PRC: Chad Durbin

Player: Chad Durbin
Number: 37
Position: RP
Bats/Throws: R/R

Consistency: Durbin has not been that good all year. He started out rocky, settled down a bit in June and then saw his ERA sky-rocket until he pitched an effective September that was beneficial for the Phillies in closing out the season. His 59 appearances were the third highest on the team behind Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge and was second in innings pitched among pitchers that didn’t record a start behind Madson.

He was excellent in the NLDS and NLCS, throwing four perfect innings in five appearances but then fell apart in the World Series, namely game 6 when he allowed three runs in the 5th inning, putting the game out of reach.

Regular Season Stats: 2-2, 69.2 IP, 56 H, 38 R, 34 ER, 8 HR, 47 BB, 62 K, 4.39 ERA, 1.49 WHIP

Post Season Stats: 2-0, 7 G, 5.1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 6.75 ERA, 0.98 WHIP

Health: He was on the DL in late July with a sore back. The 15-day stint helped his back out. He was called upon a lot prior to the injury and never saw the DL again after returning.

Intangibles: He was solid for the Phillies. Though he started out rough, he settled down and managed to be okay. He is up for arbitration and it will interesting to see if the Phillies hold onto him. He has stuff similar to Clay Condrey’s, but uses the slider rather than a sinker. He’s also streaky. He will either pitch hot or not be able to get anyone out. He was also the first Phillie on Twitter, like that really matters.

Overall Grade: C. He was below-average for the Phillies. The poor inning in the World Series definitely hurt his grade along with his overall performance this season. If he would have focused more on pitching than tweeting, maybe his grade could have been higher.

Yankees Win 2009 World Series

Once again, the Yankees are Pedro Martinez's daddy. The Phillies season has finally ended as the Yankees beat up the Phillies pitching, winning game 6 by a score of 7-3 and the series 4-2. Hideki Matsui went 3-4 with six RBI's, falling a triple shy of the cycle, as he single handedly killed the Phillies hopes of forcing game 7.

Martinez was awful, going just four innings and allowing four runs on three hits and two walks, striking out five. His opponenet, Andy Pettitte, went 5.2, allowing three runs on on four hits and five walks. Despite pitching like crap, Pettite earned the win. Mariano Rivera pitched the last five outs, getting Shane Victorino to ground out to Robinson Cano to seal the victory.

The offensive fire power got going early for the Yankees when Matsui hit a two-run homer in the second. The Phillies answered with a run in the bottom of the inning but were soon counter-punched when Matsui hit a two-run single to make it a 4-1 game.

The Yankees then tacked on three more off of Chad Durbin in the 5th. They got an RBI single by Mark Teixeira and a two-run double by Matsui to make it a 7-3 game. Ryan Howard then came alive, answering with a two-run homer off Pettitte to finally chase him from the game. The Phillies had a huge opportunity in the 7th with Utley at the plate and two outs with two runners on but specialist Demaso Marte came in to strike him out to end the inning.

Carlos Ruiz and Raul Ibanez were the only bright spots of the night. Chooch went 2-2 with a walk and a run scored. Ibanez had a pair of doubles. For the Yankees, Derek Jeter had three hits and two runs.

On a side note, Ryan Howard struck out for the 13th time this World Series, a new record. Matsui also tied Bobby Richardson's record of six RBI's in a single game. Richardson did the feat back in 1960 versus the Pirates.

Stars of the Game:

Game 1: Cliff Lee

Game 2: AJ Burnett

Game 3: Nick Swisher

Game 4: Johnny Damon

Game 5: Chase Utley

Game 6: Hideki Matsui

World Series MVP (official):

Hideki Matsui: 8-13 (.615), 3 runs, double, 3 HR, 8 RBI,

World Series LVP:

Ryan Howard: 4-23 (.178), 3 runs, 2 doubles, HR, 3 RBI, 13 K's (new record)

Phillies Player of the Series:

Chase Utley: 6-21 (.286), 6 runs, double, 5 HR's, 8 RBI, SB

Back to the World Series

The Phillies showed no signs of slowing down as they rolled through the Dodgers once again 10-4, and winning the NLCS 4-1. The offensive was led by Jayson Werth with a pair of HR's and four RBI's, breaking out of his terrible NLCS slump going into the World Series, and by Shane Victorino with a double, home run, and three RBI's.

