The Phillies lose another to the DL

To quote Luke Wilson from Anchorman, “this is getting re-goddamn-diculous.”

After losing Brett Myers, Brad Lidge, Scott Eyre (running in from the bullpen), and Raul Ibañez, now they will be losing Clay Condrey to the 15 day disabled list. I should have written this a week ago, but now my point is even stronger; it’s time for the Phillies to make a trade. No offense to Sergio Escalona, who will replace Condrey, but I have little confidence if you’re behind Jack Taschner on the depth chart. The rotation that Charlie Manuel is running out there is not a World Series rotation at this point.  Far from it. Prior to losing Myers, the distance between Cole Hamels starts was great – now it’s insurmountable.

The ripple effect of having sub-par starting pitching is killing our bullpen. And if we’re going to lean heavily on the bullpen, as we can see, it will buckle. I’m not calling on Ruben Amaro Jr. to make a trade for trades sake; but it is obvious that this team needs bolstering. The longer we wait, the harder it gets. For instance, now that Daisuke Matsuzaka is on the DL in Boston, you can count Brad Penny off the list of available pitchers. Jake Peavy is on the DL and so is Erik Bedard.

If we wait until the trade deadline we may end up hoping to bring Adam Eaton back.

Review: MLB Network’s The Pen – Phillies Bullpen

Just got finished watching the Pen and the first episode had a lot of things to cover: the competition for the final spots in the bullpen and rotation, JC Romero’s suspension, the opening night festivities, Harry Kalas’ death, as well as the season up until the first interleague series with the Yankees. For the Phillies fan it provides the most in depth, behind the scenes look at the Phillies. This type of access is generally reserved for the Boston or the New York teams, but to the victor goes the spoils, and the Phillies will be the subject every week.

What makes the show even better is that it covers more than the stars – Scott Eyre comes out with some of the best stuff – I love seeing him tell Pedro Feliz on opening day that this might be his last opening night. I’m hoping that moving forward the show is closer to the news cycle.

Must watch for the Phillies fan, but even if you’re not – it’s unprecedented access to a major league team.

MLB Network’s The Pen will appear weekly for six episodes

THE PEN BROADCAST SCHEDULE (all times Eastern):
June 14 – 8:00 p.m. Debut, Episode One
June 21 – 9:00 p.m. Episode Two
June 28 – 8:30 p.m. Episode Three
July 12 – 8:30 p.m. Episode Four
July 19 – 8:30 p.m. Episode Five
July 26 – 8:30 p.m. Finale, Episode Six