Despite the strong week, injuries continue to create an aura of uncertainty around the team. There have been inconsistent reports about the health of injured stars Ryan Howard and Chase Utley, and when the team expects them back in the lineup.
Adding to the injury woes is the news that pitcher Vance Worley has bone spurs in his elbow and was placed on the disabled list.
But throughout all of the uncertainty, one thing that the Phillies have not had to worry about thus far has been the closer role. Thus far in 2012, if the team has had a lead entering the ninth inning, they have come away with a victory.
Therefore, this week's featured Phillie will be the team's closer.
Featured Phillie of the Week: Jonathan Papelbon
I'll admit that I was skeptical when the team signed Jonathan Papelbon to a four year deal that would pay him over 50 million dollars. That is a lot of money to pay any pitcher, especially a reliever. Relief pitchers are generally not known for their consistency from season to season.
I was also a big fan of the team's former closer Ryan Madson, and was unhappy that they didn't bring him back. As it turns out, the Phillies might have dodged a bullet there. After signing a one-year deal with the Reds, Madson suffered an arm injury in Spring Training, and will miss the entire season.
While it is still early in his Phillies tenure, so far Papelbon has lived up to expectations. Despite performing poorly in a couple of outings where he didn't have a lead, (which is not all that unusual for a closer) so far he has been perfect in save situations.
The series against the Red Sox was a big one for Papelbon. Facing his former team, you know he would have loved the opportunity to have closed out all three games in the series. Unfortunately, the Phillies were only able to present him with one save opportunity. And like all the other save opportunities he has faced this year, Papelbon closed it out successfully.
Despite his perfection in save situations, there has been a feeling that Papelbon has been under-utilized this season. There have been multiple extra inning losses in which Papelbon wasn't used, despite the situation calling for the Phillies' best reliever.
Manager Charlie Manuel doesn't believe in using his closer unless his team is leading and the other team is in their final inning. Personally, I feel that a manager needs to identify the "key" situation in the game, and use his best reliever then. Conforming to the "closer pitches the final inning" rule is too limiting.
Ghost of Phillies Past: Heathcliff Slocumb
The Phillies closer role has been a mixed bag over the years. They've had absolute perfection, (Brad Lidge in 2008) as well as absolute disaster (Lidge in 2009). And in 1995, they had the inconsistency of Heath "Heathcliff" Slocumb.
Acquired in 1994 (in exchange for the team's current General Manager Ruben Amaro) Slocumb served as an effective setup man for ancient closer Doug Jones.
When Jones became a free agent after the 1994 season, the Phillies - as was their custom in that time - went with the much cheaper option and promoted Slocumb to the closer role.
In the first half of the 1995 season, the Phillies were a first place team, and many a Phillies victory was capped off by a Slocumb save. His performance was so good that he was even named to the All-Star team.
However, in the second half of the season, both Slocumb and the Phillies fell on hard times. The Phillies didn't have many leads to preserve, and when Slocumb was presented with a rare save opportunity, he tended to blow it.
At the season's end, the Phillies once again decided that the younger, cheaper setup man would make a perfectly good closer, so they traded away Slocumb and made Ricky Bottalico their closer.
Slocumb went on to have uneven success in the American League, eventually having one of the worst seasons for a reliever ever for the 1997 Mariners.
Pennant Year Song of the Week
Since the Phillies finally worked their way back to a winning record, for this week's song, I went with The Spinners' 1980 hit Working My Way Back to You:
The Spinners' version is a cover of the song originally performed by the Four Seasons in 1966.
Random Phillies Tweet of the Week
Instead of finding a random Phillies related image, this week, I'll look through Twitter and find a Phillies related tweet.
This week's tweet is from Delaware County Times beat reporter Ryan Lawrence (@ryanlawrence21):
Current tally, extra-base hits: Freddy Galvis, 15. Albert Pujols, 11.
Final Analysis
If the 2012 Phillies are going to reach the postseason, they'll need Papelbon to continue to excel in the 9th inning. If he has a second half collapse similar to the one suffered by Slocumb in 1995, they not only will likely fall short of the postseason, but they will be hampered by his immense contract for years to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment