Lenny Dykstra. Nails. The Dude. You have to love him right? I still remember when he showed up for spring training in 1993 all jacked up and proclaimed he had taken some "good vitamins" during the off-season. Oh that Lenny, what a kidder. So when you found out he had become some kind of stock genius, you basically had to pick your jaw off the floor didn't you? Well, it might all be crashing (like a car into a tree?) around him as evidenced by the listing of his SoCal home for $25 million. Get out while you can Dude!

How many times over the years did you say to yourself, "I wish I could choke out Ed Wade." My count was around 15,000. Well, (soon to be former) Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon has lived all our dreams. J Platt says Chacon shouldn't be allowed to pitch in the majors every again. I say, give him the keys to the city!

Ed Wade's not our problem anymore I guess. And since he's a GM in the National League it probably benefits us as Phillies fans since you know the Astros aren't doing anything while he's there. In fact, there might be an opening in New York Ed, maybe you might want to look into that job, I'm just saying.

This story is really pretty amazing. The fact that Chacon admitted to grabbing Wade by the neck, throwing him to the ground and jumping on him is amazing in itself. But what is most shocking in my opinion is that Chacon was able to get his hands around Wade's head. Have you seen the noggin on that guy? Seriously the head to body ratio has got to be 2-1.

But you've got to at least feel a little sorry for Wade, it's been a tough year. Actually screw him, I don't feel sorry, but let's review some of the things that have happened to Wade over the last year.

- Last August he got stuck in a tree while skydiving in New Jersey and hung 75 feet from the ground until he could be rescued.

- After getting the GM job in Houston he traded Brad Lidge and Eric Bruntlett to the Philles for Geoff Geary and Michael Bourne. It's not the worst trade in history, but Lidge has been lights out for the Phillies and Bruntlett played great in place of Jimmy Rollins earlier in the year. Meanwhile Bourne is batting .234 and Geoff Geary is ... well, Geoff Geary.

- He aquired Miguel Tejada the day before he was named in the Mitchell Report, and then in April Tejada announced that he was actually 34, not 32 as previously thought. Oh, and his last name turned out to be Tejeda, not Tejada.

- He get's choked by one of his own players

- Astros are 13 games out of first place on June 26, which is probably a familiar position for Wade.

Tough year, tough year.

So sure, choking someone is wrong. When you get in an argument with your boss later today, choking him would be on the list of things to not do. But seriously, when you read this story you smiled and said " Shawn Chacon is my hero" didn't you? It's OK, you can admit it.

This makes two days in a row that former Philadelphia sports figures are arrested. Yesterday we had Javon Kearse getting a DUI and now Aaron McKie is charged with "falsifying forms when purchasing two handguns in Upper Moreland Township on April 8? according to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman.

It's safe to say Javon Kearse's time in Philadelphia was disappointing to say the least, so it wasn't really shocking when the Eagles released him earlier this year. Now the word coming out of Tennessee is that Kearse was arrested and charged with DUI early Sunday morning after being stopped near Vanderbilt University by campus police. You're telling me with all that money he stole from the Eagles he couldn't hire a driver?

The news coming out of Canada is the Flyers and Jeff Carter have agreed on a three-year deal worth around $15 Million. Carter was slated to become a Group 2 free agent on July 1 and with the NHL draft beginning Friday night there were thoughts Carter might be traded. But Carter seemed to pass up the potential for more money to stay in Philadelphia.

We're still six weeks away from baseball's trading deadline, but if the last two games told us anything it's that the Phillies aren't going to compete with the elite without bolstering their starting pitching. Oh, it also told us Chase Utley needs a day off, but that's another post. According to ESPN's Jason Stark, the Phillies have already started looking into some of the names who will probably be moved between now and July 31. Hey, anything's better than Adam Eaton right?

At 10am today Eagles single-game seats went on sale and as expected they were sold out in under an hour (actually it only took 40 minutes). But this year tickets were only available through Ticketmaster either buy calling their phone number or, as most people would do, through their website. As The Inquirer points out, trying to buy tickets was an exercise in frustration. But all is not lost, you can still buy tickets from Ticketmaster, well sort of.

When I was growing up I really liked Boston. Larry Bird was still playing for the Celtics, the Patriots sucked and the Bruins were … well a hockey team. And then there was the Red Sox. First and foremost I am a Philadelphia sports fan, but in the days before Interleague play it felt ok to like an American League team, and I often told people the Red Sox were my second team. I even had a t-shirt of the "Killer B's of Boston" which had caricatures of Wade Boggs, Tom Brunansky, Ellis Burks and Tony Pena (the Backstop). But then the Patriots won a Super Bowl in 2001, and the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 and suddenly Boston fans turned from passionate bad-luck sports fans into … well, Yankee fans.

It's gone largely unnoticed because the Phillies are leading the NL East by four games and beating teams 20-2, but there's a big problem at the top of the lineup. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino, the Phillies 1-2 punch that is supposed to set the table for this explosive offense, have gone a combined 22-105 (.210) in the month of June. It's kind of tough for the big guys to drive in runs if no one's on base.

As the Phillies take on the Cardinals in game two of their series, we'll get a chance to see what might have been if the Phils had signed Kyle Lohse during the off season. Although Brett Myers and Adam Eaton have looked better in the last couple of starts, Lohse and his 7-2 record this season would have looked really nice in a Phillies uniform. But would he have been worth $21 million? Uhhh, probably not.

Hey, it's a buyers market right? That's what I keep hearing as we tumble towards a depression, oops I mean recession, no wait - economic slowdown. So, while some big names are losing their homes (Lattrell Sprewell, Evander Holyfield, Ed McMahan), Comcast-Spectacor Chairman Ed Snider is snatching up a New York City condo for $7,340,000. Yo Ed, this is awesome timing. I need a place to crash next week when I'm in NYC looking for jobs. Ed?