I also hope to take the kid to LV for a game this year and would love to be able to make a "Remember the Maine" sign to hold up.

I say let him give AAA a shot and then when we need to give a warm body to Baltimore for an ancient, light hitting utility dude in June we already have him available.

Will Preacher, As a true Philadelphian who spend way too much time on the Penn State and Pitt campuses and have spent even more time away from home doing business with western PA people who think somehow Cranbury and Breezewood "aren't that far" from the Delaware Valley, I say "F- the Burg, To hell with Big Ben and their crazy azz sandwiches."

EXT -- BEACH -- WIDE PANORAMIC SHOT -- DAY A distant boat lies on its side in the sand like an old wreck that's been left to rot in the sun. There's someone out there. CLOSER ON BOAT A MAN is meticulously stripping the old paint and varnish by hand, face hidden with goggles and kerchief mask. DOBBS appears b.g., a distant figure walking out across the sand, wearing his cheap suit and carrying his cheap bag. The man on the boat pauses. Turns slowly around. DOBBS arrives with a smile as wide as the horizon. The other man raises his goggles and pulls down his mask. BRUNT, of course. BRUNT You look like a man who knows how to get things. DOBBS I'm known to locate certain things from time to time. DOBBS shrugs off his jacket and picks up a sander. Together, they start sanding the hull as we FADE OUT THE END

Luke Scott of the Orioles...Good ol boy. sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Answer-Man-Luke-Scott-talks-Nugent-hunting-and?urn=mlb-292970

If the Nats make these huge deals I hope they intend to sell out that place. Does the place ever get packed by regulars or just people passing through looking at a new park? My B-I-L, who you can't use as a meter of anything, lives in Alexandria and never took the kids yet to a game. Do our VA/Maryland/DC folks go there?

Oh my God, my head hurts from trying to read this stuff. For once, I agree with TTI. Reading comprehension, people.

You guys are nuts with this inflation talk, maybe Werth watches Glenn Beck like you RR and demanded his salary all in gold and MREs. Speaking of which, anybody of our DC-area people on the board work in DC? What are the taxes like for a non-resident? I cannot imagine Werth will move into the city.

Look, even Chris' kid is PO'd about this Berkman thing. My son wants RAJ to sign Diaz already and work on an inexpensive piece for the bullpen and he is sick of the insistence that he try the potty.

Andy, Proefrock hasn't given up on bringing back Thome, Stairs or Chan Ho.

According to CSN Phila.... "After playing in just nine games, in which he hit just .069, Phillies outfielder Domonic Brown has left his Dominican Winter League team, Escogido. A Phillies spokesman told CSNPhilly.com Insider Jim Salisbury that the 23-year-old is healthy, but the team made the decision to bring Brown home because he was “tired and sluggish.” Time to look for the platoon or replacement...

As if we didn't assume...here is what Fox Sports Radio has "Scott Proefrock, Phillies AGM, also confirmed to us that they are not pursuing Cliff Lee because as he said "that ship has sailed"".

DPatrone: Not that I am trying to mess with you but please, without an exhaustive internet search, name any other owner than Betz or Middleton..."Middleton is the ONLY owner of the bunch that wants to spend any money. The rest don't." Middleton may be the only one anybody really knows and everybody references the sale of the Blunts as the reason why he wants to spend any money. Let's be real.

Sad story about our favorite pitcher... http://www.theonion.com/articles/writersblocked-buster-olney-only-able-to-write-900,18449/?utm_souce=popbox

"Hey Lopes, You think that's bad? Rube made me pay for parking at the stadium" Sincerely, Jimy Williams P.S. I hope I spelled Jimy right.

Cliff Lee's wife glad he was traded because Philadelphia fans threw snowballs at Santa

Old Phan, 90,000 words? Was it in caligraphy or raised illuminated script? I have had offers to watch it at a couple of NY fans homes and I have an old work associate who used to invest with Nolan Ryan who is having a big Texas cookout. Frankly, I don't plan to watch a minute. I cannot take another minute of Buck and McCarver if my team is not in it.

He is news producer who "punches up" scripts for cheap movies.

I have to admit, I rarely turn the game off, I am a huge glutton for punishment when it comes to the Phils but once my wife came in and asked why the hell Contreras was pitching, I turned it off and actually volunteered to go to dinner with her. I got a bad feeling and only a win and a half gallon of something beery will work tomorrow. I have a poetic friend who wrote this to me (and he is a Phils fan). "The Giants have dropped the proverbial roofie into the Phillies' drink and now they are quietly squeezing their buttocks and genitals while they lie there on the floor of the dark room where everybody threw their jackets on the bed." Creepy but true.

I would allow Somali pirates to take Big Shot (that's the rabbit-dude with the muscles right?), Bird Brain, Blitz, the Temple Owl all in place of the Phanatic.

He (Burgoyne) they (management)

The Phanatic came about against management's will. He sold the idea to them and the begrudgingly allowed him to parade around as long as he paid for the costume himself. Dave Burgoyne (the Phanatic's best friend) paid for the costume and kept the marketing rights. There is a drastic difference between the Phanatic and the promos minor league teams run between every half inning so the kids don't make their parents take them home after Pat Lennon knocks another double against the wall. R Bill, You need one of those stuffed Phanatic dolls Heather had.

st, "You people"? I am calling the NAABL.

By the way, I don't believe I have ever heard anybody who knows anything about baseball consider Tony Gwynn a "loser". Tony Gwynn is a Hall of Famer, Scott Rolen is a footnote.

I just hope this team plans on settling down at home and taking plenty of BP this week and not signing stuff and making appearances.