The Phillies Week In Review, Week 2

The Phillies Week In Review, Week 2

After another week and five more games, the issues continue to mount for the Phillies. The bullpen had a rough week, including Brad Lidge’s consecutive saves streak ending at 47. The top of the order continues to slump, the lefties continue to pound the ball, and they end the week again with a dramatic home run. I’ve also buried the lead of the week, the passing of Harry Kalas.



Charlie Manuel: C- There was nothing blatant the week to judge Charlie on, but he needs to get quite a few players turned around sooner rather than later. He sat Jimmy Rollins and Jayson Werth Sunday, so maybe that can help the guys get back to hitting the ball.

The Rotation: D- Five more games, and five crappy to mediocre starts from the rotation. The team continues to fall behind early in games and relies on late-game heroics to win. The staff’s ERA currently sits at 7.67 after 11 games, which is easily the worst in all of Major League Baseball. There’s not much more to add, although Myers again was great when not offering up home runs.

The ‘Pen: F This was a rough week for the Phillies’ bullpen, as just about everybody had a rough outing or two. Brad Lidge collected his 47th consecutive save with a shaky 2-run ninth on Monday, pitched an adventurous although scoreless ninth on Friday in a non-save spot, and then got shelled on Saturday night to end his saves streak. Madson, Taschner, and Durbin all had rough weeks as well.

The Lineup: B- The kids can sure hit. Despite struggles from Rollins, Victorino, and Werth this week the team continues to hit well and score runs. Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Raul Ibanez all played tremendous baseball this week, carrying the team offensively. The lineup can’t be too highly praised, however, as long as the two guys getting the most at-bats are hitting under the Mendoza Line combined.

The Bench: C The bench added a few hits this week, including a big home run from Jimmy Rollins late in Sunday’s contest. The team’s top pinch-hitter Greg Dobbs finally got a hit, but on a whole this unit isn’t producing, as evidenced by their .227 average so far this season.

*Special Grade for the handling of Harry Kalas’ death: A++ First class treatment in every respect. From the tearful broadcasts of Monday’s game in DC that turned slowly into eulogies, to the tribute videos, to the public viewing at home plate, the Phillies handled this very sad week with the utmost class and respect. Thank you to the entire front office.

Final Grade: D+ The on-field product is nowhere near good enough to this point. Hopefully something gives soon, because if not then moves will have to be made, starting with the rotation. Chan Ho Park’s leash shouldn’t be very long, and Cole may end up on the DL just to rest if he can’t turn things around. JA Happ or Carlos Carrasco may be seen in the rotation a lot sooner than any of us had even feared. If Jimmy and Shane can’t turn around their struggles soon, then who hits leadoff on this team? Werth? Marson? I do not know.

The Phillies Week in Review, Week 1

Last Monday we recorded a podcast exclusively covering opening day; the festivities, the lost parachute jumper, the Phillies on-field performance, and what the game meant in the big picture. We were concerned that the Phillies flaws were all on display, but felt one game wasn’t a big deal. After an entire week of baseball, the Phillies look better, and it appears things aren’t quite as bad as they seemed. Let’s break down the squad’s week.




Charlie Manuel: B Like I said on the previously mentioned podcast, it’s easy to be a smart manager when you have a great bullpen and clutch pinch-hitters. The bullpen, aside from Chad Durbin, has returned in 2009 just as unhittable as it was in 2008. The pinch-hitters may be off to a slow start, but its hard to knock that group after Matt Stairs gives you an instant replay of last October by hitting a game-winning two-run homer to beat the Rockies. In all it was an uneventful week from the skipper: nothing foolish, nothing brilliant.

