Phightins

Haha way to jinx it!! JK. But that was a hell of a debut. Hopefully there is more to come.

I would take Lee any day of the week, even this year. You have to take into consideration that Washburn was pitching at Safeco Field which is beyond pitcher friendly, and his home ERA was around 2. Shouldn't be much of a drop off though since Comerica is huge too. Also remember that Washburn is a free agent after this season, and the Phillies will have Lee for this year and next. Both teams were clearly big winners though so this is kind of nitpicking lol.

I would go with the Phillies, but both were able to get a player they had coveted without giving up any blue chip prospects. Hard to pick since they both "won". Rockies also did very well adding Rafael Betancourt and Joe Beimel to their bullpen. Those three teams and the Detroit Tigers are the ones who first come to mind as the big deadline "winners".

Yes.

Now that all the steroid allegations are out, his legend is going to grow even more since evidently he played his entire career clean. I would guess that he does not have much left in the tank, but the Mariner fans could probably do a better job filling you in on that.

Did not see this one coming.

And where do you figure he fits onto Boston's roster? Maybe another deal is coming.

If that's true, I'm not sure I understand it from Boston's end. I just assumed LaRoche was a roster dump to make room for Victor Martinez.

Makes sense. I had a feeling he was on his way out of Boston.

Wasn't necessarily sarcastic because you did spell it wrong again (his first name is spelled Jayson) but I don't really care lol. I am just joking around. I actually meant to throw a smiley of some sort onto that post.

If it was a legit rumor from a legit source it would have been posted on mlbtraderumors.com without a doubt. There is nothing of the sort over there. Sounds more like a Mets fan's pipe dream.

I see no way that happens. But that would be ironic...Mets get Kazmir stolen away from them and they steal him right back.

Agreed. And it's not that I even care what the names are, I just want the media and fans to S-T-F-U about the topic already. Only problem is once the list happens, you know the uneducated public will look at it and crucify those 103 or 104 players and assume they are the only ones to have ever cheated the game. Cheating and specifically steroid use has been going on since way before 2003 and there is obviously no way of ever knowing who cheated and who didn't.

The list is very believable, but we still need to see it come from a reliable source.

That game last night looked awesome. Also, surprised nobody has mentioned that the Dodgers traded for George Sherrill today.

Today the Flyers signed defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen. I guess this means the end of the Randy Jones era. Smart move by Homer, if the next step is indeed getting rid of Jones in some way. Of all the dead-weight salary on this team, Jones's contract would definitely be the first one I'd get rid of. Hopefully the additional cap space means we can go after Petr Sykora or somebody like that. Also, can't have enough big bruising, punishing defensemen. If he stays healthy, Tollefsen could wind up being a steal. They should put he and Pronger in the same pairing and have them on the ice whenever Crosby is...can't wait to see Cindy piss his pants.

Except when most people trash Philadelphia fans and throw us all into one big stereotype, they literally think we all act the same way.

Not to beat dead horse here, but for Christ's sake, those of you profiling every single Philadelphia fan because of the actions of a select few are just as retarded as the guy who brought a laser into the Phillies game on Saturday. Personally, I have never shined a laser pointer into Julio Lugo's eye, cheered as Michael Irvin layed on the Veterans Stadium turf with a career ending injury, thrown a battery at JD Drew, beaten a guy to death in the Citizens Bank Park parking lot, booed Santa Claus, or even booed one of my own players. But wait, I support Philadelphia sports team so this can't be true. I must be an intolerant, nasty, bitter curmudgeon, right? Get real. And you will not get any argument from me....the Philly fans who fit that profile annoy me just as much as they annoy you, but what you don't know is that those people make up the small minority, and also that they can be found in every city, even amongst the holier-than-thou Boston fans.

Not to nitpick, but you are still spelling it wrong lol.

I love the people who think the Phillies roster is comprised of Jason Worth, Ryan Madsen, Cole Hammels, Brett Meyers, and Rodrigo Lopes. Usually it is "diehard" Phillies fans though, and that REALLY pisses me off.

I have told you time after time dude. I am done.

I am done trying to convince you since you are clearly the most stubborn individual on this message board. I will just say yet again that our of every 100 people with an opinion on the subject, you are probably outnumbered something like 98 to 2.

I will try to go point by point... I will cut it like this. After the Phillies finished interleague with a series in Toronto, Jimmy Rollins and hitting coach Milt Thompson spent hours upon hours dissecting his swing and they found what they believed to be a mechanical flaw, or "hole", however you want to put it. I am not a hitting guru so I will not even attempt to sound like I know what exactly that is, but they tried to address it starting in the next series in Atlanta. The Mets series (where the Phillies began their 19-4 run) started slightly after that, and Jimmy has played great ever since. Coincidence? I think not. And it is important as all hell for him to be clicking, since this offense needs him and Shane Victorino to be on base wreaking havoc a lot. Shane has been doing it all year, and now that Jimmy is getting into the act this offense has been dynamite (of course I say this the night they get shut out by Yusmiero Petit, but you catch the drift). I will respect this opinion since a lot of highly regarded "baseball people" feel the same way, but to me, if you are driving in 145 runs per season I could give two [expletive]s how you make your outs. I am aware that a strikeout (along with an infield fly ball, or a fly ball to shallow outfield, all depending on the situation of course) are the least productive outs possible. I get just as pissed off as the next guy to see Howard bail on nasty sliders in the dirt with runners on base. However, Ryan Howard is a special kind of player, and you need to learn to take that all with a grain of salt. 811 strikeouts in 5+ seasons is definitely not a number to be ignored, but neither is 576 RBIs or a .583 slugging percentage. See the points I made above about Howard. Also consider that he is IMO as productive a 6 hole hitter as you will find in baseball. Also consider that he contributes a ton just on sheer athleticism and great defense. You would be correct. Just goes to show that pitching is what wins in the postseason. Eh, up for argument. The Cardinals got Matt Holliday which was an absolute necessity for them to even think about contending, the Phillies got a piece that will hopefully put them over the top. I'd be lying if I said I am a Cliff Lee expert. Honestly I have not seen him pitch that much and am using primarily statistics for my judgements. They (for the past year and a half anyway) are just plain impressive, and he is doing that in the American League. Now he gets to come to the [expletive]ty NL East so I am excited to see what he can do over here. Usually it is a very good transition for pitchers. Also the dude is a horse (I believe he leads the AL in innings pitched). Considering that about half of our bullpen is on the DL right now, I am not undervaluing this.

Dude do your research...please. The Phillies are 19-4 since July 3rd. In that time, Jimmy Rollins is batting .320 with an OBP of .393. Total garbage right now. Can't argue with the strikeout numbers for Howard, but you cannot deny that he also hits 1 homerun every 12 at bats for his career (he has led the National League in this area the past 3 seasons). I know exactly what your reply is going to be and you will keep pointing to the strikeout total, but you also cannot argue against his production. You also have to figure that he notoriously increases his production in August and September, and also Raul Ibanez was missing from this lineup for almost a month. Now that he is back Howard will almost surely see better pitches to hit on a more consistent basis. And say what you want about Werth, but I will take a .381 OBP, 21 homeruns, 63 RBI, and 13/15 stolen bases out of my 6 hole hitter any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Also your argument about them suffering in a potential World Series matchup holds little water. Anything can happen in a seven game series, just see last year. I know the Rays had a 7 game LCS while the Phillies only had a 5 game LCS, but what makes you think it will be any different this year since as you put it the Phillies are the class of the NL and the AL is so dominant? Wouldn't that mean the Phillies would just breeze through the NL portion of the playoffs and whoever comes out of the AL will have been through a dog fight? Also, in a seven game series it is all about who is hot at the right time. Last season all of the "experts" thought the Rays would walk all over the Phillies in the World Series, but the Phillies were by far the hotter team. Our pitching managed to make a very good Rays lineup look pedestrian. Can't predict these things.

And like we said, you are on your own there.