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Earlier today I posted this and this (and Barry posted this) of Philly fans making jackasses of themselves. Here’s something much cooler. Phillies Hall of Fame announcer Harry “Voice of God” Kalas calls the final out last night (that’s announcer Chris Wheeler flailing around in the background):
Well, I suppose that was all worth it for the folks in Philadelphia. For the first time in 28 years and just the second time ever, the Phillies are World Series champions. And the fact that they defeated their longstanding arch-rivals from Tampa Bay makes it just that much more satisfying.
(Lidge tore his rotator cuff and his out for next season, but who cares? WHOOOOOOO!)
In a game that was called after just three innings, and featuring the Phillies batting first for some reason, the Fightin’s beat Tampa 4-3 to take the series 4-1. Three of the games were decided by one run, and the Rays made just enough mistakes to win none of those games. One wonders what would’ve happened if Evan Longoria had let that chopper go foul at the end of Game 3, or if things would’ve gone better for Andy Sonnanstine if he’d thrown to the right base in the first inning of Game 4. Or, perhaps most of all, if B.J. Upton hadn’t swung at the first freaking pitch with nobody out in the eighth inning last night and at least given Carl Crawford a pitch or two to steal a base.
But give the Phils credit. They were just the better team. Better starting pitching, better bullpen, and a dominant closer in Brad Lidge who more than made up for his struggles in Houston (except to Astros fans, who still hate the guy). To think that he was seen as a “risky move” when the Phillies traded a crappy outfielder for him. A bunch of different guys came through with huge hits. Utley and Howard contributed sporadically (the former with a spectacular defensive play to cut down Jason Bartlett at home in the seventh inning last night), but the heroes of this series for the Phillies will be guys like Carlos Ruiz, Pedro Feliz, and Geoff Jenkins, who I thought was playing for Milwaukee’s AA team until I saw him at the plate last night.
It’s all a bit odd to think the Phillies are actually the champs. At the beginning of last season, Jimmy Rollins made news for predicting that they would win the NL East over the defending Mets. Most laughed, even the Phillies fans. Eighteen months later, they’re on top of the baseball world. The national media, for the most part, covers the Phillies only in relation to what the Mets are doing. They’re just that team that gets to go to the playoffs because the Mets are huge failures, not a real contender, right? And now, as the offseason approaches, we’ll go right back to a billion stories about what’s wrong with the Mets and Yankees, and how they can get fixed. The Phils have never really received a whole lot of respect, but now they have a title with which to taunt their rivals to the north, and isn’t that more important anyway?
Towel girl thinks so:
Blazers fans lived without Greg Oden for all of last season, so living without him for two to four more weeks shouldn’t be that big of a deal. Oden has a sprained foot, but an MRI revealed that there are slight fractures in the foot. Everyone insists it’s minor. The bigger problem for Portland fans is not the inevitable Sam Bowie comparisons, but that Tuesday night’s game displayed just how much better Andrew Bynum is right now than Oden. And Bynum’s only a year older than Oden. So how exactly is Oden supposed to dominate the West for the next decade?
Mike D’Antoni’s Knicks debuted with a 120-115 win over Miami last night. And this is pretty much the same team that routinely struggled to put up 80 points with the same personnel last year. The biggest news of the night was that Stephon Marbury, who actually played pretty well in the preseason, got DNP-CD‘d for the first time in his career, as D’Antoni went with Chris Duhon and Nate Robinson all night. For what it’s worth, Marbury is actually handling it all fairly well. Isiah Thomas didn’t have much to say when reached for comment, as he said he slept through the whole thing.
Here’s some more news to digest while you recover from flipping cars over all night:
• Shaq riled up Gregg Poppovich when he complained about the Spurs going to the hack-a-Shaq strategy in the first half of playoff games last season. So what does Poppovich do in the season opener last night between the two rivals? Have Michael Finley bear-hug O’Neal five seconds into the game, then give him the double-barreled thumbs up with a giant grin:
• Former Colts player and current high school football coach Jeff Burris was caught driving backward through the streets of Indianapolis at 1:00 in the morning. He was drunk, of course. WRTV in Indy has the details.
• Just in case you live in Kansas and you were wondering, you are in fact required to root for the the Thunder. The WICHITA EAGLE has decided that for you.
• Joe Lieberman is so concerned with getting John McCain elected right now that instead of campaigning, he’s spending his time pleading with the NFL to get more games on TV, so says the Springfield STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER.
