2010 ALCS Preview: Yankees or Rangers? Who Do Phillies Fans Root For?

Sports Irreverence and More from the Other Tip of the Goldberg

Being a huge sports fan, I don’t need to bet on games (I’m too destitute these days, anyway) to relish the action.  A rooting interest does help matters, though.

Which brings me to tonight and the start of the Yankees-Rangers ALCS.  I’ve been following the Phillies forever, but I am torn as to which team to support. 

Do I root for the mighty Yankees, even though it’s anathema for most Philly guys to ever root for a New York team?  Make that a New York anything.

Do I cheer for Texas?  They are the underdogs, and I was taught to never root for an overdog, unless my team is an overdog.  And yes, the Phillies are certainly overdogs versus the Giants in the NLCS.

One more note before working out this dilemma in public.  I should not tempt fate by thinking too far ahead and assuming future prosperity, especially in Philly.  Even if some of us were too young to have lived through it, we are still jinxed and scarred by the “Philly Phade” of the 1964 team and other unforgettable collapses by local heroes in all four major sports.

For the purposes of this column—and I’ve already picked the Phillies in six over the Giants—I don’t accept that I may be jinxing them.  I don’t play for or manage the Phils, and indeed, I don’t draw a paycheck from them or from anyone else these days, for that matter. 

Which means, on to my dilemma (other than being broke). 

 

Reasons to Root for the Rangers:

• The Rangers are the underdogs.  They just notched their first postseason series victory in franchise history on Tuesday, while the Yankees are defending champions and winner of 27 of these championships.  Plus, the Yanks had the better record this year in a better division and boast a much higher payroll.

• The Rangers have my favorite pitcher, Cliff Lee.  Yes, he was only in Philly for a few months and may only be in Texas that long, but many Phillies fans fell in love with the guy.  In a platonic baseball kind of way, of course.  It helped ease the pain when Roy Oswalt came over from Houston, Cole Hamels became the 2008 postseason Hamels and H2O was unleashed.

By the way, to the best of my knowledge, the origin of H2O as the nickname for Halladay, Hamels and Oswalt was right here.

(Excuse the above digression. I just wish I had put H2O on a T-shirt.  Would that make it a wet T-shirt?  Have we saturated the topic?)

• Oh yeah, the Rangers figure to be an easier opponent to beat than the Yankees.

• We would not have to face that ageless, peerless Mariano Rivera guy; we’ll take our chances with the youthful Neftali Feliz.

Four pretty good reasons.  So, why am I tempted to root for the Yankees?

 

Reasons to Root for the Yankees

• They’re not all that detestable.  Yes, it’s hard to like A-Rod and it’s hard to like the overwhelmingly haughty Yankees fans, but does anyone really hate Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, two of the classiest winners in the sport?

• “W” used to be an owner of the Rangers and is still associated with that franchise.  Not to hold a grudge, but…

• We would not have to face Cliff Lee.  Yes, we have Halladay, who may more than neutralize the guy, but right now Cliff Lee is the best big-game pitcher on the planet.  And, it would be hard to bring myself to root against him.  Not to hold unrequited man-love for the guy, but…

• Revenge.  Simply put, it would be sweeter to beat the “Evil Empire,” which happens to be the team that beat us in the World Series last year.

As of right now, I’m leaning toward rooting for the Yankees, but only because I think it’s the Phillies’ year no matter who they play.  Let’s go out and prove it against the best.

This may all change if there is an injury or if my confidence wanes ever so slightly for any reason.

And it may change when that cool cat wearing No. 33 (I guess Nolan Ryan had dibs on 34) takes the hill for the Rangers.

One thing I do know: I’m psyched beyond reason to see Halladay v. Lincecum kick off the NLCS tomorrow night.  As for those AL pretenders, let them deal with the two-time defending NL champions, H2O, the semi-articulate magical genius that is manager Charlie Manuel, and the Phillies home-field advantage.

I do profess to know the team that Rangers Nation (if there is one) and Yankees Nation would prefer to face, and they don’t play in South Philly.

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2010 NLCS and ALCS Preview: Chase Utley and the All Final Four Team

Yes, I realize that the Final Four is synonymous with college basketball, and March Madness, but why not apply it to the October Madness of Postseason baseball.

Sure, the NCAA has 64 (okay, 65 which may expand) teams fighting it out in a single elimination tourney, but the MLB playoffs are just as exciting.  30 teams play down to eight over the course of 162 games, and then they must play in the pressure cooker of a best of 5 just to reach the ALCS or NLCS–the Final Four, if you will.

 

I thought it would be fun to come up with one team to represent the four teams still standing, as if they were playing a mythical team (call them the Mythical Monsters) comprised of all of the players from the other 26 teams.  And just for fun, we’ll play a virtually simulated series of sorts against those Mythical Monsters.

 

As for the Final Four team, will the Phillies’ Chase Utley beat out the Yankees’ Robinson Cano?  Will we take the youthful Buster Posey over the quite experienced Jorge Posada behind the dish, or go in another direction?

