Jamie Moyer, it is what it is…
Posted: August 12, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Jamie Moyer, Pedro Martinez, Pen, phillies, Retirement 16 Comments
Jamie Moyer continues to be the topic of conversation within the Philadelphia sports media and the Phillies blogs. Most of the reporting seems to give similar stories, some are radical in favor of the Phillies organization, to be expected, not many, if any, show any favor towards Jamie Moyer, which dissapoints me a little, I have found no real fair and balanced reporting on the events surrounding his (Jamie Moyer) move from the rotation.
I am sure unless you have been involved in every aspect of the events it would be hard to clearly express any clear elements of what transpired. Therefore I can only put my spin on things from what has been reported from all types and locations of the media, here in my blog, as opposed to trying to add comments to the numerous reports and blogs covering this subject.
It has been suggested that Jamie sort out the media in an attempt to give a off hand press conference, it has also been suggested that while he sat in the stands at Wrigley Field a few rows away from the visitors dug out, reporters sort him out to get a statement, with all the media hype surrounding this it was also suggested that it was suggested to him that he may want to stay clear of his team mates in order for the press to have access to him and it not disrupt his team mates. Whatever the reason, at this point, it doesn’t really matter, whats done is done, he said his peace and made his point.
He was led to belive that he wouldn’t be used in long relief this year, and a spokesperson for the front office confirmed that fact. No one has said what the plan was to be if he had to leave the rotation, you cannot tell me that, noone in this wonderful world of baseball and portraying themselves as the key role players in the Phillies front office didn’t think there was a possibility that he may not make it through the year.
Who knows, those that aren’t going to say anything in case the light of anger from the fans diverts shines upon them instead of Jamie. He has had a great career, not sure it was a HOF career but it was without question a career many major leaguers would definately like to say it was them.
It’s a little ironic that Jamie’s career in the majors started 23 years ago, this past June 16th, and it started in this ball park, Wrigley Field, and the team he faced was the Philadelphia Phillies. So in honor of that event the Phillies have decide to place a cloud around Jamie, regardless of his ERA at this point, 1 game would not have done damage to the Phillies, why didn’t they let him pitch here at Wrigley Field before moving him to the pen, they could have given him the advance notice of what they were planning, that I think is the respect Jamie was looking for and for what he has done for the Phillies could quite well deserve that respect.
A number of people seem to have a problem with the salary jamie negotiated during the winter months, well I don’t because it’s Jamie Moyer, a man who gives back to communities all over the country, not just where he lives and plays.
With all this in mind, I have this advice for Jamie Moyer, sit back in the pen, enjoy the some quiet time and during this quiet time reflect on your career and before the Phillies can do you more injustice, retire from the game, be a bigger man than Brett Favre, we know you want to pitch some more, but it is time, do not be bullied into things you don’t want to do, do not be a name that suddenly disappears from the roster and nobody notices, do not give anyone the chance to send you to ‘AAA’ or release you, end it on your terms.
Who knows in 3 weeks the Phillies maybe regretting putting you in the pen, regret it or not, on principal now I don’t think they would put you back in the rotation, no matter how good or bad Martinez is in his starts. At least you would take away that option, even if you feel theres a glimer of a chance at being able to say “I told you so”, walk away, let the fans beat you up some more, because so the organization can save face, at least you’ll be out of it and then if they do accomplish the goal of repeating in the World Series, we’ll see if there man enough to invite you back to get your ring. I doubt it…
Charity Begins at Home…
Posted: August 12, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Angels, Charity, Crawford, Cubs, Dobbs, Durbin, Florida, Francisco, Happ, Harden, Howard, Lidge, Marlins, Marmol, Martinez, phillies, Piniella, Rays, Rollins, Ruiz, Utley, Victorino, Wrigley Field 3 CommentsOver the weekend the Phillies at home were very charitable to the Florida Marlins, the Phillies, we hope, have moved on from that, now someone else should take a turn to be charitable at home.
On the road this week, with the road trip opener at Wrigley Field it was hopeful that the Cubs would be the one’s to be charitable at home, as luck would have it they obliged, at first it didn’t look as if they wanted to be nice and play the charity game, the Phillies had to show then the way to encourage them.
