Comments on: The Blame Game: Don’t Discount Distractions

By: James

James — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 11:51:21 +0000

I agree with EDGE. Every year this team starts off this way or worse. Every April we get ourselves all worked up. Heck, I for one am glad that we are at .500 without consistently playing good baseball. Our pitching has been awful and yet we are still finding ways to win. Just wait until ‘hitting season’ when the bats REALLY get going and Blanton, Hamels, Madson, Lidge, etc. find their rythym and we really start cruising.

I judge the Phils based on how they are playing in July and August, not April. Anyone who has watched this group for the past 5 years should know this is not cause for concern.

By: Memphis

Memphis — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:08:28 +0000

I agree with Don M… as bad as the pitching has been, we’re actually somewhat lucky to be 5-6. Glad we’ve played the Nationals and Rockies and not the Marlins… not yet at least.

Credit Condrey, Utley, Ibanez and the offense coming through with some nice early-season rallies.

It’s not panic time, but it’s certainly concern time for the pitching. I’d like to see us give up less than four runs a game just once (hasn’t happened yet). Just for comparison’s sake, in 14 postseason games last year, we gave up less than four runs 8 times, and we won all 8 of those games. I don’t expect pitching quite like that, but it’s gotta get better soon. Three of those games came against the Brewers…

By: Griffin

Griffin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:46:49 +0000

It’s too early to panic, but I think we should remember that the ’08 Phillies were a good team that got hot in September/October and won it all. They were not a dominant team that was so far and away better than everyone else in the league. This team can still win 86-92 games and be a top 2 or 3 team in the NL (like last year).

The troubling thing so far is obviously the pitching. There were a lot of career years last year and counting on them again is extremely risky.

By: Don M

Don M — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:42:39 +0000

I just think its a negative view-point when we’re looking at a 5-6 record as EARLY TROUBLES.. instead of just a SLOW START..

Would it make a world of difference to be 6-5, or 7-4 right now??

Maybe if you think that really every single game matters.. but I look at the fact that a bunch of people are underperforming.. and we’re still at 5-6

Worst ERA in the National League.. and we’re still at 5-6

Jimmy Rollins couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.. and yep.. we’re still at 5-6

By: Georgie

Georgie — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:36:58 +0000

Don, I’m not sure why you consider this a “negative post” , I think Tim is being pretty positive here if you read it carefully. He’s basically giving the team several reasons(cough-excuses-cough) for coming out of the gate slowly.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:22:30 +0000

Geoff, a losing record (5-6) after just ELEVEN games don’t amount to a hill of beans in attempt to justify playing the blame game. You can express “concerns” but having a daily fixation on Moyer, Rollins, etc and tagged them as the cause of all (or part) of our woes on such SMALL samples of stats that are meaningless in a season so brief is laughable. And as Tim suggests, in the coming weeks, “.. some real assessments can made.”

Let’s accentuate some positives that gives us definite signs of better days ahead for the team.. Utley, Howard, Ibanez, Feliz, etc. Surely the pitching will improve as it rounds into form and rhythm without further distractions.

By: Red Baron

Red Baron — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:10:03 +0000

I don’t agree that “no team in recent memory” has had to deal with these things. They’re World Champions. Most of these things come with the territory. At least five of those things you mentioned, the reigning champs have had to deal with annually. Think about what the yanks and bosox have to deal with every year.

By: EDGE

EDGE — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:07:03 +0000

Their history shows they’re slow starters, no reason why they would change their pattern just because they won last year. If this team was usually fast off the gate then these distractions could be brought out as the reasons why they’re off to the slow start. Check out their records from the last few years after 11 games.:

09- 5-6
08- 5-6
07- 3-8
06- 4-11
05- 5-6
04- 5-6

They’ve had different reasons for slow starts, some years its their starting pitching, other years their bullpen, and sometimes the offense doesn’t show up until May. Whatever the reason maybe they usually struggle early. The distractions coming from winning the world series didn’t help but I don’t think its the main reason why they’re off to another slow start.

By: Don M

Don M — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:04:34 +0000

But I think the point that I have yet to get across today is that when you are only 11 games into the season.. being above .500 doesn’t matter.. that isn’t the goal that they set out for.

