Phillies Beat Dodgers; Advance to World Series!

The Philadelphia Phillies beat the LA Dodgers by a score of 5 - 1 to win the NLCS and earn their 6th National League pennant in their 126 years of existence.

Jimmy Rollins quieted the crowd right out of the gate by slamming a lead off homer to give the Phils the early lead and the early momentum.

The Phils extended their lead in the 3rd, when with one out, Jimmy Rollins singled and stole second. After a Jayson Werth strikeout and a Chase Utley walk, Rollins scored on a Ryan Howard basehit. Pat Burrell plated Chase Utley with a single of his own, giving the Phillies a 3 - 0 lead.

The Phils extended their lead in the top of the fifth. With Howard on 1st and Utley on 2nd with 1 out, Pat Burrell hit a nubber to Rafael Furcal. Furcal booted the ball, and Utley, seeing Furcal lose the ball, ran hard all the way around 3rd and came home safely to extend the Phillies lead to 4 - 0. Furcal was also charged with a throwing error in a vain attempt to throw out Utley at home, allowing Burrell and Howard to advance. The Phils were able to get Ryan Howard home on yet another Rafael Furcal throwing error with two outs to make it 5 - 0.

Cole Hamels, meanwhile, went 7 strong innings giving up 1 run and striking out 5. The only run he gave up was to (who else?) Manny Ramirez on a solo home run. Hamels turned it over to the bullpen, which meant Ryan Madson in the 8th inning and Brad Lidge to close matters out in the 9th.

Notes:

- Because David Boreanaz announced the Phils starting lineup for Fox, Channel 6 weatherman Dave Roberts, who is Boreanaz's father, got a shout out from announcer Joe Buck during the telecast.

- Good to see Scott Boras in the crowd last night. How does he hide his Satan horns and where does he keep his pitchfork?

- Great turn by Jimmy Rollins on that double play the Phils turned in the 5th inning.

- Tremendous running catch by Burrell on Ethier's drive in the bottom of the 6th. Did not think Burrell would come up with that ball.

- Why wasn't Russell Martin thrown out after vehemently arguing balls and strikes with the home plate? Loved the Fox replays of Martin slamming his equipment after the discussion. If Martin could hit with the same aplomb that he threw equipment around in this series, the Dodgers might still be in the series.

- Can't believe that Dodger fans cheered when they thought Victorino got hurt sliding back into first on a pickoff attempt late in the game. I've written it in comments over at 700level.com and I'll write it again: if that had happened in Philly, the announcers would have made a point to mention it and it would have been a much bigger deal. The stories about Dodger fans in this series have not been good ones.

- Great diving grab by Chase Utley on Furcal's shattered bat shot in the bottom of the 8th.

- Lidge gave us a couple of "moments" in the 9th; both "moments" disappeared into the glove of Shane Victorino, deep in center field.

- NLCS MVP: Cole Hamels.

2008 Phillies: Why Not Us?

As we focus on MLB's final four teams, I feel sort of lucky that a second of my four favorite sports teams were able to make it to their sports final four participants (the Flyers being the other). If your team is out of the hunt for the World Series right now, I think I can break it down for you and let you know why you should most assuredly be rooting for the Phillies.

1.) The Other 3 Cities Have Recently Won Stuff. Think about it.

Tampa won a Super Bowl after the 2002 season and they won the 2004 Stanley Cup. And by the way: they won both of those championships by going through a Philadelphia team. Besides, no one in Tampa gives a damn about sports when their team isn't good. Do I have to remind you there is no income tax in Florida?

LA? They had the Shaq and Kobe years, which like, just happened 5 minutes ago. And LA has all the hot actresses you can gape at in addition to beautiful weather. Not worthy.

And do you really need me to get into it about Boston???

Trust me, Philly needs this championship more than Wall Street needs more cheap loans.

2.) The way the team was built. I wish I could say it was by design that the Phillies are in contention. The previous GM did not really have a plan for the Phils, but the Phils were built through the draft (5 of their starting 8 were Phillies draft products), sound free agent acquisitions (namely, Jayson Werth and Chad Durbin), and shrewd trades (getting Jamie Moyer from the M's, Brad Lidge from the 'Stros). Furthermore, there are no Alex Rodgriguez-like salaries on this team.

It's funny, but the Tampa Bay Rays are often lauded for having developed their own talent, but you could make this same case for the Phils. Where would the Phils be without Jimmy Rollins, Pat Burrell, Ryan Madson, Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Brett Myers, and Shane Victorino (Rule 5 draftee)? All of those players were drafted by the Phils and figure prominently in their success.

3.) The Phillies players are really a likable group. Hate on the fans all you want, but these Phillies players are a great group.

Rollins may have called out the fans earlier this year, but he comes up big on the bigger stages and does everything with style. Shane Victorino is such a ball of energy, that the manager needs to remind him to tone it DOWN once in awhile. What is not to like about the short, crisp swing of Chase Utley? And the Big Man, Ryan Howard.....outside of Albert Pujols, he is as powerful a hitter as there is in baseball. Who wouldn't want to sit and have a beer with Pat Burrell as he tells you how he REALLY feels about Billy Wagner?

And don't forget about Brad Lidge, coming back from the baseball dead, Jayson Werth overcoming years of injury problems to realize his potential, and our ace in the making, Cole Hamels.

