Cole Hamels - MyPHL17.com

First Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers gets suspended for his hit in last night’s game against the New Jersey Devils.

And now we find out that Cole Hamels is joining his fellow city sports mate with a suspension of his own.  Except Hamels got a 5-game suspension while Giroux got just one.

Am I surprised?  Not really.  I listened to sports talk radio all day long and the listeners appeared to be split on whether what Hamels did to Harper was stupid or smart.  I stated my opinion earlier today, I don’t see a big issue in what Hamels did but guess some feel it was immature and cowardly.  Whatever!  It sucks that Cole has been suspended, but I still applaud his honesty.

Read the full story here:  CBSNews.com

Read about Giroux’s suspension at Aerys Sports – It’s Always Icy on Broad Street

Image source:  MyPHL17.com

Heather Carnassale is Contributing Phillies Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at viewfromsection116@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @heatherc531 and @viewfromsec116.

On Monday, January 30th, both Phillies manager Charlie Manuel and right-fielder Hunter Pence will be honored at the 108th Annual Philadelphia Sports Writers Association Awards Dinner.

The Philadelphia Sports Writers Association (PSWA) dinner is one of the oldest continuing sports awards banquets in the nation, and annually attracts a Philadelphia sports “who’s who” list of guests, attendees, and award winners from all of the area’s professional sports teams, collegiate programs, as well as numerous sports writers, radio and television media personalities of note. – Pitchengine.com

Hunter Pence - Photo credit: Steve Trapani

Pence’s award is for:  PSWA Good Guy Award

Manuel’s is for:  Special Achievement (Phillies’ all-time winningest manager)

And the Philadelphia Phillies have been awarded Team Of The Year.

The banquet will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.  Along with the awards ceremony, Philly-comedian Joe Conklin will be on hand.  And for those unaware of who Joe is, he’s a regular fixture on 94WIP sports radio and can imitate/mimic just about any Philadelphia athlete/personality and athletes/entertainers outside of Philly.  There will also be a silent auction of Philadelphia sports memorabilia as well as special guests.

Philadelphia Flyer Claude Giroux and head coach Peter Laviolette will also be honored.

Sounds like it’s going to be a fun evening, so if you are in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area, check it out.

Tickets to the 108th Annual Philadelphia Sports Writers Association dinner are $95 per person and available online at http://pswa.com. Tickets are also available by contacting the Philadelphia Sports Writers Association’s ticket chairman, Robbie Kenney, by phone at 609-702-7473 or by e-mail at pswadinner@yahoo.com. – PitchEngine.com

Photo courtesy of Steve Trapani – Flickr Follow him on twitter: @Trap_33

Heather Carnassale is the Senior Phillies Writer for Aerys Sports. You can email her at viewfromsection116@gmail.com, or follow her on twitter @heatherc531 and @viewfromsec116.

The Philadelphia Daily Newspaper‘s news staff have voted Roy Halladay their 2011 Sportsman of the Year.

Roy Halladay - MyPHL17.com

Since being traded here in December 2010, Halladay has started 65 games for the Phillies, completed 17 of them, and finished first and then second in the National League Cy Young Award voting. In 2010, he went 21-10 and threw two no-hitters – one a perfect game – with the backdrop of Lee as exiled son. He finished second to the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw in the Cy Young voting last year, the season in which the prodigal son returned. Halladay finished 19-6 with a 2.35 earned run average. – Philly.com

He beat out other impressive Philadelphia athletes including Eagles running back LeSean “Shady” McCoy and Flyers right-winger Claude Giroux.  And some might question, what makes Doc more special than those two guys?  Well, I think Doc is like no other.  Maybe he doesn’t have the flashy personality and doesn’t smile as much as some would like.  But between his work ethic, his approach to the game, and his just all-around good guy persona, its hard to debate why he shouldn’t be named Sportsman of the year.

Halladay also proved that he could leave the game of baseball on the field and go on with his life, without dwelling on the what ifs.  He still went on a fishing trip in Brazil with best bud and opposing St. Louis pitcher Chris Carpenter, after Carpenter was victorious in their first ever duel (Game 5 of the NLDS) that also eliminated the Phillies from the playoffs. They and their respective families also went to Hawaii together.  So did it bother Halladay even just a little bit?  The answer is yes, but again he moved past it.

“And being with him [Carpenter] was definitely weird at first. And to be honest, what I know now, if I had a chance to pitch against somebody I hated over somebody I liked, I’d take somebody I hated. That’s just the way things happen sometimes. And surely there’s some circumstances in everyday life like it, where you’re competing against a best friend for a job or something like that.” – Philly.com

To read the full article at Philly.com, click here.

Image courtesy of:  MyPHL17.com