Some Gross leftovers
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Some Gross leftovers
Bob Brookover, Inquirer Baseball Columnist
Sometimes you write a story for the newspaper and you run out of room to get everything in. Unlimited space is the beauty of the internet age.
I wrote a story about former Phillies hitting coach Greg Gross for Sunday and had some leftover quotes. Here are the leftovers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I love leftover Thanksgiving turkey.
I asked Gross about several of the Phillies’ hitters, including the exiled Hunter Pence and Shane Victorino, and here’s what he had to say.
On Pence: “I think Hunter put a lot of pressure on himself. With other guys out, he felt like he had to carry the team. People who watched, I think they saw a different player compared to when he came over the second half of the previous season.”
On Victorino: “Shane, I think the whole free agency thing … I don’t think he responded well to that situation. In the end, he ends up doing pretty well for himself (with Boston). If he had known during the year that was going to end up what it was going to be, he would have been more relaxed.”
On Domonic Brown: “I don’t think Domonic ever got comfortable. He never has been at any level for a whole season and the game at the top level is difficult. That learning curve in a situation where you’re expected to win is going to be really short. The patience is not going to be that long. A second-division club is totally different for a young player. They learn that way. In a situation like the Phillies have been in since 2006, the leash is going to be real short.”
On Chase Utley: “He’s played catch up for two straight seasons. You don’t just jump in and play the game at this speed. It just doesn’t happen. It’s one thing to go through spring training and then get hurt, but when you go from October all the way through June without playing, that’s asking a lot. He’s a guy I really pull for to get through spring training. He’s one of the best workers I’ve ever been around. They had two of the best there: one was him and the other was Juan Pierre.”
On Ryan Howard: “They got away from the lineup they had when Jayson Werth left. They banged the ball and everybody did. I don’t know if he’d admit it, but with things going the way they’re going, he feels like he has to hit three-run home runs all the time to help pick up the team. I think that expands the strike zone. He chases more pitches than he did in the past. I think it’s human nature. No matter how good you are, you need help.
“Plus, he’s been in the league a lot longer. The pitching over the years, they pitch him a little different than they did in years before. Pitching in our division is also a lot better over the last few years. When you see Washington and Atlanta 18 times a year, you’re seeing good pitching. It’s like when we’d go into a place, you’d see good hitters go bad depending on who they were facing those three games. Halladay, Hamels and Lee make a lineup look sick.”
- @DRR, I appreciate all you added to my points about the role of the media in this town and for this team, and your musings about the old Conlin stories. I recall the same things about a different time in this town and I wish it could all come back.
Also loved the stuff you shared with @ghost about your love of talk radio back in the old days. Loved reading as well about your USCG nights - and your feelings about that sell-out Smerconish.
Great reads, all of it!!!— advantasux - Qadvantasux, while we all know you are the biggest hater here, and I can't ever remember when a comment you made was insightful, or correct..but I must admit, this is the first comment I have ever seen you make without complaining about something, only to turn around and say the complete opposite when your proven wrong, again..I see you're improving, keep it up — TexasYankee
- thanks for the laughs. You can have your dissenting opinions of the stuff I write but you went too far with the accusation that I will "only turn around and say the complete opposite when I'm proven wrong again".
Seriously, dude, say what you want about the rest, but that doesn't happen with me. I typically sound one note about the failure of management with this team and I never take a different position on that note. I know that makes me quite unpopular here but that's as far as it goes with me.
Meanwhile, I look forward to your insights and opinions going forward. If they're as intelligent as your analysis of the stuff I write, we should all continue to have many laughs at your expense.
Thank you for that.— advantasux - GROSS IS NOT HERE ANYMORE. FOR A REASON.— ACBaughman
- I agree gregg gross should have left the whole issue alone. Whether he is right or wrong he is digging his own grave— missurichie
- I agree gregg gross should have left the whole issue alone. Whether he is right or wrong he is digging his own grave— missurichie
- @--S: My late grandmom was a talk radio fan, too. She turned me onto Tom Marr and his Saturday Night Shootout on DB. He had one caller who was a thorn in his side and for the life of me I can't think of his name, Germantown Joe, or someting like that! Tom Marr sits in occasionally for Mark Levin , heard here 6-9 pm on 106.9, WWIQ. He was on but 2 weeks ago. He is still on the air in the mornings down in Maryland, too. You can probably catch him streaming on the internet....
Saturdays on DB had Wynn Moore trying to fix peoples cars, Tom Marr trying to stir up the masses, Yvonne Kay and Murray Needleman trying to fix peoples heads! Needleman: "Now, Breathe deep, deep! Let go of your pain!" And let's not forget the Dom Giordano who manned the 12 am to 5:30 am overnight slot, before he became a mouthpiece for the Republican party.... Great stuff, S!!!!— DelawareRiverRat - I think I remember that guy Tom Marr used to spar with. You brought back some good names. I could hear the voices of Bernie Herman and Dom Quinn, both who I listened to a lot. I also remember Bernie Herman having some local TV show where he'd show a movie and talk about it, way back in the Sally Starr days. Also don't forget David Coleman, always on at some ungodly hour I think and Frank Ford. Then later on Rollye James and Paul W. Smith. That was good talk radio. — s
- He's pretty much accurate in his assessments. Notably Brown looks overmatched and Howard has suffered because the lineup around him has gotten worse and Pence tried too hard because he was trying to be a star player and he's not. I would have liked to hear Gross' comments on Rollins.— Phillies2008WSChamps
- At the end of the day, Gross couldn't make it happen no matter what excuses are thrown out there. You are paid way more than the average American worker to produce, and when you don't produce they will find someone who will.— ronin32
- The Phillies just hired Kevin Stocker to take over for Greg Gross as hitting coach.— UncleStosh
- @stosh....funny...Stocker.....well I think he does have one more .300 season in his career than JStroll...but the Phils don't need 3 hitting coaches, they need about 3 more guys to step up and be Major League Hitters!— Mark1npt
- The template on how to pitch to Ryan Howard was established by the Yankees in the 2009 World Series. Thirteen strikeouts and .174 average. Breaking ball low and outside...and RH went fishing and has ever since.— misterhman
- This has to be a low even for Philly media types. Let's go find a ticked off ex coach and see what we can stir up since we have nothing else to talk about. And while we're at it, we'll make up a hed that somehow makes Domonic Brown look bad. Which all fits into the let's get Ruff that starting job narative they've been pushing for months now. Like I said, that's pretty pathetic even for this town's media.— JLH
- Let me tell you people something. I've known Greg Gross for a long time and have been privileged to call him my friend. This man knows so much more about hitting than any of the jokers who get a kick out of calling him names on this site. When GG played in the major leagues, he was well respected for his skills with the bat- either as a full or part-time player in the field and later as a pinch-hitter. The Phillies thought enough of him to replace Milt Thompson whom I also call a friend another respected student and teacher of the art of hitting.
Fair comment from the fan base is one thing, idiotic utterances from morons are quite another. It's sad. So many Philly fans love to rant and rave but really don't know the game at all.
And you know what? This comforts me because these guys couldn't care less what you say here. They have little or no respect for the bloggers and all the poison which come from their pens.— World
