The Philadelphia Phillies won their second straight game on Sunday afternoon, taking down the Diamondbacks 2-0. Their record improves to 13-12.
- A.J. Burnett gave the Phils another strong start, tossing eight scoreless innings. Burnett gave up just five hits with no walks, and struck out eight. He lowered his ERA to 2.15.
- Chase Utley got the Phillies on the board in the first inning with an RBI single. Utley also hit his 11th double of the year, and came around to score in the sixth inning.
- Marlon Byrd hit the single that ended up scoring Utley, but didn’t receive credit for an RBI due an error on the play by Arizona shortstop Chris Owings.
- Ben Revere had yet another multi-hit game, going 2-5 and coming around to score a run. Revere also stole his eighth bag of the season in the first inning.
- Ryan Howard went 1-4 with his third double of the year.
- Wil Nieves started to give Carlos Ruiz a day off, and went 1-4 with a single.
- Cody Asche got a start at third base, and went 0-4.
- Jonathan Papelbon recorded his eighth save of the season.
Final Thoughts
The 10-game west coast trip is at an end.
The Phillies looked absolutely feeble at the beginning of this trip, failing miserably in the first two games out in a good hitters’ ballpark in Colorado, but finished in an extremely impressive fashion, taking three games from the Dodgers and two from Arizona.
They’ve gotten their record above the .500 mark, and a lot of things are clicking right now for this squad. Players are turning in great efforts on the field, and the manager has been pushing the right buttons this week.
Starting pitching has been solid, and it looks as though Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and A.J. Burnett may have a chance to be an extremely effective threesome to anchor this rotation.
The offense as a whole hasn’t been as consistent as you would like, but they’ve shown the ability to fight back from significant deficits late in the game, and that’s very encouraging. Ben Revere has been doing exactly what a lead-off hitter needs to do, and that’s get on base multiple times per game consistently and set the table for the rest of the order. Chase Utley has been the only big bat in the order that has been consistently effective throughout the first month, but guys like Ryan Howard, Marlon Byrd, and Carlos Ruiz have shown the ability to step up at different times and make strong contributions.
Ryne Sandberg has shown us how he can have an impact on the team in ways that Charlie Manuel could not. Manuel was a great manager in his own right, but one of his flaws was that he was never really interested in shaking up his lineup to try and get a spark out of different guys. During this roadtrip, Sandberg surprised everyone by hitting Carlos Ruiz out of the cleanup spot one night out of the blue, and Ruiz has caught fire over the next eight games, raising his average from .204 to the .290’s.
What I’ve seen from the Phillies over the last week has been extremely encouraging, and they’re giving us hope that this baseball season may not be a wash after all.
Must admit good job so far, go phils
What I like is Sandberg will utilize the whole 25 Man Roster, change things up a bit and keep players feeling part of the Team..
CF Gwynn has played well when called upon, Mayberry
Getting sone At-Bats
Catcher Nieves has had sone big hits in limited play..
And Sandberg is resting a Rollins, or Utley & Howard a game a week or so to help keep them fresh for the long haul
What’s Darren Ruf’s Status, is he still on DL
Or down in the Minors, who goes when they call him back up..
Paul according to you they should rest Howard,utley and Rollins 7 days a week…. For some reason you don’t want to try to win
It’s a little too late for that now isn’t it?
The last 2 off-season’s have come and gone..
The Phils are what they are.. (a .500 Team)
There’s no point but to ride it out with what they
have..
Paul you can’t rebuild when you had 3 $20 mill pitchers and a $25 mill power hitter you have to try to win ! You don’t understand pro sports
Not now you can’t, but I don’t make those Deals to begin with and tie my hands as GM or Organization ..
so you don’t sign halladay, lee, hamels or howard? interesting– so they were wrong to go for it in 10, 11, 12? you really don’t sign those players? why do you not want to win? i don’t get it?
You keep saying “Winning Baseball”
Since the 2012 Season, the Phils are a
combined 167-182 for a 47.5% Winning %
over their last 349 Baseball Games
Where do you see the Winning since 2012???
I would never had extended Howard who still had 2 Seasons to go in Arbitration, I would never re-signed Rollins, or Signed Papelbon or Traded Pence so this would have freed-up some $$$
No Sense in going over the coulda,woulda’s the last 2-3 Off-Season for it’s water under the bridge
I know Fans are excited, but the reality states that this Phils are a .500 Team and if your happy & satisfied with this, then so be it, but Fans like me expect more …
i said they are trying to win dick wad! it doesn;’t always work out — you said you would not have gotten lee, halladay or signed hamels? — to compete you have to play in the market… you have to sign players at market value otherwise they don’t sign with you.
i guess you are saying you would have given pence $95 million which was his market value but not rollins $33? how did that free up money? you make no sense.
i never said winning baseball? you made that up? i said trying to win!
as for howard… that is SOP to sure up a big piece long term…look around the league! you don’t play by the rules that the real system plays by.
so paul you don’t get halladay, lee, resign hamels? these moves you say tied their hands… so 2011 wouldn’t have happened? i don’t understand please explain?
I would not have pursued Halliday and would have not traded Lee off for garbage after signing him to begin with..
Hamels I would have resigned..
I would have pursued 3B Aramis Ramirez when he was a Free-Agent 3 Off-Seasons ago and replaced Rollins when his Deal was up 2 Tears ago with SS Drew and anyone of the available SS 2
off-Seasons ago .. It’s all water under the bridge
The Phils are under .50″ since the start of the 2012 Season so it’s not like core group of highly paid Players has done much to make them Winners in 2 Plus Years..
no halladay… you lose all credibility there.
you have to take a shot… thats something you don’t understand..
