Shades of the past

"You want to be in a town where it's exciting and people are paying attention."

~Hunter Pence after being traded to Philadelphia

Anyone paying attention to the Phillies in their three-game sweep over the Pirates this weekend received wonderful reminders of 2009, even though Hunter Pence's arrival was a big call to the future.

In each game, a different member of the formally dangerous offense sparked the victory - Chase Utley on Friday, Ryan Howard on Saturday and Raul Ibanez in Sunday's thrilling 6-5, extra inning triumph.

Though his .247 batting average suggests otherwise, Ibanez has been a presence in the lineup. His two bombs on Sunday gave him 16 on the year, already matching last year's total with two months left to play, and his game-ending, RBI double gives him three of the Phillies' six walk-off hits this year. Take out the two weeks in late April when he failed to get a single hit, and Ibanez' average is .275. Sure, that's not eye-popping, but his production is a welcome surprise given his age of 39.

Ibanez also drove in 25 runs in July, which led the majors. In fact, the hottest month of the year was a good one for the Philly bats in general. They hit .272 and averaged 5.5 runs per game, while their 138 runs, 402 total bases and .789 team OPS (coming into Sunday) all led the National League.

Charlie Manuel is notorious for his placating remarks about how good the Phillies lineup will get "when the weather warms up," and they're proving him right. On the eve of a 10-game road trip, the hot-hitting Phillies go in with extra confidence. Pence now mans right field and the No. 5 hole, and Placido Polanco just returned. Don't be surprised if the flashbacks to the recent past continue.

Winning the hunt

Man, this is going to suck three years down the road.

But who has the luxury of thinking about the future? The Phillies certainly won't have to deal with paying for any luxury, that's for sure, but with no World Series trophy at the end of this season, they'll pay with the thunderous boos emanating from Citizens Bank Park.

Enter: Hunter Pence.

The Phillies gave away their final bargaining chips in the farm system - Jarred Cosart, Jonathan Singleton, Josh Zeid and a player to be named later - going all in for what could be their last shot for ultimate glory. The recipient for the second straight July was their old friend, Ed Wade, who sent that key righty bat from the Houston Astros packing.

To be sure, Pence is no Jayson Werth. He's not going to put together any 20-20 seasons or walk once or twice every game. His career OPS of .818 is also a bit underwhelming.

It also would not have been that great of a risk for the Phillies to make no moves before the Trade Deadline and try to win it all with what they had. To this point, their group of players gave them the best record in baseball, and with Chase Utley back and healthy, the offense was showing shades of its former robust self (evidence once again in Friday's 10-3 win over the Pirates).

However, this move means that Shane Victorino will no longer be burdened with occupying the No. 5 hole - a place no one should have expected his presence at any future time when he first came to Philadelphia. A guy with a little pop in his bat (Pence has hit 25 homers in each of the last three seasons) will provide adequate protection for Ryan Howard, and Victorino will no longer have to be the only member of the .300 club.

The big right field issue has also been solved by this trade, as the Phillies are getting an upgrade at the plate and in the field. The Ben Francisco Experiment was DOA, and now the team doesn't need to wait for Domonic Brown's bat to come around. He can return to the bench or build his confidence back up in Triple A. He'll get his chance again next year when Raul Ibanez leaves. I'm relieved the Phillies didn't deal Brown to make this trade work. While some may view the present one as shortsighted, shipping off Brown would have made no sense.

Pence is one of the more amiable fellows playing the game, which will make him popular in Philadelphia. He'll stay long enough to make a good impression, too, because he's not eligible for free agency until after the 2013 season.

It remains to be seen if Pence's bat and glove make the difference in October, but it'll be nice to see a new face in that lineup, and Pence's presence only adds assurance to a fifth straight NL East title. Plus, the guy's name is Hunter. How can you go wrong?

They can't lose!

