3 runs in 5 games

Are you kidding me?

The Phillies just got shut out in three straight games by the hated New York Mets. Counting the final two games of the previous series against the Boston Red Sox, including one game in which they only got one hit, the Phillies have scored in only 1 of the last 45 innings!!!!

That has to be some kind of record. And it's not like this is a bad hitting time like the Pittsburgh Pirates or the Seattle Marines. These are the two-time defending National League champions, for crying out loud!!!

Making this worse is that the Phils are in the midst of a 9-game road trip in which they now travel to Florida and Atlanta.

It better change soon.

'Field of Dreams' up for sale

The owners of the site in Iowa where the baseball movie "Field of Dreams" was filmed more than 20 years ago are putting the property up for sale. The asking price is $5.4 million.

The farm has been in the family of Don Lansing for more than 100 years. He and his wife Becky are ready to retire and want to sell the property. Up for sale is the baseball diamond, a two-bedroom house, six outbuildings, including a concession stand, and a 193-acre parcel that included the cornfield from where "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and others emerged to play baseball (shown above).

The "Field of Dreams" is in the middle of a cornfield near Dyersville, Iowa. The movie, starring Kevin Costner, was released in 1989.

Phillies great Robin Roberts dies

Phillies Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts died Thursday morning at his home in Temple Terrace, Fla.

Roberts, inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1976, won 286 games in his career and holds several Phillies pitching records.

The Phillies held several tributes to Roberts before Thursday afternoon's game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. At right, a Phillies wreath is adorned next to a statue of Roberts at the first-base entrance to the stadium.

For more, click here.

Another stupid fan

As if Monday night's incident involving a fan on the field wasn't enough, a copy cat struck during the night inning of Tuesday night's Phillies game.

The idiot was identified by police as Thomas Betz of Warminster, Bucks County, who apparently is an aspiring DJ. But unlike the Boyertown teenager who was Tased by a Philadelphia police office on Monday night, Betz gave up quietly and was led off the field by security guards.

Another difference? Betz is 34 years old, unlike the teenge in Monday's encounter.

Betz jumped onto the field in the top of the ninth inning with the Phillies leading, 1-0, and Cole Hamels on the mound trying to complete the shutout. Only Hamels knows for sure if he was distracted, but the next two hitters had doubles to tie the game and send Hamels to the locker room.

According to the Associated Press, the crowd booed Betz as he was led away and some people chanted "Tase him."

Based on the above photo, he should have been Tased for wearing those pants!

Boyertown teen Tasered at Phillies game

In case you missed it, a Boyertown Area High School senior was Tasered at Monday night's Phillies game. Here is a story I wrote for the paper culled from video interviews with his mother, with home he lives in Gilbertsville, and his father, who lives in Upper Pottsgrove.