Baseball Tonight doesn’t think the Phillies’ acquisition of Cliff Lee makes them the clear frontrunner in the National League. Perhaps some Eagles fans could write in to ESPN and threaten to kill the writers of this article.

The New York Times is reporting that Manny and Papi were on the 2003 list of failed PED tests. Apparently that means the Red Sox championships are tainted. Of course, the test results are sealed under court order but that doesn’t seem to stop some unnamed lawyers from revealing them. It’s ironic that the violators from 2003 (who weren’t violating MLB rules at the time) are being cast as cheaters (which they are) and yet their legally-sealed test results are being leaked by lawyers. I guess cheating doesn’t count if it’s the law you’re breaking.

Clifton Phifer Lee (that’s Cliff Lee for all you Eagles fans) is 12-2 with a 3.18 ERA against the National League. Here’s every stat imaginable on Lee. This is going to be fun.

It’s a good thing Ruben Amaro opted for the reigning-Cy-Young-winner-for-nothing vs. the-old-man-who-can’t-throw-for-everything trade. Roy the Bum Halladay gave up 11 hits yesterday to the Seattle Mariners.

It’s been a strange season for the Mets, to say the least. In the process of trying to explain why he fired shirtless locker room brawler, Tony Bernazard, Omar Minaya does his best to fire himself.

J.A. Happ pitched wonderfully yesterday against the Florida Marlins. He pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam in the sixth and was strong throughout the seven complete innings he pitched. Happ gave up no runs on 5 hits with 4 strikouts and 1 walk. No manager would ask for anything more from his starting pitcher than what Charlie Manuel got from Happ yesterday.

Happ has pitched above expectations this season and deserves to be lauded for it. However (and here’s the part where everyone takes off their party hats off and pulls up their pants), Happ is yet to beat a team with a winning record. And in beating the mediocre Marlins, Happ bested a lifeless team that showed no real interest in or ability to challenge the Phillies while being swept over 3 games at home this weekend.

Since most fans in this area only pay attention to what the Phillies are doing and not the rest of baseball (which is the only explanation for how anyone can think trading away Happ in exchange for Roy Halladay is a bad idea), take a look at what Halladay did yesterday: he pitched a complete game, giving up 1 run on 6 hits with 7 strikeouts and no walks. Oh, and it wasn’t against the 46-47 Marlins, it was against the A.L.-leading, 19-games-over-.500 Boston Red Sox and Jon Lester, a pitcher with a 1.22 ERA in his last 9 starts.

Jim Salisbury has a very good piece in today’s Inquirer outlining why trading away Happ (if it comes to that) for Halladay is part of the price of success. For my part, my words about Happ are no indictment of his performance or the prospect of his continued success. The point is that with satisfaction about Division titles in the rear view window at this point, the Phillies are going to need to get by teams like Boston in order to repeat, not the Marlins, Reds, Mets and Pirates.

Happ may well become a pitcher capable of winning those games; that remains to be seen. We know one thing for sure, though: both this season and throughout his career, Roy Halladay has shown time and time again that he is capable of winning these types of games. For this reason, the Phillies front office should strike while the iron is hot (Happ’s trade value is never going to be better than it is now) and make the best move possible to position themselves for the postseason.

Thank the baseball gods for Matt Capps. In his best Brad Lidge impersonation, the Pirates reliever threw a 9th inning batting practice session that allowed the Phillies to complete a big comeback for their 8th win in the last 9 tries (including 91 and 94 mph fastball grapefruits to Matt Stairs and Ryan Howard that led to the 2 dingers). Excitement was the order of the evening as Raul Ibanez contributed to the thrilling finish in his first game back from injury by belting a ground rule double that would become the winning run.

Behind the curtain, though, troubling trends continue. Cole Hamels was awful again, giving up 3 homers in 6 innings. Last night marked the 6th time in the last 7 starts that Hamels has allowed at least 7 hits. Last year’s 2008 World Series MVP now has an ERA of 4.87, good for 40th place in the N.L; going by ERA alone, if Hamels pitched for the Giants (currently the Phillies first-round opponent in the playoffs) he would be the 5th starter on that team.

