Tag: Philadelphia Phillies (Page 15 of 31)

      Mikey’s MLB power rankings

      August 29, 2009 /

      Pennant races this season are not quite as exciting as last season, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have a few good races in September. The power rankings this week have not changed much, but the Rockies and Rangers swapped places. The Rays, who were on the cusp of cracking the Top 10, traded Scott Kazmir to the Angels yesterday, making us all scratch our heads and wonder if they are conceding the race.

      1. New York Yankees (80-48)—The first team to 80 victories is officially in cruise control. The question is, can they carry it over into the postseason? Because we all know how you-know-who performs in October.

      2. Los Angeles Angels (76-51)—If newly acquired Scott Kazmir stays healthy, this scrappy Angels team could be wearing new jewelry. Then again, October has been none to kind to them recently as well.

      3. St. Louis Cardinals (75-55)—The Cardinals now have a 9 game lead on the woe-as-me Cubs. The good franchises always add the right parts when they are in a pennant race, and Matt Holliday and John Smoltz are those guys for the Redbirds.

      4. Philadelphia Phillies (74-52)—The Phils may have given the slightest ray of hope to the Marlins and Braves, but then they remembered that they were the world champs.

      5. Los Angeles Dodgers (76-53)—Their lead over the Rockies shrunk to 2 games this past week. It’s now back to 4, but this NL West race is not going to be a landslide as everyone thought. In fact, it’s now a 3-team race.

      6. Boston Red Sox (74-54)—Don’t think the Sox can’t still catch the Yankees. If not, they should be able to hang on to the wild card, and adding Billy Wagner certainly doesn’t hurt their chances.

      7. Colorado Rockies (72-57)—The wild card is not what these Rockies have in mind, and they just keep right on winning and closing the gap.

      8. Texas Rangers (71-56)—Slipping in the power rankings and slipping in their quest for a wild card berth.

      9. San Francisco Giants (70-59)—Got a big lift from Lincecum last night against the Rockies, but Giants need to sweep this weekend if they want to remain in contention.

      10. Detroit Tigers (68-59)—T-men hanging tough, but watch out for the surging Twins, is all I’m sayin’.

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, MLB

      MLB power rankings

      August 22, 2009 /

      We’re just six weeks away from the end of the regular season in baseball. Races are maybe tighter than they have ever been as a whole in each division, so let’s have another look at the power rankings. This week and going forward, we’ll only look at the top 10 instead of top 5 and bottom 5.

      1. New York Yankees (77-45)—They’ve won 8 of 10 and show no signs of slowing down. And 20 runs against the Red Sox? Are you kidding me?

      2. Los Angeles Angels (73-47)—Looks like we’re heading for an east-west ALCS.

      3. St. Louis Cardinals (70-54)—John Smoltz isn’t likely to make an impact, but the Holliday trade already took care of that. This team is on fire.

      4. Philadelphia Phillies (69-50)—Seriously, can Cliff Lee be pitching any better? Even Pedro has gotten into the act, and the rest of the NL has to be afraid of the defending champs.

      5. Los Angeles Dodgers (73-50)—.474 ball in August (9-10) isn’t going to get it done. Not only are the Dodgers slipping in the power rankings, they’re now just 4.5 games up on the Rockies.

      6. Boston Red Sox (69-52)—And they thought they had the Yankees’ number. Not this year, unless they make a huge surge in September.

      7. Texas Rangers (68-53)—A mediocre August, but still keeping pace with the Red Sox for wild card.

      8. Colorado Rockies (68-54)—Forget the wild card, the Rockies have a legitimate shot at the NL West crown.

      9. San Francisco Giants (67-55)—With their pitching staff, they are never out of any race.

      10. Detroit Tigers (65-56)—The Tampa Bay Rays have a slightly better record, but Tigers get the nod because, well, they’re in first place and the Rays are in third in that ridiculous AL East.

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, MLB

      MLB Power Rankings—Top 5 and Bottom 5

      August 15, 2009 /

      It’s getting down to pennant race times and there are some incredibly tight races and a lot of teams that are at least in contention. Here we’ll take a look at who we think the Top 5 teams are right now and who the Bottom 5 are as well.

      Top 5

      1. New York Yankees (73-43)—Not only did the Yankees sweep the rival Red Sox last weekend and make quite a statement, they’ve won 10 of 11 and are 22-6 (.786) since the all-star break. That is just scorching.

