Cliff Lee Deal Good for Phils (but Halladay Would Be Even Better)

Phillies Chase Marlins, Prepare for Mets

All things considered, April didn’t turn out that badly for the Phillies.  They finished the month with an 11-9 record, and trail only the Florida Marlins in the NL East.  For a team coming off a World Series Championship, the first month of their defense was far from smooth.

Not only did they stumble out of the blocks with inconsistent offense and awful starting pitching, but they also lost Harry Kalas.  Kalas, the voice of the franchise and millions of Philadelphia childhoods, will hopefully provide inspiration along with a sobering dose of reality for this team the rest of season.

The Phillies start the second month with a big weekend series at home against the Mets on Friday, and for two teams that have underperformed to this point, these divisional games are critical.  The heightened state of the Mets-Phillies rivalry means that the players don’t need to be reminded of the importance of this early season matchup. 

This is the first meeting of the two teams since Cole Hamels called the Mets “choke artists” over the winter, and the Phillies have used late-season runs the last two years to pass the Mets for the division title. Hamels will not pitch in the series, but that shouldn’t diminish any of the intensity. 

The Mets need to make up ground, and the Phillies have the perfect opportunity to put some space between themselves and arguably their most dangerous rival.  To handle the Mets and have a successful remainder to the season, the Phillies will need to accomplish some of the following. 

The Phillies Have To Pitch Better

Starters, relievers, no one is free of blame here.  It starts with Hamels and Brad Lidge getting healthy and returning to form.  Lidge is the larger concern, already with a blown save and a 7.27 ERA.  If Lidge can’t fill the closer’s role like he did last year, the Phillies would probably end up turning to Ryan Madson, but with him pitching the ninth, it raises the question of who would pitch the seventh and eighth.  J.C. Romero cannot get back from his suspension soon enough. 

Someone out of the group of Blanton, Myers, and Park is going to have to emerge as the No. 2 starter.  Jamie Moyer is 3-1, but with a 5.09 ERA, he’s hardly been spectacular.  Moyer gives you all he has, but there will be games where he gets hit.  Myers is pitching the best out of the other starters but needs to avoid the long ball, big innings, and manage his pitch count a little better. 

Park has yet to show the form he displayed in Spring Training that won him the job, and Blanton has been the worst of the bunch at 0-2 with an 8.41 ERA.  The Phillies have a dangerous offense but not enough firepower to overcome these bloated pitching numbers. 

Speaking of the Offense

It’s the same old story.  The Phillies need consistency.  Capable of scoring double-digit runs on any night, the Phillies also go stretches of games where it looks like they’ll be lucky to ever score again.  Strikeouts still plague the starting eight, and the slow start of Jimmy Rollins leaves the team without its catalyst. 

Rollins will likely rebound, Ryan Howard will have one of his big months, and in the best case scenario for Phillies fans the team’s stars will take turns carrying the offense.  The task in April fell to Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez.  Utley’s play, considering he was coming off serious surgery, was nothing short of remarkable.  Ibanez was the team’s most consistent and dangerous offensive weapon, and the team MVP for the opening month. 

Utley has it in him to hit .340, but Ibanez will eventually cool off, and when he does the Phillies will need someone to pick up the slack.  Jayson Werth also still needs to prove himself as an everyday player.  One hot stretch is all that kept Werth from having a dreadful opening month.  If the Phillies have to start exploring platoon options in right, they become a much weaker team.

If the pitching just gets marginally better, the Phillies should be in position at least to contend for their third straight division crown.  It appears that, aside from the Nationals, this division is going to beat itself up pretty well.  This means it would be a surprise if any team streaked out to any kind of significant lead.  It also means that every game counts, especially home divisional games like the Phillies have this weekend. 

Chan Ho Park (0-0, 7.16) faces Mike Pelfrey (2-0, 6.32) at 7:05 Friday night in the opener.

Phillie’s Cole Can’t Catch A Break

Cole Hamels had seemed to have it figured out tonight against the Nationals.  The Nats are a good team to get well against, but their offense can show pccasional signs of life. They roughed up the Phillies staff last night, but Hamels had his best combination of velocity and command tonight.  He dominated Washington through four and 1/3 innings at Citizens Bank Park. 

