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Beerleaguer for breakfast: Phils decline Feliz's option

The Phillies will pay 34-year-old third baseman Pedro Feliz a $500,000 buyout and upgrade the hot corner via trade or free agency. GM Ruben Amaro Jr. has not ruled out bringing him back on a lesser free agent deal.

Beerleaguer: No argument here; Feliz would have been owed $5.5 million in 2010 and the hot corner is one area the Phillies can secure an upgrade. Feliz hit .266/.308/.386 with 12 home runs and an 80 OPS+ out of the No. 7 hole, earning 625 plate appearances on the season. He came through with a clutch, game-tying home run in Game 4 of the World Series, and also homered in the Championship Series, otherwise, he had a poor showing this postseason, hitting just .167.

Still, whenever a team achieves a certain level of success, as the Phillies have these last two seasons, disrupting the nucleus should never be taken lightly. The Phillies have been sacrificing offense for defense at third for many seasons, a formula that's worked to some extent. Feliz proved to be a very solid defender, exhibiting pinpoint accuracy on his throws and converting most of the plays he needed to make, but the Phillies had been hoping for more pop. When you get past the decline in home runs, Feliz turned in nearly identical run production he had given San Francisco the previous two seasons, with an OPS+ hovering around 80. The Phillies lived with it since they received above-average run production from atypical areas like second base, but as his power vanished, so did their patience for all the bad at bats and low on-base percentage.

Nevertheless, Feliz, who battled through a back injury in 2008 and underwent offseason surgery, played an important role in last season's march to the World Series, knocking in the eventual winning run against the Rays and making a key stab off the turf in Tampa. Signed as something of a last resort, fortifying what has become the organization's thinnest position, the Phillies will feel no regrets in the $9 million he was given over the life of his deal.

The club has already made inquiries and has received trade offers regarding third base, according to the Inquirer.

Breaking news: Phillies bid farewell to Brett Myers

The Phillies have informed Brett Myers they intend to go in another direction. Myers, in turn, thanked them "for putting up with my (stuff)," according to the Inquirer's Jim Salisbury. [Link]

Beerleaguer: My eulogy to Myers was written May 30, two days after it was announced he would require season-ending hip surgery. Turned out, he was able to pitch again, but he was a non-factor, instead of an X-factor, as many of us hoped. Here's part of my piece from May:

“Even Bill Lyon would struggle to extract meaning from Myers' career. In five years of blogging about the Phillies, Myers has been the toughest player to write. Eight seasons have simultaneously felt like too much and not enough content. For a pitcher who constantly looked uncomfortable in his own body, he's still regarded as something of a work in progress, just two shocking years older than J.A. Happ. Still considered a front line starter by some, mounting evidence suggests otherwise. He never won more than 14 games, setting his career high six years ago.

“But before his career is painted in a broad brush of disappointment, recall the highlight, including two of the loudest Citizens Bank Park moments in history: the 2007 division clincher against Washington, and his amazing at bat against C.C. Sabathia in the NLDS. Ironically, neither had anything to do with starting pitching, yet he earned his World Series ring based on the two postseason wins and a stretch-run surge that guided the Phils to October.”

Back in May, there might have been some thought to bringing him back, but according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, that won’t be the case. I cannot blame them. Ruben Amaro Jr. met with the right-hander and said they won’t engage in negotiations.

Myers, a first-round pick in 1999, was 73-63 with a 4.40 ERA (99 ERA+) in eight seasons as a starter and reliever. He did right by the Phillies, too, earning a generous extension before the 2007 season that took him one-year past free agency.

Considering how slowly free agency moved last offseason, I bet Myers, with all his baggage, becomes one of the last free agent pitchers signed this offseason. On a good team, he’ll become a back-of-the-rotation starter, and as much as he likes touching the ball every day as a reliever, financially, it would be wise to market himself as a capable starter to a lesser National League squad like the Nationals, where he’d be a No. 2 at worst and could end up giving them some decent innings.

