Gillies Excited to Represent Canada in WBC

Gillies is Phils' #9 Prospect, Photo- Jay Floyd

Phillies outfield prospect Tyson Gillies is a very skilled player that has had some well documented ups and downs in recent years.  Being traded, bouncing back from several injuries and a return from a suspension have induced plenty of emotion from the lefty batter, but an opportunity to play for his home country of Canada in the World Baseball Classic has the Vancouver native more excited about the game than he's been in some time.

"It's always a dream come true to represent your country, doing something you love," Gillies said from Team Canada's training facility this week.  "The excitement level has been through the roof for everyone out here in Arizona."
 
The 24-year-old, who plays with a hearing impairment, has experienced some considerable injury issues since the Phillies acquired him in the 2009 trade that sent Cliff Lee to Seattle.  A recurring left hamstring ailment, a troublesome foot problem and a concussion that forced Gillies to miss six weeks of action following a collision in the outfield last year have limited him to 106 games in three seasons in the Phillies organization.  Additionally, he was arrested for drug possession in 2010, although those charges were dropped.  And last season, Gillies was suspended by the Phillies for violating team rules following a non-physical confrontation with the Double-A Reading Phillies bus driver.  The arrest and the bus outburst were quite uncharacteristic for the 6-foot-2 205-pounder, as his behavior is typically on the exemplary side among his peers.

Expected to bat lead-off for Team Canada, Gillies, who was recently ranked as the Phils' 9th best prospect, performed well last year, when he was active, posting a .299/.369/.440 line with nine steals in 75 games during the 2012 regular season.

While the World Baseball Classic got rolling last week, the first round Pool D games, which feature Canada and the United States, will begin on Thursday, with each of the aforementioned clubs seeing their initial 2013 tournament action on Friday.

Armed with a solid bat, great speed and sparkling defense, Gillies feels as though the chase for a world championship is extra special because he's doing it along side some Phillies teammates, including his close friend, righty hurler Scott Mathieson, another Vancouver resident that previously spent time in the big leagues with the Phils, and team manager Ernie Whitt, a Canadian Baseball Hall of Famer that is currently the Phillies' minor league catching coordinator.

"Mathieson, Phillippe Aumont, Jay Johnson, Pete Orr and John Suomi from the Phillies!  It's a great bunch of guys and Ernie Whitt has been great also.  He is a players' manager and you can't ask for anything better."

Of course, we wish Tyson and all of his teammates the best as they seek to dethrone two-time defending champion Japan.

More details on this year's WBC can be found here.  Exclusive quotes from Gillies following last season's suspension can be found here.

Blue Jays Swap Prospect For Phils' Expendable Hurler

Art Charles- photo by Joe Wombough

With a surplus of righty relievers and one in particular that has been on the outs in recent months, the Phillies made a trade on Saturday, to acquire a power hitting minor league first baseman Art Charles from the Toronto Blue Jays.

In the deal, the Phils sent 27-year-old pitcher Michael Schwimer to Toronto.  Schwimer, a 14th round draft choice by the Phillies in 2008 out of the University of Virginia, has a 3-2 record with a 4.62 ERA in 47 big league contests while striking out 52 and walking 23 in 48 2/3 innings pitched.

Charles, a 6-foot-6 225-pounder, was a 20th round draft choice by Toronto out of Bakersfield College in 2010.  Last season, splitting time between the Class A Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League and the Rookie level Bluefield Blue Jays of the Appalachian League, the California native batted .236 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI in 64 games.

The 22-year-old is likely to begin the 2013 season with Class A Lakewood and could be a serious offensive threat there, in the South Atlantic League. 

Schwimer has had a rocky relationship with the Phillies, dating back to last August, when the team demoted him to the minors, while Schwimer insisted he was injured and should have been placed on the disabled list at that time.  The variance in pay, which totals tens of thousands of dollars, which Schwimer missed out during that time, is likely something that the Phillies have not heard the last of even after sending the 6-foot-8 240-pounder away to nearby Dunedin, where the Blue Jays hold their spring training.

With a large collection of young right-handed relievers such as Phillippe Aumont, Justin De Fratus, Mike Stutes, B.J. Rosenberg, Tyler Cloyd, Jonathan Pettibone and Ethan Martin in camp, Schwimer became expendable for the Phillies.

The Blue Jays and Phils are scheduled to face off six times over the next five weeks, or so, in spring exhibition contests.

