The Phillies are finally done their disastrous 4-11 interleague run and head to Atlanta. Last season, they had a disastrous 3-9 interleague run and then, headed to Atlanta, where they promptly swept the Braves (and then lost 4 straight right after). Hopefully we can repeat history with the former, not the latter.
Luckily for us, almost the entire NL East has been playing this way, here are our division rivals records during our 4-11 swoon…
New York: 5-10
Atlanta: 5-10
Florida: 9-6
Washington: 6-9
Only Florida has made up significant ground, and they now sit in 2nd place, 2 1/2 games back. The important thing for the Phillies to realize at this point is that they are still very much in charge of their own destiny, and we aren’t even half way through the season. There is a ton of baseball left.
2009: 39-34
2008: 42-31
2007: 38-35
I’m not going to do the whole good news / bad news thing, just bullet point what’s been on my mind…
- Even though Amaro is frantically searching for pitching, it’s our hitting that has been the cause of our June slump. In June, we have hit .247 as a team. The biggest slumpers this month have been Rollins (.176), Ruiz (.185) and Howard (.237).
- Our starters on the other hand, have been solid with the exception of the 5-spot. Happ (3.00 ERA), Hamels (3.31) and Blanton (3.34) were all great, and Moyer (4.80) was at least improved. This is still not a rotation that will go deep into the playoffs, but we don’t have to worry about that just yet.
- So who gets the start on Thursday? I’m fine with either Carpenter or Carrasco. On on hand, I’d like to put some pressure on Carrasco and see how he reacts. He pitched so-so in Reading and then was lights out once he got promoted to AAA, maybe the same thing could happen with a major league call-up. On the other hand, Carpenter has been amazing since going back down to AAA after his spot start. He has a 1.50 ERA in 8 starts and has gone 7+ innings while giving up 1 run or less in 5 of those. I couldn’t really disagree with either decision, but if I had to make the decision, I think I’d put Carrasco in there and see what he’s made of. Either way, we need one of these guys to step up the way Kendrick did 2 years ago.
- Amaro said that Drabek would remain in the minors the rest of the year. This is absolutely the right decision. He just had Tommy John surgery and we need to take our time with him.
- On Rollins – I think he will come around eventually and end the year around .250-.260, but I wonder what his long term future with the team is. He is signed through next year, but there is a team option for $8.5 million for 2011. You have to wonder, if Jimmy can’t turn this thing around, and with Jason Donald as a good replacement, whether or not his time with the Phils is running out. Hard to imagine this team without Jimmy.
- On Romero – he’s an idiot. Nothing quite exonerates you of steroid use than displaying “roid rage.” Akin to congress talking about how steroids can cause ones emotions to fluctuate wildly followed by Mark McGwire strongly saying he’s not there to talk about the past and then bursting into tears. Curse out the fan all you want, you obviously can’t hit him.
- Mayberry needs to be kept up on the team when Ibanez gets back. Paul Bako, Eric Bruntlett and Jack Taschner should not be on a major league roster.
- I’m working on an organizational depth chart, like I did for the outfield in my Michael Taylor article. I want to start thinking more like the Phillies should be thinking and looking both at the present and the future of the club. Look for that later this week.
Pitching Match-Ups: Phillies at Atlanta Braves
Tuesday: Blanton vs. Derek Lowe (7-6, 4.53 ERA)
Wednesday: Hamels vs. Jair Jurrjens (5-6, 2.93 ERA)
Thursday: TBD vs. Javier Vasquez (5-7, 3.04 ERA)
Prediction
The Phillies catch some bad luck and will meet the Braves 3 toughest starters. However, unlike any team I’ve ever followed, the Phillies seems to follow a similar pattern year after year, so I’m sticking with what they did last year in this situation and say they beat the Braves 2 out of 3. Hopefully Rollins’ days off will clear his head and get him motivated and the right handed pitchers will get Howard on track.
Jimmy had better choke up an inch or hope the administration doesn’t consist of frontrunners.
