Tag: Charlie Manuel

What A Baseball Game!

This is crazy. This doesn’t happen in any other sport. Think flight attendant piloting the plane.

This is great. I don’t really care who wins right now. I’ve got the Phils game on. It started six hours ago. They’re in the 19th inning. The Phils have run out of players!

Wilson Valdez is pitching. He has never pitched before–not in the majors, not in the minors. He got the first man out. He just plunked one on Scott Rollen.

The fans are going nuts.

Valdez, sensing the situation, went to manager Charlie Manuel and said, “I can pitch.”

“Are you sure?” Manual replied.

Two out now.

The guy playing third was the catcher. He, Carlos Ruiz, chased a foul over the tarp. Two other players have moved to unusual positions.

Oh my! Three out. Valdez goes an inning scoreless.

The fans, those few still left, are giving Valdez a standing ovation.

This is crazy. This doesn’t happen in any other sport. Think flight attendant piloting the plane.

In the bottom of the 19th the Phils loaded the bases then sacrificed home the winning run. Wilson Valdez picks up the win.

God, this is too good. Put another one in the win column for the Phighting Phils.

Phillies Win A Big One In Frigid Colorado

She’s seen too many teams that should have contended but didn’t–too many Septembers that didn’t count. She lives and dies with the Phils.

May I have my kishkes&#185 back, please? What a night with the Phillies.

In case you’re not motivated enough to stay up until 2:15 AM the Phillies just held on to beat the Colorado Rockies in a well played and hard fought game. The game was close the whole way. The final was 6-5.

The game was played in frigid conditions after being snowed out yesterday! Many of the players wore ball caps with ear flaps. Water vapor was visible anytime anyone exhaled.

In the end it all came down to Brad Lidge, who was perfect as a closer last season but now can’t get men out! He’s got a 7.21 ERA. He’s blown 11 saves. Horrendous!

There have been calls to ditch Lidge for much of the late season. Charlie Manuel, the manager, has mostly (not totally) stood by Lidge. He did again tonight.

It was an adventure with two walks after the first out. It looked like he couldn’t find the plate, the usual precursor to a gopher ball for a home run.

Helaine turned off the sound on the TV.

“It’s only a game,” she repeated… maybe chanted is a better word. “It’s only a game.” But she didn’t mean it.

It’s more than a game to Helaine. She still feels the pain from Joe Carter’s World Series killing home run even though it happened in 1993. She’s seen too many teams that should have contended but didn’t–too many Septembers that didn’t count. She lives and dies with the Phils.

Lidge ended the inning with a pop-up stranding two. Game over. We began to breath again.

There’s still a long way to go before the World Series. I’m not sure we’re strong enough!

&#185 – Like so many other Yiddish words kishke is often used contrary to its actual meaning. Kishke itself is a sausage–there are intestines involved. It’s not a real 21st Century kind of dish.

In this case kishke means my internal organs and even then it’s used as a metaphor.

The Phillies Win It All

“You know Geoff,” I’ve been told a dozen times in the last few days, “These are Philadelphia fans who threw snowballs at Santa.”

The Phillies won the World Series. It’s strange that I, a well documented Phillies fan, should be so late to the game with this news. They beat Tampa last night to win the Series 4-1. Helaine and I are very happy-obviously.

It’s a shame this series was touted as uninteresting–played between two teams that no one cared about. Yes, that did diminish my enjoyment. I probably shouldn’t be so shallow, but I am. It was actually a well played series by two really good teams.

“You know Geoff,” I’ve been told a dozen times in the last few days, “these are Philadelphia fans who threw snowballs at Santa.” Enough. I moved to Philly in 1975 and it was legend before my arrival. Let it go. The city would have gotten paroled for manslaughter sooner!

I am impressed with many of the Phillies individually. Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard are bright guys. It’s a pleasure to hear them interviewed. Charlie Manuel is a steady hand who never seems to panic–especially in situations where I would.

Helaine especially likes Chris Coste (who didn’t get an at-bat during the World Series), backup catcher and author of “The 33 Year Old Rookie.” After reading his book, she sent him an email which he answered. Yes–that makes a difference.

Based on place of birth I should be a Mets fan. In fact my folks took my sister and me to Shea Stadium a few weeks before it opened in the early 60s. We got to stroll the outifield on that sunny Sunday afternoon. For an apartment dweller, that beautiful expanse of emerald green grass was exquisitely foreign.

But it was Philadelphia where I realized I wasn’t a kid any more. It’s where I worked the second half of the seventies. I was there at “The Vet” for the 1977 National League Playoffs when the fans intimidated Bert Hooten with the loudest crowd noise I’ve ever heard.

Of course, Philadelphia is also where I met rabid Phillies fan Helaine.

The fun of a World Series win is short lived. Pitchers and catchers report in February. At that point it’s, “what have you done for me lately?” The anguish will start again.