1980 Topps - TCH 69 Robinson Cano

It's a mystery card - Check out insert TCH 69, it's missing both the players name and also the facsimile autograph. Another great job by the topps crew - although this gives me the opportunity to post this excellent 1980 card of the Phillies fine right fielder Bake McBride.

2008 07 27 Braves @ Phillies - Another Victorino

Phils take 2 of 3 crazy games from the Braves. All the games were tight late - The Braves scored 7 in the top of the 9th on Friday to blow open what was a 1-0 nailbiter. But Phils put together a pair of big comebacks on Saturday and Sunday to win the series.

Plus - Two comeback wins. The offense finally shows up.

Minus - The Phils defense lets down Cole Hamels as he throws in a clunker, giving up 9 runs over 3 2/3 innings. Philadelphia Daily News is reporting that Chase Utley has a nagging hip injury.

Meh - Philadelphia Soul win the Arena Bowl.

On Deck - The woeful Washington Nationals. The Nats seem to always play the Phils tough, regardless it's time for the Phils to rack up some wins against the bottom of the Division. Team Phungo will be paying a visit to Nationals Stadium on Thursday for the 3rd game of the set.

Scoop - Phillies Nation is reporting that J A Happ was removed in the 3rd inning of Sunday game. Sounds like he may be a trade chip.

Phungo Commentary - The Shane Victorino/Brian McCann collision perks my interest into Davey Lopes and his style of play. Lopes influence on the Phils success has been immense. Prior to Lopes the Phils could steal bases but not at the success rate they do currently. In 2006 (pre-Lopes) the Phils SB/CS numbers were 92/25 (79%, +67) then the Phils brought in Lopes to coach first and the numbers for 2007 were an incredible 138/19 (87%, +119) - This year that trend continues 87/13 (87%, + 74)

Lopes has made Shane Victorino into a great base-stealer. When Victorino first came to the Phils (a two time rule 5) he was pretty raw and didn't know how to use his speed - now he is a constant threat and rarely gets caught.

Goose Gossage enters the Hall of Fame

Welcome to the Hall of Fame Goose Gossage:

The picture below is from the All-Star Celebrity Softball game held at Yankee Stadium a couple of weeks ago. I think that is Goose on the mound.

I was also lucky enough to see Gossage pitch in a real game in 1978. He actually blew a save in the game, but Graig Nettles bailed him out giving Goose the victory. I don't remember much about the game other than that they had to stop play twice due light failures in old Memorial Stadium.

2008 07 24 Phillies @ Mets - Rollins Me Me Me

The Phils- Mets duel for first place ends with the Mets on top and the 2007 NL MVP not wanting to play baseball.

Plus - Once again Jamie Moyer - not just for his fine outing Thursday, but also for being the one guy in the clubhouse to mention that maybe the players should be accountable and responsible.

Minus - Take away the big 9th inning on Tuesday night and the Phils scored 6 runs in the series. Chase Utley OPS last two weeks is .658 (.750 is an accepted ML avg). Joe Blanton comes up small in Phils debut.

Shenanigans - Does Jimmy Rollins want out of Philadelphia?

BlogBlogBlog - Wax Heavan has a great post regarding players and autograph seekers at last sundays Phils @ Marlins game.

Off the Diamond - The University of Texas is retiring the jersey number of Kevin Durant (#35). As great a college player as Durant was, how ridiculous is it to retire the number of a player that spent 1 year at the school.

On Deck - Phils come home for the first time since the break and host the Atlanta Braves. The Phungo team may trekking down to the ballpark for the game.

Stefan Fatsis @ The Central Library, Philadelphia PA

On Tuesday Stefan Fatsis returned to Philadelphia to read from his new book "A Few Seconds of Panic", a piece of particapatory journalism (similar to George Plimpton's "Paper Lion") chronicling Fatsis' attempt to become a Field Goal kicker for the 2006 Denver Broncos.

