Chase Utley is in camp and doing his bland-best Derek Jeter impersonation. The media is again all over him for it, as if it really matters whether Utley bares his soul to the media or the fans. Does it mean he is less of a player? Last month one of the local media lowlifes attacked Roy Halladay for giving the media, and by extension the fans, little or nothing. Is the media an extension of the fans? Not quite the way I look at it but maybe others think just that.
Monday's presser with the starting five highlighted the 'lack of ego' among these guys. They don't buy into the hype and they don't seek publicity. All they want to do is play the games and win. So long as they are 'character' guys, I don't care what they do off the field. It's what they do on it that counts. All the rest is fluff. Interesting at times, amusing at times, dismaying at times--but fluff. What I have loved about these Phillies is that, despite their star status, they are more about team than about self-aggrandizement.
Covering spring training must be tough work if media members are already whining, before full-squad workouts even start, about Chase Utley's reticence. The only bad thing about Utley not talking much is that we don't get many chances to hear is voice, which has got to be the sexiest in baseball.
Interesting how the Albert Pujols' negotiations seem to vindicate Ruben Amaro and the front office for locking up Ryan Howard. They saw this day as a possibility, appreciated what they had in Howard, and went for cost certainty. By the end of Howard's contract, it may well look like a bargain. In baseball terms, that is. As for Pujols, could it be DC here he comes?
