The Sports Idiot

So why are the Phillies looking to add offense, when they already dominate the NL in most offensive categories?  To do so at the expense of Pedro Feliz’ glove is a crime, as dude is one of the best three baggers in the game.  Speculation is that they will try to sign free agent Adrian Beltre, who would certainly have the potential to be a huge offensive upgrade over Feliz.  Beltre, however, has not hit over 30 homers since 2004 in which he belted 48 of them.  That is also the only year he did manage to hit over 30, by the way, and in 2009 he only managed eight in an injury plagued season that saw him play in only 111 games.

Here at The Sports Idiot we think that the Phillies should have picked up this option.  The Phillies failed to ask us for our opinion, and have yet to return calls that we have not placed to them.

In last night’s Game Four of the 2009 World Series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees we saw the offensive team finally use the shift to their advantage.  With Mark Teixeira at the plate and Johnny Damon standing on first base, the Phillies put the shift on.  Damon proceeded to do one of the smartest things I have ever seen a baseball player do.  He stole second base, doing a feet first slide and popping right up to his feet.  He then raced to third, where there was no one to cover the bag.  Dude stole two bases on one pitch.  Damon then scored the game winning run when Alex Rodriguez hit a double later in the inning.

In a series that base running figured to be a factor, this may turn out to be the biggest play of them all.  The ironic thing is that most of us figured it would be the speedy Phils who would use their base stealing ability to wreak havoc, not old ass Johnny Freaking Damon.

Wait, what pre-established ground rules?  Umpire crew chief Gerry Davis told Phillies Manager Charlie Manual that when the crew took their tour of the field, they saw the camera and decided then that if any ball were to hit it, it would be a round tripper.  Fair enough, and that makes the correct call on this one a home run.

The problem that Phillie Fan is going to have with this is that the ball did not look like it would have cleared the top of the fence if the camera were not there.  The problem with Phillie Fans’ impending argument about being screwed is that this happened on their home turf.  While we are not sure who determines the location of the cameras and their clearance to the field, we are sure that if Chase Utley had hit this ball they would not have an issue with it. 

That sound you just heard was all of the Phillies Fans that were screaming about disrespect and how their Phils would either sweep on win in five throwing their remotes into their TVs.  I predicted Phils in six, but that prediction is looking shaky right now.  As I said Friday, this series will turn when either Ryan Howard or Alex Rodriguez does something other than generate electricity via the human windmill.  Unfortunately for the Phillies, it was not their guy who showed up first.  Rodriguez reached base four times, the homer, a walk and he was drilled by two pitches.  He also had a throwing error, for what it is worth, but did not strike out a single time. 

Howard, on the other hand, continues to look lost in the batters box while striking out three more times and not reaching base a single time.  Good thing for him the Phillies have a new super star in the mix in Jayson Werth.  The bad news is that it will take much more than Werth to win three more games this series.