Category: Baseball

Remembering Cory Lidle

I had another entry written about the plane crash into an apartment building in New York today, but I’m not going to post it now. Critiquing a few government terrorism quotes can wait.

Cory Lidle, the plane’s pilot, played for the Phillies until July 30th. As a phan I watched him pitch during the last couple of years, and grew to appreciate his game. He was never flashy or overwhelming on the mound, but every time he pitched, everyone knew the outcome before the game. He’d inevitably make a quality start, which is six innings or more with three or fewer earned runs. Generally that meant exactly six innings and three runs. He’d win some and lose some that way, as it’s not dominant, but he almost always kept his team in the game. He was a solid pitcher.

I last saw him pitch against the Blue Jays in Toronto on July 1st. I joked ahead of time that he’d give up three runs in six innings. Through five, he’d pitched a shutout, and I was “worried” that I wouldn’t be prophetic. Lidle didn’t disappoint. With one out, he gave up two quick home runs to plate three runs. He took care of the final two batters with ease. Six innings, three runs. He was automatic. It might seem like I’m putting him down, but I intend that as a compliment. Baseball is a game of uncertainty. That little extra certainty lets his teammates know what they need to accomplish.

He didn’t leave Philadelphia on the best terms, but I never cared about the politics of his team dynamic with the Phillies. That was for those directly involved to worry about. As a phan, I could only value what happened on the field. I liked him enough given his performance that I’d hoped the Phillies could keep him. (He would’ve been a free agent after the World Series.) Brian Cashman, General Manager of the Yankees, demanded Lidle to complete the trade for Bobby Abreu with the Phillies. Needing to trade Abreu for salary reasons, the Phillies agreed. That, I think, speaks most about his abilities.

More thoughts at Beer Leaguer and Balls, Sticks, & Stuff

Sports Weekend Update

As great as last weekend was for sports, this weekend is (so far) almost its polar opposite.

Phillies: A good, if scary, win yesterday, but it didn’t matter. With the Dodgers and Padres both winning, the Phillies barely missed the playoffs, breaking my heart in the process. Again. Don’t fret, though. Like every spring before, I’ll be back next year, as gullible and full of optimism as ever when pitchers and catchers report to Clearwater.

Virginia Tech: Having attended last week’s dogfight against Cincinnati, I knew we weren’t the 11th best team in college football. Running into a quality conference opponent scared me. And we lost. It was one of the more frustrating losses we’ve had in recent memory, for we were terrible in every aspect. But I can’t lie and say I was surprised. Until we start blocking for Sean Glennon, the other faults we discovered won’t matter. A one game deficit in the division standings is hardly insurmountable, so hope remains.

Redskins: The Redskins face Jacksonville this afternoon. Jacksonville is good. Their defense against our offense will likely result in a loss for the Redskins. I’ll watch the entire game, regardless, because I’m that way.

Money over sanctity

The Phillies stumbled into a disaster last night:

Know this: There are no excuses. But also know that the Phillies were on the phone to the people in charge of such things at Major League Baseball in New York last night, expressing their concern about the way this whole thing was going down. From the time that the first raindrops began to fall, at about 4:30 p.m., there was concern within the Phillies’ organization that as each hour passed last night, the team would be put at a greater and greater competitive disadvantage for tonight’s game in Florida.

It was, in some ways, the perfect storm (you should excuse the expression). Nobody has said this out loud, but the problem was that, because of an earlier rainout, St. Louis and San Francisco already might have to make up a game on Monday in an attempt to settle the NL Central race between the Cardinals and Astros. If the two teams were still tied, they would have to stage a play-in game on Tuesday, after which the winner would start playing its Division Series on Wednesday.

However, the National League has to have one playoff series start on Tuesday because of its network television contract. If the Phillies and Nationals had to play on Monday, and then the Phillies and Dodgers had to have a play-in game on Tuesday, there is a chance that the NL would be in total chaos and unable to fulfill the television contract.

Which meant that the Phils had to wait all night.

I agree with the first sentence; the Phillies bungled enough chances in the previous 158 games that last night’s fiasco by Major League Baseball was self-inflicted. However, Major League Baseball should have a little more foresight. It’s absurd to force a team in a playoff race to start a game at 11:32 pm when it must fly to the next city when the game is over. The Phillies now must win at least two more games than the Dodgers this weekend. That would be a challenging task without the added bonus of finishing the previous game seven hours after its scheduled start time. Any other game would’ve been rescheduled, but poor planning caused inflexibility. That’s bad management. Major League Baseball must fix that when it negotiates its next television contract.

