Phinally Philly

Just like last season, MLB has brought out the Stars & Stripes hats for all major league teams to wear for a few occasions this season.

The league will wear these hats on Memorial Day, July 4th, and most likely September 11th.

This promotion ties in nicely with the Phillies because of their red, white, and blue color scheme, but it looks like crap on most of the other teams out there.

Last year, that hats were blue, but this year they switched the color to red with the flag taking up the inside of the logo. I really like how the hat looks. I’m glad that the teams only wear them a few times a year, but it is nice to see the league do some things to recognize certain holidays. And it’s not even an American thing. The Toronto Blue Jays will also be wearing a hat like this, but with the Canadian flag instead of the American flag.

There is talk of a hideous looking jersey being thrown out there as well, but I don’t think that will happen. Read the rest of this entry »

The Phillies have finally done the right thing and sent Park packing for the bullpen. J.A. Happ is going to be put into the rotation in place of Chan Ho Park.

Phillies beat reporter Todd Zolecki has the story here.

All I can say is it’s about damn time. Park has looked like shit recently and Happ has been doing extremely well out of the bullpen. Park will take Happ’s spot in the bullpen for now. He has plenty of experience out of the ‘pen, so it’s just a matter of him getting in the right frame of ind and pitching well out of the bullpen.

Happ has been screwed out of starts so many times, he deserves this. He would have started Saturday night, but the team needed him in relief. He now gets to start on one of the biggest stages in baseball, Yankee Stadium on Saturday.

It’s all on Happ now. People, including myself, have been calling for him to get the start, but he now has to prove that he can handle himself in the starting rotation.

Good luck kid. Maybe now people will finally learn that even know your name says different, it’s said as “Jay.”

-KK

Here’s some Tuesday morning news sure to make you smile. Just in case you missed the Dodgers/Mets game last night (and many of you probably did considering it ended about 2:30 am ET) here’s a concise recap:

Ryan Church misses third on what would have been the go-ahead run in the top of the 11th, the Dodgers winning run scores on an error breaking up what could have been an inning-ending double play, the Mets make FIVE errors, and lose.

I couldn’t write the script up any better myself.

In what should come as no surprise, Ribbie has been named player of the week for the Senior Circuit, according to this press release by the Phillies.

Over the past week, Ibanez has 12 RBIs and 9 runs scored, to go along with his 4 HRs and 13 hits. This past week’s barrage has lifted his average to .357 on the season so far. His offense is a big reason why the Phillies are 20-16 right now.

His defense has also been a big factor. He has gotten to balls in the outfield that Pat the Bat could only dream about.

Ruben Amaro deserves a pat on the back for this signing, but I’m sure Pat Gillick also played a big part in getting iBanez to come to Philly.

So, congrats to Raul and hopefully some other Phillies can garner some consideration for the award.

-KK

As I was leaving Thursday afternoon’s Business Persons Special at CBP with the Phillies losing in extra innings to the Manny-less Dodgers, I was thinking, where the hell are our WFC?

The Phillies were sitting at 16-16 after losing 2 of 3 to Los Angeles. The starting pitching had been a mess all season and the team was struggling mightily at home. They just couldn’t seem to get it together. There are a few different reasons for this, in my opinion.

1. Still riding the hangover from 2008. I’ll admit, I’ve had a hard time coming down from the high that was the 2008 season, but as a fan, I’m allowed to never come down from that. As professional baseball players, these guys need to forget about what happened last season and start getting their shit together for 2009.   Read the rest of this entry »

(Guest post brought to you by Ryan Parmer)

Around 2 pm Saturday afternoon, I decided to take the trip down to Nationals Park with two of my friends to catch the second half of the day night double header. Of course I had heard that Phillies nation was represented pretty well at the games so far in the series, but I was not aware of just how well we traveled for this series until I got there. Here are some things I saw that we as fans should be proud of…

It actually started before I got to the stadium, we took the Metro (their form of the subway) to the game and on it there was an overwhelming majority of Phillies fans. Except for the cleanliness of the Metro system, I almost felt I was on my way to a game in Philly, Nats fans almost seemed intimidated. Once there, I had to make a quick bathroom stop and there was a Phillies fan in there asking where the Nationals fans were, the only one he found was an employee at the stadium. I thought he was being sarcastic, but seriously when I looked, it was all Phillies fans around me. Our 400 level section was filled with Phillies fans, easily out numbering the Nationals fans in the section. Read the rest of this entry »