We may boo, cajole, complain, and catcall on occasion, but Phillies fans genuinely like this team.

So feel free to hop on the bandwagon, America*. Beers at McFadden's are on me**.

* Note: Offer does not apply to Mets fans.
** Note: I really can't afford to buy America beer.

Phils Advance to NLCS

The Phillies powered past the Milwaukee Brewers by a score of 6 - 2 yesterday to win their best-of-5 game series with the Brew Crew 3 games to 1. The Phils advance to meet the LA Dodgers, who swept the Cubs in their NLDS series last night.

Phils starter Joe Blanton pitched 6 strong innings, giving up 1 run on 5 hits and striking out 7. The Brewers hitters continued to be patient, running several deep counts with Blanton, but Blanton was able to get the outs when he needed them. Blanton did come out to pitch the 7th inning, but after two straight hits (one of them a Prince Fielder homer), Ryan Madson came on to relieve Blanton. Madson did give up a run, but at the point of the game that Madson entered, the Phils were up by a score of 5 - 1, so Madson was simply collecting outs to get the game to Brad Lidge.

Offensively, the Phils came out of the gate swinging, getting a homer from Jimmy Rollins to lead off the game. Seeing your team down a run before you even get to your seat can be terribly debilitating to a fan and that is what Rollins' lead off homer was able to accomplish.

The big blow, offensively, came from the bat of Pat Burrell. Burrell, who had been struggling coming into this game, came to bat in the bottom of the 3rd, with 2 on and 2 outs. Burrell took a 2 - 2 offereing from Jeff Suppan and drove it to left center field for a 3-run home run that effectively broke open the game and gave the Phils a 4 - 0. Jayson Werth followed up Burrell's homer with a solo shot of his own to extend the lead to 5 - 0.

As an encore, Burrell hit yet another homer in the 8th inning to close out the scoring.

The NLCS starts this Thursday in Philadelphia, with Cole Hamels facing Derek Lowe.

Notes:

- Can't stop now! I like the matchup against the Dodgers and I'll say why a little later this week.

- If there was an MVP in the NLDS, it would have to be Shane Victorino. Victorino scored or drove in a run in all 3 Phillies victories, including the decisive grand slam against CC Sabathia in Game 2. For the series, Victorino hit .357 with 3 doubles, a homer, and 5 RBI. He also had an OPS of 1.256 for the series.

- Between the Phillies still being in action, the Eagles playing on Sunday afternoon, and the Flyers starting regular season play this Saturday, in addition to all of the college football action, how much marital discord will this coming weekend cause?

Photo: Yahoo.com....(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Deep Thoughts on the Phils' Game 2 Win

Couldn't get a post done earlier this AM, as my boss did the one thing I will never do myself as a boss: call an 8AM meeting. What's worse, is that he called the meeting and was 15 minutes late. After that meeting, I was caught up all AM in other people's drama. God, I hate work.



Some Thoughts on the Phils and the NLDS series so far....

- So far, so good for the Fightins. If I had a criticism offensively, so far, is that they have only scored in two innings of this series so far. It just so happens that when they scored in those innings, the aggregation of runs was such that it rattled the Milwaukee starter and whomever the Phils were starting made that big inning stand up.

What I am getting at here, is that it would be nice once the Phils got into the other team's bullpen that they would actually score some runs when they got baserunners. They seem unable to put the kill shot to Milwaukee when they get men on base. I am hoping that this is a function of a good Milwaukee bullpen and not some weird state we are getting into with this Phillies lineup.

- Thank you, Brad Lidge, for not killing me in game 2 the way you killed me in game 1. If I was anywhere near a bar, reputable or otherwise, watching game 1, I would have gotten hammered just during Lidge's ninth inning, let alone from the previous 8 innings of play. He threw only 12 pitches last night, and should certainly be available on Saturday.

- Brett Myers' ABs in Game 2 of this series will go down in Phillies lore as two of the greatest ABs to not produce a hit. What they succeeded in doing is making CC Sabathia, pitching on 3 days rest for seemingly the last three months, work much harder on what should have been automatic outs. Myers worked a 9-pitch walk that kept the Phillies big inning going in the 2nd inning and later, in the 4th inning, made Sabathia throw 10 pitches before eventually flying out to center. The 19 pitches Sabathia threw to Myers represent almost 20% of the pitches Sabathia threw for his 3 2/3 innings he could stay in the game. Sure, Shane Victorino was the offensive star of the game for his grand slam, but don't overlook Myers.

- Was it me, or do the Brewers just not look comfortable trying to be patient (passive?) at the plate? They look like they're going up against pitchers like Myers and Lidge with a game plan of being patient, but they looked slow once Myers and Lidge eventually started pounding the strike zone instead of nibbling around.

- Chase Utley did not look good at the plate yesterday and neither did Ryan Howard. They struck out a combined 6 times and collectively left 6 runners on base.

Hamels Hurls Gem; Phils Win Game 1

The Phillies, behind the dominant pitching of Cole Hamels, took game one of the 2008 NLDS by a score of 3 - 1. They lead the best-of-5 series 1 -0 and the victory marked the first post-season victory by the Phillies franchise since the 1993 World Series.

On a windy and rainy day in South Philly, Cole Hamels was positively dominant. In his second ever post-season start, Hamels did not give up a basehit or a baserunner until the 5th inning. He only gave up two hits in all during his 8 innings of work and also struck out 9.