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Click here to check out an interview I did with Schwimer during his time with Triple-A Lehigh Valley a couple years back, prior to making his big league debut.

And click here to read last year's prospect review on Schwimer, which had him ranked as the Phils' 13th best prospect at the time.

Gillick Elected to Hall of Fame

Former Blue Jays General Manager Pat Gillick was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Monday by the 16-member Expansion Era Committee. Gillick, who won 3 World Series as an executive with the Blue Jays (1992-1993) and the Phillies (2008), declared that the announcement was an honor.

"It's really on behalf of all the people I worked with over the years. That's who I feel this honor is for," Gillick stated.

Gillick received 13 votes, one more than required to be elected. Marvin Miller, a longtime executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, fell one vote short of election this year. Candidates must receive 75% of the vote to be elected, thus needing 12 of the 16 votes.

By definition, the Expansion Era covered umpires, managers and executives who made their greatest contributions to the game from 1973 to the present. As for players to be considered, that period was 1973-89.

Currently employed as a senior advisor to current Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., Gillick also led the Baltimore Orioles and the Seattle Mariners to the postseason in the 1990's and the 2000's.

The committee is comprised of seven Hall of Fame players and one manager: Johnny Bench, Whitey Herzog, Eddie Murray, Jim Palmer, Tony Perez, Frank Robinson, Ozzie Smith and newly named manager of the Phillies' Triple A affiliate Ryne Sandberg, four current Major League executives: Bill Giles of the Phillies, David Glass of the Royals, Andy MacPhail of the Orioles and Jerry Reinsdorf of the White Sox, and four veteran media members: Bob Elliott (Toronto Sun), Tim Kurkjian, Ross Newhan and Tom Verducci. Surely, having individuals on the committee that are quite familiar with, or close to, Gillick could not have hurt his chances of being elected.

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NL Cy Young Award Goes to Halladay

On Tuesday, Phillies ace Roy Halladay became just the fifth pitcher ever to win a Cy Young Award in both leagues. Halladay, who also won the American League Cy Young Award in 2003 as a member of the Blue Jays, joins Gaylord Perry, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martines and Randy Johnson as the only players to win the award in both the National and American Leagues.

Halladay was acquired by the Phillies last off-season in a trade that sent three prospects to Toronto. In his first season with Philadelphia, Halladay posted a 21-10 record with a 2.44 ERA, while striking out 219 batters and walking just 30 in 250 2/3 innings. Halladay's win total was tied for the Major League lead, while his strike out total was second in the NL and his ERA ranked third in the league.

According to the Baseball Writers Association of America, Halladay was the 13th unanimous choice in National League voting, as he received all 32 first-place votes. Voting is done in a format that includes two writers in each league city. The unanimous vote gave Halladay a perfect 224 points, based on a tabulation system that rewards seven points for first place votes, four for second, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth.

Another Phillies hurler received votes from writers. Roy Oswalt, acquired by Philadelphia from the Houston Astros in a mid-season trade, placed sixth in NL Cy Young Award voting, behind the Cardinals' Adam Wainwright, the Rockies' Ubaldo Jimenez, the Braves' Tim Hudson and the Marlins' Josh Johnson, in order from highest to lowest.

A day after being revealed as the cover image for the MLB 2K11 video game, Halladay got a bigger honor by becoming the sixteenth multiple-time Cy Young Award winner. The game will be available on all major consoles next Spring.

Last month, Halladay was named the recipient of the 2010 Major League Baseball Clutch Performer of the Year Award presented by Pepsi. The clutch performer nod is an officially recognized MLB honor that is decided by fan voting. Halladay threw a perfect game against the Marlins in May and threw the second post-season no-hitter in MLB history in the divisional round of the NL playoffs in October against the Reds, although the postseason is not factored into the voting.

Halladay is the fourth pitcher in Phillies history to be crowned as the league's top pitcher and the first since 1987, when reliever Steve Bedrosian was bestowed the honor.

"I think that says a lot about your team," Halladay said of the Cy Young Award, last month. "The year won in Toronto, I honestly believe it was more a result of guys around me than how I actually pitched. Other years I thought actually pitched better. You need other guys' help to get you the end results. There were games in second half where I didn’t necessarily pitch as well and liked and walk out with a win, and you need those. It definitely would mean a lot, but really it’s a huge reflection of the guys around you."

