The 2010 season is over for the Phils and it has ended as we all worried it might, with the baffling offense failing in chance after chance to put runs on the board. Oswalt pitched well enough, but the Phils opened the door for San Francisco with miserable defense in the third inning and never were able to come up with the meager offensive production they needed to extend the season one more day.
The Phils again jumped on San Francisco starter Jonathan Sanchez early. Polanco walked with one out and came around to score on a double by Utley. A single by Howard moved Utley to third before Werth hit a fly ball to left deep enough for Utley to tag and score, putting the Phils up 2-0. The defense failed the Phils in the top of the third as the Giants got even. The pitcher Sanchez led off with a single under the glove of Utley. Andres Torres was next and blasted a ball that went off the glove of Victorino on the warning track in center for a long single. Freddy Sanchez bunted the runners to second and third before Huff singled into center with Sanchez scoring to make it 2-1 and Torres thrown out at the plate. Posey followed and chopped a ball to third that could have ended the frame, but Polanco bare-handed and made a bad throw to first that Howard couldn’t handle. Huff scored from second and the game was tied at 2-2. It stayed that way until the top of the eighth when Juan Uribe hit a ball out to right off of Madson, who was trying to nail down his second inning of the game.
The Phillies had chances in the game time after time. The Giants pulled their starting pitcher with nobody out in the third and men on first and second, but the Phils came up empty when Howard struck out, Werth flew to center and Victorino grounded to first. The Phils loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, but Victorino grounded back to the mound. Ibanez started the sixth with a double and was bunted to third with the first out, but pinch-hitter Ben Francisco struck out for the second out and Rollins flew to center for the third. Down a run in the eighth, the Phils put men on first and second with one out. Ruiz hit a ball well, but lined into a double-play to end the inning. In the ninth they had men on first and second with two down when Howard struck out looking at a 3-2 pitch to end the game and the season.
The Phillies have lost the NLCS to the Giants, falling 3-2 last night in game six. San Francisco wins the series four games to two and will play the Texas Rangers in the World Series.
The Phillies outscored the Giants in the series, 20-19.
Oswalt got the start for the Phillies and went six innings, allowing two runs on nine hits. One of the hits went for extra-bases, a double. He struck out five and didn’t walk a batter.
He faced a Giants lineup that went (1) Andre Torres (CF/S) (2) Freddy Sanchez (2B/R) (3) Aubrey Huff (1B/L) (4) Buster Posey (C/R) (5) Pat Burrell (LF/R) (6) Cody Ross (RF/R) (7) Juan Uribe (3B/R) (8) Edgar Renteria (SS/R). Uribe plays short with Fontenot and Sandoval on the bench. Renteria plays short and hits eighth.
The Giants had six players on the bench to start the game. Lefties Travis Ishikawa, Mike Fontenot and Nate Schierholtz switch-hitter Pablo Sandoval and righties Eli Whiteside and Aaron Rowand.
Torres was the first batter of the game and singled into left on an 0-1 pitch. Oswalt struck Sanchez out swinging 0-2, Huff out swinging 1-2 and got Posey to fly to right on a 2-2 pitch to leave Torres at first.
Oswalt threw 15 pitches in the first.
Burrell led off the second with the Phils on top 2-0. He hit a ground ball between third and short that Rollins tried to handle but didn’t field cleanly. Ross was swinging first pitch and grounded to third with the Phils turning the double-play to clear the bases. Uribe followed and hit the first pitch he saw into right field near the line for a single. Renteria flew to right on a 1-2 pitch to leave Uribe at first.
Oswalt was up to 28 pitches.
The pitcher Jonathan Sanchez led off the third and hit a 1-2 pitch up the middle that went under Utley’s glove as he slid to his right for a single. Torres was next and hammered a 1-2 pitch to center. Victorino tried to make an over-the-shoulder-catch on the warning track, but the ball went off the heel of his glove. Sanchez had to watch so Torres had a single and the Giants had men on first and second with nobody out. Freddy Sanchez was next and bunted the runners to second and third with the first out. Huff followed him and singled into center on the first pitch he saw. Sanchez scored to make it 2-1. Victorino charged and threw home. His throw hit the mound, but went right to Ruiz in time to beat Torres. Ruiz held the ball as the two collided for the second out with Huff taking second on the play at the plate. Posey was next and chopped a ball slowly to third. Polanco charged and bare-handed, but his throw to first wasn’t caught by Howard. Polanco was given an error, Huff scored from second and the game was tied at 2-2 with Posey on first for Burrell. Burrell flew to left to leave Posey stranded.
