Happy Nola Day!

Every fifth day is the happiest of days for Phillies fans. For that's the day that Aaron Nola, bonafide staff ace, pitches for the local nine. And today is no exception.

Nola goes against the formerly surging and now slumping New York Mets tonight. After briefly leap-frogging past the Phillies in the standings, the New Yorkers are back in their rightful place, which happens to be fourth. Or second to last. Your choice. The Mets are 2.5 games behind the Phils in the division and for the second wild card.

So back to Nola. He's pretty good against the Mets. (Checks notes). Uh, he's friggin awesome. He lost to them back in 2015 and hasn't lost to them since. He's faced them 11 times since that loss and has held New York to a .191 batting average while posting a 7-0 record with an ERA under 3. So I like the Phils chances tonight. Geaux Phils. 

A Big Finish?

Way back in March, I predicted the Phillies would win 92 games and make the playoffs. I crack myself up sometimes. 

Anyway, if the Phils are going to make me look like some kind of baseball savant, they’ll need to go (furiously checks math) uh, 24-7 the rest of the way. I don’t see that happening. A 16-15 finish seems more realistic. 

I thought one of the trio of Pivetta/Eflin/Velasquez would step up and become a solid, reliable starter. Nope. I figured Andrew McCutchen would be healthy all year. Nope. And I thought Rhys Hoskins had a solid shot at 40 HR and 100 RBI. As if. 

There’s 4 1/2 weeks left in the season and the Phils are 2 games out of the wild card. Could it happen? I guess. But if it does, it’ll most likely be 1 and done and see you in Clearwater in February.  

Shows What I Know

I was actually defending Hector Neris over the weekend. He's been really good for about the last 4 weeks. In fact, in the 13 games before last night, he allowed no runs and 3 hits in 13 innings with 5 saves over that span.

Also over the weekend, I was ripping bench guy Sean Rodriguez, who was 1 for 19 with 10 strikeouts during August.

So of course, Hector Neris did Hector Neris things last night and allowed the game-tying home run in the top of the 9th inning. It wasn't just a game-tying homer. Josh Bell absolutely destroyed Neris' splitter, depositing it onto Ashburn Alley, 431 feet from home plate. Oof.

The Phils had a chance to win it in the 9th but Rhys Hoskins popped up with the bases loaded and Bryce Harper struck out. Reliever Mike Morin, a Minnesota Twins castoff, pitched 2 scoreless innings. Rodriguez led off the bottom of the 11th and hit a screaming line drive that cleared the fence in left. Ballgame. Phillies win. And I have no I idea what I'm talking about.

Speaking of Hoskins, the guy is absolutely lost at the plate right now. He was hitless in 5 at-bats with 3 strikeouts and is hitting .115 in August. His home run on Sunday was his first in 3 weeks. He has 23 strikeouts and 22 walks this month.

His struggles remind me a lot of Pat Burrell in 2003, who struggled all year and finished hitting .209 for the year with a .713 OPS. But the fans, strangely, never turned on Burrell. He barely got booed. In Philadelphia. How weird is that?

But after Hoskins popped out in the 9th last night, the boos were there. Hoskins had this to say about the reaction–"We won the game. I couldn't care less about that [the booing]. We won the game.

Maybe Hoskins needs a few days off to clear his head. I'm sure Gabe Kapler wants to keep sending him out there in hopes that he gets out of the slump. But the continued failure has to be draining. But can the Phillies afford to keep Hoskins and his .115 August average in the lineup while they try to gain a wild-card playoff berth?

Who Didn’t See this Coming?

Players Weekend Mix and Match

As I was watching Sunday's game, my son walked into the room and we started complaining about how bad the Players Weekend uniforms are this year. 

Then Sam had a great idea. He thinks the players should be able to wear whatever uniform they want that the team already uses. I love this. Let them mix and match if they want. But it'll never happen. Players Weekend is all about selling new merchandise. The whole "letting the players express themselves" crap is just that–crap. It's all about the dollar signs.

Imagine Rhys Hoskins at first in the baby blues, Cesar Hernandez at second in the red batting practice jersey, Jean Segura at short in the pinstripes, and Scott Kingery at third in the daytime creams. It would look amazing.

And, as a reminder, this year's black and white look is terrible. 

Ugly Uniforms, Uglier Loss

No matter what happens over the course of the next 6 weeks, we can pretty much be assured that last night's Massacre in Miami will go down as the worst loss of the season.

