So Many Things

I just got on here to update and saw that there was a new comment on the last entry concerning the lack of updates. The reason updates haven't happened is because I was busy this weekend and then I came home on Sunday where there is actually stuff to do. But I did tell at least one person that my plan was to update after the game tonight because I would have time. So, a few things:

I agree with everything that Dukes said about the game tonight. If you didn't look at the comments on the last entry, you can do so now and see my basic feelings. Great observation about the last pitch of the game, I would not have caught on to that. But I would definitely like to reiterate James Calvin Rollins (which is what I will be referring to him as for the time being) and his awfulness. I said before the game that if he swung at the first pitch of the game I would turn it off even if he got a hit, including a home run. He managed to hold back on that first at bat, but in his 2nd or 3rd he grounded out on the first pitch. And that occurred in an inning when Derek Lowe ended up throwing more than 30 pitches. So imagine is James Calvin looks at a few more pitches and rather than weakly grounding out to 2nd he actually gets a hit. I won't dare mention him drawing a walk because that's completely out of the question at this point. His strikeout in his 5th at bat was horrible, but at least it was on a full count. Sadly, this is what my opinion of James Calvin as come to. I am celebrating a full count.

I truly can't stand the guy anymore. I am over his attitude. I like a guy who has fun and smiles and all that, but he gets a little out of hand considering how bad he is. He sits out for 4 games and we get to see a bunch of shots of him joking around in the process. That's great if he actually relaxes, forgets how bad he is doing, and comes back and performs. But no, he's the same piece of crap he was before. And I am not hating on James because of a slump. Yes, it's extremely frustrating to have an automatic out in the 1 spot of our lineup. But the reason I am so unforgiving is his whole demeanor. I still have a sour taste in my mouth from his comments on Best Damn Sports Show Period last year about the fans. It's one thing to comment on that if you're backing up your fellow players, but he said it completely because he was struggling and couldn't back up any of the talking he does.

I've really had enough of him. If we can trade him, do it. Yeah.

One other thing that upset me about this game that seems to be a constant this season is Jayson Werth's defense. His lack of effort contributed to a leadoff triple in the 3rd inning that scored a run. His error in the 8th may not have caused a run to score but it certainly didn't do much to prevent it.

Pedro Feliz had a great game. He played fantastic defense and hit what should have been the game-winning home run.

In other news, the Phillies have named the starter for Thursday's game since Bastardo has been put on the DL. And it's JA Happ. Are you kidding me? The Phillies can't win at home. The Mets are right now 3 games back. They are coming to Citizens Bank this weekend. We will need a 5th starter for that series. Put all of this together and what do we have? Well, rather than have someone (looking like Carrasco) come up for 1 start or so and pitch against the Braves in Atlanta, we're going to have them face the 2nd or 3rd place Mets in Philadelphia where we can't win. And we'll have Happ, coming off a complete game shutout throwing 100 pitches, pitch in Atlanta rather than the higher pressure Mets series. WHAT MAKES SENSE ABOUT THIS??

Speaking of the Mets, though, that last paragraph is the last time you will see me refer to where they are in the standings. Why? I'm glad you asked. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4298658&categoryid=2521705
That should help explain. I'm referring to the series of errors that occurs late in that "highlight" reel. And they left out the best error of the night for the Mets. On what was essentially a routine fly ball to left center field, this is what happened:


He was not running for that ball. He just fell while walking backwards.
And while our Phillies have been completely tanking against the American League, the Mets have now lost 5 straight games. So this is why I am no longer concerned about them in the standings. They are not a real threat to us. They're the Mets.
(With all of this being said, I know that is not what the Phillies management is thinking, so starting Happ Thursday instead of against the Mets this weekend still makes no sense)

Finally, here are the 3 things I am tired of hearing about:
1) James Calvin Rollins getting better. Does not appear to be happening ever
2) Us losing at home. "There's really no explanation," said Every Reporter/Commentator/Analyst. So stop asking people for explanations!
3) Trading for a pitcher. I like Ruben Amaro, Jr. less and less every time I have to read his quote about saying "pretty please." I see a new article on phillies.com or espn.com every single day that essentially says the same thing. We get it. No pitchers right now. We'll wait. Tell us when the wait is up.

Unfortunately, I don't know how much updating I will get to do over the next month really. I have a job coming up that is basically a 24/7 thing, so updates will be much less than they were for the first few months of the season. But I will definitely do my best. Just giving everyone that heads up. Thanks for the support though

We bite

Breaking News (updated)

Jimmy Rollins will NOT be starting tonight. Victorino will lead off and Bruntlett will be at short. So I guess the boycott worked! That was quick


UPDATE:
We are not using the term "benched" because I guess Jimmy is too delicate for that. Charlie sat down and talked to Jimmy and basically told him that he had to take a few days off. He will be out at least for tomorrow's game and possibly as long as the entire weekend. When he comes back, though, he will be leading off. He is supposed to basically use this time to get out of his head I guess. He did not even take ground balls or batting practice today. So Jimmy will be back anywhere from Saturday to Monday. Hopefully Monday

Wow

In Dukes' comment after the game last night, he said he would refuse to watch any game in which Jimmy Rollins is leading off. Although I cannot see myself being able to follow through on the same thing, I wish I would have thought of this and that I could actually commit to doing it. His leadoff struggles have just gotten worse since I wrote about how terrible he is. I did not get to watch the game last night, and when I had heard that we lost I came home to check the box score and basically see how Jimmy did. 0 for 4. I practically expect it at this point. It has definitely gotten out of hand, and I would encourage anyone who has the will power to do so to take part in Dukes' boycott. It has definitely gotten completely out of hand how bad he is.

