Tag: Philadelphia Phillies

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MLB General

The Full Count: Verlander rolls along


1. This Rookie’s not fading: It’s a fact that most rookies, even the best ones, fade down the stretch. But Justin Verlander of the Tigers isn’t following that trend. In September he has two starts and a 0.60 ERA after last night’s gem against the Twins. Verlander threw 7 innings, allowing just one run and striking out 5. He earned a victory to improve to 16-7 as the Tigers rolled on against the Twins. Verlander was helped by the Tigers’ offense, which scored 7 runs and hit 4 homers. Detroit ended a 1-4 stretch with the victory and leads the Twins by 5 games.

2. The Contenders: The Phillies and Marlins started what will be an interesting four-game series over the weekend. Yesterday the Phils took Game 1 by a score of 14-8 in a game that featured great offense by both teams. For the winning Phils, Ryan Howard hit his 54th homerun of the season, his fifth jack in five days. Chase Utley had two hits and three RBIs, and backup catcher Chris Coste even got in on the action with four runs driven in. The Marlins were impressive too on offense, as Miguel Cabrera went crazy with four hits, a homer, and three runs. But their stud rookie pitcher Josh Johnson saw his ERA rise over 3.0 for the first time since May 4. He had been leading all pitchers in that category for a while, but not after the 4 innings pitched, 5 earned runs effort he had last night. The Marlins fell back to .500 a day after their no-hitter. But each team is still very much alive in the Wild Card standings.

3. The Steamroller: The Mets are literally steamrolling their way through the relatively easy National League. Yesterday they cruised by the Dodgers 7-0, as Tom Glavine pitched well enough to earn his first victory since August 5. Since June 23, Glavine is remarkably just 2-4, with an increased ERA as well. Two wins in two-and-a-half months are very bad luck for a pitcher on the NL’s best offense, which showed off as well in the win. Jose Reyes hit what was surprisingly his first career inside-the-park homerun. David Wright went 2-2, drove in a run, and scored. And Carlos Beltran hit his team-leading 113th RBI. Brad Penny of the Dodgers got smoked for all seven runs and exited with a loss.

4. No Hafner, no problem: The Cleveland Indians lacked big-time DH Travis Hafner last night, who hasn’t played since the 1st with an unknown injury. But that was no big deal for their offense, even against the defending World Champs. Cleveland easily outclassed the White Sox yesterday, winning 9-1. Victor Martinez and Grady Sizemore each homered for the Tribe, who pumped out 17 hits on the night. The loser for the White Sox was Mark Buehrle, who has been plagued by inconsistent play recently. He left after 4 innings, allowing 5 runs and 10 hits on the day. The loss dropped him to 12-12, including a 3-6 mark since the break. The Indians have now outscored their opponents by 81 runs this season, a remarkable figure considering their 67-72 record.

5. The Quiet Pursuit of an All-time Record: An MLB player is about to break a major record, yet even baseball fans haven’t been hearing about his chase. He is Padres closer Trevor Hoffman, who has been one of the league’s most underrated players for a while and is closing in on the saves record. Hoffman leads the National League with 37 saves this season, and has closed out more than half of the Padres’ 73 wins. He hasn’t even allowed a run since July 28. More importantly, Hoffman is just 5 away from Lee Smith’s mark of 478 saves. He’s on pace for six more saves this season, meaning that he should break the record.Why this isn’t a bigger story is beyond us. Mariano Rivera gets all the publicity, but Hoffman has been just as good for just as long in the regular season. The only thing he doesn’t have is the playoff experience. Still, he’ll retire the all time saves leader, and that should be enough to get anyone into the Hall of Fame.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Special August Wrap-up Edition



Often compared to Willie Stargell

1. He’s good. Real good: The Phillies lost to the Nationals last night, but that wasn’t the most important thing going on in that game. It was Ryan Howard’s continued dominance at the plate. Howard jacked his 49th homerun of the year, breaking Mike Schmidt’s single-season franchise record with a month left in the season. Howard has now hit an RBI in 9 straight games and homered in 6 of those games. His August will go down as the best month of the season by any player, as Howard hit 14 homeruns and 41 RBIs for the month. He also hit .348 and slugged .750 on the month and put up a stratospheric 1.214 OPS. The most incredible part of all this? Howard’s just 26 years old and playing in his first full season.

