I'll never admit it when the they lose, but the Phillies always have a flare for the unusual, and all the quirky ways they win and lose games give me constant reminders of why I love baseball so much.
No one could have predicted this outcome.
It's early July and Shane Victorino now has more home runs than Jayson Werth. In Thursday night's game, the Phillies lost the lead twice after the seventh inning, Brad Lidge blew a save (stirring up horrible memories of last season) and they still managed to win.
How was this possible? Brian Schneider became the second Phillies catcher this year to hit a walk-off home run in extra innings. Philadelphia has not been used to homers from No. 2 on the field since a man named Lieberthal. Phillies catchers only have a combined eight bombs this year, but this one felt so good. It laughed in the face of the logic that was so certain the team would lose this game.
I dare any player from any other team to say they got a better welcoming reception at home plate, too. The crazy Hawaiin was at the center of the celebration, beckoning the hero with a few pounds of the bat that sent his team and the home crowd into a frenzy. Regular season baseball doesn't get much better than that.
Even if Philly was sitting in last place, wins like this make anyone feel like they're walking on air. There are still three crucial games left before the break, but I'm not going to ruin the moment. Let those guys enjoy the present and the present is the rush of victory. Way to go.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Deception Island
Brady Anderson, you'll never know it was me because you'll never read this blog, but I apologize for taunting you from the stands at that Orioles game my dad and went to nearly nine years ago. You were a great player nearing the end of your career, and I was too immature and disrespectful to realize that. A thousand pardons.
Though my blog title does reference today's topic, I would like to brag that I also have been to that island on the Antarctic Peninsula. It was amazing.
Admittedly, I'm finding it harder to blog about every Phillies game because I don't want to keep spewing out the same material over and over. There's not much point if I can't touch on something original, something new that hasn't occurred to me or - if I'm really lucky - anybody else. I've got to keep this thing fresh so it continues to be a product people want to continue to invest their time in, even if my audience is just a few crazy baseball fans. It's true that Jamie Moyer picked the worst time to have another bad outing when the Braves are starting to feel comfortable at the top, but today I'd like to talk about the Big Man.
I've held off blogging about No. 6 because more than anyone else on the team, his role is clear and simple: hit home runs and drive people in. Over the past four years, no one has been better at doing that than Ryan Howard. The only other three players to put up his numbers in four straight years - Babe Ruth, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Sammy Sosa - are either dead, suspect or retired. Ryan is, dare I say, an island unto himself.
Though he's been just as bogged down by the Phillies' struggles this season as anyone else, a quick glance at his present stats does encourage a little optimism. Howard seems to be continuing on last year's track of approaching the hitting success of his rookie season. The month of April notwithstanding, it's been a long, long while since we've seen Howard's batting average at .298. He's finally starting to understand why there are always three hitters on the right side of the infield when he steps to the plate. He's hitting the ball the other way with more regularity, especially on the ground.
And therein lies the deception...
Upon closer inspection, Howard is on the track toward the least productive season of his career. No one could expect him to maintain the freakish numbers forever, and he'll still probably hit more than 30 homers and knock in and score more than 100 runs. But all around, he's not taking the same approach at the plate as in years past. Consider these numbers in a "if the season ended today" scenario:
- Though Howard is striking out less (a career-low mark of 23.1%), he's also walking a lot less, just 7.3% of the time. Pitchers would consider themselves lucky to get Howard out when he first got to the bigs, but the task is not so hard anymore.
- Not surprisingly, Howard's discipline at the plate is also wavering. While teammate Jayson Werth is presently tied for second in the league in pitches seen per at bat (4.38), Howard's 3.79 is barely a blip on the radar. He'll still see his fair share of 2-2 and 3-2 counts from less experienced pitchers who just want to stay away from him, but Howard used to work the count a lot better than he does now.
- Howard's line drive rate remains steady in the 20s, but many more of those line drives are falling in for singles. We're used to seeing much more pop from Howard. If the ball didn't go out, it would at least be caught at the warning track or crushed deep into the alleys for a double. His present extra-base hits rate of 9.6% is not the inconsistency you'd expect from your cleanup hitter. It could be the pressure to perform from his new contract or the extra weight he lost in the offseason. Whatever the reason, Howard just isn't driving the ball with the same authority.
- Relative to the rest of the league, Howard's OPS of .854 is quite respectable, but it's not the figure you want from your power-hitting first baseman and sits 100 points lower than his career average.
