19.19! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVszTgG7gP4&hl=en&fs=1&]
“You have people who are exceptions. You have Einstein. You have Isaac Newton. You have Beethoven. You have Usain Bolt. It’s not explainable how and what they do.” -- Stephen Francis, Olympic track coach
Based on the last few posts on this little dog-and-pony show, it’s fair to say I’ve taken a few folks, ideas and institutions to task. Certainly not my favorite way to go, but sometimes I just can’t stop being bitchy.
Which is better than whiny is the periodic table of jerkdom.
Sadly, I’m not done yet. I have another bee in my bonnet that may only be worth a couple hundred words based on how stupid the whole notion is.
Anyway, what got me all riled up was a poll or debate (or something) which compared Y.E. Yang’s victory over Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship in Minnesota to Usain Bolt’s 100-meter world record at the World Championships of track and field in Berlin.
Yeah, I know…
The question asked which feat was more impressive: Yang rallying to beat Tiger to win the PGA or Usain Bolt running faster than any human in the history of measured time. I cringe just typing the sentence. Seriously, a media conglomerate wasted lean tissue and brain matter on creating a faux discourse over which moment in time had more of an impact.
Never mind the fact that there are many gold tournaments played each year in which Tiger Woods does not win – the mere fact that a relative unknown knocked off the so-proclaimed best golfer in history with some solid play on the back nine last Sunday was too much to fathom. Apparently the thought of Tiger Woods coughing up a late lead like some baseball closers ranks up there with the otherworldly.
Please.
Look, Tiger Woods is a pretty darned good golfer. He appears to be athletic, fit and whether they want to admit it or not, the powers have actually altered the machinations of the game in order to trip him up. It’s kind of like how the NBA changed a whole bunch of rules shortly after Wilt Chamberlain showed up.
But, you know, it’s golf… at the British Open last month, 60-year-old Tom Watson was just a four-foot putt away from winning the thing. No, there never has been a man as old as Watson to win a major golf tournament, but just the thought that Watson could hold off the best golfers in the world and come one yipped putt on 18 away from victory tells you all you need to know.
Stewart Cink ended up beating Watson in a four-hole playoff and Watson missed his chance. Some experts weighed in that Watson and other men of his advanced age missed a once-and-only chance to pull off such a stunning upset.
I’m not so sure.
Golf, at its essence, is a skill sport. For every athletic Tiger Woods there is a handful more guys like John Daly or Phil Mickelson. In no other sport do out-of-shape and elderly athletes have a chance to compete – and beat – younger, faster and fitter foes.
It’s kind of what makes golf cool. It’s an anachronism in that anyone on any given day can be the best in the world at putting that damn ball into the hole.
However, for as cool as that is, it does not put the sport on equal footing with anything Usain Bolt does.
Bolt ran the 100 in 9.58 last Sunday. In the history of putting one foot in front of the other, Bolt is the only man ever to break 9.70 in the event. He dramatically ran a 9.69 in Beijing at last summer’s Olympics before ripping off the new record this week.
And just for a point of reference, Bolt’s top speed in the record-breaking run was 30-mph. His average speed was better than 23.35-mph. The next time you’re in your car try to cover 100-meters at roughly 25-mph… then imagine being beaten by a lean and lanky 22-year-old kid from Jamaica.
Take a look:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f1M5fFuqng&hl=en&fs=1&]
Nothing against Tiger, but Usain Bolt just might be the greatest athlete we'll ever see.
Better yet, the 100 isn’t even Bolt’s best event. Watch him run the 200-meters and he just might spontaneously combust. What makes the whole thing even more compelling is Bolt’s life story. First, he was no child prodigy who was handed a golf club in the crib and told to go be a champion. He didn’t get lessons, a private coach, club membership or a spot on the Mike Douglas Show. Bolt ran because it was something to do.
It also was a way to put some food on the table.
Last summer we wrote about how Bolt’s Olympic double in the 100 and 200 was a Neil Armstrong moment. The fastest any human had ever run the 100 meters was 9.69 by Obadale Thompson in 1996, but that record was thrown out because a significant tailwind had pushed the sprinters to the finish line. When Bolt ran his 9.69 in Beijing last August, he was the second slowest runner out of the blocks and then shut it down over the last five strides of the race so he could celebrate.
Bolt had built such a devastating lead over the rest of the Olympic field that he had time to look back to see if anyone was gaining on him. In a race decided by tenths of a second, such a notion is absurd – especially in a race where the best runners in the world are present.
Ato Boldon, a track commentator for NBC and four-time Olympic medalist in the 100 and 200 meters said Bolt could have broken 9.6 if he had run to completion.
It was otherworldly. Last Sunday he did the unthinkable.
“You have people who are exceptions,” said Stephen Francis, the coach of Bolt’s main Jamaican rival, Asafa Powell, the former 100 world-record holder. “You have Einstein. You have Isaac Newton. You have Beethoven. You have Usain Bolt. It’s not explainable how and what they do.”
Bolt ran to completion in the 200 last summer and the result was the same. However, this time Bolt smashed a record that most track aficionados thought would never be broken – or at least not broken in just 12 years. When Michael Johnson ran 19.32 in Atlanta for the 1996 Olympics, it was viewed as a man-on-the-moon moment. No one had come closer than 19.62 before or since Johnson stunned the world.
In calling the action on TV, Boldon screamed about how he could not believe that he just saw the one record he believed was untouchable, torn apart. Watching the race as a commentator for the BBC, Johnson celebrated along with 90,000 in the Olympic Stadium. Not only had Johnson seen his record beaten, but also Bolt had run into a headwind to do it.
At its essence, Bolt’s feat was a transcendent sports moment. It was the “Shot heard ‘round the world.”
“It’s ridiculous,” said sprinter Kim Collins of St. Kitts and Nevis. “How fast can you go before the world record can’t be broke? How fast can the human being go before there’s no more going fast?”
People thought the same thing when Johnson ran 19.32 in the 200 in Atlanta.
“I didn’t think I’d see under 19.30 in my lifetime,” said Renaldo Nehemiah, a former gold medalist in the 100 hurdles for the United States. “[Bolt is] doing something we’ve never seen before.”
Secondly, and maybe more importantly, the cultural significance of Bolt’s show first in Beijing and later in Berlin, can’t be understated. Though NBC downplayed Bolt’s races, showing them some 13 hours after they occurred and then offering just one replay, the rest of the world was tuned in live and celebrating right along with the Jamaicans.
Regardless, thanks to Bolt and the rest of the Jamaican sprinters that piled up the medals on at every international competition, the tiny island country is galvanized. Jamaica is a poor island country of just 2.8 million people with a high crime and poverty rate. As a result, the most popular sports are the ones that don’t require a lot of expensive equipment.
Running, the most egalitarian of sports, is clearly where the Jamaicans are best. In fact, three of the top five best times in the 100- meters have been run by Jamaican-born athletes. Meanwhile, three out of the last five Olympic champions in the 100 have been born in Jamaica.
In Jamaica, a country seen by outsiders only from the resorts, the celebration for the 22-year-old Bolt is just getting warmed up. Every time his Puma spikes touch the track, it’s a touchstone moment and the threat of something otherworldly could occur.
