Another Halladay for the Phillies Bullpen

The Phillies closer situation is in flux.

Ryan Madson broke his toe in a temper tantrum and will be replaced by Brad Lidge, who had arguably the worst season for any closer on a team that went to the World Series.

(Yes, I am including Calvin Schraldi in that assessment.)

One solution?
Have Roy Halladay throw a complete game every 5 days.

It's not a bad strategy. And with yesterday's complete game shutout against the Mets, he is serving notice that he is not conceding the Cy Young to Lincecum, Jimenez or anyone else.

He also showed Mike Pelfrey that contending for a Cy Young is a little harder than having a damn good April.

The Mets got creamed today. It is safe to say Jaime Fallon forgot to chant today!

THE GIANTS (COULD) WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS (COULD) WIN THE PENNANT!

The Giants won a big game today.

Oh Sully, you say, there ARE no big games yet. It's early. It's May 1.
Nope... they won a big game. They beat the Rockies.
They took the first two from the Rockies and later today can go for the sweep.

Why is it so important? Because it could turn out that the Rockies will probably be the Giants biggest competition for the NL West title... and winning games head to head NOW are games they won't have to catch up and win later.

Yeah, I know the Padres are in first place. That won't last. Remember how the Blue Jays were in first place at this point last year? Exactly.

The Dodgers are a bit of a mess and won't be able to get reinforcements provided the divorce heard round the world plods on.

And Arizona just isn't clicking yet.

The Giants and the Rockies will probably be the class of the NL West.
And guess what? The Giants have one thing that virtually no other team has:
4 kick butt starters.

As of now, Lincecum, Cain, Zito and Sanchez is the best 1-2-3-4 in the game.

And in a short playoff series, Lincecum could neutralize any other ace in the game (including Halladay or Wainwright) and have the better pitchers in the other games.

In other words... and bear with me... the Giants could find themselves in a great position to possibly... dare we say it?... win the National League Pennant.

But in order to do that, they need to bring in two players:

An outfielder and a reliever.

They don't need a superstar outfielder... just one who isn't an automatic out and can get on base for Sandoval to knock in.

And they don't need an All Star closer... just an effective arm to give Bochy another option late in games.

Most teams are searching for solid starters or a big bat.
The Giants have all of that.

They need a little bit of depth and to avoid injuries.

But they should make those moves NOW.

Try out a few guys from Fresno, see if Jermaine Dye is available... and then see who can be traded for.

This is a strange situation where the division is winnable, the league has a lot of parity and the Giants are holding 4 Aces. Fill in the holes now and go for it big time.

You'll never know when things will align in the Giants favor quite like this again.

You couldn't just get beat, could you?

Seriously Red Sox... you couldn't just take the beating... get blown out... and call it an all around horrible day where you sink 2 games under .500 and lose a series to the worst team in baseball.

You HAD to find some fight in you.

Big Papi HAD to hit 2 homers...

You HAD to pound out 9 runs and make it a save situation, didn't you?

You HAD to bring the tying run to the plate in the 9th only to fall short.

Dice-K looked awful.
Wakefield looked worse...

And the Red Sox picked a bad time to find their power stroke.

The only good thing was the Yankees and Rays both lost so they didn't GAIN ground... but you don't face Baltimore to tread water. These should be 2 easy wins and possibly 3.

I'd rather lose 12-0 than 12-9. If for not other reason that I won't be obsessively listening to the 9th inning of a 12-0 loss.

Tally time...

DODGED A BULLET GAMES - 10

April 4 - 9-7 win against Yankees (On Opening Night, the Red Sox overcome a 5-1 Yankee lead with a game tying HR by Pedroia and a go ahead passed ball.)
April 10 - 8-3 win against Kansas City (Beckett out pitches Zack Greinke and nearly gets decapitated by a line drive.)
April 14 - 6-3 win in Minnesota. (Okajima gets Morneau to pop up with the bases loaded in the 7th and Papelbon wiggled out of a 9th inning jam.)
April 20 - 7-6 win against Texas. (Darnell McDonald introduces himself to Boston with an 8th inning game tying homer and a walk off hit in the 9th.)
April 21 - 8-7 win against Texas. (The Red Sox were down 4-0 early only to win it on Youk's 2 out 11th inning double.)
April 23 - 4-3 win against Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 3-0 lead but win it on Adrian Beltre's bases loaded walk.)

