The 10 Most Memorable Philadelphia Sports Seasons of the Last Decade

The start of the Phillies’ 2010 season marked the official beginning of a new decade of pro sports in Philadelphia. And just 17 hours before Opening Day, the Eagles perhaps officially brought the previous decade to a close by trading Donovan McNabb to Washington.

So, with this new Philly sports decade in its infant stages, let’s take a look back at the 10 most memorable Philadelphia pro sports seasons of the last decade. “Memorable,” is a subjective word. So these rankings reflect the author’s opinion…not fact.

Hope you all enjoy this trip down memory lane…

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Dominic Brown: The Philadelphia Phillies’ Next Superstar?

Anyone who’s followed baseball this spring knows the national sports media has been abuzz with talk about a “once in a lifetime” talent…

Who is he? Well, he’s a lefty-hitting, potential five-tool right fielder who happens to play for a club in the National League East.

Give up?

OK, of course we’re talking about the Atlanta Braves’ Jason Heyward. He’s a phenomenal talent, and at age 20, appears to truly be in a class all by himself. But largely unreported outside the Delaware Valley is the fact that the Phillies have a promising 22-year-old Double-A prospect who doesn’t seem too far behind.

His name? Dominic Brown. He hasn’t been given an oh so clever nickname yet, like, “The J Hey Kid.” But he gives Phillie fans a reason to check out the Reading Phils online box score each morning.

Brown is a lanky 6’5’’, 200-pound kid from Georgia, who the Phillies expect to be roaming right field at Citizens Bank Park in the years to come.

The Phillies selected Brown in the 20th round of the 2006 MLB Draft. Ironically, pitcher Kyle Drabek was selected 18th overall by the Phils that same year. In 2009, Brown and Drabek were undisputedly considered the Phillies top-two minor-league prospects. But in the end, the Phillies chose to keep Brown, while shipping Drabek to Toronto in the Roy Halladay deal this past December.

Brown had an extremely impressive 2010 Spring Training with the big club before being sent down. He was 10-for-24 (.417 AVG), with 2 homers and 8 RBI, while recording three outfield assists.

Both Brown’s dingers came the day before his demotion on March 17. His first crank came against Detroit Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander, while his second came versus major-league lefty reliever Phil Coke.

This spring, Baseball America reported that Brown had “shown good speed for a big man and demonstrated a work-ethic that has impressed his veteran teammates.”

The Philadelphia media also seemed to make note of his poise, so it sounds like Brown already has more maturity than Jose Reyes can hope to have at age 75.

“All these guys brought me under their wing,” Brown told Philly.com last month, when asked about his communication with some of the Phillies’ veterans and coaching staff. “It’s a major confidence booster for myself and is really teaching me the hard-work part of it also.”

Ryan Howard was one Phillie who felt Brown was making the most of his opportunity in his very first big-league Grapefruit League camp.

“He’s gone about it the right way,” first baseman Ryan Howard said. “He’s come up and he’s learning, and that’s the biggest thing.”

In 2009, Brown hit .303 in 66 games with Single-A Clearwater before being promoted to Double-A Reading, where he batted .279 in 37 contests. He totaled 7 triples, 14 homers, and 23 steals between the two leagues.

Brown has begun 2010 at Double-A Reading. Batting in the No. 3 spot in the order,  Brown is 5-for-19 with 3 RBI and 6 strikeouts since the season began last Thursday.  

Dominic Brown isn’t ready for the big leagues yet, but his time is coming. And soon.

The Phillies personnel knows that, and is optimistic that Brown can slide into the Phillies’ big-league starting outfield when a vacancy arises…whether that’s at the start of 2011 should Jayson Werth search for work elsewhere, or after 2012 when Raul Ibanez’s contract expires.

He’s two years older than the Braves Jason Heyward. But Brown’s certainly not at the Heyward’s level…yet.

