Marty October 4th, 2007
I don’t care what anyone says, Charlie Manuel is a moron. I know the Kendrick was getting into trouble, but he was in less than 3 innings, and we KNOW that we need the starters to go deep. And Kyle Lohse? That worked out really well… giving up a grand slam to a guy with 4 home runs for the season. And Jose Mesa?!?!? Brilliant. Son-of-a-b!tch this sucks.
Marty October 4th, 2007
Cole Hamels pitched a good game yesterday … well, except for that one inning. Take that away and they had a chance. Of course, having the entire top of the order going 0-for-alot didn’t help, either. Come on Phils - we’re still hoping you’ll bring us a World Series!!!
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Now playing: Rachael Yamagata - Worn Me Down
Marty September 5th, 2007
After seeing the box score of today’s game, I’m done. I’m convinced that the Phillies have no shot of going to the playoffs this year, and the reason is simple. It’s also the same reason it’s been for the last two years: relief pitching.
Below is a chart of the Phillies relievers for their last 5 and 10 appearances. Notice anything? How about only 3 of the 7 having respectable ERAs in their last 5, and NO ONE being under 5.68 over their last ten. How can any team expect to win with numbers like that?
Hell, the team has a combined 9.76 / 9.19 ERA for those same periods (okay, it’s hard to count since they weren’t the same games, but still…). That’s just ridiculous. It’s like saying, “Gee, we have to survive 3 more innings using a reliever - are we up by more than 3 runs, just in case?”
Well, the Flyers start in a month, right?
| Pitcher | ER5 | IP5 | ERA5 | ER10 | IP10 | ERA10 |
| Myers | 5 | 6.1 | 7.38 | 7 | 11.1 | 5.68 |
| Gordon | 5 | 4.1 | 10.98 | 11 | 7.2 | 13.75 |
| Alfonseca | 7 | 2.1 | 30.00 | 9 | 2.7 | 30.00 |
| Mesa | 11 | 3.3 | 30.00 | 13 | 7.4 | 15.81 |
| Rosario | 7 | 4.4 | 14.32 | 8 | 11.4 | 6.32 |
| Romero | 1 | 2.4 | 3.75 | 3 | 3.8 | 7.11 |
| Castro | 2 | 7.2 | 2.50 | 6 | 9.2 | 5.87 |
| Geary | 2 | 7.3 | 2.47 | 10 | 12.8 | 7.03 |
| TOTALS | 40 | 36.9 | 9.76 | 67 | 65.6 | 9.19 |
I posted this using the new-ish Adobe Contribute. I made the table in Excel (TONS quicker than HTML), and then simply did an ‘export to blog’. It worked pretty well once I configured it. I might have to consider it for other things in the near future…
Marty February 23rd, 2007
Last night, I got to go out and meet up with some friends from GSI. It’s been a while since I’ve seen the folks from there (with the exception of running into Doug at the Happy Cog open House), so it was good to catch up. Teil, Mike and his girlfriend Katie all came by for some brews and beef (or beets, in Katie’s case).
We had originally made plans to do this the week after Christmas but work schedules, the occasional office fire and other circumstances conspired against us (I blame Bush, as usual). But, finally, we arranged to meet at the The Standard Tap on 2nd and Poplar Streets. Teil had been talking the place up for months, so I was glad to finally get to try it out. To be honest, I liked it.
It’s a great cross between a neighborhood bar and an upscale Center City hang-out. Dark and without pretention, but clean and well-kept. A chalkboard above the medium-sized bar announces what beers are available and provides the menu. A kegerator dominates the backbar, while two hand-pumps are front and center in the bar itself (each offering nice beers: the Troegs Nugget Nectar and a nice ESA that was mighty tasty. The service was pleasingly surly, although they lightened up in later conversations - no small talk to be found at this place. And no TVs either - the whole place is devoid of the ubiquitious bar television scene, forcing people to actually talk to each other, albeit over the widely varying volumes of the eclectic jukebox. And to add another touch, in the main bar room is a wonderful painting of the leaves changing in the fall … over a concrete drainage ditch culvert. You have to like that touch.
I got to try a good number of different beers, too - always a good night in my book. I started with a Sly Fox Dark Lager which was a tasty beer, a little bitter on the initial sip and definitely an American-style dark lager more than a German one. I followed that up with the Appalachian Ale, which was a refreshing German Lager-style that the bartender was reminiscent of a German Pilsner. Despite the odd description, it was a good, tasty and easy-drinking beer. When we had dinner, I enjoyed that previously mentioned ESA who I can’t remember the brewer for the life of me - but it was mighty tasty.
