Bit of this, Bit of that....

Phils on the Left Coast

They lost today in LA by a score of 5 - 4. Ryan Howard went yard again (3rd time in 2 games) and rookie Kyle Kendrick absorbed his first loss. The Phils are a somewhat aimless 6 - 7 for the month of July so far and 5.5 games behind the Mets as of this writing.

What is so frustrating about what the Phils are going through is that they are still within striking range of the division, but I get the sinking feeling they are outgunned.

The Mets seem to have a better lineup, but they have come back to Earth of late, being barely above .500 for the month themselves. Chris Wheeler's favorite player, Jose Reyes, has been putting up more pedestrian numbers as compared to earlier in the year and Beltran and LoDuca have not been hitting for the past month (.238 and .193 respectively). It must have spooked the Mets so much that they fired their hitting coach, moved first base coach Howard Johnson to be the hitting coach and brought in Ricky Henderson, of all people, to be the first base coach. They even brought up highly touted outfielder Lastings Milledge from the minors. Some of these moves reek of desperation, so much so, that if the Phillies had even the hint of a better pitching staff, they might even be in first place right now.

Can the NFL be Far Away?

With only 12 days till full blown training camp begins for the Birds and Fantasy league sign-ups in full swing, football is in the air. The NFL is also in the headlines, as Michael Vick got indicted yesterday for all sorts of bad things, namely for running a dog fighting operation, and an exceptionally cruel one at that. The details of what was done to dogs that couldn't or wouldn't fight is cruel and I don't feel like recounting it because it's nauseating. I'm no member of PETA by any stretch of the imagination, but what Vick and his misanthropic group of buddies did to these dogs was unconscionable and these acts demand that Vick be punished.

It will be interesting to see how Herr Goodell deals with this situation. I think the Falcons should do the right thing and suspend him immediately and indefinitely. It might also help new coach Bobby Petrino, in that, this incident could be his "out" to get rid of the coach-killing QB, whose dedication to the game has been questioned even before his highly publicized kind-of, sort-of weed bust and this dog fighting indictment.

Prediction: Between action by the Falcons and the NFL, I predict Vick will not play at all this year and I doubt he will return to the Falcons as new coach Bobby Petrino will want to groom his own QB rather than someone else's headache.

BTW: Kissing Suzy Kolber has just been killing with the Michael Vick stuff. If KSK puts you off,
you've probably misplaced your sense of humor. Check here and here.

Eric Who?

Saw this article about the Artist-Formerly-Known-As-Eric Lindros. Did you know he was even still in the league? Apparently, he's contemplating retirement. One day, Flyers fans are going to have to come to terms about his legacy with the franchise. The Flyers history DVD the NHL put out last year does cover this period, but it doesn't fully cover the Lindros-Flyers divorce. One day, I hope the real Lindros stories get leaked or addressed (yes, even the Brind'Amour wife rumor). Maybe John Buccigross' book on Keith Jones, due for release in the fall, will have some tales to tell about the end of the Lindros era, as Jonsey was Lindros' road roommate that final year.