Results tagged ‘ brad lidge ’
Finals Procrastination
It’s finals week here and I find myself studying a bunch, but currently I’m procrastinating. Took the first final early this morning and now I have three more to go. I cannot wait to get back home for the summer. I have tickets to one of the Dodgers/Phils games at The Park next week. I’ll get to see Manny come to town along with that solid Dodgers team. But anyways…
While I’m on my study “break” (I call it a break because I plan on doing this post, and then watching the Sox/Yanks game tonight, so really it’s a four or so hour break), I’ll give you the team of my favorite players that I’ve watched during my lifetime. I’m in the team forming mode so here it goes.
Rules:
- Team consists of a player at each position, five starting pitchers, and two relievers, and a manager
- Each player is my favorite at that position
- Each player will have played since 1990 (my year of birth) but I don’t remember the early 90′s so most likely a little later than that
- No DH (since the Phils are in the NL and pitchers should hit anyways)
- And other rules that I can’t think of right now
THE “MY FAVORITE PLAYERS” TEAM
Catcher Joe Mauer
This guy can catch and hit for average? Sign him up. A career .319 hitter, Mauer has a great approach at the plate and a career OBP over .400 and he’s back from injury now (which is good, he’s on my fantasy team). He beat out Mike Lieberthal and Charles Johnson here.
Firstbase Jim Thome
In an era where all the players reaching the 500 homerun club are accused of performance-enhancers, we have the players like Thome who are just pure power. My dad was a fan of Thome when he was still with the Tribe, so I followed his liking and then he ended up coming to Philly for three or so years. He’s slugged 545 total homers in his career and keeps on going with the White Sox today. The runner up here is Todd Helton.
Secondbase Chase Utley
When there are so many great secondbasemen in the game today, Utley is called by many, the best of them all, and I agree. He’s been all the hype since he came up to the big leagues with the Phils in 2003 and hasn’t dissapointed. With the quick swing and a great approach to the plate, I’ll have Utley over any secondbaseman on my team. Luis Castillo and Brian Roberts were also considered–but it was really no contest.
Shortstop Nomar Garciaparra
He was my second ever “most favorite player” while playing short for the Sox. I’ve followed him as far back as I can remember. With the Red Sox, he hit .323 and was the batting champion twice. He’s the reason my favorite number is five. From ’96 Rookie of the Year to today, Nomar’s the man.
Thirdbase Cal Ripken Jr.
The only current Hall of Famer on this team, is Ripken. I know he was a shortstop for most of his career, but as far as I can remember, he’s a thirdbaseman. One of my most favorite baseball moments ever is when he hit a homerun in his last All Star Game in 2001. Mike Lowell is the runner-up here.
Leftfield Jeff Conine
He was my very first “favorite player.” As far as I know, I’ve been a Conine fan since I’ve been a baseball fan. Supposively when I was five or six, my dad took me to a Marlins/Phils game at The Vet and Jeff Conine hit a homerun that game and I decided he was my favorite player. It is only fitting that he was with the Marlins both times they won the World Series. There was no way Pat Burrell would top Conine here, but he’s also up there.
Centerfield Shane Victorino
I’ll say it over and over and over again, Victorino is a winner. I love the way he plays the outfield. He gets one of the best jumps on the ball in the entire league. He’s also always coming up big when we need him most, he’s clutch. Juan Pierre was also in contention in center.
Rightfield Brad Hawpe
This former pitcher-turned-outfielder has a cannon from right field. He can hit the ball real well too, its not just the thin air in Denver that carries the ball because he hits just as well on the road as he does at home. Hawpe’s a hitter.
Starting Pitcher Josh Beckett
My current “favorite major leaguer” is Beckett. He played a huge role in the 2003 Championship in Florida and everytime he was on the mound, I knew the Marlins were going to win. When healthy, he has some of the nastiest stuff in the league and isn’t afraid to knock anyone back with a fastball.
Starting Pitcher Curt Schilling
Pitched a while for Phils and I got his autograph at a Commerce Bank opening. Then we traded him to Arizona where he went on to win a World Series with the Dbacks. Then he went on to Boston where he was a clutch pitcher in the playoffs, season, bloody sock, bogged by injuries, and so on. He’s a Hall of Famer to me.
