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.

Lunch Time Link Dump

• Spotted: Dane Sardinha face down on a Pittsburgh bar. If you haven't been to PNC Park, then you don't realize that there is a plethora of bars within a 2 block radius of the stadium. It's part of the charm, but it may also explain why the Phillies are so terrible there. The Phils are now 13-32 at PNC following yesterday's win. When I was out there last year, following the game (another loss), we spotted Jayson Werth and Ryan Madson getting the VIP treatment to the upstairs lounge at a place called Mullen's accross the street from the Stadium. I made a poor attempt to slip by security and sneak through the kitchen to big dog it with the rest of them, but I wasn't successful. Still, I'd like to see someone compile a Phillies record when playing at stadiums that have nightlife within a 2 block perimeter. My guess is that when the "Philly Live" thing opens up at the site of the old Spectrum, we're looking at a 0-162 season. 

• The MLB Draft starts tonight. I don't claim to be a scout, but from what I hear, it's an incredibly deep crop of players. Specifically, there are supposed to be a ton of available pitchers. Everything I'm reading this morning seems to indicate that the Pirates have chosen to use their #1 overall pick on UCLA RHP Gerrit Cole. He projects to be on the fast track to the big leagues and could really benefit a developing Pirates team that already features Charlie Morton. The Phillies forfeited their first round pick when acquiring Cliff Lee, but they do have a supplementary pick at #39 overall. They've been good drafters as of late, but I still can't forgive them for choosing Jeff Jackson over Frank Thomas in 1989. Zero games in the majors or a Hall of Fame career. Nice choice! The Phillies will also draft at 66, 90, and 120. Not a ton of early picks, but a good mix to throw in with an already budding farm system. I would expect them to target depth and middle infield and catching over everything else. Of course, the MLB draft is pretty much a crap shoot anyway, but seeing as how I have nothing to do tonight, I'll probably tune in for a while.

• This was too good not to share... a local duo has developed a self published comic series called "Dugout Phunnies" featuring tales and adventures of the 2011 Phillies. So far, Charlie Manuel has appeared with a mullet possessed by the devil and the starting five have gone on a camping trip. Definitely worth your $5 immediately! Also check them out on Facebook.

• I had a few people ask me this weekend about the Phillies debt situation as the LA Times and ESPN outed 9 MLB teams for violating the MLB Debt Policies. I think David Murphy from the Daily News sums it up perfectly. Comparing the Phillies financial situation to that of the Mets, Dodgers, and Cubs is not accurate. And the debt leverage situation has nothing to do with this year's increase in payroll or the luxury tax or the possibility of trading for another player or two at the deadline. Player salaries do not count against the debt ceiling and unlike other teams, the only debt that the Phillies carry is a result of the operation of the team itself (read: They own the team outright). Long story short, nothing to see here, folks.  

• Lastly, if you're not using Twitter to get your baseball news by now, you're a fool. Here's a list of people you need to get out and follow ASAP!
• @PhoulBallz - writer for PhoulBallz.com and Phillies Nation
• @keithlaw - renowned baseball writer
• @EricSeidman - Co-founder and writer for BrotherlyGlove.com
• @CWHager - writer for FantasyPros911.com and Elmhurst Pub Rountable
• @COSFBA - writer of Colorado Springs Fantasy Baseball Addict Blog
• @PhilliesWheeler - not the official Chris Wheeler, but a humorous tribute
• @PHLSportHistory - a virtual almanac of all Philly sports history
• @DroppedStrike3 - me, and I'm awesome.

Lunch Time Link Dump

• Roger McDowell is apparently a homophobe. The Braves pitching coach has been suspended two weeks for some interactions with fans where he made some gay slurs and insulted a father in front of his two kids... and this is all alleged to have occurred during batting practice. AT&T Park in San Francisco is one of the few ballparks in the majors that still maintains a "bullpen" in foul territory along the base lines rather than in its own area of the outfield. Without some sort of barrier between fans and players, relief pitchers are pretty much heckle-bait all game long. Not that I'm making an excuse for McDowell, who is probably more famous for the Hotfoot and other dugout antics than his pitching acumen. 

