This morning, I was set to tap out a post about how awful the Eagles have become. I didn't have anything firmed up, but I was going to try and come up with type of nickname for the game, like the "Snowy Massacre" (or hopefully something a bit more creative) and express my rage for what TWRWWRN has done to my team.
Somehow, I was going to throw in some sarcasm about how Koy Detmer played better than Mike McMahon because his interception was only returned to the two yard line rather than for a touchdown like McMahon's interceptions were.
My final point was going to be what a shame it was that such a performance was turned in on a night were Reggie White, one of the greatest Eagles of all time was being honored.
And then I read an article by Marcus Hayes about the Phillies in talks to trade Bobby Abreu for Mark Prior, and I completely forgot how sucktastic the Eagles were last night. Normally Hayes is on the Balls, Sticks, & Stuff Official Blacklist, but this scoop is certainly worth mentioning:
According to National League sources at the winter meetings here, the Cubs asked the Phillies yesterday what it would take to pry away two-time All-Star rightfielder, Gold Glove winner and reigning Home Run Derby champion Bobby Abreu.
The answer: Mark Prior.
The Cubs didn't say yes.
But they didn't say no, either; at least, they haven't so far.
Now that will make you forget about 42-0, at least for a moment. Hair of the dog, if you will.
In my opinion, there is not a more polished pitcher under the age of 30 than Mark Prior. In his first full season, he finished third in the National League's Cy Young voting, and through 613 career innings pitched, has an ERA+ of 132 and a 719/195 strikeout to walk ratio.
What's not to like about Prior? His durability. He's had a long list of injuries. After pitching 211 innings in 30 starts in 2003, Prior hasn't been the same since spending much time on the disabled list, pitching only 285 innings in 2004 and 2005 combined.
Besides the risk of trading for a pitcher with injury troubles, Prior will be a free agent eligible for arbitration after 2006, and so the Phillies would run the risk of losing Prior after only one year if they are not able to re-sign him not be in complete control of his salary for 2007.
It appears however that those are risks that Gillick et al are willing to take, and it's probably worth taking. There have been many rumors that Prior's (and fellow Cub pitcher Kerry Wood's) frequent injuries are due to mishandling by manager Dusty Baker, and one of Prior's injuries came from a freak base-running collision with Braves second baseman Marcus Giles.
It's possible that a change of scenery would do him some good.
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During last night's radio broadcast, Merrill Reese, the Eagles play-by-play announcer, in his distinctive tone uttered these two phrases:
Folks, we have a nightmare.
In my wildest dreams I could not have imagined anything like this...
and...
This, is a catastrophe.
If you didn't read those quotes in Reese's voice, go back and do so now.
It got me to thinking, if you didn't know he was talking about football, and you heard his voice and tone seperate from the game, you might think Reese was referring some type of significant moment in history. In that manner, it's sort of fun to imagine Reese uttering these words in reference to last night's Eagles game:
December 5th, a night which will live in infamy.
Have any others?
