Carlos Ruiz Has Baby Chooch at Perfect Time

On March 2, 2011, Carlos Ruiz’s wife gave birth to his second son. Incredibly, the baby arrived nine months to the exact day of Roy Halladay’s perfect game.

Chooch has become a fan favorite amongst Philly fans because of his clutch hitting, defensive play and ability to call a game from behind the plate.

Carlos obviously thinks he has a good thing going as he named his first son Carlos Ruiz Jr. and his newest boy just Carlos Ruiz. Keep it simple, I like that.

Will Ruiz continue to name any future sons Carlos Ruiz? What will happen if he has a daughter? I guess Carlos Ruiz could work as a girl’s name? Why didn’t he name his newest boy Chooch? Couldn’t his middle-name have been Perfect?

There are far more questions than answers to this story, but I will try to give you the few answers that I have.

Here are 10 things that we can take away from this story:

1. Roy Halladay’s perfect game was arousing.

2. Chooch didn’t want a baseball or Roy Halladay’s cleats to commemorate one of the greatest pitching performances in Philadelphia history, he wanted another son.

3. Ruiz obviously thought he had more to do with the perfect game than Halladay, or the baby would have been called Roy.

4. Carlos Ruiz (the baby not the catcher) will be perfect in every way.

5. Carlos Ruiz (the baby not the catcher) will be wrapped in bubble-wrap to preserve his perfection and increase longevity.

6. Carlos Ruiz (the baby not the catcher) will be welcomed in Roy Halladay’s house at any time.

7. Roy Halladay is a little weirded out about the whole situation.

8. Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt and Cliff Lee think this is a terrific story, and they couldn’t be happier for the Ruiz family.

9. No one asked Joe Blanton what he thought.

10. If Roy Halladay pitches a perfect game in the World Series, the entire Phillie’s roster will conceive a son that night and each shall be named Carlos Ruiz. 

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10 NFL Draft Prospects the Eagles Should Select To Surround Michael Vick

The Philadelphia Eagles had a solid 2010 season. Yes, they lost to the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers in the playoffs, but Michael Vick is better than every at quarterback and the young offensive talent fits together perfectly.

Nonetheless, Michael Vick is a high-risk quarterback, and could certainly get injured during the course of next season. The Eagles cannot afford to let this happen, especially if Kevin Kolb is in a different uniform. As a result, they need to make moves that help protect Vick in the upcoming draft.

Who are the Eagles looking to target? Here are 10 possibilities for the Eagles to draft in the first two rounds. The list includes defensive players as well as offense despite the title, since the defense needs to make plays so that Vick can do what he does best.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Domonic Brown and the Invisible Battle for Right Field

After Jayson Werth’s departure, a seriously intense battle was expected to ensue this spring over the right field starting position.  However, the first few weeks have been a total knock-out for Phillies‘ top prospect, Domonic Brown.

In 15 spring at-bats so far, Brown has come up with a great big, ugly goose egg.  Eight of his 15 unsuccessful attempts were strikeouts.  Brown is swinging at balls and watching the good pitches fly by as he continues to tinker with his mechanics.

In the meantime, Ben Francisco is quietly ripping the cover off the ball.  Francisco has tallied eight hits, five RBI and one home run while batting .375.  He is wiping the field with Brown to point where it is no longer even a contest.

But for Brown, this is actually not a sudden decline in performance.  He hit only .069 in nine games during the Dominican Winter League.  Before that, Brown averaged .210 with two home runs and 13 RBI in 35 games with the Phillies big league club.

Essentially, Brown has been in a slump since August of 2010, nearly eight months.  And this happened after he hit .346 in 28 games with Lehigh Valley.  His combined minor league average for 2010 was .327 with 20 home runs and 68 RBI over 93 total games.

Most people love a good train wreck, but for Phillies fans, this has been hard to watch.

Brown is the kind of home-grown player that every team strives to produce.  Much like Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins, he represents the best of an organization’s farm system.

To see Brown fail now, after all the hype and all the expectations, would simply be a punch in the gut to the Phillies organization.

So while the battle for the right field position may be over, the fight for Brown’s redemption is just beginning.

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Philadelphia Phillies: Why Joe Blanton Won’t Be Their Worst Starter in 2011

The Phillies’ “Big Four” has gotten all of the media attention this offseason.  Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels are four of the best starters in the league and combined form a tandem not seen since the Atlanta Braves of the mid-90s.

But what about Philly’s fifth starter?

Pitcher Joe Blanton has been overlooked much of the offseason, yet will be a big factor for Philadelphia this season.

In fact, he will not be their worst starter in 2011.

Sounds crazy, right?  Well, let’s go over a few scenarios that could happen this season.

After seeing Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright go down for the season with an elbow injury, we are all made aware again that pitchers can go from being a Cy Young contender to out for 12-15 months in one pitch.

Now, I’m definitely not predicting that one of the Phillies’ “Big Four” is going to need Tommy John surgery this season, but at the same time, one of them could see the disabled list.

