Seeing stars

While Chase Utley and Raul Ibanez lead the pack at their respective positions in All-Star voting, Rollins is in a tight race versus Hanley Ramirez as voting ends tonight.

Granted, Jimmy has had a less than stellar season. Certainly, not All-Star worthy. But if you are interested in voting him in as a career All-Star, get your mouse a’ clickin.

VOTE NOW : http://mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2009/ballot_reg.html

Back in the swing

After dropping 11 of 13, the Phils put a mark in their win column Sunday and pushed Moyer ever steadily up the all-time win leader board (moving him in solo security of the 43rd spot).

The Phils woes are coming from many angles, from pitchers that forgot how to pitch (Lidge), hitters who forgot how to hit (Rollins) and break out stars who might have pushed a little too hard (Ibanez). Hopefully the bumpy road will smooth itself out as the season slides toward September (and the Mets can keep their current chokers moniker intact).

Tuesday night will see the return of a name that’s been missing from the past few starts. Rollins will make what he (and everyone) hopes to be a triumphant return to the field in a new (yet old) position as leadoff hitter.

Resting since Wednesday, Manual and Rollins tried to get Jimmy’s .176 batting average out of his head.

Starting the trend, Lidge notched his first save on a well-rested and healed knee on Sunday. Now it’s J-Rolls turn to keep things on the up and up. Jimmy’s leadership is much needed and may even make a bigger impact if he can set the tone in a different way: Being the first in a long line of Phillies to struggle and come out on top.

First draft

Draft days never really do it for me. It’s exciting to see what the new kid will bring to the team, but that usually has nothing to do with how he did in college and the results are usually less than immediate.

The NBA, or basketball in general, does tend to feel the impact of a new guy more readily than the NFL. I still never saw the joy in watching to who, what and when these college-aged kids go.

So after last night’s festivities, the Sixers are the proud owners of point guard Jrue Holiday. The one-year UCLA player stands 6′4″ and was projected to go eighth, though he fell so far that Philly grabbed him at No. 17.

With Andre Miler’s return to Philadelphia’s starting roster indefinite, the Holiday could see some immediate action. As always, his skills on that level remain to be seen.

If nothing else, we know his parents had some interesting fun with phonetics.

On the record

Despite some recent setbacks, the Phils came out swinging last night against the Rays, backing a struggling (and, yes, over the hill, we get it!) Jamie Moyer with some potent offense.

After a homer a piece from Mayberry and Utley, the Phils hit 100 homers on the season. Reaching the benchmark at just 68 games played, it’s the fastest the Fightens have made it to the centennial.

With last season seeing the Phils get to 100 at 70 games — that being the franchise’s record at the time — the new pace could be exciting news for the remainder of the season.

I think the Phils did something unexpected at the end of last season after they set the record … what was it? Oh, right, winning the World Series.

In the news

I was avoiding this topic for sometime, since I didn’t feel it was really an Eagles’ dilemma. Thankfully, it’s not, though it very well could have been or could eventually be.

Fortunately for this franchise, former-Bird Donté Stallworth was traded to the Browns before his very public brush with the law erupted. And by brush I actually mean head-on collision, which tragically ended with the death of a 59-year-old pedestrian.

Stallworth was driving with a BAC 1.5 times the legal limit in Florida when he struck and killed a pedestrian. If convicted, Stallworth was facing up to 15 years in prison.

If that debacle wasn’t enough on the hands of the Browns and the NFL, the latest twist has thrown another wrench in the story.

After accepting full responsibility and entering a plea bargain, Stallworth reached an undisclosed settlement with the victim’s family and was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment.

This is where the media erupted.

Undeniably, a month-long jail sentence for manslaughter seems light. Tens of anti drunk driving advocates were plastered on the news stations screaming injustice over the case’s outcome. A member for moms against drunk driving pulled out the classic “what will my kid think” card.

I get it. I can’t argue with the commonly held and most likely scientifically backed popular belief that kids are easily impressed by every aspect of celebrities public lives. However, I like to think, although on a relative scale (he is a millionaire), Stallworth’s life is sufficiently ruined by this incident. I’m not making excuses for his decision or even suggesting we “go easy” on him, I’m just asking that a public outcry for more severe punishment really take a good look at what they would be getting out of it.

Most mass media reports go on to say, if Stallworth were not as financially successful he would never have gotten such an easy sentence.

Perhaps, but what is really being said here? It sounds like rhetoric that people should not be able to “buy” their freedom. Unfortunately, we put a price on criminals freedoms everyday. Juries award thousands upon millions of dollars in restitution verdicts, always with the addendum that the victim will still never be whole again.

So, if in this case, the victim’s family and Stallworth reached a mutually agreed upon settlement, who are we to cry injustice?

Crying wolf

Turns out Ibanez’s groin strain is nothing. As in the MRI showed nothing more than the original diagnosis.

Which is sort of unfortunate. As an athlete myself, negative MRIs are always somewhat of a catch-22. It’s not that you want something seriously wrong, but at the same time you don’t want to look like a … ummm … lame duck if it turns out nothing is wrong.

