That Balls Outta Here » minors

Unlike MLB Phillies, Reading and Lehigh Valley Advance to Playoffs

Justin Klugh — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:30:13 +0000

The Phillies still have to play, like, 25 games in a half an hour or something before they get to the post season and have the games mean something again. At this point we’re only playing to determine the NL Cy Young.

Yeah, not a whole lot needs explaining at The Bank these days.

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Clearwater Threshers Make up for Awful Reading Phillies by Being Great

Justin Klugh — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:00:05 +0000

Recently, we discussed the challenges of playing baseball in front of people who love you. This issue seems to be at the core of the Reading Phillies gross ineptitude; so much so that manager Mark Parent was forced to explain that it was why the team will do better on the road. (more…)

What Might Have Won’t: The Matt Rizzotti Story

Justin Klugh — Mon, 16 May 2011 12:00:19 +0000

I recently asked the last question of a live chat with Philled In‘s David Hale, and it was surprisingly productive and without exclamation points. The pressure was on, after Bill Baer had just asked one of his patented “intelligent questions” that probably spiked his traffic by a billion, as usual.

But I had been curious about the topic of Matt Rizzotti prior to the chat, so here I was, alone with my keyboard with a guy answering questions who actually gets to go the Phillies games and talk to the players.

So I asked if the only way Rizzotti would ever see daylight in a Phils uniform would be in a “Ross Gload” role; a bat off the bench without the defensive skills to warrant everyday use, forever blocked by a perennial All-Star at first base?

I forget what Hale said, but it was along the lines “Yeah, probably.”

Meanwhile, Rizz hits a home run so hard his bat explodes. (more…)