Philadelphia Phillies

In macho sports culture, it is considered an attribute if you’re willing to play through an injury, even one that debilitates you enough to hamper your performance. If a player sits out a game with an illness or light soreness, he is lambasted on sports talk radio for being wimpy and effeminate. Teammates, themselves ascribed to macho sports culture, grow weary of players who take games off with minor ailments and wear their own injuries as badges of honor. What players, and the culture at large, never seem to learn — after reaggravating an injury, making a current injury worse, or creating a new injury due to overcompensation — is that it never pays to play through pain. Kirk Gibson moments are incredibly rare and never worth the otherwise poor performance caused by the injury. Chase Utley, though, is smart. You have probably gathered this with the precision with which he steals bases, the way he positions himself at second base to have more opportunities to make plays, and his prowess at the plate. It has been unfortunate that we haven’t been able to see him play as much over the last four years due to his knee problems (patellar tendinitis and chondromalacia). Now 34 years old, the potential Hall of Famer will likely miss some more time, now with a midsection injury. Via Matt Gelb: Chase Utley swung for the first time in batting practice Tuesday and it did not feel right. He took a second hack, then another, and one more. That is when he went to Charlie Manuel and told him his right side hurt. [...] Utley consulted with teammates, past and present, who suffered similar injuries. Their advice was consistent. “The main thing they said was, ‘Don’t rush back,’ ” Utley said. “That’s when you can make it worse and prolong the time you’re out.” [...] “I think it was a smart thing to do,” Utley said of informing Manuel. “You want to be careful with these things because they could linger and get worse if you try to play through it. I think we caught it early enough, but it’s hard to know until we have some imaging on it.” From 2005-09, Chase Utley averaged a 135 adjusted OPS. Since 2010, when injuries started affecting him, his adjusted OPS has only been 116. Add in a midsection injury and you have to wonder just how productive he could have been in all facets had he not alerted his manager to the issue. Instead, Utley will likely recuperate while his vacant spot is assumed by Freddy Galvis, one of the few bright spots thus far in 2013. With his usual great defense, Galvis has also thrived offensively — an unexpected bonus from a player who slugged .321 in the Minors. Hopefully, Utley’s judgment is seen and respected by other players across the league and the hard shell that is macho sports culture starts to erode. And players will stop foolishly putting their health on the line in a selfish attempt to be seen as manly and tough by their peers.

Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports Boy, Cliff Lee really knows how to prepare for a job interview. Newly clean-shaven and ready to make a good impression, Lee went out of his way to show the entire baseball community that he definitely is a guy you’d like to hire, throwing a complete game shutout last night against the Marlins, 3-0. Yes, even though it was against the Marlins, it still counts the same as other shutouts. Suddenly, Lee’s name has been the focus of trade rumors this week, thanks to the hard work and the never-ending need to create content by a couple of national writers. First, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman asked Lee about the potential of being traded, should the Phillies become sellers at the trade deadline. That was followed up by an excoriating look at the state of the Phils by Sports Illustrated’s Jay Jaffe, who also concluded that Lee is likely to be shipped out if this season goes in the crapper. It’s one thing if mindless bloggers like us, who follow every single move the Phillies make, and even some they don’t make, speculate about potential trade targets. It’s quite another when national writers start putting players on the auction block a full two months before the trade deadline when the team is just a game under .500. The timing seems a bit soon and a bit weird (although it should be noted, there are a couple smart people, like ESPN’s David Schoenfield, who think the Phils will be buyers at the deadline). But, in the internet world, the need to create content is a relentless shrew, and something has to fill that void. Enter Cliff Lee. Certainly, last night’s “audition” for the world couldn’t have gone any better. Lee had only one troublesome inning, the second, when he loaded the bases with nobody out. He managed to escape unscathed, thanks to a 5-2-3 double play and a pop out. That failed insurrection seemed to take all the wind out of the sails of the over-matched Marlins. By the way, the Marlins’ #3 hitter last night was some ham-and-egger named Derek Deitrich, and their cleanup hitter was some retread named Marcell Ozuna. They sure ain’t the ’95 Indians. Still, it was clear early on that Lee wasn’t going to let the dregs of the Marlins lineup, or the suddenly suffocating trade rumors swirling around him, to deter him from his mission. With Chase Utley likely to hit the disabled list due to a rib cage/oblique injury, Lee becomes the Phillie who likely has the most trade value of anyone on the roster, should Ruben Amaro decide to sell come July. Yes he’s still owed a lot of money (at least $62.5 million after this year), but his performance is so good, and his potential to influence a team’s fortune so pronounced, that the Phils could probably get a prime prospect or two in return. As it was noted in those two national media reports, however, Lee has a no-trade clause to 21 teams (who those teams are is unknown). So Lee still has a great deal of say where he will go, if the Phillies decide to trade him. But suddenly the Phils, once again, are refusing to completely tank. Last night’s victory was the first time in their last eight tries that they were able to climb above two games over .500. And, since April 26, the Phillies have lost only one series, their two-game sweep in Cleveland. During that stretch, they’ve won series against the Mets, Giants, Reds and Marlins in three-game series, while splitting four-gamers against the Diamondbacks and Marlins, as well as a two-gamer against the Indians. During that time, they’ve gone 13-10. It’s not lights out, but it is winning baseball. As I wrote about yesterday, the Nationals have a slew of problems of their own and, after breaking their four-game losing streak yesterday, are still just one game ahead of the Phillies in the standings, at 24-23. The two teams begin a weekend series in Washington, where the Phils attemp

