Phillies Nation

There’s lots to talk about today so fasten your thinking caps tightly; but first grab a bib because you’ll be salivating over the next Phillies Nation event.  This Saturday, before, during and after the Red Sox game the mother of all tailgate parties will be held in the parking lot at 7th and Pattison.  On Smokin’ Dave’s gigantic trailer of a grill will be a 90 lb. hog, 50 lbs. of brisket, 150 pieces of chicken, and 3 turkeys cooking for your epicurean delight.  You can eat as much as you can handle for just $5.  There will also be the traditional side dishes of corn on the cob and pasta salad but you have to provide your own beer.  So, tickets or no tickets, make sure you show up for the real fun in South Philly Saturday evening.  Now on to less delicious news…

As you know, the Phils were swept by the Brewers yesterday despite another decent outing by Cole Hamels.  He gave up four walks as predicted by the Phillies Nation poll, and recorded five strikeouts.  However, Ryan Madson blew Hamels’ lead again and conspiracy theorists already believe Madson is seeking revenge on Cole for taking his spot in the rotation.  Of course this isn’t true, but phillies.com reported, "Though clearly upset, Madson didn’t want to talk about giving up the lead in both of Hamels’ starts, and declined to address the matter."  Although Madson has been unable to duplicate his strong bullpen pitching of last year, he still claims he felt good on the mound yesterday.  Whether he feels good or not doesn’t change the fact that he has allowed three runs in 2 2/3 innings since moving to the bullpen.

This week also has seen an intensified debate over the Phillies leadoff spot.  Jimmy Rollins seems to be returning to his old underachieving form and has hit just .190 since April 13th.  This season he is sporting a .301 OBP and a .239 batting average, both below his career averages.  He has never been a prototypical leadoff hitter and not surprisingly has better numbers when batting fifth or sixth in the lineup.  A potential replacement at the top of the order comes in the form of Shane Victorino who remains in the lineup while Aaron Rowand’s face heals.  In 36 games this season, Shane has tallied nasty line of .375/.426/.607 – all obviously well above his career numbers.  With Jimmy on the bench in favor of Alex Gonzalez yesterday, Shane had a chance to show off his leadoff potential.  Instead, he laid an egg with an 0-5 afternoon.  This is not surprising since in 22 ABs at the leadoff spot, he’s garnered just one hit and one walk.  Although the Phillies media has published recent stories on how good Shane has been and how bad Jimmy has, it’s unlikely Charlie Manuel will have another shakeup in the lineup.  There remains the option of moving Rollins down in the lineup to help him regain confidence but that has the potential to do more harm than good.  Shane may get a few more chances in the coming weeks, but we have to remember he’s not an everyday player and once Rowand returns, he’ll probably be back on the bench. 

Finally, Randy Wolf is scheduled to start on Tuesday in a rehab assignment.  The Inky says he’ll be pitching in Clearwater, but the Threshers are scheduled for a game in Jupiter, FL against the Hammerheads, a Marlins affiliate.  Either way, Wolf’s rehab is on schedule and Pat Gillick estimates Randy could return to the club before the all-star break.

Grab a bib because you’ll be salivating over the next Phillies Nation event. This Saturday, before, during and after the Red Sox game the mother of all tailgate parties will be held in the parking lot at 7th and Pattison. On Smokin’ Dave’s gigantic trailer of a grill will be a 90 lb. hog, 50 lbs. of brisket, 150 pieces of chicken, and 3 turkeys cooking for your epicurean delight. You can eat as much as you can handle for just $5. There will also be the traditional side dishes of corn on the cob and pasta salad but you have to provide your own beer. So, tickets or no tickets, make sure you show up for the real fun in South Philly Saturday evening.

