Vance Worley, John Mayberry Jr. Continue to Prove Themselves

Perhaps forgotten in last night’s scrum between the Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants was the continued success of rookie pitcher Vance Worley and outfielder John Mayberry Jr.

Worley, who was put in the rotation due to an injury to the Phillies’ fifth starter, Joe Blanton, plowed through the Giants lineup for the second time in less than a month, giving up just two earned runs in the process.

It is the ninth game in a row the Phils have won with Worley on the mound. During that span, he has given up more than two runs just once, when facing the Pittsburgh Pirates in late July.

The 23-year-old right-hander has quickly become the Phils greatest surprise this season, holding an exceptionally impressive 2.35 ERA with eight wins and just one loss.

Some skeptics have quickly pointed to Kyle Kendrick and former Phillie J.A. Happ, two pitchers who had great rookie seasons that were followed by major disappointment.    

In 2007, Kendrick had a solid 3.87 ERA and was a major contributor to Philadelphia’s division-title run. Since his rookie campaign and his poor performance in the 2007 NLDS, Kendrick has not lived up to the initial expectations some fans had for him.

His ERA since 2007 is 4.62, highlighted by a sophomore year in which his ERA skyrocketed to a whopping 5.49.

Happ had an even better rookie year than Kendrick, going 12-4 with an ERA of 2.93. The young southpaw, who was injured for most of 2010, was traded at last year’s trade deadline for ace Roy Oswalt.

In his first full year with Houston, Happ has gone 4-14 with an ERA of 6.26.

Last night, while Worley was dominating the defending world champions, Happ was busy recovering from a shellacking at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers, a game in which Milwaukee scored six runs in just four innings.

It was the 10th time this year Happ had given up more than five earned runs in a game and the eighth start in a row in which he has done so.  

A drop off similar to that of Kendrick or even Happ is definitely a possibility going forward for Worley, or the “Vanimal,” as fans have come to call him. He is probably not an ace who can lead a club to the promised land; he just doesn’t have the stuff for it.

But, he should remain a solid fourth or fifth starter in the rotation, and in Philadelphia, where they are already full of aces, that’s all he really needs to be for the next few years.

On the other side of last night’s game was Mayberry, who continues to carry a hot bat.

The right-handed slugger hit another home run last night, this time against starter Jonathan Sanchez. It was Mayberry’s fourth homer in just over a week and the second in the series against the Giants.

Since being called up from Lehigh Valley on July 5, Mayberry is batting a formidable .311 with 19 hits, 14 of which were for extra bases.

Mayberry has had his fair share of clutch moments this year, winning the first game of the year on a walk-off single and tying last week’s series opener with a home run when the Phils were down to their last strike.

He has quickly become a go-to guy for Charlie Manuel, who continues to place him in the lineup, both as a starter and a pinch-hitter. He has clearly earned his place on the roster and could end up being the power bat off the bench that the Phils were supposedly looking for at the trade deadline.

Only time will tell whether or not the successes of Mayberry and Worley have been flukes.

But, in a period in which the Phillies players are growing older and management has quickly gone into a win-now mode, it’s nice to see that there are still young players remaining in the system who can help this club succeed going forward.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Top 10 Moments so Far This Season

The Philadelphia Phillies exploded out of the gates in 2011 and there has been no looking back.

This Phillies squad has experienced some pretty remarkable moments along the way. They have treated fans to a little of everything, from walk-off winners to milestone achievements.

Here is a countdown of the Top 10 moments, so far, in the 2011 season.

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Philadelphia Phillies: The First Week of Hunter Pence

It has been quite an eventful week for Hunter Pence.  It started with emotional hugs goodbye with his Astros teammates in Milwaukee and ended with a bench-clearing brawl with his new Phillies teammates in San Francisco.

And in between?  Well, there has been a little bit of everything.  So let’s take a closer look at Hunter’s first week.

 

Friday, July 29

Pence was pulled from the game in Milwaukee in the middle of the fifth inning where his Houston Astros were playing the Brewers and told he had just been traded to the Phillies.  He exchanged some hugs with teammates and said goodbye to the only team he had ever known.

 

Saturday, July 30

At 11:45 a.m., he flew from Milwaukee to Detroit where he caught a connection to Philadelphia. He hopped in a car the Phillies sent for him and went straight to the ballpark.  Batting practice was underway when he arrived so Phillies players and coaches were already on the field when Ryan Howard’s 10-year-old son ran through the dug-out at 4:39 p.m. announcing the newest Phillie’s arrival:

“He’s coming!” Darian Howard yelled excitedly. “He’s coming!”

