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David Parkinson, image- Jay Floyd LAKEWOOD, NJ-- It had been roughly four and a half hours since the Lakewood BlueClaws did what they needed to do on Sunday before they found out their first half fate.  With a start time of 5:05 PM for Kannapolis (White Sox affiliate), who were ahead of the BlueClaws in the Class A South Atlantic League North Division standings by .003 percentage points, it would be a few anxious hours, or more, until a trip to the 2018 postseason would be decided. Greensboro, the Marlins affiliate managed by former Phillies catcher Todd Pratt, completed a three-game sweep in Kannapolis to lock in a first half division title and a playoff spot for the BlueClaws. Lakewood's star on Sunday was lefty pitcher David Parkinson, the Phils' 12th round draft selection a year ago.  The 22-year-old struck out 11, walked none and allowed no runs on just three hits over seven innings of work to notch his sixth win of the season. The effort for Parkinson placed...

Jesmuel Valentin, image- Jay Floyd Switch-hitting infielder Jesmuel Valentin has been a bit of an underrated contributor with the Double-A Reading Fightins. Heading into action on Friday, Valentin was batting .339 over his last 14 games. Overall this season, the 22-year-old is batting .282 with four home runs and 35 RBI in 64 games. Valentin, who plays mostly second base, but dabbles at shortstop a bit also, is the son of former big leaguer Jose Valentin . The Puerto Rico native was a supplementary round pick (51st overall) of the Dodgers in 2012. He was acquired by the Phils as part of the Roberto Hernandez trade in 2014. Recently, I spoke with Jesmuel about his team's success, growing up around the game and more. Read ahead for that full interview. -The Reading team has been great and you've contributed very nicely to the club's success. What are your thoughts on competition in the Eastern League this year? I just came here with the mindset that...

On Friday night, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs opened a weekend series in Charlotte against the Chicago White Sox Triple-A affiliate. The Knights' Matt Tuiasosopo launched two home runs off of IronPigs' starting pitcher Adam Morgan , including a first inning grand slam to help the home club notch a 7-5 victory. Morgan, the Phillies' third round draft choice from 2011, fell to a troublesome 0-5 on the season. After an April in which he sported a 3.74 ERA, the 25-year-old struggled in May, tallying a 6.40 ERA in his last six outings. With the loss, the IronPigs fell to 19-31 on the season, which is the second worst record in the International League. Earlier in the day, the 'Pigs lost their starting left fielder Cody Asche , who was promoted to the big league team, which was nearly no-hit by Chad Bettis and the Rockies by night's end. As bad as all that sounds, the game wasn't entirely bad because the stadium video board caught the fan pictured below making ...

Rice with Lakewood in 2011 On Thursday, Sewell, NJ's Bill Rice was released by the Chicago White Sox.  Rice, a Washington Township High School product who played at Gloucester County College prior to transferring to the University of South Carolina-Aiken, was signed previously by the Phillies out of a tryout camp at Lakewood's FirstEnergy Park in 2010. The Phils decided to part ways with Rice during spring training last year.  The 5-foot-11 185-pounder quickly signed with the Camden Riversharks of the Atlantic League and was later inked by the White Sox and assigned to their Class A Kannapolis club.  This year, Rice made the leap to Class A Advanced Winston-Salem and hadn't produced to the best of his abilities.  Through 12 contests, Rice posted a .171 average along with three doubles, one triple and four steals.  According to the 24-year-old Rice his weekend plans were ruined by the release, as his Winston-Salem Dash were set to begin a series against ...

