In 1998, the Atlanta Braves notched their 106th win of the season behind, arguably, the greatest pitching staff ever assembled: Tom Glavine (20 wins), Greg Maddux (18), Kevin Millwood (17), Denny Neagle (16) and John Smoltz (17). But Baltimore would beg to differ with their 1971 rotation, which featured four 20-game winners: Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson, Jim Palmer and Dave McNally.
Those teams, despite their incredible pitching performances, failed to win a world series in their respective seasons.
However, the Phillies and their entire fan base believed that with their new rotation, the sky was the limits.
And who would disagree. Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels are four of the best pitchers in the league, and with the Phillies recently becoming an offensive juggernaut the past few seasons, there was no way any National League team could compete with the club.
But, 41 games into the season, and the Phillies are not where many expected them to be: only .5 games ahead of the second-place Florida Marlins and riding a four-game losing streak entering the Colorado series.
Now 25-16 is not a bad record, in fact, it’s quite good; but compared to what the Phillies could be, it’s a bit of a disappointment.
The pitchers, for the most part, have done their job by keeping the offense in striking distance and in some cases, winning games single-handedly with their arms.
It hasn’t been pretty this season because of everyone’s biggest fear coming true: injuries.
They were bound to happen, though. The pitching staff may be good, but they are up their in age: Halladay (34), Lee (32), Oswalt (33) and Joe Blanton (30). The position players, like the rotation, are up their in age too: Ryan Howard (31), Jimmy Rollins (32), Placido Polanco (35), Raul Ibanez (38) and Shane Victorino (30).
And pretty much all of the players above 30 have been injured at some point this season. Blanton spent 15 days on the disabled list with an elbow injury and Victorino is suffering from an oblique injury. Carlos Ruiz, as well, saw time on the DL this season, as has his backup, Brian Schneider.
The injury bug has slowed down this team greatly, and it has made their offense very weak. The combination between aging players and injuries does not mix well because the older a player gets, the harder (or longer) it is for that player to recover.
Oh, and Chase Utley still hasn’t played this season. Brad Lidge has also been M.I.A. this season, and Jose Contreras was forced to miss an extended amount of time after starting the season off so good.
Everyone’s biggest fear — injuries — has prevented the Phillies from extending their lead in the division, wasted plenty of solid pitching performances from their big four, and made it difficult to gain any consistency in 2011.
Oh, and it doesn’t help that the offense is coming up small and failing to convert in key situations. Because of this, Halladay, Lee, Oswalt, and Hamels have all suffered one-run defeats, which are the hardest ones to swallow.
Oh Gosh, calm the F down.
Excellent Points Kyle
I believe I stated this back in Febuary that the Age and amount of wear and tear on this team core players is a lot to overcome unless many players rebounded with strong seasons (Ibanez,Rollins) which hasn’t happened or some young,unexpected strong play occurs from some new players (Francisco,Brown,Martinez,Mayberry) which also hasn’t happened..
The Pitching and Bullpen have been excellent thus far but the Batting,Big Hits, Clutch RBI’s has not and this I am afraid is how the season will end up and why I only Predicted a 92-94 Win Season and a 2nd place Finish behind the Braves in the NL East and a Wild-Card Round loss to the Giants or Reds..
But there is a lot of Season left and still hope that if Utley can return and maybe they can trade for a consistent hitting OF (like a Carlos Quentin,Adam Jones) that they can get their mojo back.. Teams will continuall pitch around Ryan Howard limiting his opporturnities for the big hits until the Phils can get a consistent Big League hitter to bat behind him..
A great Win tonight and performance by C Hamels .. Now the Phils are 9-11 versus teams with .500 or better Winning Records and now they will be playing many better teams than the Mets/Nationals & Astros..
They are fine. Geez. Get over yourself paulman. They are 10 games over .500. Their offense will come around. Its still not even hot out. They had the same record this time last season through the same amount of games. Victorino has missed a couple of games with a hamstring problem. He doesnt have an oblique issue. Hes fine. Mayberry is playing well, especially in the field, hes fine. They beat the teams they are supposed to beat. We will see what their record against winning teams is after 162. Your overreacting in every aspect. They only need to score 4 runs. They will do that consistently at some point.
