You know what they say: good hitting beats bad pitching every time (even when you’re Pat Burrell, on some occasions). And thus a second sold-out crowd at Citizen’s Bank Park has to settle for gained ground in the NL East instead of baseball history.
Salon’s Bruce Buschel gets the obligatory Santa Claus reference out of the way before noting that the Phillies’ quest for loss #10,000 is unburdened by charm or sad-sack sentiment.
Philly fans blame no curse, no karmic force, no goat, no Babe, no “No No Nanette.”
They blame only the Phillies — brutal players and brutal managers and brutal owners.
Just the owners here. Even former GM Ed Wade is looking pretty good at this particular moment. Does the guy really deserve to have Jon Heyman name an “award” after him when he acquired seven of the nine who took the field for Philadelphia today, including four All-Stars (Rollins, Hamels, Utley, Howard), an undrafted FA (Ruiz) and a Rule V pick-up (Victorino)? Even “Pat the Bat” is only a disappointment due to sky-high expectations (and their accompanying salary).
I guess I’m hoping that they finish out the sweep and also find a way to win on Monday, as I’ll be there Tuesday to see TBA take on the Dodgers. I’m sure he’ll pitch a stellar six and watch the bullpen lose his lead. Then Mike Lieberthal will win it for the home team with a pinch-hit homer in the 10th (this is where I’m supposed to make the joke about no one being left to see it, right?).
(we already know that Russell Martin will get the start on Yom Kippur)
Ok, I suppose an introduction is in order. I’m Jason Cohen, and my obsessions are the Flyers and Penn State football, then the Phillies and the Eagles, then college hoops in general. I wrote a book about the Austin Ice Bats and used to write a hockey blog (anybody wanna buy a URL?) as well as other online nonsense.
SUNDAY UPDATE: Adam Wainwright, apparently unintimidated by the CBP soundman’s choice of Lindsey Buckingham’s “Trouble,” gets out of a bases-loaded one-out jam. Cards lead 6-0 after six.
And Charlie’s still uncertain about Tuesday’s starter.
As a lifelong Cardinals fan, I can all but guarantee you that the Phillies will have to wait at least one more day to reach that ignominious mark. BTW, I think they could have some fun with this 10,000 loss thing. Market it(and make some cash at the same time) by having either Tool(10,000 Days) or Disturbed(10,000 Fists) play a concert after one of the games. Or, if they want to go retro, get Vh1 to reunite Natalie Merchant and 10,000 Maniacs at Citizens Bank for a one time concert.
Jason,
Re: Ed Wade. Let us not forget that he was the man who wanted to trade Ryan Howard to the Pirates for Kip Wells, the deal only falling through because Wade did not want to part with the $4 million bonus-bust Gavin Floyd. But hey, lets give Wade a bit of credit for not being fleeced by Billy Beane for Chase Utley. In the end, he was just another lackey for the Phillies real shot-caller Dave Montgomery.