{"id":81359,"date":"2018-07-25T19:53:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-25T19:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/rcntv\/?p=81359"},"modified":"2023-04-14T18:44:24","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T18:44:24","slug":"phillies-unsung-storylines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/phillies-unsung-storylines\/","title":{"rendered":"Phillies\u2019 Unsung Storylines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>The views expressed in this blog are<\/em> <em>those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of\u00a0 RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MGgTUocLYvo\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; encrypted-media\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>One of the reasons why the <a title=\"Philadelphia Phillies\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/phillies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Phillies<\/a> have had the kind of \u201csurprising\u201d (by most fans\u2019 expectations) season to date is the team\u2019s flexibility.<\/p>\n<p>New Manager Gabe Kapler made it very obvious in spring training that he wanted players to play multiple positions\u2014regardless of whether or not they had any prior experience playing new spots.\u00a0 Learning a new position on the fly at the Major League level is nothing less than an amazing accomplishment, and players like Jesmuel Valentin are really the unsung heroes as this team stays in playoff contention.<\/p>\n<p>Mind you, it\u2019s not just the physical aspects of playing a brand new position (and we\u2019re not just talking about moving from second base to shortstop).\u00a0 The mental aspect of going from the infield to the outfield and then back in again (and doing it with no experience at lower levels) is one of the most impressive\/least talked about aspect of this year\u2019s Phillies.<\/p>\n<p>Once more, it takes a special athlete to be able to make these adjustments and carry on as \u201cgood soldiers\u201d in the clubhouse, when players are asked to make these significant changes for the overall good of the team.\u00a0 Moving to a new position is one thing\u2014but doing it while keeping the clubhouse a positive experience for the whole squad is also something that should not be overlooked when analyzing Philadelphia\u2019s success this year.<\/p>\n<p>This unselfish approach is something that Phillies Shortstop-Second Baseman-Third Baseman-Pinch Hitter-Right Fielder-Relief Pitcher Jesmuel Valentin has shown throughout his baseball career\u2026and MLB fans are finally getting to see what this versatile player can do at the Big League level.<\/p>\n<p>I had the great opportunity of speaking with Valentin\u2014once at Reading, again at Lehigh Valley after spring training last year, and again earlier this month in Philadelphia, about this unique ability to successfully move around, playing new positions, while still trying to prove that he can hit Major League pitching.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s a portion of my interview with Valentin\u2026<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZW9ITsxKZQk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>There are more \u201cfeel-good\u201d stories surrounding the Philadelphia team\u2014some that sports fans everywhere will be become aware of &#8211; should this unlikely collection of prospects continue to play\u2014and beat\u2014some of the best teams in all of baseball.<\/p>\n<p>Be sure to check out our \u201cSportsTalk\u201d program for more Phillies interviews as they chase a playoff berth.<\/p>\n<p>Also, don\u2019t forget to catch our final \u201cSportsTalk Gets Wild\u201d program of the summer as our \u201cRCN SportsTalk presented by \u2018The Morning Call\u2019\u201d will broadcast live from the <a title=\"Buffalo Wild Wings\" href=\"https:\/\/www.buffalowildwings.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Buffalo Wild Wings<\/a> on Grape Street in Whitehall, this Thursday, from 7-8pm.<\/p>\n<p>Our guests will be members of the World Champion <a title=\"Philadelphia Eagles\" href=\"https:\/\/www.philadelphiaeagles.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> Cheerleading Squad (complete with their Super Bowl Pendants to showcase).\u00a0 Come on out to see the program in person and 10% of your food bill will go to support the <a title=\"Miller-Keystone Blood Center\" href=\"https:\/\/www.giveapint.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Miller\u2013Keystone Blood Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of\u00a0 RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. One of the reasons why the Phillies have had the kind of \u201csurprising\u201d (by most fans\u2019 expectations) season to date is the team\u2019s flexibility&#8230;.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"Yoast SEO Relevanssi index exclude","inline_featured_image":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-sportstalk-shop"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Phillies\u2019 Unsung Storylines - ATVN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Phillies\u2019 Unsung Storylines - ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of\u00a0 RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. One of the reasons why the Phillies have had the kind of \u201csurprising\u201d (by most fans\u2019 expectations) season to date is the team\u2019s flexibility....\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/phillies-unsung-storylines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ATVN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-25T19:53:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-14T18:44:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Michael\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/phillies-unsung-storylines\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/phillies-unsung-storylines\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"headline\":\"Phillies\u2019 Unsung Storylines\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-25T19:53:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-14T18:44:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/phillies-unsung-storylines\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":517,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"The SportsTalk Shop\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/phillies-unsung-storylines\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/phillies-unsung-storylines\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/phillies-unsung-storylines\\\/\",\"name\":\"Phillies\u2019 Unsung Storylines - ATVN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-25T19:53:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-14T18:44:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/phillies-unsung-storylines\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/\",\"name\":\"ATVN\",\"description\":\"Local Programming &amp; Astound Digital Cable, Internet &amp; Phone Services\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a\",\"name\":\"Chris Michael\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"url\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\\\/atvn\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Chris Michael\"},\"description\":\"Chris handles play-by-play for RCN sports events, including baseball, football &amp; basketball games and produces\\\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. Among Chris\u2019s other responsibilities include reporting on local news &amp; sports stories, conducting \u201cTake 5\u201d interviews with community and political leaders, producing commercials, voiceovers and promos; and generating blog entries and videos on the internet. Click here to listen to the weekly Sports Talk podcast.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.astound.com\\\/atvn\\\/author\\\/rcntvchris\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Phillies\u2019 Unsung Storylines - ATVN","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Phillies\u2019 Unsung Storylines - ATVN","og_description":"The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of\u00a0 RCN or any other agency, organization, employer or company. One of the reasons why the Phillies have had the kind of \u201csurprising\u201d (by most fans\u2019 expectations) season to date is the team\u2019s flexibility....","og_url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/phillies-unsung-storylines\/","og_site_name":"ATVN","article_published_time":"2018-07-25T19:53:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-04-14T18:44:24+00:00","author":"Chris Michael","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Michael","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/phillies-unsung-storylines\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/phillies-unsung-storylines\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris Michael","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a"},"headline":"Phillies\u2019 Unsung Storylines","datePublished":"2018-07-25T19:53:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-14T18:44:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/phillies-unsung-storylines\/"},"wordCount":517,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["The SportsTalk Shop"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/phillies-unsung-storylines\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/phillies-unsung-storylines\/","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/phillies-unsung-storylines\/","name":"Phillies\u2019 Unsung Storylines - ATVN","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-07-25T19:53:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-04-14T18:44:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/phillies-unsung-storylines\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/","name":"ATVN","description":"Local Programming &amp; Astound Digital Cable, Internet &amp; Phone Services","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/#\/schema\/person\/6aba8df7f74bf50b72426776afd0067a","name":"Chris Michael","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg","url":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg","contentUrl":"\/atvn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Chris-Michael-Sports-Talk-Shop-Author-Image1.jpg","caption":"Chris Michael"},"description":"Chris handles play-by-play for RCN sports events, including baseball, football &amp; basketball games and produces\/hosts the station\u2019s 60-minute live call-in show. Among Chris\u2019s other responsibilities include reporting on local news &amp; sports stories, conducting \u201cTake 5\u201d interviews with community and political leaders, producing commercials, voiceovers and promos; and generating blog entries and videos on the internet. Click here to listen to the weekly Sports Talk podcast.","url":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/author\/rcntvchris\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81359"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87610,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81359\/revisions\/87610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.astound.com\/atvn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}