A swan song for Billy Wagner?

Good or bad, Billy Wagner always got people to react. Whether it was by defying Pat Burrell’s wishes by actually talking to the local press, or only throwing his fastball 99 m.p.h., Billy made people talk.

There are no areas of grey when it comes to sentiment about the ex-Phillies closer. Folks either love him or hate him – sometimes both at the same time. It was the same deal for teammates and the press as well as the fans.

But the bottom line is that Wagner always got it. Sure, sometimes he was a pain in the rear, but he never forgot that baseball is fun. When broken down to its core, Wagner’s knew his job was to entertain the fans. Knowing this, Wagner engaged everyone no matter the setting. If someone yelled something at him when he was in the bullpen, he yelled back. If someone wanted an autograph, he signed it. And if someone asked him a question, he answered it.

It’s kind of hard not to respect that.

Sadly, it will be a long time before we get to react to Wagner again. Yesterday the news came out that the hard-throwing veteran was headed for reconstructive elbow surgery. As a result it appears as if the earliest Wagner will be able to return to the mound is the 2010 season… if at all.

By the time he will be able to pitch in a big league game again, Wagner will be pushing 39-years old. Certainly that isn’t ancient and athletes from all types of different sports have proved that age truly is just a number. As Wagner goes on the shelf, another 36-year-old athlete is coming out of retirement (more on this in another post) in part because he was inspired by the likes of 41-year-old Olympian Dara Torres, amongst others.

Yet because he is a power pitcher who still relies on an above-average fastball and elbow-numbing slider, Wagner will probably have to reinvent himself of he makes it back. Sure, he will probably be able to throw just as hard as he did in the past, but nearly every pitcher who has undergone reconstructive surgery says the fine touch of their control doesn’t always come back so quickly.

In addition to making his living off the high strikeout totals, Wagner also was known for his control, so it will be interesting to watch his approach to pitching if he makes it back.

“There is nobody who will tell me that I will be the same as I was,” he said. “But there is nobody who will tell me that I can’t go out there and compete and be successful.”

And as to be expected, Wagner is positive he will return to baseball.

“There's no other way to face this but as a challenge. I have to go out there and challenge to get back. And it will be a challenge to go out there and compete.” Wagner said. “This whole thing. My age, everything's a challenge.

“What else do I do? My kids want me to play. My wife wants me to play. I want to play.”

Talking about his 10-year-old son, Will, is when Wagner broke down during a press conference on Tuesday. It wasn’t so much the idea that he wouldn’t play anymore that got to him – it was the mere idea that his kids are just as devoted to his career.

That was enough to set off the waterworks.

It won’t be easy. Then again, nothing really came easy for Wagner. Think about it -- how many other 5-foot-9 lefties from Division III colleges have made it to the big leagues? Yeah, not many.

At the same time, Wagner’s former teammates with the Phillies are hoping for the best.

“You never want to see anyone get hurt,” Ryan Howard said. “You hope he can come back healthy.”

Besides, it will be a whole lot more entertaining if he makes it back healthy.

Going Hollywood

The old-timers in baseball have a term for it - it's called "Going Hollywood." Generally it describes a ballplayer who used to be a great quote and was blessed with a down-to-earth personality that teammates, fans and the press adored.  Nobody can resist the guy. The fans cheer and buy the little things that fans buy to celebrate the player's awesomeness; teammates go to war for the guy; and the media swoons by producing gushing and positive reviews of the player's work on and off the field. Basically, the player is a celebration.

Current examples of this phenomenon are: Josh Hamilton, Grady Sizemore, Evan Longoria, Mark Reynolds, Ryan Braun, Dan Uggla and Brian McCann to name a few.

However, after a year or two of such treatment, the down-to-earthiness dissipates. Maybe the player gets to do a few commercials, or a shoe company contracts him to wear its goods. Interview requests from the well-known national outlets roll in - maybe there's a cover-shoot for a magazine thrown in.

Perhaps the ESPN or FOX will ask him to wear a microphone during the game so the viewers get to experience the full aura of his personality. Frankly, the possibilities are endless.

But when the media-hype equals the performance on the field for a few seasons, sometimes the players' head swells. With all the friends and family hanging around telling him how great he is, the ego inflates like hot-air balloon. Finally, when the multi-year deal is proffered with the rows of digits and a tiny bit of post-season award bling is accumulated, it's all over. The player is too good to stoop down to talk to the local press when ESPN and Sports Illustrated have already called. Autographs for the fans? Have they paid up yet? Will the personal appearance properly highlight all of the corporate sponsors?

