In Case You Missed It: Phillies, Giants tussle Friday night

The Phillies topped the Giants 9-2 Friday night to collect their eighth-straight victory. But the main story coming out of At&T Park was both teams clearing their benches after Giants' pitcher Ramon Ramirez hit Shane Victorino in the top of the sixth inning. If you didn't stay up to watch the West Coast action, here's video of the fracas below.



Source: Youtube
Benches clear in sixth, Phillies down Giants for 8th straight win (The Reporter)

What to do with Worley

By Christiaan DeFranco
@cdefranco

Psst... I have an idea: How about the Phillies KEEP Vance Worley?

I know, I know, it's a radical suggestion. Most people I've heard think the Phillies should trade him for a right-handed bat.

After all, a budding young pitcher is a hot commodity. In fact, it might be the most valuable commodity in the sport. Every team wants one, and now that the Phils are lucky enough to have one, the savvy move would be to deal him away.

Right?

Wrong.

Dead wrong.

Stupid. Idiotic. Moronic.

Even if your team has the likes of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt, an old baseball truism applies: You can never have enough starting pitching.

Yet lots of Phillies fans seem to be thinking, "Eh, we have enough."

Maybe they just don't believe Worley will turn out to be anything, that he's just another prospect in a sea of prospects that come and go like the tides. Maybe they overlook the fact that he held the Red Sox — baseball's best offense — to one run in seven innings. Or that he took a no-hitter into the sixth against the A's. Or that his career ERA in the majors so far is 2.29.

I happen to think he's legit, the real deal. I've thought so since I first saw him pitch. He's got the mentality it takes to be a big-time pitcher. He's got the toughness, the fiery competitive drive, the innate maturity, the work ethic, the attention to detail, the will and the need to succeed. He belongs and he knows he belongs. When he's on the mound, it's his mound. He owns it. And if a hitter gets comfortable at the plate, Worley will zing one high and tight.

That makeup is what Roy Halladay likes about him, too. That's why Halladay has taken a special interest in him.

Halladay and I could be wrong, of course, but then it's back to the question of having enough starting pitching. Oswalt is on the DL for nobody knows how long. Joe Blanton has been on the DL since before anyone can remember. And Hamels just injured his non-throwing hand.

So, after Halladay and Lee, who's left in the rotation — Kyle Kendrick?

What if somebody else goes down?

The fact is, the Phillies need Worley. Not only does he represent their future, he is a key component of their present.

They could use a right-handed bat, but trading away Vance Worley isn't the way to get it.

Dodgers' fix long overdue

By Christiaan DeFranco
@cdefranco

It is rare that I side with Bud Selig.

Granted, his institution of the wild card turned out to be a good move, despite my initial skepticism as a baseball purist. It has added to the excitement of the playoffs and the pennant races without compromising the value of baseball's six-month, decisive, unequivocal, 162-game season.

Yet he also presided over the Steroid Era, turning a blind eye to a culture of cheating that dramatically and irreparably distorted the integrity and history of the game — more so than any of baseball's previous fluxuations and transgressions, including the travesty of segregation (although that's a whole other issue, the complexities of which warrant another discussion).

While the awkward and frequently incompetent Selig has lined owners' pockets, he has done more harm to the game than good.

But when it comes to the McCourts, I'm with Bud all the way.

Sleazy Frank and his wayward wife need to disappear. Now.

When you think of the great franchises of all time — in any sport — the Dodgers are right up there.

Not only do they have a decades-long tradition of winning, and not only did they venture baseball West (albeit to the justifiable dismay and disgust of Brooklyn fans), but they are the franchise of Jackie Robinson.

The Dodgers didn't just change the game, they helped change our country.

But for the past few years, they've been in the hands of a scumbag and his scummy wife (now ex-wife). And these two all-stars, despite running the organization into the ground and using it as their personal cash machine, are trying to cling to ownership.

By the way, if you don't know about Frank's background, he's a Boston real-estate developer who tried to buy the Red Sox and wanted to tear down Fenway in favor of a new stadium.

Get the picture?

I've also heard he hates Abe Lincoln and apple pie, but that's unconfirmed.

