Wednesday, July 14, 2010

All-Star Weariness Links

Believe it or not, I usually watch the entire MLB All-Star game. Even when "it didn't count" (it shouldn't). But last night during the 5th inning, I found myself becoming incredibly tired. Like, no way I was going to make it tired. So after Roy Halladay faced his three batters in the 6th, that was it for me. I went to bed with the NL trailing 1-0, Ryan Howard doing nothing as DH and Roy Halladay facing three batters — surrendering two hits, striking out Paul Konerko and getting a helping hand from Brandon Phillips, who wisely stayed with the tag to get Elvis Andrus after he came off the bag following a steal. So I missed the National League's come-from-behind win. Let's hope the Phils can get to a third straight World Series and have home field advantage this time.

Let's link …

-For starters, head on over to Ed the Sports Fan and check out my Cliff Lee post. Kenny is a Texas native and Rangers fan, and he wanted to know a little more about last season's Phillies playoff hero, so I gladly obliged.



Man, I miss that guy.

-Watch Pete Incaviglia slide home on a wild pitch and a little kid fall out of the stands and onto the field, spilling all his popcorn.



I miss the Vet too.

-Philadelphia will host the Frozen Four in 2014, and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna try to go.

-The Flyers signed Dan Carcillo to a one-year, $1.075 million contract. Despite being a healthy scratch much of the Stanley Cup final, I'm happy to have him back, but his signing does put the Flyers $2.5 million over the cap, meaning more moves are to come.

-The Eagles signed Riley Cooper, which can't be good news for Hank Baskett.

-Andrea Kramer gets an unwelcome phone call.

-Penn Stater Andrew Quarless signed with the Packers after being picked by Green Bay in the 5th round, via BSD.



I can envision Quarless as one of those players that has a better pro career than he did college career. At Penn State, Quarless was dogged with an underachieving label, often getting in Joe Paterno's doghouse. But everyone knew he had all the talent in the world, and he actually quietly had a very nice senior season. I wouldn't be surprised if he turned out to be a steal.

-Cheer up, Cavs fans, you just signed former Villanova standout Kyle Lowry to an offer sheet.



It would be pretty sweet to see him playing along former St. Joe's guard Delonte West.

-Speaking of Villanova basketball players, Shane Clark, genius, via Deadspin.

-Ziller believe an avocado would do a better job than Wolves GM David Kahn, and it's hard to argue with the man.

-Even though it didn't count, this dunk was still pretty sweet:



-A list of Phillies all-stars from the past three decades. There are quite a few surprising names on that list.

-Ruben Amaro's words make me very, very angry:

Q: So are you kicking yourself now knowing that you had that pitching in Cliff Lee in December? You had to figure you would need pitching at this point, right?
A: If we had Cliff Lee we wouldn't have Roy Halladay. It's pretty simple.
Q: If you couldn't have Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, but still can get pitching help right now, why were those two things mutually exclusive?
A: Time and circumstance dictates some of the things you can and cannot do.

Q: What do you mean?
A: We just felt like we were in a position to be able to hold one guy and not to hold the other guy. We had to put ourselves in a position not to leave our club and our organization with the cupboard bare. By moving all of this talent from our organization it just made it very difficult to continue doing business long term.

Q: Do you have enough in the cupboard now to get somebody that could make a difference
A: I think we do.

Q: So then wouldn't your cupboard be bare again?
A: It depends on the deal I can make.



Q: Could you add payroll?
A: Yes.


So basically, there's absolutely no reason Cliff Lee shouldn't still be a Phillie. Awesome.

-Here's video of two highly touted recruits, UNC freshman Harrison Barnes and NC State freshman C.J. Leslie, going at it:



-I agree with Dash.

-The Braves traded Yunel Escobar and Jo-Jo Reyes for Alex Gonzalez and two minor leaguers. That's right, the Atlanta Braves just traded a 27-year-old shortstop who has batted .326, .288 and .299 in his first three seasons, before struggling to the clip of .238 this year, for a 33-year-old shortstop with a career .248 average. Yes, Gonzalez does have 17 home runs and 50 RBI somehow this year, but that's an aberration that will surely even itself out. Gonzalez has only hit more than 17 home runs twice in his career, in 2003 (18) and 2004 (23). I'm absolutely thrilled with this. Sure, Escobar was struggling this year, but he started out injured and has a pretty consistent track record, while Gonzalez is much older and truthfully not as good as Escobar. Chalk this one up for the Phillies.

-Ladies and gentlemen, The Basketball Jones still kicks ass:

Hedo Turkoglu: Party Machine, skips town from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.



TBJ exclusive: 'Multiple Sources' uncovered from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.



-Just when you think the Nets couldn't possibly sink any lower after last season's embarrassing effort, they go and hire Billy King to take over as GM for Rod Thorn. Yes, that Billy King. The one who signed Samuel Dalembert and Kyle Korver to ridiculous contracts, and Kenny Thomas, and a million other players. The GM who basically didn't do a single good thing when he was running the Sixers.



If I was Ed Stefanski (no great GM here in Philly himself), I'd get on the phone immediately and offer Elton Brand for Brook Lopez. Seems like something dumb Billy King would do.

-If you describe someone with the words his style reminds me of Brandon Jennings back in high school, then you are sure as shit going to get me to take notice:



For the record, that's Amir Garrett, and unlike Brandon Jennings, he's 6'5"

-RUN TMC was the shit:



-New LeBron commercials:



-Finally, the 2010 Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame class was named: Phil Jasner, Dick Allen, Mike Quick, Hobie Baker, Elizabeth Becker, Tom Brookshier, Ron Hextall, William Hyndman III, Bobby Jones, Leroy Kelly, Tug McGraw, Jim Phelan, Bobby Shantz, Marianne Stanley, Joe Walcott and the Lighthouse Boys Club.

No sports tonight. Enjoy life. If the rain allows.

BallHype: hype it up!

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