Another day gone and yet another win for the Philadelphia Phillies. Last night the Phils won in walk-off fashion in the 11th inning and now have the Atlanta Braves in their cross-hairs, sitting only 2.5 games back and it’s not even the first of August. Many in the sports world had the Phils left for dead only a week ago, and since then, the Phils have strung together 8 straight wins and diminished the Braves’ formerly 7 game lead in what seemed like a matter of seconds.
The Phillies’ GM, Ruben Amaro Jr. stayed proactive, once again, and put together a deal yesterday that brought the best available trade deadline starter to his team and $11mil. The Phils shipped J. Happ and a couple of minor leaguers to the Astros for who would have become the teams all-time win leader at some point in the next few days. Roy Oswalt was scheduled to take the ball for the Astros today with a chance to tie that mark with his 144th win in Houston, instead he’ll make that scheduled start in Washington D.C. for the Phillies. The Phils are on absolute fire right now in the midst of their longest home winning streak in over 2 decades, already have arguably the best pitcher in baseball in Doc Halladay, a World Series and NLCS MVP in Cole Hamels, white-hot offense, promising young superstar Domonic Brown (who the Phillies got to keep by sending Lee to the Mariners, by the way), add Roy Oswalt and send him to the hill today to turn that win streak into 9 straight.
Oswalt is a four-pitch starter, who goes fastball (two versions of a heater), slider, curve and newly found change. Roy’s heat can reach 98, but normally sits in the 93-96 range, has consistent sink and has dominated entire games with that pitch alone. He works off of this pitch, is aggressive, and challenges all hitters. His second best is a filthy 12-6 curve that averages about 69 mph, and the difference in velocity alone puts his opposition in a difficult spot.
Today his opposition is the Washington Nationals who look to return the favor to the Braves after beating them in the past series and allowing the Phils to nip their heals. Surprisingly, some of the Nats’ hitters have had some success against Oswalt over the past 5 seasons. Dunn has obviously had the most ABs against the guy, spending so many seasons in the NL Central with the Reds, has a .314 average in 35 ABs with 3 homers and 7 ribbies, and Zimmerman and Willingham both have .300 marks against Roy O. The Nationals send Craig Stammen to the mound who has had zero success whatsoever in his 2 career starts versus the Phils. In those two, Stammen is 0-0 with a 15.63 ERA and has not won a game this season since the 29th of June. To say the least, this matchup is a bit one sided, and the oddsmakers agree whole-heartedly, giving the Phils -175 chalk to take the opener.
PHI -175 (Oswalt) @ WASH +155 (Stammen); o/u8; PHI -1.5 -115.
The Phightin’ Phils are on an absolute roll right now and there is absolutely no reason not to ride them until it changes, and honestly, that change probably is not going to happen. The only true question marks left for them in a relatively weak National League is their bullpen and their health. Expect them to win this series and close in even further on the youthful Atlanta Braves, who absolutely are hearing footsteps, and watching the buzz all over the television set.
NL East Race watch:
ATL +120 (Medlen) @ CIN -140 (Cueto): It certainly doesn’t get any easier for the Braves this weekend as they head into Cincinnati to face the Central division challenging Reds. Cueto takes the ball for the Reds and has been their best pitcher of late, basically dominant of late, allowing a total of 5 earned runs in his last 46.2 IP. Hopefully Bobby Cox can keep his youngsters relaxed during this immense test. They look to Kris Medlen who was once a touted prospect himself, and who has pitched well this season posting a 6-2 record and a 3.57 record. The only problem is, though, that he seems to struggle on the road. He is coming off a 6 inning 5 earned performance at the Marlins. He better have his best today on the road as he faces a hungry Reds team who are swinging hot bats. The Reds should take game one, and the Braves will seriously begin to press and slowly fade away into the distance.
The Phillies’ GM, Ruben Amaro Jr. stayed proactive, once again, and put together a deal yesterday that brought the best available trade deadline starter to his team and $11mil. The Phils shipped J. Happ and a couple of minor leaguers to the Astros for who would have become the teams all-time win leader at some point in the next few days. Roy Oswalt was scheduled to take the ball for the Astros today with a chance to tie that mark with his 144th win in Houston, instead he’ll make that scheduled start in Washington D.C. for the Phillies. The Phils are on absolute fire right now in the midst of their longest home winning streak in over 2 decades, already have arguably the best pitcher in baseball in Doc Halladay, a World Series and NLCS MVP in Cole Hamels, white-hot offense, promising young superstar Domonic Brown (who the Phillies got to keep by sending Lee to the Mariners, by the way), add Roy Oswalt and send him to the hill today to turn that win streak into 9 straight.
Oswalt is a four-pitch starter, who goes fastball (two versions of a heater), slider, curve and newly found change. Roy’s heat can reach 98, but normally sits in the 93-96 range, has consistent sink and has dominated entire games with that pitch alone. He works off of this pitch, is aggressive, and challenges all hitters. His second best is a filthy 12-6 curve that averages about 69 mph, and the difference in velocity alone puts his opposition in a difficult spot.
Today his opposition is the Washington Nationals who look to return the favor to the Braves after beating them in the past series and allowing the Phils to nip their heals. Surprisingly, some of the Nats’ hitters have had some success against Oswalt over the past 5 seasons. Dunn has obviously had the most ABs against the guy, spending so many seasons in the NL Central with the Reds, has a .314 average in 35 ABs with 3 homers and 7 ribbies, and Zimmerman and Willingham both have .300 marks against Roy O. The Nationals send Craig Stammen to the mound who has had zero success whatsoever in his 2 career starts versus the Phils. In those two, Stammen is 0-0 with a 15.63 ERA and has not won a game this season since the 29th of June. To say the least, this matchup is a bit one sided, and the oddsmakers agree whole-heartedly, giving the Phils -175 chalk to take the opener.
PHI -175 (Oswalt) @ WASH +155 (Stammen); o/u8; PHI -1.5 -115.
The Phightin’ Phils are on an absolute roll right now and there is absolutely no reason not to ride them until it changes, and honestly, that change probably is not going to happen. The only true question marks left for them in a relatively weak National League is their bullpen and their health. Expect them to win this series and close in even further on the youthful Atlanta Braves, who absolutely are hearing footsteps, and watching the buzz all over the television set.
NL East Race watch:
ATL +120 (Medlen) @ CIN -140 (Cueto): It certainly doesn’t get any easier for the Braves this weekend as they head into Cincinnati to face the Central division challenging Reds. Cueto takes the ball for the Reds and has been their best pitcher of late, basically dominant of late, allowing a total of 5 earned runs in his last 46.2 IP. Hopefully Bobby Cox can keep his youngsters relaxed during this immense test. They look to Kris Medlen who was once a touted prospect himself, and who has pitched well this season posting a 6-2 record and a 3.57 record. The only problem is, though, that he seems to struggle on the road. He is coming off a 6 inning 5 earned performance at the Marlins. He better have his best today on the road as he faces a hungry Reds team who are swinging hot bats. The Reds should take game one, and the Braves will seriously begin to press and slowly fade away into the distance.
