Confusion

Christine used to be convinced that Clay Buchholz pitched in the National League, specifically for the Rockies, before he was a Red Sox. It took us a while, but we figured out it was because she confused him with former Phillies prospect Taylor Buchholz. By this season, she had it straightened out, but today the Red Sox acquired Taylor, who was a prospect in the Phillies organization until he was included in the Billy Wagner trade.

At least they're not related:

Buchholz -- who is no relation to Clay Buchholz -- went 1-0 with a 3.75 ERA in nine relief appearances (12 innings) between the Rockies and Blue Jays in 2010.

Um, Nick Cafardo says "rewrite":

So it turns out Taylor Buchholz is related to Clay Buchholz. Nick Cafardo asked Clay about it last season and he said the two were distant cousins. Now they're potentially teammates.

Phillies: Ryne Sandberg could rewrite his Phillies legacy. He was hired as AAA manager. Christine thinks he was promised the big-league job when Charlie Manuel retires.

Reprise

There are a couple of updates today about things I've written about recently.

I speculated about Jayson Werth going to the A's in the offseason, but Ruben Amaro says don't be so quick to run J-Dub out of town to the Yankees, Red Sox or a wild card team like the A's:

"As we've talked about before, we'd love to bring Jayson Werth back, and he obviously plays rightfield," Amaro said. "Nobody's giving Domonic Brown the job in rightfield next year."

Even though Werth is finishing up a second straight career year heading into a free-agent market that has paid similar players more than $15 million per year?

"It's possible," Amaro said, "Again, these are issues that we'll deal with in the offseason."

I don't buy it, but a part of me thinks there may be some super-secret convoluted plan in the works, similar to jettisoning Cliff Lee to get Roy Halladay. Could next year's outfield be Raul Ibanez, Werth and Brown?

On a cheerier note, New England native and Carlos Quintana fan Rich Hill not only got to pitch for his favorite team, but earned a win for the Red Sox against the Mariners Tuesday night:

"The big thing for me is being back at this level and able to pitch well," said Hill, who had shoulder surgery a year ago. "But it's a cool thing to get a win with the Red Sox in my first game"’ said Hill, a Milton native and Boston resident.

Today's games: Behind ace Roy Halladay, the Phillies lead the Marlins 10-4 in the 9th. If they hold on, they would have a three game lead over the Braves. ... Behind ace Clay Buchholz, the Red Sox finished a sweep of the Mariners with a 5-1 win.

More scoreboard watching

During last night's game, there was a lot of talk about scoreboard watching as the Phillies win, coupled with the Braves loss, sent the Phils back to their customary spot atop the NL East.

The fans cheered every time the scoreboard revealed another run for the Pirates against the Braves, and the announcers noted how Mike Sweeney, who has never been to the playoffs in his 16-year career, acknowledged that he has been scoreboard watching.

Christine and I like to scoreboard watch at the ballpark. Well, we like to note the different screens they have for players' photos.

Here's what caught our fancy from Sunday's game, starting with Amoroso's. Jimmy Rollins had been slumping, but he's been on a roll since moving to the 5th spot in the batting order two games ago. (Ed's note: I wrote this before J-Roll left tonight's game because of a tight hamstring. I'm too tired to change it.)

Charlie Manuel likes the new lineup, so he's locked it up. Too bad that Steve Urkel, err, Ben Francisco can't crack it.

Of course, the Phillies scoreboard operators seem to have it locked in their minds that Jayson Werth is still clean-cut. They really seem to be in denial about the various wild looks he has sported in 2010. Or maybe they're just helping J-Dub audition for a job with the Yankees.

It's not just the home team that participates in these screen shots, although I doubt the visitors get any say whatsoever in what happens with their mugs.

It also seems like more of the nonprofit billboards go to the road team. I wonder if the Phillies give them a discount.

Casey McGehee demonstrates the Please Touch Museum advertisement.

Prince Fielder, with a very cheesy smile, has gone artsy, advertising the Cleopatra exhibit at the Franklin Institute.

We actually saw the Cleopatra ad at our previous game but didn't get a picture. It worked out well anyway because we really like Prince Fielder's big grin.