Injuries……. Offense has been weak…… Hasn’t had Chase Utley all year…….etc. Yet, they are still in 1st in the NL East, the whole NL in fact, and 2nd in the whole MLB. LOL, I will take it. Them only being a 1/2 game up on the 2nd place Marlins has more to do with the fact that the Marlins have been playing great, and not the Phillies playing bad. At least not in terms of the rest of the league. We might consider them to be playing bad, but that is only because of the HUGE expectations we put on them. They lost 4 straight before tonights game and we are still in this situation (1st in NL, 2nd in MLB). If we were to play the rest of the season with the same pace we have so far, we would finish with 100 wins, more than last year, when we finished 1st in the league. Paulygirl is jumping at this chance because this is the 1st time he has been able to all year. LOL at a team never being able to have a 4 game losing streak all year. Both Paulygirl and Kyle are idiots for jumping the gun.
To clarify my reasoning:
“Now 25-16 is not a bad record, in fact, it’s quite good; but compared to what the Phillies could be, it’s a bit of a disappointment.”
Like I say, I understand where they stand record-wise, and I am not saying it’s a bad record. BUT the only reason I bring up that its a bit disappointing is because of the fact that the Phillies could easily have a few more wins under their belt and be a few more games ahead of the Marlins. There’s been 4 games lost by just one run and 3 more by just two runs — all were reasonable games that the Phillies had their chances in. Not saying they should have won all those games, but if their offense was as good as last year, they would have won a couple of those games.
But no, I’m not worried about the team in the regular season. The biggest question is if they can last in the playoffs and avoid injuries because losing a game by 1 or 2 runs counts way more than it does in the regular season.
With a line up full of AARP members, what did all of you expect. Rollins, Ibanez & hate to say it, Utley, you can stick a fork in. Howard & Polanco aren’t getting any younger. With all of the Horrific signings & contracts that Amaro has made (Baez, Ibanez, Lidge, Blanton, Romero), they are hamstrung. Not a lot of prospects or money to spare. We got to hope that we get a lot out of Brown & Mayberry, doubt it. BTW, Amaro stop forcing these career back ups & Rule 5 stiffs down our throats (Martinez, Orr, Sardihnia, ETC). Watching this team hit makes my eyes & stomach bleed, for the love of GOD!
And another thing before I forget, Utley is not the Savior. Look at the stats, they have been on a steady decline the last 4 years. I have the same knee problem. It will get worse & definitely needs surgery. If he does not it can cause additional problems with that knee & his other knee because of compensation. Not to talk about the back, hips & calves. Hope i’m wrong, but i’m not. Start the Rollins must go campaign, too. Sick of his first pitch swinging, pop ups & weak ground outs. He still is a very good SS, but he is dreadful. Tired of Jimmy being Jimmy. See ya wouldn’t wanna be ya. There you go G.
Lol- paulman wrote this crap. I just know it. Settle down son, its may.
We all anointed them Champs, before spring training, including me. That’s why i’m so pissed & scared that they can’t recover, no matter how great the started are. Really Halladay & Hamels are only fitting the bill so far anyway. Blanton blo*s, Lee is getting the Hamels treatment from the hitters & Oswalt & his balky back. What the heck is a balky back anyway, Jeez. They’re going to need at least two more solid- good hitters + a healthy Utley. Forget about the World series. And don’t give me what the Giants did last year, that was an anomaly. You have to have a balanced line up with the good pitching staff, too.
I do believe the offense will turn around, the Phillies seem to go through this slump once or twice a season. {Utley will be a shot in the arm once he gets back up to the big club. As far are Lidge goes, if he does come back, it will be a bonus. I myself, am NOT counting on him, Madson is finally starting to look comfortable in the closers role. When Contreres comes back, have him be the set up man, with a shot a save every once in a while. JC Romero has me concerned, Baez is a disaster, he wouldn’t even be on the team if it weren’t for his big contract. I’m hoping the recent Stutes injury is nothing to be concerned about.
