Results tagged ‘ Michael Young ’
Home, Sweet Home for the Phillies
After an abysmal road trip where the Phillies lost 7 out of 10 games, this team had to be relieved to be back in Philadelphia last night. They took an absolute beating from the Brewers, Twins and the Rockies. If you Google the meaning of “bad baseball,” this road trip should be used as an example.
But things looked a tad brighter after last night’s 5-4 walk-off win against the Nationals. John Lannan returned to the rotation after a knee injury and pitched well; Ryan Howard finally broke out of his home run drought; and Domonic Brown seems to be getting hot again. He even delivered the game-winning RBI single in the 9th.
Despite the win though, I simply cannot stop thinking about the awful road trip. In particular, I am greatly disturbed by the events that have taken place at and around third base and home plate lately. Most of these little disasters seem to revolve around veteran third-baseman Michael Young.
I hate to keep picking on Young, who seems like a very nice guy, and maybe some of this is not his fault at all. Did you notice that Young got thrown out at home plate THREE times in the last 6 games of the road trip? My question is, does he run home on his own or is Ryne Sandburg sending him? I understand being aggressive, but Young is one of the older and slower players on this team. This is not the guy you send on a close play.
I have begun leaning towards Sandburg’s lack of experience coaching third base as the issue, especially after last night. Because it appears he got Howard into a similar jam. He was sending Howard home and quickly changed his mind, signaling for Howard to stay at third. But his momentum was already heading home and Howard got tagged out at third. Sandburg is a Hall of Famer…I get that. So he should know that you cannot stop a moving train. Either make the decision quicker or take your chances that Howard will bowl over the catcher at home.
Then again, guys have been getting tossed out on the base paths all over the place all by themselves. Young also got thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double last Tuesday. He also had a bad fielding error and hit into 2 more double plays on this road trip.
None the new players Ruben Amaro Jr. brought in this year, including Michael Young, are holding up their end of the bargain. Delmon Young is hitting only .231; Mike Adams has a 4.13 ERA and cannot seem to pitch a clean inning; Ben Revere has started out super slow, although he is improving. And Revere is young so he has a lot to learn yet. Lannan has been ok, but the injury was a huge setback.
As for the returning Phillies, too many of them are hurt or under producing. I hate to be such a downer after a rare Phillies win, but this team is just so frustrating! Who are they? Are they going to get any better? Will some of these guys ever be healthy? Your guesses are all as good as mine.
Maybe another win tonight will improve my mood? Hope so!
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Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
Painful Math: Adding Up the 2013 Phillies Season So Far
It is a very good thing that I already have a college degree. Because this Phillies season is giving me many compelling reasons to hate math, which is generally not a good thing where school is concerned. If I had to walk into a calculus class right now, I may run screaming from the room instead.
Call it a math hangover. Or just call it the 2013 Phillies season, which has been a statistical nightmare.
For example, let us discuss OBP. It is really too bad that the on-base percentage statistic does not include how many times a player wiped himself and others off the bases after getting on. If it did, Michael Young’s .355 OBP would not look so great. Young has hit into 13 double plays in 57 games. He has more double play balls than he has RBI’s (11) even though his .355 OBP leads all starters on the team. This is a frightening statistic.
Did you also know that Ryan Howard, making $20 million this year, has hit only 1 home run in his last 103 plate appearances? With 7 homers total on the year in 59 games, Howard is averaging 1 home run every 8.5 games. Say Howard plays 145 of 162 games this season; at this rate, he would end the year with 17 home runs. That means the Phillies are paying him $1.2 million dollars per home run. Ouch.
Erik Kratz has 8 home runs in 43 games, more than Howard. And now, he is on the disabled list after hurting his knee this weekend. So one of the guys picking up the slack is now gone. Not to mention, the Phillies are on their 3rd string catcher with Carlos Ruiz still out as well.
And how about Mike Adams, who was supposed to be the savior of the 8th inning for the Phillies? He has already been on the DL with back pain and is now suffering from a mystery bicep issue. Despite coming off surgery in the off-season for thoracic outlet syndrome, the Phillies still paid aging, injury-prone Adams $12 million for 2 years.
