2011 MLB All-Star Game Live Blog

Even though I have been gone for the past ten days, I figured why the heck not, right? Roy Halladay and Jered Weaver are the starting pitchers. Unlike other All-Star games, in this one, the winning league gets home field advantage in the 2011 World Series, so there is something to be played for. Live from Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona, it is the 2011 MLB All-Star Game! Join us for the live blog.

American League vs. National League 8:00 (Fox - Joe Buck and Tim McCarver, SR: Ken Rosenthal)

Top 10 Philadelphia Sports Games In 2010

Now that everyone has annoyed me to death by airing out their grievances on this so-called holiday stemming from a TV show that has been canceled for 12 and a half years (I was forced to do this), I say it's time to celebrate the year that was! And by doing so, I will post after the jump my list of the Top 10 games Philadelphia sports teams played in 2010. Not that this needs to be re-stated, but this is just one man's opinion on how they should be ranked and this is by no means anything authoritative. Feel free to disagree in the comments.

Honorable Mentions

The Capital Mud Bowl: January 1. Playing on a football field that most high schools would call inadequate, Penn State battled the always entertaining Les Miles and his LSU Tigers on a New Years Day Bowl, winning it on a last minute field goal. Penn State 19, LSU 17. (click here for highlights)

Michael Vick Starts His 1st Game Since Release From Prison; Throttles Lions: September 19. Even though it was the Lions, they have been more of a hard luck team not quite as bad as their record indicates. Regardless of that, Vick tore apart the Lions defense in this game, not really remarkable in anyway other than for the resurgence of Michael Vick's career as a starter. Eagles 35, Lions 32. (click here for highlights)

Old Man Pitches Historic Gem: May 7. To Jamie Moyer, age is only this random annoying number. At the age of 47, the old man became the oldest pitcher to ever throw a shutout in MLB history when he allowed only two hits against the Atlanta Braves. Phillies 7, Braves 0. (click here for highlights)

Follow the jump for the list of the Top 10 list.

The Cliff Lee Signing Made For Some Pretty Awkward Interviews

My sincerest apologies for the lack of posts this week. Finals kicked me in the ass this year like no year before. Even though the videos I am about to post are a couple days old now, I still believe they are worth the awkward hilarity.

We all know that late Monday night, 4 minutes before Matt Schaub threw a game-ending pick 6 on Monday Night Football in overtime and 10 minutes before midnight, Cliff Lee agreed to take his talents to the city of Brotherly Love. That means that the late local news shows had to wait a whole 23 hours for them to cover this story. And when they did, it was showered with uncomfortable awkwardness. First up, NBC10 attempts to interview Cliff Lee who at the time was just arriving in Philadelphia International Airport. Needless to say, he was not really in the mood for a surprise interview.



The interview comes off a whole lot differently when you read the transcript. It's amazing what being interviewed after getting of an airplane can do to words.

As awkward as that interview was, on the very same Tuesday night, the Fox29 10:00 news decided to get even awkward. Luckily for all involved, they strayed away from a surprise Cliff Lee interview. They decided to be awkward by sending a man on the street to interview fans. No, not Phillies fans excited to have their star of 2009 back. But Yankee fans in town, pissed that Cliff Lee spurned them to go to the Phillies. And oh by the way, this was the lead story of the evening.



Douche-tastic!

And this, my friends, is why 6ABC is the most watched local news station in Philadelphia. Wait a minute, on second thought, they are not perfect either.

Roy Halladay: Warrior

Roy Halladay, everyone. If the Phillies go on to win this NLCS, Halladay's performance tonight will become legendary. The series is now going back to Philadelphia with Roy Oswalt on the mound for the Phillies in Game 6. The Giants will counter with Jonathan Sanchez. In order to win the 2010 NLCS, all the Phillies need to do now is win 2 consecutive home games. It's not over yet, folks. And until it is, do not count the Fightin Phils out.

Larsen And Halladay

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE HISTORIC FINAL OUT OVER AND OVER AGAIN

Philadelphia Phillies Vs. Florida Marlins: Live Journal

May 29, 2010 was a special day in Philadelphia sports history. Not only were the Philadelphia Flyers playing in their first Stanley Cup Finals game since 1996, but Roy Halladay took his talents to South Beach for an unforgettable evening of baseball. Only 19 times previous had a MLB pitcher thrown a perfect game. Roy Halladay was going to make it 20.

