We are back from resting season. At least I am. Jim still may be on the streets of New York looking for his mp3 player.
So what have we missed? Someone, most likely Adam Eaton, slipped some Krytonite into Cole Hamels' Campbell's Soup. This probably had something to do with Eaton being released (that and the fact that he is a terrible pitcher). Geoff Jenkins also got the boot so the Phillies could flirt with Gary Sheffield. Chan Ho Park will be in the Phillies starting rotation which would be exciting news if it was 2000. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet Spring in Clearwater.
Here are some quick predictions by yours truly:
Ryan Howard will finally get off to a hot start. He'll have 30 home runs by the All Star Break.
Chase Utley will struggle early because he came back too soon from his crazy hip surgery. I don't think I'm going out on too far of a limb with this one.
Brad Lidge will blow a save. In fact, he may blow two.
Pedro Feliz will cause me to consider throwing my laptop into the middle of the street.
Shane Victorino will post a .700 OPS, which will cause the Phillies to make a move for another outfielder.
The Phillies will end up winning 88 games, which will be good enough for the Wild Card. Unfortunately, the Mets will win the Division.
NL Predictions:
East: Mets
Central: Cubs
West: Diamondbacks
WC: Phillies
NL Winner: Diamondbacks
MVP other than Pujols: Prince Fielder
Cy Young: Johan Santana
AL Predictions:
East: Red Sox
Central: White Sox
West: Angels
WC: Rays
AL Winner: Red Sox
MVP: Grady Sizemore
Cy Young: Jon Lester
Unfortunately for most of us, the Red Sox will win the World Series.
Raul Ibanez might not be the player that Pat Burrell was, but he is definitely a much better actor.
Showing posts with label Cole Hamels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cole Hamels. Show all posts
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Monday, May 7, 2007
Nerd Alert
Here are some random Phillies Phun Phacts Phrom the Phuture of Now:
- Jimmy Rollins' batting average has increased from .294 to .314 since April 28. In that same span of time, his OBP has increased from .368 to ........ .368. Which seems very difficult to do if not for the fact that,
- Rollins has walked once in the last 24 games. If you pro-rate that over the course of the season, you are looking at a total of 7 walks.
- Wes Helms continues to do his best David Bell impression. Though he is hitting a respectable .284, his OBP is now at .318 and his SLG is at .343, almost 100 points less than his career average.
- The Phillies lead the major leagues in OBP, yet are only 11th in baseball in runs per game. A lot of this has to due with Howard's season long slump and the power twins, Burrell and Helms, having a difficult time this year mustering up more than singles.
- Cole Hamels could strike out Jesus Christ with his changeup.
- Shane Victorino probably had the greatest 4 day span of any major league baseball player from Hawaii. He went 10 for 17 (.588 BA), had a SLG of .824, got his picture taken at the Golden Gate Bridge with his imaginary friends, and stole six bases. Benny Agbayani, eat your heart out.
- Despite popular believe to the contrary, Freddy Garcia does not have the ability to move large objects with his mind.
- Rod Barajas is on pace for 92 walks. Coming into this season, Barajas had a total of 85 walks for his career.
- Rod Barajas still stinks, though.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Is Today The Day Cole Hamels Strikes Out 27 Batters?
Top of Sixth: I'm bad luck. I'm done with this for today.
Bottom of Fifth: Here is just a ridiculous set of stats. Below are the OPS for Brian Schneider from 2004-2006 against the teams in the NL East.
Mets: .646 OPS
Braves: .592 OPS
Marlins: .596 OPS
Phils: .891 OPS
250 to 300 points higher against the Phillies? How is that even possible?
Phils offense is putrid right now. They need some baserunners.
Top of Fourth: Dmitri Young closed his eyes and hit a home run to RF. Hamels with two more strikeouts. Bleh.
Top of Third: Hamels strikes the leadoff hitter out for the third straight time. He threw maybe six pitches that inning. It is ridiculous how good he is.
Top of Second: I remember a time earlier this season when Jimmy Rollins would actually take pitches. Apparently they feel as those their best chance to get on base is to swing at anything. It probably won't take too long for other teams to figure this out as well.
Kearns breaks up the perfect game with a weak single up the middle. Hamels got another K and got the other two outs easily. This game is sailing along.
Top of First: Who put Sarge Matthews in charge of the Keys to the Game? You could get more insight by asking the grass their opinion. Hamels with only one strikeout in the first inning, the other two outs came via foul outs. I really think the Phillies may want to re-think their strategy and let foul balls drop. Sure they would be giving away out, but I feel that opposing teams would be much more intimidated by Hamels if he were allowed to strike them all out.
Pre-Game: Three of the batters, excluding the pitcher, in Washington's lineup have an OBP under .282. That is impressive. What is not impressive is The White Stripes new single, which XM won't stop playing, that basically is a Black Sabbath cover. Only not.
