SB Nation User Blog: WholeCamels

Among the Powers of the Earth: Phillies 7, Mets 2

WholeCamels — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:45:59 -0000

THE BIG WINNER. (AP Photo/Tom Mihalek)

Leave it to emergency starter Rodrigo Lopez to turn in one of the Phillies' best starts of the past month. Lopez went 6 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and two runs, while the Phillies slammed Mets' starter Livan Hernandez early and often, scoring all seven runs in the first three innings of the game. Lopez threw a good, heavy fastball and didn't give up too many hard hit balls until the 7th inning, when he was clearly starting to wear down.

Chan Ho Park relieved Lopez, pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings, further underscoring the fact that, um, he's a pretty good relief pitcher (despite three baserunners). Ryan Madson threw a 1-2-3 ninth inning to shut the door.

Jimmy Rollins had his second multi-hit game in a row, going 2-for-5 with two doubles. Rollins, Shane Victorino (3-for-5) and Chase Utley (2-for-4) combined for seven of the Phillies 11 basehits. Two walks for Pedro Feliz. Yes, that guy.

With tonight's victory, the Phillies have guaranteed that the Mets will leave town no better than tied in the standings with the Phils.

via www.fangraphs.com

Needing Raul: Mets at Phillies Game Thread, July 3, 2009

WholeCamels — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:16:29 -0000

Two talented ballclubs, slouching toward mediocrity.

Somebody has to win. Might as well be the Phillies.

Rodrigo Lopez! Livan Hernandez! Sloppy pitching! Ineffectual hitting! Laughable fielding! FEEL IT.

Discuss the game below.

Next Game

New York Mets
@ Philadelphia Phillies

Friday, Jul 3, 2009, 7:05 PM EDT
Citizens Bank Park

Livan Hernandez vs Rodrigo Lopez

Partly cloudy. Game time temperature around 80.

Complete Coverage >

Reconnaissance: Q&A with Mets blog Amazin Avenue

WholeCamels — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:41:47 -0000

More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

Posted because it's the best type of photograph in all of sports - the ball-in-the-stands gimp face gallery! (No, not the David Wright hiney shot, you silly geese!) (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Browse more photos »

You know the drill: We swap questions with a rival team's blog, and we post the results. This weekend: Eric Simon from SB Nation's New York Mets blog, Amazin Avenue.

1. Who's worse right now: Mets or Phillies? Please consider this an open-ended question in which you can gripe about the Mutts, and laff at the Sillies.

The standings will tell you the Mutts are about a game worse than the Sillies. Given their current rosters the Mets should probably be quite a bit worse. Injuries aren't the only reason for the Mets' poor first half, but they're certainly a big reason. Take away three of the top four hitters and two of the top four starters from any team and they'd be in pretty bad shape. The Phillies have had their injury problems, too, but even with Lidge, Myers and Ibanez out they're still a Moyer, Howard and Werth away from matching the Mets malady-for-malady.

Given that, and the high expectations that come with winning the World Series, I would consider the Phillies a bigger disappointment than the Mets to this point in the season, though really we're just debating the relative merits of poop and turd here. (editor's note: I claim "turd" for the Phillies).

2. Assuming Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes return this year, which appears very likely, is it reasonable to assume they'll be close to full strength?

I actually think Carlos Delgado's injury has been the Mets' toughest obstacle to overcome. Beltran has only missed a couple of weeks so far, and in time his absence could be far, far worse, but the non-Delgados who have played first base for the Mets this season have a lower combined OPS than Albert Pujols's slugging percentage. Think about that one for a second.

The Mets are supposed to get Oliver Perez back next week (for better or worse), so if they can get Reyes and Beltran back after the All-Star break they'll certainly be in much better shape. They'd still be missing Delgado, John Maine and J.J. Putz, so it's not like they'd really have the team out there they were hoping to have, but every little bit helps.

