Roy Halladay’s Perfect Game for the Phillies Even Gets Marlins Fans Cheering

 

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Roy Halladay Records 20th Perfect Game in MLB History

Newly acquired Philadelphia Phillies ace, Roy Halladay, joined an elite group with the 20th perfect game in MLB history today against the Florida Marlins.

The perfect showing was complimented with 11 strikeouts and a whole bunch of whiffs. Halladay improves to 7-3 on the season while the Phillies will move two games above the Braves to lead the division. 

Strangely, this is the second perfect game this season; Dallas Braden was perfect against the Tampa Bay Rays on May, 9th. 

Halladay and Braden join Mark Buehrle and Randy Johnson as the only four pitchers to throw a perfect game since 1999. 

The Philadelphia Phillies have been thrilled to see Roy Halladay throw five complete games this season including tonight’s perfect game. His pitch count has been high but Halladay obviously isn’t having issues with his arm. 

Halladay has lowered his era to 1.99 and his WHIP to 0.99. Can Roy Halladay become one of the elite few to win the Cy Young award in both the American and National leagues?

 

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Drug Testing Works—Pitchers are Back in Control of Baseball

I remember in the ’80s, everything was about pitchers.  Gooden, Clemens, Scott, Darling, Orosco, and Franco – these were the names of those who controlled the game. 

Pete Rose was great because of how consistent he was–not how far he hit it.  Then something happened somewhere around 1988 and the home run was the live by, die by piece of any game called a puzzle. 

With Roy Holliday’s perfect game, the stigma of steroids has passed.  Sure Mark McGwire is in the dugout–but he will never take the field again. 

Jose Canseco may have exposed the controversy but his intentions will be what is remembered long after his book is only found in the used book store.

Tonight, the game of chess which we respect – the logistics of a the war on the diamond returns with the second perfect game in a month (along with a no-hitter).

If anybody is wondering what they were thinking tonight, it would have to be the Toronto Blue Jays.  Aside from Holliday, their team was nothing last season and this shows in the lack of–well–any knowledge about where the Blue Jays are or will be this season.

The Cincinnati Reds are a perfect example of what pitching and hitting are meant to do together.  It is not about who can out gun the other anymore–it is about who can be consistent–the marquee attribute of the pitcher.

Real baseball is back—period.

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Wake Up Call: Ryan Howard Is Not in the Top 10 First Basemen in Baseball

 

What’s the problem with giving a huge extension to a player before their contract year?  The Philadelphia Phillies are finding out.

The Phillies and their fans were very excited about the new contract extension that General Manager Ruben Amaro just gave to Ryan Howard last month.  The Phillies will be paying Howard one of the highest salaries in the history of baseball starting in 2011; Howard will be making $25 million per year, which is known in baseball as “A-Rod Money” because only Alex Rodriguez has ever made that much.

Get ready for the bad news, Phillies fans.

A guy making A-Rod Money should be, at the very least, the best player on his team.  Unfortunately, Howard is not – at least not at the moment.

Thus far in 2010, Jayson Werth – who will need a new contract of his own soon – has been the Phillies’ best hitter.  Howard isn’t the Phillies’ second best hitter either – that title goes to Chase Utley.  

But that’s okay – lots of teams pay big money who players who aren’t the best player on their own team.  Not “A-Rod Money,” but whatever.

If Howard can’t be the best player on his team, one would hope that he would at least the best player in baseball at his own position.

Hold on to your hats.

No one would argue that Howard is the best first baseman in baseball – that honor goes to Albert Pujols – but we also wouldn’t require it either.  It is no fault to be the second best first baseman behind Albert Pujols.

Unfortunately, Howard isn’t that, either.

Third place ain’t bad, right?  If Howard were the third best first baseman in baseball, we’d be very happy for him.  Heck, if he were the fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh best first baseman in baseball, we might still be thrilled.

But how thrilling is this:

Using OPS as a barometer of overall performance, in 2010 Ryan Howard is currently being out-performed by . . . wait for it . . . fourteen other first baseman.

Maybe we need a different barometer.

Using adjusted batting runs instead, Howard ranks 17th overall amongst first basemen in baseball, behind Aubrey Huff and ahead of Russ Branyan.  That’s right – he is in the bottom half of the list.

