Ball On The Ground…my NEW Tony Romo song…

Inspired by General Larry of American Idol fame and the play of one Antonio Ramiro Romo, quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys…

Ball on the ground
Ball on the ground
Lookin’ like a fool with the ball on the ground

Got your mouth turned down,
Tears in your eyes,
Whose fault? Your fault!

Looking like a fool.

When you’re not getting picked, you put the ball on the ground!
Get it up!
Hey, Tony, get the ball off the ground!
Running for your life,
Fumblin’, Stumblin’, looking pretty stupid with the ball on the ground

Get it up! Wipe your eyes!

Hey, Tony, get the ball off the ground!
Looking like a fool with the ball on the ground
Got your mouth turned down,
Tears in your eyes,
Puttin’ that pigskin right on the ground!

Whose fault? Your fault!
Looking like a fool!
Fumblin’, Stumblin’, lookin sad and pathetic with the ball on the ground!

Boom, Uno, Dos, Tres
Looking like a fool with the ball on the ground!

With your mouth turned down,
Tears in your eyes,
Lookin’ like a fool with the ball on the ground,
Lookin like a loser with your butt on the ground!

Someone call the cops on Jimmy Rollins…he is KILLING me.

The Phillies offense needs to apologize to Jamie Moyer.

Buy him a new watch, a car…something. He pitched a gem of a game last night. Two runs…four hits…not to mention the fact that he no hit the club with the best record in the majors for the better part of five innings. He deserved the win.

26.

That is the number of Phillies base runners that were left standing on the bases in impotent frustration.

26.

I don’t care if you are playing the Dodgers or the Nationals. You leave 26 runs out to ROT in the smog filled California night and you don’t deserve to win. The hands of Jimmy Rollins were the most stained with the blood of the fallen. He is becoming quite the Phillies rally killer. Atrocious is too weak an adjective to describe his hitting with runners on base.

I know it’s one loss. I know they won seven straight. I am not jumping off the Delaware Memorial here…but last night’s loss hurt.

Lidge gets us one out away from number eight…then we allow the Dodgers to pick and pick. One RARE error from Pedro Feliz and a misplaced ball to Eithier and I was going to bed at 1:15 AM, tired…and disgusted.

Come on Phills…you have the national spotlight at 4:00 this afternoon. Blanton goes against Hiroki Kuroda. I hope Victorino gets back in today. We all remember the last time he squared off against Kuroda (apologies…it is shot by a Dodger fan but he had a great seat)…

My Question For Charley

Why is Jimmy still leading off? He is driving in runs like a three legged dog can run and he gets on base with pretty much the same frequency that I do. OK…that last bit was a bit of an exaggeration…but you get my point Charley. You need to do something to get Mr. Rollins back on track. Bench him, bat him eighth…something. Imagine where we would be sitting if he was the JRoll of old…

The Bastardo Poll

Vote on the Bastardo poll…as many times as you want…

Congratulations Jamie Moyer!

It seemed to take a near centuries worth load of bad outings, but old number 50 (that’s his uniform number…not his age) became only the 44th major league pitcher (and 11th leftie) to notch a 250th win on his gun belt.

Congrats Jamie! As the dictionary definition of the phrase ‘class act’  that you are, this is a milestone and honor well deserved.

Moyer’s 250th came courtesy of the hapless Nats, a team well on pace to break the 1962 Mets record for most losses in a single season. Moyer held them to one run through six innings. After Jamie left the game, Condrey coughed up a run, Madson got himself into a bit of a jam but promptly got himself out of it, and Lidge was solid for his third straight save in a row (all you Lidge haters out there can get bent).

After Chase Utley’s long throw to put out Josh Bard (who, by the way, runs so slow he makes Burrell look like Jesse Owens) Moyer was his usual humble self in the post game interviews. When Sarge asked him what he felt the 250 wins meant, Moyer remarked that it means that he has been around for a long time. He then went on to shift the attention away from himself and onto the team. Like I said, class act.

Big West Coast road trip starting tomorrow. Some important events to post on your calendar…

6/2 – Antonio Bastardo (LOVE the name) gets the start…the rookie will be taking on Peavy…

6/3 – The return of JC…no…not Jesus…his return date is still unknown…but JC ROMERO WILL be back in action on Wednesday.

Three against the Padres…four against the Dodgers…late bed times every night!

All Star voting??????????

Are you kidding me MLB?