And there's nothing I hate more than a wasted effort by a pitcher. Blanton pitched an absolute gem last night, similar to what Hamels did on Sunday against the Orioles. And for both of them, we manage just 1 run in support. And it's not even like it's close. I think we only had 4 hits in each of those 2 games, and our run was on a solo home run in both of them. Unreal.

And the reason I didn't see the game last night was because I saw Transformers: Rise of the Fallen. I'm not normally a big fan of these types of things, but the first movie was enjoyable enough that I figured it'd be good to see the 2nd one. Well it wasn't. Even taking the movie for what it is - a movie about alien robots that come in the form of cars and battle each other - it was still complete crap in my opinion. It was the corniest thing I've ever seen. The entire movie was based around finding the "matrix of leadership." Seriously? I don't recommend it.

On a happier note, I read today something that confirmed why I love baseball as much as I do. From the preview for today's game:
"The Phillies scored six runs in the top of the first inning Tuesday on their way to snapping their six-game losing streak. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only one other team in Major League history has scored six or more runs in the first inning at the beginning of a road trip after finishing a homestand with six consecutive losses. That team was the Angels on June 30, 1975, against the Twins at Metropolitan Stadium"

Only in baseball has something that ridiculously specific happened twice. People say there is a first time for everything. That is no longer true of baseball. It's all happened

David Price! Superstar!

Are you the ace that they say you are?

(You're welcome, anyone familiar with Jesus Christ Superstar)

In all seriousness, I don't doubt that David Price can be great, but I think everyone got a little burnt out on him in October. If they didn't, they should've. Buster Olney seriously compared him to Tiger Woods last year. I kid you not. And that was just going into the World Series. Then in the World Series he gave up 2 runs in 3.1 innings yet still probably finished a close 2nd for MVP behind Cole.

So this season he was probably predicted to become their ace sometime around April 14th, and he has not been bad. And maybe he is really good and the Phillies are just that much better. We'll go with that because it seems like the most fun.

But who really cares about David Price anyway. It's the AL which isn't real baseball. As they say in Little Big League:
"Do you know how hard it is to manage?"
"It's the American League, they got the DH, how hard can it be?"
Although unrelated to this, the point is the AL is stupid.

Somehow we managed to take a week off and we're still 2.5 games up on the Mets. And the Marlins are only 3 games back. As I've said in the past, I am more concerned about the Marlins than the Mets. And I think the past week is a good example of why. While the Phillies weren't playing baseball, the Mets went 4-6 over their last 10 games while the Marlins went 7-3. Is New York really that interesting in October that following baseball would just be too much?

My final thoughts for the night because I should be in bed:
What does John Mayberry have to do to play? I'm going to ignore the 3 games in which he pinch hit for the following stats. He's played in 5 games and gone 7 for 21, a .333 batting average. He has 2 doubles, 3 home runs, and 7 RBI. In 5 games. Is this a joke? Can we please play him? I have a bad feeling about the next 2 days because we're facing right-handed starters. You know Matt Stairs will be in the lineup somewhere. Let's just hope it's at DH with Mayberry in the outfield. But I feel Stairs will be in left with Dobbs DHing. Mayberry's earned it, so let's just let him play.

Question

Does anyone know when the next Phillies game is?

I haven't seen them play in a solid week

Thomas

I will continue to not talk about the Phillies until they win.

But tonight I did hear Thomas McCarthy say

"It's a week nigh-- or, weekend night... and it doesn't matter what time it is... still a whole lot to cheer about... and a whooole lotta time in the day!"

I'm not sure that that really means anything at all. If anyone tuned into Comcast SportsNet at 7:00 tonight, Thomas McCarthy and Wheels were not talking as they normally do. Instead, it was 2 cameramen for the Phillies. I had never been so excited in my life, but the two men returned to their normal jobs after just 1 commercial break and instead I was forced to suffer at the voice of Thomas McCarthy for the next 3 hours.

Dippin' Dots

I have decided not to talk about the Phillies until they can win a game. But last night I went to my first game of the season. Phillies vs. Pirates. Class A Short Season style.

As I bought some Dippin' Dots ice cream toward the end of the game, I realized I was eating the "Ice Cream of the Future" while watching the Phillies of the Phuture. And the Phuture looks bright (or very dim for the Pirates).

The Williamsport Crosscutters (that's us) beat the State College Spikes in the season opener 15-2. The Crosscutters scored 8 in the 5th inning and 5 in the 9th. Some of the players that impressed me:

-Leandro Castro, OF: Went 5 for 6 with the game's only home run as well as 2 RBI and 2 runs scored. Just turned 20 5 days ago, but I'm not sure where this guy came from. I guess we signed him as an undrafted free agent at some point
-TJ Warren, OF: Listed as an outfielder but was the DH last night. He went 3 for 5 with 3 runs scored and 4 RBI. He was a home run away from the cycle. He was our 8th round draft pick in 2006. He's 20 years old
-Jean Rodriguez, C: Was 3 for 5 with 2 RBI. At 22 he could be our catcher of the future if Lou Marson ends up getting traded.

