Chase Utley Taking Grounders at Third Base, Could Be Option In The Future

0 21

Ryan Gillon - August 29, 2012

(Photo: GCobb.com)

UPDATE – 4:12 PM: Jim Salisbury tweeted this after speaking to Chase Utley.

Utley said he took ground balls at third today to see if it would be option down road. Will do it again. Too early to draw conclusion

— Jim Salisbury (@JSalisburyCSN) August 29, 2012

Take it how you will, but this gem came across live on the air minutes ago and was tweeted by SportsRadio 94 WIP's official Twitter account.

Glen Macnow reports from the stadium that Chase Utley is taking grounders at third base. Listen live bit.ly/OEgJWn #Phillies

— SPORTSRADIO 94WIP (@SportsRadioWIP) August 29, 2012

UPDATE: @WIPAfternoons tweeted a photo to prove it… a bit grainy, but nonetheless:

Photo-graphic evidence of Utley taking grounders at third base. Interesting. @sportsradiowip twitter.com/WIPAfternoons/…

— WIP Afternoons (@WIPAfternoons) August 29, 2012

0 21

Vick on Obama, Polly’s Back, “50 Shades of Grey Readings,” and More

0 6

Kyle Scott - July 27, 2012

The streakin’ Phils return to action tonight against the Atlanta Braves. Not much happening, here’s a brief Friday morning roundup:

Predictably, Michael Vick responded to President Obama’s request that he slide more often: [CSN Philly]

“It was awesome,” Vick said about Obama’s instructions. “It’s just one of those things when you hear it, it’s hard to believe. But at the same time, you think to yourself, he's got a point. If he's saying it, then I've got to do it. So, first run of the year, I’m sliding. And he’ll know it’s for him.”

Great, I can see it now– Vick streaking toward the endzone and sliding on the 2 so the Pres can get a little love.

Kratz: [Philly.com]

"It's awesome," he said. "I don't have a lot of words to describe it. If I go deeper into it, to know I was a fan and used to cheer from the stands at the Vet. It's definitely something I will look back on, but for now it's just fun being a part of it."

The funny thing about Placido Polanco’s back, Jules: [Phillies.com]

The Phils placed Placido Polanco on the 15-day disabled list Thursday afternoon with what they called lower back inflammation. The move was retroactive to Monday, which means Polanco will be eligible to be activated as early as Aug. 7.

Nationals bullpen members read 50 Shades of Grey.

T.O. is playing softball now.

Remember to play in our FREE, one-night only fantasy baseball pick ‘em tonight– $300 in cash prizes. Takes literally 10 seconds to choose your team.

Finally, Team USA swimmers sing Call Me Maybe. Needs more Michael Phelps.

0 6

The Funny Thing About Polanco’s Back, Jules…

0 11

Kyle Scott - July 15, 2011

Photo credit: Zimbio

…is that it has landed him on the DL.

The Phillies were at first optimistic about Polly's back – at least publicly – but a bulging disc is exactly what ails Roy Oswalt right now… and those things don't just go away quickly.

Polanco has struggled a ton since the beginning of May, and it's not going too far to say that the one consistent right-handed bat the Phillies possess is in serious jeopardy of not performing at an all-star level for the rest of the season.

The move is retroactive to July 5. He will be eligible to come off the DL on July 20th. Ryan Madson was activated to take his spot on the roster.

Mini-prediction (semi-unrelated): The bullpen is going to be what makes or breaks this team. The lineup, even with a big trade deadline acquisition, probably isn’t going to hang crooked numbers on a consistent basis. The starters are going to do what they do, crush. It's the bullpen that will take this team as far as it can go. If they continue to do what they did in the first half – with Stutes, Bastardo, and Perez surprising lineups – the Phillies will be almost impossible to beat. If they can't sustain the level of play they displayed in the first half, it will be difficult for the starters to carry the team to the World Series, without support from one other group. The bullpen is the real x-factor here. And yes, I hate myself for using that term.

0 11

The Funny Thing About Polanco’s Back, Jules…

0 8

Kyle Scott - July 8, 2011

Same thing as Oswalt. Those things linger. Not good. Charlie Manuel said he would prefer Polanco not play in the All-Star Game, but would never force him to sit out.

