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Five keys for Phillies to survive injuries
As reported yesterday, the Phillies will be without Chase Utley and Placido Polanco for at least the next 15 days, and in all likelihood a little longer. The timing of the news is not great as the team had broken out of its hitting slump and looked poised to regain the lead in the NL East. Now with these injuries that becomes a lot more difficult. I still think the Phillies can hang right with the Braves and Mets over the next few weeks, but it will take a variety of factors coming together to do so.
Bellow are five keys for the Phillies to stay in the race despite these injuries.
1. Rollins must regain form: When a player is out for as long as Rollins was it is expected that the player will need a few weeks to find his swing. The Phillies can not afford Rollins that time, however. With their No. 2 and No. 3 hitters on the bench, the importance of Rollins setting the table becomes even more important. I’m not saying he needs to hit .350 the next month, but the team will need Rollins to at least maintain his .400 an-base percentage.
2. The Big Man must get on a tear: Over the past four seasons we have seen Ryan Howard get incredibly hot in August and September and at times single handily carry the team to victories. This time Howard can not wait until August. The team needs one of those power surges right now. Howard’s .295 average has caught everyone off guard and he is having a season that should put him back in the top five of the MVP voting. There is no reason to think he can’t catch fire over the next few weeks and lift his team once more.
3. Pitching: If you lose a little offense than the pitching must do its part to keep the opposition off the board. The Phillies staff has been hot and cold this season and needs to get hot again in a hurry. Roy Halladay is the only member of the starting staff that has an ERA under 4.00 and that simply won’t cut it over the next month. This team may need to win a couple of games by 3-2, or 2-1 scores and for that to happen the starters must show more than they have so far this season. Joe Blanton and Kyle Kendrick have the most room to improve and one may be pushed by a returning J.A. Happ.
4. A surprise candidate must emerge: This could come from anywhere. Maybe somehow Greg Dobbs will remember to hit again? Maybe Ibanez will go on a tear like he did the first half of last year? Maybe one of the team’s backup catchers has the best two weeks of his career? Maybe the Phillies reacquire Cliff Lee and none of this will matter? No matter where it comes from the team will need unexpected productions to keep moving forward in July.
5. The Braves and Mets slump: Most believe that the Braves and Mets have overachieved the last two months. If that is indeed the case it is fair to suggest that a downward swing is coming. The Braves (5-5) and Mets (4-6) may already be in the process of doing so as their last 10 games have not gone well. Consider that the Mets are just 15-22 on the road and have an 11-game West Coast trip coming in the second part of July and its not hard to see them falling off. As for the Braves, the Phillies can help themselves from July 5-7 when they host Atlanta for a big series.
So there you have five ways that the team can keep winning despite the recent injuries. If a few of these factors take place there is no reason that the Phillies can’t be right at the top of the pack when Utley and Polanco return.
Have you seen my baseball … bat?
There’s a giant search going on right now for a precious piece of Philadelphia. It is a piece that has brought much joy to the city’s people the last three seasons. It’s been lost before, but never for this long and to this extreme.
Has anyone seen the Phillies offense?
The Phillies were shut out for the third straight game by the Mets and the fourth time in five games overall. The last time the Mets kept a team off the scoreboard in a three game series, they did it with guys named Seaver and Ryan. This time they did it with Takahashi and Dickey. Just five games ago the Phillies were seven games up on the Mets, now that lead is two. In fact, all five teams in the NL East are within three games of each other.
So what exactly has happened here?
The Phillies offense has always relied on the long ball so periods of offensive struggles have happened , but this is of epic proportions. Every time it looked like the Phillies would finally break through last night they hit into a double play – three to be exact.
Hey, remember those first two weeks of the season when the team was scoring eight runs a game? The Phillies would kill for one right now.
All totaled, the Phillies have scored one run in their last 47 innings. You would think a blooper would have had to fall in just once during this spell. Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are striking out at a rate that has Adam Dunn shaking his head. Even Jayson Werth shaving his beard didn’t change his luck.
