Weekend from Hell ….

Posted: May 25, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Dailies | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

– PhilliesOutside –

Well maybe not from hell, but a weekend to move on from, one to let settle in the back of your mind till
one day you may need the knowledge to use as some stupid inconsequential pieces
of data. It wasn’t so much that the Phillies had a losing weekend against the
BoSox, obviously a losing weekend is never good, but inter-league play has not
been a National League strong point since it started. Also don’t forget, in
my
post of May 19th I had gone into details of why ‘it is that time of the
month’ and for those doubters, let it be known that between now and the end of
the month, the Phillies, will lose at least 4 more,
there is 7 games left in May all against division rivals, which means if they
prove me right could put the division lead back into tight contention, which
makes for some excitement as the season goes on.

News broke that the Phillies were scouting for pitchers, because they had
scouts at the ChiSox and Marlins
over the weekend. I am not sure the White Sox have much to look at, it is
possible they were looking at the Marlins, since
we will be meeting them this week. The Phillies
front office did acknowledge the fact that looking is part of the game, and as
any normal person would do the media asked what of Martinez, just because
the Phillies picked him up last year and it
worked out, doesn’t mean they’ll do it again and again. Amaro did
indicate that since Martinez, just casts them money and no talent then
they keep checking in with him, but they haven’t seen him throw or had any face
to face time with him.

Forewarned is forearmed, so Amaro, here is your warning, “You
got lucky last year with Martinez, regardless of how desperate you think you may
be this year, DON’T do it again”. I know I was not a big fan of
Martinez last year and I stand by that, I believe we would have had the same or
similar results had they not spent the time and money on Martinez. I
believe he had no influence on how things turned out and was at times more of a
distraction than an benefit.

Let’s face it the only real addition we may need is a solid closer, because
no matter what anybody says, if it’s Lidge out there then everyone is going to
be holding their breathe
for every pitch, knowing that this could be the pitch that blows the save. It’s possible
that Contreras could be converted to a closing role, he’s only had 1 save
in his career thus far, but I have to admit I was more comfortable watching him
close than I have been watching Lidge close.

We still need Happ to return from the DL healthy and give us a solid last two
thirds of the season, and then if we could convince Seattle to let us get Lee
back before July 31st, then we would be in good shape. Lets face it, we don’t
have many prospects to trade, but I don’t think Lee will stay in Seattle
after this year and there is a chance the Phillies
could unload 2 or 3 players, like Kendrick, Dobbs, Bastardo, or mix them
up and throw in a couple of minor leaguers, who knows what Seattle
would do, and Lee would probably sign with a 3 year deal where both Lee
and the Phillies would be happy. A dream
maybe, but after the weekend that’s all I have today, a dream.

 

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The ‘Waiting Game’…

Posted: October 23, 2009 | Author: | Filed under: Dailies | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments
… gets harder and harder as the post
season progresses.

That feeling of anticipation as each game
progresses as you get closer to the final out of each game, becomes a
drug, an addiction, when the game is finally over, if your team wins
there’s that state of euphoria, but it isn’t long before you just want
the next game to start again, you want that feeling of anticipation, you
long for your team to be back out there battling it out for the ultimate
prize in Major League Baseball.

I was not expecting to have to wait till
the 7th day before I saw the Phillies
back out on the field again, both the ALCS and the NLCS
had the makings of being 7 game series.

The ALCS between the Angels
and the Yankees could be just that, with the Angels
winning last night in an exciting 9 innings it has now driven the series
back to New York with the Yankees holding on to a 3
games to 2 lead.

The Phillies
managed to seal the deal in 5 games, taking a 4-1 series win over the Dodgers
in true Philadelphia style, in the 3rd game to be played at CBP
before heading back to LA the Phillies
clinched the NL crown.

So now we have to sit back and wait to
see who we will face in the 2009 World Series scheduled to start
this coming Wednesday. For the Philadelphia Phillies
I am not sure if they have a preference, since home field advantage is
with the winners of the ALCS.

The pro’s and con’s of facing each team
are obviously long, when you consider each teams line-up and each teams
starting rotation, but they’re the obvious points to reference when
looking into reasoning, but when evaluating the pro’s and con’s, in
simple terms it would be better if the Phillies
played the Yankees in the World Series, for 3
reasonable reasons, color, distance and the memories.

COLOR

If everyone in the stands is wearing red
and waving rally towels, it would confuse the players, they wouldn’t
know if it were the pitcher or batter that was being cheered. So we need
a team that wears the color blue
to play against.

DISTANCE

This really is a no-brainer, having to
contend with west coast times during the World Series would make
me very tired each morning. Keeping an east coast timetable and giving
the players a short little trip to New York where the Phillies
have already played this year would make so much more sense.

MEMORIES

It was fun watching the Phillies
at the new Yankee Stadium back in May, I remember the first game,
first pitch, Jimmy Rollins went deep off of AJ, next
batter Utley, AJ threw the ball right at him and hit him
square on the shoulder. The 3 game set went in favor of the Phillies
2-1, but that was way back in May and both teams are a lot different
now. Although with AJ and CC in the Yankees rotation they
both bring back memories when facing the Phillies.

Back to the ‘Waiting Game‘
although irritating and annoying for Phillies
fans, it is considerably short at 7 days (now down to 4 days)
compared to other NL team fans who are having to wait and see if there
team will have a shot next year.

As for the World Series match-up

– it will be, who it will be
–