Phillies Report Card #3

Raul got back on track vs. the Nats

Record since last Report Card: 6-3

Overall Record: 21-9 (1st in division)

When the Phillies signed Cliff Lee in December, everyone expected the team to just run over the league in 2011 and maybe challenge the ’01 Mariners for the most wins of all-time.  Preseason injuries to Chase Utley, Brad Lidge, and Domonic Brown, followed by in-season injuries to Jose Contreras and Joe Blanton, and painfully slow starts from Raul Ibanez and Jimmy Rollins left Phillie fans more than a little concerned about the team’s fate.

Despite all those issues, the team has hit the 30-game mark with a .700 winning percentage.  Even better, Ibanez and Rollins have started to hit the ball, and all five injured players appear reasonably close to returning to action.  The baseball season is a roller coaster for almost every team and, right now, the Phillies are riding high and things look really good.

One thing that may change that is the upcoming schedule.  The team has benefitted from a pretty easy slate thus far, but their next seven series are against the Braves, Marlins, Braves, Cardinals, Rockies, Rangers, and Reds.  They look ready to take on anyone, but we’ll see.  On to the grades:

Position Players
We can’t say that the offense has found any consistency yet, but they did score 7 or more runs in four of the nine games since the last Report Card, which is huge progress from what they had been doing.  Charlie Manuel shuffled the top of the order a few games ago, moving Rollins back to lead-off and bumping Victorino and Polanco down to 2nd and 3rd. 

But even before he made that change, the top four hitters in the order were producing and really carrying the offense.  Polanco (13 hits, 6 RBI) and Victorino (11 hits, 2 HR, 5 RBI) continued their solid starts to the season, and Ryan Howard posted a monster game last Friday against the Mets, with two long homers, including a Grand Slam.  J-Roll has gotten going as well, hitting .350 with a HR, 2 steals, and 6 walks over the last 9 games.

Ibanez fell one at-bat short of the team record for longest hitless streak (35 AB’s) when he picked up a double vs. the Nats on Tuesday.  In that three-game set, he went on to collect 8 hits, with three doubles and two homers, breaking out of his epic slump in a big way.

Aside from Ibanez in the Nats series though, the Phils got very little from 5-8 in the order.  Francisco, Valdez, Pete Orr, and Brian Schneider (filling in for an injured Ruiz) combined to hit just .212 with three extra-base hits.  That’s combined, of course, with the 0-35 from Ibanez prior to the Nats series.

Grade: C+

Starting Pitchers:
If you throw out Roy Oswalt’s start in Arizona last week, which you should because it’s clear that his mind was much more on his family back in Mississippi than on pitching, it was really another dominant stretch from the Phillie starting pitchers.  In eight starts, Halladay, Hamels, Lee, and Vance Worley (in for the injured Blanton) went 6-1, threw at least six innings in every start, had 61 strikeouts to just 10 walks in 58 innings, and had an ERA of 2.01.

Halladay and Hamels share the Best Start award, as each had a complete game with just one run allowed.  Lee took the only loss, giving up four runs to Arizona, but he did strikeout 12 in that game, so he wasn’t exactly struggling.

Worley, who also pitched well in a brief stint last year, showed again that he belongs on a big-league roster.  He pitched six innings in each of his starts, allowing just one run combined and picking up two wins.  If Blanton stuggles when he comes back (or perhaps if the Phils find someone willing to take him in a trade) Worley looks like a solid option for the fifth rotation spot.

Grade:  A

Bullpen:
The short-handed pen continues to hold its own, and picked good times to have bad outings.  David Herndon gave up three runs in the 9th last Friday, but the team had a 10-0 lead, and then Danys Baez surrendered three in the 9th on Wednesday, but a 7-1 cushion made it meaningless.

Ryan Madson had three scoreless outings (no save opportunities) and Kyle Kendrick and Michael Stutes also pitched well.  Antonio Bastardo gave up a run in two separate outings, the first two runs he’s allowed on the season.  J.C. Romero returned from his injury with a scoreless inning on Wednesday.

Grade:  B-