Random Thursday: April 25, 2010, Phillies vs. Diamondbacks

By The Common Man

You never know where you’ll be when randomness strikes. But you know when: Thursday. And today’s use of the random feature on Baseball-Reference.com jumps us from the 1910 Red Sox (which The Common Man wrote about here) all the way to Sunday, April 25, 2010, to the boxscore of a Phillies/Diamondbacks clash, which Arizona won 8-6.

The Phillies have had a tough year, beset by injuries to their stars. Jimmy Rollins has spent more than a month on the DL in two separate stints. Chase Utley was out for more than a month and a half. Shane Victorino has been on the DL this year. Ryan Howard too. Placido Polanco missed three weeks. But they’ve finally busted through and are back in 1st place in the NL East by .5 games. Given their setbacks this year, that’s a tremendous achievment, and deserves to be acknowledged.

That said, they could be 1.5 up.

Random Thursday?: Doc Prothro

It's a little late, but The Common Man didn't want to skip this week's Random Thursday event because of his busy travel and baseball-game-attending schedule. This week's spin of fortune's wheel landed James "Doc" Prothro, a 3B in the middle of the 1920s for the Senators and Red Sox. Prothro's history is unconventional, to say the least.

Already 26 when he broke into the big leagues, Prothro got 13 good at bats in with Washington in 1920, but refused to report the next season when the team planned to send him to Reading for additional seasoning. After all, Prothro was going to be 27 and had a side career to fall back on. You see, Prothro was a graduate of the University of Tennessee Dental School and a practicing dentist, who could presumably make more money seeing patients in Memphis than fastballs in Reading.

This endears Prothro to The Common Man greatly, especially this week, since The Common Man's father has been a dentist since the early 1970s, and his brother is actively finishing up dental school. Dentistry has been good for The Common Man's growth and development, as it paid for several trips to the Metrodome a year. And The Common Man's father is the best kind of dentist, the one who provides dental services to his family free of charge. To this day, The Common Man has never had a cavity. Floss people.

Anyway, for three years, Dr. Prothro played town ball in the Memphis area before agreeing to an assignment with the Memphis minor league team. Prothro continued to practice dentistry in the off-season, and in 1924 was called up for the Senators' pennant run, got into 46 games, and hit .333/.394/.465. Prothro did not play in the World Series that year, the last hurrah for Walter Johnson, who also won the league's MVP. Traded that offseason to the Red Sox, Prothro saw regular action for the only time in his career, and hit .313/.390/.383 for a team that went 47-105. The next year, somehow, Prothro got into three games for the Reds and his major league career ended.

Teh interwebz seem short on info about Prothro's playing career. He seemed to hit well enough to play every day, but teams kept finding players they liked better. Washington fell in love with Ossie Bluege's defense (not a bad choice, as Bluege was regarded as a wizard at third and had some decent on-base skills). The Red Sox acquired Fred Haney (who hit .221/.330/.284 in 1926, oops). And the Reds had Charlie Dressen. Prothro just never quite measured up. Perhaps it was baseball's long-established prejudice against smart guys that worked against him. Prothro would return to Memphis and to his practice, but also became the manager of the Memphis Chickasaws and Little Rock Travelers. From there, sadly, Doc was drafted into the service of the Philadelphia Phillies, who he managed from 1939-1941. The Phils were at the nadir of their dumpster dive that The Common Man discussed when chronicling the career of Jim Carlin (indeed, Prothro was Carlin's skipper in 1941). Prothro's teams lost 106, 103, and 111 games, and he finished with a career mark of 138-320. In fact, Prothro's .301 career winning percentage is by far the worst of any manager to last three full seasons at the helm.

It's probably not that Prothro was a terrible manager. In fact, he had led his Memphis team to seven straight seasons of finishing above .500, and won three league championships in the Southern Association between Memphis and Little Rock. Doc can't be held responsible for a team that essentially acted like a baseball stock market, buying players at low prices and flipping them when their investment "matured." Consistently low attendance was both the underlying cause and the effect of this arrangement, as the Phillies were caught in a spiral of poverty and hopelessness that John McGraw himself could not possibly reverse.