J.A. Happ started the ball rolling by giving the Cubs a taste of the charity bug…
through 6 innings he gave the Cubs, 11 base runners and 2 runs…
During those 6 innings where Happ was trying to encourage the Cubs with his charity work, you would have thought that…
Harden was more interested in pitching a perfect game…
I think he must have started to feel guilty about all the fine charity work Happ had been doing for the Cubs, and realised that charity begins at home, 1 out in the 6th inning he very charitably gave us, (the Phillies), our first base runner. Yes, I have to admit it came out of the blue and was not expected, hoped for, but not expected, I am sure he felt bad that our guys couldn’t hit his pitches.
Mr Harden very kindly gave up a walk to our very own 8th hole hitter and #1 catcher…
Carlos Ruiz…
and of course he graciously accepted the free pass to 1st base
with Ruiz on first and 1 out, Happ who having seen the charitable donation by Harden bunted the ball into the air, high enough to allow 1st baseman, Lee, to make a spectacular diving catch to give them 2 outs, 1 on in the 6th. Now is when you would find out if Harden was truely playing the charity begins at home game. With Rollins at the plate, having swung at the very first pitch of the game making a lame infield out, on one pitch, was now looking to Harden to be charitable, so as not to make himself (J-Roll) look so foolish again.
Rollins being a recovered struggling lead-off man had become greedy…
he wasn’t content with a line drive hit, he had to go the whole 9 yards, or in this case 350+ feet into the bleechers for a home run.
Now with the game tied at 2 each we were in the 7th and Harden had gotten the charity bug really bad, with a hit and a walk and a fly ball he managed to have a couple on 2nd and 3rd base, Piniella, wanted to do his part, but wasn’t sure what that was,
so he wandered out to the mound to ask his players
they weren’t exactly sure what his charitable role should be,
so he asked the homeplate umpire, who I am guessing told him staying in his dug out was more than anyone could hope for, so with his, out of this world, I’m on something look about him, he aimlessly wandered back to the dugout as if he forgot why he went out to the mound in the first place. so the Phillies, feeling sorry for Piniella did the charitable thing and got themselves out of the inning.
The 8th inning came around and the Cubs felt Harden had done enough giving, so they sent Marmol to the mound to keep up the charity work, Marmol turned out to be in a very giving mood,
his charitable donations started with a walk to Ruiz…
Dobbs came in as a pinch hitter and gave himself up with a lazy fly ball, Rollins tried to take advantage of Marmol’s kindness, but the inbound wind prevented another charitable donation of a ball into the bleechers. Marmol wasn’t very happy with his donations so far, he decided to give some more, so he hit Victorino with a pitch, who by the way was on his best behaviour, he didn’t charge at anyone today, then Marmol walked Utley to load the bases, then his generosity got the better of him, he walked Howard to push Ruiz across the plate for the go ahead run.
What could be more exciting than this, 1 run lead bottom of the 9th, time for the Phillies closer, who last year was putting the fear of god into every hitter he faced, this year however he’s putting the fear of god into the fans for every hitter he faces.
Don’t worry though this was a giving game so the Cubs would give themselves up for Lidge…
Someone should have explained the rules of charity begins at home to Lidge.
He thought he was the one supposed to be doing the giving, cause he gave them a walk , a hit and a run to even the score 3-3.
Each side played the charity thing as best they could into the 12th inning, then the Cubs didn’t realise that Francisco is new to the National League and doesn’t fully understand,
with Francisco at the plate…
Gregg tossed a donation to him…
Francisco, not really understanding everything in the NL, sent the ball on a line drive to left field and instead of it hitting the wall it dropped nicely into the basket on top of the left field wall. Once again the Phillies get the go ahead run. This time the make sure everyone is aware that it’s the home team giving the charitable donations,
fresh off the DL, Chad Durbin comes into to halt the donations…
and halt them he did, Durbin picked up his 2nd save on the season,
giving up a charitable walk, and a strike out he gave the Phillies the win in the opener of a 3 game set in Chicago.
With this game in the bag, I thought I would just flip over and see if the Rays could do the same to the Angels,
I was just in time to see…
Crawford let a ball go to the fence and give the Halo’s 3 more runs…
this was not what I hoped for, the Angels bea the Rays 6-0, but it was somewhat ironic in a way since these 2 games had something in common, just different outcomes.
