Phillies Nation

I’m actually kind of encouraged by May — except for the Mets. We will lose our share against Atlanta, so no biggie there. The Yanks series was really encouraging, despite Lidge. He will pull it together, and this week has been a big confidence booster for him. The positives: good teams beat up on bad teams, so our handling of Washington is as it should be, and shows we are really the elite team that the championship rings attest. And we took a two-game sweep against a pretty good Cardinals team.

I’d be OK with 14-12 in June, but if Lidge really does have it back together, I think it’ll be more like 15-11, with a possibility of 16-10.

I think the stat Phil posted shows that CBP is not as much of a bandbox as people perceive. The reality is, it’s basically a neutral park. Maybe the “hitters park” name is inflated because our pitchers, who pitch there all the time, are prone to giving up the longball (Myers, Moyer) in ANY park. just a thought.

Go Phils. And congrats to the Wily Veteran on win No. 250!

Anyone else notice that Dolphin Stadium is now called Land Shark Park? Way to go Jimmy Buffett.

I found this interesting given the link Phil posted earlier…

From CSNPhilly.com

The friendly confines of Citizens Bank Park are not helping the Phils in their bid to land Jake Peavy. Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer examined the obstacles that the Phillies might encounter in their attempt to acquire the right-hander. Peavy’s main doubt about playing in Philadelphia is the size of the ballpark.

“That new Philadelphia park might be the worst in baseball,” Peavy said. “Look at Shane Victorino. I love Vic to death. He’s a great baseball player. He’s got 11 or 12 homers [already]. He’s not a 20-homer guy.”

While Peavy might be mistaken about the Flyin’ Hawaiian’s numbers (4 homers in 2009), his skepticism is noted.

The Phillies’ front office will get a first-hand look at Peavy on Tuesday, as he is slated to start game two of the Phils’ three-game series in San Diego.

Sounds to me like no only does Peavy have no idea what he is talking about, he clearly want’s nothing to do with the Phillies. Fine by me. Let’s go and get someone else who isn’t a diva like Peavy.

Nice job this weekend guys, sweeping the natinals. Now guess what? YOu cant run and play the natinals every other series everytime you need a confidence boost. It means Jamie Moyer cant come and beat them when he hasnt beaten ANY team in 6 previous attempts leading into yesterday. So now its time to play real baseball against real teams.

That said, I think theyll be over .500 for the month. Antonio Bastardo appears to be their top pitching prospect (by that I mean is apparently big league ready and if he shows well tomorrow would make either him or Carrasco good trade bait. Carrasco, Marson, Donald, Mayberry and perhaps one of Brown or Taylor all seem like good bets to be in demand when its time to make a trade.

You still really cant keep sending Jamie Moyer out there. Ok hes got 250, good, now reitre. But they cant really do that until they get another starter. What is Moyer our # 2 now? Blanton? Blanton would make a nice 3 if hes on his game but to rely on Moyer AGAIN this heavily is a disgrace.

Side note, have the Phillies actually called Toronto about Halladay or is that just hearsay?

Finally, based on the names we have heard over the weekend (Bedard, Oswalt, Marquis, etc.) I think the Phillies will land Roy Oswalt UNLESS some new names come available in the coming days. You cant have 4 left handers in the rotation – and by that I mean its Moyer that should leave over Bastardo (Yes, I said that). Hes got his milestone now get out, give the youngsters a chance to fill in the back of the rotation while a real superstar comes in and helps Hamels out at the front. because if you give up 6 runs against the Natinals (who have a decent lineup, buts its our ace) youve gotta check yourself.

We know what Cole can do when hes on, he really is an ace, but come on man, that was terrible…

Theyve got a busy and tough month ahead of them thats for sure..but iim very excited to see Bastardo.

14-12 record would be great. Here is the way I see it – Mets have a much easier first week than the Phillies. They play the Pirates and Nats. No worries if the Phillies lose first place then. We MUST though take 2 of 3 from them in the series June 9-11. I predict this would put us back in, or at least near first (within a game). Mets then play the Yankees @ Yankee Stadium and Baltimore, followed by the Cardinals and more Yankees and finish with the Brewers. So their schedule gets tougher and ours stays consistently tough.

