Ruben Amaro on the subtleties of roster construction

Ruben: "Where is it written that a baseball team has to have a bullpen? Why not have our starters throw 128 pitches in meaningless April games? Lee wanted to stay in the game. That's good enough for me!"

Of course it was Ryne Sandberg who left Cliff Lee in last night's loss to the Braves, not RAJ. But the speculation on not really needing a pen seems apt, since the Fightins don't have one.


What is it with managers and veteran pitchers, anyway? If one of these oldheads wants to stay in a game, as many pitches as he may have thrown, and no matter how unimportant the game, the manager (undermining his own authority?) will do it. Why? It's not like there's some carryover effect, in which we are now guaranteed a kickass performance the next time Cliff pitches.

"He's earned it" is the usual rationale. Well, no. There's too much emotion in the mix for it to be the pitcher's call.

Chase Utley wants to be your best man

It'll cost you $450 to propose to your beloved at a Phillies' game this year. Considering the quality of the team (yes, Ruben, major league clubs really do need bullpens), there are probably better venues in which to pop the question. Jack in the Box comes to mind.

 

In any case, should you be determined to risk rejection of all your life's hopes in front of 30,000 strangers, I'd suggest that for $450 Chase Utley should agree to be your best man, Larry Andersen should offer toasts at the reception, and new TV announcer and solid citizen Jamie Moyer should agree to be godfather of any children issuing from the union.

 

For another $4000, I understand Chase will agree to be father of your kids (with your wife's written consent, which should be easy to obtain), so your lil sluggers have a better shot at MLB careers. Hell of a return on your investment if it works out. 

 

 

The most expensive ballpark for proposing is, not surprisingly, Dodger Stadium, where it'll run you $2500. No verification on rumor that this includes a lap dance with Tommy Lasorda (sorry).

Darwin and the Mets fan

Have finally figured out how the evolution of man came to pass. First there were small mammals, like chipmunks and moles. Then there were somewhat larger, somewhat more intelligent mammals, such as foxes and wolves. All was good.

Then, tragically, evolution hit a rut, and the Mets fan came to occupy dark corners of the northeastern US. The collective IQ of the world fell precipitously, and weeping and gnashing of teeth were heard everywhere. But God, in His mercy, soon prompted a resumption of evolutionary progress, and Modern Man, with a soul and an intellect, arose.

The Mets fans booed him, of course.

Philadelphia-a baseball or a football town?

There's been some controversy over whether Philadelphia is a "baseball town" or a "football town". Some guy named "guapo", in a Baseball Think Factory discusion of whether Boston is a baseball town (you have to be a true helmet-head to think otherwise), does a nice job in looking at various cities' loyalties.


This is how guapo sees it:

Anaheim: Disney town

Atlanta: Football town

Phoenix: Basketball town

Baltimore: Football town

Boston: Baseball town

Chicago: Basketball town

Cincinnati: Baseball town

Cleveland: Football town

Dallas: Football town

Denver: Football town

Detroit: Hockey town

Miami: Football town

Houston: Football town

Kansas City: Football town

Los Angeles: Basketball town

Milwaukee: Baseball town

Minneapolis: Hockey town

New York: Basketball town

Oakland: Football town

Philadelphia: Football town

Pittsburgh: Football town

San Diego: Baseball town

San Francisco: Football town

Seattle: Football town

St. Louis: Baseball town

Tampa: Football town

Toronto: Hockey town

Washington: Football town


Now, being Philadelphia born and bred, I can only weigh in on my city, although I think SF is more of a baseball town than guapo would claim. As to whether we're more partial to baseball or football, I can honestly say: Nether.

Philadelphia's favorite sport, a (well-informed) cynic would say, is to dump on the athletes it claims to love. It is sick, I tell you. Sick, sick, sick! An awful lot of fans seem to have a better time dumping on the "bums" when they lose than they have fun with winning teams, which, in all honesty, have been all too rare here. And there always has to be a scapegoat: Think, Von Hayes, Tom Bladon, and Norm Snead, for the Phillies, Flyers, and Eagles respectively.

And the guys who get it the worst are those from Philly themselves, like Del Ennis, who was a hell of a player for the Phils in the fifties. And Dick Allen, not from here but a guy with HOF talent, was essentially booed out of town.


For the region overall I guess the Eagles are number one-these are dumb, violent times and people enjoy their dumb, violent sport. Where I live, in Delaware County, I think the Phillies (and maybe the Flyers too) are bigger than the Eagles. I'm basing this on bumper stickers, clothes, etc. seen on the denizens of my fair county, or their vehicles.

My personal preference is for Australian Rules Football, or, in a pinch, New Zealand RF. No, of course baseball's my first love. It is the great American sport. The NFL, as I've written elsewhere, isn't a sport at all.

Tim Lincecum-virtually hairless

My man Timmy Lincecum-with short hair! Tim with short hair is as disconcerting, as, I don't know, John Wayne with dreads. But I guess I'll get used to it. (It's all totally innocent-just a man crush!)

Anyway, BASEBALL IS ALMOST HERE! As we all know, the year begins on Opening Day!


Let Timmy Smoke!, as they say in the Bay Area-blazing fastballs, that is, not the stuff that got him in trouble.

Not sure it was a good move for Timmy, by the by, to appear on the cover of High Times. Just sayin'. But I guess it's good for a player to be known for drugs that aren't PED's.

Fenway at 100

The Yankees visit the Red Sox tonight as Fenway Park celebrates its 100th anniversary. I hear the Yanks' gift will be a 1/8th size model of the Titanic, which had a similar launch, also in April 1912.