The Rotation: F You can’t sugar coat this start, a combined staff ERA of 8.07 after 6 starts. Brett Myers has somehow managed to be unhittable while leading the majors in gopherballs. Cole Hamels looks like he has no velocity or control after his spring training elbow concerns, and if you weren’t already worried read this piece by ESPN’s Buster Olney. Joe Blanton and Chan Ho Park were lights out this spring, yet neither could get past the 4th inning of their season debuts. Finally, Jamie Moyer looked awful as well in his loss to the Braves, but to be fair Jamie has always struggled against Atlanta. His Monday start against the Nationals is much more to his talents, namely taking advantage of a young free-swinging team. Still, you can’t pitch any worse, and they came out of the week 3-3, so I feel pretty good. Kind of like returning from Tampa after splitting games 1 and 2, even though you knew the Phillies didn’t play their best ball.

The ‘Pen: A All-around a great week for the bullpen, as they collectively posted a stellar 2.63 ERA. When you take away Chad Durbin’s adventurous inning against Colorado on April 10, that ERA falls to 1.50. This unit also got an encouraging 4.1 scoreless innings from lefties Scott Eyre and Jack Taschner, easing some of the concern surrounding JC Romero’s suspension.

The Lineup: C After 18 BRUTAL innings to start the season, things have gone fairly well for the offense. Utley, Howard and Werth have all been excellent, as has surprise star Pedro Feliz, who had his best week since joining the team. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino have been disappointments at the top of the order, which may be why the 3,4,5 guys are all on fire, yet the team is just 3-3.

The Bench: D+ Matt Stairs’ game-winner aside it was a tough week from the bench. Especially concerning is Greg Dobbs’ 0-5 start considering he was a huge part of all those late-game rallies in 2008. Another solid season from Dobbs would go a long way to helping the Phils repeat.

Final Grade: C- The starters were all terrible and the team has gotten nothing from the top of the order, yet they are 3-3 so they may have gotten off easy. There is some promise that you may have found some right-handed pop with both Werth and Feliz killing the ball in the early going, but even with this balanced attack you couldn't break .500, so maybe things aren't quite so good. There’s obvious room for improvement, but .500 is .500. So let’s sit back and get a better idea of what we have before getting too concerned or excited.

The Phillies' Big 5

The Phillies season begins Sunday, and while they are considered favorites to win the NL East, there are a handful of major questions floating around the team. So here's an attempt to answer the big 5.


Is Chan Ho Park For Real?

What do you make of Chan Ho Park? Park signed with the Phillies this offseason, and when Park did he claimed he chose the Phillies because he was promised a chance to win the 5th spot in the starting rotation. At the time most observers took Park’s desire to start with a grain of salt, and felt that the chances of him winning the job were slim at best. I was among this group, in fact I worried that Park would end up like Ryan Franklin and spend the season sulking about not getting the job he was promised. Then spring training happened, and Park put together a dominant, and surprising, month of baseball, not just to win the job, but to win it emphatically.

Park was spectacular this spring, going 2-0, with a 2.53 ERA, a 0.92 WHIP, a strikeout rate of better than one per inning, and a walk rate of less than one BB per 9 innings pitched. Park was the best pitcher the Phillies had this spring, and when you see what Joe Blanton has done as well, there is a real reason to get optimistic about the back of the Phillies rotation. That said, the question lingers, what can you expect from Park over the entire season?

Park first was a full-time starter with the LA Dodgers from 1997-2001. In LA, a notorious pitcher’s park, Chan Ho Park had 4 very good seasons sandwiching a disappointing 1999. In those 4 seasons when Park was at his peak, he averaged 217 innings and a 3.47 ERA for those four years, with a combined record of 62-38. Park turned these tremendous numbers into a 5-year, $65 million contract with the Texas Rangers.

The ballpark in Arlington is among the best hitters’ parks in all of baseball, and Park was terrible there in 3 and a half injury plagued seasons. Park ended up being traded to San Diego late in 2005, but despite returning to a pitchers park and the easier to handle National League, Park was still quite awful. After floundering in 2006 in San Diego, Park signed on with the Mets for 2007 in hopes of being their fifth starter, but it didn’t pan out, and Park made just one start in place of the injured Orlando Hernandez before returning to minors. Park spent the rest of 2007 in the minors, splitting time between the Mets’ and Astros’ organizations. Park returned to LA in 2008, and had a fine season for the Dodgers, pitching mainly from the bullpen. Park left the team after the season to pursue a shot at starting, which is what landed him in Philadelphia.