His squishy eyes remind us of the first studio pictures we got of Trent last weekend. The kid wouldn't smile for the camera except one shot where his eyes are half closed.

Of course, as soon as we left the store, he wouldn't stop smiling for the rest of the weekend.

Tonight's games: The Red Sox are done. I'll lead with them because they are done. I don't like admitting that prematurely, but Terry Francona has waved the white flag and started Tim Wakefield, scotching plans to start the league's ERA leader Clay Buchholz.

It doesn't matter, but the Sox beat the Rays 11-5. Should I have rooted for them to blow it so the Rays didn't lose ground to the Yankees?

The Phillies held on to their half game lead over the Braves, beating the Marlins 10-6. (The Braves beat the Pirates 9-2.)

The Phillies led 10-0 in the 8th, but Nate Robertson's mop sprung a leak, allowing six runs and making the game much closer than it needed to be.

Silver lining

Despite the storyline of how the Red Sox patched things together to keep battling through crippling injury after crippling injury, the best story of the 2010 Red Sox is the development of Clay Buchholz, who has emerged as a Cy Young candidate after being named pitcher of the month for August.

Interestingly, this analysis shows that Buccholz's career, despite some fits and starts, has actually been slightly better than Jon Lester's when he signed a five-year $30 million extension in 2009.

The report suggests that's about what Buchholz would get if he were to sign an extension. I've got three words to say to that: "Book 'em Danno."

Tonight's games: Trent and I took a road trip to visit Christine at work for lunch today, and the Phillies took a road trip to play one game in Colorado. Unfortunately, they had to take Joe Blanton with them. He gave up six runs (four earned) in 4.1 innings. The Phillies battled back, so maybe they'll let him travel with the team when they return to Philly tonight. They scored nine runs in the 7th inning and held on for the 12-11 pitchers' duel. Former Sox Manny Delcarmen took the loss.

The Red Sox beat the Orioles 6-4.

Trent's big day

Trent made it through the night - the little guy slept from 9:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.

Then, this afternoon, he had his first large-group gathering and reconnected with the people who formed our family.

Finally, following doctor's instructions, we introduced him tonight to cereal. He didn't like it. I told him that he needs solids to bulk up and that tonight's pitcher, Clay Buchholz, had trouble gaining weight.

Despite this milestone of a day, we also got into the pennant races as both our teams played playoff-quality games against playoff-quality opponents. The Phillies met their challenge, beating the Padres 3-1. The Red Sox did not. In a game that resembled a heavyweight fight, the Rays outlasted the Sox 3-2 in 10 innings. The weight-challenged Buchholz pitched a good game - one earned run and another unearned run in 7 1/3 innings.

The first run was a cluster - Carlos Pena reached third because Buchholz stupidly threw away a pickoff throw that shouldn't have been attempted. Pena scored on a sacrifice when J.D. Drew caught a foul ball instead of letting it drop.

The Tampa announcer said no one in Boston could blame Drew. Perhaps, but Trent and I did.

Hopefully, we'll all get another good night's sleep and get them tomorrow.

Sitting in the rain

When we found out about Trent, we knew we had to give away the Phillies tickets we had for the first weekend he was home.

We planned on making our next game, however, and even toyed with the idea of taking him with us when we found out it was Cole Hamels' lunch bag giveaway day for all kids 14 and under.

Responsible heads prevailed, and we decided it would be our first extended time away from Trent. We spent weeks joking about how our luck of hitting rainy days at the park would probably continue.

Above is a picture of weather conditions when the game started; below is what it looked like during the 1 hour and 45 minute rain delay we sat through. I was even able to get in a nap.

Meanwhile, Roy Oswalt pitched a gem, and the Phillies beat the Nationals 6-0. We'll have our SoxandPhils recap of the rainy day at the park tomorrow - providing I get a chance to write, as Christine has to go back to work and Daddy Daycare opens for business.

The Red Sox also managed a shutout, 5-0 over the Blue Jays, despite rain in Boston. Clay Bucchholz lowered his league-leading ERA.

