Oops

Never mind what I wrote yesterday. Adrian Gonzalez is a Red Sox.

Trent and I are happy, and so is A-Gon:

"I'm very excited to be here in Boston and ready to beat the Yankees."
[...]
Gonzalez said joining the Red Sox is the culmination of a childhood dream.

"I've had five incredible years in San Diego and grew up wanted to be a Padre, and my dream as a kid was to play in the major leagues and be a Padre,'' said Gonzalez after posing for the requisite photo op in his new jersey with Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein and owner John Henry. "And my second dream was to be a Red Sox."

And never mind another thing I wrote yesterday. Christine and I didn't see a clean-shaven, short-haired Jayson Werth at a press conference. We have no clue who it was. We questioned it but should have been more skeptical because the person in question wasn't wearing a Nationals hat or jersey.

Unfortunately for the Nats, they're still on the hook to pay Werth $126 million until he's 39 years old.

What the ...

I had a blog post in my mind and sat down to the computer at noon. It was going to be about how yesterday, when we were asked what team Trent will root for, Christine and I randomly said the Padres, even though we had no clue the Red Sox agreed to a trade with San Diego for Adrian Gonzalez.

Christine told me to hold off on writing until we knew for sure whether he was going to Boston, after the 2 p.m. deadline the teams had set to negotiate a contract extension with Gonzalez. We were all Trent for the rest of the day and after dinner turned on MLB Network in anticipation of seeing A-Gon with a Red Sox hat on.

Nope.

We saw what appeared to be a clean-shaven, short-haired Jayson Werth signing a huge contract with the Nationals. The Nationals? It elicited an out loud "Whaaaat?" from me. Trent was speechless.

I guess no one else was willing to go seven years on the former Phil. And I guess we might be back to Adrian Beltre and possibly Carl Crawford because the Sox didn't come to an agreement with Gonzalez.

But now, Christine has a real reason to root against the Nationals.

MVChooch ... really?

We had fun this summer when the local scribes talked about Carlos Ruiz as the Phillies MVP. It must have caught (no pun intended) on nationally because Chooch got three separate votes for MVP, including appearing as high as fifth on someone's ballot

He was the last of four Phillies recieving votes: Roy Halladay (sixth), Jayson Werth (eighth), Ryan Howard (10th) and Chooch (17th).

I guess this means Chooch has made it big time.

Consider the source

Adrian Beltre, soon to be a former Red Sox, was among the Silver Slugger winners today. No Phillies made the cut.

Buoyed by the award, Beltre's agent, Scott Boras, took to the airwaves to drum up interest for this player-for-hire:

Boras was on MLB Network Radio today and told the hosts that in his career as an agent, he has never seen more interest in a player than Adrian Beltre has this year.

Two questions: Why does anybody still put a microphone in front of this guy? And what does his other marquee free agent, Jayson Werth, who may become a SoxandPhil this offseason, have to say about his agent saying there's more interest in another player?

Offseason begins

While everyone is preoccupied with Jayson Werth and whether he will become a SoxandPhil, there's a good chance that J.C. Romero has officially become a former SoxandPhil. Unless some team is interested in a 34-year-old reliever who has a surgically repaired arm and walked more hitters than he struck out the last two seasons.

SoxandPhils revelations

After yesterday's wrestling snafu, Todd Zolecki redeemed himself with today's post.

Nothing has consistently driven traffic to our humble SoxandPhils blog like people looking for the names of players' intro songs - especially Jayson Werth.

Today, Zolecki listed every Phillies' intro song. We couldn't place our finger on J-Dub's current song all season. Thanks to Zo, we know now it's Right Above It by Lil Wayne. We've also been fascinated by how Carlos Ruiz uses Phil Collins' In The Air Tonight, but we didn't know that his backup, Brian Schneider, uses the same song.

Zolecki still needs to work on his knowledge of wrestling history, but I certainly appreciate this effort.

That wasn't the only SoxandPhils theme in the news today. We've often discussed how injured both teams were this year. SoxandPhils beat writer Scott Lauber takes a look at how the Red Sox are home licking their wounds, while their brothers in pain have survived.

Even our general managers felt a kinship:

At one point during the summer, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein and his Phillies counterpart, Ruben Amaro Jr., even had a phone conversation in which they commiserated over their teams’ respective misfortune.

"We were having some trade dialogue," Amaro recalled yesterday, "and I guess we were both woe-is-me-ing for a while."

I wonder what they were talking about ... Werth for Jonathan Papelbon, perhaps? {Ugh, the idea of Papelbon as a Phillie ... awful.}

If you're interested, Lauber has a sidebar listing every injury suffered by a Red Sox or Phillie.

Wacky Wednesday

One of Trent's Dr. Seuss stories is Wacky Wednesday, which is about a boy who finds lots of things askew, such as a shoe on the wall, a car with no wheels and two knobs on the door to the hall.

Today felt like Wacky Wednesday looking at the SoxandPhils clips, most notably this Phil Sheridan column that calls the Cliff Lee trade logical.

Gee, all it took was Roy Halladay winning 20 games, Cole Hamels pitching like everyone expected after 2008 and Roy Oswalt pitching like an ace sniffing the playoffs after he was rescued from a morbid team.

And, it also helps that the Phillies have been the best team in baseball since July 21 and that the Eagles traded one of their stars and now have a dog killer quarterbacking.

Less wacky: There has been a lot of speculation about the Red Sox targeting Jayson Werth, so it's not that far-fetched to see a story about it. But it's a little wacky to read a Phillies-turned-Red Sox beat writer speculating about the current Phillies right fielder coming to the Fens.

I don't see it happening, but it did catch my eye this morning.

Today's games: The Braves and Phillies had a good duel. It was scoreless until the 8th when Raul Ibanez doubled in wacky Werth, who also caught the final out in the 9th. Magic number is now four; we hope it's down to one before Sunday's game. ... The Red Sox beat the Orioles 6-1. Wacky.

Buzzkill

When the Phillies trailed the Nationals 6-3 in the bottom on the 9th yesterday, they had a 9 percent chance of winning. But three straight hits quadrupled their odds before Jayson Werth came up with a man on base.

He hit the dramatic home run, sparking euphoria (never mind that it was against the poor Nationals). But the era of good feelings didn't last long as it was soon reported that Werth had signed with Scott Boras.

As Todd Zolecki notes, this probably doesn't affect the Phillies, because everyone assumed Werth was gone anyway. But it's just another thing to make his impending free agency nauseating.

And, of course, it came on the eve of the Phillies' first of two remaining series against the Braves, which could officially end the division race.

Tonight there was no lingering buzzkill as the Phillies dispatched the Braves 3-1 behind the vaunted pitching that won the World Series in 2008: eight innings from Cole Hamels and a perfect 9th from Brad Lidge. The Phillies lead is now four games with a magic number of eight.

The Red Sox will keep pedaling until the end of the road, but the Orioles are pedaling harder and won 4-2.

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.

Will J-Dub move up in the alphabet?

Everyone assumes that Jayson Werth - who has become right fielder non grata to Christine - will be a Red Sox or Yankee next year.

But what if Reggie Jackson is a double agent and was working for another one of his former teams, the A's, when he went recruiting the bearded wonder this spring?

Sports Illustrated had a piece talking about how young, good and cheap the A's pitching is and speculated that Billy Beane may have money - and spend it - to upgrade his offense this offseason. J-Dub, whose wild looks would have fit right in with the Jason Giambi A's of the 2000s, was mentioned.

I was intrigued by that, especially with Peter Abraham's random note last night:

Don't sleep on Oakland. Give that team a hitter or two and they have the pitching to do some damage.

If Werth is done with the Phillies, I'd love for him to go West instead of setting up another stale bidding war between the Yankees and Red Sox.

Tonight's games: The Phillies lead the Marlins 11-1 in the 8th. I think this one is safe. ... The Red Sox play late in Seattle.

