Nicholas Cage Is A One Man Tourism Agency

Buried deep within an interesting article in the Inky about Mexicans in Bridgeport, PA is a gem of a statement:

“In some ways, I can’t blame them,” said Anette Robles, 24, who was born in Mexico and raised in El Paso, Texas, and who moved to Philadelphia after thinking the city looked appealing in the film National Treasure. “People who are used to running things don’t like it when other people come in.”

Yes, the movie that was both historical and exciting is now helping to boost the population of the City of Brotherly Love.  Good job Nick!  Perhaps he should add himself to the Democratic ticket for mayor.  He might get more votes than Bob Brady if he ran on a platform of more action movies about fake history.

Oh, and read the rest of the article.  It’s good.

Links and Linking

First, some additions, subtractions, and rejuvenations.  New blogs added to the links page and the blogroll: The Phans Blog, Pop Candy, Wonkette, NFL Hits!, Hoops Addict, Pop Culture Junk, Crooks and Liars, Gilbert Arenas Blog, Jon Swift, and the Freakonomics Blog.  Also, a great Phillies blog has taken up the keyboard once again; Philling Station is back. And a hearty goodbye from the internet world to Daniel Rubin at Blinq, who is changing assignments at the Inky.  Let’s hope he eventually brings the blog back.

- Phillies Updates: The Phans Blog interviews journalist Todd Zolecki…The Good Phight HATES the term sabrematrician…Beerleaguer is counting down the days until Spring Training…A Citizen’s Blog breaks down Wes Helms and Abe Nunez…Philliesflow is up to its old tricks, finding a new wrinkle in an old topic…and Phuture Phillies loves them some Alex Concepcion

- Chris Berman finally responds to the burgeoning phenomenon “You’re with me, leather”.  And he first denies it, then says that people are mean-spirited for pointing it out.  Deadspin breaks it out down.

- With Leather gives Sean Taylor the Pete Rose Award.

- Kelsey Grammer gets the greenlight on his 70th network comedy, this time set in a newsroom.  No news as to whether Eddie the dog is in it. TVSquad.

- John L Micek talks about Obama vs the Prime Minister of Australia, Lynn Swann possibly vs Jason Altmire out in Pittsburgh, and Republicans and Lou Barletta vs. stereotypes.  Currently stereotypes are winning.

Ambition, Patience and Sloth has a bunch of good articles on politics.  Let’s cross our fingers that they keep on coming.  He even ventures over to Daily Kos for a commentary on Barack Obama.  Let’s hope Mr. Ambition doesn’t get too big-time for us little guys.

Your Philadelphia Phillies Will Be On TV All Season Long

In a straight copy from the Inky, some good news for those of us born in the 20th century:

All 162 Phillies games will be broadcast on both television and radio for the 2007 season, announced Rob Brooks, the Phillies’ manager of broadcasting.

Of the 162 games to be televised, 151 will appear locally: 101 games on Comcast SportsNet, 43 on Channel 57, five on CN8 and two on Channel 3. Channel 3 will televise the season opener on April 2 against Atlanta Braves at 1:05 p.m. and the July 4 game against Houston at 2:05 p.m.

The remaining 11 games will be televised locally and nationally: nine on Fox and two on ESPN. Under Major League Baseball’s agreements with Fox and ESPN, additional games may be selected to be televised on those two networks.

Six spring-training games also will be telecast: Comcast SportsNet and Channel 57 will broadcast three apiece.

All 162 games will be broadcast on WPHT (1210-AM). In addition, the spring opener on March 1 against Detroit and all spring weekend and night games – 15 total dates – will be heard on WPHT.

For the third straight year, the Phillies will also be heard in Spanish on WDAS (1480-AM), as all 162 games will be broadcast on the Spanish Beisbol Network.

Spring Training Preview: Your Philadelphia Phillies Catchers

It’s that time of the year again, where everyone is in the best shape of their careers, every team has a chance to make the playoffs, and everyone will have a career year.  It’s spring training time in about 2-3 days(depending on what you consider the beginning), and I’m going to attempt to write a blurb or two about each player reporting to Phillies camp in Clearwater.  Let’s start with the catchers:

 Rod Barajas          R/R       6-2       230       9/05/75

The likely starter out of training camp, he started to lose his job in Texas to Gerald Laird.  He has some power, but as I wrote around the time we signed him, it has come and gone, and he simply doesn’t get on base.  I’m not one to critique the defensive aspects of catching, but he’s supposedly a good one in this regard.  So there’s that.  I’d expect him to play about 75-80 starts this season, slowly losing starting gigs as the season goes on and as his OBP and power numbers stagnate.

