TUESDAY ROUNDUP: Vick Speaks, Utley Hopes, Heat Fans Party, Bird Quits, Buzz Blasts PSU

AUDIO (NFL.com): If this is how Mike Vick sounded when talking about his talk to first-years at the NFL Rookie Symposium Monday, imagine how it must've felt to hear the real thing. (More here.)

AUDIO (CSN Philly): Speaking of chills: Chase Utley gives drop of season, sends entrepreneuring authors scrambling to publishers for first dibs on book deal rights. (More here.)

AUDIO: Tell us how you really feel about LeBron James, post-championship parading Heat fans.

AUDIO: Tell us how you really feel about the O'Brien Trophy, LeBron James.

AUDIO (FOX): Metta World Peace says he won't be pulling a Chad Johnson Ochocinco Johnson.

AUDIO (FOX): Anthony Davis wants to shut down Kobe. Or "Raise The Brow" on him.

SCRIPTUALS (Daily Beast): With this post-Sandusky verdict piece, Buzz Bissinger reminds us why he was for so long in this city a voice worth listening to.

SCRIPTUALS (Toronto Sun): Scott Laughton at No. 20 overall made for a good first pick for the Flyers Friday. But how he and his six minor league teammates all went over the weekend, most of them pretty high too, makes for a better story.

SCRIPTUALS (Atlantic): Jake Simpson lobbies for DH in NL. Jim Thome nods firmly.

SCRIPTUALS (Indy Star): Larry Bird calls it quits in Indiana.

SCRIPTUALS (Sun Sentinel): Dan Hyde is calling 2013 Heat Hate now.

SCRIPTUALS (ESPN Seattle): No, no -- really. Jamie Moyer, 49, signed with the Blue Jays last night. And, given the team's decimated rotation (Brandon Morrow, Drew Hutchison, Kyle Drabek all hung up), cracking the rotation is all but a likelihood. Since it's already "cracked" and stuff.

SCRIPTUALS (ESPN New  York): Steve Nash says he's "open to everything" regarding him impending free agency. Everything everything? Hmm...

SCRIPTUALS (Yahoo!): On things that are less open: Tony Parker says he almost lost his eye in that Chris Brown-Drake scuffle. (Over which Parker's suing for $20 million.)

STATISTICALS (Elias): Carlos Ruiz went 3-for-5, scored three runs and stole a base in the Phillies' 8-3 home win over the Pirates. Ruiz is the first Philadelphia catcher to score three times and record a stolen base since Bobby Estalella did it against the Mets on Sept. 29, 1996.

STATISTICALS (TIP): To date, Steven Strasburg is rocking a .652 slugging percentage, which would be the highest such line on the Phillies. (Erik Kratz notwithstanding.)

STATISTICALS (AP): LHP Erik Bedard takes the hill for the Pirates tonight. Philly (35-40) is 8-16 against left-handed starters, but one of those wins came April 5 at PNC Park when Bedard gave up one run over seven innings in a 1-0 loss as he was outdueled by Roy Halladay. ... Bedard enters 0-3 with an 11.08 ERA in his last three road starts, failing to get through the fourth inning in his previous two. ... RHP Vance Worley going for the Phils ... The Phillies have lost the last four games started by Vance Worley (3-4, 2.78), who is 0-2 with a 2.25 ERA in that span. He has received a total of seven runs of support in that span, yielding two runs over seven innings Thursday in a 4-1 loss to Colorado. ...

STATISTICALS (Todd Zolecki, MLB.com): Phillies have 87 games to play, have the best winning percentage in baseball in the second halves of the last 5 seasons (.622). ... Phillies would have to go 55-32 (.632) the rest of the way to finish with 90. ... Jimmy Rollins is hitting .343 with 10 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 18 RBIs, 21 runs scored and a 1.043 OPS in 25 games since May 28. He's also hit four homers in his last five games, something he's never done before. Ever.

STATISTICALS (Jake Kaplan, MLB.com): Pittsburgh had committed just one fielding error in its previous 10 games, committed three in the first inning, including two in one play. ... Marked the first time a Pirate made two errors in one inning since Josh Harrison did so on July 4, 2011, which was also the last time the club committed three errors in one inning.

The right-hander, who has no record and a 3.75 ERA in two career starts against the Pirates, has a 3.90 ERA at home compared to his 1.89 mark on the road.

PHILLIES PROBABLES:

Tuesdsay (7:05 p.m. EST): LHP Erik Bedard (4-7, 4.13 ERA) @ RHP Vance Worley (3-4, 2.78 ERA)

Wednesday (7:05 p.m. EST): RHP James McDOnald (6-3, 2.19 ERA) @ TBA

Thursday (1:05 p.m. EST) RHP A.J. Burnett (8-2, 3.24 ERA) @ TBA

ON THIS DAY:

1916 - The Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians appeared in a game with numbers on their sleeves. The event marked the first time that players were identified by numbers that corresponded to the scoreboard.

1938 - Lonney Frey (Cincinnati Reds) had eight hits in a doubleheader split with the Philadelphia Phillies.

1944 - The New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees ALL played against each other in a six inning contest in a war bonds fund-raiser. Over 50,000 people watched the game. The final score was Dodgers 5, Yankees 1 and the Giants 0. 

1970 - Frank Robinson (Baltimore Orioles) hit two grand slams against the Washington Senators in a 12-2 win.

1979 - Muhammad Ali, at 37 years old, announced that he was retiring as world heavyweight boxing champion.

1985 - Wilbur Snapp was ejected after playing "Three Blind Mice" during a baseball game. The incident followed a call made by umpire Keith O'Connor.

1990 - Jennifer Capriati, at age 14, became the youngest winner of a match in Wimbledon history.

1998 - Jamaica won soccer's World Cup. It was the first time a Caribbean team had won the World Cup since 1938.

2001 - Ray Bourque (Colorado Avalanche) announced his retirement just 17 days after winning his first Stanley Cup. Bourque retired after 22 years and held the NHL record for highest-scoring defenseman and playing in 19 consecutive All-Star games.