Babies on the brain

I've been preoccupied with my little guy for the past month or so, and even now when the Red Sox are playing the Yankees in a series that many consider their last chance to hang in the playoff hunt, I can't get babies off the brain.

That's because Trent isn't the only SoxandPhil babe experiencing his first Red Sox-Yankees series:

Meanwhile, it's baby time in the rivalry. Jon Lester welcomed a son last weekend. Clay Buchholz and his wife had a baby girl a few days ago and yesterday CC Sabathia and his wife had their fourth child.

Hopefully, Papa CC gets tired like Lester and Buchholz have been:

Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz have had trouble resting this week, as both became fathers for the first time. "We got a run going on — on babies," Francona said. Lester told Francona after Wednesday night's loss that his left hamstring was fine. Francona said Lester was just dehydrated.

Tonight's games: Papa Clay pitched well - three runs in 7 1/3 innings as the Red Sox won 6-3. This is also Trent's first Phillies-Mets series, and the good guys won that series opener 7-5. So, Trent's first SoxandPhils vs. New York series has started off well.

Social day, surprise endings

We spent the day introducing Trent to some of our friends, including his first buddy, the other Gregory James in his life. It was a nice day sharing our little guy with some good friends, and we think he's becoming a people person, even though he just sleeps through his social visits.

There were some exciting SoxandPhils finishes today. After Jonathan Papelbon couldn't erase Clay Buchholz's two-on, no-out jam in the 9th, the Red Sox beat the Tigers in the bottom on the 9th on a Marco Scutaro bunt.

All our guests left before the Phillies and Nationals' 11-inning game ended. Christine tried to get a high-five from Trent when the Phillies took the lead in the 11th. He just shot her a look that said, "Yeah, they're just setting up another Brad Lidge special."

Lidge did pitch the 11th. He ended it, like our day, perfectly. So we took Trent to the park for the first time to celebrate. A little girl said he was cute and told her siblings to be quiet near the sleeping baby.

Fun-filled 4th

Here are the happenings, in brief.

The AL All-Star team will have six Red Sox, including Clay Buchholz, who is heading to the DL. He'll be joined by injured Victor Martinez and Dustin Pedroia and healthy David Ortiz, Adrian Beltre and Jon Lester. Kevin Youkilis was snubbed, but he's headed to the ballot for the final roster spot.

Charlie Manuel selected only one Phillie for the NL team: Ryan Howard. He'll be joined by fan-selected but injured Chase Utley and player-selected Roy Halladay.

The Sox and Phils each lost today to crappy teams, the Orioles and Pirates.

Joey Chestnut won another hot dog eating competition, but they had to arrest Takeru Kobayashi to keep him from reclaiming his spot as the world's top eater.

Christine and I had a nice dinner.

Sore SoxandPhils

We like it when the SoxandPhils emulate each other in good ways - they draft well, they have rivals in New York and, most importantly, the 2008 Phillies followed the 2007 Red Sox as World Champions.

But there's a disturbing trend we'd like to see end. Both teams are getting hammered with injuries this year. The Phillies have had their starting lineup together just seven times, and the Red Sox have probably lost more players. And, they seem to be matching each other player for player. Dustin Pedroia for Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz for Victor Martinez, for example. There's no direct match for Placido Polanco and Clay Buchholz, so Adrian Beltre and Roy Halladay better be careful.

SoxandPhils limbo: Fabio Castro was sent down. That's the second time he's been a Red Sox without getting into a game.

Tonight's games: The Phillies lead the Reds in the 10th; the Red Sox lead the Rays in the 8th.

The Phanatic's long-lost brother

I can't decide what's more surprising: that the Yankees had a mascot named Dandy who I never heard about, or that I agree with George Steinbrenner about something (that mascots don't belong in baseball).

Although, my anti-mascot stance has weakened after being around the Phanatic so much.

Kudos to the Wall Street Journal for unearthing this nugget about the Yankees secret mascot, who was cut from the same cloth as the Phillies iconic green furball. I know I was just a toddler when this thing roamed the upper deck at Yankee Stadium, but I can't believe he didn't become part of Yankee lore. To me, he's more impressive than that mystique and aura crap New Yorkers used to toss around.

