Shooting the breeze

CLEARWATER, Fla. – “Come on in and set down,” Big Chuck said as he snapped off the TV tuned to CNBC hanging overhead. If we’re on the way to economic Armageddon, it’s good to know Charlie Manuel is getting the play-by-play.

Financial matters are a fine topic. That’s especially true these days, what with all the bailouts, bonuses and stimulus packages and whatnot. But I was more interested in something more analytical and a bit more in need of an expert’s opinion.

And truthfully, there are probably just a handful of people on the planet who understand hitting a baseball as well as Charlie Manuel.

Think about it – when Charlie was first coming up through the ranks in pro ball, none other than Ted Williams took a shine to the Phillies’ skipper. There was something about that big, lefty swing from that raw-boned kid from Buena Vista, Virginia that caught the eye of the greatest hitter who ever lived.

Then again, Charlie has that kind of affect on a lot of people. Even now, 40 years after his Major League career began, Charlie still makes friends easily. He’s always the most popular guy whenever he steps into a room, though compliments seem to embarrass him. Either way, it’s not all that surprising that a big-time star like Ted Williams was charmed by young Chuck.

Regardless, Charlie knows hitting. While coming up with the Twins, Hall-of-Famers Harmon Killebrew and Rod Carew were his teammates. When he joined the Dodgers, Charlie couldn’t unseat Steve Garvey, Bill Buckner, Ron Cey or Jimmy Wynn for playing time. Because he couldn’t get the opportunities in the U.S., Charlie went to Japan where he and the legendary Sadaharu Oh were the top sluggers.

Back in the states as a coach, Charlie mentored some of the all-time greats. Hitters like Kirby Puckett, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Albert Belle and now, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley thrived under Charlie. A few of them are headed to the Hall of Fame. No doubts there.

So when I went in to Charlie’s office at Bright House Field, the original plan was justification. Earlier this week after watching Albert Pujols take batting practice I decided he was the greatest hitter I had ever seen. That’s a bold statement. So with Chuck I presented it as Pujols was the greatest right-handed hitter of a the generation.

“He’s up there,” Charlie said. “He can be whatever you want him to be.”

Continue reading this story ...

The bumper sticker reads, 'Woof'

photo via The 700 Level

"It's my wife's transportation. I told her, 'I'm driving this minivan and I'm so embarassed right now.' But at the same time, it gets me from point A to point B. Cars were cool in high school. You wanted to have the cool car. Now I'm like, whatever. If it gets me from here, that's all that matters."

-- Cole Hamels

Panda watch, day 5

The mood is tense; I've been on some serious, serious reports but nothing quite like this. Here comes the latest Cole Hamels briefing:

• Cole was in Philadelphia driving a minivan
• Cole said the weather was nice in Philly
• Cole says, "There's nothing to worry about..."
• Cole's flight back to Tampa was delayed two hours. It was a USAir flight - go figure
• Cole did not like climbing back into the MRI machine
• Cole said the anti-inflammatory shot hurt... A LOT
• Cole did not get a lollipop after his shot
• Cole did get a band-aid after his shot
• Cole says he is the front-runner for the No. 5 starter position
• Cole is not worried about the possibility of not starting on Opening Day
• Cole wiled away the time during the flight delay by reading a book
• Cole says he will pitch through the soreness if his condition lingers
• Cole says he bets on longshots - "that's where you win the money, right?"

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ7dUlRUJIM&hl=en&fs=1]

Handle with care

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Cole Hamels is really, really good at getting injured. Actually, his ability to get injuries, pain, soreness, tweaks and twinges are the most consistent aspect of his pro career.

It’s what he does best.

Oh sure, Hamels also has a left arm that comes around maybe once a generation. He has an incredible knack to put together incredible stretches of games that conjure up memories of the all-time greats. Better yet it’s a Hall-of-Fame arm, which, if one asks Hamels straight out what he wants to accomplish with his baseball career, he’ll flat-out tell it without so much as blinking or a trace of arrogance.

