After a car ride, train ride, and bus ride, me and my buddy Phil arrived at the ballpark at about 11:30 a.m. A beautiful day for a ballgame, and the pageantry (and security) added to the excitement. The first strains of a sax playing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” greeted us as we approached the ticket line, as did a barbershop quartet and tons of Phillies fans. 

Seeing a freshly mowed baseball field is one of the few things in life that excites me as much at age 35 as it did at age 10. The bright white of the stadium made it seem even greener. Did a lap around the park, then headed for Teddy’s BBQ pit (or something to that effect.) Paid $10 for the beef brisket, and it was…really bad. Nothing was gonna spoil my day, but man, the Bull’s BBQ is 10 times better than this pathetic offering. All in all, the service at the Nationals Park gave me a newfound appreciation for the good people at Aramark. The lines were glacial, the service was brutal, and the beer was more expensive than it is at CBP. I don’t want to dedicate a lot of space to bashing National’s Park, so I leave it at this: Citizen’s Bank Park leaves Nationals Park in the dust. 

As for the crowd, from my vantage point, it seemed to lean slightly to the Phils, maybe 55%-45%. I know that there are many who would dispute this, saying it was 75% Phils fans, but I just think it seemed larger because a) all Phils fans were wearing Phils gear and thus stood out more b) we’re a lot louder in general and c) we had a hell of a lot more to cheer about. 

Funny, because I think the pro-Obama people were about 55%-45% too. He got more cheers than boos, but not by a lot. (As a fan of people who keep it real, I loved the fact that he placed a White Sox cap on his head before the pitch.) Nonetheless, he throws like a girl and it was a crappy pitch. I heard the radar gun showed him throwing 62 mph. If so, that’s a lie. I throw about 62 mph, and I throw a lot harder than he did. And my pitches have got more movement. 

The game itself wasn’t much to speak of. Of course, I was waiting in line when Howard hit his home run, and by the time I got back to my seat, the game was all but over. Other than the obvious and expected (Halladay’s solid start, the Phils bats), the best thing I saw was Polanco handle a tough grounder and start a double play. 

The Phils fans seemed mostly pretty civil and were more festive than angry, but I saw a few give Nationals fans a hard time. Giving Nats fans a hard time is like punching your 8-year old cousin: it’s rude, pointless, and stupid. Save your vitriol for Met and Yankee fans. They have it coming. Anyone who supports a team as bad as the Nats is a true baseball fan, and not deserving of your condescension. (Most Phils fans who did this, I assume, are Eagles fans disguised as Phillies fans.)

We hit Molly Malone’s, had a couple of beers and watched Heyward’s first career homer (wow!), then hopped the bus to the train, and headed back to Philly. Like every day I’ve ever spent at the ballpark, it was a great one.

• Philly’s NCAA run isn’t going as planned so far. Villanova barely escaped a first-round departure yesterday at the hands of Robert Morris. Had it not been for a little leprechaun in their corner (or unscrupulous refereeing), the Cats may well be back on the Main Line today sipping on lattes. To make matters worse, Temple is currently losing to Cornell, threatening to make me eat my words.
• Flyers’ goaltender, Michael Leighton, and his high ankle sprain have dealt the team an 8-10 week severance with his services. This could spell disaster for the team’s playoff hopes if backup, Brian Boucher, can’t deliver. He passed his first test last night against Dallas, stopping 27 of 29 shots. ESPN.com’s Scott Burnside chimes in on this latest installment of the mystery of potential underachievement on the part of the orange and black.
• Les Brown at the Daily News wonders whether LeSean McCoy will be the answer at running back for the Eagles. The most likely candidates to join McCoy in the Eagles’ backfield are Saints’ back, Mike Bell, and Raiders’ back, Justin Fargas.
• As for the Sixers, they just plain stink. The conventional wisdom is that their best bet is to keep on tanking and improve their future by depending on the lottery. The problem with that is the fact that the NBA is chock full of shitty teams, so the Sixers’ chances of landing a game-changer in the draft aren’t exactly great. It just goes to show how flawed the NBA is from a competitive perspective: you’ve only got a shot at the title if you’re one of two or three teams and you’ve got even worse odds of improving through sucking because there are so many bottom-feeding teams nibbling at the lottery teat.
• And finally, the team that all of Delaware Valley believes will win at least 110 games in 2010 will face the Orioles tonight in Clearwater. The nice thing for us here at iSportacus is the fact that there really aren’t any roster spots up for grabs so we don’t have to do much reporting. The only real questions surrounding the team are the issue of whether Kyle Kendrick or Jamie Moyer will start fifth and when in the holy hell J.C. Romero will be healthy again. It’s a sign of what a good position the Phillies are in that the majority of spring training talk is surrounding Jayson Werth’s contract and the potential of the team’s top prospects, both scenarios that won’t have an effect on this season. Looking pretty good heading into the season.