As for that great pitching staff, how do we determine who gets the ball in Game One to defeat those Monsters?

Read on, my friends.

 

Oh, yeah:  We’ll call our team the NYSF Philly-Rangers

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NLCS 2010 Preview: Five Ways the Giants Can Upset the Phillies

When the San Francisco Giants topped the Atlanta Braves 3-2 last night, they earned their first trip to the NLCS since 2002.

Waiting for them, of course, is the Philadelphia Phillies—the two-time defending champions of the National League.

The Phillies, based on both their success the last few years and the strength of their position players, are considered the favorites by most baseball fans and pundits.  But what of those Giants, a franchise that has not yet won a World Series since moving to the Bay?

Do they have a chance?

What are five ways that the Giants can win this series?

First, let’s take a brief look at how the teams match up.

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NLDS 2010: Cole Hamels Humbles Reds, Phils Sweep Cincy With 2-0 Shutout

It wasn’t supposed to be this easy, was it?

Riding the brilliant pitching of lanky lefty Cole Hamels, the Phillies traveled to Cincinnati and left the Great American Ball Park with a 2-0 win and a 3-0 series sweep of their NLDS showdown.

Their reward:  five days off, while the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves duke it out to see who will travel to Philly on Saturday to start the NLCS.  Either team will be considered the underdog; with their win today, the Giants are up two games to one.

Back to Cincy.  If the Reds thought that playing at home–in their friendly confines–would automatically bring them a different result than the two previous games, they were mistaken.  Sadly mistaken.

 

And two of the culprits that defeated them in Philadelphia would show up to bring them down again before their hometown fans.  Just as in Game Two, their defense was suspect, if not quite as disastrous.  And just as in Game One, they ran into a terrific pitching performance, if not quite as superlative.

The Reds would be victimized by their defense in the top of the first.  With runners on second and third and two outs, starting pitcher Johnny Cueto (who would give two runs, one earned in his five innings) coaxed Jayson Werth to hit a routine grounder to shortstop Orlando Cabrera.  Cabrera’s high throw pulled first baseman Joey Votto off the bag, allowing Placido Polanco to score the game’s first run.

As it turned out, that run was the only run that Hamels would need.  For some reason Hamels dominates the Reds lineup (statistically the best in the NL in 2010), even though they play in one of the most hitter-friendly parks in baseball.

Hamels would go the distance, yielding only five hits and zero walks while racking up nine strikeouts.  If it weren’t for Roy Halladay’s “no-no” in Game One, this would have easily been the best pitched game of the series.  Halladay’s treasure notwithstanding, Hamels’ five-hit shutout ran his career record at the Ballpark to a remarkable 7-0 in 8 starts.

 

Of Hamels’ masterpiece, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, not one who is easily impressed, allowed that “He was sharp, and I mean, he was good the whole nine innings.”  Understated?  Perhaps.  But coming from Manuel, it was almost a Shakespearean sonnet of praise and admiration.

It was good that Hamels brought his “A” game, as the Phillies bats only came alive for two runs on eight hits.  Their second run came with two outs in the top of the fifth when Chase Utley got just enough of a Cueto offering to drive it one row deep into the right-center field seats.

 

The apparent homer wasn’t without some controversy as the play was reviewed to ensure that fans did not cross over the wall to interfere with center fielder Drew Stubbs’ path to the ball.  After the umpires huddled, the home run ruling was upheld and Hamels had a second run to work with.

As it turned out, two runs was overkill for Hamels, who threw 82 of his 119 pitches for strikes.  Indeed, he can savor his sterling effort, as he won’t pitch for at least another week.

 

 

WHERE ARE THE BATS?

The 2010 Phillies are a very good hitting team, if not quite the fence busters of the last few years.  Of course, when a team enjoys  the type of games that Halladay and Hamels pitched, and the kind of youthful, self-destructive effort that plagued the Reds in Game Two, they did not need much offense.

Indeed, if you looked at the composite stats of the Phillies’ starting eight, they don’t resemble a team that just swept a series. 

Shane Victorino:  3-13, .231, 2 R, 3 RBI

 

Placido Polanco:  1-9,   .111. 1 R

Chase Utley:       3-11   ,273, 3 R, 4 RBI, 1 HR

Ryan Howard:    3-11,   .273, 0 R, 0 RBI

Jayson Werth:     2-12, .167, 2 R, 1 RBI

 

Jimmy Rollins:    1-11,   .091, 1 R

 

Raul Ibanez:         3-12, .250, 0 R, 0 RBI

Carlos Ruiz:        2-8, .250, 1 R, 1 RBI

 

Of course, the Reds were even less potent at the plate.  With only 11 hits in the series, they set a record for least hits (ever) in a postseason series.

 

 

GOLD NOTES

Was anyone here a baseball fan in the 1940s?  If so, you may remember the St. Louis Cardinals team that won the pennant three straight years, 1942-44.  The Phils are one round away from being the first NL team since then to match their “hat trick.” 

