Philadelphia Phillies: What It Would Take for the Phillies to Win the Wild Card

Shane Victorino, Hunter Pence and Joe Blanton all reside elsewhere.  GM Ruben Amaro Jr basically raised the white flag at the trade deadline and the Phillies started playing for 2013. 

But something happened along the way as they played for the future.  The Phillies started winning while no one else in the National League has been able to distance themselves for the second wild-card spot. 

The following slideshow is a step-by-step, series-by-series view on what it will take for the Phillies to travel to Atlanta for the one-game wild-card playoff on Friday, October 5th.  The final standings for the last wild-card spot could very well look like this:

 

1. Philadelphia Phillies  (85-77)  (16-6 rest of the way)

2. St Louis Cardinals  (84-78)   (9-13)

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (84-78)  (10-11)

4. Pittsburgh Pirates (82-80)   (10-13)

5. Milwaukee Brewers  (80-82)  (11-11)

5. Arizona Diamondbacks (80-82)  (11-10)

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25 Most Unforgettable Pennant Race Moments in Philadelphia Phillies History

It’s that time of the year again. 

No, it’s not Christmas. You won’t wake up and find any presents under the tree. It’s not Thanksgiving either, so no turkey for dinner. 

It’s time for Major League Baseball’s pennant race to kick into full gear, and while the Philadelphia Phillies are trying their damnedest to fight and claw their way back into the race, it looks like they’ll sit this one out. 

So it goes without saying, if the Phillies do somehow make the postseason this year, it will be nothing short of a miracle and probably the greatest pennant race moment in franchise history. 

For some historical perspective on what that means, here’s a look at the most unforgettable pennant chase moments in the history of the Phillies franchise—some great, some, well, not so much.  

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Philadelphia Phillies: Why Ruben Amaro Jr.’s Job May Be in Limbo This Offseason

Ruben Amaro Jr. may have his job on the line this offseason because of people like me. 

And, maybe, you.

In the few months that I have written in this space, I have intentionally avoided writing in the first person.  I have a very clear understanding of my place in the world of sports journalism, and while I always have an opinion I know that putting my name and my personal feelings behind it does not really move the needle.

In this instance, though, first person is the way to go. 

Impartial, heavily-researched, stat-laden takes on why the Phillies‘ general manager might get fired if 2013 is not better than this year are available all over the Web, including this site you’re on right now.

So if you want to read about the nine figures’ worth of contracts sunk in six players for next season (Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard, Cliff Lee, Jonathan Papelbon, Chase Utley,) or the depleted farm system, or all the holes the team has to fill (third base, the entire outfield, middle relief) suffice it to say you have options.

Not to go all Gary Matthews on you, but for me, Ruben Amaro Jr. is in trouble because of how I feel about the Sunday season tickets I still have for 2012 and for the tickets he wants me to buy again for 2013.

On Sunday I took my son and my daughter to the afternoon game against the Colorado Rockies.  We did luck into getting a Hamels start after Saturday night’s rainout, but neither lineup was what you could call high-wattage.  The Rockies, especially, looked like a AAAA team: not minor league, but not major league, either.

While that was going on, the Philadelphia Eagles were playing the Cleveland Browns in their season opener. 

Ostensibly, both the Phillies game and the Eagles game “counted,” but let’s be honest: 90% of the crowd at the Phillies game spent the day looking for Eagles score updates on their PDAs, and the other 10% were trying not to hear the score because the Eagles game was recording at home.

Think I’m overstating it? While my children and I were waiting for the family restroom, a stadium maintenance worker saw the phone in my hand and asked what the Eagles score was.

Essentially, then, I spent a couple hundred dollars (tickets, parking, food/drink) on an entertainment experience that was not particularly entertaining when I had a more enticing option available (for free!) at home.

And that is why Ruben Amaro Jr.’s tenure as the Phillies’ general manager may be in jeopardy.

The season ticket invoices will come out like always this winter. Probably by then, the Phillies will have made some moves in free agency or in trade to address some of the needs listed above. 

They do this every year now, it seems: Papelbon last year, Lee the year before that, Halladay the year before that, and so on—bold-type, splashy move to re-energize the fan base and, without question, to get the ticket-buying fence-sitters to sign up for one more year.