If you are having a hard time watching this team right now, you are not alone, but keep in mind that it has to end soon. And I feel sorry for the team who faces them when it ends. There’s a lot of frustrating waiting to poor off the bats of these players.
Hopefully it happens tonight in South Florida against the Marlins. If not we always have the Flyers on Saturday. There is no way anyone is keeping them off the board these days.
Phillies vs. Knuckleball — Take 2
If you tune in to the Phillies-Mets game tonight, you may think your eyes are playing tricks on you.
Don’t rush off to the bathroom to wash you eyes out with water. Your eyes will not be playing tricks on you.
Yes my friends, Jamie Moyer will be throwing harder than the opposing pitcher. Moyer and the Phillies will be facing Mets Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, who floats his special pitch to the plate at a velocity in the mid-60s.
ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin has an article up talking about Dickey and how the Knuckleball he learned from Tim Wakefield saved his career.
Dickey used to be your average right-handed pitcher. His fastball hit low 90s and he had decent movement. However a shoulder injury several years ago dropped his velocity into the mid-80s and his career appeared over. Enter the knuckleball which is now the 35-year old’s featured pitch.
It is an interesting story to be sure, but make no mistake, Dickey is no Tim Wakefield.
Signed by the Mets in the Spring, Dickey struggled in camp and never threatened to make the Big League rotation. Only after injuries to Jon Niese and John Maine and Oliver Perez getting sent to the bullpen for being, well Oliver Perez, did the Mets bring up Dickey.
Even after he pitched well in his only start against Washington (two runs in six innings) he wasn’t assured another start. The Mets seriously considered starting left handed reliever Raul Valdes in his place today.
It’s a baseball oddity to be sure that the Phillies will face knuckleballers in consecutive games. Wakefield shut them down on Sunday, but you would hope Dickey could not do the same. He has only thrown the pitch for five years and his other stuff is average at best (although his 85 mph fastball is faster than Moyer’s).
Hopefully the Phillies bats break out tonight and send Dickey packing after just a few innings. If they don’t there will be a lot of GMs in the National League searching for a knuckleballer when the Phillies come to town.
Philles-Mets overreactions – Take 1
There’s nothing like the first installment of the Phillies-Mets rivalry to bring out the most uneducated comments from Philadelphia and New York fans alike.
This rivalry, which will have 17 more meetings after tonight always gets folks talking on sports talk radio. It becomes more like comedy radio, actually.
The schedule makers have been nice enough to give each team a day of on Thursday leaving fans two full days to call in to 610 or 950 in Philly and 660 in New York. Now the smart baseball fan knows that the calendar reads April and that this series holds little meaning in what will take place this summer. At best the Phillies will finish the series with a 2.5 game lead on New York. At worst they will be 3.5 games back. The end result will likely lie somewhere in the middle. But sports talk isn’t rational. However, as I said earlier it is funny, so here are just a few of the things I have heard stated on the AM dials in both Philadelphia and New York. One or two of these statements might actually prove to be true:
- The Phillies will sweep this series and the Mets will be back to fourth place by next week.
- A series win by the Mets will show that they will be in contention deep into the summer.
- Mike Pelfrey (4-0, MLB-leading 0.69 ERA) has emerged to give the Mets the best No. 2 in baseball.
- Mike Pelfrey is garbage and will be rocked on Saturday.
- The Mets announcers are the worst in the game.
- The Phillies announcers put you to bed.
- Philadelphia wants to be New York.
- New York wants to be Philadelphia.
- Cole Hamels is better than Johan Santana.
- The Mets winning streak means nothing because it came during a home stand.
- The Mets winning streak is a sign of things to come as it coincided with the arrival of Ike – Davis and the return of Jose Reyes.
- Ike Davis is a fluke.
- Ike Davis has a swing comparable to Ted Williams (this after 10 games).
- David Wright’s time has come and gone. He is just an average baseball player.
