Crazy and hectic here with work, running and the fourth-birthday extravaganza. I'll be back tonight or tomorrow with the very latest on coffee, running, the calf muscle, Shane Victorino and Cole Hamels vs. Johan Santana.
OK, I was correct in predicting that Ryan Hall would be the first person born in the United States to break 2:08 in the marathon this morning in London. That much was a given based on how well Hall was training and his times in the first two marathons he ran.
The fact is Hall's 2:09:02 over a difficult course in New York City for the Olympic Trials last November was worth at least two minutes on any other course.
But today in London Hall let it all out. Not only was he the first American-born runner to break 2:08 in the marathon, but he also is the first American-born runner to break 2:07 by checking in with a 2:06:15.
Yeah... 2:06.
Pennsylvanian Brian Sell is heading to the Olympics for the United States this August and he hasn't gone under 2:10. Sell is as tough and gritty a runner in the world, but, geez... 2:06!
Get this -- he finished fifth in the race. Fifth! He went out on world-record pace through the first half, set an American record for 25k during the race, faded to sixth place for a stretch before re-grouping to dive back into the lead pack with less than 5 miles to go in the race.
Martin Lel, the defending champ of the New York City Marathon, won the London race in a course-record 2:05:15.
Nevertheless, before the race defending Olympian champion Stefano Baldini said of Hall: "He is the future."
He's just 25, still hasn't reached his prime years for an endurance athlete and has the Olympics coming up in August in dirty Beijing...
What's next?
P.S. Hall's coach is local dude, Terrence Mahon, an all-American from Villanova.
Yes, the injury gremlin has reared its ugly, green head filled with razor-sharp teeth and venom.
In other words, the Phillies lost their second leadoff hitter in less than a week on Saturday night when Shane Victorino injured his right calf running for home on a wild pitch in the fifth inning of Saturday night's victory of the Cubs.
It's the same injury that sidelined Victorino for three weeks in August last season.
"He was hurting when I took him out of the game," Charlie Manuel said.
More on Victorino's injury, the calf muscle and other stuff tomorrow morning. I want to go home.
There are a few interesting things going on around baseball (OK, I made that up, but bear with me) but the big chatter around the ballpark this afternoon is that Jimmy Rollins will sit out of his third straight game with an injured ankle suffered during Tuesday’s game against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium.
Rollins did not start the past two games, but pinch hit during last night’s extra-inning loss to the Mets.
With Rollins out again, Eric Bruntlett will get another starting nod at shortstop.
Here’s the Phillies’ lineup for Friday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs and pitcher Carlos Zambrano:
8 – Shane Victorino, cf 19 – Greg Dobbs, 3b 26 – Chase Utley, 2b 6 – Ryan Howard, 1b 5 – Pat Burrell, lf 10 – Geoff Jenkins, rf 51 – Carlos Ruiz, c 4 – Eric Bruntlett, ss 39 – Brett Myers, p
Here's a little secret: I'm going to write about Brett Myers and his outing this evening. Myers is looking for his first good start of the season after two pretty bad ones. I wrote about those, too.
Certainly the Masters isn't what it used to be. The course has changed in order to reign in the game of one particular player and there is absolutely no way the proletariat will ever be admitted past the giant hedges and steely gates that separates Augusta National from all the chain stores, strip malls and sprawl that surrounds it.
The fact is Augusta National and the Masters is mainstream elitism on full display. I suppose folks can take that for what it's worth, but they sure do know how to put on a good golf tournament down there. Better yet, Masters weekend could be the most properly hyped sporting event out there. Based on the TV ratings the NCAA Tournament doesn't quite pack them in any more. Perhaps that's because of the ridiculously tired and hokey "One Shining Moment" malarkey. Come on already, they're pro athletes... enough with the fairy tales. The TV networks can save those tired old bits for the Olympics lest the protests and attention to China's human-rights violations make advertisers squirm.
News, apparently, is a product too.
