defining moment---or not?

Flags were flying over the Reading grandstand at a game this spring. Last night the R-Phils held a postgame tribute for catcher Lou Marson and shortstop Jason Donald, who are leaving to take part in the Beijing Olympics.

For the Phillies, yesterday's late afternoon game with the Braves could have been a defining moment in a couple of ways--except that this team never does defining moments. Instead, they just keep going. You had to like the match-up of Cole Hamels vs. Mike Hampton, pitching for the first time in forever. Hamels cruised through three while the Phils got an early 3-run lead. Then in the 4th, Hamels went blooie, giving up 9 runs, in part because of two costly fielding errors, including a wild one by Hamels himself.

The FOX broadcasters all but proclaimed the game over, till the bottom of the 5th that is, when the Phillies strung together some hits to make it 9-5, then 9-7. Then, with two on, pinchhitter extraordinaire Gregg Dobbs came to the plate and smacked a three-run homer into the right upper deck to put the Phils up 10-9. Both bullpens held the score at that through 8. Then it was Lights Out time and it took Brad Lidge just 12 pitches to retire the Braves in the 9th---for his 23rd save in 23 tries. Dobbs now leads the majors with 20 pinch hits this season.

Gotta love the irony. Hamels, golden in several losses when the offense has been non-existent, was out of the game for the offensive explosion. The win went instead to Adam Eaton, who pitched in relief.

getting boring fast

Brandon Watson 'covers' the plate coming in to score for the 'Pigs.

Last night the Phillies again wasted a sterling pitching performance, this one by Kyle Kendrick, who went six and gave up just one run, a solo shot to the Braves' Brian McCann. But from Jimmy Rollins on down, the offense was asleep, mustering just three hits off rookie Jair Jurjens, whom they batted around the last time the two teams met. Since the All-Star break, the Phillies are batting .234; since June 1, .243. Where, oh where is Chase Utley? The game got out of hand in the 9th when Brad Lidge, with the score 1-0, came in and mayhem ensued. McCann hit another homer, this time a grand slam. Unlike the Mets, though, the Braves do not pimp.

phils squander first

Pat Burrell at bat during the March exhibition game at Coca-Cola Park. It seems almost an age ago.

Another series loss, this time to the Mets and this time it puts the Phillies in second in the East. Game 1: Santana was dominant for eight innings while Blanton muddled in his Phillies debut. But in the 9th the Phillies pounced on the Mets' bullpen, which was without Billy Wagner, to the tune of 6 runs. Phillies win 8-6.

Game 2: Myers was shaky in his return and the Phils again allowed Maine to master them. In the 6th, Madson gives up a 3-run bomb and that's that. Postgame, Myers said he could have gone 9. Excuse me, but my eyes are rolling.

Game 3: Moyer pitched 7 innings of 1-run, 2-hit ball all in vain. In the 8th Romero gave up the two runs that gave the Mets the 3-1 win. Phils' offense again missing against the over-rated Perez. Jimmy Rollins was not in the game, benched by Charlie Manuel for being late. Jimmy is putting Charlie in an untenable position--and being very unJimmylike. Are the 2008 Phillies morphing into the 2007 Mets? Ya gotta wonder.

camp day at the ballpark

Jason Jaramillo at bat today in game two at Coca-Cola Park. The everyday catcher, Jaramillo DH'd in this game with the Durham Bulls, the triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.

I took my mother this afternoon to the second game of a doubleheader at Coca-Cola Park. The first game, a continuation of yesterday's game (suspended because of rain) was won by the Bulls, though the 'Pigs came close in the 9th to pulling it out. The second, a seven-inning affair, was all 'Pigs. Starter Les Walrond, on a roll of late, threw a 4-hit shutout and the 'Pigs offense put together two runs, more than enough for the win. It was Camp Day and the official attendance was about 9500. By game two, though, most of the kid campers were gone. It was maybe a couple thousand people, sitting in the sun and enjoying baseball on a day of suddenly-bearable humidity.

a little happ-ening

It was too sticky at last night's IronPigs game for photos. Here instead, a misty spider's web.

