Balls, Sticks, & Stuff | Phillies, Eagles, golf and other matters of great importance...

Phillies Lead Baseball in LHP Prospects with Unique Names

A few days ago the Phillies converted Josh Outman and Fabio Castro, two left-handed starters, to relievers.  Those moves drew some attention away from the fact that they also promoted 22-year old left-handed starting pitcher Antonio Bastardo to AA Reading.

Bastardo earned the promotion after striking out 47 batters in just 30 1/3 innings pitched at A+ Clearwater.  Impressive to say the least and consistent with his efforts in 2007 when he struck out 110 batters in 96 2/3 innings pitched.

Razor Shines, his manager at Clearwater [while they're at it, is there room for World B. Free in the organization somewhere?], had this to say about Bastardo:

"He's got the gamut. Fastball, slider, change that he can throw for strikes on any count he wants. His changeup has really come along this spring and he's causing a lot of problems for opposing batters."

He also thought that Bastardo would pitch for the big league Phillies this year [link].

At 5'11'' and 168 lbs., the Dominican will undoubtedly face questions about his durability as a starter, and he still struggles with his control a bit, but the fact is, he misses bats.

Outman and Castro are good young pitchers, but it might just be Bastardo that becomes a lefty out of the pen for the Phils this year.

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At 18-14 and atop the NL East, the Phillies head west for a 7-game road trip against the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Francisco Giants.  If they return 22-17, I'll be happy.

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Began watching the DVD Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life and after one disc down and one to go, I can, without any reservations whatsoever, highly recommend it.  The footage of Whitey playing is just plain cool to see.  Oh, and one other thing:  Harry Kalas slings a pie in Whitey's face.  Priceless.

Catching Up

Notes regarding news and minutia...

...The Phillies announced that on June 1, Mike Lieberthal will be signed to a one-day contract so that he can retire as a Phillie.  Similar to when the Phillies signed Doug Glanville to a one-day-er, it's a nice gesture to a player who showed loyalty to the organization over the years but is in no danger of having his number retired.

...Philly sports fans have a bad reputation that exceeds what they deserve given their track record.  Yes, Santa and Jimmy Johnson were pelted with boos and snowballs, and yes, fans cheered when Michael Irvin laid motionless on the turf.  But similar incidents have happened in every town that has a professional sports team.  What I would like to point out is the aspect of Philly fans that goes unnoticed -- an appreciation for historical excellence.  The standing ovation Greg Maddux received when he left the field last night after holding the Phillies to two runs in 6 1/3 innings was very classy.  The Phillies have suffered a lot of losses at the hands of Maddux over the years, it would have been easy for them to ignore his efforts.

...After looking in some of the dark corners of my feed reader, I noticed an article One Chair wrote early this month.  Should I be at all worried that he knows the name of the hospital on "Grey's Anatomy"?  You don't think he secretly thinks of himself as "McBeardy" do you?

...Lastly, over at the Baseboogle blog, I posed a question to the Pitch f/x crowd.  Until someone tells me otherwise, I'm treating the data with skepticism.

...A few days ago I received my copy of the DVD, Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life.  Can't wait to watch it, look for a review here sometime soon.

Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life

On April 22nd, 2008, the Phillies and the Arts Alliance of America will release a DVD entitled, Richie Ashburn: A Baseball Life.  Below is a trailer, narrarrated by Harry Kalas, just like the DVD itself.

What's interesting to me is the footage of Ashburn playing baseball, I'm not sure, even after all these years, that I've ever seen any before.

Take a look:

More on Ashburn from the archives.

Book Review - Richie Ashburn Remembered

Sometimes as a Phillies game progresses, whether the Phillies are winning or the Phillies are losing, I sometimes think to myself, what would Whitey say about that play?

For instance, in Tuesday night's game, Bobby Abreu led off the second inning with a triple, and the next three Phillies came to the plate and failed to score him, ending the inning.  My guess is that Whitey would have said, "Hard to believe, Harry."

