Phillies Take 2 of 3 From Mets

The Phillies won earlier today, capping off the series win at home against the New York Mets, and winning the series. The Phillies held off the Mets and won the game today 6-5.

Friday night saw a solid start from Joe Blanton, but an offense that struggled, until the 8th inning. The Phillies went into the 8th inning losing 2-1 in the game, but put up a 6 spot in the inning, and held off a late Mets change to win the game 7-5. It is a good sign to see Joe Blanton pitch well, since he is basically the 4th starter on this team, and will need to pitch well late in the season for the Phillies to have success. New Phillie Mike Sweeney got 2 hits in the game, both coming in the 8th inning.

On Saturday, the Phillies lackluster offense continued, only this time it continued throughout the whole game. Again, the Phillies got great starting pitching, this time from Cole Hamels, who should have a much better record than he does. Hamels only allowed 1 run in the game, the only run the Mets would get; too bad it was 1 more than the Phillies would score on this day. The Phillies almost busted the game open again for a 2nd straight game in the 8th inning. They loaded the bases in the 8th inning against K-Rod, only to see Ross Gload ground out.

The Phillies were able to bounce back today behind Roy Halladay and the long ball. The Phillies once again had 1 big inning, scoring 5 runs in the 3rd inning, and knocking R.A. Dickey out of the game early. Halladay went 7 innings and struck out 10, but did allow 5 earned runs. This raised his ERA to 2.34; not too bad. Raul Ibanez hit a 3 run homer for the Phillies, and Jayson Werth also homered and went 3-4 at the plate. Werth's average is now back over .300. Brad Lidge pitched a scoreless 9th, getting the save. It was a good sign, as Lidge gave up a leadoff single, and this is when Lidge usually struggles a lot, with runners on base.

Lidge pitched well this weekend when he came in, however J.C. Romero has been struggling. I am a Romero fan, and still am, but he needs to turn it around and have a good end of the season. I still feel as if the Phillies need a 2nd lefty in the bullpen, and would be in favor of calling up Antonio Bastardo to the bullpen to give the Phillies that 2nd lefty, even if he comes in just to get 1 guy out.

On offense, I would really like to see Jimmy Rollins step his game up, and have a great last 2 months. We have seen what this team is capable of when J-Roll gets hot, and this team is scary good. If Rollins can get on a roll late in the season, and get Utley and Howard back, there is no reason this team shouldn't be as good as the team that went to the World Series the past 2 seasons.

Phillies Trade for Roy Oswalt

For the 2nd straight year, the Phillies have acquired a top pitcher at the trade deadline. Today, the Phillies traded with their old friend Ed Wade, and got pitcher Roy Oswalt in a deal. In the trade, the Phillies gave up J.A. Happ, and minor leaguers Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar.

All things considered, this seems like a really good trade for the Phillies. While maybe a little overrated, Roy Oswalt is still an elite pitcher in this league, and Ruben Amaro really got the best of this trade. The Phillies do not have to pick up the club option in the 3rd year of Oswalt's deal, which means his deal will only go through next season, and the Astros are paying $11 million of Oswalt's $23 million that he is owed through the next 2 seasons.

Oswalt initially seemed hesitant to want to come play in Philly for the next couple years because he is from the south, but I guess when some other teams, mainly the Cardinals, backed off the deal, Oswalt seemed like he would rather have a chance at contending with the Phillies than staying in Houston.

The Phillies not only now have 3 very good pitchers, they also didn't have to give up on their best hitting prospect, Jonathan Singleton, who is in Single A. J.A. Happ is a good pitcher, but he isn't anything special.

Ruben Amaro seems like he actually got this deal right. Unfortunately, it wouldn't even have needed to be done if Amaro got rid of Cliff Lee in the offseason for a few crappy prospects. Without Amaro saying it, this deal kind of admits that he made a mistake getting rid of Cliff Lee, which the fans have been saying since that deal was done. It still hurts not having Cliff Lee on the team, but Roy Oswalt should slide into the #3 spot in the rotation nicely. Oswalt is 6-12 with a 3.42 ERA this season.

