Phightins

That inning was insane. Crazy 2-out rally. Jayson Werth made the 2nd out, then 10 batters later Raul Ibanez finally made the 3rd out.

Wow. Deja vu from the '08 NLDS. Fantastic pitcher walks a poor hitting Phillies pitcher, then Shane Victorino hits a grand slam (substitute Jamie Moyer for Brett Myers, and Johan Santana for CC Sabathia).

It might, actually. The CBP security guys were torn apart by the local media after that happened.

I usually don't hang out down in that area so I'm not sure if things are different there. Usually when I go to a game, it's either in my season ticket seats (which are in the middle level), or with friends (we usually get really cheap seats up top). So it's possible that they handle things differently downstairs, although as I was saying, it got very loud and wild towards the middle innings and the security guys just let it go. However, one of the guys near us said that when Joe Biden was at the game a couple weeks ago (he was apparently sitting in the section that I was standing behind yesterday), one guy dropped an F-bomb and everyone within a 20 foot radius was kicked out.

No actually. He was behaving himself. He just said something to a guy in a Jason Bay jersey. I think he said "go home Bay!" or something of that sort. No cursing, nothing threatening about it, nothing. The guy even laughed. But the [expletive] usher paged security and they came over to "warn" us. My favorite part was they told us not to be loud, as if there's a rule against being loud at a Phillies-Mets game. They then had security guys staked out about 20 feet behind us watching us for the next few innings (we had standing room tickets and were standing right above the section behind the plate). And the problem is you can't say a word to the security guys. If you ask what you did wrong, you get a "shut up or you're leaving". I guess they don't really care about customer service, since they already have our money at that point. The best part was that a couple guys showed up next to us that were very drunk and very loud. They are cursing and obnoxious. I thought they were really funny, but the security dudes didn't say a word to them. So they clearly were enforcing their BS rules.

That was a fun game, save for seeing the Flyers final score flash up on the scoreboard, and nearly getting tossed from the stadium in the 2nd.

Check that...

Hey only down 1! It can happen.

Anybody see Jim Rome today? The way he handled this Favre story basically sums up how I feel about it.

Ryan Madson is on the DL with a broken toe.

That is a baseball-wide problem that many teams other than the Yankees take advantage of. Hard to hold that against the Yankees. How did the Tigers get Rick Porcello again?

It will actually be 5 for a little bit, assuming Kendrick gets sent down when Blanton gets activated on Monday.

8 actually. Only 6 right now with Rollins and Happ on the DL.

Also...matchups for Phillies-Mets series: Tomorrow: Jon Niese vs. Kyle Kendrick Saturday: Mike Pelfrey vs. Roy Halladay Sunday: Johan Santana vs. Jamie Moyer I am going on Saturday, excited to finally see Doc. It better be a good game since I will be missing game 1 of the Flyers-Bruins series to go.

Well, teams knew that at the deadline too, and that didn't stop them from demanding a top-6 forward. Honestly, there are not many very super-promising young goaltenders out there, yet there is a huge demand for them (the Flyers are a nice example). The Canadiens happen to have two of them, so they control the market for sure. I really think they will get what they want for one of those guys.

Yeah. I was hoping they wouldn't have to break up the Giroux line but I don't think he had much of a choice.

The Yankees still deserve a lot of credit. Lots of these big names that they sign are Type-A free agents, which means the Yankees are giving up a lot of high draft picks to sign these guys. Yet despite all of that, their farm system has produced some pretty good players the past 10 years or so. That is good scouting. Also, they had to have a pretty good farm to be able to pull off some of the trades they've done (A-Rod and Granderson are two examples). And of course, it goes without saying that the 4 mainstays of this current generation of Yankees (Jeter, Rivera, Posada, and Pettitte) all came up through the Yankees system.

Brad Lidge activated from the DL today. Antonio Bastardo sent down.

Lines for Saturday... Dan Carcillo - Mike Richards - Claude Giroux Scott Hartnell - Danny Briere - Ville Leino James van Riemsdyk - Jared Ross - Arron Asham Darroll Powe - Blair Betts - Andreas Nodl Ouch. Missing 3 of the top 12 forwards, and it shows.

Just a guess...probably similar if not more to what they wanted at the deadline. AKA Giroux and/or van Riemsdyk.

You won't love them if they are playing the Flyers in the ECF.

Unreal.

I will take my chances with a healthy JA Happ and Joe Blanton over Kyle Kendrick and Nelson Figueroa. I will also take my chances with Brad Lidge pitching the 9th under any circumstances over Ryan Madson. As I was saying, the Phillies have been missing the most irreplaceable piece of their lineup, 2/5 of their rotation, and their 2 best relief pitchers. If all those guys come back healthy and the Phillies are still this bad, then I will worry.

That was a pretty [expletive]ty call, IMO. Oh well, not complaining!

Well considering we have been missing our 3, 4 (arguably 2 and 3, depending on who you ask), and closer for the entire season (all three should be back within a week or so), I don't see much of a reason to worry yet.