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Sporting Life
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| photo from thespec.com |
| Dan Carcillo was not implicated in the incident. |
I don't have any bloggity quips for this. It's just bizarre and it bummed me out. According to the Daily News's Stephanie Farr, some Flyers fans got into a knife fight in the Northeast.
In the bizarre incident, two Flyers fans who took a bus trip to see their team play in New Jersey were critically stabbed by other Flyers fans who were awaiting the bus' return at a bowling alley in Northeast Philadelphia, police said.
...
During the course of the argument, the cop's 28-year-old brother was stabbed once in the chest and once in the back by a man in a Flyers' jersey, Northeast Detectives said.
Another occupant of the bus, a 26-year-old man, was stabbed once in the back by a different assailant who also wore a Flyers jersey, this one with ripped sleeves, police said.
On the upside, the Flyers has look pretty amazing in their first two games. Ray Emery blanked the Canes on Friday, and a crazy, cannonballing offense destroyed Marty Brodeur and the Devils on Saturday. Thi Pronger guy's pretty good, eh?
The Phillies are playing things close to the chest with regards to their playoff rotation in that they've not yet announced it. In fact, all they've announced is that they're not announcing it.
So we'd like you, dear readers of the clogosphere, to pick the rotation for them.
Of the pitchers on the Phillies roster who've started games in September (not including Jamie Moyer who's out for the season), what 4 pitchers should be in the rotation? And what should that rotation be, which is to say, who should start Wednesday's 2:37 p.m. Division Series opener and so forth?
The Phillies bats will have to come alive in unusun. The pirchers will have to go deep or we wont win the series
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| photo from flyers.nhl.com |
The NHL season starts Thursday! The Flyers play Carolina on Friday! I'm watching the Red Wings play a team called Farjestad BK right now! Unless the IT people stop me! So. Let's take a look at all the predictions and soothsayings being predicted and soothsaid:
The Hockey News says the Flyers will win the Stanley Cup. It's nice to hear somebody else say that besides myself to myself every year. Read why they love Philly here.
Jon Buccigross of ESPN sees the Flyers coming in 4th in the conference and concludes: "The Flyers are tougher and deeper and have higher expectations. They should. They are good; if they raise the Cup in June, it will not be a shock."
I like Bucci, even though he a) thought it was a good idea for the Flyers to sign a bunch of Uruk-hai defensemen (Hatcher et al.) when everybody else was going for small and quick and b) quotes Guster with a straight face. Generally, though, Bucci doesn't just like hockey, he gets it. Case in point:
The Flyers won a Stanley Cup in their seventh season of existence in 1973-74; they won another Cup the following season. In all, Philadelphia has made seven Cup finals appearances in 30 years. It's quite a run. It's no mystery why the Flyers have such a passionate and loyal fan base. Besides the cool-sounding name, a name that fits like few others in sports, and how the DNA of hockey fits perfectly with the DNA of Philly, the Flyers simply have been good for a long time.
If you were born in the mid-'60s in Philadelphia, you have been privy to one of the most consistent and entertaining hockey teams in the NHL. Cups, Broad Street Bullies, Bob Clarke's toothless grin, Ron Hextall, Eric Lindros, the Legion of Doom, Keith Jones!, 378 goalies since 1997 and the current crop of players (drafted, traded for and/or free agents). The Flyers are once again an elite team, and there is a 7-year-old kid in south Jersey who will put on skates for the first time in the winter, fall in love with the game and this season's Flyers team and become a Flyers fan for life.
Read his assessment of the East here.
Bleacher Report, which I guess is a web site, says the Flyers will come in 4th in their division and dismissed Chris Pronger as old. Read that here, for some reason.
Covers.com, a betting site, calls the Flyers "the new beasts of the East" and praises the Pronger deal. They conclude: "the Flyers are the most complete team in the Eastern Conference and have a great shot finishing at the top." Read it here.
Sports Illustrated calls Ray Emery a wild card but sums it up like this: "On paper, they Flyers boast what could be the league's most balanced and talented team, top to bottom. Anything less than a trip to the conference final would be a grim failure." Read that here.
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| Am I scary now? |
Last night the Phils got a solid start out of J.A. Happ, incredibly timely hitting off the bats of Pedro Feliz and Jayson Werth, and, perhaps most importantly, a big INCREDIBLY HUGE two-inning save from Ryan Madson. I can't seem to find footage of it (and if you have it, please share), but Madson's ninth inning looks to be the key to the rest of the Phils' season if it continues past this weekend.
