Rubbing it in Giantly

Christine was more annoyed by the Giants' successful playoff run than I was. She says it's their personalities and the fact that they're not that good, but I think there's still some bitterness over the NLCS.

Of course, as the Giants were clinching the World Series against the Rangers last night, former Phillie Pat Burrell could be seen in every dugout shot. And his dash from the dugout to the celebratory pileup on the pitcher's mound was reminiscent of what he did in 2008 (just swap red pinstripes for black and orange).

What's worse is that the MVP went to Edgar Renteria, best known for grounding out to Keith Foulke to end the great 2004 World Series. The Red Sox thought so much of him that they signed him for 2005, but he flamed out so badly that they traded him to the Braves after one year.

Zo needs to know Mo'

Christine and I have always liked Todd Zolecki. He lives baseball, is sarcastic and knows his pop culture.

Well, that last part isn't so true anymore.

He started off tonight's blog post with such a strong theme, linking Pat Burrell's compliment of the Phillies - "To be the best you've got to beat the best" - to Charlie Manuel's reaction to the line with a Ric Flair reference.

Then, it went downhill:

Does this make the Giants the Iron Sheik?

Update: I'm told Flair and Sheik were in two different wrestling leagues. So I guess that makes the Giants "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes?

So I guess Zo isn't so good with the pop culture after all. {Zolecki's pop culture knowledge is just fine. Greg's the one who regularly doesn't know basic pop culture references.}

But that reminds me of my Iron Sheik story. I knew a guy in high school who did some low-grade professional wrestling. One night the Sheik was on his card, and afterward when we hooked up at our usual watering hole, we were told the Sheik had been there, ran up a huge tab and left, apparently thinking it was still 1983 and that he was World Champ and that wrestling was real.

Sorry for the tangent, it's been a long week.

Elvi

While waiting for the Phillies to begin the NLCS against Pat Burrell and the rest of the Giants, we spent last night watching Game 5 of the ALDS between the Rays and Rangers.

Former Phil Cliff Lee (are people still upset he's gone?) went the distance and induced a pop-up to shortstop Elvis Andrus to end the game.

It's an omen. The Phillies will beat Pat Burrell and his bulldog Elvis Burrell, while former Phil Cliff Lee and Elvis Andrus knock off the Yankees.

Then, the Phillies will have passed through two Elvi to win their second championship in three years.

Root, root, root for the home team

Last night the Phillies fans cheered for Pat Burrell before he homered in the first inning. Some booed before his next at bat. The Phillies recovered, so it wasn't as bad as the time the fans cheered Jim Thome before and after he hit a big home run that set up one of the Phillies' worst losses of the season.

After they wrap up this Giants series, the Phillies welcome the Nationals with no former Phillies on the roster. Then, the Astros come into town. Nobody better cheer Jason Michaels, Pedro Feliz or Michael Bourn.

Today's games: The Red Sox beat the Angels 7-5, the Phillies beat the Giants 8-2. Things are looking up, but sometimes the higher you go, the lower you feel when things go awry, especially when you're to blame.

Giant dilemma

Even though he's been gone for two seasons, Christine still roots for Pat Burrell - mostly because of his bulldog Elvis. A couple days ago, she cheered when she saw Pat the Bat had a big hit to win a game for his new team, the Giants. But then she suddenly realized that the Phillies are battling the Giants for the Wild Card and felt bad for rooting for the enemy.

The Phillies are set for a big showdown against the Giants and Pat and Elvis Burrell this week. Christine hopes that Elvis is a double agent who still works for the Phillies.

Regardless, the Phillies suddenly find themselves leading the Wild Card.

Perhaps Christine didn't consider the Giants competition because she thinks like Charlie Manuel:

"I don't even look at the wild card, believe me," manager Charlie Manuel said. "I don't even think about the wild card. I never look at the wild card because I think if we concentrate on our division and our record is good enough, that's where we'll land. If we win enough games, we should land somewhere in there. Win the division. That's what I key on. That's what I look at. That's what we key on."

So maybe it'll be OK if Elvis takes one of three in Philly this week. Nah, I don't think Christine will go for that.

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.

Kicking a dog when he's down

It's been a ruff week for Pat and Elvis Burrell. They were designated for assignment by the Rays, which might end their baseball career. And the following day Ronnie James Dio - whose Holy Diver served as their intro music during some of their Philly days - died. Just when you thought they couldn't sink any lower, they had to endure this insult:

[Sports collectible expert Ted] Taylor says the plethora of bobbleheads available is exactly the problem. "Every team has just been cranking them out," Taylor says. "In the catalog there are 13 pages of bobbleheads in small type."

