Mike Radano Joins The Parade

From Mike Radano, the South Jersey Courier Post's beat guy:

Milton Bradley took a shot at the Park and again, what can be done.

Bradley broke his bat on a home run to left. He threw his bat in disgust and then realized what a "(expletive deleted) joke" CBP is.

True or not - and I'm not picking a fight with swordsman like some other beat guys are rumored to have done - this Park has a bad reputation aroudn (sic) the league.

Mike Radano is the best.

Friday Night Kites

I don't think any of the previous six games will ever show up as part of "This Week in Phillies History".

They went 1-5 for the week. And it was about as ugly a 1-5 performance as a team could put forth. While the offense was quite bad, scoring only 23 runs, it was the pitching that really took the cake. It takes a real team effort to allow 57 runs in six games. 57 runs!! And Adam Eaton was not even involved in any of the games.

The week was bookended by two of what are hopefully the final few outings of Jaime Moyer's career. Last Saturday he gave up 7 earned runs in 4 innings. He followed that up by giving up "only" 6 earned runs in 4 and 2/3 innings of awfulness tonight. In his first seven starts this year, Moyer had an ERA of 3.00 and it looked like he had gotten the Devil to add on one extra year on the deal they had made in 1998 for his soul. But alas, even the Devil cannot overcome Father Time. Since May 9, Moyer has seen his ERA jump to 5.16, which ranks him 43rd out of the 48 pitchers who have enough innings to qualify (Hey Adam Eaton, is that you still at the bottom of the list?). He has put up monthly ERAs of 6.75 in July and 7.27 in August. Not exactly a good trend.

If Moyer's old age was the only problem the Phillies' pitching staff had, there would probably be quite a few more people optimistic about their playoff chances. Fabio Castro obviously needs to learn what the strike zone is defined as before he tosses another pitch for the Phillies. Tom Gordon, shockingly, is out of gas. The clock seems to have struck midnight for both Alfonseca and Mesa. It is absolutely frightening when I see people looking forward to Eaton's return (FYI: Eaton's line for his "rehab" start for AA Reading - 2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER. Can't wait to see him back with the big club).

So what do the Phillies do now? Wait. Wait until the offseason and put forth a plan for the future of the franchise. It is time for the Phillies to stop with the one year patch ups and really start to build a team. Is Brett Myers a starter or a reliever? Are they comfortable with Michael Bourn and Shane Victorino in the same outfield? Will Ryan Howard's body hold up until he reaches free agency? If not, why bother discussing the idea of buying out his arbitration years? Will this team ever find someone to replace Scott Rolen?

It's late and I'm babbling. I just don't think that the current Phillies team is going to be able to weather the storm until Hamels comes back and Utley is truly healthy. At least it will allow a lot of people to dedicate all of their attention to the Eagles season.

Avalon

I'm going to Avalon for the weekend. Mark will be here solo. And lucky for him he doesn't need to go on trips to go to the beach since he has a beach 4 blocks from his apartment.

Predictions-

Phils sweep Padres
Eagles lose 27-13; Spikes goes down for the season
Michael Vick gets raped by a dog as ironic punishment
I get sunburn, but not too bad

Me vs. Marcus Hayes Continued

Allegedly, Marcus Hayes left the following comment on the blog Philadelphia Will Do regarding my blog post here which contains his email to me regarding my love of nerd stats.

Numberheads,

Just letting you blogicians know:
No longer will you, or anyone else, be afforded the privilege (burden?) of corresponding with me. When I reply to an individual it is intended to be a confidential response. Since I can't trust you, I assume I can't trust anyone.
It is not meant to be posted on anyone's blog, and certainly not on a for-profit entity of a direct competitor.
So, no more responses. Can't trust you, so don't bother writing.
But then, if you hold my replies in such low esteem, why bother writing?
Of course, this gives many of you more time for your World of Warcraft RPG endeavors.
Happy gaming.
Hope the eczema clears up.
M

Now, there is zero proof that Marcus Hayes wrote this. I hope he did, for his sake, because it's sort of entertaining and would actually be an improvement for him. I will reply here to certain elements of the above-

"Just letting you blogicians know:
No longer will you, or anyone else, be afforded the privilege (burden?) of corresponding with me."

