Sunday notes: No shortage of holes in Phillies' game

Trouble with the gloves, bats and bullpen means the 8-10 Phillies aren’t much better than they were last April (7-11). We run down the main offenders and round up the rest of the top stories.

Yesterday, it was the attack of the killer 0-fers: Ryan Howard: 0-for-5, 4 LOB, 3Ks; Jayson Werth 0-for-5, 5 LOB, 3Ks (Werth has cooled off); Pat Burrell: 0-for-4, 3Ks. As a team, they stranded 11.

Offensively, you can point the finger at two primary areas: First and third. Catcher and shortstop earn dishonorable mention. Since Scott Rolen, it's like the Phillies are cursed at third and have to settle for bottom-rung production every season. With Pedro Feliz starting basically every game, the hot corner has produced little (.603 OPS.) The National League average at third is .774. Feliz’s last hit was Tuesday’s game-winner against Houston. How much longer can he ride out that moment? Actually, he’s the team’s worst offender with runners in scoring position, hitting just .067. Compared to National League clean-up hitters, Howard is last in average (.182) and fourth from the bottom in slugging (.394). His 26 strikeouts are six more than Adam Dunn and the most in baseball. Over the last seven days, he has three hits.

Thanks to Chris Coste, the catching stats are respectable compared to the rest of the league. Ruiz alone, just as Eric Bruntlett alone, comes up far below average. But with guys like Russell Martin producing little out in LA, few catchers have produced, and Bruntlett could be back on the bench shorty.

Then there’s the bullpen. For the second game in a row, middle relief couldn’t hold it; this time it was Ryan Madson. Between Howard, Feliz, Madson and the defense, it's enough to drive one nuts. Or in my case, not write another depressing word about it, and end it at that.

Ex-pitchers producing (reposted from Carson):
Vicente Padilla- 4 gs, 2 w, 26 ip, 15 k, 3.12 era, 1.54 whip.
Randy Wolf- 3 gs, 1 w, 19 ip, 18 k, 1.42 era, 0.89 whip.
Gavin Floyd- 3 gs, 2 w, 19.1 ip, 10 k, 1.40 era, 0.88 whip.
Kyle Lohse- 4 gs, 2 w, 24.1 ip, 10 k, 1.48 era, 1.03 whip.
Todd Jones- 7 g, 7 ip, 3 sv, 4 k, 1.29 era, 1.29 whip.
Aquilino Lopez- 8 g, 1 w, 13 ip, 9 k, 0.69 era, 0.92 whip.
Kevin Millwood- 4 gs, 1 w, 26 ip, 12 k, 2.42 era, 1.46 whip.
Nelson Figueroa- 4 g, 2 gs, 1 w, 15 ip, 14 k, 3.60 era, 0.80 whip.
John Lieber- 5 g, 2 w, 11 ip, 5 k, 1.64 era, 1.27 whip.
Trever Miller- 8 g, 5.1 ip, 4 k, 3.38 era, 1.50 whip.
Justin Miller- 8 g, 1 w, 11 ip, 10 k, 3.27 era, 1.18 whip.
Gas Can Geary- 8 g, 8.1 ip, 8 k, 2.16 era, 1.08 whip.
Billy Wagner- 7 g, 7 ip, 4 sv, 6 k, 0.00 era, 0.14 whip.
Justin Germano- 3 gs, 20 ip, 6 k, 1.35 era, 1.00 whip.
Carlos Silva- 4 gs, 3 w, 29 ip, 11 k, 2.79 era, 1.14 whip.
Ryan Franklin- 10 g, 8.1 ip, 3 k, 2.16 era, 0.96 whip.

Marzano dies at 45: Beerleaguer is saddened by the loss of Philadelphia native son and former Major League catcher John Marzano, who died suddenly in his Passyunk home yesterday. Marzano was a regular of 610-WIP radio, Comcast Daily News Live, Phillies Post Game Live, and most recently, XM Radio, where his energy, insight and humor helped bring us closer to the Phillies. He will be deeply missed, and our thoughts go out to the Marzano family, and his extended family at WIP and Comcast.

