Phillies Nation

Commentary: Season Heating Up, Phils Cooling Off

Posted by Tim Malcolm, Tue, July 22, 2008 10:47 AM

So tonight begins a three-game series with the Mets. First place is on the line tonight and all week.

Tonight is also game 100. The Phillies sit at 53-46, a very borderline good team. Though their run differential stands at a stout +75, you wouldn’t know it. The offense has looked bad. The pitching holds up for the most part, but shows signs of deteriorating. To be short, this is a team on the verge of destruction.

I say this in hopes I’m completely wrong, but I can’t help but add the problems.

1.5-dimensional offense

So Chase Utley will knock in runs and get on base. And Ryan Howard will knock him in. But then what? Pat Burrell gets on base, but who gets him home? Pedro Feliz? One out of eight times. Geoff Jenkins? Please. Jayson Werth? Carlos Ruiz? Chris Coste? The bottom of the order reeks. Not to mention Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino haven’t done much of anything with situational hitting.

Maybe they can help themselves by spreading the offense. I don’t know — Ruiz in the two-hole, trying to pull the ball and hit behind the runner? Burrell in the three-hole? Still, hitting is hitting, and I’m not confident with more than half of the guys the Phils have.

Not enough starting pitching

So Cole Hamels is good. Joe Blanton? I don’t know — maybe a guy with an ERA over 5.00 in the American League can translate to the National League. Kyle Kendrick and Jamie Moyer are nice back-end pieces, but you can’t trust Kendrick to get the job done in a late-season game, and Moyer is Moyer. Brett Myers? Do we know he’ll be effective? Clearly there are too many questions. There are no Rich Hardens and Carlos Zambranos and Ryan Dempsters. There are no assurances here outside of Hamels.

Breakdown of the bullpen

Tom Gordon went on the DL because he broke down. JC Romero has felt stiff. As has Rudy Seanez. Suddenly Joe Bisenius was on the roster. Adam Eaton is in the back of the bullpen. Clay Condrey moved up in the depth chart. Isn’t this a problem? I’d like to think Lidge/Romero/Madson/Durbin will hold up all year, but the team desperately needs a contingency plan. There’s a week left to get it.

Dissension

Jimmy Rollins practically said the team will turn it up soon, but not now. Cole Hamels complained about getting too much time off. Pat Burrell suddenly spoke out against being taken out in games. Sure, some of these arguments are valid and correct, but it seems everything is being piled on now. Teams that self-destruct have these problems. They can’t keep their mouths shut. We saw it with the Mets.

The Mets

And about those Mets. I’d like to think, like most, that they’re too old and worn down and talentless to win the East. But how do they keep finding guys who can contribute past their primes? Fernando Tatis? Sure the bullpen is rough (Billy Wagner’s pain could spell big trouble), but when I see them, I see an offense that can rattle off runs. I see a rotation that can head into the seventh of most games. And I see a bullpen that can piece it together just enough to win. Sound familiar? Yeah, like your 2007 Philies. Who won the East.

Painfully obvious things

And the painfully obvious things keep plaguing the Phils. Victorino flying out. Rollins grounding out. Jenkins swinging at low and away. Howard swinging at low and away. Waiting on Kendrick’s changeup. Hamels giving up a solo homer or two. Romero’s walks. The first inning of most games. So Taguchi. By now most of us fans know every little problem the Phils continue to encounter. And for some reason they’re not fixed. They’re not even recognized. Only yesterday did Charlie Manuel publicly speak out about the lack of situational hitting. Why so late? Can they see this?

Manuel, in general

Going back to dissension and even the painfully obvious, is Manuel the right man to manage this team? I dn’t know. He is the right man to get a group of guys on track, but once they’re on that track, he seems to never be able to reach them to the finish line. He failed with the Indians, a group of players rich with talent. Now with the Phills he has a group fo aplyers rich with talent, but they’re faltering hard. A reader just e-mailed us, saying Manuel is not a leader. He doesn’t take charge of the team. I agree. Once a team hits the playoffs, hits the success mark, they need an extra push to put them over the top. Sometimes it’s a great trade. Most times it’s the manager. A manager who can bump his team to that highest level (see Tony LaRussa, Ozzie Guillen, Jim Leyland, Bobby Cox, Joe Torre) will win championships. Manuel seems to regular, too soft, too comely. This group of players — high on talent but short on the ability to bring it together — needs a fire.