Adams has given up runs in 5 out of his last 7 appearances; that is a rate of 71%. His ERA has ballooned to 3.92. Plus, no one has any idea when or if he will be pitching again. He has pitched in only 23 of 64 games so far this season.
And here are a few random stats, just to add to the misery: 10 out of 16 position players on the roster have batting averages at or below .250; that is 63%. The team average is .247. Only 3 teams in the National League have a worse team ERA than the Phillies 4.15. And with 38 errors on the season, the team fielding percentage is .984.
There is plenty more disturbing data where this came from, but I must stop here before my head explodes. The Phils just got swept out by the Brewers so I think we have all been tortured enough for now.
Put down the calculator…no matter how hard you try to change it, this math adds up to a very bad season.
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Death By Twizzler: Cliff Lee Gets No Decision
You could blame the Phillies pitching, stinky offense or the sloppy defense for last night’s 4-5 loss to the Brewers. Or you can join me in blaming the Twizzlers. I do believe that red devil candy somehow sucked the mojo right out of Cliff Lee. The fact that the evil licorice was handed to Lee by a young Brewers fan reinforces my theory:
Animation by The Fightins
Then again, a few other factors may have contributed to the end of the Phillies 5-game win streak. For example, the Phils scored 4 runs in the first 4 innings and then the offense proceeded to take a vacation. There were also 2 errors; a very bad throw from Freddy Galvis and a botched routine grounder my Michael Young.
And then there was Lee. 3 earned runs in 7 innings is generally a good day for most pitchers. But Lee has looked unstoppable in his previous 6 starts. That is what made last night’s labor-intensive outing where Lee walked 3 batters so shocking.
He was bound to have an off day at some point. No one can maintain that pace all season long.
But I still blame the candy.
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Mayberry’s Big Night & More Umpire Follies
The last two or three years have been strange ones for Phillies outfielder John Mayberry Jr. He has gone though spurts of looking like a solid ballplayer and even more spurts of looking totally lost at the plate. While see-sawing between the two extremes, Mayberry has been unable to stick as an everyday player.
But last night against the Marlins, Mayberry had probably the most memorable night of his career and he did not even start the game. He hit a solo homer in the 10th to tie the game back up after Antonio Bastardo surrendered a run to the Fish in the top of the inning. Then in the 11th, Mayberry whacked a game-winning grand slam home run.
There were a number of ‘firsts’ for Mayberry in this game:
- Mayberry’s first career grand slam
- Mayberry became first player in major-league history to hit two home runs in extra innings with one being a grand slam
- Mayberry also became the first Phillies player to hit a walk-off grand slam since Dale Murphy on Aug. 6, 1991, against the Cubs
Those are some pretty impressive statistics. And with Delmon Young still underachieving (he is hitting only .220 in 100 at-bats), perhaps it is time to hand right field over to Mayberry for a while. Mayberry’s defense is significantly better than Young’s and his offense cannot possibly be any worse than Young’s.
Young has actually cost the team runs with his defense and I cannot imagine the Phillies putting up with that for much longer. And he is not making up for it with his bat either. 30 games played and 100 at-bats should be nearly enough for them to pass judgment. We shall see…
As for the umpire follies, Bob Davidson strikes again! How this ridiculous man still has a job is beyond me. Last year, Davidson was actually suspended after ejecting Phils skipper Charlie Manual for his bad “situation handling,” according to MLB. What actually happened was he interfered with the catcher on a play and then cussed out Manual for arguing the point.
Davidson’s animosity towards the Phillies is still going strong, because last night he made one of the worst calls I have ever seen. Davidson called interference on Ben Revere who slid head first (not spikes first) into second on a ground ball hit by Michael Young. Young was called out due to the imaginary interference; Davidson claimed he saw Revere grab the leg of the Marlins 2nd baseman. It was clear to both the naked eye and on the replay that Revere did no such thing…it was not even close.
