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.

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 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 Complete Sweep of Dodgers

Brett Myers' star crossed rollar coaster ride of a season continued last night and Jimmy Rollins awoke from a long offensive slumber to lead the Phillies to a 5 - 0 shutout win over the Dodgers last night. The victory completed a 4-game sweep of the Dodgers and allowed the Phillies to remain within a half-game of the Mets, who also won last night.

The offense last night was paced by Jimmy Rollins, who went 3 for 3, including a 2-run single that opened the scoring for the Phillies. Also providing a crucial offensive spark was Jayson Werth, who not only drove in Ryan Howard (lead-off double) in the 7th inning, but scored from 2nd base on a Chris Coste ground-out. Werth was actually running on the play, which was a high bounding ball to the 2nd baseman who had to wait for the ball to come down. Werth was able to get a good read on the ball and went hard around 3rd to score the 5th and final run of the ballgame.

Brett Myers' return to form continued last night, as Myers did pitch with men on base (12 baserunners on 9 hits and 3 walks), but he managed to keep the Dodgers from scoring. He also struck out 8 and lowered his season ERA to 4.49, which is impressive, considering his ERA was approaching 6 when the Texas Rangers knocked him around back on June 27th.

The Phils open up a crucial 2 game series against their archrival New York Mets this evening at Citizen's Bank Ballpark. The pitching matchups:

Tonite: Jamie Moyer vs. Pedro Martinez

Tomorrow: Kyle Kendrick vs. Johan Santana

Notes:

- Pat Burrell left 6 runners on base last night. As for the Dodgers, between Jeff Kent and Manny Ramirez, they left 13 men on base.

- You won't see a smoother doubleplay started by a 3rd baseman than the one Pedro Feliz started in the 6th inning, when he went to his left, calmly scooped up the Casey Blake grounder and fired to Utley, who turned the doubleplay. Feliz made it look easy. His aggressive bat wasn't the only thing the Phils missed during his stint on the DL.

Photo from yahoo.com: (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

Myers, Phils Shutout Nats

Brett Myers threw a complete game shutout as the Phils blanked the Washington Nationals by a score of 4 - 0.

The story of the game was the mercurial Myers, as he threw his first complete game since 2006, which was also the last year he spent as a full-time starter. Myers struck out 9 batters and walked only one. He did have some early inning trouble, allowing multiple baserunners in each of the first two innings, only to get bailed out of trouble either through an outfield assist (courtesy of Pat Burrell) or via the strikeout (Emilio Bonifacio in the 2nd).

Offensively, Greg Dobbs, starting at 3b, hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the fifth to give the Phils a 3 - 0 lead. Jayson Werth also knocked in a run in a fifth inning that could have been even bigger, had Jimmy Rollins not gotten caught stealing on a play where he overslid second base.

The series continues tonite with Jamie Moyer facing Tim Redding at 7:05pm.

Notes:

- Yes, Rollins was still getting booed, but the booing lacked a certain vitriol. I'm getting to the conclusion that gauging the booing of a crowd is like judging a fine wine or a good cigar.

- Chase Utley had 2 base knocks hitting the ball to the opposite field. Why is this a big deal? Teams had begun shifting infielders to the second base side of the diamond on Utley as they do with Ryan Howard. Utley seems to evolved into a dead pull hitter (like Howard) because of his early season power binge. Utley is too good of a hitter to be that one-dimensional, which is a conclusion I would hope Ryan Howard would come to as well. Both players adjusting their stroke to defeat the shift can only make defenses play both players a little more honestly.

- Brett Myers' curve ball was his big pitch last night and it was the rare at-bat where he pitched behind in the count. From Myers' perspective, I wish this game could be bottled and enjoyed at a later date.

- Anyone know what the Phillies were trying to do in the 8th inning with Chris Coste trying to steal second with Brett Myers trying to lay down a bunt? Obviously, Coste got nailed. Why did Coste run? I think the Phils got a little too cute there, in an attempt to get a man on 3rd with 1 out.

Photo: (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

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)

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.

Rollins, Phils Best Braves

Jimmy Rollins had 3 hits and scored 2 runs and Ryan Howard hit a 3-run bomb in the 3rd inning as the Phils beat the Atlanta Braves by a score of 7 - 3. The win gives the Phillies their first series win in a month, when they last played the Atlanta Braves.

Adam Eaton started, and went into the 6th inning before loading the bases with no one out and giving way to Chad Durbin, who promptly threw a double-play ball to Jeff Francoeur and got Mark Kotsay looking to clean up Eaton's mess.