Lee and Hamels have had injury scares in the past and Halladay and Oswalt aren’t exactly youngsters anymore.  Blanton would be a better starter because he would actually be contributing on the field for the Phillies.

The more plausible scenario, though, is a trade.  If a team like the St. Louis Cardinals is in need of another starter come July, they could be calling Philly about Blanton’s availability, much like they did with Jake Westbrook last season.

The Phillies could wind up trading Blanton before the deadline to the Cardinals or to a team like the Yankees, Twins or Rangers.  Philadelphia would not need Blanton in the playoffs, and they could manage relying on a spot-starter for the final two months of the season.

If Blanton is not with the Phillies, he can’t be their worst starter.

Regardless, if there is an injury to a member of the Phillies’ staff or if there is a trade this summer, it will be an interesting season for Joe Blanton.

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Philadelphia Phillies: Will Cliff Lee’s Small Injuries Lead to Big Problems?

If you follow baseball, you will know about Cliff Lee’s injury.  If not, then you should know that Cliff Lee, the prized acquisition of the Phillies’ offseason, suffered a side injury last week.  Lee’s injury was not as serious as, say, Chris Carpenter’s or Adam Wainwright’s, but it could lead to bigger problems.

Now that the scare of Lee’s injury is passing, it’s time to analyze how it will change things.

This is Lee’s second side injury. The first one caused him to miss a large portion of the 2007 season.  Lee also suffered another injury in 2010.  This has led some people to believe that Lee is becoming injury prone.

Since Lee went 22-3 and won the AL Cy Young in 2008, I have become a fan (I’ll be the first to admit I jumped on that bandwagon).  From observations throughout the last three seasons, I have come to several conclusions, and made predictions concerning Lee.

Based on these observations and some research on Lee, I have compiled this slideshow to answer some big questions about him.

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MLB: Will the Revitalized Philadelphia Phillies Repeat as NL East Champions?

Possibly the most competitive conference in the National League, the NL East brings excitement to the game year-in and year-out.

In 2010, both the Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves earned a trip to the playoffs, while the New York Mets, Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals were left to stay home and improve their short games on the golf course.

As winter comes to a close and spring looms in the very near future, the intensity and tenacity of the five teams are beginning to pick up. The 2011 season is sure to bring exciting play from all five teams in the National League East division.

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Philadelphia Phillies: 10 Players, 10 Questions for 2011

The Philadelphia Phillies are considered by most to be the prohibitive favorites to win the National League East, and to represent the NL once again in the 2011 World Series. They have very few roster spots up for grabs in spring training, and they are the epitome of a veteran-laden team with great starting pitching.

The counterpoint to this is that no team is without question marks, and the Phillies do have some of these crooked punctuation marks heading into this eagerly anticipated campaign.

Luckily for Phillies Nation, the Phillies uncertainties are not nearly as serious as, say, those of the St. Louis Cardinals who right now are wondering:

1. Is their unquestioned face of the franchise, and best player on the planet (Albert Pujols), returning after 2011?
2. How do they go about replacing Adam Wainwright, a Top 10 starting pitcher in the game?
3. What of the injury to co-ace Chris Carpenter?

But back to the red-pinstriped squad.

As you know, the Phillies somehow won a MLB-best 97 regular season games in 2010, and did so despite relatively down years from Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley. Essentially, the team returns intact in 2011, minus one big cog of their lineup (Jayson Werth) but with the addition of a stud pitcher, Cliff Lee.

What does this all mean? To most Phillies fans, it means “World Series or Bust,” or something like that, and I have no reason to douse this sentiment with buzzkill.

I will, however, highlight 10 Phillies players and the key question(s) surrounding each.

Alphabetically by player, let’s begin…

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2011 MLB Preview: Looking at Cliff Lee and the Philadelphia Phillies “On Paper”

Prior to the start of the 2009 season, the Yankees made a huge splash in free-agency by landing CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett. They won 103 games and the World Series. Looking back, the Sabathia signing sent shock waves, but nothing like the Cliff Lee spectacle this past offseason.

The Phillies won a MLB high 97 games a year ago, and it was a down year. Players were falling down like flies, and many fans were doubting if the team could even make the postseason. During the summer, the Braves held a large lead in the NL East.

Now with the signing of Lee, the fans are dreaming big and rightfully so. In the end, the Phillies may be the World Series Champions on paper, but now they have to go out and earn it.

ALSO CHECK OUT

Pitcher Rankings

Positional Rankings

2011 Atlanta Braves Preview

2011 Florida Marlins Preview

2011 New York Mets Preview

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Philadelphia Phillies: Matt Anderson’s Road to Redemption Faces Potholes

For Philadelphia Phillies’ pitcher Matt Anderson, being in Clearwater, Florida is a blessing.

A former flamethrower on the hill, arm injuries derailed Anderson’s career before it even began. The former first overall draft pick was limited to far fewer appearances with the Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies than many would have expected when he was still a top prospect—long before he was considered one of the biggest draft busts of all time.

