Thoughts from the week

Today, for only the third time this season, both our teams won on the same day. Yay!

I haven't been avoiding posting because the Red Sox started out in a slump. I've been avoiding this blog because our adorable baby boy gets all my time, attention and interest.

But I noticed that yesterday a former SoxandPhils battery, Randy Wolf and George Kottaras, now on the Brewers, dismantled Roy Halladay and the Phillies.

Also, in team Red Sox news, Trent officially joined our charitable efforts on Sunday with our annual charity walk. He did well, except that he skipped his morning bottle right before we left for the walk. He realized he had done so about three-quarters of the way in, and we weren't prepared with a backup bottle. We're still learning, too.

Lots of things amiss

You're never happy seeing Kyle Kendrick give up a three-run home run in the first inning, but once he did, there was still a sense Sunday's game could be a classic Phillies comeback - especially when Ryan Howard came up in the bottom of the inning with two men on.

But when Howard couldn't match Prince Fielder's big blast, Christine knew the Phillies weren't going to come back.

The Phillies showed some spark at times, but the offense kept sputtering against Randy Wolf, and there were just too many things - besides Kendrick - that were amiss when we were at Citizens Bank Park yesterday.

Observations from the stands: The first sign that things were off-kilter was the fact I forgot a writing utensil and had to use the little stubby pencils for scorekeeping. Using a Trent-sized pencil wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and they accidentally gave me two scorecards in my program, so that's $2 I'll save at my next game.

Another thing askew was that there were way too many Phanatics at the park. We like the big guy, but the park was getting overrun by creatures from the Galapagos Islands as part of the Phanatic Around Town Auction (we'll have more on this later in the week).

After getting our lunch and settling in the stands, the next odd sight was Jamie Moyer on the field. It's become a running joke whether it's too soon to include a Moyer shirt in our "antiquated" listings, but the injured old-timer was on the field Sunday to award the winners of the Phillies home run derby.

The moment gave us a sense of deja vu. Probably because we saw this in 2008. Pat Burrell handed out the trophies then, but it was noted that J-Moy had won the home run derby in his younger days. The Phillies also played the Brewers on that day in 2008, part of the big four-game sweep that resuscitated their playoff drive. They also trailed in that game, but Howard was able to come through with a game-tying home run to set up a big Phillies comeback.

Musical entertainment: The University of Pennsylvania Glee Club, directed by Dr. C. Erik Nordgren, did the anthem. "Oh my god, they sound just like a glee club," Christine said. "And they look like it, too."

They never said who he was, but Joseph Goldberg sang God Bless America. I'm rarely a fan of GBA singers, especially when I don't know why they were selected.

Christine was miffed that for our second consecutive game the Phanatic mid-game skit consisted of a troupe of random dancers. Sunday's episode featured girls from the Dance Team from The College of New Jersey, which is our alma mater.

I'm still shocked because I thought the dancers looked like they were 12 years old.

The Phanatic's dugout dance was Minnie the Moocher, which made me happy because it's a song Trent and I like to sing.

There were lots of youngsters in the crowd to get the free Jimmy Rollins tee. We wanted to bring our little guy, but we know he's not ready for the big leagues yet.

Scoreboard glitches: The players weren't the only members of the Phillies that were off-stride on Sunday. There were several scoreboard glitches as well.

For the "Ask a Phillies" segment, they flashed the question "Do you like to cook?" but the video was asking for their first concert.

Then, in the "Who am I?" segment, they flashed Roy Halladay's name immediately after the first clue - that he was born in 1977 in Colorado.

Finally, in touting Carlos Ruiz as a star of the game, there was a bunch of jumbled, overimposed words, and we weren't able to read any facts about Chooch.

PhilsandBrews: Zack Braddock, the local kid whose family was in full force as he pitched in Philly for the first time on Saturday, did a little better in Sunday's game.

He was summoned to pitch to Chase Utley after Wolf allowed a single to Rollins in the 7th. Braddock got him out for the hold in front of his family and friends.

While we didn't have a TV, we knew his family was back for Sunday's game because we saw them and their clever "Phillies by choice, Brewers by blood" shirts as we walked back from Bull's.

Nice touch with Braddock's name and number on the back.

Funny moment of the day: Leading off the 7th inning, Chooch was robbed of a hit by a great catch by Ryan Bruan. "Chooch was robbed," Christine said, before noticing that he was standing on first base.

Chooch was out, but apparently he didn't think so.

Antiquated T-shirts: The best of the day was of the day's winning pitcher, but it was from Wolf's Phillies tenure. We also spotted Cliff Lee, Scott Rolen, Mike Lieberthal, Pat Burrell, Bobby Abreu, John Kruk, Mitch Williams, Hal McRae and Jim Thome.

Today's games: In the afternoon game, Vance Worley pitched well in his first major league start, but the Marlins' Adalberto Mendez had a more impressive big-league debut in the 7-1 Marlins win. In the nightcap, the Phillies survived a so-so Roy Oswalt start and split the double header with a 7-4 win. They are now 0.5 games behind the Braves.

The Red Sox, fielding a team of minor leagues as if they've given up on the season, beat the Rays 12-5. The miracle starts tonight.

Watching Randy Wolf down the Phillies

We left Trent with Grandmom and headed to the ballpark on a pleasant sun-filled 80-degree day. Unfortunately, the Phillies' performance, notably Kyle Kendrick's, did not match the lovely weather, and former Phil Randy Wolf kept the Phillies offense quiet in the Brewers 6-2 win.

