Heartbreak in the 10th (or Roy Oswalt Bobblehead Night)

6/24/2011 PHILLIES VS CINCINNATI REDS

L 3-6 in 10 Innings

with Sam Fields

James trying to figure out what brand of chewing tobacco Raul Ibanez uses

Baseball weather, finally. No more chilly nights where I have to overdue it on the hot peppers on my nachos. No more wearing hoodies. Its all t-shirts and sweat from here on, till November. Woo. And our first major league bobblehead of the year! Tuesday, the Phillies started a really weird series against the Reds, which me and Sam were in attendance for. I got there early so I could scout out my softball team's field on a Tuesday to see if those dredded little leaguers were using the field. (they weren't!) I settled into a nice blackbean burger and fries dinner. Usually the entrance pat-down fellows are pretty lax, but Sam got shit from one of them for wearing a "Phuck Yeah" shirt, citing the children and their oh so delicate minds. (I would of forever banned Sam from the ballpark because he most likely was also selling hard drugs to elementary students, based on that shirt.) 

Sam, the corrupter of minds

The game quickly started with a nice chorus of anti-Scott Rolen boos. This makes me proud to be a Philadelphian, as people have a long long memory of ex-players who have dissed our town. Yes, Scott Rolen, we remember what you did to us 2002. Once you have wronged us badly, we do not forget, nor forgive. I totally endorse that philosophy.

We noted that the first bobblhead of the year by the Phillies, Roy Oswalt, the former ace of the Astros, had considerable less work put into it. The actual figurine lacked some detail, and the box didn't really have as many stats, like playoff stats. Why? Sam thought it was laziness, but I thought it was because Oswalt won't be here next year. Sam, lacking any inside knowledge because of his lack of reading the Daily News everyday, cited that "I like Oswalt. He pitches good. Why would they not bring him back?" I countered with "He's thinking of retiring. The Astros have been paying half his salary, and the Phillies would owe him $12 million if they bring him back. He also has strongly hinted that he wants to retire. Furthermore, the Polanco bobblehead later this year looks way nicer, and he's under contract next year." James wins the argument, again.

Also, I'm glad rookie outfielder Domonic Brown is with the Phillies. That kid is awesome. Though I am a little tired of him saying, "Aw, man" ever other sentence.

We sat next to the staffer from the Phillies briefly, who had a helmet full of confetti for someone who had a birthday. He chatted us up on game business, and seemed to side with me on the issue of an Oswalt retirement. When Polanco hit the a fly into the outfield, the guy immediately knew it was an out and started walking towards his victim/birthday girl. Nothing like drunken fans singing happy birthday in unison...

Birthday Confetti Guy!

A game I like to play which gets under Sam's skin is finding an advertisement in the stadium and insisting we purchase it, drone-like. "Hey, lets go get some McDonald's." "Hey, I hear that Southwest has some really great deals." "You should get an AT&T phone. They rule." I've forgotten to do this most of this year, but I momentarily got Sam's hopes up when I mentioned getting some bud. (Shiftless hippy.) The key to any annoying joke is to completely drive it into the ground by repeating it often. This will cause your victim to eventually have a freakout, leading to more entertainment for you. I was able to round out the Bud(weiser request to, "Lets get some Bud. We'll use an AT&T phone, and call my guy who works at McDonald's. We can get some Powerade afterwards." I'm a genius.

I entered the game with a 2-4 record with the Phillies. Strangely enough, both wins came when I went to the games with women friends (Sarah and Jen), and all four losses racked up when I came with men friends (Sam and Frank). So hoping to break that... It looked good when the Phillies opened up the scoring with 3 runs. Rookie Pitcher Vance Worley seemed to tire out quickly, leading to a tied game that went to the 10th Inning. And fucking Ryan "Mad Dog" Madsen gave up a three run double in the bottom of the 10th. 

Fuck. So I'm 2-0 with women and 0-5 with men. You're banned, fellows. 

At least I got this baby home:

In other news, the Oregon Ave Octopi are officially playing the West Philly Waste on Wednesday June 29th over at 49th and Kingsessing. Book it! Here's our Championship Caliber Team.

