MVN: Most Valuable Network

Former Baltimore Orioles starter Rodrigo Lopez picked up his first major league win in two seasons last night with a 7-2 win over the Mets.  The Phillies called up Lopez from Triple-A Lehigh Valley and he made the most of his opportunity against the Phillies arch rival in the midst of a major slump for the champs.  Lopez earned another start in place of the injured Antonio Bastardo.   

Jimmy Rollins went 2-5 on the night including a key two run double to bust the game open in the third inning.  We can only hope that tonight started the comeback of Jimmy Rollins and his sad .209 batting average.  A rejuvenated Rollins to go with the soon to return Raul Ibanez would go a long way in fixing the slumping Phils ways.  Jayson Werth added a solo homer and Chase the Base added two RBI's.  The Phillies jumped out to an early 7-0 lead after three innings.

The Phillies broke the tie for first place with their win combined with the Marlins loss.  The Phillies have a one game edge over the fish and the Braves while pushing the edge over the Mets to two.  Up next for the Phillies is a 4th of July battle with the Mets with Jamie Moyer opposing the Mets Fernando Nieve. 

Coming off a season that saw the Flyers lose in the opening round of the playoffs to the eventual Stanley Cup champions the Flyers came into the offseason with quite a few questions to answer.  With free agency starting to dry up it's time to look back at what the Flyers have done to catch up with the Penguins among other top teams.

• The Flyers have lacked a franchise goalie since Ron Hextall and it seems unlikely Ray Emery will be the answer to that problem but given the Flyers financial problems against the cap the signing seems worth it.  Emery is a spark plug with immense talent but also a repuation for being confrontational with opposing teams as well as his own teammates.  Emery led the Ottawa Senators to the Stanley Cup finals in 2006 but was exiled to the Russian league last year.  Emery called the experience a humbling one and Flyers fans are hoping to strike gold with Emery's great talent but don't expect miracles.  The Flyers also brought back former wonderkid rookie Brian Boucher, who as you may remember was the Flyers rookie goaltender in their epic 2001 Eastern Conference Finals collapse to arch rival New Jersey.
• With their goalie in place the Flyers decided it was time to make a huge splash to protect Ray Emery and they landed future hall of fame defender Chris Pronger.  Easily one of the most hated men in the game Pronger certainly will not disappoint the Flyers fans who love the Broad Street Bullies mentality.  Pronger is physical and still at 34 can be a dominant game changing defender.  The Flyers paid a steep price including Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, and two first round picks.  Lupul was expendable with the excess of offensive talent the Flyers have on the roster and coming up through the system.  Sbisa was a promising young defensemen but the Flyers have to be more worried about winning now than waiting 3-4 years for Sbisa to fully development.  The two first round picks you cannot be worried about given the opportunity to win now.  The Flyers needed to bulk up their defense to slow down the attacks of teams like Pittsburgh and Washington.
• The Flyers lost power forward and power play beast Mike Knuble.  Knuble said the Flyers offer wasn't worth considering and he left to the Capitols.  The Flyers then added tough man RW Ian Laperriere from Colorado. 
  
• Looking back there are still a lot of questions the Flyers will have to answer.  Replacing Knuble and his in front of the net presence will be very difficult but its hard to have problems with the team acquiring a top of the line defensemen.  The team once again will seem to lead the league in penalty minutes thanks to bringing in more "tough guys" so the Flyers will have to be excellent on special teams next year.
  

The Phillies had eight two-out RBI's on Sunday afternoons come from behind win over the Boston Red Sox.  Boston ace Josh Beckett struggled through six innings giving up 11 hits and six earned.  The final blow to Beckett was Jimmy Rollins seventh inning leadoff homerun that triggered a six run explosion.  Rollins only went 1-4 on the day but had three RBI's on the day.  Victorino, Howard, and Feliz would add two RBI's a piece.  MVP candidate Raul Ibanez was given a day off. 

JA Happ got the start for the Phillies and labored through 5 2/3 innings giving up five earned including three long balls including one to pitcher Josh Beckett.  However, Happ would settle down after a rough second inning and gave the team a chance to comeback and get in the game. 

Rocco Baldelli and Nick Green went back to back to start the second inning for the BoSox.  Josh Beckett would add a home run in the sixth to chase Happ.  The Red Sox would strand 20 baserunners on the day including five for Jacoby Elsbury.
Philadelphia's win extended their NL East lead to four games over the NY Mets who got rocked on Johan Santana's start, falling 15-0 to the Bronx Bombers.  Up next for the world champs is a three game set with the Toronto Blue Jays starting Tuesday.

