***The Official Philadelphia Phillies 2012 Thread***

The Fixer wrote:

Jearlpam0925 wrote:

And I've been sayin it, one of these days Cole's going to stroke one.

Nats tool announcers said he hit one in the upper deck in RF during BP. Didnt think he was capable of that

He's got a nice swing for a pitcher. It's funny how ballplayers can mostly all tear the cover off the ball, but once they get designated to being a pitcher it's like they've turned into vaginas when it comes to carrying a bat.

Awesome game for Cole Hamels.

We've got some good pitchers.

That's 4 complete games for Phillies in 1st 28 games of the season. Year they won the World Series, they threw 4 CG all season.

Phantom Pain wrote:

That's 4 complete games for Phillies in 1st 28 games of the season. Year they won the World Series, they threw 4 CG all season.

love the competition between the 4 of them. hamels mentioned it again while talking to sarge.



tom, muff, back to you.

Good summary. This was in the top 5 of amaro's worst moves as GM (along with trading Lee, howard contract, lidge contract). The good news is that Ibanez is gone in a few months...and corner OFs should be available as the trade deadline approaches.


Raul Ibanez's diminishing returnsThe Phillies outfielder's production has declined significantly this


Raul Ibanez appears to be at the end of his rope.



The Philadelphia Phillies left fielder has looked "done" in the past, frequently vacillating between stretches equally torrid and horrific, but his start to the 2011 season feels different.



One of the biggest traps fans and analysts fall into is prematurely declaring that a player has nothing left in the tank. A pre-formed narrative develops, a few weeks of poor play at the onset of the season fit that narrative, and assessments both quantitative and qualitative are molded to purvey the message. This idea of anchoring -- weighing performance at the start of the season more than at another point in time -- often leads to inaccurate conclusions, especially regarding older players who may be done.



For example, many deemed Carlos Delgado and David Ortiz finished during the 2008 season. Both got off to terrible starts -- Delgado hit .198/.297/.323 in April, with Big Papi following suit at .184/.294/.350. Delgado finished the season hitting .271/.353/.518, with 38 home runs, great numbers given the slow start and his age. Ortiz finished at .264/.369/.507. Comically enough, Ortiz was also written off after a 2009 campaign in which he hit .238/.332/.462. He silenced naysayers with a .270/.370/.529 showing last year. It's foolhardy to label a player as washed up, because in most cases we just don't know.



The Ibanez situation, however, appears different. While Delgado and Ortiz exhibited decent plate discipline and signs of life throughout their slow starts, Ibanez's numbers, both above and below the surface, belie a player who might actually be tapped for productivity.




He is striking out at a rate greater than at any point in his career -- and strikeout rate is one of the quickest stats to normalize, or become an indicator of true talent, early in the season. His isolated power is Ecksteinian. He is popping the ball up at his highest rate in four seasons. On the plate discipline spectrum, he is swinging at more pitches out of the strike zone than at any point since these stats were kept.



This represents a rather alarming trend when coupled with the fact he is actually being thrown more pitches out of the zone than ever before. Even more problematic is his career-worst rate of swings and misses -- his SwStr percentage is similar to those of Chris Young and Jack Cust, two notorious empty-swingers. Even when he fell into one of his patented funks, Ibanez was always able to make contact with the ball.



Now he is failing to lay off outside pitches, struggling to make contact with pitches in and out of the zone, swinging at almost everything and grounding the ball at a substantially higher rate than ever before. Ibanez has a career ground ball rate of approximately 43 percent. His rate this season is 56 percent. In other words, Ibanez is generating more ground balls than Derek Lowe.



His batting average on balls in play is plenty low at .217, but a big chunk of his struggles are attributable to making very poor contact when he does connect with the ball. Even with a hot second half last season, Ibanez amounted to nothing more than a league-average hitter, for a corner outfielder, with absolutely horrid fielding skills and a noodle arm. Add to that his ripe old age of 39, a seeming inability to catch up to fastballs and how he doesn't profile well in a platoon role, and it would actually be much tougher to make a case that he does have something left.



These are all signs that point to the end of a player's career. Ibanez will undoubtedly have a hot streak or two this season wherein Phillies fans and fantasy owners will convince themselves that he has regained his stroke. The streaks are temporary fixes, however, like using a piece of gum to plug a hole, and before we know it the Ibanez who looks his age will be back. Other players may have been prematurely written off in the past, but the same cannot be said of Ibanez. Practically everything he has shown so far this season suggests that he has reached the end of his career.

The Fixer wrote:

love the phils/flyers combo nights

2 team teaser? :P

The Fixer wrote:

metsfan wrote:

The Fixer wrote:

love the phils/flyers combo nights

2 team teaser? :P

NEVER do teasers or parlays. total sucker bets

AGREED...although i do mess w/ parlays

i like reverse's and an occasional if bet

Little known fact - Superman's day-job is Vance Worley.

I'll be there on Sat.

Chase Utley (knee) is expected to travel Friday to the Phillies' spring training complex.
Utley should begin playing in extended spring training games soon, then he'll transition into rehab games with the Phillies' affiliate in the Florida State League. It's an exciting step in the right direction for the injured second baseman, who is aiming to return to the big leagues by the end of May. He's out currently with patellar tendinitis.
This is what im talking about!!!!