Sweating it out on the South Lawn

WASHINGTON – The last time I was at The White House was Oct. 22, 1977 during the early days of the Carter Administration. The reason I know this was because my mom saved the tickets from the tour signed by President Carter (he signed his name, “Jimmy”). I was just a little fella back then and apparently I tripped my sister on the east portico and she fell on her face. I don’t remember that one or maybe I’m just blocking it.

Either way, The White House as it was in 1977 was very different from the visit I had with the press corps to watch the WFC Phillies be feted by President Barack Obama. For one thing no one nearly got killed during that trip in ’77 though there was that incident with my sister.

No, this time around the budding writing careers (as well as the lives) of a pair of baseball writers nearly came to an end at approximately 11:10 a.m. on Friday morning. That’s when David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News and Todd Zolecki of MLB.com, wandered into the West Wing…

Right past the Marine sentry…

Steps away from the Oval Office…

Where the President of the United States was receiving his daily economic briefing.

That’s when those two chuckle heads decided to take a private tour.

Actually, it was an honest mistake. It had to be, right? For those who have never traipsed past those wrought-iron gates and onto the White House grounds, it’s easy to see how someone could get confused. That’s especially the case with Murphy and Zolecki, two guys who are used to going wherever they want whenever they want. Access and credentials are something other people worry about – not those guys.

Anyway, the way it works is you say your name into an intercom at a gate on the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the complex closest to Lafayette Park. Once the guard at the other end of the speaker hears your name and finds it on the all-important “list,” you show a guard a government-issued identification and if it checks out, you are buzzed into the security shack.

That’s where you empty your pockets of everything and put the contents into one of those containers you get at airport security so they can run it through the X-ray machine. Then you walk through the metal detector. If you set off the detector, like I did, you get wanded down. That’s where they found that I left Chap Stick in one pocket and a pen in another to confirm that, yes, I am a jackass.

But not nearly as bad as the two guys that walked right past the Marine sentry as if they were in a hurry to get to a policy briefing.

So how could Murphy and Zolecki stumble within feet of the leader of the free world like a pair of children wandering around in the woods without a care in the world? Who sees the straightest laced Marine with the crisp dark suit, sparkling white pants with matching gloves (on a muggy, swampy D.C. day, no less) and thinks, “Yes, there’s a Marine sentry guarding a door of the White House. That’s where I should go.”

Who does that?

Murphy and Zolecki, that’s who.

To be fair, one can see how they made the mistake. Once a person is admitted to the White House grounds, they must walk up a long driveway past a bank of TV cameras set up for live shots before rounding a slight bend and squaring up with the entrance to the West Wing. Now there are two things to know about this entrance, one is if there is a man in a sharp Marine uniform standing at the door with a serious demeanor, which means the President is in the vicinity.

Or, as President Obama said to RNC chairman Michael Steele at the White House Correspondent’s dinner, “In the hizzy.”

Rule two is, if there no Marine, the President is not in the West Wing or the Oval Office.

But instead of following the path around a copse of trees and to an area marked, “Press,” and “White House Briefing Room,” ol’ Butch and Sundance walked straight beneath an awning and directly to the door where the Marine was stationed

Now get this… the Marine opened it for them. In fact, the Marine did everything but snap off a strong salute. After all, who walks into the West Wing if they don’t belong there?

A couple of baseball writers, that’s who. One from Milwaukee and another who has had brushes with the law in the past.

Here’s the most important part of the story – the two guys not only were nearly killed in cold blood by the Marine who held the door open for them once the subterfuge was discovered (as well as by various trained sharpshooters with the pair in their sights and simply waiting for the go-ahead to pull the trigger), but they also were literally steps away from the Oval Office and the President.

All they had to do was cut through the Roosevelt Room and stroll right into the Oval Office, or, they could have made the first left and then a right to find the way to the President.

That’s much too close.

Then again, we all got pretty close to the Oval Office when we were led through the Rose Garden to the South Lawn. It was quite a sight strolling out of the portico and looking to the right to see that same path where JFK and his brother Bobby conferred during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

But as soon as we exited the narrow pathway where some delicate roses separated us from the President of the United States, we made a quick right and were presented with the vastness of the South Lawn as well as a stunning view of the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial.

Looking out to the South Lawn immediately conjured the image of Nixon beating a hasty retreat aboard that helicopter as he was exiled from the White House after Watergate.

This was from the shadow of the Truman Balcony, which just so happens to be my favorite architectural facet of the exterior of the building. We stood facing this splendor as we waited for the Phillies and the President to make their appearance for a brief ceremony to honor the champs for a pretty big season.

Put it this way, it was definitely worth waking up early for.

Besides, it’s not every day you get to stand 10-feet away from the President of the United States as he walks over to Gary Matthews and says, “Yo, what’s up, Sarge,” and then gives him the hug.

The President and the Sarge from Mike Meech on Vimeo.

Yes, Sarge with the President was almost as good as watching Heckle and Jeckyl disrupt American governance.

Link swiped from The Fightins (who, in turn, swiped it from us at CSN)

Lunchtime ceremony with The President

We’ll be back from Washington, D.C. after the trip to The White House where President Barack Obama welcomes the World Champion Phillies for his first ceremony in his new job. If you want to watch the ceremony live, click here to view the stream from The White House web site. I’m sure it will be on CNN and MSNBC, too.

Apropos of nothing, Charlie Manuel once told us about being introduced to President Obama by Aaron Rowand when he was a senator.

So we’ll have all the color and pageantry live from The White House (check the twitter site for off-the-cuff live updates) and more here and on CSNPhilly.com afterwards.

