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Interesting Phils / Yanks Facts and Trivia To Offset the Bashing
SoFLPhillyFan
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Can't we all just get along!?!?
October 27, 2009, 10:40 am
World Series Matchups
By Tyler Kepner
When the Yankees went to Philadelphia on Sept. 1, 1997, they had not been there in 47 years. More than 50,000 fans poured into Veterans Stadium, the Phillies’ largest crowd in two years. A last-place Phillies team swept the playoff-bound Yankees in the three-game series.
It was just interleague play, of course, hardly revenge for the previous sweep by the Yankees in the 1950 World Series, over the Whiz Kids of Richie Ashburn and Robin Roberts. The teams have shadow-danced for years since then, never reuniting in the World Series until now.
The Phillies were primed for a date with the Yankees in 1964, until their epic collapse. Three times in the 1970s, the Phillies won their division the same year the Yankees won theirs. All three times, the Phillies lost in the league championship series, while the Yankees won.
In 1980, the Phillies finally won their L.C.S. — just as the Yankees were losing theirs, to Kansas City. And the Phillies’ two most recent pennants, 1993 and 2008, came in years the Yankees missed the playoffs. Every postseason in between, the Yankees made it and the Phillies did not.
Now they are finally joined again, red pinstripes versus navy pinstripes, the Liberty Bell versus the top hat. versus “Cotton-Eyed Joe.” They are two bedrock franchises in Northeast cities with tough and passionate fans, on the grandest stage of all.
Homer Happy
The forecast calls for a lot of baseballs dropping into outfield seats. Yankee Stadium yielded the most home runs in the majors this season, and Citizens Bank Park was second. The top sluggers on each team are also hot. The Phillies’ Ryan Howard is batting .355 with 2 homers and 14 runs batted in the postseason, and the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez has a .438 average with 5 homers and 12 R.B.I.
In Good Hands
Pat Gillick retired as the Phillies’ general manager after last season, and while he remains in an advisory role, his successor, Ruben Amaro Jr., has had a strong rookie season. Rather than meet Toronto’s asking price for Roy Halladay, Amaro kept his best young players and traded four lesser prospects to Cleveland for Cliff Lee, who has sparkled in the playoffs. Amaro also signed the free agent Pedro Martinez, who was 5-1 in nine starts before dazzling the Dodgers in the N.L.C.S.
Tex Marks the Spot
Mark Teixeira is hitting .205 in the postseason, but he hits the Phillies’ pitchers well. He is 9 for 23 (.391) off Cliff Lee, 5 for 17 (.294) off Cole Hamels and 9 for 27 (.333) off Joe Blanton. Teixeira also has six home runs in just 14 career games at Citizens Bank Park.
Sitting Dead Red
When Jimmy Rollins led off the Phillies’ first game at Yankee Stadium on May 22, he pounded a first-pitch homer off a 94-mile-an-hour fastball from A.J. Burnett. Rollins explained later that he wanted no part of Burnett’s curve: “You’re really not going to hit that pitch. He throws it tight, he throws it sharp, he throws it for a strike when he needs to, and then he’ll run it right out of the zone. You choose a pitch and sometimes you get lucky.”
C.C. Driver
In all of their World Series, the Yankees have never had a home run hit by a pitcher. When C.C. Sabathia starts at Citizens Bank Park, he will try to change that. Sabathia loves to hit, with a .261 career average and three homers — including one in Los Angeles last year off Chan Ho Park, who now pitches in the Phillies’ bullpen. Phillies pitchers have hit one homer in the World Series, by Joe Blanton in Game 4 last fall.
One and Two
Mariano Rivera has 37 saves in the postseason, far more than any other pitcher in history. But the man who is second is the Phillies’ closer, Brad Lidge, with 16. Lidge had 11 blown saves this regular season, but he is 10 for 10 in the postseason since Albert Pujols homered off him in Houston in the 2005 N.L.C.S.
Swing and a Long Drive
According to hittrackeronline.com, the longest ball hit in an American League park this season was Raul Ibanez’s 477-foot blast off Chien-Ming Wang that soared over the right-field bullpen at Yankee Stadium on May 22. Unfortunately for Ibanez, Wang is out for the World Series with an injured shoulder.