2. Santana strikes again: Who do you call when you need a win? Call on Johan Santana. The pitcher had a great start against the Kansas City Royals, who were actually on the brink of sweeping the Twins. He struck out 11 and pitched seven innings for his league-leading 16th win of the season. Johan just completed a truly special month of August. He went 4-0 with a 2.32 ERA and 47 strikeouts, first of any pitcher in the month. The win improved him to 7-0 after the break this year and 37-3 after the break since 2003. The Twins won 3-1 and are a half-game out of the Wild Card.

3. Where did this come from?: Putting it lightly, Astros pitcher Andy Pettitte sucked the first half of the season. He posted a 5+ ERA each of the first three months and allowed opponents above a .300 batting average. But now, Pettitte is starting to produce like a machine. In August he put up a 2.43 ERA and 44 strikeouts, both very comparable to Santana’s numbers above. Though he just went 3-2 and still has a .500 record on the season, Pettitte is looking more like himself from last year, when he went 17-9 with a 2.39 ERA. Last night he pitched seven innings while only allowing 5 hits and 1 earned run to the Brewers. With Pettitte in addition to Roger Clemens and the recently resigned Roy Oswalt on the pitching staff, the Astros are looking good as they head into September.

4. New York, New York: Both teams from the Big Apple had particularly good months. The Mets finished the month with a loss yesterday but overall posted an outstanding 19-8 record. They gained the best record in baseball, 82-50, in the process. The Mets are 15.5 games ahead of the second-place Phillies in the division, still the only double-digit lead of any team, and they would be 11 games up on the Cardinals if they were in the same division. That’s quite an accomplishment considering the Cards have finished with the best record in the NL for two straight years and are in second this year. And how `bout them Yanks? For them it’s been a great month for them and a bad month for their rival, you-know-who. NYY was tied with the BoSox on August 1, but after their success and Boston’s struggles have opened up an 8 game lead. By the way, that is the second-largest lead in all of baseball. So if you don’t think another Subway Series is a reality this season, you better reconsider.

5. Back to the Bay: After lasting two years with the Boston Red Sox, David Wells is moving on in his career once again. Wells is going back to the San Diego Padres, his hometown team who he played with in 2004. Wells was sent to Cali in a trade for a minor league catcher. Padres GM Kevin Towers thinks Wells is the difference for this team as they look to keep a lead in the Wild Card race.

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Philadelphia Phillies

Odds and Ends: Ryan Howard for MVP



MVP! MVP! MVP!

Last night, Ryan Howard tied Mike Schmidt atop the Phillies all time Home Run single season list with 48. As people have been prediction for a while, it was an inevitability. There was a time (right around the Bobby Abreu trade) that the only reason to watch the Phillies was Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. Now the Phillies are within 1/2 a game of the wild card and serious consideration needs to be given to Ryan Howard for MVP. More praise for Howard in the blogosphere here and here.

In other news…

[Yahoo]: US Beats Germany to advance to face the Greeks

[Toronto Sun]: The Homeless World Cup

[ESPN]: English soccer player arrested for pulling a “Zidane” in the street

[Project Spurs]: Tony Parker on the cover of NBA Live 07

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MLB General

The Full Count: Phillies making a run


1. Here we come: One of the quietest yet most important stories lately has been the Philadelphia Phillies’ transformation from losers to contenders. Though everyone thought they were out of it after they traded Bobby Abreu for future prospects, they have suddenly rebounded and are in the NL Wild Card race. The Phils have won 5 in a row and 8 of 10 after they beat the Cubs last night. Jimmy Rollins drove in a run in the ninth to win it 2-1, while Ryan Howard’s earlier homerun gave him 44 on the year. Brett Myers pitched fantastically to win his 9th game of the year, as the Phillies improved to 16-8 since the Abreu trade. They are 1.5 back of the Wild Card after the Reds lost yesterday.

2. Two teams, a half game: That’s all that separates the Twins and the White Sox in the AL Wild Card race after both teams won yesterday. The 74-52 won their only game of the series against the Tigers by a 7-5 margin. Jermaine Dye hit a three-run homer, his 35th of the year, while Joe Crede hit two out as well. Bobby Jenks saved his league-leading 36th game of the year. Meanwhile, the 73-52 Twins beat the Orioles 4-1. Matt Garza, who is temporarily replacing Francisco Liriano in the rotation, pitched his first good start after two poor outings. He allowed no earned runs in six innings as Torii Hunter homered and Michael Cuddyer drove in 3. Both teams are still well back in the division but one looks to make the playoffs as we head down the stretch.