We had 19 hits in the game, so most players looked pretty good. Although one disappointment for me was Anthony Hewitt at 3rd base. He's 20 years old and was our first round pick last season. He went 1 for 4 and was unimpressive at 3rd.

The pitching was nothing spectacular. Our starter was named Siulman Lebron which I think is pretty nasty. He pitched 5.2 innings giving up 6 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and he struck out 5.

Team team as a whole is pretty clutch, batting .500 in 20 at bats with runners in scoring position. The 15 runs we scored were very much aided by the Spikes' 4 errors though (originally 5 but the official scorers took one away at some point).

I don't think I'll be going to the game tonight because it is in Williamsport. But who knows. What else am I doing right now? 18-year-old Jonathan Pettibone will be starting for us tonight. We picked him with the 110th overall selection in the 2008 draft. Whether or not I go to the game tonight, I am definitely planning on going Sunday because it is back in State College. I love the minor leagues.

Oh and Dippin' Dots. "Ice Cream of the Future?" The stuff started being sold in 1995. It's 2009. I definitely love it, but at some point you just have to ask yourself, WHEN IS THE FUTURE?!?!

Is This a Joke?

The Blue Jays don't even have pitchers on their roster

All Stars and Blue Jays

Currently the Phillies have 3 players set to start in the All-Star Game coming up in less than a month. Utley, Rollins, and Ibanez all lead the voting at their respective positions. If you voted, well done. I personally voted the maximum 25 times each with two different email addresses. If you haven't voted yet, there is still work to be done.
Howard doesn't really have a chance at 1st base. The game is in St. Louis and Howard is losing to Pujols by over a million votes. So vote for Howard, but don't worry about it too much.
Utley has 2nd base locked up, but he currently is the leading vote-getter for the entire NL by about 125,000 votes. Vote for him to keep it that way.
Pedro Feliz is having the best season of his career, and an All-Star selection would be a great way to celebrate that. He's currently in 4th for 3rd basemen. Although first place is a long shot, David Wright of the Mets is in first, so it's worth your votes if for no other reason than to disrespect Mets players
Rollins is leading the shortstop balloting but by just 88,000 votes. As much as he doesn't deserve to start in the All-Star game, it would be cool to have as many starters as we can get. So vote for Jimmy.
At catcher, Carlos Ruiz is 4th in the voting, but he's down by just over 200,000 votes and he deserves to be an All-Star this season. Anything is possible, so vote for Chooch.
Ibanez has an outfield spot all but locked up, but Shane Victorino is in 5th, 250,000 votes behind third place Carlos Beltran of the Mets. Once again, hate the Mets, vote for Shane.

Everyone should vote if you haven't already. Three starters is great, but now our goal should be to get at least 4. So go to this site and VOTE! http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2009/ballot_reg.html

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As for tonight's game.
We are facing a rookie left-handed pitcher, something that usually gives us some problems. Ricky Romero is 3-3 this season but has a 3.71 ERA. I think we'll either have him out of the game by the 5th inning, or else he'll pitch 7 or 8 and maybe give up 1 run. Let's hope for the former, but with Hamels pitching for us I wouldn't be surprised to lose this game 2-1 on solo home runs.

With all of this being said, the Blue Jays are tanking since they started out the season very hot. They have the worst record in the AL since May 19. They have played 6 interleague games this season, all against the NL East, and they haven't won a single one of them. I don't know if all of this really means anything for our series, but I think we should be able to keep these trends going. Besides, they're from Canada.

Jimmy Rollins

I did not get to watch the game tonight and I doubt many people watched the entire thing. And there is no one person to blame this game on at all.

I did notice something that has become somewhat of a trend in the box score, though. Jimmy Rollins was 0 for 5. Yesterday he was 0 for 6. In his last 7 games leading off he is 1 for 32.

Perhaps the most upsetting part of this is that it is not even as if he is going 0 for 3 with 2 walks or anything like that. He hasn't walked since May 27th. I wish I was making this stuff up.

I realize that "leadoff" is a very overrated title for a hitter. How often does a leadoff hitter truly lead off? Well, Jimmy Rollins has led off an inning 105 times this season. One very important thing for a leadoff hitter to do is get on base. Well of those 105 plate appearances, he has gotten on base just 22 times, good for an on base percentage of .210. The rest of our team has a .345 on base percentage when leading off an inning. Every single player has a better on base percentage leading off innings than does our actual leadoff hitter:
Feliz - .450 in 40 plate appearances
Bruntlett - .444 in 9 PA
Ibanez - .442 in 52 PA
Dobbs - .364 in 11 PA
Utley - .354 in 48 PA
Ruiz - .333 in 33 PA
Coste - .333 in 12 PA
Stairs - .333 in 6 PA
Victorino - .321 in 53 PA
Howard - .281 in 64 PA
Werth - .255 in 55 PA

In looking at that, you can see that the 3 players with the most plate appearances leading off innings have the worst percentages. However, I will personally guarantee that Shane Victorino, the player who should most likely be leading off in place of Jimmy, would get on base more than 5 times in his next 52 plate appearances leading off innings. And that is all he would need to do to be better than Rollins has been this season.

