The Phillies Bizarro World

The Phillies 4-game sweep of the Mets has virtually been erased with 3 straight losses to the Marlins and Braves. All of last week's hype is once again old news to the Philadelphia fairweather fan.

On the present Phillies front there is nothing new to report, which brings me to the Phillies past.
Let's take a step back in-time to 1993, (Darren Daulton can actually do this through astral travel, but we'll get to the bottom of this shortly).

The 1993 Phillies were a motley crew to say the least. That team definitely had its share of characters. Dave Hollins with his dual personalities. John Kruk and his legendary sense of humor. Danny Jackson, Mitch Williams, Curt Schilling, Pete Incaviglia, Jim Eisenreich and of course Lenny Dykstra and his Holding down the fort of all these characters was Darren Daulton. To many of us, Dutch was the sane leader of all of these lunatics.

Now the tides have changed. Dutch is now the lunatic. And in another ironic twist, Lenny Dykstra, who was arguably the King of the Idiots is now giving stock advice next to Jim Kramer on TheStreet.com. And I do say this with all due respect to The Dudes' superb effort on the field. He was, is, and always will be my favorite Phillie.

Dykstra giving stock advice and Darren Daulton being off his rocker seems like a paradox.

Dykstra believes the Microsoft (MSFT) is a good bye.
Daulton believes he can talk to lizards.

To be fair, I'll allow Daulton to explain himself.

"I started experiencing these different realms, these different planes of
existence ... I know exactly what I'm capable of doing. ... People talk about
speaking with lizards and stuff. You can communicate with anyone, with nature,
that's all that happened there. To me, that's not a big deal now. I like to
astal travel, teleport, travel through time ... December 24, 2012, by the way,
that's the number. As seven billion people, the world will rise to another level
of consciousness. I don't have all the answers."

Daulton has gotten away with a lot. He was a marginal player for nearly 10 years, and somehow managed to stick around long enough, to earn himself a whopper of a contract. He did have several years where he was the best catcher in the national league, but as players go, he is grossly overrated.

And now that Dykstra is giving stock advice to high-income investors, perhaps his cognitive capacity was grossly under-rated.

If nothing else, The Dude and Dutch are full of surprises.

If they're really smart, Daulton and Dykstra team up and astral travel back in time to purchase pre-IPO stocks and make millions.

For more about Daulton's view on other dimension, go to DarrenDaulton.com and buy his book "If they Only Knew".

For more on Dykstra's investment advice, go to TheStreet.com.

Phillies Diary: Ben Rivera 1993

Before they imploded the Vet, the Phillies staff were giving away a big box of things left by the players who were too busy or ashamed to come and clean out their lockers.... I was fortunate enough to get my hands on some diaries... and lucky for you, I will share them with you from time to time...

October 13, 1993

Dear Diary it's me Big Ben,

We just beat the Braves to go to the World Series!!!

I can't believe what's happening here. Our team has capitalized on our amazing April record and held on to make it to the playoffs. That's great news. It's the first time the Phillies have made the playoffs in 10 years. That's a long time.

And winning the NLCS was no picnic... but we showed the Braves who was boss. I think there run of making the playoffs 3 years in a row now is over.... no way they can reload again.... Pendleton, McGriff, Blauser, Lemke... they're all over the hill... and those pitchers they have, Glavine, Smoltz and Maddux...they're overrated... i was on their team at the beginning of last year....they'll be out of baseball in a few years.

Let's face it... it's the Phillies time to reign!!!

What's better is that even if we don't win this year... I have confidence we can be there again shortly... we have a pretty good hitting SS in Kevin Stocker... his move from AA Reading has been seamless. Mickey Morandini seems to have entrenched himself as an All-Star second baseman. That could be a good Double play combination for the next few years.

And don't even get me started with Kim Batiste... talk about a clutch hitter. Did you see that hit in Game 1 to beat the Braves? Amazing... we're grooming him to be the best pinch hitter in the game.

