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.

Their scores as of January 16, 2010:

David Murphy +1

1 point – Lidge’s surgery.

Jim Salisbury +1

1 point – Gets the point for Aumont story because I am a man of principle.

John Finger +0.5

1 point – Technically tweeted the Aumont story first, but with a link to Jim’s article. Dirty.

This Week’s Recommended Reading:

Another slow week for baseball news, unless you count McGwire admitting to steroid use, which I don’t, because I said NNNNNEEEEEWWWWWWSSSSSSS. Well, an admission is big news, admittedly, even though this is comparable to Orenthal James coming out saying “Hey guys, guess what?”

Rollins speaks — kind of — and Cards look to improve | David Murphy, High Cheese

Wherein, the Murphy discusses Young James’s media savvy, provides his perspective on Big Mac’s coming clean and mentions the Cards’ offer to Valverde.

Phillies Player of the ’00s: Rollins | Todd Zolecki, The Zo Zone

When deciding, Zolecki wrote that:

“Five candidates immediately came to mind: Bobby Abreu, Pat Burrell, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley. It turned out those five players ranked first through fifth in games played in the ’00s. But it only took a few minutes to see that Rollins stood above the rest based on longevity and performance.”

Catching Up: On Moyer, Eyre, HOF | Scott Lauber, Philled In

Scott’s back from his furlough, and immediately compares himself to Sandra Bullock (I don’t see it). He also asks a couple of good questions: Who starts fifth? Are there any lefties worth going for, or should be call up our own?

NL East Tour: Florida Marlins & Washington Nationals | Matt Gelb, The Phillies Zone

One of my favorite things about the buildup to a new season is the team and division breakdowns. Gelb is still filling in (quite ably) for Martino, and is giving us a breakdown of our rivals in the NL East. SPOILER ALERT: “the Nationals are a long way from even being close to competing.”

Salisbury’s State of the Phillies: The Outfield | 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.”

Shockingly, Ahem, McGwire Comes Clean | John Finger, CSNPhilly.com

I love this paragraph:

“The 1998 season, of course, was when McGwire and Sammy Sosa had that homerific lovefest as they assaulted all the standing single-season home run records as well as the good will of the believing American public. They duped everyone, especially the baseball writers who just didn’t whiff at the biggest story in their sport for forever, but didn’t even take the bat off their shoulders. Even when there was a dosage of andro wantonly strewn about his locker with the spent wrist bands, soiled batting gloves and muddy spikes, the scribes (and baseball people) attacked the one writer who wiggled away from the fairy tale to look behind the curtain.”

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