After Tiger, Phil and Furyk, we take...

The Masters starts today and I haven't entered my non-Tiger and Phil selections. Any one can pick one of those two to win the whole thing so it seems much more creative to just eliminate them from the process.

In that regard I guess I should eliminate Jim Furyk as well because of personal biases. You always stick with the people from the 'hood (at least I do), plus we all know Jim is clutch after he hit that shot from the corner to beat Lebanon for the Section 1 title in 1988.

So with Tiger, Phil and Furyk out of the mix, we're going to go with Adam Scott. I wish I had a reason for why Scott is the best fourth choice to win the Masters, but I don't. It just sounds like it could be a smart pick.

Besides, is there anything better than the Masters (or golf) on TV? It's just action on top of action, and no, I'm not being sarcastic. On another note, think about all the TV action coming this Sunday... the final round of the Masters leading into "The Sopranos" and "Entourage."

Beat that.

Charlie-isms

On Shane Victorino getting caught stealing at third base with one out and a runner on first with Chase Utley at the plate:

"Terrible. Bad. It was a bad play.

"I told him about it after the game. The only way he can steal in that situation is if he’s standing up. He just said, ‘it won’t happen again.’ It was a mistake."

On Ryan Howard batting third and Chase Utley fourth in the lineup:

"I always think about the lineup. I think about it every day. I’ll go home and think about it."

Good deal and Bud

The word trickled out during the late innings of the Phillies-Braves game on Wednesday night that MLB and the cable companies had finally brokered a deal to keep the league’s Extra Innings package on cable as well as satellite TV. It’s a good deal for diehard baseball fans as well as MLB since they will now be able to sell its product to people who want to buy it.

That’s savvy business acumen there, folks.

“Our chief goal throughout the process was to ensure that fans would have access to as many baseball games and as much baseball coverage as possible,” baseball chief operating officer Bob DuPuy said. “With this agreement, the MLB Channel will launch with an unprecedented platform.”

Speaking of savvy, MLB commissioner Bud Selig made approximately $14.5 million in salary and bonuses in 2005. That puts him up there with the likes of Gil Meche and Ted Lilly. Be that as it is, Selig’s commissionership as been as interesting as any since Kennesaw Mountain Landis first held the post in the 1920s. For one thing, MLB has seen an unprecedented growth in terms of attendance, revenue, the value of the franchises, new infrastructure and television dollars. More people around the globe are watching the game than at any other time in history.

That’s all very good.

Yet at the same time, while the world tunes in fewer groups of Americans are watching than ever – namely kids and African-Americans. According to popular sentiment and columnist/talk-show fodder, Selig has reigned during a time in which MLB has “lost a generation” of fans. Kids, apparently, have tuned out in favor of the NFL, NBA and whatever other types of technology rules the day. They have chosen to play those sports, as well as lacrosse, hockey and soccer, instead of signing up for the baseball team.

At the prep school across from my house, the structure of the athletic fields has changed exponentially over the past decade. Several of the baseball diamonds have been re-configured and re-lined as lacrosse and soccer pitches as the game seems to have less of a grip on the kids coming up. At least in the exurbs, it appears as if baseball has become a bit of a fringe sport like hockey and the other so-called “extreme” sports.

Meanwhile, the latest statistics indicate that fewer than 10 percent of Major Leaguers are African-American, which is the lowest total in at least two decades.

Are these issues simply a matter of MLB being short-sighted and ignoring its future fans and players by televising World Series games at 9 p.m. on school nights? Or is it something deeper?

I don’t know.

Aside from those issues, Selig seemingly buried his head in the sand as performance-enhancing drugs issues went from a concern to a scourge rendering the league’s records meaningless and its history with little context.

Other than that, every day fans seem to enjoy the wild card and interleague play. So they have that going for them…

More from Opening Day

It was hard not to think about Cory Lidle yesterday after watching his son and wife throw out the first pitch in front of the sold out crowd at Yankee Stadium. According to The New York Times Lidle’s locker in the Stadium was directly across from Thurman Munson’s, the other Yankee who also died in a plane crash. And like Munson’s locker since August 1979, Lidle’s will remain unused for the rest of the year.