The season is two weeks old.

How can ANYONE know who deserves to go this year?

At least wait until the middle of May for crying out loud.

The MLB all star game is a frigging joke…this is just more proof.

Great performance tonight Phills…not.

NL East check up…

11:25 on a Tuesday night…what’ s happening in the division?

Florida 2…Pittsburgh 3 @ PNC Park.

Well…the team everyone has been declaring the amazing surprise of the century has been beaten two nights in a row by those powerhouse Pittsburgh Pirates. Solid pitching turns the Marlin’s bats to smoke. Anyone can look good when your first six games of the year are against the Washington Nationals (Except the Braves and Phillies apparently…but I give the Phillies a pass considering how crazy emotional the beginning of the season has been for them). On a night where PNC Park was less crowded than the bathrooms in old Veterans Stadium in between innings (total attendance was something crazy like 9,000), Pirate pitching shut down the Marlin line up with all the finality of the police clearing the tailgaters out of the parking lot after an Eagles game. Like I said, pitching is key, which makes me nervous for our upcoming weekend series with the Fish. The guys need to get it together if they want to have a chance.

Atlanta 3…Washington 4 @ Nationals Park.

The Nats found their bullpen today, tucked deep into the pocket of an equipment bag that had gone unopened since their return  to Washington from spring training. The Braves opened up the game with a three run first but then found scoring to be as improbable as finding an unclaimed box of Twinkies at an over-eaters convention. Errors and misplays were the main dish on the menu. The game was filled with more mistakes than a George W. Bush policy speech. The Braves are showing that they are who we THOUGHT they were.

New York 4…St. Louis 6 @ Busch Stadium

Well you just can’t catch a break sometimes can you? The Mets spend the off season shoring up a bullpen that was as shaky as a drunk on roller skates. But then they forget to teach their outfielders how to make putouts. For the third time this year the Mets Bad News Bears act in the outfield cost them a game.

Daniel Murphy and J.J. Putz relax after another blown game

The pitching wasn’t much better. Two of the six Cardinal runs were walked in. (Carlos Beltran forgetting how to score at the plate didn’t help either. It’s called a SLIDE Carlos. I know it sucks to get the uniform dirty but sometimes you gotta take one for the team) All in all it was a horrible game for the Mets…which makes me SMILE.

Milwaukee 4…Philadelphia 11 @ Citizens Bank Park.

Ryan Braun came to Philadelphia ready to play tonight. It’s just a shame that the rest of the Brewers weren’t in the mood. Braun went 5-5 with two home runs and all four Milwaukee RBIs. The rest of the Brew-Crew should have just stayed at the hotel. The Phillies bats soaked up Brewer pitching to the tune of thirteen total hits. Pedro Feliz went 3-4 with a home run and three RBIs. It was an easy win for the Phills which was good to see for a change. Not even the one hour, eighteen minute rain delay could ruin the Phills first win of the season where they did not have to scramble to come from behind to win.

All in all, a pretty interesting night in the NL East I would say.

Marlins…wishing they were still playing the Nats.

Phillies…bats happy tonight…time for the pitchers to join them.

Mets… 

Braves…placing a call to the Marlins for advice on how to deal with the Nats.

Nationals…one more win and they have company in the basement of the division.

Comments anyone?

Round One…Eagles. Sheldon’s counterpunch…

Sheldon Brown dug his pit yesterday and this morning he has climbed in and started heaping wet cement in on top of himself.

Bob Brookover has the words of the disgruntled Eagles CB.

In a blitz before he hops a plane back to South Carolina, presumably to get his den nice and comfortable to hold him throughout his approaching hold out, Brown continued to try to plead his case in the court of public opinion.

“Without a doubt there are going to be more problems,” Brown said. “I’m not the first guy and I’m not going to be the last guy. What’s the incentive for guys like Trent Cole and Mike Patterson to play above their heads? Every body’s situation is different and everybody handles their business in a different way. This situation could have been handled in a different way. I was forced to put it out there.”

What incentive do they have? You mean apart from being grown men who have an obligation to act with dignity and integrity to fulfill the professional promises they have made? Apart from making millions of dollars?

Brown is correct that the situation could (and should) have been handled differently. He says that Joe Banner put his agent off time and again before turning him over to a newly hired nobody. That’s his side and he’s sticking to it. My natural dislike for Banner gives me the inclination to believe him but I have to admit, I am already sceptical to believe the word of a man who turns to the media to get his way, exactly like my little brother would do when he would cry to our mother when I refused to let him play with a toy when we were younger. My brother was no more FORCED to behave in that manner than Sheldon Brown was.

