quick shot: Dl’d

So, a couple of notes from an ongoing set of conversations today made the typical sports commentary that much more enjoyable for the Quick Shot that ultimately is re-posted here. I know I don’t do the backwards post often but in this case, I decided it was tooooooo goo not to share…

The Mets announce Santana’s season ending trip to the DL – my note to Bobby fwd’ing the story
The Mouse: quick, call up livan hernendez, tell him he has his job with the Mets back in the starting rotation…
the question is, does he want to chance ending his career with them? permanent disabled list
you know what’s Amazin about the Amazin’s is that they haven’t changed their name yet from the Mets to the D.L.-ets

Then the Amazin’s announce Wagner’s trade to the Sox
Friend: He was worried about ending his career a middle reliever?
The Mouse: He was more worried about ending his career as a Met.

Then, the illustrious closer B.Lidge blew another one for the Phils
The Mouse: So, your reason for not going after Wags was?
Amy: Old man! Brett Meyers needs to speed up the rehab stint and get to the bullpen to be our closer like yesterday!!
The Mouse: wait, i thought he was a met? isn’t he? i mean he’s living on the DL right
Anchor: I think Meyers will be back. I like him, he really is a “Philly Guy”
The Mouse: wait, are you sure he’s not a met? sorry, i mean carl pavano’s twin?
Friend: Wow, that was aweful.
The Mouse: yeah, that’s why i’m a marketing dork and not a comedian? oh, you meant B.Lidge… yeah, the “b” stands for bummer

you’ll notice, for once, there’s a distinct lack of Bobby in this post, yeah, well bobby decided not to show up with the good commentary fast enough today… he must be getting old hahaha!

quick shot: Miller v. Thomas

The goalie question seems to be the biggest off-season chatter this year, not only for a lot of teams, but for USA hockey as well. Ryan Miller vs. Tim Thomas. Who would you pick?

The Mouse: Miller… hands down. Thomas got the benefit of the Brues D and a much different style of hockey than what he’d face in international play. Miller’s done more with less and his control and style might fit better because he plays angles and sees the ice really well. Thomas is old too, and if he falls apart it…
Bobby: Don’t go there… I’d take tim thomas.. I think he’s shows up better in big game situations rather than miller…
The LD: Miller’s style will fit very well on the international stage. He’s patient and plays angles well. On the big ice, that’s really important. He’s also athletic enough to roll with the close in net activity. Thomas, well, the Olympics aren’t in Beantown…

quick shot: Wags

The Mets former ace closer Billy Wagner finally returned from the Disabled List recovering from Tommy John surgery. During the time he was on the DL the Mets picked up JJ Putz and K-Rod as stoppers, meaning Wagner is now the odd-man out in the late inning role. That being said they put him on waivers to which I immediately texted Phils fans the news

The Mouse: Yo! did you hear the Mets put Wags on waivers. Phils should pick him up a B.Lidge insurange
Bobby: Yeah, well with Romero out, maybe that’s not the worst move. I hear they are thinking
The Mouse: Romero is missing his steroids right about now, now isn’t he?
Bobby: Haha, he is…I’m not gonna lie
Amy: Screw that hasbeen!
The Mouse: Who Wags or B.lidge?
Amy: hahaha, Wags! Not that B.lidge is much better right now.

quick shot: three and ooooooh?

Bobby is excited, Cliff Lee is now 3-0.

Of course, he’s also still bitching about not getting Halladay… to which I responded quite thoughtfully:

if you had Halladay he’s 1-2 over 24 innings, 30 hits, 9 earned runs, 3 hr, 15ks and 4 walks compared to Lee’s 3-0 over 30 innings, 16 hits, 3 earned runs, 0 hr, 23ks and 5 walks… and you wouldn’t have Happ’s 1-1-1- (2-1) over 21 innings, 14 hits, 4 earned runs, 1 hr, 18ks and 8 bb because he’d've been traded… seems to me there’s a lot more to Lee’s three wins than meets the eye, with that move Phils are 5-1 by keeping Happ… the NL should be more frightened of Phil’s with Lee & Happ than had they landed Halladay… NY would be shaking, well, if there was anyone left on the team to care, but I don’t think the minor leaguers even know where Philadephia is on the map yet.

quick shot: if by healthy you mean

This morning, Bobby forwarded me the transcript of Pedro’s talk with the press about his start last night… my response left bobby speachless, which, after bulleting the ten best reasons I could come up with, what else was there left to say except profanities on bobby’s part…

Bobby: Check it out, Pedro thinks he’s healthy!

