Posts tagged ‘tom gordon’

The first week of baseball season always comes with a great deal of anticipation.  Of course, if you’re the Phillies, it normally ends with more questions than answers.  It seems like this team gets off to a slow start every year, and so here’s a look back at the opening week that was:

The Good

Chase Utley is playing like it’s his turn to win the MVP award.  He’s absolutely crushing the ball, and he already has a mid-season intensity about him that we can all only hope is contagious.

Jimmy Rollins has been fine at the top of the order, even though his average is lower than he’d like it to be.  Even Pat Burrell looks good, and maybe that’s a sign he is going to carry over last year’s monster second half and come through in his contract year.

So much for the 5th starter spot being a weakness.  Adam Eaton looked like he got off on the right foot the other day when he pitched 7.2 innings against the Reds.  Of course, the Phillies lost that game, so I’m not sure what that tells us.  Consider it severance pay for the fact that Eaton won 10 games last year with an ERA over 6.

The Bad

I can’t put into words how annoyed I am with Shane Victorino.  He’s an astounding 3 for 23 so far this year with 4 strikeouts.  That’s a .130 clip, and what’s worse is that I haven’t seen him put together a good at-bat yet.  While his defense has been fine in Center, he sure looks like a guy who is walking around with the knowledge that for the first time in his Major League career, he’s not battling for playing time.  He’s a little too comfortable.

The Ugly

We can go on and on about the pitching staff, but the reality is that the two best outings haven’t meant a thing to this team.  Cole Hamels throws 8 innings of 1 run ball, and Adam Eaton throws 7.2 of 3 run ball, and the Phils lose both games.  Sure, Tom Gordon had a bad opener and Brett Myers hasn’t looked like himself, but the bigger problem is that this team isn’t playing much defense at all.

When a team this solid defensively makes 4 errors in one game like they did on Thursday, it’s a sign of a lack of focus.  And after the slow starts of the last few years and the hype around this team in spring training, it makes you wonder just what this team is thinking about.  They have to know how badly these losses can hurt them down the road.  But at the same time, the focus and the intensity (Chase Utley aside) just isn’t there.  It’s strange at best and worrisome at least, and either way it’s a sign that things need to turn around quickly.

The Mets and Braves haven’t gotten off to fast starts either, and so this first week has a chance to mean nothing.  But the time to turn it around isn’t May 1st, it’s right now.  Of course, they’ll get their chance.  They’ll help the Mets open the last season at Shea Stadium coming up this Tuesday.  Let’s hope they have their focus in time for that.