Well, look who's back in town!
Some folks asked me about writing the Phillies blog. But when my friend at the Reading Terminal said he missed reading it, I figured it was time to eat or cut chicken. Or maybe that's fish or cut bait. Whichever, it's baseball season and time to get excited.
 I took some time off to concentrate on a new book I'm writing. The book is 60 percent, maybe 70, so I think it's okay to return to the blog, as long as I don't go crazy with it. If you wish not to receive this, email me and I will take you off the mailing list. Believe me, you won't hurt my feelings. If you know somebody who would like to read it, send me their email address. So here goes...
Some things change, some things stay the same. So let's take a look at 'some things' since my last post in the fall.
Just when Brad Lidge brought to mind visions of Danny Tartabull and Freddy Garcia--and a few in between--with a spring training first-day-knee injury, the Phillies good fairy sprinkled some Phillies gold dust. Or did she?
In 1997 the Phillies paid $2.3 million for Tartabull's seven at bats, but mild in comparison to the Freddy Garcia trade and a one year deal for $10 million...for pitching 58 innings, a 1-5 record, and a 5.90 ERA.
OUCH.
Making matters worse, the Phillies traded Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez for Garcia. Floyd is currently 3-2 with a 3.32 ERA with the White Sox.
 But Lidge ain't no Freddy Garcia: Except for a rocky save Tuesday night, Lidge has been unhittable with that nasty slider. But think about this: With a one year contract for $6.35 million (Billy Wagner is makinig $10.5 million this season), if he continues to pitch the lights out the Phillies won't be able to afford him and maybe he'll end up in New York next season.
Then there's Barry Bonds. He was charged Monday with a new indictment with 15 felony counts for denying using performance enhancing drugs. Also that he tried to disrupt the federal investigation, or what is called obstruction of justice.
In simpler terms, he's again accused of lying to a grand jury when he said his personal trainer Greg Anderson never supplied him with steroids. He's also unemployed at age 43 because no major league team would sign him. Meanwhile the Major League Players Association, one of the strongest unions in the world, is considering whether to file a collusion grievance against teams for not signing Bonds. We having fun yet?
Meanwhile, Roger Clemens continues to deny he had any sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky. "I did not have sex with that young woman," the Rocket was quoted as saying. At least I think it was him who said that.
Was at the Phillies game Wednesday night with two engineers, one from Wales, who was attending his second baseball game and the other from Ukraine, who was attending his first. Two pretty smart dudes if you don't mind me saying so. About the second inning, the engineer from Wales leans forward and says, "Ron, don't you think the chap pitching is a bit out of shape?"
 Our of shape? It's appalling how out of shape and overweight Phillies pitcher Bret Myers is; he looks like he was recruited off the street, handed a uni, and sent to the mound. And Myers, who will turn 28 in August and is sporting a 5.91 ERA, wonders why he's getting hammered and says he's going to work his way through this. Hey Bret, lose some of the baby fat and get back to us.
But the Phillies continue to insist that his weight has nothing to do with the speed of his fastball, which is dropping faster than Eliot Spitzer's..., no, I'm not going there, this is a family website.
Did you read where President Bush said if he was starting a major league team and had to pick one player to build around, it would be Chase Utley? I'm not sure Utley needs that endorsement. After all, didn't Bush declare victory from an aircraft carrier in the Gulf about...five years ago? Besides, chances are Utley's a liberal, after all he and his wife Jen saved that puppy. Have to be a liberal to do that, right? You can read about that and see the news report . (click on the play symbol on the puppy)
And motor mouth Angelo Caltadi is still raking Charlie Manuel in the free newspaper The Metro. I see lots of people reading The Metro on the buses and subways so its got to be eating into the Inquirer and Daily News' circulation. Plus add home delivery of The USA Today and the New York Times and you wonder how long the two Philly papers will stay in business.
Here's what Caltadi says about the Phillies skipper in The Metro. You can make up your own mind, and I don't agree with every move Charlie makes, but I'm not on board with Caltadi. Might be that the Wild Thing, a frequent quest on Caltadi's radio show, may be feeding him stuff, along with some other disgruntled know-it-alls.
 Scott Bruce Rolen is coming to town this weekend. I'm sure you saw that Rolen had a little tizzy fit with Cardinals' manager Tony La Russa and consequently was shipped off to the Toronto Blue Jays in the off season. The Jays come to town for a three game series starting tonight and the boos will rain down on Scottie boy. Poor Scott signed an eight year, $90 million contract with the Jays. What's that? You wonder how he's doing?
He missed the first few weeks of the season with an spring training finger injury but through 19 games and 70 at bats is hitting .300 with 2 taters and 9 ribbies.