J.A. Happ started for the 'Pigs, against the visiting Durham Bulls. After giving up a 2-run homer in the first, Happ settled in and was sterling. The 'Pigs got a run in the 1st, then added 3 more. Happ faltered in the 6th, giving up another run, but battled through the inning. Ennis and Swindle came on in relief to hold the score at 4-3 for another win for the IronPigs. Some 8500 fans were on hand to watch.

we would have played for nothing

I wonder how many of the old stars featured in this delightful book bought into its somewhat romantic title. Included in this, the second volume of the Baseball Oral History Project, are Ralph Branca, Bill Rigney, Duke Snider, Robin Roberts, Carl Erskine, Whitey Ford, Lew Burdette, Harmon Killebrew, Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, and Billy Williams. Some of these players have familiar (to me, that is) stories, others not so much. All are told in their own words, which makes for interesting reading. Pitcher Lew Burdette explains how he and teammate Warren Spahn decided that "if you get the reputation that you don't walk anybody, like Greg Maddux does, you don't have to throw strikes. They swing at anything." Whitey Ford recounts a story about sitting with Mickey Mantle in the Mick's high-priced Manhattan restaurant and watching a woman come in with four kids for hamburgers. Mantle says to Ford that she's going to be shocked when the bill comes, and sure enough, when it did, the woman was visibly taken aback. At which point, Mantle went over to the table, announced that they were the 10,00th customer and the tab was on the house.

I don't know if interviewer Fay Vincent asked about Jackie Robinson but Robinson features large in many reminiscences, for what he meant to baseball and beyond. Carl Erskine, who in 1960 had a child born with Downs syndrome, provides some of the most poignant comments. It was thanks to Jackie Robinson, he says, that children like his, now have far different lives than in the past. Robinson, he says, was responsible for changing American society from "rejection to inclusion, from spectator to participant." A good book, a good series: check it out.

tuning out

It's simply too hot and humid to follow the Phillies anymore. Despite Eaton, despite Myers, it's the offense that has been the big problem all season. I've finally snapped. Watching the team underperform has become just too frustrating. I need a break. Maybe when the weather is cooler, or at least less humid, I'll be able to focus again.

genji turns 1000, anne turns 100

What I found out yesterday: Genji monogatari (Tale of Genji) turns 1000 this year. Hail to Murasaki Shikibu and the Shining One! What I learned this morning: Anne of Green Gables celebrates its 100th. Cheers for Lucy Maud Montgomery and her famous heroine! Time for a couple of rereads. What else is there to do in the oppressive heat and humidity prevailing on the East Coast?

Limeport Stadium yesterday celebrated its 75th anniversary with a day of baseball festivities. It ended with an old-time baseball game, circa late 1800's. The local Lehigh Valley team beat the visiting New Yorkers 5-1. Fitting.

The little I caught of yesterday's game between the Phillies and Marlins was dispiriting. Each time the Phillies took a slim lead, Kyle Kendrick gave up a multiple-run homer to the Fish. The Phillies had numerous scoring opportunities but the situational hitting continues to be abysmal.

moyer makes it 10

full throttle---
cicadas, cicadas, cicadas
morning to night

Ten straight wins over the Marlins, that is, for Jamie Moyer. Last night's 4-2 win also got contributions from Ryan Howard (HR 29) and Geoff Jenkins, with a mammoth homer to the deepest part of the cavernous park down there in steamy Florida and an RBI single. He said in the postgame show that he'd been working on his swing during the break. Keep it up, Geoff!

It's hot and sticky here in eastern Pennsylvania, too. The cicadas are filling the air with the sounds of summer.

big joe's bluegrass blog

It's oppressively humid here: my excuse for a wandering mind. That, however, has led me to Joe Blanton's sweet blog. The last entry had to deal with trade rumors, which Blanton says he's has been dealing with for the past three seasons. He also says that he basically leaves the rumors to his dad, who scours the Web for them. I hope dad isn't too dismayed by some of the puerile rantings from the blogosphere about this trade. If Blanton is writing this blog himself, he's doing a good job. He's got a real voice and comes across as an easy-going down-home guy. Sometime soon I'll go back and read the Japan bits more thoroughly. Having lived in Tokyo for 3+ years and Japan for almost 20, I love reading outsiders' takes. Good luck to Big Joe in Philadelphia!

http://joeblanton.mlblogs.com/

happ near-perfect

A tremendous thunderstorm delayed last night's first game for the IronPigs by about two hours, but gave way to this rainbow. You can't see it here but it was a double rainbow.

Off of two impressive starts last week in Philadelphia, lefty J.A. Happ last night continued to make his push for a spot in the Phillies starting rotation. He pitched the final seven innings against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in a game suspended earlier this season by rain. Happ retired all but one of the batters he faced, striking out 12 and walking just one. Of his 102 pitches, 71 were thrown for strikes. Yo, front office, what about it?

