DENVER -- One week ago, the Phillies were popping champagne, pouring beer over their heads and celebrating their first NL East championship and playoff berth since 1993.Today, they're flying home and packing for the off-season.
Hard to believe, isn't it?
If you were able to stay up late last night, you saw the Phillies lose, 2-1, to the Rockies, who completed a three-game sweep of the best-of-five NL Division Series. Jamie Moyer pitched brilliantly for six innings, and Shane Victorino homered in his return to the lineup. Other than that, there was little to cheer about for the Phillies, who mustered only three hits against studly Rockies rookie starter Ubaldo Jimenez.
Incredibly, it was the Phillies' offense, not their pitching, that let them down in this series. After leading the NL with 892 runs scored, the Phillies scored only eight runs in three games against Colorado. They batted .172 (16-for-93) in the series. And the fearsome foursome of Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Aaron Rowand were a combined 8-for-46 (.174) with 19 strikeouts.
"I feel like we got cheated," closer Brett Myers said in the quiet of the clubhouse. "Three games? That's all we got to play in the playoffs. It would've been good to play five. At least that would've meant we played the full series."
Depending on where you live, your Sunday paper may have different versions of our Phillies articles from here in Denver. Here, then, are some links to the most updated stories.
--The game story features more reaction from the sullen clubhouse.
--Martin Frank wonders if the Phillies just weren't good enough.
--Charlie Manuel told the Phillies he didn't want to talk about his contract until the season is over. Now he finally can. On that note, there will be plenty written and said over the next few days about Manuel's future. I'm confident the Phillies will offer him a one-year contract extension. Personally, I think they'd be crazy not to offer at least a two-year deal. And, if they do, I believe he'll accept.
--Victorino gave the Phillies' lineup a jolt. But not enough. Also, within the notebook, there's some information on the very erratic weather here in Denver.
--There were many similarities between the Phillies and Rockies. One of the most glaring was their reliance on inexperienced pitchers. In Game 3, Jimenez dazzled. In the fourth inning, he struck out Rowand on a 73-mph curveball, a 97-mph fastball and an 81-mph slider. That's just nasty.
--A photo gallery from Game 3.
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One other note that didn't make the paper: J.C. Romero gave up the winning run in the eighth inning on three straight singles, including a pinch-hit RBI single by Jeff Baker. It was the first run allowed by Romero since Aug. 30, a span of 23 appearances and 17-1/3 innings. But Romero was nothing short of an ironman since joining the Phillies in June after being claimed off waivers from the Red Sox."From a personal standpoint, I'm pleased with what I did this season," Romero said. "But my main goal was to help this team achieve something else, something they haven't achieved. We wanted to get to the second round and the World Series. So, our job was partially done. Unfortunately, we came up short."
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Just because the season's over doesn't mean we won't keep writing about the Phillies in the 50-cent edition. Over the next few days, I'll be recapping the season and looking ahead to 2008. Also, I want to keep The Blog fresh throughout the off-season.
For now, though, I'll leave you with this question: Was the season a success or did the prompt playoff exit sour your feeling on how the Phillies fared in 2007?
I'll try to post more tomorrow.
7 comments:
I haven't posted in a while (as a juvenile individual was using my username and making ridiculous comments and I chose to not post for a while because I didn't want to deal with it) but I want to make some comments on the Phillies season.
First, many people were critical (overly critical in my estimation) of Jamie Moyer. Moyer had his ups and downs without question but when the Phillies needed him the most he was flat out clutch. Both last Sunday and last night Moyer was tremendous, schooling hitters with tremendous location and different speeds. I don't know why Moyer doesn't get the credit he deserves. How many wins did people expect from a 44 year old guy? He exceeded my expectations. More importantly, Moyer is a class act who takes pride in what he does. When is the last time you saw a pitcher run full speed on routine grounders? At 44 years old, Moyer does that. He is the most fundamentally sound player on this team bar none.
I don't understand why people love Meltdown Myers so much. Sure, the guy has great physical tools. But, what good are physical tools when you have the mental/emotional make-up of a 12 year old child? He is flat out horrible in non-save situations and melts down when things don't go his way. The guy may end up being a fine closer but I am sick and tired of hearing about how dominant he is. He is still as mentally weak as he was 3 years ago.
Pat Burrell decided to play the second half of the season. He had a fine second half of the season. But, why do people give him a pass for April, May, and June? How about the fact that he can't cover any ground in the outfield (See last night's flailing attempt at Matsui's fly ball)? How about the fact that he walked 114 times but can't run the bases well enough (i.e. steal bases)to make any of those walks mean anything?
