Nowhere to turn

In a tie game that, incidentally, should have never been tied, manager Charlie Manuel turned to right-hander J.D. Durbin to pitch in the 10th and 11th innings against the Colorado Rockies in the relative altitude of Denver’s Coors Field. We say relative altitude because Denver isn’t really that high and if you are one who loses his breath just walking around in Denver, it’s time to do a little self inventory.

And stay away from those mountains that you see ringing the city off in the distance.

Anyway, Charlie turned to Durbin for the turning point of the game even though the pitcher’s ERA was way north of 15. Prior to going to Durbin, Charlie had to call in Mike Zagurski, Jose Mesa, J.C. Romero and Antonio Alfonseca to blow the five-run lead rookie starter Kyle Kendrick took into the sixth inning. The skipper couldn’t go to oft-used Geoff Geary because he’s back at Triple-A working out the trouble that turned him into a fireman whose best weapon was propane. Nor could the manager turn to Ryan Madson, who had pitched in two straight games in Houston.

Besides, Madson has already been in 30 games so far this season despite spending time on the disabled list.

Brian Sanches and Anderson Garcia were also out there in the bullpen, but they were a last resort for Manuel. After all, he is trying to win.

Needless to say, the Phillies, at 43-43, are doing it with mirrors in the bullpen. Manuel really has nowhere to turn when looking to his bench. Sure, the so-called core of his team is as good as any in the Majors, but the name of the game still is getting 27 outs. In that regard, the Phillies struggle from the seventh inning on.

Some wise baseball people have suggested that Manuel is worthy of manager of the year consideration based on the job he’s done so far with the resources he’s been handed. I’m not sure that Charlie has earned an award, but when his contract ends at the end of the season he definitely deserves a medal.

***
The cool thing about being in Colorado, or even in the Pacific time zone, is that east coast games start early and end early. But east coast folks aren’t so lucky when it’s reversed. Nonetheless, when Durbin came into last night’s game I knew it was just a matter of time until I was able to head off to bed…

What, you think I was on my way out? I’m closer to 40 than 30 and have kid(s) and a serious running problem – that means no more fun of any kind.

***
No Floyd news here, nor the courtesy of a return message from USADA. Perhaps I should take the snub from the anti-doping agency personal (I don’t, I just really, really, really enjoy poking fun at everything), but since USADA is partially FUNDED FROM U.S. TAXPAYER MONEY, returning messages – even if it is to tell someone to, “go pound sand… we ain’t tellin’ you nothin’” – isn’t just a courtesy. It’s their damn job.

Trust me on this one: some government official is getting a well-written and pointed letter of complaint… not that they actually care what their constituents think.

Sigh.

Anywho, I watched the first rider of the prologue of the 2007 Tour de France fly out of the gate and through the streets of London for the short, 8k time trial and even saw Dave Zabriske take Yellow… for exactly 54 seconds. That said, here are a few revelations I’ve had over the last few days regarding the Tour and cycling:

It would be soooooo hilarious if an American won the Tour this year. If Levi Leipheimer, Z-Man or George Hincapie (he said he wants to win the prologue) end up contending, expect more than a few heads to explode.

I am now convinced that the UCI, the Tour and the other so-called leaders of cycling want to sabotage their sport. So far they are doing a pretty good job, but aren’t quite to Gary Bettman status quite yet.

Give them some time.

Phil Liggett is the best sports broadcaster working today. Well… Vin Scully is pretty damn incredible, too. How about this: Liggett and Vin reading from a phone book?

I’d listen to that all day.

Meanwhile, based on the commercials aired on Versus during the Tour coverage it seems as if everything is OK in selling the event for TV... well, you know, it ain't the NFL.

***
Wildly astute columnist Bob Ford wrote about the Tour for the Inquirer today. I’m not sure if Bob is going to England or France to cover the race, but if he is I hope he can steal me an ashtray or something.

I was hoping to have John Eustice write for us at CSN again this year during the Tour, but haven't heard anything regarding that yet (yes, I asked). So without anything new, here's Eustice's reports from last year.

***
Tour predictions:
1.) Levi Leipheimer, USA, Discovery Channel d'Epargne
2.) Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazakhstan, Astana
3.) Alejandro Valverde, Spain, Caisse

The Bat vs. The Rat

Where do we start with this one? After three games in which the Phillies appeared to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory only to rally late to win – and sweep! – the hated New York Mets, it appears as if the Phillies are in this for the long haul.

