Making the Grade – Phils keep finding ways to win and post franchise best record for April

The Phils end the first leg of perhaps the most anticipated season in franchise history at a franchise best 18-8. Amidst the slew of injuries, the well-documented hitting woes, and uncertainty at closer, the Fightins played a solid brand of baseball. Leaning heavily on the much heralded starting rotation, the Phillies played great defense, and hit when they needed to. Manuel, despite a few "controversial" moves, was masterful. The Phillies pinch hitters hit almost .500, knocking in 3 game winners, and the bullpen went 5-2 with an era of 2.32.



Perhaps in any other city other than Philadelphia, you could say 18-8 and move into May confident and re-assured that all the pre-season hoopla was deserved. Philadelphia Phillie fans seem to be a unusually jittery bunch, however, (perhaps the burden of expectation is too great for you, after all, this winning stuff is so new; we haven't seen a legitimately consistent contender since the Rose, Schmidt and Lusinsky years) so the Phorum invites you to take a closer look.





OFFENSE
Grade: B-



If someone were to tell you that Howard would set the April team record for RBI, that Polanco would set the April hit record and that Jimmy Rollins would get on base in 24 of 26 games, you might think the Phils were on their way back to being the offensive juggernaught of years past. That obviously wasn't the case. The Phils scored 4 or fewer runs in 17 games. They were shutout twice.



Cause for concern? Perhaps, but other than Ibanez and Chooch's backstop mate Schneider, the lineup Charlie trots out on a nightly basis has been putting together good at bats, and the fill-ins, from Orr to Valdez to Big John have played admirably. Perhaps the most telling offensive stat of the month was that Howard & Co struckout only 172 times ( good for tops in the NL.) They don't swing for the fences every at bat anymore. In addition to an aging lineup, they're just not built that way. Get used to 3-2, 4-1, 2-1. The Giants used that formula and a couple of late season trades to win it all last year.



Going forward; the question is this. Are the Phillies mastering (with great success so far) a different brand of baseball (small ball – stealing bases (18 of 24), moving runner via productive outs, hitting in the clutch,.270 RISP, ect) or have they merely been fortunate, racking up wins versus poor competition and getting the lucky bounces?



The Phils are going to get Chase back (don't expect him to be a cure-all, especially considering he hasn't played a game since last year,) and  he will be an upgrade over the ragtag collection of utility guys Charlie's been using thus far.  Dom Brown has the potential to be an upgrade over Benny Fresh in right, but beyond that, this is the lineup we'll be seeing in September. Most likely Ibanez will hit again. The Phils also have a wild card in John Mayberry Jr. Manuel has compared the big son of a major leaguer to Jason Werth a couple of times now, and Mayberry, who has always been a high-ceiling guy going back to his days in Texas, has been putting together good at bats so far this year.


The Phillies under Manuel have historically been second half hitters, what Charlie calls "hitting weather", so expect the Phillies to hit better at some point.  However, even with Utley healthy and a productive Ibanez and right field combination, there could be long stretches of futility.




ROTATION
Grade: B+


The Phab Four have been every bit as good as expected, pitching deep into game, or completing it (Halladay has 2, Lee 1) and combining to go 12 and 5 with an ERA just under 3.50. Halladay has been his Cy Young self and while Lee hasn't been dominant, he has had stretches of dominance, notching 44 strikeouts in 39 innings. Hamels, with the exception of that start against the Mets has picked up where he left off last year. Oswalt has been rock steady and if not for a rash of killer tornadoes might be 4-0. Blanton, who was awful through his first two starts, was solid in starts 3 and 4. Rookie Vance Worley in his first start of 2011 was very good, throwing six scoreless at the Bank.



The only concern for the rotation is whether they will be able to hold up the entire year. Uncertainty and inconsistency in the bullpen meant that Charlie went old school and for the most part disregarded pitch counts, letting his frontline pitch deep into the 7^th, 8^th and sometimes 9^th innings. Halladay in particular (has 686 pitches through 6 starts).  




BULLPEN
Grade: B+


5 and 2 with an ERA under 2.50 is very, very good, but the bullpen has not been without its worries. Former Rule 5 guy, David Herndon was completely awful in April (9.26 ERA in a little over 10 innings of work) and with the addition of spring training standout Mike Stutes, could be relegated to the minors when Contreras or Romero returns from DL. JC Romero has been worse than his 3.86 ERA would suggest (Manuel typically brought Romero in as a lefty specialist) and the second coming of big boy Mike Zagurski has been an unequivocal trainwreck.



That said, the pen was for most part effective. Cuban import Dennys Baez had an ERA under 2 and seemed to be spotting that plus fastball much better than last season. 25 year old Dominican Lefty Antonio Bastardo was a revelation, stranding 88% of runners inherited and posting a wow 14.9 K/9 alongside a sub one ERA (0.82).  


Kyle Kendrick was decent, though hittable, and going forward looks to be a solid replacement for Durbin coming out of the pen.



Jose Contreras was a perfect 5 for 5 in save situations and though he rarely threw a clean inning, the fastball was topping out at 96 and at 41 years young, Contreras complemented his stuff with a veteran's guile and savvy.



Finally, Ryan Madson was dominant and after two successful saves in San Diego may have finally cleared the mental hurdle separating him from dominant 8^th inning guy to dominant closer. Manual should have a nice "problem" on his hands when Lidge clears the DL.



OVERALL
Grade: A



The Phillies did more with less in April and considering that the bats don't typically come to life until late June, this should be good news for the Philly Faithful. Despite a rash of injuries, most notably all-world second baseman Chase Utley, the boys in red played a winning brand of baseball. Or rather, they won ballgames in a variety of different ways; with great pitching and solid defense being a standard. Charlie seems to have regained his Midus touch as the bench play and bullpen were outstanding.



There are, of course, a spate of concerns moving into May. The lineup has noticeably aged. Raul Ibanez will turn 39 in June and is mired in the worst 0 – fer of his career. Ruiz has already gone down and Brian Schneider has not played well to this point. Baserunners have been nabbing bases at a frightening rate (85% success rate) against both backstops, whether this is the fault of the pitching, or the catching, it's a troubling trend either way. Rollins is simply no longer the player he was in his MVP campaign, aside from a meager 5 RBI out of the three-hole, he only has six extra base hits. Ben Francisco, while he may turn out to be a competent major league hitter, looks awful in right field. Though he only has two errors, there have been a number of occasions when Francisco has taken a bad route to the ball, or just simply misplayed it. Not to mention, he's not going to scare anyone with that wet noodle of an arm.



The bullpen, a concern at the beginning of the season, looks like a mash unit. Contreras, Romero, & Lidge are on the DL & Madson has complained of achy arm. Blanton going down isn't really a concern (aside from possibly effecting his trade value), as the Phils do have some depth with Kendrick and Worley as well as Brian Bass and Nate Bump at the triple A level. However, Oswalt was pulled from a start with a bad back (a truly scary injury for any baseball player, but perhaps even more so for a starting pitcher). Oswalt, who has had back problems in the past, did make his next scheduled start but was clearly off his game and didn't make it into the fifth inning. Whether his ineffectiveness was because of the back injury or personal issues (Oswalt's hometown was slammed by a rash of tornadoes that blew through the deep South) is yet to be determined but definitely bears watching.



All said, none of the Phillies "concerns" are at this point enough to derail a team that despite its flaws is still by far the most talented team in the NL. The Phillies begin and end May against the feckless Nats, but along the way, they will face some of the stiffest competition they will see all year with series against the Reds, Rockies, Marlins, Rangers and Cardinals.



Hang on to your hats.