The Phillies gave up 19 runs to the Marlins, the team with the worst record in the National League. I won't call them the worst team, because last night, that honor belonged to the Phillies. The 19 runs allowed is the most they've given up all year and the 12th time an opponent has scored in double-digits.

They led 7-0 after 2.5 innings. And then gave up 7 in the bottom of the third. They took the lead again in the fourth, only to see it vaporize in the fifth. In 5.1 innings, the bullpen was strafed for 12 runs. This after allowing nothing to the Red Sox earlier in the week. Team Schizo strikes again.

Starter Vince Velasquez lasted 2.1 innings and gave up 7 runs. Following a one-batter appearance from Juan Nicasio, Nick Pivetta gave up 5 runs. Can we finally admit that Velasquez and Pivetta are not good enough for the major leagues? Add Zach Eflin to that group as well. They should all be designated for assignment at the end of the year. They've been given plenty of chances to prove they belong. They don't.

It was a shitshow through and through. And the god-awful Players Weekend all-black uniforms made it look even worse.

It was ugly. It was embarrassing. This pitching staff needs to be blown up and rebuilt from scratch. Keep Aaron Nola and maybe Hector Neris. And then take the rest of the garbage down to the curb.

Expecting Less Offense

Boil some water! Get some clean sheets! Practice your breathing!

The Phillies have placed Bryce Harper on the paternity list for the weekend, meaning he'll be with his wife in Philadelphia as she prepares to give birth to the couple's first child.

Harper won't be in Miami for the series with the Marlins, but Maikel Franco will be. The Phils have called him up from Triple A to take Harper's place on the roster.

I hope Franco doesn't get much playing time this weekend. He's been pretty terrible with the bat this year. In 5 games in this minors, Franco is "hitting" a lusty .211 with a .739 OPS. My guess is we'll see Adam Haseley, Corey Dickerson, and Scott Kingery in the outfield with either Brad Miller or Sean Rodriguez playing third. Franco hasn't exactly earned any big league playing time.

Let's hope the Harper-less Phils can manage some offense against the worst-in-the NL Marlins. And mazel tov in advance to the Harpers.

UPDATE: The lineup has been posted and I was right!

Who are These Guys Really?

We're 126 games into the season, and I have no idea who the Phillies really are. Are they the team that swept series from the Cubs and Red Sox? Or are they the ones who lost 2 of 3 to the Padres?

Team Schizo heads to Miami this weekend for 3 games with the Marlins. Then they're back home for 3 against the Pirates. Winning 5 out of 6 from those teams doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. But Team Schizo is just 6-7 against the Marlins this year, owners of the worst record in the National League. The Phils took 2 of 3 against the Pirates in Pittsburgh last month.

If they have any shot at all of playing in October, they need to win a minimum of 5 of the next 6 games. 

Earlier this week, I pointed out the struggles of Rhys Hoskins. Well, the Big Fella was on base 6 times in the 2 games in Boston and scored 3 runs. We'd rather see him hitting homers and driving in runs, but we'll take any progress we can get. 

And speaking of progress, the merry band of castoffs known as the Phillies bullpen was great in Boston. They pitched 7.1 scoreless innings against one of the best offenses in the game. With the current state of the starting rotation, they're going to need to keep up the good work. 

What the Actual Hell?

What the hell is Gabe Kapler up to? He’s got Rhys Hoskins leading off. He hasn’t had a hit since the 4th of July. 

JT Realmuto is playing first, which means everyone’s favorite offensive black hole, Andrew Knapp, is in the lineup. That’s 2 guys who haven’t hit in weeks hitting back-to-back. Oy. 

Harper should the the DH for both games as a result of the heat exhaustion over the weekend. But Gabe knows best. 

I’d let Dickerson or Realmuto lead off, move Hoskins down to 6th and send Knapp on a 24-hour duck boat ride on the Charles River. For a guy who has talked about how important this road trip is, well, you sure wouldn’t think he actually means it by the looks of this lineup.  

Falling Flat Again

Today is David Palmer’s birthday. He only pitched in Philadelphia for one season, but will always be remembered for the video clip above. 

That clip is a perfect visual for what happened to the Phillies this weekend. Riding a 4-game win streak and still high from Bryce Harper’s walkoff grand slam on Thursday, the Phils went out and dropped 2 straight games to the Padres. 

They managed just 5 runs and 10 hits in those 2 losses and find themselves tied for third in the NL East and 2 games back for the second wild card spot. There are just 6 weeks left in the season and any optimism from Thursday night has disappeared.  

