World Series: Yankee Stadium? Yawn!

NEW YORK—Jimmy has been out in full force since the playoffs began. JRoll? Haven’t seen him in a long time. Oh no, there’s nothing wrong with JRoll and he can be entertaining in a certain way from time to time. But Jimmy? Who doesn’t love Jimmy?

I’m not sure who came up with it, but it fits perfectly—when dealing with Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins, there is Jimmy and then there is JRoll. They aren’t Jekyll and Hyde-styled split personalities or even alter egos where one guy is sweet and thoughtful and the other is downright evil. Nope, it’s nothing like that. It’s more like a mood.

Surliness and a condescending attitude is all JRoll. That’s usually reserved for the dog days of the regular season where there might be a hitting slump, losing streak or an error involved. It also might be an attempt to get attention, too, because there aren’t too many things that gets the media to take notice than a surly athlete who doesn’t want to talk about a ballgame.

Jimmy, of course, is entertaining as all get out. He’s quick witted, happy and insightful. He’ll engage anyone, recognizes the local guys who have been with him every day since that September call up in 2000 and is downright gracious. Jimmy usually makes an appearance when the stage gets bigger. He might take an oh-fer or make an error, but unlike the dog days, there is an image to uphold.

With all the notebooks and microphones lurking around during the playoffs, Jimmy gets around.

Yes, we love Jimmy.

And Jimmy loved us right back with a day of perfect, quotable nuggets before and after Game 2 from Yankee Stadium. The pre-game stuff was dropped into a story I wrote about Jimmy’s (sort of) head’s up play on a double play in Game 1 where he “accidentally” caught a little line drive instead of allowing it to bounce to turn a double play, as well as his penchant for making waves whenever he hits New York City.

However, there were a few items that got lost in the shuffle when Rollins was talking about playing shortstop in front of left fielder Raul Ibanez. Though Raul has been hampered with a torn ab muscle as well as a relative dearth of foot speed, Jimmy says the Phils’ new left fielder is a big upgrade over ex-Phillie Pat Burrell. No, he didn’t come out and say Burrell’s name or even put it out there like Burrell is/was a lousy outfielder, but then again he didn’t have to.

“There were less balls falling in the outfield, so that meant teams were getting extra outs on balls that should have been outs,” Rollins said. “They were turned into outs this year. Although we were looking for a right-handed bat in the off-season, just picking up a great hitter can't be overlooked. And the season [Ibanez] had, the production, especially prior to him getting injured, the man was a superstar.”

However, the quotes that really took off despite being delivered in the wee hours of the morning (who doesn’t love the Internets? Readers and fans would have missed these before the proliferation of digital media) are the ones Rollins dropped regarding the fans at Yankee Stadium.

Apparently Rollins looked out into the two largest crowds in the short history of the latest incarnation of Yankee Stadium and yawned.

Didn’t they realize the Yankees were in the World Series?

Based on what Jimmy saw, apparently not. In fact, when asked if this year’s World Series felt anything like it did last year when the Phillies played the first two games in sterile, lifeless Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., Rollins said: “When we get back to Philly it will [feel like the World Series].”

Zing.

Apparently Rollins can’t tell the difference between Rays’ fans and Yankees fans. From my perspective, I guess that’s a dig at Rays’ fans because they were much. Much louder in the first two games of last year’s World Series than it was in corporate, tony Yankee Stadium.

There weren’t so many empty seats at Tropicana Field, either.

Occasionally it got loud during Game 2 on Thursday night, especially when the organist prodded the fans into the “Who’s your daddy?” chant directed at Pedro Martinez. But it was hardly an ear-splitting moment and the fans settled back into their soft, comfortable chairs quickly. Who knows, maybe they even went up to the high-end butcher shop for a roast beef sandwich or the farmer’s market on the concourse while awaiting the next pre-programmed fan reaction.

You know, like when some guy put on a straw hat and performed a silly dance to disco music in the eighth inning.

“What I thought it would be like compared to what this is like, I would have to say it's completely different,” Rollins said before Game 2. “They had a legacy over there from the hallways, the monuments, everything. Here, it's brand new. It's a different ballpark.”

Rollins is right to say the new Yankee Stadium is nice, because it’s very nice. The food is delicious, there are lots of choices, the concourses are wide and it’s easy to get around. In the press box during the regular season, the food is by far the best in the Majors.

But so what. It’s not Yankee Stadium anymore. It’s the Disney version of Yankee Stadium. It’s like the high-rollers lounge at the airport. Sure it’s nice, but it has the personality of a really nice toilet seat. In fact, even when the fans were yelling at Pedro or any of the other Phillies players it sounded as if it were canned in from the P.A.

Indeed, Yankee Stadium is dead. Long live the new Yankee Stadium.

“I've watched a game at Yankee Stadium, a playoff game, just all the mystique that came with it. What I thought it would be like compared to what this is like, I would have to say it's completely different,” Rollins said. “They had a legacy over there from the hallways, the monuments, everything. Here it's brand new. It's a different ballpark. It's prettier, big ol' jumbo screens everywhere. I would have to say it's a lot different from what I would have expected it to have been.”

All things being equal, Rollins would rather be in Philadelphia.

“It's really more of a different atmosphere at our ballpark, which is so loud and rowdy. I expected that when I came here, but I heard one big cheer, and that was on a home run. Other than that…”

Rollins just let the last sentence hang there with a little shrug of the shoulders.

Maybe the reason why the atmosphere is so much different at Citizens Bank Park compared to the traditional baseball cities like New York and Boston is because in Philly, the real, true baseball fans haven’t been priced out yet. There also is a solid college-aged crowd and enough standing-room tickets to keep the diehards coming out even in a tough economy.

Plus, it doesn’t hurt that the Phillies are back in the World Series for a second straight season.

