A few days ago I arrived at Penn State to work at a camp. It's the same camp that caused me to stop this blog last year, only this year it's even longer...6 1/2 weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to update a few times weekly based on SportsCenter highlights and checking out box scores.
Now would be a great time to let me know if you want to write any guest blog entries. All are welcome, just ask and we can figure out a good time for it to happen.
In terms of the actual Phillies, here are my most recent thoughts...
Good series against the Indians. We are definitely a lot better than them and should have swept. So it's nice that we actually did.
Good series against the Blue Jays. They are a good team this year with solid pitching and guys who are just straight up hitting home runs. That's a great series win for us.
The Reds are a very good team this season. I was surprised at how Kyle Kendrick did in Game 1. I would expect him to struggle against them, but not after pitching well to start the game. When I saw the 0-0 score go across the bottom line on ESPN in the 3rd inning, I felt like I knew we would win that game because it was a day Kendrick was feeling good. I guess not. Cueto is a very good pitcher, and that's not really a matchup we should win.
Tonight's game will be interesting. The Reds are starting Mike Leake, the best rookie starting pitcher in the NL since Stephen Strasburg! The Phils often struggle against crappy young pitchers, and I feel like the usually do well against good young pitchers. So I expect a decent amount of offense this game, it's just whether or not the Reds can get more off of Big Joe.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Jamie Moyer
Unbelievable. Is someone going to tell him he's 47 years old? And does he know something we don't? Is 47 actually younger than 46? Since his first start with the Phils on August 22, 2006, Gramps had pitched more than 7 innings 4 times coming into this season. He has now pitched more than 7 innings 4 times this season. A fantastic game by him when our offense simply couldn't get anything going after the first inning. At some point, his arm will literally fall off during a game. Until then, I'll take him.
Some other notes from the game:
-If the name Jason Donald sounds familiar, it's because the Indians' middle infielder is one of the players we traded to get Cliff Lee. He is the only one who has done anything remotely significant for Cleveland. His most notable achievement: Getting called safe to break up the Tigers' Armando Galarraga's perfect game earlier this season. Oops
-I know I rip on the broadcast team all the time and it may get old, but I just don't understand how they honestly get paid to do this stuff. Let me set the scene for you:
Carlos Santana, Indians rookie catcher is up to bat in the first inning. The first pitch is a low and inside called strike. The second pitch is a low and inside called strike. Santana has yet to take the bat off his shoulder (trust me, I rewound this to check). On the third pitch, in the exact same spot, Santana fouls the ball off weakly down towards the Indians' dugout. Here is, word-for-word, what Christopher Wheeler said after that 3rd pitch.
"Santana's the kind of guy that, if Jamie makes his pitches, he can get him out. Because you can see already how aggressive he is. He looks like he'd check swing at the rosin bag right now. He is up there hackin' away at everything."
Complete majoke. Get a job man.
-How long will the shift continue for Ryan Howard? Sunday, he had a ground ball go in between the 2nd baseman and shortstop despite both of them being on the right side of the field and standing in the grass. Tonight, he hit one right to where a shortstop would normally be waiting to turn an inning-ending double play in the first inning. Instead, it was an RBI single allowing Chase Utley to go from first to 3rd. Jayson Werth then hit a sac fly to score Utley. Both of the Phillies runs were scored in the first inning thanks to the shift. The Big Man's average is now up to .294, and he's still on pace for a solid 120+ RBI.
-Chooch is on the DL. That bites
-Greg Dobbs has been designated for assignment. Hopefully we can hang on to Dobbs. I always liked him, and he was a HUGE part of our 2008 championship team. There is no doubt that he has been unreliable at the plate, and his defense has always been suspect at best. But it definitely hurts to get rid of a good guy like Dobbs. It seems like the right thing to do, especially with Gload having success as a left-handed bat off the bench. But that doesn't mean it hurts my soul any less.
-Jimmy's back! Although he didn't do much at the plate, I think he had somewhere around 46 assists from shortstop in this game. It felt like every single batter was grounding out to Jimmy. It's good to have him back and hopefully he can get back to hitting the ball pretty soon so the rest of the team can follow
Some other notes from the game:
-If the name Jason Donald sounds familiar, it's because the Indians' middle infielder is one of the players we traded to get Cliff Lee. He is the only one who has done anything remotely significant for Cleveland. His most notable achievement: Getting called safe to break up the Tigers' Armando Galarraga's perfect game earlier this season. Oops
-I know I rip on the broadcast team all the time and it may get old, but I just don't understand how they honestly get paid to do this stuff. Let me set the scene for you:
Carlos Santana, Indians rookie catcher is up to bat in the first inning. The first pitch is a low and inside called strike. The second pitch is a low and inside called strike. Santana has yet to take the bat off his shoulder (trust me, I rewound this to check). On the third pitch, in the exact same spot, Santana fouls the ball off weakly down towards the Indians' dugout. Here is, word-for-word, what Christopher Wheeler said after that 3rd pitch.
"Santana's the kind of guy that, if Jamie makes his pitches, he can get him out. Because you can see already how aggressive he is. He looks like he'd check swing at the rosin bag right now. He is up there hackin' away at everything."
Complete majoke. Get a job man.
-How long will the shift continue for Ryan Howard? Sunday, he had a ground ball go in between the 2nd baseman and shortstop despite both of them being on the right side of the field and standing in the grass. Tonight, he hit one right to where a shortstop would normally be waiting to turn an inning-ending double play in the first inning. Instead, it was an RBI single allowing Chase Utley to go from first to 3rd. Jayson Werth then hit a sac fly to score Utley. Both of the Phillies runs were scored in the first inning thanks to the shift. The Big Man's average is now up to .294, and he's still on pace for a solid 120+ RBI.
-Chooch is on the DL. That bites
-Greg Dobbs has been designated for assignment. Hopefully we can hang on to Dobbs. I always liked him, and he was a HUGE part of our 2008 championship team. There is no doubt that he has been unreliable at the plate, and his defense has always been suspect at best. But it definitely hurts to get rid of a good guy like Dobbs. It seems like the right thing to do, especially with Gload having success as a left-handed bat off the bench. But that doesn't mean it hurts my soul any less.
-Jimmy's back! Although he didn't do much at the plate, I think he had somewhere around 46 assists from shortstop in this game. It felt like every single batter was grounding out to Jimmy. It's good to have him back and hopefully he can get back to hitting the ball pretty soon so the rest of the team can follow
Indians Preview
The Indians are not a good baseball team. Not this season, anyway.
