More Questions and More Answers!(Phillies Jan 6)

January 6, 2010   ·   philliesmania   ·   Jump to comments

  

HMMMMMMMMMMMM!

Andy Thinks Aloud!

We are discussing the Top 10 questions from Phillies.com about the 2010 Phillies. We did question 10 on Tues Jan 5 so let’s pick it up at Question 9.

 

Question 9:

 

What should fans expect from Roy Halladay?

 

While nothing is guaranteed and assuming he stays healthy, this guy is Mr Consistency! He won 17 games with a blah team who plays the Yankees and Red Sox a million times a year. He rarely pitches a bad game. Let’s face it every 5 days the Phillies will be in the game. And many of them you will win.

 

As I mentioned he is used to facing the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays in his division. So facing the Marlins, Braves, and Mets shouldn’t pose a problem. He is 15-6 with a 2.71 ERA in 28 appearances (27 starts) against the NL since 2002 in inner league play.

 

I am expecting 17 to 21 wins from him 2010. He will be a Cy Young candidate in 2010. This guy wants it and he wants it bad. And he is a professional at the core.

 

Question 8:

 

Will Cole Hamels bounce back?

 

I say yes…… but.

 

Maybe the question should be what is Cole Hamels? We are asking will he bounce back based on his rising stardom and his 1 proven season. That culminated in the World Series and playoff domination. But is that the real Cole Hamels? Did he slide back or did teams learn his pitching?

 

I think it is a little of both. He admittedly did not start the year prepared. Although if conditioning was the main problem that could have been corrected during the season. But he was really not much better in September than he was in April. There is a mental aspect also.

 

But I also think that Boy Wonder does not understand that pitchers need to evolve, even great ones. He did not. In fact he regressed in his pitch selection and his ability to locate strikes. Maybe Halladay will impress in the youngster how important location and having more than 2 pitches is a must! Although that irks me a bit since Jamie Moyer has tried to teach him that. He seemed to get it in 2008 but I think he assumed that once he arrived it was all about maintanence.

 

No my young padawan, it is about training hard and staying ahead of the hitters. You have to pitch everyone like it is Babe Ruth in the bottom of the 9th in the 7th game of the world Series.

 

NO? Maybe a little over dramatic but honestly sports is about the moment and greatness is about competition and winning every battle you can. I remember seeing an interview with Michael Jordan and he said he wouldn’t let his kids beat him at checkers. And I saw Cal Ripken say he would race his teammates to the dugout and he would be pissed if they beat him there.

 

Yeah, some people will say you can’t be up and intense all the time. The great ones are. So Cole are you a great one?

 

Question 7:

 

Will Brad Lidge and J.C. Romero be ready to start the season?

 

I don’t think so.

 

Even Ruben Amaro is saying the old “they might not be”. Which is either him lowering expectations or he is really concerned. And maybe he should be. And we all see what happens when Lidge is not ready.

 

This may prove to be more damaging than it looks like on face value. Especially Romero. He hasn’t pitched regularly for a very long time. With Lidge it is a question of if he can shake last season. This could get ugly fast.

 

The only positive thing is you may have time to work Escalona or Bastardo in for Romero. And maybe Baez will re-capture his closing skills.

 

 

 

NOTES: BAEZ DEAL IS DONE – see pages ……………