LOOKS LIKE HE CALLED IT - PLUS MORE ARGUEMENTS FOR "ROY II"

In a posting last week, I had noted that Delaware County Daily Times Phillies beat writer Ryan Lawrence had posted a scenario in the Daily Times on July 11 in which right fielder (and alleged blackjack pro) Jayson Werth, who is slowly devolving into Pat Burrell circa 2003-2005, would be traded for prospects, then in turn, the prospects would be traded away for a front line starter.

Well, after Jamie Moyer's career appeared to have, for all intents and purposes, ended last night after one inning in St. Louis, the pressure is on for the Phillies brain trust to bring in another top of the line starter to fill Moyer's slot.

ESPN's Jayson Stark and Buster Olney had separately reported that the Phillies were in discussion to (1) trade Werth to the Tampa Bay Rays and (2) attempt to acquire Roy Oswalt from the Houston Astros.

Here's what Lawrence said about such a scenario:

Here’s something to stuff in the G.M. suggestion box: Phone a friend (Ed Wade?) and be the ringmaster in another multi-team trade to send free-agent-to-be Jayson Werth out (Boston?) and bring a top-of-the-line pitcher in.



Would it weaken the team? Possibly. Although he has struggled lately and is as streaky as any hitter in baseball, Werth’s right-handed power bat may have more value in the Phillies’ lineup than what he would bring in return. He has batted behind Ryan Howard the last two seasons and both have enjoyed extensive success at the plate during that time.


But as the days pass and the Phils don’t announce a contract extension for Werth, it seems likely that he’ll go to the highest bidder after filing for free agency in November. Rather than wait for draft-pick compensation, the Phils may be better off trading Werth in the next three weeks.


They also have Brown waiting in the wings.


Would the Phils be too left-handed heavy with the left-handed hitting Brown replacing Werth? Not as much as you might think.


When Placido Polanco mends, the Phils will have three players — Polanco, Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino — who could be the right-handed bat to break up the Chase Utley-Ryan Howard-Raul Ibanez-Brown run of lefties. Plus, you could platoon Brown or Ibanez with right-handed-hitting Ben Francisco.

But here is why executing a three-team deal to send Werth out makes the most sense: If you’re landing a top-of-the-rotation pitcher who is signed beyond 2010, you are undoubtedly upgrading your team?


What would you rather have: Werth for 2½ more months, or Roy Oswalt/Danny Haren for the next year-and-a-half and Brown in the majors?


If the Phils can land two decent prospects for Werth and package those with their own top pitching prospect, Jarred Cosart, don’t you do that if it means pairing Roy Oswalt (3.08 ERA this season, 3.22 ERA in his 10-year career) with Halladay and Cole Hamels at the top of your rotation?

Oswalt, who is making $15 million this season, is owed $16 million in 2011 and has a club option for $16 million — with a $2 million buyout — for 2012.

It’s a deal that would improve the Phils for this year and next.

So, nearly 10 days later, it looks as though Lawrence's "suggestion" may be coming to fruition.  The third team (Boston) may have been off, but if it's any consolation, at least the team reportedly involved (Tampa Bay) is in the same division.

So, if this Werth-Oswalt trade plays out, here's something for Phillies fans to chew on.  Oswalt is having a decent, if not great, season for a terrible Houston team.  Cliff Lee, who would've been a Phillie this season had he not been shipped off to Seattle (and, later Texas) is also having a decent season, but then again, so is Roy Halladay, the player who essentially took Lee's slot in the rotation.

Another possibility for the Phils, albeit a remote one, is Arizona starter Dan Haren, although this would run the risk of turning into a debacle, a la Joe Blanton.