Fatsis was great - having graduated from U Penn, he saluted Philadelphia as his second home. He then followed up with some background on the book and dove into reading a passage about his first day on the practice field. Afterward Fatsis illuminated the excerpt by mentioning the training he had gone through prior to camp. Ultimately he felt that his effort paid off as he believes the players accepted him as more of a player than as a reporter.

I was fortunate to get Fatsis to sign not only "A Few Seconds of Panic" but also copies of his previous books drawn from my collection. His first book was a terrific book on the non-affiliated Northern League "Wild and Outside" - a great read for any baseball fan - and Fatsis seemed genuinely delighted that someone had brought a copy to his reading/signing.

Fatsis was thoroughly entertaining and gracious throughout the reading and signing. I am looking forward to kicking off football season by reading his new book.

Babe Ruth Mosaic: ESPN Zone, NYC

Since the Phils are in New York this week I will try and post some pictures taken while visiting the city for the Futures game last weekend.

The photo above is of the Babe Ruth Card-Mosaic at the ESPN Zone in New York. And here are some close ups:


These photos didn't come out as clear as I would have liked - It was the day of the Home Run Derby, consequently it was pretty busy. Those are all real cards there and they are all Yankees cards - It looks pretty cool. The top inset photo is of Babe's Left Eye (the right one in the mosaic). The last picture is a close-up of the left-hand side of the mosaic.

2008 07 20 Phillies @ Marlins - More J-Roll Hustle

Phils drop 2 of 3 to the Marlins including losing the rubber match in extras. In the 7th inning Jimmy Rollins was on first with two outs and failed to score on a Shane Victorino double. Rollins definitely was not running when the ball was hit and it's questionable that he would have scored - but you have to be running when that ball is hit and give yourself a chance to score. This is the second time this has happened to Rollins this year, and yes it happens to other players but....Rollins is 1) to good a player to let it happen to him and 2) an important leader on the Phillies team and the Phillies need him to display leadership qualities.

Plus - Way back on Friday night Jamie Moyer came out of the break with another good outing. Ryan Howard has picked up where he left off before the break, and continues to hit well.


Minus - J-Roll - read paragraph 1. Geoff Jenkins can't even break a bat right - he had to be removed from the game on Sunday as he injured himself by getting hit by his own broken bat swing. Phils waste yet another good outing by Cole Hamels.



Blahblahblah - Interesting article on Jamie Moyer and Mike Mussina over @ dugoutcentral



Around the League - Extra Innings is offering it's mid-season free preview. We are not offered the package on my FiOS service, but I was fortunate enough to be in a pub that carried a couple of games Saturday night. The O's hosted the Tigers in a pretty crazy game while the D-Backs held off the Dodgers preserving a W for my newest fantasy pitcher Dan Haren.



Off the field - The Philadelphia Flyers Schedule came out this week. The schedule starts off with a nice match up v the Rangers. Both the Pens and Caps bring in there superstars on Saturday nights in December and There is a Home and Home with the Hurricanes over Thanksgiving - of which the back-end is a day gm on the Friday of the wkend. Those are some of the highlights of the early season. For those interesting in good winter travel the Flyers head to southern California to play the Ducks and Kings right after New Years.

Oh and congrats to Greg Norman - may not have been a W on Sunday, but he showed that there is such a thing as golf without Tiger - just like there will be foorball without Brett.

Scoop - Ran into some family of Marlins minor league prospect Sean West over the weekend. I didn't know anything about West but did look up his info via Baseball America. He is a big Lefty (6'8") playing at AA. Sean's aunt and uncle were very nice folks and I hope for the best for him...just not against the Phils. They said they would like to see him get a shot at playing in the majors this September.

On Deck - Meet the Mets. Mets were just getting hot when they were in town a couple of weeks ago, now the Phils get to face the red hot Mets for 3 games with first place on the line. Monday Night Joe Blanton will get his first career Phils start v Mets Ace Johan Santana.