Results tagged “Phillies” from The Southpaw

That's it.
Now that Tim Lincecum has won the Cy Young award despite having just 15 wins, baseball fans are up in arms.
Either they believe it's an injustice that a pitcher could win the award without winning 20 games or it's an injustice because people still consider wins an important stat.
The rhetoric is getting as heated as the health care debate.
And I've had it.
The problem is these people not getting the point. And they're doing themselves and the game an injustice.
Wins are still a very valuable statistic. It's just one that has evolved over the years.
But more on that later.
What's most important is that we discuss the relevence of the big numbers (20 wins in a season, 500 home runs or 3,000 hits).
These are numbers that are benchmarks.
But, somewhere along the line their true meaning has been lost. We began thinking a pitcher needed 20 wins to be successful or that a slugger needed 500 home runs to reach the Hall of Fame.
Don't fear.
The Southpaw is going to straighten you out.
Let's start with 20 wins.

Mike Scioscia can calm down now. He's manager of the year. But you know he'd trade that award for the pennant or the Commissioner's trophy.
Bud Selig is making the right call. And no, that wasn't a misprint.
The voters got the manager of the year awards right.

So, Zack Greinke won the Cy Young. But can he slay a gnome?
An interesting look at Omar Vizquel and where he could end up.

An underdog Yankee. Yep.

And guess who might be heading to Cuba?

While playing basketball at the Hanover YMCA Friday, the Southpaw played against a kid who was wearing a Nolan Reimold jersey.
Now, that's a fan.
Inside, we look at the National League's rookie class, remember Dwight Gooden and find out another team needs a third baseman.

The Orioles are hoping to trade for a second baseman who's last name starts with "U."
The Yankees wouldn't. Would they?
The Nationals are keeping Jim Wriggleman.

From the AP:

NEW YORK -- That travel team back in Virginia a decade ago must have played great defense on the left side of the infield.

Ryan Zimmerman succeeded boyhood friend David Wright as the National League's Gold Glove third baseman on Wednesday. In high school, when Zimmerman was a shortstop, the two played together on a youth team.

The best news so far this offseason: Tim Wakefield will be back in 2010.
The hot stove league is heating up.
The Red Sox are making moves. The Yankees are planning theirs.
There's a hole at third in Philly.
And, because we can: Yo, Adrian.

The biggest baseball news this weekend was the Twins acquiring JJ Hardy from Milwaukee.
But there was a lot of big news.
Check inside to find out why one New York columnist thinks the Yankees are about to cut payroll; why Joe Torre might really love L.A. enough to stay; who might be a good fit for the Orioles and why the Phillies serenaded a World Series hero with a Sting song.

The Yankees celebrate a 27th World Series crown.
The Southpaw will admit he was biased in this series. The Phillies are the team he's always rooted for. And the Yankees, well they conspired with two politicians in Northeastern Pennsylvania and stole the team he grew up watching, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons.
Of course, the problem there isn't that the Phillies weren't going to be associated with The Southpaw's hometown region, it's that the deal struck with the Yankees will probably end Triple-A baseball in the Dunder Mifflin region forever.
But that's another story for another day.
Today, and until a new champion is crowned, the New York Yankees get to be celebrated.

The New York Yankees are the 2009 World Series champions after fighting off the 2008 champion Philadelphia Phillies in a six-game series.
The Yankees, with baseballs biggest payroll, have won their 27th World Series and first under Joe Girardi.
This was also the first championship won in the new Yankee Stadium.
Check The Southpaw tomorrow morning for a recap.

Los Angeles Dodgers hurler Vicente Padilla was reportedly shot.
It's surprising news and, for some, strange reason, not surprising at all.
Look, if you were going to pick someone in the Major Leagues to get shot, your best bet would be Padilla, whom Philadelphia Phillies broadcaster/peddler of doom Chris Wheeler somewhat affectionately dubbed, "A space cadet."
We don't know the reason for this name. But we know Padilla's roughshod ways have worn out his welcome with two franchises.