April 24 - 7-6 win against Baltimore. (The Red Sox score 6 in the 7th and hold off a late Baltimore comeback attempt.)
April 26 - 13-12 win at Toronto. (The Sox blow an early 5-0 lead but hang on for dear life in a slugfest.)
April 27 - 2-1 win at Toronto. (Buchholz holds the Jays down for 8 but it takes a bases loaded walk in the 8th to go ahead.)
April 28 - 2-0 win at Toronto. (Daniel Bard wiggles out of trouble in the 8th to help Lester shut down the Blue Jays and finish the sweep.)

TEETH GRINDER GAMES - 8

April 6 - 6-4 loss against the Yankees. (Scutaro's error leads to the winning run.)
April 7 - 3-1 loss against the Yankees. (Sox leave the winning run on in the 9th only to lose on Granderson's 10th inning homer)
April 9 - 4-3 loss in Kansas City. (Bard coughs up the lead, denying Wakefield a win.)
April 17 - 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Sox can't score with the bases loaded and nobody out in the 11th... lost it in the 12th.)
April 17 - 6-5 loss to Tampa Bay. (The Red Sox comeback falls a run short, leaving two on in the 8th)
April 25 - 7-6 loss to Baltimore. (The Sox blow a 4-1 lead, leave the winning run on second in the 9th, let up 3 in the 10th and could only score 2 in the bottom of the 10th)
April 30 - 5-4 loss in Baltimore. (Tejada ties the game with a 2 out 8th inning homer and wins it with a bloop in the 10th)
May 1 - 12-9 loss in Baltimore. (Dice-K and Wakes get pounded, wasting 2 homers from Ortiz and an early 4-1 lead.)

+2 in the tally and 2 games under .500

It's early... but not THAT early

The Only Logical Explanation For The Mets Winning Streak

To quote the great Slim Pickens in Blazing Saddles, "What in the wide wide world of sports is a going on here?"

The Mets are in first place?

AFTER Tax Day?

And you can't just attribute it to them playing slumping teams like the Dodgers and the Braves.

The Mets beat the Phillies last night...and it wasn't close... and they were in Philadelphia.

And guess what? With the Phillies loss, the 2 time defending NL Champs and 3 time defending division champs fell to third behind the Mets and Nationals! Is this the National League or the Bizarro League.

It doesn't make any sense.

No player is being a dominant slugger.
The Nationals rocked Johan Santana.
They started the season 3-7.

I called the team a Car Wreck.
I compared the team to Two Girls One Cup.

And now they rattled off a 10-1 since the arrival of Ike Davis.

But is Ike Davis really the reason for such a turn around?

Is it Mike Pelfrey's surprising season that sparked this team?

Was it the 20 inning marathon?

Nope, the explanation lies elsewhere.

Specifically the explanation lies with my friend Jaime Fallon.

A member of the rock band The Ex-Debutantes and creator of the site Mart Brooklyn.

My former colleague from The Daily Show has started frequenting CitiField and chanting The Mets Really Are The Amazin's.

A simple chant.

Simple but effective.

She wasn't chanting it before her first Mets game this year in Mid April.

And what has happened since she started?

The Mets have won 10 of 11 and went from being irrelevant to suddenly an exciting team.

My Met fan friends are filling up my e mail box. And wins against the Phillies are always worth stockpiling (did someone say 2007?)

And Jaime is the only explanation I can think of. Seriously, it isn't the personnel. It isn't the management.

I say it is because of Jaime.

So Met fans... Go to Mart Brooklyn.
Download some music.