“It makes it a lot more fun because you know they're your fans and how the sound can echo when they're not your fans,” Rollins said. “We saw it in the NLCS.”

They’re waiting to see it in the World Series.

Pedro vs. the Yankees: Yes indeed, it's on!

Sizing up the rotation now and later (a.k.a. Hamels for Halladay)

While we’re waiting for the Angels and the Yankees to decide the American League champion, and as the Phillies take that last official day off, maybe we oughta play a little hypothetical… You know, just for fun.

So let’s dive right in with the World Series starting rotation. We know—though not officially—Cliff Lee will pitch in Game 1. Chances are Lee will pitch in Game 4 and Game 7, too. After that, it kind of depends on which team the Phillies play. If it’s the Yankees, who wouldn’t want to see Pedro Martinez take the mound at Yankee Stadium? In fact, in the celebratory clubhouse after the Phillies, Pedro was lobbying/serenading pitching coach Rich Dubee about starting a game at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees have to get there first, which is another story, but also Pedro has an ERA near 6 in his last handful of appearances in the playoffs against the Yankees. That’s where all that “Who’s your daddy” stuff came from.

Of course, Pedro pitched a two-hit, 12-strikeout gem against the Yankees in the 1999 ALCS, but that game was at Fenway Park. In Yankee Stadium during the playoffs, Pedro has 15 strikeouts and 14 hits in 13 1/3 innings of two starts. The Red Sox lost both of those starts with Pedro checking in with a 0-1 record and a 5.40 ERA.

The Yankees don’t play in that stadium anymore, though. It’s still standing there empty with overgrown grass and a crumbling interior while the Yankees and the city of New York argue over who gets to tear it down.

No, these days the Yankees have a new Yankee Stadium that cost more than a billion dollars to build, has cracks on the cement ramps that reportedly will cost millions of dollars to repair, and the best press-box food in the business.

So there’s that.

Even though it’s not the same place and Pedro pitches for the Phillies and not the Mets and Red Sox, the New York fans are still obsessed with the guy. If the TV Networks are going to ruin the organic nature of the game by forcing longer commercial breaks between innings, night games in November and Joe Buck upon us, couldn’t they mandate that Pedro pitch a game at Yankee Stadium?

Man, that would be fun, wouldn’t it?

“I don’t think you can go wrong with Pedro Martinez,” Brad Lidge said. “He’s such a big-game pitcher. And then when you see what he did against L.A., he’s pretty impressive.”

And oh yeah, Pedro wants it. He lives for the show and the drama. The Yankees in the World Series at Yankee Stadium? Oh yes, bring it on.

“That’s my home, did you know that? That’s where I live, you need to understand. The Yankees? Get your ticket, you’ll find out fast,” he said as champagne dripped off his face following the clincher over the Dodgers.

But does it make sense? With the DH and the American League-style of game in the AL park, the Phillies might be better served with Cole Hamels pitching in Game 2… or would they?

Numbers-wise, Hamels stinks in these playoffs. Six of the 20 hits he has allowed in his 14 2/3 innings have been homers, which is amazing when one considers that Hamels gave up zero homers in seven of his last regular-season starts and just seven total runs in five postseason starts in 2008.

Still, it’s interesting to wonder how different Hamels’ NLCS would have been if Chase Utley would have been able to make a good throw on a potential inning-ending double play in the fifth inning of Game 1 at Dodger Stadium. Hamels made the pitch he needed to get out of a jam.

As (bad) luck would have it, Hamels gave up a homer to Manny Ramirez a couple of pitches after the botched double play.

So what do we have other than Cliff Lee in Game 1 and Pedro and Hamels in one of the next pair of games? Well, there’s Joe Blanton and J.A. Happ who both will start the World Series in the bullpen. If needed, one of those guys could get a start in the series but that probably depends on the opponent.

In 15 career games against the Angels Blanton is 3-7 with a 3.48 ERA and two complete games. In four career starts against the Yankees, Blanton is 0-3 with an 8.18 ERA.

Happ has never faced the Angels, but in his first start of the season in 2009 at the new Yankee Stadium, he gave up a pair of runs on four hits in six innings.

Meanwhile, both the Yankees and the Angels hit .286 against lefties this season, though the Yankees’ lefty hitters were significantly better against lefty pitchers.

Still, it’s worth noting that the debate seems to be using Hamels in either Game 2 of Game 3 and whether he’s ready to face the Yankees lefties in Yankee Stadium. But as long as we’re throwing things out there, how about this:

Would you trade Cole Hamels this off-season? Oh, not for just anyone because good pitchers have tough seasons all the time. Hamels is only 25 and his best days are clearly ahead of him—why else would the Phillies have signed him to a $20 million deal last winter?

But the Phillies will be a contender for the World Series again next year, too, and there were times when the starting rotation lacked consistency. Certainly Hamels was one of the biggest culprits in that regard.

So here it is: Let’s say the Blue Jays come back to the Phillies looking to move Roy Halladay, who is headed into the final year of his contract…

Would you send Hamels to the Blue Jays for Halladay? Would that be the one pitcher the Phillies could trade away Hamels for?

Hey, nothing is going on (as far as we know), but think about it—Hamels for Halladay?

Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay at the top of the rotation followed by J.A. Happ, Pedro Martinez and Joe Blanton… that could work, right?

The NLCS: Where does Pedro fit in?

I guess I can chalk it up to a mixture of west coast time and baseball hours. That could be the reason why I woke up at the crack of 2 p.m. today. Worse, if I hadn’t figured it was a good idea to see what time it was, I would have slept straight through to game time. What the hell?

Make no mistake, though, this is the time for colds, tiredness and other things that go with too many late nights and too little sleep. Tough it out. That’s what you do.

Either way, it’s back at the ballpark to dive into the HUGE Game 4. If the Phillies can figure out Randy Wolf, get ready for another trip to the World Series. If Wolfie can stick it to his old club, buckle up—we’re going to take the full ride.

