Marlins Take Series From Phils

In a game that strangely started when we were all trying to escape from the hell that is work, the Phils dropped a game, and the series, to the Florida Marlins by a score of 7 - 3. These two losses in a row have managed to drop the Phillies to 3 1/2 games back of the Mets in NL East with 16 games to play.

The Phils were flummoxed by the pitching of Ricky Nolasco, who in 3 outings against the Phils, has a 2.75 ERA with a .197 batting average against him. Nolasco went 7 1/3 innings in this game to give the Marlins all they needed off of the mound.

Brett Myers went for the Phils and while he pitched into the 8th inning, he did manage to give up 4 runs, including a 3rd inning 2-run shot to the corpse of Luis Gonzalez.

When Myers gave way in the 8th inning, reliever Chad Durbin was uncharacteristically unable to shut the door, allowing a 2 run double to Josh Willingham in the 8th (both were Myers' baserunners that scored). There were more bullpen shenanigans in the 9th inning where Durbin gave up a lead off single, only to intentionally walk Hanley Ramirez (why did we walk Hanley Ramirez again?) . JC Romero came in the game and gave up a 2-run double to Dan Uggla that essentially broke open the game and clearly angered Chris Coste, who could be seen bickering with Romero.

Offensively, the Phils were paced by Ryan Howard's 42nd homer of the year and by Chris Coste, whose 5th inning double cut a Marlin lead to 3 - 2, before scoring on a Jayson Werth single to tie the game at 3 going into the 6th inning.

From here, the Phils take on the Milwaukee Brewers in a 4 game series. The game plan is to pitch a couple of guys (notably, Jamie Moyer and probably Brett Myers) on 3 days rest. This is the most desperate move the team has made all season in a season where desperation was required in the Summer months, when the Phils forgot how to swing the bats.

Notes:

- Didn't write on Tuesday's game, but I'm done with Kyle Kendrick for the year. I like him as a pitcher, but they can't afford another outing where he doesn't get out of the early innings. I'd rather see Happ at this point than Kendrick.

- Pat Burrell was in the lineup and did manage a basehit and a walk in 4 plate appearances.

- From the bickering between Coste and Romero to the lack of hitting on this team right now, the season is palpably slipping away from these guys right now. Anything less than a split with the Brewers and you can put a fork in the 2008 Phillies.

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 Drop Series to Nats

The Phillies, allegedly girding themselves for a run at the NL East lead, dropped a series they easily could have won last night by losing to the Nationals by a score of 9 - 7.

The game got off to a good start, with the Phils posting 2 runs in the top of the first on a home run from Ryan Howard. But starter Joe Blanton, who only lasted 4 innings last night, gave those 2 runs back in addition to 2 more runs before giving way to Ryan Madson and bullpen in the fifth inning.

The bullpen, led by Chad Durbin, has been one of the most reliable parts of the Phillies this season. Not last night. Durbin came in during the 7th inning and gave up a bomb to straightaway centerfield to Ryan Zimmerman. He combined with JC Romero to give up more runs in the 8th inning allowing the Nats to salt the game away, despite the Phils scoring 2 in the top of the ninth.

Offensively, the Phils were led by Ryan Howard's 2 homers and Chase Utley's 2 RBI.

The Phils begin probably their most important series of the season this Friday at Shea Stadium when they take on the Mets. According to various reports, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel is looking to move up Cole Hamels' start so he gets the opportunity to face the Mets in what will be his first start against them this year. Anything less than taking 2 of 3 and the Phils are putting themselves in a mighty big hole down the stretch.

Probable Starters:

Friday: Myers vs. Pelfrey

Saturday: Moyer vs. Martinez

Sunday: Hamels vs. Santana.

Notes:

- The whole business with the Nationals having to make sure they got their pound of flesh from Chase Utley for bowling over their catcher was astounding. For one thing, Utley never went at the guy's head; it was a shoulder to shoulder hit. Secondly, let's not forget it was Nationals starter John Lannan who hit Utley with a pitched ball last year, shelving Utley for period of time down the stretch last year. So if any team should have had a beef, it should have been the Phillies.

Back to last night....Utley was hit by a pitched ball from Odalis Perez and was upended on a hard (clean) take out slide by Lastings Milledge. Hmmmm......

Let's add on that Chase Utley leads the league in being hit by pitched balls and frankly, I think it's now time for the Phillies pitchers to begin protecting the All-Star second baseman. Interestingly, Washington comes to Philly for the last series of the year. If the Phils are out of the race by then, things could get nasty.

