The Natural

In the wake of the unsurprising yet still disappointing news that Roy Halladay is headed to the DL with a shoulder ailment - and the no answers to the questions as to why if it was apparent that something was wrong with Halladay from spring training, why no one bothered to look any closer or at least perform an MRI earlier in the season - a friend writes:

My best guess on how the decisions were made to keep starting Halladay, in my make-believe exchange as it went all spring:

 

Charlie Manuel: You know my mama wanted me to be a farmer.
Roy Halladay: My dad wanted me to be a baseball player.
Charlie: Well you're better than any player I ever had. And you're the best God damn pitcher I ever saw. Suit up. 

What the 1% Doesn't Get

See the two blurbs from Politico's Morning Money email today. The real issue isn't what MorganStanley did wrong with the Facebook IPO. The problem isn't what was illegal about all of this, but the crime is what is legal - and how the general investor gets screwed and the 1% take care of themselves..

 FACEBOOK LAWSUIT MIND-MELD: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING? - A top corporate lawyer forwarded a WSJ commentary (excerpted below) that makes the argument that despite its poor early stock market performance, there is nothing to suggest that there was anything wrong with Facebook's investors prospectus nor illegal about communications between the company's bankers and big investors. ... From the lawyer: "The WSJ piece really makes it clear that the Facebook IPO was done 'by the book' and the issue - if there is one at all - is what the current law provides. I suspect Congressional interest in this deal is likely to shift elsewhere soon - either to changes in the law going forward, or back to Nasdaq and the very odd technology glitches it faced. We may see more on that topic next week when Nasdaq's Chief Information Officer testifies before the House Financial Services Committee in a previously scheduled cyber-security hearing."
FROM THE WSJ PIECE by Ronald Barusch: "[A]t least so far, there is no indication that anything is wrong with that prospectus. ... If you bought Facebook in the IPO at $38 per share, presumably you realized that you were buying shares based on a market capitalization of the company of around $100 billion. And for that you were getting a company that has less than $14 billion of total assets ... And that last year your company had just $3.7 billion of revenue and during the last five years ... "But what about those research analysts changing their estimates? It probably could not have worked any other way under our current regulatory scheme. Analysts who work for underwriters are prohibited from publishing their research prior to an IPO. They are permitted to talk to their clients and give their views" http://on.wsj.com/MLPAPn

Hamels appreciation

A friend writes:

Setting aside that Hamels is now 7-1 with a 2.17 (or 2.18) ERA, he has literally saved the 1st 1/3 of the season. His performances in DC and then tonight in Philly, slapping down the Nats as if they're his bitches after they dominated the Phils 2 straight nights, holy shit.
If we lose tonight's game, we're 6.5 games out and just got bitch-swept by them. Instead, we're 4.5 games back, 1 game below .500, allowing ourselves to think about how/when things will turn around.
Give him whatever $$$ that he wants.

HBP?

It sure didn't look like Jake Diekman hit that Cubs' batter in the 9th inning last night. Not even ticking his loose jersey. It was telling that the Cubs announcers on WGN quickly shut up while watching the replays.

The Gay Greek Police

This photo of Athens police dealing with protesters which appeared in the NYTimes is rife with comedy, since it looks like the law enforcers captured here are a modernized version of the fashion police what with their berets, boots and sunglasses. 

Beat Boston

Watched the tail end of the Sixers-Celtics game last night, mainly cause my middle son likes to play basketball and is really getting into Philadelphia sports. ( I didn't have the heart to tell him the Sixers are low man on the family Philly sports totem pole).

 

Anyway, two thoughts jumped out: 1 – incredible officiating in the 4^th Q. Kevin Garnett was called for a travel while shuffling his feet to set for a jumper, a couple possessions later Evan Turner was NOT called for traveling when he took 5 steps and also may have committed a self-pass, and then on the Celtics' decisive offensive possession, they called Garnett for an offensive foul on a moving pick. Wow. In Boston

 

2 – it's the first time the Sixers have beaten the Celtics in Boston since game 7 of the 82 Eastern Conference finals, a game the Sixers won 120-106, and the game I believe was most memorable and incredibly cool for a kid growing up at that time for the Boston fans chanting "Beat L.A." to the Sixers as the clock wound down. Neat.

Hamels and Harper

On the Hamels thing:

 I don't understand why Hamels said he tried to hit Harper.

But I really don't understand everyone coming out criticizing Hamels and how ripped the Nats are. Just watched the espn guys all say that Pence better watch out vs. the Nats.

3)      Why isn't anyone mentioning that Hamels got hit later in the same game. According to the Nats' view, it's gutless to throw at their guy but not our guy?

Why hasn't anyone asked Zimmerman if he tried to hit Hamels? If Nats' GM Mike Rizzo expects the same rule his team goes by, if Pence gets hit by Strasburg than Strasburg should expect to get hit later in the same game.

Halladay

A friend writes about tonight's game:

He simply doesn't have any stamina anymore. He can't go deep into games. This is the 3rd straight game that he's melted down in the 5th or 6th inning, after great starts. He got to 2 outs and 2 strikes in the 6th inning -- after having retired 13 straight batters -- and then he simply fell apart. 

I would add that thought Halladay looked tired and laboring in the 4^th inning! After only throwing 44 pitches. He was cruising but looked spent, but I wasn't sure if that just wasn't the normal Halladay look.

 

And crap, now Papelbon just gave up a 3 run HR to blow the tie.

 

Bad loss

B Dawk

Can there be any higher praise for an Eagle than to be described as "Jim Johnson's 'go-to guy.'"

