I hadn't chimed in on the story that's taking The Internets by storm so I thought it would be worth it to add my two cents...
God bless that Rich Eisen.
According to some reports, Cole Hamels had 160 strikeouts in his first 25 starts (in 145 1/3 innings or 9.91 per nine innings), which is the second most by a left-hander over that span behind Fernando Valenzuela. Of course this doesn’t include his 15-strikeout performance against the Reds last week, or the six strikeouts he had last night in grinding out the win over the Braves.
Speaking of which, the win over the Braves was interesting for a couple of reasons, but mostly because of the way Hamels bounced back after the first and second innings. In those opening frames Hamels gave up seven hits to the first 11 hitters and, more importantly, three runs in the first inning. From watching on my TV (a set that is both falling apart, but artfully decorated with the post-modern crayon musings by a three-year old boy) and based on conversations from folks in the know, it was clear that Hamels had become a bit unhinged after giving up a home run to Chipper Jones in the three-run first.
Hamels also was a little beside himself during last Thursday’s loss to the Washington Nationals at the Bank when he struggled through 5 1/3 innings for his first loss of the season. Yet according to reports, Hamels was put back on track thanks to a visit to the mound by pitching coach Rich Dubee, who asked the lefty if he was on anything.
Yeah?
“He asked me if I was on anything,” Hamels told the writers. “I wasn't, I just get that way sometimes with my adrenaline.”
As far as the strikeouts go, Hamels only got his first one in the fourth inning in the win over the Braves. He finished with six to give him 43 in his six starts (40 2/3 innings). Only the Padres’ Jake Peavy has more.
***
Also at the top of the strikeout-leaders list is Dodgers’ lefty Randy Wolf, who has 36 strikeouts in six starts and 35 2/3 innings. At 3-3 and riding a two-game losing streak, Wolf has worked into the sixth inning of all his starts, which puts him on pace for 210 innings this season. Wolf needs to pitch 180 innings to have a $9 million option for 2008 kick in.
Speaking of former Phillies, the Dodgers are considering using Mike Lieberthal at third base because of some injuries, poor play and few other options. Lieberthal, of course, has caught more games than any other Phillie in franchise history and hasn’t done anything on the diamond other than squat behind the plate since his junior year of high school.
Whether or not it comes to Lieberthal getting a new glove and standing upright on the field remains to be seen. At this point it seems that the ex-longest tenured Philadelphia athlete is struggling to get used to his new role as a backup catcher. Listen to Lieby tell the Los Angeles Times about the adjustment.
“I miss playing,” Lieberthal said. “That's the best part of the day.”
***
Brett Myers threw nine of his 11 pitches for strikes in his two-thirds of an inning last night.
In his eight relief outings covering 8 1/3 innings, Myers has thrown 154 pitches, compared to 283 pitches in three games and 15 1/3 innings as a starter. I don’t know what any of this means, though manager Charlie Manuel and Dubee believe that Myers is still easing into his new role.
“He's using up a lot of adrenaline right now because it's so new to him,” Dubee told Courier-Post raconteur, Mike Radano.
For some reason it still makes sense to me to have Myers go for a four, five or six-out save on occasion even though Manuel seems to be locked in to using his players in well-defined roles. Until it’s proven to me that Myers can’t be like old-school closers like Bruce Sutter and pitch more than one inning, I’m always going to think it should be an option from time to time.
***
Phil Sheridan of the Inquirer columnized about the death of Josh Hancock and Tony La Russa’s “agenda.” According to reports it appears that Hancock might have been impaired while driving at the time of his accident. Meanwhile, La Russa was arrested for DUI during spring training and still awaits misdemeanor charges.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, La Russa “has declined questions about his arrest since making a brief statement to media hours after being released.” Asked about whether his manager should be more aggressive when dealing with such issues since his DUI arrest, Cardinals’ GM Walt Jocketty told the paper, no.
“Personally, I don't think so. I see how he deals with things. I think he would tell a player, ‘Look, it could happen to anybody. It happened to me. You've got to be careful how you conduct yourself.’”
Either way, it seems to that this would be a good chance for Major League Baseball to do something bold or Tony La Russa to take a stand… or both.
If Jamie Moyer never throws another pitch for the Phillies, it's fair to say that he's already earned his salary. Aside from the team going 10-3 in all of his starts since joining the team late last year, Moyer has also been a visible mentor for up-and-coming star Cole Hamels as well as the rest of the pitching staff.
But aside from his duties as the de facto pitching coach, Moyer also has a little Knute Rockne beneath that elder statesman veneer. Maybe Knute Rockne with some Redd Foxx mixed in…
According to a fascinating report from Beef Salisbury in today's Inquirer, Moyer was the most forceful and influential voices in a nearly 80-minute team meeting prior to a game on April 21 in Cincinnati. Though several players, manager Charlie Manuel, former managers turned coaches Jimy Williams and Davey Lopes took turns addressing the team, it was Moyer who spoke with the most weight and poignancy.
"We're playing like a bunch of (wimps)," Moyer told his teammates.
Only he didn't use the word "wimps." And his teammates loved it.
"He's awesome," Chase Utley said in the story.
"Moyer was good," Manuel said in the story. "He was very stern."
Afterwards, Salisbury talked to Moyer about the meeting and his role in it:
"I just wanted to give the team my feelings," he said. "I've always believed if you have things on your chest, you need to get them off. I tried to bring up points that I thought were valid and important to get across to my teammates.
"I'm at the point in my career where I want to win. That's it. I [re-signed] here because I thought this team had a really good chance of winning, because I liked what I saw late last season."
Moyer did offer a hint about his overall message.
"I've been around a long time, and I know that over the course of 162 games, there are times you may lose focus," he said. "You can't get caught up in personal things like 'I'm not hitting,' or 'I've allowed five home runs.'"
Moyer shrugged.
"I wasn't trying to offend anyone," he said. "If someone had a problem with it, they could have confronted me, but no one has."
And they say the old man can't bring the heat…
Read the entire report: Moyer's words were a spark when the Phillies were reeling
Baseball players like Josh Hancock are the Major Leagues. For the most part they go unnoticed, and usually don’t get selected to too many All-Star Games. But guys like Hancock fill a niche, work hard to help their teams and do whatever is asked of them.
