EVIL~! alkeiper

Phillies down 9-5 to the Nationals in the 8th. If this holds, that's two out of three dropped to the worst team in the league. Three back of the Mets, if the Phillies don't take two this weekend it puts them in a serious bind. And no, I don't think we can count on the Mets blowing a seven game lead again.

Eric Bruntlett (.224/.304/.300) is the starting right fielder tonight. I figure Stairs is benched against the lefty starter and the Phillies at least want defense with a non-strikeout pitcher (Joe Blanton) on the mound. That eliminates Mike Cervenak and Andy Tracy. Why not play Golson, who despite the K's at least has pop and is a good defensive outfielder, see what he can do?

"I'm talking to the Terry Garvin School of Self-Defense." "Oh, are you enrolling some of your family members?"

Great stuff in the TV section: RAW: First MSG show Nitro: Goldberg's debut Prime Time: Strike Force/Hart Foundation, Jive Soul Bro!! NWA: Big Bubba Rogers encounters Dusty Rhodes

If nothing else, the Phillies are encroaching on the wild card as well. 3.5 back now. And the Phillies have the Brewers at home for four games next weekend. Highlighting the most important series of the season. Sept 5-7: Philadelphia @ NY Mets; Arizona @ LA Dodgers Sept. 8-10: Tampa Bay @ Boston Sept 11-14: Milwaukee @ Philadelphia Sept 15-17: Boston @ Tampa Bay Sept 19-21: Arizona @ Colorado Sept 23-25: Chicago WS @ Minnesota Sept 26-28: Colorado @ Arizona

This week is Big Bubba Rogers no-selling the chairshot. And damned if Dusty Rhodes doesn't look like a bitch needing Magnum T.A. to come down with weapons to save him from a one-on-one confrontation. Prior to that, I'm sure that suplex from Baby Doll is the most embarrassing bump Randy Mulkey ever took.

Really looking forward to watching this one tomorrow.

Scary thought, under the old divisional alignment, the Astros would have led the NL West at this point.

A clean slide. I can't emphasize enough how bad this looked. Chase Utley was fully in the air, head first.

Forgot about Brian McCann. So that's three times in a year where the Phillies have taken a catcher out of the game. And last year Utley took down Russell Martin last year with a shoulder tackle as well that was pretty bad. Players are getting hurt because of this bullshit mentality. You mention that the catcher wants the play. If you want to take him down, face him head up like a man. Utley dove towards the man's leg.

1. Because there's a promising young catcher on his way to the hospital because Chase Utley attempted to use the flying shoulderblock as a slide. 2. This is the second time I've seen a Phillie take a catcher out of the game this year, both on plays where the runner was out.

Gary Matthews: "Like to play hard, don't like to see people get hurt." Well, that's what happens when you play like a shithead.

So now Utley may have injured Jesus Flores. This shit where everyone thinks it's good baseball to attempt to steal a run by taking out the catcher has got to stop.

Showdown at Shea?! F'n awesome!!

The International League North is going to be a ton of fun next year. AAA Yankees, Mets, Phillies and Red Sox all as inter divisional rivals. Syracuse and Rochester are open as well, so who knows who will occupy those spots. (Syracuse will likely retain the Blue Jays.)

The Cleveland Indians officially terminated their affiliation with the AAA Buffalo Bisons. It is likely they will pick up the Columbus Clippers. This is big for Met fans as well since the club is likely looking to move their AAA club to the International League.

A couple friends snagged tickets to the 9/27 Phillies/Nats game. One more trip to an MLB game this season.

Phillies called up Adam Eaton, J.A. Happ, Lou Marson and Greg Golson. Golson is a fast runner at least, he can be a suitable late inning replacement on the basepaths and in the field. He's working on his plate discipline but is likely overmatched by big league hurlers. Marson is a catcher who could well steal the starting job if given the opportunity.

I have my doubts on the scoring decision. An after the fact no-hitter would be unprecedented, and kind of cheap really.

I think the big development of this week is that the Marlins are just about out of the race. They are seven back in the NL East. The difference between them and last year's Mets is that the fish need to catch two teams. The Cardinals are also now 7.5 back of the wild card, just about done.

Best C.C. Sabathia stat. He currently leads BOTH leagues in shutouts!

Two and two. Now the Phillies need to get the job done in Washington. A three-game set against Milwaukee next weekend is the only non-division matchup left on the docket.

Yes. The official scorer can change his ruling within 24 hours of the game. The Brewers can also request an appeal of a scorer's ruling within 24 hours to the league office. From the ESPN game account, it appears the Brewers will do that. There is no set time for the league office to hand down a ruling. Rule 10.01 (a)

There's two problems with a regular channel. Either you end up missing a lot due to schedule conflicts, or they replay everything often and you see the same crap over and over. I like the current concept as I've got a certain amount of time to spend watching wrestling, and I can watch it at my leisure. I'd hate to get home from work and tune in only to find out my only viewing option was IYH 5.

Had this idea at work. Simple concept, create an All-Star team using only one player from each country. 25 man roster, plus a manager. Starters C: Dave Nilsson, Australia 1B: Sadaharu Oh, Japan 2B: Glenn Hubbard, Germany SS: Luis Aparicio, Venezuela 3B: Reno Bertoia, Italy LF: Larry Walker, Canada CF: Devon White, Jamaica RF: Roberto Clemente, Puerto Rico DH: Babe Ruth, USA Rotation SP Pedro Martinez, Dominican Republic SP: Bert Blyleven, Netherlands SP: Chien-Ming Wang, Taiwan SP: Dennis Martinez, Nicaragua SP: Tony Mullane: Ireland Bullpen CL: Mariano Rivera, Panama RP: Lance Painter, United Kingdom RP: Moe Drabowsky, Poland RP: Danny Graves, Vietnam RP: Bobby Chouinard, Phillipines RP: Byung-Hyun Kim, Korea Bench C: Eddie Ainsmith, Russia IF: Orlando Cabrera, Columbia IF: Hector Espino, Mexico (the minor league home run king) OF: Elmer Valo, Czechoslovakia Manager: Bruce Bochy, France