Results tagged ‘ Ryan Howard ’
Ryan Howard Interview for Phillies Phollowers
Thanks to the State Farm initiative, Go To Bat, I was able to get a video interview with Ryan Howard while he was in Kansas City for the All-Star break helping promote the charity. And I am very happy to share it with all of you!
If you want to support these great charities – Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Teach For America, American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity – go to State Farm’s online Go to Bat game and swing for the fences! Just by playing, you have a chance of winning tickets to the 2012 World Series. Once a week, for 10 weeks, State Farm will randomly select the name of one contestant and make a donation of $18,000 to the charity that person chose to support, and that contestant also will win a trip for two to the 2012 World Series.
My sincere thanks to Ryan Howard and to State Farm for the interview opportunity! That was seriously awesome!
The Phillies are off tonight, but they will be back Friday at 8:40pm in Colorado to face the Rockies. Cliff Lee is scheduled to pitch. Let’s see if the Phillies can get off to a hot start in the 2nd half!
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Phillies All-Stars Contribute to NL Shut-Out Win Over the AL
In an 8-0 win over the American League, 3 Phillies All-Stars made big contributions for the National League. Cole Hamels pitched a perfect 7th inning, probably driving up his free agent value a little bit more. Carlos Ruiz caught the final 4 innings and had one at-bat, a fly-out to left field. And Jonathan Papelbon recorded the final out of the game, sealing the NL victory.
Here are a few MLB photos from the game:
And this next set of MLB photos show Ruiz holding his glove and then the glove R.A. Dickey gave him to use in order to catch his crazy knuckle balls. That glove is almost as big as Chooch! There is also a nice shot of Papelbon and then more adorable Chooch getting a hug from the Nationals teenage rookie, Bryce Harper:
Melky Cabrera of the Cardinals got the MVP award for the game. He had 2 hits, including a homer, and 2 RBI. Some rare events occurred during the game, including 3 triples, 5 rookies playing in the game, and the first shut-out during an All-Star game since 1996, when the game was played in Philadelphia.
The biggest blunder of the game came from 19-year old Harper who lost a routine fly ball in the outfield, which eventually landed behind him. He also got caught leaning too far off base in a fielder’s choice and was tagged out.
So now we wait until the Phillies return on Friday to see if they have any gas left to rescue their dreadful season. Roy Halladay will make a rehab start tomorrow so, hopefully, that means he will be back very soon.
In the meantime, here is a fun blast from the All-Star past. These are a few of my favorite All-Star photos from 2008. The top one will never get old…it is Dan Uggla goosing Chase Utley to the surprise of many around them, as you can see by my marker edits. Below that is Utley and Brad Lidge, who appear to be trying to club David Wright. And then there is Mike Schmidt standing up in a moving vehicle (next to Utley) during the All-Star parade to point me out and say hello. I was one Phillies jersey in a sea of Yankees jersey’s so I was easy to spot and he was clearly excited to see a Phillies fan! Utley yelled out to me right after that as well. And yes, that was one of the highlights of my simple existence ;o)
By the way, I am hoping to have my video interview with Ryan Howard posted in the next few days, so stay tuned for that!
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2012 photos by MLB; 2008 photos by Jenn Zambri Photography
Phillies Stumble Into All-Star Break With Little Hope to Save Their Season
The Phillies were swept by the Braves today in a depressing 4-3 loss. There was not even a little comic relief, as in Saturday’s loss when Hunter Pence bowled over 3rd base coach Juan Samuel while rounding the bases towards home. That bit had everyone except Samuel laughing to the point of tears.
The only laughs today came before the game started:
After that, absolutely nothing was funny. Even the presentation of All-Star jersey’s to Carlos Ruiz, Jonathan Papelbon and Cole Hamels was somehow lacking in enthusiasm.
And then fans learned that Shane Victorino was pulled from the line-up at the last moment, prompting rumors of a possible trade or injury. But what actually happened, according to Charlie Manuel, was that Shane was feeling “down” and had “a lot on his mind…” And so, Charlie took him out in favor of Jason Pridie.
That turned out to be the only good move of the day. Pridie hit a 2-run homer and a double, which accounted for all 3 Phillies runs in the game.
Vance Worley battled through 6 innings, allowing 3 runs, which was a nice improvement over his last start where he have up 6 runs in 4 innings. But despite the quality start, not much was going the way of the Phillies.
