In case you ain’t heard, Grapefruit League play kicked off this morning in Bradenton, FL as the Phillies took their first game-action cuts since one balmy Wednesday night late last October.  The outcome wasn’t so purdy, as those pesky Pirates took advantage of Joe Bisenius and Scott Nestor to come away with an 8-2 victory.  The good part about it (as Enrico from The 700 Level pointed out earlier) is the Phillies started off the ‘08 Spring campaign getting their asses kicked by the Pirates, and look how that turned out.

Now, if you don’t mind, ONTO THE LINKS…

Shot of the day, courtesy of The Inquirer:

• The master of the Q&A, David Brown of Yahoo!’s Big League Stew, is reporting (and Twittering!) live from sunny Florida and his first stop was checking in with Cole Hamels and the WFC Phillies.  He gives you the hard-hitting updates involving Hamels’ potty-mouth, Mike Schmidt’s ’stache, and Jayson Werth’s blasé attitude towards sliding drills.  [Big League Stew]

• Those screencapping wizards over at The Sports Hernia highlight a blurb in the NYDN from a “Mets Notes”-type column which basically outs Fernando Tatis as a chronic masturbator who wacks it so damn violently, he had to be scratched from today’s lineup.  I hope he doesn’t have a roommate.  [The Sports Hernia]

• Speaking of the Mets, the City Paper’s E. James Beale offers up an incomplete list of reasons the Mets are douchebags.  And at The Sports Complex, James Beale (completely different person) interviews the newest Phillies beat writer who takes over for Zolecki at the Inqy.  His name is Andy Martino, he’s from New York and he used to cover the Mets.  I’d like to say I’m excited, but that’s not an enticing combo.  [City Paper & The Sports Complex]

(If you want to see one fine, fine ass, I’ll see you ATJ)

• You may have read about Scott Eyre and how he got himself into a bit of financial trouble this week.  Well, the Phillies — being the classy, top-notch, World Series winning organization that they are — decided to front him a chunk of his $2 million salary so he doesn’t have to go borrowing from family members.  [The Zo Zone]

• Here’s that ass I promised.  Amazingly, it’s not even the best shot of her I found over at the Drunken Stepfather messageboard.  Her name is Patricia Millik-Peristeri and this picture is from some foreign version of FHM.  [Drunken Stepfather]

• And finally, Tyler Maas of Bugs&Cranks provides an incredibly entertaining briefing of Team Italy, the squad I will be rooting for in this year’s World Baseball Classic.  Call me un-American if you’d like, but I refuse to root for any team with David Wright on it.  [Bugs&Cranks]

(Pssst!  If you are following my Twitter account, you would have already had a sneak peek at the soon-to-be-open The Fightins dot com Shop)

• Gonzo on Which One is More Likely?
• Gonzo on Which One is More Likely?
• Lynniemac on Which One is More Likely?
• Gonzo on Which One is More Likely?
• maxL on Which One is More Likely?