LikeTheDew.com

With apologies to John, Paul, George and even Ringo …

Wednesday morning at 9 o’clock, as the day began, I woke up, got outta bed, dragged a comb across my alarmingly-balding head and — what else? — checked the NL East standings. And there they were: the Braves, atop the division at 2-0. And at the bottom? The world champion Philadelphia Phillies, 0-2 … and counting.

“Games in April Count.” That’s the headline on today’s Philadelphia Inquirer column by Phil Sheridan, a good guy and terrific columnist.

Not that the knee-jerk overreaction in one of our great American sports cities is over the top. Not yet. But while we here in Dewlandia are pleasantly pleased with the local nine’s nice start, Phillie fanatics are, well, already concerned.

“The Season After began with great fanfare and enthusiasm among Philadelphia fans,” wrote Sheridan, who was there Sunday night when manager Charlie Manuel helped run a 2008 World Champions banner up the flagpole, the first time Philadelphia has hoisted one in 28 seasons. “One hopes the Phillies will join the party soon. It’s kind of a drag without them.”

Who’da thunk it? The Braves, bottom-feeders last year when they beat the Phils just four times all season, are looking for a 3-for-the-road sweep this afternoon. And the Phillies, baseball’s indisputable best in ’08, are now facing the prospect of starting ’09 0-3. And this, on the day the Phils were to be presented their gold World Championship rings in pre-game festivities.

What’s wrong with this picture? Nothing, if you’re a Braves fan and watched Derek Lowe throw eight shutout innings on Opening Night, then Jair Jurrjens 5.2 more Tuesday evening. Today’s potential matinee idol? C’mon down, Javier Vazquez.

When Kelly Johnson led off Tuesday’s 4-0 win with a first-pitch homer off 45-year-old Jamie Moyer (Chipper Jones later hit his first of the year, too), that made it 27 straight games in which Atlanta’s homered against Philadelphia (and five in two games, by five different players). That’s the longest such streak by the Braves against one opponent since 1954. Sports Illustrated was born that year. Bobby Cox was in grammar school.

As for the Phillies’ long-ball futility thus far in their exceedingly hitter-friendly ballpark? What, Ryan Howard worry? “Apparently,” the Phils’ slugging first baseman and 2007 NL MVP told Sheridan, “we weren’t hitting into the same jet stream as they were.”

Oh. That explains it. Come this weekend, when the lowly Nationals come to Turner Field, let’s see how the wind’s swirling and the ball’s traveling.

Note: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for the agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of LikeTheDew.com. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click here to report a violation.

3 Responses to “With apologies to Beatles, let’s play ball”

1. LikeTheDew (LikeTheDew) says:

   August 31, 2010 at 12:19 am

   New blog post: With apologies to Beatles, let’s play ball http://tinyurl.com/cqbftc

   Reply
2. Terri Evans says:

   April 8, 2009 at 10:30 pm

   My brother and sister and I saw the Beatles at Atlanta Stadium in 1965. I had just turned 11 a few weeks before. They stayed at the Atlanta Cabana in midtown (across from the Krystal, which I think is now a Starbucks), and we drove by beforehand, just in case. “With apologies to The Braves, let’s play music.”

   Reply
3. jack wilkinson says:

   April 9, 2009 at 2:47 am

   a fantastic cover of one of my all-time favorite songs. thanks, Terri and Scott. somewhere, Ben E. King is smilin’…
   me, too.
   cheers,
   jack

   Reply

Leave a Comment

Click here to cancel reply.

What is CAPTCHA and why do I have to enter it to post a comment?

Quick answer: Look at the picture (below) that contains letters. Type those letters in the CAPTCHA Code box.

Longer explanation: Our comment system now requires a CAPTCHA test (an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" for all comments (unless you have registered and are logged-in). CAPTCHA is an image of letters that is dynamically generated (click the speaker icon to hear it or the arrows to load another test that may be easier to read). The letters, because they're part of an image and not text (e.g. text that you could cut and paste), are difficult for a spambot or other computer program to read. Yet, a person has little trouble reading the letters in a captcha image and then typing them into the form. Using a captcha test on our website is a great way to ensure, for instance, that a person and not a spambot is filling out a web form (we used to get 100 or so spam comments every day which our volunteers had to wade through). Also, a captcha can make it difficult for a person to continuously resubmit form information and overwhelm our comment function. If you hate CAPTCHA, just register on LikeTheDew.com and login (registration is on the bottom left of our home page) and you won't be stopped by CAPTCHA.

CAPTCHA Code

You can add images to your comment by clicking here.

Notify me of follow-up comments via email.

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website