Archive for March, 2010

My friends, we have come to the end of a long journey. The Phillies fans have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of tweeting our opponent, Mike Meech of the Fightins, to congratulate him on defeating us in the second round of The Phield.

In a contest such as this, his site commands respect for its unique style and clear voice. The Fightins has long stood as the funniest and most esoteric Phillies blog and it’s of my considered opinion that it is the best fan-run baseball blogs on the internet.

Meech and his crew have cultivated a large and dedicated following that have made their voices heard loud and clear at the polls today. It’s with absolute sincerity that I count myself amongst the vast group of people that call themselves fans of The Fightins.

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this is the kind of beard we don't need

I’ve yet to personally see the guy pitch, but fans seem to think Rule V pick David Herndon has decent stuff and could hold a spot on the roster.  It’s not likely he stays, but this article will attempt to lay down the path to keeping him.  First, a brief explanation of the Rule V mechanism.

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It’s the match-up we’ve all been waiting for. The Fightins Vs. Long Drive in The Phield. So do your part and vote for your favorite. Just remember, a vote for The Fightins is a vote for baby killin’.

(Song Credit: Queens of the Stone Age – You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar But I Feel Like A Millionaire)

You may know him from Twitter as @BigStevie. If you don’t go follow him and stop being a bitch about it. Big Stevie answers some pressing Phillies questions while he sweats in the sun and rocks some sweet orange Ray-Bans. If you leave this video slightly offended in any way then he has done his job.

Because Chris insists my posts begin with a picture

Using baseball analytics in a blog setting is hazardous work.  Hell doing any statistical analysis in any setting is rife with danger.  No, not the palpable danger of an axe murderer on the loose.  Or the kind that arises when you’re stuck on a jungle island with a bunch of hungry dinosaurs during a hurricane and the power’s out because Newman from Seinfeld was being a dick.  No, the danger is much more mundane, it’s data presentation and the conclusions that are drawn from the data.  I’m currently putting the finishing touches on a post about Roy Halladay and Johan Santana.  There’s no doubt in my mind that Doc is better than Johan.  The numbers support me, scouting data supports me, many non-Mets/Twins/Phillies/Blue Jays fans agree with me (you know, the fans without any stake in the argument), yet the malaise of uncertainty lurks.

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Vote for Long Drive in The Phield because it’s Roy’s Choice™.

We all here at LONG DRIVE really, really appreciate all of our readers both old and new. The Phield has been an awesome opportunity to help grow this blog and its readership and I want to thank The Committee for putting it together and all the Phillies fans reading this and all blogs for being out there. Y’all are the best.

So anyway, please take a second and retweet, email, IM, Facebook, Xanga, or whatever else the kids are doing these days the link to a friend or two and give us a hand. And hey, if you don’t want to vote for us? That’s cool, thanks for stopping by and checking us out anyway.

(Song Credit: Fugazi – The Argument)

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to participate in the excellent Phillies roundtable preview over at Crashburn Alley, but Bill Baer has encouraged the Phillies blogosphere to post their answers. Better late than never, right? Check ‘em out after the jump.

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One of the more fascinating phenomena I notice among fans, both casual and otherwise, is the effect that expectations have on the perception of a player and his performance. Fans generally have a level of expected performance from any given player, for a variety of reasons: salary, previous and anticipated production, role within the team, and so on. It’s always interesting to see the reaction when a player falls short of these expectations. More often than not, it’s a violently negative one. We certainly saw our fair share of this with last season’s team. A closer look, after the jump…

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Todd Zolecki has always been a favorite writer of mine. His blog The Zo Zone from back in his Philadelphia Inquirer days, which was later turned to Phillies Zone, was pretty much the reason I first started blogging. Now Todd is the beat writer for MLB.com and was able to re-open The Zo Zone and has always been a constant source of breaking Phillies news. For the fastest news follow him on Twitter HERE. Todd recently answered some questions for me about the Phils and his new book The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Heart-Pounding, Jaw-Dropping, and Gut-Wrenching Moments from Philadelphia Phillies History. Here they are:

What was your favorite moment covering the Phils, aside from the ’08 WS win?

I really enjoyed covering their comeback late in 2007. They were dead in the water. They were talking about the wild card. The Mets had a huge lead. Then the Phillies went on this ridiculous roll and the Mets went in the tank. I remember how the Phillies were like, “Holy cow. Is this really happening?” while the Mets kept trying to tell themselves they would turn things around. They never did.

Who is the most accessible Phillies player to the media?

That’s tough. It’s a pretty accessible clubhouse, but I’d say Brad Lidge is at the top. He made himself available after every blown save last season. I give the guy a ton of credit. We kept asking him questions about his struggles, and he kept coming up with answers. It was not an easy situation to be in, and he handled it better than anybody I could imagine. A great guy.

How hectic was it covering the whole Halladay/Lee trade?

Very hectic, very long, very brutal. Glad it’s over.

Are you aware that you single handedly set Twitter ablaze when posting that picture of Werth’s beard and how much we love you for it?

As soon as I saw Werth’s beard I grabbed my camera and headed to the field for the team stretch. Werth gave me a hard time about having a camera, but it had to be done. I snapped a few pictures, downloaded the photos to my laptop, posted it on my blog and Twitter. I have about 6,000 Twitter followers. A typical picture might get anywhere from 500 to 1,000 views. The Werth picture got more than 16,000. Crazy.

When did you get the idea for The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly and how long did it take you to get to the finished product?

Triumph Books actually came to me with the idea. “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly” is part of a series. They have these books for the Flyers, Giants, Vikings, etc. I had never written a book before and I wanted the experience, so I gave it a shot. It took a lot of work because I tried to interview a lot of people to give some new life to some old stories. I also did some new things that haven’t been done before. I started in Feb. 2008 and finished in Nov. 2008, but they held the book a year because they figured it would get lost amongst all the Phillies World Series championship books. I’m glad it came out when it did. It seems to be doing pretty well.

Lastly, do the ailing bullpen pitchers (Lidge, Romero) realize that the Phillies Bullpen Opening Day isn’t until April 7th and that they don’t need to press too hard?

They do. I don’t think Lidge or Romero will be ready by Opening Day. I think they’re shooting for the home opener April 12 against the Nationals. I think the bullpen can get by six games without those two, but there’s no doubt they need them back and healthy for most of the season.

Thanks to Todd for taking the time to fill the questions out. Here’s a listing of book signings Todd has coming up in the near future:

- Borders in Center City (1 S. Broad Street) from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. on April 17.

- Barnes & Noble in Rittenhouse Square (1805 Walnut Street) at 6 p.m. on April 29.

- Citizens Bank Park from 2 p.m. – 3 p.m. on May 1.

- Coca-Cola Park in Allentown from 4 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. on July 10.

Buy his book from Amazon.com below, it’s a great read.

This is meant to be a quick companion to Chris’ WAR series to give you the general gist of what that stat is and how it’s used. An in-depth explanation will probably come some time in the semi-distant future, for now this is just meant to help you understand what that WAR number means.

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