Revere did not grab anyone; he did not roll into 2nd; he did not even go out of the basepath or miss the bag. Davidson literally just made up the call.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s Bernie Miklasz, “…if I listed every call that Davidson got wrong I’d be typing for the next 48 hours at least. He’s a disgrace to the game and has been for many, many years. Baseball people laugh at him.” It seems everyone hates Davidson…and with good reason.
After the game, both Revere and Manual made some very amusing comments about the bad call. Revere said, “I know [Davidson] was standing right there, he said he did see it, so I’m just like, man needs some glasses or something.” And Manual interjected, “Bob’s kinda getting a little old.” Plus, the crowd at Citizens Bank Park booed Davidson relentlessly for the remained of the game.
And yet, no one can say why this man still has a job. MLB has made a habit out of ignoring the total incompetence of some umpires. Even with their reputation being continually tarnished, MLB has done nothing to redeem themselves.
In fact, Joe Torre, who is in charge of MLB umpires, on-field discipline and other areas, was actually at Saturday’s Phillies-Brewers game where a huge umpiring mistake was made in the bottom of the 9th inning. Kyle Kendrick was called out at second base even though the fielder dropped the ball. The next batter doubled, which would have scored Kendrick and tied the game up. Instead, that blown call cost the Phillies the game.
The crew chief acknowledged the error after the game, but to my knowledge, Torre said nothing. Granted, this was a far less egregious error than the blatant, BS call by Davidson. All of these bad calls are screaming for additional replay, but is anyone listening?
Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil…get nothing done. *Sigh*
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Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
Brown’s Bombs
Hitting five homers in his last four game, Domonic Brown is on fire…and it is about time. The Phillies have been waiting for Brown to explode and reach his potential for years now. It looks like he may be right on track now.
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Fresh off his first Player of the Week honors, Brown may now be in the running for Player of the Month. He has been the one bright spot in an otherwise drab Phillies season so far. Brown’s efforts have helped the Phillies win the last 2 games against the Red Sox, but can the Phillies keep up the pace?
The team lost another player yesterday due to a family issue; Michael Young was placed on the bereavement/family emergency list and will be gone 3-7 days. There was no clarification beyond that. And Chase Utley is progressing slower than everyone had hoped after an oblique injury. With many other Phils on the DL as well, it will not be easy for this team to keep their heads above water.
Brown’s recent performance has been a big boost. Erik Kratz looks like he is finding his groove as well. But clutch hitting on this team is still not happening much. With 1 out and the bases loaded last night in the 7th, Ryan Howard struck out and John Mayberry Jr. then popped out. With 1 out and 2 runners on in the 6th, Freddy Galvis ended the inning by hitting into a double play. These examples are the exact opposite of clutch hitting and sadly, it happens more often than not.
Last night’s win was the result of good pitching and 4 solo home runs. I stress the “solo” part because no one seems to want to hit with runners on base. For example, the Phillies had 4 stolen bases in the game, but none of those runners scored. The team left 8 men on base and went 0-6 with runners in scoring position.
Still, it was a win so we’ll take it. But Brown’s bombs are not going to carry a team; he is going to need a tad more help.
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Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
Lee Pitches Another Gem
In a year full of drama for the Phillies, Cliff Lee stepping on the mound is a sight for sore eyes. The same can be said when he steps to the plate as well. In a complete game shut-out of the Marlins last night, Lee also collected 2 hits, giving him a team-leading .316 batting average. And his .350 on-base percentage is second only to Michael Young (.378) among active Phillies.
Simply put, Cliff Lee is amazing.
Yet those offensive numbers are a bit disturbing in another respect. When your ace pitcher is leading the team in average and OBP, there are some serious problems. Granted, Lee only plays once every 5 games, but it is still a somewhat revealing statistic on a team that has struggled to score runs.
There was some offense last night though, and some signs of life all around. Although they only scored 3 runs, most guys hit the ball well and as team, they collected 12 hits, which is way better than their usual production this year. On Tuesday night with Tyler Cloyd pitching, the Phillies racked up 7 runs on 15 hits in the win.
But again, this has been a pattern; the Phillies have 1 or 2 games with solid offense and then they go right back to not being able to hit the broad side of a barn. And with the injuries mounting, can they get any kind of consistency?
