Comments

[NEPP]

Game On!!!

[Andy]

to start the evening
and a game of importance:
a wondrous graphic

[TNA]

wow. awesome header picture. that's why BL is singular in a constellation of MLB blogs.

[NEPP]

That's some serious photoshop work right there.

[mikes77phillies]

PEDRO!!

Let's get started!!

[NEPP]

So would Smoltz be able to work out of the BP at his age? I mean, he could be a good option for as short burst. From watching him this year in Boston, its been more of a big inning thing for him rather than a general level of sucking.

At maybe $1 million remaining on his deal, it might make sense to check him out if he can pitch out of the pen.

[doubleh]

"Pedro" looks like the old Gap logo font from the 70's.

[gobaystars]

intimidating

[NEPP]

My only question is why is Pedro on that graphic with Jamie Foxx?

[Spitz]

By my quick calculation, Lidge has come into 8 games with the Phillies up by a run in the 9th. The result of those 8 games: 3 saves, 5 blown saves. Ouch.

Come on Pedro.

[TampaxJackson]

6 innings, 2 runs, 5 k

[Andy]

On the over/under thing, something occurs to me.

[Andy]

There's always a way to game the system.

[NEPP]

Most impressive Pedro Stat:

1997-2003 (7 seasons)

118-36 (.766), 1761 K in 1408 IP, 2.20 ERA, 0.940 WHIP, 213 ERA+

Ridiculous, simply ridiculous.

[Andy]

If you take the over, that is.

[Andy]

Incidentally, 'Jackson, that's a borderline tag.

.

.

I like it.

[Lake Fred]

I'm on vacation at Gulf Shores, Alabama with my family. Tonight, they wanted to go out and eat a vacation dinner at a fancy expensive restaurant. Wrong! Thanks to Pedro and ESPN, we are dining in tonight in the hotel room with Domino's finest pizza. Go Pedro!

[NEPP]

Lake Fred, you are a true fan.

[doubleh]

Nolasco struggling in Houston. 5ER in the 1st. Could be a rough night for the NL East all around, but I sure hope not.

[Andy]

The other way to game the over/under thing is to begin a discussion of the Monasterios deal. Or even Lidge for Bourn. Or Blanton for prospects. Or Padilla for nothing. Or how much money we still owe Thome at this point in the season.

[joe l]

Wait, Domino's makes pizza?

[NEPP]

Honestly, I still don't think we ever become a World Series champ team without jettisoning Bobby Abreu. He was a no-talent hack while he was here.

[awh]

gobaystars, you asked this afternoon about Larry Bowa's offense.

As others have noted, he played in an era when defense was the primary reason teams had SS on the field.

Bowa still has the highest lifetime fielding percentage of any SS - ever.

He still managed to get 2191 hits in 16 seasons. He was also a pretty good base stealer - 318 lifetime.

SS was, until fairly recently, looked at as a defense first position.

That's why guys like Phil Rizzuto (1588 hits, 13 seasons) and Pee Wee Reese (2170 hits, 16 seasons), Arky Vaughan (2103 hits, 14 seasons) and Travis Jackson(1768 hits, 15 seasons) are in the HOF.

[Andy]

joe -
On Staten Island, you want to skip the Domino's and call either Joe and Pats or Denino's. A lot of blue collar folks prefer Denino's, but the Joe and Pat's is an amazing thin crust margherita pizza made with garofalo bufala. Great stuff. Plus their walking distance from my house.

[doubleh]

NEPP: Oh, God no...did you have to bring that up? Brace for the deluge.

[NEPP]

Rizzuto is more in the HOF because of the team he played for.

[awh]

NEPP, are you taking over for clout as the resident agent provocateur?

[Andy]

NEPP - I suppose you thought Burrell was the second coming of Chuck Klein, too. (Except without the defense, speed and batting average.)

(See, if we can get an Abreu/Burrell/Ibanez discussion going AND a who-makes-the-best-pizza? The over gets it easy.)

[NEPP]

Chuck Klein doesn't hold a candle to Pat's greatness.

[Andy]

(hh - He's counting on the deluge. Remember? He predicted we'd break 800 posts tonight.)

