{"id":562,"date":"2010-07-08T15:41:46","date_gmt":"2010-07-08T20:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=562"},"modified":"2010-07-08T16:41:11","modified_gmt":"2010-07-08T21:41:11","slug":"phillies-mid-season-report-card-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=562","title":{"rendered":"Phillies Mid-Season Report Card"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"halladay<\/strong><\/p>\n

For a take on the Lebron Madness, see Bry’s post below.<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Record: <\/strong>43-40, 3rd in division (6 games behind Atlanta)<\/p>\n

The Phils\u00a0officially completed the\u00a01st half of the season with a big win over the Braves on Monday night, but two losses followed and have\u00a0left them 6 games\u00a0back in the division.\u00a0 The offensive woes continue.\u00a0 They managed just 3 hits in 11 innings in the loss on Tuesday.\u00a0 When you look at the depth of the Braves pitching staff, in the rotation and the bullpen, it’s pretty hard not to conclude that they have the better team.\u00a0 Of course, the last time the Phils were this far out of first place it was September of 2007, when they were 6.5 behind the Mets.\u00a0 We all know how that turned out, so 6 back in July\u00a0does not\u00a0mean the season is over, but let’s just say it’s not good.<\/p>\n

The next few weeks will be very interesting.\u00a0 If the team falls further back in the division, Ruben Amaro may have to\u00a0call it quits and\u00a0look to move Jayson Werth for prospects.\u00a0 If they stay within striking distance, Amaro will almost certainly add a piece or two.\u00a0 I don’t see him giving up Domonic Brown though,\u00a0which means I don’t see Dan Haren or any other high impact player joining the team.<\/p>\n

For this Mid-Season Report Card,\u00a0we’ll go position-by-position as usual, but because\u00a0of all the injuries we’ll list any player that has started 5 or more games at that position, with the number of starts in parentheses after their name.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Catcher, <\/strong>Carlos Ruiz (48),\u00a0Brian Schneider (21), Dane Sardinha (9), Paul Hoover (5):\u00a0\u00a0We start with a position that epitomizes the season so far, as four players have started at least 5 games at catcher.\u00a0 Ruiz got off to a really hot start but, not surprisingly, cooled off before missing an extended period of time with a concussion.\u00a0 His OBP still sits at an impressive .398, with a\u00a0solid .275 BA, but Chooch has just 10 extra-base hits in 153 at-bats.\u00a0 Schneider has been\u00a0as\u00a0expected when he’s been in there, but his inability to stay healthy, even in limited\u00a0action, has been a disappointment.\u00a0 The most interesting stat for the catching corps: at the halfway point,\u00a0Dane Sardinha leads all Phillie catchers with 3 home runs.\u00a0 That’s probably not a good thing.\u00a0 Schneider returns to action on Thursday night vs. the Reds.<\/p>\n

Grade: <\/em>C<\/strong><\/p>\n

First Base, <\/strong>Ryan Howard (81):\u00a0 Good news: Howard has\u00a0arguably been the best Phillie hitter in the 1st half.\u00a0\u00a0Bad news: His slugging percentage is over 70 points below his career number, and he’s on pace for just 30 home runs, after averaging 50 over the last 4\u00a0years.\u00a0 Good news:\u00a0 His career slugging percentage is over 100 points higher after the All-Star\u00a0Break than before it.\u00a0 Howard has cut down on his strike-outs\u00a0and his batting average is up (.295), but the question is whether or not the adjustments he’s made are at the expense of his power.\u00a0 Personally, I\u00a0like what he’s doing.\u00a0\u00a0The team has committed a TON of money to him, and if he can figure out how to combine the new approach with the power we’re used to,\u00a0he’ll have a much better shot at justifying that contract.<\/p>\n

Grade:\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>B-<\/strong><\/p>\n

Second Base, <\/strong>Chase Utley (71), Wilson Valdez (9):\u00a0 After a great start, Utley went through one of the toughest slumps of\"valdez\" his career in late-May and early-June, then started to rebound just before going down for two months with a thumb injury.\u00a0\u00a0It was probably a fluke, but Chase’s errors\u00a0have been up this year.\u00a0 Valdez has taken over the job, and he’ll remain there for the next few weeks, until Polanco returns or the team makes a trade.\u00a0 Valdez has made a really nice contribution, with excellent defense at second and short, and some sporadic offensive outbursts.<\/p>\n

