Response from Scott Palmer

Surprisingly, I received a reply rather quickly in regards to my recent complaint about Tom McCathy's announcing style. My email to Scott Palmer (the producer of Phillies' broadcasts) and his response are copied below. While he doesn't address my specific complaints, I am glad he took the time to say he read my letter and tried to reassure me that all would be fine. I can't say that I agree with him and I hope he took my criticism (and others since I know others sent emails yesterday) and perhaps mentioned a few things to Tom McCarthy. Once can only hope. It's not like I want the guy to be fired on the spot, I just would like to see him be more on our side.

My email to Scott and his reply:

Scott,

For starters, allow me to thank you for taking the time for reading this.  I am sure you
are a busy man.  But, I feel I must express my displeasure with the decision to use Tom
McCarthy as the television play by play announcer.  Before you dismiss my opinion as a
knee jerk reaction to Harry's passing and feeling that no one can live up to his
legendary calls, I can unequivocally say that I disliked Tom's announcing previous to
Harry's death.

I think Tom has a great deep broadcasting voice and technically does a good job with
announcing.  He would actually  make a fine national broadcaster, like for Fox or ESPN.
However, I just feel that he doesn't root for the Phillies and doesn't show enough
support for our team.  Too many times I have felt that his calls of opposing teams' home
runs or good plays are overzealous.  I don't expect him to be boring and lackadaisical
but his calls for all teams are equally excited.  He also seems to go gaga over other
teams' players like Jorge Cantu and David Wright. While they are fine players and I would
like to hear more information about them I also don't want to have their accomplishments
thrown in my face over and over again.

Please understand, I don't think the Phillies' broadcast should have super fans gushing
over every thing that they do and some objectivity needs to injected into the broadcasts.
However, I find that Tom is well... too impartial.  I want a guy in the booth that roots
for the Phillies.  I know that Harry was once a big Senators fan just like McCarthy is a
Mets fan and he also broadcasted previously for the Astros but he came to love our team
and was part of it.  I just don't think that Tom will become a fellow fan and solely
views this as a job.

What lead me to believe this is that his description of where Elijah Dukes' monster home
run last night landed was "Mike Piazza territory".  While I don't think he
would be audacious enough to try and rename Ashburn Alley after a Met (whether he hailed
from Norristown or not), he showed his rooting interest by ignoring the fact that Ryan
Howard has hit several homers there as well.  Sure, Mike Piazza is a future hall of fame
player who hit some monster shots in his time.  But, he only hit 2 homer runs in his
career at CBP and if he hit one into the alley then it just shows that it's something
that remembers instead of the monster shots that Howard had there.  His true colors
showed in that description.

I suppose I have fallen victim to hyperbole in this email.  But if you can't overreact
being a fan then when can you?  I think I will have to put my TV on mute from now on and
listen to Larry and Scott instead.  I find their broadcast much more enjoyable.



Thanks for taking my opinion in consideration.


Hi Brian,
Thanks for taking the time to write a very detailed e-mail.  I always want to know how
the fans feel.  I would reply to your criticisms by recalling how Harry used to recount
how the fans reacted to him poorly after he took over for Bill Campbell.  Hopefully fans
today will give Tom the same time they gave H. back then.  I agree that fans have every
right to be passionate about their ball club, and the people who broadcast it.  We are
lucky to have such fans here in Philly.

Sincerely,

Scott Palmer

Harry Kalas 1936-2009

The Phillies will never sound the same.


I'll miss you Harry.

RIP

Time to defend the WFC

The Philles get to kick off the entire major league baseball season tonight at 8pm and defend their 2008 World "Fucking" Championship starting with the Braves. (thank you Chase Utley for coining the phrase)

Most of the team is intact from last year, the main exception is Pat Burrell is gone and replaced by his 5 year older doppelganger named Raul Ibanez. We will have some prospects that will eventually make the team this year (or get traded) that I am excited about as well. Jason Donald, Lou Marson, Carlos Carrasco and John Mayberry Jr. all have a legitimate shot of making some major contributions this year as well as rookie pitcher JA Happ who made the bullpen and could also see some starting time.

