Season's Over, Part One

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from the season opener.

The Good: Chase Utley had a nice game at the plate with his first home run and two hits for the day. And he didn't bobble an easy groundball that led to a crucial run like another star player on the team who plays a middle infield position, but will remain nameless.

The Bad: Charlie Manuel continues to make me question why MLB teams have humans managing them and not monkeys. He is probably going to catch a lot of heat for pulling JC Romero for Tom Gordon, but that is one of those situations where he is only right if it works. If Romero stays in and gives up a ton of runs, then he is an idiot for not brining in Gordon. It is too early to stretch these relievers out.

My problem was his decision in the first inning of the first game of the year to have Victorino bunt Rollins over to third with no one out. The only way this decision makes sense is if one of the following is true:

• The Phillies offense is terrible
  
• The Phillies pitching staff is good enough to hold a one run lead for the next eight innings.
• It is 1948 and all the town is buzzing about how Thomas Dewey is going to make a great President.

It just boggles my mind that they would be playing for one run in the home opener in the first inning. The bottom of their order is not exactly Murderer's Row, so the Phillies need to squeeze every bit of offense from Rollins/Victorino/Utley/Howard/Burrell as possible. Sacrificing Victorino to move Utley over to third does not fall into that category.

The Ugly: Tom Gordon and his 135.01 ERA. I really enjoy it for the first week or so when pitchers have to carry around these monstrous ERAs after one or two bad outings. And Gordon was bad. Hopefully he can get one more year out of that arm of his or Brad Lidge has a time machine. Otherwise the last few innings are not going to be pleasant to watch.

---------
Pedro Feliz is going to be the whipping boy this year, at least here. And he did nothing to prove us wrong today, going 0-4 with two strikeouts, a double play, and leaving three guys on base. But hey, he might hit 20 home runs and everyone knows how awesome home runs are!!!

Your 2008 Philadelphia Phillies

It's opening day, so what the fuck, here's a Phillies preview.

They're not winning the division. Hey, if they do win it again, that's great, and it'll be a drunk and happy time if they do. But with the Mets adding the best pitcher in the world to their already good team and the Braves looking like they'll win more than 84 games this year, the Phils are going to be in a massively bloody and gory battle, replete with missing limbs and infected pus-filled wounds, for the division, let alone the Wild Card.

Offensively, they're in very good shape, although it'll be hard to match last season's incredible 892 runs scored unless MLB suddenly allows DH's in the NL. Their 2008 PECOTA projection is 839 runs scored, and who can argue with the mighty PECOTA program? No one. The Phils should have one of the top three offenses in the NL, as they usually do. The loss of Aaron Rowand's offense will be countered by the addition of Geoff Jenkins (vs. RHP anyway) and increased playing time for Jayson Werth. And the loss of Rowand's grit will be countered by the addition of grits to the players' pre-game meal. Also, reports that Pedro Feliz is an upgrade on offense are as inaccurate as Willie Green from 3 point range. He's 32 and has a career OBP of .288. Yeah, he'll hit 25 HR's, but he is not going to push the offense into bold new high-scoring places. But that's okay- healthy seasons from top producers Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Pat Burrell (YES PAT BURRELL), and Jimmy Rollins means a potent offense and plenty of support for the pitching staff.

And the pitching staff is going to need it. Obviously there are high hopes for another great season from Cole Hamels and the return to starting of Brett Myers. But after that, things get buggy. Jamie Moyer is a savvy vet, and old war-horse, and not totally decrepit at 45 but is coming off his worst season since 2004. Kyle Kendrick did an amazing job last year and is fun to prank but will have a hard time duplicating that success now that's he's a known commodity. And Adam Eaton fucking sucks.

In the bullpen, new closer Brad Lidge of course is starting the season on the DL because the Phillies' training staff is on the Mets' payroll (conspiracy theory in development). This leaves the closing duties to Tom Gordon, who was so ineffective last season that he was only the 4th best reliever on the Philadelphia Phillies. JC Romero, he of the 1.24 ERA with the Phils in '07, is as streaky as decent relievers get. Evidence of his streakiness- his career ERA is 4.30, but he's never had a single season with an ERA in the 4's. They're all higher or lower. Expect something a little closer to, but hopefully not higher than, that career ERA number from him this season. Ryan Madson started pitching very well before he got hurt last year; hopefully he used a bookmark so he can easily pick up where he left off. And other than that, the 'pen is full of unproven and below average stuff, like an Old Navy store.

As far as intangibles go, you can expect them to be very good when the Phillies are winning, and very poor when the Phillies are losing. It's frigging sports; teams have fun when they are winning and are miserable when they're losing.

Overall, after last year's amazing run the expectations for the Phillies this season are extremely high. But the reality is they're in a tough division and have a pitching staff of dubious quality. This sums it up- the Mets went out and got Johan Santana; the Phillies went out and got Kris and Anna Benson. Advantage- Mets (unless you're really into bitchy right-wing women with huge racks). Put the questionable pitching together with the Phillies explosive offense, and they're an 87 win team. A few things break right, and they'll win 90.

And that's my final predicition- 90 wins, and the Wild Card spot. Go Phils.

