Phillies-Braves: A Head-to-Head Battle of the NL’s Two Best Teams

If they’re not playing for all the marbles the next few days at Citizens Bank Park, they’re playing for a lot of them.

The host Philadelphia Phillies and the Atlanta Braves, owners of the best two records in the National League, open a three-game series tonight with the Phillies leading the Braves by three games.

The two teams will meet again in Atlanta October 1-3 to close the regular season after playing two series apiece against their other divisional rivals.

One has to think that the Phillies—barring a sweep at the hands of their Southern rivals—are in the driver’s seat for the NL East crown and an easier path (on paper) through the playoffs.

Taking two out of three will put them in great shape, and a sweep of the Braves will make the division theirs for sure, barring anything 1964-like. I’m not looking up to the heavens as I write this.

While both teams covet the division, the NL math says the following. With the Reds in great shape in the Central and the Cards unable to get going, five teams will be playing for three available playoff spots. In other words, any two of the Phillies, Braves, Giants, Padres, and Rockies will not make the playoffs. With a 2.5-game lead in the wild card, the Braves are in pretty good shape for that consolation prize.

So, how did the two teams get here, and what’s likely to occur at CBP the next few days?

The Braves, with extra motivation to give skipper Bobby Cox a memorable final season, have played inspired ball all year, even when faced with a bit of adversity.

Chipper Jones, their most recognizable player and one of the best players in baseball the last 15 years, has struggled through an injury-marred campaign in what may be the last season of his Cooperstown-worthy career. The former MVP has been on the shelf since August 11, freezing his decidedly non-chipper stats: .265/10/46.

No. 2 pitcher Derek Lowe has struggled with a 14-12 record and 4.12 ERA, while their other veteran, ace Tim Hudson, has had a fine season (16-8 with a 2.61 ERA).

It may be to the Phillies’ advantage that neither Lowe nor Hudson, having started the Braves’ last two wins at Citi Field, will not face the Phils this week.

Offensively, the Chipper-less Braves don’t really scare you, yet they have managed to score only 13 fewer runs than the mighty Phillies this year, a negligible difference over the course of 150 games. Their two most recognizable names remaining in the lineup have had solid years.

Jason (the J-Hey Kid) Heyward, who just turned 21, will finish his rookie season with close to 20 homers, 80 RBI, and 90 runs while drawing a lot of walks, as well as his first All-Star appearance.

Catcher Brian McCann, already a five-time All-Star at age 26, is a solid receiver who leads the Braves in both homers and RBI.

As you wonder who else would start for the Phillies among Braves regulars (and McCann and Heyward would be close calls over Carlos Ruiz and Jayson Werth), you may consider two other All-Stars: Omar (“Thanks for picking me, Cholly”) Infante, a glorified utility infielder who is hitting .337, and Martin Prado, a second baseman by trade who has manned Jones’ hot corner while again hitting over .300 and is in the process of scoring over 100 runs. But would you take those two over Chase Utley and Placido Polanco?

First baseman Derrek Lee came over at the trade deadline from the Cubs, and the veteran still plays a good first base and provides occasional pop—including a towering grand slam yesterday at Citi Field. Other than that, the lineup does not seem to do a whole lot, yet the Braves manage to score about as many runs as the Phils (and good for fourth in the NL). Just like the Phillies, they attack you until the third out of the ninth, and beyond if needed.

Manning the hill against the Phillies will be the hard to spell and usually hard to hit Jair Jurrjens, who missed 10 or 11 starts this season and has not yet matched his 2009 form of 14-10/2.64. Just 24, this guy is really good—when on.

Two other young pitchers, Tommy Hanson (23) and Mike (“I’m almost a”) Minor, 22, will get the ball in games two and three. Hanson has followed up a stellar rookie season with pretty good stats, including a 3.62 ERA, but has only a 10-11 record to show for it. Minor has shown lots of promise but is also saddled with a 5.84 ERA in his seven starts.

Bullpen, you ask? Our old friend, the sometimes combustible Billy Wagner, has been typically puzzling. The seven-time All-Star is 7-2 with a terrific 1.43 ERA and a microscopic 0.83 WHIP. He has saved 35 games yet has also blown seven. With all his faults, one would presumably trade the erratic post-2008 Brad Lidge for him unless one values clubhouse chemistry.

The Phillies, two-time defending league champions, find themselves once again as the team to beat in the National League. How they got here is also a tribute to their manager, Charlie Manuel, every bit as much as the 2010 Braves are a testament to Bobby Cox.

It seems like just yesterday that this columnist (one can be more of a “homer” on Bleacher Report) was praying for the Phillies to somehow get lucky enough to land a wild card spot and to have a relatively healthy team once they got there.

Witness that Wilson Valdez has played in more games this year (100) than team leader Jimmy Rollins (82) and has a higher batting average. Superstars Chase Utley and Ryan Howard have suffered stints on the DL, and the injury bug has probably hit the Phillies as hard as any team this year not playing in Fenway Park.