But it gets harder with each season removed from the 2008 World Championship season to write that check to the Phillies to save a place at the park.

Not so long ago, I was more than happy to give the Phillies my money and my time.  I made it a priority to get the invoice paid on time—even early—to make sure my seats didn’t go to somebody else.

I am not going to feel like that in January. I am going to stare at that invoice. I am going to remember how I felt at the stadium this particular Sunday (and really, all the Sundays since June). And I am going to make a decision.

That I have to think about it at all is why Ruben Amaro Jr. could be looking for work in 2013.

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Fixing the Philadelphia Phillies: 4 Steps Back to Dominance

Despite being one of the few remaining fools refusing to give up on the 2012 season until the door is actually slammed shut, I also realize this this Phillies team has glaring holes that need correcting this winter. 

Their fall from the pinnacle of baseball—102 wins and an all-but-certain trip to the World Series—has been sudden and epic, but their return to the top of the mount can be just as quick and dramatic. 

With a few tweaks, instead of a major overhaul, the Phillies can easily continue contending for World Championships.  

A lot of what went wrong in Philadelphia this year—Ryan Howard missing the first half of the season; Roy Halladay injuring his shoulder and struggling to find his grove; Cliff Lee’s absolutely astonishing season—are unlikely to repeat themselves in 2013. 

(Please note there was no mention of Chase Utley, who I fully expect to be ready to go until the last moment, when it’s decided he needs two to three months of rehab in order to play the game at half the player he once was.)  And most of the other issues the Phillies faced this year are easily fixed, especially for a club with money to spend in free agency.

In recent seasons a lot has been made of the Phillies’ ownership group’s apparent refusal to exceed the luxury tax threshold (not that it has stopped them from adding payroll when needed).  With the trades of Shane Victorino, Hunter Pence and Joe Blanton this summer, the team will avoid paying the fine once again this year. 

However, they have almost no chance of doing so again in 2013, and with the tax threshold raised for the 2014 season to $189 million (from $178 million), that gives the Phillies an extra $11 million in “cap” space. 

Without any big-name arbitration-eligible players (i.e., Cole Hamels, Hunter Pence), the Phillies theoretically could add two or three impact players without exceeding their budget.  However, not all that ills this club can be corrected in free agency. 

Without any further adieu, here are the four steps I believe the Phillies must take in order to return them to the National League powerhouse they were only a year ago.  

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Philadelphia Phillies: Why They Should Be Excited About Darin Ruf

If you are a Philadelphia Phillies fan, you have to be excited about the prospect of Darin Ruf smashing home runs in Citizens Bank Park in the near future.

He had an outstanding year with Double-A Reading as he hit .317 with 38 home runs and 104 RBI.

This was really a breakout year for him in terms of power production as he more than doubled his career home run total.

Developments like this have earned him high praise from around Major League Baseball, and one scout had this to say about him when he spoke with Jayson Stark of ESPN.

He might be Matt Holliday. … I saw him eight or nine games. And I saw him hit everything… And defensively, I actually thought he was better in the outfield than he was at first base. He’s an interesting guy.

As a matter of fact, when you look at Matt Holliday in the minor leagues, he also took a while to find his powerful swing. For Holliday’s power breakout came when he was 26 and playing for the Colorado Rockies. He hit .326 with 34 home runs and 114 RBI.

Ruf obviously put up a very similar stat line in Double-A, so even though it is somewhat hard to compare performance between the different levels in the organization, at least the numbers are similar.

Conveniently, Ruf could also fill the void that the Phillies have in left field. Even though he has been primarily a first basemen throughout his minor league career, Ruf has spent some time in left field this past season. Obviously, the pathway at first base is going to be blocked for a long time with Ryan Howard, so if the Phillies want to use him, they will need to help him discover another position.

If he develops into Matt Holliday, the Phillies will have hit the jackpot. Even if he doesn’t become quite that good, it seems as if he is going to be a very productive major league bat who will hit for a lot of power and produce runs. Nobody would complain about that either.

 

Whether you think I know everything or nothing about Major League Baseball, you should follow me on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook and keep in touch. I love hearing what you all have to say!

