Minor League news

Only minor leaguer of note last night was the unbelievably hot Chase Utley. Chase went 3-for-5 with a home run and two doubles, scoring two runs in last night's game. The three hits make him 22-for-44 in his last 11 games.

At some point, we may want to consider adding some spark -- like Utley or Travis Chapman -- into the major league lineup, and see if they can light a fire under a team that has fallen 10 1/2 behind the Braves.

All-Time Phillies Lineup

On Wednesday, I posted Rob Neyer's lineup for the All-time Phillies, and said that I would give it some thought and offer my opinions. This is what I found:

I am too young to even start to think that I know the "best" players from a 100+ year old franchise. I could offer my opinions left and right, but I would always be missing somebody. So, I'm leaving "my thoughts" to a reader. (I'm finding that I have more and more of those!)

Bill Liming sent me an e-mail with his all-time Phillies lineup. With his permission, I offer it to you here:

C - Boone's not a bad choice at C, though Seminick might be better, and
Lieberthal's probably close to passing them both. Give Boone the
benefit of the doubt for being part of 5 playoff appearances and a WS
winner.

1B - It probably says something about this franchise that Kruk has a
decent argument here. Neyer's 2nd choice, Camilli, really didn't spend
much time with the Phillies, though he had 2 great seasons. Fred
Luderus is probably the best choice, based on longevity, and he also
contributed as much to the 1915 WS appearance as Kruk did to the 1993
one.

2B - Samuel was the best hitting 2B the Phils have had, but Taylor
beats him on playing time and defense and isn't really that far behind
as a hitter. Morandini probably gets into the argument, too, but
assuming Taylor's D was really that good, he probably deserves the nod.

SS - I don't get picking Hamner at all. He only played ~900 games at
SS and was really the starter for only about 5 years. HIs fielding
numbers look good but not great. Larry Bowa played over 1700 games and
Mickey Doolan played almost 1300. Heinie Sand played almost 800, and
wasn't a much worse hitter than Hamner. Bowa's probably the worst
hitter of the bunch, but not by a lot, and he probably added the most
on the basepaths. Combined with the # of games, he looks like the
obvious choice.

3B - Schmidt, obviously. Interestingly, Dick Allen was awfully good for
a short while, though Rolen still seems the clear #2. Better still,
all three of them are clearly better than any of the Phils other IFs.

LF - Magee looks like a solid pick, though you could make a case for
Delahanty having a better peak. Luzinski's probably third.

CF - Ashburn looks like another solid choice. Cy Williams and Roy
Thomas look like good offensive picks for 2nd and 3rd, though Maddox
may edge them out based on defense.

RF - Callison was good for about 10 years, Chuck Klein was better, but
only for about 6+ (in RF). Abreu's been awfully good for 5, 2-4 more
and he's the pick.

SP - Roberts, Carlton, and Alexander are no-brainers. I think
Schilling and Short both edge Simmons.

RP - Reed's awfully close to McGraw, but probably still 2nd, mostly
because of McGraw's 2nd half in 1980.

Bill also shared his depression at how few "great" players the Phillies have had in their history. In responding to his e-mail, I asked him what he thought of Rob Neyer's question as to whether or not Pete Rose should have been the 1B in the Phillies all-time lineup:

My immediate impulse was no, that Dick Allen would be the obvious
choice. Then I looked back and found that Allen really didn't play
much 1B for the Phils. Rose is the best 1B to play for the Phils
(taking into account his whole career) but the best 1B as a Phillie was
Luderus. Kruk didn't even play that much 1B, about 400 games, to
Luderus' ~1300. Looking at it some more, Von Hayes and Deron Johnson
aren't that far behind Kruk. Incidentally, Luderus hit .437/.471/.750
in the '15 WS while the team as a whole hit .182/.234/.243
(.152/.206/.182 without Luderus). Kruk was good in the '93 postseason
(.298/.431/.468 combined), but not that good.

Bill wasn't the only one to share his thoughts. Matthew Appleton would make these changes:

C: Darren Daulton subs for Boone

I think that defense can be over-rated and I think Boone's selection is such an overstatement. Daulton at his peak was far more valuable to the club.

LF: Greg Luzinski subs for Magee

Of my four changes, this is the one I'm least comfortable with. Magee truly is an overlooked star from the deadball era, but Luzinski was better at his peak and played just as many years with the Phils.

RF: Chuck Klein subs for Callison

Callison put in more years, but Klein's first 6 years as a Phil dwarf Callison's entire career as a Phil.