Friday: No rest, a couple of tests, for the weary

In addition to Raul Ibanez (groin/abdomen) and Scott Eyre (elbow), who will be reexamined for previously known ailments, 2009 bust Brad Lidge will also have his elbow tested for loose bodies, the Phillies announced.

In other news, the Phillies have picked up Cliff Lee’s option for 2010. No surprise there. Meanwhile, they have until Monday to decide whether they exercise Pedro Feliz’s $5 million option. Beerleaguer: You know, that really chaps my ass about Lidge, and I wish I knew where to point my finger. It’s one thing to shrug off a knee injury and spend eight months pretending it’s not bothering him. Now we get news of an elbow injury? So let me get this straight: healthy pitchers stay home; we’re bringing the guy with 11 blown saves, a 7.21 ERA and two injuries along for the postseason?

On Feliz, that's a definite pass on the $5 million option. Pocket the money and bring him back on a lesser free agent deal if the Phillies can't make a trade or lure an upgrade. There were absolutely no takers for Feliz two years and 4,000 more points on the Dow ago, coming off a year in which he had 20 homers, not 12.

Yankees dethrone Phillies as champions of baseball

The Philadelphia Phillies' bid for back-to-back world titles fell short Wednesday night in a 7-3 defeat at the hands of the New York Yankees. 

Beerleaguer: Tonight concludes a historic run by a proud Philadelphia franchise, beginning with last season's title capture, continuing with their successful 162-game and division-clinching march through the regular season and ending with their second-consecutive National League pennant. While 2008 became the year Philadelphia was given reprieve from a long title drought, 2009 carried a different meaning for this individual, one that mattered less about winning and more about the bonds the Phillies have created among us. Step back. Look around. What great pleasure, excitement and brotherhood the Phillies have stirred, at a time when unity and goodwill are in such short supply.

I'll issue my final thoughts on the Phillies in the days ahead. Meanwhile, I extend my sincere thanks to the peanut gallery for spending another season with Beerleaguer. It's been a pleasure to serve you.

Game 6: The stage they deserve

A word for Pedro Martinez vs. Andy Pettitte in Game 6 of the World Series: spectacular. And knowing the Phillies are the ones holding the magnanimous Pedro, recognizing his history in New York: unbelievable.

Tonight is just another chapter in a growing list of “pinch me” moments for Phillies fans. It's getting hard to remember what it was like to watch alternate prime time programming. Believe it or not, this is the first meeting between Pedro and Pettitte in 11 years and their first in the postseason, according to the Associated Press. Both pitchers are 3-3 in six meetings, and according to Stats Inc., the visitor has won each of them. But these are very different times. Many moons have passed. Pettitte will be taking the ball on short rest, while Pedro gets by on guile more than he did a decade ago. As much as I’d like to see a pitcher’s duel go into the books, signs point to a pair of short outings, with the game decided by the team that brings the better offense to the ballpark, and also the bullpen. So far, the Yankees have featured the better table-setters in Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon; I'd go so far as to say they've been the difference in the series, particularly Damon. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino haven't compared. Rivera has bested Madson and Lidge, but the Yankees' middle relief has been questionable. Both squads are lacking thunder from their first basemen. Ryan Howard is a strikeout away from breaking Willie Wilson’s 1980 World Series strikeout mark with 13, and if you're like me, you've been anticipating Mark Teixeira to break out at the most inopportune time.

For better or worse, something big is going to happen tonight.

If the Phillies force Game 7, hand it to Hamels

Reliable scribe Todd Zolecki writes Charlie Manuel “sounded like a man who is leaning toward Cole Hamels in Game 7” when he spoke with the media yesterday. It’s the right move.

After the Phillies lost Game 4, Manuel took heat for starting Joe Blanton instead of playing the Yankees’ game by shortening the rotation and starting Cliff Lee on three-days rest. Now, after watching A.J. Burnett fail to make it out of the third inning, the focus has shifted toward Joe Girardi and his decision to start 37-year-old Andy Pettitte on short rest following a good, but not great, start in Game 3. Meanwhile, it sets up the standard second guess of Manuel, only to watch it work out in the end. This happened as recently as the Division Series. Believing the skipper pushed the panic button prematurely in Game 2 by using J.A. Happ and Joe Blanton from the pen, critics raged that Cholly had backed himself into a corner, forced to use Pedro Martinez in sub-freezing conditions in Game 3. Magically – or maybe not – it all worked out; Game 3 was postponed, J.A. Happ pitched Game 3 and Cliff Lee made his second of four quality starts in Game 4, setting up the epic, ninth-inning comeback.
 
