Roy Halladay came to the Phillies with a reputation as an extreme hard worker, one who likes to finish what he starts and also a person who is extremely detailed.   All of that was evident in the series finale against the Houston Astros as Halladay won an old fashioned pitchers duel against Astros ace Roy Oswalt.

Halladay tossed 110 pitches in a complete game 2-1 victory over Houston. Jimmy Rollins led off the game with a home run to give Halladay a quick one run lead.  Carlos Ruiz later plated what would turn out to be the game winning run with an infield out, Halladay took care of the rest.

In the sixth inning the Astros loaded the bases with no one out but Halladay was magical as he coaxed Cory Sullivan to hit into a ground ball double play giving up the run for two outs, he then struck out the next hitter to get out of the jam. Houston again threatened in the seventh putting two runners on with no outs but Halladay got a ground ball out back to him and then struck out the next two hitters.

In the eighth and ninth the Astros went in order, skipper Charlie Manuel never evened warmed up the bullpen, it was that evident that Halladay would finish!   Phillies broadcaster Chris Wheeler  noted the throw back nature of the Phillies ace, stating “This guy is different” and indeed he is, great news for us Philly Phans!

Chatter

The complete game was Halladay’s 50th of his career and his 150th win.   He is so focused on game days that no one dare talk to him, he sits in one spot in the dugout, no one around him and stares straight ahead.  In one inning Astro centerfielder Michael Bourne was dancing off of third to try and distract Halladay as he pitched, big Roy gave him what for after the inning……. after he struck out the last two batters that is!

Phillies home opener of 2010 tommorrow as Cole Hamels takes the hill against the Washington Nationals.

Friday, April 9th

J.A. Happ was the benefactor of yet another tremendous offensive effort as the young lefty tossed five scoreless innings enroute to an 8-0 win over the Houston Astros.  The Phillies offense pounded out 16 hits marking the fourth consecutive game the team had more than 10 hits in a game, the last time that happened for the franchise to start a season was 1926 when the Cy Williams led Phillies were offensive mashers but not much else, that team struggled with pitching and defense, the 2010 Fightins don’t seem to have any problems in the early going!

Raul Ibanez broke out of his early season slump by smacking three hits knocking in three runs.  Placido Polanco had a four hit game while Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley  and Jayson Werth all had two hits.  Utley hit his first homer of the season.  David Herndon, Dannys Baez and Jose Contreras closed out the game on the hill.

Saturday, April 10th

Jamie Moyer made his 656th big league appearance on the hill as he took his first start of the season for the Fightins.   Moyer was his typical self as he danced pitches around the Astros and earned his first win as the Fightins kept Houston winless with a 9 to 6 win.

The team reached double digits in base hits once again and have started 4-1, first time since 1993 when those throwback phillies of Darren Daulton and John Kruk went to the world series.  Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino both belted two run homers in the game, Placido Polanco once again had a multi hit game.  The team scored eight of thier runs with two outs, they have plated 19 runs with two outs thus far this season!  That in itself is a great indication on how locked in they are right now.

The noticable difference with this year’s offense is the fact that they are taking alot of pitches,  Jimmy Rollins has already walked eight times this season!  The patient approach has made the opposing starters get into high pitch counts early on in the contests and also has put the fightins in great hitters counts.  

Chad Durbin, Dannys Baez and Ryan Madson closed the contest for the Phillies, Durbin and Baez looked very impressive in their 1-2-3 innings of work.

Roy Halladay on tap tommorrow against Roy Oswalt in the series finale.

Washington defeated the Fightins 6-5 in the rubber game of the season opening series this afternoon.  Kyle Kendrick was hit hard by the Nationals lasting only four innings while giving up five runs, shows the difference between real games and spring training as Kendrick cruised during the spring. 

Newcomer Nelson Figuerora gave up the eventual game winning run in the seventh inning as Ryan Zimmerman knocked it in with a double.  The Phillies struggled offensively despite scoring five runs, they were a collective 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position.   Hard to say a team struggled offensively when they bang out 12 hits but timely hitting was not the case in this one.  Jayson Werth had three hits while Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard each had two hits.

Chatter

Raul Ibanez has continued his offensive struggles from spring training, Ibanez has opened the season 1 for 11, the one hit a soft ground ball to right field.  He had a chance to tie the game in the ninth with Utley on third base and one out but popped out to shortstop.   Utley led off the ninth with a hard liner just over the shortstop’s head and turned it into a double by busting out of the box, the Washington centerfielder was playing deep and due to Utley’s hustle and read of the situation Chase was safe at second, he is the epitome of a heady player, a true winner.

