US Government Using It's Power for Good

Surely by now you have heard that the Nationals are doing a special pre-sale for the May 4-6 series vs the Phillies. This deal gives consumers with a DC, VA, or MD credit card the opportunity to purchase tickets for the series a month in advance to the general public. The window is part of a wider campaign to "Take Back the Park" from the Phillies fans that routinely travel down from Philly in charter buses to essentially put lots of money into the Nationals coffers.

Now, I have several thoughts on this whole thing:
1. I have met several knowledgeable Phillies fans in my years of Nats baseball (and some not so intelligent ones as well), and I always enjoy having a few of them in the park - just a few.

2. If you check out film of previous Nats' Park Phillies games, you will see drunk Phillies fans in the 100s section - unavoidable. Think about that. Those tickets are not cheap, nor are the $8 Bud Lights they guzzle down. All that money is going to pay the Nats' salaries.

3. I don't think that Nats fans are all of a sudden going to come out of the woodwork and buy tickets for this specific series, if you do think so then you are quite naive, because it takes winning. I thought all along that this would probably just embolden Phillies fans to buy more tickets (which, if you remember bullet 2, is more money for the Nats).

That leads us to today, when one of PA's two US Senator's decided that this would be a good time to use his considerable clout to write a strongly worded letter to Ted Lerner and Bud Selig. The illustrious Bob Casey apparently thinks that pre-sales deny everyone the opportunity to buy tickets. Oh by the way, as of this writing there are over 5,000 tickets available solely on StubHub - which doesn't engage in such "unfair" practices, in Sen. Casey's words.

I'm not going to knock the guy for wasting his time when there are obviously more important issues for a US Senator to deal with, but c'mon man. Really? You, and all of Philadelphia, took the bait? Wow. I expected more from you.

This was obviously an attempt by the Nationals to drum up a little bit more of a rivalry between the two clubs; and a brilliant one at that, because it clearly worked. Those Nats fans that bought tickets to "Take Back the Park" obviously harbor some resentment towards Phillies fans. There will be Phillies fans that feel slighted by the Nats for their ticket practices that will buy tickets in droves (once again, money for the Nats). Should create a fun atmosphere in the park for the three game set.

Most reaction I saw on Phillies blogs and in response to Nats blogs claimed that the Nationals "team sucked so bad" they had to resort to such underhanded tactics. I don't recall anyone bringing up the fact that the Nationals won the season series 10-8 last year, including 5-4 at Citizens Bank Ballpark - or Nats Park North.

There is an unwritten code on blogs; don't feed the trolls. Meaning, when someone comments something so absurd on a post just leave them alone and don't acknowledge their presence. Phillies fans (and a US Senator) just fed the troll and the Nationals got exactly what they wanted.

Are the Phillies Overrated?

If you're a Nationals fan, you must hate the Phillies. You hate them for calling Nationals Park "Citizens Bank Park South," you hate them for signing Cliff Lee, you hate them for Jayson Werth... wait, not anymore. But most of all, you hate them for being an NL East rival.

Nonetheless, all the baseball folks I've heard (including me) have put the Phillies among the best 3 teams in baseball, along with the Red Sox and Giants. They've assembled one of the best rotations we've seen on paper in a long time. They still have an extremely potent offense and a strong defense.

But is everyone overstating their potential? To be honest, I don't think so. The pitching rotation is outstanding, and the offensive talent is there. However, just like with every team, we're assuming that the entire team is healthy. Already this spring, the Phils might be in some serious trouble.

Star 2B Chase Utley has had a cortisone shot in his knee, always a bad sign and typically the last resort before surgery. SS Jimmy Rollins has been unable to stay healthy of late, and even after his return he hasn't looked like the same intimidating person. The team's star outfielder, RF Jayson Werth, is now a member of the Washington Nationals. And his replacement RF Dominic Brown broke the hamate bone in his hand, probably eliminating him from the bigs for more than 2 months.

