Bring On the Yankees

It may be the equivalent of a death wish, but the Phillies' dream scenario would be to meet the Yankees in the World Series.

In winning last year's World Series, the home team generated euphoria throughout the Delaware Valley, but the rest of the country yawned collectively, as evidenced by the Series' TV ratings. By some measures, those ratings were the lowest ever. And for many of those outsiders who watched, the Phils' victory was a fluke accomplished in the snow and cold. It often seemed that Rays' manager Joe Madden got more camera time than Utley, Rollins and Howard.

What the South Philly squad has now is the opportunity to cement their credibility as the best baseball franchise of the latter part of this decade and hopefully beyond.

A second world championship would go a long way towards accomplishing this. But pulling this off against the Bronx Bombers - the most storied franchise in sports history, a roster with a bushel of future hall-of-famers, in their new Taj Mahal of a ballpark - would render the cynics defenseless.

Unfortunately, there is that small matter of the Rockies and Dodgers/Cardinals.

Phillie Notes - The Secret to Their Success

Phillie Notes:

With their third successive division championship, the Phils have established themselves as one of the top franchises in the majors. The primary reason for this is not the brilliance of Charlie Manuel, or the loyal fan base, or the friendly confines of Citizens Park. It is the solid nucleus of everyday players - Rollins, Utley, Howard, Victorino, and Werth - which matches up with any in baseball. They are all in their prime, in their late 20's or early 30's, and most are under long-term contracts. The professionalism of Rollins and Utley in particular really sets the tone for this squad. There are many other factors of course, but this is the key.

Charlie Manuel/Rich Dubee are being universally praised for bringing in Brad Lidge to get the last out against his old team on the night of the division clinching. Lidge himself seemed to revel in it. It was certainly harmless but what was the big deal? Manuel had already proved his loyalty to Lidge over and over again, and it's hard to see how pitching to one batter with a seven run lead, with the division already won (the Braves having lost) is much of a confidence-builder. It's a little too much like a college basketball coach putting in his seniors in the last minute of a blow-out game.

It's difficult to overstate the importance of Pedro Feliz this season. Even though his batting average is only in the .260's, that's 20 points higher than last season, and he's been one of the team's more consistent hitters in 2009 with few prolonged dry spells. He has also added 20 or so RBI's from 2008 to go along with his impeccable fielding. And with the marked improvement in Ryan Howard's glove work, the team's infield defense is as good as there is.

Last year, Chase Utley's offense faded late in the season. The media, almost unanimously, attributed this to Utley's injured hip, even though Utley himself repeatedly denied it and there was no visible evidence that the second baseman was favoring it. This year, Utley's bat has once again been weak in September. It seems more likely that something else was and is going on - the best guess here is old-fashioned fatigue.

Another Look at Michael Bourn

Phillie watchers had their first opportunity to see the new, improved Michael Bourn last week and contemplate what might have been.

We've looked at the Bourn-Brad Lidge deal on a couple of occasions this year. In the immediate aftermath of last season's world championship, it appeared to be one of the best in Philadelphia baseball history - the reliever was the single player most responsible for the team's success.

Then earlier this season we took a second look. At that point, Lidge was struggling and Bourn was hitting .300 and his Astros were serious playoff contenders. Now as the season winds down, we take a third look.

Lidge is no longer just struggling - he has melted down in one of the most dramatic falls from grace since Adam and Eve. Charlie Manuel gets edgy just talking about it.

Meanwhile, while Houston has become a footnote in the National League race, Bourn continues to hit over .290 with 50 plus stolen bases. So at least based on this year's production, Bourn has outshown Lidge by several light years. Bourn has been the Astros' MVP, Lidge a Phillies' Pandora's box and migraine headache for Manuel.

But a little perspective. After watching the former Phillie up close last week, it is clear that he has not remade himself into a potent batsman; he is still a work in progress. Of his 150-odd hits, more than a third of them are either the result of bunts or are of the infield variety. He is on pace to strike out close to 140 times, a whopping total for a leadoff man with three home runs. And if Bourn were still a Phillie, where would he play?

But let your imagination run wild. Michael Bourn's game begins and ends with speed - it was decisive in a couple of the Astros' wins over the Phils in Houston. If Bourn was the regular left fielder in Philadelphia in tandem with Victorino and Werth, it would constitute one of the fastest outfields in major league history. Add Jimmy Rollins, and Davey Lopes would have a world class 400m relay team to wreak havoc on the bases. The home team would have a remarkable combination of speed and power.

