Week Eight: Roy Halladay and Ken Howell

The week was going rather well for the Phillies.  After taking the first three games against the defending World Series champions, they had Roy Halladay set to face the Cardinals in the series finale on Sunday.

In the past couple of seasons, sending Halladay out to complete a sweep was about as sure a thing as there was in baseball.

But instead of ending the week with a happy feeling, Phillies fans were left with a feeling of despair.  The Phillies lost the game thanks in part to a first inning grand slam surrendered by Halladay.  But the truly bad part was that Halladay left the game in the second inning due to shoulder soreness.

 

Featured Phillie of the Week: Roy Halladay

There were rumors during Spring Training that there might have been something wrong with Halladay.  He was struggling a bit in the exhibition games, and his velocity was decreased slightly from last season.

Halladay and the Phillies both maintained that he was fine, and when he pitched eight shutout innings on Opening Day, all of the concerns seemed unfounded.  He continued to pitch well throughout April.  He suffered some losses, but those were due more to lack of support rather than any great failing on Halladay's part.

But since the beginning of May, Halladay has not looked quite the same.  In his start on May 2nd against the Braves, he blew a six-run lead, an event that most Phillies fans would have thought was impossible.

Over his next several starts, something seemed a bit off.  Halladay certainly wasn't pitching poorly, and given a little bit more run support, he probably would have won most of the games.  But this also wasn't the dominating Roy Halladay that Phillies fans had come to expect.

Phillies fans don't expect Roy Halladay to need a lot of run support.  If the team can only score two runs behind him, then he only gives up one.  That's how it has worked for most of his Phillies tenure.

When he faced the Nationals and gave up five runs in six innings, the level of concern rose.  The velocity on Halladay's pitches was still down from previous seasons.  Could Halladay be suffering from an undisclosed injury?

When he had to leave Sunday's game after two innings, Halladay confirmed that there were indeed physical issues behind his (relatively) poor performance.  Apparently he has been suffering from a sore shoulder.  It isn't clear how long that his shoulder has been bothering him, or how much it has affected him.

What is clear is that if Halladay is going to miss much time, or if the injury will prevent him from pitching like the Roy Halladay of the past two seasons, then the Phillies may be in trouble.

 

Ghost of Phillies Past: Ken Howell

In the 1989 season, the Phillies took a chance on quite a few reclamation projects, such as their Opening Day starter Floyd Youmans.  While Youmans might have been a failure, they had much better luck with another starting pitcher.

Ken Howell had been a decent prospect for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the mid-80s.  He had talent, but his mental approach wasn't where it needed to be.  When faced with adversity, he reacted by just trying to throw the ball past hitters. 

When an arm injury forced him back to the minors, Howell used the time to actually learn how to pitch.  His improved mental approach paid dividends for the 1989 Phillies.

Howell became the leader of the Phillies pitching staff, winning 12 games with a 3.44 ERA.  His success continued into the early part of the 1990 season, when his progress was halted by injury issues.

Unfortunately, the injuries never went away.  It felt like every season, the Phillies would be counting on Howell to come back and lead the staff, only to have him hit a snag in his rehab.  As a result, Howell was never able to return to the majors.

I doubt Howell's presence would have made those early 90's Phillies teams into contenders.  But not having the guy they counted on as their ace certainly didn't help.

 

Pennant Year Song of the Week

The Phillies are designed to win with elite starting pitching.  Unfortunately, without Roy Halladay, the rotation is missing its most important piece.

Therefore, this week's song is Biggest Part of Me by Ambrosia.

Random Phillies Tweet of the Week

 

From Base'Ball (@BASEBAAL_GOD):

I am preparing to judge your Roy Halladay and am accepting burnt offerings. The aroma pleases me.

Final Analysis

Ken Howell was a good pitcher.  But with or without him, those Phillies teams likely weren't going anywhere.

On the other hand, Roy Halladay is on the short list of the best pitchers in baseball.  If he has to miss a significant amount of time, the 2012 Phillies might be in real trouble.



Week Seven: Jonathan Papelbon and Heathcliff Slocumb

Despite two weekend losses to the Red Sox, the Phillies have looked better this past week than at any other point in the 2012 season.  They won six straight games, and have played more like the winning team that we've come to expect over the past few years.

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.

Week Six: Cole Hamels and Reggie Harris

Cole Hamels was the big story for the Phillies this week.  (Well, Cole Hamels and the complete disaster that was the Phillies bullpen in the series against the Mets)

After hitting the Nationals' Bryce Harper in last Sunday night's game, he didn't provide any of the usual coy "That one got away from me" explanations that pitchers usually give when they bean someone.  No, Hamels bluntly admitted that he had hit Harper on purpose.

Naturally, this became a huge national story and drew both praise and scorn from members of the national media.  It also earned Hamels a five-game suspension from Major League Baseball.

As a result, Hamels is this week's featured Phillie.

Featured Phillie of the Week: Cole Hamels

Despite his honesty about the situation, Hamels hasn't made his motivation for the plunking completely clear. 

He seemed to feel that Harper wasn't showing the proper amount of modesty for a rookie.  There were allusions to Harper's cockiness in the minor leagues, as well as some complaining about the strike zone.

Whatever the motivation, Hamels felt that old school baseball code dictated that Harper should be "welcomed" to the major leagues.  This is nothing new.  Harper isn't the first rookie to be treated in this fashion, and he surely isn't the last. 

The unusual part about it was that Hamels openly admitted what he did.  I guess he felt that the message wouldn't get across otherwise?

Naturally, his admission got quite a few people up on their soapboxes to declare him a horrible person.  Most notably, Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo unloaded on Hamels calling him "fake tough" and other unflattering names.

