Welcome back subscribers to Blogging Baseball as the 2012 Spring Training exhibition games begin, and as the Phillies begin their quest for success — hopes for a sixth straight NL East championship, which would be their third NL pennant in six seasons, and for their second World Championship in six seasons.

Blogging Baseball went into a early 2011 post-season hiatus after the Phils loss of their divisional series in 5 games to the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals.   As 1st baseman Ryan Howard tore his achilles tendon on the final out of the decisive 5th game, this author was in the midst of dealing with personal issues.

The Phils begin the new season minus a few familiar faces are missing and some new faces have been added:

Starting pitcher Roy Oswalt, thought to be the fourth of the four aces rotation and who suffered through an injury-ridden 2011, still shows up on Yahoo sports as connected with the Phillies although his name does not show up on the Phils’ spring training roster.

Outfielder Ben Francisco, whose seventh inning winning pinch-hit 3-run homer made a winner out of starter Cole Hamels and gave the Phils a temporary 2 games to 1 lead over the Cards, was released by the club in the post-season.

Closer Brad Lidge, the hero of the 2008 Championship season and who successfully closed 48 games without a blown save as the Phils won every game where they had a lead in the eighth inning, was released by the club after having sub-par subsequent seasons and suffering with leg and back injury issues.  Lidge was picked up by the Washington Nationals.

The Phils also went for bolstering their bullpen with acquisitions of closer Papelbon, reliever Chad Qualls, as well as former  Marlins’ phenom Dontrelle Willis, who could give additional lefthanded relief flexibility should lefthanded reliever Antonio Bastardo get shelled as ocurred in the final games of the 2011 regular season.  Papelbon had a perfect fifth inning in the opener with the Yanks.

The 2012 Phils look to rev-up their offense, which at times during the 2011 season went flat putting additional pressure on their rotation of aces and the bullpen.   They need more productivity out of leadoff hitter and shortstop Jimmy Rollins, and returns to form by 2nd baseman Chase Utley and 3rd baseman Placido Polanco — both oft-injured in 2011.  2/3rds of the outfield look solid with the ‘Flyin’ Hawaiian’ Shane Victorino in centerfield and Hunter Pence in right.  The real question in the outfield is:  Will 2012 be the season that Domonic Brown proves ready for major league prime time and lock down the leftfield spot vacated with the release of Ibanez, or will he be platooned with John Mayberry Jr.?  Mayberry Jr. could also see time at 1st base, along with Thome, Wigginton and Nix — on spelling Howard until he returns.   Imagine a lineup of Rollins, Polanco, Wigginton with Utley batting clean-up and Pence batting 5th.

With the first 3 spots in the rotation solid locks with aces in Roy Halladay and lefthanders Cliff Lee and Hamels, there will be a heck of battle for the 4th and 5th starter spots between Joe Blanton, Kyle Kendrick and rookie sensation Vance Worley.   If there is any pitching questions, they focus on the bullpen.  Will David Herndon and Michael Stutes deliver as in 2011.   Will Antonio Bastardo repeat the lights-out performances of 3/4 of the 2011 season or flame-out early.   And will Dontrelle Willis come out of the bullpen to spell Bastardo in the lefty relief spot?  Will young relievers Joe Savery and Michael Schwimer rise to major league levels and give the bullpen a lift?   Will Jose Contreras return to the form his showed in 2011 before going down with his injury. Will Papelbon be a lights-out closer with the Phillies, as he was through his seasons with the Red Sox?   Will his performance in 2012 approach or exceed Madson’s level of 2011?How the offense and relief pitching perform seem key to the Phillies’ fortunes in the 2012 season. By the way, the Phils and Yankees played their exhibition openers on Saturday with the Phils on the short end of the score.  The two teams play again on Sunday, this time in the Yankees’ Florida venue.   

Here’s hoping for an NL pennant and World Championship in 2012.  Let’s go Phillies!!

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |

« Carpenter Bests Halladay, Cardinals Get By Lifeless Phillies Offense to NLCS «

» Phillies’ First 10 Exhibition Games: Some Positives and Negatives »

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 4th, 2012 at 12:08 pm and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary
Phillies and NL East, Analysis, Predictions, etc. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.