CBP is a Hitters Park, Tying up over $60 MIllion in Yearly Payroll
with Hamels,Lee & Halliday did not work produce a Championship and then you can add another $10-15 for when Oswalt was a Phillie .. both Oswalt & Halladays best Pitching days were behind him, though Doc had some memorable games
again, the Spent too much resources on Starters in a Hitters Ballpark and let the Offense and especially the Bullpen get weaker and weaker which is where most Games in MLB are Decided…. Phils used a flawed strategy based on the Park that they play 1/2 their games in, didn’t and still doesn’t make sense.. .
again… no halladay? you are stupid– just stupid.
Pman, what do you think it would have looked like without paying those SPs? Would have lost a lot more games 9-6. Oswalt I will agree with because he was injured. His back was done. But Halladay wasd 40-16 in 2 seasons before he broke down including a Cy Young, perfect game and a ho hitter. Even if they spent 60 mil on the pitchers that left them with about 90-100 mil for hitters and that wasn’t enough. Not Halladay’s fault when Carpenter shuts them out 1-0. I will agree that they haven’t done dick with the bullpen though.
fraudman doesn’t play within the REAL market of MLB or any other sport– he just spouts off ‘they shouldn’t have signed him for X years’ when in fact X years was the market.
it is my main beef with the blog GM’s on here…
Nice job so far if the bullpen gets better and Dom Brown starts hitting with some power this team can contend.
Lion some people on here claim a successful 2014 season would have been to be 15 out at the deadline. What a loser attitude! Hey they may not make it but you have to try! So many so called sports fans with s losing mentslity
The Phillies are one 3rd baseman away from keeping it interesting throughout the summer. If somehow or someway they can get someone to hit over.100 @ 3rd they may stay within striking distance for a WC spot and be able to make a move at the trade deadline. There starting pitching is pretty good.
Dag, I agree they must do something about 3rd base. Cigar what are the options there? Franco isn’t ready he’s under the mendoza line in triple A, what about Hernandez?
i believe they will live with Asche… he is a young guy batting out of the 8 hole where he sees very few good pitches. They will be patient in my opinion and live with it. I think they like his work ethic and believe he will figure it out. If he ends the year at 245 with 15 hr and plays solid D i think we should all be tickled pink.
Caesar is playing very well last I checked. But I agree with hac u gotta let asche out there and play. Can’t be yo yo ing Asche let him sink or swim. He has pop in his bat unlike galvis who can’t put a ball in play and when he does it barely dribbles passed the pitcher.
Phillies are in a weird position when it comes to galvis. I can’t imagine they want him on the team but the only guy I think capable of replacing him is ceaser and I think the phillies want to get him as much work as they can.
I would love to see Hernandez out there as much as possible but not sure he can play SS or 3rd.
Okay if Asche continues to really struggle wouldn’t the best option be to get Hernandez up and playing until Franco is ready, shit on Galvis he isn’t a major leaguer period if I could have jumped through my TV and kicked his ass when he crow hopped and allowed that guy to beat out a routine grounder I would have.
Probably is Franco hasn’t gotten it going either yet. Still under the Mendoza Line.
you can’t give up on a 23 year old rookie who is struggling in april… just can’t do it. the phils are trying to turn their roster over and while staying competive they need homegrown players to do it. I predict Asche will end at 245, have some big hits and be a nice part of this team.
I don’t want to give up on Asche. They have to see if he can actually play and that means let him play every day. My point is that I want Cesar to be the back up utility infielder instead of Galvis. I know he hasn’t played 3B and SS, but I think he could make the transition.
bugs– i don’t know what they are doing with him in the minors… but i can tell you that a MLB team needs someone on the bench that can field SS adequately. I don’t know whether hernandez can or not… do not take this as a galvis endorsement… i just know that a utility infielder is necessary and the reason they aren’t a regular is always cuz they can’t hit… anyone remember eric bruntlett?
I agree Cigar you don’t give up on this kid even through May, but what do you do if it’s June 15th your right in the hunt and Asche is still hitting around 200?
Lion if thats the case you cross that bridge then… as you said its only april!@!!!
I’m old enough to remember #20 rookie year and remember the people booing him and calling him a bum… luckily there wasn’t blogs back then!!! i think he ended at like 212 or something…
And before any bafoon says it I am NOT comparing them as players!!!!!!
yikes make that .196
My favorite Philly athlete of all time yes he hit 196 his rookie year but they blew in 1972, hopefully come June they will be in the hunt and this kid will be hitting around 250 by then.
besides the fact that there are no better options i believe rollins and utley were kept around in part is to help guys like Asche transition to a mlb, winning environment. I think thats part of the plan.
We are on the same page the kid will come around– don’t discount that the man is hitting in the toughest spot in the lineup–
bugsy Caesar is playing 2nd , ss and 3rd in the minors this year
Utleys miracle. Utleys knees have miraculously regenerated themselves. From a new stretching routine he has no chronic knee issues for over a year now. When 1st reported they said his knees were so shot that he would have probleems walking let alone playing professional baseball. . Its simply amazing. He is running and diving like he got a new pair of knees. Ive never seen anything like it. .
Utley is on Chip Kelly’s nutrition science program. Smoothies, healthy diet, exercise and sleep.
They have to let Asche play through and not put the hitless wonder out there anymore.
Agreed !!!
I’ve been screaming this kid isn’t a major leaguer forever while the organization and some fans keep talking him up. Galvis is putrid. Is Wilson Valdez available? Id take that loser over this loser in a heartbeat.
Thanks Mhenski about the news about Hernandez. They need to get him up here to replace Galvis then. Figures that he could make that transition after coming up as a 2b.