The more you support Jaime, the better the Mets will do.

(Hey, that makes just as much sense as any other analysis I can do about the Mets!)

STOP THE PRESSES! JAVIER VAZQUEZ IS HAVING A BAD OUTING!

Three innings in... and he has let up three runs.

That sounds about right.

Why do I have the feeling he will be dealt before the All Star break?

HE'S A HORSE!

I may not remember Bryan Clutterbuck... but evidently a lot of people DO!

Back in January of 2009, I wrote a quick post about former Brewers pitcher Bryan Clutterbuck.

Basically I was saying how I don't remember him... but who am I kidding. I was basically giggling because his last name sounds like 2 or 3 words that George Carlin would include among the "Seven Words."

But it is funny how that post keeps getting hits, comments and private e mail messages.

Evidently a lot of people know Bryan Clutterbuck... and the consensus is he seems like a terrific guy.

He may not have blazed through the big leagues, but evidently he has been a positive person to people who remember him more than even the most die hard Brewers fans.

He evidently does a lot of charity work and also coaches little leaguers in Michigan.

Sometimes we forget that the men on the baseball cards are actual people... and their brief careers might not get them into Cooperstown, but there are a lot of other small towns where their careers make them memorable.

So good work Bryan Clutterbuck.
I wish that I had your career.

And to honor you, I will post the link to your lone complete game victory in the major leagues.

On April 25, 1989, Brewers manager Tom Trebelhorn gave the ball to Clutterbuck to face the Twins.

He had to face solid big leaguers like Dan Gladden, Wally Backman, Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti and Greg Gagne as well as World Series heroes like Gene Larkin and Jim Dwyer and oh yeah... future Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett.

Paul Molitor led off the game with a home run for the Brewers... and the offense unloaded on Twins starter Roy Smith who let up 5 runs (and 3 homers) in 4 innings.

Clutterbuck had a 5-0 lead going into the 6th and a 10-2 lead going into the 9th. Trebelhorn didn't go to the bullpen, even when Clutterbuck let up a 2 run 2 out double to Gene Larkin.

He got Jim Dwyer to ground out to second and Clutterbuck went the full 9.

Only 10,034 were at Milwaukee County Stadium to see his finest moment on the field... but it seems like his finest moments in life came afterward.

April Didn't Exist for the AL West

It’s May 1, 2010.

Usually you can’t tell anything after one month in the baseball season… but in the AL West that is literally true.

All 4 teams are tied in the loss column.

All 4 teams have lost 12 games.

And nobody has a winning record.

Technically the A’s and Angels are tied for first because they have also WON 12 games while the Mariners and Rangers have only won 11.

If I were the general managers of each of those I would take a look at whatever their biggest weakness is and address it NOW. If the goal is to make the playoffs, then one month in… everyone has a shot.

I’m dead serious. If I ran an AL West team, I’d be chatting with the Astros about Roy Oswalt. If I had a phenom in AAA right now, I’d call him up.

If there’s a spot open in the rotation, I’d give Jarrod Washburn a flier.

(And why is Washburn still unemployed for that matter?


Sure the Angels are still the team to beat, but their pitching has been disappointing.

The A’s have pitched well but their lineup is truly mediocre.

The Rangers have had surprisingly effective pitching yet they haven’t been getting All Star contributions from the likes of Josh Hamilton and Michael Young. And keep in mind once the weather heats up, their effective pitching will wilt.

The Mariners have stuck in Cliff Lee to their rotation and tonight threw 7 shutout innings… but the M’s were shut out themselves.

Might be time to look for a new bat as the team has fewer homers than Paul Konerko at this point.

(I guess the Milton Bradley experiment hasn't been a smashing success... might be time to designate him for assignment.)

Seriously… patch the holes and play in October. There seems to be good seats available for each of these teams. Heck, in Oakland, there are entire decks of empty seats.

So make a run for it, AL West. By the looks of it, 83 wins might get you October revenue.