The Chicago Cubs and the 10 Craziest Box Scores Since 1950

The Milwaukee Brewers obliterated the Chicago Cubs on Monday Night by a score of 18-1. During the course of the game both Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder collected five hits with Corey Hart only getting four, seven players scored two or more runs, and Fielder and Casey McGehee combined for nine RBI.

Meanwhile, the Cubs’ side of the box score was as bleak as the Brewers side was special. The Cubs managed only four hits (or, put another way, less than either Fielder or Braun had) and one run.  Brewers pitcher Yovani Gallardo kept the Baby Bears in check, striking out 12 in just six innings while allowing two hits, one walk, and one run.

As a baseball fan, this was one of those box scores that you want to cut out of the newspaper and tape to your wall.  It’s not very often that you see so many threes, fours, and fives in single box score.  Indeed, to see a box score in which one team had 26 hits is incredibly rare, as it has only happened 33 times since 1950.

And it isn’t like this is the first such box score the Cubs have put up this season, or even within the last week. On Friday night the Cubs allowed the Colorado Rockies to set a major league record for most consecutive hits on the way to allowing 12 runs in the eighth inning of a 17-2 blowout .

That got me to thinking about crazy box scores, and how often the Chicago Cubs seem to be on the losing end of things in crazy games. So I decided to take a look at 10 of the craziest games since 1950, and see how well the Cubs are presented.

Turns out, they’re represented pretty well.

 

Honorable Mention: May 4, 1999: Rockies 13, Cubs 6

As a total box score, this one isn’t all that amazing except for one feat: the Rockies scored in every inning of this game, and coming off of a game in which they had scored in the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, this gave the Rockies at least one run in 13 consecutive innings.

All against the Cubs, of course.

11. June 8, 1950: Red Sox 29, Browns 4

Here’s what’s bad-ass about this game: the game was never in doubt, as the Red Sox led 8-0 after two innings, then 13-3 after three innings, then 22-3 after five innings.

Nevertheless, the Red Sox never made a single substitution. The starting lineup played every inning, and starting pitcher Chuck Stobbs pitched a complete game.

Naturally, the BoSox were prolific. Bobby Doerr had three home runs and eight RBI; Ted Williams and Walt Dropo each had two home runs and combined for 12 RBI; Vern Stephens fell a home run shy of the cycle. Seven of nine Red Sox scored three or more runs.

Stobbs, the pitcher, went 2-for-3 with four walks and three runs scored, and the Red Sox walked 11 times and struck out only twice.

10. September 14, 1987: Blue Jays 18, Orioles 3

While we often remember 1996 as “The Year of the Home Run,” 1987 was bizarrely prone to home runs and stood out as a uniquely great home run season in an otherwise ordinary period from 1978 to 1992.

This game between the Blue Jays and the Orioles at old Exhibition Stadium in Toronto was emblematic of that season as Toronto hit a Major League record 10 home runs off of the O’s.  Ernie Whitt had three himself, and soon-to-be AL MVP George Bell had two on his way 47 that year.

Notice that no pitcher made it through more than two innings for the Orioles, on Kelly Gruber failed to get a hit for the Blue Jays.

9. April 17, 1976: Phillies 18, Cubs 16

One of those crazy days at Wrigley Field. The Cubs led this game 12-1 after three innings and 13-4 after six innings. Nevertheless, the Phillies scored 11 runs over the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, and the Cubs actually had to score two runs in the bottom of the ninth just to send the game to the 10th.

Yet the Phillies scored three in the top of the 10th and held on to win the game.

This game is most famous for featuring Mike Schmidt hitting four home runs, the last three of which came in the seventh, eighth, and tenth innings.  Schmidt finished the game with eight RBI.

8. April 23, 1955: White Sox 29, Athletics 6

In tying the then Major League record for runs scored in a game, the White Sox reached base an amazing 35 times.  Minnie Minoso and Chico Carrasquel became the fifth pair of teammates to each score five runs in a game, with Carrasquel reaching base six times in seven plate appearances.

Two White Sox managed to get five hits apiece, Bob Nieman had seven RBI, and even pitcher Jack Harshman got into the act, going 3-for-5 with a home run.

7. September 24, 1985: Expos 17, Cubs 15

In another crazy Wrigley Field showdown, Les Expos were leading the Cubs 3-2 after the fourth inning, and that’s when Montreal—and Andre Dawson—took over. After back-to-back singles by Mitch Webster and Vance Law, Andre Dawson came up and hit a three-run home run to put the Expos up 6-2.

Eight batters later, the Expos were up 10-2 and Dawson again came up with Webster and Law on base. Dawson connected for his second three-run home run of the inning as the Expos eventually scored 12 runs in the inning. Dawson would go 4-for-6 on the day with two home runs and eight RBI.

But this game was crazy to the end. The Expos actually led 15-3 as Harry Caray came out to sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at the seventh inning stretch, and just as sure as Caray urged “Let’s Get Some Runs!”, that’s what the Cubs did.  

The Cubs outscored the Expos 12-2 in the final two-and-a-half innings of the game, and had the tying run at the plate when Jeff Reardon came on to nail down the save.

6. June 18, 1950: Indians 21, Athletics 2

The Philadelphia Athletics went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first inning of this game against Mike Garcia, and then sent Lou Brissie out to face the Indians lineup. Brissie gave up a leadoff double followed by a line drive out, and then proceeded to walk the next five batters. A single and another walk later, Brissie was out of the game, and the Indians never looked back, scoring 14 runs in the first on their way to 21-2 drubbing of the A’s.

At the end of the day, the Indians had 21 runs on 14 hits and 16 walks.

5. July 27, 2003: Red Sox 25, Marlins 8

After one inning, the Red Sox led this game by a score of 14 to 0.  They sent 19 men to the plate in the first inning, and it took three different pitchers for the Marlins to get the first out of the inning.

The Red Sox would have sent at least 20 men to the plate if not for Bill Mueller registering the third out of the inning by getting thrown out at home plate on a Johnny Damon single. Damon’s single was his third hit of the inning, and he finished the first inning a home run shy of batting for the cycle.

By the end of the game, six different Red Sox had three or more hits, six Red Sox had three or more runs scored, and six different Red Sox had three or more RBI.

4. April 19, 1996: Rangers 26, Orioles 7

In a back and fourth game in which the lead had changed hands four times, the Orioles trailed 10-7 going into the Rangers’ half of the eighth. Armando Benitez came in for the O’s to try to contain the damage, but to no avail. Benitez allowed three runs on two walks and a hit, and was relieved by Jesse Orosco, who allowed eight runs on two walks and six hits.

Finally, the O’s brought in Manny Alexander, a reserve infielder who’d never pitched before. In the only pitching appearance of his career, he allowed five runs on one hit and four walks, but also got the final two out of the inning.

All told, the Rangers scored 16 runs in the inning on eight hits and eight walks.

3. August 22, 2007: Rangers 30, Orioles 3

In another Rangers-Orioles classic, the Rangers set the modern Major League record for runs in a game despite playing on the road and despite actually trailing 3-0 after three innings. The Rangers oddly scored in only four different innings, scoring five runs in the fourth inning, nine in the sixth, 10 in the eighth, and then six in the ninth.

Meanwhile, the Orioles used only four pitchers, the Rangers made only one offensive substitution, and the game took only three hours and 21 minutes.

Strangely, the bottom of the Rangers order performed better than the top of the order, as David Murphy, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, and Ramon Vazquez each reached base five times. Murphy and Saltalamacchia each scored five times, and Saltalamacchia and Vazquez each had two home runs and seven RBI.

Then, to top off one of the craziest games of all time, the Rangers’ Wes Littleton pitched the final three innings of the game for the craziest save of all time.

2. August 5, 2001: Indians 15, Mariners 14

The Indians trailed 14-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning against a Mariners team that was a simply-shocking 50 games over .500 at 80-30.  The Indians started chipping away, scoring three in the seventh to make it 14-5, and then four in the eighth to make it 14-9.

The Tribe then started the bottom of the ninth with a single to center and then two quick outs against Norm Charlton. The Indians then got a double from Marty Cordova, a walk from Wilfredo Cordero on a full count, and then a single from Einar Diaz on another full count to draw within three runs.

Kenny Lofton then hit a single to load the bases, and former Mariner Omar Vizquel hit a triple on yet another full count to clear the bases and tie the score. Two innings later, it would again be Lofton scoring, this time the winning run, as the Indians completed the greatest comeback in Major League history.

The look on Lofton’s face as he scored the winning run is a definite “Where were you when…” moment.

1. May 17, 1979: Phillies 23, Cubs 22

It would be harder to find a crazier game in baseball history than this match up between the Phillies and the Cubs at Wrigley Field in 1979.

This one was wacky right off, as Cubs starter Dennis Lamp allowed six runs on six hits while only retiring one batter. Mike Schmidt got the scoring started with a three-run dong, and the Phillies would bat around, aided along by a solo home run by starting pitcher Randy Lerch.

Then, the Cubs returned the favor, chasing Lerch, who gave up five runs on five hits while also retiring only one batter.  After the first inning, the score was 7-6.

The second inning passed quietly, but then the Phillies one-upped themselves, going for eight runs in the third. By the end of the third inning, every Phillies had batted three times.

The two teams slugged it out in the middle innings, with the Cubs outscoring the Phillies in innings four through six by a score of 13-6, and now the game was a very close 21-19.

The game turned tame in the seventh, with the Phillies scoring an unanswered insurance run, but the Cubs scored three in the bottom of the eighth on six singles and a groundout, and suddenly the score was tied at 22 all going into the ninth inning.

Closers Rawly Eastwick and Bruce Sutter kept the game scoreless in the ninth, but in the top of the 10th, Schmidt hit his second home run of the day off of Sutter and Eastwick closed the door for a crazy Phillies’ win.

The box score from that day is so loaded it might tip over.  A total of 11 players finished with three or more hits, including Larry Bowa, who had five, and Garry Maddox, who went 4-for-4. Bill Buckner went 4-for-7 with a home run and seven RBI, and Dave Kingman hit three home runs and finished with six RBI and four runs scored.

Kingman and Schmidt would finish one and two in the NL in home runs in 1979; Kingman had 48, Schmidt had 45, and no other player topped 34.

Future 1984 AL MVP Willie Hernandez gave up eight runs on seven hits and seven walks in only 2.2 innings. Four of those walks, though, were intentional, as he intentionally passed both Schmidt and Boone twice.

The teams combined for 11 home runs and 23 extra-base hits, while walking 15 times and striking out 11 times.

And in the end, staying consistent with our theme, the Chicago Cubs came out on the losing end.

 

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com .

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Behold the Amazing MLB Rookie Class of 2010

Back in 2001, the first “article” I ever wrote about baseball was an amateurish ditty comparing the 2001 rookie class to a great rookie class of a generation ago, the 1986 rookie class.

I am reminded of that article in 2010 as an endless stream of amazingly talented can’t-miss prospects spills into Major League Baseball.

It is starting to look like both the 1986 rookie class and the 2001 rookie class are going to pale in comparison to the amazing class we’re starting to put together here in 2010.

Sadly, for the first time (and unlike in 1986 or 2001) I am now significantly older than these guys, so much so as to justify referring to them as “youngsters,” and to say things like, “We didn’t have kids this talented in my day.”

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The Bobby Abreu Trade and the Phillies: Four Years Later, No Regrets

On the homemade page-of-the-day calendar that I made my wife as a Christmas present, today’s page reads as follows:

“On this date in 2006, Bobby Abreu was traded by the Philadelphia Phillies to the New York Yankees for, well, not much. Although the deal was heavily criticized at the time, the Phillies have since enjoyed the winningest period in their history, winning three division titles, making two trips to the World Series, and winning the 2008 World Championship.

“More relevantly, it was the day we moved to Philadelphia.”

For Philadelphia fans, that day meant the end of the misery known as Bobby Abreu, Philadelphia Phillie.

What only fans who watched him day in and day out could appreciate was that Abreu, while accumulating impressive numbers in the home runs, stolen bases, and bases on balls departments, could be a spectacularly bad fielder and could, at times, give the impression of not trying all that hard.

Or so I’ve been told. Frankly, I thought the move had been a mistake. I was wrong.

The Phillies have had no regrets.

If that day marked the end of the Bobby Abreu Era in Philadelphia, it also marked the end of the Chancey family’s own personal hell, a hell that had begun 11 months earlier with Hurricane Katrina.

As we loaded our moving van four years ago today, I was reminded of the one thing my wife and I told each other just before we evacuated the City of New Orleans with my mother and brother in tow and with the massive hurricane looming in the Gulf of Mexico:

No regrets.

We had lots of choices to make that day: whether to leave, when to go, where to go, and how to get there. We had three choices of places to evacuate to because we had people waiting for us in Dallas, Texas, Tallahassee, Florida, and Lake Charles, Louisiana.

We had no idea what lay ahead of us, and so we thought it was important that we not end up playing the “what if?” game should things turn out poorly for us.

And so we didn’t. No regrets.

What followed that evacuation, of course, was the worst natural disaster—from a financial perspective—in United States history. The Chancey family spent a brief couple of months as nomads-turned-squatters before ending up in Alexandria, Virginia just in time for Thanksgiving and the longest, most dreary winter these New Orleans folks had ever endured.

We spent roughly a year feeling out of place and out of touch, feeling as though our world had been turned upside down and we had no control over it. Don’t get me wrong: Alexandria, Virginia is a lovely place, but we didn’t chose to live there, and it wasn’t home to us.

And so it was that eight months, a law school graduation and a job offer later, that we found ourselves in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As we arrived with a moving van full of stuff we’d found on craigslist over the previous year, we looked at each other, and one truth became astonishingly clear.

For the first time since the hurricane had forced us from New Orleans, we were once again in control of our own destiny. We were back on track.

We were finally home.

So, too, did the Philadelphia Phillies finally come home that day in July, 2006.  

As it turns out, the Chancey family had moved to Philadelphia on the very day that the Phillies became a National League dynasty, and the ride has been nothing short of magical.  

After trading away Bobby Abreu (I’ll never forget my first ever purchase of the Philadelphia Inquirer , which featured a column titled “Wait ’till the Year After Next”), the Phillies went on an improbable run, and Ryan Howard won the NL MVP on the strength of matching Jimmie Foxx’s record for home runs by a Philadelphian with 58.

The following year Jimmy Rollins told the world that the Phillies were the team to beat in the NL East and then backed it up, winning his own NL MVP on the strength of becoming the fourth player ever with 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 home runs, and 20 stolen bases.

I believe it was Shane Victorino’s grand slam against C.C. Sabathia in the 2008 NLDS, two batters after Brett Myers’ Epic Walk, when I started saying “we” when referring to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Phils got us a world championship that year and then went to the World Series again the following year.

To tell you the truth, I have no problem whatsoever considering the Phillies’ run to be my own personal reward for past ills suffered, both the acute trauma of Hurricane Katrina as well as the chronic lifetime condition of being a Chicago Cubs fan.

As I’ve said in the past, if you spent your life rooting for the Cubs and then moved to a new city and the team in that city suddenly started going to the World Series every year, you’d switch allegiances too.

And so it continues.

Tonight, on the fourth anniversary of Bobby Abreu’s departure from Philadelphia, the Phillies are two days into the tenure of Domonic Brown, the player we hope will be the next Phillies superstar. Meanwhile, newly acquired Roy Oswalt takes his first turn in the Phillies’ rotation against our NL East neighbors to the south, the Washington Nationals.

Will this be the beginning of a third run to the World Series? Will Oswalt and Brown be the pieces we need to win our second championship in three years?

We’ll see.

For my part, I could not be more pleased with this team or this city.  

Becoming a Philadelphian has meant, to me, making “Our Nation’s first…” jokes (this is the site of our Nation’s first microwave dinner, etc.), figuring out where the best cheesesteaks really are, and making fun of people who take their picture in front of the Rocky statue.

