Skip to main content

Moose Tracks, Vol. 2

Phillies minor league third baseman Moose Mattair checked in once again on Monday night to submit another diary entry, detailing his road trip from Washington State to Clearwater, Florida. Moose is returning to baseball after taking a year off to dabble in Division I college basketball.

On the road with Moose is his cousin Eric, who shared time behind the wheel and is helping with the move, as well as serving as a boisterous companion.

Check out what Moose had to say below and check back for more in the coming days.


We stayed in Dallas, Texas on Saturday night. We went out, there, and had a good time. It was an experience. We got to meet some southern belles and just had a good time there in Texas. We took some taxis around to see the city and watched the Seahawks/Bears game. Even though the Seahawks lost, it was still a good time.

Then after watching football we drove from Dallas to Baton Rouge, Louisiana yesterday. We dealt with heavy rain the entire way. We drove for about 9 hours and it just absolutely downpoured the whole time. We got caught up in some traffic, but made it in last night kind of late. We got up this morning primed and ready to finish the cross country trip. We got in at about 9:30 to (Anthony) Gose's house and got our stuff unloaded and went to Olive Garden and had a good dinner to celebrate the drive and now we're just tired as we could ever be. That's for sure.

We were doing the math and we drove just under 3,200 miles, and it took us 53 hours of driving, we went through 12 states and spent about $230 in gas.

Upon my arrival, Anthony Gose and Travis d'Arnaud are actually out in Arizona. Gose's wife was here and she gave us a key to their place, then she took off for Orlando. Those guys get back here on the 29th and I pretty much have free run of the house till they get here at the end of the month. It's a beautiful house that's actually in Holiday, Florida. It's a gorgeous house and I wouldn't expect anything less from Anthony Gose, who is a top notch dude, for sure.

I haven't seen any of the Phillies guys yet. I am actually going in to work out at the Carpenter Complex in Clearwater (on Tuesday). I talked to Sean, our strength and conditioning guy, and he said there are some pitchers down here for a mini camp, I don't know exactly what it is. I can't wait, something I look forward to the most is walking in, seeing my teammates after the long time off and getting those big hugs.

I plan to work out there on Wednesday as well.

After that, we are going to take our trip to Miami. The Heat are playing the Raptors on Saturday and we're going to try to get to that game. My cousin and I are also going to each get a tattoo while we're down there, but the information about that can not be disclosed at this time. We will just check out Miami and the southern part of Florida, while we have the opportunity (this coming weekend).


______________________________________________________

To read Moose Tracks, Vol 1, click HERE.

You can follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Connect with PhoulBallz.com on Facebook by clicking HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lidge Shaky, T-Mac Honored in Trenton

TRENTON, NJ- Brad Lidge made his second rehab appearance for the Double A Reading Phillies on Thursday night and it didn't go as well as the veteran reliever or the team had hoped. Lidge struggled with his command and turned in a rather poor outing for the club that entered the night in a playoff race, 1 game behind division rival Trenton for the Wild Card spot in the Eastern Division. On the disabled list since spring training with a strained right rotator cuff, Lidge experienced an elbow strain when he was working back from that issue in late May. In his outing against the Yankees affiliate in Trenton, Lidge displayed difficulty with his control as he threw three wild pitches, hit two batters, walked another and gave up a single, all while letting up two earned runs on 28 pitches in 2/3 of an inning. After the disappointing performance, Lidge was composed and focused on some positive aspects, having reached 89 and 90 MPH on scouts' radar guns, according to some reports. ...

Jason Knapp Q&A

PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...

Eric B Needs to be Cut (and My Name is Rakim)

While the Phillies are on a hot streak this month, one player on the team is not. Eric Bruntlett is 1-for-12 in July. Since the start of May, Bruntlett's apex in batting average has been .167 on June 14th. Bruntlett's ineptitude can be tolerated no longer. Get rid of this guy NOW! Eric B. is the 2009 Endy Chavez. Remember Endy...the guy who in 2005 managed just 2 hits in his final 42 games played as a Phillie? That is about the sort of output the Phillies are getting from Bruntlett, and it's time to fix this void. Julio Lugo was designated for assignment last week by the Red Sox and is expected to become a free agent. The Metropolitans are rumored to be interested. Why wouldn't the Phillies be interested in a guy who could surely outhit Bruntlett? Lugo was hitting .284 through 37 games played this season with Boston. Suspended Lehigh Valley IronPig Pablo Ozuna is eligible to return next Wednesday. Ozuna is batting .294 through 51 games at triple A. Miguel Cairo is also...