Taylor pauses and adds with a chuckle, "I have a Pat Burrell one you can have."

That was in a pretty interesting story the Daily News did on the Phillies' history with bobblehead promotions. They also compiled a complete list of Phillies bobbleheads. Christine has long been a fan of the trinkets that we just learned are also called nodders. She predicted they'd be popular when they started to make a resurgence in the late '90s.

Chase Utley is one of the rare Phillies to have two bobbleheads in his career. I guess he deserves it because, if you consider fielding and base running, he's been called the best player in baseball.

Tonight's games: Tonight's bobblehead honoree, Roy Halladay, pitched a complete game but lost to the Pirates 2-1.

Coming off last night's debacle - Jonathan Papelbon's gave up his first-ever walk-off home run. to Alex Rodriguez, no less - the Red Sox are trailing the Yankees in the 5th inning in a 3-0 rain-delayed game.

Tonight's starting pitchers, Halladay and Josh Beckett, are scheduled to face each other on Sunday at Citizens Bank Park.

Red Sox vs. Phillies history: I hope Papelbon doesn't give up a walk-off homer against the Phillies this weekend; he has pitched well against the Phightins' in the past. In 7.2 innings over six games, he has given up a run on four hits with two walks and 11 strikeouts. He has given up a home run. He's 1-0 with three saves and at least one blown save because of that home run hit by the best player in baseball. The Red Sox won it in 12 innings, though. That was June 2006.

Diver down

Christine and I were running errands this afternoon when the radio played Rainbow in the Dark by Ronnie James Dio, who is one of SoxandPhils' favorite characters.

Usually, when we hear a random song like this, one of us would joke, "What did he die or something?"

We didn't say that today, but the DJ came on with the sad news: Dio has taken his final dive. He is now a Holy Diver.

How sad that Dio is gone and it happened the day after Pat Burrell, who used to come to bat to Dio's iconic tune, was released by the Rays.

I wonder whether Rays GM Andrew Friedman feels guilty today.

At this moment, all we can do is huddle with Elvis and let out a good howl for a silenced voice.

Today's games: The Red Sox followed up losing in extra innings yesterday with a walk-off walk with a listless 5-1 loss today to the Tigers. It's getting harder and harder to keep my patience.

The Phillies are off to a good start on Sunday Night Baseball, leading the Brewers 2-0 in the 2nd.

[Photo credit: Associated Press]

Milestones

Earlier this week, Tim Wakefield got his 2,000th strikeout, joining Jamie Moyer and a couple of cruddy Yankees, roider Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez, as active pitchers in the 2K club.

Last night, Jamie Moyer became the second pitcher in history, behind the late Robin Roberts, to give up 500 home runs. When you've pitched as long as those guys, you are going to have good numbers and bad numbers:

"There's a lot of chances out there," Moyer said. "You can't give up 500 in 600 at-bats, can you? I've thrown a few innings in my career. You're going to give up hits, home runs, walks, strikeouts, errors. I don't really keep track of it all."

I hit a milestone myself. Less than a year after I got my new bike, the odometer hit 1,000 miles this morning. I'm proud. I just wish I knew when I actually got it. I bought it on May 30, but I forgot to note when I picked it up - probably the following weekend.

Anybody wanna bulldog? Pat Burrell's career is over - well, the Tampa portion anyway. He was designated for assignment. Charlie Manuel thinks he'll rebound: "I think Burrell can still hit," Charlie Manuel said. "I think he'll get a job. I hope he does."

Either that, or he's subtly trying to convince the Mets to sign him, knowing full well that Burrell's done. I don't think Christie would handle it well if she saw Elvis in blue and orange.

Today's games: Joe Blanton is pitching well - one hit and no runs through four. But unlike last week, he's been efficient with only 43 pitches so far. In the 5th, Phillies 2, Brewers 0. {But just as soon as I was ready to post this, Blanton gave up a home run to Prince Fielder. Phillies 2, Brewers 1.}

The Red Sox play the Tigers tonight.

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.

Numerical musings

There is not one stat in this post.

When the Red Sox recently brought back Alan Embree for a looksie, they gave him No. 43 again. Since he left midway through 2005, Chad Harville, Mike Holtz and Devern Hansack have worn that number.

