Phillies History Behind The Plate

PHILS PHACTS:

Leaving Their Mark Behind The Plate – This is the first in a series of articles on the most career games by position in Phillies history. We begin with the top five in games caught. Mike Lieberthal (1994-2006): 1,139 games; Red Dooin (1902-1914): 1,124 games; Bob Boone (1972-1981): 1,095 games; Carlos Ruiz (2006-current): 982 games; Darren Daulton (1983, 1985-1995): 965 games. Lieberthal broke Dooin's record for games at catcher on Aug, 18, 2006, at Citizens Bank Park. "Lieby" was an All-American baseball player at Los Angeles' Westlake High School, where he once hit four home runs and drove in 10 runs in one game. The Phillies selected him in the first round, third player overall, in the 1990 Draft. At 155 pounds, many were skeptical he could sustain the rigors of catching every day in the big leagues. He wound up catching more games than anyone else in Phillies history, was a two-time All-Star and a 1999 Gold Glove Award winner. After playing one season with the Dodgers, Lieberthal officially retired as a Phillie on April 28, 2008. He's also a Phillies Wall of Fame inductee (2012). Dooin was a 5-foot-9 catcher who barely tipped the scales at 150 pounds during a 15-year career in the Majors. The first 13 years were with the Phillies (1902-14). He caught 1,124 games for the franchise, a record that stood for 91 years. Dooin became player-manager of the Phillies in 1910. The 1913 club finished second, but he was fired following a sixth-place finish in 1914. Dooin's managerial record was 392-370. A singer-actor, Dooin spent some winters on the vaudeville circuit following his playing career. He died in Rochester, N.Y., on May 14, 1952, from a heart attack. He was 72 years old. Boone was a biology major at Stanford University. He switched positions to playing catcher in 1971, and after only 169 games behind the plate in the Minors, Boone made his Major League debut in September 1972. He was the Phillies' everyday catcher for nine years, beginning in 1973. He was an All-Star three times and a Gold Glove Award winner twice while with Philadelphia. An excellent defensive catcher and student of the game, Boone handled pitching staffs that reached the postseason seven times, five with the Phillies and twice with the Angels. When he retired, Boone had caught more games than anyone in baseball history, only to see Carlton Fisk break the record by one game. Boone, his father, Ray (third baseman), and his two sons, Bret (second baseman) and Aaron (third baseman), were All-Stars during their careers. Boone managed the Royals (1995-97) and Cincinnati Reds (2001-3). He was the first catcher inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame (2005). Ruiz was signed as an international free agent out of David, Panama, on Dec. 4, 1998, for $8,000. A second baseman, he made his pro debut the following season as a catcher in the Dominican Summer League. Ruiz spent the next seven seasons working his way up through the Minors before reaching the Majors on May 6, 2006, vs. the Giants at Citizens Bank Park. He was the Phillies' regular catcher from 2007-14 and spent time on the disabled list six times during that span. He has started seven Opening Days (2008-12; 2014-15), was an All-Star in 2012 and has caught the most postseason games in Phillies history (46). "Chooch" is the only catcher in National League history to catch four no-hitters: two by Roy Halladay (2010), one by four Phillies pitchers (2014) and Cole Hamels' last start with the Phillies (2015). Daulton was drafted as a skinny catcher out of Arkansas City High School, listed on scouting reports as 150 pounds. His 14 seasons with the Phillies are the longest tenure for a catcher in the team's modern history. Defensively, Daulton had the most putouts (981 in 1993) and double plays (19 in 1993) for a catcher during a season in franchise history. He played in 1,109 games with the Phillies, remarkable since he was on the disabled list several times and had multiple knee surgeries, plus other injuries. He was a three-time All-Star and recognized as the leader of the 1993 NL champion Phillies. Daulton ended his career with the Marlins, winning a World Series title with the club in 1997. Daulton was a Phillies Wall of Fame inductee (2010).

THE BEGINNING:

The Phillies finally put an end to the season finishing in last place in the NL East with a record of 63-99. Given the departures, aging stars, injuries, and bipolar performances, this has ended up being one of the worst seasons in franchise history! However, at least Ryan Madson got another ring this year.

