Phillies Magic Number: Pedro Feliz

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Phillies Magic Number: Bob Boone

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West Chester East vs. West Chester Henderson

I just learned about this this morning. My high school is going to be the 6ABC High School Football Game of the Week!

So if you want, you can log on to 6abc.com at 7pm tonight and watch the game live or check it out on 6 ABC Plus on digital cable (check local listings) at 8pm Saturday night and watch as Henderson dismantles my alma mater, West Chester East.

Watching the intro video on the website, you can tell what team is more capable of pulling this one out, sadly. Henderson went to the playoffs last year, while my Vikings stayed home with a winless season. Ouch.

GO EAST!

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Pat the Bat Strikes Back

The Phillies completed a sweep of Atlanta last night behind a mediocre outing by Cole Hamels, beating the Braves 4-3. It's hard to call a pitching performance in which Hamels only allowed two runs mediocre, but once again Hamels failed to live up to the billing of an ace by struggling early and letting the Braves respond every time the Phillies scored. He still picked up the win.

Pat Burrell's blast in the sixth inning proved to be the game winner, but much credit should be given to Jayson Werth, who earlier in the inning made the acrobatic move running to first and dodged a a tag by running sideways down the baseline. If Werth had been out the Braves would have been much more likely to get Ryan Howard out on the next at bat with the over shift. That would have made Burrell's homerun a solo shot and who knows how the game would have ended up. Instead it was a two run homerun that made the score 4-2. Ryan Madson got into some trouble, allowing the Braves' third run in the seventh.

While the Mets handled the Nationals behind the pitching of Johan Santana and used their offense to jump out to a 6-0 lead, the Brewers took a devastating blow in Chicago when this guy came up to bat in the eleventh inning...

Derek Lee finished off a come from behind victory against the Brewers with a walk off single. The Brewers blew a 6-2 lead in the ninth inning. After losing the game the Brewers find themselves 1.5 games behind the Mets for the Wild Card, which means the Phillies have a two game buffer for the playoffs.



Another day and things look good for the Phillies' playoff chances. Tough series this weekend in Florida though. The Marlins are hot and really put a hurting on the Houston Astros and their playoff hopes (Astros are now five games behind the Mets). The Mets will play in Atlanta this weekend. The Brewers play in Cincinnati.

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Six Pack of Picks for the Weekend

So I made some tough decisions last week with picking the Eagles to beat the Cowboys (we all know how that ended up) and picking the Jets at home against what I thought would be a weak New England Patriots team, weeping in the loss of Tom Brady (wrong).

I was perfect in the college picks with Penn State, Shippensburg and USC all winning.

This week has some good games to choose from in college and the NFL, so let's get straight to the picks...

#16 Penn State over Temple
East Stroudsburg over Shippensburg
#10 Auburn over #6 LSU
Philadelphia Eagles over Pittsburgh Steelers
Carolina Panthers over Minnesota Vikings
San Francisco 49ers over Detroit Lions

Suicide Pool Pick: Buffalo Bills (over Oakland Raiders)

Last week: 4-2
Overall: 8-4

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Phillies Magic Number: Darren Daulton

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I Was Close

But not close enough. On Thursday morning I called in to the Preston and Steve show in Philadelphia and played trombone for a chance to perform on stage with Weezer for a couple songs. I admit I was nervous and my throat went dry, leading me to mess up on a couple of notes for the song I chose to play for my brief audition.

Five people called in when it was announced they were looking for brass musicians. Three people called in to play trumpet and two people, myself included, called to play trombone. Everybody played a Weezer song, but seeing as I was doing this on a whim and didn't have much time to prepare, I was stumped. I don't know how to play any Weezer songs!

So when it was my turn I played the Super Mario Brothers theme, something I have played probably a hundred times through the years. I was stumped on what to play on a moment's notice. I wanted something that people might recognize, something I knew how to play, and something that might seem somewhat challenging. I messed up a couple times which probably cost me. I think I missed being picked by a score of 3-2, a decision made by the Preston and Steve hosts. It was embarrassing for me, but I gave it a shot.

I know that it was not my best playing, by far and I wish I could have a second shot at it. I would nail it. But it's not meant to be I guess. Maybe I should have gone with Sell Out or Make Me Smile. I wasn't sure I could do those out of nowhere it has been so long since I played either.

Congratulations to the two who did get picked, whoever you may be. Enjoy the experience!

