Concerning pitching

Entering the year, the SoxandPhils had two of the most certain closers in baseball. Brad Lidge's struggles have since been well-documented here, and now Jonathan Papelbon is joining him.

The Sox won this afternoon, 6-5 over the Twins, but it should not have been so close. Up 6-3 in the 9th, Papelbon gave up a two-run home run to pinch-hitter Joe Mauer, which raised Papelbon's ERA to 2.57. (But it's still minuscule compared with Lidge's 9.15.)

Papelbon has been so automatic for the first few years of his career that any blip is a concern. One mitigating factor is that he needed only 14 pitches to give up a hit and a home run while still managing a strikeout. Without seeing the game, those facts make it seem that today was just a case of a great hitting beating a great pitcher, who managed to preserve his team's lead.

Other notables: The Red Sox didn't drop David Ortiz in the lineup; he was benched against lefty Francisco Liriano. Jacoby Ellsbury went 2-5, extending his hitting streak to 20 games, but he still has an OBP of .333. Mike Lowell led the way with four hits, and Dustin Pedroia had three and four others had two. Decent game for Brad Penny (5-1) who won his third in a row, giving up three runs in 5 1/3 innings.

Phillies: I have a feeling the 4th inning will sum up the night for Jamie Moyer. After pitching three scoreless innings, he walked Hanley Ramirez and Jorge Cantu. He ran the count to 2-2 to Wes Helms before throwing a fastball right over the heart of the plate. The former Phillie was frozen, but the umpire called ball. Next pitch? Home run. J-Moy then set down the next three, but now, thanks to a bum call, he's down 3-2 in the 5th inning in another pursuit of his 250th career win.

Incidentally, no Phillies starter issued a walk against the Yankees this weekend.

A perfect ending to the regular season

Today was our last Sunday regularly scheduled home game of the year - Fan Appreciation Day at Citizens Bank Park.

It was a hybrid of Appreciation Days years ago when the Phillies were long eliminated and last year when it was a thrilling all-or-nothing gambit for the division.

With the Phillies minted as repeat division champs, they trotted out the likes of So Taguchi, Greg Golson and Les Walrond. Jayson Werth and Ryan Howard got pinch-hit at-bats, but other than that, the closest any regular got to the field was an opening greeting to the fans before the game to toast their title, thank the fans and pump them up for the playoffs.

Jimmy Rollins might have been a little too pumped up. He wants to win the division series, which begins Wednesday against the Brewers, and the World Series, but forgot all about the league championship series he needs to win in between. One game at a time, J-Roll.

Most of the drama came from watching the scoreboard to see whom the 2008 National League Eastern Champion Phillies would open against - the Dodgers if the Mets won the Wild Card or the Brewers if the Mets collapsed.

The Brewers trailed 1-0 for most of the game, but came away with a 3-1 win with a complete game from CC Sabathia - no word whether his arm has fallen off yet. The Mets, of course, did finish their collapse. I wish we could have seen the post-game festivities when they closed Shea Stadium today.

Despite a lineup that resembled an Independent League team, the Phillies game, an 8-3 win over the Nationals, did warrant the post-game fireworks that these guys worked so hard to set up - especially two home runs in the 8th to put the game away.

Kyle Kendrick started strong, retiring the first six, but was removed after giving up three runs in four innings. So Taguchi tried to make the playoff roster by going 3-5 with a triple and three RBIs. Pinch-hitting in the 6th, Ryan Howard poked a soft little grounder to the opposite field to beat the shift for a single. Walrond was the deserving winner - striking out four in two innings with two hits and no runs. But the player of the game, judging from the fact he was being interviewed in the dugout afterwards, was catcher Lou Marson, who made his big-league debut.

The 22-year-old went 2-4 with a two-run homer in the 8th. It took me a moment to figure out why fans were booing. (They're not booing, they're saying Boo-urns.) One day we'll tell the kids how we were at the big-league debut of the great Lou Marson. Unimpressive was Golson, 0-4 with three strikeouts and a run on a fielder's choice. He also looked a bit lost in center field, often taking a wrong first step on fly balls.

