It only took two at-bats to realize what the Phillies were missing for the past month. Jimmy Rollins made his return last night and had an immediate impact. Rollins was the catalyst in last night’s 7-4 victory over the Giants.
After missing the first 28 games, things didn’t start well for Rollins, and he appeared rusty. He led the game off with a ground out to to shortstop Emmanuel Burris. Rollins had similar results in the third inning, this time grounding out to third baseman Jose Castillo.
He also showed rust on the defensively. In the bottom of the fourth, with the score tied at one, the Giants had runners at first and second with two outs. Eugeno Velez his a slow roller to Rollins who missed the ball, allowing Randy Winn to score and the Giants to take a 2-1 lead. The official scorers were generous and didn’t charge Rollins with an error, but that miscue hurt. The next batter, Burriss, tripled down the right field line, brining home Velez and Rich Aurilia. Had gold …
It’s been a month, but Jimmy Rollins will finally return to the Phillies. The reigning MVP has fully recovered from a high ankle sprain, and will join the Phillies tomorrow in San Francisco. Returning for this weekends series against the Giants was important to Rollins. Rollins, a Bay Area native, will have plenty of family at AT&T Park this weekend.
The Philles have done well since Rollins hurt his ankle going 16-12. While Eric Bruntlett (7-18, 8 RBI’s last 4 games), has done an admirable job in Rollins absence, he’s no replacement for the heart and soul of the Phillies.
Charlie Manuel hasn’t commited to Rollins starting tomorrow night, but I would expect him to be leading off.
“If he’s ready to play, there’s a good chance he will be,” Manuel said after Thursday’s 8-3 loss to Arizona. “He’s the MVP. He’s the shortstop. He helps us, man.”
Brad Harman, who was called up when Rollins went on the DL, will return to Reading.
It’s been no secret the Phillies have been searching for another left-handed reliever to work along side JC Romero. Initially they hoped that would be veteran Steve Kline. That was until he proved he couldn’t get Triple-A batters out. Well they just might have found it today. The Phillies have acquired Stephen Randolph from the Astros for a player to be named later.
Randolph, 34, has had a strong season at Triple-A. He was 0-1 with a 1.23 ERA. What’s more impressive is his 21 strikeouts in 14.2 innings.
All’s not great when it comes to Randolph. To go with those 21 strikeouts are 11 walks. Randolph’s name was also mentioned in the Mitchell Report as a player who purchased steroids nad human growth hormones from Kirk Radomski on numerous occasions.
It hasn’t been announced yet, but one would think Randolph will report to the Phillies. No moves have been made yet, but Clay Condrey would be the logical odd man out. We’ll leave it to speculation.
Garrett Reid, son a Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach Andy Reid, was sent to state prison after pleading guilty to charges of drug smuggling on Wednesday and faces a minimum of two years in jail. Reid was charged after admitting to smuggling 89 prescription pills into a county jail. The 25-year old son of the reserved, Mormon coach could be released to a less restrictive facility if he is admitted into a drug rehabilitation program, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.
Reid was already serving time in county jail as the result of a heroin induced car crash that injured a motorist last summer. He allegedly smuggled in the prescription pills into the county jail when he surrendered himself to the police on the crash-related charges.
“While we understand that some defendants, this one in particular, have substance-abuse issues, he still committed a very serious offense,” Ferman said. “We need to take a very hard line on crimes like this to make sure that prison authorities can maintain order.”
The younger Reid …
Flyers Vs Penguins Preview.
Unless you have been living under a rock, it is no secret that these two teams flat out don’t like each other. Sidney Crosby is one of the most disliked sports figures in Philadelphia. He is viewed by Flyers fans, as well as Flyers players as whiney cry baby who will go out of his way to take dives and fake injuries to get calls from the Refs. Whenever Crosby plays in Philadelphia he is welcomed by the league’s most intimidating fans with long loud chants that are too vulgar to be posted on this website. The animosity for one player has built into animosity between two teams. This leaves little doubt in anyone’s mind that this series is going to be an all out war, and an absolute pleasure to watch for hockey fans all around the world.
Penguins:
The Penguins made it this far in the playoffs by defeating the Ottawa Senators, and the New York Rangers. They made it through both teams in convincing fashion defeating the …
Once again, Kris Benson is on the mend. Benson is fully recovered from a groin strain he suffered on April 26th, and has begun to long-toss. Barring no additional setbacks, he’s scheduled to pitch this weekend in an extended spring training game.
Benson, who is attempting a return from rotator cuff surgery, has had some setbacks in his quest to return to the big leagues. In mid-March he was sidelined with bicep tendonitis. This sidelined him for three weeks. After he began throwing, he was finally was ready for game action, and he made his debut in extended spring training. Unfortunately he ended up straining his groin in the 3rd inning.
The original plan for Benson was for him to join the Phillies in mid-May. Given his setbacks, mid-June has become a more realistic option.
The best case scenario for Benson will work out like this. If Benson has a successful outing this weekend, he’ll have a couple more starts before playing in some minor league games. At that point, the Phillies will have to decide …
Reigning NL MVP shortstop Jimmy Rollins went 4-4 with 2 RBIs in a minor league rehab start Monday. Rollins, on the 15-day disabled list for the first time in his career, is rehabbing a sprained left ankle. He injured the ankle running the bases in a game against the New York Mets back on April 8th.