Ranking first basemen by homeruns, Howard comes in 12th.  He is seventh amongst first basemen in runs and sixth amongst first basemen in RBI.  These numbers are better, but remember, we’re talking about A-Rod Money.

So Ryan Howard is not performing amongst the elite first basemen in baseball; first basemen are traditionally amongst the best hitters in baseball, so we could at least expect him to be amongst the top 20 or so hitters in the game.

We can expect it, but that won’t make it so.

To this point in the 2010, using OPS as a barometer for overall performance, Ryan Howard is currently the 70th ranked hitter in major league baseball.  Shifting to adjusted batting runs, Howard is ranked 83rd in the league.

He is currently 37th in homeruns, 19th in RBI, and 37th in runs scored.

The clincher here is that Howard’s contract wasn’t even up until 2011.  That means Amaro had a whole year to see how Howard was going to perform.  

So what’s the point of all this?

Suppose Howard continues to perform at this level.  Would Amaro really have thought Howard was worth A-Rod Money after a season’s worth of this kind of performance?  Could the Phillies have saved five, 10, or even 15 million dollars per season on this deal?

For years Phillies fans have wanted the Phillies to spend top quality money on top quality players.  For Phillies fans, the crushing blow here is that, apparently, the Philadelphia Phillies were finally willing to spend A-Rod Money, but they didn’t get A-Rod Value in return. 

Imagine if they had?  

If Howard could have been re-signed to a value-appropriate extension, the Phillies could have spent that A-Rod Money on a whole host of players on small market teams who will be looking for new homes in the near future – guys like Hanley Ramirez, Zack Greinke, Adrian Gonzalez, Roy Oswalt, Ryan Braun or – brace yourself – Albert Pujols.

Instead, the Phillies gave A-Rod Money to a player they already had, and could have re-signed for far less.

And that is why you never give a huge extension to a player who isn’t even in his contract year.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Just Another Reason to Rauuuuuuuul!

Finally…time for a blog about something other than the Phillies’ struggles. It’s like a long awaited warm summer breeze. Okay, maybe it’s not that refreshing, but it’s better than hearing, “Mom, the cat puked again…”

Trust me on this.

There’s nothing like ending a 30-inning losing streak to make you feel a little gratitude.

But we had to wait yet another rain delay and four innings before Raul Ibanez hit a blazing line drive that beat speed demon Cameron Maybin to deep center to drive home a flying Ryan Howard.

Cheers sounded the world over, and all the Phils had done was score a run.

Then they tied it at two in the fifth, and pulled ahead by one in the seventh. But like Charlie Manuel says, “We play 27 outs,” and there were six more that had to be snagged before the game was officially a long-awaited win.

Since Chad Durbinator one-two-three’d ‘em in the seventh, Charlie took a risk on schizophrenic Danys Baez. With Danys we just never know who’s gonna show. Now I’m onto him. He has to be brought in at the beginning of an inning, and only play one. Charlie’s onto him too. And it was a plan that worked.

Three batters later, Charlie looked to interim closer, Jose Contreras. He hadn’t faced a professional hitter in a week, and hadn’t seen his team win one in a five-game skid.

It’s possible the sweat that leaked down his cheeks was caused by more than the heat.

M. Night Shyamalan can’t write suspense like this.

“No Way” Jose took the mound and struck out the first batter on a 95 mph fast ball like he had a .63 ERA for a reason. But then the ghost of 2009 Brad Lidge possessed his mind. He allowed back-to-back singles to Jorge Cantu and Dan Uggla—the hitters who make up the Marlins padded middle. And just to show they were serious, Fredi Gonzalez put Brian Barden in to pinch run.

Fingers crossed, toes crossed. I even crossed my cat’s paws.

Gulp. Cody Ross was up. He’s your average stud. He’ll not only foil hits in right field, I’ve even seen him come in to pitch. But he must have been dreaming of his conquests when he was caught window shopping on a 1-2 count. Then Ronny Paulino had no reason to swing on a 2-1 count but he did. He lofted a gift to Shane Victorino, and Jose hoisted his arms in the air.

Phillies 3, Marlins 2.

A one-run win never felt so good.

I think I need a cigarette.

With the region ecstatic over the Flyers feats of strength to get to the Stanley Cup finals all it took was a broken bad streak to lift the dread that preempted last night’s game.

