Weekly Awards

When looking back at the past week and the Phillies wonderful 1-5 effort, I ask myself, "Why bother with awards this week?". The team collectively sucked and other than Kyle Kendrick's wonderful performance Wednesday night against that Oakland Athletics, they didn't even bother to show up. That said, here are the weekly "awards" for the past week:

Player of the Week - CF Shane Victorino: Vic had an alright week at the plate going 6 for 20 (.300), 2 RBI, 2 R, 6 SB along with 3 BB. He posted a respectable .391 OBP for the week. Considering the team as a whole batted .174, Vic stood out as the one regular who had a decent week.

Pitcher of the Week - SP Kyle Kendrick: Kendrick pitched the best game of his young career, pitching 8 very strong innings against the A's in which he allowed just 4 hits and 0 runs scored. He was the only pitcher to record a win for the team and this strong outing lowered his ERA to a respectable 4.59 on the season.

Goat of the Week - Entire Offense Not Named Victorino: If you take Vic's numbers out of the equation, the Phillies .174 batting average for the week drops even further to a truly pathetic .159. Leading this slop of an offense were 1B Ryan Howard (.125, 7 K), SS Jimmy Rollins (.125, 5 K), RF Geoff Jenkins (.000 in 14 AB, 6 K) and LF Pat Burrell (.190, 8 K).

Injury Notes: RP Tom Gordon has been day-to-day with a sore shoulder and has not looked good in his last few outings. There is a good possibility that he will go on the DL in the next few days if his shoulder does not improve. He allowed 1 run on 2 hits in his only appearance this week.

Stat of the Week: As a team, the Phillies struck out 52 times in 190 ABs in their past 6 games. That's 27.4% of the time if you're scoring at home.

Weekly Awards

Player of the Week - 2B Chase Utley: Utley was bored this past week so he decided to homer in 5 straight games for the second time this season. With his hot start this season he has thrown his name in the hat for discussion as one of the best players in all of baseball and clearly the best 2B in the game today. The Phillies are extremely lucky to have such a star play for them everyday. The most special part of Utley is his work ethic and will to win. When Utley was first drafted, even his most optimistic supporters did not project him to do this well. Most projected him as a utility infielder or even a platoon-type player who couldn't hit leftys. Now he hits leftys at least as well as rights and he has gone from being much below average defensively to a top 5 defender at his position. All in all, he is a true superstar. That said, he had a very strong week leading the Phillies with 4 HRs and a .360 avg in 7 games. He went 9 for 25 with 7 Rs and 7 RBI for the week and even chipped in with 1 SB. He posted a very impressive 1.328 OPS as well.

Pitcher of the Week - CP Brad Lidge: You can't win games without a great bullpen and Brad Lidge has anchored one of the best bullpens in the majors all season. This week was no exception as Brad picked up 3 saves in 3 opportunities without allowing a single run. He allowed 1 hit in 3 IPs and struck out 4. Right now the Lidge trade is looking to be the finest move of the Gillick regime.

Goat of the Week - SS Jimmy Rollins: Jimmy has been dogging it recently and was actually benched by manager Charlie Manuel for failing to run out a pop-out in yesterday's game against the Cincinnati Reds. Hopefully Charlie was able to knock some sense into the reigning MVP. This behavior is quite uncharacteristic for the star SS and team leader and hopefully he turns it around in short order. His line for the week: 7 G, .185 avg (5 for 27), 2 RBI, 2 SOs, .222 SLG, .407 OPS.

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.

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 Wrap

Well, its that time again. 1B Ryan Howard continues to struggle in all aspects of the game and his "cold" streak is rapidly becoming a first-half slump for the 2008 season. Luckily both LF Pat Burrell and 2B Chase Utley have picked up the pace and are 1-2 in the League in RBIs so far. Both have had PS3-type weeks that have carried an otherwise underperforming offense to a 12-11 record. The Phillies went 4-3 on the week, losing a 3 game series to the Mets 1-2, sweeping the Rockies in 2, and spliting a 2 game series with the Brewers.

Injury Update: CF Shane Victorino started a rehab assignment in Clearwater on Monday and is eligible to come off the DL on 28 April which is an off day for the Phillies. He will be available to play on the 29th if everything goes well. SS Jimmy Rollins took batting practice at Clearwater and is eligible to come off the DL on 5 May although I wouldn't hold my breath on that. SP Kris Benson continued to throw on the side and had another Bullpen session but there is still no word on when he will start a game in the minors as he continues to come back from shoulder surgery.

