The Phillies & Their World Series Rubber Duckies of Looseness

How many other people can't get that Bert and Ernie song out of their head right now?

Clearly, the off-the-field story with the strangest twist thus far is Charlie Manuel's idea to get each of the Phillies a custom designed rubber duckie. The back story is simple:

"The game wasn't going too good, and I walked out to the mound," Manuel said. "We had a little talk on the mound, and after the game … we were back in the training room, and Chase Utley said something to me: 'Get that rubber duck out of your [butt].' And that meant he thought I was tight.

"I thought to myself, 'OK, that's good.' So when we clinched [the NL pennant] over the Dodgers, I figured coming into the World Series I wanted our players to be loose and I wanted them to play like we always have. And every time, before they go out on the field they look up in their lockers and they see a duck. It means for them to go out and play like they always have."

Whatever it takes to stay loose, I guess.

>>Rubber Ducks are Phillies pets [USA Today]
>>Toy rubber ducks soothe Phillies psyche [Chicago Tribune]
>>Phils draw inspiration from rubber duckies [Fightins]
>>Phils manager floats rubber duckies in preperation [Reuters]

And Meech grabbed a viedo of it:

Comments

[MPR529]

OH MY GOD I WANT ONE!!!!!!

I'm such a 14 year old girl, but I don't care.

OMG OMG OMG!!!

[MikeY]

I just bring to everyone's attention these 2 ESPN.com articles about the World Series.

The 1st one listed is the predictions and explanations of each ESPN baseball analyst. The 1st one on the list is Jim Caple. He picks the Rays the sweep simply because they're in the AL...no thought process or explanation other than the AL has dominated inter-league play and the All star game...which went 15 innings this year and was won by a walk-off sac-fly, not very dominant if you ask me...and the NL is simply inferior.

The 2nd article is a point-counterpoint article by Jayson Stark arguing for the Phillies and Jim Caple arguing for the Rays. He goes with the same reasoning here, Rays in 4 because "they're in the AL and the AL has been soooo dominant over the NL that they shouldn't even play the games because the Rays are so obviously going to win it". He makes reference to the "League of their own" movie, and says the Phillies are playing with "the big boys now", like the Phillies were playing in AAA for the past 6 months...I almost hate this guy as much as TJ Simers now.

ESPN's World Series predictions

Point/counterpoint: Who will win the World Series?

[MPR529]

i cant waste my time getting all pissy over this garbage anymore. the field is where the game is played and so shall it happen tonight.

this is the year.

finally.

[johndewar]

Sitting at the office is simply torture right now.

[doubleh]

MikeY: Jim Caple is an asshole. These guys all pick from obvious bias based on teams they cover. Ignore them. I mean, you can't even take Stark seriously, because he's a Philly guy.

DNL interviewed Olney or somebody yesterday down in Tampa and he said, "Look, I got all my earlier picks wrong, so don't lend too much credence to what I say." I think that says it all about predictions.

But that being said, Caple is an ahole. He didn't have to be so smug about the AL.

[Loqiel]

The Phils have already lost the World Series 4-0, didn't you know?

http://thewaywarddream.com/2008/10/20/rays-win-alcs-phillies-lose-world-series.aspx

[theKrisheim]

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/Mayor_Nutters_Phillies_tix_available_Who_wants_them.html

[will]

jim caple headbutts infants. phils rip it all series long.

[Mike L.]

The whole AL is better so the Rays will sweep argument is the dumbest thing i've ever heard. all it shows is that the good AL teams beat up on the shitty NL teams and vice versa, with occasionally the AL winning against strong NL competition. Plus did the Phillies play the Rays this year? NO! so how can you use those figures to make a point if there is no head to head matchup between the two.

Yes the phillies sucked against the AL this year. But the rays are not the entire AL they are one team and we didnt play them this year so there is no proof that they are better than us. Caple is a dumbass.

[Andy]

Rubber duckies? Am I the only one who feels a bit like Paul Dano and Steve Carell at that moment towards the end of Little Miss Sunshine where they realize that the goddamn plane is about to crash into the mountain?

[MP]

I like what Charlie said about this. Yeah it's silly. But it's just fun thing to add to this tremendous year. We'll all look back 28 years from now and remember this along with all the other great moments.

I WANT A PHILLIE PHANATIC DUCKIE!

[Mike H.]

Even the statheads at Baseball Prospectus are really anti-Philadelphia. Why? The American League is soooooooo much better, especially the AL east. They give some props to Hamels, but they think the Phils will win no other game started by the others.

Which begs the question - How many wins is it going to take for the rest of the media to get it? Do the Phils have to win Game 1 and 2? Will it take a celebration on the mound?

I'm watching Game 6 from 1980 just to calm my nerves. Fuck, man. Carlton was awesome. 36 years old, dealing that heat and the slider.

[Mark D]

A few thoughts...
In 2006, the AL was soooooo much better, and the NL was "AAAA" baseball according to Bill Simmons. But the Cards thoroughly dominated the Tigers in the World Series, needing only 5 games to beat them. I guess one can make the argument that the NL was inferior because St. Louis couldn't pull off a sweep. sheesh. We've heard these arguments before. But, as cliché as it sounds, "There's a reason why they play the games."
2nd thought: Will they make pool floaties like the Phanatic? I think it would be awesome to have a Phantaic chlorine dispensing floatie in my pool! I already have a "rubber ducky" pool thermometer.

[MPR529]

fuck the media, im refreshing woot.com all day for the WOOT-OFF!

WOOT!

[Stock]

You are right Johndewar, sitting here at my desk is painful. Forget what all the so called experts say. I can't wait any longer for tonights game. Any OFFICIAL word on who the DH will be for tonight's game?

[Blues]

Word from Tim Kurkjian is that Chris Coste will get the start at DH tonight, and if it so happens that they need to use him at catcher, they will just lose the DH spot for the game.

It'd be nice to have a right-handed power bat off the bench, but oh well. I personally wouldn't mind using Bruntlett. I've grown to like him and his beard this year after a shaky start.

[Sean R.]

Here's what pisses me off most about the AL vs. NL argument. If we had played our interleague games over the course of an entire season, I would maybe buy the "Phillies are weak against AL teams argument". But interleague games are all played in a one month time frame in June, at a point that we were slumping anyway. We weren't playing great against anybody at that point, because we were just having a cold streak. Therefore, you can't really say with certainty that we would play awful against an AL team now, because we're not playing like we were in June now.

[Joe]

I'd much rather have a rubber duck inspired Phillies shirt than "Why Can't Us"

[Scott B]

somebody should sneak into the Trop and throw a box full of phils rubber duckies into the stingray tank and photograph it. that would be awesome.

[Jon]

Blues, if they were to use Bruntlett then Cholly had damn well better put him in right and give Burrell the DH.