I discovered not long after Roy Halladay's arrival that he's a pretty boring quote, utilizing every cliche in the book to describe his success on the mound. But the few times when he's asked to chime in on topics outside the pitching realm, he's come up with some real gems. Halladay's two-out hit in the top of the third inning in last night's game against the Mets started a rally that brought the Phillies' 38-scoreless-innings streak at Citi Field to an end, and his description of hitting duality was so spot on, I had to use it to title this posting.
The pitcher-friendly Citi Field has been the site of much agony for slugging Philadelphia this season. Its embarrassing three-game series there in late May started an offensive funk that took two months to escape. New York's R.A. Dickey continued the trend on Friday night with a performance that rivaled plenty of others as the best of the season in this Year of the Pitcher.
Philly did not suffer the same fate on Saturday and received quite a bit of help in its 4-0 victory. Opposing third baseman's legs are becoming more like giant croquet wickets for Phillie hitters. After Casey Blake's miscue led to two runs on Thursday night, David Wright misplayed another potential double-play ball off the bat of Jimmy Rollins in the sixth inning last night, providing a cushion twice as large for a wheeling and dealing Halladay.
Doc kept the Mets guessing all night long. His entire arsenal was working, and Halladay is nearly impossible to hit when he can throw any pitch in any count. He was able to keep his own count down as well with a couple of nice plays from the mound. This was key, as Ryan Madson had us all frantically praying to the baseball Gods in a shaky ninth inning.
Who knows why, but I was watching last night's game with a bunch of New York fans and one of them predicted a game-tying grand slam for the Mets. Knowing the bullpen's track record over the last year-and-a-half, I couldn't bring myself to come to Madson's defense. Sure enough, a nervous Madson loaded the bases, giving one of those base runners a free pass when he plunked Fernando Martinez in the back after getting ahead of him 0-2. My silence ensured I wouldn't be eating any words regardless of what happened, but Madson managed to get out of the jam and preserve the win for Halladay.
I swear these relievers are giving me grey hairs.
Much has been made of the great number of times the Phillies have been shutout this season. Friday's 1-0 defeat brought that number to 10, three more than all of last season. However, Saturday's 4-0 win made it 13 times the Phillies have shut out their opponents, four more than last year. It's a loose measure of success, but it's usually a good sign if a team shuts opponents out more than it gets shut out. Just look at the Tampa Bay Rays. They recently became the first team in major league history to get no-hit or one-hit five times in a season, but they have the same shutout ratio as the Phillies (plus-3) and own the second-best record in baseball.
We can expect a few more shutouts to fall our way before the end of the season with such a formidable pitching rotation. That's some ecstasy all Phillies fans can enjoy.
Showing posts with label bullpen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bullpen. Show all posts
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Friday, August 13, 2010
Another Broxton feast
Just to let all of you know, I've recently become a Philadelphia Phillies beat writer for sportshaze.com. All of my posts here will be placed on that site as well. It's a startup sports site that covers baseball, football, basketball, hockey and the NCAA. I encourage everyone to check it out!
I’m wondering which will happen first: Darrelle Revis successfully renegotiating his contract with the New York Jets or the Phillies reclaiming their lead in the NL East. One thing I know is that the Phillies’ waiting game is much more fun to watch.
From now on when Los Angeles Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton enters a game with the Phillies trailing, I’ll simply say, “The Phils have this one well in hand.” Since Matt Stairs’ moon shot off him in Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS, Broxton has just one save in four opportunities and a 9.82 ERA against Philadelphia. Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz provided the walk-off magic this time around, completing the Phillies’ largest comeback victory of a topsy-turvy 2010 season, but the writing was on the wall before Ruiz dented it with his double.
I can’t claim to know the state of Casey Blake’s ankles four months into a long season, but they had to be in better shape than Bill Buckner’s when a tailor made double play ball came bouncing his way off the bat of Ben Francisco. The replay shows he lifted his glove, expecting the ball to bounce higher than it did, which allowed two runs to cross the plate and the tying run to get into scoring position with nobody out. I don’t even care if Mariano Rivera was on the mound, the Phillies’ win expectancy shot through the roof with that error.
Much kudos go to Ruiz, whose hitting is finally catching up with his defense and excellent handling of the pitching staff. Despite some time spent on the DL, Chooch is putting wood on the ball with much more authority this season. His average with runners in scoring position (.293) is just a point lower than his general batting average, and both would be career highs. Pitchers prefer facing the bottom of the order, but Ruiz is making himself comfortable down there and making an already-potent lineup that much more dangerous.
Such an incredible victory covered up another ugly performance from the bullpen, which allowed a total of 14 runs in just 12 innings during the series. Danys Baez was the only reliever to toss a clean frame last night, lowering his season ERA to 5.40. This remains a glaring issue Philly will continue to deal with through the rest of the season.
But as I said before, it will be an exciting finish that makes me happy I’m not a Jets fan.
