Tag Archive: cliff lee

Are They Who We Thought They Were?

June 5, 2013 Randy Neil

Fresh off the longest win-streak of the 2013 season, the Philadelphia Phillies are back at .500 (30-30) which leaves a very important question to be asked: Who are these guys?

I don’t know. Charlie Manuel doesn’t know. Ruben Amaro Jr. definitely doesn’t know. In the not so distant future, the front office of this ball club is going to have to make a definite move that shapes the remainder of the season.

Certainly, Domonic Brown is having the best season of his career. Leading the national league in home runs, being named the NL Player of the Month, and earning the NL Player of the Week award back-to-back are all incredibly positive feats that can offer hope for this ball club.

Roy Halladay gave more hopeful news in his press conference this week, alluding to the fact that he will return this season and his surgery went successfully as expected. Doc even noted that his range of motion, even a mere week after the surgery, is better than it has been in years. All signs point to him returning to the lineup this summer, possibly healthier than he’s ever been in a Phillies uniform.

Howard, Utley, and Ruiz were all playing at the start of this season, but have had their own obstacles to overcome. Howard has been consistent, but below average, in his offensive output and would even tell you himself that he’s not living up to his potential. Utley and Ruiz have both been riddled with injuries that leave question marks around their contributions come “make-a-run” time, if that ever happens.

Which leads to the less-desired question that the Phillies front-office will have to answer: Is it time to abandon ship?

Up until 4 days ago, the Phillies looked all but doomed. Michael and Delmon Young have just not lived up to the expectations we had going into this season. Michael Young is second in the league for GIDP and boasts a meager 10 RBIs. Their defense has definitely been the major reason for their playing time.

No one expected Cole Hamel’s record to be 2-9 at this point, but our offense (and his pitching in some cases) has been less than consistent. Cliff Lee trade rumors have been coming out of the wood-works. Lee, when questioned on whether he thinks he will get traded or not, even admitted that he thought it was likely. He certainly stands as the most valuable commodity the organization has, and if they decide to pump the brakes for this season, consider him gone.

That’s what it really all boils down to for this club. The consistency just simply hasn’t been there. Winning spurts like the one we are currently in (knocks on wood) are few and far between. The losses have been just too discouraging at times. The next month is going to be pivotal. The hump of .500 has finally been conquered, but all too often do I hear the phrase “gain some momentum” being used without any follow through.

I’ve seen stranger things happen… but just don’t get your hopes too high Phillies fans.

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Where Are The Bats??

May 18, 2011 Randy Neil

I know, I know. Stop hitting the panic button. It’s mid-May and the Phillies’ offensive slump has hit. We all knew it was coming since Spring Training. The entire off-season people were concerned with Jayson Werth’s absence hurting the line up and now they have fuel for the fire.

Last night might have been the most frustrating. After a dismal 8 innings of poor offensive production, the Phils got a break when defensive replacement Tyler Greene dropped a routine pop-fly allowing a runner on base.

Naturally, when an error occurs in baseball, it often spells doom. Martinez gets a single to drive Rollins over to 3rd, and Polanco drives deep to bring in the run. It worked out, and got us back in the game.

Then, Danny Baez gives up 3 straight singles in the 9th to load up the bases with no outs. He gets into an epic pitch battle with Matt Holiday and induces a ground ball allowing a force-out at home. 1 out, bases still loaded. Then Charlie Manuel calls in J.C. Romero to go lefty v. lefty against Lance Berkman, and if you sneezed you would have missed the walk-off single, because it happened on the first pitch. Game over. Frowny face.

There’s not much you can do there. You’d like to think that we shouldn’t have been in such a vulnerable position if we scored more runs. Danny Baez was flirting with fire in the 9th, and he now has a disgusting E.R.A. for the year. He’s allowed 6 runs in his last 4 innings pitched. Yuck.

Speaking of bad pitching… Cliff Lee’s numbers aren’t looking so hot either. No one is pressing the panic button for him because we all know he’s a stud that will figure it out, but he’s got a 4.38 ERA his last 2 starts and also gave up more walks than he ever has in his career. He’s winless in his last 6 starts. Just saying.

Oswalt looked good coming off of his DL placement, which is incredibly beneficial for my fantasy team. It was an encouraging sign that things will return to normal with him and I will reign supreme in fantasy. One inning more and I would have gotten a quality start out of him. Manuel needs to be aware of these things….

But that bats man!! We need some more bats!! Chooch is going through a 1-32 slump right now, which is horrid because we need his defense when Manuel opts to place Sardinha in and errors occur. I don’t know what it is, I just don’t like Sardinha.

So this could be one of two things. Either we’re in a panic for no reason and this 4 game losing streak is a minor stint, OR we finally are starting to see the signs of a diminished offensive lineup. I’m gonna go with minor losing stint. We were the last team in the MLB to lose 3 games in a row this year. Even the “best team in baseball” Cleveland Indians couldn’t say that.

Tonight we start a 3 game home-stand against the Colorado Rockies and this guy, Troy Tulowitzki. The king of the mullets.

Hate to say it, but I think Hamels is going to have some trouble tonight. Cole going against a young, swing-first, line-up never fairs well. Hopefully the Phillies talk some shit on Tulo’s hair and it gets him all worked up and in a mess.

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Cliff Lee signs with Philadelphia Phillies

December 14, 2010 Randy Neil

Aaaaand the award for greatest pitching staff of all time goes to?

Seriously?  We are going to have Roy Oswalt, Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, and now Cliff Lee??  I see a double ROYbow.

Cliff Lee announced around midnight that he would be signing a 5 year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.  Somehow we’ve become the Miami Heat of baseball, and the best part is we’ve basically profited from the sadness and disappointment of the New York Yankees.

Adam texted me at 5 pm Tuesday afternoon, and mentioned this might happen.  How skeptical we were.

I also want to note that Adam destroyed me in our fantasy football play off game, and although Andre Johnson caught for some 600 yards, it was still no match for his Michael Vick/Michael Turner combo.  Some man (unmentioned) decided to trade Adam Vick for Brandon Tate straight up earlier in the season, and how that has come back to haunt me.  Where’s the veto button now?

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