Still Too Early to Say Philadelphia Phillies Are Out of Their Slump

After the Phillies’ hitting coach, Milt Thompson, was fired a few days ago, it looked like he was simply the scapegoat. But now that the Phillies are smacking the Rockies around a little bit, including a 10-2 shellacking of Ubaldo Jimenez, it looks like the move might have actually worked.

“It doesn’t mean we’re all of a sudden going to start hitting,” Jimmy Rollins said following Thompson’s firing, but that would seem to be the case.

Guys no longer seem to be pressing. They’re standing tall at the plate, watching the bad ones go by, and taking what the pitcher is willing to give.

If that means a single base knock, then so be it. However, they’re still getting their extra-base knocks and going yard because they’re allowing the pitches to come to them rather than chasing them a foot out of the zone in any direction.

But if we’re going to be pessimistic, they are still five games away from the Braves. The winning is nice for now, but they’ve still got a long way to go.

The hitting is a step in the right direction, and Kyle Kendrick and J.A. Happ were very good on back-to-back days. I would even go so far as to say Kendrick was spectacular.

Kendrick is certainly an odd player to watch because he could come back and not make it out of the second inning in his next start.

They’ve just got to keep it up. Really, that’s it. They’ve got to continue coming up with the clutch hit, strikeout, catch, throw, and whatever else. If they keep doing the little things, they can put themselves in a position to catch the Braves.

However, if they fall back into a slump they’re going to look up at some point and realize the Braves are too far ahead to be caught anymore. We’re nearly into August, and it’s time they play with some sense of urgency.

Because if all they’re worried about is stringing a few wins together here and there and just trying to maintain, it’s going to bite them—hard. Whether or not they want to admit it to themselves, it’s crunch time.

Next time they fall into one of their 10 to 15-game slumps, they’re not going to have enough time to dig themselves out.

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Philadelphia Phillies Make It Difficult to Get Excited Over Wins

The Phillies won 6-0 on Friday night over the Colorado Rockies at Citizen’s Bank Park. Roy Halladay got the win as he pitched eight scoreless innings, fanning nine, and watched his offense explode for five runs in the fifth inning.

And that’s it. That’s all I’ve got. Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll read again soon.

… You’re still here? Oh, you wanted more? Sorry, that’s truly all I’ve got. Here is where I would usually add some sort of analysis or my opinion on the game and the Phillies in general, but there’s really nothing more left to be said.

Absent a hot streak soon, wins like this won’t matter.

They’ve got to keep this up for the rest of the season and hope that the Atlanta Braves start losing.

How do they keep this up? Well, they swing the bats better. That’s it. We’ve been over everything and every time it looks like they’re getting their act together, it falls apart—making it incredibly difficult to get excited over any of their wins.

It was great to see them put up all those runs in the fifth inning, but that was their entire offense right there. Outside of an RBI by Raul Ibanez in the eighth, the fifth inning was the only time they could score.

Jayson Werth got another RBI this month, so the world might be coming to an end. For the first night in a long time, Ryan Howard wasn’t their entire offense. And, perhaps most surprisingly of all and tying into the first two feats of this game, Halladay actually got some run support.

But, there’s still plenty of bad to go around.

For starters, they still left 11 runners on base. Yeah, 11 runners were left stranded out on the bags tonight. So even though they were able to score six runs, it could have, and should have, been a whole lot more.

If it was anyone but Halladay, or perhaps Cole Hamels, on the mound, the six runs likely would not have been enough.

On the bright side, they did win. Perhaps I’m being a bit pessimistic but if you take a second to look through my archives, you’ll see that I supported this team up until this point. But they’ve successfully sucked out all my optimism and left me with thoughts like “Cool, they won, but how will they mess it up tomorrow?”

It’s disgusting and I hate them for it. But, odds are they will lay an egg tomorrow, so excuse me if I’m not setting off fireworks in the backyard. I will be sure to watch the game, however, and hope with all I’m worth that I’m wrong.

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Milt Thompson Pegged as Philadelphia Phillies’ Scapegoat

With the heat turning up on Charlie Manuel and the Phillies for their pathetic display this season, the team needed to find a scapegoat to turn attention away.

But after a game in which the Phils couldn’t put a run on the board until the 11th inning despite 12 total hits and a eight scoreless innings of one-hit baseball by Cole Hamels, it would have to be a good one.

Their selection was logical: If everyone is upset about the lack of hitting, fire the hitting coach, Milt Thompson.

