Opening Day only 1 day away for the Phillies

Your Opening Day Starter: Brett Myers

Opening day now about 24 hours away and Brett Myers is no doubt chomping at the bit to get the ball and go out there and get the job done on the mound. His full name is Brett Allen Myers and he was born August 17, 1980 in Jacksonville, Florida. He has a career era of 4.34. He is projected to have 12 wins this year and pitch 180 innings. I think it will be closer to 15-17 wins with 199 innings pitched. His salary last year was a shade above $5 million.


Here's the competion:

The Washington Nationals

Not picked by many to be a power house by any leading sports services. They do have a brand new park in Washington DC though and a guy named Dmitri Young as the anchor of the team. The Nats actually open their season tonight and should end up as the prey of the Atlanta Braves.

Jayson Stark of ESPN is on the main page of ESPN today proclaiming that the Braves will win the division. I say that's preposterous and in a word: wrong. The Braves have an aging staff, true they have some good starters but I don't see the big turn around for them, they sacked Andrew Jones and I just don't share the opinion that the Braves are the team to beat in the National League. Stark and Pascarelli from ESPN will eat crow by July or August when the Braves fade away like they did last year.

Now back to the pesky Nationals, they could play the spoiler role this year. Meaning that teams that go in and count games as an automatic 'win' against this team could be surprised by the feisty play that they produce. Here's the starting lineups for Washington:


Center: Lastings Milledge: was supposed to be the next Mets phenom

Left : Elijah Dukes: Put up your Dukes!

Right: Austin Kearns: Scrappy reliable right fielder

Third : Ryan Zimmerman: Back at third for the Nats

SS : Christan Guzman: Good range

Second: Ronnie Belliard: Veteran Second baseman

First : Dmitiri Young: Deep power threat

Catcher: Paul LoDuca: Fiery catcher, ex Mets star


There you have them, they aren't the Yankees, but they will probably win 75 games this year!


Rich Baxter / Philly Sports Talk Now!

Phils drop 2 preseason to the Jays & inflation at the ballpark

10 million reasons for a great season! (pic R.Baxter)

The Big Hurt struggling at the plate lately (pic R.Baxter)

Is the Phanatic fed up with middle relief? (pic R.Baxter)

You start off with high hopes every Spring as a baseball team. The Phillies lived a Cinderella life last year, coming out of no where to snag the NL East Title. They were in contention for a possible wild card position but with 10 days left in the season last year anything could have happened to the team.

My prediction made a couple of weeks ago has changed, I am now floating back to earth from my earlier prediction and I am revising my Phillies win total this year to 83. I originally had picked 98 but having had the last two weeks to mull over that lofty goal, my mind has been changed with the first preseason game and now the second at Citizen's Bank Park just today.

The concern lies with pitching, for some reason the Phillies have not gotten the job done with hiring quality middle relievers. We watched from the stands today, and the Phils after just grabbing a guy off of the wire named, Lahey, who arrived only today in Philadelphia and the Phillies put him out on the mound. Welcome to Philly, here's a baseball. There's something wrong in that picture. He promptly went out there and gave up 4 hits and somehow got out with giving up one run.

We were greeted upon arrival to the Citizen's Bank Ballpark with a lesson on economics, prices of gas, fuel, and everything else is up and now it's the parking at the ballpark as well. $10 is not the rate anymore, now you'll cough up an extra $1 of your hard earned money to park- yes that's right official parking is $11 now. Have a soda, that's $4.25 for a 20 ounce soda in a bottle, and if you want that 'hot' pretzel now it is $3.75. Quick math, that's $8 even for a soda and a pretzel. I don't mind paying a little extra when I go out, but this is insane. Bring 4 kids who just want a pretzel and a soda, and it's $32 just for that. No wonder Ryan Howard wasn't happy with just under a million dollars, now he's a bit more comfortable with $10 mill, if he's buying that ballpark food, he just may need the extra dough.