Meanwhile, the Soxaholix grieve the Sox' 4-8 start, with yet another Titanic analogy. But, you know, there's really nothing wrong with the Sox that better pitching, hitting, and fielding wouldn't fix.


I guess I should say better managing, too, as Bobby Valentine is having his own set of issues, which are pretty much predictable, given his "quirky" personality.


UPDATE: Charlie Brown's favorite player, Joe Shlabotnik, never played for Boston, but he really should have.

Utley on the half shell

Sign seen outside Delaware County, PA sporting goods store yesterday:

                                                            All Utley half off



Which makes me think of a few whimsical notions of what that sign could portend. Is Chase half the man he used to be? Half the player? Has his enormous fan base lost half its interest in him? (He does have one apparently good knee, so, you could call say half of his allotment of his legs are functional at present).

Anyway, I doubt the answer to the first question is yes-Chase is a nice guy, if a bit overly secretive. But the answer to the second question looks like a sure "yes"-his WAR last year was 3.6, almost exactly half his 2009 peak WAR of 7.3. That '09 figure is HOF-pace, but even half of it is a damned good number. Freddie Galvis won't give the Phils that, assuming the team doesn't make a move for another second baseman.


Speaking of going halfsies: I wish the team had moved Utley from second to first a few years ago, as it seemed to be toying with doing (Chase occasionally used to fill in there.) That might've preserved his health, and the club could've moved the now falling-fast Ryan Howard at peak value, and avoided signing Ryan to that albatross of a long-term deal.

Is Manny Ramirez a HOF'er? (the shortest blog post ever)

Yes.

The rumors of Dominic's Brown's death are premature

Funny piece by "wet luzinski" at the Good Phight about Dominic Brown's struggles and how fast people are writing him off- Bang the Dom Slowly: Domonic Brown's Baseball Obituary.

Yes, Dominic is totally lost right now-he doesn't know what his stance is, where the ball is coming from, or maybe even his own name. And yes, he did poorly in winter ball, and in his (few) PA's with the Phils last year. But Dom is an uber-prospect for a reason-he can hit. And he is just 23 years old.


Late last year, Amaro and Manuel probably figured that keeping Dom on the bench in Philly was better than having him "prove" he could hit AAA pitching-an already settled question. Sure, this is not the typical strategy, and maybe it backfired here. But Brown will be fine. It might be a different story if he was 27. He may need a few months at LV to re-establish his swing, and identity, though.

Nyjer Morgan is my hero

All that personality, and the NL's lowest OPS (among qualifiers), .634?

What more could you ask for? The Nats sure seem to draw this type of player.


Then again, "character guy" Raul Ibanez is 43rd, among 73 qualifiers in the senior circuit, at .779. People are talking about Raulllll! as if he's had a good year, when it's just somewhat less miserable than you'd expect for a corner OF, since his second half has been a good deal better than the first, and because Raul is now older than infield dirt. But damn, what a good guy!

The soft bigotry of low expectations, I'd call it.

So that explains it!

Dr. Boli tells us why the Bucs really, really suck:

Under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Pittsburgh Pirates are required to hire players who are really bad at baseball.

Tony the whiner

Redleg Nation on Tony LaRussa and the recent unpleasantness between the Reds and Cards:

I love this,  from ESPN’s story on the brawl: “La Russa wasn’t happy with Phillips’ comment and mentioned it to Reds general manager Walt Jocketty, who worked with him in St. Louis.”

Let me translate that for you: “LaRussa wasn’t happy with being called a whiner, so he went and whined to Walt Jocketty.”

Red Sox renovations

Boston club plans to return Fenway to 1912 conditions.

Pres. Taft, supported by a platform of reinforced concrete, will throw out this year's first pitch.

Taft's bitter rival Teddy Roosevelt will curry favor with the fans by leading a chorus of "Tessie" during the 7th inning stretch.

Jayson Werth, funnyman

Phillies' soon to be free agent outfielder Jayson Werth fields a bunch of questions, on MMA (ugh), his new beard (cool), and how his hometown of Springfield, IL is like Homer Simpson's fictional Springfield. (Actually, having watched the Simpsons for so long, the fictional Springfield seems more real than local Springfield, PA).

Anyway, Jayson's a fun and likable guy, whom we all should try to get to know, since he soon will be very, very rich, assuming his 2010 season is anything like the last few impressive ones, and maybe even if it isn't.

Favorite Yogiism

Yes, I love the numbers of the sport...but I also love the look of the game-the geometric precision of the layout of the diamond, the sheer speed of fastballs, the grace of a Cole Hamels delivery-and the game's personalities.

Baseball has always been home to out-sized personalities, whether of an ugly sort-think Ty Cobb or Rogers Hornsby-or lovable-think Babe Ruth, or Yogi Berra.

Yogi was famous for "malaprops", as it's often said, but what he actually did is reduce the language to its most direct form. "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." "You can't think and hit at the same time." Direct, and true.

Plus, of course, like Lincoln (another deep thinker), a lot of what's been attributed to Berra he never actually uttered. Yogi even "wrote" a book called "I Really Didn't Say Everything I Said!", which is a fun read, by the way.

So Berra may never have actually said the following, but it's so perfect, I've got to quote it: When told Dublin had elected its first Jewish Mayor (Robert Briscoe, in 1956), Berra said, "Only in America!".

Thus extolling truths about America, as every good American should, even when America's not actually involved.