It was one of those surreal “How did we get here?” moments.

Halloween, 2009. Sect. 421. My Dad and I were still buried under our ponchos even though the rain was pretty much gone. Cole Hamels was walking off the mound in the top of the fifth inning after squandering an early 3-0 Phils’ lead in Game 3 of the World Series.

Before Charlie Manuel had taken the ball from Cole, you knew what was coming. Hamels ambled his way off the mound – dejected, and a healthy round of booing acted as the soundtrack for his long walk back to the dugout.

This was just one year after the parade. Is there any precedent for a Philly athlete going from the hero of a championship team to heel in one years’ time?

Hamels, for his part, laid pretty low after the Series was over. After his ill-advised postgame remarks from Game 3 about looking forward to the end of the season, Hamels essentially vanished. All that was left was plenty of ink to burn through on speculating about what 2009 would mean for Hamels’ 2010 and beyond. Talk of secondary pitches was popular, as 2009 clearly demonstrated that Cole could not dominate based on a plus fastball, killer change and subpar curveball.

By all accounts, Hamels has come to spring training with a renewed focus. He showed up early, has demonstrated a desire to master not just one, but 2 additional pitches and he’s saying all the right things to the scribes. I think that the appropriate stance for even the most cynical among us is to see how it goes – give Cole a chance in April to show us that 2009 was to Cole what 2003 was to Pat Burrell – a lost year. A barely explainable, completely forgettable and regrettable crap year.

Which brings me back to Halloween, 2009. The boos. It’s been months, and the wounds from the 2009 Series have almost entirely healed, but it won’t take more than 1 bad start before the natives get restless. April will go a long way to determining how successful Hamels is in 2010. If he starts off strong, he’ll get the fans back and the bad memories from 2009 will continue to dissipate. If he gets hit around in April and doesn’t make it to the 6th inning in his first 2 starts, gestures when his defense boots a ball and in general gives up a run every other inning he is pitching, he is going to become persona non grata in a hurry. And then God knows where it will go from there. He’s used up his mulligans with the average fan. Don’t believe me? Listen to the chatter in the mens’ room during one of his outings when it isn’t going well.

My guess is that Hamels is going to start well and that 2010 will be a much better year. Not for reasons like BABIP or other metrics that speak to the notion that Hamels was as much a victim of bad luck in 2009 as he was himself. But because he had a real offseason, he prepped his arm in a much better fashion and is already showing velocity that is at or near where you’d expect it to be during the regular season. Because he showed up early and seems to be focused on a big rebound. Because he’s a year older and certainly wiser for living through 2009. Because maybe he needed to be knocked off that pedestal that we all elevated him to in order to build an even higher one.

As for the fans, I think they’ll forgive and forget. At least during the first homestand.

The Phils’ base coaches have been getting some much-deserved ink recently. Davey Lopes was in the news regarding the possibility that the former Dodger and baserunning guru was contemplating retirement. Luckily, it sounds like Davey isn’t going anywhere, at least not yet.

Today, Lopes’ counterpart at third, Sam Perlozzo, was featured in an Inquirer article by Andy Martino that explained all the work that the Phillies’ second year coach is doing with all 4 infielders to addressed aspects of their fieldwork.

Lopes’ contributions to the Phillies are numerous, but Todd Zolecki broke down the team’s baserunning prowess with Lopes as the first base coach:

His presence in Philadelphia has been invaluable. The Phils have an 84.5 stolen-base percentage the past three seasons, which easily leads baseball. (The Rangers are second at 78.7 percent). The Phillies set a Major League record with an 87.9 stolen base percentage in 2007. Their 84.5 percent mark in ‘08 ranks second in baseball history.

Players like Werth, Shane Victorino, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley talk about Lopes like he is the Jedi Master of basestealing. One wonders what would happen to the team’s basestealing fortunes when he leaves.

Perlozzo has taken on the task of working on the infielders’ defense. What struck me most about Martino’s article on Perlozzo was this nugget about Ryan Howard:

For the second consecutive year, Howard contacted Perlozzo in January, and the two worked at Bright House Field five times before spring training.

“It’s something we made strides on last year, and now we want to take it to another level,” Perlozzo said. “You’re always looking for more consistency. When we started with him, it was like he hadn’t forgotten anything, so he’s in a good place to build on that.”

Howard has already gone on record as saying he wants to be a Phillie. But words mean little if the actions aren’t in sync. It would be easy for Howard to not sweat his defense in the offseason and just wait to head to the American League and DH and spot start at first base when needed. Instead, Howard is still trying to improve his range and the accuracy of his throws to second base.