In baseball, numbers largely speak for themselves. So here is how they stack up compared to the rest of the majors:
23rd in batting average
26th in home runs
25th in RBI
25th in hits
That's their offense. The pitching is even worse. Remember, these numbers are out of 30 teams:
24th in ERA
30th in strikeouts
29th in saves
28th in WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched)
Although the number could speak for themselves, these may say more than they should. Home runs are not necessarily a big deal for an offense to be successful. The Blue Jays lead the majors in home runs yet sit 4th in their own division. The Diamondbacks are 4th in home runs and are dead last in the NL West. But group no home runs with a low batting average, not many RBI, and a team that struggles to get hits, and things don't look good for the Indians.
Pitching numbers can be deceiving too. ERA and WHIP will generally speak for itself, but strikeouts and saves don't necessarily mean too much for a team's success. The Phillies are toward the bottom in each of those categories as well. Still, the combination of bad stats for the Indians adds up to an overall poor outlook for the team this season.
It seems like this is exactly the team that the Phillies need to be playing right now to help make sure the ship is completely righted. However, all of those numbers can only say so much when talking about an individual series. We know Jamie Moyer, Kyle Kendrick, and Joe Blanton all too well this season. Although all 3 have had moments of greatness (some more than others), Phillies fans have suffered numerous times with any one of these 3 men on the mound.
A statistic that is not kept in baseball (although it definitely is, it just isn't readily available), is games in which pitchers give up an unreasonable amount of runs and really make their offense and bullpen work to win a game. Let's call that number of runs 5. Can we all agree on 5? Ok, 5 it is. So...
In 35 combined starts this season, Moyer, Kendrick, and Blanton have given up 5 or more runs in 15 of them. That's about 43% of the time they pitch, they completely screw over the rest of the team.
In 41 starts by Mitch Talbot, Jake Westbrook, and Fausto Carmona (the Indians' starters this series), they have done this just 9 times. That's about 22% of the time.
These numbers obviously depend on who those players are playing against and things like that, but a disparity like this one would show that a series featuring these pitching match-ups is not one that we should necessarily feel comfortable about. In a way, it's like our pitchers are twice as likely to completely melt down in these 3 games as their pitchers are. I know that Jamie Moyer can go out and throw 7 innings giving up 2 runs. I also know he can throw 4 innings giving up 7. Same with Kyle Kendrick. And same with Joe Blanton.
This is a series that, by the numbers (or at least the numbers everyone sees), we should win. We should sweep it really. But, unfortunately for the Phillies this season, baseball is not played on paper. Let's hope that we can have the good versions of our starters show up along with the offense that we know and love.
I could give a prediction for this series, but these pitchers and our offense have been far too unpredictable for me to do anything that stupid.
(But I think we sweep it, average 8 runs a game. Don't quote me on that)
In baseball, numbers largely speak for themselves. So here is how they stack up compared to the rest of the majors:
23rd in batting average
26th in home runs
25th in RBI
25th in hits
That's their offense. The pitching is even worse. Remember, these numbers are out of 30 teams:
24th in ERA
30th in strikeouts
29th in saves
28th in WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched)
Although the number could speak for themselves, these may say more than they should. Home runs are not necessarily a big deal for an offense to be successful. The Blue Jays lead the majors in home runs yet sit 4th in their own division. The Diamondbacks are 4th in home runs and are dead last in the NL West. But group no home runs with a low batting average, not many RBI, and a team that struggles to get hits, and things don't look good for the Indians.
Pitching numbers can be deceiving too. ERA and WHIP will generally speak for itself, but strikeouts and saves don't necessarily mean too much for a team's success. The Phillies are toward the bottom in each of those categories as well. Still, the combination of bad stats for the Indians adds up to an overall poor outlook for the team this season.
It seems like this is exactly the team that the Phillies need to be playing right now to help make sure the ship is completely righted. However, all of those numbers can only say so much when talking about an individual series. We know Jamie Moyer, Kyle Kendrick, and Joe Blanton all too well this season. Although all 3 have had moments of greatness (some more than others), Phillies fans have suffered numerous times with any one of these 3 men on the mound.
A statistic that is not kept in baseball (although it definitely is, it just isn't readily available), is games in which pitchers give up an unreasonable amount of runs and really make their offense and bullpen work to win a game. Let's call that number of runs 5. Can we all agree on 5? Ok, 5 it is. So...
In 35 combined starts this season, Moyer, Kendrick, and Blanton have given up 5 or more runs in 15 of them. That's about 43% of the time they pitch, they completely screw over the rest of the team.
In 41 starts by Mitch Talbot, Jake Westbrook, and Fausto Carmona (the Indians' starters this series), they have done this just 9 times. That's about 22% of the time.
These numbers obviously depend on who those players are playing against and things like that, but a disparity like this one would show that a series featuring these pitching match-ups is not one that we should necessarily feel comfortable about. In a way, it's like our pitchers are twice as likely to completely melt down in these 3 games as their pitchers are. I know that Jamie Moyer can go out and throw 7 innings giving up 2 runs. I also know he can throw 4 innings giving up 7. Same with Kyle Kendrick. And same with Joe Blanton.
This is a series that, by the numbers (or at least the numbers everyone sees), we should win. We should sweep it really. But, unfortunately for the Phillies this season, baseball is not played on paper. Let's hope that we can have the good versions of our starters show up along with the offense that we know and love.
I could give a prediction for this series, but these pitchers and our offense have been far too unpredictable for me to do anything that stupid.
(But I think we sweep it, average 8 runs a game. Don't quote me on that)
Friday, June 18, 2010
What a Difference a Day Makes
After talking about how much the Phillies have struggled over the past month yesterday, they came out tonight and put on one of their better offensive performances of the season.
The Twins are a very good team, and Joe Blanton has been by far our worst starter this season. I was very happy with counting on Halladay and Hamels to bring in the next 2 games to take the series. Instead, Joe pitched pretty well, taking a no-hitter into the 5th. The offense also showed up, and it was the people that we need to show up that actually did. It's always great when our 6, 7, and 8 hitters can come through for us, but in order to actually put together any semblance of a winning streak, we need the 1 through 5 hitters to get hot. Tonight, they did exactly that. Here are their collective numbers:
9 for 19
9 RBI
8 runs scored
5 extra-base hits
3 walks
1 stolen base
and only 1 strike out
Howard and Baseball did most of that damage, but it was an all-around great performance by the top of the order getting things done at the plate when they needed to in whatever way they could. Five of our 9 runs scored came with 2 outs. Even though I hate this statistic, we were 3 for 8 with runners in scoring position. This is the kind of timely hitting that we need to continue in order to get back to the top of the division.