Getting the Mets, Reds and Pirates at home to finish the first half of the season was just what the Phillies needed to rekindle some confidence going into the second part of the campaign. From the observer’s standpoint though, big questions remain and as fun as 21-run wins and 9th inning comebacks are, what we’ve seen in the past 9 games are wins against sub-.500 teams. On one hand, give the Phillies credit for winning the games they should. On the other, we shouldn’t get overconfident because of a 4-run comback against a closer who is 1-5 with a 6.21 ERA.

The Phillies still have a long way to go before they’re in playoff shape. Their starting pitching needs to improve and we need to see whether they can play better against quality opponents: since June 1, the Phillies are 4-6 against teams with records better than .500  and overall this year, 64% of the Phillies wins have come against teams with losing records. The schedule has been kind to them, no doubt, and for the most part they’ve done their part (after all, they are in first place).

Starting pitching, starting pitching, starting pitching. As great as this offense can be, teams don’t win World Series by outscoring opponents (technically, of course, they do), they win by outpitching them and we know damned well Matt Capps won’t be in the other dugout in October. The Philles starters need to pitch better and Ruben Amaro needs to get them a real top-of-the-rotation arm. If that happens and the starters improve, there’s no reason this team can’t repeat. But if they rest on their laurels and fail to get any better, don’t be surprised if they don’t get out of the first round.

Let me begin the humble expression of one man’s opinion with the following caveat: if the courtship of Pedro Martinez by the Phillies has either the intention of taking away from or the practical impact of diminishing the chances of Roy Halladay coming here, I’m against them signing Pedro. However, the media consensus thus far seems to suggest the opposite. And so I fail to see why signing Pedro is a bad idea.

Yes, Pedro Martinez is past his prime and there’s no question about it. Last year with the Mets, he was 5-6 with a 5.61 ERA, certainly not the stuff of a guy who amassed the 2nd-best winning percentage of any 200-game winner in modern baseball history. Yes, he is 37-years old and he’s been clocked at 91-93 mph on his fastball this week, a significant drop from the 97 mph moving heater that helped him accumulate 3000 strikeouts.

In today’s Daily News, Bob Ford suggests the Pedro signing would be bad for the Phillies, mainly because he represents something the Phillies already have. Specifically, the Phils already have an aging pitcher who occupies a middle spot in the rotation in Jamie Moyer. He quotes Charlie Manuel who said about a potential pitching acquisition “don’t get me what I already got.” But the comparison to Moyer is a poor one when you take some career stats into account.

In 17 Major League seasons, Martinez has a winning percentage of .684, an ERA of 2.91 and a WHIP of 1.051. Moyer’s pitched 23 seasons and has a winning percentage of .571 and an ERA of 4.23 with a 1.325 WHIP. Pedro Martinez has won 3 Cy Young awards. Moyer has never finished in the top-3 in Cy Young voting. In the playoffs, Martinez has a .750 winning percentage, an ERA of of 3.4 and a WHIP of 1.122. For Moyer’s part, he has a .500 playoff winning percentage, an ERA of 4.14 and a 1.137 WHIP. And for as much skeptical talk as there’s been surrounding the aforementioned 2008 record of 5-6, 5.61 for Martinez, Jamie Moyer’s ERA this season is slightly worse at 5.99.

Pedro Martinez is a first-ballot Hall of Famer and Jamie Moyer is not. I don’t put their numbers side-by-side to disparage Moyer, rather simply to demonstrate that if the question is whether the Phillies can benefit from acquiring a number 3-5 pitcher for their rotation, Martinez certainly fits the bill. Pedro probably won’t be good for more than 6 innings in any start but we know that’s exactly what we get from Moyer already (down 2 runs at the time, he left last night’s game after 5 innings pitched, having given up 6 runs).

Again, assuming Pedro’s signing doesn’t adversely affect the Hallady pursuit (or another top-of-the-rotation guy) I can’t see why it isn’t a good idea. In fact, potential savior pitcher aside, I challenge anyone to argue why a Hamels, Martinez, Blanton, Moyer and Happ rotation wouldn’t be better than what they’re currently working with.

