Hitting good, pitching…less good
So the Phils have quietly and sneakily crept back into first place with last night’s win over the Natinals. Well, maybe not sneakily; Monday’s win was effected via two, count ’em, two grand slams, one from Ryan Howard to tie it up early, and then another from Raul “RBI” Ibañez in the bottom of the eighth to take a 13-11 lead. So not sneaky, but quite loud.
The offense has been en fuego for the last week or so, getting on base, hitting huge bombs. They’re getting on base 35% of the time, 5th best in the league, and slugging .472, topping the league. Most importantly, they have 118 runs, third in the league but only one behind the tied leaders. Woo!
On the mound, however, we have a different story. In 19 games, starters have gone 7 innings only twice. The bullpen is performing admirably (aside from Lidge blowing his first save as a Phillie last week), but they’re getting worn out. Hamels is off to a disastrous start, with an ERA over 7, and while he allowed no runs last night, he only faced 18 batters over 4 1/3 innings before spraining his ankle while fielding a bunt. He says he’ll be okay to pitch again next Monday, his next scheduled start, but frankly I’d rather they 15-day DL him so he can make sure he’s back to full health. The team is good again this year, and has a strong chance of defending last year’s title; I think it behooves them to make sure their ace starter is healthy, rather than risk injury on a game in May.
On a positive note, Raul “RBI” Ibañez is close to joining Chase “Sloppy Splinter” Utley on the official “Matt Hearn Would Go Gay For These Men” list. They’re neck-and-neck in the stats: Utley’s batting .357, with an OPS of 1.142, and Ibañez is batting .355, and his OPS 1.143. Utley started hot like this last year but was slowed by his hip injury, but whichever of them can maintain a pace like this is your NL MVP, and I guar-on-tee it.
