Omar Gaither has been named the starting middle linebacker for the Eagles, replacing the injured Stewart Bradley.

“I’m going home,” said Gaither, who played middle linebacker in 2007 before losing the job to Bradley in 2008. “I feel like Dorothy. I didn’t click my heels. I got on my knees and did a lot of praying. It’s good though. I’m looking forward to it. I think it will be exciting for me.”

Bradley tore his ACL on August 2 during the team’s “Flight Night” charity practice at Lincoln Financial Field, ending his season prematurely.

Gaither appeared to be the obvious choice to replace Bradley, but the Eagles decided to give sophmore Joe Mays a tryout.

“You try to justify and understand things that happen, but you can’t do that,” Gaither said. “You just have to keep playing. You would think that I would be the guy that would go in there right away, but Joe played well last year, and they felt like he could go in there and do …

Brad Lidge is having the worst year ever for a closer in major league baseball. He has a record of 0-6 with 9 blown saves. He has a 7.33 ERA, 1.80 WHIP, and has allowed 11 home runs. That’s the worst ERA and 4th worst WHIP by a closer with 20+ saves in any season, ever.

So we put the question to you. If you were Charlie Manuel, who would you make the closer? Brett Myers? Ryan Madson? Vote now.

I’m sure Shawn Andrews is a nice guy. And he’s certainly a hell of a football player, when he’s actually on the field.

But I’m starting to really get fed up with his lack of being on the damn football field. He has yet to participate in a live practice with the Eagles this preseason, let alone a game. He just flew out to California to have a doctor examine his ailing back. There are rumors that he’s (still) mentally not in football shape. He does not appear to be very interested in playing football anymore, but is simply going through the motions for the paycheck.

Now a video has surfaced of Andrews rapping (sort of) about Michael Phelps and smoking weed. The video isn’t really so much Andrews rapping, but more talking about rapping. And then he plays the song, and I’m not sure if there is any actual words…

You better just watch the video for yourself. I guess this is what Andrews is doing while the rest of his teammates are on the practice field….

According to Andy Martino, Phillies beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Matt Stairs wants to return to the Phillies next season for one last hurrah before retiring.

“I’ll play one more year and I’m done,” Stairs told Martino. “I’d like to be back, but that’s a decision for the team. I’m inexpensive, and I don’t complain that I don’t play a lot.”

Stairs is a free agent at the end of this season.

When asked by Martino, assistant general manager Scott Proefrock declined to say whether the team would bring Stairs back for another season, indicating that it is too early to begin discussing free agency.

A more immediate wish of Stairs is to start hitting better, a desire shared by all Phillies’ fans as well. He is batting a meager .205 with four homeruns and just 13 RBIs in 83 at bats on the season. He has gone without a base hit since July 11, and has only two hits since June 28. According to Martino, Stairs was …

The Phillies were down 4-3 at the top of the ninth inning when Pirates’ closer Matt Capps took the mound.

After Pedro Feliz grounded out to second to start the inning, Carlos Ruiz shot a double to left field. Ben Francisco followed as a pinch hitter and doubled Ruiz home to tie the game. Jimmy Rollins hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field, moving Francisco to third. Then Shane Victorino put the Phillies ahead with an RBI triple to deep center.

Headed to the bottom of the ninth inning, the rolling Phillies were up 5-4.

Enter Brad Lidge. Tuesday was Lidge’s fourth straight appearance. In his previous three outings, Lidge had two saves in two opportunities with no runs allowed, a small victory for the struggling closer.

The Pirates opened the inning with a single to left field by shortstop Luis Cruz. The next pitch got passed catcher Carlos Ruiz, advancing Cruz to second base. Brandon Moss tied the game with a single to shallow right, handing Lidge his ninth blown save of the season, by far the …

After taking three of four from the Triple-A New York Mets, the Phillies head to Pittsburgh for a three-game exhibition set against the Double-A Pirates.

The Phillies are currently 22 games over .500 and seven games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in first place in the NL East, while the Pirates are 20 games under .500 and 19 games behind the St. Lous Cardinals in the basement of the NL Central. The Pirates have lost five of their last 10 games and have only one starter left on their roster from Opening Day 2008 (Ryan Doumit).

