Marlins unhappy Lieber got help

Apparently last year the reason that Jon Lieber turned his season around, lost 35 lbs, and almost won the Cy Young award (OK I'm kidding). Jokes aside apparently last year after the Marlins beat up on Lieber during one of his starts he got some tips from then-manager of the Marlins, Joe Girardi. Now the fact is the Girardi, a catcher, played with Lieber in Chicago so they are good friends. That part makes it reasonable that Girardi gave him some tips. The problem is that Girardi apparently gave him these tips during the season while he was coaching the Marlins, who in case you didn't know are in the same division as the Phils and were fighting against them for the Wild Card.
Girardi ended up getting fired anyway for different reasons so nothing will come of this besides Florida management and fans (are there any?) hating Girardi more.
Hopefully Girardi gave Lieber some offseason tips so he'll have a good start this year.

Philadelphia Daily News | 02/28/2007 | Marlins unhappy Lieber got help: "Florida general manager Larry Beinfest declined to comment yesterday, but another team official said the front office was angry about the matter. The official requested anonymity because Beinfest wouldn't comment."

edit: here's an article about it from a Miami newspaper


PS. I'm going to post the html of pictures now myself instead of using Blogger's thing, hopefully I'll be able to make them show up better, let me know if anything looks fucked up.

Would You Do...?

This is probably wrong in many ways, but it is still great. So check it out. Who will be the #1 female sports reporter that you would do?

Click on the picture to check out the bracket.

Introducing the "Would you do..." Tournament

The Big Picture

No. 1 Erin Andrews vs. No. 16 Andrea Kremer

How Many Home Runs Would You Have in Fenway

I don't know if I have mentioned the website hardballtimes here, but I just finished reading a great article from there. The hardballtimes has many great articles a day. Most are stat-heavy, analytical findings that shine light on different aspects of the game.

For example this article is about how many more home runs would a player have in a season if he played for Boston rather than the Nationals, since the Monster at Fenway is much closer than the deep wall in RFK. He uses data about where fly ball outs landed that players hit. What it basically comes down to is that he looked to see from the data he had if some of the fly ball outs would be hits had they been hit in Fenway. Obviously the Green Monster allows for many more doubles and home runs. Similarly, the short porch in Houston causes the same effect.
The interesting thing about this is that J.D. Drew, a big offseason signing by the Red Sox (can't say the biggest because of Dice-K), has a lot of hits to deep left field and a lot of outs that may be hits at home in Boston, which would help the Red Sox out a lot this season.
He does finally come up with a number for the amount of outs that would be hits in Fenway and ranks players based on how many more hits they would get from the change in venue. Topping the list is Chipper Jones. J.D. Drew is in the top 15 of the list and interestingly enough Pat Burell is in the top 25 of the list. There's really nothing useful about that stat besides maybe the Phillies shouldn't have moved the wall back.
On that note, I'm curious as to what the final count of fly ball outs that would have been home runs the year before. Did the Phillies ever release an "official guess" amount?

The HardBall Times

Enough of This Stuff Already

A nice New York Times article that was pointed out.
Murray Chass lists the things he wants to be talked about anymore and I agree with what he says, namely:
-Roger Clemens and when or if he is coming back
-Players declaring that they will not resign with their team at the end of the year
-Players saying they have to be signed before the season starts because they don't want to worry about it during the season. On that note, I'm pretty sure your agent does most of the negotiating and why would you rule that out if perhaps you have a great first half and the team offers you something nice. Why say something dumb like that that may keep the team from offering you money.
-A-Rod and Jeter. I do kind of hate the Yankees so I guess this is obvious, but we know they don't get along, who cares, they don't need to in order to win.

As Season Approaches, Some Topics Should Be Off Limits - New York Times: "If players think their threats are going to panic their teams into giving them the contract extensions they want, they haven’t been paying attention."

Stephen A. Apparently Knows Baseball

Nothing great in this article by Stephen besides talking about what Jimmy Rollins has said. I'm pretty sure there has been about 100 articles about the Rollins quote, but I guess Stephen A had to chime in or this article is on the front of the sunday's sports page, I don't know because I'm just reading it online.