The news around the Phillies camp today is that Mike Lieberthal will be out longer than expected.  Liebs was eligible to come off the disabled list on Saturday, but will be out at least 10 more days, and possibly two weeks.  Charlie Manuel suggests there is some final soreness in his foot that needs to heal so it shouldn’t pose any long term threat.  This means that we’ll see more of the Fasano-Ruiz platoon behind the plate.  Fasano is taking the lead as Liebterthal’s replacement since Carlos Ruiz has been off to a slow start offensively.  Fasano was rewarded with a start last night, catching Lidle for the first time.  He went 1-3 with two strikeouts and a single but was subsequently picked off first.  For shame, Sal, for shame.

Behind the plate though, Fasano believes he has experienced much better plate management recently compared to the first few weeks of the season.  He feels, "Once Gavin decided to go back to the two-seam [fastball], that opened up the game plan a bunch.  And with Jon it was a matter of expanding the zone side-to-side, as opposed to up-and-down.  Little by little, you learn these things."  At the plate, as opposed to behind it, Fasano is the lesser of two evils.  Although Sal is batting .245, Carlos is just 2-19 since being called up.  Although Fasano admitted that the rookie has the potential to become and everyday catcher, he noted in general, "When you’re a defensive specialist and you don’t hit, there’s always a spot for you in Triple-A." 

If you’re signed up to the official Phillies email list, yesterday you may have received a gracious email from Pat Gillick thanking fans for their support over the last homestand.  The most interesting line though, may have come in what he didn’t write later on in the email.  "I don’t want to put Cole Hamels on the spot by any means, but his presence in the rotation allowed us to move Ryan Madson back to the bullpen, giving us an even better staff.   We should get a further boost when Randy Wolf returns sometime around the All-Star break."  Notice "when Randy Wolf returns" not "when Randy Wolf returns to the rotation."  There’s a lot of baseball to be played before Randy heals fully, but this could be an early indication that he will start in the bullpen.

I meant to post this Brewers preview by Timothy Miller yesterday but didn’t, my apologies.  So here it is today, better late than never.

The Lineup:
The Brewers lineup is filled with power that has not totally taken off yet.  Carlos Lee is the hottest hitter on the team, already with fifteen homers while batting a solid .296.  The son of Detroit Tigers legend Cecil Fielder, first baseman Prince Fielder is a candidate to be National League Rookie of the Year this season.  Fielder is batting .321 with eight home runs, and even broke his father’s career steals mark (2).  Prince has three stolen bases already this season.  The highest average on the team belongs to
catcher Damian Miller who is batting .337 with four dingers.  Leadoff hitter Rickie Weeks is turning his season around as he hit two home runs this past week (including one off of Pedro Martinez) and raised his average to .287.

Utility man Bill Hall – who scored the winning run in last night’s game – is also having a good start to the season, batting .292 with eight home runs. The power struggles are coming from the outfield.  Geoff Jenkins is batting a rugged .260 with only five home runs, but he is due to heat up.  Centerfielder Brady Clark has the lowest average in the everyday starting lineup at .224 with only one home run.  Rounding out the infield is shortstop J.J. Hardy and third baseman Corey Koskie.

The Rotation:
Pitching is where the Brew Crew have been struggling the most.  They have only one starter in the rotation with an ERA under three.  That belongs to ace Chris Capuano at 2.83 (now 2.80) whose record is 4-3.  The other star in the rotation is Doug Davis who has an ERA over five and is 2-2.  Dave Bush has been looking decent with an ERA barely over four, and a 3-4 record.  Due to injuries, the Brewers do not have Ben Sheets or Tomo Ohka available for their rotation so youngsters Ben Hendrickson and Dana Eveland have taken their places.  Hendrickson has not won a game this season and has an ERA over seven, while Eveland has an ERA over nine.  The Phils will face those two Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

The Bullpen:
The bullpen has had trouble preventing runs as well.  There are eight guys in the pen and only two of them have ERA’s under than three.  One of them is near perfect closer Derrick Turnbow.  Turnbow is 0-1 (now 1-1) with a 2.35 ERA (now 2.20) with twelve saves.  Turnbow blew his first save of the season on Saturday by giving up a home run to Mets’ catcher Paul LoDuca.  The lowest ERA on the team belongs to the former closer for the Brewers and Braves and now Turnbow’s setup man, Dan Kolb, who is 2-0 with a 1.64 ERA.  There are two others pitchers under an ERA of 4, and those are Matt Wise (2-2) and Jose Capellan (0-0).  Everyone else has an ERA over five: Jorge De La Rosa (2-0), Justin Lehr (1-1), Chris Demaria (0-1), and Jared Fernandez (0-0).  

