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I Got Phive On It!

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Philadelphia Magazine published an article this week all about our Phantom Phive...the ownership group of the Phillies. The author, Richard Rys, even compared the ownership group's popularity in Philadelphia to that of Mumia Abu-Jamal at a police function. He also claimed that the famous ball field saying, "play ball", has been replaced in the front office with "play it safe." Comedic zings and punchlines aside, while stories like this are a good read, all they do is put me in a Phoul mood.

With the Flyers' loss in the 2008 playoffs, Philadelphia has just completed its 100th consecutive major pro sports season (counting the big 4 teams) without winning a championship. Yes, 25 years times 4 teams= one hundred seasons without a championship. Quotes from the face of the Phillies ownership group, Dave Montgomery, like, "I just believe the organization needs an image that’s not directly tied to wins and losses", completely makes me want to violate that man's rear quarters with my size 12 New Balances. Rys fires back with the right rebuttal, pointing out phans' needs for championships. Good for him, but the Phartin' Phive won't take heed. If the Phillies win a World Series, it may very well be in spite of the owners and their lack of focus and help.

The Phillies' payroll is 13th highest in the major leagues this season. They currently have the 13th best record in the major leagues. 8 teams make the post season, so 13th best doesn't quite cut it.

Here's the web address for the PhillyMag article. Have a look.

http://www.phillymag.com/articles/the_phantom_five/page1



A very fine Phillies message board, known as BackSheGoes, has a poll going asking members who will be the Phillies 5th starter at the all star break. Kris Benson leads the voting with 37%. Check out the site for that topic as well as many others.

http://www.backshegoes.com/bsg/viewforum.php?f=1



Smooth-Roll walks watch-
After calling out Jimmy Rollins for not walking enough, in my last post here, his on-base percentage quickly went up about 70 points in the following 10 days. I'll take all the props for that. No doubt.

"#1" slump watch-
The Phillies have now lost 6 straight games that Brett Myers has started. The team has a .273 winning % in games he starts. No recovery in sight for Brett.


Stats to ponder...
2 time ML promotion deserver TJ Bohn has a .162 batting average in 32 triple A games this season, while Greg Golson is hitting .317 and Jason Donald is hitting .302 (both at double A). Eric Bruntlett and Greg Dobbs both dabble in the OF, so it's not like Bohn's a necessary addition due to positional scarcity.

Colbert Hamels vs. Houston...4 games, 3-0 record, 3.14 ERA, .215 batting avg against.
Christopher Sampson vs. Philadelphia...4 games, 0-2 record, 6.19 ERA, .357 batting avg against.
Prediction- Phillies earn a series split on Sunday.


Alright, gang. Until next time...
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