MLB Quarterly Report: Yanks, Phils Set for World Series Rematch

Most teams have played a little over 40 games, and despite my barely passing grades in every single math class I’ve ever taken, I still managed to figure out that the MLB season is roughly a quarter over.

The good thing about making predictions this early is that if they turn out to be correct, boom. You’re a genius. A pundit. A prophet.

If they’re wrong. So what? Nobody can read the future, get off my ass will ya?

 

Stage Set for World Series Repeat, But Which One?

So far in the MLB, the Philadelphia Phillies are tops in the NL, and have looked commanding in many of their outings. Roy Halladay has been the workhorse Philadelphia needed him to be, their lineup is firing on all cylinders with their top five hitters all averaging over .300, and Cole Hamels and Kyle Kendrick have proven to not be completely worthless, as previously thought by many fans.

With the return of a hot-hitting Jimmy Rollins, the Phillies look like they could repeat their success of the past two seasons and head to the World Series for a third straight trip.

It will not be an easy road, however, for the same teams that they have conquered in recent postseasons look like they will again be the Phils’ main opposition in their quest for a third straight NL Pennant.

The Cardinals started off the 2010 campaign as hot as any team, but have cooled off to an even 10-10 in the month of May. However, this is a team loaded with talent that could heat up again at any moment.

Headed the opposite direction are the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have been bested by the Phillies in both of the previous two postseasons. The Blue Crew is scorching through the month of May with a 15-4 record. Andre Ethier and Hiroki Kuroda are both off to career years and the entire populace of Los Angeles is hoping they can keep it up.

Should the Phillies win the NL, which is far from a foregone conclusion, the AL stage appears set for a repeat World Series. The only question is, which one? The Yankees and Rays, both of the Phillies opponents in the past two series, are dominating the AL and both look like they have the depth and talent to take it all the way.

The Yankees pitching staff is as complete and consistent as they come. The Bronx Bombers have confidence sending any one of their five-man rotation out to the mound, which many teams cannot claim. Their hurlers are also supported by the lesser-known and lesser-paid members of the position players, as Robinson Cano is proving to be a Chase Utley-esque power hitting force at second.

The Rays boast the best record in the AL and are proving that their first World Series trip in 2008 was no anomaly. Tampa Bay was riding a streak of six straight wins before their recent loss to the Astros, and are 13-6 thus far in the month of May. They are led by superstar-in-the-making Evan Longoria, and pitcher David Price, who possesses a microscopic 1.81 ERA to go along with his six victories. Price’s singular loss came in a game in which he only gave up six hits and three earned runs.

Baseless Prediction: Yankees beat Phillies in six.

Atta Boy’s:

– Cincinnati Reds: Despite posting sub-.500 seasons for the past nine years, the Reds are tied for the third best record in the NL. It is early in the season, and there is still plenty of time for them to implode, but so far the Reds have earned a spot free from the cobwebs of the NL Central basement. First baseman Joey Votto quietly had an All-Star caliber year in 2009, and his consistent numbers at the plate should draw more recognition this season given the Reds apparent legitimacy.

-Jason Heyward: I guess he’s not bad, for a rookie. This kid is out to sell a lot of jerseys in Georgia, and is quickly becoming the hottest thing since a July afternoon in said state. This is a kid who has to ask Chipper Jones to buy him beer but still leads the team in HRs and RBI with nine and 33, respectively. It must suck to be any other first-year who really thought he had a chance at Rookie of the Year in 2010.

-San Diego Padres: Although they had not suffered a drought as prolonged or severe as the Reds, the Padres had finished in fourth and fifth place in the NL west in 2009 and 2010, opposite-of-respectively (tricked you, huh?). The Padres, however, have cooled off severely and look like they may not keep up their winning pace in 2010.

-Phil Hughes: After Hughes’ postseason struggles pitching from the bullpen in 2009, there was much debate over whether or not he would be granted a starting spot in 2010. The Yankees brass made the right decision, as Hughes carries a perfect 5-0 record, and has shown incredible command and mental fortitude on the mound. Atta boy, Phil.

We’re Not Mad, We’re Just Disappointed’s:

-David Ortiz: As the Chinese citizen in the memorable commercial states, “you no Big Papi.” True enough, this man does not look like the David Ortiz that terrorized pitchers with his lethal lumber and bulldog mug, and hasn’t for the past few seasons. Ortiz does have eight HRs, but looks uncomfortable and confused at the plate far too often for a man who is only being paid to hit.

