It certainly was an interesting first half to the 2009 season, wasn't it? The Phillies came into the season as the defending World Champions for just the second time in team history, and while the first half wasn't all great baseball, the Phils still find themselves at 48-38 and four games up on the Florida Marlins for the division lead. Now that the Phillies are making a push to their third straight playoff appearance, let's look back at what's happened so far this year.
The end of an era.
Unfortunately, the first milestone of the 2009 Philadelphia Phillies season was the loss of one of the best voices in baseball history. Harry Kalas passed away after collapsing in the broadcast booth in Washington on April 13, just two weeks into the young season. While the Phils were able to play on and win that day, they're now wearing Harry's initials on their uniforms for the rest of the season. I've already expressed what Harry Kalas meant to me, so I'm not going to go into it here. I'll just say that it certainly was not the best start to the new season, and I'm still getting used to not hearing his voice on the broadcasts for the Phillies, especially now that we've hit summer.
Who likes home cooking? Not the Phillies, apparently.
For most of the first half, the Phillies seemed to enjoy playing on the road much more than they did at home. There really wasn't an explanation for it, as the fans have been great all season, and the players are still the same group of 25 that have played great on the road. Somehow, the Phillies came into the last two weeks of the first half with a 13-22 home record. Fortunately for them, a 9-1 homestand leading up to the All Star break has pushed the record to 22-23, but it's still something to look out for in the second half. At least the American League has home field advantage in the World Series again. If the Phillies get that far, it should help them, just like last year. This team seems to like living in hotels.
You want power? This team has it.
Even with the slow start at home, the Phillies have produced one of the best offenses in all of baseball. Their 460 runs scored is tops in the National League, and they're also in the top five in the league in on base percentage, slugging, and stolen bases. They also have four players with 20 home runs or more at the halfway point, as Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth have launched baseballs into orbit all season. All four have a chance to get to 100 RBI on the year as well, and the addition of Raul Ibanez, as criticized as it was during the offseason, has been one of the best moves of the season so far. Even with him spending some time on the disabled list, Ibanez has made Phillies fans forget about Pat Burrell faster than anyone thought possible. Just remember, he has 22 home runs and 60 RBI...and he missed almost three weeks. Imagine what those numbers would be like had he stayed healthy.
Let's not forget about Shane Victorino, either. The first time All Star is having a career season, batting .309 with 112 hits and 63 runs scored. I don't know where this kind of production is coming from, but I certainly won't complain. Shane has gone from a man that couldn't crack the starting lineup three years ago to being one of the most dependable players on the team, and that is pretty impressive.
Ummmm, it's not all great.
Of course, there have been some problems this season. Jimmy Rollins had what can be called a God awful first half, finishing with a .229 batting average, seven home runs and 34 RBI. His .287 on base percentage is one of the worst in the league for an everyday player, and this is with a good finish to the first half. Yes, he's starting to put things back together, but if it weren't for the play of Victorino and the heart of the lineup, his poor start could have set the Phillies back a long way this year. He had better pick it up during the second half, because the Phils are going to need him to start playing like an MVP again.
We all knew Brad Lidge would blow a save eventually. He's only human. What we didn't expect was for Lidge to come out this season and pitch as poorly as he did during most of the first half. Lidge was responsible for losing two games against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, and when he went on the disabled list, I was hoping he would stay there for quite some time. Ever since he's come back, he's looked like the Brad Lidge of old, picking up five straight saves. Much like Rollins, I'm hopeful that this trend can continue for the rest of the season, since Ryan Madson certainly didn't look like the answer at closer while Lidge was out.
Then, there's the starting pitching. Where do I even begin with that? Let's just say it has not been good so far this year. Cole Hamels fought an injury for the first month of the season, and still isn't pitching like he did last year during the postseason, Jamie Moyer has eight wins, but an ERA close to six, and Brett Myers is more than likely out for the rest of the season. Chan Ho Park was a disaster as a starter, but a gem out of the bullpen, and Antonio Bastardo looked good, but once people figured out all he had was a fastball, that experiment ended pretty quickly. J.A. Happ has been a shining light so far for the Phils with a 6-0 record and an ERA under three. He's going to have to try and pitch like that for the rest of the season, unless the Phillies are able to bring in a big arm...
What needs to change?
Aside from Jimmy and Lidge keeping up their paces now, the most glaring hole for the Phillies is their starting pitching. As I already said, Cole needs to get back to where he was, and the Phils have to add a top of the rotation pitcher. Pedro Martinez isn't going to be anything great, but the Blue Jays are dangling Roy Halladay out for a possible trade. It's going to cost an arm and a leg, but if the Phillies want to have another parade down Broad Street, they have to go and get him. Everything else seems to be falling into place, and adding that true ace that you know can go out and win every fifth day would be the final piece of the puzzle this year. Can the Phillies win the World Series again this year? I'm not saying no, but they are going to have to play better in the second half of the season. They can't keep playing streaky baseball, and their pitching has got to improve over the first half of the year. Another title can be had, but it's not going to be easy.
What's up next?
Tomorrow, the Phillies get back to baseball, as they take on the Florida Marlins. Jamie Moyer (8-6, 5.99 ERA) starts off the second half, going up against Chris Volstad (6-8, 4.44 ERA). The Phillies have a great chance to bury the Marlins early in the second half of the season, so a sweep here would be awesome.
Go Phils!
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