Listen to the silence

I will likely not be able to post again until Friday morning, at the earliest. My father is going in for preventive heart surgery in the morning, and I will be at the hospital for the next couple of days. When I get back, I'll recap the Dodgers' series. Check in then...

Roster Notes

2B Placido Polanco has remained with the team since going on the DL with his finger injury. There has not been many updates on his condition, and I am going with no-news-is-good-news. Expect him to be activated when he is eligible.

P Hector Mercado has been rehabbing in Reading. I am not sure what the plans are with him when he is ready. They may leave him in the minors. If they call him up, my guess is that Joe Roa will be the odd-man out. He has only made one relief appearance since Brandon Duckworth returned to the rotation, and may be the victim of numbers.

Lastly, CF Marlon Byrd was activated from the DL after last night's game. INF Nick Punto was sent down, meaning that 2B Chase Utley will continue to get most of the starts while Polanco stays on the DL, and leaving Houston, Pratt, Perez, and Michaels on the bench.

With Byrd returning to the roster, and Ricky Ledee playing very well in his absence, I have been surprised that I have not seen more articles asking whether or not Ledee should remain the starter. Before he went on the DL, Byrd was going through some rookie struggles. He was hitting .161/.316/.258/.574 with no homers and four RBI. He had yet to swipe a base.

Ledee, on the other hand, is swinging as hot as bat as the Phillies have right now. He is putting up .300/.373/.583/.956 numbers, with three home runs and 13 RBI. He is getting on base in the two-hole, and is getting key hits. He is also playing well defensively. The problem with Ledee is, and always has been, his record against lefthanded pitchers. To that note, Larry Bowa is keeping Ledee out of games when a lefty starts for the opponent. He only has six at-bats against LHP this season, with one hit to show for it. So the first thought that comes to mind is to start Ledee versus righties, and bring in Byrd for the lefties.

The problem with that is that Byrd has not been any better against lefties -- 0-5 on the season. So a standard lefty/righty platoon is out of the question. So what do the Phillies do?

Do they stick with Byrd, following through on their promise to let the young CF have the time to find his legs in the big leagues? Or do they, in essence, "punish him" for being injured, leaving Ledee in the spot he has worked hard to earned in the chance given to him?

In my mind, you can't mess with what is working right now. Ledee is hitting well, and he's bringing some energy to the lineup. Ride his hot streak. If and when he cools off, work Byrd back into the lineup. Give him spot starts now, for that matter. But let Ledee play through his streak. Pulling him from the lineup now has negative effects beyond taking a hot bat out of the lineup. By pulling Ledee, you really don't have a hitter for the number two spot in the order (normally manned by Polanco). Byrd is not hitting well enough to fill that spot, and neither is 2B Chase Utley. If Tomas Perez is the starter at 2B, he could hit there, but that's not the ideal spot for him, either. Having some combination of Byrd/Utley/Perez at the bottom of the order forces Bowa to move David Bell up to the #2 hole. Bell is fine for the 2-spot, but moving him takes away from the middle of the lineup, causing more problems.

In general, I don't believe that a player should lose his starting spot because of injury. But in this case, I think you have to take into account the struggles Byrd was having before he went down, as well as the success Ledee is currently having. Taken as a whole, I think the Phillies need to take their time working Byrd back into the lineup. I guess we'll see tonight what Larry Bowa has in mind...

Another day, another shutout

The offense, for the most part, is still stuck in a rut. Thank goodness the pitching is not.

One night after Kevin Millwood threw a no-hitter at the Giants, his star pupil did his best to match that effort in Los Angeles. Brett Myers turned in his fifth strong performance of the season, picking up the win after 7 2/3 innings of six-hit, shutout baseball. Myers walked none and struck out four in the Phillies 3-0 win over the Dodgers.

Jimmy Rollins started last night's game with a double. He moved to third on a groundout by Ricky Ledee, and after a walk to Bobby Abreu, scored when Darren Dreifort's attempt to turn a comebacker by Pat Burrell into an inning-ending double play ended up in center field. Jim Thome hit his fourth home run of the season in the 4th, a towering fly to the pavilion in left field, to give Myers a 2-0 cushion.

Myers cruised from there on. After getting into a bases loaded jam in the third, he induced a double-play ball to get out of the inning. The Dodgers did not have another baserunner until Paul LoDuca beat out an infield hit in the sixth. Myers again stayed out of trouble until giving up back-to-back, two-out hits in the eighth. At that point, Larry Bowa went to the bullpen, and Dan Plesac got Shawn Green to ground out to end the inning. Jose Mesa came in to clean up in the ninth, and picked up the save -- but not without some trouble. Mesa allowed two-out singles to Ron Coomer and Jolbert Cabrera, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of pinch-hitter Todd Hundley. Mesa got Hundley to ground to second, ending the game.