After reading Richie Ashburn Remembered, by Fran Zimniuch, it becomes even easier to hear a game in His Whiteness's voice.  Leafing through the 109 pages -- filled with anecdotes, Ashburnisms, pictures, and re-prints of many of Ashburn's columns in the Daily News and Bulletin -- portions of the summers of my youth begin to come back, remembering things that I didn't realize affect the way I watch a baseball game.

When a player gets on base, I try and determine if he looks "runnerish" and when a batter strikes out looking at a curveball, I subconsciously utter, "Froze 'em."  And of course, because of Whitey, we know that is only sensible to get the married men off of the field during a rout.  But we also know that if there is nothing to say during a broadcast -- all of the necessary birthday wishes and get wells have already been called out to listeners -- then silence is perfectly fine, no need to fill in the gaps with idle talk...unless of course Harry has just read the game's trivia question, in which case you can keep on guessing until Harry gives you the answer.

As we all know, Ashburn was not just a broadcaster, he was a Hall of Fame centerfielder for the Phillies in the 1950's, an integral part of the 1950 Whiz Kids that won the National League pennant.  During his career, which closed out with the Cubs and Mets, Ashburn hit over .300 nine times and led the National League in batting average twice. Ashburn led the National League in walks and runs scored four times, and hits and triples three times.  According to Zimniuch, Ashburn got at least one hit in 75 percent of the games in which he appeared.  And he could do more than hit as he led the NL in outfield putouts nine times.

As a matter of fact, Dodger fans know Ashburn more for his throwing arm than anything else.  In 1950, Ashburn threw out Cal Abrams -- attempting to score from second off a Duke Snider single -- to preserve a tie in the final game of the season.  The game went to extra innings and Dick Sisler hit a home-run in the bottom of the 10th to win the game and the pennant for the Phillies over the Dodgers.

Richie Ashburn Remembered is a great book to reminisce about one of Philadelphia's icons, and I recommend it highly.  The book is divided into several parts  which focus on his last days, his playing career, broadcasting career, his family life, and his induction into the Hall of Fame in 1995 after a long wait.

But if you really want to feel nostalgic about Whitey, turn on a Phillies game, mute the sound, and let yourself go.  You might just be surprised at whose voice you hear.

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A Call to Comments

It would be fun and interesting for everyone if all who reads this were to go to the comments section and post their favorite [and if it is already listed, their second favorite] Ashburn anecdote or Ashburnism.

Eddie Sawyer

As I was browsing the baseball section of my local Borders Books yesterday, I came across a book I had not heard of before, The Whiz Kids and the 1950 Pennant.  The book has several authors, but the primary one seems to be Robin Roberts, which gives the book a semi-autobiographical feel.  But the book is by no means strictly from the perspective of Roberts, as many of the members of the 1950 Phightin's are quoted in the book, often quite extensively in the form of full-page anecdotes.

One anecdote I stumbled upon, told by Richie Ashburn, was quite interesting.  As Ashburn tells it, many of the players on the 1950 Phillies team had been teammates on the Utica Blue Sox under Eddie Sawyer -- someone who in today's vernacular would be termed a "players' manager" -- in the mid- to late-1940's (also managed the Whiz Kids in 1950).  According to Ashburn, the majority of the regular fans at Blue Sox games were also regular gamblers, and at one particular game, the crowd became very angry when the Blue Sox botched the outcome and lost in the late innings.  As the team was leaving the field to go to the clubhouse, a fan/gambler threw a beer in the face of Eddie Sawyer.  Sawyer retaliated by punching the fan/gambler to the ground.  The story, as told in the book, ends there.  Ashburn and the authors go on to another anecdote to illustrate Sawyer's popularity with the players without telling us the consequences of Sawyer beating the fan/gambler.  What were the extent of the injuries?  Were charges filed? 

My guess is that the injuries were not serious and charges were not filed or it probably would have been mentioned in the book, but in light of recent events, I found this to be an interesting story.  Sometimes the good old days aren't as good as we remember them.