Posts Tagged ‘Cardinals’

Updates Galore: From Cliff Lee to PEDs to all things Phillies!

July 30th, 2009 BroadStreetHero

What a disgrace to baseball. I actually feel bad for Red Sox fans, who need 2004 like we needed 2008.

What a disgrace to baseball. I actually feel bad for Red Sox fans, who need 2004 like we needed 2008.

Breaking News: David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez tested positive for PEDs in 2003.  Is that really a shock anymore?  I can’t stand what the media/government/whoever has this document is doing.  Somebody has this list of 104 names and is leaking one or two every month.  What the hell is wrong with the world we live in today?  The 2003 tests were supposed to be anonymous and the names never leaked, but if one is going to be leaked (starting with A-Rod), then shouldn’t they release all 104 names and spare the current players the detriment of being implicated in something that they may not be guilty of.  It’s getting ridiculous, and the sad thing is that I am not the least bit surprised by any name that pops up anymore.  The only ones that will really shock me would be Derek Jeter or Ken Griffey Jr.  Come on baseball, release these names and let’s move on and get away from this Steroid Era.

Sorry for the prolonged absence everyone.  I have been very busy as of late and haven’t been able to sit down and put my views down on paper (or in today’s world, in a word document).  I sure picked a hell of a time to get busy.  While I was gone what happened?  The Phillies won series against the Cardinals and Diamondbacks, improving to 58-41.  The Eagles lost a legend in Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson, and my prayers go out to his family.  The Phillies then backed off negotiations with the Blue Jays and Roy Halladay and decided to make a magnificent trade that brought 2008 AL Cy Young Winner Cliff Lee to the team (along with a very good right handed bat in Ben Francisco).  I will be commenting more on the passing of Jim Johnson, the reinstatement of Michael Vick, Eagles training camp, and other things football in a different column that will be up shortly.

The first thing I want to say about the Cliff Lee trade is that Ruben Amaro Jr. showed amazing determination and poise in finding the Phillies an ace pitcher to bolster the staff.  Also, J.P Ricciardi, the GM of the Toronto Blue Jays, is an idiot.  The guy overplayed his hand, which is understandable considering he was dealing the best pitcher in baseball, but he ended up losing any chance of getting great value for Halladay.  I can’t see Halladay staying in Toronto for the remainder of his contract and there is no way in hell that the Blue Jays will get anything close to the offers they are getting now for him once the offseason rolls around.  The only way they will get value for Halladay is by trading him to the Red Sox for Clay Buckholtz, which is also ludicrous.  The best example that I can think of that would mirror that would be the Mets trading Johan Santana to the Phillies right now for Kyle Drabek.  Do the Jays understand how stupid that is to trade your star pitcher to a team that is better than you in your own DIVISION?  Anyway, that’s my two cents about Halladay.

Back to Cliff Lee.  I think the move is excellent.  Amaro and his staff did such a good job of realizing that J.P. Ricciardi wasn’t going to budge on Halladay so they went a different route and came up aces.  What I love about this deal is that not only did the Phillies do something they never do and trade for an ace pitcher, they also bolstered their bench while not losing any pieces of their major league squad.  OF Ben Francisco is just the type of player the Phillies need to help give the other outfielders some rest down the stretch while also providing a capable right handed bat off the bench.  With Victorino getting hurt yesterday (knee contusion), it is starting to look like this move was even better, although I hope Shane’s injury isn’t serious.

Of the four minor leaguers that got traded to Cleveland, Jason Knapp was probably the centerpiece, and he is only 18 years old.  As I said earlier, I think he has the potential to be a great pitcher, and most likely will fit into a team as a lights out closer, but overall, the Phillies didn’t give up too much.  We are set with pitchers so Carrasco was expendable, Jason Donald plays middle infield, which is currently taken up by Rollins and Utley, and Lou Marson is an up and coming catcher, a spot taken by Carlos Ruiz.  Marson is probably our biggest loss because we really don’t have a backup for Ruiz, so maybe Amaro’s next move will be to get some minor league depth at catcher.

