The Phillies have won five games this year and Roy Halladay has started three of them. Last night the Phils got four early runs and cruised behind Halladay’s arm after that as they topped the Giants 5-2.
In 23 innings for the season, Halladay has allowed 14 hits and four walks (that’s an 0.78 ratio). Last night he allowed more than one run in a start for the first time in three outings.
As a group, the starting pitchers for the Phillies this season have thrown to a 2.54 ERA and an 0.95 ratio.
The Phillies are 5-5 on the year after beating the San Francisco Giants 5-2 yesterday.
Halladay got the start for the Phillies and went eight innings, allowing two runs on seven hits and three walks. One of the hits went for extra-bases, a double. He struck out six and his ERA for the year rose to 1.17 with the outing.
He started the bottom of the first up 4-0. Switch-hitter Angel Pagan led off with a single and moved to second when switch-hitter Melky Cabrera walked behind him. Switch-hitter Pablo Sandoval was next and he lined to second for the first out. Righty Buster Posey moved everyone up a base with an infield single, loading the bases for lefty Aubrey Huff. Huff hit a fly ball to right that Pence took for the second out, but it was deep enough for Pagan to score from third (4-1) and Cabrera to move up to third. Halladay got ahead of Belt 0-2, but then threw four straight balls to walk him and load the bases up again, this time for lefty Brandon Crawford. Halladay got Crawford swinging 0-2 to leave them loaded.
Again Halladay has some problems in the first inning. Through three starts, opponents are hitting .462 against him in the first inning and under .200 in every other inning.
Switch-hitter Emmanuel Burriss flew to left for the first out of the second. Pitcher Tim Lincecum grounded to third for the second out before Pagan struck out looking.
Posey singled with two outs in the third, but Halladay got Huff on a softly hit ball to Galvis to end the inning.
The Phillies were up 5-1 when Belt led off the bottom of the fourth with a single to left. Crawford was next and doubled to left, sending Belt to third. Burriss struck out swinging for the first out, but Lincecum followed and grounded out to third, bringing Belt home to cut the lead to 5-2. Pagan flew to right for the third out.
Sandoval hit a ball up the first base line that hit the bag for a single with one out in the fifth. Halladay struck Posey out looking for the second out before Huff walked on five pitches, putting runners on first and second for Belt. Belt struck out looking 2-2 to leave both men stranded.
Halladay got the first two in the sixth before lefty Nate Schierholtz hit for Lincecum. Halladay got Schierholtz on a fly ball to center for the third out.
He set Pagan, Cabrera and Sandoval down in order in the seventh.
Posey started the eighth with a single to left on a ball deflected by Polanco at third. Halladay set down Huff, Belt and Crawford behind him.
Papelbon started the ninth. He was pitching for the second straight day after throwing 26 pitches with a six-run lead on Sunday against the Mets. Really.
Went well, though. Burriss flew to center for the first out. Lefty Gregor Blanco hit for the pitcher Jeremy Affeldt and grounded to first for the second. Pagan singled to right and took second on defensive indifference, but Cabrera grounded to second to end the game.
Papelbon has now thrown for two straight days, including Sunday night’s absurd outing. He has allowed a run in five innings for the year, but opponents are hitting .300 against him.
The Phillies lineup against righty Tim Lincecum went (1) Pierre (2) Polanco (3) Rollins (4) Pence (5) Victorino (6) Nix (7) Ruiz (8) Galvis. Pierre leads off and plays left against the righty. The lefty Nix at first with righties Mayberry and Wigginton on the bench. Polanco shouldn’t be hitting second and especially not against righties.
On cue, Polanco doubled to right with one out in the first and Rollins walked behind him. Pence was next and lined a single into center, scoring Polanco (1-0) and moving Rollins up to second. Victorino followed that with a single into center, scoring Rollins (2-0) and sending Pence to second for Nix. Nix doubled into right and the ball rolled to the wall, clearing the bases and putting the Phils up 4-0. Ruiz moved Nix up to third with a ground out, but Galvis struck out to leave him there.
First extra-base hit of the year for Polanco. Second big double for Nix in two games.
The lead was cut to 4-1 when the Phils went in order in the second.
Rollins, Pence and Victorino went in order in the third.
Galvis lined a double to right with two outs in the fourth. Halladay followed that with a single into right, scoring Galvis to make it 5-1. Pierre grounded to second to set the Phillies down.
