View from the Left Coast by a Lefty: Don't know if I'm pissed, crushed, or guilty

                         

Yesterday morning at 8:40am, I walked out my front door on the way to work. I was greeted by the beautiful sound of wood bats cracking against horsehide. Some of you may not know but I live directly across the street from the SF Giants spring training facility in Scottsdale, AZ. Three drop dead gorgeous baseball fields. One next to the other. Maintained the same way as the best golf courses out here. I can only guess it was Fall ball practice for one of the teams here, but not sure. It also sits next to one of the best gyms in the state, Club Sar, and across the street from the Scottsdale Culinary Institute known across the country. Great location, unless you've been a Phillies fan since 1958, but great none the less.

I took those cracks to be an omen. They made me smile bigtime so in my mind that was a good omen. Turned out to be a double whammy, as I cooked up a little white lie to leave work early and catch two game 5's for both my teams. Yes, I like the Dbacks, how could a baseball fan not like them? But when they're head to head I go to Chase wearing Phillie gear and rooting for home, same as I do when the Eagles come here, along with the Flyers.

So the baseball gods gave me a double fuck you. I was watching the Dbacks, with my playoff tickets picked out online. All they had to do was win and I click check out... but the Dbacks checked out instead. At least they went out with heads held high, overachievers maybe, but still high. They had nothing to mourn. In fact, things haven't looked so good here for them for quite a while. I just wish it had been anybody BUT that asshole Morgan/TPlush/whatever. He makes my skin crawl and reminds me why I'm not on Twitter.

Then, I settled in for one of the biggest disappointments of my life. Each inning gone by I felt a little more life drain from my fat old body. I swear this year was worse than last year. We have become the Yankees... overpaid and underachieving. Until this week, I had thought that this year was Chollie's best job ever, keeping us on top of MLB by juggling Valdez, Martinez, Mayberry, Schneider, Stutes, Bastardo, Worely, Kendrick et all. Even handling Hamels and Oswalt's injuries too... but it was all smoke and no fire. BUT... then came this week. WHY he didn't bat Victorino third and Pence fifth I'll never know. As much as I'd like to I'm not gonna rip Howard, and feel bad he popped his Achilles. I will only say that Kirk Gibson would not have molly coddled this team the way Chollie did the last week or two, and I think that's exactly what they needed... their collective asses kicked as a wakeup.

So here I sit, Sat morning, 11am, getting bunted. Alternating between rum and coke, vodka and iced tea, and Michelob Ultra... wondering if my little white lie is the root cause of my feeling like shit... or if the baseball gods actually have a plan. All I can say is if they do have a plan, I can tell you it sucks royal azz, and after each drink I have to change my screen resolution to finish this. Let's all get bunted, and go Flyers!

                                                Bill S/aka netfather

View from the Left Coast by a Lefty: It's break time(almost)

What do I see from way out here you ask? Well, a little and a lot. By a little I mean: 1) we have the best record in baseball, which even the most average fan expected even though they might not admit it. 2) 3 All Star pitchers, not a stretch for anyone's imagination. 3) Charlie leaving Danny Ozark in the dust for number of wins as a Phillie, also expected. 4) Ruben saying(and meaning) he thought we were okay and didn't need to hunt down a RH big bat or relievers. At times, that was a stretch, but guess what, once again he's looking a lot like Pat Gillick used to.

By a lot... wowza where to start. Okay, so far this year I think Charlie is doing his best ever job of managing a shitload of bodies. At last count, at least 10 players off the opening day roster have had major stints on the DL. I mean shit, who knew Wilson Valdez was really a closer, or that Stutes and Bastardo were studs, or Juan Perez could throw a 9 pitch perfect inning? Hollywood looks like the 08 MVP, Doc is Doc(who should have at least 13 wins already if not more) and Clifton is Clifton. But Oswalt and Blanton have been down, thus we find The Vanimal and even Kendrick kicks in. Really, who knew? WTF else are they hiding up there in Iron Pig country?

More of a lot... what's up with the offense? Hot/cold, on/off, wishey/washey, kickass/forshit, WTF? We go back to Charlie mixing and matching healthy bodies and wondering when the real batting order is gonna step up. Is it just me, or does anyone else have the feeling that RAUUUUUULLL is going to end his Phillie's contract with a last half of a season the resembles the first half of a season he had here? My biggest worry is whether or not Howard will remember how to crush an outside fastball like he used to. My best friend was on a cruise last fall and met Bronson Arroyo on it. They talked baseball and Bronson told my bud he couldn't believe Howard can't catch up to the outside fastball. Granted right now he has more than his own share of problems(Arroyo) but that struck a nerve. Think about it. Cut down the swing, go to left, and kill the shift he always sees. Couldn't hurt the average or much else. He did it last night, it's not impossible.