And for the love of all that's holy, there can be no press relations unless the story has been cleared by the publicist and/or the agent.

Yes, the guy has gone Hollywood.

Recent examples of this phenomenon are: Barry Zito, Sammy Sosa, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Miguel Tejada and, of course, Jimmy Rollins.

Most importantly, what the old-timers always say about the guy who goes Hollywood is that they never, ever come back. Once he's gone, he's gone for good.

Bye-bye, J-Roll?

Coincidentally, it was actually in Hollywood where Jimmy Rollins' latest misstep in a season defined by such matters occurred. On the nationally syndicated cable TV program called, "The Best Damn Sports Show, Period," Rollins, along with teammate Ryan Howard, sat on a couch wearing a fashionable shirt with equally fashionable torn jeans and told hosts John Salley and Chris Rose that the baseball public in Philadelphia are... ready for this one... "front-runners."

Pause...

Pause...

Crickets...

Yes, you and I, the Phillies fan and media dude, are, in fact, "front-runners..."

I know, it didn't make sense to me, either. The only explanation is that Rollins misspoke when he said:

"...it's one of those cities. I might catch some flak for saying this, but, you know, they're front-runners. When you're doing good, they're on your side. When you're doing bad, they're completely against you. For example, Ryan (Howard) is from St. Louis. St. Louis, it seems like they support their team. They're encouraging."

Certainly it seems like the Phillies fans have been nothing but encouraging for Rollins and his teammates this season. After all, the fans have registered sell-out after sell-out all season long in the four-year-old, taxpayer-funded ballpark. Despite the fact that the Phillies have won just one World Series title since 1883 and have not won a playoff game since Game 5 of the 1993 World Series, the "front-runner" fans have helped the Phillies host the fifth-most attended games in Major League Baseball this year.

Despite the fact that the Phillies have lost more games than any other team in the history of organized professional sports (this is not hyperbole, it's fact), Citizens Bank Park has been filled to 97 percent of its capacity in 59 dates this year. Only the Red Sox, Tigers and Cubs have better percentages.

And God forbid that fans in Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, Beijing, Timbuktu or Machau might actually boo a player after his manager has to bench him for lack of hustle and failure to show up to work on time. After all, they would never do that in St. Louis.

Perhaps the difference is that people in Philadelphia believe that a guy who wins the MVP one year should put out the effort every year.

But maybe that's asking too much.

OK, let's be fair. Jimmy Rollins used to be the go-to guy when looking for information on the nuance of an at-bat or a play in the field. He also is quietly aware of the game's history. He loves it. His eyes actually light up when talking about meeting Buck O'Neil and the old Negro League players. He knows the struggle those men went through not just in playing baseball, but also in everyday life.

Rollins understands baseball and can shed light on subjects that others cannot. For instance, after a game at the Vet during his first or second year in the league, I asked him how he was able to stop so quickly when running the bases at full speed. Really, it seemed as if he went from 60 to zero in a half a step. So there in the clubhouse, Rollins actually demonstrated how he "sat down" in full stride so that he could stop quickly and avoid over-running a base or a ball.

Frankly, it was as riveting and eye-opening a demonstration I have ever seen.

But that was a long time ago. That conversation would never occur these days. There probably will not be anymore demonstrations.

Hollywood.

Nevertheless, Rollins went back on "The Best Damn Sports Show, Period" on Thursday night where he didn't exactly offer up a mea culpa. Why should he - he doesn't believe he said anything untrue. Instead he clarified that "front-runner" term and expressed surprise that such words about Philly fans would cause a stir...

Insert your sarcastic, "yeah, right," here.

"The term front runner and what it actually means and to what I was using it, what was going through my mind, they weren't accurate. Front runners is like people who only show up when you're winning. Hey, we're going to cheer you if you win. That's not it about Philly fans. They're passionate. They show up - like I said, 45,000. We've got like 42 sellouts. They announce it every night. That's not what I meant. Like I said, it's the fact that here we are at this point of the year, come out and be supportive. Don't necessarily get on us. We can use that positive energy. And you know that positive energy can lift you, that negative energy can bring you down."

In other words, J-Roll, like Mike Schmidt before him, doesn't like the boos. Instead, when the Phillies fail to score runs unless someone blasts a home run, J-Roll wants a group hug. He wants people who just paid $10 to park, $16 for the cheapest seat in the park, $4.50 for a veggie burger, $4 for a gallon of gas all after the team hit the city up for tax funds to pay for the place, to be happy when he doesn't run to first base.