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.

Scoreboard watching

We always enjoy it when the scoreboard does a little something different with the players' headshot screens. For instance, the last time we saw the Nationals, we spotted advertisements on the Capitol building.

On Sunday, they used Nationals players to promote an exhibit (Late Renoir) at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Either that, or Adam Dunn has become so despondent about Stephen Strasburg's latest injury that he's going to study art history.

And it's not just the artsy folk they're targeting with scoreboard ads. They're also targeting folks whose tastes are more in line with little guys like Trent who appreciate the finer things in life such as critters and building blocks.

Yup, there's no better way to get people to come to Philadelphia Zoo's Creatures of Habitat, a "combination of birds and beasts, each intricately fashioned from thousands of LEGO bricks," than using Shane Victorino's mug.

And in some innings, the Phillies still rock it old school.

Sometimes it's real old school, like Jason Werth circa 1999. Or maybe that's Jayson Werth circa 2011 after his hairy look has been Yankee-ized.

Speaking of which, I finally got around to Sports Illustrated's piece on Jayson Werth. It's a decent read.

Thankfully, the formerly bearded Red Sox, Johnny Damon, is staying in Detroit.

Real scoreboard watching: The Red Sox and Mariners were rained out. They trail the Yankees and Rays by 5.5 games. The Yankees beat the Blue Jays, and the Rays lead the Angels.

For the Phillies, it was a typical Cole Hamels night. He pitched well but got no run support. Well, at least he won't be getting the loss as they scored two runs to force the Astros into extra innings. It's 2-2 in the 12th.

The Phillies lead the Giants by a game but trail the Braves by 2.5. The Braves are losing to the Rockies, and the Giants lead the Reds.

Go back to Minnesota

Christine and I played hooky from watching the Phillies today to go to Popcorn Park Zoo, a favorite home for needy animals.

We missed them not giving Roy Halladay any support and getting shut down 4-1 in a complete game by Carl Pavano. Incredible.

So the Phillies lost a series to the Twins, and many Twinkies fans will be leaving Philly happy. We couldn't believe how many Minnesotans ventured to the East Coast for the series. At first it was cute, then it quickly became nauseating because the fans didn't give them the Philly treatment.

Consider this couple who sat near us on Saturday, decked out in matching Nick Punto (why Nick Punto?) shirts. We got past that tackiness when we learned from their sign, which they waved incessantly, that it was their honeymoon and they were following the Twins from Philadelphia to New York.

The kind usher in our section loved their story, offered some tourist sight-seeing advice and gave them a ball he said he got in batting practise the night before. (We've seen several ultra-nice ushers at the park lately.) They cheered hard for their guy, Punto, but left when he walked in the 9th inning, missing the Twins great comeback.

We can't understand why they didn't catch any of the Phillies fans' vitriol. Late in the game, finally, someone told them to put down their stupid sign and helpfully pointed out that they misspelled "Philly's." And, yes, that was in reference to the team, not the city.

Christine and I appreciate the idea of spending a honeymoon chasing baseball, but we would not feel the need to advertise it, and we would not wear matching outfits.

These weren't the only Twins fans near us on Saturday. Perhaps a foreshadow for the honeymooners were a couple of retired folks. The gentleman wore a Michael Cuddyer T-shirt, and his wife wore a "Gramma Jan" Twins jersey with the No. 41 on it. She also wore big baseball earrings with Twins logos. She didn't really irritate me until we were leaving and she stopped traffic down the stairs to chat with some more Minnesotans who were still in their seats.

Other observations from the stands on Saturday: The kid next to me amused me until late in the game when he spit incessantly. He didn't have anything to drink, so I don't know how one boy could have so much saliva. Before annoying me, I learned that he and a buddy got balls tossed to them from Twins Francisco Liriano and former Red Sox Ron Mahay. The balls had logos for the Twins inaugural season at Target Field; apparently the road team brings its own balls. ... His buddy made us laugh when he started calling Jayson Werth shaggy. "He looks like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo," he said, breaking out his best Scooby impression.