Anyway, Along with the Kentucky Derby, which one can attend and not even see a damned horse, the Masters is a must-watch event.
At least it is here. Hey, clearly I'm prone to hyperbole.
Nevertheless, a big sporting event demands bold predictions. Actually, how bold will it be to pick the best golfer in the world, or a guy who grew up in your wife's neighborhood to win the biggest golf tournament in the world?
Nope, not bold at all.
Enough blathering. Here's my prediction for the top foursome at this year's Masters:
- Tiger Woods - yeah, going out on a limb there.
- Jim Furyk - what's bigger... hitting a 20-footer at the buzzer to beat Lebanon to win the Section 1 title game for Manheim Township, or another Top 5 finish at the Masters?
Hey, at the time it was a pretty clutch shot...
- Ernie Els - He's won three majors (U.S. Open twice; British Open), but has finished second at the Masters twice in 2000 and 2004. Maybe he's ready to breakthrough.
- Padraig Harrington - the Irishman is the defending Open champ and has three Top 10 finishes in the last eight major tournaments. Then again, he's also missed the cut in three of the last eight majors, too.
*** The London Marathon also takes place this weekend. Here's a prediction: Ryan Hall will become the first American-born runner to break 2:08.
Hall, of course, won last November's marathon Olympic Trials in New York City and is coached by former Villanova standout, Terrence Mahon.
There is no easy way to get to Shea Stadium. There are no back routes or shortcuts. Take the Verrazano Bridge through Staten Island and over to Brooklyn and you will get stuck on the Belt Parkway. If you go farther north to the George Washington to cross through the South Bronx over the Triborough into Queens and you're done before you get off 95.
The best move is to go through the Holland Tunnel and then through Manhattan to the Queens Midtown Tunnel to the Long Island Expressway and finally to the Grand Central. But even that's a crapshoot depending on all sorts of variables.
If the natives have any secrets to get to the old stadium deep in the heart of Queens, they didn't trickle down this way.
Nevertheless, the best way to get to Shea to see the Mets is Amtrak to Penn Station and then a short walk over to Grand Central Station to hop on the No. 7 train.
But even that's stressful, though not the way confirmed moron John Rocker would lead one to believe. The worst part about taking the No. 7 train from Grand Central to Shea isn't the other people - that's the best part. In fact, it's very difficult not to be entertained and/or to make friends on the ride out to Flushing. No, the worst is getting on the local train and making all the damn stops.
It takes forever.
It's one thing if an arduous journey leads to a magnificent destination, but that's not the case with Shea. For folks like me with a press pass, Shea is a mess. Even in the press box there are obstructed views, tight quarters in a room with far too few seats and a work area built for a different era when people were the size of Shetland ponies and weren't lugging around laptop computers.
The media dining room is just as cramped, but at least they have a sundae bar and a real caterer.
It's not much better for the players, either. Both the home and the visiting clubhouses are small with amenities that clearly aren't up to date. The dugouts are old, deep and seemingly crumbling.
The elevators don't work well, the parking is scarce and the location is a drag. Nothing against Flushing or the borough of Queens, but what was Robert Moses thinking? He built all those freeways, bridges and tunnels, uprooted neighborhoods and displaced folks from their homes and he didn't anticipate the traffic?
Some visionary he was.
Anyway, as most folks who follow this sort of thing have heard, this is the last season for the Mets at Shea Stadium before the team moves across the parking lot to spanking new Citi Field. Judging from the way the new ballpark is sprouting over the outfield fence and casting its big shadow over tired, old Shea, it looks as if things are moving as planned.
Thankfully, there are 80 games to go at Shea.
Still, it's fair to say that Shea Stadium gets a bad rap from guys like me. The truth of the matter is that there are places far worse than Shea that are celebrated with unironic and overwrought prose about the nostalgic ardor about such buildings. From this vantage point, Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, the Palestra, Wrigley Field are not great either, but aside from Yankee Stadium there are no plans to replace any of those places.
