The Phillies have always had a tendency to make young starters look better than they really are. Last night was no exception. Cole pitched his A$$ off and deserved a better out come but all the offense could muster was 4 hits.
The inning that epitomizes the Phils struggles happened when Mayberry led off with a triple and Brown followed with a HBP. Revere comes up and swings at the first pitch hitting a weak ground ball to Inge. Mayberry was goin on contact and the play at home wasn't even close.
Kratz ended the rally with a DP and there you had it. Not to take anything away from Locke he pitched a decent game but no where near the performance that Cole put up. The Phillies offense with the exception of a few players continues to get themselves out. They swing at way to many pitches out of the strike zone and even in a cripple count they rarely square up a ball.
Again I am sure they are waiting on the line-up to be complete with Ruiz coming off suspension and D. Young rehabbing in Clearwater. While I think Young might help offensively I have major doubt he can play adequately in the OF.
At 9-12 the Phitins should aim to finish April at .500 or better. They need to take the series with the Bucs tonight and move on to Citi Field and take 2 of 3 from the Mets. Doable.
In other notes Biddle k'd 16 of 24 batters faced the other night. We all know he is the numero uno prospect in the system at age 21 in Reading he is making a case to be in Philly by 2014!
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
12 Games In
The good-Defensively the Phillies have been pretty good. M Young is a little better than we thought, Revere has been as advertised and Dom Brown is doing pretty well in LF. Offensively 26 is proving himself healthy and Michael Young is still the professional hitter we saw in TX all those years. The BP outside of Durbin is doing it's job. Lannan has been a good 5th starter, Lee has been a shut down type ace and I think we all know Cole is fine and will pitch deep into games.
The Bad-Is Charlie smarter than we give him credit for? I ask because he had questions all along about whether or not Revere should lead off. He has stuck with Ben in that role maybe as an "in your face public opinion" demonstration that Jimmy is still the best person for the job. Brown needs to do a better job of getting on base. His eye was a major skill, he rarely swung at pitches outside the zone and took his walks accordingly. Early on his OBP is sub .300 that's not good and that's not his game.
Dom has the tools to be a near .300 hitter with power. He needs to not accept being average if the teams plans on contending for a play off birth.
Finally 2 of 3 from the Marlins is bad if you see this club making the playoffs and having any type of a chance to win a playoff series. A .500 record 6-6 heading into a 4 game set with the Reds. Nothing in September is (usually) as it is in April and the real evaluation of this team begins with Ruiz and D Young returning to the line-up later this month.
The Bad-Is Charlie smarter than we give him credit for? I ask because he had questions all along about whether or not Revere should lead off. He has stuck with Ben in that role maybe as an "in your face public opinion" demonstration that Jimmy is still the best person for the job. Brown needs to do a better job of getting on base. His eye was a major skill, he rarely swung at pitches outside the zone and took his walks accordingly. Early on his OBP is sub .300 that's not good and that's not his game.
Dom has the tools to be a near .300 hitter with power. He needs to not accept being average if the teams plans on contending for a play off birth.
Finally 2 of 3 from the Marlins is bad if you see this club making the playoffs and having any type of a chance to win a playoff series. A .500 record 6-6 heading into a 4 game set with the Reds. Nothing in September is (usually) as it is in April and the real evaluation of this team begins with Ruiz and D Young returning to the line-up later this month.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Let's go to Miami
2 of 3 from the Met's. Cliff Lee is pitching to his check and Michael Young is flashing the offensive prowess that made him a perennial all star. This club can make a big statement by going on the road and sweeping the Marlins in their own park.
Yes the Marlins are bad....really bad but the Phillies are merely mediocre next to the top clubs they will contend with in the NL so sweeps of teams like the Marlins and Astros are completely necessary. We finish out the month with a mixed bag, away at the Reds, home for 4 against the Cards, 4 with the Pirates and then away at the Mets. I'd have a lot of confidence in this club if they can go 12-5 or 11-6 during this stretch.
At some point Delmon Young will make his way north. Ruiz will be eligible to come back 4/28 and the line-up could look much different. Revere hasn't done much to prove he can be an every day lead off hitting .211 with a .264 OBP whiles Rollins is hitting .311/.350. The return of those players make for a natural re-shuffling of the batting order:
Rollins
M Young
Utley
Howard
Ruiz
Brown
D. Young
Revere
Yes the Marlins are bad....really bad but the Phillies are merely mediocre next to the top clubs they will contend with in the NL so sweeps of teams like the Marlins and Astros are completely necessary. We finish out the month with a mixed bag, away at the Reds, home for 4 against the Cards, 4 with the Pirates and then away at the Mets. I'd have a lot of confidence in this club if they can go 12-5 or 11-6 during this stretch.
At some point Delmon Young will make his way north. Ruiz will be eligible to come back 4/28 and the line-up could look much different. Revere hasn't done much to prove he can be an every day lead off hitting .211 with a .264 OBP whiles Rollins is hitting .311/.350. The return of those players make for a natural re-shuffling of the batting order:
Rollins
M Young
Utley
Howard
Ruiz
Brown
D. Young
Revere
Monday, April 8, 2013
That Sucked!
The Royals came to town a much improved roster yes but we didn't even face Big James Shields and still managed to lose 2 of 3. Not a recipe for a good club. While still early the Phils are 2-4 with the Met's coming to town tonight.
Halladay gets his second start against a very good counter part in Harvey. Harvey has the kind of stuff Roy used to have. This should be a good test for our line-up and may get the left handed hitters in our line-up going.