-San Francisco Giants: I, like many, thought that 2010 would be the year of the Giant. Their rotation is chock-full of talent and their lineup, although not stellar, featured enough good wood to back the pitching staff up. Neither side has lived up to their potential in 2010, however. The Giants are not playing poor baseball, but they are not playing dominant baseball like they should. Tim Lincecum has been nothing short of brilliant from the mound, but Cain and Sanchez have struggled. Like I said, I’m not mad. Just disappointed.

-Jason Bay: As much as I love to see the Mets’ big acquisitions flounder, I am thoroughly disappointed in Jason Bay. Although Bay did not hit consistently for the BoSox in 2009, he posted a solid 36 HRs and finished with 119 RBI. Bay currently has a single HR and only 16 RBI. If my abacus is correct and we are somewhere near the one quarter point of the season, Bay is on pace for a whopping four HRs and 56 RBI. If I were Jerry Manuel, I’d be a lot more than disappointed. 

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What Jimmy Rollins Can Learn From Terry Francona

 

“You can do a lot with two inches.”

That’s what my son said while pondering his binder preferences at Staples.

Maybe you can.

You can also do a lot with two pitches. Cole Hamels tossed his curve into his limited repertoire but it was his fastball and change-up that ruled the game.

As a result, Ricky Botallico said Cole Hamels has “turned the corner.”

Are you kidding me?

That’s like saying my child is safe because he hides a cheap Swiss Army knife under his pillow to fight off perspective burglars. I said, “What you gonna do… file his nails to death?”

No doubt Cole had a hot night against a tough interleague rival. He threw 116 pitches—76 for strikes, sent eight batters back to the bench bitching, walked one, and allowed one earned run on three hits. But the question remains: Has he turned the corner?

Let’s just say he put on the blinker. Except for excessive home runs and walks allowed this year, it looks like he’s recovered from his 2009 hangover. But Cole is more comfortable pitching with an offensive cushion and the lineup gave him that. He’s also less flustered when his fielders aren’t flubbing and he got that too.

But showing mild displeasure as the result of a bad strike call can’t be considered a new level of maturity.

Maybe he’s outgrown the terrible twos, but all moms know when your pitcher is tired and grumpy all you can do is put him to bed.

I’m just the girl to do it.

I’m sorry, was I thinking out loud?

In this 5-1 Phillies win, the lineup was restored to its previous luster—if only for a moment. Jimmy Rollins stepped to the plate first while Shane Victorino was demoted to seventh because it let him watch more guys bat in front of him.

That’s a warm, fuzzy feeling I thought you could only get by rolling naked in polar fleece.

Not that I’d know anything about that.

But then Jimmy limped to first base in the sixth and Juan Castro took his place—again. Saturday I predict Shane will bat leadoff—again. And I’ll bet Wilson Valdez, freshly outrighted to Lehigh Valley, is packing enough socks and underwear to come back for at least 15 more days—again

The injury report has also changed the life of Paul Hoover. I’m willing to bet he’s found himself a home as permanent backup pitcher. It was an untimely strain for Brian Schneider but one man’s misfortune becomes another man’s wife.

Just ask Jayson Werth. An injury to Geoff Jenkins is what gave every girl the option to drool over the bearded wonder and gave Jayson the opportunity to prove he was an everyday player.

Now he’s landed on baseball’s 50 best list at a humble 49th. He’s behind like, well, everybody, but look on the bright side: Hanley Ramirez made the top 50 best players in baseball but he won’t make the top 50 best teammates.

And I’m certain my boobs are as big as they’re gonna get but my butt isn’t.

Did you hear? Pat Burrell was released from his duties as a pinch hitter for Tampa Bay. He can now be had for a cool $350,000—that’s what a player is worth when all he has left is one tool.

He’d get picked up faster placing an ad in the personals.

Baseball’s a tough crowd. What if I was off my game? Would I be put out to pasture with the other middle-aged innuendo junkies and see people hold up signs in my honor that read, “Mom or Machine?”

And if contracts are all about ability to perform, maybe Jimmy Rollins is coming closer to being considered a trade alternative to keep Jayson Werth. Jimmy has been around longer than any of the Phil’s original draft picks on the current 25 man roster. He was chosen in 1996 and is playing his eleventh season with the team. He’s spent more time as a Phillie than Pat Burrell or even Brett Myers who found a new home because he couldn’t get his mojo back after surgery.