Here’s a rundown on how the Phillies’ minor league teams fared on Wednesday, May 22.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly criticized his team and benched All-Star right fielder Andre Ethier, then watched Los Angeles beat the Milwaukee Brewers 9-2 Wednesday.

Rightfielder Delmon Young homers again as Cliff Lee and the Phillies blank the Marlins.

If history is any indication, then the second baseman is likely headed to the disabled list with an oblique injury.

Following Wednesday's 3-0 victory over the Miami Marlins, the Phillies announced that reliever Phillippe Aumont had been demoted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, with a corresponding move to follow prior to the team's next game on Friday. For a club that entered that evening's contest with a bullpen ERA that ranked 4th worst in all of Major League Baseball, surely some adjustments were in order. However, Aumont was not the problem. As recently as Sunday, the 24-year-old righty's season ERA was 2.92 and sat at 2.25 last Friday. After coughing up two earned runs in 2/3 of an inning on Monday, Aumont's season ERA rose to an unlucky 4.15 in 16 games. Surely Aumont, who gave up runs in each of his two most recent appearances and who sported the worst WHIP (2.08) on the pitching staff, hadn't been sparkling as of late, but he had an ERA better than the Phils' stud 8th inning guy Mike Adams just last weekend. And even with his recent efforts, or lack there of, Aumont's 4.15 ERA and K-per-9 rate of 10.38 ERA were considerably better than the numbers posted by Jeremy Horst (5.09 ERA and 5.60 K/9), Chad Durbin (8.10 ERA and 9.45 K/9) and anything B.J. Rosenberg can do for the Phils. Triple-A hurler Mike Stutes, who has been blazing hot out of the IronPigs bullpen lately, as he's tallied a 0.59 ERA over his last 11 games with 14 strike outs and three walks during that stretch, is deserving of consideration for a promotion and could be the guy that fills the void left by Aumont. In 63 career big league contests, the 26-year-old Stutes has a 6-2 record along with 3.86 ERA. Stutes missed much of last season after requiring shoulder surgery in June. Again, there's no question that some revamping was needed in order to improve the Phillies' relief corps, but there are multiple pitchers hurting the team worse than Aumont had been. Here's hoping the move is temporary and the 6-foot-7 260-pounder gets the chance to work on his command and the silver lining of a potential Stutes return sees his success continue.PhoulBallz.com, The Shore Sports Network

