LINEUP

• Ryan Howard: His contract extension seemed…unnecessary.  The thing about it is, as long as it doesn’t inhibit the Phillies from putting together a contending team for the life of the deal, I don’t really care how much they pay him.  It’s not my money.  I don’t think they would have spent that much on him if they thought it would hamstring their ability to compete long term.  Ruben Amaro cares too much about his job for that.  It’s important to remember two things about Howard.  First, in the post-steroid era pure power hitters are going to be harder and harder to find, and in CBP power is important.  Second, Howard is easily the most marketable player on the Phillies roster, and whether or not Howard maintains his home run stroke into his late 30’s is probably less important to the Phillies than his value to the marketing department.  That doesn’t necessarily do anything for us as fans, but that’s the way it is.  Whatever.  It’s hittin’ time for Mr. September.
• Chase Utley: He’s been swinging like his thumb still hurts.  It bums me out.  He’s still dreamy though.  Hopefully he will find his groove this month too.  His stats for 2010 depress me.  Jayson Werth did not sleep with his wife.  I promise you.
• Jimmy Rollins: I love Jimmy Rollins and I hate to say this, but I think this should be the last year for him as a leadoff hitter.  I might even be in favor of it this year if I felt like there were better options (maybe Polly?).  I think the Phillies should just let him be what he is at this point- at top-notch defensive shortstop who could provide a little offense at the bottom of the lineup.  They should also see if they can sign him to a contract extension, because there is almost nothing ready at shortstop in the farm system any time soon.
• Placido Polanco: He has been terrific offensively and defensively this season.  Ruben Amaro should be commended for this signing.  I’m not sure I’ll feel the same way about it in 2012.
• Jayson Werth: I have changed my mind on Werth so many times during his time as a Phillie and I believe I’ve settled on complete indifference.  He’s a talented player who does good things and is also alarmingly dumb at times.  If another team overpays him and he leaves after the season, that’s fine.  If he can work something out with the Phillies that’s fine too.
• Shane Victorino: I’m not really sure why we had to lock him into the 3 year extension over the offseason.  He plays a good centerfield, but he hasn’t hit a whole lot this year.  He feels like an expendable player at this point.  You know, except for the whole three year contract thing.
• Raul Ibanez: He didn’t hit at all early in the season.  Now he’s hitting.  He’s streaky.  He’s also old and we’re stuck with him.  Whatever.
• Carlos Ruiz: He finally figured out that he was allowed to hit before the playoffs.  In doing so, he might be the most popular player in Philadelphia right now.  Good for Chooch.  He’s adorable.  I also wish I could understand anything at all that comes out of his mouth.

BENCH

• Brian Schneider: I’ve almost forgiven him for thos Toyota of Manhattan commercials.
• Wilson Valdez: He had a nice run filling in for Jimmy and Chase.  I don’t know, there’s still to much stink of Mets on him for my taste.
• Domonic Brown: I don’t know why they called him up either.  Nice hose, though.
• Ross Gload: A solid, prefessional hitter who did a nice job while Howard was hurt.  Hopefully he gets over his groin injury, because he’ll be the most important lefty bench bat in the playoffs.
• Mike Sweeney: Hugs not drugs, kids.
• Ben Francisco: Oh, yeah.  Him.

Rotation

• Roy Halladay: He’s good.  Really good.  Probably would win the Cy Young, but his wins total is low due to lack of run support.  
• Cole Hamels: Hamels is enjoying a bounce back season after a poor showing in 2009.  He appears to have a little more velocity on his fastball, which makes his change up more effective.  ”Smart” Phillies fans love to defend Cole because “dumb” Phillies fans think he’s a pussy.  Me?  I kinda think he’s a pussy.
• Roy Oswalt: The mea culpa for the Cliff Lee disaster.  Yes, disaster.  Roy appears to be rejuvenated in Philly, though maybe he pitched the same way in Houston.  I don’t know, do you watch the Astros?  Neither do I.  If he wins the World Series with the Phillies, I’m absolutely hunting Mouflon Sheep at his ranch.  I don’t miss Jay Happ.
• Joe Blanton: Like Victorino, he was needlessly signed to a three year contract this winter.  He has been hurt and ineffective and I’ve been saying terrible things about him behind his back.  He has been pitching much better of late, however, and I expect a nice September from Big Joe.    
• Kyle Kendrick: I hate his stupid face.

