Sunday chat: Phillies call on Park to reverse fortunes

Short starts, high ERAs, home runs and blown saves have the Phillies' pitching staff reeling. There's a chance for recovery, but Chan Ho Park and an overworked pen must deliver today.

Think back to 2008 and recall only one or two occasions when the rotation and bullpen were as out of sync as they are today. But what made last season so unique was their ability to recover quickly. When they needed a quality start, they got it, and when they needed the bullpen to put in overtime, or for someone to step up, as Ryan Madson did in September, they got that, too.

The Phillies will be searching for some of that resiliency today. For the first week, the bullpen held the team together behind terrible starting pitching, but today, inconsistency has infected all parts of the pitching staff. The Phillies have the highest ERA in baseball at 7.16, and while the starting ERA has improved from the first week, the bullpen has suffered a handful of deflating losses and have an ERA of 6.29.

It may not be as doom and gloom as it sounds. Bad luck has played a part in the early struggles. They've issued the second-fewest free passes in baseball with 33, and in terms of strikeouts, they're middle of the pack. Add them together, and believe it or not, the Phils have the second-best K/BB ratio in baseball at 2.58. The underlying problem is a league-high 23 home runs, the result of just too many mistakes out over the plate.

Recovery might be around the corner, but they need to pitch smarter and do what they can to keep the ball down. Park's (0-0, 10.38) first start was as ugly as any this season, lasting just 3 1-3 innings in a cold day in Denver last Sunday. The term "must win" gets tossed around a lot, but circumstances make today's game very important indeed. They need innings from Park. The Phillies don't know how much they can get out of Madson and Brad Lidge; both have been taxed lately and could use a mental health day for certain. A win would also open the door for a series split tomorrow and snap a three-game skid.

On the other side, rookie Josh Geer goes for San Diego. We'll have lineups and more details closer to game time. We'll keep the chat right here. Have a great Sunday.

Comments

[RSB]

In other words, nothing less than an offensive eruption is likely to suffice for a victory today.

[MG]

Homers are actually up big so far this April compared to the last few Aprils so far.

Even though the Phils are leaving an inordinate amount of mid-to-upper 80 MPH fastballs right over the middle of the plate and plenty of hanging changeups, it does seem that a seemingly large number of these pitches have been put into the seats vs. being long-fly ball outs or doubles off the wall.

It likely won't continue at this clip but every reliever on this staff last year had a career best for XBH allowed including Lidge.

Lidge has now given up more HRs (3) in 6 2/3 IP than he gave up last year in 78 2/3 IP if you include the playoffs. It is reasonable to expect a bit of a failoff but that stat is pretty mindboggling.

Problem is though is that this is a starting staff that gives up a fair number of HRs. Both Myers and Hamels were among the league leaders in HRs given up last year.

Moyer gave up 30 HRs in '07 and a big part of his success last year was radically reducing his HR rate (0.9 HR/9 which was his lowest rate since 2003 and among the lowest in his career).

Basically, the Phils are pitching about as poorly as you can expect right now and they will be better but this team is likely to give up a bunch of HRs this year. Shame too because it negates the defensive abilities of this team which are pretty strong.

[MG]

RSB - Probably but Park has to give this team a chance. He can't get bombed and get chased from the game in the 4th or 5th inning and empty out the bullpen at the start of a stretch where the Phils play 10 straight games without a day off.

Really on Park to set up today and give the Phils a chance to win. I say 6 IP and 3-4 R would be a fair expectation.

[ozark]

2 Daily News back page headlines we'll never see:
after the Biggio homer in 2006--BILLY GOAT
after last night--BLOW JOB

[G-Town Dave]

Oh great, the Phanatic birthday hoopla AND the Padres are running out a rookie pitcher? We're gonna get no-hit.

... ... ...

OK, so I don't really believe that. But the Phils seem to have a way w/ making pitchers you've never heard of look like Cy Young. And the presence of Clammy Sosa & Ken Girrafey, Jr. can't help but be distracting.

