More Like an Invitation to be Awesome.
I don’t really have an opinion on the Taser kid. I just wanted to point out that someone went on the field again tonight. So, you’d have to assume that at this point people are collecting bets while drunk to go onto the field and get shot with a Taser? Welcome to the best sports town in America, baby. I’m not worried about the kid getting lit up with electricity. Honestly, maybe there should be a wheel they spin when someone runs out onto the field with various options. Physical force, Net Gun, Taser, American Gladiator style tennis ball gun, German Shepard, calf roper…it could get pretty exciting.
Did the Phillies play Tuesday night, they did, I have to flip to something during LOST commercials, and the outcome was quite pleasant. Two times over. First Cole Hamels pitched beautifully, handling a very good St. Louis lineup. He seemed to have command of 3 pitches, and funny how the games go well when that works out. He got out of a tight spot or two, and then unfortunately was nicked for a run in the ninth, which would cost him the win. With the go ahead run on second, I pegged the Phillies chances at victory at about 9.759 percent, but Brad Lidge came in and threw an effective slider. I saw it with these eyes. It was amazing. He gets out of the jam, Phils win in extras thanks to Carlos Ruiz, aka Chooch, aka The World’s 2nd Most Interesting Man after the Dos Equis guy. Those commercials are getting a little Bill Brasky-esque by the way.
I’m going to choose to be optimistic about Brad Lidge. First, his fastball was a respectable velocity, but more important was the variety and quality of his sliders. He throws at least three of them. One he likes to start hitters with, and he throws it for a strike. Great deterrent to sitting first pitch fastball. The second breaks out of the zone, and he uses it to get guys to chase or maybe put it in play weakly. The third is the sharpest, it usually bounces, and the hitters can look foolish. I think I saw all of those working at one point or another Tuesday night. Now, you could say Lidge showed signs of being good last season. That’s true. He was pretty good about 30 times, and absolutely awful on a dozen occasions. But honestly, I wasn’t sure if he was going to be good for any solid outings. So, allow me this rare moment of hope.
Concerning Hamels, he also does this from time to time. I remember him shutting out the Dodgers last June, and everyone thought he was back. Not so much, just turned out he was offering a little a smoke up the skirt to keep you quiet for a couple of days. The good news is Hamels had a better plan out there Tuesday night. We know he’s kind of mess, and sometimes you look at him and wonder if he has a clue. Any clue at all? He seemed at least aware of what was going on. Much like many people said, give Hamels a month or so, I’m going to wait for a month of solid outings to believe he’s back in any kind of form. It was a timely performance, though.
In fact, it was probably just enough for me to skip over a post I was going to make about pitchers the Phillies could possibly be looking at the trade deadline. Nothing like looking forward to the trade deadline on May 4th. I’ll keep it in the back of my mind, and maybe shift the focus to relievers, now that we know Madson is out at least two months. He’s soft, his toe bones are soft, I’ve had about enough of the guy. Lets get Jose Contreras to open the pipeline to Cuba for us.