Then the crème de la crème. The Milwaukee Brewers ceased the Mets march of shutouts with a walk-off two-run home run by the Brewers poster child, Corey Hart.

It just can’t get any better than this.

I’m so happy I’m even gracious for Jayson Werth’s new look, and the fact that I only got a glimpse of him for an inning. At first I thought he was on the bench with a bad beard day but then I heard that Charlie thought he needed a break at the plate because he was jumping at the ball.

Here’s an idea. “Jayson, I’m the ball…”

Hey, a girl can dream.

Lao Tzu once said, “Clay is shaped into a vessel, yet it is the emptiness within that makes it useful.”

That same thing has been said about my head.

And now that I’m out of thoughts, I’m outta here.

And I’m high hoping. Go Flyers! Go Phillies!

See you at the ballpark.

 

Copyright 2010 Flattish Poe All Rights Reserved

Catch life one-liner at a time on Twitter.

 

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Philadelphia Phillies: It’s Gone!

 

Wow.

It’s not going well. I don’t need to recap how poorly the Phillies have performed recently.

It’s like the pharmacy is plumb out of Viagra.

The stats say it all. By now, there’s not much left to say that hasn’t already been said.

Except this: Aunt Dorothy died.

Yup. She lived a life void of the Phillies, the Flyers, or even a genuine Philly cheese steak. The last month of her life, she knew nothing of a third straight NLCS wish, a Stanley Cup quest, or the end of Jayson Werth ’s sultry bearded body. And she was fine.

We will be too.

But can you believe it? Jayson shaved! I knew he went hairless hours before he unveiled his baby-soft cheeks on TV. Todd Zolecki delivered the news via Twitter post.

I’m so cutting edge.

And, as suspected, Jayson’s energy came from his hair.

Werth struck out three times and hit into one of the double plays that ended three consecutive innings. That’s one way to shorten the seemingly unstoppable torture at Citi Field. Thank God it wasn’t a four game series.

This one seemed to last for all eternity.

Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration. Just ask Aunt Dorothy.

Liberated women all over the world are now burning their signs. There’s no more, “Be the Beard,” or “Beard Power.”

I have a new one myself—“Jayson, I’d Still Do Ya.”

After an excruciating two hour rain delay, the Phils moved through the first few innings, doing what they’ve been doing—not scoring runs. It was more frustrating than watching Twilight .

By the end of the third, Philadelphia had chalked up 31 innings without a run against the opposition’s starting pitcher.

Then the question popped up on “Stump the Fans.” My husband calls it “Stump the Dummy.” Here’s why.

The question was, “Which pitcher holds the Mets’ rookie record for most strikeouts in a game?”

I said, “12.”

I heard, “You moron, they want a guy’s name.”

I said, “I’m going with how many strikeouts. I’m Irish. Not only do I not know the answer to the question being asked, I don’t know the answer to the question not being asked.”

Aunt Dorothy would understand.

In the sixth inning, my son stated the score and the obvious, “We’re only down by one? It feels like so much more.”

By the eighth, he’d discovered that our TiVo remote won’t go through his knee or the cat, but it seems to pass easily through my head.

My husband said, “That’s why they can ‘Stump the Dummy’.”

When it was all said and done, the Phils had hit their way to the National League batting average basement.

The ship started to sink in Boston, against a hurler they call Dice-K, and took on a bunch of water over two consecutive games against that rare MLB commodity called the knuckleballer.

Hey, I heard Pedro Martinez is taking lessons from R.A. Dickey.

But let’s look on the bright side. Three runs is the Phil’s smallest margin of loss in this five game skid. And Cole Hamels is now a four-pitch guy.

I love variety.

Carlos Ruiz is back in the game and doesn’t blame a bum shoulder for his poor performance at the plate.

Pssst, Carlos… that’s what excuses are for. Just ask Jesse James.

Jimmy Rollins is eligible to return on June 6. And just a hair over three stints on the DL.

Shane Victorino is the Phillies leading hitter with RISP in the lead-off spot, which is ironic since he’s the batter with the fewest runners in scoring position when he takes the plate. He also leads the team with nine steals. And last night, he broke Mike Pelfrey’s 96 inning record for not allowing a steal.

He’s my own personal Speedy Gonzalez. But I’d hate to be drunk in bed with him. Not only would you not remember, there wouldn’t be much time to not remember it.