Moments later, a wide-eyed Pence stepped onto the field with cameras capturing his every move. And when it came time for him to take the field, the new Phillie knew right away he wasn’t in Houston any more.

“The fans were giving me chills. I can’t even begin to explain it. It’s surreal.”

Pence got his first hit and RBI as a Phillie in his first game.

 

Sunday, July 31

New teammate Chase Utley picks Pence up at 9 a.m. from Philadelphia’s Westin Hotel where he had been staying, buys him coffee and gives him a tour of the city before they head to the ballpark.  According to Pence, he was just asking Utley what time he arrives at the park trying to get an idea of Utley’s game preparation:

“I was kind of like, I don’t know, pestering him really.  But he was like ‘I’ll pick you up tomorrow, 9 a.m.’

I said, ‘I can take cab,  I’ll just meet you.’

“You can take a cab, but I’m going to pick you up at nine.”

Hunter Pence hit a lead-off double in the 10th scoring the winning run on a Raul Ibanez double. When asked by the Sarge in a post-game interview how it felt to score his first winning run as a Phillie, Pence’s response is already becoming the stuff of legend:

“Great game, let’s eat.”

 

Tuesday, August 2

Pence goes 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI in a 5-0 win against the Rockies.

Though he’s still living with the few necessities he quickly packed in his maroon Houston Astros duffel bag (Cliff Lee lent him his cowboy boots to wear on the team plane), Pence seems to be adjusting well to his new surroundings.

 

Thursday, August 4

Pence goes 3-for-4 with two RBI including his first home run in a Phillies uniform in a 3-0 win over the world champion Giants.  His presence batting fifth in the lineup also seems to be giving Ryan Howard more protection.  

Coincidence or not, Howard has been on a tear since Pence’s arrival.  Howard says of his new teammate:

“He gives us energy and intensity. He’s been great for our team.”

 

Friday, August 5

Pence gets two more hits including his second home run in as many games in a 9-2 win over the Giants.  And no surprise, he can be seen smack in the middle of the bench-clearing brawl.

Seven games, seven wins for his new Phillies team.  And in those games Pence is batting .367 with 11 hits including two home runs and three doubles.  He has six RBI and five runs scored. Not to mention the effect he has had on Ryan Howard so far who has also had a banner week. Not a bad start for a guy still living out of a duffel bag.

Maybe when he returns to Philadelphia next week, his name will be on his locker and he’ll find a more permanent place to live but there is no question that he has quickly made a home in the Phillies lineup.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Putting Domonic Brown’s Rookie Season into Perspective

Opinions in Philadelphia on Domonic Brown seem to be mixed at the moment.  There are those who see him as a bust, as a top prospect unable to live up to the billing and think he should be dealt while his value is still high.

They see a player who struggled horribly last season, had to leave winter ball early because of continued struggles and then had a terrible spring training before getting injured.  Then even after being called up this season he never lived up to his hype with the bat while providing sub-par defense.

Then there are others who think Brown has shown promise and at 23 years old just needs time to play every day before he flourishes.  They see that he led the team in pitches seen per at bat, had great plate discipline, led the team in walk rate and was showing flashes of his ability.

But Brown is not the first rookie to struggle.  In fact, Brown actually turned in a league average performance with the bat this year.  While you may want more than average from your top prospect, it is not a bad start for a young rookie. 

Many rookies go on to have long, stellar careers after having rookie seasons even worse than Brown’s.  Here is a sample of some of them:

Player	AVG	OBP	OPS	OPS+
Alex Rodriguez	.232	.264	.672	71
Reggie Jackson	.178	.269	.574	72
Chase Utley	.239	.322	.696	87
Mike Schmidt	.196	.324	.697	92
Domonic Brown	.246	.335	.728	101
Barry Bonds	.223	.330	.746	103
Hank Aaron	.280	.322	.769	104
Dave Winfield	.277	.331	.714	106
Ken Griffey Jr.	.264	.329	.748	108

Notice how Brown fits in snugly right in the middle of them.  There are other all-time great players like Mel Ott, Roberto Clemente and Rickey Henderson that have had rookie seasons worse than Brown as well.

Don’t get the wrong message from this either.  This is not an attempt to suggest that Brown is a future Hall of Famer although I am sure the Phillies would love nothing more than for that to happen.

Rather, all this table does is show that many superstars all “struggled” as rookies.  Many much worse than Brown.  Yet a lot of them went on to be some of the greatest players ever to play their position.

