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.

The indoctrination has begun

We decided that we won't pressure Trent. If he wants to be a Phillies fan, fine. If he wants to be a Red Sox fan, fine. If he wants to be both, fine. If he wants to root for a random team, we'll deal with it. If he wants to root for the Mets, Yankees or just not like baseball ... then our house will be a little less happy.

To that end, we decided we will try to keep things even between Red Sox and Phillies items in his room. Before he arrived, there was a Red Sox book and a Phillies book waiting for him.

And two weeks ago, he finally got his first garb. His aunt got him his first Red Sox tee. Literally. It says "My First Red Sox Tee." It will look great on him next year. He also got a teething towel. He's not yet teething, so I just dust his face with it to tickle him and get him used to the logo.

Shortly after he got his Red Sox shirt, one of Christine's colleagues got him a Ryan Howard shirt. It's a little big on him, but it's close enough to pose for a picture just like his Daddy.

Because of the shirt, Christine has dubbed Howard Trent's favorite player.

When we went to the game on Aug. 22, our first since Trent arrived , we wanted to bring him back a little Phanatic doll, but they only have big ones, and because they're not baby safe, we decided not to get one. Instead, we brought him back a Phanatic book - The Phillie Phanatic's Parade of Champions.

He seems to like it.

Now we just have to find Wally the Green Monster's account of the 2004 parade.

Tonight's games: The Phillies are off, but they were rebroadcasting Roy Halladay's perfect game. It started when Trent's bed time was approaching, so we didn't miss the beginning because we were taking a walk.

The Red Sox are off, too.

2004 - Trent hardly knew ye

I made a difficult decision today. My officially licensed 2004 World Championship T-shirt, like many others from my past, is too large to wear anymore.

I wore it today, but decided it should now go in the Goodwill donation pile.

I told Trent about my decision and used the opportunity to tell him the story of the 2004 Red Sox and how you can never give up hope.

Actually, he knows the story. Someone had given me a copy of Dan Shaughnessy's The Legend of the Curse of the Bambino years ago and it's a mainstay of Trent's library. I enjoy it too, even if I don't like the way Shaughnessy has marketed the curse.

Anyway, Trent will be well-versed in Red Sox history. Tomorrow, he'll meet the guy who kept my spirits up when the Yankees took a 3-0 lead in the 2004 ALCS, which is when I promised myself I would never give up hope.

You can never give up hope (1): After years of trying, the Red Sox finally acquired catcher Jarrod Saltamalacchia. He's had trouble throwing the ball back to the pitcher, but you can't give up on him fixing this problem.

You can never give up hope (2): The Red Sox trailed the Tigers 4-2 in the 9th, but after the Tigers intentionally walked Kevin Youkilis to load the bases, David Ortiz hit a double to win the game 5-4, as if it were 2004 all over again.

You can never give up hope (3): The Phillies kept chipping away and finally took the lead in the 9th against the Nationals. But then Brad Lidge came in. Nats 7, Phils 5.

There are some times, such as any time Lidge steps on the mound, when you should at least temper your hope.

Book club

Nearly a year ago, we bought the Harry Kalas tribute book Remembering Harry Kalas. A few weeks ago, I finally finished it.

I am an editor and spend all day reading and rewriting, so after a long day at work, I'm not likely to pick up a book unless it's something that I'm really enjoying. I always thought it would be awesome to get to read for a living, but once I actually started doing it as a job and realized that poring over less-than-stellar copy every day can be not so fun, my love of reading definitely took a sad hit.

That's my long way of saying, it took me so long to finish reading the book because it wasn't very good. I loved the concept behind it, but I wasn't thrilled with the execution.

Rich Wolfe, who compiled dozens of stories about Harry from friends, colleagues, ballplayers and others, says in his preface:

This book is designed solely for other sports fans. I really don't care what the publisher, editors or critics think. I'm only interested in Phillies fans having an enjoyable read and getting their money's worth. Sometimes a person being interviewed will drift off the subject but if the feeling is that Phillies fans would enjoy their digression, it stays in the book.