For every Albert Pujols and Derek Jeter, there are a lot more guys like Hancock.
After a short stay with the Phillies as an emergency starter and farmhand for a couple of seasons, Hancock, it seemed, had found his role with Tony La Russa’s St. Louis Cardinals. Last season, after some success as a starter for the Reds in 2004, Hancock was the Cards’ long-man out of the bullpen. He got into 62 games, helped the Cardinals win the World Series last season and at 29, appeared to be on his way to a solid career.
That’s what makes the news of his death so unfathomable. He was there – he had proven himself…
“It hasn't really set in yet,” said Geoff Geary, Hancock’s spring training roommate in Clearwater a few years ago. “I didn't believe it. I had to go on the Internet to see it before it really made sense. And it still doesn't make sense, to be honest with you.”
It never will.
One of the true pleasures of watching baseball is pitchers like Jamie Moyer. With a fastball that could barely scuff a pane glass window and a repertoire that includes a changeup that he throws off his change and a decent curve, Moyer gets by more on smarts and guile than his arsenal of pitches.
Besides, who doesn’t like a guy that when watching at home one thinks, “Man, I bet I could hit those pitches… ”
Well, no. No you can’t.
What’s interesting is reading quotes from players like Aaron Boone, who, for the life of him, just can’t figure out Moyer. Yeah, he knows what’s coming and he knows when it’s coming, yet he still can’t hit it.
“It seems like you should be killing him,” Boone, of the Marlins told Todd Zolecki after yesterday’s loss to the Phillies at the Bank. “I haven't been able to figure it out yet. He's great at what he does.”
He added: “He's different from everybody, even guys I'm used to facing in the AL Central like [Mark] Buehrle and Kenny Rogers. Moyer, I've faced him a fair amount now and haven't had much success. Today was actually the best I thought he's pitched. However many pitches I saw against him, I didn't feel like he made a mistake.”
It seems as if that’s the key – Moyer just doesn’t make many mistakes. It’s more than trying to time an 81 m.p.h. fastball, too. After all, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux are two other pitchers that don’t throw too fast, either, and both of those 40-something pitchers are heading to the Hall of Fame when (and if) they retire.
For Moyer to last as long as he has in the big leagues is telling enough. After all, he started pitching in the Majors when Ronald Reagan was still president. But just hanging around isn’t much of an accomplishment for Moyer. No, Moyer, as John Updike wrote about Charlie Manuel’s hero, Ted Williams is “the classic ballplayer of the game on a hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill.”
It might not be anything as pomp as that, but having had the chance to talk to Moyer following his unspectacular but solid start against the Washington Nationals earlier last week, Moyer explained why he was disappointed about his starts despite the above-average stats.
“I’ve been struggling for three starts,” he said. “I’m not really concerned about my numbers, but I’m searching for consistency and I don’t feel as if I’ve been consistent. I haven’t found the consistency that I’m looking for. But, to be able to keep us in the game, I’m happy for that. I don’t feel as though I’m as sharp as I want to be, but I’m still able to keep it within reach.”
When I threw some of his numbers at him to argue a point about his production, Moyer said that the stats don’t really matter.
“You’re looking at numbers and I’m looking at what I’m trying to accomplish and create and it’s not there,” Moyer said.
To me, that’s a very striking statement. It doesn’t look like much sitting there in black and white on the page, but it really is quite telling. In a sense it was Moyer saying don’t let the statistics fool you because they really aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.
He’s definitely correct about that, and if you can excuse some self-indulgence I’ll try to explain the genius of Jamie Moyer.
Last November I ran a marathon in Harrisburg, Pa. where I was in shape to run in 2:36 to 2:45. At least that’s what all of the indications were based on workouts, races, age and other scientific formulas. But when the day of the race came the weather was less than conducive for those types of times. It rained steadily the entire day, there were puddles and standing water dotting the course and the wind whipped off the Susquehanna River directly into our faces for at least 14 miles of the race.
In the end, I finished in 2:54, which is respectable, but disappointing. However, over the last 5 to 6 miles of the race I ran as strong and tough as I ever had. Over that span I went from 12th to 6th place and felt strong in the knowledge that if the race was just a half-mile longer I could have jumped up a few spots in the final standings.
The point is that despite those closing miles where toughness and the hard work paid off, I still felt compelled to explain away my “poor” time. Jamie Moyer, in discussing his pitching – his art – understands the triteness of the statistics. Successful pitching in the big leagues is about so much more that even the most self-absorbed distance runner would ever understand.
In other words, I'm an idiot.
Still, Moyer’s statistics from yesterday’s gem against the Florida Marlins do tell the story about his outing. Two hits and two walks over 7 1/3 innings, including taking a no-hitter to the second out of the seventh inning – that’s hard to downplay.
Regardless, Moyer was upset about falling behind in the count early. Because he fell behind, 3-1, to Miguel Cabrera, he couldn’t escape the inning with the no-hitter intact.
“I was a little upset with myself for going from 2-1 to 3-1,” he said. “If I could have gone to 2-2, I think that at-bat, I'm not going to say the outcome would have been different, but my pitch selection would have been different.
“It's a pitch I wanted to make. He popped up that same pitch in the first inning. I know he's an out-over-the-plate hitter, and I've gotten him out over the plate. But I'm thinking that he's looking over the plate here, and I wanted to see if I could get him to pop it up or even take it.”
Moyer pitches again on Friday night in San Francisco. Watching him go up against lefty Barry Bonds should be pretty interesting.
***
The Phillies play the first of three games in Atlanta tonight, which forced me to dig this up from last season:
Ten years already!?
Watching a game from Turner Field makes me think about the summer of ’96 when Atlanta was the home for the Olympics and the Braves’ field was configured quite differently. These days, it’s a typical nouveau ballpark that have popped up in nearly every American city, only Turner Field, nee Olympic Stadium, plays slightly in favor of the pitchers.