***
An interesting comment from Charlie Manuel regarding the 2007 Phillies during his pre-game meeting with the writers:

“I’ve been excited ever since Jimmy Rollins made that statement about being the team to beat. This is one of the best bunch of guys I’ve been around as far as tempo to play the game.”

We think that’s Charlie-speak for there isn’t a lot of extraneous tomfoolery from his team. They just go out and play and leave the other stuff for others.

***
So I went out and did it… I got the Extra Innings thing from MLB.com. Only this year –unlike last season – I just got the audio package. That way I won’t have to worry about the freeze frames or switching frames from work to watch the action. Better yet, I’m not fully enveloping myself in the corporate hegemony of MLB by giving them close to $100 per season for the video. Instead, I’m forking over about $15, which, in a sense means I’m selling out (or buying in) but at a cut rate I don’t feel so bad about it.

Apparently MLB decided to relax its “Go pound sand” stance and is continuing negotiations with the cable companies for the rights to broadcast the Extra Innings package.

Tonight I’m going to listen to Randy Wolf’s debut for the Dodgers against the Brewers. That is if I don’t get distracted by the music I’ll undoubtedly be listening to.

Seen and heard on Opening Day

Opening day is the day of optimism, hope and believing that your team has just as good a chance as every other team. It’s about renewal and spring and all of all that other Field of Dream/catch-with-your dad hokum that people like to associate with baseball.

Happy Opening Day! Some like to say.

Bah humbug!

For the regular baseball writers, Opening Day is like going to church on Easter or Christmas in that it’s filled to the rafters with media types who won’t be back again for the rest of the year. They aren’t the devout – they only come out for the big games or when it’s fashionable. Mostly though, they just get in the way.

But that’s all well and good. It was a lot of fun seeing the whole gang back together and to catch up with folks that we hadn’t seen since the last game in Washington last October.

Anyway, the second game of the year is always the best one – the crowd dissipates and the regulars get to spread out a little more.

***
The first thing I noticed when I walked into the press box and set my bag at my work space in from of my regular seat for the past four years (seat No. 92) was the dry erase board with the day’s lineup written down. In the third slot it read:

6 Howard 1B

Followed by:

26 Utley 2B

My first reaction was, “Cool, will you look at that. That looks kind of good… it will get the reigning NL MVP up to bat in the first inning.”

Then I thought, “Uh-oh. I’m going to get asked about this… a lot. I bet Charlie is going to have to talk about it a bunch, too.”

Sure enough, Charlie talked about his lineup during his pre-game meeting with the writers where it sounded like he had one of his Japanese manager premonitions where he “felt” like the move needed to be made. And sure enough, as soon as the lineup was posted live on the Internets the IMs and emails came with some ferocity.

Yeah, just what I needed – more questions. I get that stuff at home, I don’t need it at the ballpark, too.

Kidding (kind of) aside, the general reaction seemed to be, “wow” and “cool” or “interesting.” Noting that Ryan Howard, as the No. 3 hitter, picked up two singles and a walk, it seemed to work out fairly well. Better yet, with Chase Utley hitting behind Howard, Manuel says it allows him to try more things. For instance, he gave Utley the green light to attempt to steal second on a 3-1 pitch with one out to No. 5 hitter Pat Burrell in the fourth inning. Burrell took ball four, but the point was made.

***
Ever aware scribe Mike Radano noticed that Pat Burrell walked to the plate with new entrance music. In fact, he walked over to seat No. 92 to point it out and directed me to his blog.

Check it out.

***
Word on the street is that Todd Zolecki lost his lucky Minnesota Golden Gophers cap in Clearwater.

***
The Lancaster Crackers Jr. are back for another season in my Rotisserie baseball league and based on past seasons I think I need some help.

