Christmas week recap

Trent, Christine and I survived our first Christmas together, although it's been a rough week with Trent battling another ear infection that causes him to have awful screaming fits. He's probably screamed more this week than in the rest of the six months that we've known him.

Christmas morning was fun watching the little guy jump right into the wrapping paper, but the day was too rushed with all the driving - especially with his ear wreaking havoc on his (and our) sleep schedule.

As I suspected, there was some SoxandPhils paraphernalia under the tree, but there were two differences this year: I did not get Christine any Phillies items, and nobody got me any Red Sox stuff.

Well, we did get a SoxandPhils item, but it came from the North Pole and was addressed to the whole SoxandPhils family. It was a bib that says: "I'm not torn, I root for the Sox and Phils" with pictures of Trent in his Sox and Phillies garb. Trent also got Christine a mouse pad for work with a picture of him wearing his Ryan Howard shirt with his Mom. It says "Mom and I have plans 162 days a year. Go Phils!"

Santa also brought Trent a Phanatic doll. As you can see, he loved it. He's partial to stuffed green toys. The Grinch is his favorite.

Balancing out the day, he received some Red Sox stuff from my sister - a nice ABC book that teaches him important words such as Impossible Dream, Green Monster and Pesky's Pole and a Red Sox ornament for the tree.

Merry Christmas

The SoxandPhils family is eagerly awaiting Santa's arrival for Trent's first Christmas. We'll be busy doing holiday stuff for the next few days, but we'll update with any SoxandPhils goodies we find under the tree as soon as we can.

Merry Christmas to all. We hope your Santa delivers like Theo Epstein and Ruben Amaro Jr.

Tickets

Our six pack of Phillies tickets arrived last week. It's a good thing we ordered early because the Cliff Lee signing has made hard-to-get tickets even harder to get. I'd like to meet the guy who says, "There's no way I can afford to splurge a couple hundred dollars on a team with three aces, but add a fourth and I'm so there!"

Nonetheless, we're convinced that despite our 80 percent chance of seeing an ace, assuming the hosses stay healthy, on any of the six games we go to, we'll still wind up seeing Joe Blanton more than once.

And, we've already hit a scheduling snafu. We weren't planning on bringing Trent to Citizens Bank Park this year. We were going to have him work his way up through the minors (Camden, Trenton or Lakewood) before going to the majors.

But his grandmom promised her other grandchild a visit on a weekend we picked for a game. So Trent will get his first taste of the Phanatic this spring.

We were planning on him meeting the Phanatic last Saturday at a Phillies store event, but we backed out when we learned the calendar Christine wanted isn't yet available (they needed to replace the month scheduled for Dennys Reyes). We decided that without that reason to go to the park on a cold morning, it probably wasn't worth waiting in line with an infant to see Phanta Claus. Maybe next year.

Big free agent news

The offseason's biggest contractual concern of the SoxandPhils has been settled.

It doesn't involve Jayson Werth, Victor Martinez (although we were sad to see him go) or Adrian Beltre. Nor is it a big rumor involving Carl Crawford or Cliff Lee.

Nope, the SoxandPhils sponsorship of Ken Ryan has been extended for a third year. It's hard to believe that it's been two years since I found Ken Ryan under our Christmas tree. That's four times longer than Trent's been alive, as long as the current SoxandPhils championship drought and nearly as long as my post-journalism career.

The second anniversary of that date is Thursday, and I'm still having flashback nightmares.

On a cheerier note, I bumped into one of Santa's helpers at a mall. He dropped a hint that makes me think Trent might be getting something red and green under the tree. (No, not Ken Ryan dressed as a traffic light.)

SoxandPhils tree lighting

Christine and I hustled yesterday and got the 'ol SoxandPhils tree up in time for Thanksgiving. We know it's too early, but with a baby, we try to stay in front of things.

Although SoxandPhils ornaments still dominate the tree, this year it's a snowman with Trent's name that gets center stage. Funny, for a baby who loves staring at our ceiling fan, there hasn't been a big impression on him that there's a tree filled with lights in our living room.

With the tree up, we tried to get the perfect picture of Trent for our Christmas card. Now we know why the department stores charge so much for their photo services. Before we gave up and ordered through the store, I was taking pleasure in the fact that a Red Sox ornament just happened to be in every shot.

Christine noticed, too. She said she had made a mental note to crop it out, if we got a cardable shot.

Merry Christma ... I mean Happy Thanksgiving.

Will it be a SoxandPhils Christmas?

We know Christmas will be different this year. Christine and I will have to share the tree and take a back seat to the little guy as he opens Santa's bounty.

I started shopping for Christine today. I think we expect fewer SoxandPhils items under the tree this year, but now I wonder whether there will be any. I think I know the answer; Christine will have to wait 42 sleeps to find out.

