How Krispy Kreme Made Me Feel Like A Kid Again

(Update with tweet from Krispy Kreme below)

I know I promised this yesterday but didn't get to it. So now I need to get it done before the Phillies-Marlins game (with Roy Halladay and Josh Johnson in a rematch of their two battles from last year, one of which resulted in Halladay's perfect game). Plus "Glee" is on, and I'm also watching "The Voice." I'll have to write about that. Plus some other stuff, at some point. Anyway, let's get to this...

A new Krispy Kreme opened up in Center City last week. We've had Krispy Kreme locations in the past, but never downtown as far as I know. And the most recent ones (one was at the Roosevelt Mall) closed some time ago. Now they're back, and the line was well out the door when I walked by last week. As it happens I was in town yesterday, and on my way back to the 15th Street El station (the Market-Frankford, or Blue Line, for you out-of-towners) I walked by the new Krispy Kreme. The line was short. I went in.

Now, I do have to confess to some confusion. Everyone seems to make a fuss about going in when the "Hot Doughnuts Now" sign is turned on. It was on yesterday. I didn't get hot doughnuts, though. I'm not sure -- do you have to specifically ask for hot doughnuts? I didn't notice anything explaining this; nor did I see a separate line for them. I just got in the line to the counter where all the different varieties were on the shelves. I got two chocolate iced glazed doughnuts. They were fine. They were fresh. They weren't hot, though, so I don't know if I missed out on something.

Phillies: Time To Panic?

There seems to be a new trend for the Phillies: injuries to pitchers' obliques. Clay Condrey has been out since the end of July and is seemingly less likely to return at all this season. Today it was reported that Ryan Madson was unavailable for the four games the Phils just lost in Houston, and may not be able to pitch tonight in Washington. Most alarmingly, rookie J.A. Happ was supposed to start yesterday but suffered his oblique strain on Saturday -- during batting practice, of all things.

In addition, there's some concern about whether J.C. Romero will be ready soon, and today there are Twitter posts from local beat writers that Scott Eyre, who's inherited Romero's lefty specialist role, felt a pain in his left elbow. He said he's not worried about it, as it was "sharp and quick." The rest of us will be plenty worried for him, though.

Jamie Moyer stepped in as an emergency starter yesterday and, as he did with his three previous bullpen outings since being removed from the rotation, did a fine job. However, the team has stopped hitting. They've scored 4 runs or fewer in their last 13 games. They were 5-4 in the first 9 thanks to strong pitching. Then came the mess in Houston. Cole Hamels regressed (again), Brad Lidge blew a save (again), Cliff Lee got smoked for the second consecutive start, and yesterday Chan Ho Park coughed up the game in the 7th inning.

Despite all of that, the Phils maintain a 6-game lead in the NL East (7 in the loss column). The question is, assuming a Mets-like collapse isn't in the offing (and it likely isn't, because their opponents the rest of the way aren't that strong and the Braves and Marlins have weak spots as well), will this team be ready for the playoffs? The Phils were knocked out of the first round in 2007 by a red-hot Colorado Rockies team. That was not deeply depressing at the time. A similar result this year, after their championship run last year, will not be taken with good humor.

No stopping the Phils?

It's getting harder to believe that the Phillies won't win the NL East for the third year in a row. Despite everything that's happened so far, they find themselves 6 1/2 games up in the division after winning their 8th straight game today. A sweep of the Florida Marlins (only three games, due to the rainout last night) is a fine way to come out of the All-Star break. Today, J.A. Happ pitched seven shutout innings to go to 7-0 on the year. The Marlins loaded the bases with no outs in the 6th, but Happ kept them from scoring. If he keeps this up there needs to be some Rookie of the Year consideration for him at some point. Jimmy Rollins continued his strong hitting of late with three more hits; his average is up to .236 now. Next up: the Chicago Cubs.

