FanHouse Tom Gordon

FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Philadelphia Phillies.

The City of Brotherly Love's long championship drought came to an end when Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske in Game 5 of the World Series last October. The city exploded in appreciation of a team that's a blueprint for success in the modern game, with homegrown stars studding the lineup and top of the rotation, and a handful of savvy acquisitions, like Lidge, sprinkled around to fill holes.

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...
Still incredibly young Diamondbacks. It seems like when the Backs failed to keep the momentum going after an early season charge, people forgot this was still a very young team. The overwhelming majority of the roster is younger than 30, and most of the offense is younger than 27. This means we have a large group of guys who have the potential to throw up career-year type numbers at the drop of a hat. Be ready ...

Left on Base is MLB FanHouse's link dump.

* If anyone saw the ESPN Sunday Conversation with Derek Jeter in the middle of the 2008 season, they'll remember he said he was taking a keepsake from the old Yankee Stadium when the season was ended. Well, now we know what he took. There was a sign in the tunnel leading to the Yankees' dugout with this quote from Joe DiMaggio on it: "I want to thank the Good Lord for making me a Yankee."

It is now in Jeter's possession. Bravo, Mr. November.

Worst of the Best highlights (lowlights?) the players playing the worst ball in the MLB.

Alright. I know most teams have only played one game, but I was excited for this segment. Following slumping, or even downright crappy, players is as much fun to me as keeping up with the record breakers. It becomes ammo when that player's team comes to my town. So without further ado, your opening day losers:

Mark Buehrle
P Chicago White Sox
April 17th 2007. Mark Buehrle throws a no-hitter against a not-pathetic Texas Rangers lineup. Immediate interest from ballclubs with barrels of youth to dispense floods the White Sox' front office. March 31st 2008. Mark Buehrle, sensing an imminent fire sale, keeps his house off of the market by taking a dive in the 2nd round.

And what a glorious meltdown it was. He faced 10 batters in the second inning and still only managed to pick up 2 outs before Ozzie Guillen was forced to drag him back to the dugout. It wasn't even one of those lame control issue blowups, just a good ol' fashioned shellacking by the Cleveland Indians. Buehrle surrendered 2 homeruns, 4 base knocks, and a Travis Hafner double to the tune of 7 runs. Maybe he just has a lot of Indians on his fantasy team.

When news broke that Brad Lidge's first pitch of the spring aggravated his surgically repaired right knee, you could hear Phillie fans groaning from Broad Street to Clearwater and back. The news that he needs arthroscopic surgery and is iffy for the start of the season didn't bring any relief.

GM Pat Gillick, on the other hand, has been able to keep it all in perspective.

The laptop computer was open, and Gillick was reading aloud when a reporter entered the room.

Scouting report?

Uh, not really.

Gillick was captivated by the story of a Michigan restaurant that had a 134-pound burger on its menu. Apparently, it took three men to flip the sucker.

In service as your intrepid reporter, I checked out the article and it is quite a burger. Captivating, though? I'm a little more interested in how the Phils will mix and match if Lidge's injury doesn't heal as quickly as hoped. Tom Gordon's arm has been through the meat grinder itself and Brett Myers is too important to the rotation to move again.

I'd also be concerned about a front office that has acquired damaged goods to play a major role in two successive seasons. Freddy Garcia's shoulder was fugazy before he came to Philly last year and they traded for Lidge while he was still on crutches. Things worked out for Gillick last year so maybe he's right not to panic just yet. And there's a massive Reuben sandwich in Vancouver, so who can focus?

This week, Major League Baseball decided to step up background checks for umpires. The union representing the umpires, the World Umpire Association (famous for such great matches as Kerry Von Erich vs. Umpires), has complied with the checks. But then!

The Biz of Baseball reported that the WUA issued a press release concerning questions being asked during the league's investigations. Among the standard questions to the neighbors (what do you think of barry bonds, how many years of prison should barry bonds get, et al.) was this: do you know if the umpire is a member of the Ku Klux Klan?

hahaha whaaaat

The Dugout asks the serious questions about the Neo Nazi skinheads at Citizens Bank Park, after the jump.

Good thing the Phillies stocked up on all those starting pitchers. It now looks like, after Brett Myers was moved to the bullpen and subsequently got hurt and Freddy Garcia also got hurt and is out for a while, that Jon Lieber is probably going to be out for the season with a ruptured tendon in his foot.

"It's going to be a while, no matter how you look at it," said Lieber, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list. "I have no clue. I knew it was a little bit more than a tweak, but I didn't think it would be this bad."

No one thought that on June 20, when Lieber stood in the bowels of Jacobs Field and spoke of not missing a start. He said he felt a pop when, after giving up a single to Casey Blake, he moved to back up home plate, but hoped for the best.

As you know, when you hope for the best, you also have to prepare for the worst. Add this to the injuries to Francisco Rosario (15 day DL with a right shoulder injury), Antonio Alfonseca (battling ankle soreness) and Tom Gordon, you have a team that has lost a lot of pitching, and will have to hold it together with duct tape and bubble gum just to stay in the thick of it in the N.L. East.

