Chase Utley...MVP!!!

Chase Utley could very well be the best player in all of baseball right now and we have the privilege of watching him every night. Simply put, Chase Utley is the Most Valuable Player in all of baseball this year. So far this season: .312 AVG, 20 HRs, 50 RBI, 47 R, 16 2Bs, 1.063 OPS.

Bold=League Leader

Weekly Awards

Well, I don't have much time today so here's an abbreviated Weekly Wrap. We had a really good week and the offense showed up...now its time for the weekly awards:

Player of the Week - CF Shane Victorino: For a "bench" player, Vic had a great week "subbing" for injured starter Jayson Werth. Vic went 11 for 25 (.440) on the week with 9 R, 3 RBI, 3 BB, 1 SO, 5 SBs, 0 CS, and a .533/1.013 OBP/OPS. Great effort Vic!!!

Honorable Mention: Pete Happy batted .346 on the week with 8 RBI.

Pitcher of the Week - SP Adam Eaton: Eaton probably didn't have the best week of the staff...that honor belongs to Kendrick in his best start of the season but Eaton had 2 very solid starts going 1-1 with a 2.77 ERA in 13 IP. His WHIP for the week was a very respectable 1.08. Good Job Adam.

Goat of the Week - C Carlos Ruiz: Chooch had an off week even for him: 3 of 16 for a .188 Avg in 5 games. He's also be giving up a bunch of playing time recently to fellow catcher.

A Star In The Making?

Back in 2004, the Phillies used their 4th round pick (122nd overall) on a quarterback (yes, a QB) out of Coronado High School in Scottsdale, AZ named Lou Marson. Marson was immediately converted into a catcher and his trip throught the minor leagues began. Marson was assigned to the Gulf Coast League that season and immediately did well. He batted .257 in 38 games with the Gulf Coast League Phillies and demonstrated signs of what has become his trademark as a prospect: getting on base. He walked 13 times in 113 ABs giving him a .333 OBP. In 2005 he quickly progressed as a 19 year-old to Short Season Single-A Batavia where he continued to get on base and play above average defense for the MuckDogs. He batted a somewhat low .247 that season in 6o games, but he continued to get on base gathering 27 BBs in 220 ABs. In 2006 he moved up another level to Lakewood (A-) and his progress continued. He increased his BB/AB total for the 3rd straight season despite moving up a level each year and he continued to contribute plus defense behind the plate. The only major criticism of him at this point was his lack of power. While he had been getting on base, he was not hitting the ball over the fence nor was he batting above the .250 range. Despite this criticism, his other attributes assured his promotion to Clearwater in 2007. Marson's 2007 campaign was a wakeup call for both Marson and the Phillies Front Office. Before 2007, Marson was a nice prospect that projected as a utility catcher behind fellow prospect C Jason Jaramillo or as a decent backup in the Majors. After his 07 season, Marson started to look more and more like a star player in the making. He maintained his walk rate while adding 40 points to his batting average. In 111 games he posted a .288 AVG with a .373 OBP. He also kept his strike-out rate down, whiffing only 80 times in 393 ABs. All of a sudden, Marson was showing the potential to be an everyday player in the majors. He was succeeding as a 20 year-old catcher in High A ball. As a 21 year-old this year, he was slotted to be the everyday catcher at AA Reading where the Phillies had high hopes that he would build on his very successful 2007 campaign while jumping another level in the minors. The jump between A+ ball and AA ball is considered the most difficult transition a young prospect can make and it usually separates the wheat from the chaff when it comes to prospects. Marson, however, shot out of the gate in Reading. So far, it looks as though Marson has managed to put everything together this season and he is off to a torrid start.

His line through the first two months is as follows:

G: 43
AB: 148
R: 24
H: 51
2B: 10
HR: 2
RBI: 32
BB: 31
SO: 33
AVG: .345 (1st in the EL)
OBP: .458 (2nd in the EL)
OPS: .912 (7th in the EL)

He has continued to get on base, but his batting average is now in the stratosphere. He's up 60 points from last season despite making the hardest jump in the minors from A to AA. Combined with outstanding defense on his part (39% caught stealing) and you now have a great prospect who's only 21 going on 22. If he can keep up his production this season, he will be a very valuable piece to have in the organization. Considering the age of the current catchers in front of him (Coste is 35, Ruiz is 29) and his ability, he'll likely be in Philly sooner rather than later. Depending on what happens this off-season, Marson could easily have an invitation to camp next Spring followed by a mid-season call-up if he continues to show this much potential. One thing is for certain: C Lou Marson is now on the map.