Phils done All-Star break, still on fire

The Phillies' lead in the NL East is up to 5 games now after winning their first game after the All-Star break, 4-0 at Florida. The runs all came on homers, two by Rauuuuuuuuuuuuul Ibanez and the career 200th from Ryan Howard. Howard is the fastest player (in terms of games played) in MLB history to reach the 200 mark. Jamie Moyer, the oldest man in the game (but still younger than me) gave up just one hit in 7 innings. Very satisfactory way to start the second half. I have my doubts about how much newly-signed Pedro Martinez will help when he's activated after some rehab starts, but it won't matter if Moyer can keep this up.

MLB 2009 at the halfway point

Before the season started I previewed both the National and American Leagues on the Outsports blog. The All-Star break is the unofficial midpoint of the season, as teams have actually played a little more than half their games. The pointless (despite that crap about deciding which league gets home-field advantage for the World Series) exhibition game is now over and the season is about to resume. That got me wondering, how well have I done so far? Here's how I called each division, and how things have actually turned out so far:

AL East: Tampa Bay, Boston, NY Yankees, Toronto, Baltimore
The Red Sox and Yankees have the two best records in the AL, with Boston up by 3 games, thanks to a surplus of starting pitching and their 8-0 record against the Yanks. The defending AL champion Rays are in third, trying to recover from a poor start. The Blue Jays and Orioles are living up (down?) to my expectations, although the last-place O's are only 8 games under .500 -- probably because they gave up pretty quickly on Adam Eaton. Toronto is now contemplating trading ace pitcher Roy Halladay (to the Phillies, pleasepleasepleaseplease!).

AL Central: Minnesota, Cleveland, Chicago White Sox, Detroit, Kansas City
The Tigers are one of the AL's surprise teams and hold a 3 1/2-game lead over the White Sox and a 4-game bulge over the Twins. A win on May 7 gave the Royals an 18-11 record; since then they're 19-40. The Indians have been a big disappointment, falling to the cellar with the AL's worst record.

AL West: LA Angels, Oakland, Seattle, Texas
The Angels also got off to a slow start but now have a 1 1/2-game lead over the Rangers, who have unexpectedly gotten better pitching. Maybe even more of a surprise is that the Mariners are just 4 games out. The A's sit well out of the race, and presumably will trade Matt Holliday for prospects.

NL West: Arizona, LA Dodgers, Colorado, San Francisco, San Diego
Despite losing Manny Ramirez to a 50-game suspension because he was trying to get pregnant -- hey, why else would he take a women's fertility drug? -- the Dodgers have baseball's best record. However, the Giants (7 games back) and Rockies (9 out) have been better than expected and could make it a race if LA falters, or at least challenge for the Wild Card. The Diamondbacks have been the biggest flop, while the last-place Padres started well but quickly sank to the bottom of the division.

NL Central: Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Houston, Pittsburgh
The top five teams in the division (Cardinals, Brewers, Cubs, Astros and Reds) are within 5 games of each other. The teams aren't very far over .500, if at all, with the Cubs seriously underachieving. The Pirates were in the pack for a while, but what may be the worst ownership in baseball doesn't seem to give a damn about trying to win, as they continue to make bizarre trades, sending away talented players just headed into their prime for even younger, more raw and undeveloped players.

NL East: Philadelphia, NY Mets, Florida, Atlanta, Washington
It's been a bizarre season in this division. The Phillies had a poor home record and a stellar road record, their starting rotation was hideous early and only somewhat improved since; they then hit interleague play and hit a wall, only to return home and get hot against weaker NL teams. The defending world champs have pulled 4 games ahead of...the Marlins, who have a poor bullpen and shaky defense but otherwise have been strong. The Braves have the best starting pitching in the division but their hitting is severly lacking. Still, it's been enough to put them ahead of the Mets. The Mets' injury woes, shoddy defense and lack of power are making New Yorkers miserable. As for the Nationals, the worst team in baseball, well...just read this post on Outsports.

Phils almost phaded out of first

With tonight's 5-2 loss, finishing off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Atlanta Braves, the Phillies have now lost 14 of 18 games and are in a virtual tie for first with the Florida Marlins. They wasted a good 7-inning start by J.A. Happ, with Ryan Madson giving up 3 in the 8th for the winning margin. Madson's been a mess recently, even after returning to his setup role when closer Brad Lidge returned from the disabled list.

