Rain forces our attention elsewhere

The Phillies and Marlins were rained out long before the game was supposed to start, postponing the perfect rematch of Josh Johnson and Roy Halladay.

That's OK, because it will allow us to focus on hockey to see whether the Flyers can avoid elimination and force a Game 7 in Chicago. (Full disclosure: I've been more interested in hockey than ever before, but I still feel like I'm listening to another language when I try to watch a game. Christine's interest is legit.)

Even if the Phillies were playing, our attention might have been a bit diverted, and Charlie Manuel might have blamed our lack of focus on the fact that it's our contract year, like he did with Jayson Werth. This incident is going to cause some hard feelings. It's hard for me to take a side, so I'll just blame it on Reggie Jackson.

Without the game, we can take a moment to salute Tim Wakefield for pushing Roger Clemens out of the Red Sox record books for most innings pitched. Congrats to Mr. 2777.

We also have the opportunity to look ahead to this weekend's rematch of the Red Sox and Phillies - this time in Fenway.

It has always seemed like the Red Sox have had the Phillies' number despite a fair number of close, spirited games. The stats backed up my hunch. All time, the Red Sox have a 24-16 record against the Phillies in interleague play. (That doesn't include the 1915 World Series in which the Sox beat the Phils 4-1.) But if you look at the run differential, the Red Sox edge is a bit closer, 223-206. That equates to a .539 winning percentage, not the .600 winning percentage they have had against the Phillies.

A Phillies sweep this weekend would go a long way toward evening up the series. I think the pitching matchups will be Jamie Moyer against John Lackey, Joe Blanton against Daisuke Matsuzaka and Cole Hamels against Tim Wakefield. That's not official yet, so don't be surprised if something changes.

It's too bad that the old guys will miss each other and that three of our team's aces (Roy Halladay, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz) probably won't pitch.

Tonight's game: We were missing a good one in Cleveland that pitted Clay Buchholz against former Red Sox Justin Masterson, who has fallen on some hard times since being traded for Victor Martinez. But he seemed on tonight, two hits and two walks with six strikeouts in eight shutout innings. Clay pitched well too, just not as good - three runs on three hits and four walks in seven innings.

But then Boof Bonser made his Red Sox debut. It didn't go well. It's now 11-0 Indians in the 8th.

Hockey: Flyers and Blackhawks are tied 2-2 in the 2nd period.

Clear sailing?

I went to sleep last night resigned that the morning would bring thunderstorms that would keep me inside. But when I woke, the skies were clear and I pedaled through the pines. I saw some alpacas.

I also thought the skies had cleared for our hopes of a SoxandPhils World Series.

The Red Sox are back, notes Nick Cafardo:

After last night's 8-2 win over the Orioles, just think about where this team has come from to pull within 3 1/2 games of the Rays, tied with the Blue Jays for third place with a 33-24 record. Now, the Rays aren't world-beaters; in fact, they have lost two straight to Texas. The Yankees were on a roll, but Toronto has silenced them. The Sox, meanwhile, have taken advantage of playing the worst team in baseball and won the first two games here.

The Sox were 8 1/2 out on May 23, when they actually had begun to pick up their game to go three games over .500. At that time, the Rays were playing lights out at 30-11. But the Sox kept steadily rising, while the Rays kept steadily declining. The Sox went through a key stretch in which they played Detroit, New York, Minnesota, Philadelphia, and Tampa Bay, and came out of it 9-4. That proved to the Sox that they belonged in the conversation as a wild-card team, and maybe more.

And while the Phillies are still shaking off the cobwebs from their offensive dead period, they showed signs of life in Saturday's win.

But then something happened. Each team had a game to play on Sunday. Each lost in extra innings.

The goat for the Phillies was Placido Polanco, who made a stupid decision trying to go to third on a one-out hit in the 10th. If he held at second, there's a good chance he would have scored because Ryan Howard followed with a hit. But there was no more scoring as the Padres beat the Phillies 6-5 in 10.

Still, the Phightins scored at least five runs for the second consecutive game. That hasn't happened since May 20-21. The Phillies took a moral victory:

"Baby steps," first baseman Ryan Howard said.
[...]
"Better than nothing," Polanco said.

But no one will say the Phillies have snapped out of this funk - especially when the middle of the order continues to struggle. Utley was 1 for 5, dropping his batting average to .265. Howard was 2 for 6 with three RBIs but struck out three times. Werth was 0 for 5. Raul Ibanez, now hitting .229, was 0 for 4.

