Cliff Lee throws a complete game in win over Giants

In Cliff Lee's first start with the Phillies he did not dissapoint. After acquiring Lee on Thursday from the Indians for four prospects, Lee got the start Friday against the Giants. He went the distance giving up 4 hits 2 walks and 1 run. He also had a no hitter through 5.1 innings until the power of the bloop was used by Juan Uribe. I was impressed with Lee's ability to throw strikes with all of his pitches. He used his cutter/slider very effectively against the right handed lineup of the Giants, consistently getting in on their hands producing weak ground balls.

This trade gives the Phillies the upgrade they needed in their starting rotation. The Phillies lead the league in runs scored, fielding percentage, and have one of the best bullpens in the NL. With the Phillies getting a frontline starter to pair with Cole Hamels it makes them more of a complete ballclub. Ruben Amaro did a good job of not giving up the Phillies top 3 prospects (Drabek, Taylor, Brown). The Phillies gave up Marson, Donald, Carrasco, and Knapp. Knapp is the player the Indians really wanted. At just 18 years old, Knapp is 6'5" 240 pounds and can throw 98 mph. He was dominating Class A with 111 strikeouts in 85 innings while holding opponents to a .208 average.

The value for this trade was good but I think Cliff is a little overrated. I noticed that opponents were batting .278 against him including .303 against righties. Cliff Lee is a guy that carries the "Ace" label with him and I am concerned that he is a little to hittable to be the ace of the staff. The positive side of it is that he doesn't walk many hitters and keeps the ball in the yard, although he will find it harder to keep it in the ballpark at his new home. He also has that ability you look for to go deep into games keeping his pitch counts low by throwing a ton of strikes. Lastly the best part of this deal is that he is moving from the AL to the NL. He should fare well after facing the AL for his whole career. If you think about Clifford from an NL perspective, I think he can be an Ace. I expect him to be pretty damn good in the second half for the Phillies giving them a much needed boost in their rotation.

Sean McDermott named Eagles Defensive Coordinator

Today the Eagles announced that former secondary coach Sean McDermott will take over as the defensive coordinator for the ailing Jim Johnson. The great Jim Johnson, who has been dealing with cancer since the end of last season, decided to take a leave of absense giving McDermott the opportunity to take over the defense. A former safety in college, McDermott has been with the Eagles since 1998 and the secondary coach since 2003. He has worked closely with Johnson over the past several years making him the obvious choice to take over the defense. He has seen the way Jim Johnson handles the defense and the success that he has had so hopefully McDermott can carry that with him. As long as he can keep that aggresive style of play that the Eagles thrive on the defense should be alright. The 3rd overall ranked defense from last year will not have the veteran leadership of the future hall of fame safety Brian Dawkins this year either. This is one of the many challenges McDermott will face heading into his first season as defensive coordinator. It should be interesting to see the way the defense reacts to the coaching change in the upcoming year. I will take a wait and see approach before I judge this coaching change. More importantly, hopefully Jim Johnson can make a full recovery from cancer and come back strong.

Can Lou Williams play effectively at point guard?

With Andre Miller likely to be playing for another team next season its time to talk about the possibility of Lou Williams being the new starting point guard. Last year, as the sixth man, he averaged 13 points and 3 assists in 24 minutes while shooting 40% from the floor. The 22 year old guard has now played 4 seasons with the Sixers and has been groomed for this oppurtunity for awhile. He has shown flashes of brilliance at point guard but is probably more comfortable playing shooting guard. The problem is he is only 6'2" so he undersized for shooting guard, but has good size for the point. Here would be some of the positives and negatives of Lou Williams taking over at point for the Sixers.

Positives: Lightning quick and very athletic, Lou is very adept at getting to the basket and is a good finisher around the rim. He has a deadly first step and usually can get to the basket at will. He draws many fouls as well averaging 10 free throws per 48 mins and shooting 79% from the line. In the Sixers up tempo system Williams should thrive in transition with his speed. Lou also has a nice shooting touch but can be very streaky at times. Defensively he uses his speed well in the passing lanes allowing him to pick up some steals.