 

With the victory, Hamels improved his career postseason record to 6-3.  The other members of H2O, you ask? Roy Oswalt is 4-0, and you may have heard that Halladay made his postseason debut last Wednesday.  It was kind of successful.

 

 

 

The Philadelphia Phillies debuted as a franchise in 1883.  Their sweep of the Reds was their first-ever postseason sweep.  There’s a lesson in there somewhere.  If you live to be 127, great things will come to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Philadelphia Phillies Defeat Sloppy Reds 7-4; Grab 2-0 Series Lead

In a sport where style points (luckily) don’t count, the Phillies played a little “prettier” than the Reds in claiming a 7-4 victory and a 2-0 lead in their best of five NLDS.

In Game One, Roy Halladay was the clear star; in Game Two, the Phils mostly benefited from the largesse of their visitors.

One knew that tonight’s script would be different when it took all of four pitches for starter Roy Oswalt to lose his shutout bid. Leadoff hitter Brandon Phillips, deposited a lackluster Oswalt change-up deep into the leftfield seats.

The Reds scored again in the second inning, primarily because of Chase Utley‘s errant arm.  Laynce (correct spelling) Nix got to first base after Utley made a fine grab ranging to his glove side, but pulled Ryan Howard off the bag with his throw. Nix would score on a Ryan Hannigan grounder to Rollins who threw to Utley for the force. 

Trying to complete the 6-4-3 double play, Utley’s throw—affected by a hard-sliding Drew Stubbs—bounced by Howard.

The Reds’ unearned run—set up by Utley’s two errors—would be a harbinger for the wild things to come.

The Reds’ third run was clean: a monster, second-deck home-run by Jay Bruce to lead off the fourth. And the Reds would score another single run in the fifth highlighted by a Phillips double and a Joey Votto sacrifice fly.

Oswalt would be pulled after a very short (by his standards) five innings of work, snapping a string of gems that he has authored at Citizens Bank Park. 

To his credit, he did kept the game close, and the second half of the game would be all Phillies—helped immeasurably by the Reds’ uncharacteristic putrid play.

 

The Fightins got to starter Bronson Arroyo, sort of, in the bottom of the fifth. It was a two-out rally ignited by a fielding error from the normally sure-handed  Phillips and a bad throw by rocket-armed third baseman Scott Rolen. With the bases jammed, Utley made them pay with a two-run single to right.

 

After JC Romero and Chad Durbin combined to keep the Reds off the board in the sixth, the Phils would get one more back when Shane Victorino drew a bases loaded walk. 

 

How did the Phillies load the bases?  A Jayson Werth leadoff walk, and two hit batsmen: Carlos Ruiz was nailed on his left knee, and Ben Francisco, in  a scary moment, was beaned in the helmet.

But if you thought the bottom of the sixth was ugly, it was Spalding Guide-pretty compared to the bottom of the seventh.

With the heralded, fireballing rookie Aroldis Chapman on the hill, it did not seem that the Phils would be able to touch the phenom.  Chapman immediately got two strikes on Utley, but then came inside on Chase, who immediately ran to first base with the apparent hit-by-pitch. Was it a Derek Jeter-esque bluff?

Whatever the case, with Utley on first, Chapman blew away Howard on three straight pitches before inducing Werth to hit a one-hopper to Rolen. Rolen fielded it cleanly and threw to second to try to get the force out on Utley.  Utley was ruled safe on the bang-bang play

Things were just getting really interesting.

Jimmy Rollins then hit a sinking liner to right that Bruce turned into a two-base error when he seemed to lose the “can of corn” in the lights. The ball rolled past him, and Utley scored the tying run.

 

Werth also scored on the bizarre play when Phillips dropped the relay throw. Two errors on the play, four errors for the game, and the Phillies found themselves with a 6-4 lead.

 

Riding a super bullpen effort—two hits and no runs in three innings of work—the two-time defending NL champs tacked on a seventh run more conventionally. Werth singled in Utley who had singled and stolen second. Actually, the stolen base could’ve been ruled a wild pitch, but Utley was credited with the pilfered bag as he wasrunning on the play.

All of this craziness set the stage for closer Brad Lidge to enter the ninth with a three-run cushion. It appeared that he might need all of those runs when he walked leadoff man Bruce. But this was not the Reds night, and Lidge retired the next three batters to save the game for winning pitcher Jose Contreras and give the Phils a 2-0 lead in the series.

On a night when Roy wasn’t Halladay and was also a poor version of Oswalt, the Phillies won an ugly game that neither team really deserved to win. 

 

But with a 2-0 series lead, and Hamels on the hill in Game Three (with the Reds needing to beat him and Halladay at some point if they’re going to win this series), the Phils will look back on this as a thing of beauty. 

 

GOLD NOTES

Any resemblance between tonight’s Reds and the Reds team that tied the Padres for fewest errors in the league—with only 72—was purely accidental. And the Cincy players who were guilty of errors were: second baseman Brandon Phillips (two), third baseman Scott Rolen, (a throwing error and a poor choice to throw to second on the Werth bouncer) and right fielder Jay Bruce (losing the ball in the lights was the key play of the game) are among the best in the league at their positions.