So here's the question: did places like Shea Stadium, or RFK or even Veterans Stadium get old really fast? Or did our needs change?
In other words, did we get soft?
Certainly Veterans Stadium limped to the finish line, and clearly RFK was not properly equipped to host Major League Baseball for three years. But Shea hosted a World Series not too long ago and if the more popular and "historic" Yankee Stadium weren't also being retired at the end of this year, chances are Shea could have been home to this year's All-Star Game.
But after we get through all the traffic, the crowds, the stress and all that goes with it to find our way out to Queens and Shea Stadium, chances are we're going to see something interesting. After all, it is New York where even the most mundane occurrences seem to take on greater importance.
And lots of things have happened in the not-so distant past at ol' Shea. To prove it, I dug up an old essay from two years ago:
It Happened at Shea
In 1964 when Shea Stadium opened, it was probably a really big deal. Right next door was where they were having the World's Fair, which sounds like it was a pretty big deal. A World's Fair? Can you imagine such a thing? These days there would be a Serbia and a Montenegro booth.
Nevertheless, there has been a lot of history at Shea Stadium since 1964. In fact, the very first stadium concert occurred there in August of 1965 when the Beatles played on a stage just beyond the infield dirt. In Beatle-insider Peter Brown's account of the event in The Love You Make, the group was pretty weirded out about being at Shea. You see, back in those days the monitors, microphones, and sound system wasn't very good. There were no fiber optics, wireless devices or Clair Bros. rigging up the sound. So in 1965 the Beatles had trouble hearing the notes they played or the words they said or sang. Mix that with blinding lights zeroing in on them and the area in front of the stage lined with cops and handicapped kids in order to keep both out of harm's way, and the Beatles felt as if they were in a Dali painting.
When the Beatles looked out to the audience at Shea, they couldn't hear even though they were making noise and all they could see was crippled kids and cops just inches away.
Muhammad Ali fought Antonio Inoki at Shea, while Joe Namath and the Jets, the Yankees, Pope John Paul II, and Darryl Strawberry all played there.
Just off the infield dirt behind first base is where Buckner missed the ball and there isn't even a plaque or a statue to commemorate it.
Better yet, Shea Stadium is where The Clash put the final touches on their conquering of America with two shows in October of 1982 in support of The Who. Soon, after the legendary shows famously documented by filmmaker Don Letts, The Clash officially were dubbed "the only band that matters."
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1Gn0e7kvTA&hl=en]
You're damned right.
But for the baseball scribes of Philadelphia, Shea is where all the bleep goes down. In 2003, Matt Yallof and Larry Bowa had a bit of run-in along the third-base line in a taped segment of "Bowa Unplugged." Later, Yallof spent the entire ride back from Queens to Philadelphia performing an interview where yours truly posed as Bowa and he was a old-timey and fast-talking reporter from the 1940s lost in the new century.
After the second hour, the act got a little old but we still pressed on.
The fallout from the so-called "Snub," where Pat Burrell refused to slap five with Bowa by taking the back entrance to the dugout, followed quickly by the Tyler Houston ouster occurred the day after Yallof's little tiff. I'll never forget the look on Camden Courier Post columnist Kevin Roberts' face as he walked out of that tiny little visitor's clubhouse - the same clubhouse where Bob Costas waited to give Red Sox owner Jean Yawkey the team's first World Series trophy since 1918 during Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, only to watch as workers scurried to tear down the makeshift podium and protective plastic covering the lockers as the Mets rallied. The workers somehow tore down a podium, protective plastic, removed the champagne and all evidence of an impending celebration in the time it took for the ball to trickle through Buckner's legs until the team stomped off the field, through the passageway in the dugout and into the clubhouse.
I'll also never forget what Sully Stansberry said to me when I asked him how he saw Pat Burrell give Bowa the snub.
"I watch the [!] game," Sully said.
Good idea.
The next year, in 2004, Billy Wagner was tossed from that game on Sept. 11 while 2005 was nearly the scene of the a rumble between some writers and Tomas Perez as he took it upon himself to defend the honor of Miss Venezuela. If the Pie Man won't stand up for a beauty queen, who will?