IronPigs relief pitchers R. J. Swindle and Steve Green have been named to the Canadian Olympic baseball team and will be heading soon for Beijing. Kudos to both!

blanton for cardenas, outman, and spencer

The Phillies yesterday traded infielder Adrian Cardenas (single A), LHP Josh Outman (double A), and outfielder Matt Spencer (single A) for A's starter Joe Blanton. Add Blanton to the list of starting pitchers (Myers and Eaton) with steep losing records. (However does this team have one of the better ERA's in the NL?) Who knows about Blanton? I was hoping to see Cardenas, a hot prospect who can really rake, later this season at double-A Reading. Outman, it was speculated, might have ended up this year in the Phillies bullpen. I confess to knowing nothing about Spencer and shall just wish him well. With Chase Utley at 2nd, Cardenas, a second baseman, was no doubt eventually out of here, but I was still hoping that the recent trade rumors were just that. Bye-bye, Adrian and the splendidly-named Outman.

too long, too late

One thing for sure in last night's All-Star game, the ball was not juiced. You could question that in the Home Run Derby but not last night. There was lots of odd drama in the game but in the end it started too late and went on much too long. Six innings too long, to be exact. To me, the best part, as in all All-Star games, were the player introductions. While the reserves lined up along the field were shot with an odd lens that made them all look like Sharpei, the starters took their spots on the field with their Hall of Fame counterparts. That was very cool and very well done. I had feared some sappy baseball moment but it was all very cool. Take 3rd base: Brooks Robinson, Mike Schmidt, George Brett, and Wade Boggs (of the flowing hair) were joined by Chipper Jones and Alex Rodriguez, future Hall of Famers themselves. Pretty impressive.

The NL took a 2-0 lead, then Edinson Volquez of all pitchers gave up a 2-run homer to J.D. Drew, on several cities' list as a least favorite. The NL regained the lead, then Mets closer Billy Wagner, in to get one out, lit up the NY talk radio phone lines when he blew it in the 8th. That set up the tie and a marathon night for Phillies closer Brad Lidge. Lidge warmed up for the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th innings and when he finally got in was not lights out. He had already thrown by most estimates about 100 pitches warming up. Thanks, Billy, Clint, et al. If Lidge is fried the rest of the season, we will be bitter. I fell in and out of sleep from the 10th inning on and was totally astounded to wake and hear that Lidge had lost it in the 15th. How could he even be in the game?

Alex Rodriguez, on the other hand, had split as soon as he was taken out of the game. Sure, lots of other players left early but they weren't Yankees. Give Dan Uggla a big hug, willya? The poor guy had a horror of a night, with 3 K's and a GIDP at the plate and 3 errors in the field. The NY fans were taunting him at one point with chants of "hit it to Uggla." So much for Josh Hamilton's performance the night before. Last night he got chants of "junkie". But the worst was reserved for Jonathan Papelbon, who had had the temerity to say that he deserved to close the game for the AL. Yankee fans weren't having any of that. The Red Sox players got booed from the get-go but there was venom in the boos aimed at Papelbon. Earlier in the day his pregnant wife had been verbally threatened during the parade up 6th Avenue. When Papelbon finally made an appearance, in the 8th, the stadium rang with chants of 'overrated.' A real NY moment.

In the early goings it was a surprisingly sweet evening. Yankee Stadium is simply "the house that Ruth built" and in the end like no other baseball venue. The first time I went to Yankee Stadium I saw a young Jim Thome playing with the Indians. That was the game in which David Wells wore a Yankees cap that had belonged to Babe Ruth. (Once noticed, Wells was forced to replace it.) Also, I attended my only postgame press conference ever, at the stadium, when Irabu was with the Yanks. Best of all, I was there the night that Pedro Martinez, then a Red Sox, K'd 18 Yankees in what was a fab game for all but Yankee fans.

I don't know what commentary was more tedious: Buck and McCarver on TV or Campbell and Shulman on radio. At least I could mute the TV coverage.

congrats to marson and donald

Congratulations to Lou Marson and Jason Donald, both of the Reading Phillies, on being named to the U.S. men's baseball team at the Summer Olympics this August in Beijing. Marson is a catcher and Donald a shortstop. Good going, guys!

Tedious All-Star

After 15 innings, no one was left in the stands to applaud or boo JD Drew as he picked up the MVP award and an ugly gas-guzzler. What a tedious, boring game it was with inane commentary throughout. At least Lincecum got to skip it all, lying in the hospital with the flu.

bombs away

When I told my mother what Chase Utley said last night during the Home Run Derby introductions, she burst into laughter and said, "Good for him." Utley's name was greeted with a chorus of boos--from classless Mets fans, no doubt--at Yankee Stadium. "Boo?" said our man. "[Bleep] you." That cracked up Dan Uggla, standing next to Utley. Too bad, though, that Utley was miked and the delay was not working. Or was the comment allowed by ESPN? After all, ESPN cut away from most of Utley's at-bats to an interview by Erin Andrews with David Wright on 'catching' the Phillies. (Now there's a pair that look way too much alike.) I confess that I heard Utley and assumed he had said 'thank you'. Once the comment was You-Tubed, I'm sure the T-shirt was already in the works. Boo to the Mets fans! If something similar had happened in Philadelphia, the national media would still be having the vapors.