Who determines if a player is tough or not?  Mike Rizzo does!

Oddly, some people seem more upset about Hamels' admission rather than the act itself.  I guess it is somehow better to lie about hitting someone rather than being a man and admitting it?

I'm not sure where Rizzo is coming from.  After all, later in the game, Hamels had to come to the plate and bat.  And sure enough, a ball "got away from" Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann and hit Hamels.

For his part, Hamels seemed perfectly okay with the retaliation.  He also seemed fine with Harper getting a little revenge of his own by stealing home against him.

The suspension that Hamels received was essentially meaningless.  Due to an off day in the schedule, Hamels didn't have to miss a start.

More importantly, after his suspension was complete, Hamels turned in yet another dominant outing.  He held the Padres to one run in seven innings.  The win allowed the Phillies to win the series, and gain some momentum after what had mostly been a bad week.

Ghost of Phillies Past: Reggie Harris

In 1997, the Phillies had another pitcher intentionally hit an opponent with a pitch.  And much like Hamels, the pitcher openly admitted it after the fact.

In June of 1997, the Phillies were in a huge slump.  In one particular game, the Braves were absolutely crushing them, and reliever Reggie Harris had had enough.  He wanted to send a message, and so he beaned the Braves' Andruw Jones.

Unlike the Harper incident, people didn't make a big deal about this plunking.  That was mostly due to Harris being a journeyman relief pitcher and not a multiple-time All-Star like Hamels.

After the game, Harris admitted that his beanball was intentional.  People were absolutely shocked by this.  They weren't necessarily shocked by Harris' honesty, but rather because Harris was actually able to hit his intended target.

Harris was not known for his control.  In fact, he might have had some of the worst control ever witnessed.  In the 1997 season, Harris managed to walk a whopping 43 batters in 55 innings.  During one particularly bad outing, he threw 14 pitches, and only two of them were strikes. 

The most telling sign of how bad the 1997 Phillies were is that Harris actually pitched 55 innings for them.

If he had just given the standard "that one got away from me" excuse after hitting Jones, I don't think anyone would have doubted him.

Pennant Year Song of the Week

This week's song might have been sung by Bryce Harper to Cole Hamels this week.  From the year 1983, it is Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? by Culture Club.

Random Phillies Image Found on the Web

This is a picture of Turkey Hill's Phillies themed flavors:

Final Analysis

The Phillies have to hope that Hamels can continue to turn in dominant performances like the one on Sunday.  They also probably hope that he is less honest the next time he hits someone on purpose.

Week Five: Joe Blanton and Bobby Muñoz

The Phillies had another inconsistent week.  The inconsistency seems to be partially caused by their struggles in extra inning games.  They lost two more games which went longer than regulation. 

In a somewhat amazing turn of events, they even lost a game in which ace Roy Halladay was given a six run lead.  But they were able to rebound from that loss thanks to the efforts of this week's featured Phillie.

Featured Phillie of the Week: Joe Blanton

After Roy Halladay was roughed up in Wednesday night's extra inning loss, the Phillies needed a strong performance from the man affectionately known by some as Fat Joe.

What they received on Thursday afternoon was better than they could have ever hoped for.  With both sides tired from the night before, Blanton threw strikes, and simply shut down the Braves' hitters.

Blanton shut out Atlanta and the Phillies won by a score of 4-0.  This was Blanton's first shutout since June of 2007, and his first complete game as a member of the Phillies.

For a man considered to be the 5th starter, it would be a huge boost to the team's chances if he can continue to deliver performances like that.

Ghost of Phillies Past: Bobby Muñoz

In the early 90s, Phillies general manager Lee Thomas was obsessed with finding large bodied pitchers.  Thomas believed that larger pitchers were capable of greater velocity and less prone to injury.

Whenever Thomas sought to acquire a pitcher, it seemed like the first thing he checked was the man's size.  Fitting with that profile, when the team traded Terry Mulholland to the Yankees following the 1993 season, the prize prospect they received in return was the 6'7" Bobby Muñoz.

In 1994, Muñoz showed some signs that he would live up to his potential.  He compiled a 7-5 record, and seemed to be hitting his stride just as the strike ended the season.  Unfortunately, that success did not carry over to the next season.

Muñoz did his best to disprove Thomas' theory that large pitchers were less likely to suffer injuries.  Throughout his career, Muñoz was simply unable to stay healthy.

A variety of injuries cost him most of the 1995 season.  He made sporadic appearances over the next few seasons, but even when healthy, he failed to pitch very effectively.

Muñoz's failures meant that Thomas had essentially shipped out a key part of the 1993 Phillies for nothing.

Pennant Year Song of the Week

The Phillies travelled to Washington this past weekend to take on the Nationals.  And according to the marketing done by the Nats, the series was a VERY BIG DEAL.  The team was going to "Take Back the Park" and show the Phillies that they weren't going to be the doormats of the National League East anymore.

To the Nats and their fans, I'm sure that winning two out of three was indeed very special.

To the Phillies and their fans, the series felt a little less important.  After watching so many postseason games over the past years, it is hard to get that worked up about a series in May.

In that spirit, this week's song is So What? by Pink.

Random Phillies Image Found on the Web

Someone showed both Phillies and Halloween spirit with this Phillies jack-o-lantern.

Final Analysis

It is probably unfair to compare Joe Blanton to Bobby Muñoz.  While both are large bodied pitchers, the comparison really ends there.

Blanton is an established major league pitcher who has had a successful, if unspectacular career.  Muñoz was a prospect who never panned out.

The Phillies have to hope that Blanton continues to perform at a high level.  If he does, the games they play later in the season - unlike this past series with the Nationals - will indeed have great importance.