What will happen next at Shea? God only knows.
So I accidentally click on some online ad and the next thing I find out is some web site wants my credit card number and everyone in my e-mail list gets some sort of notice that I'm "looking for them." The truth is I'm not looking for anyone. Everyone I want to find is right where I left them.
Anyway, if you got an annoying e-mail from Classmates or Reunion or whateverthehell.com, delete it and accept my apology.
With Facebook and My Space and all of that, what's the point of Classmates and Renunion.com anyway? What a waste of server space.
OK. More on the Phillies and Mets as well as Shea Stadium later... and sorry for being an idiot.
Today my soon-to-be four-year old told me: "Baseball is boring."
I have to admit that I'm beaming at pride with the intelligence of the boy. After all, he's only ever attended one Major League game (Phillies vs. Rockies at Coors Field in July of 2005), he has never seen a Grapefruit League game and hasn't had to watch a team grind the season to a close when its 10 games out in Septmeber. So in that regard he seems to be ahead of the curve. Baseball's potential blandness is evident in his unwired brain.
His dad, on the other hand, hasn't yet figured it out. After trying to sell the kid on watching the ballgames from Cincinnati in a frozen moment in time that would surely look just like something Norman Rockwell would conjure on a canvas[1], I gave up. If the kid believed Buzz Lightyear and piles of Legos were more interesting than the Phillies vs. Reds, I wasn't going to argue. It was a lose-lose situation all around and forcing matters would only make it worse, I reasoned. Besides, I have to choose my battles wisely. Let the kid watch Buzz and play with Legos...
So off I went to find another TV to catch a few innings before we rolled down to the Baltimore touristy spots for another Rockwell moment.
"Baseball is boring," the kid taunted as I trudged upstairs to sit in front of the TV by myself.
Clearly the kid didn't get to watch Brett Myers face the Reds on Sunday. There was nothing boring about that particular outing. Are fireworks displays boring? How about watching a chimpanzee attempt to button up an Oxford shirt? Even though the monkey doesn't have opposable thumbs, nor does he look all that stylish in a button-down shirt (though that Lancelot Link was pretty smooth), you still sit there watching with the belief that he'll figure it out.
No such luck.
Against the Reds for a couple of innings Myers' lead shoulder seemed to fly open like a screen door on a windy day every time he threw his fastball. But when he threw his breaking pitches Myers' delivery was more efficient and precise. Look, the only thing I ever really knew about pitching in baseball is that I had no shot at hitting it. Besides, I was just a guy who was about to load up the family truckster and drive an hour to the so-called "Charm City" in order to stare at some fish like a slack-jawed yokel. But I know what I saw in the second inning of the Reds-Phillies game on Sunday.
And if I saw it, what did the Reds see?
Anyway, Myers' line (5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 HR) wasn't too good, though he says his stuff was improved from his first outing of the season. In that one, Myers also lasted just five innings and gave up four runs. He didn't give up any homers, but said his fastball and curve were, "crap." Yet despite Myers' thoughts that his fastball was located better in his second outing than during the Opening Day loss, skipper Charlie Manuel wasn't so sure.
As the manager told the scribes in Cincy:
"I'm sure he wants to pitch the best he possibly can, but in his last two outings, I've seen him have much better stuff, let's put it like that. I've seen better velocity on his fastball. He was throwing breaking balls, splits, a change-up every now and then, mixing his fastball in, but he didn't have the velocity or the command on his fastball that he usually has."
Needless to say, it won't be boring to see how Myers pitches during his next outing on Friday night against the Cubs.
It also won't be boring to watch the Phillies and Mets go at it for three games at Shea starting tomorrow.
Other observations:
- Pat Burrell (3 HR, 9 RBI, .435 BA) is off to a nice start.
- The Phillies have not had a winning record in April since beating the Mets on April 18, 2005 to improve to 7-6.
