The Phillies don’t need starting pitching, they just need a hug.

As a team, the Phillies are built on power. Which, as the last few weeks have shown, can be a tenuous strategy. Sure, it’s only a matter of time before their sleeping bats come back to life, but how long before the next team-wide slump? With the Phillies struggling to beat teams that are scoring only 2 or 3 runs a game, it becomes even more obvious that they need pitching help to stay in games.

Most people are making an argument that the Phillies need immediate help with their starting pitching due to repeated poor performances, particularly from Myers & Kendrick. Personally, I think that they should toss Myers into the bullpen and hope for the best (with his ego, he would never accept a minor league assignment to “work it out”), or to demote DoubleK and try a few minor league options out. We constantly hear that the Phillies don’t have pitching depth in the minors, but DoubleK wasn’t even on the radar last year. And he worked out great. Besides what do the Phillies have to lose? They’re not winning those games anyway.

No matter how dire the starting rotation seems to be, my biggest fear is of the bullpen.  I think the Phillies should start stockpiling relief help ASAP.

Right now the Phillies’ bullpen is one of, if not, the best in baseball. Without a doubt. They have relied on it as much as they relied on Utley & Burrell the first few months of the season. But how long can it last? They have been luck this year: Except for Flash’s current problem, there have been no real injuries this year. No one has lost their arm slot or gone wild. But even if nothing serious happens, in an era where the vast majority of starting pitchers rarely make it past the 5th or 6th innings, your bullpen gets worn down. Especially as the dog-days drag on. Just look at the Yankees during the final few years of the Joe Torre era: by October, the bullpen is decimated by injury and overuse; suddenly you’re asking your closer to consistently pitch two innings.

I have no doubt in my mind that the primary reason the Phillies kept it together during last years’ stretch run was because Myers & Flash, essentially, took most of the year off. OK, they didn’t necessarily take the time off, but the combination of being fresh/energized that late in the season coupled with opposing batters not having consistently faced them, gave Myers & Flash the edge. Of course it didn’t hurt that when they came off the DL and they pitched their asses off.

This year, we can’t count on anybody coming off the DL and being a late inning savior.

DoubleK does his job good; Hitters manage a whole 4 RBIs!

Last night Kyle Kendrick owned the (former Philadelphia) Athletics, pitching a career high 8 innings, surrendering just four hits and no runs. It was exactly this kind of dominating performance the slumping Phillies hitters needed to break out of their worst losing skid in two years.

Trying to shake off the cobwebs, Charlie juggled the line-up with some interesting choices. He had Werth as the lead-off hitter and sent the Flyin’ Hawaiian to the seven spot. As the number three hitter JRoll, was able to provide protection for the slumping Utley who was moved up into the second spot.  Finally, Burrell and Howard (as DH) switched their usual, with Pat batting clean-up and Ryan in the five hole.

Well, they scored some runs, so I guess you could say it worked… But the only real evidence I saw was Chase going 4 for 5. Werth, Howard and Bruntlett (playing 1B) were all hitless. And as a whole the team left 11 men on base, squandering a chance or two to break the thing open.

Not to take anything away from DoubleK, but I can’t help but think that if this was another team, the Phillies may have let this slip away. Let’s face it, these days, four runs seems to be the minimum to win a game. When men get on base, the Phils need to bring them home.

Tonight Eaton takes the hill. Hopefully the bats will make some more noise, because even in his best outings, Eaton gives up about three runs a start.

Friday Cage Match (Early): Shawn Chacon attacks Ed Wade.

I’m sure you’ve heard the story by now, but if not, check it here. The Phillies should pick him up since Chacon has immediately established a rabid fan base in Philadelphia. After all, at various times we’ve all wanted to attack Eddie.

OK, all jokes aside, this is ridiculous. He grabbed Eddie by the neck?!? What kind of anger management issues in Chacon dealing with? LARRY BOWA never even so much as bumped chests with Eddie, and he had real reasons to be angry. The player’s union should condemn Chacon and Bud should ban him for the rest of the season. Case closed.

