Division Opponents in 2015: Philadelphia Phillies

[Edgy MD]

It's a good time to give our rivals their own threads to hash their thing out in.

The Phillies are not having a good time of it right now. With Cole Hamels already openly begging to be traded, Cliff Lee is working with an ailing elbow that damages both his prospects to perform and his prospects on the trade market. We already know that Jonathan Papebon hates it there, and Jimmy Rollins is gone. Ryne Sandburg has inherited a team in full demolition mode.



A team needs a lineup, no matter how much they are trying to dump contracts. And the Phillies will have one, and it may look like this.

1. Ben Revere, cf
   
2. Freddy Galvis, ss
   
3. Chase Utley, 2b
   
4. Ryan Howard, 1b
   
5. Domonic Brown, rf
   
6. Darin Ruf, lf
   
7. Carlos Ruiz, c
   
8. Cody Asche, 3b

Unless and until transactions start breaking up the party, the once glowing Phillies rotation will resemble this.

1. C. Hamels
   
2. C. Lee
   
3. A. Harang
   
4. J. Williams
   
5. D. Buchanan

If and when either of those big two get traded or disabled as expected (or arrested, in Hamels' case), the next two peeps in the pecking order are longtime Dodger Chad Billingsley and fringy prospect Miguel Gonzalez.

Closer is the aforementioned Mr. Papebon, who can be an unhappy camper. For now, it's all smiles and positivity.

�We�ve got a pretty good vibe going in this clubhouse, the best vibe I�ve seen since I've been here,� he said. �That�s exciting. It�s a little bit of a different feel, the attitude, the camaraderie, all that. It�s not just one thing. �I feel like we�re going to contend. There�s no doubt about that. I don�t think anyone in this clubhouse, especially the veterans, feels like we�re not going to contend. It�s like I said earlier, I don�t think it�s a total rebuild where we�re letting everybody go. I think we�re in it to win it, and we�re going to see what happens until it�s dictated otherwise.�

[Guest themetfairy]

[Frayed Knot]

Cliff Lee to the 60-day DL - hoping that rest & rehab will avoid surgery that he doesn't want to do.
He acknowledges that this is unlikely to work and that, if it doesn't, his career is all but over. But he doesn't want to retire since he'd have to forfeit the [u:3l5d9zco]$37 million[/u:3l5d9zco] still on his contract [$25 mil for 2015 plus a $12 mil buyout for '16] and undergoing surgery reduces his odds of pitching this season from slim to none.

[MFS62]

I will do a happy dance when Chase Utley retires.

Later

[Lefty Specialist]

Boy, that's a baaad team. Somehow, though, you know they'll find a way to make things difficult for the Mets when they face them.

[Frayed Knot]

"Boy, that's a baaad team."
--- Bad? ... sure. But at least they're old and expensive. And, btw, a $12 mil buyout?!?! (for Lee). On what planet was THAT considered a good idea? Planet Amaro apparently.


"Somehow, though, you know they'll find a way to make things difficult for the Mets when they face them."
--- They didn't last year: 13-6 Mets

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

MFS62 wrote: I will do a happy dance when Chase Utley retires.

I'm okay with Utley getting older and ornerier and getting a Jeter contract from Team Amaro for, like, 7 years, and slowly turning into a public grumbler/secret clubhouse cancer.

But then, I'm a dreamer.

[Ceetar]

The Phillies Opening Day center fielder will be a second baseman who's never played above double-A.

[Edgy MD]

And Harangatang is the #2 starter.

Phillies have also announced they will be selling wine and cocktails on the concourse this season.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: And Harangatang is the #2 starter. Phillies have also announced they will be selling wine and cocktails on the concourse this season.

Which isn't really...news except it makes for a good joke. Many/Most team sell cocktails and wine.

[Edgy MD]

On the concourse?

Not in my experience. I've only been to two parks in recent years, but in my experience, the umbrella drinks are reserved for the clubs or the swells in exclusive sitting.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: On the concourse? Not in my experience. I've only been to two parks in recent years, but in my experience, the umbrella drinks are reserved for the clubs or the swells in exclusive sitting.

I've only been to the one in the last little bit, (I'm due! Traveling to a different one with a 8-15 month old can't be tough right?!) but they've had booze the entire time. I remember seeing some at Oakland Coliseum years ago, and other places.

