Two things I wanted to touch on before tonights game:
Jimmy Rollin's comments: So Jimmy Rollins was on the the Dan Patrick show and they asked him about the Cliff Lee trade. He responded not only that he was shocked but that the Yankees would have kept both. I have said this before and I'll say it again, a playoff rotation of Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee at the top would be almost unbeatable, especially considering Halladay has been known to go on 3 days rest. If Hamels makes a full return this year, it wouldn't have even been close. I know Amaro wanted to keep from fully depleting the farm system, but this isn't a young team. Cole is the anyone who is 27 or younger. I'm not saying they should do something rash like trade Domonic Brown for a middle reliever, but they should be in win now mode while keeping a few high ceiling prospects like Brown around. Were Jimmy's comments out of line? Yes in that he's one of the team leaders and should know better, but no in the fact that he's merely speaking the mind of what is most likely a lot of frustrated Phillies and fans.
Raul Ibanez: Some people have written off Raul's early season slump as little reason to worry about. While I agree to an extent, I would like to point out some troubling numbers:
- 2009 second half stats - .232 avg, 12 home runs, 33 RBI, 40 runs in 241 at bats.
- 2009 post-season - .259 avg, 2 home runs, 13 RBI, 8 runs in 15 games.
- 2010 spring training - in 21 games, he hit .130 with 1 home run, 3 RBI, and 6 runs.
- 2010 first 3 games - .091 avg, 3 runs, 0 home runs, 1 RBI.
Does this mean he can't turn it around? Absolutely not. He's a hard worker and hopefully this is just a slump. But the numbers also don't lie. Since the All-Star break last season, those stats above combine for an average of .217.
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