2010 Phungo Cards Alanis Morissette

2010 Phungo #47 Alanis Morissette

If you were watching the Grammy's last night (I doubt the cross section was high) you may have caught Beyonce singing one of her songs. During the number she segued into Alanis Morisette's "You Oughtta Know".

As with 2009, this years Phungo Cards also include several non-baseball subjects. Alanis was among then. She sang the National Anthem prior to game 5 of the 2009 World Series. I have seen many Anthems prior to games by singers/entertainers of all types. I was happy to see Morrissette perform the Anthem that night - I think of her as more singer and songwriter than as a celebrity, although she has had a pretty decent career as both.

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Couple of interesting unrelated stories I came across today. First off Blue Heaven has a schedule up for the Caribbean World Series which will be on MLB network starting on Tuesday.

Feb. 2: 2:30p Puerto Rico vs. Dominican Republic

7:30p Mexico vs. Venezuela

Feb. 3: 3:30p Dominican Republic vs. Mexico

7:30p Venezuela vs. Puerto Rico

Feb. 4: 3:30p Mexico vs. Puerto Rico

7:30p Venezuela vs. Dominican Republic

Feb. 5: 3:30p Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico

7:30p Venezuela vs. Mexico

Feb. 6: 3:30p Mexico vs. Dominican Republic

7:30p Puerto Rico vs. Venezuela

Feb. 7: 3:30p Puerto Rico vs. Mexico

7:30p Dominican Republic vs. Venezuela

Word is that Phils Prospect Antonia Bastardo has pitched well in the Domnican League. Not sure if he or his team will be involved in the Caribbean Series but we will keep our eyes open.

The other link I found was featured on Deadspin, and talks about replacement players from the 1994 MLB/players strike and the impact of Scab players on video games.

There are a couple of prominent past Phillies that were affected by the policy - Cory Lidle who died in a plane accident shortly after the 2006 season, and Paul Byrd, who pitched a few games for the 2009 Bosox.

Phungo Game Report - 2009 11 02 - World Series Game 5: Yankees 6 @ Phillies 8

As you probably suspect, Team Phungo really wanted to catch a World Series game this year. But, I knew that due to such annoying factors as ticket cost and ticket demand the chances of us catching a World Series game were pretty slim.

well....

Yesterday I made the somewhat impulsive decision to take my girlfriend to the final home game of the Phillies 2009 Season. Turned out it was the right decision.

Last year I got to go to a game, but couldn't get another ticket - it was great to get a second chance and be able to share the experience with her.

Several things fell together so that we could make it to the game.

1) Unfortunately the Phils fell to 1-3 in the Series - however, this resulted in the ticket prices for game 5 falling to a level which I only felt moderately guilty about spending.

2) The weather took a pretty nice turn.

3) I wasn't all worn out from my typical weekend of excessive decadence.

4) This is absolutely key - The Phils had a favorable pitching match-up and this definitely factored into the decision.

It took the confluence of all the events just to get us to make the decision to go.

I monitored prices on Stubhub till about 1p and made a purchase of one of the last pairs of tickets in a section which I considered both good enough and affordable.

We were in the upper level but got to sit behind the plate. That is good enough for me and fits my budget.

The game got off with a slight hiccup but Chase Utley straightened that out in the bottom of the first with a 3 run homer. Utley would add a 2nd dinger a few innings later to give him 5 in the series and tie Reggie Jackson for HRs in a single World Series. Cliff Lee had a good almost great outing. The Phils dicey bullpen gave us a scare, but in the end the Phils Won 8-6.

It was a great experience. The Phils faced eliminations and lived. One of their star players belted 2 homers and had 4 RBIs. And we got to see a reigning Cy Young award winner start in a World Series game against the New York Yankees. What more can you want.

Here are a few picks from a very fun evening (click to enlarge):


Yankees BP - you can see some of the hordes of media down by the visiting dugout on the left.

First Pitch - Hall of Famers Jim Bunning and the 83 year old Robin Roberts

Alanis Morissette - This is the pick of the Celebrity Anthem singers in the Series for my tastes.

I didn't get many good game shots. Just a couple pitcher v batter ones.


Cliff Lee v Johnny Damon

The ESPN Crew including Krukker and Bobby Valentine

And finally...

This Trophy is still property of the Philadelphia Phillies!!
for at least the next couple of days and hopefully longer


One final comment hey Major League Baseball - Get your stuff together, what the hell is the World Series Trophy doing sitting on an 6 inch high Amazon box covered by a piece of cloth. Yes it is sitting there like a foot off the ground - those khakis behind the trophy belong to a SEATED Al Leiter. Ridiculous - throw down a few bucks and build a stinkin Pedastal for the thing.

For all you Spot the Sig! fans, I am running behind this week, I may just fold the Profile into next weeks Auto. Congrats to Autograph Cards on picking Carl Crawford.

Sources and Links
Game Dated Cards Index
Johnny Damon Index