"But we're still getting some good hits," Schneider said. "We worked the counts real well. We got Correia out of there early. We're not just swinging early and giving up.

"Hopefully it's the start of something good again."

I thought the Red Sox were coasting to a sweep when they scored two in the 2nd today, but John Lackey gave them right back and the game stayed tied until Manny Delcarmen had his second poor outing in a row, giving up a run in the 8th. The Red Sox tied it in the 9th, before Hideki Okajima lost in the 11th.

At least they're fighting.

I still believe both teams are past their worst stretches.

The Flyers, on the other hand: Chicago 4, Philadelphia 2 in the 2nd period of Game 5 of the finals.

Managing futility

As expected, the Orioles fired manager Dave Trembly and replaced him with Phillies Wall of Famer Juan Samuel. I didn't know that another option for interim Orioles manager was former Red Sox catcher Gary Allenson, but he was promoted to replace Samuel as third base coach. There's a further SoxandPhil connection in that Samuel made his managerial debut tonight against the Red Sox.

The occasion gave Terry Francona a chance to repeat his line about being fired by the Phillies:

"I felt it coming. I knew it was coming," Francona said. "I've always been pretty honest about it. If I was a general manager, I would've fired me also. I think they didn't really have a choice. Saying that, the last however many days that there's speculation, that's the hardest. That's really hard. Now, saying that, I remember thinking, 'OK, when I get fired, it's going to be this huge weight off my shoulders.' And it wasn't. You can't live with people almost 24 hours a day and it just goes away. I thought it would, and it doesn't."

That said, we wish Juan Samuel luck - once the Red Sox leave town, but especially against the Rays and Yankees.

So far, so good. Actually, I wish the Sox would have eased up a little bit as they gave Samuel a 11-0 loss in his debut. Clay Buchholz was dominant, pitching a five-hit, one-walk shutout. On MLB Network, Harold Reynolds felt the need to point out how he now has a shutout and a no-hitter against the Orioles. More notable is that the other MLB Network announcer proclaimed him the ace of the Sox, ahead of even Jon Lester. I'm pleased with his progress, but I don't think Buchholz has supplanted Lester.

The Phillies, meanwhile, as I predicted, did not break out of their hitting slump. But they did manage three runs, which was enough for the 3-2 win over the Padres. Roy Halladay pitched a good game for a mortal pitcher, which means he had a so-so start for the Doc. In seven innings, he gave up two runs on 10 hits and a walk with seven strikeouts. Brad Lidge pitched like Brad Lidge circa 2008, picking up his first save since coming back from his second DL stint with two strikeouts in a clean inning.

The Flyers, trying to even up the series, lead the Blackhawks 3-1 in the 3rd period.

The end of the line for a legend

I read the news with my own eyes, but I could not believe it. The Washington Nationals released Eric Bruntlett.

Funny, when we were wondering what the Phillies would do to replace Jimmy Rollins, I thought they might make a play for the guy who turned an unassisted triple play and scored the clinching run in the last game of the 2008 World Series. It's too bad the Nats didn't give him the boot before J-Roll was just about ready to come back.

Of course, the bearded Bruntlett isn't the only legend saying goodbye today. After 22 years, Ken Griffey Jr., The Kid, who is now 40 years old, has retired. He's neither Sox nor Phil, but I'm sad. It's a bit of my childhood gone. I'll never forget opening a pack of the debut edition of Upper Deck and getting the prized first card of the set. Upper Deck was a little pricey, even in 1989. I didn't buy many packs, and I wasn't expecting to get that trophy.

In other news, before we completely turn the page on May, Big Papi can take a bow for winning AL player of the month. He is joined by teammate Jon Lester, AL pitcher of the month.

Today's games: The Phillies were nice enough to play in the afternoon so that we didn't have to watch them lose 2-1 to the Braves, which completed the sweep and opened a 2.5-game lead over the Phormerly Phightin' Phils.

In 6.2 innings, Daisuke Matsuzaka gave up 10 hits, but incredibly didn't walk anybody. In the 7th, Red Sox 4, A's 3. Mr. May hit a two-run homer and a double.

The Flyers and the Blackhawks are tied 1-1 in the 2nd period.

Travesty: A bad call by umpire Jim Joyce cost Armando Galarraga of the Tigers a perfect game. I'm in shock. Former Phillies prospect Jason Donald was credited with the hit.

[Photo credit: Hollywoodcollectibles.com]

Reliving perfection

Because the Red Sox spent their Memorial Day off, watching Casey Kelly pitch for Portland and the second-place Phillies continue to struggle (9-3 loss to the temporarily first-place Braves), all we can do is bask in the glory that is Roy Halladay.