- Despite his higher batting average, the big man's on-base percentage is only .349. There was one season in which he got on with less frequency, and that was 2008 when he batted just .251. That year, his numbers in all the other categories I previously mentioned were markedly better than in 2010.
Of course, we're only halfway through the season, and we all know what happens to Ryan in August and September: nobody can seem to get him out. If the Phillies continue to struggle, they'll need him to step up more than ever as the postseason looms. All these singles just won't cut it.
With Placido Polanco and Chase Utley out, Howard also needs to work the count a lot more. Werth's the only one doing a good job of that in the lineup right now, and many of his counts seem to end fruitlessly with strikeouts in key situations that only build a pitcher's confidence back up. The pitcher won't even experience that good feeling if Howard battles until he gets that mistake pitch and crushes it onto Ashburn Alley. Man, I sure miss that.
Though my blog title does reference today's topic, I would like to brag that I also have been to that island on the Antarctic Peninsula. It was amazing.
Admittedly, I'm finding it harder to blog about every Phillies game because I don't want to keep spewing out the same material over and over. There's not much point if I can't touch on something original, something new that hasn't occurred to me or - if I'm really lucky - anybody else. I've got to keep this thing fresh so it continues to be a product people want to continue to invest their time in, even if my audience is just a few crazy baseball fans. It's true that Jamie Moyer picked the worst time to have another bad outing when the Braves are starting to feel comfortable at the top, but today I'd like to talk about the Big Man.
I've held off blogging about No. 6 because more than anyone else on the team, his role is clear and simple: hit home runs and drive people in. Over the past four years, no one has been better at doing that than Ryan Howard. The only other three players to put up his numbers in four straight years - Babe Ruth, Ken Griffey, Jr. and Sammy Sosa - are either dead, suspect or retired. Ryan is, dare I say, an island unto himself.
Though he's been just as bogged down by the Phillies' struggles this season as anyone else, a quick glance at his present stats does encourage a little optimism. Howard seems to be continuing on last year's track of approaching the hitting success of his rookie season. The month of April notwithstanding, it's been a long, long while since we've seen Howard's batting average at .298. He's finally starting to understand why there are always three hitters on the right side of the infield when he steps to the plate. He's hitting the ball the other way with more regularity, especially on the ground.
And therein lies the deception...
Upon closer inspection, Howard is on the track toward the least productive season of his career. No one could expect him to maintain the freakish numbers forever, and he'll still probably hit more than 30 homers and knock in and score more than 100 runs. But all around, he's not taking the same approach at the plate as in years past. Consider these numbers in a "if the season ended today" scenario:
- Though Howard is striking out less (a career-low mark of 23.1%), he's also walking a lot less, just 7.3% of the time. Pitchers would consider themselves lucky to get Howard out when he first got to the bigs, but the task is not so hard anymore.
- Not surprisingly, Howard's discipline at the plate is also wavering. While teammate Jayson Werth is presently tied for second in the league in pitches seen per at bat (4.38), Howard's 3.79 is barely a blip on the radar. He'll still see his fair share of 2-2 and 3-2 counts from less experienced pitchers who just want to stay away from him, but Howard used to work the count a lot better than he does now.
- Howard's line drive rate remains steady in the 20s, but many more of those line drives are falling in for singles. We're used to seeing much more pop from Howard. If the ball didn't go out, it would at least be caught at the warning track or crushed deep into the alleys for a double. His present extra-base hits rate of 9.6% is not the inconsistency you'd expect from your cleanup hitter. It could be the pressure to perform from his new contract or the extra weight he lost in the offseason. Whatever the reason, Howard just isn't driving the ball with the same authority.
- Relative to the rest of the league, Howard's OPS of .854 is quite respectable, but it's not the figure you want from your power-hitting first baseman and sits 100 points lower than his career average.
- Despite his higher batting average, the big man's on-base percentage is only .349. There was one season in which he got on with less frequency, and that was 2008 when he batted just .251. That year, his numbers in all the other categories I previously mentioned were markedly better than in 2010.
Of course, we're only halfway through the season, and we all know what happens to Ryan in August and September: nobody can seem to get him out. If the Phillies continue to struggle, they'll need him to step up more than ever as the postseason looms. All these singles just won't cut it.
With Placido Polanco and Chase Utley out, Howard also needs to work the count a lot more. Werth's the only one doing a good job of that in the lineup right now, and many of his counts seem to end fruitlessly with strikeouts in key situations that only build a pitcher's confidence back up. The pitcher won't even experience that good feeling if Howard battles until he gets that mistake pitch and crushes it onto Ashburn Alley. Man, I sure miss that.