Other notes:
-This was a great game to watch, despite being one of Thomas McCarthy's worst games. I never know what is wrong with him, but I really didn't know what was wrong with him tonight. I wish I had been writing down things he was saying during the game. He kept doing his signature get-really-excited-and-start-talking-in-a-louder-voice-without-knowing-what-I-really-want-to-say-yet. It ended up with statements like this one:
"And the Phillies have a first inning run! Not only that, but they're leading 1-0!"
Majoke.
-Doug Glanville has written a book about the life of a Major League Baseball player or something along those lines. Guy Smiley, as I liked to call him, was always a nice player to have on the team because he always seemed like he enjoyed what he was doing. And he's a good writer apparently. As for baseball, he rarely impressed when in a Phillies uniform. But as a friend and I always say, he did have 200 hits that one year!
-Joe Mauer, if you didn't know, is the greatest/coolest athlete of all time. In high school, he struck out 1 time. Total. In 4 years. He batted over .500 every season, including .605 his senior year. While doing this, he was named Gatorade National Player of the Year as a quarterback. And USA Today Player of the Year. And he was an All-American. And had a scholarship to play at Florida State. Basketball was his weakest sport, where he only averaged 20 points a game as a point guard and was named to the All-State team his junior and senior years. And he did all this in Minnesota where everyone loves and idolizes him. He then got to continue that success in that same state of Minnesota for the Twins as one of the best players in all of baseball.
The Twins are a very good team, and Joe Blanton has been by far our worst starter this season. I was very happy with counting on Halladay and Hamels to bring in the next 2 games to take the series. Instead, Joe pitched pretty well, taking a no-hitter into the 5th. The offense also showed up, and it was the people that we need to show up that actually did. It's always great when our 6, 7, and 8 hitters can come through for us, but in order to actually put together any semblance of a winning streak, we need the 1 through 5 hitters to get hot. Tonight, they did exactly that. Here are their collective numbers:
9 for 19
9 RBI
8 runs scored
5 extra-base hits
3 walks
1 stolen base
and only 1 strike out
Howard and Baseball did most of that damage, but it was an all-around great performance by the top of the order getting things done at the plate when they needed to in whatever way they could. Five of our 9 runs scored came with 2 outs. Even though I hate this statistic, we were 3 for 8 with runners in scoring position. This is the kind of timely hitting that we need to continue in order to get back to the top of the division.
Other notes:
-This was a great game to watch, despite being one of Thomas McCarthy's worst games. I never know what is wrong with him, but I really didn't know what was wrong with him tonight. I wish I had been writing down things he was saying during the game. He kept doing his signature get-really-excited-and-start-talking-in-a-louder-voice-without-knowing-what-I-really-want-to-say-yet. It ended up with statements like this one:
"And the Phillies have a first inning run! Not only that, but they're leading 1-0!"
Majoke.
-Doug Glanville has written a book about the life of a Major League Baseball player or something along those lines. Guy Smiley, as I liked to call him, was always a nice player to have on the team because he always seemed like he enjoyed what he was doing. And he's a good writer apparently. As for baseball, he rarely impressed when in a Phillies uniform. But as a friend and I always say, he did have 200 hits that one year!
-Joe Mauer, if you didn't know, is the greatest/coolest athlete of all time. In high school, he struck out 1 time. Total. In 4 years. He batted over .500 every season, including .605 his senior year. While doing this, he was named Gatorade National Player of the Year as a quarterback. And USA Today Player of the Year. And he was an All-American. And had a scholarship to play at Florida State. Basketball was his weakest sport, where he only averaged 20 points a game as a point guard and was named to the All-State team his junior and senior years. And he did all this in Minnesota where everyone loves and idolizes him. He then got to continue that success in that same state of Minnesota for the Twins as one of the best players in all of baseball.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
What a Difference a Month Makes
With 2 wins in a row against the Yankees and real runs scored in both of them, it might seem like the Phils are on their way out of their recent slump. Although the series was very backwards (Halladay losing, Moyer and Kendrick winning), it was great to get back to winning ways. We're coming up on another tough series against the Twins. Blanton has been very off this season, but Hamels and Halladay pitch the other two games and will hopefully help to bring home a second straight series win since May 3-9 against the Cardinals and Braves just before this extended skid began.
As of tonight's game on June 17th, the Phillies are 34-30 and in 3rd place in the NL East. Let us rewind one month to May 17th, the night on which the Phillies beat the Pirates 12-2.
The Phillies were 24-13 and in first place - 5 games ahead of the Marlins and Nationals, 6 ahead of the Mets, and 6.5 ahead of the now first place Braves. For those who don't want to do the math, we are just 10-17 since then.
Our pitching has managed to stay pretty consistent during this time for the most part, but the offense has taken a serious hit. Let's look at how things have changed:
-Shane Victorino was hitting .275 on May 17. He's now hitting .255
-Placido Polanco was hitting .316. He has since dropped slightly down to .310.
-Chase Utley was hitting .304 with a .421 on-base percentage. In the past month, he has gotten 17 hits in 91 at-bats to drop his average to an unbelievably low .257. His OBP has also dropped to .377.
-Ryan Howard was up at .299 on May 17. He's now batting .282 and has hit only 4 home runs in the past month.
-Jayson Werth was on track for an MVP and a huge contract while batting .336 and leading the league with 20 doubles. He has only hit 4 two-baggers since then and dropped his average to .281.
-Carlos Ruiz was batting an astounding .341 on May 17, but he has dropped that average to .275 with the help of a recent 0 for 24 slump.
The last game before the All-Star Break is July 11. That gives us a little less than a month to get back on track for good heading into the second half of the season. With Jimmy possibly coming back as early as Saturday, things should hopefully continue to look up for the Phils' offense.
As of tonight's game on June 17th, the Phillies are 34-30 and in 3rd place in the NL East. Let us rewind one month to May 17th, the night on which the Phillies beat the Pirates 12-2.
The Phillies were 24-13 and in first place - 5 games ahead of the Marlins and Nationals, 6 ahead of the Mets, and 6.5 ahead of the now first place Braves. For those who don't want to do the math, we are just 10-17 since then.
Our pitching has managed to stay pretty consistent during this time for the most part, but the offense has taken a serious hit. Let's look at how things have changed:
-Shane Victorino was hitting .275 on May 17. He's now hitting .255
-Placido Polanco was hitting .316. He has since dropped slightly down to .310.
