NLCS eve

I'm numb.

I don't know if it's from all the late nights this week, the crazy weekend that lies ahead or the prospect that the Red Sox and Phillies may square off in two weeks.

In any case, I have no deep thoughts tonight. And there hasn't been much news other than this love fest for a Manny vs. Red Sox World Series. That sickens me because I was forced to agree with Yankee-loving Michael Kay and Tim McCarver. Why should he be rewarded with a World Series trip after he quit on his team?

The other tidbit is that Daisuke Matsuzaka will go in Game 1 instead of Josh Beckett. The decision avoids starting Jon Lester on short rest and lines him up for one home start and a potential Game 7. Because of Beckett's shaky start last week, I didn't have a preference between him and Dice in the opener.

Predictions: I have no strong feelings in either series, except that the Red Sox are going to be in for a war. I never bet on my team for fear of jinxing the outcome, but I'll pick them. Red Sox in seven.

Similarly, I keep going back and forth with the Phillies. The Dodgers don't give up homers, which really hinders how they score. And I think those who say people are overstating the Dodgers lineup may be underestimating it because of the emergence of Andre Either and the return of Rafael Furcal. But this is the team that needed a quitter to be its leader, and the Phillies have the edge in intangibles. I'll go Phillies in six.

Christine's picks: Dodgers vs. Phillies: Phillies, no doubt.

Red Sox vs. Rays: I'm torn - my husband's happiness or slaying the monster? If the Red Sox win, everyone will become Phillies fans, because who wants to see Boston win again? No one. But if the Rays win, everyone will be rooting for the underdog and we'll have to listen to even more myths about booing, Santa Claus and D batteries. As a fan, I want the Rays to win. Deep down, I'm afraid the Sox will win, and you'll all have a front-row seat to the impending epic battle in my house. (I probably feel that way because I was just watching The War of the Roses.)

Yearbook finale: I've been forgetting to wrap up our yearbook feature.

In the yearbook surveys, Pat Burrell and Ryan Howard, two players who didn't answer the questions that most did, were given alternates.

I don't know what to make of it, but Pat Burrell likes to watch Scooby Doo, vacation in Hawaii and look at gorillas at the zoo.

Ryan Howard's favorite "kicks" of all time are Jordans.

[Photo credit: Associated Press]

Be like Mike

All seems to be quiet in SoxandPhils world. Both teams are off tonight. The main competition of note: The Rays are beating the Yankees 6-0 in the 6th. The Mets are off.

Rather than go on and on about the Phils and their losing ways, I'm taking the easy way out and posting another entry by Greg about the Phillies yearbook. I'm sure there will be plenty to talk about tomorrow night. We're all counting on you, young Brett.

Unless they wanted to see Michael Jordan in his Birmingham Barons days, only eight of 32 Phillies listed a baseball player as their favorite athlete. Only two of them picked a Phillie, but I'm pretty sure Ryan Madson was partly joking when he picked Chase Utley. I have no doubt that Jamie Moyer was sincere with Steve Carlton.

Topping the list was Tiger Woods with seven votes, Michael Jordan with five and a half, LeBron James and Nolan Ryan with two each, and Kobe Bryant with one and a half. The half votes came from J.C. Romero, who picked both his favorite active and retired players.

Other baseball players: Barry Bonds (from former teammate Pedro Feliz), Hank Aaron (Tom Gordon), Ken Griffey Jr. (Kyle Kendrick) and Ozzie Smith (Eric Bruntlett).

Quarterbacks: Brett Favre (Brett Myers) and John Elway (Brad Lidge).

Basketball: Charles Barkley (J.D. Durbin) and Shaquille O'Neal (Fabio Castro).

Not quite mainstream athletes: Clay Condrey went with fishermen Bill Dance and Roland Martin; Chris Coste went with ultimate fighter George St. Pierre; and the Phanatic went for the cheap pop with Rocky. "He WAS real, wasn't he?" asked the green furball.

Pat Burrell, evidently bummed he couldn't list himself, didn't have an answer.

Vegging out

Before Greg left on his trip, he took another look through the Phillies yearbook. I'll be out and about today, so I may miss some of the Brett Myers-Ted Lilly match-up. If something wonderful happens, like the Phillies manage to beat the Cubs, maybe I'll check in later. In the meantime, join these couch potatoes for some TV watching.