Of course, anyone paying attention can see this isn’t going to fix things. Thompson can’t swing the bats for the players and it doesn’t seem like anyone is going to talk them out of swinging for the fences every time they step up to the plate.

He can preach and preach and preach about just getting contact and how useful a base knock can be, but he has no control over them once they leave the dugout.

And once they’re in that batter’s box, you can bet every single guy in this lineup gets wide-eyed just looking out at the vines in center field and get giddy just thinking about how they’re going to take their lap around the bases.

That is, until their fantasy is ruined by the ump shouting “Steeerike Three!” in their ear.

But, like I said, it’s a move that certainly makes sense on the surface and will breathe some new optimism into any fan looking for any reason to believe in this team again. So, for that reason, the move has done its job.

The new guy, Greg Gross, has a history inside the Phillies’ organization. He was a player for 10 years and was around for the Phils’ World Series appearances in 1980 and ’83. He was the hitting coach once before, from 2002 to 2004, but went to Triple-A Lehigh Valley in 2005 to work in player development.

Perhaps a shakeup is just what these guys need to wake them up, but I’m so sick of saying that by now I could puke.

Either way, Gross is going to have a difficult time ahead of him as he’s taking over a lineup ranked 13th in the National League in batting average with a mediocre .254 average, and a lot of guys who are getting in their own way at the plate more often than not.

One thing is for sure: As a .287 career hitter with only seven home runs in 17 years, Gross will certainly not be preaching that the bats continue to aim for the fences. Hopefully his unique perspective will sink in before the season is officially lost. But I’m not holding my breath.

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Charlie Manuel Makes a Critical Mistake in Loss to St. Louis Cardinals

In the top of the seventh inning of the Phillies’ 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday night, the Phillies had runners on first and second with two outs and Carlos Ruiz at the plate.

Recognizing this, the Cardinals elected to have pitcher Jaime Garcia work around Ruiz, walk the bases loaded, and go after pitcher Joe Blanton hitting in the ninth hole.

Keep in mind that at this point the score was only 1-1.

Ruiz walked after five pitches, and, to the dismay of every Phillies fan watching, Blanton came up to the plate to work against the left-handed Garcia. Needless to say, Blanton struck out, the Phils left three guys on base, and eventually went on to lose the game after Blanton fell apart in the seventh and eighth innings.

So why didn’t Charlie Manuel pinch hit for Blanton in that spot?

The offense has been lethargic, to put it nicely, and even a single would have gotten them at least two runs and a two-run lead heading into the bottom of the seventh inning.

One reason is the lack of options on the bench. With Ben Francisco playing left field for Raul Ibanez, the only righty available was Wilson Valdez. Valdez hasn’t exactly been great this year, but he’s certainly been hitting better than Blanton and quite obviously gives them a better chance at scoring some runs.

Another reason is the limited amount of time a new pitcher would have had to get warmed up, considering there were already two outs in the inning.

But, again, that’s Manuel’s fault. He should have realized what the Cardinals were doing while Ruiz was at the plate and got someone up in the bullpen. And if Valdez is able to come through, that gives the guy in the bullpen plenty of time to be loosened up.

Even if the guy Manuel called upon wasn’t loose, he still probably couldn’t have done any worse than Blanton did after that, as Blanton gave up three more runs and turned the ball over with a 4-1 deficit in the eighth inning.

To me, it looked like Manuel has fallen into the same slump as his team and is making conservative decisions in an effort to avoid a loss, rather than being aggressive and going for the win.

Anyone watching Blanton this year knows he’s worthless after six innings, so it was the perfect time to put him on the bench, give him an “atta-boy” for six solid innings, and hand the ball off to, ideally, Ryan Madson.

So now that Manuel has joined in on the bonehead mistakes, the Phils have essentially assured their fans one miserable October.

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MLB: Roy Oswalt, Dan Haren, or Bust for the Phils?

All the clamor as of late has been for the Phillies to go out and add another starting pitcher, possibly even one with “ace” qualities. While I’m not exactly a proponent of the move, it looks like that’s inevitably what’s going to happen.

But, as Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reported recently, the Phillies aren’t looking for just any starting pitcher and will only trade for a top-flight starter. In fact, again, according to Salisbury, the Phils won’t be trading for any pitcher not named Roy Oswalt or Dan Haren.

“Baseball officials with knowledge of the Phillies’ thinking say that if the Phils can’t land a top pitcher, such as Oswalt or Haren,” Salisbury writes, “they may not add a pitcher at all.”

It’s a bit surprising initially to think that Ruben Amaro Jr. would simply give up looking for a pitcher just because he can’t land the exact guy he wants, but it makes sense.

