Wednesday, March 28

Opening Day Countdown: Part 3 - X Factors

Five days left. That's roughly 120 hours until Brett Myers gets his first of, hopefully, many opening day starts. Onto the countdown...

Monday: 7 players of concern
Tuesday: 6 reasons I love Chase Utley
Wednesday: 5 X factors
Thursday: 4 reasons the division title is ours
Friday: 3 gayest Mets
Saturday: 2 breakout performances to expect
Sunday: 1 biggest ass-munch on the team


The 5 Phillies X-Factors


In February, I posted about what I thought the major X-Factors were going to be for the 2007 season. While those five listed then are still relevant, some things have changed over the past month.
  1. Tom Gordon
    He was the number one cause of concern on Monday and could be the biggest X-Factor. With the condition our bullpen is shaping out to be, Gordon going down with an injury would cause me to have a near stroke every 7th, 8th and 9th innings.

  2. Pat Burrell
    Another cause for concern player. I love the guy and honestly believe he will produce and come back with a 30/100 season. But if Howard struggles at the plate and Wes Helms' spring is just a fluke, Burrell will be responsible for knocking in some runs. Also, I listed him because when discussing this with my roommate, Muller, he called Burrell a Sex-Factor, which is just hilarious.

  3. Shane Victorino
    In his first full season, Shane is going to have to provide a lot to the Phillies. He will take over a position occupied by Abreu for the previous eight seasons and will have to become a productive 2-hole hitter. And if Rowand is traded or breaks his ass running into another wall/player, Victorino will be called upon to cover center field. I debated listing him because I literally have no doubt that he will produce. I love this dude.

  4. Freddy Garcia
    Brought to Philadelphia as a "sure thing" to give us 200 innings and take pressure off the bullpen, Garcia is starting to look more like Vicente Padilla than a reliable pitcher. If Freddy sucks or goes on the DL frequently, we will be less willing to use Lieber as trade bait. Also, Garcia better produce for the sanity of us fans. We gave Gio up for him and if Gonzalez goes onto become Johan Santana and Garcia goes on to be Kevin Millwood, how quickly will it be until Gillick is hung at City Hall?

  5. J.A. Happ, Eude Brito, Fabio Castro, Joe Bisenius, Zach Segovia or Michael Bourn
    Something tells me that at least one of these players will be called up this year and will (hopefully) shine.


The daily pump-up picture...


How many players in this picture are not still on the team? Michaels, Abreu, Pratt, Bell, Lofton, Padilla, Lieberthal, Martinez, and I think I see a little Tomas Perez afro.

5 comments:

GM-Carson said...

You nailed it- Burrell and Gordon are key players. We know Utley, Rollins, and Howard will be fine. But the health of Gordon is a huge question mark and Burrell just needs to produce.

BloodStripes said...

I reckon Victorino will continue his good form from last season and this spring. He seems to have fun and is always ready to produce. Not alot of experience therefore making him under-rated. I like the dude as well. I could be wrong but looking from afar he seems to have an infectious go get 'em attitude. I hope he continues to surprise.

I also think we should wait and see with Garcia. Let him pitch some real games in the NL then make judgement. A big X-factor. The Phils need him to fire.

Anonymous said...

is that the picture where the game went into extra innings after wagner blew the save. and instead of wagner cheering his teammate he just came out of the dugout and cried and did not congradulate his teammate?

Skeeter said...

Yes, it is. He is a whiny bitch. Instead of being happy for Howard after saving his ass, he wept like a school-girl with a bruised knee.

goDuke said...

I think Victorino will have a good year, I say we get rid of Rowand and start Bourne. He'll steal a ton of bases and can get some kind of Bourne-Identity related nickname or something.