Hot Stove Gallery - Vol. 3


Ashburn Alley, the delightful arcade of shops, eateries and attractions that rings the outfield area at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. While I'm not sure the ballpark is responsible -- compared to the franchise's three straight post-season appearances --one noticeable change among the Phillies fans is how many now wear team apparel to games.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If Your Birthday is October 9th...

Image
...you share it with Starling Marte .  The Dominican outfielder closed out a 15-season career with the 2026 Royals, but is best known for his time with the Pirates where he twice won Gold Gloves and played on three teams that made the post-season. He was an NL All Star in 2022, when he joined the Mets, but his numbers gradually declined in subsequent years. Yohandy Morales is one of the talented prospects on which the Nationals are banking their future.  The Miami native and son of former Cuban national team star (and Yankees and Mets farmhand)  Andy Morales  was Washington's 2nd round pick in 2023.  "YoYo" completed his matriculation this season by belting 25 homers at Triple A Rochester and four more after Nats promoted him in September. And we remember Joe Pepitone , best known for his eight years as a Yankee (1962-'69), where he took over for Moose Skowron at 1st base, played on three pennant winners (highlighted by a grand slam in 1964 World Series against...
Read more

Cy Fynalists

Image
The last two nights, Jacob de Grom (above) and Max Scherzer (below) showed why they're the leading contenders for the NL Cy Young Award. Wednesday, in what was likely his final start of the season, the Mets ace threw eight innings of two-hit shutout ball. That lowered his ERA to 1.70. His 10 strikeouts helped him reach 1000 for his career. And thanks to just enough hitting support from Domonic Smith and Michael Conforto, De Grom earned the victory to finish 2018 with a winning record at 10-9. Scherzer made his statement Tuesday night, when he won his 18th and became the fifth pitcher this century to reach 300 strikeouts in a season. Though he's giving up a half-run a game more than de Grom, the three-time Cy Young winner has been just as dominant, while pitching with more consistent support. Two division rivals contending for the league's most coveted pitching award -- and doing it on otherwise-disappointing teams. ( My image of de Grom is from the May 18th Mets/Di...
Read more

Moving Up the List

Image
2015 has been a renaissance season for Albert Pujols. Leading the majors with 29 homers, the 10-time All Star has passed some pretty imposing names on the all time power list during 2015. Hall of Fame names such as Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Fox, Willie McCovey, Frank Thomas and Ted Williams. This blast came against the Yankees back on June 14th and brought on this round of high-fives once he returned to the Angels dugout.
Read more