Amaro knows as well as anyone that he can’t press and make a trade just for the sake of making a move. If he’s going to ship players out, he has to make sure he’s getting the same value in return, or else he’s going to hurt the team for a few years.

He does, however, seem to be losing options.

According to reports, Oswalt is likely going to refuse to waive his no-trade clause unless the team trading for him agrees to pick up his $16 million option for 2010.

But, with a huge deal just getting done with Ryan Howard and a couple other guys having to be paid before then, the Phils might see that as a bit pricey for a guy who would be their third starter.

As I’ve said before, I would think the wiser option would be to simply ride out the season with J.A Happ and Kyle Kendrick as your final two starters, then perhaps look to see who is available either via free agency or trade next season.

Happ was very good last year, and Kendrick really hasn’t been that bad. His most recent outing against the Cardinals was certainly one to forget, but overall he’s been an average pitcher on a very average team.

Amaro says he already knows what he’s going to do, so it’s really just a matter of waiting and seeing for Phillies fans. Even though the trade deadline isn’t until the 31st, the Phils have an opening for a starter this Sunday, so whatever move they’re going to make will likely be made before then.

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Philadelphia Phillies: Jamie Moyer Is Out, Vance Worley Is In

Jamie Moyer, who had to leave Tuesday’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals in the first inning after injuring his elbow, is headed to the disabled list. And, by the sounds of it, he’ll be there for quite some time.

Skipper Charlie Manuel compared the injury to J.A. Happ’s—an injury that sidelined Happ since April 16th and only has him scheduled to return to the rotation on Saturday. Given Moyer’s age, it likely means we’ve seen the last of him for the 2010 season.

To take his place (and the place of the short-lived Andrew Carpenter experiment), the Phillies have called up Vance Worley from Double-A Reading, skipping Lehigh Valley to come to Philly. Worley will take a long relief role in the bullpen after going 9-4 with a 3.20 ERA in 19 starts for Reading.

Worley was the team’s third-round pick in the First-Year Player Draft back in 2008.

If Manuel is right and Moyer is going to miss at least a couple months because of this injury, it makes it that much more likely the Phils will soon be swinging a trade for a starting pitcher rather than pulling guys up from Triple-A to round out the rotation.

However, if trade talks fall through, it’s possible Worley could be given a chance to start in Moyer’s place this upcoming Sunday.

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J.A. Happ Will Likely Get Kyle Kendrick’s Saturday Start

With Kyle Kendrick being sent down to the minors recently, there’s an open spot this Saturday for a starting pitcher, so the Phillies need to figure out their plan of attack quickly.

In Kendrick’s stead, they brought up Andrew Carpenter, but General Manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. made it very clear that they see Carpenter as a bullpen pitcher. Ruben did say Carpenter could have an outside chance to start Saturday, but that really just means he’s there last resort.

Then, in typical Amaro fashion, he hinted that there could be something bigger in the works rather than just picking a name out of a hat to start Saturday.

“Happ is a possibility (to start Saturday),” Amaro said, per CSNPhilly.com. “We would consider him, and we have other balls in the air.”

“Other balls in the air,” of course, means Amaro is currently in talks for a pitcher. Who that pitcher is or what the Phillies would have to give up for him is obviously not known at this point, but I don’t think it’s likely Amaro brings in a high-priced starter, despite his view of the team as “buyers” at the deadline.

“I view us as buyers and I view us as a team that’s still going to be a contending team, but it depends on the guys in the clubhouse,” Amaro said. “It’s up to them to make it happen—as they have in the past.

“If we continue to play the way we are playing I don’t know if there’s a trade we can make to make us a playoff contender. We have to play better baseball or we’re not going to get anywhere. It’s really up to the guys swinging the bats and catching the baseballs and making the pitches. I can get Cy Young and Mariano Rivera and it wouldn’t matter. The team has to play better.”

Wow, way to say what we’re all thinking, Ruben.

That mini-rant, as well as the fact that Happ was recently yanked after only three innings of his most recent Triple-A start, all points to Happ taking the mound on Saturday and likely staying in that spot through the season, at least.

And in some good news for Phillies fans (if there is much to be found these days), Happ looked great in his last outing (3IP, 0ER/R, 3H, 3SO, 0BB) , so it’s likely he’s finally healthy and ready to show some of the stuff he had last season that had him as a runner-up for Rookie of the Year

It is likely that Amaro moves Kendrick and perhaps another guy for some more bullpen help, or perhaps a low-end starter, but even that doesn’t seem likely anymore with the way the Phillies have been playing.

