Yes, we'll take it...
"I had the plate blocked. I had the ball before [Reyes] got there," Phillies catcher Chris Coste whinged afterwards in a moment of sour grapes as the Phillies lost a pair on the trot to the Mets. "He hit my glove [as] he reached for the plate. It's simple. I tagged him before he touched the plate." Yeah, right. Except that's Jose Reyes, speed demon and you're...Chris Coste, who's the judge gonna
believe?
Bring on delirium...
Sure, Reyes didn't touch the plate the first time in. But home-plate umpire Ted Barrett ruled that there was no tag, either so on his second try, Reyes touched the plate with his left hand, before Coste could land the glove.
Oh yes, it's early days but I believe there's a little chap whose head is still emerging from the womb called Moises Who? with all the runs Pagan delivered last night, not JUST the game-winner but three hits and two-runs plugging the Luis Castillo-sized hole in the second spot in the batting order.
That's what this is all about, isn't it? No Alou, No Castillo, No Pedro, No Duque, No Worries? Just ask the Phillies, who have lost twice in a row with their MVP limited to one pinch hit at-bat in two games.
It isn't always about the starter looking confused by allowing only a lone run in 6 innings of work but walking 5 in that same period to keep things interesting. It isn't always about some of the bullpen showing up and a certain few others, well, perhaps just one in the form of Aaron Heilman doing their bast 2007 Choke-a-thon imitation. Here's a little message to the sometimes hard-of-hearing Willie. Aaron Heilman has a career 8.00 ERA against the Phillies. Do us all favour and leave him out of the festivities when the Phillies are in town. Even on nights when they go 0-12 with runners in scoring position. Or 4 for 33 with runners in scoring position for the series. With hitting like that you almost wonder how the Phillies won any of these games.
Sometimes it's just about winning in crazy fashion, the kind of wins that couldn't be bought late last season, the kind of wins that sing of teamwork and hard work and well, let's be fair, a little luck.
Two things to take from this:
1. Two out of three from the Phillies, with our record against them last season being what it was, is an encouraging sign that the Phillies won't become our new Braves, the team we can never beat when it matters.
2. This is only a little more than one week under the belt. You can't expect Pagan and the angelic Damon Easley to fill in all season. Or Ryan Church to hit the ball like he means it all season, can you? I mean it could happen, but a healthy Alou and Castillo would be nice, just to be on the safe side. So would a rotation that doesn't need to be bolstered by a laundry list of mysterious, hungry faces summoned from the waiver wire and the minor leagues.
Oh yeah, and don't look to lovingly at having crawled back to the .500 mark because the Braves are coming to town.
Posts
2 comments:
It's a little early in the season to have to think about moral victories but I suppose a team which will be on the verge all season of breakdown when no one can "really" forget last season's debacle, has to find whatever positive elements they can from every victory and hope they can build on it.
i still say the sky is falling.
Post a Comment