The answer comes as if he had rehearsed it in front of a mirror for years…

He wants no-hitters, piles of wins, Cy Young Awards, a career that spans decades, and, of course, the Hall of Fame. The good part for the Phillies is that Hamels’ goals aren’t all that unreasonable. The odds are relatively favorable that the lefty could pitch a no-hitter or two or win a Cy Young.

But here’s the thing about that – Cole Hamels ain’t Steve Carlton. Hell, he’s not even Tom Glavine. Oft-injured lefty and changeup specialist John Tudor might be more like it.

Continue reading this story ...

Dubee on Hamels: 'Opening Day is probably a long shot'

Pitching coach Rich Dubee on Cole Hamels: “I don’t know if it’s out of the question, but it looks like it’s probably a long shot.

"We have to get him up and running and we have to stretch him out. I think he's been up to 52 or 54 pitches. We like our guys, if they're going to pitch, hopefully they'll be ready to throw 100 pitches by Opening Day. It could be a long shot. Again, this guy has always risen to the occasion. It's good that we caught it when we did. It wasn't getting cleared up. It wasn't getting any worse, but it wasn't getting any better."

linkage

He's fine...

No structural damage for Cole Hamels.

Even the grass is green

The Phillies are into it... Maybe not as much as these guys, though:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au30c9ZMIPg&hl=en&fs=1]

Now excuse me while I go spend my St. Pat's Day in Florida with a dude named Zolecki instead of my mick uncles who probably called off of work...

Charlie not pleased

TAMPA, Fla. -- After the 12-0 loss to the Yankees at The Stein on Monday afternoon, Phils' skipper Charlie Manuel was most displeased. No, he wasn't upset about the loss - that stuff happens in Grapefruit League games. Instead it was the way in which the Phillies lost. It wasn't pretty.

"We made mistakes," Charlie said after the 12-run, 20-hit and two-error showing against the Yanks had mercifully ended. "We made a helluva lot of bleepin’ mistakes."

It wasn't pretty. On defense the team threw the ball around, misplayed a few and generally looked sloppy as their Grapefruit League record dipped to 6-10. Offensively, the Phillies got six hits, stranded eight and went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Worse, it lasted more than three hours turning it into the baseball equivalent to waterboarding

Nope, not one for the vault.

"I think any game like that pisses you off and the best thing you can do is bleepin’ get out there and get on that bleepin’ bus and forget about that sonofabitch. That was a horebleep bleepin’ game and if I played in a bleepin’ game like that, I’d definitely bleepin’ take some good inventory of myself. That was a horsebleep bleepin’ game. They don’t get much worse than that. It was terrible.

"I’d say we hit bleepin’ rock bottom there for a while."

Charlie might be trying to simply motivate the kids he has in the lineup with Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino off playing in the World Baseball Classic and Chase Utley and Pedro Feliz still mending from off-season surgery. Still, on the day the team made its first cuts of the spring, Charlie might have expected some crisper play.

Nevertheless, Charlie says the quality play will improve greatly in another week or so.

"The last 10-to-12 days we’ll really work on the fundamental parts of the game," Charlie said. "But Rollins and Victorino aren’t here and Utley and Feliz are hurt – we want to get people back and ready so we can really key on that. But today it was just bad playin’ and, you know, what the hell? That’s why I said if I was in that game I might take inventory of myself."

Hamels: 'Nothing to worry about'

TAMPA - Just drove over the Causeway to George M. Steinbrenner Field from Clearwater where the Phillies will take on the annoying (and pretentious) Yankees this afternoon. Clearly the biggest story here - after Cole Hamels, of course - is Kyle Kendrick taking the mound in what could be a make-or-break outing. But back to the Yankees for a minute ... they certainly have a right to strut the way they do because they almost made the playoffs last year.

Still, the WFC Phillies must have breathed a sigh of relief this morning when Hamels told us that his left forearm trouble is something that occurs every year and might clear up with a shot and/or some rest.

Meanwhile, Hamels says he's going to feel good about getting out of Florida for a few days.

Stay tuned to CSNPhilly.com because we will be updating the main stories over there throughout the day.