It’s beyond history… it’s alchemy. It’s history, physics, poetry and science all rolled into one.
But yeah, you can see why people get into golf, too.
There’s nothing wrong with being pissed off. Undoubtedly most of us get worked up over one thing or another every day. Maybe someone swiped your lunch out of the fridge or beat you to a parking spot.
Or maybe you’ve been “misled” from the boss at work. No, they didn’t dock your pay but they changed the minutia of your job description ever-so slightly. Certainly that’s enough to make a guy feel “disheartened.”
Hey, that’s the way it happens sometimes.
Usually, though, most of us get past our slights. After all, if most folks pouted over being “misled” or burned over something that “disheartened,” more than a day or two people would look at us like we were nothing more than a big baby.
You can’t always get what you want.
Yet after 23 seasons in the big leagues, including several trades and three outright releases, 46-year-old Jamie Moyer seems steamed about being “misled” by his employer, the Philadelphia Phillies. In fact, he still has what ballplayers like to call “the ass,” meaning he was irritable, even though he pitched six scoreless innings in a nice win for the team in a performance that was quite similar to a decade-old relief appearance in the playoffs by the guy who replaced him in the rotation.
Again, Moyer has every right to be upset. After all, his job description changed and as a result he could miss out on some pretty fat performance bonuses. However, for the remainder of this year and next, Moyer will still get a big check on the first and fifteenth of every month. That’s a guaranteed $13 million deal, which is more than some rank-and-file employees can say about promises they were made by bosses and execs.
Besides, if Moyer didn’t see the adjustment to his workload coming, he’s conning himself or merely acting like a petulant child. The league's worst ERA for starters should have been a tip off. So too should have been his ERA against every other team aside from Florida. Worse, he just like that miserly old man who shakes his fist and screams as he chases the neighborhood kids up the block…
“Get off my lawn!”
So to recap: Jamie Moyer feels “misled” because his workload has been lessened. He won’t be docked in pay and he still plays for a team that has an excellent chance to get to the World Series for the second straight year. Better yet he doesn’t have to look over his shoulder about losing his job on the Phillies, which is saying something in this economy.
Besides, when this season ends Moyer will have made more than $74 million in a career that has defied the odds. That’s not too shabby.
So what was it again that Moyer seems to be upset about?
Oh yeah, he’s getting a lot of money for less work.
Someone get out the world’s smallest violin.
Meanwhile, Pedro Martinez was his normal jovial self after having his home debut washed out by a rain delay. He only pitched three innings, but proclaimed it a success because Moyer came on and pitched wonderfully. He also laughed with some New York reporters in town to see “the old goat” pitch before his Ali-like return to his old stomping grounds.
Moreover, when asked about Moyer’s masterful performance against the anxious and green Diamondbacks on Tuesday night, Pedro gushed with praise.
“I've seen Jamie forever,” Pedro said. “When I remember him and [Tom] Glavine. They are my idols. And Tim Wakefield. They're warriors out there. How do they do it? Only lefties will know. And knuckleballers. It's great to watch, and I'm really happy for the results. We got a win.”
But when asked about the way Moyer handled being replaced in the rotation by a guy with three Cy Young Awards and arguably the best six-year stretch of pitching in history, Pedro kept that ever-present smile.
“Jamie is a professional. He'll handle the same way I'll probably handle it. Whatever it takes for the team to win,” he said.
Then he added the kicker:
“If it was me in the same situation, I would do it the same way, too. I never said I wouldn't go to the bullpen. I'm an employee here, and so is Jamie.”
It just so happens that Pedro turned in one of the most memorable playoff performances while pitching as a reliever in the fifth and deciding game of the 1999 ALDS. Perhaps Pedro is setting the table for some white knight-like reliever work in this year’s playoffs, too. After all, Pedro made no bones about why he was coming back…
He wants to win.
And he has checked his ego at the clubhouse door.
“You never know what you'll get when you put two old goats out there,” Pedro said between giggles. “It's a scary combination. You're not going to see that very often. You might as well enjoy it. I enjoyed it.
“See what you get? Two for the price of one.”
But as far as we can tell, only one of them is happy about it.
If there was one player who was the very definition of the word, “streaky,” it is Ryan Howard. It was during his rookie year where he set the precedent for getting home runs and big hits in bunches by becoming one of the few first-year players to smack 11 homers in September.
Ted Williams did it. So did Mark McGwire.
Ryan Howard is that kind of hitter when he is on a roll. Lately, well, the big fella has been that guy. In his last eight games he is 12-for-28 (.429) with seven extra-base hits (four homers) with six walks and 12 RBIs.
But there are a few interesting items about Howard’s latest surge. For one thing he has moved in closer to the plate. As a result of that the slugger is able to hit pitches the other way and is able to reach off-speed and breaking pitches better.
The second and biggest reason why Howard has been hitting the ball better is that in the last eight games he hasn’t faced too many lefties. In fact, in the last eight games Howard is 4-for-6 against lefties. That’s pretty good for Howard considering he is hitting just .196 (33-for-168) with 13 extra-base hits against southpaws this season.
Still, in only getting six at-bats against lefties over the past week means Howard gets to face right-handers and he eats those guys up. Over the recent spate of good hitting, Howard is 8-for-22 against righties and has 27 of his 30 homers against right-handers.
The thing is, the recent .363 batting average against righties is only slightly better than his season rate. With a .314 batting average and 1.085 OPS in 271 at-bats against righties this year, it’s a wonder why any team would ever bring in a right-handed reliever to face Howard.
Nevertheless, last week Cubs’ manager Lou Piniella did just that. With two outs and the bases loaded Piniella allowed righty Carlos Marmol to face Howard even though he had two lefties (Sean Marshall and John Grabow) available in the bullpen. No, they weren’t warming up, but Piniella had them if he had chosen to look at the season splits and seen that Howard just doesn’t hit lefties too well.
In that situation at Wrigley, Marmol walked Howard to force in a run and to give the Phillies the go-ahead run in the eighth inning. Had closer Brad Lidge nailed it down in the ninth, Howard’s bases-loaded walk would have been the most pivotal play in the game.
So if opposing managers are smart, they’d get their lefties ready to face Howard. Otherwise, he just might keep the good times rolling.
There are three rules that I live by: never get less than twelve hours sleep; never play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city; and never get involved with a woman with a tattoo of a dagger on her body. Now you stick to that, and everything else is cream cheese.
-- Coach Finstock from the major motion picture, Teen Wolf
I’m not into absolutes. After all, the grey areas are much more interesting. However, there are a few pearls of wisdom – little guidelines if you will – that I undoubtedly will pass along to my sons.
The easy place to start is with Coach Finstock’s words to Michael J. Fox’s character, Scotty, the so-named “Teen Wolf.” Sleep, as we all have learned, is so much more important to one’s health than food. And I’ll wager that it’s probably a really good idea not to play cards with a guy who has the first name of a city as well as a woman with a tattoo of a dagger.
Getting involved? Hey, to each their own.
But it goes without saying that those people generally are much more comfortable with pain than the average dude on the street. Hey, we all know that parents are giving kids goofy names these days, and we also know that self-mutilation is trendy as all get out. But there is nothing about a man named Blaine or a chick with a tramp stamp that strikes fear into my heart. A insomniac named Frisco and a woman with a homemade tattoo of a knife made with a penknife, well, I steer clear.
