Tag Archives: Philadelphia Phillies

MLB on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra: Phillies @ Braves

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Mlb5XtraHlToday’s MLB game on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra is scheduled to be a battle from the NL East between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves.

It’s a big game in more ways than one. 

For several years now, games between these two teams have been fiercely contested.  The Braves owned the NL East division for most of the 1990s and the first half of the 2000s.  They reeled off eleven straight first placed-finishes between 1995 and 2005 before the New York Mets finally broke the Braves’ stranglehold in 2006. 

However it’s the Phillies who have taken ownership of the division since then with four straight wins over 2007 and 2010.  The Phillies are lording it over what used to be the Braves’ domain and that brings an extra edge to games between the two.

Today’s game carries additional significance as it has been designated as the fifth annual Civil Rights Movement game.  As the MLB preview states:

“It’ll be about honoring the social contributions made on and off the field by key figures in America’s history, and about showing respect for those who paved the way for current African-American stars like Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Jason Heyward — players like Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron and so many others”.

No sport honours its past with quite as much respect and reverence as baseball does.  Today’s game is another great example of this.

The series is tied at one apiece: the Phillies won the opener on Friday night 5-4 before Jair Jurrjens led the Braves to a 5-3 victory yesterday.  And we couldn’t ask for a better pitching match-up today.  The reigning Cy Young winner Roy Halladay and the Braves’ ace Tim Hudson will be taking to the mound in what should be a classic. 

Nat Coombs and Josh Chetwynd should be bringing us all the action, although there have been rumours that the presence of the Braves could bring Jonny Gould back to the baseball airwaves as well.  Coverage begins on 5 Live Sports Extra at 18.00, with first pitch scheduled for 18.35.

2011 MLB Preview: National League East

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MlbHlSqThe Phillies topped the NL East in 2010 and made the standout free agent signing of the offseason.  However, the Braves have made additions of their own and with the Marlins bringing through some excellent young players, this division is far from being a forgone conclusion.

2010 final standings

1. Philadelphia Phillies (97-65)
2. Atlanta Braves (91-71)
3. Florida Marlins (80-82)
4. New York Mets (79-83)
5. Washington Nationals (69-93)

The 2010/11 offseason

The Phillies captured the biggest free agent on the market, stunning the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers by stealing starting pitcher Cliff Lee from under their noses.  Lee decided that he enjoyed his brief spell in Philadelphia in 2009 so much that he wanted to return and the Phillies were not going to turn him away. 

The addition of Lee to the rotation counterbalanced the loss of outfielder Jayson Werth, who made a surprise free agent switch to the Washington Nationals.  The Nats also signed first baseman Adam LaRoche and the pair will need to make up for the loss of slugger Adam Dunn, who moved to the White Sox as a free agent.  Continue reading →

Injuries lead to the spring time blues

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MlbHlSqAnother day, another slate of contests from Arizona and Florida to ponder. 

Spring Training games generate a measure of meaning and interest through fringe players or newcomers competing to win roster spots and talented youngsters trying to catch the eye.  Whether a veteran looking for another chance or a rookie hoping to make it, the dream of the Big Leagues dangles in front of them all. 

The promised land is within touching distance for a mighty few and achieving the goal of making an Opening Day roster in the Majors is something that should never be underestimated by us onlookers, conditioned as we are to seeing the best players making it look so natural and easy.   

And yet the painful truth is that so often rosters are determined, and headlines are dominated, not by glorious tales of players winning positions, but others losing them.  The sheen of optimism that covers Spring Training is always broken by the dreaded curse of injuries.

The St. Louis Cardinals were dealt a thumpingly hollow reminder of this within days of their camp opening.  Adam Wainwright’s elbow injury was the nightmare scenario that all teams dread.  Knowing that they were part of a fiercely competitive division this year, they couldn’t afford to lose their best pitcher, and one of the best pitchers in all of baseball, for any stretch of time.

To lose him for the entire season before a game has been played is the cruellest blow.  It’s certainly not the case that their season is already over, but they know how tough it will be to win the NL Central after losing an irreplaceable part.

