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Amaro Hints Major Deal Coming

Written by Mike Mariano | 21 July 2010

This is all verrrrry interesting, yet still speculation.  I'd be very impressed if Ruben put his pride aside, admitted the Cliff Lee mistake and brought in a big-time starter.  Per ESPN this morning:

There were indications Tuesday the Philadelphia Phillies were working on a major deal to acquire a starting pitcher in an attempt to save a season that has veered in the wrong direction this month.

The Phillies will need a starting pitcher for Saturday, since they sent Monday's starter Kyle Kendrick back to the minor leagues on Tuesday. Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr., who is with the club in St. Louis, hinted strongly to reporters that the Phillies could acquire a pitcher from outside the organization to make that start.

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On the pitching front, the Phillies have discussed deals involving a number of starters. They've talked about Arizona's Dan Haren, Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie and Oakland's Ben Sheets, among others. But there were indications they've spent a lot of time in recent days exploring a trade for Astros ace Roy Oswalt.

Quick Hits: Time Machine -- Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee

Written by Mike Mariano | 21 July 2010

(here's a snippet from my interview over at TCB the other day.  The rest of it will follow in segments, because I know that none of you went over there to read it)

TCB: Looking back, would you prefer to have just kept Cliff Lee instead of trading for Roy Halladay?
Simple answer to that question.. No. However I could give you 20,000 words on why the team should've kept Cliff Lee along with Roy Halladay. Hindsight makes it easy, but a lot of the city has been moaning about it since it happened. Not only because of how badly he's needed, but because it showed that the ownership isn't completely committed to winning. The bottomline undoubtedly matters (hugely so), but in keeping Cliff the team could've created something special, if not dominant. When you have a chance to do something like that, you have to do it, just look at the Miami Heat. Different circumstances, but same lesson nonetheless.

Quick Hit: What Happened in the NL East

Written by Mike Mariano | 20 July 2010

(here's a snippet from my interview over at TCB the other day.  The rest of it will follow in segments, because I know that none of you went over there to read it)

TCB: The Phillies were expected to run away with the NL again this season, instead they've struggled. What happened?

WTTTB: What I think a lot of people don't remember from last season is that the Phillies didn't play great regular season baseball. With a struggling division in 2009, they really didn't have to. In all honesty, they haven't played fantastic baseball the last few seasons short of the playoff runs. Granted, I'm talking down a team that won (nearly) 90 games each of the past three seasons, but the point remains that they were hardly a juggernaut from April to September.

Fast forward to now and I'm getting flashbacks to the sad Phillies of ol', which certainly hasn't been fun. It all comes down to pitching. Put aside the huge hitting drought of June and just looking at the staff it's obvious that there are holes. Only Roy Halladay is consistent and otherwise it's a crapshoot. Shaky relief pitching and unreliable starting pitching are not part of the recipe for sustained success. In the past, they've figured it out long enough to accomplish great things, but this might be the year that it all catches up with the team.

 

Kyle Kendrick not so good, Charlie doesn't notice

Written by Mike Mariano | 20 July 2010

Anytime Kyle Kendrick is on the mound, all Phillies not from Houston, TX (his hometown) start cursing under their breath (or very loudly) with disdain.  Last night was one of those nights where Kyle does more than enough to further those negative emotions.  Five innings, Seven runs, Loss.  Sadly for Kendrick, it's not all his fault.  Uncle Charlie left Kendrick out there to die, but not by the merciful guillotine, no more like he let the heart of the Cardinals order tar and feather him on the mound.  Staked a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the fifth, you tell me when Charlie should have yanked his already shaky starter:

St. Louis - Bottom of 5thSCORE
Kyle Kendrick pitching for PhiladelphiaPHISTL
B Ryan lined out to center. 4 2
F Lopez walked. 4 2
J Jay doubled to deep center, F Lopez scored. 4 3
A Pujols homered to left (422 feet), J Jay scored. 4 5
C Rasmus grounded out to first. 4 5
A Craig homered to left (400 feet). 4 6
S Schumaker homered to right (368 feet). 4 7
Y Molina grounded out to shortstop. 4 7

5 Runs, 4 Hits, 0 Errors

I don't know, maybe after the first 400+ ft. home run hit by King Albert?  No?  Okay, after the second one?  Nah, ok definitely after the third home run of the inning?!  Nope.  Not a quality start on this day.  Not sure what Charlie was thinking today, maybe he needed Kyle to eat innings and rest the bullpen.  I can't imagine why since we're fresh off the all-star break, but there's a chance right?

I find Kendrick to be a sad story.  He's fallen into that dreaded grouping of Philadelphia athletes whom the city has given up on.  I'm not talking about stars like Abreu or McNabb, but role players who the fans simply stop responding too.  The Todd Pinkstons and David Bells of the Philly sports world.  Kendrick is getting there and I hate watching these guys get dwindled down into nothing, I'd rather the organizations just ship them out.  It's depressing.

Getting to the must-win stage.  Can't afford to keep this free-falling rolling.  Eventually it will get to the point where we're too far behind...  (oh yeah - Ryan Howard - still scorching hot)

Rolled by Cubs, Phillies stumbling out of the gate

Written by Mike Mariano | 18 July 2010

Forget what little momentum the Phillies had going into the break because tonight cements a series loss against the Cubs losing three out of four.  Not only that, the had the one game they lost in hand and practically gave it to us.  So the Phillies were a few breaks away from being swept and gave the Mets back second place.  Not good.

Roy Halladay got hit around from the first inning on and when Herndon came in to relieve him, the wheels fell off completely.  The Cubs put up double digit runs for the second time this series and it seems like all those guys they'd been waiting for all got hot.  Not all Doc's fault with the poor outing as the wind was blowing balls all over the field, but Tim Gorzelanny didn't have too much trouble.  This was his second start against the Phils this season and he was great again.  Also, the table-setters for the Cubbies, Colvin & Castro had three hits each which is leads to constant pressure on the pitcher and the defense.

On the offensive side, these days if Ryan Howard doesn't bring all the juice then the team doesn't score too much.  He hit a solo home run late in the game, but they were too far back for it to make a dent.  It was an impressive opposite field shot that went to the same exact spot that Ben Francisco's dinger too batters later went, and Francisco pulled his.

Continuing in the NL Central, the Phillies have four against the Cardinals coming up and have the ESPN game again tomorrow night -- must see match-up: Hawksworth v. Kendrick!

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