Saturday, June 23, 2007

June 23 -- OLD SCHOOL

For a baseball player, Jamie Moyer is old.

Old school, too.

Moyer jogs to the mound before an inning, jogs back to the dugout after an inning and takes his at-bats seriously. Very seriously. In
last night's 6-0 win, Moyer did it all. He threw six scoreless innings. He singled in the third to start a five-run rally. He scored the Phils' first run, skidding across home plate (Charlie Manuel said it was a cross between a hook slide and a rollover). He dropped down a sacrifice bunt in the sixth, helping to manufacture another run. And he fielded a ball off his left ankle and dove as he shoveled it to first base.

That's what I call a complete game.

"That's how you play the game in the National League," Moyer said. "A guy gets a hit, you move him over and you get him in. You work on it every day in batting practice. You work on it in spring training. To me, it's part of the fundamentals of the game. I get enjoyment out of that."

And the old-school approach? It goes back even longer than the 44-year-old Moyer's career, which began in 1984 in A-ball in Geneva, N.Y.

"I was raised that way," Moyer said. "My dad taught me to play hard, to hustle. It's just something I've always enjoyed. When you hustle off the field, it gives you more time to sit and catch your breath on the bench. As you play the game, there's a lot of adrenaline. You just let that carry you. When I don't have that bounce in my step, I feel sluggish. So, I try to maintain that as much as I can."


* A few Saturday morning updates: RHP Brett Myers had what pitching coach Rich Dubee described as his best bullpen session yet. Next one is Tuesday. After that, he may start throwing to hitters. ... LF Pat Burrell is back in the lineup. Anyone think he'll get a hit against Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright?


* Saw everyone's favorite TV dad walking around before the game. I'll bet he's rooting for the Phillies.

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