IMG_1820Our tailgate

The Phillies beat the Astros in three straight games this weekend. Great start- exactly what we should have expected. But let's remember they faced two guys this weekend who wouldn't even crack the Phillies' 25-man roster. That's your Monday morning cold water splash.

Couple quick notes:

– Want to meet Shane Victorino, Carlos Ruiz, Cole Hamels, Pete Rose, and Steve Carlton? Sure ya do. Our friends at BC Sports have you covered. All of those guys will be at the King of Prussia Mall on Saturday, April 16th. Get tickets here.

– Plenty of Phillies-Mets tickets available at Crossing Broad Tickets. There are some available for as low as $15- well below face value. They're all here.

– Philly Phaithful's new line of baseball t-shirts were a hit on Saturday. Here's a thought: pick up the "Lefty's Alright" shirt and wear it to the autograph session. Boom- a twofer. Get them here.

– The tailgate was a huge success on Saturday. Over 200 people showed up and we chugged through almost five kegs, but never ran out of beer. We learned some things for next time (like needing two grills and more taps), but a good time was had by all. We'll most likely be doing another one in June. Pictures coming later.

The roundup:

– On Friday, J-Rollâ„¢ talked about fans getting on the Phillies' case for being held scoreless for six innings:

"We had a couple of fans jumping on us right on top of our dugout. It was kind of comical to here something about American Legion ball and how his team would have done better than that."

 

J-Rollâ„¢ took to Twitter last night to look for the fan.

J_roll_legion

Make no mistake about it, Jimmy is in Beast Mode this year.

– Here's video of Lady PhaPha jumping out of an egg.

– Jim McCormick takes a look at the Phillies' opening weekend sweep- by the numbers.

– More on the Sixers' journey to the playoffs.

– Some absolute cock from the New York Times Magazine wrote an unintelligent, butt-hurt (because the players kept brushing him aside) piece about The Four Aces. Read it here. We'll have more on it later. Here's what you're in-store for.

After more than a week, I formulated my opinion about what made these four pitchers successful. A deceptive pitch, great control and the need to stay within the boundaries of their talent. If they strayed too far from those boundaries, they feared that might destroy their success. This has made them very good pitchers, maybe even great pitchers in the game today. But in that pantheon of great pitchers throughout history, they seemed merely one-trick ponies in an age of diminished expectations of greatness. A harsh judgment? Possibly. So before I left the Phillies, I talked to one more man.

 

– Mike Richards wants to know why you don't like him wearing a Yankees cap.

– Mayberry's walk-off, with Spanish language broadcast.

Danny Briere and Blair Betts are hurt.

– Cliff Lee talks about your alcoholism.

– The new Mets manager, Terry Collins, wrote an open letter to the fans.

– This Nats fan doesn't like the Tomahawk Chop.

– Tailgating pictures coming soon.