So what do you make of Park’s past, and what can we expect from him in the future? The short answer is as long as he’s missing bats and avoiding walks as he did this spring he’ll be successful at the major league level. The pitcher I saw this spring training makes you want to believe that this is a capable veteran who has a burning desire to make every team that passed on his services this offseason choke on it. Then again, I don’t think you can expect Park to maintain this level for an entire year. In fact the biggest question I have is if Park can have success at any venue other than Dodger Stadium. Chan Ho Park has a very respectable career ERA of 4.34. The problem is that at Dodger Stadium Park’s ERA is 2.96, and everywhere else it’s at an alarming 5.15.

So is Park for real? Can he be a fixture in this rotation? It’s a huge question mark. He was very good in 2008, and Park looks even better so far this season. Then again, Park has been either injured or dreadful in the last 5 seasons he attempted to be a starter. So which pitcher will we get? A focused veteran who can give you innings and strikeouts, or a Korean version of Adam Eaton? The answer to that question will go a long way to deciding the Phillies 2009 season.

Who is #2?

Game 5 of the World Series ended the championship drought that had plagued the city of Philadelphia. Game 5 also ended any debate about whether the Phillies had a true #1 starting pitcher. Cole Hamels left game 5 (sort of left, sort of was forced out by weather) having completed one of the all-time great post-season runs. Hamels went 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA, and 30 strikeouts in 35 innings, it was an amazing October that cemented him as an elite pitcher, and ended all debate about whether he was a true ace. The Phillies have several solid middle-of-the-rotation type starters, but can any of them become Cole’s sidekick, and give the Phillies a real 1-2 punch that would make the Phillies the hands-down favorite to win the NL? Let’s look at the candidates and see how they stack up.

Brett Myers: Myers will pitch on opening day, taking Hamels’ place after his elbow flared up this spring training, causing a (so far) minor setback. Is Myers capable of being a #2? Myers has shown flashes in the past of sustained success, most noticeably in 2005-06 when he had back to back seasons with a winning record, a sub 4.00 ERA, and nearly a strikeout per inning. After spending 2007 in the bullpen, Myers returned to the rotation in 2008 and was a huge disappointment. Myers was so bad in 2008, he had to be sent to the minors to try and regain his form. It appeared that he worked out his issues and over his next 11 starts; Brett went 7-2 with a 2.00 ERA and 69 strikeouts. Those 11 starts represent a third of a season where he was nothing short of brilliant, but in the other 19 starts he made Brett was 3-11 with a 6.10 ERA. Then again, that seems to be Brett Myers in a nutshell, so bad at times you want to be completely finished with him, and so good that sometimes you think he has the potential to win a Cy Young award. The first guy is a borderline fifth starter, the latter could be your ace, but when judged on a whole Brett Myers falls somewhere in between. Ideally Brett is your #3, good enough to deserve regular innings, but not consistent enough to be counted to pick your team up during a slump.

Jamie Moyer: Jamie Moyer was the Phillies #2 starter in 2008, and earned that distinction by having his best year since 2003. Moyer’s status as #2 is hardly an indictment on the Phillies staff, as Moyer was one of the top pitchers in all the National League, finishing tied for 7th with 16 wins, and tied for 15th with a 3.71 ERA. It should be noted that Moyer wasn’t so successful in the postseason, where he went 0-2 with an 8.49 ERA in 3 starts. The other questions around Moyer involve either his advanced age of 46 and his ability to stay effective, or his inconsistency. After all Moyer posted an above 5.00 ERA in 2007; so which of the last two years is a better indicator of what Moyer will give the team at his current age and physical condition? If the 2007 Moyer returns, then the Phillies will have an innings eater that will keep them in ballgames, but rarely will win a game on his own. If 2008 Moyer returns, then the Phillies will have a legitimate #2 to trust behind Hamels, at least until the postseason arrives. On most teams that’s ok, since he’ll certainly help get you to the playoffs, but with this team, with this set of lofty goals, it isn’t quite enough to be the #2 they’re looking for.