In the meantime, there was an excellent story on ESPN.com by Jorge Arangure Jr. on Pedro Martinez and what he means to young Dominican pitchers like Antonio Bastardo. The best part of the story was the quotes from Bastardo overheard when he approached Pedro after his masterpiece in Dodger Stadium in Game 2 last Friday.

“Pedro,” Bastardo quietly said. “It was an honor watching you pitch today.”

Martinez grinned.

“Tomorrow,” Martinez told Bastardo, “you and I will go into the outfield during batting practice and we will talk. I have a few things to teach you.”

The importance of Pedro’s arrival to the Phillies can’t be understated. First, there’s the influence he has on guys like Bastardo and Venezuelan Sergio Escalona, two young guys who were little kids when Pedro was pitching like the greatest right-hander who ever lived. Pedro has taken those guys under his wing, showed them the big-league life and what sacrifices and training a pitcher has to abide in order to have a long career.

However, there are also guys like Scott Eyre and Brad Lidge who remember Pedro from that stretch when his numbers surpassed those of greats like Sandy Koufax and forced a few stat geeks to list him as the greatest pitcher ever since 1954.

The biggest question now is determining what to do about Pedro in 2010. The Phillies already have guys like Cole Hamels and Jamie Moyer under contract for next season, and have an option for Cliff Lee and likely will offer arbitration to Joe Blanton. Meanwhile, pitchers like Kyle Kendrick and Kyle Drabek are waiting in the wings though the Phillies likely will need other options.

Where does Pedro fit in?

Friends of Pedro say he will pitch next season, though he’s not really looking for a pay day. Instead, he wants to pitch for a team like the Phillies that has a bona fide chance to win the World Series.

“He doesn’t care about money. He has $100 million in the bank,” a Pedro acolyte said. “He wants to win. He’s going to Cooperstown—he knows that. He has three Cy Youngs, a World Series ring and a lot of pride.”

Of course salary is another way of keeping score in baseball. Some players measure respect in dollars, though it is worth noting that Pedro took a prorated $2 million salary that came to approximately $1 million  and earned approximately $500,000 in bonuses this year.

He probably earned a helluva a lot more in potential earnings with the seven innings of two-hit/shutout ball.

So what’s next for Pedro? Or how about Game 6 of the NLCS (if necessary) or maybe a start at Yankee Stadium in the World Series.

How fun would that be?

NLCS Game 1: Setting up the roster

LOS ANGELES—Before I mention anything else, I have to give a big thank you to Mr. Tug Haines for the Google Wave invite. I don’t know what it is or what it does, but as a Google geek, I know I wanted it and thankfully Tug was kind of enough to send me the invite. So yes, that was very nice of him.

On another note, Tug along with Mike Meech do a bang up job putting together the web site, The Fightins. Along with Zolecki over there at MLB.com, and Gonz at that newspaper, there aren’t too many mainstream media types that give the proper credit to so-called blog sites. When done well like The Fightins, The 700 Level, Balls, Sticks & Stuff, and many others with a Philly bent, the sites are a blast to read. And aren’t sports supposed to be fun?

Again, thanks to Mr. Tug and here’s hoping those guys keep up the good work because it’s a fun read. Check them out.

As far as the news here goes, Brett Myers is here but was not seen on the field during BP. Then again, I wasn’t looking for him. Charlie said when he broke the news to him that he would not be on the NLCS roster, Myers shrugged and then got up and walked out of the room.

People who have talked to him says he’s “ticked.”

I’m not sure what he has to be ticked about since he’s not very good right now. I’ve trotted this out plenty of times in the past so I’ll do it again here—scouts say his stuff is garbage. He has no pitches and lousy mechanics.

“I look at Brett, and it's almost like spring training for him. He had a very serious injury, came back, and maybe it was too early, I don't know,” Charlie said. “But then he hurt his shoulder, and his shoulder was like a second degree injury. And then I've noticed him, and the fact that he's not sharp, but also what we kind of the things that we wanted to do, it's another way of him going down in the bullpen and working and everything and doing some -- working on his pitching and throwing and stuff and see where he's at.”

Ruben Amaro chalked the decision up to simple baseball business and that Myers didn’t get a chance to throw too much upon returning from hip surgery.

“We think we’re a better team with 11 pitchers,” Amaro said. “We’re trying to win baseball games with the best 25 guys we have.”

Obviously that best 25 did not include Myers.

Meanwhile, Pedro is all set to go in Game 2. It will be interesting to see how long he can go and what kind of stuff he has since he has thrown just seven innings in real games since that 130-pitch game against the Mets in mid-September.

“There’s a risk, of course. But I’d rather take a risk on a guy like Pedro who has experience,” Amaro said.

Yeah, what the hell… it’s Pedro. The worst thing that can come out of it is good times.

Game 3: Should we talk about the weather?

DENVER—A few years ago a friend moved from the harsh cold of New England to San Francisco. Needless to say this was quite a change for the guy. Instead of shoveling snow and dressing up to fend off the bitterly cold winters, all he had to do was layer up for summer nights. Easy.

That was until he felt his first earthquake. Actually, by California standards it was a pretty tame one, but unnerving for an easterner, nonetheless. Worse, the quake came at 2 a.m. when he was sitting at home and ready to call it a night. All of a sudden he heard a loud noise that sounded like a truck backfiring in the next room and some wobbling that sent a dish flying off a counter.

In all, it was no big deal. There was hardly any damage to the city other than a few cracked glasses and plates and most folks seemed to sleep right through it, he said.

But 3,000 miles away, the entire eastern seaboard was gripped by a deathly cold snap from Ol’ Man Winter. Apparently, when folks even considered going outside they moved quickly and stealthy like alligators. They did what they had to and went straight back indoors and spread Vaseline all over themselves as if they were about to swim across the English Channel.

