Archive for June 3rd, 2011

Offensive Woes Continue

June 3rd, 2011 by Mike H. | Comments Off on Offensive Woes Continue | Filed in Baseball, Phillies

The Phillies, yet again, were unable to string hits together when they need them to give the starters any kind of run support as they lose to the Pirates 2-1. Hamels was brilliant throwing eight innings in which he allowed one hit and just one run, yet the Phillies lineup couldn’t give him his eighth win of the season. The question is where do you go to fix the problem now that everyone is back and more importantly how long do you wait to make an attempt to fix it?

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Jimmy Rollins’ defense makes up for his offensive deficiencies, but at this point I would imagine that the Phillies strongly need to consider how much sense it makes to have Rollins return for 2012 and beyond. Raul Ibanez’ numbers look horrible following a horrendous April but he is hitting over .300 with an onbase percentage over .330 since May 1st.

Outside of Ross Gload, not one member of the bench is producing. Schneider, Martinez, Francisco, and Valdez are all hitting under .242, with Valdez being the only one of those four hitting over .225. Maybe what the Phillies need to add isn’t a superstar regular, but a “superstar” off the bench. Someone who is going to be able to come off the bench and get on base. Preferably it would be a right handed bat that could play the infield, making Michael Martinez returnable. A couple of guys I would like to see minor trades for are:

  • Emmanuel Burriss – SF Giants – 2B/SS/3B – .286/.286/.286 – Not a masher, but has been able to get on base. Hasn’t drawn a walk, but has only struck out four times in thirty five at bats. Is in his third year of service time, so will be retainable for atleast two more seasons.
  • Brent Lillibridge – White Sox – 2B/SS/LF/CF/RF – .308/.387/.662 – Has cooled off batting average wise, but his batting average is still hovering right around .300. Is he having a career year or finally coming into his own. Still has less than two years of service time so would be retainable for another 3 years or so.
  • Jeff Keppinger – Astros – 1B/2B/SS/3B/LF/RF – .385/,407/.577 – Keppinger has been hitting out of his mind since coming off of January foot surgery. Eventually he will probably come down to his career average of .283, but he still would be an asset as he is not susceptible to the strikeout. He has zero thru his first 26 at bats this season 93 times since 2007. He has one last year of arbitration to keep thru 2012.

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Unbelievable!

June 3rd, 2011 by Christian | 1 Comment | Filed in General

I fell asleep last night thinking the Heat were up 2-0 in the series.  Woke up this morning and was SHOCKED Dallas rallied to win.  Highlights here:

 

Phillies vs Pirates Preview

June 3rd, 2011 by Mike H. | Comments Off on Phillies vs Pirates Preview | Filed in Baseball, Phillies

After a day off, the Phillies (34-22, 1st place NL East) will be looking to get back to their winning ways. The Pittsburgh Pirates (26-28, 4th place NL Central) will be looking to hopefully stay in contention in the NL Central. The last time the Phillies visited Pittsburgh, they lost three games in a four game series. Let’s take a look on how this series may shake out. (more…)

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My First Crazy Trade Idea Of The Season

June 3rd, 2011 by Mike H. | Comments Off on My First Crazy Trade Idea Of The Season | Filed in Baseball, Phillies

Trade Deadline 2011

Always looking to improve our beloved Phillies, from time to time between now and the end of July, I’ll be posting random trade ideas that I think potentially could work for both teams, but most likely be done. So here is my first trade idea of the 2011 season.

The Philadelphia Phillies send SS Jimmy Rollins, RHSP Vance Worley, and 1B/DH Matt Rizzotti to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for SS Jed Lowrie, AAA OF Che-Hsuan Lin, and, if necessary a PTBNL (Player to be named later). (more…)

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Singleton On The Move

June 3rd, 2011 by Mike H. | Comments Off on Singleton On The Move | Filed in Baseball, Phillies

Position change for an offensive increase?

No, not out of the organization, but back to his original position of first base. The Phillies felt that Singleton feels more comfortable at first base and hope that he can regain his hitting form with the raised comfort level. It’s not out of the question that moving Singleton back to left field in the future is unlikely. They may revisit that scenario sporadically during the remainder of the season, but Singleton will see the bulk of his playing time at first base.

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