Random thoughts while waiting for the regular season to wind down....
You can't win 'em all and don't but the Phils just concluded a damn good road trip by taking eight of ten to scare the living daylights out of the Mets (NY Times headline today said "Mets Exhale, With Some Breathing Room") and inch closer to the WC leader San Diego.
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Ryan Howard is on the verge of becoming the all-time strikeout leader for a single season despite having missed several weeks earlier in the year. If he finishes with something on the order of 210 strikeouts, that would average out to roughly anywhere from 42 to 52 games in which he didn't put a ball into fair play. That looks and sounds a whole lot worse than simply listing his total number of punch outs. Forty-two to fifty-two games where he might as well have not bothered going up to the plate. Yes, I know, I exaggerate here, he didn't strike out four or five times a game for those 42 - 52 games but it is still a colossally dismal effort.
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Take a good hard look at Aaron Rowand because he's leaving. At the beginning of the season I predicted mediocre things for him at the plate and knocked his fielding as less than stellar, particularly when it came to the routes he takes to the ball. Shows what I know. The thinking around baseball appears to be that the Phils need to spend too much on pitching to give Rowand the rich contract his stellar season will likely command. If the Phillies had some pitching lined up for next season Rowand might want to come back, but that doesn't appear to be in the offing.
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While you are taking a good hard look, fix your gaze upon Brett Myers, closer. If the Phils land a legitimate stopper during the off-season the pressure to move Myers back into the starting rotation will be tremendous. Problem is, he isn't going to go quietly. Myers likes the macho image associated with the closer role even if he hasn't exactly been the second coming of Goose Gossage or others who defined the role that way.
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Wes Helms has certainly been the biggest bust among position players signed during last off-season and Adam Eaton is the title holder among hurlers. Yes, even Freddy Garcia gets a pass on this ballot because he wasn't honestly healthy enough for anyone to expect much except, it appears, Pat Gillick. Helms has been awful at the plate and awful as advertised in the field. Eaton is in the running for worst free agent signing in the league, not just in the Delaware Valley. And Freddy? Mark your Garcia ballots under the name Gillick, Pat.
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The Phillies have a few pitchers on the roster who are recuperating from major arm surgeries and should get serious looks some time next season. Chief among these are Scott Mathieson, Matt Smith and Mike Zagurski. They may not look like world-beaters but they were literally sorely missed over the last few weeks.
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Finally, I hope my readers picked up on the unusual note of optimism in today's headline. I sure did...as I whistled by the graveyard.
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