Bullpen

• Brad Lidge: I don’t know if I’m quite ready to declare him “lights out” again, but he has been quite good of late.  It doesn’t keep my heart from skipping a beat or two during every inning he pitches, but he seems to get the job done.
• Ryan Madson: Kicked a chair.  He seems okay now.  Water under the bridge.
• JC Romero: Can’t seem to find the strike zone for the life of him.  The only reason he’s on the team is because he’s left-handed.  Oh, and that contract.
• Jose Contreras: He’s been up and down this season, but he’s mostly won me over.  I talked a lot of crap about his signing this winter, but it looks like a solid deal.
• Chad Durbin: He has been mostly effective and Charlie seems to trust him so I trust him too.
• Dany Baez: Good news, Phillies fans!  He’s signed for next year, too!  Thanks Ruben!  (I still refuse to spell his name with an “s”.)
• David Herndon: He hasn’t been bad for a rule 5 pick that the Phils had to carry all season.  He could be an effective reliever in time.

• CLIFF LEE: WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT CLIFF LEE STOP TALKING ABOUT CLIFF LEE OMG GET OVER CLIFF LEE ALREADY!!!!!  Because F you, that’s why.

• The Phillies started sort of an odd lineup, with Ross Gload and Greg Dobbs in the first two spots and 3rd string shortstop Wilson Valdez hitting 7th.  The lineup paid immediate dividends, however, as Gload singled to lead off the game and Dobbs followed with a two run homer.  If Charlie can keep finding ways to get his bench guys regular at bats, we should see it pay off later in the season both in terms of rested regulars and clutch pinch hits.
• Kyle Kendrick didn’t look particularly sharp in the first 4 innings even though he didn’t give up a run, and then of course it all came crashing down in the 5th.  He got squeezed a few times by the plate umpire, but that didn’t change the fact that he wasn’t challenging hitters and missed a lot of his spots.
• Yesterday’s game aside, the Phillies haven’t been hitting a lot of home runs lately.  However, they are doing a much better job of manufacturing runs this year than in recent seasons past.  They put together some run-scoring innings in the 5th and 6th innings, with Chooch coming up with good at bats in both frames.  It seems like he’s been in the middle of a lot of the good things that have happened offensively for the Phillies this year.
• I don’t have even a little bit of confidence in Dany Baez.  He is often all over the place, and his fastball, though fairly hard, is straight as can be.  He wiggled his was out of trouble in the 6th inning, and then Charlie inexplicably sent him out there to start the 7th.  He promptly gave up the tying run.  I’m so glad we gave Baez a 2 year contract.
• David Herndon, like Kendrick, was the victim of some tough calls from the plate umpire that changed his outing a little bit.  However, if he’s leaving his pitches up in the zone like he was today, he isn’t going to have success no matter what kind of strike zone he is getting.
• The Phillies head to San Francisco tomorrow to begin a 3 game series with the Giants.  Roy Halladay pitches the first game, which hopefully means we won’t have to see very much of our bullpen.

• The key to Moyer’s success was the same tonight as it always is when he is successful.  He was keeping the ball down and getting calls just off the plate.  When the umpire is cooperating, he doesn’t have to throw his 80 mph slop over the middle of the plate for hitters to crush.  He can keep the ball off the barrel of the bat and let his defense work for him.  That’s exactly what happened tonight.
• The game changed in the top of the 3rd inning with the bases loaded, one out and the Phillies up 2-0.  Raul Ibanez grounded into what should have been a sure double play to end the inning, but Martin Prado sailed the throw to second and the Phils scored 2 runs on the play.  They tacked on another unearned run later in the inning to take a comfortable 5-0 lead.
• In case you were wondering: No, I have no intention of mentioning Chase’s 2 errors tonight.
• Chad Durbin did a nice job in the 7th inning pitching with very little in the way of command.  That’s why he’s a pitcher I trust this year.  He loaded the bases, but with a 6 run lead he didn’t panic, made his pitches, and got out of the inning allowing just the one run.
• Now that we’re 15 games into the season, I feel like it’s safe to feel good about the improved approaches at the plate of all of the Phillies hitters this year.  Chooch, especially, looks like a different hitter up there.  The success he had at the end of last season appears to have carried over.
• The Phillies now move on to Arizona for a 3 game series with the Diamondbacks this weekend.  Cole Hamels looks to continue the momentum from his solid start last time out against the Marlins.

