Phillies Madness - sweet 16 results, your comments, and elite 8 matchups

We saw our first one seed fall in PHLY’s tournament of Phillies highlights as the field of videos narrowed from 16 to eight. The legendary clip of Michael Jack Schmidt’s 500th home run will watch the remainder of the tournament from its couch. Rhys Hoskins’ bat spike moves on instead.

Here are the full results of the sweet 16 matchups:

Ashburn Region

1 Bedlam at the Bank 80% – 4 Halladay perfect game vs Marlins 20%

2 Stairs rips one into the night 71% – 3 Victorino 2008 NLDS slam 29% 

Bedlam at the Bank handled Roy Halladay’s perfect game fairly easily, taking 80% of the vote. But the 20% minority was pretty vocal:

• “Y’all are CHILDREN. Bedlam was awesome but there’s been like 25 perfect games EVER” – @BallAndPolicy
• “I’m sorry, are we REALLY voting heavily in favor of Bedlam at the Bank over a perfect game?” – @shanamarie_d
• “How many perfect games have been thrown ever? Gotta go with Doc’s perfect game.” – @DCollicchio

There’s a recency bias at play here, sure. But Bryce Harper’s home run to send the Phils to the 2022 World Series had a few additional advantages over Halladay’s gem: it was a clip from Citizens Bank Park instead of the Marlins’ stadium; it featured possibly the most popular athlete in Philadelphia; and it was a postseason moment instead of a regular season game.

Bedlam’s victory sets up a showdown with Matt Stairs’ 2008 NLCS home run against the Dodgers. Stairs’ moonshot won’t face the same issues as Doc’s perfect game. It’s set in Los Angeles but, like Bedlam, it’s an incredible postseason moment. Stairs maintains a 100% approval rating among Phillies fans. And Stairs’ home run was part of a postseason that ended in a championship.

Should be a close one.

Roberts Region

1 1980 World Series win 61% – 12 Utley WFCs speech 39%

2 Chase Utley deke 70% – 3 Chase Utley gets a nickname 30%

The 1980 World Series final out continued to underperform as a one seed, but it moves on to the next round. Utley’s speech is iconic, but I was surprised to see it take so much of the vote against the first championship in franchise history. And I wasn’t the only one. “How is this even close, ffs?” asked @theeocogs.

Chase Utley vs Chase Utley was a fun matchup. I loved the way @hammradio summed up the two clips: “These are bookends of the same play basically one doesn’t happen without the other. Utley makes the deke because that’s what he would’ve done on the bases.”

Utley’s popularity just might carry the deke clip into our Final Four.

Schmidt Region

1 2008 World Series win 95% – 4 Rollins 2009 NLCS double 5%

3 Victorino 2008 NLCS HR 63% – 2 Rollins triple 2007 final game 37%

The 2008 World Series final out continues to steamroll its opponents. It has to be considered the favorite to win it all.

Victorino’s 2008 NLCS home run against the Dodgers took down Rollins’ triple from the final game of the 2007 season (a personal favorite). But I’m guessing that Victorino’s run ends here.

Can any moment from the 2008 run top the final out? Doubtful. And, as @DabbyDuck5 notes, “Of course Joe Buck’s call is terrible – does the flyin Hawaiian no favors.”

Carlton Region

5 Rhys bat spike 65% – 1 Mike Schmidt 500th HR 35% 

2 Halladay postseason no-hitter 89% – 3 Brett Myers NLDS walk 11%

Rhys Hoskins’ bat spike knocked off the Schmidt clip and it wasn’t even close, with Hoskins taking 65% of the vote. “Too many children on here,” noted @MMSpidey84, while @irockphilly called the poll “a total joke.” “Hoskins bat spike is great. But having it skip over two legendary moments in Phillies history is ridiculous,” added @RobertMuldoon07.

@BohmsBlueEyes presented the counterargument: “Obviously 500 HRs is a crazy accomplishment and feat, but everything about the Hoskins HR – the way he struggled in the series, the bat slam, the sprint around the bags and the scream at the dugout… goddamn it felt electric.”

Rhys will go up against Roy Halladay throwing the second postseason no-hitter in the history of baseball. My guess is that the bat spike’s run ends here. But I didn’t see the clip making it this far, so who knows? March madness, baby!!!

Here’s how the bracket sets up going forward. The @PHLY_Phillies twitter account will post the polls on Sunday evening and the @2008philz account will post the videos. By Monday night we’ll have a Final Four.