Negatives: Needs to change his shoot first mentality if he wants to be a full time point. Shoots a low percentage from the floor mainly because of his poor shot selection. His shot also tends to get flat at times. He could really help the team by improving his 3 point shot (29% last year). Like most young guards, needs to cut down on the turnovers. When driving to the basket he will need to do a better job of finding open teammates instead of forcing the issue. Needs to be a better on ball defender and add some bulk to his frame.

It should be interesting to see how Lou Williams adapts to point guard and if he will have a breakout year or struggle. He is very good at getting to the basket, and when his shot is on is really tough to guard. If he can find a more consistent jumper and take a more pass first approach to the game he could be a real good player. Of course if Dalembert and Brand actually made some plays down low that would also help the development of Lou.

Phillies Sign Pedro Martinez

On Wednesday the Phillies announced the signing of Pedro Martinez. He signed for 1 year at 1 million dollars and can earn up to 1.5 million in incentives. He last pitched for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic and apparently looked good enough in recent workouts to earn a contract. Pedro will start in the minors for probably 2-3 weeks and hopefully will be ready for the Phils vacant 5th starter role by that time. Personally I view this signing as low risk and decent reward. If it doesn't work out the Phils only had to pay him 1 million. Obviously we won't be seeing Pedro in his prime but he still has a good idea of how to pitch and much more experience than the Triple A call ups who were trying to fill the 5th starter role. I guess this means that the Lehigh Valley experiment will be over, but was fun while it lasted. As long as he can keep the Phils in ball games for 5 or 6 innings its worth it. In the end there was currently nobody filling the 5th starters role on this ball club, so its an upgrade in my mind. With the risk being so minimal in this situation its hard to complain with this signing. Now Amaro can get back to bidding with the Blue Jays over the prospects it will take to pry Halladay out of Toronto.

Phillies First Half Recap

48-38, 1st in NL East, +48 run differential (22-23 home) (26-15 away)

Strengths: The offense was great for the Phillies in the first half leading the NL in runs, home runs, slugging % and OPS. With Utley, Howard, Ibanez and Werth in the middle of the Phils lineup they have done some major damage. All 4 of them have atleast 20 homers and 56 rbi at the break which is quite an accomplishment. Ibanez looks to be a great signing so far and has definately been an upgrade over Pat the Glove in left field. His offense has been a pleasant suprise with his ability to use the whole field while showing plenty of power to the opposite field as well. Victorino has also stepped it up so far hitting .309 with a .839 OPS at the top of the Phillies order setting the table for the middle of the lineup. With the signing of another left handed hitter in Ibanez there were a lot of questions about whether the Phillies would be effective against left handed pitching. They have been just fine against lefties, Utley has posted a .990 OPS, Ibanez a .998 OPS and Werth a 1.092 OPS against southpaws. The Phillies have also shown their speed ranking 4th in the NL in stolen bases.

The defense has also been phenomenal all year for the Phillies ranking 1st in the NL in fielding % only committing 33 errors so far. All around the field the defense has been great including Ryan Howard who has made significant improvements. He still has problems throwing the ball accurately to second when trying to turn two but his actual fielding has been great this year. Ibanez has also been a pleasant surprise on the defensive side. He gets good jumps on the ball and has shown a strong arm in the outfield. I was under the impression he was Pat Burrell bad in the outfield but he is definately a solid defensive outfielder.

Weakness: The Phillies starting pitching has been awful this year ranking 14th in the NL with a 4.98 era. Hamels has been the biggest surprise posting 4.87 era. Moyer is showing his old age posting an era of 6. Blanton has been good after getting off to a rough start posting an era of 4.44. After Myers went down after struggling again this year the Phillies have used Antonio Bastardo, Rodrigo Lopez and now appear to be close to a deal with Pedro Martinez to fill the 5th starter role for the rest of the season. I think its worth the gamble for him to pitch for half a season with no other legitimate replacements. The pleasant surprise of the first half was J.A. Happ who has been excellent for the Phils since taking over for Chan Ho. Happ is 6-0 with a 2.90 era and hitters are only batting .226 against him. He doesn't blow you away with his pitches but he does a great job of keeping the ball down in the zone and hides the ball extremely well. As the second half of the season starts it will be interesting if the Phillies move in on Halladay. I think the asking price is somewhat absurd and think he will end up staying on the Blue Jays when its all said and done. I still can't decide whether I want the Phillies to make the trade or not. Its always a tough decision when you know you basically have to sell the farm to acquire a great pitcher.