Moreover, we’ll be at Nationals Park to write about the 16-16 Phillies as they take on the last place Nats. Maybe the Nats’ pitching staff will be the remedy for the Phillies’ quiet bats.

In that regard, I stumbled across an interesting note about the crazy Phillies offense… get this: the Phillies have lost three games in which the opposing starting pitcher did not record a strikeout. In one of those, last Thursday’s loss to the Mets at CitiField, the Phillies did not strikeout at all.

Check it out on the Baseball-Reference blog.

Friday pre-game fodder

WASHINGTON – Despite what the schedule reads, there is a lot of baseball remaining in the 2007 season for the Phillies. These final eight games of the year will undoubtedly feel like an eternity. Actually, the defining moment of the year will probably occur between now and Sept. 30. But before Friday night’s game against the Washington Nationals at RFK Stadium, manager Charlie Manuel took the time to reflect on the season so far.

“Basically what we’ve done this year is survive,” the skipper said.

“We have some of the best players in baseball, but we’ve had to fight to survive.”

With just nine games to go the Phillies have done much more than just survive. Despite a bevy of injuries to seemingly every player on the roster, including disabled-list stints for Brett Myers, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Cole Hamels, the Phillies entered Friday’s game just 1½ games behind the New York Mets for first place in the NL East. And if a run at the division title doesn’t work out, there is always the wild-card race in which the Phillies find themselves 2½ games behind the San Diego Padres.

Needless to say, the Phillies are really into the action around the league right now. In fact, after Thursday night’s come-from-behind victory over the Nats, the Phillies rushed back to the cozy visitors’ clubhouse at RFK to gather around the television set and watch the end of the Mets-Marlins action from Miami. Pat Burrell and Aaron Rowand helped rearrange the furniture in the tiny room so the entire team could get unobstructed views.

For a night, the visitors’ clubhouse at RFK Stadium was the best little sports bar in The District of Columbia. When Dan Uggla’s 10th inning hit won it for the Marlins, the clubhouse suddenly morphed into a scene right out of Animal House.

Manuel loved it.

“What was cool was that I didn't see anybody who wasn't interested,” Manuel said. “I've been around a long time, and sometimes there are guys who just don’t give damn about it. They'd get dressed and get the hell out of there. I wonder about that sometimes. (But) last night, everybody we had was around the TV.”

The Phillies were back around the TV set before Friday’s game, too. This time, instead of the matinee action from around the league, a dozen players or so were paying rapt attention to a DVD of Ken Burns’ documentary, Baseball. When the film came to the part in which the legendary Buck O’Neil described the sound of the ball crashing off the bat of Babe Ruth, Josh Gibson and Bo Jackson – a sound O’Neil says he never heard from any other player – shortstop Jimmy Rollins recited the lines in sync with O’Neil.

Then Rollins ad libbed some of his own lines.

“Buck didn’t live long enough to hear Ryan Howard,” Rollins stated. “Ryan has that sound, too.”

A few teammates nodded in agreement.

Clearly the Phillies want to make a little noise of their own during the final week of the season. Desperate to hear the sweet symphony of baseball in October seems much more apt.

“I just want to get in (to the playoffs),” Manuel said. “I've been here three years in a row. It seems like we just left here and here we are again. We have to cross that line. We had to fight and claw. I don't know what else to do.”

Win. Just win.

The ‘pen is mighty It’s interesting to note that the Phils are making their sprint for the finish line with big contributions as of late from a rejuvenated bullpen. Maligned for the entire season as being the team’s Achilles heel, the Phillies’ relieving corps has bailed out the starters after short outings in two of the last three games.

To follow up Tuesday’s 14-inning victory in which the relievers tossed 11 frames one-run ball, the ‘pen went seven scoreless innings last night against the Nats. Of course the memory of Monday night’s near debacle where the relievers almost coughed up an 11-run lead, but since then they have been pretty good. In the last three games the bullpen has allowed just two runs in 21 2/3 innings.

“Like last night, our starter (Kyle Lohse) goes two and they don't score off a bullpen that can give up runs,” Manuel said. “At times, it seems like we can't stop anybody and then we'll do pretty good.”

Truth be told, Manuel admits he is a little surprised by work out of the ‘pen.

“I’m surprised,” he said. “If you look at it based on the way we’ve played all year, winning six of seven has been hard for us. In order to (go on a winning streak) you have to be consistent, and sometimes we haven’t been consistent.”

Nevertheless, 21 2/3 innings is a lot of work in just three games – especially at this point of the season. Aside from a complete game from a starting pitcher, Manuel acknowledges that he will have to use other relievers in addition to his core group of go-to guys in Myers, Tom Gordon and J.C. Romero.

“We’re going to get into position where we’ll have to use guys like (Geoff) Geary and (J.D.) Durbin,” Manuel said.

Hail to the Chiefs A handful of Phillies were granted a special audience with President George W. Bush as well as a private tour of the White House on Friday morning.

Utley, Howard, Burrell, Hamels, Myers, Rollins, Manuel and director of team travel and clubhouse services Frank Coppenbarger met the President in the Oval Office before their special tour of the most famous residence on the earth.

“It's not as private as you would expect it to be,” Utley said. “There's a lot of people running around.”

Mostly, though, the players were awed by meeting the President and seeing the White House up close and personal.

“He knew who we were,” Utley said. “He seemed pretty informed about what was going on (in baseball).”

Said Hamels: “We didn't joke around. It's a situation that you just find yourself in awe of. (President Bush) appeared to be a normal guy… well, as normal as you can expect. He was really busy and that's a good thing. It's good to know the President is a very busy guy.”