It just makes sense.
I’ve taken those rules from Coach Finstock and added a few to them over the years. Hang around with pro athletes for a decade in Philadelphia and eyes open a bit. It’s not quite like being in a war, but it’s kind of like being on the fringes of a really big fight. Sometimes, by accident, a stray punch or a thrown chair has a way of bloodying the nose or blackening an eye.
Hey, it happens.
So speaking of blackened eye(s), three-time Opening Day starting pitcher Brett Myers is apparently walking around with a honey of a shiner these days. Word is he got it from falling out of his wife’s Escalade after an evening out drinking and listening to music at a bar in Jacksonville, Fla. That’s the story for now, anyway. When the black eye was first reported, Brett told the Phillies brass that he got nailed by an errant throw from his four-year old son, Kolt.
That one was a doozy, but it seemed to be the most feasible. Having seen Kolt in action around the ballpark and the clubhouse before and after games, the kid has a helluva of right arm. When the genetics fairy touched young Kolt, they gave the kid his dad’s fastball, but let’s hope they gave him better reading ability or ability to judge a situation better than his old man, too.
Anyway, the story is Brett tripped on some of the kid’s toys when exiting the obnoxious, gas guzzling behemoth. However, according to a report from Dave Murphy over there at High Cheese, there was a fight at the bar/restaurant Myers and his wife were hanging out in. Moreover, Brett and his wife Kim were right in the middle of it, too. The cops showed up though there was no police report and the witnesses all seem to be telling the same story.
Yet despite the black eye, the acknowledgment of a fight, the police presence, the Phillies and Myers are sticking with the fell-out-of-the-Escalade bit. In a text message from general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., the official line appears to be that they are standing behind their guy:
“As has been published and from what Brett has told me, he was not part of an altercation that occurred at the establishment where he was.”
Reading between the lines there it sounds like it’s all on Brett. Smartly, the “witnesses” also are telling the same stories and since there is no police report, looks like all we have is a black eye from an ill-fated exit from a tacky car.
So let’s get back to Teen Wolf for a second:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkHmXIkFPN8&hl=en&fs=1&]
Let’s add one more caveat to Coach Finstock’s advice… don’t get into a bar fight across the state from the ballpark where you are scheduled to do a rehab assignment the next day. Also, don’t do this in a contract year, and especially don’t get involved in an “altercation” just four years after an arrest where the prosecutors want you to plead guilty to assault and battery, serve two years’ probation, enter a program for spousal abusers and undergo an outpatient alcohol abuse evaluation.
Follow those rules and everything else is cream cheese.
Statistics rarely tell the entire story, but in the instance of Brad Lidge and his difficulty in closing out games, maybe the statistics tell some of the story.
Sure, Lidge has blown more saves than any other reliever in the Majors and has the worst ERA (7.27) amongst all relievers, too. But that doesn't explain why he got so bad so quickly.
Lidge and the Phillies claim that he is not hurt. In fact, after blown saves last week in Chicago and Saturday in Atlanta the closer maintained that he feels really good when he throws his pitches.
So maybe we can look no further than the first hitter Lidge faces when he gets into a game? Lidge has been in 48 games so far this season and in 17 of them he allowed the first hitter he faced to reach base.
Here's the thing -- in those 17 games Lidge has allowed 25 earned runs in 14 innings for four blown saves. That comes to an ERA of 16.07.
That just might be the problem.
Here's why -- in the 31 games in which Lidge retired the first batter he faced, he went on to allow 10 runs in 29 1/3 innings, which comes to a 3.07 ERA. Better yet, Lidge has saved 18 games in 22 chances when he retires the first hitter he faces.
Yes, that first hitter is the best indicator to determine whether it's going to be a good or bad night for Lidge and the Phillies.
Then again, what good are the numbers when Jose Mesa is the all-time leader in saves for the Phillies?
“You go to Wrigley Field, you have a beer, beautiful people up there. People aren't watching the game. It's not serious. White Sox, that's baseball.”
-- Chicagoan Barack Obama
CHICAGO – Clearly they were not ready for the digital revolution when they opened Wrigley Field in 1914. As a result all my fancy wireless gadgets and air cards, etc., just didn’t hold up. Nevertheless, I liken the trip to Wrigley kind of like a visit to see the Amish in Lancaster County, Pa. …
They know this is 2009, right? They are aware of inventions like electricity, automobiles and computers, correct?
So if they do isn’t it kind of silly to act like it’s 1914 when it’s really 2009? I don’t know… maybe?
Nevertheless, I’m a big fan of neighborhood ballparks in large cities with little to no parking. Call me a romantic in that sense, and as such, it’s always a treat to go to Chicago, Boston and the Bronx for ballgames. It’s not exactly convenient to work in those places, but they are fun places to be. Hell, the places stink of history. Add Dodger Stadium into the mix, too, since a lot of unique baseball moments occurred there in a comparable short time.
Speaking of which, I contend that there is better history at a place like Dodger Stadium than Wrigley Field. For one, the Dodgers have actually won the World Series as occupants in their home park. Secondly, they have a hosted a bunch of World Series games in their park since 1945.
And that’s pretty much the thing isn’t it? The Cubs are the sports’ biggest losers and the complacency and apathy of much of their fans doesn’t enhance the “lovable” tag.
Imagine that… the Cubs have not been in the World Series since 1945. Really, 1945! The Phillies have been there five times in that span and they have lost more regular-season ballgames than any franchise ever. Hell, the Marlins have won it twice since they started in 1993.
Here’s the other thing – the Cubs last won the World Series in 1908 (they went back-to-back), they hadn’t even broken ground on Wrigley Field yet. Better yet, Frank Chance’s Cubs that won it at the West Side Park featured an outfielder named Jimmy Sheckard, who came from Lancaster, Pa. However, don’t think that it will take another guy from Lancaster to help the Cubs win because they already had Bruce Sutter and he had to go to the Cardinals to win it.
So forget about calling it Wrigleyville, more like “Loserville.” Certainly that moniker was enhanced this week when the Phillies were in town.
Though rightly or wrongly, Philadelphia fans have garnered the reputation of soccer hooligans in the U.S. Yeah, there are a few bad apples out there, but mostly the fans in Philly just want to ballplayers to work as hard as they do. They want them to be accountable and they want them to win.
After all, with victory comes the parades and parties. That’s the proper way to do it.
But in Chicago, at Wrigley Field, it doesn’t work that way. They party before, during and after. The mood is light, and airy like the breeze that flows through the ballpark from Lake Michigan just beyond. They enjoy losing. They really do. In fact, they like to say it was the owner of the famous (and also overrated) Billy Goat Tavern who put the hex on the Cubs in 1945 when the owners of Wrigley wouldn’t allow him to take his goat into the park.
Yeah, that says it all about the Cubs – a guy wanted to take his pet goat to the game.
Speaking of Billy Goats, curses and this silly baseball team and ballpark, look how Cubs fans treat their own:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoumAUfwnI8&hl=en&fs=1&]
Stay classy, Cubs fans:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6IqTj6g1a0&hl=en&fs=1&]
I guess I have to weigh in on the Eagles signing Michael Vick… right? OK, let’s keep this short.