"There are definitely games, don't get me wrong, where I'm like, ‘Damn, you know, we are getting booed and we need to get booed because we're not doing well.' But there are a lot of times where it makes it harder to play at home when they're against you - or it feels like they're against you. They're never really against you, but it feels like they're against you - they're venting against you and it doesn't help. So, like I said, they show up. You asked about the West Coast, I'm from Oakland, I'm like, ‘They don't show up.' That has nothing to do with it.

"The whole thing was, look, here we are in the playoffs, we're at home, we're in first place. There's really nothing to boo about. We're not going to win every game. As long as we win by one when it comes down to the finish. But, go out there and support us. When Carlos Ruiz comes up to the plate, don't boo him because you want (Chris) Coste in the game. This man has a job to do today. Encourage him to do his job to the best of his abilities."

When I was a kid I never remember George Brett talking about the fans booing. Likewise, I don't recall a quote attributed to Kirk Gibson where he said he needed more encouragement from the paying customers. I doubt Nolan Ryan or Tom Seaver ever went on national TV and told the viewers that the hometown fans were "front-runners," in any type of context.

But then again those guys weren't divas. They weren't always seeking approval from the national media so they could find their smiling face on the cover of a video game. Yeah, they probably wanted the fattest contract they could get from their clubs, but they probably figured that if they were good at their job, the rest would take care of itself.

As far as I remember, those guys never went Hollywood.

No comment

I have a theory that if you need someone like Ryan Howard or Chase Utley to say something insightful to make or break your story, you are, indeed, a [bleepy] writer. It's not a well-thought out theory or one that I've ever really tested in a controlled environment. Truth be told and based on my observations from going into the Phillies clubhouse and hanging around the team for the better part of the last nine seasons, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are the least interesting ballplayers I have ever seen address a group of people about their profession.

The right side of the Phillies' offense has nothing to say to the press about baseball.

Nada.

Nothing.

Zilch.

Ryan Howard and Chase Utley probably will go down as the most prolific hitters in Philadelphia baseball history, and are clearly two of the most exciting players in the game right now. But, you know, just don't ask them about it.

When told that the President of the United States of America said that Utley would be the first player he would select if he were putting together a baseball team, Utley said: "That's a nice compliment to have. It's kind of cool."

Gee... OK.

From Jerry Crasnick in the latest edition of ESPN the Magazine in a story on how Utley has established himself as a bona fide hitting threat at the plate:

The one skill Utley has yet to master is self-promotion. He relies on monotonal cliché-speak when reporters approach for insights into his game. His approach brings to mind the Zen of Greg Maddux, who goes out of his way to be dull to avoid providing glimpses into his baseball soul. In Utley's world, success is almost solely a reflection of hard work. That's his story, and he's sticking to it. "The more you practice, the better," he says. "The more at-bats you have and pitches you see, and the more ground balls you take and game situations you're in, the more comfortable you get."

OK. But, there are a few problems in that short paragraph. Sure, Utley may (indirectly) invoke the "Zen of Maddux," but the stories of Greg Maddux's wacky personality are legion and probably not for re-telling where innocent ears (and eyes) lurk.

What's more, Utley's quote about the more one practices equates to the amount of success one has is, frankly, condescending. For starters, Utley is ignoring the importance of talent all while suggesting that players who haven't had the same success as him yet have been identified with better "tools" only need to work harder. Of course he cites the traditional notion of hard work because Utley has been identified as a "baseball rat," "dirtball," and "hard worker." The truth is that I know for a fact that Jimmy Rollins is a hard worker and a student of the game. Why isn't he ever described that way?

Better yet, there isn't a single player in the Major Leagues who simply gets by on talent.

Everybody works hard just like everyone has talent. To that regard, there has to be something more to players like Utley and Howard and they just aren't too keen on allowing anyone to see it.

As Bobby Brown once astutely pointed out, that's their prerogative.

To be fair, public speaking is not for everyone. Frankly, it can be unnerving at times. The truth is that the few times in which I have actually appeared on television I was slightly nervous until I told myself that if they are putting me on TV the producers probably are not expecting a ratings bonanza. From that point on it was if I was simply speaking to another inanimate object, only this one beamed my head out to a regional cable TV audience... or whatever there was of one.

However, when it comes to being a professional athlete these days, self-analysis and deconstruction is part of the job. No, we're not asking for a stand-up routine or even something so insightful that we have to ponder it on the long drive home - after all, it's just baseball and sports. How complicated can it be?

