A matchup of the world champions of baseball vs a last place club with said champions being on the home turf would seem to equate to a series sweep correct ?   Well indeed it was a series sweep but it was the Baltimore Orioles who did the sweeping of the defending champion Phillies and not vice versa.   The Phillies closed the most recent homestand with a not so stellar record of 1 and 9 and headed off for a three city road tour with a losing streak in tow of six games.   Rather than detail the agony of the three losses to the Orioles I chose to focus on where the team is at this stage of the season.  This is inclusive of the first game of the team’s newest road journey which was a 10 to 1 clubbing of the Tampa Rays…….. road life indeed has been the key to the season thus far !

Standing

Despite a record of 13-22 at home the Fightins are still in first place in National League East leading the Mets by two and one half games.  That is due to a stellar road record of 24-9 and the fact that no one else in the division has played well enough to overtake them.  The Mets are tremendously banged up, three key position players, Reyes, Beltran and Delgado are out……. to the New Yorkers’ credit they have remained above .500 with a patchwork lineup and rebuilt and reengineered pitching staff but even the most optimistic Mets fan cannott expect that to continue.    Florida is riding a current three game winning streak and does indeed have very good young starting pitching but they cannott catch a cold in the field and I do not see them overcoming that achilles heel, they do have chips to play for trade so watch the young Fish!   Atlanta can’t hit thier way out of a paper bag so no one should really worry about them at this point, they went out and got a really good young center fielder in Nate Mclouth but there are still major holes in the lineup.  Washington just flat out sucks so nothing more to say.   

Wounded

The Phillies also have thier share of injuries, Raul Ibanez carried the team early and is presently on the disabled list,  key pitchers Brad Lidge, Brett Myers and Clay Condrey are all presently on the same DL.   Starting pitching has been erratic all season and I do believe that GM Ruben Amaro is actively looking at trades but most clubs still feel that they are still in the playoff hunt so deals are not readily available unless you are interested in Zach Duke ?

Home Woes

I cannott believe that the team will continue to struggle with winning at home.  CBP is constantly sold out and the fans have been very patient, only recently did they bring out the boo chorus!  I think the team is more focused on the road, perhaps too many personal appearances are scheduled when they are at home ?   In any regards they are too talented to not find a way to begin winning at home  consistently soon.

J-Roll

Jimmy Rollins is the catalyst for this crew,  has been for the past few years and nothing has changed, folks gripe that Charlie should move him out of the lead off hole, the same folks who said to move Lidge out of the closer role I suspect…………. just plain stupid to think that way.   J-Roll will find it, Charlie is very patient, we fans have to get behind our lead off hitter rather than get negative.  This team will go the way he does, plain and simple.   He has had spurts where he has shown evidence of getting on a roll, I think that perhaps that daggone extended spring training due to that silly little tournament has had more impact on Mr. Rollins than we know, that is my suspicion at least…..never know what nagging little injuries these guys play with.

Chatter

Rumblings were that the Fightins were actually close to a deal with Colorado that would have brought Jason Marquis here along with Ryan Spillbourgh.   The cost would have been J.A. Happ and minor league prospects, apparently Colorado backed off when they started to win games after ditching skipper Clint Hurdle.   While Marquis is not a number two starter he does win games and eat innings and Spillbourgh would have been a right hand bat off the bench so let’s see if perhaps the deal might resurface before the July 31 trade deadline.    Don’t be shocked to see Ruben make a play for a combo of Cliff Lee and Mark DeRosa out of Cleveland either, I have nothing to go on with that statement, only a fan’s view of what could help our club and who might be available.   Watch that young Kyle Drabek’s progress in Double A Reading also, the answer to starting pitching may indeed be in house!