So, at the risk of sounding redundant, here's how the stats of potential Phils Oswalt and Haren, current Phillie Halladay, and former Phillie Lee stack up:

Cliff Lee (combined stats for Seattle and Texas)

8-4, 2.59 ERA, 15 starts, 6 complete games, 1 shutout, 121 2/3 innings, 97 strikeouts, 7 walks, 8 home runs allowed, .231 opponents average; 3 starts where he surrendered 5+ runs: May 5 for Seattle vs. Tampa Bay (5 runs, 4 earned in 8 innings), May 21 for Seattle vs. San Diego (8 runs, 7 earned in 6 1/3 innings - his shortest outing of the year), and July 10 for Texas at Baltimore (6 earned runs in a complete game loss).  And remember that Lee missed the first few weeks of the season with an injury.

Roy Halladay

10-8, 2.40 ERA, 20 starts, 7 complete games, 3 shutouts (including that perfect game at Florida on May 29), 154 innings, 134 strikeouts, 19 walks, 13 home runs allowed, .248 opponents average; 4 starts where he surrendered 5+ runs: April 26 at San Francisco (5 earned runs in 7 innings), May 23 vs. Boston (7 runs, 6 earned in 5 2/3 innings - his shortest outing of the year), June 15 at the Yankees (6 earned runs in 6 innings), and this past Sunday at Chicago (6 runs, 5 earned in 6 innings).

Roy Oswalt

6-11, 3.12 ERA, 19 starts, 1 complete game shutout, 124 innings, 117 strikeouts, 23 walks, 11 home runs allowed, .220 opponents average; 2 starts where he surrendered 5+ runs: June 5 vs. Chicago Cubs (6 earned runs in 7 innings) and June 27 at Texas (8 runs, 7 earned in 4 2/3 innings).  His shortest outing of the year was on May 31 vs. Washington, where he surrendered 4 earned runs in 2 1/3 innings; he left his last start on Sunday at Pittsburgh after four innings after suffering a left ankle contusion in the second inning off a Pedro Alvarez liner.

Dan Haren

7-8, 4.60 ERA, 20 starts, 1 complete game, 135 innings, 133 strikeouts, 27 walks, 21 home runs allowed, .287 opponents average; 7 starts in which he surrendered 5+ runs: April 10 vs. Pittsburgh (6 runs, 5 earned in 6 2/3 innings), April 20 vs. St. Louis (7 earned runs in 6 innings), May 16 at Atlanta (7 runs, 6 earned in 4 1/3 innings), May 27 at Colorado (8 earned runs in 6 1/3 innings), June 17 at Boston (6 runs, 4 earned in 5 2/3 innings), June 23 at St. Louis (5 runs, 3 earned in 8 innings), and on Friday at San Diego (6 earned runs in 5 innings).

With the exception of 2001, where he pitched in 28 games while starting 20, and 2003, where he started 21 games, Oswalt has started an average of 3x games for the Astros.  In 2003, Oswalt was placed on the disabled list with a strained groin on July 20, 2003 and stayed there for the rest of the season.  Oswalt spent the last few weeks of last season on the disabled list with lower back inflamation (retroactive to September 16, 2009).  So take that for what it's worth.

Still, in the overall scheme of things, the best move for the Phillies at this stage would be to do everything possible to obtain Oswalt, as he's signed through next season (with a club option for 2012).  Having a top three rotation of Halladay, Oswalt, and Cole Hamels (who has been getting better this season) certainly couldn't hurt the Phillies as their chances of a 4th consecutive division title slip away.

RECAP OF ALL STAR HOME RUN DERBY (Round 1)

Now, for the benefit of those who have yet to become followers of me on Twitter, here’s a recap of my running commentary from last night’s first round of Major League Baseball’s Home Run Derby.  Unfortunately, some technical issues prevented me from covering the final two rounds, but it looked pretty obvious that David Ortiz was going to win, much to the delight of Red Sox Nation.

Anyone who has ever read Bill Simmons’ columns at ESPN.com may recognize the format, up to and including a few references that you may or may not understand.  This is just a sampling of what you will encounter when your humble blogger gets into gear for football season.

My #Home Run Derby prediction: Chris Berman will annoy the hell out of me and lots of homers will be hit #Duh

The obligatory warning that Chris Berman is about to butcher yet another telecast for ESPN.