The Mouse: If by healthy he means preparring himself for another stint on the DL, I’m all down for that explanation – I haven’t read this article yet, but my initial thoughts to the headline are

1) one start means nothing on the next days morning comments, let’s see how he’s really feeling in a day or two when the arm stress actually sets in while he’s throwing again for his next start … and further lets see how his arm is holding up after three, lots of guys come back looking strong in their first start only to fade fast on the next two as fatigue sets in
2) that win is a little skewed, the Phils were taking batting practice against the Cubs, lets see how he looks in a real game, one that’s close, one where he can’t afford a mistake
3) he pitched 5 innings, it took 99 pitches. it might feel good, but that’s not exactly a good start, it’s a lot of pitches over not a lot of innings
4) he had 3 earned runs over those 5 innings which works out to 5.40 ERA in the box score, that’s rather high
5) he had 7 hits and 1 walk to post a 1.60 WHIP, again not exactly shining numbers
6) he struck out 5, that’s 1 per inning, that’s a good, it’s not dominating though on a k/9, k/h, but the k/bb is off to a good start for control
7) his fastball didn’t hit 90 mph and although his other pitches were encouraging again, it took a lot of pitches to not go far in a game, if his FB command and velocity isn’t fooling anyone, an offnight on the curve and change could be devastating
I already sent his last three season stats, the shining starts are all accompanied by some real doozies, granted, every pitcher has them, but Pedro isn’t every pitcher, he’s the meniacle personality with 3 cy youngs and a world series ring, he’s got to live up to the hype that older guys like shilling, johnson, wells, clemens, etc. did, not just be “pedro – lite” especially if his intention is to win a WS with the Phils and undo the damage to his rep 3 years on the Mets did
9) and the Phils need more than that from him too, serviceable is fine for a #5 starter when they’re in your rotation already but revamping a rotation and a bullpen to bring a guy in is going to mean playing better than average ball which is about 6 innings and a 4.4 ERA and 1.4 WHIP as a starter, you brought him in to improve things, don’t be fooled into thinking the one start is an improvement over anything so far. So far he looks no “better” than Moyer did in the rotation and I personally believe Moyer earned his spot where he was.
10) well, it’s pedro…

quick shot: two nickles for a dime

More from Bobby and I on the now infamous Philadelphia rotation saga… today’s headline quote: “We just felt that Pedro is pitching well enough that he deserves a chance to pitch in the rotation, and we hope it’s an upgrade,”

The Mouse: wow, add insult to injury for Moyer, poor guy. an upgrade, saying that moyer wasn’t very good?

I guess pedro throwing 6 innings with a 5.5 era isn’t much different than moyer who was averaging that to this point in the season. doesn’t seem like an improvement to me? does it to you?

here i’ll give you two nickles for that dime, just be careful one of those nickles might be a canadian one you won’t know till you try to use it in a soda machine though

maybe i’m a little biased on pedro after all those years with the BoSox and Mets but there’s nothing about him that says, “I’m going to dramatically improve this team” – he didn’t improve the Mets four years ago and I don’t see him doing it in Philly. In four years in orange in blue he was 32-23-24 in 79 starts over 487 innings. If 2005 was his banner year there, he helped bring them over .500, but by 06 despite them winning the division his numbers were tripped up – high ERA, high WHIP, only 23 starts, lower k-bb/k-9 ratios etc, granted he did nothing to contribute to the end of the season collapse in 07, his lackluster presence in 08 didn’t salvage the even more embarrassing collapse they posted, he actually contributed to it: 0-3 in Sept.

