Philadelphia Phillies

Chipper Jones is out for the year with a torn ACL, but let’s hope this isn’t it for the man who has played his entire major league career for manager Bobby Cox.  Chipper has made it known since last season that retirement could be around the corner, but like Baseball Tonight’s Eduardo Perez, I don’t see Chipper calling it quits now that his season has ended unexpectedly.  He wants to go out on his own terms, and these aren’t them.  At 38, his career is nearing the end, but I find it hard to believe that he will be able to say good-bye after watching from the bench as his team battles for the National League crown.

Continue reading "Will Chipper hang 'em up?"

With the Dog Days of August about to begin, now is the time for teams to decide whether they are buyers or sellers – that is, whether they should mortgage their future and go for it this year or trade away their veterans for up-and-coming prospects.  “Going for it” says to a team’s fans that the organization thinks it has a legitimate chance to win it all, but a more conservative approach can send just as strong a message.  While a middle-of-the-pack team may have to acknowledge that this isn’t the year, going out and building for the future – as long as it is not the distant future – can usually be taken to mean that the front office is willing to sacrifice an outside shot at the playoffs in order to increase its chances of winning in the long term.  Buyer or seller, every GM will be busy until tomorrow’s trade deadline.

Continue reading "Buyer or Seller?"

The game of baseball lost two old-timers this week, as beloved Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell passed away at the age of 92 and Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts died at 83.

Harwell is best known for his 42 years broadcasting Tiger games, but before his career in Detroit, Harwell made history.  For this, I turn to wikipedia: In 1948, Harwell became the only announcer in baseball history to be traded for a player when the Brooklyn Dodgers' general manager, Branch Rickey, traded catcher Cliff Dapper to the Crackers in exchange for breaking Harwell's broadcasting contract.

Continue reading "Farewell to a pair of the game's greats"

As if Ubaldo Jimenez’s no-hitter was not enough excitement for one day, the Mets and Cardinals took part in a marathon contest, playing a 20-inning game Saturday in St. Louis.  If that does not…, the most remarkable part of the monumental occasion was that the two teams went scoreless through the first 18 frames!  That’s like back-to-back shutouts being thrown by both teams!  In a game that took nearly seven hours and featured an astounding 18 pitchers (two of whom were actually position players that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa sent to the hill), three Met hitters – Jose Reyes, Jason Bay, and Jeff Francoeur – went a combined 0 for 21.  That is an ugly line in the box score for three of the team’s four best offensive players.

Continue reading "Oh, what a night!"

After the way Cliff Lee pitched against the Yankees in the World Series six weeks ago, I would have been surprised to hear that the Phillies were even listening to offers for their ace.  But when the chance to acquire Roy Halladay comes around, I suppose any team would be crazy not to listen.  Before I knew it, Halladay was a Phillie and Lee was heading to Seattle, where he’ll join his third club in the span of four and a half months.  How often does that happen to the defending Cy Young Award winner?

Continue reading "Phillies take a Halladay"

Chase Utley and Ryan Howard put themselves in the record books in back-to-back at-bats in the seventh inning of Game 5 of the World Series in Philadelphia.  Each tied an offensive mark originally set before Phil Coke, the Yankee pitcher who faced the duo, was born.  Utley matched Reggie Jackson, who hit five home runs in the 1977 Fall Classic.  Jackson, incidentally, was in his first year in Yankee pinstripes.  Howard tied Willie Wilson, whose 12 strikeouts in the 1980 World Series were at the hands of none other than the Phillies.  (Howard went on to set a new record in Game 6.)

Continue reading "A game for the record books"

In the National League Championship Series, fans of both teams saw familiar faces wearing the opponent’s uniform.  Dodgers Jim Thome, Vicente Padilla, and Randy Wolf used to play their home games in the City of Brotherly Love, while Phillies Jayson Werth, Pedro Martinez, Chan Ho Park, and Paul Bako once upon a time bled Dodger Blue.

