Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

The most recent perfect game, the most recent unassisted triple play, and the two most recent 35+ game hitting streaks in all of Major League Baseball were all accomplished by Phillies, Roy Halladay, Eric Bruntlett, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins respectively. Crazy. How blessed are Phillies fans?

Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

Since joining the Phillies on August 19, 2006, 47 year old Jamie Moyer ranks fifth in all of Major League Baseball in wins with 52. CC Sabathia (63), Roy Halladay (60), Justin Verlander (55), and Josh Beckett (53) are the only pitchers with more wins in this time.

Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

Through 14 home games, the Phillies lead all of Major League Baseball in average attendance at 45,034 per game. The Yankees rank second at 44,268. With a listed capacity of 43,647, Phillies games have been attended at 103.1% capacity this season. It doesn't seem their 56 game sellout streak is ending any time soon.

Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

There have been four complete game shutouts pitched in the National League in 2010. Roy Halladay is responsible for two of them.

Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

It's May 1st and the Washington Nationals currently have more wins (13) on the season than the Phillies (12). Yes, this season has taken a decided turn for the worse after a great start. Good news is that there are five more months to play. Don't panic yet.

A Year of Hitchcock Podcast - It's Back!

After a few month hiatus due mainly to some severe technical complications, the Year of Hitchcock Podcast is back, this week with an episode on Hitchcock's mostly lackluster 1947 film The Paradine Case, starring Gregory Peck. Download this week's episode at the following link:

http://ayearofhitchcock.com/podcasts/AYoHitchcockEp35ParadineCase.mp3

Subscribe to automatic updates of the Year of Hitchcock Podcast at:

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/AYearofHitchcock

Download previous episodes at:

http://ayearofhitchcock.com/podcast

And finally, find us on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Year-of-Hitchcock-52-Weeks-with-the-Master-of-Suspense/51467861850

Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

With four wins in the first 14 games of the season, Roy Halladay projects to win 46 games this year. I think we'd all be happy if he wins half as many.

Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

Phillies cleanup hitter Ryan Howard leads the National League in at-bats. I can't imagine a cleanup hitter has ever accomplished this "feat" over a full season.

Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

Phillies first base coach Davey Lopes and broadcaster Gary Matthews were both Cubs teammates of Jamie Moyer's when Moyer made his Major League debut in 1986. Moyer keeps on pitching while Lopes and Matthews haven't played since 1987.

Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

Phillies third baseman Placido Polanco has eight multi-hit games this season. The Phillies have played just nine games total.

Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

Phillies hitters have both the most bases on balls (42) and fewest strikeouts (43) in the National League.

Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

2010 marks the tenth consecutive season in which Jamie Moyer has ranked as one of the ten oldest players in his league. Think about that one for a minute.

Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

Through five games in 2010, Ryan Howard has struck out just once in 26 plate appearances. For his career, Howard has struck out once every 3.61 plate appearances.

Amazing Phillies Stat of the Day

Through four games this season, the Phillies have outscored their opponents 32-11, a margin of a whopping 21 runs. 17 of the other 29 teams in Major League Baseball have yet to score 21 runs this season.

Thanks a lot, jerk!

So apparently my car was broken into some time Monday evening or Tuesday morning. I was off work Tuesday and when I went to my car early in the afternoon to go somewhere, I noticed the glove box door was open and some papers that had been inside were now on my passenger seat. There was no sign of forced entry and I didn't notice anything missing at first. All my CDs and a bunch of junk I had on the back seat were still there. Nothing was taken from the trunk. I wasn't even sure my car had been broken into because I figured there was a chance that I had opened the glove box myself and left it open without remembering it. My short term memory isn't perfect so I figured it was possible.

But then I was driving home from work last night and I was listening to the Adam Carolla Podcast and they were talking about watches. I immediately looked down to my steering wheel and realized I had indeed been robbed. I had kept a wristwatch that had belonged to my grandfather wrapped around one of the spokes of the steering wheel. It was gone. I also figured out that a pair of prescription sunglasses had been taken. As far as I can tell, nothing else was taken, but I generally don't keep anything of value in my car.

The sunglasses can be replaced, but the stolen watch is what bothers me. It was a cheap Timex watch (probably cost no more than $20 or $25), but what upsets me about it is that this was my grandfather's watch. I don't wear a watch myself, but I kept this watch because it was my grandfather's. I kept it on my steering wheel because I wanted to see it often and be reminded of my grandfather, who passed away in December of 2006. It was just a small connection to my grandfather, and I have others that remain in addition to countless fond memories, but it still sucks that something that belonged to my grandfather was likely taken to support someone's heroin habit. Makes me wish the watch wasn't still running on the same battery more than three years after my grandfather died.

I hope that hit of heroin was worth it.

How about them Dayton Flyers?

They did us proud last night with a tough win over SEC opponent Ole Miss. Love this quote from the UD press notes for the NIT championship game:


http://www.daytonflyers.com/mens/basketball/news/index.html?article_id=6563

"With UD’s 68-63 win over Ole Miss on March 30 in the NIT Semifinals, Dayton became the all-time leader for most victories of any non-New York metropolitan area school at Madison Square Garden. UD has a 39-24 all-time record at the Garden. The Flyers’ 39 wins at the Garden are just head of Duke’s 38."

I start this blog anew

Due to a variety of issues with domains and hosting with GoDaddy, I've lost my blog content when I switched my site over from jimmcdevitt.net to jimmcdevitt.com. I decided to keep things simple this time around by linking to a blogspot blog. Everyone uses blogspot anyway so it's familiar to lots of people. Plus it's easy to use and all that jazz. So that's that.

This first post will be short, but I promise much more frequent updates than I had on my old blog. It's good for me to write, even if it's just on my own blog. I will address a couple topics of interest to me today.

My beloved Dayton Flyers have had a bit of a disappointing season, but they're still playing. A game tonight in the NIT semifinals against Mississippi at Madison Square Garden (the world's most famous arena!). This team should have had a better season with the talent it has, but I have to think it's a good thing for the future of the program to be playing at this point, especially with lots of talent returning next season to be joined by one of the best recruiting classes in recent memory. The future is still very bright.

Baseball that counts is less than a week away! I'm so excited. I always get this way at this time of year. Every spring is full of promise, but I'd be lying if I didn't say I think this year's Phillies team has the potential to be one of the best in franchise history. They aim to become the first National League team to make three straight World Series since the 1942-44 Cardinals. Should be a fun season.

Going down to Philly on Saturday to see the Phils take on the Pirates in the final spring training game before the season opens on Monday. A large group of about ten of us will be down there to tailgate all morning and enjoy the warm weather. Should be a great time.