Friday night link dump

The Phillies are playing late tonight, so I have time to catch up on some of the news of the week.

But first, kudos to former Red Sox manager Kevin Kennedy who was among eight men who subdued a nut who was threatening to blow up an airplane.

Here's the stuff I have missed.

***Jacoby Ellsbury decided he needed more tests after he was having trouble breathing - turns out he has four fractured ribs. Great.

***A day after everyone reported that Tim Wakefield was going to the bullpen because Daisuke Matsuzaka was coming back, the Red Sox announced Dice-K will throw a simulated game. We're still waiting to hear from Wakefield:

Tim Wakefield came into the clubhouse 45 seconds before the media had to leave. I asked him if he would answer a few questions. "Nope," he said.

I hope we're not seeing a repeat of Jaime Moyer from last year.

***To cure the inability to stop anyone from stealing bases - even Vladimir Guerrero had a couple swipes the other night - the Red Sox are shopping for a catcher, which probably would mean the end of the line for David Ortiz, who accepted blame for his failures.

Red Sox: Papi homered for the first time this season. Jon Lester wasn't dominant, but he didn't give up a run in 5 2/3 innings against the Orioles. But the bullpen is blowing it - three runs in the 7th and 8th innings after going 21 straight scoreless. It's 3-3 in the 8th.

Phillies: When the game started, I was downstairs and Christine was upstairs. I heard the annoying Chris Wheeler babbling on. "Wheels is on," I angrily yelled upstairs. Christine didn't hear me and came down to tell me that Wheels was back.

We thought he was going to be on the radio again because Scott Franzke is home with his wife and their newborn son August - congrats to the them. By the way, Jim Jackson is doing radio tonight, now that the Flyers have a few nights off before the second round of the playoffs.

The Phillies lead the Diamondbacks 1-0 in the 4th. Cole Hamels continues his Roy Halladay impersonation, even hitting a double and scoring the lone run so far.

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.

Games on

Spring games finally started today. I got caught up in something and didn't get to watch the beginning of the Sox as planned (I watched an inning so far and will try to watch some more after posting this), but I did hear the last couple innings of the Phillies game on the radio.

I liked this exchange for some reason:

Scott Franzke: How's that pretzel?

Larry Andersen: Salty.

Salty indeed.

The Phillies dropped their first game of the spring; the Red Sox beat Boston College in the afternoon but are losing to the Twins tonight. I don't put much credence in spring results. We're still about 190 regular-season wins and 14 postseason wins away from the SoxandPhils World Series.

Wake me in October.

{Boo! I liked October 2008, but I want this spring and summer to last for a nice long time.}

[Photo credit: NaturalNews.com]