3. An untouchable offense: Despite scoring a combined 15 runs in their last two games, the St. Louis Cardinals have dropped both of them. That’s because the Mets offense has been even better, and they showed that yesterday in a 10-8 victory. Jose Reyes homered, drove in 3, and stole two bases to give him a league-leading 52 on the season. Slumping David Wright, who is hitting .211 on the month, had two RBIs. The Mets roughed up Mark Mulder for 9 earned runs in his first start after a lengthy stint on the DL. The Mets have the second-best record in the majors, while nine AL teams have better record than the Cards.

4. Even more scoring: If you’re one of the few who think the Mets-Cardinals series just doesn’t have enough scoring, then you would have been satisfied by the Indians-Royals game yesterday. The Indians started the scoreboard with Travis Hafner’s 39th homer of the season in the first. But in the bottom of that inning the Royals answered in a big way, with 10 runs. But the Tribe scored in each of their next 4 innings, making the score 10-9. The Royals scored three more runs then to put the margin at 4. But incredibly, Cleveland scored 4 runs in the ninth to tie the game up at 13. They won in the 10th on Hector Luna’s two-run single. The Indians’ 15-13 win showcased what their problems have been this year. While they have scored the 4th-most runs in the majors, their pitching staff has been too inconsistent. While they have shut their opponents out 12 times, second-most in the majors, they have only recorded 18 saves, by far the fewest in the majors. What a strange season for such a capable team.

5. Setback for the Yanks: The Yankees won again yesterday, 9-2 over the Mariners. Chien-Ming Wang won his 15th start as four players had multi-RBI days. While they now lead the division by 6.5 games and have scored the most runs in the league, it isn’t all good news coming from New York. Mike Mussina, the team’s ace this season, is hitting the 15-day DL. While the Yanks initially thought he would only miss one start, manager Joe Torre and Mussina decided it would be best for him to go on the DL. Admittedly the injury won’t affect the potent Yankees that much over the 15 days he is out. But if Mussina declines in any way after his return or the injury lingers, it could be a huge blow for a team that is poised to make an October run.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Royal pain in the ass


1. Beating the Royals: We’re not sure whether defeating Kansas City is getting harder or if teams are just taking them lightly. Either way, the Royals, who swept Boston last week, were in position to take a four game series against Chicago yesterday. But the White Sox won to split the series at two games a piece. Mark Buehrle was victorious for the first time in 9 starts, with two earned runs allowed in a quality start. Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, and Jermaine Dye each drove in runs for the White Sox, who held onto the Wild Card lead with the 5-4 victory. With a Minnesota loss last night they lead the Twins by 2.

2. Embarrassment avoided: The Mets hadn’t just been beaten by the Phillies for three straight games, they had been crushed. Philly won the first 3 games of a 4 game set by a combined score of 27-4, including two shutouts. But the Mets retaliated with a little offense and slick pitching of their own in a 7-2 victory. Their 3-4 punch of Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado was very effective in the win. Beltran went 4-5 and hit his 34th homer of the year. He now has a team-high 99 RBIs on the season. Delgado was even better, with 2 homeruns and 4 RBIs on the day. He has a respectable 28 and 78 this season. Pitching-wise, John Maine was effective again, with 6 solid innings and two runs allowed. The runs were because of Ryan Howard’s 42nd shot of the year, tying him with David Ortiz for the ML lead. With the win the Mets kept a 13-game lead in the division.

3. Lack of focus?: Maybe the Yankees couldn’t concentrate with all the hype that is already surrounding their upcoming 5-game set with the Red Sox. Whatever happened, they didn’t look like themselves in their 12-2 loss to Baltimore. While their offense could only muster two solo shots against pitiful starter Rodrigo Lopez, the Yankees’ pitching was even worse. Jaret Wright, who is very inconsistent, had one of his worst days yesterday with 5 earned runs allowed. He also allowed a homerun for the first time in over 50 innings, snapping a major-league long streak. Octavio Dotel, in his second appearance of the season for New York, allowed 3 runs in less than an inning. New York now heads into the Red Sox series with a 1.5 game lead over their heavy rivals.

4. What happened?: The Padres had seemingly captured the division lead until the Dodgers went on their tear. Now it seems like San Diego can’t even win a game. They just took a four game sweep to San Francisco and have lost 8 of their last 10. Jake Peavy lost yesterday to bring his record to an outstanding 6-12, the second most losses of any NL pitcher. He didn’t even have a bad start, but the Padres failed to support their staff until a pinch hit grand slam in the 9th inning by Josh Barfield. Suddenly the Padres, who had led the NL West for about two months, find themselves with a losing record and in 3rd place.

