Comments on: Phils so good the front office decides to give ‘em the next four days off http://www.philliesflow.com/2011/07/11/phils-so-good-the-front-office-decides-to-give-em-the-next-four-days-off/ A fan's Philadelphia Phillies blog Fri, 24 May 2013 05:24:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: egrissom http://www.philliesflow.com/2011/07/11/phils-so-good-the-front-office-decides-to-give-em-the-next-four-days-off/#comment-55434 egrissom Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:17:36 +0000 http://www.philliesflow.com/?p=4028#comment-55434 Great to see the offense come alive at the end of the first half. Let’s hope it’s for real.

The Phils were great in the first half this year. It would have been nice if the Braves hadn’t been quite so good, too, but pounding them was a nice way to go into the break. Fantastic pitching for the Phils so far — the only thing I feel a little worried about was how much contribution they got from unexpected sources like Worley, Bastaro, Stutes and even Kendrick. Hopefully they get it in the second half, too, but they shouldn’t be counting on it.

]]> By: DaMannse http://www.philliesflow.com/2011/07/11/phils-so-good-the-front-office-decides-to-give-em-the-next-four-days-off/#comment-55433 DaMannse Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:40:55 +0000 http://www.philliesflow.com/?p=4028#comment-55433 Well, the first half ended the way most of us thought, with the Phillies in first place. I doubt, though, that anyone anticipated that it would be as close as it is. The offense is largely responsible for that. (One can only imagine what this team would have accomplished if they had scored four runs a game more often than they have scored two or less.)

The starting pitching is certainly as advertised, Oswalt’s injury notwithstanding. Hamels has been awesome, to say the least. Worely has been a delightful addition so far. Time will tell if he is the guy we have seen. I sure hope so.

The bullpen has been a surprise. The guys we had counted on are not there; maybe they will be back and maybe they will not be. Contreras and Lidge are seemingly past history, though I would be happy to be proven wrong. Guys whose names were hardly known outside of a small circle of minor league afficionados have become key players in the mix. Stutes has been more than ayone could have hoped. I sure would like to have Madsen back in form, though.

The offense. One can only hope that the last game with the Braves is a harbinger of thigns to come. Ibanez and Howard have to be better. Ibanez ended the first half well, but he is sooooooo streaky. Howard’s not having even one dinger off a leftie is worrisome to me. I just wish the offense would give the starters a little more room for error. If they do not, they will be ok in the regular season, but it is not a good recipe for the post season.

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