Virtual Bike Tour of Baseball Sites - Hempstead Texas

After several days of furious peddling, I've virtually made it to Hempstead Texas. Hempstead is the county seat of Waller County and has a population of about 5,000. It's not far from Houston. According to Wikipedia, Hempstead is known for its watermellons. I've lived in this area for 13 years and I didn't know that. What I know about Hempstead is that it is home to a large Ford dealership, which is owned by Ray Childress. Ray was a defensive lineman for the Houston Oilers from 1985-1996. He does his own television commercials where he promises to "clobber big-city prices". You can call the Clobber Line to get quotes over the phone.

According to baseball-reference.com, only one person born in Hempstead has ever played major league ball. That was Patrick Newnam who was born in 1880. Hempstead was only 24 years old in 1880 and probably looked just like a town in a Western movie. Newnam played for the St. Louis Browns. He appeared in 123 games between 1910 and 1911, with a batting average of .213. He hit 2 home runs. He died in 1938 in San Antonio.

Here's my updated route. In 10 days of riding, I've covered 69.83 miles in 4 hrs and 32 minutes. Next stop is Brenham Texas, birthplace of Astro's manager Cecil Cooper. Only about 20 miles to go.

Thursday Night at the Movies - City of Ember

This is a movie, that as far as I can tell, has received no buzz. It opened this week but I never heard of it until last last week, when one of the stars, Tim Robbins was on The Daily Show. Bill Murray, who is also in it, appeared on Letterman last week as well but I missed that. Martin Landau is also in the movie. Bu the real stars are the two young actors Harry Treadaway and Saoirse Ronan. The movie is based on the 2003 novel City of Ember written by Jeanne Duprau. The book is young adult fiction. My daughter, who wants to be a librarian specializing in young adult fiction had read it, liked it so came to the movie with us. The plot synopsis is simple enough. The City of Ember was buried 200 years ago to save a remnant of humanity from some disaster. After 200 years, the citizens of Ember have forgotten their origins and the city, especially the great generator which supplies power, is breaking down. It is up to two teenagers (Treadaway and Ronan) to find a way out of the city. I wouldn't hesitate to bring a kid as young as 8 or 9 to see this movie. But its not a kiddy movie. Lots of adult themes, like resignation, hope, love, loyalty and betrayal are explored.

The reviews I read were mostly not very enthusiastic but nobody seems to hate it. One called it the family movie of the year. We liked it and I'd recommend it.

Your 2008 National League Champion Phillies!

This is the starting lineup that Charlie Manual mostly used throughout the post season so far.
Jimmy Rollins - Shortstop Jimmy was the National League MVP in 2007. He didn't have quite as good a season this year, 30 home runs last year, for example, but only 11 this year. He did hit .375 in the NLDS against the Brewers and hit a lead-off home run in the clinching game of the NLDS. He tailed off in the NLCS, but once again, hit a lead-off homer in Game 5. You should not underestimate the effect of hitting a lead-off homer in such a big game. He also played his usual stellar defense.

Shane Victorino - Outfield Manual seemed to switch Shane and Jayson Werth between the 2nd and 6th batting spots just about every game. Whichever spot they were in, it also seemed, that one of them had a big hit in just about every game. Shane hit a grand slam off C. C. Sabathia in the 2nd game of the NLDS. He also hit .357 in the series. Just like Rollins, he tailed off in the NLDS, but his 2-run homer in the 8th of Game 4, tied the game and set up the 2-run homer by Matt Stairs that won the game. Victorino played both center and right fields and made a number of fine catches.
Chase Utley - 2nd Base Unlike Rollins and Victorino, Utley got off to a slow start in the postseason, only hitting .133 in the NLDS. But he roared back in the NLCS, hitting .353. He hit a key home run in the 6th inning of Game 1 to help knock Dodgers starter Derek Lowe out of the game. He also helped turn 7 double plays in the DLCS, including an unassisted one where he caught the ball on his knees and crawled to second base to double off the base runner.
Ryan Howard - First Base Ryan got off to his usual slow start this season, but his slow start stretched out longer than usual. But, after a fabulous September, he finished the season with 48 homers and 146 rbis, good enough to lead the league in both categories. He finished with a .251 average. He didn't have much of an impact in either series, hitting no home runs and only getting 3 rbis. But he also walked 8 times (while striking out 7 times). He did bat .300 in the NLCS and scored 4 runs.
Pat Burrell - Left Field Pat can become a free agent at the end of the season and there is a lot of speculation that this is his last season with the Phillies. He has not always been a fan favorite but he is a solid player. He had about an average season (career-wise) with 33 homers, 86 rbis and a .257 batting average. He hit 2 home runs in the 4th game of the NLDS. In the NLCS, he hit .333 and a homer in the key sixth inning against Lowe in Game 1.
Jayson Werth - Outfield Jayson was a free agent signing after the 2006 season and a pretty cheap pickup at only $850,000. He hit 24 home runs this year (almost half of his 6-year career total) and hit .273. He hit .313 in the NLDS and had several big hits. He wasn't much of a factor in the NLDS.
Pedro Feliz - Third Base Pedro was a free agent signing after the 2007 season after 8 seasons with the Giants. He had a subpar year statistically compared to his career, but he was also hurt for part of the season, playing only 133 games. He played a solid 3rd base in the post season but did not contribute much offensively.
Carlos Ruiz - Catcher In his 3rd season with the Phillies, Ruiz only hit .219. But was caught just about every inning in the post season. He had a couple of big hits in the NLCS.