Follow @spinkickers

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Weak Schedule Could Help Vault Surging Phillies Back into Postseason Race

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never is, but always to be blessed. The soul, uneasy and confined from home, rests and expatiates in a life to come.” 

I assure you, Alexander Pope was not talking about the Philadelphia Phillies when he penned that quote in his Essay on Man and Other Poems, but it’s relevant enough to that ball club to practically be their mantra this season. 

As many great works of literature, of course, that famous quote was cut and chopped throughout time and only a fraction of it is what we remember today: 

Hope springs eternal. 

That’s all the Phillies have right now. Hope. In the beginning of the season, they didn’t even have that. They were forced to field a mediocre offense that replaced the injured likes of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard with “hitters” who barely qualified as replacement level. 

Their bullpen fell to shambles when key contributors from a season ago—like Mike Stutes and David Herndon—joined their offensive minded teammates on the disabled list. 

And don’t think that the starting pitching was immune to that injury bug. Cliff Lee missed time with an oblique issue early in the season and Vance Worley finally succumbed to a bone chip at the end of August. 

What many thought was the final blow for this Phillies club came at the end of May when ace starting pitcher Roy Halladay suffered a bad strain of the right latissimus dorsi that could force him out of action for up to two months. 

But Halladay came back. So did most of the other aforementioned names, like Lee, Utley, and Howard. 

And while their returns didn’t make an immediate impact on the club physically, they gave the rest of their teammates quite the booster shot mentally. 

They provided hope. Hope that they could model the rest of their season after the St. Louis Cardinals of 2011—a team who’s fury they felt first hand when they helped them make the postseason by defeating the Atlanta Braves only to be dispatched by the surprise RedBirds in the first round of the playoffs. 

Fresh off series wins against a pair of teams that would be in the postseason if it started today—the Braves and Cincinnati Reds—the Phillies are finally feeling confident about their chances. Confident about having to make that improbable and exhilarating run after being at the top for so many seasons. 

Currently eight games out of a Wild Card spot, it wouldn’t be easy. It’s an uphill battle on a near vertical slope, but with the right traction, that’s a possible climb. 

For the Phillies, that “traction” could be an incredibly weak stretch of games for them this month; starting with a home series against the Colorado Rockies. 

The Rockies, who have played most of the season without their superstar shortstop, Troy Tulowitzki, were just manhandled by the Braves’ pitching staff. They lost consecutive 1-0 games on unearned runs. 

The Phillies aren’t going to let up on them. They’ll be throwing two of the best pitchers in the National League at them in Cliff Lee (who shutout that Braves for seven innings in his last start) and Cole Hamels, followed by rookie Tyler Cloyd, who struck out nine and walked zero against a potent Reds lineup in his last start. 

The Phillies are in a position to win that series handily, and it’s just the start of a string of games that they should be capable of winning easily. 

Following their series against the Rockies, the Phillies will throw Roy Halladay, Kyle Kendrick, and Cliff Lee against the last place Miami Marlins before hitting the road to take on the worst team in baseball in the Houston Astros—for four games. They’ll then travel to Citi Field to take on the rival New York Mets. 

In case you haven’t been keeping count, here’s an update: The Phillies will play 13 consecutive games against teams with losing records. 

And that’s not even the kicker. 

For this club, the best part about the schedule is that after that very winnable 13-game stretch, they’ll return home to square off with the Braves, followed by three games against the Washington Nationals. 

Now, making up eight games in the standings is no simple task, but no team in the race right now is better equipped to make up that ground than the Phillies. 

The Braves have to play the Nationals and the Milwaukee Brewers. 

The Cardinals have to play the San Diego Padres, who have been playing good baseball, Los Angeles Dodgers and Brewers. 

The Pittsburgh Pirates still have to play the Reds and Brewers. 

And while most of this Phillies roster is still focused on this season, make no mistake about it—almost everyone else around the club, including the fans, has moved on. 

The five-time reigning National League East champions just can’t bring themselves to do so. 

It’s an uphill battle. Of course it is. Anyone who told you otherwise would be lying right through their teeth. 

