Dodgers Preview: Living the Dream

I use the phrase "living the dream" possibly way too much. There's no denying that my life is awesome, but I can take almost any situation and interpret it as "the dream."

My goal throughout college was to get a teaching job at Pennridge right after graduation and get to coach basketball there as well. That's exactly what happened to me, so it was more than appropriate to say that I was, as a whole, "living the dream." Sometimes, though, I fear I would downplay how much my dream was being lived by saying that I was "living the dream" in much simpler situations, like ordering a Carousel Burger at The Perk. Yes, a combination of crisp bacon, bold bourbon sauce, sharp cheddar cheese and frizzled onions (formerly onion rings, a fantastic change to make it truly perfect) is absolutely delicious, but "the dream?" (For the record: Yes, that is the dream. Even more so than the Pennridge thing)

I remember when I started saying this all the time. Freshman year of college, my roommate Matt and I brought a 2nd TV to our dorm room after being there a few months. We could then both play separate video games at the same time. Or, one could play video games and a show, movie, or sporting event could be on the other TV. Or, we could watch two sporting events at once. For 2 complete majoke excuses for college students who never did anything fun or interesting (or even left their dorm room for the most part), what could be better? Essentially nothing. Heck, 85% of college is just killing time anyway.

We were living the dream any time I powered up my XBox but we also wanted to try watching The Good Shepherd again but could just never get the timing right with channel 72 (the awesome channel at Penn State that showed movies at 12, 3, 6, and 9, AM and PM. As great as that channel was, somehow it seemed impossible to ever be in the room at one of those times to actually catch the start of the movies. And, I love Matt Damon, but I really could just never get into The Good Shepherd. It's just a little slow and long for me. I tried watching it several times that year, a few times the next year when I DVR'd it in our apartment, and I vividly remember one attempt at home when it was on HBO. I would always fall asleep or just go extended periods of time without paying attention because I just got bored. And the deaf girl only sounds deaf like half the time she talks. So that bothered me.)

Here are some other examples in life of situations in which I've claimed to be "living the dream:"
-Getting my summer pay in a lump sum
-Having a 3-TV setup all of sophomore and junior years of college
-Having a 4-TV setup for March Madness (my dreams often involve television I guess)
-Phillies World Series
-Building LEGOs (as an adult)
-Building a fort out of furniture, sheets, and a crapload of duct tape (also as an adult)
-When you can replace chips with fries for only a dollar extra
-Working at The Perk in the mornings when I was 14 and getting free birch beer
-Drinking glass bottles of Coke
-Having the same apartment for 3 years of college so I didn't have to move every summer
-Working at Qdoba where I got paid to drive around and eat free food
-The feeling this summer that my only real responsibility right now is writing this blog
-Becoming a Most Valued Customer at Kohl's (a recent accomplishment that I'm super excited about)
-Basically whenever someone has asked me what I'm doing, what's up, how I'm doing, or any generic question like that
-Sitting on the bench at varsity basketball games this past year with little to no real responsibility
-One time in college when I had 8 strips of bacon and a beer for lunch
-Christmas break
-Spring break
-Summer break
-Any type of break
-Any time I've gotten free food. Ever.

Everyone has a dream they'd love to live, some just have looser requirements for that (seriously, LEGOs?). If I were a professional athlete, the dream for me would be to be a part of one of my hometown teams and win as much as I could with them. So, to me, Jamie Moyer has now lived the dream because he has been a part of one of the greatest eras in Phillies history. Jesse Biddle was selected in the first round of the MLB draft by the Phillies last year, and he's from Mount Airy. The dream? I'd say it's as close as he could get at this point in his life.

There are some sports figures though, that have dreams that I can't quite figure out. Rich Rodriguez, the recently-fired Michigan football coach, is my best example of this. He is a graduate of West Virginia, and he was coaching there from 2001 to 2007. After he had turned West Virginia into a perennial national title contender (despite being in the Big East. Yikes), he left to coach at Michigan. Then he got fired after 3 seasons because he sucked. As much as I enjoyed this, it made no sense to me in the first place that he would've left West Virginia. Wouldn't you have the most pride in the school that you went to and played for? What could be better than turning them into a national power with the goal of one day winning a national championship with them? I would want to stay there forever, but that was not enough for him. Because of that, he's a total failure now. And that's hilarious ("Hilarious for someone to lose a job? Cameron, you're cruel!" No, no I'm not. He made millions of dollars, and blew it because he got greedy. Totally his fault. And I have a hard time feeling bad for a rich person with nothing to do. Find something. You're rich)