Observations from the stands: Van Halen's Standing on Top of the World has become the Phillies playoff celebration song - they played it after clinching last year, clinching this year and again today when the team took the field. ... The Central Bucks High School Chorus, directed by Joseph Ohrt, sang the anthem. ... Not only was Marson the star of the game, he resurrected Pat Burrell's old intro song, Holy Diver by Dio. We were psyched and so were the guys behind us. We wondered whether Pat the Bat was pranking the rook. ... A healthy dose of boos sounded whenever someone in a suite or a prime seat in the lower level won a prize. (The Phillies give out prizes throughout the game to random ticket holders.)

A sign in the stands endorsed Jamie Moyer for president with convincing arguments: He's smart, a proven leader, experienced and wins battles. ... Terry Pier, a Phillies hostess, sang God Bless America in the 7th. Then, for some reason, the park didn't go to Take Me Out to the Ballgame. Kudos to the fans in the 400 level who started singing it among themselves unprompted. ... Walking out of the stadium, the Phanatic shot a T-shirt right over my head - not close enough to touch, but close enough to get my heart pumping. ... We had a mostly dry game; although there was some lighting and thunder in the 9th inning, the rains held up until we were walking to the car. The heavy stuff didn't hit until we were under cover.


When we left the stadium, the Mets were in the 8th inning while CC was still finishing off the Cubs in the 9th. When we got in the car, the Brewers had won and the Mets, who just finished the bottom of the 8th, were trailing 4-2 thanks to a homer by former forgettable Phil Wes Helms, who is also a former Brewer. Judging by the picture above, the Mets knew they were done. Even the announcer said the Mets fans couldn't will themselves to believe there would be a miracle in Shea's final moments. The crowd sounded dead on the radio broadcast. Early in the day, I predicted one of the New York tabloids would use "Shea it ain't so" if the Mets lost. Both did.

We won't go too hard on our friends from Flushing today. They had to endure the loss of a season and their stadium and whatever pride they had left after last year. So we'll conclude the last day of the 2008 regular season with a photo of their proudest moment of 2008 - the celebration Saturday after Johan Santana saved their season. I wonder how his former team is doing.


Red Sox: They lost to the Yankees, who are going for the sweep tonight. I'm more bummed that I'm going to lose my last fantasy league to a welcher.

[Photo credits: Associated Press]

Aces disgraced

I found out an hour before game time that the Red Sox were going to be on TBS, so in our house it was going to be an exercise of hitting the back button on the remote after every pitch, toggling between Josh Beckett and Brett Myers.

Alas, Beckett couldn't right the sinking ship and Myers pitched like a joker, not the nominal ace he is. Not good news on either end. Beckett actually looked OK for a fat guy with a hip problem. Until the 5th inning. You could tell the Sox were going to be punished when Terry Francona abandoned his pitch count to try to get Beckett through the inning.

And, we were robbed. Dustin Pedroia was safe on a bang-bang play in the eight. Yes, it was a 7-4 final, but it would have mattered.

Oh, and shove it, "Mr. President."

For the Phils, at least Brad Lidge pitched well. Speaking of pitchers, where are the Reds coming up with these guys? They're going to make prognosticators who took a chance on them look very smart.

Other news of the day: First a treat for the Phillies fans - some comments from a member of the 2007 Mets, Paul Lo Duca:

I would equate it to having a serious problem in your life that you think is going to go away but never does. We were all cool, calm and collected. We didn't think anything of it. We always felt we'd get out of it. But it never happened. ... It was a tailspin we couldn't stop.

We kept looking at the scoreboard, wondering if the Phillies were going to lose, but they kept on winning. And then the pressure kept on mounting. It was tough.

Wes gone: Marlins get their man; Phillies management proves it is not the most inept in baseball. And, as Christine said yesterday, another favorite whipping boy, Adam Eaton, really did have one of his best starts as a Phillie on Saturday:

Eaton had his first quality start since July 3 in Houston, when he allowed three runs in six innings in a 5-4 loss to the Astros. That's 13 starts (and nine months) between quality starts.