Which brings me to J.D. Drew. The Boston slugger is hitting .296 with 3 taters and 17 ribbies, through 33 games and 115 at bats.
If you are wondering how these two compare to Mr. Pat Burrell, stop because I'll show you. Burrell, who my father-in-law is trying to trade like crazy, well...you decide: .299, 9, and 31, through 41 games and 134 at bats. As I tell my father-in-law, a pretty good athlete for the North Catholic Falcons and semi-pro football, you can't look at individual at bats, you've got to look at the overall numbers.
But when you're 90, you can look at any damn thing you want. Oh, sorry about that, family website, remember? It looks like Mr. Burrell might just stick around next season.
Pat, here's hopin' that you do.
[ full story] [ Comments (0)]
Here is an interesting take on the steroids mess:
[ full story] [ Comments (1)]
I'm going to leave Pat Gillick and steroids alone for a while, so this is my last column.
With my new job at Drexel University, I need what little time I have for rewriting parts of my book Our City, and to continue seeking publishers. I had a couple of close calls, but the book still remains unpublished. And I think it's more than good enough.
It took Tom Clancy five years to get his first book published. I've been at it a little over a year.
But since it's that time of the year, I'll end it all with a few predictions:
- Pat Gillick has not done enough to ensure the Philles repeat in ' 08. So Taduchi, Brad Lidge, Geoff Jenkins, and Chad Durbin are mere cosmetic touch-ups to what's really needed: One or two first rate starting pitchers and one or two key bullpen additions.
- Andy Reid will rebuild the Eagles in ' 08 and it will not include Donovan McNabb. Reid will build the team around Kevin Kolb and Brian Westbrook and take them back to the playoffs.
- That my son and I will enjoy our tickets to the new game in town, the indoor football team, the Philadelphia Soul.
Thanks for reading my column and I hope you have a great New Year!
[ full story] [ Comments (1)]
Have you ever wondered what the rich buy each other for Christmas?
What's there to get? If they have everything they need, how can you shop for them?
I know this rich family; well, they may not be the richest, but they are quite well off. More so than the next family; more than you and me. They live in a gorgeous home and for the first time in 14 years were recently mentioned in Forbes Magazine.
But there was something funny about this family. Parked in the driveway, in front of their 12 car garage, was a beat-up old Chevy that has had better days.
The dad's Ferrari and the mom's Mercedes Vaneo would veer around it nicely, seemingly to ignore the beat up old junker like it was a hedge fund they knew would go south faster than Enron stock after Ken Lay fired all the Arthur Andersen accountants.
And that was puzzling because it didn't fit in with the decor.
Now the neighborhood was about as happy with the driveway junker as with a country club bartender who never laughed at their jokes or a chat room addicted Nanny. They were paying big bucks where they lived and frankly weren't overjoyed with the eyesore relic.
They made numerous suggestions to the family that the rotting Chevy has to go or they won't make Fobes for a another 14 years and and if that happened then surely many of the loyal neighborhood supporters might begin leaving faster than Eagles fans down by 14 late in the third quarter.
But this year the family just didn't want to make Forbes, they wanted to rise to the top of the rich list like the peppermint schnapps in their creme de menthe. And everybody told them" "You can't do it with the junker in your driveway."
So the family hired a consultant and he looked at the neighborhood and the home and the junker and said the family has enough wealth that the junker really doesn't matter. He told them they should still rise to the top of the list in spite of it. In fact, he said, the family, if it wants to get to the top spot, should put their emphasis in not removing the junker but in putting their wealth in blue chip stock to bolster their portfolio.
Unlike many other families in the neighborhood, this rich family doesn't have a lot of younger internet stock which secures the future, or they trade the internet stock for more stable blue chip sfuff to help them rise to the top faster, like some of the families in Boston and New York do.
Now the consultant is an old school guy who is near retirement. So maybe he doesn't quite see that the true wealth of this family isn't getting any younger; and the family may have to sell some of its valuable portfolio to avoid paying astronomical taxes on several of its commodities.
So if this family has any chance of making the Forbes top spot, before some of its blue chip stock has to be sold, maybe this is the year.
Then why leave the junker in the driveway?
It proved to the family last year that it couldn't make the long drive or stop the gas from leaking out of its tank.
Get rid of the driveway junker!! Put a BMW in its place, and lets rise to the top next year! There may not be another year.
[ full story] [ Comments (0)]
George J. Mitchell, the former senator of Maine, spent the better part of a year writing a 400 page report that says Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire were not the only major league baseball players who used illegal, performance-enhancing drugs.