The Cubs and Angels each had 10 hits, the Rays and Phillies each had 3 hits, but the outcome was the Angels had 6 runs and the Rays 0, while the Phillies ended with 4 runs and the Cubs 3 runs.
Tomorrows game at Wrigley sees the return of Martinez, in a Phillies uniform for the first time, ironic that his last game in the majors was against the Cubs. All Philly fans are looking for the win, and all are very curious as to how Martinez will fair in his first start after fan favorite Moyer was bumped from the rotation to make room for him.
Why do the Umpires Hate the Phillies…
Posted: August 9, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Bako, Chicago, Confessions of a She Fan, Cubs, Defense, Ed Rapuano, Feliz, Helms, Howard, infield, Lopez, Marlins, Moyer, Nats, offense, outfield, phillies, Rollins, RSBS, sweep, Umpires, Victorino, wanted 15 Comments| What can anyone say about a game that your team gets demolished 12-3 to complete a sweep, in your own ball park, by a team that just got swept by the Washington Nationals. Just about the same as has been said for the last couple of weeks, offense, defense and pitching, without these you don’t have a ball club. A little unfair to Jamie Moyer, since he put in a good performance, held the Marlins at bay, between a couple of bad located pitches and some bad located fielders, the Marlins edged a small lead and Moyer was replaced by the bullpen. Not so bad 2 runs down the Phillies have come back from worse. So with 2 outs and a runner on 3rd and a runner on 1st, who else but Ryan Howard could come to the Phillies rescue, he’s been the hottest hitter the last couple of days, so now the Phillies have a chance, one big hit and it’s back in the lead, or he could walk then we would have bases loaded for Ibanez, almost as good, you would think….
That’s when the home plate umpire, Ed Rapuano decided the Marlins needed some assistance, so he called Howard out on strikes, wrong call, okay I am biased, so you decide…
The home plate umpire had been having issues with his strike zone depending who was on the mound and who was in the batters box, but that wasn’t it, this was a critical call and he got it wrong (in my opinion), the interesting thing was before Howard came up to the plate, you could hear the audible of Ed saying to Howard “it’s hot out here big fellow” I’m sorry but out of context that sound bite could be very damaging for Ed… You’d think that would be the end of it, ‘in Philadelphia’ I hear you saying, okay so the crowd probably won’t let him forget it, but they didn’t get the chance. With the Marlins now batting and Helms at the plate and Lopez on the mound the sequence of balls and strikes went something like this…
You guessed it the crowd went absolutely crazy, as you can imagine the Phillies players weren’t that impressed either… Rollins shows his displeasure…
Look closely in the back ground behind Feliz you can see Victorino, who also shows his displeasure…
And then… it can only be described as all hell breaking loose, I may have only been watching baseball for 24-25 years, but I have never seen an outfielder be ejected for raising his arms, and needless to say it upset Victorino…
He came racing in from the outfield, almost threw Bako to the ground to get at the umpire, fortunately for Victorino, Howard is bigger and stronger and man-handled Victorino to the dugout, otherwise he would have surely ended up with a suspension. That sort of put a damper on things, the Marlins went on to score 6 runs in that inning, and yes you guessed it, the crowd let Ed know of their displeasure at every opportunity. The Phillies managed to scrap back just 2 runs and the Marlins went on to add another 3 runs in the 9th. So to finish a brief message to Ed Rapuano, stay out of Philadelphia, the fans have long memories, and if the league have any sense they will not assign him a game with the Phillies for sometime or this poster could become the norm around the City of Brotherly Love.
The Phillies go on the road to Chicago, they have a day off Monday, which if they are wise, it will be used to find their missing offense and defense. Then on Tuesday we will find out if the fact that, “Jesus hates the Cubs” according to the book of Psalms, or was that RSBS, I sometimes find it hard to distinguish between them, they are on occasion both full of useless, but humorous information. The point being we will find out if the umpires take pity on them for the curse cast upon them by this #2 blogger, yes it’s true and fortunately for everyone here, we would never live it down if there wasn’t a she fan with a confession to keep the combined efforts of a lonely Tigers fan and a (insert your own word here) Cardinal fan in their place.