Cole Hamels - Starting Pitcher Cole was the Phillies 1st round draft pick of the Phillies in 2002. After three seasons with the Phils he is 38 and 23 and the unquestioned ace of the staff. He won Game 1 of the NLDS and Games 1 and 5 of the NLDS. He was named MVP of the NLCS. In 22 innings of NLCS work, he pitched 22 innings, walked 6 and struck out 22. He was never in any serious trouble. In Game 5 he kept the bases empty in front of Manny Ramirez, so that even though Manny was 2 for 3 with a home run and a walk, he wasn't a factor in the game.

Brad Lidge - Closer Lidge came to the Phillies in a trade with the Astros (my other favorite team) after the 2007 season. The Astros got Michael Bourn in return. At the time, it was a toss up as to who got the better deal. Lidge only saved 19 games for the Astros in 2007. He'd had a rough World Series against the White Sox in 2005, and in 2006 and 2007 he didn't seem like the same pitcher. But coming to Philadelphia seems to have resulted in a full recover of whatever ailed him. He was 41-0 in save opportunities during the regular season with an ERA of 1.95. In 7 games in the post season, he pitched 7.1 innings, and got 5 saves. He gave up 1 ER, 3 walks and struck out 10.

Phillies take NLCS in 5!

I'll put up a longer post tomorrow but I had to crow tonight. The Dodgers are a great team but the Phillies outplayed them tonight. They kept base runners of the bases in front of Manny Ramirez, which I think was the whole key to this game. Cole Hamels gets the well deserved MVP for the series.

Bring on the Rays!

Phorgotten Phillie Phile - Jay Baller

1993 Donruss, Card #356

Even if you don't remember Jay Baller, if you're a Phillies fan, you know something about him. On December 9, 1982, the Phillies traded Baller, Julio Franco, Manny Trillo, George Vukovich, and Jerry Willard to the Indians for Von Hayes.

If you're a long time Phillies fan you'll remember that Von Hayes was often called "Old 5 for 1" while in Philadelphia. Baller was one of the 5.

Baller was the Phillies 4th round draft pick in 1979. He made his debut with the Phillies on September 19, 1982 and managed to get into 4 games, for 8 innings with 2 walks, 7 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.38.

Between 1983 and 1992, when he came back to the Phillies, Jay compiled a 4-9 record with 6 saves in 82 appearances. Most of this was with the Cubs in 1985-1987 but he spent time with the Indians, Cubs, Mariners, Expos, Royals and Astros. The Phillies signed him as a free agent in 1991 but he didn't play. They signed him again in 1992 and he appeared in 8 games for 11 innings and an ERA of 8.18. He retired after the 1992 season when nobody was interested in signing him.

Phillies Lead NLCS 3-1

The Phillies got off to a good start last night, scoring 2 runs off Derek Lowe who was pitching on 3 days rest. Lowe only lasted 5 innings but by then the Dodgers were up 3-2.

Manny Ramirez plated the second Dodger run in the fifth with an rbi single. I don't like to make too much about a single players performance in a series like this but Ramirez has been something. He is batting .500 with 6 rbis and something like 5 walks. He might be the series MVP even if the Dodgers lose (ok, not likely).

Joe Blanton started for the Phillies and he also only lasted until the 5th. His and Lowe's pitching line look very similar, except that Blanton had given up one more run. This game came down to the bullpens.

The Phillies ran 5 relief pitchers out there: Durbin, Eyre, Madson (who got the win), Romero, and Lidge (who got his 3rd save of the series). Together they only gave up one run.

The Dodgers ran 6 pitchers out there: Kershaw, Park (who got a blown save), Beimel, Kuo, Wade (who got the loss and the 2nd blown save of the game), and Broxton. Together they gave up 5 runs.

Then, of course, there were the two big home runs. Shane Victorino, apparently enjoying being the villain in Dodger Stadium, belted a line drive into the Phillies bullpen off of Wade.

After Wade gave up a single to Ruiz, Manuel sent in Matt Stairs to hit for Madson, Torre then brought in his closer, Broxton. Stairs promptly crushed the ball to deep right field giving the Phillies a 2-run lead. It was Stairs' first at bat of the post season and his first at bat since September 14! This is his 1993 Score Select rookie card, the only card of his I had at hand. The Phillies acquired him from the Blue Jays in September, but I don't know the details of the transaction.

And what more needs to be said of Brad Lidge. He came in the game with 2 outs in the 8th, only the second time all season he's pitched in the 8th inning. He was brought in to pitch to Manny, who got a double. The next guy struck out on a wild pitch and made it safely to first. Loney then flied out. The ninth inning went 1-2-3.

He is now 5 for 5 in save opportunities in the playoffs this year, after 41 saves, vs. no blown saves in the regular season.

The next game is Wednesday night. Cole Hamels will be pitching for the Phillies with Chad Billingsley for the Dodgers.

Phillies in 5 sounds good to me.

Song of the Week - You Spin Me Right Round by Dead or Alive

I have 5,540 songs on my iTunes. This is one of them.

I just spent about 30 minutes trying to find a good video for a piece from the musical Hair called "The Flesh Failures/Let The Sunshine". This is the finale of the show. It cycled up on my iPod this week. I am an unabashed child of the 1960s and this is a good song from then. I even actually saw the show in it's original Broadway run in 1972. But all the videos were terrible, or in Dutch. So I started twirling through my iTunes library until something caught my fancy. Here we go into another 1980s tune. This song came out in 1984, the year my first child was born. My wife and I married in 1980, and although I can't say we went out clubbing a lot, we did did hang out with a younger crowd of people from where I worked and since it was a fun time, I really like 1980s music (either punk or New Wave). So enjoy.