Week Four Wrapup – Making every hit count, Phillies end week with a sweep

The Phillies played sloppy baseball for the first time this season, committing 5 errors in a 3 game series with the Brewers and the offensive woes continued as the team hit a combined .186, .131 with runners in scoring position.  But the starting rotation was as good as advertised and went 5-1 with an ERA just under 2.50 and the Phillies offense was good when it counted, slugging ten extra base hits as the Phightins.  All told, Philadelphia posted a 5-2 record for the week, dropping the first series against the Brewers 1-2, before sweeping the Padres in a four game set at Petco.

Joe Blanton put together back to back good appearances.  His line for the week: 2.89 ERA - 14 IP 2ER 14H 2BB 7SO

Ibanez looked awful at the plate, going 1-22 and striking out 10 times.  Manuel started John Mayberry Jr in leftfield in the Padres series fanale against left hander Wade LeBlanc.  Mayberry made good contact in all three appearances against LeBlanc collecting a RBI double in the seventh. 

The back end bullpen trio of Ryan Madson, Jose Contreras and Antonio Bastardo have given up one run 27 combined appearances.  They have converted 8 of 8 save opportunities and have a combined WHIP of 0.89.  A questionmark going into the season, Charlie’s made it a strength.

                                     

Stat of the week:

Phillies pitching throws 23 straight scoreless innings.

Highlights:

Phils pitching notches two more shutouts

Seems like there one or two of these a week.  Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt combined with an efficient bullpen to throw two, Cole going 8 strong in San Diego, twirling his newly refined cureball and his plus plus changeup for 8 strikeouts and a whole lot of broken bats and nubbers. 

Ryan Howard beats the Padres in the 11^th

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the Padres intentionally walk Jimmy Rollins to get to Ryan Howard with the game on the line.  Howard blooped a two-run single down the left field line to win the game. 

Week Three Wrapup – Phillies roll on, pitching lives up to hype

Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee pitched like the One-Two Sucker Punch Ruben Amaro envisioned in signing Lee to a 5 year deal, throwing complete games in a back to back appearances against the Nationals, (something that hasn’t happened in over ten years ).   Lee tossed a 99 pitch shutout in the rubber match.  Their combined line: 2-0 18IP 9H 3ER 3BB 21SO.  

Roy Oswalt left the game in the sixth inning of his start with a tweaked lower back.  Oswalt, who has had back issues in the past, says he’ll be ready for his next scheduled start.  If you’ve ever had back problems, particularly lower back problems, you’ll know that this is something that bears watching.  Oswalt’s has been very good in the early going, his line in his first 3 starts, 2-0 2.50 ERA 18IP 18H 4BB 14SO.

The offense wasn’t very sharp, leaving an astounding 73 men on base, in only five games.  They were good enough to win however, going 3-2 in a rainshortened week.  Carlos Ruiz was clutch knocking in two game winning runs.  He looked sharp in the Washington series, blocking the plate well and throwing better than he has shown so far. 

Manuel continued to bat Rollins in the 3-hole.  While the former MVP has continued to put together good at bats, getting on base and posting a solid average (.298/.355), he didn’t record his first RBI of the season until the 13^th game of the season.

Stat of the Week:

The Phils only hit .220 for the week but in clutch situations, they posted a healthy .295 RISP (13 of 44 ). 

Highlights

Carlos Ruiz breaks up a no-hitter

Nationals pitcher, Jordan Zimmerman was electric for six innings, mixing 95mph heat with a sharp power slider and good control of the plate.  The Phillies were hitless to open the bottom of the sixth.  Ruiz, who’d struck out badly in the third was looking for a breaking ball, preferably down and in.  Zimmerman hung an 0-1 curve and Ruiz deposited the pitch into the left field seats.

Cliff Lee was dominant in his third start of the season.  The Nats didn’t have many good swings the entire night, and Lee only needed 99 pitches to get through nine.  Phils win 4-0.

The Dobbers can still hit

Greg Dobbs beat the Phillies with a slap shot pinch hit for the Marlins.  Dobbs, who was not resigned this off-season, is off to a good start with the fish hitting .421 with 7 RBI.