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Phillies Struggles Continue…
Posted: August 9, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Arizona, Charlie Manual, Coach, Defense, Feliz, Fish, Francisco, Hamels, Howard, Ibanez, infield, Marlins, Moyer, offense, outfield, phillies, Victorino 3 CommentsGame 2 against the Marlins in this 3 game series was again an eratic performance, this time they managed to give up a lead and throw the game in a 6-4 loss.
Cole Hamels pitched in manner consistant with his season
performance, very up and down, one minute he looks like no one could touch him, the next they are hitting everything he throws. So it turned out to be another shortened outing for him where he gave up 4 runs, then the bullpen started off with excellent command, and yet they also manged to give up 2 runs with 2 outs.
The defense and offense again was spuradic to say the least, offensivly, Howard who seamed to be the only one with anything to offer, helped by Feliz and Ibanez, but not all at the same time.
Defense, they weren’t bad, they had some good plays, but I have reviewed the games since these issues have arisen, which I believe to be during the recent west coast trip, it all started in Arizona. Victorino got injured, which wasn’t really a problem, since it came at the time Francisco joined the team, but when Victorino returned to play he didn’t quite seem right, he played more shallow than normal and that seemed to put all the outfielders in positions where they were not able to catch up to long fly balls as often as they had in the past. The infield also didn’t seem to be in the right spots either, or they were juggling balls they would normally play cleanly.
Are the coaches adjusting the fielders locations correctly, according to who is hitting, and who is pitching, and in what manner they are pitching? This does not seem to be the case, so for this I do not entirely blame the players, but will lay blame for at least 40% of the missed fly balls, or miss infield hits, squarely on the shoulders of the coaches, instead of sucking up to Charlie, or having fun in the dug out, WATCH THE GAME, and adjust the outfielders accordingly, just because were the current World Series Champions, it doesn’t mean we don’t play by the basic’s….
Today Jamie Moyer is on the mound, he has in the past dominated the Marlins, however, the defense and offense must show up to play and support his efforts, since he is a fly ball pitcher, they have to get their positioning right to prevent the extra base hits…
Alumni Weekend, Kalas Induction, Fish sink Phils…
Posted: August 8, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: A-Rod, Alumni, Blanton, Cleveland, Fish, Francisco, Harry Kalas, John Kruk, Marlins, Nolasco, phillies, Red Sox, Victorino, Yankees 7 Comments| It was the start of Alumni weekend at CBP, and before tonight’s game they inducted Harry Kalas onto the Phillies Wall of Fame. The activities delayed the start of tonight’s game, but it was all well worth it. A number of the Phillies Alumni were in attendance and were surprised by Harry’s voice being the one to introduce them to the waiting fans.
Yes there was a game tonight, the Phillies and the Fish, went at it in a 3 game series opener, for the Phillies it was Joe Blanton on the mound and he was squaring off against the Marlins right hander Nolasco. This in my mind (which is a little warped and sometimes x-rated) should have been a chance for Blanton to get his 8th win on the year and prove his recent solid performances will continue on through the rest on the season. (sigh) Blanton showed up to pitch, which is always a good sign, and as all good pitchers in a starting rotation do, from time to time, he had a little bit of a shaky start, but settled in and pitched well through 6 2/3 innings, the problem was the Phillies defense and offense decided to take a night off.
The only player who really showed up to give 110% was Francisco, the new arrival from the Cleveland trade. Since Victorino was again suffering, this time from a slight quad strain, Francisco got a starting role. In an effort to get the defense fired up he threw a bullet in from the outfield to gun down a runner at the plate to end the top of the 7th inning, then his continuing efforts were trying to jump the offense into action he hit a 2 run home run to left field which landed in the flowers beds, in the bottom of the 7th inning. Unfortunately for Blanton, he was out of the game by this time, but it was still, too little too late, the Phillies could do little to support his efforts and they ended up losing 3-2. One thing that, again in my mind, (see previous note about my mind), I found entertaining was the presence of one of my favorite Phillies players from seasons past. It took me a while to find this picture in my archives, and it was the only one that I had that showed the mullet hanging out of the cap. How times change.
