As for Jenkins? He strikes out less than Howard despite his cartoon “three cuts at Bugs Bunny’s slowball” uppercut of a swing. Good job, buddy, so does everyone else in the league. I for one, can’t wait to get ShaneVic back patrolling the grounds in center and get one more situational-disaster hitter on the pine.

It’s frustating as to why the Phillies have a 11-10 record. One can point to inconsistent hitting with RISP (relying on the longball too often). The key injuries to MVP Rollins and Victorino (who had 5 hits in last three games before the injury) which took away aggressive speed on the basepaths and defense at their respective position. It compounded the team’s problems in situational hitting as noted above. Of course, Howard’s usual slow start in April didn’t help either. Unusually sloppy fielding (20 errors; 2nd worst in the N.L.) is not acceptable for a team that has excelled in that category last season.

We hope and expect the team to improve when Rollins and Victorino come off the DL and Howard gets hot when the weather warms.

GO Phillies!

My big concern is Ryan Howard. He will definently come around to be his old self; one of the top power sluggers in the game. But right now I believe he needs to sit at least one game out. I would play Dobbs at first base in his place. IMHO, Ryan is way to far off of the plate. He is completely off balance on anything on the outer half of the plate. I just don’t get it. I know he likes to get his arms extended to get his power, but this is clearly not working. I was at the Mets games on Fri and Sun. It seemed to me that he did move slightly closer to the plate. If I were calling pitches against him, he would get a steady dose of outside breaking balls. He won’t touch them right now. One more point. The Howard Shift is so extreme towards right field that 3B is completely vacant. If I were Charlie, I would have him working hard at slap hitting to the enormous 3B hole. This may help his eye-hand coordination also. There is a lot of things going on with Ryan right now, but I can guarantee you that he will return to normal very shortly…….look out opposition, you are all going to be in trouble! Go Phillies!!!!!

Embassy,
The games were on TV (if you have comcast it just doesn’t say it on the guide) Lastnight it was on upn57, and the night before was on cn8. I guess with the Flyers, and Sixers both in the playoff’s at the same time, Comcast ran out of options.

On hindsight, yes, it was a bad move by Colorado’s manager, Clint Hurdle. However, I can understand why he made that move. With one out, you put a slow runner (Howard) on 1st, loading the bases. Then in a percentage move of righty vs righty; closer Corpas vs Burrell (another slow runner) there is a better chance for a double play. Especially with Corpas being a ground ball type pitcher with his sinker (think Kyle Kendrick). Fortunately, for the Phillies, Corpas has struggled so far this season with THREE blown saves in seven tries. In ALL of last season, he had just three blown saves to go with nineteen saves in 78 appearances plus an ERA of 2.08.

Two more shutout innings by the Phillies’ bullpen which has been a pleasant surprise (for me) in the early going. I know the ERA for the bullpen is now below three. Can someone here give me the information as to where I can find updated ERA stats for a team’s bullpen on some website?