The Phils new GM has Raul to thank for making him look like a certifiable genius. (Photo cred: SeattlePI.com)

Cheer: OF Raul Ibanez

If you told me that the 36-year old would be having a good season I wouldn’t be too surprised, but a .363 batting average, 13 homers (2 in the first game today against the Nats **UPDATE** Raul just hit ANOTHER one in the night game. That’s 3 home runs today) and 35 RBIs is just ridiculous. Ibanez probably won’t keep this up all season long, but his emergence has taken a lot of pressure off the other big bats in the lineup. He’s also living up to the hype in terms of being able to hit lefties, batting .324 with 2 home runs and 7 RBIs. His strikeout to walk ratio against left-handers could be better (3 BB to 14 K), but that’s just nitpicking at this point.

The person most happy with Ibanez’s play? GM Ruben Amaro Jr., who is looking like a genius right now for picking Ibanez over Pat Burrell in left (.250, 1, 17, and a neck injury.) If you asked me who the Phillies MVP would be as of right now no question it would be Raaaaauuuullllll.

Read the rest of this entry »

I know some of the people out there have commented previously that they don’t care about the Phillies going to the White House, but I do. I’ve been waitng for a Philly team to be invited to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave for 23 years.  It’s finally happened.

The Fightins’ finally met with the big guy today at the White House, prior to their game against the “Natinals” tonight in Washington.

The Phillies presented President Obama with a gold trimmed Phillies jersey with number 44, since he is the 44th POTUS. Obama made many comments about baseball and the White Sox in general, but he has always been a White Sox fan and never hides that fact. He alos made sure to put in a joke about the Cubbies. He said that the Phillies’ title gives the Cubs a chance to end their century long run of not winning the World Series.

President Obama seemed to get along nicely with all of the players. He knew the stories of a few of them and mentioned some of them by name. He even got to chat a bit with his good friend Gary Matthews.

All in all, it was good to finally see the Phillies get the recognition that they deserve by getting the tradtional champions invite to the White House. I would have preferred it to have happened during W’s time in office, considering how big of a fan of baseball in general he is. I know he watched as many games as he could. Circumstances prevetnted that though, and everything kept getting pushed back for different reasons. 

Maybe this will finally get last season out of their heads and they can move forward with 2009. They seem to just be plodding along so far and need to get their heads out of their asses and start playing winning baseball again.

-KK

(Original Post Date: March 5, 2009)

…neither have I.

It hasn’t happened. Four months after winning the World Series, the Phillies still have yet to be invited to the White House, an honor typically reserved for the World Series Champions.

The 2007 champion Boston Red Sox went to the White House on February 27, 2008

The 2006 champion St. Louis Cardinals went to the White House on January 26, 2007

It’s now March 5, 2009 and the 2008 World Series Champions still have yet to visit the White House. What’s up with that?

Home Run Derby also noticed something else. The Phillies haven’t appeared on a Wheaties box.

Read the rest of this entry »

(Guest post brought to you by Ryan Parmer)

World Phuckin’ Champions! Seems like just yesterday I was in the middle of an epic man-pile with my college roommates, and about to get up and run the 2 miles down to city hall from Temple U to celebrate after Brad Lidge threw that nasty 0-2 slider past Eric Hinske to cap an amazing World Series run. It was a run that saw Matt Stairs become a legend on a homerun that may still be flying. Carlos Ruiz hit one of the shortest game winning balls I’ve ever seen. Brett Myers set a record, at the plate, becoming the first pitcher ever to have 3 hits in an NLCS game. Brett also had a 9 pitch walk against C.C. Sabathia in game 2 of the NLDS which led to Shane Victorino’s grand slam and had us saying C.C.- ya later to the most dominant pitcher down the stretch in the N.L. last year. It was a run that saw Joe Blanton hit a homerun in a World Series game, giving him the nickname “Joe the Lumber”. Cole Hamels become a big game pitcher during that run, and won the World Series MVP honor, the third Phillie to win some type of MVP award in 3 years. Ryan Madson was bringin it at 97 mph as the bridge to Lidge, who was still perfect. The run was magical, and unforgettable to those who witnessed it all.

After the post season last year, everyone here fell in love with every player on that team, they were heroes, and deserved all the love they got. Read the rest of this entry »