If you haven’t heard already, Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins is the MVP of the National League. And there is absolutely no one that’s more deserving of the award, except for Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday. You can argue for any player winning the award. Rollins gained 16 first place votes, finishing with 353 points, edging out Holliday’s 11 first place votes and 336 points. This year’s MVP voting was precarious in that J-Roll wasn’t...
We would be terrible, awful, no good Phillies Phans (see what we did there?) if we didn't take the opportunity to congratulate Chase Utley, Cole Hamels and Aaron Rowand on their selection to the 2007 All-Star Game. We'll be honest - we were expecting that Utley would be elected starting second baseman, and we were fairly certain King Cole would make the cut on the mound. We were, however, pleasantly surprised to see Rowand make the team as a reserve. We've enjoyed watching Rowand's brand of gritty play since he was on the White Sox, and are particularly pleased that the rest of baseball appears to be taking notice.
With 2 men on, a full count, two outs, and down by two in the seventh inning, Jimmy Rollins launched a high fly to deep right-field. Everyone who was watching the game held their breath – everyone but Rollins. He watched it take off, dropped his bat, took a quick skip, and began to round the bases.
by Ryan Dougherty
The Philly Auto Show is in town this weekend! We're reasonably certain none of the cars there will be able to transform into giant robots, but it will still be pretty cool. If you're interested in previewing the show, and you've got some extra cash lying around, festivities can start for you tonight at the Black Tie Tailgate Preview Gala. There'll be food, drink, and entertainment, and best of all, all proceeds will go to the Auto Dealers CARing for Kids Foundation and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
The best of the internet, chopped into tiny bits and grilled for your enjoyment.
Every Tuesday and Thursday, we'll be posting events that are going on sale during the current week. This Thursday post only collects the latest announcements, so definitely check the Tuesday post for any you may have missed.
After two excruciating losses, the Phillies beat the Mets this afternoon at Shea Stadium, 5-3, to avoid the series sweep and come back home for the weekend on a high note. The Fightins' got on the board early thanks to first inning homers from Bobby Abreu and Ryan Howard, but similar to the last two games, gave up the lead in the next inning, and the game was tied at 3-3 until the seventh.
LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow.
A 2+ hour rain delay didn't deter many fans at last nights Phillies/Mets game at Citizens Bank Park. It didn't deter Jimmy Rollins, either. The red-hot shortstop extended his hitting streak to 31 games - tying the Phillies' all-time record - with a first pitch lead-off homerun. The hit put the Phillies in the lead, which they'd hold until the eighth inning when Ugueth Urbina gave up four runs - three of them earned - en route to a crushing 6 - 5 loss to the New York Mets.
Every local sports columnist and TV anchor tried to remind us heading into the weekend that the Cincinatti Reds put an end to the Phillies' playoff hopes these past two years. They all seemed dead-on Friday night as the Phillies blew a 6 - 1 lead to fall behind the Reds, 10 - 6. The Phillies, it seems, had blown it again.
Jimmy Rollins extended his league-leading hit streak last night against the Atlanta Braves, but that was about the only thing that went right for the Phillies. The Fightin's lost 4 - 1 against the Braves last night in Atlanta, leaving them two games behind the Houston Astros, who beat up on the Pittsburgh Pirates. Both teams have 11 games left this season. The Marlins, sitting in third place in the Wild Card race, lost to the New York Mets in 12 innings and now find themselves three games back of the Astros.
If we were old school, we'd believe in baseball gods and Skip Bayless. If were nu skool, we'd believe in Stephen A. Smith and Moneyball. But we sit comfortably in between, so we believe in heartbreaking baseball and anyone but Charlie Manuel.
The Phillies capped off a terrible Labor Day weekend with a heartbreaking loss to the Houston Astros last night, 4-3. The game seemed to get out of hand immediately as an error, as well as two Brett Myers walks, led to four first-inning runs for the Astros. Last week, we agreed with disputed lanky columnist Phil Sheridan that Myers was beginning to look like the team's ace. We started to doubt ourselves after the first inning last night, but Myers came through afterwards, shutting down the Houston bats for the next six innings. Meanwhile, Sheridan don't gotta believe.
Chris Mustazza and Phil Sandick, our regular Phils followers, are back again this week to talk about five issues surrounding our Phillies. This week, the duo examines how likeable this team really is, Ryan Madson's role, and Jim Thome's future in Philadelphia, plus much more.
Normally, coming off the all-star break with a win over a pretty tough team like the Marlins would warrant praise; however, we can't help but feel worried by the Phils’ performance last night. The style of play that the Phillies demonstrated was the same thing that gave them the 12-1 homestand and made them lose on the road to Seattle and Oakland: taking advantage of the deficient left field wall at Citizen’s Bank Park and hitting homeruns that would be merely pop-flies in any other park. This style might serve them well in the short term while playing at home, but it is not sufficient to make them a winning team.
Leading off the All-Star game after nearly an hour of introductions and pre-game commercials, Bobby Abreu slapped a Mark Buehrle pitch into left field. Abreu’s line drive single was a dynamic way to start the All-Star Game, which too often feels like an advertisement rather than a baseball game. But the three Phillies selected to the team all treated it as an important game, going a combined 2-3 at the plate and drawing one walk. Billy Wagner was not used as each manager held back some pitchers in reserve just in case the game ran into extra innings. Jimmy Rollins picked up an infield single and turned a double play once he entered. And Tony LaRussa came close to using Wagner and Jason Isringhausen, the 2 closers not used, when the NL mounted a comeback, scoring 5 runs over the last 3 innings. The Phillies and their fans should be proud of the Phillies representation and performance at the game: Abreu showed great versatility not only by getting a hit to the opposite field, but by hitting in the lead-off spot, a position known for hitters able to make sacrifices in order to get on base. All of this coming only one night after he smacked 41 home runs in the Home Run Derby.