• THE TWO MINUTE DRILL is having a “best looking college female athlete” contest, that appears to just be combing through the rosters on every university’s athletic website and coming up with the best headshots. Yes, Allison Stokke is involved.
• The AP says the Saints just cut some kickers and added some new kickers, none of whom I’ve ever heard of. Domination of the NFC South to ensue.
• You know, I just don’t trust those polls. Texas#1? What a bunch of crap. I have them more like #16. No doubt that Tulsa and Ball State are better. Even Minnesota’s better. Don’t believe me? It’s true, just check out the ESPNU Allstate Fan Poll.
• There was a brawl during a charity soccer match between media members and politicians in Scotland on Sunday, according to THE COURIER. So, I guess that MSNBC vs. RNC hockey game next weekend isn’t such a bright idea.
• Bernard Berrian has been trying to call the NFL’s steroid hotline (what?) to find out if he’s ingesting anything illegal, but nobody’s been answering, says PRO FOOTBALL TALK. Berrian proceeds to place blame on NFL for recent rash of positive drug tests.
• LISTVERSE has a list (duh) of the 15 most influential driving-related video games of all time. In other words, a list of 14 games I sucked at, and Pole Position.
Most players have that stock answer ready when you ask them “so, who would you rather play in the next round of the playoffs?” It’s usually something along the lines of “we’ll take either team, we’re confident either way,” yadda yadda. Well, it seems nobody asked Brett Myers this question when the Phillies won the NLCS, because he definitely had a real opinion.
In an astonishingly revealing interview published today, Myers says that he really, really didn’t want to play the Red Sox in the World Series, and if they did, he was going to ask Charlie Manuel if it was OK that he not pitch at Fenway Park. You see, Boston is where Myers had his little domestic violence dust-up a couple of years ago, and the whole experience still has him shaken up. It’s just probably better not to announce it to the world, there, Brett. I’m sure opposing fans everywhere are going to take it easy on you from now on.
We’ve gotten to that point in the hubbub about Game 5 of the World Series that it’s now been “gated.” Yup, “Weathergate” has arrived. (Wouldn’t “Watergate 2: Cruise Control” be appropriate, though?) It looks like there’s a decent chance that the rain will have passed by game time tonight, but since it will be 8:37 before the first pitch of the bottom of the 6th inning arrives, it’s going to be very cold and still very windy.
(These two were just out of college when Game 5 started)
Bud Selig has another big problem on his hands tonight, one that involves deciding whether or not it’s OK to play baseball when the wind chill is only in the 20s. It’s not uncommon for teams to postpone games early in the season due to cold weather, even if it’s not raining. Selig now has to set the precedent for what is considered “acceptable conditions” for continuing the series. For what it’s worth, the forecast for Thursday night looks downright summer-like by comparison.
Of course, everyone has an opinion about all this. A roundup of sorts after the jump.
You can go ahead and tell Bug Selig to stop worrying about rescheduling the rest of the World Series game. While you’re at it, tell God he can stop continually pounding Philadelphia with relentless rain. The Series is already over, folks. According to Las Vegas sports books, the Phillies were the victors last night.
At least, that’s how they’re paying out. According to the Nevada gaming rules, “the final score of an official game is determined by reverting to the last completed inning.” And seeing as the Phillies were up 2-1 after the fifth inning, if you placed a bet on the home team, you’re a happy person this morning. But if you bet on the Rays, you’re probably none too pleased by this betting rule quirk.
WCAU-TV in Philadelphia reports “Major League Baseball has announced that Game 5 has been delayed until Wednesday. The announcement was made as the Philadelphia area continued to be pounded by rain, wind and even snow in some areas.
“Rain and wind suspended Game 5 between the Phillies and Rays in the middle of the sixth inning on Monday night. Whenever the game continues the Phils will be coming to bat with the game tied 2-2.”
I really wouldn’t want to be Bud Selig at the moment. But that doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying his distress.
Much like the stock market, I’m holding out hope the Rays can make a miracle Series comeback. And like the market, I’ve yet to pull out my (emotional) investment. Just someone, for the love of all that his holy, keep Balfour away from the bump!
So, the Phillies didn’t win the World Series last night. But the Rays didn’t win the game, either. Yup, that’s baseball for you. What almost turned into a clusterf*** of epic proportions conveniently became much easier to deal with when Carlos Peña drove in B.J. Upton with the tying run in the top of the 6th inning.