If the Phillies are going to do something, the time is now. All the parts are in place. In this town, you stake a claim, you must deliver.Chances are the Phillies aren't happy about this at all. Somebody probably went to Rollins and wanted to smack him in the mouth, no doubt electing to roll his eyes and choose a different path instead.
After all, this franchise doesn't like pressure. Mainly because it doesn't come without expectations.

I just highlight this article because I think it's funny that Stephen A. Smith, the huge baseball fan, is laying down the law for the Phils this season.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/25/2007 | Stephen A. Smith | Rollins voiced what we all should expect: "The Phillies are usually fine in May, before the baseball equivalent of a sneeze jump-starts their June. A cough in July and August progresses to bronchitis by September. Right around the time fall officially arrives is when full-blown pneumonia kicks in, when baseball in Philadelphia is sent to bed, giving the Phillies months to come up with the latest pathetic excuse for why they've been spectating since 1993 - and counting."

Who was at the game on Sept. 28th, 2006 down in DC?

I got my first spring training baseball magazine yesterday (Athlon Sports). I haven't gotten to the rankings and everything, but there is a little column on the game last season between the Phillies and Nationals that didn't start until 11:30 pm. The game was at RFK stadium and there were probably only about a max of 500 people there, all of them Phillies fans. I went to that game and an amazing time, despite the fact that the Phillies couldn't will themselves into the playoffs with any hits.
If anyone was at that game, I was the kid right at the end of the Nationals dugout with his shirt off screaming at every non-Phillies player and fan and cheering for everyone Phillies related.
Here is the article just because I like to think it was written about me. haha.

How Late Was It?
So late that the RFK Stadium cleaning crew began sweeping the upper deck before te game started. So late that the ushers went home. So late the concession stands closed 90 minutes prior to the first pitch. So late that the last out was seen by only a few hundred fans. For four hours, 27 minutes, the Nationals and Phillies waited to start their game on Spet. 28 - 28 minutes before Sept. 29 actually - their persistence owing to its import to the wild card chase. By the time the Nats eked out a 3-1 win, it was 2:07 am. The tiny crowd that stuck it out consisted mostly of rowdies visiting from Philly who provided as much entertainment as the game itself. Clustered in the front rows were the hardcores (some shirtless despite 50-degree temps), easily heard in the empty stadium cussing Nats players, booing 10-foot tall Thomas Jefferson who took a spectacular fall in the fourth-inning "President's Race," chanting "Harry Kallas" at the PA announcer and taunting the Washington mascot. Even Nats president Stan Kasten got in the spirit of things, sitting behind home plate holding a sign that read "Ball Game Today." "I don't know if we'll ever experience that kind of atmosphere again," waxed catcher Brian Schneider. And oh by the way, the two teams had played a 14-inning marathon the night before that had last just short of five hours.

I'm not going to remember the fact that the Phils basically ended their season with that loss or that that game should not have been postponed, what I'm going to remember is how much fun it was to be there and be a part of that excitement even if it came to nothing. Hopefully this year we can wrap up a playoff berth before the final weekend, that would be real nice.

Don't forget Griffey ... the best of his generation

Just reading some ESPN articles and I thought I would pass this Page 2 article onto everyone. Jeff Pearlman writes about Ken Griffey Jr. Remember him? That energetic, athletic, home-run-hitting, amazing center fielder. He went from being touted as the guy that would break Aaron's record and everyone loved him for it, to now being consistently injured and out of the spotlight. Pearlman says that we should remember and love Griffey because of the great years he did have and the fact that he never chose to cheat and use steroids. He may not be in limelight because of it, but it was the right decision.

Following the 1998 season, during which Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa launched the Home Run Chase that Really Wasn't, Griffey and Bonds -- near-lifelong acquaintances -- met up in Florida. Bonds confided in Griffey that he was about to start taking some "hard-core stuff" to keep up with the big boys.

Griffey nodded, but knew all along it wasn't for him.

I always liked Griffey, I was such a fan of his amazing center field abilities and everyone always tried to swing like him when they were playing around, even though his swing doesn't work for anyone, but him.

I don't want to spend the season hating on Barry Bonds as he approaches Aaron's record. I just want him to get injured and retire and end it like that. You won't see too many Bonds articles from me, but I like this article. It highlights a great player in Griffey and does a good job of bashing Bonds.

