Three Days to Forget
By Stephen Frey
Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE
History may tell us that the Fall of 2012 was one of the most disappointing seasons ever seen in Philadelphia sports. We have witnessed the potential end of the Phillies Golden Age, the final chapter of the Andy Reid Era, Bynum’s catastrophic bowling incident, and no hockey to speak of.
But if the whole season is that awful, the past few days are the epitome of the whole year. At least the information age of social media and blogs make us feel that way.
Yes, it has been THAT bad for every team in town, but let’s stick with the Phillies. The focus is on 3 measly days.
On Tuesday, Carlos Ruiz was suspended 25 games for the use of Adderall. Worse, he was only suspended because he was caught for the second time. Chooch either has a problem with overuse, or isn’t smart enough to cover it up. Either way, he should be embarrassed. (Wagging my Dikembe finger)
This news doesn’t severely hurt the Phillies chances in 2013, but it’s not a good start to the offseason. Call it a bad omen, or even a precursor to Wednesday.
That morning we all thought Ruben had solved the 8th inning problem. I soon realized that I actually hate Twitter and Wednesdays. Both did nothing but get my hopes up.
Thanks to Wilton Lopez’ right elbow, we sat and waited all day wondering what was going on. Why wasn’t it finalized? And so we waited, and checked twitter every 10 seconds for an update.
Later in the evening I tweeted that I didn’t want B.J. Upton anyway, but a friend of mine (who just happens to be a Braves fan) pointed out that I sounded like I was trying to convince myself. The jerk may be right.
Frankly, none of us know who or what we REALLY want in center field next year. Face it, there are number of descent candidates but they are all flawed in one way or another. So because we didn’t get Upton, we never wanted him in the first place. Now we all really want Bourn or Hamilton, or Hamilton in left and Pagan in center.
It hurts to write that. The Phils need youth, and bad.
We woke up Thursday morning to rumors of other teams involved for Lopez and finally that he may have failed his physical. It appears that for whatever the reason, Wilton Lopez is not coming to Philly. The whole thing is shrouded in a cloud of mystery.
As if it couldn’t get any worse, on Thursday evening the newly hated Washington Nationals acquired Denard Span from the Minnesota Twins for a single minor league pitching prospect, Alex Meyer. Seriously, that’s it? These are 3 days that need to be quickly forgotten.
We got our hopes up just to be let down, like the rest of 2012. Only 31 days ‘til 2013!
I promise to have low expectations from now on…until the Winter Meetings start on Monday, that is.