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For an extended version of this interview, please consider supporting my work by subscribing to my Patreon page .  Members get exclusive interviews and early access to my other work. Jimmy Smith, image- Jay Floyd Former Phillies minor leaguer Jimmy Smith , along with some family, participated in the recent March on Washington and spoke about his experience at the event and what it meant to him to be there.  The march, set up by Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network, was designed as a way for citizens to stand up to racial injustices in our country. Prior to his release by the Phillies last year, the Central Washington University product tallied a .250/.305/.337 slash line at two levels.  Read ahead for my interview with Jimmy.  -Why was it important to you to be present for this Commitment March, as it was called? It was the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s "I Have a Dream" speech. Growing up, my parents shared how impactful the original March on W...

Many of you know that I appear weekly with Mike Krenek and Joe Giglio on The Shore Sports Report to discuss Phillies baseball. Many of you also don't get to listen in live, so, today Shore Sports producer Frank and yours truly bring the segment to you in a manner that can fit your schedule. Split into two parts, here's Wednesday's segment, where we discuss everything from Jayson Werth & Charlie Manuel having some conflict to how cool Matt Stairs still is. Click play on the videos below to listen to Joe, Mike and me discuss those Fightin' Phillies. ______________________________________ Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE . Share on Facebook

Phillies phans everywhere are growing more and more impressed with the output of 18-year-old Lakewood BlueClaws first baseman Jonathan Singleton. The 8th round 2009 draft pick is batting .407 with 6 homers, 28 RBI and a 1.204 OPS in 27 games played with the A-Level BlueClaws thus far. Singleton himself is growing a bit impressed also, with one particular Phillies blog...the site that is brought to you by The Shore Sports Network- PhoulBallz.com. ____________________________________ Reminder- today is PhoulBallz Phillies Wednesday on the Shore Sports Report. I'll be on the show for the second straight day, talking baseball with Mike & Joe around 3:20pm today. Tune in on the air waves in NJ on WOBM AM 1160 or Fox Sports 1310...OR listen online by clicking this link . Follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter HERE . Share on Facebook

Phans, Ryan Howard's contract extension is an occasion worth celebrating. So, jam with me. Haters are not welcome. And while you're still all about Ryan Howard, I'll make this your one stop shop for all the worthwhile posts relating to "The Big Piece" from around the bloggerhood. TheFightins.com reviews all the crazy hater talk out there from baseball writers. Check it out by clicking here . Joe Giglio's Shore Sports Scoop says that Howard is worth every cent. Click this link to read that article. If you understand stat geek jargon, Bill Baer's Crashburn Alley should be your next stop. Have a look at his Howard value drop-off break down by clicking here . In Ruben We Trust has a butt load of solid ideas about what Ryan Howard could spend his big bucks on. Check that out by clicking here . One of the gals at Chicks Dig the Long Ball has some mixed feelings about the extension, as it relates to other players. Read that post by clicking here . Balls, Sti...

The Philadelphia baseball blog tournament known as The Phield enters it's elite phase today as the final 16 sites begin to battle it out for supremacy in the regional blogosphere. This very site, PhoulBallz.com, meets its toughest challenge yet, as it faces the #2 seed Phuture Phillies, which is a solid site that features loads of content on the minor leagues. As I like to do each round, I would like to provide all readers a handful of reasons to get behind PhoulBallz.com. As such, I've inquired with some of moderate celebrity types to provide their endorsements of this site. Here is how that went down... Seth Jabour (pictured), of the indie rock band Les Savy Fav , (which you might be familiar with from your favorite MLB video game's soundtrack) stated: Phoul Ballz is the grandest, most rootin-tootin blog to ever grace the monitor on my grandma's computer! Chris, the leader of the lovely Phils blog known as Long Drive , was aggressive with his preference in The Phield...

I am sure the news that Brandon Duckworth has signed a minor league contract with the Phillies has reached all you phans by now. When I first heard of the impending acquisition last week, I decided to treat it as non-news. The simple fact that Duckworth was not invited to big league spring training makes his signing as low impact as the Phillies could get. However, some phans still remember the former top Phillies pitching prospect fondly and are excited to hear the news. Simply put, Duckworth is not good. With Omaha, the triple A affiliate for the Royals, last season, Duckworth had a 3-6 record with a 5.31 ERA in 20 games. In 8 seasons in the Majors, Duckworth is 23-34 with a 5.28 ERA. This is not an arm worthy of the slightest bit of excitement. In fact, I am so adamantly not interested in this Duckworth signing that I am going to list some guys I would rather the Phillies sign... 1- Steve Carlton, Phillies Hall of Famer. The guy has been retired since the 80's but could offer mo...

Prompted by my pals over on The Shore Sports Report asking me the same question yesterday, today I sent out an inquiry to some phriends of PhoulBallz, asking what everyone's predictions for the National League Championship Series were. The results lie ahead, and they are heavily in favor of the good guys. Starting with my own prediction about the National League, I am going with the Phillies in 6 games. The Dodgers are an improved squad since 2008, and last year it took the Phils just 5 games to take out LA...this year, it should take an additional game to knock out those boys in blue. I'll take Jayson Werth as my Most Valuable Player for this series. Werth batted just .190 in the LCS last year, but then hit .444 in the World Series. I predict no LCS slump for Jay-Dubya this time around. Some of the people I surveyed agreed with my choices. Former Phillies beat reporter Mike Olshin also chose the Phillies in 6, and Jayson Werth for MVP, making the Dodgers regret letting him go....