Brown is not perfect and no one will argue that.  His defense leaves much to be desired.  However, with strong defenders in outfield such as Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence, the Phillies will have the opportunity to let him have growing pains as he develops into a better defender.

It has been suggested that the Phillies are not the type of team that can wait for a player like Brown to develop on the major league level.  That being a title contender means they do not have the luxury of patience.

But maybe that is not the case. Brown showed signs that the more he played this year, the better he was performing.  He ended July with a a .303 batting average for the month.

Maybe a team with such strong pitching, and excellent supporting cast can afford next year to run out a league average bat in left field.  That the upside of Brown’s potential is too tantalizing to overlook.

It is just too soon to write off Brown.  Too many players had far worse seasons as a rookie before going on to become all-time greats. In this era of instant access to communication, information and resources patience has become fleeting.  But in the case of Brown, patience just might end up being the Phillies best friend.

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Phillies-Giants: If It Wasn’t a Rivalry Before, It Sure Is Now

Before Friday night’s game, it was evident that the Phillies and Giants were two clubs with a history. They didn’t like each other—that much was certain. But after a bench-clearing brawl in the top of the sixth inning, these two teams just formed an all-out rivalry.  

During the first pitch of Shane Victorino’s third at-bat of the game, Giants pitcher Ramon Ramirez plunked Victorino in the lower back. Victorino, who homered in the top of the fourth, immediately threw his bat down and started walking toward the mound. Placido Polanco headed toward Victorino until being tackled to the ground by Giants catcher Eli Whiteside. And then the benches cleared.

The brawl lasted for several minutes, and was quite a bit more heated and physical than the comparably uneventful fight between the two clubs in Game 6 of last year’s National League Championship Series. By the end of it, Victorino, Ramirez and Whiteside were ejected from the game.  

The decision to hit Victorino may have been caused by Jimmy Rollins stealing a base earlier in the inning. Of course, the unwritten rule is that a team doesn’t steal a bag when blowing out the other team. But with the score of the game at 8-2, could this really be considered a blowout? Especially with four innings left in the game? There have certainly been comebacks of even more insurmountable scores over the past few years.

Perhaps the brawl was sparked by the recent war of words between Charlie Manuel and Tim Lincecum. Manuel recently was quoted calling the Giants rotation was “good, not great.” Lincecum took offense to that analysis, and it ultimately led to a half-hearted “apology” from Manuel himself.  

The Phils have not had a serious rivalry since the 1993 season when they beat the Atlanta Braves in the NLCS, advancing to the World Series before losing to Joe Carter and the Toronto Blue Jays. Sure there were the Mets rivalry of 2007 and 2008, the Yanks rivalry of 2009 and the Braves rivalry of last year, but those failed to ever mount any serious hatred or animosity between the the clubs. 

This time, it’s different. This is a real, genuine rivalry, that now ranks among the best in baseball. The fans don’t like each other. The players don’t like each other. If these two teams meet again in the NLCS this fall, it will surely be the most anticipated, hyped, fascinating and downright intense matchup in years.   

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Philadelphia Phillies: Why Hunter Pence Is a Better Fit Than Jayson Werth

Despite passing on re-signing Jayson Werth this offseason, the Phillies may have found a replacement who is even better.  

After turning to Ed Wade for help yet again, Ruben Amaro Jr. acquired the most coveted hitter on the market in Hunter Pence.

After less than a week with the club, his presence in the lineup is already being felt. In just six games, Pence has maintained a .360 batting average with his new club and upped his overall BA to .311.

Additionally, Ryan Howard seems to be benefiting from the added protection Pence provides batting behind him in the lineup. Since Pence’s arrival in Philadelphia, Howard is hitting .346 with nine RBI and four home runs.

To put that in perspective, Howard hit just three homers in the month of July leading up to the trade on July 30. The Phils haven’t lost a game yet with Pence on the roster.  

Obviously, it’s way too premature to make any long-term assumptions based on these numbers, especially given the extremely small sample size provided by Pence’s time here. But on the surface, Pence is a far better fit in Philadelphia than Werth would have been had the Phillies chosen to write the enormous paycheck it would have taken to keep him.  

Since signing a blockbuster seven-year $126 million contract with the Washington Nationals, Werth has seen an enormous decline in his level of play. He is hitting a measly .224, second lowest on his team, and surpassed by every starting position player in the Phillies’ lineup.

