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Monday, July 23, 2007

SF Gate: Jenkins: No: He Doesn’t Have To Do it Here

Scrambumbling Alex Gordon’s #1 Fan line here..."ESPN employs Rob Neyer, Peter Gammons, Tim Kurkijian, Brian Kenny, Jon Miller, Joe Sheehan and Jim Callis”...but then you have Steve Phillips.

The ex-ballplayers cringed and recoiled, while the former executive spouted nonsense. It was Steve Phillips at his worst, on the set of ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight,” and neither Dusty Baker nor John Kruk could believe what they were hearing. They tried to set him straight, but Phillips wouldn’t budge.

Like most everyone with common sense, Phillips believes that Bonds should hit his 755th and 756th homers at home. That’s how it should play out, for the sake of Bonds, his adoring San Francisco fans, and posterity. But Phillips takes it a step farther. He says the record has to be broken here, and that if Bonds remains short of the mark when the Giants leave next week for a six-game road trip through Los Angeles and San Diego, he should sit out the entire trip.

...Trying to explain the rationale from the Arizona-Colorado end, Phillips studied a sheet of numbers and announced that the Giants play better when Bonds isn’t in the lineup.

Repoz Posted: July 23, 2007 at 02:42 PM | 20 comment(s)
  Related News: GeneralSan FranciscoAnnouncersTelevision

Reader Comments and Retorts

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Statements posted here are those of our readers and do not represent the BaseballThinkFactory. Names are provided by the poster and are not verified. We ask that posters follow our submission policy. Please report any inappropriate comments.

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   1. Aspiring One-Armed Economist (6 - 4 - 3) Posted: July 23, 2007 at 03:05 PM (#2451703)
I like Steve Phillips. He makes Brian Sabean look insightful by comparison.
   2. Hack Wilson Posted: July 23, 2007 at 03:06 PM (#2451705)
Steve Phillips is misunderstood. Earlier this year he was stridently railing against the Mets giving Tom Glavine a day off. The other guy said if there was absolutely no chance he would pitch, what's the big deal.

Steve replied, "well there could have been a fight." The other guy almost fell off his chair, "you need Glavine for a fight?"

Anyone could confuse Kyle Farnsworth with Tom Glavine. Maybe the Yankees can replace Cashman with Phillips and he could recruit in the WWE.
   3. Slinger Francisco Barrios (Dr. Memory) Posted: July 23, 2007 at 03:15 PM (#2451715)
Maybe it's a "the producer told me to say this" kind of thing.
   4. J. Cross Posted: July 23, 2007 at 03:21 PM (#2451720)
I really think that Steve Phillips might be the dumbest man alive. It's not just how stupid his comments are it's how much confidence he has in them. I wouldn't trust this guy to handle my fantasy baseball team when on vacation for a week. Seriously, I wouldn't. What does it say about the Wilpons that they allowed this guy to run their team? And how lucky were they to end up with Omar Minaya? Something about a blind squirrel...
   5. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: July 23, 2007 at 03:25 PM (#2451725)
Steve Phillips is as dumb as a stack of dogs.
   6. Sam M. Posted: July 23, 2007 at 03:40 PM (#2451732)
I saw a note somewhere this morning that said Bonds has hit EVERY significant milestone home run at home, except # 714. And he hit that one . . . in Oakland.

He's going to tie and break the record at home. Book it.
   7. Larry Mahnken Posted: July 23, 2007 at 03:47 PM (#2451737)
Steve Phillips on the radio yesterday afternoon was lauding how great Boston's pitch was yesterday because they got out of two bases-loaded jams. Of course, they also got *into* two bases-loaded jams...
   8. CFBF Has Neither Diabetes nor Cryabetes Posted: July 23, 2007 at 03:56 PM (#2451748)
At one point Phillips suggested that Selig should order Bonds to be benched in road contests, for "the good of the game." To the ever-lasting credit of Kruk and Ravech, they both looked at Phillips like he was certifiable.
   9. Sam M. Posted: July 23, 2007 at 04:03 PM (#2451756)
At one point Phillips suggested that Selig should order Bonds to be benched in road contests, for "the good of the game." To the ever-lasting credit of Kruk and Ravech, they both looked at Phillips like he was certifiable.

How astonishing is it that the Mets' franchise survived back-to-back GMs:

Steve Phillips
Jim Duquette

And just two years later was a game away from the World Series! What does this tell us about the real impact of stupid and/or incompetent people making important decisions on the ultimate success or failure of an organization?
   10. Walt Davis Posted: July 23, 2007 at 04:04 PM (#2451758)
I won't defend Steve Phillips' intelligence, but they tell these guys to say stupid things. They like to have phony debates on BBTN and the problem is the sheer idiocy of the question.

