Rained Out Game = Time to Tackle Key Phillies' Issues

My Fellow Phillies Fans,

I’m sure I am not the only one who was disappointed with the events of tonight. Mainly, the rain that caused tonight’s schedule game to be rescheduled until tomorrow. However, that leaves us time to discuss several other issues surrounding the Phillies in these trying times.

The first of which is the injury bug. We all know that Ryan Madson is out for a long time after idiotically injuring himself after a rough outing. Way to go Ryan, we are all pleased with that maneuver. Rollins is still slowly rehabbing from his opening day injury, there is no set timetable for Jimmy’s return, but we are all hoping that it happens much sooner rather than later. The biggest concern is Brad Lidge as he was unhappy with a bullpen session that he threw before the scheduled game earlier tonight. Does this crown Jose Contreras as the closer for the Phillies with Lidge and Madson both shelved? I guess it is all up to Charlie Manuel.

Another big topic is the Jason Werth contract status. Before we hear all the information about the Phillies salary and budget; let us propose the main reason that Werth must stay here: the Phillies lineup needs him. The majority of the lineup is already left handed and we can absolutely rake right handed pitching. However, our stats against lefties are nothing special. Werth provides the right handed power in our lineup and the protection for Ryan Howard. It is a necessity to sign him for the good of our lineup in years to come. He has developed into one of the best all-around players in the game today and he needs to be kept her in Philly for our lineup’s sake.

Chooch for the All-Star game? I am totally on that boat. I know there a lot of Phillies fans pulling for that single fact as well. Let me put it this way, Charlie is the coach and even though the voting is a popularity contest which pretty much means that Brian McCann of Atlanta or Russell Martin of the Dodgers will get the start, there is not a single reason that Chooch will not be selected by his manager for the backup role on the squad. He is only currently hitting .354 with an On Base Percentage of .481 which is tops in the league. If those are not deserving numbers, then I honestly do not know what is. What makes this even more impressive is that a majority of these stats is coming from him hitting in the 8^th spot in the lineup, the most undesirable spot in any NL lineup, except of course if you are on the Cardinals where the pitcher commonly hits 8^th.

As for the game on Monday, I wasn’t fully impressive with the victory, but I was impressed with Chooch’s game. I think we can give him the game ball for that game along with giving pinch hitter extraordinaire Ross Gload an honorable mention. Pinch hitting is probably the hardest job in the game of baseball and to hit a home run coming off the bench cold is quite impressive. So I salute you, Chooch and Ross Gload; thanks for keying our victory in that 9^th inning.

Until we meet again Phillies Fans; Happy Readings and Go Phillies!