And did you know that Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez leads the MLB with a May ERA of .097?

He’s NOT learning to throw a knuckleball.

In five straight losses the Phillies’ NL East lead dwindled to 1.5 like toilet paper in a sorority.

Now, the team can slither out of Flushing, NY after helping the Mets move from last to third in the division. And they head to Florida to play a Marlins team that recently gave up the third spot to the Mets.

It’s like wife-swapping, only with knuckleballs.

I have no idea what that means.

I’ll end it there. Besides, there’s not much more to say that hasn’t already been said about the Phillies struggles.

But remember, it’s not whether you win or lose. It’s that you got to play.

Just ask Aunt Dorothy.

See you at the ballpark.

 

Copyright Flattish Poe 2010 All Rights Reserved

Catch life one-liner at a time on Twitter  http://twitter.com/ABabesTake .

 

 

 

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New York Mets Shut Out Philadelphia Phillies for Third Game in a Row

Has anyone seen that panic button anywhere?

After Thursday night’s shutout, the Philadelphia Phillies leave New York having not scored a single run in their three-game set there, and having been shut out four times in the last five games.

Charlie, we have a major problem: there is no good precedent for the Phillies being shut out for an entire series.

The last time the Phllies were shutout for an entire three game set was—strangely enough—also during the last week of May, back in 1979.  There, the Phillies were shutout by the Chicago Cubs on May 25, followed by a scoreless three game set against the Montreal Expos from May 29 to May 30.

It gets crazier: the Phillies record going into that game against the Cubs was 26-14, and once the Expos were done with them their record had fallen to 27-20.  Meanwhile, the current Phillies squad went into last Saturday’s shutout loss against the Boston Red Sox with a 26-15 record, and they are now 26-20.

The bad news, Phillies fans, is this: that was just the beginning of a bad run that eventually got manager Danny Ozark fired, and the 1979 Phillies team was the only squad out of five straight teams from 1976 to 1981 to not go to the playoffs.

Yikes.

There is good news, though: Cole Hamels pitched effectively against the Mets on Thursday.  Hamels pitching well at this point in the season is far more important to the Phillies ultimate goals than the Phillies offense scoring runs at this point in the season, so this is good news.

Still, it would also be nice to score some runs.

Meanwhile, the Phillies head to Florida for a three-game set starting tonight, and for the first time in a while the Phillies enter a series in a position to lose first place by the end of the series.

Worse yet, with all five teams in the NL East within three games of each other, the Phillies could, quite literally, be in last place by the end of this Marlins series.

Better keep that panic button at the ready.

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Philadelphia Phillies Blanked Once More as Mets Complete Sweep

Currently, five Philadelphia Phillies are leading the National League All-Star Balloting at their respective positions. Jimmy Rollins leads at shortstop, Placido Polanco leads at third base, Chase Utley leads at second base, Jayson Werth leads in left-field, and Shane Victorino leads in center-field. These stars anchor a tremendous lineup, at least a lineup that was tremendous up until their last five games.

They lost their final two games against the Boston Red Sox during Interleague play, which is looking more and more understandable with Boston’s four-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays.

They were shut out in the first of those two losses as Daisuke Matsuzaka nearly threw a no-hitter , and fell in the second as the Red Sox broke through against ace Roy Halladay . Their three runs in the finale of that series came in the ninth inning, ending a 17-inning scoreless streak. Since, a much longer scoreless streak has been set.

Just as the Red Sox are inching closer to the Rays in the American League East, the Mets entered their three-game set at home five games behind their divisional foe. New York, having one their previous two games, could go from seven to two games back with a sweep of the Phillies.

And, to my shock, this dream scenario would come true in the most surprising of ways.

Their pitching has the reputation of being sup-bar, but the rotation has developed nicely this season. John Maine , Jon Niese , and Oliver Perez have struggled, combining for a 2-8 record and a 5.58 ERA.

But, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and Japanese import Hisanori Takahashi have pitched superbly in spot-starts, Johan Santana has delivered, and Mike Pelfrey has been splendid, by far the best of them all.

Dickey baffled the Phillies in the opener, tossing six innings while striking out seven. New York won 8-0 behind three runs scored by shortstop Jose Reyes as well as Jason Bay ‘s scorching bat. Just like Dickey before him, Takahashi put goose-eggs on the board, firing six shutout frames in a 5-0 win. Pelfrey, entering the finale with a 6-1 record and a sub-3 ERA, could keep the shutouts going.

