Phightins

With the Giants winning yesterday, this becomes an absolute must win. Do it, Birds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD_ZrcUZv94 This is certainly an....uh, interesting showcase video. But the dude is supposedly a beast and he will likely be in the Major Leagues next season. Sounds like the Marlins will get him if they want him, but I am sure several teams will be tempted to throw a lot of money his way. Phillies and Nationals attended his workout as well.

Blues fire Davis Payne, hire Ken Hitchcock. I figured Hitch would get a shot soon, and I also figured it'd be with a team that has "Blue" in the name, just did not see it being St. Louis.

The one and only time I ever will root for the Patriots, and of course that happens...

I know, +/- is an incredibly shitty stat. But regardless, Erik Gustafsson was +6 last night and that is very cool. He is making a strong case to remain in the lineup when Chris Pronger returns.

Well that was fun. 9 goals from 8 different players.

Lots of Michael Cuddyer rumors floating around. On one hand, he might be as perfect a fit for this team as anybody else out there. On the other hand, he is a type-A FA, so he will cost a 1st round pick. At this stage, the Phillies really need to be focussing on player development, so giving away high draft picks is not something I want to see. Especially if they are not offering ARB to Roy Oswalt, which it sounds like they won't.

I am in love with the Thome deal. Best case is Howard gets healthy and Jim is the primary bat off the bench (huge improvement over Ross Gload/John Bowker). Worst case is Howard is out for a while and Thome and Mayberry split time at 1B. Although, it remains to be seen if Jim can play the field regularly. He hasn't played more than 3 games in the field in any season since 2005. If he can still do an adequate job there, a Mayberry/Thome platoon at 1B until Howard gets healthy is pretty damn nice. He can still swing it. .256/.361/.477 with 15 HRs and .283/.412/.627 with 25 HRs in the last 2 years respectively. Pretty damn good for a part time player in his 40s.

So freaking awesome. My Thome jersey that I got at Christmas in 2002 is no longer a throwback. Crazy thought: a Thome injury in 2005 gets Ryan Howard into the lineup and forces Thome out. 7 years later, a Howard injury means Jim gets to come back.

[expletive] shootouts

Sergei Bobrovsky is really, really good (stats be damned, that Winnipeg game was an aberration, and not really his fault anyway). Really, someone tell me why the Bryzgalov deal was necessary. And this is nothing against Bryz as a player. But that contract sucks and will come back to haunt us big time in a few years, and it was so unnecessary since we have a perfectly good (and improving) goalie in Bob. So annoying how poorly run this organization can be at times.

Can you please post that this will be an easy win for the Bears? Helped us last week .

Don't worry, at least this isn't an award that anybody takes seriously. Oh wait, there are people who take this seriously? Shit. gLOLd glove is more like it

Thank you! 21 today, so you know I am enjoying the hell out of it.

Tony LaRussa retires. One of the all time greats goes out on top. He has annoyed me a lot over the years, but he really is one of the best ever.

That was so many kinds of awesome. Much needed. Well done Eagles.

Okay, this game is rather large. Come on Birds

Word is that Dion Lewis was in a car accident this morning and that is why he is inactive. Supposedly not injured seriously. Guess that's good, but I wish he was able to play tonight... Ronnie Brown returning kicks now.

Odd, Dion Lewis is inactive. Guess we will be seeing a lot of passing (shocker).

I don't really care about soccer at all, but people are pretty into this around here. Almost wound up going to the game actually.

Also, Zac Rinaldo is really starting to grow on me. Top 5 on the team in hits despite playing 4 less games than everyone else and seeing very little time on ice. He has been playing within the rules too, which is the opposite of what I expected.

Gotta give props to Bryz. Even though I don't think he's been nearly as bad as his numbers indicate, he took the heat for everything after that Winnipeg loss. As a result, he got absolutely torched in the media in the following few days, which is precisely what I think he wanted. Took all of the heat off the guy who actually deserved to take heat. Gotta think that earned him major respect points. And then he bounced back and was great last night against Carolina.

Ugh, come on Dolphins...

Season just ended 2 days ago but I already miss baseball hardcore