Royals And Mets On The Brink

YESTERDAY IN POSTSEASON PLAY:

Well, didn’t see this one coming. Following their dominant offensive display (and a shocking performance by Chris Young) the Royals are one win away from playing in their second consecutive World Series. The Mets find themselves in the same position as the Royals up 3-0 over the sentimental favorite Cubs. Pitching has been the overwhelming obstacle for the young Chicago squad but only time will tell… Boston can attest to that. However, the most important thing that both of these current underdogs need to realize is that it is going to take more than two runs to win a game!  

Royals Obliterate Blue Jays 14-2

The Royals are one win from going to the World Series for the second consecutive year after putting a stranglehold on the American League Championship Series with another victory over the Blue Jays. Ben Zobrist and Alex Rios homered for Kansas City, which scored early and often for a 14-2 victory in Game 4 at Rogers Centre on Tuesday. With a commanding 3-1 series lead, the Royals have a chance to clinch the AL pennant with a victory in Game 5 on Wednesday. "We've still got work to do," Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said. "This feels good, but we know how good that team is over there." The Blue Jays once again have their backs against the wall and will have to win three games in a row to advance. Teams that take a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven Championship Series are 29-7 all-time, so Kansas City is clearly in the driver's seat, but Toronto can at least fall back on the fact that it rallied from an 0-2 deficit to beat Texas in the AL Division Series. Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey was responsible for putting the Blue Jays in the early hole. He allowed four runs in the first inning, including a two-run homer by Zobrist, and another in the second before he was pulled after recording just five total outs. Dickey departed with a five-run deficit, and Toronto never recovered. "This team is a really good team," Dickey said of the Royals. "They spit on a lot of good knuckleballs, and they hit the ones that were a little bit flatter. Two singles and two home runs, and I'm out of the game -- it happened really quickly. This is, like, my 103rd start with the Blue Jays, and this is the first time I've gone this short, so it was the anomaly for sure, but it was a poor time to have the anomaly." Kansas City right-hander Chris Young came within one out of picking up the second postseason victory of his career, but he was pulled with two outs in the fifth. He allowed two runs on three hits and a pair of walks while striking out four. The only real sign of difficulty Young encountered was in the fourth, when he surrendered an RBI double to Josh Donaldson. Royals manager Ned Yost is feeling pretty good about where his team is. "We feel good about it," Yost said. "I felt great going into this game because we had Chris Young on the mound, and I felt he would give us a really, really good performance. "We like the way we're playing right now. Our offense has been really, really good. We have [Edinson] Volquez coming back tomorrow, our defense is always spectacular and our bullpen is primed to go tomorrow, too. "We didn't have to use Wade [Davis]. We have Danny Duffy if we need him for multiple innings tomorrow. Kelvin [Herrera] and [Ryan] Madson had short stints today, so they'll be ready to go tomorrow, and so will [Luke Hochevar]. We're in really good shape." But Young cautioned that they can't get too giddy yet. "We haven't won anything yet," Young said. "Toronto is such a good team. We have to come back and play hard and play our game tomorrow."

Mets Tame Cubs 5-2

In this old ballpark where even the outfield ivy has taken on a role, the weight of history is now on the Mets' side. Their 5-2 win over the Cubs in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Tuesday at Wrigley Field gave them a 3-0 series lead, moving the Mets to within one victory of their fifth NL pennant and their first World Series appearance since 2000. "That clubhouse right now, that's all they're talking about is tomorrow," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "They know what they're facing." What the Mets are facing is a Cubs team backed into one of Wrigley's quirky corners, knowing only one Major League team has ever come back from a 3-0, best-of-seven series deficit in 34 attempts. They also know that the architect of that club, the 2004 Red Sox, was none other than Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein. "Of course you think about those things, you think about the parallels, think about the fact that that happened against a New York team," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "We think about all that stuff, but it's up to us to go out and play and execute. I put all my stock in the fact that I know our guys are going to be ready to play tomorrow." Maddon's hope is that the Cubs can rip apart history in much the same way the Mets have done this month. Before this series, Collins' club had not beaten the Cubs all year. Until Game 3, they had not won at Wrigley since May 19, 2013. They overcame that last part behind second baseman Daniel Murphy, who matched an MLB record by homering in his fifth consecutive postseason game, and starting pitcher Jacob deGrom, who overcame a rocky first inning to move to 3-0 this October. Aside from solo homers to Kyle Schwarber and Jorge Soler, deGrom was everything the Mets needed him to be. Along the way, the Cubs made multiple defensive mistakes, including a Soler blunder in the sixth that allowed a Wilmer Flores double to scoot into the ivy. Though that play wound up being a positive break for the Cubs, who could not parlay it into a comeback, other mistakes cost them dearly. Chief among those was a Trevor Cahill wild pitch that allowed Yoenis Cespedes to score the go-ahead run on Michael Conforto's sixth-inning strikeout. "I think we're all very aware of how close we are, and at the same time, we're not taking it for granted because they are a very, very good team -- a very explosive team -- that can blow up at any time," Conforto said. "We're not taking them lightly. We're going to show up the same way tomorrow that we have the last three games." By the ninth, a light rain had begun falling on Chicago's North Side, as Jeurys Familia locked down the final three outs for his franchise-record fifth postseason save. "There's no excuses to what happened today," Schwarber said. "They just played better than we did. Now we've got our backs against the wall, but we're going to keep fighting until the end."

