Talk amongst yourselves
June 30 2006
The next update to
Philliesflow will be on Sunday, July 9.
The Phillies will play nine games in that time. They start a three-game set
in Toronto tonight. Monday is an-off day. On Tuesday they return home for
the first of three against the Padres. They follow that with a three-game
series against the Pirates at home. Then they are off for the All-Star
break.
It doesn't seem real likely at this point, but the Phillies still have a
chance to go into the All-Star break with a better mark than last year's
45-44. If they went 9-0 in the last nine before the break they would be
45-42. 0-9 would put them at 36-51. They would need to go 8-1 or 9-0 in
the last nine to go into the break at .500 or better. Given the current
circumstances I would estimate the odds of the Phils going 8-1 or 9-0 over
the next nine games are about the same as Sal Fasano hitting for the cycle
tonight (Sal is still looking for his first triple in The Show after 963
at-bats). But ya gotta believe.
The Phillies are blessed with several excellent and oft-updated blogs
dedicated to the team. Check them out on the right under the section
titled, cleverly enough, "Phillies Blogs."
Phillies floodgates open for four as Madson stops the bleeding in Baltimore
June 30 2006
The Phillies and their
fans can expect the pitchers in the current starting rotation to get
shelled. Until they get some of their starters back, expecting anything
else would be somewhat foolishly optimistic. Last night in Baltimore,
however, Ryan Madson gave the team something unexpected. His outstanding
pitching performance paced the Phillies to a 4-0 win, snapping a seven game
losing streak.
The Phillies pitching doesn't have to be great for them to win
consistently. Their offense is very good. So far this season the pitching
hasn't been great or good or even average. The starting pitching has been
abysmal. Tonight is their 79th game of the season, and with Adam Bernero's
start this evening they will have started Madson, Floyd, Hamels, Brito,
Mathieson and Bernero a total of 36 of those games (45.6%). When you are
consistently putting guys with that level of experience out there it makes
it almost impossible to win enough to make the playoffs. Obviously the
Phillies would like to make the playoffs -- if they were trying to make the
playoffs rather than put themselves in a position to make a run next year
I'm not sure we would have seen so many starts by so many guys with so
little experience. On a related note, one-fifth of the active roster tonight for the Phillies
will likely be Fabio Castro, Chris Coste, Scott Mathieson, Rick White and
Adam Bernero.
The Phillies win last night improves their record to 36-42 on the year. The
Mets were swept in their three-game series with the Red Sox, so the Phillies
pick up a game despite losing two of three to the Orioles. The Phils are in
second place in the NL East, eleven games behind the Mets.
Ryan Madson got the start for the Phillies and had the best start of his
career. He went 8 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing five hits and a walk and
striking out seven. He came within an out of throwing a complete game,
four-hit shutout. Each of the five hits he allowed was a single and he
didn't give up more than one hit in any inning.
With the Phillies out to a 2-0 lead in the first, Madson gave up a leadoff
single to Brian Roberts to start the bottom of the inning and it looked like
more of the same for the Phillies. It wasn't to be, however, as Madson got
the next batter, Brandon Fahey, to ground into a double-play and got Mora to
end the inning.
He cruised after that, shutting down the Orioles in innings two through
eight without ever getting into real trouble. He got 1-2-3 innings in the
third, fourth, sixth and eighth allowing a single base-hit in the second,
fifth and seventh. In the fourth he struck out the side.
Madson started the ninth up 4-0 and got the first two batters he faced. He
faced Fahey again, trying to get the last out and got up 0-2. It was the
106 pitch mark for him and it looked like he was worn out. He lost Fahey,
eventually walking him in an eight-pitch at-bat. The Phillies gave Madson
one more chance to get his complete game, but Mora singled and the Phillies
brought in Flash Gordon. Madson ended his tremendous night having thrown
114 pitches.
Gordon retired Tejada to end the game and earn his 21st save on the year.
The Phillies lineup against righty Rodrigo Lopez went (1) Rollins (2)
Dellucci (3) Utley (4) Abreu (5) Howard (6) Rowand (7) Victorino (8) Nunez
(9) Fasano. Dellucci played left, Victorino right and Abreu was at DH.
Nunez played third for Bell. Burrell was out of the lineup again. I
really hope the Phillies get him playing regularly again soon. He's the
best right-handed bat on the team, last year he was second in the NL in RBI
and the Phillies need him. I guess that Manuel saw a chance to give Utley
and Abreu a mini-rest by DHing them in the last two days, which makes some
sense. I hope the Phillies consider using Coste more frequently at catcher,
too, cause Fasasno may not be able to handle the load everyday. I don't
think Coste is really a .296 hitter, but I'd let him play long enough to
prove it. He's looked good enough defensively as well, particularly with
throwing out runners.
Jimmy Rollins led off the first with a walk and Dellucci followed with a
two-run homer, putting the Phillies up 2-0. It was the second straight day
the combination of Rollins and Dellucci at the top of the lineup had given
the Phillies an early lead.
The score stayed 2-0 until the seventh. In that inning, Howard led off with
a single and Rowand followed with a double. Victorino piddled out to the
pitcher, but Howard came in to score on a Nunez ground ball to third to make
it 3-0. Rowand was stranded when Fasano struck out to end the inning.
Utley and Abreu had back-to-back two-out doubles in the eighth to put the
Phillies up 4-0.
Rollins was 1-for-3 on the day with a walk. For the series he was 2-for-12
with two walks. In each of the last two games he scored a run after getting
aboard to leadoff the inning. He's slugging .487 in June, with 15
extra-base hits in 115 at-bats.
Dellucci was 2-for-4 with a big first inning homer. He was 4-for-9 with two
homers in the series. He's at 349/378/605 in 43 June at-bats. Dellucci
gives the Phillies an advantage in DH games that other NL teams don't have
-- hopefully the Phillies get him and Burrell both going in Toronto.
Utley was 2-for-4 with a strikeout and 6-for-12 in the series. He's hit in
six straight.
Abreu was 1-for-4 with the big double. 2-for-10 with two walks in the
series.
Howard was 2-for-4. 4-for-11 with two homers in the series.
Rowand was 1-for-4. He was 3-for-13 in the series and is hitting .220 and
on-basing .265 in 91 June at-bats.
Victorino played a lot in the series and went 1-for-11 including 0-for-4
last night. He's hitting .233 in June.
Nunez was 0-for-4. 0-for-8 in the series and 0-for-his-last-13.
Fasano was 1-for-3 with a single and 1-for-6 in the series. He's
2-for-his-last-20 with two singles.
Adam Bernero makes his Phillies debut tonight against Toronto.