Baseball: Philadelphia Phillies

I'm excited about the 2004 season for the Phillies. They are opening their new stadium, Citizens One Ballpark, and made some huge offseason moves and have high expectations for the upcoming season.

They acquired closer Billy Wagner from the Astros to replace Jose Mesa. They really strengthened their middle relief as well with veteran Tim Worrell from the Giants and Roberto Hernandez from the Braves.

They have a solid 5 man starting rotation with Kevin Millwood, Randy Wolf, Brett Myers, Vincente Padilla, and newly acquired Eric Milton from the Twins.

They're batting order looks like this:

CF Marlon Byrd
SS Jimmy Rollins
1B Jim Thome
LF Pat Burrell
RF Bobby Abreu
C Mike Lieberthal
3B David Bell
2B Placido Polanco

Reserves:

OF Doug Glanville
OF Ricky Ledee
2B CHase Utley
OF Jason Michaels
1B Shawn Wooten
INF Tomas Perez
C Todd Pratt


Manager Larry Bowa should have the Phillies back in the playoffs for the first time since 1993. I sure hope so, would be a great way to open the new ballpark.

I live about 10 minutes from where all the stadiums are in Philly, I took some pics of the new Phillies ballpark, under construction and set to open for the 2004 season in April.

you think that they really could make the playoffs?

Nice pics PA!

I think they have a good chance if they can get Jim Thome and Bobby Abreu swinging that bat early in the season.

Originally posted by TRD
Nice pics PA!

I think they have a good chance if they can get Jim Thome and Bobby Abreu swinging that bat early in the season.

I DEFINITELY think they can make the playoffs, they need the 2 guys TRD mentioned to be consistent, but also Pat Burrell who had an awful year last year. Their pitching staff was upgraded to one of the best in the major leagues.

Like the pics TRD? Hey, you might catch a game or two in that new stadium!

Pics look good PA,yep looks like i'm definatly catching one game at least.

I thought Abreu was disappointing last season,people thought he was going to have a real good season but i think he had his swing all wrong.He seem to have sorted it out in the latter part of the season.

I think they have a solid team and could really do well,it's not about getting all the best players and stuff,experience like Thome has is a real asset to the side.

I think the Phillies have good reason to be optimistic about this baseball season. They already had a good team and they just made it that much better with alot of smart off-season transactions.

Well, I'm getting up at 6am tomorrow to go see them implode Veterans Stadium.

I'll be sad to see it go, I've seen so many Phillies games, Eagles games, and concerts in that place. I was there for Kevin Millwood's no-hitter last year. I was there when Pink Floyd played for almost 100,000 on a 90 degree night in July. I saw my first baseball game there in 1973. I am looking forward to the new park but I guess its a sentimental thing. It will be much better for the players, the Vet turf was infamous for its victims of sprained knees and ankles. The Phillies will be finally playing on real grass.

Here is a pic of the Vet.




Here is a pic of the Vet taken from across the street at the Spectrum, former home of the Flyers and 76ers. The statue you see in the foreground is Rocky Balboa.





Here is a pic from yesterday, nothin left but the structure.



On a brighter note, here is a sketch of the new park set to open next month. As you can see it's much more open and the outfield has the downtown skyscrapers beyond centerfield, should be really nice.




I plan on taking some pictures of the Vet implosion, so I'll post them tomorrow.

Hey PA it would be good to see the pics...

Oh i can see where i will be sitting in May!!!! Just over to the right behind the white wall..

Farewell to Veterans Memorial Stadium (1971-2004)


Check out the Phillie Phanatic watching his old home come down:

Great pics PA!

Well the new home looks great,a brand new stadium.

The fightin' Phils, standing at 1st in the NL east, have been dealing with injuries to their stars -link

With the Phillies 6-4 victory over the Padres this afternoon and Florida's 4-3 loss to the D-Backs, the Phillies hold a 1/2 game lead in the NL East.

From deans-list.net:

Imagine being a Philly fan in 1980. That year, Philadelphia teams made the finals in every major sport. The Flyers lost to the Islanders in the Stanley Cup Finals, the Eagles fell to the Raiders in Super Bowl XV (technically in 1981) and the Sixers were bested by the Lakers in the NBA Finals. Not to be denied, Mike Schmidt and the Fightin' Phils crowned a banner year by topping the Royals in World Series...

Three years later, the Sixers avenged their loss by sweeping LA in the Finals. But as Philly fans celebrated in the spring of 1983, little did they know it would be their last championship toast for at least two decades. Since then, the Phillies have lost twice in the World Series (1983 to Baltimore, 1993 to Toronto), the Flyers have failed twice in the Stanley Cup Finals (1987 to Edmonton, 1997 to Detroit), and the Sixers once again came up empty against the Lakers in the 2001 NBA Finals...

More recently, the Flyers' game seven loss to Tampa Bay in this year's Eastern Conference Finals was just another heartbreak in the City of Brotherly Love. And believe me - the Eagles' run of three consecutive losses in the NFC title game isn't helping.

But it's early in 2004, and the Phillie Phanatic just turned 26. So go Eagles. Go Phillies. Simply put, go Philly...

[Edited on 04/10/03 by deanchristopher]

AAAARRGGGHHH!!! I just found out I'm older than the Phillie fanatic!!

The Phils lost their fourth straight tonight to the Braves 8-4. Lucky for them, the Marlins also lost their fourth straight so they didn't lose any ground. The Mets and Braves are in the rear-view mirror so the offense better wake the heck up and get some run support for the pitching staff.

Thome hit his 13th homer tonight but twice the Phillies hit into double plays with two on base and no outs and that was the 7th and 8th innings, thats awful.

Let's Go Phils!!!

They are in a downhill portion of the rollercoaster ride that is the baseball season, they'll get it back together soon. I hope.

The Phils get off the schnide, beating Atlanta 9-1 off Miltons' pitching

link

Phils win again today, putting them at a game and 1/2 behind the marlins. Timeto turn it on guys!

BELEIVE

The Philadelphia Phillies activated Placido Polanco from the 15-day disabled list after their 6-4 loss Sunday to the Atlanta Braves.

Right-handed pitcher Josh Hancock was sent to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to make room for Polanco, who missed 28 games with a strained left quadriceps.

Polanco hit .294 over his first five seasons, but he's batting .223 with one RBIs in 112 at-bats this year.