The competition looks as tough as ever in the division. The Nats may not be great but they really did make some improvements over the off season like Adam Dunn and will get Steven Strasberg in the draft who is touted as the best pitching prospect since Dwight Gooden. The Braves starting pitching is very strong and will make thing tough all year. The Marlins are good young team that may emerge and take some big strides this year. Finally the hated Mets have strengthened their bullpen with K-Rod and JJ Putz and look to challenge and then choke in the stretch again.

I'm excited to say the least, I had tickets for tonight but had to sell them since Lynn had to work tonight. Even still, I'll have some brews, and enjoy myself and my big screen HD TV watching what hopes to be the begininng of a repeat world fucking championship year.

Pat the Bat's class act

For those of you who don't read the paper (which is most of us these days...), Now ex-Phillie, Pat Burrell, took out a full page ad. Click on the picture to read it:I'm still sore at the front office for not resigning him and since my season tickets are in left field, it will be weird seeing someone else out there every Sunday. Pat spent his own money (well he did make millions here) to take out the ad and it wasn't something he had to do. Pat's a class act and he will be missed.

Goodbye Pat

I'm a bit saddened today as we have to say goodbye to one of my favorite players, Pat Burrell. The writing is on the wall as Ruben Amaro, our idiot of a GM, has just signed Raul Ibanez to a 3 year 30 million dollar deal. Why does this deal make me upset aside from losing Pat?

1) Raul is 36 and that's the age where players start to rapidly decline. There are exceptions, yes, but it's not a good gamble to give him a hefty raise from ages 36- 39. In contrast, Pat is several years younger, 32.

2) Raul is left handed. The Phillies line up is littered with lefties. The likey spot in the line up where Raul would bat is with Howard and Utley who are also left-handed. This makes it easy in the later innings for opposing teams to use left handed relievers to shut down the middle of our line up. In contrast, Pat is right handed.

3) Raul was offered arbitration by Seattle. That means since the Phillies signed him away, they have to give their 1st round draft pick to Seattle. The Phils won't have their first pick for a long time (somewhere in the 60's) since there are lots of supplemental 1st round picks and are last in the order. In contrast, Pat wouldn't have cost us any picks what so ever, plus, had we offered arbitration and he signed somewhere else, we'd have the extra pick.

4) Ruben jumped the gun too soon. By being the first free agent outfielder signed, we have just set the market price. Instead of being a bit more patient, we perhaps could have signed Ibanez for a smaller amount of money or if it went higher signed a better bargain or platooned players to their strengths. Ibanez's salary increased by 4.5 million over last year by signing this contract. If you're really sold on him, I honestly think we could have had him cheaper. In contrast, Pat will likely sign for the same money and length of contract.

5) Raul's defense and speed are horrible. In contrast Pat's is just as bad.

6) Raul is a slap hitter who hits for average and lots of singles and doubles. To be fair, Ibanez does get on base a lot, which is important. But his style of hitting doesn't play well at Citizen's Bank Park. Doubles and singles get suppressed while homers increase (actually making the park play neutral offensively despite what people say). I think Ibanez will hit a few more homers this year but his average will drop sharply. In contrast, Pat had a higher on base percentage, higher slugging percentage and was a slightly better overall hitter than Raul.

To sum up-

We signed an older, left handed version of Pat Burrell to a contract that's too long and too much and lost a draft pick and a player that's been great for us since 2000.

Thanks Ruben, I have a feeling you're going to be making idiotic moves like this until you get fired in 3 years. I'm just glad we won it all before you had a chance to screw it up.

Goodbye Pat, I wish you all the best and hope you have much success wherever you go. (except the Mets)

About that GM position...

Just a few scant days after the parade for the World Champion Phillies, the front office announced that Ruben Amaro Jr. will take over as the new Phillies GM since Pat Gillick has retired. It was kind of sneaky of the Phils to do so close after the big win but it was completely expected for almost 2 years or longer that Ruben would take over. Personally, I was too happy about the championship to complain. Plus, we really should give him the benefit of the doubt and see what he does on his own. However, a poster named phdave over at Backshegoes.com (I met him at game 5 part 1 at the World Series too) put together this nice parody. It sums up the fears that many of us have.