Joe Blanton: After a shaky start to his tenure in Philadelphia, Blanton settled in and went 4-0 with a 3.73 ERA in his final 11 starts. More importantly the Phillies were 9-4 overall in his 13 starts. For his career, Blanton has been inconsistent at best. Blanton owns a very nice career ERA of 4.24, which would normally be more than enough to win with this offense behind him, but most of that work came in pitcher friendly McAfee Coliseum, a far cry from the notorious hitter's haven that is Citizens Bank Park. The best case for Blanton was that he was clearly the Phillies second best starter when they needed it most; during their October run through the playoffs, going 2-0 with a 3.18 ERA. Joe also has had an excellent spring and may be ready to step up and give the Phillies that second big arm they need. Of course, that hope is based on a very small body of work, and is optimistic to say the least. Honestly, Joe most likely isn’t the guy, and much like Myers and Moyer is an asset, just not that much coveted #2.

In closing I guess it’s safe to say that entering the season the Phillies don’t have a #2 starter, but instead they have three #3’s. If that holds up, I feel like it will balance out, and over the course of the season all three of these men will fill that role at times. The big question is if one of them can do it next October when it becomes an absolute must to have a legitimate #2 starter.

Can The Phillies Bullpen Be The Best In the NL Again?

The Phillies had the National League’s best Bullpen in 2008, and need to stay among the best if they are going to repeat in 2009. There are a handful of questions surrounding this bullpen, so let’s just jump right into it.

1. Who is going to be in the bullpen this year? Well, there are the obvious names such as Lidge, Madson, Romero (eventually), Eyre, Condrey, and Chad Durbin. The final two bullpen spots will be filled from the group of J.A.Happ, Jack Taschner, Gary Majewski, and Robert Mosebach. Odds are that the Phillies keep one of the right-handers (Majewski and Mosebach) and one of the lefties (Taschner and Happ). Mosebach is a rule 5 pick that has been offered back to the Angels, and the Phillies must return him unless a trade is worked out, something the Phillies are currently working on. The fact that they offered him back shows the Phillies aren’t really looking to keep him in the majors, so that eliminates him from the mix. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say Taschner and Majewski stay, and Happ is sent to Lehigh Valley where he will continue to pitch as a starter. Happ will be the first pitcher the Phillies turn to if there is an injury, or if a starter falters.

2. Which Ryan Madson will show up this year? Ryan Madson has been up and down in his young career, but never so “up” as he was during the 2008 playoffs. Madson was dominating in the postseason, including an impressive World Series where he frequently was blazing fastballs up there at 95-98 mph, some 5-10 mph faster than Phillies fans were used to. If the postseason version of Ryan Madson shows up more nights than not, then the Phillies can consider the 8th innings locked down.

3. How much will the Phillies miss J.C. Romero during his suspension? Romero has been fantastic since joining the Phillies. In two seasons, the lefthander has appeared in 132 games and posted a 2.17 ERA. The Phillies will be hard pressed to match that type of production. Scott Eyre will apparently inherit most of those innings until Romero returns, so really this question will be answered by him. In all I expect the absence to cost the Phillies a game or two, but it’s hardly going to cripple the bullpen.

4. Can then Phillies replace the departing Rudy Seanez and Tom Gordon? I don’t think that Gary Mejewski, J.A. Happ, or Jack Taschner will ever as good a reliever as Gordon and Seasnez were once upon a time, but based on what you could expect to get from those veteran this season, the younger group the Phillies have is more than up to the challenge. The biggest question mark is Majewski, who was a valuable pitcher for the Expos/Nationals when he first came to the majors, but was dismal in his most recent two and a half years, spent in Cincinnati.