Awful defense from the Phils in the inning. Utley needs to make the play on the ball hit by Sanchez to start the inning. Howard needs to catch the throw from Polanco. It would have been an amazing play if Victorino had caught the ball hit by Torres. Oswalt was at 41 pitches for the game.
Ross led off the fourth and hit a 2-2 pitch foul near the stands down the first base line. Werth and Howard both went after it, with Werth making the catching sliding into the fence to the right of first base for the out. Uribe popped out to Polanco for the second out. Renteria flew to Werth in shallow right to set the Giants down.
Oswalt was at 54 pitches.
Lefty Mike Fontenot hit for pitcher Jeremy Affeldt to start the fifth and singled to right on a 2-2 pitch. Torres was next. He swung at the first pitch and fouled it off. He bunted the next pitch foul, then struck out swinging 0-2 for the second out. Freddy Sanchez singled into center on the first pitch of his at-bat, moving Fontenot to second. Posey struck out swinging 2-2 to leave both runners stranded.
Oswalt was up to 77 pitches for the game.
Burrell struck out swinging 3-2 for the first out in the sixth. Ross was next and hit a 1-2 pitch into the left field corner for a double. Oswalt hit Uribe in the side with a 1-0 pitch, putting men on first and second with one down. Oswalt got ahead of Renteria 0-2 before Renteria hit a 2-2 pitch back up the middle. Utley fielded it right next to second, stepped on the bag and threw to first to complete the double-play and set the Giants down.
Oswalt had thrown 99 pitches in the game.
Madson started the seventh after the Phils hit for Oswalt in the bottom of the sixth. Lefty Travis Ishikawa led off, hitting for the pitcher Madison Bumgarner. Madson struck him out looking at a 2-2 pitch that was probably outside. Torres struck out swinging 2-2 for the second out, but Sanchez lined a 1-1 pitch into the left field corner for a double. Madson walked the lefty Huff intentionally to pitch to the righty Posey. Posey hit a 1-1 pitch hard, but right to Utley. Utley flipped to Rollins at second to leave both runners stranded.
Madson threw 22 pitches in the seventh inning.
He was back for the eighth. Burrell grounded to short for the first out. Ross was next and flew to left on a 1-1 pitch for the second out. Uribe swung at the first pitch he saw from Madson and hit it just out to right field, putting the Giants up 3-2. Madson struck Renteria out swinging 1-2 to set the Giants down.
Long seventh inning for Madson, then he comes back for the eighth and the Giants get him.
Lidge started the ninth and struck Nate Schierholtz, double-switched into the game in the eighth, out on three pitches. Torres was next and bunted for a single. Sanchez singled to left on the first pitch he saw, sending Torres to second. Huff struck out swinging 1-2 for the second out. Posey was next, but closer Brian Wilson was in the hole after being double-switched in for Burrell in the eighth. Posey was walked intentionally to load the bases. Wilson chopped a 2-1 pitch to Howard to leave the bases loaded.
The Phillies lineup against lefty Jonathan Sanchez went (1) Rollins (2) Polanco (3) Utley (4) Howard (5) Werth (6) Victorino (7) Ibanez (8) Ruiz. Victorino and Rollins swap places in the lineup, with Rollins returning to the leadoff spot against the lefty. Utley and Howard hit back-to-back three and four despite the fact that neither of them seems to be able to hit lefty Javier Lopez coming out of the pen.
The Phillies bench had six offensive players to start the game, lefties Brian Schneider, Ross Gload, and Domonic Brown and righties Ben Francisco, Mike Sweeney and Wilson Valdez.
