IT'S NO SECRET that the Phillies could use a little help at the plate and on the mound.
On Friday night, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton and Greg Luzinski will be at the ballpark. So will Larry Bowa, Dick Allen, Tony Taylor, Bob Boone, Juan Samuel, Darren Daulton, John Kruk and Garry Maddox.
But don't get your hopes up. They won't be there to add pop to the lineup. Rather, they'll be present to welcome former catcher Mike Lieberthal into their inner circle as members of the Phillies Wall of Fame.
The two-time National League All-Star will be enshrined in a ceremony before Friday night's Phillies-Cardinals game.
Lieberthal, the 34th member of the Wall of Fame, is the Phillies' all-time leader among catchers in home runs (150), and hits (1,137). He is also the all-time leader in games caught (1,139).
The Phillies will be adding a 14 x 20 bronze plague of Lieberthal to the Wall of Fame display in Asbhurn Alley.
The ceremony, scheduled to begin at 6:50 p.m., will be aired live on Phillies.com.
Tim McCarver, another former Phillies catcher, will throw out the first ball at Saturday night's game in honor of his recent induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Titans running back Chris Johnson must have hit his head in practice recently.
How else would you explain his belief that he could beat Olympian Usain Bolt in a race.
Granted, Johnson, who ran track in high school, is fast — he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.24 seconds at the 2008 NFL Combine — but he's not in Bolt's league.
"I feel like if I would have kept training for track I'd have a chance … " Johnson told the Tennessean. "I think I could still probably beat him in the 40. If I actually trained for the distance he trained for, I think I'd have a chance."
On Thursday, Bolt won the 200 meters with a 2012 world-best time of 19.32 seconds. And it appeared that he pulled up as he crossed the finish line. Earlier in the week, he won the 100 meters and is now the first athlete to ever win the 100 and 200-meter events in back-to-back Olympics.
The delusional Johnson should stick to football.