Wolfe says there was minimal editing done, mostly involving commas and merging paragraphs, and that shows. Some of these stories ramble on and don't get to a point. Others have barely anything to say about Harry (I'm looking at you, Tim McCarver). A few are from friends who hadn't seen or talked to Harry since high school or college. Many of the essays tell the same story, and despite Wolfe's acknowledgment of that and assertion that they bring different perspectives, they just sound repetitive.

In addition, there are these random factoids at the bottom of many pages. They don't have anything to do with Harry Kalas, the Phillies or baseball. They didn't add anything of interest and definitely could have been left out.

Worst of all, there are basic mistakes throughout the book, the kind that make me cringe. Misspellings, missing punctuation, missing words, sentences and phrases that don't make any sense. I'm not a perfect writer or editor, but I also don't have a book deal. These kind of sloppy errors shouldn't be found in any book.

There were some interesting tales I hadn't heard before, and some tributes were touching. But I think Wolfe should have taken into account that maybe Phillies fans can be editors and critics too and would have appreciated a better product.

I don't like being harsh, but because Wolfe says that he's the least likely person to write a book, that he can't type, that he's never turned on the computer and that he's never seen the Internet, I think that it's probably fair to say he's out of touch with many Phillies fans today anyway.

Next on the list: I need to finally read my Gary Matthews-Scott Lauber Phillies Confidential about the 2008 season. I enjoy Lauber's writing, so I'm sure this will be a much quicker read. It will be fun to revisit the World Championship season after some time and with a little more perspective. And come on - it has Sarge! Can't go wrong with him.

Greg is in the middle of Doug Glanville's The Game from Where I Stand, which I bought him for his birthday. He's enjoying it so far. [It's not a tell-all, but gives enough insight to make it interesting. And, we've always enjoyed Glanville's op-eds.]

And at some point we'll probably check out Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas by Randy Miller. The excerpts we've seen have been juicy.

At the movies: Greg sent me this fun tidbit this afternoon:

These were the DVDs in the Philadelphia visitor's clubhouse: Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back; The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard; Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Semi Pro. Obviously the Phillies are hoping the opposition will pop one in and sleep through the game.

We're highly amused that the home team provides DVDs for the visiting clubhouse. I'm also trying to figure out if there's some kind of hidden message behind providing these particular movies, if they were in the discount bin at Walmart or if they were just left behind in Brett Myers' locker.

I wonder if the Red Sox provide a complimentary copy of Fever Pitch for their visitors. [Or, do home teams leave that disaster for the Red Sox when they visit to get in their heads?]

Tonight: The Phillies were off from playing a game but participated in their annual ALS festival. They open a series in New York tomorrow night.

The Red Sox are handling the AL East leaders and are up 6-0 on the Rays in the 4th inning.

The Flyers, up 3-1, are about 18 minutes away from the finals.

Back to work

Rob Neyer opened his morning blog post with the observation: "When I have to work every day, I want a day off. When I have days off, I want to work. Go figure ..."

I interpret that as saying that he updates his blog even if he is off. Andy Martino, however, does not. I know it's the holiday season and Phillies news has been slow, but he's gone nearly two weeks since posting. That's ridiculous. Even if he has a good excuse like a personal reason for being unable to work, you'd think a colleague would post something every couple of days to stave off the blog's stagnation.

Christine and I returned to work today after a nice holiday break. I did have time to peek at a couple of pages of The Bill James Handbook that Christine got me for Christmas.

Among the early SoxandPhils highlights is the closest vote ever for a Fielding Bible Award. At second base, Aaron Hill and Dustin Pedroia were tied at 76 points with Chase Utley in third with 73 points. Hill won the tiebreaker with more first place votes than Pedroia.

And the best two catchers at blocking bad pitches? Jason Varitek (95.9 percent) and Carlos Ruiz (95.8 percent). See, Chris Coste, maybe you getting yanked in the 9th inning was more about Chooch and less about you. (That sentiment isn't as bitter toward Coste as it sounds. I was just a little defensive about Christine's favorite Phillie.)

