Phightins

It would be funny if it was "Diesel".

Matchups for Phillies/Marlins series... Tonight: Anibal Sanchez vs. Roy Halladay Tomorrow: Ricky Nolasco vs. Jamie Moyer Sunday: Nate Robertson vs. Cole Hamels I am going tomorrow night. Kind of disappointed because Halladay was originally scheduled to pitch and it would have been his CBP debut. But they bumped him up to tonight and I get to see Jamie Moyer instead...

He said he wanted to hit the guy but he held back because he didn't want to get arrested and leave his kid stranded. This was a guy taking in a baseball game with his daughter, this just shouldn't have happened.

It's funny because the Astros make the Nationals look like the New York Yankees. Seriously.

The Astros are absolutely horrific...wow.

Nope, never seen him.

What I expected? I expected them to be more active since they have been every other time we did a league together.

You aren't the only one not checking my league. Looking like creating that was a mistake.

Agreed on Moyer. With Hamels, he has significant room for improvement. He is a 26 year old pitcher struggling to adjust. This happens to basically every pitcher on the planet at this age, unless your name is Tim Lincecum. When his curveball and cutter improve and he no longer is just a 2-pitch pitcher, I am expecting big things. As for Lidge, his problems last year were not about "the book being out on him". For as long as he's been in the Majors, his "book" has been the same and known by basically every hitter in baseball. Fastball slider. That's it. His problem last year was that he was apparently tipping pitches, so hitters were able to sit on his fastball. Also, he took forever to get to the plate, so if you got to first base, you essentially had a free pass to 2nd and in some cases 3rd (both this and the pitch tipping were likely because of his knee injury, and the fact that he altered his delivery a bit, especially out of the stretch). He might as well have just pitched out of the windup all the time. So I am interested to see how he does this year with a fully healthy knee. I certainly don't expect 2008 Brad Lidge, but I expect a hell of a lot better than 2009. Anyway, carry on...

Also... With the Mets, I don't think the issue is so much the signings they've made, but the ones they haven't. They have been great at making "the big splash" over the past couple years (Johan Santana, Francisco Rodriguez, Jason Bay, etc). Sure, those are great ways to sell tickets I guess, but I think we both know that you don't win in MLB without depth. A perfect example is this past winter. Everyone knows what the Mets needs were, yet essentially all they did was overpay for Jason Bay. As a Mets fan I'd expect a bit more. They play in the biggest sports market in the world, have their own TV Network, a new stadium, and have an already large payroll with plenty of room for expansion. The New York Mets should not be in the situation they are in now.

MLB: Chase Utley Ryan Howard Jimmy Rollins Jayson Werth Cole Hamels Carlos Ruiz Greg Dobbs NFL: Brian Dawkins Jeremy Maclin Brent Celek Donovan McNabb NBA: Andre Iguodala Jrue Holiday Samuel Dalembert NHL: Dan Carcillo Claude Giroux Mike Richards Chris Pronger Jeff Carter Kimmo Timonen Ian Laperriere

Also...not worth complaining about the reputation since we go through this every time there's an incident here. But it's still pretty typical that 130 people get arrested at Dodger Stadium earlier this week, yet all the national media decides to do is trash all of Philadelphia because of one idiot.

All I know is this. The Mets have the 5th highest payroll in Major League Baseball, yet they are a piece of [expletive]. Something can't be going right, eh? And since you are so confident that Oliver Perez is a good signing, then you have to play that same card with the Phillies bullpen. Talk to me in 3 months about them. When Brad Lidge pitches healthy in a game for the first time since 2008 (basically JC Romero as well), if he still sucks then perhaps you will have a point.

That guy is actually from the same town as me and Fly3rs.

Oh for Christ's sake... I have a Mac and am happy with it, most of you guys have PCs and are happy with them. Everyone is happy, and nobody is stupid for having their preference. Really, has there ever been a more pointless thread? It has swayed so far from the original topic lol.

Couldn't have asked for anything better so far. Other than seeing the Flyers advance, nothing would make me happier than seeing the Capitals and Penguins get bounced in round one. With that said, I'd be shocked if either of them lose. And I doubt either series goes more than 6. But wow, Crosby and Ovechkin getting knocked out in the first round...could you imagine? It would be the end of the NHL season as far as ESPN is concerned.

JA Happ has a 0 ERA through 2 starts, but it's about as bad as 2 starts could be without giving up an earned run. 8 walks in 10.1 IP (6 walks in 5.1 IP today). Was at 100 pitches (or so) by the 5th inning in both starts. Better to be lucky than good, I suppose.

If that's the route they take (subbing Brown for Werth next year), other changes are going to have to be made. The lineup is incredibly lefty heavy as it is, and adding in another lefty while losing the only right handed bat they have that's capable of hitting in the middle of the lineup is not going to work. It is going to be an interesting winter to say the least. Sorry for sidetracking. Now back to arguing with Fish...

I was. Also, I'd like to know why Fish is guaranteeing that the Phillies are going into "strict salary cutting mode" this offseason, seeing as virtually every game is sold out this season and they are one of only a handful of teams that made a nice profit last year. Jayson Werth probably won't be back, but that's because he is going to get paid like an elite outfielder and the Phillies are currently stretched to their payroll limit (as you can actually see by those numbers you supplied us with). So he may be gone, but the payroll certainly isn't going to be dropping.

I don't think it was that exactly. Sure, in the first few years of a new park, you get the casual fans who show up just to see the new stadium. But with a new stadium comes tons of companies who want to get their name incorporated with it somehow. Of course the deal with Citizens Bank for naming rights was the biggest change from the Vet. But just sponsorship deals in general skyrocketed. Of course, it wound up being perfect timing. The new stadium opened just as the team was getting relevant again. But if they still played at the Vet and were as good as they are now, I'm sure fans would still be showing up. Well, according to your numbers, they are 4th in payroll and 2nd in revenue spent. Tell me how this adds up to "cheap". Maybe they can relocate to New York and get their own TV network and dish out dumb contracts left and right too... maybe then they can shed that "cheap" label.

What could he have done differently though? Everything is perfect hindsight, as Artesticle mentioned. The Brand and Iguodala contracts were praised at the time, Brand's especially. I remember the reaction was great to the Kapono trade as well. Nothing has worked out, so eventually he probably will get the ax, but I don't think this is his fault at all.

I want Stefanski to stay. If he actually hires Lawrence Frank, then maybe I will sway over to your side lol.

Werth isn't going to the DL. He says he could have played tonight. He actually came in to pinch hit and he looked fine running the bases and will be back in the lineup tomorrow apparently.

Booooooooooooosh

For all of the money it would have costed, I decided to go with a Mac. Everyone else in my family has used Macs and loved them, so I tried one out and love it as well. Like I said, I have no reason to justify it any farther. I know nothing about computers, I just know that I like the feel to this Mac a hell of a lot more than I ever liked any of my PCs, and I have yet to have any problems.