5. You’re out!: As suspected, eight members of the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels were suspended for their roles in Wednesday’s brawl. Managers Mike Scioscia and Buck Showalter were among those who will miss some action. Showalter will miss four games, while Scioscia will only miss three for some reason. Adam Kennedy, who started the fight by charging the mound, will only get 4 games compared to reliever Scott Feldman’s 6. Feldman did hit Kennedy with the pitch, but we think that the person who actually started the fighting should get a more severe punishment. A few other players won’t see action over the weekend for both teams.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Chipper comes off the DL with a bang



3 HR night

1. Chip off the old block: Chipper Jones wasted no time returning to form after his stint on the DL for the Braves. Jones hit 3 homeruns at RFK stadium against the Nationals in just his second game back. It was his first career three-homer game and brings his career total to 350. Chipper went 4-5 to up his title-contending average to .339. Also for the Bravos, Matt Diaz went 4-5 and at one point had a hit in 10 consecutive at-bats. Diaz had gone 2-2 on Saturday and 4-4 on Sunday. His 10 hits in a row streak tied an NL record. The Braves won 10-4. They are still a whopping 16 games back in the division but trail by only 5.5 in the Wild Card race.

2. Run over by a train: We’re not sure if Pedro Martinez and the Mets were altogether ready for last night’s game against Philadelphia. While they lead the Phillies by more than a dozen games and have practically guaranteed themselves a playoff berth, the Mets still need to put on better showing than they did yesterday. They were dominated 13-0 by the Phils. Pedro Martinez only lasting the first inning, in which the Phillies scored 6 runs. According to ESPN.com, it was the first time in 10 years that Pedro had not gone at least 3 innings in any given start. Leadoff man Jimmy Rollins continued his hot streak by going 3-3 with 3 RBIs. Chas Utley added two more ribbies, while Abraham Nunez drove in three himself. The Phillies also got an excellent start from Cole Hamels, who put together his fourth consecutive quality start. He is 3-1 during those starts with 34 strikeouts.

3. Mean streak: The schedule-makers did not give the Detroit Tigers a very easy ride in August. After series last week against the Twins and White Sox, they now travel to Boston to face the Red Sox. They had lost five straight games, their longest such streak of the season, before last night’s much needed 7-4 edging of the BoSox. Sean Casey drove in two runs while Dimitri Young added three hits. Starter Nate Robinson picked up his 11th win with a quality start. For the Red Sox, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez combined to go 1-6, which is probably the reason they lost. The Tigers still lead the charging White Sox (who beat the Royals 12-2) by 5.5 games.

4. Making their run: Has there ever been a season that the A’s haven’t performed well in the second half? It’s certainly hard to remember, as there has been more of the same this year. The A’s have quietly won 9 of their last 10 games. They are now 14 games over .500 and lead their division by 5.5 games. This is all despite having narrowly outscored their opponents on the year, 530-525. in fact, the A’s offense simply stinks; that total is the second-lowest runs scored of any team in the AL. But when your pitching staff has a 4.16 ERA, you don’t need to worry about trivial matters like hitting. It looks to me like the A’s, who won 5-4 yesterday with Frank Thomas and Nick Swisher homeruns, will return to the playoffs this year.

5. Combined effort: Most shutouts might involve one or two pitchers. Not with the Giants yesterday. Starter Brad Hennessey was taken out after 5.2 innings and 70 pitches, but five relievers held up the 0. Armando Benitez, who had blown three consecutive save opportunities, held up in this one.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Red Sox Swept by a AAA team?


1. A Royal Sweep: What has happened to the Boston Red Sox? The team, once dominant over the AL East, has lost five straight games. They have fallen from first place to 3 games back in that span, and they are just not looking good right now. The Kansas City Royals of all teams just hammered the Sox in a three game sweep. Yesterday they prevailed 5-4, despite an incredible 8th-inning single by David Ortiz that many national columnists are calling “clutch.” Anyway, the Royals got three hits and two RBIs by vet Reggie Sanders, and a decent start by Runelvys Hernandez, who had allowed 17 runs in his previous two outings. For the Red Sox, Curt Schilling allowed an uncharacteristic 11 hits and 5 runs to one of the league’s worst offenses. Until the Red Sox can figure out what’s going on, the Yankees have a chance at dominating the division.

