Closeout Wednesday

Tonight Cole Hamels will attempt to close out the NLCS for the Phillies and give them an opportunity to defend their 2008 World Series Championship.... Does this worry anyone else but me. Cole is a mental liability and has looked terrible in his last two outings. Luckily enough the Philadelphia bullpen has had some time to recoup but if the phillies are to win this game they need to do three things.

1. Play Small ball
If the Phillies can manufacture runs by getting men on base and working counts it will help. They are facing Vicente Padilla, who does not do well when he is stretched into counts and goes into the mid 90's overall when it comes to pitch count. Get to him fast and early, get foul balls and work "Flortilla" until he makes an early departure and then they can breeze.

2. Ryan Howard

In case you haven't noticed he is the most important man is baseball right now. He has the hottest bat and has really been the strongest rallying cry for this team and this series. If Ryan Howard can come out strong and get some early hits it will help. What has been really beneficial is how Ryan has altered his batting stance. Yes he still has the low crouch but he has lessened the swoop on his swing and has been swinging for doubles (or on occasion legging out triples). A-Rod who... this is Ryan Howards stage and its his time to shine.

3. Carlos Ruiz

I am not talking about his bad (which has been really important so far) I am talking about the way he is working towards an overall game manager. The pitchers trust him and he knows what he is doing. Let him work with Cole and take all the decision making out of his head. Chooch has been the strongest defensive player so far this season and doesn't get the credit he really deserves.

If the Phillies can do all of these things this game will be done early and we will be waiting in the wings to see if the Yankees can get some more calls so we can meet them in the World Series. Best of luck phills and Philadelphians please don't start a huge riot. We should save that for a few weeks.

post to come after the game.

b-chan

What is going on in sports. My 3 strike policy

      Ok I know I have not posted in a while but after the events of last night and in the past week its really time for this nonsense to end. It is a human fact that everyone makes mistakes but sometimes in life there is a point where you have to say enough is enough. If you don't know what I am talking about already I am speaking of the recent debacle that is the mlb playoffs. If I didn't know any better I would swear that baseball was the professional league working with replacement officials. I know there are many rumors about a conspiracy within baseball to help the Yankees succeed and I am not going to touch on this but there has been a lot of foul play going on in baseball. I think that baseball needs to seriously consider taking a look at the way they officiate games and how its is SEVERELY affecting the outcome of games.

      Personally I think that I have come up with a policy that may help baseball with this situation and it is one that the league and the game has had for years and it is the three strike and your out policy. Its easy, take the referee crew and give them three strikes, if as a crew they have three blatant blown calls they should be put on probation. Take their entire work in the playoffs and judge them.

      We all know in baseball that as much as we try this is the Yankees league. They are the most historic franchise in baseball and sometimes they get calls their way. They even said the other day about how because of his placement in baseball and how much he is respected in baseball that Andy Petitte gets away with a blatant balk style pick off move that would ring up any young pitcher in baseball, but because he happens to play for the Yankees that he gets a slide. This and a various amount of other reasons I wish to suggest to Bud Selig and the higher ups in professional baseball to make a change in wither the workings of the way they review calls and also the officiating crews they use in the playoffs. So just like an proposition I now submit into evidence for the proof of the people my case.

Item 1.A - also known as Strike 1 - Phil Cuzzi stares at fair ball.
Date: Oct. 9, 2009 (Game 2: ALDS)



      As you can see from the above video. A left field umpire who has perfect placement to make a clear foul or fair decision on a ball hit by Twins catcher Joe Mauer, blatantly misses a call that directly affected the outcome of the came and essentially the entire 2009 ALDS between the New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins. This video shows inconsequential evidence of a blown call by the officiating crew and could be fixed by the implication of reviewed calls by MLB and their umpiring crews.

STRIKE 1

Item 1.B - also known as Strike 2 - Swisher picked off

      Scott Kazmir, who even though he pitched a horrible game against the Yankees last night had an amazing pick off play early in the game as he sued a slide step to pick off Yankee Nick Swisher. As you can see in the accompanied photo Swishers hand is blocked from tagging the bag due to the strong coverage by Eric Aybar. On this specific play umpire Dale Scott clearly had a strong placement on the call and once again missed a clear out call and gave a blatant to the Yankees.



STRIKE 2

Item 1.C - also known as Strike 3 - Double occupancy of third Base

      In the fifth inning Yankees catcher Jorge Posada was at third base after a fly ball to the outfield. Posada stationed himself between third and home and because of the threat of the throw from the outfield decided to return to third base. This caused a complication because Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano decided to advance on the play and was already stationed on third base. At this time Angels catcher Mike Napoli noticed this mistake and proceeded to tag both men out who were stationed at third creating a double play.... Right? Wrong. As you can see in the attached evidence Napoli clearly tage both men who are not occupying the bag. Yet the third base umpire claimed that only Posada was out because Cano had clearly tagged that bag.... Ladies and gentlemen I submit this piece of photographic evidence to prove my point.

      Both men (neither of whom are occupying the bag) are clearly tagged out by Napoli causing the Yankees another opportunity to get away with an inexplicably bad call.