• The story of the game (non-Halladay edition) was the stellar defense the Phillies played tonight.  Shane started it off with a home run robbing grab of a Troy Glaus drive to center in the 2nd inning.  Juan Castro made a great play on a ball up the middle in the 5th and Ryan Howard made an uncomfortably awesome stretch at first to complete the play.  In the 7th, with the bases loaded (the one time Halladay was seriously challenged) and 1 out, Yunel Escobar hit a hard smash up that middle that Chase Utley was able to corral and flip to Castro to start the inning ending double play.  And last but not least, Ryan Howard made a nice diving grab and flip to Halladay covering first to begin the 9th inning.  Some fine work all around for our heroes.
• I don’t feel similarly about the bullpen (getting the night off tonight), but I’m not worried about the offense at all.  Sure, they’ve only scored 6 runs in their last 4 games, but this is kind of how it goes with this team.  We’ve seen it for a few years now.  They are getting guys in scoring position, they just aren’t coming up with the timely hits to drive them in.  It might be nice to see them run a little bit more and try to make something happen on the bases, but there really haven’t been a ton of opportunities that made sense to do so.
• Placido Polanco left the game after the 6th inning.  He got hit by a Tim Hudson pitch in the first.  Preliminary reports are that it’s just a bruise and he’ll be alright after a day or two.  Let’s hope so.  That’d be a tough loss for a team that is already pretty banged up.
• I don’t know if I’m late to the party on this or early, but Sam Perlozzo isn’t a good 3rd base coach.
• Roy Halladay: Stopper.  That is all.

• Hamels, obviously, looked terrific.  He was aggressive with his pitches and not afraid of contact, which helped keep his pitch count down.  His secondary stuff may still be a work in progress (though he threw a nice curveball to strike out Hanley Ramirez in the 1st inning), but when his fastball/changeup combo is working like it was today good things are going to happen for him.  He made some mistakes today, but I liked the fact that he did not allow those mistakes to compound on him and cause real problems.  If anything he seemed to bear down after making a mistake (after Uggla’s home run and Robertson’s double, for example).
• The Phillies didn’t have a whole lot of opportunities to score, and when they did they weren’t able to take advantage of them.  They caught a bad break in the 4th inning when Ben Francisco’s double hopped over the center field fence (if it stays in play, Jayson Werth scores), but they weren’t able to do anything with the resulting 2nd and 3rd, no out situation.  Juan Castro struck out, and then Werth was unable to score on a looping liner to center even though Cameron Maybin made a terrible throw that went all the way to the backstop.  It was a tough read for Werth and he looked worse because of the bad throw, but with 2 outs and the pitcher coming to the plate he probably should have tried to score there.
• Carlos Ruiz had a big single to lead off the 7th inning, considering Hamels was following him and with only 84 pitches at the time was probably going to stay in the game no matter what.  Hamels bunted him over to 2nd, but the Phillies were unable to score him.  Shane Victorino reached on a throwing error that did not advance the runner, Polanco popped out, and Chase Utley flew out to right to retire the side.
• Juan Castro has been fine at short and at the plate, but I think the Phillies miss Jimmy Rollins.  When he is hitting like he was before he got hurt, he really is the guy that makes this team go.
• The Phillies have a day off tomorrow, then head to Atlanta for a 3 game series before heading out west.  Kyle Kendrick pitches Tuesday, and with JA Happ hurting and probably going to miss his next start, Joe Blanton can’t get back soon enough.  At least Roy Halladay still pitches every 5 days.