Since the Braves bread-and-butter has always been their pitching prowess, it makes sense that the stadium developers would skew things that way. It also gets very hot and humid during the summertime in Atlanta, which often causes the baseball the sail a little farther. They didn’t nickname the Braves old stadium the Launching Pad because it was kitschy.
Anyway, I always have to remind myself that some of the most memorable sporting events that I have ever seen occurred in that stadium during that summer 10 years ago. I’ll never forget Muhammad Ali, dressed in white, dramatically appear out of nowhere to light the Olympic torch. Now I’m not one who gets all choked up or overly-sentimental at sporting events – that’s just not how I am, because it’s just a game – but imaging Ali atop that ramp that hot summer night still gives me chills.
Along with baseball, track, specifically the distance events, is my favorite sport to watch. Most people would call these two sports among the most dull to watch, but I can’t really think of anything more interesting. Needless to say, the track events at the Olympics are about as exciting as sports spectating gets.
Call me crazy.
Anyway, the track events on that famously hard track that ringed Turner Field produced some events that running geeks still talk about. Like, for instance, when American Bob Kennedy brazenly surged to the lead at the top of the curve of the last lap in the 5,000-meter finals. It was a move that was so daring and unexpected that I shrieked (not smart since the race wasn’t aired until nearly midnight and woke up the entire house) and thought of what a bad-ass Kennedy was even though he faded to sixth place.
That was how Prefontaine must have done it, I thought.
Along that outfield warning track is also where Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia beat Paul Tergat of Kenya in the 10,000-meter dream race where Geb solidified his legend with an Olympic record. The two will meet up again in the London Marathon next weekend in possibly the greatest collection of marathoners ever, but more on that at a later date.
But the image that really sticks in my mind is Michael Johnson coming off the curve in the 200-meter finals so fast that either his gold shoes were going to burst into flames or he was going to soar into the humid sky. How can anyone forget the shock on Johnson’s face when he turned around to see the clock and saw that he had just moved faster than any human being on two feet?
If it were up to me, I’d have plaques placed on the spot where all of those memorable events occurred.
Linkage: Ten years already!?
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the hardest part about running is simply getting out the door. But once that commitment has been made and those first, stiff-legged moments have passed, then it’s fun. Too much fun, in fact – sometimes it’s hard to stop.
Imagine that.
That’s the way it went all week. I really had to force myself out the door to start my pre-race routines and calisthenics in my front yard so that the neighbors can watch and wonder if I finally had lost my mind… well yeah, but not because of the running.
Anyway, I put together another consistent week just as I had said I would. I’m definitely getting stronger and should be ready to get into some serious training very soon. The issue with that is what to train for. I have two or three options in mind, but I want to see what happens over the next few weeks before I make a decision.
Like a lot of runners I’m prone to jump into a race or a training program without proper planning and I’m tired of that. The best way to do thing, I’ve learned, is to stick with a plan and follow it through. No secrets or surprises. Yes, it’s that easy.
Here’s how a pretty decent week played out:
Monday - 15.1 miles in 1:42:08
This was another grinder, but not because I was tired and my legs were heavy. It was a grinder because it was more than 80 damn degrees out there. The heat really made it tough, though I started out running at 6:30 pace. I'm definitely in no shape to race, but maybe that will change in a few weeks.
Tuesday - 13.3 miles in 1:28:41
I did the entire run on the grass and had planned on going fairly easy, but for some reason I ran a surge here or there. I started out in 6:57 pace and then took it down to 6:30 and kept it there for a little while. I ran the first 5 in 33:20 and the second 5 in 33:04 before cruising home. It's still hot out though there was a pretty nice breeze blowing that kept me from wilting.
Wednesday - 13.1 miles in 1:27:40
Surprisingly, I felt very strong and alert even though I didn't sleep particularly well. A 6:40 pace felt easy and effortless, which is good. This was definitely one of my better runs and I'm sure I could have done 30 miles at the same pace. Plus, the weather was really great.
Thursday - 10 miles in 66:04
Effortless. Actually, I was surprised that I went through the splits so quickly. The idea was to go easy and it felt that way. If I hadn't gotten out so late I would have run all day.
Friday - 13 miles in 1:26:41
Ran a few extra hills today just because. Other than that, I still feel strong and the weather was still perfect -- it was mid-50s, overcast with a nice breeze. Who knows, maybe I'm getting good at this?
Saturday - 13.2 miles in 1:29:04
The hardest part about running is simply getting out the door. Once you do that and then actually start running, it's a breeze. That's the way today's run felt. I was slow and sluggish in the very beginning, but once I got going, I kind of hammered. From about 30-minutes on I moved well.
Sunday - 8.3 miles in 56:20
The plan was to do a 5k tempo run or time trial today, but I got a late start getting out and the course I was going to run on was littered with people. The target time was 17:00 for 5k, but that will have to wait for another day. Either way, an easy day was the way to go today so that's what I did. Once I got loosened up I felt OK.
That’s 86 miles for the week, which is my most since doing 103 from Dec. 11-to-17.
Anyone can manipulate statistics to say whatever it is they want, but sometimes the cold, hard numbers on the page are simply too hard to ignore. For manager Charlie Manuel, Ryan Howard’s stats jump right off the page:
Try 4-for-27 (.148); 0-for-3 with two strikeouts; and .217.
Those stats indicate Howard’s hitting against left-handed pitchers so far this season, his record against the Florida Marlins’ lefty Dontrelle Willis this year, and finally his batting average for 2007.
That’s why it was so easy for Manuel to give Howard a night off to rest his, ahem, achy knee that he injured last week while running the bases in Washington. So in order to compensate for the struggling yet reigning NL MVP, Manuel will attack Willis and the Marlins with a lineup heavy with righties with one of the game’s hottest hitters in the leadoff and No. 3 slots.
Manuel’s order for Saturday night:
Aaron Rowand, cf
Shane Victorino, rf
Jimmy Rollins, ss
Chase Utley, 2b
Pat Burrell, lf
Wes Helms, 1b
Abraham Nunez, 3b
Rod Barajas, c
Adam Eaton, p
Today is the NFL Draft and I was asked if I was going work on a "mock draft." The quick answer is, "no."
