Business-persons special

Despite some teasing threats to Christine, Trent and I didn't sneak off to the park for today's business-persons special against the Astros. It was also "kids run the bases," and Trent and I promised to bring home a scoopful of dirt from the infield.

We also, despite Trent's pleading, did not blow off our liquid lunch for some filet mignon to watch the game at the neighborhood steakhouse.

We just watched the game from Trent's blanket on the living room floor. It was very odd watching a Phillies game in the middle of the afternoon without Christine, especially when it marked the first time they've ever been swept in a four-game series at Citizens Bank Park.

It was fun watching the Roy Halladay perfect game tribute. It was a bit overblown and campy, but good mental mush for me and the boy. Christine would have liked seeing Carlos Ruiz get home plate. I couldn't decide whether I was touched or freaked out by the bronze casts of Doc's hand that was given to his sons. Maybe I'm just jealous because I don't think anyone will bronze my hands and stick them to a keyboard for Trent.

With no reason for Christine to watch the replay of today's game, we have the Twins-Rangers game on. Christine noticed that Trent was focusing on the game. We fear that he's now a Twins fan. As long as he doesn't root for a team with N and Y on its hat, we'll deal with it.

Sleepy games

This week, I learned that I could sleep outside in the middle of a storm so violent that it carried a tornado warning. And I later learned that I could sleep through what was probably the most interesting Phillies game of the year. Some may argue that designation should be Roy Halladay's perfect game, but I didn't get an expensive watch out of it, so I'm going with last night's tilt that I did not see.

I could blame the baby for my fatigue, but truthfully, I wouldn't have stayed up much later even before Trent arrived.

I fell asleep as the game headed into the 14th inning. At one point, Christine told me that Ryan Howard was ejected and that Raul Ibanez was shifted to first base with Roy Oswalt taking over left field because there were no more "extra men," as Chris Wheeler stupidly calls bench players. I was fascinated with the scenario, but couldn't open my eyes.

Later, I heard her slip into bed. "Who won?" I asked in a fog.

"They did. Roy Oswalt grounded out in the 16th with the potential tying run on base," she said.

"Snore, snore, snore," was all I could muster.

This morning, I was flipping through the program I got at Sunday's game and noticed the Citizens Bank ad on the back. I liked its slogan, but just now connected it to last night's intriguing game: "This could be the game you get to tell everyone, 'I was at that game.'"

We've had a few of those, most notably Game 5 of the 2008 World Series and the 2007 regular season clincher, but given my propensity for falling asleep, I'm kind of glad we weren't at last night's game.

With Halladay pitching for the Phillies and the Red Sox playing a double header, I was fairly confident I would be awake when two of three of today's SoxandPhils games finished. Partial victory - Trent and I napped through a portion of the Red Sox afternoon game.

Tomorrow is a Phillies business-person's special. I have a feeling Christine might come home from work with her two guys conked out on the living room floor.

Tonight: J.A. Happ and the 'Stros beat Halladay and the Phils 3-2. The Sox split their twin bill against the Mariners, but picked up a half game on the Rays and Yankees, who each lost.

{Side note: The Phillies have entered yet another frustrating skid. They could be in first place right now, if only they could have scored some runs over the past three days to beat the lousy Astros.}

Until we meet again

It wasn't the prettiest game, but the Red Sox beat the Phillies 7-4, to win the 2008 Sox-Phils regular season series 2-1. But come October, each team starts 0-0.

Today the bats, led by Philly favorite J.D. Drew's three-run home run, stoked young Justin Masterson to a 4-0 lead in the 1st. Mike Lowell then hit a solo shot. Boston added two more in the 3rd when Brandon Moss, pinch-hitting for Coco Crisp (we learned after the game he somehow hurt his hand grounding out in the 1st), hit a two-run single. Drew had another RBI in the 4th and finished a triple shy of the cycle.

Masterson was better and worse than his line (five innings, two runs, four hits, two walks and a strikeout). The side-arm slinger was a bit wild and gave up runs in the 1st and 5th; he had a couple 1-2-3's in between. His counterpart, Kyle Kendrick, was yanked after three.

