Rough Week for the Phils

As if there weren’t enough questions about the makeup of the Phillies, they were dealt two huge blows this week to their stellar offense.
In the process, their defense has taken a hit, too.

Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino, the top of the Philadelphia order, were both lost to leg injuries once again throwing a wrench into the start of a shaky season.

The Phils 6-5 loss on Sunday to the Cubs brought their early record to 6-7. More importantly, we’ve learned in the first two weeks of the season that the Phils are an unstable club.

Besides losing their leadoff men and having an up and down pitching staff, the Phils have struggled mightily on defense. In their 12 games this season the defense has committed 13 errors, second-worst in the National League behind only the bumbling Pirates.

On Sunday, Geoff Jenkins dropped a ball down the left field foul line that appeared to be very playable, which led to a two run double later on in the inning by Derrek Lee.

Second baseman Chase Utley’s errant throw on a surefire double play ball in the 10th inning led to the winning run for Chicago as Ryan Howard could not pull the ball out of the dirt on the hop.

With enough to worry about throughout their pitching staff, and now at the top of the lineup, the last thing the Phils need is terrible play from the D. This is a major role-reversal from the 2007 season when the team was third in the NL in fielding percentage, and committed just 89 total errors.

This week alone, the Phillies tacked on eight errors including a 4-spot on Wednesday against the Mets. Without Rollins, who had just 11 errors in all 162 games last year, the defense is searching for a leader to step in.

In his place comes career backup Eric Bruntlett who is suspect with the bat and is average with the glove. With Rollins possibly coming back Tuesday against the Astros, the Phils should be in better shape next week, even though Rollins is off to a worrisome start in the field.

Shane Victorino can cover a lot of ground in center field, however, with a strained calf, there will not be much running going on. Victorino was placed on the 15-day DL and hopes to be back when he is eligible to come off of it.

Last season, Victorino endured the same injury, which cost him about a month. This injury appears to be minor in nature, which is good news.

Jayson Werth has filled in admirably in center for the Phillies, and has become an on-base machine in the process.

In addition to the injuries and defensive woes of the past week, the Phillies also may have lost a game due to a blown call.

Mark Derosa stepped to the plate in the sixth inning and blasted a Jamie Moyer offering down the third base line that looked to go behind the foul pole from the foul side. However, third base umpire Adrian Johnson called it a home run and that gave the Cubs an extra run to work with.

Another bizarre occurrence happened at the “new” top of the Phillies lineup, where Geoff Jenkins batted leadoff for the first time in his career. After 1,246 games in the major leagues, Jenkins found himself penciled in at number one, going 2-for-6 with a run scored.

The leadoff experiment probably won’t last long for Jenkins as Rollins is on his way back and Jayson Werth has found himself on base a bunch in the early going.

Another constant seems to be the up and down pitching staff.

Only one starter has been lights out so far, and that is Cole Hamels, who was expected to be lights out this season. Brett Myers, staff ace 1A, has been less than first rate in his first three starts. His 5.00 ERA and five home runs allowed have been a bit of a disaster. Add Kyle Kendrick’s 6+ ERA and Jaime Moyer’s early inconsistencies, and you have yourself a ticking time bomb of a starting rotation.

Half of the bullpen has been outstanding, while the other has been awful. JC Romero, Brad Lidge, and Rudy Seanez have given up zero earned runs in their combined 15.2 innings of work. On the flip side, Tom Gordon, Clay Condrey and Ryan Madson have allowed 16 earned runs in 17 2/3 innings.

Even with all of the bad, there comes a little bit of good. Pat Burrell has been stroking the ball with confidence, hitting .359 with four homers and 13 rbi. Hamels has anchored the pitching staff and Carlos Ruiz and Chris Coste have supplied a great tandem behind the plate.

So there is a sign of hope that as the warm weather comes, the Phils can snap out of the rocky start.

When J-Roll returns, the leader in the clubhouse will have to be the man to right the wobbly ship for the Phillies.

The pitching staff needs to follow suit, or Philadelphians will be seeing several other crazy weeks throughout this long and possibly agonizing season.