Once again, we caught the Phillies' father-child game before the real game started, so the dads actually lost two games in one day.

Musically speaking: After stints with Journey, Sammy Hagar, Kings of Leon and others, Jayson Werth is using Metallica's Wherever I May Roam for his intro music. It's probably a slump buster, but I wonder if he's talking about his impending free agency. ... I'm addicted to Placido Polanco's into music, I Know You Want Me by Pitbull. I don't know why it never caught my ear when Pedro Feliz used it. ... They played Roller Coaster at one point. I think it should be retired in honor of Chris Coste. ... The Phanatic danced to Cab Calloway's Minnie the Moocher. We never heard that one at the ballpark before. ... The St. James Alumni Blue and Gray Voices directed by Pete McLaughlin did the anthem because it was St. James Alumni day. I don't remember their rendition, so it probably wasn't bad.

Antiquated shirts: Jimmy Rollins (not being snarky, I saw a Rollins No. 6, ironically walking next to a Howard No. 6), Jim Thome (also saw a current version of his Twins shirt), Bobby Abreu, Cliff Lee and former Twin Carlos Gomez.

I don't consider shirts of Hall of Famers antiquated, so it was nice to see a Kirby Puckett jersey, even though the guy wearing it should go back to Minnesota.

Oh well, almost time to see the Red Sox try to complete a sweep of the Dodgers to remain a game behind the Yankees and pull into a tie with the Rays for the Wild Card. Who was worried about their slow start?

Former Red Sox slugger returns to Fenway

Lost in the shuffle of the NL West portion of the Red Sox' interleague schedule is the return of a former Red Sox whose exemplary character and offensive contributions are still missed long after he was traded to the National League.

I speak not of Manny Ramirez, whose Dodgers play in Boston this weekend, but of Adam LaRoche, who had an interesting nine-game stint as a Red Sox last year:

The first baseman spent little more than a week in a Red Sox uniform last year, acquired on July 22 and then traded nine days later.

In between, he managed to homer in his first game, stroke a big double to help beat the A's in his third, and move in with teammate and fellow hunting enthusiast J.D. Drew. The arrival of Victor Martinez made LaRoche expendable, so he was traded to the Braves at the deadline for fellow first baseman Casey Kotchman.

LaRoche, now on the Diamondbacks, could be bitter about having been moved around so much, but he's not:

"I see it as a pretty classy gesture on the Red Sox' part," LaRoche said. "When they got Victor in that trade, they easily could have forgotten about me and not tried to trade me. I could have stayed here and been a platoon guy and played a couple of times a week.

"But I remember Tito (manager Terry Francona) calling me into his office and saying, 'We feel bad we got you and now we've got Victor and there's going to be this big circle of guys playing third and first. We’re doing everything we can to get you moved before the deadline.'"

Classy remarks on his part.

The phenom starts again: Yes, Stephen Strasburg makes his third major league start on Friday (another national broadcast, of course), but I'm more interested in Felix Doubront getting his first call-up to make a spot start for injured Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Today's games: Things went well tonight for the Phillies in New York on the 24th anniversary of Jamie Moyer's big league debut. J-Moy didn't pitch well that night, but the young Cubbie was able to beat Steve Carlton and the Phils. Gary Matthews went 2-4.

That was win No. 1. Tonight was No. 265, as Moyer went eight innings in the 6-3 win. (Only two were his; Brad Lidge struggled but allowed only the one run.) Tonight was win No. 700 for Charlie Manuel. I felt good when the Phillies scored six runs in the 2nd and 3rd innings, including their first back-to-back homers of the season (Jayson Werth and Ryan Howard). But I was worried that they didn't keep piling up runs. Baby steps, I know, but you need to be relentless to beat the Empire.

The Red Sox, meanwhile, kept it closer than they should have against former Phillie Rodrigo Lopez and the D-Backs, but they won 6-2 behind seven solid innings from Jon Lester.

