Weekends are busy times for me, and as such, I find myself needing to catchup a bit here after a weekend packed with stuff to blog about.

Red Sox Sweep!

Most important of the weekend events was yesterday's completion of a sweep against the hapless Rangers. Boston came back from early deficits in the first three of those games, making for comebacks in 9 of their 14 wins so far! Timely hitting, some clutch jack action from Tek and Manny, plus surges from Lugo and Pedroia, and solid play from fill-ins Casey and Lowrie, were the stories with in the story. Most importantly, the unearthing of the Ortiz jersey from Yanker Stadium II has unearthed Papi's bat, as well. Ortiz had 10 RBI over the series, including 5 on Friday when he had a grand slam. His batting average was at .077 when the garment was recovered. Since then he is batting .322!

Manny Hits #496

One of those comeback wins was courtesy of Manny Ramirez who cranked a 2 run shot in the 8th inning of Saturday's game. The score was tied at the time and the lead held. Manny was ejected from Sunday's game in the 2nd for arguing a called third strike. He was scheduled to have a day off Monday and, even though he had most of Sunday off anyway, he did indeed ride the pine yesterday.

Hello, Kettle? This is Pot...

Only an idiot would have a guy with a 100 MPH fastball as a middle reliever. That was the latest bit of "wisdom" from Son-of-a-Steinbrenner, commonly known as Hank. Well, not really the latest, because he back peddled considerably the next day. Still, who exactly is the idiot he was referring to? Cashman, the guy who got Joba Chamberlain in the first place. Joe Torre who managed him last year, the year of the "Joba Rule"? Surely not Joe Girardi?

Can you identify the true idiot in this group?

Phils Majors and Minors

So, the Phillies managed to avoid the sweep from the Mets and, last night, finally figured out how to outscore the Rockies. The biggest story from the weekend though, the Iron Pigs game that I attended on Friday night. Boy, does the Phillies AAA team suck, or what? They got beaten 8 - 3, but that score makes the game seem a little less like the one-sided affair that it was. Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania is a great place to watch a ball game and both I and my step-daughter enjoyed the beautiful weather and post-game fireworks immensely. I have a little bit of post-game eye strain, however, from trying to identify the young prospects that the Phils are honing in Lehigh Valley. I couldn't see him.

Labels: baseball, Iron Pigs, Mets, Phillies, Rangers, Red Sox, Rockies, Yankers

Home runs by Utley, Burrell, Howard, and Coste were the prime examples of what the Phillies thought about Huston's pitching in yesterday's rout.

This sums it up well:








Looking forward to this Met's series.

Labels: Astros, baseball, Mets, Phillies

The current buzz seems to indicate that Johan Santana will be traded before Spring Training and that the current front runner is the Mets. The Yankers and Red Sox are still in the picture, but aside from not wanting the Sox to lay out too much for the Cy Young winner, I find myself torn. It appears my choices (not that they are rally mine to make) are either the Sox get him and lose Ellsbury, the Yankees get him and the Sox face him, or the Mets get him and the Phillies have to face him.

No really great option there.

I suppose that if I were asked to rank them, I'd put losing Ellsbury over letting the Mets get him, but I'd rather the Mets get him than the Yankers. All I need is to have to listen to the already annoying Yanker fans preen over their newest star acquisition. In both cases where Santana ends up not with the Sox, my real fear is not what he'll do when he pitches against my teams, but what his presence on either the Mets or Yankers would do for their overall record as the 2008 season progresses.

Of course, I can't expect the Sox to go the extra mile to keep him from the Mets. I do hope that the idea of keeping him from the Yankers is on Theo's mind. Maybe I'm daft, but in the end I still think I'd be happier seeing Ellsbury in center that I would seeing Johan on the mound in Boston.

Labels: baseball, Ellsbury, Mets, Phillies, Red Sox, Santana, Yankers

For the second time in the last month and the third time this season, the Phillies swept the Mets. This most recent drubbing of the NL East leading team by its close runner up was highlighted by some outstanding play, some horrid play, and some foul play.

The outstanding play was, of course, the Phillies. In all three games, the Phils came from behind to win out on the strength of their offense. The horrid play, at least in game three, came from the Mets middle infield, who recorded 5 error. The foul play cam in the stands at Shea, where during game two, wearing a Phillies gear landed numerous fans in fist throwing brawls with the disgruntled supporters of New York's second best baseball club.

While I can certainly not surprised by the acrimony that the visiting teams supporters experienced (New Yorkers are only known for their brotherly love immediately after tragedies), it still seems very out of place. The Mets have no true rivalry with the Phillies. This is the closest that the Phils have been to passing the Mets in years. And even with the sweep, the Phils are still 3 1/2 games behind the Mets. Rather than the emotions of the Met fans being based in any true fear of being overtaken, I believe that the reaction of those idiots who resorted to violence is instead the byproduct of the culture that surrounds New York sports fans. They simply don't know any better.

Isn't it funny how the Mets fans feel threatened while holding a 3 1/2 game lead, while the Yanker fans insist that their 4 1/2 game deficit is not at all insurmountable. I, for one, don't think Mets have any more chance of losing the NL East than the Yankers have of winning the AL East.

Labels: baseball, fan, Mets, Phillies, photoshop, stupid, Yankers

Great googly-moogly! What a week for the Phillies, huh? Four wins over the division leading Mets have pulled the Phils within 2 in the the NL East! Two games, my friends!

And what a set of games! Especially games two, three and four. On Tuesday, Ryan Howard clubbed a tenth inning two-run, walk-off homer in the tenth. Yesterday's game ended on an interference call against Marlon Anderson that not only kept the tying run from counting, but garnished the game ending out. Today, after losing a 5 run lead and finding themselves down 10 to 8, the Phils scored 1 in the eighth and 2 in the ninth, including a walk-off hit by Chase Utley to finish the broom job.

The star studded Mets could simply not deal with the red-hot offense of the Phils. Outscoring New York 27 to 26 in the series, the Phils have placed them selves on the brink of a division lead as they head to Florida to face the cellar dwelling Marlins while the Mets move on to the always dangerous Atlanta Braves.

Could it be that my dream of a Sox/Phils Series isn't quite dashed like I'd thought? I know my Red Sox looked like crappola this week, getting swept themselves by the Yankers. But they still have a 5 game lead in the AL East and I'm hoping they are not capable of the titanic slump they'd need to screw themselves out of both the division and the wild card. (They are the Red Sox, though.)

Nonetheless, I must be positive. I cannot let myself be pessimistic. Sure, the possibility of my two favorite teams facing each other in the World Series is still ridiculously slim. But the sheer madness of the thought is too much to ignore. The feeling of looking at all those folks (mostly Yanker fans with a spattering of Met fans, too) and being able to say; "Hey, whose two-favorite teams are in the big show?" Or possibly, "Who's got taste? Oh, yeah! IT'S ME!!!!"

To dream a dream!

Labels: Atlanta, baseball, Marlins, Mets, Phillies, Yankers

Don't you think that sometimes players wish they had the option of vetoing photos taken during games?

Labels: baseball, funny, Mets, Ortiz, photoshop, Red Sox, White Sox