In fact, Mitchell identified 89 other major league players including:
- Hall of Famer Roger Clemens
- seven former MVPs
- 20 men who played for the Yankees
- players from all 30 major league teams
Out of all the investigating, only one player cooperated with Mitchell: The Yankees' Jayson Giambi. What did you expect?
So let me ask you this. Did you think that Barry, Mark and Sammy were the only users? Did you have to sit down and hold on to something when you either read about Mitchell's report in the papers or listened to it on radio or television? Were you astonished that Lenny Dykstra, the bloated up little Pete Rose clone who led the Fightins' to the World Series in 1993 was a 'roid man?
Come on, let's get serious about all this.
I remember when I discovered my entrepreneurial skills in high school. You see, at my high school you were either born with a silver spoon in your mouth, or you stole it from the cafeteria, and I was definetly in the cafeteria group (Lisa, don't let my neices read this).
At my high school, at least with those I kept company with, you proved you were in the cafeteria group, or from the Hill, in one big way: You smoked. You not only smoked but you smoked in school, which, like performance-enhancing drugs, was a no-no. Later, if you quit smoking, like me, okay. But if you continued smoking you are most likely dead now.
The place at school where most Hill kids smoked was the boys room. It was our sanctuary. The silver-spooners wouldn't even enter the boys room so I'm not really sure to this day where they went to the bathroom. Perhaps they simply held it in. The teachers and principals had to catch the smokers with a lit cigarette. Just a smoke-filled boys room would not implicate you. Can you see the parallel here?
Anyway, I invented the wet paper towel trick at my high school. That's right, I'm not making this up. Upon entering the boys room, with some 20 kids from the Hill puffing away, you would pull several paper towels out from the dispenser and hold them under running water. Ring them out, then light up.When the look-out spotted a school official heading toward the boys room and gave the signal, like: "Put out them butts, Miller's comin'," you simply wrapped the soaking paper towels around the lit cigarette and drop the whole mess in the trash. You could never be implicated.
I also played high school baseball and several of us--I won't mention any names besides Pete and Gary--did some smoking in the locker room boys room between games of a double header. The wrestling coach caught us. He couldn't believe we were smoking between games of double header. We swore up and down that it wasn't us. He was both astonished and amused and let us go (besides, our team would have lost the second game if he would have busted us). Another parallel.
If you asked me today if I was smoking in the locker room between games, I most likely would say no, especially if my three children were anywere in listening distance. Unless, of course, I was being asked by a grand jury. Yea, sure.
So I ask you, what did the Mitchell report actually do? We know they juiced up, we know Bonds and McGuire weren't the only players to juice up, and frankly, there were a hell of a lot more players who juiced up than the 89 Mitchell named. In fact, I think Mitchell should be barred from the game for only coming up with just 89 players, who, if I may add, were dumb enough to be caught. Even old man Miller back in high school could name more Hill smokers than that. That is, if he's still amongst the living.
So let's do this, shall we? Forget about the players who juiced up. Let's stop tattletailing like the silver spooners use to do, let's let Barry off the hook and reinstate Pete Rose to the Hall and let him counsel young players in spring trainging every year against the evils of gambling, and forget about all this crazy steroid stuff. How the hell can you prosecute Barry when Roger, Sammy, and Mark are sitting home counting their money?
But be damn sure about this: Make your drug testing stringent and fool proof enough that people who love baseball won't have to worrry about any more juicing up. Can you do that major league baseball? As a fan, I don't care about the past. I care about spring training and the start of the 2008 baseball season. And I don't want to see any more Phillies' players showing up for camp looking like Lenny.
PS: And get Pete Rose back in baseball, did I mention that?
[ full story] [ Comments (0)]
Maybe you saw it. The cartoon where the kid was practicing the piano with his mother standing behind him holding the sports page with the headline: 'Centerfielder Signs $90 Million Contract.' And she says, "Never mind with the piano, go on out with the boys and play center."
As deals go, the centerfielder Torii Hunter got the better of the three. At 32, he signed with Los Angeles of the AL for five years, $90 million. That rolls out at $18 million a year and by the time he's 35, the Angels might be mailing the checks to his Palm Springs retirement village.
Andruw Jones on the other hand had to settle for two years at $36.2 million. He could have run a few more ground balls out and maybe beat the throws and got five. But the Dodgers figured the 30 year old centerfielder still has a couple left, just not five.
Then comes Aaron Rowand. The Phillies wanted to keep this poster boy for toughness in centerfield, but were not willing to go the distance. At age 30, he plays risky defense--not risky for the team but for himself--and hit .300 just twice in his career. He was looking for job security and who could blame him. I am too.
The Giants rolled the dice and gave him a five year contract for $60 million, which pans out to a measly $12 million a year. Security? Who wouldn't want those numbers. For the average Joe, that's hitting the lottery. Not saying he's average, but check back with me in three or four years.