While the hitting hasn't been good lately (but hey, Jimmy Rollins got 2 hits!) it's the pitching that's been poor night after night after night. Some nights it's a bad start, other nights (like tonight) it's a lousy bullpen, some nights it's both. No trades are on the horizon yet as very few teams consider themselves out of the playoff chase and, thus, willing to be a seller. Even when that happens, lots of teams need pitching. The bidding will presumably be high.

The Phillies have to somehow stay afloat until some team makes a quality pitcher available, and the way things are going, the only reason to think they can stay afloat is that most of the National League is as mediocre as they are. The Phils are back home starting tomorrow night. Of course, now that they're losing road games maybe they'll win home games. (For those who don't know, this paragraph is an example of "grasping at straws.") The Mets are in tomorrow; they're only a game out of first place, and the Braves are now just two back.

The latest J-Roll experiment: FAIL

As the Phillies concluded the interleague portion of their schedule in Tampa Bay and Toronto, Jimmy Rollins sat on the bench for four consecutive games. He wasn't used at all, even as a pinch-hitter or defensive replacement. He's having an absolutely horrible season. Charlie Manuel has tried sitting him for a game. He's tried moving Rollins down in the batting order for a game or two. Nothing has worked for very long. After a bad decision on the field helped give Tampa Bay a win, Manuel finally decided to sit Rollins for an extended period.

Tonight in Atlanta Rollins returned to the lineup, and back to the leadoff spot, no less. Oops...0 for 5 with 2 strikeouts in the Phils' 5-4 loss to the Braves, ending their brief 2-game winning streak. Three of the Phils' 4 runs came on solo homers. Rollins' average is down to .207 and his on-base percentage is below .250. Keeping him leading off is no way to jump-start an offense. Manuel needs to move Rollins down in the order and keep him there for more than one or two games. If he hits well for a month, then move him back up.

The Phils continue to be fortunate that the injury-riddled Mets continue to suck, but now they have to be concerned about the Florida Marlins, who have jumped past the Mets into second place.

Meanwhile, it doesn't look like Raul Ibanez will be ready to come off the disabled list as soon as he's eligible. Going on the DL now, though, is Antonio Bastardo, which means another starting pitcher will be needed either Thursday or during the weekend.

Talkin' 'bout my Phillies

The first real post here (not that the first one isn't real, but...) just has to be about your defending World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies. It has been a surreal season thus far. It began with all of the attendant pomp and ceremony commemorating the 2008 champs, which was tempered by the death of legendary broadcaster Harry Kalas. The starting rotation, a strength down the stretch and in the postseason last year, got off to a horrendous start. It's gotten better but was weakened by the likely season-ending injury to Brett Myers. The bullpen was strong at the start but stints on the disabled list by Brad Lidge and Scott Eyre (and, as of tomorrow according to reports, Clay Condrey) caused a cascade of role adjustments and a series of lousy performances.

The offense kept the team afloat for much of the year despite a season-long slump by leadoff hitter Jimmy Rollins. Raul Ibanez has been a godsend, putting up MVP-like numbers, but is now on the DL himself, and since then the team hitting has really taken a nosedive. Strangest of all, the Phils have a 23-9 record on the road, best in the major leagues, but are only 13-22 at home, second-worst in the majors (ahead of only the woeful Washington Nationals), after a just-completed 1-8 homestand, among the worst in team history.

Despite all of this, the Phils are in first place, 1 1/2 games ahead of the New York Mets in the NL East. It makes for a glass half-empty/half full debate: despite their many issues the Phillies are still in first place; or, despite all of their problems the Mets are right in the hunt -- and since both teams have struggled, the Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves are not far behind.

With all of this going on, especially lately, it would be easy to be outraged. I've been more annoyed than angry, though. I guess coming off a long-awaited championship will do that. Besides, I've figured all year that it will come down to September, and we all know what's happened to the Mets the last two Septembers.

Next up for the Phils is a road trip (what a relief) that starts with a World Series rematch against the Tampa Bay Rays.