Depending on how many errors they make depends their fate. I just put this out to comment on the Mets, but as long as we can win, they aren’t a factor.

On another note – we imploded last June and we are WFCs – so a bad month is OK as long as we stay within reach.

Geoff,
That wasn’t a great “pick me up” to read on a Monday morning. Of course, I’ll be relieved if the Phils do go over .500 for the month. Except for the Orioles, it’s brutal.

I’m hoping Carrasco and not Bastardo ends up being the trade bait. Reading reporters’ interviews with Carrasco, I’m worrried he’s a head case. In one, he said that personal pproblems were affecting his pitching and he is ready to get it together. Truth be told, life interferes with any of us and how well we do our jobs, but the idea of saying that at a time when the Phils are looking at prospects to bring up seems beyond stupid in that it won’t inspire confidence in him by the FO.

I’d also like to point out that of Shane’s 4 homers, only 1 was hit in CBP. Peavy’s a dumbass.

I hope Peavy somehow ends up with the Yankees and gets SHELLED at Yankee Stadium… now THAT’S the worst in baseball for any pitcher.

I wouldn’t HATE to see us get anyone that would improve our rotation..

It looks like a deal for Oswalt can be made.. Bedard will definitely be traded.. and if Halladay goes on the market, those two both become cheaper.

But the Phillies have young talent to trade, and the need to make a deal.. so i think we definitely add a “top of the rotation” pitcher before the deadline this year

I hope we destroy the Padres this week.. make Jake Peavy realize that its not that fun to play on a terrible team.. if you’re getting paid the same amount of money no matter where you play, wouldn’t you rather pitch for a team with a good offense and that plays in meaningful games

Oswalt can be had.. I hear that most Astros people aren’t thrilled with Ed Wade.. and I highly doubt they would allow him to move another player to the Phillies without getting The World in return. .

I still really want Bedard, but I dont know how great it is if we had 3 LHP in the rotation

My guess for Oswalt would be: Carrasco, Marson, Mayberry?

Drabek promoted to AA
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/phillies_zone/Phils_send_Kyle_Drabel_to_Reading.html

Geoff That is too much for oswalt. Mayberry and either one of the other but not both. if we have to add someone let it be lesser prospect . I don’t understand Peavy comments yesterday. Saying in other words if shane can hit 20 homeruns in that park. Why is he afraid to pitch in a hitters park for a contenting team. If the dodgers can move some salary then they get him. but other than that , San francisco doesn’t need him. Angels are not going to go for him. Oakland is a small market , I am starting to believe it will be a pitcher who we haven’t even though of that they go for, Bedard will get a kings ransom. oswalt they are asking a lot. forget peavy, Cain is on fire no trade there, and the phillies don’t want Penny, Marquis[unless they are backed into a corner] The option are right now not good, but if teams get near the deadline and realize they can’t win this year then some guys might become available. Amaro has to be patient. and if it means we stay pat then so be it, I really hope they don’t include Drabek or brown , taylor in any deals. unless it Halladay,

i like oswalt but i do not have any confidence in him as a replacement for myers at this stage of his career. i’d just as soon see what the kids in the system can do. bedard or halladay are a different story, although i’d be surprised if halladay would come cheap.

From June 1 to the 18th lets see what they got …..they ain’t playing Washington anymore San Diego, LA,Blue Jays, Sox , NYMets….better click your heels to gather Charlie….16 games in 18 days…..say it ain’t so….See if ya got some WEST COAST OFFENSE……

Peavy made those comments in 2004-2005 not this season that is why the Victornio HRs dont make sense this year. We expanded the park after the first year and it cut down HR totals.

Oswalt is not the piece we need, he is a decling power pitcher and has sucked this season. Only going past 6 IP twice and not having the same stuff he used to have. Also the owner of the Stros absolutely loves Oswalt so it will take a large package to get him.

I still dont understand how you can hate on Moyer, he had a three game slump, something he has been known to do each year and obviously has bounced back but you people still say he is a Long reliever and needs to go. You are obviously not all there. And sorry to inform you but Bastardo or whatever young arm is the 5th starter will go when we get a trade not Moyer.