-Chase Utley was hitting .304 with a .421 on-base percentage. In the past month, he has gotten 17 hits in 91 at-bats to drop his average to an unbelievably low .257. His OBP has also dropped to .377.
-Ryan Howard was up at .299 on May 17. He's now batting .282 and has hit only 4 home runs in the past month.
-Jayson Werth was on track for an MVP and a huge contract while batting .336 and leading the league with 20 doubles. He has only hit 4 two-baggers since then and dropped his average to .281.
-Carlos Ruiz was batting an astounding .341 on May 17, but he has dropped that average to .275 with the help of a recent 0 for 24 slump.
The last game before the All-Star Break is July 11. That gives us a little less than a month to get back on track for good heading into the second half of the season. With Jimmy possibly coming back as early as Saturday, things should hopefully continue to look up for the Phils' offense.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
A Broken Bat
Did anyone else listen to Christopher Wheeler argue with himself for what felt like 4 1/2 innings over whether or not Swisher broke his bat on his home run. Just shut up already. If the Phillies plan on having me make it through another full game this season, they either need to start scoring runs or fire Christopher Wheeler and Thomas McCarthy.
And by "fire" I mean actually light them on fire.
And by "fire" I mean actually light them on fire.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
A Bit Off Topic
Perhaps my favorite personal catch phrase is, "Everything's comin' up Koehler!" (edited within the Koehler family to say Cameron instead). Never has this been more true than the past 2 weeks of my life. Just days after I got back from California, I found out I had an interview at Pennridge for a teaching job. That turned into a second interview and finally one with the superintendent this morning. At about 10:00 this morning I was officially offered and officially accepted a job as a social studies teacher at Pennridge High School. I feel I can express my joy on this blog because I know very few people other than close friends and family read it. And if you aren't a close friend or family member, you can comment on how annoying this is. That would actually make me feel really cool anyway because I would find out I have readers!
This relates to the Yankees series because I love the Phillies and hate the Yankees and everything is going right for me right now. Phils in 3.
This relates to the Yankees series because I love the Phillies and hate the Yankees and everything is going right for me right now. Phils in 3.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Favorites
With any sports team, people often talk about who their favorite player is. With the Phillies, I find it extremely difficult to point to one single player as my favorite. Arguments could be made for almost any of them to be my favorite. It seems like every player on the Phillies has been my "favorite" at one point or another, even if it's just for a single game. However, when I really think about it and have to pick someone, I can narrow it down to 3 players.
Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are 2 of those 3. Although both of them have gone through and will go through many slumps, they consistently perform at such a high level. They have been Phillies for their whole careers, and you get the feeling that it will stay that way with the contracts that they have along with their attitudes. Those two were pretty easy picks for favorites.
The third could have been any number of people. Jayson Werth has been one of the most valuable players on the Phillies the past few years yet stayed largely unnoticed throughout the country. Roy Halladay is an incredible pitcher with a great attitude. Chooch quietly gets the job done behind the plate better than most catchers, even if he may struggle at bat most of the time. Shane Victorino always seems to be having a good time while playing, and he quietly puts up some of the best offensive numbers for the Phils.
None of these people are that 3rd person for me though. That answer may surprise you, because it sure as heck surprised me once I started thinking about it.
Despite all of our differences over the years, Jimmy Rollins is one of my top 3 favorite Phillies alongside Chase and Ryan. This blog has been a haven for me to rip on Jimmy for over a year now, even going so far as to strip him of his nickname and refer to him as James Calvin Rollins when he is struggling. I hate his impatience at the plate. I can't stand that he doesn't always hustle. It bothers me that Charlie insists on him being a leadoff hitter when he lacks most of the characteristics of a real leadoff hitter. And, probably worst of all, I just want him to shut his mouth all the time
But the bottom line is, Jimmy Rollins is the Phillies. Nationally, it is probably between him and Ryan Howard for the face of this Phillies team. He has put in far more time with this organization than anyone else on the team. And when his numbers are good, the Phillies just win. It is always crazy when statistics are shown relating Rollins scoring a run to the Phillies winning. There is no doubt in my mind that our horrible play as of late is related to Jimmy being out of our lineup. We can only go so long without our leader. The Phillies offense works when Jimmy Rollins is a part of it. End of story.
So even though I've probably hated him more than I've loved him over the years, I wouldn't want anyone else playing shortstop for us. He helped define this team over the years, and he has earned pretty much anything he gets here due to all the time he put in with those crappy early 2000s teams. In 40 years, when I think back to these Phillies teams and the success we had, I will think of Jimmy first. When I look at who my favorite is, I think that's something that I have to consider. Because of that, there's no way Jimmy Rollins isn't one of my favorite players.
Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are 2 of those 3. Although both of them have gone through and will go through many slumps, they consistently perform at such a high level. They have been Phillies for their whole careers, and you get the feeling that it will stay that way with the contracts that they have along with their attitudes. Those two were pretty easy picks for favorites.
The third could have been any number of people. Jayson Werth has been one of the most valuable players on the Phillies the past few years yet stayed largely unnoticed throughout the country. Roy Halladay is an incredible pitcher with a great attitude. Chooch quietly gets the job done behind the plate better than most catchers, even if he may struggle at bat most of the time. Shane Victorino always seems to be having a good time while playing, and he quietly puts up some of the best offensive numbers for the Phils.
None of these people are that 3rd person for me though. That answer may surprise you, because it sure as heck surprised me once I started thinking about it.
Despite all of our differences over the years, Jimmy Rollins is one of my top 3 favorite Phillies alongside Chase and Ryan. This blog has been a haven for me to rip on Jimmy for over a year now, even going so far as to strip him of his nickname and refer to him as James Calvin Rollins when he is struggling. I hate his impatience at the plate. I can't stand that he doesn't always hustle. It bothers me that Charlie insists on him being a leadoff hitter when he lacks most of the characteristics of a real leadoff hitter. And, probably worst of all, I just want him to shut his mouth all the time
But the bottom line is, Jimmy Rollins is the Phillies. Nationally, it is probably between him and Ryan Howard for the face of this Phillies team. He has put in far more time with this organization than anyone else on the team. And when his numbers are good, the Phillies just win. It is always crazy when statistics are shown relating Rollins scoring a run to the Phillies winning. There is no doubt in my mind that our horrible play as of late is related to Jimmy being out of our lineup. We can only go so long without our leader. The Phillies offense works when Jimmy Rollins is a part of it. End of story.
