Todd Zolecki joins the show to talk about the Philadelphia Phillies upcoming trip to the Post Season!!!!

Zolecki is the beat writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer.  And he’s from Milwaukee.  Conflict of interest? We ask.

We also ask about the job of a beat writer, and just how daunting that job is. People call the baseball beat the toughest job in sports journalism, so we get Todd’s reaction to that assertion. We also talk about his relationship with the players having to go into the locker room every day and ‘work’ them to get information.

We discuss the changes in his job over the last three years, going from working a near-empty press box in September to sharing his job with at least a dozen writers at Philly.com.  And did he even bother going into the champagne bath on Saturday?

We talk on the field stuff, including the merits of Ryan Howard being the MVP. Is Howard even the MVP of the Phillies this year, or should that honor go to Brad Lidge?

We compare this year’s team to last year’s.  Now that the Phillies have been there before, and looking at the teams in front of them, do the expectations change for this season?  How far do they have to go for this season to be a success?

Last, we talk about the Philly fans. What is our reputation around the country? Are we as hated as Red Sox fans?  Do we just care too much?