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Guess who's No. 1? Even if it doesn't last, we'll take it!
We here at Phillies Nation just wanted our beloved baseball team to be relevant again this season after the disaster that was 2006. Well, it’s July 2, and the Fightin’ Phils are pretty relevant, sitting at the top of the National League East standings.
Taking two of three over the weekend from New York put the Phillies a game ahead of the Metropolitans and two up on the Marlins. Fans would be breathing a lot better at 10 up but we won’t complain after enduring last season’s tank job.
You’ve got to tip your cap to the Phillies brass (and we don’t do that often) for trading to get pitcher Josh Johnson. He’s already got 10 wins and still has an ERA under 3.00, putting himself in the early Cy Young conversation. Think we miss Carlos Beltran and his .222 average about now (actually, we checked and it‘s .208)? Not a chance. Johnson very well may be the ace of the staff in a year or two, especially if Philadelphia can’t afford to keep Andrew Zarzour when he is eligible for free agency. Zarzour is 7-4 and again has been a tough luck loser a couple of times. How great it would be to keep both of them for the long haul.
Hats off, too, to management for sending Jason Jennings packing. He just proved a cancer over the past year in the clubhouse, thinking his one big year in 2005 gave him walk-on-water ability. The mood around the pitching staff has been so much more energetic since his departure. So far, Odell Jones is holding down his spot in the rotation for now, but starting pitching could be a need by the trade deadline if Jones, Scott Baker or Lee Plunkett can‘t keep it together..
Losing starter Pedro Ruiz (4-1 record) in early June to injury really hurt but Plunkett (4-2, 3.73 ERA) and Baker (6-6) have been adequate thus far.
New manager Tetsui Suzuki may love defense and small-ball, but he’s in charge of a team with a lot of power this season. Jorge Cantu hit his 28th home run over the weekend, and Matt Holliday bopped his 25th. Cantu is having an MVP type season, which isn’t good news for his long-term future here. Word has it he’d like in the $10 to $11 million range per year to stay in Philly and that money just doesn’t look in the cards from this organization (which is why we worry about Zarzour’s long-term future here as well).
But why worry too much about 2008 and beyond. We’ll just try to enjoy 2007 as long as we can. It feels good to be relevant again.
*** A few notes on the 2007 this season thus far:
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Jorge Cantu is batting .354 with 83 RBIs, and it’s only early July. The Phils are top five in probably two-thirds of the offensive and two-thirds of the pitching stat categories. What a change from 2006.
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Zarzour has the team’s best ERA at 2.72 and leads the Phils with 102 K’s. His VORP is 40.0, which is second in the National League.
-- The Dodgers have the best record in the NL (50-32) but I’d put my money on
Cincinnati (49-33). They absolutely had the Phillies for lunch in a three-game series before the Phils played the Mets. Philly is 44-38 right now by the way.
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Barry Bonds, age 42, signed a one-year deal with the Nationals coming into this season. He had moved from San Francisco to Toronto and back to San Francisco since I started this dynasty, but San Fran didn’t want him back for 2007 (even though he hit 43 HR‘s in 2006). His season in Washington appears over, though, after Bonds suffered a PCL injury running the bases in late June. He only had 57 at-bats to that point, hitting three homers. He has 728 HR’s for his career, probably not enough time to catch Aaron..
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Josh Hamilton signed an extension with Baltimore. He had a .375 average going into June but it’s fallen to .338 since. Still pretty solid.
-- The “real” Josh Hamilton came into the league, via the game’s database, in the 2006 June draft. Since I had created my own Josh Hamilton way back in the day when I started this dynasty, I was left with a little dilemma. What to do with the new Josh? Well, I re-named him
Luke Lawson after one of my first OOTP dynasty characters. He’s already starting with the Twins and tearing it up for them. He’s hitting .295 with 25 HR’s so far in 2007.
-- If anyone wants to know anything about a player or team, let me know and I’ll supply a brief update… thanks for reading...