But what you may not have known about that night is after the Flyers game, I went back and watched the perfect game and wrote down notes in a notebook, as if it were a live blog I were conducting. For the first time ever, I am sharing with you these notes and will publish in this blog as they happen during the game. Think of it as an old school AA live blog, except everything has been previously written. Sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Line up

Phillies
Victorino
Valdez
Utley
Howard
Werth
Ibanez
Castro
Ruiz
Halladay

Marlins
Coghlan
Sanchez
Ramirez
Cantu
Uggla
Ross
Hayes
Maybin
Johnson

1st Inning

Josh Johnson on the mound. Shane Victorino leads off the game with a fly out. 1st pitch swinging too. Consider that something I've never seen before. Isn't that what Jimmy Rollins is for? Okay, at least you are taking pitches, Valdez. Ooh, a double for Valdez. Now that's literally something I've never seen before. The Marlins have some noise makers for this game that sound literally like vuvuzelas. Well, Wheels called them a buzzing noise. They are inaudible through the TV because it is impossible to hear 2 people making noise from the stands through TV, so I don't know for sure. Ryan Howard flies out to end the inning: Now that's money well spent.

Halladay's turn at the mound for the first. Coghlan thought that was Ball 4. Imagine if it was. Bad acting job, bad acting job. Roy Halladay seems to be getting his pitch count worked early. At this rate, there is no way he finishes this game. Hanley Ramirez is a lazy ass. For the 3rd straight batter, Halladay has gotten behind in the pitch count. Ramirez left the plate early because he thought Strike 2 was Ball 4. Again, lazy. Inning over. At this rate, no way Halladay goes 9 innings.

2nd Inning

Phillies offense has been in a slump lately. Good thing there is no chance of that lasting long. Nope, not with these guys. They'll be out of it in no time. Werth grounds out, Ibanez flies out. So no time is obviously not right now, I see. Josh Johnson, now there is an early Cy Young candidate for you. Thank goodness the Phillies have Juan Castro as a defensive utility man. And he can hit too! This utility man does it all. Roy Halladay is one of MLB's best pitchers, but I think he also has to be considered one of MLB's worst hitters.

Yet another 3 ball count and long at-bat. I don't think Halladay has it tonight. I blinked and the inning ended. Yeesh Roy works fast.

3rd Inning

Shane Victorino is an imbecile. Whoa, another hit for Valdez? Is this even humanly possible for him? Chase Utley time. The owner of the Marlins is sitting there surrounded by empty seats. He actually is sitting there and sees how embarrassingly empty this ball park is, in large part because of his dumb ideas. I wonder what stupid idea he will come up with next? LOL MAYBIN! He misplays a routine fly ball and Valdez scores from 1st. A lulzy moment indeed. Ryan Howard: Earning his absurd contract one hard hit single at a time. Bleh, Werth. Why did the Phillies sign Raul Ibanez to a 3-year contract? He is extremely un-clutch these days. Is that even a word?

2 pitch AB. Yes, Tom, being a major league pitcher is a special thing. I love how Victorino caught that ball inches behind Jayson Werth. What happens if they collide? McCarthy: "He gets Johnson swinging." 9 up, 9 down for Roy. Not too shabby, but then again, Joe Blanton almost always has a point in the game where he retires 9 straight.

4th Inning

Sarge time! Maybin catches this fly ball hit his way. You have redeemed yourself well, Cameron. Single off the wall for Chooch. I count 3 people sitting in those seats above the Teal Monster. Did Halladay just strike out bunting? Brian Bocock could teach him a thing or 2 about hitting. No, really. Halladay is so bad that even lessons from Bocock would improve him. Does Victorino ever not pop out or fly out?

If Chris Coghlan is even remotely as good as we was last year, this former rookie of the year along with that Stanton kid could be something special in Florida. Oh, so that sound we can't hear is a tambourine! They gave away tambourines! Yeah, I've got nothing. Ah, Gaby Sanchez, such a friendly looking fellow. If there is a guy who is not going to get involved in a brawl of some sort, it's Gaby Sanchez. He wouldn't harm a fly. "Guy has a ball, a glove, and a tambourine. Your thought is what is wrong with the picture?" Probably the fact he has them all at a Florida Marlins game. Maybin fucked up at the plate this time. Then again, Roy Halladay has settled in real nicely. Forget all I said about pitch count in the 1st 2 innings. Quick note: Halladay has not allowed a base runner through 4. Probably won't be important in the grand scheme of things, though.

5th Inning

Valdez leads off by getting an out. Yep, that's the Wilson Valdez I know. Ramirez stepped up to make a play. When the guy is not being a lazy ass, he's a decent player. Oh, ho hum, 1-2-3 inning for Josh Johnson. Yeah, this guy is a good pitcher too.

Nice defense by Utley. He is, in fact, the man. 3 ball count to Uggla and Roy gets him to fly out. I could get used to seeing these Halladay-Johnson pitching duels. Man, they are fun to watch. I think Roy's innings are getting quicker and quicker as the game goes along.

6th Inning

Tom McCarthy and Sarge are talking about Milt Thompson, the hitting coach of one of the best offenses in all of baseball. That guy must have job security like you wouldn't believe. When Werth flails aimlessly, it really is a sight to behold. Ibanez goes down. Castro singles. He may be no Polanco, but he can fill in admirably and is not Bruntlett bad with the bat. And Ruiz kills it with a ground out.

7 strike outs for Halladay after Hayes goes down flailing. 5.1 innings and still no base-runner, maybe this will be special after all. Ball hit to Valdez who makes a great throw to get a flying Maybin. Roy is so amazing that that is probably the play of the game so far. And once Johnson goes down, McCarthy is so kind to mention that Halladay has retired all 18 batters.

7th Inning

Roy can't hit. Woohoo, single for Victorino. He's earning the money he got in arbitration this off-season. Wilson Valdez grounds into the world's easiest double play to end the inning. I'll say this much, if the Phillies ever need to rely on that useless turd Valdez to fill in for any long periods of time, this team is fucking screwed this year. Get well soon, Jimmy Rollins, because if you don't, this team is utterly hopeless.

Coghlan, Sanchez (who flew out on what would have been Ball 4), Ramirez (who also swung at a Ball 4). It's fucking surgical tonight for Roy. You are doing your best job to jinx this effort, TMac. A very fine one indeed.

8th inning

Clay Hensley in for Josh Johnson. As Halladay sits alone there in the dugout, I wonder, how he can watch the game and not psych himself out. Utley flies out to the deepest part of a deep ball park. More shots of Jeffrey Loria. Again, he is probably concocting some crazy scheme to get laughed at as we speak. Long at-bat but down goes Howard. And so does Werth. Quickly.

Halladay nearly hit Cantu. He promptly hits it hard to Castro who makes a throw to 1st to get Cantu. If that is Greg Dobbs playing 3rd this game, the perfect game/no-hitter is done with. You can begin to feel this night being special. Uggla strikes out. Pop up! Halladay is 3 outs away from history.

9th Inning

Come on Phillies! Either score a shitload of runs or get out of this quickly so Roy can pitch in the 9th and my heart can stop racing at 1,000 mph. 2 down and no one on for Ruiz. This has been the longest 0-2 AB in the history of mankind. Ground out. Roy Halladay has a chance at history now.

Mike Lamb pitching for Hayes. Lamb sends Victorino to the warning track to catch a fly out. This huge ball park is a great thing sometimes. Wes Helms is pinch hitting with Roy 2 away from greatness. Wheels can barely contain is excitement. 1 OUT AWAY! Ronnie Paulino is the last chance for the Marlins to break it up. 1-2 the count. Wheels is literally choked up in the booth. "Tambourines coming in handy now." That is what TMac thinks of in this situation? The damn tambourines! Ground to Valdez, THROW TO HOWARD IN TIME AND ROY HALLADAY HAS THROWN A PERFECT GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just like in life, our Roy is perfect. Now excuse me while I sleep off the heartache of having to watch the Flyers play the worst Stanley Cup Finals game in the history of history. Goodnight, Journal.

4 STRAIGHT!!!!!!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO OF THE PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES CLINCHING THEIR 4TH STRAIGHT NL EAST CHAMPIONSHIP

The Phillies' season started with Roy Halladay on the mound in Washington. And the meaningful part of their season ends the same way. Halladay, along with Sweeney, Schneider, and Valdez were the ones who first popped the champagne. 4 straight division titles. The golden age of Phillies baseball. How amazing is this.

Not only that, but the Phillies also clinch home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Reds and Rockies can't catch Philly. The Padres can tie but the Phillies own the season series tie breaker (5-2). The Giants can tie and tied Philly in the season series (3-3), but intradivision the Phillies' intradivision record is 41-26, whereas the Giants' intradivision record is 34-32. The Giants only have 6 intradivision games left. Thus, they cannot catch the Phillies. The Phillies have home field advantage throughout the playoffs and we can all look forward to a future of watching Brian Bocock play shortstop for the next 5 games.

MAKE IT 4 AHEAD!

COLE HAMELS! BRAD LIDGE! LOL HEYWARD!

ROYS IN THE HOOD ON THE MOUND FOR THE NEXT 2 GAMES! PLEASE EXCUSE ME WHILE I CLEAN UP THE MESS IN MY PANTS!

Roy Halladay Is Awesome

There are several reasons why I like Roy Halladay other than the fact that he is an amazing pitcher. For starters, he is as hard a worker as any pitcher out there. Also, he is a humble guy and a class act the likes of which you do not find every day in major American professional sports. Case and point, Roy Halladay has decided to thank all of his teammates who helped make the perfect game on May 29, 2010 possible. From the Twitter account of Delaware County Times beat writer Ryan Lawrence.

That is simply awesome. I just hope he remembers to send one to Juan Castro.....

Update: Per Ryan Lawrence, Juan Castro will get a watch, as will essentially everyone was a part of the Phillies team that day, whether they physically played in the game or not (i.e. bullpen pitchers and bench players are getting watches as well). Also, per Matt Gelb, Milt Thompson is receiving one as well. For a little more about Roy's presenting of the watches, here is an article from Gelb's blog, The Phillies Zone

The righthander purchased around 60 Baume & Mercier watches to commemorate his perfect game May 29. He gave out the watches as gifts to everyone in the clubhouse — all of the players who were on the active roster then, the entire coaching staff, all clubhouse personnel (including bat boy Rob DiClementi), training and video staff as well as public relations officials.

The watches were enclosed in brown boxes with an inscription on the front: “We did it together. Thanks, Roy Halladay.”

“Unbelievable,” Raul Ibanez said as he opened his. “Wow.”

It’s not unusual for a pitcher to reward his teammates for a milestone like a perfect game. Halladay went beyond that.

Each watch was engraved on the back with the date of the game and the linescore. Every watch was personalized, the person’s name engraved on the back of their watch.

“That’s awesome,” Ryan Howard said, as he inspected the thick instruction manual that came with every watch.

[...]

A little more than an hour before first pitch, the players sat at their lockers, finagling with the watches. Halladay, from the corner of the room, watched and smiled.

Brad Lidge shook his head in disbelief. He wasn’t even in Miami the night Halladay threw the perfect game. Instead, he was pitching in a rehab game 100 miles north in Port St. Luice, Fla.

Like I said above, simply awesome.

Phillies Blogger's T-Shirt Gets Taken Everywhere By Jim Tracy; Showcased On Fox

One year ago, ZWR did not have a blog bolg. Now, the shirts he sells on said bolg are being seen on Fox. The last time the Phillies played the Rockies, the whole Phillies sign stealing controversy erupted. ZWR made a shirt about it reading:

"We Have:
84 Home Games
Tasers
Roy Halladay
Your Signs"

The shirt had been spotted in Ryan Spilborgh's locker once before, but never did anyone realize the extent of the impact the shirt had on Jim Tracy and the Rockies until this came up on Fox during this afternoon's Rockies-Phillies game. (As a blogger who loves his readers dearly, it is quite necessary that I warn you that the following clip is from a game announced by Dick Stockton and Tim McCarver).



Too funny. For all the crying that Jim Tracy does, it is nice to see he has the ability to take a joke and even embrace it.

Holy Butt! (The Time ZWR's Shirt Was Featured On Fox) (I Want To Go To The Zoo With Roy Halladay)

(Thanks to cease and desist letters from MLBPA's attorneys, the Roy Halladay part has now been replaced with "You Know Who," so the shirt is not exactly the same now as it was when it was purchased by the fan and sent to the Rockies. But you can still buy the edited version along with all of ZWR's other cool shirts here.).

Have A Safe And Wonderful Fourth Of July Halladay!

Have a safe and wonderful Fourth of July, but most of all, don't be like TBS. Don't do anything stupid.

(Hat tip to The Fightins for the photo)

Now You Can Say You Saw Roy Halladay Pitch A Perfect Game Live At Sun Life Stadium!

Everyone and their mother know that Roy Halladay pitched MLB's 20th perfect game at Sun Life Stadium on May 29, 2010, so there is no use in talking about that anymore. But a whole lot more people are going to say they saw it live now!

Over 25,000 fans were there to see it live (click here if you want to read an awesome account of a Phillies fan who was there), but now, there are going to be quite a few liars among us. Why is that, you say? The Marlins are selling unused tickets! At the right price, you (yeah, you!) can say you saw Roy Halladay pitch a perfect game at Sun Life Stadium and have the ticket to prove it! From the Palm Beach Post.

Marlins President David Samson doesn't understand all the fuss about his team selling unused tickets from Roy Halladay's perfect game.

"It's not as though there's consumer fraud going on. There are people who are well aware of the result. We're not misleading anybody. No one is buying a ticket thinking they're going to the game. No one is saying 'I wonder who wins?' '

The Marlins sold 3,000 tickets in the first four hours Tuesday, mostly upper deck seats at about $15 each, for a game that was played Saturday in front of 25,086.

The decision to sell the unused tickets has attracted national attention - from debates on ESPN's SportsCenter to an endorsement from Dom Imus. One issue is that the unused tickets - which will be sold all year to meet demand - will count toward the team's final attendance tally.

"We're a low-revenue team trying to raise revenue. I would not have expected this to get any attention," Samson said. "It's baseball history. We're just selling tickets."

The Chicago White Sox sold un-used tickets from Mark Buehrle's perfect game last year, but that drew little notice because it was the home team's pitcher who threw the perfect game. Samson dismissed the notion that the Marlins were profiting from another team's feat.

Most sales have come from the Philadelphia area.

Now if I had gone to that game, then I might be a bit miffed that there are unused tickets being legally sold by the Florida Marlins organization, but I am not, and if a Phillies fan (or a baseball fan/collector in general) wants to purchase the tickets as a souvenir that will give them something to remember the game by, then I really can't say I have a problem with that. And people are buying them, so like it or not, it is working. Sure it could get a bit irritating that made up accounts of the game will be going around, but to those that just want a part of history, I do not see a problem with the unused ticket sales.

On Halladay And Perfection

Now that I have finally gotten the opportunity to watch Halladay's perfect game in its entirety, I can actually write about the game instead of just posting an image with a link to highlights.

Only one problem with trying to write about: I really do not have many words to describe it. It was as masterful pitching performance as there has ever been. Often times in no-hitters/perfect games, there are some hard hit balls that somehow end up in the gloves of the defenders. Take my night at Citizens Bank Park last Saturday watching Dice-K throw 7.2 innings of no-hit baseball for example. There were 3 or 4 really hard-hit balls that could have gone for basehits if not for a tremendous catch/play. Saturday night at Sun Life Stadium, there was nary a hard hit ball. The most notable defensive plays was a throw by Juan Castro from 3rd to get out Cameron Maybin by half a step, a diving stop at 3rd by Castro, and I'd even throw the oft-replayed last out as the #3 toughest defensive play. And that was just a slow-roller heading towards the hole, but slow enough for Valdez to scoop it up, turn around, and throw out Paulino with plenty of time to spare. If you want to add lucky plays, there was luck at the fly ball in the bottom of the 9th was hit in Sun Life Stadium and not Citizens Bank Park, where it would have likely been a homerun. Yes, venue for these types of things does matter. Yes, playing in a stadium with a real deep centerfield aided Halladay in his quest of history. But you play with what you have to play with. And Halladay did just that on May 29, 2010.

The Phillies lone run in the game came on a 3-base error in the 3rd inning by Cameron Maybin. Despite working Josh Johnson's pitch count rather well and getting hits, the Phillies could not do enough to generate runs on the Marlins' ace. For those that like pondering stuff, here is something to ponder. Including Halladay's perfecto, 6 perfect games have ended with a 1-0 score. In all 6 instances, the run was unearned.

On Saturday, Roy Halladay was perfect, in every sense of the word. He was flawless. He had 2 3-ball counts in the 1st inning. For the rest of the game, he had a combined total of 5. Roy Halladay was in a zone with Carlos Ruiz and nothing was breaking it on that hot, humid night in South Florida. The result: the 2nd perfect game in Philadelphia Phillies history and the the 20th perfect game in MLB history.

MLB Video: All 27 outs

MLB Video: The final out as called by the Phillies TV announcers, the Phillies radio announcers, the Marlins TV announcers, and the Marlins radio announcers.

Perfection, Thy Name Is Roy!

Link to perfecto sealing out

And You Thought The Winter Classic At Fenway Was The Only Time Baseball Would Meet Hockey This Year

To all those that thought the Philadelphia Flyers were playing the Bruins in the Conference Semifinals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, all I can says is what on earth were you thinking? Clearly you did not get the memo. Meet the Bruins real opponent per everybody's favorite prop betting site, bodog.com.

Roy Halladay will be manning the pipes, while Chase Utley and Jayson Werth lead a dangerous and powerful offensive attack with Ryan Howard the power forward getting in front of the net and snapping goals in from the point left and right. Cole Hamels and Joe Blanton are flatout beasts in the defensive zone.

The Bruins ain't got nothing on these Phillies. They've already won a World Series and now they are bound and determined to win the Stanley Cup!

Wait....what? This is just a bodog typo????? You mean Howard, Utley, Rollins, and Hamels are not seeking to add a Stanley Cup in addition to their World Series rings? Oh damn.

(Hat tip to Broad Street Hockey)

Eagles Draft A Man Whose Decision Helped Bring Roy Halladay To The Phillies

Well this is one of the more bizarre stories you will ever come across in an NFL Draft. For the second time in his life, Riley Cooper was drafted by Philadelphia. Of course, the Eagles did not draft him twice. His last drafting by a Philadelphia team before today came in 2006 when the Phillies drafted him.

But the fun does not end there. Not only was Riley a 15th round draft pick for the Phillies (#457 overall), but if Riley Cooper did not go to Florida, things might be very different at Citizens Bank Park right now. How could a 15th round draft pick make such a difference? Check out this report on Cooper written June 9, 2006.

Cooper, 6 feet 4, 212 pounds, was rated by most recruiting services as a first-rounder when the spring began. He was touted for his blazing speed and raw power, shining in a number of showcases during the summer before his senior season.

But he sustained a season-ending injury in March when he was involved in a late-night scrape in Clearwater. Cooper sustained a deep cut to his right arm throwing a punch through a car window.

According to Larry Cooper, Philadelphia told him it was going to take Riley Cooper with the 18th overall pick in the draft before being talked out of it. "They were asking us if they drafted Riley in the first round, would he sign, and we said no," Larry Cooper said. "As of (Monday) night, they wanted to take us in the 10th-15th round and pay us first-round money and see if they can get us up in Philadelphia by the 25th. That's still their plan."

Riley Cooper said he will report to Gainesville on June 27. Gator football coach Urban Meyer was one of the first to call after his selection, to congratulate one of his prize recruits and make sure he won't wilt under the pressure from the Phillies to sign.

"I don't think so," Cooper said.

As I have already mentioned, Cooper was taken 457th overall, not 18th overall, and he committed to Florida, instead of signing with the Phillies. However, there is one last twist to this story.

The Phillies did make a selection with that 18th overall pick. With that pick in the draft, the Philadelphia Phillies selected Kyle Drabek. Kyle Drabek was recently traded to the Toronto Blue Jays for Roy Halladay.

My question is: what if Riley Cooper does not commit to Florida? Is he now a Toronto Blue Jay? Or would he not be the prospect Drabek is and in turn we would never get Halladay? Would the Phillies have traded top prospect Dom Brown instead? And where would that leave the farm?

Okay, so maybe there are some stretches there, but the coincidence that the Phillies wanted to draft a guy but did not because he wanted to play football in Florida and in turn drafted a guy that got traded to Toronto for Halladay and the guy the Phillies originally wanted to draft that went to Florida to play football is now an Eagle, is beyond amusing. Anyone that followed that last mega run-on sentence is my hero. For realz.

(Hat tip to Bleeding Green Nation)

Curt Schilling Is Officially Dead To Me

As a little kid, I can fondly remember going to Veterans Stadium with my family to watch Phillies games. Even though it was at a point in the nineties when the Phils basically stunk (i.e. post-1993), I still had a good time watching my two favorite players on that team, second baseman Mickey Morandini and pitcher Curt Schilling.

But now Curt Schilling can sod off and die. Seriously. Him and his bloody sock can officially get out of my life, for good. Why is that you ask? Ashley Fox of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes.

Curt Schilling needed no prompting. The question was innocuous. Did he like this year's Phillies team?

"I think trading Cliff Lee was the stupidest thing they've ever done, and they didn't have to," Schilling said. "They didn't have to do it. It was a stupid, stupid move. They could've had a World Series berth locked up right now with those two guys at the top of their rotation."

"Those guys would've finished legitimately 1-2 [as] Cy Young candidates on the same staff," Schilling said. "You've got Cole Hamels in the three slot, which is a dream come true for both. They would've been a 110-win team."

"The Roy Halladay deal, I think, gave them the perception that they depleted their minor-league system," Schilling said. "That's one of those things now where, five years ago, so what? Now, your minor-league system ranking is such a big deal, because that speaks to your scouting and your drafting and all those things. It's a direct reflection on your general manager.

"If they hadn't made that [Lee] deal, I think they felt like their minor-league system would've been trashed, even though it wasn't. They still had a lot of talent. But it was to restock. If you draft right, you can literally restock your system in a year or two now.

"There's no other reason why they made that deal, none whatsoever. That's why they didn't push trying to re-sign Cliff, because I think they felt like he would've been real receptive to it, so then they would've looked even worse, because 'We traded a guy who wants to be here.' "

"He's coming off a phenomenal run when he came over," Schilling said of Lee. "He showed them [in] October he was going to be better than everybody else. You don't know what you're getting there. Doc's never pitched in October. I think he'll be great and be awesome and all that stuff, but he could get to October and not be the guy. Cliff proved that he can pitch in October. That's a big loss."

Uh, Curt, no one asked you about the Lee-Halladay deal. But seeing as he did completely ignore the question and go off on some unrelated rant about the trade, I shall remind him that pretty much every stat says that Roy Halladay is a better pitcher than Cliff Lee. Lee has had ups and downs in his career whereas Doc has been on top for virtually all of last decade. I'll take him over Lee any day of the week. While Schilling does make a somewhat sensible point about the Phillies farm system, again I ask him, who the fuck asked you about that? Curt Schilling can shut the f.......you know the rest of it.

CSN Philly Has Difficulties Differentiating Between Ryan Howard's Twin Brother And Leonard Weaver

For those late to the party, on the same day that Roy Halladay officially joined the Phillies, a little thing known as the Sixers hosting LeBron, Shaq and the Cavs was occuring. And if you're the Doc, then what better way to spend your official night at the Phillie watching the Sixers completely collapse at the end when leading one of the best teams in the NBA.

However, Halladay was not the only Philly sports player at the game. There was a whole pantheon of players there including Ryan Howard (with his twin brother Corey) of the Phillies, DeSean Jackson and Leonard Weaver of the Eagles, and Mike Richards and Ray Emery of the Flyers along with semi-useless Flyers Dan Carcillo and Riley Cote.

During the game, the camera crews decided to pan to Ryan Howard and his brother, and while they correctly identified the Phillies slugger, they had a problem with or 2 with his brother.

Fail.

And before someone says something, I never said that Ryan and Corey were identical twins, they are fraternal and while there is a tad of a resemblance with Church Van, that is definitely Corey Howard. Besides, why one earth would Ryan Howard be sitting next to a recently acquainted Eagles fullback from Seattle in Leonard Weaver who he's probably never met before this year when he could be with his brother who was also at the game?

So so random.

Welcome To The Philadelphia Phillies, Harry Leroy Halladay III

Roy Fucking Halladay is a Fucking Philadelphia Phillie. Fuck yeah.



Fuck yeah.

And fuck the Mets, while you're at it. If they thought Cliff Lee was a bitch, wait until they go face to face with Doc.

Roy Halladay Is Not A Fan Of Your Persistent Questioning, Jeff Skervesky

Roy Halladay has gotten his unofficial official welcoming to Philadelphia. What's that, you ask? He was ambushed by a 6ABC reporter who was determined to get all of the tough answers out of Doc as he was hopping into his car. Only one problem, the announcement was not exactly official yet (and still isn't) so Roy can't answer said questions. The result: one awkwardly hilarious interview. Check it out for yourself.



Too funny! Like I said, the deal is not official yet (and at the time he had not even taken the physical that he ultimately ended up passing) so he can't anything. But that little fact was not going to prevent Jeff Skervesky from trying to get the answers that he probably does not even care to know. After all, how else do you expect him to answer "are you excited to join the Phillies?", by saying, "No, I hate it here and I hate these people. This is the worst day of my life."?

Welcome to Philadelphia, Doc!

Roy Halladay accosted on Philly street corner by 6ABC reporter (The Fightins)