LaRoche, who was 1-4 last night, went 1-4 again tonight.

Rain forces our attention elsewhere

The Phillies and Marlins were rained out long before the game was supposed to start, postponing the perfect rematch of Josh Johnson and Roy Halladay.

That's OK, because it will allow us to focus on hockey to see whether the Flyers can avoid elimination and force a Game 7 in Chicago. (Full disclosure: I've been more interested in hockey than ever before, but I still feel like I'm listening to another language when I try to watch a game. Christine's interest is legit.)

Even if the Phillies were playing, our attention might have been a bit diverted, and Charlie Manuel might have blamed our lack of focus on the fact that it's our contract year, like he did with Jayson Werth. This incident is going to cause some hard feelings. It's hard for me to take a side, so I'll just blame it on Reggie Jackson.

Without the game, we can take a moment to salute Tim Wakefield for pushing Roger Clemens out of the Red Sox record books for most innings pitched. Congrats to Mr. 2777.

We also have the opportunity to look ahead to this weekend's rematch of the Red Sox and Phillies - this time in Fenway.

It has always seemed like the Red Sox have had the Phillies' number despite a fair number of close, spirited games. The stats backed up my hunch. All time, the Red Sox have a 24-16 record against the Phillies in interleague play. (That doesn't include the 1915 World Series in which the Sox beat the Phils 4-1.) But if you look at the run differential, the Red Sox edge is a bit closer, 223-206. That equates to a .539 winning percentage, not the .600 winning percentage they have had against the Phillies.

A Phillies sweep this weekend would go a long way toward evening up the series. I think the pitching matchups will be Jamie Moyer against John Lackey, Joe Blanton against Daisuke Matsuzaka and Cole Hamels against Tim Wakefield. That's not official yet, so don't be surprised if something changes.

It's too bad that the old guys will miss each other and that three of our team's aces (Roy Halladay, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz) probably won't pitch.

Tonight's game: We were missing a good one in Cleveland that pitted Clay Buchholz against former Red Sox Justin Masterson, who has fallen on some hard times since being traded for Victor Martinez. But he seemed on tonight, two hits and two walks with six strikeouts in eight shutout innings. Clay pitched well too, just not as good - three runs on three hits and four walks in seven innings.

But then Boof Bonser made his Red Sox debut. It didn't go well. It's now 11-0 Indians in the 8th.

Hockey: Flyers and Blackhawks are tied 2-2 in the 2nd period.

Two knocks and a shave

So Charlie Manuel finally corralled the offensively challenged Phillies in for a team meeting. Nobody's saying much, except that Cholly didn't read them the riot act. It hasn't helped because the Phillies still have not scored a run in their series against the Mets. But they have an excuse tonight - the game has been delayed by rain.

The only thing that seems to have changed is Jayson Werth's beard. He shaved it again, but we want to see a picture to prove it.

It is implied that J-Dub broke out the razor to snap him and his Phils mates out of their phunk, but I have two other theories. 1) He's practicing for when he's a Yankee next year. 2) He wants to be more aerodynamic because he's on pace to make a run at a storied record - most doubles in a season, currently held by Earl Webb, who had 67 in 1931. Sports Illustrated's Joe Posnanski thinks he has a real good chance.

I knew Webb held the record, but I didn't know he was a Red Sox.

Tonight's games: The Red Sox were leading the Royals 1-0 when I started this post, but Daisuke Matsuzaka just suffered an ugly-looking three-run 5th inning. He was yanked mid-frame at 112 pitches. Recently activated Joe Nelson, whose a fan of Miley Cyrus' "Party in the USA," came in from the pen. It's now 3-2 in the 6th.

Two hours late, the Phillies and Mets are just beginning.

SoxandPhils series starts

I love the morning of a SoxandPhils series. There's something weird but pleasing about reading Phillies coverage in the Boston papers and Red Sox coverage in the Philly papers.

The Phillies writers, who never appreciated the talent of Terry Francona, obviously focused on the Red Sox troubles:

"Right now," conceded manager Terry Francona, the team's bald, bespectacled Job, "we're being tested a lot."