Nobody can really “make a run at the division” until at least after the All-Star break.. so are we going to scrutinize every single bad stat in the meantime?

What’s going right…
Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez, Pedro Feliz

By: Memphis

Memphis — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:48:59 +0000

I do think there’s a natural letdown/hangover to winning a title, especially when your emotional leader (Rollins) starts very, very slow. But I think one thing not included is “tired arms,” much of it due to a really long season and playoffs. Aside from Eyre, Condrey, and Happ, the pitching has been terrible, not just Hamels. 74 earned runs in 11 games, almost 7 runs a game (-15 run differential overall). That’s on all 5 starters and the 2 horses in the pen, Madson and Lidge. When/if those 7 guys come around, we’ll see some more winning baseball. It is absolutely critical that Hamels’ velocity comes back. Not panic time, but that’s an alarm, these games count. Makes the Lowe debate all winter on this site even more interesting. We can talk about distractions, rings, WBC (many teams dealt with that), Kalas, etc. It would help to just plain pitch better.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:45:36 +0000

When the team has a losing record thats usually what the topic will be, in otherwords: Why arent they above .500 with this group of players?

This is perfectly normal, nothing wrong with this. When they get over .500 and make a run at the division, well all focus on “whats going right?”

The team sets the tone. The fans support the team. The team feeds off the fans and thus the cycle continues. Its not really a chicken/egg situtation though.

I heard they were lookin at bringing in some guys in the next couples weeks, and that Park is on a very short least before JA Happ gets the nod and Park is in the Pen…

By: Don M

Don M — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:38:37 +0000

Rollins slow start is countered by the hot starts of Utley and Ibanez..

The problem right now is pitching.. and clearly we aren’t going to have the wrost ERA in the National League, as we do right now.

“Early Troubles”

Tim, probably for the past week you’ve been leading off the comments with a negative-post…. where is your optimism.

Outside of your praise for Ibanez, its been mostly focused on what has gone wrong for the Phillies, instead of what has gone right, and what will most likely improve.. Set a positive tone for us will you please

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:25:34 +0000

I completely agree. I am tired of everyone saying that the Phillies aren’t living up to their title. We just need to have faith in our boys and trust that the leaders of the team will get everyone in gear. Charlie got us a championship last year, he will get the guys to click soon.

They’ve only played a handful of games. I would be worried if this was the end of May, not the end of April. Plus, they just lost Harry Kalas. Of course, Lidge, Rollins, and Hamels need to shape up, but give them some time to get started and get over Harry’s death. The Phillies will be fine. We just have to have faith.

GO PHILLIES!

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:23:43 +0000

Lidge will be fine when Chooch returns because he’ll be able to throw his slider. He seemed to be holding it back to some extent with Coste behind the plate.

I think the quality of the pitching to this point should be a testament to how important Chooch is to this team. I think his catching ability has been drastically overlooked. I think now that he’s on the DL it sheds some light on his ability to call a game and block Lidge’s nasty slider.

By: jealous of the phils

jealous of the phils — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:49:28 +0000

I agree with this post, and think the start of the season has been difficult for the phils. HK and the WSC are events that required appropriate attention.

Many of the other items listed sound like excuses, as pretty much every other team deals with “important financial decisions” and “media spotlight”

the phils will be fine, the only thing you should be worried about is Lidge

By: justin

justin — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:48:24 +0000

I love how we always complain that the Phillies dont get enough national coverage but when the day finally comes we use it in a negative way to blame the slow starts. correct me if im wrong but didnt we start off slow last year. I no that the distractions do have something to do with the slow start but ITS ONLY APRIL. Cole will settle down and we will begin to look like the 2008 phillies soon enough. WHERE IS THE FAITH?

LETS GO PHILLIES!!!!!!

By: DHall

DHall — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:46:30 +0000

I agree Tim. There’s too much talent on this team for it to play this poorly all season. However, are we good enough to repeat? That remains to be seen. If we can get our pitching in order and get ourselves a few games above .500…anything can happen. If the starters don’t turn it around by mid season and we’re languishing in 3rd place with a 40 and 41 record on June 30th, then they will need to make a trade. Until then, let’s go one step at a time.