Two weeks ago we mentioned how the Phils would do well to increase their stolen base quota.  They have been winning, that’s for sure, but the stolen bases are still low.  Recent events - the recalling of Chris Roberson and Shane Victorino’s increased playing time – have greatly increased the speed of the current Phillies lineup; however, the team is still not swiping bases to the extent they have in the past.  Over the last three years the Phillies have gradually increased their stolen base attempts. 

Stolen Bases Attempted: 
2003 (Bowa): 101
2004 (Bowa): 127
2005 (Manuel): 143

This year the Phillies are on pace to reach just 113 attempts.  They are 13th in the league with 18 SBs, 9th in the league with 8 CS, and 11th in the league with a 69.2 SB%.  On the other hand, the team is tops in the league with only one pickoff.  This would be consistent with a conservative approach to baserunning.  In general though, the Phillies have been excellent base runners, save for a few Pat Burrell gaffes in the beginning of the season.  With that, though – and this is especially true with Victornio and Rollins - they are able to stretch singles into doubles and thus negate the need for the some stolen basses.

Individually, only Rollins (6), Abreu (5), Rowand (4), and Utley (3) have recorded stolen bases this season.  Just add David Dellucci to that list to get the Phillies that have even attempted a stolen base.  Shane Victorino has 10 singles and 2 walks yet not a single stolen base attempt.  Could this be something to pin on Charlie Manuel’s poor managing?  I wouldn’t say so, since last year he let the Phillies fly around the bases almost at will.  The Phillies are winning, so this isn’t a slight on the way they win or anything, just something noticeable.  When coupled with the decline in defensive performance, this just goes to show that this isn’t the Phillies squad of last season…and that might not be a bad thing.

One final note, Aaron Rowand held a press conference yesterday to show off his new face (warning, the picture by H. Rumph Jr. of the AP is not pretty).  The conference, while some feel it wasn’t completely necessary, really showed off Rowand’s class and commitment.  He said the right things and by far the best line was a throwback to Ricky Watters.  Aaron recalled, "For who, for what?  For who? My teammates.  For what?  To win."  He went on to say he thinks his attitude can be contagious.  It certainly can and in fact it seems the Phillies and fans have already caught the bug.

Hey all, just wanted to let you in on a quick public service announcement.  On Saturday June 3rd, our friend Dan Hefton is organizing a charitable Wiffle Ball tournament out in Aston, PA.  All proceeds will be donated to The Ray Withelder Memorial Scholarship Fund which was established in honor of Ray who died tragically in a car accident.  Last year’s event was a huge success and this year’s is shaping up to be a lot of fun and is obviously for a good cause.  Here are the details if you are interested:

Wiffle Palooza II
June 3, 2006
Aston, PA

• Enter as a team (4-6 players per team)
• $25 per player and the deadline to enter is this Saturday, May 20th
• Entry fee includes team jerseys, the use of fields and equipment, food, and trophies for the winners
• Start time around 10am
• Specific Field TBA
• This year’s Wiffle Palooza will be BYOB, so BYOB. 

