You Never Close Your Eyes Anymore When I Kiss Your Lips...

Your Phightin' Phils got TWO HIT last night by Jagggr Jurrrrrgens and the Atlanta Braves. Go back and read that last sentence again. Amazingly, they managed to score a run, but did so without a hit. Werth walked, advanced to third when Jurrrrrgennnnz threw the ball away trying to pick him off, and scored from third on the weakest sac fly I've seen since I stopped drinking at Little League games.

Jimmy Rollins. Oh Jimmy. You used to be my favorite, so slick with the glove. But now you're 0-8 with in this series and 0 for your last 27. If the magic isn't gone, it's draining quickly.

Cole Hamels is more troubling. He have up seven earned runs last night in 4+ innings, raising his ERA to 4.98 for the season. He's also been having trouble all year with pitch counts. I've notice that teams are fouling off a lot of pitches against him, most of which were swing-and-misses in the past. To me, that says his stuff just isn't quite as nasty. It'll be interesting to see how he bounces back next start.

In conclusion, f$#$@&!

Is the Long Nightmare Finally Over?

For those of you just emerging from your bomb shelters after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Phillies won Game 1 of their NLDS series with the Brewers yesterday, 3-1. This game featured 8 shutout innings buy Cole Hamels, a heart attack save by Brad Lidge, a crappy offense, and miscues by the Brewers that basically gave us the three runs.

(Also, as an aside, a lot has happened since then. Kennedy got assasinated, his little brother ran for President and also got shot, their was this big bruhaha about a conspiracy. Also, the Phillies won a World Series! Crazy, right? There was this third baseman, Mike Schmidt, who was pretty much the best in the history of the game. But we're pissed again, cause that was 28 years ago. We'll catch up more later.)

The Good: The Phils offense did nothing, and they won.

The Bad: The Phils offense did nothing. Also, Brad Lidge is no longer "Lights Out" but more "Is Someone Messing With The Dimmer Switch, 'Cause I'm Trying to Read the Paper."

The Hero: Cole Hamels. 8 shutout innings, 2 hits. Good thing they didn't let him come out in the ninth.

The Goat: Mike Cameron/Rickie Weeks. Weeks misplayed a bunt by Hamels for an error, allowing Hamels to get on base and the runner to move to second. Cameron then misplayed a line drive by Chase Utley, in what should have been an error, allowing the Phillies first two runs to score. Gotta love that hometown scoring!

The Take-Away Point: Undecided. On one hand, you need things to go your way to win in the playoffs. On the other, your offense is going to have to eventually score some runs to win, also. We'll see.

Dear 610 WIP: You're Retarded.

Heard this morning on 610, spoken by Angelo Cataldi (paraphrase) "I don't know about Cole Hamels. He seems like a California boy, a little soft. I don't know if I want him pitching Sunday, if it comes down to that."

Now, we all know Angelo is a moron. I've come to believe (hope) that the Angelo we hear on the radio is a character he plays up as a reactionary, overemotional Philly fan. Otherwise, he's a big tranny with frontal lobe problems. And by that I mean his brain.

Let's leave out for a second the fact that there is no one else on the team you'd rather have pitcher in this situation. Save that Brett Myers stuff for someone else. He's a wackjob, and he's gotten shelled his last two starts.

Cole Hamels is the best pitcher on your team. He's one of the best pitchers in the NL. I'm no stats geek, but the way this is often determined is by using a stat called ERA+. This stat shows how good a pitcher's ERA is above average in that league, and makes adjustments for parks, etc. Average ERA+ is 100. Higher than 100 is good, lower is bad. (all stats courtesy of baseball-reference.com).

Cole Hamels' ERA+ is 145, good for fifth in the NL. His ERA is 3.09, good for sixth in the league. He leads the league in innings pitched and starts made. He goes seven innings every time he takes the ball. He's fourth in the league in strikeout to walk ratio. HE LEADS THE LEAGUE IN WHIP.

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?

Easy LoveTron. Settle down. The point, simply put, is this; Elite athletes oftentimes leave Philly because of unfair criticism. Cole Hamels is one of BEST PITCHERS IN THE MOTHEREFFING GAME OF BASEBALL AND OUR SPORTS RADIO HOST DOESN'T WANT HIM PITCHING A GAME TO GET INTO THE PLAYOFFS BECAUSE HE'S FROM CALIFORNIA.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

Your Gavin Floyd Update

Not that I'm letting this get too far or anything. The Phils GM, in all his infinite, if crotchety, wisdom, traded Mr. Floyd away. A single season later, we trade for Joe Blanton. LET'S BREAK IT DOWN!