With 569 career home runs, Griffey sits comfortably in 10th place, a mere 26 away from leapfrogging Sosa into fifth. But whether he does so hardly matters. Griffey is a baseball legend -- perhaps not the best player of his generation, but undeniably the best clean one. He can sleep at night and never worry about federal agents or a grand jury or a tarnished legacy.

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Don't forget Griffey ... the best of his generation: "Though the ritual is now as much a part of spring training as freshly cut grass and Bengay in the rookie's jock, I continue to find it equal parts perplexing and annoying."

Brett Myers hates the Mets

Brett Myers wants to do to the Mets what he did to his wife last summer, except without the apologizing and making up.

"I hate the Mets," said Brett Myers, who made it clear it was more about the uniform than individual players. "I want to beat them more than anyone else. What we need to do is make sure none of their fans get in our building. We shouldn't sell tickets to Mets fans."

I like the attitude, it may be a bit overboard but we should expect that from Myers. And I agree there's nothing more than I hate than Mets fans at the Phillies games. Rather than not sell tickets to Mets fans, Phillies fans should try buying tickets. That'd be a great idea, come on out to those games this year. I know I won't be living back in PA this summer but you can be sure I'll go to plenty of games.
Link to the article where this quote comes from is below.
CourierPostOnline - South Jersey's Web Site

The Third Base Job is up for grabs

Off of the Phillies.com website there is a story about the fight at 3B this spring between Abraham Nunez and Wes Helms, both battling for the starting job.
Many people assumed that when Helms was signed to 2year $5.45 million deal that he was going to be given the starting job. Word out of Clearwater is that the job is up for grabs.
That is a fair stance for Manuel to take considering what Nunez did for the team last year. He played well defensively and had a batting average of .242 as a starter. I'm not saying he was great, I didn't really like seeing him out there either, but at least Manuel is stirring some competition to get each of them to work hard.
The issue comes down to the question of do the Phils want a better defensive or offensive 3B. Nunez is the proven better defensive player (it would be tough to bat .211 in a season and still have a job if you didn't play defense well). While Helms is the likely better hitter since he batted .329 with 10 homers last year in 240 at-bats. Those are pretty decent numbers in only 240 at-bats. Now the Phils upon signing him this offseason hope that those at-bats carry over with relative numbers in a full season's worth of at-bats. That is rather tough to predict. Was last year a fluke for Helms? Is he able to bat like that every day?
One idea that Mandel in the article gives is that the two would platoon. It would be a defensive platoon though, with Nunez playing when the Phillies have a lefty starting (Hamels and Moyer) because a lefty pitcher would cause the other lineup to have more right handed hitters (right handed hitters can rip the ball down the third base line much easier than lefties).
It would be an interesting move that I don't think Manuel would go with, but we shall see. Hopefully we get some answers on the two 3B during spring training.

The Official Site of The Philadelphia Phillies: News: Philadelphia Phillies News: "'I've never had a stretch that bad,' Nunez said. 'It's not how you go through it, but how you come out of it.
Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes, it's a wakeup call.'"

Phillies on the front page of ESPN.com MLB page

Well they've made it. The Phillies are on the front page of ESPN.com MLB page. I know, don't get too excited, it's not that big of a deal. It's basically just because Jimmy Rollins has a big mouth.
Here is their caption to the headline you see you at the top:

Let's get this straight. The Phillies, who finished 12 games out of first last season, are the team to beat in the NL East? Jimmy Rollins' words have inspired the Phillies -- and their foes.

Yup, the team to beat. The article is written by Jayson Stark, the ex-Inquirer writer so maybe it is a little biased.
First let me tell you what is inside the insider fantasy preview article by Tristan H. Cockcroft.

But is 2007 the year the Phillies finally snap their 13-season playoff drought? If the team's superstar infield has anything to say about it, they might. First baseman Ryan Howard, age 27, is coming off an astonishing 58-homer, 149-RBI breakout year that landed him the MVP, and now he's considered one of the game's premier sluggers. Second baseman Chase Utley, 28, has managed back-to-back years with at least a .291 batting average, 28 home runs, 102 RBI and 15 stolen bases, and is now the hands-down top fantasy player at his position. Shortstop Jimmy Rollins, 28, is coming off a year in which he set career highs in homers (25), RBI (83), runs scored (127) and OPS (.812), vaulting him into fantasy's top-five at his position. All three are in their prime, occupy three of the top four lineup spots and are early-round fantasy picks, which on its own would be enough to make a team a top-10 offense. And that doesn't even consider the fourth infielder, new third baseman Wes Helms, who batted a remarkable .329 with a .965 OPS as a part-timer in Florida last year.

