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What's the Right Move?

Now that Manny Parra has exceeded 100 innings pitched this year, Jamie Moyer has earned a promotion to the FOURTH worst ERA in the National League, among pitchers with over 100 innings (the other 2 who are worse- Todd Wellemeyer and Josh Greer). Moyer's 5.47 ERA overall and 6.88 ERA at home in 2009 are awful. If Pedro Martinez makes his much anticipated Major League Phillies debut on Tuesday in Chicago, as many people expect, Moyer's next turn in the starting rotation would come around next Sunday in Atlanta. Based on his ERA and inconsistency, Moyer shouldn't get that start. As of now, the projected starters for the upcoming series in Chigago are listed as "To Be Announced". The Phillies haven't declared that Martinez is getting another minor league rehab/sharpening assignment, thus we can all believe that he'll be pitching against the Cubs this week. Plenty of worry surrounds the decision to potentially move Moyer out of the rotation. Does he get moved t...

Harry's Plaque Has Misprint

At the ballpark today for the first time since Harry Kalas was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame on Friday, I noticed an error in the text on his plaque. Verbage on the plaque reads like this... Voice of Phillies baseball on radio and TV for 39 seasons. Teamed with Richie Ashburn from 1971 until 1997. Harry was on the air for all of Mike Schmidt's 548 home runs, five Phillies no-hitters, seven National League Championship Series, three World Series, the first and final games at Veterans Stadium and the Citizens Bank Park 2004 opener. Received the prestigious Ford C. Frick Award in 2002 for "Major Contributions to Baseball" and was inducted into the broadcasters' wing at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. His calls were legendary, especially his signature home run call, "Outta heeere." On October 29, 2008, he brought utmost joy to Phillies fans: "The 0-2 pitch, swing and miss , struck him out. The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 Worl...

Sunday School: History Lesson 26

Earl Moore was a pitcher with the Phillies from 1908-1913. Early in his career, Moore spent five season playing for Cleveland, where he was a consistent winner. In 1903, he won 19 games and led the American League with a 1.77 ERA. Moore's nickname was "Crossfire", based on his sidearm delivery. In his first five years with Cleveland, Moore threw 15 shutouts. A foot injury caused Moore to miss much of the 1906 season. Moore was considered an after thought by many, after a demotion to the minors, but was signed by the Phillies in late 1908. Moore quickly paid off for the Phillies, as he shut out the Reds 5-0 and threw three consecutive complete games. He also threw 26 straight scoreless innings. In his first full season with our Phillies, Moore became the ace of the Phillies' staff, in 1909. That season, he threw 299 2/3 innings, and led the team with 18 wins and a 2.10 ERA. He also had four shut outs that season. Moore's 1910 season was the best of career. His reco...

Saturday Something

Phillies minor league mainstay Jeremy Slayden has gotten off the pot and retired. In 84 games between two levels, with Reading & Lehigh Valley, this season, Slayden was hitting .256 (66-for-257) with 13 homers and 42 RBI. Slayden was a 2008 Eastern League all star. PhoulBallz wishes him well. -------------------------- Saturday links... WSBGM's talks Marlins and Ryan Howard, with some K-Rod fun tossed in. Rich Baxter's Phillies webcast is worthy of a listen. Macho Row talks about the SI cover curse and Johnny Callison. Swing and a Long Drive has a review of Wall of Fame Induction Night. The IronPigPen seems to have bumped heads with the actual IronPigs. Not good. Not good at all. Best of luck with anything and everything, Rolf. ---------------------- Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE !

Weekend Series Preview: Marlins @ Phillies, 8/7-8/9

The second place Miami Marlins visit the first place Phillies this weekend. The Marlins are 7 games behind the division leaders. Below, you will find pitching match ups and other key notes from this series. Friday, 7:35pm. Ricky Nolasco (7-7, 5.00 ERA) vs. Joe Blanton (7-5, 4.02 ERA). Nolasco in 10 career games against the Phillies is 4-3 with a 4.47 ERA and a .231 batting avg. against. He is 3-1 with a 3.20 ERA in 4 games at Citizens Bank Park. Chase Utley is 7-for-20 off of Nolasco, with a homer, 4 RBI and .985 OPS. Blanton is 3-0 in his career against Florida with a 3.18 ERA and .222 batting avg. against. Blanton's ERA over his last 12 starts is 2.33. During that stretch, 7 of those starts were at home...his ERA in those 7 home starts- 1.84! Saturday, 7:05pm. Sean West (3-4, 4.91 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (7-6, 4.68 ERA). The rookie West has not faced the Phillies yet. West's ERA over his last 6 starts is 7.04. In four road starts this season, West is 1-2 with a 5.79 ERA. At h...

Hypocrites!

Seriously? Because David Ortiz was on the list ? Need I remind you all...? This guy was also on the list. Very smooth, Yankees fans. ------------------------- Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE !

Rotate On It

"Jay" Happ, we're glad you are still a Phillie. Over his last 9 starts, Happ is 4-2 with a 2.11 ERA. Happ has surely proven himself to be a solid starter and stands out as the guy who may be most worthy of the role of 4th starter in a potential playoff series. Obviously, Jamie Moyer is has struggled this season, with his 5.55 (third worst in the NL of pitchers with over 100 innings pitched) ERA. Happ has shown shades of dominance and "horse status" several times this year (7 starts of 7 innings or greater...in four of those, he did not allow a run), while Moyer has not (he has only two outings of 7 innings this season...1 of which was scoreless). Happ has made a case for himself to continue starting and has displayed his strength. Pedro Martinez, who management still asserts was signed to become a starter, threw 6 innings, gave up 2 earned runs, and struck out 11 in his rehab game Wednesday night with Reading. Pedro is obviously preparing to start. Moyer refused...

Coste's Cool Factor Falling

Chris Coste looked way cooler when he was a Phillie. Sunglasses, tough guy expressions and fresh jewelry are all missing these days. Now it's all about frowns and wrong colored pin stripes. What happened, Costie? Ohh, I know. Too much of this guy...

In "Why is this Guy a Major Leaguer?" News...

Everyone's least favorite Phillie is back at it again. This time the "I've got a sweet beard, so who cares about hitting?" ball player looks even worse after Marlins pitcher Josh Johnson hit his third homerun of the season on Tuesday. Johnson in 2009- 7-for-44, .159 avg, 3 HR, 9 RBI, .577 OPS Bruntlett in 2009- 11-for-83, .133 avg, 0 HR, 6 RBI, .407 OPS In fact, I counted at least a dozen starting ML pitchers who currently have a higher OPS than Eric Bruntlett, this year. The Phillies have to possess at least one minor leaguer who could back up the infield positions and hit for a batting average higher than .133. If nothing is done, it would be as if the team is not trying. --------------------- Congratulations go out to Anthony Gose who set the Lakewood BlueClaws single season stolen base record on Tuesday night by stealing his 59th and 60th bases of the season. The previous record was 59, set by Chris Roberson in 2003. Gose is 60-for-77 in stolen base attempts (78%)...

Series Preview: Colorado at Philadelphia, 8/4-8/6

The Wild Card leading Colorado Rockies (58-47) come to town to begin a 3 games series with the Phillies (59-44) tonight. The Phillies were 14-3 at home in July, but just ended a 3-4 road trip. The Rockies have won 4 straight road contests, but have lost their last 4 regular season games in Philadelphia. Below is a look at pitching match ups and other notes. Tuesday, 7:05pm. Jason Hammel (5-6, 4.66 ERA) vs. Jamie Moyer (10-7, 5.32 ERA). Hammel has never faced the Phillies. The Rockies have lost Hammel's last 3 strats, scoring 2 total runs in those 3 games. Hammels is 4-3 on the road with a 2.67 ERA. Take away Hammel's last start (when he gave up 5 earned runs in 1 1/3 innings at the Mets) and Hammel's road ERA is 1.93 this season. Moyer in his career against Colorado is 1-4 with a 5.45 ERA in 5 starts. Moyer's ERA over his last 3 starts is 1.93. Moyer has won 6 of his last 7 starts. Ryan Spilborghs is 4-for-9 in his career against Moyer with 2 homeruns and 5 RBI. Wednes...

Troy Hanzawa Talks With PhoulBallz.com

Troy Hanzawa is the starting shortstop for the Phillies single A affiliate in Lakewood. Troy was an 8th round draft selection last year out of San Diego State, where he played for Tony Gwynn. Early last week, Troy was named the Phillies' minor league player of the week, for the previous week when he batted .500 (10-for-20) with a double, a homer and 5 RBI. Troy is batting .275 with 2 homeruns and 36 RBI in 99 games played this season. I spoke with the Hawaii native over the weekend, and here's how that went... Troy, can I get some comments from you on being named player of the week, last week? (He was not aware of the honor) What is it, actually? (I explained...) Oh, wow! That's awesome! It's an honor, man. You spent time playing for current Lakewood manager Dusty Wathan last year in Williamsport. What's Dusty like as a manager? I love the guy. He's the type of manager- he gets on you, when he has to. He gets the job done. When we've gotta work, we work. B...

Trevor May Q&A With PhoulBallz

Trevor May is a starting pitcher for the Phillies single A affiliate Lakewood BlueClaws. Drafted in the 4th round of the 2008 amateur draft, Trevor began this season in extended spring training and joined the team late. May, a 19 year old, has a 2-1 record and a 3.02 ERA over 9 starts for Lakewood this season. His ERA over his last 7 games is 2.43. I had a chance to speak with Trevor after Saturday night's game, and here's how that went. Trevor, can I get some thoughts on tonight's game (No decision, 3 ER, 7 IP, 9 K's, 2 walks)? Tonight was just one of those nights where I went out there, tried to get some off-speed going...it didn't work as well as usual and I just tried to battle through and have a good outing. I want to go out there every time and give my team a chance to win. Ya know, don't give up any runs...whatever it is. I feel like, for the last month or so, every time I go out there I give my team a chance to win. Tonight was another one of those night...