Another open letter

Dear Phillies,

Remember when you used to win games? You would pitch, you would hit, you would score. I know, it's becoming just a blurry memory for me, too. Sure, you've lost only three in a row, but that makes you 3-7 in your last 10 games. Not too hot. And coincidentally, this downturn has come at the exact same time that you really started to receive national attention, that analysts started to say, "Hey, this team is for real. The Phillies are the team to beat in the National League."

I hope that this is just a bump in the road and that there won't be many more 7-1 games like tonight, where you got outhit by the Angels 17-2 - at home, no less. I hope Brett Myers can stop the bleeding tomorrow night because it will be good both for him and for the team. I hope Chase Utley breaks his ugly hitless streak.

We're all waiting for you to resume the level of play you were at before the Marlins series. I'll see you on Sunday, when you'll try to extend your new winning streak to two.

Love,
Christine

The Red Sox lost too, 5-4 to the Cardinals. But the story is that our champion, and probably the player with the best stints as both a Phillie and Red Sox, is likely done. It's not like we were expecting Curt Schilling to come back, but it still stings - sort of like when an elderly loved one dies. It's not tragic, but still sad.

Curt thanked us today, but anyone who rooted for the Sox before 2004 thanks him again. In his words:

If this was my last shot, and it is over, I wouldn’t change a thing (ok well that’s not totally true because I WOULD push rewind, go back to a few instances and shut my mouth, but hey we can’t all be perfect) that happened to me, with me or on any teams I played on. In 22 years I would say I had the honor of playing with some of the greatest of all time, and at most 3-4 really bad people, that’s not a bad thing.

Juan Samuel? Really??

Lost in the craziness of the Sox-Phils series was the announcement that Juan Milton Samuel will be enshrined on the Phillies Wall of Fame. As someone who studied the backs of baseball cards in the 1980s more closely than his school books, I know Samuel was a good player, although not, as the sponsor of his Baseball-Reference page claims, "quite simply, the greatest baseball player in the history of the world."

I didn't follow the Phillies back then, but I admired his combination of speed and power, racking up double digits in all categories. But I know enough about Philly to know that he is not the most deserving Phillie - Lenny Dykstra, Darren Daulton and John Kruk are the obvious ones. And unlike Samuel, they contributed to a Phillies postseason.

A fan vote narrowed the choices for wall nominee to Daulton, Dykstra, Kruk, Samuel and Greg Gross. Then, a committee of media and Phillies executives chose Samuel to be inducted.

I'm not sure how Gross even ended up in the mix. I understand the arguments against choosing Dykstra (links to steroids and other issues) and Daulton (his philosophical musings); as for Kruk, maybe they're unhappy that he bailed on his Phillies announcing and has become a national media figure. But I still don't get it. I'll be happy to cheer Juan's induction, but if the Phillies keep flying their '93 NL pennant, they should induct players from that squad.

Harper: I forgot to mention yesterday the little baseball fan seated behind his. His name was Harper, and he was attending his first game with his pop-pop, who provided running commentary for his grandson. It was very cute and wholesome. And the next time the media or populous want to bemoan baseball, they should sit in the park and take in nine innings with little Harper and his cap and pack of Red Sox playing cards.

[Image: Baseball Reference Bullpen]

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.

All tied up with one to go

Not pictured is Ryan Howard's fourth strikeout to lead off the 9th against Jonathan Papelbon, who also struck out the next two batters to close out Jon Lester's 3-0 win. The Red Sox-Phillies series is tied at one. The decisive game, a Businessperson's Special, is tomorrow at 1:05.

Tonight's story was Lester, who like Cole Hamels last night, showed how a good young lefty can dominate even the best of offenses. He tossed seven shutout innings with a walk, six hits and five strikeouts.

It looked like it would be a short night for the venerable Jamie Moyer, as the Red Sox rolled up his pitch count thanks to five walks. (Christine thinks the umps weren't calling strikes for him.) But the cagey pitcher managed to last five innings, yielding only two runs.

Not much to speak of from the Red Sox bats. Coco Crisp hit a two-run homer in the 2nd and scored the third run in the 6th. Led by his two stolen bases, the Red Sox tied a club record with six, including one by the dreamy Sean Casey. It's not what you think: Look closely at his scoreboard photo above. It's not the typical game face or smart-ass grin that typically graces the big screen. No, it's puppy dogs and rainbows. He looks head over heels or something.