The Big Dipper

“You might be able to survive with Bastardo, Carpenter, Kendrick, Carrasco, etc. for the time being, but you need a proven MLB arm to make it work.”

by that logic then once the current generation of MLB starters retires every team is going to be screwed because there will be no MLB proven arms left.

christopher 4 out of 5 times those pitchers develop on teams that don’t win the World Series. Only very rarely do you see a WS championship team call someone up and ride him to a championship, and in the rare cases it does happen its with a phenom (the dontrelle willis and josh becketts of the world. My comment was regarding THIS specific team and what is necessary for us to not only improve the team but win another World Series.

IMO it won’t happen with the guys I listed making more than just a few spot starts.

But to NJ and Christopher I agree but not fully. When we called Cole up he was throwing complete game shutout after complete game shutout while striking out 9-10 batters a game at both AA and AAA. The guys we are talking about now are not Cole Hamels, at least not yet. I think you create problems for yourself when you convince yourself that these kids are ready simply because you need them to be ready immediately to fill in holes. Again, I’m not completely disagreeing but just trying to open the argument up a little bit.

Geoff, in fairness, he only has three quality starts, but aside from the three game slump being referred to (5 ER, 7 ER, 7ER) he hasn’t given up more than 4 runs in a game. More often than not, the Phils will win those games.

By comparison, Cole also has 3 starts where he has given up more than 4 runs in a game (5 once, 6 once, 7 once). In Cole’s other starts he has been better than Jamie, but not by as much as you would think.

Listen, Jamie is not having a good season. But I think its unfair to look at every one of his quality starts as some kind of fluke, especially considering he averaged a quality start every time out last year. If you want to say we overpaid, be my guest, but I think Jamie is still a serviceable arm in this league.

4 innings 6 runs (most of his starts) is average or below average, not good. His 7 inning one run start against florida, his 6 inning 3 run start against florida, his start yesterday against the NATIONALS.

his only three good or above average starts are against the bottom two teams in the division. most recently, against a team UNIVERSALLY recognized as a disgrace to all professional sports franchises.

in otherwords, BIG FREAKING DEAL! He can beat bad teams, well so could Kyle Kendrick, even Adam Eaton had 10 wins with this team. Moyer hasnt had a respectable, or even mediocre performance against a legitimate team this year. everyone is all up on his jock again worshipping him for beating the WASHINGTON NATIONALS.

hey Jamie, Congratulations on beating the WASHINGTON NATIONALS. Now go retire and make room for Erik Bedard or Roy Oswalt or whoever it is they bring in here. AAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGH!

which is equally alarming in that they roughed up cole hamels pretty bad. hes gotta do better than that as the staff ace.

Nj the phillies really haven’t been able to draft and develop top pitching talent. and nothing makes me think it’s changing. Go over the top choices and see how many were pitchers who didn’t pan out.

So Geoff I guess the 240 runs the Nationals have scored so far this year are also a fluke? (That’s 3rd in the league btw). Cmon dude you are freaking out, admit it. Cole “ace” Hamels had just given up 6 runs to this same Nats team the night before Jamie’s 3 hit showing, as you mentioned. And by the way, his other quality start was against the Reds, a legitimate team, although really they are much less dangerous than the Nationals offense considering the are in the middle of the pack in the NL offensively.

Don’t confuse the Nationals god-awful pitching staff with a team that can’t hit.

They have no pitching and no defense. Their lineup is OK at best. Chris Wheeler thinks they have a great lineup, but thats Chris Wheeler.

Im not saying that Oswalt is the best guy to get, Im just saying he looks really gettable. My problem with Oswalt is I think they have like 14M, and 16M committed to him in the next two seasons at minimum. Thats a lot of money for someone liek Oswalt who is due to break down and miss a season in the near future.

If you want to have a lefty-heavy rotation then Bedard is the top guy who is available at the current moment. What other right handers are KNOWN to be available right niow?

webb, haren, halladay arent really available, peavy isnt coming

so brad penny? no way. marquis? eh ok i guess not is a back-end pitcher. cook? i havent read anything saying hes legitimately available.