Philadelphia

Chef Walter Staib, from City Tavern in Philadelphia, makes Chicken Doree using Dietz and Watson Roast Chicken.

This stuff is mostly rumor-based, so as we say in Michigan, please take this stuff with a full 50-pound bag of road salt: If we are to believe the rumor mill, the Philadelphia Flyers may end up buying out Daniel Briere but not Ilya Bryzgalov... Rich Winter, Ilya Bryzgalov's agent has been informed by Paul Holmgren that Bryzgalov will NOT be bought out after Cup Final! — Josh Rimer (@JoshRimerHockey) June 18, 2013 Continue reading "As you might expect, the forecast in Flyer-land is ‘rumor-y’"

Found this little piece of pop art featuring the Big Piece (see what I did there) and felt the need to post it. Currently the Phillies are being shutout by the Nationals. Whatever. Ryan Howard everyone...Meanwhile, Chooch is back in the lineup and Steve Lerud is back in AAA (where he belongs permanently). Also, Jeremy Horst was sent to the DL yesterday when John Lannan was activated.

Carlos Ruiz wasn't complaining. Instead of going on a scheduled two-game rehabilitation assignment to double-A Reading, the Phillies catcher was activated Tuesday from the disabled list, where he had been since May 21 with a right hamstring strain. Catcher Steve Lerud was optioned to triple-A Lehigh Valley.

PHILADELPHIA — Carlos Ruiz was a man in motion on Tuesday afternoon. He grabbed his bat for batting practice, then talked to the clubhouse guys and joked around with a few of his teammates. Read more Carlos Ruiz news

Seeking to create clarity for investors by creating a company focused solely on the luxury hotel segment, Ashford Hospital Trust announced yesterday it was spinning off eight of its properties into a new real estate investment trust to be called Ashford Hospitality Prime. Where Ashford Trust services all segments of the hospitality industry, the new entity will target the luxury, upper-upscale, and upscale hotels that are expected to generate RevPAR at least twice the national average, or about $130 and higher.  RevPAR, or revenue per available room, is a key performance metric in the hotel industry that's calculated by multiplying a hotel's average daily room rate by its occupancy rate, excluding ancillary revenues generated from food, beverages, parking, and the like. The initial portfolio will consist of the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines, Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., Marriott Plano Legacy Town Center, Seattle Marriott Waterfront, Courtyard San Francisco Downtown, Courtyard Seattle Downtown, Courtyard Philadelphia Downtown, and Renaissance Tampa International Plaza. For the year ended Dec. 31, 2012, the initial Ashford Prime hotels had RevPAR of $140. Ashford Hospitality Trust Chairman and CEO Monty J. Bennett said: "Over the past year, we have made a concerted effort to improve our transparency and communications with the investor and analyst community regarding our historical total stockholder return, our debt management strategy, and asset performance by debt pool.  After analyzing several strategies to maximize stockholder value, the board decided to pursue a spin-off of Ashford Prime." Post-spinoff, the portfolio of remaining properties comprising Ashford Trust will look similar to how it looks today, but with 115 hotels sporting a 2012 RevPAR of approximately $95, which is only $4 less than the pre-spinoff portfolio RevPAR. Also, the leverage level for Ashford Trust is expected to reduce slightly post-spinoff.  A conservative capital structure was also one of the key considerations in constructing Ashford Prime, which will emphasize low-leverage over time, with a target net debt and preferred equity/EBITDA level of 5.0 or lower. Ashford Trust will spin off an 80% interest in the portfolio, retaining 20% for itself. It will continue to target all levels of the hospitality industry except for that area represented by Prime. The transaction will take the form of a taxable special distribution expected to be composed of common stock in Ashford Hospitality Prime that will occur sometime toward the end of the third quarter. In addition to the eight initial properties, Prime will also enter into option agreements with Ashford Trust to acquire the Pier House Resort in Key West, Fla., and the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Crystal City, Va. Ashford Prime will have the right to exercise the Marriott option for a period of 12 months following a six-month lockout, while the Pier House Resort option may be exercised for a period of 18 months after the date of the distribution.  Ashford Trust will also enter into a right-of-first-offer agreement with Ashford Prime regarding certain other hotels that it currently owns that satisfy the investment criteria of Ashford Prime.  Bank of America Merrill Lynch served as financial advisor to Ashford Trust in connection with the spinoff.

