Orel Hershiser Makes A Good Point

rarely, if ever, do sports announcers say something so meaningful during a game that makes you sit up and say "you know what? that guy is right on the money". last night orel hershiser did just that.

i can't remember if it was right before or right after the ryan howard home run (which was a MONSTER, by the way), hershiser made the comment that if the phillies lose this game its not because they failed to get a timely hit or anything like that, its because of the little mistakes they made on the front end (read: every play freddy garcia was involved in), and sometimes in the post-game analysis managers, coaches, and players will overlook what really lost the game (mental mistakes) in favor of saying "oh, we just didn't get the right hit at the right time".

that has been the problem the phillies have had all year, especially against the braves and mets, the two teams the phillies can least afford to lose to. the crazy thing about this team, however, is that statistically they should be doing much better: near the top of the league in runs scored, at the top of the league in outfield assists (another GREAT one by "sugar" shane victorino last night), and lead the NL in team on base percentage, but its the small mental errors (and on field errors) that have cost this team ballgames, and may ultimately cost them a shot at the post season.

10,000 loss countdown: 30

ps - always take what i say with a grain of salt because sometimes even the most obvious things escape my ever-watchful eye. all week i have been wondering why the phillies and the giants are getting the national ESPN game on sunday night. its not a rivalry, we aren't in the same division, and there is no history whatsoever between these two teams. then it hit me: it's ryan howard vs. barry bonds, stupid. see, i'm not as smart as i think sometimes :)