Meanwhile, my wife, my kids, and I have found ourselves in a wonderful West Philadelphia neighborhood surrounded by the best group of friends we could have ever hoped for, living a life I don’t think we could have imagined four years ago.

True to our word, we have no regrets.  

As one of my favorite movie lines goes, I’d rather be with the people of Philadelphia than with the finest people in the world.

As for the Phillies, it’s been a great run, and while all good things must come to an end, I hope that this Phillies run doesn’t end for a long, long time.  

It is crazy to think it all started by trading away what appeared to be their best player, but here we are. Now, as we watch Roy Oswalt take what we hope will be the first step towards our next World Series appearance, hopefully a couple of months from now the Phillies will be able to look back on this deal and, once again, have no regrets.

 

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com .

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

MLB Trade Deadline: Four Reasons Why Roy Oswalt Works for the Phillies

Roy Oswalt is now a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Breathe easy, Phillies fans; the Fightins now have arguably the top front three rotation in the National League East and must once again be considered the favorites to win the division, if not the NL pennant.

But for some fans, the Oswalt acquisition will mean only one thing: Couldn’t the Phils have just kept freakin’ Cliff Lee?

The answer, obviously, is sure.

But here are four reasons the Phils are better off with Oswalt, nonetheless.

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MLB Trade Rumors: Phillies-Astros Deal Waiting on Roy Oswalt’s Approval

For the Philadelphia Phillies, are two Roys better than one?

Multiple sources are reporting Thursday morning that the Phillies and Houston Astros have agreed to terms on a deal that will send Roy Oswalt to Philadelphia.  The teams are said to have the players and the money in place, and are simply awaiting Oswalt’s okay.

According to Mark Berman of FOX 26 Sports in Houston, the Astros have approached Oswalt, he is aware that a deal is on the table, and the teams are simply waiting for his response.

Oswalt has a No Trade Clause, which he must waive in order for the Astros to deal him. Oswalt has said to be insistent that his $16 million 2012 team option be picked up by any team seeking to acquire him.

The deal, which comes one day after the smashing debut of Phillies rookie Domonic Brown, looks to reinvent a team that has struggled this season under the weight of expectations and injuries.  The Phils are currently without their starters Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Shane Victorino, as well as veteran starting pitcher Jamie Moyer.

While the official trade deadline is this Saturday at 4:00 pm, there is an informal deadline of sorts attached to this deal.  Oswalt, who is one win away from Joe Niekro’s Astros career record of 144, is scheduled to start against Milwaukee on Friday night.

 

Sources say that if Oswalt is still an Astro by then, he will not be dealt.

The deal would bring a mixture of excitement and consternation for the Phillies and their fans.  Oswalt, who is owed $16 million for each of the next two seasons, would appear to be quite a bit more expensive, and a little more removed from his prime, than Cliff Lee, whom the Phillies had and chose to trade citing salary concerns.

Lee is making $9 million this season.

And if the Oswalt deal involves dealing Phillies second year man J.A. Happ, then the Phils will have gone from a potential front four of Roy Halladay, Lee, Cole Hamels, and Happ, to a rotation of Halladay, Hamels, Oswalt, and Joe Blanton.

While the latter would seem to be quite good, the former would have been unstoppable.

 

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com .

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Domonic Brown and the Philadelphia Phillies: The Future is Now

The Philadelphia Phillies have finally reached the breaking point.  The Phillies of the present will no longer be able to try to make the playoffs without a little help from the Phillies of the future.

Domonic Brown is being called up.

According to CSNPhilly’s Jim Salisbury, Shane Victorino is being placed on the disabled list after suffering an injury to his left oblique on Tuesday night, and the Phillies’ most heralded and anticipated prospect of 2010 will be join the big club.

The 22-year-old Brown has most recently been pummeling Triple-A pitching to the tune of .346/.390/.561/.951 with five homers, 21 RBI, and five stolen bases in just 107 at-bats since having been promoted to Triple-A Lehigh Valley this summer. 