Madson had already thrown a dominating 8th and the crowd could see Brad Lidge warming in the bullpen. As the Phils took the field for the top of the ninth inning, I think the entire crowd's ears were perked up, trying to hear if Lidge's intro music would pour out of the stadium speakers. But then Madson's lanky frame emerged from the dugout and the crowd erupted in applause — half in appreciation and half in relief.
Madson allowed two of the first three batters in the ninth reach base. With one out and Kaz Matsui and Lance Berkman on second and first, Madson, after a meeting at the mound with pitching coach Rich Dubee, reached down for a little something extra to strike out the always-dangerous Carlos Lee.
Which brought Phillie killer Hunter Pence to the plate.
Madson got two quick strikes on Pence and then — and this is why I'd like to see the replay — channelled Dickie Noles circa 1980 and knocked Pence on his ass with a pitch thrown, as it appeared from my seat on the first base line, high and tight. We'll probably never know if Madson did this on purpose, but Madson's next pitch froze Pence and he was called out on strikes to end the game.
Did Ryan Madson just discover the nastiness he seemed to be lacking in the closer's role?
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| nasa.gov |
| Chase Utley and Cole Hamels |
Just a quick note about the Chicken Little-ing going on regarding the Phillies' shrinking lead in the National League East.
While the hometown nine's play of late has certainly been cause for concern, let's all remember that last year, with 6 games left to play, the Phillies held just a 1.5 game lead on the Mets (remember them?) and had been in first place all of five days since falling a half game behind them on Sept. 19, 2008.
And please recall 2007 when the Phillies were actually 2 games out of first place with six games left to play (which I guess serves as much as a cautionary tale as inspiration).
All of which is to say that while you shouldn't stop worrying about the bullpen, and Charlie Manuel's predilection for blowing out his starters to avoid using it, you should also remember that it's better to be four games up than up 1.5 or down 2. And that it's much better to have a magic number than to be focusing on someone else's
And for those wondering about 1964, well, consider that the Phillies had already fallen into third by this point in that magical season, and that of current Phillies, only Jamie Moyer was even alive then.
(All figures courtesy of The Baseball Race.)
The problem isn't the shrinking lead- the problem is if we slip to third in the NL, and have to win all three possible playoff series's on the road. Only the 2003 Marlins and 2006 Cardinals did that in the wild card era. Worse yet, if the Braves win the wild card, we have to play the Cardinals and their scary starters in a best-of-five - and did we look like we could hit the likes of Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright last night? Read this and see why we really need to be worried, at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2228719/phillies_choke_away_yet_another_golden.html
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| Click for video |
Not quite sure how to put into words how bizarre this is, but there's a news segment on tv-tokyo.co.jp that appears to be about the recession's effects on the wealthy in the U.S.: There are shots of empty stores for lease on Rodeo Drive, a behind-the-scenes report on how pawn shops work, and then, 3:00 in, out of the blue, you see Lenny Frakking Dykstra, looking like some kind of high-class hobo, pawning his World Series and All Star rings.
Dykstra and the Telly Savalas-looking pawn shop guy's conversation is drowned out by the Japanese overdub, making it impossible to hear what they're saying. Dykstra, whose financial problems are well known and myriad, almost certainly appears caught unawares.
Any Japanese speakers out there able to translate what exactly is being said in this segment? Please share in the comments section.
Please enjoy the babelfish translation of the text that appears below the video:
American prominent high-class residential town [bibarihiruzu]. The wave of recession had done wealthy layer direct bomb hit. The high-class clock and the treasure ornament item pledge were done in the pawnbroker which continues 30 year coming business. Recently it means that the enterprise manager increases. Furthermore the Motohiro league member it appeared while collecting materials with the token of self active age.
[...] after baseball. Last year’s stock market crash hit him hard. It’s come to this: Not quite sure how to put into words how bizarre this is, but there’s a news segment on [...]
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Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky – who, for the record, I like – got it wrong in his piece today on the new Center City bike lanes.
Writes Stu:
What's not good was expressed by neighborhood resident Scott Shandler, 33, walking his Boston bull terrier, Lexie, when he saw the press gaggle and asked what was happening. When he learned a full traffic lane of Pine and Spruce had been dedicated (surrendered?) to bicyclists, he said, "I don't like it at all" because "there's not enough room for everyone."
