Its Time To Play 5 Questions

With the Phillies coming into PNC Park for their only trip of the season until the NL Wildcard Playoffs, we reached out to the fantastic Phillies blog We Should Be GMs for a quick 5 questions.

1. Do Phillies fans still consider the Pirates a rival?

Unfortunately, no. Pittsburgh is on the complete other side of the state, with nearly 5 hours separating the cities, and the teams are in different divisions. The Mets have become the Phils main rival with only 90 miles between the two. Also, the Buccos have been bad for so long that they're not really worthy of rival status.

2. If the Phillies could trade for any current Pirate, who would you want?

This is a tough one, because I like a lot of the Pirates young players, but I'd choose Brandon Wood...psyche, Andrew McCutchen is my answer. This would allow Shane Victorino to move to RF and with McCutchen remaining in center. The two of those have an interesting speed/power combo that would rock the top of the lineup and cover a ton of real estate in the outfield.

3. Favorite Phillies and Pirates player of all time?

Chase Utley has become my favorite Phillie of all time. It used to be some third base nobody named Michael Jack Schmidt, doubt you've heard of him, but I have witnessed Utley's entire career and his gritty balls-to-the-wall style of play is what I love to watch on the diamond.

I will always have fond memories of Andy Van Slyke, who happened to be a Phillie for a stint too, making him a Phucco (Phillies + Buccos = Phucco). He was a lot like Utley, in that he played through pain and played all-out. I remember stories of him passing kidney stones while roaming CF. That's gutsy...or ballsy. He also hit fungoes to the fans before games when he was coaching with the Detroit Tigers. Cool guy.

4. World Series or bust?

For the Phillies- yes. For the Pirates- pipe dream. The Phillies are constructed to win and if they don't reach the promised land this October then it was all for naught. The Phantastic Phour (Halladay, Lee, Oswalt & Hamels) cost a buttload of money ($56.5M total compared to the Pirates overal payroll at $42M), and that brings lofty expectations.

5. This weekend there will be thousands of Phillies fans invading PNC Park. Will you be one of them?

I will not be, although my parents will. They get to see the Saturday game with Kyle Kendrick going for the Phils, so naturally the Pirates are going to win. Last time I was at PNC I sat behind Dave Hollins (then a scout for the Orioles) and talked to him after the game and got my picture taken with him.


Thanks to Carson for taking the time to do this. Oh, and Lets Go Bucs!