I am not so delusional to believe that today’s 10-0 drubbing of the Toronto Blue Jays means the Phils having gotten all of this crazy losing out of the way.

The Phils have a ton of issues right now.

1. Jimmy Rollins is currently benched for the used up Eric Bruntlett. Answering the question “How do you know when your shortstop is really struggling? When he’s benched for Eric Bruntlett”. If Jimmy doesn’t get it together soon, the Phils will be hard pressed to go much further than a division pennant.
2. Brad Lidge’s return will reshape the 8th and 9th inning again. Ryan Madson will need to regain his 8th inning form . Of course, the Bridge to Lidge means nothing if Lidge can’t close the door. How’s that knee, Brad?
3. Raul Ibanez is still on the shelf, and if he does not come back with the same offensive firepower that paced the Phillies during the first 2 months of the ‘09 season, who will pick up that slack?
4. Focus – the Philles have probably made more mental errors over the last 2 weeks than they had during the entire season to date. Which is part of what prompted Charlie Manuel to address the team after their 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays on Friday night.

Some how, some way, the Phillies have looked like a 2009 incarnation of the Bad News Bears, and are still atop the National League standings. I don’t know who should be thanking who more, the Phillies or Mets. Both have benefited during their recent swoons by the other’s ineptitude.

The Mets show no signs of life right now, despite taking 3 of 4 from the National League Central division leading Cardinals.

The time is right for the Phils to go on a streak of a different kind. The completion of interleague play alone should provide a psychological boost to a team that never plays the American league well, except in last October. Plus, the Phillies next 4 opponents (Braves, Mets, Reds and Pirates) offer the Phillies an opportunity to start a new streak and return them to pre-slump levels of 10+ games over .500.

There is no crying baseball, and the Phils can’t lose too much sleep over lost opportunities over the last 2 weeks (that’s for us fans to do).

We’ll know this team is back when we see two specific events: the return of controlled intensity and cleaner play in the field and on the base paths. No team bungles it’s way to a World Series successfully, so the recent departure from smart running and fielding must end if the Phils are going to begin separating themselves permanently from the field in the NL East.

There are 14 more games remaining before the All-Star break. A very doable 10-4 record in that span would leave the Phils at 48-38 during the Midsummer hiatus.

10 games over .500 at the break? After the way this season has unfolded? I’d take it.

Last night’s 10-1 romp of the Tampa Bay Rays went about as good as last week’s nightmarish homestand went poorly.

An early, big lead allowed Charlie to rest the majority of his beleaguered bullpen the day after an off day.

The Phils scored 8 runs against the Orioles over the course of a 3 game sweep, and managed 10 runs in 4 innings tonight against baseball’s most touted pitching prospect in David Price.

Jamie Moyer, who vacillates between serviceable and atrocious, had the benefit of taking the mound for the first time tonight with a 6 run cushion.

And so it goes for the Phils. They cannot buy a win at home against mediocre pitchers wearing the uniforms of mediocre franchises, and then they head out on the road, beat up and beat down, and smoke the Rays.

This is not the recipe for a repeat run, right? Right? At some point, this team is going to need to come back to Philly, forget their home woes, and start beating the crap out of opposing teams.

The Phils crooked road record and domination of the Washington Nationals are the only things separating the Fightins from a losing record and a 3rd or 4th place spot in the NL East standings.

So, how worried should we be about this team? Jimmy Rollins is lost at the plate. Raul Ibanez is hurt. The starting rotation is hardly settled. The bullpen is showing cracks due to overuse. Charlie’s ready to start throwing furniture in the locker room. And the majority of the Phillies don’t seem to be too worried about all of this. As though they are just waiting for the right time to turn it on in 2009.

We can thank a lame roster of NL East competition for lulling the Phillies into a false sense of comfort about their current position.

The Mets are not only sloppy and lacking fire, but they are riddled with injuries. The Braves and Marlins have squeezed closer to relevancy with the recent swoons by the Phils and Mets, but they won’t be mistaken for real contenders this year. And the Nationals are, well, the Nationals.

As a diehard Phils fan, is it not almost physically painful to think of the squandered opportunities that have prevented the Phils from blowing this division wide open and burying the Mets?

It could be 8 games or even more right now. Even if they just played shitty at home instead of abysmal. Shitty at home would have them 8 games up.

I have to stop thinking about it. It literally hurts.

The most frustrating thing about this team may be the same thing that turned them into champs last year; unbridled confidence. The Phils seem content with their position in first place, even if their lead is more tenuous today than it was a week ago. After 68 games in 2008, the Phils were 40-28 and 3 games up in the division. Tonight they find themselves 37-31, 3 games behind last years pace, but they hold a 2.5 game lead over the Mets.