 

The game featured six errors (four by second basemen), two wild pitches and three hit batsmen. Only two of the Phils’ seven runs were earned.

 

Reds starter Bronson Arroyo has the most innings pitched in the NL since 2006, his first year in the league. Thanks, TBS, for that stat.

 

Brandon Phillips’ leadoff home run was the Reds’ first postseason hit since Slow Eddie Taubensee did so in 1995. No, these have not been the Reds of Rose, Bench and Morgan the last 15 years—or tonight, for that matter.

 

The starters for Game Three—a tentative 7:07 p.m. Sunday start at Cincinnati—will be Cole Hamels against Johnny Cueto.  7-oh-7?

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Roy Halladay Dominates Cincinnati Reds: ‘Red Doctober’ Opens With 4-0 No-Hitter

Roy “Doc” Halladay had to wait 12-plus years to get his first taste of the postseason.  He’ll have to wait a little longer to give up his first hit.  One doesn’t think that he’ll mind the wait.

The Phillies ace was completely masterful in his playoff debut, throwing only the second postseason no-hitter in baseball history.  As most baseball fans can tell you, the first “no-no” was a perfect game authored by Yankees right-hander Don Larsen in the 1956 World Series.

One notable difference between the two men: Larsen was a journeyman who compiled an 81-91 lifetime record. Halladay, who is expected to notch his second Cy Young Award this year for his work in the regular season, is considered by many to be the best pitcher in the game.

Pitching before a raucous, sellout home crowd of red-and-white towel-waiving fans, Halladay completely baffled and overpowered the Cincinnati Reds, who are statistically (tops in batting average, homers, and runs scored) the best hitting team in the National League.

 

Per the AP sports recap, first baseman and likely MVP Joey Votto said admiringly, “It’s no fun out there.  It’s like trying to hit nothing.  He’s an ace among aces.”

As for Doc, he typically gave credit to his catcher, Carlos Ruiz.  “I felt like we got in a groove early,” Halladay observed.  “Carlos has been great all year, he helps me get into a rhythm early, throwing strikes.”

 

And what a rhythm it was.  Halladay thew only 104 pitches, a staggering 79 of them for strikes.  He started all but four of his 28 opposing batters with strikes.  Even when the Reds hitters swung at his first offerings, they couldn’t do anything with them, due to the ace’s combination of velocity, mix of speeds, location and late movement.

The only blemish on Halladay’s night was a fifth-inning walk to rightfielder Jay Bruce, the lone Reds player to reach base.  So Doc will have to wait till at least his next playoff start to throw a perfect game—to match the one he recorded against the Marlins on May 29.

……………………………………………………………………

Every now and then, baseball cliches show why they have become cliches: They are true. 

 

Pitching Cliche #1: Pitching is much easier when you throw a strike on your first pitch. 

Halladay started 17 of his 18 first batters with strike one.  Reds starter Edison Volquez, also making his postseason debut, had great stuff that he could not control.  He threw 56 pitches, only 32 for strikes in his very brief 1.2 innings of work.  He walked two batters, which set up the Phillies big, three-run second inning.

It just so happened that Roy Halladay had a pretty good night at the plate as well. The Phillies had scored a run in the bottom of the first when Chase Utley hit a sacrifice fly that plated Shane Victorino who had doubled and stolen third.

In the second inning, Ruiz coaxed a two-out walk, and advanced on an infield hit by Wilson Valdez (playing third for an injured Placido Polanco.) In his first-ever postseason plate appearance, Halladay got just enough of a Volquez pitch to line it in front of leftfielder Johnny Gomes.  2-0 Phils.  Halladay and Valdez would then score on a Victorino line drive to center.

With Halladay mastering his full arsenal of pitches, the game was effectively over then.  Correction: it was over when Victorino scored the first run in the bottom of the first.

 

Pitching Cliche # 2:  Just like real estate, pitching is all about three things: location, location, location. 

Unlike Volquez, who could not locate his pitches for strikes and was wild within the strike zone, the Phils ace had pinpoint control all night.  Halladay reminded one of a vintage Greg Maddux, only six inches taller and possessing a fastball with more bite.

 

On a night when the Phillies managed only five hits—just one after Volquez was sent to the showers—Halladay made it look so easy. In retrospect, it seems ludicrous to consider that Phillies Nation was asking two things about its ace before the game:

• Would he react positively to the pressure of pitching his first playoff game?
• Would he be able to overcome an apparently tired arm, due to his 250.2 innings of yeoman work (tops in the majors this year)?

In the understatement of the decade, this writer would say that the Phillies ace more than aced his test.

 

GOLD NOTES

• Victorino’s first-inning double made him the Phillies career postseason leader in hits

• TBS posted a stat that Jayson Werth led the NL this year with 85 two-strike hits.

• Again, from TBS: The Phillies were an overwhelming 64-13 this year when they scored the first run.  Just imagine what their overall record would have been this year if they had a true leadoff hitter.

• Best signs spotted in the crowd included: “It’s Doctober” and “Got Playoff Fever? Call Doc.”