Sounds pretty optimistic to me. Chase Utley is going to be a very sought after 2nd basemen in fantasy leagues especially with Soriano leaving the position. If only Rollins got steals he would be a great fantasy pick-up. Wait did I just say that, yea Jimmy Rollins needs to steal some more bases this year and not just for fantasy reasons.
And just a quick Burrell comment from that article, I didn't want to put it in, but I had to.

OVERRATED: If you live anywhere near Philadelphia or are a Phillies fan, you probably won't come close to overrating Pat Burrell in a fantasy draft. But people in other areas of the country might not be aware of how maddening a player he can be to watch, or own in a fantasy league. Burrell led the majors in called third strikes (63), and batted .169 with 131 K's in 254 at-bats in two-strike counts, .222 with runners in scoring position and .167 with runners in scoring position and two outs. Whether you believe in the notion of "clutch" hitters, Burrell was -- statistically speaking -- anti-clutch in 2006.

Michael Bourn, a player the Phils are very big on, but he hasn't quite lived up to any hype yet. In this section Cockcroft says,

OF Michael Bourn: The organization's steals champion three years straight, Bourn is a left-handed hitting leadoff type, a sort of "lite" Juan Pierre. If Aaron Rowand is traded at any point, Bourn could take over and be a .280-hitting, 40-steal man right away.

I think that may be a bit too optimistic, but hey this is spring training the time when we are all happy, optimistic, and every player could be a star.

---

Now onto the Jayson Stark article on the Phillies.
Just for your information 16 of the current Phillies players weren't even born the last time the Phils won the World Series (me too). Over the last 23 seasons the Phils have been in the playoffs less times than the Cubs (thank you 1993 for our only time in those years).
Here are some quotes from the article that different people had in response to Rollins' quote of winning the division:

From Rollins' double-play partner, Chase Utley:"In order to be successful, I think you have to expect it. You have to set the standards pretty high."

Very high class comment by Chase.

From GM Pat Gillick: "Even though those statements kind of put the bull's-eye on you, when they come from players, I like to hear that. It means they feel good about themselves and they feel good about their teammates. So I like to hear those kinds of positive comments."

It's about the right attitude.

And from the most enthusiastic endorser of Rollins' predictive powers, closer Tom Gordon: "I never read the article where he said that or heard anything about it until now. But why not? Why not us? Everybody pencils in the Mets. Everybody pencils in the Braves because they've done it every year. But why can't the Phillies win this year and next year and the following year, and be one of those teams? This team has had an opportunity to see every year what the Braves have done. So now why can't we do just what they've done, if not better? I mean, why not?"

Yea, why can't the Phils win 11 straight divisions, that would be a lot of fun.

It's an intriguing question, all right -- not to mention an intriguing opportunity for some shrewd South Philadelphia entrepreneur to print up about 100,000 "WHY NOT?" T-shirts.

Can anyone tell me where I can get one of these shirts?

Speaking for the Mets' defense counsel, here's David Wright, in a recent interview with WFAN: "I read in the paper that Jimmy Rollins thinks nobody else has a chance. … When you read that, it irks you a bit and makes you want to go out there and beat them that much more."

It's good to know that Wright misquoted him wrong and there will be some nice rivalry games this year.

What this race is liable to come down to, in the simplest terms, is whether the Mets' biggest worry (starting pitching) will turn out to be less of a liability than the Phillies' biggest worry (bullpen).

Ahhh, the bullpen, I really hope the bullpen doesn't ruin us. It's such a crappy aspect of the team that when it's great no one notices, but when it's bad it really hurts and everyone gets upset.

"We still need work in our bullpen," Gillick said, unequivocally. "We need to get better back there."

It's good that Gillick admits that, go spend the owners money Gillick, do it for the sake of Philadelphia.