Prothro's time in the majors leagues seems to have been spent entirely with the wrong teams in the wrong situations. But given that he returned to Memphis and became manager and part-owner through 1947, and his son became a successful coach in both college and pro football, and that, presumably, he kept pulling teeth in his spare time, maybe the good doctor had other priorities.

Eaton Off the Phils

The long nightmare that was the Adam Eaton contract is finally over, and Americans can begin rebuilding their trust and confidence in an economic system that would see fit to pay Adam Eaton $24 million over three seasons despite not having an above average ERA+ since his rookie year in 2000, and less than a year removed from surgery on his pitching hand that left him even less effective than before. The Phillies are releasing the righty with another year on his deal, and eating the remaining $8 million in salary due to him.

In two seasons with the Phillies, Eaton had a 6.10 ERA in 268.3 innings. Perhaps this is to be expected, given how poorly Eaton has thrown the ball, but every single rate stat he has has gone in the wrong direction since the aforementioned surgery. His K/9 is way down and his walks are way up. He gave up 30 home runs in his first year alone (in 161.7 innings), and 15 last year before the Phillies pulled the plug. In the minors, Eaton didn't exactly find himself, posting a 7.07 ERA in 33.3 innings across three levels (including 8 HR in 26.7 innings at AA).

It's clear, at this point, that Eaton has lost his way and, like famous flameouts Rick Ankiel and Steve Blass before him, a combination of injuries and psychological blocks are keeping Eaton from finding the path again. His previous injury, a ruptured tendon, shouldn't have had a significant impact on his velocity, though it seems to have affected his ability to throw his curveball, and perhaps affects the way he grips his pitches. It's sad to watch; even though Eaton was vastly overpaid to begin with, it's no fun watching a player struggle so hard against the game and himself. And The Common Man hopes someone can help Eaton fix whatever is wrong. This looks like a job for Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan if ever there was one, and the Cardinals are free to pick up Eaton for the league minimum to give it a shot. It's worth to risk, The Common Man thinks, to see if some time learning the forkball or a cutter can help Eaton recover some of his lost promise, or if he's simply physically incapable of throwing like he did from 2000 to 2005.

Phinally Phinished

The Common Man is man enough to admit when he's wrong (though not man enough to admit when he's lost driving through rural northern Wisconsin at 10:30 at night). So he would like to heartily congratulate the Philadelphia Phillies and their fans in the wake of their stunningly decisive World Series Championship over the Tampa Bay Rays. The Phillies were calm and commanding throughout the series, while the Rays looked young, panicky, and over-eager. Like The Common Man's cat, the Phillies played with their mouse, letting it stay in each game, convincing it they could escape, only to make them whiff on another changeupon the outside corner.

For the record, The Common Man's predictions, other than the onewhere he chose the winner, look pretty good. The running game was about equal, with both teams stealing 7 bases, getting caught once, and picked off once. Jamie Moyer pitched a solid ball game. Hamels won both his starts. And Ryan Howard hit .286/.375/.762 with 3 homers and 6 RBI.

Sadly, the Series was not a rousing success. It was sloppy, seemed one-sided despite 4 close games out of 5, sported terrible umpiring, and had a debacle of a game 5, which was first played in a monsoon and then suspended for 48 hours. Pundits have gone over the top, however, in their condemnation of it. Dean of baseball reporters, Peter Gammons posited that, "There are a lot of questions that will be weighed after this, the worst World Series in memory" and ESPN touted it as the "worst ever."

Frankly, that's ridiculous. Maybe it was a little sloppy and one-sided (11 errors in 5 games, 2 pick offs, baserunning mistakes). In 2007, the Red Sox swept the Rockies and outscored them 29-10; there was virtually no drama in that series. In 2006, the 82-80 Cardinals beat the Tigers in five games, in a series featured 12 errors. The Red Sox swept the Cardinals in 2004 despite committing 8 errors in the first 2 games. In fact, the losing team hasn't won 2 games in a World Series since 2003. We've been seeing one-sided series for half a decade now, many of them sloppy. And other World Series have been halted in the middle. Famously, the 1989 Series was postponed for a week following the San Francisco earthquake. And several other games have either been rained out or suspended.