Our outfield has Wes Chaimberlain... who is still kind of young at 27 years old, man he has a gun and he has glimpses of power and when Eisenreich decides to retire, he'll fill his shoes nicely. Tony Longmire is primed to be a super-star and I think Pete Incaviglia appears to be back to his old form... we can expect 35 homers from him next year, no problem.

And Lenny Dykstra.. what can I say about Lenny Dykstra. The man is a machine. He takes such good care of his body. Have you see that animal in the weight room? Actually, I've never seen him in the weight room... he must have a gym at home... anyway... he takes such good care of himself, He'll play until he's 40. He led the league in walks, hits and runs....And that's nice to have at the top of the order.

Ricky Jordan will have a long career as a pinch hitter, and he's good insurance behind John Kruk, and he too will be weened to take over the starting job soon.

And though our pitching staff is kind of old with Mulholland and Jackson.... me and Schilling and Tommy Greene should hold down the fort for a few years. I won 13 games this year. There's a lot to be said about that... never mind my 5.02 ERA, this team will always put up runs to support me.

I here we have a pretty good 3rd base prospect playing down in Rookie Ball with Martinsville. The organization is really high on him, has a glove like Schmidt.... his name is Scott something... he probably won't pan out... but we won't need him. Dave Hollins will do just fine. His 24 homers this year, are just the beginning of what this guy can do... his intensity alone is responsible for 4 homeruns a year.

We're going to win the series this year and be in contention for the next few years, at least to win another. And I'm confident our farm team will continue to produce superstars like Ruben Amaro Jr. and Kevin Stocker...

Mitch Williams is looking better than ever he had 2 saves and 2 wins in the NLCS...Can't wait to beat the Blue Jays!

signed,

Big Ben Rivera

The Complete Lenny Dykstra Summary Pack

So I'm checking my email and at the top of the Google where the sponsored links are... and I come across a curious ad that reads "Lenny Dykstra Biography and Summary Pack".

It is there asking me to click on it so that I can gain more knowledge about Dykstra as if he can be compared with Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill or Ghandi. A Lenny Dykstra summary pack, complete with a 9 page biography and an encyclopedia article. What is this stuff?

Check out some of the features on the left. Are these things for real? An interview with the girl he groped? Discarded tobacco in the shape of the The Boss? You can't make this stuff up.

Don't get me wrong, Nails is my favorite Phillies of all time, but to have an entire collection of literature focused on his boring-middle-class-existence just doesn't seem right. I remember hearing that Dykstra didn't go to his prom and went to baseball practice instead.

I'm thinking he didn't go to his prom because all the girls were freaked out by his Pete Rose intensity mixed with his Hugh Hefner creepiness, those two don't mix when it comes to charming the ladies.

The Dude, will always be in the hearts and minds of the Philadelphia Phillies Phaithful as the Fall Phil, the man who stepped it up in the playoffs and proved to the world that he was not going to allow this team to go down lightly.

We love you Nails!

PS: Here's a Lenny Dykstra Brawl...

Here are my thoughts on "The Dude" and The Tao Of Dykstra... and finally, for posterity a List of My Favorite Phillies, which ofcourse, includes Dykstra.

Brawls: Lenny Dykstra v. Rick Dempsey

I've found several Phillies from recent years and I'll be posting them in due time. They'll be labeled under Brawls.

I just had to post this... I found the pic with the intentions of simply leaving it as is... but in trying to find out who Dykstra is man handling, I also found the story that goes with it...



Information below courtesy of Dodger Blues where they have a list of the Greatest Dodger's brawls of all time. What a great idea.

Here's the scoop...

