Injuries hurt Phillies.
The Good: Chris Roberson doing a great impression of Bourn and Victorino by getting on base all night long. Burrell keeping his stroke going. But most importantly . . . NO INJURIES!!!
The Bad: Eaton proving that he’s almost as big of a waste of money as Garcia. 3 ERRORS!!! Howard starting to struggle again.
So what about these fantastic pickups that Gillick did for this team:
Tadahito Iguchi: .255 AVG / 7 HR / 33 RBI / 10 SB
Kyle Lohse: 6 -12 / 4.58 ERA / 33 BB / 80 SO / 131.2 IP / 1.34 WHIP
Julio Mateo: 1-0 / 3.75 ERA / 5 BB / 4 SO / 12.0 IP / 1.42 WHIP
Now they may not seem like anything speical, but compare them to the pickups that the Braves and Mets got. Mets: Luis Castillo. Braves: Mark Teixeira, Octavio Dotel. OK, so comparing their transaction to their NL East rivals don’t make them seem much better, but maybe there’s something special in these guys. Maybe their’s a reason why Gillick is GM and us fans are stuck reading blogs about how stupid the Phillies GM is.
Right around the middle of the 6th inning, I was wondering how the Phillies were able to do what they were doing. Then at the end of the 6th inning, it was explained to me. I don’t want to hate on this team because this is going to be a tough 2 week period. Without Utley, Victorino, or Bourn (or Zagurski, but that’s a story for a different day), these are going to be boring games to watch. Hopefully they can scrap together a few wins then pull a miracle out of their ass when the team becomes healthy again. However I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Old man Moyer takes the mound Wednesday for the Phillies. Coming off a great start in which he pitched a rare 7-inning complete game. Only allowing 6 hits, but more importantly allowing 0 walks! He had allowed a minimum 2 walks in his last 6 starts. If you don’t have the ability to overpower a hitter and have to rely on them hitting the ball to the defenders, giving batters a free pass will kill you. But this makes sense, as soon as I drop him from my fantasy team, he goes 2-0. The Cubs Rich Hill comes into the game with a 6-6 record and a 3.59 ERA. He has some “nasty” pitches which include a low-90 fastball and a jaw-dropping curve, however they are only effective if you can throw them for strikes, which he can have trouble at doing sometimes.
Last start: ND / 5.0 / 2 ER / 6 H / 3 BB / 8 SO / Cincinnati
Last words . . . howabout keeping Iguchi and making him play 3rd when Utley comes back?
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Posted on July 31, 2007 by Soss | Filed Under Phillies, Philadelphia, Professional Sports, Philly Sports, Baseball
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I live in New York, so I didn’t see the game, but I could have predicted the results. Adam Eaton was a guy with “good stuff” before the Phillies acquired him and he’s still a guy with “good stuff”, but he just doesn’t turn his “good stuff” into good outings. Can you tell I’m sick of teammates and coaches saying he has “good stuff”. “Good Stuff” isn’t the same as being a “good pitcher” and Eaton was way below-average before he came to Philly and he’s the done nothing to erase that now.
And is there a stat for striking out with runners on base, because Howard would lead the league. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled he’s on the Phils but some ABs he looks like he’s guessing on every pitch. When someone said that teams were pitching around Utley with men on base to get to Howard, I laughed, but it might be true. At least with Howard, you have a 25% for a strikeout.
And ever notice how many wheel-house fastballs Howard takes early in the count? I think his obsession with working the count is taking away from his effectiveness.