Pete Happy or Rally Killer?

Which one is the real Pedro Feliz? 3B Pedro Feliz was a controversial signing for the Phillies this off-season for several reasons. He doesn't take a lot of pitches, nor does he hit for average or get on-base more than 30 % of the time. He does however have an outstanding glove and gives the Phillies 2 Gold Glove caliber fielders on the left side of the diamond. We're now just two months into a two year experiment by Pat Gillick on what is more important from the Hot Corner: Offense or Defense? For the first month of the season, Feliz was absolutely brutal at the plate and he quickly earned the ire of the Phillies fateful as a Rally Killer who either would pop up weakly or ground into a double-play in a critical situation. He didn't do the little things at the plate like advancing the runner or sacrificing a run in. He was more liable to simply swing at the first pitch and weakly end an inning and a potential rally. After about 3 weeks of this type of play, I dubbed him Rally Killer in honor of his dubious penchant for doing exactly that.

The bottom line is that Feliz is simply a flawed player. He is outstanding defensively and he has decent power for a 3B but he will not ever have a high OBP nor will he take pitches. Its simply not in him. A high-water mark for him statistically as a Phillie would be something in the 25 HR, 80 RBI, .305 OBP range with around 20 GIDPs and great defense. Considering what he was replacing in the Helms/Dobbs/Nunez platoon, I would consider it a slight, albeit very costly, upgrade. While Dobbs is a much better hitter than Feliz, he is absolutely brutal in the field. The same could be said for the projected Helms/Dobbs platoon that the Phillies were slated to use before the Feliz signing: Decent offensively but way below average defensively. Dobbs is much more useful as a utility player and pinch-hitter than as an everyday 3B and the Phillies recognize that fact. While Feliz is not the ideal option for the Phillies at 3B, he was the best available option at the time and, money being no option, was a good signing.

The Numbers:

Offense

...................G....AB...R....H....2B...HR..RBI...BB...SO....AVG....OBP.....OPS

Current:....52...181..19...49.......11.....7......26.....11....18......271.......313......760

Projected:.61..560...59..152......34...22.....81.....34....56......271.......313......760

.................................................................................................................................

Defense

.................................................................................................................................

Errors: 4 (4th in MLB)

Fielding %: .970 (5th in MLB)

Range Factor: 2.97 (6th in MLB)

Zone Rating: .812 (6th in MLB)

.................................................................................................................................

Feliz is giving the Phillies outstanding defense with average offense at the moment. Considering that the Phillies already have one of the most explosive offenses in the Majors, I would argue that Feliz was primarily signed for his defensive prowess, which he has demonstrated consistently so far.

.................................................................................................................................

Conclusions: For now your moniker will be Pete Happy until you hit another slump at which time I may reevaluate my decision and go back to Rally Killer.

Happy Memorial Day!

Have a happy Memorial Day and remember the sacrifice that your military makes to keep you safe. As a veteran who is happy to be healthy and alive...Happy Memorial Day!


P.S. Awesome offensive performance today by the Phillies offense.

Weekly Wrap

The Phillies had a mediocre 4-3 record this week. The offense was pretty much non-existent for the first half of the week, however the bats came alive and they were able the finish the week on a 3 game winning streak. 1B Ryan Howard is finally hitting again and the rest of the offense appears to be finally clicking. The starting pitching continues to be hit or miss but both Cole Hamels and Jamie Moyer gave strong performances on the week. Both Adam Eaton and Kyle Kendrick were hammered in their starts with Myers performing somewhat in the middle. A strong bench and excellent bullpen continue to carry the club. That said, its time for the Weekly Awards:

Player of the Week - 1B Ryan Howard/SS Jimmy Rollins: In a tight race, I decided to award a tie as both players had great offensive weeks. Howard batted .321 with 4 HRs and 9 RBI on the week while Rollins batted .367 with 6 2Bs, 17 total bases, and 2 SBs.

Pitcher of the Week - SP Jamie Moyer: Moyer went 2-0 on the week while posting a 2.13 ERA. He provided pretty much the only quality starting pitching the Phillies had all week outside of Ace Cole Hamels. Without his two strong starts the Phillies easily could have gone 2-5 instead of 4-3.