[Clay Darymple]

any other fans in NY area having trouble with Extra Innings package? I seem to be getting blacked out of home games? Call into cable company but you know how well that will go

[Inside/Outside the Parker]

I'm not too worried at this point. There have been several premier pitchers who have given up a bunch of runs (Gallardo, Sabbathia, Lincecum, Lee, Oswalt, Zambrano, Volquez, etc.) early this season. Some guys are just not locating very well early in the season. The Phillies staff, as a whole, seems to have more pitchers with the same problems than other teams.

I don't think it is a World Series hangover or anything like that (Though it could be). They just need to locate better and everything will work out fine.

[sruther4d]

Don't know if there is cause and effect but I thought I would throw in these facts.

1. World Baseball Classic
2. Longer spring training than normal
3. Rich Dubee runs spring training for the Phils for the first time.

"Discuss amongst yourselves."

[thephaithful]

Whoever wins the World Series is going to be lucky and have some career years out of their roster.

Whoever doesnt win the World Series will face some type of bad luck and have subpar seasons out of their roster.

For fans to say the Phils needed this to win in 08 is obvious and is true as it is for every single team that has ever won. And for the Mets to not have gotten that, is as true as all other 2nd place teams. So i dont see why its worth bringing up.

[Chris]

Bad start, for sure, but still very early. Phils hitters' BABIP: .279, Phils pitchers' BABIP .310, league average .294. Both hitting and pitching should improve.

Meanwhile, the Marlins have a BABIP of .338, including a staggering .457 for Bonifacio in 49 ABs.

Rollins' BABIP is .154. You know that's going to improve.

I have to remind myself that it's only April - the Phillies aren't going to give up 8 runs a game all year - the starting pitching will pull it together.

Of course, 2007 is not a typical year and you normally can't afford to peak that late, but in 2007 we were below .500 as late as July 19th. There's still plenty of time.

[Kool Earl]

From last thread- What would you call a jealous bitter Mets fan like Tom who spends a saturday night on a Phillies board making pronouncements based on 10 games out of a season instead of going out and getting some poon or at least drunk? I call him a dweeb, dingus and a bama. Evey team goes through a rough patches, the Phils are going through one now. They will be fine and in the end, they will be in the thick of it. Tom, worry about your own gutless squad.

[Sophist]

Lineup according to philliesnation.com:

Victorino (CF) / Bruntlett (SS) / Utley (2B) / Howard (1B) / Ibanez (LF) / Stairs (RF) / Feliz (3B) / Coste (C) / Park (SP).

[Sophist]

I'm not sure I understand mixing up the lineup. Phils have scored 54 runs in 10 games, 53 runs in their last 8 games. Even with Rollins' and Vic's woes at the plate, their starters are batting .273/.339/.461.

[NEPP]

So I'm in Boston on vacation and this is the crap I get to listen to every time I get a second of the game while driving around (on XM). This has been a brutal weekend.

I hope Park can pull it together and figure something out.

Bruntlett prediction: 4 for 4 with 2 SB. I'm surprised to see Werth benched but maybe he needs a day off or something. Lot of confidence to bat the Gnome 2nd.

[thephaithful]

wow, jimmy getting the day off, he needs it. Not sure about Stairs in right, i think i'd rather have Dobbs wander around out there, but ahwell.

[king myno]

Very interesting with Stairs and Bruntlett. Wonder if there's a reason behind it, besides shaking things up a bit.

[king myno]

And is that four lefties in a row? Jesus.

[NEPP]

We will see the first ever appearance of the vaunted QUADLOOGY in today's game when the lefty reliever is brought in...Tony LaRussa is salivating at the thought of it.

[AFish]

San Diego doesn't have a LHP, folks.

[Albert]

Well the Padres do not have a lefty out of the pen. I'm not excited about this lineup but who knows.

[thephaithful]

anyone watchig the pregame?

LA is trying to show up Sarge by wearing a hideous looking hat.

[ZT]

Good thing we have just the man on the mound to reverse our fortunes! I'd being willing to eat my words if he gives us something good.