Apparently watching the Phillies succeed on TV raises men’s testosterone rates as if they were playing the game themselves. Ah, science. This report from our good friend and Philly sex writer Timaree:
See, out in the wild, animals who compete for things (resources, females during estrus, dominance, etc) get all geared up for big battles with an increase in testosterone and so we do too. Then, when the Mistress Fate lays down the smack, the winner experiences a surge of T and the loser’s T rates drop a comparable amount…The interesting thing, though, is that experience happens in humans despite the fact the fans have not engaged in any physical activity, but merely associate with the athletes who did. Their alliance to the team is part of our innate desire to belong and to empathize with allies. The fans of winning teams feel sexier after a victory, even though they probably just drank 5 Golden Monkeys and downed a whole cheesesteak, while the losers feel less able to snag a date even though they live in a city of 8.3 million.

Enjoy! If you like it, please tweet or post it on facebook! (I spent an embarrassing and absurd amount of time working on this, I’d like for a few folks to hear it.)
PREVIOUSLY: JGT does a rap about Ryan Howard’s heroics in Game 4 of the NLDS.

The 2009 World Series is going to go off with a bang, as Game 1 will feature two of the best pitchers in baseball, both of whom have been bulldogs in the postseason this year. Sabathia is 3-0 with a 1.22 ERA in the playoffs, while Cliff Lee is 2-0 with an 0.74. It’s like Gibson-McClain in ’68. Ok, so maybe I’m being a bit hyperbolic, but this is still a great pitching matchup. What makes it a bit more intriguing is the fact that they both pitched for the Indians for many years together, with Sabathia winning the Cy Young as an Indians pitcher in 2007, and Cliff Lee winning the Cy Young as a member of the Tribe in 2008.

Of course, this is not Sabathia’s first meeting with the Phils with the pressure on. Last year, he gave up what in Philly is known as THE WALK in Game 1 of the NLDS while he was a hired gun for the Brewers. Sabathia would be pulled after a mere 3.2 innings, giving up 6 runs. I am sure he is not looking forward to pitching Game 5 in Philadelphia.

In case you are curious, the two are apparently pretty good friends, and were even texting back and forth during the playoffs. “I’ve stayed pretty close with him since he left Cleveland,” Lee said. “But that might have to change next week.”

Another interesting connection: Charlie Manuel was C.C. Sabathia’s manager in 2001 and the start of 2002 in Cleveland. Lee was called up two months after Charlie was fired.

This has to be one of the most highly anticipated World Series of the past 30 years (and don’t even kid yourself with “But the Yankees-Angels series isn’t over yet.” Please.) You’ve got the most storied franchise in sports going up against the defending World Champs. You have two rabid fan bases. You have the largest and 4th largest tv market in the country. You have the infamous (and in my opinion overblown) Philly inferiority complex vs. the New York ego, an ego which is about as Big as the Apple itself. You’ve got superstars such as Howard, Chase and Jimmy for one side and A-Rod, Jeter, and Rivera for the other. So let’s look back through the years at some World Series that you could compare this epic to. There are not many.

2004 Red Sox vs. Cardinals. Yes, this was highly anticipated Series, the only one in the 2000s that you could make a case for baseball-wise. The Red Sox looking for their first title since 1918 vs. a very storied St. Louis franchise with a great fan base. But the simple fact of the matter is that once they came back from 3-0 on the Yankees, the Red Sox could not possibly lose this series. The anticipation of that Yankees-Red Sox ALCS of 2004 was higher than any baseball playoff of this decade, no doubt, but I’m not sure about that World Series.

2001 Yankees vs. Diamondbacks. Yes, this was highly anticipated, but not through any fault of the D’Backs. In the wake of 9/11, everyone in America rooted for the Yankees, and everyone watched this Series. Yes, this one was probably a more highly anticipated Series than this years, but not because of the baseball.

1996 Braves vs. Yankees. Once again you had defending champs vs. Yankees. It was the first time the Yanks had been in the Series in 15 years. The only problem was, it was against the Braves, who have one of the most pathetic fan bases in all of sports. They were still fighting for a playoff spot on the final weekend of this past season at home, and the stadium was EMPTY. For a Series to be highly anticipated, the citizens of both cities have to be aware that they live in a city that has a baseball team.

1986 Red Sox vs. Mets. This is a similar Series to the one we have this year. Two rabid fan bases, two Atlantic seaboard cities. A city of history vs. a city that never sleeps. Once again, the Red Sox were trying to kill the curse of Babe Ruth. They had a young Roger Clemens, and a pitcher named Oil Can, a star 3rd baseman named Wade Boggs. The Mets had a young phenom named Doc Gooden who looked like he was going to be one of the greatest pitchers of all-time. They had a 24 year old right fielder with ungodly potential named Daryl Strawberry. They had Nails and Mookie. They won 108 games that year, and partied hard after every win. They talked trash, started fights, and chased skirts so much that when they won the Series, the New York News headline was, “The Bad Guys Won.” I think that, in the last 30 years, this was the most highly anticipated World Series. But I don’t think the one this year is far behind it.

