Quick Stains: April 23rd

Let’s take a look at 3 Phillies who deserve to be commended, and 2 who are big stains. The reason for three of one and two of the other? Let's keep the positivity flowing while we can. Back to back wins, baby.

To be commended:

1. Cole Hamels. Pitching like a future ace. 15 K complete game is HUGE. Necessary not so much to give the bullpen a break, but to keep them out of the game.
2. Jamie Moyer. Doing what he does best, which is simply pitching his game. He’s been great this year, and every time he takes the mound you feel like there’s a chance for us to win.
3. Aaron Rowand. Playing sold defense, batting well (.355 as of right now, 7^th in NL, leading the team), and looking like the gamer we traded for. Now if only we can keep him from running his face into a wall.

Stains:

1. Tom Gordon. Gordon is failing really hard all over the place, and if you don’t have a solid closer, than you simply don’t have a solid bullpen. There are other big culprits (Madson and Smith certainly come to mind), but you’ve got to hold a lead in the ninth inning.
2. Clutch hitting. Prior to the Cincinnati series, we were averaging 10 men left on base per game. This is gross, and needs to change. We are getting men on base, and now we need the timely hitting to send them home. This has got to happen, given the fact that we can’t rely on winning the close games.

One game make-up against Houston tonight. It will be interesting to see how Eaton fares against the Houston lineup. Some good things to take from winning the series against Cincinnati, but hey, they are Cincinnati. We KILL Cincinnati. Let’s start playing this kind of solid ball against our NL East foes.