Phightins

Also, I have no idea why Charlie Manuel decided to have Placido Polanco bunt in the 8th inning. For my money, Polly is the best hitter in the lineup right now. If there is anybody I want swinging away with men on base in a 1 run deficit, it is him. That was the turning point of the game.

I am not going to lie, that might be one of the three or four best games I have ever seen Cole Hamels pitch. Yet another example of why a starting pitcher's W-L is so irrelevant!

Ugh my personal 4 game winning streak has come to an end!

The idea of Adam Dunn patrolling left field at Citi Field would scare me as a Mets fan.

Also, this was weird. Mike Sweeney has a similar body-type to Pat Burrell, has the same number, and uses the same intro music (Holy Diver). I was VERY confused.

Fish, you should come down for a game some time. I was very surprised at the lack of Mets fans there tonight. Usually there are way more. There was only one in my section (but she was an attractive female so she gets a pass for that hideous Santana jersey she had on ).

Still a month and a half-ish until training camp, but I figured I'd get this fired up now. Anyway, very excited for this season. Many Flyers fans are not happy with this offseason, but I happen to believe the team is better now than it was at the conclusion of last season. We will see. Here is how the roster looks as of now, including a guess at what the lines and defensive pairings might look like. Goalies: Michael Leighton Brian Boucher Johan Backlund Defense: Chris Pronger-Matt Carle Kimmo Timonen-Braydon Coburn Andrej Meszaros-Sean O'Donnell Extra Defensemen: Oskars Bartulis, Matt Walker Forward Lines: James van Riemsdyk-Mike Richards-Nikolai Zherdev Scott Hartnell-Danny Briere-Ville Leino Dan Carcillo-Jeff Carter-Claude Giroux Darroll Powe-Blair Betts-Ian Laperriere Extra Forwards: Jody Shelley, David Laliberte I would not be surprised to see them sign another defenseman (as ridiculous as this sounds) to the league minimum (maybe Lukas Krajicek would be willing to come back for very cheap). I expect them to outright Walker to the Phantoms so his $1.7 million salary does not count against the cap, and I also expect Oskars Bartulis to be placed on waivers because he is on a one-way NHL only contract (hopefully he clears and can go to the Phantoms, I do not want to lose him to another team). And obviously Backlund will start the year with the Phantoms, barring an injury between now and then to Boucher or Leighton. However if Leighton struggles early on, I would not be surprised at all to see Backlund get the call. I expect them to rotate Shelley in frequently, maybe for Powe occasionally, depending on the matchup. And obviously the line combinations are way up in the air. James van Riemsdyk is the main forward I am looking at for having a big year. We need it. Basically every forward underperformed in the regular season last year to some degree, so I would love to see improvement out of all of them to make up for the Gagne loss. There is certainly enough talent there to make it happen. Anyway, still a couple months off, but go Flyers.

There is a rumor floating around that the NHL is considering changing the overtime format to 3 minutes of 4 on 4, then 3 minutes of 3 on 3, then 3 minutes of 2 on 2, and if nothing is settled at that point, a shootout. I suppose I like this better than the current format, however I don't really think 2-on-2 is any less flukey than a shootout. It will be exciting as hell to watch, especially if it's Crosby/Malkin vs. Ovechkin/Backstrom, or Kane/Toews vs. Datsyuk/Zetterberg or something like that.

Joe Blanton pitched very well. Only gave up 2 hard hit balls if my memory serves me correct. This makes me happy. However, I am frightened that JC Romero is the only lefty in this bullpen.

More like 15 probably. Season tickets FTW . Not totally sure what my record is, I will figure it out later.

Haha I understand (although the strike zone is the one area of the game I never want to see them touch with technology). Frankly I am fine with no replay at all, but I can understand it on homerun calls and potentially fair/foul calls (although that will get very complicated, especially as it deals with guys who are already on base).

Going to Phillies-Mets tonight.

It's no worse than Peter Moylan getting a strike called 4 feet off the plate to end that game vs. the Tigers.

Received lessons for piano, drums, and saxophone. Also play a bit of guitar, and would like to get better at that. Did marching band in high school and instrumental music from when i was 8 or 9 until I graduated. Haven't really touched any of my instruments since then.

Whatever, I'll take it. Saw the game at the bowling alley so I couldn't watch too closely, but that looked like an awful call. But hey, maybe that's karma making up for all the unlucky [expletive] we've had happen so far this year. No complaints here.

Well, the names from the Mitchell Report are out there, I just happen to care very little about it. If they had also tested for HGH and those names were on the list as well, then maybe I'd feel differently. One way or the other, there are likely hundreds of guys who have used/are still using HGH and we will never know about it. So IMO it's just time to move on.

It's actually one of the easiest stadiums to hit in as a lefty. The green monster has turned so many outs in most other stadiums into extra base hits. EDIT: Woops that didn't make sense. Meant to say that the Pesky Pole has turned many outs/foul balls into homeruns for pull-happy lefties, and the monster has turned many outs into extra base hits for all hitters. Just very hitter-friendly dimensions all around. Also, park factor has always existed. Look at some of the outfield dimensions of the early 20th century ballparks. Not really right to compare it to steroids. But as I've also said, I think it's time to forget about steroids as well.

Here is to hoping that this same Mets team shows up to Citizens Bank Park this weekend.

Then lets put an asterisk on every statistic between 1995 and 2007 while we're at it. It's dumb, and will turn into nothing but a witch hunt. Major League Baseball [expletive]ed up by allowing this to happen, and they are now taking the steps to correct it (blood testing for HGH in the minors, and eventually in the Majors). Time to just let it go. Think what you want of A-Rod, but to start with asterisks is incredibly dumb and unfair.

Also, the Red Sox announcers seemed pretty dumb with their analysis of that. Of course, it was all Cleveland's fault in their eyes. I am cool with local broadcasters being homers, but come on.

I remember going to a Phillies-Marlins game in 2003 and he started a bench-clearing incident by intentionally throwing at Placido Polanco. I've intensely disliked him ever since. I was hoping Shelley Duncan or Steve Smith would kick his [expletive] last night.

Phillies trade for Mike Sweeney. I guess they could do worse as far as short-term replacements at first base go. I just wish it was 2000-2002 Mike Sweeney, lol.

This steroid banter is stupid. Pointless. Gets nowhere every time.

Also, I did not get to post this last night, but Josh Beckett is a [expletive]ing tool.

Well, there are a lot more people who used than we will ever know. Hopefully now that baseball is starting to phase in a blood testing program to detect HGH, this can be a thing of the past.