Sure the Cubs have the best rotation but that’s possibly the best in the league and look at their struggles. The teams getting good pitching are those who’s pitchers have exceeded expectations or are teams built around pitching with lesser offences. ’90% of teams are the same with 10% eitherway’… The Phils need to play better, not get hung up on waiting to play until a frontline pitcher arrives, the front office will be doing it’s job but its no guarantee. The team is good enough to win, they need to play like it.

So to me they have an ace who isnt pitching like an ace. A good 3rd starter who can be better sometimes. A trash throwing old man, and two promising young back of the rotation starters (happ, bastardo) with the potential to become more than that but who still have to go through growing pains. Happ can be a good mid rotation guy with more consistency.

You have to see where guys slot into the rotation and right now they dont have all of those slots filled even if they do on paper.

Just like we can’t wish up a deal for an ace no matter how much we’d like, right now we can’t wish up deals for anything until people start becoming available.

Can we PLEASE stop throwing out numbers for starters like it’s the wheel of fortune.

Ace
Frontline starter
Middle of the rotation starter
back end rotation filler

Now look around the depth charts and you’ll see the Phils are comparable to pretty much everyone (outside of the Yankees). The insiders say 90% of baseball teams are pretty much the same with 5% good and 5% bad. The kicker of it is almost every team is virtually the same no matter the moves and it comes down to play.

I’m not saying the Phils don’t need quality starting pitching. The Phils have been getting pretty decent pitching in the last few weeks that has been squandered night after night. Look at the months results, you’ll see a hell of a lot more bad offense than pitching.

Not ‘top quality starter’ is going to immediately change the fortunes if the team play isn’t better. That’s all I am saying.

People here like to rubbish so much of this team on bias and nit pick at one of two bad nights out of plenty good. It’s tiring, it’s the kind of trash you’d expect from Mets or Yankees fans who expect all-star play night-on-night.

Happ is good but still needs to improve and Bastardo is up and down because hes a ROOKIE. Just adding some run of the mill guy at this point is a waste of prospects. cIm a fan of Marquis Duke and Maholm as backup plans but not main targets. You have to go out now and overpay for top notch. Cliff Lee, Dan Haren (not available in my opinion), guys of that ilk. Theyre going to have to move Werth or Victorino to get a guy like that, thus moving Mayberry into an everyday role. They still need a RH bench bat. They still need at least one reliever to help the cause back there.

Ruben COULD HAVE gotten the bench bat and the reliever easily but did not do so. Now we have to cough it up for them too. He added the big name in Ibanez and signed some good extensions but he failed to plug the holes weve all seen for months.

IN baseball, you ALWAYS go and sign a reliever or two every season because you know guys will break down or struggle. THats an annual rite of the bullpen and bc it didnt happen to them in 08 they shirked that. They went looking for a RH bat and still havent gotten one. Really? there are guys around. they just need a bit of pop and the ability to succeed as a bench/part time player.

Then they went and settled for Moyer BEFORE derek lowe signed. which is mind-bogglingly retarded. then they gave him a big contract as a “reward” which always is a bad idea and is even more retarded.

Lidge needs to spend a few weeks in the minors like Myers did because the guy I saw last night was a shrivel of his former self. He cant get anyone out right out and he cant adapt to be less predictable. He gets ahead in the count then throws three sliders that they dont swing at, then he either throws a meatball or walks the batter. Same pattern everytiime. JC Romero is “clean” but all of a sudden cant get people out anymore either.

Theyve run out of time and they need a move to bolster this squad and give a lift to the team. They also need to shake up the roster to show the players that even though they got out of it last year that slumps like this are not acceptable. Rollins I guess youre stuck with and youll have to hide him in the back of the order, other than his defense now he is a totally useless player to a major league team and anything you get in return for him is a bonus. He cant steal bases anymore, he cant get on base, he cant hit, all that mysterious power is gone, all he can do is play defense. I would include him in trade conversations at this point. A change of scenery would help him. I would also involve Romero in those talks. Those two guys are negative influences on the team and against Charlies authority in the locker room.

Look down every roster in this league and you’ll see mirror images of the guys your calling off-the-scrap head players. Werth has been called underrated by several major insiders this year, he’s just playing poorly. Romero and Eyre have put up very good numbers this year. Lidge has been hurt. Moyer’s done fine leading the team in wins with putrid run support that could have seen him up around 8 or 9 wins already, Madson’s been fantastic apart from a bad spell.

This team is just playing badly, we all have to deal with it. Your not going to see all-star play and numbers from every player year round… Deal with it. Just hope as I do this team starts playing good, fundamental, strong defensive baseball and then is able to lure a frontline starter like a Roy Halladay (but don’t expect it as an absolute).

The don’t NEED a guy like Lee, they WANT a guy like Lee. The Phils haven’t had consistent pitching all year and now the bats aren’t getting the job done when the pitching is good. The Phils need stable pitching in most starts and disciplined hitting most nights to dig themselves out of the hole. A ‘number two’ is just another arm taking a loss when the bats don’t show up.

Before saying we NEED a ‘number 2′ at all costs look at the breakdown of the last month, you’ll see a lot of nights where Blanton, Moyer, Cole didn’t get even adequate run support or great performances ended up in no decisions or losses. A ‘number 2′ doesn’t change that, better team play does.

Let’s see…

1. Last year, they had very few injuries to their pitching staff.

2. Brad Lidge had a career year. We basically took this guy off the scrap heap in Houston and he put it together for 3/4 of a season. Even in September, the warning signs were there. A lot of his saves were tightrope jobs.

3. Ryan Madson suddenly added 3-4 MPH to his fastball and was pitching with confidence. This is a guy whose biggest problem is always going to be his head

4. They took JC Romero off the scrap heap from Boston. He’s always walked too many batters since he’s been here, but he’s always had a knack for getting out of jams. Maybe his magic is running out?

5. Scott Eyre. Well, I just don’t think he’s that good. He was let go for nothing from Chicago, and came here and pitched well, but I think that’s starting to wear off.

6. Jamie Moyer. He’s pitched better as of late, but to think he’ll replicate that 16 win season is crazy.

7. Jason Werth. Might be one of the more overrated guys on this team. A nice platoon player, but I still don’t think he’ll ever be an every day player.

8. Jimmy Rollins. Maybe when he’s 35 the light bulb will go on and he’ll realize he’s not Ryan Howard. Wishful thinking, but we can hope.

9. Bench play – Time and time again, we got key, clutch hits from our bench last year. Looks like Dobbs has come back to earth as well.

Guys, don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for last year. But as this season goes on, I think we’re going to realize we had a lot more in common with the 93 Phillies than we originally thought.

Now theyre forced to hope Cliff Lee is available and then proceed to get taken to the cleaners in order to land him – like the FLyers did to land Chris Pronger thus forcing them to have to get taken to the cleaners to clear cap space now as a result.

I’m as befuddled as any as to how the Phils are loosing so badly but this is a very good team that’s lost its way in a league where ALL good teams loose its way at least once a season. There’s aren’t multiple holes on this roster, there’s just holes in the play.

There’s just way too many holes on this team to think one stud pitcher will fix it all. The thing is the do have some really nice players in the minors that will be able to help next year. We can’t lose focus on this. If we blow the farm this year and don’t make the playoffs, the next 4 years could be really bad.