Poor showing

Jacoby Ellsbury finished third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting announced today. You could argue that his showing mirrored where the Red Sox ultimately ended up. I'm not certain, however, that Ellsbury deserved to finish that high. His showing might have more to do with his play in last year's World Series than this season. Although this year was disappointing for him, I still have high hopes.

The Phillies had no viable Rookie of the Year candidates, although Christine's preseason pick, Geovany Soto, won it in the NL. This year's winners, Soto and Evan Longoria, were about as clear-cut as you can get, but the NL voting was a travesty that won't get any attention because it didn't cost a deserving winner.

Under the vote totals is an asterisk: *(Edinson) Volquez received votes despite being ineligible as a rookie. What the (insert your favorite Chase Utley word here)? About halfway through the season, I wondered why Volquez wasn't getting any ROY buzz. So I looked it up and saw he shed his rookie status last year. Three writers, whose jobs it is to know stuff like this, couldn't be bothered to do the same.

I bet they'll overlook Cole Hamels in the Cy Young vote that is announced tomorrow. OK, postseason doesn't count, so he doesn't deserve it. He'll have to be content with his NLCS and World Series MVPs.

One Phillie who does deserve an award is Charlie Manuel, but he's getting no hype. Sports Weekly (it finally arrived Saturday) had its writers pick the awards. Where did Cholly rank? I can't tell you; they list only the top three. Yeah, Lou Piniella and Joe Torre had much better seasons.

Other news: Brad Mills is interviewing for the Mariners job. So is DeMarle Hale and Alex Cora's brother Joey. John Farrell isn't. Scott Eyre is coming back to Philly. Jimy Williams isn't. And it looks like Matt Holliday won't be coming to town.

{My theory on Williams: Maybe he thought he would be next in line for the manager's job if Manuel were ever fired. Well, it's clear that Cholly won't be fired and won't be going anywhere, so maybe Williams decided it was time to cut his losses.}

So why exactly did we buy season tix?

I'm cynical when players argue calls that go against them, but I've never seen a left fielder run to the infield to argue a home run call. But Pat Burrell did just that after umpire Adrian Johnson ruled Mark DeRosa's poke in the sixth inning fair, giving the Cubs a 4-2 lead. The replay on Baseball Tonight showed the ball was definitely foul.

The game seemed over. Even when the Phillies trailed by only one run today, it felt like seven for some reason. I can't decide whether they were flat or whether the cold day made them seem so. But the Phillies finally made a game of it, taking the lead with three in the bottom of the sixth. Unfortunately, Christine had to miss much of the rally to dry off after a drunk sitting behind us dropped his beer bottle on her. He was all excited that 10 people, two sections over, were starting a wave. People suck.

The Phillies gave the lead back in the eighth when Jimy Williams (Charlie Manuel was ejected in the sixth arguing the home run call) decided to stick with the book that says Tom Gordon starts the eighth inning, not the better pitcher, J.C. Romero. Flash struck out Kosuke Fukudome and then reverted to his awful self, giving up two singles.


Williams suddenly remembered he had Romero. J.C.'s quite adept at pitching out of self-inflicted jams but couldn't pitch out of Gordon's today. Pinch-hitter Geovany Soto (Christine's pick for NL Rookie of the Year) hit a dying quail just out of Chase Utley's reach. The game stayed tied until the 10th,when pinch hitter Carlos Zambrano (yup, Lou Piniella depleted his bench by the eighth inning) grounded into a surefire double-play, but Utley couldn't turn it and threw the ball into the Phillies dugout.

Overheard in the stands: One nimrod blaming Eric Bruntlett for that throw; another blaming Howard, who was getting ripped unmercifully by the fans every time he touched the ball. Don't let the facts get in the way of preconceived notions.

Observations from the stands: The maligned Bruntlett had a good day, going 3-5 with a homer. You probably won't see this on the highlights, but Burrell made a good catch in foul territory to end the ninth with a man on. Chris Snelling made his Phillies debut, popping out to third on a towering fly.

Lineup change: Today's lead-off batter was Geoff Jenkins. Usually when we walk by the wall where they post the day's lineup, I happen to look up. Today I didn't, even though everyone was wondering who Cholly would bat lead off without Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino. When was the last time "Rollins" didn't appear atop my scorecard?

Losing streak: Counting playoff and exhibition games, the Phillies are in a three-game losing streak when we attend. We don't think we've seen three straight losses ever. They better break it next Sunday night against the Mets. And Daisuke Matsuzaka better dominate tonight against the Yankees.

Last night's notes: We left the house at 5 last night but saw five innings in what seemed to be the quickest Yankees-Red Sox game ever, until rain hit. Good job by Josh Beckett, Manny Ramirez and Jonathan Papelbon. And when our party ended, the Phillies game was still in the eighth, so we bought drinks and watched the end in a bar in Philly.

[Photo credit: Christine {Please excuse the blur. These are zoomed in from the 400 level.}]