The purpose of this new, exclusive The Fightins dot com feature is to foster a rivalry between the Phillies beat writers by keeping a running tally of who scoops who on Twitter; highlight my favorite articles each week by these writers; and last, but not least, to make it all into a year-long dick joke. You can play along by reading their tweets in this convenient list.

Let’s start the first beat-off session with a look at the current players and their scores:

Andy Martino +2

1 point – Danys Baez passed physical, signing official. Bonus point for drawing first blood this month.

Todd Zolecki +1

1 point – Phillies’ 13 non-roster invitees to Spring Training.

Scott Lauber +1

1 point – Eyre’s retirement.

Jim Salisbury +1

1 point – Myers to sign with Astros.

John Finger +0

N/A – Tweets the most, but not the fastest.

David Murphy +0

N/A – A couple of close second-place tweets, still good for a goose egg.

This Week’s Recommended Reading:

Being early in January, the baseball news is slow to come and some of the guys are on break or covering other sports, but once the pitchers and catchers start to report, the guys should start racking up the points.

Updated Payroll. . .and Depth (Updated) | David Murphy, High Cheese

David Murphy laid out the cold facts in this article from Wednesday, January 6, going over the payroll on a player-by-player basis, the depth chart of the club as it stands currently, a discussion of the pitching situation and a little bit of Dodgers bullpen trivia.

Amaro’s Next Move | Todd Zolecki, The Zo Zone

‘Zo picks the Phillies’ front-office Svengali’s brain on January 5, and informs us that we may not see Lidge, Romero or Moyer take the mound until later in the season. Amaro mentions that there isn’t much to choose from, but he has talked with the agents for Ben Sheets and Chien-Ming Wang, and we may see Joe Beimel or Will Ohman in red pinstripes by April.

On Arbitration, Baez, PSWA Award | Scott Lauber, Philled In

Scott’s last piece dropped on January 3, and he’s on a “company-mandated furlough” until the 11th. There’s a brief discussion of raises for the 4 arbitration-eligible Phillies (Blanton, Victorino, Chooch and Durbin) and a plug for the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association’s 106th annual awards dinner as the Phillies will be winning their third straight Team of the Year award. Tickets are on sale.

So What’s Next? | Matt Gelb, The Phillies Zone

Matt Gelb is filling in with this article from January 6, while Andy Martino gets some well-deserved rest. He discusses a couple of issues with the 2010 squad’s pitching, where Kendrick is the projected 5th starter for the early part of the season, and the empty space left by Eyre’s retirement and Park’s departure.

Salisbury’s State of the Phillies: Pitching | Jim Salisbury, CSNPhilly.com

From the site:

“Every Wednesday from Jan. 6 to Feb. 17, CSNPhilly.com Phillies insider Jim Salisbury takes you on a position-by-position tour of the Phillies organization. How does each position stack up for the 2010 season? How does the future look at each position? What are the strengths at each spot? What are the weaknesses?

“This seven-part series takes you through the depths of winter right up to start of  workouts in Clearwater.”

Rocking the Vote | John Finger, Finger Food

A 2-part post from his personal blog (highly recommended reading), where Finger swings a giant battle axe at the BBWAA’s antiquated voting practices and offers his personal 2010 Hall of Fame ballot. And I didn’t know that Joe DiMaggio wasn’t a first ballot Hall of Famer.

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