Blog Stroll 10/27/09

I figured I haven't done one of these in a long time so I might as well post some of the funnier things I read the past couple of days:

The Fightins did a hilarious post titled "The Bandwagoners Guide to the 2009 Yankees." In it they talk about some of the current and recently former players of the Yankees to just give those who are hopping back on thier bandwagon for the first time in about five years a heads up of who to watch and who to fear.

Phillies Nation did a post comparing the attractions, food, and traffic of New York and Philadelphia. They then capped it off with showing why it's easy to root for a team with 26 rings but difficult to be as passionate, if not more passionate than the Yankees fans with only seeing two rings, 10,000 losses, and Joe Carter and 1964.

Red Pinstripes Are Cooler re-bashed the New York Post for their crappy attempt at humor in depicting the "Frillies" fans and thier city as second rate and used a poorly photo-shopped picture of Shane Victorino in a skirt on thier cover. I guess desperated times call for desperate measures for the Post.

Macho Row did a nice little flash back to the 1950 World Series featuring the Whiz Kids. The Yankees swept the Phillies 4-0.

And also, don't forget to join the World Series discussion on Liberty Bell Sports, a forum for all you Philly fans.

Red Pinstripes and Liberty Bells

As I wrote in my introduction post months ago, I used to write for a blog titled We Hate To Lose which was run by my friend Justin Evans. I was a writer their along with Evans and Dan MacNeal. Well we all have our own separate sites with mine being this one. I want to use this post to advertise their two young sites as well.

About a week ago, Evans wanted a fresh start on his blogging so he switched to Word Press and created Red Pinstripes Are Cooler. WHTL is still floating around on cyber space but I think it's officially dead. Evans' blog is dedicated to the Phillies only after changing the theme of his blog from Philly sports to just the Phillies. Like me, his true passion is the Phillies and his knowledge of baseball is very credible.

MacNeal decided to start a forum instead. Titled Liberty Bell Sports, it is sectioned into Philadelphia Pro sports, amateur sports in the Philadelphia area, all major leagues, and a community forum where you can take a break from the sports world. There is constant game night chatter for the Phillies and that trend will continue when the Eagles, Sixers, and Flyers start up. This is a great place to express YOUR opinion and debate with other die hard Philadelphia sports fans.

Both sites are great places to get news and opinions from along with the blogs I have posted on the side of the page. I am a frequent poster in the forum so you will be able to see more of my opinions there. Read up or join the forum and continue to support our sites.

To show that the forum has a great sense of humor, here are my two favorite threads:

USA vs Italy

Roger Federer

Todd Zolecki Revisits the Top 10 Moments of the NLCS

I gave this a read and thought it was very cool. Todd Zolecki made a list of his top 10 moments of the Phillies 4-1 series win over the Dodgers in the NLCS. Here is his Top 10:

10. Rollins's lead off homer in Game 5

9. Victorino honors his grandmother.

8. Myers goes 3-for-3 with three RBIs.

7. Hamels in Game 1.

6. Pitchers brushing back batters.

5. Hamels is the MVP.

4. Utley and Burrell homer in Game 1.

3. Victorino ties game 5.

2. The final out.

1. The Shot.

Phillies Speak Out About Manny

This was posted on Phillies Nation and I wanted to reiterate it here as well. I really sympathize with Charlie Manuel the most because he was close to Manny Ramirez and was probably one of the most hurt:

Brad Lidge
”It makes you wonder, was he doing it last year? Every time something like this happens, you feel cheated a bit. Was he on the substance when I had to pitch against him in the postseason? Naturally, it makes you feel upset."

Matt Stairs
“Another one bites the dust... If you know the stuff isn’t on the list, why take it? I know I’m not very smart, but I know I can figure that one out. There are a bunch of guys who are going to have to stop taking all this health [stuff] and go back to being chubby and having fun.”

Shane Victorino
“It’s sad. I feel bad for him, but I guess he brought it on himself.”

