Silent Bats

There's been thunderstorms all day here. I wish the Phillies bats were making some of it. They've been terrible with runners in scoring position this road trip. Granted, we faced Tim Lincecum last night, but there's no reason we can't manufacture one run.

Also, I went out and got my brand new Cliff Lee shirt last night. Sweet.

Today's game is at 4, which I like because once the game ends, I can enjoy my whole night with a Phillies win. I'm anticipating the upcoming homestand, we have a real chance to put some space between ourselves and the rest of the division.

Also, in unrelated news, I think the fact that the New Era Cap prices continue to rise is ridiculous. I went into the Franklin Mills LIDS store last night and was looking for a new cap. I have all the Phillies ones, and I picked up the Stars and Stripes cap as well. However, I wanted a Cooperstown throwback for another team. I picked up the Baltimore cap from the 1960's (I have family in the Baltimore area, I'm not an Orioles fan but don't mind seeing them win) and read the tag. $33.99! Ridiculous. My friend Will had a LIDS discount card so I was able to knock it down to around 25 dollars, but still. Lovely.

Welcome Phil-Lee

I loved the Cliff Lee trade from the second it went down. He's an absolute stud. He had 22 wins last season on the way to the Cy Young, in the AMERICAN LEAGUE. Two more wins than the second coming of the Messiah himself, Roy Halladay. Don't get me wrong, Halladay is the best pitcher in the game. But we got the second best, and practically stole him from Cleveland for the amount of talent we gave up. He was phenomenal tonight in his debut. Granted, the Giants lineup isn't great, but Cliff Lee was really on.

Another issue I see coming up is what to do with all these pitchers. Here is what I propose for the entire staff, relievers and starters alike.

Starters would go as follows:

1-Cole Hamels (Have to respect the World Series MVP, he was here first)
2-Cliff Lee
3-Joe Blanton
4-Jamie Moyer
5-J.A. Happ/Pedro Martinez

For the time being, I spot start Pedro. The staff would be a little lefty heavy, but Ruben Amaro Jr. will likely solve that in the coming days and weeks through waiver trades or roster moves.

As for the bullpen, I suggest the following pitchers be used, assuming all those involved come off the D.L as soon as possible;

Brett Myers
Scott Eyre
Chan Ho Park
Chad Durbin
Clay Condrey
Ryan Madson
Brad Lidge

This poses a small problem due to the fact that the Phils would be short on the bench, with only four reserves in the field and 13 pitchers. I'm not exactly sure how it'll shake down, but that's what I'd like to see. A spot start by Pedro to prove his worth, otherwise allowing Happ to keep his spot.

August 1st, the beginning of the homestretch. Let's hope this year we can have this wrapped up by the day the Eagles open up the regular season. I don't know how many more final day showdowns I can handle.

New Blog, Old Habits

This is the first of many posts that I'll be putting up. I'm Sean Devlin, a college student at Villanova with two passions in life. One is Phillies baseball, and the other isn't. I spend almost the entire day anticipating what the Phillies will do come the first pitch, and the rest of it theorizing about how the Fightin's can bring a second straight World Series title to this city. I've got alot of topics to cover, so hopefully there are as many fans in the stands as there are who are willing to read the thoughts I put together.