WASHINGTON – Let me start with a message to all of the residents of the District of Columbia:
I support your fight for proper representation on Capitol Hill. I’m right there with you, Washington, D.C.
There, I’m glad I got that off my chest.
Anyway, it’s still hot and steamy down here (again, it’s a swamp) and there is plenty of hustle and bustle. In fact, there’s so much going on that the last Phillies’ bus from the hotel did not arrive at the ballpark until 4:50 p.m.
Anyone want to guess who was on it?
Meanwhile, a few of the Phillies are hoping that they aren’t on a bus to the airport to send them to a new team in another city. It’s very interesting – there isn’t a single guy on the Phillies (at least the guys I talked to) that wants to be traded. A few have even joked about hiding in their lockers or making a break for the backdoor when Thursday’s 4 p.m. deadline creeps closer.
The guys on the Phillies really like playing here.
And based on the rumors and all the talk around the ballclub, it seems as if all of them will continue to play for the Phillies beyond the trading deadline. The latest hot talk involves Braves’ lefty Will Ohman, but the exchange pieces include minor leaguers…
Well, not all of them are minor leaguers now.
So the song and dance continues here in The District, though it’s pretty clear the Phillies will not pull off a deal like the one the Yankees and Tigers figured out on Wednesday afternoon. In that one, the Yanks got the catcher they needed in Pudge Rodriguez and the Tigers got to take Kyle Farnsworth off the Yankees’ hands.
Nope, Manny Ramirez is not coming to Philadelphia.
Besides, if given his druthers, manager Charlie Manuel says he wants a big-time starter.
“And I mean a really big-time starter,” Charlie said before Wednesday’s game.
Charlie noted that the Phillies aren’t too different than other teams in that regard -- everybody wants a big-time starter. Short of that, however, Charlie says he’ll take “a good bullpen piece.”
“The stronger we make our bullpen the less often we have to depend on our starters to go deep into a game,” he said.
Hey, why not get both? A starter and a bullpen piece… while they’re at it, how about a power-hitting third baseman, too?
OK… we’ll have more on the developments here in the 51st state as it warrants. Stay close to your computers, folks.