No player had a bigger jump (25 to 5) up Baseball America’s rankings from 2009 to 2010 than May, a 4th round pick in 2008 from Kelso, Washington, and certainly it was deserved. But for May, that’s in the past, and it’s time to take that next step up the ladder.

We spoke with May a few months ago (read here), and one of the things he stressed was adjusting to the Florida heat.

“People think, ‘Oh well it’s hot,’ but you have to be in great shape to go eight innings in Florida,” he said. “In June it’s literally 95 in degrees and humidity…I know from being there in the GCL and instructs. I ran in the offseason to get into better shape than I was going into last year.”

Phillies Assistant GM Chuck LaMar was impressed with May’s 2009, and looks forward to seeing him in 2010.

“We feel his competitiveness is as good as it gets,” LaMar said to TDN.com (The Daily News, Washington State). “He has an above-average fastball, and his curve and change are getting better.”

One of the interesting subplots surrounding May, however, is simply the fact that two other power right-handed arms, Kyle Drabek and Jason Knapp, that were, according to scouts, ahead of May this time last year, have been traded.

“It’s good that the Phillies hold me in high enough regard to keep me and it does give you confidence that you’re here when those things go down. It’s nice that some of the other right-handed pitching prospects that I was going to be competing with for big league spots got traded, so yes it does give you a lot of confidence,” he said in our Q&A.

Good luck to Trevor this year.

Today marked the first real day of workouts for the minor leaguers of the Phillies. As I wandered around the Carpenter Complex I was able to visit with many former BlueClaws. SAL Championship manager Dusty Wathan was working with hitters, Steve Schrenk, who will be back as pitching coach in Lakewood was working with pitchers and new manager Mark Parent was working with many of the players who could very well be Lakewood BlueClaws this year.

Headshots on Tuesday went well. We (and by we I mean Miles Kennedy the great team photographer for the Phillies and myself) used to shoot the headshots in the weight room a short walk from the clubhouse. This year, thanks to a $2 million renovation at the Complex, we went upstair to a meeting room and set up our lights and backdrops. We photographed over 140 players, coaches and trainers. We had great assistance from Kevin Gregg, Assistant Director of Media Relations and John Braesher, Phillies Marketing Director. In just over two hours we were able to photograph every player in Phillies uniform and cap and many in Lakewood caps and many more in Reading caps. You will be able to see the results of this venture in the Catch of the Day at each BlueClaws game this year.

(New BlueClaws manager Mark Parent works with pitcher Steven Inch, a 2009 draft pick who could be in Lakewood this year…Dave Schofield photo)

In the afternoon, under threatening skies, the big Phillies beat the Tigers and Justin Verlander 4-0. Former BlueClaw SS Freddy Galvis started the game and got an RBI single of Verlander in the 2^nd inning. Other former BlueClaws playing were Ryan Howard at first, and Scott Mathieson pitched the final inning. The reigning National League champions send Roy Halladay to the mound at Bright House Field on Saturday against the Twins. Starting for the Twins will be Carl Pavano.

(Joel Naughton (center) laughs at a Tim Kennelly (right) joke…Dave Schofield photo)

The minor league players do not start games until later in the month. As soon as those games start I will file regular reports.

I have heard that the shore area is expecting a lot of rain this weekend, well the Clearwater area is expecting a lot of rain tonight and tomorrow. It is thought that many of the games tomorrow will be cancelled. The Phils are set to take on Pat Burrell and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Until next time…enjoy the photos.

Dave Schofield

Blueclawsblog10@gmail.com

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Drabek’s father, 1990 NL Cy Young winner Doug Drabek, reminded him of those points in a phone call Tuesday night.

“He told me it’s just another team,” said Kyle, who went 12-3 with a 3.19 ERA in 25 starts at Class A Clearwater and Double A Reading last season. “He goes, ‘Don’t get too excited, just go out there and pitch. Don ‘t try to overdo anything.’ So that’s what I went out and tried to do.”

But was it just another team?

“Definitely not,” Drabek said, laughing.

Kyle Drabek, traded by the Phillies to Toronto in the Roy Halladay deal, allowed a hit and a walk in two scoreless innings. Read the rest of the story here, courtesy of the Philadelphia Daily News.

On the field, it was pretty cool, as you may remember.

• Our slick friends in the production room played “Welcome Back Kotter” when he came to bat for the first time.
• He had an early double on May 23rd, and later homered into the berm in left-center field.

