He’s off to the Phillies, and he took out a full page newspaper ad to say thanks to his long-suffering fans.  Compare that, by the way, to Brett Favre, who’s headline on ESPN today involves him being miffed–still–that the Green Bay owners didn’t want to keep him.  Favre kicked the Packers around on national TV this year…twice.  And he said not a word about the fans who had lived and died with him, some of them for their entire lives.  (Seriously, how old is Favre?  He’s been QBing our entire football-following career, anyhow…)

Halladay, who was drafted by the Blue Jays back in 1995, said in the ad that he felt blessed to have been a part of the organization, and that he’d always have a special place in his heart for Toronto.

Here’s the ad, courtesy of Toronto Mike.

The biggest story so far, however, is the fabulous award this World Series has, in fact, ALREADY received.  That would be the Pre-Emptive Asshat Fan Award.

Yes folks, this prestigious award is usually given to groups like Douchebags Who Root for USC and People Who Like Tim Tebow. Never before has it been given–in advance no less–to an entire series of sporting events….when they’ve barely begun.

Congrats, Yanks and Phills fans.  You…um..win? (Now come with an awesomely stupid derogatory chant, and get really drunk, and yell it at us even if it makes zero sense in context!)

A-Rod Channels Reggie Is he the new “Mr. October”?  ARod is historically known, and mocked, for his lack of hitting in October.  Except, this year, he’s hitting .407 in the playoffs.  Suddenly, he’s actually a guy you want to have at the plate in a crunch.  Not that the Yankees ever have a crunch, which leads us to…

They’re Just That Damn Good Sure, we were rooting for a freeway series, but the Yankees can’t be denied.  They’ve finally come together–the ridiculous quantities of money have managed to buy a team with some chemistry, even if it kind of happened by accident.

Starting Pitching C.C. Sabathia started last night on three days rest, and it was a non-story.  Unlike his playoff run with the Brewers, this run is almost relaxing for him, probably: the Yankees were far enough ahead toward the end of the regular season that they didn’t have to push him, and the schedule has meant that he got some rest.  Now, he’s 3-0 in the playoffs and clearly enjoying himself.

But, We Still Hate Them Yesterday, the Yanks kicked ass.  So much ass that we sort of forgot it was game 4 and not game 5.  Then, they did one of those line up and high five each other maneuvers.  It looked like taking care of business, and it was…but it was so freakin’ BORING.  (Johnny Damon seemed to agree.  He looked entirely confused at the lack of jumping, hugging, and complex high fives.  Come back to Boston, Johnny! We feel you!) There’s just not a lot of fun looking like it’s being had here. And they’ll beat hell out of the Phillies, and we’ll watch. But…we’re bored, and we’re slightly annoyed.

NL East

The Phillies just lost three games and are still four games up in this race, but they’ve been up and down all year.  We think that the roller-coaster ride has made them tough enough to stick this race out.  Pedro Martinez is coming to this club, and he’s a playoff persona to be reckoned with even outside of his pitching.  The addition can fire up a team that has at times lacked fire.  We think they’ve got it.

NL Central

Sure, St. Louis is leading, and they have Pujols.  We know that, we get it, he’s perhaps the most purely talented player of all time, etc. etc.  The Cubs have a homestand coming up in which they have to play the Phillies for three.  If they get through that, they get Pittsburgh and then San Diego, and we’d love to think they’ll take advantage and take some steps to actually winning a World Series for once in their poor, benighted lives, but winning the NL Central this year just ain’t to be for the Cubs, much as we hate to agree with Cards fans.  St. Louis’ schedule for the rest of August features two sets of games with the Padres and some tilts against the Nationals.  They spend much of the rest of the year playing Pittsburgh and Houston, guys. You just can’t bet against the Cards, here. Even if you really, really want to.

NL West

The Dodgers started off the year with a fabulous record and a big, silly scandal.  Now, the scandal is over and they’re playing better ball, percentage-wise, than any team in baseball not in pinstripes.  However, they have a lot of big series coming up: Chicago, St. Louis, and Colorado for the rest of this month.  We think they’ll come through, though–in part because September is such smooth sailing.  They’ll be happy to see the Pirates, Diamondbacks and Nationals, and they’ll run away with the division, no matter how often Troy Tulowitski hits for the cycle.  End of debate.

NL Wild Card

Every year, the Astros make a run for the wild card that is miraculous in nature and takes place after the All Star break.   This year, they came roaring out of the break…and then went back to playing their usual .500 ball.  Let’s be honest: if they hadn’t made a run in each of the past few years, they wouldn’t even be in this paragraph.  Moving on.  Colorado, San Francisco, and the Cubs are the real contenders here.   We’re giving a very slight edge to the Giants–they’re hungry, which we feel is key in wild card races, they’ve got Lincecum, and even Zito is settling in.  Also, Randy Winn is playing for them.  We didn’t know he was still alive, but since he is, his veteran presence will do a lot for some of the young ‘uns.  Giants it is.

A sports charity story we came across recently is one of a different stripe–not sports-related, like Schilling’s ALS charity, but one that addresses a serious need in a very needy part of the world: Dikembe Mutombo’s hospital located in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Clinton (she, not he) paid a visit to the former Knick, Net, 76er and Rocket, and the amazing work he’s doing and funding.

In Mutombo’s country, hundreds of thousands of civillians are unsafe.  In 2009 thusfar, 600 civilians have been killed and more than half a million have been forced out of their homes.  Mutombo’s hospital is helping those people and his celebrity is bringing attention to the region’s plight.  There’s a use of celebrity we really admire.