Rollins not only made his presence felt with the bat, but also in the field. In the 5th inning, Rollins made a diving stop on ball going up the middle, which should have been a basehit. Instead, Rollins made the acrobatic play, flipped the ball to Utley at second, and Utley made the turn to Howard to complete a very pretty doubleplay that kept the Braves at bay.

Pat Burrell also tacked on his 21st home run of the year and Utley, Pedro Feliz, and Chris Coste all had 2 hits each.

The series concludes tonite at 7pm in a pretty good matchup between Cole Hamels (8 - 5) vs. Jair Jurrjens (8 - 3) that will be on CSN-TV.

Notes/Observations

- I could have done without all of the excitement in the 9th inning, with Ryan Howard botching 2 ground balls and Brad Lidge giving up a very long, very dangerous foul ball to Mark Teixeira that came within a few feet of tying the game in the 9th inning.

- By the way: Howard now has 9 errors at first base. I'm sorry, but that is unacceptable. He is a DH waiting to happen.

- Also: They probably shouldn't have had Lidge in the game two nights in a row in non-save situations, but it's just as well they did with Howard kicking the ball all over the infield. Fortunately, the Phils have Hamels going today, so hopefully, the Phils won't need Lidge's services today.

- Solid work by Chad Durbin last night; 2 innings of hitless, runless relief. Last night's appearance guarentees he's not the starter on Saturday, right?

- Brett Myers started for the IronPigs last night. Meh. He took the loss after working 5 innings and throwing 100 pitches.

Picture: yahoo.com (REUTERS/Tami Chappell (UNITED STATES))

Phils June 2008 By The Numbers

If you looking for good or cheery news about the Phillies, I'm not sure this is going to be the article you're looking for. It's going to be very tough to find the silver linings in the numbers for a team that has struggled as badly as the Phillies have struggled in the month of June.

The crux of the matter is that the Phillies are built around their offense. As their offense goes, so goes this ball club. They have serviceable starting pitching; it's not great, but it's good enough when they are hitting. The month of June saw many of the Phillies, including everyone's favorite second baseman, run into significant slumps that cost the team opportunities and wins in the month of June, as, amazingly, they are still in first place by a 0.5 game as play begins today in the month of July.

So, without further adieu, onto the numbers for June.....

12

The number of wins for the month of June 2008. Since the series in the beginning of the month against Atlanta, where they swept the Braves in Atlanta, the Phillies have dropped six straight series. While it's true, some of the series were against division leaders such as Boston and Anaheim, dropping series against AL teams like Texas and Oakland should not happen if the Phils were on top of their game.

I've heard and read a good number of items where it was mentioned that there is relief that the Phillies are getting out of the interleague portion of their schedule and I suppose when you're playing as poorly as the Phillies are right now, you'll struggle to grasp any straws that you can. But the fact of the matter is, if they don't right the ship now, it doesn't matter what team they are facing. Furthermore, weren't the AL teams they were facing up against the same lack of familiarity that the Phils themselves failed to adjust to? If the Phils are struggling offensively because of lack of familiarity with the American League, explain to me how the American League has been just teeing off on the NL pitchers at such a prodigious rate? Are the AL advanced scouts that much better? Is it truly that the AL is a better league?

112

The number of runs scored by the Phils in June 2008. That figure puts them at 20th in the majors in runs scored for the month of June. In and of itself, that is bottom half of the league for the month and not good news for a team that is so reliant on their offense.

Take away the June 13th game, when they tacked up 20 runs on the St. Louis Cardinals, the Phils would have scored only 92 runs for the month.....a figure that would have put them ahead of only 3 other teams in the majors. One of those teams, fortunately, is in their division (the Washington Nationals).

.232

The batting average for the Phillies, as a team, for the month of June, better than only two teams in MLB (Cincinnati and Arizona). I usually take an individual and highlight how much that person stood out, good or bad with their numbers. In the case of the Phillies this past month, they've been bad as a team.

Oh, there have definitely been some prime offenders. Geoff Jenkins hit .143 for the month as a semi-regular. You would have thought he would have been a good choice to help the Phils when they went on the road in the AL parks to DH. Not so.

Carlos Ruiz hit a paltry .178. Ruiz should lose some starts to Coste for this reason alone, but how much pressure can you put on a 30 something Chris Coste?

The worst offender, by far, was Jimmy Rollins. The Phils' leadoff man, the MVP of the NL, hit a paltry .217 in the month of June. That wouldn't have been so bad if he was getting on base alot, but is OBP was under .300 for the month. This team seems only as good as it's offensive stars. None of them performed up to standards in the month of June and ironically, they were led into mediocrity by their leadoff man.