This criticism isn't just for Utley and Howard, but also folks like Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb and perhaps 50 percent of the athletes making money in Philadelphia. The main criticism isn't what they say, but how they say it. Hey, no one is expecting Utley or Howard to be insightful, just engaged in the process.

Again, I'm not saying Howard and Utley aren't interesting people. I'm just saying that I don't know if they are. Perhaps that's because when it comes to talking about baseball they offer no insight, no nuance and no depth. If given the choice between talking to the press about baseball and having a nail driven into their head, Howard, Utley (and many others on the team) would take the nail.

I just don't get that. How can that make sense? If I were a baseball player and were as passionate about the game as nearly every baseball player says they are, you would not be able to shut me up. I'd put a lectern in front of my locker and give sermons from up high. I'd drive everyone crazy talking about baseball, my workouts, the other players, the shape of the ball, the grain of the wood on the bats, the hue of the ivy growing on the batter's eye in center field, the fit of the uniforms, the clubhouse spread, the water pressure in the shower, the temperature of the whirlpool last Tuesday in the visitors' clubhouse in Nationals Park... I'd talk about everything.

Go ahead and ask me an innocuous question about running and marathoning... and then be prepared to sit quietly for at least 30 minutes while I wax on and ramble off into one tangent or another.

So that's what I don't get - how can a baseball player not want to talk about baseball?

Actually, the better question is why does anyone care? Are insights from professional athletes so vital to the national discourse? I certainly hope not. But in the proliferation of the celebrity culture, athletes need not apply. In 2008 there is no difference between Chase Utley and Ryan Howard than there is between George Clooney and Denzel Washington. And, in an odd bit of irony, athletes are being chided for not speaking out on issues as well as for their general verbosity, while movie stars are ripped for speaking out too much.

As if such a thing was possible.

Nevertheless, the real reason for the long-winded essay and knee-jerk observations is because of the latest from former Sports Illustrated writer Pat Jordan, who detailed the good old days of sports writing in a piece for Slate Magazine. Even with the proliferation of all media fans and writers have even less depth and nuance from the athletes. At least that's what Jordan has observed in his 40 years in the business.

Read the story from Jordan. It's good.

From my end, I can only relate writing about mainstream professional athletes in comparison to writing about politicians and business leaders from a decade ago. Back then the subjects of my stories wanted to be partners in what I wrote. Not only did they want a say in what information I used and how I used it, but also they wanted full control of the message. They parsed everything and nit-picked everything including something as trite as the use of a comma or semi-colon in the copy.

To say most folks were engaged in the process didn't cover it. They wanted minutes on the process. They wanted sample paragraphs and to be alerted when the story went to press.

Conversely, athletes don't care about any of it. Strangely, I think most professional baseball players believe that the guy holding the camera to the guy with the microphone to the guy with a pen and a pad all work for the same TV station. They simply don't care enough to differentiate between writers, let alone the scribes and TV reporters.

As I once explained to someone working in a small-town newspaper about the differences between covering the news in a place like Lancaster and covering the Philadelphia Phillies: "The guy you write about in Lancaster might cut out the story and hang it on his wall or put it in a scrapbook. It's meaningful to him.

"But Travis Lee doesn't give a [bleep]."

For that matter, neither do most ballplayers...

Or fans.

More: "Josh Beckett Won't Return My Phone Calls" by Pat Jordan (Slate)

Is he a Vulcan?

What's that growing out of Billy Wagner's ear... oh, it's one of those pathetic bluetooth things. You know, the phone devices that make annoying folks look like they have an entire cadre of friends that may or may not be calling every five to ten minutes. Barring that, it makes it easier for the self-possessed to appear as if they are not talking to themselves. Nevertheless, it appears as if Wagner, or "Country Time" as he has been dubbed in The City, will be talking to himself a lot these days. That's because not only was he taken to task by manager Willie Randolph for calling out starting pitcher Oliver Perez for a rather languid outing a week or go, but yesterday, following a 1-0 loss to the Nationals, Wagner called out his teammates for ducking the media.

Here, take a look:

Here's the transcript. According to published reports, Wagner directed his ire toward Carlos Delgado's empty locker:

"Can somebody tell me why the (expletive) the closer being interviewed and I didn’t even play, while they’re over there not getting interviewed? I get it, they’re gone. (Expletive) shocker."

OK. It sounds like the Mets' clubhouse is a lot like the Phillies after a loss (or a win) in that players are not too interested in deconstructing their job for the media and fans. Because, you know, screw the media and the fans.

