Kalas Already Depressed About Phillies

Eh. Losing a series to the Mets less than a dozen games into the series isn’t a washout, but once again the Phillies have opened the season flat. If the Phillies had any sort of psychological edge against the Mets, it ended when Jose Reyes was called safe last night in the bottom of the 12th inning.

Bugs and Cranks has frame-by-frame coverage of the play at the plate — thank you, I didn’t want to have to do that myself — and it appears Coste (ever the wily minor league vet) blocks the plate and tags Reyes out before he touches the plate. It’s hard to tell.

This is true: Harry Kalas had already ended the game by the time Angel Pagan singled into center field. Check out his call after the jump.

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A City Asks: How Will The Phils Blow It This Time?

Ahh, yes, here we are, the final week of the baseball season. The Phillies have played 156 games this year, winning 85 of ‘em so far. And that 85-71 record has them right in the playoff hunt at the end of the season, something Phillies fans have actually been accustomed to the past few seasons.

Of course, Phils fans have also been accustomed to blowing it in the final week of the season as well. Last year, the Phillies dropped games to the Washington Nationals after entering the final week of the season in position to win the Wild Card. The Phils held Wild Card late leads in 2005 and 2003, too. And, with the Padres spiraling out of control and losing their fourth straight last night, the Phillies are tied for the WC lead in the final week of the season.

Perhaps this is the year the Phillies will shake off the recent ghosts of Craig Biggio and whoever was on Washington last year. (Teddy Roosevelt?) Or perhaps the Phils will finish a game out, and the game where they blew an 8-2 lead against the Braves will come back to haunt them. The 2007 Phillies are frustrating, sure, but they’re also a fun team to watch, and no matter what happens during the final week of the season it’s been a hell of an exciting year.

Oh, and Chris Coste sniffs his bats. Wait, what?

“But there was one time when I first got into pro ball - I don’t know if I was catching or hitting - but either myself or the batter barely nicked the ball on an unfinished bat. And you can smell it, without even putting your nose up to the bat. You could smell that same smell. So the next time I was hitting, I fouled off the ball and I smelled my bat.

“I don’t know if it’s the wood or the leather of the ball. Maybe it’s the combination of both. But I think when I first did it, I might have hit a home run in that at-bat. So it’s maybe 50 percent superstition, 50 percent because I just like the smell.”

Whoo! That’s the kind of attitude that can lead a team into the playoffs.

Fit to be tied [The Zo Zone]
Gordon relishes playoff chase [Inquirer]

Road To 10,000 Losses: Coste With The Most

Road to 10,000 Losses is a countdown to the Phillies’ 10,000th loss, coming sometime later this year. With a 4-1 loss to the Cubs yesterday, the Phillies stand at 9975 losses, only 25 away from 10,000.

It was Mother’s Day. There was a packed house. The Phillies actually won three straight games heading in to the game. They could sweep the Cubs and move within a game of .500. Every woman 15 and older had a Chase Utley blanket to wrap themselves in.

The Phillies responded by scoring just one run, on a throwing error in the bottom of the 8th inning. With the Phillies down, 4-1, Utley singled with two outs in the ninth and was thrown out trying to take second. The Fightins failed to get their first sweep of the season, their first since a sweep of the Marlins put the Phils into the Wild Card lead with a week to play last season.

But all is not lost! The Phillies might not even lose 25 more games this season, as they’ve called up the savior. I’m referring to, of course, Chris Coste, who was called up when Ryan Howard went on the DL. Howard hit a pinch-hit grand slam on Wednesday to help the Phils beat the Diamondbacks but has been having quad problems. He hurt the quad because he ate too many Big Macs instead of Subway sandwiches.

Coste hit .328 in 65 games for the Phillies last season. The 33-year-old rookie also drove in 32 RBI, and although he’s hitting .233 for the Phillies’ AAA affiliate this year, he’s become the rallying cry for everything that’s wrong with the franchise by fans and bloggers alike. If my calculations are correct, Coste will hit .368 this year with 17 homers and 107 RBI, playing first and, when Howard returns, third.

World Series here we come.

A word on numbers: Unless I did something like add incorrectly — which is perfectly possible — the numbers I have are correct. See this post for more info.

Howard goes on the shelf; Phillies recall Coste [Beerleaguer]

Leftovers: The Coste With The Most

• The NYT profiles Chris Coste today, revealing that not only did Coste not earn a varsity letter in high school but that you can “not walk three feet” in Moorhead, N.D., without hearing Chris Coste’s name. Awesome. [NYT]

• Zulima Farber has resigned as New Jersey’s attorney general because she went to help her boyfriend avoid the long arm of the law at a traffic stop. It’s all in the exciting new non-fiction work, “Concerning the May 26, 2006, Motor Vehicle Stop of Hamlet E. Goore.” Huzzah! [Inquirer]

• Oh, yes, it’s media mayhem as Jennifer Weiner (or her lawyer) tells Phillymag to shove it only about a year after the piece about her — by, naturally, Jessica Pressler — ran. This one is good, people. [Philebrity]

• What you didn’t know about Philadelphia rowhomes, from Sgt. Tom Rehiel: “Rehiel said some suspects occasionally fade into their neighborhoods and can hide out for months. ‘You get into a neighborhood like that (in North Philadelphia). You get all these rowhouses,’ Rehiel said.” [Metro]

A Humble Suggestion For A New Phillies Fan Club

Now that Sal Fasano has been designated for assignment and will probably be released in the coming days, there’s going to be a hole in the right field stands.

Yes, the popular Sal’s Pals, the Sal Fasano fan club, no longer has a leader. And, yeah, the Wolf Pack should be back when Randy Wolf gets off the DL, but the second best fan club was Sal’s Pals, and it’ll be hard to replace it. (Chase Utley has “Chase’s Chicks” and “Utley’s Ugleys.”)

But there’s no logical replacement for Sal’s Pals than a fan club for the man responsible for Sal’s release, Chris Coste. The 33-year-old bounced around the minor leagues for several years, finally making his major league debut this May with the Phils. And after an 0-for-13 slump to start his career, Coste is now hitting .333 with two homers and 12 RBI in 54 at bats.

And, hey, while Sal was a fun story, so is Coste.

That being said, I think this will be an adequate replacement. It’s not the same, but it’ll do:

Eh? Eh?

Keeping Coste the right move [Camden Courier-Post]
Fasano surprised, angry after release [The News-Journal]
Earlier today: Farewell Sal, We Knew Thee Well