One thing is for sure, it doesn’t pay for anyone to gloat about these things.  Any professional, indeed any true baseball fan, wants to see the best players on the field and wouldn’t wish an injury on anyone.  And even if you are of a heartless, cynical persuasion, avoiding the mocking of injuries is essential because you never know what is around the corner. 

The Milwaukee Brewers knew that Wainwright’s injury weakened one of their rivals, but they also knew a similar fate could be awaiting them with one slip or trip or fling of an arm.  Or even an ill-timed basketball game.  Zack Greinke’s rib injury takes the gloss of his arrival in Milwaukee and he’ll still be recovering, rather than pitching, when Opening Day arrives.  While it doesn’t look like Greinke will be out for too long, a Brew Crew basketball ban is surely now in effect.

Why risk another mishap when the injury bug is already no respecter of name or status and doesn’t care if it’s timing couldn’t be worse. 

The Philadelphia Phillies’ rotation is seemingly lined up to dominate the National League this year, but they will need some offence to go alongside the pitching.  Their batting lineup is no longer quite the threatening force of previous years.  A recent article on ESPN.com by Jayson Stark showed how the league has caught up with some of their hitters and the last thing the team needed was for players to start reporting hurt. 

Which is, of course, exactly what is now happening.

Domonic Brown was pencilled in to be the guy to fill the hole made by Jayson Werth’s free agent departure to Washington; however he’ll start the season on the Disabled List after undergoing surgery on his right hand.  That’s a blow, but not to the level of Chase Utley’s situation.  A knee injury that was initially dressed up as a mild inconvenience is now a full-blown problem of a frustratingly vague kind.  The Phillies know what’s wrong with him (mild patellar tendinitis); deciding on the most appropriate course of treatment is less straight forward and that means they have no clear idea of when he will be back on the field.

And it’s not only real-life General Managers that are left pondering such uncertainties. Fantasy baseball owners too are adjusting their player rankings at each piece of injury news filtering through as drafts approach. 

The BaseballGB Fantasy draft takes place this Sunday.  All of us involved can check on current injuries and weigh up the risks and rewards that could be involved with selecting players currently battling an injury.  However, once the draft has been completed, we’ll be at the mercy of injuries like everyone else.  We don’t have the problem of contracts and financial commitments to worry about, but we’ll still have cause to worry here and there as trainers walk out onto the field to talk to pitchers and position players report soreness that could always lead to something more serious.

The only hope for fantasy players is that waiver claims and free agent pick-ups can help to avert a crisis. As for the real teams, their only hope is that an injury creates an opportunity for a walk-on recruit or a prospect to step up and take their chance.  It’s not the way they would want the chance to fall to them, but that’s how all sports work and it’s the positive way of looking at a bleak subject.

You’ve got to take the positives from the negatives, especially during these optimistic Spring Training days.

The best and worst moves of the offseason

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MlbHlSqOn November 7th, exclusive club negotiations ended and baseball fans around the world turned their attentions from San Francisco to Little Rock Arkansas, home town to Cliff Lee: this offseason’s most desirable free agent.

After a predictable bidding war, the 32 year old southpaw and former Cy Young award winner snubbed the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees, deciding instead to return to the Philadelphia Phillies for a 5 year £74.5 million pound contract. He joins what seems to be (on paper at least) the best starting rotation since the Atlanta Braves of the 1990’s.

There has been considerable discussion as to whether or not this was the best signing of the winter. Certainly, Ruben Amaro Jr. deserves a pat on the back for winning the Lee sweepstakes. However, I think Theo Epstein of the Boston Red Sox takes the cake for ‘best offseason’ with the acquisitions of both Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford.

Adrian Gonzalez / Best Offseason Acquisition

Coming from the lofty dimensions of PETCO Park in San Diego, Gonzalez is going to have a field day in Fenway. According to Hit Tracker, his 31 home runs in 2010 seem to be equally distributed to all fields (see “Gonzalez HR Scatter” 2009 & 2010 below).