But the 9th-inning meltdown today by the Red Sox in a humiliating 7-5 loss to the White Sox was worse. After being swept by their paler Sox brethren, I am still willing to go down with the ship, but I'll admit that it's about to capsize.

We'll be back tomorrow with all the details from our day at the park – including a bunch of Phanatics, some dancing kids and a very confused Carlos Ruiz. We may also have some other surprises later in the week – time permitting.

SoxandPhils stories

I did a double take this morning when I saw this picture. It is a fairly unremarkable picture from a dominant 11-0 win that gave the Phillies a 2-1 lead over the Dodgers in the NLCS.

What made me pause is that it was not from a Philadelphia Web site. It was from the Boston Globe's lead baseball story. I like the Phillies, but kind of depressing that they're getting top billing in Boston.

It wasn't the only story in the news with SoxandPhils connections.

The Jayson Werth castoff to All-Star story is well-known. The Los Angeles Times has a story that illustrates how far he had to come, or just how stupid former Red Sox and Dodger manager Grady Little was:

Grady Little understood the question.

He just didn't recognize the name.

"Who?" asked Little, then the Dodgers manager, in August 2006 after a reporter inquired about the status of Jayson Werth.

It was a clear indication of how the outfielder -- sidelined for the entire season by a nagging wrist injury -- figured into the Dodgers' long-term plans.

That is to say, he didn't.

Ah, it's been fun this week remembering the Grady Little era. No, it hasn't.

Speaking of Grady Gump, his moment of infamy (yes, I'm still bitter) was replayed on MLB Network this week. Joe Torre kept it on in the Dodgers clubhouse, but ball-stealing Doug Mientkiewicz represented the next day when the network aired the 2004 ALCS:

"Turnabout is fair play," Torre said with a laugh. Torre was asked if he watched replays of games he managed in previous years. "I do when I know the result is good," he said. "Do you think I'm crazy?"

I won't answer that.

Uh-oh: Forget the Steve Sax stuff - Mitch Williams says Chase Utley is injured.

Today's games: And never mind the Empire rising stuff. Angels aren't done yet, winning 5-4 in 11 innings.

Ryan Howard belted a two-run homer in the 1st right after TBS noted that Randy Wolf gave up only one home run to a lefty all year. Joe Blanton started out well, but the Dodgers rallied. The Phillies are trying to mount a comeback, but still trail 4-3 in the 7th.

I could have sworn in the 6th inning I saw someone in the crowd wearing a "Henderson 31" jersey. Ramon Henderson, really?

Look back at 2008: We're skipping this feature tonight on account that I posted what should have been today's recap yesterday. Oops. And, as Christine noted, I missed out on posting the Red Sox win to force Game 7. Oh well.

[Photo Credit: Associated Press]

Seven years

Since July 21, 2002, the Red Sox and Phillies have played 2,258 regular season games going 1,270-988, a .562 winning percentage.

They've made the playoffs seven times, going 11-4 in 15 series, with three World Championships.

Yes, we've had a nice run of baseball since then. We've had a pretty nice seven years of marriage as well.

While researching this post, Christine insisted that she remembered that the Phillies won on our wedding day. They didn't. Kevin Millwood (then a Brave) beat Randy Wolf 2-1. Maybe she just looks back on that day with rose-colored glasses.

I don't remember a thing about the Red Sox game, but there's no sugar-coating (even retrospectively) SoxandPhil felon Ugueth Urbina blowing a 9th-inning lead against the Yankees.

Today: Tim Wakefield has been DL'd, temporarily solving the rotation's logjam. Josh Beckett takes aim at the Rangers in hopes of ending this three-game skid. After Rodrigo Lopez kept himself in the Phillies rotation with another strong showing, this time against the Cubs, Joe Blanton looks to extend the team's nine-game winning streak.

Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!

Christine hoped it was an April Fools' joke. But it wasn't. Alas, coming off a stinging opening day loss thanks to an awful Tom Gordon, the Phillies went out and got the best arm they could - 39-year-old Rudy Seanez.

Actually, he had a pretty good season last year for the Dodgers, but he has been injured and didn't pitched well, or much, in spring training. I can't imagine he will be much help to the Phillies, but I guess he's better than another go-around with Jose Mesa.

And, Seanez has a place in SoxandPhils lore. He made nine pretty poor appearances for the 2003 Boston Red Sox - one of them came in one of the better games we've seen played between the Red Sox and Phillies, a 6-5 nail biter that went 12 innings and ended with a Todd Pratt walk-off home run at the Vet. Mesa got the win. Pedro Martinez and Randy Wolf dueled. Seanez entered the game in the 12th, with one on and the Sox up by one. The game ended on his second pitch to pinch-hitting Pratt.

Seanez fared a bit better in his only other SoxandPhils appearance in 2006, but that too was a loss. The Phils won 10-5 behind another typical Cory Lidle start. Seanez pitched 1 2/3 scoreless to end the game.

We were at both games.

More predictions: I should have given a predictions form to David Ortiz to fill out. In an interview with the Globe, Papi gives clues to what some of his picks would have been:

World Series: Detroit Tigers
AL Cy Young: A.J. Burnett
AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez

Payroll: Speaking of 2003, it's the first time since then the Sox don't have the second-highest payroll. They're now fourth. Phillies are 13th. The Empire still outpaces the next closest team (Tigers) by $70 million.