The Phils scored their only runs of the game during a weird 3rd inning that started with a Carlos Ruiz single. Cole Hamels successfully attempted a sacrifice to move Ruiz over, but the Brewer covering 1st base (Ricky Weeks) failed to secure the ball to force Hamels, giving the Phils two men on and no one out. After Rollins flew out and Werth struck out, Chase Utley hit a ball in the left centerfield gap that Mike Cameron appeared to get leather on, but could not control. The ball fell on the outfield grass as two Phils scored and Utley stood on second base. Brewers starter Yovanni Gollardo then proceeded to intentionally walk Ryan Howard, and then walked two more batters to give the Phils their 3rd run.

Hamels was lifted after the 8th inning and Brad Lidge provided yet another eventful save, giving up a run on two hits, but he also struck out the side to preserve the victory.

The series continues today at 6pm, with Brett Myers facing CC Sabathia.

Notes:

- When did Brad Lidge turn into Mitch Williams? Did I miss the memo? And since he threw 35 pitches, is there anyway that Lidge is available today? I can't see it.

- If Utley had kept his feet when receiving the relay throw from Jayson Werth in the 9th inning, Ray Durham either stays at 3rd or gets cut down at the plate. As it was, when Utley did lose his feet and Durham broke for 3rd, a decent throw might have gotten Durham.

- Speaking of Utley, he made a great play on Tony Gwynn Jr's attempted bunt in the 8th inning.

- Pedro Feliz left 6 men on base in going 0 for 4. He'll probably play again today, with lefty Sabathia on the mound.

- The Brewers practically emptied their bullpen yesterday after Gallardo could only go 4 innings; they better hope Sabathia eats some innings today.

Photo: Yahoo.com ((Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images))

Lidge: NL Comeback Player of the Year

Brad Lidge was honored by baseball for his perfect 41 for 41 season and given the NL Comeback Player of the Year award.

Congrats to Brad for shaking the spector of that awful Albert Pujols homer from many moons ago and putting things back together.

NL East Champs: September 2008 By the Numbers

Ok, now is the time to come clean. Did you EVER think this Phillies team would actually cross the finish line this year as the NL East champs back on August 31st?

C'mon.....be truthful.

I mean, the Phils were a game back in the NL East of the Mets, they weren't hitting consistently, and their starting staff was starting to get a little inconsistent. And seemingly, whenever the Phillies were winning, the Mets were winning too.

And then, September happened and the Phils flipped a switch many of us believed this team was not talented enough to have. How much did having the heartless Mets in our division help? Probably quite a bit, but as a Philly fan, I'll take my successes where I can get them.

By the Numbers:

17

The number of wins the Phils chalked up in the month of September. This was exactly what they needed to do in September, as the Mets, with their bullpen imploding and their key players not hitting with men on base, barely played .500 ball (13 - 12).

That was more of less the difference this year; the Phils got it done when it counted and the Mets did not.

1.274

Ryan Howard's OPS for the month of September. If you're not a stat guy, let me just tell you that's about as good as it gets for an offensive player. Howard had an other wordly OBP of .422 and he hit 11 homers and 32 RBI. He carried this team offensively in September and has been garnering a good bit of MVP talk (misguided, though it may be).

.411

The OBP of leadoff man Jimmy Rollins. It has been said many times; the Phillies go as Jimmy Rollins goes. When Rollins is getting on base 41% of the time, this gives Howard and Utley so many opportunities to do damage. While it did not happen as emphatically as last year, Rollins once again came through in September when it mattered.

It was particularly fitting that Rollins made the diving/sliding stab of a grounder that closed out the Nationals last Saturday and gave the Phils the NL East crown. He stood up for his teammates very publicly in a way that could have backfired and held back a lesser player. Rollins did not shrink from the spotlight when he put it on himself by criticizing the fans; the exact opposite occurred.

.344

The BA for Shane Victorino in the month of September. I've never been a Victorino guy, insomuch as, I've never believed he was cut out to be a full-time starter. While he may not be a full-time centerfielder, he certainly proved himself a player that deserves at least 500 ABs regardless of the outfield position.

.172

The combined BA for Carlos Ruiz and Chris Coste in the month of September. I understand that these guys have done a pretty decent job in handling the pitching staff, but they have to do a little better than a .172 batting average if the Phils are to make any noise against the Brewers in the playoffs.

4

The number of wins for 45 year old Jamie Moyer in the month of August. What more can I say about the old man that hasn't already been said? He finished the year with an astounding 16 wins and I see no reason for him not to return next year, barring some sort of offseason physical problem.

6.94

The ERA for Chad Durbin for the month of September. The Phillies do not win the NL East without Chad Durbin. Other than Brad Lidge, he's been their best reliever all year and I'd like to think that some of his usage this month was because of the circumstances, but they will need the pre-September Chad Durbin to progress in the playoffs.

Summary

Thanks to their first baseman and 45 year old starter, the Phils are once again NL East champs. You could make the argument that these two players represent the co-MVPs of the 2008 Phillies team. You would have to include Brad Lidge in any case for team MVP. He finished the season going 41 for 41 in save opportunities, despite the fact that his last few saves have been of the high wire variety. Contrast that with the Mets who lost Billy Wagner and seemed to never find a replacement closer.

