Soon!

Soon the Phillies will be headed back down to Spring Training and all will be good. Six days until baseball officially resumes. Is it just me or does this seem like the longest offseason ever?

It also sucked watching the Packers win the Superbowl last night. The only thing that would have sucked more is them not winning and watching the Steelers win their third Superbowl this decade. It just feels shitty because I think that it could have easily been the Eagles winning instead of the Packers. That one playoff game was so winnable that it's not even funny. I do wonder how far they could have gone had they not lost to Greenbay in the first game. I don't think Atlanta or Chicago were serious contenders so the road to the Superbowl wouldn't have been super tough. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. Next year they'll go all the way. If next year even happens. Also, other than the game, the whole day didn't feel like Superbowl Sunday. It just felt like another game. Christina Aguilera was trying to hit every pitch possible, and Fergie spent her entire performance trying to find one. The whole thing was dumb, because I'm one bitter bitch.

Peace, Love & Roy Halladay

A New Year and a New Promise....

I love blogging and writing, but for some reason I have a hard time keeping up with my blog. As evidence being that my last blog post was from July. So one of my (two) New Year's resolutions are to blog more and regularly update. I also have a hard time deciding what kind of blog I want it to be. At first, I thought that maybe I wanted it to be solely a sports blog, then I started just mainly writing about the Phillies. After a lot of thoughtful consideration I decided that I wanted it to be a blog about anything. I will just try to write about anything that I want to write about. So today, I wanted to talk about cigarettes.

My brother had left a couple of cigarettes in my car last week. When I found them, I accidentally broke one and left the other in my car. Today, I decided that I wanted to smoke my first ever cigarette so I did. I had a feeling of exhilaration and anticipation while I was driving back home. I had decided that I needed to smoke not in the house but right by the back of my house. The cigarette was a camel menthol and it wasn't all that bad. The taste it left in my mouth was one, awful and two, vile. I'm also pretty sure that I was doing it wrong. I think I was just smoking it in my mouth and not into my lungs, which seems to be the point. It wasn't great, but I was intrigued, so my new plan was to run down to Wawa and buy a pack.

I had a lot of thoughts running through my head. Well, first I was trying to convince myself that I wasn't already addicted; that seemed odd to me because I wasn't sure I was even doing it right. I went in and got a pack of Marlboro Lights 72's. I got home and grabbed a pack of matches. I smoked a couple and was completely grossed out. I kept coughing (which probably means it was going into my lungs) and I burned myself on my one finger. I have eighteen cigarettes left, two smelly hands, and one disgusting mouth. I don't get the appeal, I just don't. I now know that I don't want to smoke and it's not a mystery. I needed to do it to know that I didn't want to in the first place. The smell alone would be enough for me to quit, if I actually enjoyed it in the first place. So in the end, lesson learned and $6.44 poorer.

Peace, Love, and Cliff Lee

Four Series, A Not-Going-To-Happen Road Trip, and the All-Star Game

Phillies@Cinncinati: They lost the first game 7-3 and won the second one 9-6 in 10 innings after Brad Lidge blew the save in the 9th (still love you!). The third game should have been theirs easily with Roy Halladay starting and facing Aaron Harang. Dane Sardinha hit a 3-run homer in the 4th inning but that would be all the scoring they would do. Roy Halladay was bending but not breaking up and til the 8th inning when Jay Bruce hit a 2-run homerun off of Halladay to give the Reds a 4-3 lead and series win as the Phillies went down relatively quiet in the 9th. YUCK.

Phillies@Pittsburgh: They just do not play well at PNC Park. It's the mystery of life or maybe just frustrating. Well they lost the first two games of the series and won the third easily behind Kyle Kendrick's first major league complete start (final score: 12-4). In the finale, which was also the 4th of July, Joe Blanton started to waver in the bottom of the 7th, which began with a 5-2 Phils lead. He allowed a homerun to start the inning, and then a single, followed by a double, then a strikeout, and finally a bullpen implosion. The inning began with a 5-2 lead and ended with a 5-8 deficit. It was another awful series that saw them go 2-5 on the entire road trip.

Phillies vs. Atlanta: The homestand began with a series against the division-leading Braves. That sounded gross just to type out. Anyway, they started out 5 games out heading into a 3-game series. Roy Halladay allowed a solo homerun to Chipper Jones in the 1st but shut them down for the rest of the game (CG) on just 93 pitches. The big hit offensively came in the 6th when Greg Dobbs hit a 2-run homerun to put them ahead for good. I *swoon* for Roy. The second and third games were winnable but it just didn't happen. A loss in extra innings and a 6th inning collapse from Jamie Moyer saw the Phillies fall to 6 games back instead of a possible 2 or 4. It started out so promising, too.