I don't want to say #Train was bad, but they should rename themselves "Vespa". #WorstTrainFailSinceSEPTAR5

I would've rather heard @SonOfADeitch @ToddZolecki duet of "Purple Rain" with @ryanlawrence21 on backup #vuvuzula than #EpicTrainWreck

@KevinMcAlpin @CrossingBroad I'm trying to remember the last time Train was relevant... This may take a while

While I didn't hear the actual performance, I did read a lot of the comments on my Twitter feed.  Suffice to say that it was not exactly one of the best performances in sports event history.  Kinda ranks right up there with the Destiny's Child fiasco at Game 4 of the NBA Finals at the Center.  Remember when some of the girls came out wearing Laker colors at what was a 76ers home game?

By the way, when was the last time that Train actually came out with a good song?  I can't seem to remember.  The reference to "Purple Rain" is an inside joke between a couple of columnists who in recent days have been commenting about various karaoke performances over the years.  I'd explain it more, but you have to follow me on Twitter...

First round of #HomeRunDerby: Chris Young (ARZ), Vernon Wells (TOR), Corey Hart (MIL), Nick Swicher (NYY) ...

#HomeRunDerby lineup cont.: Matt Holliday (STL), "Lil' Cuz" (BOS), Hanley Ramierez (FLA), Miguel Cabrera (DET)

The starting line-up... Self explanatory.

Chris Young (ARZ): 1 (or as many HR as Matt Stairs in '08 NLCS) #Homerunderby #MLB #YesAMattStairsReferenceInHRDerbyTweet

So how does this Chris Young guy get into Home Run Derby and neither Ryan Howard, Joey Votto, or Albert Pujols take part?  Meanwhile, I couldn't resist a Matt Stairs reference after Young's epic fail first round.  After all, Stairs only hit the most important home run in Philadelphia sports history since 1980...

Wells (TOR): 2; 1, 1 HR (hahaha); 2, 2 HR (hahaha) #Homerunderby #MLB #CountVonCount

The first two #HomeRunDerby participants were paying tribute to the #WorldCup final with their low output

Wells wasn't muich better in his first round effort than Young was.  So we went from 1 home run to 2 home runs.  Pretty natural segue, right?  That is, if you remember Sesame Street.

BTW, the #HomeRunDerby tracker at mlb.com - far superior to espn.com. TAKE THAT STUPID SCOTT!

There were stretches when I wondered if espn.com was actually working last night.  They seemed to lag significantly with the updates.  However, mlb.com not only had it's live home run tracker working, they also had the ESPN feed from the Home Run Derby.  Which is how I was able to keep track of the first round last night.  Thumbs up, mlb.com!

Hart (MIL): 13; If only the rest of the Brewers were more interesting than the sausage racers #HomeRunDerby #MLB #BratwurstsTopSupporter

Wasn't it just a couple of years ago when the Beermakers were actually a playoff contender?  Just saying.  Anyway, Corey Hart didn't exactly stick with the pattern as far as home run counts were concerned.  Although, there was a "3" at the end of his count, so the pattern kinda held true.


Speaking of mlb.com, they're running a live feed of ESPN's coverage of #HomeRunDerby; feel free to mute Berman and A-Rod

Correction: Feel free to mute Berman and "A-Roid" #HomeRunDerby #RepairingBotchedJoke #OhAndJoeMorganToo

@phillykelly i think everyone would be more happy if i took chris berman's job.

@phillykelly I know I would be... You and @hewish with @SonOfADeitch doing the interviewing #ChicksDigLongBall #HomeRunDerby

See later in this post for a link to Berman's "greatest hits" - such as they are.  One of my followers, Kelly Bloor, offered the suggestion that she took Berman's jobs.


You know, Berman was funny about 25 years ago when I was much younger.  Now, not so much.  Berman is the sportscasting equivalent of 50,000 vuvuzulas going at full blast.

Swisher (NYY): 4; Well, it was almost numerical order if Hart would've hit 10 fewer (1, 2, 13, 4) #HomeRunDerby #MLB #Numerology

The pattern has returned! Yay!