In a 2010 campaign that has seen the Phillies battered and bruised and sometimes sleepwalking, they somehow appear to be the class of the NL once again. The biggest reason? A three-headed monster (which I have nicknamed H2O) at the top of their pitching rotation, consisting of Cy Young Award front runner Roy Halladay, the improved, battle-tested Cole Hamels, and longtime Astros ace Roy Oswalt. All have been amazing since Oswalt gratefully accepted his get-out-of-mediocrity pass from Houston.

H2O is scheduled to start the three games of this showdown, and in that order. While it bodes well for the Phillies, one would be foolish to count out the Braves, and it would behoove all Phillies fans and baseball fans in general to watch all nine innings and prepare to watch an extra-inning game or two.

Knowing a sweep would virtually lock up the NL East for the hometown Fightins, the prediction here is that the Braves will find a way to win one of the games. If this holds true, the Phillies will extend their division lead to four, and the Braves will still be on top of the wild-card hunt.

In other words, the Phillies and Braves may very well face each other again even after October 3, and for even bigger marbles than this series offers.

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PhIlly Fans Celebrate Phillies and Eagles Victories In Sunny Philadelphia

It may not always be sunny in Philadelphia, but Philly sports fans could not have asked much more from the last official Sunday of summer.

On a day so gorgeous that it was hard to stay indoors, there were rewards to be had for those who were glued to the tube for the NFL and MLB action.  Late September can be a wonderful time of year—both indoors and outdoors—when things fall into place. Yet it was looking a little cloudy at around 4:30 p.m. or so.

The Eagles visited the usually toothless Detroit Lions and proceeded to get on the board on a well-timed 45-yard throw-and-catch from the rehabilitated Michael Vick to speedster wideout DeSean Jackson.  The next 15 or so minutes was all Detroit—and more specifically, impressive rookie Jahvid Best—who scored 17 unanswered points to take a 17-7 lead.

The Birds struck back quickly to score two touchdowns in the last four minutes of the first half to regain a hard-earned 21-17 lead.

While it would have been tempting to catch some rays at halftime, the pennant race beckoned, and the Phils—behind the solid pitching of Joe Blanton and two RBI from backup battery-mate Brian Schneider—were cruising to a 3-1 lead over the Nationals (and a series sweep) after five innings.  Of course, that was before, some guy named Michael Morse (what TV series was he in again?) channeled his inner Albert Pujols and mashed a three-run homer to right center. 

When another nobody named Danny Espinosa took Danys Baez deep in the top of the seventh—thus winning the all-important battle of the Dannys—the Nats took a 5-3 lead.

Meanwhile, love him, hate him or still feling neutral (and do we ever have mixed feelings in sunny Philaelphia?) Michael Vick looked like the Vick of old (and even better in leading the Eagles to a ho-hum 35-17 lead over those de-clawed Lions.  Andy Reid even rediscovered LeSean McCoy, who would rush for 120 yards and 3 touchdowns on a relatively high 16 carries.  The huge lead left plenty of time for catching some rays…

…of hope from the Phillies.  Down 5-3 in the bottom of the 7th, Placido Polanco and Chase Utley singled to put runners on first and second with none out. With RBI machine Ryan Howard (and hot bats to follow in Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez) things were looking good until someone named Scott Burnett (who is actually much better than his 0-7 record would indicate) struck out Howard and Werth back-to-back and retired Ibanez.

The Nats would stretch their lead to 6-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth, and it was time to see how much the Eagles had padded their lead…

…only career backup Shaun Hill—of all people—was leading a touchdown drive, capped by a two-yard run from Best to make the score look a little better for Lions fans, 35-24. Before you knew it or had a chance to concentrate on the Phillies, Hill was finding star-crossed Calvin Johnson (who caught the game-winning touchdown last week only to be screwed, er… denied…  by a terrible ruling) for a touchdown that was, of course, called back.  No problem, Hill found him again for a touchdown that held up, and a two-point conversion to close within a field goal, 35-32.

When the Lions recovered the (expected) onside kick with good field position and nearly two minutes to tie or win the game, it was looking just a little dicey for a defense that is still trying to find its identity.

Meanwhile, one wanted to see if the Phillies could pull off one of those amazing, patented ninth-inning comebacks of theirs.  Down a field goal, er, three runs, Polanco slapped a single to left center, followed by a double down the left field line from Utley.  With the base open, the Nats elected to pitch to Howard who stroked a clean single to center, plating Polanco and Utley.

The scene was set for Jayson Werth, who has had an up-and-down year, and is just starting to wake up and show signs of hitting in the clutch.  Werth, who missed a friendly looking fastball earlier in the count, worked a full count and fouled a pitch back. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat, the bearded wonder launched another fastball from Drew (“I Have Three Career Saves”) Storen that was headed towards the 409-foot sign in dead center.  Could it be?