Some quotes from that day (May 23rd).

• Howard: “This park plays big. I remember that from when I was here.”
• Howard: “It’s fun, seeing the looks on some of the guys’ faces. Being out there clowning around with them. It might make their day or their year. It’s a lot of fun.”
• Howard: “It felt good to be back here for me. It’s a little weird, it all started here.”
• BlueClaws SS Jason Donald: “I was running on the pitch (HR) and got a good look. It was a great feeling being at home plate to greet him. That’s something you see on SportsCenter and here I was a part of it. It was surreal.”
• BlueClaws manager Steve Roadcap: “When he got back in the dugout, I just asked him if he wanted me to get him the ball. He just smiled and laughed.”

More on this game here.

Off the field, the BlueClaws officially get the word that he’ll be in Lakewood a few days before, and the preparations begin, including:

• Finding room for over 40 members of the media (normally we fit about 12), which included concourse tables.
• Finding a backdrop for the press conference afterwards
• Some more details on this side in this article from MiLB.com (for which I was interviewed while sitting in the DMV about 10 months ago).

All told, over 16,000 came out to see the two games and the BlueClaws set a May attendance record largely because of his rehab appearance. Lakewood split the two games, a 7-4 win followed by an 8-6 loss.

You can bet we’ll have a lot more as we lead into the ceremony on September 2nd.

• Ryan will be here. The Phillies play in LA on September 1st, are off on the 2nd, and home on the 3rd.
• The first 2,000 fans will receive a Ryan Howard commemorative mini-BlueClaws jersey.
• His number 29 will be the third retired by the BlueClaws (50 for longtime South Atlantic League President John Henry Moss and 42 for Jackie Robinson), but first for any former BlueClaw.
• Howard was the first (by two days over Gavin Floyd) former BlueClaw to appear in a major league game (on September 1, 2004).
• Here is an MiLB.com article on Howard’s 2007 rehab appearance with the BlueClaws.

“Ryan has gone from being a great BlueClaw to being one of the best players in all of baseball,” said BlueClaws General Manager Geoff Brown. “We’re proud to honor him like this and are excited to bring him back to Lakewood.”

Here is the full release.

]]> http://blog.blueclaws.com/2010/ryan-howard-jersey-retirement-september-2nd/feed/ http://blog.blueclaws.com/2010/dollar-weekend/ http://blog.blueclaws.com/2010/dollar-weekend/#comments Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:49:42 +0000 Greg http://blog.blueclaws.com/?p=5102

If you missed it yesterday…

The BlueClaws and the Asbury Park Press will host Dollar Weekend again in 2010, featuring $1 tickets for the weekend of April 17th and April 18th.

Read the full story here.

the signing of Hensley” Bam Bam” Muelens to a longterm contract?

Now, the two will pitch today in Dunedin as part of a big league Spring Training game, as the two continue to get ready for the 2010 season.

Hamels will be #2 behind Halladay with Philadelphia, and Drabek is likely headed to Triple-A Syracuse to open his 2010 season.

Dave Murphy of the Daily News asked Tuffy Gosewisch, another former BlueClaw, to talk about Halladay and Drabek. He has caught Halladay in the bullpen this spring and caught Drabek last year at Double-A Reading.

“It’s pretty disgusting,” he said. “You’ve got Roy, who has proven what he can do, probably the best pitcher in the game right now, and you’ve got Kyle, who’s got enough talent to probably do the same thing.”

Then you have Hamels, who is working on a new cutter. So far so good. From Todd Zolecki on MLB.com.

“I’ve watched guys like Andy Pettitte, Cliff Lee, [Jon] Lester have so much success with that pitch, that I think it’s something if I’m able to add that in with the type of changeup that I have, it can only make me that much better,” Hamels said.

The kid didn’t make much of a first impression. Long and lean with plenty of obvious potential, Domonic Brown had hit just .214 as an 18-year-old with the Phillies’ Gulf Coast League affiliate in 2006. The next season, he moved on to short-season Class A Williamsport, where he shared a clubhouse with 2007 first-round draft pick Joe Savery. One day, Savery was talking to then-pitching coach Bill Bliss about various Phillies prospects when Bliss pointed in the direction of Brown.

Savery recalled the story yesterday as he sat in the home clubhouse at Bright House Field, where moments earlier he had listened via radio as Brown tied the Phillies’ Grapefruit League game with a two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning.

