D Battery Elected To Philadelphia Sports Hall Of Fame

PHILADELPHIA — A voting panel of journalists and prominent sports figures elected the D battery to the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame Sunday, honoring the alkaline storage cell's many achievements in pelting players from visiting teams.

"The D battery is as synonymous with Philadelphia sports as intoxicated fistfights, cheering for a severely injured player, or intentionally vomiting on a child," said Philadelphia sportswriter Ray Didinger, adding that the Hall of Fame plans to install an interactive exhibit that allows children to throw batteries at life-size cutouts of rival athletes. "Whipping the D battery at opposing players, coaches, or dumbshit referees is a crucial part of the experience for Philly fans. No other projectile has had the same impact on Phillies, Eagles, Flyers, or 76ers games. The D battery is an icon, representing the very best of Philly."

Phightin' Phils Phans Rephuse to Yield White Trafh Title to Soxfs Phanf

Man jailed for vomiting on baseball fan

They Spelled It Wrong

World Phucking Champions

H@LY PHOKK!NG S#IT

NYT fawns over "everyman" professional hitter

“Matt’s a guy’s guy,” Ricciardi said. “There’s just not a lot of frills with him.”

Phitin' Phils!

They can plan the parade now. Somewhere I know Smiff is smiling. No more Adam Eaton. Blanton can stop getting pounded in that bandbox Coliseum against that insanely strong hitting American League West - with its Seattles and Los Angeles Anaheim Californias and its Texasses and start carving up the competition in the NL East at the Philly Canyon. This guy's gonna last Smiff says. He's no Rich Harden.

No. No he's not.

A’s trade Blanton to Phillies
By JANIE McCAULEY, AP Sports Writer Jul 17, 8:03 pm EDT


OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)—The Oakland Athletics traded away their second starting pitcher this month, dealing burly right-hander Joe Blanton to the Philadelphia Phillies for three minor leaguers on Thursday.

A’s general manager Billy Beane swapped Blanton a week after sending Rich Harden to the Chicago Cubs—and that’s with his team very much in contention in the AL West, six games behind the first-place Los Angeles Angels.

“Philadelphia was aggressive,” Oakland assistant GM David Forst said. “They made it clear they needed a starting pitcher to help out and we were able to get the deal done.”

The minor leaguers involved are left-hander Josh Outman, who was in Double-A, and second baseman Adrian Cardenas and outfielder Matt Spencer, both players in Single-A.

The 27-year-old Blanton, a 14-game winner last season, was 5-12 with a 4.96 ERA in 20 starts for Oakland. He has underachieved in 2008 in his fifth big league season after being the opening day starter in March against the Boston Red Sox in Tokyo.

“We’ve been attempting to upgrade our rotation and we feel like we’ve done that,” Phillies assistant general manager Mike Arbuckle said. “We think Joe is a very strong, competitive pitcher that has the mental makeup to pitch productively in a pennant race. He pitches a lot of innings and takes some burden off the bullpen.”

Blanton—who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds—had been scheduled to pitch Friday night against New York at Yankee Stadium in Oakland’s first game after the All-Star break. Forst said he had yet to discuss with manager Bob Geren who would fill Blanton’s spot in the rotation. Gio Gonzalez, a candidate to be promoted, has been pitching well for Triple-A Sacramento.

Both Blanton and Harden had been rumored to be on the trading block over the past year.

this can't be good

Phillies top prospect is a Horror

After going through a dead-arm period last April when his velocity was down and his secondary pitches lacked their normal bite (dead arm period: k-madder-speak for Impending Rapid Violent Intensely Painful Labrum Disassembly) , Carrasco hit a groove in 2007 and was promoted to Double-A Reading in June.

Strengths: Carrasco has the makings of two plus pitches with the potential for a third. His fastball has outstanding late life, and is at its best when he works between 89-93 mph. When he needs it, he can touch 94-95. He complements the fastball with the best changeup in the system, and he commands it to both sides of the plate with good depth and fade. His curveball continued to make strides in 2007, ranging from a soft 71-72 mph breaker to a harder 76-78 mph offering that more resembles a slider. His body allows him to unleash all his pitches from a steep downhill plane, and when he's on, he pounds the strike zone.

Weaknesses: As good as Carrasco's pure stuff is, he struggled with runners on base in 2007. When he'd get into trouble, he'd rush through his delivery with his lower half and drag his arm behind his body. That would cause his front shoulder to fly open, costing him command. The Phillies attribute these problems to Carrasco's youth, though he did show signs of improvement later in the year. He'll need to make quicker adjustments as he moves along, especially with pitch selection. With the quality of his secondary pitches, Carrasco should profile as a groundball pitcher with enough power in his fastball to miss bats when he has to. Yet in Double-A, his groundout/airout ratio was a mere 0.7. As long as he is a Horror, don't expect any of this to improve.

The Future: After a half-season of learning in the Eastern League, Carrasco likely will return there to begin 2008. Some Phillies officials believe that Carrasco was rushed again in 2007, but they were also impressed with how much he responded in instructional league afterward. With Cole Hamels entrenched as the Phillies' No. 1 starter, Carrasco would have made a nice complement as a No. 2 by 2009. But he is a k-madder, so he will be dead or in a sanatorium by then.

The New Face of Tommy John?

From Rotoworld...

Cole Hamels will miss his scheduled start Wednesday because of a mild MCL strain in his left elbow.

Uh oh. Whether it wrecks their postseason chances or not, the Phillies need to be very cautious here. Team physician Michael Ciccotti said Hamels could miss one to three weeks, pending the results of an MRI. The Phillies will move up the rest of the rotation one day and go with J.D. Durbin on Wednesday. They could call up J.A. Happ to start Saturday, but a trade for Steve Trachsel or someone similar will have to be considered. Aug. 21 - 8:33 pm et

This, of course, is bad news for Smiff. But then again, it's partially his fault. If he hadn't just offered me Gallardo straight up for Hamels, thus dooming me to say no and watch my best starter then disappear for a year and a half, he would have been fine.

Phils goin for the gusto

The Phillies have acquired Julio Mateo from the Mariners, ESPN's Jayson Stark reports.

It might be for infielder Danny Sandoval. It's nice to see Mateo is no longer being held hostage by Seattle. Citizens Bank Park is a bad fit for his extreme flyball tendencies, but he'll still be of some help in middle relief.