Weekend in Review

The Phillies managed to complete their season opening series with a sweep over the Houston Astros this past weekend. Much has been made over the Phillies pitching staff and also their offense. The starting pitching certainly came as advertised with 2 wins and 23 strikeouts in the series. They also only allowed 1 walk between them in the three games that they started.

Much was said about the Phillies offense (or debated lack there of) over the course of the off-season. With loss of Jayson Werth and the injury to Chase Utley, many fans and "experts" were doubting the team's offensive capabilities. Most of the way through the first game, the critics seemed to be correct, with the Phils putting up only 1 run through the first 8 frames. Much to the pleasure of the crowd however, the offense exploded, putting up 4 runs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game.

The late inning heroics in the season opener seemed to open the floodgates for the Phils' offense allowing them to score 16 runs in the next two games. Even more pleasing was the contribution by nearly every player in the lineup. Most notably was the play of Ryan Howard, who, besides collecting a plethora of hits, contributed the team's first home run of the 2011 season.

The key for the team is to going to be getting consistent production out of Raul Ibanez, Ben Francisco, and Wilson Valdez. Francisco needs to replace the production of Jayson Werth and Valdez needs to keep the ship afloat until the return of Chase Utley. Ibanez also needs to attempt to repeat his 2009 production. I foresee both a comeback season out of Ibanez, finally being healthy and also a breakout year for Francisco, who has 25 home run capability. Valdez also seems able to contribute enough in place of Utley not to hurt the team.

So far the offense and pitching are clicking in fine unison, but the real question is...will it continue?