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Jay Floyd is a 1BJW contributor based in New Jersey. Follow him on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Cody Ross Gets the Best of Doc, Giants Lead NLCS

The much anticipated pitching match up in game 1 of the National League Championship Series ended with the younger of the two aces earning a victory, and the veteran came out of the contest already focused on redemption, but it was a late season addition from the waiver wire who became the star of the game for the Giants.

Cody Ross shined, slugging 2 solo homeruns off of Roy Halladay, who was fresh off throwing the second no-hitter in MLB postseason history last week against the Reds. Ross was cut loose by the Florida Marlins and scooped up off waivers by the Giants, reportedly as a preventive measure, so that he would not end up with the rival Padres.

As a Marlin earlier in the season, Ross was on the down side of Halladay's other big outing this season, his perfect game on May 29th.

With one out in the 3rd inning, Ross ended Halladay's postseason hitless streak, delivering San Francisco's first hit and first run of the game, by smashing a solo homer to left field.

The Phillies clapped back in the bottom of the frame against 26-year-old reigning Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, as 8-hole hitters exchanged big flies. Carlos Ruiz got the Phillies on the board with an opposite field solo shot that tied the game at 1. Ross returned fire in the 5th inning, taking Halladay deep for the second time in the game, putting the Giants up 2-1.

In the 6th inning with and a runner on first base and 2 down, Halladay saw a close pitch called a ball by home plate umpire Derryl Cousins. FOX's computer-generated strike zone analyzer displayed the pitch as a strike. Burrell then went on to smack the next pitch deep toward the left field warning track. Raul Ibanez misplayed what could still have been the 3rd out of the inning into an RBI double. Halladay likely let the tough strike zone impact his focus, as Juan Uribe, who was a .221 career postseason hitter heading into the NLCS, laced a single that plated pinch runner Nate Schierholtz, and extended the Giants' lead to 4-1.

"In the sixth, a couple pitches there cost me. At this point, if you make a couple mistakes they end up costing you," Halladay told the media following game 1 of the NLCS.

Jayson Werth drew the Phillies back to within a run with a 2-run opposite field homerun that scored Chase Utley in the bottom of the 6th. But neither team would score any additional runs, and the Giants went on to lock down game 1 by a score of 4-3.

Lincecum went 7 innings, allowing 3 earned runs and striking out 8 Phillies while walking 3 batters to earn the win.

Ross' effort put his 2010 postseason batting average at .353 (6-for-17). He now has 3 homers and 5 RBI in 5 postseason games this year.

The 2-homer performance even stunned Ross. "It’s been an unbelievable experience for me," Ross stated after the game.

Prior to surrendering the HR to Ross in the 3rd inning, Halladay last gave up a hit to Washington slugger Adam Dunn, who led off the 8th inning against the Phillies on September 27th.

Speaking about hurling a historic game in his first playoff appearance and then taking the loss in his very first NLCS game, Halladay said, "That’s part of it. You find out what you’re made of. You never obviously expect it to be easy. You grind it out and make adjustments next time out."

Notes- Ross joins Will Clark, Rich Aurilia and Jeff Kent as the only San Francisco Giants to hit 2 homers in a postseason game. The Phillies have never won a postseason series in which they lost game 1. Brian Wilson, who earned a 4 out save in game 1 had a 6.43 ERA in 8 career games against Phillies prior to the series. The Phillies big pitching trio of Halladay, Oswalt & Hamels now have a combined 1-5 record against the Giants this season. The Phillies are batting .212 in their 4 games this postseason.

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Exclusive 1BlueJaysWay Interview with Tom Filer

Allow your mind to wander back in time. Back to a time when there were only 4 divisions in baseball and 97 wins was not good enough to make the playoffs.

Your Toronto Blue Jays were a team that featured names like: Whitt, Garcia, Fernandez, Upshaw, Mulliniks, Iorg, Stieb, Alexander, Key, Clancy, Acker, Henke and arguably the best young trio of outfielders in all of baseball: Bell, Moseby and Barfield.

In the dugout, the calm and steady hand of Bobby Cox called the shots and a young coach that went by the name Cito took care of the hitters. The front office staff included GM Pat Gillick and Paul Beeston, who at that time was the executive vice president.

We were entering our ninth season in the Majors and only twice had we managed to finish with a record over .500. The city was embracing this game of baseball and was eager to build on a second place finish from the year before. On May 20, we gained sole possession of 1st place, a position we would not relinquish for the remainder of the season, finishing with a record of 99 – 62 and smashing attendance benchmarks along the way.

