Phillies Lose Halladay For 6-8 Weeks

"Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay is expected to miss six to eight weeks because of a right latissimus dorsi strain, the latest major setback for the five-time NL East champions. Halladay was put on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday, two days after he was hit hard and pulled from a start in St. Louis after just two innings because of shoulder soreness (ESPN)."

Realy bad news for a team that relies to heavily on their rotation, because they can't hit the ball. Halladay has been starting to show his age a bit this year with a 4-5 record and a 3.98 ERA in 11 starts. This injury comes with the Phillies at 26-24 and tied with Atlanta for last in the division, four games behind Washington. With Howard and Utley still out I just don't see the Phillies being able to stay in the race. Actually, I would go as far as to say the Phillies should start looking into trading some of their rotation and begin the rebuilding process.

Dodgers Make Offer To Roy Oswalt

Rumors are going around that the Dodgers have made an offer to Roy Oswalt, but it is also being reported that the two sides are not close. From everything I have read it sounds like it is just a matter of time before the Rangers sign him. The Dodgers, Red Sox, Orioles, and Phillies are said to all be in the running, but from the start we have heard the Phillies and Rangers were the most likely. I see no chance the Red Sox will be in this. They already made him an offer during the offseason and he didn't jump on it, plus they really don't have a spot for him at this time, unless they change course and send Bard back to the bullpen.

Oswalt is rumored to be making his decision within the next week or so.

Red Sox 5, Phillies 1

Last year when the Sox played in Philadelphia, it might have been a more revealing series than we thought back then, or that seems apparent from the way the season progressed. The Sox lost 2 of 3 in Philly last year, after just having lost 2 of 3 in Pittsburgh. Then they whined. They complained about how much of a disadvantage playing in an NL park was, how much it hurt to lose the DH, et cetera.

It was a whiny sense of entitlement that was eventually forgotten because the Sox went on a 37-18 (.673) stretch of baseball after leaving Philadelphia. Then September started. Then the losing. Then the excuses again. Then September ended, and so did the season. Then came more excuses. Adrian Gonzalez blamed God. David Ortiz blamed the official scorer. The fans blamed Popeye's Chicken. The organization blamed Francona.

So maybe this time, the Red Sox' trip to Philadelphia would show some more desirable character traits. David Ortiz held a players only meeting a few weeks ago, after Josh Beckett was lit up by Cleveland. The Sox are 8-2 since that meeting. They went down to Philly and beat a hot Phillies team, fair and square. Maybe we are seeing a new kind of character from this team.

Beckett's last two outings have been impressive. 7.2 innings yesterday, allowing 1 run, walking 2, scattering 7 hits, striking out 5. He was brilliant for the first 7 innings, then tailed off in the 8th. He's allowed 1 run in his last 14.2 innings.

Mike Aviles has been a very pleasant surprise in 2012. I think it's safe to say that the organization was right about him and Bobby Valentine was wrong. He's hitting .275, he hit his 6th homerun Friday night, his 7th on Saturday, and his 8th yesterday. He's 3rd on the Sox with 27 RBI. This is very good offensive production from short-stop.

David Ortiz wasn't a liability in the field. He fielded his position quite respectably yesterday.

I honestly don't know how much the Red Sox' character has changed from last year to this. Winning tends to hide character flaws, losing tends to over-expose them. For instance, if the Sox were winning games and Beckett were pitching well, his golfing trip wouldn't have been that big of a deal.

There are still some things that irk me about this team. In the 8th, Jimmy Rollins advanced from 1st to 2nd on a "throwing error" charged to Daniel Nava on a sac-fly. The throw should have been cut off before it reached home, as Pete Orr (no relation to Bobby, although he is from Ontario and wears the #4, which I respect tremendously) was clearly going to be safe. Beckett could have cut the throw off, holding Rollins at first. Or Beckett could have been backing up the plate. He did neither. He just stood a few feet in front of the plate. And it might have turned into a big play.

What bugs me is that win or lose, this team seems to think that they're good enough that they don't have to get the little things right. They're overly confident. Cocky. When they lose, it's because of something external, like not having a DH. And in their minds, they don't have to play their asses off to win. They're entitled to win.

They have been winning lately. But take it with a grain of salt, Sox fans. The Sox have turned a corner. They've done it before. The problem is, once you turn that corner, you have to stay straight. It's like quitting smoking. It's commendable, but if you don't remain quit, then it's not that impressive.

The Sox are in Baltimore tonight. With a good series, they can claw themselves out of the cellar. With a bad one, they can dig their hole even deeper. They have the shovels. Will they dig themselves out or dig themselves deeper? Buchholz faces Tommy Hunter. Hunter seems like a guy they should hit.

-The Captain

Red Sox vs Phillies Preview

Stupid interleague play starts tonight. And it looks like we are having a weekend full of Philly mania. But it's funny, this game is a team that makes me want to throw up in the Red Sox vs a team that's city makes me want to throw up.

The Pitching matchup is Daniel Bard vs (future Red Sox) Cole Hammels. So that means we will probably lose.

I don't care about this game and nobody in Boston should.

Somehow Sox win 6-4
Player of the game Mike Avilies.

Papelbon Explains Why He Left Red Sox

"No, I don't [think so]," Papelbon said of whether the Sox properly valued his durability. "I feel like I have [been one of the most durable closers in the game]. ... I feel like I've been durable just as much as anybody else out there. I know myself better than anybody. I know myself better than any trainer in Boston, [who] tried to tell me that they knew me better. That goes with experience, knowing yourself, trusting yourself and listening to what you have to listen to and not listening to things you know aren't going to make you stay durable.

"The previous trainer tried to tell me that he knew everything about me. It's just not the case. I know myself. I knew how to get through a 162-game season. A trainer doesn't know how to do that. The trainers here have been phenomenal. They understand that I'm going to be successful because I know how to be successful. I still did things my way when I was there in Boston, I just had somebody chirping in my ear the whole time. … You stay in your own lane, you'll be fine. I'll stay in my lane, I know what I need to do, I'll be fine."

"A huge light bulb went off in my head," Papelbon said of his feeling when Francona's fate was determined. "I wouldn't say that was it, but it was about 99.9 percent [sure of not returning]. Yeah, I was shocked (WEEI)."

This interview was hard to listen to because he kept talking in the 3rd person referring to himself as "Cinco". After getting through all of that there were some interesting nuggets. First, his hatred for the training staff, which I think we can all agree on. They have given trouble to Dice-K fooling around with how he prepares, they messed everything with Ellsbury and could be a big reason why he walks out the door in a couple years, Lackey pitching when he needed Tommy John, and the list goes on and on.

I think most players backed Francona and we all knew that, but if they wanted to save his job they certainly had enough opportunities.

Yet, even though I can agree with some of the stuff he says the bottom line is that the Phillies paid him a lot more than the Red Sox were willing to. Papelbon had stated for years that he wanted top dollar. If the Red Sox offered a bigger deal he would be here, that's the bottom line and no one should lose site of that. Papelbon is 10 for 10 in save chances, and he certainly could've helped the Sox this year, but I was fine with letting up walk, and to think Papelbon left for any reason but money is foolish.

"I was trying to hit him"

So last night when I was watching the Phillies/ Nationals game, when Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels first went against Rookie Phenom Bryce Harper, he pretty blatantly hit him in the square of his back, and then in the post game, when asked about it Hamels said, "I was trying to hit him, I'm not going to deny it." Although the MLB will frown upon this and most likely suspend him (rightfully so), I love it.

I love when pitchers do these things, we saw it with Pedro all the time, and so seeing it with a pitcher like Hamels is great(Let it be known Hamels got his and got pegged, rightfully so, later in the game). But I love the message that was sent by Hamels, "listen meat, I'm a World Series winning pitcher, you aren't shit yet, welcome to the MLB asshole." Phillies also most importantly won the game 9-3.

I waiver back and forth on Bryce Harper, but so far I'm really impressed. He's 19 years old, he's batting 3rd for the Nationals, he's batting .300, and he has an absolute cannon in the OF. It will be fun seeing the Nationals getting better with Harper and Steven Strasburg.

P.S.
For those confused on why I'm defending Philly, I don't really hate their sports teams, I just hate the people that live in that drug ridden, dirty, gross, city.