PhilSox Blog

 

7/23/07 Boxed Up

Tuesday, July 24, 2007




I was a little worried about the return of Jon Lester and thought that it might be more sentiment than logic. Thankfully, my worries were unfounded. Lester pitched strong last night against the Indians, giving up 5 hits and 2 runs over 6 innings. Sports Center included shots of his mom and dad in the stands. It was a real "feel good" moment.

Chad Finn's TATB post for today talks about the option of using Lester in a trade for Mark Teixeira of the Rangers.

The only home run of the game came from Cleveland's Grady Sizemore, a two run shot that accounted for all of the Indian's offense. Coco Crisp continued his hot steak at the plate going 4 for 5. Also, continuing their hot streak, the Sox bull pen covered 3 scoreless innings, giving up only 1 hit!

Tonight we face Sabathia...GO SOX!!

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What, Me Worry?

Thursday, July 19, 2007
It doesn't seem like all that long ago I was gloating a bit over a Yankers team that was 12 or so games behind the Red Sox. It's mostly because it wasn't all that long ago. As of today, MLB.com has the spread down to 7 games. ESPN is saying 6, but there seems to be some issue over a game with Baltimore that got rained out or something. Even my Yanker fan coworkers are stating 7. My questions then:

Is it time to freak out yet?

According to an article on MVN.com (which I cannot verify the validity of) it is still not time to lose sleep (although that is exactly what I did last night.) Basically, this article talks about how, so far, the Yankers are playing about .500 ball, the Sox .600. Pizza Cutter, the author of the piece, states that the odds of a team that is truely .500 playing .600 ball for half a season is something like 2.5%. Translation: This is the chance that the Sox are playing over their heads. similarly, the odds of the Yankers playing .500 ball when they are really a .600 or better team is about the same. I am not a statistical genius, so I'll have to trust Pizza Cutter when he (or she, I suppose) states that the chances of both of these things being true is something like .06%. This then means that for there to be a reversal of the first half of the year, which is pretty much what needs to happen for the Yankers to end up over the Sox, the odds are less than 1%.

There's lots of talk about the trade deadline, also, and the Sox apparent need for relievers. While One week doesn't mean everything, the last few losses for the Sox have seen pretty steady relief. All but one had relievers shutting out oppoents. This has me thinking that perhaps the issues that needs to be addressed is run production, particularly in the latter innings. When the Sox get a lead lately, the pen holds it (for the most part). When Boston is behind, the bats aren't producing rallies. Now, not only I don't think that the Sox run production is an issue that has to be addressed by trading (though they are apparently looking at Mark Teixeira), picking up the wrong reliever could possibly mess with the mojo of the part of the equation that isn't the problem.

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Trade Deadline

Wednesday, July 18, 2007
The Phillies are, once again, not close enough to the post season to make us confident, but no so far away that we've given up hope. As I type this, they are 5 games back in their division and 4.5 games back in the WC. So, with the trade deadline approaching, ESPN posted an article that talked about them selling off Aaron Rowand in the hopes of getting pitching help.

Rowand is having a good year. He's one of only Phillies starters batting over .300 (his .333 and Utley's .338) and he doing good in the field. Many seem to think that he's playing a bit above himself. His average is the highest its ever been by about 30 points or so.

Pitching hasn't been the a strong point in Philly, almost ever. My opinion is that for the post-season, if there is any shot at it at all, Phllies need pitching. That leaves two questions. First, do we give up Rowand on the outside chance that we make the post-season? Second, if we are going to get rid of him, what can we get and will it be enough? Aaron Rowand

As for that latter issue, I'm torn. The Phils end up losing the few good players that they get when they can (won't) pay them (Scott Rolen, most recently.) Should we be thinking about holding on to Rowand in the event that his numbers aren't a surge, but more of a maturation? Also, I am not savvy enough to know whether there is anyone out there with a pitcher (starter would be better, reliever might be doable) who needs a hitting outfielder.

Reading some things I could find from White Sox fans, there seems to be quite a few that miss him (particularly with the way things are going for the ChiSox as of late.) Plus, he does play hard. He's darn near killed himself since being in a Phillies uni to make a catch (May 11, 2006 against the Mets).

I'm leaning toward keeping him.

Perhaps I should simply say a prayer?

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