37       Ryan Budde          R/R       5-11      205       8/15/79

This 27 year old career minor leaguer spent his first baseball life toiling in the Anaheim Angels (they are NOT in LA) organization.  Take a quick look at his career line and you’ll understand why he hasn’t sniffed the majors: 233 avg/299 OBP/377 SLG for a 676 OPS.  That doesn’t exactly translate to major league results.  Expect him to play for AAA Ottowa, and be Plan Z for the catching question.

27       Chris Coste          R/R       6-1       200       2/4/73

Any Phils fan that followed the 2006 team knows his story: Career minor leaguer that was on fire during ST, was sent down to AAA and struggled, but was then brought up to the bigs and simply tore it up, amassing a 328 batting average with an 881 OPS.  So what does that get him for 2007?  3rd string catcher and first or second pinch-hitter off the bench.  Maybe it’s not fair but the Phils don’t believe the hype.  And frankly neither should you, with his career 805 OPS in the minors.  Last year may have been an abberation, but at least it guarantees him a spot on the big club.  Expect 100-50 AB tops, barring an injury.

51       Carlos Ruiz             R/R       5-10      200       1/22/79

Ruiz is the guy I’m looking at to carry the weight at catcher.  He’s improved the past three seasons in the minors and had a 751 OPS in his initial run with the Phillies in 2006.  Yes he’s turning 27 but he got a late start on catching.  And yes his 751 OPS was largelly slugging-heavy, which means it’s a bit inflated, but he did improve it throughout the season.  He got overshadowed by Coste’s great run, but Ruiz had a great 2nd half after a horrible May campaign.  I’d expect about 75 starts and am being a bit optimistic but am hoping for a 770 OPS with a bit better OBP than what he had in 2006.  He’ll never walk too much, but a lot of catchers like to hack for whatever reason.  Hopefully he’ll get on 35%.

38       Tim Gradoville          R/R       6-3       195 0      1/30/80

I may be getting in over my head a bit here as I venture into Phuture Phillies territory.  Gradoville doesn’t seem to be too good, and he’s pretty much a backup catcher at this point.  It’s just that it’s in the minors.  His career 578 OPS doesn’t bode well for staying with the Phils for much longer.  He’s just roster filler at this point for Reading or Ottowa, and could help some young pitchers by being their battery.

 68       Jason Hill             R/R       6-3       210       3/17/77

Here’s another filler type guy for the upper minors.  He’s been with 4 organizations in his career and has yet to hit the big time.  It’s unlikely he’ll make it here either.

70       Jason Jaramillo       S/R       6-0       200       10/9/82

I liked Jaramillo when I saw him.  He seemed patient at the plate and would hit the ball hard, but he hit it in spots where the defense was or he’d strike out.  To his credit, he played with a hurt wrist for a bit last season and he played on a horrible team.  Both can be crushing.  And he did improve his stat line at the end of the year, raising his average to .248.  However he didn’t excell at the jump he took from Lakewood to Reading.  His 708 OPS wasn’t great, but there are extenuating circumstances.  He also plays good defense.  I’d expect for him to sniff the majors next season, hopefully because he’s earned it.

71       Lou Marson          R/R       6-1       200       6/26/86

Due for Clearwater, he’s a young guy who has put up fairly average numbers except that he walks a lot.  His OBP was .100 higher than his batting average last season (343 to 243) and this bodes well for him being a useful player in the future.  Future being the key word.

 62       Dusty Wathan         R/R       6-4       215       8/22/73

Unless he’s randomly the next Chris Coste, he’s just filler.  Notice a pattern about our catchers?  Lots of AAAA filler.  665 OPS with Scranton last year, he’s just an International League kind of guy.

Outlook: The catching situtation is not a very good one, unless a lot of things happen.  Rod Barajas has to suddenly start making contact and hitting with some serious power, Carlos Ruiz has to take the next jump, and Chris Coste has to continue his strong finish to 2006.  These are all ifs.  Jaramillo and Marson have to develop because they are the only guys in the minors that CAN develop at this spot.  This is the one spot in the organization where I can see a black hole developing if all these ifs don’t occur.

Boy Meets World Mondays

Remember the time Eric was a character on Boy Meets World and was the goofy slapstick humor guy?  I DO!