3

The number of wins in the month of June acheived by both Cole Hamels and Kyle Kendrick.

Other then the one bad start Kendrick had against the Red Sox, Kendrick pitched well enough to keep the Phillies in just about every game he's pitched in. Lost in the 20 runs the Phils posted on St. Louis in the June 13th games is that he gave up only 1 earned run in 7 innings. Additionally, Kendrick shut out the Oakland A's, providing a tourniquette to the wounded Phils on their West Coast trip.

Cole Hamels has not had an outing where he's gone less than 7 innings in about a month. What Hamels has missed out on is either run support (losing to the Angels 3 - 2) or bullpen help (Tom Gordon implosion vs. Florida on June 11th).

Unfortunately, for the Phils, 3 is also the number of losses that Brett Myers was saddled with in the month of June. Myers' time in the rotation is probably limited and he might even welcome being skipped after the 2 inning effort he handed in against Texas. The Phils lost every game he started in June (5) and Myers' ERA for the month was an almost satanic 6.67.

0.87

Chad Durbin's ERA for the month of June in 9 appearances. Durbin is a prime candidate to take Brett Myers' spot in the rotation as he does have starting experience. Moving Durbin, however, might upset the delicate balance of a bullpen that has been an absolute rock of gibralter for this club all year.

1

The number of hits Chase Utley got in 20 AB vs. Boston and Anaheim at home. Also of note: Utley is hitting only .250 this season to date with runners in scoring position. This is a full 54 points lower than he hit all of last year in the same situation.

As fast as Chase Utley had gotten out of the gate this year, he has slowed up just as abruptly. Is this something systemic that Utley has to work out or is this a function of Jimmy Rollins being unable to get on base on a consistent basis?

Summary

What a brutal month of baseball this team flopped out there in the month of June. Some of it can be written off to not knowing the AL pitchers they were facing, but some of it is that this team is just not hitting right now. As they open up their schedule in the month of July with divisional opponents Atlanta and New York, the Phillies must decide what type of ballclub they are going to be going down the stretch. They can look at the positive in that they are still in first place despite playing their worst baseball of the year, but this team cannot just snap it's collective fingers and turn the clutch hitting back on.

Furthermore, now is the time to extricate Brett Myers from the rotation. He should be skipped at least one start. The guy to bring up? JA Happ is currently 5 - 6 for a terrible Lehigh Valley ball club, but he's got a 3.54 ERA and leads the IL in strikeouts with 104. He's a relatively young guy of 25 years old. Now is the time to see if this guy has anything. If he helps, it puts the Phils in a better negotiating position when it comes time to deal for another starter around the time of the trade deadline (for the inevitable Adam Eaton meltdown). If he doesn't help, at least you've tried to make it work from within the organization and then perhaps you check to see if Kris Benson is ready for a start or two.

Regardless, this team cannot go into this stretch of games with the status quo intact.

Finally! Phils Win!

Our (week) long local nightmare is over.

The Phils, behind 8 shutout innings from starter Kyle Kendrick, shut out the Oakland A's by a score 4 - 0. Kendrick struck out 4 and gave up only 4 hits in what was probably his best outing ever.

The Phils seemed to get right after it from the start, scoring in the first inning on a Pat Burrell sacrifice fly. They tacked on two more runs in the 4th on a Pedro Feliz triple and a Chris Coste sacrifice fly. The final run was posted courtesy of a Chris Coste base hit, scoring Shane Victorino.

The lineup featured a strange look, with Eric Bruntlett playing first and Ryan Howard as the DH. Furthermore, Jimmy Rollins was removed from the leadoff spot and moved to 3rd, with the slumping Chase Utley moved to the 2 hole. Jayson Werth led off. Pat Burrell and Ryan Howard swapped positions in the lineup. I mean, up was down, down was up, dog and cats were living together, mass hysteria, the whole nine yards.

Overall, despite the strange lineup, the Phils did what they had to do and broke out of their slump. They ran the bases aggressively (they had 3 steals last night) and yes, even Chase Utley seemingly to be figuring things out. Utley went 4 for 5 and amazingly, did not drive in or score a run (he was tagged out on a play at the plate in the 3rd innning).

The series continues today at 3:35pm, with Adam Eaton facing Rich Harden.

In other news

In a move that some Phils fans probably fantasized about during Ed Wade's tenure as GM here, Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon was suspended indefinitely for apparently attempting to choke the aforementioned Wade.