Frankly, the only criteria that should matter for a World Series are the drama it produces and the quality of the baseball played. In that regard, the 2008 World Series did ok. Not great, but ok. Though he's sure everyone in Philly enjoyed it immensely.


And one programming note: The Common Man realizes that things have been very sports-heavy around here lately. He's looking forward to once again branching out a little starting tomorrow.

The Match Game

Last night, the Phillies and Rays proved that, even if the Yankees or Red Sox don't make the World Series, good baseball trumps stupid media-generated storylines. In a tight and thrilling 3-2 win, the Phillies took a big step toward upsetting the young and talented Rays, behind the strong left arm of Cole Hamels and the powerful bat of Chase Utley.

So what's changed? Really not much. Hamels still needs to win his next start, because Myers/Moyer/Blanton are not going to win 3 of their 5 starts. This is where, as The Founding Father pointed out last night, Ryan Howard needs to start beating up on the Rays' right handed starters, and stop flailing at breaking balls in the dirt.

With that in mind, The Common Man wants to take a look at some of the other matchups that will prove important to watch in the next 3-6 games:

1) Dioneer Navarro vs. Phillies, Carlos Ruiz vs. Rays

As you saw last night, both the Rays and Phillies like to run and are generally successful. The Phillies stole 136 bases during the regular season and were only caught 25 times (47-3 for Jimmy Rollins alone, and 20-1 for Jayson Werth). That was good for 3rd in the NL, and only 5 off the leaders, and their stealing percentage was by far the best in the league. The Rays led the AL with 142 SB (including 44 by CF BJ Upton), but with a far lower success rate. It will be imperative for these catchers to limit the running game as much as possible, particularly in games like last night's, where one run's importance is magnified so greatly. Navarro threw out 38% of basestealers this year, and Ruiz threw out 25%.

2) Jaimie Moyer vs. Father Time

Jaimie Moyer is something of a marvel. At 45 years old, easily the oldest player in the majors, he's enjoying his best season since 2003. He has lasted 22 seasons in the bigs, almost all of them as a soft-tossing, control artist who has succeeded by upsetting hitters' timing and being left-handed. Despite not really establishing himself until he was 30 (including spending all of 1992, his age 29 season, in the minors), Moyer has won 246 games, been an all star, and pitched in four postseasons. That said, it was clear against the Dodgers that Moyer didn't have an answer for good right-handed hitters. Given BJ Upton's tremendous postseason, Jason Bartlett's proclivity for hitting lefties (.379/.411/.508), and Evan Longoria's all around awesomeness, there a good chance that Moyer's pitched his last effective game of 2008. And at 45, there's a good chance that Moyer's pitched his last extended stretch of effective baseball. And that's a shame, because he's had a pretty awesome career.

3) Phillies history vs. Rays history

Even though The Common Man doesn't really think that previous incarnations of the Phillies and Rays will have any bearing on this series, it's worht noting that these are two of the losingest sports franchises in the history of professional sports. The Phillies have been around since 1883 and have won exactly ONE league championship (there was no World Series before 1903). Their all-time record is 8945-10,099. They are the only franchise ever with 10,000 losses. The Rays, on the other hand, have a 751-1037 record in just 11 seasons. Their winning percentage is an abysmal .420. This is not only the first year they've made the postseason, but the first year they've finished above .500, and the first year they haven't lost at least 90 games. If there is some way for both teams to lose this World Series, The Common Man is confident it will happen.