Let’s just say that it’s September in sunny Philadelphia, the Phils are white hot, and the Bank had no shot at holding it.  Ho-hum, a four-run inning with no outs in their last at-bat to sweep the Nats and stay three games ahead of the Braves going into their three-game showdown starting tomorrow.

Was there truly a cause for celebration?  Yes, as the Birds defense stiffened up in time to force Shaun Hill and company into a four-and-out. Exhilaration from the Phils, and relief from the Birds with two or so hours of sunshine remaining!

Let it be said that the Birds and Fightins were carried today, by  Michael Vick and Jayson Werth, respectively—two players that will probably be playing elsewhere next year. But that discussion is for anther time.

With a couple hours to bask in all this, it was now time to tune into a player who was our franchise for 11 years, and was now hurling pigskins in Washington, D.C. Donovan McNabb, looking sharp despite no effective running game (sound familiar?), a suspect O-line (hmmm), and his top two wideouts consisting of aging smurfs Joey Galloway and Santana Moss was throwing for over 400 yards and no turnovers.

But the Houston Texans, behind a huge game from underrated quarterback Matt Schaub, rallied to tie the game at 27-27 to force overtime.  The overtime had more drama that I’ll recount here, and featured a game-winning 52-yard field goal by a Redskins kicker named Graham Gano that would have been good from about 72. 

Hold on.  Houston was apparently “in the process of calling a timeout” and, forced to do it again, Gano’s kick was wide right.  The Texans took advantage of the great field position to mount a short drive that would culminate in a 35-yard “walkoff” field goal to deny McNabb and the Skins a 2-0 start to their season.

All the better for the Eagles, who found themselves now tied with the Skins at 1-1, and a game ahead of the dreaded Cowboys who were losing to Jay Cutler and company to drop to 0-2. All we needed was a New York Giants loss, and a share of (very early) first place in the NFC East would be ours.

Could it be? It was time to watch a little Sunday night football, as the Giants traveled to Indianapolis for the Manning Bowl.  Eagles fans, and Philly Nation as a whole, got their wish and the cherry to a beautiful Sunday sundae as Peyton and the Colts trounced Eli and company 38-14.

First place (of sorts) for the Birds and three games up in first for the Phils. 

Yes, it was close to midnight, and it was also quite sunny in Philadelphia, even if the weather forecast was pending the outcome of the upcoming three-game showdown between the Phillies and the Braves.

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Raul Ibanez Quietly Giving Philadelphia Phillies a Good Season

APPRECIATING RAUL

Raul Javier Ibanez won’t draw any NL MVP votes this year, and he may not even be in the top five of the Phillies’ team MVP vote, but the Phils’ left fielder should be commended for his 2010 season.

His numbers, at first glance, are not extraordinary. In fact, they’re rather pedestrian. Okay, bad idea…on to the next story.

But wait—there’s more.

It’s easy to look up stat lines these days, and here are the numbers for Raul: .266 BA, 14 homers, 72 RBI, and 66 runs scored. With 15 games left to play, Ibanez will end up somewhere in the neighborhood of .270, 16 HR, 80 RBI, and 75 runs scored. These are numbers that you can more than live with for your No. 6 hitter. More on that later.

Doesn’t it seem like Ibanez has been here much longer than (almost) two years? In this brief amount of time, most Phillies fans have probably gone through an evolution of thought similar to this.

 

1. QUESTIONING RAUL

When Pat Gillick acquired Ibanez from Seattle, many wondered why we were parting ways with Pat Burrell, who became (somewhat inexplicably to me) a great hero in this town.

 

Baseball fans (perhaps even bigger MLB fans than this columnist) knew that Ibanez was a late bloomer who did not get a chance to be an everyday player till he hit age 30 and the Royals made him a regular. It paid off for them: In each of his two seasons in KC, he hit a solid .294. In 2002, he smashed 24 homers and knocked in 93; the following year, his power numbers dropped a little, but he scored 95 runs.

Seattle reclaimed him in 2004, and he gave them five very solid seasons. Although he toiled in a pitcher’s park, Ibanez averaged .293 with 23 HR, 98 RBI, and 86 runs.

On the other hand, late bloomer or not, he was about to turn 37, and could he keep it going for all three years on his contract? And what about that right-handed bat (and his bulldog) we let leave for Tampa?

 

2. LOVING RAUL

Think back to the start, even the first half, of the 2009 season. It didn’t hurt that Ibanez was arguably the Phillies’ best player—this on a team with perennial All-Stars Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins and an emerging star in Jayson Werth. He was that good, and a season approaching .320/40/120 did not look out of reach.

It did not hurt that Ibanez had that great first name, and it soon became commonplace to see Phillies fans wearing No. 29s, along with all of the 6s, 26s, and 11s (and for a brief moment later in that season, some 34s.)

