Welcome Back J-Roll

Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino pies Jimmy Rollins after his two-run walk-off homer Wednesday night. Yong Kim/Philly Inquirer

As I said earlier this week, the Phillies would be welcoming back Jimmy Rollins with open arms. And boy did they ever. Rollins’ late-inning heroics made him the second player in as many days to save J.C. Romero’s ass as the Phillies won 7-6.

With the score tied 5-5, Romero got himself into bases-loaded, one-out trouble after giving up a run to make it 6-5. But the wild lefty got Russell Branyan to line into a double play to end the inning. Brian Schneider led-off with a walk and Wilson Valdez pinch-ran. After Ben Francisco grounded out, Rollins ripped a line drive that cleared the right field fence to win it for the Phillies in come-from-behind, walk-off fashion.

Rollins’ homer was his lone hit of the night. The MVP, All-Star short stop is just 1-for-9 in his return from his second stint on the DL but he snapped the eight-at-bat hitless streak in a huge way with his shot off of former ace turned bull pen bum Kerry Wood.

Jayson Werth had himself a monster game. His solo shot in the second inning tied the game at two. He also singled and doubled in the game to go 3-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. Ryan Howard had a pair of hits, Raul Ibanez drove in two and Schneider homered. Shin-Soo Choo homered twice and drove in four four the Indians.

Kyle Kendrick was roughed up in his four innings, allowing five runs, four earned, on six hits and two walks while striking out one. Jake Westbrook wasn’t any better as he allowed four runs in five innings on seven hits and a walk while striking out two.

It was a back and forth game. Cleveland jumped out two a 2-0 lead in the first. then the Phillies tied it up in the second. Cleveland took a 3-2 lead in the third off a Carlos Santana sacrifice fly. The Phillies got two more in the fourth thanks to Ibanez’s two-run double. The Indians were quick to answer with two in the fifth to make it a 5-4 game in favor of Cleveland. Schneider’s solo shot in the seventh tied it until Romero’s blunder and Rollins’ heroics in the ninth.

Doubles: Werth (25), Ibanez (14). HR: Werth (13), Schneider (1), Rollins (3).

WP: Romero (1-0). LP: Wood (1-3).

Boxscore.

Lidge Saves Another Moyer Gem

Jamie Moyer made history tonight, but it was well overshadowed on another stellar performance by the 47-year-old southpaw. Moyer pitched eight innings and Brad Lidge picked up a huge save as the Phillies beat Cleveland 2-1 Tuesday night in Philly.

Moyer pitched eight innings of two-hit ball, his only mistake coming off of a monster solo shot by Russell Branyan in the second inning. Moyer only walked one and struck out five in the win. Branyan’s homer was a historic one in the second. With his second-deck shot, it was the 505th home run allowed by Moyer, tying him for the all-time lead with the late Phillies legend Robin Roberts in baseball history.

The Phillies got a pair of runs in the first inning thanks to an RBI single by Ryan Howard and a sacrifice fly by Jayson Werth gave the Phillies an early 2-0 lead. After Branyan’s tying homer, both Moyer and Mitch Talbot got locked in a duel as both teams’ offenses combined for only seven hits. Howard had the only two-hit game.

Charlie Manuel got tossed earlier in the game so we can’t blame this almost-costly ninth-inning blunder. While holding a 2-1 lead, J.C. Romero started the ninth. He got the first batter to ground out and then allowed an infield single to Shin-Soo Choo. Romero then walked Carlos Santana (not the guitarist) to put runners on first and second with one out. Then entered Lidge to pick up Romero’s mess. Lidge locked in and struck out Austin Kearns and Jhonny Peralta to end the game.

WP: Moyer (8-6). LP: Talbot (7-6).

Boxscore.

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Seeing as I forgot to post a preview, here is this series’ probable pitchers and broadcast schedule:

Probable Pitchers
Tuesday: Jamie Moyer* (7-6, 4.76) vs. Mitch Talbot (7-5, 4.21)
Wednesday: Kyle Kendrick (4-2, 4.48) vs. Jake Westbrook (4-4, 4.76)
Thursday: Joe Blanton (2-5, 6.96) vs. Fausto Carmona (6-5, 3.31)
*Lefty

Broadcast Info
Tuesday, 7:05: CSN
Wednesday, 7:05: CSN
Thursday, 1:05: CSN
All Games on 1210 AM

Father’s Day Failure

On a day celebrating fathers around the world, the Phillies were the only ones not celebrating. Roy Halladay was taken yard two times and Carl Pavano pitched a complete game to lead the Twins to a 4-1 win and series win in Philadelphia.

Halladay got hit pretty well but only allowed four runs, three earned on 11 hits while striking out eight in eight innings. Pavano only allowed a run on four hits, the lone mistake being a solo homer given up to Wilson Valdez, his second of the season.

Denard Span and Justin Morneau each homered for the Twins. Both also had two-hit games along with Jason Kubel.

The Phillies will have the day off on Monday before hosting the last-place Cleveland Indians for a three-game series. The Phils sit 5.5 games out of first currently.

HR: Valdez (2).

WP: Pavano (8-6). LP: Halladay (8-6).

Boxscore.

Doc to Face Shrek Tuesday

The Phillies decided it was best to adjust their rotation for their upcoming series with the New York Yankees. Roy Halladay and Kyle Kendrick will be trading spots in the rotation because coach Rich Dubee wants Halladay to have six more starts before the All-Star Break and not five. The move will pitch Halladay on Tuesday against Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia and line him up to pitch against the first-place Minnesota Twins instead of the last-place Cleveland Indians during the Phillies’ stretch of interleague play.

