Welp, the Phillies start the second half this evening out in Colorado and Cliff Lee will be trying to double his win total on the season. Who'd have thunk it?
The Rockies are pretty poor baseball team, last in the NL West at 33-52. The sad news is the Phillies only have four more wins at 37-50, good for last in the NL East.
It's a strange feeling beeing a Phillies fan/blogger these days. We all know the chances of them making the playoffs are absolutely miniscule at this juncture, yet the talent on the team warrants investing the time and energy in watching them. I mean, Cliff Lee is still pitching for the Phillies tonight and Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are in the lineup. I'm still tuning in for that.
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Kulp did a nice job earlier in the day setting expectations pretty low for this team. Let's just see them start playing better ball on a regular basis. Roy Halladay's likely return next week in L.A. should certainly help.
And if you're not all that interested in this team on a daily basis based on the fact they aren't winning anything this season, there's still the reality that the Phillies could be one of the bigger players in the trade market over the next couple of weeks. The makeup of the post-2012 Phillies could be greatly changed based on what Ruben (and Cole) decide to do in the very near future. These are important times.
Facing the lowly Rockies should give them a perfect opportunity to get things going in a positive direction in the second half.
Looking for some more encouragement? From the Game Notes:
News
During Charlie Manuel’s tenure (since 2005), the Phillies have posted the second-best record in MLB in games after the All-Star break at 313-197 (.614)
Only the New York Yankees have been better.
It's Cliff Lee (1-5, 3.98) vs. lefty Christian Friedrich (4-6, 5.98). Lee is coming off his first win of the season against the Mets on the Fourth of July in which he went a solid 8.0 IP and allowed only 2 earned runs on 7 hits while striking out 9. That pesky Scott Hairston.
Lee was nasty in the second half last season, 8-2 with a 1.79 ERA (19 ER, 95.1 IP) in 13 starts after the All-Star break in 2011.
A later start time, 8:40 pm, from the Rocky Mountains.
What are your expectations and/or what are you hoping for in the second half from your Fightin' Phils?