Philadelphia Phillies storyline: Trading places

Darin Ruf has caught the eye of everybody who claims the Philadelphia Phillies as their team. But that would not have been the case without the departure of 2 regulars in the outfield.

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Check out: Philadelphia Phillies storyline: FA arms to spell relief

This article has been updated and republished because it was lost recently in the October ether.

Vic Slugs A 3-Run Bomb In The 2nd At Home On September 28 Against The Rox

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While the mood in Philly is missing the buzz of postseason action, fans can compare their 2012 to the Halos’ year. They signed Albert Pujols and cobbled together a rotation of Jered Weaver, Zack Greinke, Dan Haren, C.J. Wilson and Ervin Santana. Plus, they have Mike Trout. But they finished out of the money and behind the Rangers and A’s.

Stats After The Trades:

PLAYER	AVG.	HR	RBI	BB - IBB	SB - CS
Hunter Pence	.219	7	45	19 - 1	01 - 0
Shane Victorino	.245	2	15	18 - 0	15 - 2
Nate Schierholtz	.251	1	05	05 - 0	00 - 0
Dom Brown	.235	5	26	21 - 2	00 - 0

Hunter Homers In The 9th On September 30 In San Diego

Also, Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino and Joe Blanton were still in the Fall Classic hunt after 160 games. Now, it’s only Pence. However, those 3 familiar names were swapped after the Phils were without half of their best 6 players. Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Doc Halladay had physical issues that caused missed time and less-than-optimum results during their readjustment. Jonathan Papelbon, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels were healthy, while Chooch Ruiz was limited by his foot problem.

How have the former Phillies done? Kentucky Joe was on a short leash in Los Angeles, because that’s how his new manager did things. It is not strictly a reflection on him but it affected his performance. Vic recently had 3 big days to raise his average from .229, and now he is near his normal-for-2012 mark. Hunter’s tour is broken into 3 sections and this is the lowest. He was swinging for the fences without Howard and Utley before returning to his .300 hitting when they came back. Then, he was shipped to the Giants.

New Team Stats:

PITCHER	W - L	ERA	INN - H	R - ER	BB - IBB -S0
Joe Blanton	2 - 4	4.99	57.2 - 66	32 - 32	16 - 3 - 51
Josh Lindblom	1 - 3	4.63	23.1 - 19	15 - 12	17 - 2 - 27

Kentucky Joe Dials Up A 2-Seam Fastball During The 1st At Home On September 29 Against The Rox

In a recent article, I mentioned that a championship core draws stars to a franchise. But the opposite is true when the unthinkable 162 happens, like this one. There was no celebration by Pence, Victorino and Blanton when they arrived in California. Their stats suffered also. They would not have been here in 2013, because their incomes would have put the locals over the competitive-balance threshold of $178M. However, it does say something about the red pinstripes, which is an organization that gets the potential out of their personnel.

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