While the offense continues to struggle -- the only regulars over .300 are Mike Lieberthal and Ricky Ledee -- the Phillies keep winning. They are winning because of their pitching...not something that Phillies fans are used to seeing. The Phillies, as a team, have a 3.27 ERA, good for third in the NL. Opponents are hitting .235 against them (3rd in the NL), have an OBP of .309 (5th), and are slugging .362 (4th). To a certain extent, the addition of Kevin Millwood brought people to expect this kind of output from the starters, specifically Millwood, Wolf, and Padilla. With the brilliant pitching of Myers thrown in there, the starters have put up very good numbers:

3.41 ERA (4th in the NL)
1.24 WHIP (4th)
.231/.305/.356/.661

But the relievers have been just as good:

3.00 ERA (3rd in NL)
1.30 WHIP (5th)
.243/.318/.374/.692

Much of the bullpen's success can be attributed to the starters' success, and the fact that the starters are lasting deep into games.

Brett Myers: 2-2, 2.20, 8.54 K/9, 1.22 WHIP -- averaging almost 6 2/3 innings per start, and has gone at least six innings in each of his five starts
Vicente Padilla: 3-2, 2.31, 7.97 K/9, 1.03 WHIP -- averaging 7 innings per start
Randy Wolf: 3-1, 2.93, 7.63 K/9, 1.14 WHIP -- averaging over 6 innings per start
Kevin Millwood: 4-1, 3.48, 8.82 K/9, 1.16 WHIP -- averaging almost 5 2/3 innings per start; take out his 2 inning, injury-shortened start, and he averages 6 1/3 IP per start

On average, the starters are leaving the bullpen with three innings to finish up -- one inning if the plan is to hand it over to Terry Adams in the eighth, and Jose Mesa in the ninth. Mesa and Adams have struggled at times this season -- they have two of the highest WHIP numbers on the team -- but the guys getting to them have been very good. Turk Wendell has allowed four baserunners in his six innings since his return from injury. Dan Plesac has allowed four hits in 4 1/3 innings. Eric Junge allowed 5 baserunners in 6 2/3 IP. Carlos Silva has given up 18 hits in 20 2/3 IP. Even Rheal Cormier has allowed only ten hits in ten innings, and has a 9/2 K/BB ratio.

So while much is being made of the Phillies lack of power thus far in the season, they have still jumped out to a 16-10 record. For that, they can thank their pitching staff. Hoping it continues tonight, Randy Wolf goes for win number four against Dodger ace Kevin Brown.

My sob story

I missed yesterday's no-hitter. I spent the weekend in DC with my college buddies, watching the NFL Draft. Don't get me wrong -- I don't regret the decision. I haven't seen my friends since November, and it was a fun and relaxing weekend. But as I was fighting my way north on I-95 yesterday, sitting in an endless traffic jam, I was missing the game. By the time I got into radio range, I flipped on the game just in time to hear Scott Graham (an underrated radio voice, by the way) scream out, "Kevin Millwood has just thrown a no-hitter!"

Thankfully, the car wasn't moving, or I might have driven off the road. The sad part is that until my friend invited me down for the weekend, I was planning on going. When the first schedule came out in the offseason, I had marked this game as one I was interested in going to.

And why not? Late April, it should be a beautiful Sunday afternoon; it was the Giants, and I can always stand to watch Barry Bonds; and I haven't been to a game since Opening Day.

But no, I went to DC and passed on the game. And the closest I got to history yesterday was the voice of Scott Graham telling me that "Kevin Millwood has just thrown a no-hitter!"

Postscript: To add insult to injury...after I listened to Graham for a few minutes, I called my wife and told her to flip on the game. She watched for a couple of seconds, and twisted the knife in my back a little more: "Weren't we planning on going to this game?" Yeah...yeah, we were. Such is life...

Leaving on a high note

Hidden by Millwood's gem yesterday were a few things from the weekend:

First off, my hat's off to SF's Jesse Foppert, who was the epitome of a hard-luck loser yesterday: 6 IP, 1 R, 3 H. He pitched well in his 2nd career start, making strides from his first start in Pittsburgh earlier in the week, but just threw the ball on the wrong day.

WIth yesterday's game and the 10-2 victory over San Fran on Saturday, the Phillies took two of three from the Giants, becoming the first team to win a series from the Giants in the regular season since last August. Brandon Duckworth bounced back from a disasterous season debut with five steady innings on Saturday night. He got out of a bases-loaded jam in the first, and finished five strong innings giving up one run on five hits. Carlos Silva pitched the last four innings, giving up a run on four hits, to collect his second career save. Some power returned to the Phillies lineup on the evening, as well, as both Bobby Abreu and Jim Thome hit their third of the season.