Continue reading "Did you say you played for the Dodgers? ..."

The 12-inning thriller that was the last regular season game ever played at the Metrodome was exactly what I wanted to see.  When the Twins and Tigers played a four-game series in Detroit last week, I found myself rooting for the Twins to close the gap in order to create an exciting finish to the regular season – ideally a one-game playoff.  When that happened, I decided it would be great for the city of Detroit to send their team to the playoffs, but what I wanted most was to see a great game.  My wish came true when the two teams played a nail-biter that could have gone either way, but eventually sent Minnesota to the postseason.  Props to both teams for giving the fans what they deserved.

Continue reading "Twins-Tigers game was exactly what I wanted"

Cliff Lee was meant to pitch for the Phillies.  How else do you explain his ridiculous string of starts since joining the team last month?  In five games, Lee has a 5-0 record, a 0.75 WHIP, and a 0.68 E.R.A.  In 40 innings, he has struck out 39 batters and walked just six, surrendered a grand total of zero home runs, and looked like a true ace while averaging eight innings per start.  As if he weren’t contributing enough already, Lee is hitting .313, which, if it were over enough at-bats to qualify, would lead the team.  The southpaw has truly made the most of his time in the City of Brotherly Love.

Continue reading "Cliff Lee: Philly Fave"

In the last week, baseball fans have been exposed to a number of unfortunate incidents that involved big-name, All-Star players.  My thoughts on each of them follow.

Kevin Youkilis charging the mound: Youk let his emotions get the best of him on Tuesday night after getting plunked in the back for the second consecutive night.  The Red Sox need Youk’s bat in the lineup and his glove in the field.  Now they have neither for five games.

Continue reading "Poor behavior on and off the field is Bad for Ball"

Ruben Amaro, Jr. has stated time and time again that the Phillies are looking to add a pitcher. A quality top end of the rotation pitcher. While thoughts of Peavy and Halladay and Bedard have dance

Continue reading "Where will the Phillies be when the smoke clears?"

Todd Zolecki of MLB.com is reporting that the Phillies have been scouting Red Sox pitcher Brad Penny. The Red Sox supposedly asking for infield prospect Jason Donald. Brad Penny is not the power pitch

Continue reading "Is Donald only worth a Penny?"

After starting sixth in all star votes, Phillies fans stepped up the in park and online voting to jump Raul Ibanez all the way to second place behind Ryan Braun. The usuals are occupying their places in voting with Utley, Howard, and Rollins all within the top 3. Third baseman Pedro Feliz is quietly putting together an All Star quality season. He currently is 5th in the voting.

Continue reading "Ibanez early favorite for All Star Game."

The starting pitching was very good over the weekend in the bronx. It all seemed to be on Brad "Lit Up" Lidge as he blew the save and lost the game on Sat. and just blew the save Sun. B

Continue reading "Phils take two of three from Yanks."

Joe Blanton cruised thru the first four inning and hit the wall in the fifth. He gave up 5 runs in the fifth, but only cut the deficit to one run. The Phillies offense cruised, scoring atleast one run

Continue reading "Blanton Struggles, Pen scoreless ..."

Even before the game started we had a little action. Charlie Manuel demoted Chan Ho Park from the rotation to the bullpen and promoted JA Happ to the rotation. Happ will get his first opportunity Saturday at the on fire as of late New York Yankees.

Continue reading "Two Aces in the Queen City: Phillies ..."