Quick Weekend Review

If there has been a weekend where there was more to see than this past weekend, I can't think of when that weekend took place. For now, this is just a quick overview of the weekend's events, but I'll do a deeper dive on each of the biggies as it pertains to the Philly sports scene.

The Phillies. Wow. Don't make it easy on us or anything. When Lidge was on the mound over the weekend, doing his best Mitch Williams impersonation, I thought for sure I was witnessing a meltdown. Jimmy Rollins' sprawling effort to gain control of a grounder up the middle and his flip to Utley, who turned a game ending double play was as big of a defensive play as you'll see.

The Phils clinched their second consecutive NL East division championship and have earned themselves an NLDS series against the Milwaukee Brewers, who made the wildcard, after battling the choking Metropolitans of New York.

The Eagles. Great game last night, but in losing to the Bears, they definitely left a win out on the field. David Akers can seemingly no longer be counted on over 40 yards out and the red zone woes of last season returned for another night.

The Flyers. Went to the last Spectrum game on Saturday and saw the ceremony. I have some pictures to post when I get around to writing about it. The Flyers did a tremendous job and it was nice to see Bobby Clarke get a nice standing ovation after the way his tenure as GM ended. It would have been nice to see Eric Lindros make it to the ceremony (he was invited), but he had another engagement to attend to, but he did apparently record a video that I'm trying to get a hold of to post.

Penn State. Ranked No. 6 in the country and are especially being viewed differently after USC lost to Oregon State. The Big 10 is theirs to lose right now, if they can survive road trips to Columbus and Madison.

Phils Filet Fish

Jimmy Rollins had 3 hits and 3 steals and provided the offensive spark needed to drive the Phils to an 8 - 6 win over the Florida Marlins. The win put the Phils within 1 1/2 games of the Mets in NL East.

Joe Blanton had the ball last night for the Phils and was not very good in his 5 innings of work. He gave up 4 earned runs during the start, but he seemed all over the strike zone. He had real control problems in the 2nd inning, walking the first two batters, both of whom went on to score. The frustrating part of this is that the Phillies had just tacked two runs up on the Marlins and Blanton's lack of control put the Phils right back to square one.

After the Phillies put up 3 more runs in the 2nd inning (one of them thanks to a Joe Blanton SF), Blanton walked Hanley Ramirez to lead off the 3rd and was made to pay for that walk when Mike Jacobs hit a big fly to cut the Phils lead to 5 - 4. Blanton was eventually lifted after 5 innings for Chad Durbin, who turned in his usual stellar effort.

Offensively, the Phils were paced by their leadoff man, Jimmy Rollins, who knocked in a run and scored 2 more runs to go with his 3 hits and 3 steals. Jayson Werth hit a 3-run bomb that gave the Phils an 8 - 4 lead that they would not relinquish.

The Marlins did manage to get 2 runs off of JC Romero before Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge closed them out.

The series continues today with Chris Volstad facing Kyle Kendrick.

Notes:

- Pat Burrell was not in the lineup last night, nor should he be. He's got 8 strikeouts in his last 22 ABs and he's hitting .222 over that stretch. A pennant race is no time for being sensitive to a players feelings; Werth is playing well right now, so he has to be in the lineup.

- You could tell by watching JC Romero that he was going to give up that homer to Cody Ross. Anytime Romero nibbles around the plate with his pitches, you can tell he's not confident. Romero needs to pound the strikezone to be successful.

- The 6th inning was closed out by the Phils with a pretty 3 - 6- 1 double play, with Durbin covering first base.

Phils Win; Rollins Jeered

The Phils pulled out a 5 - 4 win over the Washington Nationals last night on the strength of a Jayson Werth home run in the bottom of the 8th inning. The homer capped a comeback for the Phils, who were down in the game 4 - 1 after the 4th inning.

But the big story of the game was the return to Philadelphia of one James Calvin Rollins, who recently made some comments you may have heard about.

In a purely unscientific guess as to the ratio of cheers and boos when Rollins first came to bat in the first inning, I'd have to guess it was about 60 or 70 percent booing, with the rest of the folks cheering.

Let there be no doubt, however, that in the 5th inning, when Rollins hit into a rally killing 4-6-3 double play, the natives were pissed and reacted accordingly and loudly. There was no mixture for that particular slice of fan reaction; the Phils had just scored on a sacrifice fly from the bat of Geoff Jenkins and had just turned the lineup over, when Rollins (batting left) rolled over on an 0-1 pitch.

The crowd did give Jimmy a nice hand when he smoked a 3-2 pitch from Steve Shell for an apparent home run, only to have the wind knock the ball down for a long, loud out.

In non-JRoll news from the game, Joe Blanton pitched 5 innings and seemed to labor. He seemed to be high in the zone and fortunately, the wind kept balls in the park last night, or else the score might have been higher for both sides. Blanton gave up all 4 runs and struck out 3. He gave way to Chad Durbin and Ryan Madson, who kept the Nats at bay and Brad Lidge came in to nail down save number 31.

The series continues tonite with Brett Myers facing Collin Balester. However, I suspect that the focus will continue to be on how the crowd reacts to Jimmy Rollins. I suspect that the vitriol will subside as the days go by, but this self-inflicted wound will heal much quicker if Rollins creates the kind of offensive wave we all know he's capable of.

Notes:

- Greg Dobbs and Chris Coste accounted for the other Phils RBIs.

- Donovan McNabb felt the need to render his opinion on the Rollins situation to Philly.com. Mostly empathetic to JRoll......