There were some nice defensive plays:
But the offense was lackluster, despite having both Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in the line-up. The top 4 in the line-up went 1-for-16 collectively, although Jimmy Rollins did go 3-for-3 in pop-fly outs. I am not sure that is a stat to be proud of, but at least he is consistent (note my sarcasm, in case you missed it).
Ultimately, Raul Valdes gave up a solo homer to who else, but Brian McCann, giving the Braves a 1-run lead that the Phillies failed to overcome.
So the Braves had a nice visit to Philly, complete with attempts to steal young Phillies fans. Here is ex-Phil Chad Durbin and Dan Uggla before the game playing nice with one of the kids chosen for the traditional Sunday Starting 9:
Actually, it was very sweet. But Durbin was always that kind of guy; his presence is still missed on this ballclub.
So the Phillies go into the All-Star break in the midst of a complete disaster. They have won only 1 of their last 12 games and sit in dead last in the NL East, 14 games out of first. Get ready fans; I am afraid change is coming, and not the good kind.
For a pleasant distraction, check out my Photo Album from the game; just pretend they win and the photos look even better!
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Photos by Jenn Zambri Photography
Howard’s Return Spoiled in Loss to Braves
We all waited through 84 dreadful games to finally see the Phillies line-up back together again. Chase Utley came back and now, Ryan Howard is back. But game #85 with Howard, Utley and the old gang together was fun for about 2 or 3 innings. And then, reality set in.
Howard started off his 2012 season with a monster double to center field. Cheer rang out among fans excited to see the big man back again. But by the 3rd inning, we all began to wonder why the offense was still not getting it done.
The Phillies sprinkled 5 hits here and there, two of which were from Howard. The Braves did not have many hits either as Kyle Kendrick finally found his groove after his last regular start spot in the rotation was pushed back a few days. Maybe getting skipped finally gave Kendrick the incentive he needed to step up his game.
And he did just that; Kendrick was great through 7 innings. He allowed only 4 hits and did not give up a single run, even after getting into a tight spot in the 7th inning. But he did not get any run support from his teammates and then was pulled in the 8th in favor of Antonio Bastardo.
Bastardo was awful; he had no command and walked 3 batters, even walking a run home with the bases loaded and 2 outs. If I was managing this team, I’d have pulled him after the first 2 batters based on the season he has had so far and his obvious lack of control at that moment. But you know Charlie Manuel; he is going to stick with “his guy” until he gives up 5 runs, including a grand slam to Brian McCann.
And this exactly what happened. I am so tired of people going on about “roles” in the bullpen. This is my 8th inning guy, this is my middle-relief guy, etc… Because in the same breath, they will tell you that these guys are only human, not robots. That is correct. However, it totally contradicts the theory of bullpen roles.
If they are in fact human, then they are prone to having good days and bad days. If a guy is having a bad day, like Bastardo, then you use someone else, regardless of their “role!” Not to do so is counterproductive, detrimental to your team and gives the impression that the 8th inning guy (or whatever-inning guy) HAS to be a robot in order to succeed. And yet you have just stated he is NOT a robot. See my frustration with this?
Human beings are NOT made of metal; they are flexible. And as such, they should be flexible in their “roles.” Charlie also loves to talk about showing confidence in “his guys.” Well how much confidence do you think Bastardo has now after that disastrous outing?
Sometimes, you need to step in and save someone from themselves. Tell him, “Today is not your day. You’ll get them the next time.” That disappointment HAS to be better than the one that comes with allowing 5 runs in the 8th inning of a previously scoreless game, followed by getting chewed out on the bench by your pitching coach in front of everyone.
I have a lot of respect for Manuel and the way he manages. When things are going good, his style works very, very well. You can afford to let a guy go a little further. But when times are bad, like they are now, you have to adapt. And in my humble opinion, that is the part he is getting wrong right now. And this team, 13 games back in the NL East, cannot afford ANY wrong moves.
I still love ya, Charlie. But seriously, do “your guys” a favor and show some tough love. This team needs a swift kick in the rear, on all sides of the ball. And now we can only pray that it is not already too late.
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Player photos by Jenn Zambri Photography
Phillies Get Wrecked by the Mets for 6 Straight Loses
An 11-1 loss against the Mets tonight was a complete and utter disaster on all sides for the Phillies. The pitching stunk, the offense was invisible and the defense phoned it in too.