- It was fascinating to listen to Gary Matthews and Tom McCarthy talk about Cincinnati's The Freedom Center and the regions' role in the Underground Railroad during Saturday afternoon's broadcast. It wasn't quite like eavesdropping on a conversation between National Parks guides who were talking shop, but it was damn close.
- Less fascinating was Harry Kalas' insistence on calling the Reds' Norris Hopper, "Dennis Hopper."But, truth be told, Dennis Hopper would be a fun addition to a Major League Baseball club. Actually, Hopper's Frank Booth from Blue Velvet, would blend right in to any clubhouse.
- Speaking of Dennis Hopper and apropos of nothing, a few years ago I had a dream that the Phillies fired then manager Larry Bowa and replaced him with Larry David. A few of the players that I told this to said it would have been a good move.
- Last year's top draft pick Joe Savery made his debut for Single-A Clearwater last Thursday and it went fairly well. The lefty allowed just three hits and no runs in five innings with seven strikeouts. However, he did walk five.
- The final home opener at Shea Stadium is tomorrow.
[1] I've said it before and I'll say it again: the old David Letterman bit on the "lost" Rockwell paintings always kills me - "Turn Your Head and Cough." It never gets old.
As the more regular visitors to this site will see, we're messing around with the look a little bit. Actually, the early reviews indicate that the new layout is a rip-off of the old site... maybe. Instead of calling it a "rip-off" I'll call it a "throwback." You know, kind of like the Phillies new uniforms that look just like their old ones from the late 1940s.
Everything old is new again, right?
Anyway, as other folks may have heard, a sucker is born every minute. In that regard, the Florida Marlins agreed to send a player to be named later to the Phillies for the recently designated Wes Helms.
I'm not certain, but Helms' arrival to the Marlins might push the team's payroll slightly greater than Alex Rodriguez's annual salary.
Nonetheless, the Phillies can finally close the book on The Wes Helms Era. Unlike other eras in Phillies' history, Helms' one season with the team resulted in a playoff appearance.
Take that, Mike Lieberthal.
There won't be any new posts for this spot today so that means you have to go find some ramblings of a lunatic elsewhere.
For my lunacy moment I'll read about the scolding a presidential candidate took for not eating a cheesesteak on his visit to Philadelphia. Here, I'm going to say it:
Is there anything more overrated than the cheesesteaks in Philadelphia?
There.
Anyway, there is nothing new coming today because it's the kids and me all day long. Close up your stores, Mr. And Mrs. Shop Owner, because the Finger Boys are coming. You'll know by the constant loop of Thin Lizzy songs playing as a veritable soundtrack to our day.
So while the baseball team heads to Cincinnati, here's today's itinerary for our gang:
7:30 - wake up 7:45 - coffee 8:00 - general goofing around on your own 9:00 - run 11:30 - Yes, it's on! 8:00p - Bed time
We're thinking about heading out to the Strasburg Rail Road where we might sit around and throw rocks at the trains. On the way out to the country we might hit the Lancaster Central Market, too. Maybe we'll go to one of the book shops, but I don't know if we'll have enough time.
Ward Cle[a]ver has nothing on me.
Just like Napoleon's big brother Kip, newly acquired Phillies reliever Rudy Seanez is training to be a cage fighter. They call it mixed-martial arts, or something like that, and it seems to be all the rage. I wouldn't know anything about what's "cool" anymore because I'm an old man who lives in Lancaster with two small kids and a wife. If cultural trends take three years to filter down to Philadelphia from New York City as has been suggested, it takes another year or two for those things to penetrate Lancaster.
There's no wall around The Lanc, but who would know otherwise.
Anyway, Seanez was ready to dive into a career as a professional bad ass until the Phillies called to see if he wanted to pitch. The money is good in baseball and Seanez has a chance to add up to $750,000 in performance bonuses to the $400,000 he gets in base salary from the team. This comes a few days after the Dodgers gave him $135,246 in termination pay upon his release.