The 6’7″, 230-pound 26-year-old righthander was fairly good in 2008, winning 13 games, throwing 200 innings and posting a 3.72 ERA. He had a setback last season, meshing in nicely with the rest of the mediocrity that filled New York’s rotation, losing 12 games to 10 wins and struggling to a 5.03 ERA.

This year he has turned the corner, drastically improving upon last season’s wretchedness and his respectability in 2008 by continuing his stifling display on the mound against Philadelphia.

He breezed through the first inning, striking out Victorino and Utley in doing so. Bay, who has hit .326 this month, continued his extraordinary resurgence after a rough April, stroking a Cole Hamels offering deep to center for a double, scoring Reyes, who led off the frame with a single. One inning in, Pelfrey had all the run support he needed.

He said, “I thought I was okay,” afterwards, but he was underselling himself. His sinker was devastating throughout, as it has been throughout this season, frustrating the Phillies to no end.

Over his seven innings, he allowed four hits, all singles and three of which to Victorino. Seven shutout innings , striking out seven in his historic effort. Pedro Feliciano made quick work of the eighth, and closer Francisco Rodriguez did his job in the ninth. Another shutout, a sweep, and suddenly the Mets are on the Phillies doorstep.

According to ESPN Stats and Information , as documented in their recap of the Mets 3-0 victory, “Only two other teams in major league history—and when Elias says “major league history,” they mean back to 1876 (not 1952)—swept three or more games from a first-place team without allowing any runs: the Orioles over the Red Sox in 1974 and the Washington Senators over the Philadelphia A’s in 1913.

Also, “It was the second time in Mets history they have shut out the same team in three straight games (last time was in 1969, also against the Phillies).” And last but not least: “Not since 2004 had any team shut out another club in a three-game series—Johan Santana and Minnesota blanked Kansas City in that set,” STATS LLC said.

It’s one thing if this three-game sweep full of zeroes comes against a pitiful offense. But these are the defending National League Champions, a team full of .300 hitters and 30-plus homer talent.

As noted in that ESPN recap, “The 2010 Phils are the first league champ in MLB history to be held scoreless in a series lasting at least three games.” On top of that, they haven’t scored in 46 of their past 47 innings. Still, the still-division leaders are taking this humiliating stretch with a grain of salt.

Werth said afterwards, “Big picture, a loss is a loss, no matter how you spin it. We’re still in first place.” If their struggles at the plate continue and if the Mets keep shutting down opponents, they won’t be for much longer.

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Glavine’s Turbo Tanking and the Dawn of the Phillies Dynasty

On September 30, 2007, the New York Mets took the field needing a win and a Phillies loss to win the National League East and stave off one of the worst collapses in baseball history.

The Mets had been up on the Phils by seven games on September 12th, with 17 games to play.  Going into the final game, they’d improbably blown 11 of 16 games and went into the final game in a dead tie.

The Mets sent future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine to the mound that day to face off against a 70-91 Florida Marlins team playing for little more than pride at the end of a disappointing season.

What happened, of course, is part of baseball lore: Glavine gave up seven earned runs on five hits and two walks while retiring only one batter, the Mets’ season was over, and a Philadelphia dynasty was born.

In the biggest game of the year, needing one victory for a chance at the playoffs, Tom Glavine got Turbo Tanked.

What Does It Mean To Get Turbo Tanked?

Everyone knows what it means when a pitcher gets “tanked”—it means he gave up lots of runs.  It is a subjective standard, but generally speaking we’re talking about enough runs to lose the game, and usually enough runs to keep him from going five innings. Give up five runs in six innings of play, and you had a bad outing; give up six runs in three innings, and you got tanked.

But a Turbo Tanking has a far more specific definition.

A Turbo Tanking occurs any time a pitcher pitches so poorly that he can’t even get out of the first inning.  Whenever you see a number less than one in the innings pitched column and a big number in the runs column, it means the pitcher got Turbo Tanked.

We can only imagine what went through Dave Bush’s head when he took the mound against the Minnesota Twins on May 21st.  Perhaps he was feeling good.  Perhaps he was thinking he needed to pitch the whole game because Trevor Hoffman has been as reliable as the Postal Service.  I’d be willing to bet he was not thinking that he would be leaving the mound before his team even got a chance to bat, but that is exactly what happened.