So, the Fightin’s were able to play through Jimmy Rollins’ injuries in the first half of the season as well as Placido Polanco’s trip to the disabled list, and have been making due with Chase Utley out for all of the second half so far. The Phillies have stomached the poor play of Raul Ibanez, and the massive slump of Jayson Werth.

But now, with Victorino taking his turn on the DL, the Phils have no other choice. No amount of Greg Dobbs and Ross Gload and Brian Schneider and Wilson Valdez is going to help the team get by without their Gold Glove center fielder and de facto leadoff man.

And so the future is now.

Domonic Brown is now a major league ballplayer.

(And you can probably forget about a Jayson Werth trade.)

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com.

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Silent but Deadly: Roy Halladay and 10 MLB Players Quietly On Fire

Roy Halladay is having an amazing year, and he’s been pretty special over the last month or so as well. In six starts, he has gone 3-2 with a remarkable 1.91 ERA while holding his opponents scoreless three times. This streak includes a game where his opponent took a perfect game into the ninth inning, and Halladay threw nine shutout innings without getting a win, complete game, or shutout for his efforts.

But Halladay you know about. Here is a list of 10 other players who are currently lighting the major leagues on fire, but doing so quietly.

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MLB Trade Rumors: 10 Relievers the Philadelphia Phillies Must Try For

The Philadelphia Phillies are currently riding a dramatic five-game winning streak, but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at Brad Lidge’s performances over the last couple of games.

Nursing precarious leads, Lidge has loaded the bases in each of the last two games before escaping jams to ultimately earn the save.

If the Phillies are getting to the point where they can no longer afford to allow Lidge to keep trying to get his legs under him, and if they are going to make a playoff run, they may need to add another arm or two to the bullpen.

Here is a list of 10 potentially available relievers, both closers and set-up men, who are available to the Phils as they ponder a future with Lidge in the closer role.

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Wake Me Up When September Ends: Phillies Seven Games Back in NL East

On Saturday, September 12, 2007, the Philadelphia Phillies lost 12-0 to the Colorado Rockies at Citizens Bank Park to fall seven games behind the New York Mets in the NL East with 17 games to play.

From that point forward, the Phillies won 13 of their final 17 games, including a three-game sweep of the Mets in New York, and won the NL East by one game as the Mets suffered a historic collapse.

The Phillies may have lost to the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday to fall to 1-5 since the All-Star break, but let’s not lose perspective here.  Every team is going to win 54 games, every team is going to lose 54 games—it’s how you play the other 54 that separates the good teams from the bad.

With Jamie Moyer facing Chris Carpenter in St. Louis last night, the Phillies were not destined to win.  And, news flash—with Joe Blanton facing off against Jaime Garcia, they probably won’t win tonight, either.  Things won’t get any easier for the Phils, with Moyer almost certainly headed for the disabled list and Kyle Kendrick having been demoted to Triple-A.

But while it feels like the Phils are losing the winners right now, there’s still a lot of season to be played.  There’s still time for slumping hitters to improve, there’s time to make moves to improve the pitching, and there’s still time to get our injured superstar second baseman back.

It is tempting to say the season is over because the Phils are seven games back on July 21, but frankly, I don’t want to hear about it until September 13.

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com.

Read more Philadelphia Phillies news on BleacherReport.com

Philadelphia Phillies 2010: There’s Nothing Wrong With Losing

All across Philadelphia this morning, Philadelphia Phillies fans are waking up to the reality that the hometown team has now dropped four out of five to begin the second half of the season, and the Atlanta Braves are beginning to slip from view in the NL East.  The odds of making it three trips in a row to the World Series are seeming slimmer and slimmer.

But you know what, Phillies fans?  Maybe that’s okay.

Look at all that the Philadelphia Phillies have accomplished in the last four years.  Three trips to the playoffs, two trips to the World Series, and a World Series championship in 2008.  The manager of the World Series manages the All-Star Game the following season, and we’ve now seen Charlie Manuel manage two of them.

During the last four years, Philadelphia Phillies players have gone from relative anonymity to the spotlight.  Chase Utley is now considered the best second baseman in the game, even if he technically isn’t, and he has been to each of the last five All-Star games.