Rhys Hoskins is absolutely lost. He came close to a home run yesterday but was robbed at the centerfield fence. He’s hitting .202 since June 4. It’s probably time to sit him for a couple of games because Logan Morrison or whoever else fills in at first certainly isn’t going to be any worse.  

That mythical hot streak remains elusive for the Phils. They have 2 games in Boston this week and 3 in Miami with the Marlins for the weekend. At least Aaron Nola pitches on Tuesday.  

Big Ticket Bust

The Phillies signed David Robertson to a 2-year, $23 million deal over the winter because he was remarkably healthy and effective.

Robertson had surgery to fix his elbow on Saturday and will likely miss all of next season while he recovers. So for $23 million, Robertson gave the Phils a whopping 6.2 innings, which works out to $3,449,827.51 per inning. 

Injuries are a part of the game. I get that. But with what’s happened to Robertson, Tommy Hunter, and Pat Neshek, you have to wonder if that will make the front office gun shy when it comes to signing free agent pitchers. 

The Phils should be all in this winter to try and sign Astros starter Gerrit Cole. Maybe they can minimize the risk by offering something insane like $105 million over 3 years, with a couple of option years added in. Cole has missed a few games over the course of his career, but hasn’t had any many injuries. 

And speaking of Cole, a certain Mr. Hamels is also a free agent after the season. He wants to come back; he still has a house in the area.  I hope it happens.  

And Jake Arrieta is having a bone spur removed from his elbow. He should be back next spring. Yay. 

Basking in the Afterglow

I'm pretty sure nobody's bitching about Bryce Harper's contract this morning.

Last night's walk-off, come-from-behind, 2-strike, upper-deck grand slam is the stuff they make movies about. It's like Roy Hobbs bashing a ball into the light standards, setting off explosions. It's not quite Al Michaels screaming "do you believe in miracles?" but it was by far the highlight of this disappointing season. It's the stuff kids dream about.

And for those of you who haven't seen it or care to re-live it, here you go. You're welcome.

And as soon as Harper connected, John Kruk yells "OH MY GOD!" I've watched this replay at least a dozen times already this morning. And here are the stats on the highlight of the year:

#Cubs 5 @ #Phillies 7 [B9-1o]:

Bryce Harper hits a grand slam (25) to RF

Hit: 412.54ft, 112.97mph🔥, 39.74°🚀

Pitch: 95mph Sinker (LHP Derek Holland, 19) pic.twitter.com/s2DFszZw5w

— Home Run Tracker (@DingerTracker) August 16, 2019

But let's step back for a second and go over what's transpired this week.
- The Phils brought Charlie Manuel back to serve as hitting coach.
- The Phils swept the Cubs and have won 3 straight games for the first time in almost 3 weeks.
- They've leap-frogged past the Mets in the standings are a just a game out of the wild card.

And some of the bats are starting to come to life. Harper has 5 HR and 13 RBI in the last 7 games. JT Realmuto is hitting .381 and slugging .810 in the last 7.

For the last 2 months, manager Gabe Kapler has said he thinks this team has a hot streak coming. Let's see if the magic can continue against the Padres this weekend. But let's enjoy this.

Here's the Bryce swing and Kruk's "OH MY GOD" on repeat pic.twitter.com/mxepLSgw3d

— Cespedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) August 16, 2019

Charlie is Back!

It’s about 6 weeks too late, but the Phils finally canned hitting coach John Mallee and replaced him with Charlie Manuel, manager of the 2008 World F’ing Champions and the man credited with making Jim Thome a Hall of Famer. 

I love, love, LOVE this move. The Phillies offense has been awful this season and the hope is Charlie and his “hittin’ season” philosophy can turn things around. Mallee is new school and analytics driven. Charlie is as old school as they come. Maybe he’ll be a calming influence and get several guys to get  hot at the same time. 

I’m going to the game tonight and I’d love to see Charlie deliver the lineup before the game. And this move makes Gabe Kapler’s position in the hot seat even hotter. Charlie is beloved in Philadelphia. Gabe, not so much. If the team goes on a roll, Charlie will get all the credit. And if they don’t, it’ll be because they waited too long and the hitters took to long to adjust to the change. Charlie has everything to gain while Kapler has everything to lose. 

Still Sinking

Seven days ago, the Phillies had a 27.9 percent chance of making the playoffs. Their playoff chances are now 8.4 percent. Imagine where this team would be if those offensive numbers shown up above were somewhere in the middle of the pack.

