An Impressive Start

For many baseball fans the opening week of the season can start with a great deal of excitement and end with a great deal of frustration. For the 2010 Phillies, no such swing of emotion was ever a possibility.

The Phillies offense has started off the season on a great note, which has taken the pressure off of a starting rotation that delivered a very forgettable start to the season outside of Roy Halladay’s dominance.

Over the first six games the Phillies have put up 43 runs, while allowing just 18 en route to a 5-1 record and a one game lead in the division over the Florida Marlins. The most encouraging sign that this team will make another playoff run is that Jimmy Rollins and Placido Polanco, the first and second hitters in the line up, are hitting .391 and .481 respectively. In addition, Ryan Howard has hit three of the team’s six home runs so far, which is a far cry from his usual struggles in April.

What has been even more enjoyable to watch than the Phillies putting up 41 runs in their first five games has been Halladay’s first two starts with the club. Fortunately for Halladay his first start was not in Philadelphia otherwise he may have gotten booed after giving up a run in his first inning as a Phillie. Even more fortunately for the Phillies, Halladay has thrown a total of 16 innings over two starts, striking out 17 and allowing two earned runs.

Although there has not been too much to worry about so far in regards to active players, Kyle Kendrick’s debut is essentially what is keeping the Phillies from being 6-0. In his return to the starting rotation, Kendrick gave up five earned runs over four innings in a 7-5 loss to the Nationals. He will have another shot at the Nationals on Wednesday at home.

Jamie Moyer also struggled in his 2010 debut, giving up five runs over six innings, including two home runs to a Houston Astros team that had not hit any in its first four games. With starting pitcher Joe Blanton expected out for at least another week and a half, the competition for the fifth spot in the rotation seems to have reopened in the regular season.

Despite all this excitement about the team thus far, it is important to remember that the first two series were against the Nationals, who beat the Phillies three out of 18 tries last season and the Astros who have not won a game this season.

The most troubling news from this week was Brad Lidge’s stat line from his first rehab assignment at Single-A Clearwater. The wildly inconsistent closer surrendered four earned runs over two-thirds of an inning on Saturday. Thus manager Charlie Manuel will be forced to rely on Ryan Madson to close out games more than expected if Lidge continues to struggle.

There’s still 156 games left to be played in the regular season, but early indications have shown that this team should capture a fourth consecutive division title regardless of what happens with Lidge.