SP4: Bunning subs for Simmons

With all four of them, I'm making something of a peak value over career value argument. Bunning really only had four good years with the Phils, so you can easily say that Simmons had a greater career value. However, those four years were spectacular.

And loyal reader Mike Morley was just plain "disappointed that Steve Jeltz, Greg Legg and Porfi Altamirano aren't on these lists". Well, we all have our issues. :)

Spark at the top?

I really hate it when real life interferes with blogging. I was going to gloss over Wednesday night's loss to the Angels yesterday morning, and move on to any of three or four different topics at the top of my head. But instead, I was stuck in meetings all day. So my plan was to come in this morning, and make those posts. Nope...meetings through lunchtime. Doesn't anyone in the office understand that my main priority is this blog?!?

What's that? They sign my paycheck? Oh, right...so about those meetings...

The main piece of news I had yesterday was that Larry Bowa is thinking about moving Bobby Abreu to the leadoff spot in the lineup. The Inquirer had news about it in Thursday's paper, as well as this morning's. Abreu -- who has many times expressed his displeasure with hitting leadoff -- now seems agreeable, as long as it helps the team.

If you have been reading the 700 Level from the beginning (all two of you), you will know that I suggested back in February that Abreu might be the best Phillie for the leadoff spot. Actually what I said was

And should [Rollins] fail, Larry Bowa will have to look at another option, whether it be Polanco or Bobby Abreu, who -- although he has expressed his disinterest in hitting leadoff -- may be the best Phillie for that role. -- February 14, 2003

When reader Jordan argued that Abreu was better off further down in the order, I agreed. But I also said

If the job of the leadoff man is to get on base and work a pitcher, Abreu is the Phillie best suited for that role. His OBP last season was .413 (.409 career), highest among the regulars in the lineup. He also saw 4.27 pitches per at-bat, 3rd best figure in the majors. He has patience and the ability to get on base. But Bobby Abreu is not your quintessential leadoff man; Jordan is right in that he belongs further down in the order where he can use his power and speed to the highest advantage. I have always thought that he was perfect in the 3-hole because he has the ability to drive in baserunners that get on ahead of him while getting on base himself for the guys further down the order. I think he's best at 3, and he will more than admirably do the job at 5, if that's where Larry Bowa puts him. But if you are looking for the Phillie that is best suited to hit leadoff, I think you have to look at Abreu. -- February 18, 2003

I said that early in Spring Training. Bobby is struggling this season, but still has a .391 OBP, which trails only Lieberthal's .399 among regulars this season. He is seeing 4.30 pitches per plate appearance, showing that he has the patience to work a pitcher early in a ballgame. Rollins has struggled since getting off to a great start in April (.292 BA, .365 OBP). He dropped to .274 and .305 in May, and is an awful .191/.224 in June. He went from 13 walks in April to 5 in May and 2 so far in June. His patience has evaporated, and he is seeing fewer pitches per plate appearance than he did last season. Larry Bowa used Placido Polanco in the leadoff spot for a game last week, but Polanco's numbers have not been much better. Polanco is hitting .175 in June, and getting on base at a .227 clip this month. He has drawn 17 walks all season.

You may wonder about moving Marlon Byrd to the leadoff spot, now that he is hitting. Marlon is hitting a spectacular .519 this month, and is getting on base almost 60% of the time. He has almost as many walks in two weeks of June (4) as he had in April and May combined (6). But Marlon is just getting comfortable; I wouldn't want to move him to leadoff and put more pressure on him at this point in time.

So that leaves Abreu...

And what would moving Bobby to leadoff do to the rest of the lineup? My guess is that Rollins slides down to the #2 spot, followed by Thome, Lieberthal, Burrell, Polanco, Bell, and Byrd. Jimmy gets to relax a little bit by not hitting leadoff, and may see some more fastballs hitting in front of Thome. Polanco moves down in the order and uses his ability to put the bat on the ball and drive in some runs. It certainly takes some punch out of the middle of the lineup, but maybe -- just maybe -- it sparks the lineup from the top, and shakes Abreu out of his season-long funk.

Will it happen? Watch this weekend in Cincinnati. Will it work? Your guess is as good as mine...and maybe Larry Bowa's.

-----

Pitching matchups this weekend in Cincy:

Tonight: Millwood (8-3) vs. Jimmy Haynes (0-5)

Saturday: Wolf (7-3) vs. Danny Graves (3-5)

Sunday: Padilla (5-7) vs. Paul Wilson (4-4)

All-Star voting

The latest results of the NL All-Star voting were released yesterday, and it is interesting to see which Phillies are getting votes.

