It is abundantly clear the Phillies’ current ownership will never get it. In a rambling Q&A carried in this morning’s Inquirer, part owner Bill Giles, the most public face in a galaxy of dim stars who own the franchise, disputed the accounts in the Brett Myers incident. Using a logic only a Phillies’ owner could muster, Giles said, “some bystander saw something that really didn't happen.” OK, Bill.
Giles also offered a unwitting variation on Myers’ own statement following his arrest that he was “sorry it had to go public” by telling reporter Todd Zolecki “The best thing about the last two weeks was I was in Italy, so I didn't get into that [Myers] mess.”
Talk about addressing difficult matters head on. Maybe Giles was out of cell phone range, though having been in Italy within the last few years that is impossible to imagine.
All of this is in aid of at least one indisputable fact: the Phillies are sticking by Brett Myers. Get used to seeing him in red pinstripes, fans.
Giles also dismissed notions that maybe the Phillies’ current committee of owners should consider selling. Over his dead body…and ours.
* * * * * * * * *
Say it ain’t so, RyHo!
Look out Phillies’ fans, another of your favorite sons has won the All-Star Game Home Run Derby.
Ryan Howard altered his batting practice swing for the occasion and bested the Mets’ David Wright for this year’s crown. In doing so, Howard admitted freely ahead of the competition that he normally doesn’t swing for the fences (or in this case the Allegheny River) during BP. The operative word here is “normally” and we can only hope the temporary change doesn’t come back to haunt Howard like it did last year’s winner, fellow Phillie Bobby Abreu.
It is worth noting almost all of Howard’s home runs last night were to center and right field whereas during the course of the regular season the majority of his taters are hit to left field.
If Howard’s home run production falls off for the remainder of the season look for the Phillies to insert new language in every player’s future contracts. Just after the line that offers a $75,000 bonus to any player who makes the All-Star squad and a $100,000 bonus for being name a starter, there should be a line requiring that any player who agrees to participate in the Home Run Derby will have to pay the Phillies the same amounts listed above.
* * * * * * * * *
Speaking of the Home Run Derby, how about those flashy uniforms the NL All-Stars were sporting? I am a sucker for bright yellow with red mixed in, so Howard’s Phillies cap was a perfect match for his striking uniform. It’s time for the Phillies to rethink their regular season uniforms. Maybe that’s the problem with this team: they literally look dull!!
12 comments:
What we've seen from Howard so far is a player with a great ability to adjust. I'm not worried about it. It's a positive experience. He's a home run hitter, doing what he was meant to do.
i just can't get into this notion that a player's swing can be ruined by two hours of uppercutting. players make adjustments in games every night, yet this one modification ruins them for months?
Hey guys, my tongue was firmly in my cheek on the Howard post. I hardly believe a guy's swing is ruined by a HR Derby!!
I'm with you on the uniform change. Those home unis just don't make it. Of course, I'm still partial to those Schu-era maroon jerseys with that lowercase 'p'...why bring back the uniforms of the '50s and '60s, when the team was in one of its huge droughts? Never made sense to me.
As I've stated elsewhere, here's hoping Giles is taken to task for what he said about the Myers incident. Just inexcusable. I still can't believe what I read.
Yeah, it might be a step in the right direction to lose those loser unis. I don't know about the red and yellow combo, though. Looks like DHL to me. But it works OK for the Kansas City Chiefs and nobody in MLB is using it.
The Phillies were too short-sighted to jump on board the retro-jersey craze when they opened the new park. All the signage, all the marketing, all the ads are in the current, outdated typeface and color. Changing the look now will never happen.
In this day and age, they're well-overdue for a new look. The current look has been around since 1992. Meanwhile, young fans have been embracing the novelty of the 1980s look since 2000 or 2001. I love my maroon hat.
In addition, maroon and blue isn't being used by another team and would give the Phillies a unique identity. Besides, how much revenue is being lost because people don't want to wear fire-engine red hats?
The current jerseys are all about retro, though...the only thing they could have done to make them moreso would have been to put those giant, oversized numbers on the back.
But it's not the kind of retro the Phillies should have ever opted to re-associate themselves with. These were the unis of the 23-game-losing streak Phillies, the '64 Phillies, the deterioriating-Connie Mack Stadium Phillies. Outside of '93, they are again to be associated with losing and frustration. There's no pride to be found in that '50s cursive script. Why not go with the look sported by the only successful era the franchise has ever known - or else, do something different altogether?
If it's between a new look and the maroon/powder blue unis, give me a new look. The maroon and powder blue makes me want to vomit. I make fun of anyone and everyone I see wearing the caps/jerseys/shirts from that era.
Now, if you want to grab an old look and go with it, I say use the black/white/gray look from 1942 seen here.
First of all, I have always wondered why the team does not break out those red BP jerseys for some games like other teams do. I don't get that.
Secondly, who told Bill Giles he could come out of his little room in the ballpark and speak to the media? Who's turn was it to guard his door in case he escaped? That guard needs to be fired.
There is no reason the Phillies could not wear either their red or blue batting practice jerseys some of the time. They actually look better than most of the unis worn in the big leagues today.
Yike, if there's one uniform style you want to stay far, far away from, it would be the 1942 Phillies. They were probably the worst Phillies team of all time, and that covers a whole lot of bad teams.
Hardball Times had a fun article on this team recently here.
Nat -
I'm just saying I like the look of those uniforms the best. Besides, the Phils have so much in the way of bad history, it might be best to come up with a completely new look anyway. Why draw anything from the past of a franchise that is the losingest team in American professional sports history?
Post a Comment