It’s safe to say no baseball season in all of my 21 years on this earth has gotten me as excited as this one. After spending most of the ‘90s watching a team that finished in last place (except for ’93), and a team in the first half of the ‘00s that always just missed the playoffs, the addition of Cliff Lee to an already formidable team makes the Phillies THE team to beat...

Right-hander Curt Schilling and catcher Mike Lieberthal have been added to the 12-player Phillies Wall of Fame ballot.

Originally posted at Phillies Red Pinstripes on April 28: 2009: With the two grand slams hit by Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez in last night's game with the Washington Nationals, the Phillies have now been involved in four games in which they had two players each hit a grand slam home run in the same game in the organization's 126 plus years history. The first time that...

Who: Philadelphia Phillies – Cincinnati Reds What: National League Divisional Series When: October 6th, 8th, 10th, 11th*, and 13th* – *If neccessary Season Series: The Phillies took the season series against the Reds 5-2 Who’s Hot? Phillies Chase Utley batted .306 in September while driving in 24 runs. Carlos Ruiz hit .342 in September and was the first Phillies...

The year was 1997 and the Phillies were in last place with a 58-84 record (almost the complete opposite of this season's 81-60 record). Terry Francona was the manager and times in Veterans Stadium were dismal. Many fans are happy that both Francona and the Vet are long gone in Philly. The lineup was filled with a bunch on nothings, never-weres, and has-beens, aside from Rock...

The year was 1997 and the Phillies were in last place with a 58-84 record (almost the complete opposite of this season's 81-60 record). Terry Francona was the manager and times in Veterans Stadium were dismal. Many fans are happy that both Francona and the Vet are long gone in Philly. The lineup was filled with a bunch on nothings, never-weres, and has-beens, aside from Rock...

Little could please us more and help assuage our fears of a Mets renaissance than news of them signing former Phillie, Rod Barajas. We hated Rod Barajas so much when he was here that we couldn’t understand why Mike Lieberthal had gone to the Dodgers, and taken his 36-point better batting average with him. In [...]

by Jeff FletcherFiled under: Dodgers, MLB Playoffs, National League Division SeriesLOS ANGELES -- Randy Wolf and Mike Lieberthal are pals, a pair of Southern California kids who formed a battery for years in Philaelphia, a partnership they took to the Dodgers in 2007. Through it all, they enjoyed a lot of good times on the baseball field, but none in October. Their Phillies teams...

Don’t look now, but the Phillies’ starting catcher is actually hitting above the league average for his position! No, they didn’t hire Mike Lieberthal circa 2003; Carlos Ruiz is just having a damn fine offensive season. He has a .790 OPS, good for a 105 OPS+ in the National League. Most of his production has [...]

The Phillies are gathering votes from the fans to determine the All-Time 9, as part of a Major League Baseball promotion throughout the league (yes that means you can vote for the All-Time 9 for the Nationals, which will likely end up being all Montreal Expos). You can cast your Phillies vote here, but I thought I would share with you my ballot.The concept takes into account individual...

The Phillies were still 11 1/2 games back of the eventual NL champion Atlanta Braves on August 25th, 1999, but things were looking up. The Phils were 67-59, led by new franchise cornerstones Scott Rolen and Bobby Abreu, and a career year from Mike Lieberthal, and they were looking like they were well on their way to their first winning season since 1993. Best of all, they had just...

When it came down to making a selection with their first-round pick (#3 overall) on June 4th, 1990, the Phillies had narrowed the possibilities down to two primary candidates--University of Iowa shortstop Tim Costo and So-Cal high school shortstop-turned-catcher Mike Lieberthal. Despite his relative youth and inexperience, the Phillies ended up going with the 18-year-old Lieberthal...

With the retirement of Mike Lieberthal this past weekend, I began to think back on Phillies catchers of years past. Instantly I reminisced of Ozzie Virgil. Ozzie had a kick ass name, but really that was it...oh wait, awesome facial hair too, love that 'stache! He was a 6th round pick on the Phils in ...

Amidst all the disappointment and failure to hit the ball good in yesterday's dispiriting extra-inning loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, an important--nay, historic--positive somehow got lost in the shuffle. With his beaning in the bottom of the tenth inning in last night's game at the hands of Ramon Troncoso, Utley amassed his 89th all-time Hit By Pitch, shattering the team...

After 14 years in the bigs, former Phillies catcher Mike Lieberthal is hanging it up. The Dodgers decided not to pick up his $1.5 million option back in October, and at 36, Lieby wasn't interested in looking for a new...

Joe Sheehan previews the Dodgers' spring training: Where: Vero Beach, Florida (Grapefruit League) 2007 record: 82-80 (4th, NL West) New guys: Gary Bennett, Andruw Jones, Hiroki Kuroda Gone guys: Luis Gonzalez, Mike Lieberthal, Mark Hendrickson, Ramon Martinez (NRI), Olmedo Saenz, David Wells, Randy...

Former Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Mike Lieberthal announced his retirement yesterday after 14 years in the big leagues.

Gary Bennett!!! Congrats to Mr. Bennett, who arrives from St. Louis to pick up where Mike Lieberthal left off, spending much time on the pine while backing up Russell Martin. With job parameters of such low physical impact awaiting him,...

Question: Which two hitters in the Phils lineup should NOT be situated next to each other?Hint: In the last two games, Mike Lieberthal and Pat Burrell have combined to leave 17 men on base (Burrell 7, Lieberthal 10).Answer: The two guys who won't and shouldn't be around next year.

After spending most of last season on the bench, Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Mike Lieberthal told the Los Angeles Daily News that he has decided to retire.

The year was 1998 and I just graduated from high school and began college. It was also the year the Phils finished 75-87 with Terry Francona at the helm. Looking back over the Phils from 10 years ago I notice not one player is on the current squad and in fact only 6 players remain in the game today. Take a walk down memory lane as I look at the lineup and pitching staff of the...

The Dodgers have collected catchers this off-season like some people collect stamps, but they sorted through them and found the one they wanted, signing Gary Bennett to replace Mike Lieberthal as Russell Martin's backup. Tony Jackson of the L.A. Daily News called him, "This year's Maytag repairman."

The Phils lineup for the matinee:Rollins SSMichaels CFAbreu RFBurrell LFThome 1BBell 3BUtley 2BPratt CLidle PAnd for the Mets:Reyes SSCameron RFBeltran CFFloyd LFPiazza CAnderson 2BWright 3BMientkiewicz 1BIshii PKenny Lofton and Mike Lieberthal have an off day today. I'd like to see Utley and Thome f...

Dirtlocker points for: Antonio Alfonseca, Rod Barajas, Gary Bennett, Miguel Cabrera, Mike DiFelice, Freddy Garcia, Luis Gonzalez, Tony Graffanino, Shawn Green, Geoff Jenkins, Jason Jennings, Byung-Hyun Kim, Corey Koskie, Jon Lieber, Mike Lieberthal, Kyle Lohse, Russell Martin, Jose Mesa, Damian Mill...

After 14 big-league seasons cather Mike Lieberthal has deceided to retire. Lieberthal who recently turned 36 finishes his career with a .274/.337/.446 line, 150 homers and 610 RBI in 4218 at-bats. Lieberthal spent last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers after playing 13 years for the Philadelphia P...