Will City of Brotherly Love Finally Toast a Champion? Last season was a strange, strange journey for the Phillies. After star shortstop (and future MVP) Jimmy Rollins predicted a division title in the offseason, the Phillies stumbled out of the gate, culminating in manager Charlie Manuel going senile and challenging reporters to a fight. But months later, the Phillies made good on Rollins’ guarantee, capitalizing on the Mets’ historic choke and winning the National League East. Unfortunately for the Fightin’ Phils, their good fortune quickly ended at the hands of the red-hot Colorado Rockies. Now in 2008, the Phillies must make good on yet another Rollins guarantee and this time, make some noise in October.

Bats. Boasting, in my opinion, the best lineup in the National League, the Phillies score runs in bunches. And it certainly doesn’t hurt their offense when they play in the bandbox that is Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies are a team that can claim three of the game’s elite players in their infield. It all starts with Rollins, whose dream 2007 ended with a National League MVP award. The numbers were silly: 139 runs, 212 hits, 38 doubles, 20 triples, 30 homers, 94 RBI and 41 stolen bases. But those numbers may in fact pale in comparison to the swagger and confidence he brought to the Phils’ clubhouse. Rollins has already predicted 100 wins for the Phillies this year in a back-and-forth shit talking session with Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran.

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The start of Spring training in Florida and Arizona has been the talk around water coolers lately. One thing likely going unnoticed is the new Caps certain MLB team will be wearing this season. Not a lot of changes, but some interesting and noteworthy additions have been made.

First off, I am pleased to mention to you again that the Toronto Blue Jays will go retro at home inside the Rogers Centre on Friday nights this year. I feel that this new lid is unique and unmeasurable when it comes to retro caps. This cap is so nice, I have even spotted a few people around town sporting it. Heck, Sportable’s own staff writer Rich purchased his in January.

The Oakland Athletics have added yet another alternate cap to their locker this year, going with a more bold look (above). The cap is a mirror image of the other alternate hat, however, this new one has a white “A’s” with a yellow outline. I like the addition here by the A’s, but I think they should try to switch the design up a bit as they now have four hats that are all the same.

Staying in the American League, the Indians have decided to turn back the clocks this year. On Saturday June 14, the Indians will host the Padres at Progressive Field sporting this new cap and jersey to celebrate the 1970s . You have to love this plain “C”. It’s sharp and crisp to say the least. Not fancy or glamorous by any means but when it comes to sporting a clean image, this hat will do the trick.

Since the Devil Rays became the “Rays”, Tampa Bay decided to axe its look completely and go with something totally new. That changed resulted in new jerseys and a new hat. Kevin from the Sportable staff just received his new Rays hat in the mail and this is what he had to say about it: “I needed a new blue hat and I was lucky enough to stumble upon this one.”

Finally the last change on the hat rack for the 2008 season comes from Philadelphia. The Phillies will sport this new lid on certain occasions with this new alternate throwback jersey. I am a big fan of the red and blue mix that the Phillies are adapting again this year. I’m getting sick and tired of seeing the same old red and white look that has adorned the team for many years now.

All in all, I am really pleased with all of the additions this year. And if you have not had the chance to purchase one of the new 59-50 hats yet, you are missing out. NewEra created the light weight cap to not only help out with player performance, but feel more comfortable than the previous hat. Be sure to pick up your favorite team’s lid. The new season is just weeks away!

Say what you will about Citizens Bank Park being a launching pad, Ryan Howard doesn’t care. Howard launched a 505 foot bomb yesterday, the longest home run in Citizens Bank Park history, and his 100th of his career. Howard is the fastest player in history to reach 100 home runs, doing it in just 325 games. To put that into perspective, Ralph Kiner was previously the first to do it and he did it in 385 games.

I’m a huge Ryan Howard fan. I made my feelings about big bombers clear when I talked about Adam Dunn a few weeks ago, and Howard sort of fits that mold. Granted he isn’t the three result player like Dunn is, but when Ryan Howard goes deep, he goes deep. He started slow this season and the media had their panties up in a bunch about if he was going to have a sophomore slump. Unless you consider his 18 home runs this season a slump (that includes a stint on the disabled list), I think he’s doing just fine.

