How Can 2009 Be Better?
Posted by Brian Michael, Thu, January 01, 2009 06:37 PM | Comments: 26
Posts
First off, Happy New Year to everyone – we here at Phillies Nation hope your 2009 is the best year ever. Although it will be hard to top 2008, the Phillies – with their flair for the dramatic – will undoubtedly provide plenty of opportunities in the coming season.
Speaking of which, the latest installments of the 2008 Phandom 25 and Top 100 Phillies will continue tomorrow as Tim is currently experiencing auto troubles somewhere in chilly Connecticut.
In the meantime, please leave a comment on a new feature you would like to see on Phillies Nation this year. Your suggestions are greatly appreciated. Go Phils!
Posts: 0 Tim Rich
I’m relatively new to this site so maybe you’ve covered some of these requested features previously, but here goes:
1. Surely you’ve done this one, but how about “Phillies in the Hall of Fame as Non-Phillies”? I’d like to see it formatted in the same manner as the “Top 100″ in that you focus on each player’s years with the Phillies. I rarely see anything about the Phillies years for someone like Fergie Jenkins, Ryne Sandberg, Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, etc. Naturally for players such as Jenkins and Sandberg any summary would need to focus more on minor league years.
2. “Phillies By the Decade” – a summary of Phillies highs and lows, as well as stand-out players, during each decade of the franchise’s existence.
3. “25 Greatest Plays/Individual Games in Phillies History” – a countdown of unusual or exceptional plays/individual player games in Phillies history. For example, Chase Utley’s TYIB moment, Mike Schmidt’s 4 HR game, no-hitters, triple plays, etc.
4. “Phillies That Hold Obscure MLB Records” – this could also be expanded to represent those that hold the record or are #2 on the list. For example, former Phillies Todd Zeile, Kenny Lofton, Terry Mulholland, Gus Weyhing, Deacon McGuire, Matt Stairs, and Rick White are all #2 on the list of “most teams played for”.
Posted: 07:58 PM on January 1, 2009
Posts: 0 joshua
is anybody watching the rollins interview on the MLB network right now?
Posted: 08:16 PM on January 1, 2009
Posts: 0 Tim Rich
I missed the interview, but I noticed that over the course of the next few days the MLBN will be showing NLCS Game 5 against the Dodgers, and Games 1 and 2 of the WS.
Posted: 08:39 PM on January 1, 2009
Posts: 0 Alphonse Dattolo
I HAVE BEEN A PHILLIES FAN FOR 49 YEARS AND WOULD LIKE TO SEE INFORMATION DEALING WITH THE PHILLIES OF THE 19TH CENTURY AND THE FIRST PHILLIES BALL PARK RECREATION PARK.
Posted: 09:00 PM on January 1, 2009
Posts: 0 Frank
I woud like to see a chat om this site once a week like mlbrumors.com
Posted: 09:20 PM on January 1, 2009
Posts: 0 Ryk
Two things I would love to see on this site……
1) your thoughts on the greatest Phillies team by position and how they’d stack up against the other teams in the league. These players should be based on their time playing as a Phillie, not in the MLB as a whole. If we were to pick up the Big Unit in 2010, we wouldn’t take his stats when he was winning Cy Youngs, so he clearly wouldn’t be a part of our team. I’d love to see the all-time 5-man rotation, 6-or-7-man bullpen, 8 position players, and bench players/pinch hitters. And I don’t mean “Luzinski over Burrell in left field, so put Pat on the bench.” Nope. Pat was a starter, so if he’s not a starter, he’s not on the team. Bench players are the Greg Gross/Greg Dobbs/Tomas Perez type.
2) I don’t know how difficult this would be to code, but I’d love to see the comments section update in real-time, as in a chat room. Clicking refresh every time I wanted to read the new comments is annoying.
Posted: 09:38 PM on January 1, 2009
Posts: 0 Brooks
Seems like we are asking quite a bit from our host. You guys have done a tremendous job, we all really appreciate the forum fully.
I like what Ryck said about your discussion on the greatest Phillies by position. Opening this up to group discussion would be great too.
Then, I love reading older stories about some of the Phillies lore – for instance, I remember hearing that the Phils were a hare away from signing the Big Unit in 1993 but the prevailing thought was that he was too old for the team…
Keep it up guys thanks and have a great 2009.
Posted: 10:54 PM on January 1, 2009
Posts: 0 Greg V.
I like the blog the way it is. Seriously, I look forward to reading it everyday.
Posted: 11:05 PM on January 1, 2009
Posts: 0 Greg V.
And Brooks, the Phils didn’t trade for Randy Johnson because they weren’t willing to let go of their hot prospect, Tyler Green. (Sigh). That one worked out great didn’t it!
Posted: 11:08 PM on January 1, 2009
Posts: 0 Brooks
Greg, Dallas Greene said it on an interview on WIP, I believe 2 years ago.
Good stuff regardless. Another sweet topic I think. Which WS team does Philly love more, 93 or 08? Why?
