Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire

[Warning, the following text is meant to be entirely snarky]

Dear Rob-

I sincerely regret not keeping pace with you here at MLC. I selfishly coached my daughter's baseball game on Tuesday and my son's baseball practice on Wednesday. In between I thoughtlessly attended to the multitude of domestic duties at my household which have fallen squarely into my lap as the result of having recklessly impregnated my wife for the fourth time. This is a direct result of my unreasonable adherence to the doctrinal beliefs of my Catholic faith.

As you can see, I have forsaken MLC for at least 3 days. I am sorry.

[Turn off snark]

Sorry Rob, I got a little agitated being lumped in with the woefully inarticulate Gotham half our our foursome. I cannot keep up with you but I am certainly more prolific a poster of late compared to those knuckleheads. A little acknowledgement from you would suffice. I'd like to think our shared historical experience of misery has earned me the benefit of the doubt.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program. It's pretty obvious to the casual observer that ESPN sooooo wants the Mets-Phils to approximate the Sox-Yanks rivalry and tonight's match up at the Bank has the very real possibility of enhancing that likelihood.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/index

Ease up fellas, I believe that statement was appropriately couched so as not to offend the Lords of Baseball.

Cole Hamels will face off against Moses aka as Yo-han Santana to begin the series and that should get us off to a rollicking start. The teams enter the game having started sluggishly out of the gate but playing fairly well of late. Each team has injuries that have slowed them down. The Phils are without the services of Jimmy Rollins which really spoils the title of this post. I so wanted to type "Move over rover...." J-Roll might get to start Saturday but I suspect that as long as the club treads water, there is no hurry to rush the little fella back. Read "if the Phils win tonight, Jimmy will rest tomorrow." In addition to Rollins, Shane Victorino will be out another 10 days or so. The Mets too have their share of DL dwellers.

I can't help but think a win tonight will do much more for the Phils' confidence than it would for New York. Just like the Mets winning the series at Shea, the Phils stand to gain the most here. It's time to counter punch and I really like Hamels of late. He's been pretty dominant. Tomorrow will likely be a free for all with Moyer going for Philly vs. Oliver Perez. Both pitchers pitched well a week and a half ago up at Shea but that was Shea and this is now. I get the feeling that the rest the bullpens get tonight will pay off tomorrow right around the 5 inning or so. Sunday night, the teams square off on Sunday Night Baseball in what one would suspect is the best ratings earner outside of any game at Fenway or in the Bronx. The Mets will send Doug "Bats in his" Pelfrey against the born again Adam Eaton. Each pitched well in Shea against their rivals. It's a night game so it should be cool and conceivably, the advantage should go back to the pitchers.

I am obviously hoping for a sweep but realistically I think we can take 2 of 3. Look, I know all about the great Johan but I think Hamels is locked in right now so I think the Phils take game one. Game two could go either way as could game three so I will be happy with a split if the Phils can win game one. That would be the desired counter punch to the hotly contested series up in Flushing a week ago.

That's it for now. I hope to return triumphant.

P.S. Hey Rob - I saw the real Big Papi yesterday at Nationals Park. A pretty awesome scene all around.