Then there was that debacle in which Frank decided security costs were too high at Dodger Stadium, despite a well-documented gang presence. So he slashed security, and on opening day this year a visiting Giants fan was beaten into a coma by a gangbanger in the parking lot. (Don't worry. Frank publicly derided the incident — a week after it happened.)

As for Jamie, she cheated on Frank after three decades of marriage but wanted to keep her share of the Dodgers because it was her cash cow. She knows nothing about baseball and doesn't care to, but she feels entitled.

Meanwhile, this historic, big-market club — a national treasure — has struggled to make payroll, foregone free-agent signings, and failed to re-sign important players who contributed to its recent playoff runs.

The other day, Frank and Jamie finalized their divorce, and Frank secured a $3-billion TV deal with Fox that would have paid Frank $385 million up-front (approximately $185 million of which he was going to use to pay off his divorce and dispose of his private debts).

Not so fast.

Selig rejected the deal, opening the door for MLB to seize control of the Dodgers and sell them to a new owner — and opening up MLB to a lawsuit challenging Selig's powers as commissioner.

Perhaps the commissioner's power needs to be challenged, perhaps not, but this isn't the case for that. My guess is that the McCourts will ultimately fail in their attempt to cling to the Dodgers, just as they've failed the Dodgers as owners. My guess is they'll be laughed out of court.

At least I hope so.

And if you love baseball, Dodger fan or not, you'll hope so too.

Why Pujols should take less money

By Christiaan DeFranco

Should the best position player in baseball — who likely will go down as one of the best hitters of all time — be the highest paid player in the game?

Well, I'm not going to say he shouldn't. Albert Pujols deserves to get paid.

Reports say his asking price to re-sign with the Cardinals is 10 years, $300 million. St. Louis reportedly has offered him something in the range of eight years at $18-23 million per.

When you consider his value, in on-field production as well as revenue for the Cardinals and Major League Baseball, Pujols warrants a lucrative contract, perhaps a record-setting one. But when you consider other factors — and his manager's recent comments that Pujols is being pressured by the players union to set the bar — maybe a decade-long, $300-million mega-deal isn't the right course of action.

Even if La Russa, by ripping the union, is just trying to ease his star player's mind and show him he has his back, the point remains the same: There is more to life, and to a career, than money.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not sneezing at a big payday. But what do you want to be known for? Alex Rodriguez is one of the best ever, but he'll be remembered for his outrageous contracts (as well as his prima-donna image, of course) rather than his talent.

And it's clear that A-Rod — throughout his career, with every strikeout, every errant throw, every pop-up with runners on, every O-fer in the postseason — has felt the weight of that money as he has tried to live up to it.

Perhaps Pujols should take a cue from Cliff Lee, who turned down more cash elsewhere to return to the Phillies. He wanted to win and he felt that being with the Phillies gave him the best shot, plus he loves it here and his wife and family do too. This organization and this intensely competitive city felt like home.

"Once you hit a certain amount, enough is enough," Lee said, after he was asked why he took less money to sign in Philadelphia.

And isn't that the point? Cliff Lee isn't starving, and his grandchildren won't either. Once you reach a certain stratosphere, isn't it less about money and more about championships and legacy and greatness?

Isn't it about immortality?

Follow assistant sports editor Christiaan DeFranco on Twitter here @cdefranco.

Full Cliff Lee press conference

There's some silly intro. The actual presser starts at the 1:44 mark...

This is more than a dream

By Christiaan DeFranco

This never happens.

Your ex never comes back.

Not for real anyway. There may be flirtations, considerations, and even some form of reparations, but there is no true reconciliation.

In the end, it’s over.

Your love is gone.

But late Monday night, the fantastic became reality. I had heard the rumors. I had heard that the Phillies were “in the running.” I had heard that there was a chance that the one who got away, the one who had surreptitiously been traded away, might come back. I didn’t believe it. Not for a second.

Then it happened.

Then I beLEEved.

Over the last year, something was wrong. Karma was wrong. Ruben Amaro, who had been bound by circumstance and made a mistake, set it right. And now it feels even better than before.

The dream was to have both Lee and Halladay. Now we do… plus Roy Oswalt, to go along with ’08 World Series MVP Cole Hamels.

This never happens.