Phillies vs. Cincinnati: A 4-game series and the last one before the All-Star break. The 1st game went into extra innings after a blown save by Brad Lidge. Brian Schneider hit a solo/walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 12th to salvage the game. There was also an incident with Jayson Werth and a fan. A foul ball was hit in the air and a fan caught it. What he probably didn't know was that Jayson Werth likely had a play on it and it would have ended the inning. Well Jayson wasn't too happy and yelled at the guy and started throwing f-bombs even as he was walking away. I won't make this into a big crusade, but I think Werth is the wrong. The guy didn't reach out to catch the ball and his first instinct was probably to catch the ball coming towards him. Jayson sort of apologized the next day, but not really. He's only upset that there was backlash. That play also wasn't too big of a deal since the batter at the plate grounded out on the next pitch. Hindsight is 20/20, I know, but being a "big-time" player gives Jayson Werth no right to be an asshole to the fans paying to see him and the rest of the team play. Even worse was that the guy had his son with him and he looked terrified.

The second game was awesome. I feel ashamed for saying this, but after seeing the Phils fall behind 7-1 after 8 1/2 innings I left my room. I was in the kitchen talking to my hos and checked my phone after a bit to check the final score. It was the best feeling to see the score flash 7-7! A comeback of epic proportions that I didn't get to see. I did however see Ryan Howard's walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 10th after a Raul Ibanez double.

The third game was horrendous and quite gratifying as well. Roy Halladay was awesome yet again. He went 9 innings allowing 5 hits, striking out 9, walking 1, and allowing no runs. Unfortunately for Roy, the Phillies were being perfect-gamed by some guy named Travis Wood that was only making his third career start. Well also unfortunately for him, we have a guy named Chooch. He returned from the DL after the concussion and led off the 9th with a double. He broke up the perfect game, the no-hitter, but not the shutout and was left stranded at third. They eventually won it in the 11th when Chooch doubled and Jimmy Rollins singled him in for a 1-0 win. The Phils had, I think 2 walk-off wins this year before this series and now they have 3 in this series alone.

The final game saw Cole Hamels be the dominant pitcher we all saw in 2008. He went 7 2/3 innings, allowing no runs, and striking out 3. The lone run for the Phillies came in the 3rd inning on wait for it...a Ruiz double and a Jimmy Rollins single. JC Romero started the 9th inning and after getting the first out, Charlie signaled for Brad Lidge. I heard boos from the crowd and so did Brad Lidge and Charlie. Well, Brad struck out the first batter he faced and then got Miguel Cairo to pop out to 1st base on the first pitch.

I'll let Charlie do the talking on this one:

I hear the boos. They don't bother me. I have no problem with that. ... If I'm not mistaken, I heard them all cheering there at the end. I might not be too smart, but my ears are still good.

Brad Lidge's turn:

These fans have been great for me. If they weren't thrilled today, well, we'll give them something to be thrilled about in the second half.

I hope so.

The All-star game started with the homerun derby that sucked. The All-star itself was great, even if Roy Halladay and Ryan Howard didn't really have an impact one way or the other on the game. The NL had dominate pitching and the only run that the American League scored was unearned. Brian McCann hit a bases loaded double that cleared the bases and gave the NL the lead for good. He won MVP and gave the Phillies homefield advantage in the World Series. Thanks, Brian!

Last thing, I wanted to talk about is my road trip to St. Louis that just isn't going to happen. I was planning on leaving tomorrow (Sunday), arriving Monday, staying for games 2 and 3 and leaving Thursday morning. I talked to my Mom and Dad and they basically shut me down. I also wasn't going by myself, I was going with my sister. St. Louis is a little less than 1000 miles from where I live, and yes it may be dangerous, but I want to go! A lot of things are dangerous, doesn't mean you shouldn't do them. They would have let me go if I flew there, but that's also $400 that I don't have. Boo. Instead of St, Louis (which I will try to do next year) I've decided to go to the series against Washington at the end of the month. This sucks.