Galvis went 0-for-10 to start the season. Since then he has hit 333/333/619 in 21 plate appearances with three doubles and a home run.
It was 5-2 when the Phillies hit in the fifth. Pence and Victorino singled back-to-back with two outs, putting men on first and second for Nix. Nix grounded to first to leave them stranded.
Lincecum set the Phillies down in order in the sixth.
Righty Dan Otero started the seventh. He hit Polanco with one out, but got Rollins and Pence behind him.
Otero was back for the eighth. With one out, Nix reached on a fielding error by Crawford at short. Ruiz moved Nix up to second with a single. Galvis hit a ball to second with Ruiz forced at second for the second out and runners safe at the corners. Halladay hit for himself and grounded to the pitcher to end the game.
Halladay hits for himself having thrown 100 pitches in the game with two outs, men on the corners and the Phils up 5-2. Phillies have lefties Thome, Schneider and Orr on the bench. Halladay already has an RBI-single in the game. Think I would have hit Thome for him, but it all worked out fine. I think I might have tried harder to keep Papelbon out of the game coming off of 26 pitches on Sunday.
Lefty Jeremy Affeldt pitched the ninth, setting the Phillies down in order. Mayberry hit for Pierre and struck out for the first out of the inning.
Pierre was 0-for-4 in the game. He’s 7-for-24 with seven singles and no walks for the year (292/292/292).
Polanco was 1-for-4 with a double, his first extra-base hit of the year, to raise his average to .200. He has one walk on the season, so the top two in the Phillies order in the game end the day having walked once in 61 plate appearances.
Rollins 0-for-4 with a walk and two strikeouts. He came into the game 11-for-25 with a six-game hitting streak.
Pence was 2-for-4 with an RBI. He’s 4-for-his-last-8.
Victorino 2-for-4 with an RBI as well. He’s hitting .316, but still just has one extra-base hit on the year (a home run off of Mark Buehrle).
Nix 1-for-4 with two RBI. 2-for-his-last-7 with a walk, two doubles and three RBI.
Ruiz was 1-for-4. He’s hitting .208 over his last 25 plate appearances after going 4-for-6 to start the season.
Galvis 1-for-4 with a double and a strikeout. He leads the team with four extra-base hits (three doubles and a home run).
Joe Blanton (1-1, 2.35) faces lefty Madison Bumgarner (1-1, 3.97) tonight in game two of the set. Blanton was great in his only start of the season, holding the Marlins to a run over seven innings. Bumgarner has made two starts, allowing four runs against the Diamondback over four innings in the first and holding the Rockies to a run over 7 1/3 innings his most recent time out.
April 17th, 2012 on 10:41 am
So tell me. Did anyone expect to ever read in this blog that Freddie Galvis “leads the team with four extra-base hits (three doubles and a home run)”?
April 17th, 2012 on 11:20 am
I can only speak for myself, but I, for one, did not. That might not last that long.
April 17th, 2012 on 12:40 pm
I’m guessing it won’t last long either for Freddy, but I have to admit he’s been a pleasant surprise. Nice to see the team jump out to an early lead against a true ace, even if it is an ace that is struggling like Lincecum is.
April 17th, 2012 on 12:44 pm
If Fred-die is going to lead the team in extra base hits, I’m going to ask if he can play Third if Utley returns..
April 17th, 2012 on 1:57 pm
He’s still on-basing .250, so I don’t think we need to go too nuts about Galvis’s offense.
Would be nice if Blanton put up another good start tonight. If nothing else, teams might perk up some trade interest if he pitches good enough for long enough.
I’m having some trouble getting over Papelbon’s 26 pitches on Sunday with a six-run lead. Hopefully the Phils win by ten tonight and it doesn’t matter.
April 17th, 2012 on 2:40 pm
Jim, I have a hunch the kid could indeed play third. Leather does not seem to be his short suit.
Polly is not having his best start,is he.
April 17th, 2012 on 2:49 pm
Oh, yeah, the “trade Blanton” thing pops up again, which makes me want to ask two serious questions.
One, if Joe is traded, does that put an even higher premium on signing Hamels?
Two, given the need for offense, would you rather have Hamels signed (I’m hearing he wants 7 years) OR use the money to refurbish the line up?