Is it a big thing? No. But it definitely speaks to Howard’s character and work ethic that he’s reaching out to Perlozzo in the offseason to try and get better. Perhaps it speaks to his desire to be here for the long haul, too. Are the Phillies like-minded?

I’ve had a chance to finally soak in the latest from Clearwater. Here are some initial reactions.

Jimmy Rollins

Is it really necessary for Jimmy Rollins to show up for everything at the last minute? I know that Jayson Werth and Greg Dobbs showed up today also, but neither are generally considered leaders of the ball club. I’ll bet that Jimmy really wanted to show up 4 days ago, but couldn’t possibly succumb to the notion of being early for anything in his life.

I love Rollins, and certainly think that he should be a Phillie forever, but I find his cavalier attitude about things like this to be really grating. Perhaps I am overreaching, but I don’t think so.

Chan Ho Park

So Chan Ho is now a Yankee, taking a one year contract with no guarantee to start for significantly less than he could have signed with the Phillies earlier in the offseason.

Well, that didn’t exactly work out so well, did it?

With Danys Baez and Jose Contreras already in the fold, Chan Ho was running out of options, and his contract terms indicate as much.

All things being equal, I’d rather have Park than Contreras.

Werth

Jayson Werth showed up at camp after auditioning for Castaway 2, and had more to say about his future with the Phillies than he did his new facial hair.

Like many of the players who have worn the red pinstripes over the past few years, Werth seems to genuinely want to remain a Phillie, but hoping for the lanky rightfielder to stick around beyond this year seems like wishful thinking. If Werth’s 2010 resembles his 2009 campaign in any way, shape or form, he will be due a big payday.

I think that you have to figure that both Werth and Ryan Howard are not long for this world as teammates. If Werth is able to command $15 million on the open market annually, keeping both he and Howard would seem not in keeping with the Phils budget.

I wonder how much time Ruben is spending weighing the possibility of holding onto Jayson Werth and possibly flipping Ryan Howard. Werth is just 6 months older, is probably built to go deeper in his career, and is a more versatile player than Howard.

The Fifth Starter

Is there any deal that Ruben Amaro Jr. has made since taking over as the Phillies GM after the 2008 World Series victory that is worse than giving Jamie Moyer a 2 year deal? Second place, whatever it is, has been lapped by the Moyer deal.

By all accounts, Moyer is on track if not ahead of schedule after surgeries to repair torn muscles in his groin and abdomen. With Kyle Kendrick’s cleats dangling from Roy Halladay’s ass and praise reigning down on the young righthander for his commitment to improving, Moyer’s hold on the fifth starter’s spot seems tenuous at best. If Kendrick can start missing more bats and retain his composure even when things are not going his way, he could pitch himself right into the rotation.

It’s great to know that the Phillies won’t plug Moyer into the rotation if he isn’t the best option. The handling of both Adam Eaton and Geoff Jenkins last year tells you all you need to know. Moyer’s situation will always be handled with kid gloves because, well, he’s Jamie Moyer. But the first objective is to win.

Halladay

While the Mets continue to embarrass themselves by saying stupid things, new Phillies ace Roy Halladay is going to steer clear of engaging in a war of words with a shell of a team that finished 23 full games behind his new squad. Chase Utley often quotes his father as telling him that “If you are good at something, you don’t need to tell people. They will tell you”. It sounds like that fits into Halladay’s philosophy and he will be a good fit on a team that has consisently outplayed the Mets while not necessarily outtalking them.

It is debatable as to whether or not the Mets have gotten better by even a little. Jason Bay had no choice but to sign with the Mets, despite appearing interested in doing anything OTHER than sign with them.

It’s hard to wrap my brain around spring training being upon us when I spent my day developing a case of frostbite while trying to clear some of the snow from my porch roof in time to watch luge in the Winter Olympics.

Ok, a brief aside regarding luge in the wake of the tragic death of Georgian slider Nodar Kumaritashvili. It is embarrassing and shameful that the Olympic community at large and the luge folks in particular are so quick to write off his death as human error, but then see fit to erect a wall covering exposed steel beams and shortening the track by 176 yards. Had that wall been up before Kumaritashvili’s deadly training run, perhaps he’d be alive today. The fall itself didn’t kill him. Hurtling from his sled and flying into a steel beam killed him. Completely senseless and unnecessary.

So, we’re getting whacked by Old Man Winter every 4 days and the Winter Olympics are in full swing. But, the best news of the week came courtesy of the simple act of loading a truck bound for Florida carrying balls, gum, equipment and the promise of better weather and a season of great hope for Phillies fans.