Rollins led off the bottom of the first and grounded hard to first on a 3-2 pitch for the first out. Polanco was next and walked on four pitches. Sanchez’s first pitch to Utley was in the dirt and way outside. Posey couldn’t handle the wild pitch and Polanco took second. Utley hammered a 2-1 pitch to right that bounced once and off the wall for a double. Polanco scored and the Phils led 1-0. Howard was next and he dropped a single in front of Burrell in left, moving Utley to third. Werth was next and he blasted a 2-0 pitch to left, but Burrell took it at the warning track for the second out. Utley scored easily to put the Phils up 2-0. Victorino followed that with a single into center, moving Howard to second. Ibanez popped to Sanchez in shallow right on a 1-1 pitch to end the inning.
Sanchez threw 24 pitches in the inning. Utley didn’t score from second on the single by Howard cause it looked for a second like Burrell might catch the ball and he had to wait.
Ruiz started the second. He got ahead 2-0 but grounded to short 2-2 for the first out. Oswalt was next and grounded to second 1-1 for the second out. Rollins got behind 0-2 and struck out swinging 3-2 to set the Phils down.
Sanchez was up to 42.
The game was tied at 2-2 when Polanco started the bottom of the third and walked on five pitches. Utley was next and Sanchez hit him in the middle of the back with a 2-0 pitch. The ball went hit in the air and bounced at Utley’s feet as he headed towards first. Utley caught the ball and flipped it out to the mound. Polanco took second. When Utley was at first, words were exchanged between Sanchez and Utley. The benches cleared, but there were no punches and no ejections. Sanchez was taken out of the game and lefty Jeremy Affeldt came in to pitch to Howard. Howard struck out swinging 2-2 for the first out. Werth flew to right on a 3-2 pitch for the second out with the runners holding. Victorino grounded softly to first to leave them both stranded.
Nothing for the Phils after they put men on first and second with no outs. Early exit for Sanchez. Affeldt put out the fire for the Giants, throwing 15 pitches in the frame.
Affeldt returned to set the Phils down in order in the fourth. Ibanez grounded to short on a 1-2 pitch for the first out. Ruiz struck out swinging 2-2 for the second. Oswalt flew softly to right to end the inning.
Six in a row for Affeldt, who would be hit for to start the fifth.
Lefty Madison Bumgarner started the fifth for the Giants and Rollins singled to right on the first pitch he saw. Polanco flew to center for the first out and Utley flew to center for the second. Howard was next and he ripped a 2-0 pitch into the gap in left-center for a double. Torres got to the ball right away and got a nice bounce off the wall. Rollins would have been out by a lot if he had tried to score and the Giants got a good relay to the plate from Renteria. He was held at third. The lefty Bumgarner walked Werth intentionally to load the bases for Victorino. Victorino took ball one and then grounded back to the mound for the third out.
Polanco and Utley can’t move Rollins along after the leadoff single. Rollins had no chance to score from first on the Howard double.
Bumgarner was back for the sixth. Ibanez led off and hit a 2-1 pitch the other way into the left field corner for a double. Ruiz bunted him to third with the first out. Francisco hit for Oswalt. Bumgarner stayed in to pitch to him. Francisco got ahead 2-0, but struck out looking at a 2-2 pitch that might have been a little bit outside. Rollins flew to Torres on a 1-0 pitch to end the inning.
Again the Phils don’t score with a huge opportunity. Ruiz bunts with a man already in scoring position against a lefty. Huge strikeout for Francisco in the biggest at-bat of his life with the man on third. The Giants may have left Bumgarner in to pitch to the righty Francisco because he was due to lead off the top of the seventh.
Lefty Javier Lopez pitched the seventh for the Giants. Polanco led off and flew to right 2-1 for the first out. Utley grounded to the mound 0-2 for the second. Howard struck out swinging 2-2 to end the inning.
There’s Lopez going through Utley and Howard without a righty in-between them.
