Apologies to All
I jinxed ‘em. Yesterday’s quote (see below) re: Chase Utley,
If he keeps it up, Chase Utley is going to replace Schmitty as my favorite Philly of all time. .399 average at home. I love everything about his game. Moms and Dads of aspiring baseball players should videotape everything he does and have their sons emulate his every move. He watches 2 hours of film on opposing pitchers before every game, and there are 162 of them! MVP type year for Chase.
Breaks his hand today against the lowly Nationals. MVP not only of the Phillies 25 man roster, but of all 750 players in Major League Baseball. How’s that for a blow, fellow Phils fans? Trade deadline plans re: Aaron Rowand and/or Michael Bourn trades are now scrapped. I hope they don’t deal Bourn because he has ridiculous speed and defensive prowess, however, Rowand is gone at the end of the season anyway. He’s going to demand big money given the type of season he’s having (.328 avg, 32 doubles, .525 slugging, etc…). We all know that the Phils won’t buck up. But, how do you deal him having lost Utley and his MVP offensive numbers? Abraham Nunez will play a stud second base, but he’s batting only .256 to Utley’s .336. On base percentage is .414 to .316. Every at bat, Chase has a 10% better chance then does Nunez of getting on base. A similar comparison would be having a .250 hitter up to bat vs. a .350 hitter. Couple that with Chase’s game overall. He’s my favorite player in MLB because he has no flaws. He maximizes every aspect of his athletic ability and has a Larry Bird type work ethic (my favorite athlete ever).
So much for post season plans. It’ll be fun to watch and I hope I’m wrong, but, once again, the Phils are in bad shape re: post-season plans. I guess the ownership group - Giles, Montgomery, and the invisibles - now have the excuse they were looking for - to do nothing before the trade deadline. Last night was the 16th sellout of the season for the Phils. They average 38,156 per game. They’ve played 49 games at home this season. They’ve drawn 1,880,025 fans this season. Ticket prices are approximately $27 each on average. That’s almost $50 mil in ticket sales alone. There are still 32 games to go which translates to another $33 million. $88 million in ticket sales, probably double it with concessions, etc…, and we have Jose Mesa and whatever his name is Zegursky in the bullpen. This ownership, while they market relatively well and have courteous employees working the park, know nothing about the game and should have sold 15 years ago. We’re screwed until they do and will never win a World Series with them at the helm.
Heal quickly Chase.
July 27th, 2007 at 1:07 am
Hey Bubba, I am a big fan of Chase Utley but let’s slow down on anointing him best of 2007. There are a couple of guys ripping it up in the AL (Ordonez and ARod) – it hurts to even type that second name. In the NL, I think you can put Prince Fielder in front of Chase (broken hand or not).
If you’re looking for a role model for your kid put the Jimmy Rollins inside-the-park home run from last night on a video loop and make your kid watch it every day for a month. That is how you should play the game.
Finally and most importantly, the reason I am commenting is that I am concerned that somehow you are able to impact the future with your ILOVEBUBBADOGS blog. You praise Chase one day and the next he is down for the count. I ask that you please use your satanic hotdog powers for good and not for evil.
And remember - as you ramble on through life, whatever may be your goal, always keep your eye upon the dog and not upon the roll!
cBN
July 27th, 2007 at 11:12 am
A sad day for Philadelphia fans.
Agreed, Bubba, I would rather have Chase on my team than any guy in the league. Maybe we’re biased, but why not be? Sure, A Rod puts up big time numbers, but with that comes a lot of off-field baggage, lots of strikeouts and some suspect fielding at times (Plus, am I the only one that thinks A-Rod has juiced? He was a skinny shortstop when he entered the league, now he’s jacked and on pace for 60 homers. I hope I’m wrong, but I thought we were done being naive). Utley goes to the ballpark every day and gives 110% to go along with the “There’s no ‘I’ in team” attitude. Take Sunday’s game against the Padres. There’s no outs, Victorino on 2nd. Utley has a 1-2 count. He gets a tough off-speed pitch, and, knowing he has the league’s leader in RBI’s (Howard) backing him up, throws his bat out and pulls the ball to the right side, advancing the runner. Howard comes up and hits a fly ball, Victorino tags and scores (credit Howard with the RBI). You think A-Rod isn’t worried about his numbers, Josh?
Why stop there, I’m bored. First game of the Nats series, Alfonseca comes in for the save. Man on 2nd, no outs. Sharp hit grounder, sure base hit, until Utley comes out of nowhere with a diving stab, makes the out, saves a run (and extra innings, possibly defeat). In my opinion one of the more underrated fielders in the game, what he lacks in sheer athletic ability he makes up for with his knowledge of the game, talking with his teammates, positioning himself, and playing hard. How many times have you seen Utley, glove over mouth, leading a discussion at the mound? The term “natural leader” comes to mind. These are the things that don’t show up in the box score.
J Roll’s inside the parker was amazing, but let’s not mistake it for what it was, a triple (maybe) with some minor-league fielding. Plus, I’m not sure what that has to do with being a “role model”, you can’t teach speed. I think that’s what Bubba was getting at when talking about how Chase plays.
Prince Fielder is having a nice year, but he is no Utley (or Howard, for that matter).
If you’ve made it this far, allow me to apologize for the novel, but ILoveBubbaDogs.com! What great way to spend my time in the cube.
p.s. when you are posting, be sure to fill in both “required fields”, I had to type this damn essay twice!
Thanks.
CPB
December 2nd, 2007 at 4:31 pm
CPB,
Guess I was right about J Roll. At some point people in Philly will start to realize that Rollins is the best athelete in the city.
Couple of other things:
- 90% of inside-the-park homers involve some sort of fielding mistakes
- Fielder came in third in MVP voting. I wasn’t too far off on that one.
- Where was your natural leader during the playoffs? Manny Ramierez would never be called a natural leader but I will take him in the playoffs any day over Utley.
- Advancing the runner by hitting behind him with no outs is one of the most simple age old strategies in the game. everyone does it. nothing unique or clever about it.
- Every middle infielder on every mlb and minor league team positions themselves on the field based on the pitch being called, the count, and the scouting report on the hitter. every one. no innovation on utley’s part there.
- A Rod on juice = you on drugs. Get off the drugs.
- Just so you know I grew up in Boston and I am a PATs, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics fan - not really relevant just thought that might make this commentary sting a little more.