Patriots Game Observations

Here are my thoughts about the Eagles and their pre-season game against the Patriots.

• Nick Foles continues to impress.  And I mean REALLY impress.  He showed incredible poise for a rookie, a strong arm and toughness to hang in the pocket under pressure.  I do remember feeling similar about Bobby Hoying but there was something much more fake about those expectations.
• This has to be the deepest defensive line in the NFL.  They just keep coming after the quarterback.  The second and third teams too.  They have some serious number issues with how many ends and tackles to keep because unless there are injuries, there are two or three guys getting cut that will end up playing on other teams.
• Phillip Hunt had the best game amongst the lineman.  I thought Fletcher Cox looked good too.
• Mychal Kendricks is a total beast!  He was all over the ball right from the first snap.  Can you imagine him turning into a Terrell Suggs type playmaker?
• Demetress Bell has looked totally lost in limited action so far.  Not playing with instinct at all. 
• Both starting corners looked solid.  I really think they will have a much better season in a man to man system.
• Demeco Ryans through two games has not been the game changer that all Eagles fans were hoping he would be.
• I loved seeing some fire out of Big Red when calling out his defense.
• The Eagles have got to get better on 3rd down.  They will lose every game if they keep giving up 3rd down conversions especially via penalty.
• These replacement refs have got to go.  If not, we are in for a lot of 4 hour games this year.
• Ryan Howard has 13 RBI's in his last 12 games.

Would The Real Chase Utley Please Stand Up?

Like most Phillies fans, I lived for Harry Kalas play by play calls. There were so many favorites. My personal favorite of all time was the Mike Schmidt 500th home run call against the Pirates. I know exactly where I was and remember hearing it and running outside to make sure my dad heard it too. Right up there with that call is the "Chase Utley, YOU ARE THE MAN!" call (http://bit.ly/xzqh8). I loved everything about the call. It was hip, it was spontaneous and it was a bit out of the box for Harry who liked his coined phrases.

Soon after Utley scored from second on that weak grounder to the pitcher which caused that praise from Harry, Chase Utley was cemented as a legend in Philadelphia. He had always played "the right way". He always hustled, he never asked for a day off and frankly for a few years, he put up numbers comparable to the greatest second basemen of all time.

The only problem was that his statistics had already started to decline by 2009. Since he had become the full time starter in 2005, Utely hadn't hit below .291. However, from 2009-2011, he hit .282, .275, and .259 respectively. Power numbers had a similar decline with his slugging percentage going .508, .445, .425 during the same span.

So were we just witnessing a 30 year old experiencing a normal decline or was this the result of a chronic knee problem?  In 2011, at the start of spring training, we found out that he was struggling with a sore right knee.  Some fancy unpronounceable condition that surgery would likely only make worse. This kept him out of the lineup until May 23rd. He played the rest of the season and just wasn't himself as noted by the stats above. However, entering into the offseason, many thought the time off would provide him the rest he needed to come back in 2012 possibly stronger with the ability to properly strengthen his legs.

Then the bombshell hit at the start of 2012 spring training that his left knee was bothering him. This news disseminated out of camp at a snail’s pace. Was it the Phillies putting the cork on the information or Utley himself? As we have come to learn, Utley was not only keeping the information quiet from the media, he was not being open with his condition to the ball club. The Phil’s management was just as surprised that he would end up missing the first 76 games. At times when Ruben Amaro Jr. would speak to the media, he sounded as distraught at his lack of knowledge of how Utley felt and his overall condition as the situation itself.  Was all of this just Utley's crusty personality or is something more sinister?

One of my favorite Eagles as a kid was Mike Quick. He was tall, fast and could out work his opponents for the ball. However, he also was very well known for not being much of a fan of training camp or practice. Is it possible that for all of the love that we have bestowed on Utley for his work ethic over the years, he might be one of those players too? Might he just want to play 90-100 games per year instead of 162 at this stage in his career on achy knees?

One thing is bound to be sure starting tonight. This is the first time there are at least a few doubters out there about him as a warrior and whether he still has top level ability. He also is carrying expectations, mostly by himself for the time being, to get this team back on track. The legend that was cemented by Harry when he certainly was the man might be in jeopardy. However, the great thing about sports is that the games are played on the field and we will find out in the next few months who Chase Utley really is.

Rube, Where Are You?

As this 2012 Phillies season nears the halfway point, I am searching for proof that their General Manager is still alive and well. Other than the every few days health update for the walking wounded, do we have any proof that Ruben Amaro Jr. is actually still doing his job?