Had the Rays not scored in the inning, who knows how long the umpires would’ve insisted that the debacle continue. The field became basically unplayable in the 4th inning, but the umpiring crew didn’t want to face the wrath of Philly by bringing the tarp out then, and forcing the game to be wiped off the books and replayed from scratch when the Phillies were leading. But at the time, what we didn’t know was that Bud Selig was going to actually make a good decision, and force the game to be played in its entirety no matter the score and inning. FOX’s Ken Rosenthal was shocked at what transpired.
According to MLB.COM, Selig informed officials from both teams earlier in the series that every game would be played to its conclusion. Rule 3.10(c) allows the umpires (or commissioner) to wait as long as necessary to resume a game, even if it takes days. This rule is rarely, if ever, used in the regular season because of the nature of scheduling and the necessity to get games finished and move on. But with no other games on the schedule, it is well within the rules to wait a day to end a rain delay. The Phillies won’t be able to use Cole Hamels when the game resumes, but he’ll be OK since he gets to go home to her every night:
Thankfully, a quirk in the rules was cleared up in 2006. By the old rules, if the game was suspended at this point, Tampa’s run in the top of the inning wouldn’t count and we’d have to go back and start the 6th inning all over again. Skip Bayless‘ head would’ve exploded on “First Take” this morning.
As it looks now, it’s going to be raining all day today in Philadelphia, but the weather may be clearing up a bit by the scheduled resumption time of 8:00. It’s still going to be miserable, with temperatures likely in the upper-30s and wind gusts as high as 40 miles per hour.
The NBA season kicks off tonight, but the biggest news comes from off the court. Charles Barkley was making the interview rounds yesterday, and in his stop at CNN with Campbell Brown he announced that he’s going to run for governor of Alabama in 2014. And he even manages to throw a zinger in at two of his neighboring states:
Brown: So are you going to run for governor?
Barkley: I plan on it in 2014.
Brown: You are serious.
Barkley: I am, I can’t screw up Alabama.
Brown: There is no place to go but up in your view?
Barkley: We are number 48 in everything and Arkansas and Mississippi aren’t going anywhere.
Chuck then appeared on Conan O’Brien last night and called out Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan for being “cheap.” Yeah, he’s gonna do great in politics.
The Titans beat the Colts 31-21 last night, driving Indy a little further into oblivion. It seems like this shouldn’t be it for Peyton Manning as a dominant quarterback, but things aren’t looking good this year. He has nine interceptions and a passer rating of just 79.0. That’s just better than Dan Orlovsky and below great signal-callers like Matt Cassel and Kyle Orton. The Titans, meanwhile, look like the team to beat, especially since they got rid of that Vince Young dude.
• Darryl Hall was supposed to sing the national anthem at last night’s World Series game in Philly, but he got sick. Plan B? Like you had to ask:
Apparently, Oates was just chilling at home in Aspen when he got the call on Monday morning. So he hopped on a flight (he had to sit in a middle seat) and made it in time to fill in. Now that’s dedication.
• ESPN RISE has the story of a kid from Arkansas who set the (known) record for receiving yards in a high school game this weekend with 421, but his team lost 64-55.
• Big NASCAR founder-type guy Junior Johnson is supposedly a big Obama guy, according to DAILY KOS. For comparison, this is kind of like if someone like Colin Powell suddenly endorsed…oh, wait.
• Looks like we can all thank Mike Francesa for providing us with the tape of Danyelle Sargent asking Mike Singletary about getting a phone call from a dead man, since it never actually aired on FOX. So why did Francesa, of WFAN and WNBC, have the footage?
• KNICKS BLOG sadly informs us that Patrick Ewing is no longer with the Knicks.
• Nate McMillan’s choice to leave Seattle three years ago to move to Portland seems like a pretty good one now, says the SEATTLE TIMES, since his old team isn’t there anymore and his new one is rejuvenated.
• Bill Cosby has completely lost it:
The Chitlin’ Legs have had a rough year.
• Juice Williams doesn’t want Illinois fans to get discouraged, according to the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. At least you can take some solace in not having to get destroyed by USC again this year in the Rose Bowl.
• Jung hit his caddy so hard with a golf ball that he necessitated seven weeks of hospital treatment. The caddy was behind him. About eight yards behind him. No wonder K.J. Choi’s the only male golfer who’s made it out of Korea. (REUTERS via YAHOO!)