Jimmy Rollins made a big splash in 2007 when he said that the Phillies—and not the heavily favored New York Mets—were the team to beat that season.  When he backed it up, and helped lead the Phils to one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history in September of that year, he was rewarded with the NL MVP.

And Ryan Howard may be the biggest star of them all.  The National League’s Rookie of the Year in 2005, Howard led the NL in home runs, RBI, and total bases in his first full season and won the NL MVP in 2006.  Howard has since led the NL in RBI two more times and is looking to become only the seventh player since 1901 to lead his league in RBI three seasons in a row.

Earlier this season, the Phillies rewarded Howard by making him one of the highest paid players in baseball history.

For Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth, the last four years have been career making.

Victorino was going no where fast when the Phillies made him a Rule 5 draft-pick in 2004, and he has slowly but surely made himself into an All-Star and a back-to-back Gold Glove recipient.  He is leading the NL in triples for the second year in a row, and last season he actually received some votes for NL MVP.

Werth, meanwhile, was watching his career circle the drain before he joined the Phillies in 2007.  Since then, he has gone from a platoon outfielder, to a starter, to an All-Star, and after this season Werth looks to cash in with a top-flight free-agent contract.

While the Phillies’ hitters have experienced personal success, the pitching staff has not been without its heroes.  

Brad Lidge’s 2008 performance will live in baseball history, as he went a perfect 41-for-41 in regular season save opportunities and 7-for-7 in the postseason.

Cole Hamels, another hero of the 2008 World Series run, has emerged as one of the bright young pitchers in the NL East.

This season he has a deceptive 7-7 record to go with a 3.63 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 119 innings.

Perhaps the most remarkable story in terms of pitching for the Phils has been Roy Halladay.  For the first time in, perhaps, a generation, a top flight elite pitcher decided he wanted to be a Philadelphia Philly.  Not since Steve Carlton have the Phillies had arguably the best pitcher in baseball on their team.

But you know what?  Sometimes things just don’t go the way you plan them to.

Sometimes your elite hitters, after all of the awards, accolades, and big-money payouts, just go through a little slump.

Once your big-time defenders become big-time stars, sometimes their glove seems a little tighter, their throws a little less crisp.

And sometimes your starting pitchers just can’t get the job done every fifth day, and your bullpen can’t be trusted day in and day out.

But that’s okay.  No one said we have to win every year.

Do you think the Chicago Cubs fans would argue with two trips to the World Series in back-to-back years?  They’d take another 100 years of losing for even one World Series victory.

Do you think the Kansas City Royals would argue with being four games over .500 and getting to watch some of the elite players in all of baseball toil for a summer, even though it might not mean a playoff appearance?  Royals fans would sign over their homes just to have a guy hit 40 home runs for them.

At the end of the day, this has been a very good baseball team, and it has accomplished a lot of things.  If a trip to the World Series, or even the playoffs, isn’t in the cards for the Phillies in 2010, who cares?  No team, even the Yankees, wins every year .

The Philadelphia Phillies finally have a good team playing in a great ballpark, and the Phils’ players are All-Stars, Gold Glovers, and MVPs.  We should enjoy that, celebrate that, and not worry ourselves over whether we can win the NL East, the National League pennant, or the World Series.

Let’s just enjoy the run, shall we?

________________________________________________________________________

There will be those, of course, who criticize me for saying winning isn’t important, we should celebrate the individual achievements of our players even if they don’t lead to victories, and we should be happy with what the Phillies have given us up until now, and not worry about what’s to come in the future.

To those people, I would say: Don’t blame me.

I’m not the one playing mediocre baseball without any perceptible sense of urgency.  I’m not the one failing to string together consistent effort, or struggling to make sure I play each game better than the last.  I’m not the one worrying about my next contract rather than my performance on the field.

In short, I’m not the one who doesn’t seem to care whether or not I win now, instead appearing to be content to live off the glory of my previous plunders.

The Philadelphia Phillies are the ones who are playing like there’s nothing to play for; all I’m doing is following their lead.  

If they don’t care, why should I?

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BaseballEvolution.com .

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