The Same Old Story

We all know the Phillies are the most consistently dissapointing team in sports history. Sure, you may have forgotten the fact that lost more than 10,000 games. Even worse, in ironic fashion, we've managed to be among a very select teams to put together a winning record each of the past five years. That's actually would be a good thing... except for the fact that we've only made the playoffs once, despite our lowest winning percentage over that span being .524 in 2006.

We were constantly tortured with playoff aspirations, to the point that virtually nobody truly believed in the Phillies in 2007 until Brett Myers struck out Willy Mo Pena to clinch the division title. Oh, and getting swept in the NLDS? Never happened. It was just a bad dream. The Phillies won the NL East, but in many fans' minds, the playoffs were irrelevant, because now, we have hope.


Despite our new faith in the Phillies, they are still mostly the same team as last year. If they weren't, you would surely see them at #1 in my power rankings. Instead, despite the fact that their lineup has three of the very best players in the National League, and the fact that managed to win a title last year with the same lineup doesn't seem to carry the weight it would for any other team.

In 2007 we managed to overcome the powerful Mets and get the 2nd seed in the National League despite almost every one of our players being injured at some point. Need a very brief refresher?

• Chase Utley: Out 7/26-8/27
• Ryan Howard: Out 5/9-5/25 & 7/8-7/13
• Shane Victorino: Out 7/30-8/22 & 9/1-9/7
• Jayson Werth: 6/28-8/1
• Cole Hamels: 8/16-9/18
• Freddy Garcia: 6/8-End of Season
• John Lieber: 6/20-End of Season
• Brett Myers: 5/23-7-28
• Tom Gordon: 5/1-7/17
• Ryan Madson: 7/29-End Of Season
  

Unfortunately, the skepticism surrounding Philadelphia's teams has always caused everyone from the casual fan to the senior reporter to come to expect something to go wrong. As injuries go, the Phillies, as they stand, would have massive problems if one of their key pitchers goes down. We were so comfortable with our pitching last year that we had a 6-man rotation at one point. Look at what we ended up with. If it weren't for Kyle Kendrick, who knows what would have happened to us.

Speaking of Kendrick, we also have to worry about the formidable "sophmore curse", which involves a skilled second-year player transitioning from "beginners luck" into taking on a regular role on a team. This curse isn't superstitious at all- it's a real problem that comes about more often that you may think.

Now, as if Kendrick isn't worrisome enough, look at the rest of our rotation. Cole Hamels has been on and off the DL for years, for reasons ranging from breaking his arm to getting in bar fights. Jamie Moyer is so old he could drop dead any second (although so does Brett Favre). Brett Myers was 0-3 as a starter last year. Adam Eaton still has to recover from an injury that hurt him a lot last year. Also, if Kyle Lohse comes back (an unlikely prospect), don't forget he had a losing record last year. And now, with the Mets' addition of Johan Santana, things could get even uglier for the Phillies.