According to ESPNChicago , Mark Parent is headed to Chicago to be the new bench coach of the White Sox, beside new manager Robin Ventura, who was named as the replacement for the departed Ozzie Guillen, who parted ways with the team after 8 seasons. Parent, a former big league catcher, had been a manager in the Phillies developmental system for each of the past two seasons. In 2010 he led the Class A Lakewood BlueClaws to their second straight South Atlantic League championship and in 2011, he was at the helm for the playoff bound Double A Reading Phillies. The big league Phillies recently granted the White Sox permission to speak with Parent about their coaching vacancy. Parent played 13 seasons in the Majors, spending time with San Diego, Texas, Baltimore, Detroit and the Chicago Cubs. Another former Phillie, Jeff Manto, is also rumored to a candidate to join the White Sox coaching staff. The new coaches will take over a White Sox team that finished the 2011 season 4 games under .50...

Former Phillie Joe Bisenius is making a case to earn his third promotion to the big leagues. The right-handed hurler, who was a member of the Phillies' bullpen at the dawn of the team's recent run of four straight division titles and spent time last season with the Washington Nationals is now pitching tremendously for the White Sox Triple A affiliate, the Charlotte Knights. Bisenius, an Iowa native, was originally selected in the 12th round of the 2004 amateur draft by the Phillies. After quickly rising through the Philadelphia developmental ranks, Bisenius made his Major League debut with the Phillies in 2007, tossing two scoreless innings of relief in April. However, struggles in the minors in each of the following two seasons and in 2010 spring training, got Bisenius released. Last season, Bisenius was signed as a free agent by the Nationals and worked his way through three levels of their system, before making 5 appearances with the big club late in the season, as a Septemb...

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all of you. As you celebrate this national holiday and stuff yourselves full of food, consider these things and thank the baseball gods for them. 5- Ozzie Guillen's bilingual Twitter account . I mean, yeah, he speaks two languages, but judging by the tweet pictured below, as well as plenty others, Ozzie may not really type any languages. 4- The history of the sport. Thanks to the lengthy past of baseball, fans are not stuck looking toward the steroid era's deceitful record breakers to find men who should never be regarded as icons of this great sport. Instead, they can simply reflect back to the very first induction class of the National Baseball Hall of Fame for players to despise . 3- One another. Yeah, fans...you make the whole experience just a little bit better. Whether you dress up like a team-supporting Humpty Dumpty, storm the playing field, dye/paint yourself to match the team's colors, or rattle your own team's most popular player wi...

Those who publicly claim firm allegiance to a sports team should at least know something about their organization's history, shouldn't they? Bits of information like a favorite player from the past or the name of the team's old home should be common knowledge, right? Not for the sharp politician this land calls its president. On Monday, following his questionable ceremonial first pitch toss on Opening Day, President Barack Obama visited with the Washington Nationals broadcasters during the live TV broadcast. When asked to name his favorite White Sox player from years past, by analyst Rob Dibble, the Prez couldn't quite come up with an answer. In the above video, you can hear the president stammer, while trying to think of a White Sox player name to throw out and, instead, he spoke about how he liked some Cubs players too, and mentioned how he was a fan of the Oakland Athletics as a child in Hawaii. Obama went on to add that he resided near old Cominskey Park. That base...

New Chicago White Sox shortstop Omar Vizquel has contacted Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio and requested permission to wear his retired jersey number, 11. Vizquel, like Aparicio, is a native of Venezuela. Aparicio, also a shortstop, was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1956, a 10-time all star, a 9-time Gold Glove Award winner and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984. Vizquel, an 11-time Gold Glove Award winner, has worn number 13 with other teams during his career, but in Chicago, that number belongs to manager Ozzie Guillen. The inquiry was made when Vizquel reached out to Aparicio, requesting his approval of an effort to honor the long retired legend. In a statement, Vizquel said, "For me, it's like a huge celebration, trying to keep his name alive and trying to spread the word of Venezuelan shortstops." Unfortunately, Vizquel couldn't be bothered to think of another more proper way to pay homage to those that came before him and Aparicio couldn't fi...

