Just Manny being Rickey

WASHINGTON – I have Brad Lidge fatigue. No, I’m not tired of Brad Lidge. In fact, he’s a great dude. He’s nice, polite, personable, Thoughtful, funny and smart. Generally, those aren’t the best qualities for a closer, but it seemed to work out pretty well last year. Hey, Lidge might be the only ballplayer in history to pursue an advanced degree in biblical archaeology. Think he and Brett Myers are sitting around discussing that?

Anyway, I have Lidge fatigue because I’m tired of writing about closers, the ninth inning and saves. Lately, it seems like that’s all we do. Charlie Manuel is tired of being asked about it, too, but frankly it’s the news. In the news business, one tends to focus on those types of things.

And apropos of that, I asked Charlie if he’d consider allowing a pitcher to go more than one inning to nail down a save because he labeled himself a “throwback guy.” The answer, of course, was no because with a bullpen thinned out by injuries and Lidge’s struggles. Remember the stretch run in September of 2007 when Manuel rode J.C. Romero, Tom Gordon and Brett Myers? If it seemed as if those guys pitched every game in the rush to take the NL East from the Mets it was because they did… practically.

Myers pitched 16 games that September, Gordon pitched 18, and Romero got into 20 games.

Fortunately for Manuel, he has a better starting staff this year so he won’t have to reprise that tact with Myers, Ryan Madson and perhaps Chan Ho Park until Lidge gets it together.

Regardless, the closer/Lidge issues are just filling the time until we start diving the fight for home-field advantage in the NLDS. As it stands now, the Phillies would go to Los Angeles for the first two games of the opening playoffs series while St. Louis would host Colorado. If the Phillies survive that scenario, they would host Colorado but travel to St. Louis for the NLCS opener.

Of course there are still 24 games to go and the Dodgers’ starting pitchers are struggling. Undoubtedly the Phillies would not want to trade their Lidge problems for ones with a starter.

Anyway, to put the Lidge (and playoff seeding) chatter on hold for a bit, I picked up a funny little blog post sent from a friend about the Dodgers, Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome.

Apparently, according to the post, Manny has no idea who Jim Thome is. Never mind the fact that Thome and Manny were teammates for 10 years in Cleveland.

Conjuring the famous and debunked story about Rickey Henderson and John Olerud in which Rickey was said to explain to Olerud when both players were on the Mariners that he once was teammates with a guy who wore a helmet in the field with the Mets.

“Yeah, that was me, Rickey,” Olerud said in the myth.

So now we have Manny, who according to the author of Diamond Hoggers, just couldn’t figure out who the hell some guy named Jim Thome was.

To wit:

This comes from a guy we know who works in the Dodgers organization. He wrote us an e-mail because he thought the story would please us. He was right.

Hey fellas,Hope all is well. Had a story for you that you might find kind of funny and that might go well on your site. Just leave my name out of it. So here goes:Alright so we all know that Jim Thome was traded to the Dodgers at the end of August, reuniting him with Ramirez after all those years in Cleveland. That's all fine and dandy and all, but get this..... hours before the trade is made official news to the media one of the clubhouse coaches goes over to Manny and says "hey we're bringing Jim Thome back here to play with you". Ramirez looks at him, stares off into the distance for a few minutes. Our coach starts to realize that either Manny isn't happy or he's got no fucking clue what is going on. Our coach couldn't believe it was that though, since they played together for almost 10 years in Cleveland. Finally our coach says "Manny aren't you happy about Jim coming to LA?"Ramirez looks him dead in the eye and says "I've never played with anyone named Jim." Gets up, and walks away. No [bleep]. Our coach left it at that.

Wonder if that coach is a certain ex-Phillies manager?

Nevertheless, add this to the absent-minded legend that is Manny Ramirez. Or add it to the pile of Manny stories that Manuel likes to tell from their days in the Indians’ organization. Apparently, it wasn’t uncommon for Manny to show up at the ballpark with no money to pay for a taxi, no suitcase for a road trip or equipment.

Call him Manny Gump – the baseball hitting savant.

Or just call this episode a case of Manny being Rickey.

2006 NL Awards

The BBWAA awards ballots have to be in when the regular season ends, so for fun, here’s who I would have voted for in all of the categories:

Rookie of the Year (top 3 in order)
1.) Ryan Zimmerman, Washington
2.) Hanley Ramirez, Florida
3.) Dan Uggla, Florida

Manager of the Year (top three in order)
1.) Joe Girardi, Florida
2.) Willie Randolph, New York
3.) Charlie Manuel, Philadelphia

Cy Young Award (top three in order)
1.) Brandon Webb, Arizona
2.) Trevor Hoffman, San Diego
3.) Carlos Zambrano, Chicago

Most Valuable Player (top 10 in order)
1.) Albert Pujols, St. Louis
2.) Ryan Howard, Philadelphia
3.) Lance Berkman, Houston
4.) Alfonso Soriano, Washington
5.) Miguel Cabrera, Florida
6.) Jose Reyes, New York
7.) Jason Bay, Pittsburgh
8.) Aramis Ramirez, Chicago
9.) Chase Utley, Philadelphia
10.) Carlos Beltran, New York

Tobacco? In baseball?