This past weekend my friend, Bill, and I were enjoying a wonderfully scorching day in the upper deck of Citizens Bank Park. Halfway through the Phillies' 5-3 win over the Padres, a thunderstorm that I had been tracking on my phone narrowly missed Philadelphia. We saw the dark clouds just east of us, and Bill said it looked like it was about to rain. I mentioned to him that the storm was going to hit New Jersey instead. His instinctive response to that was, "Yeah, Jersey needs a bath." Oh, we inhabitants of the states surrounding the aforementioned location never miss an opportunity to make fun of it - a practice passed down through the generations. This may seem like a mean thing to post, but I have just one Facebook friend from New Jersey, and she's not into baseball. Just in case, a thousand apologies, Jen. ;-)

Say Chase, how is your right leg feeling? Apparently, awesome.

Most guys are lucky to get one inside-the-park home run in their careers. With Utley's race around the sacks in Tuesday's 7-2 win over the Giants, he now has three. The victory was quite a statement to make against the team that denied the Phillies their third consecutive trip to the World Series last year.

And give it up again for that four-eyed, baby-faced, Mohawked rookie. The kid threw his first major league complete game, holding the Giants to just three hits. He's quickly moving himself into Rookie of Year discussions. Since he rejoined the Philly rotation last month, he's 5-0 with a 1.14 ERA. Whatever weaknesses his stuff may have, opposing hitters haven't been able to exploit them yet. Let's hope that lasts the rest of the season.

That's my two cents about the latest in a long row of triumphs. I'd like to try something new and share a link to a Phillies-based column I wrote for the Gettysburg Times:

http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/sports/article_560d8b2e-b807-11e0-a63c-001cc4c002e0.html

The column was written in jest about my recent change in luck when attending Phillies games. Enjoy!

Reds get a lump of Cole

It wasn't that long ago when the Phillies experienced the hurt they just put on the Cincinnati Reds in the Division Series.

It was 2007 and a fairly young Philly team made a surprise trip to the postseason for the first time in more than a decade. Leading the way was experienced manager Charlie Manuel, who was in the third season of a job that finally paid the dividends the higher-ups were hoping for. Just as quickly as the Phillies realized their dream, it was snatched away by a three-game sweep.

Since then, Philadelphia has done nothing but win in the playoffs, and it showed an untested Cincinnati team and its veteran manager how it's done.

Twenty-six-year-old Cole Hamels locked up his team's third consecutive trip to the National League Championship Series with a pitching performance on Sunday that arguably exceeded any of his stellar starts during the 2008 postseason. He allowed just five hits and struck out nine in a 2-0 win. Hamels threw the second complete-game shutout for the "Big Three" in the series, proving that even if two of the three are dominating, the Phillies are still unbeatable.

Hamels often found himself on the wrong side of these kind of games during the regular season, but the October Phillies are a different breed from the first-half Phillies. They come up big when it matters the most. Shane Victorino made a game-saving grab, Chase Utley hit his 10th career postseason home run and Hamels took care of the rest.

The crafty left-hander said after the game that his overwhelming success at the hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark - he's now 7-0 there - could be partially attributed to that fact that it was the site of his first big league start back in 2006. The Reds have improved a great deal since then, but they ran into an even more refined Hamels. The perfection of his cut fastball in the latter half of this season added a new weapon to set up his deadly changeup, which had Cincinnait's right-handers hitters fooled all night.

As good as their pitching has been, the Phillies would be the first ones to admit that they're still not firing on all cylinders. Nearly half of their 13 runs scored over the three games were provided by the opposition. The shallow dimensions of Great American were barely enough to take Utley's homer, the first long ball of the postseason for Philadelphia. The team knows it can hit much better than this, and a better outing from Roy Oswalt also wouldn't hurt. His first playoff start in five years turned out like his first start as a Phillie, but he went 7-0 after July 30 so a better outing in the NLCS is very likely.