But the Yankees consider him a bigger dud than Hideki Irabu, Eddie Whitson and Carl Pavano:

The biggest bust in Yankees history was 7 feet tall, made $40 every home game and spent most of his brief career in the upper deck.

From 1979 to 1981, the Yankees employed a mascot named Dandy. He was big and blue and a spectacular failure—a historical oddity for a proud franchise that has collected 27 world championships but would just as soon forget he even existed. Which, to be fair, isn't terribly difficult to do.

"It's one of the sadder stories," said Wayde Harrison, who created Dandy with his wife, Bonnie Erickson.

The story is worth a read.

Not so dandy: I fully expected Roy Halladay to dispatch the Empire in his Cy Young matchup against CC Sabathia, but he struggled. In the 7th, Yankees 6, Phillies 3.

Red Sox: Clay Buchholz fared a little better than Doc, but he better step it up if he wants to fulfill all the All-Star buzz that has been surrounding him. In the 6th, Red Sox 6, Diamondbacks 3. In the battle of the Drew brothers, slight edge to Stephen who is 1-3 with a run and a stolen base. J.D. is 2-3 with no extracurricular stats.

[Photo credit: Wall Street Journal]

Managing futility

As expected, the Orioles fired manager Dave Trembly and replaced him with Phillies Wall of Famer Juan Samuel. I didn't know that another option for interim Orioles manager was former Red Sox catcher Gary Allenson, but he was promoted to replace Samuel as third base coach. There's a further SoxandPhil connection in that Samuel made his managerial debut tonight against the Red Sox.

The occasion gave Terry Francona a chance to repeat his line about being fired by the Phillies:

"I felt it coming. I knew it was coming," Francona said. "I've always been pretty honest about it. If I was a general manager, I would've fired me also. I think they didn't really have a choice. Saying that, the last however many days that there's speculation, that's the hardest. That's really hard. Now, saying that, I remember thinking, 'OK, when I get fired, it's going to be this huge weight off my shoulders.' And it wasn't. You can't live with people almost 24 hours a day and it just goes away. I thought it would, and it doesn't."

That said, we wish Juan Samuel luck - once the Red Sox leave town, but especially against the Rays and Yankees.

So far, so good. Actually, I wish the Sox would have eased up a little bit as they gave Samuel a 11-0 loss in his debut. Clay Buchholz was dominant, pitching a five-hit, one-walk shutout. On MLB Network, Harold Reynolds felt the need to point out how he now has a shutout and a no-hitter against the Orioles. More notable is that the other MLB Network announcer proclaimed him the ace of the Sox, ahead of even Jon Lester. I'm pleased with his progress, but I don't think Buchholz has supplanted Lester.

The Phillies, meanwhile, as I predicted, did not break out of their hitting slump. But they did manage three runs, which was enough for the 3-2 win over the Padres. Roy Halladay pitched a good game for a mortal pitcher, which means he had a so-so start for the Doc. In seven innings, he gave up two runs on 10 hits and a walk with seven strikeouts. Brad Lidge pitched like Brad Lidge circa 2008, picking up his first save since coming back from his second DL stint with two strikeouts in a clean inning.

The Flyers, trying to even up the series, lead the Blackhawks 3-1 in the 3rd period.

Perfect day

A week ago, we, well, I was disappointed that Daisuke Matsuzaka didn't pitch a no-hitter against the Phillies. But it was an odd no-hit attempt. He struggled, and it was just kind of boring and uncomfortable.

There was none of that uneasiness tonight. Harry Leroy Halladay III was efficient and dominant as he pitched the 20th perfect game in major league baseball history, joining Jim Bunning as the only Phillies pitchers with perfectos.

Congrats to the Doc. Is there anything he can't do, besides handle the Red Sox?

We were able to watch, or at least listen to, just about every one of Halladay's 115 pitches in the 1-0 win over the Marlins. (Josh Johnson also pitched well, giving up an unearned run in seven innings.)

Before Halladay took the hill, we spent the day running to a bunch of stores and boiling enough macaroni to feed the SoxandPhils (we were preparing for dinner tomorrow at the Ronald McDonald House).

