Phillies Post-Mortem

That the Phillies got eliminated early in the playoff process was a huge disappointment, but it should not have been shocking, or even particularly surprising. 

It should have been recognized going in that the Cardinals were a dangerous team.  This is a team that was hot going into the playoffs with lots of momentum, having come from way back to catch the Braves.   St. Louis has three of the best hitters in baseball in Pujols, Berkman and Holliday as well as some key role players, particularly one of the best catchers in the game in Molina.  Their relief pitching had been their prime weakness all year but their starters had been adequate.  And when Chris Carpenter is healthy, he is one of the best in the game.  Moreover, the Cardinals had taken the season series from Philadelphia so they had no reason to believe they didn't match up with the Phils. 

The conventional wisdom was that it didn't matter whom the Phillies played in the first round.  The home team's overwhelming starting pitching would trump all.  But the conventional wisdom was probably misplaced.  The Cardinals hit better than the Braves who have nothing to compare with St. Louis' Murderer's Row.  Of course, the irony is that the Phillies were instrumental in helping the Cardinals pass the Braves on the last day of the season.

When Cliff Lee was re-acquired, the mantra all year was that the Phillies were pre-ordained for a World Series victory.  Yes, they were the favorites and the 102 regular season wins seemed to confirm that.  But in the past 20 years, the history of the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees provides numerous examples of regular season dominance failing to translate into post-season gold.  There are just too many vagaries in short series, particularly of the five game variety, to contribute to unpredictability.

As good as Halliday, Lee and Hamels are, they don't throw shutouts every night.  And as Phillies' fans know too well, their team's offense has a tendency to shut down for long stretches.  When Hunter Pence was acquired, it looked for a while that this might have been remedied but the last few weeks of the season punctured that balloon.   Victorino's average fell 35 points in a few weeks,  Utley finished with a batting average of .259 and  Howard .251.  Polanco appeared to be barely able to hold a bat in his hand.    Utley and Rollins hit well in the playoffs, but it wasn't enough.

But the reality is, no matter how much Ruben Amaro wheels and deals,  there is no sure-fire formula for post-season success. 

Domonic Brown's Lack of Hustle

Domonic Brown was roundly criticized by announcers Tom McCarthy and Gary Matthews for not running out a ground ball to second base which turned out to be misplayed by the infielder. Brown probably would have been safe had he busted it down the line. Manager Manuel is supposed to have expressed his own displeasure to the young outfielder, as did the fans.

McCarthy and Matthews sermonized at some length about a player's obligation to go all out at all times. But interestingly, after concluding that Brown had indeed learned his lesson, Domonic hit another routine ground ball late in the same game and again loafed down the first base line and there was no mention of it. This time, the second baseman handled it cleanly so apparently it was not worth noting.

More interestingly, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard, and some others, have made a career of not running out ground balls. Rollins frequently fails to even make it all the way to the first base bag. And yet it's almost never newsworthy. Rollins and Howard are probably heroes to Brown so can he be blamed for emulating them?

Is The Big East As Good As Advertised?

Conventional wisdom has it that the Big East Basketball Conference is the most formidable in the country and has been at least for several years. But the Big East has also underachieved in the Big Dance and the conventional explanation for this is that the conference members beat each other up during the regular season and end up running on empty as they enter March Madness.

On opening day, 2011 Madness continued this trend. Louisville, an elite team in the conference, was knocked out by a low seed. And St. John's, coming off a cinderella renaissance season, was thrashed by Gonzaga. West Virginia and Pittsburgh beat teams they were supposed to beat.

But it's time to reconsider the theory that the Big East devours itself during the regular season. It may have more quality teams than any other conference, but there are at least a dozen teams around the country that are at least as good as the best the Big East has to offer.