While the Phillies may disagree which channel to watch, they all love their TV. Next up in our review of personal yearbook answers is the Phils' favorite TV shows growing up.

Topping the list was El Chavo del Ocho, The Kid from the (apartment no.) Eight, selected by Fabio Castro, Francisco Rosario and Carlos Ruiz. J.C. Romero picked El Chapulin Colorado.

The only sports show mentioned was Baseball Tonight by Kyle Kendrick. That's one of the president's favorite shows, too. {I hope that's the only thing they have in common.}

There's some cheese: Geoff Jenkins, like Christine, was a fan of Beverly Hills, 90210. Mike Zagurski opted for Saved by the Bell, and Clay Condrey liked the A-Team.

There weren't too many game shows: Family Feud by Ryan Madson and the Price is Right by Kris Benson.

Some liked cartoons: J.D. Durbin picked Transformers, along with Knight Rider; Shane Victorino and Jayson Werth liked G.I. Joe, and Adam Eaton and Chris Snelling picked my favorite, The Simpsons. Greg Dobbs liked all Saturday morning cartoons.

Some choices seemed obvious: Brett Myers picked Married... With Children; the Phillie Phanatic picked the Three Stooges; and Jamie Moyer liked Hawaii Five-O and Hogan's Heroes. Others left me scratching my head: Pat Burrell's favorite was What's Happening!! and Chase Utley liked Three's Company. So Taguchi picked Power Rangers (they originated in Japan, he noted).

Of course there were lots of classics: Cheers by Brad Lidge; Friends by Cole Hamels; Happy Days by Rudy Seanez; The Cosby Show by Ryan Howard and Eric Bruntlett; and The Jeffersons by Tom Gordon.

The only reader on the team? Pedro Feliz. That's my conclusion because he was the only one without an answer.

[Photo credit: Wikipedia]

Jammin'

Besides their rediscovered winning attitude, the Boston Globe today noted another difference with the post-Manny Red Sox. They've gone country.

That, combined with an 8 p.m. start for the Sox and an off-day for the Phils, reminded me that I've been neglecting the Phillies yearbook answers. Next up: "Musical group or artist you'd like to jam with."

Surprisingly, only two Phils have similar tastes as the Red Sox: Kyle Kendrick (George Strait) and Cole Hamels (Keith Urban). I didn't think young Cole would go country. I thought Clay Condrey would, but he went with Bruce Springsteen. Also staying local was So Taguchi with Bon Jovi.

Only two bands got more than one mention: Black Label Society by Rudy Seanez and Brett Myers, who also listed Pantera, and Pearl Jam from Chris Snelling and Greg Dobbs.

Some other oddities: Geoff Jenkins admitted to liking Journey. Chase Utley listed Pussycat Dolls - maybe it's the animal thing. And Brad Lidge went with Breaking Benjamin and Rage Against the Machine, not his favorite band Drowning Pool. I can't believe he wouldn't pick them; he has hung out with them and uses "Soldiers" for his intro song, as a tribute to the troops.

Phanatic: The fuzzy mascot wants to jam with the Reading Phillies Mascot Band. I mention because I omitted his answers for the first two entries. His favorite gadget is the hot dog launcher (it doesn't make it up to our 400 level) and his biggest annoyance is other teams.

Not answering the music question were Tom Gordon, Jayson Werth, J.C. Romero and Pat Burrell, who is the only Phillie yet to answer a single question. Jimmy Rollins answered, but he shouldn't have: "I don't do jammin'," he said, apparently too cool for the team bus and too cool to jam.

Games: The Red Sox lost to the Royals 4-3, blowing a chance to gain a game on the Rays, who also lost. Jason Bay came up with the bases loaded in the 9th but could only muster an infield single. The Yankees are tied at the moment; Joba Chamberlain left the game with a shoulder injury.

The Phillies, Marlins and Mets were all off.

Congrats: In the off-season, I thought Jon Lester would be a solid major leaguer. I didn't think he'd be one of the best in the league and worthy of pitcher of the month.

How annoying

Don't break Ryan Madson's remote (it's his favorite gadget), mispronounce Chris Coste's name or watch a horror movie if So Taguchi is in the room. And whatever you do, if there's a baby hurting, don't show him to Pedro Feliz.

