Opening Day, April 2, 2007. The long awaited baseball season is finally upon us. Last night, in the official MLB opener the reigning World Champion Cardinals faced off against the Mets in a rematch of the NLCS from 2006. The Cardinals, who had 2 fewer wins than the Phillies last year, took advantage of a weak NL Central division and got hot at the end of the year to catapult themselves to the Championship. The Mets, on the other hand, were hot from the start and built up such a big lead in the regular season marathon that they coasted into the playoffs and got as rusty as the green steal I-Beams in Shea Stadium by the time meaningful October baseball came around. So which is better, a hot start or a strong finish? Baseball is like a golf tournament in that you can’t win the tournament in the first two days, but you can lose it. Consistency, I feel, is the key to success in baseball.
The Mets are striving to repeat as NL East Champions and they still appear to be the class of the division, despite what Jimmy Rollins says. They handed the Cardinals a 6-1 defeat at Busch Stadium behind the only real starting pitcher on their staff, Tom Glavine. So now it’s the Phillies turn to show the Mets and the rest of the baseball world what we have to offer. Time for J-Roll and the Phightin’s to borrow a line from Jay-Z and “Show me what you got.”
Like many baseball fans in the Philly region, I scheduled the day off from work. The plan was to meet at my house at 11 and head up I-95 for 30 miles to South Philly in time for the 1:05 start of the game. In past years, opening day meant leaving around 8 a.m. so we could get to the parking lot and tailgate for hours on end to get all soused up and rowdy before the first pitch. Now that I have grown up a bit, our tailgating consisted of having two beers before entering the stadium with the intention of actually remembering the baseball game. So there we were, posted up at the Nova Care parking lot, discussing the impact of the Eagles major off-season acquisitions of Kevin Curtis, Bethel Johnson, Takeo Spikes and Montae Reagor, when a ticket scalper on a tricked out Schwin asked to buy a beer off of us for two bucks. Although the two dollars surely would have been nice to put toward the outrageous $6.25 beer inside the stadium, I had to turn the guy down. I didn’t want to contribute to another tragic Philly BWI (Bicycling While Intoxicated).
As we approach the stadium, we walk past where my dad took my to my first ball game. The Vet has succumbed to the wrecking ball, but the memories and history will always be a part of the asphalt that lies there now. The new destination is Citizen’s Bank Park and now it’s time to make new memories. By now the two beers I had in the parking lot had run their course, so the first thing I wanted to see was a bathroom. After the call of nature, I was ready to see the Phillies win a home opener, something that I never witnessed first hand.
After the heart warming opening ceremony remembering those in the Phillies family that passed away in the last few months, including John Vukovich, we are ready to play some ball. The first inning began with Brett Myers striking out the Braves new second baseman Kelly Johnson. Next up is Edgar Renteria, the hero of the Florida Marlins first ever World Series. He gets good contact on the ball but flies out to left field. Chipper, don’t call me Larry, Jones walks. Andruw Jones pops up to shortstop for the third out and the Braves half of the inning is over. The Philly faithful are ecstatic and spirits are high. The great thing about Opening Day is that the season is young and full of hope. Only 4,374 more outs and this baby is ours! If only every inning was that easy.
The prognosticator of great Philly fortune himself, J-Roll, leads off for the home team in the bottom of the first. Anyone who says that he isn’t a good fit at lead off has a perfect example to add to his or her argument with Jimmy’s first plate appearance. He immediately gets down 0-2 and eventually chases a horrible sinking pitch low and inside for a strike out. The flying Hawaiian, Shane Victorino proceeds to strike out on the next three pitches. Was his surprise performance last year a fluke? Alas, our great savior, Ryan Howard, the NL MVP is up next. Wait, he’s hitting third? Chase is the consummate three hole hitter, why the change in strategy? Why now and not during spring training? No time to debate those questions now as Howard laces a single past the over shifted infield. Forget about the cold preseason and ESPN the magazine’s notion that Ryan hates his swing, he’s now batting 1.000! Here comes the Triple Crown. Unfortunately, the inning ends with Utley grounding out to short.
The next few innings were somewhat uneventful. The biggest decision was who was going to brave the crowd and get everyone Cheeseteaks. Michael and Dad D decided to take one for the team and head up to Ashburn Alley for some of Tony Lukes’ specialties. Meanwhile, Dad W had to drain his blatter. That left me to find the nearest beer guy and then call my coworker to gloat about the fact that I was soaking up some sun, baseball, and libations while he was slaving away answering angry client phone calls. Days off are the best. Rubbing them in is even better.
