Some things haven’t changed in 250 years!!!! BF
VICTORY
“We improve ourselves by victory over ourself. There must be contests, and you must win”
Edward Gibbon
(1737-1794)
Archive for March, 2012|Monthly archive page
Phillies Profile – Placido Polanco
In Philadelphia Phillies on March 20, 2012 at 8:54 pm
Over the next 28 days Philly Pressbox (https://phillypressbox.wordpress.com) (@phillypressbox) will be doing a review and analysis of each Phillies player, Manager Charlie Manuel and the coaching staff leading up to Opening Day 2012. On Day 12 we preview, Placido Polanco.
Placido Polanco– After being a 19th round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1994, Polanco has turned in to a high quality major league player. Polly made his big league debut in 1998, and in 2012 prepares to begin his 15th big league season. He played 4 ½ seasons with St. Louis before being traded to the Phillies in the Scott Rolen deal in 2002. He played for the Phillies for 3 ½ seasons until he was traded in mid-season, to make room for Chase Utley, to the Tigers. He played in Detroit for 4 ½ seasons, hitting .311, before returning to the Phillies as a free agent for the last 2 seasons. Although he’s bounced around a bit, Polly still holds a career .301 batting average. The interesting thing about Polanco’s career is he’s gotten better with age. He didn’t win a Gold Glove until 2007 and has added two more since, 2009 and 2011. He’s also made 2 all star games, in 2007 and 2011. The most interesting statistic in Polly’s career is that he is currently the “All Time Career Leader in Fielding Percentage by a 2nd Baseman” at .992% and he’s also the “All Time Career Leader in Fielding Percentage by a 3rd Baseman” at .993%. Pretty impressive statistics! Polly is in the final year of his contract in 2012 with 2013 as a mutual option year.
Personal Analysis:
Each day as we write these profiles the Phillies are changing due to injuries. We knew Ryan Howard would start the season on the Disabled List and yesterday news about Chase Utley looks like it could put him on the DL for opening day and maybe much longer. The loss of Utley makes it even more important that Polanco stay healthy and have a solid season in the 2nd spot in the lineup. Polly, along with Jimmy Rollins, will need to set the table and score a lot of runs as the Phils try to figure out how to manufacture runs rather than depend on the long ball like they have the last few seasons. As a .300 career lifetime contact hitter, that doesn’t strike out much, Polly is a great fit for the #2 spot in the Phillies lineup. Our prediction for Polly in 2012 is a .285 batting average, 8 HR’s, 50 RBI’s and solid on defense, as always.
Tomorrow we will preview John Mayberry, Jr.
The series: Day 1, Charlie Manuel. Day 2, The Coaching Staff. Day 3, Roy Halladay. Day 4, Cliff Lee. Day 5, Cole Hamels. Day 6, Vance Worley. Day 7, Joe Blanton. Day 8, Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz. Day 9, Ryan Howard. Day 10, Chase Utley. Day 11, Jimmy Rollins.
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The Word of the Day – AMBITION – Brown
In The Word of the Day on March 20, 2012 at 6:50 am
AMBITION
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars”
Les Brown
Phillies Profile – Jimmy Rollins
In Philadelphia Phillies on March 19, 2012 at 8:24 pm
Over the next 28 days Philly Pressbox (https://phillypressbox.wordpress.com) (@phillypressbox) will be doing a review and analysis of each Phillies player, Manager Charlie Manuel and the coaching staff leading up to Opening Day 2012. On Day 11 we preview Jimmy Rollins.
Jimmy Rollins – 2012 will mark the 12th season for JRoll as the starting Phillies shortstop. The 33 year old Rollins is a former 2nd round draft pick from 1996. He made his big league debut all the way back on September 17, 2000. Since that time, Rollins has done just about everything you can do as a Phillie. Although his style has never been that of your prototypical leadoff man he’s had great success. He has led the league in At Bats 4 times, runs scored once, triples 4 times and stolen bases once. He won the NL MVP in 2007, won a Silver Slugger Award for shortstops, he’s won 3 Gold Glove Awards, been named to 3 All Star teams and won a World Series and been to another. He has had over 200 hits one time, 212 in 2007. He has had over 190 hits in three other seasons. The knock on JRoll as a leadoff hitter is that he doesn’t get on base enough and still strikes out too much even though his yearly strike out totals have decreased throughout his career. Last season he struck out 59 times. His On Base Percentage (OBP) is .329 for his career. As a comparison, New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter’s career OBP is .383 while former Phils great Larry Bowa had a career .301 OBP. Jimmy currently holds nearly all of the career hitting records by a Phillies shortstops. He trails Bowa by 103 games played in his career. Barring injury he will pass that mark this season.