“He ended up being right,” Savery said with a chuckle.

Read the rest of the article here. Well worth it on a guy that could be a future star.

But stay with us, and pretty soon we’ll have a new look up for you.

We’ll keep rolling along with the blog and the content, so assume nothing has changed.

Enjoy.

When B.J. Rosenberg arrived at the Lakewood BlueClaws clubhouse and saw teenagers Anthony Gose and Jason Knapp fresh out of high school, he had an idea he was a little out of place.

Then the players started talking.

“Some guys would be talking about their girlfriends coming to town,” Rosenberg said. “They asked, ‘Do you have a girlfriend?’ I said, ‘I have a wife.’ “

Read the rest of the article here, and read our Q&A with BJ from earlier this off-season here.

Jonathan Singleton, drafted in the 8th round from Long Beach, California, hit .290-2-12 with the GCL Phillies last year. But just looking at his stat line, one of the most impressive elements was an 13/18 K/BB ratio. Normally, you will see players have more strikeouts than walks, and that is especially true of a younger player just moving into professional baseball. That patience that he showed at the plate was especially impressive.

His father, Herb, played QB at Oregon, and son Jonathan was ranked as the 7th best prospect in the Gulf Coast League last year, where GCL Phillies manager Roly de Armas said he was the best high school hitter that he’s had.

Here is a Q&A from Singleon, draft time last year. My favorite part is the quote under his hat: “Good, better, best; never let it rest until the good is better and the better is best.”…He had committed to Long Beach State…His high school coach at Millikan in Long Beach said “I think he looks like Ryan Howard reincarnated. He obviously doesn’t put up the same numbers as Howard yet, but they have the same build.”

The Phillies have sent a number of second-year pros, drafted out of high school, to Lakewood, including Zach Collier, Anthony Gose, Trevor May (though he was not on the Opening Day roster), and Kyle Drabek to name a few. So it’s not unreasonable to think that he might be here in April.

UPDATE: Found this video from ESPN (HT Phillies Nation), where Singleton says that if he wasn’t playing baseball, he would be a middle linebacker (plus a lot more good stuff).

(photo: BaseballBeginnings.com)

