Philadelphia Phillies

Let’s forget for a moment that Chase Utley is one of the most popular athletes on the planet.

Let’s imagine he’s a fictional character on Fox’s just-ended TV series, 24—and that he’s withholding some kind of information.

Mr. Utley being interrogated by government agent Jack Bauer?

The last few weeks of Phillies baseball has been pitiful.

Just when fans thought the team’s current slump was over after Tuesday night’s slugfest, the Phillies proved tonight the slump has not ended.

Charlie Manuel needs to make changes with this team and edit his constant managing mistakes.

Charlie is an excellent player’s manager. Every player in the Phillies clubhouse gives 110% for Manuel and his staff every game.

The players like his laid-back style and his refusal to put more pressure on them that is already there.

Red Sox pitching, of course, refers to just two men:

Daisuke Matsuzaka and Tim Wakefield.

Remember how both those guys dominated the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park three weeks ago over a span of 18 hours?

Well, both righthanders will be out to repeat their wizardry of the Phillies this weekend, while the Phillies will be given a shot at redemption, a chance for revenge.

Hey there, Phillies fans, I am not sure if you heard but the Washington Nationals had a young pitcher (I've got his name here somewhere) make his major league debut on Tuesday and he pitched pretty well.

The youngster (again, his name in a second) struck out 14 batters in 7.0 innings, throwing a dominant curveball, a fastball that regularly hit 99 miles per hour, and a changeup and slider that were simply baffling.

Now Phillies fans, I've sure you've heard all about this guy, but what you may not have realized is that he isn't the only youngster coming up in the NL East division.

If it's not one thing with these Phillies over the past two weeks or so, then it's another. If the pitching is spot on, then you can be sure the offense will struggle to muster a single run.

Then once the hitting finally gets going, the pitching and defense begin to struggle, and you're stuck with that Padres game from Sunday.

Some things in life you just cannot explain. 

Things like: How does lint get in my belly button? How do ugly musicians marry supermodels? And, how in the world is Jamie Moyer, 47, still winning baseball games at the Major League level?

After last night’s seven-hit, one-strikeout, complete-game performance against the San Diego Padres, in a 6-2 victory, Moyer continues to be a phenomenon.

The San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies face off this weekend in a match-up featuring a bewildering assortment of player related in some way to other players, including Will Venable, Tony Gwynn Jr., Jayson Werth, Scott and Jerry Hairston, and Padres coach Glenn Hoffman.

Nevertheless, with Ken Griffey Jr., announcing his retirement on Wednesday, the era of Major League sons truly comes to a close.

In 18 seasons spent in the major leagues, perhaps Matt Stairs’ most well-known moment came in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform.

Stairs, the former Phillie and current San Diego Padre, is back in Philadelphia this weekend for the first time since leaving the Phillies this off-season.  

Before Friday night’s game the Phillies held a brief ceremony in Stairs’ honor so that he could officially receive his 2009 National League Champion ring and receive an ovation from an adoring Phillies’ crowd.

The only way to explain the slump of this entire team is complacency. They have become so used to winning without truly trying that it's now catching up to them.

We see every day that not only in sports, but winning in life as well all comes down to who wants it more and not about who's the most talented. There's no doubt the Phillies are one of, if not the most talented teams in the league.