Personal Analysis:
JRoll is still “The Straw that Stirs the Drink” for the Phillies lineup. When Jimmy puts the ball in play by hitting ground balls or line drives on a consistent basis he sets the table for the middle of the lineup. At age 33, the Phils don’t need a power hitting shortstop, they need a guy who hits for contact, drives the ball in the gaps and is a pest on the bases while stealing 25-30 bases. Jimmy also needs to be patient at the plate, work the pitchers, and get on base by walking. In 2011 he matched his career high with 58 walks. Exceeding that number this year should be a goal for Rollins and for the Phillies. I’d like to see that number be at least 75 but that hasn’t been Jimmy’s style. Rollins will be solid on defense, as always, teaming with Chase Utley or whoever ends up playing 2nd base. The Phils decision to sign Jimmy for the next 3 years means he will likely end his career in Philadelphia. He’s been a solid player throughout his career, the hope here is that it continues. We’ll predict a .270 season with 90 runs scored, 10 home runs, 55 RBI’s and 25 stolen bases.
Tomorrow we will preview Placido Polanco.
The series: Day 1, Charlie Manuel. Day 2, The Coaching Staff. Day 3, Roy Halladay. Day 4, Cliff Lee. Day 5, Cole Hamels. Day 6, Vance Worley. Day 7, Joe Blanton. Day 8, Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz. Day 9, Ryan Howard. Day 10, Chase Utley.
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Phillies Profile – Chase Utley
In Philadelphia Phillies on March 18, 2012 at 8:18 pm
Over the next 28 days Philly Pressbox (https://phillypressbox.wordpress.com) (@phillypressbox) will be doing a review and analysis of each Phillies player, Manager Charlie Manuel and the coaching staff leading up to Opening Day 2012. On Day 10 we preview Chase Utley.
Chase Utley – Chase is a former Phillies 1st round draft pick in 2000 out of UCLA. Utley made his big league debut on April 4, 2003 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He became the full time 2nd baseman in 2005. Since that time, Chase has had a 203 hit season, scored over 100 runs 4 times, driven in over 100 runs 4 times, hit over 30 home runs 3 times, led the league in hit by pitches 3 times, won 4 Silver Slugger Awards for 2nd basemen and made 5 All Star teams. His career batting average is .290 with 188 Home Runs and 694 RBI’s. Chase has also contributed 10 career post season home runs and 25 RBI’s.
Chase is a key part of the middle of the Phillies line up. The 3rd spot in the lineup is critical to protecting Ryan Howard or Hunter Pence in the 4th spot. Utley’s injuries over the last several seasons have directly affected Howards output as well. Howard hasn’t seen the quality pitches he was seeing. Part of the reason for that is Utley hasn’t been on base as much or been the feared hitter he has been in the past. The injuries have limited Chase’s games to 115 and 103 the last two seasons. Many of those games were played at less than 100%.
Personal Analysis:
The Phils need Utley to raise his game closer to the pre-injury plagued seasons of 2010 and 2011. Chase is absolutely critical to the success of the Phillies by getting on base and driving in runs. Utley’s numbers have declined drastically over the last few years. His average has dropped from .332, .292, .282, .275 to .259 in 2011. His home run numbers have also declined over that period, 22, 33, 31, 16, and 11, and with that comes RBI reductions, 103, 104, 93, 65 and 44.Chase has been given a pass because he has been injured and because he was such an integral part to the 2008 World Series Champions and to the return to the World Series in 2009. As of this writing, Chase is yet to play in a Spring Training game due to a knee problem. There seems to be no set time table on his return. There has even been some discussion that Utley could start the season on the DL along with Howard. That would be a big blow to the Phillies to start the season. Utley continues to say he will be ready to play soon and will be ready for opening day, however, Charlie Manuel doesn’t seem convinced: “His problem is not going away. More than likely it maybe never goes away. We want him to be at a real good percentage of playing. Will he ever be 100 percent? I don’t know about that. He might never be that.” We’re going to stay on the positive side with Utley’s health. We feel that Manuel will rest Chase on a regular basis, especially on day games after night games. We’re going to predict 130 games at 2nd base, a .290 batting average with 20-25 home runs and 90 RBI’s. The one thing that will be constant with Chase Utley is that if he goes on the field he will be giving 100%, whether he’s 100% healthy or not. The big question for the Phillies in 2012 is will that be good enough?