Vance Worley had the worst start of his career, allowing 6 runs in only 4 innings. When Raul Valdes took over, he left 2 runners on base in the 6th before being pulled with 2 outs recorded. Why was he pulled? Because apparently, he was not giving up enough home runs. So the Phillies brought in Brian Sanches from our minor-league bullpen to take care of that. David Wright thanks him for the 3 RBI.
Behind the pitchers, the defense was not great either. John Mayberry Jr. missed a fly ball he should have caught. Chase Utley made a mistake on what could have been a double play ball. Instead, both runners were safe. And Placido Polanco was charged with a throwing error.
But the offense was even worse. The Phillies managed only 3 hits and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. The only Phillies run in the game was a solo homer from Carlos Ruiz in the 2nd inning.
Folks, this is as bad as it could possibly get right now. This game was the epitome of this horrible season, now more than halfway over. We could all try chanting the insurance jingle, “Like a good agent, State Farm is there…with a 10-game winning streak! Poof!” But I have a very bad feeling that even that will not help.
Instead, you could go to blast some virtual home runs online at statefarm.com/gotobat for the chance to win two tickets to the World Series. So even if the team doesn’t win, you can get back that feeling of good baseball, even if it is just a virtual version.
I mention that because the Go To Bat charity has offered me a video interview with Ryan Howard! I will be posting that sometime next week during the All-Star break; Ryan will be in Kansas City promoting the charity and I have a few fun questions for him.
So there is a little bit of good news in the midst of a whole bunch of bad.
The Phillies will try once again to conjure a win tomorrow at 1:10pm. Start praying for a 4th of July miracle!
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Utley photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
What’s Happened to Cliff Lee?
What in the world is going on with Cliff Lee? Has he been abducted by aliens and replaced with a look-alike? Maybe the aliens are trying to clone him for their big MLB invasion plan. But this guy they left behind is not fooling anyone. This is not the Cliff Lee we have come to know.
Lee has allowed 20 earned runs in his last four games, including 6 tonight against the Miami Marlins. He only made it through 4 2/3 innings before getting the hook. Lee looked so bad, that manager Charlie Manuel actually pulled him when the next batter scheduled to hit was the opposing pitcher. Ouch.
And it has not just been the last 4 games. Lee has been up and down all year, with a trip to the DL for a sore oblique thrown in the middle. So what exactly has happened to this 3-time All-Star and Cy Young award winner?
It seems clear that the only person who can answer that question is Cliff Lee. And right now, he does not seem to have a clue either.
This is now 13 starts for Lee in 2012 without recording a single win. It appears someone has stolen his mojo. Anyone have a self-help book we can toss at him?
But Lee’s season has paralleled the Phillies season as a whole. It has been a real head-scratcher all around, laden with injuries and disappointment.
The Phillies went on to lose their 3rd straight game tonight, which was a combination of Lee’s performance and a non-existent offense. The only Phillies run of the game through 8 innings was a solo homer by Hunter Pence.
To recap, Chase Utley is back and the Phillies have not won a game since. Ryan Howard is on a rehab assignment and will be back soon. But if the pitching continues along this dreadful path, none of it will matter.
So please, little green men, we are begging you! Return the real Cliff Lee to us before it is too late!
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Lee Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
No Doubt, Chase Utley Has Returned!
Chase Utley is back! Even better, he is healthy and looks like the All-Star player we have known him to be. Utley announced his return in his first at-bat of the year with a huge bang. His fairy tale comeback began with a monster home run to center on a 2-2 count amidst 45,000 fans cheering wildly.
The ballpark exploded with joy from the upper levels down to the dugout where teammates showered Utley with man-hugs, high fives and ear-to-ear grins. It appears the Chutley magic has returned!
As if that moment were not amazing enough, Carlos Ruiz made it even more special with another home run right after Utley’s and while the crowd was still celebrating the first one. This had to be sign of better things to come for the Phillies. For one inning, it felt as if the world was right again.
In honor of Utley’s amazing comeback, here is a montage of some of my favorite photos I have taken of him over the years:
Three cheers for Chase! And 3 hits as well; Utley went 3-for-5 in his first game of the season.
But the elation of the moment was soon squashed by the Phillies dreadful bullpen, which ruined the day. Short a starter because of the rain-out last weekend, the Phils were stuck with a bullpen game. Raul Valdes started and, in the 1st inning, things looked promising. But by the 2nd, things began to unravel quickly.