What it boils down to is this, the second half is gonna be fucking special. I can smell it in the air even way out here. Even devoid of decent cheesesteaks and pizza, I can still smell it. Dubee and Cholly have my attention, utmost respect, and trust that the job will get done. I don't think we've yet dominated like we can and 100+ wins is still what we all expect and is NOT a stretch. Now the ONLY question that remains is... will I finally get to see my first World Series game?

Bill AKA/Netfather



Who knew Bill had friends like this?



What if.....?

As a fan of Philadelphia sports have you ever wondered what if…..? What if the Giants never picked up Cody Ross? What if the Phillies didn’t come back in 2007? Here’s one I’m sure someone thought of, but I never heard. What if the Phillies were the ones who left town in 1954. What if the Phillies moved to Kansas City and later Oakland? What would they be called? The Oakland Oakies, Oakland Californians? Or would they name it something different altogether? What and who would we have missed? What have we missed?

　

　

The Philadelphia Athletic’s played fifty-four seasons in Philadelphia before moving due to Kansas City. The Athletic’s were a charter members of the National League. They were also a charter member of the American League. In the first thirty years of their franchise they won nine pennants and five World Series Championships. Even today that makes the Philadelphia Athletic’s the most successful sports team in Philadelphia sports history. The last twenty-four years weren’t as kind to the A’s as the first twenty-nine. Due to a decline in interest the A’s were sold and moved to Kansas City leaving only one baseball team in the city, our beloved Phillies.

WHAT WE’VE MISSED SINCE DEPARTING

• 1954 – Athletic’s play their last game in Philadelphia on September 19, 1954 in a 4-2 loss to the New York Yankees.
• 1954 – A’s last win as the Philadelphia A’s on September 26, 1954 in an 8-6 win over the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
• 1955-1967 – The A’s call Kansas City their home during this time, and literally nothing exciting happened during their time. The only notable thing to mention was that the A’s became a major league farm team for the New York Yankees as the A’s owner made ridiculous trades to the team whose stadium he owned prior to owning the A’s
• 1968 – The A’s move to Oakland which to this day is still their home. And to this day they still play in the same shitty stadium.
• 1968 – Catfish Hunter throws a perfect game against the Minnesota Twins.
• 1970 – Vida Blue throws a No-Hitter against the Minnesota Twins.
• 1972 – The A’s win the first of three World Series titles in the 1970’s.
• 1973 – Win their second world series in as many years.
• 1974 – Win their third consecutive World Series Title.
• 1975 – The A’s have a four pitcher effort in another no-hitter against the California Angels.
• 1979 - The A’s turn two triple plays in a matter of four days.
• 1980 – Rickey Henderson steals 100 bases
• 1982 – Rickey Henderson steals a Major League Record 130 bases.
• 1983 – Mike Warren throws a no hitter against the Chicago White Sox.
• 1986 – Jose Canseco wins Rookie of the Year
• 1987 – Mark McGwire wins Rookie of the Year and belts out a rookie record 49 Home Runs.
• 1988 – A’s win AL Pennant losing the World Series to the L.A. Dodgers in five games.
• 1989 – A’s win World Series in a 4 game sweep of the San Fransisco Giants in what is known as the Earthquake World Series.
• 1990 – Dave Stewart throws a no hitter vs. the Toronto Blue Jays.
• 1990 – A’s win AL Pennant, but lose in the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds.
• 1991 - Rickey Henderson becomes the all time steals leader when he steals his 939th stolen base against the N.Y. Yankees breaking Lou Brock’s record. Afterwards he callously says he’s the "greatest of all time" He would have been cheered forever if he said that in Philadelphia. And if you think I’m wrong, think of the reception Jimmy Rollins received when he said the Phillies were the team to beat.

• 2010 – A’s pitcher Dallas Braden tosses the franchise’s 2nd perfect game. Only the 19th in Major League History against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 9 and first ever against the team with the best record in the majors at the time of the game.

