Balls, Sticks, & Stuff | Phillies, Eagles, golf and other matters of great importance...

Additions to the Lineup

As some of you may know, just before 2 AM on Monday night/Tuesday morning, two new Little Phans entered the world, joining the original Little Phan, born during the 2007 NLDS.

The Missus and both Little Phans are doing well, and if they are anything like they're older sister, they will soon be able to respond reflexively with "Chase Utley!" to the question, "Who's the best second baseman in baseball?" and "Roy Halladay!" to "Who's the best pitcher in baseball?"

A Vote for BS&S.com in The Phield is a Vote Against Kabletown

[Vote Now!]

Thanks to you dear voters/readers, BS&S.com has advanced to the Sweet 16 of The Phield! I As always at times like this, I greatly appreciate your support.

Now, our opponent is FingerFood, a blog written by John Finger.  Now, Finger is a great guy, he's a good writer with eclectic tastes and sensibilities, but, BUT, he is owned and operated by one of the world's largest multi-media conglomerates.  So even though we all like John quite a bit, a vote for him is like a vote for Bear Sterns or A.I.G. or even worse, the Sixers.

Need even more persuasion?  Here's a video reminder, courtesy of 30 Rock, of just how badly they are trying to exploit you: 

Again, john's a great guy, but that kind of corporate behavior has to be stopped. Vote for BS&S.com! Vote for the little guy! Pass it on!

Vote Now!

On Sunday, you, faithful readers, propelled the No. 3 seed Balls, Sticks & Stuff into the second round of The Phield.  Today, I ask for your vote again.  Click here to vote.

Here's the blurb The Committee used to describe this site at The Phield:

A true veteran of the trade, Dr. Goyne is one of the top writers waxing about the red stripes. Posts at BS&S range from short quips to long, well-thought, fact-based commentaries. While he embraces advanced metrics, Goyne always finds a way to capture the innocent essence of the game. That’s the combination that makes a blog a regular worthy read. Goyne will interrupt the blog with an Eagles rant or some food for thought about the beautiful sport of golf, but heck, that’s necessary, isn’t it? He invented the Phloggers Pheeds, which stores the newest posts from the most-read Phillies blogs on the web. Smart and steady, he always finishes strong in the race.

I'm thrilled that others see this site that way, and I hope you do too.  I appreciate your support.

Droid Does Balls, Sticks & Stuff

If you're like me, you love gadgets.  And in this day and age, one of the most popular gadgets to have is a smartphone.  Everyone has one in their pockets these days, and why not?  If you've got a question you can punch up Google in about 5 seconds, or if you are into the Twitter you can spout off in, again, about 5 seconds.

With that in mind, I've created a Balls, Sticks & Stuff app for Android-powered phones [sorry iPhone users, I'm still efforting to get it approved by Steve Jobs].  The app is free and includes the latest content -- posts, pictures, videos, etc. -- from BallsSticksStuff.com.

To download, just point your Android-powered phone in the direction of the Android Market and search for Balls, Sticks & Stuff or even just "Phillies".

Enjoy!

Knocking on Doors and Kissing Babies [UPDATED]

Weather permitting, I'll have more Twitter postings from Clearwater for today's Phillies/Orioles matchup. In the meantime, an announcement: Voting has begun! Someone with a lot of time and creativity has put together a bracket tournament to decide the greatest Phillies blog, and I'd love to have your support, dear reader. Please point your browsers in this direction: http://thephield.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/vote-now-salisbury-region-first-round/ Thank you for voting, and as always, thanks for taking the time to stop by here.

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Update: Many thanks to all who voted!  BS&S.com safely advanced to the second round!

Proud to Announce...

...The return of the Phillies Annual, published by Maple Street Press.

ORDER NOW!

Edited by Jason Weitzel, with several articles by numerous writers who follow the Phillies closely, including yours truly, I honestly believe this is the best preseason publication available. There's great images from Getty, historical pieces, statistical analysis, player profiles, an interview -- something for everybody.  I'm proud to play a part in it.

The 2010 MSP Phillies Annual is available in Delaware Valley newsstands and bookstores as well as the Maple Street Press website.

Be the 12th Caller and Win [Introducing the Voicemailbag]

Way back in 2006, people used to call other people on the telephone.  This was before texting, Skype, Twitter, and Facebook could be accessed on, well, your telephone.  But now, in 2010, I'd like to bring back the original use for the telephone.

Simply call the number provided below and leave a voicemail message.  You can ask a question or leave a comment or tip regarding the Phillies, the Eagles, golf, television, movies, music, etc. And, if it's deemed interesting enough, we'll address it right here on the ol' blog, complete with the audio of your message*.

Just call the number below from your phone, or, if you place calls online, just click the Google Voice icon.

484.469.0287

* If you would rather that we not use your audio, just include that in your message.

Another Site Update or Two

Site Changes/Updates

Hard to Believe, Web Surfers

Please, excuse the fact that this will be the second consecutive entry on this site that concerns yours truly, but I just wanted to point something out:

Today marks the 5-year anniversary of the birth of this site.