The only thing I saw in this game that will have me worrying going into the World Series is seeing Cole Hamels struggle again. He only lasted 4.1 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and a walk and struck out three. He was taken deep in the first and second inning, settled in for a few innings, and then struggled to get anyone out. 

The bull pen was really impressive, going 4.2 innings and allowing a run on three hits and a walk. Chad Durbin was credited with the win since Hamels didn't pitch the minimum of five innings.

The Dodgers attacked the Phillies early, going up 1-0 after Andre Ethier's solo homer in the first. The Phillies then responded with a two-out rally. After Jimmy Rollins and Victorino were retired, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard drew walks and Werth hit a 3-2 pitch out to right field to give the Phillies the 3-1 lead. The Dodgers answered in the second inning with a lead off homer by Matt Kemp but the Phillies kept pace with a solo homer by Pedro Feliz. 

Vicente Padilla's run of consistency in the playoffs ended. He only lasted three innings, allowing six runs on four hits. The Dodgers' bull pen, which was the talk of the series as being one of the best in the majors, complete collapsed once again to the Phillies high-powered offense. 

The Phillies will look to be playing the Yankees, who lead the seres 3-1. But as the Red Sox have proven in the past, no lead in any series is safe anymore. The Yankees and Angels play tonight. 

Notes: Phillies became the first team to make it to consecutive World Series' since the 1998-2001 Yankees and first NL team since the 1995-1996 Braves... Chase Utley reached base safely in 25 straight post season games, tying the record with Boog Powell... Ryan Howard's eight-game streak with an RBI in the post season ended Wednesday. He currently shares the record with Lou Gherig but his eight-game streak was done in one post season, a new record... The Dodgers and Phillies combined with six home runs last night, tying a record done numerous times... The Phillies have won their respective series' in four and five games, the same path they took last year in winning the World Series.

Simp-Lee Amazing

The weather was cold but the bats were on fire. The Phillies battered and beat the Dodgers 11-0 in game three to take a 2-1 series lead in the NLCS. From the start of the game with a 1-2-3 top and a four-run bottom first inning to the 1-2-3 9th pitched by Chad Durbin that ended with a great snag by Carlos Ruiz, the Phillies dominated this game for 27 outs.

Ryan Howard drove in three runs tonight. With his two-run triple in the first, he has driven in a batter in all seven games this post season, a new MLB record, and is now one game shy of tying Lou Gherig's eight-game streak that spanned over multiple post seasons. Pedro Feliz also added a triple and Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino hit home runs to spark a potent Phillies offense that only managed a run on four hits during game two on Friday.

Cliff Lee was fantastic in his third start of the post season. He went eight shut out innings, allowing three hits and striking out 10. He tied Curt Schilling (1993) and Steve Carlton (1980) for the Phillies record with strikeouts in a single post season game. He also went 1-3 at the plate with a single and a run scored.

The offense got rolling early with Howard's two-run triple. Werth followed that up with a two-run home run that got the Phillies on the board early. Victorino capped off the fire works with his three-run homer in the eighth.

Manny Ramirez managed two hits out of Lee and Ronnie Belliard got the third.

Next Game: Monday in Philadelphia, 8:07 EST

Series: Phillies lead 2-1

Probables: LAD: Randy Wolf (0-0, 4.91); PHI: Joe Blanton (0-0, 4.91)

Game Day Discussion: Liberty Bell Sports

The Phillies have the momentum back in their favor and will look to go for the kill. Joe Blanton will be making his first post season start this year after pitching 3.2 innings of relief. Randy Wolf will look to get the Dodgers evened up versus his former team. Expect no love from the Wolf Pack in this one.

The Phillies are 4-0 in game four since Charlie Manuel took over. The last game four the Phillies played versus LA: Victorino hit a two-run homer to tie the game at five and then Matt Stairs hit a two-run homer later in the same inning to put the Phillies up for good, 7-5.

