Ryan Howard has now had 752 PAs against left handed pitchers. His line?

.221/.304/.440 (OPS: .744) with strikeouts in 41.4% of ABs. In 2008 against LHP he has hit:

.184/.254/.337 (OPS: .591), striking out just over 44% of the time.

It is time to stop playing Ryan Howard against left handers. More evidence and ideas inside.

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In case you didn't notice, the Phillies are having a monster year for attendance.

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I had a lot of difficulty trying to post the "WE GON' HIT" blog entry, so I left some analysis and some data for this fanpost.

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Meyers looks pretty good since he came back.

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So sayeth Zolecki: 

Catcher David Ross cleared release waivers at 1 p.m. today and the Phillies have contacted his agent.

Phillies assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said they are hopeful they can work out an agreement with Ross, who the Cincinnati Reds released Monday.

Ross hit .231 with three home runs and 13 RBIs in 134 at-bats this season for the Reds. But he also had a .381 on-base percentage. It's unclear what would happen to Ross if he signs with the Phillies. The most likely scenario is Ross finishing the month in triple-A Lehigh Valley, then joining the team Sept. 1 when the Phillies can expand their roster.

I think this is worth a try. The guy at least is a tougher out than Ruiz or probably Coste; he draws walks and has hit for power in the past. His defensive reputation is reasonably good. What I'm not sure I grasp is why they'd wait until 9/1 to recall him, since if the idea is to free up Coste for PH duties (as Scott Lauber suggests), calling up Jason Jaramillo from Lehigh Valley would accomplish that just as easily. 

The Phillies get some reinforcements this week, with reliever Rudy Seanez activated off the disabled list over the weekend in San Diego and third baseman Pedro Feliz rehabbing in Florida with an eye toward joining the team Wednesday night against Washington. Infielder Mike Cervanek was optioned to triple-A Lehigh Valley for Seanez, temporarily giving the Phils eight relievers (Lidge, Romero, Madson, Durbin, Seanez, Condrey, Eyre, Walrond); presumably Les Walrond will cede his roster spot to Feliz. 

As David Murphy reports, even the modest offensive contributions of Feliz will be a welcome addition to a Phillies offense mired in a horrific slump. I for one would be pretty much fine never seeing Eric Bruntlett take another swing for the Phils, and the aggressive plate approach of Greg Dobbs clearly works better off the bench than when he gets in the box four or five times (four recently, of course) in a game. 

But even with Dobbs back on it, the bench, considered a strength at the start of the season, remains painfully unproductive. We've gone over the catching situation enough times that I won't do it again--though I'll be very curious to see if Jason Jaramillo and/or Lou Marson get some actual playing time in September. There must be a half-dozen bats in the Phillies' minor-league system, from journeymen like Rich Thompson and Andy Tracy to flawed prospects Greg Golson and Jeremy Slayden, who would represent improvement over So Taguchi, and arguably over Geoff Jenkins. Chris Snelling evidently is healthy this month; why not get him up to the bigs?

Do something. Do anything. Because "more of same" isn't working, even with the imminent happy return of Happy Pete. 

WSBGM's would like to establish Campaign Cheer to be unleashed upon Citizens Bank Park Tuesday August 19th at 7:05 pm. What we propose is a blind positivity so strong that it reverberates throughout the stadium from the time the Phillies take the field for the first pitch, until the last player walks off into the clubhouse. Everything must be cheered.  The boos obviously aren't working, so why not go a different route.

http://pabaseball.blogspot.com/2008/08/campaign-cheer.html

Phillies reliever Chad Durbin just posted a new blog entry where he writes about the rough west coast trip so far (both for the team and for him personally) and how he and the team are going to bounce back from running into the Manny freight train. It’s an interesting read and you gotta give the guy credit for putting himself out there after 2 rough outings:

http://www.prolebrity.com/bouncing-back-2/

Time to go pound on San Diego!

Rollins calls Philly fans front-runners

Philadelphia Daily News

Jimmy Rollins seems to have transitioned into one of those athletes who can make news simply by opening his mouth.

The latest example came yesterday, when Rollins offered his view on Philadelphia's notorious sports fans during yesterday's taping of Fox Sports' "Best Damn Sports Show Period."

After being asked whether Philadelphia was as tough a place to play as the national media sometimes portrays, Rollins answered:

"There are times," he said. "I might catch some flak for saying this, but, you know, they're front-runners. When you're doing good, they're on your side. When you're doing bad, they're completely against you."

Rollins then mentioned the hometown of teammate, and fellow show guest, Ryan Howard as a differently wired fan base.

"For example, Ryan is from St. Louis and St. Louis, it seems like they support their team, they're out there and encouraging. In Philly, can't be no punk." *

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080814_Rollins_calls_Philly_fans_front-runners.html

Myers' Madness

via d.yimg.com

Brett Myers was in tip-top form, as he just allowed 1 run on 5 hits and 1 walk in 7 2/3 innings Saturday night, but his exit was more eventful than his start. Upon seeing Manager Charlie Manager emerge from the dugout to take Myers out, Myers started muttering expletives to himself, and his teammates. As Charlie approached the mound, Myers met him, handed him the ball, and walked off, muttering more expletives, before tipping his cap to the Standing Ovation of 45 thousand plus. Upon returning to the Dugout, Myers and Manuel Exchanged words, face to face, for a good 20 seconds, until Myers headed down the tunnel towards the clubhouse.

This is not the 1st time that Myers has had public "anger-management" issues. Back in June of 2006, Myers was arrested and charged with hitting his wife in the face on a street not far from Fenway Park in Boston. Also, in August of last year, Myers gave up two home runs to lose the game for his team. After making light of the homers, Philadelphia Inquirer beat writer Sam Carchidi asked him if he thought the HR that he gave up were "pop ups". Myers responded with calling him a "retard", among other things, which Carchidi Responded by asking Myers to spell "retard". Myers than said "it’s in your fuc*ing vocabulary" which Carchidi responded sarcastically by telling Myers that he was "Classy". Eventually teammates had to restrain Myers from physically harming Carchidi.

After starting out the year horribly for the Phillies, Myers was sent down to AAA, since his return, he has pitched brilliantly. Myers is 2-0 in his 4 starts since his call-up.