The Phillies were losing 3-2 when they hit in the bottom of the eighth. Righty Tim Lincecum was on the mound for the Giants with Burrell out, Ross in left and Nate Schierholtz in right. He struck Werth out swinging 2-2 for the first out. Victorino was next and he singled to right on a 2-2 pitch. Ibanez followed that with another single to right, sending Victorino to second. Righty Brian Wilson came in to pitch to Ruiz. Ruiz lined a 1-1 pitch right to Huff. Huff caught the ball and threw to second where Victorino was doubled-off easily to end the inning.
Wilson was back for the ninth. Gload hit for Lidge and grounded to second for the first out. Rollins drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch. Polanco chopped a ball to third base. Uribe fielded and threw to second to force Rollins for the second out, but Polanco beat the relay to first. Utley walked on a 3-1 pitch and Valdez ran for Polanco at second. It brought Howard to the plate with two men on. Howard struck out looking at a 3-2 pitch that he must have thought was a little low, but looked like a strike to me.
Rollins was 1-for-4 with a walk in the game. 6-for-23 with a double and two walks in the series. His return to the top of the order turned out not to be the spark the Phils needed to get the offense going.
Polanco 0-for-3 with two walks. 5-for-20 with two doubles and three walks in the set.
Utley 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. 4-for-22 with a double and four walks.
Howard 2-for-5 with a double and three strikeouts, including the one to end the season. 7-for-22 with four doubles, three walks and 12 strikeouts.
Werth 0-for-2 with a walk and an RBI. 4-for-18 with a double and two home runs. He walked four times and struck out seven.
Victorino 2-for-4 and left five men on base. 5-for-24 with a double and two walks.
Ibanez 2-for-4 with a double. 4-for-19 with a double and a walk.
Ruiz 0-for-3. 3-for-18 with a home run in the series. One walk and seven strikeouts.
October 24th, 2010 on 12:51 pm
It really almost feels like this whole season was a case where the rest of the league finally caught up and figured out how to pitch to the Phils as a group. I REALLY have a hard time explaining a season-long (relative) funk in any way more believable than that.
The Phils always seemed to, as a rule, have gaping holes in their swings up and down the lineup. It seems like a lot of pitchers have figured out how to throw a ball through those holes reliably (enough to stop the Phillies from reaching the World Series on the strength of their pitching alone).
Age is certainly a possible factor when combined with injuries. I have a feeling we’ll hear about some serious lingering hurts resulted from all that time on the DL guys spent this year. As far as age goes, everyone’s getting older for sure but to a man, and with the exception of Ibanez, I don’t think hitting the early 30s alone is enough of a factor to explain the dropoff.
I suppose it could be a combination of factors. My money’s on a National League-wide conspiracy to draw up a gameplan to stop the Phillies from hitting balls a long way or even well at all.
October 24th, 2010 on 1:54 pm
The pitch to Howard was a strike? Huh. The radio guys weren’t sure.
One theory on the offense is that they just didn’t play enough games as a group. That was, what, the 20th time we used that lineup this year?
Ah well. Weird year. Still should be great pitching next year no matter what else happens. Unless the big 3 are in a freak boating accident or something.
—–
The Werth watch begins.
October 24th, 2010 on 2:34 pm
I think it has to be, and we have to hope it was, injuries. It seems like that was clearly a factor for at least Polanco and Rollins and maybe Utley.
It will be real interesting to see what the Phillies do for next year. But this year their offense just wasn’t good enough and they’re a heavily left-handed lineup that about to lost their best right-handed hitter. They’ve committed to fill at least three offensive spots at short, third and left with aging veterans that weren’t real good this year and don’t look like they have a chance to be next year. They have to find a space for another left-handed hitter in Brown.
I think there’s a chance that what they do this off-season is basically nothing and take their chances again next year. Let Brown play right and add in a couple of minor pieces and take their chances. That’s not going to be enough to win the World Series, but I think it might be enough to put them in the playoffs again.
October 24th, 2010 on 3:19 pm
My thoughts are that a huge problem with the offense was exposed by the Yankees last year, and no one believed that it was a fatal flaw. It turns out that it was, and is, and will continue to be unless something is done. The flaw? Throw left handers at them. Period. They cannot hit lefties. Howard in particular. It is not age. They cannot hit lefties, not even average lefties. And there is NO excuse for that. None.