[thephaithful]

After 1IP I feel safe to say that c ho p will dominate all day and phils will win. im sure all others agree.

[The Truth Injection]

solid first inning for Park. Pitches had good movement and he was hitting his spots for the most part. When he missed they weren't bad misses.

[Sophist]

Solid first inning from Park. Made Gerut look lost.

[king myno]

I can't believe the Padres have no LHP. We should have played Utley-Howard-Ibanez-Stairs-Dobbs all series (well, MAYBE not Stairs).

Can anyone offer a legitimate explanation as to why Dobbs is not starting against RHP, with Feliz coming in as a late-inning PH against a lefty/defensive specialist? Especially in this series?

[Sophist]

As made clear over and over again by the booth in that bottom half, Geer is a change-up pitcher. He looks very hittable, but check out his 08 splits

RHB: .367/.415/.483
LHB: .146/.212/.250

27 IP.

[G-Town Dave]

Did anyone else just hear the first 10 game statistical comparison from '08 - '09 that L.A. just gave? Ouch!

[Jim Fregosi]

Captain Clueless shakes up the line-up. At least Jimmie Rollins can sit on the bench and hear up close the dumb moves Cholly will be making today.

He was clueless before Gillick had to hire Jymmie Williams to manage the game and he's clueless now that he's gone. I hope he pitches Lidge again today so I can listen to his post game press conference and split my side laughing. Listening to Cholly Manuel explain his dumb moves is funnier than listening to Rodney Dangerfield bits.

[king myno]

Hahaha, I guess THAT'S why we play Feliz. Fair enough.

[Sophist]

Feliz with the steady glove.

[MG]

Actually don't mind the changes in the lineup at all especially since the Phils don't have an offday for 10 straight days.

Bench players need some PT to stay sharp (see Dobbs) and JRoll really looks lost at the plate right now.

[TNA]

Is it a sad state of affairs when Park is considered the "fireballer" of your starting rotation? He's consistently hitting 92-95 with his fastball.

[MG]

McCarthy can't identify which offspeed pitches are being thrown by Park or Geer. He uses either "breaking ball" or "offspeed" pitch regardless if it is a changeup or slider.

I would be embarrassed if I wasn't able to do a basic facet of my job and make some efforts to at least become basically competent.

[ZT]

Adrian Gonzalez got lucky with that one. Raul would of made had it not been for some wet dirt.

[TNA]

MG - i don't mind seeing lineup changes either, but why not one at a time, as opposed to making two changes that significantly weaken your defense?

[curt]

That throw's the kind of play you attempt (and make) when you've got Big Mo on your side.

[Klaus]

or Kousmanoff's shoe.

[MG]

Interesting. There have been a bunch of players who have been trying to drop bunt singles against the Phils early in the season.

Wonder if the scouts saw that Feliz doesn't charge balls all that well and that Howard isn't the most limber at fielding bunts either.

This is a trend I look to other teams with a speedy guy who can't bunt well to continue - especially when the Phils have poor fielding pitchers on the mound including Myers and Blanton.

[MG]

TNA - JRoll is a in huge funk and I can see giving Stairs a start for the lefty/righty matchup. Have to play these guys sometimes and probably best today given that the Padres are also using a couple of bench guys.

[ZT]

And there is the Ibanez we heard so much about. Good old Pat would have jogged slowly over and stopped the runners and not have gone for the out.

[bananagrabbers]

Oof. There's the Ibanez defense we heard about.

[MG]

Ugh. Park is getting behind hitters the past two innings and going to alot of full counts. He isn't going to last more than 5 IP today.

[Tom]

Reverse fortunes? lol Yeah, right. How good did that Ibanez roll over taste? A faster runner and it's an inside the parker. You guy's are going to lose, again. It's starting to become a trend. You'll be 6 1/2 back by the end of the day lol Don't you love it?

[Tom]

3-0... Don't feel bad, Pat wouldn't have made that play either lol

[gm-carson]

This is horrible

[ZT]

Gold Glove Howard!

