While driving down the interstate of Missouri I’m pondering a few things about the Phillies and the first 38 games of the season. I’ve come up with a list of 5 things and I ask you, what do you think will happen in what order? I’ll list them randomly and give you my list at the bottom.

• ·        The Phillies take over 1^st Place in the NL East.
• ·        Greg Gross gets fired as the hitting coach.
• ·        Carlos “Chooch” Ruiz is named the starting catcher for the NL in the All Star game.
• ·        Cole Hamels is signed to a long term contract.
• ·        Jimmy Rollins will be moved out of the leadoff spot permanently.

Here is our list and our reasoning:

1. Greg Gross will be fired. It’s not fair to blame everything on the hitting coach but that’s what happens, ask Mickey Hatcher who was fired after 13 seasons as the hitting coach of the Angels because he and Albert Pujols had a disagreement and the team was underachieving at the plate. GG has been fired before in favor of Milt Thompson who was replaced again by GG. When it’s all said and done, there are a lot of the same hitters that have been here throughout and they haven’t changed, regardless of who the hitting coach is. The Phils are presently playing .500 ball, 19-19, and in last place in the NL East. They rank 4^th in the NL in batting average at .261, however, they rank only 10^th of 16 teams in OBP, on base percentage, are 8^th in runs scored  and home runs but 15^th in bases on balls. It’s a shame to say but someone may have to be the scapegoat if the Phils don’t start to score more runs and GG will be that guy. Maybe Chase Utley and Ryan Howard can help out if it’s not too late.
2. “Chooch” is named to start in the All Star game. At this point in the season he has done it all. Always solid on defense and managing the pitching staff, he has now added some pretty significant offensive numbers. He’s sporting a .343 batting average, .388 OBP, 7 HR’s, 24 RBI’s and 19 runs scored, all second on the team to Hunter Pence. It’s a no-brainer that Chooch is the NL starting catcher.
3. Cole Hamels signs a multi- year deal. Every time Hamels goes to the mound it’s costing the Phillies money. He’s presently 5-1 with a 2.28 ERA. He’s started 7 games and the Phils have won 6 of them. He leads the team with 49 strike outs while holding the opposition to a .229 batting average. The 28 year old lefty has not reached his prime yet and needs to be locked up for the long haul. We’ve been on that bandwagon since Spring Training. The Dodgers, Angels and Yankees will likely be interested if Cole tests the free agent market and will all be willing to dish out big money. The Matt Cain contract in San Francisco has set the bar at $120m and the Phillies need to beat it and they need to do it now. Following is the link to our preseason player profile on Hamels.   https://phillypressbox.wordpress.com/2012/03/13/phillies-profile-cole-hamels/
4. The Phils take over 1^st place in the NL East. The Phils have played poorly through the first 38 games of the season. Utley and Howard are out, the middle bullpen is a mess, Cliff Lee has been on the DL, Jim Thome has been a bust, Freddy Galvis, Lance Nix and John Mayberry, among others, have struggled and the Phils are only 4.5 games out of 1^st place. Although the division has improved the Phillies still have the top line of starting pitchers. It’s just a matter of time until they find some consistency at the plate and start scoring runs in bunches.
5. Jimmy Rollins is moved out of the leadoff spot. The Philly Pressbox doesn’t under Charlie Manuals love for JRoll in the leadoff spot. Those days are gone. Jimmy is presently hitting a measly .232 with an OBP of .290. That is awful for a guy in the leadoff spot.   He has also already struck out 27 times while walking only 13 and stealing 8 bases. Only Galvis and Mayberry have a lower OBP than Rollins. With Juan Pierre swinging a hot bat, .343 average, with a .388 OBP, he needs to be in the leadoff spot until he can’t get the job done. Pierre is a proven big league player and he will produce. JRoll and Manuel need to swallow the egos and move Rollins down near the bottom of the lineup where he belongs. We don’t see it happening any time soon and the Phils will suffer because of it unless Jimmy turns back the clock to 2007 and 2008. See our preseason preview of JRoll at the following link. https://phillypressbox.wordpress.com/2012/03/19/phillies-profile-jimmy-rollins/

There you have our thoughts at close to the quarter point of the season.

What do you think????

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