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2007 MLB
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2007 Philadelphia Philles Predictions
Ryan Howard’s name has
become synonymous with the Philadelphia Phillies. In less
than two major league seasons Ryan Howard has already won
an MVP award, which was the first by a Phillies player
since Mike Schmidt won the award in 1986. However, Howard
would gladly give up MVP honors if it meant getting the
Phillies into the postseason where they haven’t been
since the 27-year-old Howard was in middle school. With
the offseason acquisition of Freddy Garcia, it has the
Phillies thinking they will get back to the postseason in
2007.
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Freddy Garcia comes to the National League having won
better than 15 games four times. He joins Brett Myers,
who has posted double-digit wins four years in a row,
and Cole Hamels, who finally made the Phillies feel good
about making him their first pick back in 2002. No other
pitchers in the NL sat down more batters after the
All-Star break than Myers and Hamels. Moyer and Eaton
are the weak spots, but their experience keeps them in
games. If either one of these guys gets double-digit
wins, it will be a huge plus for the Phillies.
In my opinion, the Phillies will still be recovering
this season from giving up Billy Wagner. Tom “flash”
Gordon was great in the first half of last season making
the All-Star team, but his 39-year-old shoulder couldn’t
hold up in the second half. It could be closer by
committee for Philly. If anything keeps this team from
the postseason, it will be the pen.
With Rollins, Utley, and Howard, the top of the Phillies’
order is stacked. I expect good production out of Pat
Burrell once again hitting behind Howard. Burrell drove
in a every 4.86 at bats in 2006. Rowand’s numbers will
also increase. He was limited to just 109 games last
season. In a full season, we can expect him to put up
some good numbers possibly moving up in the order to
utilize his speed.
The Phillies have given their backers fits over the last
couple seasons. They were the wrong favorite to back in
2005 and they were again in 2006. The Phillies were just
41-40 at home, which was the biggest reason for keeping
them out of the money. Getting Freddy Garcia should help
the Phillies improve immediately at home. I don’t
foresee anything drastic like going 20 games over 500
because of the questions surrounding their pen, but I
think a five game improvement in Philly is easily
attainable. You’re going to want to take a nice look at
this team on the road though. The 2006 Phillies were a
surprising 44-37 on the road. The Phillies finished
41-34 against NL East opponents and 19-13 against NL
West teams. We’ll look for our spots to take the
Phillies on the road against these two divisions when
the value is good, especially with one of their top
three starters on the mound.
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