To this day, 99 still stands as the club’s best single season win total.

That magical season in which we won our first pennant will always be known as "The Drive of '85".

We here at 1BlueJaysWay were lucky enough to track down an unsung hero from that team. A man who’s name does not appear above. A man who pitched only 1 season in Toronto. A man who posted a 7-0 record with a 3.88 ERA during that famous Drive toward the postseason. A man who now molds and mentors young pitchers in the Pirates system, for Altoona in the Double A level Eastern League. A man named Tom Filer. 1BlueJaysWay's Jay Ballz had the opportunity to catch up with Tom this week, and that interview lies ahead.

So far in 2010, your Altoona Curve pitching staff has been solid and has led the team to a 42-23 record atop the Western division in the Eastern League. Talk a bit about the success of your pitching staff.

Well, so far the guys have been great. We're pretty strong 1-12 and our guys, for the most part, have been throwing strikes. And we've got some pretty good athletes out on the mound and it shows in their performances.

Are there certain guys on your staff that you have great confidence could reach great success at higher levels?

I think every time you have a staff, there are certain guys who kind of stand out more than others, but I like to think that all of them have an opportunity to move on. I like a couple of our left handers, especially Rudy Owens (28th round 2006 draft pick) and Justin Wilson (5th round 2008 draft pick). And 1 through 5, our rotation is pretty strong. We've got Daniel Moskos (1st round 2007 draft pick) closing out games. They're all doing a great job.

In 1985, you were a virtual rookie coming up to put forth a great effort and helped the Blue Jays advance to their first post season. What was that experience like and what was your excitement level like coming into that situation and contributing so much?

I wasn't really young at the time...I was 27 or 28 at the time. I had a cup of coffee (years before that) with the Cubs, but that year, I went to winter ball and did really well and came back stateside and went to spring training and almost made the team. I went to Triple-A that year and threw very well and I got an opportunity to come back up to the big leagues, I think, in June of that year. We had a very good ball club at the time...very young, very athletic. We had the likes of Willie Upshaw at first base, Tony Fernandez played short, George Bell was in left and Jesse Barfield- are some of the names that people might remember, but we were very good and athletic, so if I was able the throw the ball over the plate and keep it down, our guys made plays for me. I think it's very important to anybody's success is the defense that you have behind you.

What was it like experiencing history for Toronto, with that organization going to the post season for the very first time?

Well, that year, Toronto was drawing tremendous crowds all the time...both home and on the road. We were an exciting team to watch. The guys were really up for it. I had so much fun that year. Just remembering- each game that I pitched was so important and every game we played was so important. But nobody made anything of the game, they just went out and played the game. That's what made it exciting for me. And I just remember going to New York, and we had a two game lead, and we had to go to Boston right afterwards and I think we won 6 out of the 8 ball games we played.

Can I get your thoughts on Bobby Cox?

Ah, I love him. I tell you what, when I was there, Bobby was in his 3rd or 4th year of managing and he was like a father figure to you. He was very open, but very strong in his opinions and how he handled people. I remember those days fondly and I remember things he would say to me. He was always mentoring.

You grew up in Philadelphia...did you grow up as a Phillies phan?

Definitely. I don't think you can grow up in Philly without being a Phillies phan. I still am to this day. I always follow the Phillies. I worked for the Phillies for six years before I came over to the Pirates, and they were six very good years.

At what point did you know you would become a baseball coach?

I would think there was a time when I was getting down toward the end of my career and I had people asking me to go over and help with younger players and that's how it started. Helping guys out on my own team, talking about things, because I was the senior member on some of the teams I was on. I've been involved ever since then.

Are there coaches from your past that you knowingly sample their coaching repertoire?

I think it's a combination of everybody. I remember having (former Reds pitcher) Sammy Ellis as one of my early pitching coaches and he helped me out a lot with my mechanics and that's really stuck with me- that's one of my staples in my coaching. I played for Hoyt Wilhelm and he helped us with our mental approach and I still use some of his stories to this day.

Where do you think Toronto ranks among baseball cities?

Toronto, when I was there, it was a fever pitch. Back in the 80's through the early 90's, that place was sold out every night. I love that town. The eclectic sampling of people you come across, it was really neat and my wife enjoyed it very much while we were there and it was a great time.
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