With all of my recent talk about reading, I figured it was high time I talked about the book I'm currently reading. The Rotation, by Jim Salisbury and Todd Zolecki, is a behind-the-scenes look at the 2011 Phillies with a focus on the much vaunted pitching staff (the Legion of Arms, the Four Aces, R2C2, whatever you wanted to call them) and I highly recommend it.
The book came out on March 6, just as spring training games were starting, and I wasn't sure if I really wanted to read it. As a Phillies fan, the end of the 2011 season was (and still is) a bad taste in my mouth. Why would I want to torture myself by reading about all of the potential and the excitement and the ultimate disappointment? Didn't I just live it? But then I kept hearing (reading) good things about the book. And I knew that I was a fan of both Zolecki and Salisbury, two longtime Phillies beat writers.
In the end, a combination of things convinced me to buy the book. I suppose you'd call the first thing morbid curiosity. The second was an overwhelming desire to read a baseball book because Opening Day was fast approaching (and I mean actual Opening Day, not that series in Japan that barely counts because most people don't know it happened). Unfortunately, I didn't have any unread baseball books. But then my college roommate randomly gave me an Amazon gift card, solving that problem.
Regardless of why I decided to buy the book, I'm glad I did. It is fascinating. The peeks into the clubhouse that fans can never hope to get without somehow becoming baseball writers. The full story of the Cliff Lee deal that brought him back to the City of Brotherlee (yes, that's intentional) Love and set up the whole crazy 2011 season. Honestly, the Cliff Lee story alone was worth the price of the book for me. Like most Phillies fans, I can still vividly recall Cliff Lee Day, December 14, 2010; it was a very good day. But even knowing that the story had a happy ending, I found myself getting stressed out when reading the full tale. I'd had no idea just how many stops and starts there were in the negotiations.
It's also fun to be reminded of things I'd read last year. Roy Oswalt accidentally electrocuting himself and, he believes, magically healing his shoulder. How Vance Worley began to transform himself into the Vanimal by writing "f*** you" inside his cap. Carlos Ruiz's excellent talent for mimicry.
The book is even proving a balm for my frazzling nerves. It's funny now to read about the Phillies' anemic offense last April. "Their 3.25 runs per game in that 16-game stretch [from April 10-27] ranked second-to-last in the National League" (Salisbury & Zolecki, 2012, p. 138). Of course, last year's team still managed to win ballgames and stay over .500. They were even in first place on April 27th. This year's team is currently 3-5 (and being under .500 is a very strange thing in this Golden Age of Phillies Baseball). The lesson, of course, is that it could be worse (I remember being so frustrated with last year's team). And when we get Ryan Howard and (hopefully) Chase Utley back, things will only get better.
Like I said, I highly recommend The Rotation to all baseball fans in general and Phillies fans in particular. I think there's even something in it for people who couldn't care less about baseball.
Salisbury, J., & Zolecki, T. (2012). The rotation: A season with the Phillies and one of the greatest pitching staffs ever assembled. Philadelphia: Running Press.
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