[Frayed Knot]

Quickie Phils KTE for our home opening series:

3-3 so far. Lost 2 of 3 vs Boston, took 2 of 3 vs Washington (but, hey, doesn't everyone?)
Haven't scored much [16 RS in 6 games] but kept every game, with the exception of their opening day 8-0 blowout loss, close. Went Xtra innings with Nats twice (1-1)

Their presumed usual lineup (copied from above)

1. Ben Revere, cf
   
2. Freddy Galvis, ss
   
3. Chase Utley, 2b
   
4. Ryan Howard, 1b
   
5. Domonic Brown, rf
   
6. Darin Ruf, lf
   
7. Carlos Ruiz, c
   
8. Cody Asche, 3b

will be missing Dom Brown to the DL.
Replacements so far have included the 'younger than you think yet older then their time' duo of Grady Sizemore & Jeff Francouer along with something named Odubel Herrera (a rookie 23 y/o Venezuelan) who sometimes bumps Ben Revere over to LF so figure on him having a decent glove if nothing else (3/14 at bat so far). Also Andres Blanco (Andy White?) has been switching with Asche at 3rd. Blanco is apparently an eight-year veteran including part of last year with Philly although I have no idea that he even existed so your guess is as good as mine.


On the pitching side we'll miss both Hamels (pitched Sunday) and Cliff Lee (on the 2,548 day DL), drawing instead:
- brief Met Aaron Harang on Monday afternoon
- 2014 Philly David Buchanan on Tuesday night vs Harvey
- and journeyman (7th team in 10 years) Jerome Williams vs Niese on Wednesday night

And, yes, Jonathan Papelbon is still around (and presumably still an asshole) despite hourly rumors that he's going to be traded everywhere from Boston to Queens to the Taliban.

[Edgy MD]

Very sweet play by Freddy Galvis.

[Frayed Knot]

KTE update:

Phils have actually had a decent (and by 'decent' I mean approaching mediocre) month of May, going 11-12 so far buoyed by a five game winning streak where they took the final two games of a series from Pitt (see, it CAN be done) and followed that up with a sweep of Arizona. More recently they split four with the Rox then lost 2-of-3 in Washington.

The only real change to their lineup is the promotion of their top prospect Makiel Franco (not to be confused with John, Julio, or Generalissimo Francisco ... he's still dead) at 3B to replace Cody Asche who's back in the minors trying both to find his stroke and to learn how to play the OF.

Other than that, the same usual characters:
Howard at 1st w/Ruf vs LHPs
Utley at 2nd and, yes, he's still hitting sub-.200
Galvis at SS
Ben Revere in LF, Odubel Herrera in CF, and a platoon of Francouer & Sizemore in RF
Ruiz catching

Looks like we're slated to see
Mon -- Severino Gonzalez making his 4th ML start. After a disaster of a debut [7 runs in 2.2 IP vs StL] he's won twice going the minimum 5 innings both times while allowing 2 & 1 runs to Miami & Colorado.
Tues -- the well-traveled Jerome Williams: 3-4 in 9 starts w/a high ERA (5.44) & WHiP (1.60). Mets beat him earlier in the season nailing him for 5 runs on 10 hits over 5 IP
Wed (day game) -- Sean O'Sullivan (damn these Latins are taking over the game!! 1-3 over 5 starts but with decent peripherals: 3.54 ERA, 1.14 WHiP
which all means that we miss both Cole Hamels & Aaron Harang, clearly their best two hurlers this season.

[Frayed Knot]

Phils lost 3 consecutive one-run games in Pittsburgh this past weekend including twice by the score of 1-0 in extra innings (Friday in 13 innings, Sunday in 11)
That's hard to do even if it were somehow intentional.
Also, ex-Philly Antonio Bastardo was the winning pitcher for the Pirates both times.

Saturday was a garden variety 4-3 loss which means the Phils scored just 3 runs over a 33 inning span. Talk about having a [u:81hpw1cg]Noffense[/u:81hpw1cg]!

[Frayed Knot]

I suppose it would have been a bit greedy to expect the Phils to knock off the Yanx in three straight, but they're far enough behind us (at least for now) that I can root for them in the East-v-East NL/AL series.
I like how the previous entry in this thread was when the Phile were getting bounced by the Pirates 1-0 twice in the same series. And now there's this series where they put up 11 runs in back to back games in the Bronx (vs Tanaka & Sabathia). Got smacked 10-2 today though.

Rookie Makiel Franco has been going nuts lately [.319/.364/.604 on the season] including back-to-back 5 RBI days.

Chase Utley, on the other hand, is still hitting .179 250 Pas into the season and has now been DL'd

[Zvon]

Hamels has a no hitter going into the 9th inning.

[Zvon]

Hamels does it! And if you see the last out CF Herrera must have been more nervous thatn Cole. That was the 2nd time he almost totally blew a play. Yikes.

[Frayed Knot]

Would be weird (but entirely possible) if that's his last start as a Phillie.