Among good but not perfect highlights of the day:

At a pet store, Christine saw a bulldog checking into their little hotel-esqe kennel. She thinks he smiled at her and that he looked like the currently unemployed Elvis - err, check that. Elvis is now a West Coast doggie because Pat Burrell signed a minor league deal with the Giants.

Later, we couldn't decide whether to take a walk because the Phillies game was coming on. We decided to walk and broke out the portable radio for the first time. It was neat listening to the game, although the houses we passed seemed more focused on the Flyers game than the Phillies. Understandable at the time, I guess.

Other games: Clay Buchholz was not perfect but pitched pretty well and beat Zack Greinke and the Royals by a 1-0 score. (The run was earned.)

The Flyers are losing to the Blackhawks 5-4 in the second period of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals.

Philly's revenge

There was some compelling SoxandPhils baseball tonight: Clay Buchholz pitched well against the Tigers on an MLB broadcast, and Jamie Moyer and the Phillies are wearing their retro powder blue unis to celebrate the '70s with the Brewers.

But we didn't really watch either. We were more focused on Boston vs. Philly on ice, even though Christine has grown less interested in hockey in recent years and I have never liked the sport.

But I have a soft spot in my heart for teams that make it to a seventh game after starting 0-3 in a playoff series. We haven't been watching much of the Flyers run, but we turned it on tonight. When the Bruins scored three quick goals, Christine said I jinxed it by watching.

We figured the game was over and lost track of it while we cleaned up after dinner. When we got back to it, the Fly guys tied it up at three. We watched the entire 3rd period and saw the Flyers score a goal and advance to the semifinals.

Incredible. All that was missing was a bloody sock. {Does Gagne's broken foot count?}

So, I guess the Flyers got their revenge for Jan. 1, or maybe the Bruins are only better when they play in Fenway.

Back to baseball: Buchholz pitched well - one run in 6.1 innings, and David Ortiz hit two homers and drove in four. Red Sox 7, Tigers 2.

Christine likes how they play the sound of a growling Tiger every time Detroit scores a run. I don't, except when they're playing the Yankees.

Jamie Moyer dispelled any thoughts of another shutout early, by giving up three solo homers in the 2nd. That made the score a Flyers-like 3-3, but the Phillies, catching the comeback spirit, scored three more in the 4th. In the 5th, Phillies 8, Brewers 3.

By the way, months ago when we first heard about this retro night, we joked that J-Moy should get to start. We're glad it worked out that way. He looks right in this uniform.

Halladay lowers expectations

So Roy Halladay will not go 32-0, just a pedestrian 31-1 after he lost last night 5-1 to the Giants. The region is in shock. Halladay vows to learn from the experience:

"You learn from it and move on," Halladay said. "You take something out of it. You take the positives and try to correct the mistakes and move on. There's nothing you can do about it now other than learn from it. You do that, show up tomorrow, work hard and go out and be aggressive next time."

I wonder, however, whether last night was just a masterful stroke by Doc and that in six months we'll be reading about how he set up the Giants for his first playoff win by losing to them in April.

Halladay's ERA skyrocketed from 0.82 to 1.80. But that's still minuscule compared with Josh Beckett's 7.22 after last night's debacle in Toronto. The Globe points out that his crappy start to 2010 is very similar to his crappy start in 2009:

Josh Beckett after five starts last season: 2-2, 7.22 ERA, 28.2 IP, 36 H, 24 R, 23 ER, 16 BB, 31 K, .303 OBA

Josh Beckett after five starts this season: 1-0, 7.22 ERA, 28.2 IP, 37 H, 24 R, 23 ERR, 13 BB, 20 K, .316 OBA

Let's hope he finishes this year as well as he did last year, or else the season could hinge on whether Daisuke Matsuzaka redeems himself:

"If by coming back I can help give the team any sort of little boost or change of momentum, I think that's all that I can ask for," Matsuzaka said. "And by that, I don't mean that I single-handedly am going to make all the difference. But I think sometimes you change the roster up a little bit, and good things start to happen, and I'm hopeful that I can be a part of that."

He starts Saturday, and we'll be watching very closely.

