Four of a Kind

Well, I meant to write this when it was relatively breaking news, but since it has been out almost all day, I guess I kind of missed it. Something about final exams is messing with my blog writing. Anyway, how about Cliff Lee being a Phillie again? We now have the undisputed best rotation in baseball. With Roy squared, the Cole Train, and now General Lee, who can compete with that? Not only that, but two of them are left-handers and two of them are right-handers. With this type of rotation, the opponent will see a different side of the plate every night except for when whoever the number five starter turns up being because he will have a left-hander before or after him and a right-hander on the other side. When you couple this with one of the most prolific offenses in baseball, we have a wrecking machine being assembled. Although we lost Jayson Werth to Washington, I think our offense still has plenty of pop to support this pitching staff which I quite honestly think will not need much run support. The off-season still is not over, so let's see what other teams have in store to improve and try to fight with the Phillies!

Game Five was a Success

Well, the Phillies live to fight at least one more day. Essentially, they won because of a very nice third inning and held onto the lead. I have to say though, it was one of the craziest games I have ever seen. If you were watching, you will remember the bunt by Roy Halladay. It was definitely a foul ball; it bounced off home plate and into the left-handed batter's box but somehow it was called fair. I don't want to complain because it was a perfect sacrifice bunt, but the crazy play did not end there. Because that was ruled fair, Giants' catcher Buster Posey threw down to third baseman Pablo Sandoval who somehow missed third base. However, it looked like he tagged the base, so when he threw over to first base, I thought there was a double play and the inning was looking grim. Roy Halladay wasn't even halfway to the base because he thought correctly that the bunt was foul so he wasn't running. Crazy stuff, but the Phillies were able to capitalize on the insanity and proceeded to win the game, so I won't complain. Now we head back to Philadelphia and hopefully can push the series to seven games.

Moving On!

So anyone who watched the Phillies last night should be impressed. How many times do you have two shutouts in a three game series? Well, I'm not really sure, but at least once! I cannot believe how sloppy the series was though. There were so many errors by both teams, but I'm happy that we came out on top of course. The best part is that our rotation stays intact though. Because we were able to win in three, Roy Halladay was able to only throw in game one which is important because now he is able to start game one of the NLCS. Oswalt will be able to go game two, and Hamels will pick up game three. I'm not sure who will take game four, but I would bet on Joe Blanton. We haven't seen him for a while, and he is more than adequate to beat the Braves or the Giants. Of course, I never want to guarantee anything because I have a bad track record on guaranteeing, but I know that the Phillies will have a really great chance to win this series. If they don't, there are none to blame but themselves.

Feelin' Groovy

I was sensing trouble last night, but I now know that the Phillies are excellent! Of course, I knew that anyway, but last night definitely reinforced that. I knew that we might be in a little bit of a dilemma, but of course I was wrong. Granted, it was a bit of a roundabout way to do it, but I guess they had to give Brad Lidge an inning. That was definitely the way that they planned it. Or, we can just go with that. Sounds good to me. However, we are definitely in prime condition right now to finish it tomorrow night. It's extraordinarily rare for a team to overcome this type of deficit, so I'm feeling pretty good about their chances. Now I know that we should be able to finish this off, but I would especially like to finish it off with Cole Hamels because then we could use Roy Halladay again to start off the next series. Of course, we can win without him starting the first game and using him later, but I would like to see him start game one again. It worked pretty well last time, so I won't mess with what works.

What a Night

You all know what I have to write today. How amazing was Roy Halladay last night? In my opinion, that was pretty much the most dominant performance I've seen him turn in. He was getting first pitch strikes and never really having any ball hit hard. The closest is probably that final out by Brandon Phillips as Carlos Ruiz almost overran it and had to make a somewhat dangerous play that was fortunately successful. It was funny though because as I was watching the game on TBS, the fans were going crazy, and then as we all wondered whether or not Ruiz was going to make the throw, the fans began silent. However, as soon as Ryan Howard caught the ball, it was pandemonium. Even Roy Halladay who is particularly stoic on the mound couldn't help but smile as that final play was going down. That is definitely the way to make the playoff debut! It is hard to believe that Halladay hasn't been in the playoffs before, but I am glad that he waited for this start to be in a Phillies uniform. Now, one of the only two postseason no-hitters has been done in a Phillies uniform. How cool is that?

Preview

So now it is official, but I would go even farther to say that it is Facebook official because I have seen it on Facebook. The Phillies are playing the Reds starting on Wednesday at 5:07. You know, I wouldn't have believed ESPN when they said it, but when I saw that on Facebook I knew it had to be true. The question now changes to who will win? Well, my totally biased opinion is that the Phillies will win simply on the strength of our pitching. I know that Roy Oswalt had a tough day yesterday, but I'm not too worried about him because it is always different for a starting pitcher to come out of the bullpen. Hamels, Oswalt, and Halladay can match anyone the Reds will throw. Then, you have to look at the offense where the Phillies have power throughout the lineup. Personally, I'm hoping that Placido Polanco and Carlos Ruiz can get their elbows straightened out. So, I definitely feel like the Phillies have the upper hand in this matchup, but you have to remember my bias. I always encourage everyone to look at the primary source, so go look at the stats so that you can make your own position.