• Looks like TMZ just has someone who follows David Beckham around all day. Becks got pulled over, got a “talking to” about his tinted windows, but didn’t get a ticket. Yes, this is news.
• This is just another Isiah Thomas story, from the NY DAILY NEWS, but it contains this great nugget of info: “Isiah Thomas’ son said the ex-Knicks coach will be back at work Monday.” What work? What does he do? He can’t talk to the players or make any decisions. Is he the IT guy now?
I’ve always found it funny when fans of sports teams claim that their city or team has the better fans, or that other teams fans are a bunch of morons/bandwagoneers/thugs, whatever they want to call them. The truth is, every city generally has an equal amount of all of them.
That being said, not every football team felt the need to put a prison inside their new stadium like the Philadelphia Eagles did at Lincoln Financial. The Eagles got rid of their little prison a few years ago after unruly behavior at games improved, but apparently they should have moved it across the street to Citizens Bank. As it turns out, the same folks who booed Santa Claus and threw batteries at J.D. Drew don’t much like families of the opposing teams either.
Philadelphia just can’t catch a break. First Game 3 was pushed back because of little black rain clouds and very very frightening thunderbolts of lightning, and the conclusion wasn’t until well after 2 a.m. EST. Sunday night’s Game 4, meanwhile, was delayed by Patti LaBelle’s 2-minute-28-second rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner.”
While jazz legend “Bleeding Gums” Murphy might be a fan of such renditions, ALLENTOWN MORNING CALL sports editor Keith Groller was soon pining for the Backstreet Boys’ version. Some did appreciate the total change in melody, like the HARTFORD COURANT’s Roger Catlin, remarking that it “thrilled and soared with the best of them.” Whatever final ruling comes from Simon, Paula and Randy, LaBelle does seem to have a bit of baseball foresight in her soul:
“I’m going to feel like a queen when it’s over … The fans are great. And I’m going to be more proud tonight, when they win 14-0.”
Maybe not 14-zip, but how does 10-2 sound?
The Phillies are now in the driver’s seat while the Rays are struggling to breathe in the trunk after Jayson Werth, Ryan Howard (twice), and Joe Blanton — the pitcher!? — successfully swung for the fences and cured their RISPitoid arthritis in the same game. But while Howard might have sandwiched in five RBIs, the more impressive feat is Blanton’s unlikely solo swing, which was the first World Series home run by a pitcher since ‘74. So congratulations, Ken Holtzman. You’re no longer languishing on a Trivial Pursuit card!
Through four games, Philly’s up 3-1, so a Game 5 win tonight will cement the trophy with all the flags in the glass case at the CBP. As for Tampa, well, their 3-4 tandem of Carlos Peña and Evan Longoria are totally and thoroughly hitless in the Series. That might have somethin’ to do with the two game deficit.
And contrary to rumors circulating around your breakfast nook, it wasn’t just a baseball day yesterday.
Costas: You don’t mind it, you like it a little bit that sometimes there’s a motley collection of characters on your team and maybe there are some character issues and some othe things that go beyond the field that’s kind of part for the course in Dallas, isn’t it?
Jones: Well I’m gonna take exception with the “motley” aspect of your description, that’s not the case, but what I will agree to is that just because you got a football helmet on and a football uniform doesn’t mean there aren’t all kinds of personalities that can be very successful, and yes I have gotten to be a part of teams that have had different characters wearing that star. but they come together for a common reason and that is for the team to win the championship. Win. Win.
I repeat, they’re not motley. So, the tamest possible description of the Cowboys’ raucous character pool, and Jones isn’t cool with it. From now on, they’ll the Playmakers. (So which one’s the closet homosexual?)
Also, he said he won’t fire Coach Phillips this year. Confidence!
If you don’t check out what else is happening, I can neither confirm nor deny if an NFL coach will be all up in your spice:
For professional sports players, having a personal blog is a dicey gamble. While they provide the much-needed service of allowing sports fans a glimpse - and sometimes more - into their personal lives, it also comes with the built-in stipulation that you’re willingly giving fans of opposing teams’ more material to heckle you with. Case in point: It has now been confirmed that Kyle Kendrick loves the Backstreet Boys. Run with it, Rays fans!
Writing on his “personal diary” for the series over at PHILLYBURBS.COM - not being on the World Series roster gives him a decent amount of free time - Kendrick spends an inordinate amount of time (i.e. any at all) getting excited over the fact that the Boys from Backstreet were in attendance to sing the national anthem.