Now Jimmy’s injured—again.

Like Terry Francona told the struggling David Ortiz, “You don’t take for granted the time together.” With Ruben Amaro Jr. weighing options to keep his outfield intact, this might be a no-brainer.

Unless Jimmy’s calf can turn the corner.

See you at the ballpark.

 

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Jimmy Rollins Not Expected to Hit DL After Calf Injury 2.0

For the first time since mid-April, the Phillies lineup was the way it should be. Every starter was playing, and they were handling John Lackey and the Red Sox fairly well along with the help of a stellar performance by Cole Hamels.

But once Jimmy Rollins hit a single in the sixth inning and had to limp to first base, the mood was immediately sucked out of the air.

The Phils got by without Rollins for an entire month, but no one wants to see if they could pull it off again. Even Juan Castro and the newest-but-not-so-new member of the Lehigh Valley Ironpigs, Wilson Valdez, weren’t happy to see Rollins pull up like that.

It was clearly his right calf again as Rollins aggravated the injury that kept him out of the lineup, until recently, since mid-April.

However, Rollins doesn’t seem all that concerned.

“An hour later, it feels a lot better than it did when I came out,” Rollins told the media after the Phillies’ 5-1 win against the Boston Red Sox, “so we’ll see.”

Charlie Manuel, on the other hand, seems a bit more worried than does Rollins.

“Yes, I’m concerned about Jimmy,” Manuel said. “He said he doesn’t think it’s bad, but we’ll see. We’ll probably be able to tell more about it tomorrow.”

It’s possible Rollins is simply downplaying the significance of the injury this time because he would rather try to play through instead of having to head back to the disabled list and definitely miss at least 15 days of action, but that doesn’t seem like a move that would work with Manuel.

If Charlie thinks Rollins needs two weeks to sit on the bench, watch, and recover, then that is exactly what will happen regardless of what Rollins says. It will all come down to what the team doctors recommend, but it doesn’t seem likely Rollins hits the DL again.

He will most likely miss a game or two, but Castro is ready to go and has shown he can fill in well enough for Rollins in the field and at the plate.

Also, now that Valdez has cleared waivers (surprisingly enough) and accepted an assignment to Triple-A ball, the Phils have an insurance policy should Rollins regress and have to be placed on the Mark Prior List.

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Five Best Philadelphia Phillies of 2010 (So Far)

Moving into interleague play, the Philadelphia Phillies are off to a hot start toward a third consecutive World Series appearance. Is it too soon to start rating the Phillies’ players’ performance? Perhaps, but I’d like to try anyway.

Ladies and Gentlemen, your early-season 2010 Philadalphia Phillies MVPs.

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Why Ryan Howard’s New Contract Will Prove to Be a Disaster

Wanna see something strange?  Take a look at the homerun, RBI, hits, runs scored, and total bases numbers for two Philadelphia Phillies outfielders, Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth:

 

 – Werth currently has 8 homeruns, 31 RBI, 46 hits, 28 runs, and 90 total bases.

 

 – Victorino currently has 8 homeruns, 32 RBI, 45 hits, 28 runs, and 84 total bases.

 

Holy cannoli, right?  Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth are having virtually identical seasons.

Man, throw in the fact that Victorino plays centerfield and has seven stolen bases to Werth’s two, and we might have to infer that Victorino is actually having a better season.

Emphasis on the “might”.

Let’s compare Werth and Victorino again, but this time let us look at their RSL (Rate Stat Line) and four other statistics: OPS+, adjusted batting runs, and wins above replacement (WAR):

 – Werth currently has a .324/.404/.634/1.037, along with  a 169 OPS+, 15.3 adjusted batting runs, and a 1.7 WAR.

 – Victorino currently has a .262/.308/.488/0.796, along with a 106 OPS+, -0.2 adjusted batting runs, and a 1.2 WAR.

Holy cannoli, again, right?  Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth are having two completely different seasons.

Man, throw in the fact that Werth has been providing absolutely essential protection in the lineup for Ryan Howard and Chase Utley while Victorino has been failing in his primary role – getting on base ahead of those guys – and you’d almost have to conclude that Victorino is having an even worse season than Werth.

So what’s the point of all this?

It is one thing for casual baseball fans to compare players purely on the basis of the traditional Triple Crown categories or, more relevantly, homeruns and RBI.