- Mike Missannelli had two interesting guests in the past few days weigh in on the Rollins situation. Both have had unique relationships with the Philadelphia sports fans over the years. Former Phil player and manager Larry Bowa weighed in, and I'm paraphrasing here, saying that playing in the Northeast can come with a bit of fan negativity. Charles Barkley weighed in with a very similar sentiments (audio link not up on 950's website....I'll post it if it goes up).

Photo: (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

Dodgers Walk Off on Phils. Again.

For the second night in a row, the Phils jumped out to a lead on the Dodgers. And for the second night in a row, they couldn't hold the lead and lost on a hit in the bottom of the 9th. The Phils dropped their 3rd straight to the Dodgers by a score of 7 - 6 on a Nomar Garciaparra walk-off homer. The loss dropped the Phils back into a tie with the Mets in NL East.

Like with Tuesday night, the lineup featured some new twists, with Jayson Werth batting second and Greg Dobbs starting at 3rd. Both of these moves paid off as both players hit a 2-run home run to help the Phils get out to a 6 - 1 lead after 2 innings. Ryan Howard supplied the other 2-run dinger.

From that point, the Dodgers chipped away at the Phils with homers from Manny Ramirez and Andre Ethier. Neither pitch was a pitch where you figured the opposing player would crush the ball, but on the other hand, it seems the Phils can't generate offense unless the opposing pitcher gives up a cookie, so perhaps we're not used to seeing that type of hitting.

From there, Jeff Kent hit a 2-run double off of the oft-used Chad Durbin to tie the score at 6, setting the stage for Garciaparra's heroics.

The series concludes tonite with Brett Myers going against Hiroki Kuroda at 10:10pm.

Notes:

- Phils could have salted this game away for good in the 6th. Burrell struck out with the bases loaded against Chan Ho Park, a pitcher I could have hit a couple of years ago.

- Greg Dobbs' error in the 7th....guh! The ball went 5 hole on him. When will Pedro Feliz be back again?

- Nomar Garciaparra? Are you kidding me? I thought he died or something.

- Chase Utley was hit twice. Looking forward to a key Dodger eating one tomorrow night against Brett Myers.

- The homeplate umpire was terribly inconsistent last night for both sides, I thought.

- Good catch by Werth in the 8th with 2 on and no one out. Even though Kent came on to eventually tie the game, that catch was big at the time.

- Can we agree that Chad Durbin has been overused? I can see the duct tape on his arm from my couch.

- Once again, no Brad Lidge last night. Thanks Clint Hurdle!

Phils July 2008 By The Numbers

One of the nicest things you can say about the month of July for the Phillies is that....well.....at least wasn't June.

You might remember that in June of this year, the Phils got their guts stomped out by the American League and it cast a negative pall on the Phils season.

July saw the Phils climb out of that June funk somewhat, but they still do not look like that confident team that worked like a buzzsaw through the NL East. They did manage 11 wins in the month against NL East opponents, but 8 of those wins were against also-rans Atlanta and Washington. For the month of July, the Phils were 3 - 10 against Florida and the hated Mets. That is significant, because they are the two teams that are chasing the first place Phils as of this writing.

So, with that, onto the numbers for July.....

15

The number of wins for the Phils in the month of July 2008. As previously mentioned, the Phils racked up 11 wins against the NL East; most of those against the weaker sisters of the division. They dropped 5 of their 7 games against the Mets, but I wonder if that doesn't have more to do with how well the Mets are playing and not so much about how the Phils are playing.

The Mets probably played among the best baseball in the Majors in the month of June. The Mets managed to lead all of the Majors in team BA in the month of July, hitting .304 (a full 37 points higher than their season average) and amassed 18 wins during July.

So, while the 15 wins is definitely an improvement over June, there is definitely room for the Phils to pick up the pace. And once they do, you have to figure that the Mets won't be playing at the .692 clip they played to in the month of July.

.333

The July 2008 batting average for Shane Victorino.

Victorino was arguably the Phils' best player in the month of July, hitting 7 homeruns and accounting for 20 RBI. He also had a hefty (for him) 1.000 OPS for the month.

.208

The July 2008 batting average for Chris Coste.

Pick up the pace, old man. Between you and Carlos Ruiz (.224 in July), the catcher's spot in the lineup is quickly becoming a black hole.

3

Wins in the month of July for Jamie Moyer. The ageless wonder did it again in July, pitching at least 6 innings in every July start. He won starts against the Cardinals, Marlins, and Nationals and had an ERA of 2.76 for the month. You shudder to think where the Phils would be without their pitching Yoda.

11.95

The July 2008 ERA of Adam Eaton. This ERA was good enough to get Eaton sent down to the minors, where he will probably be relegated for the forseeable future. Eaton will go down as Pat Gillick's worst move during his tenure as Phillies GM and it would be a mercy move to release Eaton in the offseason.

Incidentally, when Eaton was sent to the minors, he went to Class A Lakewood, where he got raked in his only appearance to date, giving up 4 earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. You have to believe he's thrown his last pitches at the major league level for the Phillies.

2

The number of players the Phillies sent to the All-Star game in July of 2008. It was not a memorable showing for the Phils' representatives Brad Lidge and Chase Utley. Lidge took the loss for the NL and Utley, upon being booed during intros before the HR derby, dropped an "F" bomb on national television.

