Phillies Get Heavy Exposure on Internet, in Blogosphere
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As spring training gets underway, the Phillies are getting their share of exposure online as to both expectations for the coming year as well as nostalgia from the past.
Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports has written a couple of features on the Phillies. One feature being about Ryan Howard which, while it breaks no new insightful ground regarding last year’s NL MVP, indicates MLB’s expections for Howard, “that baseball needs a man like Ryan Howard”, a pure, untainted player to vindicate a sport which, although I try very hard to stay away from the subject of steroids on this blog, in recent years has had great record-shattering achievements tainted by steroids and other performance-enhancing-drugs.
During Brown’s interview with Howard, the young super-star spoke of his encounter with Hank Aaron at the Aaron Award presentation;
On a cold, dreary October day in St. Louis, Howard said, Aaron had only a little time and used it to impart a piece of well-worn wisdom.
“Just to keep doing what I’ve been doing,” he recalled. “I believe in his speech he said the game needs someone like me and to basically keep doing what I’ve been doing, and to stay the same.”
“As long as it helps get this cloud [presumably meaning steroids] out of the way, if that’s how you want to look at it. You need me, then so be it. I’m just going to go out and still do what I can.”
Brown also wrote a feature about newly acquired pitcher Adam Eaton and what the 30 year old, 7 year veteran could mean for the Phillies starting rotation as they battle to overtake the Mets for the nl East title in 2007.
Brown writes;
The Phillies have to find out what they’ve got in Eaton, the 29-year-old right-hander who has been limited to 35 starts over the past two seasons because of a strained tendon in the middle finger of his pitching hand.
Eaton was 9-1 with a 3.18 ERA for the San Diego Padres on June 15, 2005, when the tendon went the first time. He lost that game, returned six weeks later, and lost three of his last five decisions. He was traded to the Texas Rangers in the offseason, experienced a more severe injury to the same area, and did not pitch until late July.
Eaton became a free agent and Phillies general manager Pat Gillick, seeing potential where others might have seen risk, signed Eaton to a three-year, $24-million contract.
“Everybody’s obviously concerned with my finger,” Eaton said Sunday. “At the same time, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
He works his right hand with strengthening exercises, and has even dabbled in the bucket of rice Steve Carlton once made famous and still exists in the Phillies’ clubhouse. Otherwise, he’ll monitor unusual fatigue or soreness in his hand, back off on the breaking balls (he grips his cutter and curveball very firmly) if necessary, and assume all is well.
Manager Charlie Manuel agreed, saying he had no plans to treat Eaton’s preparatory work different than any of the starters.
“There’s not a whole lot we can do about that,” he said. “We’re just trying to work him in. He’s on the same program.”
If Eaton pitches to potential, with the other horses on this staff, they promise to be formidable in the East and throughout the NL.
In blogosphere, the PhilliesNation blog has the beginnings of a nice video collection of great Phillies moments from 1950, 1980, 1983 and 1993.
Although I wasn’t thrilled with the level of naration of the still photos of the 1950 World Series, the other videos sent chills of memories and anticipation for the 2007 season up my spine. Hopefully, we will one day see other great video moments online, i.e. Bunning’s perfect game, Wise’s no-hitter and his slugging prowess, the wild Wrigley Field games with the Cubs, Schmitty’s homers, etc.
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