New SoxandPhil: Fabio Castro was called up; Scott Atchison was sent down. Bittersweet day over here.

Tonight's games: The Red Sox lead the Blue Jays 2-1 in the 8th. OK, I'll jinx it - Clay Buchholz is pitching well. Phillies play late again in San Fran.

Music to our ears

Christine and I were busy getting the house ready for our post-walk party on Sunday, so we missed the opportunity to sit down and enjoy the best Phillies game of the year. I can say that even if they blow their 8-3 lead over the Braves. It's the best game because Scott Franzke left Atlanta because his wife is having a baby, which means Chris Wheeler got bumped to radio (our sympathy to Larry Andersen), and we get nine innings of Gary Matthews on TV. Go Sarge!

The on-field action (so far) isn't bad either. Jamie Moyer escaped after six innings without his trademark lousy inning. He even froze Braves phenom Jason Heyward in a key spot in the 6th.

Red Sox: Clay Buchholz dominated six innings - no runs and nine strikeouts - but then lost it in the 7th, giving up three runs. Folk hero Darnell McDonald had a chance to tie it in the bottom of the 7th, but grounded out. In the 9th, Rangers 3, Red Sox 0.

Elvis is bulldog non grata

The next time Elvis Burrell shows his mug in Fenway, Boss Papelbon better drill his round rump.

I think I'm forgetting my mantra to be patient early in the season after the Red Sox dropped another one. The game suspended by rain last night ended in the 12th inning tonight courtesy of a two-run home run by Pat Burrell. I blame Elvis. Christine's not happy with me right now.

But I'm really not happy with Pat the Bat: As if the first game weren't bad enough, he has three RBI in the first inning of tonight's regularly scheduled game. Clay Buchholz needed 44 pitches to escape the 1st. Rays 4, Red Sox 0.

Phillies: Even when Jamie Moyer was at his best for the Phillies, it would seem like he'd have a bad inning early in which he'd give up three runs. He would then cruise until the 6th or 7th inning without allowing another run while the Phillies would come back for the win.

This year, in an admittedly small sample size (two starts), it seems as if his bad inning has devolved from three to five runs. The Phillies were able to overcome it last time, but not tonight, losing 5-1 to the Marlins. J-Moy gave up five runs on four hits and a walk in the first inning. In his next five innings, he gave up two hits and struck out seven. Unbelievable.

Other games of note: We're following the Mets and Cardinals, scoreless in the 17th inning, and the Rockies' Ubaldo Jimenez flirtation with a no-no against the Braves.

Actually, he did it. Congrats. But we're kind of annoyed that we had to watch the end of the game via box score on the Internet. We don't know why Fox (showing the Mets-Cardinals), one of our 44 ESPN channels or MLB Network (showing Tigers-Mariners) couldn't show the last inning live. That was a disgrace.

Starting off eccentrically

Jamie Moyer had a dominant start last night, but like most of his spring starts, it was against weak competition. (OK, the Yankees are a little bit tougher than the Blue Jays B squad.) The Phillies haven't announced it, but everyone expects the 47-year-old to open the season in the rotation despite Kyle Kendrick's fantastic spring.

You can argue either option, but it's clear that J-Moy will start a game this year, and Rob Neyer notes what a remarkable feat that will be:

Moyer turned 47 last fall. There have been exactly three men in major league history who started a game after turning 47.

Phil Niekro, a knuckleballer, started 32 games in 1987, when he was 47 (and he started 26 more the next season). Jack Quinn, a spitballer, started one game in 1931, when he was 47. Satchel Paige, a Methuselah, started one game in 1965, when he was 58. And that's it, friends: 60 starts, with one knuckleball pitcher accounting for 58 of them.

The word "remarkable" is thrown around a lot, but I think it's not overblown to use it here. As Neyer also said, there isn't much suggesting a good season from the old timer, but there's no doubt he will be one of the most interesting pitchers we will ever see.

Red Sox staff: They've also thrown things for a loop, using a five-man rotation, but throwing Josh Beckett twice before Clay Buchholz, who I guess was demoted to fifth starter, appears:

After Beckett, Lester, and Lackey pitch the opening series against the Yankees, Wakefield will start in Kansas City. Beckett will pitch the next game, followed by Buchholz. From there, the rotation will be Lester, Lackey, Wakefield, Beckett, and Buchholz.