Speaking of Happ, the rookie of the year candidate may be in the mix for Game 7 along with Hamels. Here’s a case where everything that’s gone wrong with Hamels, mentally, may actually help detract from the magnitude of a Game 7 in the Bronx. Hamels’ last quality start came Sept. 17 (although it isn’t necessary to go that deep with all hands on deck in a Game 7), but compare that with Happ, whose last quality start came eons ago on Aug. 27 and had a worse game in the postseason (3 IP, 5 H, 2 BB) than any of Hamels’ clunkers. In Happ’s defense, conditions were severe, but on Thursday, they may not be that much better.

But I digress. Gotta go one game at a time, which has been Manuel’s successful mantra all postseason.

What's happened to Howard in the World Series?

Beerleaguer hands over the morning post to a long-time reader, who offers his insights into Ryan Howard’s slump.

Howard regressed in hitting left-handers in 2009, with a drop in OPS from .746 in 2008 to .653 this season. This, despite the fact that he had better protection in Jayson Werth and should have seen better pitches to hit. So a steady diet of lefties from the Yankees will certainly have an impact. Yet in his seven plate appearances vs. righties, he has not put a single ball in play, walking twice and striking out five times. It's not just left-handed pitching that has him stymied right now.

Is he choking? Very doubtful. He's a big-time player and played in last year's World Series. He was extremely clutch in the 2009 postseason up until now. Has he been unlucky, hitting balls at people? No. He's not hitting balls at all.

I can offer a couple of possibilities, aside from those offered by the experts about swing mechanics and weight shift. First, this slump could simply be the law of averages bringing him back to his mean level. He was on fire through the first two rounds of the postseason, so you knew it couldn't continue for much longer. It is poor timing indeed that he could cool off at this time, but it was due to happen sooner or later.

Second, from watching the games, it looks like he has lost track of the strike zone. He is swinging at balls and taking strikes. He has fallen behind on the first pitch 15 times out of 20 PAs, with nine called first strikes. He has never had a 2-0 count. He has been 0-2 six times and 1-2 six times, 2-1 just four times.

Let me suggest that this problem with the strike zone is to some degree the fault of the umpiring. I have never seen such inconsistency in what constitutes a strike. The results work both ways, with pitches that should be strikes being called balls, and vice versa. It has been consistently bad for both teams and for both pitchers and hitters, and it inconsistent from pitch to pitch, not game to game. Players cannot adjust in such a situation. (I specifically recall a crucial at bat where Utley was facing Rivera with two men on and one out. Two consecutive pitches that were clearly out of the strike zone were called strikes, putting Utley in the hole instead of ahead in the count. That is a world of difference. As it was, he was forced to swing at another ball out of the zone and subsequently killed the rally.)

If Howard loses confidence in his ability to work the count, he cannot afford to wait for the pitches he can drive. The problem is compounded because the Yankees continue to throw breaking balls, and in a situation where there is a moving strike zone, he’s forced to swing at unhittable pitches. My guess is Howard will only break out if the pitcher makes a mistake, or tries to overpower him with fastballs (unlikely). Otherwise he will continue to have at-bats that resemble a blindfolded batter trying to break a pinata.

Beerleaguer: An inspired take. I’ll add the Yankees clearly had the Phillies well scouted, reportedly sending 10 scouts to the NLCS. It can be seen in their mindful approach, not only to Howard, but to Werth, knowing he’s taking at least the first pitch. They also refuse to throw Shane Victorino fastballs.

The Bronx is not burning

One wonders why the Yankees, who've watched as Alex Rodriguez has been hit three times, haven’t sent a message to locked-in slugger Chase Utley, who tied Reggie Jackson’s mark yesterday with five homers in the Fall Classic.

Multiple sources are debunking the Cole Hamels and Brett Myers spat, so let’s move back to baseball. After sharing our respective disdain for Nick Swisher and Shane Victorino, a colleague with New York allegiances wondered why the Yankees haven’t so much as brushed Utley off the plate. It’s a good question; if Roger Clemens was still in pinstripes, there would be no hesitation, not that he ever needed a reason. I guess it's not in this group’s Madison Avenue makeup; the Yankees all seem to carry themselves in the same, vanilla, Troy Aikman sort of way. All except A-Rod, who even drives some hardcore Yankees fans nuts for mugging it up for the camera with his staged looks of intensity. (Here’s the best A-Rod article of all time, as it relates to this topic).

Phillies stealing signs? Yesterday on ESPN 97.5 radio, Dodgers third base coach and former Phillies skipper Larry Bowa alluded to rumors that the Phillies are stealing signs via a hidden camera or having teammates tipping signs from the bullpen.
 
Today, Shane Victorino responded. "For Bowa to come out and say something like that if he doesn't know what he's talking about - if he doesn't have cold, hard facts - he shouldn't say something like that. I don't want to use the word I'm going to use, but it's just not something that should be said. That's just weak, I guess.  Obviously, if we're stealing signs, we would be doing better than what we're doing right now."

Report: Hamels, Myers engage in clubhouse spat

According to Yahoo! Sports, Phillies pitchers Brett Myers and Cole Hamels had a "short but tense" confrontation in the team’s clubhouse following Game 5, stemming from Hamels’ recent statement that he was eager for his season to end.

According to the report, as Myers walked past Hamels near Hamels’ locker he said, mocking, “What are you doing here? I thought you quit.” According to the witness, Myers was guided away by a team official before the situation escalated any further.

Beerleaguer: You know, I've often wondered how these two have coexisted in the same clubhouse all these years. Talk about opposite sides of the spectrum. That's Hollywood and ... what's the word for Brett Myers? Nevertheless, I wonder how many teammates were secretly glad Myers called him out. Maybe it's the wake-up call he needed, and I would imagine nobody on the team wants to extend the season more than Myers, after missing much of it with injury.

As for whether this will have any sort of negative impact on the Phillies, heading into Game 6, you would be selling this team well short on toughness if you thought they were this fragile. I'd imagine the majority of Phillies would prefer they just shut up and pitch. I wonder if Pedro Martinez is even aware that Brett Myers is on the roster.

Utley blasts Bombers to send series back to Bronx

Chase Utley added two more homers to his World Series total, tying Reggie Jackson's record with five, while Cliff Lee notched his fourth win of the postseason, as the Phillies staved off elimination, winning 8-6.

Beerleaguer: A victory set in motion by the short-rested A.J. Burnett, who couldn't make any of his pitches and was gone after two-plus innings. But you have to hand it to Utley, who, in addition to the home runs, played a very sharp game overall. And for the second time this series, it's Utley and Lee - competitors cut from the same cloth - who deserve the lion's share of credit for keeping the Phillies on point. These are not players who are anxious for this thing to end and have demonstrated exactly the type of effort it's going to take to win this series. Meanwhile, the relentless Bombers, who had more comeback wins than any team in baseball this season, showed why you cannot let up for a moment; with the score 8-2 in the seventh, they brought the tying run to the plate twice in the ninth. Johnny Damon ... what the hell? Uncle. Ryan Howard could ghost write Damon's memoirs with the amount of time he's spent at first base.

Truthfully, the Yankees, up 3-1, had no real reason to be at the razor's edge, and it showed; Jorge Posada's at bat after the non-time call was a perfect example of that blase attitude. Yet that same, nothing-to-lose approach by the Yankees nearly bit the Phillies in a tense finish.

Moral of the story: Phillies live to fight another day. Fans get more great baseball. Utley, Raul Ibanez and others showed plenty of life in their bats. More tomorrow ...

