The Prospects In The Trades

Traded to get Cliff Lee
Carlos Carrasco – Columbus (AAA) – 6-3, 4.26 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 73 K, 29 BB
Lou Marson – Cleveland - .191, 1 HR, 12 RBI
Jason Donald – Cleveland - .277, 2 HR, 17 RBI
Jason Knapp – recovering from shoulder surgery, has not pitched in 2010
The once "untouchable" Carrasco is now looked at as a mid-rotation starter. Donald and Marson are going to be average Major League players. Knapp is coming back from his surgery soon and according to a recent article from Randy Miller, the Indians see him as a future closer. Not a bad haul for the Indians but definately worth it to the Phils to have Cliff Lee for a World Series run.

Traded to get Roy Halladay:
Kyle Drabek – New Hampshire (AA) – 7-7, 3.26 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 72 K, 41 BB
Michael Taylor – Sacramento (AAA) - .253, 3 HR, 38 RBI
Travis d’Arnaud – Dunedin (A) - .285, 5 HR, 29 RBI
It's way to0 early to make any conclusions about this trade and these prospects. I'm surprised Taylor is struggling this much and both Drabek and d'Arnaud have had periods of ineffectiveness. But like I said, way too early...

Traded to get Joe Blanton:
Josh Outman – Oakland –-Tommy John surgery...
Adrian Cardenas – (combined AA & AAA) - .297, 1 HR, 20 RBI (note: .426 in 61 AB in AA, .228 in 114 AB in AAA)
We've all heard of AAAA players before, but Baseball America called Cardenas a 2 1/2 A player. He tears up AA pitching but the jump to AAA seems to get him. His '09 and '10 stints in AAA have been miserable. Good news for Oakland, he only 22. Outman is still four weeks from returning to throwing after his TJ surgery. He's gotten platelet rich plasma injections and has returned to see Dr. James Andrews. He was 4-1 with a ERA under 4 before getting hurt last year. His future is completely up in the air.

Received for Cliff Lee:
Frenchy – (combined AA & A) -1-7, 7.01 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, 38 K, 38 BB
JC Ramirez – (combined AA & A) – 5-4, 4.31 ERA, 1.28 WHIP, 62 K, 21 BB
Tyson Gillies – Reading (AA) - .238, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 SB
Unlike the Halladay deal, it's not too early to determine that this trade sucks. Not only do the Phillies not have Lee, but they are stuck with three useless minor league players. Mark my words, none of these three will every be a productive player for the Phillies.

Another Injury, Imagine That (Again)

DL'd:
(updated from this morning)
1. Brad Lidge (2 stints)
2. JC Romero
3. Brian Schneider
4. Carlos Ruiz
5. JA Happ
6. Jimmy Rollins (2 stints)
7. Joe Blanton
8. Ryan Madson
9. Chad Durbin
10. Antonio Bastardo
11. Chase Utley
12. Placido Polanco
13. *Ruben Amaro - intermittent brain cramps
* = as per Corey's comment in this morning's post

What the hell is Charlie Manuel supposed to do now with 3/8 of the starting lineup disabled? Chutley (.277/.849) & Polly's (.318/.782) fill-ins: Greg Dobbs (.152/.465 MLB,.118/.229 AAA) & Brian Bocock (.179/.470 AAA).

New lineup?
1. Rollins/SS
2. Victorino/CF
3. Jayson Werth/RF
4. Ryan Howard/1B
5. Raul Ibanez/LF
6. Wilson Valdez/2B
7. Greg Dobbs/3B
8. Brian Schneider/C

The Pirates, Astros, and Royals sport better lineups that that! Castro and Bocock will each likely see time and 2nd/3rd too.

Possible Targets:
*Garrett Atkins- recently let go by the O's after being a massive disappointment. Has not been good since 2008, but neither has Dobbs, and Castro never was good to begin with. Atkins hasn't played any 3rd this season, but whatever, he's played plenty in the past.