The players in Philly know to ignore all the great hype surrounding them, but thus far they're on track to prove the prognosticators correct. The Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants - two other teams that have returned to the playoffs after long absences - are in the midst of an uncomfortable battle, and whichever group advances, they know the road only gets harder against a dangerous Phillies team that's now won six of its last seven series on the big stage.

Philadelphia twilight

This is one ham the Philadelphia Phillies wish wasn't tender.

Jimmy Rollins tweaked his right hamstring while legging out a double in Wednesday's game against the Florida Marlins, a scene that has been played out in 2010. He gingerly rounded first base and then painfully limped his way home on a single rather than immediately coming out of the game and saving the fans the agony of witnessing this unpleasantness twice in one inning.

After four days, Rollins is still not in the lineup, which is completely necessary and won't hurt the team in the short run. It's unfortunate because he had just recently begun showing shades of his former speedy self, swiping bags at a frequency he hadn't enjoyed all season. That unfettered speed is a key component of the Philly offense, and it is something the team will need in the postseason.

J-Roll hasn't been the only issue this season as anyone who has paused for a few minutes on just one Phillies game all season can tell you. Of the team's big contributors - excluding Roy Oswalt who's only been with the club since the Trade Deadline - only Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels have avoided serious injury. Given so much adversity, it's astounding the Phillies are tied for first place with 19 games left to play.

They are on the verge of their fourth straight playoff appearance, however, which is what the organization expects of out this talented group. Halladay has certainly been an invaluable addition in 2010, but the anyone associated with the Phillies will say the heart and soul of the team lies with its home crop core of Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. The boys up top have invested hundreds of millions to keep these three together to provide an atmosphere of unity, particularly after all this success. But with each passing season, it's seeming more and more like the organization is getting in too deep.

Consider that the mean age of the Phillies starting lineup is presently 31.9, compared to 28.6 in 2007. Many of the players are nearing the point when their numbers start to decline, and their bodies can't handle the strain of a 162-game season.

Rollins is the most glaring example. He's made three trips to the DL since 2008, and his numbers in that time (.258/.321/.417) have suffered, especially for a leadoff hitter. They're a noticeable dip from his output from 2004-07 - .288/.341/.475. As J-Roll has struggled to stay on the field this year, it's hard not to think about past stars of the game who started to fade once they entered their 30s, like Ken Griffey, Jr., Frank Thomas and Juan Gonzalez. While Utley's and Howard's injuries were purely accidental, some fans have to be wondering when their bodies will start to fail them.

Such troubling thoughts are not on the players' minds right now, but they've gotten so used to winning. Should they not reach the World Series or lose their grip on the postseason altogether, you can bet they'll be mulling over an uncertain future during the offseason. This run can't last forever and all of these big trades in recent years have made it difficult to build another core of J-Rolls, Utleys and Howards.

Twilight is starting to fall over Philadelphia, but the Phillies hope to hold on to that setting sun as long as possible.

Phinally!

It took 100 days, but the Phillies believed that they would eventually find themselves back on top in the NL East because...well, that's just the way it's supposed to be.

They started erasing the seven-game deficit much earlier than they did in 2007 (late July, rather than late September), and the changing of the guard came while the Braves were falling apart against the Pittsburgh Pirates, of all teams. There wasn't much conventional about the switch for Philadelphia either on Tuesday night.

In a bizarre contest that saw the Phillies end as 8-7 victors over the pesky Florida Marlins, it seemed like they did everything wrong AND everything right in the game. As we've so often seen this season, Joe Blanton was not at his best, but he left with a lead. The Philly bullpen and defense coughed that lead up, but Shane Victorino and Placido Polanco worked some two-out magic in the bottom of the eighth inning. Ryan Madson was credited with a blown save, but wound up getting the win.

