Phillies Semi-Weekly Report Card #13

Record since last Report Card:  6-2

Overall Record:  80-60 (1st in division; 0.5 game ahead of Atlanta)

Yes, after a strong week, the Phils have finally run down the Braves and moved back atop the NL East for the first time in over three months.  Not to take anything away from what they did, but it didn’t hurt that the Braves seem to be doing their best Mets impression here in the season’s final month.  Atlanta was 2-5 on the week, including losing their last two games to the lowly Pirates.

Of course, it’s impossible to say that the Phils haven’t earned their current position.  Since July 21st, when they sat 7 games behind the Braves, they’ve been the best team in baseball, with a 32-14 record.  It’s just another example of something that we’ve been harping on for a few years now: this team is at its best when the pressure is highest.  Not only are they now leading the division, but they’re also only half a game behind Cincinnati for the best record in the NL.  We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves, just getting into the playoffs is really the most important thing, but considering the NL finally won the All-Star Game, as well as how well the Phils have played at home, it would be pretty nice to secure home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

On to the grades:

Chase celebrates his Rocky Mountain Slam

Position Players:  It was clearly a huge improvement from the ‘F’ grade they earned in the previous Report Card, and the 6-2 record may suggest a good week from these guys, but there were still plenty of issues.  Let’s start with the good news:  they scored just over 5 runs a game, more than doubling their output from the previous week.  They were even able to pick up a win in Colorado when the pitching staff allowed 11 runs, thanks to a 12-run outburst led by a Chase Utley grand slam.

Individual highlights:  The big news is that Utley and Howard are looking good.  Utley hit .387 with 11 RBI, while Howard launched 3 homers.  Victorino had a huge week, hitting .367 with 2 homers and 6 steals.  Polanco hit .333, including the Hit of the Week with his RBI single in the 8th inning on Tuesday to put the Phils back ahead after the bullpen blew a 3-run lead.  On the negative side, Rollins continued to struggle.  A 2-for-19 stretch prompted Charlie to drop him to the 5-hole for the past two games, where he responded with 3 hits.  That 5-hole belongs to Werth though, so Rollins might just be stopping over there on his way to Victorino’s vacated 6th or 7th spot in the order.

Rollins is nice segue into the bad news:  They failed to score more than 2 runs in 3 of the games.  They were shut down by two mediocre Brewer pitchers at home.  Then, the real low-light, getting one-hit over 6 innings by a 28-year-old making his ML debut, en route to a 7-1 loss on Monday afternoon.

But the real problem was with the defense.  Having trouble hitting the ball is excusable, but handing out extra outs and extra runs with careless defense at this time of the year is not.  Tuesday night’s win would not have been as close were it not for a misplay by Howard and Blanton on a groundball in the 3rd inning, an unnecessary throw home by Utley in the 7th, and a wild throw home by Werth in the 8th.  All told, the Phils made 8 errors in these 8 games, and that doesn’t even tell the whole story about the sloppy defensive play.

Grade:  C

Starting Pitchers:  Certainly not a banner week for these guys, but they were solid for the most part.  The Start of the Week, for the second straight week, goes to Cole Hamels, who threw 7 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits, in a 1-0 win over the Brewers on Friday.  Cole has an 18-inning scoreless streak going.  Runner-up is Oswalt’s effort last Wednesday, when he allowed just 1 hit in 6.1 shutout innings, but did walk 6 Dodgers.

The other 6 starts of the week were fairly middling efforts.  Oswalt allowed 4 runs in 7 innings in his other start, and Halladay had the same line (on four solo homers) in his only start.  Joe Blanton was the victim of some poor defense, allowing 4 unearned runs in his two no-decisions, along with 6 earned ones.  He was really knocked around in Coors Field on Thursday, giving up 10 hits in 4.1 innings.

Kyle Kendrick took the loss on Sunday, allowing 4 runs or more for the 5th time in his last 6 starts.  Thanks to a double-header on Monday, Vance Worley made the first spot-start of the year for the Phils, and allowed 2 runs in 5 innings.  There’s been talk of Worley replacing Kendrick in the rotation.  The good news is that, thanks to off days, the Phils will only need a 5th starter three more times.  Worley was solid, but he wasn’t overly impressive.  He might have a future in the rotation (as early as next year), but I would just stick with Kendrick for those three starts, unless he gets even worse.  We’re in a pennant race now, and Kendrick has the experience.

Grade:  C+

Lights Out for Lidge?

Bullpen: Kind of a difficult week to sum up for the pen.  On the one hand, the Phils were 4-0 in 1-run games, but two of those games were only that close because the pen allowed multiple runs.  It was odd to see Madson stay on for the 9th inning of a 1-run game on Tuesday.  It seemed like Charlie was being overly cautious about working Lidge too much, but he revealed after the game that Lidge has been feeling elbow soreness, and is unavailable until at least Friday.  This is, obviously, not good news for the Phils or their pen. 

Despite a wild pitch that allowed the tying run to score in the 8th on Tuesday, Madson did have another strong week, giving up no earned runs in 5 innings.  He’s now allowed no earned runs in 24 of his last 25 outings, which is really impressive.  Phillie fans long ago gave up hope of Madson being able to handle the closer role, but he’s certainly first in line for the job if Lidge is out for an extended period of time.  Despite a very shaky save in Colorado on Thursday, Lidge also had a good week, giving up no earned runs in 4 innings.

Chad Durbin had a rough week, allowing 5 runs in 4 innings, and Contreras had a rare poor outing on Tuesday, giving up those 3 runs that tied the game at 7 in the 8th.  The lefty situation continues to be a pretty huge concern.  Romero has come in and walked the only batter he faced in his last two games, Bastardo continues to be largely ineffective, and Mike Zagurski gave 3 runs in his first appearance since being re-called.  Veteran starter Nate Robertson may get a look as a situational lefty in the coming days.

Grade:  C

Up Next:  This is one of the first Report Cards where the team’s record really doesn’t correspond to the grades.  That probably tells us that the 6-2 record was a bit of a mirage this week.  The Phils actually only outscored their opponents by one run in those 8 games, which makes those C/C+ grades look more logical.  But it’s all about picking up W’s, so clearly it was a successful week.  Let’s give some credit to Charlie Manuel for finding a way to win 6 of these 8 games.

The home stand wraps up tonight with the Marlins again, followed by a road trip to New York and Miami.  Keep an eye out for whether Kendrick or Worley gets the nod to start in Citi Field on Saturday.