Comments

[EastFallowfield]

Didn't sound like Rollins was ready to play tonight either. Who plays SS if Bruntlett doesn't?

[The Doctor]

I am so deeply saddened by the passing of Johnny Marz. I thought he was an up and coming star as an analyst, but moreso, he was a true Philly guy wearing his heart on his sleeve. Not to mention that he was only 45 years old with so much more life in, what a terrible shame.

[J. Weitzel]

EastFallow: I just read that, too, on J-Roll. The only option there is Bruntlett, but I guess they could get away with Feliz in an emergency. The loss of J-Roll is starting to take its toll.

[Mets Fan]

Lets go Mets

[GM-Carson]

It's obvious that Jimmy should have been DL'd.

By the way, bargin bin 3rd basemen doing well that we could have easily had instead of Pedro Feliz include Morgan Ensberg and Jorge Cantu. Nice job Patty G.

[J. Weitzel]

And the award for most generic comment by a Mets troll goes to ...

[Bob]

Let me just say another thing about Mets fans: OBNOXIOUS. I'm more pissed at the Phillies though for giving us no ammunition against them. Either way, all you have to say to a Mets fan is CHOKE. I can't believe they take solice in being up a few games in April. Like that means something. Not that I'm very confident about the Phillies but you think Mets fans would learn a little humility.

[TarheelPhan]

I just heard about John Marzano. He was in my mom's extended family and we had always followed him since his days with the Red Sox. Its an incredibly tragedy.

[DWright]

Yeah the Mets CHOKED last year. There is absolutely no reason why Met fans should be coming here to brag. They obviously have short term memory because I guess they don't remember what happened last year. There's still plenty of baseball left. Last year, I believe it was end of June, the Mets had taken 3 out of 4 at CBP. In the end that meant nothing.
As a Met fan, the Phillies still scare me. You guys are still in extended Spring Training. Wait until Ryan Howard starts playing. And let's not forget Rollins and Victorino.
The Phillies are a very resilient team. There was not one point during last night's game that I didn't think the Phils could come back and win.
So to Mets fans who come here to brag: SHUT UP!!

[Mets Fan]

Mets won just as many Playoff games as the Phillies, ZERO!

[TarheelPhan]

Can we give an award for most tenuous logic in a post, too?

[Jon]

Also for thirdbasemen, remember Dallas McPherson? He is only hitting .295 with 6HRs and 10 RBIs in 13 games for AAA Albuquerque. He also can draw a walk with 12 so far. It would have been nice to have him as a AAA option and spent the Feliz money on the pen. But I digress...

[rscheckler]

I think we all owe Ryan Howard a big Thank You for demanding his $10 Million/Year for his excellent .182 batting average and 26 strikeouts. Having 3 hits in the past 7 days sounds like $10 Million worth to me. Because of him, we now have no money for any negotiations to better the team.

[jr]

Would have been nice to see Snelling pinch hit with the bases loaded. Contact hitters have a much better chance of doing something than the HR or else option.

[GM-Carson]

Hindsight is 20/20?

Here, have a nice talk warm glass of Shut-the-hell-up!

Many people on this blog wanted Ensberg, or Cantu, or MacPherson, but instead we got Feliz. He'll probably pop 20 homeruns as well as lead the league in outs made...so really are 20 dingers all that important? The answer is an emphatic HELL NO!

[Sophist]

Maybe I'll take 8-10 without Rollins for 9 of those games and a clean-up spot batting .182.

From the 9th game of 2007 until the 19th game, Rollins hit .327/.352/.635 (2 2b, 1 3b, 4 HR).

[Zach Morris]

Unfortunately, the "inconsistent, cherry picking, prodigious out making machine" has not been great in the field either.
(http://baseballevolution.com/richard/feliz3.html)
Cue discussion of how many runs his glove has saved...