Starting Pitcher Roy Halladay
This guy is one of my favorite pitchers in baseball. In an age where complete games are far a few between, Halladay goes the distance like its in his contract. I wish I could have been alive during the days where pitchers were expected to throw complete games, because I feel like that’s the way it was supposed to be. I respect Halladay because he pitches the right way.
Starting Pitcher Randy Wolf
How can you not love Randy Wolf and the Wolf Pack? A Phillie for most of his career, Wolf has become one of those players that I like to always check up on and find out how he’s doing.
Starting Pitcher Cole Hamels
Young King Cole and his dirty changeup lead the Phils through the playoffs last season. He has great tempo on the mound and has solid mechanics. This year, he has just been the unluckiest pitcher in baseball. I’m looking for him to have a great career (knock on wood).
Other Starters that were up there are Greg Maddux, Brett Myers, and Josh Johnson.
Relief Pitcher Brad Lidge
After what he did last season, how could he not be my most favorite reliever in the entire game. He was perfect, echoing the Phillies perfect season. When he fell to his knees after striking out Eric Hinske to end the World Series, it instantly became my favorite baseball moment, ever.
Relief Pitcher Jonathan Papelbon
This guy is such a character. He has the perfect mentality for the closer role. He’s crazy. Sometimes you have to be to be a closer. Papelbonfire.
Manager Charlie Manuel
Come to me before last postseason and I would have told you Jack McKeon. But Charlie proved to Philly and all its fans that he cares about and loves the fans. He knows a heck of a lot about hitting. Charlie brought a Championship back to the city. Lets do it again!
There’s my favorites of my MLB memory.
Comeback Kids
Last night, in what appeared to be another offense-less loss, the Phils came back in the ninth down 3-0 as Matt Lindstrom imploded in South Florida. Shane Victorino and Chase Utley capped the top-ninth comeback with a grand slam and solo shot, respectively.
Then tonight, entering the ninth down 4-3, the Phils manufactured the one run they needed to tie it up. They then scored two in the top of the tenth and Brad Lidge earned the save in the bottom-tenth.
So in two consecutive nights, the Phillies entered the ninth down, and two night in a row, they find a way to pull out the win. Well, we’re not the Fightin’ Phils for nothing.
Random Notes on the first two games of the series:
Emilio Bonifacio has fallen back to earth, in this series, he’s gone 0-for-8 with two walks and five strikeouts. Keeping the leadoff man to a .200 OBP definately has played into keeping the Phils in these games thus far.
Brad Lidge still looks shaky yet still gets it done. He claims to have found what caused the blow-up against San Diego, but tonight he struck out the first two, and then loaded up the bases before getting Cody Ross to strike out. He still is having trouble locating his pitches, and its clear.
Shane Victorino is a winner. He’s clutch and comes up big when you need him to. The grand slam the other night was great and then he singled tonight in the tenth to start up the rally to score him as the go ahead run.
Utley just seems to be having some trouble with the breaking ball. Last night against Josh Johnson and tonight against Chris Volstad, he’s whiffed at some breaking pitches.
Chan Ho ‘Outta The’ Park homered tonight to help himself. He also went a rare Chan Ho seven innings. He’s usually good for five or six, rarely seven, so that was reassuring to see. By the way, he pitched well in the seventh.
Sooner or later, Jorge Cantu will have to be put on the DL. Everytime he swings, he cringes because of his wrist. It’s not going to magically get better.
You know it’s bad when Jimmy Rollins goes 1-for-5 and his average rises. Once he gets going, so will the offense. And he will get going, he just needs to find it again.
In two innings this series, Ryan Madson has struck out five. He’s definately worked out his kinks.
It’s awesome to see fans in Florida (even if 1,500 or so are dogs). I think they’ve come near 30,000 each of the past two nights.
Charlie Manuel was ejected tonight, respect the Charlie.
We’re back to .500 now, let’s go for the sweep tomorrow.
By the way, the Sox/Yanks series has been awesome.