Golden Girls Quote:
Sophia: What's with Satan's Secretary?
Blanche: Sophia, I believe Phil would have liked this dress.
Sophia: Liked it? He would've looked great in it. Dorothy, I never understood why your brother liked to wear women's clothes, unless he was queer.
Blanche: Sophia, people don't say "Queer" anymore, they say "Gay."
Sophia: They say "Gay" if a guy can sing the entire score of Gigi. But a six-foot-three, 200-pound married man with kids who likes to dress up like Dorothy Lamour, I think you have to go with "Queer."

Newish Format/Phillies vs. Twins, Phillies vs. Indians, Phillies @BlueJays

I'm no longer going to do recaps of every game of every series. It'll be more of a general recap of the entire series. Most of us have probably watched the games and know what happened. The Phils have played three series since the Yankees, so I'll do quick recaps of those now. I'll of course still do the Golden Girls thing.

Phillies vs. Twins: The series started out so promising. They won the first game pretty convincingly. They jumped out to an 8-0 lead that ended in a 9-5 game. The next game was all similar. After Cole Hamels gave up 3 runs in the 1st the offense got it all back in the bottom half of the inning. They scored 5 more in the second inning. The score going into the 9th inning was 9-4. It seems like something the bullpen would be able to handle. The bullpen imploded in the 9th and then in extra innings. No need to relive it. I just hate Danys Baez. YUCK! Roy Halladay was pitching the series finale against Carl Pavano, who by the way is rocking a serious molestache. Roy went 8 innings and gave up 4 runs (3 earned) but the offense could do nothing other than a Wilson Valdez solo homerun. It looked like a series they were going to sweep after 2 games with Halladay pitching the finale, and they ended up losing 2 of 3. Awful, really just awful. To add insult to injury, Chooch left the first game to end the 8th after getting hit in the head with the barrel of a broken bat.

Phillies vs. Indians: This series had a little bit of everything for the Phillies and featured the return of Jimmy Rollins, but Chooch going on the DL. They won the first game in a close affair. Jamie Moyer once again pitched fabulously. Always seems to amaze. The Phils lead 2-1 going into the 9th, Charlie Manuel had gotten ejected earlier in the game but was still calling the shots. He had JC start the inning. He got the first out and then allowed an infield hit followed by a walk. Brad Lidge came in and closed the game out by striking out the 2 batters he faced. The second game was back and forth all night and Jimmy Rollins had the final say. Trailing 6-5, with 1 guy on and 1 out, Jimmy Rollins who up to that point had been 0-4, belted a 1-1 pitch from Kerry Wood for his first ever walk-off homerun. I can't say it enough, but Jimmy Rollins just makes everything feel better, and right. As with the trend this year, with the good comes the bad. Chad Durbin had some kind of hamstring pull and was placed on the 15-day DL. The 3rd game was easy and breezy. They scored 5 in the 2nd and 5 in the 6th. Joe Blanton pitched well with a lead and swept the Indians. I think it was their first sweep since I think the Brewers way back when.

Phillies@BlueJays (but not really): Went to game 1 and it was awesome and really hot when I got there. It was the series that was relocated to Philadelphia, but Toronto would be the home team by wearing the home whites and batting in the bottom half of all the innings. As luck would have it, Roy Halladay pitched the first night against his former team and he was incredible. He went 7 innings, didn't allow any runs, struck out 4 and walked only 1. He got all the support he needed from the offense, which featured the dreadful DH. Ross Gload started at 1st and Ryan Howard DHed. It was a 9-0 beating. The 2nd game came and went. It goes along the lines of, the BlueJays hit a lot of homeruns. Cole Hamels gives up a lot of homeruns. Every now and then, the offense gets shutdown. Seriously, this game felt like it almost didn't happen. The series finale had Jamie Moyer once again unbelievable. He went 7 innings, allowed 2 ER, struck out 7, and walked none. The offense scored 11 off of good at-bats and slob kabob BlueJays defense. They committed 4 errors and allowed 6 UNearned runs. Jamie Moyer also reached two milestones. He allowed his 506th homerun to Vernon Wells to make number one on that list and he became the 40th pitcher to pitch 4,000 innings--12,000 outs.

The Phillies have won 3 out of the last 4 series and the offense has seemingly gotten back on track while the pitching has held up. Parts of the Twins series being the exception. The Phils are off to Cincinnati for 3 games and then Pittsburgh for 4. I forgot to mention how Roy Halladay was basically letting his boner for Chase Utley show when doing a media session on Saturday. He called him "the Derek Jeter of the National League." He said more, so I'll just quote him directly:

Chase is obviously the driving force behind this team. He'll never admit it, but his preparation and desire is second to none. You combine that with other guys who have it and a lot of that starts rubbing off. He's a special player. I don't know how you'd ever teach that or if it's just something you're just born with. You get one guy like that, a couple guys that are pretty good around him, and a lot of that carries over.

