Gold In Sight

Tuesday November 10, 2009 • Leave a Comment 

Tomorrow the National League Gold Glove Award Winners will be announced. There is a good possibility that the trophy room will be “philled” with red and blue.

Jimmy Rollins with his Major-League best .990 fielding percentage will almost certainly win his 3rd straight Gold Glove, but he may not be alone. Shane Victorino and Chase Utley also have a good chance of joining Rollins. For Victorino, it would be his 2nd consecutive Gold Glove and for Utley his 1st. Carlos Ruiz, Pedro Feliz and Jason Werth are sure to receive some consideration. Stay Tuned….

The American League announced its Gold Glove winners earlier today:

P: Mark Buehrle

C: Joe Mauer

1B: Mark Teixera

2B: Placido Polanco

SS: Derek Jeter

3B: Evan Longoria

OF: Adam Jones

OF: Torii Hunter

OF: Ichiro Suzuki



Phillies decline option on Pedro Feliz

Sunday November 8, 2009 • Leave a Comment 

It looks like someone new will be playing the hot corner next season for the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies announced that they have declined their $5.5 million 2010 option on third baseman Pedro Feliz.

Although General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said he won’t rule out bringing back Feliz, it looks as though the Phillies will look at the free agent market when it comes to finding a replacement.

The list of quality free agents is not a deep one. It is headlined by the likes of Adrian Beltre, Rich Aurilia, Mark DeRossa, Chone Figgins, Troy Glaus, Mark Loretta and Melvin Mora.

Feliz hit .266 with 12 home runs and 82 RBIs last season and provided excellent defense. With the firepower in the Phils bench many though resigning Feliz would be wise, given his defensive abilities.

It is unclear where the Phillies will go, but market does not provide much in way of a quality replacement.



Still no closer or closure for Philadelphia

Saturday September 12, 2009 • Leave a Comment 

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 manner. Howard singled in the second, and Feliz homered him in for the first two runs. The Phillies scored on the home run again in the third with both Ibanez and Utley hitting their 31st of the year, marking the third time in the past week the Phillies have had 2 or more home runs in the same inning. All of the sudden, Moyer was pitching for the win. In the fourth they scored an insurance run the old fashioned way, with a walk, sacrifice and single to drive home the run. Yes, these Phils score a lot of the time on the home run, but they know the fundamentals of the game, and can score in any fashion they want to for the most part.

Home runs however are so much more fun ! This may be why the Phillies have sold out 165 games in a row. The average attendance at Phillies games jumped to 40,000+, good for second best in the National League, when they opened their new stadium in 2004. Last year’s World Series team averaged over 42,000 fans per home game, and this year’s club is averaging over 44,000 fans per game. Other than the drop off after year one when the new stadium novelty had worn off, they have increased their fan attendance and support for the last five years running. Incidentally, for the last three years they have also led MLB in home run production.

Moyer did not allow another hit until the top of the sixth, when Tatis legged out an infield single. The Phillies immediately returned to the offensive in their half the inning and added an additional 2 runs with a single, double, triple, and, talk about getting back to the basics, a sacrifice by none other than wily veteran Jamie Moyer ! Moyer did allow a run in the 7th on a double and some good basic baseball by the Mets, but at this point he appeared to be tiring and had a 4 run lead on the Mets.

Brett Myers came in the 8th and promptly gave up a 2 run home run to the Mets, the Phillies still can’t seem to figure out late relief or closing pitching. Manuel pulled Myers and got Chan Ho Park on the mound in time to preserve the lead at 9-8 and Park closed the 8th. Manuel continued to rely on Madsen, this time bringing him in for a 9th inning that found the Phillies clinging to a 1 run lead. Madsen got two quick outs, then surrendered a run to the pesky Tatis, who seems to always hit Phillies pitching no matter who is on the mound. Wright then came in and gave the Phillies a taste of their own medicine, belting a 2 run home run to give his Mets the lead and end any hopes Moyer had of securing a win. I mentioned yesterday that Madsen is unproven in the close game, and it appears the Phillies closing pitchers woes are far from over.

The revolving door that leads to the 8th and 9th inning pitchers mound for this team has got to be secured, and soon. This team can NOT enter the post season with this position still unresolved. Charlie Manuel has got to get busy and do what he is paid to do, figure out who on his staff is capable of coming in late under pressure and preserving a win. It is not fair to the rest of this ball club that they are unable, so far, to do this consistently. If they don’t resolve this issue and find “the guy” in the next few weeks, winning the National League East and hitting 1,000 home runs during the regular season will not help them to their ultimate objective, which is, and should be, repeating as World Series champions.



Howard Powers Phillies Past Braves

Saturday August 29, 2009 • Leave a Comment 

After a disappointing three days in Pittsburgh that saw the Phillies drop two of three to the Pirates, the Phillies returned home Friday night and Ryan Howard blasted two homers (36 and 37) in between the rain drops to push the Phillies to a 4-2 win against the Braves.

Howards display was just another day at the office for the big man who certainly knows what its like to have big games this time of year.   Howard certainly knows what its like to have success this time of year, hitting .339 with 11 homers and 29 rbi in his last 15 games.  This streak could just be a preview of things to come.   After August 26th the past two seasons, “Rynomite” has a combined .317 average with 25 homers and 54 runs batted in.

Howard gave the Phils an early 1-0 lead in the second inning before rain halted play for 64 minutes.   Pedro Martinez, who had allowed just one hit and a walk in two innings, was set to come back after the first delay and was the on deck batter when play was stopped again after just 7 minutes.  After another 45 minute delay, Pedro was finished for the night.  Jamie Moyer came on and pitched effectively for 4 1/3 innings, allowing a run on four hits with no walks while striking out five.  It was the second time Moyer has relieved Pedro after a rain shortened outing, the first came back on August 18th against Arizona.   Both times Moyer (12-9) has gotten the win.

Howard gave the Phillies more offense in the 4th inning as his second homer of the night, this time a two-run shot, cleared the center field wall and gave the Phillies a 3-0 lead.   The Braves got a run in the 5th on a Matt Diaz double, and the Phillies got their 4th run on an rbi single by Pedro Feliz in the 7th.  The Braves threatened in the 8th as they loaded the bases but only got one run on a fielder’s choice ground out by Chipper Jones.   Brad Lidge, sporting a new hairdo and pitching on two days rest, got the Braves in order in the 9th for his 26th save of the year.

After dropping two of three to the lowly Pirates beating the Braves had to feel good for the Phillies.

“It was definitely a good game to try and right the ship because it’s a game where, for both teams, it was a mental game,” Howard said. “You’re playing the waiting game with the rain, starting and stopping and trying to stay loose. We didn’t know it was going to be up in the air. We were able to play through some things and get it done.”

Anything can happen down the stretch, but this win combined with the Marlins loss gives the Phillies an 8 game lead on both the Braves and Marlins as we get set to enter the seasons final month.  Strange things tend to happen in September, but the Marlins and Braves don’t seem as though they have the ability to put together the kind of streak that the Phillies put together in 2007 to over take the Mets down the stretch.

With Captain Ryan at the helm, its hard to imagine this ship not coming in to port on top of the National League East when its all said and done.