Phillies Nation

Tyler Cloyd feels no heightened sense of urgency to climb the developmental ladder because of his age. The righty starter, who will turn 25-years-old on May 16th, has all but exceeded everyone’s expectations of his ceiling, clearly proving, with a very solid 2011 campaign and an exceptional first month of this season, that he can compete at the highest levels of the minor leagues.

An 18th round draft selection in 2008, Cloyd made his professional debut that year, posting a 7-4 record with a 3.91 ERA in 14 outings combined with the rookie level Gulf Coast League Phillies and short-season Williamsport. Since then, the Nebraska native has had winning records every season, while alternating between starting and relief duties.

Cloyd made a considerable impact last year, following up a season in which he sported an unimpressive 5.17 ERA in 37 combined games (5 starts) with Class A Advanced Clearwater and Double-A Reading to serve up a 9-4 record and a 2.77 ERA overall in 2011, splitting time with Clearwater and Reading once again.

Officially on the prospect map, heading into the 2012 season, Cloyd was called upon to fill in for suspended Triple-A hurler Dave Bush on opening day this season. He took that opportunity to shine, throwing 6 shutout innings, allowing no baserunners and striking out 8 batters.

In his three starts that followed, after returning to Double-A, Cloyd has been nearly as sharp, posting a 3-0 record with a 2.37 ERA and 13 strike outs in 19 innings. Even more remarkable is that Cloyd has yet to allow a walk this season.

Many minor leaguers would be considered to have aged themselves right out of prospect consideration by the age of 25, but that’s not something that bothers Cloyd. He keeps a focus on performance, regardless of the level he is assigned to.

“For me it’s just- I do what I can, where I’m at. I’m not in a big hurry to move. Whenever the Phillies want to move me, then that’s their decision to make,” Cloyd said in an exclusive interview. “For me, I try not to get too caught up into that. I do what I can, where I’m at, every five days when I go out on the field. I just do what I can and go out there and show them that I can do this. As far as me moving up, obviously, I want to get back up there and keep climbing the ladder, but when that is would be up to the Phillies.” Continue reading Cloyd Proving Himself Ready for the Next Step

Corey Seidman joined 1050 ESPN Radio in Williamsport earlier this week to talk Phillies with host Trevor Turner.

They mostly focused on Chase Utley’s injury and its implications on the team, but also delved into Domonic Brown’s prospects for playing this year and Ryan Madson’s unfortunate turn of events.

This week, the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws hosted their annual Phillies banquet at the Woodlake Country Club in Lakewood, NJ. Prior to the event that raised money for BlueClaws charities, I had the opportunity to sit down with Philadelphia general manager to discuss various organizational subjects. Ruben spoke about the Wilson Valdez for Jeremy Horst trade, highly regarded pitching prospect Jesse Biddle, Domonic Brown’s future, last year’s draft class and plenty more.

Check out the media player below to listen to the full one-on-one interview with Ruben Amaro Jr.

To check out my previous interviews with Ruben, click HERE and HERE.

Back in 2008, Phillies lefty reliever J.C. Romero tested positive for banned substances and was subsequently suspended for the first 50 games of the 2009 season. Some felt the findings in Romero’s test tainted the World Series victory by Philadelphia that year. Romero contested that he had only used supplements purchased at local vitamin chains and the companies responsible for those items should be held accountable for mislabeling their products.

Romero took his issues to court, filing lawsuits in New Jersey Superior Court in early 2009 that named GNC and Vitamin Shoppe as defendants in addition to the manufacturing companies, Ergopharm and Proviant Technologies. According to the NY Daily News, testing done on the vitamins revealed that they were tainted with the banned substance, androstenedione, that Romero tested positive for. This month, nearly three years later, Romero has reached a settlement, which Romero hopes will clear his name and provide closure for Philadelphia fans. Continue reading Romero Settlement “Validates” Phils’ Title

Last week, Phillies Nation won the Editor’s Choice Award for Sports in CBS Philly’s Inaugural Most Valuable Blogger Awards. The site received the highest average from the judges’ criteria on frequency, presentation and content quality.

A special thanks goes out to the great writers of Phillies Nation – past and present; and of course to your our loyal readers and commenters. Go Phils!

Yesterday, our own Kieran Carobine spoke with the Pulse Network about the Phillies (what else is there, really?). Kieran goes over the amazing pitching, the struggling bats, and so much more.

Enjoy!

As an offensive force, Cody Overbeck has become a leader on the Double A Reading Phillies squad. The multi-positional Mississipian has 8 homeruns and 22 RBI, which are both good enough to lead the Eastern League.