I am glad for Wakefield and hope that Buchholz's poor spring was just a minor blip.

Scott Schoeneweis story: I was familiar with some of Scoeneweis' life story, but didn't realize how complicated it was until reading Nick Cafardo's account. I wonder whether I'm going soft because I didn't feel like shouting out roider when reminded he was in the Mitchell Report. I'm still rooting for Scott Atchison though.

Comedy Central catches SoxandPhils spirit

I never watched Tosh.0 before, but the latest episode had some SoxandPhils spirit to it.

Daniel Tosh had on the father and little girl who became a hit last year when she threw back a foul ball the father caught and handed to her at a Phillies game. It was a good skit in which the girl had a tea party and was then quizzed on what to keep or throw back among assorted items such as a wad of cash, a hand grenade and a lollipop.

Then, they sat the father and daughter in the stands to re-create the magic moment. But the pitcher was none other than Clay Buchholz, whose wife is a friend of Tosh's.

"It was fun," Buchholz said. "It wasn't like I had to do much acting, I just had to throw a few pitches."

The show wasn't all fun and games. It prompted a disagreement between Christine and me. Tosh asked the dad whether he'd take a free four-year college education for his daughter or four straight championships for the Phillies. He chose the education. Christine disagreed with his choice. I don't think Christine realizes how expensive college is, although I might have had a different answer if our teams hadn't won titles recently.

More cheese and questions answered

Yesterday, I busted on Clay Buchholz and his Crocs. Today, it's the Phillies' turn.

Phans have Phun with the Ph stuff, but it seems really cheesy for a coach to use it:

Impressed by the boldness and skill of his infielders, Sam Perlozzo is experimenting with a nickname for the group.

"I have a whole thing where I call them the Phearless Phour, with a ph," said Perlozzo, the Phillies' third-base coach who also oversees infield defense. "They don't back down off of any play, so I call them the Phearless Phour."

When I read that Jimmy Rollins wasn't aware of the name, I thought he would agree that it's stupid and put the kibosh on it. Nope:

"Phearless Phour?" the shortstop said. "Oh, no. That's good. I hadn't heard that."

So now, we can look forward to a bunch of capes and boundless marketing opportunities for the crusaders against all things hit on the ground.

Meanwhile, a story today finally explained why Jacoboy Ellsbury changed his uniform number from 46 to 2. Dan Shaughnessy provides the answer in an unusually good effort by him about the uniform changes for young 'uns Ellsbury, Buchholz and Daniel Bard.

"I'd always wanted No. 2," said Ellsbury: "I'd asked for it when I got called up, but I didn't realize it was Millsie's [bench coach Brad Mills's] number."
[...]
Ellsbury wore No. 2 in high school and again when he played for the Portland Sea Dogs. He wore 23 in college because a fifth-year senior had No. 2 at Oregon State.

The Sox issued Ellsbury No. 46 (made famous by Bob Stanley) when he came to the bigs late in the 2007 season. It looked a little goofy for a center fielder, but Ellsbury figured 46 was OK because it was double 23.

Buchholz - going from 61 to 11 - was actually more interesting in that he still feels that No. 21 would put additional pressure on him:

There was another option for Buchholz this year. His dad wore 21 when he pitched. Clay is a Texan. And No. 21 has not been issued by the Red Sox since Roger Clemens rode out of town."That would have caused me to answer a lot of questions," Buchholz said. "I didn't want a lot of the added stress that came with that number."

Man, I was thisclose to being able to unretire my Clemens jersey.

Phinally: We can all rest easy. Pat Burrell isn't blaming Elvis for last year's struggles:

When Pat Burrell finally had an opportunity to sit down and reflect on one the least productive years of his career, the Tampa Bay Rays slugger concluded he had no one to blame but himself.

Sure, a "slight herniation" of two discs in his neck contributed to a slow start in 2009, but the 33-year-old designated hitter also said he let the problem linger too long before getting the injury checked out.