Philadelphia Phillies: Series Proves They Have It, and Atlanta Does Not

The Phillies are rolling to start the season. Dominant pitching and an offense that has hit more singles than any other team in baseball. Clearly their series against the Braves meant more to their hated rivals than it did to them, but it’s always nice to let the few fans Atlanta has (and the national media) that their “sexy” pick for NL East champion was wrong.

Too many pundits and “experts” decided to overlook the four-time defending NL East champions (and their historic starting rotation) in favor of the Atlanta Braves—a team that has done nothing in the playoffs in a decade except watch the Phillies dominate.

Here are the top five things we learned from the Phillies vs. Braves series.

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Carlos Ruiz: Chooocherific in Philadelphia Phillies’ 10-2 Win over Atlanta

For the first six innings of today’s game, it looked like it would come down to the last frame. Roy Oswalt and Brandon Beachy were plugging away, maneuvering in out of trouble through the early going.

However, in the top of the seventh the Philadelphia Phillies’ offense finally cracked the code. 

After allowing a leadoff double to Raul Ibanez, Beachy was pulled for reliever George Sherrill, who proceeded to load the bases before being yanked. Carlos Ruiz, who had been given the day off, came in to pinch-hit and delivered his first career grand slam off Scott Linebrink to give the Phils a 7-2 lead.

Brian Schneider, who started in place of Ruiz, also sent one over the fence earlier in the game to give his team an early 3-2 lead. 

Oswalt looked solid, scattering five hits over his six innings of work and improving to 2-0. He also got himself out of a crucial bases-loaded situation in the sixth by getting Jason Heyward to fly out to end the inning.

It was Oswalt’s second solid outing to start the season, and a prime example of why the Phillies should be able to rebound after tough losses over the course of the year. When you don’t have a weak link among your top four starters, it gives your team greater ability to limit the length of losing streaks. 

Along with Ruiz and Schneider, Shane Victorino was the other offensive star for the Phils today. Shane-O-Vic went 4-5, scored two runs and stole a base as well. 

The Atlanta Braves‘ offense came back to earth after their six-run effort last night. They put two across the plate in the third inning, but didn’t look in sync for most of the game. They gave Oswalt only one other scare, in the sixth, but didn’t show much patience at the plate. 

The series finale on Sunday will see Cole Hamels trying to rebound from his poor first outing against Derek Lowe, who has been stellar in his first two starts of the season. 

April is notoriously Hamels’ worst month, so a strong outing would make some Phillies fans breathe an early-season sigh of relief. 

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Cliff Lee Struggles for the Philadelphia Phillies, While Antonio Bastardo Shines

I’m not one to get too excited or upset seven games into a 162-game season. So I’m about as ready to jump off the Ben Franklin Bridge after Friday night’s 6-3 loss to the Braves, as I was ready to march down Broad Street after their 11-0 win over the Mets Thursday afternoon.

Cliff Lee had an off night, and the Braves managed two innings of offense for the first time this season. After a shaky start, Tim Hudson settled down and kept the Phils off the scoreboard the rest of the game. 

I prefer to savor the one positive for the Phillies tonight, and that was the work of the bullpen after Lee was forced from the game in the third.

The Braves’ offense went dormant the rest of the game, giving the Phils the chance to get back into it. Antonio Bastardo, in particular, was really sharp in striking out six consecutive batters in his two innings of relief work. 

The Phils’ bullpen will be a source of concern all season and the more quality innings we see early on, the better. If they can manage to build their confidence over the course of the summer, it’ll only make things easier should the Phillies get into the postseason again. 

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Phillies Series Preview: Howard, Phillies Ready to Face Braves Starting Staff

Phillies: 5-1, first in NL East

Braves: 3-4, fourth in NL East (2.5 games behind Phillies)

Phillies preview: The Phillies come into this early-season showdown with the Braves having won five of six to begin the season. The offense leads the National League with a .353 average and a .407 on base percentage.

Ryan Howard is a strong candidate for player of the week with a .480 average, two home runs and eight RBI. Placido Polanco continues to swing the ball well in April. He is hitting .440 with four doubles and eight RBI.  

Three of Philadelphia’s four aces take the hill in the series, starting with Cliff Lee tonight. Lee had a solid outing in his first start back with the Phillies. He allowed three runs, four hits and struck out 11 in seven innings.

Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels take the mound for the Phillies in the remaining two games. Hamels will look to rebound from one of the worst pitching performances of his career last Tuesday against the Mets. Cole allowed six runs on seven hits in just 2.2 innings of work. He is 9-5 with a 3.95 ERA in his career against Atlanta.