Not bad work if you can get it and it beats a throat punch.
Nevertheless, Seanez is coming off a 2007 season in which he appeared in more games (73) than he had in any of his 16 big league seasons. Again, not bad for a guy who will turn 40 in October. But while digging into those 73 games with the Dodgers in '07, I came across this little nugget about Seanez in the Baseball Prospectus yearbook.
It reads:
24 appearances came with the team down one to three runs, seven came when up one to three runs, and 23 came when the margin was greater than four runs in either direction.
Very interesting.
Moreover, Seanez made it into 57 games before the seventh inning and 36 games after the seventh inning. Additionally, he only faced three hitters twice in a game.
In other words, Seanez might be the man to deliver a flying drop kick during a bench-clearing brawl, but don't expect Charlie Manuel to turn to Seanez with a one-run lead late in the game.
But then again, the Phillies already have pitchers to do that... Seanez is here to be a support guy.
*** Speaking of stats, here's one from statistician John Dewan:
Over the past 12 seasons, 96 teams made it to the playoffs. Of those 96 playoff-bound teams, 66 had spring training records that were .500 or better - that's 69 percent. That's fairly significant.
*** Unlike most baseball writers, I have always been underwhelmed the baseball-stylings of writer Roger Angell of The New Yorker. Clearly it has to be me - I'm missing something.
Nevertheless, Angell checks in with a good one in this week's issue about baseball and how it enters yet another so-called new era.
*** Finally, as most people have heard Barack Obama was in Lancaster earlier this week. During his travels through the county, the presidential candidate made it up route 501 to the tiny hamlet of Lititz where the Wilbur Chocolate factory is located. Ever fastidious about his diet, Barry O. had a rough time saying no to some of the nasty cuisine served here in our Commonwealth.
Sure, he handled the chocolate at Wilbur reasonably well, but the cheese fries and other abominations of the American diet were handled with less grace. Besides, the political writer for The New York Times just seemed to have a bit of difficulty with the concept of dumping cheap cheese on top of cheap potatoes.
Ladies and gentleman, Larry Bowa: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Tjps_-JnQ&hl=en]
If you ever have the chance to visit a press box in a Major League stadium, take the invitation under advisement. These places are how I always imagined old west saloons to be in that they are filled with misfits, outlaws and the dregs of society. Essentially, the kids you knew in high school that you were fairly certain would eventually move on to a solid career as a name on the authorities watch list hang out in big-league press boxes.
The press box in a ballpark in any city across the country is where these people gather nowadays. Once, Manifest Destiny sent all those people west to escape one bad deed or another, but a century-and-a-half later, they watch professional sporting events.
If there were a piano player plinking out those jaunty, bouncy saloon notes, all we'd need is someone to serve whiskey instead of Hi-C and then the ballpark in South Philly would instantly be transformed into an episode of Deadwood."
I've never actually ever seen an episode of Deadwood, but I hear things.
Anyway, in the press box, the outlaws and the rejects get together and talk about the state of things. No, it ain't exactly a sewing circle, but if anyone wants to hear the story behind the story, a press box is a good place to go.
And if you go, just make sure you're updated on your shots and your papers are in order. I also suggest taking a small shiv that can be stowed up a sleeve or behind a belt. When you step into a press box, you never know when it's about to go down...
Needless to say I made it out of press row at CBP following Monday afternoon's debacle against the Washington Nationals relatively unscathed. I say relatively because I woke up this morning with a head cold that made me feel as if a dump truck at backed over my temples. A baseball bat to the noggin would have been preferable to the feeling I had all morning until a Technicolor nose-blowing session, a couple of Sudafeds and some Italian Roast from the Starbucks.
They didn't have Yukon.
The fact is that along with its general surliness, the press box is the breeding ground for many airborne infections and diseases. Again, if you go, make sure you're updated on the vaccinations.
