FanHouse Phillies

NEW YORK -- Cole Hamels may still have to fight a public perception that he's not ready to pitch a possible Game 7 of the World Series, but his manager apparently has no qualms about giving him the ball.

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel isn't saying whether Hamels would pitch that game, but he said on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium that he is convinced that the flap over a Hamels comment following Game 3 was overblown or misunderstood.

"He came in and talked to me [Monday] night, and we sat in there for 10 or 15 minutes and we talked about some of the things that were said, and I felt very good about it, really," Manuel said. "I know Hamels. I've been a Hamels guy ever since I seen him pitch in Lakewood and when I first came to work here. I never, ever -- I want you to listen to this -- never ever questioned his mental toughness because he's just as tough as anybody on our team."

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It's Official! Kris Benson signs with the Phillies! Good for him. Have you seen the Orioles motto for this season? "THIS IS BIRDLAND." That's a great way to get fans into the park. "We traded away our stars. COME SEE THE BIRD, THE ACTUAL ANIMAL THE BIRD"

With the migration of Anna Benson comes the next chapter in a Dugout story that began in the long long ago before the darkness came about how Anna would sleep with everyone on the team including the mascot if she ever caught her husband cheating. The only way this could get better for us is if she got traded to the Red Sox and got to deflower Wally the Green Monster. She would have to go into the police force and get choked by Dmitri Young to be more Dugout ready.

Anna Benson wears a jersey around her cleavage like we'd never expect and Kris Benson gets into a plane crash and misses the '08 season with a dilated brain in today's Dugout, after the jump.

It wasn't all that long ago that Edgar Renteria was considered among the top three or four shortstops in the game ... and if his Opening Day performance forecasts anything (hint: it usually doesn't), it's that Renteria could be headed back to those lofty heights.

In the Braves' 10-inning victory today, Renteria hit both the game-tying and the game-winning home runs, essentially giving the Braves the Opening Day win. What's especially funny is that Renteria tried to bunt the first two pitches of his 10th-inning at bat, and after failing twice, swung away, hitting the game-winner.

"I'm a bunting guy," said Renteria, who has 82 career sacrifices. "I'll try and move the guy to second every time. That's my game. Sometimes you hit the ball good and the ball goes out."

The basic statistical consensus suggests that it's usually a bad idea to sacrifice bunt, because a single out is usually far more valuable than moving a runner from first to second ... but if ever there was an anecdotal argument against the sacrifice bunt, Renteria's at bat is it.