Jim Thome is second in the balloting at first base, 58,000 votes (or so) behind Houston's Jeff Bagwell. Thome was often the odd man out at 1B in the AL. Will that continue in the NL?

David Bell is fifth in the third base voting, more than 300,000 votes behind...*cough*...Scott Rolen. Rolen, by the way, is second in the NL in total votes, behind some guy named Bonds.

Jimmy Rollins ranks fifth in SS voting, behind Edgar Renteria, Rafael Furcal, Rich Aurilla, and the wrong Alex Gonzalez (Cubs version).

Amazingly, Mike Lieberthal is getting no love at the catcher's position. He is not listed in the top five, and is trailing (at least) Pudge Rodriguez (struggling), Mike Piazza (injured), Javy Lopez (scorching hot), Benito Santiago (87 and playing well), and Mike Matheny (what?!?).

None of the struggling Phillies outfielders made the top 15.

Minor League Update

From the Baseball America Prospect Report:

Scranton 2B Chase Utley had another good night, going 3-for-5 and scoring two runs. He is now hitting .340 on the season, and has 17 hits in his last 8 games.

Clearwater P Gavin Floyd goes to 5-4 on the year with a 4-hit shutout of the FSL Blue Jays last night. Floyd struck out five while walking two, and lowered his ERA to 2.82.

Lakewood P Rob Tejeda gave up one run on four hits over five innings last night. He struck out eight, and came away with a no-decision.

All-time lineup?

As most of you, I am sure, know by now, ESPN.com has posted the all-time team lineups, from Rob Neyer's "Big Book of Baseball Linueps". The all-time Phillies, you ask?

C Bob Boone (1972-1981)
1B John Kruk (1989-1994)
2B Tony Taylor (1960-1971; 1974-1976)
SS Granny Hamner (1944-1959)
3B Mike Schmidt (1972-1989)
LF Sherry Magee (1904-1914)
CF Richie Ashburn (1948-1959)
RF Johnny Callison (1960-1969)
SP1 Steve Carlton (1972-1986)
SP2 Pete Alexander (1911-1917; 1930)
SP3 Robin Roberts (1948-1961)
SP4 Curt Simmons (1947-1960)
RP Tug McGraw (1975-1984)

I haven't given this list much thought, or considered any alternatives, but I intend to. At a quick glance, the only "untouchables" in my mind are Schmidt, Ashburn, and the first three starters.

I'll try to come up with some thoughts later, but what are yours?

How to lose a ballgame

Let us count the ways...

Marlon Byrd -- who two innings earlier had made a great play to rob Tim Salmon of a hit -- misplays a ball hit by Salmon in the sixth. Salmon ends up on third.

Brandon Duckworth uncorks a wild pitch, allowing Salmon to score the Angels second run.

With no one out in the top of the seventh, Pat Burrell was nailed at third on what should have been a sacrifice bunt by Tomas Perez. Larry Bowa said after the game that the bunt wasn't the issue -- Burrell just didn't get a large enough lead for the situation.

Later in the inning, the Phillies had runners at second and third with two outs. Down by a run, Jimmy Rollins laid down an uncalled-for bunt. He was out; the inning was over.

Things like that lead to a 2-1 loss, and the end of a short-lived winning streak.

Brandon Duckworth was not on the top of his game last night, but he still only gave up two runs on four hits through 5 1/3 innings. Unfortunately, he had also walked four and thrown over 100 pitches when he was pulled. Terry Adams came in and threw 2 2/3 perfect innings, yet the Phillies floundered in their comeback chances.

The offense was facing a struggling John Lackey, who came into the game with a 5.93 ERA. In his nine previous starts he had given up runs in bunches: two earned runs in three of those starts, three earned runs in one start, four earned runs twice, five earned runs twice, and six earned runs in one start. Batters are hitting .300 against him for the season. Yet the Phillies managed just one run on five sad hits.

On the bright side, David Bell woke up and went 2-for-4 with an RBI. The two hits brought him back up and over the Mendoza Line (.203). Pat Burrell got a hit (.201), but he also struck out twice and looked really bad in doing so. Marlon Byrd got another hit (1-for-3) to raise his average again, this time to .264.

In his Inside Pitch segment on Baseball Tonight last night, Peter Gammons reported that the recent surge by Marlon Byrd has the Phillies reconsidering trading for a replacement in CF. According to Gammons, the front office is going to continue to be patient with Byrd, and if they do decide to make a move, it now will not be until after the All-Star break.