Why should I mock the draft or mock the mock drafters? That's just mean. Besides, there are so many other things to mock. When it comes to mocking things, the draft doesn't rate that high.
In doing so, Top-Step came out swinging in his blog, called, creatively, 38pitches.com. Get it? He's a pitcher and he wears No. 38 so he called it 38pitches instead of something else less pithy. Anyway, Step offered $1 million to anyone who could prove that he wasn't bleeding like a stuck pig (I know… we used that term before) and his famous socks didn't get stained with the blood during the 2004 playoffs. During the same blog post, Schilling also found an opportunity to criticize media types, which is fair. Just as it's fair to wonder why Schilling is said to have switched from red colored socks in all of his starts in '04 to white hosiery specifically for those two playoff games. Hey, I'm not sayin' anything – I'm just sayin'… Be that as it may, just the idea of Curt Schilling with a blog is like giving a pyromaniac a Bic lighter. Regardless, Schilling is correct about one thing in his 38pitches.com post and that's way too much attention was spent on stains on one man's socks. That's why it would be a good idea to unleash some of the sporting press on the White House or Congressional beats. After watching Bill Moyers special on PBS last night, it seems like it would be a good idea. Did anyone happen to catch that documentary about the Washington press and their "collusion" with the government? It was incredibly riveting. But something like that would never, ever happen with the sporting press. For one thing, no one would ever be able to get together on a consensus point. And for another, simply, athletes don't have talking points, spinmeisters, pundits or PR people telling what to say, who to say it to and how to say it. The reason why is because they would never, ever be able to get away with it. If a pitcher gives up a home run to cost his team a game, he stands there and answers every question no matter how painful. Basically, he has to live his failure in the game on television in front of millions and then go into the sanctity of his clubhouse and relive it for the the scribes. That doesn't happen in Washington, which is odd because the idea that a relief pitcher is more accountable to the public than a politician is a little troubling. Of course we don't vote on the players or the managers either, so maybe it's a push. Anyway, watch the Bill Moyers special here. It's very interesting. To really get to the bottom of the Schilling Sock thing, go to The Zo Zone! You want to really know what it was on the sock? It was ketchup (not catsup).
It was just a matter of time before Curt Schilling responded to all the chit-chat and bloggy-blog fodder about whether his socks were, indeed, bloody during the Red Sox run to the World Series in 2004. On a bad day Schilling never needs an invitation to talk, so it's not surprising that Top-Step Schill offered his retort to the notion that his socks were less than authentic.
In a move that everyone saw coming and couldn’t have been less obvious unless it was broadcast by a skywriter, the Phillies optioned struggling lefty Matt Smith and recalled lefty Fabio Castro. With the Phillies Castro will be the lone lefty in the bullpen and will likely fill the role of lefty-on-lefty specialist that Smith was supposed to perform.
We say supposed to because Smith clearly didn’t do the job very well. Including last night’s game where he retired two hitters, but walked three and gave up a run, Smith had completed just four innings in nine appearances. During that span the opposition hit just .250 against Smith, but that’s because he was too busy walking a large number of hitters. Of the 27 hitters Smith had faced this season, he walked 11. Worse, of the 11 lefties he has faced, Smith has walked six and given up two hits.
So when Pat Gillick and Ruben Amaro were seen waiting in the coaches’ room just off the clubhouse following the 9-3 victory over the Nationals last night, it was pretty fair to guess that Smith was a topic of conversation.
“He's had a good chance to come in and face some lefties. With his command, he's having a hard time right now,” Charlie Manuel said about Smith, after noting that the reports on Castro from Ottawa had been good and that he was mulling over other options in facing opponents’ tough lefty hitters.
Castro was a Rule 5 selection for the Rangers last year before being traded to the Phillies. He spent most of the second half of the season sitting in the bullpen, though he got in 16 games with a 1.54 ERA. This season for Ottawa, Castro’s numbers mirror the good reports the manager has received. In six relief appearances, Castro was 2-0 with a 3.24 ERA and held opponents to a .194 average.
***
There are few different elements working here. First, it’s fair to paint me as a skeptic. Actually, skeptic might not be the right term – non-believer is more apt. And by non-believer I don’t mean anything other than what the words imply. It’s not that I don’t doubt certain things, I just don’t believe them. I don’t believe TV commercials, press releases, conspiracy theories or nihilism (say what you will about the tenets of National Socialism – at least it’s an ethos, Dude).
In that regard, when Curt Schilling showed up to pitch in the 2004 World Series and ALCS with that aesthetically packaged bloody sock with the neatly inscribed shoe for his cause de guerre and the so-called blood placed just so above the outer rim of his Reebok spikes, well, c’mon.
Certainly we’ve never known Curt Schilling as one prone to self-aggrandizing. He’s always been one to shy away from the limelight, right? In fact, isn’t he the guy who always says, “Could you please put those cameras down and turn those tape recorders off? Enough about me, I’ve gone on and on too much as it is… let’s hear about you.”
But 2½ years after the bloody sock became a little bit of folklore, people are still talking about it. And, much to my shock, there are skeptics out there. One, MASN baseball announcer Gary Thorne, even went so far as to say the entire thing was a hoax. How does Thorne know? Well, he says, red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli told him so.
Yeah, really.
Here’s how it went down according to published reports:
In the bottom of the fifth, according to multiple media reports, Orioles play-by-play man Gary Thorne said on the air that he had been told by Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli that the substance was paint, not blood.
“The great story we were talking about the other night was that famous red stocking that he wore when they finally won, the blood on his stocking,” Thorne told broadcast partner and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, according to media reports.
“Nah,” Thorne said. “It was painted. Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR. Two-ball, two-strike count.”
Two innings later, according to media reports, Thorne explained Mirabelli had told him the story “a couple of years ago.”
"Go ask him [Mirabelli]," Thorne said.
Needless to say, Mirabelli, Schilling and Red Sox skipper Terry Francona weren’t too happy in having the ruse, er… story, replayed all over again. Denials over Thorne’s accounts flew like blood from a ruptured superior vena cava.