And the St. Louis Cardinals traded 37 year old centerfielder Jim Edmonds to the Padres. Edmonds is entering the second year of a two year, $19 million contract. He is not coming off a good year.
Which brings us around to the Phillies. I don't blame the ball club for not landing Rowand. He plays a good centerfield and is a decent, solid bat down in the lineup. But five years can be a long time. Hell, in five years, Gillick may be fishing in the Puget Sound and trying to decide whether to use squid or a teaser jig.
Now though, he's trying to improve a ball club that took the NL East like it was an announced asile-sale at Walmart. And lots of folks are saying they didn't win it, the Mets lost it. Tommy Glavine took the ball in the final game of the season and pitched like it was an old timers game...and he was the special guest. Meanwhile 44,000 towel waving fanatics at Citizens Bank Park were scoreboard watching and going gitty after a 14 year lull of 'we'll get 'em next year.' Hey, thank God for Kyle Kendricks.
Well, next year is here. We Phillies fans are racing down the steps to look under the Christmas tree to see who Gillick got. Well, so far, Gilick ain't got much. 'Cept for a an aging arm-hanging veteran bullpen ace who's better days are several years before Ed Wade got done sky diving and got a new job. Even Wade knew Gillick would bite on this one: A race horse outfielder named Michael Bourn who may very well become a hit machine who steals 30-plus bases a year and covers center and the four oceans.
Listen, Gillick got Lidge on a one year deal and that we can all thank Santa for.
Since the Padres now have Edmonds in center, suddenly juicer and free agent Mike Cameron is attractive and Gillick is interested. On day it's Shane Victorino and the next day maybe it's Cameron, who would be unavaliable for the first 25 games of the season because he tested positive for a banned substance for the second time.
Meanwhile, you kids keep practicing in center because one of these days the Phillies will wake up and add some talent to that young core that's not getting any younger. So maybe we don't have to wait another 14 years.
Next: Things in common: Steroid use and smoking in the boys room.
[ full story] [ Comments (0)]
 "Right you are Wheels, I'm surprised that Charlie is hitting Cabrera seventh but I guess he wants some pop down in the order and he'll certainly get that from Miguel Cabrera." "Harry the Phillies have really helped themselves over the winter and went out and added a closer, a great starting pitcher in Willis and of course Cabrera at third and it will be a very interesting season for Phillies fans." "So we are set go here on opening day..." "Ron, wake up, you're dreaming again..." Dolly Parton is no longer the big draw in Opryland and neither is Pat Gillick. Besides, anybody can get breast implants today--and big old is not as enticing as big young--and...everybody knows the Phillies don't have the young talent needed to draw a Miguel Cabrera or Dontrelle Willis (right). That is, if you want to trade-away some future Chase Utleys for a left handed starting pitcher who was 10-15 last year with a 5.17 Era. Or, a third baseman who has been accused of dogging it. Don't look dogging up in the dictionary. The Yankees appear to be out of the Johan Alexander Santana sweepstakes, with the signing of the left hander Andy Petite. However, one can never be sure if the Yankees are interested in Santana, or just staying in the hunt to drive the price up for the Red Sox. Gets nasty this time of year. Santana is still big young at 28, but didn't have his greatest numbers last year. Ok, so his ERA 'ballooned' from the mid 2.00s to 3.33, nobody's sweating the small stuff. Keep an eye on the Mets in this endeavor. Mets' GM Omar Minaya has never met a pitcher who throws in the 90s he doesn't like and waits around until the bargaining gets more to his liking. Besides, ain't no way in hell the Mets will stick with their current rotation.  Story in this morning's Inquirer about Gillick wanting to resign Tadahito Iguchi for third base. Seems like Iguchi doesn't have as many offers as he though he'd get on the open market. Besides, the Phillies could then platoon Iguchi with Dr. Cement Glove and leave it to Ruben Amaro, Jr. to hunt for a real third baseman next year. I think if you took a vote most Phillies' fans would welcome back Iguchi with open arms. So for now, things are quiet for Gillick in Opryland. If he does do something, and you can bet he will, let's hope it's for big young and not big old. Question: With the signing of Tom McCarthy for the television booth, where does that leave Chris Wheeler? Hopefully the Phillies' suits will leave plenty of room for the best analyst in baseball. Seems like it may be a little crowded upstairs with Scott Franzke, Larry Anderson, Gary Matthews, and Wheels sharing duties. I'll let you know if I hear anything!