Okay so he’s not on everyone’s list of Philadelphia’s finest players, he didn’t really carve anything specific into the Phillies history books, but for me he was and still is the type of character I like to see. Scandal Brewing or was this just innocent: The Yankees and the Red Sox go 14 shut out innings, then bottom 15th 1 on 2 out A-Rod at the plate….‘possibly’ deep in the depths of the new Yankee stadium the under paid supporters of A-Rod were discreetly turning all the AC fans to suction mode for the left field, bullpen area. A-Rod hits his home run then in an effort to prevent discovery he sends a electronic signal to the guys below to switch the AC fans back to normal,
how else do you explain the shortened celebration and anxious run toward the dugout while messing with something obviously hidden in his uniform… these questions need answers….
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Cliff Lee’s, Debut in Philadelphia at CBP…
Posted: August 6, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Bako, Cliff Lee, Florida, Happ, Lee, Lidge, Madson, Marlins, Nationals, Nats, october, Philadelphia, phillies, Predictions, Rays, Red Sox, Rockies, Rollins, San Francisco, Utley, Victorino, Washington, World Series, Yankees 12 Comments|
Cliff Lee made his debut in Philadelphia at CBP, the anticipation of the crowd was high, all things considered, the pressure on Lee must have been huge. After his shut out in San Francisco, would the fans be expecting to much and could Lee deliver another solid game in front of what is now his home crowd.
The first inning, he seemed to show a few nerves, but that was to be expected, what wasn’t expected was for J-Roll to miss-judge a ball and let it go into the outfield. This allowed a runner to be on 3rd with 1 out, setting up a fly ball RBI in the 1st for the Rockies. Yes it was a tough play for Jimmy, but he has made that play many times before, he sets his own standards and that wasn’t quite it. It didn’t take Jimmy Rollins long to correct his earlier miss-judgment, he was hitting and running bases straight out of the gate. He didn’t need his red/orange shades to make himself look cool, he was doing that just by his actions.
His first 3 at bats he hit a single, double and triple, yes a cycle would have been nice, but for someone who less than 8 weeks ago was hitting right around the .200 mark and was struggling to even get to first base, was now producing multi hit games, stealing bases and scoring runs and that is the driving force leading the Phillies offense. The Phillies scored in the bottom of the 1st Utley’s sac fly, driving Rollins in, then Bako hit a home run, his first of the year, in the 5th, followed by Victorino’s RBI hit to drive in Rollins again. Rollins finished 3 for 4 with 2 runs scored. Lee may not have been the domination machine he was in San Francisco, after all, we had that from Happ last night, but he did give the Phillies a solid 7 innings, with 112 pitches, giving up just 1 run on 6 hits and a walk while striking out 9, great job Cliff Lee and I am sure the fans in Philadelphia will soon make you a fan favorite, it seems almost everyone else on the team is anyway. The bullpen did there thing… HOORAY!!!… Madson pitched a solid 8th inning giving up just 1 hit, Lidge came out in the 9th to close the game out and collect his 21st save of the year, and do so giving up just 1 hit. Phillies win the series with the Rockies 2-1 and since the Marlins chose to give the Nats a 4 runs in the 8th inning and go on to lose the game in Washington, the Phillies go to a 7 game lead in the NL East, of which I might add is currently the largest divisional lead, over a 2nd place team, in the majors, that may change by nights end. The Phillies welcome Florida to won for a weekend series, and tomorrow night the Phillies workhorse Joe Blanton takes the mound in a bid to keep the Phillies winning home stand moving onward and upward. Around the majors, well not around, around, just in New York, this for me is an interesting month, the Yankees and the Red Sox duel it out 7 times this month, why is that so interesting for me, well I have suggested, or maybe even predicted, a repeated October World Series match up between the Phillies and the Rays, therefore the need for the Yankees and Red Sox to beat each other up and give the Rays a chance to make up ground is crucial to my prediction becoming a reality… |