So even though I've probably hated him more than I've loved him over the years, I wouldn't want anyone else playing shortstop for us. He helped define this team over the years, and he has earned pretty much anything he gets here due to all the time he put in with those crappy early 2000s teams. In 40 years, when I think back to these Phillies teams and the success we had, I will think of Jimmy first. When I look at who my favorite is, I think that's something that I have to consider. Because of that, there's no way Jimmy Rollins isn't one of my favorite players.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Marlins Series
I pointed out yesterday how much success our starters for this series have had against the Marlins this season. On top of that, our bullpen has a respectable 3.60 ERA against them. So pitching is something that we should not have to worry too much about over the next 3 days.
Hitting is a completely different story. As good as we have been pitching against the Marlins, they may be better than us. We are batting somewhere around .200 as a team in 6 games against them, and their pitchers have an ERA of 2.04.
Our best hitters against the Marlins are our possible 7 and 8 batters. Chooch is hitting .417, Brian Schneider is hitting .400, Wilson Valdez is hitting .364, and Juan Castro is hitting .294. Here's everyone else from a normal line up:
Victorino - .217
Polanco - .154
Utley - .211
Howard - .182
Werth - .211
Ibanez - .063
So I take back what I said about expecting us to do well in this series. Expect us to pitch well. Hold your breath otherwise.
Hitting is a completely different story. As good as we have been pitching against the Marlins, they may be better than us. We are batting somewhere around .200 as a team in 6 games against them, and their pitchers have an ERA of 2.04.
Our best hitters against the Marlins are our possible 7 and 8 batters. Chooch is hitting .417, Brian Schneider is hitting .400, Wilson Valdez is hitting .364, and Juan Castro is hitting .294. Here's everyone else from a normal line up:
Victorino - .217
Polanco - .154
Utley - .211
Howard - .182
Werth - .211
Ibanez - .063
So I take back what I said about expecting us to do well in this series. Expect us to pitch well. Hold your breath otherwise.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Another Big One
The series with San Diego has gone as we would have hoped thus far. Halladay won, Jamie pitched a gem on Saturday, and we lost a tough one yesterday in 10 innings. Four-game sweeps are very hard to come by, especially against teams who are leading their division.
The loss yesterday, though, is difficult because of how badly we want to take 3 out of 4 in this series. I like that we have Hamels on the mound tonight for the 4th game, but I feel like a lot more pressure is on this game than I wanted. Losing will either keep us at 2 games back from the Braves (if they lose as well) or 3 games back if they can win against the Diamondbacks. Winning could possibly pull us within 1 game of the Braves going into the series against the Marlins.
Without trying to get too far ahead of ourselves, I like our chances against Florida. The bats have started to wake up recently, and we have Kendrick, Halladay, and Moyer scheduled to pitch in the Marlins series. In 5 combined starts against the Marlins this season, those 3 pitchers have pitched 35 innings, walked just 3 batters, accumulated a 2.06 ERA, and allowed the Marlins to bat just .180 against them. They are 3-2 in those starts with the 2 losses coming in both of Jamie Moyers' starts, mostly due to a lack of run support (a 1-0 loss in his last one against them).
So what does this mean for the game tonight? It means that taking 3 out of 4 against the Padres would be great momentum going into a series that we should win as well. These are very important games because, as was pointed out before, we have 15 games against the American League coming up where we are bound to struggle. Any ground we can gain right now on the Braves is important. Although it's relatively early in the season, not being in first place makes every game feel crucial. Hopefully Cole Hamels feels the same way because he often steps it up in big games. The game will also be on ESPN tonight, and it's always fun to look good in front of a national audience.
The loss yesterday, though, is difficult because of how badly we want to take 3 out of 4 in this series. I like that we have Hamels on the mound tonight for the 4th game, but I feel like a lot more pressure is on this game than I wanted. Losing will either keep us at 2 games back from the Braves (if they lose as well) or 3 games back if they can win against the Diamondbacks. Winning could possibly pull us within 1 game of the Braves going into the series against the Marlins.
Without trying to get too far ahead of ourselves, I like our chances against Florida. The bats have started to wake up recently, and we have Kendrick, Halladay, and Moyer scheduled to pitch in the Marlins series. In 5 combined starts against the Marlins this season, those 3 pitchers have pitched 35 innings, walked just 3 batters, accumulated a 2.06 ERA, and allowed the Marlins to bat just .180 against them. They are 3-2 in those starts with the 2 losses coming in both of Jamie Moyers' starts, mostly due to a lack of run support (a 1-0 loss in his last one against them).
So what does this mean for the game tonight? It means that taking 3 out of 4 against the Padres would be great momentum going into a series that we should win as well. These are very important games because, as was pointed out before, we have 15 games against the American League coming up where we are bound to struggle. Any ground we can gain right now on the Braves is important. Although it's relatively early in the season, not being in first place makes every game feel crucial. Hopefully Cole Hamels feels the same way because he often steps it up in big games. The game will also be on ESPN tonight, and it's always fun to look good in front of a national audience.
Friday, June 4, 2010
The Time is Now
The Phillies' recent struggles need to end soon, but the upcoming schedule does not exactly look promising for that to happen. The series with the Padres starting tonight is an important one, as well as the following series with the Marlins. After these 7 games, we have 15 straight against the American League, against which we have always been horrible. Looking at our schedule up until the All-Star Break, there is really nothing easy about it:
4 against the Padres (first place NL West)
3 against the Marlins (1.5 games behind us)
3 in Boston (who we have already lost 2 of 3 to)
3 in New York against the Yankees (2nd best record in baseball)
3 against the Twins (first in AL Central)
3 against the Indians
3 against the Blue Jays (3rd in AL East but with a better record than us)
3 in Cincinnati (1st in NL Central)
3 in Pittsburgh
3 against Atlanta (3 games ahead of us)
4 against the Reds (once again, 1st in NL Central)
Nothing about this is easy. Yes, the Indians are terrible, but they are still an American League team and we usually suck against them. The Pirates are not too great either, but we can't be too confident about any team when we're playing the way we are.
With all of that being said, it is important for us to make a statement in this series against the Padres. They do not have much of an offense to speak of, ranking 23rd in batting average, 26th in home runs, and 21st in RBI. They're in first place, however, because of their pitching. Their pitching staff has the lowest ERA in all of baseball. Combine that with the Phillies scoring less than the Flyers* since last Monday (14 for the Flyers, 11 for the Phils), and we could be in trouble. But now would be the time to get our offense back on track. Against arguably the best pitching staff we will face, it would be huge to win 3 of these 4 games, and I think it is very possible. We shouldn't need to score more than 4 runs in any game in order to beat the Padres. Halladay and Hamels should win their games, and that would leave it up to Moyer or Blanton to pick up a 3rd win. We need to pick up some kind of momentum going into a long stretch of interleague play.