Second thought: I am stunned by the continuing spiritless play. We have seen it all year, and we have seen it throughout the postseason. I think the game was lost yesterdeay when Utley shrugged his shoulders and walked away from a pitcher who had just hit him and called him out. This is the same pitcher who threw at his head earlier in the year. The entire sense of the game changed right at that moment. The Phillies did not call Lincecum on his mouth in the previous game and they had no response to this challenge either. When Utley turned away, this team showed they had no fight. Well, Halladay showed he had some fight in his start, but when Chase Utley of the Phillies turns tail, this team is in trouble. Would it have been better getting himself tossed? Hell yes. HELL yes. Better that than for the heart of this team show it has no guts. Yesterday could not have gone worse if Polly would have had to move to second and Valdez go to third. I believe it would have lit a fire. As it was, Utley just told the Giants, and his own team, that they were not going to put up a fight. Howard’s final posture at the end of the game said it all; this was the antithesis of “Just get me to the plate, boys”. No fight. No swing. No nothing.
Thought #3: If the heart of this team has lost its heart, is it time for a heart transplant? Buzzi Bavasi once said, “Better to trade a player a year too early than a year too late”. This team has WAY more problems than just losing Jaysen Werth. Losing a right handed bat is not their problem. Losing their heart is. I am VERY disappointed with Utley and Howard. Very. And it ought to scare the hell out of Rubin Amaro.
October 24th, 2010 on 3:24 pm
BTW, going into next year with the goal of just making it to the playoffs is simply not acceptable. Unless, of course, the Phillies want their fans to treat attending games with the same complacency.
October 24th, 2010 on 6:59 pm
I’m not sure it’s about hitting lefties. Werth was a big part of it this year, but by OPS the Phils were the fourth-best hitting team in the NL against lefties and the seventh-best against righties. Ruiz and Victorino both killed left-handed pitching, putting up better numbers than Werth against lefties. Utley killed lefties this year. Howard was better against lefties in 2010 than in either ’09 or ’08. I think it’s a bigger problem that their numbers against righties are getting worse.
October 24th, 2010 on 7:21 pm
Well. I do not know. The post season teams kept throwing lefties out there, thats all I know. Why would they do that? I don’t know. I DO know that standing pat would be very discouraging to me. This offensive outtage seems to be a long time thing, not just recent. If we graph the individual numbers, isn’t it downhill? Cripes, Ryan Howard really was no more than a slap hitter this post season. Ibanez? Utley? Just brutal. I cannot see how they can possibly stand pat.
October 24th, 2010 on 7:28 pm
I want to look into the numbers deeper in the next few weeks. I think that a big part of the problem is that the team is getting worse against right-handed pitching overall. I think a big part of that is Howard, whose numbers against lefties got a little bit better but whose numbers against righties are diving. Ditto for Utley. He killed lefties this year, but hit 266/371/381 against right-handed pitching.
October 25th, 2010 on 9:45 am
Well, it took me a couple of days to recover, but I’m back. Ready for next year. I think this year’s team was just too banged up to overcome. Utley, Rollins, and Polanco are all hurt. I don’t think Rollins will improve, but I have hope that Utley and Polanco will look better next year.
I have no idea what is wrong with Howard. No RBI’s in the post season? I know it is a function of guys getting on, but he had a lot of chances. Losing Werth is going to hurt, a lot. You could do a lot worse that Ibanez in your 7 hole, but he’s making a lot more than a 7-hitter should. Ruiz looks solid, and Victorino looks the same as he always did. H20 will be back next year, so the starters should be all set. If Lidge is really back, the bullpen *should* be fine.
Long story short, this is not going to be one of the top offensive teams in the league next year.
October 25th, 2010 on 10:49 am
I don’t think a lot of blame can go Howard’s way. He struck out a bunch frustratingly, sure, and he had no homers or RBI to go along with that like he USUALLY does to otherwise distract us from all the Ks. Dude also had the highest postseason batting average on the team and carried a .900 OPS throughout if I’m not mistaken.
Howard is not your culprit here.