Drexel Dragons had a good weekend

The most surprising college team in Philadelphia this winter would definately have to be the Drexel Dragons. Their men's basketball team is having a spectacular winter, beating Villanova earlier in the season. So it shouldn't come as too much of a surpise, but it still is that Drexel beat Creighton yesterday in a terrific come from behind road win. The game was shown on ESPN and called a "Bracket Busters" game. Drexel isn't in first place in their league, but they have shown the ability to win on the road (12 road wins - best in Division 1) which should come in handy come conference tournament time. In case we forgot the surprise team of last year's March Madness - George Mason - is from the same conference as Drexel.
It would definately be a crazy March if Drexel made it farther than any Big 5 team. We shall see.
Drexel pulls off stunner, beats Creighton on road

In some more surprising college news the Drexel men's lacrosse team beat #1 Virginia to open the season. Virginia won the championship last year and was also the home team for this game. It was a come from behind win for Drexel who scored the winning goal with 10 seconds left in the game. The score was 11-10 and it was the first time in Drexel sports history that any team beat the top ranked team in any sport.
Drexel tops No. 1 Va. in men's lacrosse

Goosebumps

The Phillies have come out with their ad campaign for the spring and it is - Goosebumps. Yup, "Goosebumps." I'm not kidding with you. If you are from the Greater Philadelphia area you have probably seen them otherwise follow the link at the bottom to watch all the commercials.
Now all the fan segments were obviously filmed last year during the season which got me wondering did they tell the fans to mention goosebumps and shiver like that or did they realize this winter that they had a whole bunch of videos of fans doing that so it would be a good advertising gimmick. I don't really know.
I'm more of a fan of the "You Gotta Believe" ads and these are a little bit weird, like when Manuel mentions pantyhose, but hey if they get fans to the park that's all that matters.

The Official Site of The Philadelphia Phillies: Fan Forum: Phillies Commercials

Dunk Contest Live Blog

I figured I'm sitting here watching the dunk contest, why don't I do a live blog of it.
Sure, why not.
Newer posts will be at the bottom. I don't feel like putting a timestamp on each update.

-Michael Jordan is the toughest judge so far. After the first round Gerald Green had a 48 and Nate Robinson had a 45. Green has a real cool original dunk where his teammate and him ran up the baseline and his teammate tossed the ball off the side of the backboard and he caught it and dunked.

- Tyrus Thomas had a nice dunk where he jumped over Ben Gordon and slammed it with one hand. He also managed to rip the net off of the rim on the dunk so now we have a delay while the put up a new a net.

-The net is fixed. Dwight Howard put a sticker on the top of the backboard during his dunk. That's crazy. He caught the ball from his teammate under the net and slammed it with his right hand while he slammed a sticker on the top of the backboard with his left hand.

-It's a conspiracy for Nate Robinson to win again this year. He just grabbed the ball from his teammate holding the ball up and did a 180 and slammed it in. It was not better than Howard's dunk, but the judges scored it higher because Nate is the little guy.

-Now Nate is standing in the lane ready to be jumped over. That was a sweet dunk, Green just dunked over Nate Robinson.

-A pretty cool dramatic commercial where the guy dunks at the end of the game to win it. I think it was for the new Lebron shoe. It was like the Space Jam winning dunk where Mike dunked over all the aliens, except without the arm extending part.

-Gerald Green and Nate Robinson are the top dunkers to advance. Dwight Howard got robbed. I don't think Howard made it and that's just because he's 7feet tall and they wanted more from him. Nate is going to win it just cause he's the little guy, also because if you ask me there's a knicks conspiracy (just kidding, i think).

-A pretty generic dunk by Nate, grabbed the rim then dunked it with the other hand.

-Green caught the ball passed to him from behind the backboard and dunked it with two hands. The timing is very tough for a dunk like that.
Now puts the pressure on Nate to really do something.

-Nate is trying to throw it off the backboard catch it and do a 360 dunk. 4 tries and he hasn't done it yet.

-He is tired. He finally got it on his 10th try. Green only needs a 40 to win.

-Green jumped from about two steps in front of the foul line over a box and slammed it. He is the winner.

-That's it for the dunk contest. The first round with all 4 dunkers was better. I wanted to say that they should have more dunkers in the contest but watching this final round I see that these dunks can be really tiring cause they seemed pretty tired. I wish they could make it longer so we could see more dunks.
Another thing is that it's important that you score a lot of points on every dunk. You should be able to get one good dunk to be a good base and then in the next round go for a crazy dunk that no one has ever done. The dunkers have to be kind of smart about each of their dunks to make sure they get enough points each time.

