You have to admire the Phils' resilience. In the wake of Ryan Howard's injury the players left standing collectively sucked it up and went out and took two straight from Florida in steamy Miami.
No one is walking around moaning about bad luck. Fielding a mixture of veterans, rookies, reclamations and hangers on, the Phils have played with more fire and grit than at any time this season.
Kyle Kendrick typifies this attitude. Knocked around earlier this season, chided publicly by a manager who is loath to criticize his players outside the locker room, demoted to AAA, called back only because of injuries to others, Kendrick has hung in there, taken his lumps with nary a complaint and made himself a serviceable back of the rotation kind of hurler. You have to admire his stoicism and determination. Right now, who would you rather send out to the mound, Kendrick or Joe Blanton?
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It appears the group including Nolan Ryan has won the auction for the Texas Rangers, who are coming out of bankruptcy. Ryan's group submitted the winning bid over another group led by Mark Cuban. This is a good thing for baseball and for the Rangers. Ryan is a baseball lifer who has helped oversee the development of the Rangers into a pennant contending club. Cuban is a megalomaniac who always managers to make himself the story.
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