From 1976 to 1980 they won 4 NL East titles, 1 National League Pennant and 1 World Series.

 From 2005 to present they have won 3 National League East titles, 2 National league Pennants and 1 World Series.

The first team included the group known as the Whiz Kids, with nearly every member of the team either in the hall of fame, or close to it, and known nationally as household names due to the exposure they recieved during their dominance.  The second team is still playing so does not have the advantage of securing a historical place in our minds and memories as of yet, but may equal or exceed the ability and statistics of the first group of Phillies superstars. 

This [...]

All of that tension between Cole Hamels and Brett Myers has apparently been fabricated.

At least that’s what Hamels is saying.

In a recent article by the Philadelphia Inquirer Hamels said that he has no problem with Myers and that the situation at question was just a case of misinterpreted joking.

Hamels has drawn the ire of some Phillies fans after he was quoted after the Game 3 loss as saying “I cant’s wait for (the season) to end. It’s been mentally draining. At year’s end, you just can’t wait for a fresh start.”

It was then reported that prior to Game 5, Myers walked past Hamels in the clubhouse and said “I thought you quit?”

Hamels said that although he was not pleased with [...]

Tonight begins the next step in the Philadelphia Phillies quest to repeat as World Series champions. The Phils take on the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight at 8:07 p.m. in the first game of a best-of-seven NLCS series. Last year the Phillies beat the Dodgers in five games in the NLCS, but how will they fair this year?

 He is a breakdown of how the match up:

 Phillies Pitching:

Game 1: Cole Hamels: The lefty has had his ups and downs this season and was less than stellar in his outing against the Rockies. Against the Dodgers, however, he has been dominant. In his two starts against them this season, Hamels posted a 1-0 mark with a 0.56 ERA. He also struck out 14 [...]

The Phillies and Rockies are deadlocked at 1-1 after the first two games at Citizens Bank park, and now they are off to chilly Colorado.   The talk this year has focused on the Phillies pitching.  Everyone seems to agree the offense and defense are good enough to repeat as World Series champions, but the jury is still out on the pitching staff.  On an off day with no game scheduled, I am taking this time to review the Phillies pitchers; today the starters get their grades for the regular season.

It was a strange year.  Only four Phillies even qualified as starters.  Two midseason pickups have to be factored into the mix.   Two of last seasons standouts made no difference on the [...]

Jamie Moyer was back in a familiar role for the Phillies today. He stepped back on the mound as a starting pitcher for the first time since his demotion to the bullpen. It definitely showed that he was a little rusty, but the oldest player in baseball shook off the cobwebs after allowing hits to the first five batters he faced and got back in the starting rhythm. After falling behind 4-0 in the first inning, Moyer promptly dispatched the next 14 takers with line out, ground out, foul out, pop up, over and over. While Moyer was getting his groove back, the Phitens began earning their nickname by getting the veteran those runs back.

They did it in their usual [...]

It appears as if Charlie Manuel finally heard the rest of us. I find it admirable that he stated Lidge was his guy a few months ago when the closer first started to struggle and was staying with him to the bitter end. I can appreciate his attempt at loyalty and integrity. But at a certain point, even Manuel had to recognize as manager of the defending World Series champions, his primary objective should be to win games. Lidge’s difficulties this season were dangerously close to infecting the rest of the team.

Tonight Cole Hamel’s evened his record at .500 by pitching 6+ strong innings of 1 run ball. Manuel then brought Chan Ho Park and Brett Myers in for middle [...]

I know what you’re thinking – haven’t I been on Charlie Manual’s rear about not closing with Lidge? Didn’t I in previous posts say that I didn’t belive the Phillies will repeat because of Lidge’s failings?

Yes, you would be right on both counts.   After doing a little digging, however, I found a rather interesting trend with Brad Lidge courtesy of the Philadelphia Daily News’ Rich Hoffman.   Seems that the Lidge we see rested is a completely different pitcher than the Lidge we see when forced to pitch on consecutive days.  Here are the numbers which do not take into account the two appearances Lidge made against the Braves this weekend.  Both appearances resulted in saves, and both appearances came after [...]