Beer nuts: Phillies to face Smoltz opening day

According to the AP, manager Bobby Cox is aligning his spring rotation to make sure his 39-year-old ace takes the mound when the Phillies host the Braves April 2.

If fans are hoping Pat Burrell will silence skeptics by making an immediate splash opening day, they may be in for a long afternoon. Burrell is 1-for-23 lifetime off Smolz. Maybe Karim Garcia or Chris Coste should get the start in left. After all, Garcia is 1-for-3 with a homer off the Braves’ right-hander, and Coste shocked everyone when he put a charge into a hanging Smoltz fastball last season.

Meanwhile, Mike Hampton discouraged by discomfort
Braves left-hander Mike Hampton, who missed the entire 2006 season recovering from ligament transplant surgery, told the Atlanta Journal Constitution he still isn't where he wants to be after having discomfort in a recent batting practice session. Hampton reportedly hadn't thrown a breaking pitch since fall. Mananger Bobby Cox, who's more optimistic in the story, expects five innings from Hampton when the season opens.

Jim Jackson joining broadcast team
After broadcasting Flyers games for 14 years, Jim Jackson should have an easy transition pronouncing names like Greg Dobbs, Ryan Howard and Wes Helms instead Dmitry Afanasenkov, Antero Niittymaki and Lasse Kukkonen.

Jackson, 43, will host the pre-game and post-game shows, a role handled last year by Scott Franzke, who will be doing play-by-play exclusively this year. Jackson once called games for the Trenton Thunder (Double-A, Yankees), and does a nice job calling the Flyers.

Foam head update
Daniel McQuade from Philadelphia Weekly takes a look at the latest in bizarre Phillies merchandise, including a terrifying replica of the Phanatic's head and a "non-violent" Phillies-themed memory game, which can only mean one thing: Ugueth Urbina is not included in the game.   

Comments

[Ace]

http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ap-steroidraid&prov=ap&type=lgns

is the link to that matthews story

[J. Weitzel]

Lineup protection was revisited today, using the Phillies 5-hitter as a springboard, in a nice piece by Rosenthal:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6504366

[CY]

Is anyone going to buy the MLB TV spring training games ($15 per month)?

I have almost clicked on it about 10 times today. It has got to be worth it, unless the quality is very poor.

Anyone have any insight?

[The Reverend]

MLBTV is what i use to watch all my Baseball. I like it and this year the resolution is Supposed to be better this year. The only problem is you don't control whose announcers you get. After 3 years of watching online I have allot more respect for Wheels, even though I'm not a fan of his.

[Parker]

Steroids: I think this whole thing is pathetic. Just looking at Matthews numbers, and it appears that if he was using it definetely affected his numbers. His numbers last year are totally divergent from the rest of his career. All of the steroids talk is worthless, however until there is testing for HGH, and more research on its affects on players performance.

Bonds death threats: While I think Bonds is the scourge of baseball's biggest problems, it is outrageous that anyone would threaten his life. Bonds may be a pathetic human being, and anything bad anyone says about him (regarding baseball, personality, and his treatment of women), he probably deserves, but who are these people, whose minds are so engrossed with him that they would actually threaten someones life? If this is true and not just a way for Bonds to deflect attention or a sympathy ploy, it is disgusting. These people need wake up, look themselves in the mirror and make an introspective investigation into their own problems. As much of a jackass as Bonds may be, these people clearly have bigger, more serious issues. Moreover, I hope that these people, if discovered, are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

MLB 2K7: Does anyone have this game? Last years game was horrible, but I heard that it has a new gamepay engine. I liked MLB 2006 the Show, but the 2K baseball game didnt even compare. It would be nice to see some kind of competition.

[AWH]

Rev, I have to agree. The Phillies' broadcasr crew as a whole is top notch. I vacation in Massachusetts, which means Red Sox games - either on the radio (on the beach) or on TV. I purposely didn't pass judgement for a while as I thought my comfort with the Phils' b-team might be causing bias. After consideration, however, I would rate the Phils broadcasters as better than the RSox.

I listen to the Muts - Phils gammes, too, as we're driving through NY. I'm not impressed with their broadcasters as a whole either.

[AWH]

Parker, you hit the nail on the head. Bonds' publicizing the death threats is a sympathy ploy, even if they are true. Otherwise he would have kept it quiet and let law enforcement do their job.

[The Reverend]

Bonds is useing the Death threats as a reason why he is going to be ignoreing fans and media.
I live with 2 Mets fans so I see all there games as well and Keith Hernandez is Hilarious.

[thrillhouse26]

Parker I also am torn about the 2 MLB games that just came out. I'm going to rent both and just feel it out having never played the sega game. I had the show last year and wasn't wow-ed or overly disappointed. EA would make it a no brainer if only.

I can't stand playing console baseball if there's 80 HR years every year and 30 game winners.

[Parker]

Thrillhouse, just got MLB the show 07 and tried it last night. It is significantly improved from 06 in my opinion. I would like to try out the 2K7 game though just to see if they made any improvement over last years miserable effort.

[Matt]

Watch out, Phillies fans. Jackson is a homer of the worst order. He has toned it down this season, though that may be due to the putrid hockey he's had to watch.

And it's Niittymaki, Jason -- pronounced NIT-i-mach-ee.