Hamels headed home

Just watched Cole Hamels play catch with Jamie Moyer. A few minutes after that, the Phils' lefty performed some fielding drills on the side field behind the main ballpark. Just your normal spring training day for Hamels.

The difference, of course, is that the lefty will be heading to the airport this afternoon to catch a flight back to Philadelphia. Once there, Hamels will pay a visit to Dr. Michael Ciccotti about the elbow "soreness" he's felt during camp.

Make that, "persistent soreness."

"We don't feel that it's serious, but again, I don't have a crystal ball," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "I can't look inside his elbow. We just want to be cautious, and we thought it was important that he sees our doctor in Philly."

Nope, it doesn't sound good.

more coming ...

G.O.A.T.

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Guys like me get jaded. Hang around the ballpark for as long as I have and some days and events tend to blend together. As a result, sometimes things that are really, really cool get lost in the shuffle.

Take last October for instance -- there were so many significant moments that got lost in uber-poignant events that it's difficult to remember them all. For instance, Shane Victorino's little tête-à-tête with Hiroki Kuroda and the Dodgers in the NLCS in L.A. was pretty big. It definitely set some sort of tone for the rest of that series, just like Brett Myers' AB vs. CC Sabathia in the NLDS and Pat Burrell's two-homer game in the clincher in Milwaukee.

Phew! Yes, October was such a blur.

So this afternoon I took a little me time. A moment to enjoy something that doesn't come around all that much in these parts.

Yep, I watched Albert Pujols take batting practice and, man, let me tell you... the dude smashed some whompers. The ball takes a different flight off Pujols' bat compared to his counterparts'. It's almost exactly like a plane taking off -- it builds up speed on a straight line and then, whoosh, it takes off.

The aftermath is an assault on firm standing structures like tiki bars, scoreboards and people that leave dents and welts so it's best to seek cover when Pujols takes BP.

Here's the thing:

Albert Pujols is the best hitter I've ever seen. Yes, that's what I said...

Albert Pujols is the best hitter I've ever seen.

Continue reading this story ...

Utley to play... again

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Just catching up on some reading here at sunny Bright House Field before the Phillies take on the St. Louis Cardinals with Chase Utley hitting leadoff. Chances are Utley will get a handful of ABs before calling it an afternoon, but the Phillies have to feel good that their All-Star second baseman is trying it out for a second straight game. This one, though, is an actual game without bloused uniform pants and mucho sock exposure, so it will be interesting to see how Utley performs in the formal structure.

Chances are he'll do well.

Meanwhile, Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus and his own FiveThityEight blog, wrote an interesting story in the latest edition of Esquire sizing up different investment strategies. The premise of the story was if a person put $1,000 in the stock market, cash, real estate, etc. in 1998, how much would they have made in 2008?

Across the board the returns were pretty consistent, except for one entity:

Major League Baseball.

A $1,000 investment in a big-league ballclub in 1998 would have quadrupled one's investment in '08. Better yet, though such high returns have slowed slightly, count on the growth to continue.

Writes Silver:

A catastrophic collapse of the baseball market remains unlikely, however, for two reasons. First, major league baseball is a monopoly with a legal exemption from antitrust laws, and therefore it's not subject to the ordinary laws of supply and demand. In 1908 - the last time the Cubs won the World Series - there were sixteen major league baseball clubs for about 89 million American citizens, or one team per 5.6 million potential fans. But now there are thirty clubs for around 300 million Americans - just one to go around per 10 million of us. If not for its monopoly status, there might be forty or sixty major league baseball clubs, and the individual franchises would be less valuable. But because of it, buying a piece of a baseball club is a bit like marrying into the Rockefeller trust.

Second, and a little surprisingly, the sport has already begun to do something that so many other industries have struggled with: rationalize its pay structure. In the winter before its 2007 season, the industry spent a total of about $1.7 billion in commitments to free-agent contracts. But that amount dipped to "only" $1.1 billion last winter and should finish at around the same total this year.

So there you go. Take your money and put it into baseball.

Batting practice time... be back in a few.

