Hey Mickey!

Up first to be honored in Scoring Position's Hall of Fame for Good Phillies Dudes is the dandiest little glove man to ever play the game. The scrappy midfielder with the heart of gold and the glove that never got the Midas touch. The little guy that led the 1993 Phillies World Series lineup with a regular season batting average of a whopping .247. THE GREAT MORANDINI!

Let's observe a moment of silence for Mickey Morandini. Feel free to meditate on the following:

That sweet unassisted triple play he turned against the Pittsburgh Pirates in '92. With Andy Van Slyke on second and a slimmer Barry Bonds on first, Mickey caught Jeff King's line drive, stepped on second, and then tagged out Bonds. Relive the glory of Mickey becoming the first second baseman in NL history to nail a defensive hat trick here. Of course the Phillies went on to lose in extra innings, but all's not fair in love and baseball. Cue Roxette's "It Must Have Been Love". But was it over then?

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

Mickey Morandini earned the nickname "Dandy Little Glove Man" for a reason. Mickey Hands finished in the top two for his position in fielding percentage five times in his career and was even voted to the All-Star team in 1995. Despite this fact, Mickey never won a Gold Glove over other stand-up ballplayers like Jose Lind. Poor Mickey. Hey. Hey. Poor Mickey. Still, what a dude!

So the next time you slide on your mitt for your neighborhood's softball team, think about Mickey the Great Morandini. Think about unrequited love and your own shortcomings, and then think about Mickey turning a double play dressed as a member of All-4-One. Believe you me, Scoring Position's not the only one to want Mickey on their team. Check out this great audio interview on Jimmy Scott's High and Tight in which Mickey says, "At heart, I'm a Philly guy," while smooth saxophones play over crashing waves.

This might be the most love Morandini's gotten since '98. And he runs a stationary store with his wife, Peg!

All the Young Dudes

Young bucks Vance Worley, 23, Michael Stutes, 24, and Antonio Bastardo, 25, gave up one run and five hits total last night to the Boston Red Sox, currently the best hitting team in baseball. After Worley went seven innings against the Beantown sluggers, Stutes went 1-2-3 in the eighth. Bastardo then saved the day for the third time this year as he got the scariest dudes in the lineup to pop-up to end the game, Soda Popinski, Big Papi, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia who has the longest last name in baseball history and is nicknamed "Salty". Wicked pissah!


Who would have thought that these young guns formerly of the AAA Iron Pigs would have brought the Phillies to a halfway point record of 51-30 with a 2-1 win against the Sox? Me, maybe, and the bullpen coach Mick Billmeyer who has now deemed himself "Head Hog." I've been rooting for Worley and Stutes from the beginning. I've also had my eye on Antonio Bastardo since my boyfriend's not-always-politically-correct and very Italian step-dad turned to me on Easter Sunday and said, "Hey! That Bastard guy's pretty all right." Oh, and don't worry. I'm going to respect my elders here too. Big ups to old man Raul Ibanez who went 3-3 with 2 RBIs last night. Wicked pissah!

While I love good baseball, I hate to admit that I'm just not that into Vance Worley's new nickname, the Vanimal, which is—I kid you not—stitched into his glove. My buddy and I have been calling him "King of the Bog" since I first posted about Worley, which is about as good as the nickname "Salty." Can't we come up with something better for Vance Worley the Great?

And while my New England roots hate to admit it, saying "Wicked pissah!" is damn fun. What would be the Philly equivalent? I've heard Nadine scream "Zenga!" before, but I'm not sure that's actually a thing.

Starting Rotation Press Conference Recap

In case you didn't catch it, a live press conference with the Phillies starting rotation aired today at 1:30 EST. A transcript is available here. I did my best to "liveblog" the conference on my twitter, while semi-discreetly watching from my desk. Here's what went through my head:

Let's make the Sad Joe Blanton emoticon a thing.

Image from the Fightin' Phils Tumblr. Says it all.

A few other things stood out for me: first, I'm  thrilled with the continued emphasis on CBP's unique vibes and how much they cater to our starters' competitive natures, helping already insanely talented players step up their games. Say what you want about the Philly Phaithful, but that's an unfuckwithable fact. I was also happy to hear—especially since I live in New York—that they've noticed and appreciate the loyal fans who follow them to other cities (even if the last time I saw the Phils play at CitiField I was in the very, very last row of the very, very upper deck).

Cliff Lee emerged as a spokesman for the group, fielding the most direct questions and handling any that no one else immediately stepped up to answer, crackin' jokes about his hitting ability, making goofy faces (see above). Charisma much?! Honestly, I wasn't surprised Cliff was the center of attention but I was shocked by how verbose he was. Who knew our boy could talk that much? I wonder if Cliff's famous love affair with Philadelphia is what earned him this place in the spotlight, or if it's just the natural result of coming #2 to man-of-no-words Roy Halladay. Also interesting was Cliff's assertion that feeling challenged by his fellow starters is not an incentive; he wants to feel competition from other teams only—not from his teammates (not exactly what I would've expected).

On that tip, it seems R2C2 is out and our rotation is in search of a more appropriate nickname, one that includes all five of its formidable arms. Ideas? Leave 'em in the comments.