If you prefaced the explanation of this game with the fact that Chase Utley and Jayson Werth combined to go 0-for-8 while stranding five runners, chances are, most people would assume a loss. However, offense was what won this game for the Phillies, and they got plenty from everyone else. Victorino can deny it all he wants, but Charlie Manuel seemed to remember that his speedy right fielder excelled in the leadoff spot earlier this season when Jimmy Rollins was on the DL. He's now 5-for-10 since Manuel put him back at the top.

Ryan Howard dusted off his Mr. September cap, as he launched a solo shot the other way. Raul Ibanez did the same and fell a double short of the cycle. The offense as a whole put runs on the board in five different innings. It's fair to say Atlanta should be panicking right now.

The Phillies did hit an offensive lull recently while Utley and Howard rediscovered their timing after stints on the DL, but this one only lasted a week instead of two months. The full lineup is back and in a great position to cause some real damage. It's all divisional opponents from now until the end of the regular season, and the team's only objective is to add to its lead before hosting a three-game set against Atlanta Sept. 20-22.

And for the sake of the coaching staff's sanity, make the wins a little easier.

Run, Forrest, Run

It's fair to say that Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino aren't impressing anybody with their batting averages, but they made a rebound effort by Kyle Kendrick stand up in the Phillies' 3-1 win over the Mets Sunday night that gave them a series win and moved them into a tie for first place in the Wild Card with their next opponent, the San Francisco Giants.

The speedy pair swiped three bags, all of which factored into go-ahead runs for Philadelphia. J-Roll gave us a sense that he has fully returned to health, stealing second and third base three pitches apart in the third inning, and making it easily each time. Though Rollins doesn't get on base nearly as often as he should, this is what we expect to happen when he does.

In years past, we saw the Phillies scrape out wins like this more often. Injuries have prevented that this season, but with the guidance of first base coach Davey Lopes, the base runners are still ahead of Bill James' curve. In the all-too important goal of not making outs, the Phillies are 67-for-80 in stolen-base attempts this season, a respectable success rate of 83.8 percent. Philly runners tend to make it to the next bag safely when they steal, and that can make the difference in games like Sunday night when offense was hard to come by for both teams.

Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge also showed us shades of their 2008 selves with scoreless frames to close out the victory. Sure, two of Lidge's three outs were smoked balls that just happened to be hit right at people, but how many of his saves in '08 were achieved in that fashion? Probably more than we'd like to admit.

The Phillies climbed to 15 games over .500 for the first time this season. Since they nearly snatched first place away from the Braves a week ago, Bobby Cox's bunch are again playing like they want a division title. The Phightins' need to keep the pressure on, and they should thank their lucky stars that Tim Lincecum just pitched on Sunday. He's not exactly having a freak-type year, but there's no need to give Chase Utley (2-for-20, 8 K's against Lincecum) that big of a test in his return to the bigs.

My Bad

I promised a post about Shane Victorino concerning the rate at which the ball is flyin' out for the Hawaiin this season. This is a lesson to me to never again preview a post based on an assumption.

I figured there had to be some explanation as to why with 45 percent of the season left to play Victorino had already exceeded his season high in home runs. I was planning on making the grand claim that he was drawing from the bad example of Jimmy Rollins, whose power numbers had increased in recent years without regard to his on-base percentage. Referring to the theme of yesterday's posting, I reasoned that Victorino was trying to hit more home runs.

I deferred to Victorino's 2010 stats, expecting to find a significant difference in certain areas from past seasons. Specifically, a player trying to hit more home runs would have a lower ground-ball/fly-ball ratio and would tend to be less selective at the plate, resulting less pitches per plate appearance, more strikeouts and less walks.

Unfortunately, the verdict was not in my favor. Victorino's numbers in all the areas I just mentioned don't differ significantly from past years, and neither do J-Roll's for that matter (comparing his 20-plus home run seasons to the rest). In fact, I didn't even take into account that Rollins began hitting more home runs after the Phillies moved from the Vet to Citizens Bank and he cut down on his strikeouts, which contradicts the assumptions I made about Victorino.