WHOA! What's with that dude in the Angels jersey with the Mohawk? Perhaps the only #Train fan at Angel Stadium #HomeRunDerby #BadHairDay

Seriously.  This dude was wearing an Angels jersey and had a mohawk dyed in Angels red.  Ye gods...


Holliday (STL): 5; For those who had Holliday as your winner, you're in pretty good shape right now #HomeRunDerby #MLB #GoodPredictionFiles

That would've been Epic Fail City had Holliday not rattled off four in a row to finish #HomeRunDerby #MLB #ComebackKid

Holliday was down to his last out when he ripped off four home runs in a row.  Several prognosticators had chosen Holliday to win Home Run Derby and it had looked as though those prognosticators would have been off.  And, to make things more interesting, the pattern continued!



I didn't realize that David Ortiz was having a better year than I thought... So much of that "Lil' Cuz" crack earlier #HomeRunDerby #MLB

Young and Wells are eliminated. Bye fellas. #HomeRunDerby #MLB #Blanton'd (early exit references)

Ortiz (BOS): 8; Not quite "Big Papi" yet ... more like "Older Bro" (hope this is @phillykelly approved) #HomeRunDerby #MLB #CheckForRoids

I guess this shows how much attention I've been paying to the Red Sox this season.  I knew that Ortiz was struggling a little bit at the start of the season, but 18 ding-dong-kabooms at the All Star break isn't too bad.  I had made the "Lil Cuz'" crack not knowing this, so I slowly promoted him to "Older Bro".  Round two kinda put Ortiz back to "Big Papi" status again...


HanRam needs five to send that Yankee home... Anyone outside of NYC okay with this? #HomeRunDerby #MLB #IfYouDidntKnowIHateTheYankees

Hanley Ramirez - he of the lack of hustle that resulted in his benching earlier in the season - would've made 90 percent of baseball fans very happy if he advanced to the next round by getting more than 5 home runs.


Will Ferrell: Very funny in Anchorman. Other than that ... meh #HomeRunDerby #MLB #WillFerrell

Again, self explanatory.  Although a lot of people tell me that Ferrell was more entertaining than Berman was during his appearance on the telecast.  Again, I wouldn't know, I had the telecast on mute.  Anyway, I thought Ferrell was hilarious in "Anchorman" but I found some of his other movies ("Talladaga Nights" comes to mind) less funny than some of his Saturday Night Live work.  Not that I particularly care for SNL to begin with...


It is high, it is far, Swisher is Goooooone!!! Yankee loses, THHHHEEEEE YANKEE LOSES!!! #HomeRunDerby #MLB #BadJohnSterlingImpressions

This was after HanRam's 6th home run sent Swisher home.  I always love taking shots at the worst baseball announcer in the world (yes, Phillies Nation, there are worse announcers than Chris Wheeler).

Ramirez (FLA): 9; As long as he doesn't do that against the #Phillies, I'm okay with this...

Oh, and it's raining again in West Chester... Consider yourself warned, Delaware Valley #WeatherAlert

As soon as I wrote this, another band of rainstorms barrelled through West Chester.  Anyway, as long as HanRam doesn't go ding-dong-kaboom against the Phightins, I really don't have a problem with him taking out a member of the Evil Empire in the Home Run Derby.

Holliday is now over; back to work, St Louis #HomeRunDerby #MLB #WillAvoidTheObligitoryMadonnaJoke #hrderby

HanRam also knocked out Holliday, ending his Home Run Derby.  I was so tempted to break out the Madonna song, but opted not to.

Cabrera (DET): 7; And that conlcudes the first round coverage of #HomeRunDerby, I'm ctrabs74... #MLB

@ToddZolecki at the editors desk, our engineer @SonOfADeitch, and your conductors @phillykelly @hewish @kchristine #spoofingkyw1060andSEPTA

You know when KYW News Radio does their "You give us 22 minutes" line at :15 and :45 after every hour before the sports report?  The announcer typically runs down who's at the editors desk and who the engineer is.  Anyway, you know you can't really run a SEPTA Regional Rail train without a conductor and ticket collectors, right?