In a game against the New York Yankees minor league affiliate, the switch hitting Rollins batted three times from the left side, hitting a double each time. His lone at-bat from the right side resulted in a single. “It was fine,” Rollins said. “Running around the bases for the first time, it felt good. Second time, I felt a little twinge, but I was still able to kick it in coming around to score, and I was fine.”
Philadelphia Phillies’ Manager Charlie Manuel expects his star shortstop back this weekend, but does not want to rush things. “We need him, man,” Manuel said. “He’s a part of us—he’s a big part. But we want him healthy. I …
Could the Philadelphia Phillies cash in on the failures of the New York Yankees? That’s the subject of a recent article by Jim Salisbury from the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Yankees are currently sitting in fourth place in the American League East, three games back of hated rival Boston, with their two young superstars, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, a combined 0-6. Hughes has just landed himself on the disabled list with a stress fracture to one of his ribs. He is also going to start wearing glasses to correct his recently diagnosed near sightedness. Kennedy is just one bad start from going back down to the minors. Meanwhile, playing for crosstown rival New York Mets, Johan Santana is 3-2 with a 2.91 ERA and 47 strikeouts.
To many Yankee faithful, including Senior Vice President Hank Steinbrenner, Santana is the fish that got away, with much of that blame placed upon the shoulders of GM Brian Cashman. Steinbrenner was a very vocal proponent of trading for the Cy-Young winner, but Cashman talked …
For the second week in a row Antonio Bastardo tops the On the Farm segment. Aside from being Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Month for April, the twenty-two year old lefthander was promoted to Reading. He continued to show dominance in his Double-A debut. On Saturday, Bastardo went 5 2/3 innings, allowing 5 hits and 1 run as the Phillies beat the Harrisburg Senators. Bastardo did struggle a little with control, walking three batters, but he’s obviously ready to handle Double-A hitting. If Bastardo keeps his dominance up (13-0, 2.29 in his minor league career), he’ll continue on the fast track to Philadelphia.
The Phillies Minor League hitter of the Month was Lakewood’s Michael Taylor. Taylor, the Phillies fifth round pick of the 2007 draft, hit .357 in April, leading all Phillies minor leaguers. May hasn’t been as kind to Taylor. He’s 1 for 11 with a double and 2 RBI’s.
Adrian Cardenas is off to a strong start at Clearwater. The second baseman is batting .347 in 13 games with the Threshers. Cardenas is a …
Via Phillies official press release:
Chase Utley of the Philadelphia Phillies has been named the ‘Sharp Presents the National League Player of the Month’ for April.
The left-handed hitting second baseman hit .360 (40-111) with 10 doubles, a triple, 11 home runs, 23 RBIs and 25 runs scored in April. His 11 home runs, 85 total bases and .766 slugging percentage all paced the National League. The two-time All-Star posted 15 multi-hit games, two multi-home run contests and six multi-RBI performances. Utley homered in five consecutive games from April 17th-21st, tying a Phillies record shared by Bobby Abreu (2005), Mike Schmidt (1979) and Dick Allen (1969). The UCLA product, drafted in the first round (15th overall) by the Phillies in the 2000 First-Year Player Draft, capped the month with his Major-League leading 11th home run of the year on April 30th vs. San Diego.
Other players receiving votes were Chipper Jones (.417, eight homers, 21 RBIs) of the Braves, Nate McLouth (.339, seven homers, 25 RBIs) of the Pirates, Rafael Furcal (.380, …
When Ryan Howard stroked a game winning home run against the Padres on Thursday night, fans had hoped he turned a corner. Well if he’s turned the corner he’s failed to let anyone else know. Since that home run he’s gone 0 for 9 with 6 strikeouts. These strikeouts are ugly ones too. He’s chasing balling in the dirt and others that are clearly out of the strike zone.
To make matters worse for former Rookie of the Year and MVP, his struggles have soured the fans, who now reign boos on Howard as he trots back to the dugout. This is something Howard has never experienced in his time in the big leagues, but it’s not helping the situation. I’m sure Pat Burrell can relay to Howard how unforgiving Philadelphia fans can be.
It’s not just the fans who are noticing it, as opposing teams are beginning to take advantage of Howard’s struggles. During Friday night’s game Chase Utley came to the plate with two outs and the go-ahead run on third …
The Philadelphia Flyers are moving on to the East Conference Finals for the first time since 2004, the fifteenth time in team history, after beating the Montreal Canadiens 6-4 in Game 5 of their semifinal playoff series tonight in Montreal. Scottie Upshall scored the game winning goal with 3:04 left to go in regulation, deflecting a shot by Jeff Carter passed Canadiens’ goalie Carey Price.
Montreal scored just 4:29 into the first period on a power play goal by Thomas Plekanec, giving the Habs their first lead in the series. R.J. Umberger extended his consecutive game goal scoring streak to five when he tied the game at one. Alexei Kovalev reclaimed the Canadiens’ lead when a wraparound shot by Maxim Lapierre bounced off his skate and in. Montreal would go on to score another goal, making the score 3-1, putting the Flyers in a hole that may send them back to Philadelphia for Game 6. It was not to be.
Mike Richards and Scott Hartnell scored as the Flyers got three …