October 25th, 2010 on 11:13 am
I said it in the last comment on the previous post. Something like 8-45 with RISP for the series. A fitting end, if you ask me, considering their season was full of troubles getting guys in.
In my mind, the season was worth the money. The money might seem wasted at the end but while we were spending it, it seemed important. I had fun this year. Its a whole new mindset the last few years. Go back to late 90′s, early 00′s, and many others since 1883 and it was a terrible stuggle to watch this team at times. I know, it doesnt sooth the pain now but watching this team now sure is fun if not ulcer inducing.
Feb 13, 2011, pitchers and catchers report. Go Phils!
October 25th, 2010 on 11:30 am
Maybe my last post was a bit harsh on Howard for this particular series. He was one of the few bright spots in the lineup as long as he actually placed bat on ball. Unfortunately, he seems to have too much difficulty placing bat on ball in a best-of-7 series where the opposition can much more easily concentrate on setting up to defeat him. There is no reason to give him a good pitch in a situation that may hurt you. He’ll simply strike out. Six more years of him hopelessly flailing at breaking balls in key playoff situations isn’t a comforting thought.
I too think that this team should make the playoffs again next year as currently constructed. I also realize that there will be a number of changes between now and then. If Amaro can somehow find a way to get Ibanez off of the team and keep Werth, I will immediately nominate him for executive of the year.
October 25th, 2010 on 12:21 pm
I agree that the Phillies can make another run with this group and probably will. I think it’s important to remember that the Phillies scored more runs than the Giants in the NLCS. So the Phillies didn’t play well, but there was a little bad luck there, too.
I think it’s going to be hard for the Phillies to bring in players that are going to improve their offense. They are going to need to get their existing players to produce more offensively and hopefully make a couple of good moves. It seems like they can get a lot better in the bullpen.
October 25th, 2010 on 1:02 pm
Is it too late to legalize HGH just for these guys?
October 25th, 2010 on 1:08 pm
It is Monday afternoon, and I feel just as crappy as I did Saturday night. Disbelief, frustration, anger. And no baseball. February seems like an eternity from now. Now all there is is football, hockey, basketball: crud.
Well, I am really out of synch with the feelings expressed here by everyone else. Not blame Howard, the man who struck out 30 times in less than 60 at bats? He is not one of the culprits? That does not even come close to making sense to me. It really doesn’t. He had men on base a couple of times in game 6 and utterly failed and looked his terrible clueless, powerless self doing it; we would have been better with Sweeney hitting. No Ribbies? At all? From the Big Piece? This team CANNOT win when that happens. It cannot. And Howard does not share a huge part of the blame here? I cannot get there. Sorry guys.
I said before the post season started that this team was built to hit, not pitch. To me, that meant that the Big Three of pitching was to be the gravy, the insurance for a winning year, not the main reason. The heart of the Phillies was another and FAR more important Big Three: Rollins, Utley, Howard. This team lost because of them, to put it bluntly. They are the guys who get all the credit when things have gone well, and for jolly good reason. They represent two MVPs and an MVP-in-waiting. This year they did not perform and there is no way to either cover that up or to minimize the terrible effect they had on this team’s ability to win. They cannot be the guys who RIGHTLY get the credit for the wins when things go well and then be let off the hook when the team plays poorly. This team played poorly mainly because the 3 guys who are the core of this team let that team down, offensively, defensively, and in those intangibles like leadership in the crucial moments. For the life of me that seems almost self evident.
Oh well. For whatever reason, they lost, beyond belief, beyond expectation. How they lost to the Giants is beyond me. But they did.
Pitchers and catchers on February 13? Man, that is a long time from now.
October 25th, 2010 on 1:19 pm
It seems like Feb 13 is a long time away to me, too. I think one thing’s that for sure is that the Phillies will need all three of Utley, Howard and Rollins to play better if they’re going to win next year.
October 25th, 2010 on 1:25 pm
“Luck is the residue of design.” Branch Rickey
October 25th, 2010 on 2:10 pm
About my defense of Ryan Howard:
You’d expect the law of averages to begin to produce results for a guy on-basing .400 and slugging .500 (Howard’s numbers through the NLCS). Now, 6 games is a small sample size and I think it’s fair to say even with that, zero homeruns and zero RBI are pretty anomalous.
