The team announced Thursday that second baseman Chase Utley will need right hip surgery that potentially could keep him out until the first week of June.
Utley consistently downplayed speculation about his bad hip during the second half of the postseason. But the Phillies revealed Thursday that since the World Series, he has had the hip evaluated by Phillies team physician Michael Ciccotti, of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital’s Rothman Institute, and by Dr. Bryan Kelly, of the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
Both doctors recommended that Utley undergo surgery on his right hip. That procedure, described by the club as an “arthroscopic evaluation with treatment of any labral or bony injury,” will take place next week.
Ooh, I am so mad at Jefferson for telling Utley to have surgery without thinking of the Phillies first! Or maybe this will make into a superplayer when he comes back, an adult Rookie of the Year if you will.
Got an e-mail from the Baseball Hall of Fame announcing the opening of their annual World Series exhibit on Monday. Included in the display will be Ryan Howard’s bat used during Game 4 of the World Series, Carlos Ruiz’s batting helmet from his game-winning hit in Game 3, the bat Joe Blanton used to hit his home run in Game 4, and the cap Brad Lidge wore during Game 5.
Finally! Carlos Ruiz’s batting helmet has made the Hall of Fame, as it deserves. There really should be a special Hall of Fame exhibit where fans can beat up whoever made Toyota’s “Saved by Zero” commercial.
It seems like only a few weeks ago the Phillies won the World Series. Hey, wait, that’s because it was a couple of weeks ago! Despite the baseball playoffs being so frustrating I had to breathe into a paper bag to survive several games, I do miss baseball. I especially miss Fox’s coverage, as I realized when I found a screenshot for the Keys to the Game for game four earlier today. Wow, the key to the game for the Phillies is to win the game. Thanks, Fox.
Even though everybody wanted him fired before he even managed a game in Philadelphia, ol’ Cholly (behind the Keys on the right) is a pretty beloved man around town now. And today he finished second in the Manager of the Year voting to Lou Pinella. This year, though, the award is historic for two reasons: 1. The official website for the award has a lime green background. 2. A guy got the award for managing for a week.
Chase Utley… suppressed a peg to first base (where he had no play) and instead threw out a Rays base runner, Jason Bartlett, at home plate, amputating a run and another re-knotted score. … Brad Lidge, the Phillies’ closer and, with his save, the final pitcher of the year, had blown two previous chances at a Series save while with the Astros in 2005.
We don’t get a national SI cover when the Phillies win — all we get is a small regional cover for the Northeast, which was actually a cover for a Tom Verducci story about how baseball should have brought up Charlie Manuel’s dad’s suicide more during the World Series. (I swear to God he wrote this.)
Now I finally notice the annual awesome Roger Angell story about the baseball season, the thing I look forward to every year, is just three paragraphs long, and online only, and 25 percent of its sentences contain factual inaccuracies. (FYI: Utley’s peg prevented the Rays from going in front, Lidge’s famous blown saves came in the 2005 National League Championship Series.)
Hey, there’s Joe Biden, taking in the Eagles game last night in South Philadelphia. And with him is Hollywood Hamels, enjoying his status as a Philadelphia hero. Let’s zoom the camera a bit and focus in on Cole and… hey!
Don’t pan away from Hamels! You’re in Philadelphia, NBC cameras. Since when does the VP trump the World Series MVP around here? Talk to me when Joe Biden wins Most Valuable Vice President.
Look how NBC is treating Cole. The man has to move his neck in from offscreen to get on camera. How rude. Doesn’t the channel know what’s important?
Ahh, yes, here is the shot for the viewers, not Cole Hamels but Jeffrey Lurie, who also recently struck out 30 people in the playoffs. Clearly this is all the panning and zooming NBC needs to do.
The incredibly awesome hats (above) that some Phillies and Rays players were wearing during both days of Game 5 of the World Series are finally up for sale on the Phillies website; they’re made by New Era and come two sizes. They’re $40, which sounds like a lot but isn’t too horrible. I mean, it’s not $50.
But, a caveat: They’re not shipping ’til December! Way to drop the ball, major league baseball. We need these hats out right now, immediately, so we can wear them to Eagles games in the frigid cold and do our E-A-G-L-E-S, PHILLIES! chants and not lose our ears to frostbite.
Hey, why aren’t Chase Utley and I best friends? Three of those items describe both of us! (The one that doesn’t is #1, in case you’re a fuckin’ moron.)
The coolest part of the parade so far is what happens once it passes: The fans move from the sidewalks and move right into the middle of the street to celebrate some more. Hey, look, the sea of red kinda looks like Symphony House! Okay, um, kinda.
Tonight, Hamels will be on QVC shilling stuff! Set your DVRs!
As part of the agreement, Hamels… will appear on QVC Friday between 8 and 11 p.m., during which time Mounted Memories and MAB Celebrity Sports will be selling a full line of World Series items including a selection of products signed by the pitcher.
Three hours hawking products on QVC! Now that’s a great way to spend your Friday night after winning World Series MVP.
I took a ton of videos on Wednesday night, but the best two were back-to-back. There was the car-flipping I posted yesterday; above is the video I took a minute or so later.
So, um, since when did Mega Man give up his arm gun and switch to batons? That doesn’t seem like the best way to defeat the evil Dr. Wily and his robot masters!
Hey, so here’s a good way to start the next Phillies season: 
Forget the parade. Cole Hamels has 