Conclusion

This isn’t me saying, “Oh, the Phils won’t win the East.” It’s me saying I’m exceedingly weary about this team’s chances. I’m not confident at all. Not until they go on some kind of run where the offense looks crisp, pitching goes deep into games and the bullpen is in shutdown mode. They did it in May. And May seems so far away. But now they’re sloping down the schedule, and they need to find it again. Can they? I don’t know.

Posted in Posts | Share This | Permalink | Comments (71) | Trackback (0)

Nickname The Phillie: Finalists

Posted by Tim Malcolm, Mon, July 21, 2008 02:22 PM

Two weeks ago I started asking you to give nicknames to five Phillies who really didn’t have any real nicknames. Some of the responses were hilarious (Ryan “Can’t hit a fucking off-speed pitch” Howard; “The Brown Sombrero”), some were very good, some … ehh … (You could’ve humored me with more Seanez material!)

But I narrowed the choices down to at least four for each player (I made it five for Werth, since I couldn’t leave out “Johnny Wacko,” I added some regular stand-bys for Howard, and I took out Happ, who was victim of a send-down during the nicknaming process), so now it’s up to you to vote for your favorites.

In the response to this post list your top choice from the finalists of each player. You can copy and paste this to fill in your choices:

Jayson Werth:
Kyle Kendrick:
Ryan Howard:
Rudy Seanez:

And now, the finalists.

Jayson Werth
The Patient
Speed Stick
High-Net
Jay Bird
Johnny Wacko

Kyle Kendrick
The Kid
Krazy K
Houdini
The Sink

Ryan Howard
K-How
Baby Huey
Giant Power
Airshow
UPS
The Big Man

Rudy Seanez
ColdStone
Black Belt
Cinderblock Head
The Chief

And just to put my two cents in, I’m uncertain with Werth; for Kendrick, The Kid (it seems as if that’s his name already); for Howard, I don’t know how I feel about giving Howard a nickname solely on his strikeouts when he is an amazing run producer; for Seanez, ColdStone.

Posted in Posts | Share This | Permalink | Comments (41) | Trackback (0)

Rollins: We’re Not Worried

Posted by Tim Malcolm, Mon, July 21, 2008 11:39 AM

In the midst of a quote-filled Monday, Jimmy Rollins gave us this nugget in response to Charlie Manuel’s words pressing the offense to play baseball:

“He’s pretty much right, but we’ll get out of it. We don’t get concerned until late. Coaches do that now. We go play.”

Allow me to send a memo to Jimmy Rollins: Grow up. Grow stones. Grow whatever.

And now we’re seeing the problem with this 2008 brand of Phillies. Where last year’s team seemed to bleed passion and heart, this year’s team looks like a bunch of preening talkers. It looks like a team ripe with issues. It looks like last year’s Mets. And that’s no good thing.

Rollins is supposed to be the team leader, but he brushes off “concern” and practically tells us he doesn’t completely care about the current state of his team. It’s the kind of stupefied swagger that elicits slings in Philadelphia. We shouldn’t stand for this sludge.

The eternal question of “Would they miss Aaron Rowand” is back on the dockets because of all this. Now we can see why. For one, he provided the team a contact-hitting righty capable of picking up the big boys when they fail. I’m almost convinced Rowand would’ve won this team another four games with his hitting.

Then there’s the clubhouse leader position. I thought that was overrated — after seeing Rollins’ quote, I’m not as convinced. This team desperately needs a kick in the groin. Rollins needs to wake up — I still can’t rule out an injury.

It’s a shame, really, because there’s a lot of talent here. Stack the Phils against most anyone, on paper, and you have a good team. But this right now is a bad team trapped inside a good team. And the bad team is making its way out.

Posted in Posts | Share This | Permalink | Comments (89) | Trackback (0)

Burrell: I Hate Leaving The Game Early

Posted by Tim Malcolm, Mon, July 21, 2008 11:12 AM

Pat Burrell told reporters he doesn’t like being taken out during the late innings of games:

“I’m upset, absolutely. I’m upset, and I have been for a long time. It’s not personal. I don’t want to ever come out of close games.”

He said the replacement issue is magnified more after a loss, which was the case yesterday. Burrell was pulled for Eric Bruntlett. The Marlins tied the game, Bruntlett did nothing at the plate.