August 20, 1990
With runners at first and third, home plate umpire Ron Barnes called Philadelphia outfielder Lenny Dykstra out on strikes in the fifth inning. As Dykstra, who was leading the league in hitting at the time, approached the plate with two outs in the seventh, he started complaining to Barnes. He then turned to Dodgers catcher Rick Dempsey, accusing him of brown-nosing the umpire. As Dempsey stood up and took off his mask, Dykstra dropped his bat and stepped forward. The 40-year-old Dempsey immediately popped him in the face with his glove and followed with a quick right. The two tangled and fell to the ground and the benches cleared.
Seconds later, Dempsey was on the bottom of a huge pile. "Somebody grabbed my face when we rolled on the ground," said Dempsey, who ended up with a large welt on the side of his face. "After I saw the replay, I saw it was Dykstra. He grabbed me by the side of the face and squeezed every pimple I had."

"What's he mad about?" Dempsey continued. "He made an out. I make four of them a game. If I was hitting .340 I'd be kissing every player on the opposing team."

PS - Dykstra has also been known to grab girls at his carwash. But we know this isn't true, nor is the rumor that he bet on baseball, or the fact that he crashed a car after Kruk's bachelor party ending Daulton's season, or that he took steroids.

Would the guy pictured above do all that?

The Tao of Dykstra

Before Aaron Rowand, the Phillies had Lenny Dykstra. Before Dykstra we had Pete Rose. These are my type of ball players. These are the guys who will do anything to win.

When ever someone asks me the question: "If you could clone any 3 Major League baseball players of all time, 3 times, to field a team of 9. Who would it be?" (I usually ask the question, but anyway...)

It is inevitable that I preface my response with: "I know my guys are going to beat your guys because my guys play to win."

And then I proceed to say..."Lenny Dykstra"... I pause to make it more dramatic..."Pete Rose.." Another pause... "and Ty Cobb."

Having said that, I sometimes get funny looks like I've just named Tinkers, Evers and Chance. And sometimes, here in Atlanta, I'll get "Who's Lenny Dykstra?", which makes me want to turn South Philly on them and punch them in the face as if they've made a move on my sister... but, I regress and simply explain to them the 'Tao of the Dude'.

After my explanation of Petey bowling over Ray Fosse in an All-Star game, followed by a story about how Ty Cobb would meticulously watch every pitcher and adjust his approach to each hurler, to the timely hitting of Dykstra in the '93 post-season spotlight.

But I know my team would beat anybody's team of Ruth, Mays and A-Rod, or Aaron, Bonds and Henderson, simply because I know my guys want it more.

Which brings me to the real reason of my post. My new Lenny Dykstra t-shirt. Now there are some Phillies phans who might balk at this purchase. Still others may applaud me. But I'm happy to say that I'm now the proud owner of a Lenny Dykstra, Mets #4 t-shirt. I'm not ashamed to wear a Mets jersey because it is a tribute to my phavorite Phil of all time... 'The Dude'.

In college I was a Paul O'Neill fan and had a similar Paul O'Neill #21 t-shirt. Despite the fact that I was a die hard Phils fan, I was proud prove that was an O'Neill backer and would root for the Yanks, only to see O'Neill play deeper in the post-season.

I wore my t-shirt for the first time Saturday morning. After my wife and I sat down at a Jewish Deli/Bagel shop and ordered our selves a hearty brunch, a gentleman seated next to us comments on my shirt. He liked it and asked me where I got it. I tell him and then turn to my wife and smile. I was proud of my Dykstra t-shirt. True baseball fans appreciate his play. Dykstra brings joy to me and the gentleman next to us. Dykstra makes the world go 'round. The Tao of Dykstra.

PS - I blogged about the chronology of my phavorite Phils through the years a little while back, which of course includes Dykstra.

PSS - Kevin Curtis signed with the Eagles and plays football like Dykstra plays baseball. Check out the video of Kevin Curtis on my Eagles blog, then check out the comparison to Pinkston. It's funny.

Chronology of my Phavorite Phillies

Growing up as a kid in suburban Philadelphia I longed for Sunday afternoons when I could watch my favorite professional sports team on TV.

In those days, the Phillies were pretty bad. It was the lean years of the mid-1980s. Phillies stars included Mike Schmidt, Juan Samuel, Von Hayes, Don Carmen, Shane Rawley, Steve Bedrosian, Lance Parrish, Greg Gross, Luis Aquayo and of course Lefty Carlton. I don't remember actually having a favorite Philly at that time, but I'm sure I liked Mike Schmidt because I knew he was pretty good.