However, he hit more of his home runs to left in 2009. According to his spray charts (see “Gonzalez 2010 Hit Spray Chart” below), he definitely pushes the ball more than he pulls it, which is a good thing for left handed hitters in Boston. Furthermore, the left field wall in Fenway sits nearly 20 feet shallower down the line than the wall in San Diego. This will amount to a lot more hits for Adrian, either as home runs or as singles/doubles banking off the Green Monster. Moving from the NL West to the AL East also means more games in hitter friendly parks. According to ESPN’s park factors, Yankee Stadium, The Roger’s Centre, and Camden Yards are three of the top five home run parks in the MLB. PETCO, on the other hand, is ranked as the worst stadium for hits, 22nd (of 30) for home runs, and 26th for runs.  Continue reading →

Major League money 2010: Part One

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MlbHlSqWe might be living in an age of budget cuts in the UK, but Major League Baseball is successfully braving the global economic storm in the States.

Midway through December it was revealed that the average MLB salary had exceeded $3m for the first time in 2010 ($3,014,572, equivalent to £37,425 per week) and just before Christmas details of the final 2010 payrolls were disclosed by the Associated Press.

Typically the figures used to describe a team’s expenditure relate to their opening day payroll, but the final payrolls give a more accurate picture of what a team spent on their playing staff throughout the season.

Everyone clicking the above link would expect to see the New York Yankees at the top of the money tree and, sure enough, that’s exactly where they are with a total of $215,053,064. Their bitter rivals the Boston Red Sox came in second with a relatively modest total of $170,650,856. It’s striking that the difference between those top two, $44,402,208, is more than the sum spent by both the San Diego Padres and Pittsburgh Pirates at the bottom of the spending pile.

Those of us who like to believe that money isn’t the be all and end all can take comfort in the positive year had by the Padres (the Pirates are a lost cause at the moment, but that’s a consequence of a long period of terrible leadership rather than simply a money matter). The level of competition in the National League West doesn’t match that of the AL East, but that doesn’t diminish San Diego’s 90-72 season, in which they narrowly missed out on a playoff spot. No one bettered the Padres when it came to wins per dollars spent ($485,046 per win).

In contrast, the Yankees’ wins cost them $2,263,716 apiece. That’s a cost they can afford thanks to their gleaming new ballpark and lucrative TV network, which both service the biggest sports market in the States. The Red Sox and Yankees effectively force each other to raise the financial stakes and Boston’s free agent-signing exploits this offseason are the latest development in this compelling trend.

That makes the Tampa Bay Rays’ AL East triumph all the more astounding. They had to compete against by far the two biggest spenders, and also a surprisingly competitive Toronto Blue Jays team, with a final payroll that ranked twentieth in the Majors ($77,510,502). To put it another way, the Rays were working with a budget only 45 per cent the size of the Red Sox’s and 36 per cent the size of the Yankees’.

And yet they beat them both.  Continue reading →

Phillies create a fearsome foursome

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MlbHlSqAn offseason that has already provided more than its share of shocks offered up another one today.  So much for a quiet, peaceful breakfast: I was excitedly clicking weblinks and reading tweets in between mouthfuls of porridge and slurps of tea.

Cliff Lee’s future had appeared to be down to a straight choice between the New York Yankees and the Texas Rangers. However rumours of a “mystery team” refused to go away and we now know why. 

The Philadelphia Phillies had staged a stealth bid to reel in the pitcher they traded away one year ago.  And, incredibly, they were successful.

Only a few days ago, I was questioning if the Phillies’ reign at the top of the NL East might be about to come to an end.  That comment was based on the idea that their offence had fallen from its previous level and that point still stands.  What’s changed is that they might not need to score many runs to win now anyway.

Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt.

It’s a fearsome foursome, capable of causing panic throughout the National League.  Never mind looking ahead to a three-game set and hoping you might get lucky and miss an opponent’s top two pitchers; you’re going to be facing at least two of the best starters in the league regardless of how the schedule falls.