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THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES SELECT…
Jeremy Maclin? Why? We don’t need a Jeremy Maclin. He’s a great wideout but Brandon Pettigrew was still on the board! Why wouldn’t you take the best tight end in the draft?! Oh well, maybe they got something planned, but who knows. I don’t know too much about LeSean McCoy, but I’ve heard good things. I really wanted Knowshon Moreno, but went way early to Denver around pick 12.
Don’t even start with the Flyers.
Nobama Today for Phillies
With the passing of Harry Kalas, the Phillies cancelled their visit today to the White House to be recognized as worold champions there. Coming off the heels of a victory yesterday against the Nationals, the Phillies will use today to remember a great man who was very important to the game.
With heavy hearts, the Phils beat out the Nationals yesterday in an offensive-minded game. In the game, Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino launched their first homeruns of the season while Raul Ibanez hit his third of the year. Howard has been using all of the field thus far this season. He has taken the ball into the leftcenter gap numerous times with power this year and yesterday one finally went out. Chase Utley was held hitless for the first time this season and the Phils still put up nine runs.
This offense can even do better though. Jimmy Rollins is hitting .121 so far this season and we all know that once he starts to get on base more and more each game, he will steal and take the extra base and give the middle of the lineup every chance to drive him home.
The pitching on the other hand, is improving but still isn’t doing it’s job. Jamie Moyer had a better outing than his first and what we saw yesterday is probably what we should expect from Moyer this season. Six innings and four runs with a walk or two with some good and bad days in between.
Brad Lidge let up a two-run bomb to Ryan Zimmerman. The second homerun of the year he’s let up. Luckily, an insurance run in the top of the eigth kept Lidge from earning a blown save but he does worry me. Although I shouldn’t really be worried when I take a look at the statistics. He’s only surrendered four hits and a walk in five innings with seven strikeouts (1.00 WHIP). The two homeruns he’s surrendered to Zimmerman and Matt Diaz are the runs he’s let up so hopefully he starts to lower that ERA a bit becuase we won’t have a two or three run lead every game.
KEEPIN’ THE NATS BEATEN
Tomorrow the Phils will look to keep the Nationals without a win on the 2009 season when they send Joe Blanton to the mound. Blanton will attempt to rebound from his rough first start against Atlanta in which he lasted four innings and gave up seven earned runs. He was said to have looked the best coming out of spring training out of all the Phillies pitcher so a return to that would convienient.
This is a Terrible Day. RIP Harry Kalas.
At 1:20 pm on Monday, April 13th, 2009 Harry Kalas passed away.
“We lost our voice,” said Phillies president and CEO David Montgomery. This is an awful day. It’s unbelievable to think that I will watch and listen to a Phillies game without the sound of Harry Kalas’ voice.
He was the voice of the Phils and much, much more. He cared about and loved the game, the team, the fans, and the town. There’s really no one else I would rather listen to call a ballgame. Harry was the voice of the team and the city. Mike Schmidt said something along the lines of, one of the greatest compliments we can give Harry is that we took him for granted. In a sense that he had a distinct voice. He certainly did, he had the voice.
Montgomery went on to say, “He has loved our game and made just a tremendous contribution to our sport and certainly to our organization.” Tremendous isn’t even the right adjective. There is no adjective for Harry’s contribution to the game of baseball.
Listening to him call the final out of the World Series a little while ago gave me chills and made me tear up.
My favorite Harry memory, apart from him calling the World Series win, is while I was at the last game at Veterans Stadium. He sang “Auld Lang Syne” to the crowd and it was the best thing ever. Listening to him call the games was the best thing ever. I grew up on that voice while listening to the Phillies and it will be so different to not hear it anymore. He was the voice of the Phils and the fans. There will be no other like Harry Kalas.
After Brad Lidge caught Eric Hinske on his slider to end the World Series Kalas said, “Let the city celebrate.” Then we did, and we will now Harry, celebrating your life will not be hard.
Do it for Harry, repeat for Harry.
Patience Pays Off in First Victory
First of all, congrats to Raul Ibanez for hitting his first homerun as a Philadelphia Phillies player. It’s nice to see a homerun coming off of our bat for once this series.
