Snapshots Opening Day Brewers @ Phillies 2014 04 08

The Phillies Home Opener started off with lots of promise, but ended with a 10-4 loss and the heavy weight of disappointment,  

The long list of grievances for the day included

- Old man winter keeps his dying fingers clutched upon us - Opening Day was delayed a day and when it did come was a bit windier and colder than expected.
-That same windy weather caused the thrilling Navy Leap Frog parachute drop to be cancelled. This is the 2nd consecutive time this has happened for a Phungo Opening Day trip.
-Before we even left for the stadium it was announced that Chase Utley would be out due to the flu.
-The Phillies had a series of fielding gaffes and looked like they were in the first day of spring training rather than the first day of the regular season.
-Kyle Kendrick who we finally decided may have a big season, completed imploded and was unable to execute a big pitch when needed.
-and Finally the player who got top billing on the sports day did it in the game we were attending, unfortunately he was the one guy on the field you couldn't possibly root for - Ryan Braun.

Even with those complaints Team Phungo had a fun day and we are looking forward to the 2014 Phillies season with guarded optimism.

Snapshots


2014 04 08 Steve Carlton & Jamie Moyer

The honorary first pitch was thrown out by Jamie Moyer who was accompanied by Steve Carlton. The pair of southpaws represent the Phillies two World Championship teams.


2014 04 08 Ryan Braun

This is Braun batting in the 6th inning when he flied out to to center. Oddly I took about a dozen pix of Braun and not one was during one of his HR ABs. In addition to his three Homers Braun also robbed Carlos Ruiz of a muli-RBI hit at a key point early in the game.

As I mentioned above, it is tough enough seeing your team get beat badly - it is much worse when the one guy that is out there having a career day is the one guy you just want to boo loudly,

2014 04 08 Kyle Kendrick

Interesting shot of Kendrick taken from the upper deck. After Tuesday's game my enthusiasm for his 2014 season is less than it was earlier in the week.


2014 04 08 Marlon Byrd

Marlon Byrd returns to the Phillies after eight years crisscrossing the baseball landscape.

 
2014 04 08 Phillies Starting Line Up Cards

Starting Line Up Cards are updated for 2014, but they are not affiliated with Topps. The cards do sort of remind me of the Topps Stickers that have come out the last couple of years.
  

2014 04 08 Sixto Lezcano Jersey

I didn't expect to see one of these. Sixto Lezcano played for the Phillies as well as the Brewers and actually was a contributor to the 1983 Wheeze Kids.

2014 04 08 Phillie Phanatic

My favorite Photo of the day - The Phanatic looks a bit dejected here, standing in front of the backdrop of excitement provided by the Opening Day logo.

Sources
Baseball-ref

Home Opener: 2009 Topps #103 Kyle Kendrick

We are experiencing some transportation issues at Team Phungo HQ, but that should not keep us from making the jaunt down to the ball park for tomorrows 2014 Phillies Home Opener.

2009 Topps #103 Kyle Kendrick

Every time I hear Kyle Kendrick's name I cringe. They are a number of factors, he originally came up as a low ceiling back of the rotation starter with little fanfare, He is romantically connected to a low level reality starlet whom I find annoying, but mostly because I have heard he has a penchant for boy bands.

As far as your starting pitching draw is concerned going to the Home Opener when your team begins it season on the road is a gamble. This year we get Mr Kendrick.

As I have noted I cringe, but everybody that I discuss the now 29 year old Right-Hander with notes that he has some pretty strong stretches in the last couple of seasons. Kendrick also had a nice 2014 debut going 7 innings vs the Rangers giving up only 1 run on 5 hits and a walk.

2014+
Another thought that may make Phillies fans shudder is that Kendrick's number 1 age comp (according to Baseball-Ref/Bill James sim scores) is Joe Blanton. In 2010 Blanton spent his age 29 season with the Phillies. He 9-6 with a 4.82 ERA (85 ERA+, -0.1 WAR) - Those numbers point to a flat out average MLB season.

The remainder of Kendrick's top 10 comps all pitched 100+ innings at age 29, half exceeded 150 innings with the average at 150 innings. If you take out the one pitcher that got injured Carl Pavano (2005 Yankees) and the pitcher who was a 1930s era swingman (Johnny Marcum) the average among the remaining eight pitchers is 168 innings. The Kendrick 10 pitched to an ERA+ of 92 at age 29 with an average WAR of 1.29. If we remove Pavano and Marcum again and ALSO Adam Eaton's PUTRID 2007 season we get ERA+ 98 with a WAR of 2.0.

Beyond 2014 the best Kyle Kendrick can expect is to be Tood Stottlemeyer who pitched 8 additional season starting at age 29, with 183 starts and 76 wins. Stottlemeyer had a career WAR of 16.5 at 29+. Several of Kendrick's current comps remain active so his average 29+ comp is likely deflated - 4 Years, 31 Wins, 4.0 WAR. The worst that his contemporary comps fared was Eaton who had 318 inning left and pitched to an ERA of 6.40 for the remainder of his career.