Yes, it was that cold.

Interestingly, my friend got a few phone calls from his friends back east asking questions about San Francisco and the earthquake. Really, easterners just don’t know despite the fact that earthquakes are quite common throughout parts of New England and even Pennsylvania. In fact, a few months ago we even had a little rumbler of about 4.2 magnitude in Lancaster, Pa.

It sounded like a truck backfiring.

Anyway, the best question my friend was asked compared the earthquakes to the cold snap. Having been through both at different points, my friend was an expert.

“Which is worse,” he was asked. “The earthquake in California or the below-zero temperatures in the east?”

The answer was pretty comical.

“Well,” my friend said. “I never had to run screaming at 3 a.m. in my underwear looking for a doorway for protection because it was cold. I’m going to say the earthquake is worse.”

Here in Denver a bunch of us are acting as if we’re running around in our underwear looking for a doorway. It’s cold. It’s damn cold. And it’s certainly too cold to be out running around in your underwear.

But that’s it—it’s just cold. Sure, there is snow on the ground and the nighttime temperature for tonight’s scheduled Game 3 is forecast to be in the single digits. Remember how it was playing baseball when it was freezing cold and you hit a ball with an aluminum bat? That’s stinging sensation in your hands happens with wood bats, too. That’s especially the case when the pitcher purposely throws it in on the hitters’ hands with the intent on causing that feeling.

Still, it’s just cold. Cold happens sometimes. Football players layer up when it’s cold, golfers have certain clothes and precautions for when it’s chilly and distance runners, the toughest of the lot, just go run. They might put on some mittens.

Though the extra weight of the mittens might not be worth it.

Baseball is different. A summer rain sends players scurrying for the clubhouse because rain causes grass to get slick and then someone could fall down.

Really… someone could fall down.

Publically, the players on the Rockies and Phillies said all the right things about the prospect of playing Game 3 in record-low temps on Saturday night. Pedro Martinez, who is from the Dominican Republic, said he couldn’t wait to get out there and have fun. Cold? Whatever. Pedro even talked about the very first time he saw snow.

“When I saw snow, I actually stopped to grab a little bit and put it in my mouth and see if it felt like ice,” Pedro said. “But it's something you get accustomed to.”

Yes, because it never got cold when Pedro was pitching in Boston. What would he do?

Pedro doesn’t have to worry about it now. Apparently, all it took was a cold day in Denver to get him off the mound. Instead, J.A. Happ, a kid from the Chicago suburbs, will pitch in Game 3 in the relatively mild climes of Sunday night. Better yet, Happ, Pedro and their teammates can breathe a faux sigh at the prospect of not going out there on Saturday night.

The funny part was that the only guy who went on record to say it would be silly to play baseball in single-digit weather with snow flurries at mid-level altitude was the dude from Canada.

“When it’s cold, you look for that sweet little spot so you can hit it on the nose every time,” Stairs said. “It’s uncomfortable for fans to sit there and watch a game. For me, I’m warm up here watching the game on TV till I have to pinch hit. I feel bad for the guys who have to play every day. There’s no advantage to either team in cold weather. You’re more patient as a hitter. It might knock down a run game a little bit with the tight muscles.”

Nevertheless, Stairs, from New Brunswick, isn’t impressed with the forecast though he says it makes for bad baseball.

“That’s short-sleeve weather,” he said. “I've played in games when it was 30 below.”

Maybe so, but not this time.

Ain't it so cool?

Hang around the ballpark everyday and you get to see and hear some really cool things from time to time. Hell, even the mundane is cool for baseball geeks like me. Still, the past couple of days have been a veritable treasure trove of coolness. For instance, take the scene in the empty clubhouse after the Phillies’ 3-2 victory over the Braves last night. Though the Phillies continued their maddening insistence on leaving the bases loaded with no outs while also leaving men standing on second and third bases with less than two outs, they were able to pull out the victory because they paid attention to the details.

Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley made nice plays in the field; Pedro Feliz – with a cue from Charlie Manuel – laid down a timely and effective bunt; Scott Eyre appeared in a game for the first time in two weeks and got three outs against two hitters; and, of course, Brad Lidge closed out the game with a perfect ninth.

The Phillies may not be scoring runs without the aid of homers and errors, but they are doing the other things well. Exhibit A in this was pointed out by Mike Sielski (shameless plug for Mike – Buy His Book!) in the clubhouse long after most of the media took off. According to Mike, Jimmy Rollins currently has the best fielding percentage by a shortstop in the history of the game.

Yes, it’s true. With just three errors in 483 and 123 games, Rollins’ fielding percentage is .994. In 1990, Cal Ripken had a .996 fielding percentage, but a few more chances (Ripken had 680 in 1990) Rollins could be right there.

Anyway, the cool part took place a few minutes earlier when Brad Lidge walked into the room. Still basking in the positive vibes after a 1-2-3 ninth for his 27^th save, Lidge walked into the room and immediately heard a few cheers and good wishes from Pedro Martinez. Pedro was all smiles and cracking jokes, of course. That’s just the way he is. But the next thing you knew, Lidge and Pedro were standing in the middle of the room pantomiming pitching deliveries and talking shop.

Think about that for a second… the closer who put together one of the best seasons ever for a modern-day reliever and the pitcher who had a string of the greatest seasons… well, ever, were standing just a few feet away talking about fastball motions.

How cool was that? It was like watching two great scientists comparing notes in the lab.

Speaking of great scientists, Joe Posnanski’s book on the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds comes out in the next two weeks. It’s called, rightfully, The Machine. Frankly, I can’t wait to read it because Posnanski is a great writer and because I love that era of baseball. That’s when I first learned about the game and those guys from the ‘70s – Reggie, Rose, Johnny Bench, Schmidt, Seaver, Carlton, etc. – were my first heroes…

And then when I got older I met them. Yikes.

