Philadelphia Phillies Are Once Again Heading to the Playoffs

Living in New York City and listening to the countless New York Mets and Yankees talk on the radio and on TV, I probably don’t appreciate the Philadelphia Phillies as much as I should. This group or core of Philly players is a very, very special group.

The Phillies clinched the National League East division title with an 8-0 win over the Washington Nationals on Monday night. It’s their fourth division title in a row.

The Phillies have clearly established themselves as the class of the National League and have something really special going on. Yes, the Phillies have stars in Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jayson Werth, but these guys are also winners.

It’s very rare in sports to have players who are stars and also winners. The Yankees had them in the late ’90s, the Boston Red Sox had them in 2004 and in 2007, and the Phillies have them now. Even their role players are winners.

If the game is on the line and Carlos Ruiz is coming to the plate, I would bet a large sum of money that he comes through. Same can be said for Shane Victorino.

Now, the Phillies will go into the postseason with some questions. How is Jimmy Rollins‘ hamstring? Has Brad Lidge fully turned things around? Will J.C. Romero be able to get out a tough lefty late in the game like Joey Votto, Adrian Gonzalez, or Brian McCann?

All legitimate questions, but if you are a Phillies fan, you have to feel very good about your team heading into the playoffs. They have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and in the first round have opted for the eight-day schedule, which means that they will only have to use a three-man rotation in the first round.

Good luck to whoever is facing Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels in the NLDS.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Cole Hamels Is on Fire: Phillies Pitcher Continues Hot Stretch Against Braves

When LHP Cole Hamels had his national coming-out party in the 2008 playoffs, I thought it would springboard him to a Cy Young-caliber year in 2009.

I predicted Hamels would win the National League Cy Young, and that prediction slapped me in the face like I would like to slap Braylon Edwards in the face for getting a DWI this morning.

Hamels suffered through a miserable 2009 campaign, going 10-11 with a 4.32 ERA (highest of his career), a 1.28 WHIP (highest of his career), and a whopping 9.6 hits/9 allowed. His head wasn’t in the game, and he just looked off the whole season.

2010 has been a different story for Hamels, and last night he continued his great season against the Atlanta Braves.

In a showdown for first place in the NL East, the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Braves 3-1 behind eight extremely solid innings from Hamels. Hamels gave up just six hits, one run, and one walk and struck out six in the 117-pitch effort.

His changeup was awesome last night, as he kept it down in the zone and got Brave hitters to swing and miss on it 20 percent of the time, which was more than any other pitch he threw last night.

For Hamels, this is nothing new. Over his last five starts, he has absolutely been on fire. In his last five starts, Hamels is 5-0 with a 0.49 ERA and is holding batters to a .173 batting average.

Most importantly, Hamels’ confidence is back. He looked like a man possessed last night. He was quick to the plate, he looked in command, and he looked like a guy who knew he was going to win the game.

A stark contrast from last season.

Not only has Hamels been great over his last five starts, he has been great all season as well. Hamels has bounced back in 2010 with a 2.93 ERA, 9.2 K/9 (highest since 2006), and more ground balls than ever before (45 percent).

His velocity is back up on his fastball to 92 mph, and Hamels has even added a cutter in 2010. Perhaps watching Andy Pettitte throw his cutter against the Phillies in the World Series last year inspired Hamels. A cutter biting down and in is death to a right-handed batter.

With Hamels on a roll and Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt anchoring the top of the rotation, the Phillies right now have the best top three in baseball. I feel bad for whoever they are playing in the NLDS.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Stephen Strasburg Goes Down Again

Update: The results of Strasburg’s MRI were not good. Strasburg was diagnosed with a tear in his ulner collateral ligament in his right elbow. Strasburg will most likely need Tommy John surgery and miss the 2011 season.

A couple of thoughts about this:

1. The Nationals are in no way, shape, or form to blame for this. They did everything they possibly could to protect Strasburg. Once again, this injury proves that pitching injuries have very little to do with pitch counts or innings pitched, but more to do with mechanics.

There is a reason why guys like Nolan Ryan, Greg Maddux, or Tom Glavine never got hurt.