Here’s what bothers me about it – for a brief moment the Eagles’ big news knocked the baseball coverage out of the top spot in Philly news. That will change when Pedro pitches at home for the first time on Tuesday night, and then again next Sunday when he faces the Mets, but yeah… it’s never good when folks pay attention to things other than baseball.
Then again, it’s not like I notice. Here in the baseball bubble, there are rarely things that penetrate the inner sanctum. You should see when some of us attempt to do a fantasy football league -- when did Joe Montana stop playing?
Nevertheless, as a father of two boys, a vegetarian and a life-long owner of dogs (and a few cats and gold fish), I’m pretty disgusted by the crimes committed by Michael Vick. Hell, who isn’t?
But here’s the thing – the justice system worked. The man was caught, went through due process, paid his penalty and served his time and according to the penal system, has been rehabilitated. Nearly two years in Federal [phrase from Office Space] Prison should do the trick. That’s especially the case when O.J. Simpson and Donte Stallworth combined to serve less than a month for the deaths of three human beings.
As the comedian D.L. Hughley said, “I bet O.J. is looking at Michael Vick and thinking, ‘Damn, I’m glad I didn’t [mess] with dogs.’”
Frankly, I’m more offended by the ravages of a war started by faulty intelligence, lies and broken laws than anything else, but you know, that’s me.
Of course this isn’t to belittle the crimes Vick committed. Not in the lest. However, I don’t belittle the time he served for those crimes, either.
Nevertheless, from a PR standpoint I don’t understand what the Eagles are doing. I just don’t get it unless they subscribe to the theory that any press is good press. After all, the Eagles franchise is hardly the gold standard in the Philadelphia sporting public. Amongst the four major pro sports (yes, I’m counting hockey), the Eagles losing drought is going on 50 years.
Seriously, the Eagles haven’t been champions of the NFL in 50 years. Fifty years! Since the 1960 NFL Championship, the Flyers, Sixers and Phillies have all won their sports’ titles twice.
Go figure that the biggest losers are also the most popular in Philadelphia.
You can count on one thing – if Michael Vick can still play football and he helps the Eagles win games and a championship, the angry furor will turn into loud cheers. It’s not like there are 70,000 people turning in their season tickets because the Eagles signed Michael Vick. Sure, some sponsors might be upset, but as long as the team continues to fill the stadium and win games, that (phony) indignation by some corporations will be nothing more than hot air.
Anyway, the PR stuff makes for a weird situation with the Eagles. But from a football standpoint maybe Vick adds a unique dimension to the team, so in that regard give the football people some credit for innovative thinking. It could be like the Phillies signing Pedro Martinez in that if he can pitch, great… if not, well, they can always get someone else.
Right?
Hey, it’s baseball season. I’ll look at other sports in November.
I'm pretty sure the character played by Bill Murray waited on me at the Billy Goat Tavern the other night... Sit tight. I have more coming this afternoon from Wrigley.
CHICAGO – Lots of people like to say Chicago is a lot like New York only clean. That’s fair, I suppose. Chicago is a sprawling city, but not with the boroughs of NYC. It’s more like Los Angeles in that sense in that the city is self contained and doesn’t rely on other little pockets of towns and hamlets to make it whole.
In that regard Chicago is unlike Philadelphia in that there is no inferiority complex with New York to the north and Washington to the south. That kind of makes Philadelphia feel as if it’s just on the way to somewhere else.
Or something like that. Then again I really have no logical insight to offer on Chicago. It’s a good place. Lots of water and tall buildings. They even have a beach within the city confines. More importantly, they have two competitive baseball teams. One plays in the American League in a dumpy stadium on the south side of town (and even won the World Series in 2005), and the other plays in a dumpy ballpark on the north side of town.
Now here’s what I really don’t get about Chicago… why are the Cubs so beloved? It has to be the ballpark, right? People love showing up at Wrigley to do everything but pay attention to baseball. It is, as so deftly described by White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, a bar. It’s a big, outdoor bar surrounding a baseball diamond.
“But one thing about Wrigley Field, I puke every time I go there,” Guillen said earlier this season. “That’s just to be honest. And if Cub fans don’t like the way I talk about Wrigley Field, it’s just Wrigley Field. I don’t say anything about the fans or anything now. But Wrigley Field, they got to respect my opinion. That’s the way I feel.”
Imagine if the Phillies didn’t win the World Series for more than 100 seasons or didn’t at least get there since 1945… Phillies fans would burn the place down. Quaint old ballpark or not, the Phillies fans wouldn’t be satisfied without a winner.
There’s only so much folks in Philly can tolerate and that gets back to the whole destination city thing. This is the magnet of the Midwest. It’s in the realm of places like LA or NYC in that kids aspire to be successful in Chicago. Hell, think of all the actors, writers and comedians that come from Chicago. It’s doubtful that “Saturday Night Live” would have made it early on if it hadn’t been for the filter system the show seemingly had with Second City.
We’ll get into the essence of the ballpark tomorrow. But in short it’s difficult not to be charmed by Wrigley despite what Ozzie Guillen says. Shoot, maybe it is pretty much just a bar. You know, one of those neighborhood joints they seem to have on every corner in South Philly. Only instead of being a part of the neighborhood, Wrigley IS the neighborhood.
There isn’t much space here, but, you know… whatever.
*
Here’s the important stuff… the Phillies are going to be OK. Sure, the lead has been whittled down to just four games after getting swept at home by the Marlins, and neither the hitting nor pitching has been all that good.
But if it was bad enough for Charlie Manuel to spend 20 minutes after Sunday’s game giving his team the business, then everything ought to be sorted out soon. See, Charlie doesn’t get worked up just for the sake of getting fired up. His messages usually have a purpose and that definitely seems to be the case in this instance.
Besides, compare the Phillies stats and records of last August with this month. Go ahead… do it. Know what you’ll find? That they are nearly identical. Last August the Phillies stunk and this August they are scuffling a bit, too.
In eight games this month the Phillies are batting .242 with eight homers, a .283 OBP and just 25 runs scored. That comes to an average of just a little over three runs per game.
Last August the Phillies batted just .235 with 30 homers in 29 games and 115 runs scored. That total comes to a little more than three runs per game (3.965).
Uncanny isn’t it?
So there it is – the Phillies don’t play well in August. It’s a bona fide trend. If they can turn it around in September and October that will be a trend, too.
The Phillies alumni weekends are always good for some unintentional comedy. For instance, amidst guys like Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and Robin Roberts, a player like Doug Clemens or Keith Hughes trots out onto the field to be introduced before the game. Looking back at the records, Hughes played in exactly 37 games for the Phillies – 93 over the course of four seasons with Baltimore, New York and Cincinnati.
So maybe a few years down the road guys like Nelson Figueroa and Jack Taschner will jog out onto the field before a game in a Phillies uniform to some polite golf applause.
But after the end of last season the Phillies alumni weekend is something of a relic. Better yet, it reinforces the idea that we are in the midst of the second golden age of the team’s history. There were the years from 1976 to 1983 when the Phillies went to the playoffs six times and the World Series twice.
