I was first inclined to look at opposition blogs when Doc was traded. I wanted to know that the fans he was going to were going to appreciate him. Luckily, what I discovered was that they did. Some of them even expressed sympathy for our pain. So I walked away knowing Doc was in good hands.
There's been some major changes. Two of the Phillies blogs - Beerleaguer and The 700 Level - were bought out by CSNPhilly in 2010. The 700 Level still exists as a blog on the site run by its creator.
Beerleaguer was not so lucky. I've been trying to track down what happened but it's hazy. It seems the deal was to keep the blog as is and piggyback on CSNPhilly's resources, with the founder getting more team access. It created a Facebook page in 2011 but it's unclear if the CSNPhilly relationship was still in play. In 2014, the blog stopped. It now only lives on as a twitter account. The dot com goes to a 404 on the CSNPhilly site - very much like what happened to Drunk Jays Fans.
Another dearly departed Phillies blog was The Fightins. It was very much in the style of DJF and were some good-natured shots at each other on twitter. And when Mike Meech decided to shut down the site, it was a Jays fan who wrote the eulogy.
The Phillies blogosphere might be the only fandom that eclipses the Jays online presence. There's a lot of good blogs out there but I'll highlight my three person faves:
The Good Phight
The SB Nation Phillies blog, which started out as an independent blog in 2005, making it one of the oldest team blogs out there. They were Amaro haters from the get go, which should endear them to all of you.(The comments on that link go into ideas of "group think"on the blog, which ties into some recent discussion here.) The contributors are known as Blog Lords. (Love that the Supreme Blog Lord is a woman.) I admit I'm a big fan of the community guidelines and the writing has a nice mix of information and humour.Best recent post title: The [emergency] Tuesday Gush: Not everything is terrible!
Crashburn Alley
This is the hangout for the hardcore SABR folks. Its founder, Bill Baer, used the blog as a jumping off point to write for Hardball Talk, Baseball Prospectus, Roto World and The Hardball Times, among others. He also wrote the book pictured above. It's been around since 2007. The Editor in Chief is a woman. Their self-description:Best recent post title: I Didn’t Know We Had Zac Efron (It’s Zach Eflin, Mom)The name is a play off of Ashburn Alley at Citizens Bank Park, named after “Whitey,” one of the most beloved Philadelphia athletes ever. The Wall of Fame at Ashburn Alley details the long history of the Phillies franchise from the many low points through the more recent high points.Most of the posts found at Crashburn Alley are riddled with statistics and charts in the quest for objectivity.
Zoo With Roy
This blog was all about a guy with a dream. The first post, on January 27, 2010, said this:
I'm an MBA- a humble one, but an MBA nonetheless- so I feel it appropriate to make my first post a clear statement of the mission of this blog. You see, I'm not in this for the readers, or the joy found in writing. It's actually all very simple: The goal of this blog, in the most simple terms, is to convince Roy Halladay to go to the zoo with me.And after 4 years of memes, MS Paint drawings, Photoshop, Halloween costume contests (which brought on guest poster Awesome Emma, a girl after my own heart), merch, and just overall silliness, his dream came true, Like our friend Tao he likes to be an anonymous blogger. Since Doc left he hasn't posted much about the Phillies but seriously, how can I leave out a blog that is all about Doc love?
Best recent post title: Super Pumped Marlins Fan Update
