With three games remaining, the folks at Baseball Prospectus give the Phillies a 5.59430 percent chance to win the wild card. Perhaps that figure would be even lower when the comments from the Marlins Scott Olsen and Taylor Tankersley are factored in.
Viewing entries in
blowhards
The local chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America released the results of their annual end-of-the-year awards without much controversy this season. The winners:
Mike Schmidt MVP: Ryan Howard
Steve Carlton Most Valuable Pitcher: Tom Gordon
Dallas Green Special Achievement: Chris Coste
Tug McGraw Good Guy: Mike Lieberthal
If you want to know the truth, the award are a sham and nothing but a popularity contest. Besides, the BBWAA is an evil secret society more evil than Skull & Bones, the Rotarians, the Free Masons, Phi Beta Kappa, the ladies auxillary at the Lancaster Country Club, the Junior League, and the Stonecutters. Combined.
To steal from a very popular sports' magazine, this little event was pointed out to me in the press box at Citizens Bank Park last night that had me so perplexed and my head spinning that there was no way to intelligently explain it. Therefore, I'll turn it over to Dan McQuade of Philadelphia Will Do:
September 19, 2006
Stephen A. Smith Hollas At Nieces, Nephews
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Stephen A. Smith -- the ESPN sports analyst, Quite Frankly host and sometimes Inquirer sportswriter -- tried to branch out on Saturday, appearing on CNN to discuss the War in Iraq, among other topics.
Deadspin went through the transcript and pulled out some of the funnier parts yesterday -- "You have a lot of people out there looking saying all right, you know, Osama bin Laden, this is what he did. With 9/11 and what have you, but we're in Iraq. You understand? We're still looking for him," "I agree with Senator Clinton," etc. -- but here are some of my faves:
Let me tell you a little story, because I'm a little scared. I'm 38 years old. Let me be honest with you. I might as well be 70 that's how scared I am. Because I look on this side, I sitting out here, I work my butt off every day because I have to take care of my Mama, because she works so hard. So I have to make sure she's living the life.... You can do it, right!
On the other side, I got like ten -- eight nieces and two nephews, these folks walk around with their heads cut off like they don't know what's going on.
We'll step up and handle the challenge faced with us, but only after we crash and burn.
I think moderation will kick in, but only after America continues to burn. I think America's burning as we speak and anything that's burning ultimately changing form.
I can't be sure -- it is Stephen A. -- but I think he spent his time on national TV over the weekend... making fun of his nieces and nephews.
Yeah.
When I was in high school, I was lucky enough to be neighbors with someone who had season tickets for the Orioles games at Memorial Stadium. Better yet, the seats were in the first row by the visiting team's on-deck circle where players warmed up just inches away from your head.
Once -- I'm going to say it was 1987 -- the neighbor gave me the tickets for an Orioles-White Sox doubleheader. So before each of his 9 or 10 plate appearances that day, White Sox shortstop Ozzie Guillen chatted me up. All. Day. Long. He talked and talked and talked. He didn't hold anything back nor did he censor himself, which was fine by me. Then, like now, I was much more interested in reality than the airbrushed version. Like most people, I don't like to be told what to think or how to feel and if Ozzie Guillen wanted to speak to me frankly -- even though I wasn't old enough for a drivers' license -- I was going to enjoy it.
Twenty years later, Ozzie Guillen is still speaking frankly. Actually, his mouth has gotten him into a bit of trouble lately and some of his actions have made even his most ardent supporters scratch their heads and wonder what ol' Ozzie was thinking. In fact, there is even a funny story on The Onion spoofing the trouble Ozzie has gotten himself into.
Apparently, Ozzie was on a roll again yesterday in a little tirade when talking to writers about accusations of his team "cheating." Based on the story, Ozzie doesn't think much about the NL Central, nor does he think he can find a spot on his roster for the Cardinals' lefty Mark Mulder.
Sadly, I think Ozzie's run in Chicago is going to end badly. I'm not basing that on any inside knowledge or anything other than observations. It just seems that people who allow others to know what they are thinking never seem to have a long shelf life -- that's especially the case when the speaker isn't exactly "politically correct."
Nevertheless, it looks as if Ozzie keeps things loose with his team. Here's a video of a wrestling match with a professional wrestler during spring training. The best part is the look on Jim Thome's face. He seems to be thinking, "Geez, Bowa never did anything as crazy as this... and he was nuts!"
Finally, I would be remiss not to include one of the all-time great quotes from Guillen about making it in America as skinny kid from Venezuela. From The Washington Post:
"I'm smarter than a lot of guys who go to Harvard. When you come to this country and you can't speak any English at 16 years old, and you have to survive, you have to have something smart in your body. If you take one of those Harvard guys and drop them in the middle of Caracas, they won't survive. But if you drop me in the middle of Harvard, I'll survive."
How would Guillen do in Philadelphia? I think he'd be able to hold his own.