[ full story] [ Comments (0)]
Winter means more to me than show and ice and cold. In fact, I like snow and ice and cold and would rather run in  that weather, than in the humid dog days of August. What winter means to me is an absence of Phillies reading material. Except for an occasional trade or signing, the sports pages are now left to the 'other' sports' teams. Not here. Here, you can read baseball right up until the first signs of spring training, and blame Al Gore because the season starts earlier every year. Here will get you ready for the the first pitch of the regular season against the Washington Nationals at the park on March 31. What did I say about global warming? March 31? That's 121 days from now varying a little according to when you read this. But hold on partner, good things are coming to you.  I have faith that Phils General Manager Pat Gillick will make the proper adjustments to put the ball club right back in the hunt come March 31. This is Gillicks final season. He said he will retire. I'm certain he would rather go out with a bang rather than a whimper. The Minnesota Twins lost their center fielder Tori Hunter to the Los Angeles Angels, signing him for five years at $90 million. It might give us an idea about how Aaron Rowand will do. By the way, Rowand is no longer on the Phillies roster so I have to use FanGraphs for his numbers. Go ahead and check them out and then figure for yourself what Rowand will get on the market. Headed by the Red Sox, the big sharks are also after Twins pitcher Johan Santana (right), who is in the final year of his contract and could be traded. The Twins made an offer to Santana for a four year extension for $80 million. Santana will make $13.25 million in ' 08. If he accepts he will become the first pitcher to get $20 million a year. If he doesn't he'll be in a different uni next year. Lets hope it's not a Mets uni.  The Twins maintain a low payroll and have been criticized for not using the money they get from revenue sharing. In the past five years the Twins received an average of $20 million a year in revenue sharing but their payroll has not increased accordingly. The average increase in payroll over those years is $16 million. To replace Hunter, the Twins made a 6-player trade to acquire center fielder Delmon Young from Tampa Bay. Whereas Hunter would have cost the Twins $12 million, Young will cost them $700,000. The great baseball philosopher Roy Rogers and his side-kick Clint Black have some encouraging words for Pat Gillick.
[ full story] [ Comments (0)]
 The late Harvard scientist Stephen Jay Gould called science and religion a "non-overlapping magisteria." Meaning, each has its own set of criteria to explain the universe, but that neither overlap into one another: Science is based on testable hypotheses, while religion is based on faith. In science, skepticism is a necessity, whereas in religion, belief without evidence is a virtue. Science believes that nature is ordered and can be mathematically measured, but religion is either you believe or you don't believe. And if you don't, you'll most likely go to hell. Baseball is similar. Numbers mean a lot to baseball fans, and, they say, numbers are the true determination of whether a player is great, pretty good, or so-so. For example, the baseball mathematicians point to the hypothesis of Rodriguez vs Burrell. In other words, great numbers vs pretty good numbers. It's measurable, they say. Just open up the statistical websites and see for yourself. On the religious side of the fence, they counter that the handsome Burrell is way overpaid, strikes out too much, and is a defensive liability. And if you don't believe that, then you CAN go to hell.  In baseball, however, and no disrespect intended toward professor Gould, the magisteria sometimes do overlap. Take the case of the J-Roll Hypothesis, or, the Multiverse Theory, sometimes known as the Meta-Laws Theory of Explaining Hits and Errors. Code name J-Roll, or Jimmy Rollins, certainly has the MVP numbers. Numbers, on a mega-cosmic scale, that no shortstop in baseball history has, in a single season, accumulated. Let's look at them to test our theory: - 716 at bats, a record--and proof that he didn't miss many games with an in-grown toenail
- a .296 batting average
- 212 hits
- 139 runs scored
- 38 doubles
- 20 triples
- 30 home runs
- 41 stolen bases
- .380 total bases
- .531 slugging percentage usually reserved for the Thomes and Howards of the game
- 94 RBIs--see reference above to larger, more powerful men
- the fourth player in ML history to have 20 or more doubles, triples, homers, and stolen bases in a season
- all the while, playing his shortstop defensively and statistically better than any shortstop in either league
 All measurable numbers that prove without a shadow of a doubt, that J-Roll is a great player. On the other side of the fence the baseball purists say "hogwash" to the statistical analysis of one J-Roll. This man, they claim, cannot be viewed in facts and figures, RBIs and slugging percentage, but only from the heart. This word makes the physicists uncomfortable. That can't be measured, they claim, how can one measure feelings from the heart. No, only mathematical equations and data can tell if J-Roll is truly an MVP. But that's where you are wrong, the Love purists say. Did you notice throughout the season when he made great play after great play at shortstop, bringing the Citizens Bank crowd to its feet? When he went deep in the hole behind second and flipped the ball back-handed to Utley to complete the double play; did you notice the roar of the crowd?  And how about when he hit one of his 20 triples--that you analyzed in your numbers--and he rounded second, his helmet flying off, digging all the way like his very life depended on making third. The headfirst slide, beating the baseball by inches. And the crowd going bananas all the while. Did you put that into your slide ruler? Don't tell me about your statistics, say the purists. Game after game during the season our J-Roll either set the table, or cleared it, either drove in the run, or scored it...with the type of hitting reserved for a player who is loved. He has been a Phillie from day one, while most players have been jumping from team to team like frogs leaping on a blistering hot pavement. In numbers or in the heart, he's just one damn good ball player.