• Ryan Howard: Model of consistency has hit at least 45 home runs and driven in 136 runs over the last four years. Can’t ask for more than that. Probably your third or fourth first baseman with Albert Pujols, Mark Teixeira and Price Fielder right there. Was a BlueClaw in 2002.
• Cole Hamels: Buster Olney tweeted last week that his big fantasy recommendation was to draft Cole Hamels. He’s been working on a cut fastball with Steve Carlton. We’ll go a little deeper statistically here…last year, his strand % (pct of runners that reach and are left on base) was far lower than it has been (69 vs 76, 77 last two). There are some that believe that a sudden drop or uptick in this stat is luck-related, and if that holds for Hamels, a bounce back would serve him very well. His Ks/9 and Ks/BB were right in line with what he has done historically, good signs for a return to a high-end fantasy starter. Remember, he is only 26 (late-developing lefty theory), and sometimes it’s easy to forget that. We’re buying.
• JA Happ: Happ, who played in Lakewood in 2005, two years after Hamels, is actually older (Happ pitched three years for Northwestern). The Sporting News Rookie of the Year was very impressive, going 12-4, 2.93 last season, and 7-4, 2.88 in the second half, where he improved his Ks/9 and Ks/BB ratios. How he has a spot given to him in the rotation, which he earned last year, and will not be yo-yo’d in and out of the rotation like he was at times last season. While a sub-3 ERA is probably unrealistic in that ballpark, he is still a valuable fantasy option playing on a very good team and gaining more experience. While some youngsters hit a wall after a big year innings pitched wise, Happ threw 166 last year, which was actually just one less than 2008.
• Lou Marson: Sometimes lost in the shuffle from the 2006 BlueClaws, Marson remember was sent to Cleveland in the Cliff Lee deal in July and has a chance to be the Opening Day catcher with the Indians this year. FanGraphs has a writeup on Marson from January. Top prospect Carlos Santana hasn’t played above Double-A and had off-season hand surgery, so Marson will have a chance to win the starting job. He’s considered a contact hitter , who hit .246 with the Indians in September. You could take a flyer on him in deep AL only leagues. He’s ready and excited to have a chance.    “Absolutely,” Marson said. “You look and see that they just gave Ruiz that 3-year deal. And he definitely deserves it. He’s done a great job over there. But getting an opportunity here is all I can ask for. Now it’s going to be all up to me and how I perform during spring training.”
• Carlos Carrasco: A member of the 2006 ‘Claws with Marson, he’s competing for two spots with three others in Goodyear, Arizona at Indians camp. “We do have a number of guys competing for that spot so we’ll have to see how camp takes shape,” Indians AGM Chris Antonetti said. “But we’re very encouraged by what we saw developmentally with him last year when he came over and pitched for us in Columbus. He pitched deep into games a number of different times and showed some really good stuff.” His Ks/BB ratio was almost three last year, and even though he had an 8.87 ERA in September last year with the Tribe, sometimes it pays to be careful off of a very small sample like that. Ron Shandler’s Fantasy Baseball Guide says the upside for Carrasco is: Rookie of the Year. That seems like a stretch. He’s likely to open at AAA, but still keep an eye.
• Michael Taylor: Obviously, he can hit (stats here). Now, he has a chance to show it at the highest level. That said, he has less than two-months at AAA and probably needs a little more time there before coming up. He is not listed on today’s Athletics depth chart, for what that’s worth. So what does it mean fantasy wise? He’s a late-round buy-low type of player this year with a chance to be very good. The comparisons have been to Jermaine Dye, but it takes some time. I think he’s a safe investment late in a draft, and if you stash him on your bench for a few months, and then keep him into 2011, you could have yourself a real nice player for a few years.
• Domonic Brown: This was Phillies beat writer David Murphy in a BlueClaws Blog Q&A from before the Winter Meetings: People in the organization we talk to like Domonic Brown. They view him as a future star, a Carl Crawford type impact guy. Brown, of course, is the best prospect left in the system after the Cliff Lee & Roy Halladay trades. Is he ready for the big leagues and your fantasy team just yet? No, he hasn’t yet played an inning in Triple-A. But could he debut late or if there is an injury? Absolutely. Phillies people think he is going to be a star, and if Jayson Werth doesn’t come back, he’s probably why. But from a fantasy perspective in 2010, it’s best to wait, or draft late and stash. His time is coming.

Good luck!

• Andy Martino in the Inquirer has a lengthy piece on Cole Hamels that covers a lot of ground…from his new role as a father, the World Series, 2010, statistics, and more. Good read.
• Paul Hagen in the Daily News on 47-year old Jamie Moyer trying to win the 5th starter’s job after a shaky season last year.
• From Friday, Andy Martino on the start of the Halladay/Hamels era.
• Scott Lauber in the Delaware News-Journal on former BlueClaw Freddy Galvis, who flashed some leather yesterday in Bradenton. Said Asst. GM Chuck LaMar: “He has such good feet and such good hands. Not an outstanding arm — Jimmy Rollins has an outstanding arm — but he plays the hitter so well and has such good instincts in the middle infield. He’s one of those young guys that can make an acrobatic play.”
• Good note in the last article on Galvis: he was just the 11th teenager in the 43 years of baseball in Reading.

And from around baseball:

• Mike Lupica in the NY Daily News on Jose Reyes, his thyroid problem, and the Mets.
• Bill Madden, also in the NY Daily News, on Bobby Cox beginning his final season as Braves manager…Cox at one time was a manager in the Yankee system:“When I was at Syracuse, George would call me all the time,” Cox related. “We had to phone in our reports after every game and George listened to all of them. He’d call me and start screaming, ‘What the hell is wrong with (Terry) Whitfield (a top Yankee outfield prospect at the time)? Why isn’t he hitting?’

  “Another year, they wanted me to make a second baseman out of our top prospect Otto Velez, even though he was an outfielder. Yeah, I had my share of confrontations with George. Who knows what would’ve happened if I hadn’t gotten hired by the Braves after ‘77? It just wasn’t meant to be.”

• Interesting article from ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick: a series of umpire errors during the post-season forced a shake-up of umpire supervisors for this season.

“I think [the best part] is the journey,” he said in a ClawCast the night the BlueClaws clinched the title. “27 years, losing to Clemens 2-1, Erik Bedard 1-0. I could tell you horror stories.”

The first was in 1983, when Legg played for Double-A Reading and reached the playoffs, only to be knocked out by a hot shot right-hander just drafted out of Texas.