Scott Shandler's right, in a way: lack of space is a big issue, especially in Center City – but because there are too many cars.
Yeah, I know what's coming. You know where the comment section is. But for those out there who didn't blow-torch their ears shut on this issue long ago, hear me out:
You know, perfectly well, drivers – better than anyone – that traffic sucks in Center City. Parking sucks. The streets are narrow; the traffic flow is byzantine.
That's not bikes' fault – it's other cars that are holding you up, buddy. The roots of the problem are more than half a century old. In the glory days of super-cheap gas, we filled our cities with streets, highways, and cars, cars, cars. We built roads bigger and bigger to try and get the cars through them quicker – but they just kept filling up. We built interstate highways through the hearts of our cities – right through beautiful Fairmount Park in our case – and those filled up, too.
Stu complains that we've given "prime real estate" over to bikes – an absurd notion when you compare it with the valuable real estate – virtually our entire city – that we've given over to cars.
The fact that so many people have to drive every day – and no one's saying that isn't the case – is largely the result of half a century of building our cities around cars. We can't reverse those decisions overnight, but putting in a couple of bike lanes is a pretty cheap way to start – a hell of a lot cheaper than those tax-subsidized highways we've all paid for.
Being pro-bike lanes doesn't mean being anti-cars. Hell, the fewer people driving, the less traffic for you, my automotive friend.
And as for Stu's complaint – so often echoed by readers here on the Clog – that bikers behave badly:
Stu: Most of the bad bikers out there are simply inexperienced and scared. Riding in traffic is scary. You want bikes to behave more consistently? Give them a lane.
Which is exactly what we did.
Last, I hereby invite Stu to ride the lanes with me. We can start by the Delaware, end at the Schuylkill, and have some cheese and crackers and talk about it.
[...] by people on the "cyclists are scofflaws" side of the urban biking argument whenever these things are hollered [...]
"Stu Bykofsky: Bicyclists given too much roadway?" was the headline.
$119.00 fine? They need to get somebody to start walking Washington Street and writing tickets. That's just wrong they haven't tapped that revenue flow.
Isaiah, you hit the nail on the head. "it's other cars that are holding you up, buddy." Back when I had a car, drivers were a bigger headache to me than bikers ever were. Give drivers 10 lanes and they'll block all 10 where two lanes would suffice if slower traffic would keep right. I love the bike lanes--and they're perfectly positioned in the right lane where slower traffic belongs (even if I do ride faster than a lot of cars).
Spot-on, Isaiah. I can't believe no one has mentioned that these two streets are exactly as wide as three car lanes, so it's impossible to have a lane of parking, two driving lanes, and a bike lane. It's all or nothing for bikers-- full car-width lane or weaving in and out and being dangerously passed by irresponsible drivers. Stu wants us to have nothing, other than a certain bloody hemorrhage death at the hands of cabs.
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| Illustration | Evan Lopez |
Yesterday's double-header sweep of the Mutts which officially, if anticlimactically, eliminated New York's junior team from playoff contention — putting an end to a season which for all intents and purposes ended two months ago — was a perfect microcosm of all that is right and wrong in the Phillies universe.
Game one saw the return to starterdom of one Kyle Kendrick, 2007 sensation, 2008 afterthought, 2009 headcase. Kendrick pitched into the 8th, allowed just two runs and left with a two run lead. Tyler Walker — by some metrics the Phils most effective reliever this season — was given a rare chance to pitch in a high-leverage situation and finished off the Mets' half of the 8th. The Phils tacked on an insurance run in their half of the 8th and then turned the ball over to Brad Lidge, who needed every bit of his three-run cushion to close out the win, "earning" his 29th save with a 1-inning, 2-earned run, 3-hit, 2-strikeout performance during which the beleaguered reliever threw 28 pitches and saw his ERA and WHIP rise to 7.18 and 1.82 respectively.
Pluses: Kendrick seems to have found his old ground-ball mojo, and having that kind of starting pitching depth like that helps a lot. The offense put up some runs, and two didn't even come via the long ball (a Ryan Howard double and an Andy Tracy single). Charlie Manuel finally saw fit to use Walker, a pitcher who has been a (middle of the road) closer in his career, in a higher-leverage situation (12 of Walker's last 14 appearances, and 18 of his total 23 in 2009, have been in losses).
