* Jonathan Papelbon notched his 16th save on Saturday, helping the Sox to a 1-0 win over the Giants (en route to a 3-game sweep). Is it wrong that I cross my fingers and hope the Sox are only up by 3 or less every 8th inning? [The Times says the Sox are winning for all the wrong reasons]- I say, keep those wins coming.
* On the other side of Fenway Park, guitar-strumming hottie Barry Zito was wondering what the heck has gone wrong for him so far. He’s 6-7 with a 4.41 ERA this year, just after signing the largest contract ever given to a pitcher (not named Clemens). [$126MM smackeroos can change a lot of things, I guess.]
* A very deep sigh of relief: Aaron Rowand left the game early yesterday after limping away from the plate, but he says he’ll be back in the lineup tonight. WHEW. [Bacon Pants- Whatever it is you’re doing to give yourself a “cramp in your left groin and calf”, please stop it. Love, Clare & TG] Also, Clare & TG are steadfastly ignoring any and all possibilities Mr. Rowand will be traded away from Philly, because surely the Phils’ front office couldn’t be that crazy, right? Ahem.
* Chipper Jones, switch hitter and old school hottie extraordinaire (remember his cute rookie face back in ’95?), racked up his 2,000th career hit yesterday. [The Chip played it off as “pretty cool”] – I think Larry wants to celebrate at Hooters.
* So, what’s gonna happen with Michael Barrett? Even this giant Cubs homer can see he’s struggling behind the plate- and that’s not even taking the arguments with Zambrano and Hill into account. [Someway, somehow, I’d like to blame this all on Dusty Baker.]
And, oh yeah- Angel Cabrera won the U.S. Open. Big whoop. Call me when he can rock a pair of plaid pants like hottie Aaron Baddeley.
Ladies... 
And our favorite Formula One hottie, Lewis Hamilton, won again! Weee.
Trading Rowand? Exactly who the hell would take his place? They’d have to get an OF in return, because they’re surely not stupid enough to put Burrell in left field every game. Christ, they’re forced to play Greg Freaking Dobbs in left field the way it is.
Incidentally, I think you should remove Burrell from the Ladies… banner at the top of the page, unless you replace his current picture with another of him blankly staring at a third strike.
I so want to believe Bacon Pants had a cramp in his groin (and wouldn’t you like to be the trainer whose job it is to…to massage…um…oh my God, I can’t even finish the thought, it’s too delicious) but with the Phillies you can’t believe any injury report you hear, and it looked an awful lot on the replay like he twisted that janky ankle of his.
And don’t you dare call him Greg Freaking Dobbs, RUTS. Decent fielding, good production at the plate, fills out a pair of baseball pants nicely…I bet he’s gone after this season too, and I’m going to miss him.
He’s certainly been a pleasant surprise, because they’d be eleven kinds of screwed without him. I really hope they don’t get rid of Rowand, for purely Heterosexual Mancrush reasons. He gives them a degree of added toughness and leadership that they’d be otherwise lacking (except for Chutley).
RUTS: They’d play Bourn in center, continue to play Pat in left- Dobbs platooning where necessary. WHICH WOULD SUCK. Aaron is on fire this year, and if they trade him, they would basically be saying they don’t give a shit about the postseason.
Pat stays on the banner as long as he’s HOT. Which he is, even though he’s slower than molasses and is batting .211.
And any man who has a Man-Crush on Aaron is all right in my book. You get bonus points for that.
Clare: the only reason I believed that report was because it sounded like the reporter talked to Aaron himself. Which probably makes me a big sucker- because I’d believe anything Aaron says.
And I think Dobbs has a very bright future ahead of him… like Victorino, I think once he’s given the chance to start on a regular basis, he’ll shine.
Like I said on Zolecki’s blog this morning, if Gillick is going to trade Rowand, I wish he’d do it now and cut it out with this “will he? won’t he?” bullshit. Just do it fast like ripping off a Band-aid.
All of a sudden, this has turned into a Phillies blog and I like it!
As mad as I would be at a Rowand trade, I’m 10x more scared that he’ll leave of his own volition as a free agent in the offseason. Philly would have to pony up some nice bucks to get him to stay- and the ChiSox would pay that kind of money to have him back.
I DEMAND A LEWIS HAMILTON POST!
I didn’t want to open the can of worms- but I don’t consider the guy who drives a car around and around in circles to be an athlete. Therefore, as hot as he may be, I’m not going to talk about him here as a hot athlete.
Metsy’s your girl for F1 stuff- quit your demandin’, and talk sweet to her, and maybe she’ll include him in her post tomorrow morning.
Well, as much as I don’ care about auto-racing, it is very physically demanding.
(Then again, so is being an astronaut.)
Exactly- so is being in the Green Berets or a postal carrier or a sanitation engineer. But none of those dudes are athletes.
All in my opinion, of course. And I have no idea whether any of the other Ladies… agrees with me on that. (I’m also pretty sure there are lots of Philly fans who’d say Pat Burrell isn’t an athlete, either- what with the not hitting or fielding or running.)
I never said that Lewis Hamilton was an athlete. I just said he was hot.
Plus, F1 drivers make left AND right turns, so it ain’t just circles.
Well, we only do hot athletes here- not just hot dudes in general. So if he ain’t an athlete (to me), he ain’t gettin’ a post (by me).
(and isn’t a closed circuit just one giant circle? granted, it’s more artful than a NASCAR loop…)
And thus concludes the only time you will ever see me post anything about any form of racecar driving. I’ve exhausted all my knowledge on the topic- which is to say, none at all.
Anthony: I’ll throw that hottie a link tomorrow.
Of course, it’s just because that gives me an excuse to stare at his pictures.
I like you, despite your love for the Mets.
Texas, I also like you, despite your disdain for motorsports, which I have only begun to enjoy in the last month or two anyway.
:hugs:
Well, you know I got nothin’ but love for my fellow Cubs fan. Even though you are distracted by the HOBBY of motorcar racing. (hee!)
Big ups.
Clare — I’m all for the new Ladies Phillies Blog, but are you ready for the Iron Pigs?
What a bullshit article about the redsox. The NY media is pissed the Yankees are so far behind they decide that the wins arent worth as much because Manny Ortez isn’t hitting as many homers, even though Manny is catching fire and Ortiz is #2 in OBP?
If Clare and I were ever to start a Ladies…-style blog about the Phillies? I don’t think we would ever be able to accomplish anything, and would just look at hot Philly photos all day long.
Wait, we do that already.
Baba: couldn’t agree more. I found that whole thing to be patronizing. “Yeah, you’re winning, but you’re not doing it the way we think you should.”
The NYT says the Sox are Winning For All The Wrong Reasons? What in the hell does that mean? Hey Times, that’s better than Losing For All The Right Reasons. Like you said, just keep on winning.
The day Rowand is traded is the day I really really try to stop watching the Phillies. Of course, I still will have Madson (god willing) but no Rowand? More proof the front office won’t shell out money to win. Ever.
Its almost as bad as the douche who thinks that the knuckleball should be outlawed just because not alot of people throw it and then goes on to say that it makes the game too long.
If they ever outlawed the knuckleball, the terrorists will have won.
And Cameron- I understand your pain completely. And I won’t stop watching the Phils, but I will be PISSED.
Phillies and Indians tonight. A lot of hotness in that game!
No joke! It’s a veritable buffet of hotness.
Now when the Phils play the Braves? GAME OVER. Hotness overload.
Why does everyone love Aaron Rowand so much?
My poor Michael Barrett. At this point, what team will trade for him? I’d like to see him go to the Dodgers, so that A) the blue in the uniforms will bring out the blue in his eyes, and B) he can beat up Brad Penny.
Check that. I’d much rather see him beat up Jeff Kent.
Anthony: Because he rules. He is grinder ball at it’s very best, full of heart and hustle. And he’s one of the top 15 batters in all of baseball. Also, he is SMOKING HOT.
Chitowntiger: He would also be reunited with Nomah.
Smoking hot indeed! But honestly? Its like Texas gal said… he’s one hell of a ballplayer…hes fun to watch and even if he wasnt hot he would still be batting .320something and as a phillies fan, you gotta love that.
If they trade Aaron Rowand, I’ll cry. For the rest of the season. And part of next. Seriously.
Personally, I like Rowand, but I do not think he is the kind of guy you ride to a championship. He is a complimentary piece to the puzzle, and he is hitting way over his head this season. He is a career .270-.280 hitter who will give you the Score all season pining for Aaron Rowand, and not a single one of them has a reason other than “He’s a grinder. He has the fire and the passion.” One guy went so far this weekend as to say that Rowand is a better option for the Sox next year than Torii Hunter, Bobby Abreu or Ichiro Suzuki. Like I said…I like Rowand, but he is not a franchise player. There are probably 4 or 5 guys I would pluck from the Phillies before I got to Rowand.
Ok. WordPress deleted about 80% of my reply, so, please forgive the fact that it does not seem to make any sense.
The Sox will likely not have the money or the cache to get Hunter or Suzuki. Abreu is a joke. The city of Chicago (south side) and the Sox as a ballclub are INFATUATED with Aaron.
Playing “above your head” with heart is one of the biggest reasons the Sox won the World Series in 2005. And I think it is foolhardy not to recognize that the intangibles (heart, grit, leadership, camaraderie) play a huge role in the success of a ballclub. Aaron is a throwback, old-school, balls-to-the-wall player. Those qualities are RARE in baseball- hence everyone’s love.
I understand loving a guy’s heart and effort. Absolutely. What I don’t understand is overvaluing him to the point of absurdity. People here seem to think that Aaron Rowand would have this year’s Sox team in first place by 10 games. The Sox are broken, and Aaron Rowand alone cannot fix them.
He’s a nice little ballplayer, but his heart and intangibles alone cannot fix the fact that the whole outfield sucks, 75% of the infield sucks and that they only have one reliable pitcher in the bullpen.
Not to mention, he was replaced in the clubhouse with Jim Thome who is by all accounts, the nicest person and best clubhouse guy on the face of the Earth.
Again, I am not opposed to having Rowand on your team, only to the idea that he can or will turn the franchise around. He will hit for a nice average but does not hit for power or drive in a ton of runs. He is an average defensive player who will make a few highlight catches, but only because his range and angles are not great. He is in the middle of the pack of MLB center fielders and should be paid as such.
$0.02
No way Abreau comes to Boston. Career 260 hitter (in the NL!) is not in Theo’s plans.
The knuckleball is one of the most awesome things about baseball, ever. If I have a kid (NOT GOING TO HAPPEN), I’m teaching him or her the knuckleball. Okay, I’m hiring someone to do it. But still! It’s the knuckleball! I think I love it even more than Nicky Swisher or Aaron Rowand’s pants.
I say again: Abreu is a joke. And there is no way in hell he ends up in Boston- WIlly Mo is a better alternative.
And I agree, bristlesage- knuckleballs are just HOT. (and did you see Swisher’s cute little Father’s Day message on Baseball Tonight? awww!)