The thing about following one sport exclusively for a long time is that other things tend to get lost in the shuffle. For instance, last March as the Phillies were working out in Clearwater, Fla. before kicking off the 2008 season, every other sporting event in the city was seen from just a cursorily view. It’s not by plan. It’s just the way it is sometimes.

So when the Flyers and 76ers were making their late-season playoff runs as winter turned to spring, and March Madness was heating up the hardwood with Temple taking the Atlantic 10, baseball was the focus here.
But it wasn’t as if there was much going on with the local ballclub either. It was one of those proverbial calm-before-the-storm periods where all we did was talk.
Talk, as they say, is cheap. It don’t cost nothin’. But boy does it sure make things fun.
Cheap thrills as they also say.
In March the sideshow came from a couple of pitchers, namely Billy Wagner and Cole Hamels. In regard to Hamels, the not-yet named MVP of the NLCS and World Series mouthed off when the Phillies renewed his salary to a mere $500,000.
Yeah, chump change.
“I’m a little surprised,” Hamels said. “It’s about respect, and when people don’t show that to you, you’re caught off guard. I thought it was a low blow.
“I felt it wasn’t necessarily equal compensation for what I do and for what I can do. I have to follow the ladder of other guys, some who play every day, and I know I’m not in that category, but you want to feel like you’re getting equally compensated for what you do on the field compared to other people that are in the same league.”
But what Hamels didn’t realize at the time was that since Scott Boras was not his agent and he wasn’t J.D. Drew or Travis Lee, there was a salary structure that had to be followed for a player with not-quite two seasons in the league. Basically Hamels had to wait until this winter when he became eligible for arbitration for the first time and could really fight for the big bucks. In the meantime, he came off like a spoiled punk living in an alternate reality. Most folks wish they could be treated so shabbily that their employer only offered a half a mil.
The cool thing about Hamels, though, is that he gets it. Or, at least, he figures out things. He later realized that whining about making a fortune is ridiculous and admitted that he was a bit out of line.
He got it, yet in some sense he is actually evolved in that he recognizes the conservative nature and anachronisms in baseball and does what he can to change them. Notably, Hamels was the catalyst behind the Phillies relenting and hiring a cadre of chiropractors around the league so that players can visit for adjustments or active release treatments, which is a combination of deep-tissue massage, stretching and manipulation to alleviate problems with muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia and nerves. Again, chiropractic treatments are nothing new for athletes in other sports – it’s old news, in fact, and just part of the entire landscape. But in baseball, unless it’s a cortisone shot followed by a paper cup filled with beer, it’s considered innovation.
It wasn’t just the establishment that Hamels’ challenged, either. Most importantly, he pushed himself to pitch to a level he had never seen before and as a result, the post-season performances proved to be the cherry on top of a delicious sundae. See, Hamels had never made it through an entire season without an injury. Ever. Even in high school Hamels got hurt and missed time on the diamond so the fact that the lefty made 38 starts and pitched 262 1/3 innings is very significant.
Significant enough that come March of 2009 it’s doubtful we’ll ever hear Hamels complain about his salary again.
Wagner still throwing heat

Meanwhile, last March Wagner, well… was his old self.

Generally, there is rarely a dull moment when Billy Wagner is on your team. For a group that gets more mileage out of other people’s words than their actions, Wagner sometimes is a writers’ dream.
But at the same time he can also be a nightmare. Sometimes the hot air that blasts from his pie hole has nothing to do with anything, but because Wagner used to be one of the better closers in the game before injuries derailed him, even the craziest stuff he says generates headlines.
Pitching in New York with a penchant for opening his mouth? Forget it…
It was that way in Philadelphia, too. Sometimes, when there was nothing going on and there were no stories to be found anywhere, all a reporter had to do was grab a big stick and give ol’ Billy a couple of pokes and wait to see how long it took for him to growl.
Sometimes it didn’t even take a poke with a stick. For instance, during an exhibition game in Port St. Lucie against Michigan ol’ Wags threatened to start a bean ball battle with a college team because some undergrad kid had the audacity to attempt a bunt at a time that didn’t jibe with his delicate interpretation of some ancient baseball protocol.
“If he got that bunt down, I would have drilled the next guy,” Wagner said. “Play to win against Villanova.”
Wagner continued: “It’s hot and I’m just trying to work on some pitches, and they’re bunting like it’s the College World Series. Go do that against Villanova.”
Billy Wagner: The anti-Cole Hamels
The thing is the game against the Mets was as big as the College World Series to Michigan as well as all the other college teams playing one-shot exhibition games against big leaguers in spring training. When Florida State went to Bright House Field in Clearwater to play the Phillies last spring, it looked as if the kids’ eyes were going to bug out of their heads because they were so excited. Better yet, Phillies’ Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt went into the FSU clubhouse to talk to the team for a half hour before the Phils opened up their clubhouse so that the Seminoles could wander in and chat up the big leaguers.
But, you know, Wagner gets chapped by a bunt by a college kid.
Hey, it’s one thing to threaten a bean-ball battle against the Phillies in ‘08  and ’09 after they ate the Mets’ lunch so routinely the past two seasons. After the way the Mets strutted scoffed about the Phillies’ chances last season it’s understandable that the humble pie didn’t go down so smoothly.
But a college kid busting his rear in an attempt to impress a big-league scout or coach… come on. Maybe Wagner doesn’t remember being a Li’l Napoleon back at tiny Ferrum College where he played Division III baseball. I wonder if Wagner would have fired his big fastball at the Major Leaguers or if he would have deferred to them because they’re just trying to work on their swings?
My guess is Billy would have reared back to try to throw his heater through his catcher instead of saving it for Shenandoah University.
Talk, talk, talk…
So yes, we were talking all through last March. As the election primary season was dominating the news, ESPN’s Jeff Pearlman wrote about the perceived vapidity of pro athletes.
With the lights out its less dangerous
Here we are now
Entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious

Comment