[Jim J]

I spent 13 1/2 years working for New York Life Insurance so I've known quite a few Mets & Yankees fans. I've gone to both Shea Stadium & Yankee Stadium many times. What I've noticed is: Yankees fans are supportive and confident, Mets fans are obnoxious and ignorant.

[Mike H.]

No team would be racking up wins if their top two table setters were out for two weeks. I suppose I'm letting them off easy and making excuses, too. Whatever...

[stillpickinthemets]

Though we've beaten you guys the last few times, Thats no reason to brag.

As a Mets fan i hate the phillies but at the same time have respect for the team and their grittyness

Whats good to see is David Wright become a Philly Killer. We needed that considering J-Roll's success against us.

Jose Reyes celebrating, Come on how many players have their own celebration antics nowadays. Its ridiculous to single out somebody from a big market team.

Whats good to see so far is the success against your bullpen. As i've said before the bullpen for you guys usually pitches surprisingly well against us...FINALLY we made it come back to earth.

I wouldn't bank on a sweep with Pelfrey but hell it should be a good game

[mike cunningham]

How about the Jays releasing Frank Thomas and eating his contract. He was in the second year of an 18 million dollar contract. I would have had more respect for Thomas had he just retired and went on his way. But the Jays recognized their mistake and ate the cost, instead of letting the player "BIG HURT" them.

In some ways I wish the Phillies would do a little more of that, but in the end it doesn't make a lot of sense, because the Phillies include those costs in their budget. So you are almost better off paying a guy 8MM to ride the pine. Than to play 8MM + league minimum for a replacement player to ride the pine.

A lot of folks before the season wanted to EAT adam Eaton's contract. Of course the jury is still out on this season... but eating 9 million bucks is a lot to stomach. You can't expect to win more than 50% of the starts for the fifth starter. With the Phillies offense (well the one we had last year) you could easily do that with Eaton. But cutting Eaton and replacing him with a comparable 5th level starter would just be paying a tax for the same performance. Net result... we can live with Eaton.

Phans may want the team to eat certain salaries. We are already eating Helms salary for this year. And there is a burning urge to do the same for Feliz (at least here on beerleaguer, the same vitriol hasn't showed up for Feliz at the ballpark -- Bruntlett is another matter). Also,
the trade of Thome has handcuffed the Phillies in their self-imposed salary cap. Our obligation to Thome will be gone after this year? I have no idea who is resposible for his buyout clause. I would imagine that the White Sox would be on the hook for that. The Phillies would have been "financially" better off if they traded Howard at the time. Instead they are now paying 17 million dollars for a first baseman who is hitting .186.

(I'm not a Howard basher, I know he will come around and I have full confidence that he will earn his 10 million plus some of Thome's number this year.)

Alot of people will cry... the Phillies are cheap! But it's not that. I think they are not capapble of working a front office in today's environment. They would be better off being a small market team. The Rollins and Utley contracts aside, which looks like right now, quality contracts and a far cry from the Early Wade Era Anchors, the Phillies create a budget but are unable to manage that budget properly and unable to be flexible when things CHANGE.

They were unprepared for Ryan Howard's arbitration. This year's payroll has increased about the same amount of Howard's increase. So assuming they were prepared to pay their 7MM offer. The budgeted 3MM they had left to get another starter disappeared. Which is why Kyle Lohse is not here. Of course the real reason might have been Spite plus Kris Benson.

So the Phillies might be CHEAP!! because they won't pay someone 9 million dollars to go away. No matter how much money is printed down at CBP, the real reason the Phillies get themselves into trouble is that they spend too much money on the wrong players, and are unable or unwilling to correct their mistakes by writing off their mistakes.

The Helms deal is a perfect example, they have saved themselves about 750K, NEXT year. And saved 1 dollar this year. That's it. And that 1.99MM dollars probably won't be used for any midseason replacements or tradedeadline deals. Perhaps in the history of Salary Dumping type deals, that might have been the WORST ever.

But it's not about being cheap, I have no problem with a budget. And a budget around 100MM should make the playoffs. But you can't count the players that aren't on your roster in that equation.