• Halladay led all NL starters with a 7.3 K/BB ratio (219/30).  Way back in second place was Marlins ace Josh Johnson at 3.88.  The best ratio in the major leagues this year was turned in by old Philly favorite Cliff Lee who compiled a K/BB ratio of 10.3—185 strikeouts to only 18 walks.  Didn’t think that was humanly possible.

• Speaking of Lee, on any other night, he would have had the best performance.  The lanky southpaw looked predictably sharp and cool in leading his Texas Rangers to a Game 1 5-1 victory over David Price and the host Tampa Rays.  Lee pitched out of a bases-loaded one out (3-1 count) jam in the bottom of the first by striking out the next two batters. He then cruised through the next 5 innings before giving up a solo shot to Ben Zobrist in the seventh.  Lee’s line:  7 IP, 1 run (earned), 5 hits, 10 K’s, 0 BB’s.  Not too shabby.  Lee ran his career postseason record to 5-0.

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Philadelphia Phillies 2010: A Long Strange Trip to the Top

In the parlance of that iconic psychedelic rock band, The Grateful Dead, the 2010 Philadelphia Phillies went on a long strange trip that was marred by a slew of injuries.  Of course, GM Ruben Amaro, skipper Charlie Manuel, and the rest of the team kept on Truckin’, and they somehow enter this week’s playoffs with the best record in baseball.

Baseball fans would not have been surprised if you told them that the two-time defending pennant winners would boast a fourth consecutive NL East crown, and a 97-65 record, five games better than the next best team (the San Francisco Giants) posted.

But if you told them that they would do so with significant injuries to all three of their infield stars—Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins—they might start to take notice.  If you also told them that several other key players went down at one point or another—including new third baseman Placido Polanco and pitcher Jamie Moyer (remember him?)—they might be truly impressed.

 

THE INJURY BUG

The Phillies shortstop/second base tandem of Jimmy Rollins and Utley is probably the best in the major leagues when you consider all aspects of the game including leadership.  Rollins was hampered by injuries all year, and never really got going, hitting just .243 with a .694 OPS in 88 games.  Utley seems to have found a bit of a groove in September, although his .275 batting average with 16 homers, 65 RBI, and 75 runs in 115 games is below his considerable standards.

Howard wasn’t hit as hard as his two fellow infield stars, but did miss 19 games and played through various injuries. The same could be said of new third baseman Polanco, who missed 30 games.

Phillies nation owes a debt of gratitude to a 32-year-old utility infielder named Wilson Valdez.  Valdez, who counts the Phils as his sixth team in as many years, played a terrific shortstop, and got the occasional key hit, posting a career best .258/4/35 with  37 runs in 111 games.

 

RESILIENCE

It’s hard to believe that the Phillies were once mired seven games behind the Atlanta Braves with roughly two months to go in the season.  That they won by six games is more of a testament to the Phils’ surge, than it was to any Braves collapse.  The Braves played well enough to edge out the San Diego Padres for the Wild Card.

While the last two months showed the Phillies to be the strongest team in baseball, their long, strange trip of a season included stretches of seemingly indifferent play.  Hard to believe (now), Harry.

Riding their Big Three (H2O) of starters Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt, and an offense that started to show life down the stretch, in the last few weeks the Phils played a brand of baseball that their fans hope will continue in the postseason.

On the season, the Phillies were 52-29 at home (good for second in the NL) and 45-36 on the road (tied for first).  Their 3.67 ERA (down half a run from their 4.16 of 2009) was fifth in the league, and their 772 runs scored (down from their league-leading 820 of 2009) was good for second best.

 

H2O

Roy Halladay lived up to all his hype and more, anchoring the staff with an NL best 21 wins, while leading the league in innings pitched, complete games, and shutouts (and a perfect game to boot).  While they did not have the dream 1-2 punch of Halladay and Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels returned to form with a misleading 12-11 record.  Hamels had a terrific ERA (3.06, 12th in the league) and ranked fifth in strikeouts, while topping 200 innings. 

Amaro acquired Oswalt from Houston in a trade that saw us give up promising lefty J.A. Happ.  All Oswalt did was go 7-1 with a 1.74 ERA (and a WHIP of 0.90) in 12 starts with his new team. 

 

MOST VALUABLE ADDITION

Obviously, the two Roys top the list, but Amaro should also earn kudos for bringing Polanco back to Philly.  He played a steady third base, and is simply a great professional hitter.  Injuries affected his batting average, which dipped below .300 at the end (.298).

Domonic Brown showed flashes of  great things  to come, Ross Gload and Mike Sweeney are big bats off the bench, and Wilson Valdez (as mentioned above) was a godsend.

 

LEAST VALUABLE ADDITION

Reliever Danys Baez came over from the Orioles as a veteran bullpen arm, who could close if we needed him to.  In 51 appearances (and 47.2 innings) he was brought into two save opportunities, and blew both. It’s good that Brad Lidge regained just a little of his 2008 form down the stretch.

