Inexplicably, Omar Daal Teaches Children to Play Baseball

The internet can be an awful place.  Not if you are reading That Balls Outta Here of course, but other than reading such insightful comments on the Philadelphia Phillies the internet can destroy what heretofore was a productive, happy day. Because I am something of a sadist, I often look up former Phillies that I dislike on Wikipedia to see how their awful lives have devolved.

Lets use Omar Daal as an example.  According to what may be an extremely inaccurate account, Daal is coaching his son’s little league team.  It may be difficult for those who are new to watching Phillies pitching, with all the guys who actually know how to throw the ball and make people miss it that we are all experiencing now.  Omar harkens back to a time where Phillies pitchers were considerably more hittable and considerably less competent.

I am probably heaping too much of the responsibility onto poor Omar Daal’s shoulders.  Curt Schilling was a really good starting pitcher, one of the league’s best at a time when Philadelphia had a lot more of Chad Ogea than they did Roy Halladay.  Daal was part of a deal that jettisoned Schilling for two pitchers that were supposed to be good at throwing baseballs; Daal and Vincente Padilla.  Daal was apparently the more polished starter coming off of a year in which he went 16-9 with an ERA in the mid threes.

The year after his best season happened to be the same in which the Phillies obtained his services.  He led the league with nineteen losses between Arizona and Philadelphia when the Phillies pulled the trigger for Daal.  Schilling helped the Diamondbacks to beat the Yankees and posted the first two twenty win seasons of his career while never shying away from opening his fat mouth.  Daal gave the Phillies two years of mediocrity before landing in Los Angeles and finally where baseball players go to die, Baltimore.

Daal has come to represent one of the worst times for the Philadelphia baseball fan.  The team seemed to strive toward mediocrity and swapping Schilling for Daal exemplifies this extremely well and I still invoke his name any time a sucky pitcher somehow stumbles to the mound.  Suffice to say that Arizona little league teams have little to fear with Daal behind the controls.

Makes you wonder what Dave Coggin is up to.