It should be noted that Howard’s .900 OPS came against probably the only pitching rotation able to possible stack up with the three the Phils trot out there.
He on-based significantly better than he had during the season (.400 to .353) and slugged slightly worse (.500 to .505). While some of his traditional stats were of course far WORSE than they were during the regular season, his numbers behind the numbers were generally better.
I think what I’m trying to say is there’s blame to be had there, sure, but RBI guys need dudes to…BI. Howard had 4 doubles that series I think. I believe that the fact that none of those doubles brought anyone home is more a testament to some of the guys in front of him playing real badly
I don’t mean to deify Howard and make it seem like he can do no wrong. averaging 2+ strikeouts per game is of course really, really bad. I think the contract extension he got is really, really bad. There’s a LOT of stink to go around, though. The guy hit over .300 for a team that barely averaged .200 for the series. I haven’t done the math but…what must the team have hit WITHOUT Howard?
October 25th, 2010 on 2:39 pm
I think it’s definitely true that Howard didn’t pick the team up and carry it on his back. It may have been be reasonable to expect him to given his history, but it didn’t happen. I think the problems the Phillies had overall had more to do with what Ruiz, Rollins, Victorino, Utley and Ibanez did than with what Howard did. All five of those regulars put up an OPS of .652 or less in the NLCS and that’s not good enough to win. Francisco had a terrible post-season. After going 0-for-11 in the playoffs in 2009, he’s now 1-for-17 in the post-season with the Phils over 19 plate appearances. If the Phils had eight guys producing like Howard in the series they would have scored a lot of runs (although it is curious how they would do that without ever driving in a run).
It’s unfortunate that Howard didn’t drive in a run in the series, but I don’t think it’s his fault that none of his four doubles in six games plated a run. If you hit four doubles every six games over a whole season you would hit 108 for the year.
I think the Phils hit .216 for the series overall and the guys that aren’t Howard hit .202.
October 25th, 2010 on 3:20 pm
True. The slugging stats look ok, but they are deceiving. I wonder what his slugging percentage would work out to with men in scoring position. And if we are going to project stats, he would be striking out over 320 times in a year. Well over 320 times (unless my poor grades in math in college are showing).
But it is certainly true that even Howard cannot win games alone. Add Rollins and ESPECIALLY Utley to the mix of players who did not perform, and you are absolutely on target – there were precious few to “BI” . (Of course, if Howard had hit some solo homeruns, he might well have won this series all by himself. I am having trouble remembering when he hit his last home run, though. Was it September sometime? Naw. Has to be more recent than that.)
The real “Big Three” of Rollins, Utley and Howard did not serve their team mates well. And if Utley was hurt and did not tell anyone, I would be even less amused. I have no idea what was/is wrong with Chase Utley, but if I am the GM, I would sure as heck want to find out. Because his production has been dropping for quite a while now.
Blame is not the end goal of this for me. What is past is past. What needs to be figured out is what needs to be done so it does not repeat itself. We have the Big Three Pitchers for one more year as a group of three. We dare not do anything else than play for all the marbles next year once more. Solving the dramatic lack of production from the Original Big Three (Rollins, Utley, Howard) is crucial, for what it is Werth.
October 25th, 2010 on 3:34 pm
BTW, pitchers and catchers 111 days. I cannot wait.
October 25th, 2010 on 3:36 pm
I too would have been more than willing to trade a Howard double or two or three or four for solo homers this series. With as tight as the Giants wins were, we’d probably be talking a whole lot about the Rangers right now instead of what went wrong (while also secretly wringing our hands about what we all very well knew was going wrong).
Optimistically, uselessly, and also for what it’s Werth, I think the Phillies would have matched up much better with the Rangers than the Yankees did.
October 25th, 2010 on 3:45 pm
The graphic that kept popping its way on screen during the latter half of the series continually made me cringe every time the tally increased. Something incredibly soul-crushing like: Ryan Howard has been held homerless in his past 8,000 at-bats” or something slightly more realistic than that.