Heading into the bottom of the seventh, down 10-3, I had lost all hope and figured that the Phillies were going to swept right out of the opening series by the homer-happy Braves. In fact, I was willing to give up on the game once Joe Blanton had a rough third, and even more so ready to throw in the towell when JA Happ gave up the two run shot to Jordan Schafer in the fifth.
Then just as I was about to leave the radio and head off to the gym, Chase Utley blooped a single into center and Ryan Howard was hit by a pitch. I figured that I would stay until the end of the inning. Well, eight runs later I was still sitting at my computer listening to the game.
The Phils bottom of the seventh consisted of five hits, six walks, eight runs, and four Atlanta relievers. The Braves bullpen imploded. They couldn’t find the strikezone and I’m suprised the Phillies aggressive bats let the Braves put that many on. One thing the Phillies didn’t prove to me during the playoffs last season was that they aren’t the team to work the walk. They would swing at ball three or ball four in a 2-2 or 3-1 count. But today, they discovered a patience they never had before and it turned out to be the difference in the ballgame.
In that dreaded seventh inning for the Braves, Eric O’Flaherty, Peter Moylan, Blaine Boyer, and Jorge Campillo surrendered six walks and five singles. All eight runs scored were earned by the Braves pitchers and Moylan and Boyer don’t even have ERA’s.
How clutch did the Eric Bruntlett sac fly turn out to be? In the bottom of the eighth Bruntlett brought home a run as insurance for Brad Lidge. It turned out that it was needed and kept Lidge’s streak alive. Lidge ended up giving up a homerun to Matt Diaz on a slider but no blown save was to be had. Lidge recorded his first save of the year after a slider in the dirt got Garrett Anderson to swing and miss.
“Put this one in the win column for the Fightin’ Phils.”
CHARLIE DOUBLE SWITCHES
Charlie Manuel ended up using the double switch today in that pivotal seventh inning. He sent Matt Stairs up to hit for Carlos Ruiz (maybe a fear factor for the pitcher). Brought Chris Coste in to pinch hit for the pitcher, then sent Coste in to catch and the pitcher spot was now in the eight hole. To anyone that doesn’t know, there was concern that Charlie didn’t know how to use the double switch. Well today he utilized it (even though it wasn’t the usual double-switch situation). I applaud you Uncle Charlie.
RING CEREMONY
Those rings are nice aren’t they? It was awesome to see Pat Burrell back again (I think he got emotional–hence the shades). And yes, we did boo Adam Eaton.
SOUTHPAW SQUAREOFF AT FENWAY
It looks like Scott Kazmir got the best of Jon Lester tonight in Boston. Through four innings, Lester looked great. But then in the fifth, a few flyballs fell in that probably could have been caught. Both flyball “singles” involved Jed Lowrie running backwards and I’m not sure if he got in the way of Jason Bay and Jacoby Ellsbury, but it looked like it. So don’t look at Lester’s five earned and think he got rocked. Although Carlos Pena did rock one pitch on the three run bomb to center.
Jed Lowrie seems to be the goat of the night. There were the flyball situations, and he also struck out twice. Once was with the bases loaded and two outs late in the game. Even if Julio Lugo was healthy, I would stick with Lowrie at short. Who cares about how much he’s getting to sit on the bench? Jed’s the future.
How good does Akinori Iwamura look at the bottom of that lineup? Normally the nine-hole is also called the “second leadoff spot.” Aki, along with Jason Bartlett and Carl Crawford combined for nine hits in fourteen at-bats. That will definately make this lineup go as the season progresses and they may be the key.
I look forward to the rest of these Rays/Sox matchups.
It’s a Long Season
It certainly is a long season, but that’s one of the many reasons why I love the game. The Phils know that after their 4-1 loss to the Braves tonight on national television as defending World Champions. I certainly am a little angry that the bats looked awful against Derek Lowe and I’m a little embarrassed, but there’s 161 more games (162 more games for the Mets to blow the half-game lead they have right now). But regardless, here’s some thoughts on tonight’s game:
BRIGHT SPOTS
I didn’t get to see the opening ceremonies but I saw the replay of it and I’ll probably end up watching it again and it seems like they planned it out really well. I love the fact that Charlie was raising the championship banner.