I’ve been getting a kick out of watching an increasingly-angry John Kruk on Baseball Tonight lately. Most notably is his use of the above phrase to describe boneheaded, error-filled play that seems to happen exclusively in the N.L. East.

One such gem this week involved Austin Kearns of the Nationals (of course) sliding into nowhere, as demonstrated on withleather.com

Another beauty was any moment from last night’s Mets (of course) loss to the Dodgers. For some unkown reason, the Mets were only charged with one error in the game though just about everything they did in the field resembled a Renaissance Faire. The highlight of the game, though, was Manny Ramirez’s ejection, ostensibly for littering the field with equipment upon being called out on strikes on a pitch that was at least 3 furlongs outside.

Former Phillies outfielder, Bernie Madoff Lenny Dykstra, filed for bankrupcy protection today, the final straw in what was clearly a house of cards masquerading as some kind of high rollers’ financial services club. Despite adamant protestations over the past year that all his creditors were “criminals” and “liars,” as si.com tells it the “Ex-Mets Star” predictably threw in the towel today in an effort to shield himself from upwards of $50 million in liabilities.

I’m not going to pretend I have any nostalgic connection to Dykstra (quite the opposite; I remember very clearly his role in the disgraceful 1986 Mets World Series win), though growing up in Buffalo I was a big fan of former Sabre, Steve Dykstra. Nonetheless, it’s a sad thing when people collapse under the weight of their own arrogance, greed, hubris and stupidity, as demonstrated in these two videos. Perhaps leaning on former teammate, Darren Daulton, as his financial advisor wasn’t the best decision after all.

I suppose we should be writing something about how great the Phillies are now that they’ve won a series. For some reason, I’m bitter and angry toward them right now because of their recent hideous play and I’m unwilling to give them any credit for sweeping the Mets, who are an outright disgrace. So let me deflect that for a moment and point out that the Daily News is reporting that Pedro Martinez may be the answer to the Phils’ pitching problems.

Anytime the Phillies sweep the Mets it’s a good thing. But I’m not going to go down on Joe Blanton for blowing through the Mets’ minor league lineup. And wow, the Phillies beat Livan Hernandez and Fernando Nieve. Wow. I’m just going to come out and say it: as they are currently construed, the Mets are the worst team in the division, and I say that fully aware that the division includes the Nationals.

The Mets are 11-21 since June 1st. The Nationals are 11-20. I guess that makes them .5 worse than Washington. Hell, the fact that I’m even putting their name and record next to that of the Nationals makes my point for me.

The only glimmer of hope the Mets have right now is Johan Santana who is 9-7. With efforts like yesterday’s, Santana can expect more Andy Roddick-like frustration: he gave up 3 hits and 2 runs through 7 innings and still lost. Absent his strong perfomances, the Mets would be even more doomed than they already are. And consider these NL ranking for the entire Mets’ team: 8th in ERA and OPS, 9th in runs scored, 10th in BAA, 13th in SLG and 14th in WHIP.

I guess a life of jeans shorts and ungroomed neck hair isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

If I have to listen to one more local-ass homer bitch about how FOX is out to get the Phillies, I’m going to put my head through a wall. Apparently, Saturday’s nationally-televised game between the Phils and Mets on FOX featured cut-away shots to Manny Ramirez’s at-bats against San Diego. And this, of course, prompted the level-headed fan base and sports media here in Philadelphia to act as if North Korea had us as the bullseye on their nuclear dartboard.

Bob Ford was “totally appalled” as he tells us in his article entitled “Fox Cheated Phillies Fans.” Really? The production team at FOX conspired to “cheat” Phillies fans in order to please the other 99% of the national audience? As it turns out, FOX’s interest in presenting a broadcast that is not 100% bent toward the Phillies (as are 150+ annual broadcasts on local TV, which is what fans become used to) shows an intentional and sinister hatred of Philadelphia, the Phillies, their fans and butterscotch crumpet Tasty Cakes.