But the two-time champion is continuing to guide the Sox with a steady hand amid troubled waters:

Asked to assume, for a moment, the perspective of a fan viewing a team that seems increasingly dysfunctional, Francona showed an instinct for self-preservation.

"If I speak like a fan," he said, "I'm going to be a fan pretty soon."

The Red Sox writers, however, are in awe of the Phillies and are speculating about Jayson Werth:

The Sox-Phillies series should be interesting if only because it'll be a chance to see Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Roy Halladay and future Sox star Jayson Werth. There are a few too many interleague games and the integrity of the schedule is damaged, but the games are still fun.

Still, it's a bit ridiculous that the Red Sox get the Phillies six times and the Yankees get the F Troop Mets six times.

SoxandPhils writer Scott Lauber checked in with some similar SoxandPhils players, such as Ryan Howard offering support for David Ortiz:

Ortiz texted Howard last month to congratulate him on his new contract. Howard responded by offering Ortiz encouragement through a text message. His advice: Just be yourself.

"Everybody knows that you're going to have ups and downs. Everybody knows that you're not going to get off to a good start every year," Howard said. "You being you, doing what you do, your numbers are going to be where your numbers are pretty much every year.

"As far as (Ortiz) is concerned, I think people make a big deal out of it. It's like, if he doesn't get off to the start that everybody thinks he should get off to, all of a sudden he's struggling and this and that. You've just got to let the man play, let him do what he does."

Tonight's game: It was Ryan Howard homering tonight in the 4th inning to tie the game 1-1. We learned - and can't believe we didn't know this before - that fans who catch Phillies home run balls get to have it signed by the player who hit it. It had been a nice pitching duel between John Lackey and Cole Hamels until the 4th, but then Shane Victorino singled in another run, and in the next inning, "future Sox" Werth hit a two-run home run.

Howard later poked one to the opposite field, against the shift, to drive in another run.

The Red Sox loaded the bases in the 9th, but Papi flew out to end it 5-1. Christine rubbed it in by wearing her Phillies pajama pants and a Phillies T-shirt. She claims it's because I wore my Red Sox shorts, but I wear them on most nights.

Uh-oh: Jimmy Rollins, making his return to the leadoff spot, was removed from the game. It looks like something is wrong with his leg again. Good thing Wilson Valdez cleared waivers today.

And by the end of the game, Victor Martinez's first inning home run was long forgotten.

Mugged

At the game on Saturday, we noticed that the Phillies have a new screenshot for players.

Shane Victorino's looked like a mugshot. Actually, not so much when we loaded the picture onto the blog, but on the scoreboard at the park, he really looked like he was just booked for something. Trust us on this one.

The Philadelphia Zoo isn't new to the scoreboard, but it usually it features a frog (one of Christine's favorite critters), not a polar bear (one of mine).

We think Jayson Werth looks like he's ready to go bear hunting.

But considering all the talk about his next contract, he should probably stay safe and keep away from bears in the immediate future.

Today's news: The Blue Jays were mugged and will have to "host" the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park because of the G20 summit next month. Prediction: The Blue Jays will win one game with a walk-off in their opponents' park. ... Josh Beckett was mugged by a back spasm and will miss a start. Tests came back OK, so I hope this is a case where he takes a couple days off and comes back pitching like the ace we paid for. ... Roy Halladay was mugged from his first start in his hometown tonight because of rain. The Phillies and Rockies will play two tomorrow.

Tonight's game: Daisuke Matsuzaka is pitching well - one run on three hits (no walks and nine strikeouts) through six. He's only thrown 94 pitches, but I hope Terry Francona quits while we're ahead. Jason Varitek hit his 6th home run of the season. In the 6th, Red Sox 6, Blue Jays 1.