Here’s the roster

C – Ramon Hernandez
1b – Nomar Garciaparra
2b – Ray Durham
3b – Scott Rolen
ss – Juan Uribe
of – Bobby Abreu
of – Corey Patterson
of – J.D. Drew
UT – Chipper Jones
Bench – Adrian Beltre
Bench – Aubrey Huff
Bench – Chad Tracy
DL – Chone Figgins

Pitchers
Barry Zito
Roy Oswalt
Cole Hamels
Jake Peavy
Tim Hudson
Francisco Rodriguez
Trevor Hoffman

All suggestions and comments regarding this team are welcomed. It appears as if I need some relief pitching… sounds like a common theme for 2007.

Fearless forecast

Let’s preface this by noting that I am not a pessimist. I tend to look at the bright side of things and like to believe that everything will work out just the way it’s supposed to. The result of things might not be the most desirable turn of events, but oh well. Deal with it, live your life and keep moving forward.

Yet at the same time I’ve learned that if you play with fire you just might get burned. Or, if something seems to occur over and over again despite the best intentions to stop it, well, that’s just the way it’s going to be.

So that’s why I’m picking a team other than the Phillies to win the NL East this year. In fact, my crystal ball says the playoff drought will continue, too. And no, my reason has nothing to do with how good the Mets are or that the Phillies need some help in the bullpen. It all has to do with 2003 and 2004.

In 2003 as most fans remember, the Phillies brought in Jim Thome and Kevin Millwood. They also signed Pat Burrell to a $50 million extension where he told some writers that the Phillies were the team to end the Braves’ streak of division titles. But by August the team was ready to beat up the manager and the pitching coach before finally falling apart in Florida during the last week of the season.

Then there was 2004 when the Phillies brought in Billy Wagner, Roberto Hernandez, Tim Worrell and had Rheal Cormier coming off one the best set-up seasons ever to join Millwood, Eric Milton, Brett Myers on a solid rotation with Thome and Burrell. That team had 95-wins written all over it with a bullpen that owned a thousand career saves.

By June, though, one of those relievers punched out the pitching coach and the manager was fired by the end of the season.

So in essence, the reason why the Phillies won’t win the NL east this year is because the 2003 and 2004 teams were better than this one.

Not exactly scientific logic, but until it’s proven they actually can do it I’m not going to stick my hand in the fire.

I could get burned.

Anyway, here it is:

NL East
Mets
Phillies
Braves
Marlins
Nationals

NL Central
Cardinals
Cubs
Brewers
Astros
Reds
Pirates

NL West
Dodgers
Diamondbacks
Padres
Giants
Rockies

Playoffs: Mets vs. D’backs; Cardinals vs. Dodgers

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

Say it ain't so, Joe

This morning’s drive to the drive to the coffee shop started out just like any other. Actually, the only thing different this morning was that it was very normal. Way too normal, even. Unlike yesterday, we didn’t get run off the road by a suburban mother racing in her Prius to the coffee joint, before watching her jump out of the car while it was still moving to its resting point, jog to the shop with the driver’s side door still ajar before elbowing her way to the front of the line to order a peppermint latte…

Then she picked up a copy of The New York Times, sat down on one of the overstuffed grey chairs and began reading.

I see that kind of stuff every day and this one was almost as funny as the time when I saw a neighbor move his trash cans to edge of the driveway, take the lids off, climb on top in attempt to push the garbage further down in the receptacle. But while standing on top and jumping up and down ever so slightly to really push the trash down, the can tipped to its side like a tall tree falling in the forest. The only thing missing was someone shouting, “TIM-BER!” And all of this occurred in the time it takes one to drive by someone’s house.

Fortunately in that case the only damage was a soiled Burberry scarf, which the trash jumper likes to wear as if he was the Red Baron.

But this morning there was no speeding Prius or flying ace taking out the trash. No, this was much more sinister and came packaged in the mellifluous baritone of one of America’s most beloved sports announcers… well, that’s pushing it a bit. It was Joe Buck, not Vin Scully, and Joe was definitely selling something, which he did earnestly and without irony.

Yep, Joe wants you to buy MLB’s Extra Innings package, and he wants you to buy DirecTV, too. It’s easy, he said in his spanking new radio ad. Easier than owning cable, in fact… at least that’s what he said.

