Phillies Nation

Neither Cliff Lee nor Danny Espinosa were themselves tonight. Lee looked more like Kyle Kendrick than anything else, and Espinosa, for one night only, turned into the second coming of Joe Morgan. The Phillies’ second ace continued a run of mortality, as he and Roy Halladay gave up four runs or more in consecutive starts for the first time all season. Lee allowed six runs, all earned, on seven hits, two of them home runs by Espinosa, in only 5 1/3 innings, the first time he’d been knocked out before completing six since he was shelled in Atlanta in his second start of the year.

The result? The Nationals became the first team to score in double digits against the Phillies since a 12-11 win over the Rockies at Coors Field last Sept. 2, and emerged victorious over the Phillies by a score of 10-2.

Continue reading Lee Falters as Phillies Fall in Washington

Philadelphia Phillies (34-20) at Washington Nationals (22-31)

Cliff Lee, LHP (4-4, 3.50 ERA) vs. Jason Marquis (5-2, 4.26 ERA)

Time: 7:05 pm, Nationals Park
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, 96
TV: CSN
Twitter: Phillies Nation

So, since it’s no longer Memorial Day weekend, I guess we don’t have to feel unpatriotic about the Phillies beating teams from New York and Washington anymore. Considering tonight’s pitching matchup, we should expect more of the same.

Cliff Lee might be only .500, but a deeper look into his season shows him to be as effective a pitcher as he’s ever been. Lee is second among NL starters in K/9, second in K/BB ratio, and fourth in both FIP and xFIP. He’s averaging not only more than a strikeout per inning, but 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings, combined with excellent control. Incidentally, the top three starting pitchers in the NL in K/BB ratio are Roy Halladay, Lee, and Cole Hamels, in that order. Continue reading Gameday: Phillies (34-20) at Nationals (22-31)

Listen to today’s “Daily Debate” between Pat Gallen and Mike Gill of 973 ESPN FM in South Jersey. Today’s topic is a very interesting one – who is the Phillies Cy Young winner at the 1/3 pole of the season?

There are a few choices on this list, which player would you pick?

If you so choose, give us a vote at the bottom so we can see who wins the argument (for bragging rights, of course!).

LISTEN HERE: DAILY DEBATE MAY 30 – PHILLIES CY YOUNG WINNER

[Listen to "The Sports Bash" with Mike Gill with Pat Gallen on updates and live reports from the ballpark every day from 3-7 on 973 ESPN FM in South Jersey or 973ESPN.com]

Left-hander Mike Zagurski was recalled from triple-A Lehigh Valley, the Phillies announced today.  Zagurski takes the roster spot of right-hander Vance Worley, who was optioned to Lehigh Valley following yesterday’s game in Washington, D.C.

This is Zagurski’s second recall this season, having previously appeared in two games for the Phillies in April.  With Lehigh Valley, the 28-year-old was 1-0 with nine saves and a 1.88 ERA in 14 games.  He had 23 strikeouts in 14.1 innings (14.4 SO/9.0 IP) and was holding opponents to a .196 batting average.

Worley, 23, went 2-1 with a 3.75 ERA in six games (four starts) for the Phillies this year and 2-2 with a 3.51 ERA in five starts for Lehigh Valley.

It sounds like the Phillies are just trying to get Worley’s arm stretched out again after two lackluster performances following a long layoff. He’ll be able to do that in Triple-A. Plus, it helps that the Phillies have a Thursday off day, meaning they won’t need a fifth starter until June 8. And even at that time, they could go with Kyle Kendrick, giving Worley even more time to get his pitch count and stamina back.

It hasn’t been an easy run early on for Chase Utley. He has played in seven games since returning from the disabled list, batting .208 with one home run and two RBI. Defensively, everything looks to be relatively normal. It’s the bat that is the issue.

To be fair, Utley is still basically in Spring Training mode. He’s only 29 plate appearances into the season, and although the numbers aren’t there yet, there is a still a long season ahead for him to get it going. Utley’s batting average is quite low at this point, although he’s finding ways to contribute.

But what are YOU seeing? Are you happy with the progression? Are you happy with the way Charlie Manuel is utilizing Utley? Is this the breaking point for you – are you ready to start seeing the results from Chase ASAP?