This game means a lot to both teams. It will either put the Phillies closer to going back to the World Series and the Dodgers on the brink of elimination or it will tie the series up for the Dodgers.

Phillies Clinch 3rd Straight Division

I decided to take a break from typing my paper due tomorrow. With the Phillies win over the Houston Astros, they clinched their third straight division title. This is the most consecutive division titles since the teams managed by the late Danny Ozark in 1976-78.

The Phillies offense exploded for 10 runs and Pedro Martinez, Kyle Kendrick, Chad Durbin, Scott Eyre, and Brad Lidge combined for the winning effort at pitcher. In the top of the 9th, Eyre retired the first two batters and then in a very classy and symbolic move by Charlie Manuel, Lidge was brought in and retired Lance Berkman to lock up the division.

Raul Ibanez hit his 34th home run of the season and Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, and Pedro Feliz had a pair of hits each.

The Phillies magic number to clinch at least second place is at three versus the Cardinals and currently sit two game behind the Dodgers, who are playing now, for the top seed in the NL.

It was a night Harry Kalas would again been proud of. I bet he smiled down on Citizen's Bank Park tonight as the crowd sang "High Hopes," Chase Utley and Jayson Werth smoked cigars, and the team paid tribute to the "HK" banner in left field.

Let's win it for Harry and the City of Brotherly Love!


*I will post some video and pictures collected from the media and Youtube from the clinching game some time tomorrow or Friday.

Pedro to Debut Wednesday; Moyer to Bull Pen

Hallelujah!

Pedro Martinez will make his 2009 debut with the Phillies on Wednesday. To make room for him in the rotation, Jamie Moyer was informed that he will be put in the bull pen. Chad Durbin was also re-activated and Rodrigo Lopez was sent to AAA Lehigh in his place. A roster move to accommodate Martinez will be announced prior to Wednesday's game.

Moyer has been terrible all year and the Phillies will try his hand in the pen. He will most likely take the lefty long reliever role as Chan Ho Park will be the righty. It's unknown on how effective he will be but Charlie Manuel feels he will still be a key player for the Phillies.

"Based on our reports on how Pedro has pitched in his rehab starts, we felt it was time to move him into our rotation," Manuel said. "Jamie was a total professional and team player when we let him know of the decision to move him to the bullpen. He has been, and will continue to be, a very important part of this team."

The move was highly anticipated by a lot of fans who were getting tired of Moyer's struggles. Martinez went 1-1 with a 5.11 ERA in three minor league starts. Moyer has been terrible all year, going 10-9 with a 5.47 ERA.

The Cubs will also pitch Jeff Samardzija in a spot start Wednesday versus Martinez. The game will be on ESPN at 8:05 ET. He's pitching in place of Ted Lilly.

Pitching Probables for the Cubs series:
Tuesday: Happ (8-2, 2.74) vs Harden (7-7, 4.41)
Wednesday: Martinez (0-0, - -) vs Samardzija (1-1, 6.29)
Thursday: Lee (9-9, 2.95) vs Dempster (6-5, 4.04)

Romero, Durbin Sent to DL

Two more go down in the Phillies injury-plagued bull pen. Both JC Romero and Chad Durbin were sent to the 15-day DL. Being called up in their place were Andrew Carpenter and Tyler Walker. Both Walker and Carpenter have pitched this season for the Phillies.

Romero has a strained left forearm and Durbin strained a muscle in his back. Romero has a 2.87 ERA and no decisions in 20 appearances since returning from his 50-game suspension. Durbin 1-2 with a 4.62 ERA in his 42 appearances.

Durbin has not looked good at all recently which may have been due to the sore back. Hopefully these 15 days will help him straighten himself out.

Walker was 1-0 with a 1.64 ERA in nine games in an earlier stint while Carpenter earned a win in his only start in the beginning of the season right after Brett Myers went down.

Another Series Win in the Books

The Phillies are red hot despite having their 10-game winning streak busted today by Chicago. They seemed a bit fatigued after playing a three hour and forty minute game last night that went 13 innings. The Phillies have still won 14 of their last 16 and are running away in the NL East.