Charlie Manuel
“I used to do a lot of work with him as a hitter. I knew how good he was. He’s a great hitter. I know his talent. I’m sad. I don’t know what to say. I’m just sad.”

Team to Beat - Just Your Typical Phillies Blog

Team to Beat

It has a nice ring to it. That's the new name of the blog and will be officially changed before Sunday. "It's Outta Here" was the runner up idea that I had.

After this semester ends (Wednesday), I'll be looking into changing the face, name, and direction of the blog. I will have my final project posted by tomorrow. Here are the features of the new blog:

-New name.
-New background.
-New picture.
-Weekly recap posts: best game, weekly star which I'll try to keep track of throughout the season, etc.
-Monthly recap posts like the one I did for April.
-I'll try to speak with Justin and ask him to contribute a bit to my blog. I'll be linking to his quite often because I used to write for it.
-I'll also do some other stuff like important news in the team, division, and even around the league.

Here are some of my favorite posts from this past semester:
-Beating a Dead Horse: the verbal battle between the Phillies and Mets.
-Phillies Tailgate
-My 25-man roster prediction and official roster
-The March Madness: the champion will be announced tomorrow as well
-Anthony Medio interview
-Me vs. Mets fan
-Ring ceremony slide show
-Harry Kalas: 1936-2009

Me versus a Mets fan.

Oh the fun continues as I got bashed by a Mets fan for my Whit Article run in the this weeks issue. Well some wonderful Mets fan decided to post his wonderful opinions on why he thinks the Mets are a better baseball team than the Phillies. There may be more to come but this is the meat and potatoes of the argument.Here's a look at the growing debate:

mike says:
April 2,
2009 at 1:23 pm
First of all, their infield is good, but not even close
to the best. Howard is a terrible fielder, and you’re joking if you think Feliz
is a good hitter. The Mets infield is about as good as it gets, with Delgado,
Luis Castillo , Reyes and Wright, the last 2 of which are ranked in the top 4
players in fantasy baseball, meaning their offensive statistics are phenomenal
in all categories. Sure, Castillo isn’t the hitter he was with Florida, but he’s
still a very good fielder. And theres no way you can argue that the Phils
infield is better than the Yanks. I’d take Tiexiera, Cano, Jeter, and A-Rod any
day of the week.

Next off, Peflrey and Ollie Perez both have very promising upsides, and
you completely forgot to mention John Maine, who has the potential to be a great
#2 guy. I dont find much attractive about the Phillies staff beyond Hamels, and
he’s no guarantee at this point.

Continuing on, before I start refuting more of your points, I’d like to
say that any team with a very solid first 5 hitters in the line up has a shot at
going places. The Mets have that, so theres no reason you should even say that
they only have a shot at a wild card spot. In addition to the first five, Ryan
Church has the potential to be a top tier outfielder, in addition to Dave
Murphy, granted he gets playing time. No, Brian Schneider isnt much of a hitter
at all, but that leaves us with 7 quality hitters in our line up, not
5.

The Braves have a great shot, and should not be counted out whatsoever.
If they get hot at the right time, much like the Phils did last year, they can
easily take everyone by surprise too. The Marlins will likely be a streaky team,
but they cant be counted out either. They have a lot of talent in the middle of
the infield that could take them to the playoffs.
The rest of the National
League doesnt really matter, because I have no doubt that whatever team makes it
out of the East will be the NL’s World Series team. Before finishing the first
paragraph, I could easily tell how biased your opinion is about your favorite
team, and how quick you were to overlook everyone else in the division.


John Russo says:
April 2,
2009 at 1:38 pm
If I didn’t have a world limit, I would obviously go
into WAAAYY more detail as to why the Mets are (in my unbiased opion) a very
inferior team to the City of Brotherly Love.
Thanks for the comment, Mike,
and I wish the choke artists good luck this season. Please read my AL Preview
next week.


mike says:
April 2,
2009 at 3:02 pm
Inferior must mean better hitters, fielders, starters,
and closers. I wish somebody had told me about the change in meaning.
Choke
must have been redefined as well, in that a couple seasons of not making the
playoffs far outweighs a 2 for 125 history in attempts to Win a National
Championship/World Series.