Now that the Phillies are almost through with their winter hibernation, so will The Shibe Times. I’ve been slammed at my day job and just too busy to mine the google machine for Phillies nuggets or Baseball Reference for stats and more. But the gods are shining on me, as work will start to slow down just in time for the Phils to heat up. Life is good.

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If you missed it, David Murphy wrote the definitive breakdown of Jayson Werth’s future with the Phillies. These types of posts by Murphy are part and parcel of why it is so good to see the beat guys utilizing blogs. There simply isn’t enough column space in the Daily News for these types of analytic posts. They are a perfect in a blog post that Murphy could go 1,000s of words longer on.

Based on Murphy’s analysis, the Phils could offer Werth a competitive contract, but doing so would require the Phillies to increase payroll beyond their comfort level, delay the major league career of Domonic Brown, and potentially let go of the notion of extending Ryan Howard at a budget-busting price.

Murphy makes some other interesting observations, including how much money the Red Sox are going to be able to play with after the 2010 season when David Ortiz and others are off the books. I can’t wait to see the bidding war that occurs for Cliff Lee. So long as he doesn’t land with either of the New York teams, I won’t be completely devastated with his new team. Keeping him out of the NL East in general would be swell, also.

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I simply cannot wait to see Roy Halladay pitch for the Phillies. He has already hit the ground running and the residual effect across the pitching staff could be significant.

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Just ordered Todd Zolecki’s new book, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly…Looking forward to adding it to my already overflowing Phillies book collection.

Also coming out soon are Randy Miller’s Kalas biography and the coffeetable book The Philadelphia Phillies: An Extraordinary Tradition.

I’ve been buried lately under the Holidays as well as the day job. Plus, there hasn’t been a whole lot of exciting Phillies news recently.

But I did want to point folks to a really hard to watch video of Roy Halladay and his wife being interviewed at a horse show. Apparently Mrs. Halladay is a big horse lover.

Watch this at your own peril. The fact that our new ace sits through this and does his best to look mildly interested is a testament to his character.

Bob Costas recently sat down with Phillies great Dick Allen on for his “Studio 42″ interview show to discuss his Hall of Fame bonafides, the ‘64 Phillies, and the racism he experienced while coming up in the Phils’ system.

Allen will be eligible again next year for the Hall of Fame via the Veteran’s Committee, but if last year’s vote is any indication, he will remain on the outside looking in despit Hall-worthy numbers.

Among the revelations in Costas’ interview with “Crash” is that Allen thinks Robin Robert, not Mike Schmidt, is the greatest Phillie ever.

You can’t find the interview online, so you;ll have to keep your eye out on MLB Network’s schedule. Here is an unrelated Allen vid:

Speaking of Robin Roberts, with any luck he will drop to Number 2 all-time in home runs surrendered by a pitcher. Jamie Moyer is just 15 long balls away from passing Roberts.

Now that Ruben Amaro Jr. has traded Cliff Lee half way around the world to Seattle the week before Christmas, we can only assume the next logical step would be for the Phillies GM to call up Lee’s family and tell his kids that Santa doesn’t exist.

Listening to Cliff Lee talk about leaving the Phillies literally makes my head hurt.

Exactly what alternate universe have Phillies fans been transported to where their favorite team is the pretty girl that everyone wants to take to the prom?

Former Cy Young Roy Halladay takes a well below market deal to come to Philly and calls it a “dream come true”. Former Cy Young Cliff Lee was in the midst of what he thought was typical back and forth negotiating with a team he hoped to retire with.

As Phillies fans, we should be conditioned to know that both Lee and Halladay wouldn’t come out of this happy with the Phillies.

Listen to Cliff Lee with Mike Missanelli and his conference call with Mariner’s beat writers at your own peril.

Lee with Missanelli:

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Lee’s Mariner’s Conference Call:

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Cliff Lee is not your average major league starting pitcher.

He had that quirky phantom throw before innings. His hat looks like it had been run through a pig pen. He doesn’t ice his arm after starts, and speaking of ice, it runs through his veins in October. Unfortunately for Indians fans, they never knew this.

