Morning Extras: RyHo, and a Phillies Gut Check

For those of you who are married, you may know what I'm about to write. I watch a lot of baseball on the computer through Gametracker. My wife and I have a good rotation of DVRed shows and live sporting events, but with a game every night, it's hard to watch every inning of every game on the TV. Those press box dwellers who spot-locate every single pitch of every single game, giving me the speed and arc of the delivery are a Godsend. It's become part of my nightly routine.

Usually, after we put the kid to bed, we watch one drama (yesterday was the gripping season finale of The Closer), half an inning of the Phils, then the day's General Hospital. That rotation usually puts the game in about the seventh inning, allowing us to watch the last three frames live and in color. So when my wife looks over and sees me doubled in pain on top of my laptop, it's nothing new. Yesterday it was the sixth inning. Seeing the In Play (runs) hang on my screen for minutes can be torturous.

I didn't have a good feeling heading into the game. And the sixth inning is just what I was afraid of. But the Phils chipped back to within one run despite leaving them loaded in the seventh. In the eighth, with a man on base and two outs, the Braves went to their closer. Up stepped Ryan Howard.

Gut Check Time.

Let's go back a bit. Having the Phillies game on, I switched my Gametracker to the Mets. A 1-0 lead is nothing short of precarious, especially when we're talking about the Nationals pitching staff. With two outs in the ninth inning, MVP candidate Carlos Delgado came to the plate and thankfully struck out, ending the game.

Flash back to the Phils. Ryan Howard is at the plate with his game on the line and what does he do? He hits a two-run opposite field home run to give his team the lead and take back first place in the Division.

Sure, Brad Lidge made it interesting, but he has yet to record a blown save this season. Let's hope that trend continues.

I know I said the other day in my rant on Chase Utley that Howard only cares about the money. I was mad. I was trying to prove a point. I do think he cares a lot about the money, but to say he only cares about that isn't fair. He cares about hitting the ball....very far. And I love when he does it in situations like last night.

BASEBALL LINKS:
• Rich Hofmann says that Howard deserves to be in the discussion for MVP. I dig the headline too.

• On Monday, Beerleaguer took a look at Howard and Carlos Delgado with regard to their MVP candidacy. How's that look this morning, Mets fans?

• Even Will Bunch is getting into the action. He ends with this, "How much do we have to pay the man?" Will, can't we just have the next two months before we have to think about that?

• Adding injury to insult, the Mets also lost Fernando Tatis for the year. My favorite quote from this story is from David Wright:

"I've said all along it's a little bump in the road," David Wright said. "It does not matter what Philadelphia does. It doesn't matter. It's about what the New York Mets do. It's about what the guys in this clubhouse do. We plan on getting the job done.

I think I might have that framed and sent to every one of my Mets Fan friends when if please hope to God if they choke again.

• Jose Reyes added his own flavor. I hope he writes a book one day.

“We’re still in a good position. We just have to start again…It’s not going to be easy. So, we just need to win.”

FOOTBALL LINKS:
• The MNF game was the most watched program in Cable Television History. Take that, High School Musical II!

• Big Ben has a sore shoulder, but it's not separated. Sorry Eagles fans.

RANDOM LINKS:
• You know I hate Syracuse, so you know I love this.

• Syracuse can't do anything right these days. it seems that a new statue of Ernie Davis has him wearing Nike cleats. Nike was invented eight years after Davis died.

• Here's a hilarious video over at Puck Daddy about the Palin Hockey Mom line. Funny, no matter what your political lean.

• Chris Cooley's penis might be getting him in more trouble, but not because of its appearance on his blog, but rather what it was photographed with.

• Do you remember that episode of Friends where Chandler wanted to go to YeminYemen to get away from Janice? Well, that might not be the best place to go to get away from your girlfriend, these days.

• Last, here's a great story about John Chaney. Who knew he loved crabs and munis so much.

Comments

[bax]

General Hospital?

[Micah Warren]

WOW! We live the same life. Except I am up here in North Jersey and have to watch the Phillies on pitch-by-pitch. But, I do get to watch the Mets implode. The girl is a Met fan. The difference is, I sit on the computer and blog for OTR and GCobb.com while she watches the Closer. She knows I won't watch that.