The Phillies, meanwhile, never really seemed into it except for a two-run 7th inning rally that created a save situation for Jonathan Papelbon. Craig Hansen didn't retire any of the three batters he faced before yielding to Manny Delcarmen, who put out the threat.

Observations from the stands: Our seats were much lower and closer to the action, but we were a bit off center and had trouble judging fair-foul balls down the left field line. ... I saw an old-school Twins T-shirt with the "Win Twins" logo. ... An older couple in front of us wore complementary home and away Mike Timlin jerseys. The woman's was autographed, as was her visor. We couldn't read the names, though. ... Jeanette Bayardelle, from The Color Purple, sang the National Anthem. She was good, but I want the song done quickly. ... I didn't bring a pencil - it doesn't run like ink if it gets wet - and of course there were a few raindrops as the game started. But it wasn't much, and the weather turned out to be one of the nicest of the season for us. ... In the 2nd, the Phillies had runners on first and second, and Kyle Kendrick's bunt was snagged on a fly by Sean Casey. I pointed to second, where Greg Dobbs was way off base. Casey threw him out - score that 3-Greg-6. ... In the 4th, Geoff Jenkins couldn't hold onto his bat after a strikeout - it flew down the line.

Elbows: I got an elbow from Christine in the 5th when Masterson got Chase Utley (hitless in his last 20 ABs) to ground out, ending a threat. I got another elbow the next inning when I said, "I just said they would get to the World Series, not that they'd win it" when Christine lamented that her team stinks. I got a third for slapping my scorecard when Ryan Howard struck out, ending the Phillies best rally in the 7th.

More observations: The Citizens Bank Seven prize packs were won in our section, two rows down. Christine, who is on a quest to win some sort of prize from her team, was very disappointed. ... Howard made a couple of nice plays; Christine noted how we go crazy when he makes a routine play. "He's set the bar low," I said. ... We loved our beer guy. He had some sort of custom-made gadget to automatically unscrew the caps. It was attached to his hand by a glove and appeared to be a drill with a fitting to grab the cap. Christine kept hoping people would order more beer so we could see it in use. ... In honor of the 60th anniversary of his debut, Robin Roberts threw out the first pitch to Cole Hamels. ... I'm sure Christine is glad to see the Red Sox leave town, but we both concede that each fan base didn't embarrass themselves with any real craziness. I got only one "Red Sox sucks" the entire series. Hopefully, each side can remain civil when they battle again in October.

Big arms

Maybe they just needed the warm weather to start playing better.

[There's been plenty of talk that the Phillies' slow starts are just a sign that they are a warm weather team, but no one seems to mention that the playoffs don't occur in warm weather.]

Nice win today. Of course it was yet another business-persons special, so I missed out on the action again.

Brett Myers pitched a good game, despite getting into, and out of, a few sticky situations. Pat Burrell continues to tear it up, and Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Chris Coste all joined him in the home run parade.

So with this victory they pull up to .500 again. They haven't made it over that mark yet, but it's just a matter of time.

And now on to the game of the week: Mets vs. Phils. Johan Santana vs. Cole Hamels. Friday night. It's going to be crazy. And it will end in favor of the Phillies. Hamels has been pitching excellent. Santana, only so-so. Hamels is used to playing in Philadelphia and knows the ballpark. Last time Santana was in town, he pitched at the Vet against a very different team. Last year he gave up a home run a start, and this year he has served up four homers in three games. With the temperature nearing 80 tomorrow, the balls will be flying off of the Phillies bats and out of the Bank. I can't wait.

Speaking of aces, with another short start by a Red Sox pitcher last night, the staff could use a long start by Josh Becket. He appeared to be cruising against the Yankees until the bottom of the fifth. Hopefully he can pitch an efficient seventh before handing it over to the overtaxed bullpen.

Get ready

It hasn't been the best opening week for the Red Sox or Phillies. Both Eastern Division champs stand 3-4; the world champs opened today in last place for the first time in three years.

That all changes tomorrow. Both teams will be reminded of their 2007 greatness. The Red Sox, after their three-country opening week marathon, finally come home to play the Tigers and get their rings - a token reminder of how they felt last October.

The Phillies will go to their home-away-from-home, New York, to see their favorite whipping boys and rekindle last year's magic against the Mets.