Braves preview: The Braves offense has been anemic after the first week of the season. Atlanta is 13th in the National League with a .226 batting average after seven games.  

Dan Uggla is hitting .222 with two home runs and two RBI this season. The Braves need more production out of Uggla if they are serious contenders for the National League East title.

Jason Hayward continues to hit the ball hard with two home runs and five RBI to begin the season. Atlanta sends Tim Hudson, Brandon Beachy and Derek Lowe to face the Phillies in the series. Lowe is 7-4 with a 3.21 ERA against the Phillies in his career and is hard to hit in Turner Field.

Player to Watch

Phillies: Wilson Valdez is batting .429 with three doubles and five RBI’s this season, which is a pleasant surprise for the offense. He will look to continue this hot streak against Hudson, Beachy, and Lowe.

Braves: Brian McCann has an excellent track record against the Phillies. McCann has a lifetime .289 average, with 12 home runs, and 56 RBI’s against Philadelphia. In order for the Braves to win the series, McCann has to deliver some big hits against the Phillies rotation.

 

Pitching Probables

Friday 4/8: PHI Lee (1-0, 3.86 ERA) at ATL Hudson (1-0, 1.29 ERA)

Saturday 4/9: PHI Oswalt (1-0, 3.00 ERA) at ATL Beachy (0-0, 1.50 ERA)

Sunday 4/10: PHI Hamels (0-1, 20.25 ERA) at ATL Lowe (1-1, 0.77 ERA)

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Philadelphia Phillies vs. Atlanta Braves Series Preview: NL East’s Top Dogs Meet

Two series in the books, and it’s safe to say the Philadelphia Phillies are rolling. After sweeping the Houston Astros with relative ease in the first series of the season, the New York Mets came into town and put up a fight.

After forcing Cole Hamels out of the game early in the first game of the series, the Mets were run down by one of the league’s hottest offenses and of course, Roy Halladay.

Despite winning five of their first six games, there has been a lot of chatter about the Phils’ from the mouths of Major League scouts. After sweeping the Astros, scouts argued that it wasn’t the Phillies who looked good, but the Astros who looked terrible. They argued that the Mets would be a tougher task, and they were.

But the Phils were up to the challenge. After watching Hamels leave having surrendered six runs on Tuesday night, the Phils found themselves with their first lost of the season—against a division rival, nonetheless.

They needed to take the next two games, and through four innings, Joe Blanton looked like an ace in his own right. Though things quickly fell apart for him, the offense was fully supportive, banging out 10 runs in support of their fifth starter.

In the final game of the series, it was all Phillies. After escaping a bases-loaded jam early in the game, you kind of got the sense that the Mets, who have struggled against the Phils’ ace, weren’t going to get much off of Halladay.

In fact, they didn’t score a single run in the series finale, and the Phillies won handily, scoring 11 runs in a rout of the Mets.

Now, after a homestand that saw them win five of their first six games this season, the Phillies hit the road for the first time to face their toughest challenge yet—the Atlanta Braves.

Will the Braves be in a position to get their phenom closer Craig Kimbrel into any of these three games, or will the Phils’ hot offense and trio of aces prevail?

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Phillies at Braves: Who Will Tim Hudson Try to Injure This Time?

As the Philadelphia Phillies roll into Atlanta for a three-game set against the Braves, they are set to see Tim Hudson on Friday night.  This is the Tim Hudson whose competitive advantage these days seems to rely on hitting the other team’s players and attempting to shorten their season. 

He is especially prone to doing this when playing teams that compete in his division.  And since the Phillies have owned this division for the past four years, their players have the biggest bulls-eye for Hudson.

In 2010, Hudson nailed Phillies third basemen and number two hitter Placido Polanco in the elbow.  At the time Polanco was hitting .397 and was top in the National League for batting average.  The Phillies posed the only challenge to the Braves’ slim hopes of winning the division, and Polanco was proving to be a key member of the offense.  By injuring Polanco, Hudson took out a big part of the Braves only competition.  It was either intentionally done with malice or just loss of control. 

As it turns out, Hudson is somewhat known as a pretty good control pitcher, the type who can effectively hit his spots with regularity.  So….

Polanco was not the same the entire season.  He hit the DL twice and both times elbow soreness was blamed.  He ended up playing a full 20 games less than he did the previous season.