Monday, July 5, 2010
A clean victory
I hope millions of other people are just as outraged as I am by the latest commercial Pizza Hutt has dished out. Two Little Leaguers are sitting in their team's dugout after a game, giddily telling the viewers that their coach rewards every loss with a trip to the famous restaurant. They all but admit that this mouth-watering gesture gives them incentive to lose. This is some of the worst marketing I've ever seen, and I curse the people that allowed it to see the light of day. Viewed another way, the commercial is a biting critique on how the Unites States educates its children. It's no secret that child obesity is reaching epidemic levels, and the amount of unhealthy food ads thrown at our youth today is appalling. No wonder they're lagging behind almost every other developed nation in the classroom. We see our unfit, uninspired preteen slumped on the couch surrounded by half-eaten snacks and lost in whatever world Playstation has dreamed up, and rather than pulling the plug and encouraging him/her to get outside and experience life, we laugh to ourselves, marvel at the child's hand-eye coordination and say, "We never had anything like that when I was growing up." Believe me, you're better off without it, and so is your kid.
It's good to see the Phillies win with Roy Halladay on the hill like they're supposed to. They only gave him three runs, but that was enough tonight against the first-place Braves. It was also good to see two of those runs supplied by Greg Dobbs' two-run shot that gave the Phils their first lead in the sixth inning. If anyone needed to come through, it was him. He was able to straighten out yesterday's monster foul ball in Pittsburgh.
More importantly, Philadelphia had its first error-free game since Halladay's last start June 30. Four straight games with at least one defensive miscue is not very Phillie-like, and nothing gets under a pitcher's skin more than the guys behind him giving the opposition an extra out. Just ask Cole Hamels about Game 2 of last year's NLCS.
Speaking of Hamels, he's on tomorrow night and he'll need to be just as sharp as Halladay. You never know how many runs the Phillies will score these days, and you can't break this momentum. The Reds are next in line and are just as determined to keep their lead in the Central.
It's good to see the Phillies win with Roy Halladay on the hill like they're supposed to. They only gave him three runs, but that was enough tonight against the first-place Braves. It was also good to see two of those runs supplied by Greg Dobbs' two-run shot that gave the Phils their first lead in the sixth inning. If anyone needed to come through, it was him. He was able to straighten out yesterday's monster foul ball in Pittsburgh.
More importantly, Philadelphia had its first error-free game since Halladay's last start June 30. Four straight games with at least one defensive miscue is not very Phillie-like, and nothing gets under a pitcher's skin more than the guys behind him giving the opposition an extra out. Just ask Cole Hamels about Game 2 of last year's NLCS.
Speaking of Hamels, he's on tomorrow night and he'll need to be just as sharp as Halladay. You never know how many runs the Phillies will score these days, and you can't break this momentum. The Reds are next in line and are just as determined to keep their lead in the Central.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Cloudy skies
Roy Halladay and Ryan Howard didn't have much to celebrate today.
This was a day to reflect upon the freedom we enjoy in this great nation and the men and women who are serving in the military for us, and for a few select baseball players, this was a day to enjoy being selected to represent their team and their sport in next Tuesday's All-Star Game. Any pleasant feelings brought on by those events were destroyed in the bottom of the seventh inning when six Pirates triumphantly crossed the plate and completed a demoralizing Keystone Series for the Phillies.
It would be unfair to say that the team is playing as bad as it did during that horrific stretch in late May/early June, but it is hard to remember how much worse that was when you lose three out of four to Pittsburgh. That kind of failure would be understandable if this was football or hockey, but the Pirates are a team not playing for anything. The team that just passed them in the NL Central standings started the season 0-8, and who knows how many of their players will still be taking the field at PNC Park this time next month.
It was shocking how quickly Joe Blanton's motor went from cruising to stalled out. The pitcher who closed the sixth and then opened the seventh seemed like two different people. Three of Blanton's first four pitches in that crucial inning were crushed, and suddenly the go-ahead run was at the plate. To add insult to injury, his catcher had just given him some insurance in the top of the seventh with a solo homer (Dane Sardinha has turned plenty of heads during his short time with the major league club). It was an ugly meltdown to watch, and we've all seen more than our fair share this season.
