Something has to give...RUMORS ANYONE?

After this past week the Phillies have proved to me that they need better starting pitching to hang with the top shelf teams in the MLB. For a while our potent offense has hidden the fact that our starting pitching is sub-par to say the least. Things need to change and change quickly or we are going to end up like the Mets of 2007. God knows we cant have that happen. I dont know what's going to happen or who we'll trade for but we need somebody new. Moyer, Eaton and Kendrick need to get their acts together or they'll lose their starting positions.

MLB COLD HARD FACT:

Unless the ownership of a team has one of two things up there sleeves, 1.) A blank check when it comes to team salary, or 2.) A good farm system, you cannot win a World Series championship.

Teams like the Angels, Yankees, and Red Sox in the AL have shown time and again that you need to spend big money to win.  I don't think their front offices are any smarter than the Royals, they just have bigger wallets.  The Phillies ownership is just satisfied with competing.  They will never make the big move to put them over the top.  They figure if they are at least in the top 10 for payroll that the fans can't complain and that they are doing everything they can.  Look at the difference in $$$ between number 10 payroll and number 1 payroll.  Staggering.  Baseball is a joke and it's a 5 horse league at best.  They need a salary cap.  Get used to being dominated by teams with high payrolls.

WOW!  Panic button anyone??????????????????

"we need a dikembe mutombo (sp) to get us over the hump and we need it soon"

Why so we can lose in the World Series in 5 games like the Sixers lost in the finals against the Lakers???  The Sixers actually had a better winning percentage BEFORE the Mutombo trade--everyone seems to forget that.

Everyone out there DOES remember its a 162 game season don't they?  What I'd like to know is where are all the posts slamming Utley????  Don't get me wrong, I think he will be fine but it's funny how Howard was getting openly BOOED in that stadium by the MORONIC fans there but no one is booing or criticizing their favorite MAN CRUSH.  If Howard was 0-25 this board would be filled with "SEE, HE NEEDS TO GO TO THE MINORS!"  and "THEY NEED TO TRADE HIM NOW!!!!!!!". 

Wow, seriously you people need to back off a bit.  I'll agree this week wasn't their best ball, but it's not panic time.  A baseball season has tremendous ebbs and flows, and you've got to be able to get through both and see what team you really have.  The Phillies are neither as bad as their record shows this past week, nor or they as good as they were in the two weeks before that.  Just chill.  They're still in first place, just not running away with it like it seemed.  There are reasons for concern, just not panic.  Myers needs to turn it on (soon would be nice), Kendrick is a nice story but I'm not sold on him, Moyer has been a little better than expected this year but just to be on the safe side we can't count on his arm, and Eaton is just Eaton.  But look at it from the other side....our starters are no worse, in fact they're a bit better than they were last year (I'm not backing that up with stats, just a gut feeling), but out bullpen is a total strength---definitely couldn't say that last year.  And our offense is clicking better than it did last year now that Howard is past the horrible month of April and beginning of May.  Actually, the offensive guys who I think have been the biggest cause of our recent slide are Utley, Victorino, and Rollins, and they're just going through one of those down times I mentioned earlier.  Stop worrying about the offense, it will come around again.  The bullpen is good.  The starters are----in need of help, I'm with you there.  But the overall picture is definitely bright.  CALM DOWN.