The right fielder has only 42 RBI this year, an incredibly low number considering Werth was signed as a player who, as Nats GM Mike Rizzo put it, “brings an edge to the ballclub.” Rizzo also at one point referred to his new presumed franchise player as “elite.”

But, as this year has evidenced, Werth is hardly capable of leading a team without a substantial supporting cast similar to what he had in Philadelphia.

While Werth makes an average of $18 million a year until he nears the age of 40, Pence will remain under the Phillies’ control through the 2013 season, making far less than that figure. By saving that large sum of money at the position, Amaro was able to bring Cliff Lee back, who unlike Werth, has so far lived up to his contract.

Lee has been the player everyone expected him to be, with an ERA of 2.96 and five shutouts. Although there were doubts when it was first reported that the Phils’ interest in Werth had diminished over the offseason, it all seems to have worked out for the better.

Pence said he got “chills” from the fans during his first game as a Phillie. This is a stark contrast from Werth’s lackluster approach to the fans, highlighted by an incident in which he screamed at a fan for what he thought was interfering with a foul ball.

Werth further distanced himself from the fans after his departure saying, “I hate the Phillies.” Whether he said it as a joke or in sincerity, the message boards and blogs were ablaze with fans furious with Werth’s apparent disdain for the team that got him a ring. 

Werth was a great player for the Phillies, and he surely enjoyed the time he spent with the team, fans included. But it’s refreshing to have a player who is actually hungry for a ring—a player who’s never been in a pennant race, and who is experiencing a winning environment for the first time in his professional career.

Since the Phils let Werth walk, Pence might just provide the extra boost to bring another parade down Broad Street.

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Ryan Howard and the 10 Worst Players Ever to Lead the League in HR and RBI

Ryan Howard is the best hitter in the National League.

After all, it very much looks like he is ready to turn up the heat in the second half, and in all likelihood he is going to lead the league in home runs and RBI this season.  And, of course, if he does that, he will be the best player in the league and easily earn his $20 million salary for the season.

Right?

Well, not necessarily.

Surely, by now we demand something more from our very best players. And while leading the league in home runs and RBI is an impressive feat, it is not the end-all be-all measure of greatness in the league.

To prove, let’s take a look at the quite bad players who have led their league in home runs and RBI.

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Has the Philadelphia Phillies’ Chase Utley Regained His All-Star Form?

There have been few years where Phillies fans were as excited for Spring Training as they were for it this year.  The Phils had just recently come out of nowhere to give their fans an early Christmas present in the form of Cliff Lee.

There were talks of an historic rotation.  A team for the ages people would say. Then the news struck about Chase Utley.  At first his injury was downplayed.  Eventually the severity came out.  His career was in jeopardy.

The Phils jumped out to great start this season despite the absence of their All-Star second baseman.  They were able to overcome an anemic offense and have, for the most part, had the best record in baseball since late April. 

After rumors that Utley would not be back until the All-Star break at the earliest, the hard-nosed infielder made his return on May 23rd.  Since that point the Phils offense improved a run per game and has been the second-best offense in the National League.

As happy as people were for Utley’s return, people soon began to grumble that he just was not the same player he used to be.  The knee condition had seemed to sap his power.  He was still a good ballplayer, just not the Chase Utley of old. Or so the narrative went.

But is this really the case?  Is Utley truly not the same player he was from 2005-2009 when he was hands down the best second baseman in baseball?  Looking at his numbers from last season and this season in comparison to his average year during that span would would seem to indicate that is the case.

Year	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
2005-2009	.301	.388	.535	.922
2010	.275	.387	.445	.832
2011	.289	.383	.491	.874

 

A quick look at the numbers would seem to confirm the hypothesis.  While Utley still manages to get on-base at a similar rate, he is just not hitting for the same power he used to.

However, there is more to the story than just those numbers.  Utley did miss all of July with a broken thumb.  He rushed back early from the injury and clearly was not healthy, as he had a horrible August before rebounding for an improved September.  If you factor that in then his season looks much better.

That does not account for this year though.  To explain that, there is a saying Charlie Manuel likes to repeat every year in spring training.  He says that for a batter to be truly ready for the season, they need to get at least 70 or 80 at-bats.

Chase Utley missed spring training this year, so he had to collect those at-bats in the minors.  But he never fully reached that plateau in the minors.  It took 11 games in the major leagues before he achieved enough at-bats.  Here is a look at his numbers broken down by that threshold.