Grade: <\/em>C-<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Third Base, <\/strong>Placido Polanco (59), Greg Dobbs (17):\u00a0 Placido’s return to the team has been\u00a0a success, as he’s definitely lived up to\u00a0his expectations when healthy.\u00a0 His .318 BA ranks 3rd in the NL, and playing half his games at the Bank has given him the expected small\u00a0bump in slugging %.\u00a0 His transition back to 3B has gone pretty smoothly as well,\u00a0with\u00a0just 4 errors so far.\u00a0\u00a0Dobbs wasn’t very productive last year, and things have gotten even worse this year.\u00a0 The injuries to Utley and Polanco are the only reason he’s even on the team right now.\u00a0 He hit a big homer against the Braves on Monday, but that .182 BA is very ugly.\u00a0 He’s also pretty terrible defensively at third.<\/p>\n

Grade: <\/em>B<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shortstop, <\/strong>Valdez (30), Juan Castro (27), Jimmy Rollins (26):\u00a0 They really had to piece things together here for\u00a0a while with Rollins out.\u00a0 Castro’s numbers are ugly (.216,\u00a0no homers), but he did have a\u00a0handful of big RBIs in the first couple weeks after Rollins went\u00a0down.\u00a0 He was a little dissapointing defensively,\u00a0which was supposedly the reason he was signed,\u00a0and that’s mainly why he\u00a0eventually gave way to Valdez.\u00a0 J-Roll has come back and done most of the things we expect of him, with two notable exceptions.\u00a0 On the negative side, he only has 3 steals, which can be chalked up\u00a0to the calf injury he’s had to deal with.\u00a0 On the plus side, he’s\u00a0taking walks at a higher rate than he ever has in his career.\u00a0 Now, Jimmy has notoriously refused to change his game and become more patient over the years, so maybe this is just a small sample size fluke, but here’s hoping he\u00a0used that\u00a0time when he was sitting out injured to try a new mindset with his hitting.<\/p>\n

Grade: <\/em>C-<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"ibanez\"Left Field, <\/strong>Raul Ibanez (75), Ben Francisco (8):\u00a0 Just as many Phillies fans feared, Ibanez’s lackluster second-half\u00a0last year has carried over to this season.\u00a0 In Raul’s last 152 games, going back to the start of July\u00a02009, he’s hitting just .239.\u00a0\u00a0This season, he’s on his way to career lows in almost every category.\u00a0 Over the past week,\u00a0with Utley out, Charlie has put Raul in the 3-hole, presumably hoping that he’ll see more fastballs with Howard behind him, and\u00a0find his\u00a0swing again.\u00a0 I like the idea, but if\u00a0he doesn’t respond soon, he needs to be dropped down\u00a0again.\u00a0\u00a0They can’t have him struggling in\u00a0such\u00a0a key spot in the order, and it’s not like he runs well, either.\u00a0 After a really bad start, Francisco has picked it up, hitting .288\u00a0in 52 ab’s\u00a0since the start of June.<\/p>\n

Grade: <\/em>D<\/strong><\/p>\n

Center Field, <\/strong>Shane Victorino (80):\u00a0 The season Victorino has had would\u00a0look better if he had\u00a0been hitting 7th, like he was\u00a0on Opening Day, rather than spending almost\u00a0all of his time at the top of the order.\u00a0 He’s already 1 home run shy of his career high, and on pace for 25 homers.\u00a0 However, his .251 BA and .319 OBP are just not good enough for a table-setter.<\/p>\n