[f4f]

LOL!!! cheezeburgerz! LMAOROTF!!!

[gm-carson]

ibanez is excelling in every aspect of his game aside from defense...he's simply not good in that department.

[Knight]

Howard flashing the leather again.

[king myno]

I think the Phillies need to sit down with Chan Ho and tell him that, for now, we need him in the pen. He might be able to be that 7th inning guy we desperately need, and JA is just wasting away in the 'pen for now. If he's not lights-out in the rotation (which he's not), his skillset would be better served elsewhere on the team.

[gm-carson]

why the hell isn't the offense absolutely murdering this greer dude? c'mon!

[MG]

Ibanez takes some terrible routes to balls and that has pretty evident this year. 3rd play this year that crappy defense by Ibanez has directly lead to a run.

He has been as good as advertised at the plate but he stinks defensively including an arm that can't hit the cutoff man without bouncing. Complicates matters by trying to make plays where he can't either like the last inning.

[Tom]

There's really no reason why Happ shouldn't be the 5. He's young and has longer incentive. You guy's got 2 lefty's in the bullpen. I don't get that move. But, something tells me the Padres are going to win today. The Phillies dig themselves into holes too early. They'll probably fight back and lose a close game. Let me know if you guy's want me to buy you a broom so you can sweep...

[gm-carson]

we came in with a mlb worst era, and it's actually rising so far.

[Sophist]

Howard continuing his GG campaign.

Tough inning for Park. Not your usual 3-run inning I wouldn't think.

[Knight]

Carson, you know as well as I do what happens when the Phillies play against a no-name pitcher that everyone else rakes against.

[MG]

Vic better put on his track shoes today because he is going to have to cover a ridiculous amount of ground with Ibanez in LF and Stairs in RF.

[philsphan]

Josh Geer: 2009 NL Cy Young Award Winner

[TNA]

ibanez needs to make up for that 2-run error with a 3-run HR later...

[king myno]

If we go all day without tuning up Geer AND the Flyers lose tonight, I'm gonna cry myself to sleep.

This should be a Murderer's Row of lefty hitters.

[MG]

Geer doesn't have great stuff but he has been hitting his spots and getting ahead very early in the count. I wouldn't mind seeing a few first pitch swings here so they aren't getting behind 0-1 in the count.

[RSB]

Of all the things that annoy me about McCarthy, the cutesy transitions are the worst of the worst.

"bla blah blah the Phanatic celebrates his birthday. And Geer celebrates by getting a first-pitch ground ball from Park!"

Not clever. Not funny. Shut your damn yap.

[gm-carson]

Charlie Manuel is probably about to have an aneurysm from this effort to start the season.

[RSB]

Geer looks like he got some tutelage from Greg Maddux.

[Sophist]

Ibanez has made some nice plays in LF in this young season, no? A couple of big catches I can remember and he nailed a player out at home in the first or second game of the year. Not a smart play there, but an understandable mistake.

[king myno]

RSB - He had a comment recently about how Charlie wasn't happy about a Phillies groundout, but he WAS happy about his upcoming bobblehead day. It was awful; is that the best he could do? I really, really dislike TMac.

[TNA]

Why is Park throwing/Coste calling a changeup after two curveballs? WTF?

[MG]

RSB - I wasn't a big fan of McCarthy last year (or when his first go round as a radio broadcaster) but it wasn't a big deal because he was used very sparingly.

It is evidently clear that he is the heir apparent to Kalas on TV though for the foreseeable future since his contract runs through the 2012.

Besides jibber-jabbing but almost everything but the actual game and the cutesy transitions, he is readily apparent that he either doesn't do much prep work for a game and/or doesn't know much about the players.

Don't expect that many insights from the play-by-play (that is the color's man job) but McCarthy is brings nothing to the game. Innings with him and Sarge are brutal.

Likely going to go solely with MLB audio feed and listen to LA and Frankse for the rest of the year.

[Klaus]

"Let me know if you guy's want me to buy you a broom so you can sweep..."