It's time for a change in the front office. One that is not beholden to Bud Selig's edicts for salary slots. One that is flexible to correct their own mistakes. And one that does the proper due diligence to bring in a player that can contribute, instead of a "name brand" that is past their prime or defective.

[A-Rod]

"What I've noticed is: Yankees fans are supportive and confident"

Bwaaa hahahahahahah hahahahahaha! LOL!

[Sophist]

Wow. Who's going to sign Thomas? I wouldn't expect him to continue to hit so far under .300 this season. Strange decision.

[Sophist]

Motivation, from MLBtraderumors:

... In other words, the Jays might be considering releasing him and saving the $10MM owed to Thomas next season; or they could be weathering his displeasure and keeping his PAs to a minimum since the $10MM in 2009 is a vesting option that he earns by recording 1,000 PAs in '07-'08 (he only needs 304 this year). No wonder Thomas is peeved.

[erich]

tonight is my first time ever at CBP. Im not expecting much from Adam Eaton but I might be willing to forgive last year.

[GM-Carson]

Rays or Tigers could be an easy fit for Big Hurt. The man isn't what he once was, but he'll still produce over the course of a season. He's just off to an extremely slow start like our struggling 1st baseman. In fact their #'s look eerily similar.

[timr]

"Maybe I'll take 8-10 without Rollins for 9 of those games and a clean-up spot batting .182."

Yeah, I'm having a hard time deciding how I really feel about the team's start this year--on the one hand, last year's April felt worse, maybe its just my memory playing tricks on me, but I feel like last year the team was really bad, that there were fewer close games. This year they've got about the same record but the losses seem somehow closer and it there are good reasons to believe they'll fix the things that are killing them (defensive lapses, Howard coming around, and JRoll and Vic coming back). Last year, we had no clue that Romero was gonna lock it down in relief or that the Myers relief experiment would work, so it felt more hopeless.

Then again, the bottom line is the Phils have found a way to suck it up in April again and that is still so maddening.

[johnnysanz3]

Jenkins/Feliz/Ruiz/Howard are all pretty far below their career averages, they aren't going to all hit at .200 for the whole season, not even Feliz, no matter how much we hate him, he will most likely finish the year at .250 like his career norm. We don't have Rollins and Victorino who was getting hot when he got hurt. And other than Eaton and maybe Chad Durbin, none of our pitchers are exceeding their expected performance, and we have a couple who are below it (Myers/Madson?)

Once the hitters pick it up to their normal averages, we will be signifigantly better.

[Tray]

Thomas led the team in home runs and RBI's last year. Season before that he was an MVP contender in Oakland. I think they're jumping the gun.

[Tray]

Thomas was a whole lot better than Foster...

[diggitydave]

Is any other Phils fan incredibly depressed after looking over that list of former Phils pitchers succeeding thus far in '08?
The ones that are really killing me for one reason or another:

Lohse - any pitcher that declines a 3/21 mil contract from one team and ends up signing a 1/4.5 mil contract from another squad just confuses me.

Lieber - I would not have been opposed to resigning Jon Lieber as an insurance policy in the rotation and an option out of the pen. I think most posters assumed Lieber skipped town because of his unwillingness to move to the pen, but thus far he has actually been used exclusively in the bullpen and not in the rotation.

Of course the rest of the list has some of the usual suspects (Wagner, Wolf, Silva) but seeing the success of Padilla, Millwood, and Floyd is enough to drive any Phillies fan to the edge..

[timr]

I have NO problem with letting Lieber skip town--he was not happy here and did not perform well or keep himself in shape. Same with Floyd--how long could they have waited on him?

Also, re: Yankees vs. Mets fans--maybe its because lots of tourists and out-of-towners go to Yanks games, but I find the crowds at Yankee Stadium to be completely boring and uninterested. In the more expensive seats its just folks quietly taking in the game, and in the cheap seats its people getting drunk and talking to one another without looking at the field. Thats been my experience, anyway.

[strange]

Do we really have to put up with a slew of posts from somebody using the handle "fagadelphia-sux"? I could do without the low-grade hate speech.