According to reports:
“What? Are you kidding me? He's [expletive] lying. A straight lie,” Mirabelli said, according to The Boston Globe. “I never said that. I know it was blood. Everybody knows it was blood.”
“It gets stupider,” Schilling added, according to the newspaper. “I got the 9-inch scar for you. You can see it. ... There are some bad people in your line of work, man.”
Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe contacted Red Sox GM Theo Epstein via e-mail and got this response:
"You're kidding me, right?" Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein wrote in an e-mail last night. "I'm the GM of the team, not Jerry Springer. I couldn't give two [expletives] about what was on his sock, I care that we won the game. The rest, and Gary Thorne, is just noise.
Red Sox manager Terry Francona also questioned Thorne's version of the story.
“What Schill did that night on the sports field was one of the most incredible feats I ever witnessed,” Francona said, according to The Globe. “[Thorne's remarks] go so far past disappointing. Disrespectful to Schill, to his vocation. I'm stunned.
“I am just floored. Schill takes his share of shots, and this one is so far below the belt that I'm embarrassed and I wish somebody would have had the good conscience to ask me,” Francona said, according to the newspaper.
It should be noted that Mirabelli has been burned by conversations that he thought he was having in confidence in the past. It also should be noted that Schilling has talked, a lot, in the past as well.
It also should be noted that ESPN’s Jayson Stark believes Schilling bled like a stuck pig during the World Series and ALCS in 2004. That, and that alone, is good enough for me.
***
Speaking of Jayson Stark, check out what he wrote about today's starter, Cole Hamels under the sub-head "Cys in the making":
The other name is 23-year-old Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels. Just last Saturday, Hamels struck out 15 Reds, in only the 27th start of his career. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only four other pitchers in the last 25 years have had that big a strikeout game that early in their careers -- Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood (twice), Hideo Nomo and Greg Swindell. One scout who watched Hamels told Rumblings he'd vote for him for the Cy Young right now.
"I would never say he had a better changeup than Johan Santana, because nobody's better than Santana," the scout said. "But let's just say Santana's change is no better than this guy's. It's just as good. And I can't give any higher praise than that. They never made contact with it the whole night. He kept throwing it, and they kept swinging right through it."
One of the perks of writing about baseball is listening to the pros talk about their craft. Actually, it’s better than a perk – with the notebooks put away and the tape recorders put away, there’s nothing better than letting the stories flow.
Before tonight’s game against the Nationals at the Bank, manager Charlie Manuel sat down with a bunch of the writers and a TV reporter and talked about hitting. And then he talked and talked and talked some more. During a typical pre-game chat with the writers, Charlie goes for about 10 to 20 minutes depending on the purpose and the news of the day starting at approximately 4 p.m. But today when it was all wrapped up and all the ideas had been exhausted, it was after 5 p.m.
Where had the time gone?
One thing is for certain: when it comes to hitting and the ideas behind successful hitting, there are very few people on the planet who are true students of it than Charlie Manuel. He relate stories about conversations he’s had with Ted Williams that lasted for four hours as the pair went on and on and on talking about the way to become the best hitter.
He talked about studying different theories and how he keeps a copy of Ted Williams’ book of hitting in several rooms of his home so he can pick it up for a quick read. Mostly he explained where the power comes from in a swing and how even good hitters can over think the simple essence of hitting.
Tons of names and styles were broached from George Brett to Rod Carew to Tony Oliva (a Manuel favorite) to Brian Downing. Then some smart-alecky dude brought up Walt Hriniak and his theories to really set the manager off.
Some were afraid that particular writer was going to drone on about the Boston Marathon and how it relates to Hriniak, Charley Lau and other such silliness. Fortunately, he muzzled himself quickly.
The sad part was that it was a side of Manuel that some in the media and the fandom are unwilling to understand or acknowledge and that’s Charlie Manuel has forgotten more about hitting than most people will ever come to know. Sure, he has his flaws as a manager – there is no denying that. But Manuel is part of a dwindling cadre of old-school baseball men will do anything to be a part of the game.
That’s hard not to like.
Anyway, here’s the point… baseball is all about stories. For some of us chasing them and collecting them is truly Quixotic and Manuel is an incredible source.
According to Major League Baseball’s rule 21-b, the Twins’ Torii Hunter could face a three-year suspension. The rule as it is written, prohibits anyone connected with a particular team from offering a gift or reward to a person connected with another team.
Gift for defeating competing club. Any player or person connected with a Club who shall offer or give any gift or reward to a player or person connected with another Club for services rendered or supposed to be or to have been rendered in defeating or attempting to defeat a competing Club, and any player or person connected with a Club who shall solicit or accept from a player connected with another Club any gift or reward for any services rendered, or supposed to have been rendered, or who, having been offered any such gift or reward, shall fail to inform his League President or the Commissioner or the President of the Minor League Association, as the case may be, immediately of such offer, and of all facts and circumstances connected therewith, shall be declared ineligible for not less than three years.
Yeah, three years.
In other words, Hunter potentially could have sent the Kansas City Royals the most expensive case of Dom Perignon ever.
The reason for the gift (for those unfamiliar with the story) was to reward the Royals for their late-season sweep over the Detroit Tigers in 2006 which opened the door for the Twins to win the AL Central.
Fortunately, it appears as if reason will win out. Hunter’s gift was made in fun and it doesn’t seem as if the penalty will be anything more than a slap on the wrist. Hunter only sent four bottles of champagne to the Royals, who sent the unopened ones back when they learned about the flap.
However, it’s worth noting that Major League Baseball’s gift policy is much tougher than its stance on performance-enhancing drugs.
***
Speaking of performance-enhancing drugs, it appears as if the Floyd Landis case has once again resurfaced. According to the French bastion of journalism ethics, L’Equipe, Landis’s failed drug test from last summer’s Tour de France revealed a synthetic steroid. The paper knows this because it ran the leaked results that may or may not be true.