Baseball Notes | Rule Changes

No major rule changes that will surprise anyone, but it worth nothing what rule changes actually took place. So when you are sitting at the game with some friends and it starts raining in the 5th inning of a tie ball game you can tell them exactly what could happen.

The committee also changed the way tie games will be resolved. Any games stopped with a tie score in the bottom of the fifth inning or later will be suspended rather than replayed.

Suspended games will be completed before the next scheduled game between the two teams at the same location, baseball's rules committee said. If no games are left at that field, the game will be completed at the other team's ballpark.

Only if a game would affect a playoff spot and there are no scheduled meetings left between the two teams would a game be declared a tie and replayed in its entirety.

The other rule change listed involves players who scuff the ball. "A position player who scuffs or defaces a baseball will be ejected and receive an automatic 10-game suspension." If a pitcher is believed to have scuffed the ball the decision on what to do is up to the discretion of the umpire.
That's all the new rule changes, don't look like an idiot in front of your friends the next time it starts raining.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/17/2007 | Baseball Notes | Reliever Foulke decides to retire

Phil's Farm System Rank

Ranking Organizations -- The Hardball Times

According to this book highlighted over at Hardball Times the Phillies don't have the 2nd to worst farm system in baseball like that espn.com article a few weeks back would have you to believe.
Actually he ranks the Phils as the 10th best system in the majors, not a bad ranking at all.
His rankings are based more on actual performance last year instead of supposed potential, which could be the difference.
But, hey I wouldn't mind having a bunch of underrated guys who play well (can anyone say Chris Coste?).

That's it for that, just like passing along good information about the Phillies.

Buster Olney's Top 10 most intriguing starters

Most people probably don't have an ESPN insider subscription, even though you need one to read just about anything worthwhile on espn.com, so I thought I would pass along this interesting article by Buster Olney about 10 pitchers worth watching this season.
These are 10 pitchers who if they perform up to their potential they could greatly help their team make the playoffs.
"The pitchers below all have the stuff to give a major lift to the playoff hopes of their respective teams, making them some of the most intriguing pitchers of 2007."
1. Cliff Lee, Indians
2. Rich Harden, Athletics
3. Oliver Perez, Mets
4. Cole Hamels, Phillies
5. Josh Beckett, Red Sox
6. Felix Hernandez, Mariners
7. Matt Cain, Giants
8. Jason Jennings, Astros
9. Daniel Cabrera, Orioles
10. Chris Young, Padres
As for what he says about Cole Hamels here it is:

Brett Myers is the No. 1, and Philadelphia has some veterans in the back end of the rotation in Jamie Moyer and Freddy Garcia. But Hamels has the kind of ability, some talent evaluators believe, to quickly ascend into the ranks of the best pitchers in the NL. He has had trouble staying healthy, and he still has just 23 starts in the big leagues. But with his fastball and changeup, Hamels could turn out to be the Phillies' best pitcher.

Some big expectations for Hamels, which isn't really anything new for Philly. We've all had these hopes for awhile.
For those fantasy baseball fans it basically seems that Olney is saying these 10 guys are high risk high reward kind of guys.

Here is the link to the article if you got insider.

Garcia won't make plans past October

Freddy Garcia doesn't want to start talking about a contract yet. This being the final year of his contract, he will be a free agent at the end of the season. He doesn't want to sign a long term deal with Philly now because as he said, "I've only been in Philadelphia once. I want to make sure I like it. I want to make sure my family is comfortable." He also said he doesn't want to negotiate a contract during the season.
So Phils fans we better enjoy Garcia this year because if next years free agents get as much money as they did this offseason then Garcia will be going to the team that gives him the most money.


Philadelphia Daily News | 02/16/2007 | Garcia won't make plans past October: "The Phillies traded prospects Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez to the White Sox for Garcia to bolster their rotation. They might extend him beyond this season, after his contract expires."

