Sunday, March 25

The Opening Day Countdown

Seven days and counting... And this will be the longest week of my life. Ever since Danny Sandoval committed an error allowing the Marlins to walk off with a win on October 1, I have been craving more Phillies baseball. Sure the Spring Training games somewhat satisfy me, but only as much as a fat girl can. Real games that mean something are right around the corner and to keep myself from going crazy, I have a little countdown/list/boredom-killer planned for the week.

Monday: 7 players of concern
Tuesday: 6 reasons I love Chase Utley
Wednesday: 5 X factors
Thursday: 4 reasons the division title is ours
Friday: 3 gayest Mets
Saturday: 2 breakout performances to expect
Sunday: 1 biggest ass-munch on the team

Today: Seven Players of Concern

  1. Tom Gordon
    Every good team should have a good closer. Someone to nail down a "W" in the ninth inning every time he (or 'she' in the case of Billy Wagner) is called upon. Gordon was good in the first half of 2006 then faltered after the break. A healthy Gordon will drastically improve the state of our crap-hole (see right)

  2. Freddy Garcia
    He may be the biggest acquisition of the Gillick-era and was brought here to be our "ace." Well, he isn't... Myers is. But he is still a very important key to our rotation. Will his velocity be an issue, is his health an issue, can he survive at CBP, will he give us 200 innings? The optimist in me says "yes." The pessimist isn't allowed to comment.

  3. Adam Eaton
    Another pitcher with injury concerns. I don't expect anything spectacular from Eaton, but multiple trips to the D.L. will be very damaging to the Phillies's staff.

  4. Pat Burrell
    He is my boy and I have always been a huge supporter of him. And while I still know he will have a monster season, he has been horrible at the plate this spring and needs to re-create 2005 or 2002 for us. Could you imagine a 3-4-5 core made up of a "2006-Utley", a "2006-Howard" and a "2002-Burrel"l?

  5. Ryan Madson
    A very important part of our bullpen. Struggled last season but we all gave him a free-pass because the Phillies used him like a cheap French whore. Will a full season used only the Port-O-Potty be beneficial to Ryan?

  6. Aaron Rowand
    Another hitter who can't make contact this spring. Rowand's play has been disastrous this past month. I love the guy (not nearly as much as half the city) but he will not be a fan favorite to me if he can't hit above .250. I don't care how many walls or players he runs into.

  7. Charlie Manuel
    He isn't a player but this should be self-explanatory. His bullpen management, ridiculous lineups and inability to know who to pinch-hit has cost the Phillies quite a few games the past two seasons. And we all know it is only a few games that have kept the Phillies out of the postseason. We need Manuel to step up his game. Don't count on it though.

And I will also post an awesome picture each day to pump us all up for the season:

8 comments:

GM-Carson said...

Nice post Skeet. I agree with your assessment on all 7 accounts.

Charlie Manuel is head dumbass and that always leaves me feeling uneasy. I'm hoping the new coaches around him help tune down his retardedness a bit.

furiousBall said...

Great post and I feel the same way. I thought I'd be a bit more content heading into opening day, but as you pointed out, still lots of questions.

goDuke said...

I'm surprised not to see Howard in there. We shall see... I hope he doesn't have his sophomore slump in year 3. (aka the Junior Jinx?)

Skeeter said...

Oh God... A junior jinx would kill my spirits. I was going to put Howard in there but I feel as if there really is nothing to worry about. That is probably just wild optimism though

Mike said...

Excellent post. I eagerly await the rest of the countdown.

Is it too late to vote for Nunez as the biggest ass-munch?

Anonymous said...

Charlie Manuel (aka Elmer Fudd) could make or break this season. Hopefully the addition of Jimy Williams as a bench coach will lead to better decisions.

It's a good thing the Phils didn't hire Jim Leyland instead...I mean what has that guy accomplished recently?

D. Page said...

I'm excited about these countdowns, something to keep us all going until real baseball gets under way. Biggest ass-munch has gotta be Abe Nunez.

Skeeter said...

haha wow. I was unsure on who the assmunch was going to be. I feel like I am going to have to go with nunez though.