Goat of the Week - SP Kyle Kendrick: It didn't take much for Kendrick to clinch the award for the week. In 2 starts, he went 6 innings and posted a 7.50 ERA. He gets a little bit of a break because his stats are slightly skewed by a 1 inning outing due to a rain delay against Toronto.

The Resurgence of Ryan Howard

This off-season, Ryan Howard was rewarded for his first 2 seasons in the Majors with a record-breaking arbitration award of $10 million for the 2008 season. While he may or may not be worth that much money, that decision put a huge target on Howard's back. Much like ARODs record-breaking deals have done to him, Howard now had to prove that a bloated contract was legitimate and I feel that this put a perhaps unfair amount of pressure on him and it also created an unfair amount of expectations from the Philadelphia fans.
Howard started off very strong in Spring Training and he appeared to be poised to have a career season much like his 2006 effort where he came home with the MVP trophy. However, on Opening Day everything fell apart. By the end of April, Howard was batting a brisk .172 and he was on pace to shatter his own single-season strikeout mark. Things hit a low point for Howard on May 7th when, after a 0-4 performance on the night and 1-20 performance on the week, he average stood at a grisly .163. That night, fed up with his pitiful start to the season, I decided to start tracking Howard's pursuit of history in shattering the Single-Season strikeout record. I created and displayed a "K-Watch" on this blog for all to see his pathetic efforts on the year. Also, since that day, in an ironic twist Howard began to start hitting. Slowly at first and more rapidly of late, Howard has gotten good contact on pitches and he has started going the opposite way to avoid the Shift defense arrayed for him. In the 14 games since that dark morning of the .163 average, Howard has posted an impressive line:

.304 AVG, .361 OBP, 15 R, 15 RBI, 3 2B, 1 3B, 7 HR.

While overall he hasn't been on fire, he is now hitting around his career norms which are impressive to begin with. The one negative for Howard is that he is still striking out a ton (21 Ks in 14 games). The bottom line that we will have to accept is that Howard is simply not a .300 hitter and he probably never will be. He strikes out far too much to hit for high average and his swing is far too prone to long slumps and shorter hot streaks.

Where Will He End Up?

The major questions now are will he keep up his resurgence and what will his end of season numbers look like? My guess is that he may not hit .300 the rest of the way but something like .280 is very possible. To be optimistic, lets say he hits .300 for the rest of the season. Even if that happens, he will end up with an average of .272 on the year (or about 10 points of his career batting average). At this point I would be ecstatic if Howard ends up batting in the .270s after his dreadful start. He will also more than like end up with over 40 HRs and 100 RBIs. Even with his horrible start he was on pace to hit both those marks so he honestly could be closer to 50 HRs and 120 RBIs and unfortunately 230 Ks.

Looking back at a season where he hits 40-50 HRs, knocks in 120 runs and hits around his career norms for average, Howard will likely say he had a good year and feel he should win arbitration again but should he really? Howard is no Albert Pujols and he never will be. Pujols is an elite hitter who hits for both high power and high average while playing Gold-Glove defense at 1B. Howard is a one-dimensional slugger who either smashes the ball or strikes out. There is no legitimate comparison no matter what Howard's agent will tell the Phillies Front Office. At age 29, Howard is looking for a long-term deal before it becomes clears that he is in a decline phase and the Phillies do not appear all that interested in locking up a player who's best years are likely already behind him. Now, I truly believe that if Howard were to take a respectable but not outrageous contract along the lines of the Chase Utley's deal, that they would already have a deal in place. However, Howard appears to want a record-setting contract that the Phillies will not and should not offer him. I will go out on a limb here and predict that Howard will not be in a Phillies uniform by the end of 2010 and that the Phillies will not come close to offering him what he feels he deserves. We should enjoy the ride while it lasts because the Phillies have a very brief window (2008-2010) where they have a core group of players like Howard that will allow them to compete for a World Series.

Return to Normalcy/Weekly Awards

Well 1B Ryan Howard is back and his slump is over. That's right, its over! Ever since I posted a K-Watch on this blog, Howard (clearly an ardent reader) has turned it around and raised his average over 25 points. He had a great week and he looks like he's regained his swing which has been missing since Spring Training. I would like to take this moment to claim personal responsibility for his turn-around. Overall, this week the Phillies offense has been very productive, but their starting pitching is continuing to kill them with only SP Cole Hamels giving them anything resembling a major-league performance. Both SP Jamie Moyer and SP Brett Myers were blown out in their starts, while SP Kyle Kendrick extended his QS streak to 4 games with another 6 IPs/3 ER performance.

