Lunch Time Link Dump

• Next week, Phillies Nation is hosting a tour of the ballpark followed by a block party for Kisses for Kyle. I don't think I can make the tour (though I really want to), but you can bet I'll be watching the Phils v. Cardinals from McFaddens. $25 gets you an open bar from 7-9pm and $1 beers afterwards with tons of giveaways, auctions, raffles, and live music. Be there!

• Phuture Phillies put together the master of all 2011 Phillies draft recaps. They've had fantastic coverage all along and their recap really gives you a way to manage your expectations for these guys as far as ceiling and signability. Give it a read!

• You think you know your own backyard ballpark better than anyone, and then someone like Kurt Smith comes along and shows you just how wrong you are. I've browsed a few pages from the Citizens Bank Park Ballpark E-Guide, and I can assure you that there are some intricacies to the stadium that even season ticket holders don't know. Want to know where to get a $1 hot dog even when it's NOT dollar dog night? Spend $5 on this E-Guide!

• If you play fantasy baseball, chances are your league probably sucks. COSFBA runs through a list of features in fantasy baseball leagues that really knock the sport down a few notches. If making a few mouse-clicks to set your lineup each day is too much work, go play fantasy football. I'm happy to report that the world famous "Pop's Fantasy Baseball League" seems to have all managers still active and attentive this late in the season. I've been at it for about15 years and I'm pretty sure this is a first. Normally, Bean would have a team full of Phillies players on the DL right now, but even he's paying attention.

• Imagine for a second if they built Citizens Bank Park on the banks of the Delaware. I mean, sure there would hundreds of alcohol related drowning deaths each year. But is that really any different than the stabbing deaths we have outside of McFaddens now? Catching a game from McCovey Cove (preferable on a platform that also provides grilling sustenance) is definitely one for my baseball bucket list.

• Now that the end of the world has come and gone without ending, it's nice to look ahead five years to see who the best players in the game will be. I would agree that baseball seems to be experiencing a renaissance of sorts with the fresh crop of young talent entering the league over the last few seasons and into the future. I've even heard this year referred to as the "year of the prospect." Gone are most of my childhood heroes, and in comes a new crop of studs. The list provided by MLBBlogBuzz is sadly lacking Phillies players other than Domonic Brown, but half of the guys on this list will play their way out of their current situation anyway. Bookmark this one and revisit it in 5 years to see where they stand. That is, unless we're all driving around in flying cars and we're playing baseball on the moon by then.   

• I've linked in the past to the Casual Fan project where one man is catching 100+ games in a season, but equally impressive is this guy who is completing a baseball biking tour of all 30 MLB stadiums over the course of a season. I rode about 2 miles yesterday and had enough. This guy logs 30+ every day and he's only on day 65. Both tours are great examples of a free spirit just going out and living a dream. If I didn't have all this baggage holding me down (a job, a house, a wife, etc...) I'd be right there with them! 

• Lastly, did you know that this summer marks the 50th anniversary of alcohol being sold at Phillies games? Baseball in general didn't allow beer sales until the 1930s, but Philadelphia was especially dry due to the state's ridiculous (still) alcohol sale laws. In fact, beer sales at ballparks only opened up because belligerent drunk fans were sneaking their own bottles into the park and using them as projectiles. So in that respect, not much has changed.