So who’s right? The chill Phils and their glass half full approach? Or panicky Phils fans who are counting missing wins in the standings and wonder if the Phils will be able to withstand the inevitable Mets charge?

Today, weather permitting, the Phillies will finish up their second home series trying to win the final game to avoid a sweep.

Last night, Jamie Moyer was bad early and left in a bit too late at the end, but it really doesn’t matter when the streaky Phillies lineup can’t solve a pitcher with 15 career starts.

To make matters worse, the Phillies continued their current maddening habit of striking out roughly 90% of the time, give or take a couple percentage points.

Citizens Bank Park has hardly been a pressure cooker this year. If anything, it’s been a lovefest revolving around last year’s World Series championship.

There is simply no good answer for why the Phillies can’t win a series in 2009 at home against any team not named the Nationals.

The sold out crowds attending home games deserve better. I don’t doubt that the Phillies are trying to win their home games; in fact, perhaps they are trying too hard.

But, on the road the Phillies seem to play with a purpose, with a little chip on their shoulder, perhaps even feeding off the growing legion of traveling fans who are invading opposing ballparks.

At home, they seem to lack an intensity that they will need if they hope to repeat as National League East champs this year, let alone World Series victors.

While the Phillies have proven themselves to be strong finishers, but it cannot be lost on them that they did not win those pennants without a little help from our friends in Flushing. Had the 2007 and 2008 versions of the Mets had played even adequately during September of those years, the Phillies would most likely have been out of the playoffs completely in 2007, and perhaps no better than the wild card in 2008.

What I find most frustrating is the lack of accountability. The Phillies are sick of answering quesitons about why they are struggling at home. Answer? Start showing up at the home park with some fire in your eyes and win a series or 2 against decent teams. Instead the Phillies seem to expect us to just wait with the patience of a saint for them to start piecing together home winning streaks. No time better than today boys. Yesterday would have been nice, too. And last weekend while we’re at it.

After the game last night, Chase Utley tipped his cap to the Jays’ starting pitcher, Scott Richmond for his ability to locate pitches that kept the Phillies from making contact (reminds me of Flyers teams always running into that “hot goalie”). A winning team finds ways to solve someone who hasn’t recently been mistaken for Nolan Ryan.

It’s time for the Phils to stop waiting for their home woes to magically end and start doing something about it on the field.

$10 doesn’t go a far as it used to. I learned this painful lesson in Paris last month when I spent nearly $10 US on a Heineken at dinner.

But in a stop at my local Wawa on the way home from work tonight, $10 got me a lot more than a 10 ounce Heineken.

Wawa is exclusively selling a new book – “Remembering Harry Kalas” by Rich Wolfe. You won’t find this 269 page hardback book on amazon.com or in your neighborhood Barnes & Noble.

The book has a $25 suggested price, but Wawa is selling it for $9.99.

The book is not a biography of the Phillies’ Hall of Fame broadcaster. Rather, Wolfe collects stories about Kalas’ life from those who knew him best: his colleagues, family and friends. It’s a veritable who’s who of former Phillies players, writers and others.

Now, I have had this book in my possession for just a couple of hours, and have only read a few of the chapters, but I was struck by Scott Graham’s entry, which was mostly a recollection of Kalas as a jokester who was adept at keeping a good joke going for years.

In the course of telling his story, Graham mentions twice over the case of 2 pages that he was “fired” in 2006. Now, we all know that Scott Graham’s departure was not on his own terms, but I did find it kind of surprising that he didn’t take the more discreet road by referring to his leaving as “after I moved on from the Phillies” or something else. Instead, Graham minces no words. He doesn’t go into any details since this is obviously not a book about Scott Graham not being a Phillies broadcaster anymore. But he makes it clear about what happened:

Now, I hadn’t been to Citizens Bank Park since I was fired in 2006, but I was there on opening day for the XM pregame show.

Anywho, go to your local Wawa, grab a chocolate milk and a 3 pack of the Peanut Butter Kandy Kakes and this book. Roughly $14.00. Worth every penny.

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the shooting of Phillies first baseman Eddie Waitkus by an obsessed fan, Ruth Ann Steinhagen.

Waitkus was in Chicago with the Phillies on a road trip when he was summoned to Steinhagen’s hotel room in the Edgewater Hotel by a letter requesting to see him.

When Waitkus got to Steinhagen’s room, she shot him with a .22 caliber rifle and then called the front desk to let them know that she had shot the ballplayer.

Steinhagen was determined to be insane and committed to a state hospital.

Waitkus was lost for the remainder of the 1949 season, but returned in 1950 as a member of the Whiz Kids. Waitkus led the Phillies in 1950 with 102 runs and was second behind Del Ennis with 182 hits.