The national media’s prospect promotional machine certainly knows Heyward is a special talent. As you know, the Braves’ 20-year-old star is drawing daily comparisons to a fistful of the greatest players in the history of baseball.

Griffey Jr.…Aaron…Mays…you know the drill.

Actually, based on his physique, Heyward looks more like Dallas Cowboys star linebacker Demarcus Ware than any of those all-time greats.

Heyward might hit a couple of home runs onto I-76 when Atlanta visits Citizens Bank Park next month. And he’ll probably club a few more to the top of the Comcast Center when the Braves return to Philly in July.  

But the Phillies know their own lefty-hitting potential five-tool right fielder has a chance to be a pretty damn good major leaguer as well.

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The Philadelphia Phillies’ Five Biggest Small Keys to the 2010 Season

Those of you who regularly visit the Phillies’ BR page know that featured columnist Gary has appropriately analyzed the Phillies’ five “keys” to the 2010 season during the last few weeks.

Just as a refresher, here are Gary’s five keys:

1. How will the fifth starting pitcher fare?
2. Can Cole Hamels go back to the future?
3. Which Raul Ibanez will show up this season?
4. Will the bullpen sink or swim?
5. Which Brad Lidge shows up?

Tough to argue with any of them. But I’ve decided to take the Phillies key concept just a small step further.

The following five slides will highlight five other keys—the five biggest small keys—to the 2010 season.

Hope you enjoy looking over five more keys to the Phillies getting back to the World Series in 2010.

The Eagles might have tried to steal the headlines and excitement from the Phillies’ Opening Day by making the Donovan McNabb deal at around 8 p.m. on Easter night. But it doesn’t matter. Time to play ball!

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2010 MLB Predictions: Why the Phillies Will Dominate April-May in 2010

It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.

The Phillies have certainly proven that cliché true in recent seasons.

But is this the year the Fightins finally look like a championship-caliber club from April through the end of Autumn? The answer is yes, because the Phillies are just that complete of a team in 2010.

Once again, the offense is the least of the Phils’ concerns. This team will hit.

Placido Polanco’s replacement of Pedro Feliz at third base should slightly weaken the Phillies’ perennial air-tight defense, but marginally strengthen their consistently talent-packed lineup. Unlike previous seasons, the Phils’ pitching staff should be reliable, too. 

From top to bottom, the Phillies’ starting rotation is one of the finest they’ve ever had. Of course, it doesn’t hurt having a guy named Roy Halladay as the ace.

On June 9 last year, the Toronto Blue Jays were just 1 1/2 games out of first in the AL East, largely because of Halladay.

He was 10-1 with a 2.52 ERA in his first 13 starts. He pitched at least seven innings in every one of those 13 starts. Every…single…one. Halladay might not pitch as many innings this season as he did during his hay-day with Toronto, but we sure can expect him to dominate the offensively-challenged National League.

Halladay should also benefit from the run production provided by the undisputed best lineup in the senior circuit…not like he’ll actually need five or six runs to win most games.

How about the man following Halladay in the rotation? Well, Cole Hamels has struggled in his two most recent Grapefruit League starts.

But there’s a good chance he’ll start the season well, since it’s very likely his first two starts of 2010 will come against the Washington Nationals.  Hamels might have struggled against the Rockies and Yankees under the pressure of the postseason, but he’s always been able to rise to the occasion against the Nats.

He’s 7-3 with a 2.30 ERA in 15 lifetime starts against Washington. Last year, the media speculated that Cole’s lack of confidence was a cause for his struggles. If that actually were true, then two quick starts against Washington might be just the trick Hamels needs to begin repairing his bruised psyche.

So, six of the Phils’ first nine games in 2010 will come against a Nationals team they defeated in 15 of their 18 meetings last season.

Actually, the Phillies’ entire April schedule shakes out pretty well. Their season-opening six-game road trip from Washington to Houston isn’t too intimidating and neither is the Washington-Florida homestand that follows.