The other glaring weakness of the first half has been Jimmy Rollins. He was killing the team by never getting on base. As I mentioned in a past post about Jimmy's struggles the Phillies have a very good record when Jimmy scores a run. The good news is Jimmy is starting to look like the Rollins of old with a .378 avg and .500 OBP in July leading the Phillies to a 9-1 homestand before the break. If he stays hot in the 2nd half the Phillies will be tough to beat.

As the second half approaches more consistency from the starting rotation would be much appreciated. I don't know if the offense can get any better than it has and don't think the rotation can get any worse than it has been. As Phillies fans know, in the past the phils have always been a slow starting team out of the gates and great in the 2nd half of the season. Even though the Phillies haven't played their best ball they are still 4 games up in the east. I expect the Phillies rotation to be better in the 2nd half leading to the NL East crown.

Chris Pronger gets multi year extension

After making a draft day trade with the Anaheim Ducks the Flyers acquired the services of hall of fame defenseman Chris Pronger. The Flyers had to pay a hefty price tag as they gave up winger Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, and 2 first round picks. Sbisa was last years first round pick so they basically gave the Ducks 3 first rounders. I wasn't a fan of the trade at first because Pronger is 35 and would have been a free agent after the upcoming season, which means there is always chance he could be a 1 year rental. The Flyers hammered out a deal for him in the last few days to give Pronger a chance to retire as a Flyer and have him man the blue line for awhile. He will also serve as a great mentor for all the young talented defensemen Philadelphia has acquired over the last few years (Coburn, Carle, Parent). Pairing all star defenseman Kimmo Timonen with Chris Pronger should serve as a great defensive pairing to try and contain some of the star players in the eastern conference, and hopefully give the Flyers the edge they need. Pronger has not shown signs of slowing down yet and we will see if it stays that way for atleast a few years. Getting this extension done makes this trade look a little better although I still think the Flyers gave up too much in the deal. If Pronger can put them over the top and bring that Stanley Cup to Philly it would definately make the trade worth it. The Flyers have always had great offenses over the last few years so upgrading the defense was a must for GM Paul Holmgren. Now that the defense has improved with the offense scoring plenty of goals, the season will largely depend on the play of newly acquired goaltender Ray Emery. The NHL version of Ron Artest needs to keep his act together and stay focused on hockey if the Flyers plan to make a run at a Stanley Cup next year.

Phillies Win by 3 Touchdowns

Before July started the Phils had a terrible record of 13-22 at home and didn't hit well at all at the bank. The Phils have finally ended most of their home struggles by sweeping the Mets and then starting off Monday with a 22-1 massacre of the Reds. It all started with a 10 run first inning off Johnny Cueto who was 4th in the NL in ERA entering the ballgame. He has now fallen out of the top 15 in that category. Shane Victorino, a candidate for the NL Final Vote, helped his cause by going 4 for 5 with a homer and 2 doubles. All starters had atleast one hit including Cole Hamels who went 2 for 4 with a 2 run double. Hamels went 7 strong innings only giving up 3 hits, hopefully he can get back on track with this start and regain his confidence. With the big lead Hamels pounded the strike zone and induced many lazy fly balls and weak grounders. The Reds bullpen was so taxed that in the bottom of the 8th they brought in backup shortstop Paul Janish to pitch. The Phils picked on him for 6 more runs including a grand slam by Jayson Werth sailing well over the right center field wall to make it 22-1.

It was great to see the offense put together a tremendous game, but the more important issue is getting Cole Hamels throwing the ball well. The key factor for the Phils during the homestand has been the starting pitching, putting together 4 straight quality starts. The offense will take care of itself, but if the starting pitching can find more consistency in the 2nd half of the season the Phils should be able to seperate themselves from the rest of the NL East.