2. Strasburg’s career isn’t over by any stretch of the imagination. Tommy John surgery is so common these days and the results of the procedure have been so successful, that a lot of the time a pitcher will come back from the surgery better than ever.

The pitcher Strasburg can relate to in his case should be Josh Johnson. Johnson had Tommy John surgery at the age of 23 and is now better than ever and a legit Cy Young candidate.

Strasburg will go see Dr. Louis Yokum for a second opinion this week.

Original Post

I sat down to watch the Washington Nationals – Philadelphia Phillies game early Saturday night and once again, I was impressed with what I saw out of phenom Stephen Strasburg for the first 4.1 innings.

Strasburg was rolling through the Phillies’ lineup, allowing just two hits and one run while striking out six. His fastball was touching the high-90′s and he was mixing in his curve and later his change to really dominate the Philly lineup.

Then the fifth inning happened.

One a 1-1 pitch to fellow rookie Domonic Brown, Strasburg threw a ball that tailed low and away to Brown, but Strasburg appeared to be hurt on the pitch. He kept flexing his arm and immediately the trainer came out to see what the issue was.

Strasburg left the game with what later was diagnosed as a strained tendon in his right forearm. Strasburg underwent an MRI on Sunday, but the results of that test are still not known.

I don’t know what the MRI will show, but if a trained tendon in his forearm is all that happened, then the Nationals are darn lucky. With Strasburg’s reaction, I thought he had blown out is elbow.

Regardless of what the MRI shows, Strasburg’s 2010 season should be over. The Nationals are going nowhere the rest of the season and there is no point in pushing Strasburg.

The Nationals have too much invested in Strasburg and they can’t be that desperate for a gate that they would threaten his career by sending him back out there.

For those who want to already want to compare him to Mark Prior — pump the breaks. Prior suffered injuries and had surgeries that prematurely ended his career. I am not going to come even close to putting Strasburg in the Prior category just yet.

As soon as the results of Strasburg’s MRI are announced, I will have an update on this post.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Stephen Strasburg Goes Down Again

I sat down to watch the Washington Nationals—Philadelphia Phillies game early Saturday night and once again, I was impressed with what I saw out of phenom Stephen Strasburg for the first 4.1 innings.

Strasburg was rolling through the Phillies’ lineup, allowing just two hits and one run while striking out six. His fastball was touching the high 90s and he was mixing in his curve and his change to really dominate the Philly lineup.

Then the fifth inning happened.

On a 1-1 pitch to fellow rookie Domonic Brown, Strasburg threw a ball that tailed low and away to Brown, but Strasburg appeared to be hurt on the pitch. He kept flexing his arm and immediately the trainer came out to see what the issue was.

Strasburg left the game with what later was diagnosed as a strained tendon in his right forearm. Strasburg underwent an MRI on Sunday, but the results of that test are still not known.

I don’t know what the MRI will show, but if a strained tendon in his forearm is all that happened, then the Nationals are darn lucky. With Strasburg’s reaction, I thought he had blown out is elbow.

Regardless of what the MRI shows, Strasburg’s 2010 season should be over. The Nationals are going nowhere the rest of the season and there is no point in pushing Strasburg.

The Nationals have too much invested in Strasburg and they can’t be that desperate for a gate that they would threaten his career by sending him back out there.

 

For those who want to already want to compare him to Mark Prior—pump the breaks. Prior suffered injuries and had surgeries that prematurely ended his career. I am not going to come close to putting Strasburg in the Prior category just yet.

As soon as the results of Strasburg’s MRI are announced, I will have an update on this post.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Philadelphia Phillies Acquire Mike Sweeney

Yesterday I wrote that it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Philadelphia Phillies go out and acquire a first baseman if they thought Ryan Howard would be out longer than 15 days. I thought they would go out and get a player like Mike Lowell, Adam LaRoche, or Casey Kotchman.

Well, the Phillies didn’t acquire any of those guys or Kotchman, but they acquired Kotchman’s teammate. The Phillies acquired 1B/DH Mike Sweeney from the Seattle Mariners yesterday for a player to be named later or cash considerations.