The trouble of Romero’s Ricky Ricardo imitation in Tampa fan exchange is compounded by his Fred Mertz throwing accuracy of late. 12 BBs in 10.1 innings.
Bruntlett’s an easy target to scapegoat in Phils’ drift, but he contributed
nicely last year to no remembered complaints. I’ll give him the same chance to recover as the big money boys on the June Swooners. I like an alert guy on the bench with game fundamentals in pocket and no observable ego.
Opinion: Regular helpings of Bill Conlin’s “castor oil” is good for your baseball mind’s health. Besides being steeped in experience (that might give way to greater knowledge and broader perspectives than a reader himself may contain), the venerable Mr. Conlin also presents the gift of truth-telling history in rich detail, sometimes allusively, often hilariously. Enjoy him while you can; he’s a Philadelphia journalistic treasure to behold. Of course, reading tastes are highly subjective and you may be devoted to a counter-opinion.
Actually, the Phillies were 6-12, but who’s counting? (Phils 2-1 in Yankees series!)
I was only counting the last 15 games, not the interleague games in May. Sorry if that was unclear.
Same here! Hopefully, our mojo at Turner Field can turn things around. Otherwise, the Phillies will be lurking in dangerous waters once again!
Any word on other Phillies coming back or pitchers the team is interested in?
TRR -
Injury latest (I believe)
Ibanez – not returning Friday. He’s going to need some rehab assignments, so i wouldn’t expect him back for another week or two.
Eyre – starting a rehab assignment this week. should be back around July 4th.
Condrey – I believe he is eligible to return around the 7th, but haven’t heard anything on him.
Bastardo – will miss at least 2 starts. If Carrasco or Carpenter do well, he’ll probably return to AAA.
As for finding pitching – they are interested in everybody, but there is nobody to be had right now.
Here is the unconfirmed 2003 steroid list per rotoinfo.com
http://rotoinfo.com/read_article.php?articleId=318
Rumored steroid list (UNCONFIRMED)
1.Nomar Garciaparra
2.Manny Ramirez
3.Johnny Damon
4.Trot Nixon
5.David Ortiz
6.Shea Hillenbrand
7.Derek Lowe
8.Pedro Martinez
9.Brian Roberts
10.Jay Gibbons
11.Melvin Mora
12.Jerry Hairston
13.Jason Giambi
14.Alfonso Soriano
15.Raul Mondesi
16. Aaron Boone
17.Andy Pettitte
18.Jose Contreras
19.Roger Clemens
20.Carlos Delgado
21.Vernon Wells
22.Frank Catalanotto
23.Kenny Rogers
24.Magglio Ordonez
25.Sandy Alomar
26.Bartolo Colon
27.Brent Abernathy
28.Jose Lima
29.Milton Bradley
30.Casey Blake
31.Danys Baez
32.Craig Monroe
33.Dmitri Young
34.Alex Sanchez
35.Eric Chavez
36.Miguel Tejada
37.Eric Byrnes
38.Jose Guillen
39.Keith Foulke
40.Ricardo Rincon
41.Bret Boone
42.Mike Cameron
43.Randy Winn
44.Ryan Franklin
45.Freddy Garcia
46.Rafael Soriano
47.Scott Spiezio
48.Troy Glaus
49.Francisco Rodriguez
50.Ben Weber
51.Alex Rodriguez
52.Juan Gonzalez
53.Rafael Palmeiro
54.Carl Everett
55.Javy Lopez
56.Gary Sheffield
57.Mike Hampton
58.Ivan Rodriguez
59.Derrek Lee
60.Bobby Abreu
61.Terry Adams
62.Fernando Tatis
63.Livan Hernandez
64.Hector Almonte
65.Tony Armas
66.Dan Smith
67.Roberto Alomar
68.Cliff Floyd
69.Roger Cedeno
70.Jeromy Burnitz
71.Moises Alou
72.Sammy Sosa
73.Corey Patterson
74.Carlos Zambrano
75.Mark Prior
76.Kerry Wood
77.Matt Clement
78.Antonio Alfonseca
79.Juan Cruz
80.Aramis Ramirez
81.Craig Wilson
82.Kris Benson
83.Richie Sexson
84.Geoff Jenkins
85.Valerio de los Santos
86.Benito Santiago
87.Rich Aurilia
88.Barry Bonds
89.Andres Galarraga
90.Jason Schmidt
91.Felix Rodriguez
92.Jason Christiansen
93.Matt Herges
94.Paul Lo Duca
95.Shawn Green
96.Oliver Perez
97.Adrian Beltre
98.Eric Gagne
99.Guillermo Mota
100.Luis Gonzalez
101.Todd Helton
102.Ryan Klesko
103.Gary Matthews
Only Phillie on the list is Bobby Abreu who was on our team at that time.