Even Friday night's loss was better than it looked. Vicente Padilla was the tough-luck loser after giving up five runs -- only two earned -- in 7 2/3 innings. The game was tied at two in the top of the eighth before Phillies errors gave the game away. The recap from ESPN.com:

With one out in the eighth, Rich Aurilia reached when second baseman Chase Utley's throw pulled Jim Thome off first, even though it appeared Thome touched the bag before Aurilia.

Padilla got Barry Bonds on a flyout, but Cruz walked and Benito Santiago hit an infield single to third, loading the bases.

Dan Plesac entered and got Snow to hit his first pitch to shallow left, but the ball bounced off Burrell's glove and rolled to the corner, scoring all three runners to give the Giants a 5-2 lead.

You can't give a team like SF second and third chances. Still, without the errors, the game was closer than it appeared. So, two of three from the Giants after sweeping the Rockies gave the Phillies a 5-1 homestand before heading west for 10 games in 10 days, and they are 15-10 overall, tied with Montreal and Atlanta for first in the East. The Phillies now travel west to take on the Dodgers for four games, followed by three in San Diego and three in Arizona. Tonight's matchup is Myers vs. Darren Dreifort.

Happy Birthday Phanatic!

I joked that I wasn't going to yesterday's game because I didn't have a gift for the Phillie Phanatic, who turned a young 25 yesterday. As it turns out, Kevin Millwood provided a gift for the 40,000 in attendance, and the thousands of us who will someday say we were there.

As I am sure all of you have heard by now, P Kevin Millwood fired the 9th no-hitter in Phillies history yesterday, shutting down the San Francisco Giants 1-0. CF Ricky Ledee provided the offensive and defensive support Millwood needed -- Ledee hit a solo homer in the bottom of the first inning for the game's only run, and made a spectacular running catch in the top of the 7th inning -- but Millwood was far and away the star of the game.



9 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 10 K

Can't beat that by a whole lot, now can you? Millwood fired 108 pitches, 72 for strikes. Some of the Phillies personnel claim that almost 90% of those pitches were fastballs. Early on, Millwood knew that he didn't have his breaking or offspeed stuff working. The curve just wasn't falling and hitting the target. The offspeed stuff just didn't feel right. So Millwood stuck with the heater. And as "off" as the other pitches felt, the fastball was that "on". He put it where he wanted it all day. He placed it high, he placed it low. He painted corners inside and out. His fastball was topping out at around 94 MPH, but to Giants hitters it must have seemed like it was on a string.

And by the time all was said and done, 40,000-plus fans in red and white were celebrating a piece of baseball history. As I heard Phillies radio guy Tom McCarthy say yesterday afternoon, "I think the Phillies traveling party could make it to the West Coast right now without the plane."

Some no-hitter facts that are relevant:

Millwood's no-hitter was the 9th in Phillies history, and the first since Tommie Greene shut down the Expos in Montreal back in 1991.

Millwood's no-no was the second by a Phillies' pitcher at the Vet, joining Terry Mulholland -- who also blanked the Giants back in August 1990.

It was the first no-hitter in the majors in exactly a year -- Derek Lowe no-hit the Devil Rays on this date in 2002.

Ricky Ledee became the 9th player in history to provide the only run of a no-hitter with a home run.

Congratulations to Kevin Millwood on a day all pitchers dream of...

Those other pickups

Almost a month into the season, and much of the talk still remains on free-agent pickup Jim Thome. But in his latest Rumblings and Grumblings article, Jayson Stark talks about the early importance of a couple of other additions.

Rockies get Chase-d

Sad, title, I know...

Nonetheless, rookie 2B Chase Utley stole the show yesterday. In his first major league start -- he was called up when 2B Placido Polanco was put on the DL Wednesday -- Utley showed that he was up to the challenge. He collected his first major league hit yesterday -- a grand slam that made the score 6-0 Phillies in the third inning. From there, the Phillies cruised to a 9-1 victory, and the series sweep of the Rockies.

Lefty Randy Wolf closed out a strong April and washed away fears of another slow start to his season with 7 2/3 strong innings of four-hit ball, striking out eight along the way. His only mistake was a solo homerun to OF Jay Payton. Wolf -- who squeezed his way out of a bases loaded, no out jam in the fifth -- wraps up his April at 3-1, with a 2.93 ERA.

Once again, the Phillies jumped to an early lead, scoring two runs in the first after Jimmy Rollins singled and Ricky Ledee walked to start the inning. Rollins scored when Bobby Abreu reached on an error, and Ledee came home on a Jim Thome sac fly. Utley's slam gave the Phils a 6-0 lead in the third, and Pat Burrell finally hit his third of the year in the fifth. The Phillies added their last two in the eighth after Utley led off the inning with a double and reliever Rheal Cormier followed him with a single. Rollins brought Utley home on a double, and Abreu plated Cormier with a single.