Grade: <\/em>C+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Right Field, <\/strong>Jayson Werth (74):\u00a0 Werth’s season has been very similar to Utley’s (with the obvious exception of an injury).\u00a0 He looked like an MVP in the\u00a0season’s first quarter, but has gone into a lengthy slump since.\u00a0\u00a0All in all, though,\u00a0that first quarter was so dominant that it’s hard to not consider this first half a success.\u00a0 He’s already tied his career high (and is second in the NL) with 26 doubles.\u00a0 Largely thanks to all those doubles, his slugging percentage is actually higher than it was last year, when he mashed 36 homers.\u00a0 He also has continued to play Gold Glove defense in right.\u00a0 His stolen bases are worth keeping an eye on, as he has\u00a0just 4 on the season, after\u00a0stealing 20 each of the previous two seasons.<\/p>\n

Grade: <\/em>B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starting Pitchers:\u00a0Roy Halladay’s <\/strong>current ERA (2.33) would be a career-best, which is not surprising considering he’s in the NL for the first time.\u00a0 He’s on pace for 14 complete games, which would be the most in baseball since 1998 (when Curt Schilling had 15 for the Phils).\u00a0 Recently, teams have started\u00a0swinging at the first pitch against him a lot, because he loves to get ahead in the count.\u00a0 Chipper Jones hit a first pitch fastball for a home run in the 1st\u00a0inning on Monday night.\u00a0 Halladay recognized that and used it to his advantage.\u00a0 He went away from the first pitch fastball, the Braves stuck with their game plan of swinging early and often, and it resulted in a 93-pitch complete game win, with that homer being the only run he allowed.\u00a0 The guy is the complete package.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Phils’ #2 starter and erstwhile ace, Cole\u00a0Hamels<\/strong>, has pitched more\u00a0like a #3 or 4 for the second straight season.\u00a0 I’ve never really hidden my dislike for Cole, but I have to\u00a0say\u00a0that I do see the possibility of him putting it together soon.\u00a0 His\"hamels\" fastball has been consistently hitting 94-95, which is probably about 3 mph faster than\u00a0he averaged last season.\u00a0 That’s important\u00a0for any pitcher, but even more so when you rely so heavily on the change-up.\u00a0 Cole will never reach his potential until he gets a reliable third pitch, but the tools are there\u00a0this season for him to be a legitimate #2, he just has to\u00a0avoid the occasional mistake pitches he’s been making.<\/p>\n

Although the numbers don’t show it, Jamie\u00a0Moyer<\/strong>\u00a0has probably been the Phils’ second best starter, but his inconsistency is cause for concern.\u00a0 Over his last 8 starts, he’s allowed 2 runs or fewer in 6 of them, but 16 runs combined in the other\u00a02.\u00a0 Certainly, Jamie has pitched some great games\u00a0this year, but I still wouldn’t feel too confident sending him out there for a playoff game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kyle Kendrick<\/strong> has been in the rotation all season long, and after a rough April, he actually has a solid 3.75 ERA since the start of May.\u00a0 The one dissapointment in the rotation has been Joe Blanton<\/strong>, who’s been consistently not very good, allowing at least 3 runs in all 12 of his starts and has an ERA of 6.27.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Phillies made a somewhat surprising move when they optioned J.A. Happ<\/strong> to AAA last week.\u00a0 I can’t say whether or not it was the right move, because I haven’t seen him pitch in his rehab assignment, but apparently the Phillies front office felt like he wasn’t ready to get big leaguers out, though Happ disagreed.\u00a0 I just feel bad for Happ, because he’s really been jerked around by the team over the last few years, bouncing back and forth between the minors, then being relegated to the bullpen to start last year.\u00a0\u00a0 All he’s done when given the chance is get outs, but it doesn’t seem like the team has really rewarded that by showing confidence in him.\u00a0 Obviously, the best-case scenario is that he pitches well for the Iron Pigs, then comes up to help the team in the 2nd half.<\/p>\n

Grade: <\/em>B-<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bullpen:\u00a0 <\/strong>This group is really difficult to get a handle on as we hit the midway point.\u00a0 The gut reaction is to say that they stink and can’t be counted on.\u00a0 There’s no doubt that the back-end remains a concern, with Brad Lidge<\/strong> still pretty inconsistent.\u00a0 But, I’m going to go on record as being cautiously optimistic about this bullpen, if they can keep healthy, which is a big ‘if’, of course.<\/p>\n