The recent blogger controversy surrounding Raul Ibanez sure does not seem to be affecting the Phillies MVP candidate as he turned in another solid performance in the field and at the plate.  Raul Ibanez slugged his 21st home run of the season in extra innings giving the Phillies a come from behind win over their rival New York Mets.  Besides continue to slug the ball Ibanez had a crucial sixth inning outfield assist to prevent a leadoff double from David Wright.  Wright blasted the delivery from Jamie Moyer to lead off the sixth off the left field wall but Ibanez got the ball on the hop and lasered the ball to Chase Utley who applied the tag on Wright in plenty of time.  As if Phillies fans needed any more reason to love Ibanez he goes out and rips the heart out of the Mets, it just doesn't get any better.
Jamie Moyer went six innings giving up three runs.  Moyer is certainly getting hit this season but we pretty much know what we're getting with Jamie.  The offense will have to produce on days he pitches and he is still capable of turning in the occasional gem.  At the backend the Ryan Madson closer experiment continues to go well with another pain free save.  Madson continues to impress in the absence of Brad Lidge.  Certainly Lidge will deserve the closer job back when he returns but if he doesn't turn it around the Phillies will have to consider handing the keys over to Madson.
Carlos Beltran got the scoring underway with a first inning ground out RBI.  Beltran would record all three of the Mets RBI's on the evening driving in Mets 2B Luis Castillo on each occasion.  Phils killer Tim Redding pitched seven solid of three run ball adding six strikeouts but the Mets offense was not effective.
The win culminates a 7-3 roadtrip for the Phillies who may consider playing the rest of their games away from Citizens Bank Park.  The Phillies have posted a MLB best 23-9 road record while playing slightly under .500 ball at home this year.  The win pushes the Phillies record to 35-23 and gives them a four game cushion in the division.  Next up for the Phillies will be a battle of the last two World Champions as the AL East leading Boston Red Sox come to town for a highly anticipated weekend series.  

J.A. Happ threw seven scoreless on Wednesday night pitching the Phillies to a 5-1 victory.  The win marked the 6th consecutive for the reigning champions and pushed their road record to an incredible 19-6.  The young southpaw dazzled the Padres lineup for the seven scoreless giving up just four hits and two walks while striking out four.  Happ dropped his ERA to 2.45 on the year. 

Ryan Howard slugged his 16th bomb of the year and Rauuuul Ibanez drove in his NL leading 52nd RBI.  Adding to the good night was the return of bullpen savior JC "Jesus Christ" Romero from his 50 game PED suspension.  Romero gave up an unearned run and showed rust. 

All and all some promising signs from last night's ballgame.  Happ and Bastardo have gone back to back with stellar performances in the wake of Brett Myers potentially season ending injury.  Add in the return of JC Romero to fortify the bullpen and the Phillies pitching woes are starting to calm down.  The offense continues to pound the ball and the Phillies continue their road warrior ways.

Up next the Phils head to LA for the first time since clinching the NL pennant last season to take on the Dodgers.  The Phillies win combined with the Mets rainout pushed the NL East lead to 3.0.

- Antonio Bastardo made his major league debut and outdueled Padres ace Jake Peavy going six strong of one run ball.  Bastardo has made an astronomical rise through the ranks this season where he started in AA ball in Reading.  Maybe Bastardo will prove to be better than the struggled Carlos Carassco?

- Raul Ibanez hit his 19th and 20th home runs in the Phillies 10-5 win Tuesday night.  It pulled him one closer to NL league leader Adrian Gonzalez who also went deep for the lone run off of Antonio Bastardo for the night.

- The Philadelphia 76ers hired Eddie Jordan this past week.  Talk about a frustrating hire.  We'll give Eddie time but it's not the home run many had hoped for.  Many of you will remember Jordan from his forgetful coaching stint with the Wizards.  Maybe more important than any coach though will be the return of a healthy and motivated Elton Brand.

- Rumors are rampant that the Eagles are closing in on a new deal with #5.  Hard not to love this offseason from the Birds.  Here's hoping to a new deal for McRibs.  Personally I can hold off on the Kolb era.

- Maybe Sheldon Brown will go the way and Lito Sheppard and find himself behind Joselio Hanson on the depth chart before long.  Brown did not report to OTA's.

Everyone loves a good walk.  It shows discipline on the hitter's part, and gets a guy on base for the men behind to slug him home.  Many a team has used it to their advtange.  But how are the Phillies working those walks after two months of baseball? Let's find out:

Starting Lineup

Carlos Ruiz   .190
Chase Utley  .175
Jayson Werth  .121
Pedro Feliz  .105
Ryan Howard   .104
Raul Ibanez  .101
Shane Victorino  .078
Jimmy Rollins   .057

Bench

Matt Stairs  .281
Greg Dobbs  .158
Chris Coste   .143
Eric Bruntlett .086
John Mayberry  .000 (9 at bats)

So, what to take from these numbers?  The bench has been good at taking pitches, which helps. One thing that surprised me in a negative way was Ryan Howard's number.  I expected Victorino and Rollins to be hacking  a bit, as both of their careers have showed they like to hack it up there.  However, Howard's previous walk rates were much higher:

2005 - .106
2006 - .186
2007 - .202
2008 - .133

2006 and 2007 were off the charts.  Big power hitters like Howard are going to be pitched around, and he obviously knew that as he waited on his pitch to hit.  However, further inspection of the numbers shows something interesting.  He was intentionally walked 37 times in 2006 and 35 times in 2007.  Let's take out the intentional walks, where teams put him on first because they became so scared of his prodigous power hitting:

2005 - .080
2006 - .122
2007 - .136
2008 - .105
2009 - .099

This puts things in much better perspective.  His walk rate seems to have stabilized in the past season around 1 walk for every 10 at bats.  That's about what is expected of a normal hitter, except Howard isn't a normal hitter.  He's a bomber, and should probably approach his at bats as such.  It's hard to complain about his power hitting, but I feel as though he could return to his legendary status in 2006 if he would just be more selective.