Now the Phillies have to carry this burdensome load into a three-game series with the division-leading Braves. In the absolute worst-case scenario, Philadelphia could be eight games back by the end of it and just one game above .500 (a place the team has not fallen to since the third game of the season). Then again, the Phillies were in this spot just three weeks ago. They were fading fast before they managed to take two of three from the Yankees and start a brief resurgence. Should they pull that off again, they could still end the first half feeling good about where they are.
And Halladay and Howard could feel good about being All-Stars.
This was a day to reflect upon the freedom we enjoy in this great nation and the men and women who are serving in the military for us, and for a few select baseball players, this was a day to enjoy being selected to represent their team and their sport in next Tuesday's All-Star Game. Any pleasant feelings brought on by those events were destroyed in the bottom of the seventh inning when six Pirates triumphantly crossed the plate and completed a demoralizing Keystone Series for the Phillies.
It would be unfair to say that the team is playing as bad as it did during that horrific stretch in late May/early June, but it is hard to remember how much worse that was when you lose three out of four to Pittsburgh. That kind of failure would be understandable if this was football or hockey, but the Pirates are a team not playing for anything. The team that just passed them in the NL Central standings started the season 0-8, and who knows how many of their players will still be taking the field at PNC Park this time next month.
It was shocking how quickly Joe Blanton's motor went from cruising to stalled out. The pitcher who closed the sixth and then opened the seventh seemed like two different people. Three of Blanton's first four pitches in that crucial inning were crushed, and suddenly the go-ahead run was at the plate. To add insult to injury, his catcher had just given him some insurance in the top of the seventh with a solo homer (Dane Sardinha has turned plenty of heads during his short time with the major league club). It was an ugly meltdown to watch, and we've all seen more than our fair share this season.
Now the Phillies have to carry this burdensome load into a three-game series with the division-leading Braves. In the absolute worst-case scenario, Philadelphia could be eight games back by the end of it and just one game above .500 (a place the team has not fallen to since the third game of the season). Then again, the Phillies were in this spot just three weeks ago. They were fading fast before they managed to take two of three from the Yankees and start a brief resurgence. Should they pull that off again, they could still end the first half feeling good about where they are.
And Halladay and Howard could feel good about being All-Stars.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
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.
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.
Rolling the wrong way
My initially-shallow well of useful information to dispense about a Phillies loss has been now been completely tapped, so I won't even make the effort this time.
I will instead reveal a troubling realization I made a mere 12 hours ago: Jimmy Rollins does not represent what I believe to be a model baseball player - particularly as a leadoff hitter, the role he's occupied for the majority of his career.
My discovery of this was first made possible from Jimmy's own mouth and strengthened by my current reading of "Moneyball," Michael Lewis's bestseller, which I'm utilizing to sharpen my baseball knowledge and observations of the game. The information I've soaked in has cast the game in an even more negative light than the Steroids Era.
It started with an interview Bob Costas conducted with Rollins and Ryan Howard for MLB Network in late May. It aired a month later and I finally caught it yesterday afternoon. The interview, like many before it, fell short of my expectations. The majority of Costas's questions were fluff-dominated, and Howard gave his usual cliche answers without a hint of clarity or intellect (I get more substance out of high school athletes), while J-Roll did his typical job of looking cute for the camera and the audience.
The only meaty question Costas aimed at the stars concerned an infamous incident in 2008 when Rollins got chewed out by Charlie Manuel for not hustling down the line on an infield pop-up that was dropped. At the time, Rollins didn't question his manager's disappointment and immediately owned up to his mistake. While he repeated those words to Costas, he then tried to justify why he didn't charge out of the batter's box. I can't recall his exact words, but no justification should have ever been attempted. You don't hustle, you hurt the team. Period.
Costas remained on this topic for a few minutes and asked Rollins what the point was of walking out of the batter's box and admiring a home run, rather than running on contact to try and reach second base in case the ball didn't leave the yard. Jimmy's response was something like this:
"When you've been around long enough, you get a good feel for which balls are going to be home runs. Sometimes you hit balls that you're not sure if they're going to go out or not, but you've got to make it look like you know."
Before making that ridiculous comment, Rollins had already said what most devoted Phillies fans knew, that his idol growing up was Rickey Henderson. The thing Jimmy loved the most about Rickey was his showmanship; how he worked the entertainment aspect of the game. His cocky statement about admiring home runs only confirmed the fact that he didn't adapt the right aspects of Rickey's game to his own.