4) Brett Myers vs. Willy Aybar

If Aybar starts at DH tonight for the Rays, and judging by how well he's been hitting that's a distinct possibility, you can call this the Domestic Disturbance Dustup. Aybar, after a disappointing 2007 that saw him check into rehab for a substance abuse problem, started 2008 off in a big way by assaulting his wife in the Dominican Republic. Afraid that being jailed for three months would be detrimental to the family, Aybar's wife had the charges dropped and Aybar was free to come back to the Rays and deliver post-season heroics and have everyone in the mainstream news forget that he's a wife-beater. Likewise, Phillies starter Brett Myers is a mouth-breathing, raging, wife-beating a-hole who deserves to be shoveling manure in whatever hole he crawled out of rather than pitching in a World Series. Myers was arrested in 2006, in Boston, for hitting his wife in the face out in public on the street. God knows what he does in private. Myers was allowed to pitch the next day by the Phillies (if The Common Man remembers correctly, on national TV). Following the game, according to ESPN, Myers said was not especially contrite, saying, "I'm sorry it had to get public, that's it. Of course, it's embarrassing." Myers, by the way, is 6'4", 215-230 lbs. His wife is not. The Common Man doesn't wish ill on many people, but if it were possible for both of these men to get tangled up along the first baseline and each tear an achilles, he'd be for it.

5) TV Ratings vs. Good baseball

Look, the TV ratings are going to be lower for this World Series than last year's. That's just the way it goes. Fewer people live in Tampa and Philly than in Boston and Denver. But, if the teams play well and the games are close, series like this have the ability to create more fans for major league baseball than another year with the Sox or Yankees in the series. Indeed, thinking back to the Twins' first championship in 1987, and how that affected The Common Man's rooting interests, it's clear that he would not be as obsessed with the game today than he would have been if the Twins stayed also-rans for so many of his formative years. So think of all the kids in Philly and Tampa today who are getting to enjoy and be motivated by baseball for the first time. And think about how these kids are going to grow up to be baseball nuts in 2020. And think about the kids in Chicago or St. Louis or rural Arkansas that get to see players like Carl Crawford, Jimmy Rollins, Evan Longoria, Chase Utley, and even Jaimie Moyer and see their futures. The Common Man thinks that this World Series can and will do more for baseball in the long-term than any since, say, 2001.

World Series Preview

Since The Common Man has split the day chasing The Boy and worshipping at the alter of the porcelyn god, he has not had a chance to write the massive, detailed, funny, insightful, and moving World Series Preview he had planned. He'll try to get to that tomorrow morning, assuming he hasn't flushed away all his internal organs by then, and have a regular post up in the afternoon as well.

But since the series is about to start, here's The Common Man's prediction snapshot for the 103rd World Series.

1) Rays win in 6. Shysterball points out

"I think prognosticators do that because if they say a series will end in four or five games, they are saying something bold about one team's strength in relation to the other's. To call for a sweep is to suggest a hopeless mismatch. To say five is only a tad better. A fella can piss off readers when he does that and, even worse, someone may later say that he was really, really wrong! At the same time, if he says seven, he's basically saying he has no idea which team is better, and hey, anyone can do that. "Saying six is a difference splitter. By saying six, Johnny Expert is basically saying "I think team X is better than team Y, but not so much that you can later rub how wrong I was in my face, OK?"

Still, The Common Man picks the Rays because they look better on paper, the AL is better than the NL for the umpteenth straight year, but the Phils are good enough to homer their way into a couple of wins.

2) Key Players. For Tampa, their starters (Kazmir, Shields, Garza, Sonnanstine) need to go deep and limit the exposure of Tampa's bullpen. Out in the bullpen, David Price needs to be the monster he is. For Philly, it will essential for Pat Burrell and Chris Coste to get hot and hit the pants off of Kazmir. And Hamels needs to be lights out, because...

3) Philly (and Cole Hamels) need to beat Scott Kazmir twice. Hamels is the only elite starter the Phils have, and they'll need to luck into two more wins from Myers, Moyer, and Blanton in order to pull this off. So...

4) If Philly loses game one, it's essentially done. Sure, stranger things have happened, momentum doesn't really matter, baseball's a funny game, yadda, yadda, yadda. But unless the Phils get an out of nowhere performance from one of their other starters, The Common Man doesn't see how they keep up with the Rays' consistent offense and sparkling pitchers.

5) Ryan Howard has to be a monster in games 2-4 and 6-7. He's a hell of a hitter, very strong, but definitely not used to facing the caliber of righty starters that the Rays are going to throw at him (again, AL > NL).

So there you go. Good luck to both teams, since The Common Man doesn't really have a horse in this race. The Common Man now is going to collapse in a chair and pray the world stops spinning.