Not only does it give them four excellent starters to throw at you, it also offer the Phillies the luxury of having strength in depth at one of the most important positions on the roster.  If any of the four are lost to injury for a period of time, they will be missed; however, it’s easier to cope with the loss of a top starter if you’ve got another three ready to take the mound on other nights.

The Phillies’ General Manager Ruben Amaro Jr took plenty of flak for trading Lee twelve months ago. That decision was made on the understanding that the Phillies wouldn’t be able to secure Lee’s services beyond the 2010 season when he was due to hit free agency.  Perhaps they would have been celebrating another World Series in 2010 if they had figured out a way to sign Halladay and keep Lee around in the first place?  Maybe, maybe not.

Situations can change over the course of a year and we can’t simply say ‘if they can afford him now, they could have afforded him then’.  It’s possible that spending time in Seattle and Texas during this year made Lee realise that Philadelphia was where he (and his family) really wanted to be and they were now prepared to accept a bit less money to make it happen.

Whether by accident or design, the end result is that the Phillies have secured the services of Halladay and Lee for several years to come on contracts that other teams were prepared to outdo.

The team with the most wins in the Majors in 2010 just got even better and I can’t wait to see what the Rangers and Yankees do in response.

2010 Season Review: NL East

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MlbHlSqThe National League East has been home to the Senior Circuit’s World Series representative over the past two seasons.  That wasn’t the case in 2010; however the division still produced much intrigue, action and excitement.

BaseballGB predictions

Joe Braves (WC: Phillies)
Mark Phillies
Matt Phillies (WC: Braves)
Russ Phillies
Steve Braves (WC: Phillies)

 

Philadelphia Phillies (97–65)

It almost went to plan for the Phillies.  They won more games than any other team in the Major Leagues on their way to their fourth straight NL East title.  Roy Halladay, their major offseason addition, took to the National League with ease, winning his second Cy Young award and pitching a perfect game against the Marlins.  He then pitched a no-hitter against the Reds in his first ever postseason start as the Phillies swept Cincinnati to make it to the National League Championship Series.

But the story ended there.  Despite being favourites to beat the San Francisco Giants, the Phillies’ hopes of getting to a third straight World Series were dashed.

There really wasn’t much more that the Phillies could have done.  Questions will always be asked about whether they could have signed Halladay and kept Cliff Lee, although Roy Oswalt proved a more than able replacement when he was signed from the Astros at the end of July.  Cole Hamels also had a great bounceback season to give the Phillies a formidable trio of starting pitchers.

The offence was good as well, although it wasn’t quite the powerhouse of previous seasons and that told in the end.  Chase Utley battled through some injuries, Ryan Howard was good rather than great and Jimmy Rollins followed up his 2009 struggles with a season defined by injuries and relative ineffectiveness.  The one man who held it all together was Jayson Werth and he has recently capitalized on his ‘walk year’ performance by signing a lucrative deal with the Nationals. 

Despite their excellent pitching, the Phillies will need Utley, Rollins and Howard to return to previous form in 2011 or their reign at the top of the NL East may come to an end.  Continue reading →

Giants end Phillies’ National League three-peat pursuit

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MlbHlSqAs Ryan Howard watched a 3-2 slider from Brian Wilson cross over the plate for strike three, the Phillies saw their pursuit of a third straight National League Championship come to an end. 

There will be no Phillies-Yankees World Series repeat in 2010.  Instead both teams will be sitting at home as the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants star in the Fall Classic.

Citizens Bank Park fell eerily silent as the Giants’ bench players streamed on to the field.  Even though they trailed 3-2 in the series, the home fans still expected their team to come through. 

And with good reason.  The Phillies have made the World Series two years in a row and, on paper and on their regular season record, they are the best team in the National League.

However, the Giants played better than the Phillies in this series, so they are the team that progresses.

It’s difficult to write about San Francisco’s triumph without the words coming off as a backhanded compliment.  The Giants’ batting lineup looks decent without being fearsome.  They have some genuine top-level pitchers in Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Brian Wilson, but otherwise a batter would fancy their chances against their pitching staff.  They are not outstanding defensively, nor do they wow the crowds with unrivalled base-running exploits. 