Want a beer at the park, $6.50 please, want that shiny Phillies bottle of beer $7 is the price. I am finding that if you take the regular price of something and times it by 5 or 6 then you usually come out with the price you'll pay for the ballpark item. Inflation is hitting hard and the ballpark is no slouch when it comes to separating you from your money.


Rich Baxter / Philly Sports Talk Now!

Show 82 - Opening Day Special a walk down the Phillies memory lane

Play This Show

Our show this week is a walk down memory lane, this is our opening day for the Phillies special. We talk about opening day and reminisce about the great 1980 Phillies team. Join us for our show where we talk more about the picks that Sports Illustrated has out for MLB, they pick some teams that didn't even make our radar. If we pick better than the Illustrated crew, we want some column space next year!

All this and more, hear about our upcoming special guests on Philly Sports Talk Now!


Rich Baxter / Philly Sports Talk Now!

Play Ball! Even if it's from Japan - Red Sox vs. A's

The season has started. The sun is shining here in Southern New Jersey, as it is in the 'Land of the Rising Sun'- it must be time for baseball. The Boston Red Sox and the Oakland A's kicked off the season in Tokyo, Japan on Tuesday March 25 at 6 a.m. Eastern Daylight Savings time. That's an early start for sure, but we baseball fans no doubt were in front of the tv for the start of the MLB season officially!

Dice K was all the rage in Tokyo naturally as he got the start for the World Champion Boston Red Sox today. Boston pulled out a win in extra innings to come from behind to win courtesy of Manny Ramirez who brought home the winning run.


Hear our podcast tomorrow night, where we will be talking about this and a whole lot more on our show, Philly Sports Talk Now!


Rich Baxter / Philly Sports Talk Now!

Fightin' Phils Audio blog post

Here's the first post for my 2008 Fightin' Phils Audio blog. This is a screencast version which also includes graphics as opposed to just an audio podcast, hope you enjoy it and if you can stop by my Phillies only podcast show that I do throughout the season.

Click on play at the bottom to see the screencast and hear my podcast!




Rich Baxter / Philly Sports Talk Now!

and Fightin Phils Podcast

WIP ponies up to Obama

WIP sports radio acted as I would have expected them to act when receiving a call from presidential candidate Barrack Obama. As they do with the terrible commentary on sports, Angelo Cataldi and the rest of the morning crew fell over themselves to gush pleasantries to a candidate when they could have really thrown some good questions at him.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer's website:

Obama this morning sounded relaxed as he hit Cataldi and Co.'s softball questions out of the proverbial ballpark.

"Why should we elect you?" Cataldi said.

"I think we're at a moment in our history where we need to break from the past in a fundamental way," Obama replied.

The legislator from Illinois repeated his campaign's constant refrain, that culture and policies of the Federal government must change.

Obama lambasted Washington lobbyists, expressed sympathy for citizens losing their homes to mortgage foreclosure, and offered sympathy for families with loved ones deployed to Iraq.

Talk about a good opportunity to ask about some more recent revelations about other issues surrounding the race to get into the White House! I've heard them grill Charlie Manuel more for why he brought Tom Gordan in when he did during a game!

And what does Obama mean by 'break from our past' this is scary, what does he want to create the United States of Obama?



Rich Baxter / Philly Sports Talk Now!

Philly Sports Talk Show 81

Play this show click here

Here's our latest show, on talking about Philly Sports. We get a little nostalgic, talking about the Phillies 'new' home, this season is the fifth season for Citizen's Bank Park. How have the boys been doing? We think very good. We talk about the managers of the last few years of the Phillies as well.

Will the Sixers make the postseason? We think so, there are a couple more games left to play though, and it looks like they just may make it to the playoffs. A guy named Iverson is back, we look at what he still means to the Sixer fans.

All this and more on the Philly Sports Talk Now show with Rich and the 'Dogg'.

We're in trouble now!