0 8

Everybody Hits! (Seriously, Almost Everybody)

0 2

Kyle - May 24, 2011

Chase Utley gets a raucous standing ovation last night (AP)

The Phillies scored 10 runs on 14 hits last night in a 10-3 win over the Reds. Yes, that is the total from one game and not an entire week. Let's dig deeper: In their previous seven games, the Phillies had scored exactly 10 runs, and they had only one game in their last eight where they had more than six hits. In the 3rd inning alone last night, they had six hits. Five different players – Rollins, Polanco, Howard, Ibanez, and Ruiz had multi-hit games. That's only the second time all season that more than four different players in the order had multi-hit games.

Bronson Arroyo, with his mid-80's fastball, is the kind of pitcher the 2007-2009 Phillies would have hammered. He pitches to contact, is usually around the plate, and doesn't throw hard. I thought they would score some off him last night as well, but the way this lineup has been hitting lately, you just never know.

We don't usually do game recaps, but since it's been a while that we could talk about some offense, let's break down the two key at-bats last night that helped the Phillies hang some crooked numbers.

0 2

Chuck Digs the Long Ball

0 3

Kyle - April 21, 2011

Charlie blows more bubbles after homeruns (Getty Images)

Since the finale of the Braves series, the Phillies offense has been struggling, posting scores of 3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 3, 3, 0, and 4. In those nine games, they have gone 5-4, which is a testament to how good the Phillies pitching is. But even with good pitching, asking them to hold the opponent below three runs to win most games is a tough task.

There is no reason to panic. However, their lack of extra base hits, particularly HR’s, has been an issue since the middle of last season. With just 13 HRs through 17 games, they are on pace for only 124 HR’s. They hit 166 HR’s last year and that was a huge decline from the 224 they hit in 2009. They haven’t had a season where they hit as few as 124 HR’s since 1997 when they hit 116 HR’s.

0 3

Cutting to the Chase

0 4

Kyle - March 17, 2011

Nobody seems to know when Utley will take the field in 2011

Another week has passed and still nothing definitive on Chase Utley. Like many other fans, the potential seriousness of Chase Utley's knee injury has put a little bit of a damper on the season for me so far. And Wilson Valdez hasn't even hit into any rally-killing double-plays yet. But then I recalled the hot streak the Phils went on from late July to mid-August last season, with Chase out of the lineup. As Rich Hofmann noted recently, it turns out the Phillies actually had a better winning percentage in the 47 Chase-less games last season, than they did with him in the lineup, compiling a 29-18 record (.617 winning pct) without him and a 68-47 record (.591) with him.

You're probably guessing that the pitching carried them when Utley was out more so than when he was in the lineup. Well, the stats don't really back up that premise. In the 47 games Utley didn't play, the staff ERA was 3.58. In the 115 games he did play, it was 3.70, or 0.12 more runs per game. At that rate, that's only about six less runs over the 47 games without Utley than they would have allowed on average with Utley. Six runs in 47 games.

0 4

Placido Polanco Has a Hyperextended Left Elbow

0 17

Kyle Scott - March 15, 2011

Add another one to the list.

Placido Polanco left today's game in the second inning. According to Franzke and Wheels, Polanco has a hyperextended left elbow, which, apparently, has nothing to do with his offseason surgery. They said he was taken out of the game for precautionary reasons.

Like I said yesterday, I'm going glass half empty with all injuries from here on out. Our 35-year-old third baseman was just taken out of a game after feeling pain in the same elbow that was operated on this winter. The Phillies say the hyperextension was on the other side of the arm was in the exact same spot as surgery. It's a different injury, but surgery usually affects (tightens) everything around it. Polanco is day-to-day.

We're now three weeks into spring training, and have already heard about injuries (varying degrees) to Cliff Lee, Chase Utley, Dom Brown, Brad Lidge, and now Polanco. – breathes into paper bag –

Start the countdown until a Dominican newspaper's report is grossly misinterpreted as a "broken elbow."

0 17

Posts for Polanco