Anyway, based on a few of my conversations with a handful of creeps at the ballpark yesterday I was able to discern that most folks in the know don't think much of the 2008 Phillies. Sure, they are a playoff-contending team and very well could capture the NL East for a second straight season. But in order for that to happen the team's hitters are going to have bash the ball at a rate more prolific than Genghis Khan.
Simply put, the pitching just isn't there.
Initially I felt bad about predicting a third-place finish in the NL East for the Phillies. I was worried that I made such a pronouncement out of some sort of spite or anger that is rooted in my DNA as a born-and-bred Northeasterner. Worse, I felt that by suggesting that the Phillies were only as good as the offense would allow them to be that I would be exposed as an even bigger fraud than what is already obvious. What happens if the Phillies' pitching measures up with the rest of the staffs in the division? Surely no one likes to be shown that they don't know what they are talking about.
Then again that, as they say, is part of baseball. Players rise up and shove it in someone's cakehole every day. One day a guy is up, the next day, yadda, yadda, yadda...
But when Tom Gordon slinked off the mound after that five-run ninth as if he had just been caught feeding rat poison to the neighbor's overly yappy dog, it all became clear. A few of my more astute colleagues and I were correct - it's all about the pitching.
And that means the Phillies, as they are currently constructed, are going to have to bash their way to another playoff appearance.
Meanwhile, it was noted by more than a few folks in the writing press that if people truly believe that the Mets' acquisition of Johan Santana is relatively insignificant, then the proper course of action would be to remove the television from their homes so they could never, ever watch the game again. Because it's obvious they don't get it.
Santana is another one of those truths that some people just don't want to accept.
All photos snapped by Leslie Gudel...
Talking with Charlie before the game.
With Brad Lidge.
Talking to Pat Gillick.
Rich Dubee.
The Phanatic.
Charlie Manuel and Ryan Howard.
Jimmy Rollins.
Chase Utley.
Utley and Howard.
The National Anthem.
Player introductions.
Jamie Moyer.
Listening to the anthem.
A kid on Opening Day.
Parachuting in with the first ball.
So am I prophetic or just a jerk?
Is there extra points in predicting the undoing of the bullpen, or is that just too easy with this Phillies' club?
Is this the way it's going to be all summer with this shooting gallery of balls flying around the bandbox with this pitching staff?
What's with all the questions?
Anyway, Tom Gordon got lit up more than my mick uncles on St. Patrick's Day. In fact, I thought I heard someone shout, "INCOMING!" after every one of Flash's pitches.
I hid under the table here at seat 92.
Oddly enough, the PA system began blaring, "Disco Inferno" at the end of the inning.
Burn, baby, burn!
Coincidence? I think not.
Just like that it's 11-6 heading to the bottom of the ninth. Flash's line:
Not good.
So Jimmy Rollins came to the rescue for the Phillies again.
Better yet, the Phillies' offense saved the pitching staff from some trouble... again.
The reigning NL MVP capped off a big rally in the seventh with a two-out homer with one out to knot the game at 6. People laughed, jumped, yelled, waved flags, threw paper and pounded themselves on the head as if the Ayatollah had just died.
Yes, people really want this baseball team to win games.
Knotted at 6 and headed for the late innings, it seems as if the Phillies are sitting pretty. They have scored 6 runs without mounting much a sustained rally at any point of the ballgame, and have done so with some shaky pitching on top of that.
Pitching and defense? Nah... The Phillies do it with homers and walks.
Anyway, Rollins came through. Flash Gordon is on in the ninth. Perhaps this is where the thinness of the team's bullpen gets it into trouble?
Man, what's with all this negativity?
Don’t you just love it when you find money in your pocket? I found $2 in the pocket of my pants this morning and I have to admit it was a nice little treat. Sure, $2 will barely get me a half-gallon of gas, but it adds up. I’ll take it.
Interestingly, the two, one-dollar bills look weathered and worn as if they went through the wash. My money has been laundered.