Chase Utley also falls into this "What the heck was your dream" category but in a completely different way. I don't think he's a total douche like I do Rich Rodriguez. He's from Los Angeles, though (which would normally imply 'douche,' but this is Chase Utley people), and he absolutely kills when he goes back to LA to play the Dodgers. He has a .358 average at Dodger Stadium with 20 extra base hits in 95 at bats. His 1.114 OPS there is higher than it is at any ballpark in which he has played more than 3 games in his career. For many people, that would be great. They would probably love to play for their hometown team, but maybe they got passed over by them and the revenge is a sweet feeling. The dream? Quite possibly. Chase Utley, however, could have played for the Dodgers. He was drafted by them out of high school in 1997. In baseball, though, there are 50 rounds in the draft. And there are like 1,000 picks that somehow happen in between each round (yes, it's very weird. Don't bother looking into it). So he probably just got picked in like the 38th round, right? As a matter of fact, Chase Utley was chosen in the 2nd round. The 2nd round! By his hometown team! Isn't that the dream?

Instead of signing with the Dodgers, though, Utley went and played 3 years at UCLA where he met his wonderful, gorgeous wife, got drafted in the first round by the Phillies, hit a grand slam for his first career hit, became the object of every woman's affection and the envy of every man, helped to bring a championship to a city that desperately needed it, and saved a bunch of dogs. He also gave me one of the most legitimately depressing days of my life my sophomore year of college when, suddenly, for no real reason, I realized I would probably never get to be friends with him. This seriously affected my mood that whole day.

Is Chase Utley "living the dream?" Well, it's hard to deny how incredibly awesome his life is. But I can't imagine this was his dream growing up in Los Angeles. I guess sometimes, though, dreams can change.

(Is this post a blatant attempt at me explaining why I moved to Virginia? Actually, no. But does it do an excellent job of justifying my decision despite the fact that I had the opportunity to live my dream? It sure does. Chase Utley, you're an inspiration. I am in love with you. Is this weird? I'm not too worried about it, really. I wouldn't worry about it. Don't worry about it. I'm not worried at all.)

Game 1: Roy Halladay (14-4, 2.55 ERA) vs. Hiroki Kuroda (7-13, 2.96 ERA)
As I said in my preview of the first Dodgers series, Kuroda has killed the Phillies over the years. Adding Hunter Pence to that mix doesn't help us all that much, seeing as he is only 3 for 14 against Kuroda in his career. Although we beat him earlier this season, it was only a 2-0 game. I would expect a low-scoring game again in this one. A few of the Dodger hitters have gotten to Halladay over the years, but Andre Ethier stands out as one we should worry about. He is one of 2 threats in the Dodger lineup, and he is 5 for 7 with a double and a home run against Doc. Matt Kemp, the only other player we should worry about, is just 1 for 6 with 3 strikeouts.
Prediction: Phillies 3 Dodgers 1
Keep an eye out for: Halladay giving up his only run in the first inning with smooth sailing from there.

Game 2: Cliff Lee (11-7, 2.96 ERA) vs. Ted Lilly (7-11, 4.86 ERA)
The last time these two faced each other, Lilly had a record of 4-4 and Lee was 4-5. They've since gone in completely opposite directions. Lilly has gone 3-7 with a 5.91 ERA and served up 13 home runs in just 10 starts. Lee, on the other hand, has gone 7-2 with a 2.22 ERA, allowing less hits (60) than he has strikeouts (67) in those 10 starts. The last time they faced off, both put their teams in good positions to win the game, but the Dodgers met up with Lee just as he was beginning his epic month of June. Kemp and Ethier are going to be the reason we lose if we lose a game in this series I would think, and they are just 1 for 10 against Lee. Lilly has not been overall that successful against the Phils in his career (1-5, 5.49 ERA), but he does have pretty good success against our current roster. I recently found out that his full name is Theodore Roosevelt Lilly, so that makes him freakin' sweet. Did you know that Teddy Roosevelt once got shot and then gave a speech right afterwards anyway, just because he was that much of the man? Well, he did.
Prediction: Phillies 7 Dodgers 2
Keep an eye out for: Lilly serving up a few more home runs, including one to Ryan Howard

Game 3: Vance Worley (8-1, 2.35 ERA) vs. Chad Billingsley (10-9, 4.17 ERA)
Billingsley has pretty average numbers against our organization (1-2, 3.19 ERA), but pretty not-so-great numbers against our actual players (.309 average, .902 OPS). In this final game of the series, Utley once again will be facing a pitcher he hasn't really hit around in his career (2 for 10 vs. Kuroda, 3 for 14 vs. Lilly, 2 for 7 vs. Billingsley). With his incredible numbers at Dodger Stadium, though, you kinda feel like something's gotta give here, and this should be the game he has the best chance of dominating. Oh, and remember when Vance Worley was bad? Yeah. Neither do I.
Prediction: Phillies 8 Dodgers 1
Keep an eye out for: Utley hitting two home runs on a warm, sunny afternoon in Los Angeles. (No, I did not look at the weather for this game. Anyone want to bet against that forecast, though? It's LA)