Some R and R for the Phillies

Well folks, it's World Series time, and guess what? The Philadelphia Phillies are 4 wins away from bringing home some hardware. Whoda thunkit??

Having clinched a World Series berth last week, they will have had about a week of R & R to get ready for Wednesday's Game 1 battle against the Tampa Bay ("Don't Call Me Devil") Rays. That rest and relaxation should help, and hopefully it will get them off to a hot start compared to the Rays who have ridden an emotional roller coaster of late.

But the other R & R that I felt like blogging about today was the one and only Randy Ready. Yes, you remember Randy Max Ready, the quintessential utility position player for the Phillies in 1989-1991 and then again in 1994 and 1995.

Having bounced around from team to team with six different stints from 1983-1995, Randy unfortunately wound up on some bad squads and only played in one single playoff game during his career (he struck out to Tom Henke in his only at bat, unfortunately). This playoff appearance was during his days of playing for the Oakland A's who went up against the infamous Toronto Blue Jays in the 1992 ALCS. The A's lost and the Jays went on to win the World Series, and then, as all Phillies fans know, went on to win the World Series again in 1993.

Otherwise, Ready was a pretty reliable guy to have off the bench. During his career, in fact, he played every single position except catcher, pitcher, and shortstop. He played 234 games at second base, followed by 203 at third base, and scattered his time across the field, as well as DH, throughout his career.

Another fact of note... in 1989, Ready was traded along with the quintessential '93 Phillies fan favorite, John Kruk, to the San Diego Padres for Chris James. His best season was actually in 1987 for the Padres when he hit .309 with 12 homers and 54 RBIs in 124 games. Unfortunately it was pretty much all downhill from there as his playing time steadily dropped.

Today, at age 47, Randy Ready manages the Portland Beavers, the triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. In his first season, the team finished fourth with a 70-74 record. Now for some fun facts... are you Ready for this one... Randy (whose middle name is Max) is flanked by Max Venable, hitting coach, and John Maxwell, trainer. Oh and one more doozy for ya about the Beavers: from the span of 1983 to 1987, the Beavers had four managers over five seasons, starting with John Felske (who later managed the Phils), Lee Elia (who later managed the Phils), and yes, the legendary Charlie Manuel, current manager of the Phils. Now THAT'S six degrees of baseball separation right there. Go sleep on those gems for a little bit... just make sure you wake up by Wednesday night...

Lee Elia's Back on the Scene

Lee Elia, the native Philadelphian who managed the Phillies from 1987 to 1988 and compiled a 111-142 record during that time, has been hired as, and I quote: "an on-field consultant" for the Seattle Mariners.

If this doesn't sound like a cushy job, then I don't know what does. The job description, according to SI.com:

"He (will)work with the team for approximately half of spring training. Periodically throughout the season, he will assist manager John McLaren and the coaching staff while in uniform."

I guess when you're 70 years old and have 50 years of baseball experience, you can pull off jobs like that. Congrats Lee and good luck with the Mariners.

For those of you wondering, here's a summary of Elia's stats as an infielder for his Major League years of 1966 and 1968:

.203 batting average
3 home runs
25 RBIs
17 runs scored

And now for the best entertainment of the day!... Lee Elia's expletive-filled rampage in 1983 when he was managing the lowly Cubs... click here and be sure to scroll to the bottom and listen to the WAV file. AMAZING. That's true Philly 'tood right there folks.