Philadelphia Phillies

The newest member of the Philadelphia Phillies' 2,000-hit club is a very hard player to define.  Jimmy Rollins is, and is not, a lot of things.

"J-Roll" has been the Phillies' undisputed leadoff man for the significant majority of the past 12 seasons, the last five of which saw his team make the playoffs and included a pennant and a World Series title.

It is Jonathan Papelbon, not Cliff Lee, whom the Phillies should be trying to move via waiver trade this month.

Cliff Lee has been claimed by the Los Angeles Dodgers, and now the Phillies must allow their star lefty to walk for the sake of financial flexibility.  

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Philadelphia Phillies recently waived starting pitcher Cliff Lee’s contract.

Shortly after these reports were made public, other reports surfaced that Lee had been claimed by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Last year at the trade deadline, the Philadelphia Phillies were 68-39, six games up in the NL East. This season, the Phils are just 45-57, 16.5 games out in the NL East and 13 games out in the wild-card race.

Needless to say, with the payroll over $174 million, second to the New York Yankees in MLB, expectations were high.

They have not come close to meeting those expectations.

Hunter Pence did not expect the news he received early Tuesday afternoon as he was preparing to face the Washington Nationals later that night.  He was no longer a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, who had just traded him across the country to the San Francisco Giants.

The 2012 trade deadline has come to pass. For the Philadelphia Phillies, though, it could have gone better.

The Phillie Phanatic has been a very bad boy.

At least that is what one woman is claiming after the Phanatic allegedly tossed her in a pool and caused her severe bodily harm. 

Oh boy.

I will walk a fine line in this article, so forgive me if I teeter over the precipice. I am being balanced on one side by my hatred for grown men in mascot uniforms generally creeping me out. On the other is my skepticism of the claim. 

Like a nice steak dinner, let's work on the meat of this thing first. 

The Philadelphia Phillies need reinforcements, and it seems as if they are going to start looking for bullpen help.

According to Jim Salisbury at Comcast Sports Network, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel "hinted" at looking for bullpen help.

However, the Phillies are struggling right now, and you have to wonder if the bullpen is really the biggest problem.

The Philadelphia Phillies (26-25) are no longer contenders in the NL East after learning that Roy Halladay will miss 6-8 weeks with a strained right latissimus dorsi.