And speaking of offense, or the lack thereof, backup catcher Andrew Knapp, owner of a .191 batting average and a .581 OPS, could soon be out of a job. The Phils have reportedly signed veteran catcher Nick Hundley to a minor league contract. Hundley is a career .247 hitter with a slugging percentage of .405.

Will Knapp be another sacrificial lamb for this under-performing offense, like Maikel Franco? Like I wrote the other day, if they really want to get people's attention, demote/cut/abandon Sean Rodriguez and bring Alec Bohm up. Move Scott Kingery to second and Cesar Hernandez becomes the utility guy. Bohm is the future.

The Failing Phils

The Phillies have 19 hits in their last 4 games, which is kind of misleading, since 10 of those came Friday night. I could go on and on about this team's offensive futility. But these are the three things that matter at the moment.

- Since being in first place with a 3.5 game lead on May 29, the Phillies are 27-35.
- The Mets have passed them in the standings.
- They are now in fourth place.

I have tickets to Tuesday night's game. I fully expect to hear several choruses of the E-A-G-L-E-S chant before the night is over. The 2019 Phillies had a chance to make baseball matter in Philadelphia again. But this group is no better than a warmup act until the Eagles season begins.

Feel free to sing this to the tune of Fly Eagles Fly.

Fail, Phillies, fail
for another freaking year
Fail Phillies fail
and the boos you're sure to hear
You can't score runs, you can't get outs
it's no surprise the fans will pout
Fail, Phillies fail
for another freaking year

E-A-G-L-E-S

Bohm Threat

The last 3 months have been depressing as hell for Phillies fans. On May 9, the Phils were 21-15 and in first place, 6 ganes over .500 with a 4-game lead in the NL East. And they had a run differential of +31. It's been all downhill since then.

Today, on August 9, the Phils are 59-56, tied with the Mets for third place, 8 games out of first, 1/2 game out of the wild card, with a run differential of -31. So in the span of 3 months, the Phils have lost 12 games in the standings, are 3 games under .500 and have been outscored by 62 runs.

Their longest win streak of the season is 4 games. 4. That's it. They've lost 5 of their last 7. There are 7 weeks left the in the season and the chances of making the playoffs look bleaker every day.

So what do you do? I say give the kids a chance. When Jay Bruce was activated from the injured list, the Phillies demoted Adam Haseley, their hottest hitter, so he could play regularly in the minors. What? Haseley needs to be in the majors to make sure he's for real.

Next move? Bring up minor league power machine Alec Bohm, who has a .905 OPS in 3 levels in the minors. The third baseman has 18 homers and 69 RBI in 103 games and just 59 strikeouts. To make room for Bohm, get rid of Sean Rodriguez. He's useless. But, you say, he's the infield utility guy. Who fills in if someone gets hurt? Cesar Hernandez.

Cesar should have been traded 2 winters ago when his value was highest. The Phils know what they have with him. Move Cesar to the bench and put Scott Kingery at 2B, his natural position.

Here's your lineup:
CF - Adam Haseley
SS- Jean Segura
RF - Bryce Harper
1B - Rhys Hoskins
LF - Jay Bruce
C - JT Realmuto
2B - Scott Kingery
3B - Alec Bohm

Give it a go and see what happens. To quote Monty Python's Life of Brian, how could it possibly get any worse?

Dear God, Not the Mets

Don't look now, but the New York Friggin Mets are on a roll. Big time. They won their sixth straight game this afternoon and have won 13 of their last 14. And as of this moment, the Mets are just a game behind the Phillies in the National League East and the second wild card spot. What. The. Hell.

How has this happened? Apparently, the Mets are doing the things they need to do to win ballgame. Get hits with runners in scoring position. Take advantage of errors by the other team. And pitch well. And the Phillies haven't really done any of those things this year for an extended period of time.

Last night, for example, the Phils lost 8-4, despite outhitting Arizona 15-12 and the Diamondbacks making 3 errors. Come on. The Phillies were 2 for 17 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base. You're not going to win squat when you play like that.

The Phils and Mets play each other 6 more times this season. The Phils have been good against the Mets, winning 9 of the 13 games. Hopefully, the Mets will realize very soon that they're, you know, the Mets, and collapse in typical Mets fashion.

I don't want the Mets to overtake the Phillies in the standings. And I sure as hell don't want them to make the playoffs. But if they get in and the Phils are playing golf in October, there have to be some serious changes down on Pattison Avenue.

Boring in Black

Players Weekend is coming up and you've forgotten what that is, it's where all the teams in MLB wear uniforms that kind of resemble what they usually where, but with different colors.