More interestingly, the Phillies pulled off the sweep while Tom Gordon and Brett Myers were on the shelf and the rest of the gang in the most beleaguered bullpen in the National League stepped up.

Like Antonio Alfonseca notching saves in all three victories.

Like Mike Zagurski throwing a scoreless ninth inning of a tied game after Billy Wagner had blown his first save since last year. That’s not counting the playoffs, of course. As we all remember fondly, Billy blew one in the NLCS against the Cardinals, too.

Like Ryan Madson working three hitless innings in the thick of the games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

Like Geoff Geary pitching himself into and out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning of Wednesday night’s victory.

Phew! Who are these guys and what did they do with the Phillies?

Jokes (kind of) aside, the series against the Mets at Shea had a few moments that will certainly find their way onto Video Dan’s end-of-the-year highlight DVD. Chase Utley’s game-winning homer in the 11th to win Tuesday’s game will be there right next to Jimmy Rollins’ three-run blast in the seventh inning of Wednesday night’s game.

But Pat Burrell’s homer to ruin Wagner’s streak of 31 straight saves is the coup de gras. That one was actually kind of fun(ny). For some reason – and I have no idea why – I take a perverse pleasure in watching Billy Wagner blow a save chance. Maybe there’s something deep there, who knows. Certainly I have nothing against him even though he doesn’t like to be asked about his slider.

Perhaps he doesn’t like to be asked about the 3-2 fastball he fed old pal Pat Burrell, either. After the game, Wagner kind of gave Burrell a backhanded little slap regarding the homer that helped the former Phillie closer and so-called “rat” snatch defeat from a gift-wrapped save.

“He has a one-path swing, and I just put it right in its path,” Wagner offered after the game.

If that’s the case (and it very well might be) does that mean Wagner is not a very smart pitcher? Chances are if he decided to bounce a 3-2 slider that Burrell would have flailed away with his customary rear-out swing that we’ve all come to know so well.

Instead, that one path swing pushed the Phillies to within five games of the lead in the NL East. With exactly 102 games to go, I’m going to suggest that the Phillies need to win 62 more to earn a playoff berth. That’s a .608 winning percentage and there are only four teams in the Major Leagues playing better than .608 ball.

Yes, the Phillies are in it, but they still have a lot of work to do. Another sweep on the road in Kansas City would be a good place to start.

Meanwhile, it was interesting that skipper Charlie Manuel acknowledged that the umps got the call on David Wright’s solo shot off Cole Hamels in the sixth correct before arguing it and getting tossed for the fourth time this season. According to witnesses, the umps had to have watched the replay on the big video screen at Shea Stadium after it was replayed over and over again in slow motion.

Speaking of annoying, is there a more annoying player than Wright or Paul Lo Duca? Lo Duca, of course, seems to annoy a lot of people – at least that’s what has been printed in the papers. But I don’t know what it is about Wright… certainly he is a terrific ballplayer and seems to have surpassed Scott Rolen as the marquee third baseman in the game, however, if my son(s) ever have an interest in playing baseball and want to know how the game is properly played, I’ll direct them to watch Rolen.

Wright just seems to have a Danny Ainge quality to him.

Again, maybe that’s just me.

***
Aside from the shoulder surgery and the fact that he hasn’t been able to focus on being a full-time pitcher, Phillies’ draftee Joe Savery seems like an interesting guy. Based on a conference call with the lefty from Rice University yesterday, the kid sounds confident and expects to be pitching for the Phillies relatively soon.

“I really believe that either by late next year or Opening Day of '09,” he said. “The bottom line is I've never focused on pitching. I relied on athleticism. I'm really excited about the opportunity to focus on pitching and being around professional instruction.”

The Phillies have a track record of not rushing prospects to the big leagues so it will be interesting to see where Savery lands when he signs and how quickly he develops.

***
Is anyone else excited about Jim Thome’s return to Philadelphia next week?

***
Don't ask me how because I have no answer, but I dug up this little nugget about Cole Hamels this afternoon... all I can say is bless that kid.

Notes and stuff

During the late innings of the Phillies’ victory over the Giants last night, an announcement was made in the press box informing the media that actor Danny DeVito would be available to answer questions regarding his TV show, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” in the basement conference room before Sunday’s game. At the same time it was announced that the Phillies’ director of scouting, Marti Wolever, would also be available to talk to the press about the upcoming amateur draft after DeVito was finished.

How about this: Could we talk to DeVito about the draft and Wolever about TV shows? Maybe?