The bullpen had a nice night. Newcomer Jack Taschner, Scott Eyre, Chad Durbin, and Brad Lidge combined for three innings, a strikeout each, and no hits or walks surrendered. I was nervous about Taschner because I’ve heard that he can be wild at times but he looked alright tonight.
DARK SPOTS
Let’s start with Brett Myers. I listened to the first four innings or so on the radio so I didn’t see pitch locations and such (I had to drive back to school today). But when they replayed the homeruns he gave up, it’s clear that he missed his spots in each of the pitches. He got the ball way up in the zone to Brian McCann and put the other two pitches right in the wheelhouse of Jeff Francoer and Jordan Schafer (Schafer did look completely silly against Lidge in the ninth). When I started watching Myers for the two innings I saw him, he was keeping the ball down and hitting his spots. That’s what he will need to do in order to be successful this season. He toughed it out for six innings and struck out six and only walked one. Take away those three bad pitches and that’s a solid outing for this early in the year. So maybe this isn’t a dark spot (grey spot?).
We got to find a way to get on base. Usually it’s not a problem. Driving in RISP is the usual problem. I know it’s the first game and all, but until the ninth, the Phils mustered two hits off Lowe.
These players have got to want to be in that position in the ninth inning with the game on the line. Ryan Howard looked nervous and you could tell he didn’t want to be in that situation tonight. He swung at junk from Mike Gonzalez (who looked awful tonight) and then took a fastball right down the pike. Raul Ibanez worked Gonzalez nicely but he did swing at ball four but since he’s the new guy in town, I’ll let him slide for tonight.
On the ball that went off of Myers glove where Utley had to shift directions quickly, he looked like he wasn’t ready to do that quite yet. However he did look pretty good charging some grounders. But it worries me that maybe he’s not 100% yet.
All in all, I think Joe Morgan may have said it best at the end of the game, I don’t remember his exact words but they were along the lines of saying that the Phillies know that this is just the first game and that the Phils will fight to the end and that’s why he truly believes that this team has the chance to do something special and repeat this year. And Joe would know. Well, I hope he’s right.
Fightins Going for a Repeat
Season Preview: Philadelphia Phillies
Projected MLB Rank: 3rd — NL Rank: 2nd — NL East Rank: 1st — Record: (95-67)
National League East Champions
The hometown team. Coming off an unbelievable World Series run and one of the most memorable Octobers of my lifetime, I truly believe, as a baseball fan, this team has the chance to do something special.
It starts with their leader and leadoff man, Jimmy Rollins. Having down numbers and an injury last year didn’t help his cause to repeat as MVP but it doesn’t matter because he is the rock on this team. He holds us together at short and gives us every chance to drive him home. Then there’s the fire behind this team, Shane Victorino. He is a winner. He hit .293 last season and stole 36 bases. His play in the outfield is unreal and I once heard a scout say that he gets the best jump on the ball that he’s ever seen when it comes off the bat.
Then comes the middle of the order. Coming off hip surgery, Chase Utley could lead many to believe during the spring that he didn’t have any type of problem with his hip and didn’t have surgery. That’s how quickly he’s rebounded from the surgery. With the injury last season, he hit .292 with 33 homeruns and 104 RBIs. Imagine what he will be able to do healthy. After Utley is the big man. Ryan Howard may whiff a bunch, but the production he puts up cancels it out. He hit 48 homeruns and drove in 146 runs to lead the league last season. In my opinion, he was MVP. There’s a blog about it in my archives if you want to hear my argument.
There’s no longer Pat Burrell, sadly enough. He lead the parade though, how fitting. But Raul Ibanez is an upgrade. He hit .293 last season while driving home 110 runs. Jayson Werth may get a chance to bat fifth in this order to break up all the lefthanded bats. He had a great season last year batting .273 with 24 homeruns while slugging .498. Pedro Feliz, also coming off of surgery, should get back to 20-homer form this season as he should hopefully stay healthy and Carlos Ruiz showed flashes of skill at the plate during the postseason so I’m hoping he doesn’t bat .219 again this year.
The rotation starts with Cole Hamels. NLCS MVP. World Series MVP. He’s got a hot wife. I know you’ve all seen him everywhere this offseason, especially when he had his “injury.” He’s a drama queen, but a drama queen that can pitch better than the rest of them. Expect more than 14 wins this year for Young King Cole because hopefully he doesn’t keep both offenses silent everytime he toes the rubber again.
