Utley to have hip surgery next week

Philadelphia Phillies reported:

Well it's the off season and there is nothing to fear with this surgery. Chase will have right hip surgery that could hinder his availability for Opening Day versus Atlanta but that is all. Also on another note, Pedro Feliz will have surgery on his lower back today and should be ready for Opening Day. Utley's is scheduled for next week.

The Silver Slugger 2nd baseman had hip troubles all season, causing his numbers to fall of drastically towards the end of the year. His 2nd half batting average was still a .292 but his power numbers dropped drastically. He hit 53 extra base hits with 25 homers in the first half but only had 25 more in the final 65 games, 8 of those being homers.

Utley still had a good year, which earned him his 3rd Silver Slugger award, but his numbers could have been a lot better if he was healthy. He would have contended for the MVP as well. Heck, Howard's monstrous RBI total could have been higher too.

Phillies web site said:

Team physician Michael Ciccotti at the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Dr. Bryan Kelly at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York both recommended surgery. The recovery will allow for the initiation of baseball activities after three to four months, though the total recovery time may be four to six months.

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Fightin' Phils!

Hey Pedro, I guess the Phillies are your daddy. After trailing 7-0 in the 4th, the Phillies were able to beat the Mets 8-7 in a 13 inning thriller.

After the poor start by Jamie Moyer, the Phillies started their slow climb. In the bottom of the 4th, Pedro Feliz hit a sac fly to score in Shane Victorino. They then tacked on 4 runs in the 5th with 2 run homers by Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard.

In the 8th, Carlos Ruiz scored on a J-Roll single and in the 9th, Eric Bruntlett came through with the clutch pinch hit double that drove in Jayson Werth from 1st. The bull pen did amazing all night to keep the Mets from taking the game back.

After scoreless innings through the extra frames, Shane Victorino led off the 13th with a triple. New York immediately walked both Werth and Bruntlett to get to pinch hitter Brett Myers. It was obvious the Phillies didn't want him swinging to chance hitting into a double play so he struck out looking with a full count.

With one out and the bases loaded, Chris Coste comes up after pinch hitting in the 8th to stay in. He was 3-3 at the time coming in and he made it 4-4 with the game winning base hit that sailed way over Carlos Beltran's head.

With that win, the Phillies leap frogged the Mets to take a .5 division lead. They play tonight as Kyle Kendrick and Johan Santana face eachother. I'll be at the game tonight cheering hard for the Fightins'.

Game note: Rollins continued his hot bat going 5-7 with 3 RBIs, a double and home run.

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Vote for Pedro!

In a come from behind win tonight, the Phillies beat the Dodgers 5-2 in 11 innings. Tonight's hero off his recent return from the DL was Pedro Feliz who did not even enter the game until he was part of a double-switch in the 7th. In the bottom of ninth, Feliz knocked in Shane Victorino with an RBI single to tie the game at 2.

And then, after the Phillies found themselves having two men on and no outs to having 2 outs quickly, Pedro Feliz stepped up and hit a bomb into left-center for the game-winner. However, Pedro's offensive heroics were not the only impacts he had. In the top of the 10th with the bases loaded. Casey Blake grounded one to Feliz who touched third and threw it to home to get the double play.

Chad Durbin got the win improving to 5-2 on the year. Joe Blanton gave up 1 earned in 6 innings of work, though at times he struggled with control. In 7 starts, he recorded his 6th no decision and has pitched well enough to keep the Phillies in the games after his first two starts.

Though the top of the order did struggle tonight, I really like the new lineup, especially have Shane Victorino batting 5th or 6th. Victorino puts the ball in play a lot and it is nice to have his speed in the bottom of the order, especially when he's batting in front of Feliz or Dobbs. Feliz and Dobbs are both fastball hitters and with Victorino on the bases, Feliz would be more likely to see fastballs as opposing teams will not want to allow Shane to swipe bases left and right.

Thumbs up to you Charlie for finally making this type of line-up shift. Next up? Move Werth to lead-off and drop Rollins in the order. He has the worth OBP in all of baseball when leading off the inning at a dismal .242. Yes, that is his on-base percentage in such situations, not his batting average. He's hitting below .200.

