At this point, writing about Ryan Howard's cluelessness at the plate or Brett Myers' mental meltdowns on the mound is nothing more than piling on. Plus, the last thing that a guy struggling through bad funk really wants to hear is more advice from a bunch of people who think they have the answer to everything.
So rather than pick at the scab of the Phillies' offense and pitching rotation with over-analysis, pretentiousness and general blathering on, we'll focus our attention on something else. But before we move on, try these out:
Hey Ryan, listen to Charlie. When it comes to hitting he knows what he is talking about. And Brett, just pitch, dude. Instead of becoming the real-life embodiment of Nuke LaLoosh (the similarities really are quite uncanny, though Nuke never got arrested), take the advice of Crash Davis and just pitch.
Better yet, don't think - you'll only hurt the ballclub.
Apropos of nothing, Pat Burrell averages 4.2 pitches per plate appearance this season. That's the lowest number of pitches per plate appearance he's faced since the 2003 season. However, during the break-out 2002 season in which he slugged 37 homers and had 116 RBIs, faced just 4.09 pitches per at bat.
Does this stat mean anything? Who knows. I just thought I'd throw it out there.
Anyway, one of my most favorite stories I've read during the past few months was the Esquire article by Susan Casey about a 75-year-old badass named Don Wildman. Casey describes Wildman as the Chuck Yeager of fitness, which is apt. Wildman is exactly the way I want to be if I ever make it to 75.
Check it out: The World's Healthiest 75-Year-Old Man
Here's how Wildman spent his 75th year.
I was going to write about horse racing, hockey and things like that, but instead I'll just drop the link for the Wildman story. Meanwhile, I'm hitting the road for a few days so all the fun will return on Tuesday in time for the Phillies-Braves and Flyers-Penguins. You know... we'll chat then.