Next Stop, Canton

Congratulations to Brian Dawkins for a spectacular, Hall of Fame career. 

4 plays immediately come to mind:

1. The interception of Brett Favre in OT that lead to the game winning FG in the 4th and 22 divisional playoff game.

2. The turnover against the Cowboys at Dallas on Christmas in a must win game for the Eagles that led to a playoff spot.

3. The heat seeking missile who stopped Mike Vick on the goal line in the divisional playoff game against the Falcons at the Vet.

4. The flying leap, strip and fumble recovery against the Steelers. My kids were watching that game with me and when they showed Dawkins leap over the lineman and go horizontal -  with his arms outstretched it really did look like he was flying. My kids asked, "Daddy, is that Superman?" 

Yes, children. Yet it was. You got to watch Superman play for the Eagles.

Phillies Preview - A month late

so i was watching a long ago taped version of espn's 30 clubs/30 days preview about the Phillies.

2 things jumped out.

1. Shane Victorino bats 70 points higher when he is 2 (.306) or 5th (.308) in the order compared to lead off (.236)

and 2. baseball prospectus projected the following records for the NL East this year

88 wins

Phillies and Braves

87 wins

Marlins

83 wins

Nationals

71 wins

Mets

The Best for Howard?

My friend also writes:

Meanwhile, assuming that he can come back from the Achilles injury and again become a 35-homer guy, or more, for a few more seasons, let me say something controversial: The Achilles injury is the greatest thing to happen to Ryan Howard since we won the World Series.

Here's why: When he grounded out to end the 2011 season against StL, 96% of the Phils phans blamed one person and one person only: Ryan Howard.

Now that we've started out this season so incredibly sluggish offensively, 96% of the phans are blaming one thing: Howard's absence from the middle of the lineup.

A Tale of Two Teams

A friend writes:

I think it's unequivocal what's going on here -- 1 team with a long history of having a very good eye at the plate, the Phillies, has lost its marbles; another team with a history of having a terrible eye at the plate, the Nats, now has one of the best in MLB.)
 
HITTING
Team batting averages:
Nats, .249
Phillies .248
Team slugging %s:
Nats .334
Phillies .331
Team home runs
Nats 6
Phillies 6
Team stolen bases
Phillies 12 (caught 1 time)
Nats 7 (caught 2 times)

PITCHING
ERA
Nats 1.92 (best in NL)
Phillies 2.48 (2nd best)
BB
Nats 39 walks issued (best of teams that played 13 games so far)
Phillies 24 (best of teams that played 12 games)
WHIP
Nats 1.01 (best in NL)
Phillies 1.10 (3rd best)

So, these are two insanely balanced teams. The Nats have an almost negligible difference tipped in their favor offensively; pitching wise, their ERA is better, clearly, but the Phils are walking far fewer people. Anyway, these are 2 teams that are incredibly balanced and -- by all these measures -- should have roughly the same record. They don't. The Nats are 4.5 games ahead of the Phillies. Why is that case? For one reason, and one single reason alone: they take pitches and walk.
HITTING
Bases on balls:
Nats 57 walks (No. 1 in NL)
Phillies 20 (tied for last with Pirates)
OBP
Nats .335 (tied for 2nd)
Phillies .284 (14th)

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp#sectionType=st&playerType=QUALIFIER&statType=hitting&page_type=SortablePlayer&season=2012&season_type=ANY&sportCode=%27mlb%27&league_code=%27NL%27&split=&team_id=&active_sw=&game_type=%27R%27&position=&sortOrder=%27desc%27&sortColumn=avg&results=&page=1&perPage=50&timeframe=&extended=0&last_x_days=&ts=1334859863229&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Team+hitting

Scheduling good news

Remember this now.

The Phillies play 6 of their last 9 games of the season against the Nationals. And with Stephen Strasburg limited to 160 innings this year, it's practically assured that the Phils' won't have to face the Nationals' ace at all in the homestretch.

Stat that may be of interest only to me

How is it that Shane Victorino didn't attempt a bunt the entire 2011 season?

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/phillies/20120228_Pierre_leads_Phils_in_the_art_of_bunting.html

3-4

Wow, Utley-Howard didn't even make the honorable mention in Jayson Stark's column about the best 3-4 lineups in baseball while discussing Fielder's new contract.

Not sure if it's cause Howard's hurt or Utley's been struggling.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove11/story/_/id/7500071/miguel-cabrera-prince-fielder-pack-powerful-3-4-punch

Media elite

John King = Bernie Shaw?

Newt Gingrich shows Mike Dukakis how to answer a personal debate question

TO?

The Patriots hiring of free agent coach Josh McDaniel last week in the middle of their playoff run had plenty of people chiming in about the appropriateness of a coach, particularly a former head coach for the team the Patriots are playing, joining a staff just prior to the playoff game. Some tried to equate it with free agent players joining teams during the post-season.

Of course, that is the reason why player contracts run through March - to avoid this possibility. But there are players that have been released who aren't contractually bound by these restrictions. 

And then there is one player who wasn't even under contract this year and could conceivably still join a team.

How crazy would it be if the Niners won tomorrow's game and then signed Terrell Owens for the super bowl?

TO is a former Niner. The Niners need help at WR. And with the two week super bowl break, he would have time to learn a fair amount of the plays - certainly way more than if he had only a week to prepare.

Truly circus maximus.

Wierd only to me?

NFL referee Gene Stenatore is also a college basketball referee?!?