Ryan Howard Had a Good First Day
As has been said many, many times, baseball is a game of numbers and when a team beats another team 14-10, there are going to be numerous numbers that come out of it. For those looking for some glimmer of hope, something to latch onto in regards to the new Phillies season, this was perhaps the best statistic of all:
If Freddy Galvis Were in “The Natural”
An elderly academic takes center-stage in front of the Phillies clubhouse and begins to speak.
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The Phillies Got Old and Never Got Young [They Just Got Michael and Delmon Young]
It’s time the Phillies got serious about finding younger talent.
In recent days, headlines regarding the Phillies have centered around the friction between Jimmy Rollins and manager Ryne Sandberg, the Phillies ineptitude to score runs in Grapefruit League play, and Ryan Howard attempting to rediscover his batting stroke. On top of that, an underlying theme for spring has been Sandberg’s attempts to find a balance between getting veterans the proper preparation in spring training while respecting his desire to save them for the regular season. And on top of that, the Phillies top-heavy starting rotation is becoming a bit lighter on top with each of Cole Hamels fits and starts to begin throwing regularly.
It’s easy to get caught up in all of this and argue about just how many games the Phillies are going to lose in 2014. (Some scouts are suggesting the Phillies might actually be worse than the Marlins. You know, the Marlins that had a payroll in 2013 that was around 21% the size of the Phillies payroll.) But really, arguing about how bad or really bad the Phillies are going to be in 2014 is the equivalent of fiddling –perhaps a funeral dirge– while Rome burns.
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Even In Retirement, Roy Halladay is Awesome
Here’s Roy Halladay, promoting a charity by taking a selfie, while flying an airplane.
Ruben Amaro’s Magic Kingdom
The Phillies are playing at Disney world today, which is appropriate, since Ruben Amaro Jr has to wish upon a star that everyone stays healthy in 2014.
A Tale of Two General Managers
Given the dynamic nature of the Philadelphia Eagles power structure in recent years, the jury is still deliberating on the effectiveness of Howie Roseman as the Eagles general manager. Having said that, I was struck by how Roseman considered Jeremy Maclin’s injury history [via Birds 24/7]:
“When you study the two ACLs, you see it in guys who have one that eventually they have another ACL injury at some point in time,” he said. “Sometimes it balances out guys and sometimes it’s just the nature of a freak injury. And so we went back then and looked at also ACLs in receivers that are 26 and under and looked at the research on those guys and where they came out next year, and it was all really positive. We put that together with our medical reports and we just felt like this was the right move for our football team.”
And then there is Ruben Amaro on the rash of shoulder injuries to Phillies’ pitchers early in spring training [via CSNPhilly]:
“Sometimes anatomy is just anatomy.”
Oh, the Irony
Quite a bit of irony that Marlon Byrd is wearing an Allen Iverson jersey at batting practice.
Out of Character Behavior for the Phillies
The Phillies have always been an organization that doesn’t like to ruffle any feathers within Major League Baseball. They haven’t been afraid to sign big contracts and acquire star players, but when it comes to playing nicely within the system of Major League Baseball, they are always content with the status quo. Continue reading →
Quick Reflexes
Shortly after my 6-year old daughter got in the front door from school, he heard Tom McCarthy’s voice coming from the television. She quickly whirled around and exclaimed, “Are the Phillies on?!?!?”
Maybe some of my genes are in there after all.
Will the Phillies’ Traditional Defense Hurt AJ Burnett?
Several days ago, there was an interesting article written by Anthony Castrovince at MLB.com entitled “Bucs defined by advanced defensive analysis“. The article detailed the process of the Pirates organization embracing the idea of shifting players around the diamond into non-traditional defensive alignments. The end result was that the Pirates finished eighth in all of baseball in defensive efficiency and third in baseball in defensive runs saved according to Baseball Info Solutions. The latter was a marked improvement and many around the team suggest that this was a large reason for the Pirates finishing with more wins than losses for the first time since Bonds and Bonilla were a thing. Continue reading →
Keeping the Phaith 