During the next few weeks and months, this little dog-and-pony show we like to call “Finger Food” will have a renewed focus complete with regular features, interviews, fun multimedia stuff as well as the staple of essays that regular readers are already familiar with. As such, expect a little beta testing on these pages as we move forward and bear with us as we settle into a new standard.
As always, please e-mail the site or post a comment with suggestions, questions or declarations and I will do my best to supply an answer.
And, of course, thanks for taking the time to dive into all these words. To me, there is nothing more exciting than a well-crafted sentence (well, you know what I mean – there are a lot of things more exciting than good sentences, but for the sake of this argument, let’s pretend it’s 1776 and there is no CNN to beam us images from Independence Hall…) so I hope I can pass on a little bit of entertainment.
Without much more blathering on, here’s the latest talk of the town:
- Phillies lose while Mets and Brewers win. All is not lost, though. The Phillies still control their own fate: “Loss to Braves shrinks Phillies’ lead in the NL East” (Hagen – Philadelphia Daily News)
- Playoffs!? We’re talking about playoffs?! Nope, not the Phillies: “Phils aren’t counting chickens yet” (Salisbury – The Philadelphia Inquirer)
- Tuesday night’s loss to the Braves underscored just how good the Phillies have been during the last two weeks: “Phils maintain calm focus despite loss” (Sheridan – The Philadelphia Inquirer)
- Nope, he’s not washed up… Veteran Brian Dawkins named defensive player of the week – and he’s 34! “Dawkins player of the week” (Frank – Phillyburbs)
- Running back Brian Westbrook still rehabbing his “butt off” in attempt to mend an ankle strain, though he is still doubtful for this Sunday’s game in Chicago. Meanwhile, a whole bunch of Eagles spent the days off getting MRIs… fun!: “Good news on injury front” (Frank – Phillyburbs)
- Good news for the Flyers – Simon Gagne is set to return: “Flyers’ Gagne targets Saturday for return” (Carchidi – The Philadelphia Inquirer)
- Remember back in the ‘70s and ‘80s when it seemed as if the Phillies and Cubs only traded players to each other? Of course you do. These days, though, the Cubs have as ex-Phillies (just Silent Jon Lieber) as they do Philly guys: Blue-Collar Ivy Leaguer Is Cubs’ Secret Weapon (Schwarz – The New York Times)
Morning stat
From Baseball Prospectus:
The Phillies have an 87.4 percent chance to win the NL East, an 11.08 percent chance to win the wild card and a 98.51 percent chance to make the playoffs overall.
Morning quote
I wasn’t worried at all. I knew we had time. I checked the other clubs. I did some mathematical things, figured out how many games we were going to win.
— Charlie Manuel on not worrying about the Phillies playoff chances after losing a series to the last-place Nationals earlier this month.
The B-Sides 