Back From Injury: SS Jimmy Rollins had a strong week back from his ankle injury. He went 8 for 28 (.286) with 4 extra base hits and 14 total bases on the week. He also managed to steal 2 bases so it looks like his ankle is fully healthy which is a great sign for the rest of the season.

Down For The Count: SP Scott Mathieson underwent a second Tommy John surgery on his elbow on Thursday and a 3rd surgery overall on the same elbow since 2006. It sadly looks like his Phillies career is over before it started. Good luck with your recovery Scott. (Note: Recovery rate from 2nd TJ surgery= 30%)

Missing In Action: Fastball, low-to-mid 90's velocity, 4-seamer...last seen in posession of SP Brett Myers in 2007. If you know the whereabouts of this object please contact the Philadelphia Phillies immediately at:

Citizens Bank Park
One Citizens Bank Way
Philadelphia, PA 19148
215-463-1000

Brett continues to struggle and his fastball velocity is way down for the year. He is getting hammered this season and is on pace to allow 58 HRs. His ERA is currently a team-worst 5.91.

On that note, its time for the Weekly Awards:

Player of the Week - 1B Ryan Howard: Well, I never thought I'd see the day but Ryan Howard has proved how quickly a player can go from being the goat to the hero this week. Ryan went 7 for 24 (.292) with 3 HRs/5 RBIs and also led the team in Total bases with 19 on the week. He chipped in 1 2B and 1 3B and posted a 1.112 OPS for the week. His hitting streak is at a season-best 7 games. Looks like the long slump is over. (I'm keeping the K-Watch up just to motivate you, Ryan)

Pitcher of the Week - SP Cole Hamels: Is there even a question of this? 2 Starts, 2 Wins on the week. Hamels went 2-0 on the week pitching 16 innings and striking out 13 along with a 2.25 ERA. He is the only dependable starter in the Phillies rotation right now and he has been a life-saver so far for them this year. I would like to pause at this point to thank GM Pat Gillick personally for flat out saying that the Phillies will not even consider locking up Hamels long-term at this point. I always appreciate when the Front Office goes out of its way to piss off a star player for no reason whatsoever. Way to go Pat! Hamels is on pace to pitch 250 innings this year which is a tad high, but I'm certain that that number will drop as the season goes on. So far he has been very effective at going deep into games and he was finally able to post his first CG shutout last night while throwing a somewhat questionable 120 pitches. We'll see if this much increased workload effects him in the 2nd half of the season.

Goat of the Week - SP Brett Myers: For an Opening Day starter, Brett has looked anything but dominating so far this season and this week's performance could easily be a microcosm of that. Brett was blown out by the Braves allowing 3 HRs in 4 1/3 IPs to post a 12.46 ERA on the week. His fastball is missing in action and he has had very little control on his other pitches. He has however been absolutely on fire at throwing whiny 4-year-old girl temper tantrums in the dugout when a call doesn't go his way. Grow up Brett and actually pay attention to your coaches!

Ryan Howard: What To Do?

1B Ryan Howard is clearly struggling at the plate and he has been struggling all season. With almost a quarter of the season complete, he has compiled a dismal line of .171/.280/.357 AVG/OBP/SLG, 7 HR, 19 RBI and a whopping 54 SOs in 140 ABs. Currently he is on pace for 100 H and 224 Ks on the season, which would be great if he was a starting pitcher. Unfortunately he is the Phillies #4 hitter and is currently a black hole when it comes to offense from the middle of the order. So what should Manager Charlie Manuel do about the situation?

Option #1: Bench Howard for a couple of games

Charlie already tried this but he can never seem to leave Howard on the bench. Each time he has given Howard the day off for "rest", he ends up pinch-hitting him in the later innings. Howard inevitably strikes out which further weakens his confidence.