With an offense like ours with the ability to hit home runs at will, any base runner is a huge advantage. Getting base runners with no one out is even better. When the person leading off every single game can only get on base to start a game just over once a week on average, there is a problem.

I don't think that putting Jimmy in other places in the lineup will necessarily make him better (although he is hitting .409 when batting anywhere but the 1 spot this season). Jimmy getting better is no longer something I worry about. I am only worried about the team being better, and Jimmy Rollins leading off is not the way to do that.

I hope that by now no one thinks I'm being too harsh on J Roll. These numbers should speak for themselves. There is a saying, "Figures lie and liars figure." Well whoever said that never paid any attention to baseball. Baseball is obsessed with these kinds of things. If I didn't watch or see highlights of every game, I would honestly believe that they played half the games simply by looking at the averages and figuring out what should have happened.

It Was Probably a Home Run

And I'm too pissed to talk about it

HA!

I'm gonna skip a Red Sox preview to pass along this story:

http://nybaseballdigest.com/?p=11467

Enjoy

Oh Yeah

Chase Utley IS baseball.

Beautiful

This series was exactly what a Phillies Mets series should be. The first game was tough for us but a good game overall. The last 2 games were obviously good seeing as they went into extra innings, and it was great for us to come out on top in both of them. Over the last 2 games, our bullpen has pitched 10 innings while giving up 6 hits and 0 runs. That's good baseball. That's the way to win games.

Does anyone else feel like the ball carries forever at Citi Field? It's another one of those "pitcher's parks," but I feel like over the past 3 days the ball has hung up in the air for years and been a home run more often than not.

7-3 road trip. That puts us at 10-3 in our last 13 games with 2 of those losses being blown saves. We are 15-5 in our last 2 road trips combined. As I've been saying, I honestly think we're the best team in baseball right now. I am excited to play the Red Sox next. This is the perfect time in the season to be playing them because we can truly beat anyone. I honestly think we could sweep anyone right now.

Raul Ibanez has been kinda quiet since that 5 RBI night against the Padres, and he was 0 for 4 before his game-winning home run. I say quiet lately in comparison to the beginning of the season when he was hitting 2 home runs every game while we played the Nationals 5 times a week. Plus he has an 11-game hit streak, but in the last 8 he has just 1 hit in each. This is not me being negative, this is just me realizing he won't hit .350 this season with 80 home runs and 200 RBIs. But in honor of him standing up for himself against steroid rumors and blasting a 3-run homer to win the game tonight, here is a nice video for your listening enjoyment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6scHgACSD0

The Mets We Know and Love

I called yesterday's game a "freak accident" because we lost despite handling Santana. Well, I guess freak accidents even out or something, because there's no reason we should have won this game.

The Mets had 16 hits
The Mets had 19 at bats with runners in scoring position
Pelfrey, their pitcher, went 2 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI
Cole Hamels gave up 11 hits in 5 innings
Chan Ho Park had to pitch 2 innings
David Wright hit a double in the bottom of the 10th of a tie game with a fast runner on first

The difference is:

They scored just 4 runs on those 16 hits
They got 6 hits in those 19 at bats, and stranded 16 runners
Pelfrey is a headcase who didn't want to pitch anymore
Somehow he limited that to 4 runs even though it felt like 10-15
The Mets suck too bad to score off of Chan Ho Park this season apparently
Jayson Werth may or may not have caught that double. I still don't believe he did

Somehow the Mets were only charged with 1 error in this game. Beltran's was obviously an error, and I would say David Wright had an error with the bases loaded. But this is Major League Baseball after all, so I'm a bit surprised they even gave an error to Beltran. That 7th inning is the exact reason you watch all of every Phillies game. Up until that inning, I actually wanted to turn that game off. Yeah I said it. Wheels said it right (amazingly enough) when he said the game felt like it was 12-1 when it was still 4-1. Ironically, Cheese texted me tonight after the game and said he watched it. I'm impressed because I could barely make it through the first 6.

Me not making it through the first 6 may be mainly attributed to Tom McCarthy, with whom I have reached my breaking point. I am going to record the replay of this game and then go back and note every horrible thing he said that made me want to kill everyone. It is that important to me to stress how bad Tom McCarthy is. I will from now on being calling him Tom because he doesn't deserve a nickname. I might even call him Thomas. Tom is too friendly as well. You may think this is harsh now, but I think after I rewatch and post his comments you will not think I'm so crazy.

I don't want to complain too much about this game because we won, but PAUL BAKO?!
I meant to comment on this yesterday. We put Lidge on the DL and call up a 36-year-old catcher? Seriously? He has a lifetime .231 batting average. We are his 11th team since his debut in 1998. Don't ever do this to me again Phillies. This is complete garbage. I would rather put in freakin Kelly Dugan who we just drafted, is 19 years old, hasn't graduated from high school, and whose first name is Kelly.

And speaking of the DL, what a hilarious term. Disabled list? Like they have a disability all of a sudden? That's enjoyable to think about.

And you can show me that Jayson Werth catch as many times as you want, but I will never believe that he is going to catch it until he does. I will forever be surprised by that catch. Way to sober up long enough to make that catch. Wipe your chin, you're drooling hair.