Losing Cliff Lee as part of the 4 team blockbuster that was completed this week is a bitter, bitter pill to swallow. It boils down to October. As fans, we connect with those moments where it really mattered. That’s why a guy like Matt Stairs still got massive ovations in 2009 despite doing very little IN 2009 to deserve it. Oh, but that homer in Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS? It may have saved the Phils season. In October, Cliff Lee left behind a shaky string of starts to end the regular season and took his game to the next level. His 4-0 postseason record and 1.56 ERA had as much to do with the Phils repeating as National League champs as Cole Hamels’ 2008 postseason dominance impacted the Phils’ World Championship in 2008. Lee’s World Series Game 1 will be remembered for years and years as one of the most dominant games pitched in a World Series.

So, when we see Cliff Lee jettisoned to Seattle for 3 prospects in order to replenish a decimated top end of the farm system, feelings of loss are expected. Little did we know that Game 5 of the World Series would be our last chance to see Clifton Phifer Lee take the ball for the Phils.

But it’s over, folks. Cliff is gone. It’s time to revel in what we’ve got.

A guy that wanted to be here – he called it “a dream come true” (screw you Scott Rolen, JD Drew, Curt Schilling etal).

A guy who is widely considered by his peers and baseball talking heads as THE best pitcher in baseball.

A guy who cared more about winning than how many guaranteed years his contract had.

A guy who sends more baffled hitters back to their dugouts than any pitcher in baseball.

A fiery competitor who wants a ring.

And he wanted to come to Philly.

Harry Leroy Halladay. Number 34 in your program, Number 1 in our hearts.

When your team has a guy of Halladay’s pedigree wanting to come here and accepting a contract that was very palatable to the Phillies, then you go out and get that guy. I have no issue with Ruben Amaro Jr. letting Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor and Travis D’Arnaud go to bring in Halladay at a very below market deal.

My issue is the reasoning behind the OTHER deal – letting Lee go. The Phillies want us to believe that Lee had to go so the Phils could get back prospects to replace Drabek & Co., but that explanation seems pretty disingenuous. The opportunity to throw Halladay, Lee and Hamels in 100 of 162 regular season games and pretty much any postseason game they play in 2010 should have outweighed the loss of prospects. The Phils would have been the prohibitive favorite to at least represent the National League in their third straight World Series appearance.

It is far more palatable to Phillies fans to believe that Cliff Lee had to go because he could get us prospects in return than for Phillies fans to know that Cliff Lee was moved because he was owed $9 million in 2010. Had the Phillies held onto Lee for 2010, they would have most likely netted 2 very attractive draft picks once he signed elsewhere. Phillies management called it a “baseball decision”. If by that they meant “we need to stay right around $140 million in payroll”, then I believe them. The Phils got 3 Seattle prospects. They could have had an extra year of Lee and 2 high draft picks.

I am not complaining here. Sure, I’d loved to have seen Cliff Lee be a Phillies for at least 2010, but I understand that bringing in Halladay required an increased commitment to payroll that the Phils weren’t thrilled about (hence the $6 million that came back to the Phils from the Blue Jays as part of the trade).

I just don’t buy the story Ruben told us.

The bottom line for fans is that the Phillies don’t have the bank account of the other elite teams in Major League baseball and they need to be more creative with payroll than some of their peers. The Yankees or Red Sox wouldn’t have worried about losing Drabek & Co. They’d have held onto Lee and hoped to three-peat as pennant winners with an eye toward a 2nd World Series in three years.

We are going to find out very soon exactly how much Ruben Amaro Jr covets Blue Jays hurler Roy Halladay. Is he willing to part with top prospects like Kyle Drabek, who he refused to part with 5 months ago at the trade deadline? Or will Ruben be able to pry Roy Halladay away from the Blue Jays without giving up more than Cliff Lee and a couple of top 10 prospects that don’t include Drabek or Domonic Brown?

At this point, reading every beat writer’s tweets or blog updates is a waste of time. And frankly it is annoying. How can so many of these guys be so far off from one another in terms of which prospects are/are not included? Until it is on the Phillies website, I am taking it with a massive grain of salt, even if it is coming from someone as in the know as Jim Salisbury or Todd Zolecki.

I know that many Phillies fans will not like the notion of giving up Cliff Lee when the Phillies control him for one more year and could receive 2 picks for him when/if he leaves after 2010. But it seems clear that:

a. Cliff Lee wants to hit the free agent market and see what the market bears after the 2010 season.

b. Roy Halladay wants to be a Phillie and is willing to sign now.

I would prefer Lee over Halladay on a long-term deal: he has a rubber arm, obviously can pitch in the big game, and is one of the more deliberate, thinking pitchers the Phils have had take the mound in a long time. But, it’s hard to begrudge Lee in this case. He is going to be next offseason’s Tickle Me Elmo. He won a Cy Young 2 years ago and pitched brilliantly in his first playoff run in 2009. Someone is going to unload a Brinks truck onto his farm in Alabama. I have no doubt that Lee would strongly consider re-signing with the Phillies if we were the highest bidder or at least in the ballpark, but he is not looking to give a team he spent 4 months with a hometown discount. I can’t say I blame him.