Everyone returned in record time with another beer in hand. Which is definitely surprising considering the fact that the game is sold out and everyone is either getting beer, evacuating beer or trying to stuff their faces. I now have three domestic beers to assist in washing down possibly the greatest tasting Sleazesteak of all time. This is the way a Cheesesteak is supposed to taste, a soft Amoroso’s roll with sliced prime cut sirloin wit’ onions and provolone. If that doesn’t make you salivate, grow up.
Ok, back to the game, the real reason why we’re here. It’s the 4th inning and Myers walks Larry Jones to lead off the inning. The Braves catcher and silver slugger winner, Brian McCann, takes the first pitch, a down and in breaking ball, over the right field wall. With that quick burst, the home team is down 2-0. This guy is a solid player who I feel will continually kill us over the next ten years. He hit .333 hit 24 homers and drove in 93 runs last year. It’s players like him that you can build a franchise around. Look at some of the great teams around the league right now, the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers, they all have solid catchers who call a great game, come up with clutch hits, and are leaders in the locker room. I just don’t think that the Phillies can count on Rod Barrajas to be that type of quality catcher. We’ll just have to wait and see how Carlos Ruiz pans out.
The Phils now have a chance to answer as the heart of the order is due up, Howard, Utley, Burrell. After the camera in the stands catches me sucking down the Tony Lukes, Ryan Howard hits another single. He’s now 2-2, I think he has a real chance to be perfect all year. Utley follows up with a bullet to right that would be a double, but the ump said that it hit the runner. So Howard is out, on what could have been a situation where runners were on 2nd and 3rd with Pat the bat due up. I reviewed this on DVR (yes I’m that big of a baseball dork that I recorded the game at home while I was there in person) and I can’t tell where the ball hit the runner. I have to refer to Newton’s law of motion in that an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by another force, thank you 12th grade Physics. I saw no other force acting upon said ball put in motion by Chase as the ball continued on it’s original course. That was a bogus call that truly affected the outcome of the game.
The inning continues without Manuel causing that much of a fuss. Burrell ended up drawing a walk. (If you were keeping track of what should have happened, Burrell’s walk would have loaded the bases with no outs.) New 3rd baseman, Wes Helms follows up with a ground out. (This was a close play that Smoltz had to come off of the mound to get, but Howard possibly could have scored from third. Hypothetical score 2-1.) Aaron Rowand lines out to shortstop to end the inning. (If there were only one out from Helms’ grounder to the pitcher, this probably would have been a double play ball. It was lined right to Renteria and had there been a runner on 2nd, he would have doubled him up. I have to be realistic. Hypothetical score remains 2-1.)
Fast forward to the bottom of the 5th inning. Barrajas grounds out and Myers strikes out. J-Roll’s up again after two strike outs already. He quickly gets down 0-2 after two pitches. Unlike his previous AB’s, he battles off the third pitch, watches the fourth, a splitter in the dirt, fouls off the fifth pitch, an outside breaking ball. The sixth delivery from Smoltz was an inside fastball that Rollins hammers out to left center field for a home run. (Hypothetical score 2-2.)
J-Roll’s really bulked up the past two years. He’s like Willie Mayes Hayes’ transformation from Major League to Major League II. In the first Major League, Wesley Snipes was the speedster leadoff guy who was always on base and looking to get swipe the next base 90 feet away. In the sequel, Omar Epps replaced Snipes in the role of Willie Mayes Hayes and he showed up with a newfound swagger wearing huge gold chains around his neck and always looking to hit the long ball. Before 2006, Rollins never hit more than 14 home runs and 73 RBI. Then all of a sudden he hits 25 homers and 83 RBI. In today’s baseball that type of increase in power is not that uncommon, with or without the assistance of foreign substances. I just hope he doesn’t lose sight of what we need him to do for our team, get on base to set up the big bats.
To the bottom of the 6th we go and Howard is first up to bat. Smoltz eventually gets Howard to strike out swinging on an inside fastball. His batting average dips to a respectable .667. Ultey nearly legs out an infield single. He goes so hard on every play, what’s not to love about the guy? With two outs, Burrell bloops a single to shallow center, that’s only his second career hit against Smoltz. Wes Helms, hoping to recapture his days of batting .320 hits a double over Andruw Jones’ head in center driving in Burrell. That ties the score at 2-2. (Hypothetical score 3-2 Phils.) This was surprising for two reasons. First, the Phillies never get two out runs. Second, and probably more surprising, was the fact that the 9 time gold glover Jones didn’t make the catch. My buddy Stags says that Andruw Jones covers so much ground in center that you could draw a huge circle in center field to detail the range that Andruw can cover. Anything hit inside that circle would be considered to be an automatic out. This would allow Andruw to not even have to play the field on defense. With Helms at 2nd, Rowand hits what should have been an easy pop up to the second baseman, but rookie Kelly Johnson lost the ball in the sun and dropped it. This without a doubt should have been called an E-4, but the hometown scorekeepers give Rowand an RBI single. Either way the Phillies lead 3-2. (Hypothetical score 4-2.)