According to the Rant Your Head Off blog, here’s the deal:
- L’Equipe has a very good source at LNDD and that the source repeatedly leaks information about test results
- L’Equipe’s source claims the results show testosterone use in other stages of the Tour, but no actual proof is offered to back up those claims
- Testing performed over the last week, according to Landis’ lawyers, was done at the direction of USADA’s outside counsel
- USADA’s observers and lawyer had full access to all aspects and phases of the testing, while Landis’ observers were denied access to crucial parts of the analysis
- LNDD, under the direction of USADA, are able to come up with “evidence” against Landis that supports the LNDD’s conclusions from Stage 17
- The Arbitration panel, though ruling that an independent observer must be present for any testing performed, had no independent observer at the testing
- News of Landis’ supposed results has already circled the globe
What we don’t know is this:
- Whether or not the reports in L’Equipe and other newspapers are true
- If the reports are true, we don’t know what exactly the results were or whether LNDD’s conclusions are, in fact, correct. If they are similar to the results from Stage 17, it may be arguable whether or not there is any evidence of synthetic testosterone in Landis’ system during the Tour
- When (or if) Landis’ defense team will be provided with the test results
- Whether the arbitration panel will allow the results as evidence, given that their own order that an independent observer be present was ignored
It doesn’t appear that anything will be resolved in this case before the 2007 Tour de France, not does it seem as if Landis – innocent or guilty – will get a truly fair hearing.
***
I finally tried the veggie cheesesteak (yes, I am away of the oxymoron there) and will offer a full review either tomorrow or the next day. I even took pictures.
There’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned freakout/team meeting to get things rolling for Charlie Manuel’s team. Currently riding a season-best three-game winning streak, the Phillies have gone from the worst record in the Majors to the current second-best winning streak in baseball.
Last season, as everyone recalls, Manuel wigged out in the dugout between innings of a game in Florida and the Phillies promptly won nine in a row and 13 of 14. At 7-11, the Phillies are one game behind where they were last season at this time.
So the Phillies – with the wins and hits finally rolling in and three games against the lowly Washington Nationals coming up – are on the way. Right?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Instead, the question now is who is the closer? Does Tom Gordon hold onto the role by default or is it there for Brett Myers to snatch away? Before yesterday’s game Manuel didn’t really clear that up.
Or did he?
“It depends on how quick Brett (Myers) can come along," Manuel said. “Gordon is our closer and we're committed to him until Brett becomes better or whatever and we'll just have to see from there. Gordon still has good stuff. I think the fact he's gotten hit is the location of the pitches he's thrown.
“At the same time, we have to get Myers out there in a save situation to see how things go.”
As offered in a previous post, Gordon’s fastball still has its velocity but is struggling with the command with his curve. Plus, at 39, Gordon has a lot of miles on his arm over the last 19 seasons in the Majors. By all accounts Gordon should be able to handle the closer’s role for the foreseeable future though his success will depend on how often he’s used.
Gordon was used pretty heavily last season and responded with an All-Star season until coming up with a tired arm in August. He also missed some time during spring training to have his right arm checked out, which is nothing new. He missed the same amount of time during spring training of 2006 and bounced back fairly well.
Regardless, it appears as if Manuel is going to give Gordon every chance to hold onto the closer’s role. If he can’t do it, well, it appears as if there is a substitute waiting in for the call in the lower bullpen just beyond the center field fence.
“I don't know if it's a competition but let me put it this way I hope it's a good setting for both of them because then we can have a strong bullpen,” Manuel said.
A true giant and possibly the greatest journalist ever.
Today’s London Marathon featured another stellar field that was arguably the deepest race outside of the Olympics. According to press notes, the London Marathon was televised in 160 countries to well over a million viewers, none of which were in the United States.
To watch the race live in the U.S. fans had to get up at 4 a.m. and get on the Internets to check it out. Or, watch the tape delay here where *SPOILER ALERT* Kenyan Martin Lel outlasted American Khalid Khannouchi, world-record holder Paul Tergat, all-time great Haile Gebrselassie, Olympic gold medalist Stefano Baldini, two-time world champion Jaouad Gharib, and NYC champs Hendrick Ramaala and Marilson Gomes dos Santos. Lel won in 2:07:41 over Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco in his marathon debut in 2:07:44, and last year's champion, Felix Limo of Kenya, was third in 2:07:47. Lel lost to Limo in a sprint finish last year.
Afterwards, Lel said the marathon was one of the most tactical he had ever raced.
But for fans of American marathoning, the 2007 London Marathon could be a watershed moment. Why? Two words:
Hall, just 24, ran the fastest debut marathon for an American ever by clocking a 2:08:24 for seventh place. He was 18 seconds behind Tergat and 30 seconds behind two-time world champion Jaouad Gharib.
It was the fastest marathon ever run by a someone born in the United States.
Most impressively, Hall (a 2006 Stanford grad who trains in Big Bear, Calif. with Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi as well as former local elite runner Terrance Mahon) not only ran in the lead pack until the final mile and a half of the race, but he also actually took the lead at the 35-kilometer mark. To do that against those runners takes more than guts – that takes brass ones. Big and brassy.
“I dreamed about being with those guys for 23 miles and I did that today and I took my swing,” Hall said after the race. “Hopefully I’ll be a bit stronger next time and run a bit smarter.”
In the end, though, the more experienced runners surged away from Hall though he said he thought he had a chance to catch up until he started tightening up. Nevertheless, for Hall, who smashed the American half-marathon record (59:43) in Houston last January, the next big race is on Nov. 3 at the Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City. If he finishes in the top three in that race, it’s off to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
For Hall, who threw down with the all-time greats in the sport, that seems like a foregone conclusion.
“With the Olympics coming up so quick, I really want to take a swing at a medal,” Hall said today. “If I’m going to do that, my best shot is going to be in the marathon.”
***
Hardly a big-time, Ryan Hall-type effort, but I’m getting there. I’m starting to feel more comfortable with the daily distance and I’m bouncing back from day-to-day fairly well. The one thing, though, is that I’ve needed a lot of sleep – eight hours at the minimum. I’m also going to have to get back in to some ART treatments, but that’s a different story. The bottom line was that I was after some consistency and I think I’m getting there. Now all I need are some weekly long runs and some quality workouts.
It’s that simple.