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Phillies Magic Number: Jimmy Rollins

Stealing an idea from Black Shoe Diaries, and perhaps a number of other college football blogs, I am going to start counting down the Phillies magic number using photographs for the rest of the season.

Entering Thursday's game, the Phillies magic number is Jimmy Rollins.

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Another Reason to Dislike Sarah Palin

I don't intend for my blog to become a political forum that attempts to sway one person's mind, but Stef e-mailed me a link I had to check out. She pointed out the photo for me so I have not read the article as I write this, but I have some serious questions about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's parenting skills.

Never mind the fact that her 17 year old is pregnant, look at this!

Bristol is wearing an Ohio State sweatshirt! If Palin can't even bring her daughter up right, how can she be Vice President???

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New York City Recap; Dale and Thomas Popcorn

Before heading to catch our Broadway show we were walking around Times Square when the distinct aroma of popcorn took us captive. We had just passed Dale and Thomas Popcorn, a gourmet popcorn shop.

For a few bucks you can get a bag of uniquely flavored popcorn. Our pick was peanut butter white chocolate drizzle. I admit that I had low expectations for this food from the beginning, but one handful of the stuff and I was convinced. This was some good popcorn!

The flavor reminded me of Christmas time, probably because that is when most people have flavored popcorn like this. Some of the other flavors Dale and Thomas Popcorn offers include Cookies n' cream, north country cheddar, backyard BBQ, Dale's caramel and more. If the other flavors are as rich as the peanut butter and white chocolate drizzle, then you would be in for a treat!

If you go to the shop in person only a handful of the flavors will be available on any given day. You can get the popcorn delivered though by visiting their website.

If you walk in to their store and can't make up your mind then just ask for a free sample of any flavor (or flavors) you wish.

Tomorrow: New York City - The New Chocolate Town USA?

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HAPPy Days

Thank goodness for J.A. Happ, who pitched his third start for the Phillies last night in Atlanta and was stellar yet again. the Phillies scored four first inning runs and that was all they would need as Happ pitched six shut out innings, Chad Durbin and J.C. Romero pitched two shutout innings out of the bullpen, and Clay Condrey allowed just one run in the ninth inning to shut down the Braves...again. Stonecold Steve Austin, I mean Matt Stairs belted a solo shot in the ninth inning for his first homerun with the Phillies.



The chances that the Phillies advance to the post season increased slightly with the win. The magic number for the Phillies is now 11 for the NL East crown. The Mets and Brewers both won last night so the Phillies still have the one game buffer for the Wild Card if needed.

The Mets held on to a lead in the ninth despite allowing two runs. I can't imagine what was going through the heads of Mets fans (and players) during that final inning.


I'm feeling good people. Real good.

Cole Hamels tonight against the Braves as the Phillies will try to do something very unusual in baseball. Sweep a team in their home stadium three times in a season.

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New York City Recap; ESPN Zone

Stef and I went up to New York City last Saturday. For our anniversary I was able to get tickets to The Little Mermaid on Broadway, a show Stef has wanted to see since it debuted. We took a bus ride up, ate at the ESPN Zone in Times Square, and walked up and down a few times before the show, and a little bit after the show.

Over the next few days I want to share the experience with you. Today we take a look at the food we consumed...

ESPN Zone
After the bus dropped us off in front of a McDonald's, Stef and I walked towards the epicenter of Times Square and ate at the ESPN Zone. I had eaten there before but this was Stef's first time. I ordered a Black and Blue Burger, a burger "seasoned with blackening spice, topped with gorgonzola cheese, and served on a toasted bun with lettuce, onion, tomato, and chipotle mayonnaise. It was amazing. Stef ordered a grilled chicken caeser salad. It looked good.

We ate while the college football pre game shows were on, which was interesting. It was fairly empty when we entered, but by the time we left the place was filling up, especially around the bar area as the noon college games were getting set to kick off. There was one Iowa State fan who was definitely amped for his team's game against Iowa.

Aside from the college football fans there were plenty of New York Mets and Yankees fans getting in a good meal before their baseball teams took the field that afternoon. And what took me by surprise was the number of Tampa Bay Rays fans I found. One guy was wearing a Devil Rays Fred McGriff jersey in the ESPN Zone.
Yeah. It's even uglier on an overweight white guy wearing his hat backwards.