Recap of Sixers Season, A Look Ahead to the Offseason

The Sixers season was up and down for most of the year, the beginning of the year featured the start of the Elton Brand era in Philadelphia which has been a disaster so far. In a span of about 20 games Sixers fans learned that Brand did not fit in with the up tempo system that the Sixers feature. The Sixers slowed the offense down to accommodate Brand early and we saw that he is not the same player he was before rupturing his achilles muscle. Seemed like a pretty extensive deal to give a player coming off this type of injury and who is now entering his 30's. Atleast I will get to watch Elton Brand play on one good leg for 4 more years and cash in about 60 million dollars over that span, Awesome! (Remind anyone of Chris Webber), Alright maybe not as bad as watching Webber noticeably limp up and down the floor every night for 20 million a year. We might be getting to that point soon, but for the moment I will be optimistic and hope that the shoulder injury he suffered gave him more time to rest the leg and be strong for next year.

I haven't even got to how painful it is watching Samuel Dalembert play the game. The Haitian born Canadian citizen that plays basketball in the USA has no idea what to do with a ball in his hands. Watching him try to post someone up and score is a must see event that only the greatness of Sam Dalembert can provide.

The good part of the Sixers season in my eyes was watching the development of Thaddeus Young. Young filled in very admirably at power forward and gave us a glimpse at the type of player he can be. The 21 year old thrived in the system as a power forward and is becoming a legitimate offensive threat with his ability to score in a variety of ways. Thad can post up the smaller man with great touch on his hook shot, can now hit an open jumper from anywhere on the floor, and can take the bigger man off the dribble. If he can improve his shooting off the dribble and ballhandling this guy could be special.

With that said, I move onto the Sixers offseason;

The Philadelphia 76ers offseason started out with a new coach in Eddie Jordan who was probably the best available coach for the Sixers at the time, and the unveiling of the new logo which was used during the Sixers two championship seasons.

2009 NBA Draft: The Sixers had a great draft picking up a very talented guard in Jrue Holiday who supposedly fell because of a minor shoulder injury. The Sixers needed a point guard and got a steal with the 17th pick. Sixers have acquired some good young talent in the last 3 drafts grabbing Young, Smith, Speights, and Holiday. Add those guys in with Lou Williams and Iguodala and you have a nice core of talented players under the age of 26.

Trades: The Sixers traded Reggie Evans to the Raptors for Jason Kapono. This was a great trade because one of the Sixers biggest needs was a good 3 point shooter and they got one. Even better was it only came at the expense of Reggie Evans who was still owed 10 million over the next 2 years.

Salary Cap Situation: As it stands right now the Sixers have no cap room and can only use their mid level if they choose, or re-sign Andre Miller. Samuel Dalembert (basketball IQ of a 6 year old) and Elton Brand make up 25 million dollars of the cap which has put the Sixers in a bind.

Free Agency and Potential Trades: As of right now Miller wants 3 years from the Sixers and they only want to give him 1 or 2 years which is understandable. Instead of giving up Miller for nothing I would like to see them give him a 1 year deal since there isn't anyone who is ready to take over the starting point guard position on the roster. Since the Sixers aren't going anywhere in the next two years doing a sign and trade with a contending team that has no cap room but needs a starting caliber point guard would be nice. Hopefully then the Sixers can acquire some expiring contracts and maybe some younger players. The other thing GM Ed Stefanski should try to do is trade Dalembert (please!). The Sixers shouldnt even care if they get any kind of impact player back in the deal. He has 2 years left on his deal and trading him for an expiring contract would be ideal. We can all thank good old Billy King for the worst re signing in sixers history, inking Dalembert to a 5 year 55 million extension a few years ago (WOW!). If the sixers can give miller a 1 year deal and get expiring contract for dalembert they could be players in the 2010 free agent class which is deep with big men. Lastly, I doubt Stefanski is going to trade Brand. Nobody is going to want to take on 4 more years and 60 million dollars. I also think he wont try and get rid of him because he wants to give Brand a chance to prove himself again and letting him go would admit he was wrong.