Bush got Turbo Tanked.

How Bad Can a Turbo Tanking Get?

Glavine’s Turbo Tanking may have been one of the highest profile Turbo Tankings of all time, but it was certainly not the worst.  The title of “Worst Turbo Tanking of All Time” probably belongs to the Florida Marlins, in what was actually a team effort.

On June 27, 2003, the Marlins were in Boston for an interleague matchup featuring Carl Pavano and Byung-Hyun Kim.  Pavano had pitched well the game before against Tampa Bay, and by the time Pavano took the mound the Marlins had already staked him to a 1-0 lead.

The lead did not last.

Pavano faced six batters and got absolutely tagged—the Sox went double-single-double-home run-double-single and chased Pavano from the game after scoring five runs.  They brought Michael Tejera to the mound for the Marlins to pitch in relief of Pavano.  Except, Tejera came in and the Red Sox promptly went single-walk-single-triple-single off of him, tacking on five more runs and chasing him from the game.

The Marlins had used two pitchers and hadn’t recorded an out.

It wasn’t until Allen Levrault came into the game that the Marlins finally recorded their first out, and then a mere four runs later the inning was over, but not before Johnny Damon had come the plate for the third time.

At the end of the day, Pavano and Tejera had combined for the incredibly rare “Two-Man Turbo Tanking.” And, because neither Pavano and Tejera had not recorded a single out, it was also what we call a “Pure” Turbo Tanking.

Famous Turbo Tankings

The nice thing about a Turbo Tanking is that there is always the next game.  But that isn’t always a good thing.  We all know about Johnny Vander Meer’s consecutive no-hitters in 1938, but in 1933 Sad Sam Jones had back-to-back Turbo Tankings against the Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics.

And for some Turbo Tankers, there is no tomorrow; the saddest Turbo Tanking is the Turbo Tanking that ends a player’s career.  There are none more famous than Nolan Ryan.

Ryan took the mound for the final time on September 22, 1993, against the Seattle Mariners.  Pitching to Ivan Rodriguez, Ryan gave up a leadoff single to Omar Vizquel, walked Rich Amaral and Ken Griffey, Jr., and then walked Jay Buhner to bring in the first run of the game.  The next batter hit a 1-2 pitch for a grand slam and Nolan Ryan left his final game without recording an out.

Charlie Hough would end his career in similar fashion the following year for the Marlins against the Phillies, giving up an HBP, three singles, a double, and a walk before being pulled from the game for the final time.

Nolan Ryan’s old teammate with the 1969 Mets, Jerry Koosman, also failed to finish the first inning in his final start on August 21, 1985.

How Does Knowing about Turbo Tankings Help Us?

We call it “taking one for the team,” when a pitcher stays in a game to give up tons of runs in a clearly lost game, thereby preserving the arms of the relief pitchers for another day.

But for a starting pitcher, taking a Turbo Tanking might also be considered “taking one for the team” in the sense that, if a manager can yank a struggling pitcher early enough it gives the pitcher’s team a chance to get back into the game.

This doesn’t happen as often as one might think, but just last season it happened to the Detroit Tigers; Armando Galarraga got Turbo Tanked, giving up five earned runs on four hits and three walks, but Jim Leyland got him out of there and the Tigers managed an 11-7 come-from-behind win.

Sometimes a Turbo Tanking can save a championship.  In Game Seven of the 1925 World Series, the Pittsburgh Pirates gave Vic Aldridge a quick yank after he gave up four runs on two hits and three walks, and ended up winning the game, 9-7, and the Series against none other than Walter Johnson himself.

So What’s the Point of all This?

Baseball is all about happenings. We love it when a pitcher has a no-hitter going, when a batter is hitting for the cycle, when a fielder has an errorless streak, or when Bobby Cox is about to get tossed again to extend his Major League record.

Rarely is the average baseball fan aware, however, that when the starting pitcher fails to get out of the first inning, that too is a happening.

So, next time you are reminiscing about the Dawn of the Phillies Dynasty, you don’t have to say:

“Remember that time the Mets sent Glavine to the mound with the season on the line and he gave up some many hits, walks, and runs that they had to take him out of the game before he could finish the first inning?”