Split	AB	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Minor Leagues	32	.281	.361	.438	.799
First 11 Games	41	.195	.298	.293	.591
Rest of Season	187	.310	.401	.535	.936

It would appear that reports of Chase Utley’s decline may be a bit premature.  He may not be a 30 HR player any more, but he certainly appears to pack a lot of pop in that bat still.  Once Utley got his Charlie Manuel endorsed 70 at-bats, he kicked it into overdrive. 

Funny thing is it literally happened the game after he hit the plateau.  Going into Game 11 he only had two extra-base hits and one multi-hit game.  Game 12 he had a three-hit day.  Soon thereafter he started hitting for extra bases.

All that is left is for Utley to manage his knee properly. To make sure he rests it occasionally to prevent future flareups.  The real test will be next season.  Can he play a full season?  He has proven his bat is still as strong as it has ever been.  Now he needs to prove he can stay on the field to use it.

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4 Obstacles the Philadelphia Phillies May Face in the 2011 Postseason

The Philadelphia Phillies are the National League favorites. Similarly, everyone expects them to cruise through the rest of the regular season and into the postseason. The question is, how will they do in the playoffs?

Philadelphia has won the division since 2007. They’ve got experience. Can they go as far as they did in 2008?

Here are four problems or obstacles the Phils may face in the 2011 postseason.

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Hunter Pence and Turk Wendell: Ghosts of Phillies Past

Since acquiring Hunter Pence at the trading deadline last Friday, the Phillies have been on a tear, winning seven in a row.

The pitching has been a given all year, but with the addition of Pence the lineup has also been performing well.

 

Featured Phillie of the Week: Hunter Pence

We’ll take a look at this year’s big trade deadline acquisition: Hunter Pence.

The price may have been high, as they had to trade away their two highest-rated prospects (along with two others) to get him. But so far, the deal looks like a good one. 

It was no secret that the Phillies lineup was unbalanced in favor of left-handers; Pence’s right-handed bat helps counter that. Now, when opposing managers make late-game pitching changes, they are either going to have to make an additional move, or at least one of the Phillies’ hitters is going to get a favorable matchup.

It might just be a coincidence (they were facing the subpar Pirates and Rockies pitching staffs), but the left-handed hitters sandwiching Pence—Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez—have both performed well since his arrival.

And in addition to his mere presence helping the other hitters, Pence has performed strongly in his own right, batting .360 with five RBI in his six games as a Phillie.

 

Ghost of Phillies Past: Turk Wendell

The Phillies have been masterful at the trade deadline in recent seasons. Not only have they picked up stars like Cliff Lee and Hunter Pence, they have also gotten lesser, but still vital, contributors like Jamie Moyer and Matt Stairs.

This wasn’t always the case.

Under former GM Ed Wade, the Phillies tried to improve themselves at the trade deadline, yet their efforts usually failed miserably.

Perhaps Wade’s worst acquisition was that of relief pitcher Turk Wendell in 2001.

Before coming to the Phillies, Wendell had a reputation throughout baseball as a “character.”  When he first came up to the Major Leagues he went through a bizarre routine, which included eating licorice while pitching and brushing his teeth between innings.

Eventually, he toned down the antics and developed into a solid relief pitcher. He was a key reliever for the Mets on their pennant-winning team in 2000.

The 2001 Phillies surprised the baseball world by contending for the NL East title. As the trade deadline approached, Wade thought that the bullpen was showing signs of fatigue, and so he traded with the Mets for Wendell and fellow reliever Dennis Cook.

In theory, bringing in a solid reliever like Wendell should have helped the bullpen. The problem was that Wendell had been used heavily by the Mets that season and was probably more worn out than the Phillies relievers had been.

Wendell was awful for the Phillies, recording a 7.47 ERA. A large part of his problem was his lack of control; he walked 15 batters in 15 innings. Thanks in part to his horrible performance, the Phillies relievers pitched poorly after the trade deadline and were a large part of why the team failed to make the playoffs.

Wendell went on to miss the 2002 season with an elbow injury. He managed to rebound and have a solid 2003 season, but the lasting memory of his Phillies tenure is his dreadful 2001 performance. 

 

Final Analysis

Ed Wade’s failings at midseason deals are a large reason why the Phillies never made the playoffs under his watch, and why he is now the team’s ex-general manager. In the following years, he would make further moves to acquire bullpen help, picking up pitchers such as Felix Rodriguez and Mike Williams. None of the moves ever worked out especially well.

We’ve clearly come a long way since those days. Now, instead of getting questionable relief pitchers, the Phillies seem to bring in All-Star-caliber reinforcements every year.

 

Originally published on my blog: Stranger in a Strange Land

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