An odd ring to it

THE GREEN BAY PACKERS announced yesterday that they will receive their Super Bowl rings in a June 16 ceremony at Lambeau Field. It was explained that while contact between players and team officials generally is prohibited during the league's ongoing work stoppage, the team says the NFL granted a special exemption allowing it to hold the ceremony.

What??!!! Isn't there a lockout going on? Where's the NFLPA? Oh, that's right, it no longer exists.

The players can't get medical coverage, can't work out at team facilities and can't talk to coaches. But the NFL says the Packers can get their championship rings.

Training camp might not take place, games might not be played, and folks who are vendors, ticket-takers and maintenance personnel who need the extra money might be going without. But the NFL says the Packers can get their rings.

There are free agents - veterans and rookies - who don't know what the future will bring, drafted rookies who can't negotiate contracts or learn their playbook. But the NFL says the Packers can get their rings.

Go figure.

Toronto's Jo-Jo Reyes is trying to get back to where he once belonged, in the win column. The lefty has gone 28 starts without a win, tying the modern-era major league record for futility. Reyes (0-4) hasn't won since June 13, 2008, when he was with Atlanta. It's not that Reyes has been Adam Eaton terrible. Last Friday vs. Houston, he tossed seven shutout innings and left with a 2-0 lead, only to have the Astros tie it later.

To put it in a Phillies perspective, since Reyes' last win, the Phils have had 14 pitchers win at least one start. Among them are Eaton (yep, look it up), Chan Ho Park (1-1 in six starts, 2009), Andrew Carpenter (won his only start on May 16, 2009), and Antonio Bastardo (2-3 in five starts in 2009). And Brett Myers, Pedro Martinez and Joe Blanton won starts for and against the Phils in the same span.

As The Beatles said, "Jo-Jo . . . knew it couldn't last."

- Mark Perner