The only significant difference in both their cases is in the years with more homers, their home run percentage on fly balls was much higher. Basically, Victorino is hitting the same amount of fly balls as he always did, it's just more of them are leaving the yard. That could be chalked up to a quicker bat speed, and not to mention that most of Victorino's blasts barely make it over the fence anyway. He's always been a fly-ball hitter and it's paying off for him more than ever.

Victorino has suffered from a lower batting average this season, but that has nothing to do with his increased power. Bad luck is a big factor there as his average on balls in play this season is just .258. He's simply hitting balls right at people more often than before.

If there's one thing I have learned from this rather humbling discovery is Charlie Manuel has the wrong guys in the leadoff spot. He's being blinded by Rollins' and Victorino's size and speed. It's true that the two of them will steal a healthy amount of bags and have a good chance of scoring when they reach base. The trouble is their collective OBP (.333) is far too low, and even though they're both switch hitters, they don't hit to all fields consistently enough. Placido Polanco, on the other hand, sprays the ball all over the place and is one of the best two-strike hitters in baseball. As for reaching base, no one is better at that on the Phillies than Chase Utley. I wonder what would happen if Manuel stuck Utley in the leadoff spot for a few weeks after he returned from the DL. Given the chance, he could definitely swipe more bags and is a smart base runner. The modified lineup would look something like this:

1. Chase Utley (L)
2. Placido Polanco (R)
3. Jimmy Rollins (S)
4. Ryan Howard (L)
5. Jayson Werth (R) (assuming he's still with the team in August)
6. Shane Victorino (S)
7. Raul Ibanez (L)
8. Carlos Ruiz (R)

The two-hole has always belonged to Polanco, obviously, but with Utley in front of him, there's more of a chance he would come to plate with a man on, and the distribution of righties and lefties in the order wouldn't be compromised. After dealing with a patient Utley and a pesky Polanco, a starting pitcher won't enjoy the first inning as much.

I guess this is how you learn and grow from making mistakes. I realized some errors in my logic and the journey to correct them led to a new batting order for the Phillies. At this point, it would behoove them to try anything new.

Would you like to ride with Batman?

I don't know if anyone remembers this commercial, but it was from the mid-1990s, and it involved a football coach checking on one of his players who was on the receiving end of a shell-shocking tackle. The coach asks him, "Who am I," to which the player responds plainly, "You're coach." The coach then asks the player, "Who are you?" The player beams at him with confidence as he proclaims, "I'm Batman!"

The Phillies offense has been afflicted with a case of mistaken identity, though the new person is not a masked vigilante with a killer suit and a car that fills the military with envy (I just wanted to share the memory of that hilarious commercial). Philly is more akin to Two Face, dominated by an evil side that can't score runs. The only upside is that every once in a while, Harvey Dent re-emerges to dispose of enemy pitching.

I guess Daniel McCutchen and Ross Ohlendorf were like the Joker, a new threat the Phillies had no idea how to overcome, and Paul Maholm was the familiar crime boss who was easy to put away (despite the lefty coming in with a 3-1 record and 3.29 ERA against Philadelphia). The Phillies jumped all over him early in a 12-4 thrashing that finally gave them a win at PNC Park. No matter what team the Phils face, when they hit the cover off the ball like they used to do on a regular basis, it seems to occur at random, and these outbursts are surrounded by three- or four-game stretches of bewilderment. It's a dizzying pattern to follow and is not making much of a dent (no pun intended) in the division.

I'm glad Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth finally listened to my pleas, ending their respective RBI droughts of six and eight games. They combined to drive in four runs - the kind of production you want to see out of at least one of them every game with Utley and Polanco out of the lineup. Ironically, their help wasn't really needed tonight, but J-Roll and Victorino aren't going to combine for six hits and the cycle too often.

Ben Francisco finally got the home run monkey off his back, and his increased playing time over the last few weeks has helped his hitting. I'd expect to see him out there more and more. It may still be too early to tell, but it appears as if 38-year-old Raul Ibanez is on a career decline.