Sweeney had a .267/.327/.425 hitting line with the Mariners with seven HR’s. Sweeney is far removed from his offensive glory days with the Kansas City Royals, but should be a decent option every now and then for Charlie Manuel’s club over the next 15 days.

Whether you think Sweeney is going to help the Phillies or not, what this move represents is the Phillies doing whatever it takes to win. If they need something, they go out and get it.

Unlike the New York Mets, if the Phillies have a need, they do whatever it takes to fill it.

They have moved into the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox category of World Series or bust every year.

 

NOTE: The reason Sweeney could be traded was because he passed through waivers.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @theghostofmlg

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Kevin Youkilis, Ryan Howard Hit The DL

It seems now that the Steroid Era is almost officially behind us the game of baseball has turned into a game of attrition. Much like football and hockey, only the healthy will survive.

Two of the teams that have been hit the most by injuries—the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies—got hit even harder on Monday when both teams lost their All-Star first basemen.

 

First the Red Sox lost Kevin Youkilis to a thumb injury. Boston placed the 31-year-old on the 15-day DL with a torn right thumb muscle.

Youkilis was hitting .307 with 19 HR’s, and a .975 slugging percentage in 102 games for the Red Sox. With the Red Sox 6.5 games behind the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, losing Youkilis might be too much for them to overcome.

To replace Youkilis, look for the Red Sox to use Victor Martinez at first and put Kevin Cash behind the plate. On the days that Martinez is catching, look for the Red Sox to use Mike Lowell at first. Yes, Mike Lowell is still alive.

The Phillies suffered an equally similar blow when they had to place Ryan Howard on the 15-day DL with a sprained left ankle. When Howard first got hurt, I thought he had hurt his knee, but apparently it was the ankle.

Howard is having another stellar season putting up a .292/.356/.528 hitting line with 23 HR’s. The Phillies are already without Chase Utley and Shane Victorino, so losing Howard is adding insult to injury.

The Phillies were three games behind Atlanta in the NL East and 3.5 games behind the San Francisco Giants in the Wild Card standings going into last night, iff they can somehow stay within striking distance through the month of August, they still could possibly steal a playoff spot in September.

I will never count out the Phillies until they are officially eliminated. They are too good to be an afterthought.

I also wouldn’t put it past the Phillies to go out an acquire a first baseman if they think Howard will be out longer than 15 days. Right now, Howard’s replacement seem to be Ross Gload or Cody Ransom. That’s terrible.

Players who figure to be waiver candidates that might make sense for the Phillies would be guys like Casey Kotchman, Adam LaRoche, or the above mentioned Mike Lowell.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

MLB Trade Deadline Winners

Now that we all have digested what went on at this year’s July 31st trade deadline, let’s take a look at the teams who improved themselves the most at the deadline.

Here are the five winners from this year’s trade deadline.

 

Winners

1. Texas Rangers. The Rangers acquired Cliff Lee, Jorge Cantu, Cristian Guzman, and Bengie Molina at or near the deadline and all of these acquisitions will certainly help the Rangers down the stretch.

The biggest move of all was of course, the acquisition of Lee. Lee gives the Rangers something they haven’t had in about 20 years—an ace. Cantu and Guzman provide infield depth for the Rangers.

 

2. Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies were able to trade for the second best pitcher on the market and didn’t give up all that much to get him. The acquisition of Roy Oswalt gives the Phillies the best one-two punch in baseball with him and Roy Halladay.

 

3. San Diego Padres. I wasn’t that big of a fan of the Miguel Tejada trade, but I loved the Ryan Ludwick trade. Ludwick is a solid player, who should fit in nicely in the middle of the Padres’ lineup.

The Padres desperately needed an outfielder and Ludwick was a nice score for them.

 

4. New York Yankees. In terms of acquiring household names, the Yankees scored big time this trade deadline. Lance Berkman, Kerry Wood, Austin Kearns bring a lot of star power to the Bronx, but this also isn’t 2002.

All three players are at the back end of their careers, but each should fill a specific need in New York. Berkman will serve as the primary DH moving forward, Wood will be the eighth inning setup guy for Mariano Rivera, and Kearns will serve as a fourth outfielder/DH against righties.

