Phillies Nation

On this latest edition of Phillies Nation TV, Corey and I go the whole way without Natalie. Sorry guys.

But we do get into some pretty good baseball talk, including Carlos Ruiz and his all-star prospects this season. His numbers are silly good, does he deserve it. We also look at a lineup with Ryan Howard in it.

Enjoy!

Worley sits with arm trouble.

Vance Worley will not start for the Phillies in tomorrow’s opener against the Chicago Cubs on the road. He sits with arm soreness, according to multiple reports. No word yet if he is heading to the DL, but Kyle Kendrick will get the start.

Joe Savery is on his way up from Lehigh Valley and will accompany the Phillies on their road trip, according to Matt Gelb. That does not necessarily mean Worley goes to the DL, as another player can be optioned. Worley told Todd Zolecki he isn’t worried about it.

Maybe Worley isn’t concerned, but you never want to hear arm soreness connected to one of your starting pitchers. Especially when it’s those starting pitchers keeping you in games.

Lee was stellar. Others were not. (AP)

What a weird one. Hunter Pence hits a game-winning solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning, his second home run of the game in the Phillies 4-3 win. It’s the Phillies first three-game winning streak of the season.

ANOTHER ONE BLOWN

-Man, this is getting old. Chad Qualls gave up two runs in the ninth inning, his fourth blown save of this season already. Absolutely brutal.

-Hunter Pence added to the madness by mishandling a single to right field that allowed the tying run to score in the ninth.

-Jake Diekman made his major league debut to clean up the mess Qualls left and held the tie with a strikeout in the ninth. He then retired the Astros in order in the 10th with two more strikeouts giving him the victory. Give the kid the eighth inning.

LEE IN TOP FORM

-Cliff Lee finally almost won his first game this season. He hadn’t hasn’t won a regular season game since September 26, 2011 against Atlanta. His line on Tuesday: eight innings, five hits, one run (earned), one walk, 10 strikeouts. He’s back.

-Lee dazzled with his array of pitches. He struck Astros hitters out with three changeups, three two-seam fastballs, three curveballs, and a cutter.

-He made a mistake to Matt Downs in the seventh inning, which landed 10 rows up in the left field seats for a long solo home run. There weren’t many other mistakes made.

-With 10 strikeouts, it was Lee’s 19th career double-digit strikeout game, and the first this year.

Continue reading Phillies Win on Pence Walk-Off in 10th

After last night’s game, Placido Polanco gave a signed bat to the fan who caught his 2,000th career hit, which of course was a two-run home run. It was a nice gesture by the fan, Ryan McCoy of Pottstown, PA, to give it back, and a kind move by Polanco to give him a piece of memorabilia.

Funny part about it – Polly signed it with the wrong date. Makes it worth even more, I suppose.

(Thanks to Ryan Petzar, @Petzar, for snapping this photo outside the Phillies clubhouse).

Thanks to Ryan Petzar for the photo.

Galvis had three hits on the evening (AP)

The rain fell, and the first half of the game was like watching grass grow, but the Phillies finally dispatched the Astros in game one of their quick two-game series, 5-1.

SLOWLY EVOLVING OFFENSE

-Boring early, but got moving later. In the fifth inning, slap-hitting sensation Freddy Galvis knocked in a run. He brought home Placido Polanco to make it 1-0. Nice piece of hitting by the kid; he just seems to come up with timely hits. Galvis slapped another single in the sixth, this one to left field, to again knock in Polanco. The inning ended early, however, when Juan Samuel waved home John Mayberry Jr., who was thrown out at the plate by a wide margin. Bad move by Samuel, but I guess when runs are harder to come by, you take chances.

-A note on Freddy: With 25 hits on the season, he has 15 RBI. Not a bad total for hitting just .231 on the season.

-Speaking of timely hits, Carlos Ruiz has done it all year. He singled in Shane Victorino after Shane tripled to deep center field. Then in the bottom of the eighth, he smoked a single to left field and would score on a home run by Placido Polanco. #Vote4Chooch for All-Star Game.

Continue reading Blanton Solid Again, Polanco Hits No. 2,000 in 5-1 Win

Mayberry and Ruiz were a 1-2 punch on Friday. (AP)

The Phillies opened up their series with the worst team in the National League and calmly dispatched them with a solid all-around showing, winning game one of the series, 7-3.

WORLEY NOT BAD

-The line: 6 innings, 6 hits, 3 runs (all earned), 2 walks, 9 strikeouts (93 pitches/58 strikes). Overall a very good outing.

-His trouble spot came in the fourth inning when he gave up two runs on a walk and three singles. He got out of it after a Ty Wigginton error loaded the bases, which could have cost him the lead. Worley induced an inning-ending double-play.

-Worley allowed another run in the sixth as Yonder Alonso blasted a shot off the Budweiser sign in right field to make it 4-3, Phillies. After a one out single, Worley got Nick Hundley to ground into a twin-killing. Minimizing the damage was crucial.

BULLPEN NICE

-Antonio Bastardo allowed a walk to the first batter he faced, but calmly retired the next five in succession, including three straight strikeouts in the eighth inning. Man, they needed that.

-Chad Qualls came in with a four run lead in the ninth and allowed just a double while fanning two. Before the game he said he was completely healthy and it appeared he wasn’t lying. A nice night for the bullpen.