The second was 2000, when he managed Piedmont (the Phillies SAL affiliate before Lakewood). He thought he was set up with Brett Myers and Ryan Madson, but they lost game three of the first round to Delmarva and Bedard 1-0.

So 2009, as BlueClaws hitting coach, was his first ring as a minor league player, coach or manager (he did get a ring as part of the Phillies 2008 World Series title, as a member of the organization who coached many of the key contributors in the parent-club’s championship).

Now, it’s back to work. Minor league coaches and players are in Clearwater. Spring training is underway, and Legg will be back in his role as hitting coach with the BlueClaws when the season starts in April. But it’s certainly a different spring training than it was in his first in 1983.

“The facilities are now state-of-the-art,” he said earlier this week. “You name it we got it. Players have a better opportunity and are fed a much better breakfast and lunch. In the old days, Popsicles and soup were the meals of choice.”

He added his favorite part of spring training is the first and last day. “It’s fun seeing how relaxed everyone is, plus seeing friends and teammates at the beginning of the year.” Of course the last day, the games count.

And on the Roy Halladay trade: “We’re going to miss (Travis) d’Arnaud and I’ll enjoy following his progress, but getting the best RH or pitcher in the game is a great asset to our organization.”

Looking forward to seeing Legger as the season kicks off. Opening day is now less than five weeks away, and the home opener is six weeks from today.

• Sunday, March 7: Belmar
• Saturday, March 13: Seaside Heights
• Saturday, March 20: Highlands
• Saturday, March 27, Keansburg

BlueClaws team photographer Dave Schofield is down in Florida for spring training, and will be blogging for us. Here is his second entry…

“You know, that’s cheating with a camera that big. If you really want to prove you are a good photographer, you should come out here and shoot a game with a disposable camera!”

With those words, I was greeted by former BlueClaw Greg Golson in the Yankees dugout in Clearwater, FL prior to a game against the Phillies. YES…the Yankees dugout. Golson, who was traded to the Texas Rangers in November of 2008 for John Mayberry JR., seems to be enjoying his recent trade to the Yankees. I mentioned that he looked good in pinstripes and he smiled and said that he liked the Yankee organization. Still, seeing him in Clearwater brought back fond memories of Golson and his days with the Phillies and his time in Lakewood. Greg mentioned to me that he knew the BlueClaws won the South Atlantic Leage and said he was happy for the team and for the organization. If he can hit in spring training, he will most likely get a good look as the 4^th outfielder. His speed is a given and his attitude and work ethic is something the Yankees like as well.

The temperatures here in Florida have not risen much in the past few days. The high at Brighthouse Field today was 53 degrees. That however, did not stop a record crowd from showing up in Clearwater for the opener for the Phillies. The game featured C C Sabathia against new Phillie Roy Halladay. Not only were the stands full, the press box and photo pit were bursting at the seams. Halladay was spectacular against a Yankee team that did not include Derek Jeter, A-Rod or Tex. Sabathia threw against a Phillies team that did not include Ryan Howard. Halladay won the battle of the day. Sabathia went two innings and gave up no runs, but walked two, gave up two hits and struck out no one. Halladay went two innings, gave up no hits, no walks and struck out three.

Games this early in spring training see pitchers going at the most two innings and batters coming to the plate twice. A lot of minor leaguers and subs get a chance to play a lot of innings in the early games.

Tomorrow is the day that the Phillies minor leaguers are required to report to spring training. On Tuesday I will be taking the BlueClaw headshots and the minor league games start on March 18 at the Carpenter Complex next to Brighthouse Field where the Big Phils play.

As soon as the minor league games start, I will give you reports of those games each day.

Dave Schofield from Spring Training

Sanchez, who has just pitched for one year (2009 with the BlueClaws), was added to the Phillies 40-man roster this year to protect him from the Rule-5 draft, which is how he got to big league camp.

The transfer from catcher to pitcher came at the end of 2008, when he was a struggling catcher with the BlueClaws. He came back in April of 2009 and by the end of the year was one of the better pitchers in the league (he had a 2.40 ERA in the second half).

“He’s opened up some eyes, and you pull for him because he’s got outstanding makeup, just a fine young man and a great worker,” Phillies AGM Chuck LaMar said. “He comes out every day trying to get better. He will tell us whether he’s a starting pitcher or a reliever, but he will start in 2010.”