Enjoy!

A brief history of time spent in Orlando

Funny how you go away for a week and when you come back you have a new president-elect that's the first African-American to achieve the honor. I wish I had a dime every time that's happened to me. The last time I did a travel log on a trip I took it ended up being a series of the most boring blog posts I ever seen, let alone created. But, alas, I do have some things to say. While I will spare you a 5 part post on my family vacation/business trip, I will give a somewhat brief summary of my experiences in the Magic Kingdom and trade show.

One of the most apparent things during our trip was the astounding amount of people that we saw that were wearing Phillies' championship T-shirts and hats. I actually packed a bunch of my own shirts and hats to wear whilst down there as I wished to tease the nearby Tampa Rays fans. It appeared that there were much more Phillies' fans in the parks and surrounding areas. Often, as you'd pass a fan by you'd hear them shout, "Go Phillies!!" or "Number 1!!" It was nice to see and feel some Phillies excitement despite the fact I was in another state.

The trip overall was fun with a few exceptions. The two things that really bummed me out during the trip was the fact that trade shows suck the life out of you and destroy your feet because you're standing for hours and the realization that my children are huge whiny brats. The feet pain I'm used to as I've done countless trade shows by now. The main difference this time is that I had to walk all over the theme parks after destroying my feet making them feel even worse. The whiny brat thing didn't really catch me off guard as I know that my kids can be a real pain at times, it was just dumbfounding in the fact that we were in Disney World, having boatloads of fun and they still managed to find things to complain about. (lots of things!)

My younger son, Gabriel, is a shop-a-holic and didn't want to do anything but shop in gift stores. We gave the kids $60 each and told them that they had to budget what they bought as souvenirs. As a result my older son, Jonathan, was terrified to buy anything as he would lose his budget and Gabriel, who has no foresight whatsoever, would have blown all the money in the 1st hour, had we let him. Nevertheless, we had a few a blow ups along the way but eventually found our stride and had fun at the parks.

The Tower of Terror was great as usual and the new Everest ride was great and surprising. For Disney the crowds were actually very low and I think the longest we waited for a ride was 40 minutes. Most lines were 30 minutes at the most and we used the fast pass option well. I did get to meet up with an old high school friend for an hour at the hotel pool as in a weird coincidence she was also at the same resort.

Aside from the Disney parks, we did go out and see Medieval Times for dinner one night. Although very touristy, it had a nice schmaltzy charm to it and the sword play and pretend jousts were fun to watch. Imagine the WWE with sword play and with out the managers. A funny aside was that my wife purchased a 32 dollar foo-foo drink in a HUGE margarita glass. The type of glass that you could safely house 6 goldfish and a water turtle in. We managed to get the sucker home as a carry-on item on the plane and it now sits proudly on my bar in the basement.

The trip was great but now I am at work and have too much to do and add the fact that I've put off doing it to blog about this.

I need a vacation for my vacation.

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!

I was there!!!

I saw it all!!!

Freeze Frame

I actually received 2 emails asking why I hadn't blogged about game 5 of the World Series and it's suspension. I'll take it as a compliment when people are actually interested in what you have to write and miss it when I don't do it. To be honest I just couldn't organize my thoughts yesterday to write anything worthwhile on the subject. (I hear you laughing in the background, "..and since when has that stopped you?!")

I was stunned.

Imagine yourself in this scenario-

You're a huge Phillies fan and finally everything seems to be falling into place. They get to the World Series, go up 3-1, they have their ace pitcher on the mound for the next game and you get to go there. You get to see it all. You'll be there if they win and cheer as they jump up and down after the final out and then bring out the trophy. You'll be there with thousands of other fans just as excited as you are. Needless to say I walked around with a big stupid shit-eating grin on my face all day Monday.