Tell us what you think about Utley in the early going thus far. There are no wrong answers.

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(PHOTO: Philly.com)

It was hot and sunny at Nationals Park in Washington D.C., the Phillies home away from home, as thousands of fans made the trek down I-95 to watch them beat the Nationals, 5-4.

Roy Halladay struggled, giving up three solo home runs, but against finished with a quality start, giving up just those three run over seven innings for his seventh win of the season.

Raul Ibanez and Ryan Howard each homered and knocked in a pair of runs, while Domonic Brown hit for the fifth straight game, knocking in a run of his own.

Ryan Madson came on and closed out the ninth inning for his 12th save of the season.

Chase Utley stole his second base of the season, but was lifted in the ninth for Wilson Valdez. Presumably, this is not injury related.

After the game, Jim Salisbury of CSN Philly reported that Vance Worly was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley. The Phillies do have a Thursday off day, so they could be going with just the four starters after.A corresponding move will be made on Tuesday.

Hope you all are having a fantastic Memorial Day. Phils win, Phils win!

The Phillies Class A affiliate, the Lakewood BlueClaws, have had some noteworthy success lately. The club has won 11 of their last 12 games and their starting pitchers are on a hot streak of not allowing any earned runs in their past 4 outings (a stretch of 28 innings).

Two standout stars in the ‘Claws’ pitching rotation have emerged. Righties David Buchanan (7th round, 2010) and Garett Claypool (11th round, 2010) rank 1st and 2nd in the South Atlantic League in ERA with marks of 1.97 and 2.00 respectively.

Two forces on the offensive side during the team’s current hot streak have proven to be 25-year-old first baseman Jim Murphy, who has a SAL leading 13 homeruns on the season to go along with 37 RBI in 49 games played, and former top Phils draft pick 22-year-old OF/DH Anthony Hewitt, who has posted a .317 batting average in his last 10 games and has smashed all 6 of his homers this season in May.

On the current homestand, I spoke with Lakewood manager, and former Major Leaguer, Chris Truby about some of the team’s exceptional performers, a visit from rehabbing Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino and more. Check out the media player below to listen to the full interview.

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Jay Floyd is PhilliesNation’s minor league insider. You can read more from Jay by visiting his site, PhoulBallz.com.

Philadelphia Phillies (33-20) at Washington Nationals (22-30)

Roy Halladay (6-3, 2.35 ERA) vs. Livan Hernandez (3-6, 3.71 ERA)

Time: 1:05 pm, Nationals Park
Weather: Sunny, 90
TV: CSN
Twitter: Phillies Nation

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY from PHILLIES NATION!!

PHILLIES LINEUP:

Rollins SS, Polanco 3B, Utley 2B, Howard 1B, Ibanez LF, Ruiz C, Brown RF, Mayberry CF, Halladay P

Your Gameday Beer – Hoegaarden
On this warm Memorial Day weekend, good beer is a must. I’ve always like Hoegaarden, which can be enjoyed in small sips with good food. It flows smooth and tastes like citrus. Have some barbecue chicken with it. – By Tim

GO PHILLIES!

The Phillies dropped a tough one to their former rivals 9-5 this afternoon behind the first shaky start of Vance Worley young career.

The Amazins were able to post 4 runs in both the first and second innings using a combination of small ball and Phillies miscues. Although Worley shut out the Mets in his last outing, they quickly jumped on him for 12 hits in three innings. Jose Reyes, who had two triples on the day, claimed that his team was now used to seeing the rookie pitcher and his stuff. They certainly were sitting on fastballs early in the count and used that strategy to rack up the hits.

With the ugly start, Charlie Manuel sent in Kyle Kendrick to eat another three innings before allowing Romero and Baez to finish the game. The discussion has started on how long of a leash Vance gets after this outing, but I can’t imagine it will have much affect on the skipper’s decision to continue to use him as the fifth man over Kendrick while Blanton is out. He’ll get another chance later in the week against Pittsburgh – so let’s table that discussion at least until then.

Continue reading Phillies Fail to Sweep Mets Again