This season certainly hasn't gone the way anybody thought it would, especially Amaro Jr. When he traded Wilson Valdez back in January, he certainly couldn't have known that Chase Utley had a bad enough left knee that he would not play a game prior to June 27th. He couldn't have thought that through June 26th, Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee would have 4 wins between them and Halladay would be on the 15 day DL. He couldn't have thought that Ryan Howard would still barely be running on June 25th after needing a second surgery on his repaired achilles tendon. He couldn't possibly think that, other than Jonathan Papelbon, the bullpen would have a combined ERA of 4.84 which ranks 29th in MLB.

Certainly Amaro Jr. can't take the blame then for the Phillies being nine games out after 74 games played, right? Well, let's examine the details of that 4.84 ERA from the bullpen. Amaro Jr. Went out and signed Papelbon to a 4 year 50 million dollar contract in the offseason, a record contract for a reliever. Other than him struggling in non save situations, he has been very good. He also brought in journeyman Chad Qualls to be a set-up man. This move has proved disasterous, as Qualls has struggled mightily in the first half. Antonio Bastardo has also struggled trying to adapt from a lefty specialist to a full 7th or 8th inning man. They have also had multiple season ending injuries to guys like Michael Stutes, David Herndon, and Jose Contreras.

This is where Amaro Jr. comes in. At a time where the team desperately needs a morale boost. Just when like Utley is coming back and Howard not too far either, this team needs badly to rely on its management to provide that boost. Not just in morale but in wins. Strong teams are won at the back end of the bullpen. Take Sunday's early game for example. Cole Hamels pitched very well for 7 innings. Charlie Manual was hoping to get Qualls and Bastardo through the 8th and have Papelbon close it out in the 9th. Bastardo proceeded to walk two and then give up a three run homer. This led to losing both ends of a double header and the series loss.

The bullpen deficency has been present all season, it's not new. Amaro Jr. needs to go out a get some help. Not from Jake Diekman, who appears to have good stuff, but clearly needs more minor league seasoning. He needs to go get a Brett Myers or another experienced arm. But this should have been done a month ago before 4-5 games have been given away at the hands of this deficient bullpen. Has the contract to Papelbon prevented the financial flexibility of years past to allow such moves? Only the GM knows why he has yet to act in attempt to save this sinking ship.

Now, as Halladay and Utley and Howard all start to come back and the real possibilty of the team stringing wins together, the reality of Manual having no one to go to between starter and Papelbon very well may prevent the seventh straight postseason for the Phils. Ruben Amaro Jr. has had and still has a chance to change that by making the first move(s) by imrpoving the bullpen immediately.

Rube, as one famous sports figure in this town loves to say, the time is yours. The only problem is that it is very quickly running out for 2012.

Is it Time To Panic for Phils Season?

Like many Phillies fans out there, I haven't been real comfortable with the start of the 2012 season.  Something about this year's slow start felt different than others in their recent past.  Maybe it is the fact that there seem to be gaping holes in the lineup similar to Andy Reid's failure to have an adequate punt returner or fullback to start a season.  Maybe it's the fact that there is a new Natitude in the division with all four of the teams seeming to have gotten better.

So during my down time in worrying about the Flyers sudden collapse, I have decided to analyze the Phils of recent years and also what they appear to have coming back.  What I have found is pretty remarkable and have decided that it is time for all of us to relax and enjoy what the next four plus months will be providing.

First, I looked at their record.  As of May 8th, the Phils stand at 14-16.  For all intents and purposes, this is .500 for this analysis.  Since 2007, the Phils have finished April below or just above (no more than 2 games over) .500 every year except for last year.  In 2007, their first year of their current playoff run, they finished April 11-14.  More or these numbers coming up.

This week also provided good injury news for the team.  We learned this past Saturday that Chase Utley was re-joining the team.  It sounds like he is going to be with them for about a week and then head down to Clearwater to not just rehab but possibly start playing extended spring training games.  So although the Phils have refused to give a timetable on Utley, is June 15th or even June 1st out of the question?

Ryan Howard has already started back in Florida and had a full week rehabbing last week and as of yesterday started taking batting practice.  All indications from the team so far have been that the Achilles itself is in good condition.  Could Howard make a trip north sometime in mid June?  By the way, if after the dust settled after Game 7 last year and you were asked if Howard could come back sometime in June, would you have taken it?  I sure would have.

Lastly, is Cliff Lee.  He threw a bullpen session on Saturday and reported no issues.  The Phils currently have him scheduled to start against the Mets Wednesday night.

What does all of this mean?  Will then win 100 games because these guys seem to be coming back soon?  I doubt it.  But Lee helps immediately.  The Phils lost all three game Kendrick started in his place and putting him back into a suspect bullpen can only help. 

Will Howard and Utley be their 2009 versions when they come back?  I doubt that too but just their presence would really help this lineup. For one, it will put guys back into their more natural batting order.  It will also give Charlie Manual a chance to move Ty Wiggington, about the only guy hitting consistently, to left field, a spot the Phils have gotten very little production so far.