Summary

While it did feel like the Phillies pulled themselves out of whatever doldrums they were wallowing in during the month of June, the offensive components of this ballclub still do not feel like they are firing on all cylinders. That the Phils considered trading for Manny Ramirez at the trade deadline should tell you that the front office has significant questions about the Phillies' ability produce consistent offense.

Maybe it's the heightened expectations from last year and maybe we're expecting too much out of a flawed ballclub. Regardless, the Phillies seem far too caught up in trying to set themselves up for the 3-run homerun, rather than getting themselves on base and putting pressure on the opposing pitchers by extending pitch counts, etc. Honestly, some of this begins with the NL MVP. Rollins' OBP is about where his career OBP sits, but his BA (.263 for the year) is 13 points below his career average and 33 points behind last year's totals. His power numbers are way down, with his slugging percentage down around his 2005 totals (.431 slugging percentage with 12 homers in 2005). Rollins has been the engine that has made the Phillies' offense go in the past two years, and he has just not played to expectations so far this year.

Going forward through the month of August, the Phillies should concentrate on finding some consistency in their offense and try to battle through two really tough 4-games series on the road against the newly rejuvenated LA Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs. That consistency more than likely begins and ends with getting Rollins back on track.

Myers, Phils Beat Nats

Brett Myers pitched 7 of the strongest innings he's pitched all year and Chase Utley hit his first home run since July 7th to beat the Washington Nationals by a score of 2 - 1.

This was, far and away, Myers' best outing of the year. He pitched into the 8th inning and probably could have gotten through the inning, if not for a Chase Utley error on a ball that was a dead double play ball. He only struck out 2, but was consistently ahead in the count against most of the hitters he faced. His slider to right handed hitters seemed particular effective last night.

After Utley's error in the 8th inning left the Nats with runners at 1st and 2nd with nobody out, Manuel brought in a combination of JC Romero and Chad Durbin to limit the damage to only 1 run. Brad Lidge came on in the 9th inning to notch his 25th save on the year.

Offensively, the team was, again, somewhat dormant. Chase Utley finally got off the schneid with respect to hitting the long ball and he even got an "excuse me" basehit on a half-hearted swing in the eighth inning. Pat Burrell also chipped in with 2 base hits.

The series continues tonite with Old Man Moyer facing Tim Redding at 7:10pm.

Notes

- The Braves traded Mark Teixera to the Anaheim Angels for Casey Kotchman and a prospect. That effectively ends the Braves' thoughts of contention this year. Now, it's just the Mets and Marlins to worry about.

- Brett Myers managed to hit 2 batters during the game, but fortunately, he was able to force the next batter to hit into a DP both times.

- What a stupid, dumb, ridiculous base running mistake by Ryan Zimmerman in the 7th inning after Milledge pounded the ball off of Eric Bruntlett's glove. After the ball hopped away from Bruntlett, Rollins picked the ball up, noticing Zimmerman had taken too wide of a turn off of 2nd. The ball was quickly thrown to Utley at 2nd, who tagged out Zimmerman out. Just. Dumb.

- Before the game, Pedro Feliz was put on the 15 day DL for back issues. Bruntlett and Dobbs will reportedly split time at third base in the meantime.

- Apparently, Greg Maddux has no interest in pitching for Philly, according to CBS sportsline's Scott Miller.

Photo: Yahoo.com (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Feels So Good! Phils Rally to Beat Mets

For 8 innings, it looked like the Phillies were going to go down meekly against the Mets and the great Johan Santana. The 9th inning almost seemed a matter of course and the Phillies would relinquish 1st place to the hated Mets. Even though the Mets were without closer Billy Wagner, the Phils showed little life all night. Frankly, I was ready to turnover to the "Office" rerun on TBS.

That is, until temporary closer Duaner Sanchez came into the game and the Phillies promptly mowed through the Mets bullpen to the tune of 6 runs in the 9th inning en route to a 8 - 5 win. The win was stunning in light of the Phillies inability to solve Santana.

That the Phils did manage to scratch out 2 runs against Johan Santana is a bit deceiving. Santana cruised for much of the game, with the top of the Phils' lineup (*cough* Rollins and Utley *cough*) not doing much of anything in going 0-for-Santana.

But in the 9th inning, the Phils finally came back to life, stroking 5 hits. The killing blows were delivered by the oft-maligned So Taguchi, who hit a 2-run double to tie the game, and Jimmy Rollins, who hit a 2-run double to give the Phillies the lead. This game and this rally could have been the shot in the arm the moribund Phils' offense has been looking for.

The game marked the debut of the Phils' new starter, Joe Blanton. Blanton, obtained in a deal with Oakland looked OK. He gave up two very damaging 2-run home runs (one to Delgado, the other to Ramon Castro) in going 6 innings, throwing 100+ pitches. All in all, Blanton looked just OK. After the Phils came back in the top of the 9th inning, Brad Lidge came on to record a nerve racking save.

The win puts the Phils alone in 1st place, a game ahead of both the Mets and the Marlins. The series continues tomorrow, with Brett Myers returning from his minor league hiatus to face John Maine.

Did You Notice?

- The Phils' defense recorded 2 big time outs at the plate; one from Werth and one from Pat Burrell (via Jimmy Rollins). Great job on both plays by Carlos Ruiz of blocking the plate. Coincidentally, both times, it was Endy Chavez they got at the plate.