*Edwin Encarnacion- recently sent to the minors by the Blue Jays. Has a powerful stick, but is a poor defender and doesn't get enough hits.

*Ty Wigginton- besides having a copycat stat named after him (The Wiggy, aka The Howard), he is versatile and has a decent bat. I'd trade Cole Hamels for him. Oops, I mean Kyle Kendrick. Really, I meant Kyle Kendrick.

*Christian Guzman- haven't heard his name in the trade bin, but I imagine Washington wouldn't mind unloading his contract and would be inclined to take John Mayberry Jr. in return.

*The players above are just off the top of my head and ones that I think could be gotten relatively easily and cheap.

Another Injury, Imagine That

Hey, guess what, another Phillie has succumbed to injury. This time, it was the unlikeliest of players in the form of tough ass Chase Utley. Uts messed up his right thumb and is set to have an MRI today. Oh $%@&! Bulky elbowed Placido Polanco also may need offseason surgery to repair him, but for now plans to play through the pain. Double Oh $%@&!

The injury bug has bitten the Phillies squarely on the ass this season. 10 Phillies have been DL'd and Polanco has missed a lot of time too without being officially disabled.

DL'd:
1. Brad Lidge (2 stints)
2. JC Romero
3. Brian Schneider
4. Carlos Ruiz
5. JA Happ
6. Jimmy Rollins (2 stints)
7. Joe Blanton
8. Ryan Madson
9. Chad Durbin
10. Antonio Bastardo

Notes:
*Happ and Madson make rehab appearance tonight.

*Ryan Howard leads the Phillies in homeruns (15), runs (50), and rbi (55), and is batting .296.

*The Phillies have issued a NL-low 193 bases on balls this season, and are 2nd in the Majors (Minnesota- 161).

Know Your Enemy - Cincinnati

The Art of Pitching
Do you remember Arthur Rhodes with the Phillies? Let me remind you. He had an ERA over 5, jacked up his arm, and missed the entire next season. Since that missed year he's been a beast and this year he's practically unhittable. His ERA currently sits at 0.28 (1 ER in 32 innings) and he hasn't given up a run since his second appearance of the season. That is 30 straight scoreless appearances. I'd say Utley and Howard should watch some Art Rhodes tape cause they might see him in the 7th/8th inning of a few games.


Team Rankings

                         Phillies           Reds
Batting Avg                 17               5
Home Runs                    9               4
RBI                         14               5

ERA                         14               22
WHIP                         8               21
Strikeouts                  26               21

Probable Starters
Johnny Cueto - 7-2, 3.97 this year but in his last two starts against the Phils his ERA is over 15.
Mike Leake - The Phillies have never seen this straight-to-the-majors rookie, so naturally he will shut them down for seven innings.
Aaron Harang - Halladay pitches this game. Phils take it easily.

Prediction
I have no clue. I'm guessing they'll win Halladay's start and that's it.

Ageless Style

Today Jamie Moyer gave up a MLB record setting homerun, but didn't allow that to deter him from winning his 267th game and eclipsing 4000 innings pitched. He truly has ageless style.

Top- Jamie Moyer (still going at 47), 2nd Row L/R- Satchel Paige (started at 41), Tommy John (retired at 46), Nolan Ryan (retired at 46), Randy Johnson (retired at 45), Middle- Tim Wakefield (still going at 43), Bottom- Phil Niekro (retired at 48).

Hamels Ain't So Bad

Yeah, he's alright.

Cole Hamels Needs To Man Up

Trip Through the Minors

Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs:
AAA 29-45
*Phillies top prospect Domonic Brown went 1-4 in his Triple-A debut after posting great stats in Double-A Reading: .318/.993, 50 r, 16 2b, 3 3b, 15 hr, 47 rbi, and 12 sb.

*John Mayberry Jr. has slumped of late seeing his average dip to .260.

*Thirdbaseman Cody Ransom leads the team with 16 homeruns, but is only batting .240.

