In an extremely unexpected move, the Mets have signed Gary Matthews Junior (aka our beloved Gary Matthews’s SON! Weird, right?). ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick had the tweet-beat of the SI report being ESPN’d:

ESPN.com confirms SI.com report that Gary Matthews Jr. is now a Met. Angels will pick up a “whole bunch” of the money, a source says.

Not sure who the Angels are getting back for Matthews, but I was told it’s a “low salaried pitcher” off the big league roster.

Gary Matthews Jr. was 1st among 107 MLB outfielders in FanGraphs’ UZR/150 rankings in 2002. Last year, he was 109th out of 115 OF

Looks like Omar and his minions have come down to Lil’ Sarge to replace illegally recovering Carlos Beltran in centerfield with a 35 year old that, although he’s made some RIDICULOUS grabs, he hit .250 in 316 ABs, with only 4 homers and 50 RBIs in 2009 (hence the horrible UZR ranking).

I know what Larry Andersen’s gonna say to him, “Now you just stay away from that Tatis guy, he’s bad news.”  But I wonder how pops  feels about this…

HE LOOKS ANGRY!

THE FIGHTINS DISCLAIMER: We still love Sarge

Here’s the radio call courtesy of 1210 WPHT from Chase Utley’s 2nd homer off of Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia last night. It was during the middle innings, so Franzke and LA weren’t in the booth, however Tom McCarthy does a fine job with it (he even gets authentically excited!) and Sarge comes in to finish it off with his ‘Cadillac Time’ proclamation. Listen up:

Photo courtesy of NickSixers Flickr account

Check out the newest Phanavision graphic those fine folks at The Bank have whipped up:

Photo courtesy of NickSixers Flickr account

In this first edition of ‘Phun Phanatic Phlashback Phriday!’ (which will coincidentally be the last edition), watch as the Phillie Phanatic spots a man sitting in the middle of the row near the Phillies dugout, then proceeds to walk over towards him, stand on top of him, and swing his enormous Galapagosian sack all about the guy’s eyes and head. As an added bonus, it happened against the Rockies last year so you get to hear that lovely baritone voice of Harry Kalas paired with Sergeant Matthews.

It might just be the largest public tea-bagging in recorded history.

Since roughly 70% of my posts here at The Fightins revolve around Sarge Matthews, it’s no secret that I have what some might call an unhealthy obsession with the guy.  Because of this so-called “unhealthy obsession”, I’d like to think I’m somewhat of a Sarge Matthews historian, and any chance I get, I like to absorb more information about him.  So imagine my excitement when I moseyed on over to Paul Luka’s fantastic Uni Watch site this morning and saw a giant Sarge Matthews jersey posted at the top of the page. 

I’ll give you a second to imagine…

Done? Good. 

Now take a peek at this 1983 jersey from the Sarge and tell me if you spot anything out of the ordinary:

You see it!  How fucking cool is that?  Here’s Paul Lukas to explain:

That smudge on the right sleeve is a little sergeant’s pin — a reference to Matthews’s nickname, Sarge. [...]

“The jersey’s current owner said he received it from Matthews with confirmation that the pin was worn during the 1983 season,” says Jared Wheeler, who displayed the jersey in the Philly baseball history exhibit he recently curated. “He also had a photo that confirmed this, but I was unable to get a shot of that to send to you.”

There you have it, folks.  The man wore a cot damn SERGEANT’S PIN while he played.  If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is.

Sarge Matthews, we salute you sir.

Rank Has Its Privileges | Uni Watch

For the past couple of nights during the Comcast broadcast of the Phillies game, the guys in the booth have been utterly fascinated with the almost full moon that has been in the sky like it doesn’t happen once a month or something. In the middle of last night’s game, while it’s still a 1-0 game in the 5th mind you, Tom McCarthy started to reminisce about the moon from the previous night when he dropped the BOMB on us that he thinks we could see the planet Jupiter through the lens of the HD CSN camera.

So while T-Mac was explaining that you can practically make out the moons around Jupiter, Sarge Matthews chimed in to let Tom know that, “those would be the rings.” Tom politely explained to Sarge that the planet with the rings is Saturn, and Sarge — who is obviously no Copernicus — told him that, “you can call the planet whatever one you want — I’m checking out the rings.”

It really is broadcasting at it’s finest. Cue the wolf howling sounds:

In Sarge’s defense, while you nerds were studying your Astrology Astronomy textbook, Sarge was probably putting in a few extra hours of BP and fielding practice getting ready for a successful 16 year career as a pro ball player. And honestly, would you rather know which planets have rings around it or be the MVP of the 1983 NLCS? Because you can’t have both!

Here’s a picture of Sarge’s office at The Bank, courtesy of @PhilaPhillies:

See? My last dumb post is practically an afterthought already.

Sarge was back in his hometown of Chicago as the Phillies took on the Cubs in the friendly confines tonight. And for the second time in as many years, he brought his grandson Denver up to the booth and belted out the seventh inning stretch classic, “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” in front of a sold out Wrigley Field.

Needless to say, it was a rousing success, and Denver might be the cutest friggin’ kid I have ever seen.

Watch:

Also see: “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” as performed by Sarge Matthews | The Fightins

Behold, the best start of the year by any Phillies starter:

EDIT: Besides, of course, Cole Hamels’ complete game shutout vs. the Dodgers.  Fucking sticklers.

He also said he was “super happy” to win and even called Sarge “sir” — the ultimate sign of respect.

While discussing the proper approach to hitting Diamondbacks pitcher Yusmeiro Petit (at least I think that’s what he was discussing), Phillies color man Sarge Matthews was critiquing the swing of Raul Ibanez and…

well I don’t even wanna repeat it. Listen for yourself:

He then went on say that you should, “almost let (Petit) jam you, and if it comes, it comes.” Now I fully understand that these games are on cable, and being that they are played in the Pacific Time Zone not too many children are watching, but that doesn’t mean you have to work blue, Sarge.

Also see: Grooming tips with Sarge Matthews | The Fightins

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