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Phillies Win Despite Santana's Dominant Performance

It was a wet and wild game at Citizens Bank Park. No offense and a lot of pitching. On a night where we, as a nation, honor the birth of our great country, the nation's first capitol overcame Johan Santana to win 3-2.

Shane Victorino provided the heroics with his RBI single in the 9th, driving in Pedro Feliz with 2 outs. Pitcher Duaner Sanchez struck out both Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell in the bottom of the 9th before Feliz doubled. Victorino hit a line drive to right to score in Feliz to win the game.

It was a very patriotic evening at CBP, with the 23rd sell out crowd of the year. Before the game, a small tribute was payed to the men of service, current and veterans. God Bless America was also sung during the 7th inning stretch.


I almost feel bad for Santana. He went 8 innings, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits, striking out 6. His only hiccup came in the 6th where he allowed 4 singles that scored both Jayson Werth and Chase Utley. They were driven in by Howard and Burrell respectively.

J.A. Happ took the mound for Philly and was sub par. He threw 90+ pitches in only 4.2 innings of work. He was taken out with the bases loaded and after 2 runs came in. Chad Durbin relieved him and struck out Carlos Beltran to stop the bleeding. Happ finished with 2 runs allowed on 3 hits, 4 walks, and 3 strike outs.

Durbin's time of relief was amazing. He saw 7 batters and struck out 6 in his 2.1 innings pitched. Ryan Madson pitched the 8th giving up a hit and Brad Lidge threw 4 pitches to earn the win in the 9th.

Jayson Werth was the lead off hitter for the Phillies and had 2 hits. Howard also had 2 hits and Feliz had the only extra base hit for Philadelphia.

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Phillies Earn 2nd Straight Sweep in Atlanta

As Justin would say: "Cole Hamels will win a Cy Young this year and 10 Cole Hamels in his career."

Hamels (9-5) was filthy in his outing versus Atlanta, pitching 8.2 innings, giving up 1 run in the 9th, a double by Brian McCann that scored Chipper Jones. He allowed 5 hits total and 1 walk, a .81 WHIP. He also struck out 7. King Cole's ERA improved to 3.22. Tom Gordon pitched the last out, earning his 2nd save.

Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Pedro Feliz all had solo home runs. Utley leads the league with 24 and Howard has 22 on the season. Those were the only hits for Utley and Howard. Pat Burrell went 2-4 with a double. Feliz went 3-4 with a homer and 2 RBIs, driving in Burrell and himself. Jimmy Rollins had a triple in the 3rd.

The offense got an early run in the first with Utley's solo shot. In the fourth, Feliz singled to drive in Burrell. In the 6th, Howard homered and in the 7th, Feliz had his shot.

The Phillies (47-39) have won 3 straight since their dry spell in June. They start a 4 game series tomorrow night versus the Mets (41-43). They face 4 pitchers capable of shutting down this offense. Being back in the comfort of their own park should settle the offense back in. No Hamels in the series could be huge. Probables for the series are:

7/4: J. Santana (7-7, 3.01), J. Happ (0-0, -.--)
7/5: J. Maine (8-6, 3.86), J. Moyer (7-6, 4.13)
7/6: O. Perez (6-5, 4.98), K. Kendrick (8-3, 4.58)
7/7: P. Martinez (2-2, 7.39), A. Eaton (3-6, 4.79)

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Phillies sign Pedro Feliz

The Philadelphia Phillies signed free-agent third baseman, Pedro Feliz, to a two-year contract. The agreement is pending a physical.

Feliz is often known for his outstanding defense. The Fielding Bible considered Feliz to be the best defensive third baseman in baseball last year. Adding Feliz is huge for pitchers such as Jamie Moyer and Kyle Kendrick who pride themselves off of getting ground balls.

Offensively, Pedro Feliz is a below average hitter in the sense he does not find the base paths that often (Career OBP - .288) His 162 game averages are as follows:

AB: 526
R: 64
H: 133
HR: 20
RBI: 77
BB: 28
SO: 93
AVG: .252
SLG: .433
OPS: .791

Outside of his home run pop, he does not offer much offensively. The good thing is that the Phillies are already a great run scoring team. You should see Feliz's runs and RBI numbers rise with the players in front and ahead of him.