Weekly Awards

Player of the Week - 2B Chase Utley: It was a tough decision but Chase basically went nuts this past week with an outrageous line of: .536 AVG/.581 OBP/ 1.831 OPS, 6 HRs, 10 RBI, 8 R in 7 games. LF Pat Burrell also had a very good week but not anywhere close to Utley's.

Pitcher of the Week - CP Brad Lidge: Brad had an excellent week making 5 appearances pitching 5 innings with no earned runs allowed while picking up 3 saves in 3 opportunities. Lidge has anchored the backend of the bullpen so far this year and so far the Bourn-Lidge trade has really paid off.

Goat of the Week - 1B Ryan Howard: Yes, we all know that Howard gets off to slow starts but this is ridiculous. His line: 3 for 28, .107 Avg/.138 OBP, 13 Ks, 1 BB and no extra base hits. Keep it up Ryan, you're definitely worth $10 million per. Interesting fact: No position player on the Phillies has a lower AVG than Ryan Howard so far...only pitchers.

Phillies Hang On To Win

Well UT Eric Bruntlett was able to save the day with a game saving play in the top of the 9th with the tying run in scoring position. He made a spectacular stop behind second base and threw a laser beam to first to get the runner. While I am pleased that Bruntlett was able to give us a flash of brilliance to save the game and help CP Brad Lidge close out the game, I still cannot wait to get SS Jimmy Rollins back at shortstop and at the top of the lineup where he is desperately needed.

Hot Streak: All-Star 2B Chase Utley hit two more HRs last night and now has HRs in 4 straight games. If he homers tonight against the Colorado Rockies he will tie the club record for consecutive games with a HR. So far, Utley and LF Pat Burrell have carried the club offensively while the rest of the lineup has struggled to produce runs. Burrell also made an excellent running catch up against the wall in the later innings that helped give the Phillies the win. Pat has been well above his career average in all aspects of the game from hitting to fielding this year.

Behind the Plate: It looks like C Chris Coste will probably earn himself some more playing time. He is batting .385 on the season and he went 1 for 4 last night. He has now started 3 of the last 4 games in place of C Carlos Ruiz who is healthy.

What the Heck?: 1B Ryan Howard has been awful so far this season both defensively and offensively. He is batting a miniscule .186 including going 1 for 13 against the Mets over the weekend. The hometown crowd has taken notice and has taken to booing him loudly...especially after he strikes out. He has struck out 27 times in just 70 ABs and he is well on his way to breaking his own single season strikeout record. The former MVP needs to step it up quickly if the Phillies are to have any chance of winning the NL East.

Bad Luck: SP Adam Eaton had a stellar performance through the first 5 innings last night and thats when the wheels finally came off the bus. He didn't record an out in the 6th and was charged with 4 earned runs to get the no decision. He had a streak of 3 straight quality starts going into last night. He did keep the Phillies in the game which is the important part. Pitching has not been the problem so far this year.

Living Dangerously: Uncle Charlie has relied quite a bit on the bullpen so far this year especially RP Chad Durbin. Durbin has pitched 14 innings in 10 appearances in the Phillies first 19 games. At his current pace, he will pitch 119 innings out of the pen. I'm betting his arm will fall off first.

Rollins On DL

Well after two weeks of watching SS Jimmy Rollins limp around the clubhouse and limp out to the batters box in feeble attempts at pinchhitting, club management finally made the long overdue decision to place him on the 15 Day DL. This is exactly what should have happened in the first couple days after the injury instead of two weeks later. So we can chalk this one up as an idiotic and cowardly move by the Phillies Training Staff and Manager Charlie Manuel. They should have known that JRoll is the kind of player that will try to play no matter how injured he is and not trusted his opinion of the injury. That's what they get for...to make tough decisions about the health of the players. Because of their complete ineptitude, Jroll will now miss at least another two weeks of the season at a time where the Mets seem to be slowly pulling away with the NL East lead. Way to go Uncle Charlie!!!

Now that my rant is over I should mention that OF Chris Snelling was also placed on the DL today and that SS Brad Harmon was called up from AA to take Rollins roster spot and OF T.J. Boh was recalled from AAA to replace Snelling.