[awh]

NEPP, I agree about Rizzuto, but do you disagree about my overall point?

[Andy]

Yeah, but Sam Thompson makes Burrell and Klein look like nanny goats.

[awh]

hh, calm down.

Maybe clout will miss that post.

[joe l]

Andy - I'm stuck in the Boston burbs, ie, pizza wasteland. There's an overpriced chain, Upper Crust, that's decent, but for anything good you gotta head into the North End of the city.

[NEPP]

No, I completely agree on your point about SS. It has always been a defense first (and very often defense only) position. Ripken was one of the first to break that mold.

[Andy]

awh:
What's Arky Vaughn's career OPS+?

[NEPP]

Yeah, there's no pizza in the Boston burbs. Well, when I lived there, there was one decent place out in Westford but that's pretty far out there.

[gobaystars]

Right on about Bowa. And whoever said Rizzuto is in the hall because of team he played for is half right. His broadcasting career was part of it too. His friends in the veterans committee voted him in. Biggest sham in the hall.

[Andy]

At age 23, Arky Vaughn did this:

.385 .491 .607 1.098

I'd take that from a "defensive shortstop."

[Spitz]

joe l, while boston pizza isnt as good as new york, its far from a pizza wasteland. try finding a good slice anywhere in california. you have to hunt really hard in SF. In LA, its impossible.

[Andy]

baystars: I hear the Money Store financed the get out the vote campaign.

[NEPP]

I remember living in N. Virginia...it was impossible to find good pizza or any type of hoagie/sub shop. Total wasteland on that type of food.

[Baumer]

im freaking excited...

though I'm skeptical that he will post any kind of numbers better than our man Pappy.

but I'm still excited.

[Andy]

(NEPP - if we can clear the first comment page before the game starts, we'll be in pretty good shape.) (At least to make the 350 level.)

[NEPP]

The better Pedro does, the higher the count will be. Of course, if he completely and utterly implodes, it might be really high too.

[Andy]

Spitz - When we lived in Oakland, we used to go to this place on Alameda run by Afghanis. The sauce was too sweet, but the crust (ever had Afghani bread?) was absolutely dynamite.

[awh]

Andy, Vaughan's OPS+ is pretty high at 136.

Keep in mind, though, that he was voted in before advanced stats like that were used to evaluate players.

Besides, if OPS+ were the only tool they used, Luis Aparicio (OPS+ 82) wouldn't belong, would he?

[NEPP]

I wonder how pumped he'll be in the 1st? I'm guessing he hits 93/94 in the first and then settles down and pitches at 88-90 the rest of the way.

[mikes77phillies]

Always been a big Pedro fan. I was tested the last couple years while he was with Mets. Suprising how easy it was for me to root against him once he became a Met. Now I get to like him again... Hopefully.

Come on Pedro. Turn back the clock.

[NEPP]

Yeah, but Aparicio was a defensive wizard...and a great speed threat early in his career (500+ SB). He's a legit HOF.

[Andy]

awh - I actually agree with your point. I was just saying that Vaughn didn't belong on your list. He killed the ball. Every year. Forget the advanced stats, people knew what he was hitting relative to other guys. Ask clout, he used to go to Forbes just to watch him. I bet.

[Spitz]

Andy - thanks for the recommendation. I'll have to check that out. I live near Zante's Pizza in SF, which is famous for Indian Pizza - made on nan bread with Indian spices. Pretty good stuff for the once in a while, but definitely not the old standby pizza places common on every corner in east coast cities.

[Andy]

Ten minutes to go and we didn't even break 50 comments yet. I'm gonna have to start writing haikus. Or maybe Burma Shave posts. I've never tried that.

(Oooohh. Or I could use an html tag and "forget" to turn it off. Then about a dozen people would try to turn it off themselves. I bet no one's done that before.)

[joe l]

@NEPP - I'm out in Acton, which is pretty close to Westford... happen to remember the place?

[NEPP]

Its in the shopping center across from the Market Basket...can't recall the name. There was also a decent place in Groton.