Monday - Phillies won 10-1: I went to this game but didn't write a recap. Pictures are posted on my Face Book page. It was a total slug fest as Raul Ibanez, Carlos Ruiz, and Ryan Howard all hit bombs and Shane Victorino added two hits. Rodrigo Lopez went six strong innings, giving up five hits, three walks, and a run while striking out five. Chad Durbin earned a three-inning save, allowing only one hit and sitting down two.

Tuesday - Phillies won 4-1: This game was a lot closer as Joe Blanton looked sharp, allowing a run in seven innings of work. The bull pen was even better, throwing six clean innings with Chan Ho Park going three innings. In the bottom of the 13th, Jayson Werth hit a three-run walk off homer to send the Phillies to their tenth straight win.

Wednesday - Cubs won 10-5: It was just a bad game today as Jamie Moyer got wacked around pretty hard, allowing five runs on eight hits in only five innings. Charlie Manuel got run after a pretty crappy call where Paul Bako fouled off a pitch that hit the ground before being caught by Cubs' catcher Koyie Hill. Not like it would have helped much anyway.

Overall, the Phillies offense still looked good despite leaving runners stranded on base again. They didn't have that problem in Monday night's game but Tuesday and Wednesday were frustrating to watch as they left on nine and 11 respectively.

The pitching was boat loads better the first two games. Moyer has not been pitching well at all this year. His win totals are skewed as he has gotten lucky in getting help from the offense to earn him a victory. Unfortunately for him, the Phillies offense couldn't keep up with Chicago's as he lost. If his poor play continues as Pedro Martinez gets ready, Rodrigo Lopez may be the guy to stay.

Series MVP's:

Joe Blanton: 7 IP, 5 H, R, 5 K

Jayson Werth: 4-10, HR, 3 RBI

Chan Ho Park: 3 IP, 0 R, 5 K

Next Game: San Diego Padres (37-57) @ Philadelphia Philles (53-39)

Pitchers: SD: Correia (6-7, 4.34), PHI: Hamels (5-5, 4.72)

This is a make up game from April 20. The Phillies are leading the series 4-2 and have won 4 straight versus the Padres. The Padres are playing pretty crappy, losers of three straight and well out of the division and wild card race.

The only thing San Diego really has is Adrian Gonzalez who is a lefty and will not match up with Cole Hamels too well as he hits .196 versus lefties. The entire offense, as a matter of fact, can't hit their way out of a wet paper bag as they are last in the league in average and runs scored. I obviously expect a win and nothing more.

I will do a full game story tomorrow after the game and then set up the Cardinals series. I will be in Hershey all day Friday for a Dave Matthews Band cocnert and coming back Saturday to go straight to work.

Phils Plunder Pirates

The Phillies earned a huge sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates to cap an incredible 9-1 home stand, erasing the memories of that 1-8 home stand in June. They started the stand with a sweep of the Mets and then won three of four versus Cincinnati. Pending today's games for the Marlins, Braves, and Mets the Phillies are currently 4.5, 5.5, and 7 games in first place respectively.

The Pirates came into this series on a cold spell and the Phillies were hot, playing teams they should and did beat up. The Pirates became the next victim of that Philly Butt Whuppin'. I said a few weeks ago that I am not worried about the Phillies because they heat up in July and they proceeded to make me look good. With the All Star break finally here, I will look back at the first half of the season probably Monday or Tuesday.

Friday - Phillies won 3-2: Shane Victorino provided the spark with three hits and a pair of doubles. The Pirates got their only two runs on solo homers off Joe Blanton and Brad Lidge. Blanton 7.1 innings, giving up a run on four hits, one walk, and striking out six. Lidge pitched .2 innings to earn his 18th save.

Saturday - Phillies won 8-7: Cole Hamels got roughed up in his outing, lasting six innings and giving up five runs on seven hits. The Pirates managed to hit three homers off the struggling ace. After falling early 5-0, the Phillies fought back to make it 5-3. Chad Durbin surrendered two runs in his very short outing as the Pirates made it 7-3.

