209 Home Runs for 2009 and counting

Friday September 18, 2009 • 3 Comments 

The Phillies won again.  Hit 4 homeruns.  Ho hum.  We Phanatics are getting spoiled.  This is a really good team, with a lot of depth.

Example 1. Pitching :  Happ left in the third with a mystery injury, probably reinjured his oblique muscle, and with all the talk about the bullpen, Kendrick comes in and pitches 4 innings of shut out 2 hit relief.   The Phillies bullpen for all it’s late inning woes has been notorious this year for clutch long middle inning relief, between Happ early in the year, Madsen all year long, Moyer late in the year and Kendrick tonight, all 4 pitched 4 innings or longer in relief of starters for various reasons.

And these starters are pretty dang good !  Lee, Hamels, Blanton, Martinez, Happ.  put those five on any other ball club and at least three would make the starting rotation.  Two of the three could be staff aces just about anywhere in the league as well.

Example 2. Fielding  :  Jimmy Rollins is playing spectacular at shortstop, turning difficult plays into routine, fielding the short hop like the ball is on a string, throwing with incredible accuracy.   But Rollins is a horrible offensive weapon right?  1st in at bats, 4th in stolen bases, 7th in doubles, 13th in hits, 13th in runs scored,   Hmmmm, low average around .250 for Jimmy, but overall, not really too bad.  He just appears to be worse than he is because the rest of the team is batting so well.  His 3 run jack in the ninth inning to stretch a 2 run lead into a rout didn’t hurt his playing stock.

Example 3.  Power :  Ryan Howard hit his 40th home run for the 4th straight year.  And he did it naturally.  Another day at the ball park.

I mentioned before it is hard to pick out a Phillies as MVP because they are so well balanced and they all contribute. Much has been made of Albert Puhols numbers, Howard is 7 home runs behind him, 6 RBI’s behind him, and raised his average to a quite respectable .272 in tonights game. If he can eliminate 70 or 80 strikeouts he can potentially threaten for the elusive triple crown.  He tied Chuck Klein for the second place spot for most multi homerun games as a Phillie in team history.

Example 4. Confidence :  The Phillies actually have a better road record than home record, and in the last 7 years they have won 44 games on the road four times.   Only a team with a lot of depth can manage to win away from home consistently.  It takes a team dynamic, and a real focus to getting the little things done to overcome the inherent home field advantage that frequently.

Example 5.  Scoring :  The Phillies very well could have 4 30 home run 100 RBI guys on the squad by the end of the year.  And 6 players scoring 100 runs.   I don’t think that has ever been done.  If it has, I couldn’t find an example of it.

Bottom line, on any given day, any given player might display his talents and assist the team to a victory.  As they head to the playoffs to defend the championship, on a night when the starting pitcher and starting catcher both left the game early, no one on the Phillies bench looked especially worried, after all, they have depth, and plenty of backup and role players just waiting to come out and show what they can do.

By the way, Howard hit 2, Rollins hit 1, Fransisco hit 1, and the Phillies won going away again 9-4 over the “better luck next year Braves”

We Phillies fans are getting spoiled, and I for one, love it!



Save committee may work in Philly

Sunday September 13, 2009 • Leave a Comment 

In the first game of a rainout makeup double header with an odd 4 hour delay between games, Kyle Kendrick got his first win of the year and Manuel did as promised and sent Brad  Lidge out to get the save, albeit a shaky, scary one.

Lidge gave up two runs, keeping his ERA above 7 but finished the game without losing it.  Barely.  Manuel is now switching back and forth between Lidge and Madsen, with neither selection appearing to be that good a choice, but no other immediate solution at hand.

The Phillies hit two more homeruns, now having 332 of their 714 runs scored via the round tripper, or 46%.  The Phillies ran their season matchup against the once worrysome Mets to 11-6 with the night cap game in hand.

Kendrick looked glad to be back in winning form, and Lidge looked grateful to record his 29th save.  With the win, the Phillies guaranteed at least a .500 season.  The Phillies have 4 players with 30 home runs, 84 or more RBI’s,  and 88 runs scored.  Chase Utley got his 100th run scored for the third straight year.

The Phitens trotted out Cy Young winner Pedro Martinez for the nightcap.   Pedro displayed command of 4 different pitches with good speed and control, pitching 130 pitches over 8 shutout innings as the Phillies clung to a 1-0 lead.  Pedro dropped his ERA under 3 and ran his record this year to 5-0.  Pedro is one of the few pitchers to play in both leagues and record 100+ wins on both American and National League teams.

Game two was a pitching dual, with Redding leaving the game in the 7th after giving up one run on three hits and carrying the loss. The only thing left to see was if the Phillies could hold on and win the game with their closing pitching.

Green hit the first batter he faced then recorded three outs on his next two pitches to get out of the 7th inning with the one run lead unchanged. The Phillies arrived at the 9th still holding a one run lead, and 6-0 record in Pedro’s starts.  Madsen came in, finished off the largely ineffective Mets and earned the save to secure Pedro’s win.  The Phillies took a largely needed doubleheader sweep with two saves on a night when the bullpen sorely needed to prove itself.

The closing issues aren’t resolved, but at least for one night at least, a closer didn’t cost the team a sure victory and we can all sleep well tonight knowing the Phillies have all but clinched the National League East.