[Andy]

Spitz - It was a while back. I left Richmond in 2003; so it might be closed or under new ownership.

[NEPP]

Its in the same shopping center as the D'Angelos Sandwich shop.

[awh]

If we're going to use OPS+, then Leo Durocher (66), Red Schoendienst (92) and a few other guys don't belong in the HOF either.

[Andy]

WHEN YOUR STAFF IS GETTING LAMER

[Noah]

Durocher's in as a manager.

[Andy]

AND YOU DON'T MIND GOING RETRO

[Spitz]

Andy, did you hear about the toll collector that got shot on the Richmond Bridge last night? Horrific story - I'm sure its on CNN or at least SFGate still.

[NEPP]

Rabbit Marranville?

82 OPS+

[Andy]

GET YOURSELF A HALL OF FAMER

[NEPP]

Pedro in a Phillies uniform...awesome.

[Andy]

AND HIRE YOU SOME PEDRO

[NEPP]

No Joe Morgan?!?

YES!!!!!!!

[awh]

NEPP, I didn't say Aparicio didn't belong. I was merely pointing out that using one measure can give a misleading impression of a player's career.

[Andy]

BURMA SHAVE.

[dlhunter]

Why the heck do they have to black this out? It's in Chicago for chrissake!

[NEPP]

Ooops...misread your post then. Its a good point. There is far more to a player than his OPS+.

[Andy]

Spitz - No. I didn't hear that. Sounds awful. People can do stupid things.

[NCPhilly]

Reporting for duty to help with the over/under comment count on the game thread with inane comments like "Woohoo", "Ugh", and "Oppo Boppo!!!!"

[Hope SE]

Well done, Andy.

[joe l]

@NEPP: Pizza express? (BTW, I dunno which is more overrated, TC Lando's or D'Angelo's.)

[Spitz]

For once, I won;t be disappointed if the Phils go 1-2-3 in a quick top of the first!

[NEPP]

D'Angelos is completely overrated. Their stuff is okay but nothing special.

[NEPP]

Yeah, Pizza Express was decent (though sometimes they didn't cook it long enough). Other than that, they were reliable for non-Pizza Hut/Dominos pizza.

[gobaystars]

As a child I lived in North Jersey and was subject to, among other indignities, mets and yankees broadcasts on a daily basis. One time during Rizzuto's reading of the birthdays he said "happy birthday Bobby from your aunt and soon to be uncle. Uhh is that some kind of a change she's having?" To which his broadcast partner had to chime in "No Phil I think they are getting married." Amazing.

Anyway, I wanna see everyone "Getting Casual" tonight!

[The Truth Injection]

Where does this Pedro start rank in most anticipated starts in Phillies history?

Top 20? Would you go Top 10?

[NEPP]

Come on Jimmy!

[NEPP]

At least Jimmy made him work for it. Let's wear this guy down.

[MG]

Phils in Florence is a wonderous thing. Catch the first few innings if Pedro tonight via mlb app.

[Andy]

Cub Announcer about the Phillies hitters:
"If they sense you can't find the strike zone, they'll just wait you out."

I swear. You can't make this stuff up.

[NEPP]

VICTASTIC!!!

[Andy]

woo-hoo

[NCPhilly]

Victorino is actively helping Martinez.

[NEPP]

Now with a guy on 3rd and 1 out...WE NEED TO SCORE THIS RUN.

[dlhunter]

Hey now!

[NEPP]

At least Bradley's getting some cardio work in here.

[Andy]

TTI - I know I eagerly awaited Tyler Green's first start.

Go Uts!

[joe l]

Sleeping Giant awakened?

[NEPP]

RYNO WITH THE TRIPLE!!!!!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dlhunter]

Hey now!

[NCPhilly]

Phillies have found a spot they like... right field corner. Howard flashing some speed! Did not look like a triple hit.

[redbeard]

fastest big man in the league HANDS DOWN!

[dlhunter]

Will Pedro debut at the plate before the mound?

[Casey]

I'm sensing a change of season...

[SmokyJoe]

That helps the avg w/ RISP

[Hope SE]

How does Howard you beat the shift for a triple?