Game Stats

PHI

Pitching:
Starter: RHP Vance Worley (93 Pitches, 50 Strikes, 5 Innings, 6 Hits, 3 Doubles, 3 Runs, 3 ER, 4 Walks, 1 Intentional Walk, 2.14 ERA)

Relief: RHP David Herndon (11 Pitches, 7 Strikes, 1 Inning, 1 Strikeout, 7.42 ERA)
Relief: RHP Michael Stutes (9 Pitches, 8 Strikes, 1 Inning, 1 Hit, 1 Strikeout, 2.08 ERA)

Relief: LHP Antonio Bastardo (14 Pitches, 11 Strikes, 1 Strikeout, 1.04 ERA)

Closing: RHP Ryan Madsen (24 Pitches, 12 Strkes, 1 Inning, 3 Hits, 1 Double, 3 Runs, 3 ER, 1 Intentional Walk, 1.80 ERA) L (2-1)

Lineup:

1. SS Jimmy Rollins (5 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Double (9), .264 AVG)

2. 2B Chase Utley (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, .111 AVG)

3. 3B Placido Polanco (4 At-bats, 1 Left on base, .332 AVG)

4. 1B Ryan Howard (3 At-bats, 1 Run, 1 Hit, 1 Double (11), 1 Walk, .250 AVG)

5. LF Raul Ibanez (4 At-bats, 2 Runs, 3 Hits, 1 Double (11), 1 RBI (21), 1 Left on base, .252 AVG)

6. C Carlos Ruiz (3 At-bats, 2 Hits, 1 Double (5), 1 RBI (10), 1 Walk, 1 Left on base, .256 AVG)

7. RF Domonic Brown (2 At-bats, 1 RBI (1), 1 Sacrifice Fly, 1 Walk, 4 Left on base, .100 AVG, 1 Fielding Error)

8. CF John Mayberry, Jr. (4 At-bats, 4 At-bats, .219 AVG)

9. SP Vance Worley (2 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, 2 Left on base, .286 AVG, 1 Throwing Error)

--- Relief Pitcher (Herndon)

--- Relief Pitcher (Stutes)

--- PH Ben Francisco (1 At-bat, .214 AVG)

--- Relief Pitcher (Bastardo)

--- Relief Pitcher (Madsen)

--- PH Michael Martinez (1 At-bat, .189 AVG)

CIN

Pitching:

Starter: RHP Johnny Cueto (108 Pitches, 69 Strikes, 6 Innings, 7 Hits, 4 Doubles, 3 Runs, 3 ER, 2 Walks, 1 Strikeout, .219 AVG)

Relief: LHP Bill Bray (27 Pitches, 14 Strikes, 1.2 Innings, 1 Hit, 1.53 ERA)

Relief: RHP Logan Ondrusek (.1 Inning, 9 Pitches, 4 Strikes, 1 Walk, 2.08 ERA) W (3-2)

Closer: RHP Francisco Cordero (9 Pitches, 6 Strikeouts, 1 Inning, 1.69) S (9)

Lineup:

1. CF Drew Stubbs (5 At-bats, 2 Runs, 2 Hits, 1 Double (8), 2 Strikeouts, 2 Left on base, .266 AVG)

2. 2B Brandon Phillips (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, 2 RBI (29), 1 Walk, 1 Left on base, .314 AVG)
3. 1B Joey Votto (3 At-bats, 2 Runs, 2 Hits, 1 Double (14), 2 Walks, 1 Left on base, .333 AVG)

4. 3B Scott Rolen (5 At-bats, 1 Run, 2 Hits, 1 RBI (18), 4 Left on base, .272 AVG)

5. RF Jay Bruce (5 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Double (8), 3 RBI (33), 3 Strikeouts, 5 Left on base, .280 AVG)

6. C Ramon Hernandez (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, 1 Double (6), 1 Walk, 1 Left on base, .340 AVG)
7. LF Chris Heisey (4 At-bats, 1 Hit, 3 Left on base, .267 AVG)

8. SS Paul Janish (4 At-bats, 1 Strikeout, 2 Left on base, .216 AVG)

--- Relief Pitcher (Ondrusek)

--- Relief Pitcher (Cordero)
9. SP Johhny Cueto (1 At-bat, 1 Run, 1 Sacrifice, 1 Walk, .143 AVG)

--- Relief Pitcher (Bray)

--- SS Edgar Renteria (1 At-bat, .225 AVG)

James's 2011 Baseball Season 

Starting Phillies Organization Pitchers:

RHP Roy Oswalt 1

LHP Cole Hamels 3

LHP Ryan Edell (AA) 1

RHP Joe Blanton 1

RHP Eddie Bonine (AAA) 1

RHP Roy Halladay 1

LHP Ryan Feierabend (AAA) 1

RHP Vance Worley 1

Total Games: 10

Minor League: 1-2

Phillies: 2-5

Overall: 3-7