Phillies Pick Up Lee's Option

Only two days into the off season and the Phillies are already looking towards the 2010 season. According to Todd Zolecki on Twitter, the Phillies picked up Cliff Lee's $9 million option for 2010. This locks him in for next year and allows them to work on a long term deal. The Phillies would be nuts to not lock him down right now.

And to make spending money a lot easier, the Phillies free up around $20 million because they don't have to pay for Jim Thome, Adam Eaton, or Geoff Jenkins anymore thanks to a friendly tweet by the 700 Level.

UPDATE: I was out so I'm just writing about this now. The Phillies will not re-sign Brett Myers according to Zolecki. He wanted the Phillies to get back with him as soon as they could so he could start marketing himself as a free agent. I wish him the best of luck and thank him for being a key part to the 2008 squad.

FIM #10: Ryan Howard Wins ROY/MVP

The Phillies have not seen hitters like Mike Schmidt or Pete Rose since 1990 and 1983 respectively. They wait no more as we have another pair of amazing hitters that my generation's children wish they would have seen in their prime: Chase Utley and Ryan Howard. Moment #10 will be dedicated to Ryan Howard and his history making first two seasons.

Howard saw some playing time while Jim Thome was still in town, playing a majority of the games at first base. It wasn't until an injury to Thome in 2005 that people got a taste of Howard's potential.

In 2005, Howard replaced Thome and played in 88 games total, hitting 22 homers with a .288 average. He also recorded 63 RBI's and 52 runs scored, sweltering numbers for half a season, especially by a rookie. He would win Rookie of the Year and Jim Thome would be traded along with $22 million in cash to the Chicago White Sox for Aaron Rowand and two pitchers. It was Howard's time to shine.

In 2006, Howard made history. No player in the National League has ever won Rookie of the Year and then followed it up with an MVP award. Only one player has done it in the history of the game and that was Cal Ripken Jr., winning the ROY in 1982 and MVP in 1983 for the Baltimore Orioles.

Howard's season was highlighted with 2 ridiculous homers, the first being the first ever to be hit into Ashburn Alley in center field which traveled 496 feet and the other was the first home run hit into the 3rd deck, a 381 foot shot.

Howard finished his MVP campaign with a .313 batting average, 58 homers and 149 RBI's. He shattered Schmidt's record in Philadelphia of 48 homers. He beat out Albert Pujols in the MVP balloting, who argued that he should have won because his team won the World Series and the Phillies missed the playoffs. Unfortunately for Pujols, post season doesn't mean a thing to the regular season.

Howard's power numbers never died off but his batting average sure did drop. He's a career .270 hitter which is not bad just as long as he hits 40 homers a year. He is going to keep doing this for a very long time we hope, especially batting behind a guy who gets on base like Utley.

FIM #11: Goodbye Vet

A brand new era deserves a brand new stadium. But with bringing in a newer, fresher experience for the fans and players comes the sacrifices of memories and traditions. Moment #11 is the destruction of our beloved Veterans Stadium.

Built in 1971, The Vet was home to the infamous "Boo Birds" (Eagles fans) and the rowdy Phillies fans in the 700 level. Whether it was fights, flashings, or pure vulgar banter, the 700 level was one of the most infamous group of fans in all of sports. The fans were so bad that a municipal court was installed in the stadium for fans who were ejected from the game.

The stadium was famous for it's terrible field conditions such as a concrete like playing surface and poor draining. The AstroTurf would also act as an oven for baseball and football players, reaching up to 120 degrees on hot July, August, and September days.

The Vet was home to two MLB All Star games: the first in 1976 during the nations bicentennial and again in 1996. The Phillies won their first championship in 1980 there. Players like Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton to Lenny Dykstra and John Kruk to Jim Thome and Scott Rolen all played in this stadium.

There were so many great Phillies moments that occurred here. Game 6 of the 1980 World Series was won here when Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson of the Kansas City Royals in front of about 66,000 fans to win their first championship.

The latest game in MLB history was played their. The Phillies and Padres started a double header on July 2nd, 1993 and due to rain outs and delays all day, they didn't complete the second game until 4:40 in the morning on July 3rd. Mitch Williams drove in Pete Incaviglia to win the game in the 10th.

Kevin Millwood and Terry Mulholland own the only 2 9-inning no-hitters in The Vet's history. Mullholland did his in 1990 and Millwood did his in 2003. Both were ironically against the Sn Francisco Giants.

In 2004, Phillies fans threw D-cell batteries at St. Louis Cardinals outfielder J.D. Drew after when drafted by the Phillies, said he would never play for Philadelphia, re-entered the draft next year and was picked by the Cardinals.

After it's demolition in 2004, Citizen Bank Park used the area where The Vet stood as an additional parking lot. Fans will never forget The Vet nor the memories left in it. But there are new ones to be made at CBP, including a World Championship and seeing guys like Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels, and Chase Utley represent the new home of the Phillies.

The implosion

My ticket stubs throughout the years at The Vet