Skip to main content

Welcome Home Blue Jays!


A brief introduction is in order. Hello to all of you PhoulBallz.com phaithful! My name is The Man With The Golden Arm, head man at 1BlueJaysWay, and I am a living, breathing, eating, sleeping baseball phan in Canada. Now I know most of you will be shocked to hear that and I'm sure you thought guys like me were mythical like unicorns.....but it's true. I'll take baseball over hockey any day of the week and twice on Sunday.


That being said, I realize that I am in the minority in my native land. And believe me, I hear about it weekly. You see, I can't turn it off. Blue Jays baseball has been and will be a major part of my life until one of two things happen:

1) I die
2) Some dick at MLB's head office moves my team

When Jay Ballz asked me for a few thoughts regarding the upcoming Blue Jays / Phillies series, I pondered it for a couple of days. This ordeal of Roy Halladay's return series being moved to Philadelphia has brought on a complete range of emotions for me. I was excited, scared, happy, sad, angry, embarrassed and everything in between depending on where we were in the process. To put it into perspective for you guys, it was 3 and a half months before I could even talk about Roy Halladay being traded. This is what I came up with.

To say that I was looking forward to seeing him pitch again is a bit of an understatement.

However, right now I'm not so sure. Seeing him with another team would be like seeing your ex girlfriend with another man. I know Doc would be well received here in Toronto, but I can honestly say this here and now: I was hoping to see the Blue Jays knock the hell out of him. You see, I have come to realize that no matter what, the team is more important than its players. Even the best players. Even the phan favorites. Trading away a future Hall of Famer kinda forces you to do just that.

Here is a quote from young lefty pitcher Ricky Romero shortly after Doc threw his perfect game for you. It pretty much sums up my current state of mind:

“There was a guy here that did it really, really well,” Romero said. “You try to learn from that.”
But instead of reminiscing about the Halladay era, Romero reminded reporters of the new reality in Toronto: Halladay wears a different uniform and could face the Jays when Toronto plays the Phillies in late June. So, while Romero had plenty of praise for Halladay, he’s also prepared to face his former teammate. “I’m sure everyone in here is happy for Doc, but we’ve got to take care of our business,” he said. “He’s our enemy now.”

In conclusion, I hope you all enjoy the extra three "home games" for your Phillies this weekend. I know it will be odd to see your team hit first and with that stupid Designated Hitter rule in your park. A fitting end to a total screw up by all parties involved. Toronto folks get the G20 and Philadelphia phans get our home games. In my eyes, we can call the whole Joe Carter walk-off home run to win the World Series thing even now. ;)

Total low blow, I know. But I'm not even gonna pretend like I'm sorry.




Stop by the site sometime and say hello won't ya? Or stay in touch via the twitter.

Comments

Ian Hunter said…
Good to see that Romero has his game face on, but deep down I think he (and the rest of the Jays) miss Doc. But it would be a shame to see them get all sentimental before battle.

Go Jays!

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Interview: Reading second baseman Jesmuel Valentin

Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...

Catching prospect O'Hoppe tabbed to join Phillies

Logan O'Hoppe, image- Jay Floyd Please consider supporting my work and via my Patreon page .  For a small monthly fee, your patronage will get you exclusive interviews and other prospect related material as well as early access to all of my other content such as this feature.  Thank you.   On Friday, the Phillies added a pair of catchers to their 2020 player pool.  Minor leaguers Logan O'Hoppe (pronounced Oh-HOP-ee) and Henri Lartigue arrived in Philadelphia to help catch bullpen sessions for the team's collection of approximately 30 pitchers. The call to O'Hoppe was extremely welcome as the 20-year-old had been staying as active as he possibly could, working out with other players that have been been waiting out quarantine due to the current pandemic at his home on Long Island.  However, he had been very eager to step back onto an actual baseball field. "I just hope I can play soon.  Where ever that is or whatever form that is, that'd be aw...

Chris Truby Speaks on Santana & Other BlueClaws Matters

On Monday, it was announced that the Astros selected outfielder Domingo Santana as the player to be named later in the late July trade that sent Hunter Pence to the Phillies. Santana, a Dominican born slugger, posted a .269 average with 7 HR and 32 RBI in 96 games with the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws. The 19-year-old is regarded as a five tool talent and has been ranked among the Phillies' top ten prospects by multiple national outlets. I had the opportunity to speak with Lakewood manager Chris Truby about Santana, the PTBNL list of five Phillies prospects that the Astros had to choose from, as well as other matters pertaining to the BlueClaws, as they enter the final few weeks of their regular season. Check out the media player below to hear the full interview. ______________________________________________ You can follow PhoulBallz on Twitter by clicking HERE . You can also connect with PhoulBallz on Facebook by clicking HERE .