Pre-Game: The Washington Nationals barely have a major league lineup. Cole Hamels is the greatest pitcher since, well ever. I'm expecting at the very least a no-hitter.
I'm going to live blog the game, as long as it is over by the time I want to leave work. This will be an interesting experiment.
Bottom of Fifth: Here is just a ridiculous set of stats. Below are the OPS for Brian Schneider from 2004-2006 against the teams in the NL East.
Mets: .646 OPS
Braves: .592 OPS
Marlins: .596 OPS
Phils: .891 OPS
250 to 300 points higher against the Phillies? How is that even possible?
Phils offense is putrid right now. They need some baserunners.
Top of Fourth: Dmitri Young closed his eyes and hit a home run to RF. Hamels with two more strikeouts. Bleh.
Top of Third: Hamels strikes the leadoff hitter out for the third straight time. He threw maybe six pitches that inning. It is ridiculous how good he is.
Top of Second: I remember a time earlier this season when Jimmy Rollins would actually take pitches. Apparently they feel as those their best chance to get on base is to swing at anything. It probably won't take too long for other teams to figure this out as well.
Kearns breaks up the perfect game with a weak single up the middle. Hamels got another K and got the other two outs easily. This game is sailing along.
Top of First: Who put Sarge Matthews in charge of the Keys to the Game? You could get more insight by asking the grass their opinion. Hamels with only one strikeout in the first inning, the other two outs came via foul outs. I really think the Phillies may want to re-think their strategy and let foul balls drop. Sure they would be giving away out, but I feel that opposing teams would be much more intimidated by Hamels if he were allowed to strike them all out.
Pre-Game: Three of the batters, excluding the pitcher, in Washington's lineup have an OBP under .282. That is impressive. What is not impressive is The White Stripes new single, which XM won't stop playing, that basically is a Black Sabbath cover. Only not.
Pre-Game: The Washington Nationals barely have a major league lineup. Cole Hamels is the greatest pitcher since, well ever. I'm expecting at the very least a no-hitter.
I'm going to live blog the game, as long as it is over by the time I want to leave work. This will be an interesting experiment.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Apparently The On Button Was Disguised As The Panic Button
The lights have been turned back on here.
And speaking of turning it on, all it took for the Phillies to win two games in a row was to take their staff ace (which does not equate to the best pitcher on their staff) and bury him in a setup role, effectively making him an overpaid Scott Shields, then completely revamp the lineup for one game, as well as have the senior citizen manager threaten physical harm to the city's most popular radio host. I really don't want to see what it will take for them to win five in a row.
It's been re-hashed on numerous blogs already, but it can't be understated how ridiculous of a move it was to move Myers from the staff to a setup guy in the middle of the season. Will it work? From the angle of solidifying the bullpen, it probably will because Myers is a really good pitcher and will be able to adapt in whatever role the Phillies give him. But instead of seeing Myers, a pitcher who looked to be on the brink of super stardom, every fifth day throw one hundred pitches, Phillies fans will be reminded not to make that last trip to the hot dog stand as Jon Lieber waddles out to the mound. There is a reason that no other team in baseball has had the bright idea to move their ace into a setup role. Because it is a waste of resources, especially in today's pitching thin market where Gil Meche can get 55 million dollars.
But at least we get to watch Cole Hamels pitch. There are a lot of great young pitchers out there right now, but it is time Hamels gets mentioned with the best of them. 33 strikeouts and 6 walks. That is just insane. If he keeps it up, it is quite possible that Manuel will give him a promotion to long relief. Keep it up, kid.
And speaking of turning it on, all it took for the Phillies to win two games in a row was to take their staff ace (which does not equate to the best pitcher on their staff) and bury him in a setup role, effectively making him an overpaid Scott Shields, then completely revamp the lineup for one game, as well as have the senior citizen manager threaten physical harm to the city's most popular radio host. I really don't want to see what it will take for them to win five in a row.
It's been re-hashed on numerous blogs already, but it can't be understated how ridiculous of a move it was to move Myers from the staff to a setup guy in the middle of the season. Will it work? From the angle of solidifying the bullpen, it probably will because Myers is a really good pitcher and will be able to adapt in whatever role the Phillies give him. But instead of seeing Myers, a pitcher who looked to be on the brink of super stardom, every fifth day throw one hundred pitches, Phillies fans will be reminded not to make that last trip to the hot dog stand as Jon Lieber waddles out to the mound. There is a reason that no other team in baseball has had the bright idea to move their ace into a setup role. Because it is a waste of resources, especially in today's pitching thin market where Gil Meche can get 55 million dollars.
But at least we get to watch Cole Hamels pitch. There are a lot of great young pitchers out there right now, but it is time Hamels gets mentioned with the best of them. 33 strikeouts and 6 walks. That is just insane. If he keeps it up, it is quite possible that Manuel will give him a promotion to long relief. Keep it up, kid.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)