Tomorrow we will preview Jimmy Rollins.
The series: Day 1, Charlie Manuel. Day 2, The Coaching Staff. Day 3, Roy Halladay. Day 4, Cliff Lee. Day 5, Cole Hamels. Day 6, Vance Worley. Day 7, Joe Blanton. Day 8, Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz. Day 9, Ryan Howard.
Philly Pressbox would like to welcome our Sponsor, Shop.com. www.Shop.com/BobSullivan .
Please click the following link http://www.shop.com/ul!44451!Phillies+shopping-trends.xhtml?credituser=C9407795 for all of your Phillies needs. Shopping made easy right from your home without ever missing an inning of the 2012 Phillies.
Flyers, 76ers Going in Different Directions
In Philadelphia 76ers, Philadelphia Flyers on March 18, 2012 at 9:30 am
Last week in our review we stated that the Flyers needed 6 points for the week to stay in contention. We said they would split with the Devils and they did. We said they would beat the Islanders and they did. We also said they would beat the Bruins in Boston and they didn’t. They did get a point after the shoot out lose. That totals 5 points for the week. Honestly, the one point doesn’t hurt them that much overall at this point in the season, although all points are important. What do you mean the point isn’t that important? The Penguins presently hold the 4th spot in the Eastern Conference just 2 points behind the 1st seeded Rangers. The Pens are the hottest team in the league, winning their 11th in a row last night against the Devils. Sidney Crosby is back, again, and has recorded 5 assists in the 3 games since his return. The Flyers are the second hottest team in the East and presently hold the 5th spot in the playoff picture sitting 3 points behind the Pens going in to todays matchup at the Wells Fargo Center. Unless the Flyers or Pens can take over the first spot in the East they will play each other in the first round of the playoffs with the Penguins having the home ice advantage. That’s the worst scenario for both teams, especially the Flyers. With that said, the Flyers have 11 games remaining in the regular season, 3 against the Penguins and 1 against the Rangers so there’s a lot of hockey left and a lot can happen. Looking at the upcoming week for the Flyers, all four of their games are at home and they need to win them all. Seven points is a must this week but eight should be the goal. Obviously, todays game against Pittsburgh is the key to the week and a potential 4 point swing in the standings. Tuesday the Flyers host the Florida Panthers, Thursday the Washington Capitals and Saturday the Montreal Canadians. These are all games the Flyers should and must win.
The Flyers continue to get outstanding play from goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Wayne Simmonds and the defense. Bryz set the Flyers team record this week with 249 minutes, 43 seconds of scoreless hockey. In the month of March, Bryz now holds a 7-1 record, while stopping 226 of the 235 shots he’s faced, a 96.2% save percentage. Giroux continues to be a league leader in points and is a top candidate for the Hart Trophy as the league MVP. Giroux is presently 3rd in total points with 82, behind Evgeni Malkin, 87 points, and Steven Stamkos, 84 points. He is also 2nd in the league in assists with 56, trailing Vancouvers, Henrik Sedin by 1 assist. Hartnell is presently 6th in the NHL with 33 goals. The schedule is in the Flyers favor this week and they need to take advantage of it and earn the 8 possible points.
We felt that the 76ers needed to split the week this week. We didn’t expect them to beat Miami or Chicago but we did expect them to beat the Knicks and Pacers, they didn’t. After starting the week with a nice win at Madison Square Garden for their third straight win, things went bad from there. Indiana, Miami and Chicago are all quality teams and the 76ers couldn’t compete with them. They were blown out in Indiana, 111-94, allowing the second most points in any game this season. They were blown out again by the Heat, 84-74. Don’t be misled by the final score. The 76ers were down by 29 points in the 1st half. The Heat took their foot off the throttle or could’ve won the game by 40 points. On to Chicago, who played without their best player, reigning MVP Derrick Rose and the 76ers could not compete. They did have a halftime lead but got outscored 51-36 in the 2nd half.