Sanchez added: “I think you’ve got to take every opportunity in this business. You do your best and see what happens. It’s worked pretty well for me. I thought it was going to be harder, but changing positions isn’t easy. I pitched a couple times when I was little, but that was the thing that scared me. I had never done it before. It’s been OK. I’ve been learning every day and I try to practice everything they tell me.”

From last year…

We did a ClawCast with Sanchez (here), where he noted that he’s been able to benefit from his background as a catcher: “It’s a little bit easier looking at swings and figuring out what kind of pitches can hurt hitters. It helps a lot.”

And another ClawCast with Phillies minor league pitching coordinator Gorm Heimueller (here), who said: “He’s not only a hard worker but he’s very smart. He picks up stuff.  A lot of it has been fastball change-up, he needs to improve on his breaking ball, he knows that. From a year ago, his improvement has been great to see.”

–

By the way, Sanchez pitched in the Mother’s Day jerseys, BruceClaws jerseys (pictured), and the Irish Heritage Night green jerseys.

Previously: Photos, Entertainers, Concerts/Events, Bobblehead Dolls, Celebrity Guests

Without further adieu…

10. A BlueClaw Makes the World Series…But it wasn’t Ryan Howard or Cole Hamels. It was Ezequiel Astacio. The right-handed pitcher was here in 2002 (with Howard and Gavin Floyd), and was sent to Houston in the Billy Wagner trade and pitched for Houston in the 2005 World Series. He gave up the game-winning home run to Geoff Blum in game three.

9. Zagurski’s Debut…While relatively uneventful in the big picture, Mike Zagurski reaching the big leagues as fast as he did goes into the list. Remember, he was a BlueClaws pitcher (in Lo-A) when the 2006 season ended. Then on May 25th, 2007 (basically two months of baseball later), he’s in the big leagues. I would guess that we will never see a player go from Lakewood to Philadelphia faster than Mike did.

8. The Big Three…OK, it’s not really a “moment,” but it’s more of a collection. Three pitchers, three different organizations. But now Josh Outman (A’s), Matt Maloney (Reds), and Carlos Carrasco (Indians), the three big arms on the 2006 SAL Champion BlueClaws, are all fighting it out for spots on other rosters, not the Phillies. It’s pretty cool to see. Outman debuted in 2008, Maloney and Carrasco in 2009.

7. Pretty Cool…Not only did Ryan Howard win the 2006 Home Run Derby in Pittsburgh, but he also hit a Hit It Here sign to win 500 airline flights for a lucky fan.

6. Gavin Floyd Can’t Catch a Break…When he was with the BlueClaws in 2002, he pitched a nine-inning no hitter, and lost to Lexington 1-0. During the 2008 season, he took one no-hitter into the eighth, and another into the ninth (details here). I figure if you can get 25 outs you can get 27 right? Just kidding.

5. Bourn is Golden…Certainly one of the fastest former BlueClaws, Michael Bourn won a Gold Glove Award in 2009, becoming the first former BlueClaw to take that award. Sent to Houston in the Brad Lidge trade, Bourn now plays under former Phillies, now Astros GM Ed Wade, who drafted him in 2003. Some more on MLB.com here.

4. First Rookie of the Year…You’ll keep seeing his name pretty frequently here and elsewhere. Ryan Howard won the 2005 NL Rookie of the Year Award despite not coming up to be the full-time 1B until July 1st. In just 313 at bats he hit .288-23-63 and set the stage for what would be a special 2006.

3. Pitching the Clincher…That would be Cole Hamels in 2008, putting the Phillies into the World Series for the first time in 15 years with a sparkling outing, giving up just one run over seven innings and allowing three over 14 innings and winning both of his starts. He would of course be named the 2008 World Series MVP. He went 4-0 in the playoffs that year with a sub-2 ERA.

2. Our First MVP Alum…Many minor league clubs go years and years without having an alum win the MVP Award. It took the BlueClaws six years. Ryan Howard (see a trend?) was named 2006 NL MVP. He hit .355-30-78 in a monster second half to win the award just one year after winning Rookie of the Year (Cal Ripken, Jr.)

1. Phillies Win the World Series…How can it not be number one? They had five former ‘Claws (Howard, Hamels, Happ, Kendrick, Ruiz) on the roster, and it was an original BlueClaw, Carlos Ruiz, who caught the last out, when Brad Lidge fanned Erik Hinske.