•  I've discovered an old SI.com article of things we miss in baseball and for the exact same reasons I mentioned above, they seem to miss the bullpens being in foul territory. They also miss "fans running into the field" and "wimpy middle infielders" to put into perspective what kind of writer we're dealing with. I do, however, find the first item on the list intriguing: Stirrups. Not just colored socks, or those white socks with a vertical stripe up the side. Actual stirrups you wear over your socks. I never really understood the reason for them, but hell if I didn't make sure my stirrups were pulled as high as possible during little league. Of course they were usually stretched out and dry rotted from the years and years of other kids wearing them, but that's nothing a few safety pins didn't fix! Bullpen carts and Youppi were two other good ones from the list.

• Possibly the most surprising and under the radar news of the year so far is the impressive start by Bartolo Colon. I had him listed at the beginning of the season as a zero risk, high reward player and so far he's been the latter. He's averaging a K/IP and keeping the Yankees in every game he's played, last night's fine performance included. The fat man seemed destined to be hanging up the spikes for good, but a couple of Yankee injuries made way for a spot in the bullpen and now a Phil Hughes implosion has made it likely that he hangs onto a starting job for at least a little while longer. He throws with finesse and deception. He's not the CY Young winner he was in 2005, but he's eating innings as thoroughly as he's eating pizzas. 

• As successful as the Bartolo Colon move was, Derek Jeter's new contract is looking like just as big of a failure. $15M this year (and at least $34M the next three) isn't a terrible deal if your team leader is batting at a decent clip and playing stellar defense. But Jeter isn't really doing either. In his last calendar year of baseball, Jeter is batting .257 with 6 HRs. And yet though 26 games this season, Jeter has led off 16 of them. His defense is as sub par as ever (despite his Gold Glove awards that can only be attributed to blackmail). The Yankees are in a really tough spot right now. Do they risk moving Jeter down to 7 or 8 in the lineup to see if he can right the ship? Do they need to bring in another player to share time with their $15M man? A solid year of sub par performance at age 36 is more than a slump. 

• ZooWithRoy.com made the "Huge Butt" announcement last week that they'll be working with Iron Hill Brewery to produce a ZWR Beer this summer. Naturally, that means a trip to Iron Hill Brewery is in order. One of my biggest selling points when trying new beers is the art on the label and you can bet that "So Cuttered Hoppy Wheat" will have some sort of Penguin/MS Paint image worth the price alone. 

• Reading through an article on PhilliesNation the other day about Baseball Prospectus rankings for players kind of showed me that for the most part their top 5 rankings have panned out pretty well from season to season. But that got me thinking about how actual draft picks work out. Luckily it only took about 30 second worth of Googling before I found this article on the rankings for 40 years of #1 overall picks from 1964-2004. For every A-Rod, there's a Matt Bush. The list counts down from the outside and the median #1 overall pick turns out to be Phil Nevin. Which pretty much explains why the MLB draft is such a crap shoot.

• The Common Man  over on Platoon Advantage has been doing a series of family trees for trades and signings that produced other players. In the latest installment, he shows how a 1967 draft pick would eventually turn into David Wright. It's pretty wild to think about and certainly a little far fetched considering all the moving parts involved in the deal, but I'd love to see a Phillies family tree that traces Granny Hamner to Bobby Abreu or something... I'm just too lazy to do the research myself.

Lunch Time Link Dump

• I love reading these crazy old stories of fantasy baseball origins and history. Can you imagine a day before the internet when the only way to get inside information was to make your own drive to spring training every year, subscribe to weekly baseball publications, or to actually pay off an agent or trainer for some tips? This story of a guy who became obsessed with fantasy baseball to a point where he claims it ruined his life is a good one.

• The ending to the Manny Ramirez saga sure proved to be a good one. After making a mockery of himself for the better part of the last three years, Manny retired after hearing that he had failed another MLB drug test and was looking at a 100 game suspension. His women's fertility drug of choice is well known as a masking agent that makes other performance enhancers difficult to detect. So it's not a matter of "if" but "what" was Manny really on these last few years. Of all the players to come through the "steroid era" of baseball, Manny's case for the Hall of Fame is going to be the most controversial. He was an amazing pure hitter, but the questions of laziness, selfishness, and now drug use are going to cast a major shadow on his career. Of the entire generation of ball players I grew up watching, it's sad to think that only three hitters (Griffey, Thomas, and Thome) are regarded as "clean."

• Big autograph session this Saturday at King of Prussia Mall. Too bad everything is comically overpriced. I've seen all of these guys signing for a fraction of the numbers listed here. Plus, I'll be busy doing a 5 mile run in Valley Forge. 