 

That great Ra-uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul chant soon filled the air at Citizens Bank Park.

It also did not hurt that Ibanez was/is the ultimate good guy, a consummate professional, and he fit right in with his defending world champion teammates. Oh yeah, and Cholly could leave him in left field in late innings and not have to fluster himself with those pesky double switches.

 

3. CHEATING RAUL?

An unfortunate byproduct of this PED era of baseball (not completely over) is that players face allegations when they: a) overperform (for their age), b) underperform, or c) start to suffer through injuries. All three of those red flags attached themselves to Ibanez’ numbers.

Raul could not keep up that amazing pace after the 2009 All-Star break, and there were whispers involving the “S” word.  There were sloppy reports and a lot of innuendo, and some Phils fans couldn’t deal with the uncertainty.

I don’t care to dignify those rumors, but it had some effect on how Ibanez—still new to Philly baseball—was perceived by many. Despite a second-half drop-off, Ibanez finished 2009 at .272/34/93, with 93 runs scored in only 134 games. His .899 OPS was a career high, and he had a good postseason with two homers and 13 ribbies in 15 games.

 

 

4. EATING RAUL (or his contract, anyway)

The start of this season saw Raul mired in that slump, and by the end of June (almost halfway through the campaign), Raul was hitting a low .220 with an anemic six homers and 36 RBI.

The numbers most discussed were his age (he turned 38 on June 2) and his contract (he is making over $12 million this year and is due $11.5 mil in 2011).

To say Raul has not had an easy 2010 is an understatement, and with a most promising corner outfielder named Domonic Brown tearing it up in the minors, the Ra-uuuuuuuuuuuuuuls were being replaced with Boooooooooooos, and Phils fans were wondering:

“What can Brown do for us?”

 

6. APPRECIATING RAUL—once again

Domonic Brown has all the makings of a five-tool player and may become our Jason Heyward (or maybe our left-handed Jayson Werth.) One has to love his promise.

But right now, how many Phils fans want to yank Ibanez from the lineup?

 

In 56 games since the All-Star break, he has raised his batting average from a paltry to .246 to a respectable .266. He has hit seven homers and driven in 33 in that same span to get his numbers somewhat in range with his career averages.

More importantly, in a season where we have struggled to keep our mega-stars (Howard, Utley, and especially Rollins) on the field, and where the injury bug has also hit Placido Polanco, Shane Victorino, and Carlos Ruiz, Ibanez has played in 141 of our 147 games, second to Werth on the team.

Most importantly, he guts it out through injuries and is solid fundamentally. He continues to be the ultimate good guy, a consummate professional, and still (at age 38) a hitter that can occasionally ride one out of the park and drive in some key runs.

So let’s hear it one more time for Mr. Ibanez:

RA-uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuullllllllll.

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Roy, Roy And Cole and … Who Takes The Ball: Pondering The Phillies Rotation

Sports Irreverence and More from The Other Tip of the Goldberg

Maybe it’s because of the rain that fell this morning—I haven’t seen any rain for about eight years, and it has me a little confused.

The rain also washed away my pickup softball game this morning, giving me a little more time on my hands to think about the pressing issues of the day.

The economy?  Nah, nothing I can do about that; it’s way above my pay grade—which is a problem in and of itself, of course.

The Eagles home/season opener against Green Bay, and the Washington McNabbs hosting Big D? Still too many hours away. 

Memo to Phillies Fans:   We’re in a real pennant race here—only 19 games left to play, and we’re deadlocked with the Braves for first in the NL East and only two games ahead of the Giants for baseball’s consolation prize.  We have three world-class starting pitchers, and then two question marks—a heavy one that gets shelled in the first inning (Joe Blanton) and a skinny one (Kyle Kendrick) that looks like Greg Maddux occasionally and Mike Maddux more regularly.

I’m reminded of that old saying coined in the late 1940’s for the Boston Braves who had two top hurlers in Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain, and then, as legend has it, used Blanton and Kendrick as their third and fourth starters. Someone, please check their birth certificates.

Spahn and Sain, and Pray for Rain went the refrain, and in the days of four-man (and sometimes three-man) pitching rotations, it was not that much of a stretch for Braves fans to wish for that.

Fast-forward, kind of, to the 1964 Phillies.  Now, I was a bit too young to have experienced this, but it’s hard-wired (with pessimism and jaded cynicism) into my Philly Sports Fan DNA.  As many (even) older Phils fans can tell you the Fightins—long the doormats of the National League—were having a dream season, featuring Jim Bunning’s perfecto, a great season from co-ace Chris Short, an exciting rookie in Richie (“I became Dick later”) Allen and great play from right fielder Johnny Callison.

