Beer Nuts: Franklin serves up loss to L.A.

Former Phillie Ramon Martinez homered off former Phillie Ryan Franklin in the 16th inning to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Cincinnati Reds 6-5 last night.

One reader has taken to calling the Franklin swap the best deal Pat Gillick made at the trade deadline. It’s hard to argue with the logic, as far as the 2006 season is concerned. Indeed, the Phillies need opponent losses just as much as they need wins, and Franklin can certainly serve them up in a hurry.

It took one pitch for Franklin to blow it last night. He has surrendered three runs in his last three relief appearances. In addition, Rheal Cormier has fallen back to earth in a big way since the Phils shipped him to Cincinnati. In 10 1-3 August innings, Frenchy has allowed 3 homers, 16 hits and five earned runs for a 4.65 ERA. That ERA should be worse. Opponents are hitting .356 of him in a Reds uniform.

With the loss, coupled by the Phillies 10-6 win at Washington, the Reds are now tied with the Phillies in the Wild Card race, just 0.5 games behind San Diego. Their WC stronghold, which they held for most of the summer, has now been compromised. "Sabotaged" might be the better word.

Back so soon
The top story in baseball is a Marlins team on the brink of a Wild Card birth. They’ve won 9-straight games and find themselves 1 1/2 games back of San Diego with a record of 65-66.

If the season ended today, first-year manager Joe Girardi should win manager of the year. Even if they lose their next 31 games, 65 wins is more than most experts thought this $15 million team would achieve, considering they started the season 11-31.

I remember telling people what a sad shame it was to see a team dismantled the way the Marlins were this offseason. Now, I’m praying the Phillies can fend them off. Their young lineup is hot from top-to-bottom, and Miguel Cabrera is a candidate for MVP. Cabrera, the seasoned veteran, is all of 23-years-old. The highest ERA among their starting five is 4.45. Dontrelle Willis, the seasoned veteran, is all of 24-years-old. That’s two years older than Josh Johnson, who’s nothing short of a Cy Young candidate at this point: (12-6, 2.87 ERA).

Watch out, Phillies. Remember the name, Mets. The Marlins are back to being, well, the no-good, stinkin' Marlins.

Comments

[Willard Preacher]

Yet another masterful job by the Marlins front office, the kings of the firesale/rebuild. Uggla and Willingham are two young studs that Jason didn't mention that could haunt the Phillies for years (at least until they re-up and the Marlins sell them off, anyway). I agree that Florida is scary and there are some HUGE games coming our way soon.

[J. Weitzel]

Uggla, Willingham, Ramirez, Jacobs, Cabrera, Hermida, Olsen, Johnson, Sanchez, Willis .....

[Willard Preacher]

Is Reggie Abercrombie still on their big league roster? I rememer seeing him in person and thinking that he looked like a heck of a young prospect. Any thoughts on where he's projected to be with this team? He appeared to have some power.

[Lake Fred]

Good Post, Jason. The Marlins are one of those teams with a "losing" record that we have to play a bunch of games with during the WC chase. I hate the Fish!

[Alby]

Thanks, Jason, for the reminder that Cabrera, like Wright and Reyes, is several years younger than Howard or Utley. Even with Atlanta falling back to Earth and the Nats thrashing about without much direction, this is going to be a tough division for years to come.

[clout]

Willard: There are few prospects who look better than Abercrombie. Unfortunately, as good as he looks in a uniform, he's short on baseball skills. His BB/K ratio has always been laughable and he paid for it this year, hitting .214 in 252 ABs. He's got a good glove and speed (although not a great bse stealer) but I'll be shocked if he ever hits enough to play every day.

[Tom Goodman]

Franklin is just being Franklin, but maybe Frenchy is secretly trying to help out his old mates.

As for the Marlins, you are on the money as usual, Jason. They are tough and they are the Phils' opponents for ten of their last 30 games as you mentioned elsewhere. With the exception of last year, the Marlins have been the Phillies' chief nemesis several times as the season wore down.

[gr]

i've been eyeballing the marlins for the past week, and most fo that time, i've felt like the big secret was that no one was paying attention to the fact that they've basically been the best team in the NL the past 3 months. one thing that might be reassuring: their remaining schedule is much tougher than the phils' -- they have the phils (10), mets (7), brewers (3), arizona (3), and the reds (3). if they had the phils' schedule, i'd think they were going to slip into the playoffs. once again, they have the pitching.