Unfortunately, this probably means that the Phillies can't re-sign Jayson Werth unless they greatly increase their payroll next season, or they are able to trade Raul Ibanez or Shane Victorino. Getting a trade done for Raul Ibanez would be optimal, but it probably won't be able to be done. Another horrible move by Amaro was giving Ibanez a 3 year deal. I would have no problem trading Victorino this offseason if it means keeping Werth and sliding him to center field, and playing Domonic Brown in right field.

Either way, this was a very good trade, and it definitely makes the Phillies a much better team than before the trade, and they didn't seem like they had to give up much to do it.

Phillies Need a Lot of Help

The Phillies right now have a lot of issues, and will need a lot of help to not only try to win the division, but even get the wild card in the National League.

With the trade deadline a little over a week away, it looks like the Phillies have targeted an elite starter to attempt to acquire. Roy Oswalt is the name that has been mentioned most in this situation. It seems kind of stupid that the Phillies need to acquire a starting pitcher at the trade deadline this season when they had Cliff Lee on the team signed through the season. It's actually beyond stupid; it's moronic; it's asinine; and the series of moves that Ruben Amaro has made since taking over are basically all moronic, and they leave the Phillies in a horrible position as it stands right now.

Since the Phillies got rid of 7 of their top 10 prospects in the Lee and Halladay deals respectively, and since I would imagine Domonic Brown will not be traded, the Phillies don't have many prospects right now, and almost all the ones that they do are at the single A level. This means that the Phillies might have to include Jayson Werth and J.A. Happ in a trade. Since Werth is a free agent in the offseason, it makes sense to trade him; however, trading Werth really puts the already struggling lineup in an even tougher position.

If you trade Werth, you can replace him in the field with top prospect Domonic Brown, who is a natural right fielder. That is fine, as Domonic Brown is overdue to join the major leagues in my opinion. However, Jayson Werth, even though he is struggling, fills the #5 hole in the Phillies batting order, and is the right handed bat there. Batting behind Ryan Howard is not as easy thing to do. Domonic Brown is a lefty, and will join and already lefty heavy Phillies batting order. Also, you can't expect Domonic Brown to jump into the #5 hole behind Utley and Howard, as a lefty.

This means that you would have to probably put Rollins or Victorino in the #5 hole, both of whom are switch hitters, and unfortunately, both of whom are struggling at the plate. Rollins can hopefully turn it around and have a good end to the season; Shane Victorino just flat out sucks. If you put Rollins there, he can swing away like he always wants to anyways, but you then have Victorino at the leadoff spot, popping up the first pitch he sees every at bat. Either decision is not optimal.

Bottom line, the lineup right now isn't good enough to make the playoffs. In fact, the offense has been so bad that the Phillies fired hitting coach Milt Thompson tonight. Thompson will be replaced with Greg Gross, who has already been the Phillies hitting coach. The offense is flat out bad no matter who is the hitting coach right now, and I can't even remember the last time I said that about the Phillies. Chase Utley coming back obviously can't hurt, but I don't think it will do enough to revive the offense. Utley isn't going to fire anybody up with his personality, and Utley wasn't even hitting the ball anyways before he got injured.

Therefore, if the Phillies do make a trade, it will need to be for a pitcher, and this is what will need to carry the Phillies into the playoffs; because it sure isn't going to be the hitting.

Phillies Need a Wake Up Call - Badly

The Phillies are in much need of a wake up call. The 2nd half of the season has gotten underway, and the Phillies have not yet started to play. They are a very easy Geovany Soto mishandled hop away from starting out the 2nd half 0-5.

The Phillies need someone on the team or on the coaching staff to get in the players faces, throw some chairs around, and start benching players. The Phillies are flat out a bad team right now, and since no one on the team is man enough to get in the other players faces, I will do my best to do it here.