Photo: Yahoo.com....(AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)

Phils Stun Mets; Back in First

There was a feeling that the Phils HAD to have this game, given that Santana is pitching tomorrow night and has generally pitched well against the Phillies. Who knew the lengths they had to go to in order to accomplish that feat.

The Phils beat the Mets by a score of 8 - 7 in 13 innings, but had to do it by coming from behind and overcoming a 7 - 0 deficit in order to do so. The win catapaults the team a half game into first place in NL East.

The Mets jumped out to a 6 - 0 lead off of Phils starter Jamie Moyer, who had his shortest outing as a Phil. Moyer gave up 2 homeruns; one to 2B Damion Easley, and a more controversial one to Fernando Tatis. Tatis, a few pitches before he hit the homer, hit a fair ball off of his own man, Carlos Beltran, who was leading off of 3B and was in fair territory. By rule, he should have been out and Tatis awarded first. Instead, Moyer continued to work to Tatis, who eventually took him deep to make the score 6 - 0.

From that point, the Phils bullpen put a stopper on things, giving up just 1 run in 10 innings of work.

Offensively, the Phils finally woke up a bit in the 4th, scratching out a run on a Pedro Feliz sacrifice fly. The 5th inning saw the Phils get a lead off double from pitcher Clay Condrey, followed by a 2-run homerun by Jimmy Rollins. After a Chase Utley walk and a Pat Burrell strikeout, Ryan Howard took Pedro Martinez to the opposite field to pull the Phils within 2 runs and Citizen's Bank Ballpark seemed to coming alive.

After threatening in the 6th inning, the Phils scraped together another run via a Jimmy Rollins single that scored Carlos Ruiz to draw them within a run.

The 9th inning called for desperate measures with 2 outs. Jayson Werth kept the game going with a single up the middle that was off of the end of his bat. The next batter, Eric Bruntlett, was the last position player off of the bench and he responded with a double, scoring Werth and tying the game. Werth appeared to almost run over the plate without actually touching it the first time (fortunately, he had time to double back and touch the plate).

In extra innings, the Phils threatened in both the 10th and 11th inning, but to no avail. The Phils bullpen, led in extra innings by Ryan Madson, JC Romero, and Rudy Seanez held down the fort allowing scant opportunities for the Mets outside of a stray walk or basehit, which was left stranded.

In the 13th inning, the game was over for all practical purposes when Shane Victorino led off, shearing a triple to right field. From that point, the Mets loaded the bases by walking Bruntlett and Werth intentionally in order to trigger a double play. After an "interesting" strikeout by PH Brett Myers, Chris Coste sent a 1-0 Scott Schoeneweis offering over CF Carlos Beltran's head to score Victorino and send the Phils into first place.

The 2-game series ends tonite with Johan Santana possibly facing Kyle Kendrick. I say "possibly", because, in this bizarre game, Kendrick was warming up in the bullpen to possibly enter the game. You wonder if the Phils still intend to pitch Kendrick today.

NOTES:

- Jimmy Rollins' offensive numbers: 5 for 7, a double, a homer, 3 RBI, and 3 SBs. This is the type of performance that earned the MVP and it's what's been missing from the Phils offense for most of this season.

- Bruntlett and Coste, entering the game late, ended up going a combined 6 for 6 with 2 RBI, in hitting the game tying and game winning hits respectively.

- Unforgivable slip by Tom McCarthy in the bottom of the 12th, continually referring to CBP as "Shea". Tom, please just head back up the turnpike and tell Scott Graham to please come back.

- Not sure it was possible for Pat Burrell to have a more feeble night at the plate in striking out 4 times in 7 ABs and leaving 10 men on base.

- The home plate umpire, Mike Everitt, had a tough night. By the 12th inning, I had no idea what a strike was and the way he blew that call in the 3rd inning, where Tatis hit a fair ball off of Carlos Beltran, leading off of 3rd base in fair territory, was unconscionable.

- Carlos Ruiz played 3B last night; the first time he has done so in the Majors.

- Can you imagine trying to keep score of this game?

- Big outfield assist from Jayson Werth in the 11th inning on a hit by David Wright. The ball kicked off the stands just right, Werth was in the right spot to pick up the ball, and gunned out Wright, who appeared to injure his hand on the play. It'll be interesting to see if Wright, who earlier fouled a ball off of his foot, will play tonite.

- Myers' AB in the 13th inning was comical. He did a bunch of posturing, as if he was going to take his hacks, when in reality, it seems he was just sent to stand there and maybe draw a walk with no outs and the bases loaded. The strategy almost worked. Myers went to 3 - 2, before he struck out looking.