Slow day as the Phillies had an off day Monday. The Phillies signed Bako to a minor league deal and shipped him off to extended Spring Training. Bako had signed on with Cubs in January with an invite

Continue reading "Phillies sign C Paul Bako to minor league deal"

Where do I begin. Its very hard to gauge a team based on their performance against the Nats.  The Phillies could have blown that game WIDE open. On the night, the Phillies had twenty, yes TWENTY, runners in scoring position and only managed to get 8 home. Blanton struggled with command again walking 6 over five innings. Which further proves my point that the umpires have a league wide squeeze on the strike zone this year. I really can't put that much blame on Lidge for blowing the save Friday nights debacle of a game. The first hit barely made it passed the pitchers mound and the one Dunn hit, Feliz did the right thing at getting the lead runner. Yeah Utley through a slider to Ruiz and could have had Dunn out to end the ball game, but oh well. I was actually really looking forward to seeing Happ pitch Saturday night, but it obviously wasn't meant to be. I really do feel for Manny Acta. Does he have anyone in the pen with an ERA under 4? It seems like either the pitching or the defense or a combination of both let him down all weekend long.

Continue reading "Weekend Series Update: Philadelphia ..."

This will probably be my last post of the week barring any trade or situation which may arise. I wanted to encompass not only the Phillies but the farm system as well. Let's start from the bottom and work our way up. The Venezuelan and Dominican Summer Leagues, the Gulf Coast League, and the New York Penn League have yet to start up. The next couple of wrap ups will probably be short until then. On to Class A Lakewood.

Continue reading "Studs and Duds: Philadelphia Phillies ..."

Cole Hamels pitched gem this afternoon. Nine strikeouts, one walk, and one earned run (HR) over seven innings. The Phils took the lead for Hamels in the bottom of the first with a lead off double from Jimmy Rollins, a sac bunt from Victorino, and a sac fly from Howard. That was all the runs the Phightless Phils had for the young lefty. The Phillies did make a game of it scoring 2 runs with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth off of Jonathan Broxton. On the verge of a 1,2,3 top of the 10th Chad Durbin went two up two down and seemingly melted down after a payoff pitch failed to go his way. Durbin gave up two runs to give away the lead. Rookie Ramon Troncoso came in to save the game for Broxton setting down the Phillies on 13 pitches. It would have been less than 10 if Troncoso didn't hit Utley with two strikes and two outs.

Continue reading "Philadelphia Phillies versus Los ..."

In yet another attempt to achieve career win number 250, Jamie Moyer ran into a team with a vengeance. After being embarassed the night before, the Dodgers were out for blood against Moyer and the Phightin Phils. Moyer was cruising along go three scoreless innings before the jugular was sliced and the bloodbath ensued. He gave up 5 runs in the fourth, all earned, including a three run shot given up to James Loney. Moyer was pulled from the game with one out in the fifth after runners reached first and third. JA Happ came in and could not strand the runners, bring Moyer's final line to 4.1 IP, 7ER on 8 hits and 1 walk and strinking out 1. Happ pitched the final two outs of the fifth inning and was done for the night. That led me to believe before any announcement that Happ would indeed pitch one of the two games Saturday in Washington.

Continue reading "Ageless Wonder left wondering what ..."

With the release of a new book reconfirming everyone suspicions about Roger Clemens' use of steroids, I thought it would be a nice change of pace to give it a go. Clemens gave an interview to ESPN's radio show "Mike & Mike" to state his case. Highlights of the interview were that he still denies using steroids or any other PEDs, that he still friends (casuals ones at best from how he spoke of Petitte) with Andy Petitte, and that he feels that the Hall of Fame IS important to him now. The point of the interview that I found to be the most entertaining was the Clemens threw out the statement that he would not ever consider steroids or any other PED because his family has a history of heart disease. He followed that up with his STEP father died of a heart attack and that his brother had a heart attack in his 40s. My question would be then is the brother you are referring to your real brother or your step brother? It makes a monumental difference in his reasoning. How could YOU specifically have a history of heart disease if you aren't even a part of that blood stream. It's like the episode of the Simpsons when Mr. Burns is shot. Marge says she didn't have Bouvier DNA anymore only Simpson DNA.

Continue reading "A steroid users dilemma. To admit or not to admit."

