From Jeff Passan:

Just look at the players who already have declared themselves unwilling to join Team USA at the second incarnation of the tournament in March.

Josh Hamilton? No. Ryan Howard? Sorry. Alex Rodriguez? Nope, he defected to the Dominican team. CC Sabathia, Brandon Webb, Cole Hamels, Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett and Brad Lidge? Nein, non, lo, nyet, nei and na. Respectively.

And the exodus won’t end there. Before the Jan. 19 preliminary roster deadline, Tim Lincecum, Roy Halladay, Jake Peavy and Ben Sheets are expected to turn down invitations, too, in spite of the personal pleas of manager Davey Johnson.

Kind of lame that our national pastime again won't be represented by anything close to the best team we could theoretically field. Expect another lame showing out of the U.S. club, just like 2006. Everyone find a rooting option. Go China!

Do the Phillies have the 2008 postsesaon's best fans? Answer: yes.

Phillies 3, Dodgers 2 (Philadelphia leads series, 1-0)

Into the bottom of the sixth, Derek Lowe was cruising, Manny Ramirez had struck in the first inning with an RBI double, and the Dodgers were up 2-0, looking like the team that swept the Cubs.

Sixth inning comes along, Chase Utley hits a two-run bomb to tie it, and then two batters later, Pat Burrell goes deep, putting the Phillies up 3-2, a lead they'd hold for good to go up 1-0 in the NLCS.

Cole Hamels went seven strong innings (2 ER, 8 K, 2 BB) and the bullpen held it down with Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge for the final two.

The most exciting part of the game, besides all the tense moments and the home runs and the good baseball, was probably Derek Lowe and Shane Victorino colliding.

8:05 on FOX, y'all. Let's take this stupid, pointless day as a chance to talk a lot of B.S. about players that have no real bearing on our team. Rock and roll, hoochie koo.

	Today's Starting Pitchers	GS	IP	ERA	WHIP	BAA	HR	BB	K	W-L
	Ben Sheets - RH - Brewers	18	123.0	2.85	1.11	.235	13	28	108	10-3
	Cliff Lee - LH - Indians	18	124.2	2.31	1.03	.234	5	20	106	12-2

	National League	AB	AVG	OBP	HR	RBI
1	Hanley Ramirez - SS - Marlins	373	.311	.391	23	45
2	Chase Utley - 2B - Phillies	364	.291	.372	25	69
3	Lance Berkman - 1B - Astros	334	.347	.443	22	73
4	Albert Pujols - DH - Cardinals	286	.350	.466	18	50
5	Chipper Jones - 3B - Braves	298	.376	.472	18	51
6	Matt Holliday - RF - Rockies	309	.337	.421	14	51
7	Ryan Braun - LF - Brewers	377	.286	.324	23	66
8	Kosuke Fukudome - CF - Cubs	326	.279	.383	7	36
9	Geovany Soto - C - Cubs	316	.288	.369	16	56

	American League	AB	AVG	OBP	HR	RBI
1	Ichiro - RF - Mariners	391	.304	.366	3	21
2	Derek Jeter - SS - Yankees	352	.284	.345	5	42
3	Josh Hamilton - CF - Rangers	377	.310	.367	21	95
4	Alex Rodriguez - 3B - Yankees	279	.312	.392	19	53
5	Manny Ramirez - LF - Red Sox	328	.293	.389	18	60
6	Milton Bradley - DH - Rangers	269	.316	.440	19	57
7	Kevin Youkilis - 1B - Red Sox	328	.314	.381	15	63
8	Joe Mauer - C - Twins	301	.322	.418	5	41
9	Dustin Pedroia - 2B - Red Sox	395	.314	.357	9	47