Forced?

Really?

So Banner went on WIP (most likely with Eskin) and said some things that may or may not be true. I still fail to see how Brown thinks he is justified in what he is doing. It is even harder for me to see how he thinks this is going to help him.

“Everybody is saying this is only about the money and that I don’t know what’s going on in the world…”

That’s because this IS only about the money.

The manner in which he has handled this speaks that fact louder than any ovation at Lincoln Financial.

This is going to get worse before it gets better friends and neighbors.

“I have considered (holdouts),” he (Brown) said. “I’ll deal with that stuff when it comes around. I’m really not in the right state of mind to talk about it right now. I didn’t want it to get to this point. I tried to handle this in a professional way.”

To hear someone who APPROACHED the media to discuss this very topic say he is “not in the right state of mind to talk about it” is irony drier than a drought plagued Philadelphia summer.

If this is “handling things in a professional manner”, I would hate to see the alternative.

On the bright side at least we have two games to look forward to tonight.

Mother nature has stopped saturating us long enough to get in a game against the Brewers tonight.

Jamie Moyer will be going up against Manny Para. It’ll be nice to hit a against a pitcher with a higher ERA than our own starter.

I tried to laugh at that but got a sad sigh instead.

The Flyers will be playing at the same time, making the moves to pull even with Pope Crosby the 1st and his entourage. I can’t wait to see that arena filled with more orange than a Florida citrus field.

It will be another evening of playing flip the channel.

Thanks for the buzz kill, Sheldon Brown…

Philadelphia fans have been riding a glorious sports high all day because of yesterday’s games.

Ibanez, Iguodala, and Giroux …OH MY!

A walk off home run, a playoff game winning buzzer beater, and full on domination of Crosby and His Disciples by the Flyers.

Yesterday was perfect…and rare. The blue moon of Philly sports.

The good feeling lasted until earlier today, when this revelation was found on GCobb.com.

Come on Sheldon Brown. Are you serious?

Yet another highly paid Eagle, whining and complaining because someone else gets more money, wanting to change a contract he signed, a promise he made in good faith. What is it with these guys? What happened to being a man and honoring the promises you make, in spite of what may or may not be going on around you? Why are words like integrity and dependability archaic thrown backs to the players of yesterday?

One wishes we could just tell Brown to get lost. Show him the door, knock the dust from our shoes, and not look back. Would that not be the expected reaction for a corporate employee who slams his company and demands satisfaction in a public forum? But the fact is that he is a gifted corner and amazing hitter. I can close my eyes right now and see him knocking Reggie Bush back to the 1800s with that playoff hit, the ball flying forgotten from Bush’s numb fingertips. The Eagles are a better team with Sheldon than without him. We need Sheldon Brown, preferably a healthy, happy Sheldon Brown, playing at his skull thumping best.

But the Eagles should give in. And if they stick to this statement they released a short while ago, they won’t.

“Sheldon’s comments under the circumstances actually serve to devalue him in a trade if we were willing to consider it; which we are not.”

DANG.

Now think about the vicious hit again on that cold January night in New Orleans. But when you replay it in your mind’s eye, it’s not Sheldon Brown you should imagine flying into and through the midsection of Reggie Bush.

It is Eagles management you should see, flying through the air into Sheldon Brown’s breadbasket. Not a football flying out of his numb hands, but his hopes of getting any kind of a reworking of his contract. The Eagles are right here and Sheldon is wrong. Dead wrong. This is not even the place or time to discuss whether or not he should even be ASKING for a restructuring of his contract. That is a rant for another day. His actions are issue at hand. He has dragged a situation that should have stayed in house out into the open and exposed it for the world to see. It is certainly possible that there is more to the story that has not yet come to light, and Philadelphia fans will continue to track every nuance of the growing saga closely.

But right now it looks like another fun filled round of disgruntled player vs. management, airing out their dirty laundry for the world to see. If nothing else, it makes for great TV.

With the draft LITERALLY right around the corner, this is not good news.

One can only hope that somehow, cooler heads will prevail and this negative will somehow be turned into a positive.

Only time will tell.

