Distractions Not Distracting the Phillies

It was the most anticipated start for the Phillies since Cliff Lee made his debut against the Giants on July 31st. It was the first time since Steve Carlton that a pitcher with at least 3 Cy Coung Award wins started for the Phillies. And it was a long, but much needed win for the struggling Phils offense and for all the distractions that have been surrounding the Phillies lately. Despite Shane Victorino’s 350 ft. centerfield ejection, Moyer’s unhappy remarks, Pedro’s anticipation, Howard’s struggles, Ibanez’s struggles, and an unruly Cubs fan tossing beer, the Phillies were able to take the first two games from the Cubs in the 3-game set.

During the bottom of the fifth inning with one out and the bases juiced in last night’s ballgame, Cubs’ Jake Fox hit a long fly ball to the edge of the warning track to centerfield. Victorino drifted back, with his hand out protecting himself from the wall when a Cubs fan threw an entire cup of beer on Victorino as soon as he caught the ball. Luckily, the beer didn’t avoid Victorino from catching the ball or hurting himself, because even if he did drop the ball, Fox would have been out anyway for fan interference. Who knows what prompted this fan to do something so wrong and unsportsmanlike? Maybe it was because his Cubs were down 10 runs at that point in time, or he was bored out of his mind, or because of what happened with Victorino in last Sunday’s ballgame.

It was a hot and humid day on August 9th when the Phillies played the Marlins to avoid a three-game sweep. It was the top of the seventh inning, and bad blood had already been created between the Phillies and the home plate umpire over a pitch delivered to Ryan Howard earlier in the game. With no outs and Wes Helms at the plate for the Marlins, Rodrigo Lopez fired in a pitch, and the ump called it a ball. Victorino who was standing approximately 350 feet away from the umpire at home plate out in centerfield, was ejected for throwing his hands in the air in disgust over the umps call. Victorino immediately started to sprint into the infield to discuss this with the home plate umpire. Fortunately, he was restrained by teammates Paul Bako and Howard so he wouldn’t get a suspension to add onto his ejection.

Ever since the Phillies signed Pedro Martinez to a one year, one million dollar deal, the Phillies had some decisions to make about their bullpen and starting rotation. Who would have to go to the bullpen to make room for the three-time Cy Young Award winner? Is a six-man rotation possible? These questions were answered when the Phillies announced that they would move the struggling Jamie Moyer to the bullpen. Moyer, a hometown hero with 250+ career wins, talked Tuesday about the decision the Phillies made and how he felt about it. “I’m really not happy with the decision the Phillies made,” Moyer boldly stated. He also continued to say that last winter, Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. “promised” him that if the Phillies re-signed him, he would remain a starter. Unfortunately, I believe that Amaro made these circumstances assuming that Moyer wouldn’t have a lucky 10-9 record, and a colossal 5.47 earned run average. Moyer also stated that though he is unhappy with the final decision to demote him to the bullpen, it is something that he is going to have to deal with, and he will. Now the only question left is, how exactly will Moyer be used in the pen? Charlie will have to answer that one for you.

Last night’s 12-5 win against the Cubs was great to see (as always), especially because of the way the Phillies offense has been underperforming as of late. One main reason is due to the lack of power and consistency of two of the Phillies biggest sluggers, Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez. Ibanez is hitting a miserable .214, while Howard is hitting just a few points higher at .217 in the last 14 days. They have a combined one homerun and 30 strikeouts. That’s not exactly getting the power production we hope for here in Philadelphia. Hopefully Howard’s triple and Ibanez’s three run blast last night are a sign of good things to come for the rest of the season from these two much needed sluggers in the middle of that potentially dangerous lineup.

Out of all of the distractions of late, probably the biggest one and most exciting one was Pedro Martinez’s debut in 2009 and for the Phillies. After a few rehab starts, the Phillies believed that he was ready to compete again in the majors. So, they put him up against former Notre Dame wide receiver, Jeff Samardzija. Fortunately, Samardzija, who was also making his 2009 debut as a starting pitcher, couldn’t match Pedro’s performance. The Phillies definitely came out swinging the sticks and they continued throughout the entire ballgame. Martinez complete five frames giving up seven hits and 3 earned and received his first victory since September 25th of last year against the Cubs. Though Martinez is not going to give the Phillies a solid 7-8 innings every time he starts, he proved last night that he could still compete, and contribute to this ballclub hoping to repeat what they did in 2008.

Though there have been many distractions surrounding the Phillies lately, they seem to be avoiding them when they step onto the field, and hopefully it remains that way.