Overbeck, who stands 6-feet-1-inch tall and weighs 200 pounds, has improved greatly in each of the past two seasons. Thus far in 2011, Overbeck has posted a slash line of .297/.333/.576 (batting average/on base percentage/slugging percentage). Combined at the two levels last year, Overbeck’s output looked like- .276/.354/.490, which was a tremendous improvement over his 2009 statistics. In 96 games with Clearwater 2009, Overbeck’s line was an unimpressive .230/.282/.399.

Named by the Eastern League as player of the month for April this season, Overbeck’s focus as he progresses is on staying in a groove. He credits his hitting coach Frank Cacciatore for providing him with an extra pair of eyes and an experienced baseball mind to helping him make adjustments where he needs to.

“I think a lot of (my success thus far) has to do with Frank and doing early work and stuff,” Overbeck said. “Working with him is spring training really got my swing going pretty good coming into the season. Continue reading EL Player of the Month Overbeck Continues to Develop

1. Call To Arms For Nats Fans from NBC Washington

The other day, two brave Nationals fans put a video on YouTube, a call to arms for fans to make sure that those pesky Phillies fans don’t intrude on Nationals Park this year. After taking a beating in the comments, they pulled the video.

Fortunately the movement didn’t die with that video. A Twitter rebellion has started with #SaveNatsParkApril14th as the battle cry.

Last year, thousands of Phillies fans loaded up on buses and infiltrated Nationals Park. PhilsFever.com is planning it again, although possibly not in such large numbers.

“Last year, it was the season opener and we knew Roy Halladay was on the hill and that was a catalyst for one of the largest invasions ever,” explains the site’s owner, Quimby. “We should still roll in with 3-400 strong, but a far cry from the 1,500 we had last year.”

Other Phillies fans aren’t quite as realistic. Brian Michael of PhilliesNation.com had this to say about Nationals fan reaction to the invasion:

“They don’t like it one bit. It’s more that Nats fans, in particular, want the rest of baseball to feel sorry for them and give them special treatment like not allowing opposing fans into the stadium.”

Clearly it never dawned on Michael, who actually lives in D.C., that maybe opposing fans with that attitude aren’t wanted there because that line of thinking is obnoxious.
Continue reading 2 Phillies Nation News Mentions

Today, I got the opportunity to write a guest post over on Yahoo! Sports’ great baseball blog, Big League Stew. ‘Duk and the gang let me post a follow-up to yesterday’s post by Alex Remington that the Braves would make the postseason. I felt the need to back up our fair team, even though last night may not have been the perfect time (or maybe it was, who knows).

Here’s a tidbit of what I wrote:

Been There, Done That: In 2007, the Phillies fought tooth and nail until the final day of the season and made the playoffs. In 2008, they rode past the Mets in the latter stages of the season and blew through the playoffs for their first World Series title in 28 years. In 2009, another National League Championship banner was raised.

This club understands what it takes to reach the postseason and what it takes to become a winner when the check comes due. With their backs against the wall, this crew consisting of Howard, Utley, Rollins, and Werth seem to play their best baseball. September is on the doorstep, a month in which the Phils have done some damage.

In each of the past three seasons, the Phils have won 17 games in September. Offensively, there is hope.Ryan Howard is a career .314 hitter in the final month, mashing a total of 52 home runs with 141 RBI in 162 games. Halladay follows suit to end the year; his career ERA is 3.32, but in September that drops nearly a full run to 2.36.

Click here to read the rest of the “Why the Phillies will make the playoffs” on Big League Stew.

As you may have heard, the crush of Phillies fans that traveled to Washington, DC for Opening Day made some headlines – including our bus trip specifically. The Philly media really tried to capture the excitement surrounding the start of a season with high expectations; the tone was much different coming out of DC. The Washington Post as well as Nats bloggers vilified the Nationals organization for allowing the takeover to occur. This only stoked the flames of outrage sparked by Nationals fans who were quick to blame the organization and Phillies fans; but of course, did not consider their own apathy and naivety.

Here are a few of the stories:

Nationals Park infiltrated by Phillies fans on opening day – Washington Post Sports Front Page

Some final thoughts on the Phillies fans from Nationals opening day – Washington Post Nats Blog

Metro Philadelphia: Phils fans hit the road for opener – Metro Philadelphia

The Phillies fan invasion was orchestrated by the Nationals – Yahoo! Front Page, Big League Stew

Phield Trip! Thousands of Phillies fans invade Nationals Park – Big League Stew, Yahoo! Sports, by Michelle O’Malley (bus trip participant)

Oddities on Opening Day in Big Win for Phillies – Notes from the Diamond