Not quite '93

Full disclosure: I navigated Baseball Reference today to revisit the 1993 World Series box scores. I sense I wasn't alone. I wanted to study the similarities between last night’s collapse and Game 6, just to see if it invoked the same nausiating feeling. It did. I’m unsure why I did it, why I needed to torture myself in this sick and twisted way, but I did, and I'm uncertain what it accomplished. We could talk about the missed opportunities against CC, their sloppy fifth inning, the bad throws or any number of contributing factors, but if the Phils can’t pull off a miraculous reversal, this World Series will be remembered for Brad Lidge, the way the '93 Fall Classic boiled down to Wild Thing. Nevertheless, there are two significant differences. First: the still-shining existance of 2008, and that iconic photo of Lidge, falling to his knees, after striking out Eric Hinske. Joe Carter has nothing on that. (BTW, there are good photos of Cole Hamels that series, too.) And second, the Phillies are not quite dead ... although the buzzards are beginning to circle.

Killer collapse pushes Phillies to brink of elimination

After Pedro Feliz's homer tied it in the eighth, the Yankees rallied with three, two-out runs off Brad Lidge in the ninth, prevailing 7-4 to move one win away from dethroning the Phillies.

Beerleaguer: Sickening. And fitting. With Mark Teixeira waiting on deck, you could smell it coming with every pitch Johnny Damon swatted away until he got the one he wanted. And judging by the hush that fell over the crowd, everyone knew when Damon reached the Phillies were in trouble. They'd seen this inning before, against lesser teams than the Yankees. They'd spent months bracing for the moment it would burn them in the postseason. Damon made sure they'd experience their worst nightmare with his heads-up base-running, and the second Lidge plunked Teixeira, there was nowhere to hide but the exits. This wasn't a save situation, but it was. He could have preserved the tie, kept Mariano Rivera out of the game and given the Phillies a very real chance to seize it in the home half against Phil Coke. And you know they would have done it.

With their backs to the wall, there's only one inning that matters now: the ninth inning of Game 7. Gotta get there. Only one problem: who's going to pitch it?

Readers: Phillies need better at bats from Victorino

Beerleaguers have more on their minds than Cole Hamels. A sampling.

"Victorino's been my biggest disappointment. Hamels I expected this from, it's just a continuation of the regular season. But Victorino. Here's a guy who excelled the first two rounds, and this series he just swings at everything. Thanks to him and Feliz, Burnett managed to go 7 after throwing 60-plus the first three innings. Then yesterday, he swings and misses at two balls and just hits the sac fly. Could've been a bigger inning. There was also that hanger he popped up." - Tray

"Hamels' collapse has been the most-mentioned event on both the game thread and this one, and rightly so, but this is also worth mentioning: Hamels allowed 5 runs in 4.1 IP. The bullpen allowed 3 runs in the next 3.2 IP. Had those bullpen innings been clean, the score would've been 5-4 heading into the 9th. But Happ, Durbin and Myers each allowed 1 run. That is a recipe for losing." - clout

"Everybody has gone gaga over the Yanks' starting pitching in the series but Burnett was the only guy who really had great stuff and even he struggled a bit in the early going. The only starter the Phils have faced all postseason who I really felt they had no shot against was Padilla in Game 2 of the NLCS. Padilla's stuff was electric that day from a velocity and control standpoint" - MG

"Cholly has always had a penchant for emptying his bench in reverse order of talent. It's like he's constantly saving his best bats for a critical late-game situation, while ignoring the fact that there's a critical moment right before his eyes & that another such moment may never arise. I've always found this to be sort of an ironic mindset from a manager who used to pull Pat Burrell from the game in the 6th inning. If you want to save your best bench player so you'll have him available in the 8th & 9th inning, wouldn't the same be true of one of your best hitters?" - bay_area_phan

Update: According to Twitter reports, Chan Ho Park was ill and unavailable last night and may not be available tonight.

Sunday: Phillies hoping for bounce back performance

Faced with their first series deficit in two postseasons, the Phillies send righthander Joe Blanton to the mound in Game 4 against lefthander CC Sabathia, who will be working on short rest.