Jayson Werth was the star of the game last night, capping off a superb performance by stealing 3 bases in the bottom of the 7th inning. To make the feat even better, all three swipes were with two outs. Not one person saw it coming. Not the pitcher, the catcher, the batter, the third base coach, or even the manager. Werth said to reporters after the game that he would rather see them win by the long ball. I would definitely say that manufacturing runs never hurt anyone. Werth was the first Phillie since Carlos Ruiz to steal home and the first Phillies since Gary Maddox to steal four in one game.

Continue reading "Werth helps Phillies steal win, Dodgers hearts."

With Monday being an off day for the Phightins, I thought I would take a look at our up and comers. So here we go down on the farm.

Lehigh Valley (AAA): Kyle Kendrick got rocked by Toledo yesterday in a rare mid day game. He gave up 6 earned runs over five innings. He did manage to strikeout 4 and only walked one. The part that impresses me the most about Kyle Kendrick so far is his ERA. The six earned runs brought his ERA up to 3.75. I would say that is pretty respectable compared to what we saw from him the bigs last season. Hopefully this means he is turning it around. You can never have enough sinkerballers at the Bank. Right now Kendrick needs to focus making batters miss the ball. His WHIP and his groundball rate are both hovering right around 1.50. So to get back to the bigs with the Phils or anyone else, he will need to improve both of those.

Continue reading "Down on the farm. A look at the minors."

So far this season, the Phillies' pitching has been down right horrible. Worst team ERA in all the National League. The only teams worse than the Phightins are the Yankees and Indians. The Phillies are tied for last in saves. Yes, I know that saves are a stat of opportunity, but to be tied with the Pirates and Nationals, the NL perenial basement dwellers. On to the positive. The Phillies are in first, yes lead the national league in homeruns allowed. Oh wait, that isn't good news either. Do we chalk it up to a World Series hangover? We did pitch an extra month last year.  Do we chalk it up to really missing JC Romero? Everyone besides Madson and Lidge had their role redefined because of one blunder.

Continue reading "Is the pitching staff leaking oil?"

What are some of the Braves other needs before the season opener against the Phillies on April 5? Adding an outfield bat seems to be Wren's top priority, but who could it be?

Hopefully not Andruw Jones, who just hit the free agent market yesterday. I just don't think he's worth taking a shot on. After all, the Dodgers did agree to pay him the rest of his contract as long as he stopped hurting their team by taking up a roster spot.

Continue reading "What's left for the Braves?"

Yes, it's great for the Atlanta Braves that Derek Lowe is their rotation's new ace. He's better than what they have now — with the exception possibly being Jair Jurrjens, who might be really, really good one day but is still just 22 years old — and there aren't too many other options out there. Randy Wolf isn't that great, neither is Oliver Perez, and Ben Sheets is exactly what the Braves don't need, another starter who will spend more time on the DL then he will off of it.

Continue reading "Braves overbid for Lowe - but they had no choice"

 

           Each week, on Friday, I will look into my (never wrong, just misinformed) crystal ball and give my predictions for that weekend games.  I will always prognosticate on the Eagles and Cowboys games and then pick two more games of interest (to me, that is, not necessarily to you).  Keep in mind, that this is for entertainment purposes only, and that I do not endorse any sort of legal or illegal gambling.  That being said…let’s see what’s in my crystal ball!  

Continue reading "Predictions Week 9"

  

Last night, the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 to win the World Series in five games (4-1).  This is the second World Championship for the Phils…they previously won in 1980…28 years ago.  This will be remembered as one of the weirdest finishes in a Series with an unprecedented suspension of a game due to inclement weather.  The game was concluded 48 hours later…in hindsight…it was worth the wait! 