DeVito was at the park to toss out the ceremonial first pitch prior to Sunday’s game and will be in town working on the show until June 11.

***
I defy any manager at any level of organized baseball to top Phil Wellman’s hand grenade bit…



Compare Wellman to Lou Piniella:



Lou really needs a hug. There have to be some deep issues there. Meanwhile, it appears as if the Cubs have gotten worse.

Try this out Philly fans: In the time since the Cubs went to their last World Series (and lost), the Phillies have been to the World Series four times.

***
After last night’s game Charlie Manuel said something that sounded so basic, but was really telling:

“When Howard’s hitting we become a totally different team,” Manuel said.

Based on the seventh inning of Sunday’s game, it appears as if Howard is hitting.

Meanwhile, before Saturday’s game Manuel said something that was even more interesting in that he wants to use certain pitchers in his bullpen more, but, well, he wants to win games, too.

“In order for the bullpen to get better, we've got to pitch them,” Manuel said. “At the same time, I say to myself, ‘We're trying to win the game.’ It's a double-edged sword.”

Manuel also said that one way to build a pitching staff was from the “back to the front.”

Sounds like someone is leery about overusing his starters.

“If your bullpen's weak, it puts a lot of strain on your starters,” the skipper said on Saturday. “We need to put a limit on our guys. We'll be pitching our whole staff more than they've ever pitched, or close to it.”

The Phillies starters are 14th in the league in ERA (4.68) and fifth in innings pitched (340 1/3), while the relievers are 13th in innings (152 2/3) and 14th in ERA (4.72).

Manuel also said that he plans on sticking with Pat Burrell (six homers, 24 RBIs, .226 avg.) even though his left fielder is having another disappointing season. However, it sounds as if Burrell is getting most of the playing time right now because he’s the guy with the big, multi-year contract that hangs like an anchor on the club.

“When you sign somebody for a long period of time to a big contract, there's a commitment there. When's the cut-off point? I don't know. When you sign him, you commit to him.”

Though Manuel says otherwise, it’s my opinion that if the skipper benches Burrell for an extended amount of time, he’ll hear about it from his bosses.

***
One pitcher no one should be leery of overusing is Cole Hamels whose outing on Saturday night was just another spectacular chapter in a burgeoning career that should put him amongst the greats in franchise history.

You can have Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Brett Myers, Jimmy Rollins or whomever else… Hamels IS the franchise player.

If Jake Peavy wasn’t turning in a Bob Gibson in 1968-esque first half of the season, Hamels would be the early favorite for the league’s Cy Young Award. As it stands at this moment, the Phils’ lefty is a shoo-in for the All-Star Game next month.

“I've seen him get better even this year,” Saturday’s catcher Rod Barajas said. “I caught him earlier in the season, and he would get emotional sometimes. He'd try to throw too hard. Now, he gives up a home run, and he stays relaxed. He was happy to quick outs all game. He's as good as anyone I've ever caught.”

The best part about Hamels? He has an arrogance that isn’t overbearing or obnoxious and knows how good he is. He also knows his changeup is a killer.

***
The Astros' Roy Oswalt is on pace to pitch approximately 260 innings this season, which is up there for this age in baseball. In fact, since Mike Scott went for 275 in 1986, no National Leaguer has gone over 270 and only two American Leaguers have reached that plateau in that time.

Any one have a guess who for who the last pitcher to deal 300 innings in a season was? Don't cheat by looking it up...

Where to turn?

If one really wanted to know what Charlie Manuel thinks about the arsenal of arms he has in his bullpen, look no further than the seventh inning of last night’s game in Phoenix during the 3-2 loss to the Diamondbacks. Rather than pinch hit with Ryan Howard, Wes Helms or Jayson Werth for starting pitcher Adam Eaton with runners on first and third with two outs, Manuel decided to roll the dice on Eaton.

It didn’t work.

Eaton grounded out to end the inning before going out to the mound for the bottom of the seventh where he gave up a two-out titanic homer to pinch hitter Tony Clark.

That’s your ballgame right there.

After the game Manuel said he went with Eaton to hit in that spot because if he would have sent Howard up the D’backs would have intentionally walked him to load the bases… as if that’s a bad thing. Frankly, it’s a 50-50 shot if the D’backs would have walked Howard simply because it doesn’t appear as if he can put any weight on his back leg when he swings. Right now, Howard is an easy out. Besides, if Howard gets walked, Aaron Rowand comes up and he’s hitting .407 with the bases loaded.

