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.

What's a SoxandPhil

By definition, a SoxandPhil is someone who has played for both teams - Curt Schilling, Jamie Moyer, Pedro Martinez, for an example of three great pitchers.

But sometimes, I'll use the definition loosely (and incorrectly) if lumping Red Sox and Phillies players together; for example, the SoxandPhils have a monopoly of great lefties (Cole Hamels and Jon Lester), second basemen (Dustin Pedroia and Chase Utley), first basemen (Ryan Howard and Kevin Youkilis) and mascots (the Phanatic and Wally). OK, the last one's a bad example.

But what about players who played in the majors for one team and the minors for another team? The only example I can think of is John Marzano, who we consider an honorary SoxandPhil because of his Philadelphia roots and being a Phillies postgame analyst in addition to playing in the majors for the Red Sox and in the minor leagues for the Phillies.

In December, Christine and I decided that such a player (except in special circumstances such as Marzano) would not count as a SoxandPhil until/unless he was called up to the majors. The topic came up when the Red Sox signed Fabio Castro to a minor league deal.

Castro, whose claim to fame was being traded from the Phillies to the Blue Jays for legitimate SoxandPhil Matt Stairs, was called up to the Red Sox again, so he could soon be legit. (He may be already if he appeared in last night's game after I went to sleep.) Although, we've been through this before; he was called up in April but sent down before making his Sox debut.

Christine and I will be tied up today, but we'll have an eye on the Red Sox in San Francisco and the Phillies on the road in Philadelphia against the Blue Jays.

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.

Possibility of a new SoxandPhil

After a day in which the Yankees took advantage of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Detroit Tigers, there wasn't major progress reported by Theo Epstein or Ruben Amaro.

But yesterday, Theo made a couple of minor moves to add bullpen depth, including signing former Phillie Fabio Castro to a minor league deal, which could mean another addition to the SoxandPhil roster in 2010.

Castro played an important role for the 2008 World Champion Phillies even though he hasn't pitched in the majors since 2007. How? He was sent to the Blue Jays as the player-to-be-named-later in the Matt Stairs deal. Incidentally, he came to the Phillies as part of a deal for another big lug slugger, Jim Thome.

That's all I got on a dude who has pitched 43 and two-thirds major league innings in parts of two seasons.

My head is going to explode: I'm not happy about this.

The Red Sox have a claim in on the other Ramon Ramirez a right-handed reliever who was with the Reds last season. They'll find out tomorrow if they got him.

I know nothing about this Ramon Ramirez, but I do know we'll go nuts trying to keep track of two guys in the same bullpen with the same exact name.

Quick update

So the Phillies did pull off a win today. Jayson Werth, I think, continues to be the unsung hero of this 2008 team. I'm glad to have him around. Today he drove in four runs and hit two homers in a 5-2 win over the Cubs.

The stupid Mets are winning again. Come on Marlins, no more choking until this series is over. We need to pick up a game sometime.

The Phils released Kris Benson. I'm sure the Daily News is sorry that Anna never made it to town.

Fabio Castro seems to be the player to be named later in the Matt Stairs deal. Incidentally, Greg has been so busy working, he forgot that Stairs was on the Red Sox in 1995.

Red Sox: Won yesterday, winning again tonight against the White Sox. Top prospect Michael Bowden made the start and gave up two runs on seven hits in his five-inning major league debut. What a surprise, the Rays won as well. Wild Card lead is still at 2.5 games.

[Photo credit: Associated Press]

Former Phils in the agate this week

Pitching prospect Gio Gonzalez, who seemed destined to have a career shuffling between Chicago and Philly, is headed to the rebuilding A's in the Nick Swisher trade. And Matt Smith, the most productive piece of the Abreu/Lidle fleece, has been put on waivers.

Gonzalez, originally a White Sox prospect, was traded to the Phils in '05 with Aaron Rowand and Daniel Haigwood for Jim Thome. With Rowand gone to the Giants, the only piece left from this is Fabio Castro, who I still think should have been used more in the past two years. Castro was picked up from the Rangers for Haigwood who last year was released by Texas and picked up and released by the Red Sox. Gonzalez was traded back to the White Sox in the great Freddy Garcia deal last off season.

Getting nothing in trades of superstars is nothing new for the Phils... in 2000 they gave up not-yet World Series hero {gag} Curt Schilling to the D-Backs for Travis Lee, Vincente Padilla, Omar Daal and Nelson Figueroa. (Padilla was the first scrubby Phillie who always seemed to be pitching when we go to a game. That designation then went to Cory Lidle. Last year thankfully we got a good mix).

Then, of course there was the 2002 Scott Rolen deal that also netted a future World Series hero {gag, again}, Mike Timlin, who stayed for half a season. They did get a productive Placido Polanco, but flipped him three years later for Ugueth Urbina, who pitched well for half a season before that little attempted murder thing.

And that brings up the Abreu deal. I'm guess I'm glad it happened. Though the Yankees got a good player, he's overpaid and doesn't help the team regain the mental toughness that's been lacking. But I still think the Phils should have been able to get something for him.

This week, they released Matt Smith, ending his 23 game Phillies career. Also in the deal was minor league SS C.J. Henry, released by the Phils, taken back by the Empire, and P Carlos Monastrios* and C Jesus Sanchez who were both still in A ball last year. Monastrios could still pan out, but you'd like something to be able to point to for Abreu -- even if he was first obtained for Kevin Stocker.

*Correction 9/4/08: Oops. Guess we've had Carlos Monasterios' name spelled wrong for the past eight months. He was still in Clearwater this year.