3. Any idea what's wrong with Johan Santana? He's been less than his normally awesome self for the past few starts.

I don't know whether he is hurt, tired, both, or something else entirely, but his fastball velocity is down and his normally fine-tuned command has been off. The Mets have played godawful defense behind him, which certainly isn't helping things, but there's no question that Santana isn't at his physical best right now. He has had blister problems this season, which pitching coach Dan Warthen believes might have led Santana to change the grip on his fastball. We've seen blisters destroy whole seasons for guys like Josh Beckett, and I hope Santana's 2009 doesn't go that route.

4. With regard to John Franco's recent comments about the Mets' clubhouse and impugning David Wright's "leadership" (whatever the hell that means), do you sense that Franco is on to something, that there are clubhouse problems in Queens? Or is Franco off his rocker and should he shut his damn fool mouth?

I think David Wright probably is a good "leader" (http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090616&content_id=5358216&vkey=news_nym&c_id=nym), not that it really matters. This team has enough veterans on it that they don't necessarily need someone rah-rah-ing it out there, but from what I can tell Wright has definitely gone out of his way to encourage the Mets' young players. My sense is that Franco, a novice baseball commentator, is simply trying to make a name for himself by calling out one of the superstars of the game for something that is hardly news (rumblings of Wrights non-leadership have come up in the past).

As a young star of this team I don't necessarily think it's Wright's job to be a vocal leader; some guys have the personality for it, others not so much. People assume that because you're the face of the franchise that you necessarily have to be "that guy", and I certainly question that rationale. The best part about this whole thing is that it's such a non-story. Who cares whether Wright is a team leader? If the Mets were in first place, healthy, and playing winning baseball nobody would give enough of a shit about leadership to bring it up. The Mets are hurt and struggling to boot, so media types want to blame that on things like leadership, grission, edge, etc. because they've exhausted the usual ways in which to say "the Mets have been shitty this year".

5. In light of your expecations coming into the season, how would you grade (A through F) the Mets so far?

Well, I *expected* them to be healthier, but I assume you mean performance-wise. Given what they have out there it's probably a C-. If everyone were healthy we'd probably have to find something worse than F to sum up this trainwreck. As it stands, the Mets are a game back with a lot of baseball to play. They could be in first by the end of the weekend, or four games back. They're fortunate that the Phillies and everyone else in the division has struggled as well, and if the Mets can hold things together until some of their guys return they could yet make something out of this season. I'm not particularly sanguine about those prospects, but stranger things have happened.

Phillies Breakfast Links: July 3, 2009 - Michael Taylor Mash, Hamels Hopeless?, Mets in the Cradle of Liberty, Prospect-a-palooza

WholeCamels — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:08:38 -0000

Mets travel to Philadelphia in hot pursuit of first place in the NL East
Weren't the Phillies in first place for the better part of last season? I know they'd love to push the "HA! NOW THE PHILLIEZ ARE TEH CHOKERZ!" storyline in New York, but it's only July right now...

Paul Hagen: It's still early: Mets-Phillies interesting, but not critical

As bleak as things look for the crew from Queens at the moment, they're far from out of it. That makes these next three games just as important to the home team as the visitors. It would be a mistake for the Phillies to overlook the Mets. Heck, the way they've played lately, it would be a mistake for the Phillies to overlook anybody.

I honestly wasn't aware that anyone was "overlooking" the Mets...

Prospect Q/A with Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus
Lots of good stuff here. And encouraging, especially in light of how miserable the big club has been recently.

Bill Conlin: If Michael Taylor isn't a 'Futures' star, who is?
Ol' One Chair has a deep, gooey mancrush on Michael Taylor.

Phillies Notes: Manuel: Hamels may be affected by innings jump
Where Tom Verducci farts in all of our faces.

Hamels’ struggles are stumping Phillies

"Maybe he hasn’t focused like he did (in the past), who knows?" Dubee said. "It’s the whole team. The mistakes we’re making, I think we seem distracted at times. "In the second half last year we played very well. We didn’t make mental mistakes or sloppy-mistake pitches. We haven’t been as sharp as we’ve needed to be."

Madson's slide reaches new low
He just stinks right now. It's depressing.

Bypassed again, Carrasco just keeps 'doing my job'
Another strong outing last night.