Be that as it may, Brett Myers appears to have gotten a little sullied up in the fifth inning. After four straight goose eggs, the Nats finally solved him in the fifth with four runs on three hits, an error and a hit batsmen. The big hit of the inning – in my estimation – was when pitcher Matt Chico laced a fat curveball to center field for a one-out hit.
Otherwise, Myers threw a lot of pitches to the barrels of bats. When Myers fell behind, the Nats made him pay… that’s the way it goes.
Myers’ line: 5 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HBP, 86 pitches.
Let’s call it auspicious.
Often, it’s the little things when things begin to unravel. Ryan Madson came in to relieve Myers and allowed a two-run homer with two outs to Lastings Milledge following an infield single from Cristian Guzman.
It was a close play, but it led to trouble.
Trouble is what the Phillies are in right now after Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell and Pedro Feliz followed up Chase Utley’s leadoff homer with strikeouts.
The Phillies serve free lunch on Opening Day every year, but since I don’t dig on meat and I’m not too keen on grey broccoli either, I brought my own lunch/dinner. Right now I’m eating a lovely fruit mix of bananas, apricots, papaya, golden raisins with a few raw almonds in there…
Mmmmmmm.
Myers pitched himself into a bit of a jam in the second when Nick Johnson, the son of Larry Bowa’s sister, doubled to left-center. Johnson missed all of last season while recovering from a broken leg, but he’s better now and sure to pick up hitting right where left off.
Johnson is very, very good. The Nats are much-improved with Johnson in the lineup, but now they have to figure out what to do with Dmitri Young.
Myers plunked Paul Lo Duca – much to the delight of the packed house – to put two on with one out and then walked Willie Harris with two outs to load the bases. But Myers figured his way out of it by picking up his second strikeout of the inning on Matt Chico.
That’s 36 pitches through two innings for Myers – 22 strikes.
The Phillies got a two-out double in the second from Jayson Werth, but left it there.
Former Daily News beat writer Marcus Hayes is here. The DN really has suffered now that Marcus isn’t doing the day-to-day stuff… the new guy is a total hack.
Brett Myers made it through the Nats in the top of the first very easily. He threw 13 pitches – mostly fastballs – and got back to throwing strikes after starting off two of the three hitters with first-pitch balls.
As one can guess, I’m really into the theory behind first-pitch strikes. I’m not a huge stats guy, but the first-pitch strike one makes a lot of sense.
Jimmy Rollins belted a sixth-pitch strike to the wall in left for a standup double and then moved to third on a nice bunt by Shane Victorino. The scorer gave Victorino a sacrifice, which is the correct call, but I suspect he was bunting for a hit. The thing is Victorino bunted it toward third at Ryan Zimmerman who will vacuum up anything. He’s good.
Rollins scored on Chase Utley’s long sac fly to deep center. That means the Phillies lead the league in sacrifices. That’s hardly a Moneyball type stat, though it got the Phillies a run.
That’s 1-to-zip at the end of the first frame of the season.
The Phillies have the left-handed lineup out there this afternoon, meaning they're prepared to take on lefty pitcher Matt Chico of the Washington Nationals.
At first glance Chico seems to be an odd choice for an Opening Day starter until one realizes that it is not Opening Day for the Nats. Fotr some silly reason they had to play a single game against the Atlanta Braves last night on ESPN to open up their brand-new ballpark, and then roll up to Philly to start the season in earnest.
What the...
Why not just let the Nats open the season at home or - even better - allow them to play a week on the road before returning to The District for an opening series.
Crazy.
Anyway, the lineups:
Phillies 11 - Rollins, ss 8 - Victorino, cf 26 - Utley, 2b 6 - Howard, 1b 5 - Burrell, lf 7 - Feliz, 3b 28 - Werth, rf 51 - Ruiz, c 39 - Myers, p
Nationals 15 - Guzman, ss 44 - Milledge, cf 11 - Zimmerman, 3b 24 - Johnson, 1b 25 - Kearns, rf 16 - Lo Duca, c 10 - Belliard, 2b 1 - Harris, lf 47 - Chico, p