- Speaking of that fucktaster Chavez, what's gotten into him since he's been with the Mets? He hit .215 with the Phils in 2005, but has managed to hit .318 with a .348 OBP against the Phils this year.

- What was Johan Santana staring at when he walked in the 6th inning? It's called "pitching inside", Johan. It's legal; you can look it up.

- I'm sorry, but Carlos Delgado was struck out in that at-bat in the 3rd inning. He did not check his swing and Charlie Manuel rightfully argued the call. Naturally, Delgado managed to hit a 2-run homer in the same at-bat.

- Speaking of arguing balls and strikes, the home plate umpiring left a lot to be desired.

- Horrible play by Reyes in the 9th inning, where he tried to start a 6 - 3 double play on a ball hit by Carlos Ruiz. As he reached for the high bounding ball with his bare hand, he got beat to the 2nd base bag by the speedy Shane Victorino. The failed play at 2nd base allowed Carlos Ruiz to reach first safely. Just a dumb play when your team is up 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning (he obviously should have gone to first on the play). And yes, you could say this play opened the flood gates for the Phils.

- Good game from Victorino; the aforementioned hustle play in the ninth inning and a solo homer off of Santana.

Phils Trade For Joe Blanton

The Phillies, in a deal that's been rumored for a couple of days, have traded 3 minor leaguers to the Oakland A's for SP Joe Blanton. The minor leaguers sent to Oakland are 2B Adrian Cardenas, RP Josh Outman, and OF Matt Spencer.

My initial gut feeling on this trade is that the Phillies overpaid for Blanton. Blanton is 5 - 12 with a 4.96 ERA. Before this season, he had records of 12 - 12, 16 - 12, and 14 - 10. He ERA last season was a full run lower than it is right now. Another interesting stat: He has thrown almost 600 innings in the last 3 years.

I can't help but wonder if the decline in his numbers is due to some sort of breaking down due to overuse. There have been no reports of injury, but he seems to have fallen off of a cliff, statistically.

Furthermore, both Cardenas and Outman have been highly thought of in terms of potential down the road. Even if the organization had no plans for these guys with the Phillies because of other players in their way (especially in the case of Cardenas), you wonder if these guys wouldn't have been better utilized as trade bait for a better talent. I mean, is Joe Blanton really the best we could do for Cardenas, a .300 hitter with speed at single A Clearwater, and Outman, a lefty reliever many believe is ready for the majors now?

There is no doubting that the Phillies needed some starting pitching help, but I really would have liked to have seen it come from within in the form of JA Happ or Carlos Carrasco.

Also: is there another shoe to drop from this trade? Will either of Adam Eaton or Brett Myers get packaged in another deal? Myers has been rumored to be unhappy now that he is no longer the closer, and won't be in the immediate future, with Brad Lidge singing a 3-year deal.

Photo: Yahoo.com (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Phils 2008 All-Star Experience (Thankfully) Over

On the whole, I'd rather be in Philadelphia.

At least that is probably what Chase Utley and Brad Lidge might be thinking this AM. Both players had what you might call a less than smooth experience at the 3-day All-Star extravaganza at Yankee Stadium.

The actual game was dominated by the pitchers, but the MVP went to the loathesome JD Drew, who hit a 2-run HR in the 7th inning to tie the game. The AL eventually won in 15 innings by a score of 4 - 3. Not only did the NL lose, but our guy, Brad Lidge, picked up the loss as he gave up the winning run in the 15th inning.

As for the one position player the Phils had at the game, Chase Utley did manage to go 1 for 3, but his work in the home run hitting contest (5 HR in the first round) was forgettable and he got picked up on mike dropping the f-bomb after being booed by asshole New York fans during introductions on Monday night before the HR derby.

On the other hand, telling "fuck you" to the New York fanbase is sort of a public service message, so maybe Utley's time wasn't wasted.

Photo: Yahoo.com ((AP Photo/Frank Franklin II))

Back from Vacation

- Back from a brief respite downashore. Did manage to mess my back up pretty good on Saturday afternoon playing on the beach with my son, and that pretty much prevented me from posting on Sunday or yesterday despite having every intention of doing so.

- Is it OK yet to panic on the Phils? Dropping 3 of 4 to the Mets, at home, over the weekend should not put any Phils fan in a good mood, no matter how hard they came back in a couple of those games. The All-Star break cannot get here fast enough for this team.

- Great move signing Brad Lidge to the 3-year extension. This means Brett Myers' days as a closer are D-O-N-E. You're a starter, Brett. Start acting like one.

- I'm happy that Paul Holmgren received a 3 year contact extension yesterday, but does anyone else believe he hasn't adequately addressed the Flyers' problems on the blueline? We're OK with Steve Eminger and Ossi Vaananen as top 6 defensemen? Really?

- If you grew up in the Delaware Valley during the 80's like I did, you remember the Brigantine Castle, right? And those commercials? Found one on YouTube over the weekend:

Phils Find Bats, Beat Braves

The Phillies, seemingly unable to get out of their own way during interleague play, returned to divisional play last night and defeated the Atlanta Braves by a score of 8 - 3.

The Phillies came out hitting in the second and third inning, which we should have predicted, since Kyle Kendrick was on the mound last night. Already leading 1 - 0 on a Pat Burrell solo home run, the Phillies strung together 6 straight hits in the 3rd inning off of Braves starter Charlie Morton, including a 2-run Shane Victorino homer, to open up a 5 - 0 lead.

