Rink-a-Dink Links For You, May 26, 2010: Dickey Jokes; Vomit Assaults; That Team You've Watched the Last 3 Days is Loaded with All-Stars
by Wet Luzinski on May 26, 2010 7:34 AM EDT
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PrintR. A. Dickey tosses gem as Mets blank Phillies, 8-0. Would have been better if the Phillies had tossed Dickey...anyways, dick jokes aside, did you know that Dickey is missing an actual ligament in his arm? Did you know the Phillies are missing a shortstop? And yet one of them finds a way to win. More coverage.
Knuckleballer collusion! If you thought the Phillies' approach against knuckleballers was all wrong, here's the match for your gasoline. Who needs to steal signs when you can just pick up your phone and dial yesterday's successful pitcher?
NJ man admits to vomit assault at Phillies game. Thank God the sentencing of this idiot wasn't at Citi Field last night, or we could have re-enacted Spartacus. I was hoping that the Delaware County Daily Times website would feature this story so we could enjoy the comments, but alas.
William H. Pflaumer, 76, Owned Schmidt's brewery. For those who remember the beers that went with the baseball from long ago, report of the death of a Philadelphia original.
Despite Phillies' Lead, Manager Is Wary of Mets. Aw, Charlie, we liked the first draft of your comments so much better.
Zolecki: Lidge could be activated early next week. And everybody gets to travel to Florida, for one reason or another.
Phillies dominate all-star voting. Now let's hope they don't face a knuckleballer. Utley, Rollins, Werth... and Victorino and Polanco. Ruiz and Howard are second in their positions. And if you're having inferiority issues with New York this morning, see here. And who's to blame for our old pal Pat Burrell being 4th in AL DH voting?
Blame Phillies fans. With another sellout against the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon, the Phillies were the first team to pass one-million fans this season…in just 23 games. The Phillies have 65 consecutive sellouts, and clearly those fans have an affinity for Burrell. Therefore, expect to see Burrell's numbers increase once Phillies fans realize their hometown favoritism has actually gotten him in the running. This could have Betty White-like ramifications.
If you, like I, heartily endorse this, by all means, do that sexyclick and give the Bat your own all-star shower of Love!
NFL thinks outside the box with New Jersey Super Bowl in 2014. Somewhere in the tropics, a butterfly is now flapping its wings that will create the weather that somehow will affect the Eagles. You just know it.
Marlins 6, Braves 4: Kawakami Makes 007 Look Bad as Braves Fall to Fish: Talking Chop
But the good news is, Jason Heyward will soon cure a dread disease at this rate. Wow.
Giants 4, Nationals 2: Giants demolish Nationals, score four runs: McCovey Chronicles. If you think the Phillies' offensive slump has been bad...
Damn good stuff in the minor league roundup after the jump...
Future Shock: Rays, Phillies, Twins. Kevin Goldstein picks through the detrius of the Cliff Lee trade at Prospectus, where early returns aren't so good (subscription required, but really nothing that PhillyFriar hasn't already reported). Hellickson for Ibanez (::bangs pipe::)? Or are the Rays done with aging Phillies leftfielders?
Lehigh Valley IronPigs 2, Buffalo Bisons 1. Carpenter, Zagurski, and Mathieson (S-8) combine on the win. Hey Pigs, can you express that dreamcatcher to New York? Or to Dobbs?
''We feel like after three years here, losing balls in the air and whatever, we're playing on a [bleeping] Indian burial ground,'' IronPigs manager Dave Huppert said with a smirk forming on his face. ''We'll try anything right now.''
Reading Phillies 6, Portland Sea Dogs 0. Cheers to Drew Naylor, who threw a complete game, 3-hit shutout (1BB, 6K), first R-Phil to go the distance since 2007. And some guy named Domonic Brown hit 2 triples.
Dunedin Jays 10, Clearwater Threshers 8.
Lakewood BlueClaws 9, Hagerstown Suns 2.. The line of the night goes to Jonathan Singleton, in line to be Ryan Howard's up-and-coming ghost if he keeps this stuff up. 4-4 with a home run and three 2-out RBIs.
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Since the All Star Game “means something” or “counts” or whatever, it makes sense to me to try to stuff the ballot box so as to harm the AL’s chances of winning.
