Roy Oswalt may wear a uniform that doesn’t represent the Philadelphia Phillies. Upon continued examination, I did find a strong possibility. What team could emerge to claim him? Would it be worth their while?
CAP-SIZE HINDSIGHT
Penthouse Occupancy for the 5-3 Addition-To-The-House triumph: 4
The Chrystal Champagne Toast is a salute to Hunter Pence.
He crushed an opposite-field 2-RBI crank in the 10th, which led to their 3rd consecutive victory. He was joined on the top floor by Cliff Lee, Juan Pierre and Jonathan Papelbon.
The General was solid for 7 full, had 2 knocks in 3 at-bats, and he scored the tying run from first on a double. Magic Juan produced that RBI with his two-bagger in the 7th.
The Leather Warehouse was reserved for the shoes of Lee with his 7th-inning trek from first to home on that two-base hit. The gloves executed a 8th-frame out at the plate to perfection, highlighting Shane Victorino, Freddy Galvis, and especially Chooch Ruiz.
House Cleaning arrived with a 1-2-3 10th by Cinco Ocho.
The Fun House Of Mirrors illuminated fly balls to center and right fields during the 4th. The first went for a triple; the second featured the entanglement of Victorino and Pence. However, Vic recovered to gun down the opposing catcher at third–he was originally on first.
The Hothouse was a steamy dugout after two 4th-frame flies were lost in the twilight, and the General wasn’t pleased with Vic, the outfield captain, between innings.
WELCOME, NEWCOMERS:
I will publish after every battle that is not washed out. The Phillies finished last summer 42 games over .500, which equaled a year of many positives. I will have many season-long highlights of puzzle pieces, especially important after drubbings and defeats.
Check out Philadelphia Phillies storyline: The southpaw rattler
SPECIAL REQUEST:
If you were directed here by a feed and this review does not mention yesterday’s contest, please go to my author archives or Phillies page for my most recent coverage. (Early morning readers may arrive before the latest post.) Scroll down to Tal’s Handy Links at the bottom. Thank you.
NITECAP INSIGHT
One Suitor:
The Yankees are not happy with the results of paying over $200M in luxury taxes for a 9-campaign timeframe. They only got to the playoffs and 1 Fall Classic, which didn’t make it financially feasible. The Sox haven’t been to the postseason since ’09, and aren’t excited about spending $5M for a 1-battle summer with the wild card. St. Louis and Atlanta are not willing to open their wallets this early. Detroit may want to rise in the standings before parting with more millions. They are in 3rd, 3 games under .500 and 5 out. The Angels would need a pitching disaster to be interested.
Rube Amaro will not move at this time. He might even consider relocating Chase Utley to leftfield, because he has $30M allotted for him in 2012-2013. Plus, if Chase can be reinvented, he can remain in Philly beyond his contract. John Mayberry Jr. and Pierre haven’t produced pop–one was expected to–while Galvis is a defensive magician at second. Besides that, Utley may require a position that doesn’t tax his body for the long haul. And neither Joe Blanton, Vance Worley or Oswalt are sure things.
That said, winning it all is difficult under the best circumstances, and Amaro can attest to that, which is why the decision isn’t an easy one for Nolan Ryan. For ERA in the majors, Texas is 1st (bullpen), 3rd (total) and 13th (rotation). Neftali Feliz will probably be out until August, and he didn’t go deep into any contest during May. He could return to the relief corps after he’s back, but he won’t be the closer, like his prior 2 tours. Joe Nathan now has that role. They have the sticks and the ‘pen but they are short at the front of the 5-man staff. Yu Darvish has been outstanding for April and May, but he is not battle-tested from August through October. The Rangers have the dollars, the opening, the need, the location; and Ryan doesn’t have a ring after 2 consecutive shots–plus 1980.
PRECAP PITCH
Kyle Kendrick:
He is coming off his best outing for 2012. He is 0-3 with a 4.33 ERA without the relief attempts. He will face a potent lineup but this pitching match-up is easier than his last two.
| STARTER | RECORD | TM | STARTER | RECORD | DAY & TIME | |
| 1 | LHP Cliff Lee | 1-6, 3.72 ERA | @ Nats | RHP Stephen Strasburg | 11-4, 2.76 ERA | Tuesday, Night |
| 2 | RHP Vance Worley | 5-6, 3.88 ERA | @ Nats | RHP Edwin Jackson | 6-6, 3.52 ERA | Wednesday, Night |
| 3 | LHP Cole Hamels | 11-5, 3.31 ERA | @ Nats | LHP Ross Detwiler | 5-4, 3.24 ERA | Thursday, Night |
Jaime Garcia:
He mostly gives the locals trouble but he is known to be up and down. He has lasted at least 7 complete in 5 of 9 efforts, but he has 3 clunkers. He is only slightly better at home.
DELIVERY = PITCHER’S 2012 | DEFINITION OF SEASON |
|---|---|
| Over The Top | Excellent |
| 3-Quarter Sidearm | Good |
| Sidearm | Above Average |
| Short Arm | Approximately Average |
| Submarine | Below Average |
Quality number of the pitcher: 1 – 5
Slot on his club: 1 – 5
Ranking is 1 to 5 & 15 for the less adventurous.
** As a starter
HURLER | Kyle Kendrick | John Lannan |
|---|---|---|
| NUMBER | A Five | A Five |
| CLUB SLOT | Four | Five |
| FOR 2012 | Sidearm | Short Arm |
| '12 RANKING | 3rd of 5 Categories | 4th of 5 Categories |
| LAST START | Eephus Pitch | Slurve *** |
| LAST HIGH OR LOW | 13th of 15 Categories | 9th of 15 Categories |
PITCH | INN | ER - R- H | PITCH | INN | ER |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gyroball | 9 (CG) | 0 - 0 - 3 | 10 | Screwball | 6 | 4 |
| 2 | Fastball | 9 (CG) | 0 - 0 | 11 | Knuckleball | 5 | 3 |
| 3 | Cutter | 9 (CG) | 3 | 12 | Forkball | 0 - 4.2 | Monstrosity |
| 4 | Split Finger | 7 | 2 | 13 | Eephus Pitch | 0 - 2.2 | Disaster |
| 5 | Curveball | 7 | 3 | 14 | *Palm Ball | Ejected | |
| 6 | Sinker | 6.1 | 3 | 15 | *Spit Ball | **Ejected+ | |
| 7 | Slider | 6 | 2 | *Breaking Ball | Injured | ||
| 8 | Changeup | 6 | 3 | *Fosh | Rain Interrupted | ||
| 9 | Slurve | 5 | 2 | *Knuckle Curve | Pitch Count | ||
| ** = Suspended | * = A 2nd Pitch Also |
The Wizard: More to come.
Philadelphia Phillies storyline: Oswalt’s options (Thursday)
The Core : Check it out.
Philadelphia Phillies storyline: Trade chips (Friday)
Philadelphia Phillies storyline: The other Phillies (Thursday)
Philadelphia Phillies storyline: core value (Wednesday)
Philadelphia Phillies storyline: tomorrow’s guarantee (Tuesday)
CLIFF'S LINE: 6 INN, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 K & 109 DARTS |
| ACE | W - L | ERA | INN+ | CONV | CG | SO | BAD | INN | H | R | ER | BB | IBB | SO |
| Total | 11 - 8 | 3.05 | 7.0 | 19 of 27 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 185.2 | 160 | 64 | 63 | 35 | 0 | 169 |
| Halladay | 04 - 5 | 3.98 | 7.0 | 08 of 11 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 072.1 | 069 | 32 | 32 | 14 | 0 | 056 |
| Lee | 00 - 2 | 2.82 | 7.0 | 05 of 07 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 051.0 | 041 | 16 | 16 | 08 | 0 | 047 |
| Hamels | 07 - 1 | 2.17 | 7.0 | 06 of 09 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 062.1 | 050 | 16 | 15 | 13 | 0 | 066 |
7TH RIDE OF THE HORSEMEN:
| ACE | W - L | ERA | INN+ | CONV | CG | SO | BAD | INN | H | R | ER | BB | IBB | SO |
| Total | 2 - 0 | 2.84 | 6.1+ | 2 of 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19.0 | 14 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 20 |
| Halladay | 1 - 0 | 7.20 | 6.1+ | 0 of 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 05.0 | 06 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 07 |
| Lee | 0 - 0 | 1.29 | 7.0+ | 1 of 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 07.0 | 03 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 05 |
| Hamels | 1 - 0 | 1.29 | 7.0+ | 1 of 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 07.0 | 05 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 08 |
MAC:
The program acronym is for Methodical Algorithmic Computerization or Mac. That is the feed system that had dogged me an entire month, but it allows me now to probe for a compatible solution. This only involves readers who were directed here from Fox Sports. The links in this section were recently passed over by a computer’s judgment. Does the national-and-all-major-sports machine understand Phillies commentary better than local fans? I discovered that the buttons and lights objected the most to the storyline when I submitted only that part. So, when the electrodes decide a Nitecap Insight isn’t to their liking, I’ll give my transferred readers a viewing opportunity the next day. I’ll keep score of acceptable to rejected submissions, because I don’t want a large readership excluded or my time wasted.
COMPUTER ALGORITHM VS. TAL:
TAL 8 – MAC 5
Philadelphia Phillies storyline: The other Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies storyline: tomorrow’s guarantee
TRACKING MAC: The machine has issued my articles 8 ones, 3 twos and 2 threes on placement.
ROUND FOURTEEN:
Philadelphia Phillies storyline: The storied elite? is tomorrow’s review.
LINK-UP BELOW:
There are previews–time permitting–of my next storyline at Tal’s Handy Caps on Facebook. Join for notification of future glimpses, which will be almost daily. You’ll also know immediately when my isportsweb post goes up. It might be worth your while because there are delays of 2 hours on most feeds.
Check out my previous publication (Jake The Snake) and the 56 storylines–so far–for 2012 on the Phillies page or my author archives, where there is an excerpt photo.
Tal’s Handy Stats is daily coverage. I am alternating the 2012 ERA For The NL East and the 2012 ERA For The MLB 5. Thank you, to all who bookmarked the Phillies page.
TAL’S HANDY CAPS on Facebook (time problem lately)
Philadelphia Phillies storyline: The southpaw rattler
Philadelphia Phillies: 2012 ERA for the NL East at game 47
Philadelphia Phillies: 2012 ERA for the MLB 5 at game 46











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