5. Can Brad Lidge Repeat His “Perfect” 2008 Season? Honestly, probably not. Oh, I’m sorry you wanted something more substantive? OK then, Lidge’s 2008 season was spectacular, and to expect the same in 2009 is unrealistic. You can expect Lidge to be among the game’s best closers, his strikeout rates alone make him among the most lethal pitchers in the game. So maybe he blows 2 or 3 saves, even then he’ll still be a strength for this team.

After all these questions, I’ll give you one simple answer; Yes expect the Phillies to have an excellent bullpen again in 2009.

Will the Lack of Right-handed Power Be a Problem?

Potions of the following are from a piece that originally ran 2-19-09.

Pat Burrell, although flawed, has maintained a certain level of production of the last few years, in fact over the past 4 seasons; Burrell averaged 31 homers and 99 RBIs. Over that time, Aaron Rowand left for San Francisco, and the Phillies attempted to replace his offense with Pedro Feliz, but Feliz was a major underachiever in 2008. So now the Phillies are left with only a single right-handed hitter who is capable of hitting 20 home runs, Jayson Werth. Werth had a breakout year in 2008, setting new career highs in games, at bats, hits, home runs, stolen bases and RBIs. Now Werth will be counted on to be the main source of power from the right side, a responsibility he may or may not be capable of handling.

The Phillies have a real problem in this regard; the only players on the team who are capable of hitting 20 homers from the right side are Jayson Werth and Jimmy Rollins. Since Jimmy is your leadoff hitter, he won’t be helping round out the middle of the lineup this season, which leaves Jayson Werth. I love what Werth did in 2008, he hit .273 and averaged a home run once every 17.42 at bats. That home run rate was fantastic, and if Werth had enough at bats he would have ranked 15th in the league sandwiched between Hanley Ramirez and Prince Fielder. The optimist in me would like to think that Werth has now come into his own, and is ready to emerge as a full-time power-hitting outfielder.

The problem with Werth is that he hit only .255 against right-handed pitching with a HR per every 32.875 at bats. Not only is Werth a potential liability against right-handed pitching, he is definitely injury prone. Jayson Werth has spent time on the DL every season of his career from 2003 through 2008, and every time it was either an oblique or wrist injury. Even when healthy, Werth has never played an entire year as a starter, and if the Phillies intend to continue the platoon situation with either Stairs or Dobbs starting against right-handed pitching, then they will be playing four lefties in the middle of the order. There is also the chance that last season was a career year, and Werth may fall back to his career averages of a .263 batting average and a homerun once every 24.45 at bats.

In all, I guess it goes without saying that the Phillies are taking a huge risk with all the faith they’ve shown in Werth. The Phillies have tried to add Gary Sheffield as an insurance policy, but his signing seems like a long shot without any playing time to offer the future Hall of Fame outfielder. So the team will apparently sink or swim with Werth being the only right handed bat in the middle of the order.

Can the Phillies Avoid Their Usual Slow Start?

The Phillies chances of repeating as World Series Champions may very well hinge on whether they can avoid the slow start that has plagued their last several seasons. In 2008, the Phillies posted a 15-13 record on April, their first winning record in the season’s opening month since 2003. Of course the Phillies didn’t exactly come blazing out of the gates last season. After struggling through the first three weeks of the year, the Phillies managed to post that winning record by ending the month with 7 wins in their final 10 games.

Recently the Phillies best hitters in April have been Pat Burrell and Chase Utley. The Phillies will need to replace their offense if they are going to avoid a poor start. Chase Utley finished last April on such a tear he was the early favorite to win the National League MVP. This April Utley enters the year on far more uncertain terms, as he is attempting to return from offseason surgery. While Utley has repeatedly said he’ll be ready for the start of the season, you have to wonder at what level he’ll start the year. Obviously, Pat Burrell’s April production is gone, replaced with Raul Ibanez who is a fine April hitter in his own right, but he must address the issues that come with switching leagues and playing in a new stadium. At best, the Phillies will suffer a slight drop-off from their best April hitters, at worst they’ll be without most of their offense to open the year.

