Philadelphia Phillies (40-34) @ Cincinnati Reds (43-34)

Date: Wednesday June 30th, 2010

Time: 12:35 pm EST

Preview: The Philadelphia Phillies will take on the Cincinnati Reds in the final game of a three game series at Great American Ball Park. Philadelphia fell to the Reds in the series opening game on Monday night. Philadelphia has been up and down this season, in third place in the National League East division. The Phillies are 3.5 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the division. Philadelphia ranks 16th in all of baseball with a .259 batting average. The Phillies, through 74 games this season have out scored opponents 353 – 311. The offense has been led by Placido Polanco with his .318 batting average, while Ryan Howard has blasted 15 homeruns and 55 runs batted in. Philadelphia will send their staff ace Roy Halladay to the mound, in an effort to pick up his tenth win of the season. Halladay is 9-6 with a 2.26 earned run average. His last start was a 7 inning win against his former team the Blue Jays.

With all eyes on big-name free agents like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh this summer, not many people are paying much attention to some of the other big fish that will be available on the free agent market and now two more franchise players have put their name in the free agent pool.

There has been a lot of speculation surrounding Dallas Mavericks superstar forward Dirk Nowitzki ever since the Mavs were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs. It has become apparent that the Mavs just might not have what it takes to compete with the best of the best in the Western Conference and as a result they may be on the verge of shaking up their roster once again.

Last Saturday, Tiger Woods was in the same room with his estranged wife Elin for the first time in months.  Woods had arranged a belated birthday party for the couple’s three-year old daughter after missing her actual birthday because he was competing in the US Open.  But then he reportedly showed up nearly an hour late and brought his manager and another unidentified lady.

The Daily Mail reports Elin looked “calm and collected” but the couple was “barely civil” with each other.  US Magazine quotes an insider as saying Elin wants two things from the divorce: “more money than Michael Jordan’s ex got,” ($168 million) and “permission to take [their two kids] to Sweden whenever she wants.”

This weekend, Tiger returns to the links at the AT&T National in Philadelphia.  After his strong finish, Tiger’s a 3/1 favorite to win his first post-scandal tournament.

The Phoenix Coyotes finalized a two-year $7.6 million deal with left wing Wojtek Wolski (he’s Polish, so pronounce those W’s as V’s) earlier this week.  Wolski was acquired by Phoenix at last season’s trade deadline and his four goals and one assist led the team in playoff scoring as they lost to Detroit in the first round in seven games.

The Coyotes think they can build around the young Pole, a former first round pick who is only 24 but has already played four full NHL seasons.

“We are very excited to sign Wojtek to a new contract,” said Phoenix General Manager Don Maloney. “He will be a key contributor for the Coyotes going forward as he enters the prime of his career.” Let’s hope that as a Polish immigrant Wolski doesn’t get in trouble with Arizona’s new apartheid laws.