{"id":567,"date":"2010-07-21T23:10:20","date_gmt":"2010-07-22T04:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=567"},"modified":"2010-07-21T23:14:14","modified_gmt":"2010-07-22T04:14:14","slug":"phillies-semi-weekly-report-card-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=567","title":{"rendered":"Phillies Semi-Weekly Report Card #9"},"content":{"rendered":"

Record since All-Star Break:\u00a0<\/strong>1-6<\/p>\n

Overall Record: <\/strong>48-46 (3rd in division, 7 behind Atlanta)<\/p>\n

This week can safely be\u00a0considered a disaster.\u00a0 The Phils went into the All-Star\u00a0break with some good momentum thanks to a 4-game\u00a0sweep of Cincinnati.\u00a0 It seemed like they were in a good position to put the struggles of the first half behind them and come out ready to make a run at the Braves over the next couple\u00a0of months.\u00a0 Well, not so much.\u00a0 The offensive struggles, which were evident even in that sweep of the Reds,\u00a0are ongoing, and\u00a0this week they\u00a0added some starting pitching problems to go along with it.\u00a0 They lost 3 of 4 in Wrigley Field, and have dropped the first 3 of their 4-game set in St. Louis.\u00a0 Even their one win was basically handed to them because Carlos Marmol couldn’t throw strikes.<\/p>\n

There’s been a flurry of roster moves, so let’s recap those.\u00a0 Chad Durbin returned from the DL on Thursday; Nelson Figueroa was waived again\u00a0to open a spot and he didn’t clear this time, as the Astros claimed him.\u00a0 Placido Polanco\u00a0was a welcome sight on Saturday, especially when he knocked in the game-winning run in the 9th inning.\u00a0 Juan Castro was released outright to make room.\u00a0 Following a\u00a0lousy start on Monday, Kyle Kendrick was optioned to AAA, with Andrew Carpenter taking his\u00a0roster spot briefly, but he’s now been replaced by Vance Worley, whoever that is.\u00a0 Finally,\u00a0our inevitable weekly injury came on Tuesday, when Jamie Moyer left his start after one inning, with an elbow injury.\u00a0 He’s headed to the DL, and the word is that he could possibly be done for the season.<\/p>\n

\"oswalt\"Trade Rumors<\/strong><\/p>\n

That Moyer injury\u00a0is a nice segue to the\u00a0trade rumor section.\u00a0 Ruben Amaro made some\u00a0unusal statements prior to Tuesday’s game, basically insinuating that a\u00a0trade for a starting pitcher was imminent.\u00a0 After Moyer was injured, it’s hard to believe that the Phils won’t make a deal for a starter before the deadline, but\u00a0the quality of that starter is really\u00a0unknown.<\/p>\n

The strong rumor that has been swirling the last couple of days has the Phillies obtaining Roy Oswalt in exchange for J.A. Happ and prospects.\u00a0 In a Cliff Lee-esque (but much more understandable) move, the Phils would then send Jayson Werth to Tampa Bay (most likely for young ML talent or close to ML-ready prospects), and put Domonic Brown in right field.\u00a0 It seems that the deal was just about done, but Oswalt has\u00a0a no-trade clause and has demanded that the Phillies commit to picking up his $16 million option for 2012 before he accepts the trade, which the Phils are unwilling to do, at least for now.\u00a0 As much as I’d hate to see Werth go, I think I’d welcome this trade.\u00a0 If we’re not re-signing Werth after the season anyway, then maybe it’s best to get some\u00a0young, cheap talent\u00a0for him, bring Oswalt on board for this year and going forward, and get Dom Brown some experience.\u00a0 We’d\u00a0still have a good chance to win this year, and would be in a great position heading into next season.\u00a0 Dan Haren and Ben Sheets remain options if the Oswalt deal falls through.<\/p>\n

On to this week’s grades:<\/p>\n

Position Players:\u00a0 <\/strong>It\u00a0must be after the All-Star break, because Ryan Howard is crushing long balls at a high rate.\u00a0 The guy’s like clockwork.\u00a0 Of course, it didn’t do them much good this week, but if\u00a0it wasn’t for Howard, the team would have really struggled to get runs on the board.\u00a0 Howard hit 5 homers on the week, along with 2 doubles,\u00a0with a .370 BA and 10 RBI.\u00a0 But the Hit of the Week has to go to Polanco, who came up with a two-out RBI single to tie the game at 1 in the 9th inning on Saturday, which led to three more runs in the inning and the team’s lone win of the week.\u00a0 Placido was solid overall in his first week back.<\/p>\n

