Liberty Ball

The Phillies are off to a fast start in the 2010 season. While they have been getting outstanding pitching performances from nearly the entire staff, they have only had one game in which they scored less than five runs, leading them to a 7-1 record. Sure they may not have played against good competition in those eight games, but they are doing what you are supposed to do, beat the bad teams, and they are doing it in convincing fashion. In their seven wins, they have outscored their opponents by an average of over five runs a game.

            On Wednesday, it was more of the same for the Phillies. They defeated the Nationals 14-7 in a slugfest, in which neither starting pitcher made it out of the second inning. After the second inning, the two teams had combined for a total of 13 runs. The Phillies outslugged the Nats mainly behind the bat of Chase Utley, who belted 2 home runs in the game, while driving in a total of 4 RBIs. Shane Victorino also got in on the fun, hitting a home run of his own, in part of a 4-5 day in which he knocked in 5 RBIs. The top five spots in the Phills line up went a combined 10-18, with three home runs, and 10 RBIs. On the other hand, it was not a good day for Phillies starter Kyle Kendrick, who pitched just 1 and 2/3 innings, giving up six hits, six earned runs, walking three and striking out just one batter. Nelson Figueroa picks up his first win of the season. He pitched well, going 3 and 1/3 innings, while giving up just two hits and one earned run. The Phillies wrap up their series against the Nats on Thursday, when they try to complete the sweep, and improve their record against the Nats this year to an impressive 5-1.

The two-time defending NL Champion Philadelphia Phillies made a big splash this offseason, trading away their ace, Cliff Lee, and receiving arguably the best pitcher in baseball, in Roy Halladay from the Blue Jays as part of a mega three team deal. Halladay proved he was worth every penny of the $60 million contract he received from the Phills on opening day. Halladay went seven strong giving up just six hits and allowing one earned run, while striking out nine. Granted he was facing last year’s worst team in the Washington Nationals, but it’s great to see Halladay sharp in his first outing of the year. Another key acquisition had a big day for the Phills, as former Tiger Second Baseman, and now Third Basemen, Placido Polanco, went 3-5, hitting a Grand Slam, and knocking in 6 RBIs.

The Phillies completely dominated the hapless Nats 11-1 in the opener, and they looked as good as ever as they try to reach their third World Series in a row. The Phills were off today, but play in Washington again on Wednesday when Cole Hamels will take the mound for the first time this season, as he looks to rebound off of a very forgetful 2009 campaign, and tries to regain the 2008 magic when he led the Phills to a World Series Title. Hamels was just 10-11 last season with a 4.32 ERA in 32 appearances. If Hamels can step up and fill that number two spot in the rotation like he is capable of, the Phillies will have one of the most dynamic 1-2 punches in all of baseball at the top of their rotation. Halladay is an immediate CY Young contender, and Hamels must give him some protection as the number two guy in the rotation. J.A. Happ, Jamie Moyer, and Kyle Kendrick close out the starting rotation. There are a lot of question marks in the 3, 4 and 5 spots in the rotation, all the more reason why Hamels must have a great year.

I would like to take a little time to congratulate the Fresno State Bulldogs.  They are the new NCAA Baseball Champions.  If you have heard anything about the College World Series this year, you will know that Fresno State is the lowest seeded team in any sport to win a championship.  They were the underdog in basically ever game they played since the Regionals started.  Through the tournament they faced 6 elimination games and beat 5 different conference champions.  The Bulldogs made it in automatically by winning the WAC.  Otherwise they would not haver received an at-large bid.

I was cheering for them the entire time they were in Omaha.  They showcased what hard work, timely hitting, and playing as a team can really achieve.  I’m sure the Phillies management had to be pleased to see the win.  The Phillies 19th round draft pick, Steve Susdorf, was named to the All-CWS team as a starting outfielder for the Bulldogs.  Susdorf came back for his senior year after being drafted by the Tigers last season all so he could do “something special” with his team.  I don’t even think he knew that his something special would be this big.

Enjoy it, boys.  I had a great time watching you.

If you tuned in late to the game tonight you might have missed it. It took about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The reason it was so short…the Phillies got 1 hit and lost 1-0. Cole Hamels looked very good in his first start of the year giving up only one run in 8 innings of work on a solo homer to Ryan Zimmerman. Pedro Feliz got the lone hit for the Phillies.

Jimmy Rollins led off the bottom of the 9th inning with what I thought was going to be a leadoff double, but the Nats were shifted defensively to prevent a double. Rollins’ shot down the first base line was easily fielded by Nick Johnson for the first out, and the Phillies went quietly.

Gametime tomorrow is 1:05. Jamie Moyer takes on right-hander Jason Bergmann.

It’s official.  The Phillies announced the signing of relief pitcher Rudy Seanez today.  Wes Helms was released in order to make room for Seanez on the roster.  Helms will have a 10 day period where he can be signed by any team for the league minimum contract.

Brad Lidge comes back on Saturday, and from what I’ve heard, it seems like Tim Lahey will be released to make room for him.  It is suspected that Lahey will go to the Twins or back to the Cubs.