Baring a collapse of Mets-like proportions (or ’64 Phillies style), the Phillies will go to the playoffs for the third year in a row for just the second time in team history. Moreover, the team already has one World Series title and is a favorite (along with the Dodgers) to get back to the Series for a second year in a row.
No one needs to see old ballplayers like Keith Hughes or even Jim Bunning to trot out onto the field from a historically moribund franchise to realize that these are the good ol’ days. Right here, right now.
That’s the thing isn’t it? By winning the World Series the Phillies have made alumni weekends useless. Sure, it’s neat to see Mike Lieberthal and Jim Kaat around the ballpark again, but really, if there is anything that the Phils prove with their old players is that they weren’t very good for a long, long, long time.
Besides, it used to be that the team needed to summon Mike Schmidt from the golf course in Florida and Steve Carlton from his underground bunker near the Four Corners region of Colorado in order to get folks to come out to the ballpark. That little glimpse at members of the team’s only championship used to put fannies in the seats before folks realized that a contending ballclub was far more interesting than a trip down amnesia lane.
Hey, there’s Greg Luzinski! Didn’t I just see him out in right field eating ribs?
Apropos of nothing (and as pointed out by another scribe), is there another franchise that has a weirder collection of Hall of Famers than the Phillies? Sure, Robin Roberts is a true gentleman and as nice a man there is walking this earth, but the other three? Really? How crazy are Schmidt, Carlton and Bunning?
Plus, why is Jim Bunning in the Hall of Fame to begin with? He never pitched in the World Series and was the ace pitcher on a team responsible for one of the greatest late-season collapses in sports history… hey, winning matters. That’s why they keep score.
If Bunning is a Hall of Famer, then so too are Jim Kaat, Tommy John, Jack Morris, Luis Tiant and Bert Blyleven.
Anyway, at the alumni things Crazy Steve is introduced as “the greatest pitcher in team history,” which is fair. It’s impossible to deny Carlton’s greatness. However, Robin Roberts was no slouch either and it makes one wonder what kind of video-game like numbers he would have produced if the Phillies had been even a bit respectable.
After going to the World Series in 1950, the Phillies finished better than fourth place just one time in Roberts’ tenure with the team. Still, the great righty figured out how to win 20 games and pitch at least 300 innings in six straight years.
Or try this out… after going to the World Series in 1950, the Phillies finished better than third place just twice until getting into the playoffs in 1976. Old-timers day?
No thanks. The good memories are being created out on the field right now.
*
Another interesting tidbit from the alumni weekend was watching Pedro Martinez trot out to the first-base line in his Phillies uniform to salute the team alums. The interesting part about that was that a lot of stat heads and baseball historians regard Martinez as one of the best – if not the best – pitcher of the past 60 years and he still can’t get into a game for the Phillies.
Amazing.
This one kind of got lost in the shuffle last night so I thought I'd add it to this little dog-and-pony show, too. Here's the original link back to the main CSN site. It should be noted that the Phillies have two excellent outfielder prospects in Dom Brown and Michael Taylor. About Taylor, Brown said: "Michael Taylor... Oh my God!" That was a compliment.
READING, Pa. – When he was told Clearwater manager Ernie Whitt wanted to see him last week, Domonic Brown was afraid the rumors were true. Rumored to be one of the key pieces in the deal to acquire Roy Halladay, a meeting with the manager hours before a ballgame is never a good sign.
Except for this time.
Whitt wanted to see his star right fielder so he could tell him he wasn’t going to be playing for Single-A Clearwater any more. Instead it was time for the 21-year-old Brown to head to Reading, Pa. It was time for a promotion.
“I want to be a Phillie,” Brown said.
So far the jump in class to Double-A has been a pretty good one for Brown. To start with Reading’s PR guru Rob Hackash informed everyone that Brown’s name had been misspelled pretty much his entire life. It’s “Domonic,” not “Dominic.” Brown would have corrected everyone but he is too polite.
Nevertheless, Brown appears to be on the way to making everyone know his name with the way he’s been playing ball this season. Though he missed some time with a broken thumb, he still rated in the top of the Florida State League with a .303 batting average, 11 homers, 386 on-base percentage, .517 slugging percentage and .903 OPS. He did all of that in just 66 games.
In the Eastern League, the lefty Brown turned heads on Tuesday night with a throw from right field to third base that drew comparisons to Vladimir Guerrero. Wednesday night, with a record-breaking crowd at FirstEnergy Stadium to see Pedro Martinez, Brown hit a 426-foot (-ish) home run that completely left the confines of the ball park in right field and conjured thoughts of Darryl Strawberry.
According the Reading Phillies, the ball cleared the roof of the park, hit the center line of Centre Avenue and bounced up against a wall of the nearby Cindy Rowe Auto Glass shop.
“He’s ridiculous,” said former Phillies starter and Reading pitcher Scott Mathieson of his teammate Brown. “He’s one of the best outfielders I’ve ever seen.”
Better yet, Brown launched his blast with general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. and his top scout Charley Kerfeld in the ballpark. That’s pretty good for a 20th round draft pick.
Yeah, that’s right, Brown, the untouchable, was a 20th round pick in the 2006 draft for the Phillies. The reason he dropped nearly off the charts was because he had a scholarship offer to play wide receiver at the University of Miami (Fla.). Odder yet, Brown was listed as a left-handed pitcher when the Phillies took him in the 20th round.
Needless to say Brown hasn’t thrown a pitch since turning pro.
But for people who know Brown, there was no surprise that he was going to play baseball instead of football. His mother was a high school catcher and baseball was always the game of choice at the Brown household in Stone Mountain, Ga. Sure, Brown played all the sports by season during the school year, but, as he says, “that was just for fun.”
“Baseball was always my first love,” he said.
And since baseball is what he chose to concentrate on, Brown is aware of what he needs to do in order for Amaro and the Phils’ loyalty to pay off. To start with, Brown says he needs to improve his base running because he believes he can steal “30 or 40” bases a season. So far this season Brown swiped 15 bags and has a career high of 22 for Single-A Lakewood in 2008.
After that Brown wants to improve his discipline at the plate and pay more attention to the strike zone and the pitches he chases. That’s pretty heady stuff for a guy with a .370 on-base percentage in four pro seasons.
“I’ve been getting myself out a lot,” Brown says.
But more importantly, Brown just wants to play ball. He hopes to play in the Arizona Fall League this season and isn’t too keen on seeing his name on ESPN until the time is right.
“I just want to stay humble because there are no guarantees at this level,” Brown said.
Certainly Brown is right about that, but with the way he has been developing, the 21-year-old outfielder might be the closest thing.
Legend has it that rookie Scott Rolen once left the Phillies clubhouse at the Vet after getting hit repeatedly by Dodgers' pitcher Hideo Nomo, strolled over to the visiting clubhouse, and called out the pitcher. Essentially, according to the legend, Rolen told Nomo that the beanballs stopped now, only not so nice. From that point on, Rolen always hit well against Nomo.
This apparently occurred back when there weren't TV cameras everywhere or guys with BlackBerrys ready to put the TwitPic online.
Yes, those were simpler times.
Nevertheless, when Prince Fielder left the visitors' clubhouse at Dodger Stadium to go into there were teammates, cameras and security guards on the scene. The next thing you know, voila, there's a YouTube video.
