Do you like the title? It’s an attempt at levity to hide my utter shock/sadness/anger (Shanger?) regarding the trade of Simon Gagne for a former Smashing Pumpkins drummer and a half eaten bag of Funyuns. Okay, I just did a quick fact check and apparently it’s a different, far more irrelevant, Matt Walker. Since the other part of this blockbuster move is a 4th round pick, seeing a half eaten bag of Funyuns working its way through the Flyers farm system in the near future cannot be ruled out. Ideally, it’ll retire early and take over as General Manager for Paul Holmgren. I’m not going to bore you with a lot of “knowing a lot about hockey” like those other bloggers, I’ll let the guys at Flyers Fan Central do that (download their Droid App). What I will do is lay out some simple truths of the situation just to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Losing Gagne is upsetting and …

For a brief stint the BCS gods looked to be ready to rip apart the Big 12. As a Big East fan I can relate; normally they’re calling for our collective head in the off season. Thankfully it’ll be at least five more months until Lee Corso calls for Big East to step aside so the latest hot minor conference can finally have their shot at a perennially power, so soak it in while you can. We take it as an annual right of passage that the Big East is always facing extinction, but what does it mean from a school perspective when they talk about restructuring and where should a fan stand if their team enters the fray? I’m going to use three area teams to show the different effects movement can have.

Temple Owls: Bring on the rains!

As a temple fan, or perhaps the temple owl fan, you probably know your team has fallen on rough times (you could also use the phrase “sucks’). After being unceremoniously tossed from the Big East …

Here are Hot Stove Philly’s MLB All Star selections:

AL

1B:     Miguel Cabrera, DET (19HR/60RBI/.326AVG)

2B:     Robinson Cano, NYY (14/50/.362)

3B:     Evan Longoria, TB (12/52/.298)

SS:      Derek Jeter, NYY (8/39/.279)

C:        Victor Martinez, BOS (9/37/.297)

OF:     Josh Hamilton, TEX (17/53/.339)

OF:     Carl Crawford, TB (7/38/.307/26SB)

OF:     Alex Rios, CWS (13/38/.313/20)

DH:     Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (15/58/.324)

SP:      Colby Lewis, TEX (7-4, 3.07 ERA, 90K)

NL

1B:     Adrian Gonzalez, SD (16/58/.315)

2B:     Martin Prado, ATL (7/31/.336/21(2B))

3B:     Scott Rolen, CIN (15/46/.303)

SS:     Hanley Ramirez, FLA (11/.43/.292)

C:       Miguel Olivo, COL (10/32/.300)

OF:    Ryan Braun, MIL (10/47/.306

OF:    Chris Young, ARI (12/49/.273)

OF:     Corey Hart, MIL (18/54/.272)

SP:     Ubaldo Jimenez, COL (13-1, 1.60, 95)

          This started off as a Philly pride piece. I was going to talk about how proud I am of the Philadelphia Flyers and their season. I planned on dissecting how the play of Danny Briere and Jeff Carter was amazing and that Mike Richards’ ability to not only coexist, but even bond, with Chris Pronger shows that he’ll continue to be a great captain for the foreseeable future. My plan was to even go on a limb and say that I wasn’t upset about us losing, that just getting there was enough. After waiting over 24 hours this article should still largely echo those sentiments. That being said, never in my entire life have I wished so hard for someone to close their legs.

          No seriously, Michael Leighton, why will you not just shut your legs? I feel like I’m a dad on “16 and Pregnant” right before Prom. I’ll grant you that some of the saves you made were ridiculous. Yes, we were out shot in …

Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts died Thursday morning at the age of 83, according to the Philadelphia Phillies. His cause of death was not immediately known.

Roberts spent 15 years with the Phillies, including as a member of the famed 1950 Whiz Kids. He also spent time with the Baltimore Orioles, Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs, compiling a 286-245 record with a 3.41 ERA for his career.

He pitched in a time when endurance was the norm. Over the course of 609 career starts, Roberts threw over 300 innings in six straight seasons. He acrued a total of 305 complete games, including a stretch of 28 in a row.

During the 1950 season, Roberts, a 20-game winner, started three of the Phillies’ final five games, including their Pennant clinching victory over the Brooklyen Dodgers. It was the Phillies’ first Pennant in 35 years and the first time a Phillies pitcher had won 20 games in a …

In a surprising move, the Philadelphia Phillies announced Monday that they have signed first baseman Ryan Howard to a five-year extension worth $125 million. The deal reportedly contains a club option for a sixth year, which would increase the contract’s worth to $138 million.

The five-year extension will pay Howard $20 million in each of the 2012 and 2013 seasons and $25 million per year from 2014-16. The club option is worth $23 million with a $10 million buyout. The deal also reportedly contains a limited no-trade clause.

Howard is currently making $19 million a season after he agreed to a contract renegtotiation in 2008. That deal was worth $54 million over the final three years of his contract. At the time, the expectation was that those would be the final three years Howard would be a member of the Phillies.

