Philadelphia Phillies

Chase Utley has been out of the Philadelphia Phillies lineup since June 28th with a thumb ligament injury, and Utley will likely be out until the middle of August.

The speed of Utley's return and how he plays once he's back will be crucial to determining whether the Philadelphia Phillies will be making their third straight World Series appearance in 2010.

Utley is just one of the Top 25 Players Who Will Be the Key to Their Team's Playoff Hopes.

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This article is a long time coming. I know the team is only 5.5 back in the division, but with the strength of the NL East and the National League in general, things may become very bleak on Broad Street.

This city of Philadelphia talks about 2008 like it was yesterday, the season where everything was perfect and the Phillies were kings of the world…guess what, it's not and they are slipping HARD.

Skipper Charlie Manuel wouldn't say his team got lucky in their wild 4-1 win over the Chicago Cubs, but that was plainly obvious to anyone watching.

Geovaney Soto certainly isn't a scrub and is not a guy who will make many mistakes, so when he drops a perfect throw that would have allowed him to tag out Brian Schneider by a good 10 feet or so, a lot of it is luck.

So I looked over some stats and decided people need to be told the whole story. There are a few other contenders for the NL CY Young Award. I originally did not want to analyze them but then I thought why not compare him to other players that people think are better, Halladay after all is the best pitcher in baseball.

So the first one I do is Josh Johnson. Low ERA 1.62. Minuscule ERA, I am amazed he has kept it up as long as he has. He has 128 innings pitched, an outstanding 130 strikeouts with only 28 walks. He has one complete game and no shutouts. So why him?

I admit, I am a Toronto Blue Jays fan, that's why you'll notice that the picture of Halladay is in a Blue Jays uniform rather than the Phillies uniform. I grew up watching him play and truly loved watching the best pitcher in baseball completely shut down opposing offenses. As such, my opinion is a bit biased so I tried to stick to the numbers only when deciding that Halladay deserves the NL Cy Young.

With the recent release of George Sherrill by the Los Angeles Dodgers, one wonders whether Ruben Amaro, Jr. and the Phillies' front office will look to add him to their struggling core of relief pitchers.

Sherrill, himself, has struggled this year with an ERA of 7.17 and WHIP of 2.20, hence the reason for his outright release.  However, he was solid for the Dodgers last year and has a career ERA of 3.64 and WHIP of 1.32.

He also has late inning experience, serving as the closer for Baltimore and recording a few saves for both Seattle and LA.  

You questioned whether he was one of the top first basemen in the National League, let alone all of baseball.  You spat in the dirt over Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro giving him a contract extension that made him one of the wealthiest players in baseball history.  You blamed the Phillies sluggish first half on him, wondering where the $25 million man had disappeared to when his team needed him most.

Oh wait.  That was me.  Shoot.

The All-Star Break is a great time to reflect on your favorite team's first half of the season: remembering the good times and the bad of the last three months.

So here they are (in my opinion): the five best wins and five worst losses for the Phillies during their first half of 2010.

Let's start with the five worst losses and finish with the wins, and therefore, a high note. Enjoy!

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Baseball’s hot stove is heating up. With two weeks left until the trade deadline and Cliff Lee already dealt, the two big names left on the rumor circuit are Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth.

The two have much in common: Both are outfielders who are among the best players on their respective teams. They both play for clubs that are fully in the thick of playoff contention—Crawford’s Rays are three games up in the AL Wild Card, while Werth’s Phillies sit just 1.5 games behind the Rockies and Dodgers in the NL.

I drive a Honda CRV.

It might be the first of its kind; it could be the prototype. There is nothing modern about it. The only gauge I have measures gas; mileage stacks up via flipping digits, and mechanical failures are indicated when the appropriate circle lights up red.

Some people call them idiot lights. That’s because when they glow, idiots wait a few weeks to see if they’ll go out—all by themselves.

I think Ruben Amaro Jr. has a few on. The problem is there’s one that won’t go out all by itself.