Last night’s 4-1 Flyers loss reeked of inevitability. I watched lacking the intensity usually reserved for an exciting playoff game. This was mostly because I couldn’t figure out a way for the Flyers to win. It seems like the Penguins are toying with us this series, and what’s more depressing than being overmatched over 3 games is the feeling that Pittsburgh hasn’t even given us their best yet.
Coach John Stevens has tried tweaking the lineup and done his best to compensate for the loss of his two best defensemen, but the fact is, there was little he could do. The Penguins are the superior team. The Flyers depth, which carried them past their first two playoff foes, is not an advantage in this series, as the Pens are equally as deep, as well as more talented and healthier.
To blame one player (Steve Downie), or an injury or two, or the officiating, would be to ignore the fact that the Flyers are overmatched in this series. Let’s just hope they can take a game at home for the fans before looking forward to a bright future.
Early Phillies thoughts
More than a month has passed in the 2008 season now, and enough time has passed to come to a few conclusions about the Phils and their chances this year. Among the things running through my head….
The NL East is eminently winnable. Again. The Mets starting rotation is already breaking down. The acquisition of Johan Santana keeps them from oblivion; it does not vault them ahead of the rest of the pack. No. 2 starter Pedro Martinez is already on the DL, and the team made no significant upgrades to the lineup that choked away the division last September. The Braves, despite many pre-season predictions, are not the greatest thing since sliced bread. Coming into the season with 2 top starters well into their 40’s is not the foundation for a World Series winner. Opening Day starter John Smoltz will return to the Bullpen after coming off the DL. What this means is that the Phillies lack of starting pitching depth is not the disadvantage it appeared to be as camp broke. The Marlins are hot right now, but they will eventually run out of games against the lowly Nationals and will have to start playing games against major league opponents soon.
The Phillies, however, have come through their usually horrid April with a winning record despite both the injuries to MVP Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino and an epic slump from Ryan Howard. This has been done on the backs of a strong bullpen, a contact – year motivated Pat Burrell, and the torrid Chase Utley. If the Phils continue the recent trend of playing progressively better baseball as the season goes on, another division title seems well within reach.
Several things worry me, though, and among them are:
1.) Ryan Howard – Early season slumps are nothing new for Howard, but this is ridiculous. Howard entered play Tuesday batting .171 with 54 Strikeouts, which puts him on pace to shatter his own major league record of 199 last year. Howard is pretty much an automatic out right now, and the rest of the lineup is really struggling to carry the burden of a major void in the cleanup spot. Utley and Burrell are already starting to see fewer pitches to hit. Howard needs to get his head on straight, and fast. What happened to the MVP who sprayed extra base hits to all fields? Why has he been replaced with a guy who tries to pull everything, and is quickly becoming a poor-man’s Dave Kingman?
2.) Shoddy Defense – Defense was solid to above average last season, but this year, the Phils have been sloppy at best and Keystone Kops bad at worst. With 3, 4, and 5 starters that pitch to contact, this is potentially a major problem if not corrected. The infield (minus Howard, who is a butcher) should be elite, and the OF should be serviceable. Sloppy fielding is sometimes a sign of complacency, something Skipper Charlie Manuel has to take care of.
3.) Adam Eaton has got to go – Eaton was serviceable for 3 or 4 starts, but in his last couple of outings, he has reverted into the nibbler who lacks confidence, the same pitcher who had the worst qualifying ERA in the league last year. Not much is expected from the 5th starter with the bloated contract, and Eaton is failing to match even that low standard.
All of these problems are correctable. The home 9 has the best team in the division, and it is time for the Phillies, all of them, to take the next step as a team and improve on last year’s “happy to be there” playoff berth.