Golden Girls Quote of the Day:
Merrill: I want Blanche.
Sophia: Break out the finger sandwiches Mr. Astaire looks hungry.
Merrill: [To Dorothy] Are you Blanche?
Dorothy: No!
Merrill: [To Sophia] How about you cutie?
Sophia: Boy this guys done hard time.

Phillies@Yankees

Game 1: Roy Halladay has great career numbers against the Yankees. It seemed like he would the perfect one to open up this series in a rematch of the 2009 WS. The Phillies were facing a familiar foe in CC Sabathia. Yeah, Halladay got roughed up and by roughed up I mean he gave a 2-run broken bat homerun to Nick Swisher and a first row homerun to left field to Mark Teixeira. I don't want to sound lie a whiner, because I know CBP has it's share of cheap homers (see Jayson Werth against Padres' Garland), but Mark Teixeira's homerun is a flyout at the Bank. That's all I'm saying. In all he gave up 6 ER in 6 innings while striking out 5 and walking 2. The offense scored 3 runs in the 4th inning against CC and that would be it for them for the night. Antonio Bastardo gave up 2 runs to seal the victory for the Yankees. Bad start to this series. Yankees 8-3

Game 2: I mentioned this on twitter after Moyer's last start against the Red Sox and I still stand by it but I also give Jamie Moyer all the credit in the world. He was fabulous. He was sensational. He was masterful. He was all of the above. I do feel that everytime he pitches badly, people will worry that he's too old and all that nonsense. Against a potent Yankees offense, he held them to 3 hits and 2 runs in 8 innings. He kept them off balanced and he got a lot of groundballs, which is a good thing when pitching in new Yankee Stadium. The offense got to A.J. Burnett early. They scored 4 in the 2nd inning with the big blow being a triple by Shane Victorino with the bases loaded. They scored 2 in the 4th inning when back-to-back solo homeruns from Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth. That would be all the scoring and all that Jamie Moyer would need. Brad Lidge pitched the 9th inning in a 4-run game. He did allow one run but he struck out 3, which was good to see. Solid win. Phils 6-3

Game 3: In the finale of a series and the "rubber match" Kyle Kendrick wouldn't be the guy I'd want out there, except on this night he was. He shut down the Yankees and allowed just 1 run in 7 strong innings. He got out of the inning on a spectacular catch from Placido Polanco. The offense went down in order through the first 3 innings but an error by the Yankees allowed them to take a 1-0 lead on a Ryan Howard single. They would extend the lead in the next inning because of a Shane Victorino 2-run shot. It stayed that way until Kendrick got into some trouble in the 6th. He retired the first 2 batters of the inning. He then allowed a walk, a single and a single to put the Yankees on the board and cut the deficit to 2. That's when Polly made the aforementioned catch on the tarp to get Kendrick out of any more trouble. Jose Contreras pitched the 8th and made an unbelievable behind the back catch on a ball hit by Curtis Granderson. The offense in the 9th was swoon-worthy. Against Joba Chamberlain they scored 3 runs--2 came on sac flys, and another on a 2-out RBI double by Raul Ibanez. It made a close game, a bloodbath and a sigh of relief. It was good to win a series against a good team like the Yankees and even better after seeing Roy Halladay lose the first game. Phils 7-1

This is not how I imagined the series unfolding, but I'll definitely take it. I would never have guessed that Jamie Moyer and Kyle would shut down the Yankees on consecutive nights. Everyone wants to say that the Phils are back, but I just think we have to let the games play out before we crown them World Series champions or "out of it" in June. Things are obviously clicking right now so I am cautiously optimistic. It's good to see them win this series especially after dropping the first one, but they're still 3.5 behind the Braves and 3 behind the Mets. More wins, please!

Golden Girls Quote of the Day:
Rose: We really enjoyed your lecture on modern sculpture.
Laszlo: I didn't think anyone was paying attention.
Rose: Oh, we sure were, especially Dorothy. She even talked about taking up sculpting.
Laszlo: Really?
Dorothy: [laughing] Oh no, I didn't.
Rose: Yes you did! You said you'd like to help him mold his clay or buff his marble anytime!
Dorothy: Rose is such a kidder!