His overall stats:  3-4, 5.48 ERA, 28K/23 BB, and a WHIP of 1.64. In addition to all those walks, opposing batters hit .301 against him.  Ouch! 

 

MOST VALUABLE PHILLIE

The wise choice would be Roy Halladay, who will likely notch his second career Cy Young Award in his first NL season.  He anchored what may have been the best starting rotation in the league.

The sentimental choice would be Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz, who again did a superior job behind the plate, while leading the team in batting average (.302).  The beloved, diminutive catcher—known to some as Señor Octobre—had an OBP of .400, and is one of the team’s best clutch hitters.

 

SUMMARY

It is hard for a team to not suffer injuries during the 162 games marathon that is a major-league season.  The Phillies certainly had their share and more, but showed their grit and their talent (in no small part due to Manuel’s steady hand) in surging to the top of the league.

Of course, this team was built to not only reach the playoffs, but to also do some damage once there.  With “H2O,” experienced bats, good defense, and a confident, steady manager, the Phillies are poised to do exactly that.

The 2010 season was a long, strange trip for which Phillies fans will truly be grateful if they can maintain their momentum for another month—and 11 more wins.

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Phillies 11-Game Win Streak Broken: Gee, Duda Beat Them?

Well, Gee, nothing really lasts forever, does it?

The Phillies, playing before their 122^nd straight sellout crowd at Citizens Bank Park, saw their 11-game winning streak come to an end, losing 5-2 to the New York Mets. The Mets were led by rookie pitcher Dillon Gee and rookie leftfielder Lucas Duda.  Who?

Gee, you never heard of Dillon?  The rookie pitcher was making only the fourth start of his career, and the Phillies jumped on him immediately.  With two outs in the bottom of the first, Chase Utley singled to left center, which was followed by a home run blast from Ryan Howard, his 31^st of the season to put the Philies up, 2-0.

After Howard’s shot, the game settled into an unexpected pitcher’s duel, as Phils starter Kyle Kendrick (now 10-10) cruised through the first six innings. Kendrick, looking very sharp, yielded only three singles, while striking out four (with no walks) through the first two-thirds of the game. 

Meanwhile, the Phils could not do anything else against Gee (now 2-1) and some of the electricity seemed to have left Citizens Bank for the first time in many home games.

Entering the top of the seventh with that 2-0 lead, the good fortune that has aided and abetted their 11-game win streak vanished into the warm September night air.  After a Beltran single, David Wright topped a ball to the third base side of the mound that Kendrick pounced on and threw a strike to the second base bag.  Shortstop Wilson Valdez flashed like an NFL cornerback in front of Utley, who was expecting the throw.  They only got the force out on the play.

With a man on first and one out, Ike Davis singled just out of Utley’s reach to bring Angel Pagan to the plate.  Pagan hit a bouncer that Ryan Howard booted to load the bases.  Another Mets no-name named Josh Thole singled in a run to cut the lead to 2-1, and Kendrick hit the showers in favor of Chad Durbin.

The Durbinator came into the one-out bases-loaded jam, and may have breathed a sigh of relief to see someone named Lucas Duda—who came in hitting .170, but with six of his nine career hits going for extra bases.  Advantage Duda, who ripped a Durbin meatball into left center, knocking in three runs. 

The lumbering Duda was replaced by a pinch-runner, but probably would have scored himself on a double by Jose Reyes.  Just like that it was 5-2, Mets.

On many other nights during the Phillies’ ridiculous hot streak, a three-run deficit with three innings and nine tough outs left would be almost easy to overcome.  This was not one of those nights, as no breaks came their way.

In the bottom of the seventh, pinch-hitter Domonic Brown—seeing his first action since Sept. 8—followed a two-out double by Wilson Valdez with a shot down the right field line.  On another night, the ball would have left the yard, pulled the Phils to within one-run, and getting the place jumping again.  On this night, the ball hooked foul, and Gee struck him out on the next pitch.

In the bottom of the eighth, Utley hit one up the middle that bounced off reliever Pedro Feliciano. On this night, it ricocheted right to Wright (Mets third baseman David Wright) who completed the rare 1-5-3 ground out.

The Mets went deeper into their bullpen in the bottom of the ninth, and after a leadoff walk to Howard, the Phils never threatened again.  As soon as you could say Hisanori Takahashi, the game and the amazing September winning streak was over.

Well, nothing lasts forever, and, Gee, sometimes you even get beaten by some anonymous Duda named Lucas.

