Around The Diamond

I think I'm going to make it my summer's goal to 

track down this place where rubbing mud comes from!

• Dugout Phunnies Issue #4 is a mere one week away from release! Like most things that are awesome, I was in on the ground floor when it first came out. But if the first six pages, and all the comments on Twitter are to be believed, 2012 is the season that David Jablow and Jeff Goff blow up! So buy a copy and watch Doc wrestle space snakes!    

• David Murphy's expanded explanation on the Chase Utley saga is really the best read on the piece. Despite the outrage you may hear, there are a number of caveats to this situation. It's been beaten to death over the last 24 months so I won't go into depth, but Ruben Amaro and Chase Utley are tiptoeing a three way line between lying, withholding information, and outright denial.  Any way you shake it, it's disappointing to hear about this development so late in the Spring. I can't claim to know what Utley did the last few months to prepare for spring training and as a guy who's mildly athletic but has never suffered any significant injury, I can't say what the difference between weight room workouts, and live game drills. But I can't help but wonder if something couldn't have been done differently to come to this conclusion in February, rather than the last week of March. Interestingly enough, former major leaguer David Segui seems to have the perfect solution for Utley: HGH. I could probably buy into a scenario where HGH was allowed to extend the career of guys with chronic joint pains. Maybe some sort of MLB employed doctor that can prescribe the drug? Just a thought...

• Ryne Sandberg has put his Chicago area house up for sale proving that you can only be snubbed by a city (despite being one of its alltime greats) so many times! If I said it once, I said it 100 times, I think he's your next manager for the Phillies following a retirement for Charlie Manuel. Ivan DeJesus (the guy the Phillies traded away Sandberg for), on the other hand, is bouncing around the Cubs system. Sweet irony. 

• Ken Rosenthal released his yearly kiss of death today which ranks the Phillies as the 8th best team in baseball and the 3rd best in the NL, but still predicts they'll continue the streak as NL East champs. It's tough to argue with the strength of the AL, but ranking the Giants ahead of the Phillies is a travesty worthy of a letter to your congressman. Buster Posey, Carlos Beltran, and Pablo Sandoval: three guys that a stiff breeze away from their next trip to the DL. And a rotation that while good, is still a notch behind Philadelphia. Take to the streets people! I will not rest until Ken Rosenthal apologizes (mostly just for wearing those silly ties, not his predictions)!

• Consider me fully behind the move to put Cole Hamels in the #4 slot to start the season at home. The Phillies have had a quite a bit of success with splitting their lefties and righties, Vance Worley matches up favorably with James McDonald of Pittsburgh, and Cole can handle his own with either Carlos Zambrano or Mark Buehrle depending on how the Marlins line things up. And while I'm looking at it, isn't it a little strange that the Marlins are opening up with a single game against the Cardinals on Wednesday, then hit the road for a 3 game series against the Reds? Why just one game?  
  

Lunch Time Link Dump

Baseball is upon us. I'm still as optomistic as ever about the Phillies, but let's be honest, they were playing the Astros (Read: Another franchise run into the ground by Ed Wade). So while initially I planned a lengthy article highlighting all the finer points of Phillies baseball through the first three games, instead I'm going to hold off for one more series. The Mets may not be much better than the Astros, but a familiar division opponent will be a better test to see where the bar should be set. So for now, links...

• A pretty awesome article from Joe Posnanski of SI.com about moving on after the excitement of Opening Day and moving into the 162 game grind. For some fans, the season ends much sooner than it does in Philadelphia these days.

• While watching the Yankees game on Fox on Saturday, I couldn't help but notice what an enormous nerd Ken Rosenthal looked like for wearing that stupid bow tie. Guys who are 5 feet tall and have the same haircut as Pee-Wee Herman should really make better decisions regarding neck wear.

• Speaking of Yankees, don't look now but Mark Teixeira is on pace for 162 Homeruns. If that doesn't win him an MVP as I predicted, then I don't know what will. It should also win me about 4 fantasy baseball leagues. Kyle Drabek killed it on Saturday too. Both are on my team so I might be a genius.

• If you can't laugh at yourself, then really, who can you laugh at? I thought a SNY employee inserting a clip of an old Family Guy episode into the post game broadcast was pretty hilarious, but obviously it's going to cause some repercussions. It's still not as bad as the Manhattan Mini Storage ad.  

• Here's the blog of that dude who has become famous for snagging foul balls and homeruns at dozens of ballparks. I like catching batting practice on occasion and if a ball lands within arms reach, I'll make a play for it. I have some friends who get a little more intense when it comes to BP (you know who you are!). But the things this dude does take disturbing to a whole new level. 1st off, anyone with a sign begging for a ball is pathetic. 2nd, adults don't bring baseball gloves to a game. Lastly, swapping clothes mid-BP to appear to be a fan of the other team is a violation of epic proportions. No baseball is worth selling your fan-soul for. 

• Jason Stark's article on how the Phillies managed to get their starting rotation together is pretty interesting. We don't really think about it much anymore, but trading away Cliff Lee is really the only scenario that allowed the Phillies to sign him as a free agent. Funny how Ruben went from public enemy to genius. 

• The Phillies 5 starting pitchers as 76ers... could you ever imagine the Eagles doing something like this?

• In case you haven't heard, ZooWithRoy.com won ThePhield of 64 Phillies blogs. While probably not the most informative or educational blog out there, ZWR is certainly entertaining. The anonymous creator posts up plenty of baseball related tidbits without taking himself too seriously... and it's been a massive success. Maybe this time next year, I'll be looking down on the Phillies blog world from the same perch instead of losing to a site that only updates on full moons.

• I had this conversation at the bar the other day with a complete stranger, but the more this Barry Bonds case goes on, the more furious I get about the complete waste of taxpayer money that's involved. Millions upon Millions of dollars are spent on a victimless crime trying to prove perjury, yet there are thousands of unsolved/unprosecuted  murders out there. Being guilty in the court of public opinion is far more damaging to Bonds than anything a court could levy on him.

• Three fairly high profile guys already headed to the bench/DL for injuries this weekend: Evan Longoria and Jair Jurrjens strain an oblique, and Matt Holliday needs an emergency appendectomy. Probably no DL time for Holliday, but good luck finding a 3rd Baseman capable of producing in place of Longoria. Looks like 3 weeks or more is a possibility.