Phillies@RedSox

Game 1: The game was over before it even started. The Phillies didn't score in the 1st and the RedSox made the bottom half of the first hurt. They scored 5 on 3 doubles and a homerun. They scored 4 in the 2nd and 3 in the 3rd. It was painful. The offense scored 2 runs but it was in vain. Jamie Moyer didn't make it out of the 2nd inning. RedSox 12-2

Game 2: More of the same except a little bit different. The Phillies actually took an early 2-0 lead on a Brian Schneider double. It went downhill from there. Joe Blanton gave up a solo homerun in the bottom the 2nd and a grandslam shortly thereafter to completely obliterate any lead he had been given. Sarge says that after your offense scores it's important to have the shutdown inning right after. Joe Blanton has not gotten that message. The Sox would pile it on and the offense wouldn't score again. Red Sox 10-2

Game 3: Cole Hamels has been consistent. Were it not for all the losing and offense woes his resurgent 2010 would be getting more headlines. He pitched well earlier this season against Boston and he pitched the series finale to salvage one game. He was incredible. He went 7 innings and only allowed 1 run (solo homerun). He danced into trouble and always managed to get out of it. The offense came to life against Tim Wakefield. They really only got to him in 1 inning (the 4th) but it was all they would need. They scored 4 and the big blow came on a Raul Ibanez 2-run homerun. It got dicey and incredibly uncomfortable in the 9th when David Ortiz lead off the inning with a double off JC Romero. He went over to 3rd after JD Drew flied out. He scored on a wild pitch and after JC walked the next guy he was pulled from the game in favor of Brad Lidge. He allowed an RBI single after the runner went to 2nd on defensive indifference. He got a strikeout and a popup to end the threat. Jayson Werth also seemed to come to life a little bit in this series with 4 hits and an RBI. He had some good, long at-bats reminiscent of his earlier season ABs. It was a good, solid win. More please! Phils 5-3

Golden Girls Quote of the Day:
Sophia: You think that since Mary went out and got herself pregnant she's a slut. Well let me tell ya what a slut is. A slut is a girl who gets knocked up in the back of a Studebaker. It was a Studebaker, right Dorothy?
Dorothy: It was a Nash, Ma.

Sophia: Now that's a slut.

Phillies vs. Marlins

Game 1:It felt like 2008/2009. They got down 4-0 and came back to make it 4-3. They then got down 6-3 and came back to tie it at 6-6. They actually took a lead and made it 7-6. Chad Durbin got into some trouble and allowed the Marlins to tie it at 7. Jose Contreras allowed the go-ahead run when Ben Fransisco misplayed a ball and allowed Wes Helms to triple in a runner on a 2nd. He (Ben) would atone for his atrociousness by hitting a 2-run single in the 8th and putting the Phils up 8-7. Wilson Valdez hit an infield single with a runner on 3rd to give Brad Lidge a 2-run cushion. He gave up a leadoff single to Hanley Ramirez but then proceeded to strike out (swinging) Cantu and Uggla. A walk to Cody Ross and in an infield single to newly called-up Mike Stanton loaded the bases for Ronny Paulino. He popped near 1st base and Chase Utley caught it to end the game and seal the victory. A comeback win and 10 runs felt good. Kyle Kendrick, he's just too much of a question mark to rely on for the rest of the season. When J.A. Happ returns, I think it will be his turn to exit stage right. Phils 10-8

Game 2: Ppd. due to rain

Game 3 (actually game 2?): Roy Halladay loaded the bases in the 1st inning with no outs and only allowed 1 run on a sac fly to right. He went 8 innings and only gave up at 1 run. The offense got nothing off of Josh Johnson or their closer Nunez. Danys Baez gave up a solo homerun to Dan Uggla to make it 2-0 going into the 9th. Ryan Howard struck out with Polanco on 3rd and 2 outs to end the game. Blah. YUCK. I'm not saying Josh Johnson isn't good but this offense is looking really pathetic right now. Fish 2-0.

Golden Girls Quote of the Day:
Blanche: Rose, I'm sorry, I just don't feel comfortable having you work for me.
Sophia: I do. You wanna be my servant, Rose?
Rose: Blanche, I'm not talking about big things. I'm talking about little things, like doing your laundry.
Sophia: My laundry's more fun, Rose.
Rose: It's the only way I'll feel better about losing your earrings.
Sophia: Ever see panties from the '20's, Rose? They got pockets!