[ full story] [ Comments (1)]
 (The children's comments are real, taken from memory, and usually followed by classroom laughter, including teacher laughter; "Oh how I loved to hear them laugh.")
Back when I was a teacher, like my Cuz, or a mentor of young, adolescent minds, take your pick, I'd always get the question: "Yo, why'd we got to study this crap?" At first, I'd explain it this way. If you know about and study what happened in history and understand it, then the chances are you can prevent it from happening again. To which the response was: "You mean somebody gonna dump that tea in the ocean again?"  So I thought a little about it and changed the direction of my answers to something like this: Studying history is getting to the truth. The truth about what really did happen and how it affects what we do today. Not only what we do but who we are. To which I got answers like: "Hell, they been lyin' all along about the stuff they been doin' and they still lyin' today. So how can you believe any of that crap?"
Okay, let's open our textbooks shall we?  Perhaps if we study what the Phillies administration did last year, we can truly look at what they need to do this year to improve the team. To start off today's discussion, let's examine both sides of the coin. If you listen to 610 radio in Philadelphia you get negativity generated toward Phillies GM Pat Gillick and field manager Charlie Manuel. The 610 bottom feeders say Gillick is "over the hill," and Manuel is "over matched" when it comes to game strategy. Yes. "Do we need to take notes on this? No, I want you to think about both sides of the coin. "What coin you talkin' 'bout? I don't see no coin."
However, when the vote was tallied for NL manager of the year, Charlie Manuel came in second. Plus, the Phillies rewarded Manuel with a new two year contract, and of course, you know he managed the club to the Eastern Division crown. The amazing part about that, say the pro-Manuel campers, is he did it despite major injuries throughout the season. Do you agree with that? Go ahead.
"Jamaar, he lookin' at me, he ugly so tell him to stop lookin' at me."
The bottom feeders say he got lucky and when it comes to managing the club day-to-day, he's outmaneuvered and doesn't have the brain power to make NL changes, i.e, double switches, etc. Tonight's homework will be to define a double switch.
So I ask you, where does the truth lie? Yes, Jerome? "Can I go to the boys room?" No, pay attention, this in important. "Ok fine, I'll go in my pants right here and it's your fault. You got a mop in that closet?"
They say Gillick is too old and is semi-retired and as a result neglected the bullpen last winter. Then when it became obvious that the bullpen was terrible--about 30 games into the season--he covered himself and moved Brett Myers there and brought in a bushel of wasted and washed up relievers headed by Generalissimo Mesa. He relied on Tom Gordon when everyone knew Gordon was going down before folks started for The Shore.
 Actually Gordon went down on May 3rd, several weeks before folks started for The Shore. Yes. "Sir, what's the shore?
Others say Gillick did the best he could with little or no bullpen help available on the open market, so he did a magnificent patch job with retreads like Mesa and Alfonseca and finding diamonds in the rough like J.C. Romero. He got the best out of Geary and Condrey; and if Ryan Madson hadn't been injured near the end of the season, the bullpen would have done quite well, thank you. How do you find the truth here? But the bottom feeders say Gillick brought in Jason Werth, Greg Dobbs and catcher Rod Barajas and sent a  dangerous, late-game hitting threat to Ottawa named Chris Coste, who didn't resurface until three-quarters of the way through the season and when he did, he promptly did what he did in ' 06 and that was hit hit the damn ball. Go ahead, your hand is up. "I think the truth is that Ebenezer cut the cheese again...can you send Ebenezer to the boys room, too?"
Speaking of Barajas, Gillick wasted good money not only on him but on Wes Helms too and both proved to be poor choices because they couldn't do what Coste did and that was hit the damn ball. Just think what the team could have done getting middle and back-end relievers with the millions wasted on Barajas and Helms?
But the pro-campers disagree: Hind-site is 20-20. They say sure, Gillick made mistakes on Helms and Barajas, but all GMs make mistakes. You win some and lose some. But look, they say, Dobbs and Werth turned out good, and look how quickly Gillick got Tadahito Iguchi when Chase Utley got hurt and how he found Kyle Lohse when the rotation sputtered.