I’m wondering which will happen first: Darrelle Revis successfully renegotiating his contract with the New York Jets or the Phillies reclaiming their lead in the NL East. One thing I know is that the Phillies’ waiting game is much more fun to watch.
From now on when Los Angeles Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton enters a game with the Phillies trailing, I’ll simply say, “The Phils have this one well in hand.” Since Matt Stairs’ moon shot off him in Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS, Broxton has just one save in four opportunities and a 9.82 ERA against Philadelphia. Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz provided the walk-off magic this time around, completing the Phillies’ largest comeback victory of a topsy-turvy 2010 season, but the writing was on the wall before Ruiz dented it with his double.
I can’t claim to know the state of Casey Blake’s ankles four months into a long season, but they had to be in better shape than Bill Buckner’s when a tailor made double play ball came bouncing his way off the bat of Ben Francisco. The replay shows he lifted his glove, expecting the ball to bounce higher than it did, which allowed two runs to cross the plate and the tying run to get into scoring position with nobody out. I don’t even care if Mariano Rivera was on the mound, the Phillies’ win expectancy shot through the roof with that error.
Much kudos go to Ruiz, whose hitting is finally catching up with his defense and excellent handling of the pitching staff. Despite some time spent on the DL, Chooch is putting wood on the ball with much more authority this season. His average with runners in scoring position (.293) is just a point lower than his general batting average, and both would be career highs. Pitchers prefer facing the bottom of the order, but Ruiz is making himself comfortable down there and making an already-potent lineup that much more dangerous.
Such an incredible victory covered up another ugly performance from the bullpen, which allowed a total of 14 runs in just 12 innings during the series. Danys Baez was the only reliever to toss a clean frame last night, lowering his season ERA to 5.40. This remains a glaring issue Philly will continue to deal with through the rest of the season.
But as I said before, it will be an exciting finish that makes me happy I’m not a Jets fan.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
No longer a priv-Lidge
I had just had my mind warped by the dream maze of Christopher Nolan's "Inception" but my mind has never been clearer about the Phillies' missed opportunities before the elapsed Trade Deadline.
True, Philadelphia pulled off the biggest trade of the week by adding Roy Oswalt, but the problem it didn't solve laughed with glee tonight as Brad Lidge was given the ball in the bottom of the ninth to protect a one-run lead against the Washington Nationals. He recorded just one out before Ryan Zimmerman ended it with a monster three-run shot to center field. It was Lidge's fourth blown save of the season, which isn't that many at this point in the season, but he's only appeared in half the games of most closers. That places his effectiveness right around the level of his 2009 season.
As the Phillies dropped yet another game on the road to a last-place team, other teams had just completed deals to help prevent such deflating results. Back-end relievers Matt Capps, Kerry Wood, Will Ohman, Octavio Dotel and Javier Lopez all recently found themselves in new homes. Even before Philly added Oswalt, it's largest weakness was undoubtedly the bullpen. I can't say for certain how hard Amaro tried to get a reliever, my guess is whenever it was brought up, he would start start babbling in unfamiliar tongues, except for a few select words - "Oswalt....Oswalt....must make them forget about Lee...."
We'll spend the rest of the season cringing when we don't have a big lead late in the game. That's actually not different from the norm, and I see now that I was being too optimistic. I suppose I forgot for a moment that I was Philadelphia fan. The Phillies are on the verge of getting swept by the Nationals, so we have to hope the bats sizzle early and Cole Hamels goes deep into the game. It'll do me good not to see Lidge or Ryan Madson warming up for a few days.
True, Philadelphia pulled off the biggest trade of the week by adding Roy Oswalt, but the problem it didn't solve laughed with glee tonight as Brad Lidge was given the ball in the bottom of the ninth to protect a one-run lead against the Washington Nationals. He recorded just one out before Ryan Zimmerman ended it with a monster three-run shot to center field. It was Lidge's fourth blown save of the season, which isn't that many at this point in the season, but he's only appeared in half the games of most closers. That places his effectiveness right around the level of his 2009 season.
As the Phillies dropped yet another game on the road to a last-place team, other teams had just completed deals to help prevent such deflating results. Back-end relievers Matt Capps, Kerry Wood, Will Ohman, Octavio Dotel and Javier Lopez all recently found themselves in new homes. Even before Philly added Oswalt, it's largest weakness was undoubtedly the bullpen. I can't say for certain how hard Amaro tried to get a reliever, my guess is whenever it was brought up, he would start start babbling in unfamiliar tongues, except for a few select words - "Oswalt....Oswalt....must make them forget about Lee...."
We'll spend the rest of the season cringing when we don't have a big lead late in the game. That's actually not different from the norm, and I see now that I was being too optimistic. I suppose I forgot for a moment that I was Philadelphia fan. The Phillies are on the verge of getting swept by the Nationals, so we have to hope the bats sizzle early and Cole Hamels goes deep into the game. It'll do me good not to see Lidge or Ryan Madson warming up for a few days.
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