Balls, Sticks, & Stuff | Phillies, Eagles, golf and other matters of great importance...

Phillies Coaching Staff Needs to Bear Responsibility for Offensive Slide

There's no doubting the Phillies have been beset with injuries. On the offensive side, Chase Utley is out, Placido Polanco is out. We get that. But at this point in time, but they aren't the only people on the team that can hit. Jimmy Rollins is back and there's Shane Victorino, Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez and Jayson Werth.

 A lineup of those players, even considering the losses of Utley and Polanco should be able to score runs. Perhaps not in droves as we've come to expect, but take a look at the career OPS+ of these players. No, they do not make up a Murderer's Row, but there is certainly at least collectively with the bottom portion of the lineup, enough firepower there to win a game that your pitching staff holds the opposition, the team you are trying to catch in the standings to 3 runs.

Several weeks ago when the offensive malaise began, I remember reading how Charlie Manuel and Milt Thompson were frustrated that the players were not taking into game situations what they had been instructed and coached to do prior to the games. At the time, I remember raising an eyebrow and wondering about the players. But now, weeks and weeks later, whether it is the players' faults or not, this coaching staff needs to step it up and figure out a way to get this team hitting again. This just isn't cutting it.

The Phillies and Raauuuuuul's Slump Oooouuuuver?

Maybe, just maybe, the Phillies have bottomed out from their malaise at the plate and are finally on their way back up -- they scored 10 runs last night against the Marlins. Ryan Howard went 2-4 including a two-run homer, Chase Utley went 2-3 and scored three times, and perhaps most importantly, Raul Ibanez went 4-5.

There was a lot of talk yesterday about how the Phillies should cut ties with Ibanez while not quite half way through his 3-year, $31.5 million contract. Look, I've been as pessimistic about his contract as anybody given his age, but calling for his pink slip barely into June is simply rash. On top of that, given the way he was hitting the ball, it is/was only a matter of time until things turned around for Raaauuuuul. As a matter of fact, he lined out several times Monday night, symbolic of his bad luck.

Just as it was too soon to call for his release, it's also too soon to pronounce Ibanez' slump over. Nevertheless, last night was encouraging.

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Cause for Hope Regarding Raul Ibanez

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Brace yourself, I'm going out on a limb...

...I think Raul Ibanez is going to be fine.

No really, I do. Seriously, I do.  OK, stop it, I'm only laughing because you are. He's going to be fine. Here's why...

...He's hitting the ball harder in 2010 than 2009 and I can prove it. In 2009, 15% of Ibanez' balls in play were line drives, while in 2010, he's hitting 20% [career percentage is also right around 20%].  Plus, in 2010, Ibanez is walking more often and striking out less than he did in 2009. As a matter of fact, he's walking at a higher rate than he ever has in his career.

Some folks who like to examine component statistics like I just did will also tell you that anytime a player's batting average on balls in play deviates from the .290 to .310 range, then he is experiencing good/bad luck. I tend to be a little less rigid in that line of thinking, however, when I see that Ibanez' BABIP is .261 and he's hitting line drives at a higher than average rate? Well then son, he's suffering some bad luck.

I wouldn't predict that he'll bounce back to a 30 HR/100 RBI type of year, but I do think he's due for the good luck/bad luck pendulum to swing back in his direction at some point.

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NLCS Game One Notes...

...First off, the question must be asked, which media love affair is more nauseating, the one with Brett Favre or the one with Manny Ramirez?  For my money, it's Manny Ramirez.  Don't misunderstand, I would never want to find myself in between a talking head and Favre for fear of being trampled, but he's never been caught blatantly cheating, and he's never given up on his teammates the way Manny did in Boston.

...I'm pinch-hitting a bit this weekend over at The 700 Level while Enrico does his best Zach Galifianakis impression out in Vegas.  This morning, I wrote about El Señor Octubre, Carlos Ruiz.  Chooch really steps it up for the playoffs, doesn't he?

...The more I think about the nature of playoff baseball versus the nature of regular season baseball, the more I think the two are different.  Obviously, it's fundamentally the same game, but there's no doubt intestinal fortitude plays a bigger role in the playoffs.  How else do you explain Raul Ibanez' 3-run homer off of lefty George Sherrill, who hadn't surrendered a home run to a left handed batter since tee-ball?

...Funny, when Chan Ho Park jokingly checked his pulse when he got back to the dugout after saving the Phillies' bacon in the 7th, I was rapidly patting my chest over my heart.  Great, great pitching by Park, just great.  He's been off for three weeks and he looked better than any Phillies pitcher not named Cliff Lee.

...I don't know about you, but I can't wait until 4:07 today.

What a Whirlwind

Shane knocks one out... Clifton Phifer Lee paints the corners... Werth puts on his hulk hands and makes it 2-0... Raul pulls a mini-Holliday... Pete Happy swings at the first pitch [first pitch!?!?!]... Lee comes out for the 8th and gets into trouble, Madson and Ben Francisco in, Lee and Ibanez out... Fly to leeeft, BENNY BABY!!! Charlie's a genius until... Rockies knock around Madson, we're down two runs with only three outs left... Dobbs K's, Jimmy singles... Shane almost hits into a DP... Uts walks... The Big Piece doubles!... Shane almost misses third on the way home, Chase is chasing him, they both score and we're tied at 4!... Werth singles and The Big Piece rumbles home! 5-4 Fightin' Phillies!... Eyre and his loose bodies and sprained ankle come out for the bottom of the 9th... Two outs and two singles later, Charlie calls on Lidge to face Tulo... the Delaware Valley holds their breath... Struck him out!

He's Ba-aaaaack

Don't ask where he went, don't ask why he came back, just be glad Cole Hamels... is back.

He's rattled off 19 consecutive scoreless innings and in his last two starts has 17 innings pitched, one complete game, 16 strikeouts, only 3 walks and only 9 hits allowed.  It's been a thing of beauty to watch.  Carlos Ruiz sets up on the outside corner and a split second later, the ball that was once in King Cole's fingers is dancing right into Chooch's mitt.

Don't look know, but things are really coming together for defending World Champions.  More thoughts below.

How Long Before the "MVP!" Chants Begin?

Given the way the three-game series unfolded in New York (30 total innings played), and given the chilled, damp weather, the latest installment of Phillies/Mets felt like a playoff game.  Two take two of three and extend the lead in the NL East to four games is very important for your Fightins.

No one was more important in Thursday night’s Phillies’ 6-3 victory than Raul Ibanez.  Going into the top of the 10th inning, Ibanez was 0-4, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t chipped in.  Earlier in the game in the fourth inning, David Wright hit a ball hard off the leftfield wall, which Ibanez quickly fielded with his back to the infield.  Just as quickly, he turned and fired a bullet to Chase Utley at second base to throw out Wright.

But in the 10th inning of course, was the game-winning home run.  A home-run that capped off a 7-3 road trip in which the Phillies swept the Padres and broke their 10-game win streak, split four games with the best-record-in-baseball Dodgers, and then 2 of 3 from their arch nemesis Mets.

Afterwards, Ibanez said in a post-game interview, after downplaying his contributions, that he was “proud to be associated with this team.” Well Raul, I think I speak for a lot of phans when I say we’re proud to root for you every night.