Philadelphia Phillies 2010 May Not Be Their Year

Philadelphia enters tonight game vs. Cleveland Indians at Citizens Bank Park in third place in NL East, two games behind New York Mets for second place and overall 5.5 games back of Atlanta for 1st place. Philadelphia seemed to break through last week in New York, taking 2 of 3 games at Yankee Stadium, however this weekend lost 2 of 3 to Minnesota, as the Twins won final two games of series 13-10 in extra innings Sunday, as the Philadelphia bullpen gave up 5 runs in the bottom of the ninth and eventually lost in later, then the Phillies offense was four hit and scored only once during Sunday defeat, bringing the current home record to 17-15, two games over .500. Ace Roy Halladay lost Sunday vs. Twins now has lost last three starts to fall to 8-6 overall. Philadelphia current record is 35-32 three games off the paste in the NL Wild Card standings. Leadoff hitter and shortshop Jimmy Rollins has only played 12 games this season, currently serving his second stint on DL with a calf injury, Philadelphia has relied on home runs, they haven't been stealing bases, advancing or scoring runners on base with less than two outs thus far this season. Its been a struggle offensively for Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, Jason Werth among others. Seems at times this season, team gets good starting pitching, bullpen gives up the lead or team gets inconsistent starting pitching and bullpen has to pitch too much, besides Halladay the rotation hasn't been consistent, Hamels and Moyer have had their moments however must get better. Even more concerning is Blanton and Kendrick pair of guys who have struggled this season. Injuries besides Rollins have played a role as well, Lidge, Romero, Ruiz, Madson, Blanton, Happ have either spent time on DL as some point this season or currently still on the DL. The team has played 67 games and have 98 remaining, can they turn it around to win NL East for the fourth season in a row, win the NL pennant for 3rd season in a row and more importantly play in their 3rd World Series in a row. Many believe this team looks tired from the amount of games they have played being in the postseason 2007-2009 and some believe once Rollins returns that'll jump start the offense. Truly only time will tell, don't expect a major move at the trade dealine, hasn't been the trend for Phillies ownership, once the group sets a budget, they will not go over that number, has a remind of someone feel, oh yeah, those guys across the street over at NovaCare Complex, the Philadelphia Eagles, kings of NFL salary cap and having the most money under the cap.