Philly2Hoboken.com

My friends and I often email back and forth, playing armchair coach if you will about the Phillies. I think, on paper, it is one of the best teams in the history of the franchise. My current expectations is that they will win 90 games and either just make or just miss the wild card.

With that being said, this is what I would do to tinker with the team a bit and see about getting the offense going again.

1. Tell Ryan Howard to stop swinging. Yep. Stop swinging - on the first pitch. I would flat out say to him, even if he thinks it is a perfect fastball and bases are loaded with none out - just stare at it. How many games all season have you seen Howard with the 0-2 count? The guy gets into a hole early and then pitchers have their way with him and he strikes out. He needs to start getting to 2-0 counts and seeing that juicy fastball come over the plate.

2. Lineups should be based on batting, not ego. I fully respect and understand that we want Jimmy Rollins to lead off. But it hasn't worked in 2 years. Who is our best hitter? Polanco. Time to make Polanco lead off and get on base. I know, I know, he isn't a base stealer. But imagine if Polanco, who has 23 doubles this season (which is 9 more than Rollins), leads off and is in scoring position. This would be my lineup:
1. Polanco - R
2. Werth - R
3. Utley - L
4. Howard - L
5. Victorino - S
6. Ibanez (or Brown) - L
7. Rollins - S
8. Ruiz - R

Think Rollins would flip the fuck out? Yep, but it may also motivate him and take the pressure off him.

3. Get more aggressive. This season it seems that stealing & going for extra bases is good, but I would be even more aggressive. I remember a few games where Sam Perlozzo (3rd base coach) was holding up runners too many times and it cost us the game. I think Davy Lopes (1st base coach) is excellent, but I think that we have to be even more aggressive with going for second base in a steal. Also lets try to get more aggressive with Rollins (or even Victorino) & bunting. Other teams do this, why not our fastest player to bunt about 1 time a game and run to 1st?

4. Stop pitching Halladay, Hamels or Oswalt more than 105 pitches. Pitching hasn't been a big issue, but I can't stand watching games where we have a good lead and our pitchers are treated like workhorses. It is late in the season, and we have to keep those arms fresh. There are certain situations where I can understand keeping a pitcher in - like if we only have 1-2 run difference and/or our bullpen is gassed from the previous game, etc. I just think keeping Halladay in when we have a 5 run lead after the 7th inning is ridiculous.

5. Every pitcher gets bunting practice. There is nothing that drives me more insane than watching pitchers who can't bunt in the National League. That would be 1 hour a day for all my starting pitchers. Bunt. Bunt. Bunt. Learn how to pay it down along the 1st and 3rd base paths. Too many times we have a runner on 1st and can't advance them to scoring position because our pitchers can't figure out how to bunt.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and give your own ideas on how to fix the Phillies.

Was just on the phone the other day with Michael Trenk, the managing partner for Lucky's Famous Hamburgers, which is opening a new store at 79 Hudson Street in Hoboken.

Michael currently owns two Lucky's, and is expanding his "Angus Empire" into Hoboken, with the creation of the third store. Signs have been up for months saying "Summer 2010", and I emailed him asking what the deal was. Turns out, he says that the store is only three weeks away from opening!

Talking to him he told me that he was planning to open a store in the area for years. First was at the old Kebab House (now The Taco Truck Store) and the other place was at Yeung II Chinese (now W. Kodak Jewelers). Both deals fell through, and he has been trying to find a suitable location since 2007.

The story behind Lucky's is that it was first created in 2002, and "the three New York City restaurateurs" bought Lucky's in 2005. After a few years, Michael is the owner and general partner of the restaurant - and note that this is NOT a franchise. He runs each store much like he runs his bar and restaurant, Prohibition, on the Upper West Side. Michael believes strongly in that the customer comes first. He told me that "if we have regulars who come in once a week, I want our store managers to know what their favorite items are on the menu. If my employees aren't kind to our customers, they won't be working at my store very long".

Michael worked as the general manager of The Capital Grille (42nd street), and before that managed at Nobu and The W Hotel in Manhattan. Originally from South Orange, Michael moved to New York 20 years ago. Turns out the NJ boy is coming back - he's moving to Hoboken in about eight months.

"Yeah, my wife wanted to move back to NJ, so this is our compromise. I still want to be close to Manhattan and Hoboken to me, just like another neighborhood of New York.", Michael told me, "But, I am having a hard time finding a place to live - I have two dogs, and many new apartments in town don't allow dogs - like the Tea Building."

With the hamburger becoming the new steak of the masses, Mr. Trenk is very aware of bringing a quality ingredient to the plate of Hobokenites. He uses 100% Premium Gold Angus Beef (80% lean, 5.5 ounces), which is NEVER frozen, along with fresh lettuce, tomatoes, and onions on a Martin's Potato Roll. He notes that because he is using Premium Gold Angus Beef, that when cooked, his beef does not greatly shrink. Also, Lucky's has two sauces, the Lucky Sauce and the Chipolte Sauce, which have been huge hits in his current stores. He also offers "really great veggie burgers, sweet potato fries and turkey burgers" on his menu for those looking for an alternative to beef burgers.