Weekly Wrap

Well it was an up and down week for the Phillies in what has so far been an up and down year. SS Jimmy Rollins is still out of the lineup and is projected to be available possibly Saturday. I suspect however that he will probably not start until Sunday night at the earliest. The Phillies have missed his presence at the top of the lineup along with the speedy Victorino who is still out recovering from a calf strain. CF Shane Victorino looks to return on Apr 29 when he is eligible to come off the DL. Reports on his status are positive and his strain is less severe than originally thought. Hopefully he will be able to slide back into the lineup and give the Phillies another speedy leadoff type guy at the top of the lineup. OF Jayson Werth has been very solid in his place and is batting .370 on the year with 1 HR/5 RBI. It will be nice to get Werth back into his platoon role in RF along with Jenkins. I think it is safe to say that he has earned himself some additional ABs with his performance in the past 2 weeks. That being said, its time for the Weekly Awards:

Player of the Week - LF Pat Burrell: Pat continues to mash the ball in his contract year and he leads the team in all offensive categories. He went 7 for 20 with 5 BBs this week along with 3 HRs and 8 RBI and 6 Runs scored. He is also been playing outstanding defense (for him) in LF. Both his Range Factor (RF) and Zone Rating (ZR) are well above his career norms so far this year. For a player that is much maligned for his mediocre fielding he has been stellar in LF. He has simply been carrying the Phillies so far this season.

Pitcher of the Week - SP Brett Myers: Brett is 2-0 this week with an ERA of 2.40. In 2 starts he has gone 15 Innings while striking out 13 and walking only 1. His BAA is a mere .185 in those starts. He has really turned it on and begun challenging hitters with his fastball after a slow start to the season.

Goat of the Week - UT Eric Bruntlett: It may be unfair to expect much offense out of a utility guy but Eric has had a rough week filling in for JRoll. One surprising stat is that his defensive play has actually been better than JRoll in nearly every category so at least he's doing one thing right. Eric went 4-22 (.182 AVG/.217 OBP) this week and was the only position player without a hit yesterday in the Phillies rout of the Houston Astros.

Honorary Goat of the Week - Houston GM Ed Wade: Ed Wade made what I will politely call some "questionable" moves in his tenure as Phillies GM but I must say that his trade for SS Miguel Tejada appears to be topping all of them. Not only has Tejada been implicated in the Mitchell Report but now we've come to find out that he is indeed 33 years old instead of 31. All this makes the bevy of young prospects that Wade shipped to Baltimore even more painful for Astros fans. This is the same guy that traded his team's closer for a utility OF so go figure.

The Phillies have the Mets coming to town starting tonight where SP Johan Santana will face off against fellow lefty SP Cole Hamels in the Battle of the Changeup. It should be an interesting game to watch. Also the Phillies will be on national television again this Sunday when they face off in the series finale at 8pm on Sunday Night Baseball. Hopefully JRoll will be back for this series.

Model of Mediocrity

Interesting and befuddling stat of the day:

2008 Longest Winning Streak - 2 games
2008 Longest Losing Streak - 2 games

The Phillies have simply been unable to get any sort of momentum going over the first 16 games of the season and interestingly enough it is not the pitching which is hamstringing this team. The Phillies are actually 3rd in the NL in Quality Starts (6 IP, 3 ER or less) from their starters and the Bullpen has been fairly solid as well. The Phillies hitting has been up and down all season though and they have simply not been clutch. 3B Rally Killer has led the way despite his late inning heroics on Tuesday with multiple momentum killing GIDPs, weak popups with men in scoring position and the ever popular ground out to 3B or SS when the Phillies are trying to advance a runner with less than 2 outs. However, more puzzling, 1B Ryan Howard has been just as inconsistent. While he has 3 HRs so far, he his batting a pitiful .189 with 20 Ks in just 53 ABs. In other words he's striking out in over 30% of his plate appearances. That is a ridiculous stat and if he keeps it up, he will easily shatter his own single season strikeout record.

In other news: SS Jimmy Rollins is not expected back in the lineup until Saturday at the earliest. I'm beginning to wonder why he wasn't put on the 15 day DL to rest his injured ankle. UT Eric Bruntlett has been brutal in his place both in the field and at the plate. He now has 4 hits in 7 games since taking over for JRoll at Short.

Good News: SP Kyle Kendrick had his first Quality Start of the season yesterday and SP Adam Eaton continues to perform well in the first couple weeks of the season. Eaton is 3 for 3 on Quality Starts this year and he is posting an ERA of 4.12 in the early going. His GB rate is up and he appears to be pitching to contact more this year instead of trying to strike batters out. That's a good sign of his confidence.