Each week we look at a new decade in Philadelphia sports history. Last week we looked at the 1870s. This week we move on to the 1880s. Today we learn about the genesis of the Phillies, or the Quakers as they were alternately called in the 1880s. For more detailed account of the origins of the Phils, go here. 

By 1882, the National League was struggling. One of its teams, the Worcester Brown Stockings, had played in front of 18 spectators on the final day of the 1882 season. They needed to get big cities back in the league. So Commissioner A.G. Mills called former Athletic and entrepreneur Al Reach, who owned a succesful sporting goods company in Philly, about starting up a team to take over for the folding Worcester squad. Reach was interested, and built a new stadium at 25th and Ridge Avenue known as Recreation Park. 

Though they had taken over for the Worcester squad that had been dropped by the league, they did not receive their players, so the 1883 squad was essentially an expansion team. And, as with most modern expansion teams, they were terrible. They finished their inaugural season 17-81, 46 games out of first place. They lost one game to Boston 29-4 and another game to Providence 28-0. Their ace, a gentleman by the name of John Coleman, finished the season with a record of 12-48. 48 losses is still the major league record for most in a season, even more than Tyler Green ever had. But the foundation had been laid, and the team would win a World Championship less than 100 years later.

Legend has it there was a World Series championship parade in the year 2008 in Philadelphia. I am too young to remember that so I’m hoping this team can turn it around and come out of the cellar from two stories down. After 2 games, the Phillies are in 4th place in the division and stand about a 25% chance of winning the division. The good news is that once Chipper Jones leaves town, the rest of April looks like this for the Phillies: @Colorado, @Washington, San Diego, Milwaukee, @Florida and Washington for 3 at home. For a team that’s gone 1-6 in their first 7 the past two years, this early schedule may be a graduation present from the baseball gods.

Jenny Craig spokesman and minor league #2 starter, Brett Myers, showed up on the hill last night and reminded us of how mediocre he is. Let me spell out the scoring summary from the first two innings last night:

1st B. McCann homered to right; C. Jones scored

2nd J. Francoeur homered to left

2nd J. Schafer homered to center

And that was the game. The idea that Brett Myers is a competent #2 starter is absurd. He’s an Iron Pig, folks. The 1/3 of a season’s worth of quality starts are not enough to get it done; fans may be high on the guy because he had that nice at-bat against C.C. Sabathia last year but as a pitcher he’s so radically inconsistent that it really doesn’t portend well for the Phillies.

The only thing Myers consistently does is give up runs early and then he settles down. But again, settling down after the team is down 2, 3 or 4 runs doesn’t make for a quality start, especially when he does this all the time. It’s akin to a pitcher being behind in the count against most of the opposing team’s batters. When you’re constantly coming from behind you put too much pressure on the team to do things outside the game plan. Unless you have an alternative game plan when Myers pitches which acknowledges that Jimmy Rollins will lead-off the game with a 2-run deficit.

Derek Lowe (good thing the Phillies didn’t go after him) allowed 2 hits, 0 BBs, and struck out 4 in a stellar 8 innings of work. I understand that Lowe was ahead of the Phillies’ hitters all night (pitchers are supposed to be ahead of hitters at this point in the season); he pitched a gem and sometimes you’re on the losing end of that. But when Lowe takes the mound in the bottom of the first and he already has a 2-run cushion, the Phillies are setting the stage for his confidence.

Ryan Howard has 2 strikeouts (of course) on at-bats that featured maybe one pitch above the knees. It’s good to see that he and Myers are their same old selves: perhaps since nothing has changed since last season we should be confident that recent history will repeat itself. On second thought, in a year when the NL probably won’t produce two playoff teams as downright awful as Milwaukee and LA were last year, the Phillies are going to need to be a lot better this year if they’re going to be playing in November (yes, November).

Dana O’Neill has a good article on espn.com today Villanova’s journey from the 2005 tourney to this year’s Final Four.

After the Flyers 3-2 loss at lowly Toronto last night, the Flyers find themselves in a very peculiar position: they are currently in 4th place in the Conference but are only 5 points up on 9th place Florida. With 6 games left, there is a possibility that they could play themselves out of a playoff appearance. You can chalk this up to a tight Conference race (which technically it is) but keep in mind the Flyers are .500 in their last 10 games. The teams behind them, Pittsburgh and Carolina, are both 7-1-2 during the same stretch.

Bodog.com has the Phillies’ odds of winning the World Series at 15-1 and the Mets at 8-1.

The iSportacus Phillies party on Sunday night at Bards is now subtitled “Dollar Dog Night.” The Irish are trading-in their bangers and mash for $1 hot dogs during our party on Sunday. The full menu will also be available. More importantly, $2 pints of Lager and Bud Light.