Anyway, another surprise was Carlos Ruiz, who's never been known as a guy to take a pitch.  He had himself a career month in May (969 OPS) and let's all hope it continues.  One guy who's really developed is Chase Utley, whose on base percentage is a slick .430 thus far this year.  He's gotten hit by 11 pitches, walked 28 times, and is seventh in the National League in OBP.   The team has been pretty good at getting on base, and this should likely continue.  It bodes well for their offense continuing to produce runs.  Walks and homers, walks and homers.

The Phillies continue to get mediocre starting pitching but thanks in part to the signing of 36 year old veteran Raul Ibanez the Phillies have played a steady early portion of the year and find themselves in front of the NL East. 

Ibanez is putting up triple crown worthy stats smacking 13 home runs for 36 rbi's with a .350 average.  Since moving up to the three spot in the order Ibanez had been en fuego.  No doubt with Howard and Werth protecting Raul he will get plenty of pitches to hit.  Raul has also helped to cut down on strikeouts over his replacement Pat Burrell.  Truth is we'll all love Pat the Bat and the years of service he provided but early returns are solid for the first major addition by new GM Ruben Amaro Jr.

Also kudos to Ibanez who has been anything but the black hole many "experts" expected him to be when he came in.  Ibanez has played quality defense and has won over Charlie Manuel and his love for late inning defensive replacements (ever remember Burrell finishing a game in the field?).

Many people scoffed at the idea (myself included) about having another lefty in a lefty heavy lineup to begin with but those fears were put to rest from day one with Raul winning over the fanbase.  It may not be realistic for Raul to continue this torrid pace and seriously contend for the triple crown but the vet has no doubt brought consistency and more quality at-bats to the table.  Raul stays in excellent physical shape so I wouldn't worry too much about the quality of his play towards the end of this three year deal.  Now if he can just rub off on JRoll a bit!

Chan Ho Park dominated coming out of spring training, earning himself the fifth spot in the rotation. Here's what I wrote about the decision:

Though Happ was disappointed, one can't argue too much with this pick, seeing as Park dominated nearly every lineup he faced during spring training. Park's hadn't had an ERA+ over 100 since 2001 until he reemerged out of the bullpen for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season.  Park's history is fairly terrible, and to put too much stock in March results tends is a faulty strategy, but Happ is there as a good backup should Park crumble once the season begins.  For now, Park is the man in the rotation.

The opinion was even-handed, widely-thought, and wrong.  Park's history shouldn't have been so easily dismissed by me or anyone else. The man sucked for 7+ years, and I threw all that out the window because he mowed down some AAA ballplayers with high jersey numbers for about forty innings worth of pitching. 

It ended up being wrong-headed of me, but I'm not the one that matters in the end; the Phillies' front office is the one that makes the decision down in South Philly. They went with a guy with no history of success on the downside of a bad career over several up and comers who've shown their wares down the minors.  And they've paid for it, as Park's done as we all should've expected. His numbers:

1-1   7.08 ERA   1.69 WHIP
21 Ks  17 BB    5 homers given up
.304 BABIP     5.50 K per 9 IP

He's been a little unlucky with balls hit into play, but his inability to strike guys out, get the ball over the plate and simultaenously allow a ton of flyballs has led to several pathetic outings.  He's allowed at least four runs in five of his seven starts.  He did pitch one gem, allowing just one hit in six innings against the Dodgers on May 12th.  However, this was a complete fluke, as his most recent disaster against the Nationals showed when they ran him from the game in the second inning. The Phils won the game, but he served up several softballs and got them in a hole early.

Chan Ho must go.  The experiment's over, and the results are in.  It's failed.  Time to eat the cost of his one-year deal and cut him like they did Adam Eaton. The question remains though: who replaces him?  I'd go with J.A. Happ, who's excelled in his role as the long reliever.  He should be able to transition back to starter easily enough, as he hasn't been used as a typical lefty out of the bullpen. In fact, seven of his 12 apperances have been at least two innings. 

It's obvious the Phils know Happ's not going to stay in the bullpen; may as well move him back now while the getting is good.  The Phillies still have plenty of problems in their rotation, and yet sit 20 and 16 halfway through May.  With the worst performing rotation in the majors thus far, change can't hurt.