They found themselves, improbably, 6 ½ games in front of the Reds with only 12 games left to play.  Fans were lining up for World Season tickets—the first Fall Classic to hit Shibe Park/Connie Mark Stadium since 1950, when…

…Manager Gene Mauch remembered that Spahn/Sain ditty and also remembered that he was not enamored of any starting pitchers not named Bunning or Short.  Chaining “Blanton and Kendrick” to the bench, the Little General overused Bunning and Short, and presto—the Phils managed to lose 10 straight games, the first seven of them played before the forgiving Philly faithful.  No pennant; just an all-time collapse: the Philly Phold, Mauch’s Meltdown…

Bunning and Short And Make A Mockery of the Sport???

So, what to do about 2010?  In case you didn’t know, the Phillies—counting today, and assuming they’ll play through the rain—have 19 big games left in their next 22 days.  The next three Thursdays are off.  6 of those remaining 19 games are huge showdowns versus those Atlanta Braves.

Does Charlie Manuel—with three scheduled days off—go with a four-man rotation and choose Blanton or Kendrick to be the odd-man out? Does he get greedy and jettison both Blanton and Kendrick, and stay with his three-headed monster of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels?

And as a longtime Phils fan, I must ask:  Does Uncle Cholly channel his inner Mauch and go with Halladay and his pick of either Hamels or Oswalt (coin flip or arm wrestling) in a two-man rotation—an homage to those beloved ’64 near-champions. It says here that if Manuel does lose it and goes that route, that he should stay with Hamels and keep Oswalt as his emergency (16^th-inning) left fielder. It could happen and pardon the self-reference below:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/442961-hard-to-believe-harry-howard-loses-it-and-who-batted-oswalt

Now, I don’t really expect Cholly to totally lose it, but he could partially panic and go with that three-headed monster of Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels—three pitchers who may all get you over 200 innings pitched with a 3.00 ERA (or lower, in Doc’s case) and over 200 strikeouts (Halladay’s there, Hamels should surpass it, and Oswalt will get close to it.)

Of course, our three-headed monster needs a catchier nickname, than “(Our) Three-Headed Monster”, and to that cause I propose:

Two Roys and a Boy (okay: that kind of sucked, but I’m typing out loud here)

King Cole and The Roy-al Court (Get it? Blame it on the rain)

Roy Squared and Cole

R-C-R 

Okay, I think I have it.  We have two H’s, but also two Roys, and that’s been throwing me off.  Let’s go with their last initials: Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt.

H 2 O …we can say that Halladay, Hamels and Oswalt are like water torture for opposing batters.  Well, we don’t have to, but.

What do you think?  It’s pure, it’s clean, it’s, it’s… water. 

Which reminds me that it’s raining, and with three scheduled days off and 6 games remaining against the Braves in our last 19…

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Howard, Utley, and Halladay Break Jinx; Lead Phils To 8-4 Win Over Mets

The Philadelphia Phillies have shown resilience, heart, and very solid pitching in somehow amassing the best record in the National League during a strange season that could have derailed a lesser group.

At Citi Field—a mausoleum of a stadium that has not been kind to the Fightins in 2010—they rode three hits by Carlos Ruiz and solo shots by Ryan Howard and Chase Utley to defeat the hapless New York Mets, 8-4.

The box score will reflect that their ace, Roy Halladay, was not at his sharpest, scattering eight hits and four earned runs over seven and two-thirds innings. Doc did however bring his bat, bouncing a seeing-eye, two run single up the middle with two outs in the fourth inning to break a 3-3 tie.

On a day that Halladay did not have his very best stuff, he collected the game-winning RBI(s), and tied Ubaldo Jimenez and Adam Wainwright for the league lead at 18 wins.  With the win, the Phils retained their one game lead over the Atlanta Braves—who scored 6 in the 6th to defeat 6’6″ Cardinals co-ace Chris Carpenter. Call it a devilish comeback if you will.

The Phillies also remained two games clear of the next team behind Atlanta in the wild card hunt, the San Francisco Giants, who hours later defeated the San Diego Padres in a 1-0 slugfest.

So, what of the Phillies’ offense that has not been as dynamic as in past seasons? Coming into tonight’s contest, they had scored exactly seven runs in six games in Queens this year.

Have they solved their Citi Field jinx? Maybe so, but more importantly they seemed to have found their offense. It did not hurt that Mr. September, Ryan Howard, stayed back on a pitch and casually lifted an opposite field shot to left center to tie the game at three.

Senor Octobre, Carlos Ruiz, also continued his torrid hitting, boosting his average to .296 with a 3-3 night, while also drawing two free passes. And Chase Utley, their Mr. Everything who seems to be finding his stroke again, pulled a ball into the right field seats to provide a seventh-inning insurance run.

Another part of the Phillies’ winning formula was the good fortune of coming to the plate versus a horrific looking Mets middle reliever Sean Green. Green, who looked even less polished than his surname would suggest, pitched just one-third of an inning, but packed in an intentional base-on-balls, another walk, and a hit batsman—plunking Wilson Valdez on a 3-0 offering with the bases loaded. 