It's true that Rickey showed off and he displayed a remarkable mix of power and speed, but the area of the game he absolutely dominated was the very definition of a leadoff hitter - getting on base. In addition to all of his stolen bases, runs and homers, Henderson walked 2,190 times in his career, which was briefly an all-time record before being broken by Barry Bonds (a ton of Phillies fans, including myself, saw his record-setting free pass with the Padres in 2001, as it came in a game against the Phils). Jimmy Rollins' 484 walks barely scratches the surface.
In even more glaring example of the colossal gap separating the two players, Henderson's career on-base percentage of .401 ranks 43rd all-time among non-active players. Jimmy Rollins does not even have the highest career OBP on his team. In fact, of all the starters in the lineup, J-Roll's career OBP of .330 is dead last. As the students of the Bill James School of Baseball will tell you, OBP is the best tool we have of measuring a hitter's performance for his team.
This realization is damning to say the least, but I have always believed that hustle and putting forth your absolute best effort all the time are the highest responsibilities of any athlete. Many baseball players today are too blinded by their bank accounts and star status to give their all on the field, and J-Roll is no exception. We've all watched as his home run totals have ballooned over the past four years (an average of 12 in his first five seasons to an average of 22 from '06-'09), and he most likely stood and stared at each one with a smugness Rickey would applaud. Unfortunately, those shots don't mean much when he's not reaching base with any kind of regularity.
I'm not saying that Rollins isn't a valuable piece of the team, as his MVP year in 2007 will prove, but he could be helping out the Phillies so much more just by making small adjustments most leadoff hitters should perfect in the minor leagues like working the count better and hitting to all parts of the field.
And Jimmy, don't stand and watch the ball. Bust out of the box and think about second base.
I will instead reveal a troubling realization I made a mere 12 hours ago: Jimmy Rollins does not represent what I believe to be a model baseball player - particularly as a leadoff hitter, the role he's occupied for the majority of his career.
My discovery of this was first made possible from Jimmy's own mouth and strengthened by my current reading of "Moneyball," Michael Lewis's bestseller, which I'm utilizing to sharpen my baseball knowledge and observations of the game. The information I've soaked in has cast the game in an even more negative light than the Steroids Era.
It started with an interview Bob Costas conducted with Rollins and Ryan Howard for MLB Network in late May. It aired a month later and I finally caught it yesterday afternoon. The interview, like many before it, fell short of my expectations. The majority of Costas's questions were fluff-dominated, and Howard gave his usual cliche answers without a hint of clarity or intellect (I get more substance out of high school athletes), while J-Roll did his typical job of looking cute for the camera and the audience.
The only meaty question Costas aimed at the stars concerned an infamous incident in 2008 when Rollins got chewed out by Charlie Manuel for not hustling down the line on an infield pop-up that was dropped. At the time, Rollins didn't question his manager's disappointment and immediately owned up to his mistake. While he repeated those words to Costas, he then tried to justify why he didn't charge out of the batter's box. I can't recall his exact words, but no justification should have ever been attempted. You don't hustle, you hurt the team. Period.
Costas remained on this topic for a few minutes and asked Rollins what the point was of walking out of the batter's box and admiring a home run, rather than running on contact to try and reach second base in case the ball didn't leave the yard. Jimmy's response was something like this:
"When you've been around long enough, you get a good feel for which balls are going to be home runs. Sometimes you hit balls that you're not sure if they're going to go out or not, but you've got to make it look like you know."
Before making that ridiculous comment, Rollins had already said what most devoted Phillies fans knew, that his idol growing up was Rickey Henderson. The thing Jimmy loved the most about Rickey was his showmanship; how he worked the entertainment aspect of the game. His cocky statement about admiring home runs only confirmed the fact that he didn't adapt the right aspects of Rickey's game to his own.
It's true that Rickey showed off and he displayed a remarkable mix of power and speed, but the area of the game he absolutely dominated was the very definition of a leadoff hitter - getting on base. In addition to all of his stolen bases, runs and homers, Henderson walked 2,190 times in his career, which was briefly an all-time record before being broken by Barry Bonds (a ton of Phillies fans, including myself, saw his record-setting free pass with the Padres in 2001, as it came in a game against the Phils). Jimmy Rollins' 484 walks barely scratches the surface.
In even more glaring example of the colossal gap separating the two players, Henderson's career on-base percentage of .401 ranks 43rd all-time among non-active players. Jimmy Rollins does not even have the highest career OBP on his team. In fact, of all the starters in the lineup, J-Roll's career OBP of .330 is dead last. As the students of the Bill James School of Baseball will tell you, OBP is the best tool we have of measuring a hitter's performance for his team.