I doubt Charlie knew that – or cared. Simply, Manuel would rather have Eaton out there in the seventh than turn to his Posh Spice-thin bullpen. With the way Manuel is using his ‘pen, it’s clear he has some faith in Geoff Geary and no one else before the game is turned over to Brett Myers.

Ideally, Manuel needs a couple of complete games and a few days of rain.

Hamels and Moyer and pray for rain…

There has to be something snappier we can come up with – what type of dramatic weather event rhymes with Moyer?

***
Speaking of Jamie Moyer, the ol’ lefty matches up against 43-year old Randy Johnson for today’s series finale. I’ll spare you all of the old pitcher comparisons, except for this one – Moyer and Johnson have faced Bob Dernier in a combined 21 plate appearances. “White Lightning” has five hits, a stolen base and two strikeouts against today’s starters.

***
Unfortunately for my six readers, I’m going to miss this weekend’s series against the Cubs because my wife, son and I are going to Rehoboth Beach for an extended weekend. With a new addition coming in August, the annual summertime trip to Estes Park, Colo. is out for 2007, so our old vacation haunt gets the another off-season call.

Nevertheless, we’ll continue to post here when the opportunity arises, especially after tomorrow night’s walk through the F&M campus to Clipper Stadium to see the local sandlot team, the Lancaster Barnstormers play the Long Island Ducks.

This is Atlantic League Baseball, which, stunningly, is much worse than I had anticipated. In fact, watching more than two innings of the Barnstormers "play" is so frustratingly agonizing that watching someone have a suit tailored is much more interesting. Regardless, the quality of the baseball is clearly not the point at a Lancaster Barnstormers game – in a city with a dearth of excitement, the night out while attempting to corral a three-year old is the main pursuit.

Baseball-wise, Lancaster’s second baseman is Bo Hart, who may be remembered as Fernando Vina’s replacement for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2003. Long Island has former All-Star Danny Graves in the bullpen; former Cardinals and Yankees pitcher Donovan Osborne, as well as outfielder Carl Everett, former Mets standout Edgardo Alfonzo, and an infielder in his 19th season of pro ball named Pete Rose Jr.

Yeah, how about that?

Anyway, the game starts at 7 p.m. and I should be back home no later than 8:30 or until Jurassic Carl knocks one onto Harrisburg Pike... whichever comes first.

Was it that obvious?

In a move that everyone saw coming and couldn’t have been less obvious unless it was broadcast by a skywriter, the Phillies optioned struggling lefty Matt Smith and recalled lefty Fabio Castro. With the Phillies Castro will be the lone lefty in the bullpen and will likely fill the role of lefty-on-lefty specialist that Smith was supposed to perform.

We say supposed to because Smith clearly didn’t do the job very well. Including last night’s game where he retired two hitters, but walked three and gave up a run, Smith had completed just four innings in nine appearances. During that span the opposition hit just .250 against Smith, but that’s because he was too busy walking a large number of hitters. Of the 27 hitters Smith had faced this season, he walked 11. Worse, of the 11 lefties he has faced, Smith has walked six and given up two hits.

So when Pat Gillick and Ruben Amaro were seen waiting in the coaches’ room just off the clubhouse following the 9-3 victory over the Nationals last night, it was pretty fair to guess that Smith was a topic of conversation.

“He's had a good chance to come in and face some lefties. With his command, he's having a hard time right now,” Charlie Manuel said about Smith, after noting that the reports on Castro from Ottawa had been good and that he was mulling over other options in facing opponents’ tough lefty hitters.

Castro was a Rule 5 selection for the Rangers last year before being traded to the Phillies. He spent most of the second half of the season sitting in the bullpen, though he got in 16 games with a 1.54 ERA. This season for Ottawa, Castro’s numbers mirror the good reports the manager has received. In six relief appearances, Castro was 2-0 with a 3.24 ERA and held opponents to a .194 average.

***
There are few different elements working here. First, it’s fair to paint me as a skeptic. Actually, skeptic might not be the right term – non-believer is more apt. And by non-believer I don’t mean anything other than what the words imply. It’s not that I don’t doubt certain things, I just don’t believe them. I don’t believe TV commercials, press releases, conspiracy theories or nihilism (say what you will about the tenets of National Socialism – at least it’s an ethos, Dude).

In that regard, when Curt Schilling showed up to pitch in the 2004 World Series and ALCS with that aesthetically packaged bloody sock with the neatly inscribed shoe for his cause de guerre and the so-called blood placed just so above the outer rim of his Reebok spikes, well, c’mon.

