Press Conference... The First of Many!

Some initial reactions to the Roy Halladay/Cliff Lee/Roy Oswalt/Cole Hamels/Joe Blanton presser this afternoon...

• Epic fail by Ryan Lawrence for not remembering that Joe Blanton has a World Series ring to go along with Cole. Turn over your press pass to me...

• Blanton claims to never pay any attention to trade rumors. I find that hard to believe. 

• Cliff Lee repeated that he thought the Phillies were the best opportunity to win championships. Plural!

• Halladay mentioned a trade rumor years ago that had him going to Oakland to pitch with Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, and Tim Hudson. That certainly would have been interesting. 

• Cliff Lee identified the mid 90s Braves staff of Glavine, Smoltz, Maddux, and Avery as the best he's ever seen. I would absolutely agree. 

• Roy Oswalt looked like he was ready for a nap the whole time. I counted 6 yawns.

• Oswalt also said that he's not making any decisions on retiring just yet. He's going to wait until the end of the season to measure his health. 

• The reporters kept on asking lengthy 2 part questions. Some of them were so complex that the pitchers had no idea what was being asked by the time the reporter was finished speaking... Easy with the complicated questions, you're confusing Joe!

• When asked about nicknames, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay insisted that they hadn't heard any of the media nicknames given to them. When asked what they were, the media had one of the most awkward silences I've ever heard. Clearly no one wanted to be the one to leave out Joe Blanton. When someone finally spoke up, Cliff said that the nicknames were all worthless because none of them included 5 names. The best option I've heard so far is "Four Weddings and a Funeral."

• The Phillies are currently 2:1 to win the National League and 5:2 to win the World Series according to Vegas. That's almost too good to be true! 

Full transcript of the press conference here.