Let me be entirely clear here, the Philadelphia Phillies are going to be really good, even if they do have some of the setbacks I've outlined here. But making the playoffs in baseball isn't like in the NHL or the NBA. Just 8 teams make the playoffs in MLB, whereas double that amount (16) make it in those other leagues. It doesn't leave a lot of room for error, even from the best teams.

If Utley's injury is as bad as some think it is and Dominic Brown isn't able to come back as quickly as he hopes, the Phils are already at a serious disadvantage. Their average team age certainly doesn't get any younger by losing those two. So a bad Phillies team might just be wishful thinking, but it certainly doesn't seem to be out of the realm of possibility.

What say you, readers?

Do the Phillies Have the Best Rotation in Baseball?

Since Cliff Lee is coming to the NL East to play for the Philadelphia Phillies... again..., I thought it might be a good time to address what everyone's talking about. Do the Phillies now have the best rotation in baseball?

It's easy to get caught up in the hype of Cliffmas (h/t Cheryl Nichols) and with good reason. In 2010, the Phillies had Roy Halladay, who won the NL Cy Young and pitched a perfect game during the regular season and a no hitter in the post-season. They also had Cole Hamels, who had a much improved year over 2009, and they picked up Roy Oswalt, making them among the strongest rotations in baseball. So what did they do in the offseason? Somehow made it better by signing Cliff Lee to a deal that was shorter than what any other team was offering and gave him less money. Yea, so that's clearly the best rotation in baseball, right?

Wrong. Absolutely wrong. Among the best? Absolutely. Top 3? Without a doubt. But not the best.

There is this team out west (see: bias, east coast). They go by the Giants; they're from this city called San Francisco. They won the World Series in commanding fashion in 2010, largely because of their stellar pitching. A World Series in which they beat Cliff Lee twice. Let's look at these names.

• Tim Lincecum
• Matt Cain
• Jonathan Sanchez
• Madison Bumgarner

A pretty impressive list, for several reasons. Not the least of which is 2-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, but the Phillies have Cy Young winner Roy Halladay. So what are the others?

The first is age. The oldest of the 4 for the Giants is Jonathan Sanchez at 28. The youngest in the Phillies' rotation is Cole Hamels, who will be 27 on Opening Day. That's right, the youngest pitcher in Philly's rotation is only one year younger than San Fran's oldest.

To add to it, all 4 of these Giants pitchers now have World Series rings. The confidence of a team with rings really can't be stressed enough, and now this entire rotation as earned them. By contrast in the Phillies rotation, only Cole Hamels has won a World Series in his career.

For all of these reasons, the Giants have the best rotation in the National League, and in baseball, as of this writing. Things can always change, and the past doesn't necessarily dictate the future, but I thought it was a prudent time to address this topic. Talking heads across the country seem to think that the Phillies new rotation is the best ever, and it was simply time to put it in perspective.

That doesn't eliminate the fact that he Phillies rotation is really, really good. So it begs the question: how do the Nats compete with one of the best pitching rotations in the league? Win against all the other NL East opponents, because not a whole lot of victories are going to come from Philly.

September 27, 2010: The Season's Low Point?

(Photo Courtesy Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

Take the above image and try to find a Nationals fan. It's like playing "Where's Waldo?" Except Waldo is a Nationals fan. And there is no Waldo.

The picture pretty much summed up a rainy Monday night at Nationals Park. The rain only amplified the problem. The Phillies were playing for their 4th straight playoff appearance. The Nationals were playing for their 68th win, and absolutely nothing else. (The Phillies now only have 68 losses... adding significant insult to significant injury.) What incentive did Nats fans have to show up and sit through the rain?

Just as they did on Opening Day this season, there are plenty of people blaming outgoing Nationals President Stan Kasten for this influx of Phillies fans on Monday. You know who I'm blaming? The Washington Nationals. Mostly the players, not the front office. Let's face it: the Nats are terrible. They will once again have a top 10 pick in next year's amateur player draft. They once again have a staggering number of team errors and strikeouts. They once again have failed to keep star players that draw fans healthy (see: Strasburg, Zimmerman). They once again have failed to even flirt with .500 since before the All-Star break. Why should anyone waste their hard earned money to see a team like that play?