Anyway, part of the book was excerpted in the most recent issue of Sports Illustrated and a particular passage about Johnny Bench caught my eye.

Check it out:

Baseball stardom, however, was not enough. As his fame and numbers grew, Johnny sang in nightclubs. He went to Vietnam with Bob Hope. He hosted his own television show. He became friends with stars, like the singer Bobby Goldsboro, who hit it big in 1968, during Bench's rookie year, with a song called Honey. He dated models and a Playboy centerfold. He was 27 years old, and he had everything. And then, on this April afternoon in Cincinnati, everything changed. Fifth inning, scoreless game, San Francisco's Chris Speier singled to leftfield with runner Gary Matthews on second base. Johnny stood at home plate and waited for Rose, who was playing left, to get the ball and throw it home. Pete did not have a strong arm. The ball slowly made its way to the plate, and so did Matthews, who was 6' 3", weighed about 190 pounds and was called Sarge. Johnny could see that the baseball and Sarge were going to get to the plate at almost the same time. He wanted to catch the ball, get out of the way and tag Matthews as he rushed by -- nobody pulled that bullfighter maneuver better than Bench. But he did not have time. Instead, he stood in front of the plate, and he leaned forward to catch the ball, and he tried to protect himself. Sarge crashed into Johnny and sent him flying backward.

That's when Johnny Bench felt a sharp and biting pain deep inside his left shoulder. He groaned. Then he got up -- nobody, not even the people who hated Johnny Bench, ever questioned his toughness. He stayed in the game. He waited for the pain to go away. Only it did not go away. And what Johnny Bench did not know that day in Cincinnati is that the pain would subside a little, but it would not go away. He would play the rest of the 1975 season in agony.

I was a kid when Johnny Bench was the best catcher ever to play the game. Sure, back then we knew he was good, but we didn’t know how good. We were just kids and figured Johnny Bench was the norm. We didn’t know he was an innovator and trendsetter. We just thought he was the standard-issue All-Star catcher whose signature was on Rawlings catchers mitts (I still have one). He also hosted “The Baseball Bunch,” and he batted cleanup for the fearsome Reds when catchers never batted cleanup.

Basically, in the late 1970s Johnny Bench was the man.

But Sarge… who doesn’t love Sarge? He’s funny, engaging, loves to laugh and needle Wheels, and he knows the President – personally. The President calls him “Sarge,” too.

So when I saw Sarge the other day I told him about Posnanski’s book, the passage and if he remembered the game in 1975 where he had to knock Johnny Bench on his ass.

“Yeah, I remember it,” he said in a “hell yeah!” tone. “We had to have a few words after it.”

Chances are those words were pretty good, but when told that it sounded as if Bench wanted to pull a little olé! Move on him on that play nearly 35 years ago, Sarge told about how he rounded third base, saw Bench getting into position and knew, “there wasn’t going to be no olé-ing,” Sarge said with a smile before going on to explain how tough Bench was.

Come on… how bad can the days be when you get to hear story from Sarge about decking Johnny Bench? Not bad at all.

So yeah, hang around long enough and you get to see and hear some cool things. Actually, even the mundane is pretty cool.

Come on out and meet the Mets

NEW YORK – Compared to the last time the Phillies came to New York to play the Mets, a lot of the pizzazz has been stripped off the rivalry. Mostly that has to do with the Mets since they can neither stay healthy nor win ballgames. Perhaps that’s what separates the truly good teams from the paper tigers – when the Phillies had piles of injuries they still figured out a way to get it done. The Mets? Not so much.

Still, the last time we were here all sorts of trouble broke out. That whole Raul Ibanez/small-time blogger thing was in full fester. Plus, the New York-based scribes were trying to get something from Chase Utley to fuel some sort of fracas. The problem was there wasn’t anything there.

Remember that?

As Pelfrey explained it at the time, he was upset about Utley stepping out of the box just as he was about to deliver a pitch. As such, Pelfrey barked at Utley, who returned with ignorant surprise that someone was talking to him.

“I was about to step into the box and it seemed like he was ready to pitch,” Utley said after taking a second to figure out what the hell was being talked about. “I wasn’t trying to make him frustrated. I was trying to put a good at-bat together.”

Pelfrey kind of said the same thing

“I don’t even know the guy,” he said. “It was too much adrenaline, I guess.”

The funniest part was when Charlie Manuel was asked about the non-controversial controversy. Instinctively Manuel thought Pelfrey was upset with Shane Victorino because usually, at any given moment, there is someone peeved at Victorino about something. He certainly drives Charlie nuts sometimes.

So there it is. Thanks for trying.

Nevertheless, the visiting clubhouse at brand-new CitiField was filthy with media types last June. They were crawling out of lockers, videotaping things with cell phones, saying silly things and basically just cluttering up the place like guests who refused to go away.

This time… not so much.

No, there were just six of us Philly guys hanging with the ballclub last night and there are only five of us today. In fact, just to fill out the space Scott Franzke and Tom McCarthy joined in, which was nice.

But this does not mean the New York media is not out in full force. Oh no. They’re crawling all over the place again – getting into things and sullying up the landscape.

Tonight they are here for the big ceremony to celebrate the Mets’ World Series title of 1969. All the old Mets are here, including Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan and Tug McGraw’s sons, Mark and Matt.

We don’t get to see too many of those ceremonial events in other places mostly because it’s a crap shoot. Besides, opposing teams don’t need to trot out the special ceremonies when the Phillies are in town because the defending World Champs pack ‘em in.

So it will be kind of cool to see the old Mets strut around and take in the cheers.

Speaking of old Mets, surely the large media contingent will be back out on Sunday afternoon when Pedro returns for the Phillies. Actually, Pedro (and then Cliff Lee going on Monday) might sway some more Philly folks to venture north up the Jersey Turnpike and into the hinterlands of Queens.