the J.A. Happ show…
Posted: August 6, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: bullpen, Cook, Feliz, Happ, Lee, Moyer, phillies, Rockies, Rollins, Werth 5 Comments| Well I had all intentions of giving a run down on Tuesday nights game against the Rockies and Wednesday nights game against the Rockies, but on Tuesday Jamie Moyer and the bullpen gave up 8 runs, while the Phillies offense could only muster 3 runs as a response, it meant the Phillies lost the first of a 3 game series, in a somewhat pain full experience for the fans at CBP. So a re-cap of Tuesday went something like this…
Moyer seemed concerned…
Rollins safe, Umps had trouble seeing…
Ruiz got an eye full, Umps still couldn’t see…
That about sums up the Tuesday night loss to the Rockies, from a certain point of view… Wednesday night was a little different, and so began the J.A. Happ Show!! So I don’t get to far a head of myself J-Roll, Werth, Feliz each hit home runs, on a different night that would have been the story, but the way Happ played the game tonight just one of those homers would have been enough… Happ pitched all 9 innings without an expression change…
Even when he was swinging the bat…
Until… bottom 8th, over 100 pitches thrown, he knows he has one more inning to pitch to get his 2nd career shut out, his first at CBP, in front of the home crowd, he comes to the plate for his final at bat, the crowd goes wild, the pitch…the swing…the balls fly’s deep to centerfield…Happ starts running…ball goes over centerfielders head and drops at the base of the centerfield fence…crowd is going crazy…Happ pulls up at 2nd base for a stand-up double…and suddenly his expression changes…was he in pain…did he pull something running the bases…
Noooooo…he was just Happ-y… J.A. Happ went into the top of the 9th and pitched the final inning of the game, he finished the game having thrown 127 pitches, gave up 4 hits and 2 walks, but he picked up a career high 10 strike outs. Well done Happ!! you just earned your right to remain in the starting rotation. Thursday sees Cliff Lee’s first appearance at CBP, this will be different for him I am sure, he’ll be wearing the Phillies modern throw back uniform, as the Phillies always do on a day game at home, this should be an interesting match-up, for those that think Lee will cruise to another win, be careful, he’s going up against Rockies ace Aaron Cook, RHP with a 10-3 record on the season and showing a 3.88 ERA on the season, however if there is a glimmer of hope during July he posted a 4.17 ERA with only 2 wins, the rest were no decisions. Good Luck Lee we hope your first Phillies home game is a good one and a winning one!! |
MLB Clubs, Liars, Cheats and Thieves…
Posted: August 4, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Angels, Arizona, Astros, Athletics, Baltimore, Blue Jays, Boston, Brewers, Cardinals, Cards, Cheats, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado, Cubs, D-Backs, Detroit, Diamond Backs, Dodgers, Fish, Florida, Giants, Halos, Houston, Indians, Kansas City, Liars, Los Angeles, Mariners, Marlins, Mets, Milwaukee, Minnesota, MLB, Nationals, Nats, New York, Oakland, Orioles, Padres, Philadelphia, phillies, Pirates, Pittsburgh, Rangers, Rays, Red Birds, Red Sox, Reds, Rockies, Royals, San Diego, San Francisco, Seatle, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Texas, Thieves, Tigers, Toronto, Tribe, Twins, Washington, White Sox, Yankees 12 Comments| Since yesterday was a day off for the Phillies, I decided to do a little research on various aspects of going to a ball game. At times this may get complex and hard to follow, but I will try and make as easy as I can, hopefully, and as short as I can, which maybe a problem.