• Kyle Kendrick was bad.  Like, shouldn’t-get-another-start-though-he-probably-will bad.  He doesn’t appear to trust his stuff and is afraid to challenge hitters, even after he got a ground ball in the inning to erase the leadoff man he hit, and after the Phillies scored 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning to erase the 3 run deficit he caused.  He’ll need to improve dramatically if he has any ideas about staying in the big leagues after Joe Blanton returns.
• I kind of like Nelson Figueroa.  He barely has major league stuff, but he challenges hitters and isn’t afraid to pitch to contact.  Also, he can swing the bat a little bit, going 2 for 2 tonight.  Who knew?
• Carlos Ruiz had a terrific 11 pitch at bat in the bottom of the 5th, fouling off a bunch of pitches and drawing a walk.  He set the table for Victorino’s 2-run homer that gave the Phillies the lead for good.
• It’s safe to say that Victorino will be spending some time in the leadoff spot while Jimmy Rollins is on the DL and I don’t see any way this doesn’t work out great for him.  He certainly busted out of his slump today, and batting in front of Polanco, Utley, and Howard means that he should see a ton of pitches to hit.
• Speaking of Polanco, he is hitting everything in sight right now (batting .486) and his defense at 3rd has been at least solid, if not very good.  The contract may prove to be a year too long when all is said and done, but for 2010 Polanco turned out to be exactly what the Phillies needed.
• I don’t know what else there is to say about Chase Utley at this point, but I want to keep talking about him.  So…MVP?
• Chad Durbin had 2 really good innings of relief work after the Phillies took the lead in the bottom of the 5th.  Please don’t go back into my archives to read what I wrote about him last season, because I could not be higher on him this year.  With so many potential question marks in the bullpen, Durbin could end up being an unsung hero for the Phillies in 2010.
• Philadelphia goes for the sweep tomorrow afternoon.  JA Happ takes the mound against Scott Olsen, who hasn’t pitched in a year due to arm troubles.  Should be interesting.

• Juan Castro started the game in place of Jimmy Rollins, who was a late scratch due to a strained calf.  Castro went 1 for 4 with a big RBI double in the 5th that sparked the Phillies rally.
• The results weren’t a whole lot better for Cole Hamels than his last outing against Washington, but I thought there was a lot to be encouraged about for Hamels after watching him today.  He was spotting his fastball really well for the most part and using the changeup as an out pitch.  When he is able to do that, you know things are going well for Cole.  Another key for him is his ability to limit damage when he makes mistakes and avoid the big inning.  He did a good job of this in the 2nd inning after allowing a solo homer to Josh Willingham, retiring the next 3 hitters in a row and looking pretty good doing it.  He didn’t do as well with it in the 4th after finding himself with runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out (3 runs scored in the inning), but it very well might be a work in progress early on for Cole this season.  Still, there is enough to feel good about after today.
• Ryan Howard had a great at bat in the 4th inning with runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out.  He worked the count full and then went with a pitch the other way through the shortstop hole vacated by the shift.  I’m pretty sure that every time Ryan Howard beats the shift an angel gets it’s wings.
• I think sometimes we (or just I) take for granted how quick Chase Utley’s hands are.  On the 2 run homer he hit in the 5th inning that ended the day for Nats starter Jason Marquis, the pitch was so far inside that I’m not sure how many major league hitters could keep that ball fair.  But Chase just used the same short, quick stroke we always see from him and kept the ball just inside the right field foul poll for the home run.
• Jose Contreras and Dany Baez each pitched scoreless innings of relief, but I am much closer to trusting Contreras than I am Baez.  At least I know what makes Contreras successful- a nasty splitter complimented by a fastball that he can still dial up into the mid-90’s if he has to.  Baez, from what I can tell so far, throws a hard, straight fastball that may or may not be anywhere near the strike zone.  He still isn’t close to earning his “s” from me.
• The Phillies have a day off tomorrow before playing Washington again on Wednesday.  Kyle Kendrick looks to improve on a mostly terrible first outing of the season against Craig Stammen.

• I continue to enjoy the good start that Jimmy Rollins is off to.  He may not do the prototypical leadoff hitter things that we all want him to do, but when he is hitting he is one of may favorite guys to watch.  It’s more fun when there is something behind that swagger.
• Roy Oswalt pitched really well today for Houston and his curveball was just nasty, but that the Phillies were able to force his exit after 6 innings and 114 pitches underscores a better overall approach to at bats so far this season from the entire lineup.  The guys are working counts and doing a better job of situational hitting than they did last season, and if that approach continues the Phillies could win 100 games this year if they get any pitching at all from guys not named Roy.
• All you need to know about Roy Halladay is this: In the 6th inning, he allowed a single, and bunt single, and an error on a bunt that loaded the bases.  He then induced a double play grounder and got Carlos Lee to pop out to end the inning.  In the 7th he allowed back to back singles to start the inning, and a sac bunt left runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.  The next hitter grounded out to the pitcher, and JR Towles struck out.  Side retired.  I don’t even think Halladay broke a sweat.  I know I didn’t.
• The Phillies return to Philadelphia tomorrow for the home opener against the Washington Nationals.  Cole Hamels takes the hill and looks to improve on a subpar first outing in Washington.