Would Bourn's speed offset the loss of Ibanez' power? Probably not. Would it be easy to design a lineup to incorporate Rollins, Victorino and Bourn effectively? Heck no. Could Michael Bourn ever be as valuable as Lidge was in 2008? Almost inconceivable.

But the Phillies sure would be fun to watch.

(Note: This blog will be changing its name to "fannotes@blogspot.com")

Lidge Not There Yet

Brad Lidge picked up his third consecutive save in last night's exciting win over the Giants at the ballpark. But to say it was not an artistic performance would be kind.

Lidge threw 22 pitches and officially 10 were strikes and 12 were balls. Unofficially, there were probably no more than 3 or 4 actual strikes. The rest were the product of wild swings at balls well out of the strike zone by the undisciplined Giant hitters. There were probably at least 6 balls in the dirt and Carlos Ruiz must have felt like a pinata trying to keep the baseball in front of him.

The Phillie closer's two previous appearances were solid but this was a step backward. It was all smiles after the game but deep down Brad Lidge and Charlie Manuel know that many questions remain as the playoffs loom.

Rick Pitino - From Slick to Sleazy

They say that sausage and legislation are similar in that while they both can have their good points, you don't want to see how they're made. The same might be said of NCAA Division I major sports, namely football and basketball. The era of the innocent scholar jock, if it ever existed, was long ago replaced by a big business, money rules philosophy, with only lip service paid to sportsmanship, amateurism, the primacy of academics and the holistic nurturing of the student athletes. One of the more insidious trends has been the introduction of Saudi oil sheik-level salaries for Division I coaches. And along with the money, come the scandals.

The latest, with a particularly salacious twist, is Pitino-gate. How much immunity does Rick Pitino's superstar status provide him from the fallout of his highly publicized, er, "indiscretion"?

Coach Pitino has always seemed a bit too slick by half. You didn't have to be an expert in reading body language to figure out that this guy was full of himself. He may have been the first big-time coach to employ the annoying practice of pacing the sidelines for virtually the entire game, all the time with a studied look on his face. It was as if he were a mathematician using all of his cognitive power to solve a complicated problem in advanced calculus instead of just trying to figure out if his opponent was playing zone or man-to-man.

He could be ingenuous. In 1997, rumors were circulating that Pitino was a candidate for the Celtics' head coaching job. On the Charlie Rose Show, he was asked if was going to take the job and Pitino offered an unqualified "no". A week or two later, Pitino announced he was taking the job, it was an opportunity he couldn't turn down, historic franchise, etc., etc. He then proceeded to antagonize most everyone in Beantown with his arrogance while compiling a won-lost record 40 games under .500 during his tenure.

He went immediately to the University of Louisville from Boston, was hailed like MacArthur returning to the Philippines, and given the keys to Fort Knox. In the meantime, he found time to write books like "Success Is A Choice" where, according to the blurbs, he instructed the reader on how to subordinate his ego and how to feel better about himself. Very prophetic.

Still, Pitino's success in the college ranks is undeniable. His records at Providence, Kentucky and Louisville are impressive. The Dick Vitale's of the world would have you believe that this was a product of Coach Pitino's keen basketball mind. Vitale calls Pitino a "brilliant strategist". Of course, in offering this praise, Dickie V. is attempting to elevate his own importance as an evaluator of this brilliance. In the incestuous NCAA-ESPN connection, it's all about self promotion.

Probably closer to the truth is that Coach Pitino acquired fame and fortune largely on the backs of talented inner city kids. The smooth talker would visit the families of the prospects, who often lived in difficult circumstances, and emphasize that this was not just about basketball. He would be their boy's mentor off the court as well, their life coach, big brother, father figure. It turns out that it's the coach who needed the mentoring, or at least a chaperone.

When Pitino was coaching the Celtics, and they were struggling, he famously excused their ineptitude by saying that Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish were not about to walk through the door. So even he was admitting that it's all about the players, not the strategizing.