If they were smart they’d train it up here, because there is no easy path. Thank you Robert Moses, thank you…

Needless to say it will be a bittersweet moment for Pedro when he gets on the mound in Queens tomorrow. He wishes it could have worked out better with the Mets, but seems to be getting a redemption of sorts with the Phillies.

“I left last year in a sad way,” Pedro said. “Not only that we lost in a bad way, I didn't perform like I wanted to for the Mets. It wasn't the way a pitcher like me should have gone away. After working through so much to regain my health, it wasn't fair to me or my dad's wishes to leave the game on such a sad note.

“The better I felt, the more committed I was to making it back and giving my dad the opportunity - I guess from heaven -- to see me in a different way, having fun, healthy and refocused on the game. That was my biggest motivation.”

Get off my lawn!

There’s nothing wrong with being pissed off. Undoubtedly most of us get worked up over one thing or another every day. Maybe someone swiped your lunch out of the fridge or beat you to a parking spot. Or maybe you’ve been “misled” from the boss at work. No, they didn’t dock your pay but they changed the minutia of your job description ever-so slightly. Certainly that’s enough to make a guy feel “disheartened.”

Hey, that’s the way it happens sometimes.

Usually, though, most of us get past our slights. After all, if most folks pouted over being “misled” or burned over something that “disheartened,” more than a day or two people would look at us like we were nothing more than a big baby.

You can’t always get what you want.

Yet after 23 seasons in the big leagues, including several trades and three outright releases, 46-year-old Jamie Moyer seems steamed about being “misled” by his employer, the Philadelphia Phillies. In fact, he still has what ballplayers like to call “the ass,” meaning he was irritable, even though he pitched six scoreless innings in a nice win for the team in a performance that was quite similar to a decade-old relief appearance in the playoffs by the guy who replaced him in the rotation.

Again, Moyer has every right to be upset. After all, his job description changed and as a result he could miss out on some pretty fat performance bonuses. However, for the remainder of this year and next, Moyer will still get a big check on the first and fifteenth of every month. That’s a guaranteed $13 million deal, which is more than some rank-and-file employees can say about promises they were made by bosses and execs.

Besides, if Moyer didn’t see the adjustment to his workload coming, he’s conning himself or merely acting like a petulant child. The league's worst ERA for starters should have been a tip off. So too should have been his ERA against every other team aside from Florida. Worse, he just like that miserly old man who shakes his fist and screams as he chases the neighborhood kids up the block…

“Get off my lawn!”

So to recap: Jamie Moyer feels “misled” because his workload has been lessened. He won’t be docked in pay and he still plays for a team that has an excellent chance to get to the World Series for the second straight year. Better yet he doesn’t have to look over his shoulder about losing his job on the Phillies, which is saying something in this economy.

Besides, when this season ends Moyer will have made more than $74 million in a career that has defied the odds. That’s not too shabby.

So what was it again that Moyer seems to be upset about?

Oh yeah, he’s getting a lot of money for less work.

Someone get out the world’s smallest violin.

Meanwhile, Pedro Martinez was his normal jovial self after having his home debut washed out by a rain delay. He only pitched three innings, but proclaimed it a success because Moyer came on and pitched wonderfully. He also laughed with some New York reporters in town to see “the old goat” pitch before his Ali-like return to his old stomping grounds.

Moreover, when asked about Moyer’s masterful performance against the anxious and green Diamondbacks on Tuesday night, Pedro gushed with praise.

“I've seen Jamie forever,” Pedro said. “When I remember him and [Tom] Glavine. They are my idols. And Tim Wakefield. They're warriors out there. How do they do it? Only lefties will know. And knuckleballers. It's great to watch, and I'm really happy for the results. We got a win.”

But when asked about the way Moyer handled being replaced in the rotation by a guy with three Cy Young Awards and arguably the best six-year stretch of pitching in history, Pedro kept that ever-present smile.

“Jamie is a professional. He'll handle the same way I'll probably handle it. Whatever it takes for the team to win,” he said.

Then he added the kicker:

“If it was me in the same situation, I would do it the same way, too. I never said I wouldn't go to the bullpen. I'm an employee here, and so is Jamie.”

It just so happens that Pedro turned in one of the most memorable playoff performances while pitching as a reliever in the fifth and deciding game of the 1999 ALDS. Perhaps Pedro is setting the table for some white knight-like reliever work in this year’s playoffs, too. After all, Pedro made no bones about why he was coming back…

He wants to win.

And he has checked his ego at the clubhouse door.

“You never know what you'll get when you put two old goats out there,” Pedro said between giggles. “It's a scary combination. You're not going to see that very often. You might as well enjoy it. I enjoyed it.

“See what you get? Two for the price of one.”

But as far as we can tell, only one of them is happy about it.

Six degrees of Kevin Bacon... baseball style

For regular readers of the Freakonomics blog – and you know who you are – this might be old news. Nevertheless, it’s still interesting. Anyway, a new study using some sort of science I don’t understand (which is pretty much every type of science) rated every single outcome from 1954 to 2008 and came up with the best players… in a cold, clinical way. Wired mag calls it the baseball version "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon," though performance-enhancing drugs, illness, technology, lucky hits, stadium effects and everything else was simply collateral.

As a result, the top three hitters since 1954 turned out to be Barry Bonds, Todd Helton, and Mickey Mantle. No Phillie made it into the top 10 of the list (which can be seen here and here), however, pitching is a different story.

According to the formula, Billy Wagner is the second-best reliever since 1954, Curt Schilling is the fourth-best starter and Pedro Martinez…

Numero uno.

It’s also worth mentioning that Roy Halladay was rated as the third-best pitcher of the ultra-modern era that ranks Bert Blyleven ahead of Hall of Famers Steve Carlton, Phil Niekro and Don Sutton.

