WASHINGTON—Initially I came down here to The District to write about baseball, but that all kind of took a back seat as soon as I exited 295 and drove over the bridge crossing the Anacostia. Since then it’s been pretty much all Donovan all the time.
But that’s over now. We’ll pick it back up next September when the Redskins and Eagles face off. It’s sure to be a mind-numbingly tiresome huge deal even though Donovan says playing against the Eagles won’t be any different than going against the Giants or Cowboys.
Yeah, right.
So baseball… the Phillies opened up the season on Monday at Nationals Park and it went quite well. Roy Halladay pitched well and Placido Polanco hit a grand slam and got six RBIs in the 11-1 victory. The President of the United States also showed up, which no matter how many times you see it is always cool.
All in all it was a pretty good day.
But to be fair, it was the Nationals, a team that has a pretty decent lineup but paper-thin pitching. With 18 games a season against Washington, the Phillies should do quite well in padding their stats.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t so much the number of runs the Phillies scored in Monday’s opener as it was the way they were scored. They came like a bolt of lightning and in all sorts of unique ways. Sure, there were two homers that accounted for six of the runs (Ryan Howard hit a two-run BOMB in the five-run fourth), but before Polanco’s slam put the cherry on top there was plenty of manufacturing out there.
For instance, the Phillies scored runs on a sacrifice fly, and a swinging bunt from Halladay. They drew walks and made the Nats pay for them, got a RBI triple from Jimmy Rollins, and even scored a pair of runs on the old-fashioned single with a man on base.
Sure, the Phillies stranded 11 runners, but a 5-for-14 with runners in scoring position is nothing to scoff at.
“Philly is a tough team to stop once they get the momentum,” said losing pitcher John Lannan of his run-in with the hitters, Monday. “The momentum kept on going, and I couldn't stop it.”
Momentum, as grizzly old baseball guys like to say, is only as good as the next day’s pitcher. For the Phillies that is Cole Hamels on Wednesday night and Kyle Kendrick on Thursday afternoon. Joe Blanton, the regular No. 3 man, is on the DL and 47-year old Jamie Moyer, who spent the off-season having surgery, is the fifth guy.
Lefty J.A. Happ is wedged between Kendrick and Moyer and is starting his second full season in the Majors. Who knows if the hitters have figured him out yet?
Then there is a team’s bullpen that needs some reinforcements with Brad Lidge and J.C. Romero on the shelf. Yes, there are some question marks.
Still, with 18 games scheduled against the Nats and 34 starts penciled in for Halladay, the Phillies have no excuses if they don’t win the NL East for a fourth straight season. In fact, we’re going to ahead and predict that right now.
Here’s how it will shake out without any annoying analysis from some know-it-all.
NL East
Phillies
Braves
Marlins
Mets
Nationals
NL Central
Cardinals
Brewers
Cubs
Reds
Astros
Pirates
NL West
Rockies
Giants
Diamondbacks
Dodgers
Padres
NLDS
Phillies beat Rockies
Cardinals beat Braves
NLCS
Phillies beat Cardinals
MVP: Pedro Martinez
We’ll just leave it at that for the time being. Sure, there’s an American League and all, but it takes way too long to watch those games. It’s a little ridiculous how long it takes those games to complete. But instead of leaving you in the lurch, just go ahead and pick one of the AL East teams (as long as it’s not Baltimore or Toronto) to go to the World Series.