 

Gold Notes

• The Phils magic number to win the NL East remained at two as the Atlanta Braves shut-out the Washington Nationals, 5-0. 
• The Colorado Rockies led by their amazing duo of Car-Go (Carlos Gonzalez) and Tulo (Troy Tulowitski) rallied to beat the Giants, 10-9, in 10 innings.  Coupled with the San Diego Padres win over the Reds, the Giants now trail the Padres by a half-game with the Rockies hanging in, but still four games back.
• The Phillies play their last regular season home game tomorrow with a Sunday matinee finale versus the Mets.  On paper, it should be a “Misch-match” with the scorching Cole Hamels (12-10, 2.93) facing Pat Misch (0-4, 4.44, with a career record of 3-15, 4.74).  If the Phils win and the Braves lose, the Fightins can clinch the division at home again.
• Many dudes—thousands and thousands—have played in the major leagues, but Lucas is the first “Duda” to have done so, according to www.baseball-reference.com.  You don’t get this information just anywhere, folks.
• And speaking of names, Dillon Gee was the first Gee to play in the bigs since a 6’9” left-handed pitcher named John Alexander “Whiz” Gee last toed the rubber in 1946 for the New York Giants.  Gee, Whiz, I swear I did not make that one up.  Feel free to check!

 

 

 

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Philadelphia Phillies’ New Dilemma: Do They Ease Off the Accelerator or Gun It?

At the risk of being the master of the obvious, the Philadelphia Phillies are red hot right now. 

They’ve won 17 of 20 games in September, and boast a current 10 game winning streak.  The next hottest team in the NL—now that the Colorado Rockies have re-entered Planet Earth—is the Chicago Cubs, who are a tepid 7-3.

So, what does this all mean?  Their brilliant play the last, especially, 58 games (43-15 since July 20) has put them in great shape down the stretch.  Which begs the question: Now that they only have to win four out of nine games (and perhaps, not even that many to clinch home field advantage throughout the postseason) do they keep “gunning it” or think about resting some of their stalwarts?

With their sweep of the Atlanta Braves, the Phils (92-61) are not only six games ahead of the Braves, but they are also six games ahead of all of the other contenders for possible  home field advantage in the NL—the Giants, Reds and Padres (as well as the Braves) each have 67 losses.

Even in the unlikely event that one of these teams wins out, the Phillies—with just four more wins—clinch the best record in the National League. With the way they are playing, one would think that they will do this within their next two series—three at home versus the Mets starting tonight, followed by three at Washington.  That huge series in Atlanta to end the regular season would project to only be huge for the Braves’ wild card hopes.

So, now what? In a season that has seen most of their regulars spend time on the Disabled List, assuming that they clinch home field advantage with 3-5 games left to play, what do they do?

Option A:  Why change a winning formula just before heading into the playoffs?  Indeed, if the Phils win 8 out of 9, they can win 100 games this year.  But that’s kind of a “nice-to-have” milestone, and not a necessity.  The main reason to keep their feet on the gas is to avoid any letdowns or bad habits going into the postseason.  Remember that the NLCS is only a best of 5, before the best of 7 format comes into play.

With the H2O of Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt  almost unhittable these days, and our heart of the order (Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth) looking like themselves again, the Phils are very tough to beat  and it’s been a thing of beauty to regard.  It’s especially beautiful to watch the Fightins when they aren’t committing the kind of base running and field gaffes that sometimes plagued their 2010 campaign.

This school of thought would say that you keep this lineup burning on all cylinders, and don’t worry about playing the Dobbs, Franciscos, Mayberrys and Browns.  Don’t mess with success!

Option B:  Skipper Charlie Manuel—assuming the Phils fulfill their magic number of four with a handful of games left on the schedule—should look to rest certain players.  Even more so in a season that has seen all those players wind up on the DL.  

One has to wonder if Utley and Howard—who are looking better these days, but may not be 100% healthy—can benefit from being spelled for a game or two.  Another reason to take this approach is to keep the bench sharp.  Players like Ross Gload, Brian Schneider, Ben Francisco and Domonic Brown may not start in the playoffs (well, they won’t unless there’s an injury or two), but they may be called upon as a pinch hitter or defensive replacement.

Another guy to keep an eye on is the ace, the seemingly indefatigable Roy Halladay. Doc has pitched 241.2 innings this year, a big workload that has him leading the NL, and tied for first (with the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez) in the majors.  Superb as he is, he has looked just a little tired of late, and not quite up to his considerable standards his last several starts  Halladay has yielded either three or four earned runs in each of his last six starts, and has only exceeded seven innings in one of his last seven. 

Conclusion:  Over the last few years, Manuel has always seemed to push the right buttons for his team; he simply has a great handle on his players.  I would look for guys like Utley and Howard to get a day off or two, and while Doc may take the ball as expected two more times, Manuel won’t be afraid to use his bullpen a little sooner in his starts. Gload, Schneider, Francisco and Brown should all get some at-bats down the stretch.

Sometimes personal milestones and possible awards play a factor in this, and while I don’t think that this is a priority for Manuel, he is somewhat of a player’s manager.  More on this below.

Gold Notes:  Halladay (20-10, 2.53) appears to be in a three-man race for the NL Cy Young Award, along with the Cards’ Adam Wainwright (19-7, 2.45) and Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies (19-7, 3.00).  If I had a ballot, they would be my top three—in that order.  More analysis of the race for various awards will follow the regular season.

Halladay, Oswalt (2.80) and Hamels (2.93) are three of only 12 NL starters with ERAs under 3.00.  For most of the season, the Cardinals (with Wainwright, Jaime Garcia (2.70) and Chris Carpenter (now at 3.20) had this distinction.