Week Two Wrapup – Phils clobber division foes, Phil-ins lead the way

The Phils offense busted out this past week scoring runs by the bunches, reaching double digits three times as they pounded the hapless Mets at the bank and then whooped up on the Braves in Atlanta. Oh and by the way, the pitching wasn't too bad either as the Fightins posted a 4 and 2 record in Week Two.  Hamels and Halladay combined with the bullpen for two separate shutouts.


Highlights:
Howard beating the Mets in a rollercoaster 10-7 win.


Joe Blanton looked good, really good, for about three innings. The offense, whom Jimmy Rollins said would be the "B" squad on a team with four aces, had banged, dinked and run out to a 7-0 when things began to fall apart in the 4^th. Blanton nailed Carlos Beltran with an 0-2 pitch and then threw a gitmeover meatball to Philly Killer Angel Pagan, Pagan responded by drilling the pitch out and over the center field wall. Blanton got through the rest of the inning before the wheels completely fell off in the 5^th and Manuel had to use little lefty Bastardo to get the last two outs. 



When all was said and done, the Mets had tied the game at 7, sending 11 batters to the plate and scoring five.


Aha, but that's when things got interesting, after a ho-hum inning and two thirds against the Mets bullpen, Victorino doubled. Polanco blooped a single and a batter later, Howard slapped an oopsydo hanger down the third base line for a commanding two-run lead. Game set match.


Halladay stymies the Braves

The Doctor was even better in his second start, putting up zeroes for seven strong before being pulled, the Phillies up big. An interesting side note: in the 8^th inning, Manuel used John Mayberry to pinch hit for Madson. Mayberry responded by slapping a 2^nd pitch cutter into left field.



 King Cole tossing eight scoreless in Atlanta
Victorino scored twice and hit a long home-run off nemesis Derick Lowe to lead the Phils to a 3 – 0 win on Valentine's day.

Ruiz smacks a pinch hit grand salomie

Best quote of the season, "They hang em, I bang em." – Carlos Ruiz on his grand slam

Week One Wrap-up – Phils start season with walk-off, sweep Astros at the Bank

The Phils opened 2011 with a wow, and swept the Astros handily.



The Rotation looked good to very good. Halladay seemed to fight himself a bit on opening day, getting into a number of deep counts but he only gave up one run and scattered five hits over six innings. Lee was really good for stretches as was Oswalt, although both aces hung a number of very hittable pitches that were only fouled off or missed. The rotation went a combined 3-0, pitching in a combined 19 of the teams fist 27 innings. They made the Astros look like what they probably are this year, namely, a very young, very flawed team with a few legitimate players.



Charlie had Victorino leading off, and Jimmy Rollins hitting third the entire series (except for the finale when Michael Martinez started and led off). They looked comfortable. Rollins and Victorino picked up a combined 8 hits, scored four times and knocked in three runs. Not great production, but the offense looked efficient, bunching hits and walks together, and running the bases well.


 
Highlights:

John Mayberry's walk-off hit on opening day.

Charlie had burned up the left side of his bench, leaving only the backup catcher Schneider, mini-me impersonator Michael Martinez and big John. 


Sometimes its better to be lucky than good. Or good and lucky. That Mayberry hit a right hander, laid off a couple balls out of the zone and poked 2-2 hanger was nice to see. The wrap on him has been that he can't lay off the junk or hit righties.



Go Figure.


The return of Brett Myers.

I think Brett Myers has been possessed by the ghost of, well, a pitcher. Myers who tops out these days at 90 was using both sides of the plate and throwing a change for strikes. Good strikes too. Still spins that nasty breaking ball.



The Phorum wants to know, when did this happen?


The Return of Cliff Lee

Cliff Lee's return to Citizens Bank was raucous. Fans cheered when Lee struckout in the second and roared when Lee got an awkward looking sac bunt down in the 4^th. 

Oh and by the way, he pitched really well too. Struck out 11 and looked vicious the first two times through the lineup.