Slip in tub injures Cubs' Kerry Wood

Kerry Wood is just ridiculous. All this guy who was once a great prospect and budding star can do is get hurt.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/16/2007 | Baseball Notes | Slip in tub injures Cubs' Kerry Wood: "Wood said he probably would not have thrown off the mound until today had he not gotten hurt. He participated in most drills when pitchers and catchers worked out for the first time yesterday."

Bill Conlin's Batting Order for the Phillies

In today's Daily News Bill Conlin breaks down what he thinks should be the Phils lineup.
First off let me just tell you what he thinks the lineup should be.
1. Shane Victorino - RF
2. Aaron Rowand - CF
3. Chase Utley - 2B
4. Ryan Howard - 1B
5. Jimmy Rollins - SS
6. Pat Burrell - LF
7. Wes Helms - 3B
8. Carlos Ruiz or Rod Barajas - C

Conlin says that the emergence of Victorino as a solid candidate for lead off is reason enough to let Jimmy Rollins pretend to be Alfonso Soriano and bat further down in the lineup.

Batting No. 5 and playing short, Jimmy Rollins. I never thought I'd see a player with a chance to drive in 125 runs batting behind two of the top hitters in baseball act as if he's being dissed. Now think about this a little... Alfonso Soriano struck out 160 times last year. Pat Burrell struck out 131 times last year. Yet GM Pat Gillick was ready to lavish $120 million of Teflonics cash to make Soriano the guy "protecting'' Howard. Go figure.

Did you know that Rollins had only 10 fewer extra-base hits last season than Soriano (89-79), only 12 fewer RBI than the Nationals' leadoff man and struck out exactly half as many times while having a far superior stolen-base percentage?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. He also says the Helms and Burrell could be switched depending on the matchup. Also, maybe we'll get lucky and one of these catchers will become a great hitter as well.

I like the article because it does throw around some good ideas, but there is no reason to set it in stone what the lineup will be now. It can be adjusted all through spring training and even more so during the season.

It's just fun to be talking seriously now about the Phillies and not be waiting for next year. Next year is here, the time is now. Let's have some fun.

Bill Conlin | Calling the Phils' lineup to order

The Good Ol' Days of School Closings

School Closings - Find Weather Related Emergency School Delays and Closings in Philadelphia

For those not in the northeast, let me just tell you that it's snowing here. A reasonable snowstorm that will cause some problems. I wish I was still in high school where I'd be getting out early right about now, but nope I'm in college and no classes have been cancelled and now I gotta go walk through the snow and cold to go to class.
Get a chance to enjoy the snow if you can especially if you are a kid who got the day off because of it.
I'll let the blog gods know that if they cancel class for me tomorrow I'll be sure to do a lot of blogging and make some great posts.

Daredevils Jump From Comcast Tower

kyw.com - Daredevils Jump From Comcast Tower

Some crazy guys in Philly jump off of the unfinished comcast tower down onto the streets below. That must be quite the rush and very dangerous. I wonder how they got up there.

Fantasy Baseball

Spring Training is almost upon us which means it's almost time for fantasy baseball season.
So now you can't go into a fantasy draft on your own. What tools do you use?
You can't just use Yahoo's default rankings, they are no good. And now I'd probably end up buying a magazine anyway, so why now just do something easier and buy something online.
I have found a few sites and I would your suggestions on which is the best.
Rotoworld.com has an appealing package for fantasy owners that seems pretty thorough, it updates through the season, and it costs $14.95.
Roto Authority sells an excel program (don't let that make you think it sucks I say the sample) for $9.95. One of the things I liked about it is that you can use it during your draft and tell it what players got drafted so it will take them off the board for you. It also has a lot of rankings and it seems to be a good buy if you are in an auction league.
Then of course there is ESPN.com and it's insider/fantasy sections, both of which are very nice. I haven't done fantasy on espn yet, but I got an insider subscription and it's a must.

So let me know which one you like or if you know of any others and I'll edit this post and add them in.
Also if anyone wants me in their fantasy league, just ask, I'd love to do a few leagues.

A Cool Little Tool for iTunes

If you like seeing live music and you use iTunes to keep track of your music files then I suggest this program for you. iConcertCal
No, I'm not getting or anything for this, I just saw it though and I installed it. It's really great to make sure you catch all possible live shows in your area of bands you like.
I again apologize for posting something that has nothing to do with sports, but live music happens to also be a favorite of mine, so enjoy.