This morning we watched his perfect game. Six whole minutes of it:



Tonight, we may watch the extended version as Comcast SportsNet is replaying the game. Our apologies to the Flyers, playing Game 2 of the finals tonight. It's scoreless in the first period.

We're also considering buying tickets to Roy Halladay's big game. No, we're not. We think this idea - the Marlins are selling unused tickets for Saturday's game at regular price - is stupid. You were either one of the 25,000 who were there, or you weren't. At first I was considering ripping the Marlins over this, but Christine convinced me that they're just taking advantage of people's stupidity. Go capitalism, I guess.

Perfect day

A week ago, we, well, I was disappointed that Daisuke Matsuzaka didn't pitch a no-hitter against the Phillies. But it was an odd no-hit attempt. He struggled, and it was just kind of boring and uncomfortable.

There was none of that uneasiness tonight. Harry Leroy Halladay III was efficient and dominant as he pitched the 20th perfect game in major league baseball history, joining Jim Bunning as the only Phillies pitchers with perfectos.

Congrats to the Doc. Is there anything he can't do, besides handle the Red Sox?

We were able to watch, or at least listen to, just about every one of Halladay's 115 pitches in the 1-0 win over the Marlins. (Josh Johnson also pitched well, giving up an unearned run in seven innings.)

Before Halladay took the hill, we spent the day running to a bunch of stores and boiling enough macaroni to feed the SoxandPhils (we were preparing for dinner tomorrow at the Ronald McDonald House).

Among good but not perfect highlights of the day:

At a pet store, Christine saw a bulldog checking into their little hotel-esqe kennel. She thinks he smiled at her and that he looked like the currently unemployed Elvis - err, check that. Elvis is now a West Coast doggie because Pat Burrell signed a minor league deal with the Giants.

Later, we couldn't decide whether to take a walk because the Phillies game was coming on. We decided to walk and broke out the portable radio for the first time. It was neat listening to the game, although the houses we passed seemed more focused on the Flyers game than the Phillies. Understandable at the time, I guess.

Other games: Clay Buchholz was not perfect but pitched pretty well and beat Zack Greinke and the Royals by a 1-0 score. (The run was earned.)

The Flyers are losing to the Blackhawks 5-4 in the second period of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals.

Extracurricular multi-sport potpourri

I was a bit worried that we may have jinxed the Flyers last night, but they held on and will play for the Stanley Cup. I guess there are a lot of people in the Eagles front office rooting hard for the Blackhawks right now. Can you imagine if the Flyers join the Phillies as Philadelphia champions before the Iggles get over the hump?

When we were watching some of the post-game analysis, we missed this gem. Classic stuff - it's almost as if Michael Barkann planted this girl to drop the F-bomb on live TV:



Poor Steve Coates. I never heard of him before last week, but now I'm quite fond of Coatesy, primarily because of this Joe Conklin Flyers parody of Lada Gaga's Bad Romance. Lady Pha Pha would approve.

From ice hockey to ice football: Super Bowl XLVIII is coming to New Jersey. I still can't believe it.

Back to baseball extracurricular stuff: People, including Christine and me, have stuffed the All-Star ballots for the Phillies. Jimmy Rollins, who has played in slightly more games than me, is the leading shortstop, but Carlos Ruiz trails Yadier Molina. Early AL results were released yesterday; fans in New York and Texas are stuffing the ballot.

Today's games: The surging Sox lead the Rays 2-0 in the 9th; the phlopping Phillies trail the Mets 7-0 in the 8th.

Book club

Nearly a year ago, we bought the Harry Kalas tribute book Remembering Harry Kalas. A few weeks ago, I finally finished it.

I am an editor and spend all day reading and rewriting, so after a long day at work, I'm not likely to pick up a book unless it's something that I'm really enjoying. I always thought it would be awesome to get to read for a living, but once I actually started doing it as a job and realized that poring over less-than-stellar copy every day can be not so fun, my love of reading definitely took a sad hit.

That's my long way of saying, it took me so long to finish reading the book because it wasn't very good. I loved the concept behind it, but I wasn't thrilled with the execution.

Rich Wolfe, who compiled dozens of stories about Harry from friends, colleagues, ballplayers and others, says in his preface:

This book is designed solely for other sports fans. I really don't care what the publisher, editors or critics think. I'm only interested in Phillies fans having an enjoyable read and getting their money's worth. Sometimes a person being interviewed will drift off the subject but if the feeling is that Phillies fans would enjoy their digression, it stays in the book.