Certainly we’ve never known Curt Schilling as one prone to self-aggrandizing. He’s always been one to shy away from the limelight, right? In fact, isn’t he the guy who always says, “Could you please put those cameras down and turn those tape recorders off? Enough about me, I’ve gone on and on too much as it is… let’s hear about you.”

But 2½ years after the bloody sock became a little bit of folklore, people are still talking about it. And, much to my shock, there are skeptics out there. One, MASN baseball announcer Gary Thorne, even went so far as to say the entire thing was a hoax. How does Thorne know? Well, he says, red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli told him so.

Yeah, really.

Here’s how it went down according to published reports:

In the bottom of the fifth, according to multiple media reports, Orioles play-by-play man Gary Thorne said on the air that he had been told by Red Sox catcher Doug Mirabelli that the substance was paint, not blood.

“The great story we were talking about the other night was that famous red stocking that he wore when they finally won, the blood on his stocking,” Thorne told broadcast partner and Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer, according to media reports.

“Nah,” Thorne said. “It was painted. Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR. Two-ball, two-strike count.”

Two innings later, according to media reports, Thorne explained Mirabelli had told him the story “a couple of years ago.”

"Go ask him [Mirabelli]," Thorne said.

Needless to say, Mirabelli, Schilling and Red Sox skipper Terry Francona weren’t too happy in having the ruse, er… story, replayed all over again. Denials over Thorne’s accounts flew like blood from a ruptured superior vena cava.

According to reports:

“What? Are you kidding me? He's [expletive] lying. A straight lie,” Mirabelli said, according to The Boston Globe. “I never said that. I know it was blood. Everybody knows it was blood.”

“It gets stupider,” Schilling added, according to the newspaper. “I got the 9-inch scar for you. You can see it. ... There are some bad people in your line of work, man.”

Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe contacted Red Sox GM Theo Epstein via e-mail and got this response:

"You're kidding me, right?" Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein wrote in an e-mail last night. "I'm the GM of the team, not Jerry Springer. I couldn't give two [expletives] about what was on his sock, I care that we won the game. The rest, and Gary Thorne, is just noise.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona also questioned Thorne's version of the story.

“What Schill did that night on the sports field was one of the most incredible feats I ever witnessed,” Francona said, according to The Globe. “[Thorne's remarks] go so far past disappointing. Disrespectful to Schill, to his vocation. I'm stunned.

“I am just floored. Schill takes his share of shots, and this one is so far below the belt that I'm embarrassed and I wish somebody would have had the good conscience to ask me,” Francona said, according to the newspaper.

It should be noted that Mirabelli has been burned by conversations that he thought he was having in confidence in the past. It also should be noted that Schilling has talked, a lot, in the past as well.

It also should be noted that ESPN’s Jayson Stark believes Schilling bled like a stuck pig during the World Series and ALCS in 2004. That, and that alone, is good enough for me.

***
Speaking of Jayson Stark, check out what he wrote about today's starter, Cole Hamels under the sub-head "Cys in the making":

The other name is 23-year-old Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels. Just last Saturday, Hamels struck out 15 Reds, in only the 27th start of his career. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only four other pitchers in the last 25 years have had that big a strikeout game that early in their careers -- Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood (twice), Hideo Nomo and Greg Swindell. One scout who watched Hamels told Rumblings he'd vote for him for the Cy Young right now.

"I would never say he had a better changeup than Johan Santana, because nobody's better than Santana," the scout said. "But let's just say Santana's change is no better than this guy's. It's just as good. And I can't give any higher praise than that. They never made contact with it the whole night. He kept throwing it, and they kept swinging right through it."

Relief for the relievers

In order to pry away Babe Ruth from the Red Sox, Yankees owners Jacob Ruppert and Cap Huston sent $100,000 to Boston’s Harry Frazee with the hope that the lefty pitcher and slugger could turn around their moribund franchise.

As it turns out it ended up being the best $100,000 ever spent in baseball history.

On Thursday afternoon, a day after the Phillies’ bullpen blew its second straight late-inning lead in a loss to the Atlanta Braves, general manager Pat Gillick announced that his franchise was sending $100,000 to the Toronto Blue Jays for right-handed relief pitcher Francisco Rosario. Certainly Gillick and the Phillies aren’t expecting Rosario to turn the club into the greatest baseball franchise ever, but if the 26-year old can get a few batters out a couple times a week, he just might be the answer for the Phillies.