Going back to the numbers, where do the Phils need to finish to make the playoffs and will they need to play .700 ball to make it?  Not at all.  Going back to 2007, the Phils have averaged playing .594 ball from June 1st on.  For the sake of argument, let's say they are at .500 by the end of this month, putting them at 21-21.  With 120 games left to play, the .594 clip would finish them 71-51 for a record of 92-72.  Those 92 wins might not win the division but since 2003, it would have at least gotten a tie for the National League wild card every season.

I think instead of panic, we should hope for the healthy return of Lee, Howard and Utley.  We should hope that RAJ can add some bullpen help at the trade deadline and that they play how they have played the second half in recent years.  If so, we will be biting our nails in October for the sixth straight year.

Just Call Me Ebenezer Scrooge

It is that time of year again.  People were outside this past weekend putting up Christmas lights.  I see holiday displays everywhere and Sirius radio has multiple stations playing 24/7 Christmas music.  Have I mentioned that I haven’t even fried my Thanksgiving turkey yet?  It does really seem that we start "celebrating" Christmas earlier and earlier every year.  Not only that but we have started to ruin the holiday season all together.  I say this knowing I sound like people of our grandparent's generation and it generally sounds like I am being a scrooge.  However, if you give me a few minutes of your time, maybe I can convince you that I am right.

In the last two weeks I have read about retailers, whom over the last decade have seemingly opened black Friday shopping earlier and earlier in the AM, actually opening on Thanksgiving night to start the official holiday shopping spree.  The claim is that their customer feedback is telling them that they want to be able to shop after dinner on Thanksgiving.  I am sure that it has nothing to do with plummeting sales over the last 3 shopping seasons.  I am also not convinced that opening their stores, paying employees and covering operating costs will be a net gain for them but as long as they get more gross sales it will look good to shareholders.

I have also come across more and more of these perfect looking artificial Christmas trees.  They are beyond perfect.  They are the shape, color and brightness of every great picture and painting we ever saw growing up.  They also come with the lights and even garland already on them.  These are a far cry from the originals that looked as real as the cell phone towers that we see on the side of highways that look like giant pine trees.  Better yet, you can get these trees for only $30 or $40 more than a real one and they last a whole lot longer. 

I am not a very religious person.  Even so, I do find it troublesome that so little of the Christmas holiday has become about the true meaning of the day.  I do sometimes feel hypocritical about my lack of religion but I think that even without my affinity towards that aspect of all of the religious holidays, I have always and continue to make them about friends and family.  This is where I think that the commercialization of the holidays has caused us to lose our way.

My childhood memories are filled with family times during the holidays.  This includes Thanksgiving.  We would also have a big sit down dinner and watch the football games.  The thought of some of our family rushing out to go shopping after turkey dinner is very saddening to me.  Isn't the whole point of Thanksgiving to spend that time together and everyone just hanging out?  To commercialize Christmas so much into needing to start shopping for gifts at the expense of family time is just plain sad.

As for some Christmas traditions, I fully understand how busy we have become.  I am not knocking anyone that goes out and gets the artificial tree that is all pre-made.  But I am stuck again in the memory bank of my dad and I getting the not so perfect tree, drilling the trunk, moving a couple of branches around to fill a gap or two to try and make it our version of heaven.  It wasn’t because we didn’t want to just get the right tree from the start but it was fun doing these things together and making these memories.  Then there were all of us putting everything on the tree together.  My sister and I would fight over the different tasks of trimming the tree.  These are the great memories that you can only get when spending time doing things together.  I fear that too many of these great memory making times are being taking away at the expense of long lines, parking lot rage, and the Christmas tree Made in China.

I think retailers are good at making things convenient for us and thank you to them in most cases.  But for my holidays, I will take a pass and I am going to go slow and try to enjoy them as much as possible and pass it on to my girls as much as possible.

We Can Learn A Lot From a Straw

Have you ever done something for a long time, say your whole life, and one day realized there is a better way to do it?  I had that experience recently and it was eye opening.  I, like many others, used the grasp in your hand while banging it into the table method when I wanted to get the paper off.  This method works fine.  The problem is that about every third time, the straw bends during the violent thrashing against the table.  Then you end up with the little hole in the side of the straw that lets in as much air as liquid totally ruining your drinking experience.

Well one day, while taking my daughters to Chik-Fil-A, I noticed a 3 year old try it a different way.  I noticed that she grabbed the straw with two hands and pulled in opposite directions stretching the paper until it broke, pulling it right off the straw.  Since then, I have had a much easier time drinking my large lemonade at Chik-Fil-A.

