Thursday, August 23, 2018

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Some Quick Thought On Philadelphia Fans

Full disclosure: I didn’t see the mayhem that occurred last night at the Flyers game when fans began throwing the gift bracelets onto the ice.  I didn’t see it because I was frustrated at the team’s play after the Capitals fourth goal and turned on the Phillies to calm down.  Surely the only time this season anyone has turned on the Phillies to avoid frustration.  But I didn’t have to watch this particular instance to know exactly what happened.  I’ve seen this display before.  Hell, I’ve probably even participated in a similar exposition at one time or another.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Up All Night to Watch the Pen Blow the Lead

April 6, 2016
Phillies @ Cincinnati Reds

Well so far in this 2016 season the Phillies are nothing if not consistent.  In both games against the Reds the Phillies got seven men on base in about thirty-three plate appearances and scored two runs.  They got outstanding efforts by their starting pitching only to see it washed away by abysmal relief pitching.  It’s almost like the majority of this team doesn’t have major league talent.  Who would have guessed?!

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Phillies 100 Years Ago: The Phillies Lose The 1915 World Series To Red Sox

October 11, 1915

World Series Game Three
Phillies @ Boston Red Sox

The scene of the grandest contest in professional baseball shifted north to Boston for Game Three, but in an ironic twist the Phillies were the club most familiar with the ballpark.  Due to the demand for World Series tickets, the Boston Braves graciously loaned Braves Field to their American League neighbors.  Fenway Park had a seating capacity of about 27,000 for the 1915, while the newly completely Braves Field was the first baseball stadium to hold more than 40,000 people.  In a second ironic twist, the previous World Series that saw the Braves take on the Philadelphia Athletics was played in Fenway Park while Braves Field was being built.  How about that?!  Well, it was a good thing the Red Sox procured Braves Field because 42,000 fans attended Game Three, the largest crowd ever to watch a baseball game.

Friday, October 9, 2015

Phillies 100 Year Ago: Phillies Make Simple Mistakes In Pitcher's Duel; Boston Evens Series 1-1

October 9, 1915

World Series Game Two
Phillies vs. Boston Red Sox

The National League fans in Philadelphia have always felt that their club was cursed.  From a pre-World Series article in the Evening Ledger: “The Phillies have always been hounded by various species of the genus ‘jinx.’”  There was the case of Charlie Ferguson, the absolute phenom pitcher that was to lead the lowly Phillies to their first pennant in 1888.  Ferguson’s had 24.0 pitching rWAR from 1885 to 1887, including a 10.7 during the 1886 season.  And that was just for pitching.  He also managed 6.1 rWAR at the plate during that stretch.  But, less than two weeks into the 1888 season, Ferguson died from typhoid fever at the age of twenty-five.  Since his death the jinxed Phillies developed a reputation as a club that shoots off to an early season lead only to lose steam towards the finish line before finally blowing the pennant escalating levels of futility.