Trent knows. Christine thinks she can get the answer from him with ticklish kisses to his neck, but he won't crack.

Christmas is coming

Christine and I gave up our Saturday with Trent to go on some official business: buy Christmas presents for relatives and put in a good word for our little guy to Santa Claus.

On our travels, we saw lots of Phillies ornaments, including Santa as a Phillie, Phillies candy canes and Wally the Green Monster. Wait ... how did that get in there? I dunno, but somehow, a mall ornament stand in South Jersey was well stocked with ornaments of the Red Sox mascot, but none of the Phillie Phanatic.

We told the big guy that Trent probably wouldn't want a Wally.

More quick thoughts on a hot and busy weekend

Trent met his other grandparents today, so baseball was once again an aside.

Another nice win for the Phillies, though, 4-3 over the Rockies, which sets up the possibility of a four-game sweep if Joe Blanton can come through tomorrow afternoon.

The game was delayed by severe thunderstorms. It's the type of game Christine and I are familiar with at the ballpark. It was much better to be inside with family.

It was also Christmas in July. Christine and I have never been in the park for Christmas in July, which might be the only promotion we've never seen in person.

While the Phillies won by scoring a couple runs late, the Red Sox lost to the Mariners 4-2 by giving up three late-game runs.

When one old lefty moves out, another moves up

When Randy Johnson announced his retirement this week, it did have some meaning for the Phillies - well, one of them anyway.

With Johnson out of the picture, Jamie Moyer has moved up in a couple of categories on the ol' active leader lists, according to The Bill James Handbook.

Before the Big Unit retired, J-Moy already led active pitchers in games started (609), losses (195) and home runs allowed (491).

Now, he will open the season also leading in wins (258), innings (3,908.2) and batters faced (16,642).

Moyer also moved up to fifth in complete games (31), third in strikeouts (2,342), second in walks (1,117) and third in hit batsmen (138).

Moyer - whose fastball averaged a league-low 81.4 mph last year - will be the active strikeout leader if Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz don't play in 2010.

Another old Phillie: Brett Myers, who has a been a Phillie for so long that his major league debut occurred during our honeymoon, is officially gone. He's now with Ed Wade and the rest of the Philadelphia Astrox. Christine laments the end of an era. We said our peace to young Brett in November.

Mutual (g)love society: Mike Lowell once told Nick Cafardo that Adrian Beltre was the best third baseman he's seen:

"Tools-wise, Adrian Beltre is the best one," he said. "He can be the best one. He's very, very quick. He comes in on the ball incredibly. I relate it to the way I can catch some ground balls. But I see some balls he gets down the line where I really have to concentrate on setting my feet to make a good, strong throw and he's off-balance throwing from the side and it's a rocket that comes out of his arm.

"So I enjoy watching his tools. I wish I could have that ability to flick the ball across the diamond and it goes like a bullet. In the minors, he was like a man playing against boys."

Beltre, supplanting Lowell at third for the Red Sox, returned the kind words today:

New Boston Red Sox third baseman Adrian Beltre has played against Mike Lowell since they were in the minor leagues, and said Lowell has the best hands of any third baseman in the game. "I know Mike Lowell," he said after his introductory press conference in Fenway Park on Friday. "I'm a huge fan of Mike Lowell. Mike is a great guy."

Thanks: Big kudos to Cafepress.com. Christine's Chooch T-shirt was a little too small. We asked to exchange it for a larger one. They just sent us a larger one without asking us to send the other one back. It arrived today. Great customer service.

Christine got Chooch!

Last year, Ken Ryan found himself under the official SoxandPhils Christmas tree. This year, it was Carlos Ruiz's turn to be a gift.

Christine normally doesn't like Phillies garb specific to a certain player. But she has developed an affinity for Chooch, and I figured she would get a kick out of a Ruiz shirt.

Unfortunately, the only official Ruiz shirts for women come in red, and Christine doesn't wear red. So I did some searching and found some customizable Carlos Ruiz shirts.

Before discovering CafePress (yes, I was the last person on Earth to have heard of it), I came across a Phillies canvas chair while looking in a sporting goods store. I picked up one because we recently got a canvas chair as a prize from a charity walk. Christine had mentioned that it seems wrong to have just one chair, so now we have a pair: one that's bright orange and one that's Phillies. We won't stick out at all at the next parade.

I also got Christine a transistor radio (yup, they still sell them) so that next summer she won't have to choose between taking a walk in the neighborhood or watching the beginning of a Phillies game. We can stroll around the neighborhood while listening to the start of the game.

In my pile from Christine was The Bill James Handbook. It's been awhile since I've had a copy. So long, in fact, that Christine thinks the last one I had was used to try to settle our debates over who was better, Scott Rolen or Nomar Garciaparra, who both seemed destined for the Hall of Fame way back then.