Finally, I'll leave you with these words from Charlie Manuel:
"It's kinda nice to have Utley. I kinda like Utley."

Who Even Cares

Worst case scenario coming out of this series: tied for first place.
Honestly, I don't think it will be any worse than being 2 games up, and we really should be 4 games up.
The Mets are in shambles about 3 months early this season. I think I'm still more scared of the Marlins than I am the Mets. Yeah I said it.

Tonight was a freak accident. We scored 5 runs off of Johan Santana and didn't win. The way we have been pitching lately, I guess tonight's game was bound to come at some point. It's just a shame it had to come against the Mets. Had I not been busy all day, I was going to predict that Howard and Ibanez would have a good series. They definitely got off to a good start with a home run for each of them. It was also nice to see Utley and Rollins get some hits off Santana against whom they have struggled a lot.

Can T Mac please stop calling K-Rod Frankie Rodriguez? I realize that people call him this from time to time, but that is ALL T Mac ever calls him.

I anticipate 2 good games the next 2 days. Hamels should dominate tomorrow. For some reason any time I look at who is starting for the Mets it's Pelfrey. So I think he pitches like every 2nd or 3rd day, and because of this I think we will do well against him. The Moyer-Redding matchup is interesting to me. I don't really ever like Moyer pitching against the Mets, but Redding is a former Nationals pitcher now on the Mets; therefore, we should kill him as well. Surprisingly, though, our team has very little success against Redding. People may have forgotten with the 2 losses to the Dodgers and the day off that right now we truly are playing like the best team in baseball. I don't think we should have too much of a problem continuing that the next 2 days. I just wish Jose Reyes was playing so we could call him ugly or something and then he would completely self-distruct and take the entire team with him.

Update After the Game

Sorry I didn't have time to post anything today before the game. I will give somewhat of a preview later along with comments on tonight's game. Howard and Ibanez just went back-to-back to make the score 3-2 Mets. Happ has thrown 77 pitches through 3 innings.

Off Days

...are the worst! Yesterday, my new summer roommate who I refer to as "Creepy Ben" (for reasons that I can disclose if you would really like to know) was watching a Cops marathon on truTV which is apparently a channel. At 8:00, I asked if it would be okay if I watched the Phillies game. Creepy Ben then said to me, "Can't you go one day without watching the Phillies?"

Uh, no. I can barely make it through today. I am actually watching Bull Durham (fantastic baseball movie) right now so I can get my baseball fix and spare myself the trouble of listening to ESPN commentators. I don't really think it's all that ok to miss a game. A big problem I have in the summer at home is that I would rather watch the Phillies than hang out with anyone.

Cheese was here Friday night and Saturday. I haven't been able to update on his fandom at all because I haven't seen him at all and he hasn't really said much about it. Unfortunately, I think that means he hasn't been watching all that much. I blame myself for this, but it's tough to make a consistent long-distance Phillies relationship work. It takes a really special duo to have that. Although Cheese and I are special, we weren't prepared for that. All slightly gay comments aside, what I was really going to mention was something Cheese said to me this weekend. I said something about watching a Phillies game and he asked "Do you watch every game?" Obviously. Then he asked, "Do you ever get tired of watching or not feel like watching a game?" No. "Do you ever turn a game off?" No, never.
I guess people just don't understand. But is it really that tough to comprehend? I don't know of any true sports fan that wouldn't prefer to watch every game for their team. With the Phillies, there isn't really a night when the game isn't incredibly exciting. Just look at our starters right now. Hamels is looking again like one of the best pitchers in baseball. Blanton has been on fire. Jamie Moyer is pitching well at the age of 46. And we have 2 guys no one outside of southeastern Pennsylvania or Hato Mayor, Dominican Republic had heard of before this season with sub-3 ERAs. And that's not the most exciting part. On any given night, any one of our hitters is either ready to turn his season around, keep his career year going, or continue to be one of the best players in franchise history. Not to mention the fact that if any of those pitchers decide to suck, our hitters can keep us in any game no matter how many outs are left. And if our hitters aren't doing a thing, our pitchers can keep us in any game no matter who they're facing. And if all else fails, you'll see some Gold Glove defense. A lot of it.

So, YES, I will watch every single game every single night I can. And that makes nights like tonight all the more depressing. So if you're like me and looking for something to do on an off night, here are some suggestions:

- Watch a baseball movie. Bull Durham, my current selection, is a great one, but there are plenty others. The Sandlot, Little Big League, Rookie of the Year, Field of Dreams, The Bad News Bears (the original), and Major League are all good ones. Steer clear of The Final Season, though. That was a piece.
- Watch The Perfect Season if you have it. It's a DVD about last year. If you don't have it, take this time to order it.
- Watch YouTube videos of last year's team. There are loads of them, and if you watch enough I guarantee you'll cry. Everyone has their breaking point. For me it's halfway into 1.
- Go out and buy and read Worth the Wait: Tales of the 2008 Phillies by Jayson Stark. Zack bought it for me as a thank you for taking him to Game 5, and I have yet to start reading it. I don't know what is taking me so long, but I definitely plan on starting it soon.
- Look up random Phillies statistics. There are billions of baseball statistics out there. A lot of the things you see on TV aren't as readily available as you might think, and if you're a freak like me, it's fun to try to look them up or do the math yourself. But you're not that weird. Trust me
- Watch Jeopardy. Games on the East Coast affect my ability to keep up on my general knowledge. Not so on off nights.
- Exercise
- Not really though
- Do my schoolwork for me. Just ask what I need done, there's plenty to go around
- Take time just to talk about the Phillies, how they are doing, and where they are going. I always love a phone call to talk about the Phils, and it's nice to take an off day to take a breath and look at everything that has been going on and what is coming up. Call anyone who is willing to talk, but if you call me, you may either get some inside blog information or even get mentioned in here. (!!!)
- Just sleep. The sooner you get to sleep, the sooner game day comes again.
- Read this. Bean usually keeps me on my toes and makes me update every day

