I Leave My Heart To Ben Francisco

It's bound to go by the end of this series if you keep this up, Fightins. Thank you, Ben, for coming through with RISP and for not being Ross Gload in the top of the seventh. Thank you, Cole, for bringing your game face. Thank you, Mad Dog, for finally getting Ryan Theriot to ground out to end the ninth. I'm halfway to a heart condition and it's only round one. This tune probably best describes the strange trip the Phillies took me on in the last three innings of their nail biting 3-2 victory over the Cards:

What a game! What a birthday present for Tony LaRussa. Let's just hope that it won't be Charlie's turn to cry anytime soon. Some dude in a bar probably said it best when he said, "October? That's when the whole city will start inhaling and exhaling together."

It's time to exhale. Have a beer. Put on some Hall and Oates. Whatever works. We've got an important game to win tomorrow.

Put Him In, Coach!

John Mayberry, Jr! What's not to love? That smile, that speed, that walk-off hit on opening day... He's everything a Phillies fan dreams of. And he's smart, too! In 2002, Mayberry was the highest-drafted player to elect to attend a four-year college instead of signing a contract—and that college was Stanford. Now, Mayberry is winning our hearts with a fantastic start to the 2011 season and a solid case for an everyday spot in the outfield.

At 6'6 and 27-years-young (hard to believe, I know—I would've guessed he was about 22), Mayberry has never had much of a chance to prove himself in the big leagues. Once a #19 pick overall, his minor league career was plagued by a high strikeout rate and inability to hit right-handed pitching. But he continued to make his case yesterday with a two-run homer off the right-handed Tim Hudson, plus two walks and a stolen base. In fact, Mayberry's performance was the only highlight of an otherwise lackluster game, a fitting end to a depressing weekend for the Phillies (full disclosure: I turned it off and watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer instead). Okay, maybe making Mayberry an everyday player is risky, but with the current state of the corner outfielders and pathetic production from the bottom of the line-up, the Phillies don't really have much to lose. At best, he continues his promising beginning to the 2011 season—clutch hits, speed, charisma, and solid play in the outfield—and letting him start pays off big time. At worst, young Mayberry adds a little freshness and life to an aching, aging line-up. He looks hungry for a chance to play, like he's serenading Charlie Manuel with "put me in, coach!" from his spot on the bench.

While Charlie is known for his loyalty to his players (which explains sticking with Raul Ibanez throughout his epic slump this season), has Ben Francisco actually earned any of that loyalty? Francisco only won his job in right field this season because Dom Brown wasn't around and healthy enough to challenge him for it. Why shouldn't John Mayberry Jr. get that same chance? With Shane Victorino hurt, maybe he finally will. This could be his at-bat music:


Put him in, Coach!

Jayson Werthless

There was a time not too long ago when I was sitting with my brother in the bleacher seats at Yankee Stadium listening to chants of "Werthless" directed toward right field. My brother is a Yankee lover despite the fact that he has no problem matching the baseball cap of any AL or NL team to whatever color polo shirt he's wearing. I will never understand this phenomenon in bro fashion, but I have to admit that while morally questionable, his wall of caps is pretty impressive. His bedroom is just like Lids if Lids smelled like Axe and had a bed in the center of it. My brother wisely chose to go with one of his many Yankees caps that day while I donned my beat-up Phillies cap. I felt like Elaine Benes at Yankee Stadium, booed as much as Jayson Werth while returning to my seat with a birthday Bud Lite for my favorite Yankee bro.

While Phillies fans are infamous booers and will probably greet the new Natty beau (heh, see what I did there?) with louder rounds of boos than the Yankees did, they have their reasons. The Yankees fans that surrounded me that day were itching to boo anything that wasn't branded with a Yankee symbol. This included Jayson Werth, me, and could have included my Yankee brother had he chosen a different shirt/hat combo. The bleacher creatures of Yankee Stadium do not discriminate. Their chants of "Werthless" upset me, and not because I was a Phillies fan, but because they were unfocused and followed by chants of "you suck" at all things non-Yankee. That said, I don't think that Werth will be received kindly when Philadelphia takes over Nationals Park today, but at least there will be a method to the Phillies fan's madness.

I used to like Werth. I was sad to see him go. I almost cried when he talked about noticing the change in leaves for the first time after returning from 2010's loss to the Giants in the NLCS, and that whole "this is definitely not the same game I played in my grandparents' backyard as a kid" bit. Then the man chose money over baseball while his buddy Cliff did the opposite, and went on to pout for months about how he was on one of the worst teams in baseball. Werth was then caught swinging a bat while saying, "I hate the fucking Phillies." Of course the fans are going to turn. To quote Nadine's own father: "I have a bounty on Jayson Werth's head. 500 bucks to the first person to hit him with a battery."

Werth's obviously not over us either. In his first game with the Nationals, he chose "November Rain" by Guns N' Roses as his at-bat music:

Cause nothin' lasts forever and we both know hearts can change

It's hard not to read more into that. It's like watching John Cusack hold up a boombox outside a window in Say Anything. Werth's trying to tell us something. "November Rain" is an epic ballad about the misery of a former rock star reminiscing over a past relationship that ends in suicide—a newly married bride's gunshot to the head. In the music video, she kind of reminds you of newly married to the Nationals Werth, but then again, so does the down and out Axl Rose and the lost in the desert Slash wailing on guitar. After all, November was when the Phillies gave Werth an offer that he turned down to become a free agent. Either way, it will be interesting to see how this soap opera plays out. I know that Charlie's ready for Werth, as he was recently quoted saying, "I’ll be on him. I’ll be getting on him. I’ll be getting on J-Dub. I’ll be hollering at him."

As for me, I'm just happy that Ben Francisco's been doing such a great job in right field since we lost Werth, who truly wasn't worthless to the Phillies at all. He played great baseball here—hit home runs, dove for balls, had interesting facial hair. However, one area where Benny excels and is continuing to excel compared to Werth is hitting with runners in scoring position (RISP).

So the real question is, to boo or not to boo Werth in the April rain? It's hard to hate Werth all that much. Maybe Axl Rose is right: "everybody needs some time on their own."