Observations from the stands: We were still higher than usual, but aligned nearly directly behind home plate. ... The field looked a bit better, but you could still see the Jimmy Buffett remnants. ... They're no Hooters, but the Dartmouth Cords did a good job with the National Anthem. ... In the 1st, J.D. Drew had a good strategy, hitting a grounder right at Ryan Howard, who promptly coughed it up. But it bounced right toward Chase Utley, who retired Drew 3-4-3. ... After Jimmy Rollins grounded out on the first pitch in the bottom of the 1st, Shane Victorino bunted his first pitch for a single. "What the hell is he doing?" Christine said before she even knew he'd be safe. Utley then made up for it with an 11-pitch fly out. ... We saw a guy in an old-school Expos hat. I guess all Expos hats are old school. ... Pat Burrell likes newspaper word jumbles, according to the "Ask the Phillies" segment that runs between innings. ... After a leadoff walk by J-Roll in the 6th, Mike Lowell speared a liner from Victorino and was able to double off Rollins at first. ... After Hideki Okajima struck out Chase Utley to end the 8th, I did a little fist pump. Christine punched me. ... Before the 9th, they showed Jon Runyan of the Eagles on the scoreboard to pump up the crowd. Didn't work.

Also ineffective was the Phanatic's attempt to spoof Papelbon by breaking out his Riverdance shtick. When the "umpire" ripped off his uniform to show off his kilt and join the dance, Christine thought it explained why the Red Sox seemed to get all the calls tonight.

The fans bugged us more than usual tonight. No one can stay seated during a game. I understand getting up once or twice, but people were getting up once or twice an inning with no regard to whether a pitch was about to happen. I think I missed 25 percent of the pitches in the game because people were standing in the way. "Why do we go to games again," mused Christine, who was also aggravated by some obnoxious Phillies teenagers sitting behind us. They came to "beat up some Red Sox fans" but showed their mettle by taunting Jacoby Ellsbury after he was caught stealing in the 9th and Papelbon for striking out Howard because "he's the easiest guy in the world to strike out." I won't mention the crude things they said.

Odds and ends: It seems Bartolo Colon, headed to the 15-day DL, tweaked his back Monday when he struck out so poorly his helmet fell off. There's more ammo for Hank Steinbrenner's crusade to bring the DH to the National League. And listening to the Mets game on the way home, the announcers said there was already some incident with Jose Reyes and Jerry Manuel. Details fuzzy at the moment.

We must remember the less fortunate

While we here at SoxandPhils are giddily dreaming of October, it would be irresponsible if we didn't take a moment to remember the poor Mets fans today.

I'm sure they have long accepted that their team is going nowhere, but now that Willie Randolph has been fired in the dead of the night, how are they going to spend the rest of the season? I guess they can always speculate on whom the permanent manager will be.

Speaking of which, the Phillies are trying to get fans to vote Chase Utley and Pat Burrell into the All-Star game. Utley doesn't need the help; Burrell does. But now that Randolph is gone, the organization and fans should start putting pressure on Clint Hurdle to name Charlie Manuel to replace him as a coach.

And Willie's classless firing - did they at least pay for his return trip from California? - didn't surprise those who made preseason predictions on this site, except the Mets fan.

All right, back to teams that matter. See you at the park tonight.

Phillies draw first blood

In the first game of the 2008 World Series prequel, there was about five minutes all night when it seemed like the champs would win in Philly. Then the Phillies soundly beat the Red Sox, 8-2.

Before Bartolo Colon could say cheesesteak, Jimmy Rollins hit a lead-off homer. Then Ryan Howard squared off against fat Bart in what may be the heaviest matchup in baseball history - more than a quarter ton combined. Ryan Howard won the battle of the bulge, creaming a two-run homer. He made it 4-0 with a solo shot in the 4th. Colon was lifted after four with back spasms.

In the bottom of the 5th, the Sox showed some life with solo home runs from Dustin Pedroia, who snapped out of a slump tonight and was a triple shy of the cycle, and J.D. Drew, who is still so beloved in Philly that all the fans go "Dreeeeewwwww!" whenever he bats. {I think Greg needs to get his hearing checked. They were saying Boo-urns.}

But then things got ugly in the 6th when Terry Francona called upon Mike Timlin, an unsung hero for several Red Sox postseasons. He didn't have it tonight: He recorded two outs, but gave up four runs. It was painful. Timlin's been a warrior for us, but maybe he's done. His ERA is now 7.06, although a fellow Red Sox fan points out that in 19 games between his first four disastrous outings and tonight, he has posted a 2.89 ERA. When Francona removed Timlin, for some reason the fans again started their J.D. Drew cheer for the former Phillies manager.

