Are you are having a tough time getting pumped up for the Phillies first Spring Training contest tomorrow?

Well, lets fix that.

Sure we might not see Ryan Howard hit any bombs or Roy Halladay throw a few flame balls, but there is still enough going on to keep the attention of hardecore baseball fans.

Philly.com Phillies beat writer Andy Martino points out several things of interest heading into Philadelphia’s clash with Florida State. Bellow are his thoughts:

Points of interest for the exhibition [...]

Thank God, baseball is back ! 

Pitchers and Catchers reported a day early as the Phillies get geared up to try to make it 4 in a row.  The role that used to belong to the Atlanta Braves as the perennial team to beat seems to have been handed over to our Phitens.   The Braves and Marlins both made off season moves that indicate the team in their sights is in fact the Phillies.  The Mets also signed Jason Bay for [...]

If the Phillies want to become a dynasty, I offer 5 suggestions to send them on their way. They have a good balanced ball club, one that has won the National League east three times in a row, been to 2 World Series and won one. That is a good 500 or so games for the team. But to truly become a dynasty, they need to sustain this level of play for 1000 or so more games.

That [...]

Even with six run lead heading into the eighth inning it wasn’t easy for the Philadelphia Phillies.

In the end, though, Philly got exactly what it needed. Game Six is on the way.

Chase Utley pounded two home runs and Ryan Madson pitched a shaky ninth inning to close out an 8-6 victory for Philadelphia.

The Phillies offense got going, pounding out six runs over the first three innings off New York starter A.J. Burnett.

Phils’ ace Cliff Lee was in control until the [...]

It wasn’t so long ago that Charlie Manuel was looked at as a laughing stock in this area.

Manuel, the Phillies skipper, seemed to know nothing about National League baseball after spending his entire career in the American League as the manager of the Cleveland Indians.

Two years into his term with the Phillies it looked as though Manuel still didn’t understand how to properly execute a double switch – something Little League managers could figure out.

Manuel’s speech [...]

Tonight begins the next step in the Philadelphia Phillies quest to repeat as World Series champions. The Phils take on the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight at 8:07 p.m. in the first game of a best-of-seven NLCS series. Last year the Phillies beat the Dodgers in five games in the NLCS, but how will they fair this year?

 He is a breakdown of how the match up:

 Phillies Pitching:

Game 1: Cole Hamels: The lefty has had his ups and downs this season and [...]

It was everything that October baseball is supposed to be.

The Philadelphia Phillies showed once again why they are “Must See TV” pulling out a dramatic victory that sent them back to the NLCS and put them one step closer to repeating as World Champions.

After giving up three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and facing the prospect of coming home for a Game 5, the Phillies staged one of the greatest ninth innings in team history, coming back [...]

The Phillies and Rockies are deadlocked at 1-1 after the first two games at Citizens Bank park, and now they are off to chilly Colorado.   The talk this year has focused on the Phillies pitching.  Everyone seems to agree the offense and defense are good enough to repeat as World Series champions, but the jury is still out on the pitching staff.  On an off day with no game scheduled, I am taking this time to review the Phillies pitchers; today [...]

The past two nights the Phillies are looking like a team that gave it’s all to clinch the division and are not all that concerned about home field advantage for the championship series.  With the exception of another towering homerun by Howard in the bottom of the first (his 44th) the Phillies offense was flat.  Joe Blanton looked equally flat as he allowed 5 runs in 6 plus innings and never seemed to be on top of his delivery. 

Charlie Manuel [...]

The Phillies left no doubt about it tonight as they clinched their third straight division title for the second time in franchise history.

They set various benchmarks, had virtually every starter contribute to the 10-3 score, in a game featuring a rejuvenated Cy Young award winner, an early appearance by a middle reliever who pitched 3 scoreless innings and a beleaguered closer who came in and got the final out in a non save situation.  This team appears to be ready [...]

The Phillies took another game to the wire tonight. With their magic number down to three, they tried to fight for the victory. Moyer pitched 4 in relief of Kendrick, and seems to be becoming the Phillies specialist in long relief. Now all we need is a closer.

The Phillies continue to be an offensive juggernaut. Howard hit his 43rd homerun, Baku chipped in with his 3rd and the Phillies scored 5 runs in the loss to Milwaukee. Walker came in [...]

The Phillies traveled to Florida to play the Florida Marlins a rare double header. Joe Blanton came out and threw another quality start in the first game pitching 7 innings of shutout ball. The Phillies offense secured the win with an assortment of seeing eye hits, good fielding, baserunning and steals.

Ibanez did hit a late home run but that only accounted for 1 of the 9 runs the team scored in the first game, the rest came on singles and [...]

It appears as if Charlie Manuel finally heard the rest of us. I find it admirable that he stated Lidge was his guy a few months ago when the closer first started to struggle and was staying with him to the bitter end. I can appreciate his attempt at loyalty and integrity. But at a certain point, even Manuel had to recognize as manager of the defending World Series champions, his primary objective should be to win games. Lidge’s difficulties [...]

Tonight’s headline is not about a Phillies closer blowing another lead. Wednesday was Clippard’s turn to come into a game in the late innings with the score tied and give up two long balls to the first two batters he faced.

The Phillies are back on track. Cliff Lee is still the man. The Phillies continue to crush the long ball just when they need it. After watching another lead vanish [...]

The Phillies are back at it again.  On a night dominated by the presence of a certain someone playing for another Philadelphia sports team, it is refreshing to note the World Champion Phillies won again.  Not only did they win, but they did it without any controversy, or dissent.  They did it in much the same way they have won many games of late, with good pitching, solid fielding and a persistent presence at the plate that simply refuses to [...]