In short, not much about them screams ‘World Series contender’.

Yet they haven’t made it this far by luck.  The Giants are a good team, a group that adds up to more than the sum of their parts under manager Bruce Bochy.  Whether you want to put it down to performing well in the clutch, having a ‘never say die’ attitude or any other phenomenon you wish to cite, they have found a way to win when it matters the most. 

Is that something you can measure with statistics?  Is it even just a figment of the imagination?  I don’t know, but I do know that the Giants edged their way into the postseason on the final day of the regular season, they beat the Braves in the NLDS and have now knocked the Phillies out in the NLCS.  You can’t argue with the results.

The fact that the Giants don’t bowl you over on paper only makes their World Series berth all the more exciting.  The stage is set for Lincecum or Cain to dazzle with a dominating (no-hit?) performance, for Buster Posey to cap his rookie season with a memorable moment or two, or for Pablo Sandoval to end a disappointing season for him personally by performing some World Series heroics in the same way that Cody Ross won the NLCS MVP award.

The Phillies deserve credit for another excellent season and they will know as well as anyone that the difference between winning a World Series and missing out at the Championship Series stage is a very fine line. 

Meanwhile the Giants are four wins away from a World Championship.

Texas Rangers run the Yankees out of the playoffs

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MlbHlSqWho wrote that the Texas Rangers might be “steamrollered” by the New York Yankees in their American League Championship Series (ALCS)? 

Okay, it was me, but in my defence I only wrote that I had a “feeling” that could happen and I did so after the Yankees had staged an almighty comeback to win Game One.  That result, losing 6-5 at home after New York scored five times in the eighth inning, would have crushed a lesser team.  For the Rangers to recover and win the series 4-2 is a testament not only to their talent, but also to their spirit and fight.

The Rangers’ series-clinching win in the early hours of the British morning neatly summed this up. 

The fifth inning proved to be decisive.  The Rangers entered the frame leading 1-0 and starting pitcher Colby Lewis had thrown four no-hit innings before former Ranger Alex Rodriguez stroked a lead-off double into left-centre field.  Lewis had been on a roll and that could have knocked him out of his rhythm, especially when A-Rod scampered home from third on a wild pitch that should have been ruled a hit-by-pitch. 

The way the ball deflected showed that it must have hit somebody and the home plate umpire obviously thought it came off catcher Bengie Molina rather than Nick Swisher.  He was wrong and Swisher followed his captain’s lead by selling the play to the Yankees’ advantage.  Rightly or wrongly, it’s what most (all?) players would have done in the same situation, but it was another little moment to add to the Evil Empire legend and to make the neutrals root for the Rangers that little bit more (incidentally, it was very funny listening to MLB on 5 Live’s Jonny Gould on Wednesday night recalling Jeter’s angry reaction when he brought up the ‘Evil Empire’ nickname in an interview at the 2008 All Star Game).

Rather than rattling the Rangers, it seemed to galvanise them in the bottom of the inning.  Phil Hughes was chased from the game after Vlad Guerrero decided to take offence to the Yankees intentionally walking Josh Hamilton to pitch to him for the second straight time.  Vlad doubled home two runs and then Nelson Cruz welcomed David Robertson to the game by smacking a two-run homer to give Texas a 5-1 lead. They added another run in the seventh, but it wasn’t needed in the end.

It was a fully deserved series win.  The Rangers outplayed the Yankees and Joe Girardi can have no complaints about the result.  There were question marks over the Yankees’ starting pitchers heading into the postseason and they proved to be justified.  Add that to a spluttering offence and you’re not going to win many postseason games. 

As for the Rangers, fighting back in Game Two was important but their two comprehensive wins in Games Three (8-0) and Four (10-3) at Yankee Stadium was what won the series for them.  Listening to Game Five on Wednesday evening, there was a very muted atmosphere at Yankee Stadium early on, as if the usual Bronx confidence had taken a knock: quite an achievement by the Rangers.

