Phils Recap: Don't Stop Believing

To the left is a picture on the "Man or Machine?" T-shirts that have been going around.

"Money won is better than money earned." Fast Eddie Felson, The Color of Money.

To that I'd like to add, games stolen are a whole lot more exciting than games conventionally won. Too lengthy? I'll work on it.

Any way you slice it, The Phightins absolutely s-s-stole that game last night. Watching early, I had zero confidence in Kendrick. His one saving grace, if he has one, is that his two-seamer generates a lot of double-play balls. He must be wanting to walk all those guys, then, to set up the double play (tongue in cheek).

The Good: Kendrick's mental toughness. I like Kendrick, I like his attitude, and I like the fact that I heard someone on talk radio blame his recent struggles on that famous prank the team played on him in spring training. Ridiculous.

The Bad: Ryan Howard. Hey, big guy! It's May. Until further notice, Messr. Howard will be referred to as "The Snowman" in this space--because he's Abominable. Sounds bad, doesn't it? Bad is what he is right now, hitting .163. When Pedro Feliz is hitting 60 points higher than you, it's time to get a move on. Also, Howard is so bad--so Abominable-- in the field that he got an error charged to him for muffing a throw from Utley on a double play. For those of you that don't follow baseball, well, that almost never happens, Haley's Comet style.

The Hero: Who Else? Chase "It's My Turn Now" Utley for banging in the winning run last night. If a Triple Crown is what it's going to take for this team to win, then Utley will do just that. First runner up to Victorino for getting clotheslined going to first, then stealing second and scoring the tying run. Honorable mention to Brunty, who's been swinging the ol' stick quite nicely lately, for doubling in the tying run and scoring the winning run.

The Goat: D-backs catcher Chris Snyder, for allowing the past ball on a strikeout pitch to Victorino. Victorino hustled to first, stole second, and you know the rest.

Notes: Pat the Bat has re-entered the atmosphere and is returning to earth. After batting in the .340s for most of April, he's at .305. For those of you lacking rudimentary math skills, that's still almost DOUBLE Howard's BA.