Anyway:
Monday - 13 miles in 1:29:06
More crazy, wacky weather. The Nor'easter is still tearing through and making a mess, but I was able to get out even though the wind was howling around 30 mph. It didn't really bother me until I got into some exposed areas and I was surprised that I didn't see more downed tree limbs, etc. Anyway, the conditions were not ideal, but I enjoyed the easy run. In fact, when I finished and went into the house I thought, “Was that it? That was easy.”
Tuesday - 13 miles in 1:27:55
A lot like yesterday except that I felt much stronger early. I kept good form, which helped my speed though I didn't really try to do anything other than run strong. The weather is still goofy, though I enjoyed today's temps. I'll take high 40s-low 50s any time.
Wednesday - 13 miles in 1:28:55
Pretty much the same thing as every other day... I'm running and running strong. I actually feel like I've been pulling back as far as the distance goes, which very well may be the case.
Thursday - no run
I got home at 3 a.m. after going to Washington for a baseball game. I also got up early with very little sleep because I had Michael all day. By the time I was able to get away for a run, I was too tired. I ended up going to bed at 8:15 p.m.
Friday - 14.5 miles in 1:38:25
The weather finally broke. It was 70 degrees and maybe that is what made me tire around 8 or 9 miles. Either way, I felt decent running but a little slow at the end.
Saturday - 15 miles in 1:41:43
When I started I felt a little heavy and tight. Fortunately, I stuck it out. I guess this was a grinder.
Sunday - 7.5 miles in 51:04
That's why I'm easy... I'm easy like Sunday morning. This was the perfect, easy Sunday run. I ran until it seemed like a good time to stop and that was it. I didn't exert myself, but I didn't walk either.
Second straight week of 76 miles. I’m going to do 83 to 85 next week.
Today’s London Marathon featured another stellar field that was arguably the deepest race outside of the Olympics. According to press notes, the London Marathon was televised in 160 countries to well over a million viewers, none of which were in the United States.
To watch the race live in the U.S. fans had to get up at 4 a.m. and get on the Internets to check it out. Or, watch the tape delay here where *SPOILER ALERT* Kenyan Martin Lel outlasted American Khalid Khannouchi, world-record holder Paul Tergat, all-time great Haile Gebrselassie, Olympic gold medalist Stefano Baldini, two-time world champion Jaouad Gharib, and NYC champs Hendrick Ramaala and Marilson Gomes dos Santos. Lel won in 2:07:41 over Abderrahim Goumri of Morocco in his marathon debut in 2:07:44, and last year's champion, Felix Limo of Kenya, was third in 2:07:47. Lel lost to Limo in a sprint finish last year.
Afterwards, Lel said the marathon was one of the most tactical he had ever raced.
But for fans of American marathoning, the 2007 London Marathon could be a watershed moment. Why? Two words:
Hall, just 24, ran the fastest debut marathon for an American ever by clocking a 2:08:24 for seventh place. He was 18 seconds behind Tergat and 30 seconds behind two-time world champion Jaouad Gharib.
It was the fastest marathon ever run by a someone born in the United States.
Most impressively, Hall (a 2006 Stanford grad who trains in Big Bear, Calif. with Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi as well as former local elite runner Terrance Mahon) not only ran in the lead pack until the final mile and a half of the race, but he also actually took the lead at the 35-kilometer mark. To do that against those runners takes more than guts – that takes brass ones. Big and brassy.
“I dreamed about being with those guys for 23 miles and I did that today and I took my swing,” Hall said after the race. “Hopefully I’ll be a bit stronger next time and run a bit smarter.”
In the end, though, the more experienced runners surged away from Hall though he said he thought he had a chance to catch up until he started tightening up. Nevertheless, for Hall, who smashed the American half-marathon record (59:43) in Houston last January, the next big race is on Nov. 3 at the Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City. If he finishes in the top three in that race, it’s off to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
For Hall, who threw down with the all-time greats in the sport, that seems like a foregone conclusion.
“With the Olympics coming up so quick, I really want to take a swing at a medal,” Hall said today. “If I’m going to do that, my best shot is going to be in the marathon.”
***
Speaking of young kids mixing it up with the elites of their field, check out Cole Hamels. Like Hall mixing it up with Tergat, Gebrselassie, Khannouchi, et al, Hamels may have set the fickle pendulum of momentum swinging back the Phillies’ way after a 15-strikeout, complete game on Friday night in Cincinnati.
Hamels’ latest outing was certainly a work of art, but at the same time it made me look smart, too. When asked about Hamels by friends and followers of the sport my opinion is always the same.
“The kid is a killer. On the mound he’s nasty and smart. Of the field he’s smarter and has it all together. He trains smart and is definitely ahead of everyone else.
“We could be looking at a second Steve Carlton here, only without a case of the crazies.”
That’s right. Hamels is that good. I bet he could run with Ryan Hall, too. Of course he’s listed at 6-foot-3 and 175-pounds – to be a good runner at that size he’d have to lose a good 20 pounds.
Nobody likes a second-guesser or a Monday morning quarterback. Those types swoop in after the fact and offer a told-you-so type of opinion that really is quite gutless. Where were they on the first guess, is what I want to know. For those of us struggling with the first guess, we need all the help we can get. If the second-guessers are so smart, jump in and help out the first time.
Second guessing is unoriginal and boring. But sports-type people have dined out on it for decades. That said, let’s dish a little on the eighth and ninth innings of the Phillies’ inexplicable, 2-1 loss to the Reds, shall we?
What, you think we’re too good for second-guessing Charlie Manuel.
Ha!
Actually, my second guess is very simple and uncomplicated. I am, at heart, a simpleton – maybe even a little naïve, but that’s a different story. If something is broken, fix it. Otherwise, leave it alone. Simple.
But with Brett Myers, a starter for his entire career until two days ago, the manager Charlie Manuel was victimized by some compartmental thinking on Friday night in Cincinnati. By compartmental thinking we mean the set-up man pitches the eighth inning and the so-called closer pitches the ninth inning and never shall the two overlap. On Friday that thinking cost the Phillies the game.