Shane Victorino - You are playing like complete shit. In the top of the 7th tonight, with 2 on and 2 out, Shane Victorino came up and popped up the first pitch to the catcher. Sadly, we have seen Victorino and his stupid uppercut swing do this way too many times. Victorino is one of the dumbest baseball players I have ever seen, and actually had the audacity to sort of blame the fans for some of the Phillies struggles for not picking the Phillies up. You're right Shane, I forgot. It is our job as fans to pay money to come see you, and even though you make millions, it is our job to pick you up and cheer you on, and say go get 'em next time as you pop up first pitches. What is this, freakin little league? Should we have cheered, and said "nice try" as Shane jogged back to the dugout? Maybe Victorino should stay in St. Louis, where fans actually might do that. Just as an aside, Shane Victorino has 69 at bats this month, and has walked a grand total of 1 time. 1 time he took a walk.

This article was supposed to destroy a lot of players on the team, but I can't see to get past how bad Shane Victorino is. Let's try to move on. Jimmy Rollins is batting like .140 since he came back from the DL for good, which clearly isn't good from the leadoff spot. Since Rollins also never walks, the Phillies are getting from the leadoff spot. Jayson Werth is completely lost right now, and strikes out way too much. Werth actually has as many strikeouts as Ryan Howard does this year, and in about 50 fewer at bats. Not good.

Raul Ibanez is actually playing a little better the past month, but is well past his prime overall. I guess Ruben Amaro should be blamed for that more so than Ibanez, but he needs to step up his game also. I'm not going to blame Wilson Valdez, who shouldn't really be in a any position to be the man to try to jump start this pathetic offense.

Ryan Howard, Placido Polanco, and Carlos Ruiz have been solid all season. You can usually say that about Chase Utley, and even though he is on the injured list, he was not playing very well before he was on the injured list. If he continues to struggle down the stretch when he comes off the DL, Utley needs to be blamed as much as anyone for the Phillies season.

As for the pitching, the Phillies really only have 2 good starters, and everyone knew this coming into the season. Halladay has done everything he can do, and Cole Hamels has been better than most people actually thought he would be, including myself. Joe Blanton, Kyle Kendrick, and Jaime Moyer are jokes, and below average pitchers, and that is 60% of our starting staff. Cliff Lee would look real good right now, huh?

Also, Ruben Amaro deserves some of the blame as well. I don't need to re-hash the worst trade in Philadelphia sports that he pulled off, and the fact that Domonic Brown is still in the minors, destroying every level, as Raul Ibanez bats .250 in left field. You need to do everything you can to trade Ibanez. If not, I have been on record that you shouldn't trade Jayson Werth, but I wasn't expecting the Phillies to possibly be sellers at the deadline, and if the Phillies continue this free fall, they should try to trade Werth I think to get what they can, as he definitely will not be back next season.

Either way, the Phillies need some type of wake up call. I really hope one of the players steps up to the plate - not on the field - but instead in the locker room, to rustle a few feathers, and get in some players faces, to hopefully turn this season around.

Phillies Begin 2nd Half of Season

The All-Star break is over, and the Phillies begin the 2nd half of their season tonight with a 4 game series in Chicago to play the Cubs.

The Phillies unfortunately with their poor play over the past month and a half leave them with a lot of work to do in the 2nd half of the season. The Phillies are perenially a very good 2nd half team recently, but you hate to have to rely on that in order to make the playoffs. The Phillies currently sit 4.5 games back of the NL East leading Atlanta Braves. The Mets are in 2nd place, 4 games behind the Braves.

The Phillies have had their injury issues, but you don't want to blame all of their problems on the injuries. Bottom line, the Phillies offense the first half of the season is the worst it has been in a long time. Sitting out parts of the first half of the season were Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco, Chase Utley, and Carlos Ruiz. The Phillies still are without Polanco, who is due back possibly this weekend, and Chase Utley, who will probably be out for another month. Ryan Howard has been the only real consistent bat in the lineup, as he had an all-star first half of the season, and is almost batting .300.