The latest injury to Chase Utley is extremely worrisome. Utley was finally having a good year, after missing time in both of the previous 2 seasons with knee issues. Now, it appears he has an oblique strain of some sort; he will have an MRI today and will likely be put on the DL along with Roy Halladay, Mike Adams, John Lannan and Carlos Ruiz. Stay tuned…
Today is an off day as the team travels to Washington to take on the Nationals. News on Utley should be coming very soon…cross your fingers!
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Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
West Coast Winds of Change
In only a few short days, many things have changed for the Phillies. Roy Halladay was placed on the DL with what is still a mystery injury. The entire team appeared lifeless and ready to give up. Then a cross-country road trip suddenly gave the Phillies unexpected energy. They have taken the first 2 games of this series against the Giants who were the hottest team in baseball coming into this series.
So is this the team we have waited to see all year, blown in by the western winds of AT&T Park? Or is this another 2-game mirage? Let us examine the evidence:
Both games ended in a 6-2 score. Both Chase Utley and Michael Young have 4 hits each and at least 2 RBI in the series. Utley, Ryan Howard and Dom Brown each homered. The pitching was very good.
On the other side of the coin, the Phils still left 16 runners on base total between the 2 games. Jimmy Rollins only has 1 hit and a sac fly. Delmon Young is hitting .150. Yikes! The other Young still loves hitting into double plays; he leads the majors with 10.
So, mirage or the real deal? Sadly, there are still too many inconsistencies and guys not getting hits to go with “real deal” just yet. But finishing the series with a sweep today would certainly be a huge boost.
Jonathan Pettibone will pitch today at 3:45pm. In other news, Tyler Cloyd has been called up to temporarily take Halladay’s spot in the rotation. The Phillies are expected to make a corresponding roster move Thursday or Friday.
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Mayday! Mayday! The Phillies Are in Trouble
Yes, it is May. And yes, it is a new day. But although Wednesday’s May-day marked the start of a new month for the Phillies, it did not appear to be any different than the month of April; or any different than the year 2012, for that matter. Now, cries of “Mayday!” can be heard throughout Philadelphia. This team has serious problems.
Over 2 games against the Indians, the Phillies were outscored 20 runs to 2. And last night’s 0-6 shut-out was even worse than the 2-14 pounding they look on Tuesday. The Phillies had only 3 hits in last night’s game against a rookie pitcher, who was so wild, he walked 6 batters. With 7 walks total handed to the Phils, they still could not manage to score a single run. That is nearly impossible, but this team found a way to do it.
And here is a thought; perhaps someone should come up with a fun drinking game for every time Michael Young or Ben Revere hits into a double play? Including one last night, Young has 7 already on the season and Revere has 5. Then again, that may not be frequent enough to really put me out of my misery. So let’s add in runners left on base! There were 9 of those last night, plus the Phillies went 0-10 with runners in scoring position. Now we can do some serious alcoholic damage!
Yes, this team is driving me to drink. As I predicted about a week ago, the Phillies have kept us all on this sickening roller coaster ride. They suck, then bounce back for a few games (like the 3-game sweep of the Mets this past weekend) and then they go right back to sucking, once again proving that they just cannot get the job done on a consistent basis.
Both Carlos Ruiz and Delmon Young are now in the line-up and nothing has changed. Sure, it has not been very long for either, but it is not like they both arrived cold, having not played in a while. Both guys were baseball-ready after playing in rehab games. Still, after one day of excitement for seeing Chooch again, the thrill is already gone and the offense is still stagnant.
Even Cliff Lee could not get the job done against the Indians, his former team. Roy Halladay was awful the day before that. The only highlight last night was watching Layne Nix rob an Indian of a home run with a leaping catch just before the ball cleared the wall. And this is not the first time this season that Nix has been the only bright spot in a game. That is a very, very bad sign.
