Phillies: So Much For Those "Previews"

At the end of June the Phillies and Boston Red Sox played a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park. The media, fans, etc. hyped it as a "World Series preview."

The Phils took two of three. The Red Sox aren't in the playoffs after their mighty September collapse, capped off by last night's stunning 9th-inning loss at Baltimore combined with the Tampa Bay Rays' rally from a 7-0 deficit to beat the Yankees in extra innings.

At the end of July, and again in early August, the Phils and San Francisco Giants got together for the first time since last year's NL Championship Series. The matchup was hyped, again, as a "preview" of a possible playoff rematch.

The Phils took 4 of 7, including 3 of 4 out west. The Giants faded badly and finished eight games out of first place. They aren't in the playoffs.

At the beginning of September the Phils welcomed the Atlanta Braves to town

Quick Review: Moneyball

Remember those days when I went to see at least one movie each week, if not more? It's been a while. Back then the Phillies were still winning games. Speaking of baseball, today I went to see "Moneyball." It's based on the Michael Lewis book about Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane and his use of sabermetrics to put together a competitive roster despite extremely limited financial resources, focusing particularly on the 2002 season. That year the A's, despite losing big names Jason Giambi, Johnny Damon and Jason Isringhausen to big-market clubs, won 103 games, including an AL-record 20 straight.

In other words, the stat geeks who are doing their best to ruin the game now have their own movie. And it stars Brad Pitt as Billy Beane. So there's been a lot of hype about it in baseball circles as well as the usual places where movies are discussed.

Pitt is fine, but the movie itself doesn't entirely hold up. A lot of scenes -- Beane and his assistant GM (Jonah Hill, whose Peter Brand is either based on Paul DePodesta, the actual assistant GM, or some amalgam of DePodesta, Theo Epstein and possibly others, depending on what you read), going about rebuilding the club, aggravating the old-time scouts, or Beane's clashing with A's manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman) have snap to them, but to balance it out (or to try to attract people who don't like sports, or women, or something) there are also a few softer scenes featuring Beane and his daughter. These scenes, and the entire ending, in which Beane is wooed by the Red Sox after the 2002 season, drag the film down. And there's some other fictionalization. Trades that actually occurred two months apart are depicted as happening almost simultaneously at the trade deadline.

So the movie, like the concept, is flawed.

Go To Hell, New Era

Is the New Era cap company owned by NBC (which is now owned by Philadelphia-based Comcast)? I saw this ad a little earlier while watching the Yankees and Red Sox on MLB Network. It features two NBC sitcom stars, Alec Baldwin of "30 Rock" and John Krasinski of "The Office." trash-talking via phone about their teams. Baldwin is a Yankees fan, while Krasinski is a Red Sox fan. I don't know if these two are actually fans of those teams or are merely spouting lines because they were paid, but they're talking trash in the ad. But Baldwin's reply to Krasinski's opening jab (about Cliff Lee) is a shot at Philadelphia...



Time for another Public Service Announcement. Here's something to remember when you're buying baseball caps: if it says "New Era" it's most likely a cheaply-made, poorly-fitting piece of crap.

Phils Sign Some Guy. Something Lee. Sounds Familiar...

I was going to write a "MixBlog" post touching on a few different things. I may still do that tomorrow. The following paragraph is something I planned to mention...

So there are these rumors going around that the Phillies are still in the running to sign Cliff Lee. It's ridiculous that people are actually getting their hopes up. How can the Phillies sign Lee if they couldn't sign Jayson Werth, whose pricey new deal still isn't going to earn him as much as Lee? The Phillies traded Lee a year ago because they didn't think they'd be able to sign him to a long-term deal. The Yankees have already made their typical big-money offer, and the Rangers are really trying to keep him in Texas. If the Phils didn't want to give Werth more than four years, and they definitely don't want to give pitchers such long-term deals, and Lee has been angling for five or more years, why anyone is getting excited about this "news" is beyond my comprehension.

Oops.

They got the back page online before 2 a.m. Impressive.

My MLB Division Series Picks

After 162 games -- 163 for the Minnesota Twins -- it's time for major league baseball's postseason to begin with the best-of-five Division Series round. Here are my observations and predictions, starting with the two American League series. The team listed first in each pairing has home-field advantage.

New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins: It took a hot streak for the Twins to tie the Detroit Tigers for the AL Central lead, and 12 innings in their one-game tiebreaker to win the division. Their reward: flying to New York to face the Yankees less than 24 hours later. The AL East champion Yanks won 103 games, best in baseball, including all 7 against the Twins in 2009. As much as I'd love to see the Twins pull off an upset -- and even if they win Game 1, which I half-expect, because strange things happen a lot -- I can't see them moving on. Yankees in 4.

Los Angeles Angels vs. Boston Red Sox: Again? This is the 4th time in 6 years these teams have met in this round. The Sox have won every time previously, in sweeps in 2004 and 2007 and in four games last year. I think this one goes five, though. As to who wins...tough call. I think the Angels may finally break through. (Note that I use the word "may" and not "will.") They had more of a challenge winning the AL West, and the Red Sox struggled a little more than they should have to get the Wild Card. I just think LA is in slightly better shape. Angels in 5.

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals: The Cards had a fairly easy run to the NL Central title. The Dodgers had a big lead most of the year, but a late 5-game losing streak nearly cost them the NL West, although they had a playoff spot locked up. In this series the biggest factor is the starting pitching, and I think the Cards' rotation is clearly better. Cardinals in 4.

And finally...

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies: After an awful start that got their manager fired, the Rockies poured it on the rest of the way to win the NL Wild Card and nearly steal their division from the Dodgers. The Phillies have issues. The starters were lousy early, and inconsistent at the end; the bullpen is extremely shaky; the hitters slumped through much of the last few weeks. It would be easy to pick the Rockies in this series, but every time it seemed like the Phils were in serious trouble in the NL East, they bounced back and put more distance between them and their chasers. So, for this round at least, the defending World Series champions get the benefit of the doubt. Phillies in 4.