After not finding the area code one  pitch to Halladay, and almost hitting him on another, Mets skipper Jerry Manuel pulled Mr. Green. Both Halladay and Green looked relieved when the shaky reliever was sent to the showers. How do you spell relief?

Then again, the above scenario is the Mets problem, who learned before the game that their ace, Johan Santana, would miss the remainder of the season. Despite a fine 2.98 ERA, the Mets had only given Santana 11 wins in his 29 starts this year.

It’s almost enough to make one feel sorry for the Metropolitans. Almost…

But this is Philly, and the Fightins did what they had to do in beating back a sub .500 team on the road. And if it takes hit batters and two runs batted in by their starting pitcher to get a win, the Phils won’t complain.

With 20 games left to play, the Phillies are not yet a lock for the playoffs. But with a resurgent Howard, the best starting pitching in the National League (arguably), and the experience of taking it to the wire the last few years, would anyone be accused of being a homer if they identified them as the team to beat in the NL?

No, I didn’t think so.

 

 

 

 

‘

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Roy Halladay Labors to Victory, Philadelphia Phillies Outlast Brewers 5-4

Maybe it was poetic justice, or simply baseball justice, that the Phillies fought back to win a game for their ace tonight. After all, it was Labor Day Saturday, and the man often mispronounced as Roy “Doc” Holiday was clearly laboring tonight.

The Phillies offense picked up Halladay tonight, allowing him to notch his 17th victory in a season that he has pitched well enough to have already garnered 20—a milestone that he reached twice as a Toronto Blue Jay. Indeed, baseball justice was served in the 5-4 win that allowed the Phils to remain just one game back of the Atlanta Braves, who won a 2-0 pitchers’ duel versus Josh Johnson and the Florida Marlins.

The box score will tell the tale that Halladay, who had only yielded 17 homers in his first 28 starts, gave up four of them in just seven innings—a relatively short night’s stint for the workhorse. In fact, this was the first of Doc’s 316 career starts that he ever served up four gopher balls in one game.

The longballs came in pairs: two in the top of the second. One to beefy Prince Fielder (his 29th) and another to skinny Alcides Escobar (his fourth). The other pair were offered to the same guy, Corey Hart, who took Doc deep in the third and again in the seventh, forcing Halladay to the showers on the wrong end of a 4-3 score.

The silver lining in the cloud of homers was that all four were solo shots. Not to worry: The Brewers are an aggressive team that swings for the fences, and Halladay had one of those nights where he just could not find his spots. It did not help that home plate umpire Mike Estabrook was not giving any pitchers the corners, and the strong winds were gusting all night.

Offensively, the Phillies played a little “Brewers Ball” and a little, um, little ball in coming back to capture the victory in the bottom of the seventh—just in time to get the “W” for Halladay. They tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the second on back to back dingers by newly resurgent sluggers Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth.

If you’re keeping track of encouraging signs, that’s two home runs in the last three games for Howard (who always seems to heat up in September) and four in the last eleven contests for Werth, who is also regaining his power stroke. Chase Utley knocked in another run—nine rbi in his last four games—and Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz sprinkled in three more hits.

Having said all this, a case could be made that tonight’s hero was backup Wilson Valdez, who drew a walk in the bottom of the seventh to load the bases. After Rollins grounded out to third baseman McGahee who threw home to prevent the tying run, up stood Placido Polanco with the bases still loaded and one out.

Polanco lofted a fly to medium left field that Ryan Braun had time to set up and make a strong throw home. His throw was on line but not particularly strong and catcher Jonathan Lucroy seemed to want no part of a potential collision with Chooch who was motoring in from third. The throw skipped by the reluctant catcher, and Wilson Valdez kept on coming beating Lucroy’s lackluster tag off a throw from reliever Zach Braddock.

Valdez’ hustle would produce the final run, as the bullpen—featuring a rare one-two-three close by Brad Lidge—shut the door on the Brewers.

What does all this mean? The Phillies are at a season-high 20 games over .500, and pending results from the Left Coast, three-and-a-half games in front of the Giants for the wild card lead.

For Halladay, he won a game he night have lost and notched his 17th win with (most likely) five more starts in the regular season. Clearly, Doc would trade a 20-game season and a possible Cy Young Award for the opportunity to see the first postseason action of his illustrious career.

But why not take all three?  With the way the Phillies are starting to jell, and with the way Halladay usually controls opposing batters, is it unreasonable to predict 20 wins, a Cy Young award and a major part of an NL East title for the team ace?

On this Labor Day Halladay weekend, the above seems perfectly reasonable.

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Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels: Where Does the Phillies’ Big Three Rank?

With only one month left in the 162-game marathon that decides who makes the postseason, it’s time to examine and rank the starting pitchers that each of the National League contenders summon to the hill.

