Fastball Fans

The city of Brotherly Love saw their hometown team, the Phillies contend valiantly for a wild card spot in 2006, but fell a couple of games short. The team had a poor first half in which they found themselves jettisoning off several players such as Bobby Abreu, the late Cory Lidle, David Bell, Rheal Cormier, Dave Delucci and a few others.

Most experts and pundits figured that the Phillies threw in towel near the trading deadline & waved the white flag for surrender. The players had other plans as the team was white hot from late summer into September and were wild card contenders until the last week of the regular season under the tutelage of manager, Charlie Manuel.

Thanks to the emergence of Ryan Howard as one of the premier run producers & home run hitters, to the equally amazing Chase Utley, who carried a 36 hit streak and had a career year, the Phillies should be in great shape to contend in the National League this upcoming season. The Phillies under the guidance of GM Pat Gillick made some big moves in the winter adding Freddy Garcia, Adam Eaton to shore up a rotation that should help the team improve on their 85 win season.

The starting pitching has gone through a number of changes which were made to improve the team. The rotation has gone through a complete makeover, with Brett Myers being the only pitcher who started the season with the team in ’06. Jamie Moyer came to the Phillies via trade and Cole Hamels was brought up from the minors last season. Meanwhile, the Phillies got Freddy Garcia in an offeseason trade and Adam Eaton came to Philadelphia in a controversial free agent deal.

The anchor of the rotation will be the newest member of the team, Freddy Garcia. Coming off a 17-9 campaign with an ERA in the mid-4 range, he’ll need to perform like he has in the past while in Chicago for the Phillies to compete. Brett Myers had a decent 2006 with 12 wins and an ERA under 4, but had problems with his marriage during the season which led him to having to take time off. If he can perform or exceed his numbers last season, the team will accept that.

Well traveled veteran Jamie Moyer returns again to the team after a good year with the Phillies. He does not have overpowering stuff, so he’ll need his curveball and change-up to be successful; therefore, the team will need him to be consistent and have quality outings. Young Cole Hamels will be expected to take his game to the next level in ’07 after having a good ’06 at the major league level.

The big unknown in the rotation right now is John Leiber. He’s coming off a subpar season in ’06 and there’s talk he’ll traded before the season for relief help. However, he has a decent track record and should still be able to help the Phillies, or could be used a a trade chip.

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