As a side-note, I think it’d be swell if the Phils could…I dunno…find some more money somewhere? Get a TV deal like the Yankees maybe? I know the market is smaller but they’ve sold out what like 130 straight home games? It sounds to me like there’s some sorta demand for Phillies baseball. I say this because please pay Werth a lot of money to come back, bad grammar intentional.
In his short career he only leads the NL ALL-TIME in playoff homeruns. I mean, really?
Okay, maybe more realistically, replenish the farm system in a way where we get to keep the current guys around long enough to have competent replacements ready in time for the lot of them to be REALLY terrible. My birthday is coming up soon and I would consider this an adequate present from Ruben Amaro who doesn’t know me.
October 25th, 2010 on 4:19 pm
All the Phils need to do is Jedi-mind-trick Ed Wade into taking the Ibanez and Blanton contracts. It shouldn’t be that hard, and frees up ~$25 mil.
October 25th, 2010 on 4:24 pm
I hear Ozzie Guillen is going to work the WS as an analyst. Pre and post game stuff but also provide “late inning analysis” with McDouch and $uck. My interest in the WS may have just been sparked. I watch baseball b/c I enjoy it but love me some Phillies so this WS is not particually interesting but with Guillen involved in the booth, I hope to have some extra enjoyment.
I know he was part of the coverage last year but I dont remember him in the booth so I am looking forward to it. As is our luck with the Phillies this year though, FOX will probably have major sensors on him as well as delays built into the broadcast…
Anyways, on to the series where I must say my rooting interests lie with the Rangers.
October 25th, 2010 on 4:52 pm
I’m going to be surprised if the Rangers don’t plow through the Giants in the World Series.
On the Phillies offense, I’m worried cause I don’t see how they are going to improve if they can’t do something with Polanco, Ibanez or Rollins. I don’t think they’re going to bring in another big hitter, but even if they did I don’t know how much more than Werth he could do. Utley and Howard could play a whole lot better for the Phils next year. So could Ibanez and Rollins. Let’s hope they all do.
October 25th, 2010 on 5:04 pm
You know I started to take a look at the Phils and the sort of WAR they put up this year and began with Jimmy Rollins. Interesting factoid I dug up was that he had a 2.4 WAR despite playing in only 88 games this year. Projected over a full season he’d be nearing 5.0. Really?
I thought…surely this had to have a whole lot to do with glovework and not so much with the bat.
Not so much. J-Roll stumbled his way to a 1.8 oWAR in those 88 games as opposed to a .6 dWAR. Did we SOMEHOW underrate Jimmy this year without knowing it or is WAR now completely useless to me?
October 25th, 2010 on 5:14 pm
Well, I was under the impression anyway that WAR was the total wins-above-replacement over the course of the games played so far that year. It makes a lot more sense for Jimmy if that number is projected over the course of the entire season already but I have a sneaking suspicion it isn’t.
October 25th, 2010 on 7:26 pm
I really hear Roger, I think, and I share his hope that the Phillies will do something big to make next year work. I keep thinking that the owners know that they have H2O locked up for 2011 only. In 2012, Hamels is a free agent if I am not mistaken and it could well be that we would have only HO. Additionally, these guys know that the team is getting older and that while the window for this team is still open, it is going to close rapidly beginning in 2012. It may, in fact, slam shut.
If they know that, might they understand that next year is it, or at least the best chance for another championship for a while? And if it is, do they not then sign Jaysen Werth? Or at the very least someone (Francour???) who will be more than competent in right field? Or whatever else they need to do? (Amaro’s words today that the Phillies have the money to sign Werth are pretty encouraging to me.) Might they not make the moves they need to make to get 2011 to be another World Series year?
I know that this places a lot of weight on the motivating reality of having H2O for only one more year, but that is such a huge fact (in my tiny mind at least) that it seems like it would by itself drive the majority of the off season moves for the Phillies.
No one who wanted to go back to the Series in 2011 would seriously entertain a right field of Francisco and Brown, would they? I do not know about you, but Brown did not impress me as one of the top prospects in all of baseball. And big Ben is back-up material only.
Roger, I share our hope.