The 76ers still hold a 1.5 game lead in the Atlantic Division over Boston and a 4 game lead over the Knicks. They are presently the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference, which they will maintain if they win the Atlantic. If Boston were to win the Atlantic the 76ers could drop down as far as the 7th or 8th seed and have to play Miami or Chicago in the 1st round of the playoffs. That isn’t the scenario they want.
The 76ers get a break this week with only three games, however, they are important. They open the week Monday at Charlotte against the last place Bobcats. They follow that with critical home games Wednesday against the Knicks and Friday against the Celtics. The 76ers must win all three games this week if they’re going to hold on to the Atlantic Division lead. There are 21games remaining in the regular season, these three are as important as any, as the 76ers try to regain some momentum and consistency going down the stretch.
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Phillies Profile – Ryan Howard
In Philadelphia Phillies on March 17, 2012 at 8:02 pm
Over the next 28 days Philly Pressbox (https://phillypressbox.wordpress.com) (@phillypressbox) will be doing a review and analysis of each Phillies player, Manager Charlie Manuel and the coaching staff leading up to Opening Day 2012. On Day 9, we preview Ryan Howard.
Ryan Howard – “The Big Piece” is the key to the middle of the Phillies line up and the key to The Fightins reaching the World Series in 2012. Howard has hit home runs at a greater pace than any Phillie in history, including Michael Jack Schmidt. In his 6 seasons as the Phils regular 1st baseman Ryan has hit 58, 47, 48, 45, 31 and 33 home runs, leading the league twice. He’s also driven in over 108 runs every year while leading the league in RBI’s three times with over 141 each of those years. Howard won the Rookie of the Year award in 2005, won the MVP Award in 2006, finished 2nd in the MVP voting in 2008 and is a 3 – time all star selection. Interestingly enough if you take a close look at Howards statistics his best seasons came when the #3 hitter, Chase Utley, in the lineup had his best seasons and the #5 hitter, Jayson Werth, had his best seasons. It all works together for Howard. When Utley has been injured and missed games or not been up to his best, which means not on base as much, Howard doesn’t get the good pitches he used to get. The same can be said for the 5 hole in the lineup when Werth signed with the Nationals and Hunter Pence was not yet a Phillie. Look for yourself. Utley over the last 5 seasons has hit .332, .292, .282, .275, and .259. Howards RBI totals have been 136, 146, 141, 108, and 116 during the same period. These numbers are still awful good for any player, but not what we’ve come to expect from “The Big Piece.” With that said, it’s pretty clear that Ryan has developed some bad habits at the plate. He’s not getting the pitch selection he used to get. He’s seeing constant breaking balls away and is chasing them and striking out too much. The habits are bad, but the fact the table isn’t set by the top of the lineup results in Howard not seeing as many fastballs as he used to. A healthy Utley and the everyday presence of Pence in the 5 hole will help Howard in 2012.
Defensively, Howard continues to get better each season. After leading the league in errors 3 years in a row Howard finished with a career best .993 fielding percentage in 2011 with only 9 errors. This is down considerably from his career low numbers of .988 and 19 errors in 2008.
Personal Analysis:
The news out of Clearwater seems to be getting worse. The latest projection is that Ryan won’t be ready to play until late May or early June. GM Ruben Amaro said “When (the wound) gets healed over and we feel comfortable he can take the boot off, that’s what we’ll do, but he’s doing some more activities now, he’s doing some cardio stuff, he’s taking ground balls on the bucket. “I think he’s going to take throws … he’s doing stuff he can do when he’s in the boot that aren’t ridiculous, but things that will help him so he’s not too far removed from doing baseball stuff.” With that said the Phillies will err on the side of caution and not bring Howard back too early and risk not having him for the second half of the season. The Phillies will need to hold down the fort with their solid pitching, get good contributions from whatever combination of players they decide to use at 1st base and Pence will have to be solid in the #4 spot. None of that matters if the combination of Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Placido Polanco and Utley don’t set the table for Pence. We know Pence won’t hit the home runs that Howard hits but he could drive in the runs. Once Howard returns, we expect 18-24 home runs and 60 RBI’s down the stretch. The Phils will need “The Big Piece” to be healthy for the second half of the season to win the 2012 World Series.
