The Philadelphia Phillies have spent the better part of their weekend shellacking the pitching staff of the St. Louis Cardinals. Saturday the Phillies hammered the Cards into submission, 14-6, and things didn't improve much Sunday afternoon when Philadelphia laid the hammer to St. Louis in a 9-2 win punctuated by Ryan Howard's Ruthian blast to center field.
The Phillies are the best team in the National League (The Los Angeles Dodgers have a better record, but the Phillies are the best team in the NL.) and they may very well be the best team in baseball. Does any other team in both leagues have talent that can match up with the Phillies? Take a look at the Phillies top six positional players:
1. 2B Chase Utley (Age: 30)
2. 1B Ryan Howard (Age: 29)
3. SS Jimmy Rollins (Age: 31)
4. CF Shane Victorino (Age: 28)
5. LF Raul Ibanez (Age: 37)
6. RF Jayson Werth (Age: 30)
Can the Yankees or the Red Sox compare favorably to the Phillies?
Arguably, the Yankees top six positional players are: A Rod, Teixeira, Jeter, Posada, Damon and Cano.
The Red Sox top six positional players are: Youkilis, Pedroia, Bay, Drew, Lowell and Ortiz or Ellsbury.
The team that may stack up closest to the Phillies would be the Tampa Bay Rays with the 25th highest payroll in major league baseball at approximately $63 million: Longoria, Crawford, Upton, Pena, Bartlett and Zobrist.
The New York Mets have the second-highest payroll in baseball, but can New York's talent compare favorably to the Phillies? Would Philadelphia general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. trade his top four positional players for New York's top four of: Wright, Reyes, Beltran and Delgado?
If the Phillies are able to consummate the Halladay deal with the Blue Jays, which seems unlikely, this team is poised to be a dynasty. Is that hyperbole? Perhaps, but Philadelphia's acquisition of the 32-year-old Halladay would coincide nicely with the age of Philadelphia's talented nucleus. There is no guarantee that the Phillies would be able to lock-up Halladay to a long-term deal, which makes parting with 27-year-old rookie hurler J.A. Happ (7-1 with a 2.71 ERA) that much tougher.
MLB Notes
Washington Nationals center fielder Nyjer Morgan may be the best in the game at intercepting drives into either outfield gap. He also may be the love child of former Bronx Zoo center fielder Mickey Rivers. Okay, he's not really Mickey Rivers' love child, but physically Morgan resembles Rivers and Morgan can fly just like Rivers did back in the day.
Mickey Rivers
Nyjer Morgan
The Tampa Bay Rays need to shore up second base. At the end of May, the Rays lost second baseman Akinori Iwamura to a torn ACL. Willy Aybar has stepped in to fill the void. Defensively, Aybar makes Florida Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla look like Robbie Alomar.
Even after dropping two to the Mets over the weekend, the Houston Astros are on fire and can be rightfully considered one of the teams to beat in the NL Central. The Cardinals have acquired Mark DeRosa and Matt Holliday in their drive to win the NL Central and keep Albert Pujols content. The Cubs are still stumbling around. But the Astros are back in the NL Central playoff picture with a pitching staff anchored around Roy Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez. That's it for quality starting pitching. Mike Hampton, Russ Ortiz and Brian Moehler round out Houston's rotation, which would not strike fear into the hearts of Tanner or Kelly Leak.
The Mets recently called up Triple A pitching prospect, Jonathon Niese, from the Buffalo Bisons. Saturday night, Niese and the Mets defeated Houston 10-3. In seven innings, Niese surrendered one run in the first inning.
Ozzie Guillen just wins, baby!
Skip Schumaker and Chris Carpenter are sporting some fine moustaches in St. Louis.
Chris Carpenter avec moustache.
In the current issue of Sports Illustrated, the magazine asked major leaguers which outfielders possessed the weakest throwing arms. Yankees left fielder Johnny Damon came in first with 54% of the votes. Before Red Sox fans gloat over Damon's bb gun of an arm, Red Sox left fielder Jason Bay finished in sixth place.
There is a growing trend in major league baseball for closers to grown Amish style goatees. Cards closer Ryan Franklin and White Sox closer Bobby Jenks are rockin' the Amish look.
Ryan Franklin needs a Norelco.
Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira is not only winning games with his bat, but he's also winning games with his first baseman's mitt. In Tuesday night's 2-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles at The House That George Built, Teixeira fired a strike to catcher Jose Molina, nailing the O's Cesar Izturis at the dish to preserve a one-run tie in the 8th inning. Can't recall that happening in the Jason Giambi era.
Hideki Matsui won the game in the bottom of the 9th with a walk-off solo shot. A Rod and Posada called for the bouquet at home plate.
The Angels are 6-0 versus the Royals.
The Reds have lost 12 consecutive games to the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.
Mannywood
Wednesday night, Joe Torre inserted Manny Ramirez as a pinch hitter on Manny Ramirez Bobblehead Night at Dodger Stadium. (Manny was on the pine with a bad hand.) Oh, the bases were loaded when Manny was given the nod by Torre. Reds manager Dusty Baker countered Torre's move and brought in righty reliever Nick Masset.
Manny crushed Masset's first pitch and delivered the ball into the Mannywood section of left field for his 21st career grand slam. The sold-out crowd of 56,000 erupts, Manny does the Bobblehead Dance in the dugout, Manny takes a few curtain calls, Manny's blast gives the Dodgers a four-run lead, it's even the game-winning home run ... and I'm all thinking ... as I am watching this live ... is that Manny is still an unqualified douchebag.