Again, check out the Wired story for the finer details of the rankings system that puts Armando Benitez in the top 10 of relief pitchers since 1954…

But if Benitez was so good how come he couldn’t get Pat Burrell out?

As far as Pedro goes, check out this little graph CSN's Rob Kuestner came up with:

Pitcher A		Pitcher B
129	Wins	111
47	Losses	33
.732	Win Pct.	.771
2.19	ERA	2.00
3	Cy Youngs	3

Pitcher A is Sandy Koufax from 1961 to 1966.

Pitcher B is Pedro Martinez from 1997 to 2003.

Taking one for the team

At some point this evening, Pedro Martinez is going to come out of the game in Reading, Pa. and declare himself ready to rejoin the Phillies. Count on that. However, it’s not certain how much say Pedro has in deciding how many more rehab outings he thinks he needs. For instance, chances are Pedro wanted to join the big league club after his five-inning outing last Friday night in Allentown though it was clear he needed some more work.

Not much more, but definitely some more.

Of course as Pedro says, he is simply a humble worker. Whatever Ruben Amaro and the decision-makers want him to do, Pedro will do it. And yes, that includes working out of the bullpen.

“I don’t know how the bullpen stuff is working over there, but I definitely need more work to get to the point where I really want to be. That time, you need to spend it on the mound and the only way I’m going to get time on the mound is by starting,” Pedro said. “I’m not going to put any pressure on Ruben or (manager) Charlie (Manuel) – I’m an employee here and when you are an employee you just do what your boss tells you. That’s what I’m going to do. But as far as I know they brought me here to be a starter.”

Amaro echoed that sentiment yesterday on Daily News Live.

“Right now we view him as a starter,” Amaro said.

So if we were thinking about this logically, the Phillies rotation would be pretty easy to put together. Right? Cliff Lee and Joe Blanton would be at the top since those two are clearly the hottest pitchers the team has. Then comes J.A. Happ because he has been the most consistent throughout the season. Next comes Cole Hamels not only because he was the MVP of the NLCS and World Series, but also because it’s simply a matter of time before he gets his pitching issues worked out.

Then comes Pedro since off days here and there can afford him an extra day of rest occasionally. At 37 with 17 big league seasons piled onto that narrow-shouldered frame, it’s OK to give Pedro an extra day. Besides, after three Cy Young Awards and a handful of the greatest seasons ever pitched, let the guy ride on his rep a bit…

Right?

Well, only if he can pitch. If he can’t get hitters out don’t be surprised when the Phillies send Pedro out near Ashburn Alley to wait for the right moment to go in to pitch. Toward the end of a pitcher’s career, that’s kind of the way it goes. After all, last year the great Greg Maddux spent the post-season pitching relief for the Dodgers. Warren Spahn ended up pitching out of the ‘pen, too.

The same goes for Steve Carlton, Jim Palmer, Early Winn and Satchel Paige. Hey, it happens.

So why won’t it happen for Jamie Moyer?

Despite the 10-8 record, both digits representing team highs, Moyer hasn’t been very good this year. Oh sure, in his 10 wins he has allowed just 22 runs, but even Manuel says the 46-year-old lefty pitches better when the offense spots him some runs. Considering the Phillies have scored at least nine runs in five of those 10 wins, Moyer is the ultimate frontrunner.

Plus, two of his 10 wins are against Florida, a team he owns a lifetime 13-2 mark against. Take three starts against Florida out of the mix and Moyer is 8-8 with a 6.16 ERA. Counting Florida Moyer has the second worst ERA amongst starters that qualify for the ERA title. Excluding Florida and he’s the worst starter in the league in terms of ERA.

Nevertheless, when Pedro makes his pronouncement this evening, Moyer won’t be looking over his shoulder. Why should he when the most consistent pitcher on the staff is the one who will be bumped?

Ballplayers always talk about how they are always willing to do what’s best for the team and how they just want to win ballgames to get that ring. Certainly the Phillies have won games with Moyer on the mound, but really, how much longer can that last if the trends don’t change?

Maybe it’s time for Moyer to volunteer his services in the bullpen. Why not… he wants to win and it’s obvious the team has a better chance to get a second World Series title with five other guys in the starting rotation.

Right?

Good for you... now do it again

The Phillies have a magic number which is a pretty good indicator that the Phillies are putting the squeeze on the rest of the NL East. Any combination of wins coupled with Braves’ losses equaling 66 gives the Phils the division three-peat. Insert Phil Hartman doing the sarcastic clap here:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWc-8E3zec0&hl=en&fs=1&]

Strangely, we’re in a stage of the Phillies’ history where simply winning the division isn’t good enough. Call it the price of success. A few years ago the Phillies could get away with adding guys like Paul Abbott and J.D. Durbin to the rotation and no one would bat an eye.

That’s just the way they did things back then.

But with success comes expectations. So instead of Abbott and Durbin, or a trade to add a strong middle-of-the-rotation guy like Joe Blanton, we want more and Ruben Amaro and his posse know it.

So we get Rodrigo Lopez, a pitcher out of the game for two years after Tommy John surgery, instead of Abbott. Lopez once won 44 games in three seasons for some run-of-the-mill teams in Baltimore. He has pitched in a bandbox against the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox and come out on the other side to talk about it.

And after the surgery Lopez may have lost some of his velocity and snap in his curve, but he’s made up for it in savvy and experience. Not to compare the two, but sometimes it seems as if the guys who come back from serious surgery have the look of a guy who as been to war. They have seen some things – grown up. They nearly had something very valuable taken away from them and know how fleeting a baseball life can be.

Lopez, however, hasn’t guaranteed himself anything even though he has been a cog in the new-look rotation that has allowed just two runs in the last 25 innings. That’s because Pedro Martinez threw 63-pitches over four innings of a simulated game on Tuesday morning. Chances are the three-time Cy Young Award winner will be ready for Major Leaguers by the first week of August, which just might mean curtains for Lopez.

