Opinion: Jamie Moyer Is Living Proof
Posted by Tim Malcolm, Tue, April 07, 2009 08:30 AM | Comments: 74
Opinion, Posts
It’s true, I didn’t give Jamie Moyer the respect he deserves.
The 46-year-old lefty is returning for his 23rd major league season, and here I am, projecting him to end his season short with sub-par (but not entirely poor) numbers.
But this is something the old wiseman has done plenty of times.
When Moyer suited up for season 22, most figured he’d be finished with his career by the end of the campaign. Instead, the slow-balling St. Joe’s grad posted fine numbers (16-7, 3.71 ERA), proving himself worthy of a 23rd season and a two-year pact to remain with his hometown nine. Even before signing the contract, I half hoped Moyer would hang up the cleats after parading down Broad Street. Wasn’t that the way he was supposed to go? The perfect full-circle of a pretty solid career?
If Jamie Moyer is about one thing, it’s defying odds. He did it at age 29, recouping from a minor league demotion (and 34 career wins) to become a solid starter in Baltimore. He did it again at age 34, reinventing himself from swing man to reliable starter. Then a third time, at age 38, he recovered from multiple injuries to take the ace job with the Mariners as a 20-game winner. And he did it once more at age 45, tossing one of the best seasons of his career en route to his first world championship ring. Yes, Moyer is nothing if not living proof.
So as the old man takes the mound to begin his 23rd season, I hope to eat crow with my beer. Just as so many have done so before.
Posts: 0 PtheBLovesTheBallGirls
Ibanez needs to learn how to take a good swing in a tight spot and not make himself look silly.
As for Moyer I am sure he believes that he can pitch well this season and hopefully this team can make another run in october again this year and he wants to be a part of it
Posted: 12:09 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 DHall
Jamie will be fine. If he struggles, he can be replaced. That’s what’s great about having pitching depth on this team for a change. Oh and please keep the political comments off this site. This is for Phillies comments!!
Posted: 12:24 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Don M
If it wasn’t Moyer going, Dobbs would get the start at 3b tonight.. but with Moyer giving up some hard ground balls to 3b, you want Feliz in there for his glove.. my guess is Dobbs gets the start tomrw though
Ibanez got some nasty sliders from a tough lefty.. followed by a hard fastball on the inside part of the plate… .in the first game of the season, maybe we should give him a break until he’s at least had 5 at-bats?
Posted: 12:26 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Geoff
God i hate this team. I hope the mets win it all this year so everyone can see how last year was a fluke. Jeez if we can’t beat the braves how are we going to beat the mets?
Posted: 12:30 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Geoff
Now, postuing comments under someone elses name in a false-flag manner is exactly what a third grader would do…some of these reactions are logical, and some are sad. but the phillies are still the best team in the national league to say the least. its just a matter of then playing up to their potential in terms of this lineup and the pitching staff. the lineup needs to play liek we know they can – and they will eventually do that. the bullpen needs to be as good as it was – and i think they will be. then the rotation needs to hold up – and even if you lose two guys you still have two other guys (happ, carrasco) who can step right in. thats a great luxury to have. no other team in the baseball has 7 guys you can jsut throw right in there and expect something decent out of them. Say Blantoni and Park regress instead of Moyer and Myers or say Hamels hits the DL. then you have two guys to plug in. if you lose anymore than two either from performance or injury, then you have to make a trade. the phllies are in a very good position when it comes to that depth, and that will get them through the season.
Posted: 12:36 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 PtheBLovesTheBallGirls
Don I will take your guidance and if Ibanez does not have a good first at bat I will promptly begin to complain about him.
Posted: 12:38 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 doubleh
Howard’s swing was just as bad as Ibanez’. I think Raul was trying to get the fans behind him and was pressing at the plate–trying to do too much.
Posted: 12:46 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Justin
Off topic but here’s video of the parachuter who lands outside the stadium from Sunday Night, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4Rgu0lykaw&feature=player_embedded, was on the CSNPhilly.com website, it’s dark in the beginning probably because it’s being shot from a cell phone but you see the landing and the parachuter clear halfway through the video.
Posted: 01:00 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Don M
Anyone see the two nerds wearing tuxes with red vests, and red bow ties on Sunday Night?
They were tailgating in the Linc parking lot, and then had seats right behind the tarp down the 3b line… one of them was crying to the ball girl for a baseball after she gave the foul to a little kid..
I don’t know if they killed themselves after the game or not..
Also, I saw a video of a fight in Ashburn Alley no more than 20 seconds before the “2008″ banner was going up…
WHITE TRASH should go to NASCAR races, not Phillies games.
Posted: 01:32 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 JohnKruksLoveChild
If Moyer went 10-10 with a 4ish ERA, seems fine to me. Every team needs a workhorse to put games away, leave the big important stuff to the Hamels and the Myers. Past the 1st/2nd top pitchers, most teams lineups slide downhill pretty fast, unless you’re the Yankees and can afford all stars. For a 3rd/4th starter, Jamie is fine in his role.
And of course, let’s not forget that he is helping to improve the other pitcher’s games. Chan Ho said he learned his off speed pitch from Jamie ! Personally I’m more then willing to live with Jamie’s numbers when he is bringing that kind of influence to the other pitchers.
As was noted, they have Durbin and Durbin II (Happ) waiting in the pen if things blow up. Christ Happ could probably be a starter himself, so what the hell are we “losing” by having Jamie in the lineup. The answer is nothing, he’s an asset any way you cut, even when he has those early blow up games.