Option #2: Move him down in the order

This option hasn't been tried yet and it is uncertain that it would work. Its also uncertain that there is anyone else to put in the #4 spot without completely screwing up the Phillies already weak offense. Utley prefers batting 3rd and Burrell is already in the midst of his own slump batting .185 in his last 7 games. Rollins and Victorino are naturally #1 and #2 respectively. Statistically there is nothing to suggest that moving Burrell up in the order would hurt anything. He has a .264 avg with 30 HRs/108 RBIs in 545 ABs over the past 3 season out of the 4 hole so he would be comfortable moving up a spot. Also, Howard's statistics are pretty much identical no matter where he's batting in the lineup so it probably wouldn't hurt to move him down a couple of spots until he finds his swing. However, Manuel likely won't do this because he believes in supporting his players and sticking with them through slumps.

Clearly, I support Option #2 as the Phillies are not about to bench Howard no matter how poorly he is batting. Moving him down will send a message that this type of performance is unacceptable while at the same time allowing him to bat in less pressure situations. It is much different batting in the #6 spot than the batting cleanup. Perhaps moving him down in the lineup will allow him to stay on pitches and stop him from trying to knock everything out of the park It can't hurt, but it seems that Manuel won't even consider it. Until he does the Phillies offense is gonna continue to stumble along and they will have to rely on an increasingly porous starting rotation and a bullpen that is starting to show early signs of overuse.

What a Joke!!!

The Phillies dropped 2 of 3 to the lowly SF Giants over the weekend due to shaky pitching and a nonexistent offense. 1B Ryan Howard continued to struggle although technically he now is in the midst of a mind-blowing 4 game hitting streak in which he has accumulated all of 4 hits. He is currently batting .171 on the season and really proving why he deserved $10 million in arbitration. LF Pat Burrell has finally come back to earth although he is continuing to take pitches (.185 avg over the past week but a .385 OBP) so he is at least getting on base even if he is slumping with the bat. SS Jimmy Rollins had a wonderful comeback from injury his first game back going 3-5 with a HR and a 2B. However, he is hitless since then putting up an impressive 0-9 in his second two games back. Even 2B Chase Utley is in the midst of a mini slump and now has just 2 hits in his past 20 ABs. Clearly the offense disappeared on this West Coast roadtrip. The pitching has also been questionable and now the bullpen is also starting to show cracks after J.C. Romero blew the lead in today's game causing the Phillies to lose 4-3.

Luckily the Phillies have tomorrow off and they get to go back home to face Atlanta for a 3 game set and after that Toronto to close out the week with another 3 games. Hopefully the Phillies will do better in the friendly confines of Citizen's Bank Park than they did on their recent road trip.

Weekly Wrapup/Awards

The Phillies had another decent week posting a 4-3 record in their last 7 games and they are hovering in 2nd place in the NL East a game back of the Florida Marlins. 1B Ryan Howard continues to be absolutely pathetic at the plate and SS Jimmy Rollins missed the entire week still out with his ankle injury. However, Rollins is expected to be activated before tonight's game in San Francisco so the Phillies will finally be back to full strength for the first time since the first week of the season. LF Pat Burrell appears to have cooled off after going a dismal 4-22 in the past seven days. The Phillies starting pitching had a so-so week having 4 Quality Starts in 7 chances, 2 of them oddly enough from 4th starter Kyle Kendrick who appears to be on a nice run of mediocrity right now. That said, its time for the weekly awards:

Player of the Week - UT Eric Bruntlett: Well it was an impressive repeat performance from utility man Eric Bruntlett. Eric once again played very well in Rollins absence going 9-29 (.310) and leading the team with 16 Total Bases. He had 2 2Bs, 1 3B, and 1 HR on the week along with a team leading 8 RBI and 6 Runs scored. Another great week for Eric.

Pitcher of the Week - CP Brad Lidge: Lidge was once again unhittable this week in 4 appearances. He gave up 2 hits and no runs while picking of 1 save in as many chances. Right now he is completely on top of his game and hitters are pretty much helpless against him. (Note: CF Michael Bourn is batting .197 in Houston...Thanks Ed Wade!!!)

Goat of the Week - 1B Ryan Howard: Was there even a question of Howard not being the goat this week? He now has his own permanent segment where I will be counting down how many Ks he needs to break his own Single Season MLB record. Right now he is on pace to shatter his mark by more than 30 Ks. Keep up the good work Ryan! His line for the week: 2 for 24 with 12 Ks. Both hits were singles and he managed to drop his batting average down to .165 after posting an .083 average for the week. He is now 190th out of 191 qualifed batters for the MLB batting title. Only injured SS Troy Tulowitzki has a lower batting average on the year. He has a solid lead in the MLB SO rankings at 51 Ks on the year but Arizona 3B Mark Reynolds is nipping at his heels just 5 back at 46 Ks.

