Some Clouds Clearing

The Phillies continued Wednesday night's celebration of the walk-off home run by Jimmy Rollins with a 12-3 pounding of Cleveland Thursday afternoon to sweep the series. The mood surrounding the Phillies-- unlike the weather-- has definitively lightened. Amidst apocalyptic weather-- 96 degrees, rain, lightening and darkness in the middle of the day-- Chase Utley, Placido Polanco and Jayson Werth put on a display of bat thunder. Werth went 3-4, Utley finished 3-3, while Polanco was 4-5.

The offense, which has been so timid for so many weeks, appeared to finally be coming to life, summoned by team captain Rollins' unlikely heroics at the end of a game where he had looked more lost at the plate with each successive at-bat, until the last when it counted most. Everything was coming up figurative roses in front of the home crowd, most of whom poured out instead of being poured on during a lengthy rain delay late in the game.

However, there were dark clouds on the horizon-- well, in addition to the actual ones. First off, the Indians are a dismal last place team that can make any foe appear menacing. Furthermore, Cleveland's Shortstop, Jason Donald, was also 3-3 (HR, 2B). It was a breakout game in the stadium where he probably imagined himself coming into maturity-- only as a Phillie, not as an opposing player. The Phillies traded homegrown Donald (along with a plethora of other stellar prospects) to get Cliff Lee. Little did they know then that Jimmy Rollins would be injured for much of the 2010 season. Fans would have been seeing much more of Donald this year than management could have ever realized while bundling him away with the rest of their seemingly unneeded prospects in 2009.

Irrationally and regrettably, they flushed away Cliff Lee for Phillippe Aumont, a minor leaguer, who is 1-6 with a 7.43 ERA for the Reading Phils and who was just demoted to Clearwater. Aumont has a 10.73 ERA in his last 49 2/3 total innings, having struck out 38 and walked 38. Opponents are hitting .284 off of him.

Meanwhile, his major league counterpart Cliff Lee, who led the Phillies to the 2009 World Series and went 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in 5 postseason appearances and 2-0 against the Yankees in the World Series has faired much better. In his latest gem on Wednesday, Lee S.O. 9 over 9 innings, while walking none and allowing only 1 run. His control has been so masterful this season that he has miraculously S.O. 76 batters while walking just 4. You read that correctly. In 87 innings, Lee has walked 4 batters.

In June, Phils' former ace Lee has gone 3-1 with a 1.50 ERA, while their current ace Roy Halladay is 1-3 with a 3.72 ERA.

Halladay is 8-6 with a 2.43 ERA and 2-5 since May 6th this year for the Phils. Lee is impressively 6-3 with a 2.39 ERA for a last place team that is one of baseball's worst.

The thing that hurts the worst is: the Phillies HAD THEM BOTH.

It was said at the time that Seattle would have accepted Blanton, who came cheaper and with more years left on his contract, instead of Lee in the deal that sent Aumont to the Phillies minor league system. What if Lee's 8-6 record and 2.39 ERA were in the Phillies rotation now instead of Joe Blanton's 3-5, 6.53 ERA (10.20 in June)?

The Phillies might look like a contender for the big stage, where Lee shined last year. Instead, they're lucky that-- in spite of weeks of woeful play-- after winning a series against the Yankees and this sweep, they've now won 7 of 10, they're merely 2 1/2 games out and still in the playoff hunt. Still, if the season ended today, the Phils would miss the playoffs by a shave.

It's now a 3-team race in the NL East-- and Atlanta is for real. Former Phillie Billy Wagner, 5-0 with 14 saves and a 1.23 ERA, 43 S.O. in 29 innings has helped secure that. The Phillies passed on Wagner when he was released during the '09 season, despite their desperate need for a closer at the time. Why? Now, they may look to Pedro to clean up the mess that has become the back end of their rotation. Pedro, at 40 years old, is unlikely to shine, let alone save the day.

Cliff Lee is a stud. There should have been no doubt he would pick up in 2010 where he left off in 2009. If the Phillies had him now, they would not only be well ahead in first place, but would pretty much have the NL wrapped up already. Fans and baseball minds are starting to understand why Curt Schilling called the move, "The stupidest thing the Phillies have ever done." When the Phillies traded Lee, Shane Victorino and I were shocked and dismayed-- and vocal about it [See my 12.15.09 post: Phillies' Colossal, Irrevocable Error.]

Still, as a fan, one hopes for the best: that the Mets fade (as they have done better than anyone), that Atlanta's roller-coaster ascension continues its current balancing trend (they were just swept by the ChiSox) and that Rollins' 9th inning heroics Wednesday were in fact the wake-up call they presently appear to be in light of today's series sweep. The Phillies have 17 games left in the 1st half of the season. 10 of those games will be against first place teams. July 5th-7th they host the Atlanta Braves in a series that may decide who leads the division heading into the All-Star break. The Phils must stay loose, remain focused and build on their momentum.