Philadelphia goes for its first win of the season against the Nationals tonight at 7:05 et.  Cole Hamels will take on Tim Redding.

A day later than expected, the Phillies got a victory in their first spring training game.  Yesterday the Phils beat the Cincinnati Reds 8-1.  Philadelphia blew the game open with a 7 run 5th inning.  Greg Dobbs led the charge with a 3 run home run.  New acquisitions, Geoff Jenkins and Pedro Feliz produced well with Jenkins driving in Ryan Howard in the 2nd, and Feliz going 2-2 with an RBI and run scored of his own.

Jamie Moyer, the oldest player in the league, was the most impressive performer of the day.  Moyer pitched 3 scoreless innings while giving up only 1 hit and striking out 3.

The Phillies play the Pirates today at 1:05 et.  The game against Florida State was cancelled due to rain.

I’ll give credit that Johan Santana is good.  He has been the most dominant lefty in the AL for a few years now.  His addition to the Mets has made them extremely cocky.  They seem to think that now they are shoe-ins to win the NL East.  According to Bob Klapisch’s article on ESPN.com, Carlos Beltran wants to make sure Jimmy Rollins knows that the Mets are the team to beat in the East.  Somehow they think that adding one pitcher will make them much better from last year.  Yes, he will add some wins on his own, but if they still have the same colapse at the end of the season they had last year, a man who plays once every 5 games will not save the team everygame.

The Phillies are the defending NL East champs, and have made the right moves to repeat, no matter who the Mets have pitching.

This has been an ugly stretch.  The only consolation is that the Mets have struggled as well, not that we have much of a chance of catching them.

Things started out on a familiar note, and that was a rain out.  That meant two yesterday and the Phillies dropped both of them and neither were pretty.  I’d like to just ignore them if you don’t mind.

Sigh.

Today was the win though. Ryan Madson was one out short of a complete game shutout but Gordon came in and got the save.  Dave Delucci hit his fifth homerun of the season and drove in two.

Next up are the Blue Jays.  Alex Rios is out so that’ll help but this is a team that can score.  And just one quick comment on Bret Myers.  His actions were unfortunate on several levels and I’ll be interested to see how it all plays out.  Right now, he’s been dropped down to A ball, but that was just to free up a roster spot for another pitcher.

The situation in the NL East is getting ugly.  The Phillies have dropped five straight, yet they’re still in second place.  Problem is, the Mets now have a massive twelve game lead and we’re not even to the halfway point yet.  The wild card situation is even worse.  The Phillies still have seven teams in front of them and they’re 5 1/2 games back of first place.

On Friday, Ryan Madson was knocked around.  He didn’t even last two innings and he gave up six runs.  The pen didn’t fare much better because they gave up four runs the rest of the way.  Chase Utley was the offense and his two run shot put the Phillies on the board. Final score was 10-2.

Saturday’s game was closer yet more heart wrenching.  The Phillies tied it up with a run in the seventh and the game then went into extra frames.  David Ortiz then hit a two run walk off homerun off of Tom Gordon in the tenth to put the game away.  Bobby Abreau drove in two runs and Jimmy Rollins had three hits.

The rain came on Sunday and pushed the finale to today.  The Red Sox jumped out to a 6-0 lead and the Phillies answered with six runs to once again send the game into extra frames.  Neither team scored until the twelth when Jimmy Rollins doubled home Scott Victorino.  Unfortunately that lead wouldn’t hold.  Clay Condrey gave up two runs, including a walk off RBI single by Big Papi to end the game.  Jimmy Rollins had three hits and four RBIs in the 8-7 loss.

Next up are the Orioles, who are near the bottom in the AL East.  Hopefully the Phillies can make up some ground this week.

If it’s not one New York team, it’s the other.  Things got off to a good start in this series, but it went downhill since Tuesday.  The net result is, we’re now two games below .500 and while we can still lay claim to second place in the NL East, we’re still 9 1/2 games back.  We’re only four games back for the wild card with one problem.  Seven teams are in front of us.

Bret Myers bounced back on Monday and he improved to 5-3 on the season.  He struck out eleven, but he also walked six in 6 2/3 innings.  Tom Gordon pitched a perfect ninth for his 20th save of the season.  Pat Burrell drove in two runs and Shane Victorino had two hits and two runs.

On Tuesday, it was a one man show and the Yankees ruined Ryan Howards moment in the spotlight.  Howard finished with two homeruns, a triple and seven RBIs in the 9-7 loss.   Pat Burrell had two hits and three runs in the loss.  Cory Lidle had a mediocre start, but it was Arthur Rhodes who got shelled and who took the loss.  He gave up three hits and a walk and was credited with four runs without getting a single guy out.

Yesterday, we ran into a recovering Jaret Wright and man did he shut us down.  He and four relievers combined to throw a three hit shutout.  Jimmy Rollins had two of the three hits and he stole a base.  Cole Hamels threw a solid game but he took the loss and is now 1-3.

It doesn’t get any easier, because we travel to Fenway Park for a three game series.