After hearing positive news regarding his health, the Phillies took a flier on the right hander this winter as he attempts his comeback.

The road to redemption for Anderson began on Monday against the Toronto Blue Jays.

A few innings after Roy Halladay made a near-perfect spring debut against his former teammates, Anderson took to a professional mound for the first time since 2008.

As a non-roster invitee, it’s now or never for the once highly-touted prospect.

So with few fans filling the Blue Jays’ spring complex, Anderson took the hill to square off with a few well-regarded prospects—all while not a single Jays’ fan with a clue of who this guy was.

Unlike a few other Phillies’ relievers to take the mound this spring, Anderson did just what the team wanted to see—retired the side in order, including a strikeout.

In fact, he did so in a rather impressive fashion.

Early reports that stated that his arm didn’t have much gas left in it were proven wrong as he hurled a few fastballs that touched 95mph on the radar gun past a couple of young Blue Jays.

At the very least, he impressed the right guy. After the game, Charlie Manuel had nothing but positive feedback for the right-hander.

“I think we’ve got to see more of him this spring,” Manuel said.

“Yeah, he could pitch some more. Hell, he got three outs.”

In the most general of terms, that’s all that matters in baseball as a pitcher—getting outs.

Pitching more in the spring isn’t going to satisfy Anderson, however. As a minor league invitee to spring camp, he’ll have to compete just to make another appearance. He’s setting the bar high though.

“It was totally awesome. You can’t really put into words what I’m feeling right now, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for the past two years,” Anderson said after his perfect inning on what it’s been like sitting at home these past two seasons and wondering if he’ll ever get a chance to pitch again.

“My expectation, my goal is to make this team out of Spring Training. That’s the only thing that’s on my mind. That’s my goal. I plan on doing everything I can to do that.”

In a jam-packed bullpen, Anderson is going to have to throw up a few more perfect innings to crack the major league club.

With Brad Lidge, Ryan Madson, JC Romero and Jose Contreras as locks, he’ll have to out-duel a couple of guys on the inside track to break camp and head to Philadelphia. As left-handed relievers, Antonio Bastardo and Mike Zagurski could get a few more looks than Anderson.

Kyle Kendrick seems to have a job waiting as the long reliever and that could mean that Anderson has to outperform a single man to make the team—Danys Baez.

Baez has a good chance of making the team based on his salary alone. The right-handed reliever is set to earn $2.75 million this season in what was easily one of general manager Ruben Amaro Jr.’s worst free-agent signings during his tenure in Philadelphia.

A reliever making a nice chunk of change like that just has to pitch well over the course of the spring to wind up in the bullpen, right? Not such a simple task for Baez.

A good friend of Contreras made his spring debut in a B-game on Saturday, getting roughed up by a different Blue Jays’ squad.

After dealing with sporadic back pain last season that some believe caused a lot of his problems, he showed that he was still struggling just as badly, allowing five runs on five hits to a lineup composed of minor league players and not even making it out of the inning.

Though he began his own road to redemption on Tuesday by throwing a scoreless inning against the Blue Jays, some believe his time in the Phillies’ bullpen may be dwindling.

Though cutting Baez before the season begins would cost the Phillies a nice chunk of change, paying him to release him is starting to seem like a necessary evil.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Anderson is going to be given a job should that happen. The Phillies are also showcasing a number of young relief prospects this spring, headlined by Justin De Fratus and Michael Schwimer, both of whom could be integral parts of the bullpen.

Much of Matt Anderson’s future relies on the impending success or failure of Danys Baez.

If the Phillies do decide to cut Baez, turning to a fire-baller like Anderson could be an easy choice.

Giving relievers like De Fratus and Schwimer seasoning in the minor leagues is not a bad idea either, as the Phillies are going to need them when the likes of Madson and Lidge hit the open market following this season.

Turning to a guy like Anderson could be a good idea if he continues to impress by lighting up the radar gun.

For a guy who was coaching his kids’ Little League team this time last season, it’s not a bad position to be in.

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Philadelphia Phillies: How Can They Generate Enough Right-Handed Power?

The Philadelphia Phillies may have stolen the show from the Boston Red Sox this offseason with the reacquisition of left-handed pitcher Cliff Lee—giving them what many think could be the best starting rotation in Major League history.

While that will have to be seen, some people are overlooking the fact that the Phillies lost their best right-handed power hitter in Jayson Werth.

The loss hurts because of what he brings all around on the field, but also gives the Phillies a weakness—power from the right side.

With guys like Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard leading your lineup primarily from the left side—though Rollins is a switch—you can get stuck into jams against teams with a good left reliever. The Phillies’ biggest adversary in the NL East this year, the Atlanta Braves, host Jonny Venters and Eric O’Flaherty—both left handed pitchers that have shown success against the Phillies.

There still is a chance that they can find some help, though, as we’ll talk about over the next few slides.

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