Second Half of Phillies Season to Include More Baseball

"“Before the last couple of seasons, I would have said that Jamie Moyer isn’t a Hall of Fame pitcher,” said Mel Antonen, of USA Today. “I still don’t think he is.”"

Ha-ha!  Saying words is fun!
With the NL doing the unthinkable and beating the league with the Yankees in it, anything seems like its possible. Today, perhaps I will walk out of my apartment without being accosted by a wall of unapologetic street trash, or a possum with a real bad-itude.

The world is now a more accepting place of the impossible.  Never is that more evident than a Phillies division rival paying us a compliment, and as I’ve said before, it comes from the Braves.

“He’s the best. He’s a great manager. I’m fortunate to play against him all the time. He’s a great hitting guy, so I like to talk to him,” said Atlanta’s catcher Brian McCann of Charlie Manuel.  Awww, thanks Bri.  Now I feel bad for cheering until I tasted blood when Shane ran you over at the plate that one time.

Heart-fluttering compliments or not, the second part of baseball’s endless crawl of a season is about to sludge back into action, and not for a while has this NL East been as face to face as now.  The key is going to be the acquisitions of contenders, as we loom closer and closer to the trade deadline.

Teams are slowly turning to look at their GM’s, wondering what tricks, moves, or money they have planned to shove their team into a playoff spot.  Riddled with bullet holes, the Phils could try and play the “wait and see” card, in that so many of their dependable starters are on the DL, their return may be the “acquisition” in question.

But others might tell you that’s a “stupid” theory, “like, really dumb.”  The Phillies can’t sit idly by as the Braves do things like trade Yunel Escobar for Alex Gonzalez–filling in a hole–and watch the division quickly and quietly grab its pants and slip out the door after a night of passionate losing.

The Phillies themselves, or at least, Brad Lidge, don’t seem to think Jayson Werth is going anywhere just yet.  Trading prospects is longer an option, so Ruben Amaro is waltzing into this open trade season as a hefty buyer, with not a lot of bargaining chips to toss out there.  Starting pitching depth would be nice.  A steady bullpen would be divine. The bats don’t seem to be as big of an issue currently, but we’ve all seen just how quickly they can turn against you.

I mean, we do have some future Hall of Fame starting pitching.  Is it enough?  Of course not.  This team needs a second half change; some kind of spark or game changer on either side of the ball to keep the momentum going.

Well, I suppose we could all act irrational and shout our thoughts out of our mouths until what’s going to happen happens and then we all shout our words again at how we predicted it or don’t agree with it.

And that’s sports blogging, folks!  And 90% of ESPN.

Here’s some bad sportsmanship (or as we call it in Philly, “a friendly greeting”), courtesy of The Big Sharkey Show.