It seems as if this is a pretty small concern for Burrell, as he reportedly voiced it calmly and threw in a jab to doubters. Of course, when things go wrong, doesn’t it seem as if more and more quotes surface? More on that soon.

Posted in Posts | Share This | Permalink | Comments (19) | Trackback (0)

Hamels, Phils Suffer Tough Loss

Posted by Tim Malcolm, Mon, July 21, 2008 10:02 AM

This one was a big loss.

The Phillies held a 2-1 lead into the eighth inning, but Cole Hamels let up a solo home run. Innings later, the Phils finally lost to the Marlins, 3-2. They lost the series, are now tied for first place yet again and could be sitting in third place very soon.

Ryan Howard got the good guys out to a good start with an RBI single and RBI double, but that’s all they’d get. The black hole seemed expansive — Geoff Jenkins went 0-for-3 and made bad key outs; Pedro Feliz went 0-for-5; Carlos Ruiz went 1-for-4. Later potential clutch moments in the game led to nothing. They didn’t do enough.

Then there’s Hamels, who — yes, he deserves better run support — gave up another two solo homers in this one. Is it wrong to bash Hamels for giving up two runs? I don’t know. But I do know an ace needs to buckle down and prevent the opposition from scoring anything.

That said, Hamels was very good. He went eight and only gave up four hits. He struck out seven.

Once the bullpen reached Clay Condrey, the Marlins took advantage, loading the bases off him and scoring on a Jorge Cantu (who else?) single in the 12th.

But really, this one is on the offense and its inability to score a few runs for their ace.

“Our situational hitting is absolutely terrible. Off the chart, really. The guys might be trying too hard, and it seems like when you remind them to make sure you get [the runner] over, all of a sudden, they don’t do it.”

That’s Charlie Manuel, finally saying out loud they can’t hit in situations. Something we’ve known for a long time. A game like this makes you seething mad, but it also makes you see the team for what it really is — a paper contender.

Associated Press photo

Posted in Posts | Share This | Permalink | Comments (92) | Trackback (0)

Gameday: Phillies (53-45) At Marlins (51-46)

Posted by Tim Malcolm, Sun, July 20, 2008 12:34 PM

The Phillies will look to take the three-game series from the Marlins today as Cole Hamels faces Josh Johnson.

For Johnson, it’s his second start back from Tommy John surgery. In his first, he went five innings, giving up three runs while striking out six and walking none. Not bad. For Hamels, it’s his 21st start of the season. He’s received a nice rest since his last start a week ago, and he’ll try to have his ninth consecutive start of seven innings or more.

In his only start against the Fish this season, Hamels had one of the worst starts of his career. He went 5.2 innings, giving up seven runs on eight hits.

Phillies: Cole Hamels (9-6) 3.15 ERA
Marlins: Josh Johnson (0-0) 5.40 ERA

Gametime: 1:10 p.m. EST
Weather: 89, storms
Lineup: Rollins, Victorino, Utley, Howard, Burrell, Jenkins, Feliz, Ruiz, Hamels

MLB TV
MLB Gameday Audio
MLB Gameday

Your gameday beer: Yesterday I tried Phin & Matt’s Extraordinary Ale from Southern Tier. I smelled it, and it smelled like a pale ale. I sipped it, and I narrowed it down to an American Pale Ale. I looked it up to find out, and I was dead on. This APA is distinct with strong bitterness, but that’s what you want out of a pale ale. It wasn’t bad. Nothing great, and nothing I’d drink regularly. But it was good. Eat some oysters with it.

Go Phillies!

Posted in Posts | Share This | Permalink | Comments (174) | Trackback (0)

Marlins Blast Kendrick, Phils, 9-5

Posted by Tim Malcolm, Sat, July 19, 2008 11:37 PM

Kyle Kendrick couldn’t get out of the fifth innings, surrendering seven runs on 10 hits and a walk in a 9-5 loss over the Marlins. When the fifth inning dust settled, the Phils were down 7-4. The Marlins bullpen staved off the Phils and took the second game of the series, keeping pace while the Phils remained in first place by a game.

The Phils had a 4-3 lead heading into the big Florida inning, thanks to some timely hitting. Pedro Feliz roped a triple with one out in the fourth, scoring on a double by Chris Coste. He came home off a Jimmy Rollins single. Pat Burrell added two home runs, his 24th and 25th of the season.

But Kendrick was hit, and hit hard. The Marlins were on top of him all game long, almost giving the Phils offense no chance to respond. This was his loss, and he’ll have to take it hard.

While it’s tough to lose the momentum after a nice win Friday, this is no big loss. Cole Hamels goes Sunday, and he should be on his game to close out the series and win it for the Phils.

Posted in Posts | Share This | Permalink | Comments (12) | Trackback (0)

Gameday: Phillies (53-44) At Marlins (50-46)

Posted by Tim Malcolm, Sat, July 19, 2008 02:40 PM

Jamie Moyer moved to 10-0 against the Marlins and the Phillies moved to 12-4 on Fridays with a big 4-2 win. They’re back alone in first place.

Of course, the Phils are 11-4 on Saturdays. Ouch. But today Kyle Kendrick goes to the hill to face the Fish. He’s 8-3 this season, and the Phils win a lot when he pitches. Here’s hoping that happens again.

They’ll have to do it against Florida starter Scott Olsen. The lefty is 5-4 with a 3.77 ERA this season, and loves facing the Phils. Today’s game is FOX’s Game of the Week, so the whole country will be watching the Phils. Well, almost the whole country. New Englanders will get blacked out watching the Red Sox.

Phillies: Kyle Kendrick (8-3) 4.47 ERA
Marlins: Scott Olsen (5-4) 3.77 ERA

Gametime: 3:55 p.m. EST
Weather: 89, sun, storms
TV: FOX
Lineup:

MLB TV
MLB Gameday Audio
MLB Gameday

Your gamenight beer: Back to Sam Adams, and it’s time for an Irish Red. Like many Irish reds, it’s full-bodied and not a bad sipper. Usually a good beer around September, I’m bringing this one in early, as this weekend resembles the kind of September baseball required out of great teams. Let the September play continue.

Go Phillies!

Posted in Posts | Share This | Permalink | Comments (63) | Trackback (0)

Myers Goes Into Seventh In A+ Game

Posted by Tim Malcolm, Sat, July 19, 2008 01:24 PM

Brett Myers finished his three-game adventure through the Phillies farm system, pitching an unspectacular but necessary game against the A+ Brevard County Manatees.

The line: 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 6 K, BB

According to Jim Cawley of Florida Today, Myers said he’s ready to rejoin the Phillies starting rotation.

“I feel ready - especially today. I was locating my fastball more than I have been in the past. We’ll see what happens. Hopefully, I can do it on Wednesday.”

Myers threw a lot of fastballs - about 70 percent, and he said he now feels pretty confident in his fastball.

“Minor leagues usually are very good fastball hitting leagues - all the way up from A-ball to Triple A, and that’s why I wanted to come down, to prove that I could throw my fastball and get people out and not rely on my offspeed stuff.”

Of course, this is A+ ball hitting we’re talking about, not Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, who he’ll face in his first start with the Phils Wednesday. Via text message, Cawley wrote Myers showed no character on the mound, seemingly all business. A far cry from the “fun” Myers was trying to reclaim in Allentown.

Hopefully the fun is over and Myers is ready to win games for his team. He said he wants to win 10. We’ll see.

Posted in Posts | Share This | Permalink | Comments (10) | Trackback (0)

Eaton Demoted To Bullpen; Happ’s Status

Posted by Tim Malcolm, Sat, July 19, 2008 12:45 PM

Getting to news from yesterday, Adam Eaton was demoted to the bullpen before last night’s game against the Marlins. The move was made after the Phillies traded three prospects for pitcher Joe Blanton.

Eaton said he has to take the demotion in stride:

“I’d like to be a starter, don’t me wrong. … But I’m on one of the best teams in the big leagues, and that’s the key. We’re going to win this thing, and I want to be on the team that’s doing it”

Finally he’s not blaming anything. Well, it’s good to see Eaton wants to contribute positively to the cause. How would Eaton fit? I’d say he becomes the long-innings man to start, since Clay Condrey has been getting more time in middle relief because of Tom Gordon’s injury.

Lest we forget JA Happ, who was specatcular in a no-hit performance against Scranton Wilkes-Barre two nights ago. Charlie Manuel said the team is watching him closely.

“I know where Happ’s at. Happ has done very good. I saw how good he pitched yesterday. He’s still in our book.”

It’s probably wise to keep Happ in AAA, and ready him for once one of the starters gets injured or slips up again.

Posted in Posts | Share This | Permalink | Comments (8) | Trackback (0)