Philadelphia Baseball History

Watching the game last night, one couldn't help but think that Yu Darvish, who becomes a free agent at the end of the season, was putting on an audition for the 2018 Phillies. By the time Darvish left in the sixth inning, he had allowed only four hits, one walk and one unearned run. He struck out seven, including his 200th of the season.  Despite his short outing, he looked good.  A pitcher like Darvish just may be what the Phillies need in 2018.  For the 2015 and 2016 seasons, and the first half of the 2017 season, a major weakness for the Phillies was a lack of offense. But the second half of 2017 saw the promotion of young hitters, such as Nick Williams, Jorge Alfaro and Rhys Hoskins. Joining players such as Odubel Herrera and Aaron Altherr, the Phillies have shown that their young guns can hit and score runs. So much so that the conventional wisdom among Phillies fans is that the team should look for quality pitching in this off-season. The injection of one o...

Speculation about the 2018 Phillies starting rotation has so far focused on familiar names. Aaron Nola, Jared Eickhoff, Vince Velasquez, Nick Pivetta, Mark Leiter, Jr., Zach Eflin, Ben Lively and Jake Thompson have all made starts for the Phils this year, and all figure to be in the fight for major league roster spots in the Spring. One name that hadn't been mention so far is right hander Henderson Alvarez.  Alvarez made his first start for the Phillies last night, after being absent from the major leagues for over a year. Originally signed by the Toronto Blue Jays as an international free agent, Alvarez pitched a no-hitter for the Marlins on the last game of the season in 2013 and was an All-Star in 2014.  However, his career had been plagued by shoulder injuries.  After being named the Marlins' Opening Day pitcher in 2015, Alvarez's season ended early when he underwent shoulder surgery in July of that year. The Marlins did not tender him a contract at the end of...

When you think of great Philadelphia Phillies pitchers, certain names come to mind right away.   They are certainly the trio of Hall of Fame pitchers who have had their numbers retired, Steve Carlton, Robin Roberts and Jim Bunning.   I am sure some of you think of the more recent dominating Phillies arms, like Cole Hammels, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee.   If you reach back twenty years, you can come up with Curt Schilling and Terry Mulholland.   Still more of you can remember the likes of Jim Kaat and Chris Short. But who can remember the only relief pitcher to win the National League Most Valuable Player award?   For that, you have to reach back to the 1950 Whiz Kids, and a former Phys Ed teacher named Jim Konstanty. Hailing from Strykersville, NY, Konstanty was a sports star in his high school and with Syracuse University.   Signed by the Reds, Konstanty played three seasons with their AA affiliate, the Syracuse Chiefs, until he was called up...