We'd like to introduce to our newest weekly installment: Chris, Phil and the Fightin' Five. Each week, our resident Phillies writer, Chris Mustazza and Phil Sandick, will talk about five issues currently surrounding our flounderin' Phils. This week, the duo talks about Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins at the All-Star Game, Ed Wade buying and selling, and much more.
1. What should the Phillies do to resolve their first base situation?
Chris: I know that Phil will disagree with this, but I have seen enough of Jim Thome this season. The sole reason they are playing him is the amount of money they are paying him, not for his performance - .207 average and 7 homers.
It’s unthinkable to let a prospect like Howard rot away in the minor
leagues while the overpaid and under-motivated Jim Thome plods through the season without a care in his guaranteed contract world.
So to answer the question, I would platoon Howard and Thome at first,
and, if I did not see significant improvement from Thome, begin to phase him out altogether. I would be willing to wager that you would get exponentially more production from Thome once his starting position was threatened – look at Padilla.
Phil: Start Jim Thome when he's healthy and send Ryan Howard back to Scranton Wilkes-Barre. Thome is not at the end of his career, he is just hurt. The steroids rumors are inconsequential. You cannot bench Jim Thome, even if he were hitting .185 and striking out 3 times a night (which he's not, by the way - he has less than 200 AB's and 30 RBI and a .360 on base average). Ryan Howard needs at-bats everyday, even if he's ready to play in the big leagues. Howard is only 25. He will not help the Phillies as a bat off of the bench. Many good hitters are groomed extensively in the minor leagues.
The Phillies are not in dire straits. It's not a preposterous suggestion that Thome should be benched but it is out of the question for this season.
When you take a closer look at the Phillies' starting lineup from Sunday afternoon’s game against first-place Washington, and you compare it to the Nationals' starting gang, you might get the crazy feeling that the teams are not that different from each other. On paper there are many similarities: a talented, all-star caliber middle infielder (Jimmy Rollins and Jose Vidro), a power-hitting, speedy outfielder (Bobby Abreu and Jose Guillen), and a solid hitting but prone to slumping outfielder (Pat Burrell and Brad Wilkerson). After that, even a lot of gap-fillers and journeymen seem to have a lot in common, including 2 former teammates now at the tail-end of their careers, yet still playing well (Kenny Lofton and Carlos Baerga), 2 pinch-hitters who were swapped for each other in May (Endy Chavez and Marlon Byrd) 2 catchers who were once traded for each other in 2001 (Todd Pratt and Gary Bennett), and two starting pitchers who each lost a game to Boston in last year’s ALCS (Esteban Loaiza and Jon Leiber). The Phillies, on the field, have in no way resembled the Nationals this season until this past weekend. The Phillies borrowed a little bit of the Washington magic and pulled out a win in their second straight one-run game. Prior to this series, the Nationals had been nearly unbeatable in one-run games. Winning close, late games means you have to have timely hitting but more importantly, a solid bullpen. Yesterday, at Citizens Bank, over six innings of relief, four Phillies relievers gave up only one run. Jon Lieber, who pitched well striking out six, gave up three runs in his six innings. To take 2 out of 3 from the first place Nationals would have been exciting enough, but 2 Washington-style wins, with the added treat of seeing Ryan Howard carry the offense with 3 RBIs and a line drive to the shrubs in dead center field, makes the victories that much sweeter for the Phils. They also borrowed another Nationals trope: heroics by players you may not believe are in the major leagues (i.e. Matt Cepicky and Gary Majewski). The Phils pulled it out on a 12th inning pinch hit by veteran role player Ramon Martinez. No, not that Ramon Martinez, not Pedro’s brother who used to pitch for the Dodgers. This Ramon Martinez, a shortstop with no relation to the Martinez brothers, chopped a ground ball into left field in the bottom of the 12th inning to score David Bell, who had driven in the winning run on Saturday. This marks the first series victory for the Phillies since June 10th-12th against the Milwaukee Brewers. In a season that has made Phillies fans feel like they are in the middle of a traffic jam on I-95, with every team in the NL East bumper to bumper, at or above .500 at the All-Star Break, the Phillies will try to stay close enough to the Nationals so that Washington is still in sight when the Phillies match up with them on September 30th through October 2nd, the last series of the 2005 season.
WIP is reporting that Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins and Phillies closer Billy Wagner will join the National League's 2005 All-Star Team. The two are expected to join as replacements for Los Angeles Dodgers SS Cesar Izturis and New York Mets P Pedro Martinez. Rollins, who was recently inked to a contract extension by the Phils, is actually having a subpar year, especially compared to his career-year last season. His fielding is still strong, but he has struggled to get on-base as the Phillies' leadoff hitter. Rollins, however, finished second in the players and coaches voting. Typically, the runner-up replaces an injured All-Star. Wagner placed fourth in the MLB's "Final Ballot," where fans get to vote one of five players onto the team as its final, 32nd player. Brett Myers, a Phillies starter, was also on the ballot. He finished in last place. With 3 representatives (RF Bobby Abreu was voted as a starting outfielder by the fans), the struggling Phils probably won't see any more All-Star additions. There may be further changes and additions to the team, but it's unlikely that the team will be tapped for any more players. If, by chance, that does happen, likely additions are Myers and OF Pat Burrell.
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