Minuses: Brad "That Boy Ain't Right" Lidge is fumbling around in the ninth like a teenager making out for the first time.
Game two saw the Phils (albeit momentarily) solve the riddle of Tim Redding, putting a quick run on the board in a first inning that would be the site of all of the game's scoring and two thirds of the Phils hits for the contest. Pedro Martinez, likely rejoicing in the fact that if he could shut down the players wearing the same uniform he did last year (to call this rag-tag bunch of minor leaguers his former teammates would be stretching things), they would be officially eliminated from post-season play. And did Pedro ever shut the Mets down, throwing 8 innings of no-run baseball during which he allowed just 6 hits and 2 walks and struck out 7. He threw 130 pitches, which has to a concern going forward as the last time Pedro threw more than 130 pitches was May 1 in — wait for it — the year TWO THOUSAND AND ONE. Good thing they've got all that starting pitching depth. Ryan Madson finished the game off with his eighth save, inspiring confidence only in that he was less shaky than Lidge earlier in the day. Madson gave up a single in a ninth in which he was bailed out by an acrobatic play by Ryan Howard (and his own nice cover of first) and a lineout to Pedro Feliz.
Pluses: Pedro cowboyed up. Madson got it done. The Phils played some great defense, especially Carlos Ruiz, whose handling of a ball in the dirt and subsequent nailing of boneheaded Daniel Murphy trying to advance to third ended an eighth inning threat.
Minuses: The Phils scored just one run, and off a guy who remains a major league pitcher ONLY because of his bizarre ability to shut down the Phils. Manuel's sudden and warranted lack of confidence in his bullpen would be comical if it didn't result in him pushing an historically frail pitcher farther than he's been pushed since before the war on terror. Also, it's unfortunate that Manuel's lack of confidence in Lidge and Madson seems to have manifest itself in his ONLY using them, overlooking the likes of Chan Ho Park and the aforementioned Walker, both guys who could actually help fix this mess.
So what the hell do you make of this team, one with so many cylinders, none of which seem to be firing at the right time? Are they getting all the kinks out now? Or are they limping into the post-season where they'll be be completely exposed to a team with a hot hand — or, y'know, a closer?
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To commemorate yesterday's trip-9s — 9/9/09 — Major League Baseball is running a series of polls they're calling The All-Time 9 wherein fans are encouraged to choose their team's all-time best lineup from the best individual seasons at each position in the team's history.
It's sort of a wonky exercise, foremost because no one player can be represented by more than one season — i.e. Mike Schmidt probably has 10 seasons better than Dave Hollins' 1993, but Schmidt only gets one slot on the ballot, though that does reduce the risk of, say, Schmidt splitting the vote among himself, but I digress. It's also a little wonky because you're choosing a pitcher based on his hitting stats. But wonky and fun are not mutually exclusive. So let's jump in.
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| Vote for your All-Time 9 here. |
First Base:
This one's tough for a number of reasons, but most notably because it's really tough to compare numbers from different eras. Von Hayes' 1986 line would look a lot different had he been playing in a different era — a few more points of batting average, about 10 more home runs as per Baseball Prospectus' translated stats. The biggest jump here is Deron Johnson's 1971 line, which jumps to .267/46/114 when adjusted for context. Ryan Howard's 2006 MVP campaign takes a slight dip when cntextualized, but not nearly enough to unseat it as the greatest offensive 1B season in Phillies history. (Baseball Prospectus' translated stats attempt to normalize all statistics are a tool used in an attempt to accurately compare players who performed in eras with drastically different offensive conditions.)
Vote: Ryan Howard
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Second Base:
The pickings are a little slimmer at the keystone, but so far this poll puts into context just how lucky Phillies fans are to be watching the greatest ever at their respective positions. Samuel's 1987 looks quite a bit better when adjusted for era context, .265/33/102, but the numbers they don't show you here, namely Utley's on-base skills, make this a no-brainer.