Individual stars: Cole Hamels shut down the champs for 7-plus innings. He also showed great hustle, almost beating out a ground-out to first. He did get a hit in his fourth at-bat. ... Howard, 3-5 with two homers and a triple. Yes, a triple. Jacoby Ellsbury misplayed it. ... Rollins, 3-5 with a homer and three RBI. ... Pat Burrell, 2-2 with two walks and a triple. Yes, a triple. (See Ryan Howard's.)
The plastic Red Sox helmet the Phanatic smashed put up more of a fight tonight than my team.

Observations from the stands: Our seats were 12 rows higher than our normal seats. We couldn't believe what a difference that made. Then again, we were only one row from the top of the stadium. ... Worst heckle of Manny Ramirez: "Get a haircut." ... They played "Feliz" from Feliz Navidad again after a nice defensive play in the 5th. ... Colon striking out feebly in his two plate appearances was hysterical - he lost his helmet on one swing. ... Hamels made a nice snare on a liner hit by Jason Varitek. ... The crowd was actually civil for a Sox-Phils game. I didn't get heckled, and there really didn't seem to be any ugliness. ... Time of game: 2:42.

Musicians at Citizens Bank Park: Jimmy Buffett and his Parrotheads left the field a mess. It looked worse in person than it does in the picture. The grass was yellowed all over the outfield. Thankfully, it seems mostly cosmetic, and no one got injured. Hooters frontmen Rob Hyman and Eric Bazilian were more respectful of the playing surface when singing the National Anthem tonight. {Amusingly, they played the beginning of "And We Danced" before kicking into the anthem.}

The 2008 World Series begins Monday

"Oh no, it's tomorrow," Christine said upon realizing what's to come. She'll have to deal with thousands of marauding Red Sox fans and probably some not-too-nice comments coming our way from the Philly denizens as they spot a couple wearing competing colors when the Sox and Phillies square off tomorrow night - the first such meeting since SoxandPhils made its debut.

"Bring it on," I say. Never mind that we have Bartolo Colon against Cole Hamels in the opener; we've faced worse odds than fat Bart vs. the young and talented Mr. Hamels.

Today, the Red Sox look locked and loaded for National League warfare: Josh Beckett was an ace again for seven innings as the Sox beat the Reds 9-0. Jacoby Ellsbury had three hits and set the team's rookie record for stolen bases in a season. The seasons he, Jon Lester and Justin Masterson are having make me really pleased we didn't trade for Johan Santana.

Although Jonathan Papelbon coughed one up Saturday, the Sox came back and took two of three in Cincinnati.

The Phillies, meanwhile, head in the opposite direction. Remember the saying "Tinker to Evers to Chance?" Today, it was, "Utley to Gordon to ... uh-oh." After Tom Gordon got two outs in the 10th, there were two ground balls to second; each would have ended the inning. But first Utley erred, then Gordon erred. Game over: Cardinals 7, Phils 6. Combined with Saturday, when Kyle Lohse outpitched Adam Eaton (who again didn't stink!?!), that's two straight losses since Friday night when the Phillies impersonated a football team.

Travel update: Our friends have the cutest little Red Sox hat for their baby. Every infant should have one. {No way. Cute little Phillies hats only. And even though Greg didn't mention it, Kush is cute with or without the hat.}

I gave my Dad an unexpected Father's Day gift - unexpected in that it surprised me, too. I got rid of a couple boxes of junk I have left in his attic - mostly old books, scorecards and magazines. Christine's pleased with how much I threw out, but I salvaged a few that I'll be sharing with the blog once this week's craziness subsides.

Sox-Phils interleague history, 2007: The Phillies and Red Sox wrapped up their exhibition schedule with a two-game set in Philly. I didn't want to go. (I'm not a fan of exhibition baseball.) But when I heard our new Japanese import Daisuke Matsuzaka was scheduled to pitch in the finale, I decided I should go because who knows when I'd get to see him live.

I don't remember much, except it was cold and Dice-K wasn't impressive.

They didn't play any meaningful games in 2007 because the Rockies swept the Phillies out of World Series contention. Tomorrow begin the preview of this year's fall classic. We'll update with our story and pics (unless Christine gets so mad at me that she won't edit the photos) as soon as we can.