Wolfe says there was minimal editing done, mostly involving commas and merging paragraphs, and that shows. Some of these stories ramble on and don't get to a point. Others have barely anything to say about Harry (I'm looking at you, Tim McCarver). A few are from friends who hadn't seen or talked to Harry since high school or college. Many of the essays tell the same story, and despite Wolfe's acknowledgment of that and assertion that they bring different perspectives, they just sound repetitive.

In addition, there are these random factoids at the bottom of many pages. They don't have anything to do with Harry Kalas, the Phillies or baseball. They didn't add anything of interest and definitely could have been left out.

Worst of all, there are basic mistakes throughout the book, the kind that make me cringe. Misspellings, missing punctuation, missing words, sentences and phrases that don't make any sense. I'm not a perfect writer or editor, but I also don't have a book deal. These kind of sloppy errors shouldn't be found in any book.

There were some interesting tales I hadn't heard before, and some tributes were touching. But I think Wolfe should have taken into account that maybe Phillies fans can be editors and critics too and would have appreciated a better product.

I don't like being harsh, but because Wolfe says that he's the least likely person to write a book, that he can't type, that he's never turned on the computer and that he's never seen the Internet, I think that it's probably fair to say he's out of touch with many Phillies fans today anyway.

Next on the list: I need to finally read my Gary Matthews-Scott Lauber Phillies Confidential about the 2008 season. I enjoy Lauber's writing, so I'm sure this will be a much quicker read. It will be fun to revisit the World Championship season after some time and with a little more perspective. And come on - it has Sarge! Can't go wrong with him.

Greg is in the middle of Doug Glanville's The Game from Where I Stand, which I bought him for his birthday. He's enjoying it so far. [It's not a tell-all, but gives enough insight to make it interesting. And, we've always enjoyed Glanville's op-eds.]

And at some point we'll probably check out Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas by Randy Miller. The excerpts we've seen have been juicy.

At the movies: Greg sent me this fun tidbit this afternoon:

These were the DVDs in the Philadelphia visitor's clubhouse: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back; The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard; Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Semi Pro. Obviously the Phillies are hoping the opposition will pop one in and sleep through the game.

We're highly amused that the home team provides DVDs for the visiting clubhouse. I'm also trying to figure out if there's some kind of hidden message behind providing these particular movies, if they were in the discount bin at Walmart or if they were just left behind in Brett Myers' locker.

I wonder if the Red Sox provide a complimentary copy of Fever Pitch for their visitors. [Or, do home teams leave that disaster for the Red Sox when they visit to get in their heads?]

Tonight: The Phillies were off from playing a game but participated in their annual ALS festival. They open a series in New York tomorrow night.

The Red Sox are handling the AL East leaders and are up 6-0 on the Rays in the 4th inning.

The Flyers, up 3-1, are about 18 minutes away from the finals.

Philly's revenge

There was some compelling SoxandPhils baseball tonight: Clay Buchholz pitched well against the Tigers on an MLB broadcast, and Jamie Moyer and the Phillies are wearing their retro powder blue unis to celebrate the '70s with the Brewers.

But we didn't really watch either. We were more focused on Boston vs. Philly on ice, even though Christine has grown less interested in hockey in recent years and I have never liked the sport.

But I have a soft spot in my heart for teams that make it to a seventh game after starting 0-3 in a playoff series. We haven't been watching much of the Flyers run, but we turned it on tonight. When the Bruins scored three quick goals, Christine said I jinxed it by watching.

We figured the game was over and lost track of it while we cleaned up after dinner. When we got back to it, the Fly guys tied it up at three. We watched the entire 3rd period and saw the Flyers score a goal and advance to the semifinals.

Incredible. All that was missing was a bloody sock. {Does Gagne's broken foot count?}

So, I guess the Flyers got their revenge for Jan. 1, or maybe the Bruins are only better when they play in Fenway.

Back to baseball: Buchholz pitched well - one run in 6.1 innings, and David Ortiz hit two homers and drove in four. Red Sox 7, Tigers 2.

Christine likes how they play the sound of a growling Tiger every time Detroit scores a run. I don't, except when they're playing the Yankees.

Jamie Moyer dispelled any thoughts of another shutout early, by giving up three solo homers in the 2nd. That made the score a Flyers-like 3-3, but the Phillies, catching the comeback spirit, scored three more in the 4th. In the 5th, Phillies 8, Brewers 3.

By the way, months ago when we first heard about this retro night, we joked that J-Moy should get to start. We're glad it worked out that way. He looks right in this uniform.