The main culprit of the week\u00a0was J-Roll, who bounced back and forth between 1st and 3rd in the order, and went 2-24 before being dropped to 6th on Wednesday night.\u00a0 Also, Carlos Ruiz and Wilson Valdez were basically automatic outs at the bottom of the order.\u00a0 Cody Ransom may start pushing Valdez for time at second base, especially after he made a fantastic play in the field\u00a0Wednesday to start a double play.\u00a0 It also appears that Charlie is starting to institute a straight platoon with Ibanez and Francisco in left field, as Francisco\u00a0started all three games against left-handers this week.<\/p>\n

With the offense still trying to get going, the last thing they needed was a 3 game stretch against Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia, and\u00a0Adam Wainwright, but that’s\u00a0what they’re dealing with right now,\u00a0with Wainwright taking the hill in the series finale on Thursday.<\/p>\n

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

Starting Pitchers:\u00a0 <\/strong>On the positive side, Joe Blanton had\u00a0two solid outings, allowing 3 earned runs in 7 innings in each\"blanton\", but he came away with just a loss and\u00a0a no-decision for his efforts.\u00a0 Also, Cole Hamels continued his remergence, holding the Cubs to one run\u00a0in 7 innings and making\u00a0that 9th inning comeback possible.\u00a0 Other than that, it wasn’t pretty.\u00a0 Halladay had a rough game, Moyer got lit up on Thursday, and Kendrick was\u00a0beat up so bad that his next\u00a0start will be for the Iron Pigs.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see who the starting pitchers are on Saturday and Sunday.\u00a0 Right now, it’s basically anyone’s guess.<\/p>\n

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

Bullpen:\u00a0 <\/strong>Oh, the bullpen.\u00a0 Let’s start with the positive: Brad Lidge saved Saturday’s win in his only appearance of the week.\u00a0\u00a0The rest was pretty ugly.\u00a0 Jose Contreras continued to regress, getting pounded for 5 runs in 2\/3 inning on Thursday.\u00a0 Ryan Madson took the loss on Friday, serving\u00a0up a solo shot to Aramis Ramirez in the 8th inning of a tie game.\u00a0 J.C. Romero and David Herndon were ineffective on Sunday, putting a somewhat close game\u00a0well out of reach.\u00a0 And Danys Baez was touched for 3 runs on Tuesday.\u00a0 Charlie must be struggling to figure out the roles in his pen, other than Lidge as his closer.\u00a0 He’s started to use Durbin in more key spots, but I imagine Madson will still\u00a0be viewed as the main set-up man,\u00a0unless he stumbles further.\u00a0 On Wednesday night, Charlie let Blanton hit\u00a0in the 7th inning with the bases loaded and two outs, in a 1-1 game.\u00a0 You could argue that he did that because\u00a0the Cards had a lefty on the mound and\u00a0the only right-handed bat on the bench was Valdez, but it certainly doesn’t suggest much confidence in the pen, and can you blame him?<\/p>\n

Grade: <\/em>D<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Up Next:\u00a0 <\/strong>The road trip comes to a merciful close against the Cards on Thursday afternoon.\u00a0 Then the Phils come home to face Colorado and Arizona.\u00a0 The trade rumors will be the main talk of the week, until something goes down.\u00a0 There’s still over a week until the deadline, so it could be a drawn out process, but Amaro certainly sounds like he wants to make a move ASAP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Record since All-Star Break:\u00a01-6 Overall Record: 48-46 (3rd in division, 7 behind Atlanta) This week can safely be\u00a0considered a disaster.\u00a0 The Phils went into the All-Star\u00a0break with some good momentum thanks to a 4-game\u00a0sweep of Cincinnati.\u00a0 It seemed like they … 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":[23,382,222,327,210,308,1031,367,788,322,395,218,213],"class_list":["post-567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb","category-phils-weekly-report","tag-brad-lidge","tag-charlie-manuel","tag-cole-hamels","tag-jamie-moyer","tag-jayson-werth","tag-joe-blanton","tag-jose-contreras","tag-kyle-kendrick","tag-placido-polanco","tag-roy-oswalt","tag-ruben-amaro","tag-ryan-howard","tag-ryan-madson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567","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=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}