{"id":784,"date":"2010-09-22T23:34:08","date_gmt":"2010-09-23T03:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=784"},"modified":"2010-09-22T23:34:08","modified_gmt":"2010-09-23T03:34:08","slug":"phillies-semi-weekly-report-card-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=784","title":{"rendered":"Phillies Semi-Weekly Report Card #15"},"content":{"rendered":"

Record since last Report Card:\u00a0 <\/strong>7-0<\/p>\n

Overall Record:\u00a0 <\/strong>92-61 (1st in division, 6 ahead of Atlanta)<\/p>\n

I could go on and on about what a great week this was, what a great month it’s been, and how good this team is, in general, but let’s cut right to the chase:\u00a0 the Phillies are the team to beat.\u00a0 Not in the division, not in the National League, but in all of baseball.\u00a0 At no point in this incredible run of success that they’ve had over the last few years have I made that statement, but I made it after Monday night’s win, and obviously two more wins over a very good Braves team did nothing to change that opinion.<\/p>\n

With all due respect to the other contenders, especially the Yankees and Rays, I see no reason why the Phillies, especially with home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, shouldn’t be the favorite to win the World Series.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re some sort of lock to win it, or even win the pennant again.\u00a0 I’ve heard some Phillie fans dismissing the thought of a team like the Reds or Giants beating the Phils in the first-round.\u00a0 In a playoff series, anything can happen.\u00a0 But with the pedigree of this Phillies team, the way they rise to the occasion again and again and again, with three<\/em> aces in the rotation, and a back-end of the bullpen that is rounding into shape, they are the most likely team to win it all next month.<\/p>\n

On to the grades:<\/p>\n

\"\"Position Players:\u00a0 <\/strong>A stellar week with the bats, highlighted by 19 runs combined in the first two games of the week (vs. Marlins and Nats) and a 4-run 9th inning to beat the Nats 7-6 on Sunday.\u00a0 Seemingly in the middle of it constantly were Jayson Werth and Raul Ibanez.\u00a0 Werth’s power stroke has come back in a big way, as he hit 4 homers this week en route to a .440 (11-25) average.\u00a0 His two-run bomb completed that comeback on Sunday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ibanez delivered key RBI hits in the Atlanta series.\u00a0\u00a0His two-run\u00a0double in the 6th on Tuesday gave the Phils a 3-run cushion, and his RBI double in the bottom of the 8th on Wednesday accounted for the only run of the game.\u00a0 He hit .464 (13-28) on the week, and over the last two weeks, he’s hitting .440 with 10 extra-base hits.<\/p>\n

Utley and Ruiz\u00a0each\u00a0had another nice week, while Wilson Valdez continued to contribute, hitting .360 (9-25) with his usual handful of\u00a0jaw-dropping plays at short.\u00a0 Who knows how many runs\u00a0this offense would have put up this week if the table-setters, Victorino and Polanco, hadn’t struggled.\u00a0 Those two\u00a0combined to hit .200 (12-60), with just one extra-base hit.\u00a0 Polanco’s elbow injury continues to effect his power, as his homer-less drought\u00a0has now reached two months, and he has just one<\/em> long ball\u00a0since May 9th.<\/p>\n

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

Starting Pitchers<\/strong>:\u00a0 Very similar to the last few weeks here, and that’s not just a good thing, it’s a great thing.\u00a0\u00a0Oswalt and Hamels again\u00a0vied for Start of the Week,\u00a0and the nod has to go to Oswalt for his effort\u00a0against Atlanta on Wednesday night, even though he got a no-decision.\u00a0 He went 7 shut-out innings, allowing one hit and striking out eight.\u00a0 In his other start of the week he beat the Nats by allowing one run in six innings.<\/p>\n

Hamels lone start of the week came on Monday against Atlanta, when he set the tone for the series with 8 excellent innings, allowing one run.\u00a0 Stat of the Week:\u00a0 Cole has now allowed one run or less in 10 of his last 14 starts, including the last\u00a05\u00a0in a row.\u00a0 Halladay had two more good-but-not-great starts, allowing three runs in each and going\u00a06 and 7 innings, respectively.\u00a0 He’s allowed at least 3 runs in six consecutive starts.\u00a0 It would be nice to see him throw up a real gem here in one of his final starts to go into the playoffs feeling strong.<\/p>\n

Blanton and Kendrick were both decent, going 6 innings apiece against the Nats over the weekend.\u00a0 Blanton allowed\u00a0four runs and Kendrick gave up two.\u00a0 In all, the starters combined for a 2.73 ERA, and struck out 44 batters while walking just 7.<\/p>\n

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

Bullpen<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0What\u00a0an electrifying performance Lidge gave to close out the game on Monday.\u00a0 He came\u00a0in\u00a0with a two-run lead, with the Bank rocking like a playoff game, and he was facing the 2-3-4 hitters in the Braves line-up.\u00a0 His slider was diving like we haven’t seen in a while, and he had complete command of it.\u00a0 He was very shaky in a non-save situation last\u00a0Wednesday in Florida, but that could be chalked up to the old “closers struggle in non-save situations” phenomenon.\u00a0 He converted\u00a0four save opportunities after that.\u00a0\u00a0His consistency is not at the level that it was in ’08, but for the most part he very much resembles the guy he was two years ago.<\/p>\n

Yet another dominating week for Ryan Madson, who allowed no runs in his four outings.\u00a0 There’s been a lot of talk about him being over-used, and\u00a0there’s something to be said for that, but it’s worth noting that he missed two months\u00a0with that toe injury early in the year, so his season innings total is still well below what it was the past two years.\u00a0 Jose Contreras had a couple good\u00a0outings and should have the 7th inning role locked down.\u00a0 Not that the Phils need a 7th inning man that often\u00a0considering how good their starters are.<\/p>\n

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

Up Next<\/strong>:\u00a0 An off day on Thursday before the Mets come to the Bank for three and then a\u00a0trip to D.C. for three before going to Atlanta to close out the regular season.\u00a0 To be frank,\u00a0the division race is all but over.\u00a0 These next 9 games\u00a0will be mostly about answering certain questions\u00a0going into the playoffs.\u00a0 For example:\u00a0 What will be the order of\u00a0the aces in the rotation?\u00a0 Can J.C. Romero be trusted in key situations?\u00a0 Will Jimmy Rollins be ready to go, and where will he\u00a0hit in the batting order?\u00a0 Will Mike Sweeney, Greg Dobbs, and\/or Dom Brown be on the playoff roster?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Record since last Report Card:\u00a0 7-0 Overall Record:\u00a0 92-61 (1st in division, 6 ahead of Atlanta) I could go on and on about what a great week this was, what a great month it’s been, and how good this team … 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":[23,377,30,222,210,308,1031,367,788,408,309,322,213,369,1043],"class_list":["post-784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb","category-phils-weekly-report","tag-brad-lidge","tag-carlos-ruiz","tag-chase-utley","tag-cole-hamels","tag-jayson-werth","tag-joe-blanton","tag-jose-contreras","tag-kyle-kendrick","tag-placido-polanco","tag-raul-ibanez","tag-roy-halladay","tag-roy-oswalt","tag-ryan-madson","tag-shane-victorino","tag-wilson-valdez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784","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=784"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":787,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784\/revisions\/787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}