A Hall Of Fame Game For Phils

Now that the Phillies might as well be done this season, it’s time to resurrect the late summer tradition of laughing at the Fightin’ Phils’ misfortunes. (At least those that don’t involve punching a woman in the face.) You see, the past few seasons, the Philies were actually in the playoff race — shocking! — and we were all cheering on the Phillies to actually win, in the hopes of seeing the local nine play some baseball in October.

This year, though, the Phils are in fourth place in the NL East, behind even the Marlins, whose players make about as much as professional bloggers. So, piggybacking on the idea to root for Abraham Nuñez to have the worst season ever — he went 0-for-1 last night — we must all celebrate Ryan Madson’s accomplishment. In the third inning of the Phils 6-5 loss to the Diamondbacks yesterday, Madson joined an elite group:

That marked the fourth run the overworked Phillies bullpen gave up last night in support of Ryan Madson, who tied a major league record with four wild pitches in the third inning - the best of a slew of miscues on a night made for circus music, led, as usual, by poor pitching. [...]

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Madson joined Hall of Famers Walter Johnson, of the Washington Senators, who threw four on Sept. 21, 1914, and Phil Niekro, of the Atlanta Braves, who did it on Aug. 4, 1979. Kevin Gregg, of the Anaheim Angels, did it on July 25, 2004. With his 6.18 earned run average this season, Madson resembles Gregg more than the other two wild things.

Congratulations, Ryan! You made history!

The only shocking thing: A Phillie didn’t own this record already.

MLB Standings [Yahoo!]
Pretty ugly in every sense of the word [Daily News]
July 20: Root, Root, Root For The Home Team (To Fail)