To be honest, I find it hard to believe the Internet is around five years, much less this little old place.  I’ve had a lot of fun with this hobby over the years, and what’s even more amazing to think about is everything that’s happened in regards to this site’s main focus --Phillies baseball.

Back in the summer of 2004, the World Champion Philadelphia Fighting Phillies were still finding their way, if not lost in the desert.  Ed Wade was the general manager, Larry Bowa was the manager, Chase Utley was scrounging for playing time behind Placido Polanco and Ryan Howard was blocked by Jim Thome.

It’s been an amazing half-decade.  On the one hand, I’ve made some very good friends as a result of this site, and on the other, I’ve started a family and maintained a real profession  in spite of it.

I thank all of you for stopping by here and the Pheeds page on a regular basis.

Programming Note

Obviously, things have been a little slow around here.  First I had to get ready for a week’s vacation, then vacation itself, and now the usual digging out from under a giant to-do list after you get back…

At any rate, even though content may be light here in the main column, I usually make at least two or three updates a day in the micro-missives column to the right, so check in regularly.

As for the next post here in the main column, it will be another podcast, and this one with a guest, Jason Weitzel of beerleaguer.com.  Tonight, we’ll certainly talk Phillies, and who knows, maybe a little LOST, maybe a little fantasy baseball… We’re crazy like that.

Don’t worry, this site isn’t going all-audio all-the-time, it’s just something we’re doing for now to mix things up a bit.  In the future, I expect maybe one or two posts out of ten will be of the audio-variety.

Thanks for checking in, be back soon.

Announcing the Winners of the DVD Giveaway Caption Contest

Before we get to the business at hand, I'd like to thank everyone that entered the contest.  I received a ton of submissions and it was no easy task separating the winners from non-winners.  I think I finally understand now why some people think even losers should get a trophy [not that I agree with it].

So, without further ado, let's cue the drumroll and do our best Dan Baker imitation... 

The winners of the DVD Giveaway Caption Contest are...

Caption Contest/DVD Giveaway Update: Keep 'Em Comin'!

This morning, my inbox was choc full of great submissions for the caption contest, some of which made me laugh out loud.  Keep them coming!

Want to win a copy of the great offering by A&E TV, The Philadelphia Phillies 2008 World Series Collector's Edition DVD Set?  Click here.

DVD Giveaway & Caption Contest

As part of the celebration surrounding the first week of baseball at Citizens Bank Park this week, The folks at A&E Home Video have been generous enough to donate three -- that's 3! -- sets of their great The Philadelphia Phillies 2008 World Series Collector's Edition DVD Set [aetv.com] for giveaway on BS&S.com.

Ground rules: For the giveaway, we'll hold a caption contest with yours truly as the sole judge.  Feel free to leave your captions in the comments section (along with your email address so that I can contact you if you are the winner) or email your caption to heydoc at ballssticksstuff dot com.  The authors of the top three captions will receive the DVD set. All entries must be received by 11:59 PM on Saturday, April 11th.

Photo below [click photo to enlarge]:

A New Twist on the Old Game Thread

On Sunday night, for the Phillies season-opener, we'll return to something we used to do a lot of around here: a live-blog/game-thread.  This version, however, will be new and improved.

While my commentary will appear in the main column and your commentary in the comments section, a running tally of the Phillies' game situation and win probability will also appear in this space [thanks to Fangraphs.com's Twitter feed!].

So please, stop by tomorrow night as the Phillies begin their World Championship title defense!

Happy Birthday to Harry the K

Today is Harry Kalas’ 73rd birthday.  I don’t like to speak for large groups of people, but I feel pretty safe in saying on behalf of Phillies fans everywhere, happy birthday Harry.

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Todd Zolecki of phillies.com/mlb.com recounts this encounter he had with Harry this morning:

Me: "Happy birthday, Harry. You broadcasting today?"

Kalas: "No."

Me: "So why are you here then?"

Kalas: "For the love of the game."

Thanks Harry, you are one of the reason why we love the game.

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For one of Harry’s greatest calls, click here.

Site Updates/Changes/Facelifts

This space is like any space you occupy -- your office, your bedroom, your car -- it can get cluttered and stale, just like the old french fries under your driver's seat.  With that in mind, I've tried to do some things around here to bring this place into at least 2007, maybe even 2008.

If you're still reading this, here's what's different...

Additions:

• Going all Web 2.0, BS&S.com is on Facebook [we could use a few more fans please] as well as Twitter [twitter.com/ballsticksstuff; notice, I had to jettison an "s" since Twitter is so stingy with characters].  Plus, the Twitter feed is in the right-hand sidebar, so even if you aren't the twittering type [a twit?], you can still consume the micro-missives.
• There is a widget at the bottom of every post that allows you to rate the post with barely a mouse-click.  Since people are apprehensive about commenting around here, I want to give people at least some alternative method of leaving feedback.
• Finally, I've added quite a few new feeds to the Phloggers' Pheeds page, close to a dozen.  Enjoy.

Subtractions:

• Took out a few sidebar modules.  Can anyone tell which ones they were?  Probably not, which is why they needed to go the way of Adam Eaton.

Anyone have any suggestions for anything else that needs to stay, go, or get a facelift?