Phillies Still Loose Enough to Play Cruel Joke on Fourth String Catcher

You may not be aware of the identity of the Phillies’ fourth string catcher, but we here at TBOH pride ourselves on such analytic baseball skills as “knowing what time the game is on” and “knowing who the players are.”

Yet, in some cases, even we find ourselves flummoxed, because maybe we had a hard day at work, or the Xbox just red ring-ed, or the pizza was delivered in time so we didn’t get it for free.  Life is hard sometimes.

A concept known all too well by Phillies back up back up back up back stop Steven Lerud, who is a person with feelings and thoughts.  The Phillies chose to manipulate those thoughts and feelings by telling the career minor leaguer that he’d been sent down to A-ball.

Even for a guy like Lerud, whose spent his entire career avoiding the Major League level, this was a tough blow to take.  We can imagine him borrowing some change to use a beat up pay phone to let his wife know through a series of choked up mumbles that he was being sent even further down into the bowels of the farm system.

“Here he comes. I don’t know if he’s coming out here to take me or you out so just be cool.” Frank Victores-US PRESSWIRE

Shocked and disgusted, she would take a deep, weathered sigh and silently wonder how they’d make the next house payment while gently rocking one of their nine babies in her other hand.  An electronic voice then let Steven know he had seconds left on the call; to try and tell his wife he loved her and pray to the gods that she’d say it back.

Fortunately, the Lerud avoided this situation entirely, and not just because pay phones do not exist anymore.

It was because seconds later, the Phillies revealed that the demotion was merely a cruel joke disguised as a demotion, and that he was actually being promoted to the Phillies.

“At first they told me I was going to ‘A’ ball, so I wasn’t too happy about that.  Then they got some smiles on their faces and told me I was going to the big leagues.”–Steven Lerud

And if that’s not the sign of a loose ball club, confident and ready to win, then I guess I know nothing about the Phillies.  Which is impossible.  I even know who the fourth string catcher is.