John Russo says:
April 2,
2009 at 6:17 pm
OK Mr. Met, I think I have to let you know that history
is not a factor at all in this debate, especially when one team has been more
successful during our lifetimes (or when we knew what a baseball was) than the
other.


Since 1988, the Mets have been in 1 World Series, losing to the New
York Yankees and the Phillies have been in 2, winning a championship against a
very good Rays team, that will compete this year and only due to the offseasons
the Yankees and Sox had, will not make the playoffs.


Now back to our little debate. I’ll start with the catchers. Brian
Schneider is not good at all, especially as a hitter. Carlos Ruiz is no super
star either but I would definately take him over Schneider. Now let’s go to the
infield. You’re going to tell me that your cast of four is better than the
Phillies? Feliz doesn’t need to be a great hitter but he is clutch and is the
best fielding 3rd basemen in the league. Now you say Howard is bad? He only led
the league in HRs and RBIs and it doesn’t matter what your average is when you
put up power numbers like that. I will agree that Reyes and Wright are better
than J-Roll and Feliz but Utly is the best player in the division. Also Carlos
Delgado is pretty old, beat up, and not as good as the young Howard.
Now to
the outfield. Beltran is washed up and Church is ok. Victorino, Ibanez, and
Werth are all also ok players but I would rather have 3 solid/good outfielders
than 2. Daniel Murphy? Please. 131 ABs is not a good enough sample to deem a
player to be good.


Your pitching rotation is not good behind Santana. Perez and Pelfrey
good? Please, Mike. You don’t know a good pitcher if he struck you out. I’m glad
you think Perez’s 4.22 ERA last season was good to go with his 1.40 WHIP. and
Pelfrey’s 1.36 WHIP. Or do you even know what that is? How about the bull pen or
I suppose a closer who blew 7 saves is better than a pitcher who was perfect.
And don’t tell me he had more oppurtunities. The Phillies offense was so good
that it won games by more than 3 runs. The Angels’ offense is nothing compared
to Philadelphia’s. 100% is 100%. And stamima would not be a factor because Lidge
actually threw 1 more inning than K-Rod and posted an ERA .30 lower than
Rodriguez. Rodriguez also struck out 77 while Mr. Perfect rung up 92.


Michael, Michael, Michael. The Mets were inferior last year and still are
this year. I’ll be going to the Phillies game next Wednesday when they hand out
their shiny new World Series rings. It’s nice rooting for a championship team
while you watch your team drown in the wake of the S.S. WFC.

mike says:
April 2,
2009 at 8:25 pm
I cant argue against the fact that the Phils have won a
World Series, but I will say that they were lucky to play the Rays. You and I
both know that the Angels were the best team in the AL last year and choked
badly in the playoffs, and Boston would have easily beaten the Phils as
well.
If you took some time to read my argument, you would have seen that I
also bashed Schneider, so there’s no point of trying to argue against me, when
you agreed with me in the first place. However, I’d take Schneider .257 over
Ruiz’s .219 avg. last year.

Moving right along, lets talk about Feliz. Seems like more of the
same to me, where I only talked about his bad hitting, and said nothing about
his fielding, which I agree with you when you say it is very good. Just for
kicks, A-Rod started 25 more games than Feliz, and made only 2 more errors. And
how about Troy Glaus?? Oh, I guess it doesn’t matter to you if his fielding
percentage is .982, which by the way is 8 points higher than Feliz, who played a
third as much time, as long as he’s not playing in Philadelphia……

Again with the reading on Ryan Howard. I said his fielding was bad. You
cant argue with 48 home runs, which I did not argue against. And average
obviously does matter, because he’s hurting his team hitting that low. And go
figure you wouldn’t mention the 199 strike outs, 2 years in a row either. It’s
easy to hit home runs like he does when you’re that big and all you do is swing
for the fences.