I was a bit surprised by the prices for this place, but the food was fantastic - hanger steaks, tuna steaks ($22), calamari ($8), octopus ($9), bratwurst and sauerkraut ($20), mussels and smelts … not your normal pub fare by any stretch, but all delicious.
Anyway, it was good to see all of the folks from ‘the day’ again and catch up on what was going on at GSI and in general. I won’t share their comments, but it was interesting to hear that the more things change, the more they stay the same. It sounds like some good things are happening over there, which is good to hear - I still wish them well and think that they are really going to make quite a splash.
Teil was telling me about his latest work, on the new Ace Hardware site that they’ve been working on for a while. I had done a lot of the original IA work on it, but when the project lagged for a while, I went on to other things and someone else took over. Visually, I think it’s a great site and definitely incorporates a lot of the things that myself and others in the department were stridently pushing for in terms of usability and accessibility. Be sure to check out the store locater - good stuff.
And Mike and Kate seem to be doing well, too. Mike’s always been a good guy, and it’s great to seem him enjoying the stuff he’s doing there. Now he just needs to get himself either a Nikon D80 or Nikon D200 so that he can become a photography nerd like me and we can talk more photography when we get together.
This is the second time I’ve been able to get out in recent weeks for some beers with friends - it’s seemed like forever since I’ve done so, and now I’ve been able to do it twice in two weeks. Last week, I checked out National Mechanics - my friend Jody helped create the site - which is another bar that has some cool charm to it. Now, I just need to convince my wife she wants to come into the city more often to join me … or at least understand when I’m always later than I say I’ll be.
Marty January 9th, 2007
Can’t you just imagine ‘her’ running in slo-mo down the beach, Baywatch style? Okay, now that I’ve scared you… This might have been one of the scariest broads on Broad St.
Part of the B. Love Strutters group. See more pictures in my B. Love Strutters set.
Marty January 7th, 2007
The Mummers were a week late this year because of the weather, and while I think that the overall mood was somewhat more subdued than in the past, most people were still having a good time.
The B. Love Strutters, my brother-in-laws group, put one a nostalgic show about “Wildwood Days”, complete with the actual Tram car from the Wildwood boardwalk (their surprise guest). At the end of today’s parade, father and son (Mick and Cassidy) shared a moment. I was just lucky enough to catch it.
Marty November 20th, 2006
I won’t pretend that I’m the biggest Eagles fan in all the land - but I have come to enjoy and root for them after being exposed for all of these years. The fact that Andy Reid and the team were doing all of the things that I wanted to see from a good sports franchise - ignoring the whining of players, managing the cap, putting together a TEAM not a group of individuals, recruiting good, solid people. And it was hard to argue with a team that was (for the most part) made up of guys that seemed to stress team instead of the ‘ME’ (besides the obvious exception).
So it was really hard to watch how bad they looked yesterday. Even before Donovan McNabb went down with the career-ending injury, they were struggling on all sides. McNabb is a great quarterback, and goes out and gives everything every week. I have my gripes about him (his avoidance of running, despite his great legs; his lack of touch on a lot of passes), but he’s a good leader and has often come up with something to win a game when it didn’t look like there was anything to come up with.
But lately, both he and Andy Reid have looked lost. Donovan’s touch passing has been worse, and his decision-making has been suspect, at best. Worse, Andy Reid - the architect of 4 straight NFC Championship game appearances, and 1 Super Bowl, has seemed to lose his lustre. Unlike a lot of other, more die-hard, fans, I don’t think Reid needs to go. However, he does need to start looking at what he has to work with and use it more effectively.
First in a (growing) list is that fact that he seems allergic to the run. Consider that their running back - the dynamic Brian Westbrook - is averaging a fantastic 5.2 yards per carry. Even Corell Buckhalter, their backup, is running a respectable 3.9 ypc. In fact, the Eagles have the second best rushing average as a team in the NFL (4.9 ypc). But yet, when it’s crunch time - 3rd and 1, 3rd and 2, etc. - they consistently turn to the pass, often to a missed opportunity. Why aren’t they putting that running ability to use more?
Reid’s inability to change his style to reflect the styles being used against him is concerning. Instead of a more balanced attack to start with, they start and finish with mostly passes, even when the passing game has been keyed on and made almost ineffective. Sure, they get their 1 long play a game, but for the rest of the game they struggle to get even first downs, let alone touchdowns. If it weren’t for the fact that Westbrook is also a heck of a receiver, he would be the most underutilized starting RB in the league.
The evidence was shown yesterday when Donovan went down and Jeff Garcia, who hadn’t played with the starters at all this season, even in practice, had to come in and run the offense. He didn’t do poorly, but you could tell that the lack of reps was there, and even though they were working the running game fairly effectively, they still refused to use it. THAT is what makes for ugly games like the one shown yesterday.