Red Sox still working: But Mike Lowell won't be working as much in 2010. Welcome aboard Adrian Beltre. I like that this is a one-year deal; I'm just perplexed what it means for Lowell's role with the team.

Christine got Chooch!

Last year, Ken Ryan found himself under the official SoxandPhils Christmas tree. This year, it was Carlos Ruiz's turn to be a gift.

Christine normally doesn't like Phillies garb specific to a certain player. But she has developed an affinity for Chooch, and I figured she would get a kick out of a Ruiz shirt.

Unfortunately, the only official Ruiz shirts for women come in red, and Christine doesn't wear red. So I did some searching and found some customizable Carlos Ruiz shirts.

Before discovering CafePress (yes, I was the last person on Earth to have heard of it), I came across a Phillies canvas chair while looking in a sporting goods store. I picked up one because we recently got a canvas chair as a prize from a charity walk. Christine had mentioned that it seems wrong to have just one chair, so now we have a pair: one that's bright orange and one that's Phillies. We won't stick out at all at the next parade.

I also got Christine a transistor radio (yup, they still sell them) so that next summer she won't have to choose between taking a walk in the neighborhood or watching the beginning of a Phillies game. We can stroll around the neighborhood while listening to the start of the game.

In my pile from Christine was The Bill James Handbook. It's been awhile since I've had a copy. So long, in fact, that Christine thinks the last one I had was used to try to settle our debates over who was better, Scott Rolen or Nomar Garciaparra, who both seemed destined for the Hall of Fame way back then.

At my parents' house, I got a Red Sox vs. Yankees checkers set. It's nice, but who is going to want to play as the Empire? Christine and I joked that we will buy Phillies vs. Mets so we can put together a SoxandPhils game.

I also got Boston Red Sox Yesterday & Today. It's rare for a new Red Sox book to come out without my knowledge, let alone one authored by one of my favorite columnists, Nick Cafardo. I was very surprised.

Actually, Christine got me a non-baseball book that I was also unaware of. It's not actually out yet, so Christine had to print out a picture of it to put under the tree. At first, I thought it was going to another baseball-reference sponsorship, just like Ken Ryan last year.

Hope you all had a nice holiday and that next year we all get our Christmas present in October: Sox vs. Phils.

The original Chris Coste

***Preface: I had this post planned before news broke that Chris Coste said he has agreed to a deal with the Mets. So until you finish reading this post, please pretend that Coste isn't an enemy.***

Before there was Chris Coste, there was Steve Fireovid.

Coste kicked around the minors for years, refusing to give up on his dreams of being a major league ball player until he beat the odds and became a rookie at 33 years old and a World Champion two years later.

Fireovid's story is a bit different. Like Coste, he never really got a fair shake, but he made it to the majors at age 24. But he never stuck, tossing 65 innings over five seasons for four teams, including the Phillies.

The similarity with Coste is that he refused to give up, making it back to the majors. And he wrote a book about it. In The 26th Man, Fireovid chronicles his 1990 season, which he thought would be his last, pitching for the AAA Expos.

I've read the book before, but decided to reread it recently. I'm glad I did. It's a gripping account of how a man who knows he won't get another chance at 33 years old never gives up. It's a nice look at the workings of baseball with the reminders that the game doesn't always reward the most able or hardest-working players. Sometimes the hot-shot draft pick gets preferential treatment, even though, as Fireovid constantly notes, the difference in talent between AAA players and major leaguers isn't that great.

I've been meaning to reread this book since I read Coste's The 33-Year-Old Rookie, which was first reviewed on this blog by Christine.

I think I liked Fireovid's book better - it seems more down to earth, personable and matter-of-fact. But I might be biased against the soon-to-be Met.

Incidentally, it's been several years since I read this book, and I had forgotten that he was a Phillie. Fireovid said he had a good spring in 1983 and was included in the team photo, but was sent down to the minors on the last day of spring training after a trade, which would have created room for him, fell through. Sounds just like one of the many events to stymie Coste's career.

I would love to know how Fireovid's life turned out. A Google search yielded nothing other than the book.