As I grew older and a little more savvy about the game, I suddenly realized that our Phillies teams weren't that good. More names during this era in my life that come to mind are Ron Jones, Rick Schu, Ricky Jordan, Tommy Herr, Pat Combs, the infamous Joe Cowley, Kevin Gross, Steve Jeltz, Chris James and so on... It was about this time, in middle school when I started to realize that the Phillies were destined to be bad every year. I didn't know the business of baseball and just took the heartbreak lightly every year, because it was always assumed that the Phillies would not compete. And as a fan, it was pretty tough.

Then 1993 came. There is nothing better to a 10th grade kid then to see his beloved hometown boys of summer finally put together a squad. It goes without saying that the makeup of that club, combined with the passion of a 15/16 year old mind, makes for my favorite Phillies team and favorite Phillies player of all time. No matter what, there will never be another team that will bring me more joy than the motley crew of the '93 Season.

The season was unexpected, and greatly appreciated. It ended with heartbreak, but hey, we're Philadelphia, and we're going on 24 years of heartbreak. From this team was born my favorite Philly of all time.... Lenny Dykstra.

A true Philly type of player, his clutch hits, and all-out play will never be topped by anyone in my book. So my first official favorite player was "The Dude".

Of course, the success of the '93 team didn't carry over to the strike year or any year after that. Our boys of '93 got old, and started to fall by the wayside. But there was some hope on the horizon. We still had Curt Schilling, who I didn't learn to truly appreciate until college, circa 1996, and Scott Rolen. These two who legitimate stars on teams Philled with Phil-ins like Ron Gant and Gregg Jefferies. Scott Rolen emerged as the stand out, hustler who plays the game like it should be played. And to this day he still does. So during Rolen's tenure, he was my favorite player.

I recall the resigning of Mickey Morandini for one year after his stint with the Expos being an excellent move. He filled in at 2nd base for the year 2000 because Marlon Anderson wasn't the answer. I appreciated that, and loved the Mick for a year too.

By this time I was out of college, working in West Chester and living in Warminster. I had the Sunday season ticket package and enjoyed my Sunday outings. First with my friend Vince for a few years at the vet, and then with my sister Kristy at Citizen's bank park. I eventually passed on the tickets, for other obligations. My sister still has them. During these years, Terry Francona was at the helm and we'd often have to put up with Terry's resting of Rolen on Sundays. No matter, another of our favorites Tomas Perez would fill in... but he wasn't a true favorite, but we loved watching him in the dugout and on the field because you knew he loved playing baseball. Also, I did get to witness Kevin Millwood's no hitter, and though he was never on my radar of likable Phillies, I did enjoy that moment. It was electric.

I'm a true student of the game, I've played baseball at the college level and currently coach at the high school level, so I thoroughly enjoy guys who play the game with great fundamentals. This era of being at the game every Sunday led me to truly appreciate that play of Placido Polanco. While on standing on second base as a runner, Placido was the only player I saw who would check to see where the outfielders were, to get a better jump on the ball when trying to score on a single. He played solid defense. He would always hustle to first, and make a hard turn, and he would rarely strike out. He does not have a weakness. For many years Placido was my favorite Phillie and for a while was the only reason to watch the game. Jimmy was fun to watch too, but Placido is more my type of player. As we know Placido was

And then came Utley. Win or lose, you know that Chase Utley is going to give it his all. We always knew he could hit, but his work ethic has truly turned him into a very well rounded player. He'll be my favorite for years to come. Should Aaron Rowand stick around and keep playing the way he does, he could definitely be in the 1(A) slot.

Below is a list of my favorites in chronological order.

• Mike Schmidt
• Lenny Dykstra
• Scott Rolen (Curt Schilling, Honorable Mention)
• Placido Polanco
• Chase Utley