There’s a lot of reasons to like Howard’s Phillies, starting with him, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins. That infield youth movement is something that’s going to be around for a while, and will keep the Phillies in playoff discussion for years to come. Is Howard worth talking about as far as projecting him breaking home run records? Possibly. With the pace he’s on right now, he will set the world on fire and break every home run record when all is said and done. But before you do that, you have to take into consideration injuries. Howard had a nagging injury to start the year and, like we saw with Ken Griffey Jr, you never know if he’ll be able to keep it together for 12 to 15 years. Then again, Griffey played center field and Howard plays first.

Before I go crowning Howard as the home run king, I’d like to watch him do it for a few years. With the consistency that he’s had so far in his career, he’s quickly becoming one of those guys that is an elite home run hitter. If he keeps hitting 500 foot blasts, I’ll keep watching and I’ll keep jocking.

If you were driving in Southern California, taking the Tube in London, or farming in Omaha, you probably heard tons of noise last night. That was the sound of the entire city of Philadelphia booing the Phillies. Considered by many to be the co-favorites in the NL East, the Phillies have responded by putting together the worst start in the National League. They’re 3-9 and behind the Nationals of all teams.

It’s been hard to notice Philadelphia’s awful start because they have already had a couple games postponed. Before last night’s massacre at the hands of the Mets, they hadn’t played since Saturday. That layoff must have put Phillies manager Larry Bowa Charlie Manuel in a bad mood. Following last night’s loss, he challenged a radio talk-show host to a fight and had to be restrained. I thought they hired Manual because he was a calm presence in the clubhouse. Him going Chris Jim Everett on somebody won’t help matters in the media.

So what the hell is going wrong in the City of Brotherly Love? To start, their hitters aren’t hitting. Last year’s MVP Ryan Howard is hitting .238 with just one homerun. Maybe Albert Pujols had some voodoo performed on Howard, considering he’s still bitching and moaning about not being named MVP last season. His buddy on the right side of the infield, Chase Utley, is hitting just .245. Thank God for Jimmy Rollins, who somehow has six homers already.

This pitching staff also sucks. Many thought this would be an improved part of the team after the signings of veterans Jamie Moyer and Freddy Garcia. Unfortunately, people forgot that both of these pitchers are over the hill and prone to giving up lots of homeruns. When you play in Citizen’s Bank Park, that’s not a good thing. Then there’s Brett Meyers, who probably needs to slug his wife again after starting the season with an ERA north of nine.

It’s a long season, I’m aware of that. The Phillies have plenty of talent to right the ship. But in Philadelphia, poor play is about as acceptable as booing Santa Claus. Oh, wait. If Charlie Manuel can’t get it done with this roster, he’ll be fired. And then all hell will break loose.

For the entire month of March, the Sportable Staff will look at one Major League Baseball team a day. We?ll look at their lineups and pitching and in the end, assess their playoff chances. Previews will be done by division, starting with the American League East. Each new division will also feature a new podcast devoted entirely to that division.

City of Brotherly Love looks for playoff spot. After what can only be categorized as a disappointing year last year, the Phillies are looking to make a run and earn that playoff spot this year. They missed out on the wild card by just three games to the Los Angeles Dodgers and are hoping to not be the odd team out this year.

Bats.
As long as the Phillies have Ryan Howard, they have a huge threat in the middle of their lineup. Howard has proved himself as a big league hitter and in the middle of the rest of the Phillies, that makes this lineup very scary. Chase Utley at second base is a very solid hitter and Jimmy Rollins at shortstop can be the catalyst for this entire offense with his speed at the top of the lineup. Pat Burrell in left and Aaron Rowand in center will get theirs, it’s just the right field position that will leaven an offensive gap for them. Wes Helms and Rod Barajas at third base and catcher respectively aren’t huge threats either, but can play good roles in a given lineup.

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Hosts: Sonny, Ryan, Kevin: This episode focused solely on the National League East. We take some time to make fun of the Washington Nationals, as well as predict the playoff chances of tough teams like the Phillies, Braves, and Marlins. Will the Mets make it two in a row? You can snag Episode 16 here.

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Note: You’ll notice the sound quality in the March Madness podcasts and this preview are worse than other podcasts we’ve done. That comes from an error we made while setting up the microphones. We apologize in advance for any blown eardrums.