Phungo Sez
I am going above the box on this one. Based off of last weeks outing versus the Rangers and Kendrick's solid spring results I am projecting a breakout season. 12-9 for Kyle with a 3.83 ERA, 111 ERA+ and a +3.8 WAR. That right I am giving Kyle Kendrick the same 2014 WAR as Cole Hamels.

I cannot belief how much I just wrote about Kyle Kendrick.

Phillies 2014+ Index
Cody Asche WAR + 1.8
Cole Hamels WAR +3.8
Ryan Howard WAR +1.0
Kyle Kendrick WAR +3.8  

Phils projected W total via WAR thru 4 players 62.4.

Sources
Baseball-ref

WeekLinks 2014-01-18

Saturday - A-Rod's suspension gets REDUCED to 162 games and somehow the world considers this a victory for MLB. Baseball World also goes nuts debating it - since they didn't go nuts enough over HoF debate a week earlier.

Sunday - American Hustle scores at Golden Globes, personally I liked Catching Fire better than Hustle or Wolf of Wall Street

Monday - Phils invoke more yawns by signing Ronny Cedeno

Wednesday - Clayton Kershaw gets lots o $$ from the Dodgers, David Price gets a big check from the Rays but for only one season.

Thursday - Oscar Nominations come out, more press for Hustle, Wolf, Gravity and others. Coen Brothers get snubbed.  Tough day entertainment-wise as Mr Kincaid (Partridge Family) and The Professor (Gilligan) both pass.

Kyle Kendrick (2012-09-10)

Somewhere in there the Phillies came to terms with Kyle Kendrick and John Mayberry and avoiding arbitration.

Saturday - College Game Day comes to the Palestra! T

Snapshots: 2012 09 10 - Marlins 1 @ Phillies 3

Phils win 3-1 behind a strong outing by Kyle Kendrick.  Game finished in a brisk 2:38.  Home by 10:30 on a school night - and if you really wanna believe, you can almost tell yourself that the Phils are in the Mix.

SnapShots (click to enlarge)

Kyle Kendrick

Hero of the night - 2 hits and 3 walks 1 run over 7 innings.  It is time for me to admit Kendrick has a shot of being a decent starting pitcher.

Greg Dobbs

A member of the Phillies 2008 WSC team.  Dobbs started at 3rd for the Marlins 

Jose Reyes from the same angle

Darin Ruf

Ruf who had 20 Home Runs during the month of August for the Reading Phillies officially joined the big club on Monday.  He did not get involved in the game however.  I think he is watching the Phanatic on the big screen in this shot.

Cards that Never Were

2011 Topps Starting Line Up Dominic Brown and Erik Kratz

Brown was issued a couple of cards in the 2011 set, but I don't think any featured the above photo.  I am not sure Kratz ever made it into 2011 Topps, despite getting a handful of ABs with the big club.

Sloppy Topps - 2008 Heritage Michael Bourn

This is another one of those great cards I received recently from White Sox Cards. The card here looks vaguely familiar, yet something seems amiss...

2008 Topps Heritage #244 Michael Bourn

Where the heck was this picture taken?? - Maybe it is all this recent talk about logos, but I think I have spotted a familiar looking one:



2008 Topps Heritage #244 Michael Bourn (enlarged)

Yep Topps has Photoslopped an Astros Uni on a recycled image, that we have seen before and.... before.

2007 Topps 52 Rookies #25 Michael Bourn
2007 Topps 52 Rookies #DD4 Dyanic Duos - Kyle Kendrick & Michael Bourn

More Swag from Tribe Cards

1993 UD All-Time Heroes #108 Robin Roberts
1983 Topps #43 Bob Dernier
2001 Topps Chrome #339 Scott Rolen
2007 Turkey Red #177 Kyle Kendrick

Indians Baseball Cards. And then some... found himself with a few extra cards and I believe under threat of eviction was good enough to offer them up to other collectors.

Being the good person that I am and understanding Dave's plight I offered to provide a home for the extra cards and when I say extra cards....I mean extra cards!!! Dave sent out two 300 count boxes of cards. I will be sorting them out for days.

Above are some of the Highlights. In 1993 UD produced an All-Time Heroes set that homages the Hassan T-202 cards from 1912. The cards are a nice idea and very sharp looking.

1983 is a set that I am pretty light on, and may be the last year that I collected cards before returning to the hobby. Bob Dernier was one of my favorite players in the mid-80s and this is a great addition to the collection.

I will always have mixed emotions about Scott Rolen. He always played hard and put up good numbers, but boy could he be a Diva sometimes.

A lot of the cards Dave sent over were from the late 80s and early 90s, but there were a handful of cool newer cards like this Turkey Red Kyle Kendrick.

Cards that Never Were

When one enters Citizen's Bank Ballpark via the Centerfield gate, you can find the games lineup on Gigantic Baseball cards. An oddity is that the Phils have not bothered to update the card template since 2006. This has resulted in some huge cards that never were. The Photo above is of the cards for Eric Bruntlett, who was with the Astros in 06, and Kyle Kendrick who was still in the Phils minor league system at the time.