Hey Rick:
http://deadspin.com/5304675/why-the-new-alleged-steroids-list-is-a-crock
Thanks Stu,
Hopefully some confirmation comes out soon. It sounds/looks like a lot of this list may be correct.
Rick, what about the incomparable TERRY ADAMS?!?!
my personal guess is that this website saw what happened to the blogger who accused Ibanez and wanted to increase traffic, so they made this up. And, as I have now visited their site, it’s working.
another reason I think it is fake is that the “random” testing seemed to only catch good players, and from the Mitchell Report, we know that many, many unknown/bench/crappy players took steroids as well. There should be a lot more of those in there.
However – if it IS true and they all took steroids, I think Delgado would be the only name that surprised me.
And – if they all took steroids, Jim Thome is officially the greatest slugger of our generation.
I saw that list earlier. While I believe a lot of it, the weird part is what Pete points out, which is that the list consists of way too many good to great players. I would expect there to be plenty of people we have not heard of.
But the list does answer questions on tons of guys that have broken down way too quickly (Nomar, Hampton, F. Garcia) and answers why some guys were one or two year wonders or had random late increases in production and then disappeared (B. Boone, Baez, V. Wells).
game isn’t over, obviously, but man was that fantastic to watch Mayberry and Feliz go back-to-back off the incredibly annoying rocking Mike Gonzalez.
Ouch! That walk was a killer. Three times we took the lead and three times we coughed it up. Meanwhile, the Mets are losing in Milwaukee. Does anyone want the Eastern Division title?
Now’s a good time for J-Roll to bust out of that huge 0-fer.
Wow, looks like Rodrigo Lopez got the starting nod on Friday instead of Carrasco. Was really looking forward to seeing Carrasco show what he’s made of, but I guess Gavin Floyd Syndrome is a factor and the Phils would rather not mess with Carrasco’s head until they’re absolutely certain he’s ready.
We need some wins, and we need them bad. I know the Phils are only repeating the same pattern of bang-your-head-on-the-wall baseball that they’ve played the last few years. If they stick to the pattern we could all be laughing about this in October.
But for now, it still looks like no one really wants the Eastern Divison title. A few more clunkers from the Phils and I’m gonna put the East title on E-Bay. Sell it to a bar league softball team in Iowa or something.
Drolz-
Looks like you are right on Lopez. I get keeping Carrasco down (he’s still just 22, remember), but why not Carpenter?
Lopez, 33, is 5-4 with a 3.91 ERA in 13 starts. In June, he has a 2.03 ERA in 5 starts, and has a 0.86 ERA in his last 3 starts, all 7 innings.
Gives up too many hits (83 in 71 IP) but doesn’t walk many (1 per start), so his WHIP comes out to 1.35. Carpenter or Carrasco were potential long-term solution, Lopez is not, so I can’t say I agree with the move.
However, perhaps the scouts have seen something in his stuff this month that make him a better candidate than we think.
The 4 games off really helped Jimmy….
Rollins: now 0 for 27. MVP: miniscule & verboten performer. Pending marriage and future Cribs TV show appearances in conflict. But I’m a Philadelphian and I root for the underdog – go, Jimmy!