Some of the comments from different team websites, indicated that fans were un-happy with what the club has been doing by way of trades etc., in most cases the clubs are promoting the fact that they have to run the club like a business, so money is a deciding factor and a large contributor to that is the volume of fans visiting the ballpark. Obviously there are a number of other factors that allow clubs to generate income, but it seems a number of fans saying ‘if it was cheaper to go to the game then we would’. Personally I think a number of clubs are pricing themselves to high, considering the city they represent, especially during this economic environment. I believe a lot has to do with the way a club is marketed, and the way the clubs evaluate the methods of income. The safe, comfort zone type income to assessed gross required, has been and still is, done by looking at how much income the club needs to generate from seating, looking at the history for the quantity of fans that come to games during a season, the different seats that are purchased, then from this they calculate the amount they need to generate from that specific seat. This is obviously a simplified methodology for, what I call ‘comfort zone marketing’. It is my belief that it is time for some clubs to look at new (to them) innovative methods, to get fans to visit the ball games, and go for lower seat prices and work off generating a higher volume of visitors. I tried to see what different clubs were doing to encourage fans to the ball park and it seems, some of the struggling clubs use high dollar incentives on a less than regular basis, instead of lower cost incentives on a regular basis. In doing this research I also ran into some other questionable information, with regard to the claimed numbers of attendees at ball games, this to say the least seemed to be very creative by some ball clubs, of which I will highlight later on in this post. Below is the information I was able to gather, I can only assume the information is accurate with regard to attendances, the seat prices were taken from each clubs online website, some were easy to obtain others made it a lot more difficult to determine how much you would pay if you came on game day to buy a ticket. The low prices reflect, the cheapest seat or standing ticket I could find and the high price reflects being able to sit as close to the end of the dug out as possible. All prices are US Dollars. The attendance numbers are through the first 50 home games of 2009, where a team hasn’t played 50 home games they had played sufficient to estimate to that number. All attendance numbers are in millions. AL ————–Attd.——-Low——-High———NL ————Attd——-Low——-High NYY 2.27 14 375 PHL 2.20 18 60 BOS 1.89 12 325 FLO 0.90 14 100 TB 1.20 10 85 ATL 1.47 6 40 TOR* 1.18 9 62 NYM 1.96 23 450 BAL 1.20 8 55 WSH 1.19 5 75 DET 1.50 5 52 STL 2.03 21 115 CWS 1.37 23 57 CHC 2.01 20 230 MIN 1.42 10 52 HOU 1.49 7 39 CLE 1.13 9 70 MIL 1.99 8 48 KC 1.20 7 43 CIN 1.23 5 72 LAA 2.02 21 200 PIT 0.98 9 35 TEX 1.39 11 115 LAD 2.22 11 285 SEA 1.39 8 65 COL 1.62 15 100 OAK 0.89 9 95 SF 1.74 25 110 ARI 1.28 5 145 SD 1.22 10 55
*Toronto prices are Canadian Dollars. I reviewed a number of playback footage from different games to try and evaluate the accuracy of attendance numbers at different games, tried to get a feel for visiting fans and home fans, so the following is probably going to be the mother of all assumptions, but I am going to lay it out anyway.
Liars and Cheats: They are so easy to pick on, and I probably shouldn’t, but I can’t help myself. Yankees- I tried to be fair about this, but having reviewed a number of games it is clear that the attendance numbers are somewhat generous. Where they show near sell out crowds it is clear on the replays that there is an abundance of empty seats especially in the high dollar sections and yes at a number of games believe it or not the visiting fans seemed to out number the home fans. The other noticeable thing at the Yankees new stadium was the visiting fans seemed to occupy the majority of the high dollar sections. Especially for the games they played against the Phillies and Red Sox. So are they cheating the visiting fans, we know it’s a ball park visitors would attend, the city has other attractions plus the city is one of the easiest, if not easiest to visit, so why not cheat the visiting fans. Mets- Although in some respects they appeared to portray much the same results as the Yankees they were not quite as bad, but then the overall attendance at the Mets games were lower than the Yankees, even for visiting fans. Braves- You will also find them under thieves, simply because i don’t believe all the field seats by the visiting dugout are sold out for the season. They are cheating the fan base here because of what they were and not what they are now.
Thieves: This one was kind of a tough one to ascertain, but I have to say those that I placed in this category it is basically for the same reasons. Indians- They have the most expensive ball park to visit within the central division, the city does not have huge alternative attractions and the ball park is not that easy to get to by any mode of transport. The Cleveland airport sucks, directions from major highways/interstates suck, local signage to get to the ball park sucks, and parking is expensive for the area. Does not encourage or attract many visiting fans and there is not much in the way of encouragement for local fans to attend games. This is bad especially as it’s a NFL town 1st and an NBA town 2nd, leaving the Indians in a weak 3rd spot. Marlins- Yes the club is doing well, but attendance is very weak, the low priced entry is reasonable, but the higher priced seats are to much for the stadium, it’s hot there, the concessions seem high in price, again not so easy to get too, its more expensive to get to since its vacation season most of the time, so area prices are geared to tourists. The club should have better incentives to attract more home and visiting fans, the visitor fans normally out number the home fans. Cubs- Lots of visiting fans, although home fans do out number the visiting ones, the problem here is Wrigley is a well known ball park and they play on that, high prices for the name. Braves- This one was had me concerned, for one I couldn’t get close to the seating area I wanted unless I was a season ticket holder, which confused me since the attendance there sucks. That or there driving visiting fans as far away from the field as possible so as too encourage home fans to buy the more expensive boxes.