New York Yankees fans hope Game 5 was just a blip on the radar.
Philadelphia Phillies fans hope that blip was the unnoticed warning of a coming attack.

The Philadelphia Phillies Cliff Lee has definitely arrived. Maybe those headlines of Frillies will disappear.
Cliff Lee was absurd.
First, there was the casual catch, then there was the "You're doin' great there," pat on the rear end tag.
Then he just plain showed off with the routine behind-the-back play.
That's one every Little League coach has in his playbook.
But he topped all that off by saying afterword that he wasn't nervous.
Joe Posnanski, for one, doesn't believe him.

Former Indians Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia, above, will face of in Game 1.
Cleveland Indians can only ask themselves, "What if?"
It's a question that haunts us all, but is really pertinent to Tribe followers during this World Series.
Consider what they have to watch in Game 1.
CC Sabathia, who was the Indians' ace just more than 16 months ago, will throw out the series' first pitch. And not the ceremonial type either.
The Big Boy will be the Yankees' Game 1 starter.
To answer, the Phillies will throw Cliff Lee to the hill. He's the man who won the Cy Young while pitching for the Indians last season.
So, the Indians could have been much better off with those two making 40 percent of their starts.
Three good friends of the Southpaw - York Daily Record/Sunday News sports copy editor Matt Goul, St. Louis Post Dispatch photographer Emily Rasinski and Frederick News Post sports writer Greg Swatek. - are Indians fans and were willing to offer their perspective.
Here's what they had to say.

Here are some of the World Series stories worth reading from today's media outlets:

Bruce Jenkins says this could be a historic classic.

Jayson Werth almost left the game, but now is a key player on a team that has made it to consecutive World Series.

Joanna Malloy has a good time poking fun at Philly's new-found pride.

A Whiz Kid recollects

Aces abound in Game 1.

Every World Series has its memorable moment. Or two. Or three.
One player can make a name for himself as a goat or a hero.
Here is each World Series summed up in one sentence.

Eric Bruntlett might be the best "throw-in" in Phillies' history.

Hal Bodley says these are the glory days.

Lee Jenkins wonders what happens if the Phillies do the unthinkable.

Ted Keith says the Phillies didn't celebrate like you thought they would. They treated the pennant like it was just another step toward where they want to go.

Rich Hofman shields his eyes from the glow of Ryan Howard's awesomeness.

Bill Lyon takes you on a trip through a glorious night.

Tom Boswell says these players are Charlie's boys.

Jayson Stark says the Phillies are as much about erasing history as they are making it.

Gene Wojciechowski says the Phillies are the team you need to root for.

Historically, if you grew up a Philadelphia Phillies fan, you developed an inferiority complex along the way.
You looked to the north and saw the Yankees perennially winning pennants and the Mets occasionally pulling off the trick. You looked to the west and saw that the Pirates, until recently, were always in contention. Down south, the Orioles were always the class of the American League off the field and often on it.
You were surrounded by success. Just not a part of it.
The Braves, whether in Boston, Milwaukee or Atlanta, had plenty of reasons to cheer. They had Hank Aaron, Warren Spahn, Eddie Matthews, Dale Murphy, The Four Aces and division crowns in 14 straight seasons. Below them were the Marlins. They came around in 1993 and won it all four years later. It took your Phils 97 years to do that.
Then the Fish rubbed it in your face and won it all again in 2002. They'd done in 10 years what you hadn't been able to pull of in more than a century.
And let's not talk about the Cardinals or the Dodgers. But I guess we have to, at least to give the kiddos a lesson. In 64, the Cardinals did to the Phillies what the Phillies did to the Mets two years ago. The Dodgers beat the Phils in the playoffs twice in the 70s, giving Black Friday a totally different meaning in the City of Liberty.
The Phillies were't lovable losers like the Cubs or tragically cursed like the Red Sox.
Your team just lost in unlovable ways that meant they didn't even need a curse.
That's not the case now.