You call what you wrote to me correspondence? You attacked me for believing in something different from you; something that makes a lot of sense. Are you Catholic by chance, Marcus? 16th century Catholic? I thought so.

"When I reply to an individual it is intended to be a confidential response."

And I would have kept it that way if.. oh wait, no I wouldn't have.

"Of course, this gives many of you more time for your World of Warcraft RPG endeavors."

I play Hearts of Iron II. It's a WWII simulation.

"Hope the eczema clears up."

It's doing very well, thank you.

Again, I have my doubts that Marcus Hayes wrote that comment on Philadelphia Will Do. But I could see him writing something similar to it. What I'd rather him write is something like this-

"You're right, nerds. I am guilty of being yet another sportswriter who practices lazy journalism. Please forgive me. And while I may not totally understand your love of numbers, facts, and reality, I hope you one day will be able to accept my love of pointless posturing, subjectivity, and self-aggrandizing attitude. Cheers."

Game Day

Unfortunately, I must leave my guardpost and visit the outside world, which means I have to cut this riveting analysis short. Pat Burrell is my hero.

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I don't think Fabio Castro is going to make it as a major league pitcher. But there is always professional poker.

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Good news: Castro has a one hitter through three. Bad news: It has taken him 53 pitches to get there, 29 of which have been balls.

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Castro walks the bases loaded, but fortunately he walked them for the pitcher. It only took 6 pitches to get Billingsley to strike out. Through two innings, Castro has struck out three, walked three, and given up no hits. Thrown 42 pitches, 22 of which have been balls.

I ask you, Cole Who?

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I would compare Fabio Castro's control to Lindsay Lohan's. They're both a bit wild. He may walk ten batters today.

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I don't have the sound on, so maybe there was a better explanation, but Sarge's Key to the Game is "By winning series, you get into the postseason"

1. That isn't a key to the game. Winning the series is a goal.

2. I don't know what that sentence means.

I'm hoping the Dodgers are hung over today.

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Will Russell Branyan put a ball into play?

Will Ryan Howard continue his Russell Branyan impersonation?

The long awaited return of Fabio Castro to Philadelphia.

All this and more on today's Game Day Blog of the Phillies-Dodgers matchup.

Keep Your Chin Up

Listen to this handsome fella. Even without Jeremiah Trotter, the Eagles might be able to do "it".

Take aback Trotter

In a move shocking to people who are still shocked by the things the Eagles' front office does, and Jeremiah Trotter, middle linebacker Jeremiah Trotter was released today. Wow, how many times can they screw this guy over?

I feel conflicted about the decision. First off, I must admit that I drink the midnight green Kool-Aid; unlike any other Philly team, I generally am willing to trust the Eagles' personnel decisions. They may lack a Super Bowl win, but they've also won at least one playoff game every year this decade except 2005. That's impressive.

Okay, on to my mind-blowing analysis. Trotter was not very good last season. For one, he can't play pass defense at all. Secondly, and more importantly, the Eagles had severe problems stopping runs up the middle, which was also the fault of their mediocre defensive tackles. But Trotter's increasing immobility has to shoulder some of the blame for giving up so many 5 and 6 yard runs up the gut. And in pursuit, forget it; he's as worthless as the penis on a priest. The only reason it statistically looks like they had a half-decent run D last year is that running outside on them was very hard, even with the deficient Dhani Jones out there giving himself very few chances to strum his air guitar.

But, like I said, it wasn't all his fault last year. It's very difficult to play MLB when your d-tackles are consistently being blocked back into your operating area. There is a symbiotic relationship between the 2 positions unlike any other on the defense. Actually, I would almost call it parasitic- the middle LB feeds off of the success of the DT's in tying up blockers. So while Trotter is no longer the best man for the job, does anyone really think Takeo Spikes or whoever they move to the middle is going to be a superb replacement if Mike Patterson, Broderick Bunkley and company don't get their shit together against the run? Because no one should.

Why not simply keep and demote Trotter? I'm sure he would have hated that, but with an injury to Spikes always looming they now have no experienced backups. Even though the Eagles are notoriously frugal, keeping Trotter and his not-exorbitant 2 million dollar salary around as insurance was probably a better move.