Hell, it’s worth it just to watch the Marlins cry and accept defeat before they get to the plate when he pitches. I swear Uggla hates him more then life itself, last season the stream of curses from his mouth after being struck out swinging at the air is f’ing priceless.
Posted: 01:33 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
doubleh… great point. I thought the same thing. He looked a little eager at the plate and I think we see a different Ibanez once he gets settled in.
JKLC… gotta love it when Jamie Moyer owns a team like the Marlins and a player like Uggla (young, impatient, free-swinging). I swear that I could hit Moyer but the reality is that the ball is dropping so quick and hard that it takes a perfect swing to get the meat of the bat on the ball. It’s like having someone drop a ball from a tree above your head on the plate and asking you to hit it. You might be able to time it right a few times but it’s going to take you a while because it’s so unfamiliar. He’s a good changeup to the other pitchers on our staff… you know, the ones that can actually hit 80 mph on the radar gun.
Posted: 01:54 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Geoff
I agree, baseball games are a family environment, and if youre there with friends you can be drunk still but you cant act like a jackass. nascar is DEFINITELY for the white trash who start fights at sporting events..
Posted: 01:54 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Geoff
but hey. the bullpen is very good again this year. so as long as moyer doesnt get TOTALLY lit up they can hold the game until the offense can recover.
Posted: 02:13 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
I never understood Nascar… are they still going around??? Yep…
People have been talking about banning hockey fights (just to clarify, I’m not a big hockey fan but I’m a fair weather Flyers fan, through and through)… I think that they only time a lot of people get excited watching Nascar is when there’s a wreck. What’s worse, a hockey fight or a car wreck?
I won’t take my kids to a Phils/Mets game… all of the jackasses tend to come out of the woodwork for those games… my kids don’t need to hear or see that. It’s a shame… those games should be the games that I want my kids to see.
Posted: 02:22 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Geoff
I have two tickets to the July 4 game, and the September mets series, but with those games, not only can you not take kids, you cant even take female friend sometimes…it can get a little nasty.
Nascar is the worst “sport” in the entire panopticon of the sporting world. the european F1 racing is ok, but even thats boring.
nascar is worse than the nba, and thats saying something…
Posted: 02:27 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Don M
you need to take kids to non-rivalry games.. take them to games against the Pirates and stuff so hopefully you see the Phillies win, hit a few Home Runs, and no fights or people getting arrested in the stands or parking lots
Posted: 02:27 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Geoff
yeah, the ticket package needs to be balanced out with a few pirate, padre games mixed in.
Posted: 02:30 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Chuck P
I have a 17 game plan (6 tickets). I kept 2 for all 17 and split the remaining 4 among friends/family/stubhub… usually I take my wife but my son (5) loves the Phillies so he comes down for 4-5 games per season.
I have tickets for the September 12th game (vs. NYM) and we have already declared that’s “Guy’s Night.” Not planning on getting rowdy but I’m definitely not taking the wife/kids.
Posted: 02:34 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 mike
Wow one loss and Geoff is going nuts . I forget is he a mets fan?
Posted: 03:18 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 mikey
vai cazzo te, philly fans
Posted: 03:38 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 1650 Tim Malcolm
Lineup, per Zolecki’s Twitter:
Rollins, Victorino, Utley, Howard, Werth, Ibanez, Feliz, Ruiz, Moyer.
Posted: 03:45 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 JohnKruksLoveChild
lol, love the “drop a ball out of a tree” description, so true Chuck.
Here’s the real shame of the Mets/Phils games, it extends so far beyond just being rivals. Last year at one such game there was a group of guys in front of us wearing Mets jerseys, all relaxed and having fun, didn’t get in anyone’s face, but engaged in some friendly joking with the people around them.
Then you get these amped up crack heads who stand up every time a Mets player does something remotely good, and wave their hat in mockery at the entire section. Usually after the second time someone throws a beer and then the phalanx of security guys descend.
It’s not a huge percentage of the fans, but it’s those super angry people that wind up defining the tone of the rivalry. Honestly the Phils fans are just as guilty, last year I saw a guy heckling a 12 yr old kid with a Mets hat. When he got up to get a beer I snagged and said “hey man, there’s no need for that, he’s a kid”, he shrugged it off with some excuse like “they’re all the enemy”.
The rivalry is not the problem, it’s all the latent anger and frustration that people bring with them and then let out in an explosive, violent manner that ruins something which at it’s heart should be fun. In the end we should all be able to laugh it off and have a beer with Mets fans after the game. Shame it just doesn’t seem to work out that way and both sides are to blame.
Posted: 03:55 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Georgie
Jeez, I can’t believe someone would heckle a 12 year old kid, that’s so ignorant. I wonder if there will come a time when they don’t serve alcohol at sporting events. It’s a shame that there are people that get a false bravado from booze and act like morons, it ruins it for everyone, that’s why I stay away from it, I’ve seen too many people screw up their lives with alcohol abuse. If you can’t go to a baseball game and enjoy it without getting completely trashed you don’t belong there.
Posted: 04:35 PM on April 7, 2009
Posts: 0 Don M
They stopped doing “COLLEGE NIGHTS” for those reasons… anyone in the parking lot for Opening Night witnessed thousands and thousands of underage kids all bombed up all over the place
Posted: 05:12 PM on April 7, 2009