A few years back, around 2000 or 2001, they had a brilliant "debate" about which Chicago RF was more valuable, Sosa or Ordonez. Harold Reynolds (I think) got to take the sensible position that Sosa was just a wee bit more valuable. Dave Campbell got the role of taking the opposing side. Except in between Reynolds and Campbell, the idiot Ravetch said something like "Dave, who do you think is better over the long haul? No, wait, that just complicates things, who's better right now? You say Ordonez."

Campbell, a pretty placid guy, kinda lost it and said something like "You guys make me pick Ordonez in this stupid debate and now you're taking away the only argument I have in that he's younger. Of course Sosa's the better player right now."

Some idiot at BBTN thought the issue you wanted to see debated was where Bonds should break the record. Somebody was told to take the position that he should break it at home no matter what ... because some idiot at BBTN thinks that a sizeable proportion of their audience agrees with that.

Now, why do you watch it? They barely show any highlights anymore, it's all brilliant insight from their brilliant analysts who are largely being told what to say by their brilliant producers.
   11. Srul Itza Posted: July 23, 2007 at 04:22 PM (#2451781)
Steve Phillips is as dumb as a stack of dogs.

My current dog is a lot smarter than Steve Phillips.

My two prior dogs are a lot smarter than Steve Phillips. And they've both been deceased for 5+ years.

As Mr. Vick could tell you, in this country, you disrespect dogs at your peril.
   12. SoSH U at work Posted: July 23, 2007 at 04:26 PM (#2451789)
A few years back, around 2000 or 2001, they had a brilliant "debate" about which Chicago RF was more valuable, Sosa or Ordonez. Harold Reynolds (I think) got to take the sensible position that Sosa was just a wee bit more valuable. Dave Campbell got the role of taking the opposing side. Except in between Reynolds and Campbell, the idiot Ravetch said something like "Dave, who do you think is better over the long haul? No, wait, that just complicates things, who's better right now? You say Ordonez."

Campbell, a pretty placid guy, kinda lost it and said something like "You guys make me pick Ordonez in this stupid debate and now you're taking away the only argument I have in that he's younger. Of course Sosa's the better player right now."


I guess we know why Soup isn't a presence on BBTN anymore. I would have loved to have seen that exchange.
   13. mgl Posted: July 23, 2007 at 05:09 PM (#2451833)
I know nothing about Omar Minaya other than I heard him on XM radio a couple of weeks ago. I did not know who it was at first. He sounded like a player who had never been on a radio interview in his life. He was as inarticulate as you can get and with all due respect, sounded like he had dropped out of grade school. He barely had command of the English language and included "you know" in just about every sentence. I hope, for Met fans, that he is a lot smarter than he sounded to me.
   14. Vaux, A.B.D. Posted: July 23, 2007 at 05:16 PM (#2451837)
He probably sounds smarter in Spanish. I can "express myself" in French and German, but I probably sound like an idiot when I do. But I don't know anything about his education. . . anybody?
   15. Sam M. Posted: July 23, 2007 at 05:22 PM (#2451846)
I hope, for Met fans, that he is a lot smarter than he sounded to me.

I've heard a lot more Minaya interviews than that, and he's usually come off sounding fine to me, if not the most smoothly articulate guy. In my experience, he's always had interesting things to say -- and never, ever failed to sound twice as insightful about baseball as Steve Phillips, that's for sure.

I'll just leave it there, for the sake of peace and harmony in the land.
   16. Russlan is an overhyped Met BTFer Posted: July 23, 2007 at 06:00 PM (#2451871)
Minaya isn't the most articulate guy in the world, at least when he's speaking English, but one thing I think he has going for him is that he is pretty charismatic. I wasn't surprised when one of the Prospectus guys covering the GM meetings last winter said Minaya was by far the most entertaining GM there.
   17. Yankee_Redneck Posted: July 23, 2007 at 08:45 PM (#2452181)
He probably sounds smarter in Spanish. I can "express myself" in French and German, but I probably sound like an idiot when I do.


I don't think it's unfair to hold him to a higher standard of coherence, given his place of employment. I can express myself in German thanks to some schooling, but if I lived in Munich for a few years I'd be a good deal better at it.
   18. Dan Evensen Posted: July 23, 2007 at 10:38 PM (#2452510)
Kannst du dich nicht auf Deutsch ausdruecken? Ist ja nicht so schwer.

要是你能用汉语表示你的感觉, 你比较厉害. 反正汉语比徳语难多了啦.
   19. Johnny B. Wong Posted: July 23, 2007 at 11:46 PM (#2452623)
BREAKING NEWS!!!

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   20. karkface killah Posted: July 24, 2007 at 12:40 AM (#2452684)
I hope, for Met fans, that he is a lot smarter than he sounded to me.

You know. . . I'll bet he's a real dumbass. You know. . . it's not that hard to run a MLB club.
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