Your Friday Afternoon Phillies Roundup: Cliff Lee Teams Up with Holman Auto, Alec Baldwin Takes Jab at Philly, A Mystery Novel About the 2008 World Series

FYI- these are not promotional posts. 

– It was only a matter of time until the Clifton landed a local sponsorship deal.

There were likely a number of local businesses clamoring (I just feel haute using that word) to work with Cliff. The early winner? The Holman Automotive Group.

Perhaps you have noticed the ads at CBP or the radio spots (I believe) that say Holman will donate $125 to CADEkids for every strikeout Clifton throws.

CADEkids is headquartered in Philadelphia, and its Prevention Specialists teach students to stop and evaluate difficult situations before acting, exercise impulse control, and steer clear of substance abuse, violence, and other destructive behaviors. Currently, CADEkids programs directly impact nearly 6,000 students. Since its inception, CADEkids has touched the lives of more than 400,000 children.

Here's a letter from Cliff (on the website):

Hi, this is Cliff Lee. I'm excited to be back with the Phillies and I'm also excited to join my new team, Holman Automotive. As you all know, I really wanted to come back to Philly. Joining the Holman Automotive team was an easy decision as well, given their 87-year winning history of integrity, family values and community involvement. Together, we have teamed up to give back to the kids in our communities.

Holman will be donating $150 to CADEkids for every strikeout I throw during the 2011 season. We're expecting a great year, so follow me on 'Holmanauto.com' and watch the donation grow!

See you at the Ball Park!

Cliff Lee

Something tells me he didn't actually write that, but who cares? For every strikeout: Boom, help a child. It's a lot more productive than drinking a beer every time Wheels says "the book on him."

Speaking of books… yay transition.

– Reader Allen Schatz wrote a novel. Yes, we have readers that can write. For realsies. Impressive.

Schatz's book, Game 7: Dead Ball, a mystery novel set around the 2008 World Series, was released recently on a number of e-book readers, with the hardcover version most likely coming later this year. Schatz was nice enough to talk to us for a few minutes about the book, which is centered around an umpire calling the 2008 World Series between the Phillies and Rays. I'm about a quarter of the way through the book on the iPad- very good stuff. We'll have an interview with Allen coming up next week, for now check out the trailer for his book. Here's a link to another interview he did talking about growing up in Philly and writing a story centered around the Phils. You can download the book here.

– And finally, here's a commercial featuring Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski (Jim on The Office) talking about the Yankees missing out on Cliff Lee… and Baldwin saying how Yankee fans "don't consider Philadelphia to be a legitimate sports town."

Cliff Lee.