I guess despite tossing the last pitch in the great 2004 ALCS, the Red Sox clubhouse guy didn't feel a need to freeze that jersey number, as is the custom of the Phillies clubhouse guy Frank Coppenbarger.

Comcast SportsNet's Jim Salisbury had a fascinating piece the other day on how the Phillies dole out uniform numbers for newly acquired players and how Roy Halladay wound up with Cliff Lee's No. 34.

Basically: Hallady wore 32 in Toronto, but that is retired for Steve Carlton in Philly. Last summer, the team decided he would wear 34 but had to reverse plans when Lee became the midseason acquisition. This year, when Halladay-to-the-Phillies was imminent, the staff decided he would get back the 34 he never had and gave Cliff Lee the No. 31 he had worn previously. But that wasn't necessary once Lee was shipped to Seattle.

Interesting SoxandPhils number notes from the column: In 2008, when there was a Manny Ramirez for Pat Burrell trade rumor (which Christine has completely forgotten about), the Phillies special-ordered a pair of long pants for Manny.

After drafting J.D. Drew, the Phillies reserved No. 39 for him, which he wore in college.

Curt Schilling's No. 38 was frozen for a while after he left. Pat Burrell's No. 5 is currently frozen, and they didn't know what they were going to do if Nomar Garciaparra joined the Phillies last year.

I want a recount

In making the case that Charlie Manuel is the best Phillies manager ever, Paul Hagen was a little too quick to dismiss a man who has one more ring than Cholly - the one, the only, Terry Francona:

Sorry, Tito, you're the first to go. We always knew you had the right stuff to succeed, but you never had a chance here. The front office raised expectations with a "Bring It On" slogan your last season without giving you the talent to back it up. Then-general manager Ed Wade has since said firing you was the biggest mistake he ever made. But we can't give you credit for what you did after you left. Especially in Boston. Remember, this is a National League game.

Seriously, I can't argue with this, and I'm actually surprised to see a writer from Philly speak so well of Francona. I thought he was unfairly loathed. And we're always glad to see a reference to Bring It On - a classically cheesy Phillies slogan.

If former Phillies got to vote for their favorite manager, I think Pat Burrell, who misses Philadelphia, would pick Cholly:

"I don't know if there is any way of saying this without getting myself in trouble," Burrell said. "But there is definitely a different excitement level [in Philadelphia]. I think more than anything, there is a stronger tradition for baseball there. That goes without saying."

I'm certain Chan Ho Park would vote for Chuck:

"Say hi to Charlie for me. Tell him he's the best manager I've ever played for."

So Cholly is the best Phillies manager ever. Terry will have to settle for being the best Red Sox manager.

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.

Pat Burrell's impact

According to The Bill James Handbook, Charlie Manuel used more pinch runners in 2007 (56) and 2008 (62) than any other manager. He also used a lot of defensive substitutes in those years (75 and 60).

Those numbers plummeted last year: only 20 pinch runners and 16 defensive replacements. In the National League, a manager averaged 20 pinch runners last year and 38 defensive switches.

How much of Cholly's decreased use in switches is due to the fact that our beloved Pat Burrell, a plodding left fielder, was jettisoned for Raul Ibanez?

Incidentally, the Phillies also, by far, used the fewest number of lineups of any team last year. Cholly used only 68 lineups the entire season; the only other team with fewer than 100 lineups was the Marlins with 97.

Missed one: The other day, I noted that while Roger Clemens was making his 375th start for the Red Sox on Aug. 17, 1996, an unknown named Rich Hunter was making his eighth start for the Phillies. Christine, however, noticed that for Seattle on that day, a 33-year-old pitcher was making his 243rd start. His name? Jamie Moyer.

What??

I had a busy day at work and was constantly running around.

At one point I quickly checked my e-mail and saw Christine sent me a message with the subject of "What??"

For some reason, I thought it was something personal. You know by now it wasn't, or I wouldn't be mentioning it here. It was:

Burrell traded to Mets

By: Tom Haines
phillyBurbs.com

Former Phillies outfielder Pat Burrell has reportedly been swapped twice this morning, eventually landing with Phils division rival the New York Mets. The Tampa Bay Rays traded the slugging left fielder to the Chicago Cubs then the Cubs dealt Burrell to the Mets. Names of other players involved in the deals were not immediately available.

I repeated Christine's "What??" out loud. Fortunately, none of my cubicle neighbors questioned what had disturbed me.

A few minutes later I bumped into a Mets fan who hadn't heard that the Mets were getting Pat the Bat. ESPN.com didn't have a story, and a quick Google search yielded Mets deny reported Burrell trade:

A club official shot down the report, saying that the report was uncategorically false.

