Bring Me the Head of Charlie Manuels
Well plodding through the Phillies blogs and message boards was quite an adventure this morning, with everyone either hung over from the extended loss last night or just blantly pissed beyond belief. Yeah I bought myself some port and stilton cheese for dessert for tonight, so getting hung over won't be a problem.
As for me I was:
a) Too damn tired to give a shit,
and
b) Felt indifferent.
Along those lines, everyone also wanted to call for Manuels termination as GM of the 2006 Philadelphia Phillies, and I don't blame anyone for feeling that disgusted and disappointed. What happened last night was insane, like the last two seasons of the X-Files. It was a train wreck waiting to happen but you can't help but to look at it anyway, and as that wide, far out ball hit by the opposite team went "outta here!" I knew we were seriously screwed.
However, as PO'd as everyone is at the moment, about the bullpen, the management, the players, they're lack of skill or they're great ball playing; let's just step back a moment. Just give me a minute before you go on to whatever else you are doing. Disclaimer: I am not a Manuels apologist by any means, I give everyone the criticism they deserve.
First off, stop setting up big expectations for the team, not everyone makes it to the playoffs and even when they get to the playoffs they may not make it to the pennet or World Series. There are some players that we have that shouldn't even be in the bigs in the first place like Nuez and Franklin, and something is going on with J-Roll lately that I can't seem to understand.
Second of all, relax and just enjoy the game for what it is than for what it isn't. I like baseball because I like baseball first, and I bleed red and gray second; but at the end of the day I still love the game irregardless of who is playing whom and when and where, etc. That doesn't make me an unloyal Phillies fan; I love the Phils, I've loved them since I was a child in 1994 when I was in Girl Scouts and got the chance to see a few games with our group.
Yet I'm not going to waste my time being pissed off, or quit watching the games because my team is losing; lifes to short to be pissed about a ball game while there are more pressing issues happening out in the world at the moment like the Iraq War, constant tax cuts for the rich, AIDS spreading in Africa, genocide in Sudan.
I think calling for Charlie Manuels head is the least of our problems as a whole, and let's just keep the game in perspective with everything else happening at the moment.
As for tonight, I'm deeply saddened to hear that King Cole will not be playing because of a broken arm/shoulder. Big bummer there. Lidle will be starter tonight instead.
Some of my hopes:
I hope Utley, Howard, Abreu, and Victorino can hit a few homers, especially Utley who can't seem to function when he is at another teams stadium. Howard was off last night and couldn't seem to get one in the stands either.
It would be prudent to use our best pitchers (Gordon) and batters in the last few innings, especially when the score is at a tie or close.
Score early and keep at it up until the very last minute; since one major problem with the Phillies is inconsistency. When the Phillies play well, they play really well; but when they are bad they are horrible. Trying to get one in the hole would be nice, especially when the bases are loaded.
I hope David Bell has another sweet night.
At this point, it's all up in the air; good luck with your game tonight Phils, just make it shorter so I can go to sleep by 11 PM than at 12:30 AM.
As for me I was:
a) Too damn tired to give a shit,
and
b) Felt indifferent.
Along those lines, everyone also wanted to call for Manuels termination as GM of the 2006 Philadelphia Phillies, and I don't blame anyone for feeling that disgusted and disappointed. What happened last night was insane, like the last two seasons of the X-Files. It was a train wreck waiting to happen but you can't help but to look at it anyway, and as that wide, far out ball hit by the opposite team went "outta here!" I knew we were seriously screwed.
However, as PO'd as everyone is at the moment, about the bullpen, the management, the players, they're lack of skill or they're great ball playing; let's just step back a moment. Just give me a minute before you go on to whatever else you are doing. Disclaimer: I am not a Manuels apologist by any means, I give everyone the criticism they deserve.
First off, stop setting up big expectations for the team, not everyone makes it to the playoffs and even when they get to the playoffs they may not make it to the pennet or World Series. There are some players that we have that shouldn't even be in the bigs in the first place like Nuez and Franklin, and something is going on with J-Roll lately that I can't seem to understand.
Second of all, relax and just enjoy the game for what it is than for what it isn't. I like baseball because I like baseball first, and I bleed red and gray second; but at the end of the day I still love the game irregardless of who is playing whom and when and where, etc. That doesn't make me an unloyal Phillies fan; I love the Phils, I've loved them since I was a child in 1994 when I was in Girl Scouts and got the chance to see a few games with our group.
Yet I'm not going to waste my time being pissed off, or quit watching the games because my team is losing; lifes to short to be pissed about a ball game while there are more pressing issues happening out in the world at the moment like the Iraq War, constant tax cuts for the rich, AIDS spreading in Africa, genocide in Sudan.
I think calling for Charlie Manuels head is the least of our problems as a whole, and let's just keep the game in perspective with everything else happening at the moment.
As for tonight, I'm deeply saddened to hear that King Cole will not be playing because of a broken arm/shoulder. Big bummer there. Lidle will be starter tonight instead.
Some of my hopes:
I hope Utley, Howard, Abreu, and Victorino can hit a few homers, especially Utley who can't seem to function when he is at another teams stadium. Howard was off last night and couldn't seem to get one in the stands either.
It would be prudent to use our best pitchers (Gordon) and batters in the last few innings, especially when the score is at a tie or close.
Score early and keep at it up until the very last minute; since one major problem with the Phillies is inconsistency. When the Phillies play well, they play really well; but when they are bad they are horrible. Trying to get one in the hole would be nice, especially when the bases are loaded.
I hope David Bell has another sweet night.
At this point, it's all up in the air; good luck with your game tonight Phils, just make it shorter so I can go to sleep by 11 PM than at 12:30 AM.
posted by MRL at 1:38 PM
3 Comments:
About the link, we will do it. I don't know how, and my fellow blogger is out of town on vacation. Probably some time next week...don't fret.
About the negativity: I'm negative by nature with the Phillies. I love baseball first and foremost as well, but I can't help but being consumed by the Phillies season each and every year. Usually I'm very optimistic about the season, this year I didn't expect shit from them. I'm more pissed off this season and noticably critical because of this blog thing. I go to blogs and read people posts defending the likes of Manuel, Gillick, Nunez, Bell and get very angry. It's one thing to defend Pat Burrell who struggles at times, but is overall a very good player. But it's another thing to say it isn't Manuel's fault...c'mon the dude is just not managerially gifted, not even somewhat!
I didn't say it was Manuel's fault, I was pointing out that; in regards to what else is going on in the world it's not nearly as important. That's just how I view it, but I also don't walk into every game with the expectation that the Phils will win.
GM Manuels isn't at all the best GM out there, and some of our players don't seem to have there heart in it either, and you already know who these guys are anyway.
That's just how I see it.
MRL, I completely understand what you were saying about how baseball fits in perspectively with the world's problems. To me, baseball in my diversion, and getting mad at it is fun for me for some strange reason. I guess because I'm so passionate it feels great to be very high or even low, because usually you get to rebound from the lows.
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