Rise and Phight: 2/14/2023

We’ve talked about this before, how the Phillies don’t have a player with the last name of “Love” in their rich history, but they do have a Lynn Lovenguth! The don’t have anyone named “Valentine” in their background either, but one of the better, underrated outfielders of the late 70’s, Ellis Valentine, did get 323 plate appearances in his career against the Phillies, hitting .308/.341/.531 against them. That’s about as close as we can get on today’s holiday.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• The news you’ve been waiting for: Tom McCarthy and Scott Franzke are going to be in Philadelphia for a while longer.
• Seven questions for the Phillies as they have pitchers and catcher report for duty in two days.
• Count the Phillies’ attendees as players excited for the World Baseball Classic beginning next month.

MLB news:

• The ghost runner rule? It’s here to stay, permanently. Which kind of stinks if they use it immediately in the 10th inning. At least let the lineup go through once more.
• The Cardinals and John Mozeliak will continue their relationship for a few years longer, an extension to keep Mozeliak and the Cardinals just on the fringes of contention without actually being that good until 2025.
• The 97 year-old owner of the Washington Nationals, Ted Lerner, has passed away from a battle with pneumonia.