Photos from the Reds@Phillies, 7/7

I was visiting my parents in Philadelphia and, seemingly inevitably, we headed into the city to see the Phillies play.

Before I start talking about the game, let me just say that if you're planning to drive into Philly to watch baseball...don't. The traffic is insane, the roads aren't big enough to handle the congestion anyways, the signs aren't clear, and the roads are in poor condition. On top of all that, when the game ended and we were leaving, there was no one policing or directing traffic; as a result, we sat in our cars and literally did not move one inch for forty-five minutes. If you want to see the Phillies play, take the train into the city. Don't drive.

Anyways, enough bitching. It was a tough loss for the Phillies, losing 4-3. During the third inning, the team had a chance to bust it wide open, as the bases were loaded with no outs, but three guys got up and three guys sat down. The Phillies didn't score another run the rest of the night. During the ninth inning, Brad Lidge gave up a run to give the Reds the lead and then got tagged with the loss.

Now for photos, all shot from Sec. 424, Row 12, Seat 8 (click to enlarge):




By reputation most people know Citizens Bank Park as a great stadium, but I was still impressed by how nice it was. The place was absolutely beautiful and immaculately maintained. Sitting in the upper deck, I got a great view of the city stretching away from the stadium. Also, I know everyone has said this, but this stadium may as well be an exact copy of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The ivy growing up a brick wall in dead center, the height of the walls, the power alleys...the aesthetic is basically cut and pasted from the Yard, which makes sense considering the same company was the architect for both. That said, I prefer Oriole Park because of the way right field is twenty-five feet high and is connected to Eutaw Street...it's just a nice little wrinkle that gives the park its own flavor, like the ivy at Wrigley or the Green Monster.

Chase Utley taking his cuts. I was very pleased with how this picture turned out.

I'm not the first to say this, but Utley is pretty clearly the most underrated player in baseball--and I say this acknowledging the fact that he's about to start the All-Star game, and make his fourth consecutive appearance in the Mid-Summer Classic. Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard won back-to-back MVPs, but Utley was probably a better player than either in both seasons. Heading into 2008 I thought he might finally get the respect he deserves, but then Dustin Pedroia won the AL MVP and was annointed 'the best second baseman'. I agree that Pedroia had a better season last year than Utley, but Utley's been doing it for years. In any given season he's the best defensive 2B in baseball; in fact, Bill James and the guys over at The Fielding Bible rated him at +47 plays last year; in other words, he made 47 more plays than the average second baseman last year, the best total by any player at any position [note: I can't tell you how pleased I am by this fact. As I was first getting into sabermetrics, I got discouraged and started wondering why we even bother watching the games when it seems like every observation a person can make on baseball is somehow overturned by the stats. Shortly thereafter, my folks moved to Philadelphia, and as I helped them move in over the summer, I caught about thrity to forty Phils games on TV. I don't know why, but in the back of my head I kept telling myself that I'd read that Utley was an average defender. The more I watched him, though, the more I thought he was a spectacular defender, and learning that the stats see him as an elite defender was an...edifying moment; let's leave it at that. He actually made a great play last night, fielding a hard-hit ball with a the runner on first in motion, tagging the runner and throwing to first for the out. It was better in person.].

I could go on and on and start talking about his power, telling you things you already know, but let's skip that. Something you probably don't know, though, is that Utley gets hit more than any other active player. He led the majors in HBP in 2007 (with 25), 2008 (with 27), and is second in the majors this year, with twelve, behind Kelley Shoppach, with 14. Hmm...power hitting second baseman who gets hit by a lot of pitches? Sounds like future Hall of Famer Craig Biggio.


The shift deployed versus Ryan Howard.

I could turn this into a full blog post...I think Howard is going to be out of baseball inside of three, maybe four seasons, and if the Phillies were smart they would trade him as soon as possible. Howard doesn't run, doesn't hit for average, doesn't play defense, doesn't walk that much (and only walks against lefties), is a complete black-hole against LHPs...the only thing Howard does well is hit home runs off right-handed pitchers. I mean, Ryan Howard is a platoon player right now, and he's only 29 with very little mileage on his body. Where do you think he's going to be when he's 33, 34, 35? It's interesting that arguably the most underrated and most overrated players in baseball share an infield.

These next few pictures I like to call Brad Lidge Blows the Game: A Photo Essay in Three Acts.

This first picture is titled Brad Lidge Prior to Blowing the Game.

This second picture is titled Brad Lidge In the Process of Blowing the Game.

And this last photo is entitled Brad Lidge After Blowing the Game.

fins

All ribbing aside, what the hell is up with Lidge? Someone should do a breakdown of his season and compare it to last year in order to see what's up. Incidentally, while we're on the topic of mercurial relievers, B.J. Ryan just got released by the Jays. Frailty, thy name is closer!

Hopefully I'll be able to make a habit of this every time I go to a game. Hope you enjoyed.