Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Da Dodgers!
Rockies series retrospective: it certainly was a nice week for the Phils offense. Thirty-four runs in four games was prodigious production on their part. However, Byrd & Rollins continue to fail to produce: between Sunday and Monday they went a collective 0-for-18, with two walks and three strikeouts. It is miraculous that the Phils managed to still score twelve runs in those two games. But the bottom line is that the inability of Byrd and Rollins to produce hangs over the Phils collective heads like the sword of Damocles. They can't keep two guys up front who aren't getting on base for Burrell, Abreu and Thome.
My suggestion:
Why not Mr. Utley in the lead-off slot? He's developing as a contact hitter and I think he'll start hitting for a decent average fairly soon. Sean Burroughs in San Diego has shown that the key to being a good leadoff man is OBP, OBP, OBP. According to the always knowledgable Bill over at Phillies Fan, Utley had a very good OBP (.360) up there in Scranton.
The Dodgers series: this will be an interesting test to see how good the Phils are. Home after a very successful 7-3 road trip ... just a game and a half back of the fish ... now is the time to shine. Unfortunately the Dodgers look surprisingly good this year. Gagne is always unhittable, but the Dodgers are hitting a lot better than they did last year due to the addition of Milton Bradley and the team's emphasis on OBP. It will be a good series but I give the edge to the Phils: they still hit for a higher clip than the Dodgers and the Phils pitching is better. I think the Dodgers have been profiting from weak competition over there in the NL West. A good sweep will probably propel them within a half game of the fish, or out in front.
My suggestion:
Why not Mr. Utley in the lead-off slot? He's developing as a contact hitter and I think he'll start hitting for a decent average fairly soon. Sean Burroughs in San Diego has shown that the key to being a good leadoff man is OBP, OBP, OBP. According to the always knowledgable Bill over at Phillies Fan, Utley had a very good OBP (.360) up there in Scranton.
The Dodgers series: this will be an interesting test to see how good the Phils are. Home after a very successful 7-3 road trip ... just a game and a half back of the fish ... now is the time to shine. Unfortunately the Dodgers look surprisingly good this year. Gagne is always unhittable, but the Dodgers are hitting a lot better than they did last year due to the addition of Milton Bradley and the team's emphasis on OBP. It will be a good series but I give the edge to the Phils: they still hit for a higher clip than the Dodgers and the Phils pitching is better. I think the Dodgers have been profiting from weak competition over there in the NL West. A good sweep will probably propel them within a half game of the fish, or out in front.
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