To enter a team or if you need more information contact:
Dan Hefton
danhef@comcast.net

The Phillies’ moms should be proud; their boys have completed yet another series sweep.  Brett Myers improved his daytime ERA to 1.25 by allowing just one run and Ryan Howard provided all the Phillies offensive with solo home runs in the 8th and 12th innings.  Interestingly enough, Howard did not start the game because Brandon Claussen, a lefty, started for the Reds, but both of his shots came off left-handed pitchers, including the first one off Claussen.  These were only Ryno’s second and third homers off lefties (as opposed to his nine off righties) but came at the most opportune times.  He also ended the game with a nice grab off a line shot by Ken Griffey, Jr.  Apparently, he isn’t as big a defensive liability as I like to make him out to be.

Jimmy Rollins went 1-5 with a walk, giving him his only hit in the series.  He is now batting under .250 and seems to really be struggling at the plate – back in his old habit of popping up.  Luckily his defense has maintained its superior quality and was demonstrated as he made a great diving grab to end the second inning and save a run.  Geoff Geary, after a weekend of being toyed with by the Phillies brass, came on in the 11th to record his first win of the season.

With this spectacular run that the Phillies have been on they have shown their ability to beat quality teams, just as we were complaining about their difficulty beating weak ones.  The talk of Charlie Manuel’s departure has been put on pause, some of which has been due to Mike Arbuckle’s and Pat Gillick’s decisions to bring up fresh talent which have helped the Phils.  But many of the qualms with Charlie early on were about his decisions concerning bringing in relievers and pinch hitters.  Now that the starters have settled down and have been able to pitch effectively through 6, 7, 8 innings, it greatly reduces the margin of error for Charlie.  Although he second guessed himself taking Hamels out after five innings, I didn’t mind the decision since it was the kid’s first start and its better to have him go out on top and maintain some confidence.  Therefore, for now, the head hunting will recede especially since the Mets now only lead the division by one game as they were unable to mimic the Phillies and lost to the Brewers in extra innings.  Tomorrow will be a well-deserved day off for the Phils.

Finally, the Jon Lieber who is allegedly the Phillies ace has been found and he’s been in hiding out in Cincinnati all season.  Not to be shown up by Cole Hamels’ excellent debut last night, Lieber pitched brilliantly and was even perfect through 6 and 2/3 in the second Phillies flirtation with no-hit ball in 2 nights.  He surrendered the Reds’ first hit on a single to Adam Dunn in the seventh and their second on a single to Griffey, Jr. which bounced out of David Dellucci’s glove as he was jumping against the left field wall – but that was is.  Lieber was removed with 2 outs in the ninth and Tom Gordon came on to record the last out and boost his save total to 12 and that’s exactly what he did.  The Phils, winning 2-0 tonight, have now won 12 out of their last 13 games.  In those games, thanks to improved pitching and a reduction in errors mentioned earlier in the week, the Phillies have allowed an average of just 3.7 runs while scoring 5.6 themselves.  Besides Lieber’s big game, Chris Roberson should be congratulated on his first big league start as well as his first hit.  He started tonight in place of Bobby Abreu who was scratched with back spasms.

Not to continually harp on Ryan Howard and his youthful inexperience but he committed a noticeable baserunning gaffe in the top of the ninth.  As Chase Utley scored the Phillies second run on a wild pitch, Ryan Howard advanced to second after his fielder’s choice.  David Bell subsequently tapped one back to the pitcher and Howard took off to third.  He was thus caught in a run down when clearly he should stayed at second until he was sure the ball passed the pitcher.  Yes, I realize it’s a split-second reaction, but its a reaction he’s going to have to learn to make correctly.  I really don’t mean to overly criticize Howard, especially while the Phillies are hot and everyone knows Howard’s primary strength is at the plate, I simply want Ryan to start learning from his mistakes in his second season.  He has the potential to be a great ballplayer, a David Ortiz as some have said, I just don’t want his peripheral aspects to overshadow his offensive dominance.

Finally, it should be noted that Geoff Geary was recalled from Scranton after just two days as Julio Santana was placed back on the 15-day DL with tendinitis in his pitching elbow.  Julio’s latest injury only fuels the burning question as to why his signing seemed like such a good idea to Pat Gillick at the time.