I am relaying this poll from the Philly Inquirer readers at philly.com

SUNDAY SPORTS POLL

Who is the Phillies’ best addition for this season?
Eric Bruntlett
	25 (1.3%)
Pedro Feliz
	531 (26.6%)
Geoff Jenkins
	78 (3.9%)
Brad Lidge
	405 (20.3%)
So Taguchi
	72 (3.6%)
Kris Benson
	74 (3.7%)
Anna Benson
	813 (40.7%)
Total votes = 1998

Anna takes the voting with 813 votes, or 40.7 % of 1998 votes cast

Who says good looks doesn't get you votes! Rich Baxter / Philly Sports Talk Now!

Fantasy Baseball Prophet software

It’s almost time for one of sport’s most exciting games to start up again. Major League Baseball will be officially starting within two weeks. Fantasy sports fans are gearing up for their drafts in record numbers again. Each year more and more fans get into fantasy baseball and assemble their own teams with the greatest players of the MLB. It’s fun and gets you interested in every play in the game. Now there is a new web based program available to help you every step of the way with your fantasy baseball team, it is called Fantasy Sport’s Prophets Fantasy Baseball program.

fantasy baseball

The program is web based, as it accessible from anywhere. It can be used as a key tool to assist you in assembling a winning team. It features player rankings based on a sophisticated system called Predictive Modeling that was developed by PhD scientists. It is full season roster management including mid-season updated projections by artificial intelligence. Your draft will be a breeze with the most updated data you need to make your draft choices that succeed. All stats and injuries and major updates are continuously updated throughout the season.

We can’t say enough about this program and the benefits it will provide, winning your fantasy league is what you set out to do, this software should be your tool! You can also get a nice discount just for reading about it in blog, just enter ‘BMC200’ in the promo code area and you’ll get $10 off.

Phillies Wins Predictions from Show 80

Each year, we talk out our crystal balls and gaze inside to see if we can tell how many wins the Phillies will have this year, here's the results from our special on Show 80:

Phillies Wins Prediction:

• Jim Mulry: 84
• Mike Berquist 90
• Rich Baxter 98

Given the fact that the Phillies are having a terrible Spring Training, I wish that 98 now wasn't my number! Just kidding, but guys hey, it's only two more weeks and these games will count.


Rich Baxter / Philly Sports Talk Now!

Our picks ... from the MLB 2008 picks show

Philly Sports Talk Now!	MLB Picks 2008 – from our special podcast on 3/12/08	Hear our show, with all the talk on baseball that you love!
Jim ‘Sports Dogg’ Mulry	Mike Berquist	Rich Baxter
NL East… Atlanta Braves	NL East… Atlanta Braves	NL East… New York Mets
NL Central… Houston Astros	NL Central… Chicago Cubs	NL Central… Houston Astros
NL West… Arizona Dbacks	NL West… Arizona Dbacks	NL West… Los Angeles Dodgers
Brewers –Team to watch	Wild Card- Phillies	Wild Card- Phillies
Quote: Mets to watch the playoffs from home	Quote: New York Mets to sit at home for the playoffs	Quote: Watch out for LA and Houston to be most improved

AL East: NY Yankees	AL East: Boston Red Sox	AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Detroit Tigers	AL Central: Cleveland Indians	AL Central: Detroit Tigers
AL West: Los Angeles Angels	AL West: Los Angeles Angels	AL West: Los Angeles Angels
Wild Card: Cleveland Indians	Wild Card: Detroit Tigers	Wild Card: Cleveland Indians
World Series: Houston Astros Vs. Detroit Tigers	World Series: Atlanta Braves vs. Cleveland Indians	World Series: NY Mets vs. Boston Red Sox

Here's Show 80- The Major League Baseball picks 2008 show

Play show click here or use our player on top of the page

Here is our show for the 2008 MLB Baseball picks show, who we think will be the winners of both the National and American Leagues. Join Mike Berquist from "A Citizen's Blog" a great Phillies blog along with James 'Jimmy Dogg' Mulry and myself, Rich Baxter as we bring you our picks for the top contenders in baseball this upcoming season.