In general, vote the absolute best players for the NL and the modern-day equivalent of Marv Throneberry for every position in the AL. Using this approach, voting for Burrell and Marson would be equivalently rational.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on May 26, 2010 8:49 AM EDT up reply actions
AL Ballot suggestion
1B Barton (Oak)
2B Valbuena (Cle)
SS Betancourt (KC)
3B Punto (Min) — xPhi
C Marson (Cle) — xPhi
DH Burrell (TB) — xPhi
OF Reimold (Bal)
OF Ankiel (KC)
OF Joyce (TB)
Remember — you get to vote 25 times! Also, if you can alias email addresses, you can vote more. I own about 100 domain names…
I might have to sign up for a job through Amazon’s mechanical turk.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on May 26, 2010 8:56 AM EDT up reply actions
:) -- 24(,000,000,000) more to go
Thank you for voting. Vote again
You voted for:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
First Base:Barton, D., OAKSecond Base:Valbuena, L., CLEShortstop:Betancourt, Y., KCThird Base:Punto, N., MINCatcher:Marson, L., CLEDH:Burrell, P., TBOutfielder:Ankiel, R., KCOutfielder:Joyce, M., TBOutfielder:Reimold, N., BALWrite-in:N/A
NATIONAL LEAGUE
First Base:Howard, R., PHISecond Base:Utley, C., PHIShortstop:Rollins, J., PHIThird Base:Polanco, P., PHICatcher:Ruiz, C., PHIOutfielder:Ibañez, R., PHIOutfielder:Victorino, S., PHIOutfielder:Werth, J., PHIWrite-in:N/A
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on May 26, 2010 8:59 AM EDT up reply actions
Whoops
Forgot to at least try to maximize NL goodness. Here’s a suggestion:
irst Base:Pujols, A., STLSecond Base:Utley, C., PHIShortstop:Tulowitzki, T., COLThird Base:Zimmerman, R., WASCatcher:McCann, B., ATLOutfielder:Braun, R., MILOutfielder:Ethier, A., LADOutfielder:Werth, J., PHIWrite-in:N/A
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on May 26, 2010 9:01 AM EDT up reply actions
Following off this, we should be voting for these guys:
C: Taylor Teagarden, TEX (.037/.188/.037)
1B: Matt LaPorta, CLE (.206/.264/.265)
2B: Luis Valbuena, CLE (.140/.286/.244)
SS: Omar Vizquel, CHW (.200/.260/.222)
3B: Garrett Atkins, BAL (.222/.260/.282)
OF: Eric Byrnes, SEA (.094/.237/.157)
OF: Lou Montanez, BAL (.159/.178/.159)
OF: Michael Brantley, CLE (.156/.229/.188)
Honor is no substitute for victory.
I’m going to enjoy telling my brother that in order to make the AL team as bad as possible, we’re voting half the Indians on to the team.
by phillies fan in bowie on May 26, 2010 9:13 AM EDT up reply actions
I accept that as a friendly amendment
You did the research I was too lazy to do. I was guessing. Now, I suggest that we spread the word to NL SB Nation sites (ignoring the “proper” NL balloting – let the conscience dictate there) and invite them to screw with MLB and this asinine All Star game procedure (“it counts!”).
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on May 26, 2010 9:16 AM EDT up reply actions
Strategically, I think it makes more sense to vote not for the worst players available in the AL, but for the worst players who are within striking distance of the lead and could conceivably win.
Devious. Utterly devious. The power of the hive mind demonstrated.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on May 26, 2010 10:25 AM EDT up reply actions
List and "supportees"
1st Base — KEEP TEIXEIRA? OR CARLOS PENA?
1. Mark Teixeira Yankees 396,034
2. Justin Morneau Twins 258,225
3. Miguel Cabrera Tigers 242,039
4. Carlos Pena Rays 159,452
5. Kevin Youkilis Red Sox 150,702
2nd Base – ORLANDO HUDSON
RANK PLAYER NAME AL TEAM TOTAL VOTES
1. Robison Cano Yankees 491,188
2. Dustin Pedroia Red Sox 279,452
3. Ian Kinsler Rangers 229,601
4. Ben Zobrist Rays 137,870
5. Orlando Hudson Twins 128,649
3rd Base – BRANDON INGE or AROD?