*With Nelson Figueroa and Mike Zagurski's recent promotions, that leaves only Scott Mathieson (2.35 ERA, 12 sv) and Nate Bump (6-4, 2.62 ERA) as the pitchers worth mentioning.


Reading Phillies:
AA 34-38
*Firstbaseman Matthew Rizzotti has been amazing since his promotion to Double-A. He's batting .363/1.104 with 13 2b, 10 hr, 22 r, 33 rbi in 39 games. This is after batting .358 in 31 Single-A games this year.

*Thirdbaseman Tagg Bozied is having a solid 2010 campaign- .295/.940, 36 r, 19 2b, 13 hr, 55 rbi. Too bad he's already 30 years old.

*Pitching has been abysmal in Reading, with prospects Yohan Flande, Vance Worley, Phillippe Aumont, Michael Schwimer, and Drew Naylor all not performing as expected.

Clearwater Threshers:
High-A 38-34
*Secondbaseman Harold Garcia is ripping up since getting healthy, batting .336/.868 with 22 r, 14 xbh, 27 rbi, and 12 sb in 36 games.

*Thirdbaseman Cody Overbeck earned a promotion to Reading with this line- .302/.934, 31 r, 19 2b, 11 hr, and 41 rbi.

*Outfielder Anthony Gose has stolen 25 bases, but has also been caught 20 times.

*Pitching staff standouts include Jesus Sanchez (6-4, 3.05 ERA, 1.17 WHIP) and Justin De Fratus (2-0, 2.04 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 38 k in 35.1 ip, 12 sv).


Lakewood BlueClaws:
Mid-A 44-28
*Firstbaseman Jonathan Singleton is a beast! .362/1.095, 28 r, 13 2b, 9 hr, 41 rbi, 5 sb in only 39 games. Oh, and he's only 18.

*19 year old shortstop Jonathan Villar has 27 sb and is batting .280.

*Darin Ruf was Lakewood's Firstbaseman before Singleton, and he was promoted to Clearwater and has batted .306/.883, 40 r, 16 2b, 3 3b, 7 hr, 33 rbi, and 4 sb between both stops.

*The BlueClaws pitching staff is chock full of awesomeness. Matthew Way (6-4, 3.49 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 75 k in 77.1 ip) and Jarred Cosart (7-2, 3.44 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 77 k in 70.2 ip) spearhead the starting rotation. Then you have relievers Luke Wertz (0.31 ERA, 0.55 WHIP), Joshua Zeid (2.93 ERA, 7 sv), Jordan Ellis (2.68 ERA, 7 sv), and Ebelin Lugo (1.10 ERA, 2 sv) holding down the lead.


Williamsport Crosscutters:
Short-Season A 5-3
*17 year old outfielder Domingo Santana struggled at Lakewood- .182/.619, but has been on fire since joining the Crosscutters- .385/1.169.

*Starting pitchers Kevin Angelle (0.64 ERA) and Eric Pettis (0.90 ERA) have started 2 games apiece.

Red Is His Color

The one on the right is just right.

New ace versus old team. New ace wins. Doc notched his 9th win of the season while dropping his ERA to 2.29, going 7 shutout innings in the 9-0 romp over the Blue Jays. His strikeout to walk ratio is 102:17...holy balls, that's amazing!

Statistical Evidence That The Howard Wins Games

Another Howard, another win, this one in walk-off fashion. Welcome back J-Roll.

The Howard- a feat accomplished when a player hits a homerun, strikes out, and commits and error all in the same game.

Only 1 of the 3 criteria is something positive that would aid in winning a ball game (HR). However, WSBGMs has uncovered irrefutable evidence to prove that when a Phillie commits The Howard in a game it will inevitably end with a W for the good guys. The same cannot be said for the remaining 29 teams' players that commit The Howard, as it seems it's only Karmic retribution for the Phightins.

