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Can this Phillies team even pretend to win the World Series again?
The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.
Can this Phillies team even pretend to win the World Series again?
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| Illustration | Evan Lopez |
Yesterday's double-header sweep of the Mutts which officially, if anticlimactically, eliminated New York's junior team from playoff contention — putting an end to a season which for all intents and purposes ended two months ago — was a perfect microcosm of all that is right and wrong in the Phillies universe.
Game one saw the return to starterdom of one Kyle Kendrick, 2007 sensation, 2008 afterthought, 2009 headcase. Kendrick pitched into the 8th, allowed just two runs and left with a two run lead. Tyler Walker — by some metrics the Phils most effective reliever this season — was given a rare chance to pitch in a high-leverage situation and finished off the Mets' half of the 8th. The Phils tacked on an insurance run in their half of the 8th and then turned the ball over to Brad Lidge, who needed every bit of his three-run cushion to close out the win, "earning" his 29th save with a 1-inning, 2-earned run, 3-hit, 2-strikeout performance during which the beleaguered reliever threw 28 pitches and saw his ERA and WHIP rise to 7.18 and 1.82 respectively.
Pluses: Kendrick seems to have found his old ground-ball mojo, and having that kind of starting pitching depth like that helps a lot. The offense put up some runs, and two didn't even come via the long ball (a Ryan Howard double and an Andy Tracy single). Charlie Manuel finally saw fit to use Walker, a pitcher who has been a (middle of the road) closer in his career, in a higher-leverage situation (12 of Walker's last 14 appearances, and 18 of his total 23 in 2009, have been in losses).
Minuses: Brad "That Boy Ain't Right" Lidge is fumbling around in the ninth like a teenager making out for the first time.
Game two saw the Phils (albeit momentarily) solve the riddle of Tim Redding, putting a quick run on the board in a first inning that would be the site of all of the game's scoring and two thirds of the Phils hits for the contest. Pedro Martinez, likely rejoicing in the fact that if he could shut down the players wearing the same uniform he did last year (to call this rag-tag bunch of minor leaguers his former teammates would be stretching things), they would be officially eliminated from post-season play. And did Pedro ever shut the Mets down, throwing 8 innings of no-run baseball during which he allowed just 6 hits and 2 walks and struck out 7. He threw 130 pitches, which has to a concern going forward as the last time Pedro threw more than 130 pitches was May 1 in — wait for it — the year TWO THOUSAND AND ONE. Good thing they've got all that starting pitching depth. Ryan Madson finished the game off with his eighth save, inspiring confidence only in that he was less shaky than Lidge earlier in the day. Madson gave up a single in a ninth in which he was bailed out by an acrobatic play by Ryan Howard (and his own nice cover of first) and a lineout to Pedro Feliz.
Pluses: Pedro cowboyed up. Madson got it done. The Phils played some great defense, especially Carlos Ruiz, whose handling of a ball in the dirt and subsequent nailing of boneheaded Daniel Murphy trying to advance to third ended an eighth inning threat.
Minuses: The Phils scored just one run, and off a guy who remains a major league pitcher ONLY because of his bizarre ability to shut down the Phils. Manuel's sudden and warranted lack of confidence in his bullpen would be comical if it didn't result in him pushing an historically frail pitcher farther than he's been pushed since before the war on terror. Also, it's unfortunate that Manuel's lack of confidence in Lidge and Madson seems to have manifest itself in his ONLY using them, overlooking the likes of Chan Ho Park and the aforementioned Walker, both guys who could actually help fix this mess.
So what the hell do you make of this team, one with so many cylinders, none of which seem to be firing at the right time? Are they getting all the kinks out now? Or are they limping into the post-season where they'll be be completely exposed to a team with a hot hand — or, y'know, a closer?
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