When Elizabeth Edwards was asked if it was appropriate that her husband run for President while she was battling cancer, she replied that she did not want to deprive the country of John's services. The country needed him and only him. We now know she would have been doing the country a great service if she had deprived us of his services. Rick Pitino, who seems to operate from the same playbook as John Edwards, is likewise not indispensable - to the University of Louisville or any other basketball program. There are dozens of well-qualified candidates capable of running solid programs without the extracurricular activities.

Coach Pitino's Louisville contract has a morality clause which allows firing for "acts of moral depravity or misconduct that damages the university's reputation". It would seem that threshold has been met.

This is not about forgiveness which is done at the personal level by family and friends. And it's not about second chances. By all accounts, this is a very wealthy individual, hardly a hardship case. He has had numerous coaching opportunities over a long career, and others may present themselves down the road, perhaps better for him and us if he looked outside the big-time intercollege level. But he violated a trust and a written contract, and should not be paid millions by a public university after such a sordid episode.

This is not the same as a company CEO whose personal peccadillos have no bearing on his job performance. For someone in Pitino's position, with so much influence over young impressionable minds, it is impossible to separate moral propriety from job performance. Yes, other coaches have engaged in non-choir boy behavior. And yes, Pitino's high profile draws money, or at least has until now, into university coffers. But at some point, a line in the campus quadrangle needs to be drawn.

If Louisville feels compelled to retain Coach Pitino, they should offer him a $1 salary, with the remainder of his usual compensation package going into a scholarship fund. Otherwise, they should send him packing with their best wishes. Anything more will signal business as usual and sausage-making will look elegant by comparison.

The Phillies' 800 Pound Gorilla In the Room

Most of the attention in recent weeks has been on the Phillies' pitching staff. And not without reason. The additions of Lee and Martinez. Multiple injuries among the the relief core. The emergence of J. Happ. The travails of Cole Hamels. The future of Jamie Moyer. And watching Brad Lidge enter a game has become like observing the pilot of your airplane getting on board carrying a copy of "How To Overcome Your Fear of Flying". Not exactly a confidence-builder.

But the underlying assumption seems to be that if the pitching can be sorted out, the Phillies can start printing World Series tickets. Not so fast. The 800 pound gorilla in the room is the Philadelphia hitters.

Most everyone seems to be in awe of the Fightin's offensive juggernaut which leads the league in runs scored, averaging over 5 runs per game, and home runs. But if you've watched this team for the past three seasons, you know it's not that simple.

First of all, that runs/game stat is misleading. The team has had 51 games scoring 4 runs or less, and 40 games with three or less. On the other hand, they have had 13 games scoring 10 or more runs and 9 games with 8 or more runs. So many of those runs were of little consequence.

The Phils have become very dependent on the long ball, but are not so good at small ball. Even their running game, which played a major role in '07 and '08, seems to be less effective. When they find themselves in a home run drought, as they are right now, runs can be hard to come by. Jimmy Rollins has been their most reliable power hitter in recent weeks, not a good sign. Too many runners are being left on base, but again this has been a characteristic of this squad for several years.

Jason Werth and Ryan Howard are major talents but they are excrutiatingly inconsistent with a tendency to strike out. Werth rarely has more than one good week in a row and Howard's inability to hit southpaws this year (under .200) has been a major liability. Utley, Victorino, and Rollins are all susceptible to frequent dry spells. Rollins of course is coming out of a three-month drought with a vengeance but he's still at a point, in mid-August, where a 1 for 4 day raises his average.

The addition of the rock-solid Ibanez has helped to even out the extreme peaks and valleys of the offense. But even Raul, who at one point was a Triple Crown threat, has been slowly reverting to his excellent, but more earthly, lifetime .290 batting average.

Last summer, the Phillie bats were struggling until the stretch run when Howard and Rollins went on tears and carried the team to the playoffs. A similar scenario may unfold in 2009. But last year, all that was required was a one-run lead for Lidge in the 9th. This time around, they may have to find a new recipe for success.

Another Blockbuster Move by the Sixers

Shaq traded to Cleveland.

Vince Carter traded to Orlando.

Hedo Turkoglue goes to the Raptors.

Roy Jefferson signs with the Spurs.

Rasheed Wallace signs with the Celtics.

Ben Gordon signs with the Pistons.

The Mavericks acquire Shawn Marion.

Ron Artest signs with the Lakers.

Andre Miller signs with the Trailblazers.

And not to be outdone, the Sixers are in talks to re-sign Royal Ivey. The excitement in South Philly is palpable.