Next of all, Utley is a phenomenal player, and I never argued against
that either. However, there is no question in my mind, nor should there be in
yours, that Hanley Ramirez is the best player in the division, NL, and MLB. The
guy hit as many homers as Utley out of the leadoff spot. He hit for a higher
average, stole more than twice the bases, scored more (with a much worse
lineup), walked more, and had a higher slugging percentage. Cant argue with
facts my friend.

Delgado is old, but it clearly isnt much of a factor as he hit 38
homers.

As for outfield, Beltran is clearly still good, unless 172 hits, 40
doubles, 27 homers, 112 RBI, and 25 SB are suddenly bad statistics… In addition,
you also failed to mention our 3rd starter, Fernando Tatis, who in 92 games with
the Mets, posted, if nothing else, at least as good stats as any Phils
outfielder last season.

Pitching follows the same common theme: you don’t read what I’ve
already posted. I said Perez and Pelfrey had promising upsides, not that both
were “good”. However, his 25 wins in the last 2 seasons as a starter are, wow
look at that, better than Brett Myers last 2 years as a starter.
Moreover, I
never argued against the bullpen either. I do think, however, with the additions
we made in the offseason, our bullpen is better off than yours. You can’t be
serious in arguing that one more inning is truly a significant statistic.

Clearly the Mets benefited from the offseason much more than the
Phillies. If I remember correctly, the Mets were the best team in the NL East
for 150 games last year, which is significantly more than the remaining 12
games. I’m glad you’re still stuck on last year though. It’ll definitely help
you out in 2009. If you need more proof, please look up ESPN magazine’s World
Series pick for ‘09. There you can see a completely unbiased editorial about the
2009 season, which is the only season that matters at this point.

John Russo says:
April 2,
2009 at 10:23 pm
Lucky to play the Rays? The Rays were bested Boston. You
can’t get anymore higher than that. The Angels were a very good team but the
best team last year was the team who played the Phillies in the World Series.
Despite a team BA less than .280, they knew how to win games and that is why
they will again compete this year. See winning isn’t about stats or who has the
bigger names. It’s about how well these guys play together and both WS
combatants were the most deserving in the league last year despite not being the
house-hold names.

One of the big keys to maintaining a winning formula is to keep that
formula intact. Yes the Phillies only real loss was Pat Burrell but they added
Raul Ibanez, who despite being another left-handed, strike out machine and
fielding liability, is still a good pick up and will fill most of the hole Pat
left.

I never said Feliz is a good hitter but he has come through numerous
times for Philly in the clutch, both behind the plate and in the field. And the
main reason I attacked your criticism of Howard is you can’t argue against an
infield when you focus on the only 2 weaknesses in the group: Howard’s glove and
Feliz’s bat.

When I made the Utley statement, I had to think about it because Hanley
is in the same league as Utley. If it wasn’t for Delgado’s late surge, those
numbers wouldn’t be inflated.

As far as pitcing. Remember Kyle Kendrick? Everyone said he had
“promising upside.” That doesn’t mean a thing because with these young pitchers,
the best they pitch is what they do when they come out because no one has seen
them before. Once they get film on them and know their stuff, they become
ineffective unless they are truly something special. With the K-Rod vs Lidge, I
was only using the 1 inning to eliminate any counter you would have to the
oppurtunities and breaking down, kinda like defending against any possible
argument.

You can’t predict a thing in baseball. This time last year, I wouldn’t
have thought my team would be champions. I also wouldn’t think the Rays would
own the AL Pennant. We shall see what this season brings.

Jason Donald: the future of the Phillies.

It's been another busy week in Phillies news before Opening Day on April 5th versus the Atlanta Braves. Probably the hottest topic of the Phillies blogs has been Jason Donald, the middle infielding prospect for the Phillies.

The Phillies Nation has this to offer on him:

The 24-year-old infield prospect had three hits yesterday, raising his
Grapefruit League average to .379. Add these numbers (plus his 1-for-3, HR line
against Team USA) to his recent U.S. Olympic team and Arizona Fall League totals
and Donald is hitting an oustanding .395 (57-for-144) with 7 HR and 26 RBI.
Since being called up to Reading, Donald is hitting .332 (168-for-506) with 21
HR and 80 RBI. Sure it’s double-A and triple-A pitching he’s facing most of the
time, but one can’t deny the steady - and often dominant - bat Donald is
carrying.

