FanHouse WesHelms

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
The White Sox, Rays and Marlins aren't irrelevant yet.

All three teams faced near must-win games Wednesday, and all came through -- late.

Chicago, which would have fallen eight games out in the AL Central and 4 1/2 behind second-place Minnesota, rallied against Twins closer Joe Nathan with four runs in the ninth for a 4-2 victory.

"Hopefully we start playing better and have a little more fun, at least have a little more fun," [Sox manager Ozzie] Guillen said. "You think we're out [of post-season contention]. People think we're out, just go out there and enjoy it. Hopefully things turn around."

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With the Brewers and Cubs playing on WGN and the Mets and Marlins on TBS, the NL wild-card race played itself out in dramatic fashion for a national audience this afternoon. In a ten-minute span that gave every baseball fan in the country sore thumbs, three home runs decided the the final playoff spot in the National League this year. With both games tied entering the eighth innings, the Mets bullpen surrendured home runs to Wes Helms and Dan Uggla to fall behind 4-2. Immediately after that, Ryan Braun launched a two-run home run to the same spot he hit his walk-off grand slam earlier this week. Both scores held up, and the Brewers are going to the playoffs for the first time in 25 years.

The Brewers were carried today by CC Sabathia, who pitched on three days rest for his third straight start. Somehow, he's gotten stronger in each start and today he threw a complete game four-hitter, holding the Cubs to one run and giving the Braun and the Brewers' offense the chance they needed. He looked so strong today that manager Dale Sveum let him hit for himself leading off the bottom of the eighth inning of a 1-1 game with the season on the line.

The Mets, meanwhile, watched their season crumble at the hands of the Marlins for the second straight season. Scott Schoeneweis and Luis Ayala served up the two key home runs today after Carlos Beltran had tied the game at two with a two-run homer in the sixth. The Mets put runners on in both the eighth and ninth, but couldn't find the game tying hit, clinching their second straight September collapse. That Omar Minaya extension looks brilliiant today, doesn't it?

In '07, "Who's on Third, I Don't Know" was more than just an Abbott and Costello routine in Philadelphia, but a way of life as Greg Dobbs, Wes Helms, and Abraham Nunez manned third base for the Phillies. Today, they hope that former Giant Pedro Feliz will provide the answer to the age old question, as the Phillies have signed him to a two-year, $8.5 million dollar deal.

Feliz batted .253 with 20 homers and 72 RBIs for San Francisco last season. He's an upgrade over the trio of Greg Dobbs, Wes Helms and Abraham Nunez. Philadelphia's third basemen batted .255 with 11 homers and 76 RBIs last year. Dobbs and Helms remain on the roster.

Feliz had spent his entire eight-year career with the Giants. He's been a full-time starter since 2004, averaging 21 homers and 84 RBIs. Feliz, who turns 33 on April 27, is a career .252 hitter with a .288 on-base percentage.

How much of an upgrade is this? The Phillies can hope that the change in home parks from 3-Com in San Francisco to the shoebox known as Citizens Bank will help those power numbers along. And Feliz, with only 11 errors last season should provide an upgrade in the field from the trip of Helms, Dobbs, and Nunez (25 errors between them in '07). But a .288 career on-base percentage tells me that if he can't work a walk in San Francisco, he can't take a walk in Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, or the North Pole.

Tadahito Iguchi officially hit the open market yesterday after being released by the Phillies. Of course, the Phillies more or less had their hands forced; under the terms of the contract Iguchi signed with the White Sox three years ago, the Phillies weren't allowed to offer Iguchi arbitration, which means that not only is Iguchi free and clear, but the team that signs him won't have to give Philadelphia any draft picks as compensation. From the Philadelphia Daily News:

"[Iguchi] thinks he can get a job playing second every day somewhere. I think he and his agent are correct in that assumption," said Gillick, who added the Phillies asked him whether he would be willing to play third base.

So who plays third for the Phillies next year? Probably some combination of Wes Helms, Greg Dobbs and Eric Bruntlett, considering Pat Gillick shot down any rumors of Philadelphia's interest in Mike Lowell.

As for Iguchi, he will be competing with a handful of prominent second basemen on the market -- Luis Castillo and Kaz Matsui, for instance, as well as Marcus Giles and Mark Loretta -- though he has to be considered one of the most desirable.

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?

Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley mentioned during tonight's Phillies/Reds game that your chance of witnessing a triple play on a grounder to third base is about .0006%. This must mean that if you were at the Great American Ballpark on Saturday night, you should probably go ahead and play powerball.

David Ross, who is having a tough season at the dish, came up in the bottom of the fifth inning with runners on first and second with nobody out. When his turn at bat was done, it was already the top of the sixth as he grounded into the aforementioned rare 5-4-3 triple play during the Phillies 4-1 victory (Abraham Nunez, to Chase Utley, to Wes Helms).

Charlie Manuel shook up the lineup, batting Shane Victorino in the leadoff spot, and dropping Jimmy Rollins down to the third hole. It worked as the Phillies opened up the game with a two spot, then got some insurance with solo home runs from cleanup hitter Chase Utley (in the continued absence of Ryan Howard), and Aaron Rowand.

But let's face it: Manuel could draw the lineup out of a hat as long as Cole Hamels pitches like he did tonight, striking out 15 batters in his first ever complete game victory, striking out every lineup spot at least once. Hamels fell one strikeout shy of the Phillies' club record for a lefthander, a record held by none other than Steve Carlton. Of Hamels' 115 pitches, 82 were strikes. The young man is filthy.

Can we really be at a crossroads after one week of the season? Well here we are ... Philadelphia and Florida: the corner of Slump St. and Closer Ave. Will it be the road less traveled, or the path of least resistance? Or will the Phillies and Marlins just be lost without a GPS?

For the Phillies, well it's obvious ... in a season when they proclaimed themselves the best team on paper in the division, they're 1-5 after a 6-4 loss to Florida. The Marlins tried to hand the game over to them today with 11 walks (including four walks in the seventh), and the Phillies could only score four runs. They got only seven hits to pair with those 11 walks, only scored one run in the seventh inning after those four walks, and left 25 men on base, which is pretty disgusting if you ask me. And it isn't as if the averages for the week are that bad: Jimmy Rollins is at .304, Chase Utley is at .259, and Ryan Howard is at .217 but he's climbing after two hits today. The Phillies just aren't getting the hits when they need them the most. And don't get me started on their bullpen.

"It's a concern. You can't say that it's not," said third baseman Wes Helms, a newcomer. "It is only six games, but if you go 1-5 in the middle of the season, you don't look at it as much as when you are 1-5 at the beginning. We want to correct this quick. We don't want to get so far down that we have to climb and climb."

As for the Marlins, their lineup is hitting their groove, and their starting pitching has been solid. But Jorge Julio is a mess. After a scoreless inning in a meaningless situation, Julio has blown a save, given up two runs in another ninth inning, and was pulled during a save situation after giving up two hits and a walk in five batters, as Lee Gardner had to come in and get his first career major league save. Julio's ERA is a healthy 16.88

Manager Fredi Gonzalez said Julio will remain the closer, although he'll likely be given Monday off. "We've got to show confidence with Julio," Gonzalez said. "He's our guy, and we need him. We've got to get him right, and I think he can do it."

Is it me or do those words sound like the words of a man who is privately worried about his closer?

Previously on The Fanhouse:
Jimmy Rollins is Confident
Jorge Julio is a Giver