No it is not what we expected, but despite the injuries and the problems they still in first place in the NL East. Keep the eye on the prize which is the WS. I don’t care if they win 85 games as long as they win the WS.
Despite no production from 2nd base or either corner OF spot, they are in 1st place. Despite their starting closer and the next guy being on the DL, they are in first place. Despite Oswalt being on the DL and Blanton doing nothing, they are in first place. Despite Lee not pitching as well as we expected. Still in first place.
Does the lack of hitting scare me…sure, but I know that Utley is coming back soon and hopefully Dom Brown will be up too. They make will make this lineup a lot better.
And look at the positives. Madsen has been a monster. Stutes and Bastardo have been great and they have exposed Romero and Baez as being expendable. Hamels has continued to dominate the way that he did last season. And don’t forgot Vance Worley, who I can’t wait until he gets a regular spot in the rotation.
D Brown has about 60 At Bats under his belt at the MLB level in the last 12 Months.. To expect anything from him is not realistic. Brown had very few at-Bats from August on last Season, and missed most of this Year’s SPring Camp.. He needs 4-5 At Bats every day at the AAA level and get ready for next year.. Phils need a proven Professional Hitter OF to add to this line-up regardless if and when Utley returns… An OF with Ibanez,Francisco,Mayberry is not going to cut it…
Nice angle Kyle. I can see some truth in some of that….but i’m reserving some judgment based on those injuries and the fact that we are getting healthy.Every team has some age.The super young teams or teams with more balance with regards to old/young guys are usually sitting home during playoffs or one and done due to lack of experience. Giants did some work last year.Mercinaries helped them though.
So go 500 against the good teams.And when it heats up at the Bank they’ll pick it up.
Hmmm- well they cut my post. Guess you can say “crap” on here. Anyway- its may. Settle down sir. Was that ok?
has anyone that posts comments or articles watched the phillies the past…. o I dont know 4 or 5 years ?
their offense, even in the “juggernaut” years, has suffered at various points in those season, and mostly before the all star break. The year they won the world series they were 24-22 on this day that year. Wait until after the all star break to panic… for the love of God, the same thing happens EVERY YEAR.. and people have the same reaction, each and every time, it’s annoying as all hell
WHO BEATS THEM IN A 7 GAME SERIES!!!?
THEY WILL BE THE FAVORS!!?
PAUL…..go play in the mountains dunny.You picked the Braves.
They cut your post and all Paul posts is crap? Suspect. G and the boys need to lighhten up. Kids are in school boys…this is a grown mans site.
Zoltek…real talk son.
How come we’re always hearing about Dom Brown? Look ,he will be the starter next year.Lets just be happy if he comes up and has some solid starts this year.Im done thinking he is gonna be a MAJOR contributor.Too much talk on here like him not being ready ,or being a disssapointment …like its a negative to the season. The bench is fine too me right now.
And the pen,which was sposed to be horrible is top-notch.
And seriously,did anyone think that they would only have 5-10 losses right now!!?Come on….this isnt basketball. Expectations were we should get to the series.That should still be there. But too me we have to stuggle through the season and scrap some.Dont think for a minute they wont dominate a great team in a serieds this year.
Haha- old post reappeared.
Paulman, when it comes to the phils, you have 0 cred, first, don,t weasel off your prediction, it was 92 wins, 2nd place behind braves,also, did any of you clowns consider that this is a different era of baseball, steroids gone, return of small ball, maybe another “dead ball” era, return of the dominance of pitching, and amaro maybe a sage in concentrating on pitching versus hitting, and phils still leading division in batting average, all without arguably their best hitter, utley, Paul will be wrong although now enjoying his chubby while phils sputter a bit
Problem with small ball is that the Phils are not very good at it.. (Rollins./Victorino are not really good at bunting)
Also, playing small ball does not fit into Manager Charlie’s style of managing.