Previously on The Fanhouse:
Freddy Garcia ... INJURED
Brett Myers ... INJURED
Tom Gordon ... INJURED

When Charlie Manuel announced that he was sending Brett Myers to the bullpen, pretty much all of Philadelphia thought he was out of his mind. But after Tom Gordon got hurt, Myers moved to the closer role and Manuel came out smelling like a rose as the Phillies worked their way back to the .500 mark.

But for the next few hours, Phillie fans will be holding their breath as, after Myers was forced to leave Wednesday night's game after straining his shoulder on a wild pitch in the ninth inning in which four runs scored to tie the game for the Marlins ... Myers may have to fly back to Philly for an MRI if his shoulder still feels strained when he wakes up this morning.

"I'll find out how it feels [Thursday]," Myers said. "I don't know anything about it right now. When I came in here, it started spazzing a little bit. I don't know what that means."

It might mean that the Phillies are screwed. And it might mean that Greg Dobbs is going to have a lot of sleepless nights. You see, Myers would have been out of the inning with a Phillies victory if Dobbs had only tagged Hanley Ramirez or stepped on the bag for the easy out with the Phillies up by two runs. Instead, he threw home to try to get Dan Uggla at the plate. Bad move, as Myers retired the next two batters which should have been outs two and three. Instead, they were one and two, and the Phillies would not only lose the lead after that (on a play where Ramirez scored on a throw home that beat him by 15 feet but somehow he slid under Rod Barajas' tag), but they would lose Myers to an injury. How different would life be if Dobbs had only made the prudent play? Dobbs tells you after the jump:

To GM Pat Gillick, the Phillies are a doughnut ... that is to say, there's a hole in the middle that is to blame for their slow trip out of the gate so far.

"To be frank, the cause right now is the middle of the lineup," he said. "Not everybody is doing their job, or playing to their potential, or doing what has to be done on a daily basis ... The culprit in our situation is the middle of the lineup and the inconsistency in our bullpen."

So is Gillick blaming the middle of the order to light a fire under the trio of Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell, and Wes Helms? Or is he doing so to basically say that the three are bound to heat up eventually and that we shouldn't worry?

And what of Gillick's role in how this team is assembled? He could have gotten some bullpen help in the Bobby Abreu trade last season, but outside of Matt Smith basically didn't. He could have gotten bullpen help for an extra starter, but instead has been forced to send Brett Myers to the bullpen to take over for the ailing Tom Gordon. So while seemingly Charlie Manuel takes the lions share of heat, what is Gillick's role in this underachieving start?

I got the take of Enrico Campitelli Jr., who not only writes here at Fanhouse, but also contributes to Philly sports blog The 700 Level, to get his thoughts on the situation:

First off, most of the people in Philly put as much blame on Gillick as they do on Charlie Manuel this year. Prior to the season Manuel grumbled about the pen not being up to par in what I think was a hint towards Gillick to get him some help. The way things worked out, Gillick failed in bolstering the pen. That is nobody's fault but his own -- and maybe Ed Wade. Gillick is certainly responsible for some of this teams poor performance. The pen, with the exception of Brett Myers, is one of the worst in baseball.

As for his comments about the middle of the line up: I think it's all just to try and light a fire under these guys. Ryan Howard may be off to the most disappointing start following an MVP season ever. The middle of the lineup certainly needs to step up but we've been waiting for over a month now.

And something tells me that the Phillies and their fans don't particularly want to wait much longer ... whether it be for some big hits, or a trade, or a job opening.

Arm Bash: The 700 Level

Previously on The Fanhouse:
Can Ryan Howard Snap Out of his Slump?

Thursday night's game should never have been close enough for Myers to get his first major league save, as the Phillies were up on the Giants 9-2 at one point. Adam Eaton pitched relatively well for five innings, then spit the bit in the sixth by giving up four runs and bringing the Giants back in the game. But the Phillies 'pen was able to shut the Giants down after the sixth, setting it up for Myers' first ever save in a 9-7 Phillies win.

"I was pretty much ready to go," Myers said. "I played catch with the outfielder twice and it was nothing unusual. It's still getting people out."

It's certainly a long way from the start of Myers' season, when he pitched like a "scared dog". Myers will be comfortable in the role as long as he's not jerked around from bullpen to rotation all season, which he most certainly does not prefer.

And give the Phillies credit for winning this game after having no travel day to get from Atlanta to San Francisco.

Update: Tom Gordon has been put on the 15-day DL with inflammation of the rotator cuff. My guess, and I'm not a doctor, is that anything having to do with the rotator cuff will probably take a little longer than 15 days to fully resolve, so it looks like Brett Myers is going to be closing for a while.

Previously on The Fanhouse:
Brett Myers pitches like a Scared Dog
Phillies send Myers to Bullpen
Brett Myers to Close?
Phillies Get Hosed by Schedule Maker