The pitching staff has been up and down, but better than expected. The only reason the Phillies are even 4.5 games back is due to the pitching, which has picked up the hitting. In fact, the final 2 games before the all-star break, the Phillies won consecutive games 1-0, behind solid starting pitching from Roy Halladay, and Cole Hamels. Halladay has been everything he was brought in to be. Cole Hamels has been solid this year so far. Kyle Kendrick and Jaime Moyer have been very up and down, and Joe Blanton has been flat out bad.

I hate to keep bringing up the worst trade in Philadelphia sports in my lifetime, but trading away Cliff Lee was a horrible mistake by Ruben Amaro, Jr. People say get over the trade and stop talking about it; however, the trade is significant and applicable to how the Phillies are playing now. If you want to agree with Amaro and say the Phillies couldn't spend the money, then you can blame Amaro for giving Moyer a 2 year deal, and not trading Joe Blanton, although there wasn't much demand for Blanton. Also, if you want to agree with Amaro and say the Phillies needed to replenish the farm system, this is just untrue, because if the Phillies had kept Cliff Lee this year and then let him walk, they would receive 2 first round draft picks as compensation. You could easily argue that these 2 first round picks would be much better than the prospects that the Phillies did get.

Also, Ruben Amaro needs to make the correct decision and try to trade Raul Ibanez. Ibanez is having a bad year, which you kind of had to expect, as Ibanez is up there in age. If no one wants Ibanez, most people feel like the Phillies should trade Jayson Werth. I do not however. You need Werth in the lineup, as he is one of the positives in a poor lineup, and is the only power right handed bat. Bottom line, Dominic Brown absolutely needs to be a starter on this Phillies team, like yesterday. According to Ruben Amaro, Brown can't replace Ibanez because Brown isn't a left fielder. Ohh right, I forgot Ibanez is an outfield covering gold glover out there. Brown technically is a right fielder, but I have to imagine can fill in left field for the rest of the season. Dominic Brown was recently listed as the #1 prospect currently not in MLB by ESPN.com. He can definitely give a jolt to the lineup.

Either way, the Phillies need to step up their game, and have a solid 2nd half if they want to make the playoffs. Luckily, this is nothing new for the Phillies, as they usually do have very good 2nd halves.

Phillies Re-Up Howard

The Phillies extended Ryan Howard's contract today, giving him 5 more years on top of his existing contract, and $125 million. The deal lasts from the years 2012 through 2016, with a club option for 2017.

When the deal kicks in, it will make Howard the highest paid player in Phillies history, and the 2nd highest paid player in baseball if you average out the years. Howard will make $20 million each in 2012 and 2013. He will then make $25 million in 2014, 2015, and 2016. There is a club option on Howard in 2017 at $23 million, and if they buy him out at that time, it will be for $10 million.

This is definitely the right move to do, if the Phillies let Ryan Howard play in the 2011 season and he even played above average, teams would be throwing a lot of money at him. This secures a guy who will bat in the middle of the lineup for years to come. Howard is also a good guy, and good team player, and a guy who seems like he will work hard after getting a big pay day, wanting to win for the fans and the city.

The bigger question is now what the Phillies plan on doing with Jayson Werth or Raul Ibanez. Amaro gave a terrible contract to Ibanez, who is off to a slow start this year. Not surprising, since Ruben Amaro made the worst trade Philadelphia has seen in quite some time. Anyways, this is probably Werth's last season as a Phillie, unless they did sign him to a long term deal, they would need to go way over payroll next season since Ibanez will still be getting paid. If the Phillies could keep Werth, and eventually let Dominic Brown replace Ibanez, that would be optimal.

The Phillies also could use Werth or Ibanez as a trading chip to acquire a starting pitcher at the trade deadline. Obviously the Phillies would rather unload Ibanez, but probably won't be able to get much for him, especially if he still keeps playing the way he is. The Phillies, unfortunately, due to not having God, I mean Cliff Lee on the team, are in need of starting pitching. Ever starter except for Halladay has gotten off to a bad start. You know its not a good thing when I am looking forward to Moyer's next start.