They Meet Again
The Phillies took two of three from the Yankees in New York in the series in May, with the Yankees winning the middle game after Alex Rodriguez homered off Brad Lidge in the ninth. That spoiled a victory for J.A. Happ, who allowed two runs and four hits in six innings. Happ attended Northwestern University, the alma mater of Yankees Manager Joe Girardi.
Familiar Spot
Charlie Manuel has said he may use Raul Ibanez as the designated hitter at Yankee Stadium, which could open a spot for Ben Francisco, a right-handed hitter and strong outfielder acquired in the Cliff Lee deal with Cleveland. Francisco is already the answer to a Yankee Stadium trivia question: he scored the first run at the ballpark on April 16. Lee was the winning pitcher that day against C.C. Sabathia, a pitching matchup that will be reprised in Game 1.
Hot Tickets
Even without the World Series, this was destined to be a busy weekend in South Philadelphia. On Saturday night — opposite Game 3 — Pearl Jam is playing a concert for the final event at the 42-year-old Spectrum. On Sunday afternoon — before Game 4 — the Eagles are playing the Giants at Lincoln Financial Field. Both stadiums sit across Pattison Avenue from Citizens Bank Park.
Left on Left
Ryan Howard had startling statistical splits this season. He devoured right-handers, hitting .319 with an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of 1.086. Yet against left-handers, Howard hit .207 with a .653 OPS. Lucky for the Yankees, then, that they have the left-handed starters C.C. Sabathia and Andy Pettitte and a lefty reliever, Damaso Marte, who has struck out Howard all three times he has faced him. The left-on-left factor is negligible with the Phillies’ other lefty sluggers, Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez, who hit left-handers better than righties this season.
A Record for Rivera?
If Mariano Rivera appears in three games, he will set a World Series record for appearances by a pitcher. Rivera has pitched in 20 Series games, tied with Mike Stanton for second behind Whitey Ford, who appeared in 22. Ford is the leader in hits allowed, with 132, but if Andy Pettitte allows eight hits, he will move to second on the list. Pettitte has given up 74 hits in the World Series, with Christy Mathewson (76) and Waite Hoyt (81) between him and Ford.
Deconstructing Cole
It took more than 260 innings at age 24, but Cole Hamels delivered a title to the Phillies last season, winning M.V.P. honors in the N.L.C.S. and World Series. This year has been a struggle, especially lately, with a 6.75 E.R.A. in three postseason starts. Perhaps the workload is catching up to Hamels, or perhaps, as The Philadelphia Daily News suggested, he has been tipping his pitches. In any case, the Phillies need the Hamels of 2008 to return.
Age Is Just a Number
Derek Jeter has made it through the season without his usual aches and pains, a major reason he was so productive at age 35. Still, it is rare for a team to win a pennant with a shortstop Jeter’s age. The last team to reach the World Series with a starting shortstop as old as Jeter was the 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers, whose shortstop, Pee Wee Reese, was 38.
Family Ties
Jayson Werth’s stepfather is Dennis Werth, who played 76 games for the Yankees, mostly as a first baseman, from 1979 to 1981. His grandfather Ducky Schofield played for Pittsburgh against the Yankees in the 1960 World Series, and his uncle Dick Schofield played for the Blue Jays team that beat the Phillies in the 1993 World Series.
Common Alumni
The Phillies made the World Series four times from 1950 to 1993. Each time, one of their starting pitchers was soon lost to the Yankees. Jim Konstanty was the National League’s M.V.P. in 1950, and the Yankees claimed him off waivers four years later. Marty Bystrom was a late-season dynamo in 1980, but he had fizzled by 1984, when the Phillies shipped him to the Yankees for Shane Rawley. The rookie Charlie Hudson lost twice in the 1983 World Series and was sent to the Bronx for Mike Easler three years later. And Terry Mulholland, the left-handed ace in 1993, spent an unhappy ’94 season in New York after the Phillies swapped him for Bobby Munoz and two others that spring. Others who played for both teams include Sparky Lyle, Johnny Callison, Mariano Duncan, Ryne Duren and Bobby Abreu.