The Phillies often pride themselves on taking the season one game at a time and forgetting about the day before. It is time that they live up to that claim, forget the last 10 or 12 games, and start winning some games that we should win. If it doesn't happen now, it is hard to see when it will.
*On a side note, if you're too depressed about the Phillies right now, check out those Flyers. They'll look to even up the Stanley Cup Finals tonight in Philadelphia. It seems like both the Flyers and Phillies are in must-win games tonight. The Flyers would be in trouble falling down in the series 3-1 and going back to Chicago. The Phillies would be in trouble losing with Halladay on the mound when they need to turn things around. There will be a lot of excitement tonight in Philadelphia all within a one-block radius.
4 against the Padres (first place NL West)
3 against the Marlins (1.5 games behind us)
3 in Boston (who we have already lost 2 of 3 to)
3 in New York against the Yankees (2nd best record in baseball)
3 against the Twins (first in AL Central)
3 against the Indians
3 against the Blue Jays (3rd in AL East but with a better record than us)
3 in Cincinnati (1st in NL Central)
3 in Pittsburgh
3 against Atlanta (3 games ahead of us)
4 against the Reds (once again, 1st in NL Central)
Nothing about this is easy. Yes, the Indians are terrible, but they are still an American League team and we usually suck against them. The Pirates are not too great either, but we can't be too confident about any team when we're playing the way we are.
With all of that being said, it is important for us to make a statement in this series against the Padres. They do not have much of an offense to speak of, ranking 23rd in batting average, 26th in home runs, and 21st in RBI. They're in first place, however, because of their pitching. Their pitching staff has the lowest ERA in all of baseball. Combine that with the Phillies scoring less than the Flyers* since last Monday (14 for the Flyers, 11 for the Phils), and we could be in trouble. But now would be the time to get our offense back on track. Against arguably the best pitching staff we will face, it would be huge to win 3 of these 4 games, and I think it is very possible. We shouldn't need to score more than 4 runs in any game in order to beat the Padres. Halladay and Hamels should win their games, and that would leave it up to Moyer or Blanton to pick up a 3rd win. We need to pick up some kind of momentum going into a long stretch of interleague play.
The Phillies often pride themselves on taking the season one game at a time and forgetting about the day before. It is time that they live up to that claim, forget the last 10 or 12 games, and start winning some games that we should win. If it doesn't happen now, it is hard to see when it will.
*On a side note, if you're too depressed about the Phillies right now, check out those Flyers. They'll look to even up the Stanley Cup Finals tonight in Philadelphia. It seems like both the Flyers and Phillies are in must-win games tonight. The Flyers would be in trouble falling down in the series 3-1 and going back to Chicago. The Phillies would be in trouble losing with Halladay on the mound when they need to turn things around. There will be a lot of excitement tonight in Philadelphia all within a one-block radius.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Fantasy Baseball
The Phillies lost another one, falling 1.5 games behind the Braves for first place in the NL East. I feel there's really no need to worry at this point in the season about where we are in the standings as long as we're staying near the top. It's also tough to gauge what is going on with this team currently with all of the injuries. Because of this, today we'll take a break from talking about the Phillies.
For those who may not know what fantasy baseball is, it's basically a few friends putting together teams of the best players in the league and getting points for different statistics. Whoever's team can rack up the most points for those given statistics over the course of a season then wins.
A few years ago, I heard an idea for a fantasy baseball league that I thought was really interesting. The league would consist of just 2 teams, each team with 15 players. There would be 10 position players (one at each position, an extra infielder, and an extra outfielder) and 5 pitchers (4 starters, 1 reliever). Normal leagues will consist of more teams with less players on each team. But this league gets weirder than that. Of the 30 players that make up the league, there can only be 1 from each team. That means if one person picks Chase Utley for their team, neither person can have Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay, Jayson Werth, etc. There are 30 teams in the league, so it works out to one player from each team - no more, no less. And for a final twist, these teams are to remain the same for the next 5 seasons.
I talked to my brother-in-law Jeremiah about this idea, and we were both excited to have this league together. It's probably the coolest thing we've ever done. A lot of planning went into this, including narrowing down realistic players from each team that one of us would pick and then ranking those players as a guide for us while we were having our live draft at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Richmond, Virginia. We also each had to come up with some type of strategy as to how we would draft our players. We ended up looking at the draft in slightly different ways, and we came up with very different teams in the process. Here's a look at each of our rosters:
Cameron - "Dippin' Dots" (named after the Ice Cream of the Future)
C - Joe Mauer MIN
1B - Albert Pujols STL
2B - Chase Utley PHI
3B - Evan Longoria TB
SS - Troy Tulowitzki COL
IF - Joey Votto CIN
OF - Justin Upton ARI
OF - Ryan Braun MIL
OF - Adam Jones BAL
OF - Andrew McCutchen PIT
SP - Felix Hernandez SEA
SP - Justin Verlander DET
SP - John Danks CWS
SP - Jered Weaver LAA
RP - Andrew Bailey OAK
Jeremiah - "The Flying Cars" (named after what we will be driving in 5 years)
C - Geovany Soto CHC
1B - Mark Teixeira NYY
2B - Aaron Hill TOR
3B - Ryan Zimmerman WAS
SS - Hanley Ramirez FLA
IF - Adrian Gonzalez SD
OF - Jason Heyward ATL
OF - Matt Kemp LAD
OF - Grady Sizemore CLE
OF - Nelson Cruz TEX
SP - Tim Lincecum SF
SP - Zack Greinke KC
SP - Jon Lester BOS
SP - Wandy Rodriguez HOU
RP - Francisco Rodriguez NYM
Jeremiah had the first pick of the draft. I then had the 2nd and 3rd. He then had the 4th and 5th. And so on until the last pick of the draft, which belonged to me. Here is the order the players were picked in:
Jeremiah - 1. Hanley Ramirez
Cam - 2. Joe Mauer 3. Albert Pujols
J - 4. Tim Lincecum 5. Mark Teixeira
C - 6. Chase Utley 7. Evan Longoria
J - 8. Ryan Zimmerman 9. Jason Heyward
C - 10. Justin Upton 11. Felix Hernandez
J - 12. Matt Kemp 13. Zack Greinke
C - 14. Troy Tulowitzki 15. Ryan Braun
J - 16. Grady Sizemore 17. Jon Lester
C - 18. Justin Verlander 19. Adam Jones
J - 20. Geovany Soto 21. Adrian Gonzalez
C - 22. Andrew Bailey 23. John Danks
J - 24. Francisco Rodriguez 25. Nelson Cruz
C - 26. Jered Weaver 27. Joey Votto
J - 28. Aaron Hill 29. Wandy Rodriguez
C - 30. Andrew McCutchen
It can be seen here that Jer decided to focus more on pitching and I on hitting. Neither team is clearly better or worse than the other, and our differing strategies worked out fine for both of us. We were both happy with the teams we had after the draft. If you're into fantasy baseball and have a friend who likes it as much as you, I'd highly recommend trying this out. It's a ton of fun to think about and then draft, and it gives you some type of interest in every team. Also, we decided to make all of our players "starters" on the fantasy teams, meaning they get points every day no matter what. I couldn't decide to sit Felix Hernandez because he's pitching against the Yankees. We get all of the good and the bad with every player, and this makes the league very low-maintenance. All we do is check on how we are doing after each day.