In the bottom of the ninth, Matt Stairs hit a pinch hit homer to start things off. Then with one out and two men on, Ryan Howard hit a three-run bomb to left center to tie it up at seven. Ibanez hit the next pitch over the center field wall on a bounce for a ground-rule double, Jayson Werth walked, and Pedro Feliz hit an infield single off Mat Capps rear. Paul Bako stepped in and hit a walk off single to win the game.

Sunday - Phillies won 5-1: After scoring five runs in the ninth the night before, the Phillies got five quick runs thanks to a Howard sac fly and Feliz grand slam in the first inning. JA Happ pitched tremendous ball, going seven strong and giving up a run on four hits and two walks, striking our four.

Series MVP's:

Ryan Howard (PHI): 3-7, HR, 4 RBI's

JA Happ (PHI): 7 IP, ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K

Next Up: The All Star Break. I will go into more detail about the first half and the ASG tomorrow and Monday. Have a good few days and don't forget to watch the dingers by Howard on Monday in the derby and our five all stars on Tuesday.

Richmond Dominates Phils (recap)

The Blue Jays were unsure up until yesterday who they would throw against the Phillies. Scott Richmond became the choice but it could have secretly been injured pitcher Roy Halladay the way he pitched. Richmond pitched eight strong innings and allowing only one run on five hits, one walk, and struck out 11 en route to a 7-1 victory for the Blue Jays

The Phillies managed to get a run out of Jayson Werth's solo homer in the fourth. After being roughed up in the first two innings, Jamie Moyer settled down nicely until the seventh where he gave up a hit and then a two-run blast to Aaron Hill. He got yanked for Chad Durbin who saw Scott Rolen's solo homer go out to left to cap the scoring.

Jimmy Rollins, Chase Ultey, Ryan Howard, and Raul Ibanez are all considered to be the pop in the Phillies line up. They were nothing similar to that as they went 1-13 with six strikeouts. The only hit came from Howard's single which was followed up by a double play ball hit by Ibanez. It was that kind of night. The Phillies could only muster six hits and struck out 12 times.

Now it's time for a little rant...

Jimmy Rollins is a terrible lead-off hitter and we know this. But at that same time, he is the best guy on this team for that. Rollins should be dropped back to the six-spot, not for a few games, but for an extended period of time until he starts hitting and getting his confidence. The reason I say this is because that's how Shane Victorino got into a hitting role late last year and sparked the Phillies' World Championship run. He batted behind Pat Burrell and made the most of it.

The line up should be:
-Victorino/Werth/Utley/Howard/Ibanez/Rollins/Feliz/Ruiz or Coste/pitcher vs RHP.

-Victorino/Utley/Werth/Howard/Ibanez/Rollins/Feliz/Ruiz or Coste/pitcher vs LHP.

Ever since Rollins hit 30 homers during his 2007 MVP campaign, he has tried to hit home runs. As a lead off guy, that's not supposed to be his game. He needs to wait on pitches, hit line drives, get walks, work the count, and just be smart. My new slogan for him is "Be smart, Jimmy." Once he establishes himself as a line drive hitter and does it on a constant basis, then I want to see him moved back in the lead off spot where he can be the catalyst he once was two years ago. Hopefully Charlie Manuel sees the light.

Be Smart, Jimmy.

Bako Signed/Ibanez Honored/Romero Ready

The Phillies signed veteran catcher Paul Bako to a minor league contract where he will be assigned to an extended spring training. He will then have to go through the minor league system. I really don't care about this signing at all. He's 36 and not that good. He's batting .231 with 21 homers and 186 RBI's in 745 games for his career.

In other positive news, Raul Ibanez won the NL Player of the Week honors. He tied for the league lead with 12 RBIs and nine runs scored, and tied for second in the league with four home runs and 13 hits. He hit .481 (13 for 27) with a .963 slugging percentage and a .576 on-base percentage. Pat who?

And the best news I have, JC Romero is only 16 games away from helping this bull pen tremendously. He was suspended 50 days for using a banned substance. He will be able to take the late innings role from Scott Eyre and will take a lot of the load off of Clay Condrey and Chad Durbin. His return should get the bull pen back on track.