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Roy Halladay started his second spring training game as a Phillie last night against the Braves and picked up right where he left off last week. He pitched three shut out innings and struck out five batters. It was just like his first time out against the Yankees where he pitched two scoreless innings, striking out three batters. It’s already clear that he is in top form.

As the regular season approaches (26 days away), we will continue to see Halladay more and more. It will be interesting to see when he gives up his first run of Spring training. It’s good to see this out of the Phillies ace this early in the year. Read the rest of this entry »

AP Photo/Kathy Willen

Watch out Mets. The Yankees are challenging you as the Phillies biggest rival from the state of New York.

Last year, there was no heat between the usually hard fought Mets/Phillies rivalry. The Mets flat out sucked and the series’ weren’t even close to as electric as they had been the past few seasons.

Even though it’s still early, it doesn’t look like the Mets will be a real threat to take the NL this season either. Every year they’re uncompetitive, more excitement drains out of the rivalry which makes room for the Yankees to fill in as the Phillies biggest enemy. Read the rest of this entry »

There is no doubt that JA Happ had a tremendous season last year.  He won the Phillies numerous games and was the bright light in the pitching staff when Hamels was failing and before Cliff Lee joined the squad.  He was a 27 year old rookie and many experts question his true ability.  They say that a lot of his success was due to luck this past season.  When I read this I laughed…literally.  How can someone goe through an entire MLB season and win game after game be considered lucky?  That’s not saying that there is no such thing as luck.  I’m sure Happ got a win or two due to a blown call or a fluke play, but every pitcher does. Read the rest of this entry »

We all know that the Hamels we saw last season wasn’t the Hamels we’ve all grown to know and love. He had the highest era of his pro career with 4.32 and he ended the season with a losing record for the first time ever. On top of that, he pitched about 30 innings less than he did the year before and had almost 30 less strike outs.

Down the stretch and into the playoffs we could tell something was up when he was saying and doing questionable things. Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadien Press

I think it’s safe to say that anything less than another World Series appearance for the Phillies this season would be a disappointment. That’s an unfair comment to make about most teams because with all sports it’s hard to reach the top once and close to impossible to reach it 3 times in a row. But with this team, they manage to improve every off season and improving a World Series team means another World Series is obtainable. Read the rest of this entry »

Kyle Kendrick’s wife may be a bigger world wide celebrity than he is at this point in their careers. She has participated in the hit game show Survivor twice already and is back for another season. This season is the 20th anniversary of the show and its sort of an All-Star game for the show where they brought back the 20 favorite players. At least they have one All-Star in their relationship.

His wife’s name is Stephanie and when the show started last night you could tell she was a true Philadelphian. First of all- you won’t catch her on the show without her camo Phillies hat.

Second of all, in the first 15 minutes of the show, Stephanie dislocated her shoulder in a pretty brutal challenge. But don’t worry- she didn’t have to go home. She popped it right back in and kept playing. That’s how we roll in Philly. Take some notes Kyle.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’re back with another installment of “Fill It In” where we give you a sentence and ask your opinion. The Phillies have made a ton of moves so far this offeason. Amarro and the rest of the management have been busy. These moves range from little ones like signing minor leaguers, to big ones like trading 1 Cy Young winner for another and bringing back Placido Polanco for 3rd base. The offseason isn’t over yet but Think over everything they have done so far and complete this sentence:

The Phillies best 0ffseason move so far was ________.

Our Opinion: Locking up 2 key pieces of the championship team- Shane Victorino and Carlos Ruiz. Any Phillies fan realizes that these were great moves. Read the rest of this entry »

AP Photo

There’s a saying that goes- all good things must come to an end. That’s sometimes the case with championship sports teams. After a year at the top, many teams slowly lose their players to retirement, free agency or injury until the team that won is just a memory. That won’t be the case here in Philadelphia. The Phillies are young, managed wisely and set to win championships for years to come.

In the past few days the Phillies have locked up Shane Victorino and Joe Blanton with 3 year deals and are hoping to complete a contract with Carlos Ruiz in the next few days. With the exception of Jayson Werth, no Phillies starting position players will be free agents next year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last season Joe Blanton had a very solid year going 12-8 with an ERA just over 4.  You can’t ask for a much better performance than that out of your forth or fifth starter.  In the post season, his play was forgettable, but then again the whole team didn’t play that well besides of course Cliff Lee.  Entering the off season Blanton and the Phillies weren’t quite sure what the future held with their relationship.  Blanton was asking for about $10 million in arbitration.  Last year he didn’t even make $5.5 million.  However today Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve all seen those Nutrisystem commercials full of sports celebrities like Dan Marino, Boomer, Chris Carter and more. Well move over guys and make room for Uncle Charlie. That’s right, the Phillies’ manager has become the newest success story for the Nutrisystem Diet. It was no secret that he was trying to lose weight with this diet. The multi-year deal he made with them was announced a while ago. But now the results are in and the guy looks great.

Manuel is an excellent skipper and a good leader for this team so to Phillies fan it didn’t really matter if he was 400 pounds or 100 pounds- he was still our guy. Read the rest of this entry »