He likes to put his everyday line-up out and not take the bat out of hitters hands and let them play.. He is not as adept to double moves and switches , using the bench early and often, it’s just not his managing style…
I stand by my statement that the Braves win the NL East and Phils finish in 2nd Place but make it as a Wild-Card with about 92-94 Wins…
For the record- not everyone said they were gunna be WS champs. I’m enjoing the ride (my slogan from the 2011 eagles season). Pauly has been waiting for this to happen and he jumped on the negative the moment it appeared. Paul, you can finaly stop hitting the refresh button on your comp for a few.
Its may- lighen up. Let’s talk about the flye…. Oh…. I mean the mini camp…. Oh…. Um…. Let’s talk about obama!!! Jk
Btw- the title “our worst fear”…. Lol. The worst fear would be if pauly got to run the team.
It could be worse Stevo,
We could just talk about D McNabb… Good Grief…
If I was the GM, I would have made pursued and obtained an OF last off-season. I would not have banked on Ibanez & Francisco and still don’t think D Brown is anywhere near ready to be an everyday MLB player
I also would have gotten another LHP for the relief and never re-signed JC Romero.. but that’s just me…
A few people said their hitting has been down ever since they got caught with binoculars in the dugout. Is there any truth to this conclusion?
Phils now have a 9-12 Record playing against Teams with a winning record (Over .500 Winning %) .. This is a telling stat for this team is smoke and mirrors and besides the Starting Pitching is simpley average across the board
This is the best that the 2nd Highest Payoll in MLB can put together…
This is ridiculous,, Cliff Lee used as a Pinch-Hitter in the 3rd Inning for Kendrick whem it was 5-1… Are there no position players who can Bat/Pinch-Hit… and for the record I am not a panicked fan, I stated all off-season that this team was overrated,overhyped because of the Big 4, I stated then as I do Now, this Team will not get to a World Series let alone win one and the Phils are becoming a laughing stock with having a Yankee’s like payroll and have averaged about 2.5 Runs scored per game over the last 3 weeks..
Something needs to happen,shake things up.. Too many players are too comfortable and perhaps Manager Manuel is a little too stubborn to change his ways …
P(nis)Man — your favorite team the Atlanta Braves are 10-8 against teams with .500 record and 15-11 against sub. 500 teams — considering they haven’t had NEARLY the issues the Fightin’s have had, thats a very telling state as well.
BigE — being able to hit has nothing to do with binoculars.
Braves are not my favorite, in fact i don’t like them at all.. The Phils are my favorite team for over 40 years.. I just think the Braves have a better all around ball club than the Phils. I expected this 2011 Phillies Lite not to live up to all the hype/hoopla that the National,Local Media and many of the naiive fans who bought into the Phils Big and them walking thru the Season into the Playoffs..
Sports just like real life doesn’t happen that way, This team and clearly some of their players were overrated, beyong their primes and injury prone which are the things I state back in Febuary when everyone said I was nuts and this 2011 Phils team could be the best that’s ever played the game.. You know how assanine that sounds.. This teams has done very little to even be in any conversation about some the best teams in recent Phillie History let alone in all of Baeseball.. But it typical Philly Media and Fans going overboard with
one of it’s teams again…
For thr Record, Braves started Season without 2 of their 5 Starters (Jurgens and Moylan) Chipper Jones has missed a lot of games which is no surprise, 2nd Year player J Heyward was also recently sideline with injuries
New 1B Freeman and CF McClouth have had dismal starts to the Season, but there they are, just 1-2 games behind the vaunted Phils..
I like the Reds to represent the NL this year for I like the make-up of their team.. A good core of players who are in the primes right now and have played together for a few years and I like how Manager Baker utilizes his entire Roster.. They have recenlty gotten some young Pitchers back from Injuries/DL Stints and I expect them to play a lot better than they have so far..
The Reds of 2011 remind me a lot of the Phils in 2007/2008, Young, Hungry, Hit the ball all over the place, comeback wins,etc,etc.. I don’t see any fire in this Phils squad and thats from Rollins,Howard,throughout the entire roster.. everyone seems too comfortable, too cool in what they are doing with little consequences if they fail to perform… This 2011 Season will go down as one of the most disappointing, under-achieving Teams in Philly SPort Franchise History and it’s a shame the fans will have to suffer thru all the hype, big salary’s.. but unless something changes and quick, I see the Phils doing nothing this post-season (if they even make it in)
BirdoBeamen
May 19, 2011 – 11:02 pm
BigE — being able to hit has nothing to do with binoculars
If you are trying to steal signals it does.