 

5. Los Angeles Dodgers. I like what the Dodgers did acquiring Ted Lilly, Ryan Theriot, and Octavio Dotel at the deadline. I especially like the acquisition of Lilly, who I feel will do very, very well pitching in LA.

Despite their acquisitions, I do feel it might be a little too little too late for the Dodgers. I think they have too many teams to pass in both the Wild Card and NL West to make the playoffs.

 

Those were the five teams that wheeled and dealed on July 31st. Later, I will look at the five losers.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Philadelphia Phillies Make Another Blockbuster Move, Acquire Roy Oswalt

Another year and another trade deadline dominated by the Philadelphia Phillies quest to acquire a starting pitcher. Last year the Phillies acquired Cliff Lee near the trade deadline, and this year they have acquired another front-line starter.

The Phillies acquired Roy Oswalt from the Houston Astros for JA Happ and minor leaguers Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar. The Astros will pick up $11 million on Oswalt’s contract and the Phillies will not pick up Oswalt’s 2012 option, which was a sticking point for a while.

With the acquisition of Oswalt, the Phillies now have a one-two punch that, in my opinion, is the best in baseball. I don’t think there is a team out there that can rival Roy Halladay and Oswalt as a one-two punch.

With this trade, Ruben Amaro Jr. has finally solved something that has been an issue for the Phillies the last three years—the quest for a legit No. 2 starter. The Phillies have always had an ace for the last three seasons, but their No. 2 starters were more like No. 3s.

With Oswalt, the Phillies have One and One-A.

Oswalt had a 3.42 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, and a 8.37 K/9 rate (second highest of his career) in 20 starts for the Astros. He is consistently touching 93 on the gun with his fastball and his curve is as good as it’s ever been.

He will make his Phillies debut on Friday against the Washington Nationals.

For the Astros, they get Happ, who I’ve always liked. He finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2009, but has suffered from an injury plagued 2010. Happ isn’t a No. 1 type starter by any means, but he should be an above-average starter for the Astros for the next several years. He is under team control until 2014.

Villar is a 19-year-old shortstop who was hitting .272 with 38 stolen bases in 100 games for Single-A Lakewood this year. He is not a power guy, but with 82 career stolen bases in three minor league seasons, it looks like he has speed to burn.

Gose, who was the third player received in the deal, was immediately shipped off to the Toronto Blue Jays for Brett Wallace. Wallace, if you remember, was in the Matt Holliday trade last season. In the past three years, Wallace has been traded three times and has been on four different organizations.

I guess it’s better to be wanted than nobody wanting you at all.

Wallace becomes the Astros first baseman of the future. He was hitting .301 with 18 home runs and had a .359 OBP in 95 games for Triple-A Las Vegas this season. He was ranked the 27th best prospect in baseball according to Baseball America prior to the season.

I think it was an okay haul for the Astros. The key to this deal will be the development of Wallace. If he can turn into an All-Star caliber first baseman for the Astros then this trade will look solid for them in the future.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

With Shane Victorino Headed To the DL, the Phillies Summon Domonic Brown

The injuries keep piling up for the Philadelphia Phillies. Throughout the year they have seen Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Placido Polanco, Ryan Madson, and JA Happ go down with injuries. Now they can add one more player to that list.

Starting center fielder Shane Victorino went down on Tuesday night with an abdominal strain and has been placed on the 15-day DL. In order to replace Victorino on the roster, the Phillies have called up, perhaps, the best hitter still left in the minor leagues, Domonic Brown.

 

Brown was in the lineup last night against the Arizona Diamondbacks and he was roping the ball against Edwin Jackson. Brown is a tall, lanky left-handed hitter, who has one of the more unusual batting stances in the game.

He gets in a crouch and then holds the bat high above his head. His stance reminds me a little of a left-handed Matt Williams. It’s definitely not a stance that a hitting coach would teach a young kid, but it obviously works for Brown.

Brown won’t replace Victorino in 2011, but there is a good chance he will replace Jayson Werth, who is most likely departing via free agency. Brown will be the early favorite for the NL Rookie of the Year in 2011.

