Delmon_young

via SB Nation

I wish I had something to write about the Phillies.

Let’s hit it!

 

But first, a word from our sponsors:

Goodbye. Our friends over at Sports Vault have a bunch of signed Ilya Bryzgalov items to move, and they’re basically giving them away.

Right on. $5 from the sale of each of Philly Phaithful’s Dutch, Heart Soul Hair shirts will go to the American Cancer Society. Get one right here.

93_Dutch

Great ticket deals. Very cheap Phillies tickets at Crossing Broad Tickets.

Survey says. An update on those surveys: The reception has been tremendous. Most of you are clicking through with no issue, and site visits have actually gone up since we started using them a few weeks ago. As a result, and as you can probably see, our dependence on advertising has lessened a bit. Still, some of you are confused by why there are “grey lines” blocking out text. Simply answer a survey question (or two) once per day and that will go away. Each survey question answer helps to support the site. As always, thanks!

 

The roundup:

The Flyers weren’t as creative as the Sixers during their draft. They stayed put and drafted a massive defenseman, Sam Morin, with their first pick. The third was used on Tyrell Goulbourne, who Paul Holmgren called “Z2,” Zac Rinaldo 2.0. Setting the bar high, they are. Full draft coverage, including videos and stuff on the Flyers’ website.

Jimmy Rollins’s and Charlie Manuel’s language is offensive. They continue to play the J. Bruce Ismay card– forge ahead, go faster, we’ll get to America soon, don’t worry about that gigantic fucking iceberg that’s right in our path. This positive, blinders-on thinking worked so well in 2010 and 2011. Now? It’s ridiculous and it’s time for a new GM and manager.

Jimmy: [Phillies.com]

“Disappointed?” Rollins said. “No, I’m not disappointed at all. This series could have been 3-1 in either direction or 2-2. They played a little better. They got the job done, and that’s all that matters.”

So he isn’t disappointed at all?

“No, I’m not disappointed,” he repeated. “We had good at-bats. One pitch in the first game, [Yasiel] Puig did a good job getting to the ball and drove in runs. Yesterday we battled back, [A.J.] Ellis beat us at the plate. They came out carrying the momentum and got some things going early.”

Jimmy Rollins, not disappointed in failure. Charlie?

“We’ve been there before,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “I think we’ve always gone the other way. There are two ways you can go. You’re either going down or up. We’ve always been able to go up, so we’ll see.”

Awesome, guys.

Kyle Kendrick has a mild concussion.

If the Rockets land Dwight Howard, Omer Asik and Jeremy Lin may become available. One potential landing spot, at least for Asik, is Philadelphia. Remember, Sam Hinkie used to be the Rockets’ assistant GM, and that may mean that, once again, we’ll be opening up that famed Houston-to-Philly trade route, a trail blazed by author Ed Wade: [CBS Sports]

If the Rockets land Howard, Asik would become expendable. One potential destination that rival executives have identified is Philadelphia, where former Rockets executive Sam Hinkie is the Sixers’ new general manager.

Hinkie was part of the Houston front office that scored both Asik and Lin with backloaded offer sheets as restricted free agents last summer. If the Knicks (Lin) and Bulls (Asik) had chosen to match the respective offer sheets, they would’ve had to structure their deals with $15 million “balloon” payments in the third year. But the Rockets only needed to account for the average of the three-year, $25.1 million deals — $8.375 million per year, a manageable number for a starting center and point guard, respectively.

Meanwhile, Andrew Bynum won’t workout for interested teams.

Bryce Brown strongly denies having anything to do with dog fighting. His Pit Bull, Ellis, was seized from a shelter suspected of dog fighting. He took to Twitter to clarify some reports:

My dog was returned to me quickly because it was obvious that she is not and never has been involved with dog fighting. Northland Pits is a respectable breeder which has unfortunately been the target of anti-breeding groups and “animal rights,” activists who know nothing about what he is doing there, and assume it is related to dog fighting due to the breed of the dogs. He is a victim in this case, just as I am. He takes great care of his dogs and Eilis wouldn’t have been breeding there otherwise.

Also, this:

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592 of the 15,929 attendees at Marlins Park were dogs.

I’m enjoying the Bill Simmons vs. Doc Rivers thing.

Paulina Gretzky is starting to look like Nicole Richie.

Larry David’s new HBO movie looks awesome. Great cast, too.

People are very high on Matt Barkley.

Ed Snowden’s baddassery continues.

Finally, Darren Daulton’s surgery is scheduled for today. Send some prayers or telepathic thoughts his way. #rightonfighton seems to be the hashtag everyone is using.