Is it just me...

...or has Gary Matthews actually gotten better? I still can't stand the guy's voice, and his random inflection will cause me to type any quote of his lIkE tHiS, but I have yet to really laugh or yell at anything he has said this year. I haven't been able to watch every game, but it has been a pleasant surprise in the games I have watched

...or has Tom McCarthy gotten worse? It couldn't have been more than about a week or a week and a half ago that I texted Matt and said that T-Mac was getting better. I must have jinxed him because he just isn't very good at all. I know that things in the booth might be a little off right now, so I shouldn't come down too hard on anyone, but I don't think there is any excuse to confuse the Padres left fielder for their catcher multiple times or to call Shane Victorino Jimmy Rollins without ever noticing or correcting yourself

...or is Ryan Howard on track to win a Gold Glove? He must have seen Shane's and Jimmy's and gotten jealous or something. His defense has been spectacular so far. With that being said, I still haven't seen him try to throw someone out at 2nd by throwing the ball directly to our leftfielder

...or is Lou Marson taking someone's job? Yes, this is a little early to say anything even remotely close to that seeing as he has all of 6 at bats. But he has 3 hits in those 6 at bats and he isn't messing anything up behind the plate. The problem is we don't have anyone to get rid of. Ruiz is clearly a major league catcher, and I don't think Chris Coste should ever be sent down to the minors again. Marson will be back down there when Carlos is back unless he continues hitting .500 and being solid behind the plate, but it'll be fun for the next week or whatever we have left with him

...or should all of our pitchers be sent down to the minors? Brett Myers has the best ERA of our starters at 5.03. And he has given up 7 home runs. If it worked for him last year, let's take a week or two where we send all of our starters down and call up some of my boys from the minor leagues. Kendrick and Carrasco and a few bullpen starts should be able to get us through those games in decent shape. And you know the players would hit better than ever knowing that they had to. This obviously isn't a real idea, but something needs to change with every one of our pitchers right now. Not even our bullpen can get the job done lately

...or was I completely right about the Marlins? Well maybe not yet, because they've played the Nationals (or, according to their jerseys yesterday, the Natinals) about 15 times in their 11 wins. The last 3 wins all came at the very end of the game against the Nats, but this is still baseball and they have still only lost once. They're currently losing 2-0 against the Pirates in the 4th inning. I guess we can put them down for 12-1

...or is Ibanez an upgrade? I know that many Phillie fans will have a hard time admitting this, but come on. He's hitting .386 and is on pace to hit 74 home runs. And we all know how much that means after 11 games. But seriously, he's been easily one of our best if not our best offensive weapon. He showed to be a little shaky in the field yesterday, but he clearly made up for that. I would give anything to still have Burrell on the team of course. But I think I would give anything with the exception of Ibanez

...or do people constantly make Uncle Charlie look like a genius? Jimmy Rollins clearly needed a day off to figure out what the heck his problem is. Charlie gave him that day off, but then decided to pinch hit with him. He hasn't been able to do a thing offensively this season, but wouldn't you know, he comes up and hits a home run to pull us within 1 run. This happened countless times last season, and since we won the World Series I guess I just can't do anything but laugh and applaud the decision. Even if it sucked on paper

...or is Chase Utley hitting with a little more power than we're used to? Once again, it is early in the season, but balls seem to be flying off his bat over the right field wall. He has shown this kind of power before, hitting 25 homers before the All-Star break last season, but he always seems to even out with around 30 home runs. Are we looking at 40 this season?

...or do we need another outfielder? I said it at the beginning of the season and I still believe it. Stairs has one hit this year. It's a big hit, and he's an intimidating guy to have as a pinch hitter, but on a day like Sunday where we give Werth a day off, I would much rather have someone semi-consistent at the plate and in the field. Jenkins still hasn't found a home. We're paying him, let's just bring him back. Or call someone up. Or something. Please.

...or is Ryan Howard looking at another MVP season? I already mentioned his defense, which, if it had been there last season, he very well could have and maybe should have won MVP. He always seems to get off to a slow start though, and if this is a slow start, I'm excited to see what the coming months have in store. Hits seem to be falling in for him whether they are actually well hit balls or not, and that is so much of what being a good hitter ends up being about - luck. It's also nice to see him hit ground balls up the middle and avoid the shift. If things keep going the way they're going and the Phils start winning some games, the MVP will be his for the taking. That is, if he can beat out Ibanez and Utley

...or is it a miracle that we have the record that we do? Staying around .500 with the pitching that we have is fantastic. Hopefully we can hold on long enough for the pitchers to start pitching actual games, not batting practice


Well, that's all I have for today. Another game postponed. That's probably a good thing, I have a 15-20 page paper to finish...