Instead, you can say:

“Hey, remember Glavine’s Turbo Tanking?”

We’ll all know what you mean.

Truly, it was one of the great moments in Phillies’ history.

 

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com.

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Philadelphia Phillies Get Shut Out for the Third Time in Four Games

There are times when a Major League Baseball team can’t seem to catch a break, and the reasons are not so obvious.  Good news, Philadelphia Phillies fans: this is not one of those situations.

In losing Wednesday night to the New York Mets, the Phillies struggled with the same two problems that have killed them during the current eight game streak in which they are 2-6 against four inferior baseball teams.

Those two problems?  Simple: the pitchers aren’t pitching and the hitters aren’t hitting.

During the last eight games, the Phillies have scored 15 runs, but ten of those runs came in back-to-back games against the Cubs and Red Sox.  In the other six games, the Phillies have scored three runs once and one run twice while being shut out three times.

Meanwhile, Phillies pitchers can’t exactly blame the lack of support for these losses—in the last four games Phillies pitchers have allowed eight runs twice and five runs twice.

Let’s talk a little recent Phillies’ history:

– The last time the Phillies were shut out three times inside of a week’s time was September 15 through September 19, 1992, when they were shutout by the Expos, Cubs, and Pirates three times in five games.  That Phillies team finished 70-92, which was good for last place in the NL East.

– The last time the Phillies were shut out three times in four games was in June of 1990, when the Mets and the Pirates pulled off the feat.  That Phillies team finished 77-85, which was good for fourth place.

Now, to be fair, it hasn’t been an ordinary stretch of games for the Phillies.  Indeed, the Phillies have faced some wacky pitchers during the last week. 

The first loss of this stretch came against lefty-finesse guy Zach Duke, who is usually totally on or totally off.  The third loss of this stretch came against Daisuke Matsuzaka, who has about six different pitches that he likes to throw and came four outs from a no-hitter.

Then, the Phillies lost consecutive games to knuckleball pitchers Tim Wakefield and R.A. Dickey who, oh by the way, are buddies and exchange advance information about teams they’ve each faced.

It is bad enough that the Phillies became the first team to face back-to-back knuckleballers since the 1985 Detroit Tigers; evidently the Phillies were facing a guy on Tuesday who got a scouting report from the guy who had just faced them on Sunday, who had been in the park the previous night when his teammate almost pitched a no-hitter against them.

Finally, on Wednesday night the Phillies were shutout by a combination of Hisanori Takahashi and three relievers.  Takahashi, of course, just joined the Mets this season from Japan, so the Phillies haven’t had lots of opportunity to scout him.  He is also a left-hander, which makes him lethal against the Phils, and he has four pitches including a screwball.

In short, for the Phillies’ hitters, it has been a frustrating stretch featuring either left-handed pitchers or unorthodox pitchers with screwy stuff.  It has just been a bad stretch.

As for the pitching, while the Phillies are currently in the middle of a streak in which they have not scored a run off of a starting pitcher in 26 innings, Phillies starters have allowed 21 runs during that same period.  While we might expect to receive sub-par performances from Jamie Moyer, Joe Blanton, and Kyle Kendrick, keep in mind that Roy Halladay gave up 7 runs during that period as well.

Unfortunately, things don’t get any easier in the next few days.  The Phillies send Cole Hamels to the mound in the finale in New York against Mike Pelfrey, who is having a terrific season (6-1, 2.86 ERA). 

The Phils then go on the road to Miami, where they’ll face unfavorable pitching matchups against the Marlins in the form of Kyle Kendrick against Chris Volstad and Jamie Moyer against Anibal Sanchez.  Even Roy Halladay will be facing off against Marlins ace Josh Johnson.

Following the Marlins, the Phils are on the road again in Atlanta—who is suddenly 2.5 games behind the Phillies—before returning home for a set next weekend against the San Diego Padres, the only team in the NL that currently has a better record than the Phillies.

This is a crucial time for the Philadelphia Phillies, and they look positively lost.  While no one expects the Philadelphia to sweep a nine game road trip against three divisional opponents, I think most Phillies fans would, at the very least, hope that the team was losing competitively rather than not even really showing up.

We know what is wrong with this team.  Now, let’s get out there and try to fix it.

 

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com

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