Last night...it was The Biggest Loser. TWO HOURS WORTH.

But yeah, the DVR is phenomenal.

[johndewar]

@Dan: If 10 years of marriage have taught me anything, it's the value of multiple TVs in the household.

/Yup, it's been 10 years.
//Afraid to say anything else in case my wife checks this website.

[bcapp]

General Hostpital??? - Gut check time indeed and by gut I of course mean your balls.

Seriously, watch the game.

[jsd]

im pretty sure its Yemen

[Dan Levy]

Yes, yes, General Hospital. It's just like wrestling, but without any of the wrestling.

And as for the two TVs..we used to have that (one for shows, one for games and xbox) but when we moved, the kibosh was put on that situation.

Good catch on Yemen. Sorry to all the Yemenese out there.

[Phatty]

I went to the Nats game last night just to boo the Mets and surprisingly I saw several Phils fans there. At one point the Phils took the lead on the out of town scoreboard at almost the exact second David Wright was striking out. It was beautiful.

[Gaze]

You let your wife hold the remote?

[theKrisheim]

too much information

go phils

[Mark K_NJ]

I don't do the pitch-by-pitch...just keep checking the score on the Blackberry. In my house, multiple TV's (though we have them) won't work because then you're not spending time together...

But with my wife and little one visiting the grandparents for the early part of this week, I was uninterrupted in watch the Birds on Monday and the Phils last night. The Struggle for Viewing Control beings anew tonight upon their return...

[Bob]

@ Dan, I am going to boo the Mets tonight myself.

Go Phils!

[Saul]

Dan,
Not to nitpick, but its Yemenis (singular Yemeni), not Yemenese. Jeez, seems like that particular link might be more trouble than it's worth, eh? :-)

[Loqiel]

So I text message my brother (who is a diehard Mets fan) "nervous yet?"

His response? "Plenty of time to blow the wild card too"

Life is good.

[Paul]

Is this brother a brother in law, or just your real brother? I only ask because if I had a brother who was a Mets fan, I'd have stabbed him in the face already because he would most likely be a rangers and giants fan too.

[Loqiel]

Nope, this is my real brother (who made an appearance in a Fan Report I did for the Fourth of July game). I grew up in Wilkes-Barre, which is more NY territory than PA territory. We ended up splitting teams: I like the Phils and Flyers and he likes the Mets, Rangers, Jets etc.

[MPR529]

i was married and I was never forced to watch general hospital.

Fuck that, I'd rather be divorced.

[j13]

I was watching gameday as well, but that's just because I'm in North Jersey...if the game had been on up here my gf (we live together) would've watched - she's an even bigger baseball fan than I am...we were actually flipping back and forth between the yanks and the mets while I had the laptop going. We went or are going to to 20+ MLB games this year across 4 ballparks, plus we went to around 4 or so minor league games. Also, she knows full well that if the birds are on, that is the only thing happening in my life. /brag

She knows that if/when I get married, any potential kids better not be born when the Eagles are playing, because if so the woman's taking a cab to the hospital.

In short, you're a puss and/or you just plain chose poorly. Better luck next time, I guess...

[benjamin]

I have every man's dream marriage. Every Philly and PSU sporting event is on the big screen HD tv. Even during sex, the phillies are on in the room. In extra inning games, the phillies are undefeated when we are getting it on. This is no lie or exaggeration.

[Scott B]

@benjamin. - (just puked)

live in nyc and anytime the phils, eagles flyers are on, we watch. every other day i am checking via the laptop or blackberry while watching crappy DVR shows.

[CMc62480]

Having just gotten married, I would seriously consider getting the multi-room DVR from FiOS if it's available. You'll never miss another pitch!

[johnny nas]

sorry but u r sounding like a big vagina, general hospital over important phillies game???

[bob barker]

should ryan howard be the MVP?

[Andy]

It was Gossip Girl, Weeds and House (the latter of which I tried to watch) for me, though in my case strangely the DVR was what forced me to miss the game, being in NYC and an MLB extra innings customer. Who ever thought we'd see the day when two DVR tuners was simply not enough freedom?