The Phillies need a better scheduler

An ad caught my eye in the Phillies program I bought last week. It was for a sports card and memorabilia show. It's odd because the featured athletes are Curt Schilling and Joe Blanton. (Another current Phillie, Ben Francisco, is also listed.) Fine, you can theme Schilling and Blanton as two rotund pitchers with Phillies connections, but the date is the odd part. The show runs Sept. 24 through Sept. 26.

That's the dates of the Phillies last home series of the year. It's against the Mets, who I'm sure would love to play spoiler against the team that has ruined their recent seasons.

I thought maybe someone made sure the show didn't conflict with games, but nope. Friday's show runs from 5 to 9 p.m. when there's a 7 p.m. game. While Saturday's game time hasn't been announced, it's hard to imagine one not conflicting with a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. show. And there's no way a player can participate in a 1:35 p.m. game Sunday and a show that runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

I think somebody screwed up. I went to the show's site to investigate further and found out that the appearance times for everyone, even former Phils like Curt, Darren Daulton and Geoff Jenkins, are listed as TBD. And there are additional current Phillies booked for the show: Placido Polanco and Ryan Madson.

Christine won't be happy if the Mets beat the Phillies that weekend with a quarter of the team signing cards with Curt Schilling.

Speaking of members of the 2004 Red Sox: Manny Ramirez is leaving the Dodgers, who start a series with the Phillies today, and joins the White Sox, who play the Red Sox on Friday and seven times until the end of the season. As if the end of this season won't be annoying enough.

Tonight's games: The Red Sox are off. The Phillies play late in Los Angeles. I had a nice day with Trent, but I'm pooped and won't attempt to get the beginning of the game into this post.

Quick thoughts during a hot and busy weekend

We're occupied this weekend, overloading Trent with grandparents. He took his first trip outside the house to his Grandmom's today, so we only half watched the Phillies nice 10-2 win over the Rockies. It was good to see an offensive explosion and Kyle Kendrick pitch well in his return to the rotation.

We couldn't imagine sitting in the stands during this 100 degree heat.

Trent got his first pack of baseball cards. The gum is bigger, wrapped in plastic and tasted worse than I remembered. Yes, I guess you could say I stole candy from a baby, but he's way too young for bubble gum.

And there were only seven cards in the pack. What a crock. I think you got 15 in my day. His only Red Sox or Phillie was one-third of a Ryan Howard. The Big Piece was on a card with Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder as the NL's top home run hitters.

In the 5th, the Red Sox lead the Mariners 1-0.

Party like it's 1984

I'm sticking to the promise I made last year to retire from fantasy baseball. I like the game, but I don't have the time to make a proper effort at it.

But if I were to be tempted, Major League Baseball surely knows how. I could be suckered into its gimmick of using a 1984 Topps baseball card design for its fantasy baseball cards.

It's great seeing Dustin Pedroia, Clay Buchholz, Shane Victorino and Joe Blanton appear as if they played in the early 1980s.

I miss what baseball cards used to be and enjoyed this bit of nostalgia.

The one bad thing, however, is that it made me feel old. Out of curiosity, I wondered how many SoxandPhils on the teams' 40-man rosters were born in 1984 or later - 11 for the Sox, 10 for the Phils. I turned 7 that year.

There are just 11 Phillies and nine Red Sox who are older than me.

Farewell Johnny Marz

John Marzano, an honorary SoxandPhil, died this weekend.

I'll always remember him from his 1985 Topps Olympic Team card. I wanted to scan it in, but that is still tucked away in my parents' attic. He played 169 games for the Red Sox from 1987 to 1992, never getting a real chance to live up to his potential.

He gets honorary SoxandPhil status because he was a Philadelphia native, played a year in the minors for the Phils, and worked in recent years for WIP and Phillies post-games for Comcast. Christine and I enjoyed listening to his analysis - a compliment we rarely give to a broadcaster. I was hoping his gig with Major League Baseball would be short-lived and he would come back to local outlets.

Unfortunately, that won't happen.

Game notes: The Phillies officially stink against the Mets. It's up to Adam Eaton to avoid the sweep tonight. Since it's a night game, we won't provide wrap-up until Monday night. The Red Sox continue to roll against the Rangers. David Ortiz had another hit.

Hang 'em high: Evil Yankee Kyle Farnsworth got only three games for endangering the life of Manny Ramirez. No bother:

"He don't deserve that. He was just protecting his players," Ramirez said. "You know we hit A-Rod the game before."

Though Ramirez responded by getting out of the way he admitted, "To be honest with you, I never saw the pitch."