchers with J.A. Happ (10-3), Tommy Hanson (9-3), and Randy Wells (9-7) leading the field going into September.
My choice right now would be J.A. Happ, since he leads NL rookie starters in wins and ERA. But Hanson and Wells are positioned to make a bid for the NL Rookie of the Year award by the end of the season.
Happ is the choice because he has filled in for the Phillies starting rotation converting from a reliever to a starter. He has three more wins than Cole Hamels in seven fewer starts.
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Philadelphia Phillies: What Goes Up Must Come Down
September 1, 2009 by claire reclosado
Filed under Fan News
Why does one study history? One reason to review the past is to know the possibilities of the future.
In the past two years, the Philadelphia Phillies have been successful in the second half of the season—especially in September. With most of the core players from the 2008 World Championship team returning, it is safe to feel confident that the Phillies will advance to the post-season despite the struggles from key pitchers Cole Hamels and Brad Lidge.
September has been the best month for the team in 2007 and 2008—years when the Phillies advanced to the playoffs. In their 2007 NL Wild Card-winning year, they had a .607 winning percentage in the last month of the regular season. In the following year, their September winning percentage improved to .680 and the team ended up winning the World Series.
When one reminisces about the Phillies playoff run of last season, the 2008 World Series MVP Hamels and then-undefeated closer Lidge are two names that cannot be ignored. With those two arms in the Phillies arsenal, the team was unstoppable.
This year, when those celebrated pitchers make their way to the mound, a cloud of uncertainty hovers above them.
Like the Law of Gravity taught us: what goes up must come down.
Two key players of 2008 may be struggling, but their inconsistencies won’t cause Philadelphia to struggle. Yes, Hamels and Lidge were the losing pitchers in half of the team’s losses in August, but since Aug. 11, the Phillies have posted a 2.79 ERA (50 ER, 161.1 IP)—second in the Majors.
The Phillies lead the Majors in number of home runs allowed in the ninth inning (19), number of losses after leading in the eighth innings (seven), and rank second with 60 runs allowed in the ninth.
Conversely, the Phillies lead the NL in runs (662), HR (184), RBI (637), and SLG% (.451) as they sit comfortably in first place in the NL East.
The Philadelphia Phillies are a strong team that has enough talent that when one aspect of the team is dragging, another will pick them up and carry the team to a win. The unpredictable performances from Hamels and Lidge are not enough to cause the potent Phillies to flounder.
What goes up must come down, but the Phillies aren’t showing signs of returning to sub-World Champion form as of yet.
Next up for the Phillies…Coming to town as their first challenge of September will be the NL Wild Card-leading San Francisco Giants. Philadelphia will be facing a San Francisco team that has been playing well—going 5-1 in the last seven days—and need to continue their September domination in order to cool the visitors in the three-game series.
Earlier in the season, the Giants won three games in the four-game series versus the Phillies in San Francisco. Even with their success, the Giants are aware that Philadelphia is still a dangerous team.
“They’re solid. They’re the World Champions,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said following their win over the Colorado Rockies on Aug. 30. “We’re going to have to go there and play our best ball—we know it.”
The next three games may possibly serve as an appetizer for a possible playoff matchup come October as long as both teams continue to ride the wave of success that they have been on in the second half of the season.
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