Brett Myers looks sharp so far, giving up only two runs, on three hits, 7 K’s and 2 walks through 7 innings of work in which he threw 95 pitches. He slimmed down 30 lbs in an effort to increase his endurance. I hope, however, that the lost weight didn’t contribute to Charlie Manuel’s decision to leave him in the game in the bottom of the 7th. Although he drew a walk on four pitches, he should not have been on the base paths when J-Roll lined a double off of the left field wall. As it was, Myers had to stop at 3rd base rather than head home. If speedster Michael Bourn was subbed in for Myers he would have easily scored on Jimmy’s double. Anyway, with runners on 2nd and 3rd with no one out, the heart of the lineup should be able to get at least one run home. Victorino and Howard, unfortunately, both struck out and Utley ends the threat on a ground out to short. This was the critical moment of the game. Big players on winning teams make sure that they score in this situation by any means necessary. A sacrifice fly was all we needed, but no one produced. Clutch hitting in these circumstances must improve if this team is going to live up to expectations. If Howard is to make a run at repeating his MVP performance last year, he needs to step up in these spots. Not to mention if he wants to over .500 for the year.
Starting pitcher Myers heads back out to the mound in the 8th after getting a good sweat on the base paths going from first to third on Jimmy’s double. Perhaps that extra energy spent decreased his stamina just enough to give up the tying homer to Edgar Renteria. Why did Barrajas call for a fastball when the pitcher was ahead 0-2 and the batter just whiffed badly at the last breaking curve ball? This goes back to my point about quality catchers. The whole reasoning behind signing this guy was because he supposedly calls a great game. Well, this call was a terrible one and if it is any indication of how we can expect him to manage the pitching staff we are in trouble. (Hypothetical score at this point would be 4-3 Phillies.)
During the preseason, all the pundits said that the Phillies’ weakness was their bullpen. GM Pat Gillick even admitted that he was looking to improve the pitching reserves. Perhaps the reason Myers was still in was because the team had no confidence in the bullpen to preserve the lead. I sill think they should have subbed him in the bottom of the 7th. When you have a chance to add to a lead that late in the game and your pitcher has already thrown 95 pitches, you have to sub him out, no question.
In the top of the 9th, Manuel brings in Flash Gordon. I never like the move of bringing in your closer in a tie game in the top of the 9th when you’re at home. Given his age and the concerns about him lasting the whole year, I would only use him in save situations. What do you know, Gordon would’ve lost the game in the 9th if Utley hadn’t made an amazing diving stop up the middle to hold the runner on 3rd with 2 down. (Following the hypothetical score trail, this would have been a save situation for Flash and he would have just barely preserved the win. Final hypothetical score 4-3. The home team wins and everyone goes home happy, thus rendering the following few paragraphs irrelevant.)
To the home half of the 9th we go. The natural Gregg Dobbs grounds out and J-Roll strikes out for the third time. Victorino finally gets a hit, a double. Where was that his previous at bat when there were two on? The Braves want no part of Howard so he gets the intentional walk, thus maintaining his .500 batting average. Another big spot for Chase, but he fouled out to Larry Jones. Chase ended the day 1-4, leaving six runners on base, the Phils as a whole left 15 men on base. As the pop fly ball was hanging in the air, for what seemed like an eternity, I was hoping one of two things would happen: that I could push a button that would extend the stands out another six feet or that one of the fans in the front row would have reached out and punched Larry in the groin. I would have preferred the latter.
In any event, it’s extra inning time. Ryan Madsen walked the first batter he faced, much to the chagrin to the loud mouth sitting next to me cheering for “Mad Dog.” Edgar Renteria is next to grab his bat. I find it awkward that he tried to lay down a bunt on the first two pitches. What do you know, after he failed to get the bunt down, he proceeded to blast a two run homer. I vow never to call Ryan Madsen, or anyone else for that matter, “Mad Dog.” Game over, thanks for attending. The Phillies are already behind the Mets and the Braves in the highly competitive NL East and could be in the same position for the entire season. Not exactly the hot start that everyone was talking about.
My dad, father in-law, and brother in-law finally got a chance to experience Opening Day. The Phillies version of Opening Day almost always guarantees that the spectator will witness three things: the best greasy Sleezesteaks in the land, a fight in the stands, and the Phillies doing their best to lose the game. Today was no different and next year will undoubtedly deliver the same experience. At least they’re consistent.