Even Better News: SP Brett Myers appears to have "turned it on" and is working on his second straight QS after looking timid in his first 2 starts. He's challenging hitters now and his K/9 rate has gone up in 4 straight starts. He's looking to improve to 2-1 on the season if the Phillies hold on to win this afternoon.

A Night Best Forgotten

I live in Vermont which means I don't have the privilege of watching the Phillies on local TV whenever I please. So when they are nationally televised in HD like they were last night, I tend to block off that time so I can enjoy the game uninterrupted. I figured I would be in for quite a treat as the Phillies were looking to make it 10 straight against their division rival, the NY Mets. To say the least, I was somewhat disappointed by their lackluster effort in all aspects of the game. UT Eric Bruntlett was brutal filling in from MVP SS Jimmy Rollins. Bruntlett committed two little-league level errors in the games and looked out of place in JRoll's shoes. 3B Pedro Feliz, AKA Rally Killer maintained his place as the Phillie most likely to end any potential run scoring in the course of a game. He was only saved from grounding into another inning ending doubl-play when the usually surehanded Jose Reyes muffed an easy ground ball. However, not to be undone, Feliz promptly hit a weak popout to second base when he came up to bat in the top of the 8th with the bases-loaded and 2 outs. From here on out, I will never use Rally Killer's true name. He will need to earn that privilege back and I kinda doubt that it will ever happen.
Unfortunately for the Phillies, they got absolutely no support from SP Kyle Kendrick. Kendrick, a second-year player, lacked control for most of the night and got pounded when he did manage throw strikes. Kendrick is somewhat of a mystery. No one ever expected him to make the Major League roster last year, let alone win 10 games. He lacks an true out-pitch and gets by on hitting his spots and not walking anyone. He cannot afford to walk anyone as hitters bat .280 off of him with around a .330 OBP. As he also doesn't strike anyone out, his numbers don't project him having a very long career. I think alot of Phillies fans are going to be greatly disappointed by Kendrick this season. Last night, he threw a decent sinking fastball that stayed in the 89-92 MPH range and hit 93 MPH on occasion but he couldn't locate either his changeup or breaking ball with any consistency. He managed to walk 6 batters (a career high by the way) in just over 2 IP. He loaded the bases in both the 1st and 2nd innings on walks and in the 3rd on hits and errors by his defense. He was pulled in favor of RP Chad Durbin after 2 1/3 innings. Luckily for the Phillies, Durbin was able to stop the bleeding and contributed 3 2/3 strong innings with no runs allowed despite pitching the day before. Durbin also lowerd his ERA to 1.13 over 8 innings in 6 appearances in the Phillies first 9 games. He has thus far shown himself to be Manager Charlie Manuel's best option out of the pen.
Overall, the Phillies bullpen has proven to be very deep early in the season, especially after the return of CP Brad Lidge. Durbin, Lidge, Romero, and Gordon have all been excellent. Gordon's only bad game so far came on Opening Day. Since then he has not given up a run in his past 4 appearances. Rudy Seanez looks to be a fine addition to the back end of the pen and RHP Ryan Madson should also contribute. So far, the 12th pitcher Clay Condrey is the only reliever to be really concerned about and I honestly doubt he'll see much meaningful action for the Phillies.

New and Notes: LF Pat Burrell continued his early season tear going 2 for 4 last night raising his average to .400 on the year with 3 HRs/9 RBI. Much maligned starter Adam Eaton looks for 2 strong performances in a row as he faces off against SP John Maine tonight at 7:10 pm. CF Shane Victorino took a step backwards last night going 0-5 with 1 K lowering his average to .162. 1B Ryan Howard continues to struggle at the plate and is batting .188 so far this year. RF Geoff Jenkins made a spectacular diving catch in the 3rd inning last night to help stop the bleeding and the RF platoon of Jenkins and Werth appears to be working out so far early this year (Combined stats: .278 AVG, .381 OBP, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 3 R)

Phillies Ruin Mets Home Opener

Well the Fightin' Phils managed to win again. They were able to come from behind and defeat the Mets 5-2 despite a very strong performance by Mets Lefty Oliver Perez who went 5 2/3 innings without allowing a run. It was truly a team effort as SS Jimmy Rollins, 2B Chase Utley, and CF Shane Victorino each chipped in on offense with key contributions. In particular, Victorino had his first multi-hit game of the season going 2-5 with 1 BB and raised his batting average to .188 on the year. Utley reached base 4 times with 3 HBP and an RBI double to deep right that cemented the Phillies lead in the later innings.

