Category Archives: Phillies

Feeling bad about the Phils getting swept? May I suggest some consumer therapy?

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While it is true that the Phillies just got their assess handed to the  by the very team that is chainsg them in the lackluster NL East, there are still reasons to be feeling good – even on a Monday.  The good folks at The Fightins (a site that always causes me to (a) laugh hysterically and (b) restart Firefox) and Birdland have come up with more designs that allow you to show your love, even when times are tough.300300-1 Their catalog of Phillies T’s was recently mentioned in the City Paper (whose website is so busy and annoying that I’ll take the restart necessitated by a Fightin’s visit any day) and the shirts are becoming more and more prevalent around the park.

So, yeah, we got skooled this weekend, but I’d rather it happened now than in (dare I say it) October.  So go spend some money, stimulate the economy and make yourself feel better.

Let’s make fun of the Mets

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frenchyscared

The Phillies finally lost a game yesterday, so to make myself feel better, I checked in to see what’s going on with the Mets.

Here’s Jeff Franceur showing off his defensive skills.  Thanks to the Walkoff Walk for alerting me to this one.  Maybe he’s just covering his face because they lost to the Nationals.

My other Mets item has to do with an executive that has the balls to challenge an entire minor league team to a fight.  Apparently Tony Bernazard, the Mets’ Vice President of Player Development, became so incensed by Double-A squad at Binghmaton that he tore off his shirt and challenged to fight the whole team.  Ballsy, but laughable.

Phillies going great – is it time to manage differently?

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horse_2dcart

The Phillies shoved it in the Marlins’ nose one more time today, five – zero, and they’re just cruising.  Even during the ‘June swoon’, they never fell out of phirst place, and they were playing horrible.  That will tell you about the competition in this division.  I have read that the Red Sox, who face more of a threat in their division than the we do in ours, are considering a six-man rotation to keep their front line pitchers rested and healthy heading into the playoffs.  I have to say that I love this idea, but is it a jinx?  Baseball is a funny game, and you never know what can happen.  Is it putting the cart before the horse to plan for the playoffs in mid-July?

Now Pitching for the Phillies, Pedro Martinez

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43510

I find the whole thing to be quite surreal.  You wanted a big name pitcher for the run to the post-season.  It doesn’t get much bigger than this, but for the last two years, the guy has not pitched.  I still remember how Steve Carlton hung on too long.  he didn’t just stay past his prime, Lefty stayed past his ability to pitch to major leaguers.  If you weren’t around for that episode, let me just say two words – Brett Farve.

There is really only one question that concerns me now – can he get people out?  If he can get big league batters out, then he will be an asset to this team.  He came across great at his press conference and any fan of the Phillies can’t help but be excited by his energy.  If nothing else, his attitude is youthful and his track record erases all doubt about competitiveness.

Freddy Garcia passed a physical, but was never able to pitch properly, proved to be injured, and has no career now to speak of.  So, we know the Phillies’ physicals don’t always pan out.  But if Martinez can get batters out, then this will have been worthwhile.

Jamie Moyer – Lots of Wisdom

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Nationals Phillies Baseball

Yeah, he chalked up his 250th career victory, and that’s great.  But it’s more important that he’s turned things around a bit and can now put the team in a better position to compete and win.  He also dispensed the following pearl of wisdom to John Smallwood in today’s Daily News:

When thing are going right, I try to keep it simple. When things are going wrong, I really try to keep it simple.

That’s also got a lot of application outside baseball, to be sure.

Other stuff (not Wayne Shorter-related)

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F1 racing – is getting ready to tear itself apart.  Teams refuse to be subject to standardized technology and budget caps.  To make matters worse, the proposed changes are voluntary, meaning that the 2010 Championship is expected to be a two tiered affair.  I’m very much in favor of some measure of fiscal control on the sport, but standardized technology takes away a key element that is really integral to the tradition and definition of F1 racing.  And a two-tiered championship is absolutely unacceptable.

Phillies – pulled out a nice squeeker tonight.  Hamels gets the win, although it seems he’s not quite as sharp and dominant as he was last year.  Same with Lidge – BIG TIME.  But he did get the save tonight and was a damned entertaining game to listen to.  Franzke is coming into his own (as Scott Graham did, a few years back) on those exciting calls at the end, particularly Lidge’s strikeout for out number two with two on in the bottom of the ninth.  Nice job.

John Scalzi – is a fine SciFi writer, a real professional.  He’s been blogging prolifically since 1998.  That’s some pretty good output for one guy.  Getting the benefit of really good writing on a daily basis is quite a treat.  But when its Scalzi’s twisted sense of humor, well then it’s priceless.  And, hey, it is priceless, totally free!  He recently featured an interview with a stick of butter, and today confronts his inner geek as he contemplates the purchase of a new computer powerful enough to play fancy new games:

As an example of this problem, note the picture above, of CyberPower PC’s “Lan Party Commander.” Leaving aside the name of the PC, which screams “I am encrusted in the residue of Cheetos and Mountain Dew,” this rig is one of the more subtly-designed of the gaming rigs CyberPower puts together, and it still looks like a cooling tower at Chernobyl. If I walk into a room and something is glowing like this thing is, my first instinct is to dive toward the lead shielding.

Read the entire post here.  I particularly like image of him encrusted in the residue of Cheetos.

WordPress – is ready to getting ready to go to 2.8 and only just installed this version (currently I’m using 2.7.1) on March 26.  That’s less than two months ago!  But it’s a dilemna because the last update (that I just installed) was terrific.  Fortunately, it’s still in beta testing, and I’m not feeling that adventurous at the moment.