For those intrested, it's NL 28, AL 21 after Round 1; No reported Drew Brees sightings, though #HomeRunDerby #MLB #AlmostFootballSeasonYAY

Or, as Jayson Stark was quick to point out, it was the same number of total home runs (49) that were hit in the first round of last year's Home Run Derby.  Unfortunately, I couldn't cover the rest of the derby because:

Computer acting up at bad time; lost feed. GRRR. Well, I guess that wraps up my #HomeRunDerby coverage for tonight...

Well, it was fun while it lasted.

@Phanatical Everytime we get hit with a "back back back back!" I answer with "quack quack quack quack!" Can't help it! #HRDerby #ASG #MLB

In case anyone wanted to endure torture not involving a vuvuzula, here's what Phanatical was talking about.

In closing, though, I guess it's safe to say Ortiz goes through to the finals... #HomeRunDerby #MLB #JustAHunch

That was pretty much a foregone conclusion after the second round.  It may be safe to say that "Big Papi" is once again "Big Papi" much to Kelly's dismay (sorry, babe).

In any event, the next posting will be sometime tomorrow, though I have no idea what I will be blogging about yet...

SO, WHAT'D I MISS?

On a day after my muscles were aching from being in air conditioning for extended periods last week, I went down to Ocean City, Maryland for the day.  Unfortunately, the rain decided to come along for the trip as well.

There is bus service that operates from Wilmington to Rehoboth, where you can connect to a system of shorter routes that connect the Rehoboth boardwalk, Lewes, the Del. 24 corridor, and Ocean City via Del. 1.  Once you get to Ocean City, bus service along the main drag, in theory, runs pretty frequently, although there are stretches where you could wait 10-15 minutes between buses, then have 4 or 5 buses show up within the next 10-15 minute stretch.  Think of it as a coastal version of SEPTA's 47 bus.

So, how is it that the State of Delaware can have such foresight to operate a decent bus system for it's beach destinations but New Jersey Transit can barely get bus service to shore points in South Jersey not named Wildwood or Cape May?  Wanna get to Sea Isle City, Avalon, or Stone Harbor via NJ Transit?  Good luck with that; it's virtually impossible other than about 5 or 6 daily round trips scattered throughout the day.

And while we're on the subject, is there any particular reason why the Delaware River and Bay Authority - who operates the Cape May - Lewes Ferry - can't be bothered to run shuttle buses that meet all ferry arrivals at the Cape May (actually, Lower Township) terminal?  A two hour walk along poorly lit U.S. 9 and other back roads through Lower Township and West Cape May just to get to the bus terminal in Cape May City is not enjoyable, especially when it's dark out...

So, I heard there was some bike race in West Chester yesterday.  What was it, the "Tour de Farce" or something like that?  It certainly must have been if the Chamer of Communists (uh, I mean, Commerce) of Greater West Chester is involved.  Anyway, don't expect me to comment much further except to say that I'm glad I wasn't there.  Too bad they didn't have a fight break out as was the case after Stage 6 of the Tour de France...

Oh, and the Phillies swept the Reds in a four game set at The Bank.  Tell me, where the hell was this team when they lost two of three to Those Braves?  Anyway, the Phightins have always been a good second half team (as was the case in 2007 during the chase for the first of three division flags), so to be 4 1/2 back of My-Lanta and within striking distance of the Metropolitan Soap Opera of Flushing, Queens going into the All-Star Break considering that the Phils resemble a MASH unit more than the defending National League champs is no cause for panic.

And Brad Lidge actually got both of his batters out today in earning his 6th save of the year.  (And there was much rejoicing, yay)...

And, finally, the World Cup is finally over.  You can now resume your lives, already in progress...

