NL Wild Card

Team	W	L	PCT	GB		L10	STRK
St. Louis	66	60	.524	-		4-6	L3
Cincinnati	67	61	.523	-		6-4	W1
San Diego	65	62	.512	1.5		5-5	W4
Philadelphia	64	63	.504	2.5		7-3	L1
Arizona	62	65	.488	4.5		3-7	L4
Milwaukee	62	65	.488	4.5		7-3	W3
San Francisco	62	66	.484	5.0		7-3	L1

Those are the Wild Card standings as of August 25. The top two teams of the Cardinals and Reds are tied for the lead in the NL Central. The Cardinals are playing horribly so its only a matter of time until the Phillies pass them. The two teams the Phils have to look out for are the Reds and Padres. The Cardinals are still a stellar team so everyone in the NL should look out for a comeback from them. The Reds and Padres are both playing well and want to make the playoffs.
So, enjoy watching the scoreboard these last 6 weeks and keep an eye out for these teams.

Phillies get Jamie Moyer

The Phillies made a move for a starting pitcher! Moyer is a 43 year old veteran who has played for the Mariners, Orioles, Cardinals, Rangers, and Cubs. He was traded for two minor league pitchers. He is originally from Sellersville, PA. and went to St. Joseph's University. This year Moyer is 6-12 with a 4.39 ERA. He has a career ERA above 4, which is not nice. But it is an improvement over what we have now.

Here's what we gave up:
Andrew Barb - 21 year old RHP for the Lakewood team (A). Stats for the season - 6 - 2 2.23 ERA 18 SV 60.2 Innings 38 Games
Andrew Baldwin - RHP for Clearwater (High A).
Season stats - 8-8 4.04 ERA in 20 Starts and 147 innings.

I don't think either of these guys appear to be anything spectacular and Moyer is obviously just a quick fix for this year.

So here's current order of the rotation starting tomorrow -
Randy Wolf, LHP (1-0, 4.35)
Jon Lieber, RHP (5-9, 5.10)
Jamie Moyer, LHP (6-12, 4.39)
Brett Myers, RHP (8-6, 4.40)
Cole Hamels, LHP (6-6, 4.40)

That's a pretty fair rotation on paper. I won't say good, but decent. Brett Myers needs to get his act together. Wolf needs to find his arm again. Lieber and Moyer need to be consistent decent veterans and Hamels needs to continue to grow. There are chances for this year.

Here is the Phillies site news about the Moyer trade.

Let me just finish this post by saying I think Moyer will be good. He's a veteran pitcher that these kids can learn from. He does give up too many home runs which will be bad in Philly, but with solid run support he should be fine. He is an AL pitcher and in case no one has realized the AL just flat out has better hitters. So now it will obviously be easier this time around for Moyer to face the easier NL teams. Also, he will be facing many guys for the first time, the advantage of that will definately be his.

Visit to Sports: Breaking Records, Breaking Barriers

Went to visit the Consitution Center's exhibit "Sports: Breaking Records, Breaking Barriers" on its final day. You know the Constitution Center, the big building in center city across the street from the Liberty Bell. It was built a few years ago and is a wonderful dedication to our country's independence where you can learn a lot. Well for the last few months on top of that they had a sports exhibit as well.

They had tributes to the Flyers team that beat the Russians, Lance Armstrong, the Palestra, the Vet, Connie Mack Stadium, Roger Bannister (first sub 4 minute mile). They had Hank Aaron's jersey, Sandy Koufax's glove, Bill Russell's 10,000 rebounds game ball, one of Lance Armstrong's jersey, an autographed Babe Ruth ball, Jim Brown's practice jersey, Muhammad Ali's training robe, and Pele's New York Cosmos jersey.
All in all some quality stuff, but I expected to see more. It was cool and I guess it wasn't too expensive. Don't be too upset that the exhibit is closed.



P.S. It's pretty sweet to be on Deadspin, link to that right here. Thank you for that.

Let Me Introduce You to Some Little Leaguers

Little League World Series has started. I'm excited, I can't wait to relive my 12 year old little league life through these kids. Did you know that my team almost made it to the Little League World Series? Yea, we were probably about a dozen wins away, but hey it was still a ton of fun.

Let me tell you about a team that played tonight. South Lake Charles from Lake Charles, La. This team tonight won an exciting pitching duel of a game. The game went 9 innings (6 is regular for LL). The pitches for South Lake combined to allow only ONE hit. Now that is pretty amazing considering this is their first game in Williamsport, PA., and they were up against one of the most highly touted offenses in the tournament. Their opponent was averaging around 8 runs per game so far and tonight the final score was 1-0.
If this game isn't reason enough for you to root for this team, let me give you another reason. They're from Louisiana, yea you remember that hurricane. Well some of these kids' families were damaged from the hurricane. The announcers mentioned how one kid's family just got settled back into their house after being out of it for 9 months.

Yup this is your team to root for. Underdogs devastated by hurricane Katrina Rita (edit: wrong hurricane, same devastation) with a coach that is not a father coaching his last year with the team (I think I have that correct).



Also, ESPN, please do not use the little tidbit of information about how the Missouri team's hometown was just hit by a tornado so none of their fans could watch the game on TV as a prime oppurtunity to advertise your stupid MobileESPN phone.

Pat Burrell is a bitch

I saw this headline in the Inquirer and I was amazed. Pat Burrell sucks this year, thats a known fact. Everyone wanted to get rid of him, but he only wanted to play for the Sox and Yanks, two teams that would rather have him as their water boy than a player. So we're stuck with him, and thankfully Manuel has been giving more playing time to the better playing Victorino and Delluci.
But now Burrell comes out and complains about his playing time? Is he serious? Does he really how much of a slap in the face that is to all people who are fans of the Phillies. I remember just a few days ago about how an article started off with Pat Burrell striking out in the bottom of the 9th to force extras in a game the Phils eventually lost.

All I have to say to Pat Burrell is you need to earn your spot on the team you unclutch sad excuse for a hitter. You can't field. You wouldn't even get a starting spot on a little league team (sorry to offend the kids). Try getting some clutch hits, fix your old man foot, and stop acting like a bitch.
Fuck you, Pat Burrel.

Go Phils.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 08/17/2006 | Feeling left out: Burrell's not comfortable in reduced role.

Poor Maurice Clarett

This Could End Up Affecting The Eastern Indoor Football League Opener - Deadspin

Maurice Clarett is hurting.

86 Rules of Boozing

Modern Drunkard Magazine Online: "1.
If you owe someone money, always pay them back in
a bar. Preferably during happy hour."