April 17th, 2012 on 4:40 pm
I think signing Cole is incredibly important regardless. I’m thinking about the 2014 & 2015 teams, when Doc & Cliff have or are considering retirement. I’ve mentioned before that entering more tournaments pays off more in the long run than trying to be the “perfect team” for any given tournament. The 2008 team certainly wasn’t the “perfect team”…
I would trade Blanton for some offense help; Kendrick would end up starting and Savery would end up back in the bullpen. In the event we put a starting pitcher on the DL, I think the Baby Aces are next up.
April 17th, 2012 on 4:46 pm
I think they have to sign Hamels. Again, the offense is so bad, they don’t need good offensive players to help, they just need average offensive players to help. Utley plus Brown plus Howard has to equal something, it’s just a question of how much and how close it gets them to being better than 14th in the league in runs scored.
The biggest reason to hope that Blanton pitches well is about winning games. Cause the Phillies are .500 and whatnot and look like they might be for a while.
April 17th, 2012 on 6:59 pm
Interesting. Thanks. There is much to think about here, isn’t there.
The part I wish you would unpack for me is the notion that we only need average players instead of really top flight players in order to be World Series players. I just do not understand that.
Maybe part of the reason I do not understand is that I’m pretty sure that we will get no meaningful time this year from either Utley or Howard. If so, then “average” will not be good enough to use the incredible pitching we have, will it?
Of course, I am increasingly of the opinion that Utley will never play again in any meaningful way. I wear his jersey to every game I attend. It is a wistful thing. It breaks my heart that such a mammoth talent will likely never reach the Hall because of achy knees.
April 17th, 2012 on 7:39 pm
DM,
It gets pretty mathy. Basically it comes down to expected run differential, and pythagorean wins based on that. The manager has some influence about whether you over- or under-perform your pythagorean wins.
If you go with the premise that the Phils will have the #1 or #2 pitching in the league, then you don’t need a #1 or #2 offense to get into the tournament. Once you’re in the tournament, everything goes out the window, and individual performances, luck, and “clutchness” matter a whole lot more.
Let’s play a little game. Assume that the number to get into the tourney this year is 90 wins (I guessed earlier that 88 would take NL East). Now, let’s assume that the pitching is slightly worse than last year. Last year we allowed 3.27 runs / game; let’s assume that goes to 3.35. That gets you to 542 runs allowed. To reach 90 pythagorean wins, you’d need to score about 610 runs, or about 3.76 runs / game. Last year, 610 would have tied you for Pittsburgh at 14th in the NL; in that 102-win season we put up 710 for 7th place.
Obviously, we’d like more than 90 wins, and we’d like better than 14th in the NL in runs scored. But so long as the pitching is top-flight, the offense doesn’t have to be in order to get a shot at a title.
April 17th, 2012 on 7:49 pm
I think I am just a little scared that that made sense.
April 17th, 2012 on 7:52 pm
WAIT WAIT WAIT.
JIM, if the pitching is so crucial, then why did you say you would trade Blanton? Isn’t he kind of key?
April 17th, 2012 on 8:07 pm
More math
If trading away Blanton (and letting Kendrick and/or some Baby Ace’s get some starts) means you need to add another 0.10 runs allowed / game, and you can trade him for somebody who (A) can stand at 3rd or 1st regularly and knows what to do, and (B) puts up some numbers that equate to scoring another 0.15 runs / game (roughly) above Polanco or Whoever’s On First, then it makes sense to trade him. In the end, Blanton’s the 5th starter, he won’t get a playoff start barring serious injuries, and he’s (if performing like he did in his first start) a luxury that we can afford to trade in.
April 17th, 2012 on 9:17 pm
I think if you truly think the Phils are going to get nothing from Utley, Howard and Brown this year, you should be pretty worried. I think those guys add up to some much-needed offense. It’s really important what these guys do in the early part of the season, but if the team at the end of the year looks like the team right now I don’t have high hopes. I don’t think it will, whether the influx of offense comes from the trio above or not.
If the Phillies aren’t going to get contributions from those three guys, they’ll need to add better than average players.
April 17th, 2012 on 11:24 pm
I am pretty worried.
April 17th, 2012 on 11:37 pm
Ok, 5th inning and it’s late. I am off to bed. Joe isn’t Doc, but he has allowed only 2 runs so far and a lot of teams wish they had someone they could say that about.
And you know what? Freddie is standing on second. He seems to be doing that more and more. He just may be a player.
Polly. Geez.
April 18th, 2012 on 6:33 am
Wednesday morning. Bummer.
April 18th, 2012 on 11:57 am
Or bumGARNER, even.
Here all week. Don’t forget to tip your waitress.