Kyle Kendrick is dealing with his own Two Face issues, but the better half that he showed throughout all of Spring Training - and easily won him the fifth spot in the rotation after J.A. Happ went down - returned in his first-ever complete game. This is the fifth straight game in which a Philly starter has gone at least seven innings, but the team is just 2-3 in that stretch.

This is a group that is fully capable of winning, even regaining first place in the East, without Chase Utley or Placido Polanco. There's no doubt in my mind of that. I'm just not sure they believe that right now. I feel like I've said this way too much, but tonight's win was a good start back to that confidence. They need to find their inner-Batman and continue to take care of the bad guys.

Oh Pooey

Ok, Wilson Valdez, just hit like that every day for the next month.

Yeesh...this season is starting to resemble 2007 more and more, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Phillies fans woke up today and discovered that half of their infield was on the DL for an unspecified amount of time. The revolving door of injuries is starting to get jammed as Philadelphia was just about to get J.A. Happ back. Once he returns, that still leaves six players who can't take the field.

Losing Utley and Polanco is the biggest blow yet; no question about it. Chase was starting to hit like himself again and Polanco has been the team's most consistent hitter all season. The Phillies had no choice but to recall Greg Dobbs, whose hitting hadn't improved with a demotion to Triple-A.

And yet, the Phillies still won on Tuesday against the Reds with the help of seven combined RBI from Valdez and Brian Schneider. This obviously won't be the norm, but Philly needs its remaining regulars in the lineup to produce now more than ever.

This would be the perfect time for Jayson Werth to enter one of his bizarre home run streaks, and why not? He had one last year right before the All-Star Break. Though his average is right around .300, Ryan Howard needs to start playing like the 125-million dollar man. Ashburn Alley is missing his presence.

With Jimmy Rollins already missing so much time, the Philly lineup has yet to resemble the stability of the last two seasons, but again, I bring up 2007. Utley, Howard, Shane Victorino, Brett Myers and Freddy Garcia (remember him??), among others, all missed time with injuries, and Pat Burell's dismal first half made him an unofficial absence as well. And how did the team respond? It went on to win the division on the last day of the season and advance to the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.

Tonight's win was a good start and history lets all of us know that there's still hope.

Grudging Congratulations

I've noticed recently that if a pitcher doesn't throw a fastball in a hitter's count, it means he's not giving in, and if he does throw a fastball then it means he's not afraid. It makes me wish that we could just call pitchers frightened quitters and get away with it.

It was that quick swing and power that we all remember well, but it wasn't for our team.

Instead, Scott Rolen's blast off Kyle Kendrick in the fourth inning ruined his night and foretold the rest of the game. I can't imagine Phillies fans would react with appreciation in Citizens Bank Park, but I admit I'm happy for Rolen that he hit his 300th home run - not just because he's on my Fantasy Team.

Exactly one half of those bombs were hit for the Phillies, and though he's now spent more seasons with other teams (and winning a World Series with St. Louis), I still feel like Rolen is a Phillie at heart. He spent his formative years with us and enjoyed some of his best seasons before injuries took their toll and likely prevented him from possible Hall of Fame consideration.

It's also good to see him finally put up some solid numbers again in the twilight of his career. I don't know how many years he has left in the tank, but live it up, Scotty.

As for guy who hardly ever gets injured, Chase Utley might possibly need to make a trip to DL after he foolishly decided to play thumb wars with second base in tonight's game. The base won hands down and Utley was tagged out trying to stretch a single into a double. The guy who played nearly an entire game with a broken wrist three years ago needed to be lifted in the ninth inning when he couldn't properly grip a bat with his swollen right thumb. This is not promising news.

