Phils take 2 out of 3 from the Nats - The Phightins' again showed that they intend on remaining a factor in the National League Wild Card chase after taking the last two games of their weekend series against the Nats. The highlight of the series was the 11-2 woodshed beating on Saturday, which was led by Ryan Howard's moon shot that almost landed in Ashburn Alley, as well as Cole Hamels' six strong innings. By the way, if you haven't noticed, Hamels is really starting to develop into a top of the rotation pitcher, thank you.
In typical Philly fashion, the Phils allowed Sunday's game to go from laugher to nailbiter, as they held on for a 12-10 win after jumping out to an early 10-1 lead. Lest anyone forget Cardinal Rule #10 of being a Philly Sports Phan: You can never get too comfortable with any lead. (For further evidence, please see Monday's win against the Cubs.)
The Phils now head out to Wrigley with a new face in the arsenal for a four game set with the Cubbies, which leads me to....
Phils Trade for Jamie Moyer - After giving away David Bell, Corey Lidle, Rheal Cormier, and Bobby Abreu for marginal prospects, the Phils finally showed that they DO actually care about trying to make the postseason by trading for veteran - and I do mean VETERAN - left handed starter, Jamie Moyer. The pickup of the 43 year old Moyer could really solidfy the starting rotation, which has really shown some life upon the return of Wolfie and the Wife Beater. Clearly, Moyer is a much more viable option than rookie Scott Mathieson as a 5th starter to help the Phils chase down the Reds for the Wild Card. At the very least, I'm sure my buddies George, Vinny and Voegs will be happy to see that the Phils brought in a fellow St. Joe's Hawk.
As for Mathieson, he appears to have the ability to eventually become a decent starting pitcher in this league, but it is pretty clear that he isn't ready for prime time and shouldn't be learning on the job for a team that is trying to make the postseason. Hopefully, Mathieson goes back to Triple A Scranton, learns how to throw a decent breaking pitch, and has his bobble head doll show up on Dwight Shrute's desk.
Birds bring in Stephen Davis for a visit - I don't know what's worse, our baseball team trading for a 43 year old pitcher, or the Eagles bringing in a 32 year old running back with a truck load of mileage on his two bad knees. For my money, I'd rather have the junk-balling lefty, no matter how old he is. Anyhow, this is another bargain basement move by the Birds that annoys me to no end. Would it have killed them to overpay a little by spending some of their precious cap space to sign a guy like Najeh (aka "The Dumper) Davenport in the offseason or trade for Kevan Barlow? Mark my words, when B West is out for three games with a twisted ankle, Moats has lost Big Red's confidence due to fumble-itis and Buck is gone for the season after blowing out his knee during pre-game introductions, the Birds are going to curse their thriftiness.
Gagne Still Unsigned - With training camp less than a month away, Clarkie is going to realize one of these days that his second best player is still unsigned and he doesn't have enough cap space to sign him. Gotta love, Clarkie. I smell a forced trade of a serviceable player for a 7th round pick to open enough cap space to sign Gags (which, by the way, is one of the worst hockey nick names of all time.) Of course, this problem could be solved if the organ-I-zation would force Captain Primeau to retire, but I've grown tired of beating that drum.
Bobby Abreu: Absolute Stud - If you haven't noticed, the huge five game Red Sox/Yankees series ended with out Bobby Abreu making a single out. (For that matter, I don't think Sox got Johnny Damon or Jeter out either.) Of course, I'm kidding. He actually batted .500 with .629 on base percentage. Who knew Abroo had this level of clutch hitting in him? I suppose the new surroundings and different colored pin stripes are suiting him quite well.
I thought he'd rank right there with A-Rod as a shrinking violet in the face of Fenway pressure, but I stand corrected. I'm big enough to admit when I'm wrong and this weekend surely proved this statement as incorrect:
I still think he'll be a dog in big spots for the Yanks. As I told the people in Boston when I was up there for the Phils trip to Bean Town last month, "you guys want the Yankees to trade for Abreu. If you think A-Rod is dog in the clutch, wait until you see Abreu." I can't wait until the Yanks head up to Fenway and Abreu comes up against Papelbon in a big spot and comes up small. Any other result will infuriate me.
Well, color me infuriated. I would like to personally thank Bobby for proving to us that he underachieved all those years for the Phightins. (Yes, I'm bitter.)
Tiger wins the PGA - Once again, Tiger showed he is the absolute best non-team sports athlete in the World. No one on the tour is even close to Tiger when he is bringing his "B" game, let alone his "A" game. My favorite talk radio host, Colin Cowherd of ESPN radio made a great point Monday on his show. A big reason Tiger dominates is because of his superior physical conditioning. He deemed the PGA tour as "Tiger vs. a bunch of lumpy country clubbers." I debated this topic with my buddy Mister Nascar and he argued that the physical conditioning of a golfer plays no factor in how well he plays. I disagree 100%. If you think a fat, puffy guy like Mickelson is better suited to hit a big shot on the 16th hole of a final round after walking through the heat for 3 and 3/4's of a tournament as opposed to a physical specimen like Tiger, than you need to get your head checked. How does it not play a factor? If Lefty would just hire a trainer and work his ass off for an entire offseason, he might be a worthy combatant for Tiger and we might have some real entertainment on our hands next April at Augusta.
Summerslam - To cap off my weekend, I dropped by the home of my buddy Sammy (aka, Tagament, Latino Heat) to watch WWE's Summerslam on PPV with him and Big Daddy Chad. The card was pretty uneventful until the 40-something Cactus Jack battled the 50-something Ric Flair in an "I Quit" match. I cannot overstate how much this match made the trip worthwhile. I haven't seen that much blood since the hey day of the Ric Flair/Dusty Rhodes feud of the mid to late 1980's. To my amazement, all the old standby's of the ECW were in play, including a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat, folding tables and chairs, and thumb tacks. In case anyone is interested, Flair pulled out the win. (By the way, if I was in my mid-50's and had to roll myself through a batch of thumb tacks to make a living, I'd demand someone to please put me out of my misery.)
Matt Kenseth wins the GFS Marketplace 400 - It's never a bad day when your favorite driver wins a race when you picked him to win in your fantasy Nascar pool. (By the way, I've now mentioned the PGA, the WWE and Nascar in consecutive topics. To say I have very diverse interests would be the understatement of the year.)
Finally, I want to send my deepest condolences to my very good buddy Vinny and his entire family on the passing of his father, Ray, who died Friday morning after a long, gallant fight against Cancer. Mr. C was a great father and grandfather, he will be missed greatly by all those who had the privilege of knowing him.
I don't want to get all political on you guys, but I implore all of you to please contribute to Cancer related charities. We've all lost too many good people to this horrible disease.
2 comments:
F Bobby.
I like the Moyer signing not just because he was a St. Joe's Hawk, but also mostly because Mathieson was a disaster. Moyer has pitched decent this year but had gotten the worst run support in the AL.
Welcome back to the board, George...One note of caution...did you see his record and ERA away from pitcher friendly Safeco park?
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