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.

Woe is Philly

We all know the Philadelphia Phillies can score runs. Lots and lots of runs. Last year, the Phils paced the National League with 892 runs scores, 32 more than the thin-air bombers in Denver.

What we also know is, the city of Philadelphia could be in for a long year if their pitching continues the way it has for the first week of the season.

With the exception of the second game of the year against Washington in which the staff gave up just one run in a loss, they have give up at least four runs each of the others.

Staff ace Brett Myers has struggled with his control, walking five batters in 10 innings while giving up seven earned runs. For the Phillies to put fear into their competition, Myers will need to find his location on the fastball and go deeper into games as to not wear down the bullpen.

Cole Hamels looked great in his debut this season, going eight innings in a 1-0 loss to Washington. His incredible effort was outdone by the Nationals Tim Redding who gave up just one hit to the vaunted Phils lineup.

Hamels needs to stay the course after a beautiful 2007 season, and maybe even take the next step towards becoming an elite pitcher in the National League.

As of Monday, before the Phillies afternoon match against the Reds, only the Marlins pitching staff has given up more runs than the Phillies. Granted, the Phils play in the bandbox known at Citizens Bank Park, but that can no longer be an excuse.

One pitcher who is looking for a huge turnaround is Adam Eaton. After being the recipient of boos on opening day, Eaton started off the season with a nice outing. He went 7 2/3 innings giving up three earned runs and six hits.

That is a far cry from last years debacle of a season for Eaton who had a 6.29 ERA in 30 starts, somehow managing a 10-10 record. They need a just-above-average season from Eaton and if his first start is any indication of his season, he might give them just that.

Kyle Kendrick and Jaime Moyer round out the rotation and both had shaky outings to open up their year. Moyer allowed six earned runs in just 3 2/3 innings and was saved by the offense as the Phils came from behind to win 8-7. Moyer needs to be efficient as he was in ’07, or it could spell trouble for the ageless wonder.

Kendrick went five innings in his opener and hopes to build on a rookie season in which he went 10-4 with a 3.87 ERA in 20 starts. You can’t ask for much more than that from a guy who was in Double-A to start the year. Building on a year like that might be too much to ask from Kendrick, but it would be nice to see a steady performance this year.

The biggest problems lie in the later innings. The bullpen has been notoriously shaky in recent seasons, and it is no different in the early stages of 2008.

Tom Gordon, now 40, has started the year off with a 27.00 ERA, blowing a game in the first week for the Phillies, something fans have become accustom to. Whether his shoulder is not healed, or it simply his age catching up to him, he is not the same pitcher as he was before joining the Phils. He has a lot of mileage on the arm and may be nearing the end of a long career.

The rest of the bullpen needs to band together behind the obvious leader, JC Romero. His incredible 2007 led to a contract extension with the team and might now be the right choice to set up for Brad Lidge.

Speaking of Lidge, after coming over from the Astros for Michael Bourn and others, he started the first few games on the disabled list while rehabbing a knee injury. This may be a bit of a stretch, but the season may hinge on the arm of Lidge. He needs to hold down the fort when the Phillies have the lead.

Other pieces of the bullpen are vital as well, even though the average fan may not know them. Names like Seanez, Madson, Durbin and Condrey make up the rest of the unstable stable of arms.

Sure, the offense will explode at any moment. Yes, the staff may implode at any time as well.

For an encore of 2007 to occur, the there can be no implosion.

But is that possible? Only time will tell.