The series kicks off Tuesday night with Joe Blanton (8-6, 3.86) on the mound against Pittsburgh righty Ross Ohlendorf (11-8, 4.15). Blanton allowed 10 hits and three runs in his last outing, but still managed to last eight innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks for the win. This has been par for the course for Blanton since he joined the team midway through the 2008 season.

Ohlendorf has won three straight and has allowed …

Eagles’ coach Andy Reid announced Tuesday that quarterback Michael Vick will play the fourth quarter of Thursday’s preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Lincoln Financial Field.

“Michael will have an opportunity to play,” said Reid, who indicated Vick won’t play much. The Eagles will “take it play by play, see how he adjusts to game speed.”

It will be Vick’s first action since serving a 23-month prison sentence for running an illegal dog fighting operation.

So we want to know, if you are going down to the game Thursday night, are you going to cheer or boo Vick when he walks onto the field for the first time?

After allowing just two unearned runs over seven innings against the New York Mets Monday, Cliff Lee’s ERA with the Phillies is a stunning 0.68.

Lee got into some trouble in the first inning, showing signs that he was perhaps human afterall. Angel Pagan led the inning off by reaching first on a fielding error by Chase Utley, and then scored when Utley threw the ball away. No outs, one unearned run. After getting Luis Castillo to flie out to center, Lee gave up a triple to Gary Sheffield. He would score on a sacrifice fly by Fernando Tatis.

That would be all the runs the Mets could muster. Lee allowed a total of six hits, but struck out five and walked none. He looked in control for the rest of the game, with a strike-to-ball ratio of almost 3:1.

Ryan Howard, on the other hand, had little problem generating runs throughout the game. With Shane Victorino on third and Utley on second, Howard sent a shot over the …

In case you missed the game today, perhaps you were moving from one apartment to another in the oppressive August Philly humidity, here is the video of Eric Bruntlett’s game ending unassisted triple play.

Yea, I know, I’m getting ahead of myself a little. But with the continued struggles of Cole Hamels, we are forced to examine what the makeup of this Phillies rotation should be.

You’ll notice that none of the choices include a rotation in which Cliff Lee is not the Game 1 starter. You’ll also notice that I left off both Pedro Martinez and Jamie Moyer from the rotation choices, as I do not believe that Charlie Manuel will include either one of them as a playoff starter. That being said, if you think one of them will, or should, be included on the playoffs rotation, or the Lee does not deserve to be the first starter (I want whatever it is you’re taking), please feel free to create your own rotation.

The Phillies are 6.5 games up in the division and look poised to make their third straight playoffs, barring a Mets-like collapse down the home stretch.

As such, it is only natural for fans and pundits to set their sights on October baseball. If the playoffs started today, the Phillies would face the wild card Colorado Rockies in the NLDS. The Cardinals would face the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In the playoffs, especially in a short three game series, pitching rules. With the addition of Cliff Lee to the staff, and Joe Blanton and J.A. Happ pitching near lights out baseball, the Phillies seem well equipped to take on any team.

The one chink in the armor of the starting rotation, however, is the center piece of last season’s World Series success: Cole Hamels.

The NLCS and World Series MVP, Hamels has been less than stelar this season. In 23 starts, Hamels is 7-7 with a 4.69 ERA. He has failed to complete six innings nine different times despite leading the …

Coming off a three game sweep of the Diamondbacks this week, the Phillies appear to hold a commanding lead over the National League East division, 6.5 games up on the Marlins and Braves.

The Phillies appear to be firing on all cylinders. Their potent power offense is crushing the ball as Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth heat up. The pitching seems to have settled itself out and is performing better than it has all season.

But as the Phillies head to Queens for a four game series with the Mets this weekend, they need to be mindful of the recent troubles of their northern division rivals. The Phillies cannot get complacent; they cannot assume they will win this division.

From here on out, the Phillies have 13 series left to play, eight of which are against teams in their division. While eight of those series are against teams with losing records, five of those series are against teams that still have something to play for.

The Phillies will face a …