Tomorrow we will preview Chase Utley.
The series: Day 1, Charlie Manuel. Day 2, The Coaching Staff. Day 3, Roy Halladay. Day 4, Cliff Lee. Day 5, Cole Hamels. Day 6, Vance Worley. Day 7, Joe Blanton. Day 7, Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz.
Philly Pressbox would like to welcome our Sponsor, Shop.com. www.Shop.com/BobSullivan .
Please click the following link http://www.shop.com/ul!44451!Phillies+shopping-trends.xhtml?credituser=C9407795 for all of your Phillies needs. Shopping made easy right from your home without ever missing an inning of the 2012 Phillies.
Phillies Profile – Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz
In Philadelphia Phillies on March 16, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Over the next 28 days Philly Pressbox (https://phillypressbox.wordpress.com) (@phillypressbox) will be doing a review and analysis of each Phillies player, Manager Charlie Manuel and the coaching staff leading up to Opening Day 2012. On Day 8 we preview Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz.
Carlos Ruiz – “Chooch” has turned in a truly unbelievable story. He was signed by the Phillies as a Free Agent in 1998 as a 2nd baseman. Early on he was converted to catcher due to his strong arm. He struggled through a good part of his minor league career in Low A ball at Clearwater and Lakewood. In 2003, he started off hot at Clearwater and was promoted to AA Reading and his career started to take off. Chooch spent 2 seasons at Reading and 2 more at AAA Lehigh Valley. He continued to prosper at the plate in Lehigh Valley, hitting .300 and .307 there. All the while honing his catching skills. Interestingly enough, Chooch never caught more than 101 games in a season in the minor leagues.
Chooch got the call to the big leagues in 2006. He made his debut on May 6 against the San Francisco Giants. He played in only 27 games in 2006 but Chooch was about to arrive on the Phillies scene on a full time basis. In 2007, Chooch became the starting catcher. He has caught 111, 110, 107, 118 and 128 games each year since. Chooch has continued to be solid at the plate while doing an outstanding job behind the plate working with the pitching staff. His hitting high point came in 2010 when he hit .302. Another amazing thing about the 33 year old Panama native is when he arrived in Philadelphia in 2007 he was paid $380,000. In 2012 he will be earning $3.7m in the final year of his contract. The Phillies do hold a 2013 team option on Chooch for amazing $5m.
Chooch has had several personal highlights during his time as the full time catcher during the “Greatest Era in Phillies Baseball”. He caught the last pitch of Game 5 of the 2008 World Series from Brad Lidge to let the celebration begin. He was the catcher for Roy Halladays Perfect Game against the Marlins and was also behind the plate for Halladays no-hitter against the Reds in the playoffs. Halladay said of Chooch, “He’s very good at in-game adjustments and feeling his way through the game. I’ve been fortunate to have some good catchers. But I think as far as a guy that takes pride in calling every pitch, I think he’s probably the highest on that list.” Quite a compliment from the best pitcher in baseball! Former Phillies teammate Jamie Moyer added, “He gets a great deal of respect from his teammates, and as an athlete that’s what you hope to get. He’s earned it quite well. I think if you went across the field and ask any opposing team what they think of him, they would have a great deal of respect for him as a person and a catcher.” And lastly Phils starter Joe Blanton commented, “He’s huge, I think if you ask any pitcher, they are going to tell you how valuable he is putting down the fingers, game-calling, his ability to handle us each differently.”
Personal Analysis:
“Chooch” has become a real fan favorite of the Phillies faithful and why not? He’s fun to watch, he gets key hits, he’s under complete control of the pitching staff, and he brings his lunch pail to work every day….Philly style! There’s no reason not to expect another solid season from Chooch, both behind the plate defensively and at the plate offensively. We expect another 120 games behind the plate and another .280 batting average with a handful of home runs and 40-50 RBI’s out of the 8th spot in the batting order. The big question for the Phillies could come at the end of the season. Do you sign Chooch for his option year at $5m, try to sign him for an additional couple of years or turn him lose?
Tomorrow we will preview Ryan Howard.
Philly Pressbox would like to welcome our Sponsor, Shop.com. www.Shop.com/BobSullivan .
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The Word of the Day – AGE – Lewis
In The Word of the Day on March 16, 2012 at 8:32 am
AGE
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream”
C.S. Lewis
phillypressbox 