You decide to go to the game early to tailgate a little bit and arrive in Lot K. You barely are able to get into the lot despite being there 3 1/2 hours before game time. It is a huge party atmosphere and everyone is ecstatic. You are with your 3 best friends and they are also excited and having a good time. You eat some hoagies, drink some beer, toss around a football in the lot and a few other freinds come up to meet you and party with you. There's a light drizzle the whole time and it's quite cold, but you couldn't care less. At 8pm you gleefully trot into the ballpark.

The park is absolutely electric, you're screaming and cheering before you even get to your seats. You're suddenly friends with 45,000 people you haven't met before. You high five complete strangers as they announce the lineups. They shoot off some fireworks during the national anthem and the Phils quickly put up 2 runs in the first inning. Cole is pitching great so you start to feel it, you're anticipating the championship.

And then the rain starts to fall harder. You pull out your poncho and keep mostly dry. Your shoes do get soaked and start to freeze in the bitter cold but you don't mind as you cheer and scream the whole game. Your friend, Mike, looks like a drowned rat and is shivering but he still finds the energy to shout things like, "Make them eat it Cole!" and "Stick it in there Shane!!" The weather even creates some horrible plays like an easy pop up that gets blown away from Rollins' glove. Puddles start to form in the infield as the grounds crew keeps running out there and putting more dirt on the base paths. The weather is the worst you've ever seen a baseball game being played in but the umps don't stop it.

The Rays manage to eke out a run to tie the game in the 6th as Cole clearly can't throw his best pitch, a change-up, since it requires a firm grip that is impossible to do in a nor' eastern storm. But still, you aren't miserable because you know the Phillies offense will come thru and win the game.

"There's no stopping us now!", you think to yourself just moments before you see the grounds crew grab the tarp and roll it out.

Bud Selig just hit the pause button.

When you have such a build up of emotion and excitement for something to happen and then your feelings have to be shelved for two days, it leaves you stunned, confused, a little angry and exhausted. It's like stopping yourself midstream while you pee - it isn't easy, it hurts and it probably isn't healthy to do it. I'm still amazed I didn't end up with blue balls after the game. At least if they lost, I still would have experienced some sort of release. I would have blamed a player or the manager and been upset until the next game, but I could have moved on. I'm not saying that I'd prefer a loss (oh God no!), I'm trying to describe what being in limbo feels like. No wonder limbo is often on the path to hell.

Neither did I want Selig to call the game and have the Phillies win it on the 5 inning rule. It's not like you want to tell your grandkids that you were there when the announced it over the PA system that the Phillies won the series. I understand the pickle that Selig was in, but he still is the commissioner and he should have started the game an hour early or suspended the game sooner.

So, here I sit, all pent up and ready again to see it all. The forecast looks clear, a bit windy and cold, but they should get the game complete. The Phils do have the advantage as they have 4 innings of at bats to the Rays' 3 innings. I still may get to see it all, but it would have just taken 52 hours to do it.

One more thing...an official retraction

Back at the trade deadline I had quite a strong reaction to the Phillies trading two very good prospects for Joe Blanton. In the comments section I mentioned that I hoped I was proven wrong.

I appears after the second half of the season and this postseason that I was indeed proven wrong.

I'm sorry Pat Gillick and I'm sorry Joe Blanton. You were decent enough to get us some wins and make the playoffs (Phillies were 11-4 in games he started) and have done very well in the post season, winning all 3 games you've pitched. IF the Phillies win it all tonight or this week, then you have to love the trade, even if Cardenas becomes a Hall of Famer. The ultimate goal is the trophy on the wall, after all.

I couldn't have planned it any better, just one more game

When I got my playoff ticket invoice in the mail and saw that I had game 5 of the World Series if the Phils won the NL pennant I remarked to myself that it would be cool if that game would be the clinching win for the series. 6 weeks later I am sitting in anticipation of going to the ball park where the Phillies send their best pitcher, Cole Hamels, out to the mound to win the championship clinching game of the World Series.

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

OH MY FUCKING GOD!!