Valdes allowed a 3 run homer with 2 outs and the pitcher on deck. Joe Savery took over in the 3rd and managed one clean inning before things got much worse. He ended up with 5 runs allowed, two of which scored after Michael Schwimer took over with 2 outs in the 5th. Savery was sent back to the minors after the game.
But the drama did not end there. The Phillies actually mounted a comeback and cut the 8-2 deficit to 8-7 by the 7th inning. It looked like they might actually still have a shot to win, which along with Utley’s return, would have been a massive boost for this team.
But the bullpen even managed to ruin that possibility. That’s right…Chad Qualls strikes again. Only he hardly threw any strikes. Once he walked the first batter, it was clear that a large load of crap was about to hit the fan…again. Sure enough, Qualls gave up 3 runs, including a 2-run homer. That handed the Pirates an 11-7 win.
So we are left with three cheers for Chase and about three-hundred boo’s for the bullpen. If this pen sucked any worse, it would be a little league pen. Folks, this is BAD. If the Phillies do not find some better arms soon, it won’t matter how many 3-for-5 games Utley has. And I am pretty sure that Brian Sanches, called up in place of Savery, is not the answer.
Ryan Howard is starting a rehab assignment today, which should have him back with the team at least after the All-Star break. But again, the Phillies still need a more solidified bullpen if he is going to be able to make an impact.
The final game of this series begins early, at 1:05pm. Kyle Kendrick, who has been basically dreadful of late, is starting. Cross all your fingers and toes that he snaps out of whatever funk he is in so the Phillies can win this 4-game series!
UPDATE: Chad Qualls is outta here! The Phillies cut him today (“designated for assignment”) after many disasterous pitching efforts. Excuse me for a moment while I do the happy dance… Ok, I am back. Filling his spot will be lefty Jeremy Horst, a rookie aquired in the Wilson Valdez trade. I do not know much about him except he posted a 2.11 ERA in 26 games in Triple-A and he has to be better than Qualls. We shall see…
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Photos by Jenn Zambri Photography
Pitching a Fit Over Phils Pitching
At the start of the season, everyone was worried about the Phillies offense being strong enough to carry a solid starting pitching staff to wins. Now that the offense is slowly piecing runs together, the entire pitching staff has fallen apart. Let us examine the grisly evidence:
Roy Halladay is on the DL. Vance Worley is pitching will bone chips in his elbow. Cliff Lee has no wins and is recently making a habit of blowing leads. Cole Hamels has been hit or miss. Kyle Kendrick and Joe Blanton keep see-sawing between okay and downright horrible.
As for the bullpen, 5 out of 7 pitchers have little big league experience. 4 of those are rookies in their first (3) year or second (1) year in the majors. Chad Qualls, a veteran, has basically been a bust. And their $50 million closer hardly ever pitches because the save situations are slim and they are afraid to use him in non-save situations.
Last night in a horrible 11-7 loss to the Twins, 3 of 4 bullpen guys who pitched combined to allow 5 runs. Kendrick started the game allowing 6 runs in only 4 innings. He was beyond awful. Meanwhile, closer Jonathan Papelbon has not thrown a single pitch since 4 days and 3 games ago.
Making matters worse, Hunter Pence has officially lost his mind in right field. He only has 3 official errors on the year, but if you add in the mental mistakes and plays that he clearly should have made despite not being an “official” error, he probably has at least 10 by now.
In fact, my favorite moment of last night’s game was a comment by announcer Tom McCarthy. After Pence failed to field a routine hopper in the 5th inning, turning a single into a triple, McCarthy said, “I think it is safe to say he needs to stop doing that.” He hit that nail on the head.
Right now, the Phillies are a very BAD team. Now 9.5 games back of the Nationals in the NL East, they do not have time to wait for Chase Utley and Ryan Howard to return. If they do not turn it around right now, this season is over.
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Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
Injuries and Questions Plaguing the Phillies
As I am sure many of you are already aware, Roy Halladay has been placed on the DL with a right latissimus dorsi strain. His projected time for recovery is 6-8 weeks. The good news is that the strain is a Grade ½ which means he just needs rest for the muscle to heal. The bad news is he will be gone probably until August. Yikes.