Ouch.

Phillyburbs.com has removed its story.

Red Sox: SS/P prospect Casey Kelly will no longer be bipolar and will focus solely on pitching. ... We signed a Texan, Scott Atchison, who had been pitching in Japan. ... And Terry Francona is confident he will have a left fielder by spring training:

I'm sure when we head down to Fort Myers we'll have a left fielder. We always do. They're really good about that. We're amazingly consistent in that every year we always have a left fielder and I'm guessing we're going to have one this year, too.

Random musings on rainy Saturday

While we wait for the rain to lift so Cliff Lee (leading the majors in quality starts) can continue his torrid run tonight for the Phillies, I checked up on some posts at baseball-reference.com.

(Warning: Not much SoxnorPhils content.)

Normally, I don't click on posts with an unclear headline (yes, I know this post doesn't have a good title), but I decided to read "Getting on Top and Staying There."

Instantly, I loved the theme. A scrubby player wondering "what if" his entire career was as good as his best moment. It was penned by Buddy Biancalana, one of my favorite names from the 1980s, who is the classic example of a scrubby infielder shining during the World Series before crawling back into a hole of suckitude. After helping the Royals win the 1985 World Series, Biancalana was out of baseball by 1988.

Despite the interesting premise, the essay quickly devolved into an advertisement for Buddy's Perfect Mind Perfect Motion - some kind of new-age mental focus program for athletes that focuses on slowing down the perception of time.

The experience of time is the first fundamental in every sport. Great athletes experience this, because when they perform their best, everything feels like it is in slow motion. They can't teach this experience to anyone, but they don't have to, they just do it. What I discovered was that this experience can be taught and it can quickly make a huge, career- changing difference.

If I had this knowledge 20 years ago, there would have been no "what ifs." I very well may have lived the dream for another 15 years until I retired. But at least now, I can teach my students to set up by choice what I experienced by chance, in the seven greatest games of my life.

Um, no. Maybe you were just a scrubby major league baseball player who got hot at the right time, which is nothing to be ashamed of. You're still better than 99.9999 percent of us. And, you have a ring.

Also posted today was a new From the Bill Chuck Files; he's a writer who posts random interesting tidbits. Like Christine, he's obsessed with Burrell, but just Pat, not Elvis. Today's mention:

4. The Rays are still waiting for Pat Burrell to get hot, after 33 doubles and 33 homers last season with the Phils; Burrell is only 13 and 12 this year.

But that's not why I bring it up. The relevant point, for which I'll get a glare from Christine, is No. 19:

19. A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has exceeded 130 at bats, which eliminates the Giants’ Pablo Sandoval who had 145 at bats last year. Sandoval is hitting over .330, leads the league in doubles, and has a .933 OPS.

I apologize again.

Please hope for a dry rest of the day.

Steamed

At our last game, we sat behind a family with three young children. At one point, the dad came back with ice cream - it was so hot that day, the ice cream was steaming in the hot, muggy air.

The little guy in front of us, wearing a Pat Burrell giveaway promotional hat, had a big waffle cone filled with chocolate ice cream.

He tried his best to eat it carefully, but the thing was so tall the kid couldn't lick it without dipping the bill of his hat into his treat. You can see the stain on the bottom left of the bill.

Funny, we have now twice seen chocolate ice cream stain a Pat Burrell garment. That's two more times than all other players' gear combined.

OUTRAGE!: Toward the end of that game, I was trying to figure out which pitcher was coming in for the Marlins. (They weren't doing a very good job that day of announcing pitching changes.) I noticed a woman checking a sheet of paper in front of me.

I took a picture, and upon closer examination, my suspicions were confirmed. There are Newsy Notes somewhere at the stadium, contrary to what I had been told earlier in the season.

I was ready to march right into Ruben Amaro Jr.'s office before Christine calmed me down by pointing out that the opposite page was blank and that these notes contained no news, just the roster.

Get rid of Chris Wheeler and bring back Newsy Notes for everyone. Now.

Eye-gate: David Murphy has a convoluted account of the latest twist in the Brett Myers' eye injury-bar fight saga. It appears the Myers were involved in some sort of incident at the bar. Police say the eye was not injured at the bar, but I don't think we're ever going to get the truth on this one.

Today's games: The Phillies, after another good win behind J.A. Happ last night, have a deserved day off. The reeling Red Sox, mercifully, are also off.