Tomorrow I'll talk about the series coming up with the Mets. One of the least important series we'll ever play against them.

Phormer Phils

I don't want to talk about the current state of the Phillies because I'm too annoyed over the past 2 days. So let's take a look at how past players are doing right now. First, some minor leaguers that we traded that may or may not have made me cry.

Matt Maloney - made his major league debut yesterday as a starting left-handed pitcher for the Reds against the Cubs. We traded him for Kyle Lohse in 2007 while Maloney was in AA I believe. He pitched 6 innings, giving up 6 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and striking out 4. Pretty good debut. It would be fun to still have him around, but no big deal.

Josh Outman - he is one of the players we traded for Joe Blanton last season. He is starting for the A's this season. In 11 appearances (9 starts) he has pitched 53.2 innings and gone 3-0 with a 3.02 ERA. This is another guy who I really wanted to keep, but Blanton obviously helped us greatly last season leading up to and in the playoffs.

Adrian Cardenas - playing 2nd base for AA Midland, a minor league affiliate of the A's. He's another guy we traded for Blanton, and he's someone that was one of our best prospects. He plays 2nd, so he didn't mean much to us I guess, but he is currently hitting .394 with 33 RBI in 33 games in AA.

Greg Golson - we traded him for John Mayberry in the offseason. He's gotten 1 at bat with the Rangers this season in which he struck out. He was never my favorite player because he strikes out way too much. He had 6 at bats for us last season and struck out in 4 of them. But he is hitting .278 in AAA Oklahoma City this season. I think Mayberry was an upgrade for us, though.

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Now for some players that we all know and love from the major league Phillies the past few seasons:

Tom Gordon - Flash is with the Diamondbacks and in a very familiar role: on the DL. He did appear in 3 games for them this season and was able to compile a 21.60 ERA. One of the most important moves we made last season to help us get to the postseason was putting him on the 60-day DL.

Michael Bourn - one of my favorite Phillies while he was on the team. He's having by far his best season this season, batting .294 for the Astros and leading the NL with 19 stolen bases. He's also played in all 55 games for them.

Bobby Abreu - batting .298 with the Angels this season. Earlier today he hit a double to record his 2,000th career hit

Aaron Rowand - on the Giants and hitting .305 with 6 home runs and 27 RBI usually out of the leadoff spot. He's still playing Gold Glove caliber defense with a .992 fielding percentage, and I'm sure the walls are padded a little better in San Francisco.

Ryan Franklin - not so successful as a reliever for us in 2006, and seemed to publicly announce every week that he was ready to start whenever we needed him. We were never that desperate. But he is enjoying some success with the Cardinals this season, converting 13 of 14 save opportunities with a 1.29 ERA.

Kevin Millwood - maybe best known for his no-hitter in Philadelphia or else for his complete inability to lay down a sacrifice bunt. He pitched here as far back as 2003 and 2004 and went just 23-18 in those two seasons as our ace. He's a little better with the Rangers this season with a 2.97 ERA, although he has little to show for it with a 5-4 record

Vicente Padilla - also on the Rangers and is just 3-3 with a 5.37 ERA. He was an All-Star for us in 2002, but was best known for his fan group "Padilla's Flotilla"

Marlon Byrd - apparently the Rangers are real into former Phillies, because this is where Byrd has ended up as well. He's another guy I loved for no great reason while he was with the team up until 2004, but he's been very good for Texas. In 3 seasons there, he has hit .307, .298, and .295.

Scott Rolen - left Philly on a bad note, but at the age of 34 is still hitting for the Blue Jays. The Blue Jays have had random surprising success this season, and Rolen's .294 average has contributed to that

Pat Burrell - currently enjoying some time off on the DL with some kind of neck injury, Burrell was hitting just .250 for the Rays before getting hurt. I'm sure his 1 home run and 17 RBI are a bit disappointing to Rays fans, but if Pat Burrell weren't a disappointment, he wouldn't be much. As bad as he sucked over the years compared to his potential, he somehow snuck into the hearts of many Phillies fans during his final year and a half with the team, and we'll never forget his contributions to our World Series run.

Ouch

Blown saves obviously suck. They obviously suck more when they actually lose the game too. But they really really suck when it's a game like last night's game. Jamie Moyer pitched the best game he's pitched this season (at least by the numbers, with the possible exception of a game against the Marlins. I didn't get to watch most of the game). When a save gets blown and we lose a game 10-9 it's basically fine. No one pitched well enough in a game like that to feel like we really deserved to win. But losing a game in which our 46-year-old starter only gave up 2 runs over 7 innings without even throwing 100 pitches is pretty inexcusable. If he can get it done, anyone else should be able to. And this is riding a 7-game winning streak. Sure, that makes it a little better because of how much success we've had recently, but at the same time it makes it a little worse because we were playing like what we are - the best team in baseball.