This year's theme is black and white. So on the weekend of Aug. 23-25, the Phillies will be wearing these babies, pictured above. The home teams will wear all white, while the visitors will wear black jerseys. And every player gets to put a nickname or something on the back. Yawn. It's not about the players. It's another shameless merchandising cash grab.

This year's look is borrowed from the Chicago White Sox, who look like this all the time. The only good thing about wearing black on the road in August is that the Phils will be in Miami playing inside.

As for the nicknames, Reds first baseman Joey Votto has already won Players Weekend. His uniform will say "WHO" on the back. I'm just a little disappointed he couldn't get the second baseman to use "WHAT" and the third baseman "I DON'T KNOW." At least Votto has a sense of humor about this.

The Phillies nicknames are as follows:
Jake Arrieta — Snake
Jay Bruce — Bruuuce
Corey Dickerson — CD
Zach Eflin — EF
Bryce Harper — Harp
Cesar Hernandez — Cesita
Rhys Hoskins — Big Fella
Gabe Kapler — Kap
Scott Kingery — JETPAX
Andrew Knapp — Knapp Time
Andrew McCutchen — Drusneeze
Adam Morgan — A-MO
Mike Morin — MOOSH
Hector Neris — Compa N
Juan Nicasio — Arenoso
Aaron Nola — Nols
Blake Parker — B-Easy
Nick Pivetta — Piv
Roman Quinn — PSJ
J.T. Realmuto — REAL
Sean Rodriguez — Chi Chi
Jean Segura — EL MAMBO
Drew Smyly — Smiles
Jason Vargas — Vargy
Vince Velasquez — V²

At least Velasquez is having fun with it. I'm disappointed in the lack of creativity. Instead of his nickname, Jetpax, Scott Kingery could have gone with "Not Sam," since that's his twin brother's name.

Franco to the Farm!

In a shocking move, the Phillies have just optioned third baseman Maikel Franco to the minor leagues to make room for utility guy Brad Miller who had been on the injured list.

This move is shocking since Franco has been in the majors since 2014, but has struggled all season. He was hitting .231 with a paltry .296 OBP. Since April 30, Franco is hitting just .218 with a .272 OBP and a .626 OPS with 8 homers in those 74 games. And he's basically only able to play third base. He can probably play first, but Rhys Hoskins is already there. For his career, Franco has hit .249 with a .302 OBP.

Looks like Franco's inconsistency finally caught up with him and the team decided to take action. So as of right now, the Phillies bench includes Sean Rodriguez, Brad Miller, Andrew Knapp, Corey Dickerson, and Roman Quinn, even though Quinn and Dickerson are starting today. It'll be interesting to see what happens when Jay Bruce comes back from the IL.

Here's today's lineup:

Welcome Back, Hector

I never thought I'd ever write this, but I'll be very happy to see Phillies closer Hector Neris back in the bullpen today. Neris served the last game of this 3-game suspension on Saturday night, which featured an edge-of-your-seat 2-inning save from Nick Pivetta.

Neris was suspended for intentionally throwing at David Freese after giving up a 3-run homer to the previous hitter on July 16 against the Dodgers.

When I see Neris come into a game, there's no sense of calm or thinking "not to worry," a phrase often uttered by my dad late in games. But with Pivetta closing things out, it makes me want to go all Curt Schilling and cover my head with a towel. It was like that last night. But Pivetta got the job done.

There's not much to instill confidence with this bullpen. Between all the injuries and things like multiple innings from outfielder Roman Quinn, it's understandable. But believe it or not, Hector's return brings stability back to the bullpen. Go figure.

Late-Night Weirdness

When it's the 14th inning and outfielder Roman Quinn is pitching and pitcher Vince Velasquez is playing the outfield, you know things have gotten weird. I blame manager Gabe Kapler.

New starter Jason Vargas went 6 1/3 innings and gave up 2 runs on 5 hits–a pretty nice debut. New reliever Mike Morin pitched 2/3 of an inning, followed by Nick Pivetta, who pitched a scoreless 8th inning.

Juan Nicasio came in for the 9th, because Hector Neris is suspended, Ranger Suarez was unavailable, and everybody else is injured. He got Jose Abreu to ground out, gave up a double to Eloy Jimenez, and then struck out James McCann on a 3-2 pitch. Out came Kapler who decided to bring in lefty Jose Alvarez to face the left-handed hitting Ryan Goins.