Here’s the curious part: Buck’s ad for the new DirecTV Extra Innings package was on the radio not long after senators from the Commerce Committee held a two-hour meeting with MLB President Bob DuPuy. Based on that information and the alacrity for which the Buck ad was aired, I’d guess it was produced a while ago, and I’d wager that DuPuy and the gang had no interest in negotiating a better deal with cable companies in order to sell their product to people who really, really want it.

In fact, DuPuy treated the Senators in very much the same way he did the fans by telling them that he would not agree to continue negotiating a more fan-friendly deal into the season. In other words, we’re lucky MLB lets us watch at all. Hell, we’re probably lucky they let us buy tickets while we can still afford them.

In other words, thanks Mr. DuPuy. Thanks for the new way to watch a ballgame. It kind of goes like this:

Bases loaded, two outs in the bottom of the ninth with the Phillies trailing by three with the chance to go to the playoffs for the first time since ’93 riding on this 3-2 pitch to Ryan Howard. The pitcher winds, delivers… buffering, buffering, buffering… 47 percent… buffering, buffering… 77 percent… buffering, buffering, buffering… 93 percent… buffering…

More: Baseball holds its ground on TV plans

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.

Remember his name Part II

I needed a night of sleep to cool down. Normally I’m reasonably even tempered when it comes to bad news or various injustices. I guess that attitude is a means of survival. Who knows, I’m not a psychologist. But when it comes to lies, potential conspiracies and injustice by people we’re supposed to trust and believe in, well, that’s just too much to handle.

That’s why the death of Pat Tillman and the cover up and lies they gave is enough to drive one insane. It is such a travesty and miscarriage of justice that insanity is the only way to describe it. Heartbreaking, too. It's insane and heartbreaking.

As Gary Smith wrote in Sports Illustrated, “…that's a man who lived a life as pure and died a death as muddy as any man ever to walk this rock…”

The mystery of the cover up of Tillman’s death is trying to figure out what they were afraid of. What was it about Tillman that made them burn his clothing, his diary and then lie to his family and the public? Was it that he couldn’t be labeled, ghettoized or slipped into a neat marketing package? Was it because he was intelligent? Was he a threat?

What was it?

Tillman’s mother, Mary, appeared on ESPN radio with Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann yesterday where she spoke candidly about the the latest story about what occurred to her son and she is seeking a Congressional hearing. Listen here and here. Meanwhile, here is a Google news search of all of the latest published stories regarding the Tillman case.

Nothing to see here

Today I have nothing. Not a thing to say, write or communicate. Actually, let's re-phrase that… I definitely have a lot to say, a lot to write and a lot to communicate, but just not here. Hey, you never know who is watching or reading. You know who I'm talking about. Yeah, of course you do. And if you are one of those people who I am talking about, click here.

Anyway, baseball season starts in earnest at the end of the week and for me, gearing up for my seventh year of hanging up at the ballpark, it feels like the last week of summer vacation. It's OK, though. Some people like school.

Still, a baseball season is a long road. A grind as they say. Others call the season a marathon, but as someone who has run 13 marathons, a baseball season is nothing like a marathon. Not even close. I understand the analogy, though.

And since the "marathon" is ready to begin, let's taper down and chill out on the intense baseball talk for a while. That's what marathoners do before a race – they take it easy for the final week to 10 days so they go in fresh, strong and ready to go. The thing about the taper, though, is that by the second or third day you're just chomping at the bit. You are so ready to go that it's hard to keep the pace slower than 6-minutes per mile in those short and easy workouts. Then there are all those hours left to fill that used to be spent working out. What do you do then? It's such a conundrum.

So in this taper week, where it appears likely that Big Jon Lieber, who injured his oblique muscle while swinging a bat, might start the season on the disabled list, here are a few things to check out before the long season begins.

To start, check out George Packer's expose on Iraqi translators in last week's The New Yorker. It's definitely one of those typical, sprawling New Yorker stories, but it is beyond riveting.