[Frayed Knot]

KTE Update:

So we're 8-1 vs the Phils this year but haven't seen them since late May and I'm not sure that we'd recognize half the team right now.
They're actually no longer in last place but are tied for 4th/last with the Marlins after taking 3 of 4 from them over this past weekend and the team once on pace for a 110 loss season are a more than respectable 21-12 over the last five weeks (I wonder if Phils phans are doing the 'All this winning is terrible' thing?) to bring that projection down to the mere upper-90s

So, after getting used to a lineup that was as steady as it was annoying, is there anyone on this team we still know?
- Like is Ruiz still at catcher? Yes, although Cameron Rupp seems to be starting as many games as 'Cheech' these days, and he's hitting better
1B - Good ol' Ryan Howard is still there (as his contract calls for him to be through Bernie Sanders' second term) but Darrin Ruf has started six of the last seven games. Geez, Rupp & Ruf ... sounds like a kennel
2B - Chase Utley is now gone (moment of silence please) leaving Cesar Hernandez, who we've seen from time to time over the past two seasons, in his wake
SS - No Jimmy means extra helpings of Freddy Galvis who has started almost every game for Philly this year
3B - Makiel Franco was their break-out star this year but he's currently residing on the DL ... so it's time to play 'Know Your Blanco'! In this case the correct answer is Andres Blanco (aka: Andy White)
LF - 3B-turned OF Cody Asche mans that spot although has recently been joined by something named Aaron Altherr who I wouldn't recognize if he walked into my house with a name tag saying: 'HI, My Name is Aaron Altherr'
CF - With Ben Revere now gone the full time job seems to belong exclusive to 23 y/o rookie Odubel Herrera
RF - The three-headed monster of the once good (Grady Sizemore) the briefly good (Jeff Francouer) and the never good (Domonic Brown) has been reduced to just Francouer and Brown with Francouer stunningly getting most of the time


In the rotation we'll miss Cole Hamels on account of him plying his trade in north Texas these days, and also Aaron Nola the promising hoped-for replacement for Hamels (4-1 over 7 starts) who pitched on Sunday

Instead we'll see:
Monday: deGrom vs Adam Morgan (4-4, 3.92, 1.22 in 10 starts) a 25 y/o rookie 3rd round pick 2011 who was apparently named for a neighborhood in Wash DC. Never faced the Mets
Tuesday: Syndergaard vs Jerome Williams (4-9, 6.10, 1.67) We beat him 6-1 and 5-4 (ND) earlier this season
Wednesday: Colon vs Jerad Eickoff -- Came to the Phils from Texas in the Hamels deal. Won his one and only ML start Friday vs Miami by tossing 6 shutout innings.
Thursday: Niese vs Aaron Harang -- The Harang-atang leads MLB with 14 losses including 2 vs the Mets (5-14, 4.67, 1.35)

[Edgy MD]

"Chooch," man, not "Cheech."

[Edgy MD]

Only loss to the Phils this year was this 3-1 jobbie at the hands of Cole Hamels. It's miserly to be embittered about a single loss, but it ended Matt Harvey's 5-0 start and took some of the the magic out of his comeback.

[Gwreck]

Edgy MD wrote: "Chooch," man, not "Cheech."

As in, rhymes with "Douche"

Tough to expect a 4-game sweep on the road but I have a tough time seeing how the Mets shouldn't win ?3 games this series.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I agree. A four-game sweep would be fantastic, but I wouldn't be at all disappointed with three wins. I can reluctantly accept two, but anything less than that is a real setback and has to be avoided.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

All the same, feels like tonight is a must-win for momentum purposes, what w/ DW back and our ace on the slab. Plus if you figure Washington is really breaking out of it, we gotta keep the pressure on.

I'm nervous!

[Benjamin Grimm]

I know. I think the odds are in the Mets favor, but a bad week can change that dramatically. Tonight's game isn't technically a "must win" but it feels like one, and that definitely counts for something.

[Frayed Knot]

It's the curse of playing three last-place clubs in a row (four really as we get two series this week w/the Phils) that you come to expect nothing worse than say 10-3 or maybe 9-4 and when you start it 3-0 even those numbers start to look like 'settling'.
But the Phils aren't playing like a last place team right now and it's over a long enough span where it starts to look legit (I'm not quite sure HOW they're winning but the results say they are) so there are reasons to not expect totally smooth sailing.

"Chooch," man, not "Cheech."

I thought Chooch was the guy who formed the comedy team with Ching!

[Frayed Knot]

And of course Jonathan Papelbon is the other long-time [crossout:1dcthz92]asshole[/crossout:1dcthz92] stalwart no longer drawing his paycheck from Philly.
So 2nd year 24 y/o RH Ken Giles, previously the set-up man, closes games now and is 10-for-10 since taking over (although in 7 of the 10 he's had the cushier 2 or 3 run lead).
But where losing a closer usually hurts is not in the 9th inning but in the leading up to the 9th since the best set-up man is no longer available to get your team to its closer, so losing Papelbum probably takes a toll on the depth of their pen somewhere.

[Lefty Specialist]

Just don't trust the Phillies. They've been bad but they're playing better these days, and they'd love to stick it to the Mets. And losing a cancer like Papelbon usually helps more than it hurts.