One possible trade that the Phillies should not sit back on is the one in my head for Ugueth Urbina. Urbina is rumored to be heading to either Boston or New York, but I think he would be a wonderful fit for the Phillies, even if it is just to let Mesa collect dust on the bench. Urbina is a free-agent at the end of the year (I think), and would not cost a whole heck of a lot to acquire. The one thing that Texas always needs is pitching, and the Phillies have a wealth of pitching in the minor leagues. I am not saying that Philadelphia should part with a Hamels, a Floyd, or even a Madson. But they have a number of better-than-decent pitching prospects that would interest a pitching-starved team like Texas. So maybe Ed Wade should be calling John Hart. Just something to think about...

Minor League News

Infielders are on fire in Scranton. 2B Chase Utley went 2-for-4 last night, bringing his average up to .333 on the season. In his last 12 games, he is 20-for-43 (.465). 3B Travis Chapman went 2-for-3 last night with an RBI. In his last 10 games, he is 15-for-35 (.429).

As a side note, 3B David Bell went 0-for-4 last night, dropping his average to .197.

Reading P Taylor Buchholz gave up three runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings last night, dropping him to 4-4 on the season. He has a 3.69 ERA, has allowed 51 hits in 53 2/3 IP, and has a 4:1 K:BB ratio.

Lakewood P Francisco Butto pitched seven innings of three-hit, shutout baseball last night, and walked away with a no-decision. He struck out five, walked none, and lowered his ERA to 1.59. On the season, he is 5-3 through 10 starts, and has allowed only 47 hits in 68 innings.

According to Baseball America's web site, the Phillies have two players in the Prospect Hot Sheet's top 12: P Cole Hamels (A Lakewood) comes in at #2, and 2B Chase Utley (AAA Scranton) rises to #11.

The Flotilla is sailing in CA

Who knew that the Flotilla was up for a cross-country trip? It's captain, P Vicente Padilla, certainly was. Padilla shut down a fairly strong Anaheim lineup last night for seven innings, giving up only five hits. More importantly, he did not walk a batter. The Phillies offense provided timely hits, and walked away with their third straight victory, a 3-0 shutout of the defending champs.

Padilla, who has been criticized by his manager in recent weeks for relying too heavily on his fastball, threw all of his pitches, and threw them all effectively.

"The key to this game was that I was able to throw strikes with all of my pitches,'' Padilla said through an interpreter.

Padilla stayed out of serious trouble until the seventh. With one out, Brad Fullmer singled. Scott Spiezio followed with his third single of the night, but Fullmer was gunned down by Bobby Abreu when Fullmer overslid third base.

"Bobby made a great throw, and then David kept the ball on the runner,'' Bowa said. "A lot of guys don't do that, but David stayed with him. That was a big turning point for me.''

Padilla's pitching was key, as the offense struggled to do much against Angels' starter Jarrod Washburn. Mike Lieberthal -- back home in California -- singled to lead off the 2nd and 5th, but those were the only Phillies' hits through five innings. In the sixth, LF Jason Michaels doubled to lead off the inning, and the hot Marlon Byrd followed with an infield single. Jimmy Rollins failed to get down a bunt to move the runners up, clearly angering his manager.

"I know he didn't do it on purpose, but those are little that things you have to do to win games -- and we didn't get it done,'' said Bowa, who was visibly frustrated in the dugout.

Placido Polanco flied out, bringing up Jim Thome with two outs. Thome ripped the first pitch back up the middle, scoring Michaels and giving Padilla a run to work with. Padilla got the Angels 1-2-3 in the sixth, and squeezed out of the seventh, preserving the lead. Rollins atoned in the top of the 8th for his earlier miscue at the plate, hitting a one out, solo homer to double the Phillies lead. One out later, Thome followed with his 15th of the year, a shot to center that cleared the 400-foot mark.

Rheal Cormier pitched a one-hit eighth and Jose Mesa pitched a perfect (gasp!) ninth to nail down the shutout, and Padilla's fifth win of the season. Padilla's ship may finally be settling, as he threw his second decent game in three starts, third in five. His improved play may be a key for the Phillies as the summer drags on.

Blogging issues

I have noticed lately that there have been issues with enetation -- the commenting tool I use -- loading properly. I'm looking into the issue, but if you need/want to contact me in the meantime, just e-mail me: blakeml@georgetown.edu.