Six months shoved into six games

After last night’s frustrating 5-4 loss to the Houston Astros, the Phillies stand in a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the National League Wild Card.

In a 162 game season, we’re down to a six game sprint for the playoffs. The Red Sox proved how fruitful the Wild Card spot can be when they won the World Series in 2004. If the Phillies make the playoffs, I believe we can duplicate that. But mostly, I want to make the playoffs because, after a thirteen year absence, I’m sick of meaningless (to me) baseball in mid-October. As I wrote at the start of Spring Training in February, in describing the 2001 and 2005 playoff tickets I never used because the Phillies didn’t make the playoffs.:

This year I’d like the opportunity to purchase playoffs tickets AND to use them. And the same for World Series tickets would be appreciated. Spring Training is proof that dreams never die.

This Wild Card race is why I’m an optimist every February. My baseball pessimist, beaten into me by season after season of losing, makes me believe the Phillies are just aiming to drive the dagger through my heart by finishing the regular season tied for the Wild Card, only to lose the one-game playoff against the Dodgers on Monday.

I have tickets to the next three games in Washington because the optimist ignores the pessimist every year. I’m gullible. Go Phillies!

It’s now been 19 years? How?

With Tom Glavine facing an unfuture certain (it appears he’ll be back soon), I’d like to repost this from two years ago. Today is August 22nd, the anniversary of Glavine’s first major league win. Although I despise the New York Mets, I can’t root against Glavine just because he now plays for the Mets. I want him to succeed, and being so close to the magical 300 wins, I want him to reach that milestone. He might be the last for awhile. So, to celebrate this day, here’s my entry from 2004:

17 years? How can it be 17 years?

Today is the 17th anniversary of the first Major League Baseball game I attended, an epic battle between the bottom-feeding Pittsburgh Pirates and the bottom-feeding Atlanta Braves. I was excited at the time because I finally saw Dale Murphy play in a game that counted. I’d seen him play in exhibition games in Richmond, but that wasn’t the real thing. So I was excited.

I was also excited to see Tom Glavine pitch that day. He’d made his major league debut on August 17th, a game he lost to Houston in the Astrodome. When the game started, I thought maybe, just maybe, he could win his first major league game, the very game I was attending. Nine innings later, Jim Acker threw the last pitch to finish off Glavine’s first win. That was cool.

With 258 additional wins since August 22, 1987, Tom Glavine is still pitching, putting the final touches on his Hall of Fame resumé. On the day he is inducted, I’ll tell the nearest snot-nosed, unappreciative kid who lacks a sense of history that I saw Glavine’s first win. That kid won’t care, but I’ll enjoy being the grumpy curmudgeon. I may even mumble. If I were that guy today, I’d probably mumble that I can’t believe it was 17 years ago.

He’s won 28 games since I wrote those words. Only 13 to go. Good luck, Tom. (Just don’t get any of them against the Phillies.)

There’s only one thing left to do

As the Phillies continue our key weekend matchup with the Cincinnati Reds, current leaders in the N.L. Wild Card race, I want to make the Phillies aware of something: given last night’s tedious near-miss, they’re on notice

OnNotice.jpg

I do not watch The Colbert Report, but I like this because it has 8 spots, nicely corresponding to the number of hitters in the standard National League lineup. My demand is simple. Win. Take the Wild Card. I’m sick of just missing the playoffs. The Phillies should be, too.

Baseball has no shot clock

So what?

Federal regulators said yesterday that Comcast Corp. may have discriminated against a regional sports television network by refusing to carry the network’s broadcasts of Nationals games.
…

In a 10-page opinion, the FCC said it found that MASN had made a “prima facie showing” that Comcast had discriminated against the network and had “indirectly and improperly demanded a financial interest” in the network in exchange for carrying it. The FCC also said, however, that there were factual disputes on both points that would have to be decided by a judge.

Media lawyers said the FCC’s finding shifted the burden to Comcast to prove that it has not broken any of the agency’s rules. The lawyers said it was possible that the judge could find Comcast had played by the rules and was justified in declining to carry the network.