Ah! The familiar pain!

Remember two weeks ago when the Phillies were 13 games over .500 and winning 8 of their last 10? They were comfortably in first place and it gave you a heady, lighter-than-air feeling, right? Well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore, we’re back to the nausea that Phillies fans are most familiar with.

You know what I mean:

The ninth inning. Phillies up by two runs. Jose Mesa comes in, lets the bases get loaded, then walks in a run? You remember what I’m talking about. Then he strikes out the next two batters.

Does he get the last K? Or does he give up a hit?

That’s kind of where I feel the Phillies are at right now. Do they get serious and move forward? Or do they do what they (almost) always do, and let it all go?

A double agent in our midst?

A recent article by Jayson Stark has me scared. He covers a few different subjects, including a list of available GMs (due to the opening in Seattle) and the Phillies ongoing search for additional starting pitching. Even though he doesn’t make any direct connections between the two stories, I don’t think it’s possible not to read between the lines.

He starts in Seattle with the question of who will replace Bill Bavasi as the Mariner’s new Mario (Get it? Nintendo owns the M’s! I’m so clever I could just kill myself). This is where my terror begins…

Ghost of Mariners past: [Pat] Gillick [current GM of the Phillies] has already announced he’s retiring after this season. But it’s hard not to notice that he’s been hedging just enough lately to leave his options open. And he’s long had a soft spot for his previous destination, plus he has a home near Seattle and an unusually high level of interest in the state of the franchise. So don’t count out a return to some sort of high-ranking position, even though the official title might not read ‘general manager.’

Yeah, sure. I can’t blame a guy in a high-power position for suddenly realizing that retirement may be boring. But the line “an unusually high level of interest in the state of the franchise” kinda creeped me out after I read the part about the Phillies looking for starting pitching…

Phretting in Philly: With the help of a number of clubs that have spoken with the Phillies, we’ve assembled this shopping list of starting pitchers it appears they’ve at least kicked tires on: Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Bronson Arroyo and (surprisingly) Jarrod Washburn. Bedard just hit the market, so you can add his name any minute now.

Except for CC Sabathia, all of these names should send a shiver down out spines. However is there any particular name in that paragraph that gives you pause? That’s right: Jarrod Washburn?!?!?! He’s currently in a pitcher friendly stadium, and his ERA is near 6.00; can you imagine that in the Bank? If the Phillies were to pick him up for anything more than a box of baseballs, I would have no other choice then to think that Gillick was trying to ingratiate himself with the M’s front office – probably with an eye on a 2009 “Special Assistant” position.

Besides destroying my faith in the Phillie’s GM, Stark continues to depress me with the rest of the story:

[T]he Phillies might have the hardest decisions to make of just about any team with win-the-World Series upside. If they go for it now — and decimate their still-thin system to deal for a big-name rent-a-pitcher like Sabathia or Burnett — this might be the only year they’d be capable of contending.

To make a trade like that, they’d probably have to give up both of their two most advanced starting-pitching prospects, Carlos Carrasco and Antonio Bastardo. So if they lose Brad Lidge and their rent-a-starter to free agency, and Jamie Moyer retires, Brett Myers doesn’t rebound and Adam Eaton’s first half turns out to be a mirage, the Phillies’ pitching staff next year would essentially consist of Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendrick, J.C. Romero, Ryan Madson, an uncertain Myers and seven question marks.

“So that’s a tough call,” said one NL executive. “Do you say, ‘Go for it, and the hell with next year’? Or do you think big picture, but maybe not have enough [pitching] to win this year? It’s a scary choice to have to make.”

Hey, I’m all for making it to the postseason this year, but I don’t want to destroy the future either. It was a real long time between ’93 and ’07 and I don’t want to have to deal with that again.

Besides, as a Phillies fan, I demand the opportunity to cheer/jeer a home-town player named “Bastardo.”

This sucks…

I hate Inter-League play.