Brett Myers is a roller coaster. I want nothing more than for this guy to have a great year. But you never know. Last year he was sent down to AAA to rediscover himself after a dreadful start. Then he came back and threw the heck out of the ball. He ended up somewhat salvaging his ERA and record when he came back up to the big leagues. I want the dominating Brett this year. Righthander Joe Blanton came over from the A’s last season and saved his season as well. He started the year as the A’s ace last season, so he’s certainly got the potential (and we saw it in the playoffs).
The ageless wonder. Jamie Moyer. The Souderton product had a career year in 2008 posting a 3.71 ERA and lead the team in wins with 16. Let’s see if he can do it again, I believe in him. Chan Ho Park won the fifth starters spot with an amazing spring. His fastball is up in the midnineties now and he’s striking out hitters at a good rate. If he can keep up what he’s doing in the regular season, he’s one of the best fifth starters in the league.
Then there’s the bullpen. Ryan Madson is a legitimate setup man. He turned his game to the next level last season, even reaching the high nineties with his fastball. Lefty Scott Eyre will certainly get a lot of work in while JC Romero is out under suspension. Eyre did an awesome job coming out of the bullpen after he came over in the trade from the Cubs. They also traded for Jack Taschner, but I’m also hoping JA Happ makes the bullpen as well. The question for me is whether Chad Durbin can recreate his 2.87 ERA and Clay Condrey his 3.26 ERA.
Then there’s Brad Lidge. Lights Out.
New Picture and March Madness
The 2009 season is well on it’s way. Before we know it, Major League Baseball will be on our televisions, we will be filling our team’s ballparks, and we will be right into the swing of things. With the new season, I am changing my profile picture from the glorified final pitch of the World Series. The Phils can’t dwell on the past and neither can the fans because we have another job to do: REPEAT.
(I still get chills everytime I watch Brad Lidge’s slider bring us a championship).
The new picture is from the summer a couple of years ago when my family took a huge road trip. One of our many stops was the Field of Dreams (Dyersville, Iowa). It was unreal to actually visit the set of my favorite movie and actually play on the field.
But anyways, let’s get one last look at this because hopefully come October 2009, we’ll be seeing the Figthins hoisting the World Series trophy again.
I know this isn’t baseball related, but it’s also time for the NCAA basketball tourney. I spent a long time finishing off my bracket and here’s some of my predictions…
First Round Upsets:
(12) Arizona over (5) Utah
(10) Maryland over (7) Cal
(11) VCU over (6) UCLA
(10) Michigan over (7) Clemson
*9 over 8 seeds aren’t really upsets
Going Against the Grain:
Second Round:
(7) Texas over (2) Duke
(6) WVU over (3) Kansas
Sweet 16:
(5) Florida State over (1) Pitt
My Elite Eight: Louisville, Michigan St, UConn, Mizzou, Florida St, VIllanova, UNC, Oklahoma
My Final Four: Louisville, UConn, Villanova, UNC
My Final: UNC over Louisville 78-74
Buccos Striving to Improve in ’09
Season Preview: Pittsburgh Pirates
Projected MLB Rank: 25th — NL Rank: 14th — NL Central Rank: 6th — Record: (71-91)
The Pirates haven’t had a winning season since they made the playoffs in 1992. In fact, the Pirates haven’t won over 70 games since 2004. Well this season, things are looking up for the team that has struggled for years. Things are sure not looking up too far, but the Pirates seem to be taking steps in right direction.
For a team that has been called, the farm system for the rest of the MLB teams, this past offseason they actually signed a couple guys to semi-long-term contracts. All Star centerfielder Nate McLouth signed a three year deal with an option for 2012. Left-handed pitcher Paul Maholm also signed a contract that runs through 2012. Maholm is becoming a very reliable pitcher for the Pirates and is considered their ace.
Then there’s Freddy Sanchez and Jack Wilson. The staple Pirates should both rebound from off years last season as Sanchez should bring his .271 average back up and Wilson should play a full season if he doesn’t start sharing time with prospect Brian Bixler. There’s also Adam LaRoche. A solid hitter who will give you 80-90 RBIs a season.