Godspeed, Harry the K

If you are a Hedgie’s Hideaway reader this is a duplicate post. This is not a trend I plan to continue but I could not think of a better way to begin my own sports blog then with my tribute to the amazing man who inspired its name. I hope you enjoy. Comments are encouraged!

It is cliche at times like this to say that life is uncertain and that it turns on a dime…but many cliches become so designated because they are true.

I, like many of the Phillies Phaithful, watched Matt Stairs crush that pitch last night into the visiting team’s bullpen to give the Phills a two run lead. I whooped and hollered as the voice of springs and summers without number serenaded the ball with the immortal call as it soared over that Colorado fence. Had I know it would be the last time I would hear that call live, the rich bass elevated to a higher level in direct proportion to the flight of the ball, I would have paused.

No motion, no movement.

Just that wonderful voice in my ears, lifting my spirits as high as the baseball that soared gracefully out of the field of play and into the pen.

But I was not to know. None of us were to know.

This morning life went on as usual. Eagerly looking forward to an early game at three I began to work on a list of things I wanted to get done before the first pitch. Then, some time after one in the afternoon…life did its dime trick.

Over the Twitter wire…

‘Harry Hospitalized [Updated]: Via John Finger’s Twitter feed, Harry Kalas was just rushed to George Washington H.. http://bit.ly/11TqDC‘

I dropped my partially eaten sandwich back onto its plate and started jumping from site to site, offering up fervent prayers for Harry and his family. All sites reporting collapse, rush to hospital, prognosis…not good.

About twenty minutes later the Twitter wire beeped again…

‘RT @tzolecki: Tragic news. Harry Kalas has died.’

And just like that…my life as a fan of the Phiadelphia Phillies was forever changed.

Life…turning on a dime.

I was shocked at the depth of sadness I felt for a man I had never met. I sat in front of my laptop, my to do list sitting forgotten on the floor where it had fallen and watched as first Twitter, then Facebook, then sites all over the Internet began to fill with that peculiar mix of anguish and fond memory that can only come with the passing of one that is held so dear. Local television stations reported the tragic news as it broke. Thousands of people, sharing my reaction, sharing our collective loss and remembering the life of a true legend.

Harry Kalas WAS the Phillies. Someone on one of the local news broadcasts said that players come on go…but Harry Kalas was a constant, a perennial fan favorite. Harry was always there for us.

When the team was doing well his enthusiasm was contagious. I think we all have our favorite Harry calls when his voice, the joy of victory personified, transported us right into the heart of the game. Every momentous Phillies moment I can remember was always elevated to a higher level when it was called by Harry the K.

When the Phills weren’t doing so well Harry was never one to sugar coat it. When a Phillies fielder would make a perplexing decision or a Phillies pitcher would offer up a pitch to a batter that everyone in the civilized world knew was going to result in a massive home run, Harry let us know…but he did it with class. He did it with the hope that tomorrow, things would turn around. Harry helped me stay with the team in their truly atrocious years simply for that reason. No matter how bad it got, Harry always left me feeling like TOMORROW was the day. The guys would turn it around tomorrow.

Harry taught me to have ‘high hopes’.

Thank you Harry.

Thank you for your love of baseball and for sharing it with us so well.

Thank you for ‘Michael Jack’ and ‘That ball is OUTTA HERE!”

Thank you for showing us that celebrity and humility CAN go well together.

Thank you for the memories.

We will never forget you.

Image taken from ESPN.com

A new blog!

Greetings weary traveler.

Thanks for stopping in. Beer is in the fridge. Pop a cold one and have a seat.

I have been blogging semi-regularly over at The Hedgie’s Hideaway. If you have followed me here from there, I THANK YOU!

If you are unfamiliar with the Hideaway, it is my own little corner of the internet where I like to write about any random little thing that comes to mind.

Daylight savings time?     Got it.

Letters of complaint?        Got it.

Hernia operation after effects, with completely too much inappropriate information?                         Got it.

Bad Ass garden spiders with Napoleon complexes?  Got that too.

As you can see, it is a place as random as the thoughts that bounce around in this tent city I call a brain.

As I wrote I noticed that I seemed to be writing a lot of sports themed posts. The randomness of my blog was confusing enough so I decided to start a new blog over here at WordPress (which I am still learning) that is devoted to my Philadelphia sports teams and the mostly hapless bozos who oppose them.

I am excited to begin so that’s enough with the introduction. This blog will morph and evolve over time as my other has.

Let’s get this party started!