Categories: Podcasts

Playing the Rube: A Baseball Experiment – Chapter 5 – The Phillies vs. Colby Lewis

The Phillies won a world championship in 2008.

Then Ruben Amaro Jr. was named general manager.

The Phillies didn’t win another world championship.

Tim Malcolm and Dan Walsh wonder if they can do better. So, we continue “Playing the Rube,” a weekly series with accompanying podcast in which Tim and Dan attempt to steer the Phillies to more victories, starting in 2009, through the deep simulation game OOTP Baseball ’18.

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CHAPTER 5: THE PHILLIES VS. COLBY LEWIS

After a bad opening week (1-5), the Phillies now start a three-game series against Washington. The first pitcher they face: new nemesis Colby Lewis.

We get to Lewis enough to have a 2-2 tie heading into the ninth.

Then, trouble.

Things don’t get much better, and even when we send out our best pitcher – Cole Hamels – we get burned.

Not only that, but a guy that burned us becomes Player of the Week.

It’s not a great week for us. We do add some triple-A depth, and we wade through more injuries and early season samples. Most of all, we crack wise about how terrible things are going.

You should listen! Check out “Playing the Rube” below!

Tim Malcolm

Tim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.