What magic the 93 team had. They were so much fun to watch. No superstars like this team. I believe more in the 09 squad than I did the 93 team. Great mojo, team chemistry – big, huge talent and good mojo makes for a repeat performance in 2009.
Posted: 11:33 PM on January 1, 2009
Posts: 0 Rob Cowie
Get every1 to go to miami this year with us.
Posted: 11:50 PM on January 1, 2009
Posts: 0 Geoff
We should organize a trip to Citifield to show up in force. Its probably mad expensive though because it would be just like the Mets to make their new ticket prices insane.
Meanwhile, MLB Network is already included! Thats great. If it gets too popular Comcast will make you pay extra for it. But for now, its a decent channel.
Posted: 12:44 AM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 Justin
It was nice to see in the first hour of the new mlb network that a phillie got the first airtime of any active player. I dont think i like barry larkin as a commentator hes just another harold reynolds they already have reynolds.
Posted: 01:42 AM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 Geoff
thats why they hired mitch. hell REALLY help that network. you need a former manager, pitcher, and hitter on your top studio show. they have a good hitter as an analyst (reynolds), and a pitcher (mitch), now they need a retired manager.
Posted: 02:12 AM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 metsblow4show
I wouldn’t mind seeing a “Where Are They Now?” type of series where you could give updates on Phils after they have left baseball with details of what they are up to. Another cool series could be ” Do You Remember……?”, where you could throw out a name of old Phils, not so much stars , but guys who were role players, or just passed through Philly. I think the blog responses to some of the obscure names would be great.
Tim, I would like to thank you for creating such a great site and I wish you and everyone at Phillies Nation a Happy & Healthy New Year! Go Phils !!!
Posted: 02:26 AM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 ashmidt
i really like this site, great job tim, i will be checking it out every day. i like the where are they now and do you remember formats, i have been diehard phillies fan since 64. what dallas greene said about the chemistry on the 93 team, i think getting gregg jefferies ruined that. who was responsible for bringing him here? was that william yale giles ? that was a fun team. go phils.
Posted: 09:01 AM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 Matt Kwasiborski
Well, the 2008 team won it all compared to the 1993 team. What made the 1993 team so great was that they were totally unexpected and had a bunch of blue collar/lunch pail type of guys that could identify with the heart of this city. They caught lightning in a bottle and we all rode it until Joe Carter dropped our bottle and smashed it to pieces.
But this 2008 team has been years in the making. Unlike the 1993 team, our core is mostly homegrown players that we have been reading about since they were drafted. We watched them rise through the minors to the show. And this team has been winning consistently since 2000 on a steady uptake. We have grown with them for the past 8 years or so. We have suffered through their disapointments and partied with them down Broad Street. There is no doubt that the 2008 team will be forever cherished and mainly because they got the job done.
I do think that Lee Thomas was the greatest GM in our history though. Outside of Morandini, Stocker and Daulton, the entire 1993 team were all imports. Gillick came in and made some shrewd moves and is the 2nd or even 3rd greatest GM in Phils history (don’t forget the Pope!)
Great site, Tim. I read it everyday and enjoy the banter especially with Mets fans and definitely enjoy reading about how much you are in love with Lou Marson.
Posted: 12:12 PM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
Agree with MetsBlow4Show… where are they now would be a nice feature.
As far as the site is concerned, I think that everything is pretty good. I would like it to be a little more integrated with/like facebook… on that note, change the profile pic on facebook (a brown bag face with a phillies cap… no more, my friend). As a fan forum, it would be nice to be able to have the opportunity to know some of the other people that post here (and give us a way to know who is going to games and what not)… rather than rewriting the wheel, just have it better integrated with facebook (that’s probably easier said than done).
Posted: 02:02 PM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 Don M
I think if you make this into a facebook thing… it starts to take away from what makes it good. That we have REAL baseball fans on here having good converstations going.. not J-Roll front-runner fans that just think its “cool” to be on here and interupt the flow of everything
Posted: 03:08 PM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
I agree and I don’t want to make it about that, however, I would like to know who the real fans are… I would like to be able to buy Don M a beer if he’s sitting in my section. I’m a “fan” of the Phillies Nation page on facebook and there are 376 other “fans”… I don’t want it to get that impersonal but there is another facebook application that allows you to see other fans that are going to the game… it would be nice to add a feature like that on here. it would be nice to keep our current base but be more personal, too.
Posted: 03:36 PM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 Don M
I’d like to drink free beer at the game
Posted: 04:04 PM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
Then we agree on one thing, Don.
Posted: 04:43 PM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 metsblow4show
OK, it’s agreed ……..Chuck P. is Buying ! LOL
Posted: 05:43 PM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 Georgie
I would like to see stories about some of the good things that baseball players do/have done off the field. We all piss and moan about how greedy they are and how much money they make, but there are players out there who give back to the community in big ways. I just think it would be a positive thing to look at the other side of their lives.
Posted: 05:44 PM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 metsblow4show
………and then we can look at ex-Mets mugshots ! LOL
Posted: 08:52 PM on January 2, 2009
Posts: 0 Brooks
Free beer?
2009 has great promise!
Posted: 10:32 AM on January 3, 2009