Hall of Famers who played for the A’s

Bold were inducted as A’s players

　

Kansas City A’s

Tommy Lasorda
Luke Appling
Lou Boudreau

Whitey Herzog

Satchel Paige

Enos Slaught

Oakland A’s

Orlando Cepeda

Rollie Fingers

Catfish Hunter
Willie McCovey

Billy Williams

Dennis Eckersley

Goose Gossage

Reggie Jackson

Joe Morgan

Don Sutton

Rickey Henderson

Dick Williams

Phillies

As a fan of the Phillies have you ever wondered what it would be like if they weren’t here anymore? We wouldn’t have had 1980 or 2008, but we would have had the Oakland A’s four World Series titles. Does that make you wish the A’s stayed in Philadelphia and the Phillies left town so you had a team with nine World Series titles in 110 years as opposed to the Phillies two titles in 128 years?

Philadelphia fans hate to lose more than anything else, but we are all loyal to the all time losing team in the history of sports. Our team is the first team to reach the 10,000 loss milestone, and as much as we hate to lose did we dread it? Um…oddly enough we celebrated it? Were Phillies fans actually rooting for them to lose to reach a milestone that no other team was within a few hundred losses of catching up to? It’s not as if they were going to give up the lead to the Atlanta Braves who currently have 278 losses less than the Phillies, and played seven more seasons than the Fightins’. The Phillies are currently 1097 games below .500 in their history. Teams that have been in the Major Leagues for 18 less seasons have more wins than the Phillies.

Despite the Phillies history of losing this is about the Phillies from the time that the Athletic’s left the city leaving the Phillies the only team in town. Since the A’s left town the Phillies have finished at .500 or better 28 times, and finished with a losing record 27 times. Their overall record during this time is 4391-4493. The A’s on the other hand have had 30 seasons with a losing record and only 25 at .500 or higher. Their overall record is 4384-4504. So throughout the 55 season the Phillies have won only seven more games than the A’s. The A’s have lost eleven more games than the Phillies.

What we would have missed

• 1964 – Jim Bunning throws the first perfect game in Phillies history.
• 1964 – The Phillies had a 6 ½ game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals with twelve games to play. The Phillies go on a ten game losing streak and finish one game behind the Cardinals losing the pennant. The Cardinals won the World Series that season.
• 1971 - Rick Wise throws a no hitter against the Cincinnati Reds.
• 1972 – Steve Carlton earns 27 wins, a 1.98 ERA and became the first Phillies pitcher to have over 300 strike outs. This during a season the Phils only won 59 games. Carlton wins the Cy Young award as the best pitcher in baseball.
• 1977 – Steve Carlton wins his second Cy Young Award.
• 1978 – The Phillies add what is quite possibly the mascot in all of sports history on April 25,
• 1978 the Phillies introduce the Phillie Phanatic to the city.
• 1980 – FINALLY! After 97 years of losing and heartbreaking losses the Phillies have finally won a World Series defeating the Kansas City Royals in six games.
• 1980 – Steve Carlton wins his third Cy Young Award.
• 1982 – Steve Carlton wins his fourth Cy Young Award.
• 1983 – The Phillies lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series losing the series four games to one.
• 1983 – John Denny wins the Cy Young Award.
• 1987 – Michael Jack Schmidt hits his 500^{th career home run off the Pittsburgh Pirates Don Robinson.}
• 1987 – Steve Bedrosian wins the Cy Young after posting 40 saves.
• 1990 – Terry Mulholland throws a no hitter against the San Fransisco Giants.
• 1991 – Tommy Greene throws a no hitter versus the Montreal Expos.
• 1993 – The Phillies win 97 games and beat the Atlanta Braves to win the Pennant and eventually lose to the Toronto Blue Jays in a six game series remembered for Joe Carter’s walk off home run.
• 1997 – The Phillies Scott Rolen wins Rookie of the Year.
• 2003 – Kevin Millwood tosses a no hitter against the San Fransisco Giants.
• 2004 – The Phillies begin play in their brand new state of the art stadium Citizens Bank Park. That seems to have tuned this era of Phillies baseball into the best in franchise history.
• 2005 – The Big Man Ryan Howard wins rookie of the year after belting out 22 home runs in only 88 games.
• 2006 – In only his second MLB season Ryan Howard earns NL MVP honors after hitting 58 home runs and driving in 149 runs.
• 2007 – With 17 games remaining the Phillies trailed the NY Mets by seven games. The Phillies won 13 of those 17 games to pass the Mets and win the NL East for the first time since 1993. The Phillies would go on to be swept by the Colorado Rockies in the playoffs.
• 2007 – For the second consecutive season a member of the Fightin Phils was named NL MVP. This time it was Jimmy Rollins bringing home the honors.
• 2008 – After making the playoffs on the final day of the regular season the Phillies went into the playoffs on a high not and went on to beat the Milwaukee Brewers three games to 1, and then took on the LA Dodgers in the NLCS knocking them out in five games. The Phillies next faced the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series where they beat them in five games in a series that saw the clinching game delayed for two days before the Phillies could taste champagne.
• 2008 – Shane Victorino and Matt Stairs home runs in the 8th inning of game four of the NLCS that put the Phillies up two runs and gave them momentum to close out the series against the Dodgers.
• 2008 – Game three of the Fall Classic was delayed for two hours and the game didn’t start until after 10 o’clock eastern time. The game was won off a dribbler by Carlos Ruiz at almost 2 o’clock in the morning.
• 2008 – Game four of what is shaping up to be a memorable World Series sees the Phillies starting pitcher Joe Blanton hit a home run into the left field seats and seems to give the Phillies their final push before claiming the title of champions.
• 2008 – Cole Hamels is named World Series MVP.
• 2009 – This season got off to a tragic start as long time Phillies Hall of Fame Broadcaster Harry Kalas died in Washington D.C. while preparing for an afternoon game between the Phillies and the Nationals.
• 2009 – For the first time in Phillies history they reached the Fall Classic in consecutive seasons. This time it wouldn’t be as magical as 2008 was with the Phillies losing to the NY Yankees in six games. Game one however was one of the best playoff performances in Phillies post season history in a game pitched by newcomer Cliff Lee.
• 2010 – On May 29, 2010 Phillies ace Roy Halladay pitched the second perfect game in Phillies history in a 1-0 shutout of the Florida Marlins.
• 2010 – Yet again the Phillies are the NL East Champions, in fact the fourth consecutive season standing atop the division. The Phillies won 97 games and were primed to go deep into the playoffs riding their three headed monster rotation. The first playoff game gave Phillies fans exactly what they thought they would see as Roy Halladay threw his second no hitter of the year and only the second no hitter in MLB post season history against the Cincinnati Reds. The Phillies would dispose of the Reds in a three game sweep and would be knocked out in six games by eventual World Series Champion San Fransisco Giants.
• 2010 – Roy Halladay wins the Cy Young Award.
• 2011 – Heading into the season with what many in baseball to consider one of the best rotations in baseball history. Led by last year’s ace Halladay, and bringing back Cliff Lee to go with Roy Oswalt and 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels the Phillies hope to bounce back after last season’s early departure from the playoffs.