The obvious hope is that Ryan Howard avoids a third consecutive disastrous April and picks up the slack. Howard had an excellent April in his 2006 MVP campaign, batting .306 with 5 home runs. In the spring preceding that April, Howard had a monstrous grapefruit league run bashing 11 home runs and batting .341. This spring has been Howard’s best since then, with him hitting 10 home runs so far while batting .310. If Howard’s spring leads to him skipping this season’s opening month slump, then the Phillies will be able to handle whatever loss of offense Utley’s injury and Burrell’s departure may cause.

The more likely source of early season success would be to get better pitching from the get go. Cole Hamels was the only Phillies starting pitcher who had an April ERA under 4.50. If Blanton and Park can improve on what little you got from Eaton and Kendrick last April, then things should work out pretty well. Plus, you have to expect that Moyer and Myers will perform better than last year when they combined to go 3-4 with a 4.78 ERA in 11 starts. Then again, if Myers can avoid allowing double digit homers this month that would be an improvement after he surrendered 10 last April.

In all, I think the Phillies will be able to avoid the troubles of previous Aprils, with a combination of better pitching and a big month from Ryan Howard. The improvement to the back end of the rotation is the most obvious reason to be optimistic, as Eaton and Kendrick were terrible last season. If Cole Hamels stays on track and doesn’t miss any time with his recent elbow issues, then this rotation will be a strength from the first day on. I think you can expect 13 or 14 wins out of the 22 games on the April schedule.

That about wraps up the questions, the answers will start coming in for real this Sunday.

Park Grabs 5th Spot/Myers to Start Opener

Ruben Amaro Jr. announced today that Chan Ho Park has won the 5th spot in the Phillies rotation, beating out J.A. Happ for the position. Happ will now compete for a spot in the bullpen according to Amaro.


In addition, Charlie Manuel announced that Brett Myers would be the Phils Opening Night Starter, giving Myers the honor for the third year in a row.

Hamels Out For Opener

It was made official on Monday, Cole Hamels is not going to pitch next Sunday when then the Phillies open the 2009 season at Citizen's Bank Park.

No decision has been made as to who will pitch Sunday night, Brett Myers is in line to pitch Sunday if you follow the spring rotation, but Joe Blanton hasn't been ruled out either.

Check out Jim Salisbury's piece from the Inquirer here
which also covers the 5th starter race between Park and Happ.

Inside the mind of the Philly sports fan

During the research and the subsequent debates that were a part of doing our “Greatest Philadelphia Athlete” podcast, I repeatedly came across a common storyline, that we as fans turn on our superstar athletes and run them out of town. Its uncanny how many times the fan base here in Philadelphia have found something wrong with a premiere athlete and how often popular opinion has swung against a player whose performance should grant them some sort of immunity from that type of uprising. Successful or not, over time it seems as if Philly fans just get sick of the same players being the focal point of their teams.



If you try to hypothesize why this is the case, your first instinct would be to say it’s because the fan base demands a winner, and unless you win it all you get the label of a failure. This isn’t actually the case when you look further into this behavior. Mike Schmidt, for example, had a very vocal crowd of detractors throughout the ‘80s despite being a World Series champion, MVP of that World Series, a 12-time all-star, a 10-time gold glove winner, and a 3-time NL MVP. Schmidt was the greatest player of his time, yet still faced the wrath of the Philly crowds. They claimed he didn’t hustle and that he seemed nonchalant in the field, despite his records for fielding. At the time Schmidt grew frustrated with the crowds, calling them a mob scene and saying they were beyond help. Well, 25 years later not much has changed, a new generation of fans has come to be, and they are just as tough as their predecessors. 25 years later, I wonder if the great Michael Jack Schmidt was right, are we beyond help?

