Dom Brown had some clutch hits
Record since last Report Card: 5-5
Overall Record: 36-24 (1st in division)
Throughout the season (roughly every 10 games) we’ll review how the Phils have been performing over the past week or two and hand out some grades. These grades reflect the team’s performance since the previous Report Card.
The Phils hit the 60-game mark playing mediocre ball, yet still find themselves with the best record in baseball and the biggest division lead, 4 games over Atlanta and Florida. It’s hard to feel overly optimistic though when they lost four consecutive games last week to the Nationals and Pirates. On to the grades…
Position Players:
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: it looked like the offense was starting to come together but then, suddenly, it wasn’t at all. On the heels of a 9-game stretch without scoring more than 3 runs, they had scored at least 5 runs in 7 of 8 games after a 5-4 win over the Nats last Monday. Then, against the vaunted Nationals and Pirates pitching staffs, the wheels fell off again. They scored 4 runs combined over the next 30 innings, and have now failed to score more than 3 runs in 5 of their last 6 contests.
The big positive story of these 10 games was the first sustained big league success for Dom Brown. He hit .375 (12-32), with 3 doubles and a homer. He came up big in the clutch last Friday in New York. In the 8th inning, he singled, stole second, and then scored the tying run on a Rollins double. The next inning, he knocked in Ruiz with a single for the game-winning RBI. He had his first start against a left-hander last night, and it appears as though he’s laid claim to the RF job, hopefully for a long time to come.
The other positives came from the table-setters. Rollins and Polanco combined to hit .301 (22-78), with Rollins also stealing five bases in six games before he fouled a ball off his knee on Saturday. He hasn’t played since, but should be back any day. Polanco, of course, has been the lone bright spot practically all season for this line-up.
On the negative side, despite homering in back-to-back games, Ibanez hit just .194. Victorino returned from his injury but is just 3-16 so far. Mayberry hit .217 before being optioned back to AAA when Victorino returned.
Defensively, it wasn’t the cleanest stretch, as the team committed six errors in these 10 games.
Grade: C-
Starting Pitchers:
Yet another decent but far from great stretch of outings from the starting rotation. Hamels and Oswalt each turned in two strong starts. Hamels allowed 3 earned runs in 15 innings, picking up a win and a no-decision. Cole now leads the league in WHIP (0.97) and has positioned himself (along with Halladay) in the early Cy Young conversation. Oswalt also gave up just 3 earned runs, but he only threw 11 innings. He’s been great, but two underlying causes for concern: his strike-out rate is well below his career average, and he’s pitched past the 6th inning just once all season.
Halladay and Lee continued a recent trend of alternating excellent and mediocre starts. Halladay was touched for 4 runs on 10 hits by the Nats but then gave up just 2 runs in 7 innings to beat the Pirates. Lee had his worst start of the year, giving up 6 runs in a loss in Washington, but came back with the Start of the Week last night, striking out 10 Dodgers over seven shutout innings.
The other two starts were made by Worley and Kendrick. Worley really struggled, surrendering 8 runs (5 earned) and 12 hits over 3 innings against the Mets before heading back to AAA. Kendrick was defeated by the Pirates after giving up 4 runs in 5 innings.
Grade: B-
Relief Pitchers:
If you take away Danys Baez (which the Phillies might do soon enough following two more poor outings) then the ‘pen had another fantastic stretch of games. Yes, Ryan Madson did give up a run in two separate outings, but he still converted all four of his save opportunities. In the past, Madson seemed to find a way to blow a save opp, now he finds a way to close the door.
The battle for the 8th inning set-up job, between Contreras and Bastardo, continued. Contreras gave up a run 2.2 IP, and Bastardo may have the upper-hand at the moment, as he allowed no runs and just one hit in 5 IP, though he did walk four. Stutes continued his solid season, allowing one run in 4 IP.
Grade: B+