Well, long story short, the Phillies clinched the division. Roy Halladay (a.k.a. NL Cy Young, 2010) pitched another complete game; his 9th this season. This one was a shutout that only granted 2 Nationals players a hit: Wilson Ramos and Adam Dunn. The Phillies fans, as rude and obnoxious as ever, simply embarrassed Nationals players, Nationals fans, and the entire Nationals organization.

Monday night's 8-0 loss , although it was irrelevant to the season, was among the lowest points of 2010 for the Nationals franchise. Quite frankly, #1 is probably the day that Stephen Strasburg was shut down for good for the next 12 or so months. It doesn't get too much lower than that. But September 27, 2010 was pretty close. It was an insulting loss, in insulting fashion, amplified by insulting fans.

It's time to stop this 6:1 away-to-home fan ratio, and the only way to do that is by putting a competitive team on the field. Otherwise, teams with loyal, dedicated, and yes, annoying fans will forever outflank Nats fans to the ticket booth.

Nats Take Out Ryan Howard

(Photo Courtesy StraightCashHomey.net)

In Sunday's game between the Nats and the Phillies, John Lannan got a bit shelled in the first inning. One Phillies player involved in that abuse was Ryan Howard. In all reality, Howard only got punked in the elbow. But he got moved over to 2nd base on a Ben Francisco single.

As you'll see below, Michael Morse tried to toss out Howard as he overran 2nd base. On the way back, Howard rolled his ankle pretty badly and got pulled from the game.

All reports indicate that Howard will be day-to-day for now with a sprained ankle, but it's entirely possible that he could yet end up on the DL. When speaking with The Philadelphia Inquirer about the possibility of a DL stint this late in the season, he responded, "I hope not. It's kind of a bad sprain.''

This is the last thing the Phillies can afford with Chase Utley and Shane Victorino already on the DL as they push for a 3rd consecutive NL title.

Selig's Outrageous Phillies Mistake

This story came out today, and to me, it is simply outrageous.

The Philadelphia Phillies were scheduled to play the Toronto Blue Jays in inter-league play from June 25-27th in Toronto. It was going to be an exciting homecoming for Roy Halladay to the team where he really started his career. The G20 summit was, in an unfortunate coincidence, scheduled for that weekend in Toronto. The G20 generally draws a lot of protesters and, in the interested of player safety, Bud Selig and the MLB decided that the game needed to be moved from Toronto. A respectable move, because player safety is crucial. But the league decided to move it to Philadelphia. Please...

Moving this 3 game series to Philadelphia gives the Phillies, defending NL Champions two years in a row, 84 home games to everyone else in the NL East's 81 home games. The best team in the NL for 2 consecutive years does not need this kind of help. What is preventing MLB from moving this game to, I don't know, ANY other ballpark in the country? Why not Olympic Stadium in Montreal? At least then it's still in Canada!

This, of course, would happen in a year where the Washington Nationals start to compete as a real baseball team. They're putting up fights against the NL East teams and has taken at least one series from every team in the division except for the Phils. This just gives an incomprehensible advantage to the team in the NL that needs it least of all. And quite frankly, if the Washington Nationals got this advantage, I'd be just as outraged. It's just not right.

So Bud, you said in a statement, "After reviewing all of the options with the parties and taking all of the security considerations into account, it was determined that the best course of action is to play the series in Philadelphia. I appreciate the cooperation of the Blue Jays, the Phillies and all of the parties who have helped resolve this challenging situation." While you're conceding that the Jays will bat last and that there will be a DH, you obviously didn't consult any owners or GMs of the NL East teams. These inter-league games are basically irrelevant to both of these teams, meanwhile the rest of the NL East is getting screwed with their pants on.

Time for the league to man up, admit this is unfair, and move the game to a neutral site.