Preview: Following last night's 8-5 loss, an unfamiliar, uneasy feeling is creeping in among the Philadelphia faithful. The Yankees used three homers to rip home-field advantage right back from Cole Hamels and the Phillies, while a number of sluggers, including Ryan Howard, continued to look out of sorts against a Yankees lefthander. Afterward, Hamels didn't win much sympathy. “I can’t wait for it to end,” he said. Unfortunately for his teammates, and hundreds of thousands of fans, the Phillies moved one step closer to making his wish come true.

Meanwhile, the Phillies are hoping to continue their postseason success against the ALCS MVP, who took the loss, walked three and surrendered a pair of Chase Utley homers in Game 1. However, the Phillies received their largest boost that game from Cliff Lee, who took a shutout into the ninth inning. Otherwise, Sabathia pitched well enough to give the Yankees ample opportunity to secure victory. Blanton, the winner in last season's World Series Game 4, will be asked to pitch the game of his life, as another loss would push the Phillies to the brink of elimination, with three more games, including two at Yankee Stadium, for the Bombers to play with.

Yankees bust out the lumber as Hamels flops again

The Phillies raced out to a 3-0 lead, but Cole Hamels, who had been getting ahead and commanding his fastball through three innings, unraveled for two runs in the fourth and three in the fifth, taking the loss in an 8-5 defeat.

Beerleaguer: Hamels exhausted every last ounce of 2008 goodwill tonight. It should come as no great shock that it started after a 3-2 pitch to Mark Teixeira didn't go his way in the fourth. We've seen this all season. After that, it's as if everything he'd established through the first three innings got tossed out the window. It's one thing to get burned by the A-Rods of the world. You tread lightly with hitters like him. But a pitcher of Hamels' ability, who had been popping a good fastball to set up his change, needs to pull the string ahead in the count against average hitters like Nick Swisher. Then he goes with a curveball to Andy Pettitte and it's enough to make Chase Utley run to the mound and wring his neck. On a team of true tough guys, Hamels has isolated himself with yet another soft start - this one in the biggest game of his career - and one can't help but wonder what his future holds.

Carlos Ruiz can't escape blame, either. Chooch called for the curve against Swisher and did nothing to keep Hamels on task in the fourth and fifth. Watch the replay; Hamels' curve must look like a gift from god for a right-handed hitter.

Meanwhile, tonight provided front-row seats to the Yankees' Halloween horror show of confident starting pitching and explosive hitting. The night, which was extended 90 minutes due to a rain delay, included a veteran performance by Pettitte and homers by A-Rod, Swisher and Hideki Matsui. Pettitte was terrific after the second inning, as he and the Yankees' bullpen held Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez hitless. (Three of them looked horrible tonight; Vic had a sac fly.) Jayson Werth's right-handed muscle was one of the lone highlights, going deep twice including a bomb off the facing of the second deck in left. Ruiz also went deep in the ninth. Out of the 'pen, J.A. Happ, Chad Durbin and Brett Myers, three pitchers I could give or take at this stage, were unimpressive and allowed a run in each of their innings. For Happ, it's been a forgettable, if somewhat tragic, finish to an otherwise spotless season, considering he's needed to watch his teammate ratchet up a 7.58 ERA in four postseason starts.

Game 3 pregame: Hamels must get back to basics

I don't profess to know the secret to being a successful major league pitcher, but there are a few common sense approaches Cole Hamels needs to follow tonight.

We've all recognized Hamels' need for a third pitch, which isn't going to happen until the offseason. The Inquirer's Jim Salisbury wrote today that Hamels will work on adding a cutter or slider, in addition to improving his rarely effective curveball. So tonight, the Yankees will know what's coming: fastball-change. There's no getting around it. So it's going to be important for Hamels to set a few goals. Throw the first pitch for strikes. That's a simple one. Pitchers who do it have success. Next, he needs to understand that he's going to give up some cheapies and he needs to get over it. Contact isn't the enemy when he's got a defense this good. Next, keep the ball down. He's given up six home runs already this postseason. Finally, toughen up. Be aggressive. Don't be too fine. Seems simple, right? Let's hope.