Alvarez got ahead of Goins, 0-2, and then followed with 3 straight pitches out of the strike zone. With the count full, Goins fouled off 3 more pitches before grounding a ball to third baseman Maikel Franco. Instead of throwing to first, Franco inexplicably tried to tag Jimenez who was advancing to third. Franco was late and the White Sox had runners on the corners.

Rookie Matt Skole came up for the first time this season, and naturally singled to right to tie the game after being down in the count 0-2. Blake Parker and Zach Eflin each pitched 2 scoreless innings, which brings us to the bottom of the 13th. Eflin reached base on a failed sacrifice bunt and moved to second on a walk. Before hitting, Eflin told Kapler he could go another inning with a sore triceps, but Kapler decided to use Velasquez as a pinch-runner for Eflin.

Velasquez wasn't a bullpen option because he started Wednesday's game and threw a bullpen session earlier in the day on Friday. But Rhys Hoskins popped out to end the inning, and Eflin was out of the game.

So now Kapler is out of pitchers and is forced to use Quinn, who pitched like an outfielder. He gave up a run on 3 hits and 3 walks in 2 innings of work. But here's the thing–the Phils had a pitcher available. Aaron Nola, scheduled to start today's game, should've been inserted into the game. The Phils could have made a roster move after the game to get an emergency starter for Saturday. But he didn't get used, and the Phils lost.

But Velasquez was a revelation in the outfield. He nailed Jose Abreu at the plate in the 14th and nearly got another assist in the 15th but replays showed Leruy Garcia just beating the tag. But Velasquez prevented further damage by making a diving grab on a line drive to end the inning.

And if you want to point some more fingers, Hoksins, Bryce Harper, JT Realmuto, and Scott Kingery, the 3-4-5-6 hitters, went a combined 2 for 24 in the game and left a combined 16 runners on base. Against a team that's 13 games under .500.

Are the Phanatic's Days Numbered?

The Phillies without the Phanatic? I can't even. That would be like a cheesesteak without the cheese. City Hall without Billy Penn. Me without dad jokes. But could it happen?

The Phillies have filed a lawsuit against the company that created and designed the Phanatic. They apparently want to back out of an agreement made way back in 1984 to let the Phillies use the mascot forever. The company wants millions of dollars from the Phillies and have threatened to keep the team from using everyone's favorite Galapagos Islands native.

I'm not a lawyer and I've never played one one on TV. But I know a bunch of people who are lawyers and I even used to work for lawyers. But I can read. The lawsuit says the Phillies paid the "creators"more than $200,000 under licensing agreements in 1978 and 1979. But the agreement was terminated in 1984 and the creators negotiated a deal for $215,000 to give up the rights to the Phanatic, which, according to the suit, transferred the rights to the Phillies "forever."

According to the lawsuit, the company sent the Phils a letter last summer claiming they had a right to end the agreement under the Copyright Act and if the team did not negotiate a new agreement, they would not be able to continue to use the Phanatic after June 15, 2020. The suit says unless the team pays up, the creators will get an injunction making the Phanatic "a free agent." The Phils say the claims are baseless.

The Phils will use everything in their power to keep this from happening. They'll employ an army of attorneys to keep the Phanatic in Philly. But just the thought of the Phanatic-less Phillies makes me incredibly sad. The Phanatic is my spirit creature and my idol. This lawsuit stinks worse than the Phanatic himself after a 10-day homestand in the middle of the summer.

Just the Facts

Here's some weird stuff to consider from this season:

- On the first game played in a new month this season, the Phillies are 5-1 with wins in March, April, May, July, and August.
- The Phillies are 24-13 in day games and 33-38 at night. They have 14 more days games left this season and 40 more at night.
- Cesar Hernandez is hitting .308 with an .825 OPS while hitting left-handed this year. As a right-handed hitter, Cesar is at .223 and .538. He might wanna stay on the left side.
- Tonight's starting pitcher, Jason Vargas, will set a Phillies record when he becomes the 32nd different pitcher used by the team this season. And it's only August 2.
- The Phillies, Cubs, and Nationals are tied for the NL Wild Card lead with identical 57-51 records. But of the three teams, the Phils are the only team with a negative run differential (-16).
- The Phillies have more guys on the 60-day injured list (Arano, Dominguez, Hunter, McCutchen, Neshek, and Robertson) than they do on the10-day list (Bruce, Eickhoff, Miller, Ramos).
- The Phanatic headband being rocked by Bryce Harper is one of the more interesting things a player has worn lately. It sells for $15.99.