Boston beats Philly in Fenway

Foreshadowing Game 7 of the 2010 World Series, majestic Fenway Park was the scene of Boston fending off a tough challenge from Philadelphia.

I don't watch hockey, so I caught only a couple glances of the Flyers and Bruins playing next to the Green Monster as Christine watched the game.

Of course, I caught the part when they sang Sweet Caroline. I stared in disbelief. Christine assured me I was watching reality, not satire. What a stupid tradition. (Singing Neil Diamond, not outdoor hockey.)

Not a stupid tradition: Actually, it probably is. But two years and 750 posts ago, Christine and I started this thing. We had just bought our Sunday season ticket plan and the thought of blogging hit me in the shower. On some days, I'm glad I thought of it. On others, I wish I had just sung Sweet Caroline.

Seriously, thanks to those who have stopped by to read our musings.

[Photo credit: Boston Globe]

Random thoughts halfway through Christmas vacation

While I'm waiting for paint to dry (we decided at the last minute to paint the bathroom), I figured I would take the opportunity to catch up on some of the tidbits I've been meaning to mention during our week off. Besides, there are only so many times that I can write about some random program I've had lying around for decades or the fact that Jason Bay will be playing for the Siberia Mets.

--Eric Bruntlett, who went from a throw-in to the Brad Lidge trade, to a defensive specialist, to World Series hero, to author of an unassisted triple play, has signed a minor-league contract with the Washington Nationals. How does someone go from being the utility guy on the league's best team to hanging around with the Pete Orrs, Eddie Guardados and Jamie Burkes of the world just trying to make the roster of the league's worst team?

--Big jeers to Sports Illustrated. I know everyone tends to overrate the things we're most familiar with, but didn't Harry Kalas deserve more than one line when Sports Illustrated recapped the sports figures who died in 2009? At least Paul Hagen did him justice.

--A year or two ago, when I finished saving all my childhood sports memories from my parents' attic, Christine and I agreed to condense them all into a couple of plastic bins in the crawl space. Even though we have never had a drop of water in that area, we've been hesitant to store anything there.

This weekend, we learned that even our basement has its breaking point: two feet of snow washed away by a day's worth of pouring rain. It was a large puddle, but not a big deal. It touched one of the bins, but my extensive baseball card collection is safe. Christine is very relieved we didn't have to throw it out. {No, just disappointed. The water was so close and almost finished off the thousands of cards that Greg insists he must keep for no good reason.}

--Christine and I went to the art museum on Monday. We saw the Rocky statue from the car. We didn't run the steps because it was too cold.

--Speaking of which, it has been frickin' cold this week. Yesterday, the wind chill was 11 degrees. Today, I took down the Christmas lights, but wanted to come in after 15 minutes because my hands - even with gloves - were going numb. It's a perfect day to drive to Boston and watch an outdoor hockey game or football game or rock concert. Brrr. Somehow this story made me colder.

[Photo credit: MSNBC.com]

Little appetizer and other morsels

Yesterday it was Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino. Today Dustin Pedroia won a Gold Glove, his first. Actually, he knew yesterday and didn't keep it a secret. I never knew award winners were told a day ahead, and I don't know if he'll get in trouble for spilling the beans.

Thankfully, I think they still wait until hours before the official announcement to tell a player that he won the MVP. That's the main course for Pedroia this year (and the Red Sox, as Christine reminded me that they didn't get the job done this season). Today's fielding award is just a little shrimp cocktail for the littlest big hitter in baseball.

Things don't look so good for Pedroia and the Sox next year. Manny Ramirez won't consider coming back. Did I miss something? Was this even a possibility? Didn't we bend over backward last summer shipping him out of town so he could get the Dodgers' hopes up for the Phillies to knock them down? Whatever. The season ended just over a week ago, and I'm already sick of hearing from Scott Boras.

There's some talk that Manny could replace Pat Burrell in Philadelphia. I don't buy it. To quote Tony Massarotti: "One glitch: Pat Gillick, who just stepped down as Philly's GM but is staying on in an advisory role, is too smart to advocate signing a guy like Manny. (We think.)"

One glitch with that glitch theory: Gillick might be interested in winning a Stanley Cup instead.

I thought this was a slow day when I sat down to write tonight, but things are certainly getting crazy. Next thing you know, we'll be reading that the World Champs are again considering trading the farm, and Shane Victorino, for Matt Holliday. Oops.

{No way, I'm not buying that. This city loves Shane-O, and I think he loves it back. I hope management isn't dumb enough to trade him.}