BTW, the title “Our worst fear”, should be about the world ending tomorrow at 6:00pm. Kidding! Question, what is going to happen first, the End of days, NFL lock out or another Philly on the DL? Jeez, can’t take watching this slop on the field anymore.
What is the deal with all of these mind boggling moves Manuel is making? Pitchers pinch hitting & pinch running, Victorino bunting hurt on the to DL, pitching Blanton hurt, sending Worley down, giving green lights to batters when the pitcher can’t throw strikes. I can’t take this garbage on the field anymore. All the home runs you used to get, can’t cover up your flawed managing & tactics any more Manuel. You & Greg Gross suck!!
Big E — lay off the conspiracy theories
As for Paulman — shutup idiot. Through all the injuries and struggles, still in first place. Just wait for the entire team to get back on track. By the end of the June, we will be dominating.
To Birdo,
There are 2-3 games separating the Top 6 teams in the NL Right now and the Phils are probably playing the worst ball out of all them due to their anemic hitting..The Braves,Marlins,Cardinals,Reds,Giants,Rockies
If the Phils don’t start hitting soon, they will find themselves down in the standings not only in their Division (East) but in the NL Overall Standings
Our best wish has just come true. The Braves lost 3 in a row, while we won 2, they are 5-5 in their last 10 and they are 4 games back.
See how stupid that sounds? LOL at the writer of this article, Paulman and the Braves.
Wrong again Sports Bum,
Braves won last evening and are 6-4 in their last 10, while Phillies Lite went 5-5 in their last 10 games..so the Braves gained a game this week on them..
(The Mets/Brewers/SF Giants and Arizona all went 7-3 over their last 10 games)
I noticed on 2011 Team Batting Stats that this “Phillie’s Lite” Offense dropped from #10 Overall to #12 Overall in the NL which is not going to get it done.. They need to make a move or 2 to solidify this Offense, with the 2nd Highest Payroll in all of MLB, and their Core players getting long in the tooth, the Phils need to Win now, this year, and it may even mean giving up some promising young players to get an proven Bat who can play OF..
A good question for all, is do the Phils trade a Worley or Stutes or Martinez with other prospects for another Bat… Other teams are not going to be interested in over-the-hill,overpaid players like Ibanez/Blanton,etc,etc so if the Phils ae going to land a proven OF, they will hav eto give up youth to get that player (s) or do they sit tight and hope the Offense comes around and players like Francisco,Ibanez,Mayberry all start hitting and that Utley returns healthy and is able to perform at a high level like he did a couple years ago.. back… .Ibanaez
My post was before the Braves game was over, moron. You should know that by the time of the post, but you are so quick to jump all over the Braves d*ck and anyone that attacks them, that your idiocy overlooked it. Either way, they are still 3.5 games back and 5 back in the loss column. You and the moron writer were jumping all over their d*cks and the Phillies case because the Braves won 4 straight while the Phillies lost 4 straight. Just showing you morons how quickly that can turn considering the Braves just got over a 3 game losing streak while the Phillies won 3 of their last 4 since the losing streak. Yeah, our offense is “Phillies Lite” and we are still winning, in 1st in the NL East/NL and 2nd in all of baseball…… LOL at your failure. You better hope that the Phillies offense never gets going, otherwise you can forget about your wet dream of the Phillies finishing below the Braves, and even then…… it doesn’t seem likely.
Overhyped Team as usual by the Philly Media and by too many of the fans too..
