So Long, Jamie

Sad to see Jamie Moy­er suf­fer a pos­si­ble career-end­ing injury at the ten­der age of 47.

In all seri­ous­ness, Gramps will be missed. I was at his his­toric com­plete game shutout win over the Braves this year. That’s a pic­ture I took of the score­board from our seats in Sec­tion 143. It was elec­tri­fy­ing. Felt like a per­fect game. Would’ve been, too, were it not for Troy Glaus!

Helen and I have seen more than our fair share of Moy­er starts. Turns out our sea­son tick­et pack­age lines up with some of our dici­est starters, whether it’s Moy­er or Eaton or Blan­ton or Kendrick. We just seem to get the guy who’ll either be lights out or out of the game by the fourth inning. Since Jamie came over from Seat­tle, I can’t think of a pitch­er who leaves me with a big­ger grin on my face than Jamie, through all his ups and downs.

It’s easy to for­get the times he got past­ed by the oppos­ing nine when he gives up a long fly ball to Evan Lon­go­ria, only to have it land in Pat Bur­rel­l’s glove, fol­lowed by Moy­er stick­ing his tongue out at the Tam­pa Bay dugout. Draw­ing a walk ear­li­er this sea­son against Johan San­tana to load the bases, set­ting up anoth­er amaz­ing Vic­tori­no grand slam. Watch­ing him dis­man­tle a young stud like Jason Hey­ward is exact­ly what makes him so spe­cial. It’s been a treat to see him have suc­cess this late in his career.

When we reached the All Star Break I was­n’t sure if the Phils would­n’t give him anoth­er shot, but I don’t think any­one will take that risk now. Ride off into the sun­set, old fel­la. You’ve had an amaz­ing career. We’ll nev­er for­get you dig­ging up the pitch­ing rub­ber in ’08. That was a vet­er­an move, just the sort of thing we brought you here for in the first place.

Then again, read­ing this great post over at Fin­ger Food makes you won­der if the crafty lefty does­n’t have a plan after all.