After the 1953 season, The Baltimore Orioles purchased Waitkus’ contract from the Phillies for $40,000. Waitkus would later return to the Phillies to finish up his career in 1955.

Eddie Waitkus’ shooting and subsequent return to the ballfield was one of the inspirations for Bernard Malamud’s 1952 novel, “The Natural” which was, of course, later turned into the great 1984 film, directed by Barry Levinson.

The Phillies are now 4-14 for a 285 winning pct. since 2004 against the Red Sox. Perhaps someone much smater than me can explain why the Phillies get their asses kicked so badly by the Red Sox. It’s not like the Phillies have sucked at any point since 2004.

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In 2008, the Phillies scored 10 or more runs 10 times during the regular season. The Phils have already equaled that mark this year in just 61 games. In 2008, the Phils gave up 10 or more runs 7 times. They done that 4 times in 2009 so far.

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The Phillies win today helped tie Charlie Manuel with Eddie Sawyer of Whiz Kids fame for 6th all-time in franchise wins by a manager (390). Manuel should pass Sawyer and Red Dooin (392 career wins) this week to take over 5th place. Next up is Jim Fregosi, with 431 wins. Only a total collapse by the Phils in 2009 would prevent Charlie from getting there this year.

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Ryan Howard is hitting for better average this year than last year without sacrificing any of his power and is playing better defense than ever before. But one thing Howard has not shaken is his penchant for striking out at an alarming rate. Howard has 76 Ks through 60 games, 2nd in the National League behind the Diamondbacks’ Mark Reynolds.

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Raul Ibanez is killing it right now. We all know that. He is near the top of nearly every offensive statistical category out there. There is no other player over the age of 35 that is in the top 25 in the National League in RBI (a category Ibanez leads with 59). Raaaauuuuuullllllll!

I texted my buddy right after the game.

“F’ing Kyle Kendrick”.

He correctly sprinkled more blame to another Phillie.

“F’ing Jimmy Rollins”.

12 hours later, I am still not sure who was more worthless last night – the guy who should never have been called up in the first place, or the lead-off hitter in name only.

Jimmy Rollins loves to say that he’s “a lead-off hitter”. Although I don’t recall him ever providing any evidence in print or on the field, at least not in 2009, and pretty much only inconsistently last year.

One of the things I like about Charlie Manuel is that he isn’t afraid to drop a player like Rollins in the batting order. One of the things I don’t like about Charlie is how quick he is to reinstate the player to their “natural” spot in the order.

Rollins needs to be out of the leadoff spot until he fixes whatever is going on in his swing or his head.

As for Kendrick, Beerleaguer correctly opined that Kyle Kendrick’s inability to miss bats makes him a bad fit for the bullpen. I’ll raise the ante and say that Kendrick’s inability to strike anyone out or develop a second pitch means he’ll never be a serviceable major league starter. How long will the Phillies keep at this? If Kendrick can’t pitch in relief, then he is a starter. Exactly who is he going to displace from this rotation in the near future?

There are far too many live arms with potential and real “stuff” for the Phillies to waste innings on Kyle Kendrick.

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I don’t care how sure the ump is that a ball was fair or foul. You review the stinking play. Even if it’s the 18th inning. I thought the managers were allowed to request this? Who knew that an ump could override that if he was sure? Yeah, that makes sense. Because no ump was ever “sure” about a call that was clearly blown when watched on replay.

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I was listening to WIP last night on the way home from the game and someone called in and said 30-40% of the crowd was Red Sox fans. Ummm, no. Not even close. 15%, tops. And they were vocal. But not nearly the subhuman breed of Mets fans.

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We know now that the Phillies struck out an unbelievable 20 times in this game, remarkable even with it being a 13 inning game. The Phillies struck out swinging on 17 of those 20 Ks, but damn if they didn’t watch a million other called strikes in the game. The Phils were fooled all night long.

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Lastly, also seen on Beerleaguer, was a post about Ryan Howard not looking as excited as you would expect after Raul Ibanez’s homer on Thursday night against the Mets.

I actually saw his reaction at the time and it did strike me as less than thrilled considering the circumstances of Ibanez’s homer.

That said, I cannot imagine that other Phillies are jealous or annoyed by all of the love that Raul is getting. Not only are his stats incredible, but when he delivers those stats is endearing him to fans. He is flat out clutch and he has won games for the Phillies.

Also, Howard has benefited from the protection he gets in the lineup from hitting in front of Ibanez. How could he not love that?

Todd Zolecki is right – it’s only June – but damn if the Phillies don’t need to start playing better against their biggest rivals.

