Phightins

I think it looks pretty cool. Reminds me a bit of Nationals Park, from those pictures anyway.

Best game of the year, maybe. Pretty much perfect.

Most Phillies fans are dumb as shit too, unfortunately.

SOMEBODY PIN THIS!!!!

Not agreeing or disagreeing, but it is funny what a losing streak will do. This is the exact same roster everybody was in love with three weeks ago. This team, as currently constructed, was never going to even sniff a deep playoff run. I think people just got in way over their heads with the great start. Also, not sure I know what you mean by this. Right on about Iggy, Lou, Meeks, probably Hawes and maybe to some extent Thad, but Jrue? He is 21 years old. If you think he has peaked already, for better or worse, I will have to disagree with that. Maybe he will never live up to the potential but IMO the age 21 season is way too early to make that call. In theory, getting a big time superstar would be nice, but as Flash said they don't really grow on trees, and there are even less that would consider Philadelphia an attractive place to play. Not only do we need a superstar, but we need one that will be committed to play here for a long time. It sucks, but as Sixers fans we could have it way worse.

This is something I can agree with. To be more accurate, the Phanatic is the only mascot I have ever seen that is even worth the time of day.

And that, friends, is what you might call an "awful loss".

This is amazing for the Pirates. This is probably the coolest thing that has happened for them in the past 20 years.

Those final 2 minutes could not have gone much worse.

That call was.....um, a bit weak.

Damn, Ike Davis has some sort of lung infection, or "valley fever" or w/e. Pretty shitty luck.

Not true at all. Definitely a purist in many instances, but I am 100% in favor of expanded replay, and other things. One thing I am a purist about is the split AL/NL schedule for most of the year, which will end next season. That is what I am not happy about. Also I am not sure how many SABR nerds such as myself would be described as "against all change" haha.

Oh I totally get it from that standpoint. This was designed with teams like the Jays in mind. (And by the way, if this system was in place through the 2000s, the Phillies would have made the playoffs like three additional times). However, I just hate the idea of a one game playoff series. I mean, I love it from an entertainment standpoint, but I don't think it's particularly fair to the higher seeded wild card team. But it's whatever, obviously this was created to try to duplicate the craziness from the final day of last season. All about TV.

Randy Carlyle expected to be the replacement, per Dreger.

Probably true, but I am assuming that the Saints case goes above and beyond, if the NFL launched such an in depth investigation here.

Playoffs officially expanded. Boo. For this season only, the lower seeded team will begin at home in the division series. Instead of the normal 2-2-1 format, it will be 2-3. This really sucks, a lot. Thank goodness it is for 2012 only.

I am not nearly as concerned about Howard's absence as most Phillies fans, mostly because advanced stats have enlightened me about how overrated he is. It will hurt no doubt, but if Charlie finds a successful pattern for using Mayberry/Wigginton/Nix/Thome, we'll get some decent value out of the position. I also agree that Chase's health will probably be the key to the entire lineup. I am not expecting him to return to vintage Chase Utley (at the plate at least, he is still an elite fielder despite all of the knee issues), but if he can at least stay on the field the entire year, I will be happy. Most of this will be a function of Charlie being smart and resisting the urge to play him every single day. Believe it or not, I love the Willis signing. Probably Amaro's best move of the winter. He has had absurdly good splits against left handed batters. If he can keep this up, and if Charlie uses him properly (this is a big if), Willis could easily be the best LOOGY we have had in a while. And if it doesn't work out this spring, he is on a minor league deal, so no sweat off the team's back. As I am sure you figured out, I hate the other bullpen signings. Papelbon is awesome at what he does, but that contract is absurd. I am okay with the Chad Qualls contract, money-wise, however I am fully expecting Charlie to just hand him the 8th inning every night, and this is what I am not okay with. For the one position that the Phillies are pretty loaded with advanced prospects at, they sure did spend a lot of unnecessary money this winter. Yeah he is still good. His bat wouldn't profile too well at almost any other position anymore, but it is still more than adequate for a starting MLB shortstop, and his defense is still out of this world. They had to sign him because replacing him with any other player short of Reyes would have been a huge drop-off. I am a pretty big fan of Freddy Galvis (22 year old who played in AAA last year), but it probably wasn't worth the risk to just hand him the job. Still not convinced he will hit enough in the Majors. Also, the Rollins contract is very team-friendly. Unlike with Papelbon, Amaro waited it out with Rollins and let the market set itself. Worked quite well. Eh, it's whatever. Not so much concerned about age catching up to Halladay and Lee as I am with Utley and Howard. This is the question that all Phillies fans with a brain have been asking all winter. Really have no clue what this guy has to do to get a chance. He has already destroyed AAA, for an extended period of time. He only has 280 MLB plate appearances, and even though it may not look like it on the surface, they went about as well as could be expected. Seriously, compare it to the first 280 PAs of some of the top hitters in the game. I was reading yesterday that A-Rod's were even worse. Chase Utley's were about the same. Obviously those two have more value because of the positions they play, and how well they play them, but my point stands. Dom is going to be a pretty awesome hitter IMO, he just needs a chance. With Ibanez finally gone, this seemed like the perfect time to get him into the lineup. I still feel like he will get a chance some time this year, but he should already have the LF job won outright, and instead Amaro has publicly said Brown is headed for AAA. Makes no sense. When they sent him to AAA last year, they said it was so he could improve his route running and learn LF in general. When he is down there, he primarily was the DH. Makes absolutely no sense. Amaro is dumb. http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g96/philsphan1210/Am7sJtnCIAAXU0tjpg-large.jpg But seriously, terrible contract. He has done nothing to warrant a guaranteed MLB contract, especially when you consider who he will be taking playing time from.

Good luck with that one. My issue with this whole situation is that his test results came back 3 times higher than any in the history of this program. Seems a bit off to me. Out of the thousands of tests over the years, for not one to be even close seems odd. Especially for a guy who had never previously failed any tests. Something doesn't add up.

"OMG Sixers don't have a closer". "OMG Sixers can't beat good teams in close games." Beat writers should have an easy time tonight.

Getting testy!!!

Well, that's one way to end a losing streak...

I disagree, I think it was important either way. The team looks misguided enough as it is. Important for them to let the fans know that even though they tried (and failed) to trade Nash, it wasn't because they aren't committed to getting better. It was because they didn't have much choice. This whole season makes the organization look awful, and this Nash saga wasn't going to help fan support either way, but it's very understandable why the front office/ownership wanted to save face.

Well, as far as I was aware, it didn't become known that Nash asked for a trade until after the deadline? Maybe I am wrong. Anyway, if it's true that Nash did request the trade, I think it's pretty important that the fans know this, especially the people who are shelling out tons of money for season tickets. If this whole process would have stayed under wraps, then obviously there'd have been no reason for Howson to say anything. But since the whole trade process was public, I think Howson owed it to the fans to tell them that it was the player, not the team. Just IMO though, I can see both sides of this.