 But then the bottom feeders just say two words: Garcia and Eaton.
Garcia, $10 million and one win-and-gone. Eaton, a three year contract for $24.5 million with a first year 6.29 ERA. Just when the Phillies needed him down the stretch he stunk and then was left off the post season roster.
The pro-campers? Other than 'stuff happens,' no comment. Look how many dead body mistakes Andy Reid has made. Can you say Freddie Mitchell? All right, what is it? "At my home we don't say 'stuff happens' we say...."
Okay, okay, Ayana, not here, please. Keep that to yourself.
So maybe the kids are right. Finding the truth can be difficult. Now we are being told that Aaron Rowand can go fly a kite--after we've watched promotion video after promotion video of him crashing into the center field fence--and our new third baseman is Dr. Cement Glove, Wes Helms, who can do everything Chris Coste can do but...you got it, hit the damn ball. We are being told there is only money left for pitching, not center filed or third base. Sound familiar?  Think maybe in May the club will be doing another emergency search for anybody or somebody who can stop a one-hop line drive to the right or left of Dr. Cement Glove? Or what about those of us who check the box scores everyday and see Rowand's name at the top of the list of leading hitters in the NL?
Do you think the Red Sox would be telling their fans: We are concentrating on pitching help and are not looking to strengthen position players.
Say what? Are you kidding me?
Yes, your hand is up, do you have a question? "Sir, if they was lyin' last year 'bout the bullpen, don't you think they be lyin' again this year 'bout other kind of stuff like who they gettin' to replace that guy who ran into the fence and messed up his face?"  Interesting point, Rahdeem. Obviously you are interested in receiving extra credit for classroom participation. "Yea, whatever."
Yes, go ahead, what do you want to say? "I want to say that when I get home I'm tellin' my mama that you usin' the curse word damn and you ain't lettin' Jerome go to the boy's room when he got to go."
Happy Thanksgiving! J-Roll MVP!
"Little darling...the smiles are returning to the faces." Thanksgiving Day song from the best group in the history of American music. Also from the Bee Movie. And yes I did see it.
A true Thanksgiving Day story from the heart. And since it's Thanksgiving, you might want some travel tips for the holiday. Then scroll all the way to the bottom to see the author.
[ full story] [ Comments (0)]
 I had a nice column prepared to send out this morning about what moves the Phillies should make to improve their team. Knowing that Phils GM Pat Gillick isn't sitting at his computer waiting for my advice, I decided to hold that one and go with Barry Bonds. The front page story about the charges filed against Bonds brought back memories to the summer when I sat just 10 rows from the field off home plate and watched him bat. First, his bulkiness looked odd, like he needed to diet. He looked puffy, quite unlike someone his age who was overweight. Sure, you see lots of overweight folks around today; most are flat-out fat. But Bonds looked as if someone stuck a bicycle pump needle in his butt and...pumped him up! His stroke was compact; like a signal in his brain set off a short, powerful and vicious swing that transformed the baseball into a bullet. I thought he had a hitting zone quite unlike most major league hitters. An area maybe the size of the strike zone or even smaller. If the pitcher made the mistake of putting the ball in his zone, the signal would ignite the swing, the same one that unleashed 762 home runs over the course of his career. Now, there may not be a 763.  Barry Bonds is not in trouble because he used steroids. He's in trouble because a grand jury in 2003 asked him if he used steroids and he said he did not. He said that he never used anabolic steroids or human growth hormone. Because of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the federal legal system has to--at least for certain cases--use a grand jury to bring about charges through what is called an indictment, which is a formal accusation of having committed a serious criminal offense or felony. By issuing subpoenas a grand jury studies information or evidence and decides whether or not a crime has been committed. Grand juries go back to the American Revolution, where colonial grand juries ran local government. Most grand jury duties back then was to decide on what roads to build or bridges to repair. But over the years grand juries stopped deciding on federal public projects and focused on federal crimes. A federal grand jury today--an impartial panel of ordinary citizens--is a form of checks and balances which prohibits a case going to trial on a single prosecutor's word. A little more than three months after Bonds broke Hank Aaron's home run record, this indictment came as a result of a four year grand jury study of steroid use not only by Bonds, but all top athletes, although Bonds was high on the study list. The Bonds' indictment says that the federal government can prove with a blood test that Bonds used steroids. If this is true, it is the first real evidence between Bonds and steroids. Because of this evidence, Bonds is being charged not for using steroids, but on five felony charges--four for perjury and one for obstruction of justice--for testifying before the grand jury in 2003.  The Bond's indictment is ten pages long and says it has evidence that Bonds did indeed use steroids. Many other athletes who were asked under oath by the 2003 grand jury, such as the Yankees' Jason Giambi, admitted steroid use and therefore have not been indicted. Olympic sprinter Marion Jones recently plead guilty to lying to the federal investigation. The thing is, Bonds should have admitted it. Giambi did and he's still playing. If Bonds would have come clean in 2003, I doubt if he would have received any more or less heat and criticism he has already received from baseball fans and non fans alike. Using steroids was not illegal in 2003. But lying to a grand jury is, was, and always will be. Anyone knows that, even the South Philly alley cats. Isn't that right, Buttermilk? See, I told you.
