Which player belongs on the All Star Team? (Part 2)

Player A is Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals, currently 3rd in All Star voting with nearly 2 million votes.

Player B is Domonic Brown of the Philadelphia Phillies, currently 14th in All Star voting with 837,000 votes.

Which player belongs on the All Star Team? (Part 1)

Player A: .287/.386/.587, 12 HR, 23 RBI, 29 R, 2 SB
Player B: .276/.320/.556, 19 HR, 48 RBI, 34 R, 8 SB

Click here for the identities of the players.

Halladay vs. Wainright Cy Young comparison (stats)

Projected 2010 Phillies Opening Day lineup

The only change in the everyday field will be the replacement of Pedro Feliz with former Phillies' second baseman Placido Polanco. While he hasn't played the majority of his games at third base since 2002, Polanco won two Gold Gloves at second base in the last three years so you wouldn't expect much of a drop-off if any defensively.

At the plate, Polanco has a bit less power than Feliz but hits for contact and hit nearly 20 points higher than Feliz in 2009 with less strikeouts--and that was 18 points below his career batting average of .303.

Polanco is a natural 2 hole hitter, so that means Victorino gets the bump. The Phillies' 3-6 hitters are the best in baseball, and won't change--which means Vic gets bumped all the way to the 7 hole. Something I have no doubt he's not happy about, but so be it.

Here is my projected 2010 Phillies opening day lineup:

SS/Jimmy Rollins
3B/Placido Polanco
2B/Chase Utley
1B/Ryan Howard
RF/Jason Werth
LF/Raul Ibanez
CF/Shane Victorino
C/Carlos Ruiz
P/Roy Halladay

The Year in Review: My Top Ten Moments

2009 was a crappy year for a lot of people. Despite this, I was very fortunate and blessed to have a pretty good year. Here are my top ten moments, in no particular order except for #1 (which truly is #1 for me). Some of them are specific to me and my family, while others are general in nature and will relate to others.

1. Our son Michael was born on January 16th! Despite some early scares and a few more days in the hospital than we would have liked, Michael the Moose is doing great. God has truly blessed us. If this list stopped here, I would still be grateful for an amazing year.
2. 2009 was my first full year out of the military, and it was nice going the entire year without any worries of deployments, individual augmentations or any unplanned travel. So this moment is actually being able to spend the entire year with my amazing wife and kids. We took trips to Gettysburg and Fredericksburg. In 2010, hopefully a family vacation!
3. Over the summer, we traveled up to Pennsylvania and got to see my entire family.
4. I traveled to Norway and Poland to speak at HackCon and CONFidence, two internationally recognized security conferences. I got to spend some quality time with some of my amazing friends.
5. Chesley Sullenberger lands US Airways Flight 1549 safely on the Hudson River without any casualties. A true American hero.
6. Phillies return to the World Series. Losing to the Yankees was bittersweet, but lifetime Phillies fans recognize the greatness of this team. Jimmy Rollins' game-winning hit in Game 4 of the NLDS will go down among my all-time favorite sports moments.
7. The Blind Side becomes the sleeper hit of 2009. I cannot say enough about this phenomenal movie which is my favorite of the entire year. I knew a little bit about the story of Michael Oher, but this movie will bring tears to your eyes. Even recommended for guys. ;-)
8. Lots of friends deployed overseas to Iraq, Afghanistan and other places. Here's a moment for them coming home safely to their families.
9. Mark Martin makes a run for the ages. He comes up just short in his bid for the Cup, but this has to be his most satisfying season ever. For a long time Mark Martin fan, it amazing to witness. He is on my short list of those people you'd like to meet if you had the opportunity. One of the classiest guys in all sports.
10. I got promoted! But in all honesty, this one wasn't about me, it is about the great people that I get to work with everyday. I couldn't ask for a better bunch.

I'm pretty sure I missed something important, so they're probably be an edit or two forthcoming. But, please note: no reality TV stories, no celebrity stories. :-)

Look alikes: The Phillies' Greg Dobbs and 24's Tony Almeida

What do you think?

Weekend sports roundup

For the second year in a row, the Philadelphia Phillies were eliminated from playoff contention on the final weekend of the season. So close! Ryan Howard finished with 58 homeruns and 148 RBIs. Failing to make the playoffs will probably hurt Howard's chances for the MVP, but I think it will be close. We'll see.

