We don’t know how you did it either, Brett. Myers went 3-for-3 and drove in three runs in the Phillies’ 8-5 win over the Dodgers. Phils lead 2 games to 0 heading out to LA. How about that local baseball nine!
More thoughts coming throughout the weekend. For now, we celebrate.
Via a multitude of celebratory instant messages and emails, Brett Myers has been sent down to AAA Lehigh Valley. No word on who’s being called up to take his place, but at least Myers and his 5.84 ERA get to work things out with the IronPigs for a while.
So here’s the prank the Phillies pulled on Kyle Kendrick, with an intro from a pair of way too perky ESPNEWS anchors. Charlie Manuel told him he was traded to Japan for Kobayashi, the hot dog eating champ. What’s amazing about this prank is how much effort and planning went into it. I’m impressed, frankly.
Taking a cute from Dawn Stensland, Myers’ later apologized to any retards he offended. Weird thing is, Myers has had his alleged physical-alertcation-with-wife problems, but he usually doesn’t blow up at reporters or anything, except for this one mild-mannered reporter.
But who cares about that. After Myers’s and Carchidi’s voices began to raise, Pat Burrell — wearing only a towel — attempted to calm things down. Burrell is currently doing everything right. And what happened, but, whoops, the towel fell off.
The Phillies head home tonight for a four-game homestand against two of the teams ahead of them in the standings (Padres, 1 game up in Wild Card; Mets, 5 games up in NL East) and one team just behind ‘em, the Los Angeles Dodgers, who the Fightins play tonight.
Myers thinks he has his song. He’s leaning toward P.O.D.’s “Lights Out,” which has appropriate lyrics: “It’s lights out. Game over. If you wanna, you can check my stats.”
Readers at philly.com voted that Myers should use the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” as his intro music, but Myers likes P.O.D. more. Sorry, folks.
So not only did Brett Myers not listen to your selection, but he has the musical taste of a 14-year-old.
Update: Oh, wait! (And, uh: My bad.) The song Myers wanted didn’t win the first time, so Philly.com did a second poll so the song Myers wanted could win. This is what’s known as the Lehigh Valley IronPigs Memorial Method of Allowing The Fans to “Vote,” though I should probably come up with something catchier than that. (Thanks, J.)
Road to 10,000 Losses is a countdown to the Phillies’ 10,000th loss, coming sometime later this year. After splitting the first two games of the Marlins series, the Phillies stand at 9978 losses, only 22 away from 10,000.
The Phillies are never going to top .500. The 23-23 Phillies have hit the .500 mark at 20, 21, 22 and 23 wins, but have lost the next game each time. The Phillies, though, have kept creeping back up to .500, including an 8-7 10 inning win last night.
But, right. Last night’s ninth inning could leave the Phillies in trouble for a couple of weeks. The Phillies scored three in the top of the ninth. In the bottom of the ninth, two bloop singles and a triple made it 7-5. Hanley Ramirez grounded to Greg Dobbs, who threw home instead of taking the easy out at first. Dobbs was remorseful:
“I’m sick to my stomach,” said Greg Dobbs, who was responsible for one of the two defensive lapses. “I want to eat, but can’t. I feel tremendously responsible for that inning because we should have had three outs.” [...]
“I wasn’t,” he said. “Quote it. Print it right on front page. ‘What was Dobbs thinking?’ I saw it all happen right in front of me in super slow mo. As I released the ball, I went ‘whyyyyyyyyy. What are you doing?’ I should’ve taken the ball and either tagged Ramirez or gone to the bag, instead of being way too aggressive. It was just stupid. Afterward, I was so disgusted with myself that I just started walking in circles, thinking ‘Did I just do that?’”
Road to 10,000 Losses is a countdown to the Phillies’ 10,000th loss, coming sometime later this year. With a 5-4 loss to the Nationals yesterday, the Phillies stand at 9965 losses, only 35 away from 10,000.
I’ve written before about how it’s perfect the Phillies will be hitting loss number 10,000 this season because they are finding new ways to lose each and every game so far this season. There are plenty of ways to lose a baseball game. But if the Phillies continue playing as poorly as they are this season, they might actually exhaust all those possibilities.
Last night in the top of the 11th inning, with a man on second and two outs, Cole Hamels — a pitcher pinch hitting because the Phillies were out of players — walked. Jimmy Rollins, one of the best Phillies’ players in this young season, came to the plate. Washington changed pitchers, and the TV broadcast went to commercial.
It wouldn’t have been bad enough — this is Philadelphia, after all — for Jimmy Rollins to ground out on the first pitch thrown by Ryan Wagner. No, instead Rollins ends the inning while Philadelphia fans watching on CN8 see a commercial for the circus.
