Photos: 6/21/09

Phils Swept; Go 1-8 on Home Stand

On th 45th anniversary of Jim Bunning's perfect game, you would expect a special game from Cole Hamels. Well he did indeed deliver, going eight innings, striking out 10 and surrendering two runs on seven hits. Surely one of the best offenses can give Hamels the support. Wrong. After Greg Dobbs solo home run in the second, the Phillies offense could only manage two hits as they lost 2-1 to the Baltimore Orioles, capping another sweep and a 1-8 home stand.

Hamels was just fantastic despite giving up the two runs. His change up was deadly and his fastball was hitting all the spots. Just shows how good a pitcher does when the game is being caught by Carlos Ruiz. He also showed more promise at the plate than most of the Phillies offense as he almost doubled down the line during one at bat and almost hustled out a grounder in another.

I don't like to play the "if card" but seriously, if the umpire made the right call in the eighth when Jimmy Rollins was "tagged," Shane Victorino's double would have driven him in. Rollins hit a slow grounder to first basemen Ty Wigginton who then flipped the ball to the pitcher who clearly missed the tag. The umpire called Rollins out, forcing Charlie Manuel to argue the call and get ejected. Victorino doubles and then Chase Utley grounded out to waste the opportunity.

Unfortunately for Jimmy, that does not excuse him for the ripping he's about to get. He sucks, plain and simple. Ever since his MVP year, he has tried to be better than the player he truly is. He's a great fielder and a 6-8 spot hitter and nothing more. A lead off hitter should not have a .260 OBP. Once Raul Ibanez is back, Victorino should be the lead off guy with Utley and Jayson Werth flopping in the two-spot depending on the opposing pitcher. Rollins should sit in the six or seven spot, swapping with Pedro Feliz now and then. I understand he's trying to draw more walks but he's hitting fly balls and not getting on base.

Friday: The pitching got knocked around en route to a 7-2 butt kicking to the lowly Orioles.

Saturday: It was a very exciting game. Down 3-0, the Phillies got two runs in and had two men on. The sick Ryan Howard pinch hit, and drove a ball deep into the bull pen to give the Phillies a 5-3 lead. In the top of the ninth, Ryan Madson surrendered a solo home run, allowed a base runner, and then Brian Roberts took his two-out, 1-2 fast ball deep to right to give the Orioles the 6-5 lead. They held on and won.

Series MVP's:

Shane Victorino (PHI): 5-9; 2 runs; 3 doubles; stolen base

Brian Roberts (BAL): 5-13; 3 runs; double; game winning HR; 5 RBI's; SB

Nex Series: Philadelphia Phillies (36-31; 23-9 on the road) at Tampa Bay Rays (37-34; 21-12 at home)

This is the World Series rematch MLB has been waiting for except for both teams aren't as hot as they were when they last met in the fall classic. For the Phillies, this will be the first real rematch versus Pat Burrell. We also will have to listen to those damn cowbells all series.

This is a huge series for the Phillies, who are currently on a six game losing streak. The Rays took two of three from the Mets, helping the Phillies. The Phillies are 3-9 versus the AL while the Rays 8-4 versus the NL.

I expect to see some shaking up of the line up during this series. I don't know if Manuel will stick with Rollins at lead off but I certainly wouldn't. If I could chose the line up, it would look like this:

Victorino CF/Utley 2B/Feliz 3B/Howard 1B/Werth LF/Rollins SS/Stairs DH/Ruiz C/Dobbs RF

Rollins will not be swinging out of his slump so I want to drop him to six. As for my 3-4-5 pitch, Feliz has done a great job at getting on base. Howard could use the RBI opportunities with Victorino, Utley, and Feliz in front of him while Werth can protect Howard. This line up will also force the Rays to dig into their bull pen in late innings.

Probables:

6/23: Moyer (4-6, 6.35 ERA); Price (1-1, 3.46 ERA)

6/24: Blanton (4-3, 5.28 ERA); Garza (4-5, 3.83 ERA)

6/25: Bastardo (2-2, 5.21 ERA): Sonnanstine (5-7, 6.60 ERA)

No Updates Today

Another Saturday where I'll be gone all day and what else is new... it's raining here in Atlantic City (or the entire east coast so the Phillies game has a shot at being in danger). I'll be working from 12-5 then hitting up the Jimmy Buffett concert in Camden (at least my seats are in the covered area).

So the Phillies are currently on a four game losing streak and with a Mets win, are now only two games up. This is f*cking sad. 3-7 versus the AL and 13-20 at home. At HOME! How is a first place team seven games under .500 at home? Luckily they are 23-9 on the road. I mean the Phillies are pretty healthy compared to the Mets, who are putting up a AAA baseball team at the moment, but are barely holding them off.

The Phils just got swept by the Blue Jays and got dominated 7-2 last night versus Baltimore. Granted he gave up four runs, Antonio Bastardo's seven-inning effort was the lone bright spot. Bastardo only gave up five hits and struck out five. Jack Taschner pitched the last two innings and gave up three runs to end any chance at a comeback for the Phillies. At least the cream of the bull pen was preserved.

The Phillies should hold a promotion at home: "Boo the Phillies Night." If we can convince the Phillies they're playing on the road, maybe they'll play better. This incompetence at home is really bugging me and the rest of the fans out there. If this doesn't right itself, the Mets will only get healthier and we'll be seeing a Philadelphia wild card race.

If the weather holds, the Phillies will play tonight at 7:05 ET.