Ah, yes, this is what you’re putting on the mound. A dude who hasn’t thrown a major league pitch in almost 12 months, who depends on control because his fastball isn’t going to top 90 much anymore and is bound to be rusty as hell, oh, yeah, and will probably be on an innings and pitch count because he only pitched a handful on minor league “rehab” starts.

It’s like taking what’s left of a rusty 78 chevy nova to a drag race. yeah there was a time when the nova was a winner…

bobby: I agree with you sir…. Pedro is a cheap fix… I don’t know if he even is going to work.. Throw this one from a salary point. Moyer is making 7 million dollars this season.. Pedro is making what.. 1 million essentially.. Cheaper option that may turn out to be an upgrade.. Who the heck knows… I hate pedro and I’m starting to dislike phils brass… I wanted Roy halladay.. They get almost the same guy in Lee.. I just hope that clubhouse isn’t in disarray… I guess we shall see… I wanted moyer to become the phils pitching coach when it was all said and done.. Now it may not happen.. Ughh…. What a fuckin mess… I just hope they make the playoffs.. I like october baseball with the phils in it…

The Mouse: and, with him being dis- satisfied, it disrupts the clubhouse and the rotation.

it’s actually a very costly 8 million experiment because you knew exactly what you were getting from moyer as a starter, had they put pedro in the pen that’s only a 1 mill experiment, this way they both could fail and you wasted 8 in stead of 1.

as for the Halladay comment … i think lee was a much better option than halladay. i’d rather than lee, happ, hammels, blanton, moyer … than say halladay, hammels, blanton, moyer, martinez and then have to fall back on chan ho park or someone else if martinez doesn’t work out. plus, lee costs less than halladay in raw salary and will be easier to negotiate into a contract with because he’s open to staying with a successful team, unlike halladay that said explicitly he’s going FA regardless of where he signs. never mind you picked up fransisco to back up your OF in that move for Lee.

but, i do agree, i don’t really get the top brass, i feel like they are taking the BoSox approach of collecting pitchers even if they aren’t the right pieces (bartolo colon and john smoltz come to mind, brad penny wasn’t exactly a diamond in the rough claim either being the only reason he’s still in the rotation where he is is because buckholtz hasn’t been spectacular, smotlz suck tzacka is a call up, wakefield & matusaka are on the dl, etc)…

Bobby: Oh don’t get me wrong I like cliff lee too!! I actually like that we kept happ too. But I’m more concerned about the clubhouse now… That’s what was good about them last year as opposed to a team like the red sox and mets… But yeah I’m hoping pedro blows his load… Then moyer is put back into the rotation…

The Mouse: as long as whatever happens, I don’t have to listen to you bitch about Halladay anymore. Ugh. Go back to beating up on B.Lidge or something useful like that.

quick shot: penbound moyer

Ol’ man Moyer is headed to the bullpen. Reluctantly, although he says he’ll suck it up for the good of the team. Sure, that’s what they all say. Here’s the quick shot response

Bobby: I hate this move to along with the rest of philadelphia…. Moyer said it best…. I hate the move I am disheartened about it… I’m more concerned about B.Lidge I am on finger from hitting the panic button….
The Mouse: I’m not a Phils fan so this is my psuedo objective opinion of this move… I don’t necessarily like it. Ol’man Moyer might be 10-9 with a 5 1/2 ERA this season, but he’s really only biding time as a number five starter behind Lee, Happ, Hammels and Blanton (which I know isn’t the real rotation, but in arm value that’s about right, don’t you think?). Moyer isn’t designed like a reliever, he’s too “crafty” and slow to be effective in that role. Martinez hasn’t had a healthy season of starts in three years, including an almost complete wash in 07, plus his ERA over that time is over 5 as well. Is a guy coming off near-retirement for the 09 season really going to be more effective than Moyer? This plan’s got as good a chance of succeeding as a Bush era anti-war proposal.
Friend: True, very true. The Phils got their head up their ass for this one. Certainly isn’t making anyone happy, except maybe Pedro’s inflated ego
The Mouse: Totally, a bad moral move for the rotation, especially if Martinez struggles in his first few starts. By that point, how much ground in the NL-E might be lost with a surging Fish and Braves behind you in the stretch because they were testing out an arm in rotation rather than in the pen, where it belongs? Are the Phils looking to challenge the Mets for the monumental collapse?