October 27, 2009, 10:40 am
World Series Matchups
By Tyler Kepner
When the Yankees went to Philadelphia on Sept. 1, 1997, they had not been there in 47 years. More than 50,000 fans poured into Veterans Stadium, the Phillies’ largest crowd in two years. A last-place Phillies team swept the playoff-bound Yankees in the three-game series.
It was just interleague play, of course, hardly revenge for the previous sweep by the Yankees in the 1950 World Series, over the Whiz Kids of Richie Ashburn and Robin Roberts. The teams have shadow-danced for years since then, never reuniting in the World Series until now.
The Phillies were primed for a date with the Yankees in 1964, until their epic collapse. Three times in the 1970s, the Phillies won their division the same year the Yankees won theirs. All three times, the Phillies lost in the league championship series, while the Yankees won.
In 1980, the Phillies finally won their L.C.S. — just as the Yankees were losing theirs, to Kansas City. And the Phillies’ two most recent pennants, 1993 and 2008, came in years the Yankees missed the playoffs. Every postseason in between, the Yankees made it and the Phillies did not.
Now they are finally joined again, red pinstripes versus navy pinstripes, the Liberty Bell versus the top hat. versus “Cotton-Eyed Joe.” They are two bedrock franchises in Northeast cities with tough and passionate fans, on the grandest stage of all.
Homer Happy
The forecast calls for a lot of baseballs dropping into outfield seats. Yankee Stadium yielded the most home runs in the majors this season, and Citizens Bank Park was second. The top sluggers on each team are also hot. The Phillies’ Ryan Howard is batting .355 with 2 homers and 14 runs batted in the postseason, and the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez has a .438 average with 5 homers and 12 R.B.I.
In Good Hands
Pat Gillick retired as the Phillies’ general manager after last season, and while he remains in an advisory role, his successor, Ruben Amaro Jr., has had a strong rookie season. Rather than meet Toronto’s asking price for Roy Halladay, Amaro kept his best young players and traded four lesser prospects to Cleveland for Cliff Lee, who has sparkled in the playoffs. Amaro also signed the free agent Pedro Martinez, who was 5-1 in nine starts before dazzling the Dodgers in the N.L.C.S.
Tex Marks the Spot
Mark Teixeira is hitting .205 in the postseason, but he hits the Phillies’ pitchers well. He is 9 for 23 (.391) off Cliff Lee, 5 for 17 (.294) off Cole Hamels and 9 for 27 (.333) off Joe Blanton. Teixeira also has six home runs in just 14 career games at Citizens Bank Park.
Sitting Dead Red
When Jimmy Rollins led off the Phillies’ first game at Yankee Stadium on May 22, he pounded a first-pitch homer off a 94-mile-an-hour fastball from A.J. Burnett. Rollins explained later that he wanted no part of Burnett’s curve: “You’re really not going to hit that pitch. He throws it tight, he throws it sharp, he throws it for a strike when he needs to, and then he’ll run it right out of the zone. You choose a pitch and sometimes you get lucky.”
C.C. Driver
In all of their World Series, the Yankees have never had a home run hit by a pitcher. When C.C. Sabathia starts at Citizens Bank Park, he will try to change that. Sabathia loves to hit, with a .261 career average and three homers — including one in Los Angeles last year off Chan Ho Park, who now pitches in the Phillies’ bullpen. Phillies pitchers have hit one homer in the World Series, by Joe Blanton in Game 4 last fall.
One and Two
Mariano Rivera has 37 saves in the postseason, far more than any other pitcher in history. But the man who is second is the Phillies’ closer, Brad Lidge, with 16. Lidge had 11 blown saves this regular season, but he is 10 for 10 in the postseason since Albert Pujols homered off him in Houston in the 2005 N.L.C.S.
Swing and a Long Drive
According to hittrackeronline.com, the longest ball hit in an American League park this season was Raul Ibanez’s 477-foot blast off Chien-Ming Wang that soared over the right-field bullpen at Yankee Stadium on May 22. Unfortunately for Ibanez, Wang is out for the World Series with an injured shoulder.
