This post is not about baseball. It’s about softball.

The Pennsylvania primary is in one week and today the candidates were in Philadelphia. Barack Obama sat down with the editorial boards of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News. Hillary Clinton did an interview with drive-time sports radio talk show host Howard Eskin.

You may remember we discussed Eskin on this site last summer, after Phillies manager Charlie Manuel tore him a new one during a press conference.

Eskin fancies himself some kind of tough-talking truth seeker, the only guy in Philadelphia with a microphone who’s willing to ask the tough questions.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, in today’s paper, discribed Eskin thusly:

Although Eskin is known for being free with insults like “moron” and the sarcastic “genius,” he usually reserves these put-downs for callers. He’s generally gracious, even playful, with guests, although he’ll also ask tough questions.

Tough questions? Let’s take a look at the questions that Eskin asked Clinton tonight, and you can judge for yourself just how tough they were (I paraphrase a bit, for brevity’s sake).

1. “Am I permitted to call you ‘Hillary’?” (Right away, we know this is going to be a serious interview.)

2. “Last week Barack Obama said small town Pennsylvanians were bitter about their economic circumstances and cling to religion…what are you hearing in the state of Pennsylvania?” (Translation: “Your opponent is an elitist, wouldn’t you agree?”)

3. “I think Barack Obama has gotten a pass from other talk show hosts…How do you deal with unfairness in the coverage of this primary election?” (Note to Hillary: if you’re going to cry, this is your cue).

4. “What is the message that you want to send to the voters?” (Is there a wrong answer to this question?)

5. “You were First Lady while the best president of my lifetime was in the White House. How important was that experience?” (So. Freaking. Important. More important than gravity, which is very important.)

6. “Hillary, why would you have a better chance against John McCain than Barack Obama would?” (Follow-up question: where did you get those slacks? I absolutely ADORE those slacks!)

7. You’ve got the Yankees and the Mets, the Giants and the Jets — how do you pick a side? (This is not a hard question, but at least it’s defensible — this is a sports talk show, after all.)

8. Do you have a role model? (This is a throw-away question. It’s a given that Clinton is going to say her parents are her role models, and she does.)

After the interview, Howard then points out that he’s not a political reporter, so he’s free to throw his support to Hillary. And then he points out that the Yankees need more pitching. And then he tells Hillary to say hello to Bill, with whom he is apparently also on a first-name basis.

You can listen to the entire interview here. But you might want to give yourself some time in between eating and listening.

Well, it happened. Phils manager Charlie Manuel finally lost it. During a press conference following yet another Phillies loss, local radio personality Howard Eskin asked Manuel why he never seemed to get very upset. Then Manuel showed Eskin just how upset he can get.

From the Philadelphia Daily News:

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel was provoked by a local radio personality in the postgame news conference who asked why Manuel didn’t show more anger in news conferences, a la Cubs manager Lou Piniella, or why he hadn’t upbraided his underachieving team 12 games into the season.

Manuel - nicknamed “Red Devil” when he played in Japan because of his explosive temper - challenged his questioner to meet him in Manuel’s office, where, Manuel promised, he would display temper.

And, there, Manuel did, for several minutes, loudly enough to be heard from 20 yards away through closed doors. Manuel’s point: He does get mad, and he resented what he considers the radio host’s continual unfair criticism of Manuel.

After that confrontation, Manuel, on his way through the clubhouse, resumed hollering at the radio personality when they locked eyes. A Phillies coach and a media relations representative ushered Manuel, spewing profanity, out the back of the clubhouse.

Now, before you take sides here, there’s a few things you need to know about Eskin. He is the personification of everything that’s wrong with Philadelphia sports. His mission is to sabotage the careers of players, coaches and executives who he doesn’t like. He’s a no talent nerd who talks just to hear the sound of his own voice. He’s neither an accomplished athlete or journalist. He’s been suspended twice for fabricating stories. He belittles his callers. He’s racist, sexist, and generally awful in every way.And he’s creepy. From Wikipedia:

Off the air in 1997, Howard’s name surfaced involving a murder case of Marlene Stumpf. Stumpf was a 46 year-old married woman from Pottstown, Pennsylvania posing in chat rooms as a 25 year-old cheerleader named “Brandice”, and engaged in some provocative chat room discussions with Howard. Howard had sensed the woman was depressed and typed, “Why don’t you give me your address, and I’ll send you a little something.” Howard kept his word and sent Stumpf some flowers. A few days later, Stumpf was found murdered. Her husband confessed to the crime and was arrested.

It’s probably not fair to suggest that Eskin caused this woman’s death. Then again, Eskin has never bothered much with fairness.

The least shocking thing about the Manuel-Eskin blow up? After Manuel gave Eskin exactly  what he was looking for — a show of passion — Eskin mocked him and told him to “grow up.”

Typical Howard Eskin. The Philadelphia airwaves would be a much better place without him.

Before the season began, I made statements among my baseball-savvy friends that Ben Sheets may rival Johan Santana this year as the best pitcher in all of baseball. Now of course, health is a concern with Sheets (averaged 19.5 starts over past two years) but when he pitched, you can actually make a pretty good case that he was the only pitcher who could even be uttered in the same breath as Johan:

As the numbers show, Johan was still better, but not by much. ERA notwithstanding, their peripherals were very similar. They are both power pitchers who do a remarkable job at limiting walks and homeruns. If you don’t believe me, look around. Aside from these two, you will not find two starting pitchers who have this perfect assembly of limiting walks, homeruns, and contact simultaneously.

Which may be why this article caught my attention. After his first outing this year, in which Sheets threw a complete-game two hitter against the Dodgers, I noticed that he had only registered three strikeouts, but I chalked it up to flukiness. But his strikeout rate is yet to improve. 20 innings pitched. 8 strikeouts. That’s 3.6Ks per 9 innings. Chien-Ming Wang territory.

Sheets has obviously noticed.

“To me, the lack of missing bats is kind of startling,” Sheets said Sunday after yet another frustrating outing against the St. Louis Cardinals.

“I ain’t hit a spot all year, really,” he said. “I got away with everything (against the Dodgers). I didn’t miss any bats. They just hit it to people.”

Is Sheets DL-bound again? Seeing as the Brewers have an organizationally rampant hatred of all things defense, Sheets cannot succeed without his strikeouts. Bill Hall in centerfield will not be mistaken for Torii Hunter. Sheets has to limit the number of balls in play, and unless we see progress real soon on his strikeout numbers, he’s going to make me look absolutely stupid for even comparing him to Johan Santana (and we all know that’s the most important thing, right?).