Pitcher Record(Starts) ERA (ERA+)
Gavin Floyd 10-6(19) 3.52(124)
*********************************************
Phillies Starting Pitchers
Cole Hamels 9-6(21) 3.49(143)
Joe Blanton 5-12(21) 5.08(77)
Jamie Moyer 9-6(21) 3.76(119)
Kyle Kendrick 8-4 (20) 4.87(91)
Adam Eaton 3-8(19) 5.71(78)
Brett Myers 3-9(18) 5.82(77)

Floyd would now be the #2 starter on this team, a team that suddenly gets into a lot of 3-2 and 2-1 games. Freddy Garcia, whom Floyd was traded for prior to the 2007 season, is still rehabbing from shoulder surgery and is scheduled to begin throwing for teams on August 5.

Quick Gavin Floyd Update

He's now 8-3 with a 3.19 ERA in 14 starts. That ERA is better than, you guessed it, every single Phillies Starter, Hamels included.

So much for regressing to the mean.

In other news, Freddy Garcia is still injured, though he looks to begin his comeback attempt from shoulder surgery soon.

Let's Play GM: Cole Hamels

Cole Hamels is 5-3 with a 2.89 ERA this year. For his career, he's 29-16 with a 3.54 ERA in 60 starts. He's 24 years old, and can't become a free agent until 2012. Last night, he threw his first career shutout, going 9 innings and only giving up 4 hits.

Consensus is, this guy's pretty good. So the smart thing to do would be to sign him now to a deal around 6 years, which will buy out his first two years of free agency, right?

Well, kinda.

Think about it like this. You're dating a certain young lady. She's an overall solid performer. Looks nice, doesn't embarass you in public, occasionally shuts up, and you're wondering if you should lock her down for the long term. The problem is, she occassionaly gets "injured" and can't perform at the high level you've come to expect. You're concerned that once you lock her down to a long term deal, it'll take away all her motivation to continue to strive to that All-Star level. It's a tough one. Let's break it down.

The Bad. Pat Burell. he's played well the past two years, but he was granted a similar package after he had a stellar second-year campaign in which he was decribed as possibly becoming "the right handed Barry Bonds." So while he's played well, he hasn't quite lived up to that moniker. I'm think Heather Locklear here. Fine lady, sure she is. Then why is she always a free agent? Why David Spade? Why, why, why?

The Good: Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley. How great does Utley's 7 year 85 million dollar contract look now? Utley was in a similar situation after 2 year's service, and the phils bought out the rest of his arbitration years and the first few free agent years. Rollins is signed through 2011 with what amounts to a six-year, 46.6 million dollar deal (That includes a club option, but I'm pretty sure the Phils will pay him 8.5 million to play in 2011). Think of Candace Cameron and Jennie Finch.

Candace Cameron played DJ Tanner on full house, married Valeri Bure (oops, wrong Bure!) and is now pretty much a full time homemaker.

Jennie Finch was/is a softball pitcher for the Arizona Wildcats and Team USA. She amassed over 1,000 strikouts in her college career and won three gold medals. She also married pitcher Casey Daigle of the Minnesota Twins, or somewhere. He hasn't pitched in the majors since 2006.

The Rest: Hamels has a history of injury problems, including a degenerative condition in his back, elbow problems last year, and breaking his throwing hand in a bar fight. He's also a pitcher, and while starting pitchers are valuable, they are also notoriously injury-prone. I'm thinking Jessica Alba here. Good measurements, suspect intangibles. A Wait-and-see approach is advised.

So what do we think, Phils Phans? lock him up?