As it turned out, it was quite a derby. Josh Hamilton blew everyone away, then didn't win. Poor Justin Mourneau. There was also much too much of little kids running around with bottles of water and even at one point going up to Hamilton at the plate with a ball to sign. Then there was the weird suitcase thing that Edinson Volquez (the guy Hamilton was traded for) deposited on home plate for him. I watched Utley hit (just 5), then wandered off to do things. I did though see most of Hamilton's majestic 28, hit in his first round. The 71-year-old coach who tossed to him was priceless. Had to agree, too, with Joe Morgan that Hamilton should have been hitting many of his bombs using the special gold ball, which would have benefited select Boys and Girls Clubs. But he went meekly on #10. A pity.

View from the Box

Duchscherer pitched a stellar game vs the Angels yesterday but sadly, Street blew the save and the Angels won, 4-3. Such a shame to waste a great effort by Duke. Hopefully he'll get to pitch an inning at the All Stars.

espn blows futures game/phillies in first

At the ridiculous time of 12:30 today, I sat down to watch the Futures game, just about my favorite event of the All-Star celebration, and was immediately plunged into an I-heart-NY fest, with endless shots of Yankee Stadium new and old, the city, etc. Gary Thorne and Steve Phillips did their usual slick, superficial, blowhard coverage. The USA line-up was never even given thanks to a long commercial break. Thorne started off by calling Carlos Carrasco, the World's starting pitcher, Chris Carrasco. Despite a slobbering introduction of Fernando Martinez, the Mets center field prospect who has spent lots of this season on the DL, many players from both teams got nothing. The guys were too busy yakking with Brian Cashman, as if he didn't get enough air time already, and some front office guy from the Brewers--or cutting away to Erin Andrews in the dugout. Then Peter Gammons, yawn, another fount of misinformation, joined the booth. Little attention was given to most of the players or the game. Instead it was the usual ESPN flavor-of-the-month hype. Maybe sometime ESPN would consider getting someone who actually cares about the minors to be in the booth. Just a thought. I mean, it's an exhibition game. How about putting the players not the talking heads on show?

At 2, I signed off to listen to a live two-hour radio broadcast by the Dalai Lama, who was speaking to the public today at Lehigh University. If I had been able to get tickets for the speech, I would have missed the babbling from NY.

And I did miss almost all of the Phillies game, tuning in just past 4, and just missing Burrell's 3-run homer, followed by a Feliz solo shot, which put the Phils up 6-2 in the 8th. What does Cole Hamels have to do to get a win?! Final: 6-3. It means the Phillies go into the All-Star break in first place in the NL East. Yay, team! Go, Phillies!

eaton stinks it up again

The problem with Adam Eaton is that when he's bad he's truly awful and when he's good he's barely mediocre. And did I mention a tendency to come up small in big situations? Which is what he did in Monday's awful outing against the Mets, a team he owns. Which is what he did yesterday against the Diamondbacks and a toothless Randy Johnson. By the end of the 4th inning, the D'backs were up 10-2, having scored eight on a rally started by a Randy Johnson (ohmigod) double. That was after Eaton had walked the back-up catcher, who hadn't had a hit in weeks, on four pitches. Get rid of the bum.

This morning I read about a possible trade for lefty reliever Brian Fuentes, but the Rockies want Carlos Carrasco or Lou Marson in return. I wouldn't give up either for a starting pitcher, especially not for the one without a head in Toronto or the one without a heart in Seattle.

A's Take Advantage of Angel Fatigue

The air was weirdly warm and the sky overcast from the area fires. It was a great night at the Mac. The Angels had a tough night against Texas before coming here and the A's took advantage. Garland needed to go at least 7 innings because the Angels' relievers were fatigued but the A's got to him early, piling on the runs. It was interesting to watch the bullpen - no one was going to stand up to bail Garland out. Gallagher, the guy we got from the Harden trade, pitched very well and teammie, Murton made some excellent plays in left field. Perhaps Beane did have good reason to trade away Harden for these guys. The winning game was topped off by an excellent fireworks display.