Lance Armstrong is preparing to run the NYC Marathon (more on that at a later date) so it only makes sense that the seven-time Tour de France champ sits down with an interviewer from Runner's World, right? In a Q&A posted on the Runner's World web site, Armstrong discussed his training (or lack thereof) and the differences between cycling and running (one uses a bike) during the short interview.

But particularly interesting and funny was the answer to the requiste drug/doping question. It seems as if Armstrong wonders why ballplayers need to take performance-enhancing drugs when there's all that spitting going on. Here's the question and the answer:

Runner's World: What are your thoughts about Barry Bonds?
Lance Armstrong: I have to say I understand what he's going through. I think there's probably more of an association just because of the BALCO stuff and the grand jury testimony. Barry is more - it seems from the outside - he's a tough character. He's not gone out of his way to try to fix the situation or make friends there. But I don't really follow baseball. Mostly because I don't understand it. If you can do tobacco and play the sport, then it's technically probably not a sport.

To read the full interview, click here.

As an aside, I don't believe for a minute that Armstrong is merely running and trying to finish the Nov. 5 race "within an hour of the winner." I think he's understating his training in these interviews and is training his rear off.

I'm not basing this on anything, and I certainly could be wrong. All I know is that people like Armstrong like to win.

Chase Utley!

That's right... are there any questions about Chase Utley's fire after watching the second inning of the Phillies' game against the Nationals on Saturday night? Is it any wonder why so many people like watching him play?

For those who missed it, Utley bounded out of the dugout after Nats' pitcher Ramon Ortiz -- a.k.a. The Gutless Wonder -- decided he was better off throwing fastballs at hitters instead of trying to get them out. So when Ortiz drilled Aaron Rowand in the ribs during the Phils' eight-run inning, Utley, still burning about getting drilled a few batters earlier, rushed onto the field to challenge Ortiz, man to punk.

Ortiz, who was immediately ejected, just walked away.

Good move.

Here's how it is: if my son has even the slightest interest in playing baseball when he gets older and wants to understand how to play the game the right way, I'm going to get video of No. 27 for the St. Louis Cardinals and No. 26 for the Philadelphia Phillies and say, "Son, watch these two men... this is how the game is played."

Damn right!

Sunday, April 16, 2006 -- end of the road trip

Here's hoping everyone enjoys their Easter and Passover holidays. Let's get to it:

Todd summed up Jon Lieber's troubles at Coors Field in Saturday's loss, as well as his rough start to the season.

Also in the Inquirer, Frank Fitzpatrick wrote about Frank "Home Run" Baker and how Connie Mack's Philadelphia A's started the long-ball trend. Fitzpatrick does not muse whether or not the wrong team remained in Philadelphia after the A's moved to Kansas City in 1954.

Jim Salisbury tells about how new Dodgers' GM Ned Colletti used to cover the Flyers for the Philadelphia Journal in the early 1980s. If Colletti does well with the Dodgers, maybe the new trend will be to hire the scribes as the GM? Sounds like a good idea.

Radano stood up for Aaron Rowand in his column, but then questioned Charlie Manuel's lineup in last Sunday's doubleheader in this one. In tribute to Radano's two points of view, a scene from Fast Times at Ridgemont High is in order. In this one Jeff Spicoli was played by Oscar-winner and humorless actor Sean Penn, and Jefferson's Brother was played by Stanley Davis Jr., currently a coach in the Arena Football League.

[after Spicoli wrecks Jefferson's car] Jefferson's Brother: My brother's gonna kill us! He's gonna kill us! He's gonna kill you and he's gonna kill me, he's gonna kill us! Jeff Spicoli: Hey man, just be glad I had fast reflexes! Jefferson's Brother: My brother's gonna shit! Jeff Spicoli: Make up your mind, dude, is he gonna shit or is he gonna kill us? Jefferson's Brother: First he's gonna shit, then he's gonna kill us! Jeff Spicoli: Relax, alright? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.

Nothing from Deitch was found on the Delco Times web site. Only one story from Deitch was found in a Google News search.

Ditto for Randy on the Phillyburbs site.

What the hell?

Ed. note: Phillyburbs submitted today's offerings late. Randy wrote about Jimmy Rollins and his quest for the batting title, while Kevin Cooney columnized on Bonds, and other various baseball topics. Cooney also took a little shot at Bowa...

But the News Journal appears to understand the new media dynamic because Scott Lauber's story on David Dellucci and his work in the recovery from Hurricane Katrina was posted bright and early. So was Lauber's story on the Phillies' winning streak ending in Colorado, as well as the one about the Phillies and their monkey.

Steve Miller wrote about Ryan Franklin's adjustment in his move to the bullpen.

Elsewhere, Vicente Padilla had a rought night in Oakland, where he allowed four home runs over a five-batter span.

On another note, tomorrow is the 110th Boston Marathon. If you're betting, I like Hailu Negussie of Ethiopia to repeat as champion, but don't sleep on American Meb Keflezighi, the silver medalist in the 2004 Olympic marathon.

Enjoy the holiday... Don't eat too many jelly beans.