However, I suspect that major league baseball people are doing the same thing, and I simply find this baffling.

I am almost certain that Ryan Howard’s recent extension – making him one of the two or three highest paid baseball players in the world despite the fact that he isn’t one of the three or four best players in his own league at his own position – was based on homeruns and RBI.

Howard is an elite homerun hitter, but in terms of overall value, he is far from the cream of the crop.

Have a look:

Now, you tell me: which set of numbers do you think Phillies’ General Manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. was looking at when he decided to make Ryan Howard one of the three highest paid players in baseball?

In a few years, when we’re all complaining about how much money Howard is making, let’s all remember today’s lesson about how certain statistics can be deceiving, and let’s all remember that all the information Amaro needed to avoid making this mistake was available to him, shall we?

 

 

 

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

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Should the Philadelphia Phillies Move Jimmy Rollins Down in the Order?

It was one of those humbling moments that reminds you why the fans pay to go to the game and sit in the 400-level while the coaches get paid to go to the game and sit in the dugout.

In the Phillies’ half of the sixth inning of a 1-1 game against the Cubs on Tuesday afternoon, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins came to the plate with two outs and runners on second and third.  

The infield was playing back with first base open because of a rare tagging-up from first by Chase Utley on a Ryan Howard’s sacrifice fly.  So, when Rollins ran the count to 3-0, I suddenly had a brilliant idea.

Taking in the afternoon game on a beautiful day with five buddies, I started telling each of them “Wow, this would be a great moment for a suicide squeeze.” 

The timing struck me as perfect—3-0 count, two outs, first base open, infield playing back, the speedy Rollins somehow still batting fifth in the order—and I became absolutely convinced that we were about to see the most exciting play in baseball, the two-out suicide squeeze.

Just for good measure, and not a moment too soon, I said, “Whatever you do, don’t let Rollins swing away.”

There are two types of home runs in major league baseball—the ones you watch excitedly hoping they can get out, and the ones you know are out of the park the moment they leave the bat.  Rollins hit one of the latter into the right field seats, and the Phillies had a 4-1 lead.

Coaches 1, Asher 0.

Regarding how much smarter than me he is, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel expounded on letting Rollins swing away on 3-0.  “I let guys hit 3-0, especially guys who are good hitters,” Manuel said. “It builds confidence…I wouldn’t be sitting here now if I couldn’t teach guys how to hit 3-0. I’ve had great success letting guys hit 3-0.”

Not that they needed it, but the coaches got another on me in the eighth inning when, with one out and Utley standing on second representing the go-ahead run, Raul Ibanez hit a single to right field that Kosuke Fukudome got to just as Utley was arriving at third.  I don’t think I yelled, but I definitely said out loud, “Hold the runner!” 

Nevertheless, despite my advice, the Phillies third base coach waived Utley around and he stepped on home plate a step-and-a-half ahead of the throw and tag.

Coaches 2, Asher 0.  Ballgame.

But seriously, folks, it is time to ask: Are we seeing a new Jimmy Rollins? 

Rollins is certainly no stranger to home run power—remember, he hit 30 home runs in 2007, his MVP year , and he’s hit 20 or more two other times—but so far in 2010 his slugging percentage is .658 and his OPS is 1.116.  These are not numbers we’re used to seeing.

Rollins also seems, perhaps for the first time, comfortable hitting somewhere other than the leadoff spot.  In what is admittedly a small sample size, Rollins has an .886 OPS with four RBI and three runs in the four games since he returned from a month-long absence to nurse his ailing calf muscle.  

Yesterday, Rollins batted fifth for Jayson Werth, who got the day off in favor of Ross “He was in a nuclear accident and so he” Gload.

Could this be the dawn of the rest of Jimmy Rollins career? 

Would Jimmy be content to spend his 30s as a slightly above-average power hitter, providing protection in the order for Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and (if they can re-sign him) Jayson Werth?

Not likely.

Charlie Manuel has indicated that Rollins will probably be back in the leadoff spot at some point during this weekend’s series against the Boston Red Sox, and Jimmy has indicated that, despite his success over the last couple of days, this experiment in the batting order is probably short-lived. 

“I have at-bats when I still feel a little out of whack and others where I can feel my legs underneath me and my swing going in the right path,” Rollins said after the game. “The rest of it is just feeling my legs underneath me when I’m hitting and feeling the bat speed. When the bat speed is there, I think I’ll be ready.”