He plans to offer free delivery (watch out Five Guys!), and have late night hours. Currently, he plans to be open Sunday to Wednesday from 11am to midnight, Thursday 11am to 3am and Friday & Saturday from 11am to 4am.

This summer Rocco has been spending four days a week at my dog walkers house. They run a small doggie day care, with about 6 other dogs, who they watch from 10am to 5pm. It costs me $20, and its a pretty good deal, when you compare prices to other day care places (a 20 minute dog walk by a normal dog walker can cost about $12-15 in Hoboken). They drive to my house, pick him up from the crate, let him run around their large house in Jersey City or take him to the dog park with the other dogs, and he is nicely tired out by the time I get home from work. I have off from work Friday this summer, and so Rocco and I hang out for three day weekends. It's a pretty good life for Rocco, who is left home alone for maybe three hours in the morning & two hours in the evening.

My schedule is fairly routine, I work from 8 to 5, get back to Hoboken by 5:30, at the gym until about 6:45, and home by 7. I let Rocco out of his crate, feed him and then enjoy the rest of my night until about 11pm, then off to bed.

Rinse, wash, repeat.

I get home the other night and let Rocco out of his crate. Normally, he gets out, stretches and walks over to the food bowl and waits for me to feed him. That night, he got out of his crate and slowly exited, moving like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz - without his oil. Rocco's movements were all herky-jerky, and when I reached towards him, he recoiled from me, like I was going to hit him. He flinched back, his eyes fluttering to a half-close and he was scared of me.

He sat there and was shivering, like he was having little seizures. I put his food bowl down, and he ignored it. This was very odd for Rocco, he loves food. Loves it. Doesn't have a food "off switch" when it comes to eating. Rocco finally sank to the ground in slow motion, his little 25 pound body quivering in pain.

My mind raced with various thoughts as to what happened to him today at the doggie day care. Did another dog attack him? Did he eat something, like a rawhide or a toy, and has blockage?

I called my dog walker and told her what Rocco was like, and she said he was very playful all day with the other dogs. So playful, in fact, that he had to be separated from the other dogs twice because he was getting too rambunctious.

Maybe Rocco was just exhausted. I know that the French Bulldogs have issues with heat & can get overheated quickly if not watched properly on a hot summer day - but the day in question was a rainy 68 degree day.

I called my vet, The Animal Infirmary of Hoboken, and asked if they were open. The said they closed at 6:45 (it was 7pm by this point) and I explained his symptoms. The Vet tech gave me two phone numbers for emergency services - a hospital in Oradell and NYC. She told me that there were three things I should look for if Rocco was in severe distress: vomiting, severe diarrhea and panting. I should observe him and take him to one of those places if he seemed to be in major pain.

So far, he didn't exhibit these symptoms.

I picked him up, and carried him over to his doggie bed. He didn't like the bed, and tried in his jerky movements to get off the bed and to the floor. He then sunk to the floor and wasn't sleeping, but was half-awake.

I called my sister, who during her teenage years worked at the Richboro Animal Hospital. In college, at the University of Delaware, she studied science, with the idea of one day possibly becoming a Veterinarian after college. She went into pharmaceutical research instead, but that's another story. Anyhow, she's our family expert when it comes to animals. I told her about Rocco, and she was under the same impression as the Vet tech - watch Rocco overnight and if he's still in the same shape in the morning, take him to the local animal hospital.

My phone rang and it was the dog walkers boyfriend, who watches the dogs also. They work as a team, with him at the house, and she does individual dog walks in Hoboken. He was very upset about hearing about Rocco, offered to drive me and Rocco to Oradell and would pay for any medical costs. I assured him that it was appreciated, but didn't think it was necessary...yet. I told him I would observe Rocco, see if he gets better or worse.

After watching Rocco a bit, it dawned on me that with all of his playing it could be possible that his muscles were so sore that he had lactic acid built up and he was really tight. I have had the same issues in the past when I overexerted myself on the treadmill. So I tried to give him a little puppy massage as best as I could, hoping that he would get some relief from it. He enjoyed it, and would lean his head against my chest while I worked out his muscles.

It didn't provide immediate relief, but after a bit of coaxing with a cracker and some peanut butter, he did get up and was able to gingerly walk to me. After a few more tries, he was able to eat his food, and we went to bed.

The night was uneventful, and upon waking up and turning off my radio alarm - Rocco hops out of his dog bed with a "HEY DUDE, WHAT'S UP?" look. Of course dogs don't care about yesterday, they live in the moment.

I was ready to strangle and hug him at the same time. Looks like it was just sore muscles, after all.