2010 Howards by Phillies:
Ryan Howard- April 7, Phils over Gnats 8-4
Ryan Howard- April 28, Phils over Giants 7-6.
Jayson Werth- May 6, Phils over Braves 7-2.
Chase Utley- May 14, Phils over Brew Crew 9-5.
Jimmy Rollins- June 23, Phils over Indians 7-6.

*Adam Jones and Tyler Colvin each earned their 2nd Howard of the season last night to tie for the MLB lead.

*For what it's worth, Cliff Lee pitched another complete game for the M's last night, his 4th of the season and is now 6-3 with a 2.39 ERA and 0.91 WHIP.

Roster Shuffle, Dutch & Greatness of Moyer

Roster Shuffle:
In- Dane Sardinha/Catcher, Mike Zagurski/LHP, Jimmy Rollins/SS
Out- Greg Dobbs/Crap, Carlos Ruiz/DL, Scott Mathieson/RHP

Just as the Phils get J-Roll back, they lose another field marshal as Chooch hits the 15-day with a concussion. Mathieson didn't get a fair shake while up with the club, and honestly I can't see "Fat Mike" Zags doing much better. Sardinha better known for his DUI ability than hitting/catching prowess. Amaro is hoping Dobbs clears waivers and goes to Lehigh Valley to pick up consistent at bats and work his way back up to the Phils.

Dutch:
Good thing Darren "Dutch" Daulton is getting inducted onto the Phillies Wall of Fame, because if he had to wait much longer the world may have ended (according to Mayan calendar world ceases to exist in the year 2012, which crazy Dutch believes).

"It is an honor. I was able to come up and play with a lot of great baseball players, and against a lot. There's a lot of names on the Wall that I feel very privileged to be a part of. I've always felt like Philadelphia is home, and the Phillies organization made it a family. From the first day I came to Veterans Stadium, I was always treated like part of a family. I feel honored to carry on the tradition."

Phils Stats- 14 yr, 1109 g, 489 r, 858 h, 189 2b, 23 3b, 134 hr, 567 rbi, 48 sb, .245/.783, 3 time All-Star, and 1 ex-wife Hooters waitress.

Greatness of Moyer:
Alright, I'm completely baffled, how is he doing it? In 2009 Moyer seemed to be finally nearing the end. At the beginning of this season the second guaranteed of his contract made Rube look like a r-tard. Now, well, he's rolling off quality starts with routine and has 8 wins on the season. His ERA is a mediocre 4.43, but his WHIP is an outstanding 1.06. Will the Phils be resigning Grand Pappy this offseason?

Know Your Enemy - Cleveland

Most Hated?
So the Wall Street Journal ran a story on the most hated team in baseball. The "winner?" Not the Yankees or the Red Sox, but the Cleveland Indians. The data came from a Nielson Co. internet algorithm which "typically uses various keywords to find out whether people have positive, negative or neutral reactions to different brands and products." So these Nielson people have determined that searches for "i hate indians" means that public really dislikes Jhonny Peralta. Can't be any other explanation, I guess...

Team Rankings

                         Phillies         Indians
Batting Avg                 18               24
Home Runs                   10               25
RBI                         17               23

ERA                         14               24
WHIP                         8               27
Strikeouts                  26               30

Cleveland Rocks
Just wanted to take this time to give a big shout out to two fun, drunk Indians fans I met on a trip to Cleveland about four years ago. Long story short, I got hammered in Cleveland, got two great tickets to a Indians-Rays game for twenty bucks and spent the pregame at a bar outside of the stadium having a blast with a father-son duo who also shared an interest in 1)baseball 2)beer and 3)my wife. I doubt these two would ever read this blog (or even have a computer...) but they, and their homemade forearm Chief Wahoo tattoos, deserve some love.