Who else is on this team that will continue to develop and hopefully help the Pirates compete a few years down the line? Let’s Meet the Pirates–
Catcher Ryan Doumit
This 27-year old really took advantage of a bad start from Ronnie Paulino and solidified the catching job as his. Now he’s their starter and he should continue to hit well. Last season he hit .318 with 15 homeruns and 69 RBIs along with 34 doubles. He’s always had hitting talent, just never the durability to be the starter. Now, he is the starter.
Starting Pitcher Jeff Karstens
Coming to the ‘Burgh in the Xavier Nady trade, Karstens is a quality starter and should make the rotation this season. He doesn’t strikeout many batters but he has good control of his pitches.
Rightfielder Brandon Moss
Coming off knee surgery this season, the Pirates say that Moss is their starting rightfielder. Once he plays a full season, he will probably give the Pirates 20 homeruns and a .280 average.
Reliever Tyler Yates
This righthanded pitcher is one of the best in the league coming out of the bullpen against righties, holding them to a .224 average. He throws hard and should be a solid setup man for closer Matt Capps.
Outfielder Steve Pearce
Slated right now as the fourth outfielder for Pittsburgh. The righthanded hitter should compete for the starting job in either corner outfield spot this spring. Last September, he came up and connected for four homeruns and has attractive power potential.
Thirdbaseman Andy LaRoche
Another product of a trade last season, Adam’s brother hit very well in the minors. But in 49 games with the Pirates he hit an awful .166 with 5 homers and 18 RBIs. Look for him to improve this season.
Reliever John Grabow
Grabow, at 30 years old, had a great season coming out of the bullpen for the Pirates in 2008. He held a 2.84 ERA and the lefty can pitch well to lefties and righties.
Utilityman Eric Hinske
You all saw him at end of the World Series against Brad Lidge’s dirty slider. A great addition in the offseason, Hinske will come off the bench. He hit 20 homeruns and drove in 60 last year for the Rays, so expect solid production numbers if he gets the at-bats.
Those are only a few of many Pirates trying to make a difference in Pittsburgh this season. I do think that this team will eventually compete. Just not this season, or next season. But I think reaching 70 wins should be step one for the Buccos in 2009.
This is Simple Math: Howard > Pujols
First of all, congratulations to Albert Pujols, although I don’t agree with the decision, great year.
But I know you’ve heard it all before, Ryan Howard propelled his team in September (the most important month). He batted .352 in September with 11 homeruns and 32 RBI. He accounted for a quarter of the Phils RBI in the month and almost twenty percent of their RBI total for the entire season. In September, fellow lefty Chase Utley had one homerun, Jayson Werth hit .242 with one homerun, and Pat Burrell wasn’t at his best. Pujols accounted for only about fifteen percent of the Cards RBI total for the season. Fellow teammate of Pujols Ryan Ludwick mirrored Pujols production numbers and also accounted for about fifteen percent of the Cards RBI. Trot Glaus also had 17 homeruns and 99 RBI. The next closest Phillie other than Utley in RBI count was Pat Burrell with 86. I don’t like to lean on homeruns either but Howard did have 11 more along with 5 more runs scored.
Where did the Cardinals finish in the NL Central? Fourth. Where would they have finished without Pujols? Probably fifth if not stay at fourth. Where is the value in that? There is no chance the Phillies would have won the division without Ryan Howard.
The MVP is very opinion-based because everyone has their
own definition about what the MVP should be. In my mind, I think that unless there is a player who had a majestic, record-breaking season–it should go to a player that had the largest contribution of getting his team into the playoffs. That ballplayer is Ryan Howard.
Here is how I would have voted..
First: Ryan Howard (PHI)
Second: Manny Ramirez (LAD)
Third: Albert Pujols (STL)
4th: Ryan Braun (MIL)
5th: Lance Berkman (HOU)
6th: Brad Lidge (PHI)
7th: Chipper Jones (ATL)
8th: CC Sabathia (MIL)
9th: Aramis Ramirez (CHC)
10th: Carlos Delgado (NYM)
mlblogstwelvesixcurve
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