Moreso than any other sport (because there are 162 games played), baseball coverage is favored in the home team’s advantage because fans everywhere watch almost every game on locally-produced telecasts that are clearly and purposely aimed at the hometown audience. So when a nationally-televised game comes around, fans don’t get the homers in the booth calling the game and therefore they don’t get a hometown-leaning broadcast. Here in Philly, of course, fans take this as an intentional affront.

I have no interest in going to bat for Joe Buck, Tim McCarver or the rest of the FOX team but when I have to listen to crap like this I get annoyed. Seriously, having to endure a few split-screen shots during a game should not be construed as cheating fans. Everybody’s got to share on national coverage; that’s the price you pay for finally reaching national prominence. If people are so put-off by this maybe we should go back to pre-World Series backwater status.

After getting swept at home by the Blue Jays yesterday (amounting to their 8th series loss at home this season in 9 tries), the Phillies are 2-3 on the season against teams with birds as mascots (they won 2 in St. Louis back in May). In what has to be thought of as a pivotal series, the Baltimore Orioles will be in town for a 3-game set beginning with tonight’s pitching matchup of Antonio Bastardo against Rich Hill (2.1, 5.81). If you’re interested in speeding-up the trade process for another starting pitcher, wish for Bastardo to have a bad outing as a poor performance by the fatherless one will surely be his last start in the bigs for a while.

Despite a team average of .252 against lefties (Hill is a southpaw), the Phillies top-8 hitters actually fare quite well against left-handers so look for the offense to try and jump on Hill early. A W in the first game of this series would make the prospect of winning it a lot more likely (of the 8 lost home series, they’ve won the first game only 3 times). Other left-handed news of note on this series: Happ will start Saturday against Brad Bergesen (4-2, 3.79 and Hamels on Sunday versus Jeremy Guthrie (4-7, 5.42).

For a team 8 games under .500 (29-37), the Orioles’ record is very indicative of how slightly-below average they are. On one hand, as the Phillies know, the AL East is the best division in baseball and the Orioles have suffered for it: they are 10-16 against their division. On the other hand, the Orioles have gone 9-11 in their past 20 games (all out of division) and that includes series against Detroit, Oakland, Seattle, Atlanta and the Mets, none of whom I would put in the list of top-10 teams in baseball.

The bottom line is that this is a very winnable series, in fact it’s a very sweepable series. The Phils will start their two best pitchers in Happ and Hamels this weekend, which should bode well. They are going to need to put their best face forward as the coming week holds two road series against the AL East (Tampa Bay and Toronto). Come to think of it, 2 of their 3 wins against the AL East came at Yankee Stadium so maybe a break from the friendly confines is just what they need. Screw that, they need to beat Baltimore down, Omar Little style.

Going into this afternoon’s game against the Dodgers, the Phillies are one game over .500 and 1 game out of first place. While looking at the standings in all 6 MLB divisions, I noticed the Phillies have the worst record of any 2nd place team in baseball. This got me to thinking about the strength of the divsions and to what extent winning a division is important other than the obvious ticket-punching to the playoffs that a win brings.

The conventional wisdom is that the National League West is the worst division in baseball. As it turns out, measured by winning percentage the NL West is a .472 with its 1st place team (LA) owning a .657 WP and its last place team (Arizona) posting a .371. Compared to the NL East things are pretty damned even: the NL East has a .481 WP overall with the 1st place Mets at .545 and the last place Nationals at .344. So the NL West has a .007 worse overall winning percentage but its best team is considerably better and its worst team slightly better.

In fact the NL East is the 4th best division in baseball by winning percentage. The best division is the NL Central at .537 (with the 4th place Cubs owning a better WP (.576) than the 1st place Mets). The only other division over .500 is the AL East (.522). Third is the AL West (.499) followed by the NL East, AL Central (.477) and lastly the NL West (.472) When you consider the depth of the AL East and NL Central, there’s no question those divisions are the best; the winning percentages of the bottom three divisions are separated by less than one percentage point.

Lots changes between now and September but insofar as it’s worth thinking about these things in May, adding to the Phillies’ struggles is the reality that they’re struggling in a division that just isn’t very good. Understanding the NL East for what it is really puts the Phils’ problems in perspective.