Still, there are Phillies who are very good at talking to the press after games. For instance, Brett Myers was sitting at his locker waiting to re-live the horror of Wednesday night's eight-run debacle against the Braves. He was rather stand-up about it, which, I suspect, isn't the easiest part of the gig. As a whole, the Phillies usually are good about the media part of the job, though a few can be a bit prickly.

I guess that makes them human... go figure.

But just for the record, if I were a mainstream professional athlete, I'd place a podium and small stage in front of my locker in order to properly discuss all topics with the press. Sometimes, you know, I can get a bit chatty, though I'd probably just use the old Scott Rolen line and ask the press, "What do you need me to say to make your story better?"

Sometimes I can be a team player.

Anyway, back to Wagner...

With the way Brad Lidge has been pitching - and yes, Wagner has been very good this year - would anyone want Country Time back in Philly?

Additionally, does anyone else think that the Mets are just going to implode during the second half of this season complete with fistfights in the clubhouse and sniping in the NYC tabloids?

Speaking of what other people think, is there any other player that has more fun than Manny Ramirez?

Answer?

No.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-YRFp8fXgg&hl=en]

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."

Things noticed around the ballpark

There was a lot less media checking out the Phillies-Braves series finale on Monday night. In fact, only the big(ger) papers had columnists at the game and afterwards there was just one TV camera crew. Know what this means? The Phillies aren't very good and training camp has started at Lehigh.Taking CSN out of the equation (because they always show up), we won't see any more TV cameras until the last weekend of the season.

Scouts, once again, were out in full force. Some of them were advance scouts, working ahead and picking up tendencies for an upcoming series against the Phillies, but others were not. Is there a deal brewing? Maybe. Or maybe not.

It's quiet around here. Almost too quiet.

David Bell is smoking hot. With a home run and a single in the loss to the Braves, the much-maligned third baseman boosted his average to .288 to continue his torrid July.How hot is Bell? Try this out: in his last five games he's hitting .571 (12-for-21) with a triple and a homer, and is hitting .426 (29-for-68), a .452 on-base percentage, with nine extra-base hits this month.

If he isn't careful, Bell could put together a "career" year.

The always astute Dennis Deitch pointed out that Mike Lieberthal has just one walk this season. Yeah, just one. In fact, Lieberthal is four times more likely to be hit by a pitch than to draw a walk.Upon further perusal, four of the Phillies' pitchers have more walks than Lieberthal this season.

The Phillies, at 44-52, lead the last-place Washington Nationals by just 2 1/2 games.

I hate to say I told you so, but...

Yeah, yeah no one likes a smart guy -- especially one who rubs it in and gloats. Then again, there really isn't much need to gloat when my solid premise about Cole Hamels and his durabilty is just a few posts down. There was no way he could go an entire season without breaking down, it says. And...

There's no reason why he should have started the seventh inning in his last start when it took him 90 pitches to get through six.

But of course hindsight is always 20-20 and there is no pleasure taken out of another man's pain. That's especially the case when the guy in question is so much fun to watch.

Nevertheless, Cole Hamels, the Phillies' super phenom, is sitting inNew York and watching the ballgame on the newest Comcast SportsNet (shameless plug) after he felt a pop and some soreness in his left shoulder while throwing before Tuesday night's game at Shea. In fact, Hamels was probably watching last night's game on Comcast SportsNet since he went back to Philly during the game, but we'll touch on that in a moment. Let's deal with Hamels first.

To say that Hamels in injury prone or delicate would be like saying Michael Jordan was a pretty good basketball player. Yes, it's correct, but there's a lot more to it than that. The Phillies, or whomever Hamels ends up pitching for through his days in the Major Leagues, will have to just accept routine stints on the disabled list like the one Hamels is going through now.

The good news is that this injury doesn't sound too serious -- at least based on the following paragraphs from the Phillies' official statement. To wit:

The diagnosis [strained left shoulder] came following an examination by Phillies team physician Dr. Michael Ciccotti and an MRI at the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

According to Dr. Ciccotti, the MRI revealed no structural damage to his shoulder. Hamels will be treated medically and through an exercise program.

The other piece of good news is already known -- Hamels is tough. Oh sure, he looks like a movie star, and probably needs a Roger Clemens-esque workout regime (who doesn't?), but this kid has... how can we say this without being vulgar... cojones. Big ones. He is the opposite of his pal Gavin Floyd in that he pitches and plays without self-doubt or fear. In a sense, Hamels is a lot like the pitching version of Chase Utley or Aaron Rowand.