It was great that this team made the playoffs. They showed a tremendous amount of heart throughout the course of the season particularly when they suffered what seemed like overwhelming injuries. Now, this front office needs to focus on next year. The bullpen needs to be gutted and the starting rotation fortified. I keep reading about how the pitching market is so bare. Well, if the Phillies are serious about winning a championship they need to make whatever trade it takes to get better pitching. If they have to trade Ryan Howard to get quality pitching, then that is what they should do.
All in all it was a great season and I was thrilled that the team made the playoffs. Hopefully, they can build on this and improve so that it won't be another 14 years before this franchise reaches the playoffs again.
Huge success!!!
To take a team threatening to be a 90+ game winner in March and see them go through horrible injuries, unknowingly bad aquisitions (garcia) and lots of mid-season changes and then to see them make the playoffs with 89 wins for the first time in 14 years is outstanding! They didn't play like a playoff team this week, but nonetheless, they made it against all odds. That, to anyone but the stupid yankees fans, is a huge success.
Charlie did a phenomonal job with what he had. Why would you fire a winning manager (unless you were the selfish yankees club...)?? I hope he's back for 2 more. We may have to deal with Rowand walking... but with Burrell, Victorino, Bourn, and maybe Werth we can field a young talented outfield with room for one more aquisition. 3B would be nice to be upgraded. Let Helms walk and pay lots and lots of money to get someone like Zimmerman over here. Lose Barajas and have Ruiz/Coste as cathers. Use Iguchi and Dobbs as trade chips to upgrade the roster.
The rotation should be Hamels, Kendrick, Moyer, Lohse (does he have another year?) with an empty spot. Eaton should be sent to the pen regardless of how much money he makes. Lets add someone new or a recovering vet like Mathieson or Madson to the rotation. Or maybe Happ. Perhaps someone like Javier Vazquez, Randy Wolf, or Dontrelle Willis. Then the bullpen with Geary, Condrey, Romero (hopefully), and Myers needs to be otherwise purged. Sorry Gordon, you're too old and streaky! Bring back Zagurski, Durbin or Matt Smith and hope they've developed to where they need to be!
But anyway, excellent exciting season and I can't wait until next year when we will no doubt be contenders again!
First-time poster, but I've been following your blog all season Scott and it's been a great way to keep up on the Phils! (Sorry for the length of the post, but my mind just started flowing once I got going.)
I feel the season was a huge success. Heading into the season, we were called "the team to beat" by J-Roll due to the supposed starting pitching surplus we had on top of our fantastic offense. After the Garcia and Lieber injuries, and Adam Eaton's ability to just throw batting practice in real game situations, it's amazing the year we had. The emergence of Kyle Kendrick seemingly out of nowhere was huge and without him, we may have been stuck with J.D. Durbin or worse in the rotation for the full season. And just think where we wouldn't have been if the Red Sox decided not to designate for assignment J.C. Romero. Last night aside, he was just what the bullpen needed after trotting out the likes of Matt Smith, Fabio Castro, and Mike Zagurski as "left-handed specialists" for most of the first half of the season.
Our offense was incredible all season long minus the playoff performances. The emergences of Greg Dobbs and Jayson Werth were big on top of Aaron Rowand's career year, Jimmy Rollins' MVP season, Chase Utley's all-around fantastic performance, and Ryan Howard's power.
Next season, our offense will again be the strength of the team. I'm highly skeptical Aaron Rowand will return, and I feel Victorino is more than capable of taking over in CF. With Shane's move to center, I feel a platoon of Werth and Dobbs (who apparently can play all four corners of the field) in RF could more than hold than fort, with Michael Bourn coming off the bench for defense and speed. I think we seriously need to look into signing Mike Lowell, because he would be the perfect fit for this ballpark.
Pitching-wise, our bullpen needs a transformation to say the least. I'm fine with leaving Myers in the pen, he will only get better as closer. I'd love to see Romero return as well. A healthy Ryan Madson joining Geoff Geary would fill four of the seven spots in the pen. The emergence of either Scott Matheison or Joe Bisenius or both would help big time for the pen as well. I believe Tom Gordon is signed for one more year, and if he can be moved, I would look into that. For the eighth inning, I would look into signing Scott Linebrink or LaTroy Hawkins to fill the role (I'm sure Hawkins would come cheaper).