By Timothy Miller

Phil’s fans begged, and now they have received.  Prospect Cole Hamels made his first start in the big leagues Friday night against the Cincinnati Reds. The 22-year old lefty pitched five scoreless innings while striking out seven batters including the legendary Ken Griffey, Jr.  Hamels also walked five batters, but only gave up one hit – a double to Felipe Lopez in the fifth.  Hamels played his magnificent debut cool, barely showing emotion and approaching it like any other game he’s pitched.  After his departure, the man he replaced in the rotation, Ryan Madson came and quickly surrendered two home runs (to Austin Kearns and Edwin Encarnacion) giving away Hamels’ debut win.  The game was now tied 3-2 after the sixth inning, but the Phils scored on in the seventh, added one in the eighth, and then blew it open with four more runs in the ninth, including a home run by Shane Victorino. 

Shane started of course due to Aaron Rowand’s placement on the 15-day DL after his miraculous catch on Thursday night at CBP (incidentally, he had successful surgery yesterday and is likely out 15-20 days).  Victorino took full advantage of the opportunity by going 4-4 with a HBP in the game and claimed afterwards, "I’m just confident at the plate."  The youth movement is taking over in Philly with the third call up in a week as Chris Roberson is now on the roster to take Rowand’s spot while he is injured.  Roberson pinch ran for Pat Burrell in the ninth inning and scored a run in his ML debut.  Ryan Howard also got in on the action by smashing his 10th home run of the season off of Cincinnati starter Elizardo Ramirez, the former Phillie traded for Cory Lidle. 

So in the end, the Phillies won their eleventh game out of their last twelve by a score of 8-4.  Ryan Madson stole the win on the night to improve his record to 3-1, while Elizardo Ramirez got the loss.  After Santana gave up two runs in the 9th, Flash Gordon came in to earn his eleventh save of the season.  The Phils are rolling right now, and it looks like Hamels is everything we hoped he would be.  Perhaps he is the missing piece of the puzzle to get the Phils into the playoffs for the first time since 1993.  Jon Lieber takes the mound for the Phillies tonight to face Dave Williams of the Reds.  Go Phils!

In coming to Philadelphia, everyone knew Aaron Rowand – a self-proclaimed clown – would be a classic Philly guy.  I’ve seen him lay out for several balls in the outfield already this season - some he caught, some he didn’t, but he always hustled and it doesn’t take a juxtaposition with Bobby Abreu for one to realize just how balls-out this guy plays.  Last night, in the very first inning Gavin Floyd walked the bases loaded and it looked as if the Phils were in for another drubbing as Xavier Nady hit a 3-2 pitch deep to centerfield.  Rowand with his unwavering determination to save the inning (and as Harry said, the game) made an over-the-sholder catch while running full speed into the outfield wall.  To demonstrate the true grit of the guy, as soon as he collapsed to the ground after pummeling face first into the chain-link fence, he immediately held up his glove to show he made the catch.  Wheels compared the collision to a bug splattering on a windshield.  The importance of the catch cannot be understated.  Almost the entire team ran out to see how he was, including Charlie Manuel and the crowd gave him a well-deserved standing ovation as he walked off the field under his own power.  I would not hesitate to say that catch last night is the stuff legends are made of – if you missed it, you can catch it here.

Unfortunately for Aaron, it’s possible the injury could have been prevented.  He mentioned to the Phillies that the wall needed extra padding (interestingly enough Abreu, Lofton, Michaels never said a word) and in fact, some was due to be installed next week.  I’ve always wondered why a chain-link fence is in the outfield anyway.  If the club was looking for a transparent wall why not use hockey glass like they used to have in the Metrodome?  Anyway, Aaron ended up with a broken nose and lacerations on his face.  He spent the night at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and is scheduled to have surgery on Friday to repair his nose.  He is likely to be placed on the 15-day DL, and since Geoff Geary was optioned to Scranton to make room for Cole Hamels, the Phils will have a roster spot open.  If Gillick and co. decide to call up a centerfielder, Chris Roberson would make the most sense.