But what happens if the Phillies are able to swing a deal for ace Roy Halladay (or a pitcher of that ilk)? What happens if Amaro can make that type of deal and not lose J.A> Happ, who goes then? Jamie Moyer? Cole Hamels? Joe Blanton?

Definitely not Happ or Pedro.

Yes, these are strange times for the Phillies. Winning has a way of changing things more than we realize. Probably more than the Phillies realize, too.

If you don't have anything nice to say...

... get a blog. Or better yet, just invite the writing media over to the locker to chat instead of those pesky TV folks with their makeup and those white, hot lights and cameras. Besides, talking to actual humans instead of inanimate objects like cameras and TV reporters is much more revealing anyway. Sure, the fans might like tuning in from so far away to watch a guy talk with those lights and the microphones bearing down, but come on... no one really enjoys it. At least that's the way it was for Ryan Howard in Clearwater today. Rather than do the whole big ballyhoo and faux production of a made-for-TV inquiry about his contract and whether or not animosity has festered like a bad blister because the Phillies only want to pay him $7 million for 2008 instead of $10 million just chatted up a few scribes and some inanimate objects in the clubhouse.

It made for a more contemplative, more intimate, more revealing and perhaps even a more trenchant conversation. That's the key word there - conversation. Look, when dealing with athletes, pro writers are dealing with a short deck mostly because they don't know a damn thing about exercise or fitness or training or anything. But that's beside the point. When the glare and scrutiny beats on a guy, it gets hard to explain things, so everyone loses.

Or something like that. Who knows. I'm just making this all up as I go along and I'm sure that five minutes from now I'll have no idea what I wrote. But don't let that stop anyone from acknowledging that sooner or later Ryan Howard will have to answer questions about his contract. What, do you think the writing press is a bunch of shrinking violets? Hey, they might not know the ins and outs of exercise or physiology, but that's not going to stop them from using clichés oh so cavalierly.

You know, whatever.

*** Here's a question: is it worse that someone made a typographical error in typing up a document filed yesterday in the Barry Bonds perjury case that erroneously stated the player tested positive for steroids in November of 2001, or is it worse that so many media outlets blindly jumped on the story without checking it out first.

Look, people trust the wire services and the big names in the media business without giving it much thought. But even the tiniest bit of research over the false Bonds report should have had folks scratching their heads a bit with wonderment over why the star-crossed slugger would have taken a drugs test in 2001.

Plus, knowing that there are no more secrets anywhere and that the truth always rears its troll-like face, the notion of a failed drugs test by Bonds in November of 2001 should have had the fact-checkers scrambling.

Alas...

Nevertheless, the underlying problem was evident: Media types are too worried about being first instead of being right.

*** Finally, my favorite story of the day comes out of the Mets' camp in Port Saint Lucie where Pedro Martinez rightfully claimed that he stared down the so-called Steroid Era and plunked it on its ass.

According to Pedro, "I dominated that era and I did it clean.

"I have a small frame and when I hurt all I could do was take a couple of Aleve or Advil, a cup of coffee and a little mango and an egg - and let it go!"

It sounds like Pedro (and Cole Hamels) are wannabe marathon runners who wake up every morning with everything hurting, shuffle stiff-legged downstairs for some coffee, a vitamin, maybe a Clif Bar or even an ibuprofen with the thought of visiting the chiro for some Active Release Technique therapy before heading out the door for the first of two brutal workouts.

Drugs tests? Where the cup...

"I wish that they would check every day," Pedro said. "That's how bad I want the game to be clean. I would rather go home (than) taint the game."

Here's a theory: the pitching during the so-called "Steroid Era" wasn't so bad. Oh sure, certain media types -- blabbermouths on certain radio stations in particular -- are quick to point out how today's pitchers can't throw strikes, won't work deep into games and how some of them shouldn't be in the big leagues. Expansion, they say, has watered down the game.

Maybe so. But try this out: in facing hitters with baseballs that are wound tighter and who are using harder bats made of harder wood against a tinier strike zone in ball parks that are smaller still, pitchers have to add guile to the repertoire. And we didn't even get into the performance-enhancing drugs part yet. Nonetheless, pitchers just can't lean back and huck it up there as fast as they can -- pitchers have had to pitch in the post-modern era of baseball.

*** Speaking of doing it the right way for a long time, Sully Salisbury turned in a great story on the meritorious Jamie Moyer, who is heading into his 22^nd big league season.

A few minutes in the presence of Moyer makes it easy to believe that you never, ever have to get old. You never have to burn out, get tired, act old, compromise, get mediocre or slow down. Moyer turned 45 last November and be sure that there are players on the Phillies who are "older" than he is - they've stopped being engaged, they know what they know and they don't want to be exposed to anything new. They are already completely formed and they might only be 23 years old.

Not Moyer, though. In a conversation last October, the pitcher says one of the best parts about playing for so long has been the exposure to new people and ideas.

"A lot of times, I just focus on the simplicity of things, and not be the focus of what should be going on here, and just keep things simple. I call it the K.I.S.S. factor -- keep it simple, stupid," he said last October. "I look back on instances in my career like that -- good and bad - but things that I've learned from, and try to re-educate myself and rethink things, and reinforce what I already know. A lot of times, we can overlook things and forget, and after the fact, after the mistake is made, you're like, ‘Oh, I knew that. Why did I do that?' You can't catch everything. But if you can catch some of it, hopefully, it'll work out. What's been fun is being around this group of guys and the energy they bring."

As Moyer told Sailisbury yesterday:

"I'm not as proud of the age thing as I am of the ups and downs I've overcome to create some longevity," Moyer said after yesterday's workout. "I've enjoyed that part. I can smile and say I'm doing what I want to do."