Texas move on to their first ever World Series and will be full of confidence, especially as avoiding a Game Seven showdown means that Cliff Lee will be available for Game One of the Fall Classic.

The NCLS

Cliff Lee facing the Phillies would make for a fascinating story (not so fascinating for Phillies’ GM Ruben Amaro Jr, I suspect); however the Giants hold the advantage despite losing Game Five.  They have two more chances to make it back to the World Series for the first time since their loss to the Angels in 2002. 

Unfortunately, the early end to the ALCS has meant that Game Six tonight has been shifted from the UK-friendly time of 20.57 BST to just before one in the morning.  Still, Sunday gives us plenty of chance to catch up on the missed sleep.  Roy Oswalt and Jonathan Sanchez are scheduled to start.

Eighth spot heroes

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MlbHlSqTop billing was given to ‘Doc’ and the ‘Freak’, but it was plain-old eighth spot hitter Cody Ross who stole the show in Philadelphia last night.  The former Marlin took Roy Halladay deep twice as the San Francisco Giants took an early lead in the NLCS with a 4-3 Game One victory.

The eighth spot in the batting order doesn’t typically provide much power.  In the National League, it’s often the landing spot for a team’s least effective hitter, unless Tony La Russa is pulling his ‘pitcher batting eighth’ trick for the Cardinals. 

Not so in last night’s game.  Ross did his damage batting eighth and his opposing number in the Phillies’ lineup, Carlos Ruiz, also hit a home run against one of the elite starters in the game today (Lincecum in Ruiz’s case).

A player’s spot in the batting order can assume a surprising level of importance.  There’s an obvious tactical side to the construction of a lineup that makes a manager want to put his best hitters in certain positions.  Speed and on-base skills for the lead-off hitter, a ‘professional hitter’ in the two spot who can advance the runner or get on base himself, followed by the 3-4-5 heart of the order who  drive home the runs (that’s the theory, at least).

Being in one of those roles therefore bestows an additional element of responsibility and importance.  It’s not just a number, it’s a badge of honour.  Ever player will toe the party line and talk about ‘what’s best for the time’, but no one gives up their lofty batting lineup position lightly. 

Few will forget the fuss that was made when Alex Rodriguez was demoted down to the eighth spot by Joe Torre during the Yankees’ 2006 ALDS against the Detroit Tigers.  Rodriguez was struggling at the plate, but moving him all the way down to the eighth spot was a symbolic move as much as anything.  It was considered a serious slight against Rodriguez, some would say a deliberate slight (an act of humiliation even) by a manager who later saw fit to reveal stories of Rodriguez being called ‘A-Fraud’ by his teammates. 

For Rodriguez, hitting in the eighth spot was a come-down, but we shouldn’t fall into the trap of downplaying the lower-order hitters.  Somebody has to hit there after all and sometimes the lower-order is home to postseason heroes like Cody Ross.

Giants-Phillies resume tonight on BBC 5 Live Sports Extra

Game Two of the NLCS will be broadcast on BBC radio tonight, with first pitch set for 1 a.m.  Jonathan Sanchez and Roy Oswalt are the scheduled starters as the Phillies look to level the series. 

Ryan and Rangers can smile again

I’m sure there were plenty of knowing looks among the crowd at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington when Texas took a 7-1 lead in the fifth inning yesterday.  The phrase ‘once bitten, twice shy’ comes to mind.  Nolan Ryan wouldn’t have been smiling quite so broadly as he was in Game One, that’s for sure.

This time there would be no patented Yankees comeback and the Rangers finally got their first ever postseason home win to level the series 1-1.  The Yankees will still feel they have the advantage heading back home for the next three games, but the Rangers should also enter Yankee Stadium with confidence.   Two games in and this looks a finely balanced series. 

The producer of BBC 5 Live’s MLB coverage, Simon Crosse, has stated that they may be broadcasting one of the games from this series during next week.  Further details will be provided when available.