On the other hand, the Phillies have to consider that Lee could be gone after next year and Halladay will be elsewhere by then. This isn’t a move that makes the Phillies appreciably better in 2010; it makes them a deeper rotation in 2011 when the Phils risked not having Halladay OR Lee.

This deal sounded a lot better at 5 pm this deal sounded a lot better than it does at midnight. The “news” that Kyle Drabek is/may be involved in this deal makes me really scratch my head. If Ruben was unwilling to let Drabek go at the deadline for Halladay, why do it now? The Phillies must get someone back to offset the loss of Drabek if they let him go. The popular name being thrown around is Mariners’ farmhand Phillippe Aumont, who was Seattle’s 2007 1st round draft pick.

Drabek is not far from joining the Phillies rotation, so Ruben had better be sure that Aumont is going to contribute, potentially in the back end of the bullpen down the road, if he is going to let go Drabek after being so reluctant to do it earlier. Letting Michael Taylor and Travis D’Arnaud go to complete this deal is the latest rumor.

The Blue Jays are the more desperate team in this trade scenario: Halladay has made it clear he wants this resolved by spring training. The Phillies could hold onto Lee into the season and trade him at the deadline if they felt like it. On December 14, what is the rush for Ruben that requires the Phils to include Drabek. Ruben should hold his ground and wait for the price to drop. With the Red Sox locking up John Lackey, there is already one less team that can make a Halladay deal happen.

So, when this is all said and done, the Phillies would have gotten:

3 months of Cliff Lee + Roy Halladay with an extension + Phillippe Aumont + Ben Francisco

for

Kyle Drabek + Michael Taylor + Travis D’Arnaud + Lou Marson + Jason Donald + Carlos Carrasco + Jason Knapp.

So, 7 prospects for Roy Halladay, Ben Francisco, Cliff Lee’s awesome late 2009 run and the Mariners’ top pitching prospect.

Would you do it?

Goodbye Matt Stairs. How shall we slay Jonathan Broxton without you?

Eric Bruntlett – no one made the unassisted triple play look less deserved than you. Kudos, sir.

Bako, Cairo etal. We hardly knew ya. Best wishes this holiday season.

Ruben Amaro Jr. made no bones about his desire the upgrade the Phillies bench during the 2009 offseason. And while it is debatable as to exactly how much he did improve the bench, there is little argument that glaring weaknesses have been addressed with suitable upgrades.

Juan Castro, Brian Schneider and Ross Gload now comprise 60% of the Phillies bench and with Ben Francisco and Greg Dobbs rounding out the fivesome, there is some hope that a pinch hitting opportunity will actually be more worthwhile in 2010 than simply leaving the pitcher in to hit for himself.

Castro will be able to spell three quarters of the Phillies infield from time to time, Schneider is a solid backup catcher who has never had an opportunity to produce for a winning team and Ross Gload improved his offensive metrics as a bench player for the Marlins last year and can play 1st base or the outfield.

Are any of these pickups earth shattering? No, but if there were sexy options for the bench, they’d be starting elsewhere.

But if the last few years of Phillies playoff baseball have taught us anything, it is that the signings that can’t crack the front page of the Inqy still have a chance to score the winning run in a World Series game.

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Ruben Amaro Jr. does his best to throw water on the continued Roy Halladay rumors that the Phillies are still in the mix for the Blue Jays’ ace righthander. With the public knowledge that Halladay wants to be traded by spring training and won’t approve any trades after that is sure to drop his trade value as we get closer to February. Any team interested in landing Halladay would be wise to slow play their hand and see if the Jays come to them with reduced expectations for what they want to get in return.

I am still against the idea of signing Halladay because it would seem like a play for 2010 with little thought to the consequences in 2011 and beyond. I don’t like the idea of moving Blanton in an attempt to save some payroll and a rotation spot for Halladay. The focus right now should be on locking up Cliff Lee long-term and firming up the Phillies bullpen? Add another low-risk starter like Jason Marquis or even Pedro and see how it goes? I’m in.

Roy Halladay seems like a nice guy and probably a heck of a teammate on top of being a great pitcher, but I don’t think we need to try and grind with every hot girl at the school dance. They all like attention, and when you try to date more than one at the same time, they tend to get pissed. Ask Tiger.