Manuel said he thinks Rollins needs more at-bats and dropping him down in the order allows him to be more aggressive and take more swings. “I look at Jimmy as our leadoff hitter, and there are a lot of reasons why I look at him that way,” Manuel said. “He is our leadoff hitter.”

Oh well. 

The new Jimmy Rollins will just have to wait. 

Frankly, I’d like to see Rollins get an extensive try-out in the five-hole to see if perhaps the Phillies can’t save a little money by not giving Jayson Werth the $20 million contact he’ll probably want when he becomes a free agent after this season.

If Jimmy can give Utley and Howard the same protection that Werth gives them, maybe the Phillies could spend that money somewhere else.

Of course, what do I know?  I’m just a guy sitting in the 400-level.

 

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

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Philadelphia Phillies Must Be Careful, Not Panicky, With Roy Halladay

There is a lot being made about Roy Halladay’s high pitch count over his past few starts. Over the last four starts he’s made he hasn’t thrown any fewer than 118 pitches and is averaging 123 with his latest 132-pitch outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates this past Tuesday.

However, is that really so bad for a guy who has an MLB-high 53 complete games over the past eight seasons?

It’s a lot of pitches, but Halladay has shown it’s a workload he can handle. And with the bullpen once again a complete mess, the Phils are going to need him to throw between 115-125 pitches every time he steps on the mound.

In fact, Antonio Bastardo did a great job of showing exactly why the Phils need to bleed everything out of Halladay they can get after he gave up a game-tying home-run in the eighth against the Cubs on Thursday.

But, as Charlie Manuel acknowledged to the press recently, throwing so many pitches every outing could wear him down throughout the course of the season. And if last year’s playoff run was any indication, the Phils are going to need a lot out of Halladay when it matters most in October.

Manuel said he “doesn’t want to see (Halladay) throw 125 pitches,” so it’s unlikely Halladay will be afforded the opportunity to get his 54th complete game anytime soon.

As usual, Manuel is handling this the right way. He’s going to monitor Halladay, but not trying to take him out immediately once the pitch-count hits triple digits. If Manuel and the Phils start getting paranoid and pulling him early, however, it’s going to create more problems than it solves.

The Phils have a comfortable lead in the division right now, but ask the Mets how much that means 157 games in, much less in the middle of May.

Pulling Halladay early could mean a lot of blown games for the bullpen which could, in turn, mean the Phillies are in a tighter race than they would like come playoff time.

Manuel needs to let Halladay do his thing and not throw off the hot-streak he’s on or he’ll risk throwing him off for the season. Then, come the end of the season when the Phils have the East wrapped up, they can limit him to a little over 100 pitches and save his arm for the playoffs.

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Philadelphia-Boston Preview: Can the Phillies Rock the Sox?

The Red Sox have the Phillies’ number.

That first became evident when Boston ousted Philly in the 1915 World Series, and little changed once interleague play began over 80 years later.

The Phillies are just 15-22 against the Red Sox since their interleague dates began in 1997. Philly and Boston have met in interleague play every season except 2002 and 2007.

Back to the present…

After splitting four home games with the lowly Pirates and Cubs, the Phillies are bracing for another visit from their past and present tormentor—the Bean Town Sox.

For the fifth time in six years, the Phillies host their perennial AL nemesis. And this weekend at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies will try to beat Boston in a three-game series for the first time in seven years.

The Phils and Sox have been two of the elite ball clubs in baseball over the past several seasons, but their head-to-head series has been brutally one-sided.

The Phillies have gone 4-14 against the Red Sox in their 18 meetings since 2004. The Sox are 9-3 all-time at Citizens Bank Park, and have averaged over 6.5 runs per game in those 12 contests.

It’s a good thing the Rays squeaked by the Sox in the 2008 ALCS. Otherwise, the World Series might have not ended as well as it did for the Phillies…but let’s not even go there.

The last time the Phillies beat Boston in a best-of-three series was way back in 2003 during their final season at Veterans Stadium. Let’s turn back the clock…

On Saturday, June 22, a slugging Phillies first baseman named Jim Thome tied the game in the eighth inning with a homer. He did it again with two outs in the 12th inning. Finally, Philadelphia’s backup catcher Todd Pratt ended a wild summer afternoon at the ball yard with a two-run walk-off home run that gave the Phils a stunning 6-5 win in 13 innings.

Todd who?

