Does This Look Familiar?

Are the 2008 Brewers the 2007 Phillies?

2008 Phillies, meet your 2007 dopplegangers. A team that goes on a run down the stretch to make the playoffs for the first time in a long time? Check. Dominant starting pitcher in the regular season who loses his playoff start? Check. General "Just Happy to Be Here" Attitude? Check. High-scoring, HR-based offense that disappeared in the postseason? Check.

Phils Win 5-2.

In the playoffs, you need someone to step up besides your all stars. Enter Shane Victorino and Jason Werth. We know them well, but they're far from household names. First four times these two got to the plate resulted in 3 doubles and a Grand Slam. That's a good day.

Charlie Manuel also got props from the announcers for switching Victorino and Werth in the lineup. Werth went on to get two doubles in the game. Of course, Utley and Howard are a combined 1-8 in the series, which is keeping me up at night. Unfortunately, that's not a joke.

The Good: Victorino, Myers, Werth, Feliz. It was a righties day at the ballpark. Lidge needed only 12 pitches to record his second save of the postseason. Maybe Mitch Williams was right, and Lidge was too well rested for his pitches to be effective. Maybe Milwaukee has already given up on this series. Maybe this was the one-game quiet before the Lidge-implosion storm. I'll take it.

The Bad: Myers first inning, in which he had the bases loaded with one out and got a miracle double play ball. Wow. That could have been a lot worse. Kudos to Myers for shaking it off and pitching a good game. Myers also walked in a run, which is generally frowned upon in baseball circles.

The Hero: Shane Victorino. A Grand Slam off of the unhittable CC Sabathia in the playoffs? If you made it up, no one would believe you. Runner up to Brett Myers. 7 strong innings, gave up only 2 runs.

The Goat: CC Sabathia. He struggled with his location (and the umpire's strike zone) all day, only lasting 3 2/3 innings and throwing 98 pitches. Of course, he single-handedly got Milwaukee here. This was his fourth consecutive start in three days rest.

The Take-Away Point: This Phillies team is for real. Now, if we can only get Utley and Howard to start hitting, and if we face the Dodgers in the NLCS...

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.

Okay, Deep Breaths, Please

Your Phightins are 1.5 up with 4 to play. (The Mets have 5 left). The Birds are 2-1, which ties them for last in the division-or third, if you're a glass-half- full kind of person.

Phils: Looking good. From where I sit, they need to win two of these last four to win the division, preferably three. The Nationals, for whatever reason, play the Phils tough, and they're in town for the last three games of the season. In other words, let's win tonight, huh Brett?

Eagles: I don't know about this team. I have serious reservations about the pass defense and pass rushing. Here's a quick breakdown of the last two games.

Dallas-good offensive line. No sacks. Pass Defense shredded. Loss.

Pittsburgh-terrible offensive line. 9 sacks, 4 more tackles of the QB for short gain. Defense only gives up 6 points. Win.

Not hard to figure out. When we play a team with a good O-line, we lose. When we play a team with a bad O-line, we win. That makes this team mediocre. Injuries to McNabb and Westbrook are troubling, as is LJ Smith's consistent lack of ballsiness.

Eagles stock: Down.

Phillies stock: Up.

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.

Brett Myers is Not Good at Baseball

Brett Myers is an emotional baseball player. Likewise, he inspires emotion from Phillies fans, sometimes non-positive emotions. So let's see if we can separate the fact from fiction. We are all rational human beings, are we not?

Statement: Brett Myers is not living up to expectations.

Verdict: FACT. Brett Myers really hasn't been a good starting pitcher since the 2006 season, when he went 12-7 in 31 starts with a 3.91 ERA. His career ERA is 4.42, with his career ERA+ being 99. Again "average" ERA+ is 100. So, for someone who was supposed to be the next Phillies Ace, being a tick below average means you're not meeting expectations.

Statement: Brett Myers is better suited to the bullpen than to starting.

Verdict: FACT(so far), although a half season's worth of data isn't always reliable, as we learned by watching the career of Mr. Randy Wolf. Last year, as a reliever, Mr. Myers had 21 saves and a 2.98 ERA as a reliever. This year, as a starter, he's 3-8 in 14 games with a 5.34 ERA. His ERA+? 82. He's God-awful. He leads the league in earned runs allowed and home runs allowed. He's terrible.

Statement: Brett Myers is a jerk.

Verdict: FACT. In June of 2006, Brett Myers assaulted his wife in Boston. He subsequently became the topic of this Onion article, and people pretty much forgot. His wife later requested that the charges be dropped, although she never disputed the facts of the case. That's enough for me.

He also later called a reporter "retarded" after blowing a save last year, and had to be restrained by Pat Burrell. Presumably, he would have attempted to punch the gentleman in the face and pull his hair.

Statement: Brett Myers is the worst starting pitcher on the team.

Verdict: FACT. ERAs and ERA+ below:

Cole Hamels........3.36(130)

Jamie Moyer.......4.56(96)

Kyle Kendrick.....4.87(89)

Adam Eaton.........4.62(94)

Brett Myers..........5.34(82)

Wow. Bad pitcher. Jerk. Why is he still on the team?

Now Paging Doctor Anybody

On Sunday, April 20, the Phillies put Jimmy Rollins on the 15-day DL. Rollins was originally hurt on April 8th at Shea Stadium, and listed as "day-to-day." Scuttlebutt heard on local talk radio is that Rollins did not get an MRI until April 16. Rollins continued to be called upon to pinch hit in nearly every game, despite being in obvious discomfort walking, swinging the bat, and generally performing acts necessary to play baseball.

[Urge to kill rising....RISING....RISING!!!]

If this all seems vaguely familiar, that's because the Phillies medical staff is completely incompetent, and/or the Phillies habitually lie to their fans. Let's recap the last two seasons, shall we?

Tom Gordon: sent back to Philadelphia in Spring of '07, which the Phillies claimed was a regularly scheduled check up. [LIE] They then claimed Gordon was suffered from biceps tendinitis [LIE]. Gordon was then put on the 15-day DL, which turned into the 60-day DL. Turns out, Tom Gordon has a fairly serious shoulder issue (either a partial rotator cuff tear or a frayed bursa sac in the shoulder), and surgery would end his career. So we give him the eighth inning.

Freddy Garcia: The Phillies traded for Freddy Garcia before last season, despite reports from scouts and media that he had lost approximately 10 mph off his fastball. The Phillies then did not have him examined by team doctors prior to making the trade official. Garcia opened the season on the DL with "biceps tendinitis."[LIE] Freddy Garcia made 11 starts, collected 1 win, and was paid 10 million dollars before going down for the season with a right shoulder injury which required surgery.

Brett Myers: Last season, Myers was put on the 15 day disabled list on May 25, with what was called a "strained right shoulder." Myers did not pitch again until July 28, more than 60 days later. No clarification of his injury was provided.

Ryan Madson: Madson was placed on the 15-day DL on July 30 last year, again with the ever-popular "shoulder strain." He did not pitch again that season. No clarification of his injury was ever provided.

Forgive me, then, if I believe that Rollins' injury might be more serious than what I'm being told. The Phillies front office is apparently not good with facts, and the doctors aren't all that good at doctoring. Other than that, no reason to worry.