Jimmy Rollins has back to back multi hit games!

After the Phillies 7-2 victory over the Mets friday night the Phils struggling shortstop has turned in multi hit games in the last two nights raising his batting average up to a blistering .212. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for Rollins because the Phils are 29-7 when Jimmy scores a run. If the Rollins can get hot the Phils record should follow. The probelm for Jimmy this year is he is carrying a .255 OBP which is the very worst in all of baseball among hitters who can qualify. This a very significant statistic for someone that leads off on a team. A great way to start a game in Jimmy Rollins mind is to pop up the first pitch he sees. All year he has been impatient at the plate, not willing to take many pitches even though thats exactly what a leadoff hitter is suppose to be doing. This also poses a problem when you are trying to run up the pitchers count and you give them free passes. For the most part of this season it is like Rollins is getting paid by pitchers to give them easy outs. It must be nice for a pitcher to be able to throw a fastball right down the middle if he falls behind in the count to Rollins and know that he will get himself out somehow. In the end Jimmy will have his job because he plays gold glove defense and Eric Bruntlett is the worst backup shortstop of all time.

On the positive side of things Rollins has hit the ball hard in almost all of his at bats in the last 2 games and the results have shown going 4-9 in those 2 games. He has also been a little more selective at the plate which will hopefully result in him drawing some damn walks. I hope he has figured out the source of his problem so the Phillies can get back to winning games with the Jimmy Rollins we are accustomed to seeing.

On a side note, The Phillies should win atleast 7 out of these next 10 games at home which is very reasonable considering they are facing the Mets, Reds, and Pirates heading into the all star break.

State of the Phillies Farm System, Trade Deadline Approaches

Since the Phillies just don't feel like winning lately I decided to talk about how the farm system is doing. With the MLB trade deadline looming ahead and the Phils desperate need for a quality starter I decided to post the Phils top prospects in the organization, some of whom could be moved in a deadline deal. The way things set up right now, some of the teams who many thought would be out of the race right now aren't and as a result haven't become sellers in a tight market for good pitching. The pitchers the Phillies have inquired about (Penny, Cliff Lee, Marquis, Peavy, Bedard, etc.) have not gone as planned. The Sox do not want to move Penny anymore after Matsuzaka went down and Smoltz got off to a rocky start, The Indians want too much for Lee after his one year wonder, Marquis and the Rockies are playing incredibly after firing Clint Hurdle and are very much in the race, and Peavy and Bedard have been hurt. Lastly, I dont see the Blue Jays trading Halladay. The way things are right now it might be best for the Phillies to stand pat and not try to trade their prospects for a pitcher. All the crummy teams right now just don't have the pitching the phillies need down the stretch, meanwhile the farm system has looked strong this year.

With that said here is a look at my top 10 prospects list in no particular order:

At Triple A Lehigh Valley:

Jason Donald, SS, Age 24; Donald almost made the major league club out of spring training but instead the team decided it was best for him to play every day in Triple A. Many were expecting a big season from Donald being one of the top prospects, but instead has struggled mightily at the plate just hitting .230 with a .617 OPS. Red Sox want this guy in a potential trade for Penny

Lou Marson, C, Age 23; Marson also struggled out of the gates this year but after a great month of June is hitting .270 overall for the year. Marson burst onto the scene last year after hitting .315 with a .435 On base % at Double A, so he has a good eye at the plate. Marson is the catcher of the future and has a chance to take over the catching duties next year in Philadelphia.

Carlos Carrasco, SP, Age 22; Carrasco has been the top prospect in the Phils organization for the last 2 years and they are just waiting for him to figure it out. After a rocky start he has picked it up and now is posting a 4.70 era and hitters are hitting .270 against him, he also has 88 k's in 92 innings pitched. Carrasco has great stuff but sometimes is not all there mentally and once he figures out that aspect of the game he should have a steady place in the Phils rotation for a while.