Next up in our review of the Phillies yearbook answers is "Nothing annoys me more than ..."

Topping the list, seven Phils had peeves related to driving, such as traffic by Brett Myers and taxi cabs by Shane Victorino. The team also doesn't like to be woken up (would that explain June?): Five of them are irked by being roused - mostly by a ringing phone, but Kris Benson was most specific, saying he hates it when his dogs wake him by barking at the pool guy or UPS lady. Five others listed rude eating habits.

Chase Utley said "people who stink." We don't know if that's a knock on some of his inferior teammates such as Adam Eaton or whether he's telling Pat Burrell to take a shower. Utley's very mysterious in some ways.

Other noteworthy answers: a messy locker (Erik Bruntlett), stupid people (Clay Condrey), complaining (Chad Durbin), hatred (Tom Gordon), sympathy (Brad Lidge), loud people (Jimmy Rollins), rain delays (Rudy Seanez) and overall dumbness (Jayson Werth).

Burrell and Ryan Howard didn't have answers.

What annoys me: Adam Eaton. Especially when he gives up eight runs in 3.2 innings and loses 10-4 to the Diamondbacks before a national audience. That's two consecutive clunkers for Eaton. Why was J.A. Happ was demoted again? Oh yeah, Eaton still has a year and a half left on that bargain $24 million contract.

The Mets won and are now a half game back. The Marlins are winning and could join them. As Christine noted, we'll be scoreboard watching tomorrow to see if the Phillies can hold onto their narrow division lead heading into the All-Star break.

What doesn't annoy me: Scoring runs for Tim Wakefield. The Red Sox backed the knuckler to a 12-1 win over the Orioles. All starters had a hit except for Jed Lowrie, who is back up to replace the injured Julio Lugo, who is going to miss four to six weeks. Kevin Youkilis hit a grand slam.

The win, and a Rays loss, puts us a half game back heading into the final day of the pre-All-Star portion of the schedule.

Sox hit like Inspector Gadget

On Sunday we bought the Phillies 2008 Yearbook. Instead of listing height, weight and other basic stats for the Phillies, they had the team answer questions to give the fans some insight into 31 members of the Phightin' Phils. We're going to review their answers.

First category: Favorite Gadget

Best answer: Tom Gordon's "Inspector Gadget."

I loved that cartoon. Go-Go-Gadget!

Other noteworthy responses: Ryan Madson picked his universal remote. Then for another question, he said a broken remote annoys him. Clay Condrey likes his drill. I love my drill, but I'm not sure it would rank as my favorite gadget. I don't know what would.

The runaway favorite with 10 mentions was the iPod. I'm not surprised that five Phillies picked a video game system, but I'm a little surprised they all said Xbox 360. The other multiple answers were iPhone (3), computer/laptop (3) and cell phone (2).

There were no answers to the question from Pat Burrell, Ryan Howard or Chase Utley.

Today's games: The Red Sox couldn't have scored more runs if they had Inspector Gadget in the lineup, completing a sweep of the Twins with an 18-5 drubbing despite a subpar performance by Josh Beckett. {Greg seems to be misremembering Inspector Gadget. Everyone knows that Penny and Brain were the, well, brains in that operation and had to save Gadget in every episode.} Jacoby Ellsbury led the charge with four hits. Every starter except Brandon Moss had at least two hits. Hopefully that's the wake-up call to get them back to winning consistently.

The win puts them 3.5 games in front of the Twins for the Wild Card and two behind the Rays for the division.

The Phillies made like Inspector Gadget and escaped their four-game losing streak. J.A. Happ had a good start, and Ryan Howard hit the go-ahead homer in the 8th to beat the Cardinals, 4-2.

The Mets and Marlins won, and each remains 1.5 games out. Mets fans, unaccustomed to a winning streak, were quite full of themselves on WFAN today.

Baseball Mogul update: I had a good season, winning 109 games. But everything fell apart in the NLCS against the Diamondbacks, who nearly swept. The best I could do was force a fifth game before losing the series 4-1. I think I'll switch to the Red Sox for awhile.

[Photo credits: Phillies 2008 Yearbook (Tom Gordon) and Disney (Inspector Gadget)]