In regards to how long this has been going on, pitching coach Rich Dubee told the media, “I’ve thought since spring training that there was an issue.” My question then is, why was nothing done about this sooner? Why no MRI in spring training?
Of course, Halladay probably down-played the issue thinking it was nothing serious. But if you are paying a guy $60 million dollars, isn’t it your obligation to do everything possible to ensure the health of that player? In my opinion, this should have been handled in March. Luckily, the muscle did not tear in the meantime, but damage to the team was certainly done by allowing this to drag on.
The overwhelming sentiment in the press has been, “It could be worse,” referring to a potential tear or rotator cuff injury. But really, any injury with any player “could be worse.” What they should be doing instead of telling us how great it is that this is not worse is asking some real questions. Like, why was this not addressed earlier?
This also raises questions for me about the team management, from the top brass to the training staff. Because the Halladay issue does not seem to be the only thing they missed. What about Chase Utley? Should they have done more in the offseason to ensure Utley was healthy, especially after the 2011 knee problem?
But it is also easy to see why the team was maybe playing the “ignore it and it may go away” game. Imagine for a minute if they did check Halladay out in spring training. Now imagine having Halladay, Utley and Ryan Howard on the DL to start the season. How many fans do you think would have immediately written the team off with that kind of start? I would assume the Phillies would have asked themselves the exact same question.
As it stands now, those 3 players make up 32% of the entire team $174.5 million payroll. That is $55 million sitting on the DL. Ouch.
So, you still want to look on the bright side? Ok, think of it like this: Halladay is not really hurt. He is simply having his bionic parts tuned-up. As with most bionic men, this procedure can take some time.
Then when Halladay returns, he should be right back to his robot-self! Awesome.
My next question is, could the Phillies be playing the same “ignore it and it may go away” game with Joe Blanton? Missing most of last season with a sore elbow, Blanton was also seemingly left to his own devices all off-season and did not have surgery.
Blanton came back and appeared healthy and pitched very well in April. But then May rolled around and it all went downhill. In his last 3 starts, Blanton has not made it past the 5th inning and given up a total of 19 runs. That is an ERA of 12.52 in 3 starts. Last night against the Mets, he allowed 6 runs in 5 innings which lead to a 6-3 loss. Am I really the only one who finds this pattern disturbing?
Ok, let’s examine the bright side once again…Cliff Lee pitches tonight! Yes, it is Lee vs. Gee once again. And Lee could actually pick up his first win of the year before May ends! Cross your fingers…
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Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
From Extreme Highs to Extreme Lows
This has been an up and down year so far for the Phillies; feast or famine. And we never know which one is coming and when. They win 6 in a row, lose 4 in a row and then win 4 in row. Up, down, up down…repeat…
Someone needs to stop the roller coaster and let me catch a break. This has been exhausting.
On Saturday, another extreme high occurred when Kyle Kendrick pitched his first career complete game shut-out for a 4-0 win over the Cardinals. Kendrick’s season has mirrored the team as a whole; some ups and some downs.
But after winning that 4th straight game, Sunday brought on another extreme low. Roy Halladay got blown up in the first inning against the Cards with a grand slam, putting the Phillies in a quick 4-0 hole. But worse than that, after just 2 innings of work, Pete Orr suddenly appeared in the on-deck circle to bat for Halladay. This left many scratching their collective heads…
As it turns out, Halladay was pulled for having “right shoulder soreness.” There has been no word yet on what exactly this means or how serious it may be. However, one can surmise based on Halladay’s last several outings, that this is not a new issue. Halladay has not looked right for some time now.
After a 1.95 ERA in the month of May, Halladay pitched to the tune of a 6.11 ERA in May. Obviously, something is going on. But with the cloak and dagger routine the Phillies brass has employed this year in regards to injured players, like Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, we may never know the full truth.
And as if that was not enough drama for one day, Utley got hit with a foul ball while sitting in the dugout during the 7th inning. It appears to have hit his hand and then knocked his sunglasses off his face. No one looked terribly concerned afterwards, so we shall assume for now that he is fine….aside from 2 bum knees, of course.
The Phillies walked away with an 8-3 loss today, although they did win the series 3 games to 1, which is the good news. But as has been the case all season long, what lies ahead next is anyone’s guess.
A 3-game series with the Mets begins tomorrow in New York. The Memorial Day game time is 1:10pm; Cole Hamels will pitch.
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Photoshopping and head shots by Jenn Zambri Photography
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