What I love about the ESPN Zone is the bathrooms. If you use the stall you'll have a TV hanging above you tuned to one of the games on TV at the moment, or I would assume whatever is on ESPN. Need the urinal? Don't worry, for there is a miniature tv screen placed right in the wall for you.

I may despise ESPN on the whole as a network, but they have their restaurant in top form. The food isn't much more expensive than you would expect to pay at an Applebees or Ruby Tuesday either. With the Spectrum being torn down soon I hope that an ESPN Zone finds a way to have a home in the development project that will take its place. I think it would be a great idea, especially with an ESPN Radio affiliate now in Philadelphia (950 ESPN).

Other similar alternatives in New York City include a Planet Hollywood and the good old Hard Rock Cafe.

Tomorrow: Dale and Thomas Popcorn

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Phirst Place Phills

What a night for Phillies fans! Coming off the four game sweep of the Brewers, putting the Phillies in a tie for the Wild Card lead in the National League, here is what happened last night...

• Ryan Howard blasts a home run to the opposite field to put the Phillies on top of the Braves for good in a wild game. Phillies win.
• The Brewers fight back against the Cubs with the aide of two Prince Fielder homeruns, but lose 5-4, leaving two men on base in the ninth (one at third) with Fielder at the plate. Fielder struck out looking.

Meanwhile, in the nation's capital...

The Mets were spooked by the Washington Nationals for the second straight night, losing to Washington 1-0.

The Phillies now control their own playoff destiny with essentially a one game buffer. The lead in the NL East is now 1/2 game on the Mets, and the buffer over the Brewers is one game should the Phillies fall back into the Wild Card slot.

Tonight the Phillies will put rookie J.A. Happ on the mound, replacing Kyle Kendrick who has been struggling mightily. The Phillies offense will have to get on track early and give Happ some confidence. I can't imagine what it must be like to be a rookie with limited major league experience, being asked to pitch in place of one of the starters who's been there all year in such a tight playoff race. Happ pitched real well in his two starts earlier this year, so we know he can handle it.

Today I remain confident that the Phillies will make the playoffs. I want the NL East, but I'll take the Wild Card if needed. What I would love to see would be the Houston Astros coming from 3 games back to take the Wild Card and the Phillies take the division. That would be fun.

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Cowboys Beat Eagles; Kevin Loses Bet

Well the Cowboys beat the Eagles on Monday Night Football, and as such I lost my bet with Geeding of BagofNothing. In losing the bet I have to grace my readers with this ugly mug of Jerry Jones with some words of advice for me.


You got it Jerry. I won't make that mistake again.

<_bitter>
As for you Geeding, I hope your team finds a way to lose another playoff game in January. I have a couple cousins who weren't even born the last time the Cowboys won a playoff game!
< /_bitter>

Check out BagofNothing. The guy posts numerous oddities every day that are worth checking out. As the site's name implies, it is a bunch of random stuff with videos, quizzes, and news that can keep you busy for a few minutes from time to time.

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Mega Man II on Virtual Console

One of the greatest Nintendo games of all time, Mega Man II, is now available on the Nintendo Virtual Console.

The release comes almost a month after the original Mega Man became available for download and also comes in anticipation for the widely hyped Mega Man 9, which will be available through WiiWare on the Virtual Console from Nintendo as well as XBox 360's and Playstation 3's equivalent services.

A while ago I tried to pay homage to the great game Mega Man II, but forgot to finish off the Mega Man II Tribute Week.

To help make up for it, here is another user created music video dedicated to Mega Man II.

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The Waldo Ultimatum

So there is a story to this Waldo character afterall. Makes me want to go back and check those books out...

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Eagles Vs. Cowboys, Phillies Sneaking Up On Mets (Again)

The Philadelphia Eagles (1-0) take on the Dallas Cowboys (1-0) in Big D tonight on Monday Night Football. I picked the Eagles as my one point game tonight in my football pool and to be honest, as I type this I am much more confident than the 1 point might suggest. Of course on game day I am always more confident than I should be.

I have a bet with Geeding, site owner of BagofNothing, regarding tonight's game (he's a Cowboys fan). If the Eagles win he'll link to here in one of his posts, and the Cowboys win I have to upload a degrading picture in one of my posts. As much as I would love to talk about the Eagles and Cowboys, there is something else going on in South Philadelphia...