I am leading the league thus far, but not by much. And it doesn't really matter that much at this point, since we still have over 4 1/2 seasons to see how things turn out. At the end of 5 seasons, the loser has to pay for some freak nasty tickets to a Phillies game. And the winner will get to choose if he wants to go first or second in the next draft.
For those who may not know what fantasy baseball is, it's basically a few friends putting together teams of the best players in the league and getting points for different statistics. Whoever's team can rack up the most points for those given statistics over the course of a season then wins.
A few years ago, I heard an idea for a fantasy baseball league that I thought was really interesting. The league would consist of just 2 teams, each team with 15 players. There would be 10 position players (one at each position, an extra infielder, and an extra outfielder) and 5 pitchers (4 starters, 1 reliever). Normal leagues will consist of more teams with less players on each team. But this league gets weirder than that. Of the 30 players that make up the league, there can only be 1 from each team. That means if one person picks Chase Utley for their team, neither person can have Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay, Jayson Werth, etc. There are 30 teams in the league, so it works out to one player from each team - no more, no less. And for a final twist, these teams are to remain the same for the next 5 seasons.
I talked to my brother-in-law Jeremiah about this idea, and we were both excited to have this league together. It's probably the coolest thing we've ever done. A lot of planning went into this, including narrowing down realistic players from each team that one of us would pick and then ranking those players as a guide for us while we were having our live draft at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Richmond, Virginia. We also each had to come up with some type of strategy as to how we would draft our players. We ended up looking at the draft in slightly different ways, and we came up with very different teams in the process. Here's a look at each of our rosters:
Cameron - "Dippin' Dots" (named after the Ice Cream of the Future)
C - Joe Mauer MIN
1B - Albert Pujols STL
2B - Chase Utley PHI
3B - Evan Longoria TB
SS - Troy Tulowitzki COL
IF - Joey Votto CIN
OF - Justin Upton ARI
OF - Ryan Braun MIL
OF - Adam Jones BAL
OF - Andrew McCutchen PIT
SP - Felix Hernandez SEA
SP - Justin Verlander DET
SP - John Danks CWS
SP - Jered Weaver LAA
RP - Andrew Bailey OAK
Jeremiah - "The Flying Cars" (named after what we will be driving in 5 years)
C - Geovany Soto CHC
1B - Mark Teixeira NYY
2B - Aaron Hill TOR
3B - Ryan Zimmerman WAS
SS - Hanley Ramirez FLA
IF - Adrian Gonzalez SD
OF - Jason Heyward ATL
OF - Matt Kemp LAD
OF - Grady Sizemore CLE
OF - Nelson Cruz TEX
SP - Tim Lincecum SF
SP - Zack Greinke KC
SP - Jon Lester BOS
SP - Wandy Rodriguez HOU
RP - Francisco Rodriguez NYM
Jeremiah had the first pick of the draft. I then had the 2nd and 3rd. He then had the 4th and 5th. And so on until the last pick of the draft, which belonged to me. Here is the order the players were picked in:
Jeremiah - 1. Hanley Ramirez
Cam - 2. Joe Mauer 3. Albert Pujols
J - 4. Tim Lincecum 5. Mark Teixeira
C - 6. Chase Utley 7. Evan Longoria
J - 8. Ryan Zimmerman 9. Jason Heyward
C - 10. Justin Upton 11. Felix Hernandez
J - 12. Matt Kemp 13. Zack Greinke
C - 14. Troy Tulowitzki 15. Ryan Braun
J - 16. Grady Sizemore 17. Jon Lester
C - 18. Justin Verlander 19. Adam Jones
J - 20. Geovany Soto 21. Adrian Gonzalez
C - 22. Andrew Bailey 23. John Danks
J - 24. Francisco Rodriguez 25. Nelson Cruz
C - 26. Jered Weaver 27. Joey Votto
J - 28. Aaron Hill 29. Wandy Rodriguez
C - 30. Andrew McCutchen
It can be seen here that Jer decided to focus more on pitching and I on hitting. Neither team is clearly better or worse than the other, and our differing strategies worked out fine for both of us. We were both happy with the teams we had after the draft. If you're into fantasy baseball and have a friend who likes it as much as you, I'd highly recommend trying this out. It's a ton of fun to think about and then draft, and it gives you some type of interest in every team. Also, we decided to make all of our players "starters" on the fantasy teams, meaning they get points every day no matter what. I couldn't decide to sit Felix Hernandez because he's pitching against the Yankees. We get all of the good and the bad with every player, and this makes the league very low-maintenance. All we do is check on how we are doing after each day.
I am leading the league thus far, but not by much. And it doesn't really matter that much at this point, since we still have over 4 1/2 seasons to see how things turn out. At the end of 5 seasons, the loser has to pay for some freak nasty tickets to a Phillies game. And the winner will get to choose if he wants to go first or second in the next draft.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Being Away
Last season, there was a 3 1/2 week stretch of the season in which I was working at a camp and could not watch any Phillies games. Before I left, the Phillies had won just 4 of their previous 18 games. The next game I watched upon my return, JA Happ lost his first start of the season after being 7-0. In between, the Phillies went 15-2. They then lost 6 of the next 9 games right after this.
This series of events indirectly led to the demise of this blog last season. The Phillies seemed to step it up when I was unable to watch, and I brought some type of horrible vibe to the team upon my return as a loyal viewer. This led to an obvious detached feeling from a team that I live and die with. At times, I considered a complete boycott of televised games for the good of the team. I selfishly continued watching, and things eventually turned around anyway.
Leaving for California last Friday was a nerve-racking time as I was experiencing flashbacks to this time last season. Although I was excited for the Phillies to go on a 10-day run, I was nervous as to what horrendous events would transpire as I made it back into the Philadelphia area.