Lord knows we will probably need to score 6 or 7 runs to be in this thing in the 9th. Two things need major improvement for this series. First Revere needs to be on base and Howard needs to get back to the approach that gave us all hope in Spring that he would be a more selective hitter.
Halladay gets his second start against a very good counter part in Harvey. Harvey has the kind of stuff Roy used to have. This should be a good test for our line-up and may get the left handed hitters in our line-up going.
Lord knows we will probably need to score 6 or 7 runs to be in this thing in the 9th. Two things need major improvement for this series. First Revere needs to be on base and Howard needs to get back to the approach that gave us all hope in Spring that he would be a more selective hitter.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
2 Games In
...and we are 0-2. I would have said we'd be 1-1. As I said on the 28th of March Halladay is a problem. A sure fire HOF can be a sad thing to watch when his stuff finally leaves him.
All is not lost but I hope there are contingency plans in the FO. Amaro and his staff need to start exercising trade options and evaluating FA possibilities to vault themselves back into a legit WS contender.
WS teams tend to have a few common threads the Phillies lack. For starters you tend to see a power starter from the right on staff. That was Halladay but no more. Cole and Lee fill the lefty side of a WS starting rotation nicely. Not much is on the FA horizon...Garza possibly!
Next you need a MVP type in the middle of your order. Think Cabrera, Posey type players. They don't grow on trees and rarely hit the FA market in their prime. You have to get lucky or take a chance or both in the trade market.
And finally you have a young player come up and assert themselves into a starting role. Utley did this many moons ago, Werth came into his own in pin stripes and so on. The Phillies hold the 16th pick in the 2013 Amateur draft generally not a place to get a sure fire star that can move quickly to your MLB roster but if things fall right could be an impact player in 2-3 years.
MLB baseball is a true parity sport. There is no salary cap and multiple dimensions to improve your club if you have the type of budget and market that the Phillies have. When you look at the roster look at all of the contracts expiring at the end of the season starting with Manuel.
All is not lost but I hope there are contingency plans in the FO. Amaro and his staff need to start exercising trade options and evaluating FA possibilities to vault themselves back into a legit WS contender.
WS teams tend to have a few common threads the Phillies lack. For starters you tend to see a power starter from the right on staff. That was Halladay but no more. Cole and Lee fill the lefty side of a WS starting rotation nicely. Not much is on the FA horizon...Garza possibly!
Next you need a MVP type in the middle of your order. Think Cabrera, Posey type players. They don't grow on trees and rarely hit the FA market in their prime. You have to get lucky or take a chance or both in the trade market.
And finally you have a young player come up and assert themselves into a starting role. Utley did this many moons ago, Werth came into his own in pin stripes and so on. The Phillies hold the 16th pick in the 2013 Amateur draft generally not a place to get a sure fire star that can move quickly to your MLB roster but if things fall right could be an impact player in 2-3 years.
MLB baseball is a true parity sport. There is no salary cap and multiple dimensions to improve your club if you have the type of budget and market that the Phillies have. When you look at the roster look at all of the contracts expiring at the end of the season starting with Manuel.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Opening Day
Opening day is finally upon us. I have no reservations that this team will be in the hunt far more and far longer than they were in 2012.
I do have reservations that the Starting Pitching can hold up as a whole with the better line-ups (Nats, Braves, Reds, Tigers) but then we do have the Marlins and Mets in our own division so things may even out. Every season will have it's share of unpredictable injuries, break-outs and break downs so let's play 162 and see who is left standing.
Bold predictions are tired in my opinion. Every network and pundit does them. I will only say I think the over under on wins for the 2013 club is 90, predicated on Halladay getting at least 13 of those or some combination of Halladay and a name we're not seeing in the picture.
Story Lines to watch: An Utley Extension, Ruiz Trade?, does Brown assert himself as an everyday middle of the line-up presence of the future, which prospects emerge to take a spot on the 25 man. And last the elephant in the room what happens to Charlie Manuel.
Stay Tuned it should be a fun ride!
I do have reservations that the Starting Pitching can hold up as a whole with the better line-ups (Nats, Braves, Reds, Tigers) but then we do have the Marlins and Mets in our own division so things may even out. Every season will have it's share of unpredictable injuries, break-outs and break downs so let's play 162 and see who is left standing.
Bold predictions are tired in my opinion. Every network and pundit does them. I will only say I think the over under on wins for the 2013 club is 90, predicated on Halladay getting at least 13 of those or some combination of Halladay and a name we're not seeing in the picture.
Story Lines to watch: An Utley Extension, Ruiz Trade?, does Brown assert himself as an everyday middle of the line-up presence of the future, which prospects emerge to take a spot on the 25 man. And last the elephant in the room what happens to Charlie Manuel.
Stay Tuned it should be a fun ride!
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Winding Down
Roy finished his last start of spring training with the line of 4.1 IP, 8 Hits, 2 ER, 2BB and 6 SO. I didn't see the game but that tells me he is going to struggle all year to get outs even with the high strikeout total teams, good teams will at some point stop getting themselves out and force Doc into the zone.
Pitching is king in the MLB. Even if you have a good BP starters that cannot take you deep into games will wear out that BP come Sept.
We'll see how long they go with Roy. My prediction is that at some point in April he will go on the DL and we may see Adam Morgan or Jon Pettibone take his spot.
Pitching is king in the MLB. Even if you have a good BP starters that cannot take you deep into games will wear out that BP come Sept.
We'll see how long they go with Roy. My prediction is that at some point in April he will go on the DL and we may see Adam Morgan or Jon Pettibone take his spot.
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