I was 9/17 for the week playing College Football Pick'em. For the season I am 61/98 (93rd percentile).

I was 8/14 for the week playing Pro Football Pick'em. For the season I am 36/60 (66th percentile).

In Fantasy Football, the Hyde Park Hangovers are 4-0.

In Survival Football, 3 more teams were eliminated in Week 4; 11 of 25 teams are still in the running, including the Hyde Park Hangovers.

Mark Martin finished 3rd at Kansas and moved from 6th to 3rd in the Chase standings. He was the highest finishing Chase contender.

The Eagles defeated the Packers 31-9 on Monday Night Football.

Weekend sports roundup

I was 10/21 for the week playing College Football Pick'em. For the season I am 52/81 (91st percentile).

I was 8/14 for the week playing Pro Football Pick'em. For the season I am 28/46 (66th percentile).

In Fantasy Football, the Hyde Park Hangovers are 3-0 and averaging a league-high 83 points per week.

In Survival Football, 14 of 25 teams are still in the running, including the Hyde Park Hangovers.

The Eagles defeated the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, 38-24 to move to 2-1 and in first place of the NFC East standings.

The Phillies lost on Monday and the Dodgers were off, meaning both teams are tied for the National League Wild Card spot with 6 games to go. Let's hope for a strong final week from the fightin' Phils and Ryan Howard's chances for MVP.

Mark Martin finished a lap down at Dover on Sunday due to an unlucky pit stop sequence, but maintained 6th place in the NASCAR Chase for the Cup standings, 75 points behind leader Jeff Burton.

Phillies gone wild

Entering the last week of the Major League Baseball season, the Philadelphia Phillies are in control of their own destiny: with 8 games remaining, they lead the Los Angeles Dodgers by 1/2 game in the race for the National League Wild Card. Houston is the next team back at 5 games, so it looks like it will come down to the San Diego Padres (currently leading the National League West), the Phillies, and the Dodgers (who are 1 1/2 games behind the Padres). Two of these three teams will make it in: the NL West winner and then the other team with the best record. The Phillies also won a recent coin toss, meaning they'd be the home team if they and the Dodgers tied for the Wild Card. With the Dodgers losing 12 of their last 20, it is the perfect time for the Phillies to play a strong final week and clinch the Wild Card, which would be their first playoff appearance since advancing to the World Series in 1993!

Ryan Howard for MVP

Ok, I'm biased because I am a huge Philadelphia Phillies fan, but I think the month of August proved that Ryan Howard should be this year's National League MVP.

As of today, Howard has a .299 batting average (21st in the NL), 49 home runs (leads the league; the 49th last night broke Mike Schmidt's 1980 franchise record), 128 RBIs (also leads the league). If he continues at a reasonable pace, he will easily clinch 2 of 3 Triple Crown categories (HRs and RBIs). It would not be unreasonable to see Howard end the season with 55-60 HRs and 145-150 RBIs.

Howard hit 14 HRs and had 41 RBIs for the month of August, both also franchise records. He and Chase Utley are largely responsible for the fact that a previously sub .500 team is now within one game of the National League wild card.

All this comes on top of last year, when Howard won National League Rookie of the Year playing only half the season. Yes, you're right, that means this year is Howard's first full season. He's making the league minimum salary of less then $400,000 a year.

Here are Howard's stats compared with other likely MVP candidates:

Name (Team)	BA	HR	RBI	SB
Howard (Phillies)	0.299	49	128	0
Beltran (Mets)	0.286	39	112	16
Pujols (Cardinals)	0.320	39	109	5
Wright (Mets)	0.300	24	102	16

Beltran, Wright, and Pujols all play for division leaders and deserve to be candidates with their fine seasons. But I think this season Ryan Howard is better than them all.

'Invincible' grabs box office crown

"Feel good" movies are not often my favorites, but this one looks like one:

"Invincible" stars (Mark) Wahlberg as Vince Papale, a substitute teacher who made the Eagles' special-teams squad in open tryouts. The movie was the latest success among Disney's inspirational sports tales, which include the baseball flick "The Rookie" and the hockey saga "Miracle."

"Invincible" was the #1 movie at the box office this weekend.

Right next to Penn State, I am an absolute fan of all sports Philadelphia, especially the Phillies, Eagles, and Villanova Wildcat basketball. I've only seen the preview, but it looks good. It can't hurt that the movie is about the Eagles. If you've seen it, let me know what you think.

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!