Vote: Chase Utley
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Third Base:
More competitive than you'd have thought, as Allen's '66 season looks pretty good stacked up against Schmidt's 1980 campaign. Complicating matters, Allen put up his numbers in just 141 games. Further blurring things is that even though 1980 was not a particularly fecund offensive era, 1966 was a wasteland. The translated stats suggest that Allen's 1966 season indeed bests Schmidt's 1980 effort. Translated, Allen's line .325/52/126 with a .419/.730 OBP/SLG to Schmidt's .279/63/128, .386/.695. Everyone else here is chaff. Remember that we're talking purely offense here, and there's no other conclusion. This is surprising to me, but …
Vote: Dick Allen
Rest of the lineup after the jump...
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Shortstop:
Slim pickings here, as the Phils have a long history of all-glove, no-stick shortstops. I do think a case could be made for including Dickie Thon's 1989 season, as it's better than both Bowa's and Hamners, but there's not a lot of room for debate here: Jimmy Rollins is the Phillies' best offensive shortstop, and his 2007 MVP season is easily his best line.
Vote: Jimmy Rollins
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Catcher:
A tough one here, as the Phils have had a lot of guys put up decent numbers behind the plate, with none of them sticking out as "the guy." When it comes down to it, it's a three-horse race between Darren Daulton (though Dutch's 1992 is easily better than the 1993 campaign listed here), Andy Seminick and Stan Lopata (with apologies to Mike Lieberthal). And really, adjusted for context, it's still a toss-up. All three mix power and excellent on-base skills. If Daulton's 1992 campaign were in the mix rather than his 1993, he'd win by a nose, so my vote goes to him.
Vote: Darren Daulton
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Outfield:
This one's tough, and right about now my analytical patience is running a tad thin, so let's set some quick rules: There should be a CF, and two corner OF represented, which makes things a little less muddled. At CF, you've got juice enthusiast Lenny Dykstra squaring off against Richie Ashburn's excellent 1951 campaign and Cy Williams' excellent 1923. Not considering defense, I think you have to go with Williams, whose 41 home runs are impossible to ignore. At the corners, Chuck Klein's .386/40/170 season cannot be matched, but picking a second corner is a bit tougher. Ed Delahanty is a hall of famer, but most of his best seasons came before the turn of the century, which seems to be the cut-off point for this poll, and translating his 1901 line results in a big uptick in HR and a drop-off in batting average. Lefty O'Doul's near .400 campaign is largely the product of an insane offensive era, and I have a problem putting such a flash in the pan on my all-time team. I'm gonna go on a limb here and make Bobby Abreu's 2004 campaign my second corner OF, as his combination of power, speed and insane on-base abilities will look nice anywhere in this order.
Votes: Cy Williams, Chuck Klein, Bobby Abreu
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Pitcher:
This one's tough because pitchers have such small at-bat totals in any given season. Lefty's got rep as a pitcher with a good stick, and it was deserved. Randy Wolf was also good with the bat in his time here. But since we're dealing with such paltry sample sizes, I think it's fair to focus in on individual game performances and give the nod to Rick Wise for the June 23 no-hitter he threw, during which he hit 2 home runs, marking perhaps the best single-game performance by a pitcher ever (note, not the best pitching peformance, which likely goes to Harvey Haddix). Besides, Wise deserves a little recognition for a lifetime spent as the answer to the trivia question: Who did the Cardinals get in return for Steve Carlton.
Vote: Rick Wise
So that's my lineup, and here's how I'd bat them:
- Abreu
- Utley
- Klein
- Allen
- Howard
- Williams
- Daulton
- Rollins
- Wise
Baseball Musing's Lineup Analysis say your worst possible lineup would score 6.75 runs a game.
Wow, between E James Beale and Brian Howard, I can't figure out which CP writer knows less about sports. You guys really ought to give up the whole "sports reporting/opinion/whatever you want to call it." Because you suck at it.
Care to share why, Ed? Or is "you suck" the best argument you can conjure?
Man, where is Steve Jeltz in this conversation? That's all I want to know.
Brian, you clearly left out all the CLUTCH! players from your line up. Therefor you suck. By the way, I love the phrase "ought to" don't you? I mean it is just so much more folksy than "should." People who know about sports use words like "ought to," Brian. Let this be a lesson to you.
Now an Edgar Allan Poe enthusiast - that is from whom I would like to obtain my sporting news!
Ed, it's definitely me - BH knows his Cy Williams. And Corner outfielders be damned, I'm picking three center fielders and playing defense for days day. If the Gold Glove committee can do it in their imaginary life I'm doing it in mine: Dykstra, Ashburn and Chuck Klein.