quick shot: mcFleury Time

This quote from back in the day about Theo Fleury just about says it all

“I am an alcoholic,” Fleury said then. “Let’s just say my disease is in remission.”

OK, considering the preposterous idea of a comeback now, so too probably is your skating, stick handling and on-ice vision. At 41, not having played in the NHL since 2003 and not been on the ice competitively since 2006 in Britain one has to wonder what’s left in the tank. Fumes (leaving the obvious jokes aside, because they aren’t polite).

The old men that are playing now at that age are big time role players, respected veterans with rock solid credentials and realistic expectations. The off-ice stuff aside (substance abuse, father’s cancer, crohns disease himself, etc), Fleury wasn’t exactly the pantheon of consistency and respect when he did play in the NHL by my recollection. Numbers were good but that was also a different era of hockey…. and his post-pro numbers are probably more to do with the lack of competition in those leagues than his own superstar abilities. Seriously, what could they know about hockey across the pond? It’s not a tea and krumpets sport and if you’re going to be a Queen’s man you’re probably beating one another up on a soggy rugby field. You could probably count all the NHL players in that league on one hand, or rather, one finger, Fleury. done.

I’m all for giving him a chance but I’m skeptical he’ll do more than make the team that signs him look like a fool. I hear the Isles are in the need of some veteran skates on the cheep. Shake it up, mcFleury.

quick shot: the almighty pizza

In case you missed the headline today, “The new Dallas Cowboys Stadium will offer $90 pizzas”

Bobby: Wow, that must be one hulluva pizza
the Mouse: Yep, I hear they are importing them from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and marking the price up from there with the marketing line, “genuine Bronx style pizza – straight from NY”

quick shot: beantown red faces

So, yesterday, the beloved BoSox went from happy-go-lucky World Series champ to red faced marvels tainted by, you guessed it, performance enhancing drugs.

Of course, it’s all speculation and projection and unlike when New York Yankees names are leaked and the evil empire is assaulted by the media and the public, there’s a rush to “defense” for the beantowners – like how can we trust the leak?… we don’t even know what the PED was?… it must have been a supplement because I definitely never took steroids or HGH … it shouldn’t effect the perception of the title because it happened before. Oh yeah, I’m sure we’ll hear them all.

Whatever. Believe what you please. Chances are your “truth” is far from “fact” anyhow. Which prompted this fun exchange today

Bobby: Man here I thought that ortiz was just another fat man…
The Mouse: He’s gonna take Palmero’s spot in the Viagra commercials, “when you’re as big as me, you should be as big as me”
Bobby: hahahahahaha! giambi could join him.
The Mouse: at least giambi could still hit post roids for a little while, it was the years he was on them he sucked. go figure. Well, another tainted title.
Bobby: My Phils title isn’t tainted!!! Haha
The Mouse: until hitman howard tests positive or they figure out what keeps jamie on his feet still, the dude’s almost as old as sin.
Bobby: Moyer drinks red juice!
The Mouse: He must’ve got it from Shilling after he was done dying his socks
Bobby: Did you hear about the Arroyo psuedo-admission? I guess he’s off them now….
The Mouse: I hope he didn’t think he’d be the next name leaked though… whomever’s leaking them is going after big names… and with the way he’s been sucking it up he’ll be the last on the list… he trampled my fantasy team as a #6 starter for a while till I dropped his ass faster than a drug induced manny could turn on the fastball.
Bobby: hahahaha!