Brett Myers should have pitched the eighth and the ninth innings on Friday. It’s as simple as that. Tom Gordon, the closer for now, has struggled all season long and admits that he is a bit behind because he took a week off during spring training to have his shoulder checked out. He also seems to rely much more on his fastball as opposed to his go-to curve.
Plus, Gordon struggled to get a save against the Nationals just the day before and since Manuel said he was reluctant to use the so-called closer on back-to-back days after he struggled during the second-half of 2006 because of overuse, it seemed like using Myers for two innings was logical.
Besides, who says a closer can only pitch the ninth? Under Manuel, Gordon pitched 59 1/3 innings in 59 games in 2006, while Billy Wagner worked 77 2/3 innings in 75 appearances. Clearly that shows that closers work just one inning for Manuel.
Brett Myers doesn’t have to be so limited. He was a workhorse starter just this week who averaged close to seven innings per outing during his career. So what does it hurt if he closes out a game by going two innings? Gordon’s ego, perhaps? Please. At 4-11 the Phillies are long past worrying about such trivialities. The point is if Myers is going to be moved to the bullpen to pacify Jon Lieber (who pitched rather well as a starter on Friday night – looks like he was “comfortable” after pouting his way back into the rotation), he should be used as a weapon instead of just a cog in the machine.
Asked about it after the loss to the Reds, Manuel told reporters: “Right now, Gordon is our closer. He's been a closer. We signed him to be a closer. . . . That's something we haven't even discussed, and in some ways there's no need to discuss it. We've got to get him sharp. The stuff is there.”
Joe Torre uses Mariano Rivera for two-inning saves from time to time. Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, Lee Smith, Rich Gossage and Kent Tekulve (among others) pitched multiple innings as a matter of course during their work closing out games.
So why couldn’t Brett Myers do that on Friday night?
Deadspin's A.J. Daulerio has the 2007 Phillies figured out... it's those damn zebras.
I think we're just about there, folks.
With a 4-10 record, the Phillies are the worst team in Major League Baseball. That should be surprising. After all, a lot of smart people who get paid a more-than-fair wage to know specifically about such things believed that the Phillies were not only the team that should win the NL East, but also were a team that could go to the World Series.
I never believed any of it. Not that the Phillies were a playoff team, a division-winning team, or a World Series-bound team. For some reason, Pat Gillick’s assessment from last July that his team was at least two years away from competition for a wild-card spot made sense. Maybe I was wrong not to move past that, but for some reason it just seemed to make sense even though the Phillies went on that late-season tear to crawl into the playoff chase.
Apropos of nothing, if I were the commissioner of baseball, football or hockey, I would not allow people that operate a gambling web site to have access to my teams in any way shape or form. I most definitely would not issue them press credentials.
Regardless, no one – from the folks who thought the Phillies were playoff-bound in 2007, to the folks who thought they’d win another 85-88 games like they do every year – believed the Phillies would have stumbled out of the gate so poorly. The worst record in baseball just two weeks into the season was inconceivable, but that’s where we are. The New York Times even documented the team's swoon.
To get out of it, Charlie Manuel took his Opening Day starter, the same guy the team’s brass invested nearly $26 million in for the next three season, and shifted him to the bullpen. Yes, the bullpen has been the bane for the Phillies, and yes, it is the one thing the manager, pundits, scouts and other team officials said was the team’s biggest weakness, but to move the team’s best starter to the bullpen is really remarkable.
In doing so, a few things must be going on. One is that Gillick must be committed to Manuel for better or for worse. The reason for this belief is because Gillick ultimately had the final say in whether Manuel and pitching coach Rich Dubee’s plan to make Myers a reliever would occur. So in agreeing to the plan Gillick is backing the manager’s plan to remove a guaranteed 200-plus innings from the starting five. That comes to nearly seven innings per outing every five days.
That’s a brave decision. Some say a desperate decision.
Another train of thought could be that Gillick still believes what he said last July and is still tinkering and retooling. According to what the GM said when dealing away Bobby Abreu and Cory Lidle was that 2007 was going to be a rebuilding or wash-out year. As of right now that is very much the case unless something happens.
Very quickly.
Apropos of nothing, I’ve witnessed Charlie Manuel get angry. More than a few times, as a matter of fact.
Regular readers of this site know that I’m no fan of sports talk radio. That’s mostly because it makes me feel stupid or like I need to take a shower. And certainly I don’t need any help feeling stupid. There are exceptions to this, of course. Occasionally, Marcus Hayes appears on the local NPR station to talk about baseball and it’s always very good. The discussions are informative, engaging and civil and Marcus is well-behaved, too. Be that as it may, when I’m off the NPR jag I like to listen to Keith Olbermann on Dan Patrick’s show. In fact, I subscribe to the podcast so that I can listen in my car when I’m on the way home from the ballpark late at night…
Anyway, Olbermann and Patrick were discussing the Phillies on the April 18 edition of the show where they did not express any type of surprise at the team’s rough start. Actually, Olbermann says he expected it and even played old shows to prove he just wasn’t whistling a dirge.
Dan Patrick: Keith Olbermann called it during spring training pertaining to the Phillies’ chances this year.
Keith Olbermann: I’m a little worried about the Phillies. What I saw there looked like chaos to me and I don’t know if it’s going to go well.
Olbermann added:
“I think Charlie Manuel is going to get fired. I think the Phillies have woefully mismanaged their pitching staff. They have starters who should be relieving and relievers who should be starting and it’s a mess. The batting order is a mistake. Pat Burrell was not the guy to bat behind Ryan Howard and it’s going to ruin Ryan Howard this season and it’s even going to hurt Chase Utley ahead of him because they’re going to pitch around Howard and Utley isn’t going to have a chance to steal bases. Wes Helms at third base might be a good hitter, but they are just now noticing that he might not be the most mobile infielder. There are a lot of problems and I’m not really sure if Charlie Manuel is a good manager.”
Anyway, Manuel didn’t hide the fact that he would not have moved Myers to the bullpen and Jon Lieber back to the rotation if the team was 10-4 instead of 4-10. Yes, the desperation is that obvious.
Apropos of nothing, the second one stars in a commercial or asks for an autograph, that person is no longer a journalist.