I’m not sure if we’re beyond help, but Michael Jack has nothing on today’s superstars. Today we live in a world with a television channel and two radio stations that are dedicated to covering Philadelphia sports exclusively. You think we used to nitpick in the ‘80s Mike? You ain’t seen nothing. Today every facet of professional sports is picked apart and criticized as a part of an endless 24-hour news cycle. Nobody feels this scorn and criticism any harsher than Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb. This pair represents the best the Philadelphia Eagles organization has ever put on the field, the winningest coach and the best quarterback. So why do we as fans do nothing but rip these two apart day in and day out. I often criticize McNabb for things not related to his play, and I claim to know better. Who am I to say that he isn’t a leader, or that he doesn’t command respect like other quarterbacks? Why do fans think that Andy Reid is a smug, arrogant bastard even though all he ever does is win football games and take all criticism on himself. That’s what a real man is supposed to do, chin up, don’t complain, just continue doing what you feel in your heart is right. Andy Reid is a very good coach (although a flawed one), and Andy deserves to get better treatment from Eagles “fans”. If you raise this point to an Eagles fan, they’ll tell you it’s because he has never won a Super Bowl, but ask Mike Schmidt how long the bloom stays on that rose, and he’ll tell you not very long. Once Philly decides your aren’t a “Philly guy”, the chances of escaping that determination are slim to none.

Just ask Scott Rolen. Rolen came up to the big leagues at the end of 1996 and showed flashes of greatness, those flashes materialized into a rookie of the year award in 1997 and Scott was on his way to becoming a Phillies legend. Then something odd happened, Scott won a few gold gloves and blossomed into one of the best young third basemen in baseball when the fans started saying that he wasn’t hard-nosed enough. After time Rolen began to bristle at this distinction and that was a huge mistake. It’s all well and good for the fans to slander you, but if you dare even hint that you resent their opinion, then you’re dead to them. It got to be so bad, that when Rolen started to question the team’s commitment to winning the fans took THE TEAM’S SIDE! So Rolen decided he wanted out, and he got a crybaby label for it. The label was further cemented by his feud with fiery manager Larry Bowa, who had never been a successful manager, yet is still loved by Phillies fans due to his passing the feisty personality litmus test with flying colors.

Scotty Rolen was just the tip of the iceberg. Remember Eagles’ star Randall Cunningham, who went from MVP to pariah in about three years. What about Eric Lindros? He went from hockey god to pansy-ass Daddy’s boy in about three years. You only need to look at The Answer himself. We named Allen Iverson the greatest athlete of the last 20 years, yet he was exiled too. He was labeled lazy for not making a handful of practices, yet all anyone talks about when he’s mentioned is how hard he played and how much effort he gave night in and night out. So what gives? Why do we continue to vilify our stars? Who is next to face the wrath of the infamous Philly backlash?

If I had to guess, the next in line is World Series MVP Cole Hamels. I vividly recall the fans declaring that Hamels wasn’t a big game pitcher, and that he was a pansy and cowardly for not pitching a day early last season, a move that would have matched him up against the Mets instead of the Marlins. That’s right, Cole Hamels had his heart and big-game ability questioned a mere weeks before he carried the Phillies to a World Series title. I remember arguing that if the kid isn’t comfortable pitching early, then respect that he has the maturity to recognize his limitations. Cole didn’t want to risk messing up his routine, and I think that decision worked out pretty well. Brett Myers, meanwhile, returned to the big-league roster after being sent to AAA to straighten out a horrible season as popular as ever, despite having a terrible season and recent legal troubles of a disturbing nature. Part of that was us fans knowing that Myers needed to perform well down the stretch for the Phillies to have a chance to win the East, and we decided that we were going to be behind Brett all the way for the good of the team. Then again, how often are we positive for positivity’s sake, I think as big a part of his maintained popularity is that Brett Myers always had that feisty demeanor on the field, and Philly fans respond to that.