RANK PLAYER NAME AL TEAM TOTAL VOTES
1. Evan Longoria Rays 541,253
2. Alex Rodriguez Yankees 411,655
3. Michael Young Rangers 213,528
4. Adrian Beltre Red Sox 93,304
5. Brandon Inge Tigers 81,621
Shortstop – BARTLETT?
RANK PLAYER NAME AL TEAM TOTAL VOTES
1. Derek Jeter Yankees 639,227
2. Elvis Andrus Rangers 239,091
3. Jason Bartlett Rays 154,014
4. J.J. Hardy Twins 134,840
5. Alex Gonzalez Blue Jays 109,793
Catcher – TEAGARDEN
RANK PLAYER NAME AL TEAM TOTAL VOTES
1. Joe Mauer Twins 644,533
2. Jorge Posada Yankees 287,486
3. Victor Martinez Red Sox 119,997
4. Taylor Teagarden Rangers 108,191
5. Dioner Navarro Rays 77,180
Designated Hitter – THE BAT
RANK PLAYER NAME AL TEAM TOTAL VOTES
1. Vladimir Guerrero Rangers 374,333
2. Hideki Matsui Angels 298,487
3. Ken Griffey Jr. Mariners 213,658
4. Pat Burrell Rays 130,265
5. David Ortiz Red Sox 108,755
Outfield – SWISHER/UPTON/HUNTER?
RANK PLAYER NAME AL TEAM TOTAL VOTES
1. Ichiro Suzuki Mariners 366,903
2. Carl Crawford Rays 319,953
3. Nelson Cruz Rangers 307,928
4. Josh Hamilton Rangers 265,896
5. Curtis Granderson Yankees 264,572
6. Torii Hunter Angels 230,036
7. Nick Swisher Yankees 229,944
8. Brett Gardner Yankees 224,167
9. B.J. Upton Rays 218,686
10. Bobby Abreu Angels 194,998
11. Vernon Wells Blue Jays 188,728
12. Julio Borbon Rangers 139,029
13. Magglio Ordonez Tigers 133,097
14. Shin-Soo Choo Indians 127,042
15. Johnny Damon Tigers 125,450
Results updated: Monday, May 24, 2010
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on May 26, 2010 11:13 AM EDT up reply actions
Perhaps we should circulate this to the blogs of some of our NL rivals?(Braves, Cardinals, Dodgers, Giants, Marlins, etc.)
Strange bedfellows and what not…
This will be easier with a Fan Post to link to. Fortunately, I just made one.
Review it and feel free to edit it.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on May 26, 2010 2:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Brilliant. In that vein, some proposals:
C: A. J. Pierzynski (.222/.271/.326)
1B: Paul Konerko (.262/.370/.593) (dude’s got to cool off eventually, right?)
2B: Orlando Hudson (.301/.376/.392) (good BA, no power)
SS: Marco Scutaro (.257/.348/.300) (he plays for the Bandwagon Nation)
3B: Miguel Tejada (.262/.309/.381)
OF: Ryan Sweeney (.307/.350/.387)
OF: Scott Podsednik (.294/.351/.371)
OF: Denard Span (.279/.370/.372)
Honor is no substitute for victory.
Podesednik’s not really doing poorly – .349 OBP, 18 runs, 17 RBI, 14 SB. Only 2 home runs, but I wasn’t really expecting power from him anyway. He’s just inferior to the other All-Star candidates.
Scutaro, on the other hand, wasn’t the best choice. I’m happier now with a Reyes/Furcal platoon.
Honor is no substitute for victory.
Out of curiosity… Say his Batness somehow manages to get voted in. Is he allowed to play since he isn’t currently on a team? Can he make is own uniform for the game? Can the front just say “The Bat”?
"I tried to run him over but Eli had his big boy pads on and he kind of stopped me from getting in the end zone. The next time I’ll try to jump over his head.’’ - Asante Samuel
Aww fuck a duck. A lefty we’ve never seen before from Japan. Get ready to watch whiffs on off speed junk that are balls.
But we have seen him. On May 2, 2010, the Phillies had 5 hits and 1 earned run in 1.1 innings against him after getting 10 runs off of Johan Santana… so he is not a total unknown… I am hoping that extrapolation over 6 innings will give us 30ish hits and 6 earned runs, but that may be a little bit much to expect from them… so I shall set a nice small goal…. please, please, please, in the name of all that is good in baseball, score one run off of the starting pitching!!!!
Me can haz runz pleeze?