No report on whether Wade hit Chacon back with his green eyeshade and pocket protector.

The Phils Can't Stop Scoring

Wasn't it just last week that we were all complaining that the Phils' bats were held silent by the Washington Nationals?

In the last two games, opposing pitchers have been just battered by Phils hitters to the tune of 35 runs in two games. In the last game of the Houston series, the Phils tacked up 15 runs on the Astros (4 ER on 0 innings of work on Fernando Nieve alone).

Then last night, the Phils hung a 20-spot on the Colorado Rockies, in the first game of a 10 game homestand. The Phils managed 7 runs off of starter Jorge De La Rosa and another 6 off of reliever Josh Newman. It was more than enough run support for Jamie Moyer, who gave up 4 runs in 7 innings of work before giving way to mop-up guy Clay Condrey.

Chase Utley was the main offensive hero for the Phils last night as he homered in his 2nd straight game, giving him 16 homers on the season. Utley added two more hits, in addition to the homer, in chasing home 6 runs. Pedro Feliz and Chris Coste both chipped in with 4 RBI apiece.

The win keeps the Phils tied with Atlanta for 2nd place. Both Atlanta and Philadelphia are 2.5 games behind the division leading Marlins in NL East.

The series with the Rockies resumes today, as Kyle Kendrick faces Ubaldo Jimenez at 7:05pm (CSN-TV).

Everyone Is Playing Tonite

Tonite could set a record for for most remote controls broken, most beers drank, and/or most divorces initiated during the course of TV sports watching. Playoff lives will be given or taken away tonite.

Three of the four local professional sports teams are in action tonite.....all at the same time! My head is going to explode thinking about it.

The lone slacker of the local teams, the NFL Eagles, claim there is such thing as an "off-season", which I guess is a time when no one plays football games. I say "bullshit".....typical lazy, overpaid athletes is what they are.

The Phils vs. Reds 7:10pm

The Phils managed to avoid the ignominy of getting swept by the Nats and scored a come-from-behind 8 - 7 win on a walk-off walk by Jayson Werth in the bottom of the 10th inning. The real credit for the game winning run goes to Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino. Rollins, hitless at that point of the game, led off the 10th with an infield singe. Victorino then sacrificed, but Jimmy Rollins managed to race all the way to third on the play. This put the Nats in a big hole, as they then decided to intentionally walk both Utley and Howard to load the bases with 1 out for Jayson Werth. Werth took 4 straight balls and the first victory of 2008 was clinched.

Chris Coste hit his first homer of the year earlier in the contest and the bullpen managed tp pitch 6 1/3 innings of 1-run ball to aid in the win.

The Phils will now be in Cincy tonite for the first of a 4 game set.....KK vs. Josh Fogg at 7:10 on CN8.

Flyers vs. Devils 7pm

As of this writing, the Flyers are in the 9th spot in the Eastern conference, which puts them out of the playoffs. They desperately need this win to keep pace or else they'll be playing golf this time next week.

Playing the Devils will prove a daunting task as they've only beaten them once this season and have, in general, not looked good against their rival from North Jersey.

Mike Knuble, on the Flyers web site today, is asking fans to get to the game early to gain some home ice advantage. I'm always a little cynical when a professional athlete spends any time worrying what the fans are or are not doing. If the players are focused and well-prepared and concentrating on what they're doing, the fans and their demeanor generally takes care of itself

Regardless, I would imagine that Marty Biron will be in net tonite, however, don't be surprised if Stevens' pet Niitty is between the pipes. The local tabloids are suspiciously mum on who the goalie will be in the biggest game of the year to date.

Hostilities start at 7pm on CSN.

Sixers vs. Hawks 7:30pm

The upstart 76ers can clinch a playoff spot with a win over the Atlanta Hawks tonite down in Atlanta. The Hawks, themselves, can be considered upstarts at this point as they are also pushing for their first playoff berth in what seems like since I was in high school and Dominique Wilkins was still playing.

So, even if the Flyers choke up their playoff spot, at the least Wachovia center will not be dark this spring. This Sixers season continues to amaze all Philly sports watchers as they are now tied for the 5th spot in the Eastern Conference.

The last time the Sixers faced the Hawks, back in February, the Sixers lost by a score of 96 - 91 and that was before the Hawks had Mike Bibby. In that game in February, Josh Smith blocked 9 friggin' shots. Nine shots! If the Sixers want that playoff spot tonite, they'll have to earn it.

Tip-off is at 7:30pm on CW-Philly 57.