This realization is damning to say the least, but I have always believed that hustle and putting forth your absolute best effort all the time are the highest responsibilities of any athlete. Many baseball players today are too blinded by their bank accounts and star status to give their all on the field, and J-Roll is no exception. We've all watched as his home run totals have ballooned over the past four years (an average of 12 in his first five seasons to an average of 22 from '06-'09), and he most likely stood and stared at each one with a smugness Rickey would applaud. Unfortunately, those shots don't mean much when he's not reaching base with any kind of regularity.
I'm not saying that Rollins isn't a valuable piece of the team, as his MVP year in 2007 will prove, but he could be helping out the Phillies so much more just by making small adjustments most leadoff hitters should perfect in the minor leagues like working the count better and hitting to all parts of the field.
And Jimmy, don't stand and watch the ball. Bust out of the box and think about second base.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
That don't make no sense!
OK, people, explain this to me.
A shuffled lineup and the overwhelming presence of backup players did not seem to hurt the Phillies on Thursday night. The top three hitters in the order all reached base at least once. Greg Dobbs showed some life with just his second two-hit game of the season, and Jimmy Rollins displayed some necessary power from the three-hole with a double. Wilson Valdez went yard again and is now 7 for his last 22 (.318) with two bombs, 8 RBI and 6 runs scored.
Cole Hamels rebounded from his ugly start last Saturday, pitching seven quality innings. He allowed just five hits, struck out eight and didn't allow a home run for the first time since May. He also took a page out of Roy Halladay's control book, throwing 75 percent of his pitches for strikes.
And yet, the Phillies lost 3-2 to the Pirates, who are fading away toward their 18th straight losing season. They were beaten by a McCutchen, but not the one who is presently the only Pirate anyone outside of the Pittsburgh area can name. Daniel McCutchen was making just his second start since returning from a demotion to Triple-A (a return only made possible by an injury to Zach Duke). Before Thursday, McCutchen had yet to see his ERA fall into the single digits this season, but he is now the latest in a long line of pitching nobodies that looked like a somebody against the Philly lineup.
With so many injuries plaguing the team, the Phils needed their three-headed monster of Howard-Werth-Ibanez to do some damage, but tonight they looked like the three blind mice. 1-for-11 with no RBI, four strikeouts and seven runners stranded is not going to get the job done, guys. Everyone else did their job, but you left them hanging. Against the Pirates of all teams!
To be fair, things being the way they are, I wasn't expecting a sweep. The Bucs got themselves a win at home against the reigning NL champs. If the Phillies don't win these final three games, it'll be a long wait until the Trade Deadline.
A shuffled lineup and the overwhelming presence of backup players did not seem to hurt the Phillies on Thursday night. The top three hitters in the order all reached base at least once. Greg Dobbs showed some life with just his second two-hit game of the season, and Jimmy Rollins displayed some necessary power from the three-hole with a double. Wilson Valdez went yard again and is now 7 for his last 22 (.318) with two bombs, 8 RBI and 6 runs scored.
Cole Hamels rebounded from his ugly start last Saturday, pitching seven quality innings. He allowed just five hits, struck out eight and didn't allow a home run for the first time since May. He also took a page out of Roy Halladay's control book, throwing 75 percent of his pitches for strikes.
And yet, the Phillies lost 3-2 to the Pirates, who are fading away toward their 18th straight losing season. They were beaten by a McCutchen, but not the one who is presently the only Pirate anyone outside of the Pittsburgh area can name. Daniel McCutchen was making just his second start since returning from a demotion to Triple-A (a return only made possible by an injury to Zach Duke). Before Thursday, McCutchen had yet to see his ERA fall into the single digits this season, but he is now the latest in a long line of pitching nobodies that looked like a somebody against the Philly lineup.
With so many injuries plaguing the team, the Phils needed their three-headed monster of Howard-Werth-Ibanez to do some damage, but tonight they looked like the three blind mice. 1-for-11 with no RBI, four strikeouts and seven runners stranded is not going to get the job done, guys. Everyone else did their job, but you left them hanging. Against the Pirates of all teams!
To be fair, things being the way they are, I wasn't expecting a sweep. The Bucs got themselves a win at home against the reigning NL champs. If the Phillies don't win these final three games, it'll be a long wait until the Trade Deadline.
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