Carpenter, Zagurski, and Mathieson
All three pitched well last night, so I did some stats cherry-picking, just to help me get out of the funk that the Major-league team put me in.
…………………………………………………………..
Carpenter’s last six starts:
4-2, 38.1 IP, 37 H, 11 ER, 3 HR, 9 BB, 29 K; 2.58 ERA (6.8 K/9; 2.1 BB/9)
Zagurski’s May:
9 G, 10.1 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 HR, 5 BB, 15 K; 0.00 ERA
Mathieson’s 2009 and 2010 combined:
40 G, 56 IP, 31 H, 5 ER, 2 HR, 18 BB, 60 K; 0.80 ERA; (9.6 K/9; 2.9 BB/9)
………………………………………………………………
What Mathieson is doing is REALLY exciting. 56 IP is not a huge sample size, but it’s still really impressive. I mean, dayum.
He also pitched a scoreless inning last night (1 IP, 1 K) on his second consecutive night of work, so that’s encouraging. This might be the first time Mathieson’s gone in back-to-back games.
It’s a sin that Mathieson is wasting his time on the bleeping indian burial grounds when he could be so useful for the big club.
Q: Why?
A: !=Proven Veteran™.
Remember the Phitans
by RememberthePhitans on May 26, 2010 11:14 AM EDT up reply actions
And last night proved just how stupid the current bullpen arrangement is. Figueroa doesn’t work out of the bellpen, and Herndon could still use some seasoning in the minors (I know, I know…Rule 5 blah blah blah). Meanwhile, Mr. Smug risks Mathieson getting injured and letting his current dominance go to waste. Its made all the more irritating by the fact that we have a clear need for a good arm in the pen seeing as we have only one truly reliable reliever right now.
by FuquaManuel on May 26, 2010 11:33 AM EDT up reply actions
To be a bit more charitable, I think the problem is that the only guy we can demote is Bastardo, who perhaps is not as good of a prospect as Mathieson, but is still a legitimate prospect in his own right.
Anyone else would have to be DFA’d. Now, maybe Mathieson would be better than any of the guys we would DFA. But what if we DFA someone, bring up Mathieson to take his spot, and then either Mathieson or someone else gets hurt? Then we’ll be kind of screwed. If we keep Mathieson in reserve, then we may lose out on the front end, but we’ll be in a safer position in the future in the event of an injury.
This reminds me a little bit of a debate we had a couple of years ago about whether we should cut Clay Condrey in order to promote R.J. Swindle. At the time, Condrey was pitching well, but Swindle was dominating lefties at AAA. “Why not just DFA Condrey and give Swindle a chance,” some asked, “since Condrey is just a front-of-the-bullpen guy anyway?” The answer was that if two guys both have value and you can hang onto both of them by putting the better guy in the minors, it’s better to do that than it is to put the better guy in the majors and lose the other guy. You don’t just cut people unnecessarily. And as it turned out, Swindle got his chance later in the year anyway.
Obviously, Mathieson ain’t Swindle, but the same principle applies. We might very well be forced to give Mathieson a shot anyway. Why force our own hand now?
I’m fine with this reasoning.
Also, as bad as the Phillies have looked in the past few games, we’re still in first place and we still are learning what we really have in the bullpen. It’s perhaps best to wait and see what Lidge and Madson (and Happ for that matter) do before we know what bullpen arms are expendable.
I don’t mind waiting a little longer for things to sort themselves out and for Mathieson to continue to get healthy in the meantime. Remember, Mathieson is still only 26 and the goal is to keep him for the long run.
So yes, the bullpen is not inspiring right now, but there’s still a long season ahead of us for the powers that be to continue to learn and make adjustments.
I don’t mind waiting a little longer for things to sort themselves out and for Mathieson to continue to get healthy in the meantime. Remember, Mathieson is still only 26 and the goal is to keep him for the long run.