TWENTY EIGHT YEARS I'VE WAITED FOR THIS MOMENT TO HAPPEN AGAIN.

Cross your fingers folks, I just may be at the park the moment the Phils win it all!

I'm tired

Didn't get to sleep until at least 2:30AM last night. I stayed up to watch the Phils' win their second World Series game in a bizarre fashion of errors and strange managerial decisions. I'm somewhat subdued as a result due to the lack of sleep. I'm hoping that this all pays off and I'm standing in section 206 of Citizen's Bank Park tomorrow night as the Phils win it all. One can hope.

Since I'm tired I thought I'd post some things that I'm tired of seeig or hearing about or experiencing lately....

Things that I'm tired of:

The umpires' horrible and game effecting calls for this series.

The "Save by Zero" advertising campaign by Toyota.

The Phillies' inability to hit with runners in scoring position so far this series.

McCain/Palin lawn signs strewn everywhere on my way to work.

Tim McCarver and Joe Buck

Lil' Green Plant gift requests on Facebook

Lazy sports journalism where the writer from an opposing city reports on how horrible the Philly fan is and how we booed Santa Claus and throw batteries.

Artificial turf and domed stadiums for baseball.

My brother telling me what big game it is tonight and then yukking it up by saying he meant Penn State or the Flyers, etc.

Seeing low gas prices but not seeing prices on other things drop like UPS rates.

Political pollsters who read from a script. (I'll go into this one later this week)

Itchy dogs that lick and bite themselves in the middle of the night.

This throbbing hangover headache I'm experiencing at this very moment.

An Utley and Hamels production

In my opinion the Phils' best position player and best pitcher are 2nd baseman Chase Utley and ace pitcher Cole Hamels. Both players are making me look good as they were the big heroes last night along with bullpen stoppers, Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge. It was a nail biter of a game. The Phillies were able to get on base but just couldn't get runners in and set a record by going 0 for 13 with runners in scoring position. If not for Utley's 2 run homerun blast in the 1st inning and Ruiz's RBI grounder, there would have been no scoring for the Phillies.

Speaking of no scoring, Hamels held off the high offensive power of the Rays to just 2 runs and then Madson and Lidge came in the game and shut them down in a hurry. Hamels has become one of the elite World Series pitchers for the ages having received his 4th post season win. He will be the first starter to get 5 wins if he does it again. (Randy Johnson got 5 but one win was in relief)

Now that my summary is out of the way, let me say this-


Whew

and

YESSSSSSSSS!!!!

Winning game one while playing away and with your ace on the mound is huge- you need to win those games. It takes some pressure off of Myers, who can be a huge head case. It guarantees a split before you come back home. And it's first blood. They made a statement last night. Again, the majority of experts are picking against the Phils. Yes, the Rays are the toughest opponent yet in the post season, but to easily dismiss this team is a huge mistake in my opinion. Game 2 two is tonight, I'm feeling greedy and want another win- Let's go Phils!!

Mets fans still bitter

I know this sounds like I'm making this up but I swear it's true-

So, on my lunch break I go to The Sports Authority in Warrington to get a Phillies sweatshirt to wear on Monday night since I am attending game of the World Series in person. I didn't want to get so cold and I still want to show my Phils' colors. IWhile I was there, in a manic-induced buying spree, I also decided to buy the Phillies hat with the "2008 World Seroes" patch. I've become a real big hat wearer since I've given up on having hair in the past year, so I figured it was worth buying.

On way back, I'm on Route 611 North and I get behind a Saturn sedan with the license plate "METSPHN". I think to myself that the gall that this douchebag would have to combine the "PH" with anything Mets related. So I get in the right lane and pull up next to the car with intentions of harassing him.

To my surprise, the driver was a late 50's early 60's woman that was 5 foot 1 at talelst- In other words, she was a little old lady. Not to be deterred by this discovery and to prove that I am neither an ageist nor a sexist, I went ahead with my heckling. I honked the horn a few times and took off my new hat and pointed to the WS patch. The woman immediately scowled at me and then hit the gas. She pulled ahead and then the bitchswerved into my lane, cutting me off, and flipped me the bird!!