The Return of Bad Willie Green

And its bad, bad willie green

Worst darn shooter that I've ever seen
Badder than stale chow mien
And his shooting does hurt my spleen

While the Sixers have been playing amazing basketball, they have been doing it in spite of our favorite whipping boy Willie Green. His numbers for the last four games:

vs Orlando: 1-9 from the field, 2 points
vs New Jersey: 3-17 (17 shots?!?!), 9 points
vs Boston: 1-7, 4 points
vs Chicago: 4-14, 9 points, 4 turnovers (and the rest of the Sixers only totaled 4 turnovers for the entire game)

Adding these four games together and you get a guy shooting 19%, yet averaging almost 12 shots a game.

Now I will admit, Jim and I weren't exactly standing on top of the mountain, singing Willie's praises in January and February when he was playing the best basketball of his career. But we are here ready to pounce on him as he returns to his patented methods of awfulness. Hopefully he either a)at least gets back to being mediocre or b)the rest of the Sixers are able to overcome his terribleness. I really hope that Willie Green is not the reason the Sixers get bounced out of the playoffs early.

A Sixers Legend

Last Friday at the Sixers/Sonics game, I had to explain to my girlfriend that there is indeed a man who once played for and now works for the Sixers whose legal name is World B. Free. Even after they showed his picture and name on the giant arena video screen during a boring halftime presentation of some award or somesuch, she did not believe such a man existed.

Free had a solid if not spectacular career. He was mostly known for his scoring ability although the man was a bit of a playmaker as well. Even though his best seasons were not in Philadelphia, the Sixers were his first NBA team and therefore have a special place in his heart (according to me). But what else do we know about the man named World B. Free? Very little in my case. So we're done discussing him.

With things occurring like Willie Green lighting things up and Rodney Carney not constantly embarrassing himself on the court, I feel pretty good about the Sixers assembled cast these days, and I feel good about their future too. Iggy is a borderline star, Thaddeus Young continues to give me basketboners, Sam Dalembert no longer takes (many) jump hooks from the top of the key. There are plenty of questions, like "Can Lou Williams take over from Andre Miller and play the point someday?", and "Can Reggie Evans go play somewhere else but leave his rebounding ability behind for some other player who does not have useless, Edward Scissorhands-like hands?" We shall see. The Sixers have not been this exciting to follow in quite some time.

Adam Eaton

People and things that would do better as the Phillies' fifth starter rather than Adam Eaton will-

JD Durbin
Kris Benson, even with his girl first name
62 year old Dock Ellis and a shitload of LSD
The remains of Cory Lidle, if there were any
My cat Sammy
Casper the Friendly Ghost (real one, not the cartoon)
A batting practice machine on medium speed

Please, Adam, go on the DL. And then go away.

L33T Wide Receiver Needed?

Please excuse the nerd speak. There is much buzz in the media and among fans that the Eagles have, to put it mildly, totally fucked up and ruined the upcoming season by not getting a top-flight wide receiver this off-season. All the talk of Randy Moss meetings and Larry Fitzgerald trades has been quieted, with Moss re-signing with the Pats and Fitzgerald apparently content to play for a hapless team that will pay him about 43% of their salary cap number every season until 3 years after his legs fall off. Besides, the Cardinals management, though they are dumbasses, wasn't going to trade their top receiver for Lito Sheppard and draft picks.

Other than Moss, the free agent market for WR's was weak. Bernard Berrian may have looked good based on his 948 yards receiving last year with the Bears, but he's really a slightly above-average receiver who had a ton of passes thrown in his direction last year. The Eagles already have this player; his name is Reggie Brown. Donte Stallworth was talked about, but bringing him and his iffy hamstrings back was obviously not in the cards or in the budget. And if they really do want an injury case, Javon Walker is still available.

The person who is being hurt the most in all of this is Kevin Curtis, who is probably very depressed (or not) about this chatter that the Eagles sorely need WR help. Sure, maybe he'd have loved being the counterpart Wes Welker to Randy Moss in Philly, but that ignores the fact that Curtis had a really good year last year with Reggie Brown lining up on the other side of the field and Donovan McNabb's occasional struggling. He's not a big red-zone target, but he's a fine receiver.

With McNabb back near 100% this year and the cast of receivers they already have, the Eagles could and should be one of the top 10 passing teams in the NFL again. That is unless they lose 1,000 yards in sacks, which could happen. The prospect of their ancient tackles getting hurt and Winston Justice starting against the Giants is far scarier than the possibility they won't add another WR before the season begins.

They got a good corner. They got a pass rusher. It would have been nice if they got a super-duper wide receiver too, but other than Moss there was no one available with the kind of talent worth crippling your salary cap room for. Before everyone writes off the Eagles because they don't have Randy Moss, let's see what happens with the possible trading of Lito and the draft, and get ready for an improved Eagles team in 2008. Improved enough to compete in the hyper-competitive NFC East? We shall see.

Our apologies...

William "Willie" Green, who the hell are you? With the exception of his woeful, vintage performance against Golden State the other night, the man has been largely on fire. He's shooting well, drawing more fouls, and, from possibly inaccurate accounts, is working hard with his staff to bridge the divide in the Democratic party in this tumultuous primary season.

For the year, Willie has his PPS all the way up at 1.11, which if it holds will easily be a career high. Now, before everyone gets out of hand with their "I told you so"'s, the man still cannot pass, defend, or rebound. He is not going to be a better pro the Andre Iguodala, like some famous moron said. But what he is doing for now- providing reliable offense- is extremely important as the Sixers make their run to get swept in the first round of the playoffs.

Sadly, with the Rise of Willie, someone else must take his place as the least-favorite Sixer. Rodney Carney, come on down. You can't shoot, rebound, pass, or stay healthy. Welcome.