On a day filled with Philadelphia sports victories, we get some not-so-great news as the day comes to a close. After Roy Halladay tied a career high with 14 strikeouts as he pitched his behind off into the ninth inning, we learn that the Phillies are placing Jose Contreras on the DL, with no immediate timetable for his return.
They listed his injury as a right flexor pronator strain. In other words, his elbow hurts and he’ll be sent back to Philadelphia for a possible MRI. The team will be calling up Mike Stutes to take his place on the roster.
With the Phillies down two closers, that means it’s Ryan Madson’s job now. While he’s been brilliant this year and just saved two games in a row, he has had issues closing in the past. For whatever reason, it’s a different mentality and some guys struggle with it. Hopefully, Madson takes the next step in his maturation process and is able to handle it.
So, for those of you on Twitter who are claiming that Madson is hurt because Antonio Bastardo closed today, relax. Madson pitched two nights in a row and it was a “maintenance day” according to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Madson is 2-0 with two saves this season, to go with a 1.00 ERA and 0.89 WHIP in nine innings. I don’t want to downplay the two saves that Madson got against the San Diego Padres, but they are the worst hitting team in all of baseball. Just thought I’d throw that little nugget in there.
The Phillies need to weather this bullpen storm as they wait for Brad Lidge and Contreras to return. They’ll be using an unproven closer and relying on Bastardo to keep pitching well. I don’t know about anyone else, but my stomach turns awfully sour when I see David Herndon and Danys Baez enter games where the teams are separated by less than seven runs.
Who really needs to bail out the pitching? The offense. This two and three run nonsense might not cut it. I don’t like the four aces (okay, and Blanton) going out there thinking that if they aren’t perfect the team can’t win. So far, they’ve handled it brilliantly with only a few minor hiccups. But I don’t want to be relying on this banged up bullpen to eek out 2-1 victories.
I hate to see Contreras go down, but I like the fact that Stutes is coming up. I never wanted Stutes to go down.
Contrerars is 39 years old and has pitched great so far this Season,
but asking him to be the Full-Time Closer in Lidge’s absence will take a toll on a
39 Year old Reliever (and being from Cuba, Contreras is probably a few years older than that) Now Madson has a great opportunity to step up and be that man with help from Bastardo and even Baes on occasions… Looking forward to see how Stutes performs with his chance to come out and keep a spot in the bullpen for he has very good movement on his pitches.. This Bullpen will be a work in progress all season as it appears the older Pitchers will spend time on the DL from time to time (Lidge,Romero and now Contreras) which is now real surprise given these players age and recent injuries..
Another move would be to have Mayberry play LF a few games a week in replacement of Ibanez… The more he sees Right-Hand Pitchers, the better he will become and it’s not like Ibanez has much left in the tank and or I would even like to see R Goad play 1-2 a week and can play RF with
and have Francisco slide over to LF for Ibanez but Gload & Mayberry need
to get in a full game or 2 a week to keep them sharp
We need a lot more production from the #3 hole. TWO RBIs in 20 games doesn’t, cut it! Rollins should hit 6 or 7. Unless we get a healthy Utley or pick up a bat at the trade deadline, our offense may squander a once in a lifetime rotation.
Spot on Dixie which is what I’ve been saying all Spring …..
Maybe putting Francisco at the 3rd slot may be a good idea, he will see a lot of Fastballs with Howard hitting behind him and Francisco is a very good fastball hitter and then slide Rollins down to 6th/7th in the line-up..
15-6.
And what I’VE been saying all spring, all we need to do is put up 3-4 runs a game and we will win — most of the time.
Jimmy will come around. The last couple of games he’s been getting into the groove. The only replacement I see that needs to happen, and fast, is Mayberry replacing Ibanez. This needs to happen ASAP.