Up from Horrid

There are always silver linings to anything if you look for them. For example, you might look at Team USA’s dispationate and bloodless defeat of Khazikistan as a day too late. But you could also look at it as powerful evidence that team USA might be mediocre and disinterested- but at least they aren’t horrid.

That is why that although I am pretty convinced that the Phillies might as well mail in 80-82 for the season, I am not devoid of cheery thought. As the Philadelphia Daily News reminds us, Joe Kerrigan- as Homer would put it, the “Gamblor” of Phillies’ pitching- is no longer around to hammer even worse fundamentals & odd ideas into the staff:

Myers, whose delivery never was as fluid as Floyd's, found himself bound up by mechanical mind games in 2004, an inconsistent season in which he compiled a 5.52 ERA. He blamed former pitching coach Joe Kerrigan's dissections and his own implementation of the suggestions. He generally abandoned those suggestions last season, and lowered his ERA to 3.72.

Apparently, Kerrigan's involvement with Floyd might have similarly affected Floyd.

"I trace it to when [Floyd] first came to big-league camp 2 years ago," Arbuckle said. "You could almost see the wheels grinding in his head. His basic delivery was always pretty solid. He has to let his natural ability flow."

Did any potentially high quality, high investment pitcher get better under Kerrigan? The two highest quality arms the organization employed- Padilla and Millwood- got bad, and worse, hurt. Randy Wolf- a guy crying out for good coaching as to approach and health- got neither. Brett Myers hated the guy- and almost immediately became a really great prospect the instant the guy left. To me, there is no doubt Kerrigan is the most overrated “coach” to pass through Philly in my lifetime. This guy parlayed a short stint on “talk television” where he successfully ripped poor pitchers into a never ending license to ruin potentially good ones.

Good to see Darren Daulton making good use of his time out of jail too. I kind of hope he is right about the rapture- as I could use the break. The Mayan calendar is a nice touch too- particularly coming for a guy who probably can’t explain the difference between a solar and lunar calendar.

But there's more to it than peace and harmony. Daulton is convinced that the day of reckoning is coming soon. Specifically, on Dec. 21, 2012, at 11:11 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time, the chosen will simply vanish from this plane of existence.

"That will be the end of this dispensation," he said. "I really don't know how to explain it. I don't know what words to use so people won't think I'm goofy. But by Dec. 21, 2012 [the last day recorded on the Mayan calendar], people will have a pretty good idea. It's all about consciousness and love. We have the ability to create whatever we want. We're all made of energy."