Now the Phillies are the favorites to repeat as National League Champs (at least in my mind, betting sites still have the Dodgers slightly in front).  With a rotation that includes Hamels, Lee, and Blanton, along with their pick of Happ, Moyer, Martinez, Lopez, etc, what’s not to like?  The offense has been unstoppable (except for last night, I don’t know what happened there), and now we have depth at pitching, which also allows Charlie Manuel to bolster the bullpen by maybe moving J.A. Happ back there.  Also, Brett Myers is recovering very quickly from hip surgery and is considering a mid-August return, which means there could be competition for the closer spot.  Very exciting stuff!  Tell me what you think about everything that has been going on, and sorry I was gone for so long.

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Happ Is Human: Phillies Lose to Cardinals

July 25th, 2009 BroadStreetHero

Yesterday was a busy day for me so I didn’t have time to express my views on the game last night.  Our air conditioner broke at the Jersey shore so I’ve been sweating profusely in 85 degree heat.  Anyway, back to baseball.  Overall, J.A. Happ didn’t pitch poorly, he was just a victim of good hitting.  I don’t know what it was about that 6th inning, but every hit that the Cardinals had was a bloop single that somehow found a way to fall.  It reminded me of that game Cole Hamels had earlier in the season where he allowed 10 hits, all of which were singles.  Happ suffered his first loss last night as the Phillies lost to the Cardinals 8-1.  He had good composure and control on his pitches, but in the 6th inning things fell apart.  Going into the game I felt like Happ would have a mediocre game due to all of the pressure that has been on him lately as a rookie pitcher in the spotlight, but he pitched admirably for the most part.

Who didn’t show up last night?  The Phillies lineup.  The Phillies had three or four innings where they stranded a man on 3rd base, showing that they couldn’t hit in the clutch at all.  It was a weird night.

I was in shock that Matt Holliday played in the game not even 24 hours after he was traded to the Cardinals.  That team is scary now.  Holliday and Pujols is a good 1-2 punch.  I wasn’t surprised that Holliday had 4 hits in the game.  The guy kills us, and he is one of my most hated players in the league.  I am one of the firm believers that he was out at home in that game against the Padres that got them into the playoffs in 2007.

The one thing about the Cardinals this year is that they have been unable to score runs and have relied on Pujols to carry them to 1st place in the NL Central.  Joel Piniero improved to just 9-9 on the season when he has an ERA under 3.00.  He could have 14 wins this season if the Cardinals provided him with more than 3.9 runs per start on average.  Anyway, now that they have added people like Matt Holliday, Mark DeRosa, and Julio Lugo, the Cards have a chance to ramp up the offense and be a real threat to the Phillies and Dodgers in the race for best team in the National League.

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MLB Mid-Season Awards

July 14th, 2009 BroadStreetHero

At Broad Street Heroes I like to stick to my bias as a Philadelphia sports fan, but sometimes I have to give credit to people on other teams, and this is one of those times.  There have been many spectacular performances in the first half of the baseball season, both individual and team.  I would like to congratulate the players and teams that made these unforgettable moments possible throughout the first half of the 2009 season.

Most Valuable Player: Albert Pujols (1B – St. Louis Cardinals)

2009 Stats: .332 BA    73 R    102 H    32 HR    87 RBI    71 BB    35 K

Like many baseball fans I have been amazed by the career of Albert Pujols.  Since his rookie campaign in 2001, Albert has been the most consistent hitter in all of baseball.  The closest comparison that I can think of when it comes to batting for average and power while demonstrating exceptional defensive play would be Hank Aaron.  Yes, the Hank Aaron who was a 24 time All-Star, who had 755 career Home Runs (the record as far as I am concerned), 2297 RBIs (most ever), and 3771 career hits (3rd all time).  Hammerin’ Hank never hit 50 HR in a season, but he hit 30 or more 15 times, with 8 of those seasons being 40 homers or more.  Hank was the measure of consistency, and in his prime he averaged around 40 HR, 120 RBI, and a .320 batting average (1956-1965).

Now that Albert Pujols is in his 9th major league season, the comparisons to the greatest who ever played the game are starting to make sense.  He has a career batting average of .334, 29 points higher than Aaron’s.  Albert has 351 HR through 8 1/2 seasons and is on pace for 20-30 more dingers this season, bringing his career average to around 43-45 HR per season.  At that pace, 755 HR in a 20 year career is certainly attainable, and the only question is, how soon until Pujols has the home run crown?