Welcome to Camp Sleepy Time

CLEARWATER, Fla. – The sun is high up in the sky just beating down on everything beneath it. The thermometer on the scoreboard reads 76, but with the sun unblocked by the clouds it feels 20-degrees warmer.

It’s freaking hot for us dudes who prefer the cooler climes of the Northeast in mid-March. Some of us like to ease into the hot weather. Some of us need to run to the drug store to get stronger sun screen.

But unlike in Philadelphia, there is nothing happening with the WFC Phillies. All is quiet here at Bright House Field. It’s so quiet, in fact, that players actually played duck-duck goose during the morning stretch before heading back into the clubhouse to watch the country music video countdown on TV before Sunday’s Grapefruit League game against Cincinnati.

Looked like Keith Urban or Taylor Swift was No. 1.

Who is better and what's the difference? Seriously, these are the big questions to ponder surrounding the Phillies these days.

Nevertheless, it was quite difficult to find topics to small-talk about these days. Ryan Madson only grunted a few “yeahs” and “I don’t know about thats” when asked ambiguously about the vagaries of Grapefruit League action.

Yes, welcome to the dog days here at Camp Sleepy Time ‘09.

Continue reading this story...

Utley plays

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Yessir, as first reported by yours truly of CSNPhilly.com and Todd Cougar Zolecki of Phillies.com, Chase Utley played in a minor league game this afternoon at the Carpenter Complex. I'm working on the details of the story now, so be sure to keep clicking back right here for all the particulars and some blurry camera phone pictures.

Meanwhile, Utley went 2-for-4 with a ground-rule double and a pair of whiffs in his first two ABs. Aftewards, Zo and I chatted up Utley about the return and it appears as if the recovery is still on track.

Also, Brad Lidge and Chad Durbin both pitched an inning each during the minor-league game. Lidge gave up a two-out double and had a strikeout in his inning, while Durbin was perfect. He even struck out some dude with "Utley" on a pitch that the All-Star complained was too nasty for this time of year.

So yeah, more is on the way...

That's no coach... it's Jamie Moyer!

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Back here at Bright House to watch the workouts and a minor-league game featuring Brad Lidge and Chad Durbin (and surely a handful of others on the 25-man roster). The formal version of the Phillies are off in Kissimmee to face the Astros. Perhaps the most significance regarding the game against the Astros is that Carlos Carrasco will pitch, who is competing to make the team in the No. 5 starting pitching spot. However, all indications suggest that the one-time four-man race has whittled itself down to just Chan Ho Park and J.A. Happ.

Kyle Kendrick appears to have pitched himself out of contention.

Nevertheless, one guy who really doesn't have to worry about pitching himself in or out of anywhere is veteran lefty Jamie Moyer. In fact, this is the time of year the 45-year-old pitcher can take his time, relax and slowly work himself into game shape for the season.

Of course such silly ideas like relaxation and taking it easy are foreign concepts to Moyer. You might as well speak to him in Mandarin Chinese if you suggest, "Hey, old-timer, take it easy..."

When you have a 70-mph fastball like Moyer, there is no taking it easy.

Nevertheless, upon walking out of the parking lot to the training complex this morning, one was greeted with the sight of a few dozen minor-league pitchers - including first-round picks Kyle Drabek and Joe Savery - circled around a pitchers' mound for a demonstration and lecture from Moyer. Never at a loss for words or insight on pitching (or anything else), Moyer left the kids rapt in attention as he used words like, "focus," "easy," and "respect."

Still, the odd thing was that Moyer was twice the age of some of his potential teammates and as old as some of the coaches and yet there he was working out alongside of them and giving his time on a Saturday morning when all he could have done was put his feet up and relax after an easy workout.

But there's no such thing as easy with Moyer.

*

Ryan Howard, Pedro Feliz and Chase Utley went through some infield and hitting practice this morning while the pitchers who stayed in Clearwater stretched and did their non-game day work. Interestingly, during one drill a game of duck-duck-goose broke out amongst the pitchers.

Yep, loose and easy here in Clearwater.

Jamie Moyer talking to the kids during spring training. “When I was your age I threw 80-mph… uphill, both ways!”