More bad news: Sports Illustrated is officially irrelevant, naming Derek Jeter its sportsman of the year. I think even Grady Sizemore would have been a better pic. {This is how he's been spending his time? Thanks, Grady. See if I pick you for MVP. Again.}

Gag me with a spoon

Don't do it.

Don't even think of it.

DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK.

(This is so awful that I will not mention the author nor the title even though it's probably costing me blog hits.)

There are millions of struggling legitimate writers out there. Support them, not this pompous ass. He already has a much larger platform than he deserves. We have to listen to him every night, and that's not enough for him.

By the way, you know this is bad. We've bought books written by Gary Matthews, Chris Coste and even the Phanatic. But even we, as authors of a blog half dedicated to the Phillies, cannot do this one.

Argh.

This reviewer, who sounds an awful lot like Sarge, says it all.

Thankfully, the Phillies are off tonight, so I don't have to hear him. Actually, it is good the Phillies are off, so we can savor Pedro Martinez's performance for one more night. It was so reminiscent of the vintage Pedro who pretty much single-handedly made the Red Sox respectable in the late '90s.

I also had flashbacks of 2003 when Grady Little left him in too long. Last night, I was screaming at the TV when Charlie Manuel let him come out for the 8th inning. I was yelling again when he left him in after visiting the mound.

But then, reading Scott Lauber this morning changed my mind:

Last night, Pedro went eight innings and threw 130 pitches. He hadn't pitched so deep into a regular-season game since May 31, 2006, when he shut out the Arizona for eight innings, and he hadn't thrown so many pitches in a non-playoff game since May 1, 2001, his prime with the Red Sox, when he reached back and fired 136 against Seattle. At one point, a friend from Boston sent me a note on Twitter (@scottlauber) that asked, essentially, if Manuel had never heard of Grady Little, the former Sox manager who ultimately was fired for sticking with Pedro for too long in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, forever known in New England as "The Aaron Boone Game."

But what my friend failed to understand is what Pedro explained late last night in the Phillies' clubhouse. He insisted he feels better than he has since 1998, 1999 or early 2000, and with his unexpected health has come an equally surprising level of effectiveness.

I told Christine I was believing in Pedro again. I wish my T-shirt still fit. I wish I could get Don't Stop Believing out of my head.

Tonight: The Red Sox and the Phillies are off.

Phillies TV show and Wawa's first-ever hardcover book

We watched The Pen last night. We enjoyed it, but don't think we would watch it if it were based on a team we didn't root for. And it was odd - they covered from February through May in a single one-hour episode. Based on that ratio, there won't be enough material left for the five episodes covering June through the All-Star break.

Another reviewer, on the Bleacher Report, was disappointed they didn't show a lot of behind-the-scenes personal stuff. We agree. Other than showing Jack Taschner play with his baby and talk about the sudden trade with his wife, Scott Eyre watch his son's Little League game and Clay Condrey lead a big fishing expedition in what appeared to be a drainage ditch in a housing development, there wasn't much stuff you wouldn't get from an extended feature on Comcast SportsNet. (Christine wants me to point out that Condrey did catch a fish.)

Oh, we did love hearing Charlie Manuel rip Taschner immediately after he was traded to the team in spring training. Ruben Amaro Jr. was critical of his acquisition, too. That was good stuff, and surprising to hear on an MLB-produced, Phillies-sanctioned production. I'd love to see the Trashman's reaction to those comments.

I'll take a Shorti with a side of Harry: On Sunday, I saw a sign at Wawa advertising
"Remembering Harry Kalas" for $9.99. I had no clue what it was.

Today, driving to work, they were talking about it on WIP. It turns out Wawa is selling this book exclusively. It retails for $25, but it's discounted at Wawa, which is donating $10,000 to the Kalas family's favorite charity.

Of course we bought it, although we probably won't read it until we take a couple days off later this summer.

We had a couple of "We miss Harry" moments yesterday. Every half inning, the broadcast would come back late, and we'd miss the first batter. And the announcers kept messing up people's names. Classic example was when Josh Beckett hit his home run. They showed a replay of him walking from the on-deck circle to the plate instead of showing the home run live. Then, they said it was Mike Lowell who homered. We miss Harry.

