THINKS THE EAGLES STOLE ONE
All quiet on the Hot Stove front thus far. . .
A few odds and ends on that later. For now, here's what's on the Phillies radar.
1) Here at High Cheese, we're always interested in what the Local Nine is up to during the offseason. Our first thought is lots of Buckhunter and Wii Bowling. But some of them actually find ways to give back to society. Shane Victorino is doing that on Saturday, when he'll host a golf tournament to benefit the Alzheimer's Association, which is dedicated to the disease that claimed his grandmother back during the National League Championship Series. Sounds like a great cause. According to this story, Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard will be on hand. If you can't attend but are interested in contributing, here is a link to the AA's web site.
2) I'll let everyone else argue the Ryan Howard/Albert Pujols MVP ballotting controversy. But here's an interesting article from Baseball Digest Daily that takes a different look at the MVP voting. The impetus for the story is a writer from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's decision to rank Albert Pujols seventh on his MVP ballot. This leads BBD to rank their MVPs for the months of August and September.
A couple of interesting Phillies-centric observations: For all the talk of Ryan Howard's play down the stretch, his 1.007 OPS in August and September ranks fifth in the NL, behind Manny Ramirez, Pujols, Andre Ethier, and Joey Votto. Secondly, BBD ranks Jayson Werth on their MVP of Aug. and Sept. ballot.
3) Beerleaguer takes a look at the performance of some Phillies minor leaguers in the Arizona Fall League. Most impressive was infield prospect Jason Donald, who hit .405/.466/.696 with four home runs in 87 plate appearances.