A 2 game split in early May in Philly was followed by a 2 game sweep of the Phils at Citi Field. Since that series on May 6 and 7, the Phillies have gone 19-11 while the Mets have posted a 17-12 win-loss record. The Phillies were in 1st place when they marched into Citi Field in early May, and they have done so again this week.

The Phillies lost a game they should have won last night and won a game they should have lost tonight. Either way, they go into tomorrow’s rubber match with a chance to take 2 of 3, which would give the Phillies a 4 game lead over the Mets. As Zolecki wrote, it hardly means the Phillies will be hoisting their third divisional banner when the 2009 season is over, but given this season’s roller coaster ride so far, I think we’ll all take it.

For those who missed it, Mike Pelfrey got his thong in a twist over Chase Utley calling time during his at-bat and gave Utley a look as he walked off the field in the 6th inning. Waaah.

One last thought: could Citi Field look less alive, save the Phillies fans in attendance? Could Carlo Beltran look more cavalier in CF? Is there a more annoying pitcher in the history of this rivalry than Francisco Rodriguez? Answers: No, no and no.

For those who missed my screed about Citi Field from when I was up there in early May, here’s the Cliff’s Notes: Citi Field < Citizens Bank Park.

This whole Raul Ibanez vs. previously anonymous midwestern blogger thing has really taken on a life of its own.

The blogger was on ESPN today with the Inquirer’s John Gonzalez and Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. Why ESPN had to go outside their vast stable of baseball pundits to get Ken Rosenthal’s opinion is beyond me, but that’s another story.

Watch the video here:

Gonzalez tried a heck of a lot more than Rosenthal did to treat the blogger with a modicum of respect. Frankly, the blogger has catapulted himself into this sort of scrutiny with his writing, so whatever beating he takes is fine with me. I give him some credit for having the guts to go on ESPN and debate more polished speakers than he is.

What I find most infuriating about this entire episode is that this controversy was really the creation of John Gonzalez. Roughly 40,000 visitors go to this guys website every month, which in the grand scheme of the internets and the google machine is nothing. Were it not for the Inquirer’s article, no one would even know what one guy sitting on his couch with his laptop who has Ibanez on his fantasy team thinks about the chances that he might be on steroids.

The lines are blurring between old and new media, but has it really come to this? That some hack in the Midwest’s opinion is now national news? That Raul Ibanez feels as though he has to defend himself against said blogger’s wishy-washy post?

I guess Ibanez had no choice in this environment but come out with his response to this ham handed attempt at investigative journalism, but I wish he didn’t need to. It’s a huge waste of time, and frankly, I just don’t care what this guy thinks. Like you and roughly 100% of the rest of the world didn’t know who he was before today, and we’d all be better off had it stayed that way.

We can spend time unnecessarily complaining that the just completed series in Los Angeles should have ended in a Phillies sweep.

Yes, Brad Lidge’s struggles over the last couple of days are frustrating, and lost opportunities always hurt.

However, I am taking a glass half full approach to this weekend. For starters, prior to heading to LA after sweeping the Padres, I would have gladly taken a split against the Dodgers. Mission accomplished, at least based on my modest hopes for the Phillies in LA.

Plus, in a 162 game season, there are going to be good runs and bad runs that teams will go through. Consider the 2 game peak the Phils had on the road against the Florida Marlins on April 24th and 25th:

April 24th Phils shutout through 8, then drop 7 on the Marlins in the ninth to win.
April 25th Phils tie game in top of ninth. Win in the 10th.

Great teams never go 81-81. Awful teams never win 100 games. 2 fluky wins in April. 2 annoying losses in June. The Phils are 11 games over .500 and lead the division by 3 games.

The starting pitching looks great. The bullpen, with the exception of Brad Lidge, is solid, especially with the return of J.C. Romero. The offense has its off day, but they have had little in the way of extended futility with the bats.

Things are good if you’re a Phillies fan.

But they could be even better.

The Phillies 5-2 West Coast swing was sweet, but now they have additional challenges ahead, starting with the Mets in New York and then the Red Sox at home.

No less than 2 wins in New York is the order of the day for the Phillies this week. Not because the division is on the line. Heck, it’s still early June, and the division lead could change hands a couple of times before the season is over.

The Phillies need to win this series because they have struggled head to head with the Mets since the beginning of the 2008 season. I’d gladly lose every game to the Mets if we still won the division when it was all said and done, but the fact is that the Phillies, who are 1-3 so far in 2009 against the Mets, need to improve on 2008’s 7-11 record against the Mets, and no time better than now to get it started.

The Phillies lost both games at Citi Field in early May in their first trip to the Mets castly overrated new park. A pitcher’s duel in game 1 saw the Mets win by the slimmest of margins. In game 2, Jamie Moyer served up extra batting practice to the Mets, sending the Phillies to a second straight loss against our hated rivals.