They Meet Again
The Phillies took two of three from the Yankees in New York in the series in May, with the Yankees winning the middle game after Alex Rodriguez homered off Brad Lidge in the ninth. That spoiled a victory for J.A. Happ, who allowed two runs and four hits in six innings. Happ attended Northwestern University, the alma mater of Yankees Manager Joe Girardi.
Familiar Spot
Charlie Manuel has said he may use Raul Ibanez as the designated hitter at Yankee Stadium, which could open a spot for Ben Francisco, a right-handed hitter and strong outfielder acquired in the Cliff Lee deal with Cleveland. Francisco is already the answer to a Yankee Stadium trivia question: he scored the first run at the ballpark on April 16. Lee was the winning pitcher that day against C.C. Sabathia, a pitching matchup that will be reprised in Game 1.
Hot Tickets
Even without the World Series, this was destined to be a busy weekend in South Philadelphia. On Saturday night — opposite Game 3 — Pearl Jam is playing a concert for the final event at the 42-year-old Spectrum. On Sunday afternoon — before Game 4 — the Eagles are playing the Giants at Lincoln Financial Field. Both stadiums sit across Pattison Avenue from Citizens Bank Park.
Left on Left
Ryan Howard had startling statistical splits this season. He devoured right-handers, hitting .319 with an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of 1.086. Yet against left-handers, Howard hit .207 with a .653 OPS. Lucky for the Yankees, then, that they have the left-handed starters C.C. Sabathia and Andy Pettitte and a lefty reliever, Damaso Marte, who has struck out Howard all three times he has faced him. The left-on-left factor is negligible with the Phillies’ other lefty sluggers, Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez, who hit left-handers better than righties this season.
A Record for Rivera?
If Mariano Rivera appears in three games, he will set a World Series record for appearances by a pitcher. Rivera has pitched in 20 Series games, tied with Mike Stanton for second behind Whitey Ford, who appeared in 22. Ford is the leader in hits allowed, with 132, but if Andy Pettitte allows eight hits, he will move to second on the list. Pettitte has given up 74 hits in the World Series, with Christy Mathewson (76) and Waite Hoyt (81) between him and Ford.
Deconstructing Cole
It took more than 260 innings at age 24, but Cole Hamels delivered a title to the Phillies last season, winning M.V.P. honors in the N.L.C.S. and World Series. This year has been a struggle, especially lately, with a 6.75 E.R.A. in three postseason starts. Perhaps the workload is catching up to Hamels, or perhaps, as The Philadelphia Daily News suggested, he has been tipping his pitches. In any case, the Phillies need the Hamels of 2008 to return.
Age Is Just a Number
Derek Jeter has made it through the season without his usual aches and pains, a major reason he was so productive at age 35. Still, it is rare for a team to win a pennant with a shortstop Jeter’s age. The last team to reach the World Series with a starting shortstop as old as Jeter was the 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers, whose shortstop, Pee Wee Reese, was 38.
Family Ties
Jayson Werth’s stepfather is Dennis Werth, who played 76 games for the Yankees, mostly as a first baseman, from 1979 to 1981. His grandfather Ducky Schofield played for Pittsburgh against the Yankees in the 1960 World Series, and his uncle Dick Schofield played for the Blue Jays team that beat the Phillies in the 1993 World Series.
Common Alumni
The Phillies made the World Series four times from 1950 to 1993. Each time, one of their starting pitchers was soon lost to the Yankees. Jim Konstanty was the National League’s M.V.P. in 1950, and the Yankees claimed him off waivers four years later. Marty Bystrom was a late-season dynamo in 1980, but he had fizzled by 1984, when the Phillies shipped him to the Yankees for Shane Rawley. The rookie Charlie Hudson lost twice in the 1983 World Series and was sent to the Bronx for Mike Easler three years later. And Terry Mulholland, the left-handed ace in 1993, spent an unhappy ’94 season in New York after the Phillies swapped him for Bobby Munoz and two others that spring. Others who played for both teams include Sparky Lyle, Johnny Callison, Mariano Duncan, Ryne Duren and Bobby Abreu.
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Comments
<< <i>Way too many words. All of that reading just made me angry and now I want to bash both teams! >>
This is why it was so easy for Nick Saban to get back into college football.
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