Opening Halladay

This past Sunday and Monday may have been my two favorite consecutive sports days in Philadelphia since the chaotic aftermath of the Phillies' kismet 2008 World Series Championship. Donavon McNabb was dealt (I'll get to the issue of his new team soon) and the Phillies opened up a serious can of whoop-ass on the miserable Washington Nationals behind future 23-game winner and already Cy Young candidate Roy "Doc" Halladay. However the best part about the Phils fantastic opener was the fact that Halladay was not the only new Phillie that I'm extremely excited about and intrigued by. But overall, the best part of the 2010 (2-day) opening day was the fact that the our good old pal Chan Ho Park helped play an enormous role in the Yankees opening collapse against the Red Sox. Damn I love this time of year!

In order to end this entry on an extremely positive note, aka a recap of the Phils' opening day, again I feel obligated to talk about the Donavon McNabb trade. Before the deal actually went down I was all in favor of this trade for three reasons. First, McNabb has never led us to a Super Bowl victory and unless an absolutely terrific draft-day trade was made, I really couldn't see him doing it this up-coming season either. Our secondary is still week, and our Offensive Line is still very depleted by injuries and had many cases of big-300-pound mental collapses last season. Second, after this season would have ultimately ended in a playoff loss, McNabb's contract would have ended. In an uncapped season where Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady all will earn around $15 million dollars annually, McNabb would have expected at least a 3 year deal and probably even a 5 year deal that would pay him a similar annual salary as well. This means that he was expecting us to pay him in the last year of his contract, at the age of 39, around $15 million dollars! Do you really want to pay quarterback that much money for 3 more trips to the NFC Championship game and 3 more losses? Finally, Now that McNabb is definitely gone, Kevin Kolb will have an entire year of starting in the NFL under his belt before McNabb's contract ends. For those who don't feel that the team has a legitimate playoff chances this year (by the way you're wrong), how can you argue that with a year of experience and getting to know Andy Reid's tendencies, and god-awful clock management decisions, during game situations and gelling with so many outstanding young receivers, I feel very confident in the team's playoff capabilities in 2011. After all, this transaction is definitely a move towards the future. But, How do you trade him within the division! This is either a complete failure by Reid, or the Redskins additional 2011 pick was the best offer and the Eagles front office knows something about McNabb's health that we don't know. Regardless, its a very questionable team to make a deal with and I could rant about it for 3 columns worth of words.

Now moving on to the good news. The Philadelphia Phillies are back and with a vengeance! Watching every second of that opening game I couldn't help but envision a few amazing end of season stat lines:

Roy Hallady- 23 wins, 225 IP, 214 K, 50 BB, and a 2.87 era

Placido Polanco- .307 BA, 22 HR, 89 RBI, 15 SB

Danys Baez- 73 appearances, 8-3 record, 102 K, 3.04 era, 7 Sv

Halladay's dominance yesterday was exciting because his pin-point command of his fast ball, the bite on his curve, and the devastatingly sick-nasty movement on his other two off-speed pitches. Halladay's arsenal is as impressive as how much weight C.C. Sabathia gained over this offseason. The Doc's ability to strand runner's on base and force double play's was also intoxicating. Does anyone else not remember a guy who's name I think was Cliff Lee? Placido Polanco is back in Philly and couldn't have come at a better time. Pedro Feliz's fielding cannot be matched, but his bat had a hole in it the size of Charlie Manuel's drooling mouth last season. Polanco brings another .300 average to compliment a lineup loaded with power, and allows Victorino to shift back to the 7th spot in order to keep our end of the lineup dangerous as well. Realistically, Placido won't knock in six runs every game, but a 90 RBI season is definitely in his range, coming from the 2 spot. Moving onto the intriguing bull-pen, even though Danys Baez only recorded one out, he continued to impress and build off his strong spring yesterday. To have the ability to come into the game in the 8th and record an inning-ending out with a runner in scoring position is huge during the playoffs and arguably cost the Phils a World Series game last year. Antonio Bastardo was not overly impressive but still did not allow a run as well. With Howard's proven power, J-Roll's excellent day, and the other solid position players (I haven't even mention Utley, Werth and Ibanez) I'm ecstatic about this year's season.