http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/ This is my site with my opinions, but I hope that, like Irish Spring, you like it, too. en-us Wed, 14 May 2008 22:32:51 PST Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 PST support2007@baseballtoaster.com 60 http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/985727.html Tom Glavine beat the Phils tonight for his first win in a Braves uniform since 2002. This comes one night after Shawn Estes won his first game since 2005. Instead of dwelling on the mediocrity that has engulfed the Phils since the beginning of May, I took a look at the longest wait between wins for a player for a given team. http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/985727.html Wed, 14 May 2008 22:32:51 PST http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/977758.html The most serious threat to our institutions comes from those who refuse to face the need for change. FDR I finally watched Bob Costas's recorded live HBO special on the state of sports today as part of his semi-regular "Costas Now" sports talk series. The ninety-minute special consisted of five segments on different topics each with a Costas-intoned intro and a three-person panel interviewed by the host. Of the five topics, I found the one on the Internet mist intriguing. http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/977758.html Tue, 6 May 2008 18:27:00 PST http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/973508.html Those wacky young Diamondbacks, they have the best record in baseball (20-8), won their division last year, and yet no one seems to know who they are. Sure, there's Brandon Webb, who with six wins is the early NL Cy Young leader. But they have a potential MVP candidate in Conor Jackson who still gets carded this side of Tempe, and he is one of their veterans. http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/973508.html Fri, 2 May 2008 11:34:07 PST http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/962393.html The Phils won again tonight on a late-inning comeback, but I never got to see it. It was blacked out in my area. Well, it was available through some sort of pay channel in the 770's on Comcast, those bastards! Even MLB.TV Mosiac, which is well worth th moneyusually,let me down as well, another blackout. Alas. http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/962393.html Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:06:24 PST http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/960830.html Chase Utley homered again tonight, for the fifth game in a row, as the Phils rebound to beat the Rockies, 9-5, with five runs in the last two innings. http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/960830.html Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:04:05 PST http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/954604.html The Phillies are doing something that I never anticipated. They are making me sympathetic to the plight of Adam Eaton. After becoming the fifth starter by default (and because the Phils can ill afford swallow his massive contract), Eaton has been arguably their second best starter this season behind the stellar Cole Hamels, a dubious distinction on this staff, given. http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/954604.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 22:13:06 PST http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/953245.html I watched "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" the other day, and what made that movie great parody, besides the awesome presence of John C. Reilly, was that they played it straight through all of the ridiculousness from a random halving or two to Dewey's rendition of "Starman". Reilly even made me believe he was a fourteen-year old at one point. He played it straight, and that's what made the movie. http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/953245.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:03:09 PST http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/945009.html Chase Utley was hit by a thrown ball four times in the Phils' 5-2 win over the Metsgoes today. That would be a major-league record for being hit by a pitch, but the last one was on a relay throw by Mets first sacker, Carlos Delgado, on a failed doubleplay attempt. That one gets scored as just a throwing error. http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/945009.html Tue, 8 Apr 2008 22:23:33 PST http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/944994.html Stick a fork in the Tigers. They are done, at least from a historic perspective. No team that started the season with seven straight losses has ever qualified for the postseason. http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/944994.html Tue, 8 Apr 2008 22:04:39 PST http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/943482.html Brad Lidge picked up his first save as a Phillie today, and Cole Hamels turned in another stellar outing. The only blight on the Phils day was a couple of unearned runs stemming from another couple of Phils errors. Lidge allowed an unearned run in the ninth when So Taguchi, a defensive replacement for Pat Burrell (who had two homers on the day), nonchalanted a two-out fly ball. Greg Gross he aint. http://mikesrants.baseballtoaster.com/archives/943482.html Mon, 7 Apr 2008 22:21:28 PST