RANDOM MUSINGS FOR 6/29/10 - SPORTS RELATED

So, the Philadelphia 76ers have announced plans to hire a "ticket guru" to help boost attendance, according to the blog "Crossing Broad."  Apparently, slipping two places in the NBA attendance rankings was more of a wake-up call than the fact that the Sixers, well, sucked last season, as indicated by the 27-55 record.  So, instead of thinking about signing even a servicable free agent with some talent, the Sixers instead hire one Joseph Ondrejko as "vice president of ticket sales."

Let's just say that Mr. Ondrejko's job will be slightly more lonely than the Maytag repairman. Or the presiding district judge at Chesterbrook District Court (the slowest district court in Chester County).

The Sixers had the 25th best attendance out of 30 teams in the 2009-2010 NBA season (14,224 fans per game), which was a decline from the mediocre 2008-2009 season, when the team ranked 23rd (15,802 fans per game).  Guess the Allen Iverson experiment of putting butts in the seats didn't work as well as putting butts in the seats did in the late 1990's for the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) after Mick Foley won the WWF(E) title during a taped episode of WWF Raw in 1999 (click on the link to understand the "butts in the seats reference").

Well, as if the Sixers, who lucked their way into the second overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, didn't need any more advice, allow me to offer some.  For free, no less:

How about putting five guys on the basketball court who can actually play at a professional level?  No matter how much you hate the Celtics (personally, I can tolerate the Celtics; the Lakers, not so much - maybe it was the 10 years I spent living in New England before returning home to Philly), at least they have more than a bunch of big-time superstar players (Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen), including the most underrated superstar in the NBA, one Rajon Rondo.  (Okay, they also have Rasheed Wallace, but at least during the Flyers-Bruins series, he knew how to represent Philly.)

Wow, five talented players on the court at the same time?  What a concept.

Of course, if that fails, you can always put a Five Guys burger stand in the food court at The Center.  After all, if it's good enough for Exton Square Mall, it's gotta be good enough for The Center.  (Oh, and if you have to ask "which Center", you're not a true Philly sports fan.)

Not for nothing, but would you believe that the Chicago Bulls - who don't exactly jump out as an elite franchise than that Jordan dude retired - had the best attendance in the NBA last season?  And "Duh Bulls" - at 41-41 - barely made the playoffs.  Seriously.  Cleveland, Portland, Dallas, and the Knicks (seriously? The Knicks?) round out the top five.

(Worst attendance, not so shockingly: The East Rutherford/Exit 16W/Soon to be Brooklyn by way of Newark Nyets, who drew 13,103 fans per game at the dump off the Jersey Turnpike.)

Of course, Comcast Spectacor shouldn't have to look too far for tips on how to improve attendance at Sixers games - other than putting out a good product.  The Flyers, who the last time I checked were co-tenants at The Center, had the fourth best attendance in the NHL (19,535 per game).  Of course, having a team that knows how to win helps.  (The top five NHL teams in attendance this season - Chicago, Montreal, Detroit, Flyers, Calgary; Toronto came a close 6th despite having the 2nd worst record in the NHL.)

By the way, Ed Stefanski, my idea is such a great one, you should hire me as a "guru."  If President Obama can hire 400+ "czars" to run the government, you can certainly spring for a couple more "gurus" to make the Sixers look better.

Moving on...

Phillies played like crap last night and now there's talk that Chase Utley might miss a few games with an injured thumb.  And where was Kyle Kendrick last night?  I don't really want to talk about it, other than the fact that Kendrick wasn't himself last night.  Then again, who the hell knows who he was last night?  For that matter, who outside of Ohio actually thought that the Reds were actually a decent team?

Oh, well, we'll get them tomorrow...

Random sports transaction of the day: Providence College names Kevin Gamble "coordinator of player development and video operations for men's basketball."  Yeah, like that's going to help the Friars get out of the cellar of the Big East.  That wouldn't happen to be one of those "we're just going to create a long job title so it makes our new hire seem more important" hirings, would it?

Okay, I'm done ranting for now.  Maybe later I'll post some non-sports related stuff...