Phils Swept By Jays

This is the same team that took a series versus the Yankees, Mets, and Dodgers in their parks. Surely they could come home and take a team that hasn't beaten a National League foe yet all season. Coming into this series with a 13-16 record at home, should we really have been surprised the Phillies got swept by the Toronto Blue Jays?

The Phillies were struck out 31 times during the series and 89 times the past nine games, a number that has to drop immediately. As far as scoring, they went into today's game with only four runs. They scored seven today which still kept their RPG for the series at 3.75.

Tuesday: Cole Hamels pitched solid but needed to go past six innings. As the team's ace, you need to go deep into a game every start. His six innings, two runs on seven hits and six strike outs may have been enough to earn him a win but there is no reason he couldn't have gone deeper. Ryan Madson blew the game in the ninth and the game went into extra innings. Clay Condrey imploded, giving up five runs in the top of the tenth.

Wednesday: See my recap I wrote earlier today.

Today: It was a see saw battle as the Jays jumped out to another early two-run lead. The Phillies clung on and took the lead in the fourth, 4-3 after a two-run Rollins homer. They added another in the fifth off of a John Mayberry Jr. homer and then let the Jays tie it up in the seventh. Toronto took a two-run lead in the eighth and Philadelphia then tied it up. But Rod Barajas took Madson deep to put the Jays up for good, 8-7.

Series MVP's: Former Phillies Scott Rolen and Rod Barajas

Rolen: 6-14, 3 runs, 2 doubles, HR, 4 RBI's, .394 OBP

Barajas: 4-9, 2 runs, 2 HR's (one game winner), 4 RBI's

Next Series: Baltimore Orioles (28-37; 8-20 on the road) @ Philadelphia Phillies (36-28; 13-19 at home)

This is another the series the Phillies should sweep or at least win but with their current home record and lack of competence versus AL teams, I don't know what to expect. They play tonight at 7:05 versus the Mets so these numbers are prior to then. They are 5-3 in inter league play (Phils are 3-6) but are 4-6 in their last ten. With a putrid record on the road for Baltimore, this should be cake for Philly.

Probables:

6/19: R. Hill (2-1, 5.81), Bastardo (2-1, 5.25)

6/20: Bergesen (4-2, 3.79), Happ (4-0, 3.53)

6/21*: Guthrie (4-7, 5.42 ERA), Hamels (4-2, 4.48 ERA)

*attending

Mayberry Jr. Called Up

John Mayberry Jr. was brought up to the Phillies last night from AAA Lehigh Valley. They will send Sergio Escalona back down to AAA. Mayberry was hitting .277 with 8 HR and 25 RBI for the Iron Pigs this season.

This is great news. He should be starting today and tomorrow. As a right handed bat, he will be facing two very good lefties in Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia respectively. It isn't known how long his stay will last up in the majors after these two games, especially because he won't see starting time over Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth, or Raul Ibanez any time soon when they go back to the NL.

Other News:
Mayberry won't be the only one to make some kind of debut. JA Happ will be set to take the mound today versus Pettitte in his first start of the 2009 season. He was moved from the bull pen to the rotation in place of Chan Ho Park, who was dropped to the pen.

And former Phillies Adam Eaton was dropped by the Orioles after they figured out he is absolutely useless. He pitched 2-5 with an 8.56 ERA. He allowed nine homers and 19 walks in 41 innings, and lasted longer than six innings only once. "The way he pitched made this move self-evident," Orioles manager Dave Trembley said. "I just didn't see him being able to locate his pitches on a regular basis."

FIM #10: Ryan Howard Wins ROY/MVP

The Phillies have not seen hitters like Mike Schmidt or Pete Rose since 1990 and 1983 respectively. They wait no more as we have another pair of amazing hitters that my generation's children wish they would have seen in their prime: Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. Moment #10 will be dedicated to Ryan Howard and his history making first two seasons.

Howard saw some playing time while Jim Thome was still in town, playing a majority of the games at first base. It wasn't until an injury to Thome in 2005 that people got a taste of Howard's potential.

In 2005, Howard replaced Thome and played in 88 games total, hitting 22 homers with a .288 average. He also recorded 63 RBI's and 52 runs scored, sweltering numbers for half a season, especially by a rookie. He would win Rookie of the Year and Jim Thome would be traded along with $22 million in cash to the Chicago White Sox for Aaron Rowand and two pitchers. It was Howard's time to shine.

In 2006, Howard made history. No player in the National League has ever won Rookie of the Year and then followed it up with an MVP award. Only one player has done it in the history of the game and that was Cal Ripken Jr., winning the ROY in 1982 and MVP in 1983 for the Baltimore Orioles.

Howard's season was highlighted with 2 ridiculous homers, the first being the first ever to be hit into Ashburn Alley in center field which traveled 496 feet and the other was the first home run hit into the 3rd deck, a 381 foot shot.

Howard finished his MVP campaign with a .313 batting average, 58 homers and 149 RBI's. He shattered Schmidt's record in Philadelphia of 48 homers. He beat out Albert Pujols in the MVP balloting, who argued that he should have won because his team won the World Series and the Phillies missed the playoffs. Unfortunately for Pujols, post season doesn't mean a thing to the regular season.

Howard's power numbers never died off but his batting average sure did drop. He's a career .270 hitter which is not bad just as long as he hits 40 homers a year. He is going to keep doing this for a very long time we hope, especially batting behind a guy who gets on base like Utley.