Toddle off home to metsblog or wherever you lowlifes hang out, please.

[johnnysanz3]

Original.

[GoPhils!]

Whoever psted about yankee fans being more classy than Met fans needs to have his head examined. I ve attended games at both yankee and she stadiums as well and found yank fans MUCH more offensive. I wore a phils hat to both and got more abused at yankee stadium for some reason. I get the normal treatment you expect at Shea every time I go, but found the met fans I sit near to be very good humored about it and much more knowledgeable about the game itself. I noticed that yankee fans tend to think winning is their birthright and are far less educated with zero class or humility. Very few have any pre-1996 knowledge. The mets on the otherhand don't think winning is their right, but just seem frustrated after so many "let down" years, much like we in Philly are, while also dealing with the yankee soap opera on a daily basis.

[GoPhils!]

Whoever psted about yankee fans being more classy than Met fans needs to have his head examined. I ve attended games at both yankee and she stadiums as well and found yank fans MUCH more offensive. I wore a phils hat to both and got more abused at yankee stadium for some reason. I get the normal treatment you expect at Shea every time I go, but found the met fans I sit near to be very good humored about it and much more knowledgeable about the game itself. I noticed that yankee fans tend to think winning is their birthright and are far less educated with zero class or humility. Very few have any pre-1996 knowledge. The mets on the otherhand don't think winning is their right, but just seem frustrated after so many "let down" years, much like we in Philly are, while also dealing with the yankee soap opera on a daily basis.

[GoPhils!]

No idea why that posted twice, lol

[Sophist]

Don't know if this will be heard over the "noise" on Beerleaguer this afternoon, but I found this note on THT:

Jimmy Rollins will most likely not be in the lineup Sunday.
Rollins took fielding practice Saturday but called his ankle "75 percent" healthy. "Still no time frame. It'll probably be a couple of more days," he said. Phillies trainers said they would rather Rollins not pinch-hit.

Stay classy Mets fans.

[Sophist]

I can't speak for every Phils fan on Beerleaguer, but I've never cheered an injury. I also never acted like an ignoramus on MetsBlog. You are doing the equivalent of the latter.

[Sophist]

You can only be responsible for your own behavior, and right now you are acting like an idiot.

[Stillpickinthemets]

I hate to state the obvious but isn't there a courthouse under your stadium in Philly or something because of crazy fans? lol I thought New York was bad

[timr]

I don't go to Metsblog, but is it as overloaded with Phils-rooting morons as Beerleaguer gets during Mets games?

Anyway, lets not respond to these idiots, it only emboldens them. They'll get bored.

[Morty]

Also agreed that homophobic, mouth breathing Mets fans should not be welcome. How about a banning policy, not for rooting for another team, but for being a bigoted a-hole?

[Andy]

I wonder if this guy is one of the ones Cerrone has banned for life.

[CEM]

BREAKING NEWS*****
JIMMY ROLLINS WAS JUST PLACED ON THE 15 DAY DL. ROLLINS IS SCHEDULED TO COME OFF THE DL ON MAY 5TH. CHRIS SNELLING ALSO PLACED ON THE DL- BRAD HARMAN & T.J. BOHN CALLED UP

[Paul]

From philly.com
Rollins goes on the disabled list

INQUIRER STAFF REPORT
The Phillies today put shortstop Jimmy Rollins on the 15-day disabled list as he continues to recover from a sprained left ankle.

Rollins has not started for the Phillies since he was hurt in an April 8 game at Shea Stadium in New York. He had been available as a pinch-hitter.

[naylman]

Rollins on the DL.

[RSB]

Now they put Rollins on the DL. Sure. Now, a full 11 days after the injury. Absolute friggin' morons running this team. Hope they enjoyed those four PH appearances. Was really worth it, wasn't it?

[The Artist]

Awwwwwww did I hurt the widdle philly fans feelings? Removing posts....weak, like your team. lol.

[atom eatin']

well

they certainly mishandled the jroll situation