Fair and Reasonable: Well everyone will accuse me of being biased, so we’ll get this out of the way first. Phillies- Seat prices all around are reasonable, home fans definitely out number visiting fans, the ball park is easy to get to, parking is easy, food and concessions are quality and reasonably priced. Rays- Easy to get to via car or air, lots of parking around the stadium, nice enclosed stadium, considering they are reigning AL champions, pricing is fair, even high value seats put you right where you expect, concessions are reasonable. It is somewhat of a confusion as to why they don’t draw more attendance, some visiting teams will out number the home fans, but that depends on the team. Pirates – Royals – Astros – All these clubs exhibited the same elements and have to be the best 3 clubs for visiting fans to attend. These have to be the cheapest ball parks to visit, they appear to be fan friendly for both home and visiting fans. These 3 clubs definitely get 5 stars as value for money ball clubs. All other clubs- Seemed to be fair to both home and visiting fans, with no major distinguishing benefits that would make them great or make them a part of the Liars, Cheats and Thieves lists. If you managed to read all this and follow it all, you probably have more patience than most. ~peter~ If you think that any numbers I have displayed here are grossly inaccurate let me know and I will do my best to verify the findings and correct any errors which may or may not be present. I will not however change my assessment of the way I see the ball clubs, this is purely my opinion of how I see the club representing itself to home and visiting fans. |
Baffled by the Bay, A Different View…
Posted: August 3, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: bullpen, Giants, Hamels, Philadelphia, phillies, San Francisco, The Pen 8 Comments Yes, they travelled through time zones, but it wasn’t that far really…
They weren’t at a high elevation…
There were no shadows on the field…
It should have been money in the bank…
Hamels pitching for 4 2/3 innings was music to my ears…
But then, for no apparent reason, with 2 outs and nobody on base in the 5th inning, did Cole lose something…
We started the 6th inning, had Cole found what he lost in the 5th, the answer was NO, the inevitable happened a call to the bullpen…
The guys from the pen closed the game out, without giving up any more runs, Hamels had allowed 7 runs to score, which was too much to recover from, the Phillies lost the game 7-3 and the series by 3-1 in San Francisco, but they were heading back to what we hope are the comforts of home…
Phillies take loss on Bark at the Park Night in San Francisco…
Posted: August 2, 2009 Filed under: Dailies | Tags: Bark at the Park, Blanton, dogs, Giants, Hamels, Lincecum, phillies, San Francisco, Sandoval, Zito 8 CommentsLast nights game at AT&T Park in San Francisco was scheduled to be a pitchers duel between Lincecum and Blanton, although both pitchers were very good the game itself was not so exciting. It was a game where the Phillies team made Lincecum look like a very ordinary pitcher, the problem for the Phillies is the offence is currently struggling with RISP. The Giants hitters were being held in check by Blanton and Blanton was actually looking like the better pitcher, the 5th inning turned the Giants luck into a run the same thing in the 7th, there were no great plays by anyone, no super hits, in fact even Sandoval tried to bunt his way on. The most exciting part of the game between the 7th and 8th inning, Blanton’s evening was done, he new he should be in place for the win, but the offence was letting him down, with a 1 for 6 with RISP and 8 LOB, he had given up just 7 hits and 2 runs had crossed the plate, almost any other game he would have the lead. I guess his temper got the better of him between inning and he took it out on some things in the dugout…..
…basically that was the game, nothing really stood out.
Other events were probably more interesting to some, it was Bark at the Park night, so there were a lot of dogs in the stands, no I am not talking about any diverse individuals who may or may not live in the San Francisco area…. real dogs… although going by some of the attire of the dogs the owners mentality may have to come into question….
there’s more….
and last but not least, what I’d call a normal dog, shame about the gay bandana round it’s neck….
Hopefully today will be a good game, where all the players on both teams make an effort to be ball players. It’s Hamels against Zito, so it should be a good game, but we thought that yesterday too, so who knows.
Phillies Outside Archive Vault 