It sounds like they're ready:

Pat Burrell:

I enjoy going to New York and playing. There's always a little extra excitement there. Especially with what happened last year, I'm sure they're gunning for us. And that's the way it should be.

Charlie Manuel:

When we play them, it's always kind of like a rivalry to us. Them, too. They make a big deal out of it. As long as we put the whip on them, we'll let them make a big deal out of it. They'll talk, we'll hit. That's how I see it.

Game on, season on.

This wouldn't be a problem if we lived in Boston: With several early-season games in the afternoon or on CN8, Christine notes the Phillies are 3-0 when she's unable to watch them and 0-4 when she can.

Baseball Mogul update: In my fourth season, I finally have built the Phillies into a 104-win powerhouse heading into the playoffs. My lineup has four guys with 30+ homers, two others with more than 25. Brad Lidge has 40 saves anchoring a shut-down bullpen. The big story is atop the rotation where Brett Myers and Cole Hamels went 29-8. I think my computer is broken - young Cole (who is now pining to be a Rockie) only has six of those wins and all eight losses.

Happy birthday: Bobby Doerr.

They should have pitched to Howard, or at least to Werth

I used to love business-person specials because they gave me the chance to watch most of a game before going to work at night. But now that I'm a daytime cube dweller, I hate 'em. I want to enjoy the games on TV or in person, not through periodic updates on Yahoo.

But today's game ... that would have been brutal. It was wrenching enough checking the box score on the computer. I think I may have drove Greg crazy if we were watching it.

So many things to process: Jamie Moyer's awful first inning. Fourteen men left on base. Four errors. Pinch-running Adam Eaton. Only one player left (Tim Lahey) at the end of the game.

Neither Greg nor I can remember back-to-back intentional walks to load the bases, let alone back-to-back intentional walks twice in one game to the same batters. Greg said he doesn't recall it happening with David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, and they would be an obvious choice for this scenario. So that's either some crazy respect for Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, or the Nationals must think very poorly of Jayson Werth.

Luckily, Werth didn't even swing at a pitch in the 10th, and four balls later, Phils won, 8-7.

However, I have to question the events leading up to this situation - using Eaton as a pinch runner for Pat Burrell in the 7th. At this point, the Phillies were ahead 7-6. Howard was on third and Burrell was on second with no outs. So why run with Eaton? If there is any kind of base hit, Howard is going to score to make it 8-6. Even if there is a play at the plate and Burrell is thrown out, they're still up by two runs. I know the Phillies need to score as much as possible, but I think they needed Burrell's bat more in the 8th inning. Like many of Charlie Manuel's decisions, it just doesn't quite make sense, but it worked out in the end.

Thankfully, the Phillies avoided a third consecutive 0-3 start. 1-2 sounds so much better. On to Cincinnati and hopefully a .500 record by tomorrow night. Today's game, without a doubt, is the turning point of the season. I proclaim this probably about 50 times during a season.

Alternate uniforms: I've always liked that the Phillies had only two jerseys, home and away. None of this batting practice jersey stuff in games. I reluctantly accepted the interleague hats that were worn for only a handful of games a year. I'm still undecided on the new day uniforms. They look sharp, but I was afraid that if the Phils lost today, they might be cursed like the blue hats of 1994.

Intro music: Pat Burrell is to blame for our obsession with this one. Holy Diver? Really?? So disappointed when he switched songs last year. Anyone know if he's still using Don Henley?

Anyway, when I left work today, WXPN was playing a list of songs that are used by ballplayers for their introduction. I heard only one song - Sal Fasano comes out to Jimi Hendrix - but the station had a link to this list of songs. Some of these are accurate, at least for the Phillies, but I kind of doubt that Manny comes out to the Final Countdown by Europe.

[You have to doubt any list that still lists Keith Foulke, Brendan Donnelly and Eric Gagne as Sox.]

Why I'm not cut out to be a blogger: I can only wish that I would have come up with these recent gems.

From Chamomiles Davis on Deadspin: The girl who loved Tom Gordon just called and said she hates him now.

From D-Mac on Philadelphia WillDo: Bottom seventh, still. Adam Eaton just gave up 2 runs while standing on second.

Finally: Bigger ballpark danger, hawks or hot dogs?