'Tis the season

One half of SoxandPhils went Christmas shopping today, and I'm all Christmassed up - ready to skip Thanksgiving to get to the main course.

Here are some of the baseball-related tidbits that I can share without giving away anything that Christine will find under the tree in a month:

--When in a sports collectibles store to look for discounted 2007 World Series swag ... er, to check out the latest in Phillies World Series merchandise, a middle-aged couple approached the counter.

"Do you have any David Wright shirts?" the man asked.

I smiled, bit my tongue and kept listening.

"No, but I might be able to order one," the proprietor said. "Child or adult?"

"Adult," the man answered unabashedly.

Poor guy. Doesn't he know they invented the Internet so you wouldn't have to order embarrassing shirts in enemy territory?

--At a big box electronics store, I looked to see if there were any Phillies DVDs out yet, but I saw a more interesting title: The 2006 Mets: The Team. The Time. Um, time for what? Choking against the Cardinals in the playoffs as a warm-up for two monumental regular-season collapses?

--One holiday-timed Phillies item caught my eye while waiting to check out - Gary Matthews' book, Phillies Confidential: The Untold Inside Story of the 2008 Championship Season. It's real small, and judging from a glance, it looks just as cheesy as one would expect a book by Sarge to be. I told Christine we'll wait for the movie to come out. {I wonder which has more details on the season - our blog or Sarge's book?}

--Finally, this wasn't at a store, but in the Major League Baseball holiday gift guide. A Yankees T-shirt says "Respect the dynasty." OK, everyone listen to the Yankees shirt and respect the SoxandPhils dynasty that won three of the last five championships.

The andPhils half of the blog is doing her shopping Monday. Maybe she'll come back with some similar stories.

Fat chance

I'm not exactly thrilled that our ace has a bigger gut than me.

At least the Boston Herald report accompanying this photo says it's not as bad as it looks.

I'm sure he'll be lean and mean in October. {Fat chance.}

Still, maybe he shouldn't have had so many celebratory beers and should have drank white grape juice like Jamie Moyer.

Etc.: Watched about 10 minutes of my Valentine's present: the champs' DVD. It has me psyched. The intro connects the '04 and '07 championships and I'm ready for No. 3 in '08. {Who was it that claimed he doesn't need a championship every year??}

Christine said when she was ordering it, they kick in the '04 DVD for free. Who would order the '07 DVD who didn't already have the one from the great '04? And among the bonus features is a moose hunt with Papelbon. That's going to be great.

Feel those Goosebumps

Something Santa left under the tree for Christine was GOOSEBUMPS, the story of how the Phillies managed not to blow it in '07.

I enjoyed reliving the season, but noted two glaring omissions:

1. The first franchise to reach 10,000 losses. We were there -- thanks to Brian. I still have the scorecard.

2. Another fateful Adam Eaton loss, his last of the year on the season's final Saturday. See, the day before the Phils took their first division lead -- one game over the Mets. On Saturday, Eaton again made Christine cringe, tying things up heading into the final game.

But on the video, hosted by J-Roll, Saturday never happened. The Phils took their first lead of the year on the Friday, which meant on Sunday a win and a Mets loss would give them the division. The same was true for Saturday if not for Eaton and the Mets winning a rare September game.

I had GOOSEBUMPS Sunday -- that's the name of the DVD, and the Phils slogan in 2007. They finally had a fitting one after years of losers like "Bring it On" for the 65-97 2000 edition managed by Terry Francona who was still learning to be a World Series genius {note from Christine: this grandiose way of thinking is one of the reasons why I don't like the Red Sox} and another favorite "Real Grass. Real Fun" to celebrate moving from the Vet to the new park, which still lacks a decent nickname.