Phillies featured on cover of SI
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Phillies featured on cover of SI
Daily News staff
The Phillies' starting rotation is featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated's baseball preview.
Not much of a surprise, but you might have been hoping to avoid the cover jinx.
It is the 24th time the Phillies have appeared on the cover — eighth most among MLB teams — and their second consecutive appearance on the MLB Preview.
Inside, SI the Phillies to win the NL East by four games over Atlanta with a 93-69 record but will fall to the Giants again in the NLCS.
Other Phillies predictions:
• Chase Utley is the NL East’s “Star in Decline”
• Best Case scenario: The offense rolls early; Domonic Brown, John Mayberry Jr. or Ben Francisco flourishes in right; Phab Phour is as good as advertised; and there’s another Philly parade next fall.
• Worst Case scenario: Cole Hamels regresses to his 2009 form, Ryan Howard still can’t hit the breaking balls, and Chase Utley misses much of the season. Even that may not keep them from the postseason.
In addition, senior writer Gary Smith (formerly of the Daily News) profiled Philly’s five starting pitchers in The Legion of Arms, assigning each of them a superhero alter ego:
• Cliff Lee, aka Loose Laser: “Nearly saved the metropolis in 2009; he’s back to finish the job”
• Roy Halladay, aka Tunnelman: “Defeats hitters in a dark chamber, where his focus can’t be shaken”
• Roy Oswalt, aka Late Riser: “Bedazzles enemies with lightning bolts that elevate and explode”
• Cole Hamels, aka Kid Quantum: “Is able to bend time and distance with his bionic left arm”
• Joe Blanton, aka The Sidekick: “The mere mortal among the five, bolstered by his superfriends”
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Here's a comparison of two former first round picks (2002) over the past two years:
#1) 21-14 4.42ERA 1.36WHIP
#2) 22-22 3.67ERA 1.23WHIP
Blanton is #1 and Hamels is #2. Is there that much difference between the two?— slovak34- You don't see much of a difference there? Better get your eyes checked, dude :) — fizzbin
- Joe is going to go against a #5 most times out. He should win evan with a high ERA.— Joe at the shore
- Slovak, what did you do--start your two-year comparison the day after Cole was named World Series MVP? I like Blanton, but c'mon. Let's go back two more years, shall we?
#1 29-15, 3.18 ERA, 1.1 whip
#2 23-22, 4.35 ERA. 1.3 whip
#1 is Hamels... and yes, there is a difference. Over their careers, Hamels ERA is more than a run less than Blanton's.
— NJguy - Frankly, all this comparison stuff is for the little birdies on jay-bird street! Joe Blanton has been a perfectly acceptable 3-5 starter for the Phillies for several years. Cole Hamels has had higher ups than JB and lower downs. On the whole CH had nearly negative run support much of the time last year. I look for the starting pitching to make an echo of the city's college BB--THE BIG FIVE (that's 5!) — BEMiller
- Maybe the front cover curse will be reverse this time because it can't get any worse than now. I can't believe I just wrote that.— EL Zorro
- Glad they picked the Giants. Everybody picked the Phillies last year didn't work out too good.— charliem
- Sports season after season, year after year, SI, USAToday, ESPN, and all the rest keep proving that the future is unpredictable! Or, did I see that everyone was picking VCU and Butler in the final four? — BEMiller
- Someone really needs to Photoshop a version of that featuring the Philly sports writers. Murph can take Lee's place.— s
- On the SI cover? We're done now.— eman
- So someone is actually trying to make the argument that Joe Blanton is as good as Cole Hamels? Wow. In any case, the Phillies have no guarantees of getting back to the world series, but it is not going to be the Giants who beat them. People forget that the Giants had that great pitching staff for several years and never won anything. The difference last year was that they had a bunch of journeymen that got hot at the right time, and that's baseball. However, anyone who thinks people like Cody Ross will be able to repeat the feat are just trying to play up the hype. The Giants should have to prove that they are a team to stay before everyone crowns them as the next juggernaut of baseball.— Hemingway
- Halladay should be front and center. He's our Ace... IMHO.— TerryW
- It is nice to walk past the newstands and see so much Phillies red, but other than that the season is6 months long before the playoffs. Sit back Phillies fans and enjoy the ride.— unbelieveable!
- I put those numbers out there because - if you read the article - Blanton is referred to as a "mere mortal" next to the superhero Hamels. Hamels had a great stretch last year and probably deserved more like 16-17 wins, but is he really in the class of Halladay, Lee and Oswalt? He had a great WS run in 2008, but he's never won over 15 games in a season.
Let's do another comparison. This time, over 5 years with the Phillies:
#1) 60-45 3.53 ERA
#2) 59-48 3.88 ERA
Fairly close, but would anyone have called Shane Rawley (#2) a superhero?— slovak34 - If there are four aces, then Blanton is the Joe-ker.— Charlie Reed