• Hunt Auctions has an impressive collection of merchandise available for auction this week. Most impressive is the group of lots from Robin Roberts personal collection. I'd say that Robin Roberts induction ring from the Hall of Fame is about as unique an item as any Phillies fan could own.

• ZooWithRoy.com (great site) collaborated with @DangerGuerrero of FilmDrunk & WarmingGlow fame (also great sites) to produce a rather epic and likely accurate portrayal of the Mets 2011 Video Yearbook. 

• A nice little video of a fan getting pummeled at a Pirates game over the weekend. I'm not sure why this hasn't gotten much exposure. Clearly being Patriotic is frowned upon in Pittsburgh.

• Beyond the Box Score did an interesting series of articles in the past two weeks about retired numbers. It's funny how through the first 70 years of the decade there were only a handful and now numbers are being retired like it's going out of style. It's also interesting to see how the standard for number retirement has gone down. Could Bobby Abreu really be the next Phillies number retired? 

• An incredibly early and overzealous look at the MVP races in each league. Despite being only 11 days into the season, you still see a lot of familiar faces on the list. It really doesn't take long for the cream to rise to the top. 

On General Fan Misbehavior...

No one is above the boo. There's always a time and a place for it. Game #4 of the season isn't one of them. Cole Hamels had a very solid 2010 season, but even last year he had a few hiccups early on. Better that he get the 6ER in 2.2 innings performance out of the way now than wait until August. Cole Hamels knew he But of course, that didn't stop a good portion of 46,000+ from booing him last night. 

The problem lies with a group of fans that I've dubbed "Children of the 700 Level." These are the kids who are in their late teens and early 20s who grew up listening to tales of brash behavior and urinating in sinks at Veterans Stadium from their dads and uncles. They're guys who hadn't been to the park before 2008. They're the voices you can hear asking stupid questions while barely paying attention to the game. They're the guys who refer to opposing players by number when heckling because they have no idea what their actual name is. They're the bratty kids who throw up children and run onto the field. Quite frankly, I'm sick of them giving me a bad name. In a week where a Giants fan was nearly beaten to death at Dodger stadium, there's a reason why Philly fans still hold the public persona of "worst fans." We do it to ourselves. There's a large population among us who perpetuate the stereotype on a nightly basis. The guys who scream obscenities from Ashburn Alley knowing full well that there are children right below them. The guys who nearly spend the GDP of Denmark on $7.50 Bud Lites each night stumbling down stairs and over their own words. Now all of us have thrown a few back and made some bad decisions while at sporting events, but the problem lies with those who do this on a nightly basis. These "fans" believe that they are carrying on a tradition of propper sports behavior. They think that the "Asssssssholllllllle" chant is a right of passage and that it's their duty to perform it. So the next time you scoff when someone says "You threw snowballs at Santa Claus and batteries at JD Drew," look to your left and to your right. Chances are someone around you is proud of that reputation and he's the one that drags down a whole fan base.

It's early in the year and you can bet that we're going to see our fair share of clunkers out of this team in 2011. It happens with every team. Some of the time, a boo is going to be deserved. But I urge the fans to hold back from anything further. I can guarantee that Cole Hamels was giving himself more than enough boos last night. Let's stay off the field for the rest of the year. Let's hold our liquor. Let's know when to censor ourselves around a mixed audience. There's a difference between honest passion and informed baseball banter. It's a new year and if we're ever going to change our reputation, let's start now! Turn your hat straight, pull up your pants, and enjoy some good old fashioned baseball.

DST Exclusive: The Real Reason Behind Brad Lidge's Biceps Soreness!

As far as I know, no one else is reporting this news, but I think it's fairly obvious why Brad Lidge is experiencing Bicep Soreness. Erin Express. I feel your pain, Brad. Two or three thousand curls of Green Bud Light had me hurting on Monday morning as well. If only Ruben Amaro was available to explain why my spreadsheet work was a little out of the zone.

I'm Still Alive... Despite my best efforts not to be.

Two days later and I'm still feeling the effects of Erin Express. Both physically and emotionally. It was a long day that began with two bottles of wine on Friday night and commenced with me leaving my group and wandering the city by myself much of Saturday. Needless to say, not my best decision.

Regular postings will continue tomorrow, as I'm still playing catch up with the world today!