http://www.philliesnation.com More than a blog Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:04:39 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Total WAR Project is a series of posts that analyzes the closest competition facing the Phillies in 2010. The posts use Wins Above Replacement, a metric designed to use offensive and defensive production within a single stat. You can check out the rest of the teams in our series ... http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2010/03/total-war-project-part-ix-boston-red-sox/ The American League East is the toughest, most talented division in baseball. There really isn't even a close competitor. The Yankees, after providing the rest of baseball with a brief respite from appearing in the postseason, restocked their team with multiple marquee free agents and stormed through the playoffs, only ... http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2010/03/american-league-east-preview/ Mariners lefty Cliff Lee has been suspended for the first five games of the 2010 regular season for throwing at Diamondbacks catcher Chris Snyder in a March 15th Spring Training game. Lee will likely appeal the suspension. See? We SHOULDN'T have kept him! Ed Price of FanHouse.com broke the news on ... http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2010/03/cliff-lee-suspended/ I play sports video games a lot. Malcolm Gladwell wrote in Outliers that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become truly great at something, and I think I'm there with EA's FIFA series. But what I like more than the gameplay itself is managing the team and making roster ... http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2010/03/internal-discussions/ Pat Gallen wrote a well-argued post Tuesday outlining the legitimacy behind the reporting of a potential Ryan Howard-for-Albert Pujols trade, despite the unlikelihood of the deal itself. While Pat and I have all the respect in the world for each other, our outlooks on this subject happen to be on ... http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2010/03/the-gods-must-be-lazy-buster-stephen-a/ Here are more photos from this afternoon's Spring Training game between the Phillies and Tigers. The Phillies pitching (during "A" games) continues to look strong, as does top prospect Domonic Brown. So with a sunny day, the beautiful backdrop of Bright House Networks Field (without question the finest ... http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2010/03/photos-from-todays-phillies-tigers-game/ The consensus surrounding the Ryan Howard/Albert Pujols trade rumors is that it's a non-issue.  Teams talk like this all the time - and they should because attempting to wrangle in the best players in baseball is the focal point of any organization.  The Phillies brass are merely looking at all ... http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2010/03/howardpujols-not-just-another-trade-rumor/ Here are a bunch of photos - including a few dozen of Roy Halladay - from today's Phillies-Pirates Grapefruit League action in Bradenton, FL. A quick summary of the game: Halladay looked solid even though he gave up his first run of the Spring; Placido Polanco sprained his ... http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2010/03/photos-from-phillies-spring-training/ ESPN's Buster Olney joined The Sports Bash with Mike Gill today to talk about the reported "internal discussions" the Phillies are having regarding Albert Pujols. Olney says the Phils are talking amongst themselves - and has reiterated that they have not talked to St. Louis - as they figure out if ... http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2010/03/buster-olney-on-97-3-espn-fm/ Dave Bancroft, Travis Jackson, Bobby Wallace, and John Ward. No, this is not a list of NASCAR drivers. It is a list of men who have played shortstop in the major leagues and have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Suffice it to say, these guys ... http://www.philliesnation.com/archives/2010/03/the-dip-roll-call/