I was also surprised that Utley slid head-first into second base. It's a sliding technique coaches at all levels discourage for the very reason Utley may have to miss a few games or worse. Utley was one of the few players I'd noticed who usually tried to slide feet-first, and he's so far the ONLY one I've seen do that on the always-dangerous slide into first base. It's one of the reasons why he's my favorite Phillie. Like the Scott Rolen of old, Utley displays a mix of power and speed. His work ethic and approach to the game are admirable, and though he's a star, he shies away from the spotlight and never does selfish things like admire his home runs after they leave his bat (Raul Ibanez and Shane Victorino are good about that as well).

Can you tell I'll miss his presence if Chase is forced out of the lineup?

On a final note, it's interesting that the Phillies managed to do so little against a strikeout pitcher that didn't strike anyone out. Johnny Cueto left the magic up to his sparkling defense, easily erasing the nightmare of his previous outing against Philly last year when he allowed nine runs in the first inning. The way they've been hitting lately, it wasn't far-fetched to expect a similar outcome. But Cueto, Rolen and the Reds in general are on fire right now, and the Phils stepped into the flames.

Shame on me for not putting Cueto on my Fantasy Team as well.

Advantage, Average Joes

My Dad never gets tired of telling me that during Matt Stairs' brief but memorable tenure with the Phitins, he considered the two of them twins. They were both 5-foot-8 and of generous girth (Stairs apparently grew tired of the comparison as he shed 30 pounds in the offseason before heading to camp with the Padres). The only major difference between them was the distance the ball would travel when each of them made contact with a major league fastball. My dad's batted ball might barely reach the pitcher's mound if it had a good tailwind, while Stairs' ball would result in a beer shower for the guy sitting halfway up the second deck after it landed in his cup. The chubby MLB journeyman resembled many of his fans, which along with his easy-going personality and timely pinch-hit bombs, endeared him to all in Philadelphia. Having a gut doesn't necessarily mean you can't win big games.

It's been crazy times at Wimbledon with single matches lasting three days, and I just watched a clip of the movie "Dodgeball." The combination of the two to form the title of this blog works so well with the Phillies' most recent game against the Cleveland Indians that I feel like everything in the cosmos may be righting itself. It's clear I don't have enough faith in my team to believe it was capable of returning to its former self without any supernatural intervention.

It's also so easy to forget that the Phillies are actually a game better than they were at this point last year, because four games above .500 was still good enough to claim first place in the division in '09. When Jimmy was no longer rolling and the rest of the team laid down and dared everyone else in the East to try and dethrone them, no one could do it.

That strategy didn't work as well this year, but a little competition never hurt anyone.

Every other Phillies blogger or reporter has already slapped a metaphor on the vicious storm that halted today's laugher in the eighth inning, but who can blame them? This is the first time in more than a month that the Phils brought the thunder and truly beat up on someone, and like Stairs in Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS, the chubby guys led the charge.

First, there was Uncle Cholly, who got ejected for the second time in three games in the second inning, causing him to miss virtually all of the Phillies' outburst. His usually calm and collected demeanor fits this team well, but it always helps to see your manager show some emotion. The players are returning to their early-season form, and he doesn't want to see them get cheated. Big kudos.

Then there was Joe Blanton, and there wasn't anything average about his performance today. He threw his second straight quality start after notching just two in his first eight. He's finally gotten control of his sinker, as he's induced 19 ground outs against 11 fly outs over those two starts. His eight strikeouts today were also the most he's collected in a start since striking out 10 Tampa Bay Rays exactly one year ago.

Finally, Dane Sardinha had Phillies scouts booking the next available flight to Hawaii when he belted his first major league homer. Most fans had no clue who this guy was before today's lineup was announced, and now a few nuts will purchase some fish head masks off amazon.com and spend the next few weeks isolated in a section of the upper deck at Citizens Bank Park, gyrating to their own choreographed dance and calling themselves "Dane's Sardinhas."