Like Amaro said, there’s no reason to make moves to improve this team in the short-term when they’re not willing to improve with what they already have.

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Philadelphia Phillies Should Trade Jayson Werth for Prospects

As much as it hurts to say, it’s looking like the Phillies‘ season is going to be a wash. They keep falling further and further behind the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets in the NL East race, and are just as far behind for a Wild Card spot.

In fact, short of charging back and winning the division, there’s likely no chance the Phils will be able to make it back to the postseason, much less to a third straight World Series.

So it’s time now to start looking toward 2011 and beyond. And the best way to do that is to move Jayson Werth, who is the Phillies’ best piece to play with right now. In doing so, they can restock the farm system that Ruben Amaro, Jr. has left relatively bare from trades for Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay.

Within the next few years, the Phillies are going to need help in left field, right field (which obviously becomes more of a priority by trading Werth), third base, catcher, and pitching—not only in the bullpen, but starters as well.

Raul Ibanez only has one more season left on his deal, and Placido Polanco and Carlos Ruiz aren’t getting any younger. The bullpen has been a mess for years, and the three, four, and five starters are always question marks.

Joe Blanton is inconsistent (to say the least), Jamie Moyer is just a guy at this point, and the fifth spot is always up in the air. Kyle Kendrick’s recent demotion most likely means the Phillies have given up on him as a starter, and J.A. Happ might have blown his chance to become a full-time starter by getting injured early in the season.

Happ has the tools to be a guy the Phils can count on, but they’re going to need to see a lot more out of him before they can be comfortable penciling him in as a starter year in and year out.

Right now, trading for a top-of-the-line starter is not necessary, nor is it wise. Roy Oswalt and Dan Haren are two names being kicked around, but both guys are very pricey and would likely be the only thing the Phils can get if they trade Werth.

It would be great having another starter, but at this point, I would rather have three or four very good prospects, as opposed to one very good pitcher. Blanton, Moyer, and Happ can carry the load for another season or two. Hopefully, one of the guys they pick up in a Werth trade can develop into an Oswalt/Haren type of player.

The best thing about all of this is that the Phillies could probably trade Werth, call up Dominic Brown, have him platoon with Ben Francisco for a while, and still be good enough to make a late push and win the division—that is, if everyone can figure out what’s causing their funks.

But, with or without Werth, it seems as though that would take a miracle.

So instead of treading water for the rest of the season with a guy like Werth in right field, simply collecting a check until he can jump ship in free agency, why not move him while they can and get some quality guys for the future?

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Philadelphia Phillies Lose Despite Three First-Inning Runs vs. Cardinals

It’s not getting any prettier for the Phillies after the All-Star break as now not only are the bats suffering, but the pitching is starting to slide as well.

The latter has become more evident after Roy Halladay got knocked around Sunday night and Kyle Kendrick got knocked around even worse on Monday night.

Kendrick, who only pitched five innings against the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday, gave up seven runs—four of them home runs, and five of the seven runs coming in the fifth inning. Up until that point, Kendrick had been an impressive 4-0 with a 1.67 ERA against the Cardinals.

I’m not exactly a math whiz, but something tells me that ERA will be going up a little bit.

“My command was off all night,” Kendrick said after the game. “I got behind, I left pitches up. They should be hit where they hit them.”

Kendrick, however, isn’t the only guy to blame. He did give up a 3-0 nothing lead the Phillies’ bats gave him in the first inning, but it’s also worth noting that the Phils wound up with only four runs on the board when all was said and done.

Jayson Werth, whose days as a Phillie could be numbered, continued his struggles with runners in scoring position. In the first inning, he had guys on second and third with only one out, and couldn’t even manage to hit a ground ball and get a run home.

Instead, Werth hit a weak pop-up to Albert Pujols at first base. Shane Victorino came up afterward and hit a shot back up the middle to bring both guys home, but had Werth done that and gotten on base, Victorino’s hit could have brought him home and put four runs on the board right out of the gate.

Later, Werth decided to get cute over at first base and take a monstrous lead. Yadier Molina would have none of it, stood up, and gunned Werth easily.

It doesn’t even look like he’s trying anymore.

Also figure in that Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco went a combined 2 for 10 and you’ve got a lot of hits coming with the bases empty and not a lot of RBI opportunities. If someone doesn’t grab Rollins by the neck and convince him to stop swinging for the fences, his average could soon fall below .200 and the Phils could soon fall below .500.