Continue reading "Finally"

  

The newly acquired crystal ball went 3-1 in its debut week, which leaves me 4 games under .500…we’re getting there!  That’s an impressive start for a young and naïve crystal ball.  It performed well in its new role…many people are relying on it…that’s a lot of pressure!  It clearly has better prognosticating skills than its predecessor.  Maybe the new mahogany base it sits on, gave it a sense of prestige.  Well, for whatever reason…I’ll take it!  Now let’s review what happened this past week:  

Continue reading "Week 8 Review"

ip;there are no style points in the NFL!   

Short Shots:   

The Philadelphia Phillies smoked the Tampa Bay Rays 10-2 last night to take a commanding lead in the World Series.  The Phils lead the Series 3-1.  If they can win tonight, the Phillies will close out the Series at home and the celebrations can begin!  Philadelphia has been craving a championship for decades and the Phils are on the verge of delivering!  Let’s go Phillies!  The parade down Broad Street is within reach! 

Continue reading "There Are No Style Points In The NFL"

refuse…win!  Miami 23, Buffalo 17.   

Short Shots:  

The Philadelphia Phillies lost Game 2 of the World Series last night.  The Series is tied at 1-1.  The Rays will now travel to Philadelphia for Games 3-5.  Let’s not head back to Tampa…let’s win it at home!  Let’s go Phils!  Parade down Broad Street to follow!  

Continue reading "Predictions Week 8"

Winslow isn’t just a “piece of meat” and lift his suspension! 

The Philadelphia Phillies won Game 1 of the World Series…way to go Phils!  Got Parade?

Continue reading "Mr. Fix-it"

in cut-off sweatshirts on the sideline (and yes, that was a shot at Beli-cheat)!  

The Philadelphia Phillies play in Game 1 of the World Series tonight in Tampa tonight.  Let&

Continue reading "Week 7 Review"

 

           Each week, on Friday, I will look into my (never wrong, just misinformed) crystal ball and give my predictions for that weekend games.  I will always prognosticate on the Eagles and Cowboys games and then pick two more games of interest (to me, that is, not necessarily to you).  Keep in mind, that this is for entertainment purposes only, and that I do not endorse any sort of legal or illegal gambling.  That being said…let’s see what’s in my crystal ball!  

Continue reading "Predictions Week 7"

r…because now we will all be able to see…the real Roy Williams!

Short Shots:

*The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Dodgers to win the National League Pennant and are headed to the World Series!  Congratulations to the Phils…and let’s start making plans for that parade!

Continue reading "The Real Roy Williams"

If you would have told me in April that the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies would go to the World Series, I would have told you to get some professional help. While teams like the Cubs and Angels consider their seasons failures after having the best regular season in their respective leagues, the Rays and the Phillies go to show that it’s not the best regular season team that wins in the playoffs. Just as the Rockies of 2007 won 21 of their last 22 games to make it into the World Series, only to lose all their momentum because of a long break after the NLCS, it is usually the team that is playing its best baseball at the end of the season.

Continue reading "Philly and Tampa HOT in October"

their bid to get Tony Gonzales from the Chiefs…anyway, at least they tried?  Not!

The Philadelphia Phillies can clinch the National League Pennant tonight against the Dodgers...Go

Continue reading "Holier Than Thou"

     The crystal ball was two up and two down for the 2nd week in a row.  That puts me 4 games under .500 for the season…not good!  The crystal ball will be on a short leash…it better start looking over its shoulder!  Let’s take a look back and see what happened: 

Continue reading "Week 6 Review"

 

           Yesterday, the Cowboys went to the University of Phoenix Stadium to take on the Cardinals.  The ‘Boys got lassoed by the Cards 30-24 in over-time.  It was a great finish to a rather lackluster game.  Sure Romo had 321 yards passing; Barber had 178 total yards from scrimmage, and even Patrick Crayton got in on the action with a 55-yard TD catch.  Owens had a humble 4 receptions for 36 yards and Witten contributed 4 catches for 55 yards.  But until the last 3 minutes and 17 seconds it was a boring game…but that’s why they play the full 60 minutes! 

Continue reading "Not So Special"