Phillies Report Card #8

Maybe Mayberry is the right-handed bat the Phils are looking for

Record since Mid-Season Report Card: 8-4

Overall Record:  57-34 (3.5 games ahead of Atlanta)

The Phils ride into the All-Star Break on a high note, having won six consecutive series, including series against the Red Sox and Braves.  And they won a statement game on Sunday, romping to a 14-1 rout of the Braves, who have been making a strong push from second place for weeks.  It was the second 14-run output by the offense in the past few games, which is obviously encouraging, even if the consistency is still not there.  On to the grades….

Position Players:
Over the last 12 games, the team batting average is about .285, which is far higher than just about any 12 game stretch all season.  Most notable has been the production of the corner outfielders (we’ll count John Mayberry in that group even though he’s been playing center field).  Raul Ibanez, Dom Brown, and Mayberry combined to hit .324 (34/105) with 7 HR and 27 RBI.

Ibanez hit four of those homers, with a whopping 15 RBI, including a walk-off homer to beat Atlanta on Friday and 6 RBI in Sunday’s win.  He also added an amazing leaping catch at the wall in that win.  At least three times teams opted to walk Howard to get to him, and he repeatedly made them pay.  Mayberry showed that he is potentially the right-handed bat the team’s been missing, as he had six extra-base hits in 19 AB’s, including a two-homer game in Florida on Wednesday and three doubles vs. Atlanta on Sunday.  It looks like Dom Brown has changed his approach at the plate lately, and the results were positive, with a .366 average over these 12 games.  For a team that’s had no production from the corner outfielders all season, they suddenly find themselves with three good options, assuming these guys can keep it up.

Solid stretches were also turned in by Rollins (.314 avg, .386 OBP, 4 steals), Utley (.306, HR, 3 steals), and Howard (.280, 2 HR, 10 RBI).  Victorino was continuing a hot streak, hitting .450 (9-20) with five extra-base hits, before hitting the DL with a sprained thumb.  Even Michael Martinez got into the action, with four hits on Sunday.  He also made some nice defensive plays at both third base and center field in place of the injured starters.

On the negative side, it was really just the continued struggles of Polanco, leading up to his own trip to the DL with back pain.  Maybe the back pain is the reason he’s struggled.  Whether that’s a good thing or not, I don’t know.  Either way, Polanco had three hits in his last 27 AB’s before taking a seat.

Grade:  B+

Starting Pitchers:
Even without Oswalt:  12 starts, 8 of which can legitimately be called excellent.  Another one was Hamels’s injury-shortened outing when he left after four scoreless innings and was most likely heading for another gem.  Hamels went 8 innings in each of his next two starts, giving up 2 and 1 run, respectively, and picking up wins both times.

The Start of the Week goes to the other lefty, Lee, for his 2-hit shutout of the BoSox.  He took a really hard-luck no-decision against Atlanta on Saturday.  He gave up one run on three hits in 8 innings, and also hit a home run off Tommy Hanson.  But his homer was the only run the team could muster.  Lee struggled in his other start, when the Blue Jays ended his 34 inning scoreless streak by touching him for six runs.

Doc Halladay went the distance in his old stadium in Toronto, giving up three runs and getting the W.  He then took a no-decision, despite giving up just two runs in 7 innings against Atlanta.  Halladay continues to be the third best pitcher on this team over the last six weeks, yet he will start the All-Star game tomorrow night for the NL.  And he deserves it.  That’s how good this staff is.

The amazing season for Vance Worly continued with two dominating performances against Boston and Florida.  He went 7 innings in each start, giving up a combined 1 run on 7 hits over those 14 innings.  Kyle Kendrick has been far from bad, but he doesn’t look too good compared to these other guys.  He was hit for six runs by Toronto, then gave up just one run but was pulled after five innings against Florida.

All told, just another 12-game stretch where the starting rotation posts a combined 2.40 ERA, with 69 strikeouts against 15 walks.

Grade:  A

Bullpen:
The pen had a few rough outings, but they have to be graded on a curve right now, considering the current bullpen was much more likely to be the pen for the Iron Pigs this season than the Phillies.  Charlie has been left having to go with Andrew Carpenter to protect one-run leads.

Most noteworthy for the pen was the continued domination of Antonio Bastardo.  He allowed one base-runner (on a walk) in his five appearances, picking up three saves in the process.

The lasting memory right now of Michael Stutes may be the three runs he gave up in the 10th inning of Saturday’s loss, but that’s not really fair.  Especially for how inexperienced he is, he’s been carrying a really heavy workload lately, so it’s not at all surprising that he might not be at maximum effectiveness.  In his five appearances before Saturday, he gave up no runs and two hits in 4.2 innings.

Yet another reason baseball is an amazing sport:  on a pitching staff that features one lock Hall-of-Famer, another Cy Young winner, and another World Series MVP and two-time All-Star, it was some guy named Juan Perez that was the subject of the heading: Phillies Pitcher Makes History.  Perez came into Friday’s game against the Braves and struck out all three batters he faced, on 9 pitches.  He became just the 48th pitcher in major league history to do that, and the first Phillie in 20 years.

David Herndon and Andrew Carpenter had some struggles, giving up a combined 8 runs in 5 innings.

Grade:  B-