For our purposes, I have evaluated and ranked The Big Three (if you will) for each of the nine teams that are over .500 coming into September.

As baseball is a game of nines, nine teams qualified—even if I would not wager big money on the Dodgers or Marlins or the ever-befuddling Cardinals these days.

Why only The Big Three in these days of five-man rotations?  I’m glad you asked.

I’m thinking about this with the premise of each team making it to the postseason.  Although many teams still go with a four-man rotation in the playoffs, The Big Three of any team will pitch six out of seven games of any series that goes the distance.

In ranking The Big Three(s), I considered the pitchers 2010 statistics, their track record and their playoff history, or playoff cred.  I assigned each pitcher a score from 1-10, and posted a composite score for each three-man staff.

This is more art than science, and while assiduous research was done, no lab rats were injured in the process.

So, see where Halladay and Co.—or your favorite team’s staff—ranks, and then let the debates begin!

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Kuroda Kills Phils, But Do You Know Your Hideki’s from Your Hiroki’s?

Sports Irreverence From The Other Tip of the Goldberg

 

Hiroki Kuroda (pictured) came very close to no-hitting the Phillies last night, besting Roy Halladay in a 3-0 Dodgers win. He pitched 7.2 innings of one-hit ball, losing his bid in the eighth on a clean single by Shane Victorino.

All this has me wondering whether you are having any trouble distinguishing your Hideki’s from your Hiroki’s? (To say nothing of your Hideo’s and your Karaoke’s.)

Don’t worry: It’s a common problem, and I’m here to help. I don’t want you to make the same mistake I once did.

Yes, I once dated a Japanese woman who was a huge baseball fan.  She was angry at me and yelled that I “could not even tell my Hideki’s from my Hiroki’s.” This was, I learned, the equivalent of not knowing whether to scratch my watch or wind my butt.

Stung by this affront to my masculinity–and my baseball savvy–I tore up an origami sculpture of hers that she had been working on for months.

Mieko (alias for protection) dumped me, and I haven’t been able to even look at a bowl of sushi ever since.

Which brings us here, my friends. 

I have prepared a little quiz to see how well you know your Hiroki’s, Hideki’s and Hideo’s–all of whom have pitched in the major leagues.  This will be good for your baseball soul, and may even improve your relationships.

Let this quick, fun quiz begin!

Begin Slideshow

King Cole Hamels Snaps Winless Streak, Shuts Out San Diego Padres

Now, Cole Hamels can be considered the best 8-10 pitcher on the planet. 

After completing a masterful six-hit, no walk shutout on the road against his hometown Padres, the lanky lefty snapped his improbable eight-game winless streak to lead the Phillies to a 5-0 win.

Let the record show that the Phillies rode all of four hits—although two were homers by Mike Sweeney and Jayson Werth—to sweep the Padres, and keep pace with the Braves who staged a dramatic comeback against the Marlins.

Game accounts may also reflect that the Padres’ defense—and I use that term lightly—committed four errors in a performance that would have been booed in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

(In case you were wondering, Japan edged the youngsters from Waipahu Hawaii, 4-0 to take the Little League World Series.)

But, today’s game was all about Hamels, who notched his first win since July 11th. An examination of the box scores for those eight games shows that Hollywood could have, and should have, won five or six of those games.

If only…

One has to wonder if anyone else was singing the following baseball nursery rhyme to console young Cole during his personal ordeal:

Hollywood Cole was a tortured young soul
And a tortured young soul was he
He called for the ball, and he gave it his all
But the Phillies played crappily. 

Ditties aside, during those infamous eight starts, Hamels went from 7-7 to 7-10, with five no-decisions, yet the Phils did win four of those games.

A look inside the numbers will reveal that:

• Hamels pitched well enough to lower his season ERA from 3.78 to 3.47.
• After today’s masterpiece, his ERA is a tidy 3.31.
• In six of the eight starts, Cole pitched at least seven innings, and he yielded two or fewer runs five times.
• The flashiest gem of the bunch was the July 22nd game in St. Louis, when Hollywood gave up no runs—on one hit—in eight innings. For good measure, he struck out seven and walked only one. The Phils decided to score their only two runs after Hamels left, winning 2-0.

For the eight games as a whole—and these are numbers worthy of an eight-game winning streak— Hamels pitched a total of 54 innings (almost seven innings per start).

• The lefty gave up a total of 44 hits, leading to 17 earned runs, for a tiny ERA of 2.83.
• Oh yeah, he struck out 63 batters and walked 11.
• Any baseball fan will tell you that his k/bb ratio of 5.72 was ridiculously good.

 

Baseball has a way of evening things out over time, and Phillies fans must feel good about the future of their 2008 World Series hero, who has now overcome a forgotten 2009 campaign and this bizarro streak from Hades.

If the baseball gods were punishing Cole for his lack of maturity in the playoffs last year, one would hope that they will stop testing him.