Like this one:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-RwPDkNjRk&hl=en&fs=1&]
READING, Pa. – Sitting here in the main press box in First Energy Stadium for the latest addition of the Pedro Martinez comeback and I have a few notes to pass along. We have been informed via a note tacked on the wall that we are not allowed to approach any member of the Phillies front office staff here at the ballpark.
It says:
“Members of the Phillies front office will be in attendance. They are not to be approached for interviews at any time regardless if Martinez has come out of the game…”
Seriously, it says that. Charley Kerfeld and/or Ruben Amaro Jr. are off limits, which is fine since the first-year GM is about as obtuse as they come.
Here’s the thing – I think even Ruben would think the sign is funny. Especially because, you know, he runs a BASEBALL TEAM. I could see a sign that read, “Please don’t approach the President of the United States of America,” or, “Please don’t approach the Queen of England,” or, of course, “Please don’t approach the dancers…”
But “members of the Phillies’ front office?
All these years I totally underestimated the delicate genius that is Ruben Amaro Jr. My promise to you, dear reader, is that I will exercise more caution when I “approach” him in the future.
*
The whole reason I wanted to write this little post is to relay a press release I got in the ol’ mail box this afternoon. In fact, the headline enough was all I needed, but when I continued to read, it just got better and better.
Anyway, the headline:
Floyd Landis set to take on Utah Jazz guard Deron Williams in a three-point shootout
Not making this up. Seriously. Floyd Landis, the (infamous) bicycle racer will be in a shoot off against Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz and the Olympic gold medal basketball team from the 2008 games in Beijing.
That’s enough right there. Just the thought of Floyd going up against Deron Williams is ridiculously funny. But funnier yet is the first paragraph of the release that reads:
According to Floyd Landis of the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis, the last time he was even on a basketball court, let alone practicing three-pointers, “was probably when I was 15.”
So no, Floyd has no chance in hell. Considering that Williams made 70 three-pointers in the NBA last season, was second in the league with 10.8 assists and also got 19.4 points per game, Floyd really is in trouble.
“Trouble,” however, is Floyd’s middle name. In addition to the three-point shootout, which will take place before the Tour of Utah, Williams will race against Floyd in a time trial. That’s good for the pro cyclist, however, Floyd is clearly focused on shooting down the NBA star.
“Cyclists are usually really good basketball players, so I’m not concerned,” Floyd said.
So there’s that.
For regular readers of the Freakonomics blog – and you know who you are – this might be old news. Nevertheless, it’s still interesting.
Anyway, a new study using some sort of science I don’t understand (which is pretty much every type of science) rated every single outcome from 1954 to 2008 and came up with the best players… in a cold, clinical way. Wired mag calls it the baseball version "Six degrees of Kevin Bacon," though performance-enhancing drugs, illness, technology, lucky hits, stadium effects and everything else was simply collateral.
As a result, the top three hitters since 1954 turned out to be Barry Bonds, Todd Helton, and Mickey Mantle. No Phillie made it into the top 10 of the list (which can be seen here and here), however, pitching is a different story.
According to the formula, Billy Wagner is the second-best reliever since 1954, Curt Schilling is the fourth-best starter and Pedro Martinez…
Numero uno.
It’s also worth mentioning that Roy Halladay was rated as the third-best pitcher of the ultra-modern era that ranks Bert Blyleven ahead of Hall of Famers Steve Carlton, Phil Niekro and Don Sutton.
Again, check out the Wired story for the finer details of the rankings system that puts Armando Benitez in the top 10 of relief pitchers since 1954…
But if Benitez was so good how come he couldn’t get Pat Burrell out?
As far as Pedro goes, check out this little graph CSN's Rob Kuestner came up with:
| Pitcher A | Pitcher B | |
| 129 | Wins | 111 |
| 47 | Losses | 33 |
| .732 | Win Pct. | .771 |
| 2.19 | ERA | 2.00 |
| 3 | Cy Youngs | 3 |
Pitcher A is Sandy Koufax from 1961 to 1966.
Pitcher B is Pedro Martinez from 1997 to 2003.
At some point this evening, Pedro Martinez is going to come out of the game in Reading, Pa. and declare himself ready to rejoin the Phillies. Count on that.
However, it’s not certain how much say Pedro has in deciding how many more rehab outings he thinks he needs. For instance, chances are Pedro wanted to join the big league club after his five-inning outing last Friday night in Allentown though it was clear he needed some more work.
Not much more, but definitely some more.
Of course as Pedro says, he is simply a humble worker. Whatever Ruben Amaro and the decision-makers want him to do, Pedro will do it. And yes, that includes working out of the bullpen.
“I don’t know how the bullpen stuff is working over there, but I definitely need more work to get to the point where I really want to be. That time, you need to spend it on the mound and the only way I’m going to get time on the mound is by starting,” Pedro said. “I’m not going to put any pressure on Ruben or (manager) Charlie (Manuel) – I’m an employee here and when you are an employee you just do what your boss tells you. That’s what I’m going to do. But as far as I know they brought me here to be a starter.”
Amaro echoed that sentiment yesterday on Daily News Live.
“Right now we view him as a starter,” Amaro said.
So if we were thinking about this logically, the Phillies rotation would be pretty easy to put together. Right? Cliff Lee and Joe Blanton would be at the top since those two are clearly the hottest pitchers the team has. Then comes J.A. Happ because he has been the most consistent throughout the season. Next comes Cole Hamels not only because he was the MVP of the NLCS and World Series, but also because it’s simply a matter of time before he gets his pitching issues worked out.
Then comes Pedro since off days here and there can afford him an extra day of rest occasionally. At 37 with 17 big league seasons piled onto that narrow-shouldered frame, it’s OK to give Pedro an extra day. Besides, after three Cy Young Awards and a handful of the greatest seasons ever pitched, let the guy ride on his rep a bit…
Right?
Well, only if he can pitch. If he can’t get hitters out don’t be surprised when the Phillies send Pedro out near Ashburn Alley to wait for the right moment to go in to pitch. Toward the end of a pitcher’s career, that’s kind of the way it goes. After all, last year the great Greg Maddux spent the post-season pitching relief for the Dodgers. Warren Spahn ended up pitching out of the ‘pen, too.
The same goes for Steve Carlton, Jim Palmer, Early Winn and Satchel Paige. Hey, it happens.
So why won’t it happen for Jamie Moyer?
Despite the 10-8 record, both digits representing team highs, Moyer hasn’t been very good this year. Oh sure, in his 10 wins he has allowed just 22 runs, but even Manuel says the 46-year-old lefty pitches better when the offense spots him some runs. Considering the Phillies have scored at least nine runs in five of those 10 wins, Moyer is the ultimate frontrunner.
Plus, two of his 10 wins are against Florida, a team he owns a lifetime 13-2 mark against. Take three starts against Florida out of the mix and Moyer is 8-8 with a 6.16 ERA. Counting Florida Moyer has the second worst ERA amongst starters that qualify for the ERA title. Excluding Florida and he’s the worst starter in the league in terms of ERA.
Nevertheless, when Pedro makes his pronouncement this evening, Moyer won’t be looking over his shoulder. Why should he when the most consistent pitcher on the staff is the one who will be bumped?