And this has all been going on far too long for it to just be a slump. I am seriously beginning to think this team will not be able to recover. Could all of this be the beginning of the end for this era in Phillies baseball? Only time will tell; and the Phillies are quickly running out of that time…
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Kendrick’s Complete Game Shut-Out Ends Losing Streak
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No! It’s Super-KK! What a relief for the Phillies after dropping 3 straight games to the Pirates, to see Kyle Kendrick pitch a gem against the Mets. The 4-0 win came just in the nick of time, before this team spiraled way out of control.
In the complete game shut-out, Kendrick allowed only 3 hits and a walk. He kept his cool, even after the home plate umpire suddenly ran off the field in the first inning. Umpire Brian O’Nora apparently took ill and Kendrick was left standing around on the mound around 9-10 minutes waiting for Adrian Johnson to get his home plate gear on.
The delay did not deter the mighty Kendrick. And by some small miracle, the offense actually scored some runs for him. The Phillies had been leaving runners all over the base paths lately. But tonight, they finally came through in the clutch.
In the 6th inning, Michael Young took a break from hitting into double plays for a change and actually singled to score Jimmy Rollins. Then Ryan Howard did what we have been waiting for him to do for weeks and broke the game open with a 3-run bomb to center. Whew!
With Kendrick firing bullets at the Mets, those 4 runs held up. But can the winning continue with a rookie on the mound tomorrow? Jonathan Pettibone takes the mound at 1:05pm tomorrow for his second major league start. Good luck!
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Photoshopping by Jenn Zambri Photography
Drama Ensues in Phillies Win Over the Cards
A 7-3 win for the Phillies over the Cardinals on Sunday night ended the series with each team taking 2 out of 4 games. It was a very long game, on a very cold night with a virtual buffet of interesting and weird happenings.
It all began with the Phanatic’s birthday bash/movie premiere (Time Traveling Phanatic DVD) which was highlighted by faux Hollywood stars and actors from the movie. I am sure all the parent who brought, or were going to bring, their kids to this fun event were less than thrilled about ESPN moving the game from 1:35pm to 8:05pm on a school night. The fun went on, but there were not too many people there to see it.
Then Kyle Kendrick took the mound and, once again, he struggled early. But Kendrick seems to have this routine down now; he tosses a boat-load of pitches early, gets in and out of trouble and eventually comes out with a quality start. In this case, he allowed only 2 runs in 6 innings. The extra drama does seem to motivate him lately.
The Phillies looked like they might get their bats going again in the first inning. Starting with a Jimmy Rollins triple, they scored two runs. But that inning also launched a very strange night for Chase Utley. Apparently forgetting there was only one out, Utley ran from second to home on a fly ball by Michael Young and was doubled up before he even realized the blunder.
The Utley Sunday night adventure did not end there. He later ran past second base on a ground-rule double, thinking it was a home run when it actually just bounced over the outfield wall. And then Utley threw away a fairly routine ground ball in the 7th which sailed past Ryan Howard. That same runner later scored, giving the Cardinals a 3-2 lead.
Utley did have 2 hits on the night, but where his head was all night long is a mystery. Perhaps he was just getting it all out of his system and will now be error-free the rest of the year? One can only hope…
The crowd was restless most of the night. The game was dragging (3 ½ hours long!), it was getting colder and later, the defense was not great and the offense died again after that run in the first inning. Both Young and Ben Revere hit into double plays to kill rallies. People were shouting not-so-nice things at players all night long. It was a bit depressing. This team has not given fans a lot to cheer about lately.
But the Phillies finally found redemption in the bottom of the 8th inning; the biggest redemption was for Revere. With 1 out and runners on the corners, Revere singled to center to put the Phils ahead. Catcher Erik Kratz, who was batting a paltry .192 coming into the game, then smashed a 3-run homer to give the Phillies a 7-3 lead which led to the win. Whew!
In other weird news, the Phillies have called up 22-year old Jonathan Pettibone to make a spot start tonight since John Lannan is on the DL. This is weird because, in 2 starts this season in Triple-A, Pettibone has a 9.64 ERA. I guess there was no one else available? It should be an interesting night; either he will get destroyed very early by the Pirates or he will totally surprise everyone. Good luck to him!
And here is the full Photo Album from Sunday’s game.
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Photos by Jenn Zambri Photography
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