Phightins

Brewers hire Ron Roenicke as manager. So much for those Bobby Valentine rumors.

Basically how I feel. Based on what I have seen from this team so far, nothing is going to surprise me.

So, this game is apparently postponed... After the Rangers game last night, they were doing their regular maintenance and some "asbestos-related materials" fell from the attic, so MSG is supposedly closed "indefinitely". Damn, this might get interesting.

Honestly that is probably the smart thing to do with a new GM. Give Alderson a year to get a sense of things, and once the bad contracts are off the books, let him put his stamp on the team. Probably means a 4th or 5th place finish this year though.

My old friend Andy Martino (now Mets beat writer for NY Daily News) says not to expect any "major signings" for the Mets.

Yeah honestly. The words "ESPN" and "experts" should never be used together in a sentence.

I had the Reds in the NL!

I picked the Orioles as my "surprise" team before this season. They let me down, but I plan on picking them again next season. I do like where they are headed.

I already miss baseball.

Edgar Renteria wins the MVP. Surprised it isn't Lincecum. Also, kinda funny...MVP today, and in a few days, he will have his 2011 option declined.

'Grats to the Giants. Now, nobody can ever question the saying "pitching wins in October". Never.

Um....Aaron Rowand was on deck. As much as Renteria usually sucks, don't you have to pitch around him? As per the norm in this series, Bochy is making all the right decisions, Washington all the wrong ones. Hindsight FTW.

Cliff Lee vs. Pat Burrell with the World Series potentially on the line. And neither is wearing a Phillies uniform. Sigh.

I don't think it would really draw it out. In most of the scenarios I have heard, they would add one additional wild card per league, and the two wild cards would play a 1-game playoff.

Danny Briere suspended 3 games. Fair, although the whole situation could have been avoided if the linesman was doing his job. Whatever. Eric Wellwood (Kyle's younger brother) called up. He will make his NHL debut tonight. Andreas Nodl is also out, so Nik Zherdev is back in the lineup tonight also.

I like it how it is. Greatest part about MLB is that the regular season counts so much and making the playoffs is a huge accomplishment in itself. With that said, I will not be totally opposed to this, depending on how they handle it.

Philadelphia Phillies (realistic version) Moves Sign Charlie Manuel to an extension. Give him a blank check. Bring in Juan Samuel or Mariano Duncan to be 1B coach Release Danys Baez...eat the money, cut the losses Resign Chad Durbin, 2/9 Resign Wilson Valdez, 2/4 Sign Matt Diaz (if he is nontendered), 1/4.5 If Diaz is kept in Atlanta, sign Jeff Francoeur for something similar Sign Jerry Hairston Jr. (or someone similar..Nick Punto/Julio Lugo/etc) for 1/3 Lineup vs RHP Placido Polanco 3B Chase Utley 2B Jimmy Rollins SS Ryan Howard 1B Raul Ibanez LF Shane Victorino CF Domonic Brown/Ross Gload RF Carlos Ruiz C Lineup vs LHP Placido Polanco 3B Chase Utley 2B Jimmy Rollins SS Ryan Howard 1B Shane Victorino CF Matt Diaz RF Ben Francisco LF Carlos Ruiz C Bench Brian Schneider Wilson Valdez Jerry Hairston Jr. Ross Gload/Domonic Brown/Ben Francisco/Matt Diaz/Raul Ibanez (I expect a massive OF platoon with the exception of CF) Rotation Roy Halladay Roy Oswalt Cole Hamels Joe Blanton Vance Worley Bullpen Brad Lidge Ryan Madson Chad Durbin Antonio Bastardo Mike Zagurski Scott Mathieson Kyle Kendrick/Justin de Fratus OK, so this is a realistic offseason. Obviously the big departure is Jayson Werth. I see almost no way they bring him back, although Ruben seems optimistic. Probably just posturing. Domonic Brown will be eased into a starting role, but I don't expect him to be a full time starter until 2012 when Raul Ibanez is gone. Jeff Francoeur probably got a "WTF" reaction out of most of you, but as terrible of an approach as he has, the man can hit LHP which is all he'd be needed for here. Diaz would be my top choice if he becomes available, though. I also don't expect Raul Ibanez to play much vs. LHP. As for the lineup, I guarantee that JRoll or Vic leads off due to Charlie's stubbornness, but neither of them are anywhere close to what I want from my leadoff hitter. Placido Polanco cannot run the bases well, but he is the closest thing to a "prototypical leadoff hitter" this team has. Plus with Werth gone, I'd love to have the switch hitters hitting farther down in the order to break up the lefties, especially vs. left handed starters. Bullpen is the other big question mark. Romero's option has already been declined, and chances are Durbin and Jose Contreras will want multi-year deals. I'd be cool with giving Durbin 2 or 3 years, but Contreras is a bit old for that. And all of the experienced left handed specialists will likely be mass overpaid (Pedro Feliciano, Javier Lopez, Scott Downs, etc). So clearly the only option is to build the pen from within. Bastardo, Zagurski, Mathieson, de Fratus, etc. de Fratus may need a year in AAA, but I love his arm. Eventually he will be here. Kendrick will either be the long reliever or he will be gone. Can't see him beating out Worley for the 5th SP. I'd like to keep him around for depth, but doubt he goes for that. Pipe dream offseason....find a hidden revenue source that they haven't tapped into yet, use that money to re-sign Jayson Werth for 6/108 and Scott Downs for whatever he wants.. Find suckers to take Joe Blanton's and Raul Ibanez's contracts, and then sign Cliff Lee for 6/170. Sorry for the lengthy read!

Baseball is my biggest passion. So my love for the Phillies far exceeds anything else. The Flyers/NHL are a reasonably close 2nd. I also follow the Eagles, but not the rest of the NFL too closely. I know most of the players around the league pretty well, but I just don't enjoy the NFL a whole lot. NBA is a distant 4th. Follow the Sixers closely, go to a bunch of games (mostly because of how affordable it is), but I barely follow the rest of the league and do not know the game all that well. Other than that, I don't really follow any.

Davey Lopes not returning next season. Huge loss. Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth, and Chase Utley all credit him with turning them into respectable base stealers. The team stolen base % was through the roof in his time here. A good first base coach might be the most underrated coaching position in all of sports. Davey is a great dude too, he is going to be missed for sure.

Again...and don't take this the wrong way Giants fans, but they are getting very lucky. Have been the entire postseason. Nothing wrong with it, though...it is just their year. A pretty magical run.

Hah, routine fly ball somehow carried all the way over the center field wall. I can't remember the last time I saw a ball carry that far.

OK....how the hell did that get out?

The time between innings is absolutely absurd. Screw Fox.

Hunter is already out. Honestly surprised he made it through 4.

Took 79 pitches for Tommy Hunter to get his first swing and miss. Wow. Already well over 80 and just in the 4th. Tight strike zone combined with guys who aren't throwing strikes = we are in for a long game.