So why is Albert deserving of the Mid-season MVP award?  Well, he is on pace to become the first player since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 to win the Triple Crown in hitting.  The Triple Crown, for those of you who aren’t too familiar, consists of leading the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in for a season.  Yastrzemski was the last to do this for the Boston Red Sox in 1967 when he hit .326 with 44 HR and 121 RBI to lead the American League.  As of today, Pujols leads the league in HR and RBI with 32 and 87 respectively.  He is 4th in the league in batting average at .332, with Hanley Ramirez leading the league at .346.  What are the chances that we will have the first Triple Crown winner in 42 years?

Most Outstanding Performance: Jonathan Sanchez (SP – San Francisco Giants)

On July 10th, Jonathan Sanchez was called up to start in place of 4 time Cy Young winner Randy Johnson, who was put on the DL with a shoulder strain.  All that the Giants asked of him was to pitch effectively against the division rival San Diego Padres.  Sanchez responded with the first No Hitter of the 2009 MLB Season.  An error by 3rd basemen Juan Uribe in the 8th inning was the only blemish on what was a perfect night for the young starter.  It was the closest a pitcher has come to a perfect game since the guy Sanchez replaced, Randy Johnson, threw a perfect game against the Atlanta Braves on May 18, 2004.  The no-no was the first one since Carlos Zambrano’s no hitter for the Cubs on September 14th of last year.  With this spectacular performance, Jonathan Sanchez cemented himself into the record books, while also possibly earning himself a spot in the Giants starting rotation.

Biggest Surprise (So Far…): J.A. Happ (SP – Philadelphia Phillies)

When the defending World F****** Champions took the field in 2009 everybody expected World Series MVP Cole Hamels to be the ace of the staff.  After only using 7 different starters in 2008, the Phillies have used 9 different starters through 86 games this season.  Brett Myers landed on the DL with a hip injury, replacement Antonio Bastardo joined him after 5 starts, and Cole Hamels has been very inconsistent.  So who has kept the Phillies pitching staff level during this temultuous time?  Rookie J.A. Happ.

Happ started a few games last season and pitched fairly well, earning a few wins and no decisions.  This year Happ has been nearly unhittable.  He is 6-0 with a 2.90 ERA and 61 Ks.  At times when the Phillies haven’t been able to produce runs, J.A. has pitched effectively enough to let them win games.  Jamie Moyer has the most wins on the team with 9, but he also gets the most run support of all the Phillies starters.  Kudos the J.A. Happ for solidifying himself in the Phillies rotation while being the only starting pitcher to be 6-0 through the All Star Break (Johnathan Broxton, closer for the Dodgers is also 6-0).

Bonehead Play of the Mid-year: Luis Castillo (2B – New York Mets)

If I didn’t hate the New York Mets so much I would feel sorry for them.  They are fielding a minor league team, their pitching is decimated, and they can’t hit or field.  None of this was depicted in a grander fashion than in an Interleague matchup between the Yankees and Mets on June 12th.  The Mets were winning 8-7 going into the 9th inning.  The untouchable K-Rod came in to close his 17th game in 17 chances and got two outs while allowing two batters to reach base.  This set the stage for the biggest bonehead play of the year.  A-Rod came up to the plate, and K-Rod got him to pop up to second base to end the game.  But the game didn’t end with the ball being caught securely in Luis Castillo’s glove.  Instead, Castillo DROPPED THE BALL and allowed Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira to round the bases and score, giving the Yankees the come from behind win, 9-8.

When half of your team is on the DL and you are one of the only starters still playing you have to make the plays you are supposed to make.  Luis Castillo couldn’t do that.  He personifies the Mets season so far, missed chances.  When the Phillies went in a stretch where they lost 14 of 18 games, the Mets still weren’t able to capitalize and are currently 6 1/2 games out and in 4th place in the NL East.

Honorable Mention: Milton Bradley for throwing a fly ball into the stands when it was only the 2nd out of the inning, allowing two runners to score.  Fortunately for Bradley, his team was already losing the game, unfortunately for him, it reminds us all of how he tore his ACL while arguing with an umpire.  What an idiot!

Posted in Phillies Tags: , , , , , , , 2 Comments »


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