With 11 more strikeouts in his next two starts, Oswalt will join Halladay and Hamels as members of the 200 “K” club.  The longtime Astros ace has done so twice before, the last time in 2004.

That RBI machine named Ryan Howard does not seem to have a reasonable shot at claiming another RBI crown.  At 104 ribbies, he trails Carlos Gonzalez (113), Albert Pujols (112) and Joey Votto (106). Going into 2010, “The Big Piece” had led the league in this department the last two years, and three times in his four full seasons.

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Phillies Top Braves: Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez Stake Roy Halladay To 20th Win

Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez powered a red-hot offense and Roy Halladay gutted it out for seven tough innings as the Phillies defeated the Braves 5-3 before a raucous Citizens Bank Park crowd.

 

The (what-else?) sellout crowd of rabid towel-waving rowdies saw Halladay notch his 20th victory, as the hometown Phils took a decisive five-game lead over the second-place Braves with just 10 games left to play.

 

Playing in an electric atmosphere that felt like October (playoff) baseball, the fans certainly got their money’s worth.

 

Facing young southpaw Mike Minor–who would throw a ponderous 71 pitches over just 2.1 innings–the Phillies squandered chances in the first two innings before Placido Polanco and Chase Utley led off the third with back-to-back hits.  Ryan Howard drove a sinking liner to rightfield that Braves rookie phenom Jason Heyward just pulled out of the lights at the last moment.

 

As analyst Chris Wheeler was telling Comcast viewers that Polanco should have held second base and tagged up, Jayson Werth stepped up and rendered his point moot.  Werth blasted a Minor fastball (or was it a minor fastball?) well over the 374-foot sign in left center.  Just like that, the Fightins took a 3-0 lead that they would never relinquish.

 

The Braves would get one back in the top of the 5th on an unusual play. With no outs and runners on first and second, pinch hitter Eric Hinske bounced a ball to Utley who threw to shortstop Wilson Valdez for what looked like a 4-6-3 double play.  It wasn’t to be.  Rick Ankiel came barreling into second base (or in that general vicinity) to blow up the play, forcing an errant throw from Valdez that allowed Alex Gonzalez to score. 

 

Halladay clamped down to allow the Braves no more runs until the sixth, when Derek Lee’s sacrifice fly plated Martin Prado.  Centerfielder Shane Victorino prevented what could have been a big inning by gunning Brain McCann out at third on the play.

 

The bottom of the sixth belonged to Fightins leftfielder Raul Ibanez, who smoked a 2-2 pitch down the rightfield line to drive in Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth.  Ibanez, who earlier doubled down the leftfield line, might never have had that chance if home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg had punched him out on a 1-2 offering that seemed to pass through the strike zone.  But it’s the little things that sometimes win games, and the insurance runs provided by Ibanez would stand up to be the margin of victory.

 

Halladay, looking a little tired and also getting no help from Kellogg on the corners,  yielded three hits and two walks in his seven innings. The Phils ace only struck out three, but the effort—backed by solid relief stints from Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge in the eight and ninth—was good enough to garner his 20th victory. To Halladay’s credit, he was, as always, bulldog tough and two of those three strikeouts were of the much needed inning-ending variety.

 

It should be noted that the seventh and final hit given up by the Phils ace was a lonnnnng shot to right center by Braves rookie first baseman Freddie Freeman.  It may still be going, but it was one of very few Braves highlights tonight.

Tape measure blasts notwithstanding, the Braves will leave Philly tomorrow night trailing the scorching Phils by either four or six games with nine games left to play. With Roy Oswalt—-the third member of H20—- toeing the rubber, one would be surprised if it won’t be a six-game deficit.

 

For more on the origins of H20, please see: 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/459880-roy-squared-and-cole-and-who-takes-the-ball-pondering-the-phillies-rotation

 

GOLD NOTES:

Halladay became the Phillies first 20-game winner since Steve “Lefty” Carlton won 23 in 1982.  “Hard to believe, Harry.”

 

He’s not the Lights-out Lidge of 2008, but Brad Lidge has been pretty good this year.  While his walks are a little high (20 in 41.2 innings), he has saved 25 of his 30 opportunities with a 3.24 ERA.

 

 

Why wasn’t Rick Ankiel called out for being well out of the baseline on that takeout slide of Wilson Valdez in the fifth that resulted in the Braves first run?  He was not even close to making contact with any part of the bag.  Surprisingly, Manuel did not protest the non-call.

 

Wow, the Braves have some fine young talent.  Freedie Freeman, who just turned 21, enjoyed his first-ever MLB homer of of Halladay, and it was a monster blast.  We all know about Jason Heyward, also just 21, who can do it all.  And, would you believe that the Braves threw four pitchers tonight—all 25 or younger—who each average more than a strikeout per inning.  Unreal!

 

The Phillies are now 30 games over .500 at 91-61 and riding a nine-game winning streak. They are also a remarkable 43-15 since July 20.  And they have done much of this without star shortstop and team leader Jimmy Rollins.

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