I need my cybergeek pals to see if two guys this old ever pitched in the same modern-era game. I'm sure the Phillies keep that kind of record right next to "Countdown to 10,000.''
At 57, Mike Schmidt has a better body than Mesa, Jon Lieber, Brett Myers, Michael Zagurski and Antonio Alfonseca. If he got home early enough from a round of golf or memorabilia-show gig to watch Sunday's unseemly mess, No. 20 had to be frantically speed-dialing Dave Montgomery.
"Hey, Dave, Schmitty here. Look, you've still got three in Cleveland at the end of interleague play. I'm in better shape than half your lineup. The guy you got to play third looks like I should look at age 57. If I can't pop a couple off the guys coming in from the bullpens these days, I'll take up shuffleboard.''
Actually, Mesa's pair of run-scoring, 50-foot splitters were so nasty he has been invited to try out as a cricket bowler for the crack West Indies side. All Jose needed in his emphatic return to the pinstripes was Carlos Ruiz stationed behind a wicket.
As long as general manager Pat Gillick is rounding up the usual dinosaurs for his shambles of a pitching staff, why not do it right?
If Julio Franco - Francisco Franco is still dead - can pinch- hit effectively at 48 and Joe
Table - big with the Antiques Roadshow folks - can still
relieve, let's surround him and Moyer with some ghosts from Phillies past who still might be able to exceed radar-gun minimums. But don't get me wrong, Mesa still can throw close to
double his age, whereas Jamie's age is rapidly gaining on the velocity of his changeup.
The Flomax All-Stars:
