Our First Place Phils
Time for a look at our first place Phils.
It took a few months, but the Phillies are back on top. And there’s reason to believe it will be permanent stay.
There’s the obvious. Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt. Halladay hasn’t been quite as sharp recently, but Hamels appears to have found his changeup (which wasn’t as good earlier in the season), and Oswalt has been everything we could have hoped for and more. Both Oswalt and Hamels have great stuff, even at this late stage of the season, and neither is hittable when they’re hitting their spots (Hamels still has no idea how to locate his fastball on the outside corner to righties, or inside corner to lefties, and Oswalt hangs his changeup from time to time). The bottom line, no other playoff contender in the NL can match the Phils’ top three. We won’t talk about the fourth and fifth spots in the rotation. Let’s pretend they don’t exist, we’ll all be happier for it. Agreed? Agreed.
We’re finally healthy……strike that, Rollins just pulled his hammy, what the hell? But Howard is finally back (we won’t count that right after he came off the DL stretch when we all cringed at every mighty swing and miss). Lidge is experiencing elbow soreness, which I believe actually counts as a positive in the health department. It would just be terrible if Lidge missed some time…….just terrible. And Utley appears completely healthy as well.
Beyond the obvious, there are several other signs the Phils are finally hitting their stride. Moving Rollins out of the leadoff spot was long overdue, and here’s hoping Victorino can stay hot in that role. Consistent production from the leadoff hole is imperative for this offense to function at its highest level. Victorino on first with Polanco at the plate is a nightmare for opposing teams, a nightmare. And that sets up Utley and the possibly getting very hot Howard.
-Quick tangent on Utley. Utley has made a somewhat dramatic shift in his hitting approach since he came off the DL, almost reverting back to his approach when he first came up as a rookie, and I for one am ecstatic about it. Having taught hitting from time to time in my life, it’s hard to avoid getting too technical about this stuff, so we’ll keep it simple. Utley quit using the opposite field over the past few years, and while it probably helped his power numbers, it’s likely that it hurt his overall effectiveness as a hitter (way too many outside corner fastballs pulled to the second basemen, which happens to be the problem Rollins, Victorino and Ibanez have when they struggle). Anyway, Utley is hitting the ball hard to all fields for literally the first time in years, and it’s possible that it’s a sign that he’s about to get very very hot. End of tangent-.
Werth isn’t quite right, and neither is Ibanez (who was very right there for a while, but he’s back to dropping his hands, letting his front side fly out a little and too much uppercut and thus too much topspin, which was his problem for almost a year before breaking out recently). Ruiz isn’t quite as hot recently, and like Werth could probably break out again at any moment.
As important as any of the recent offensive improvements, is the return of Madson (who had been impersonated by some bizzaro Madson for much too long). He’s made a noticeable change in his approach and delivery. His velocity is about the same, but he has that late life back that had been missing for the entire year (and a good part of last year). His changeup is phenomenal right now, just phenomenal, and he’s throwing a 90mph cutter/slider that could be deadly if he can consistently control it. Lastly, he’s locating his pitches, which is a nice change from the, I have no idea where the ball is going phase he was in. I don’t know if the change in his delivery was purposeful (likely) or simply a natural progression, and I don’t much care. I just know that we have a dominant pitcher at the back end of the bullpen, and I don’t think we were winning another pennant without one.
There are obviously still a few question marks on the pitching side of things once you get past the big three and Madson, but I prefer to think that if I don’t talk about them then they don’t exist. Twenty-one games remaining, should be fun.
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