Here are some other facts about Domonic Brown.

Age: 22

Bats: Left

Throws: Left

College: None

Drafted: 20th round of the 2006 June Draft out of Redan High School in Stone Mountain, Georgia. I wonder if he knows Jake “The Snake” Roberts? He was from Stone Mountain too.

 

Minor League Stats

2006 Rookie: .214/.292/.265 with one HR and 13 SB’s in 34 games

2007 Low Single-A and High Single-A: .299/.363/.415 with four HR’s and 14 SB’s in 77 games

2008 Single-A: .291/.382/.417 with nine HR’s and 22 SB’s in 114 games

2009 High Single-A and Double-A: .299/.377/.504 with 14 HR’s and 23 SB’s in 106 games

2010 Double-A and Triple-A: .327/.391/.589 with 20 HR’s and 17 SB’s in 93 games

 

Keith Law Ranking and Analysis

Ranking: No. 14 out of 100 best prospects in baseball in 2010

Analysis: “It’s common in scouting circles to refer to an extremely athletic player as ‘a freak,’ but in Brown’s case, his freakishness isn’t limited to his incredible athleticism, but includes how well he has played in pro ball, despite still being fairly crude as a baseball player. He’s long and wiry, listed as an inch taller than Heyward but 15 pounds lighter, built like a young, lean Dave Winfield.

“As raw as Brown is, he does two things like a longtime veteran: He has a good swing path that should produce significant power as he fills out, and if he can keep his weight back a little better—he leaks slightly to his front side now—he has 30-plus homer potential. His biggest deficiency is in the outfield, where his reads are poor and he doesn’t set his feet to throw, but he has the speed and arm strength to become plus at the position and already runs down many balls he misreads.

So on the one hand, Brown’s game still needs a lot of refinement. On the other, if he does continue to develop, the sky is the limit; he could become a player who contributes in all areas offensively, while providing plus defense in right and even adding something on the bases.”

 

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Brad Lidge’s Struggles Continue with Philadelphia Phillies

Brad Lidge can turn the safest of leads these days into a full-blown nail-biter. Going for their first ever four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies, the Philadelphia Phillies built a 5-2 lead headed to the ninth.

Then they brought in Brad Lidge, and, as usual, things got interesting.

The first batter Lidge faced was Miguel Olivo, and he smacked a double to right. After retiring Melvin Mora and Brad Hawpe, things seemed to unravel for Lidge.

And what is a concerning about Lidge’s unraveling on Monday was that this was very similar to his meltdown in Cincinnati on June 29. After getting two quick outs that night, Lidge couldn’t get anyone out and served up a bomb to Joey Votto.

On Thursday, Lidge got two quick outs and then served up a 402-foot bomb to Seth Smith making the score 5-4 Phillies. While Philly fans thought the worst was over, things were just getting started.

Lidge walked Jonathan Herrera and then served up a single to Carlos Gonzalez. Then, for extra measure, Lidge uncorked a wild pitch that put runners on second and third with two outs. I couldn’t imagine what the average Philly fan was thinking at this point.

If the average Philly fan was losing his or her mind, the insane Philly fan was probably acting like Patton Oswalt in Big Fan. Lidge then intentionally walked Jason Giambi to load the bases.

Lidge somehow got of the inning when he got Ryan Spilborghs to ground back to the pitcher’s mound. So just to recap: That was one inning, three hits, two runs, two walks (one intentional), and 34 pitches.

Philly fans should be used to this by now, as Lidge has a 1.68 WHIP in 19.2 IP this season.

Having 19 hits and 13 walks is a lot of base runners for just 19 innings of work. It’s almost like the Phillies have to have a three-run lead these days in order for Lidge to be able to close things out.

It’s pretty clear that Lidge will never be the same pitcher that he was in 2008, when he went 41-for-41 in save opportunities.

But in order for the Phillies to overtake the Atlanta Braves and make a run at the Wild Card, they are going to need Lidge to be somewhat serviceable as a closer.

Any blown save could cost the Phillies a playoff spot.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @theghostofmlg

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

« Previous Page — Next Page »