In the rest of last night’s game saw Gavin Floyd continued to struggle and pitch himself into jams - though he now boasts a 4-2 record.  He used his curveball effectively when he was ahead in the count, but that wasn’t too often.  His numbers didn’t look bad in the rain shorted game, (0 runs, 2 hits, 4BB, 2 Ks) but he threw just 50 strikes over 92 pitches.  Luckily the guys behind him came to his rescue.  Bell and JRoll made some tough plays (as they tend to do), and Rowand’s replacement, Shane Victornio, came on strong and fast as he hustled to a double and triple in his first two ABs.  Chase Utley put the Phils on top with a homer in the first and David Bell added some insurance by driving in Victorino.  But precisely on cue – when the game became official after the final out of the top of the 5th – the heavens opened and ended the game.  It just goes to show that Mother Nature must be a Phillies fans. 

The Phillies took the series and narrowed the Mets lead in the East to three games.  Hopefully the Mets are a bit closer to reality now and recognize that this will be a legitimate race to October.  Peter Gammons blogged to this extent earlier in the week and is glad the NY-Philly rivalry has been restored.  Judging by the intensity of Tuesday’s game, there is definitely some electricity brewing between the two clubs.  Although fans did not get the opportunity to heckle Billy Wagner on the mound this time, the teams will square off again on the 23rd at Shea and the Mets will be back at CBP on June 13th. 

As for tonight’s game, it’s all about Cole Hamels’ major league debut.  He’ll be facing a Reds lineup - one with Ken Griffey Jr. back in it - that are tops in the league in OBP and walks and second in homeruns and slugging.  Fortunately, they still strikeout a lot, but not as much as the last few seasons.  Although, it’s probably a good thing that Hamel’s first start will be on the road, this will be a tough test as the Reds are a league best 12-5 at Great American.  My only hope is that he doesn’t get rocked and have his confidence shatteredlike Gavin Floyd last year.  While I do think it is a risky move bringing Hamels up so soon considering his injuries and his less than 200 innings pitched in his career, the potential payoff of having a young phenom in the rotation unknown by most teams would have a huge impact on the Phillies playoff run.  So all I can say is best of luck tonight, Cole, don’t blow it! 

It’s often said it is better to lose a blowout game than a close one because you can forget the blowouts more quickly while the close ones linger.  Well, hopefully that expression is a half-truth.  The Mets sure didn’t waste any time recovering from their devastating 5-4 loss on Tuesday and answered with a 13-4 walloping of the Phils last night.  Skipper Charlie Manuel said, "We just have to throw this one out the window and bounce back tomorrow."  Indeed.

One thing that will be hard to simply forget is the defense of Ryan Howard.  Last night he increased his league leading error total to 6.  I’ve mentioned this too many times already in the past two weeks but Ryno must improve his defensive ability and decision-making, otherwise he will continually counteract all his offensive greatness.  Although he did hit a homerun last night, he also committed two costly errors that kept the Mets early-inning rallies alive.  For his part, Cory Lidle also contributed with a bonehead gaffe throwing the ball from first to third attempting to pick off a runner after a groundout and completely missing David Bell.  Throughout the Phillies’ 9-game winning streak, the team tallied just 5 errors, last night alone there were 4.  As last week’s analysis pointed out, this is not shaping up to be the great defensive team of last season and it could really cost them this year.

Some quick notes on Phillies players:  Carlos Ruiz, for all his hype, is just 1-20 since being called up.  I admit he’s fresh off the boat, but come’on Carlos, this job is yours for the taking…take it!  The Chris Booker reign in Philadelphia is over as he was claimed off waivers by the Kansas City Royals. T-minus 34 hours until the Cole Hamels era beings…