How Chase Headley reminded me of the Oscar nominations

I know connecting San Diego Padres third baseman Chase Headley to the announcements of the Academy Awards sounds like a tenuous connection. Trust me, it makes sense.

Headley had been rumored to be traded all over the map. The Dodgers and the A’s seemed like the most likely target for the hot corner man with power.

The Padres, far from contention this year, decided to hang on to Huston Street and Carlos Quentin for next season, so Headley seemed like the best candidate to help infuse some young blood into the squad.

Plus, third baseman Jedd Gyorko continues to clean up in Triple A Tuscon. With a .341 average, 17 homers and an OPS of .981, he has earned the right to have a spot in the big leagues.

When the flurry of trades took place on the 31st, I was at work and had a hard time keeping track of where everyone landed.

The next day, I was listening to the Padres game on my MLB app on my iPhone. And I heard Chase Headley get a basehit. And I thought “Wait… Headley didn’t get traded? How did that happen?”

Which brings me to the Oscar nominations. There are a few times that there was a lock for a nomination that did not come through. I’m not saying these were the most deserving, but going into the nomination period, these seemed like they had all of the momentum.

Barbra Streisand as Best Director for Prince of Tides, Philadelphia as a Best Picture nomination, Ron Howard as Best Director for Apollo 13, Paul Giamatti for Best Actor in Sideways, Dreamgirls as a Best Picture nomination, and of course me, my brother Ted and Sean McPharlin being snubbed for Best Original Screenplay for I’ll Believe You.

When they announce the nominations, it is done early in the morning with each major category rattled off very quickly without much time to digest who was not called out.

And in the case of those instances above, it did not occur to me until much later that certain people did NOT get the nomination.

And there would be a moment where I stop and say “Wait a second. Dreamgirls wasn’t nominated? I thought that was going to win.”

And this the Headley connection.

He wasn’t traded. Ron Howard wasn’t nominated for Apollo 13.

I could not have predicted either one.

 

Brad Lidge found a new way to blow a save

I’ve seen many blown saves in my day.
And many of them have been by Brad Lidge… but tonight’s was a doozy, even by his breath taking standards.

The Phillies can beat the Padres and gain a game on the Giants and pick up a game on Atlanta. Oswalt was on fire… so naturally the ball was handed to Lidge.

And the inning went as expected… lead off single, runners moved up…

Then came the back to back whammies.
With 2 outs and a 1 run lead in the bottom of the 9th and an 0-2 count he HIT Ryan Ludwick to load the bases.

That’s awful. But I saw Calvin Schraldi hit Brian Downing with an 0-2 pitch with the bases loaded and a 1 run lead in the bottom of the 9th to tie a PLAYOFF game in 1986.

So Brad Lidge would have to raise his game to impress me with a blown save tonight.

Ohh he was up to the task.
With the bases loaded, a 1 run lead, 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and an 0-2 count to Chase Headley… HE BALKS IN THE TYING RUN!

I’ve never seen that in a game between two playoff contenders.

Literally saying “We’re going to win the game… eh, let’s keep playing.”

So with a day game after a night game, the Phillies have to go deep into their pen in an extra innings game and the wonderful pitching duel between Roy Oswalt and Mat Latos is in the garbage.

All because Brad Lidge BALKED in the tying run.

Oh man… Brad Lidge’s deal with Satan is getting worse and worse.