Probable Starters:
Mitch Talbot (7-4, 4.21)
Jake Westbrook (4-4, 4.76)
Fausto Carmona (6-5, 3.31)

Prediction:
The Indians suck but they shouldn’t be underestimated, considering 1) the Phils have to be down after blowing a 5 run lead and following that with a Halladay loss 2) Talbot and Carmona are good pitchers and 3) the Phils send Moyer, Kendrick and Blanton out for the series. I say the Indians take two. Yeah, I’m feeling that bad about the team right now

WSBGMs Presents: Worst Decisions in History Pt. 2

Things To Do On Father's Day

1. Go to Sunday dinner and overeat.

2. Watch the Phils try and take the series against the Twinkies at 1:35 with Doc Halladay on the mound against Alyssa Milano castoff Carl Pavano.

3. After watching the Phils lose 1-0, tune into the Orioles game to remember just how bad things could be.

4. Mow grass. Stupid grass. Isn't that why God created macadam?

5. Go for a run so belly doesn't get bigger. Stupid metabolism.

6. Retire for the night and watch 300 which I rented on Netflix and hopefully enjoy some Ben & Jerry's Phish Food ice cream.

Jobu & Rehab

Robert Dalton posted a picture of Jobu on our Facebook page 3 days ago. What has transpired since? A 3 game winning streak against some top competition of the American League. WSBGMs thanks Bob D for changing the Phils luck, because we all know the wins have nothing to do with solid pitching and a return of the sticks. Jobu looks to continue working his black magic this afternoon as Cole Hamels opposed Kevin Slowey.

Rehab:
JA Happ is pitching again, but not pitching well. In 3 rehab starts he has a 8.71 ERA and a .304 average against. These are minor leaguers, so those numbers are even less inpiring. With Moyer and Kendrick pitching well enough, and Blanton doing alright last night, there is no reason to rush Happ back. Someone to rush back is Jimmy Rollins. Fill-ins Juan Castro and GIDP Valdez just can't hack it. J-Roll scored a couple runs yesterday and knocked in one with Clearwater. Getting him back will be a major boost to the lineup.

Know Your Enemy - Minnesota

Football
When I think Minnesota, I think Vikings. And as a Packers fan, those thoughts aren’t very nice. But they have had at least two interesting things that are worth mentioning.

1) Lake Minnetonka sex boat scandal. I can’t mention the details on this blog because we actually have some decency standards, but a quick trip to wiki will refresh everyone’s memory.
2) Straight cash homey. Back when Randy Moss was destroying the Pack in a Viking’s uniform, he was fined a few thousand dollars for being, well, a douche. Besides catching footballs, that’s what Randy Moss does. A reporter asked him how he was going to pay his fine and Moss’ response was classic. See below.



Team Rankings

                         Phillies         Twins
Batting Avg                 21                6
Home Runs                   17               20
RBI                         19               12

ERA                         12                5
WHIP                         8                5
Strikeouts                  26               23

Bizarre Food
People outside of Pennsylvania often make fun of scrapple. But scrapple isn’t really that odd – pig parts and corn meal. No biggie. But as I’ve learned from Minnesota resident Andrew Zimmer (no relation to old doppelganger Don Zimmer…) and his show “Bizarre Foods,” other places have far weirder foods. Minnesota’s contribution to funky eats is the Norwegian classic lutefisk.

Lutefisk is dried whitefish, rehydrated by soaking in water for days, then soaked in lye (yes, lye) and then re-soaked in water (otherwise the lye-soaked, caustic fish would be inedible). The lutefisk is then cooked (microwaved, pan fried, etc.) and often served with butter or white sauce. The final product is a nasty, jelly-like monstrosity. Don’t trust me? Ask food writer and Iron Chef critic Jeffrey Steingarten.

“Lutefisk is not food, it is a weapon of mass destruction. I gladly eat worms and insects, but I draw the line on lutefisk. Lutefisk is the Norwegians' attempt at conquering the world. When they discovered that Viking raids didn't give world supremacy, they invented a meal so terrifying, so cruel, that they could scare people to become one's subordinates.”