      So in this instance I submit this as the third strike and there fore a clear and present case of one sided officiating in the favor of the New York Yankees and a blatant case of one sided case of favoritism by the MLB officials.

      Those are my three strikes and Im sticking to them.

STRIKE 3 YOUR OUT..............................................

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      If these three instances do not convince you. Here are two other small instances that may sway you either way.

Item 2.A - The spitball theory.

      Yankees closer Mariano Rivera clearly spits on the baseball after looking to either of his sides to see if the umpires are watching him. It is a clear case of doctoring the ball and therefore cheating


Item 2.B - The Phantom Tag. (conclusion of item 1.B)

      Nick Swisher, the defendant in item 1.B proceeded to advance to third base after a walk to Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. After this there was a sacrifice fly to the outfield. And like it normal protocol Swisher is required to tag on third base before he proceeds to score. In this case after Swisher tags and proceeds home the third base umpire reversed his decision and makes the correct call. (this piece of evidence of the possibility of correct officiating by umpire Tim McClellon).

So in conclusion it is proven in this defensive proposition that correct officiating can be made. (Even though it proceeded another terrible call), it is seen that the umpiring crew assigned to the 2009 ALCS cannot adequately preform their job up to the standard required by MLB. These offenses are all allowed because of the teams in question and the fact that 4 out of the 5 items of evidence are committed during a blowout by the New York Yankees (which was assisted by the terrible play calling).

      So at this time I check these items into evidence and leave it up to the higher courts to decide. And if not leave it up to sports talk radio.

b.chan

Philadelphia is offically a baseball town.

For all of those people in the Philadelphia area that claim that our beloved city is a true football town were recently silenced because of the phillies continued playoff run. With a bit of pre planning the start of the November 1st Eagles / Giants game has been moved from the mid day 4:15 start to the earlier 1 pm start. Just think there is a chance that the Phillies could clinch the World Series just as the Phillies tramp all over the Giants...... O that would be a day.

Phillies Walk Back In Time

If you've lived under a rock that last few days then I will briefly update you to the present state of philadelphia sports. After a drawn out and cold series the Phillies are now preparing to play a shell of their former selves in the NLCS the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Phils are sending out Cole Hamels in game one of the series on Thursday and he will face former Philly and Hamels former farm club teammate Randy Wolf. Randy Wolf will be a part of a 4 man rotation in Los Angeles that will feature another former experiment in Broad Street History, Vicente Padilla.

Fandom will remember these two players by some of the most memorable fan sections in all of 700 level history. The Randy Wolf "Wolfpack" and the Vicente Padilla Flortilla Tortilla. Ah the days of the fan section.

Two Players that had short lived and rather dismal careers in philadelphia will face members of the new ball club that in some cases replaced them. Its funny when I hear these names because after the rotations were announced I glanced over at the Dodgers roster just to refresh myself for water cooler fodder and a couple more philly ties stuck in my mind. We all know about the travels of Larry Bowa after he left the phillis bench, a short stint in New York and his departing as a part of Joe Torres changing of the guard but also another name stuck out to me. Phillies fans should remember Mariano Duncan. Duncan who was drafted by the Dodgers in the early 80's spent some of his most successful years with the Phils in the early 90's. Duncan was a strong utility player on the 93 squad that made it to the series.

It will be interesting how the NLCS will go down but hey no matter what we still have baseball in October so in my mind we have a success.I doubt we will be doubting our passing ups of the Padilla and Wolf contracts but hey stranger things have happened. And god knows if it does happen the radio waves will jump ship once again.

Its funny listening to the radio fodder going on in philadelphia right now. Do not get me wrong I love this city and all of its people but either everyone has amnesia or are just dumb. You hear the same fans screaming like we are on the titanic as it was sinking after the phillies game two loss to the Rockies. Its like were in a one and done situation in this city. No one has patience and for some reason we all think we know exactly what the problem is and how they are the only one that knows how to fix it.

I loved the celebrations going on in the city last year but it seems that for every life long phillies fan 50 more have somehow come out of the woodwork as soon as we get some hardware. It must be tough I don't know how much farther the band wagon can go.

But back to the upcoming series. This team is very beatable and could give us a possibility to go for a back to back title. Then again that is the same thing we said about the Rockies two years ago. Never underestimate a hot team. You never know who will show up any night but I have to say that I feel a lot more optimistic about thing with the quality of small ball this team has been playing lately. Last night was the first time that I saw Ryan Howard swing for contact and not and try to knock the ball into the stratosphere.

Game 1 and 2 in L.A. with two former phillies players as opposition and the statistical chance of Cliff Lee, who has been the biggest shining star for the phillies this year and could get Ruben Amaro mentioned for exec of the year, to start 3 games if it comes to it makes me think the Fightins chances are alot better then last year. Phillies fans just remember. We all lived in those years of terrible baseball and we still wore our caps everyday. So be grateful for what we have right now because the mets have had their locker room cleared out for the last two weeks. so all and all this year is a success. Well just have to see how the series goes.

b. chan