• Jamie Moyer gave up 5 runs with 2 outs in the 3rd inning, but other than that he looked surprisingly good.  The thing about Jamie Moyer is that we always know what we’re going to get.  He was successful today against a fairly young and scuffling Astros lineup filled with exactly the type of hitters he can exploit.  However, if he starts missing his spots or hitters take a good approach to him, he gets pounded.  That was what happened in that 3rd inning.  He was able to make a nice adjustment after that though, and did well to stay in the game for 6 innings.
• Placido Polanco looks like a fantastic addition so far for the Phillies.  With Rollins off to a hot start, Polanco is the perfect 2 hole hitter for this lineup.  He takes pitches, puts balls in play, and never wastes and at bat.
• The Astros played Pedro Feliz at 1st base today, which seemed odd considering most of his value is in his defense at 3rd.  I don’t know much about this Chris Johnson kid, but why sign Feliz if you want to play him at first?
• Ryan Howard put together a great at bat in the top of the 3rd with the bases loaded, coming back from an 0-2 count to draw an RBI base on balls.  Werth followed with a double that scored two.
• Chad Durbin had a nice shutdown inning after the Phillies took the lead in the 7th.  Dany Baez also looked pretty good in the 8th.  He may earn his “s” yet.  If JC Romero can come back healthy, and Baez/Durbin/Romero can serve as a decent bridge to Ryan Madson in the 9th, it may not matter that Brad Lidge looked terrible in his rehab outing today.
• It should be a great game tomorrow afternoon as the Phillies go for the sweep in Houston.  Roy Halladay takes on Roy Oswalt in what I am guessing is a matchup of planet earth’s two best pitchers named Roy.

• After 4 walks in the first 2 games of the season, Jimmy Rollins lead off the game by swinging at the first pitch.  I almost enjoyed that.  Disciplined Jimmy was blowing my mind a little bit.  He’s still hitting the ball hard though, which is a big deal.
• Kyle Kendrick did not look good today.  He was probably fortunate to leave having only allowed the 5 runs that he did.  There were a lot of hard hit balls that found leather instead of grass.  I want Joe Blanton back.
• Ryan Howard is off to a fine start to the season, but I would like to see him slap the ball up the 3rd base line a few times against the ridiculous overshift that teams play against him.  I get why he doesn’t do it with men on base or in important situations, but maybe if he did it a few times with nobody on base and got a few cheap hits teams would think twice about playing him like that.  Probably not, but I’d still like to see him try.
• Speaking of Howard, he was thrown out at home in the 5th inning on a Jayson Werth double that he had no chance of scoring on.  It appeared that 3rd base coach Sam Perlozzo was waving him home and threw up a late stop sign…which you can’t do to a big man like Ryan Howard.  The mistake cost the Phillies the chance to tie the game.
• I had no idea Nelson Figueroa was on the team.  I knew he was claimed off waivers, but I just figured (or was hoping) he was going to toil as an Iron Pig.  He didn’t pitch terribly today; he had a bad break on the Ryan Zimmerman bloop RBI that scored the go-ahead run for Washington.  It looked like Figueroa had him struck out on the 1-2 that came before it.  Anyway, Figs (as I like to call him) has almost nothing in the way of stuff and he has a hateable face, but he battled out there today.
• I respect the hell out of Nyjer Morgan.  I’m not saying I would trade him straight up for Shane Victorino (they do a lot of the same things, actually), but I would blink before I said no.  I think.
• The Phillies now move on to Houston to play a 3 game series with the Astros.  It doesn’t look like we’ll get to see our old friend Brett Myers pitch, which bums me out a little bit.  We could use him right now, but whatever.