Hit-and-run

Just announced on MLB.com's game broadcast: Davey Lopes is taking a six-week leave of absence to be treated for prostate cancer. Jerry Martin will take over as first-base coach while Lopes is out.

Saturday provided the first opportunity of the season to see the Phillies in action on TV... Unfortunately, the game coincided with my mid-afternoon crash, and I was asleep for the second half of the game... When I was awake, I heard the TV commentators make reference to the bulked up chest of Carlos Ruiz. I didn't notice that, but Chase Utley seems to have put on some muscle, especially in the lower body... Utley also seems to have modified his batting stance a bit. It looks more exaggerated than last year... Apparently, the going rate for a can of Skoal is $10 million. Ryan Howard sported the new chew-in-cheek look Saturday afternoon... Something that didn't change from last year is the look of Pat Burrell watching a called third strike. (I expect a response from tmmullen on that one.)

Cole Hamels, diva? First, there was chiropractor-gate. Now, this. Regardless of who's right, I hope this relationship doesn't remain as high-maintenance as it has been so far.

Something I forgot to mention about Friday's game: We are now able to project that the Pittsburgh Pirates have the worst broadcasting team in baseball. The Philadelphia guys did not carry Friday's game, so I was forced to listen to the MLB.com feed of Pittsburgh's broadcast. Somewhere around the fifth inning, the play-by-play ceased to exist and we were subjected to the Pittsburgh Pirates talk show. Bats were cracking in the background, cheers and boos were raining on the field, substitutions were being made, but no acknowledgment was given to any of that by the radio team. In fact, it's difficult to call it a radio "team" at all, because the commentators were openly bickering among themselves. They also managed to knock themselves off the air for almost an entire half inning and they had trouble modulating the volume of the broadcast. All around horrible. Thank God for Larry Andersen.

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