Allow myself to introduce..myself

I'm Maxxx, but you can call me Mr. Power . Everyone loves Maxxx Power. I am a huge fan of all 4 major sports teams in Philly. Nova is my local college hoops team even though I am a UNC fan ( it was a BS call Lovetron, even I agree). Optimism tends to rule most of my thoughts on my teams but I will complain from time to time and hopefully keep readers entertained. I write this as my beloved Flyers head to OT due a goal by Danny Briere the very second I got to my basement with my good luck charm ( my dog). Danny Boy has atoned for his early penalty ( who knew he had stones?) by scoring his 5th of the series ( I have already UPSed him some Capri Suns and Uncrustables). The Phillies 10-2 win earlier today gives me hope and send the Fightins into the crucial Mets series at .500 and gives our boy Cole a chance to play hero Friday night. I ran into Hamels in the CVS down street today and discussed the game with him. He's hoping the Phils wear their new cream alternates because it's his time of the month. I recommended the pads with wings and sent him on his way. It's time for some overtime playoff hockey, Let's Go Flyers. Den. Den. Den. Den.Den.

(By the way, thundersticks either look like giant Cheetos or something more phallic, you be the judge.)

Cole Hamels Wants His Ball, Is Going Home

Phillies sometime starting pitcher/dreamboat Cole Hamels isn't happy with the $500,000.00 he's making this year. Hamels, although a promising talent, has yet to pitch a full season as a member of the Phillies organization. He's been plagued by back, hand, and elbow issues throughout his carerr. Inflammation in the left elbow caused him to miss valuable starts during the Phils' stretch run last year in August and September, forcing them to fill in with the likes of J.D. Durbin.

Since Hamels has yet to acrue 3 years of MLB service time, the Phillies were free to renew his contract at any figure above the MLB minimum, which is $390,000.00. Hamels is rumored to have been looking for a figure closer to 750k.

Just When All Seemed Right in Clearwater...

The Ryan Howard contract situation now a thing of the past, at least until next year when we'll go through the same seemingly endless string of talk show hosts doing their best to rationalize whether 50 home runs is worth a 3 million dollar bonus or 200 strikeouts is worth a 3 million dollar penalty, it was time to focus on the upcoming season and the Phillies defense of their NL East crown. Normalcy had set in...Howard was busy clubbing tiny rawhide circles into orbit; Pedro Feliz was assuming his role of the greatest Phillies 3B since Dave Hollins; Adam Eaton had settled into a midseason form with two innings of 5 hit, 3 ER ball in his spring debut. All was right with the world.

And then came Sunday and another opportunity for the Phillies organization to take a stride towards rewarding and respecting another cog of their young nucleus. With the smoothness of Dana Jacobsen at Sunday morning mass, the Phillies front office once again stumbled all over each other.

Let's quickly give the lay of the land. In 2007, lefty Cole Hamels developed into the ace of the Phils pitching staff. A 15-5 record, an all-star appearance, 177 strikeouts in 183 innings and better then a 4-1 strikeout to walk ratio. All of this achieved for the bargain basement price of $400,000. Hamels, however, has only 2 years of MLB service time. Therefore, the following rule is in effect regarding their salary for their 3rd year: "When players with less than three years of service can't agree [on a contract with the team], the team can 'renew' a contract at any salary, as long as the player earns at least the minimum and isn't reduced by more than 20 percent."

Now this is important to know because it does, without a doubt, demonstrate that the Phillies were well within their right to do what they did to Hamels on Sunday, the same way they did this to Howard prior to the start of last season. Hamels had asked for $750,000 for 2008. The Phillies maxed their offer out at $500,000. This is where things got a little dicey.

Hamels called the offer a "low-blow". I would tend to agree with Cole. In all honesty, what harm would it have done for the Phils to show a little love and pony up the extra 250K? This is a team whose payroll is going to come close to 110 million dollars this season. $250K is a pittance. The sheer value of the good faith that giving Hamels the extra quarter-mil would have generated greatly outweighs the actual dollar value. "I didn't have a million dollars in my mind. I put a number out there thinking that would be really good, and they came nowhere near it," said Hamels.

The Phillies haven't had a legitimate stud starting pitcher since Curt Schilling left town for multiple word series rings, leaving the corpses of Travis Lee, Nelson Figeroua and Vincente Padillia in his wake. Now, right in their lap, sits the anchor of the staff that they so desperately need. All that stands in the way of paving the road towards a long-term deal with Hamels was $250K.

After Hamels voiced his displeasure and disappointment and hinted strongly that this could harm the chances of reaching a long-term contract in the future, some reporters took this info to GM Pat Gillick and informed him that Hamels might hold a grudge because of this decision. Gillick's reply? "Let him do it."

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the essence of, You CAN Lose Them All.