2. Different Sox, different story: Ready to take some more blame, Alex Rodriguez? The Yankees slugger, who had been relatively quiet for like a week, made a costly throwing error against the White Sox. His errant throw let Jermaine Dye score, and four runs total crossed the plate that inning. So with those runs and a Scott Podsednik RBI, the White Sox won to take the series of three. Javier Vasquez walked six but struck out 8 and Bobby Jenks closed the door for his AL-leading 31st save. With that Chicago was able to re-pass Minnesota for second place in the division. The 76-38 Tigers, who were off yesterday, still loom large in first.

3. Back to the normal: The Earth rotates, the sky is blue, and the Houston Astros are in Wild Card contention. Those are the facts of life these days. The `Stros, who have won the Wild Card and advanced to the NLCS for two consecutive seasons, are now two games back after sweeping the Pirates. Roger Clemens pitched last night to close out the series, with his 4th win of the year. Incredibly the Rocket has allowed three earned runs or less in each of his 10 starts. So now the Astros, despite an underwhelming record of 56-58, trail the leading Reds by just 2.5 games. In the American League, their record would put them 11.5 games out.

4. One game changes everything: San Diego had the NL West lead when they woke up on Thursday. Now, after they lost and the Dodgers won, the Padres find themselves tied for second. SD lost to El Duque Hernandez of the Mets, who after early struggles has won four straight decisions. The Dodgers, meanwhile, defeated the Rockies despite an ace performance by their starter Jason Jennings. Underrated youngster Andre Ethier hit his 11th homerun for LA. They lead both the Padres and the Diamondbacks (who were off) by a half-game. With how crazy this division is, however, the Dodgers could find themselves in third place by tomorrow.

5. Don’t believe it Phillies fans: The Fightins might be 3 games out of Wild Card contention and starting a series against the Cincinnati Reds who lead the WC race but don’t get your hopes up. This is, after all, the Phillies. They will break your hearts every time. Even worse so because they give you some hope. Just move it along. Move it along to football and the Eagles. This has been a public service announcement from Sportscolumn blog.

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MLB General

The Full Count: It’s some sort of no hitter… right?



6 no-hit innings

1. You can’t hit me: What a tumultuous year Greg Maddux has had. After going 5-0 in April, Maddux lost 11 of his next 16 decisions. Then, he was traded to the Dodgers last week. Maybe that will start another upswing, as last night in his LA debut Maddux was almost perfect. He allowed no hits in 6 innings against the Reds but was taken out after only 72 pitches due to a rain delay. He won his 10th game of the season and 328th of his career as the Dodgers blanked the Reds 3-0. Takashi Saito recorded his 11th consecutive save chance of the year, and Los Angeles in now on a roll. The team has won 6 in a row and they are now three games back of San Diego for the division lead.

2. Let there be losing: The St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds still have control of the Central division and Wild Card leads. But neither team has really helped their stock lately. After last night’s 8-1 loss to Philadelphia, the Cardinals have lost seven in a row. Chase Utley of the Phillies recorded three hits to extend his hit streak to 35, while Cole Hamels struck out 12 in the best start of his young career. St. Louis is still up by 3.5 due to the Reds’ five-game losing streak (see above). Milwaukee and Houston have hardly gained any ground either, with .500 play in their last 10 games. Some could even make a case now that the Central division is worse than the West.

3. Where was this?: Mark Teixeira puzzled fantasy owners and Rangers fans alike with his muddling 9 homerun, 49 RBI first half. But in the second half, he has shown the power that gave him 43 homers last year. Tex has equaled his first-half homerun total already with 9 since the break. He has a 1.15 OPS in that time, shaming his first-half .797. last night he hit probably his most important homer of the season, a 12th inning shot that lifted the Rangers 7-6 over the Angels. The win put Texas just a half game back of the Angels for second place in the division, and there are still three games left to play in this series.

4. Welcome to the Club: After Toronto took 3 of 4 from the Yankees in July, New York was ready to roll the next time these two teams met. They just swept a series from the Jays, showcasing their new acquisitions in the process. Yesterday Cory Lidle won his first start in a Yankees uniform, Bobby Abreu went 3-5, and Craig Wilson hit two RBI. The Yanks have now won 8 of their last 9 to take first place from the stunned Boston Red Sox. They will have an easy series next as they face the pitiful Orioles, though after that they play the White Sox and Angels.