Ballplayers always talk about how they are always willing to do what’s best for the team and how they just want to win ballgames to get that ring. Certainly the Phillies have won games with Moyer on the mound, but really, how much longer can that last if the trends don’t change?
Maybe it’s time for Moyer to volunteer his services in the bullpen. Why not… he wants to win and it’s obvious the team has a better chance to get a second World Series title with five other guys in the starting rotation.
Right?
I am tough but fair and so I retract my entire notion that ballplayers are not funny. The fact is they are very funny... More specifically, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard are very funny. Take a look at the latest Funny or Die installment called "Fantasy Camp:"
First Jimmy takes fastballs from an iron mike off the chest and Ryan drops an "Oh snap, son!" on the White House chef...
Pedro is going to have to pick up his game.
(links fixed)
Sometimes breaking up the band isn’t such a bad thing. Imagine the stuff the Beatles or Led Zeppelin would have trotted out there if they were just playing out the string and trying to fulfill a contract. I’ll get to the point in a bit, but first some blather…
Guess what? The Phillies did add to the payroll by trading for Cliff Lee. The tally is an extra $2 million, which is approximately twice the salary Pedro Martinez will get paid for this season.
So yeah, figure this one out – according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the Phillies added two pitchers to their roster that have a combined four Cy Young Awards and it cost them around $3 million for 2009. That means Lee is eighth on the club in salary and Pedro 18th. Pedro gets approximately the same paycheck as Scott Eyre and significantly less than Chan Ho Park.
Meanwhile Lee is getting a little bit more than Joe Blanton and significantly less than Jamie Moyer.
Isn’t baseball great like that? A meritocracy? Well, kind of… maybe. Put it this way – the MLBPA protects its members just as long as their names don’t appear on an ambiguous list that should have been destroyed or even compiled in the first place.
Nevertheless, the interesting part about the salaries isn’t the names attached to them or the high figures that make them seem so unreal. Nor is it the fact that all of those contracts are guaranteed and often have incentives built in, too.
Who cares about all of that.
No, the interesting part is that the Phillies can afford to pay out those salaries in a depressed economy and not too long after the team never gave out that kind of cash. Remember when the Phillies claimed to have offered Scott Rolen a 10-year contract worth more than $140 million? In reality, the Phillies never offered the 10-years and $140 million they keep touting. Instead, it the guaranteed portion of the offer was six years, $72 million. The deal stretched to 10 years and to $140 million only if one included all the options and incentives and buy-outs in the package, all structured in the club’s behalf.
If Rolen had signed that deal he would have been a Phillies last season. Had that occurred the Phillies never would have signed Jim Thome nor would they ever have had Placido Polanco. That means the paths to the Majors for Ryan Howard and Chase Utley would never been blocked.
How different would it have been if Utley would have gotten a chance to play every day in the big leagues when he was 24 instead of 26? Perhaps Howard would have been with the Phillies in 2003 or 2004. Coming off a minor league season where he belted 46 homers between Reading and Scranton in 2004, Howard played 61 games in Triple-A in 2005. That was 61 too many.
So imagine if Rolen had remained in Philly instead of escaping to St. Louis and then Toronto.
Howard, Utley, Rolen and Rollins?
But who knows – maybe it wouldn’t have worked out after all. Bobby Abreu, an offensive statistical fiend in his days was the Phillies, was dumped by Pat Gillick because, apparently, he made everyone around him worse.
Of the Turn of the Century Phillies that were supposed to be long-shot contenders for the wild card in aught zero, only Mike Lieberthal, Pat Burrell and Randy Wolf were able to collect all of their Ed Wade graft in a Phillies uniform. When they were free to go elsewhere, the Phillies let them.
And somehow it worked out.
But since Gillick was so quick to give kudos to his predecessors after the World Series for drafting the likes of Rollins, Howard and Utley, what kind of credit would they have gotten if the long-term, big-money contracts they gave out weren’t cleared out?
Suppose the Phillies traded Howard and stuck with Thome. Or maybe they could have dealt Utley and gone with Polanco.
And maybe Rolen could have signed that deal in 2002… if so would we be talking about Cliff Lee, Pedro Martinez and a repeat in ’09?
* Speaking of Rolen, the big fella was beaned on the helmet by Jason Marquis on Sunday in just his second game with the Reds since being dealt at the deadline from Toronto. After crumpling in a heap to the ground, Rolen quickly sat up and immediately began yapping about it…
Apparently he was discussing his on-base percentage.
“I was a little dizzy. It stunned me. But it helped my on-base percentage, even though I still haven't touched first base (as a Red),” Rolen said after Sunday’s game. “I talked to Jason. I'm fine. I motioned to him when I left the field to let him know that I wasn't dead.”
Take a look at the video here.
“He’s lucky,” manager Dusty Baker said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ball ricochet that far. That ball went out to third base.”
Rolen still hasn't actually stepped on first base since joining the Reds.
“I was just happy to get on base,” Rolen said. “I still have yet to get to first base. I haven’t met (first base coach) Billy Hatcher yet.”
Note: Today, August 2, is the 30th anniversary of the death of Yankees catcher Thurman Munson. For children of the Seventies, Munson's death was a seminal moment. The following is an essay written in 2003, but it is especially poignant today.
It's kind of odd, how clearly I remember the day Thurman Munson died. In fact, the moment I heard the news on the radio that late summer night in Washington, D.C. during 1979, is probably one of the most memorable baseball memories I own. And trust me, I have a lot of baseball memories.
Like I said, I heard the news on the radio just before I was going to crawl into bed. I remember it was a Monday night and for some reason ABC wasn't televising a national game that night. For an eight-year-old whose life revolved around baseball, no game on TV meant an early bedtime. Remember, this was 10 years before the proliferation of sports on ESPN and 20 years before news was digitalized and uploaded onto computer screens in every room of the house. Since there was no game on UHF, I had to spin the dial on my crappy AM transistor radio to find any type of baseball talk. My prospects seemed slim since this was a time when Casey Kasem ruled the airwaves, not Mike and the Mad Dog. But there it was on WCAO in Baltimore:
"Reports out of Canton, Ohio are that Thurman Munson, the All-Star catcher and captain of the New York Yankees, died tonight in a plane crash. Munson was attempting to land his single-engine plane when he lost control of the craft at a small airport in his hometown. The Yankees and the O's are scheduled to play tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium. So far, there is no indication that the game will be postponed."
Tears. Waterworks, actually. Big, bearded and burly Thurman was dead. How could that be? He was supposed to play against the Orioles tomorrow night. Sure, was clearly beginning the downside of his career and had seemingly given up his catcher's spot to Jerry Narron so that Billy Martin could keep his bat in the lineup by using him at first and right field, but he was Thurman Munson. Never mind that he looked like Ron Jeremy after an intense work over at the spa, he was the catcher for the Yankees. They had just won the past two World Series. He was the captain. He couldn't be dead. Reggie Jackson, the anti-Thurman, was the one bad things were supposed to happen to. Reggie was the villain, not scrappy Thurman, with his cap flipped upwards beneath his catcher's mask and dirt all over his pinstripes.
