Thanks for all the good times J-Roll

Longtime Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers today. While his skills have certainly diminished over the last few seasons, there's no denying that J-Roll was a Philadelphia favorite and an excellent player through his tenure as a Phillie. I wish him all the best in LA, but this is my favorite memory from him:

An infographic of MLB first pitches, good and bad

This is a result of the god-awful attempt at a first pitch from 50 Cent the other day. As a bonus, watch it after the jump!

It's Opening Day 2014, but how much does it cost to propose in a stadium?

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Phillies announce Ryne Sandberg as manager

3 year deal, with a club option until 2017. Let's see how this new era goes!

Much more at Phillies.com

Another failed first pitch attempt

As a man, how does this happen???

This may be the worst called strike ever

From last nights's Rangers/Rays game that ended on this called "strike" 3 by Marty Foster:

Phillies Power Rankings

Since I don't feel like analyzing and ranking every team in MLB, I decided instead to cull from a bunch of lists to see what the average power ranking for the Philadelphia Phillies is this year. Let's take a look:

Sports Illustrated: #16 - The rotation is still headlined by Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay and that's an encouraging start to any team, but Philadelphia's offensive production (both total runs scored and league rank) has dipped three straight seasons. On Opening Day the Phillies' four infielders and catcher will all be 33 or older, and the only player in that group who hasn't shown signs of decline -- catcher Carlos Ruiz -- is suspended the first 25 games of the season for a failed PED test. Adams and Jonathan Papelbon form a dominant back end of the bullpen, which had been missing in Philadelphia.
Newsday: #15 - Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are healthy, and Utley is entering his walk year. Michael Young doesn't have the store of good will he built in Texas and will have to perform to be appreciated. Ben Revere showed good tools with the Twins in 2012, but it was only one season. Can he do it again? The rotation is still a work of art (Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels), but Roy Halladay struggled mightily during the spring.

CBS Sports: #15 - The window of opportunity with the Howard-Utley-Rollins-Halladay-Lee nucleus is closing pretty rapidly. At least they have Cole Hamels to build around, but a pretty sizeable overhaul -- which kind of started with Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence being traded last season, obviously -- is coming soon. We'll see if they can stave it off this season.

Bleacher Report: #14 - Injuries to their core superstars hurt the Phillies badly last season. Once they finally got healthy and strung together some wins, it was already too late, as they'd dug themselves too big of a hole.
Age is certainly not on their side. But if they can avoid filling up the disabled list, the Phillies may have the horses to make one last playoff push before they start to think about rebuilding.
Cole Hamels is expected to step forward as the ace of the staff. Newcomers Michael Young, Ben Revere and Delmon Young will look to spark the lineup around stars Ryan Howard and Chase Utley.

ESPN: #14 - It will be an uphill battle for the Phillies to catch the Nationals and the new-and-improved Braves with an aging and injury-prone roster, but they will benefit by having one of baseball's easiest first-half schedules.

Sporting News: #14

MLB.com: #14 (experts) / #12 (fans)

Fox Sports: # 12 - A healthy Ryan Howard makes this team — which features some of the best starting pitchers — a contender, again. What happened last season? We’re still not sure.


So on average, the Phillies are ranked at exactly 14, hovering in the middle of the pack on all the lists but never being ranked below #16. The return of Ryan Howard, the decline of Roy Holladay, the aging starters, and Cole Hamels are all common threads from each site. The Phil will have some work to do, but if they stay healthy I see no reason why they can't take down the Nationals and Braves. We'll see!

Bill Murray Infographic

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Phillies land Michael Young

Yes! The Philadelphia Phillies have moved closer to filling all their roster holes for next season, as they've just traded for Rangers third baseman Michael Young:



Now if they could somehow lad Josh Hamilton, I'd be a happy man and super excited for this season!

Carlos Ruiz to remain a Phillie through 2013

The Philadelphia Phillies made their first decision of the offseason thus far, and picked up the $5 million option on Carlos Ruiz's contract for 2013. This was a no-brainer obviously, as Ruiz was putting up career numbers before he was injured this season. Now if they could fill the holes in the outfield and third base, we might have a team to get excited about next year.

Phillies Fan Appreciation Night

Bonus! Trying out the new panoramic feature on the iPhone:

Location:Phillies Dr,Philadelphia,United States

.500

Who would have thought that the Phillies would only be at .500 at this point in the season? They're now 71-71, with 20 games left in the season and only 4.5 games back of the second wild card as of now. Can they make the playoffs? I'm not sure, but there's a chance now. And we all know what happens to the teams who get "hot" at the right time. Keep it going Phillies, I'm enjoying the ride!

The worst version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" ever

I'm a Phillies fan, and even I thought this was awful. Best part was the organ player being able to adjust so quickly.  Check out the awfulness by following the link, I'll look for an embeddable version soon.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame by the Phillies Alumni

Phillies do the right thing, lock up Cole Hamels

The contract? $144 million for 6 years, which would make Cole the second highest paid pitcher in MLB history (probably behind God himself). Despite the large sum of money, which the Phillies have thanks to selling out every game the last several years, I like this move because Hamels deserved it and it shows Ruben Amaro and the front office aren't ready to give up on the season just yet. They aren't sellers for now -there's still a week before the trade deadline- but they shouldn't write off this team just due to a subpar first half of the year. They can easily go on a tear at any moment. They're healthy, and know they're better than their record indicates; the Phillies will certainly try to prove that by October.

Phillies vs Braves

Who knew Kyle Kendrick would be in a pitcher's duel with Tim Hudson???

One reason I don't like the Yankees

You gotta be kidding me.  I'm sure we've all faked something in our lives, but when you're a professional athlete you should have some respect for the game and pride in how you play it.  I'm also sure every team has their moments, but it seems as if the New York Yankees have more of those moments.  Derek Jeter faked getting hit by a pitch last season (or maybe the season before) and last night Yankee Dewayne Wise faked what would have been a great diving catch into the stands.  The worst part is what Wise said after the game: "What was I supposed to do, run back to left field? I saw him looking at my glove so I just got up, put my head down and ran off the field."  Yes Dewayne, you were supposed to run back to the field.  Check out the video below, from USAToday.  Shame on the umpire, too!

Bill Murray inducted into South Atlantic League Hall of Fame

Remember that video from a week ago where Bill Murray ran around the tarp during a minor league (Charleston River Dogs) baseball rain delay?  Do you also remember that crazy plaid jacket he wore to the Moonrise Kingdom premiere?  Well, this video is a mix between the two; I give you Bill Murray's induction speech into the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame.  Typical Murray!

"I have no prepared remarks, I just want you to know that."

Chicago vs. Chicago Round 3

Round 3 of Chicago vs. Chicago, perhaps better known as "Ron Swanson vs. Darryl from The Office" has debuted.  In this hilarious New Era ad, Nick Offerman (for the Cubs) attempts to out-sing Craig Robinson (for the White Sox).  Check out how well he did below, and watch the first 2 parts in the series exclusively at Funny or Die!

Chicago vs. Chicago: Round 3 from Nick Offerman

Bill Murray runs around during a baseball rain delay

No context needed. It wouldn't help anyway, this is just vintage Murray again:



Via Buzzfeed

Phillies vs. Dodgers

Location:Pattison Ave,Philadelphia,United States