Philadelphia Phillies: No Butts About It...No Intensity

A-Rod was back in Texas for the first time since his admission. Alex said he loves Texas; he has a lot of friends and support there. 

Those supporters chose to encourage him with boo’s.

And it worked. He went 5-for-5 in a 19-hit slugfest that scored 11 runs and squelched the Rangers to one.

Take that, supporters.

And the Dodgers aren’t missing Manny as much as they’re missing his m-antics.  They’ve won 10 of 16 games since his suspension (from my count).  That includes an 8-0 shutout against the Giants, a 9-2 win over the Phillies, a 12-2 trounce of the Marlins, and a 16-6 victory last night. 

I think it’s more mental than Manny. 

Don’t get me wrong.  Steroids in baseball are wrong.  Taking them is wrong.  Lying about taking them is wrong. And defending their use is wrong.  Okay, are we on the same page before I make my statement?

Casting people into hell for their use is wrong.

Matt Stairs said it best.  You can’t give a guy in the stands steroids and think he’ll hit 400.  That’s why I say let’s move on.  But no matter what I say, fans can’t.

Why?  They’re feeling used, they’re feeling violated, they’re feeling offended; and they’re acting ridiculous. 

It’s the same philosophy as punishing your child for days over something he did wrong.  We think as parents, if we let him know how bad he made us feel, he’ll reconsider bad choices next time.  He won’t.  You were a kid once.  Did you reconsider?  Probably not.  Your kid won’t either. 

All you can do is make rules and stick with the consequences.  Or I guess you could hate them forever and banish them from your house and your life and pretend they’re dead to you.  Some families do. That doesn’t work for me.  And it definitely doesn’t change what that child did.

The MLB has made a rule and they’re sticking with the consequences.  It’s a 50-game suspension. Period. But some people think it should be a lifetime suspension.  Users should be cast into hell and their names banished from history. 

Off with their heads!

You know what I say.  Let he who’s without sin cast the first stone. 

Look at your entire life there, Mother Teresa.  You’re no daisy.  Neither am I.

“But…!” you say. 

That’s what’s going really through your head.  “But this is baseball!  But they’re paid a lot of money!  But they’re...!!!”

No buts.  But butts… now that’s a topic in baseball I’d like to review, or rather "view."

Jayson’s, Shane’s, Chase’s, Jimmy’s, Pedro’s, Carlos’, Ryan’s, Raul’s, (take breath here) Happ-y’s, Clay’s, Cole's, Brett's...you get my point.  And let’s spend a moment anticipating the stocky one that will return on June 3. 

The Phils proved last night that the harder you work the behind-er you get.  Jamie Moyer tried hard for number 250.  Jayson Werth tried hard to hit out of his slump. The last thing Chan Ho Park wanted was a Marlins RBI to slip by. 

And Shane Victorino tried way too hard to steal second in the ninth, although his dive gave me a wonderful view of his backside.  That’s always a treat.

But...the intensity wasn’t there.  It’s no secret the Phils have stunk at home.  Some of the guys say it’s because there are too many distractions.    

You know what I think?  I think the Phils need to fight distractions with distractions.  A “fight fire with fire” type of thing.  I think the Phillies need cheerleaders.  They need something to keep their right brain from thinking too hard and their left brain from falling behind. 

Outside of Ryan Howard’s multiple home run game last night, I saw few smiles.  Cheerleaders would change that.  Even on the worse of nights, they’d show their behinds and harden some bats. 

They’d occupy player’s thoughts with a different type of performance and put fans’ minds on a different type of performance-enhancement (like the ones you see advertised during the game, not injected).

Now what could be better than that?

Scoring–during and after the game.

Get my point?

Can’t wait ‘til tonight.