The Maturation of Cole Hamels

Over the past three seasons, we have had the treat of watching a star pitcher slowly emerge in South Philly. The Phillies left-handed Ace Cole Hamels has managed to improve his numbers each season he has been in the Majors and appears to be on the verge of making a dominant run as a number one pitcher. Hamels broke into the Majors at the ripe age of 22 back in 2006 and he hasn't looked back since. He started 23 games in 2006 and posted a solid 9-8 record with a 4.08 ERA. He also struck out 145 in just 132.1 innings. He improved upon his 06 campaign last year by becoming the Phillies best pitcher with a 15-5 record, 177 Ks in 183 innings. While his K/9 rating went down, all the rest of his secondary numbers went up. He has continued this trend in his first 7 starts in 2008. While his record is a very average looking 3-3, his ERA has dropped again to 3.10.

Key Indicators to Consider when looking at Hamels stats:

Category #1: How hard is he working to get guys out?

Pitches per AB:

2006: 3.91
2007: 3.76
2008: 3.71

Trend: Improving

Pitches Per Inning:

2006: 16.5
2007: 15.2
2008: 14.9

Trend: Improving

Category #2: How are hitters performing against him?

Batting Average Against:

2006: .237
2007: .237
2008: .213

Trend: Improving

Slugging Against:

2006: .426
2007: .403
2008: .366

Trend: Improving

Category #3: How Efficient Has Hamels Been?

Pitches Per Game Started:

2006: 94.7
2007: 97.7
2008: 105.1

Trend: Improving

Innings Per Start:

2006: 5.74
2007: 6.55
2008: 7.05

Trend: Improving

Analysis: Basically, Cole has become a much more efficient pitcher from 06 to 08 and his statistics demonstrate an upward trend in several important categories. He is using less pitches to get guys out and to complete innings and because of this, he is pitching much deeper into games. He is also giving up less hits and baserunners than he did in 2006 and batters are hitting for less power. While his K/9 rate has declined from 9.86 in 06 to 7.48 this season, this is not a sign of decline, but rather a sign that he is becoming a smarter pitcher. He is no longer pitching for the strikeout but rather to get the batter out in the easiest and quickest way.

Weekly Awards/Monthly Awards

Another week down and another good week for the Fightin' Phils. The Phillies find themselves alone atop the NL East for the first time all season with a 16-13 record going into tonight's contests. Despite inconsistent starting pitching, minimal contributions from slugger 1B Ryan Howard, and injuries to the top 2 of their lineup (SS Jimmy Rollins and CF Shane Victorino), the Phillies have chugged along to their first winning April since 2003. An outstanding bullpen and MVP performances from LF Pat Burrell and 2B Chase Utley have carried them so far.

Pleasant Surprises:

1. Outstanding performances by the bullpen including the reemergence of CP Brad Lidge as an elite closer. Gordon, Durbin, Seanez, and Romero have all been lights out as well.

2. LF Pat Burrell is in a contract year and he is performing well above his career averages in all aspects of the game, offensively and defensively. Keep gunnin' for that new contract Pat!

3. A strong bench led by now part-time starter OF Jayson Werth, 3B Greg Dobbs, UT Eric Bruntlett and C Chris Coste have all chipped in to help win ballgames during the first month of the season. Both Bruntlett and Werth have found themselves in the starting lineup for extended periods of time with the injuries to Rollins and Victorino and both have done their job.

Troubling Issues:

1. 1B Ryan Howard started off the season in horrible fashion and is still batting well below the Mendoza line posting a .184 AVG after 29 games with 39 SOs in just 103 ABs.

2. SS Jimmy Rollins ankle injury appears far worse than was originally believed and he could miss even more time than previously estimated. This could very well turn into one of those nagging injuries that follows him all season. There is no timetable on his return at this point. They were hoping for him to start a rehab assignment this month, but he is still feeling pain in his ankle during fielding drills and baserunning. It could be a while.