O NOES: Braves 5, Phillies 2

WholeCamels — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:36:11 -0000

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Browse more photos »

Final - 7.2.2009	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Philadelphia Phillies	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	8	0
Atlanta Braves	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	3	X	5	10	1
WP: Mike Gonzalez (3 - 0) SV: Rafael Soriano (7) LP: Ryan Madson (2 - 4)

Complete Coverage >

Swept on the road by the Braves for the first time since 2005, the Phillies go into the weekend tied for first place with the Florida Marlins, with the Mets just one game back, and the Braves only two games behind.

What happened? The old familiar: flaccid bats, and a bullpen fold. J.A. Happ continued his strong pitching from his last start, only allowing two runs on a Casey Kotchman home run in seven innings pitched. Then, in the 8th, the struggling Ryan Madson came in, and surrendered three runs, including two on a pinch hit blast from Garrett Anderson on a cutter/slider mess right over the plate. Why Madson never seems to throw his changeup anymore, I just don't know.

The Phillies got some bad breaks, most notably Jayson Werth getting tagged out at home in the top of the 8th inning trying to score on a wild pitch -- to their credit, Brian McCann and Mike Gonzalez played the bounce perfectly. But ultimately, you only score two runs, you generally lose.

via www.fangraphs.com

Cut it out!: Phillies at Braves Game Thread, July 2, 2009

WholeCamels — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:48:39 -0000

Phillies: Please stop sucking.

Discuss the game below.

Next Game

Philadelphia Phillies
@ Atlanta Braves

Thursday, Jul 2, 2009, 7:10 PM EDT
Turner Field

J.A. Happ vs Javier Vazquez

Mostly clear. Game time temperature around 85.

Complete Coverage >

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - J.A. Happ	5-0	19	7	1	1	0	0	66.0	53	22	22	8	28	45	3.00	1.23

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Javier Vazquez	5-7	17	16	1	0	0	0	106.2	90	39	36	10	23	125	3.04	1.06

Mets vs. Furries / Pirates

WholeCamels — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:44:18 -0000

Mets vs. Furries / Pirates

Incredible.

h/t Deadspin

Phillies Breakfast Links: July 2, 2009

WholeCamels — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:18:20 -0000

Reading lands four players on EL All-Star team
(Vance) Worley will be joined by outfielder Michael Taylor, third baseman Neil Sellers and pitcher Joe Savery for the July 15 game at Trenton.

Phillies have minor-league pitching talent
This sounds like some kind of Trade Deadline Prospectus to be distributed around the league.

Key to Phils' season could be in Reading
And the author wants the Phillies to sell sell sell... meh.

Minor Leagues: Taylor blasts Reading to victory over Altoona
I think this kid is good at playing baseball.

First half not half bad for Lehigh Valley Ironpigs
Congratulations on not being gruesomely terrible.

Happ's found success against Braves
Happ = Stopper?

Phillies slugger Howard dodges Home Run Derby question
I wish I could care. I'll never watch another Home Run Derby with Chris Berman announcing. BACKBACKBACKBACK... makes me want to kill something.

Hamels' rollercoaster season takes dip
He won us a World Series last year and we all knew or should have known that the increased workload would carryover this year. And we didn't mind then. So we shouldn't complain now. If anyone says "Cole is soft" please punch them in the mouth.

Dirty South: Phillies at Braves Game Thread, July 1, 2009

WholeCamels — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:13:35 -0000

Discuss the game below.

Next Game

Philadelphia Phillies
@ Atlanta Braves

Wednesday, Jul 1, 2009, 7:10 PM EDT
Turner Field

Cole Hamels vs Jair Jurrjens

Mostly clear. Game time temperature around 90.

Complete Coverage >

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Cole Hamels	4-4	14	14	1	1	0	0	81.0	98	41	40	11	16	76	4.44	1.41

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Jair Jurrjens	5-6	17	16	0	0	0	0	95.1	88	36	31	6	34	68	2.93	1.28

Rodrigo Lopez gets Friday start vs. Mets

WholeCamels — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:17:19 -0000

Rodrigo Lopez gets Friday start vs. Mets

Carlos Carrasco, Drew Carpenter denied.