Pic from Yahoo.com ((AP Photo/Tom Mihalek))

Phils Bow to Dodgers

The LA Dodgers scored 3 unanswered runs to come from behind and beat the Phillies last night by a score of 4 - 3. This loss, coupled with wins by the Mets and the Marlins, cuts the Phils' lead in NL East to a game and a 1.5 games, respectively.

The Phils jumped out to a 1 - 0 lead in the first inning, thanks to a home run from Chase Utley. Cole Hamels gave that run back in the bottom of the 1st, but the Phils battled back to go up 3 - 1 after 3 innings on the strength of a Cole Hamels RBI single and a Pat Burrell sacrifice fly.

The Dodgers, however, chipped away at the lead, scoring in the 6th off of Hamels, in the 8th off of Chad Durbin, and finally, in the 9th off of JC Romero. It is unclear to me why Romero was in the game, as Lidge is supposedly OK to pitch after taking last weekend off. Regardless, Romero gave up the game winning hit to Andre Ethier, scoring Russell Martin.

The Phils will try to bounce back tonite, with Joe Blanton going up against Brad Penny at 10:10 pm.

NOTES:

- Yet another tough luck outing for Hamels: 7 IP, 2 ER, 7 K's and a ND.

- Shane Victorino was pulled from the game because of back issues.

- Anyone notice Manny Ramirez glaring at Chad Durbin after Durbin hit him with a pitch? What has Ramirez done that everyone thinks he's so tough? I'd love to see him actually charge the mound once and have some pitcher give him the Robin Ventura treatment.

- The lineup was a bit different last night, with Shane Victorino leading off and Jimmy Rollins batting 3rd. I'd even consider batting Utley at leadoff and Rollins second until they can, somehow, get Rollins (1 for 4 last night) going.

- Speaking of Utley, he made a tremendous diving grab of a Russell Martin line drive to save further damage in an inning where the Dodgers had already scored and were threatening for more.

- Because of elbow and arm problems, Tom Gordon is likely done for the year and probably, his Phillies career.

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)

Phils Fall; Rollins Benched Again

It was bad enough that the Phillies wasted a stellar effort from Jamie Moyer yesterday, en route to losing to the hated Mets by a score of 3 - 1 to fall out of first place in the NL East.

What exacerbated things even more was that Jimmy Rollins, the reigning NL MVP, was a late scratch in the lineup before the ball game. The reason?

He was late to the game.

This means that Rollins has now broken both of manager Charlie Manuel's rules for the team:

1.) Hustle

2.) Be on time.

Remember, that incident back in June? The one where Rollins didn't run out a ball that ended up falling in for a hit and Rollins, one of the fastest players in the league, only managed to get to first because he didn't run things out? Manuel benched Rollins then in favor of Eric Bruntlett and he did it again yesterday.

And I have no problem with it.

Rollins personifies the type of season this team is having right now. Rollins is incandescent at times and invisible other times. And if we really want to start naming names, let's talk about the second baseman. Chase Utley is hitting a mere .217 since the All-Star break and frankly looks lost at the plate. He and Ryan Howard combined to go 0 for 7 with 6 strikeouts between them.

No, there is something wrong with this team. And what is scary is that it's the part of the team that is supposed to be automatic, which is, the offense. While it is a bit too early to hit the panic button, it is not too early to be very, very concerned about the direction of this team from now until the end of the year. The offense has still not come around and the best part of the team in the 1st half, the bullpen, has now surrendered two straight losses.

This team will hit; no doubt about that. But when they start, will it be enough?

As for yesterday's game, Moyer went 7 strong innings, giving up 1 run on 2 hits. The game was lost when JC Romero came in, gave up a two-out, 2-run double to Carlos Delgado in the bottom of the 8th inning. The only Phils offense was supplied by (surprise!) a solo home run (from Jayson Werth).

The Phils come home for a weekend series with the Atlanta Braves this evening. Probable pitching matchups:

Fri: Kyle Kendrick vs. Jair Jurrjens
Sat: Cole Hamels vs. Jo-Jo Reyes
Sun: Joe Blanton vs. Jason Campillo

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Moyer, Howard Humble Cards

Jamie Moyer pitched 7 strong innings, giving up only 1 earned run and Ryan Howard hit two home runs as the Phils beat the Cardinals in a Business Person Special at CBP by a score of 4 - 1.

Moyer struck out 4 and walked 2 in winning his eighth game of the year against 6 losses. The win for Moyer is the first win in almost a month (6/12 vs. Fla) and despite his relative lack of success lately, Moyer's ERA is now below 4 at 3.95. Not bad for an old guy.