J.A. Happ takes the hill on Friday as the Phillies open a three game set in Houston, the Astros will be hunting for thier first win of the year as they were swept by San Francisco in thier season opening series.

Ryan Howard moved into fifth place and passed Greg Luzinski on the all time Phillies team home run list as he belted his second bomb in as many games and drove in three runs overall to lead the team to a 8 to 4 victory over the Washington Nationals. 

Cole Hamels pitched five innings to earn his first win of 2010 and was followed by Jose Contreras, Chad Durbin, Dannys Baez and Ryan Madson on the hill to close the contest.  Madson collected the last four outs to earn his first save of the season.

The series concludes tommorrow with a day game as Kyle Kendrick takes the hill for the Phillies.

Chatter

Nelson Figuerora was signed off waivers from the New York Mets and will join the team as the long reliever.  Drew Carpenter will be optioned back to Triple A Lehigh Valley to resume his role in the starting rotation there.  The Phillies lack depth in starting pitching, Figuerora can provision some of that if needed, they also want Carpenter to work in a regular rotation so that he is ready if needed.  Josh Fogg is also available from Lehigh Valley along with Joe Savery however the team hopes to not have to dig that deep at least for now.

Great to start against the Nationals, more Phillies phans in the Washington stands than Nats, guess it is a football town!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Roy Halladay displayed why he is considered by many as the best pitcher in baseball as he tossed seven strong innings in leading the Phillies to an opening day 11 to 1 win over the Washington Nationals.  Halladay struck out nine batters using an array of five pitches and had the young Nationals off balance most of the afternoon.

The Phillies offense gave Halladay more than enough support led by Placido Polanco who had three hits in the game including a grand slam homerun!  Polanco drove in six runs during the contest.  Ryan Howard also had a multiple hit game including a two run tater of his own.  Jimmy Rollins looked like the J-Roll of 2007 as he had two hits including a triple.

The most impressive part about the Phillie offense was the new found display of baseball 101, runners were moved properly, pitches were taken in the right spots and the 11 runs were scored very efficiently.  This team is already a very potent offense but if they continue this approach they will approach 100 wins this season!

Youngsters Antonio Bastardo and David Herndon made thier season debuts in the eighth and ninth innings to close out the game for Halladay, not that he couldn’t have done so himself as he only tossed 88 pitches. 

Good win for the Fightin’s……..great start.

Chatter

Cole Hamels takes the pill on Wednesday in game two of the season, the Phillies play 15 of thier first 22 on the road, they have proven to be a good road team in the past so hopefully that will continue.  I would be remiss to not express my absolute disapointment in the Eagles trade of one Donovan McNabb.  McNabb was nothing but the epitome of a class act during his 11 seasons in Philly but for some reason many fans blamed every post season failure upon him.  I think that the team will sorely miss what I beleive to be a great qb and I truly expect that he will excel with the Washington Redskins…….. bad bad move by the Birds and those bird brain fans who are elated at his transfer should keep ultra quiet when he delivers in Washington!  Wish you well # 5!

The Phillies season opens with three key arms on the D.L.  Brad Lidge, J.C. Romero and Joe Blanton will have big roles on this year’s squad but at the outset find themselves in rehab.   Andrew Carpenter has temporarily made the team to fill in as long relief and Kyle Kendrick slides into Blanton’s starting role but these three are big time needs for the Phillies to continue to march towards another title.    Lidge and Romero are expected back mid April but Blanton will be out till beginning of May at the earliest.

Domonick Brown showed why he is the organizations top prospect today in Spring Training play as he belted two home runs and knocked in four in leading the Fightins to a 6 to 1 win over Detroit.  Brown took a Justin Verlander pitch completely out of the park over the right field wall to give the Phillies an early lead, he later poked a Phil Coke pitch over the right center field fence!

Cole Hamels pitched five strong innings to earn the win, Antonio Bastardo and Ryan Madson had impressive innings in relief.  Ryan Howard also homered in the contest, also off of Tiger starter Verlander.

Good win today, chilly day in Florida but another sellout crowd at Brighthouse Field in Clearwater didn’t seem to mind!Yankees on tap for tommorow.

Sometimes, like Pedro Martinez, says you have to tip your cap and admit that the other team was just better.  The Yankees were indeed the better team this post season and although it was not the outcome I was hoping for the Fightin’s did give us another great season!

Now the “Hot Stove” season is slated to begin and G.M. Ruben Amaro has already begun planning for the 2010 season.  The club picked up the option on lefthander Cliff Lee and has initiated talks that a long term deal could be in the future albeit probably unlikely.   They have told righthander Brett Myers that he will not be part of the 2010 plans and Myers will be pursueing free agent employment elsewhere. 