The Phillies completed a double header sweep of the Brewers, to complete a four game sweep, and in doing so found themselves tied for the Wild Card lead. The Phillies started the series four games behind the Brewers. Meanwhile, in Flushing, New York...

...Greg Norton (who?) hit a pinch hit three run homerun in the top of the ninth inning to give the Braves a 5-4 lead over the Mets. The Braves would add a couple more runs and win 7-5. The Mets lead shrivels to one game in the NL East over the Phillies.

Below is how the National League playoff match-ups would be if the post season started today. Granted the Brewers and Phillies would have to play a one game playoff, but you can not tell me that this would be the dream match-up for Major League Baseball; having the Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and Philadelphia markets in the National League playoffs? Not too shabby in the American League either with Boston Red Sox vs. the LA Angels and Chicago White Sox vs. the Tampa Bay Rays. Well, three out of four ain't bad.


I am confident that the Phillies are going to make the playoffs. I should have learned my lesson last year and that is to not count this team out. Last year they came back from being down 7.5 games to the Mets with 17 games to play. That makes this year look like a walk in the park. The schedule (on paper) is in the Phillies' favor...

PHILLIES:
@ Atlanta (3 games)
@ Florida (3)
Atlanta (3)
Washington (3)

METS:
@ Washington (4)
@ Atlanta (3)
Chicago (4)
Florida (3)

The Mets do have two game sin hand on the Phillies so that's not good news, but the last seven games for the Mets should be tougher slate than the Phillies' final home stand. Time will tell. The Wild Card looks to be the most likely ticket in though...


As for the Brewers?

BREWERS:
@ Chicago (3)
@ Cincinatti (3)
Pittsburgh (3)
Chicago (3)

Six games against the Cubs?

Gotta feel bad for the Astros (well maybe you don't). They fought back hard and found themselves tied with the Phillies, two games behind the Brewers. then Hurricane Ike comes, cancels two games, forces a relocation for "home" games to Milwaukee against the Chicago Cubs, and then Carlos Zambrano, coming off of a tired shoulder, throws a no-hitter. While the Phillies were getting themselves tied for the Wild Card lead the Astros failed to pick up ground and still sit two games back.

With the season coming down the stretch it's time to start pumping out the Phillies posts. Each day I'll try posting my thoughts on the Phillies' playoff situation. Right now, things are looking good.

As for the Eagles game, check back tomorrow win or lose.

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Baracky II

John McCain as Clubber Lang. Love the old man mohawk!

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Jon and Kate Plus Eight Parody

If you have scene the show, this is kind of funny. It's a little long (over nine minutes), but the jokes are funny if you know the show and the Gosselin family. Jon and Kate Plus Eight airs Monday nights at 9pm on TLC. Kudos to these kids.

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Facebook Backlash

As [100] million Facebook users now know, the site has been redesigned. The changes have not exactly gone over too well, although more people than not apparently aren't complaining. I for one will voice my displeasure over the new layout.

Many people dislike it. Some are indifferent. I don't like it but I admit it is probably not as bad as some people make it out to be. It certainly has been a news worthy item though in the technology and internet community.

I like this intro to the story in the Chicago Tribune yesterday [link];

Imagine coming home from work to find your house in a different color, the rooms switched around and the furniture rearranged.

That's the virtual equivalent Facebook users have faced or will face as the online hangout forces its 90 million members to adapt to a redesigned site, unveiled in late July. Beginning this week, users' profiles will be irrevocably migrated to the new site. And the changes are being met with a mix of protest and resignation.

Let's take a tour...

The Tabs

I understand the idea going here and it doesn't seem terrible, at first. Why Facebook would decide to implement this tab idea though is beyond me. With the old layout all of the information that would appear in these tabs used to be right on a person's profile page in a resume sort of layout. What I mean is all of your profile information was laid out from top to bottom, depending on what you wanted published. If you wanted to close, or minimize, this information all you had to do was click on the heading and it would all be hidden. The best part about the old way was the clean and efficient look it would give he user.

The new tabs allow the user to view what information they want to see, whether it be comments on the person's Wall, detailed profile information, photos of the person in the profile, or view all of the "extras" the individual has added to their profile.

Facebook's biggest problem may have been the excessive amount of applications that users would add to their profiles pages. Many applications add to the content being provided by users and it was a way of customizing their individual profile to best showcase themselves. The new layout hinders that extra touch of personality and instead shoves it all into a cluttered mess under a tab titled "Boxes".