People in Minnesota eat this shit. On purpose.

Politics
The people of Minnesota elected "The Body" Ventura and Stuart Smalley to be high ranking government officials. What the hell is wrong with people from Minnesota?


Pitching Probables
Nick Blackburn - 6-3, 4.96
Kevin Slowey - 7-4,3.84
Carl Pavano - 7-6, 3.92

Prediction
Phils take two.

Solutions To The Slump

As potent “Should Be GMs,” we usually have the answer to all of the Phillies’ problems. In the past everything we have suggested has worked, or would have worked had our plans been implemented. Don’t bother looking it up, just trust us. We haven’t been wrong yet. But this current Phillies slump is a stumper. We aren’t sure exactly what the third place Phillies need to do to win a series (last series win was against FLA back in May) but at least we have a few ideas. Will any work? Don’t know, so we are open to suggestions on this one.

Slumpbuster
Typically, one player on a struggling team needs to go out and “jump on a grenade.” Literally. Find a babe that goes deuce, deuce and a half and jump on it. We always thought Pat Burrell would take one for the team but since Pat is gone (obviously because San Fran needed somebody to take a slumpbuster and Kung Fu Panda couldn’t find his junk…) we need to look in different direction.

What direction? Scientology.

Nick Swisher (at time of composition) is hitting .301-11-42 including a dinger off of Roy Halladay. Dude’s only hit above .260 ONCE in his career. So what’s happening? He’s hitting .301 because he’s hitting an L. Ron Hubbard disciple. Swisher’s fiancé is actress Joanna Garcia who follows that freaky-deaky science fiction religion. Nothing else has changed for Swisher so this connection to Scientology has to be the cause of his success.

So the Phils have basically two options: Jenna Elfman or Tom Cruise. These seem to be the Scientologists most likely to sleep with a baseball player.

Massive Roster Casualties
Amaro could look at the roster, find the players that are under-performing that they could afford to release, and cut or demote them. Or at least sit them on the bench. Dobbs? See ya. Gload? Take a hike. Baez? Adios. Kendrick? Here's your ticket to Lehigh Valley. Blanton? Take a seat in the bullpen for awhile. Ibanez and Werth? Meet Domonic Brown, he's going to get some of your at-bats.

It's time to give Scott Mathieson a shot in the bullpen. It's time to see if anybody in the entire system can pinch-hit at a better clip than .180. It's time to shake things up a bit.

Obama-like Speech
Sometimes rhetoric is better than action, at least according to our fearless leader. As oil spills and spills and spills and the US can’t do anything but refuse help from other countries, the President gives a useless prime time speech. Well, maybe he should give one about the Phillies to turn things around. I think it would go something like this:

Let me be clear, the Phillies are playing less than optimal baseball. This may be the largest hitting slump since the Great Depression. There are those who say this is the fault of the Phillies. However, they are merely battling the legacy of the previous administration, err, umm, team that played here before them. Make no mistake, as I’ve said time and time again, they will come back from the brink. The “Phillies Stimulus Act of 2010,” a plan created by this administration to radically reform ticket sales at Citizens Bank, will help this recovery. All fans get free tickets, except those who can afford tickets, in which case your ticket price will go up. Opponents say you will lose your old tickets. That’s simply not true. You can keep your old tickets. This is an unprecedented move, one that will prevent this crisis from escalating. Again, let me be clear, the responsible parties, like Wilson Valdez, will be held accountable. Through courage, hope, faith, and other intangibles, the Phillies will restore the place as a leader among baseball. On the bright side, 10 pitching coach jobs have been saved or created since this slump began.

Stadium Motivation
Sometimes the players need something in the stadium to lead them to victory.Anaheim had the Rally Monkey. Pittsburgh has the Terrible Towel. Mexicans do the wave. What can Phillies fans do?

