This team is soul crushing

by FTN414 on Jul 7, 2007 11:05 PM EDT Comment 10 comments

I've been thinking about it lately. I'd really just prefer that we were a 70 win team. When you have zero expectations, and you expect to suck, you don't get down in the dumps when your team decides to use Jose Mesa in the 8th inning of a close game. When you don't expect anything, you aren't disappointed when the offense packs it in after 3 innings and just starts to throw away at bats. When you don't have expectations, you don't look at the out of town scoreboard and think "you know, if so and so loses tonight, we're only x games back". But, at least for me, I do think those thoughts every night, and I continually get let down by a team that honestly seems to be cursed. I'm not one to believe in stuff like that, I'm very loyal to statistics and logic, but I think this team tends to defy logic. They inexplicably come up short in seemingly every important situation.

Why Baseba'l, why?

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Re: This team is soul crushing

I wish I knew the answer. I really do. But I don't.

by David S. Cohen on Jul 8, 2007 5:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: This team is soul crushing

We've known for a long while that the gap between the top talent on the team and the rest is considerable. But I can't remember it ever being this distinct between the position players and the pitchers. Even the position reserves are decent this year, while every pitcher but one is mediocre-to-awful. This must have been sort of like what the 1930 Phillies went through, though their record was a long shot worse than what these guys are likely to finish up with.

Of the eight current relievers, I think three belong in the big leagues: Madson, Alfonseca, and Zagurski. Even the last two I'm not entirely sure about, and while Madson is okay, on a good team he'd be the fourth or fifth-best reliever.

by dajafi on Jul 8, 2007 5:53 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: This team is soul crushing

I really don't think Alfonseca is a major league pitcher anymore. He has a nice little 3.93 ERA and that seems passable, but he has 12 BB and 12 K in 34.1 IP. He gets 54.6% groundballs, which is nice, but it certainly is luck that he has only surrendered 2 homeruns so far. His HR/Flyball is 6.1%, which is absurdly lucky, especially for CBP. I almost wish he'd fail so that they'd stop putting him in close games. He's hanging in there, but it's not going to stick.

Zagurski probably could use a bit more seasoning before he's ready, but he's acceptable if not wild. He's not really a pitcher that should be on the team yet. The only pitchers that are actually valuable on the team right now (and not on the DL) are Hamels, Moyer, and Madson.

by Matt Swartz on Jul 8, 2007 9:38 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: This team is soul crushing

Oh, I totally agree that Alf isn't deserving, talent-wise, of the important role he plays right now. But I think he's okay as the 6th or 7th guy out of your pen whom you summon in hopes of inducing a double play in very specific circumstances.

by dajafi on Jul 8, 2007 10:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: This team is soul crushing

Madson justifies my love with a three-inning save. And he looked razor sharp in doing so. Funny game...

by dajafi on Jul 8, 2007 6:55 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: This team is soul crushing

and on days like this it almost seems alllllll worth it, no?

by das411 on Jul 8, 2007 11:35 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: This team is soul crushing

Gotta say, the scene with the tarp and the sandbags yesterday was really hilarious, and almost a little heartwarming too. It's nice to be reminded from time to time that these guys are just regular human beings.

by taco pal on Jul 9, 2007 11:59 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: This team is soul crushing

Having lived through many 70 win seasons and even worse, I say no -- it isn't better than what we have right now. What we have right now is a team that's very frustrating to follow but also a lot of fun. They fight hard most every game and no game is ever over until the last out. That's great stuff in my view.

Being disapppointed and coming up short is part of baseball in Philly in my view. I was alive in 1964 after all and I have memories of that season. It kinda sucks but it isn't that bad. There are a bunch of things in life that are a lot worse than a disappointing baseball team.

So, given the choice, I'd take the current era over pretty much any era of Phillies baseball save for the Cubic Zirconinium Era of 1976-1983. And even those teams in the late 70s were loaded with disappointments.

We are in the Brass Era now. And that's not all that great but compared to most of this team's history, it's very, very good. It's not like we have lots of other choices. There's the opera I guess or the ballet. Arena Football? I don't really get that at all.

So, for me, I'll take the Phillies and I'll take them the way they are. I like this team better than the '68-'72 team or '84-'92 or '94 - 2000 teams. It's most likely more fun to follow than most of the teams of the 20s, 30s 40s 50s or 60s.

It would be great if they got a little lucky or actually got them a really good starting pitcher instead of guys like Garcia or Milton or Millwood. It would be great for them to make the playoffs or even to do better than that. But if they don't it will be OK. And I'd rather have a pretty good team than a lousy one.

by smitty on Jul 9, 2007 2:17 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Re: This team is soul crushing

Smitty, I appreciate your ever present want to wax poetic and gloss things up, but I still stick by my claim that this team is soul crushing. And by the team, I don't just mean the 25 guys on the field, I mean the ownership all the way down. This team is run so poorly, it's evident to so many people, but it doesn't appear that it will ever change, and that's the part that hurts. It's not like I won't watch every game, or read every article, or hang on every pitch....of course I'll do that, it's that I can see, from the outside, how assbackwards and poorly run this team is, and if I can see it, someone who can do something about it should be able to see it too. That's what it makes it so soul crushing, for lack of a better term.

by FTN414 on Jul 9, 2007 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Re: This team is soul crushing

I wonder if there is a difference between the 1964 generation fan and those who are younger? Living through that season really did a number on our heads I think. I think a lot of us kind of expect the Phillies to be backwards. Even in the late 70s, those teams built up big leads and came much closer to blowing the leads than they should have. They then came up with excruciating ways to lose playoff series in '77 and '78.

After all of that, the things this club does just doesn't look all that strange or heart breaking. I think some of us just kind of expect it. I call it being optimistic with an impending sense of doom.

There may come a day when a single individual grabs the reins of this team and proceeds to do the seemingly obvious things they need to do to produce a dynamite team. (I think this club needs a single very strong individual -- I'm becoming convinced there are far too many people involved in the decision making process). Until, that time comes, I think we'll continue to see the two steps forward, three steps back approach that has put us in the situation we are today.

I guess that can be soul crushing. I guess I just look at it a little differently. I know that during the games when they don't win because they have Mesa and Sanches in the bullpen instead of real big league pitchers, it is very frustrating -- perhaps even soul crushing might be a good descriptive term. Because you know if they had a few more good pitchers they'd be running away with the division. And it seems like they should have been able to accomplish that.

We'll see if they do anything here to get the team in shape for the second half. I'm not really expecting anything too spectacular. I'd love to see them pull off a Bedard type trade as you proposed soemwhere around here. Maybe they are even trying to do so as we speak. Regardless, I think the main point I'm making is I'd rather they be a 86 win team than a 70 win team. It's more fun.

by smitty on Jul 9, 2007 4:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs