Billy Paultz Reconsidered

This doesn’t mean its over for the Phillies. Weird stuff happens. It’s not only possible to read too much into body language and facial expression, it’s pathically commonplace to do so.
But it is finally starting to look like the injuries, the massive personnel deficit, and the long grind of this season are wearing the Phils […]

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The second-last time I went to a Phillies game to write a column I was surprised to see Stephen A. Smith there doing the same thing.
It was a Saturday afternoon game, and there weren’t many media people there, but Smith was, and he asked Charlie Manuel some decent questions afterward, and his piece, which appeared […]

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That had to be what Orioles’ manager Dave Trembley was saying, or thinking, after getting a contract extension Wednesday and then having the Texas Rangers drop 30 on him.
Not that I can add much to what you’ve already seen and heard, but a couple standouts from a blizzard of numbers:

The Rangers had 29 hits, 21 […]

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Andrew Quarless and Willie Harriott, Penn State players cited last week for underage drinking, are back with the team, according to unnamed sources quoted by Blue-White Illustrated.
The Penn State sports-info office neither confirmed nor denied.
Elsewhere on the police blotter:

A Centre County judge dismissed four charges against Penn State safety Anthony Scirrotto, including the two big ones […]

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Again the Phillies fail to out-hit their pitching, losing for the second straight day to the Pirates. This one illustrates what a tightrope Charlie Manuel walks with his bullpen- starter Brad Lohse was terrific, and took a 4-0 lead into the seventh. Charlie let him in for (in retrospect) one hitter too many… and the […]

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So I’m at the Clip Joint covering the Barnstormers tonight (they’re down 1-0 in the top of the fourth; the game has been utterly pitching dominated except for a Clip Joint cheapie homer to right), and all these mascots are running around the park.
It turns out that one of the Cylos (one of the humans who performs as the BSers […]

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The Phillies just beat the Pirates 11-6. They had 16 hits, six extra-base hits including two home runs, one of them a three-run homer. They had one meaningless sacrifice and no stolen bases. Twice they had the man-on-second, nobody-out situation and tried to make the stupid baseball play of the hitter giving himself up to move the runner […]

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So Tim Donaghy testifies he bet on NBA games, including those he officiated, starting in 2003. More interestingly, he admits he provided associates with information including, “which crews would work games and how various players and officials interacted.”
The last part is ugly. Doesn’t it imply that refs other than Donaghy are either so incompetent or so crooked […]

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seem to have their bullpen straightened out (3.09 ERA since July 1), one wonders if the offense, brilliant all summer, is starting to struggle.
The guy who pitched Tuesday for Washington, Hill, was terrific, but the Nats looked just OK on the mound to me tonight. Lot of bad at-bats lately by a lot of the guys […]

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Russell Branyan, you can only hope to contain him…
Phil Rizzuto RIP: I always thought the Scooter was an overrated player, but as a broadcaster he became such a recognizable (and weirdly delightful) pop-culture figure that he was featured in an episode of “Seinfeld” and a hit song (Meat Loaf’s “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”).
His playing […]

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