The scary part is that those toughness related criticisms probably aren’t behind Cole. If Cole only makes 50 starts over the next two season, and the Phillies don’t win the East in those two years. I would not be at all surprised if the questions of his toughness crept back onto barstools and into the radio waves of the sports talk world. I heard Ike Reese on Monday evening say that Hamels is “overly cautious” when it comes to his body. This is before he’s thrown a single regular season pitch after a dominating World Series run that you’d think would have granted the kid some sort of a pass. If Cole isn’t currently immune, then is anybody in the Philadelphia sports scene ever going to be safe? After a few seasons without repeating as NL East champions, I could easily see the current group of Phillies falling out of favor. It won’t take much for Manuel to return to being Charlie from Mayberry, and Ryan Howard’s giant strikeout totals could very easily become a reflection of how he doesn’t work hard enough to get better, rather than a natural byproduct of a non-steroid era slugger.

So I ask, are we wrong? Are we hurting our teams more than we help with the way obsess like we do? As much as I love my teams, and as much as I love dissecting every move and game, maybe I’m not helping either. Should I restrict my opinion making data to what happens between the white lines? To answer this questions let’s consider the end of Andy Reid. I feel like when/if Reid is ever released by the Eagles, it will be due in part to the large, vocal group of fans who don’t like Reid because they find him arrogant and condescending. Odds say that our next coach will not be as good as Andy, since he is the winningest coach in team history; in fact odds are the next five coaches won’t be as good. So when Andy goes, if public opinion based on his personality is a factor in that decision, then we as fans will have chosen to have an inferior coach who is a better interview or who is a fierier guy on the sidelines, than a winner who is stone faced and boring. How insane is that? How insane are we?

Well, insane enough to spend countless hours picking apart every angle of the Eagles offseason, insane enough to pack Lehigh every year at mini-camps, insane enough to sell out every game for an entire 81 home game schedule despite a collapsing economy, and insane enough that three guys with full time jobs spend most of their free time building a website about Philly sports. We are very dedicated, is that so wrong? Is it wrong for fans of Lost to pack message boards and go over every frame of every episode? Absolutely not. The only thing that would be wrong is if the producers of Lost read those message board postings and make knee-jerk reactions to the feedback. It’s also wrong if the show’s producers completely ignore what those message boards say, not acknowledging what the show’s most hardcore fans believe.

In the end when you commit to following a team on a daily basis, you are also deciding that the team will be your primary entertainment source. Fans want a payoff for their time, money, and troubles. That is why we dislike boring Andy Reid, we want entertainment, and while the game day on-the-field product may usually be a quality one, what about our entertainment on the other 349 days of the year? If we aren’t working towards a title, the triumph of which is our ultimate payoff from this entertainment, then we need to be getting something else for our commitment, namely drama. The drama of the big game, the drama of the offseason where characters are added or removed from the roster, and sometimes we just need to add the drama ourselves. Drama, after all is second to triumph in what we hope to experience from watching sports to begin with.

That’s really the answer, I think, that when triumph isn’t an option, we want drama, and we are willing to create it ourselves as necessary. When that drama is created it is a pretty basic idea that the bigger the star involved, the bigger the drama. It works in Hollywood, it works on television and it works in Philadelphia sports. That why Scott Rolen was a superstar in the making who got the boot, but Pedro Feliz is a huge underachiever who gets a pass, because one was a leading man, and the other is playing a bit part. I think it really is that simple: we want drama, so we create it, and when we create it, we create it around our biggest stars. So when Philly’s brightest stars find themselves knee-deep in the quicksand of public opinion, don’t blame their downfall on us. After all, it’s our job as fans to follow along with the drama and even to embrace it. It is our right as fans to start the drama when it looks like that triumph we long for isn’t coming anytime soon, or when things are getting boring.