State of the Phillies

It's been awhile since I last updated this. (100% due to college finals/papers) Our beloved Phillies are off to an average start. Going into the Nats series we were sitting at .500. Great Baseball? No. Bad Baseball? No. Just flat out average baseball. During the past four games we saw the real Phillies come out. The Phillies that won us a championship last year. Yeah, you can say we played the Nationals and we should win. On paper all signs point towards the Phils, but that is why you play the game. The Phils did what good teams do, they swept all 4 games.

At 20-16 the Phils have life. Not bad for a team who's starting pitching has been nonexistent. The offense has dominated. Rauuuuuuuuuuul, like I predicted here, is having a big season. Feliz is off to a hot start. The rest of the offense is doing there thing except for one person, J- Roll. Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy. This isn’t the same J-Roll we have seen in past seasons. Hell, this isn’t half the J-Roll we have seen in past seasons. I'm not starting to boo, yet. I'm 100% confident Jimmy won't continue this all year. By mid June he will find his swing and we will all forget about his atrocious start.

The pitching on this team has been bad.

Hamels- Had zero breaks to start the season. Now that he's back and healthy, I expect nothing less than the Cole we saw last fall.

Myers- After a few rough outings that boosted his ERA he had recovered. He went 7 strong against the Nats the other day. What his problem is right now is the homerun ball. If Myers can fix that we could see a great pitcher emerge.

Moyer- As much as I love this guy I feel like his time on the diamond is coming to an end. I saw a stat the other day that showed that Moyers last few quality starts have all been against inexperienced teams. (Ex. Marlins, Reds) Teams with young hitters. When he faces experienced teams he just can't fool the hitters. I would give him a few more starts to see if anything changes, but if this trend continues we may see a major move in the rotation.

Blanton- He has had a quiet season. Not much talk about this guy so far. He is off to a bad start. Not much to say then he might also be replaced soon unless he starts pitching up to his abilities.

Park- After an awesome spring Chan Ho could not continue it at the MLB level. After a few bad starts to start the season he bounced back and pitched excellent against the Mets and Dodgers. After a horrible start today against the Nats it leaves us all wondering, what Chan Ho are we going to see each start?

Happ- This man deserves a shot. He's been patient. He hasn’t complained. He has done everything right. Now it's time to hand him the ball. Give him a start and see what he does. If he gets shelled, hey its one game. If he succeeds he earns himself another shot. I'm excited to see what this kid can do. I think he is A LOT better than many people think.

The bullpen has been pretty good this year with the exception of Lidge. After a perfect season you can only go down and that’s what Brad has done. Am I worried? No. Yes he has given up the homerun ball, but he will pitch out of this funk. It's only a matter of time until he starts a new streak and restores his confidence.

The Phils have an off day tomorrow then head out to Great American Ballpark to take on the Reds. I will try to update this as much as possible to keep you up to date on all the latest Phillies news.