By Warren Crossley on 6/28/2007

Watching the NBA Draft last night, I was hoping against hope that the 76ers GM Billy King could pull off an impact trade to move up in the draft and get one of the better prospects, and in the absence of that, draft a player that will at least start for the Sixers next season. I was instead left to ponder the selection of Thaddeus Young, the freshman swingman out of Georgia tech, with the 12^th pick, a 6-8 combo forward in the same realm as Andre Iguodala and 2006 1^st rounder Rodney Carney. In a draft widely considered to be deep in talent, the Sixers drafted another 19-year old project at the one position where they are flush with depth. If he plays 20 minutes a game next season, it would be a shock. The current roster of Sixers made their case as a team on the cusp of respectability with their play after the Allen Iverson trade last season and was probably hoping for a more immediate impact from the draft. Instead, despite having 3 ... Read More »

By Warren Crossley on 6/26/2007

All fans who have watched the Phillies over the years know that they continue to find new and different ways to lose games, so much so that loss # 10,000 is right around the corner.

 

So it is nice to see the Phillies take care of business yesterday, beating the doormat Cincinnati Reds despite their battered and under-manned pitching staff. The early runs scored by the Philles certainly helped rookie Kyle Kendrick, who picked up his 2^nd win in 3 starts, but Kendrick worked out of a jam in the top of the first, allowing 1 run when he could have easily given up many more. Hell, Jon Lieber hasn’t been able to avoid the big inning all season. Michael Bourn and Carlos Ruiz even pulled off a double steal, with Ruiz being the first Phillie to steal home in 10 years.

 

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By Warren Crossley on 6/24/2007

With the loss of Jon Leiber to injury, the Phillies will now have 2 inexperienced starting pitchers (AAA starter JA Happ is rumored to be the next call-up) to go along with a battered bullpen. The Phillies went 3-3 on the just-finished 6 game road trip despite giving up 6 runs a game. This will have to be how they win games unless pitching help arrives. This means that Charlie Manuel had no choice to bench Pat Burrell and his .205 avg. They can’t, and apparently won’t wait for him to come out of his "slump".

 

Time is now for the Sixers and Flyers

 

These next 2 weeks will go a long way to determining how our winter teams will stack up for next season. The Flyers have made some bold moves since the season ended, but the harde ... Read More »

By Warren Crossley on 6/19/2007

Pat Burrell hit a 2-run double in the first inning of last night’s game against Cleveland, a very hard-hit ball to right center field. I was pleasantly surprised, which is how I now react every time, however rare, that he come through with a big hit. I had the same reaction when he hit a game-tying HR off the Mets’ Billy Wagner a few games back. After a 1-for-4 game last night, his batting average stands at a meager .212 for the season, .158 against lefties. These numbers are not a fluke occurrence. He has struggled for 3 years running now, with his $13 Million contract the only reason he gets to stay in the lineup. If he cannot hit lefties, he is worthless to this team. Skipper Charlie Manuel knows this, and is slowly weaning him from the every day lineup, just like he did late last season, which just happened to be the most successful stretch of the season for the Phils. Manuel is in a tough spot with Burrell, because a productive Burrell gives the Phillie ... Read More »

By Warren Crossley on 6/18/2007

The Flyers and GM Paul Holmgren got an early jump on the free agent market yesterday, acquiring Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell from Nashville and signing them to long-term deals. These two deals are expensive, but these players probably have cost even more if these players were allowed to hit the market. Timonen was regarded as the cream of the Free Agent crop of defensemen, so this deal appears to be a very good one on paper.

 

This is not the first apparently good deal Paul Holmgren has made since taking over for Bob Clarke last season. He cleared a lot of cap space, by trading away underperforming veterans such as Kyle Calder, and got some good young players in return. He also acquired Goalie Martin Biron as last year’s trade deadline, finally stabilizing a problem position. He still has cap space to make another splash in Free Agency, and the Flyers still hold the numb ... Read More »

By Warren Crossley on 6/17/2007

Three years ago, when the Phillies were looking for a manager, one of the people they interviewed was Jim Leyland. They did so only because he openly campaigned for the job and the Phillies, always more worried about giving the impression that that are committed to winning than actually being committed to it, felt they should bring him in. He shouldn’t have bothered, because The Phillies had already decided on their man, Charlie Manuel, who for 2 years prior was the team’s roving hitting instructor, and best buddy to then-1B Jim Thome. Leyland had to wait another year for a job, taking over the moribund Detroit Tigers before last season.

 

Two years later, Detroit has already been back to the World Series and the Phils are still their inconsistent selves, always a game or two behind serious contention. Part of the reason is that management never allocates enough re ... Read More »

By Warren Crossley on 6/14/2007

The Red-Hot Phillies welcome the Detroit Tigers to CBP this weekend, and it will definitely give fans a sense of how good this team is. The Phils have taken advantage of a light schedule and a Mets swoon to get back in the race much quicker than many thought possible.

 

In the next 6 days, however, the Phils face the best the AL Central has to offer, and it will be interesting to see how the Phils stack up against them. Detroit throws unbeaten Jeremy Bonderman tonight and no-hitter hurler Justin Verlander Sunday. The Phils will need to score runs to win, since the Tigers are also one of the best offensive clubs in the league as well.

 

If the Phils can come out of the next week 3-3, they will be in good shape, since the schedule opens up for them until the end of July. The only rough patches ... Read More »

By Warren Crossley on 6/12/2007

Cole Hamels got his league-leading 9^th win as the Phils pulled to within 3 games of the slumping Mets. Hamels is the first true ace this staff has had since Curt Schilling, and the Phils better make sure he stays that way for a long time. What’s impressive about him is that he leads the league in HR allowed, and it rarely bothers him. Pitchers know they are going to give up HR in Citizens Bank Park, but it affects all pitchers differently. We’ve seen some pitchers give up a couple of cheapies and get away from their game plan. Hamels gave up 2 HR is the first inning, and just shook it off. Impressive. Since Hamels doesn’t rely on an overpowering fastball or a breaking ball to tax his arm, he should be able to avoid arm problems down the road. At least we hope so.

 

Another ace is making his way to town this weekend in the form of De ... Read More »

By Warren Crossley on 6/10/2007

The Phils dropping 2 of 3 to Kansas City over the weekend is no real shock to longtime Phils observers. Weekends like these are just a microcosm of the performance of our city’s maddeningly consistently inconsistent team. Only a gem of a shutout performance from Jon Lieber kept the Phils from being swept by the team with the worst record in Baseball. Not exactly a great follow-up to a sweep of the Mets. To find a similar performance, we need to go all the way back to….. 2 weeks ago, when the Phils came home from a weekend sweep in Atlanta, only to be swept by the D-Backs.

 

What now?

 

With this year’s "too good to have been true" off-season acquisition, Freddy Garcia, now on the DL for the foreseeable future, who ... Read More »

By Warren Crossley on 6/7/2007

Any Phillies’ fan out there think that they would sweep the Mets this week, while getting 9 shutout innings from the bullpen, and with last night’s hero being Pat Burrell? Me neither. It’s been a fun week to watch, but if they don’t take 2 of 3 from the Kansas City Royals this weekend, it will be for naught. They have to avoid a letdown from the high they must be feeling after vaulting themselves back into the race. These games this weekend count that same in the standings as these last 3 victories. To steal a football term, these are "trap games". The Phils have fallen into this trap before; lest we forget that home sweep by the Devil Rays 2 years ago.

 

Other thoughts:

 

Freddy Garcia and Jon Leiber pitch this weekend. If they get r ... Read More »