Philadelphia Phillies closer Brad Lidge will be out for three to six weeks following knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus.  Manger Charlie Manuel has said that Tom Gordon would serve as the teams closer at the beginning of the season if Lidge is unable to go.

Lidge injured the knee during his first pitch of live batting practice when you his spike got caught in the mound.  The good news is that this happened at the beginning of spring training and not during the season where it could really hurt the team.  Lidge will rehab and get back with the Phillies as quick as possible.

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The Philadelphia Phillies offered first basemen Ryan Howard $7 million dollars, and after going through salary arbitration, they will be paying him $10 million dollars.  The $10 million is the highest amount awarded a victorious player.

Hopefully Howard will get his batting average back over .300 and continue slugging homeruns and hitting runners in with this new contract.  Earn that extra $3 million dollars Ryan!

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LOL, you have just got to laugh at this whole deal.  I guess that is unless you were pitcher Kyle Kendrick who it was happening too.  Atleast he took it in good heart, and then laughed about it afterwards.  That damn Brett Myers lol!

Kris Benson has decided to sign a minor league contract with the Philadelphia Phillies it sounds like.  Benson will get a invitation to Spring Training as well, and will give it a go to earn a spot in the starting rotation for the Phillies.

Benson might not be 100% until after opening day as he is still recovering from a torn laburm that he had to have surgery on.  You definately do not want to rush bringing him back.  Make sure he is 100% ready and then let him battle it out for a spot in the rotation.  If not, enjoy the minors lol.

Phillies Blog

Some of you have probably seen the new Adidas commerical with Phillies first basemen Ryan Howard where he shows up at a teams practice and gives them some new baseball equipment and hits a few long balls.  If you have haven’t been able to see the video, we have posted it for you here at PhilliesHomePlate.

A represenative from Adidas emailed me the other day and informed me that the commercial was indeed real, and the kids and coaches had no idea that Howard was showing up at practice. Talk about a big suprise for everyone on the team!

Not only as Howard teamed up with Adidas for his own line of equipment, but he has also joined up with Dicks Sports Goods where you can buy the Adidas and Ryan Howard equipment. If you or your kids are looking for new equipment for the upcoming baseball season, we recommend Dicks Sporting Good and Adidas!