POSTSEASON PREDICTIONS: Read my post from October 6^th to see how many I have gotten wrong!

CURRENT POSTSEASON PICTURE:

National League Championship Series

New York leads series 3-0

Game 4: Wednesday, October 21, at 8:00 PM

American League Championship Series

Kansas City leads series 3-1

Game 5: Wednesday, October 21, at 4:00 PM

PHILS PHACTS:

A Closer Look At Nick Williams – Background: For what seemed to be an eternity, the baseball world wondered when the Philadelphia Phillies would trade their perceived greatest asset, Cole Hamels, in an effort to rebuild the franchise with younger players carrying lengthy team control. On July 31 this season, the Phillies transformed their franchise by sending the star left-hander Hamels and hard-throwing lefty reliever Jake Diekman to the pitching starved Texas Rangers. Both pitchers are among the reasons the Rangers made it to the playoffs as the American League West champions. But the other end of the deal may have changed the Phillies for years to come. Prospects Jorge Alfaro, Jake Thompson, Alec Asher, Jerad Eickhoff, Nick Williams and veteran Matt Harrison offer a boatload of talent. The trade was stunning and far-reaching. One of the component players in the transaction was Williams, a left-handed outfielder with a bag full of tools. He's 22. The 6-foot-3, 195 pound Williams has a well-proportioned athletic frame. The Rangers selected him in the second round of the 2012 Draft out of Ball High School in Galveston, Texas. After parts of four Minor League seasons, Williams is No. 3 on the Phillies' Top 30 Prospects list. Hitting: Williams is still a work in progress. He has been inconsistent in his approach and results until this past season. He hit a combined .303 playing for Double-A Frisco for the Rangers (.299 in 415 plate appearances) and .320 over 100 plate appearances at Double-A Reading in the Phillies' organization. I first saw Williams when he played for Surprise in the 2014 Arizona Fall League. He hit .277 with two homers and a solid 19 RBIs in his 27 autumn games. Williams is an aggressive hitter with a very quick bat. That excellent bat speed helps him drive the ball and allows him to generate power from his strong body. Using the entire field, Williams is a solid gap hitter with emerging home run power. Defense: Considered an average outfielder by most, Williams is known more for his hitting and power upside than his fielding. He has played all three outfield positions, but I project his best position to be left field. He looks and reacts more comfortably in that role. Strengths: Whenever I watch Williams play, his power and his good foot speed are evident. His outstanding bat speed forms the foundation of his overall hitting mechanics. He has a fluid swing and can punish a fastball. Weaknesses: Recently I have seen his highly aggressive approach become reduced a bit. That's a good thing. This year, his splits against right- and left-handed pitching were a bit troubling. He hit .a very solid .330 against right-handed pitching, but only .210 vs. lefties. In 2014, his splits were close to equal, both being above .275. I find this interesting: Williams is still a raw player. He is gaining momentum and learning more about his game as he continues his development. Williams is a player who could ultimately hit .300 with 25 home runs if he continues his current progress. But risk remains that he won't consistently harness his abilities. The future for Williams: There is risk involved in going out a limb with Williams. He has such great upside that the Phillies will likely give him every opportunity to be an offensive force in their hitter-friendly home park. I can see him arriving in late 2016. His bat speed and the power in his athletic body are real. Can he translate upside to reality? Williams in a word: Explosive.

THE BEGINNING:

The Phillies finally put an end to the season finishing in last place in the NL East with a record of 63-99. Given the departures, aging stars, injuries, and bipolar performances, this has ended up being one of the worst seasons in franchise history! However, there are some former Phillies still making headlines in the playoffs this year.