Speaking of riveting, my favorite radio show host (and interviewer), Terry Gross, has one of those podcasts that all of the kids are talking about. Her show, of course, is called Fresh Air with Terry Gross and it's produced in Philadelphia, but more importantly, it's portable and easier to listen to without missing an episode. George Packer was on last week and Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and the MGs was on Monday. Check it out here.

Guess what? From the "No duh" category, not only are you what you eat, but also you are also what you drink, too.

Injuries abound

This afternoon the thought crossed my mind that maybe the Phillies should give Freddy Garcia all the time he needs to recover from what was diagnosed as tendonitis of his right biceps. After all Jon Lieber was out there revving up his ample engine in the bullpen as an insurance policy. Sure, it might leave the relieving corps rice-paper thin, but at least it was something.

But then when the team announced that Lieber had strained his right oblique muscle two more thoughts zoomed through my head…

Lieber has oblique muscles? And secondly, this isn't good.

The worst part for the Phillies is that there is no timetable for Lieber's return.

Stay tuned…

Remember his name

In a shameless news dump late Friday evening with the aim at burying a story about a cover up, it was revealed that nine officers, including four generals, were responsible for mistakes in the death of former NFL player Pat Tillman and the way it was handled and disclosed. Tillman, as most know, left the Arizona Cardinals and a multi-million dollar contract to enlist in the U.S. Army shortly after Sept. 11, 2001.

As an Army Ranger, Tillman served in Iraq where he was part of the invasion in 2003. Later, Tillman was sent to Afghanistan where he was killed by friendly fire in April of 2004. His death became a national controversy after the Pentagon covered up the real circumstances of his death to, as critics allege, out of a desire to protect their image and tamp down Tillman's anti-war views and other ideologies.

So since the story was revealed so late on a Friday so that it would be hidden beneath the avalanche of coverage over Britney's bald head and the very latest up-to-date information regarding Anna Nicole Smith, we'll post a bunch of links to stories on Tillman, including his brother Kevin's essay written last November.

• An article about the struggle to define Tillman by both sides of the debate
• eight minute video highlighting Tillman's life
• Editorial: Facing Up to the Tragedy of War, New York Times, May 24, 2005
• Pat Tillman Foundation
• Tillman's sports page
• Cover up at the highest levels Huffington Post
• Links, Picture, and Biography
• True hero athlete — Day's theme: Challenge yourself. San Francisco Chronicle -- Gwen Knapp
• An Un-American Death. ESPN -- Mike Fish
• Remember His Name Sports Illustrated -- Gary Smith.
• The mysterious death of Pat Tillman

'If that ain't a crock'

Remember that Simpsons episode where Homer was going to enter the witness-protection program to escape the homicidal Sideshow Bob? Of course you do. That was the one where the feds were quizzing Homer on the intricacies of the program, but for the life of him, Homer couldn’t grasp the idea of becoming Homer Thompson instead of Homer Simpson.

Here, this should help:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF-X0R8YnYc]

Anyway, lately it seems as if Major League Baseball has had as much trouble grasping what its fans want in much the same manner as Homer had in wrapping his head around the concept of a different surname. Actually, there is probably a laundry list of complaints that the regular baseball fan can levy against MLB, but for now we’ll just focus on a pair starting with the DirecTV/Extra Innings fiasco, which was enough to earn the league a spot on Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World” feature.

In the interest of full disclosure I should point out that after a few years of subscribing to the Extra Innings package on cable, I gave it up in favor of version offered on the Internets. The reason, of course, is that my laptop is typically within three feet of me at all times and if I can do a small part in making sure the revolution will be streamed instead of televised, then viva la revolucion!

By now most baseball fans who like to watch games on TV know the details of the DirecTV/Extra Innings flap and MLB’s so it should e understandable that the group who wanted to claim such public information as baseball statistics as intellectual property has no trouble taking out-of-town games away from the people who want to pay to watch them. As Olbermann said on Wednesday’s edition of Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

The bronze to Tim Brosnan, executive vice president of Major League Baseball, today rejecting the bid to keep the package of out-of-town games on cable television and satellite, rather than shifting it just to satellite. As we all know, no business strategy works quite as well as refusing to sell your products to the customers who want to buy it from you.