- All of those flyball outs hit by David Wright at home will be 10 rows deep at Citizens Bank Park.
- This series will set the tone for the entire season.
Ah, let the fun begin.
Halladay vs. Santana on Sunday?
There could be some real drama at Citizens Bank Park in Philadephia this weekend.
The Phillies and Mets will renew their rivalry with a three-game series beginning Friday. While Saturday’s game will be televised on Fox at 3:30 the real excitement could come on Sunday Night baseball on ESPN.
The way things look we could be in store for a Roy Halladay-Johan Santana showcase.
Halladay pitched on Monday and Sunday’s game would be his next turn to pitch. He could also pitch on Saturday on regular rest if Charlie Manuel decides to skip someone in the rotation. The Phillies have an off day on Thursday, so Manuel will have a choice.
Meanwhile Santana is pitching today and will be on regular rest for Sunday. The Mets also have off on Thursday so Jerry Manuel will too have a choice. He could go with Johan on Sunday on normal rest and skip the No. 5 starter or select to give him an extra day. In that case the Phillies would miss Santana entirely.
So we may have a marquee matchup or we may not. While I’m sure the Phillies would not complain about missing Santana I think both fan bases would love to get their first taste of Doc vs. Santana.
Nationals claim old friend Chris Coste
Our old friend Chris Coste is on the move again — although not outside the NL East. Coste was placed on waivers by the Mets yesterday and quickly scooped up by the Nationals. Hopefully they can find a use for the veteran catcher as he certainly became a fan favorite in his time with the Phillies.
The following is an exert from the Washington Post
The Nationals claimed catcher Chris Coste off of waivers from the New York Mets, a minor move aimed at shoring up their catching depth. With Jesus Flores still rehabbing his shoulder injury, the Nationals needed an extra catcher in their organization behind Ivan Rodriguez and Wil Nieves.
Coste, 37, played 88 games last season for the Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros, hitting .224 with a .618 OPS. He also won a World Series with the Phillies in 2008 and provides a reliable solution in case of emergency.
The Mets have a glut of catchers in their camp, which made Coste expendable in their eyes. But he has an option remaining, so the Nationals will be able to send him to Class AAA Syracuse without the risk of losing him.
Wright thinks Mets will win NL East
I guess this counts as “We’re the team to beat” Part 4.
Like the Phillies, the Mets opened Spring Training action yesterday and it didn’t take the team long to show off it’s confidence for the upcoming season. Despite a 72-90 year, David Wright believes the Mets are World Series contenders.
The following is an excerpt from a NY Post report:
“We’re expecting to go out there and win the National League East and go deep in the playoffs and win the World Series,” Wright said, a day before Mets pitchers and catchers were required to report to spring training. “That is the expectation I’ve gotten from the guys who are here early, and I [expect] this team is to get back to where we are winning the National League East.”
You can read the entire article here.
OK, it’s not exactly the type of verbal jab that Jimmy Rollins and Carlos Beltran have made in the past, but for now it’s going to have to be good enough.
Something was missing last year with the Mets out of the race. Part of what made the two previous NL East titles so great was the way it came down to the last week against a big time rival.
On paper the Phillies should be at least eight to 10 games better than the Mets this season, so the New York-Philadelphia rivalry may be put on hold for another year. Then again, the Mets still have a solid core and a counterpart to Roy Halladay in Johan Santana, so maybe things will tighten up again.
David Wright sure thinks so.
Even though Wrights comments were mild and meant as support for his teammates, the media is sure to run with this story, so expect some type of rebuttal from Rollins and company.
If nothing else, it should give the rivalry a nice kick in the butt after a year off.
Phillies NL East foes in trouble already
We are still five weeks away from Spring Training and already the New York Mets have a case of the injury blues.
On Wednesday it was reported that Carlos Beltran underwent knee surgery and will be unable to resume baseball activities for 8-12 weeks.