For what it's worth, I'm rescinding my choice of Williams. I was temporarily blinded by those 41 home runs — which is not like me, but what can I say? Williams OBP and SLG were fairly pedestrian given the offensive climate in 1923. His Davenport Translation rate stats (and yes, I know DTs are not gospel) are .226/.319/.530 which just will not do. So between Dykstra's 1993 and Ashburn's 1951, the nod would go to Nails. However, Ashburn's '55 and '58 seasons are actually more impressive than his 51 campaign in terms of on-base percentage and slugging (he showed upticks in doubles and triples respectively), so I think I'll go off the board and choose Ashburn's 1958 campaign (.350/.440/.441 with 13 triples and 30 steals in 42 attempts). I plugged all of their Davenport Translated OBP and SLG into the Baseball Musings site Hoag pointed me to and came up with a lineup that for which the best possible configuration scored 8.5 runs a game and at worst scored 7. I'd still be concerned — if, you know, this fantasy land were possible — about the overall lefthandedness of the lineup, but I'll roll the 16-sided dice on it.
And Beth, you're right! That's why I'm putting Glenn Wilson on my team retroactively. Clutchiness is next to godliness.
Brian, I misunderstood the exercise here. I thought the plan was to put together the best hitting lineup of players who had played that position. I now realize all you wanted to do was pick the best individual stats for any particular year. My big gripe with the CP covering sports is that you guys aren't sports journalists. You just watch them on TV (or go to games) and spout your opinion. I can get that by listening to the idiots who call in to sports radio shows. Go out and do some real journalism.
Ed, I'll spare you the spiel about the size of our staff and cut to the quick: I'm not, as you insinuate, a sports reporter. But sports writing — as evidenced by the rise in popularity in Baseball Prospectus and Rob Neyer's ESPN column — is not all about getting quotes in the locker-room (which are generally canned anyway). There's significance in analyzing from afar and while, yes, I'd love to have a reporter in the locker room every game, I don't. I'm a fan, an armchair statistical analyst and someone who's been living and dying with the Phillies for 29 years. I've got a paper to run, but post on the Phillies when I think I have something to offer. Beale, on the other hand, does get access to games — he was in the press box for most of last year's Phillies playoff run and has contacts within the four majors. But in his role as a columnist, he's providing analysis. We don't cover sports the way the dailies do — we can't — but we do know sports and aren't about to pretend that a) they're not part of the city discussion and b) that we don't have something to offer. I'm sorry you're not a fan of the coverage, but I'd certainly welcome you as a debater in the comments section when you disagree. As to the all-time 9 ballot, I'd hoped I'd made it clear that MLB.com was looking for the single best purely offensive season at each position — a somewhat ridiculous, fantasy baseball-driven exercise if you ask me — but perhaps I should have been more clear. Schmidt and Ashburn are obvious choices on any all-time Phillies team based on longevity, consistency, and offensive and defensive excellence. But I was surprised at just how good Allen's 1966 season was given the offensive climate. Schmidt's myriad talents combined with an ability to not alienate/infuriate his teammates/fans combine to make him head-and-shoulders the best thirdbaseman to ever play for the Phillies or anywhere. But I'd never looked at Allen's stats and really considered the context.
To paraphrase the Minutemen, what makes a team stop hitting?
The Phillies mighty offense has, in the last week, gone ice cold. During that stretch, the starting pitching has gone a bit haywire and the already-fraying bullpen has come further unravelled.
The bullpen problems we're all aware of and will hopefully be ameliorated once the Phils get some of their injured guys back, healthy and in rhythm.
The starting pitching is what it is: Capable of amazing stretches, but also capable — even Cliff Lee as it turns out — of nights where the pitches all look like beach balls. (J.A. Happ's oblique strain is looking particularly bad-omen-y, I'll admit.)
But what the deuce is up with the offense? Yes, the Phils offense, even as recently as last season, was prone to extended dry spells, only to bounce back with a 10-run frame. But this season the engine — even despite Jimmy Rollins' early struggles and Raul Ibanez' more recently — seemed to be humming like a well-oiled machine.
What happened?
It's often said that facing a really tough pitcher — a Randy Johnson circa 2001, say — can disrupt a lineup for weeks. Is it possible that the Giants Jonathan Sanchez and/or Tim Lincecum completely threw the entire lineup's mojo out of whack?
What do you think is wrong with the Phils?
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