Watch out, bro!

You are quite welcome, Pat

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Not much going on here in sunny Bright House Field. The Phillies have a game against the Pirates with the aim to snap the four-game losing skid. Worse, the WFC Phils have lost six of their last seven spring games. Not good.

But get this - the first time through the lineup in Friday's action, the Phils grounded out eight times and whiffed once. Even the team's first hit was an infield single from leadoff hitter Eric Bruntlett. A walk to Ryan Howard and an error loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth for the Phils, but young slugger John Mayberry whiffed on a 3-2 count to end the threat.

Bummer.

No worries though. The Phillies are just getting their work in.

Nevertheless, the big news here this morning was about the full-page advertisement ex-Phillie Pat Burrell purchased in the Daily News thanking the fans for the support during his time in Philadelphia.

Here, take a look:

Oddly, Burrell did not thank the Philly media by name, but by purchasing such a big, costly ad, he kind of did.

So you're welcome, Pat. Don't mention it.

Otherwise, the other big news is that third baseman Pedro Feliz suited up and played in his first spring game of the year. Feliz's return from off-season back surgery has been a little slow going, but all indication have him back in the lineup at full bore by Opening Day.

Meanwhile, Chase Utley is expected to get into some Grapefruit League games next week. On another note Utley was in the clubhouse before the game with a big grass and dirt stain on his uniform pants.

The guy isn't even playing and he's already mixing it up.

He's a gamer.

Finally, saw a whole bunch of the Maple Street Press Phillies pre-season annual out and around for purchase at the ballpark today. Considering some of the authors in that book, I don't understand why it isn't flying off the shelves.

Cinderella's big score

CLEARWATER, Fla. – Oh, it’s on! It’s really on.

Direct from Madison Square Garden and beamed to bars, lounges, frat houses and spring-break squats all across the country, a Big 5 team officially kicked off March Madness with is wildly entertaining finish.

Already Villanova has the country abuzz and we haven’t yet even hit the Ides. Chalk that up to one of those ubiquitous March buzzer-beaters. Though instead of the Big Dance, this one came in the Big East Tournament that saved the Wildcats from blowing a big, first-half lead and put them back into position to get a top three seed.

For now.

Still, it’s that time. Chaos, mayhem… madness!

That’s the thing about college hoops this time of year – you never know when that high water moment is going to occur. Seasons, hell, careers are made this time of year. Besides, only a handful of teams have a realistic shot at advancing past the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. The other might as well whoop it up now.

Or should they?

Continue reading this story...

Levy: '... The Eagles got booed on draft day'

BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL - Just got an interesting link from Dan Levy's Twitter feed or @OntheDLpodcast  #sblog as the kids like to say. The link was to a story on Levy's blog in which he talked to mouthy quarterback Jay Cutler of the Brian Dawkins' led Broncos. Apparently, Cutler took a view barbs at Donovan McNabb and Brett Favre (amongst others), which led to some stute analysis from Levy. He kind of told McNabb to shush.

Or at least the notion that McNabb ought to not be so sensitive.

The money quote from Levy via his story in The Washington Post (phew! all this aggregating makes me sleepy...):

Take Donovan McNabb. He thinks he got booed on draft day. He didn't get booed on draft day. The Eagles got booed on draft day. Silly, uniformed Eagles fans at the behest of equally uninformed sports radio talking heads thought that Ricky Williams would be the best fit for the Eagles and vowed to boo any person the Birds chose other than the running back from Texas.

There's more, of course, but this was such an illuminating graf to me that I had to seek out a spot on the floor next to an electrical outlet here at the airport to write about it.

Good stuff.

To think, all these years in Philadelphia and deconstructing every move from McNabb and I never thought that the boos from that gang in New York that fateful draft day weren't personal. It was just business.

So maybe all those apologies from the guys at WIP, etc. weren't really necessary. After all, nobody booed McNabb that day, but yet the QB thought it was all about him.

And maybe the media and fans didn't quite get it.

So how about a little astute revisionism courtesy of Dan Levy. And while you're at it, go check out his stuff. The dude brings it.