3. Other than SP Cole Hamels, the rotation has been mediocre at best. SP Brett Myers has lost his fastball, SP Jamie Moyer and SP Adam Eaton are giving them replacement level innings and SP Kyle Kendrick has looked overmatched all season. One small glimmer of hope for Kendrick is that he is coming off 2 quality starts in his past 3 chances.

That being said its time for the Weekly and Monthly Awards...

Player of the Week - UT Eric Bruntlett: Eric actually had a very good week filling in for MVP SS Jimmy Rollins. He went 6 for 21 and is currently in the midst 9 game hitting streak while playing good defense at SS. He has made several very good plays with his glove to at least slightly ease the pain of having Rollins on the DL. His line: .286 Avg, 4 Runs, 3 RBIs and 1 SB. Basically he's finally doing what a bench player is supposed to do when a star goes down with an injury.

Pitcher of the Week - RP Tom Gordon: If you take Opening Day out of the equation then Tom Gordon has had a very good year so far. Last week was no exception. He made 3 appearances, pitching 2 2/3 innings and picked up 2 wins in the process. In those 3 appearances, he didn't not allow a hit and only walked 1 batter. He is now tied for the team lead in wins with 3.

Player of the Month - 2B Chase Utley: Utley appears to be making a strong argument for the MVP trophy this year as he is off to a monster start. He is batting .357 with 11 HRs, 23 RBI, 25 Runs, 41 hits, 10 2Bs, 1 3B, and 2 SBs. He has also posted a .748 Slugging percentage on the season. On the defensive side of things, he has posted the 5th best Range Factor and the 4th best Zone Rating in the NL along with several Web Gems in recent nights.

Pitcher of the Month - SP Cole Hamels: Cole has started 6 games, going at least 7 innings in each of his starts while compiling an ERA of 2.70. His record so far has been 3-3 but he seems to be on pace to finally have a real breakout season as a star pitcher. So far he has been a workhorse for the Phillies and his efforts have spared the bullpen from being overworked.

Minor League Monthly Awards

Well it was an eventful month for the Phillies minor league system:

Lehigh Valley IronPigs: The AAA IronPigs started their first season in Allentown by posting by far the worst record in the International League at 3-24. With it, they are a whopping 15 games back after the first month. The IronPigs are a tribute of the complete lack of talent in the upper reaches of the Phillies farm system.

Reading Phillies: The AA Reading Phillies were more impressive posting a 13-12 record. Reading is also the home to most of the top Phillies prospects including SP Carlos Carrasco, SP Josh Outman, SP Andrew Carpenter, SP Fabio Castro (still just 23 years old), OF Greg Golson and C Lou Marson.

Clearwater Threshers: Despite having a decent number of solid prospects, the Clearwater Phillies (A+) got off to a dismal 9-17 start. You will find a couple of top Phillies prospects in Clearwater including SP Joe Savery out of Rice and 2B Adrian Cardenas. In addition to those two, they have several borderline prospects including SP Antonio Bastardo (off to a terrific start), SP Edgar Garcia and OF Matt Spencer.

Personally, I don't keep track of anything below A+ ball despite having a shortseason A team practically in my backyard. Until a player does something at least at the A+ level, I don't care how much "future" he has in him. That being said, here are the Player Awards for the Phillies system for April.

Player of the Month - OF Greg Golson: Golson had an outstanding first month in Reading and he appears to be continuing his pattern of having an awesome second year at each level of the minor leagues. He is a 5-tool player who appears to be on the verge of turning the corner on his tremendous athletic ability and turning into a true ballplayer. He went 32 for 100 in April while collecting 10 Extra base hits, 15 RBI, 17 Runs, 8 SB, 8 BB, and a slightly troubing 30 SOs. He had a .370 OBP and a .850 OPS for the month.

Pitcher of the Month - SP Antonio Bastardo: Scouts aren't that high on Bastardo and they have good reasons. He is short (only 5'11" tall) and has only 2 pitches at the moment. He is however a lefty and his 2 pitches are good ones. If and when he develops a legitimate 3rd pitch, he could easily be a legit starter in the majors. If not, he will likely end up as a LOOGY out of the 'Pen. He has average to above average velocity for a lefty (87-92) and his release point deceives hitters...at least at the A+ level. In 5 starts, he posted a 2-0 record with a 1.17 ERA with 47 Ks in just 30 2/3 IP. He did walk 10 batters but overall he had an outstanding month. Look for him to be promoted to Reading as soon as the weather really warms up, probably in early June.