Antonio Bastardo, SP, Age 24; After dominating Double A and Triple A Bastardo got the call when Brett Myers was lost for the season after hip surgery. Bastardo carried a 5.75 era through 5 starts after two good starts against the Padres and Dodgers. Bastardo has great life on his fastball which he throws in the mid 90's, but his changeup and slider need to be refined in order to be more successful in the majors.

At Double A Reading:

Michael Taylor, OF, Age 23; Taylor has completely dominated Double A this year and is now one of the Phils top prospects. The 6'6 250 pound Taylor has been putting up video game type numbers thus far hitting .350 with 15 HR's and 14 SB's. He has been the subject of trade talk if the Phils acquire a good starting pitcher at the deadline which is probably why he hasn't been promoted yet. Taylor looks to have a bright future in the majors when his time comes.

Kyle Drabek, SP, Age 21; Former 1st round pick Drabek has been dominant at Clearwater and now at Reading as well. He has recovered successfully from Tommy John Surgery and now looks to be the Phils top prospect. In 6 starts at Reading he is 5-0 with a 2.72 era. He offers a mid 90's fastball with great movement, a nasty curve, and a changeup. Drabek also looks to have a bright future in the majors and has the potential to be the Ace of the staff. He is untouchable in trade talks.

Joe Savery, SP, Age 23; Savery, who was the phils 1st round pick in '07 stumbled at the start of his minor league career and some people wrote him off. Starting at Double A it looks as though Savery has regained his feel for pitching and now posts a 10-1 record with a 3.08 era while holding hitters to a .227 average against.

At Class A Clearwater:

Dominic Brown, OF, Age 21; Brown is in the conversation for top prospect in the organization along with Drabek and Taylor. He is a 5 tool player who has dominated Clearwater this year but recently broke his finger and is out for a couple weeks. For a while Brown was leading the FSL in Batting Avg, Home Runs, and OPS. He struggled a couple weeks before his injury and now is hitting .300 with 9 HR's and a .920 OPS. He has also been untouchable in trade talks.

At Class A Lakewood:

Anthony Gose, OF, Age 18; The 2nd round pick of the Phillies last year has started out his minor league career well. He is hitting .280 and is leading all minor leaguers with 46 Stolen Bases. He also plays great defense and threw 97mph in high school as a pitcher.

Jason Knapp, SP, Age 18; The 3rd round pick of the Phillies last year has 1st round talent but a strong commitment to play at UNC dropped him a little. This signing has paid off already as Knapp has completely dominated hitters at this level. Knapp has a 3.50 era but is holding hitters to a .198 avg against and has 106 k's in just 79 innings. Knapp throws a 96-97 mph fastball and once he refines his off speed stuff he will shoot up the system ranks.

There you have it, those are my top prospects in the wake of the trade deadline.

Phils Embarrassed 11-1, Rodrigo Lopez to start Friday

All Phillies fans are waiting for Cole Hamels to turn that corner and start dominating like last year but instead he faulters again giving up 7 er and 9 hits in just 4 innings after getting through the first 2 innings without giving up a hit. His velocity seems normal sitting in the low 90's or upper 80's and his control is been very good this year, but something is different with him. Currently hitters are batting a robust .312 off him and he has had a tendency to leave balls up in the zone this year and then when he makes a good pitch he gets many bloops and grounders hit off him that have eyes and find holes. Another concern for me is the he isn't getting as many swings and misses as normal and hitters are able to foul off tough pitches and wait for something they can handle. I just hope those 262 innings he threw last year aren't catching up with him. On a side note, I still wonder how a guy like Jack Taschner has a job right now, everytime he goes out there it makes me cringe and its just hard to watch.

The Phillies have also named journeyman Rodrigo Lopez to start on Friday just adding to the wealth of great starting pitching the Phillies have right now. I was hoping to see a glimpse of the future on Friday with Carlos Carrasco even though it has been a struggle for him, he has pitched well as of late and dont think he could do any worse than Lopez. Lopez numbers at AAA Lehigh Valley have been decent posting a 3.91 era in 13 starts, although hitters are hitting .292 off him this year. I myself am a little worried at what that might translate to in the majors.