This experience, among others, got me to thinking about our government.  If I could go thirty some years doing something a certain way that I thought was best and suddenly there is a much easier less destructive way, couldn't that apply to the troubles our country faces?  Couldn't our government find easier ways to deal with unemployment?

In the last two weeks, many protesters have come out in droves to protest Wall Street and our political and economic systems in general.  People are tired of rich and powerful people taking advantage of them.  Unemployment is still around 10%.  The poverty level is rising into the middle class.  Wall Street is continuing to be able to do whatever they want even though their unregulated greed is a big reason for the mess we are in today.  Bank of America, the largest bank in the country, is now leading the charge for new bank fees per month for everyone that uses their debit cards.  The status quo is just not working anymore and thankfully people are standing up to be heard.

President Obama ran his campaign in 2008 on a guarantee of change from the previous regime.  These first three year surely don't feel like a lot of change to me.  The lobbyists are still calling the shots, taxes are still high, the government is still in our business and the giant companies are still making all the money at our expense.

There is one thing that has changed in that last decade or two and has an ugly feel to it.  It also seems to have people on the left and the right equally as annoyed.  It is the almost unilateral rejection each party's leaders has to the other side’s ideas.  No matter what ideas our President comes up with, it is automatically met with unilateral rejection from the Republican congress.  Same thing if the Republican House comes to the table with an idea.  How can we expect to move forward with ideas on how to fix things when our own government is stuck in childish gridlock?

Finally there are the new calls for change.  Suddenly, I am hearing a lot more promises in these early days of the new Presidential election.  These include promises about bringing troops home, ideas about a flat tax, and ideas about keeping the lobbyist out.  All ideas to make you feel good but will probably end up on the cutting block.  So until the people really rise up and realize that there is a better way to open a straw, I have a feeling we are going to be stuck sucking on air.

We Hardly Knew Ya Mark MacPhail

This past week, The State of Georgia executed Troy Davis.  He was a 42 year old African American man that was convicted of killing an off duty police officer in 1989.  He had maintained his innocence from the time of the crime until his death this week. Recently, his case had received international attention to the point where many celebrities, including Pope Benedict XVI, campaigned on his behalf for either a new trial or a stay of his execution.  A lot of inconsistencies in the original trial have come to light in recent days but each time the appellate court rejected the attempt to gain a new trial or a stay of execution.

This case has reminded me of two others like it: The OJ Simpson murder trial and the Mumia Abu-Jamal murder conviction. Both of these cases also involved African American males who allegedly murdered white victims.  They also forced and in the case of Mumia, still is, a lightning rod of debate about many philosophical issues including race, the death penalty, our justice system, and police misconduct.

For me, it is unfortunate that all three of these cases have been divided on racial lines.  There have been many wonderful documentaries about the OJ Simpson trial that delved into this phenomenon.  It seemed that many in the African American community were seeing the OJ acquittal as one big F-U to the justice system for all of the affronts to their people over the years by police, prosecutors and judges.  White people, on the other hand, could not believe that this man, who in their mind had obviously stabbed his ex-wife and her friend, could get away with it even though there was overwhelming evidence.

Mumia Abu-Jamal was convicted of murdering Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981. The biggest similarity to the Troy Davis case I noticed in the Abu-Jamal case is all of the international celebrities it has attracted.  This, I just don't understand.  I saw a Rage Against the Machine concert once where the lead singer screamed in anger over the imprisonment of Abu-Jamal.  The funny thing was that he didn't have his facts right on the case.  I began taking notice of the case more and more and noticed guys like Ed Asner and others doing the same thing, speaking out for Abu-Jamal but seemingly knowing little about the actual case.  In the past couple of weeks, it seems that everyone has become an expert on Troy Davis.  From celebrities, to dignitaries, to your favorite friends on Facebook.  I will admit that what I have read leaves me with doubt about his trial and his guilt.  But for me to come out and claim his innocence and seek his freedom goes too far, I think.  Which leads to why I am writing this post in the first place.

What bothers me most about these cases, and all three of them are the same, is the lack of attention that the victims get.  No matter how strongly you feel that OJ didn't kill anyone or that Abu-Jamal was framed or that Davis received a bum deal, one thing is for sure:  Nicole Brown Simpson, Ronald Goldman, Daniel Faulkner, and Mark MacPhail are all dead.  They were all murdered in a brutal fashion.  The celebrities don't come out for them or their families that are left to pick up the pieces.  When the families have to deal with appeal after appeal after appeal and watch celebrities, perhaps ones they idolize, speak out on behalf of their loved ones killer imagine what that must feel like.

So next time one of these celebrity execution cases comes out, I may root for the execution to be stayed if the evidence I read leans that direction.  But I might not.  One thing I do know is that I will learn the name of the victim in the case and think of that person and their family.  I will also think back to Mark and Nicole and Ron and Daniel.