I could care less what the Braves,Marlins,Reds,etc,etc are Doing.. If the Phils continue to average 2.5 Runs a game, there will be no World Series plain and simple.. This is a 2nd Highest Payroll Team in all of MLB, with the expected Best Starting PItching in all of Baseball..(maybe in History) . Anything less than a WS Ring is unacceptable and a complete choke.. Where’s the Dominance, Where’s the Big 4 Pitchers all getting 20 wins, Where is the 115-120 Games won and cakewalking theu the NL East by 15 games as many predicted… I like to bring a little reality about this Team and to the Philly Fans who always seem to overrate their home teams for some reason.. We’ve seen it with the Eagles and Flyers for years and now are seeing it with the Phillies and I do hope the Phils become the Phitin’ version again and stack smacking the ball around the park and start dominating teams like they were expected do.. I just don’t see it happening and I didn’t see from the off-season to now, This line-up is just very averaage which scares nobody.. Maybe Utley can make a difference.. but their offensive woes are more than that…
And the Braves have been doing what, moron? What gives you the idea that the Braves are gonna win the division besides the hate for the Phillies and the assumption that they will perform a certain way based on what you think they will do, yet you use present stats to judge the Phillies? The Braves offense isn’t exactly lighting it up. In fact, they aren’t much better than the Phillies at all. They have a worse Avg, 14 more runs, but in 3 more games. The Phillies pitching is slightly better by about the same difference. Yet, somehow you think that the Braves are sooooo much better. I wouldn’t care if you were pointing out the Phillies problems, if you didn’t ignore the other teams problems as well, but you can’t because you are so filled with hate for anything Philly that you only see the bad for them in hopes they will fail, because you can’t stand that they are this successful. You are an idiot. You think somehow posting your stupid biased bs, that you are leveling out the expectations for this team? Really, that is your goal here? Do you realize how stupid that sounds? Why the f*ck do you even post here? You are a joke, and you hate on all the Philly teams. There are maybe a couple people on here that actually like listening to your bs, and that is probably only for entertainment purposes. See, because you are a clown to them putting on an act. That is quite pathetic to be so filled with hatred for another city’s teams that you post on their websites incessantly, but if that is what you need to do, continue on clown.
I am not sure how many times I have to mention it Sports BUm
I could care less wha the Braves do for I am a Phitin’ Phillie fan who didn’t buy into the hype and hoopla of the Big 4 from the get go. I thnk the Braves have a better all around Pitching Staff, a better Manager and don’t have any pressure which is why they will beat out th Phils who are playing so tight for failing to meet expectations, even Manager Manuel has been making questionable decisions and is feeling the heat.. I had concerens all off-season about this teams Offense (due to age/injuries) and it’s Bullpen (which has overall been the surprise of the team in my opinion) but players like Rollins,Francisco,MAyberry are not getting it done. Rollins is not leading like he used to .. Where’s the passion, the fun that used to be on this ballclub.. Every is “cool’ and to tight, no one looks like they are having fun.. I don’t like the body language or the feel of this team and haven’t since the off-season,maybe Utley and brown can add a spark for they sure as hell need somethings but aeraging 5-6 Hits a game and 2 Runs a game isn’t going to beat the better teams… The “Phillies Lite” are now 11-13 versus teams with a
.500 Winning % or better which isn’t going to get it done…The Phils need 2 Bats and are built and have the Payroll to win a WS This year, anything less is a major Disappointment and even a Choke since they were so heavility favored by the NAtional/Local Medias and the local fans bought right into it as usual…
You know why you have to keep mentioning it, Paulman…… Because besides the fact that you SAY you are a Philly sports fan…… You do nothing but post negativity about them all. Your posts speak louder than your supposed “fanhood”. Maybe being from Carolina (Please save me the you’re from Philly crap or whatever it is you say), hearing all about us Philadelphia fans in the media about our negativity, you got the impression that is what it takes to be a real Philly sports fan. To be negative all the time, so you emulate us so much that is how you act figuring that you can be a true Philly sports fan like us real fans. The point you are missing though, is yeah we are probably the most negative fans about our team in the nation, but we are also the most PASSIONATE. We hate on our teams, but we really LOVE the hell out of them. We just want them to do well. So, now maybe you can learn this lesson that I am giving you and show the love/passion for the team like us true Philly fans do, and you can be more like us and really try to fit in, because honestly I am tired of hearing your doubts, pessimistic views and negativity, and if that is all you are gonna continue to do, I rather you just SHUT THE F*CK UP!