Since the A’s left:Phillies have had 28 seasons at .500 or higher to the A’s 25.
A’s have had 30 seasons below .500 to the Phillies 27.
Phillies have won 4,391 games since than to the A’s wining 4,384. That’s is only seven more wins in 55 seasons of baseball. Which was overcome last season.
A’s have lost 4,504 to the Phillies 4,493. A’s have lost eleven more games
A’s have four World Series Titles to the Phillies two.
A’s have won six Pennants to the Phillies five.

The Players we would have missed.

Robin Roberts
Richie Ashburn
Jim Bunning
Rick Wise
Ruben Amaro (not quite as significant, but it paved the way for Ruben Amaro Jr. who is the man behind Cliff Lee x’s 2, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt. Not officially, but, my opinion.

Steve Carlton

Mike Schmidt
Pete Rose
Larry Bowa
John Kruk
Tug McGraw
Danny Tarta…BULL SHIT.
Ryan Howard
Chase Utley
Jimmie Rollins
Charlie Manuel-not a player, but he’s uncle chalie

Cliff Lee

Roy Oswalt

Roy Halladay

Cole Hamels

Chooch

Regardless of World Championships the Phillies are the team that Philadelphia chose in the 50’s to be their hometown team. Philadelphia isn’t big enough for two MLB teams. Yeah, it would be great to say that our baseball teams has nine World Series titles, but since I’ve been born it would be tied at 1. Going my entire life without seeing a championship made 2008 so much more worth it. I remember just before they closed Market and Broad for the Parade I drove down with an air horn just to get the crowd going. We love our Phillies, and if we had the A’s right now, we’d have one of the cheapest teams in the majors. CBP might not exist if it wasn’t for the A’s leaving town. Hell, the Phillie Phanatic might not be our beloved mascot. If the A’s stayed in town and we had a mascot it would be an elephant. Imagine a baseball team having an elephant for a mascot when it’s zoo doesn’t even have elephants.