If he’s not healthy then why is he pitching? Perhaps he has to achieve the proper sports specific endurance and sport specific strength but I was under the impression that was done. If that ‘s the case then he’s wasting bullets in the minors and even if he were to re-injure himself in the bigs, then provided all the rehab protocols were followed the culprit might be an unforeseen cogential defect or in his youth he suffered growth plate damage – the guy just might not be meant to pitch. Now if it’s for 1] arbitration issues, 2] if he is still building his sports specific load tolerance, or 3] still working on his secondary pitches, then his delay is understandable. However, if not, physiologically he’s in his most viable years. After he reaches a certain point in the near future, as a fireballer, the older he gets the more he’ll need to throw to maintain his arm speed. Speed is the hardest athletic attribute to develop and maintain. It is the attribute that suffers the most from age. Therefore the older the athlete the more training time is alloted to speed workouts rather than those for maintaining other attributes. Considering his injury history, pick your poison. There are always exceptions to the rule. I am amazed that Big Truck can still ramp it up.
Agreed. I’ve said before that the only real option I see is to explore a trade with the Angels in order to keep Herndon, but perhaps the cost is prohibitive.
On another topic, I’ve always used “back-end” or “back-of-the-bullpen” to describe guys pitching the later innings, and “front-end” or “front-of-the-bullpen” to describe guys like Condrey (just as you do here). But I get the sense that some people do it the other way. Personally, I think the way you use it here is more intuitive, and that’s what I’m going to stick with.
Enough with the negative for now, zOMG DOM BROWN!!!! You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him.
He will be in AAA by the all star break, right? So my question is what if he continues to dominate in AAA? He’d probably be called up when rosters expand to get some big league ABs I would have to think. No?
Isn’t AA usually stocked with more ‘players’ than AAA these days, and AAA is just roster filler guys?
by jemagee on May 26, 2010 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions
AAA has always been loaded with roster fillers. However, Brown would see more off-speed pitches in AAA, so a few months there wouldn’t hurt his development.
Right. AA and AAA present slightly different types of challenges, but both are valuable for player development purposes.
I mean, just because AAA teams tend to have “filler” on them doesn’t make it easier than AA. AAA is still harder.
AAA has more “major league ready” guys with less raw talent, but more polish. Brandon Duckworth, for instance.
http://www.thegoodphight.com
by WholeCamels on May 26, 2010 12:39 PM EDT up reply actions
I expected a late season call up for Taylor last year. He may get the call, or the team could call up Mayberry to be a power bat off the bench. Arguing that bringing Dom up to (mostly) ride the pine doesn’t help him or the organization. Of course, trades, injuries or full on collapse of Ibanez would change the scenario.
By the time rosters expand, he probably wouldn’t be playing anyway as the minor league season would be into the playoffs.
by phillies fan in bowie on May 26, 2010 12:30 PM EDT up reply actions
Wait – he’s not good enough to carry his team to the minor league playoffs? in AA and AAA both?
Feh
by jemagee on May 26, 2010 12:38 PM EDT up reply actions
Jimmy Rollins in the Lead at Shortstop????
I have been thinking about my All Star Ballot this year, and while there will be a lot of Phillies pride there, I have a hard time voting Jimmy Rollins in due to the limited number of games he has played in. Yes, he has excellent stats, and I believe him to be one of the best at his position, when he is out there. But, of late, that has not been nearly often enough. I believe that the opportunity to play in the All Star game should be given to the best players at each position for that year— it is not, or at least should not— be an award based on career achievment. I feel that sending him this year may send the wrong message. Yes, I understand that he is gone due to injury, not declining play or any other reason, but I still have a little bit of difficulty doing it. Thoughts???
Naylor
From that Reading Eagle article:
Naylor threw 110 pitches and admitted feeling a little fatigued in the late innings but he wasn’t about to hand over the ball.
[snip]
“My arm was getting tight in the eighth and ninth, but I pushed through and we got a win,” Naylor said.
Can’t say I liked hearing that. Not that 110 is necessarily a ton.
Not to be harsh and Darwinist, but he’s not a totally “top prospect” so from a strategic standpoint maybe it’ll pay off in the long run from a “sink or swim” standpoint.
http://www.thegoodphight.com
“Edna, we both know THESE CHILDREN HAVE NO FUTURE!”
“Oh, ah. PROVE ME WRONG KIDS! PROVE ME WRONG!”
by Wet Luzinski on May 26, 2010 4:49 PM EDT up reply actions
Ack... An Exxon Sighting
The lineup is available for tonight’s game against the Mets…. And it seems that if we are going to get hitting, it is going to have to come from spots 1-5, as 6-9 feature in order Francisco, Valdez, Schneider, and Blanton… I just do not see much good coming out of this lineup (although not much could be said about our regulars of recent, either). Going to be a long night.
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