Angels 7, Phils 1

Didn't see it. Incredibly glad I didn't.

The Phils' weaknesses have been exposed over the past two weeks: starting pitching and offensive depth. The first is a problem because they have three, I repeat, THREE starters that I simply don't trust right now, Myers, Eaton, and Kendrick. The second might not be a problem forever but it's a serious problem right now. This team is basically built around the idea that four guys (Rollins, Utley, Howard, and Burrell) hit a lot and score lots of runs. Unfortunately, all four of them are simultaneously in slumps, and the team is screwed. Three months into the season it's become obvious that Jenkins, Feliz, and Ruiz simply aren't good enough to pick up the slack when the Big Four aren't hitting. (And see the previous post for further thoughts on Ruiz.)

I realize that the Phils have run into some great pitching lately, I mean I know Ervin Santana and Jon Lester are great, but come on, two hits last night? On a warm night in a hitter's park? Something's wrong, and they need to do something about it before everything starts to slip away.

Tonight is an absolutely crucial game. Obviously, the season isn't over if they lose it, and no matter what happens they'll still be in first place tomorrow morning. But it would be their fourth loss in a row and their fourth series loss in a row. If Myers has another bad game and/or the lineup continues to suck they need to do something about it. Find a new starter on the waiver wire. Call up a starter from the minors. Bench the Big Four. Start Werth and Dobbs. Make Coste the #1 catcher. Bring back Chris Snelling (that kid had some pop, and we didn't see nearly enough of him). Come up with some crazy new batting order. Something! Shake things up, Charlie, because whatever you're doing right now is getting stale.

The really sad thing is that even throughout this protracted slump where the team's been terrible, the bullpen has remained pretty good. You know, the bullpen, the very thing that was this team's biggest problem last year. Why can't we have one full season where everything works???

Oh yeah, and the Mets are starting to pick it up. If you, reading this right now, are the person in charge of making such things happen, then I want you to know that I hate you.

SIXERS!

Yeah, I was wrong: they lost. They were never even really in it. It was kind of horrendous. But I knew the Sixers would have a tough time against the Pistons and the two wins (let's say two and a half, because the first half of Game 4 was great too) are definitely something to be proud of. I think this team will be something special in 2009 - they're building it the right way, and Stefanski (whose hand I shook at a season ticket holder's thing back in March, making him the only Philly GM I've ever met) seems to know what I'm doing. I'm much less concerned about the series loss than I am about the curious lack of interest the Sixers generated in the city. They were in the playoffs for the first time in three years, and nobody seemed to care. I was at all three playoff games, and none of them were sellouts. Atlanta sold out all three of its playoff games, for crying out loud. Is this what we've sunk to? We're worse than the generally acknowledged worst sports city in the country? I wish I had an answer for this, because it bugs me a lot. There are a number of possible reasons. For one thing, our economy is rapidly collapsing, in which case I guess I can't really blame people - I can't expect people to buy basketball tickets when they can barely afford gas. It could also be the Sixers' curiously horrible marketing department - most of the unsold seats cost like $15, and if you can't find ways to convince people to buy the cheap seats, then that's no good and shame on the Sixers. All those marketing people should be shown the door, because Game 6 was nationally televised and there were vast stretches of empty seats, which is just thoroughly embarrassing. My gut feeling, though, and I really hate to say this, is that maybe people just don't care. Maybe there's only so many Sixers fans left - both because of the team's recent performance itself, and the general image the NBA has. Andrew suggests that people are cynical about the NBA playoff system, and had no faith that the Sixers would advance past the first round, so they didn't bother to pay attention. Certainly possible, but it doesn't quite make sense to me... I mean, bottom line, it's the playoffs. If you can't support your team in the playoffs, when will you? Should people just sit around waiting for the Sixers to become one of the four or five best teams in the league? Are people that disillusioned? I mean, yeah, if the Sixers went like 11-71, then yes, you're excused, you don't have to go to games in March and April. But what is your problem? Making the playoffs isn't good enough anymore?

You know, I've spent my adult life defending Philly fans, but if people can't support our basketball team in the playoffs after having such a great second half of the season, then I don't know why I bother. Morons in this city listen to WIP, they drove Abreu out of town, they think A.J. Feeley is better than Donovan McNabb, they boo the Canadian national anthem, and now they're leaving the Sixers for dead. Well, screw those people.

I just hate this mentality that if you don't win a championship, your season was instantly a failure and a colossal waste of time. Well, if you're wondering whether or not the Sixers had a good season: they did. They didn't get out of the first round, but they had a good season nonetheless. You can trust me when I say that, because I'm a real fan.

PHILLIES!

The local nine continues to rack up wins. I really, really wish they were hitting more, but they're finding ways to win and logic dictates that if the pitching stays as good as it is, and the hitting improves, then we should be theoretically unstoppable. It's a nice thought, isn't it? The Phils' shaky hitting gets a test this week against the Diamonbacks' incredible staff. I'll admit it, I'm a bit nervous about it.

FLYERS!

And then there's these guys. I couldn't be more thrilled about this. I'm delighted, even. Already I'm getting warm and fuzzy memories of great Flyers' runs I've followed... the surprising 2004 team... the classic 2000 team... and the Cup Final team of 1997, when there were Flyers logos affixed to every flat surface everywhere you looked. This team feels a bit different though. Better goaltending, certainly, but even beyond that... they just feel right, like this is how you're supposed to build a hockey team, not just get a superstar like Lindros and put some random guys around him. The 2008 Flyers are stacked, they're confident, they're fun to watch... and, well, you know how I feel about predictions, so I'll just shut up.

In the final game of the regular season, the Penguins lost against us on purpose to avoid playing us in the first round (they deny it, but don't listen to them, that's what happened). I think the Flyers should play up that angle. They should refer to the Penguins as the Cowards in interviews, and just pretend that they think that's their name. "Well, the Cowards have a great team, we're not taking them likely... what? Penguins? What the hell are you talking about?" I'm not saying the Penguins aren't a great team, or that this won't be a tough series - I'm just saying that the Penguins' cowardice sickens me.

Right, I'm off to Flight of the Conchords in a little while...

GO FLYERS!!!

4/2 Nats 1, Phils 0 (!); Pens 4, Flyers 2 (@*$!!?!?!)

What happened: The Phils decided to spend the first two games of the season teaching us a valuable lesson: baseball is an extremely cruel, stupid game.

Just spent an extremely frustrating evening watching the Flyers and Phils lose. The Flyers had no answers for the faster, better-goaltending Penguins; the Phils rarely hit anything and when they did it was directly and I mean directly into the gloves of the Nats' fielders. It was pretty horrendous. There's plenty of time left for the Phils, of course, but the Flyers are hanging onto that 8th seed by a thread with only two games left.

Why do I do this to myself? How many novels would I have written by now if it wasn't for sports? Would I be living in a mansion? The mind boggles.

On the plus side, Pedro Feliz had a hit, like I told you he would.

The Phils picked up veteran reliever Rudy Seanez. I'll give him the Husker Du song "Standing by the Sea", just to go with the lame pun on his name. Meanwhile, the Phils cut Wes Helms, so let's salute Wes Helms for a moment. So long Wes, I'll always remember... hmm, I can't remember anything, really. He really had the most unremarkable year here last year. I mean, I even have one or two fond memories of David Bell and Abe Nunez, for crying out loud, but none of Wes Helms.

I do remember one time Helms actually lost his shoe trying to field a ball at third. Yeah, he just... he just wasn't very good.

Next: Two more games for the Flyers, 160 for the Phils. Mark your calendars.