I don’t know the specifics of the rules, but shouldn’t we first be asking whether or not the FCC should have rules governing this? Is this regulatory burden in the interest of customers, or is it in the interest of regulators? Let’s all ponder that for a long nanosecond.

I guess they haven’t over-reacted enough

I’ve witnessed the disturbing manner in which many Phillies phans have rushed to convict pitcher Brett Myers. I haven’t changed my mind about how to process his situation as a phan. His reputation is in shambles, most likely due to his own actions, but he does not deserve the rush to judgment. There will be time to condemn Mr. Myers later, should a conviction or guilty plea come. I think that’s still the reasonable view, which is why this story about his scheduled start tomorrow is bizarre to me:

Local groups dedicated to ending domestic violence have no plans to protest tomorrow’s Phillies game. Brett Myers is scheduled to make his first appearance at Citizens Bank Park since being charged with domestic assault and battery on his wife in Boston during the early morning of June 23.

“We are not planning a protest and I’m not aware of anyone who is,” Heather Keafer of Women Against Abuse said yesterday. “I think the fans have had great response in the past, and I’m hopeful they’ll continue their pressure to make sure that he’s held accountable for his actions.”

If they were planning to protest a man who is innocent until proven guilty, I’d be among those (maybe a party of one) protesting the protest. But to the point raised in this initial excerpt, that last sentence doesn’t bode well. I shouldn’t have to stop momentarily to point out that Mr. Myers’s actions are still alleged. Ms. Keafer’s call for the continued abandonment of American legal principles by the public is disturbing. Is she so unsure of the public’s acceptance that she’s on the correct side that she must encourage the mob’s mentality?

Continuing:

Keafer said the Phillies met last week with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence in an effort to develop a domestic violence policy. Women Against Abuse and three other domestic violence agencies in the city are members of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

“They’ve had one meeting so far, and part of that proposal is also to help support the Philadelphia domestic violence hotline, which is run by Women Against Abuse and three other domestic violence providers in Philadelphia,” Keafer said. “What we’re trying to do now is work with our state coalition to help the Phillies come up with a domestic violence policy and possible inclusion in their code of conduct.

It’s not a stretch to say that domestic violence is unacceptable. I doubt the Phillies disagreed before the alleged incident involving Brett Myers and his wife. Given their actions since his arrest, however belated (and over-reactionary) they may have been, it’s reasonable to assume the team understands the seriousness of this issue. They get the message, like everyone else. No surprise there. So why is this (alleged) incident by a player sufficient to encourage what appears to be nothing more than a shakedown of the Phillies?

A question for readers

I’m very passionate about the Phillies, although my interest in this season is rapidly waning. We’re losing at an alarming pace, playing horrible baseball. I’ve commented that we look worse than little leaguers on more than one recent occasion. Pitcher Brett Myers exacerbated that on Friday when he was arrested early that morning on a street corner in Boston. I’m not going to provide details, because it’s not really my business. I’m not interested in the gossip/gawking aspect. My question for you is this: would you have suspended Myers if you were Phillies management?

As expected, with Philadelphia phans a notoriously opinionated bunch, the phlogosphere went nuts. Calls for his suspension, trade, or dismissal arose. The general sentiment is that spousal abuse is an unforgivable offense. Duh. But… he’s still presumed innocent, no matter how compelling the evidence. Shouldn’t that matter? I think it does, which is why I’m not angry or disgusted with the Phillies for saying and doing nothing, or for letting Myers pitch Saturday afternoon.

So, I’m interested in some impartial opinions from you, who aren’t avid fans. Should the Phillies have taken action against Myers immediately after his arrest?

P.S. The Phillies and Brett Myers announced yesterday that he’ll take a leave of absence from the team until mid-July at least. Forced by public opinion? Probably, but I don’t know. It doesn’t change my opinion.

Update: I didn’t test the site enough before resuming activity. The comments link isn’t working. Until I fix the comments, if you click the permalink, you can comment there with no problem.

Second Acts in America

Friday night, Danielle and I sat through more than 100 minutes of rain and many innings of Phillies ineptitude at RFK, as the Phillies lost to the Nationals. Normally, that would be a major downer, but the night had barely started when I knew all would be fine. I saw President Bush throw out the first pitch on opening day last year, but Friday night was more entertaining for me. My inner Finance geek loved this: