New York state of mind

Just how are we expected to sleep at night knowing that a menace to society like Paris Hilton is out of the slammer and under house arrest? Someone please answer that question…

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Speaking of slammers and dubious fame, Jimmy Rollins, author of the “team to beat” quote that whips the partisans into a lather whenever he shows up at Shea Stadium, had a pretty big game last night.

And it’s pretty safe to assume that he enjoyed every second of it.

“It's a great place to do it, in New York against this team,” Rollins said after the game.

Rollins, of course, slugged a two-out, two-strike three-run home run in the top of the seventh to resuscitate the Phillies’ silent offense and lead the way to a 4-2 victory. The most important part is that the Phillies climbed over the .500 mark again and have a chance to go for the sweep over the Mets tonight when Cole Hamels pitches against John Maine.

For any fan of young, stud pitchers, tonight is the game to watch.

For now, though, Rollins gets another game at Shea until mid-September which means the fans there get to boo him for his game-winning homer and innocuous comments.

Seriously, why do fans get worked up over something so mundane as a guy believing his team is good? Someday, perhaps, I’ll get it… then again, probably not.

Be that as it may, the idea of Rollins becoming a villain to the New York sports’ fans has been floated out there, though Rollins says he doesn’t think he’ll ever reach the heights of hatred that Reggie Miller or someone like that.

“I think I smile too much,” Rollins laughed. “Maybe if I was a mean guy I'd make for a good villain. But I enjoy playing the game. Eventually you get tired being mad at a happy guy.”

Nah, Reggie Miller seems to be a happy-go-lucky guy and it didn’t seem as if the New Yorkers ever got tired of booing him. Then again, Michael Jordan used to carve the Knicks apart and that didn’t stop anyone in the Big Apple from buying Nikes.

Nevertheless, Rollins says he wouldn’t mind becoming an assassin like Reggie Miller.

“I hope I could be a Reggie Miller. Shoot, that would be great.”

Of course Reggie Miller was disliked for what he did to the New York fans during the playoffs. Rollins and the Phillies will have to get there for the rivalry to really bloom.

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If there is one thing we learned about Jose Mesa back when he was saving more games than any pitcher in Phillies’ history it was the big fella was really in good shape. It might not have looked that way to an outsider, but there were very few players on those Phillies’ teams that worked out as much or as hard as Joe Table.

Perhaps that’s why Mesa, listed as 41 years old, is getting another look-see after being released from the Detroit Tigers. Nothing is promised now, but reports are that the Phillies will work out the veteran reliever to see whether he could be a worthy addition to the front-end of the bullpen.

Hey, what does it hurt?

Mesa saved 111 games for the Phillies from 2001 to 2003and he saved 320 games (including 70 for the Pirates in 2004 and 2005) during his 19-season career. But after putting together a solid season for the Colorado Rockies in 2006 (3.86 ERA in 79 games), Mesa has struggled for the Tigers this season. So far he’s been in 16 games and has a not-so sharp 12.34 ERA.

Nonetheless, if the Phillies like anything about Mesa it wouldn’t be too difficult to find a spot for him in the ‘pen.

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Here’s some good news if you like to drink coffee… it’s really, really good for you.

According to a new meta-analysis in the magazine Gastroenterology, there is a strong likelihood that caffeine consumption decreases your risk of liver cancer. Even better, according to a study in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, caffeine consumption could make you a faster runner – actually 1 percent faster if you have a penchant for distance running.

The best part: a 23-year study of 13,000 Californians in Preventive Medicine found that moderate caffeine consumers had a significantly reduced risk of death.

So get out there and get drinking. It will make you faster for a long time.