As for Ryan Howard, he certainly seems to have heated up at the plate as the weather has gotten hotter. For the month of July to date, Howard is hitting a cool .375 with 7 homers and 15 RBI. This surge has been good enough to put him in the NL lead for both home runs (27) and RBI (83). With that sort of run production, it is now a little easier to ignore his MLB leading 125 strikeouts.

Since Brad Lidge was unavailable due to extended usage the night before, JC Romero came on in the 9th to nail down his first save of the season.

Tonite, the Phils open up a series at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Probable starters for the weekend:

Fri: Doug Davis vs. Kyle Kendrick (7:05pm)

Sat: Randy Johnson vs. Adam Eaton (3:55pm)

Sun: TBA vs. Cole Hamels (1:35pm)......although I was reading somewhere that this is typically Brandon Webb's turn, but since the All-Star break starts on Monday, he may not be pitching).

Phils Notes

As you no doubt have heard by now, Chase Utley will be the latest Phil to compete in the Home Run derby at the All-Star game.

Am I the only Phils fan NOT excited about this prospect? Do I really need my All-Star second baseman and perennial MVP candidate screwing up his swing at a whorish, made-up event like this?

The Phils do have a history with the home run derby. Bobby Abreu won the event in 2005 in Comerica Park and Ryan Howard won the event in 2006 in PNC Park. The results for the reminder of the year, for each player were a bit of a mixed bag.

Bobby Abreu slumped in the 2nd half of 2005, hitting just .260 with 6 HR and 44 RBI. Ultimately, Abreu was traded in a well publicized salary dump the following year. Ryan Howard, on the other hand, hit .355 in the 2nd half of 2006 with 30 HR and 78 RBI on his way to winning the NL MVP.

Utley has a swing that is more of a quick whip of the bat designed to produce line drives rather than home runs, which differs from Howard's power stroke. I also don't believe that Utley's swing can be compared to Bobby Abreu's stroke, whose hands are not as quick as Utley's and can spray the ball to all fields. I personally don't think Abreu has been the same player since he won that Home Run derby. Is it all the fault of the event? Hard to say.

Ultimately, though, I think Utley has the disposition and attention to detail to be able to handle what the event entails, but I would just as soon that he not have to worry about tweaking his swing or artificially trying to drive the ball out of the park just for the sake of this event.

Phils Win! Howard Breaking Out?

The Phils beat Roy Oswalt and the Houston Astros last night by a score of 7 - 5. There were several heroes last night, but the first one that should be discussed is the Big Man, Ryan Howard.

Ryan Howard had 3 hits last night, including an opposite field shot off of Oswalt that was reminiscent of Howard's MVP year, when it seemed everything was hit the opposite way. This game for RyHo is on the heels of the game in Washington on Wednesday night, when Howard jacked 2 homers and really looked confident at the plate for the first time in a long time. A confident Ryan Howard will go a long way as the baseball season heads into the Memorial Day weekend (the unofficial start of Summer).

Also of note for Howard: his average is now above the Mendoza line. Howard's average, after two straight 3-hit games, stands at .207.

Want another hero? How about Pat Burrell? Burrell hit a pinch hit home run that broke a 5 -5 tie in the 8th inning.

Pat Burrell? Are you kidding me?

How bad must Burrell want the one more big contract before he goes on permanent happy hour? Maybe that's a bit cynical, because you'd like to think that Burrell could have done the sorts of things he's done this year with a little more consistency in the past.

Want another hero? How about more than one hero? The Phils bullpen pitched 4 scoreless innings after Phils starter Kyle Kendrick gave up 5 earned runs over 5 innings. Ryan Madson, JC Romero, Chad Durbin (who picked up the win), Tom Gordon, and Brad Lidge all combined to hold the Astros down offensively until the bats could wake up and provide the winning margin. Coming back to Houston and picking up a save in a town where he caught a little heat must have been especially satisfying for Brad Lidge. It was his 12th save on the year, and he lowered his ERA to a microscopic 0.43.

The series against Houston continues tonite at 8:05 (televised by CSN) with Adam Eaton facing Brad Backe.

Did you notice?

- Houston's Lance Berkman went 3 for 5 last night and is probably as dialed-in as any baseball player I've seen on another team this year (Brandon Webb, before his loss the other night, comes to mind). He's hitting .388 and was definitely worthy of the hyperbole being heaped upon him by the Phils announcers last night.