Here are some amazing statistics, courtesy of David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily …

So former MVP shortstop Jimmy Rollins could miss up to four weeks on the disabled list. Who cares?

“Jimmy is a tremendous player, but that’s part of what you go through,” said manager Charlie Manuel. “You’ve got to make the best out of it you possibly can.”

In their first official game without Rollins, who is having the best start of his career, the Phillies walloped the visiting Washington Nationals in a purely offensive game by a score of 14-7. The score at the end of the third inning was 7-7, over an hour and a half after the game started.

Rollins’ replacement at the leadoff spot, centerfielder Shane Victorino, went 4-for-5 with a homerun, five RBIs and three runs scored. The five RBIs were a career high for Victorino, and in one night he raised his batting average from .161 to .250.

Second baseman Chase Utley went 2-for-4 with two homeruns, four RBIs and a walk. Ryan Howard added two RBIs of his own.

The Phillies, who …

According to a report by Philadelphia Daily News reporter David Murphy, Philadelphia Phillies’ manager Charlie Manuel announced on a Sirius XM satellite radio show Wednesday morning that shortstop Jimmy Rollins suffered what Manuel is calling “between a Grade 2 and 1″ calf injury that will sideline him for the forseeable future. That was confirmed in a press release Wednesday afternoon by general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr.

Rollins underwent an MRI on Tuesday after suffering the injury during pregame warmups before the Phillies’ home opener on Monday. Amaro announced that they were placing Rollins on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to April 13.

“We believe it to be a mild to moderate strain and we’re hopeful it will be a two-to-four week recovery,” said Amaro. “As in all of our injuries, precautions will be taken so that Jimmy is 100% when he returns to the field.”

The news comes as a blow to the Phillies, who, …

Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins was scratched from Monday’s home opener after he suffered what appeared to be a calf strain during warmups. He was replaced by Juan Castro at short.

According to Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com, Rollins suffered was is being called a “a Grade 2 strain of his right calf muscle – an injury that usually requires a trip to the disabled list – while completing a final few wind sprints before the first pitch.”

Rollins was not available for comment after the Phillies’ 7-4 victory over the Washington Nationals, but according to those who saw him the leave the stadium, he was not moving well.

“Personally, from my experience, it’s not fun,” said centerfielder Shane Victorino said. “It’s a frustrating thing, especially for a guy who runs, who needs his legs, who needs his speed. Hopefully, it’s not as bad as mine.”

Rollins could be placed on the disabled list and miss up to 2-4 weeks. He is scheduled to undergo an MRI …

Phillies’ shortstop Jimmy Rollins has once again stirred the pot of controversy, this time by questioning his own front office.

While on Dan Patrick’s Radio Show, Rollins reignited the debate of why the Phillies couldn’t keep Cliff Lee when they traded for Roy Halladay.

“I have no idea. I’m sure we could afford him. We turned nearly 4 million people through the turnstiles last year. I don’t know. You should have (Phillies GM) Ruben (Amaro) on here… When the trade happened, I actually got a text from Jayson Werth and he was like, ‘What are we doing?’ And I was like, ‘Didn’t we get Halladay?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, but we traded Lee.’ And my mouth dropped like, ‘That wasn’t part of the deal.’

“I really don’t know. I thought we had enough to keep him. I thought we could have done enough to keep him. I guess that’s just a move the Yankees do… That’s just the truth. …

Read More…

The results are in.

In one of the most hotly contested, uh, contests in Philly history, the winner of the Phillies’ Signature Hot Dog competition has been announced.

The winning dog is the South Philly Hot Dog, which is an all-beef wiener topped with spicy roasted red peppers, sharp provolone and broccoli rabe.

Fans voted for their top dog at phillies.com and at Citizen’s Bank Park during the two exhibition games leading up to the start of the season. Voting ended on Sunday.

The runner up was the Summer Hot Dog, an all-beef dog, topped with cucumbers, pickled onion salsa and rancho pepper sauce on a pretzel roll. The Olde Philadelphia Dog, which is topped with Amish pepper hash, dill pickle and yellow mustard on a poppy seed roll, came in third.

The South Philly Hot Dog will be served all around Citizen’s Bank Park for $5.75 starting on April 12, the Phillies home opener.

The Phillies claimed right hander Nelson Figueroa off of waivers Wednesday. He is expected to join the big league club.

Figueroa spent the Spring with the New York Mets, but failed to make the 25-man roster after allowing seven runs in one inning against the Florida Marlins on March 26. He made 16 appearances (10 starts) for the Mets in 2009, going 3-8 with a 4.09 ERA.

The Phillies are in need of pitching depth with Joe Blanton, J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge on the disabled list. Figueroa is 13-28 with a 4.54 ERA over his seven year career, including one with the Phillies in 2001.