\"romero\"It’s a pretty solid collection of arms.\u00a0 Jose Contreras<\/strong> hasn’t been as good lately, but he still has great numbers on the season, and with his high-90’s fastball and\u00a0good splitter, he’ll keep getting people out.\u00a0 Chad Durbin<\/strong> is on the DL and wasn’t as\u00a0sharp in June as he had been, but he’s proven himself\u00a0to be\u00a0a useful relief pitcher over his 3 seasons with the club.\u00a0 J.C. Romero<\/strong> has somewhat quietly been one\u00a0of the better left-handed relievers in baseball over the past decade, and he’s been strong this year, with a 2.12 ERA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Danys Baez <\/strong>and David Herndon<\/strong> haven’t been as good as the three above, but they’ve both been solid since sluggish starts.\u00a0 Baez has a good track record, and Herndon is the type of guy you want at the Bank because he keeps the ball down and hasn’t given up a home run yet in his 28.2 innings.\u00a0 Also, Mike Zagurski<\/strong> has looked\u00a0good since coming up a couple weeks ago, and he could stick as the second left-hander.<\/p>\n

When it comes to bullpens though,\u00a0it really all comes down to closing out\u00a0close games.\u00a0 One of the guys who could possibly help do that, Ryan Madson<\/strong>, struggled before going down with a broken toe.\u00a0 But he’s another guy with a\u00a0strong track record, who might never make it as a closer, but he can be a great 8th inning man when he’s on.\u00a0 And then there is Lidge.\u00a0 Like Hamels, he\u00a0looks<\/em>\u00a0more\u00a0like the\u00a0guy we saw in 2008, even if the results aren’t there yet.\u00a0 His fastball\u00a0velocity has been good, and his strike out rate is through the roof, with 19 K’s in 13 innings.\u00a0 He’s given up two\u00a09th inning game-tying home runs over the last\u00a0few weeks, but other than those\u00a0two games, he’s\u00a0been really effective.\u00a0 We can’t say for sure that he can get the job done,\u00a0but there’s definitely reason to be optimistic.<\/p>\n

Grade<\/em>: B<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overall Team<\/strong>:\u00a0 Injuries can’t be used as an excuse at this level, but they can be factored into grades like this.\u00a0 It’s interesting to\u00a0look over these grades and see all those C-level grades for the offense.\u00a0 We’ve\u00a0become very accustomed to\u00a0watching the best offense in the National League, and they have been far from that in the 1st half of 2010.\u00a0 Given the solid performance of the pitching staff, you\u00a0would’ve though the\u00a0Phils would be 6 games ahead, rather than behind, in the division.\u00a0 Can Charlie Manuel find the right buttons to push once again?\u00a0 Will Ruben Amaro\u00a0weaken the farm system even further to push for another title?\u00a0 Will the bats that have disappeared return to form?\u00a0 These\u00a0are just some of the questions that will determine whether or not the 2010 Phils can win their 4th\u00a0straight division title, and 3rd straight pennant.\u00a0 With this 1st half, they’ve put themselves in a hole.<\/p>\n

Grade<\/em>: C-\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For a take on the Lebron Madness, see Bry’s post below.\u00a0 Record: 43-40, 3rd in division (6 games behind Atlanta) The Phils\u00a0officially completed the\u00a01st half of the season with a big win over the Braves on Monday night, but two … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1028],"tags":[689,23,796,377,30,222,1047,1046,368,632,606,327,210,14,308,1031,850,367,16,788,408,309,395,218,369,1043],"class_list":["post-562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb","category-phils-weekly-report","tag-ben-francisco","tag-brad-lidge","tag-brian-schneider","tag-carlos-ruiz","tag-chase-utley","tag-cole-hamels","tag-danys-baez","tag-david-herndon","tag-greg-dobbs","tag-jc-romero","tag-ja-happ","tag-jamie-moyer","tag-jayson-werth","tag-jimmy-rollins","tag-joe-blanton","tag-jose-contreras","tag-juan-castro","tag-kyle-kendrick","tag-phillies","tag-placido-polanco","tag-raul-ibanez","tag-roy-halladay","tag-ruben-amaro","tag-ryan-howard","tag-shane-victorino","tag-wilson-valdez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}