“I ain’t worried about who we’re getting him against,” Dubee said. “I’m just getting him six starts instead of five.”

Dan MacNeal, myself, and five others will be thrilled with the move as the seven of us will be invading Yankee Stadium on Tuesday to see the classic battle between Doc and Shrek.

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ROLLINS TO REHAB — Jimmy Rollins will begin his rehab process Tuesday according to Todd Zolecki on Twitter. He was supposed to begin on Monday but it got pushed back a day for unknown reasons. Hopefully the Phillies won’t rush him back this time so he can last longer than a week in the line up.

Phillies 2009 Moment #9: Phillies All Star OF Trio

With no disrespect to Chase Utley & Ryan Howard, having an outfield all-star trio is rare.  In fact, it’s only happened thirteen times. The last time a team had all three starting outfielders go to the All-Star game was the 1995 Cleveland Indians.  The Indians manager at the time?  None other than current Phillie skipper Charlie Manuel.

All three got in through different routes.  Ibanez was voted in as a starter by the fans.  Ibanez was also the third-oldest position player to make the all-star game for the first time.  Shane Victorino won the ‘final vote’ by the fans, and ended up starting the game.  Jayson Werth was added to the roster by Manuel after Carlos Beltran was injured.  Adding Werth, Manuel said:

I also take into consideration the skill in a guy, the things he can do. Werth can do [it all]. He’s very good in the outfield, he’s got a great arm, he can run, he can steal a base, he can hit the ball out of the ballpark to any part of the field. He’ll take a walk. There are things he can do to help you win besides hitting

At the time, Werth was third in the NL in Home Runs with 20, fifth in RBI with 54, eighth in stolen bases with 12, second in runs with 59 and second in walks with 49. 

Ibanez, who started off the season white hot, hit .309 with 22 Home Runs.  He also knocked in 60 RBI.  Victorino matched Ibanez with a .309 average while stealing 15 bases and pounding out 108 hits.

All three were noted for above-average defensive ability, finishing in the top 20 in outfield assists.  Werth lead the way for the trio with 11; Ibanez had 9 and Victorino rounded out the group with 8.

-Realdeal

Off Season News 11/18

The Phillies are serious contenders for landing Mark DeRosa as a starting third base option. DeRosa is very interested in Philly as well as FoxSports.com said that the Phillies are the favorites to land DeRosa. He hit .250 with 23 home runs and 78 RBIs last season with the Cleveland Indians and St. Louis Cardinals. Todd Zolecki also said that he is a good team mate and hard worker which would add to the already inseperable team chemistry the Phillies have together.

My ultimate wish was to have DeRosa as a utility player but he does have the credentials and ability to start. Their other option for third is Placido Polanco, who played for the Phillies from 2002-05 at second base before Chase Utley became the super star he is now. The only thing that is keeping the Phillies from going after him heavier is that he is a type-A free agent meaning that if the Phillies sign him, they would forfeit a high draft pick to the Tigers.

In other news, Chan Ho Park really wants to be a starter but is keeping an open mind to being a reliever. He wants to play for a serious contender (what Philly is) but wants to start for said contender because it would be easier for his fellow Koreans to be able to watch him start. I can see the patriotism in Park and that’s nice but you have to not be selfish and realize you were a much better pitcher out of the pen.

Phils Land Lee in Trade

Well the Phillies had their eyes set on Roy Halladay and the Blue Jays would not budge so the Phillies went straight to plan B. They nabbed another former Cy Young award winner in Cliff Lee from the Indians for a package of prospects. In the trade, the Phillies got the 2008 Cy Young winner and outfielder Ben Francisco for four prospects: Jason Donald, Lou Marson, Carlos Carrasco, and Jason Knapp.

Cliff Lee is 7-9 with a 3.14 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and a 6.34 K/9 this year. He has come back to form in his last five starts, pitching at least six innings and allowing no more than three runs. He also has thrown two complete games in that span. In four games versus the NL this year, he went 1-0 and didn’t allow more than three runs and went at least six innings, nothing four quality starts. He also had a complete game shut out versus St. Louis.

The Phillies were likely frustrated with the Blue Jays’ demands and gave up on Halladay so they went with the next best guy. Not only is Lee a great pitcher but he will add to the Phillies already solid rotation. The Phillies also succeeded in getting a great pitcher without coughing up Kyle Drabek and JA Happ.

I love this move for the above reasons. The Phillies now have a rock solid rotation along with Pedro Martinez and Rodrigo Lopez as back up plans. Also Brett Myers could be back but a bull pen spot is more likely than the rotation. With the addition of Lee, the rotation now probably looks like this going by when each respective pitcher has thrown:

Hamels
Happ
(Lopez is scheduled for tomorrow)
Lee
Blanton
Moyer

Overall this is a great trade and the Phillies are now instantly the best team in the National League in my opinion.

Ibanez Back; Coste to ‘Stros; Werth an All Star

Well with the return of Raul Ibanez, Chris Coste got DFA’ed and picked up by the Houston Astros via Todd Zolecki’s twitter:

Chris Coste claimed off waivers by Houston to make room for Ibanez.

In All Star news, Jayson Werth replaced Carlos Beltran in the NL outfield. The Phillies became the 13th team to field all three outfielders in the same All Star game. The last time it was done was the 1995 Indians who fielded Kenny Lofton, Manny Ramirez, and Albert Belle.

Werth has a .268 average with 20 homers, 54 RBI’s, 59 runs scored and 12 stolen bases. It is Werth’s first trip.