Indeed. But perhaps the best example of where MLB’s focus is comes from an item in Paul Hagen’s column in Friday’s Daily News. According to the story, the commissioner’s office noticed that Giants’ pitcher Barry Zito was photographed in Sports Illustrated using a burgundy-colored glove with laces of a different color…

Yeah, can you believe that? The laces are not burgundy!

Forget that Zito has used that glove for the past two seasons, MLB sent out an investigator who took pictures of the glove and forwarded them to the league office on Park Avenue in Manhattan for further investigation.

Said Zito: “I’m like, 'If that ain't a crock.'”

Here’s Hagen’s laugh-out-loud conclusion:

Watch it, Barry. You never know who might be listening.

You just can't be too careful these days. Why, if you aren't careful, next thing you know players might be trying to beat drug testing with HGH or other undetectable substances.

Yes, because we all know that using a multi-colored glove is a gateway to more self-destructive behavior. Maybe even anarchy.

***
Finally, I’d like to thank Ben Miller of the Wheatland Avenue Millers for pointing out an error in a previous post. It appears that I had claimed that Roger Waters and Syd Barrett were responsible for writing The Wall when in reality, as pointed out by Ben, Barrett had left Pink Floyd a decade before the opus had been composed.

Now if we could just get Ben to pick up on the grammatical errors in these posts.

Regardless, I regret the error and thank Ben for being both a diligent reader and a true arbiter of useless information. Thanks, Ben.

Feelin' groovy

It just figures that on the day Jon Lieber was banished to a seat near the parking lot in the bullpen so he can be closer to his environment-hating vehicle that Freddy Garcia would struggle through an outing with a sore right biceps.

Maybe they can trade Lieber for another starter?

Kidding (kind of) aside, if Garcia’s biceps turns out to be anything that could sideline him for any period of time general manager Pat Gillick will look very bright for not trading Lieber… that is if he even attempted to trade the big righty. With such a dearth of quality pitching out there it’s amazing that there wasn’t any team that wanted to make a deal. And in talking to the writers after receiving the news that he was no longer a starter, Lieber pressed on the notion that someone ought to want him as a starter.

Quoth Lieber: “It's either 29 teams really don't like me, or they're asking too much …”

Most importantly, neither the Phillies nor Garcia seems too concerned about the biceps, the pitcher’s rather pedestrian velocity during the spring or his 11.42 ERA. Better yet, the only the Phillies seem concerned about is the bullpen.

Regarding Garcia’s velocity that reportedly has topped out at approximately 88 m.p.h., assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said, “He started off throwing 80 or 81 (m.p.h.). He's a veteran guy. He knows how to get himself ready. People who have arm injuries usually their velocity goes (down), but his was building. Pain is an inhibitor of velocity. We were encouraged he was going north.”

There. All better.

In the meantime, Garcia will b re-evaluated on Saturday when team physician Michael Ciccotti arrives in Clearwater.

***
Here’s what I know about hockey:

a.) Keith Jones is one of the greatest story tellers ever. He’s like the Canadian Mark Twain or something. That guy can spin a yarn about anything and even better for whomever he’s with, he often does.
b.) When ESPN broadcast the NHL before the lockout, the national ratings rated below the WNBA.
c.) Boy is that Keith Jones ever a fun guy.
d.) The NHL or hockey seems to be able to take the extraordinary, like, for instance, a fight, and make it mundane. Actually, boring is a better word. Sometimes it seems as if the fights in the NHL are choreographed or worse, detracting from what really is an exciting sport. In the case of Todd Fedoruk, the Flyers’ designated fighter who was taken off the ice on a stretcher and to a hospital in Manhattan last night after catching a right-hand lead square on the jaw from Colton Orr, the recent bouts of fighting have bordered on dangerous. At least that’s the way it seemed to this untrained eye, which has seen Fedoruk catch more than his share of blows to the head lately. It seems as if Fedoruk isn’t just putting his career in jeopardy with the continued fighting, but perhaps even his long-term health as well.
e.) Have we mentioned Keith Jones?

