Phillies Links for You: March 24, 2010

I had been thinking about doing a fanpost about the hot dogs but dithered too long. We don’t have enough sandwich blogging around here in general.

I’ve gotta think the South Philly is the frontrunner because it carries the whole “scrappy” working-class vibe. But I’m personally leaning toward the Olde Philadelphia for the time being – I like broccoli rabe as much as the next guy, but you can already get that on roast pork at Tony Luke’s. (I’m guessing all you overeducated latte-drinking wankers here at TGP will vote for the summer hot dog, what with its cucumbers and ancho pepper sauce.)

Gose looks a little bit like Andre Royo, a.k.a. Bubs from The Wire.

Bill Conlin: For Howard, donut creates that sweet swing
Insert your own “Conlin” and “donut” jokes below.

Ooh. Can I request a Photoshop job, based on this?

Manuel says Brett Myers is missed. Oy.

And I love the caption btw. Close observers of Granderson’s wrist will note the latest fad, which Frank Fitzpatrick wrote about in the Inquirer today. Honestly, ballplayers can be such idiots. I wonder how much they’ve shelled out for these things.

This donut on the bat…i really don’t like it. 1] will he be batting with that in game time, no, 2] increasing the risk of abdominal strain/sportsman hernia 3] there are plenty of visualization techniques and other ways to work on stimulus recognition and perception speed 4] is it me or when Howard’s swing gets long that when he’s in trouble…we all saw the "just throw me a breaking ball cause that SO hitch in my swing is back " during the WS. It took him 3 or 4 games to get it back and by then we already shat the bed. Now I’m alright with occasionaly using different bats in weight and length just to help offset over conditioning the CNS to the same stimulus, but 62 ounces is just overkill; it really doesn’t do much power wise or increase bat speed but ends up putting more unnecessary stress on connective tissue for very little athletic benefit . I think because curve balls travel at similar velocities that the practice tosses coaches serve up, Howard’s muscle memory of his donut swings kicks in as soon as his brain recognizes the curve ball speed …although these pitches are actually curveballs and not home run derby pitches…hence the bailing.