Sabreboy gets a response from Marcus Hayes

Here is his reply email followed by my rebuttal to his statements. (Pictured here- the Phillie Phanatic obviously preparing to eat a baby. I couldn't find a pic of Mr. Hayes.)
___________________________________________________________________________________
Get a grip, sabreboy.
Burrell is paid to produce runs, not get on base. Period. Any season with fewer than 110 RBI is a flat-out failure. He's not paid $13 million to walk. He misses strikes, he slumps, he tries to hit home runs. He is mediocre, at best, at the job to which he is assigned.
Soriano is overrated. Carlos Lee is an RBI machine. I don't know what your problem is with Ramirez, who is arguably the best offensive 3B in the NL since 2003.
OBP and OPS are geek numbers, especially for run-producers. I'd rather have my 3-4-5 guys drive the best strike they see rather than wait for the perfect pitch and jog down the baseline.
Sabremetrics are the bastion of wannabes who never could quite figure out which hand the mitt went on, a false industry created and fueled by people whose association with the game always will be vicarious, and, frankly, pathetic.
Offensively, scoring runs and driving runs in matter in baseball. Everything else follows.
That's it.
Ask any player.
_____________________________________________________________________________________

We're both busy people so I'll make this quick. I'm not expecting a reply, so I'll say now that this was a fun little exchange.

"Any season with fewer than 110 RBI is a flat-out failure."

The oft-loathed (not by me) Bobby Abreu may end up with 110 RBI this year; do you think he's having a better season than Derek Jeter?

Stan Musial averaged 104 RBI per 162 games played for his career, which is coincidentally the same as Pat Burrell averages. Obviously I don't think Burrell is as good as Musial, but your statement is totally false.

"He's not paid $13 million to walk."

Hey, I wish he could hit 45 home runs a year too. But he can't. So why fault him for not being something he'll never be? What he is is a player who is excellent at not making outs. While that alone is not worth $13 million, it's a great attribute to have.

"He misses strikes, he slumps, he tries to hit home runs"

Are you talking about Ryan Howard? He's the guy who has 147 K's in 104 games. Yet I'd hardly say he's having a bad year.

"Carlos Lee is an RBI machine"

He does get quite a few RBI, but since RBI is a stat dependent on so many other factors, I tend to not care.

"I don't know what your problem is with Ramirez, who is arguably the best offensive 3B in the NL since 2003."

I agree with this, since Miguel Cabrera played in the outfield for a few seasons. My point was that Ramirez is not a much better batter than Burrell.

"I'd rather have my 3-4-5 guys drive the best strike they see rather than wait for the perfect pitch and jog down the baseline."

Mike Schmidt made an okay career out of waiting for the perfect pitch. But since he didn't have many 110+ RBI seasons (just 5 in 18 seasons), you likely think he was overrated.

"Sabremetrics are the bastion of wannabes who never could quite figure out which hand the mitt went on, a false industry created and fueled by people whose association with the game always will be vicarious, and, frankly, pathetic."

Of course you realize many people say the same about sports writing.

Have you considered that sabermetrics aren't designed to ruin the game but to enhance the understanding of it? Sabermetrics and the traditional modes of scouting can live together in analytic harmony. And claiming that sabermetric stats are bunk because of the people who created them is like claiming TV is a worthless invention because Philo Farnsworth was a farmer, not a scientist.

The anti-intellectualism demonstrated regularly by you and most of your writing peers, refusing to even consider why new ways of thinking about baseball are appropriate, contributes to your ever-quickening slide into obsolescence. Enjoy.

"Offensively, scoring runs and driving runs in matter in baseball. Everything else follows."

According to your logic (or complete lack of it) the Phillies lead the NL in runs scored because they lead the league in RBI. Do you see why that is crazy?

And "everything else follows" is completely wrong. Stats like OBP, OPS, VORP, and WARP help explain, better than stats like batting average and RBI, why the players on teams like the Phillies create a lot of runs. RBI and Runs Scored follow.

"Ask any player."

Right, because players are the only authority on their respective sports. That's why so many of them make such great GM's when they leave the game.