The following afternoon, Philadelphia’s brash 22-year-old starting pitcher named Brett Myers hurled the first complete game of his career, a three-hit shutout of the Red Sox in a 5-0 Phillies win. 60,960 fans filled the Vet that day, mainly thanks to the Mike Schmidt Bobblehead Figurine being given away free to all fans.

Grady Little was the Sox manager back then too, but Terry Francona has been Boston’s skipper since 2004. Over the years, Francona’s Sox have won all six of their interleague series against the Phillies. Boy, that baseball genius Terry sure knows how to manage against his former club. Either that, or he’s just been blessed with some really damn good players during his tenure…

Back to the present…

The Cubs’ overaggressive, brain-dead hitters were more than happy to hack away at Jose Contreras’ out-of-the-strike-zone pitches in the ninth inning of Thursday’s game.

But faced with a similar circumstance, the Red Sox will probably exhibit a little more discipline.

Then again, the Philly-Boston mojo appears to finally be heading in Philadelphia’s favor, if last week’s shocking Flyers rally against the Bruins in the NHL playoffs was any indication.

Hopefully, the good vibes remaining from that historic Philadelphia-Boston series have left the Wachovia Center’s ice rink and moved across Pattison Avenue to Philly’s summertime Money Pit.

The Phillies will desperately need all the good mojo they can get this weekend.  

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Phan Phavorites: 10 Most Beloved Phillies Role Players

The Philadelphia Phillies have a long and storied, although not always impressive, history.

Throughout the years they have had their fair share of characters—and Philadelphia fans have a soft spot in their hearts for the quirky, the loud-mouthed, the eccentric, and the bold.

Although they did not always lead the team in numerical categories, these players have won the affection of the populace as the most beloved Phillies of all time.

Begin Slideshow

Philadelphia-Chicago: Cubs Top Phillies 4-1 In a Hard-Luck Loss For Jamie Moyer

For once, Jamie Moyer knows what it takes to pitch well and lose. Oh, the irony.

Moyer was brilliant for the Phillies as they faced the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night, allowing only two earned runs on four hits and one walk in seven innings, while striking out seven and lowering his ERA to 4.30, in the rematch of the teams that faced each other back in 1986 when Moyer made his major league debut against Steve Carlton.

Moyer, who has spent the vast majority of his Phillies career collecting wins despite giving up four to six runs per game, found himself on the losing end of a pitchers’ duel with Tom Gorzelanny of the Cubs. 

Gorzelanny scattered three hits and two walks over six and two-thirds scoreless innings while striking out five.  The Phillies failed to capitalize on an inning and a third of John Grabow and Carlos Zambrano, two of the worst performing Cubs of the 2010 season, scoring only one run off of Grabow.  Carlos Marmol pitched a scoreless ninth for his seven save.

This marks the second night in a row that the usually high-powered Phillies offense failed to take advantage of a gem from one of their starting pitchers; on Tuesday night, Roy Halladay took the loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates despite a complete game effort during which he allowed only two runs.

Meanwhile, both the Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals won tonight, picking up a game each in the standings. The Phils now lead the Marlins by three games and the Nationals by four. 

The Nationals also got good news from Triple-A Syracuse, as Stephen Strasburg pitched six and a third scoreless innings, striking out nine, walking two and allowing three hits.  Strasburg has yet to give up a run at Triple-A in 18 and a third innings.

Meanwhile, this was the Phillies third game since the return of Jimmy Rollins, and the Phils are now 1-2 in those games. 

In Rollins’ first game back, the Phillies won 12-2, but they have scored only three runs in the two games since then. 

Curiously, Rollins has batted third in two of these games and tonight he batted sixth.  During the last two games, Shane Victorino has batted leadoff and gone 1-for-8.

The ability of the Philadelphia Phillies to annually be one of the elite offensive teams in baseball despite having a leadoff man in Rollins with a .330 on-base percentage has always been befuddling, but for whatever reason, it has always worked.  So, here’s an idea – why don’t we move Rollins back to the top of the order, move Victorino back to seventh, and enjoy the rest of the season?

The Phillies play the Cubs in a business man’s special tomorrow at Citizens’ Bank Park at 1:05pm. 

The Phils will send Joe Blanton to the mound to face off against Ryan Dempster.  Hopefully Blanton can get some run support and avoid the same fate as Roy Halladay and—as odd as this is to say—Jamie Moyer by losing a well-pitched game.

 

Asher B. Chancey is the co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com.

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