Lucky for me, the Phillies didn't play any games while I was gone (with the exception of Roy Halladay*).
Although looking at results every day proved costly to my morale, I could find a slight silver lining as our offense mustered just 12 runs in 9 games while going 3-6. This meant that the Phillies could actually succeed with me being a regular viewer! While not watching any of the games during my vacation, I realized that there was no way the Phillies could play worse once I was back in the game.
What does this all mean? Well, it certainly doesn't mean that I'm happy or that anyone should be with the way the Phillies have played in the past 3 series. But it does mean that I can continue watching, and, in doing so, I can continue posting on this blog. It also, hopefully, means that the Phillies can begin playing baseball again. It took them awhile today to warm up to my eyes again, but 4 straight doubles today gives us some reason to hope that more hits are on the way.
Placido Polanco** should be back in the lineup tomorrow, and that should certainly provide a spark in Atlanta. He is batting .450 against the Braves this season. A day off for Werth will hopefully have him back on track as well after going 0 for his last 19. He has 2 home runs, 4 doubles, and 7 RBIs in 21 at-bats against the Braves this season.
*Roy Halladay threw a perfect game?! And I didn't get to see it?! Majoke! I am in no way actually angry that he threw a perfect game, and I want to take nothing away from it, but it is definitely a little disappointing that I couldn't witness with my own eyes as it happened. BUT! I would like to thank those people who helped me out in experiencing that perfect game:
Zack Schanz - for texting me with Roy Halladay's stat line at the end of each inning starting with the 4th. He knew something special was happening early, and he managed to avoid jinxing it
Brianna Link - for answering her phone and handing it to her husband and my brother-in-law
Jeremiah Link - for giving me a play-by-play of the bottom of the 9th inning over the phone
Mom - for calling me afterwards to share the good news (after I called her to tell her to turn on the game). Also for DVRing the encore so I can watch it this week
Mike Costello - for calling to share the joy upon completion of the game
Phil Nase - for letting me know that he and his girlfriend made a big scene in a fancy restaurant upon finding out the results. Respect
Cheese - for sitting by (he was in Cali with me) and making sure I didn't have a heart attack while getting the play-by-play on the phone. I've never been that excited/sweaty during a phone call
Ben Link - for reminding me that I got one of my predictions wrong because of this
Alex Schuh and Abbey Fries - for calling me about something completely unrelated while this game was going on. I just thought they'd like to be mentioned
"The Man Upstairs" - because this feels like an acceptance speech, and I'm a young person so I'm required by law to only refer to God as "The Man Upstairs" during this
And anyone else I'm forgetting! You are all so special to me! (*fighting back tears*)
**Placido Polanco will from now on be referred to in this blog as "Duke." First of all, I think this is an awesome nickname, and he definitely needs a nickname. Secondly, his head looks like that of a boxer (the dog, not the fighter), and my good friend Bean has a boxer (once again, canine variety) named Duke. Thirdly, I hate Duke basketball. That just needed to be said.
This series of events indirectly led to the demise of this blog last season. The Phillies seemed to step it up when I was unable to watch, and I brought some type of horrible vibe to the team upon my return as a loyal viewer. This led to an obvious detached feeling from a team that I live and die with. At times, I considered a complete boycott of televised games for the good of the team. I selfishly continued watching, and things eventually turned around anyway.
Leaving for California last Friday was a nerve-racking time as I was experiencing flashbacks to this time last season. Although I was excited for the Phillies to go on a 10-day run, I was nervous as to what horrendous events would transpire as I made it back into the Philadelphia area.
Lucky for me, the Phillies didn't play any games while I was gone (with the exception of Roy Halladay*).
Although looking at results every day proved costly to my morale, I could find a slight silver lining as our offense mustered just 12 runs in 9 games while going 3-6. This meant that the Phillies could actually succeed with me being a regular viewer! While not watching any of the games during my vacation, I realized that there was no way the Phillies could play worse once I was back in the game.
What does this all mean? Well, it certainly doesn't mean that I'm happy or that anyone should be with the way the Phillies have played in the past 3 series. But it does mean that I can continue watching, and, in doing so, I can continue posting on this blog. It also, hopefully, means that the Phillies can begin playing baseball again. It took them awhile today to warm up to my eyes again, but 4 straight doubles today gives us some reason to hope that more hits are on the way.
Placido Polanco** should be back in the lineup tomorrow, and that should certainly provide a spark in Atlanta. He is batting .450 against the Braves this season. A day off for Werth will hopefully have him back on track as well after going 0 for his last 19. He has 2 home runs, 4 doubles, and 7 RBIs in 21 at-bats against the Braves this season.
*Roy Halladay threw a perfect game?! And I didn't get to see it?! Majoke! I am in no way actually angry that he threw a perfect game, and I want to take nothing away from it, but it is definitely a little disappointing that I couldn't witness with my own eyes as it happened. BUT! I would like to thank those people who helped me out in experiencing that perfect game:
Zack Schanz - for texting me with Roy Halladay's stat line at the end of each inning starting with the 4th. He knew something special was happening early, and he managed to avoid jinxing it
Brianna Link - for answering her phone and handing it to her husband and my brother-in-law
Jeremiah Link - for giving me a play-by-play of the bottom of the 9th inning over the phone
Mom - for calling me afterwards to share the good news (after I called her to tell her to turn on the game). Also for DVRing the encore so I can watch it this week
Mike Costello - for calling to share the joy upon completion of the game
Phil Nase - for letting me know that he and his girlfriend made a big scene in a fancy restaurant upon finding out the results. Respect
Cheese - for sitting by (he was in Cali with me) and making sure I didn't have a heart attack while getting the play-by-play on the phone. I've never been that excited/sweaty during a phone call
Ben Link - for reminding me that I got one of my predictions wrong because of this
Alex Schuh and Abbey Fries - for calling me about something completely unrelated while this game was going on. I just thought they'd like to be mentioned
"The Man Upstairs" - because this feels like an acceptance speech, and I'm a young person so I'm required by law to only refer to God as "The Man Upstairs" during this
And anyone else I'm forgetting! You are all so special to me! (*fighting back tears*)
**Placido Polanco will from now on be referred to in this blog as "Duke." First of all, I think this is an awesome nickname, and he definitely needs a nickname. Secondly, his head looks like that of a boxer (the dog, not the fighter), and my good friend Bean has a boxer (once again, canine variety) named Duke. Thirdly, I hate Duke basketball. That just needed to be said.
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