They also bring up a great point about him being behind great infield talent in Chase Utley at 2nd, Jimmy Rollins at SS, and Pedro Feliz at 3rd. He will most likely stay at Lehigh Valley in the AAA and get called up as a utility player.

The Beerleaguer brought up a similar issue and has this to say on where or how to play him:

While there's little question over his stick, where to play him remains key,
especially with starting third baseman Pedro Feliz on the road to recovery.
While Charlie Manuel has been impressed with Donald's glove, he hasn't put in
much time at any position besides shortstop over his career.

This kid was going to get a lot of reps with Utley and Feliz shelved for Spring Training. Unfortunately for Donald, both Utley and Feliz look to be ready by Opening Day. Feliz is still a little bit iffy but we will only know in about three weeks when the Fightin's come back home to Philly.

Phuture Phils had this final prediction for his fate:

I personally think he’s going to be one of the last cuts from the squad and sent
to AAA where he’ll play both 2B and 3B, mostly 3B.

Also in other news, former Philly Inquirer writer and now MLB.com writer Todd Zolecki did a little story on Ryan Howard's foul line drive through the Bright House Field press box. The ball flew between Phillies baseball communications employees Greg Casterioto and Kevin Gregg. The ball was hit so hard that it put a hole in the drywall in the back of the press box. Not only did the ball dent the drywall, you can actually see the seams of the ball imprinted on the wall. Ryno even owned up to his damage by signing the hole. Photo from Zo's page.

Phillies Nation scores big

I now have two Phillies blogs I love reading. The first is obviously We Hate To Lose which I am currently not writing for because the founder, Justin Evans wants to take it as a solo project for now. I still recommend it for everyone to read. The second blog I have become a big fan of is Phillies Nation. They are currently running a segment titled "100 greatest Phillies" which they are currently at #23 (Tug McGraw) and also doing recaps of the Spring Training games (by the way, they play Team USA at 12:05 which features Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino. 

But one segment that really stands out and everyone should really read is the interview done with Cole Hamels. I mean how the hell do you score an interview with the World Series MVP? I don't care how many strings were pulled but this was an excellent read. Some highlights:

On whether not he feels a Cy Young, 20-game season, or a no-hitter will happen this year: "I would like to win 20 games. With that Cy Youngs come and no-hitters just happen."

On goals next year: "Most of my new goals always start with me being able to pitch every possible start and to amass 200-plus innings."

On his curve ball: "My curve ball sucks"

Please read the rest, especially his bit on the "Hamels Foundation." It really gave me a different insight on him. I originally wasn't a big fan of his because he kind of comes off as a prima dona. You can also learn more about him on his official website. 

This week in the Phillies blog world

It's been a busy week for the Phillies and all news regarding them. They just had their first game today versus the Pittsburgh Pirates and lost 8-2 but Jamie Moyer looked solid in his 2 innings pitched and newly acquired left fielder Raul Ibanez drove in a run. Well here's a look at what's going on in other sites:

Today - Todd Zolecki, former writer for Philly Inquirer, is enjoying his new job with MLB.com and wrote on his blog a full analysis of the Phillies first day in action.

Today - The Phillies Nation also gave a small recap of today's game as well as the signing of Carlos Ruiz to a 1 year, $475 K contract.

Monday - The Beerleaguer talked about an interview Comcast Sports Net's Leslie Gudell held with the only two Phillies managers to win a World Series in Charlie Manuel (2008) and Dallas Green (1980). A link was also provided to the interview.

Today - The 700 Level did a little thing on Oakland's GM Billy Bean talking about his ex-pitcher Joe Blanton, the #4 starter in the Phils' rotation.

Today - Phuture Phillies also did a recap and went more in depth with the how the prospects played versus the Pirates.