Tonight's games: Both teams are off. Clay Buchholz, dominating AAA, wonders why he is not mentioned in all the discussions about what the Red Sox are going to do with their plethora of starters. He didn't demand a trade, but would welcome one. And you know how when a coach or GM is upset with a player, he won't refer to him by name? Check out this quote from young Clay:

I feel like I'm more equipped with everything that I have right now as far as the pitches and the mental aspect and physically healthy to be up there and helping that team. If not that team I want to be in the big leagues and I do want to go somewhere where I'll be able to play and pitch every fifth day.

SoxandPhils should have been in the bibliography

I read a couple more chapters today of The Rocket that Fell to Earth. It was the part that describes how Roger Clemens made the leap from an awful human being to a cheating drugged-up loser in the mid-1990s, thanks to some help from Jose Canseco.

As he looked around the clubhouse, Clemens surely noticed that he was surrounded by aging and adequate players. What he also noticed was that one older player who seemed to be getting bigger, stronger and better was Jose Canseco.

The book describes how Canseco tried hard to become a B-list celebrity with a fling with Madonna, a 1-900 line and mansions on each coast.

It also noted the 1995 Red Sox yearbook, whose juiced-up contents was duly noted on this blog a year ago. Here's what Jeff Pearlman wrote:

On the cover of the 1995 Red Sox Yearbook, Canseco posed in a black tank top, arms folded, biceps popping (wrote Mark Newman in the Sporting News, "It looks less like a team yearbook than, say, the latest issue of Playgirl").

OK, Newman beat us by more than a decade, but we were the first with the steroid link. And, unfortunately, this is not the cover shot, but one from inside the yearbook. But I think you still get the picture of what he was talking about.

Today's news: Red Sox are off; Phillies play late in San Diego. ... Gannett's furloughs don't exempt sports baseball beat writers. ... Jerry Remy sounds good in an audio Tweet released today. ... Todd Zolecki, not furloughed, reports: Raul Ibanez is now second in All-Star voting; Ryan Howard was co-player of the week; Kyle Drabek was promoted to Double-A Reading; and you shouldn't trust a Tweet from a Phillie other than Chad Durbin or Jamie Moyer.

Busy day in 10 clicks

Since I last posted:

• The Red Sox tied a record last night for wild pitches, and Tim Wakefield wasn't even pitching.


• Brett Myers wasn't pulled from last night's game for ineffectiveness, but for a hip injury that he's had for awhile. He may need surgery, which could end his Phillies career.


• Harry Kalas will be inducted to the Wall of Fame. It's such a no-brainer, but I hadn't thought about it before.


• Pedro Feliz might get his 2010 option picked up.


• This afternoon, the Red Sox beat the Twins 3-1 behind a good performance by Josh Beckett and switch-hit home runs by Jason Varitek, who managed the feat before getting ejected along with Terry Francona and two Twins.


• Someone with a vested interest read my book report post. More Roger Clemens posts can be found here. {Hi Rusty Hardin & Associates!}


• Our observation, not previously mentioned on the blog, that Charlie Manuel has lost weight has been confirmed.

Funny, this morning I thought that with an off-day for the Phillies and an afternoon tilt for the Red Sox that I would just write tonight about Todd Zolecki's Random stuff post. I still will.

Like many of our SoxandPhils readers, Zo says he is a fan of intro music. He noted that when Brad Lidge last pitched, he came out to the silly music for a scoreboard bobblehead race instead of Soldiers. I had wondered if they would keep playing that tune if his struggles persist. Lidge might have a similar thought:

"I was coming in to some circus music," Lidge said. "That's about right."

Another favorite silly Phillies thing for Christine and me is Sarge. Especially his hats. He's not only a fashion plate, but also a shrewd salesman:

Gary Matthews' hat collection is available at the Majestic Clubhouse Store, but I told him yesterday that I could not pull off the Sarge hat look. I just don't think I have the cool factor to do it. Sarge assured me that I did, which I thought was nice of him to say.