With all of that being said, it's not completely Brad's fault. Pedro is fantastic at third, but it seems like when he blows it he really blows it. That ground ball should have ended the game. Someone can argue that Lidge shouldn't be allowing all those baserunners and everything, but the bottom line is Lidge got himself out of trouble but Feliz couldn't convert.

Our games today and tomorrow are nationally televised, which is always fun I guess. Blanton has been pitching like a banshee (assuming a banshee pitches really really well) and I expect him to keep that up today. Bastardo has been thrust into a really tough situation tomorrow on ESPN in Los Angeles against the team with the best record in baseball for his 2nd career start. Although I have plenty of confidence in both him and our offense, a split in this series would not look so bad given last night's game.

Unbelievable

Last night I was on the phone with Jeremiah and we were discussing Chris Carpenter's complete game last night. He threw just 95 pitches, and I figured that was completely impossible. Well Cole Hamels did this last night in his complete game shutout:
1st inning - 11 pitches
2nd inning - 16 pitches
3rd inning - 6 pitches
4th inning - 8 pitches
5th inning - 10 pitches
6th inning - 11 pitches
7th inning - 10 pitches
8th inning - 13 pitches
9th inning - 12 pitches
Total: 97 pitches

JA Happ pitched a gem 2 nights ago and threw 112 pitches in 7 innings. To throw less than 100 pitches in a complete game is incredible. That's basically throwing 3 pitches to every batter. He only had 2 3-ball counts in the game. Through the 6th inning, he had faced the minimum 18 batters. He only faced 29 batters in the entire game. Only 5 spots in the batting order for the Dodgers saw more than 9 pitches total in the game, and each of those 5 struck out at some point. Juan Pierre saw 8 pitches in 4 at bats. The 9th batter (pitcher and 2 pinch hitters) saw 6 pitches in 3 at bats. Cole's ERA before the game was 5.21. It is now 4.40. While watching, at some point while it was still just 1-0 I commented to Zack that I felt like we were winning the game 8-0 because of how well we've been playing and how well Hamels was pitching. Hopefully you watched this game because it was one of the better pitching performances you'll ever see.

Series vs. Dodgers

So tonight we go back to the place where we won the NLCS. We are currently playing just as well as we were then, and the Dodgers, although doing extremely well this season, still do not have Manny. I realize they've been playing perfectly fine without him, but I think he is really the only player on that team that we didn't seem to have any kind of answer to in the NLCS. And I also realize that he was suspended when we lost the series to them back whenever that was. But that doesn't really matter because of how well we're playing right now and, for whatever reason, how well we're playing on the road.
I think the matchups favor us in this series as well. Hamels pitches tonight against Kershaw who we usually kill. Then we have Moyer against Eric Milton. Moyer hasn't been dazzling anyone, but Eric Milton? I'll take my chances. Blanton is on fire right now, and we have seen that Bastardo can pitch well, and for a long time he will be doing that against people who have never seen him before. The best news is that Billingsley pitched for the Dodgers yesterday so we don't have to deal with him in a 4 game series.
It's important for us to at least split this series, and I don't think that will be a problem really. But I say it's important because our next 10 games are as follows:
4 @ the Dodgers
3 @ the Mets
3 vs. the Red Sox
Yes, we are the best team in baseball. But that does not mean this is not a very tough stretch. Realistically, coming out of this with 5 or 6 wins (definitely 2 against the Mets) would be fantastic. With that being said, I would not be surprised to take 8 of the 10. I love the Phillies. We're good as crap.

Speaking of good as crap, let's all take a minute to think about how amazing Raul Ibanez is. If you haven't thought about this recently, here are his current stats:
68 hits (3rd in NL)
44 runs (1st)
19 HR (2nd)
52 RBI (1st)
.337 average (7th)
.703 slugging percentage (1st)
1.098 on base plus slugging (2nd)
If that's not an MVP through this much of the season, I don't know what is

And some other fun facts:
The Phillies have 3 players in the top 9 in HR
2 players in the top 3 in RBI
and 6 players in the top 14 in runs scored

Bottom line - Our team is nasty. Good luck Dodgers. You'll need it

The Phuture Is Now

Cole Hamels is 25 years old. JA Happ is 26 years old. Even Joe Blanton is just 28 years old. And the latest addition: Antonio Bastardo is just 23 years old.

Along with these 4 pitchers currently in our starting rotation, we have seen Andrew Carpenter (24) and Sergio Escalona (24) pitch this season. We've even had position players such as Lou Marson (22) and John Mayberry Jr (25) contribute in some way.

As someone who is as into the minor leagues as I am, I doubt anything could be more exciting than what this season has been so far for the Phillies. And we have players that are just as young putting up numbers in the minors at least as good as some of these players. Guys like Vance Worley, Matt German, Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor, and Dominic Brown have me extremely pumped about not just the future anymore, but the present.