But all the Phillies have right now is hope. Hope that the Cardinals left them a little magic following their improbable run at the World Series last season.

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

One Way for Each Philadelphia Phillies’ Player to Salvage His 2012 Season

To make an incredibly long story short: The Philadelphia Phillies have been an interesting team this season. 

After the heart of their order and their ace, amongst a slew of other injured players, spent time on the disabled list this season, the Phillies all but fell out of postseason contention. 

They traded Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence and gave a paltry look on the rest of the 2012 season. For all intents and purposes, this year was over. Two All-Stars were heading west and none were coming back to the City of Brotherly Love. 

Well, not through a trade, anyway. 

The Phillies would eventually activate Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Roy Halladay from the disabled list and even more reinforcements would soon follow. 

They battled through the month of August and suddenly found themselves in a position that felt somewhat familiar. It was the same spot that the St. Louis Cardinals were in last season before they vanquished the Phillies from the postseason. 

All of a sudden, there was hope. Hope at a miraculous run towards the postseason. 

But in fitting fashion for the Phillies this season, an incredibly bad loss with contributions from guys like Jonathan Papelbon and Kevin Frandsen seemed to dash that measly ounce of hope rather quickly. 

Now, the Phillies find themselves trying to make a comeback that would make the Cardinals’ run in 2011 look insignificant. 

Here’s what they need to do to salvage the season.

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5 Philadelphia Phillies Prospects That Could Steal a Job in 2013

Big changes are on the horizon for the Philadelphia Phillies. The last month of the season will serve as a tryout for players looking to earn a more substantial role in 2013. Some will flourish, some will bust, but one way or the other, change is eminent.

With new blood from Triple-A filling in admirably for injured and traded players, several prospects, both young and old are going to change the face of Phillies baseball.

A new era of Phillies baseball is upon us, the majority of the 2008 championship team has all but disappeared. Only a memory of what once was. With all the recent success, mediocrity will no longer be tolerated in the city of brotherly love. For the current Phillies roster, it’s shape up or ship out.

Here are 5 Phillies prospects who could steal a job in 2013.

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Philadelphia Phillies: 10 Ways to Keep Chase Utley, Ryan Howard Healthy in 2013

Chase Utley’s first game of the 2012 season came on June 27, 2012.  

Just shy of two weeks later, on July 6, 2012, Ryan Howard made his long-anticipated return from the Achilles tendon tear that so strangely occurred on the last play of the Phillies‘ 2011 season.

By the time Howard returned to live action this year, the Phillies were 37-47 and buried in the National League East basement, 13 games behind the Washington Nationals.

Today, the Phillies are five games better from a win-loss standpoint.  Considering that they have played the last two months without Hunter Pence or Shane Victorino, this improvement is encouraging.

And it proves how critical it is to the Phillies for Utley and Howard to stay in the lineup.

How can they maximize these assets in 2013?  Here are some ideas.

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5 Options for Philadelphia Phillies If They Don’t Re-Sign Carlos Ruiz

Besides a higher frequency of strong showings in the second half, the main bright spot for the Philadelphia Phillies this season has been All-Star catcher Carlos Ruiz.

Of course, in what essentially serves as a representation of this season for the Phils, “Chooch” has spent time on the disabled list just like many other key contributors.

But Ruiz’s future with the Phillies is not as crystal clear as that of some other members.

For one, Ruiz has a $5 million option that the team must decide to exercise for next season, or pay a $500,000 buyout.  After having a career season prior to suffering from plantar fasciitis, there’s little chance that the team would pass on exercising this option.

However, this option will only pay Ruiz through next season.  What happens after 2013?  What kind of contract would the Phillies offer to a then 35-year-old catcher whose injury history may or may not have been lengthened by that point?  What kind of competition will the Phils have from other teams attempting to sign Ruiz?  Would the Phillies even offer Ruiz another contract?

If Ruiz has another season next year like the one he did this year, the team could have few other choices than to try and sign him past next season. 

But with internal options available in the form of minor league catchers who are rising through the ranks, and both high- and low-cost free agents potentially on the market at that point, the team will also have options should they decide to go in a different direction.

Here are five options for the Phillies if they don’t re-sign Ruiz after next season.

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