Late April’s 10-game trip from Atlanta to Phoenix to San Francisco isn’t all that tough either, at least not for a Phillies club that tied last year for the ML-lead with 48 road wins in ’09.

May’s calendar greets the Phils with a 10-game homestand against the Mets, Cardinals, and Braves: a golden opportunity for the Phillies to get an early leg up on some potentially stiff NL competition.

Of course, Philly’s bullpen has question marks. Somehow, the Phils won 93 games last year despite losing 10 games they led entering the ninth inning (a ML high). Both J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge are recovering from offseason surgery and neither is likely to be healthy by Opening Day.

Without Romero, the Phils don’t have a dependable bullpen lefty. And who will be the closer if Lidge struggles like he did last year? Ryan Madson (again)? Or newly-acquired Danys Baez? The end of the pen is still a concern.

But in conclusion, there’s no reason why these Phillies shouldn’t be the best team in the NL East by mid-May.

The Phils are now the oldest team in the majors, with an average age of 29.  But these Phils have tons of invaluable playoff experience to go along with talent that’s unparalleled in the NL. So the Phillies’ collective age is a clear strength—not a detriment.

All these reasons make early-season optimism justifiable—but that’s nothing new during this Golden Age of Phillies baseball.

 

Phillies’ Month-By-Month Record Since 2005 (Regular Season)

March/April                     57- 64              .471

May                               81- 60             .567

June                              62- 72             .463

July                               78- 51             .605

August                           82- 58             .586

September/October          87- 58             .600

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Gut Check: Why Charlie Manuel Is An Even Bigger Winner By Losing

Lets begin Spring Training 2010 with a light news story.

A story made even lighter by Phillies‘ skipper Charlie Manuel.

Ok, so my jokes are about as cold as Ryan Howard’s bat is this time of year. But let’s turn our attention back to Mr. Manuel.

Anyway, as everyone knows, “Big Chuck” hasn’t done too much losing in his five seasons as manager. His 447 regular season wins are third most in franchise history. His 20 career playoff victories are over twice as many as any other Phillies’ manager (Dallas Green had nine in 1980-81).

But don’t be fooled. Charlie Manuel has done a lot of losing since autumn ’08. It’s just that, most all of it’s taken place outside the ballpark.

Manuel has lost 56 pounds since leading the Phillies to just their second world championship in the franchise’s 126-year history. From 286 pounds down to 230 in just 14 months.

56 pounds, in perspective, is the average weight of an eight-year-old boy in the U.S.

So don’t be surprised if he looks a lot leaner as he lumbers out of the dugout to make pitching changes during the 2010 season.

Manuel is a Type-2 diabetic who over the years has survived a heart attack, quadruple bypass surgery, and cancer. But how did he lose so much weight so fast?

The one-word answer: Nutrisystem.

Most of us laugh a little when he see those Nutrisystem TV commercials with the likes of Dan Marino and Don Shula talking about how much weight they’ve lost while being on its diet. But Charlie Manuel took the Pennsylvania-based company’s message to heart.

“Some of them are actually pretty good,” Charlie told NBC Sports in mid-January when speaking about the quality of Nutrisystem meals.

Manuel stayed true to the Nutrisystem meal plan even while on the road last season. He has said he would heat up his food in a microwave and bring it to the Phillies’ pre or post-game meal. It was that simple. Thus, the man who once said he could never stop eating is now consuming less than 1,500 calories per day.

Clearly, Charlie Manuel is “winning” by “losing” in the type of battle that transcends the very sport that crowned him a world champion just two short falls ago.

Obesity and heart disease are still persistent epidemics in this country. And Charlie Manuel’s personal victory over his own once-ravenous appetite should serve as inspiration for the hundreds of thousands of Americans who face dietary health battles of their own.

It took Charlie Manuel four years, over 350 regular season victories, and one unforgettable World Series win to gain managerial respect in the “City of Brotherly Love.”

But hopefully, its only taken him one heavy-duty diet to gain the respect he deserves as a man.

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