The slimmer stars did their part as well. I usually look this kind of stuff up myself, the stickler that I am, but I'll simply ask when was the last time Chase Utley and Jayson Werth each had at least three hits in a game? I may hate myself later for saying this, but it looks like the slump is ending. The offense not only piled on the runs, but did so in multiple innings, which had been a problem even before the team's well-documented struggles.

Of course, the Indians are a team the Phillies are supposed to beat, and they finally did so in a manner that we're used to seeing. The bats are finally rewarding some stellar outings by their starting pitchers. I know Roy Halladay is begging for that kind of support, so we'll see what big boys step up for him tomorrow against his old team. At least I'm feeling optimistic again, which should automatically be the case when Doc takes the hill.

note: I noticed earlier today that the recently-improved Phillies are just one of three teams in the NL (the Reds and Padres being the other two) that sport a record above .500 both at home and on the road. Now there's a nice shot of optimism.

Giving up the Chase

I actually had tonight off from work and was willing to sit through the atrocious commentating of the Washington Nationals' broadcasters so I could see how much last year's No. 1 draft pick Stephen Strasburg would live up to the hype in his major league debut. I was denied his seven-inning, 14-strikeout masterpiece against the Pittsburgh Pirates (yeah, I know, it may not seem like much of an accomplishment, but a big league hitter is a big league hitter), though, because none of the usual sports stations in Gettysburg showed the game. MLB Network also blacked it out, despite this inexcusable error. Eh, at least I'll have plenty of other opportunities this season to catch a glimpse of his 100-plus heat before his arm falls off.

I have no idea if tonight was a random flash of lightning, or the approach of that old Phillies storm that dominated the division last season.

Given the fight of the Phils in Tuesday's series opener against the Marlins, it seems like the latter. The big boys showed some life, and the offense battled back from three different deficits in the game. The 10 runs scored were more than double what Philly had managed in its entire three-game series in South Florida in late May, and the most runs the Phils had scored in a single game since May 17.

If this truly is a new beginning, may the red flood drown the rest of the East and cleanse us all.

One guy I wouldn't mind see returning to his old ways is Chase Utley, and I'm not referring to his recent performance. Since the start of the 2009 season, Utley has fundamentally changed his approach at the plate.

The difference is noticeable when comparing Utley's stats from '08 to '09. He clearly made a concerted effort to be more selective at the dish, as his walks shot up from 64 to a career-high 88. That's usually a good thing for a hitter, but it wound up hurting Utley's production. His OPS remained steady in the low-.900s, but consider the significant drop in other areas: hits (177/161), doubles (41/28), total bases (325/290) and RBI (104/93). Utley's totals in all of those categories except hits were career lows since he became a starter in 2005, as was his .282 batting average.

It seemed like Utley's search for the perfect pitch inhibited his overall ability to hit. He also struck out 110 times in '09, which was six more than he had punched out in '08 in 36 fewer at-bats. Stealing a career-high 23 bases helped maintain his runs scored, but 2010 paints a much drearier picture for the Phillie second baseman.

We all know that Chase will snap out of the team-wide funk, and his two hits tonight were a good starting point. But heading into the second week of June, Utley has swiped just two bags on the year, which aren't nearly enough to account for his deficits in other areas. He's on pace to set a new career high in walks and maintain his above-average power, but the projected 74 RBI fall well below Utley's standards and aren't adequate in the 3-hole of such a potent lineup.

Though most guys would be happy with 150 hits and 30 doubles, this isn't the Utley we're used to seeing.

It's especially key for Chase to abandon his present tactics in order to step up in late-game situations against left-handed relievers. Of the three lefties in the Phillies' lineup, Utley has the most success against south paw hurlers with a .283 average. He can't be content for them to pitch around him, so they can go to town on Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez with a steady diet of breaking balls. Jayson Werth could conceivably save the day with a big hit in between them, but only during the eight random weeks of the season when he catches fire.

I'd love to see Utley recapture his past aggressiveness both at the plate and on the bases. The team needs that spark from him now more than ever.