      2. Los Angeles Angels (68-45)—You have to feel for the surging Rangers and even the Mariners, because neither one is going to catch this fundamentally sound team. If Mike Scioscia isn’t the best manager in baseball, he’s surely the most underrated.

      3. St. Louis Cardinals (65-52)—The Cards grabbed Matt Holliday before anyone else could and he’s batting .493 with a slugging percentage of .813 in his first 75 at-bats with St. Louis. Pujols/Holliday has got to be the most fearsome 3-4 tandem in baseball.

      4. Los Angeles Dodgers (69-47)—The Dodgers hung on without Manny for a few months, and then cooled off when he returned. They’ve lost 7 of 11 but still lead their division by 5 games and are 32-14 against NL West opponents.

      5. Philadelphia Phillies (65-48)—Suddenly with Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez, and Jimmy Rollins finally finding his stroke, the defending champs are poised to make another run deep into October and possibly November.

      Bottom 5

      1. Washington Nationals (41-75)—They recently won eight in a row but still trail the Phillies by 25.5 games and the fourth place Mets by 13.5. So yeah, they’re still the worst team in baseball.

      2. Pittsburgh Pirates (46-69)—The Pirates actually looked half decent early in the season, but they did what they always do in July—made a whole bunch of trades and pretty much surrendered the season as well as the next three seasons, as they’ve lost 11 of their last 13 games.

      3. Kansas City Royals (45-70)—Remember the Royals were 14-12 and everyone started talking about this team being decent for the first time in two-plus decades? We remember, but then they remembered that they were the Royals.

      4. Baltimore Orioles (48-67)—This team has some great young players like Adam Jones and Matt Wieters and Nick Markakis, but playing in that division is almost unfair.

      5. Cleveland Indians (49-66)—Once again, the Indians have disappointed and started selling off players. Cliff Lee, like CC Sabathia last year, is the reigning AL Cy Young winner, and the Tribe also dumped popular catcher Victor Martinez and infielder Ryan Garko. Next year sure has a familiar ring on Lake Erie.

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, MLB

      Victorino gets doused with beer at Wrigley

      August 13, 2009 /

      During the Phillies’ 12-5 trouncing of the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Wednesday night, Philadelphia outfielder Shane Victorino received a beer shower from some idiot fan while trying to catch a fly ball on the warning track.

      Here’s a complete breakdown of the scene, including how security busted the wrong guy:

      Couple thoughts:

      1. What concentration shown by Victorino to still make the play while the beer (and cup) was being poured on him. It wasn’t like he caught the ball after the beer bath – he caught it during it.

      2. It’s a crime against humanity that the ass clown in the white T-shirt and novelty wristband (did he think if he wore a wristband to the stadium that they would let him into the game or something?) didn’t get tossed from the game, but the innocent bystander to his left did. Gotta love how he allowed someone else to receive blame for the incident while he got to stay and watch the rest of the game.

      3. Any fan that intentionally throws something onto the field (save for an opposing team’s home run ball) or touches a ball along the side of the field while it’s still in play deserves to be thrown off the top of the stadium. I can’t for the life of me figure out why you would pay upwards of $75 to go to a game and either throw something at a player or touch a ball while it’s still in play.

      4. That fan deserved to watch the Phillies lay the wood to his hapless team. And any time he goes to Wrigley from here on out, may the Cubs lose.

      MLB

      Martinez wins Phillies’ debut

      August 13, 2009 /

      Pedro Martinez gave up three runs on seven hits over five innings in his Phillies debut on Wednesday as Philadelphia crushed the suddenly lifeless Cubs 12-5 at Wrigley. Pedro also struck out five to earn his first win of the season.

      From ESPN.com:

      Pitching in a major league game for the first time since last September, Martinez mixed it up, changed speeds and lasted five innings to get the victory for his new team, the Philadelphia Phillies, in a 12-5 rout of the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.

      “It was really fun to actually get back to the game. Last year was a horrible year. It was a very tough year,” Martinez said of his final injury-slowed season with the New York Mets. “I actually feel good and it shows.”

      Pedro threw 64 of his 99 pitches for strikes and topped out at 93 mph on the radar gun. A 30-pitch fifth inning ended his night but overall, he looked sharp for a guy that could immediately help a World Series contender.

      MLB

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