Marty August 15th, 2006
I was born in Delaware, but spent most of my growing up years in SE Pennsylvania. The region - being where it was with Delaware having NO pro sports teams at the time - went mostly with Philly teams, although there were some Baltimore fans thrown into the mix as well. That meant that I followed the Phillies, Flyers and Sixers pretty regularly (well, much less so with the latter, although Dr. J was the man). Strangely, I was a Cowboys fan due to a set of odd circumstances¹, but otherwise I was Philly through and through.
My youth was spent following the classics - Schmidt, Carlton and Luzinski; Clarke, Barber and Lindbergh, Erving, Cunningham and Cheeks. Those were the heydays of Philadelphia sports - the teams were perenially contending, although with only limited Championship success. Between 1974 and 1983, the Philly teams were at or near the top almost all the time:
| Year | Phillies | Flyers | Sixers | Eagles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | - | Won Cup | - | - |
| 1974 | - | Won Cup | - | - |
| 1975 | - | Won Conference | playoffs | - |
| 1976 | Won Division | Lost Conference Finals | Won Conference | - |
| 1977 | Won Division | Lost Conference Finals | Lost Conference Finals | - |
| 1978 | Won Division | Won 1st round | Won 1st Round | Playoffs |
| 1979 | - | Won Conference | Won Conference | Playoffs |
| 1980 | Won World Series | Won 1st Round | Lost Conference Finals | Lost Super Bowl |
| 1981 | Won Division | Playoffs | Won Conference | Playoffs |
| 1982 | - | Playoffs | Won Championship | - |
| 1983 | Won NL | Playoffs | - |
So, since that 1983 World Series appearance by the Phillies - almost 23 years ago, the composite 4 major pro sports teams in this town have gone to the finals only 6 times (Flyers 3, Sixers 1, Phillies 1, Eagles 1) all resulting in losses, meaning that the 76ers 1982-83 World Championship represents the last parade down ol’ Broad St. 23 years, 91 seasons and exactly ZERO championships. Heck, 7 expansion teams (well, 2 expansion and 5 ‘moved’ teams) have won 8 championships in that time.
It’s not just the dirth of championships - it’s the combination of constant teasing, unfallably coming up short and droughts of even winning seasons. The Philly sports fan has learned to exude unbridled enthusiasm mixed with cautious pessimism, invariably leaning toward the former against all reason and history only to be crushed when the final tick of the clock comes down. From the 3 years of almosts of the Eagles NFC Championships to the endless great Flyers teams who choked without a championship (14 years in the playoffs without one), the spirit of the fan is battered and bruised.
We are a passionate fan base, quick to cheer and apt to boo in equal volumes, harsh to players even that we love, evil those those we dislike but hopelessly loyal to even those mediocre players who show us what we want the most - heart. Rod Brind’Amour, Hugh Douglas and now Chase Utley don’t necessarily produce league star numbers but stand loved by Philly fans because ever game was (or is) at 100%, every game important to their very soul, every emotion raw and open to us. We embrace them as one of us even as we push the prima donnas aside as inconsequential at best, or crucify them from the stands at worse. We are sometimes fickle but always full of heart. But we’re also VERY tired.
How long must we suffer through this lack of winning, this utter desperation for a hint of victory. The playoffs seemed assured in all sports only a few years ago - and even then the teams we love (and love to hate) seemed to fail us in the end. When they did make it, they were teasing us, giving us false hope only to leave with with the bitter taste of disappointment again.
Where it will end? No one knows - despite our best efforts to divine a path, a solution, a bit of hope for a roster that doesn’t include 43-year-old castoffs, it hasn’t happened. So, we anesthetize with cheap beer, cheesesteaks and Wing Bowl, and continue the Philly mantra: “Well, next year we’ll be right in the hunt. Maybe.”
Marty June 27th, 2006
On Friday, Phillies pitcher Brett Myers was arrested in Boston for allegedly assaulting his wife on a crowded Boston street. There’s little doubt that he did it - it was in the middle of the street in front of multiple witnesses, but technically he is innocent until proven guilty.
There’s no defending the act. None. Beating your wife - or any women - is always reprehensible. But there are good ways and bad ways to deal with the aftermath of the situation, and the only person who did anything right was the Boston police spokesman when he refused to comment on specifics of the case. From the Phillies’ and Myers’ side of things, they couldn’t have done a worse job at dealing with this. Continue Reading »
Marty June 21st, 2006
I know that it’s early in the season. I know that the Phillies are in the midst of tossing the season down the tubes. And I know that Albert Pujols is injured. But the more I see of Ryan Howard, the more that I like the guy - and think that he might be a major part of the Phillies for some time to come. Continue Reading »