On Friday night Derek Jeter broke the all time New York Yankees hits record, previously held by Lou Gehrig for 72 years. A third inning single to right field gave Jeter the record of 2,722 hits, breaking the record of the man whose career was cut short by illness in 1939. Jeter set the Yankees hit record in his 2,120th Major League game. Gehrig played in 2,164 Major League games. The phenomenal Yankees shortstop has more hits in fewer games than the man who many consider the greatest Yankee product ever. Derek Jeter's team milestone is the biggest story in Major League Baseball this year. Other big stories like the Manny Ramirez drug suspension, an unassisted triple play to end a game, Mark Buehrle's perfect game...none of those match up to the historic impact that Jeter's hit record displays. The captain of the Yankees is now more than a leader for the Yankees of the past decade or so. He's the man among the men...a king of kings. Some of PhoulBallz.com's favorite ...

Brad Lidge blew his league leading 7th save of the season, his 6th on the road, Tuesday night in Chicago. Lidge has surrendered earned runs in 20 of his 46 outings this season....that is 43% of his games. In 2008, Lidge was only scored on in 18% of his outings. Lidge's ERA is up to a MLB worst 7.29. Reports out this week state that Brett Myers is still ahead of his initial schedule for a return to the majors, following his simulated game, thrown on Sunday. When Myers was the Phillies' closer in 2007, he was only scored on in 20% of his relief outings. Manager Charlie Manuel continuing to state that 'Lidge is the closer' and refusing to deal with the sheer uncertainty that is Lidge the closer, needs to stop. With Brett Myers en route to a return, perhaps a change can be made, although it may not be soon enough. -------------------------------- BJ Rosenberg locked down his first double A save Tuesday night for Reading in a win against Trenton. Rosenberg, was promoted tw...

The Eastern League All Star Game takes place tonight in Trenton at Waterfront Park. Five Reading Phillies are on the Southern Division team. 3B Neil Sellers, CF Quintin Berry, RHP Vance Worley, OF Michael Taylor and LHP Joe Savery all hope to help their team win. Michael Taylor, New Britian's Brian Dopirak and the Futures Game MVP, Twins prospect Rene Tosoni, will headline the Homerun Derby that takes place prior to the game. Also competing in the Derby will be two local high school players, who are allowed to use aluminum bats. Plans to have former Major Leaguer and current Trenton Thunder hitting coach Frank Menechino participate in the HR Derby have been nixed. The starting lineup for the Southern Division team is as follows... Miguel Abreu, 2B, Bowie Deik Scram, CF, Erie Michael Taylor, RF, Reading Carlos Santana, C, Akron Marvin Lowrance, LF, Harrisburg Neil Sellers, 3B, Reading Jason Delaney, DH, Altoona Beau Mills, 1B, Akron Brian Friday, SS, Altoona Joe Savery, SP, Reading ...

The Phillies followed up their 22 run explosion on Monday night with a Will-Ferrell-TV-adaptation-like dud in game 2 of the series against the Reds. Plenty of hits in the game, by our Phils, but failure to hit with runners in scoring position left the team short in the end, and they lost 4-3. The Phillies were 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-5 with a runner on 3rd base with less than 2 outs, and they left 12 runners on base. Brad Lidge continued to resemble the exact opposite of the 2008 version of himself. His 7.12 ERA has him sitting as the second worst reliever in MLB this season. Only former National and current Pirate Joel Hanrahan has pitched over 20 relief innings and has worse statistics than Lidge. Hanrahan's ERA is 7.97. Oh, and hey...Michael Taylor, what do you think of Eric Bruntlett's contributions this season (.141 batting avg. in 45 games played)? ----- Don't forget that Fox Sports 1310AM's web feed is active world wide. You sho...

VS. It's a big day for your boy, Jay Ballz . No work, X-Men Origins: Wolverine premieres, our Phillies face the Metropolitans for the first time this season and tailgating for BOTH doesn't sound all that absurd to me. Anyway, I surveyed some qualified phans and got several opinions on how exactly a fight might go down if the mutant hero Wolverine faced off against Phillies hero Matt Stairs. Well known blogger, Chris, of I've Made a Huge Tiny Mistake , kept it real and said the following- "Wolverine has adamantium ( indestructible metal substance) claws, so that's a great advantage. Stairs' Wonder Bat is neutralized there. See, the problem becomes Wolverine's ability to recover (he has a regenerative power) faster. Stairs is merely human. Sure, he has a goatee, and goatees are great, but they're great for saving sauce, not for defeating mutants. I think Wolverine takes it in a fight to the death in about 15 minutes because Stairs simply doesn'...

This week, Shore Sports Network's Kevin Williams took some time out of his busy professional radio duties to answer some questions about baseball and his lengthy career. Thanks to Kevin, who is quick and to the point, for the most part. Kevin is a Metropolitans fan, by the way. 1. Kevin, Cole Hamels speaks the truth. He gave an interview where he confirmed that he thinks the Mets are choke artists. As a Mets fan, can I get your rebuttal to such a statement? (He's an) immature jerk who will regret the comment. The simple difference in the teams this year was the Mets lost Billy Wagner and the Phillies had Brad Lidge healthy for the season. 2. You suspended your Fox Sports 1310 AM blog once the Mets fell short at the end of the 2008 season. Do you have any intentions to start it back up, or will someone else be taking your spot? If you are discontinuing your page...who can take the most credit- the Brewers, the Phillies or the Mets? I really don't like blogging....it's fo...