Jamie Moyer (9-9, 4.88 ERA) takes on Chris Carpenter (10-3, 3.16 ERA) Tuesday night in game two of the series, so it’s either going to be a 2-1 Phillies win or a 13-1 Phillies loss. There really is no in between with Moyer on the mound, is there?

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NL East Race: The Devil Wears Prado

Things have certainly not been going well. It might be the Year of the Pitcher somewhere, but not in Philadelphia.

I’m sorry. Perhaps that wasn’t supportive. Let’s petition to focus only on the positives.

I’ll start: Jimmy Rollins is the current active leader in consecutive steals, Placido Polanco is back from the DL with his team-leading batting average, and Ryan Howard leads the league in RBI.

Jayson Werth, however, has developed an unexplained aversion for touching his bat to the ball.

Someone should tell him it won’t make you blind.

Here’s another petition: stop the Tweet-volume graphs on the game recaps. There’s nothing more irrelevant to the game. It’s no secret that the volume of twits tweeting about the Phils is directly proportional to stuff happening during the game.

It’s just as circumstantial as the level of disgust rising in my house when my husband uses the john.

It’s not rocket science.

Supposedly things are so bad people are petitioning to get Pat Burrell back.

Fat chance. He feels right at home peeking over at old teammate, Aaron Rowand, in center field in San Francisco. But Pat’s move to the Bay Area has people wondering about those rumors that he got married—to a girl.

Or maybe I just made that up.

Now the Phillies have three more chances to turn it around against the newly-crowned NL Central kings fresh off their six-game winning streak.

Perhaps under the lovely shiny arch the Phils will figure out why the early season hitting explosion had an expiration date. Like a Viagra pill for batters, maybe they’ll find something that makes a big, stout piece of wood more effective.

How ‘bout putting Marisa Miller on the mound?

Or just paint her on the center field wall?

Now, you usually only have to glance at stats to tell when a team stinks, but in this case it makes no sense. The Phillies lineup leads the division in runs, home runs, RBI, total bases, slugging percentage, intentional walks, extra base hits, and fielding percentage.

They also lead in stolen base percentage because they think like I do: If you don’t steal, you won’t get caught.

And Jayson Werth leads the team with 92 strikeouts—most of which he’s earned since the All-Star break.

That might seem like a rather dubious honor but other players who’ve appeared on the annual “Special K” list are: Babe Ruth, Mickie Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Michael Schmidt, Sammy Sosa, Jim Thome, Adam Dunn, and Ryan Howard—not long before he signed a bank-breaking contract.

It’s also possible that those other guys led their league in another important hitting category that Jayson’s failed to conquer. I’d love to investigate this further but I have dishes to do, a cat box to clean, and re-runs of Hawaii Five-O on at three.

Besides we’re staying positive: The Phillies are a better second half team.

The only reason that’s a scary statement is because the current first place team, Atlanta, leads the division in only one stat: on-base percentage. They’re like the Rudolph Valentinos of the NL East. They could sweet talk a girl out of her pants with a timely hit, a little hustle, and enduring patience.

Matter of fact, for their next stadium giveaway they’re handing out EPTs.

Even without extraordinary stats, they’re contenders. And trading off the slacking Yunel Escobar for the slugging Alex Gonzalez is a sure indication that they know this. As long as Brian McCann is the McMan, Chipper Jones continues to take his retirement advice from Brett Favre, and the Mets find the formula to forgo flunking late in the season, it’s going to be a tough semester.

So while the Phillies search for the MLB equivalent of the Bunsen burner, I looked for the magic stat that could determine who the next division champ would be. As much as I tried to sway my decision to Philadelphia, the only conclusion I’ve come to is this: The devil wears Prado.

Martin Prado is on course to having a career year. He leads Atlanta in endurance and studliness, and was one of five Braves who made Charlie Manuel’s All-Star roster even though the skipper couldn’t say his name.

Hey, five team members on one All-Star roster? Doesn’t that sound like the 2009 Phillies?

I hate to say it, but if I’ve struck stat gold, Phillies fans might have to settle for good baseball, sexy facial hair, and appealing camera angles this year. Die-hards should be asking themselves if they can survive a season unadorned by pennants or trophies or even postseason TV.

Hey, if it’s any consolation, I heard Kim Kardashian has decided to just appear naked in her next season on E!. And Survivor is having a reunion—only breasts and penises are scheduled to compete.

Or maybe I just made that up.

Stay positive.

See you at the ballpark.

 

Copyright 2010 Flattish Poe all rights reserved.

View this blog on my page at http://tinyurl.com/devilwearsprado or catch life one-liner at a time on Twitter http://twitter.com/ABabesTake

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