Starting rotation wise, I can't see Kyle Lohse returning even though he pitched solid for us down the stretch. Keep in mind, Scott Boras is his agent. One free agent I feel would be a solid yet unspectacular pick-up would be Livan Hernandez. Yes, I know he's getting up there in age, but he knows how to pitch and has always been an innings eater. A rotation of Hamels, Hernandez, Kendrick, Moyer, Eaton/J.A. Happ/Carlos Carrasco, would be fine as long as the bullpen is vastly improved.
My 25 man roster would look as followed:
SS- Jimmy Rollins
2B- Chase Utley
3B- Mike Lowell
1B- Ryan Howard
LF- Pat Burrell
CF- Shane Victorino
RF- Jayson Werth
C- Carlos Ruiz
Bench: Greg Dobbs, Michael Bourn, Wes Helms, Abraham Nunez, Chris Coste
Rotation: Cole Hamels, Livan Hernandez, Kyle Kendrick, Jamie Moyer, Adam Eaton
Bullpen: Brett Myers, LaTroy Hawkins, J.C. Romero, Ryan Madson, Geoff Geary, Joe Bisenius, Clay Condrey
Excellent post Jeff. Agree with almost every single thing.
Everyone: I was going to write another post tonight, but I'd rather just keep this discussion going. Your comments, as they've been all season, are smart and insightful. Thanks so much for that, and please, keep it coming.
Matt In Philadelphia: Great to have you back. We missed you around here. You're right about Moyer pitching well in his final two starts. And, yes, if you told the Phillies in spring training that he'd win 14 games, they'd have signed up for that. But he wasn't particularly good down the stretch (5.99 ERA in his last 16 starts). They can't go into next year relying on him to be anything more than a No. 4 starter. But he proved last Sunday and last night that he can be a heck of a good No. 4 starter.
Agree with you about Pat Burrell, too. Should they look into trading him? His value may be higher than ever, considering he's owed only $14 million and is coming off a strong second half. Problem is, he still has a no-trade clause and would have to OK any deal.
Andrew: Answers to a few of your questions -- Lohse and Iguchi are free agents. (So are Rowand, Romero, Garcia, Lieber, Mesa, Alfonseca and possibly Nunez and Barajas, who have team options). Getting Ryan Zimmerman is extremely wishful thinking. He won't be a free agent for at least five more years, and the Nationals won't trade him in a million.
Jeff: Thanks for the kind words, and it's nice to have you aboard. From what I've heard, Mike Lowell may be a possibility, and I think he'd be a strong addition to the lineup. Not sure they have any interest in Livan Hernandez. But, clearly, they need a starter. I'll post the free-agent list later this week, and as you'll see, there isn't much there. Their best bet may be making a deal.
Scott,
I think Gillick would love to trade Burrell. I think if they can get anything of value for him they should. There's no point in having a power hitter with a lead-off hitter's mentality who can't run or field.
One other comment I want to add. I know I am in the minority of people that feels the Phillies should let Aaron Rowand get his $10-$12 million per season (for 4-5 seasons) somewhere else. But, since there were tons of article on Rowand this morning in various papers, I want to share my reasoning. In 7 MLB seasons, this season is only the second time Rowand hit more than 15 home runs. It was also the first time he has had more than 69 RBI in a season. Athletes find a way of producing big numbers when they are up for a contract. Rowand will go on to produce 14 HR and 65 RBI in 2008 for whatever team chooses to sign him. If the Phillies manage to trade Burrell (of which I'd put the chances at 10%), then they can sign a CF who would accept less years and less money(Mike Cameron) and then play Bourn/Werth in right and Vic in left or center. I believe this team needs to go out and spend (overspend) on the little quality pitching available.
Matt in Philly: I'm glad you brought up Rowand. I wrote about this in today's paper, and I'm going to do a post on this within the next few days.
I agree with you that Rowand had a career year. Certainly, based on his past, there's no reason to assume he's going to hit .309 with 45 doubles, 27 homers and 89 RBIs ever again. Then again, he's only 30, and perhaps he's entering his prime years.
Regardless, the Phillies would miss Rowand's leadership. As someone who's in the clubhouse every day, trust me when I say that his personality and his team-oriented attitude rub off on everyone around him. I had a lot of players tell me Saturday night that team chemistry was a big reason for the Phillies' success this year, and Rowand is the master chemist.
Rowand, his wife and his kids like it here. He isn't selling his house in Delaware County. Just a hunch, but I think he'll accept less than the $10 million per year that Eric Byrnes got from Arizona as long as the Phillies give him four years. I think the length of the contract is more important to Rowand than the average annual value. If the Phillies offer four years and $32 million, I think Rowand would take it.
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