I know verbs are confusing, but the Phillies are the direct object, the ones being swept, if it comes to that.

Also, 1) the sheer amount of time you spend stalking this board and 2) your personality, as evidenced by your propensity for anonymously taunting strangers over the internet, suggest unemployment. I advise you to save your money.

[gm-carson]

It's been a long time since I remember our pitching staff being so f'n bad. Seems like everyone is throwing batting practice. I'm not trying to be funny either, because that's how it really seems.

[TNA]

Boo. CanNOT walk the pitcher.

[gm-carson]

Walked the pitcher...at least he didn't get a hit.

[curt]

Hopefully the first inning is indicative of how Park will pitch when he's giving us one inning at a time out of the BP.

[Knight]

Prepare for failure.

[gm-carson]

don't worry, it's april

[MG]

Sophist - Yeah I think it was the 2nd game of the season. Still just Ibanez on flyballs and you will wonder what kind of reads he is getting off the bat.

[king myno]

If he walks in this run, I'm gonna flip right out.

[George]

Thank frickin' god

[gm-carson]

Big Brown with big triple!

[Sophist]

MG - Just surprised at how quickly people mentioned Ibanez' liability defensively after what seems to be his first poor play of the season after a few nice ones.

Utley looks great with the glove so far this year.

[Sophist]

I'm not trying to go against Ibanez' reputation as a poor defensive LF (much of which I haven't seen), but I just think he's done very little in 10.5 games to show me he's terrible.

[gm-carson]

way to strand the runner at 1st. don't worry, it's april.

[bananagrabbers]

Dear Matt Stairs:

Swing!

xoxo,
John

[Knight]

Ugh, you can't waste a 1 out triple like that.

I really shouldn't watch baseball until June, it's better for my fragile psyche.

[gm-carson]

i meant strand at 3rd, but does it really matter?

[Sophist]

Have to wonder if the managers looked any farther than "RHP" when looking at Geer's scouting report.

[gm-carson]

Are you f*cking kidding me?

[gm-carson]

Homerun #26. I bet the A's wish they could face the Phils right now, considering they have only 3 team homeruns.

[illuminati]

Phillies are trying to break a record for most consecutive games giving up more than 3 runs.

[king myno]

To the bullpen with you, Chan Ho. Korea may weep, but Philadelphia > Korea.

[MG]

Park is hanging changeups all over the place. That changeup that Gonzalez crushed was a terrible pitch but Giles barely missed a HR that inning and Kouzmanoff crushed one earlier down the LF field line that barely was only foul about 20-25 feet or it would have been gone.

[gm-carson]

I want Marson starting as much as possible.

[bay_area_phan]

Personally, I've seen all I need to see of Chan Ho Park in the starting rotation. He won the job fair and square and deserved to be given the first shot. But when you have been one of the worst starting pitchers in baseball over the last 6 years, you don't get 10 starts to prove your case. The burden was on Park to give reason to belive that something has changed. He has not met that burden.

[philsphan]

Coste doing his best Ruiz impression there.

[Knight]

Ugh. Park really does need to get sent to the bullpen, it's clearly worth trying another pitcher at this point.

[Sophist]

This start by Park pales in comparison to this start in Colorado. 1 run on a bunt and some smart baserunning; another on a triple that could have been held to a single with some smarter defense (which would have made Giles grounder an easy DP); and an Adrian Gonzalez homer.

[gm-carson]

how is miguel cairo supposed to help this team again. i know so taguchi had a bad year last year, but he at least had a good one previously to get signed. cairo hasn't been good for quite some time, and may would argue never actually was.

[illuminati]

They look horrible. I just get depressed watching them right now.

[MG]

Geer is throwing almost exclusively offspeed stuff and the Phils' batters are sitting on it for a cold first strike.

Don't know if the Phils advance scouts just do a poor job of preparing for starters like this they face the 1st time, if Thompson tells them to sit on first pitches, or the Phils' hitters just struggle with guys they see for the first time.