But at this point, after losing the first two games because of the bullpen’s inability to hold a lead or keep a game tied while positing a collective 7.11 ERA with four walks and three homers in 6 1/3 innings, the Phillies are just looking for an arm. In that regard, Rosario certainly fits the bill.

A veteran of eight minor league seasons where he appeared in 148 games with 84 starts, as well as 17 games in 2006 for the Blue Jays, Rosario has obtained the unfortunate moniker as an “upside” guy. In other words, Rosario throws hard and has good stuff but for one reason or another has not lived up to his potential as a pitcher. In fact, that “upside” label is omnipresent in most scouting reports and quotes regarding Rosario. For instance, the 2007 Baseball Prospectus yearbook says:

Once considered a high-upside guy, Francisco Rosario has had his share of arm troubles and has gotten older without the upside coming around, but he could be salvaged as a decent arm out of the bullpen if he maintains the uptick in control he experienced with Syracuse last year.

Despite throwing his fastball in the high 90s, while sporting a 3.00 ERA with nine strikeouts in nine innings in Grapefruit League action for the Jays, Rosario couldn’t crack the team’s relieving corps. Out of options, he was designated for assignment meaning he had to be traded or claimed by waivers in a 10-day span before becoming a free agent. Recognizing their shortcomings in the bullpen, Gillick and his staff scouted Rosario heavily during the spring with the hope of brokering a potential deal. Just as quickly word got out that the Phillies were interested.

“We like this guy's arm,” Gillick told reporters in announcing the deal. “We think he has a power arm. He's had a poor track record, but we think he turned the corner this spring. He has a lot of upside. He's a guy we've watched since last season.”

Upside. For Rosario and the Phillies relievers there is plenty of upside. They will try to find it on Friday night in Miami where Rosario will join the team for the three-game series against the Florida Marlins. It’s likely that pitcher Joe Bisenius will be optioned to Triple-A Ottawa to clear space on the 25-man roster for Rosario.

In the need of relief

After looking at the names above the lockers in the Phillies’ clubhouse on Friday night it’s obvious that the team really needs another reliever or two. Because of the roster moves made on Friday where Jon Lieber and Freddy Garcia were placed on the disabled list retroactive to March 23, it seems very likely that Zach Segovia, the second-round draft pick from 2002 who missed all of 2004 recovering from Tommy John surgery, will make the Opening Day roster despite never having pitched above Double-A.

Of course there are a lot of successful big league pitchers who never pitched in Triple-A and Segovia could be one of them based on his solid numbers in 2006. But is Segovia a pitcher on a playoff-bound team in 2007? Maybe he is though it seems evident that the Phillies’ brass would rather have a complimentary arm or two.

As Ruben Amaro Jr. said while standing in the middle of a veritable rugby-esque scrum of baseball scribes, “The fact we're going to have Opening Day on Monday for us doesn't mean we're going to stop working. We're going to continue to try and improve our club. We feel comfortable with what we have right now and actually, the bullpen has thrown very well lately. They get a chance to hold down their jobs.”

Meanwhile, here’s what the authors of the Baseball Prospectus 2007 yearbook say about the Blue Jays’ Francisco Rosario, the reliever reported to be the subject of trade talks:

Once considered a high-upside guy, Francisco Rosario has had his share of arm troubles and has gotten older without the upside coming around, but he could be salvaged as a decent arm out of the bullpen if he maintains the uptick in control he experienced with Syracuse last year.

More observations and notes
Cole Hamels gave up four home runs to the Red Sox on Friday night, but he didn’t look all that bad. The telling at-bat was when the lefty had Manny Ramirez in a 0-2 hole, seemingly had him struck out on a 1-2 curve before giving up a 3-2 homer that sailed over the right-field fence like a waffle ball gently clearing a hedge in a suburban yard.

Afterwards, Hamels said he was just working on some stuff.

“I'm just throwing pitches on counts that I normally wouldn't,” Hamels said, noting that he threw 20-plus pitches in each of the first two innings. “I think along the lines of throwing fastballs in fastball hitters’ counts, which is just something that will help me in the long run.”