Today the team announced that they will not pick up the option on third baseman Pedro Feliz which may indicate that exploratory talks with other free agents at the position may be fruitful but the team is keeping the door open for future discussions with Feliz as well.

So what does this team need to get back to the World Series and win it in 2010.   The evident need to me is starting pitching quality not depth……… the Yankees ran Sabbathia, Burnett and Petite at us, yes if Cole Hamels was at 2008 form then coupled with Lee we had two thirds of the matchup equaled but we need another ace………… Roy Doc Halladay fits here and can be had in my opinion.  Send the Jays a package of J.A. Happ, Michael Taylor, Joe Savery or Yoland Flande and the kid outfielder from Lakeland that stole a bunch of bases and I think he can be had.   Yes he is only signed for one more season as is Lee but have themcompete for the contract extension, in the interim running out a rotation of Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Blanton and perhaps Moyer sure sounds like a winner to me!

In regards to third base I keep reading the name Adrian Beltre as a potential fit here, also Mark DeRosa, Chone Figgins, Troy Glauss, Dan Uggla, Melvin Mora or Marco Scutaro.   Personally I like Pedro Feliz and the steady defense that he brought but if the team can keep that kind of glove and improve the offense then so be it.   I think that it will either be DeRosa, Beltre or Glauss myself.

The team also needs a steady middle infield backup and Scutaro would be a great addition there but he would have to be agreeable to limited at bats since Rollins and Utley don’t take many games off.  Backup catcher is also a need and the Colorado Rockies just released Yorvitt Torrealba.  He would be a great combo with Carlos Ruiz for next season.

Bullpen re-engineering is also a need and the Mets release of J.J. Putz provides the Phillies an opportunity to get a high reward, low risk type of guy coming off injury.  Putz has closed and if healthy could provide another option to help Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge at end of games.  Last off season the Phillies brought in Chan Ho Park and he did a very good job in the pen, look for another few of those signings this season as well.  Relievers need to be redistritbuted since they throw alot of innings and it is very difficult for teams to stay consistent with the same crews, need to bring in fresher arms from year to year, perhaps the minors might also provide some new options as I think both Antonio Bastardo and Sergio Escalona could make strong pushes in Spring Training for roster spots.

Alas, we lost the world series but looking ahead pitchers and catchers report in a little more than 90 days!  Still a great time to be a Phillie Phan!

Cliff Lee was dominant in game one shutting down the most powerful offense in the American League as if it was something of ease, Pedro Martinez was impressive in game two but was outdueled by mega millionaire A. J. Burnett who made the National League’s most superlative offense look passive in nature.   So, here we are back in Philly town with the series knotted at one game a piece and the fall classic now narrowed in scope to a best of five with the Fightins holding the home field “advantage”.

In New York the fans really didn’t have much impact, some have written that ticket prices kept the regular attendees away and “corporate america” fans were in their place instead…….hell even I was offered Yankee game tickets in that regard!   “Impact” of fans is debatable however, the chants to Pedro of “Who’s your daddy” are admissable but in his case really have no impact as the man albeit hears the words does not let them effect his performance.  Remarks made towards his family, personal being or of off colored flavor are not admissable though and are true signs of ignorance!  Any “fan” who takes that route is not one of intelligence and honestly has no place in the stadium.

I am hopeful that tonights game reflects the class of Philly Phans like last year’s NLDS did when Brett Myers coaxed a walk from C.C. Sabbathia and with each pitch the phan noise got louder resulting in a standing ovation for Myers as he trotted down to first base, that was a true reflection of phan baseball prowess and I was proud of my fellow Phillie devotees in how they showed that and oh by the way influenced Mr. Sabathia to hang a high fastball to Shane Victorino that he belted for a salami!

Stupid phan behavior is wearing a Manny hat that says he is a cheater and teaching your nine year old child that this is proper to chide another human being in such manner.  Yes, I believe that A-Rod will hear his share of comments tonight about his shortcomings within the steroid stupidity era of baseball as well but the more influential impacts of our phans are ones that influence the game itself, remember the Burt Hooten meltdown in the 70’s when the noise was so loud in Veterans Stadium that he lost concentration and walked in a run?  That was impact!

So Philly Phans let’s not sit on our hands during the moments when things are not going the Philly way and have announcers say, “this crowd has been really quieted by the Yankees” but rather keep the decible levels high and in the spirit of game impact, show the baseball world that phan impact aligns with baseball acumen and that Philly is the home where “phan advantage” is the true home field edge!