If the timing of the surgery strikes you as odd, it appears the Mets feel the same way. There are varying reports on whether or not the team gave Beltran permission to have the surgery and it has been confirmed that the procedure was done by Beltran’s personal doctor. More details on the story will become available today as a conference call is scheduled between the Mets’ brass and the media.
Regardless of who approved the surgery, this is good news for the Phillies as the Mets will be without their top fielder and hitter for the first month of the season, if not more. Instead of having Beltran n the middle of the lineup they will have to make due with a combination of Angel Pagan and Fernando Martinez.
That doesn’t exactly make opposing pitchers shiver.
Of course knowing Omar Minaya, the Mets will likely try to compensate by overpaying and over-the-hill outfielder.
Johnny Damon on line one?
While the Mets are dealing with injuries before the season even starts, the Marlins are feeling the heat from the players union for being to cheap. This shouldn’t be surprising for those who follow baseball closely as the Marlins have consistently been at the bottom of the payroll since their 2003 championship season.
The team spent just $36 million on players last season – the lowest total in baseball. However that constitutes a spending spree for a team that has spent $21.8, $30.5 and $15 million the previous three seasons.
The reason the union has gotten involved is because the Marlins spending has been so low that it has violated the revenue sharing agreement. Little has been shared about what the Marlins plan to do, but the team and the union have reached an agreement that the Marlins will increase their payroll.
So to some up, the Marlins will have to spend more money which could lead to bringing in more talented players.
Kid of a strange punishment, huh?
Need a laugh? Beltran sees Mets as contenders
Has the recent weather gotten you down? If so, here is some news that always cheers up Philly fans — The Mets being the Mets.
Carlos Beltran came out in a recent interview for the NY Daily News saying that he believes a healthy Mets team can be World Series contenders.
That’s right, not even a 91-loss season can keep the Mets from thinking they are close — or talking about it.
To Beltran’s credit, he did admit that the team needs help, particularly a big bat and a quality arm.
“I think a little help wouldn’t be bad,” said Beltran. “I do believe (management) is going to bring people that are going to help us. The Wilpons — they want to win. If they bring in a left fielder, it’d be great, another bat. If they bring a guy like Johan Santana, it’d also be great.”
The complete article can be read here: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/11/12/2009-11-12_carlos_beltran.html?r=sports%2Fbaseball&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nydnrss%2Fsports%2Fbaseball+(Sports%2FBaseball)
So Beltran wants another Johan Santana? I want a Ferrari for Christmas but I don’t think that’s going to happen.
The Mets will certainly shake things up this winter after their worst season in a decade. They might make a run at John Lackey and are said to be interested in Matt Holiday and Chone Figgins. They may get one or two, but that will still leave holes on their roster. A couple of additions is also not likely to bring the Mets near a World Series title.
That belongs to the other team in New York — for now.
Philles-Mets: Little drama this time around
It’s late August and the baseball calendar had presented fans with what has become one of the greatest rivalries in the game. At least that’s what we have all gotten accustomed to.
When the Phillies take on the Mets tonight in the opener of a three-game series, almost nothing will be on the line. That was hardly the scenario fans would have expected in the beginning of the season. While the Phillies have held up their end of the bargain, the Mets fell out of the race months ago when they were ravaged with injuries. Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran each went down with injuries in a matter of weeks and never returned. The one mainstay in the Mets lineup had been David Wright and that came to an end last weekend when he was hit in the head with a fastball and placed on the DL with post-concussion syndrome.
So when the rivalry renews tonight, the Phils will face a lineup with the likes of Angel Pagan, Corey Sullivan, Fernando Tatis and Anderson Hernandez. It is the type of lineup that has led to the Mets falling 13 ½ games behind the Phils and out of contention for the Wild Card.
The Phillies, meanwhile, have overcome a slow start to pull away from the Braves and Marlins in the NL East. Expect the Mets new home (Citi Field) to be loaded with Phils fans tonight who are looking to check out a new balk park and see the Mets suffer all I one night.