I guess she wasn't too happy being reminded of the last two years?


Game one tonight folks!! Let's go Phillies!!!

Feeding all my addictions at once

Last night I got to watch the Phillies win their first NL Pennant in 15 years and win some decent scratch at a poker game at the same time, not to mention I also got to drink some decent beer. The only thing missing was getting a BJ under the table. (and since Lynn reads this, I'll say that I wish it was her) Usually, I wouldn't mix everything up like that. Especially considering you need to concentrate to play poker effectively. But I was going to miss this month's tournament and was jonesing for some poker in a bad way. I am glad I went as the deck was hitting me hard in a good way most of the night.

You don't need to concentrate all that much when you flop trips 3 times in an hour, get the nut flush, recieve pocket Aces once and Kings twice. You basically put the money in the middle and hope that your hand holds up, which it did repeatedly last night. I would have been an even bigger winner had I not run into a few cooler spots towards the end. Nonetheless, I had managed to fold my way out of those spots, which is a good thing as I minimized my losses. I admit at times when I'm stuck or just break even for the night I'm more apt to call with weaker holdings out of frustration and/or boredom.

One of the funnier moments came when the host, "Lottery Larry", wasn't paying attention to the game and looked up while they were replaying Shane Victorino's grand slam in the divisional series 2 weeks ago. He pumped his fist and clapped his hand and let out a loud, "Yes! Home run!!" We all then laughied at his misunderstanding. I suppose the fact that the Phillies were in their home white uniforms and the Brewers being on the field didn't tip him off as to the fact it was a replay/flashback. Of course this led to some teasing the rest of the night. Everytime Fox would show a flashback we would scream something like, "Hey Larry! Look Dave Hollins hit a home run against Greg Maddux! Greg looks like he lost some weight!" or "Oh NO! Kirk Gibson hit a home run to win the game!!" Even when they weren't playing flashback clips we still made jokes like Del Ennis had hit a homer while he the TV went black and white.

Men are brutal, one sign of weakness and the rest of the pack will pounce.

3 Down

Bring out your dead

There must be something weird I am doing for this to happen. But in the last two post season appearances the Phillies have made I've been witness to the aftermath of a serious accident.

Last year when the Phils played in game 1 against the Rockies (which they lost), I drove down to see the game with my wife. We were complaining about traffic on route 309 South the whole way down as it was really slow and I was getting worried because I didn't want to be late for the 1st playoff game in 14 years. We felt horrible about complaining because we eventually came upon a construction worker on the side of the road who had a sheet pulled over him. I have no idea if he had a heart attack or was the victim of an accident. Didn't really matter, as dead is dead.

This past Friday my friend Jeff and I were giddy with glee as we left our seats. The Phils had just won game 2 of the series against the Dodgers. But our mood soured quickly as we ventured out to the stairwell from section 419 to see a lifeless body laying on the concrete on the concourse of the 300 level. We overheard that just seconds before the poor guy had fallen over the railing that overhung the stairs and from about row 9. Just from eyeballing it, I'd say it was at least a 30 to 35 foor drop. The man had already had scores of people trying to help so I said to Jeff that it would be best to just get out of the way and not stand around and gape.

It wasn't until hours later I learned from a fellow poster at Backshegoes.com (who I sold the seats next to me and Jeff to) that when he came upon the scene that the man was moving his fingers and had a brace on him as they were putting him on the stretcher. Now, it's comforting to know the guy is alive, but he could be majorly fucked up. It seriously freaked me and Jeff out as we were somewhat silent on the car ride back, especially considering the Phillies just won a huge game.

Had he died from the fall it would have been the 4th fresh dead body I have seen. (I'm not counting funerals) The first was my mother after she gave up the ghost on a gloomy February morning while I was showering. My brother came downstairs to find her dead as we had her home for hospice care for her terminal cancer. My father, broter and I all sat on the couch and looked at her in shock even though we knew that this moment was coming any day.