I know in the 90’s the Phillies were known to be cheap, but the Phillies have turned the page and now it’s a love story between the Phillies and the fans. The Phillies captured everyone’s hearts a little over two years ago, and the fans are showing their appreciation by showing up every game. So, I for one am not disappointed that the A’s left town. It happened twenty-seven years before I was born. All I’ve ever known and loved has been the Fightin’ Phils.

View from the Left Coast by a Lefty: Part Tres - and We Catch Up to Now... Kinda Sorta

The following is the third in a three part series where a displaced Phillies fan gives insite of what its like to  root from afar. If you missed part one read it here or check out part two here.


So the 1993 season ends horribly, and we dive into 1994. Things gotta get better, right? Bang.... thanks for playing anyway. The Phils manage to get to 54-61, over 20 games out when.... STRIKE! I swear to God I was so pissed I almost gave up on baseball for good. At the time of the strike, the average salary of major league players was over $1MIL. I'm fucking sorry but that was lame. Seriously, I almost quit being a fan of the game I loved, grew up with, and played for 25 years. And then a few months later, more personal tragedy... divorce number 2. Who could really give a shit then(in my shoes)? Certainly not me. I end up moving out of my 2nd house and signing it away late 94.

The new year rolls over and I happen to meet this 5'11" natural blonde, blue eyed lady who is 19 years younger than me. We click and become roommates etc. My luck, this is the third woman in a row who gives less than a shit about sports, let alone Philly sports. Quit laughing, it's not funny. We manage to get through a couple years, which is better than the Phils. From 1995-2005 the Braves won the NL East. This set me off even more as I have personal history with Atlanta going back to 1968. Anyway, we get to the end of 1996 and I leave my job of 27 years to move to *GULP* Dallas where my lady got a 5 pay grade raise to transfer to. The Diamondbacks had been born and the BOB was halfway built when we go to Dallas. I didn't know how significant this would become until a bit later.

Before moving, I propose and she accepts my ring. So we go to a city and state which went against almost every fiber of my being. After 6 months, we buy a house that because I switched jobs my salary doesn't count toward a mortgage, so it's in her name, and I put up the $$$ for the down payment. No biggie right then. We settle in but never got married(thank god). So I'm in TX, live 3/4 of a mile from The Ballpark at Arlington, where I can see the lights from my back yard. AL baseball, fuck me. During this time the Phils basically suck ass and don't do much of anything really. Yet my lady manages to meet someone else closer in age and who made more $$$ and I was cast off. TX is really sucking hard. Then out of the blue the Diamondbacks become kings with Schill and Randy Johnson. They go to, and win, one of the best World Series ever and once again I'm nowhere near any park to see my first World Series Game. :( I admit I got goose bumps and loved it especially against Rivera and the Yanks. But I lose house number 3 anyway.

Only 2 good things came from being in Dallas: 1) I made several really good friends and 2) the Eagles beat those fucking Cowgirlz 9 straight times. But still the Phils weren't doing shit and baseball was kinda bleh except for the 2001 WS.  In 2002, out of work and minus a house and fiancé, I came back to Phoenix to be with my kids and watch my oldest graduate from UofA. Finally got a decent job but by then the Dbacks were sliding into obscurity and the Phils were in the same boat. Baseball was just kinda there and I found myself more of an Eagle and Flyer freak, but who could blame me.

In 2006, the Phils hired some hick batting coach to manage them from an AL team. *SIGH* wtf is wrong with this picture. But at least I had forgiven the baseball gods for the 94 strike and had some hope. After one season, it seemed that Charlie didn't make a lot of friends in Philly, save MVP Ryan Howard. From then on, things took off like a rocket. 2007 was that magic Jimmy Rollins "why not us?" year and began the collapse of the Mutts. Also, it didn't suck he won the MVP(2 Phils in a row, wowza). They got swept by the enfuego Rockies who turned to shit in the World Series.

And then *sniff* the magic, a perfect Brad Lidge and another World Series I couldn't go to. By this time, I'd resigned myself to never seeing a WS game during my lifetime, but it was acceptable because we won. I cried, just like in 1980, from afar but VERY HAPPY tears. To this day I have the WS Inquirer on the bottom shelf of my coffee table and don't hesitate to show it to anyone who will look. 2009 sucked, I still think we were better than the Yankees. And I *KNOW* we were better than the Giants last year.