Chatter

Tim McCarver commented in game two that he did not understand why Charlie Manuel did not start the runners in the bottom of the eighth when Chase Utley subsequently hit into a double play, for the novice fan McCarver’s words place doubt however if TMac had done his homework he would have known that Utley hits into minimal double plays and that the bigger risk was getting the runners thrown out on the steal and/or a line drive.  

Interesting article in today’s Daily News about tonight’s starter Cole Hamels, it reminds us about the first time he faced the Yankees in 2004 Spring training as a 20 year old phenom.  Hamels dominated in that performance and opened our eyes on what he could become.  I truly believe that he will pitch a very good game tonight and erase our doubts about this young star.  Hamels is only 24 and needs to become Kid Cole again rather than Kid Cool!  He has it in him and I think he will shine tonight!

Reggie Jackson was quoted as saying this matchup was like the Varsity vs the Jr. Varsity, child please! This is the same genius that for years said that Richie Ashburn did not belong in the hall of fame, Reggie retired years ago as a Yankee player, he now needs to retire his mouth so as to avoid silly remarks coming out of it!

I predicted the Phillies in five albeit I thought they would sweep in NYC, am sticking to my prediction and looking forward to another parade here in the best “home field advantage” in the game…..let’s prove it once again tonight as a collective 10th man!

As I have stated many times this season it sure is a great time to be a Phillies Phan!  With the team capturing thier second consecutive National League pennant and now set to participate in the MLB “World” Series against the most storied franchise agrueably in all of sports it is time to predict the outcome.

The Yankees have won 26 “world” series titles and the Phillies have won all of two!  Facts tell us that one of the 26 titles came at the hands of the Fightins in 1950 against a team led by Richie Ashburn. However, this Phillies team is far from the 1950 version, this crew is a dominant one and in fact many think they are on the verge of a dynasty of winning prowess.  Great time to be a Phillies Phan!

I think that C.C. Sabbathia is the biggest obstacle, both figuratively and physically!, that the Fightins face in this series.  Sabbathia will throw three times if the series goes seven games and he has dominated our hottest hitter Ryan Howard in past matchups.  If the Fightins are to beat him then the right handed bats have to step up big time, we know that the can as Jayson Werth, Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Pedro Feliz, and Carlos Ruiz have been able to do so repeatedly.  I think the key to game one will be an unsung hero Ben Francisco who will start in left field with Raul Ibanez shifting to the DH role.   I think Francisco will have a big game and the Fightins will sneak a win behind Cliff Lee.

Pedro Martinez takes the hill in game two against A.J. Burnett.  Burnett has been hot and cold in his past endeavors against the Fightins but he has never faced a lineup of Phillies like the present one.  I think the Phillies smoke Burnett and surprise New York by also winning game two behind a ramped up Pedro.   Game three is Cole Hamels turn to step it up again as he goes against Andy Petite.  I am picking the Fightins to prevail in this one also and silence the New York faithful with a dominating 3 games to zero lead in the series.

Game four will force the return of Sabbathia to the hill and I think he will prevail with a win but in Game Five behind Cliff Lee again I think the Phillies bring home a second straight world series title!  It will set the stage for this team to be compared to those in history who have strung sustained success and titles……………… Great time indeed to be a Phillies Phan!

Chatter

I know it is far from time to be looking into next season but what if the Phillies somehow made another run at Doc Halladay in the offseason……….how sweet would this team be with Lee, Halladay, Hamels, Blanton and Martinez as a 2010 rotation!  Would we see a threepeat ?

NLCS

The Dodgers plan to use Vincenti Padilla and Randy Wolf in the playoff starting rotation, those guys used to pitch for the Fightin’s when they stunk!  Granted both are good pitchers but do we really think they can beat our team’s lineup ?  The Phillies will start with Cole Hamels in the first game and the young lefty needs to step up like he did last fall as he is positioned to pitch more than once in the series.  Pedro Martinez is the likely starter in game two with Cliff Lee getting the ball in game three, after that it is a wait and see who goes for game four.   The key to this series as I see it is the bullpen, if the Phillies pen can come thru and it looks like both Joe Blanton and J.A. Happ are going to be in the pen at least for the first three games then I see the Fightin’s going to thier second world series in a row.  I think that Chan Ho Park is a real possibility of being added to the post season roster and if healthy can indeed be a big plus to the back end of the pen.   My prediction is that the Phillies take the series in six games but I can actually see them winning in five as well!

ALCS

Don’t have any real logical reason to state so but I have a feeling that the L.A. Angels are going to win the American League pennant.   Even though the Yankees have the best team money can buy I think the Angels are more motivated and hungry and I see a coast to coast World Series!