The injury occured as Hamels raced off the mound to field a bunt attempt.  Replays showed a nasty turn of the ankle, but Hamels did walk off the field under his own power. It’s the latest set back for the Phillies ace who left his last start after being struck by a line drive off the bat of Prince Fielder, and missed time in Spring Training with elbow inflammation. 

The Phillies can’t afford for Hamels to miss too much time given the suspect strength of their starting rotation, but the offense remains healthy, staking Hamels to a 5-0 lead courtesy of home runs from Pedro Feliz and Chase Utley who added his second homer of the night in the fifth.

 

Remembering Joe Cowley

Considering the Phillies are having some pitching trouble this year I thought I’d take a trip down memory lane to remember some of the truly awful Phillies pitchers of my youth.  There certainly are a lot of arms to choose from, and perhaps I’ll canonize one a week or so until the Phils turn things around, but I’m starting with the inimitable Joe Cowley. 

Why Cowley comes to mind is that I watched the 1987 Phillies Video Yearbook at least 40 times from about 1988-1991.  It’s a great video, the Phillies had added Lance Parrish (hahaha), and were coming off a 2nd place finish (26 games behind the World Champion Mets).

At one point early in the video Mike Schmidt refers to the Phillies as “The Purple and White” team. Here I thought they wore maroon all those years. 

Along with Parrish, Joe Cowley was an anticipated addition, but his only appearance in the video is during a “montage of ineptitude”.  Cowley is on the mound, the hitter delivers a swinging bunt to the right side of the infield, and Cowley lumbers off the mound after it. 

When he bends down to pick up the bunt, he trips over himself, rolls over the ball, and his hat falls off.  At this point he retrieves the ball, and rolls it over to first base. 

Needless to say, the runner beat the play easily.  Cowley then  lays on the ground for a moment like a beached whale until the video goes to the next scene—this is my best recollection of the video.

Cowley’s final stats for the ’87 Phils:  0-4, 15.43 ERA.  11 2/3 Innings pitched.  21 hits.  17 BBs.  (3.26 WHIP)

Can you imagine being Mike Schmidt, a future Hall of Famer, playing third in your purple and white uniform, and having to watch this? 

Cowley’s ultimate claim to fame:  He’s the only pitcher to throw a no-hitter, and then never win another game.  Yes, you read that right. 

He threw a no-hitter late in the ’86 season, didn’t win again that year, came to the Phils in ’87, made 4 starts, and that was it, goodbye career.  Cheers Joe, you were a shooting star of my youth. 

Coming Next:  Don Carmen, Marvin Freeman, Bobby Munoz, Pat Combs…I don’t know.

                      —Originally Published at Three Putt Territory—

Hitting is Hard. Just Ask Jimmy Rollins

Jimmy Rollins is known for a lot of things—great defense, leadership, swagger—and terrible Aprils.

Rollins took a second day off yesterday in a season that has started slowly, even for him. While the theory that he didn’t get enough at-bats during Spring Training is still out there, it is losing credibility rapidly as Rollins is over 70 plate appearances for the year and still isn’t showing signs of offensive revival. 

The usually confident shortstop sounds humbled these days, as he recently talked about simply getting good at-bats and trying to hit the ball on the barrel. Past history would indicate that Rollins will eventually heat up, and his average will probably rise into the .260s at some point this season.

But for a past MVP, Rollins is a very inconsistent offensive player and probably overrated due to clutch hits and his one career year. 

Jimmy’s biggest problem is when he’s going bad, he’s very bad, as he doesn’t even draw walks. Rollins has three walks this season (the same number as Jamie Moyer), has never drawn 60 in a year, and has never had a .350 on-base percentage. His career high was .349 last season, and that ranked him 76th among MLB regulars. 

Rollins will never be a 100-walk guy, lead the league in OBP, or be a prototypical leadoff hitter, but this is his 10th year in the league, and it would be nice to see a little growth and maturity. 

Rollins has to realize he’s going bad, see as many pitches as possible, and try to get on base. If he could work a couple walks, steal some bags, and score some runs, it might alleviate some of the pressure and build some confidence.

You have to take the good with the bad with Rollins’ play, and the way things have started this season, we’re due for a long run of the good. 

It can’t come soon enough.

 

Article first published at Three Putt Territory