Rollins finished the day 3-5, raising his average to .301 and his OBP to .387. Burrell's two hits brought him up to .239, but Thome went 0-3 with a walk, dragging him down to .268.

After sweeping the Rockies, the Phillies will play weekend hosts to the NL's hottest team, the San Francisco Giants. Vicente Padilla will go for the Phils tonight against Kurt Ainsworth. Brandon Duckworth will try to bounce back from a distasterous season debut tomorrow against a pitcher to be determined, while Kevin Millwood with start on Sunday against rookie Jesse Foppert.

The arrival of the Giants means the return of Barry Bonds to one of his favorite road parks. In his lifetime, Bonds has hit .302 (102 for 338) at the Vet, and his 27 homers there are the most by any visiting player. In the last three seasons alone, Bonds has hit .400/.539/.831/1.430 against the Phillies, with 8 HR and 17 RBI in 55 AB. Expect some fireworks if Larry Bowa lets his pitchers pitch to the mighty slugger.

I almost forgot...

Alex Belth has a wonderful interview up with NY Times writer Buster Olney over at Bronx Banter. The interview is lengthy, but absolutely fascinating. Here's Olney's perception on the differences between the clubhouse in the Bronx, and the one at Shea:

BB: How much of a difference was there between the Mets and Yankees clubhouses?

Buster: The culture was definitely different. It’s night and day. Joe, I think has a lot of players that he doesn’t like. It’s not players he doesn’t like. For instance: Wells. I don’t think he’s going to be going out to dinner with Wells when he retires, but Joe realizes how to deal with a situation in a professional manner. With Bobby, I always thought he was superior to Joe in terms of in-game preparation. But in terms of managing people, he didn’t do it as well. And that filtered over into the clubhouse. And I really believe this. I don’t think the Mets have had good leadership in their clubhouse. They don’t have leadership personalities.

Run, don't walk, to check this one out...

Myers gets some support

Brett Myers entered last night's game against Colorado 0-2, but it wasn't for lack of trying. The Phillies offense, which has been prolific at times this year, has been non-existant in Myers's three starts, scoring only one run in the 19 innings that Myers has been on the mound. They quickly changed that last night.

The Phillies put a quick 5-spot on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning, increasing the team's output for the young pitcher by 500%. Jimmy Rollins and Tyler Houston led off the inning with singles, and Bobby Abreu followed with a run-scoring double that was absolutely scorched to center. It was Abreu's second run-producing two-bagger in two nights, doubling his season total, and maybe signifying that he is starting to find his stroke again. Following a flyout by Pat Burrell and an intentional walk to Jim Thome, David Bell lifted a fly ball to right, barely scoring a hustling Houston from third for a 2-0 lead. Mike Lieberthal followed with a RBI single, and Ricky Ledee -- not intentionally walked with two outs and the pitcher on deck -- laced a 2-RBI double down the first-base line. Just like that it was 5-0, and Myers settled into cruise control.

The 5-run outburst helped to settle Myers after a shaky first inning. After getting two quick outs to start the game, Myers struggled with the heart of the Rockies' lineup. The 3-4-5 hitters reached base, loading the bases for free-swinging Jose Hernandez. After fouling off a couple of pitches that very well could have been ball four, Hernandez swung at a 3-2 pitch that looked out of the zone, and missed. Sit down, leave the bases full, and thanks for playing.

After what pitching coach Joe Kerrigan called his "30-pitch mulligan", Myers cruised through six. He retired 11 of 12 after Bobby Estalella reached on an error to lead of the sixth, and left in the seventh after giving up a leadoff single to Hernandez. He finished with six-plus innings, three hits, one run, and nine strikeouts. He was charged with a run when Estalella followed Hernandez in the seventh with a 2-run homer off Carlos Silva. Terry Adams gave up two more in the eighth, but the bullpen held on for a 6-4 victory. After my harping yesterday, Jose Mesa closed the game out with a perfect ninth.

In other news...

Evidently, 2B Placido Polanco didn't feel as good after batting practice Tuesday as he let on. Pain in the finger returned yesterday, after Polanco took his first swings in a week, so the team placed him on the DL retroactive to last Wednesday, April 16th. 2B Chase Utley was recalled to take his roster spot, and offer Larry Bowa with another bat on the bench. Utley has been hitting .302/.357/.429 since he returned to Scranton.

Marlon Byrd went 3-4 with a double in his Scranton rehab stint last night. He will head to Reading tonight to continue his rehab, before traveling west with the team Sunday night.