But then I remembered he's trying to sell hats. Why I oughta (shaking my fist in the air) ...

Final note: I'm always bummed when the Phillies aren't on, especially after a long bad day at work. But the Spelling Bee finals will substitute nicely tonight.

Semi-completed book report

Whenever I get the chance to read during my lunch hour, I've been enjoying Jeff Pearlman's The Rocket that Fell to Earth, a birthday gift from Christine.

It's quite different from the last Roger Clemens book I read - Rocket Man: The Roger Clemens Story, written by Clemens with Peter Gammons.

In fact, a lot of the current book points out inaccuracies in Clemens' "autobiography," such as claims he was offered a D-1 scholarship and was drafted by the Twins in 1980.

The Providence Journal's Sean McAdam is quoted in the book:

He was a liar, plain and simple. Roger was as full of shit as any athlete I've ever seen in my career. He said whatever worked for him, whether it was truthful or not. Reality didn't matter for Roger Clemens in any way, shape or form.

Today I learned that Clemens named his split-finger fastball Mr. Splitty. That was pretty much the only endearing thing I read about my former idol in a 30-page span that covered a large chunk of his Red Sox career.

The other positive, besides a fascinating glimpse of the meltdown in the 1990 ALCS, was a quote by the SoxandPhils' own Ken Ryan:

Roger was Roger. As a young player, he wasn't the easiest person to approach. It's not like he wouldn't talk at all, but if you needed anything substantial or worthwhile, you first had to show that you were worthy in his eyes.

If Clemens hadn't ruined his reputation by selling himself to two devils (the Yankees and steroids), this book could be a crushing blow to the memories I have of the guy responsible for me being a Red Sox fan. But he destroyed his own image long before Jeff Pearlman documented his downfall.

I have read a lot of negative stuff I hadn't heard before. I wonder how much of that I would have known and whether it would have affected my fandom if the Internet had existed when I was young.

Clemens is a waste, but The Rocket that Fell to Earth isn't.

Non-book quotables: Shane Victorino on trying to steal second base when down by two runs in the 9th inning on Monday: "There's no excuses to the fact that I f'd up." David Ortiz's no comment today after the media learned he was dropped to sixth in tonight's lineup: "I'll talk after I go deep."

Tonight's games: Joe Blanton was moneyball tonight, giving up no runs in seven innings with a career-high 11 strikeouts in a 5-3 win over the Marlins. Victorino didn't F-up tonight, going 4-5 with a run and RBI. The 9th got a little dicey with Chad Durbin and Scott Eyre on the mound, but Brad Lidge eventually cleaned up the mess after walking his first batter. ... Papi isn't talking yet, although he has a double and a walk in his first three plate appearances. Jon Lester imploded in the 5th inning, giving up five runs. The Sox trail the Twins 5-2 in the 7th.

[Photo credit: JeffPearlman.com and Amazon.com]

No place like home

Greg and I just returned from a cruise to Mexico - great to be on vacation but tough for baseball fans like ourselves because the only sports updates we've seen over the past week have come from ESPN Deportes. [They seem to like Albert Pujols and Alfonso Soriano.] We're lucky if we can catch any baseball scores on the ticker in between all the soccer news.

So, we have no idea what's been happening in SoxandPhils world. I see from tonight's game that Shane Victorino was activated from the disabled list [Mike Lowell was too]. Other than that, I got nuthin'.

I do, however, have a quick book review. I saved The 33-Year-Old Rookie so I would have a breezy, fun read for vacation. I pretty much agree with all the other reviews. Nothing groundbreaking, a little bit cliched, but an interesting story and a good look at life in the minors and independent leagues. In some interviews, Greg and I think that Chris Coste can sound a bit too cocky, but this book makes it clear that he needed that extra confidence to make it through all of those years in low-level ball. The book is a quick read, and I recommend it.

Oh, one former Red Sox note: Before we left Philadelphia on Monday morning, I ducked into a newsstand and saw the headline blazing across the New York Daily News regarding Roger Clemens and Mindy McCready. I bought the paper and ran it back to Greg - can't wait to catch up on the details of that story.