Through the first 46 games of the season, including 11 games against the woeful Mets and Marlins, the Phillies had just one complete game shutout. On a team with Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, and Cliff Lee, naturally that complete game shutout was recorded by none other than Kyle Kendrick. Cliff Lee rectified that situation today, with a three-hit masterpiece against the Marlins. For all but the second inning, Lee made it look easy. Even that inning wasn't too bad. After an infield single, a walk, and a hit batter (no balls leaving the infield), Lee got out of the jam with a double play and pop-up. After that, smooth sailing. For the second night in a row, the offense wasn't offensive. Delmon Young hit his third home run of the season to start the scoring off in the fourth. In the sixth, he had an infield single and then came around to score on Domonic Brown's triple. Freddy Galvis then knocked in Brown with a single. And that was it other than watching Lee mow down the Marlins. Baseball's inane accounting practices credit Lee with five wins on the season now. That's one less than he was credited with all of last year. In fact, the accounting system did not give Lee a fifth win last year until September 12. Of course, going into today's game (stats have not been updated), Lee's xFIP this year (3.58) is half a run higher than last year (3.06). That's conventional baseball statistics for you! The only other thing to note really is that Delmon Young can throw. We covered his Glennbo-esque throw in San Francisco several games ago. Tonight, Young did it again. He nailed Chris Coghlan trying to tag up from first on a long fly ball to right by Nick Green. Young caught the ball deep in right field and made the throw flat footed. It was a laser that hit Rollins on one hop, who easily tagged Coghlan out at least three feet short of the second-base bag. There are lots of reasons to hate Delmon Young's presence on this team, despite his two home runs over the past two days, but we are quickly learning that his arm is not one of them. Fangraph of keeping it up for the Nationals series: Source: FanGraphs

Cliff Lee threw his first shutout of the season on Wednesday night. (AP Photo) The Phillies took the rubber match of their three game set with Miami on Wednesday, shutting out the struggling Marlins 3-0. It was the second straight series win for the Fightin’s, and the first time since April 15 (when they were 6-7)  that they are back to just one game under the .500 mark. Vintage Cliff Lee on the mound tonight The Phillies offense managed three runs on 12 hits against Marlins pitching, which was more than enough for Cliff Lee, who threw nine strong innings en- route to his first complete game and shutout of the season.The left-hander faced minimal danger in the contest, working his way out of a bases loaded, nobody out jam in the second to go on to throw six 1-2-3 innings. He walked two and gave up just three hits on 115 pitches (85 of which were strikes). Lee has basically been a lock to perform in every start this year. He has had quality starts in each of his last four outings, and in eight of ten outings this season. His record improves to 5-2, and his ERA is now a minuscule 2.48 on the season. He has given up just four runs in his last four starts, and the shutout was the twelfth of his career, and seventh in a Phillies uniform. Clutch hitting provides just enough offense The bats showed a decent amount of life tonight, as the Phillies rapped out 12 hits against starter Kevin Slowey and the Marlins bullpen. However it was three of those hits- a solo homer from Delmon Young, an RBI single from Freddy Galvis, and an RBI triple from Domonic Brown that stood out. All three of those hits were with two outs and produced runs, which is something the Phillies have been struggling with immensely this season. There is still some work to be done- 12 hits should produce more than three runs- but the three, two-out RBI hits in the game is a good place to start for a team that entered play hitting .197 with runners in scoring position and two outs (which ranks 25th out of 30 major league teams. Middle of the order starting to heat up Ryan Howard was 2-for-4 tonight with a double (albeit it might have been the softest hit, accidental double he has ever hit), and is 7-for-17 (.411 average) with three runs batted in in his last four games. His double tonight moved him into a tie for eighth place with Johnny Callison on the Phillies all time extra-base hits list with 534. Delmon Young, who had gone 16 games between his first and second home runs of the season needed just a good night’s sleep to hit his third. He was 2-for-4 tonight with two runs, a homer, and an RBI. If he can continue to hit balls hard consistently Ryan Howard should start to see some better pitches. If Chase Utley, who has been the Phillies best run producer this year, Howard and Young starting to drive the ball will certainly be a very welcome sight. What’s up next The Phillies will be off on Thursday before traveling to Washington to open up a three game set with the Nationals on Friday. It is their first meeting with Washington this season. While they will still be facing a team that has been struggling offensively, they will be seeing some much better pitching than they saw in the Marlins series. Friday night’s probables are Kyle Kendrick (4-2, 2.82 ERA) for the Phils and the tough righty Jordan Zimmerman (7-2, 1.62 ERA) for the Nats.

I have been wanting to put together a mailbag for a while to address questions that often don’t deserve a whole post as well as just casual questions.  Feel free to submit questions regarding prospects, the majors, the draft, baseball in general, or just about any other topic. To submit questions you can post them here, email me at mattwinkelman136(at)gmail(dot)com, or on twitter at @Matt_Winkelman. If you would like to direct questions at Brad, Joe, or Gregg if you are really nice here or on Twitter they may answer.