Ryan Howard – MyPHL17.com

It’s that time again. Time for another addition of “As the Phillies Roster Turns.”  This season has brought many changes to the roster, and today’s episode shows one of the best changes.

In:
Welcome back Ryan “Big Piece” Howard.
Howard, and his achilles, was reinstated to the team. This means that the first base duo of Ty Wigginton and John Mayberry Jr. is kind of over. (I say kind of because Howard will most likely have the Chase Utley treatment to begin with.)

The real question is, why are eh bringing him back now? Why not wait until after the All-Star break to re-instate him?

As as I can figure there are 2 reasons to bring him back now:
1) None of the local affiliates a home this weekend. With Lakewood, Reading and Lehigh Valley all on the road, they had no place to play him. He’s a major leaguer, they don’t travel to rehab game on the road.
Since there is nowhere local for him to play, why not bring him home? And let’s be honest, at this point, he can only help.
2) The Phillies are trying to re-energize a fan base that, well, has no reason to be energized. The front office is giving the fans something to cheer for, just like they did with Utley last week.

Out:
Good-bye Hector Luna.
Luna was optioned to AAA Lehigh Valley today. Since I’m not quite sure what his role on the team, outside of benchwarmer, was, we won’t miss him. He did have 2 memorable home runs and a fail on my part for not writing about him hitting moon shots.

Cliff Lee - Photo courtesy of: MyPHL17.com

It has been awhile since we have checked in on the Phillies roster and the Phillies front office have been busy.

Cliff Lee is back!  He has missed 3 starts because of a strain oblique, but he will pitch tonight at Citizen’s Bank Park against the New York Mets.

Of course, with Cliff Lee’s return, a player has to go spend some time in Lehigh Valley.  Michael Schwimer has been sent down.  That’s not a bad thing.  His ERA this year is an atrocious 8.53.

Jim Thome is still down in Clearwater doing some rehab or another.  Not quite sure what.

Chase Utley is back in Philadelphia working out with the team.  According to Charlie Manuel on MLB on XM Radio, Utley will head down to Clearwater when the team leaves after this homestead.

Ryan Howard is also in Clearwater.  He tweeted yesterday that he started taking BP and doing some light fielding.  Moving in the right direction.

David Herndon is on the DL.

Mike Stutes is enjoying time there too.  There is no time-table for their return.

Catcher Erik Kratz (Everybody Kratz your hands!) is enjoying time in Philadelphia as a bench player.  Pretty sure he has done about zero for the big club so far.

Brain Saches is also up.  So far, he has done nothing beneficial.

Hopefully the next episode will have more than just Cliff Lee returning.

Karilee Jeantet is Lead Contributor for A View From Section 116.  Follow her on Twitter @kjeantet and @viewfromsec116 and e-mail her AViewFromSection116@gmail.com.

Cole Hamels - MyPHL17.com

First Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers gets suspended for his hit in last night’s game against the New Jersey Devils.

And now we find out that Cole Hamels is joining his fellow city sports mate with a suspension of his own.  Except Hamels got a 5-game suspension while Giroux got just one.

Am I surprised?  Not really.  I listened to sports talk radio all day long and the listeners appeared to be split on whether what Hamels did to Harper was stupid or smart.  I stated my opinion earlier today, I don’t see a big issue in what Hamels did but guess some feel it was immature and cowardly.  Whatever!  It sucks that Cole has been suspended, but I still applaud his honesty.

Read the full story here:  CBSNews.com

Read about Giroux’s suspension at Aerys Sports – It’s Always Icy on Broad Street

Image source:  MyPHL17.com

Heather Carnassale is Contributing Phillies Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at viewfromsection116@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @heatherc531 and @viewfromsec116.

Roy Halladay - MyPHL17.com

Last night’s Phillies game against the Atlanta Braves ended with the Phillies losing in the 11th inning by a score of 15-13.  So yes the loss sucked but a bigger concern was Roy Halladay‘s abysmal start.

The Phillies had a 6-run lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning but to say it wasn’t Halladay’s night would be an understatement.  In that inning, Doc gave up six runs which included a grand slam courtesy of Brian McCann then proceeded to allow two more runs in the bottom of the sixth.  So after giving up a total of 12 hits and eight earned runs, Doc’s night was over.

After he was yanked, Halladay looked visibly agitated and upset when he reached the dugout.  And now we hear that Halladay has left the team for a private family matter. However, he is expected to rejoin the team in Washington, D.C. on Friday night.  And remains on the schedule to start Monday night in Philadelphia.

This is shades of what happened to Roy Oswalt last year when he left the team for personal reasons.  However, as good as Oswalt once was or is, he is no where near the caliber pitcher that Doc is, so I have all the faith in the world that Halladay will come back strong and put last night’s game and whatever else might be going on, behind him.

Phillies and the Braves are currently playing, which was a 12:10 pm EDT start.  The game can be seen on Philadelphia Comcast Sportsnet.

Image source:  MyPHL17.com

Heather Carnassale is Contributing Phillies Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at viewfromsection116@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @heatherc531 and @viewfromsec116.

Cliff Lee - Photo courtesy of: MyPHL17.com

This recap is going to be short but sadly NOT sweet!  The Phillies lost 1-0 to the San Francisco Giants, in a game that went 11 innings, two hours and 27 minutes.  (Thank you Karilee Jeantet for the time frame)

Cliff Lee pitched 10 scoreless innings in an 11 inning game.  He allowed seven hits and struckout seven, but the Phillies offense was no where to be found.  And took a gem by Lee and turned into dust.

Antonio Bastardo pitched in the 11th and gave up the winning run on an RBI-single by Melky Cabrera.

So the Phillies fall even further below .500 and lost ANOTHER series.  Last year, the Phillies won 102 games and won just about every series they had except for a few.  So the fact that in 2012 the Phillies have only won one series, is it time to hit the panic button?

They are now 5-7 and yes they still have a terrific starting rotation but last night was a prime example how even the best pitcher can’t win, if the rest of the team bails.

For now it is what it is and its still early.  There’s plenty of time to turn it around…hopefully!

Complete Box Score Phillies/Giants – 4/18/12 Game

Next game is at 10:05 pm EDT against the San Diego Padres.  The game can be seen on Philly’s Comcast Sportsnet.

Image source:  MyPHL17.com

Heather Carnassale is Contributing Phillies Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at viewfromsection116@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @heatherc531 and @viewfromsec116.