Switching positions

Yesterday, I was flipping through my Phillies program from the game we went to two weeks ago and read that the Phillies signed Carlos Ruiz out of Panama as a catcher even though he never played the position.

Today, I read that new Red Sox catcher Victor Martinez was similarly signed out of Venezuela by the Indians to be a catcher without ever playing the position.

Granted, Chooch's story was written by the PR arm of the Phillies (Tom McCarthy) while V-Mart's was written by the Boston Globe, but it sounds like Ruiz had the easier transition:

"I put on the catcher's gear for the first time and was a little nervous. Once I slid the (chest protector) on, it felt so good that I knew it was the position for me. As I found out, you have so much in your control and I like that (part of the game)."

Martinez, meanwhile, wanted to quit after the first day, but his mother talked him into giving it a try:

Minnie Mendoza, the Latin America field coordinator for the Indians, told Martinez he would be a catcher. After his initial consternation, Martinez accepted his new job.

"I really took the challenge," Martinez said. "That's why we're here. We're here to work hard."

The transition moved slowly. A pitcher threw a ball in the dirt, and instead of blocking it, Martinez leaped out of the way. The pitch hit the umpire. "That won't be the last one," Mendoza told him.

Martinez had long arms and a large frame, and he struggled to coordinate a catcher's movements. He kept working at it. He became more assertive with pitchers and learned individual tendencies.

Hopefully, he will get to experience being behind the plate for a World Series clincher - as Ruiz already has.

Elvis benched? Former Phil Pat Burrell might also switch positions - from DH to left out. There are reports that Burrell, who has struggled mightily since leaving Philadelphia, may be benched by the Rays. Don McKee, however, notes: "No word on how Elvis is faring."

Kudos for thinking of the bulldog, but knock on some doors, make some calls and find out how he is faring. Our journalism professor used an acronym: GOYA KOD. The last part stands for Knock on Doors; the first part is Get off Your ... I'll let McKee figure out the last word.

But what do I know, I'm just a former reporter.

Barkin': Speaking of bulldogs, I somehow completely forgot to mention the Phillies Saturday loss against the Giants, which was remarkable for two reasons: I stayed up for the entirety of a West Coast night game, and it was Bark at the Park night in San Francisco.

We learned Tim Lincecum has a bulldog. Christine enjoyed watching all the doggies. That's one drawback of rooting for a team that sells out - no dog days at the park.

Tonight's games: The Red Sox lead the Rays 2-0 (no Burrell in lineup) in the 7th in a pitcher's duel between Jon Lester and Matt Garza. The Phillies trail the Rockies 8-3 in the 8th. Rodrigo Lopez didn't look good in his first relief outing.

Elvis gets crowned

I had a marathon day at work Thursday and completely missed Elvis getting his World Series ring. Thanks to The Fightins, I was able to relive the excitement. Now, we will always be able to enjoy watching a true champion get his ring, err, dog tag.


As much as Christine and I like watching this, you have to wonder what Pat Burrell's new teammates think about it. It's one thing to watch Pat the Bat get his ring for beating you in the World Series; it's another to watch his dog get some bling for it.

Game 2?

I got drenched mowing the lawn this morning. I hope to stay dry the rest of the evening, but that remains questionable. I'll let you know tomorrow. I hope tonight's game - Daisuke Matsuzaka (who is overdue for a good outing) vs. Antonio Bastardo (who has yet to have a bad one) - proceeds uninterrupted.

Replay: I commend Shane Victorino's honesty. Christine doesn't.

"I thought it was way foul, to be honest," said Victorino, who added that first-base coach Davey Lopes agreed.

He was referring to Greg Dobbs' 11th-inning foul ball that Charlie Manuel argued should have at least been sent to instant replay for further review.

I'll let Scott Lauber have the final word:

And, really, if the Phillies hadn't struck out 20 times and stranded 10 runners, we wouldn't be talking about Joyce's call today.

Sour grapes: So thanks to some weird licensing rule, the Rays have final say over the Phillies' single-A team's promotions that feature major league logos. The Rays nixed a promotion featuring a Pat Burrell bobblehead in a Phillies uniform holding the trophy. I could almost understand it until I read they allowed similar bobbleheads for Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley. What, do they think Pat the Bat is such a popular Ray that Floridians will automatically become Phillies fans because of this bobblehead?

All I know is that, thankfully, the Threshers didn't try a similar promotion with Burrell's bulldog Elvis. Christine would insist that we should be on the next plane down to Florida.