***
This is the fourth season for Citizens Bank Park, which is one year more than the amount of time I spent covering games at the Vet… how did that happen? Regarding the Bank, I’ve received a number of e-mails from readers suggesting I post reviews of the cheese steaks and other concessions at the park. I assume these suggestions are serious so I’ll just start by noting that I’m one of those annoying vegetarians that leans toward the organic side of dining. That said, I was informed that Rick's Steaks, the cheese steakery located on Ashburn Alley now serves something they call a “veggie” cheese steak, which I assume is not a steak at all. Besides, all vegetarians want to eat food that almost tastes like dead animal carcasses. I assume my sarcasm font works…

Nevertheless, I will walk out to Rick’s and give it a try at some point and tell everyone all about it.

***
I just heard Gary Matthews work with Harry and Wheels for the first time...

***
If more evidence of the Philadelphia print media was needed, it seemed to be proven this week in its relative neglect of Ted Leo’s arrival in town to kick off his much-heralded tour of the U.S. and Europe. I say much-heralded based on the almost ridiculous amount of coverage for a performer of Leo’s ilk and political stance. Outlets like NPR produced long interviews and even presented a web cast of his show in Washington, D.C. on Thursday night, while the The New York Times, Washington Post, New York Observer, and The Onion AV Club (just to name a few) have offered glowing a full reports on the new album and tour.

Meanwhile in Philadelphia – hometown of sumptuously tufted drummer Chris Wilson – there are crickets. Actually, that’s not true or even fair. There were six or seven paragraphs in two of the town’s papers, which includes all the local shoppers and “alternative” weeklies.

Anyway, here’s the MP3 of the NPR show at the 9:30 Club in D.C. Sounded like it was a good time.

More: NPR Interview
More: A.V. Club

More trade winds...

Various reports coming from Clearwater indicate that the Phillies are working hard to add another arm to their rice-paper thin bullpen. Needless to say, it won't be this guy.

Meanwhile, the Phillies released Karim Garcia despite the fact that he hit .305 with a homer and seven RBIs during Grapefruit League action. Because of the move it appears likely that Michael Bourn and Greg Dobbs will make the 25-man roster on Opening Day. Chris Coste appears headed for the disabled list with a sore hamstring, while Jon Lieber is in the same position with his strained oblique.

I'm not going to make a joke about Lieber and his oblique muscles anymore...

This week.

Phils push Lieber to 'pen

According to published reports, the verdict is in and pitcher Jon Lieber is out… out of the rotation, at least.

Faced with a surplus of starting pitching and a dearth of arms in the bullpen, manager Charlie Manuel announced that the decision had been made to shift Lieber from the rotation to the bullpen effective immediately.

Lieber’s status with the Phillies had been in question ever since the team acquired Freddy Garcia and Adam Eaton last December. Ever since then Lieber has been viewed as a top bargaining chip in a deal to get a much-needed arm in the bullpen the team covets. However, with opening day looming and the team unable to broker a suitable deal for Lieber, the veteran pitcher will work out of the bullpen for the first time since 1996 when he appeared in 36 games as a reliever and 15 as a starter for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

With Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, Garcia and Eaton all in the mix to hold down spots in the rotation, Lieber was viewed as the odd man out. However, Eaton and Lieber were both on record saying they would accept an assignment to the ‘pen if that was what was best for the club.

Nevertheless, Lieber, who underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the entire 2003 season, is not pleased about the decision.

“I'm disappointed,” Lieber told reporters in Clearwater, Fla. “I'd be lying if I said I wasn't. I'm going to do it for these guys in here, but I think I can still start. It sucks. I signed here to be a starter.

“It's either 29 teams really don't like me, or they're asking too much,” Lieber said of the club’s inability to trade him. “I still think I can throw 200 innings. I still think I can win a lot of games for this club. If somebody somewhere doesn't think I can, I wish they'd tell me and let's move on.”

Playoffs?

They got out the slide rules, spread sheets, calculators with all of those funny-looking symbols and statistics to crunch the numbers and decided that the Phillies will win the NL East in 2007.

Phew! On to the playoffs.

Kidding aside – and I kid the “stat geeks” because, well, why not? – the good folks at Baseball Prospectus determined that the Phillies will win the NL East with 87 victories, edging the New York Mets by two games and Atlanta Braves by five. In fact, Baseball Prospectus predicts that the 87 victories will be the second-highest total in the National League (one game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks) sixth-best in the Majors.

Here are BP’s playoff teams:

National League
East: Phillies
Central: Brewers
West: Diamondbacks
Wild card: Padres

American League
East: Red Sox
Central: Twins
West: Angels
Wild card: Yankees

Based on this, the Phillies would play the Padres in the NLDS.

But as White Sox GM Ken Williams told the Chicago Tribune about BP’s predictions:

“That’s a good sign for us, because usually they're wrong about everything regarding our dealings.”