At my parents' house, I got a Red Sox vs. Yankees checkers set. It's nice, but who is going to want to play as the Empire? Christine and I joked that we will buy Phillies vs. Mets so we can put together a SoxandPhils game.

I also got Boston Red Sox Yesterday & Today. It's rare for a new Red Sox book to come out without my knowledge, let alone one authored by one of my favorite columnists, Nick Cafardo. I was very surprised.

Actually, Christine got me a non-baseball book that I was also unaware of. It's not actually out yet, so Christine had to print out a picture of it to put under the tree. At first, I thought it was going to another baseball-reference sponsorship, just like Ken Ryan last year.

Hope you all had a nice holiday and that next year we all get our Christmas present in October: Sox vs. Phils.

It's probably too late but ...

Yesterday, I suggested Athlete Promotions as a last-minute gift idea for a sports fan and compiled a roster chock full of Phillies.

If you still need a gift, at this point it's probably either an IOU on someone such as Vince Coleman or whatever gift card is left at Wawa.

If you're going with the IOU, here's a roster of Red Sox available for booking:

C: Carlton Fisk
1B: Billy Buckner
2B: Bobby Doerr
3B: Wade Boggs
SS: Jerry Remy (There are no pure shortstops. He did play two innings at the position.)
LF: Carl Yastrzemski
CF: Fred Lynn
RF: Dwight Evans
DH: Jim Rice
Bench: Rickey Henderson, Johnny Damon, Don Baylor, Mo Vaughn, Tony Armas
SP: Curt Schilling, Dave Cone, Roger Clemens, Ferguson Jenkins, Frank Viola
RP: Billy Wagner, Dennis Eckersley, David Wells, Sparky Lyle, Tom Seaver
Manager/Coach: Terry Francona, Grady Little, Kevin Kennedy

Hopefully, you won't need this list and it will just provide a nice diversion as you unwind from another Christmas come and gone. I hope you had a good one and that our travels aren't too painful today.

From the staff at SoxandPhils.blogspot.com: Merry Christmas!

Real last-minute gift idea

We're now counting the hours until the big man arrives. But what if you realize you didn't get the perfect item for those hard-to-please baseball fans in your life?

What do you do?

Get them Steve Phillips. Or Charlie Manuel. Or how about Bob Uecker?

Those guys, and many more, are available to book for personal appearances through Athlete Promotions. I know Christine couldn't wrap up Curt Schilling and put him under the tree, so I wonder which package with my name on it contains the details about when Curt is going to come talk to me.

To help you procrastinating shoppers, here's a roster of Phillies available to book:

C: Darren Daulton
1B: Pete Rose
2B: Ryne Sandberg
3B: Mike Schmidt
SS: Larry Bowa
LF: Rex Hudler
CF: Lenny Dykstra
RF: Dale Murphy
Bench: Lance Parrish, Dale Sveum, Davey Lopes, Todd Zeile, Tony Perez
SP: Curt Schilling, Steve Carlton, Ferguson Jenkins, Fernando Valenzuela, Jim Bunning
RP: Billy Wagner, Larry Andersen, Roger McDowell, Sparky Lyle, Dave Stewart
Manager/Coaches: Charlie Manuel, Terry Francona, Dale Sveum

So before you hang your stockings and say your prayers because Santa Claus comes tonight, book a Phillie.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

***WARNING***
***CHEESE ALERT***
***Massive quantities of snow turns up my affinity for all things cheese***

I woke up and there was three inches of snow on the ground. It has not stopped all morning and probably won't for another 24 hours.

On the plus side, being snowed in allowed me to give my fish their Christmas cleaning, turn on the Christmas tree and catch some quality holiday cheez such as Ernest Saves Christmas and A Flintstone Christmas. Unfortunately, the two-part Saved by the Bell Home for Christmas was pre-empted by weather coverage.

I'm ready to put the presents under the tree, put on my A Twisted Christmas and then count the hours until Santa time.

Judging from Christine's inbox, it appears the Phillies are also in a festive mood. The Red Sox are, too.

I like these holiday treats, but can't decide which approach I like better. The Phillies with only 2009 highlights or the Red Sox with all-time great moments. I may lean more toward the classic moments, but the Red Sox had some head-scratchers. I was pleased to see the Tom Brunansky catch to clinch the 1990 division, but how do you not have the final out of the 2004 World Series?

The great '04 was represented by David Ortiz's walk-off home run against the Yankees, but couldn't they have shown the actual hit and not just the celebration?

Um, never mind, the switched the moments since we looked last night. They're much better now. And, if they constantly change them, all the better.

Christmas jolly may resume. Phew.

I'm off to see if I remember how to start my snow blower or to watch the classic Mr. Plow Simpsons episode. We could use Barney Gumble's services right now.