If you can't improve pitching, you should at least improve defense and the Phillies have done that. Expect a very, very good defensive team for the Phillies next year.

Side Note: Pedro Feliz was a Type B free agent so the San Francisco Giants get a sandwich draft pick.

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Lohse Coming Back?

According to Delaware Online,

Because of Boras' inability to find a suitor to give overrated Kyle Lohse a four-year deal, he has begun looking for less and possibly looking at the three year deal the Phillies considered offering Lohse. Lohse's career inconsistency is nothing to write home about and the Phillies will likely overpay for him, but they need to do something with the back-end of our bullpen being Moyer and Eaton.

Just imagine how good the Phillies could be if they had their own tv station like the Mets, Red Sox, and Yankees. They could finally say fuck the budget.

Also, the article reports that the Phillies are still looking at Pedro Feliz, but they do not plan to look past a one year deal because of his pathetic on base percentage.

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Kyle Lohse and the Phillies?

The Philadelphia Phillies have re-opened talks with Kyle Lohse and his agent Scott Boras. Lohse has lowered his demands to now 3 years and somewhere around 25 million. A deal like this is doable for the Phillies and would not be entirely bad. Is he worth a little over 8 million? No, however, Adam Eaton is not worth 8 million and this is the market we live in. In reality, he probably deserves 2 years, 8-10 million. He has been a pretty mediocre pitcher, but he did pitch decent for us and could be a big lift to our rotation.

Lohse had said he down to three clubs, but the teams have not been released.

Recently, Ruben Amaro Jr. participated in a chat with MLB.com.

- They are discussing the upgrade of third base. They have had discussions with Pedro Feliz, who would be a great upgrade defensively, but he pathetic offensively.
- It is unlikely that the Phillies will re-sign Jose Mesa.
- Also, it is unlikely that they will pursue Bartolo Colon.

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Phillies Rumor Mill

Ken Mandel reports,
- Gillick has said that the agents for Carlos Silva and Kyle Lohse have informed him that they want to keep as many teams involved as possible. The Phillies expect to sign neither.

Though I would not mind Carlos Silva, I feel that both he and Lohse are going to demand 4-5 year deals in a very inflated market. We have enough young pitching coming up within a few years that it is not worth wasting money on someone who is not a stud pitcher for the rotation. There are other options out there where we could sign them to a three year deal or less at a cheaper rate.

- The Phillies are considering Pedro Feliz as a third base option.

I like Feliz's defense, one of the best in baseball, but his offense is so atrocious that it makes the deal almost not worth it. I have yet to see what Feliz's demands are, but they could bring back Abraham Nunez likely for cheaper and Nunez defense is right up there with the top third baseman in the league. Nunez offense is actually a little better as well. Feliz has a career OBP of .288.

- The Phillies are still considering Geoff Jenkins.

The corner outfield free-agent market is extremely thin. Most people are saying that Jenkins is likely to land a two to three year deal. I'm not sure what I think, but I believe he will be a little expensive for their liking, and would extremely put a damper on our defense. Also, he's another left-handed bat. We needed a right-handed bat that can hit for average and power (Aaron Rowand...at least in our park).

- The Phillies have interest in Erik Bedard according to Jayson Stark

It sounds nice, but I am not sure what have to offer him. The New York Mets want to make a trade for him as well, and I have a feeling the Phillies name is involved just to raise the Mets offer.

- The Phillies have serious interest in pitcher Livan Hernandez according to Yahoo's Tim Brown.

I do not want him at all. His career numbers against the NL East opponents are not very good at all and I think his heavy workload in the past is finally catching up to him. His WHIP is becoming far too high to add to our rotation where he'd likely be the third starter in the rotation.

- Jerry Crasnik reports, the Phillies might be willing to stretch to four years for Rowand or at least three years with a vesting option for a fourth.

The Phillies almost have to sign Rowand now. He is to valuable to their line-up and everyday defensive lineup.

- Gillick has said it is "50-50" that the Phillies will acquire a pitcher via trade vs. free agency.

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