The next dead guy I saw was at the Trevose train station. I was parked waiting for my girlfriend and future wife to come home from Jefferson university. I was doing a puzzle and heard the conductor screaming at the top of his lungs, "Aw FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!" I looked up and saw a man laying on the tracks behind the SEPTA train. Lynn had found out the next day from other commuters that the man was from New York and was in Philly on business. He was taking the Septa train from Philly to Trenton and catching NJ Transit from there. He had fallen asleep and misheard the announcement of the Trevose stop for Trenton. Once he was off the train he realized his mistake and jumped back on the train without his briefcase. He jumped off again for the briefcase but had fallen under the train and was crushed to death.

I don't really care to see another dead body. Despite the fact that a dead body can't do anything to me, it is a harsh reminder of our mortality. I'd rather blissfully ignore that cold, hard reality as much as I can. It may, however, be more important to remember that for no reason, like that guy who fell asleep on a train, that stupid shit can happen at any time, no matter how careful you are.

Ooops, is this another Carpe Diem post?

I like being the underdog even though we're the better team

If you were to listen to the national media, you'd start thinking that the Phils aren't the favorites against the Dodgers. They cite that the Dodgers are much better since getting Manny. They hype up the hot finish that the Dodgers had. They bring up the daunting pitching staff as well. Well, all of those statements are true and that's why most "experts" seem to be picking the Dodgers.

But hold on a second...

For some reason they are overlooking a few facts about the Phillies.

As The Good Phight points out, the Phillies...

1) Have a better record than the Dodgers since they got Manny.
2) Finished the season much stronger.
3) Have an even hotter hitter in Ryan Howard
4) And their pitching is actually BETTER on the road than the Dodgers (as the Dodgers have an extreme pitcher favoring park)

Aside from Rob Neyer, who even refers to the Good Phight article, the Phillies just don't seem to be getting any respect nationally. Which is fine by me. The national press is lazy and usually gets it wrong. They run with hype instead of taking the time to look at reality.

I know that the Dodgers won't be push overs and the Phils most certainly could lose as it's just a best of 7 game series. (luck plays a bigger factor in short term results- the poker player in me knows this) But, don't worry about the big bad Dodgers, the Phils are a better team right now and have a better chance to win this.

We get the best of both worlds, we get to be the inspiring underdogs and the favorites at the same time. So when we win, we'll be the hyped team in the World Series.

See C.C., si? No

Had a great time at the game yesterday despite some nasty weather and getting rained on for a few innings. Cole Hamels lived up to his website and pitched just about as good as you can pitch. It may have been the best Phillies' pitching performance in a playoff game including some great ones pitched by Carlton and Schilling. There wasn't much offense aside from a nice 3 run inning that was somewhat lucky (a few dropped balls by the Brewers). Plus it was a gut wrenching 9th inning to watch as Lidge was unusually unstable, although, he did manage to strike out the side. No matter how the outcome was reached, I was a happy man as it was the 1st playoff win by the Phightins since 1993.

Today, we get see which Brett Myers shows up. Brett had an awful first half that led him to a stint in the minor leagues for a few starts. When he came back he pitched better than ever and then had a few shaky games in his last two starts. I'm also nervous due to the fact that C.C. Sabbathia is starting for the Brewers. C.C. has been dominating since being traded from the Indians and was the main reason that the Brewers reached the post season despite their best efforts to fall short of the flailing Mets. The good news is that C.C. has pitched 4 times in the last 12 days. Not a good thing for a staters in today's baseball. Hopefully the Phils can make him throw alot of pitches and get their way to the soft buillpen that the Brewers sport.

Due to a mix up when I was purchasing playoff tix (I got an extra set of game 5 tix instead of getting a set for game 2) I am not attending this game. The bright side is that there's a chance that the game will be over by the time the Vice-presidential debate starts at 9pm. And I do love a good train wreck.

Here's hoping for win #2!

GO PHILIES!

Game 1

I'm off for game 1 of the divisional series against the Brewers!


GO PHILLIES!!