I won’t make my formal predictions until Opening Day eve, but here’s where I’m leaning:

National League
East: Mets
Central: Cardinals
West: Dodgers
WC: Phillies

American League
East: Red Sox
Central: Twins
West: Angels
WC: Yankees

That was easy enough. Let's get on to the champagne-soaked celebration.

***
Reports coming out of Clearwater indicate that either Adam Eaton or Jon Lieber will start the season in the bullpen. This information comes after the Phillies lost Justin Germano to the Padres who claimed him off waivers, and sent right-hander Brian Sanches to Triple-A Ottawa.

Germano was a little upset about heading to San Diego. According to the Associated Press’ Rob Maaddi:

“I'm pretty shocked,” Germano said soon after assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. informed him of the move. “I thought I was right there. I had one bad inning. I knew they didn't expect me to be perfect every time out.”

Meanwhile, players’ union head Donald Fehr will be in Clearwater to address the Phillies’ camp. Likely topics include drug testing and the World Baseball Classic.

***
Much has been made about the 76ers’ 50-point loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday, which is the fourth-worst loss in team history. Needless to say, I didn’t watch the game and haven’t paid much attention to the aftermath, but here’s a thought: It’s reasonable to think that the Rockets could have played an entire half without scoring a single basket and still won the game.

Hey, they were up by 50!

***
Embattled Tour de France champ Floyd Landis will be near his old stomping grounds this weekend as part of his tour to raise funds for his legal defense.

As an aside, in researching the latest information on Landis, the case and his tour I participated in a message board conversation about the controversy before being attacked by someone who dubbed himself as “Pedrohead.” Besides being turned off by the whole message board experience, I’ve come to learn the identity of the character with the very apt nom de guerre, and let’s just say, “it figures.”

In the interest of full disclosure, my message board handle is, creatively, “jrfinger.” Do you think anyone will know it’s me?

***
Finally, the presentation from author Eric Schlosser at F&M College last night was quite interesting, though he didn’t stray too far from the information presented in Fast Food Nation. Nevertheless, a good time was had by all.

Randomness part 984

As written in these posts on many, many occasions, I believe the issue of performance-enhancing drugs and doping is the most important issue and story in sports now and for the foreseeable future. Actually, it’s the only story of real import but it would get pretty boring to write and read about drugging athletes all the time.

After all, sports are supposed to be entertainment.

Regardless, it should be required reading for any sports fan and/or writer to read Game of Shadows by Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams. It truly is an unbelievable piece of work and parts of it read like a Cold War spy novel.

Baseball and its union should thank the authors for the book, yet instead they had the opposite reaction.

***
Similarly, I will be attending a lecture by Eric Schlosser this evening at Franklin & Marshall College. Schlosser, of course, is the author of Fast Food Nation, which examines how fast food restaurants use their economic power to exploit the culture, social conditions and public health.

Schlosser also wrote the award-winning Reefer Madness and is writing about the prison system in his next book.

It should make for an interesting evening.

***
Speaking of interesting, it’s becoming more likely that the Phillies will break camp in two weeks with six starting pitchers. According to a story in the Inquirer, the Phillies will be especially deep in the rotation, but remarkably thin in the bullpen. As written by noted casanova Todd Zolecki:

Pat Gillick said yesterday that he didn't think he would be able to make a trade for bullpen help before the season starts. He said he expected to open the season with six starting pitchers, one of which would move to the bullpen.

“Everybody is looking for the same thing,” Gillick said. “Everybody is looking for the same commodity. Everybody has a bullpen problem; nobody wants to give up a bullpen piece. If they give up a piece, it's going to create another problem for them. Who has excess?”

Anyone think Gillick is playing ‘possum?

Maybe not... according to Scott Lauber's info-packed blog, skipper Charlie Manuel has been his happy-go-lucky self lately. It seems as if the paper-thin bullpen's production this spring is wearing him out. Certainly the 'pen is not wearing out the opposition's hitters.

***
Finally, mathematics seems to have sabotaged my college basketball pool last weekend. After opening with a perfect first day in selecting winners on the first day of the tournament action, the picks made after consulting a mathematician resulted in a sub par 8-for-16 for the “Sweet 16.” Meanwhile, the picks made on hunches, a coin flips garnered 10-of-16 correct picks.

Fortunately, in both pools all of my Final 8, 4, 2 and championship teams remain.

Either way, I’m cooked.