Phightins

Old news Cobb! Come on get with the times! Anyway, pretty obvious that this was coming. Wilson Valdez has played himself onto the 25 man roster, even with Polanco back and when Utley eventually comes back. Castro offers next to nothing. Greg Dobbs is much improved and Cody Ransom provides some right-handed power off the bench, which had been missing.

Ooo mysterious hand lacerations for AJ Burnett. This could get interesting.

There was a good reason. Schneider had just batted for Carlos Ruiz. Carlos Marmol FTW.

This offense sucks the hind tit. Another brilliant Hamels performance gone to waste.

In other news, Dan Carcillo made Maxim's list of the "Top 20 [expletive]es" in pro sports.

Infuriating. Lose by 1, give up all 4 runs with 2 outs, give up the go-ahead homerun with 2 outs and 2 strikes in the 8th inning on an infield pop up that somehow winds up on the street outside the stadium, walk the pitcher to give up a run, get a runner on 3rd with less than 2 outs and don't bring him in, not getting anything off the plate from the home plate ump for our pitcher while the opposing pitchers get at least 3 inches off the corners (I believe the Cubs recored 7 or 8 strikeouts looking). And the bottom line, 2 losses to a [expletive]ty team to start the 2nd half of the season. I'd rather lose by 10 like yesterday than lose like they did today. Domonic Brown time. /rant.

Also, Danys Baez is awful (no offense Flash, or whoever is the guy that's friends with him, I forget who). When Durbin came back today, I was really hoping Baez would be DFA'd, but Nelson Figueroa was instead (and he had been very good). Gotta love it when the GM refuses to own up to his mistakes. The Phillies are on the hook for another year with Baez, while Figueroa is basically making the minimum, so that's why the decision was made. Pretty disappointing.

I think it is time to call Domonic Brown up. [expletive] the arbitration clock, [expletive] the unbalanced lineup, [expletive] everything. This team needs a spark, and he is precisely the guy to deliver it. He dominated AA so they called him up to AAA and he is dominating there too. .326/.391/.602 between AA and AAA this year (.364/.390/.636 in AAA). And that is not including tonight...he has 2 more hits. Not sure what else he needs to do to prove that he is ready. Obviously the log jam in the OF at the Major League level complicates things. It might be a pipe dream, but I would LOVE to see them trade Jayson Werth and 1-2 OK prospects for Dan Haren or Roy Oswalt. Obviously we'd need to get a 3rd team involved (Red Sox perhaps?) since neither Houston or Arizona would be interested in Werth. Then call up Brown, and to balance the lineup, play Ben Francisco in LF against left handed pitching instead of Ibanez (and let Francisco get a few starts for Brown in RF as well). 2 birds with one stone. Get it done, Rube.

Mikko Koivu signs a 7 year extension with the Wild.

Carlos Gonzalez was not an all star for the same reason that Jason Heyward was voted to be a starter: the system is [expletive]ed. I am so sick of hearing about all-star snubs though. There were over 80 players named to the team this year, after injury replacements, and guys who opted not to go, etc. That is a lot, yet there is still a list 20-30 names long of guys with legitimate "all-star numbers". That means that there are just a lot of dudes having really good years, and no matter who was picked, there was going to be a lot of crying. But as I have said all along, eliminating that "every team must be represented" rule and that "utility player" rule would be great places to start.

Escobar was a pretty preseason popular pick for NL MVP this year......lol @ that.

Well, at least the ignorant baseball haters can shut up about steroids inflating offense now. A new era of dominant pitching looks like it is officially upon us. And of course, the one year the NL gets home field will be the year the Phillies do not get to the World Series.... -_-

Not really Flyers related, but Philadelphia will host the Frozen Four in 2014. I am very excited for this. Hopefully I will be a Flyers season ticket holder by then, and they will offer some sort of discount to this because I'd really like to go.

1 year deal for Carcillo. Flyers now $2.5 million over the cap. Have to figure something goes down with Gagne soon.

My favorite George Steinbrenner moments were the SNL skit with Chris Farley, and of course the character on Seinfeld. Does George Costanza inherit the Yankees now???

I wouldn't say it was all good. He was banned the first time after giving illegal contributions to the Richard Nixon campaign, which he pleaded guilty to. He was also banned for paying a gambler to "dig up dirt" on Dave Winfield after Winfield sued him. Those, amongst some other less famous incidents, were serious issues. Not trying to start anything, just filling in the missing pieces that ESPN and MLB Network are not mentioning today. But, his contributions to baseball were mostly positive I'd say. Certainly revolutionized many aspects of free agency.

Certainly the most interesting sports figure of the past 50 years, if you ask me.

Damn right.

He seems like the kind of dude who'd put on a show in BP. Guess not!

Then don't watch.

Eh, I'll go out on a whim and take Chris Young.

For the record, I think local announcers HAVE to be homers. I want my local announcers to be homers. Hawk just takes it to an unnecessarily annoying level.

You said it yourself. Bob Gibson pitched in the 1960's, pre Tommy-John, pre-pitch count, pre-multi million dollar guaranteed contracts, etc. Stephen Strasburg's signing bonus is worth more than Bob Gibson's entire career earnings. Like it or not, this is a different era.

Hawk is very difficult to listen to as a non-White Sox fan. If I were a Sox fan I'd love him, but that mega-homer act is VERY annoying. Kind of surprised the Phillies booth didn't make bottom 5. From the 1st through 3rd, and 7th through 9th innings, when it is Tom McCarthy and Chris Wheeler, it is basically unlistenable. It is good from the 4th-6th when Gary Matthews is in the booth though. Ugh, I miss Harry K.

[expletive]! Dom Brown just tweaked his hammy in the futures game. We are going to need you soon when Werth gets traded!