Making a Pitch For a Strong Year (Phillies March 11)

March 11, 2010   ·   philliesmania   ·   Jump to comments

 

        ARMS RACE LOOKING GOOD IN SPRING!

 

Yes it is still a little premature to officially get excited and all warm and fuzzy about 2010 Phillies baseball,  but the Phillies are exercising their right to bear arms. Everyone with mound aspirations, with the exception of the Philipe Aumont’s rocky moments,  is looking very sharp for the time and place of year.

 

• Hamels looks focused and prepared. Of course many, myself included had a bad feeling that 2009 would be a dead arm year. As we have discussed here and as others have discussed, there is a long list of young studs who had a drop off after having a bust out season that also jumped up their workload significantly. Hamels made a quantum leap in innings pitched from 2007 in 2008. Add the off season MVP tour and 2009 was not so shocking. That does not mean you pencil in a great year for 2010. Although I have, but I emphasize that it is in pencil. So far he has not disappointed anyone.

• Lidge is on a nice recovery pace. Whether that means he will pitch well remains to be seen. If healthy means he has better command and confidence to pitch the way he usually does than I would suspect something between the perfection of 2008 and the disaster of 2009. And the Phillies will need that to Three-peat. Crap! Do I owe Pat Reilly a few bucks now for saying Three-peat? Crap I did it again!

• Moyer had a strong outing. I personally expect him to be the #5 unless he literally implodes on the mound during the remainder of the spring.

• Kendrick has done more than pitch solid. He has shown a renewed dedication. He has been Halladay’s mini me from work outs to work load. He does not want to leave the Mother club. I don’t think he would be awfully upset with a bullpen assignment. What the Phillies management sees as best for his development however may be starting at Triple A in Lehigh Valley. I would like to see him in the Pen ala J Happ from last season. You never know. I mean Moyer did not exactly have the season of his life in 2009, even with the 12 wins. Plus Kendrick needs to get big leaguers out at this point in his career.

• Halladay has been a man on a mission! ‘Nough said ’bout dat! Todd Zolecki wrote a nice Halladay post, check it out http://zozone.mlblogs.com/ 

 

In other news:

Greg Dobbs is reportedly healthy again. Last season the Bench Warrior had a significant drop off in production and as a result a drop off in AB’s. He became AB negative at one point.  Meaning his At Bats were worth questioning. 

 

He claims that was a learning experience along with a humbling one. So along with being healthy again he understand that his role has changed somewhat. But frankly the Phillies need him tho anchor the bench like he has in years past. He has learned how to prepare for high quality play with less opportunities.

 

Dobbs said the other day “I’ve been through it now, I know how I need to prepare myself, and coming into the season, my only motto is that I’m going to maximize every at-bat. That’s it. I’m going to focus on one at-bat at a time and maximize each at-bat. That’s all you can do when you’re dealing with limited playing time. That’s understandable. That’s my role here. I embrace it fully. I accept it. It’s why I’m here, and it’s what’s kept me in the big leagues.”

 

He also emphasized that health helps the mental aspect also. Practically speaking often times people in general are unaware of the mental toll of nagging and/or chronic injuries. You have a constant war between the warrior who wants to fight through it and the loss of confidence in yourself.

 

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