I had some major problems hearing the show on my headphones, due to some technical troubles, so I apologize for my miscues with my co-hosts not being able to hear the show properly at all. Despite this, I think this is one of our best shows of the year. We talked about the Phillies and what the early spring season is showing us. We all agree pitching could again be the thorn in the Phillies side.

We talk about the start of the baseball season, the official opening day is March 30th but the season actually kicks off five days earlier in Japan. Is this the proper way to kick off the baseball season? We chat about that and a whole lot more on show 80 of Philly Sports Talk Now - this post also going onto my Phillies Talk blog here!

I'll post our picks on our blog in the next week or so, but to keep this show exclusive, you'll have to listen to the show to hear them!



Rich Baxter / Philly Sports Talk Now!

Major League Baseball 2008 our picks next show!

Join us on our next show Wednesday night, at 6:45pm when we will present our MLB 2008 season picks. Rich Baxter along with James "Jimmy Dogg" Mulry and our special guest Mike Berquist from 'A Citizen's Blog' present their best picks for the National and American League teams to make the playoffs this year.

Read about Mike's picks in his blog for the American League and then hear him live on our show to talk all about it. His National League picks will be presented in his blog next week, but hear what he has to say about the Phillies and the rest of the National League on our show!

We will talk about the Phillies Grapefruit League happenings as well. So don't miss our next show. You can join us right here on phillywebcast.com and click the "Live" button to hear all the action over your computer as we do the show, you can also bring us your questions if you have a microphone hooked up to your computer or by calling into the show. We want to hear from you!


Rich Baxter / Philly Sports Talk Now!

We talk with the ticket manger at Brighthouse Field Kevin Brahm tonight!

Listen to the show here!

Join us on our show tonight, when we will interview Kevin Brahm, he is the ticket manager down in Clearwater, Florida for the Clearwater Threshers. Kevin will update us on what's going on down there in sunny Florida.

We talk about some other Philly sports news including the Cole contract controversy and some Eagles notes.


Next week on our show, we are joined again by Mike Berquist, from A Citizen's Blog the great Phillies blog he writes, and we will do our MLB picks for 2008. Hear all of our picks for who we think will make it to the playoffs, and beyond. We'll talk about the improved teams, and as always our 'sleeper' picks that should do well in baseball this year. That is next week, join us tonight, Wednesday, March 5th at 6:45 pm right here at www.phillywebcast.com click on our live link where our schedule is on top of the blog, and join the show.


Rich Baxter / Philly Sports Talk Now!

Be Oyster Aware!

What did the one oyster say to the second oyster? "Just because you have a pearl don't think you're special." At Philly Sports Talk Now! we like to bring new websites to our readers. Introducing a great website for you to learn about the oyster. www.beoysteraware.com

Stop by the website at www.beoysteraware.com


Learn all about eating oysters, and the latest recipes for enjoying a great seafood treat called the oyster. You can learn all about the nutrients that the oyster provides as well as some information on allergies to the product. This site is for continuing education for the consumer that point our people that may be 'at risk' when consuming oysters and oyster prepared foods. For instance, If you have liver disease, diabetes or a weak immune system, you should avoid raw oysters.

So, please stop by and get some 'oyster education' for a minute or two, you'll be glad you did and will be an informed consumer about the subject.

Gulf oysters

Wednesday night's show features special guest Kevin Brahm, Clearwater Threshers ticket manager

On our next show, we have a special guest from down in Clearwater, Florida. Mr. Kevin Brahm is the ticket office manager of the Clearwater Threshers minor league club of the Phillies. We'll talk to him about what's going on down there in Florida.

We'll talk to him about the Clearwater Threshers and the new Brighthouse Field down there in Clearwater, Florida.

Cole is unhappy with his contract, he wanted a modest amount more. We'll talk about that and give you our take on the situation.


All of this and more on the show about Philadelphia sports with Rich Baxter and Jim "Sports Dogg" Mulry this Wednesday night at 6:45 pm - you can join us live, we take your calls just come to this website at www.phillywebcast.com and click on the live button!