Job had an easy life compared to the last seven weeks for Hamels (I know that Job’s salary was a little less, but work with me here).

And if the Phillies bats ever wake up and the big three of Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels continue to resemble Maddux, Smoltz, and Glavine in their prime, can anyone blame Phillies Nation for dreaming about a third straight World Series appearance?

I can hear it now.

Cole and Doc and Roy Oswalt—no shock
Are as happy as they can be
The Fall Classic is back, and the Phils are on track
Thanks in large part to their Big Three.

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Roy Oswalt and Jimmy Rollins Key Phillies Wild 12-Inning Win Over Padres

A great outing by Roy Oswalt, and a three-hit, two-run night for Jimmy Rollins highlighted the Phils’ 3-2 win over the Padres in a wild 12-inning affair at PETCO Park.

The win—combined with losses by the Giants and the Braves—left the Fightins two games behind the Braves in the NL East and a half game in front of the Giants in the wild card shuffle.  That’s the easy part. The hard part is putting this game, itself, into words and perspective as there were enough twists and turns to satiate the psyches of optimists and pessimists alike.

Encouraging News No. 1:  Oswalt was brilliant, yielding only six hits and no walks in eight innings.  He looked every bit the ace, and having thrown only 102 pitches—while retiring the last 13 Padres—one can easily make the case that he should’ve been out there in the bottom of the ninth.  More on that later.

More Good News: Rollins looked like the spark plug the Phils will need down the stretch to earn a playoff spot.  He took two pitches to start the game and then slapped a single into left.  He started a two-out rally of sorts with a seeing-eye hit up the middle in the third, and he pulled a double down the line to start the 12th, scoring with a great slide on Placido Polanco’s single.

One more:  Hanging Chad Durbin pitched a strong final two innings to earn the win. It wasn’t his fault that Oswalt wasn’t rewarded with a “W.”

Bad News No. 1: The offense looked flat again, and I daresay Latos-intolerant.  Okay, inspired puns aside, at least their inability to do much against a great young pitcher like Mat Latos can be somewhat justified.  The 22-year-old ace showed why he came into the game leading all pitchers in baseball in both WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) and BAA (batting average against).  Of course, the Phils also looked completely overmatched against closer Heath Bell, who pitched two full (non-stressful) innings for the first time this season.

More Bad News:  Ryan Howard is struggling and maybe he’s saving it all for one of his patented huge Septembers.  Let’s hope so. He went 1-5 with a walk, but also struck out four more times (three of them looking), and left five men on base.

Open question:  Did both Utley and Howard return to the lineup too soon?

And Then, there’s Lidge:  One hates to beat up on such a good guy, but you had to feel for Oswalt when Lidge blew the game in surreal fashion for his erstwhile Astros buddy.

During the wild bottom of the ninth, Lidge threw 25 pitches, but it felt like 55.  Old friend Matt Stairs greeted him with a solid single to right before being replaced by the requisite pinch runner, Jerry Hairston. Pesky David Eckstein bunted Hairston over to second. Lidge appeared to panic, and bobbled the bunt but regained just enough composure to get the out at first.

Miguel Tejada—one of very few known quantities in the Padres anonymous lineup—grounded out to Polanco for the second out.  The fun was just beginning.  The Phils elected to walk the dangerous Adrian Gonzalez with the base open, and Lidge promptly crossed up Ruiz by almost throwing a strike on the first free toss.  Ruiz made a great catch, and there was no further drama on the next three lobs.

From here, it got downright preposterous.  Although many of Lights-on Lidge’s offerings did not have enough bite to chew oatmeal, he started Ryan Ludwick with two apparent strikes that the former Cardinal fouled weakly down the right field line.  Of course, with two outs and an 0-2 count, Lidge promptly hit Ludwick in the wrist with another fastball that tailed in. 

With the bases full, Lidge threw two balls to Chase Headley, then battled back to a 2-2 count before..are you ready…committing a balk that was so obvious that the Phillies did not emit a murmur of protest.  With the bases still full, Luis Durango (who should be fined for swinging at the first pitch) hit a grounder that almost ate up Ryan Howard at first.  But alas, the game went into extra innings.

Give the Phillies credit for keeping their heads and rallying to win a game that felt like a must-win on the heels of a humiliating four-game weep at home at the hands of the lowly Astros.  Perhaps, with 34 games left to play, they will regain their mojo and look once again like the best team in a flawed National League.

Whether they can do so with an inconsistent lineup that desperately needs Utley and Ryan to be themselves is questionable. 

And whether they can do so with a closer capable of  throwing away a great outing by Oswalt with a sequence of intentional base on balls (the first throw almost a wild pitch), hit batter, and balk is highly debatable.

These questions will get answered in the next month or so.  For now, Phillies fans can savor the end of their losing streak and life precariously atop the wild card standings.

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