Batter Up! - Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/11/2007 | Batter Up!: "By Todd Zolecki"

A nice season preview that I wish I had written myself.

Cats Beat up on Hawks

Villanova beat St. Joe's 56-39 in a fine display of poor offense and poor shooting. The Hawks shot 13/50 from the floor, while 'Nova shot 21/59. Villanova ended up winning due to strong defense and their two seniors, Sumpter and Nardi, who led in scoring with 14 points and 11 points respectively. Villanova wins the Big 5 crown this year going 4-0 against the oter Big 5 teams for the second year in a row. It was also the lowest scoring game for the Hawks against the Cats since 1939.
Maybe the game needed to be at the Palestra, maybe St. Joe's really needs to mature and gain some experience. Hopefully Phil Martelli can rebuild St. Joe's into a team that can beat the rest of the Big 5 in the next few years.
There's nothing like a good hard fought Villanova - St. Joe's game.

Inquirer Article
ESPN.com Article

St. Joe's - Villanova - Rivalry at it's best

One of the greatest rivalrys in college basketball. Definately the best rivalry in Big 5 ball.
Villanova has been playing great some games and playing horribly some games, they are looking to make a return to the tournament this season despite losing 3 of their guards to the NBA. Curtis Sumpter is trying to make a run in the tournament. St Joe's is in the middle of a rebuilding year. Shannon Ryan has a nice article today about the excitement of the game.

Sumpter summed up the rivalry. "The crowd, the fans, the competitiveness," he said. "The whole city comes together for Big Five games. It's like nothing else matters. [Either team] can be the worst team in its conference, and it's still a battle."
...
"Anything that you can possibly think of might happen," the senior said.
...
"If your juices don't flow [tonight]," Martelli said, "then you've got to check your pulse to see if you're still alive."
...
"We take ourselves out of the Big East and just talk about the Big Five," Wright said. "This is our next game, this is what it is. For us, it's like the world stops for every game."

The game is at 7 tonight on ESPN2, or if you are in the Philly area it's at Villanova.

Spring Training Lineup Predictions

Straight Phillies.com today they have a new story about the likely lineup the Phillies will use this season. I'll just copy and paste it to be easy, and also so you get the player links.

Projected batting order
1. SS Jimmy Rollins:
.277 BA, 25 HR, 83 RBI
2. RF Shane Victorino:
.287 BA, 6 HR, 46 RBI
3. 2B Chase Utley:
.309 BA, 32 HR, 102 RBI
4. 1B Ryan Howard:
.313 BA, 58 HR, 149 RBI
5. LF Pat Burrell:
.258 BA, 29 HR, 95 RBI
6. 3B Wes Helms:
.329 BA, 10 HR, 47 RBI
7. CF Aaron Rowand:
.262 BA, 12 HR, 47 RBI
8. C Carlos Ruiz:
.261 BA, 3 HR, 10 RBI

That top 4 if they play up to their potential can be great this season. The bottom of the lineup has more ifs. Can Burrell raise that .258 average and be a more clutch hitter behing Howard? Can Wes Helms bat around .300 again this season? Can young Carlos Ruiz be an everyday catcher in the big leagues or does Chris Coste deserve that starting spot?

Now for the best opening day rotation the Phillies have had in years:

Projected rotation
1. RHP Freddy Garcia, 17-9, 4.53 ERA
2. RHP Brett Myers, 12-7, 3.91 ERA
3. LHP Cole Hamels, 9-8, 4.08 ERA
4. LHP Jamie Moyer, 11-14, 4.30 ERA
5. RHP Adam Eaton, 7-4, 5.12 ERA

Can this rotation win a world series? Who knows, right now the hope is that they can stay healthy and win a few more games than they lose.

This year the Phils can't start off slow in and try to fight back in the end, they need to have a strong opening 2-3 months of the season.

Cole's Wife

Cole Hamels married Heidi Strobel on New Year's Eve just in case anyone was interested in that sort of thing. Strobel is famous for being on Survivor season 6 and then for posing in playboy afterwards.
the700level has a nice post about the wedding here.
I'm just going to cut to the chase and give you guys the link to the playboy pictures. I wish Cole the best of luck in his marriage, he has caught a very fine young woman.

In case that link doesn't work for you, there is one in a post from last May that I made here.