***
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists new record is out and ready to be downloaded, burned or however else people legally obtain music these days. Critics are giving Leo’s Living with the Living much-deserved rave reviews, though in this wannabe critics’ view, the album isn’t as strong as his earlier releases.

Nevertheless, there are many more hits than misses in Leo and his Pharmacists’ latest opus, including live staples “The Sons of Cain” and “Army Bound.”

And the live performances are really where Leo’s appeal is. If he isn’t the hardest working and most engaging man in the music biz, then he’s damn close. Better yet, do yourself a favor and go see Leo & the Pharmacists at the TLA on South Street next Wednesday night. You’ll thank me later.

Garcia leaves game with tightness

So maybe it's a good thing the Phillies still have Jon Lieber after all. And maybe his trip to the bullpen will be short lived for the time being.

Either way, that's all up in the air after Freddy Garcia left Wednesday night's Grapefruit League game against the Blue Jays in Dunedin after just 32 pitches. Garcia left the game complaining of tightness in his right biceps after giving up three runs on five hits (including a homer to Troy Glaus) in the first inning in what was supposed to be an 85-pitch outing.

Most troublesome is that Garcia has been struggling with his velocity (and his 9.39 ERA) all spring, topping out in the mid 80s on Wednesday.

Garcia will be examined by team's trainers before a diagnosis is offered tomorrow.

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.”

Tough choices

There was a time during our post-collegiate days where my sister and I attended a party in which one of the other attendees put Pink Floyd’s The Wall in the CD player (these were the days before the proliferation of mp3 files) and proceeded to tell us about how Roger Waters and Syd Barrett were not on performance-enhancing substances when composing the songs that were presented on the album. The fact that my sister and I didn’t really care about Pink Floyd and what they did to prepare for composing music nor that the guy who had cornered us had not presented a well-thought out argument really mattered.

What mattered, I suppose, is that some random guy at a party (who we suspect was on some type of “performance-enhancing drugs” at the time of his presentation) thought it was important enough to defend the notion that Pink Floyd was clean when writing The Wall in very much the same way people acted when andro was found in Mark McGwire’s locker during his assault on the home run records in 1998. Or the same way some people take up Barry Bonds’ case even though there is compelling proof that he allegedly used performance-enhancing drugs with the notion that, “well, they weren’t illegal when he was using them.”

As if that makes it better.

The point is we want our heroes to be “clean” as well as articulate, thoughtful and model citizens when in reality all they are is human. I don’t know if the members of Pink Floyd ever used drugs, and I guess I don’t really care, either. Drugs, as William S. Burroughs once said, are an inevitable part of life. And, as the late comedian Bill Hicks noted, if a person is so adamantly opposed to drug use, he needs to throw away all of his music, movies, quit his job and should stop watching sports.

Needless to say, none of this realistic, but it makes for interesting reading. In that regard, writer Chuck Klosterman examined the dichotomy of why it’s probably OK that Pink Floyd may have used performance-enhancing substances, but not football player Shawne Merriman in a story for ESPN.

In the story, Klosterman writes that every day sports fans are going to have to make some tough decisions.

More: Why we look the other way (Klosterman)

More: Inside the steroid sting (from SI)

***
Speaking of decisions, in Phillies news, Charlie Manuel is taking a long look at right-hander Zack Segovia for a spot in the team’s thin bullpen. According to reports from Clearwater, Segovia meets a very important requiste in that he throws strikes. Hopefully for the Phillies, that leads to getting hitters out.

As it plots out now, the Phillies’ rotation is set up to go Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Freddy Garcia, Jamie Moyer and Adam Eaton based on Opening Day on April 2.

Meanwhile, Hamels' statistics in Grapefruit League action haven’t been too good. The lefty is 0-2 with a 7.00 ERA in three starts against Major League teams, and in an outing against minor leaguers yesterday in an attempt to iron out some mechanical issues, Hamels gave up four runs, four hits and four walks in a little less than four innings.

The good thing about this is that no one in the Phillies’ camp is too worried about these results… yet.

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.