The good news is he’ll definitely be back when he’s eligible after the 15-day quota is met. The bad news is it makes you question why a professional athlete was limping or playing badly in the first place. We’ll give him the benefit of the doubt like we did J.Roll a season ago.

With Howard out of the line up tonight because of reported flu symptoms, the phils are going to have to go to the reserves to pull this one out.

Wait, it is Baltimore, right? How did we lose last night again?

Raul on the DL

First Lidge, now Ibanez.

After losing twice to the Toronto Blue Jays — making themselves the first NL East team the Jays were able to beat this season — the Phils pulled their most productive player out of the line-up.

In the midst of his career-topping year, the current hometown favorite has been suffering from groin problems that led management to force Ibanez onto the 15-day disabled list. Though the player didn’t want to stop taking the field, he and others agreed the injury was affecting his play.

Replacing Ibanez — or rather standing in his spot — will be 25-year-old John Mayberry Jr. Mayberry did well when he was called up before and will likely get a little more time to prove he’s got major league chops before the irreplaceable Ibanez can run back into the outfield.

Cross contamination

Donovan McNabb signed a new player-friendly contract with the Eagles last week. Unfortunately, that’s about all I can tell about it.

I was waiting for the initial buzz to dissipate a bit so I could better comb through the real facts and implications. Unfortunately, all I found out was that I have never bothered to understand the ins and outs of the money game behind pro sports. Partly because I like to pretend they all just play for the love of the game. Partly because I just have better things to do.

I do know the two-year extension to the deal that ran out in 2009 pushed some money McNabb’s way and Eagles owners said they knew they didn’t need to give him anything more but “he’s never complained” and they felt he deserved a bit of cash. This is why I really love this deal.

What other pro team would you see giving the face of their organization money just because? I’ve always felt the Eagles were a family-oriented organization, but the release of B-Dawk brought all this into question. Is McNabb’s contract a return to old politics?

Camping out three hours before game start for SRO tickets to the opener of the Red Sox-Philly series last Friday, my friend who had inadvertently donned an Eagle-green T-shirt was approached by a middle-aged man.

“You like McNabb, eh?” He began the heckle.

“Sure,” my friend replied.

“So I bet you like his new deal then? $10 million dollars, are you kidding me!? …” and so on it went. My friend talked down the jean-short wearing man while I stared and shook my head at his mid-calf socks.

I guess all a week has taught me about McNabb’s contract was that unless it had a clause in which Roger Goodell handed him a Super Bowl ring at the end of the deal South Philadelphians weren’t going to like it.

By the way, the Phillies game went for 13 innings, when it was thrown away by once-AAA-banished Kyle Kendrick (poor guy). However, they should really have a clause at the bottom of SRO tickets that says if the game goes past nine innings you get a refund. Or at least a free beer.

Forward progress

In a somewhat surprising move as this year’s finals were being played and remain very much TBD, the Sixers announced a trade for Toronto forward Jason Kapono.

Their pawn in this deal? Reggie Evans.

Kapono, a two-time winner of the NBA three-point shooting contest, is currently tied for the highest three-point shooting percentage in NBA history. In short, he’s not a bad guy to have on your side if you’re struggling on the perimeter — something the Sixers are fairly familiar with.

The loss of Evans after two seasons will be a blow for the Sixers, though on paper it appears they got the better end of the deal. Unfortunately, basketball is probably the least individualistic game out there (see: the Magic’s rise to this year’s finals with hardly a superstar player) and whether or not Kapono can keep up with the fast-paced tempo played at the Wachovia Center will determine his fit for the team.

As far as Evans is concerned, his banishment to the land of Maple leaves has so far gone unannounced as a search of the out-of-proportion and out-of-date Web site of the Raptors contained no trace of the (pending the passing of a physical) addition of the newest member of their team, donchaknow.

Injured wings

The eyes of sports nation were (briefly) transfixed to news Brian Westbrook would be undergoing ankle surgery to debride (no idea what that is) his right ankle. Reports are good he will be able to rehab that as well as the knee that was operated on this off season in time for Eagles’ opening kickoff. Returning to his former glory.

The problem is, what are we talking about here? Even without the repair jobs this off season has brought, Westbrook was a shadow of his former juking self.

In 2008, Westbrook still accounted for 30 percent of the Eagles’ offense. I’d say that is more of a sad stat for the Eagles than a positive stat for Westbrook. There was little explosion when B. West burst out of the backfield and the confidence fans usually felt when No. 36 took the ball up the middle gave way to a cautious anxiety that he was going to be smashed to the ground. He produced enough for the glimmer of hope that a 50-plus play was still a possibility, but those remained outstanding, if not fortuitous, occurrences rather than the routine regularity with which he used find the end zone.

And, oh my, how those goal-line over-the-top jumps found me watching with one eye shut.

Let’s not forget how difficult it is to come back from injury. Many players never return to their former athletic prowess.

With Dawkins out and B. West fighting his aging body, where will the youthful exuberant passion fly forth from in 2009?