Former Phillie Alert: Luis Aguayo

As the entire universe now knows, the Mets have finally put poor Willie Randolph put of his misery. Of course they sent him across the country first, and waited for him to get a two game winning streak together. And of course they couldn’t resist sending Jose Reyes in to steal Willies return ticket. But at least it’s over for Willie.  Also joining him on the unemployment line are Pitching Coach Rick Peterson and First Base Coach Tom Nieto.

Why am I writing about the Mets? They are replacing Nieto with former Phillies utility-man Luis Aguayo. And while Luis never set the world on fire (although he may new a new option at second base for the Mets) he did inspire Whitey’s wit:

“Luis Aguayo is on deck. Aguayo hasn’t exactly been reminding anybody of Rogers Hornsby lately.” –Richie Ashburn

“Aguayo’s running at first base. He doesn’t have great speed … what am I saying? He doesn’t have good speed. He doesn’t even have average speed. The man is slow.” –Richie Ashburn

Phillies anemic after feast.

After slapping around JD Drew and his “World Champion” Boston Red Sux by a score of 8-2, the Phillies dropped the next game 3-0. Why? Because they were exhausted! Triples by both Pat Burrell a Ryan Howard made me tired, and I was just watching on the TV. Not to mention that Howard’s two homeruns brought him a total of 11 bases. That’s more bases than he had in the first month of the season!

Thankfully Pat & Ryan went Ofer last night with a combined 7 strikeouts, meaning that they should be energized and ready for this afternoons game. Wow, I can hardly wait.

Contd: Roger Clements pitching for the Phillies? (2of3)

Part 2 of an earlier post.

An interesting fact that has been thrown around recently: the Phillies are the only team in the majors who have used just five starting pitchers this season. This is incredible when you remember that by this time last year, they had already used about 8 or 10 starters. Also amazing when you consider some of the performances we’ve seen this year.

People insist that if the Phillies are going to be serious contenders, they will need to acquire another reliable starting pitcher. It’s generally agreed that the Phillies farm system is close to being depleted. So how are they going to secure this “reliable starting pitcher” if not from the farm, or at least with freshly tilled prospects?

Option 1: “The Salary Dump” Taking a huge contract from a team that is out of contention; not just this year, but for the next few years. Except for the Mariners, I don’t see anyone moving in this direction. Most teams are still in the race, or have delusions that they’ll be competitive in a year or two. The Phillies say that they couldn’t afford Kyle Loshe due to this years free agent signings, so I guess this isn’t a realty.

Option 2: “The Project” A rehab project for middling-prospects. Maybe a player with lots of potential who just can’t put it all together or a guy who is injury plagued. Well, we’ve got some walking wounded already (Kris Benson) and I don’t think we want to add Carl Pavano. Maybe it’s time to bring Robinson Tejada back? Or give Jeff Weaver a 15th chance? Can anybody explain why the Phillies weren’t able to sign Bartolo Colon to a Benson-type deal?

Option 3: “The Embarrassment” A situation where a team eats an entire salary just to get rid of a an embarrassing mistake (you know, kind of like Wes Helms). Generally these are players that signed to a medium-high contract and flopped huge. Barry Zito? $126,000,000 minus 1.5 years? — yeah right. Maybe Sidney Ponson?

Option 4: “DFAed” This is a variation of “The Embarassment.” Picking up a player that has been designated for assignment, passed through waivers, and then become a free agent via refusing their minor league assignment. Not a lot of “reliable” pitchers survive this process (although I think that’s how the Phillies picked up Romero last year…).

Option 5: “The Unsigned” They didn’t make a team out of Spring Training or have been released and not picked up by anyone else. Roger Clements or Eric Milton anyone?

Personally, I don’t really think that one of these options will lock in a true savior, maybe something more radical is called for…

I open my mouth, the whole world turns smart.

So I post a review of Jamie Moyer saying, “The ageless wonder is probably coming to the end of the road.” Less than 24 hours later he takes a no-hitter into the 6th inning. He finishes with eight shutout innings, allowing just two hits and one walk.

OK. I see how this works. “Yo Jamie! You have no chance of winning the Cy Young Award!”