1) White towels at every game. The organization should drop a few million dollars in the small, white, logo towel industry (I just bought stock!) and have rally towels available at every game, not just the playoffs. Every game matters, right? Even though it's a marathon and not a sprint, they still want to win the race, right? So buy some stinking towels.

2) Vuvuzelas. Philadelphia could be the American, baseball version of the South African football fans. Sounding like a giant, angry swarm of bees, Fightins phans could rain down that droning, annoying, cacophony in B-flat in an attempt to distract opposing pitchers. I bet Valdez hits into at least one less double-play per game if the pitchers had to listen to the vuvuzela. And look at how happy Ryan Howard was when Snoop played that vuvuzela, obviously mistaking it for a bong.

Doc Hit, J-Roll Hitless

Roy Halladay came over to the National League having been battle-tested against the AL East for the previous 12 seasons. He was supposed to the be equalizer if the Phils were to face the likes of the Yankees and Red Sox. Well, in 2 starts against those squads this year he's totally crapped the bed. 11.2 ip, 12 r, 16 h, 3 bb, and 4 hr. Doc is an amazing talent and a premiere pitcher, but those 2 outings against former AL East foes is very disheartening.


Have you heard the joke about the Phillies offense? Yeah, me too, and it's not very f'n funny! Anyway, hopefully this improves upon the return of leadoff man Jimmy Rollins. J-Roll played a rehab game in Clearwater yesterday and went hitless in 3 at bats. He'll likely remain there through the weekend. When he returns, who ships out? I suggest Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, or Jayson Werth...uh, wait, what?

In Depth NYY/Philly Series Preview

Venue: Stupid Stadium in that Stupid City
Good Guys: Philadelphia Phillies 32-29, 3rd Place
Bad Guys: New York Yankes 40-23, 1st Place

Game 1: CC Sabathia vs. Roy Halladay
(6-3, 4.01/1.22) (8-4, 1.96/1.02)
Reason the Yanks Wins: CC accidentally strolls into the visiting clubhouse and eats half the Phillies roster thinking they were part of the pregame spread, leaving Manuel no choice but to forfeit.
Reason the Phils Win: DH Ben Francisco hits for the cycle driving in all 6 of the Phillies runs, and Doc pitches a complete game shutout naturally.

Game 2: AJ Burnett vs. Kyle Kendrick
(6-4, 3.86/1.33) (3-2, 4.80/1.37)
Reason the Yanks Win: Derek Jeter causes dissension among the Phillies wives and girlfriends by treating them all to a night of clubbing and debauchery, leading to a massive cat-fight in the Phils family section which spills over onto the field and ends in ejections of over half of the Phils roster...the half CC didn't devour the day before.
Reason the Phils Win: Utley and Howard blast 5 longballs between the two of them, and KK pitches a complete game shutout naturally.

Game 3: Andy Pettitte vs. Jamie Moyer
(8-1, 2.46/1.10) (6-6, 5.03/1.20)
Reason the Yanks Win: No more funny business, the Yankees are the better team...ouch.
Reason the Phils Win: Werth lines one up the middle off of Pettitte's huge schnoz leading to an explosion of runs, and Grand Pappy pitches a complete game shutout naturally.

Off Day Banter

WTF?!
NL East Standing:
1. Atlanta Braves 37-27
2. New York Mets 35-28
3. Philadelphia Phillies 32-29
4. Florida Marlins 31-32
5. Washington Nationals 31-33

Rivalry Week:
Sitting atop the WSBGMs Phantasy League 4 leaderboard is Harry Kalas Cialis and Lidge Ledge Leapers, managed by Corey and myself respectively. The name of this site says it all- We Should Be GMs. What will happen when these two juggernauts clash in a battle for online supremacy? Guess we'll find out come week's end. Let's be honest, this matchup is as legendary Ali vs. Frazier, God vs. Devil, Potter vs. Voldemort, or Team Edward vs. Team Jacob. Let the best GM win.

WSBGMs Present: Worst Decision In History Pt. 1