Plenty of news worthy items popped up over the weekend. Here are some nuggets you shouldn't miss. Carlos Ruiz officially signed a multi-year contract with the Phillies, avoiding arbitration. The deal is for 3 years/$8.85 million with a team option for a fifth year at $5 million. More on Ruiz's deal can be found here . The Phillies also signed former White Sox and Rockies pitcher Jose Contreras to a 1 year contract. Info about the signing can be found here . Contreras projects to fill a vacancy out of the bullpen that the absences of Clay Condrey and Chan Ho Park will leave. The addition of Contreras adds to the list of 2005 World Champion White Sox that have gone on to sign with or play in the Philadelphia Phillies organization...Aaron Rowand, Tadahito Iguchi, Freddy Garcia, Ross Gload & Pablo Ozuna are others. Former Phillies #1 draft pick Greg Golson was designated for assignment by the Rangers last week. This move was made necessary as Texas signed Khalil Greene to ...

Some folks around baseball have felt throughout the offseason that Jim Thome would inevitably return to the Chicago White Sox and resume his duties as the team's designated hitter. Thome was traded by the ChiSox prior to last year's trading deadline to the Dodgers for minor league infielder Justin Fuller and cash. Thome appeared only as a pinch hitter for the Dodgers, down the stretch last year, and he managed to get just 5 singles in 20 at bats, including the post season. Thome stated to Chicago reporters, at a White Sox charity function on Wednesday, that he'd come back to the White Sox if they called and wanted him. But, keeping things real, Thome added, "I want to play baseball. Right now, we're talking to a few teams, so we'll see what happens. It's been a slow winter in the market, so we're waiting to see what's going to happen and move forward." So, what teams might Thome be negotiating with? Not the White Sox! Chicago manager Ozzie Guil...

Johnny Callison was the Phillies right fielder from 1960-1969. The slugger, who spent a decade with Philadelphia, was originally signed by the White Sox and broke into the Major Leagues at age 19, before big league pitching got the best of him and he was sent back down to continue to mature in the minors. Following the 1959 season, Callison was acquired by the Phillies in a trade for Gene Freese. In his early years with Philadelphia, Callison dealt with some hindering injuries, prior to having a bust out season in 1962, when he hit .300 with 23 homers and 83 RBI. That season, Callison would be named a National League all star for the first of three times in four seasons. Callison's 1962 campaign marked the first time in 30 years that a Phillie ended a season with at least double digits in HR, doubles, triples, and stolen bases. The previous Phillie to do that was Chuck Klein. Callison is often best remembered for his performance in the 1964 all star game at Shea Stadium. With two o...

The Chicago White Sox's Mark Buehrle threw the second no hitter of his Major League career, a perfect game, against the Tampa Bay Rays today. Buehrle is now 11-3 with a 3.28 ERA on the season. Tampa sent 27 batters to the plate and did not get a single base runner all day long. This was the 18th perfect game ever thrown in the majors. Fox Sports has more on the story of the day in baseball here . ------------------------------ PAUSE? Since it has become American League day here on PhoulBallz, let's take a glance at all the man-love that went on in the Rangers game last night. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Dear hopeful homerun handlers, As we've discussed here on PhoulBallz.com before , closing your eyes when trying to catch homerun balls in flight is not the best way to have success. Two Chicago White Sox fans got in the way of some long balls during Wednesday night's game. Guy in the above picture,who appears to be Vito from the Sopranos...based on your televised experiences with Johnny Cakes, I truly thought you'd be more comfortable and better composed when balls are flying toward your head. I feel sorry for you, center guy in white shirt. I am sure that once you fully displayed your scaredy-cat-like homerun volleying, that plus-sized Stone Cold Steve Austin, behind you, laid you out with a Stone Cold Stunner for shaming his section. Best of luck in your futures, blind ballin' Chicagoans. Tell Jim Thome we send a holler. Love, PhoulBallz.com PS- Stay awesome.

Jim Thome smashed a homerun on Monday night off Jesse Carlson of the Blue Jays to tie Mike Schmidt for 13th most all time in MLB. Both sluggers have 548 homeruns. A tip of the hat to big Jim, from PhoulBallz.com, on this milestone.