- Michael Bourn is hitting for crap (he struck out 3 times last night to go with his 2 hits, but is only hitting .214, with a tiny .275 OBP), but he stole his 21st base last night. The Phils still haven't replaced his speed on the bench.

Phillies April 2008 By The Numbers

The month of April for the Phils wrapped up a week ago, but in the spirit of turning away from my NBA basketball mistress and finding my MLB baseball girlfriend, I feel like this review can help you catch up if you have been caught up in the relative success of the Winter sports teams.

Even though the Phils started off slow last year and were able to come back to win the division, conventional wisdom was such that it was not a good idea to start off slow again. After all, slow starts killed the Phillies in previous years, and it was probably unreasonable to count on the Mets choking every year (although, it would be a whole lot cooler if they did).

With that said, let's take a look at the Phils by the numbers for April 2008....

15

The number of wins accumulated by the Phils in the month of April. This is 4 wins over what they did in April of last year, but more importantly, the Phils avoided digging a big hole early for themselves as they've done in the past few years. They finished the month 2 games over .500 and a mere 1/2 game out of first place behind the upstart Marlins and the hated Mets.

What is even more remarkable about their position in the standings is the fact they have accomplished it without the help of MVP SS Jimmy Rollins. Rollins injured his ankle on April 9th and has been on the DL since April 21st with an ankle sprain that probably should have landed him on the DL sooner than it actually did. No one will probably ever know who screwed the diagnosis up, but I can't help but wonder if Rollins undersold the injury to trainers to get back on the field quicker.

24

The number of RBI by Pat Burrell in the month of April. This eclipsed the previous high for RBI in the month of April by a Phillie set previously by Von "The Stick" Hayes in 1989. Overall, Burrell started off incredibly fast, hitting .326 for the month, with an OPS of 1.136 (.450 OBP, .685 slugging pct.). For the month of April, Burrell was 3rd in MLB in RBI and 2nd in MLB in HR with 8.

Clearly, Burrell, the early "bird", is doing everything he can to get his worm (read: next contract).

.168

The batting average of one Ryan James Howard. I have never seen Howard look more lost at the plate than he does right now. He led all of MLB in strikeouts for the month with 37 and I have to say, I'm not sure there is an end in sight. Manager Charlie Manual sat Howard for a few games so that maybe he could get his head together, but I'm not sure how much it's helped. You have to wonder when Manual will start tinkering with his batting order in order to enable Howard to see some better pitches to get his confidence back, because it can only be confidence that is holding Howard back right now as he does not appear to be injured.

10

The number of home runs hit by Chase Utley in the month of April. Pat Burrell has definitely been the offensive motor, but the driver of the offensive car since JRoll has been out has definitely been Chase Utley. Utley led all major leaguers in April with 10 homers to go with his 21 RBI and an otherworldly 1.168 OPS (.427 OBP, .741 SP) and shows no sign of letting up through the first week of May. It's been a lot of fun to watch Utley and Burrell step up and take control, offensively, with Jimmy Rollins on the shelf.

5.06

The ERA for "staff ace" Brett Myers. Look, I'm a huge Brett Myers fan. I was never happy with the decision for him to go to the bullpen because I looked at him as a young Curt Schilling that just needed time to develop.

But I have no answers for what is currently up with Brett Myers and his flagging ERA. He has definitely lost some velocity on his fastball, but according to reports, it's because Myers is not diligent in his "long tossing".

I've always felt that Myers had the ability to be the best starting pitcher on this staff (that includes Hamels); I'm just waiting for him to finally show everyone.

0.00

The April ERA for one Juan Carlos "JC" Romero. In 13 appearances, he gave up zero runs and opponents are hitting only .233 off of Romero. So far, his new contract looks like money well spent.

Summary

If you had told me that the Phillies were going to be without Jimmy Rollins for an extended stretch of April, I would have predicted a disaster, given the Phils' recent history with getting off to slow starts. But to leave the month with a record above .500 and still hanging around in the thick of things in the NL East, it bodes well for the Phillies, who seem to play better as the weather gets warmer.

Some stories to watch out for:

- Will Shane Victorino see less time in the lineup after starting off slow (.239/0/2) and being hurt for most of the month of April? Jayson Werth did a great job in his stead hitting .276 with 5 homers for the month of April. Werth is athletic and did not look out of place in CF at all.

- How long before we have to bring someone up or make a trade before Adam Eaton (5.08 ERA in April) implodes?

- Will Jimmy Rollins' running game suffer when he returns from his ankle sprain?

- Can Shane Victorino be a top of the lineup hitter?