Anyway, I remember my dad – always awkward when dealing with any displays of emotion – trying to console me as I cried for the dead ballplayer in my tiny room of our three-bedroom apartment. I never knew of anyone who had ever died before, even though I heard a story about the Angels' Lyman Bostock getting shot. My dog and John Lennon, both killed on the same day, had more than a year left to live, and my grandfather, who taught me everything worth knowing, hadn’t yet been diagnosed with cancer. It was still a full seven years before I learned what real loss felt like. Hey, I wasn't even a Yankees fan, but Thurman was a player. Actually, he was a decent player and that meant he was as good as a member of the family. Why shouldn't I cry for him?
"Thurman's probably playing in heaven with all the great players," dad said. "I bet they have a game going right now."
Hey, give him credit. What else could anyone say in that situation.
The next day was a blur, but I clearly remember Scott McGregor spinning a six-hit shutout to be the shocked Yanks. The most memorable part, excluding John Lowenstein's homer to left off Luis Tiant in the 1-0 victory for the Orioles, was the stark and austere memorial before the game. Bob Sheppard, in his distinctive monotone, spoke about the dead captain while the camera above home plate focused on tight shot of the deserted catcher's box.
Thurman used to squat there.
Then I think I remember a TV announcer – it may have been Chuck Thompson or Brooks Robinson – mention that Munson had been riding a rough 2-for-24 before his death. Recently, in a case of morbid curiosity, I looked it up, and learned that Thurman really struggled during his last month. Through July, he hit just 23-for-91 with one stinking homer and a handful of RBIs, though Martin never moved him from the top of the order. Though he was coming back from an injury and wasn’t catching like he used to, Thurman still hit second and third in the order.
I think about that day a lot. Last spring I was chatting with Jason Giambi in the visitor's clubhouse at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Fla. not with the thought that Reggie, Mickey, Whitey and all of the other Yankees had used that room, but rather that Thurman Munson probably hung his clothes up in one of those stalls.
Later that June, after spending the day chatting with Scott Rolen before his Cardinals werre beaten by the Yankees in the Bronx, I decided to take a tour of the deserted Stadium. With no one else to see or chase me out of what Yankees fans so arrogantly call The Stadium and into twilight of the South Bronx, I toured the old yard. I stood on the mound, walked out to center field where Joe D. and Mickey patrolled, and walked along the warning track into Death Valley. Next, I went into the double-decked bullpens, pocketed a ball that was left behind and strolled over to the adjacent Monument Park.
All of the greats are memorialized there. I rubbed the Babe Ruth plaque like Roger Clemens did prior to getting his 300th win the night before. I read about Lou Gehrig and Miller Huggins and took in the neatly manicured landscape. But there, on the back wall next to Joe McCarthy, was a plaque for "The Captain." I walked over for a closer look and before I could focus on the words, my thoughts took me back to 1979 and that night without baseball in early August.
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – I suppose it’s simple politeness when media types laugh at not-so funny jokes told by athletes in interview sessions. After all, you have two interesting and conflicted variables at work here – media people are not polite and athletes are not funny.
Yes, there are exceptions and we generalize because it’s fun. So it must be pointed out that athletes are funny in the overgrown frat boy kind of way and media types are polite in the way Eddie Haskell was.
Again, we generalize because it helps us prove a point.
Nevertheless, Pedro Martinez is funny. Make that legitimately funny. When it comes to pure comedy, Pedro has it all – timing, delivery, intelligence, material, honesty and the ability to throw Don Zimmer to the grass with nary a shove. If you ask Pedro a question, he’s going to give an unedited answer. That’s rare. For instance, last night Pedro was asked about the revelations about his two former teammates and their presence on the infamous positive test list from 2003. For some reason names keep leaking out from that list one-by-one even though the union should have protected the list.
Moreover, the names on the list have all been players of Dominican descent. Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez are U.S. citizens with family from the Dominican Republic and Sammy Sosa and David Ortiz are Dominicans by birth. So far those are the only names released from the ’03 list.
Don’t think for a second that this was lost on Pedro.
“One thing that really caught my attention is, why is it all Dominicans? Why is it all Dominicans that come out positive? The last one standing might be me,” he said. “I can tell you one thing, I’ve seen Manny throughout his career and Manny has been as steady as you want a player to be.”
OK, that’s not funny. However, when he talked about how after all the Dominicans in baseball are disgraced, they might just come after him is kind of funny in a government-conspiracy kind of way. After all, Pedro, a Dominican, might be 5-foot-11 and 188 pounds. That’s what he claims, but he might be enhancing it.
Nevertheless, Pedro says he’s ready if they come after him.
“I’m not going to say anything because I believe the game should be played clean, but they have my total support. There weren’t the only ones. There were a lot of guys,” he said. “But out of a hundred or something guys why is it just four guys who are all Dominican? That’s a big question to ask. Why is it? I might be the only to be left standing. One of these days they’re going to come and say, ‘Pedro, too.’ I’m going to start stripping my clothes off and show people that I never had acne on my back. I’m going to start stripping in front of everyone. … If I did use it before they need to give me money back. That shit didn’t work.”
Here's Pedro via The Fightins and via, uh... us:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVXRiZxIWh8&hl=en&fs=1&]
The idea of a ballplayer stripping off his shirt to show off his back as if that’s the proof of drug use is comical. The idea of Pedro doing that with that wry smile of his is even funnier.
Also, when asked about the acquisition of Cliff Lee, Pedro flashed a wry smile and talked about how Ruben Amaro got the team another, "herky-jerky lefty..."
Herky-jerky? That's gold!
But even that wasn’t the best part.
The best part came when Pedro was asked about the controversy surrounding Omar Minaya and Tony Bernazard from his former team the Mets. There, Pedro pled ignorance and dropped a subtle line that probably the guys who have written about the Phillies for a few years understood.
And when he said it, a few of us lost it.
The line:
“I was never part of any back-and-forth with anybody. I never have. The person who I probably got into an argument with one time was Joe Kerrigan and that was in the best year I ever had.”
Yep, Joe Kerrigan. The same Joe Kerrigan who was the pitching coach for the Expos, Red Sox, Phillies and now Pirates. The same Joe Kerrigan who quit the Phillies after two seasons when he got into a publicized fight with Brett Myers in the clubhouse before a game, and witnesses say he also was punched in the face by a relief pitcher in 2004.
Bring up Joe Kerrigan’s name with players who know him and you’ll get sarcastic remarks like, “Yeah, there’s a positive guy.” Or, when he went out to the mound to talk to a pitcher during a game against the Phillies this season, a player from his days in Philly shouted to the pitcher on the mound, “Don’t listen to him, you won’t learn bleep!”
See, that’s funny.
Imagine that… a guy on the way to a Hall-of-Fame career with three Cy Young Awards who went 41-10 with a 1.90 ERA in his two best seasons in Boston got into a tiff with Kerrigan? Say it isn’t so. Hey, the guy really knows pitching and as far as analysts go, he's baseball geek to the highest order. That's a compliment. But knowing that Pedro argued with him and knowing this years after the fact and it’s no wonder there was nearly a fight with Brett Myers. After all, if Pedro Martinez wasn’t good enough during his days in Boston, it would take a pitching coach with riot gear or a strong jaw to preside over the 2003 and 2004 Phillies.
And indeed, it was pretty funny.