[ full story] [ Comments (2)]
 "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it
can never forget what they did here."Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, Gettysburg Address, November 19th, 1863
"Nothing I say will cause the fans to turn their opinion of me, but what we do will cause the fans to turn their opinion of us."
Neal Huntington, Pirates new General Manager, Pittsburgh Address, October 10, 2007
Let's say I own the Pittsburgh Pirates and you my dear friend are a long-time die-hard fan, who, when cut, bleeds yellow and black for your beloved Pirates and Steelers. Maybe you live in one of the fabled Pittsburgh neighborhoods such as Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, or with the well-to-do on Schenley Heights.
 Or maybe you live out in the shot-and-a-beer 'suburb' of Mt. Lebanon, where the Blue Devils football game with Upper St. Clair is a little sister to a Steelers' - Browns game.
Perhaps you teach or take notes at one of the finer bastions of education in Pittsburgh such as the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, or at Duquesne University, where first year basketball coach and Pittsburgh native Suzi McConnell-Serio--the pint size point guard with a five-gallon-drum-size heart and the pride and joy of Seton-LaSalle High School and the Nittany Lions, and U.S. gold medal winner in Seoul in ' 88; bronz medal winner in Bacelona in ' 92--leads the Lady Dukes on and off the court.
But no matter where you live or what you do, if you are a Pirates fan, life...is not good.
Your team hasn't had a winning season in 15 years. Meanwhile, the exodus of good ball players beginning in1992, when your skinny left fielder exercised his right as a free agent and you watched him surpass The Babe and Hammerin' Hank going yard, all the while mysteriously gaining weight and looking more like Shaq than Barry.
 But what do you expect? With a miserable payroll of $38.5 million, which, doled out, can afford you a few good ball players but way too many Double AA players in major league uniforms. And the good ones, as soon as they reach either arbitration or free agency, leave town faster than your steel mills which at one time turned day into night.
To rub salt into open wounds, the money I did have to attract free agents to Steel City I burned up on more dead body mistakes than the drug dealers had this year in the Hill District: A four year, $15 million extension to Pat Meares who hit .230 in 219 games-and-gone; and a two year, $9 million contract to Derek Bell who played only 46 futile games-and-gone. Ouch!
(If you want extra credit homework, Google Raul Mondesi and report back to me on what happened. I want a two page, word processed (double spaced) report entitled: 'Another Pirate Dead Body Mistake Goes Dominican Republic')
 Oh, and clueless draft picks, did I mention them? Too numerous to list all of them here so I'll just pick one: In 1999 I selected Bobby Bradley, a stiff you can add to a long list of Pirate pitchers who blew out their arms. Meanwhile, I passed over Barry Zito, Ben Sheets, Bret Myers, and Alexis Rios. Wait, I have to mention this one too: In the 2003 draft I let Lastings Milledge (left) go and selected Paul Maholm instead; another blown-out-arm pitcher. Sorry about that.
Which brings us around to the Pittsburgh Address.
Given all the failure for a baseball proud city--home to hundreds of great ball players: Clemente, Hoak, Face, Friend, Groat, Stargel, Wagner, Mazeroski, Traynor, Sanguillen, Van Slyke, Parker, Kiner, etc., etc. and etc.--what do I provide you for the ' 08 season?
- A club president that has never run a major league team or even worked for one.
- A general manager, Neil Huntington, who issued the famous Pittsburgh Address, see at top of page, and who has never been a general manager and wasn't even an assistant general manager.
- And a field manager, John Russell, who has never been a major league manager--in fact, I fired him as the Pirates third base coach two years ago because of his dismal success rate at getting Pirate runners home safely..."runner's outttttttttttt"--and last year managed the Phillies triple A Ottawa team to a 55--88 season. Wow. Impressive.
But you know what? Maybe, just maybe, this group of the blind leading the blind will stumble over each other and end their losing streak. By the way, if the Buccos do lose for the sixteenth season in a row, they tie a record held by...
The Phillies, of course!
(Remember the Pirates theme song for the championship year in 1979? Sister Sledge in We Are Family.)
If inner-city school districts try to change, it will cost big money won't it?
[ full story] [ Comments (0)]
|
