Wrapping up 2010, Phillies Style
by WholeCamels on Dec 31, 2010 3:25 PM EST
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PrintThis piece was originally going to be a sort of "Best of 2010" recap, but I remembered our pal Wet Luzinski's fine Thanksgiving piece and didn't want to retread those waters, so please go read his work and then check back here.
The 2010 season was about as tumultuous as any in memory, with the team experiencing the highest of highs (two Roy Halladay no-hitters, MLB best win total) and the lowest of lows (NLCS defeat, the goose-egg sweep in Queens), with a lot of what Chris Wheeler would describe as "goofy" in between (Roy Oswalt in left field).
Most of all, 2010 was the year the Phillies turned the corner and became one of the "big boys" in Major League Baseball. In the past, the Phillies had acquired top-flight talent through drafting, mid-season trades, and the occasional free agent overpay. But in mid-December, the Phillies did the unprecedented -- beat out two high-spending franchises in a competitive bidding environment to snag the most coveted free agent on the market. I'm talking, of course, about J.C. Romero. Okay, no, Cliff Lee, you silly geese.
To put it another way, in 2010, the Phillies took the big step from being a "first-rate second-rate" franchise, to being a legitimate titan in the sport, alongside the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox. It's a destination team for players and fans alike, something that would have been incomprehensible just 10 years ago.
It's only gonna get funner. Happy New Year to all my Phightrons out there, you make this all possible.
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Happy new year to WC and The Good Phight bloglords, associate bloglords, blogger emeritus, and the fellow members of this fine community. I’ve had a great time on here since I discovered this site earlier this year and here is to hoping that 2011 will be even funner than this year was.
Formerly known as JFein.
Writer at SB Nation's Philadelphia Union blog, The Brotherly Game. Follow me on Twitter
I was just thinking along similar lines today. The Royals blog actually compile the last 20 years worth of Top 100 prospect lists. And as I looked at the halcyon days of the early 90s when the top 100 was littered with such Phillies luminaries as Wes Chamberlain, Pat Combs (#20!!), Jeff Juden, Tyler Greene and Wayne Gomes. It brought me back to 1994 and watching the World Series team age, with not much talent in the minors and lots of questionable Free Agent moves (welcome to Philadelphia Mr. Tartabull, enjoy your month here). It’s crazy realizing how much has changed between that World Series run and our current status.
Happy New Year to everyone.
Did Tartabull really last a month?
Wasn’t it only like three or four games?
Seems like he was on Seinfeld longer than he played for our Fightins!
by Pedro45 on Dec 31, 2010 9:22 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
...and Doc Bless Us.... EVERYONE!
Nice recap. See y’all next year.
ALMOST TIME FOR PITCHERS AND CATCHERS!
by Chutley's Impressed by Mac's Speed on Dec 31, 2010 4:10 PM EST reply actions
This whole past decade has been one great rise. I remember the fun days of Lance Parrish and Gregg Jefferies being our, ahem, ‘marquee’ free agent signings, not to mention Danny Tartabull, as Cormican did above.
So a lovely Buon Anno to all our paisan here on TGP. May we be blessed with ever more great pitching perfomances, division titles, pennants, and World F’ng Championships.
If this is all a dream from some Autistic kid shaking a snowglobe, I don’t want to know about it.
Happy New Year to all! And drink responsibly…
I don't know what the fans do to create that much more volume and excitement in the stadium, but it's definitely something extra [in Philadelphia]. They're passionate fans. They understand what's going on. They don't need a teleprompter to tell them to get up and cheer. -Cliff Lee
Thumbs up for the St. Elsewhere reference. That was one of my favorite shows.
If we’re all having the same dream it must be real – or a hell of a coincidence!
Happy New Year everybody.
by phillyinportland on Dec 31, 2010 4:47 PM EST up reply actions
There’s a whole Wikipedia article about all that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Westphall#The_Tommy_Westphall_Universe_Hypothesis
Thanks for the reference
Interesting theories. To me it all comes down to “It’s television, it doesn’t have to make sense.” The series was impressive even if the ending was poorly done.
By the way, Tom Fontana must be very talented based on his work for St. Elsewhere and Homicide: Life on the Streets. In Homicide they made Baltimore sort of a poor man’s Philadelphia with its charm and grittiness intermixed. The series set in Philadelphia since then have been nowhere near as successful, although I did like Cold Case – Lily’s dad was living in Haddonfield, my old home town.
by phillyinportland on Jan 2, 2011 3:07 PM EST up reply actions
Don’t worry: Suzanne Pleschette says it was all a dream.
I don't know what the fans do to create that much more volume and excitement in the stadium, but it's definitely something extra [in Philadelphia]. They're passionate fans. They understand what's going on. They don't need a teleprompter to tell them to get up and cheer. -Cliff Lee
Happy New Year to all, and may 2011 be much like 2010 plus six more postseason wins (and minus, like, the natural disasters, economic malaise, and increasingly polarized politics).
OK, so my first resolution for 2011 is to understand all of the advanced metrics our fantasy league is using before drafting (curse you, FIP!). The second is to continue to create / nurture / sustain some TGP bandwith for our merry band of right-brainers (while appreciating advanced stats in an aesthetic sort-of-way, of course). The third is to equip and train a squadron of flying squirrels to attack that punk charlatan, Mr. Positive.
Happy New Year to all. Except you, Mr. Positive.
by Wet Luzinski on Dec 31, 2010 11:21 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I did not!
But the idea of a billionaire philanthopist who goes around the bend after work with the homeless sounds like just the kind of super negativity that’s needed to rein in the people who are going nuts with these 100+ win predictions. Martian Li may need to be invoked for any comments or posts with such irrational exuberance.
The 2010 season was about as tumultuous as any in memory, with the team experiencing the highest of highs (two Roy Halladay no-hitters, MLB best win total) and the lowest of lows (NLCS defeat, the goose-egg sweep in Queens), with a lot of what Chris Wheeler would describe as “goofy” in between (Roy Oswalt in left field).
This sentence made me long for Spring Training to begin.
"Basketball fights last two punches. Make sure you throw both of them." - John Thompson Jr.
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may be more gay than you think the WNBA, but what of it? Does this somehow threaten you?
by Wet Luzinski on Jan 4, 2011 10:33 PM EST up reply actions
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