Eaton's take:

We lost. But you want to give your team a chance to win, and I was able to do that. I'm kind of angry with myself the way I came out, but I got into a good groove and made some good pitches.

Injuries (non-SoxandPhils): This Dioner Navarro injury will make Christine cringe.

Age: I didn't mention this last week because I wanted more info and couldn't find the actual release, but the Red Sox opened with the majors' oldest roster, averaging 31.33 years. In related news, the Phillies AAA team averages 30.04 years.

More old guys: With the Mets and Diamondbacks losing Pedro Martinez and Doug Davis, David Wells wonders why he can't get work. Maybe he's been blackballed for steroids like Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. David Wells? Well, Bill James says baldies are roiders.

Game on

Outside smells like a freezer, and the grass and sidewalks are coated with frost. I'm now in the mood to watch some football played in the desert.

This week, I've talked football, wrestling and competitive eating. Today, Jim Salisbury, I'm sure to Christine's gratitude, takes me back to the basics, err, baseball. He's got 42, or XLII, nuggets to tide over baseball fans who have to sit through one more football game and a few more days before spring training.

Some of the more interesting points:

For Christine:
VIII. The Phillies' equipment truck leaves for Florida on Thursday.

A decade ago, I was very happy that the Sox traded Jamie Moyer for Darren Bragg:
X. Unless Roger Clemens or Julio Franco surface this season - and that's doubtful - Jamie Moyer will be the oldest player in the majors. Moyer turned 45 in November. He has 230 wins, 196 coming after he was released three times in three years in the early 1990s.

This is why Billy Beane's a genius and the new guy in Minnesota's just a boy playing with men:
XIII. Santana and Dan Haren were the two top pitchers to be dealt for prospects this winter. The prevailing wisdom is that Oakland made a better score for Haren than the Twins made for Santana. The A's got six players from Arizona for Haren, including Venezuelan outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who has game-breaking offensive skills, and lefthanded pitcher Brett Anderson.
XIV. The rebuilding A's also nabbed two good arms - Gio Gonzalez and Fautino de los Santos - from the White Sox for Nick Swisher.

Who pointed out this before?
XV. Yes, that's the same Gio Gonzalez who came from the White Sox to the Phillies for Jim Thome then was sent back for Freddy Garcia. The White Sox have now traded Gonzalez twice. The 22-year-old lefty led the minors with 185 strikeouts in 150 innings in double A last season.

Another reason Johan's a Met:
XXI. Baseball America ranks the Phillies' farm system 22d out of 30 teams.
However:
XXII. The Phils have a chance to do some significant restocking of their system in the June draft, provided they're willing to spend on top talent. They have three picks in the top 50 and six in the top 107.

I love this guy's name for a relief pitcher, a former Sox farmhand:
XXIV. Rule 5 pick Lincoln Holdzkom will be an intriguing newcomer in Phillies camp. The 6-foot-5 righthander has the kind of power arm teams dream of, but he has been unable to stick in one organization, partly due to attitude issues.

Sorry Christine:
XXV. There's not much interest in Wes Helms, so look for him to be in camp for a while with the Phils.

And I used to think they were chokers.
XL. In Charlie Manuel's three seasons as manager, the Phillies are an NL-best 133-89 after the all-star break.

That's all I got - enjoy the big game. I'm taking Jack with the points. And though I've got a nagging feeling the super-charged, early-season Patriots will show up, I think the Giants will at least cover. Goodbye to the '72 Dolphins.

Baseball Mogul: Finally finished year two with the Phils. Got them back to the playoffs, this time as a wild card. Three and out. I've already started retooling. I've signed Scott Olsen to a pretty good deal. And I'm considering a radio-caller type move: trading Adam Dunn to break up my three lefties and replacing him in left with Prince Fielder. Christine's wary of putting the big guy in left, but I promised if I do so I won't trade Ryan Howard. (This offseason anyway.)