HOT CHOOCH

-Man, is Carlos Ruiz on fire or what? The dude cannot be stopped right now. He hit another home run and drew a walk in the sixth. His numbers right now are staggering: .340, 6 HR, 22 RBI, 7 BB, 10 K, .977 OPS.

-His RBI single in the seventh was beautiful. Chooch calmly poked it to right field, with the moral of that story being that he didn’t try to do to much.

-Vote for this guy for all-star, will ya?

MAYBERRY FREE

-John Mayberry finally stepping up, huh? That’s nice to see. JMJ has been pretty awful so far this year, but stepped up big on Friday night slamming a two-run home run and knocking in another run with a single in the seventh. Let’s hope this is the first step to busting out big.

PENCE AT-BATS

-I hate to be a downer on an otherwise positive night, but too many runs were left on the bases. Hunter Pence began the night with two brutal at-bats. He might be the only power threat the Phillies have in this order, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating when he hacks and hacks early. In the third inning, with runners at second and third base, Pence swung through three straight pitches. The third one was a ripper that he was trying to place in the stands. Instead of going the other way and attempting to place the ball, he just went hacking.

-In the fifth inning, he again swung at the first pitch with runners on first and third with one out, fouling it off. The second pitch he – you guessed it – swung, and softly chopped one back to the pitcher for the second out. Two awful at-bats from Pence with two runners on each time.

-What happened to preaching patience? Hell, Charlie Manuel just reamed the team out in a closed-door meeting because the team isn’t performing to their high standards. It’s at-bats like these that are causing the team harm.

NOTES

-Roy Halladay and Edinson Volquez go at it tomorrow night at 7:05.

Podsednik is on his way out.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports reports that Iron Pigs OF Scott Podsednik is on his way to the Boston Red Sox. Rosenthal does not know if Podsednik will report to the minors or the big league club. Alex Speier tweets he will go to Pawtucket and has been dealt for cash considerations.

With Lehigh Valley, Podsednik was hitting just .203 with a .505 OPS over 83 plate appearances. Not very good numbers, but the Sox will take a shot. He had no role with the Phillies when Juan Pierre beat him out for the final roster spot following spring training.

Anthopoulos is the young GM of the Jays.

According to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, the Toronto Blue Jays are kicking some tires. This year, they expect to be buyers, so they’ve called the Phillies to ask about two of their soon-to-be free agents, Cole Hamels and Shane Victorino.

Now, Rosenthal warns that nothing is close or even close to likely. The Blue Jays understand the Phillies could be in dire straits soon with a few of their players, namely Hamels and Victorino. So, they’ve done their job and called.

I highly doubt the Phillies will trade Hamels in season. Victorino is more of a possibility, but nothing is even being considered at this point, in my opinion. The Phillies are still hoping Chase Utley and Ryan Howard can give them something in the near future and help turn around the fortunes of the team.

Continue reading Blue Jays Ask Phillies About Hamels, Victorino

Diekman heads to the bigs for the first time. (PhoulBallz)

As expected, the Phillies have made a bevy of roster moves today. The news was actually broken by Iron Pigs relief pitcher Michael Schwimer yesterday on Twitter.

Righty Brian Sanches was sent down to Triple-A, righty Justin De Fratus was moved to the 60-day DL as he continues to recover from elbow trouble, and Laynce Nix hits the 15-day DL with a left calf strain.

To the majors go lefties Jake Dikeman and Raul Valdes, and utility man Hector Luna.

The Phillies are looking for a shot of life here…can they find it from these three?

For more on all the players involved, click here.

Not again!? The Phillies had a 4-0 lead after two innings that disappeared in a sloppy seventh inning as the Mets rallied for a 7-4 victory.

BULLS#!T PEN/DEFENSIVE MELTDOWN

Qualls has not fared well with inherited runners. (AP)

-Again!? Chad Qualls would have gotten out of the seventh inning having given up just one run. But the defense screwed him over even more. Not condoning giving up that one run, but, it could have been over and done with. Then, inexplicably, the Phillies fail to record an out on a rundown, and Pete Orr throws the ball down the left field line to allow the Mets to tie the game. Fundamentally garbage.

-Antonio Bastardo then allowed Lucas Duda to single home David Wright with two outs in the seventh. In summation, Blanton ran out of gas, Qualls gave up a big hit that turned worse with an error, Bastardo gave up one more run for good measure, and the Mets took the lead for good.

-Michael Schwimer allowed two runs in the ninth inning, one of them scoring with Joe Savery on the mound. We keep waiting for the young arms to step up and make people notice, but for Schwimer and Savery, it’s been for all the wrong reasons recently.

-Can the Phillies even do anything about the bullpen? What is the answer here, exactly? Do you throw your starters 115 pitches each and try to stay away from the bullpen? Does Ruben Amaro look to grab someone/anyone from somewhere/anywhere?

BIG JOE

-Blanton was lights out early on, going through the first three innings without allowing a hit. Things got sketchy in the fourth inning, where he escaped with just a run from the Mets. He entered the seventh inning, gave up a few baserunners, and was charged with all four runs. Two of them came on the misplay by Orr.

-Overall, not a terrible effort from Blanton. His line would have looked much better had he been assisted properly by his defense and bullpen, but such is life as a Phillies starting pitcher right now.

Continue reading Bullpen, Defense Falter as Phillies Lose Again