So, we're kinda caught up to now. One last thing to inject... this past Monday I was in section 119 behind the Phils dugout with Cliff Lee on the bump. Piece of cake, not. I was left wondering who the fuck the impersonators were wearing Phils uni's. My first thought was my old high school JV team but... gaa. So there you have it. One displaced person's view on being a Phillies fan from way too fucking far away. Right now I need a cheesesteak and a decent pizza, but while it may be easy for you, it is an adventure for me. Til we meet again...

Bill Scardefield, AKA netfather

The Spot Starter: The Real Field of Dreams

Twice in the first few times I brought my son to a Phillies game, something happened at both games.  I'll explain at the end what I mean in case you don't figure it out during my rambling.  The first game was against the Washington Nationals.  My wife and I arrived at the game with our son, Aidan.  We walked around prior to the game and a few pitches into the first inning.  Eventually, we decided to hang out above the bullpens out in Ashburn Alley.  In between innings, the bullpens send a player out to toss with one of the outfielders.  This game, it was Saul Rivera tossing with the outfielders.  After the first inning, he came back from the field and saw us standing there with a baby and pointed to him.  He lightly tossed to ball up to us for Aidan.  The ball was headed right towards me. In all my twenty-seven years, I've never caught a ball or a puck at a sporting event, and here I was with a baby in one hand and a baseball headed towards me. I was ready.  The ball didn't take as long as I'm making it seem to get to me, but I have my hand open awaiting its arrival and BOOM, my wife sticks her hand in front of mine and knocks to ball into a flower pot above the visitor's bullpen.  Rivera laughed, smiled and shook his head.  Fortunately, one of Philadelphia's finest was standing above the bullpen and was able to get a Phillies security guard to hop over the gate and get the ball and hand the ball directly to me.  As soon as I got the ball, I left because I know people were thinking we were foolish for dropping a lightly tossed ball.

The second game was against the Atlanta Braves, which by the way I got the tickets from the author of Kornhole's Alley.  Anyway, I had to work early and my son was being watched by my mother-in-law.  I raced home from work down in Delaware County up to her house in the Olney section of Philadelphia.  From there, I went to pick up my own mother who I was bringing with me to the game.  We arrived to the game with about twenty-five minutes to spare.  I did the same thing I always did when I go to a Phillies game.  I head out to the left field gate and get myself a Schmitter.  So I eat my Schmitter and we decide since I have the little guy let’s go hang around above the bullpens and hope for another ball.  As we start to walk away from the seating area, my son is holding my hand and he starts kicking his leg.  I have no idea why, but I figure he's just uncomfortable.  A few steps later he kicks some more and his diaper falls out from the bottom of his shorts.  I couldn't stop laughing so fortunately we were outside of a ladies room and my mom was able to change him and we were able to move on.  The reason his diaper fell out is because my mother in law didn't change him, and because I was racing to make the game we never took him out of the car seat until we arrived at CBP.  So after we changed him, we headed to the bullpen where Eddie Perez was kind enough to give us a ball which, fortunately this time, I caught without interference.

The reason I mention this is we're currently living though the best Era in Phillies baseball.  Not just of our lives, but of every Phillies fan since the 1880's.  The Phillies have made the playoffs every year since my son was born in 2007.  Going to Phillies games with my son has given me memories when he was two, and no doubt will when he's twelve, twenty-two, and thirty-two.  I'll cherish every memory of going to the games with him.  Even if I'm embarrassed by something that happens, but especially every ball he gets.  He's four, and he's already gotten three balls.  I'm twenty-nine and my total stands at ZERO.

--Eugene

Thanks for sharing, Eugene. Neither picture is of Eugene nor Aiden. If you'd like to share a story, post a gripe or revolutionize the way we think about baseball send your submissions to: jaywrizight@yahoo.com

Help Wanted

Sometimes your day can completely turn around because of the most unlikely things. A complete shit day can turn around in a second when you find a twenty in your spring jacket that you just pulled out of winter storage.  Or the miserable neighbor down the block knocks on your door and says he's got Phils tickets that he can't use. Jackpot!

Well, that's what I'm looking for...a blogging jackpot. Each Saturday, Phillies Bunts will feature "The Spot Starter." The idea behind the feature is that everyone has a funny story they want to share or a gripe they need to get off their chest. You don't need any qualifications just the desire to type out your story. The only requirement is that it must be baseball related. I, nor the Phillies Bunts faithfuls, give two shits about the time you thought you saw Justin Bieber but it turned out to be a flat-chested lesbian or that you hate the fact that you can't buy Pepsi Kona anymore. We do, however, care that you think its OK to walk the winning run to avoid facing Ryan Howard.

So feel free to send your submissions to jaywrizight@yahoo.com