The Rotation by Jim Salisbury

Author:Jim Salisbury
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Running Press
Published: 2012-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

Springsteen stepped aside for Led Zeppelin as Halladay took the mound in front of a huge crowd and threw his warm-up pitches before the top of the first inning.

Of course, Halladay did not hear the music. He never does. Hours before his first start at Citizens Bank Park in 2010, Phillies Manager of Video Services Kevin Camiscioli asked Halladay what warm-up music he wanted. This is an important decision to many pitchers and hitters, but Halladay told Camiscioli that he could not care less because he wouldn’t hear it anyway. Nothing comes between him and his focus on the game. With the decision in his hands, Camiscioli told Phillies Music Director Mark Wyatt to play some Led Zeppelin. Wyatt, who sits in the Phanavision booth in the second deck along the first-base line, chose the combination of “Moby Dick” and “Good Times Bad Times.” Those two songs have played every time Halladay has pitched in Philadelphia.

RESPECT AMONG RIVALS

The Atlanta Braves’ rotations of the 1990s are regarded as the best in history, with three Hall of Fame-caliber pitchers in their prime in Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz, and quality fourth starters like Steve Avery, Denny Neagle, and Kevin Millwood. The 2011 Phillies had the talent to compete with those rotations, a fact that wasn’t lost on Braves President John Schuerholz and former Braves Pitching Coach Leo Mazzone, both of whom were on the field before games against the Phillies at Turner Field in April.

“They have the opportunity to be as good as any rotation in the history of the game for a short period of time,” Mazzone said. “When you’re talking about the guys in Atlanta, you’re talking about three Hall of Famers. Now what I’m saying, for a year or two—or the window that they have—they have the opportunity to be as good as anybody. But nobody will ever be able to be as good as the Braves’ rotations because of the longevity of it.”

Schuerholz, who was Atlanta’s general manager in the 1990s, saw plenty of similarities between the Braves and the Phillies, but it stood out how the Braves quietly stole Maddux from the Yankees like the Phillies quietly stole Lee from the Yankees.

“We were always stealth,” Schuerholz said. “No one ever heard or knew by rumor or innuendo or by leak what we were thinking. My view about that as a general manager is, the more people who know what we are thinking of doing—or even thinking—it disadvantages us as an organization from getting the best job done. We keep this information to ourselves. It’s very proprietary and very confidential. If it leaks out, we are hurt. You may make yourself a hero telling somebody an inside story, but you’re hurting us. And don’t let me find that out.”

Schuerholz closed his inner circle; Ruben Amaro Jr. closed his. Amaro shared Schuerholz’s insistence for secrecy to the point he said he would lie if he believes it will protect the deal he is working on. And why

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