For example, my old Facebook profile had extra applications that represent me and I felt I placed them in spots that were fit for each. I have an application for Phillies fans, Penn State fans, a game I enjoy, a section for quizzes and a few others I liked. Now it is likely that nobody will ever see them because they are under the vague "Boxes" tab.

Facebook does give each user the opportunity to add extra tabs to better showcase different applications, but I am curious as to just how many people will really do that.

Wall Filters

I admit that this is not the most terrible idea ever. On your profile page you can see all activity on the wall (for non-Facebook users, the Wall is where users can exchange messages to each other that everyone can read, much like the comments section in a blog) or filter it to see only the posts you made on your own wall or comments left for you on your wall. Adding to the much unneeded clutter is the fact that it adds in your status updates and comments you have left on other people's photos.

As if it weren't enough to leave comments on somebodies wall, now you can leave an additional comment on one's status message. I'll use my friend Mike as an example...
I will occasionally leave somebody a message relating to their status message, much in the way people sometimes leave an instant message responding to an away message. The first time I did this with the new Facebook I had trouble finding the message I had left for somebody. I assumed that I had left a comment on their wall, which until now would be the most logical location for my comment, but in fact I had contributed to a completely new string of comments.

While I applaud the thought process here, I have to give a thumbs down. Imagine if I did something like this for the blog. What if you could leave a comment about a blog post in the comments section but also leave a comment responding to the title of the post under the title? Sound confusing. That is my point exactly. In this case, less is good. Which leads me to the next segment...

The Feeds

What you see above is a snapshot of my recent "Live Feed". It gives me a stream of all the activity my Facebook friends are doing. It gives me updates on status messages, what photos they were tagged in, who my friends have become friends with (in case I want to be their friend too) etc. It is nice, straight forward, and clean. It is everything a feed should be. So why am I complaining about it? Because it is not the default feed that shows when I load up Facebook!

Below is a snapshot of the "News Feed" that shows on screen when I log in to Facebook.


Both of the above snapshots were taken within a minute of each other so we can tell the similarities and differences. Personally I want my information to be as clutter free as possible, but Facebook decides to show me the photos that are added and the ones people were tagged in as well as the profile picture of a friends who is leaving a comment for somebody else next to what they said. My beef is not that the News Feed is not the best layout, but that I can't change my preferred feed to load when I log in. I would be much happier if I could view the Live Feed by default instead of the collage-like News Feed.


Look, Facebook users can join their protest groups and people like me can blog about it to their heart's content but the reality is that the layout is not likely to change anytime soon. In a recent article from the United Kingdom the following statement was made [Telegraph.co.uk];

Facebook said about 40 million users had tried out the new design, and that about 30 million had embraced it instantly, without returning to the old layout.

Sounds like tough noogies for Facebook layout protesters to me. I am sure that in a short amount of time many of the angry Facebook users will do one of two things;

1. Get used to the new layout and discover benefits of the new design
2. Forget what they were so angry about
3. Realize that life still goes on (I mean, I personally lived without Facebook for about 25 years, right?)

I believe that Facebook layout detesters should find other ways than joining groups on the service though. Take your complaints, thoughts, suggestions and what have you straight to Facebook. There are a few ways to this as well...

• SEND FEEDBACK! I am sure many people overlook this, but if you log in to Facebook, look in the top right of your screen...
  Ta-da! An instant link to voice your displeasure to the Facebook group.
• If you want to find another way to reach Facebook, why not comment on their own blog? It seems to me that either nobody reads it or nobody leave s a comment on it. Seems to me that if those million plus people who joined 1,000,000 AGAINST THE NEW FACEBOOK LAYOUT had each left a comment on the Facebook blog, the chances of Facebook listening might be a little better.
  

My Final Thought

I can live with it, but like the days of the four man pitching rotation, the old Facebook layout is not likely to return despite my craving for it. I will move on and adjust accordingly, and I would applaud a reversal in thinking at Facebook, but I don't anticipate any retro changes to happen. On the flip side there is something nice I have picked up on. That is that I have been seeing far fewer advertisements make their way into my feeds that advertise applications or are just plain old commercials.

So you see, it's not all bad! Changes are inevitable people, especially in the online community.

What are your thoughts? Leave them in the comments. Oh, and feel free to Facebook me!

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