Following the end of the season, he was forced to have surgery to remove bone fragments in the elbow that Tim Hudson hit with a pitch.

No big deal though, right?  It happens once in a while.  Well what if it happens twice in a short while?

Later in the year the Braves were again playing the Phillies, this time the end of the season was drawing near and the Braves were feverishly fighting for a postseason spot.  The Phillies had already sewed up the division, but there was a possibility the two teams could meet in the postseason.  Further, the Phillies had managed to come in and annihilate the Braves hopes of a division title and possibly even a Wild Card spot by sweeping the second-to-last series of the season.

It was a game in Atlanta during the last series of the year.  The games meant nothing to the Phillies, whom had already clinched.  Their only objective was to make it out of Atlanta without any injuries.  Tim Hudson was going to do all he could to see that that didn’t happen. 

Hudson was on the mound fighting for a Braves Wild Card spot and Carlos Ruiz was up.  Ruiz had been on fire and was a big reason why the Braves were no longer playing for the division.  He had just had a tremendous series against the Braves the week before.

You will never guess what happened.  I know it’s hard to believe, but Hudson hit Ruiz with the same fastball that he had hit Polanco with.  Where?  In the elbow. 

Coincidence?

First time, maybe.  Second time?  Come on.

Hudson was fourth in the Cy Young voting in 2010.  He was 17-9.  He had 138 strike outs and an ERA of 2.83.  He only hit nine batters with a pitch and two of them were Phillies and both on the elbow.  How is anybody supposed to believe that those pitches weren’t on purpose?  What do you think the odds are of that happening? 

I’m not gonna sugarcoat it: Tim Hudson is a scumbag.  He can no longer compete with his skills so he takes cheap shots in an attempt to injury his teams rivals.  It really is the lowest, dirtiest way to play the game. 

I seriously hope that the proper officials are taking note and watching closely the events that transpire on Friday night in Atlanta. 

And oh yeah…Tim Hudson, we owe you one…or maybe even two…

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Philadelphia Phillies: 5 Things We Learned from the Mets’ Series

The Phillies did what many “experts” well, expected Thursday by taking two out of three from the Mets. The Phillies showed great character and poise by rebounding from a dismal series opener in which one of their four aces, Cole Hamels threw a dud.Their offense was pretty offensive (not a good thing here) as well as they were shellacked seven to one.

Game two saw Joe “Krispy Kreme” Blanton cough up a seven run lead, only to watch the offense bail him out in a 10-7 victory.

Game three looked like a mismatch on paper with Roy Halladay opposing John Niese. Halladay’s numbers were outstanding last season against the NL East, but I will address that later. The Phillies dominated the rubber-match of the series in every facet of the game by winning 11-0.

Here are the top five things we learned from the opener between the Phillies and the Mets.

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Philadelphia Phillies: 5 Good Signs at the Start of the Season

The Phillies finished their first home stand of the year Thursday night by beating the Mets by a score of 11-0.  This win gives the Phillies a 5-1 record through the first six games of 2011.

The Phillies scored 43 runs in those six games.

Overall, the start of 2011 has been a great success for this team, which had some big questions looming before 2011 kicked off.

Here are five of the most encouraging signs at the start of the Phillies 2011 season.

 

Jimmy Rollins photo by Jenn Zambri

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Erin Andrews and the 15 Sexiest MLB Reporters

Baseball and basketball are well-known for the many sideline reporters that pepper their broadcasts. Hockey utilizes an ice-level reporter found in-between the benches.

And baseball?

Well, baseball is getting there.

But when ESPN utilizes Erin Andrews as a field reporter during baseball broadcasts, you know there is hope that gorgeous field reporters will soon be gracing baseball games on a more regular basis.

So in that spirit, we’ve compiled 15 of the most beautiful women ever to cover America’s Pastime, either on the field or in the studio.

Play ball!

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Philadelphia Phillies: Recapping the New York Mets Series

I’ll just ignore the 11-0 shellacking today.  Halladay pitched extremely well.

I have to show the Mets some love, though. 

They’ve been in the doldrums the past couple of years and, who knows, they may end up being in the doldrums once again when the season concludes.

But, for the first time in a while, the Mets played with passion. 

Let’s look at game two of the series.  In years past, a 7-0 deficit was impossible to overcome; they would’ve waved the white flag.

Although the Phillies won the game 10-7, I came away impressed.

Whether it was the managerial change or cutting Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez, something is fueling the fire.

Making the playoffs is still going to be a tough task, but at least there’s some life being shown.

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