Meanwhile, Kendrick seemed to have runners on base in just about every inning, but was able to wiggle his way out of trouble. His luck ran out in the 7th inning, however, as Braves PH Greg Norton doubled home 2 runs, prompting the hook for Kendrick.

That was as close as the Braves would ultimately come to catching the Phils, as the Phils went on to tack on 3 more runs in the top of the ninth to salt away the win.

The series continues in Atlanta tonite, with Adam Eaton facing Jason Campillo.

Notes and Observations

- Brad Lidge pitching in a non-save situation? Guess he needed the work.

- Great defensive play by the Phils when, in the third inning, Chase Utley tracked a ball down after Ryan Howard dove to his left to field it and still managed to throw out the runner as the alert Kyle Kendrick covered first.

- Another great defensive play involving Utley in the 2nd inning, when he went up the middle to rob Jeff Francoeur.

- You wonder if Brett Myers acquiescing to a minor league assignment provided any sort of emotional lift for the Phils, who probably don't get any more joy out of watching Myers struggle than we do.

- The Phils called up left-handed reliever RJ Swindle from Lehigh Valley to replace Myers.

- The Phils also announced that they signed 1st round draft pick Anthony Hewitt.

Photo: Yahoo.com....(AP Photo/Gregory Smith)

Old Man Moyer Manhandles Marlins

His birth certificate says he's 45, but Jamie Moyer pitched last night like he's significantly younger. Moyer's pitching led the Phils to a 3 - 0 win last night, avoiding a sweep against the upstart Marlins.

Moyer was masterful as he took a no-hitter into the 6th inning of last night's game against the Marlins. A single off of the bat of the opposing starting pitcher Scott Olson (of all people) ended the no-hit bid. All in all, Moyer only gave up two hits and struck 3 in 8 innings before giving way to Brad Lidge, who notched his 18th save of the season. I can't imagine how fast it must have seemed Lidge was throwing last night after looking at the array of slop and change ups from Moyer for 8 innings.

Offensively, the Phils benefitted from Marlins' defensive miscues when Matt Treanor threw away a ball, retrieved after a wild pitch, into the Phillies dugout, allowing 2 runs to score. It would turn out that would be all Moyer needed, who incidentally, also notched a base hit.

From Miami, the Phils travel to St. Louis to start a 3 game series against the Redbirds. KK vs. Wellenmeyer at 8:15pm on CSN-TV.

Did you Notice?

- Couldn't watch the game at home (my central air is down), so went to a bar to catch the action. Ended up at Kaminsky's in Cherry Hill (after a false start elsewhere) and I heartily recommend it. I'd been there in the past to watch ballgames but I always remembered the place as dark and not terribly fun to hang out in. They've seemingly done a bunch of renovations in the last few years and the place looks great and the deck was fairly crowded as they had live music.

Burrell Powers Phils; Lito A No-Show

Pat Burrell, in his march to have someone overpay him next year, hit a 2-run bomb in the bottom of the 6th inning to break a 1-1 tie to propel the Phils to a 3 - 2 win.

Adam Eaton (!) pitched 6 2/3 strong innings to pick up his second win of the season. Eaton struck out 5 and didn't walk anyone. That Eaton didn't walk anyone is nothing short of amazing, since he averages a little over 3 walks per 9 innings pitched this year. Brad Lidge came in and saved it for Eaton and picked up his 15th save in the process. Both Eaton and Lidge were bailed out at a couple of points in the game (Eaton in the 7th, Lidge in the 9th) by a pair of esthethically pleasing 5-4-3 doubleplays.

Chase Utley was, again, in the middle of the proceedings, knocking in the Phils' first run with a broken bat single and scored on Burrell's homer after doubling off of the Reds' Aaron Harang (who took the loss for the Reds).

As it is currently raining pretty hard outside of my office window right now (a mere 10 minute drive down the Schuylkill from CBP), who is to say if the series will continue tonite or not. Since Thursday's game is a day game, there is always the possibility of a double header tomorrow. But if the series does continue, the Phils will send Brett Myers against one of the best young pitchers in baseball in Edison Volquez (7:05pm - CSN-TV).

Lito A No-Show

Lito Sheppard blew off an optional OTA yesterday and it made big news across the area.

The fact is, with Sheppard unhappy with his situation, you can't be surprised he blew an entirely optional team activity. He did attend the mandatory mini-camp last month, but the operative word is "mandatory". I doubt Sheppard is dumb enough to miss events that will get him fined. To do so, would only further deteriorate his already non-existent leverage in this situation.

If Sheppard decides to be a no-show at training camp, that will an entirely different matter. But the fact is, if he were to miss any training camp, you wonder if he'll be committing some sort of bizarre career suicide. Who will want a small, injury-prone CB who holds out of camp, who is pissed off about an extension he signed in good faith just under 4 years ago? Furthermore, what makes Sheppard think anyone will give him the contract numbers he's looking for even when healthy?

The best move for Sheppard is to do what he's told with respect to team activities and it's possible (though not likely) he'll be traded. In this scenario, Sheppard would be the team's nickle corner and if he has the year he thinks he's capable of if he's healthy, there may be more demand for his services. Only by performing on the field will Sheppard get what he's after (i. e. -- a renegotiated contract).