Coping With The Ups & Downs

Go figure. The Phillies sweep the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta, return home for seven games only to lose five of them including being swept by Arizona and hit the road again beginning at hostile Shea Stadium where the proceed to sweep the Mets. What are we to make of these guys? One thing is undeniable: the three games they won in New York were among the most entertaining and exciting the Phillies have played in a long time home or away. Most impressive was the way they came back to win all three of them either in extra innings or after trailing late in the game. Naturally, Chase Utley was in the middle of every rally. Equally impressive was the second straight save by newly anointed closer Antonio Alfonseca.

Hard as it is to imagine, the Phils only trail first place New York by five games and second place Atlanta by one and half. They open a weekend series against Kansas City in Missouri, where the lowly Royals have the worst home record in all of baseball. Watch out!

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My uncanny ability to invoke the reverse curse when it comes to Pat Burrell is starting to become a little freaky. Every time I point out his many deficiencies Burrell comes through. Last night was no exception as he homered off old teammate and antagonist Billy Wagner, the lefty closer's first blown save since August of 2006. Burrell's home run tied the score and set up the winning rally. Just to show how player-specific the RC has become, Wes Helms, who also took his lumps in this space recently, struck out in his only potential clutch appearance last night.

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I'm sorry, but with all the holes they have to fill why did the Phillies draft a pitcher who's already had a bone spur in his shoulder and a slight tear of the labrum? And spare me the buzzwords. I don't care how athletic this guy is or how high the ceiling for him is. He's a pitcher whose already had two separate injuries to his arm, you know, that thing he throws with! What a great time in the organization's history to gamble. I particularly love the comments that he was projected to go even higher had he not had the injuries and subsequent operation in July, 2006. No kidding. I guess the 18 teams drafting in front of the Phillies were unimpressed enough to pass, but not Arbuckle and Co., who, naturally, claimed to have done their medical homework. If things work out and Joe Savery has a successful career in Philadelphia, I'll happily eat whatever crow I'm served. In the meantime, I didn't believe this organization could surprise me further on draft day, but they did.