Jeremy Bonderman vs. Joe Blanton, 7:10pm If last night’s match-up focused on a trade/acquisition that works out exactly as you’d hope, tonight’s features the opposite. Joe Blanton looks very much like the pitcher he was in Philadelphia – he’s an average GB%, solid K%, low walk pitcher who gets the most out of a 90mph fastball and an assortment of bendy pitches. He’s a junkballer, but he’s carved out a niche for himself by being a dependable middle- to back-of-the-rotation starter. The Angels, sensibly, thought that by taking a guy out of a HR-aiding park like Philly’s and inserting him in HR-neutralizing Anaheim, they’d get the great K:BB ratio without paying a penalty in gopher-balls. Well, that deal’s worked fine, but the Angels aren’t collecting lots of kudos for signing Blanton to a 2-year, $15m deal. Part of the reason is that Anaheim can’t protect Blanton in away games. He’s given up 11 homers in 7 road games, and batters are slugging .592 off him away from So Cal. But that doesn’t mean he’s been brilliant at home. Blanton’s game works when his BABIP is under .300. This year, it’s .368. Sure, some of that is clearly luck, but his LD% and the homers suggest that batters are getting a good look at his pitches. His FIP isn’t terrible despite all of the HRs thanks to the K:BB ratio, but his ERA is pushing 6. It’d actually be worse if he wasn’t pitching relatively well with RISP; he’s getting torched with the bases empty. In any event, this is not the rotation-stabilizer they thought they were getting when they picked up Blanton (and traded Ervin Santana away). Bonderman’s been better recently as his sinker has a bit more sink, allowing him to post great GB numbers against righties. He’s throwing a ton of sliders, which has been effective (in a tiny sample, SSS warning here) in generating weak contact. But just as we saw with Brandon Maurer, he doesn’t have a good pitch to go to against lefties. As a result, they’re destroying him. But also like Maurer, he may find some success against the Angels’ righty-heavy line-up. 1: Chavez, RF 2: Franklin, 2B 3: Seager, 3B 4: Morales, DH 5: Ibanez, LF 6: Smoak, 1B 7: Zunino, C 8: Saunders, CF 9: Ryan, SS SP: Bonderman -- This post came from: U.S.S. Mariner, and is copyright by the authors. This RSS feed is intended for the personal use of readers and not, for instance, spam blogs.Game 71, Mariners at Angels

Jordan Poyer took part in Oregon State's graduation on Saturday and flew to Philadelphia on Sunday, but he struggled to fall asleep that night in his airport hotel room. He was awake at about 5 a.m. when Zach Ertz walked into the room after taking a red-eye from San Francisco following his graduation from Stanford on Sunday.

If the Phillies are truly trying to resolve the puzzle of their ability to contend - and aren't merely trying to convince themselves, their fans, or any potential trade partners of that - then the big piece of the equation is as obvious as always.

Washington Nationals (34-35) vs. Philadelphia Phillies (34-37) Ross Detwiler (2-4, 3.02) vs. Cliff Lee (8-2, 2.55) TIME: 7:05, Citizens Bank Park TV: CSN WEATHER: 70, rain MEDIA: Facebook or Twitter After a walkoff win by Domonic Brown yesterday, more good news. Carlos Ruiz is back. But more bad news, too. The rain is staying, the game is delayed to start, and the showers will likely last all evening. They should play ball tonight. Some things: Cliff Lee hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in a game since May 1. The Nationals are 27th in MLB in runs scored. Good math. Ben Revere is batting .324 since may 1, third among all centerfielders behind only Mike Trout and Andrew McCutchen. Nice. Lineup: Revere CF, Young 3B, Rollins SS, Howard 1B, Brown LF, D. Young RF, Frandsen 2B, Ruiz C, Lee P Gameday Beer: Loser Pale Ale Funny name, and maybe not apropo after last nights victory. However, this beer is quite tasty. I had a bottle over the weekend, and while it’s not my favorite, it’s definitely one I’ll try again. Loser is made by Elysian. Says one beer advocate commenter: Overall: In basketball players who don’t really fit into any one position but can do a few different things well enough are known as “tweeners” and this is a tweener beer. The Andre Iguadola of beers perhaps? Nice.  -PG GO PHILLIES!