At the very least the Phils should take two-of-three from the Mets and have the opportunity win running away as they did against the Diamondbacks.
Philadelphia has a clear pitching advantage in the first two games, with Cole Hamels taking on Mike Pelfrey tonight and J.A. Happ facing the erratic Tim Redding tomorrow. The wildcard comes on Sunday when Pedro faces his former team and erratic left-hander Oliver Perez.
It will be odd watching this series and knowing it will have little impact in the standings. However for Phillies fans, the weekend should also be a lot of fun.
Starters solid, closers…..NOT
The Phillies are having a pretty decent season. The team on the whole is well rounded and performing up to expectations. That being said, there are a couple players that are a disappointment so far this year. Many would have placed Rollins in that category last month, but he is on an August tear and making up for his slow start. The most glaring lackluster performer effected tonight’s game and gave one the Phillies deserved and earned, away.
What in the world is going on with Brad ? Last year a perfect 41 for 41 on save opportunities. This year, many blown saves in fewer shots, and tonight, his fifth loss. And this one was all Lidge. This blog has commented before on the possiblity that the Phillies may have to go another direction with their closer. Manager Charlie Manuel stands by his guy; admirable right now, but if that 4 game lead the Phillies are nursing gets down to one or two, this may be something he will need to deal with.
The starters are solid, with comments earlier about 6 or 7 qualified starters being available for the rotation. I know Myers hurt his eye right before his scheduled rehab start, but this is minor when you look at what Pedro, Blanton, Happ, and Lee are doing on the mound. Maybe we should just let Cliff Lee pitch EVERY night so the closers aren’t required.
A disappointing loss, a 3-2 eighth inning lead disintegrated into a 4-3 loss. 6 strong innings of 3 hit ball by Hamels get tossed aside. Oh well, they can’t win every game. And Atlanta does have a competative club. The Phillies need to be careful they don’t get complacent as they hit the final stretch. The next 6 weeks their schedule is brutal, and they need every win they can grab. This loss hurt. Hopefully it won’t matter when the last ball is thrown, but a win would have kept the momentum swinging the Phillies way on their current road trip.
It is hard to be upset with a team that leads their division, has the second best record in their league and boasts the best road record in baseball. An occasional road loss will happen, let’s hope Lidge gets his head on straight and doesn’t let his teammates down again for the remainder of this road trip. The team get something of a break playing the Cardinals, then the hapless Mets in the coming week so a 5-2 week could be in their future.
It would be nice to open this up to a 7-8 game lead, but for now, a 4 game lead is better than the alternative. And the defending champions will live to play another day. I only hope Lidge gets the wake up call he sorely needs, because I believe he still has talent to contribute to this squad and their stretch run for 09. Go Phils !!!
Phillies Back On Top
By beating on the Mets no less. I only caught the first and probably the worst part of the game. I saw the first three innings while on the treadmill. I was about to blow a gasket in the first inning after Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley were both on base and did not score.
I Left the gym and the Phillies were trailing by three runs. I get home and now they are behind by six. To the METS! I’m thinking WTF. Now I have to get the kids ready for kids ready for bed and all the fun stuff. I flip back on the game and it 7-1. I’m thinking, ok, we just need to take the next two games from the Mets. I get busy with some other stuff and as I’m getting ready for bed I flip on the news. The sports comes on and I expect to hear about how the Phillies lost to the Mets. But no what do I see? The Phillies are tied with the Mets in the 11th inning. I can still watch the game. So I flip back in time to the end of one of the best wins all season.
Time to give props to Jimmiy Rollins for 1 Run and 5 Hits
Gotta Win To Stay In First Place
Ok Sillies, I mean Philles we need to pick up the pieces and give it back to the Mets. Lets forget about them scoring runs in the first because of walks and a hit batter. Lets forget about the night before when the Phillies had a fantastic victory. Moyer needs to steady the ship and get the Phillies back on track.
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