Off to Colorado

It's a good thing Roy Halladay wasn't involved in the debate Christine and I were having the other day about who Phillies fans would choose as their favorite BraveandPhil. He would have sided with Christine because he was a big Dale Murphy fan, as we learned in this story about Halladay who is scheduled to start against the Rockies on Tuesday - the first start he'll make in his hometown:

"I was a big Dale Murphy fan, so it was pretty exciting when they got him," Halladay said. Just before the start of their inaugural season in 1993, the Rockies signed Murphy after he had been placed on waivers by the Phillies at the end of spring training. Halladay was 15 at the time and had grown up a fan of the Atlanta Braves.

"I just watched them on TBS all the time, so I became a Braves fan," Halladay said. "They weren't any good until after Murphy left, which is when I became a Phillies fan for a couple of years."

Murphy was traded to the Phillies in August 1990 and also played for them in 1991 and 1992. Because of a balky left knee that required constant draining, Murphy's career with the Rockies lasted only 26 games, and Halladay's interest in his hometown team did not last much beyond that.

Because of Doc's connections among these teams, I thought I would do the all-time RoxandBravesandPhils team. Christine doubted me ... she was right. There are only eight such players, including someone else who was an option in the poll the other day, Ron Gant, current hitting coach Milt Thompson and the immortal Andy Ashby. Off the top off my head, I could only come up with Marvin Freeman. The others: Adam Bernero, Jose Hernandez and Jeff Parrett.

SoxandPhils who don't love their Mommas: I know that not every player uses a pink bat on Mother's Day, but I've never heard of players specifically shunning them. Today, we learned that Phillie Jayson Werth and Red Sox Adrian Beltre and David Ortiz wouldn't use them yesterday.

"I tried those pink bats in the past and they didn't work so well," Werth said.

He added that his mother would not be offended.

Tonight's games: In an ugly one, the Red Sox lead the Blue Jays 7-4 in the 4th. The Phillies are just under way in Doc Halladay's hometown with an early 1-0 lead.

Game of the year

I know we're just a sixth of the way through the season and April games are often forgotten in the long run, but this one might have staying power.

I was anxious for the matchup of Cole Hamels and Tim Lincecum after reading all the game stories contrasting the careers of the young pitchers. This passage stuck in my head all day:

Once upon a time, people thought Cole Hamels would enter 2010 coming off back-to-back Cy Young victories. His opponent today, Giants righthander Tim Lincecum, has that honor.

Matt Gelb remembered that Lincecum made his major league debut against Hamels in 2007, although the game was in San Francisco, not Philadelphia, as Gelb reported. (I think Philadelphia newspaper reporters can be forgiven today for making an error like that.)

Anyway, I was looking forward to this game and was a little jealous when I first checked the score at work and saw a scoreless duel with just two hits for the Giants. Hamels scuffled a bit, giving up four runs in six innings, but each pitcher struck out more than 10, which hasn't happened since 2008, according to the Phillies announcers.

I listened to the game on the ride home. I knew the Phillies would win after the Giants yanked Lincecum, whose pitch count was a reasonable 106, after he walked a batter with one out in the 9th and a 4-1 lead.

The Phillies rallied against closer Brian Wilson, and when Ryan Howard walked to load the bases, I figured I had time to run inside to watch the next at-bat instead of sitting in my car like an idiot. When I got inside, Christine didn't have the game on - she got distracted and thought it was over because Daily News Live did a promo that seemed like the post-game show. She was surprised to see Jayson Werth battling with the bases loaded before dunking one down the right field line to clear the bases.

Ryan Madson, playing the role of Brad Lidge circa 2009, blew the save in the 10th inning, but the Phillies scored two more in the 11th, setting up Nelson Figueroa's first major league save. Of course, the real save came on a play at the plate in which Brian Schneider made an incredible swiping tag to prevent the potential game-tying run.

What a game. Phillies 7, Giants 6.

Red Sox: Brett Cecil and Jon Lester are trying to give a suitable encore to the Lincecum and Hamels show. They were scoreless until the 6th. Now, it's 1-0 Red Sox ahead of the Blue Jays. Welcome back, Jon.