Phightins

I was thinking the other day... People are so quick to blame steroids for offensive numbers becoming so inflated over the years, but the workout regimens that today's baseball players have are insane compared to what guys did as recently as 20 years ago. Shouldn't these multi million dollar, world class weight rooms in every MLB stadium be considered performance enhancers too? I heard an interview with Mike Schmidt recently, and he said that he never lifted a weight in his life, and that the majority of teammates he played with throughout his career didn't either (and he only retired about 20 years ago, imagine what things were like for ballplayers in the 30s and 40s, or earlier). Now don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with today's players taking advantage of new work out technology, but it is a clear advantage that these guys have over players of previous era's. So, even though steroids are so "wrong" and "unethical", as technology continues to enhance itself players will continue to become stronger and stronger, and probably more immune from injury, so records will continue to be blown through the roof with or without steroids. So yes I agree the whole steroid issue has been massively overblown.

On a similar note, a friend of mine (Yankees fan) was at the Yankees/Red Sox Sunday night game this past weekend. Before the game my friend was watching BP from the outfield and Jonathan Papelbon was shagging fly balls (I think this is when it occurred, I could be wrong), and a kid gets his attention and says "hey Papelbon, can you sign this baseball for me?". Papelbon looks at him and laughs and says "why the [expletive] would I sign anything for a [expletive]ing Yankees fan?". The kid then picked up a broom and said "hey, can you sign this for a Yankees fan?". Papelbon responded with "[expletive] you, [expletive]ing [expletive]", or something of that nature. Anyway, I find that story kind of hard to believe, but I also don't think my friend would make that up. Pretty funny that the kid had such a good sense of humor. As for Rios, he should be ashamed of himself. I understand it when athletes blow off fans asking for autographs if there are like 500 fans lined up wanting to get something signed and the athlete really has to leave, but this was just one little kid asking for an autograph. I am glad the guy called him out.

A=American League N=National League For cities with two teams.

I do not want to live somewhere that does not have a winter. So, that's another reason southern California is not for me.

He was the face of the Flyers when I started to really get into hockey, so he will go down as one of my all time favorites. He will be an analyst for Versus or NBC within a year.

I would imagine that Brad Lidge's days of closing are numbered. Only problem is there isn't really a clear replacement right now.

SWEEP!!

I know Rich Harden is a very good pitcher, but the Phillies always find a way to make him look like Cy Young. The Phillies have not had a baserunner through 5 innings, and Harden only has 50-ish pitches. I cannot even remember one Phillies at-bat that I could classify as a "good AB". Luckily we still have 4 innings to get something going, and Happ is starting to settle down after a shaky start.

For some reason these pics might not be showing up...if they aren't check out the Flyers Twitter...

When Porcello brushed back Victor Martinez, that was clearly intentional. When Tazawa hit Cabrera and when Porcello hit Youkilis, I believe there was no intent with either.

There was no way Tazawa was throwing at Cabrera.

Classes do not start until September 21st, and I will not know my schedule until at least the beginning of September, and I'm sure I'll need to make some changes. Since I am not living on campus I'm hoping I can get all my classes on individual days close together so there is not much down time in between (although down time in Philly is not the worst thing).

I eat that [expletive] for breakfast lunch and dinner.

Well since you rarely see this nowadays, I'd say it is.

Even before Youkilis started to run towards the mound, Porcello threw his head back like "oh [expletive] I can't believe I lost the grip on that one". So that would suggest it was unintentional.

They had it on MLB Network the second after it happened and they have been analyzing it ever since.

After Youk threw the helmet, I was hoping Porcello would wreck him. Oh well. Youkilis has a nice suspension and fine coming his way.

I know we have a handful of Ray Emery haters on here, but I don't think anybody can deny that his new mask is SICK. I knew he was a boxing fan so I had a feeling it would have a boxing theme, but he added a Philadelphia touch as well. http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/22724033.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1250040118&Signature=eRVy7N6J735CNPXJzmoOGqZhSGg%3D http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/22724491.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1250040154&Signature=iX92dwcqjCt6G5QNhtNygV6jxi8%3D http://s3.amazonaws.com/twitpic/photos/large/22724599.jpg?AWSAccessKeyId=0ZRYP5X5F6FSMBCCSE82&Expires=1250040187&Signature=JlFvHDH5u3VSapGX7IWLeNBrbSE%3D

Well, you do need to take those numbers with a grain of salt. The American League is much stronger offensively than the National League, and there are 9 batters compared to 8, etc etc etc. Also, Fenway is not exactly a pitchers park, and AT&T is in contention for being the most pitcher friendly stadium in baseball. But I am with you, I still take Lincecum and Cain every time, but with respect to ECN, you do need to consider the other factors.

No. Since Lincecum is pitching I'm guessing tickets will generally be on the expensive side, but you never know...some idiot might have bought tickets from the Giants and doesn't realize he is pitching and is selling for cheap on stubhub. You should check it out. I know for the Philadelphia teams anyway, there is usually a lot to choose from.

Stubhub

Look, I am the biggest Mets hater of all time (or so it seems), but they are a damn good team when healthy, you cannot deny that.

I will give ECN credit and say that it is a lot closer than most of you are making it out to be (Lincecum/Cain vs. Beckett/Lester). I am still taking the Giants pair though.

He hits homeruns by accident. If you ever get the chance, watch him take batting practice. He will not hit one ball out of the stadium.

I do not disagree with this, in fact I agree 100%. What I do disagree with is using the lack of experience with certain guys against them just because they have had the [expletive] luck of playing on bad teams. At least give them the chance to perform in a big game before you use this against them.