PHILADELPHIA – BJ Penn is fond of saying that fighting is in the blood of most Hawaiians, and Shane Victorino tends to agree. The Philadelphia Phillies All-Star outfielder, who is also from the 50th state, happens to be a massive UFC fan, and stopped by the UFC 101 fighter workouts prior to his Wednesday night game against the Colorado Rockies.
Ironically, however, Victorino did not originally become a fan because of Penn, but was indoctrinated into the UFC by his fiancée, Melissa Smith, who once worked as an assistant for Zuffa co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta. Victorino and Smith live in Las Vegas during the offseason, and he's become friendly with UFC brass, including President Dana White.
Like millions of others, Victorino is a big fan who regularly logs on to the web to get the latest news. And he says he has plenty of company on his team. Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins all follow the action as well.
A day after Sandoval and Victorino found themselves among five players competing for fan votes to sneak into the final spot on the NL All-Star team, Sandoval hit a grand slam and Victorino had four hits, four RBI and four runs in the Phillies' dismantling of the Reds.
"I don't think you could ask for a better game than that," Giants starter Matt Cain said of Sandoval, who drove in four of the runs in a 5-4 victory on Monday night. "I think everybody in the United States ought to know who is he is now."
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Phillies are grateful to be in the NL East.
The division got out-scored 37-7 on Friday as the AL East swept in interleague play. And it's only the rest of the division's mediocrity keeping Philadelphia in first by a half-game.
After their 11th loss in 13 games, 6-1 to the Blue Jays as Ricky Romero didn't allow a hit in the first six innings, the Phillies held a team meeting.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the Angels and Cubs -- two overwhelming favorites to win their division entering 2009 -- finally seem to have their mojo back.
A day after Chicago rallied from four down in the eighth inning to beat the White Sox, they climbed out of a 7-0 fourth-inning hole to beat the Indians, thanks in part to another dramatic home run from Derrek Lee -- a drive that came off of longtime Cub Kerry Wood no less.
Not to be outdone, the Angels' Juan Rivera snapped a 4-all tie in the eighth inning of the Freeway Series opener with a decisive solo home run. The Halos have now reeled off seven straight wins, and, despite all the hard luck (and tragedy) they've had to deal with so far this season, are a 1/2 game behind the division-leading Rangers in the AL West.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.
I think we can all agree that it's far too early to start voting upon who the best 2009 players are when it's only the middle of May. That being said, there are certainly some shining stars at this point who deserve some props. Plus, Major League Baseball recently released their All-Star ballots for our voting pleasure -- we vote on who will start the All-Star Game. If that's not important, I don't know what is. Let's take a gander.
We just concluded our fantasy draft here at Fanhouse. I have to say that I like what I did here.
It's a 12-team, rotisserie mixed-league using standard 5X5 scoring categories and rosters that include two catchers, a first baseman, a second baseman, a shortstop, a third baseman, a corner infielder, a middle infielder, five outfielders, a utility hitter, nine pitchers and three bench players.
Here's the Extra Base Knox team:
Round 1(3) - Albert Pujols, Cardinals - Wright and Hanley Ramirez went with the first two picks. Pujols is the best remaining player so I went with him. I'll take his massive offense in four of the five categories and smile all the way.
Round 2(22) - Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners - I made a tough decision here between him and Justin Morneau. I love Ichiro's speed and great batting average. With such high batting averages from my first two picks, I should be able to grab a big home run hitter with a low average later in the draft if I choose.
Round 3(27) - Carl Crawford, Rays - I didn't go power, I went speed again. Crawford plus Ichiro will pretty much guarantee my team is near the top in stolen bases.
When you see the amount of players on the American team that are leaving the WBC due to an injury everyday, it goes a long way in justifying all those players who chose not to participate in the event this season. It also means that even more players are going to be skipping the next WBC, but that doesn't mean there aren't players who are still willing to participate.
Torii Hunter has been following the event this spring and he said that while watching David Wright's walk-off hit to beat Venezuela on Tuesday night and the ensuing dog pile he thought to himself that he wished he could be there. After all, he never turned down a chance to play because nobody ever asked him to in the first place. Hunter thinks some remarks he made in 2006 about the first WBC kept him off the roster this time around.
FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Philadelphia Phillies.
The City of Brotherly Love's long championship drought came to an end when Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske in Game 5 of the World Series last October. The city exploded in appreciation of a team that's a blueprint for success in the modern game, with homegrown stars studding the lineup and top of the rotation, and a handful of savvy acquisitions, like Lidge, sprinkled around to fill holes.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
PHILADELPHIA – BJ Penn is fond of saying that fighting is in the blood of most Hawaiians, and Shane Victorino tends to agree. The Philadelphia Phillies All-Star outfielder, who is also from the 50th state, happens to be a massive UFC fan, and stopped by the UFC 101 fighter workouts prior to his Wednesday night game against the Colorado Rockies.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Pablo Sandoval and Shane Victorino are taking this campaigning thing seriously.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
SAN DIEGO -- Joe Kerrigan saw it watching video over the winter. Zach Duke saw it in the attitudes of his fellow pitchers in spring training.
When you see the amount of players on the American team that are leaving the WBC due to an injury everyday, it goes a long way in justifying all those players who chose not to participate in the event this season. It also means that even more players are going to be skipping the next WBC, but that doesn't mean there aren't players who are still willing to participate.
