You ask, we try to answer

Since the Red Sox and Phillies are off to rest up before pushing the Florida teams out of first place, we're going to answer some of the questions we've received since starting this blog.

1) Is Jayson Werth married? Pat Burrell? Werth is married with two children, but he doesn't list their names in the Phillies media guide. Burrell is married to Michelle Fonseca with a bulldog named Elvis, who gave his owner a stiff neck this week. It's unconfirmed whether there's a second bulldog named Priscilla.

2) Who was the guy who painted a birthday portrait of the Phanatic this month? He's Dan Dunn, a Paint Jam Artist.

3) What does Daisuke Matsuzaka's Japanese stamp look like? Here's the Dice-K that sends mail (found at the Japanese site Garbage News):


4) When was the Phillies last no-hitter? Kevin Millwood, 1-0 against the Giants, April 27, 2003. The last current Phillie to be involved in a no-hitter is Brad Lidge, who combined with five Astros to blank the Yankees 8-0 on June 11, 2003. (We were vacationing in Hawaii at the time.)

5) What is the intro song for (fill in the name of just about any ballplayer)? This is the most recent list we could find, but some are dubious. Burrell used to rock to Dio's Holy Diver, but now comes out to Don Henley's Dirty Laundry.

Manny being Manny: While the Red Sox dropped a 1-0 game to the anemic Mariners last night to fall 1.5 games behind the Rays, Manny was glad he didn't hold up the team and media with a post-game press conference for his 500th homer.

The press conference would be too late and it would delay us getting into Baltimore.

Great, that's much more important than tying or taking a lead in a game against the worst team in baseball.

Rain, wind but no win

"It's one thing sitting through a rain delay when they win," Christine said after Lyle Overbay hit a pinch hit homer to tie today's game at three in the 5th.

"It's more fun watching the clouds," an angry fellow season ticket holder yelled at the team after the Blue Jays scored three more in the 6th to take a commanding lead.

"We don't leave baseball games early," I implied on this blog in March.

Unfortunately, today we left a game early for the third time in our baseball-watching career. The first one was because of extreme heat, the second extreme cold. Today was extreme rain, even though they resumed play by the time we got home.


We sat through the first two-hour delay, but the skies were so dark and the rain was so hard that we didn't attempt the second. We still can't believe how much rain came down. We got soaked as we ran through the downpour and inches of water on the ground.


While the rain sent us packing, it didn't stop the Phanatic's birthday celebration, although portions were moved indoors because of pre-game rain. All the local mascots showed up - except for the Eagles' Swoop. I wonder what that was all about - maybe he was busy scouting another cornerback (or just jealous of the attention the Phanatic receives). All the mascots, and then Dan Dunn, a "jam artist," painted tributes to the green furball. All kiddies received a paint-your-own Phanatic statue. Christine was jealous.


Despite the rain, the game started nearly on time. The young-gun match-up of Shawn Marcum and Kyle Kendrick never really materialized. Kendrick threw a perfect inning and Marcum struck out three in an inning, but he also gave up two runs, two hits and a walk. Both pitchers were yanked after the first rain delay.

We spent the rain delay watching an inning of Royals-Marlins, then the Richie Ashburn DVD, before the Flyers' last game of the year started. I filled out nine All-Star ballots, and of course, we monitored the Red Sox score - an ugly 11-7 win over the Brewers by Josh "2006" Beckett, who gave up four home runs. The Sox are now in first again after a loss by the Rays.


When play resumed, Chad Durbin continued where Kendrick left off. He yielded his first walk in the 3rd and no-hit murmurs started before Rod Barajas doubled with two outs in the 5th, which started a three-run rally. The former Phil drove in a run the next inning.

In the 6th, trailing 6-3, the Phillies attempted a rally. They had one run in, runners on first and second with Pat Burrell coming up. That's when the rains came. We fled. We could see the sun in the distance as we left the stadium. Listening on the radio, we heard Roy Halladay coming in to pitch to Burrell as we pulled into our neighborhood. We couldn't believe the bad weather cleared that quickly.

Observations from the stands: After Pedro Feliz got a hit in the fourth, the PA system played Feliz Navidad, ending abruptly with "Feliz." That was the highlight of the sound system on a day when it was awful - lots of crapping out. ... A few people were nodding off in the stands - not just the head bob, but full-blown conked out. ... Christine gave me a poke in the ribs when she correctly read my mind that I was thinking of my fantasy team when the Blue Jays eliminated the possibility of Marcum getting a loss. But she was wrong: I was thinking about a save for B.J. Ryan. He nearly blew it but managed to save the game, giving the Blue Jays a 6-5 victory.

Hat update: Christine finally found a new one she likes. It's tan with a brown P and says Phillies on the back.

Baseball Mogul update: I'm still in the NLCS against the Diamondbacks. I was up 4-2 in game six and called Christine in the room to see the Phillies go to a World Series. You'd think a Red Sox fan would know better. Hopefully game seven goes better.