We now pause from our usual frivolity for some different frivolity.
I've been "nominated" by my fellow fantasy baseball co-owners to live-blog our annual draft so that those not available to be on site can see who's been picked in real time. Apologies to Bill Simmons.
Rule changes are being discussed now. Picks to be posted as they happen ...
Mid-game rally and late gift lift Phils to first win
Well, they gave it a good try, didn't they? Despite their best efforts, the Phillies failed to start the season 0-3, eking out a one-run, 10-inning win against the Nationals this afternoon. Many of their flaws of recent years were on painful display: a horrible outing from the starter, in this case Jamie Moyer; a shaky performance from the closer, in this case Tom Gordon; awful fielding, in this case four errors; and an unacceptable number of men left on base, in this case 22. If not for the Nats' own perpetual haplessness catching up to them after a blessed 3-0 start to their season, the Phils would be winging to Cincinnati with nary a victory in their pocket.
My worry about the good vibes of last September is that they will obscure the team's obvious shortcomings. Am I the only one who worries that the Phillies only barely made it into the playoffs last season? Or that they were escorted meekly out the door by the Rockies? Swagger is all well and good, but Philadelphia is strutting around as if it owns the National League. Pat Gillick didn't do nearly enough last winter to make a 2008 playoff spot a foregone conclusion. Best for Jimmy Rollins & Co. to remember that. S|C
If it's early April, Phillies fans must be getting nervous
Has the second game of the season ever felt so much like a must-win?
That phrase gets thrown around way too much during the course of a season, but for the 2008 Phillies, you can make an argument that Game 2 qualifies:
Okay, it's not a must-win; even I won't go that far. But a lot of people -- fans, the media, the players themselves -- will feel an awful lot better about the 1-1 Phillies than the 0-2 Phillies. S|C
Tags: Phillies, Cole Hamels, Brett Myers
Hurlers torched in Phils' Opening Day loss
It was cold and damp but festive. The beer and the Schmitter were delicious. There was bunting and introduction of rosters and Fogerty playing over the PA system.
It was, in other words, a typical Opening Day at Citizens Bank Park, right down to the mediocre outing by our No. 1 starter and the destruction of our fill-in closer:
Nice to see the Phillies were able to turn that fabled switch on. They just forgot to change the light bulb. S|C
Tags: Phillies, Brett Myers, Tom Gordon
It's here -- it's finally here!
After the long off-season, the boring winter, we have baseball again. I'll be at Citizens Bank Park this afternoon to see how Brett Myers's return to starting goes. And to sample a Schmitter ... or a Tony Luke's roast pork sandwich ... or a Peace A Pizza slice of the game ... hmm. And also, uh, to see what this season's microbrew lineup looks like. Hmm again.
Wait, why am I going to the ballpark today? Oh, right -- there's a ballgame to watch!
Though I'm already getting hungry ... S|C
Tags: Phillies, Citizens Bank Park, Schmitter, Tony Luke's, Peace A Pizza
Greater Philadelphia had a pretty shitty day yesterday.
First it was revealed that that the teenagers whose beating of a Starbucks manager triggered an asthma attack that killed him were simply looking for some sick fun. The victim, the cops said, "was targeted for no reason."
It's the kind of random crime that makes people flinch from urban living and confirms outsiders' perception of Philadephia as a violent, lawless hellhole.
I mean, Jesus Christ, it happend in the middle of the afternoon in a Center City subway station. Maybe those outsiders aren't that far off.
Then last night, a deranged couple used their 1-year-old to keep police at bay on the Walt Whitman Bridge at the height of rush hour. It was the kind of crazy act that makes people flinch from Philadelphia and confirms outsiders' perceptions of the city as an asylum bursting at the seams with inmates.
Maybe those outsiders aren't that far off.
The region needs a win. I hate to say this, but it'd be nice for the civic well being if Villanova could knock off Kansas tonight. S|C
No kidding: The last time I watched an NBA game in its entirety was almost certainly Game 5 of the 2001 NBA finals. The 76ers imploded after that wondrous season, with Pat Croce losing his power struggle with Ed Snider, Billy King unable to fit Allen Iverson's square peg into any of the many round holes he brought in, and a succession of coaches following Larry Brown in and out the door. The rest of pro hoops, meanwhile, has held little interest for me since then -- nobody cares about defense, the league has gotten increasingly thuggish, and no one has been able to combine talent and charisma in any meaningful way since Michael Jordan retired. (Now pardon me while I fetch my cane and my oxygen.)
But now, I'm thinking, it may be time to reinvest in the NBA.
Incredibly, the Sixers have caught fire with a young, hustling, defense-minded team, and powered their way into playoff contention. Last night Andre Miller, one of the guys King was able to secure for Iverson before being shown the door himself, dished an astonishing 18 assists in Philadelphia's hammering of the Bulls, its eighth victory in the last 10 games. With five double-figure scorers and virtually no attitude, the 76ers have become an easy team to like.
The question is: Have they become an easy team to watch? S|C
Tags: 76ers, Andre Miller, Allen Iverson
Here's a little public service announcement for you: I'm going to tell you in one sentence what it took Inquirer TV critic Jonathan Storm an astounding 35-plus column-inches to sputter in today's paper.
Political coverage on television -- and especially on cable -- is marked by naked partisanship and hack reporting that contribute breathtakingly little to the national dialogue we so desperately need but are not getting in these complex times.
Seriously.
Not only did this woefully obvious and completely unnecessary "analysis" make the paper, but Storm somehow neglected to mention that Rick Santorum, one of the unhelpful pundits he cites as contributing to the mindless babble, is on the Inky's payroll. Hell, he should also have thrown Michael Smerconish, who pops up with frequency on MSNBC, under the bus while he was at it. S|C
The Barack Obama commercial I heard on the radio yesterday -- the first Pennsylvania primary ad I've encountered this year -- began conventionally enough. A young woman was speaking to her peers, urging them to vote and let their voices be heard. For a campaign that has been heavily recruiting first-time voters, it was a nice, if expected, pitch.
And then, in the last few seconds, there was Senator Obama himself, speaking at a rally of some sort, raising his voice powerfully among the cheering masses, delivering a message of optimism and hope and opportunity, and sweet fancy Moses, was I getting chills?
Yep.
I was too young to vote for Ronald Reagan, but I can only imagine that his message of the possibility of a greater America, rooted in a belief in ourselves and our inherent goodness, resonated much as Senator Obama's is now. It is an incredibly enticing appeal, and one that I find myself increasingly drawn to. S|C
So my beloved Saint Joseph's Hawks fell in the first round of the NCAA tournament, while Villanova extended its maddeningly inconsistent season with a trip this weekend to the Sweet 16. I suppose I can take some small comfort in the fact that Wildcats fans will have to trek to (shudder) Detroit to enjoy watching their team play. Petty, I know, but I don't feel terrible writing it. S|C