5. The Next Best Thing: After losing team captain and leader Jason Varitek, the Red Sox will get help at catcher. The team is close to a deal with the Orioles for Javy Lopez. Lopez is upset because of his lack of playing time, and is only hitting .265 with 31 RBI. The catcher was an All Star in a record-breaking 2003 season in which he hit 43 homeruns. Now he is in the final year of a contract signed with Baltimore after that season, and he is not happy. Lopez will be traded with cash for a player to be named. The O’s are fine at catcher with near-All Star Ramon Hernandez.

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MLB General

The Full Count: Chase streak at 34


1. One Crazy Night: If you like great pitching matchups or low-scoring contests, then the Phillies-Cardinals game last night was not for you. The Cardinals came into the game with five consecutive losses, and they needed a win against the weak Phillies at home. But unfortunately, Jeff Weaver was pitching for them. Weaver has maintained a consistent 6+ ERA all season, and last night was no different. He allowed 7 runs to the Phils, including a lead-off homer to Jimmy Rollins. After the 5th inning the Phillies were up 8-2, but the Cards stormed back to knock Brett Myers out of the game. Suddenly the Phillies lead had disappeared and the Cardinals had made it an 8-7 game. But then Philadelphia put the game away with a 5-run eighth, including a hit by Chase Utley to extend his hitting streak to 34. the hit was initially ruled an error, but it didn’t matter anyway because Chase added a single in the ninth. The final tally was 16-8, with St. Louis losing yet another game. They are still 3.5 up on the second place Reds, who have lost four in a row themselves.

2. Here we go: It’s August now, which means it’s time for another run by the Houston Astros. They won their 3rd game out of 4 last night to put themselves within 7.5 of the division leading Cardinals. Brandon Backe had one of his better starts as the team bested San Diego 7-1. Despite playing without stud first baseman Lance Berkman, the Astros were able to put some runs on the board. Craig Biggio, who amazingly is still playing, hit two homers to bring his season total to 13. For the Padres, this is their fifth loss in their last six games. They still have held onto the division lead, but who knows what will happen in the West.

3. Pitching beats pitching: When the Angels and the A’s get together, you know you’re in for a low-scoring contest. Both teams have won with great pitching despite awful hitting. A series between the teams has now wrapped up, and the A’s won this important divisional battle. Last night (amazingly) Esteban Loaiza did not get shelled! He won the game, only his fourth win of the year. Just imagine where the A’s would be without Loaiza, who is allowing a .322 batting average to opposing hitters. But he came up big in a big game last night, and Oakland now has a 1.5 game lead over their Anaheim rivals.

4. Bad Decision: The Indians traded away aging closer Bob Wickman in part because they wanted to see what youngster Fausto Carmona could do. Well now they’ve seen, and they would probably like that trade back. Carmona has allowed 9 runs in his last 3 appearances, losing each time out. He gave up another Boston Red Sox ninth-inning win yesterday, with Mark Loretta doubling to win the game. The Red Sox and the Yankees both won yesterday, and they are still virtually tied for the AL East lead. The Yankees have crushed Toronto to basically put them out of the race.

5. Ailing pitchers: A variety of pitchers are out with a variety of injuries, and Full Count is here to give you the scoop. Kris Benson, who has been mediocre in his first year with the Orioles, will likely be headed for the 15-day DL. But Chan Ho Park is in much bigger trouble. He will need a blood transfusion to treat intestinal bleeding that has plagued the Padres starter lately. Don’t expect him to pitch for a few weeks. Francisco Liriano won’t be put on the DL, though he missed his start last night with an elbow issue. But–ready to be shocked?–there is some good news for one pitcher. Kerry Wood, who has been injured nearly his entire life, has opted to forego surgery on his shoulder. But it’s still unlikely that he will pitch the rest of the year.

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Philadelphia Phillies

Odds and Ends: Heckling Brett Myers

From The 700 Level comes this photo of a sign at the Phillies game yesterday. It probably isn’t the cleverest sign but we think the woman was trying to make a statement about domestic violence and not just trying to be clever. Go figure.

In other news…

[ESPN]: Looks like Mark Cuban won’t be headed to the NHL after all

[Yahoo]: Landis well taught by Armstrong on art of winning

[RaptorBlog]: John Salmons rejects Raptors offer

[Toronto Star]: Ricky Williams fractures forearm — out 4 to 6 weeks

[Rival Room]: TOP FIVE MLBers YOU’D HATE to HAVE SLEEP WITH YOUR SISTER

[True Hoop]: Shawn Kemp denies marijuana use