Most importantly, the Bullpen came up strong again in what appears to be a growing strength for the club this year. RHP Chad Durbin pitched another scoreless inning lowering his ERA to 2.08 and LHP J.C. Romero and RHP Tom Gordon pitched the 8th and 9th innings to seal the deal for the Phillies. Gordon has not allowed a run since Opening Day and he appears to have gotten stronger with each outing which is an excellent sign for the bullpen. He recorded his first save of the season as Closer Brad Lidge was unavailable for work as he had pitched the previous 2 days in a row coming off the DL. Romero has continued his excellent pitching for the Phillies this year and Chad Durbin looks well suited to the middle-relief/right handed setup role that he has been given so far early in the season.

SP Kyle Kendrick will take the mound tonight for the Phillies as they try to make it 10 in a row against the NY Mets. Gametime is 7:05 pm EST and will be broadcast nationally in HD on ESPN2.

Pat Burrell Powers Phils to Victory

Pat Burrell hit 2 HRs and drove in 3 as the Phillies defeated the Cincinnati Reds 5-3 this afternoon. SP Cole Hamels delivered his second straight impressive performance going 7 innings and allowing 2 runs (1 earned) while striking out 4. There were alot of positives for the Phillies in this game. Both Jimmy Rollins and Pat Burrell continued their strong starts and RF Geoff Jenkins hit his first HR of the season and is proving to be a fine pick-up by GM Pat Gillick. However, CF Shane Victorino continued to struggle, going 1 for 5 which raised his batting average to .143. Perhaps a move down in the batting order would benefit the Flyin' Hawaiian for a couple of games until he can get his timing down. Or perhaps not. Its still very early in the season to be concerned with this type of slump. In related news, Ryan Howard is struggling somewhat at the plate as well; He went 1-4 with 3 Ks lowering his average to .208 on the season.

Positives:

1. Burrell and JRoll have both started the season fast out of the gate.

2. SP Cole Hamels had another dominant performance.

3. Closer Brad Lidge got his first Save of the season pitching 1 inning and allowing no earned runs.

Negatives:

1. The Phillies defense continues to be atrocious committing another 2 errors today. Both errors were by newcomers with OF So Taguchi and 3B Pedro Feliz each committing one. Both players were brought on board mainly for their defensive skills so go figure.

2. Victorino is off to a horrid start.....143 average in the first 7 games of the season.

3. Howard is also struggling batting .208.

Tomorrow, the Phillies start a 3 game series in NY against the Mets and SP Jamie Moyer will take the mound against SP Oliver Perez. After that they are back in Philly for a 9 game homestand against the Cubs, Astros, and Mets.

Phillies Win in 10 and Weekly Awards

So the Phillies showed that they do give a damn about the season and the offense came alive for them finally. The Phillies actually showed great composure in what could be a huge come from behind victory beating the Nationals 8-7 in 10 innings. It was good to see and it was a good sign to see the much questioned bullpen come up huge.

Positives:

1. Shane Victorino finally got his first hit of the year

2. Bottom half of the order came up huge (Jenkins/Feliz/Coste went 7 for 14 with 4 runs scored and 2 RBI)

3. Bullpen looked solid

Negatives:

1. Tom Gordon took 34 pitches to retire the Nats in the 9th. He managed to load the bases but not give up any runs. Scary.

2. 4 errors in the first inning and a third. The Phillies still don't appear ready to be playing meaningful games.

3. It basically took everything the Phillies had to eke out a victory against a mediocre team and salvage a 1-2 split of the Series. For the record, by the 10th inning the Phillies had no one left on the bench and only RHP Tim Lahay in the bullpen.


Weekly Awards:

Let me start off by explaining how this will work. Every Friday I will give out awards to top performers on the Phillies for the week. This is a somewhat shortened week but typically the period will run from Friday night - Thursday Night for stats and key contributions. That being said:

Pitcher of the Week - Chad Durbin: Now this could easily be Cole Hamels for his dominant 8 inning performance but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Chad Durbin. Durbin has appeared in all 3 games so far in relief and given up no runs in 3 IP. He has positioned himself to be a go-to guy out of the Pen for the rest of season with his performance.

Player of the Week - Jimmy Rollins: Yeah I know, he's only batting .231 so far in 3 games. However, his huge 1st to 3rd gamble in the 10th inning paid massive dividends yesterday afternoon and positioned the Phillies to win their first game. Also his 7 Total Bases leads the team and he's tied for the team lead in Hits, Runs, RBIs, 2Bs, and HRs.