Start With Atlanta

After the Phillies won on the walkoff homerun last night, I feel like they are in pretty good shape. The only problem is that we play Atlanta tonight for a three-game series. With only a three-game lead, we better not get swept or else the lead is gone. However, we will not get swept because we have the best threesome in baseball coming in the series. For those of you who don't know, that would mean Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt, and the doctor Roy Halladay. That triumvirate can knock out any three Atlanta might throw, but what I'm really concerned about is the offense. The Phillies offense has been far too inconsistent this year for me to bet on them on any given night. However, I also know that we have one of the most dynamic offenses when they are being productive. Very few lineups can match up with the power that Philadelphia can bring. Incidentally, how about Jayson Werth becoming a Scott Boras client? He's going to finish well hopefully, and then he will make a monster paycheck. I just hope that the Phillies can hold on to him, but I guess if we can't, Dominic Brown will have to take over in the future and become a consistent contributor.
Photo by Bess Sadler on Flickr

Potentially Champs

So, the Phillies are closing in on Atlanta as they are now only two games behind in the race for the NL East. However, the Phillies are still two games ahead in the wild card, so if the playoffs started today, I would still be relatively happy because I know we can beat anyone on any given day when the offense is clicking. Honestly, I do not think there is any team that can even approach the Phillies offensively. The only problem is that the offense has been incredibly unreliable this season. However, I know that if we dropped down to the shorter rotation headlined by Ray Halladay and Ray Oswalt alongside former World Series MVP Cole Hamels and the somewhat sporadic Joe Blanton we could definitely score plenty of runs to support these guys as well as our less-than-perfect bullpen. It seems as if we haven't quite lived up our whole potential throughout the full season, but we are definitely looking better now. I definitely do not think that a third consecutive National League crown is unbelievable. It is online to be an issue of potential. If we play as good as we can, I do not believe there is anyone who can stop the Phils.
Photo by micholitzii on Flickr

Happy Halladays!

Well, how about the Phillies? We are looking a lot better now with seven consecutive wins. However, that will not be my main point tonight; I just wanted to emphasize that fact to all of you who might not be paying attention. Rather, how about we focus on Roy Halladay? He was excellent tonight and going the distance and only allowing one run that really shouldn't have been. However, that was his eighth complete game of the season. He leads the Major Leagues in that category, and that fact alone is very impressive. He has had a few rough starts, but he has mostly gone deep into games for the Phillies and given the bullpen a much-needed break. Halladay is still relatively young, but I have to wonder about his arm. He consistently throws over 100 pitches per outing. This has to drain his arm, but he also is in incredible shape. He is a big man, but his delivery seems to be relatively low stress which will help prevent injury in the future. He seems like he will not be wearing down anytime soon, so Phillies fans have that to look forward to for a while more.
Photo by Keith Allison on Flickr

Tough Luck

What pitchers can really compare to Roy Halladay? Honestly, I don't think many can. Even though he got the loss last night, he pitched a complete game allowing two runs and throwing just over 130 pitches. Most guys are lucky to throw 100 pitches in one game much less exceed that count by more than most relief pitchers throw in one outing. His stamina harkens back to another era when bullpen pitchers were not as integral to the success of the team as they are today. Out of his 9 starts this year, 4 of them have been complete games with 2 of those being shutouts. What was also remarkable about last night's start was the fact that the Phillies committed three errors behind him and he still managed to finish the complete game even though he had to throw all those extra pitches

He only needs two more wins to have exactly double his career wins total to his career losses, but if you look back at his career stats, he wasn't always this amazing. 2002 was a breakout year for Roy as he went 19-7 with a 2.93 ERA. This year would be remarkable in and of itself, but it is even more remarkable because that was his fifth year in the major leagues and he more than doubled his previous career win total with only 18 career wins previously. From there, he never looked back with a career ERA of 3.37 which was mostly pitched in the American League where ERA is about a run higher on average. Therefore, if he had been pitching in the National League his whole career, that ERA would roughly translate down to almost 2.37 which is phenomenal.

Tough luck last night kept him from the win, but we all know that many more wins will come as Roy wears the Phillies uniform.
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Fast Moving

I was very happy to see Roy Halladay look like an absolute machine against the Braves tonight. It was pretty awesome to see such efficiency on the mound. I also appreciate the fact that he does not waste any time throwing the ball. Any of you remember John Rocker? He had the longest most convoluted windup before delivering the ball because he had to adjust his hat and uniform 1,000,000 times before finally deciding that he better pitch. I realize that baseball is a long game, and the delayed action is quite honestly one of the most endearing traits because there's so much time to develop the tension and quite honestly the agony. However, enough is enough when that game has been going on for three hours already and the pitcher seems to be doubling that game time. I think that if I were a pitcher, I would want to work as quickly as possible just because I would be a nervous wreck. If I had to stand on the hill for a minute between pitches, I'll would make myself too nervous and probably end up throwing the ball into left field or some crazy location like that. I will admit that I was a little bit shocked when I saw Cliff Lee dumped after all he did for the Phillies last year. However, when it's obvious that Roy Halladay is what was coming in, I guess we can't complain too much.
Photo by furnstein

Off to the Races

It is finally Opening Day! Almost all the ice has melted off the reservoir and we barely have any snow in our yard! What is better than that? The Phillies pulled off, or should I rephrase blasted off with, an opening day victory versus the Washington Nationals. After watching President Obama throw out the first pitch, Roy Halladay owned the mound just like we are hoped he would when we allowed Cliff Lee to be shipped off to Seattle. On top of that, Placido Polanco already has regained the loyalty of Phillies fans in his second stint on Broad Street after he was shipped off in favor of Chase Utley. While this was the right move for second base, I always thought we should have kept Polanco to play third base instead of the piece mail system that was in place with David Bell, Wes Helms, Abraham Nunez, and Pedro Feliz. I liked all of these guys, but none of them seem to be able to live up to the high expectations demanded by fans who want nothing less than perfection. I just want to remind all of the baseball fans around; the Phillies are not going anywhere this season. The only thing that I could possibly see as a hindrance would be the injury bug which has crippled the great teams before.

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