David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
It is easy to forget that Carlos Ruiz hit .325/.394/.540 with 16 home runs in 372 at bats last season, mostly because it far surpassed his best season up to that point (.302/.400/.447 with eight home runs in 371 at bats in 2010). The Phillies are not expecting the kind of production out of their catcher now that he is back in the lineup after close to a month on the disabled list. Charlie Manuel's decision to hit him eighth against Nationals lefty Ross Detwiler Tuesday night said as much. But it won't take a career-best batting line for Ruiz to improve this Phillies offense.
Ruiz's hamstring injury, suffered May 19 against the Reds while going first to third, came at a frustrating time. Ruiz appeared to be finding his swing after a tough start to his season, which was delayed a month as he served a 25-game suspension for a positive stimulant test. In his last 10 games before the injury, Ruiz went 10-for-31 with two walks, three strikeouts and a hit by pitch in 35 plate appearances. This, after a 2-for-20 start in which he struck out six times while drawing one walk. Even production that equals out to his career line of .274/.361/.415 would represent a drastic improvement over the production of Erik Kratz (.229/.290/.436), Humberto Quintero (.245/.288/.367) and Steven Lerud (0-for-5 with four strikeouts). In fact, Ruiz's career OPS of .776 would rank behind only Domonic Brown (.880) and Ryan Howard (.784) among active Phillies with at least 100 plate appearances.
Ruiz played two games at Triple-A Lehigh Valley on Saturday and Sunday, going 1-for-5. He said his swing felt surprisingly good for such a long layoff.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
Any professional who talks to the media about his area of expertise is succeptible to a certain level of contrarianism. Legend has it that even God the Creator once answered a question with the words, "I don't know if 'rest' is the word I'd use to describe that seventh day, but. . ." So when the man responsible for the short and long-term success of the Phillies organization said on Monday afternoon that he doesn't "do five-year plans," it may have offered more of an insight into his psychology than his business philosophy (like, perhaps, previous assertions that he cares about production, not walks, and that a player like Ryan Howard can "set his own market).
No doubt, a distaste for five-year plans on the part of the Phillies' chief personnel executive would offer a tidy explanation for the franchise's current predicament (after all, a five-year $125 million contract extension looks a lot more palatable when you ignore its ramifications for all five years that it covers). But after Amaro answered a question about how his five-year plan would affect the decisions he makes prior to this year's nonwaiver trade deadline by saying, "I don't do five year plans -- other organizations do, I guess," he continued by describing something that sounded awfully similar to one.
"We do look at the total picture, and you're right, the free agent market has been dwindling significantly," the general manager said. "Some of the guys who are going to have to take the some of the places of the potential free agents who have been core players for us may have to come from within. They may have to come from our own organization. But again, my job is to make sure that we are contenders every year. I know there are some things that have been written about us blowing things up and that sort of thing. I don't think blowing things up, so to speak, is the way to go for us. I think that we have to do is try to be intelligent about the decisions that we make for now and for the future. And there are ways to do it and continue to contend and move pieces and move things around. Hopefully, we have the wherewithal to be able to do it well."
Ryan Lawrence, Daily News Staff Writer
Credit Cliff Lee for this: with the dropping bodies and declining veterans around him, he hasn't changed a heck of a lot since winning the hearts of Phillies fans in the summer of 2009, when he arrived and became the ace that Cole Hamels wasn't and dominated all comers from the regular season to the World Series.
Lee was dealt away after the season. And then traded again.
But he returned to the World Series in 2010, too, this time with Texas. His team lost, again.
Ryan Lawrence, Daily News Staff Writer
Cesar Hernandez, out; Michael Martinez, in.
Tyler Cloyd, out; John Lannan, in.
Jake Diekman up.
Ryan Lawrence, Daily News Staff Writer
It was 22 days ago in Miami when it was announced that Chase Utley was a last-minute scratch in the Phillies lineup with an injury to his right side. A few days later he was placed on the DL with an oblique strain and the Phils estimated a 2-4 week timetable in his return.
Utley, however, said he would practice caution since the oblique injury is a "tricky" one that can get worse if a player attempts to rush back.
But in the last four days, Utley has taken an important step toward his eventual return.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
When things start to go bad, the first instinct for a lot of folks is to yell at the media. And that's fine. Lord knows we deserve a lot of the doo-doo that gets thrown at us. Besides, displacing one's aggression via email or Twitter or blog comment is healthier than displacing it on our nation's roadways.
One thing that folks have yelled at me on more than one occasion over the past few weeks concerns Cole Hamels.
"Why does he keep getting a pass?!," they exclaim.
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
On Opening Day, I laid out the blueprint the Phillies would need to follow in order to secure one of the five playoff spots in the National League. There were five requirements:
1) Roy Halladay makes 32 starts.
2) Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels stay off the disabled list
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
I know, it stings. You wrapped up your work week with a feeling that you had not entertained since the latter stages of 2011. The Phillies were a game over .500, good enough for second place in the NL East, and you couldn't help but turn the margins of every piece of paper that landed in front of you into a back-of-the-cocktail-napkin road map to a playoff spot. They had weathered the storm and were now poised for the run.
It is a special sort of pain when a dream dies, and rather than endure it again and again and again this season, you are probably better off facing reality. At least, that was the takeaway from this weekend, when the Phillies lost three straight games to the last-place Brewers to sink two games below .500. The Phillies are a team that is destined to hover around the .500 mark for the rest of the season. They might get hot for a stretch. Every team playing 162 game schedules is bound to. But the difference between the good teams and the bad teams is the good teams have far more good stretches than bad.
The Phillies? They are not a good team. I have been writing this since May 6, 2012. That was the night Cole Hamels hit Bryce Harper with a pitch and then watched him go first to third on a base hit before finally stealing home.
Ryan Lawrence, Daily News Staff Writer
Three years ago this month, the Phils came to Milwaukee following a series in Denver that included a game snowed out, accusations of using binoculars to steal signs, and an injury to a catcher for the second time in the month.
Carlos Ruiz was injured in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Coors Field; when the Phils arrived to Miller Park the next day, Ruiz wasn't placed on the DL and the catching duties were handed down to Paul Hoover and Paul Hoover alone for the weekend. Hoover went 5-for-10 with 3 walks and 6 runs scored in the series as the Phillies swept the Brewers.
Flash forward three years and the Phils are once again missing their top two catchers. Erik Kratz joined Ruiz on the DL on Sunday morning with a left leg injury.
Ryan Lawrence, Daily News Staff Writer
Jeremy Horst vs. Ryan Braun.
It didn't look like a fair matchup from the seat of your couch, did it? Well, you're not alone.
"When I looked at it," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "I figured Horst might have a hard time.”