Last season when the trade deadline came around and we talked about trading away our farm system to get a guy like CC Sabathia or Manny Ramirez, I was the first to say that this was a huge mistake. Like an idiot, I kept saying that last year wasn't worth making a real trade because we wouldn't win the World Series anyway. I said that because I truly believed that 2009 would be our year. And part of my logic last year is exactly what is occurring this year. We have home-grown players making major contributions to this team. Some of these guys are players that may not still be around had we made a major deal at the deadline last year.

Although last year I was wrong about last year, I think I still made a good prediction for this season. We are currently playing some of the best baseball I've seen in a while (with the exception of the playoffs). I realize it is early, but the pitchers seem to have hit their stride for the most part, and the offense seems to be unstoppable. We have 5 players hitting above .290. The 3 regulars not hitting over .290 are Jimmy, J Dub, and Howard. Jimmy got off to a very slow start and has begun to turn things around, Jayson I just don't know about right now, and if Howard can hit around .265 the whole year we're in great shape because he will get his homers and RBIs. Things are definitely looking up for the Phillies this season. As impressive as last year's team was, it is scary to think that this year's may be even better. Winning this series was very big, completing the sweep would be huge, and going to LA and winning that series would be gigantic. I believe I mentioned before that Bean announced at the beginning of May that it would be the month where we took first place and didn't look back. With the way we are playing right now and the way the Mets are playing right now (losing 2 straight to the Pirates), it is not at all far-fetched to believe this will be true. We were a half game up at the end of May, and we've already bumped that up to 2.5 games.



Some other notes:
- Congrats to Raul on his 200th career home run tonight. Howard will be getting his soon as well. He currently has 192.
- We now have 23 hits in 2 games in Petco - the park where hitters go to die
- It said after the game that this is the 4th time in the last 17 season that we've won 30 of our first 50 games or something like that. I guess that's pretty cool.
- Could they show a less flattering picture of Tony Gwynn when showing his career stats? I doubt there are many flattering ones, but seriously, you could do better than that. I think this is what they are using:


- That umpire was awful. Bruce Dreckman. Let's remember that name
- ESPN.com's box score had this explanation for Peavy leaving the game:
PADRES STARTER JAKE PEAVY LEFT THE GAME AFTER ONE INNING WITH A CASE OF THE FLU.
Does anyone else find this hilarious? Like he went out to the mound and caught the flu or something?
- Jeremiah can vouch for me on this one. I texted him today with my prediction of Bastardo's line for tonight:
6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
His actual line:
6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
I feel awesome

"Pitcher's Park"

The one thing you can always count on when we go to San Diego is way too much talk about Petco being a "Pitcher's Park." What exactly makes a park a "pitcher's park?"

The dimensions:
334 to left, 402 to left-center, 396 to center, 411 to right-center, 322 to right

Compare that with The Cit, known as a "hitter's park":
329 to left, 374 to left-center, 401 to center, 369 to right-center, 330 to right

It's obvious that the Cit is much smaller than Petco so I won't argue that. And I won't argue that Citizens Bank is not a hitter's park. It is much easier to hit a home run there than it is in Petco. But wouldn't you think that a pitcher's park would be the same as a fielder's park? A pitcher is really only as good as the people behind him. In a ballpark like Petco, the fielders have a lot more ground to cover than at a place like Citizens Bank. Although it's more difficult to hit home runs, it has to be much easier to hit doubles and triples with the outfielders having up to 42 more feet to cover to get to a ball depending upon where it's hit.

So while Wheels and T Mac are making out with each other and talking about how huge Petco is, keep in mind the 11 runners we left on base in the game, the 12 hits we had, and the 18 at bats we had with runners in scoring position. The problem is not Petco's size, it's the Phillies' execution. We were just 3 for 18 with runners in scoring position. We had 12 hits yet scored only 5 runs. The problem is not getting hits, it's getting hits at the right time. Coming into this series, we were averaging 3.85 extra base hits per game. That's doubles, triples, and home runs combined. Last night, we had 4 doubles and 2 home runs. Although the home runs may not be normal for this park, I am not surprised at the amount of other extra base hits we got and will be getting over the next 2 days. There are simply too many places for a ball to go that a fielder cannot get to it quickly. This even applies for singles. There was one hit last night that landed right in between Werth and Utley. Had we been at home, Werth would not have been so deep and most likely would have at least been able to make a play on the ball. The same happened when we were up to bat. It looked like Victorino had popped out to shallow center, but he actually turned this into a double as 3 different players could not get to the ball and no one covered second.
So tonight when you watch the game (which is on at 10, don't be fooled by the encore of last night's game at 7), don't buy into all that pitcher's park crap. Any time Wheels says something stupid about how amazed he is at the size of the park, just call him an idiot. Maybe if we all say it at once, it will be loud enough that someone in the Phillies organization will hear it and do something about our broadcast team.

One other quick note:
Something that is often a problem with some of our hitters coughJimmycough is that they too often swing at the first pitch. I've noticed over Chase Utley's career that he absolutely never swings at the first pitch. Well, each of the past 2 games, he has swung at a first pitch, and on both of those he has gotten a hit. He's the smartest person in the world. This is just further proof that Chase Utley is baseball.

I'm Lame

I hate myself for the past week of horrendous updates. I've had a lot of work to do but tomorrow I'll have time to sit down and give you guys something that's at least semi worth reading. My deepest apologies.