But, that's the thing... those little aches and pains and the everyday rigors of professional baseball seem to take a much harsher toll on Hamels' body.

Oh yeah, we forgot to tell you... The local scribes sitting in the old, cramped and uncomfortable press box at good ol' Shea showed up at the park at 3:30 p.m. yesterday. No surprise there, because that's what time writers always show up at the ballpark. The thing about that was that the game didn't end until after 12:30 a.m. and they were not told about Hamels' injury until after the game.

Hamels, as everyone knows now, was injured before the game.

So in the two hours from batting practice until game time and then the five-hours, 22-minutes it took to actually play last night's game, the Phillies did not think to inform the local press (and in turn, the fans) that Hamels had left the park to return to Philadelphia, and would not be pitching on Wednesday for close to 10 hours.

Seriously.

Yeah, I know. The fans aren't interested in the plight of the press. Though as an aside, it always interested me before I got into the business. Actually, I always found the entire soap opera interesting and looked at the writers as just as much a part of the show as the players, but that's me. But the problem seems to be with accountability. The writers are the pipeline to the fans. That's not something to take delicately by any group.

Now I didn't make the trip to Shea this week, which is a story to come later. Besides, there are two more trips to the most difficult ballpark to get to, as well as a full slate of trips during the month of June. Nevertheless, I'm usually just an IM or call away from constant comminique with the folks in the press box, so I'm pretty plugged in.

When I heard that the Phillies didn't reveal the injury until after the game, I figured the team was trying to conceal something from the Mets. Why let them know that the Kid isn't going to pitch. But then Mike Radano set me straight -- as he often does -- and told me my thinking was a bunch of hooey.

"Did they think maybe no one would notice Jon Lieber on the mound tomorrow?" Radano said and wrote in his blog.

Here's the thing -- general manager Pat Gillick has a good relationship with the writers, and everyone really seems to like him. Actually, he really is an impressive professional and I suppose he was just trying to protect his player.

It just turned a really long night into an even longer one.

Insert whiner/crybaby noise here.

News stuff After firing seven innings starting in the ninth inning last night, Ryan Madson will take the ball on Sunday against Milwaukee. Gavin Floyd will start on Saturday. ***

I'm not basing this on anything, but I bet the Mets' trade for Orlando Hernandez (for Jorge Julio) from Arizona will trigger a few more deals in the NL East.

Finally Is this turning into the Cole Hamels blog? Geez, isn't there anything else to write about?

Now is the time

If there is one thing that drives me nuts -- batty even -- is cliches, tired and derivative ideas, and unoriginality. The biggest culprit of this, it seems to me, is the media. Pack journalism, or "piggybacking" is a disturbing trend practiced by one too many and eschewed by too few. Often, those who indulge in the hack-styled, baseline reporting are trying to get finished with their work so they can move on to something else that, typically, is social in nature. Now I have no problem with that, but if you're going to play hard, work hard. Come on, who grew up wanting to be a big-league writer or reporter just so they could go out there and hack it up?

Here's my credo: When given an opportunity to do something creative and get paid for it, dive on top of it like you're trying to smother a grenade that is about to kill your wife. The fact that people in the media are blessed with the opportunity to be creative and original for a living, is colossal when compared to what normal people must do at their jobs. For most people, the only creative outlet they get each day is deciding what to order for lunch.

Anyway, I wrote a preseason story about the Phillies, which, not so subtly attacked this notion. At the same time, I twisted the knife into my own carcass because I shamelessly used the same very premise I was attacking. Kind of ironic, heh?

Still, it is my goal to take a different view of everything when it comes to writing and reporting. In fact, it's gotten to the point where I refuse to re-use concepts I may have trotted out years ago during another time and circumstance. My pursuit of freshness is so intense that it's one and done for every idea. But from what I can tell, this isn't something that is practiced by other media types. This is especially true of those who work in television where cliches aren't frowned upon, they're cravenly embraced like a stuffed animal won at the ring-toss booth of at a carnival.

OK, so I'm better than everyone else, right? Wrong. It's just that I find myself getting in less trouble when I choose to follow my own ideas, thoughts and creativity than if I write the nuts-and-bolts story. See, it's selfish. Sure, it's extra work and a lot of times the ideas miss, but at least I'll never be called unoriginal.

Alright, here's the story. Incidentally, I received a lot of positive response to it so I guess people enjoyed the joke.

Then again, maybe they just like reading about baseball.

Here: