Saturday, September 16, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
Well, it's official the Phils are on a roll right now, of course I could've said that earlier this week when they won both games of their doubleheader with the Braves, but then they lost the next game, proving that they weren't really on a roll. Hopefully that won't happen to the Phils tomorrow, but at any rate with the win tonight they have won two in a row and 4 out of their last 5, which to me sounds like being on a roll. Anyway, getting back to the game, you could almost argue that the game didn't even really start until the 7th inning, as starters Cole Hamels for the Phils, and Jason Hirsch for the Astros, dueled to a scoreless tie through 6 innings. However, the 6th inning would be Hirsch's last as he gave up 2 runs early in the 7th inning and failed to get through it. Hamels meanwhile hung in their until there were 2 outs in 8th inning, and it was this little bit of extra work by Hamels that would be the difference on the night. After Hirsch left the game, the Phils simply feasted on the Astros bullpen for 5 runs on 5 hits and by the time Hamels started the 8th inning he had 7-1 lead and was well on the way to his 8th victory of the season(of course he also has 8 losses, but lets just forget about those). All told Hamels went 7 and 2/3rds innings, allowing just 2 runs on 3 hits, and striking out of 11. If those stats aren't good enough for you, than consider this , for the 1st 6 and 2/3rds innings of the night, Hamels held the Astros hitless, yes that's right he had a no-hitter going 2 outs into the 7th inning, until Adam Everett doubled to break it up, just 7 outs short. Basically it was good day for the Phils, and hopefully there will be many more to come. Anyway, at the moment the Phils trail the Padres by 1 game for 1st place in the wildcard, but right now the Padres are preparing to face the Dodgers later tonight and if they lose the Phils will close to within .5 games of the wild card, so tune in tomorrow for an update on that. Well, happy trails everyone.
Friday, September 15, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
Its, not often that 1 hit in the very 1st inniing of a game, proves to be the difference between winning and losing, but that's exactly what happened to the Phils tonight. Lately, the Phillies have been struggling to knock in runs with 2 outs, but with 1 swing Pat Burrell changed all that. With the bases loaded and 2 outs, Burrell managed to work the count full against Astros starter Roger Clemens, and subsequently delivered his 1st ever hit off Clemens, a grand slam no less, to give the Phils an early 4-0 lead. Incredibly, as it turned out those 4 runs would be all the Phils would need. Brett Myers pitched 7 solid innings, allowing just 3 runs on 5 hits, with all 3 runs coming in the 4th inning via homers by Luke Scott and Morgan Ensberg of the Astros. However, following that 3-run 4th inning, the Astros would not score again for the rest of the night, as Myers and relievers Geoff Geary, Matt Smith, , and closer Flash Gordon, combined to keep the Astros scoreless for the final 5 innings and to preserve a key 4-3 victory for the Phils. Now obviously with the close score and all, this was a very exciting game, but it didn't have to be, as the Phils had several chances to really run up the score against Astros, and put the game away early but they were unable to do it. Bascially, the Phils didn't play as good as they could have, and are probably lucky to have won this game, but any rate a win is a win, so I am stiil happy. Before I go, let me just update the wild card situation a bit. You already know that the Phils won, but what happened to the Padres? well, they lost so the Phils are now back to within 1.5 games of them for the lead in the wild card race, which as I said before is not a bad place to be in. Well, happy trails everyone.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
Normally, he doesn't make many mistakes while he is on the mound, but the few mistakes that Jamie Moyer made in his start today, would be all the Braves needed to get the win. For 4 innings Moyer dueled to a scoreless tie with Braves starter Chuck James. In the 5th inning however, he made his 1st mistake serving up a 3 run homer to Martin Prado for a 3-0 Braves lead. Still, the Phils had come back from 5-0 down to win 6-5 just yesterday, so there was still hope that they could pull out the win. However, it only got worse for the Phils in the 6th inning as Moyer made his 2nd and final mistake, serving up a solo homer to Andrew Jones for a 4-0 Braves. All told, in 6 innings of work Moyer allowed just 5 hits, but because of 2 measely pitches that hung over plate, 4 runs had managed to cross the plate. Meanwhile, as Moyer was making mistakes, James was continuing to cruise and although the Phils were only down 4-0 it was beginning to look like the night would not be theirs. In total, James wound up blanking the Phils for 7 innings on 5 hits, before being lifted for a reliever before the beginning of the 8th inning. All that averted a combined shutout of the Phils for the Braves, was an RBI single by Jeff Conine in the 8th inning, as the Braves averted the series sweep with a 4-1 win. Basically, the Phils just didn't get the job done tonight, and really didn't deserve to win this one. Now, of course to make matters worse the Padres won earlier today so the Phils are now 2.5 games back in the wildcard race, but that's still more than within striking distance, if only the Phils could get on a roll in the final 16 games of their season. Well, happy trails everyone.
FLYERS NEWS
Well, after a long and strenuous 11 month battle to return to the Ice, he's finally called it quits. Yeah that's right today Flyers captain Keith Primeau announced his retirement. With 266 goals, 619 points, and 2 all-star appearances in his 15 year career there is no doubt that Primeau was a great hockey player and a leader on and off the ice. Although, he only spent 5 of his 15 seasons with the Flyers, those 5 seasons will never be forgotten, especially the 2004 season in which he singlehandedly carried the Flyers to the brink of the Stanley Cup Finals, with 9 goals and 16 points, only to fall 1 win short. Anyway, with Primeau retiring, the Flyers needed to name a new team captain, and they did. Not surprisingly, the new captain of the Flyers will be Peter Forsberg, who oddly enough has never been a captain before. I don't know about you but I feel pretty good about Forsberg being named the captain, and I am sad to see Primeau go. Farewell Keith, farewell.
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
After their recent struggles with the Marlins, I wanted nothing more than to see the Phils sweep both games of their doubleheader with the Braves tonight, and you know what, they did. In the 1st game of the doubleheader things got off to a bit of a rocky start, as Randy Wolf was roughed up for 5 runs on 6 hits. I mean the game started and before you knew it, it was 5-0 Braves. Fortunately the Phils bullpen had all answers tonight as they not only shutout the Braves for the final 7 innings, they kept them hitless. Meanwhile, the Phils offense was chipping away at the lead, with 3 runs in the 3rd inning, and 3 more in the 8th inning. All told they scored 6 unanswered runs to pull out a dramatic 6-5 win in game 1. In the 2nd game it was more of the same for the Phils except that this time it was the Phils who jumped out to the Early lead at 4-1 and it was Phils starter Jon Lieber, and not the bullpen who shut down the Braves for 7 innings, allowing just 2 runs on 8 hits in 7 and 1/3rd innings of work. Basically the Phils raced out to an early 4-1 lead with 4 runs over the 1st 3 innings, and never looked back winning easily 7-2 to sweep the doubleheader. I don't know about you, but as far as I am concerned that's about as good as the Phils have played in a while and I think they have some real momentum now, so watch out. Anyway, just to update the Wildcard situation, the Padres won today, but the Marlins lost, so the Phils are now back in 2nd place in the wildcard race, 1.5 games behind the Padres for 1st, which is a pretty good position to be in. Well, happy trails everyone.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
Stop me if you have heard this before. The Phillies and the Braves got rained tonight, but it will be made it up tomorrow as part of , yes you guessed it, a doubleheader. Anyway, just to update the wild card situation, the Padres and the Marlins lost today, so the Phils now trail the Padres by just 2.0 games for 1st in the wildcard, the San Francisco Giants by just 0.5 games for 2nd in the wildcard and are now tied with the marlins for 3rd in the wildcard, so don't give up on them just yet. Well, happy trails everyone.
EAGLES NEWS
I mentioned yesterday that starting cornerback Lito Sheppard sprained his ankle and would miss next week's game against the Giants. I also mentioned that Roderick Hood would be starting in his place. Now with Hood, starting the Eagles would have gone into next week's game without a backup for Hood. Well, today the Eagles fixed that problem by signing Dexter Wynn, who had previously been one of the Eagles final cuts following the preseason. Now, obviously at the present time with all the offensive and defensive lineman on the roster there wasn't room to just add Wynn to the roster so they Eagles had to release running back Bruce Perry to make room for Wynn. This means of course that for now at least Wynn and not Perry will be returning kickoffs for the Eagles. Anyway, I don't think any of this will make the Eagles any better or worse than they are already, but it's probably a good thing that they got Wynn, because never smart to go into battle without a backup plan.
Monday, September 11, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils had an off day today, but tomorrow they start a key 3 game series with the braves in Atlanta, with Randy Wolf on the mound against Kyle Davies. Also as promised I will give you a quick wild card update. Well, the Padres blew out the Giants yesterday 11-2, so the Phils now trail them by 2.5 games and they are now tied with both the Giants and the Marlins for 2nd in wild card race. Well, that's about all for today, happy trails everyone.
FLYERS NEWS
Big news for the Flyers, yes that's right it's a done deal. The Flyers and Simon Gagne have finally agreed to a new 5 year contract worth 26 million. Gagne is coming off the best season of his career with 47 goals and 79 points and thus far he has meshed exceptionally well with superstar Peter Forsberg. Also the Flyers training camp starts later this week, so this agreement comes at a perfect time, and really fills me with some excitement for the upcoming hockey season.
EAGLES NEWS
Amongst the glory of their 24-10 victory yesterday the Eagles did have one minor setback. Cornerback Lito Sheppard sprained his ankle in the middle of the 1st quarter, and today Coach Andy Reid confirmed that it was significantly sprained and that Sheppard would miss at least next week's game against the Giants. This Means of course that Roderick Hood will start in his place. Hopefully he will be able to fill in adequately enough for the Eagles to win.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
EAGLES NEWS
Coming off an injury plagued 6-10 2005 season, the Eagles enterd this season with a lot of questions. Well, after a solid 24-10 victory over the Houston Texans to open the season consider those questions answered. Yes, things started out a little shaky as the Eagles defense allowed the Texans to score a touchdown on the opening drive of the game, but the Eagles never panicked and by halftime it was 14-10 Eagles, and the Texans had missed their chance for an upset. Now that you know how the Eagles fared as a team, let's talk about some individual performances. Donovan Mcnabb started shaky as well, firing an early interception, but he settled down with the rest of the Eagles and wound up passing for 314 yds and 3 touchdowns. Donté Stallworth has been with the Eagles for only a couple of weeks now, but today he looked like he had been there all along, with 6 catches for 141 yards and a score(a 42 yard strike from Mcnabb on a beautiful play fake). Not to be outdone though, is the Eagles running game as Brian Westbrook (71 yards, 17 carries) and Correll Buckhalter(50 yards, 8 carries) combined for 121 yards, not great, but pretty good for a team that usually relies on it's passing game. The Eagles defense looked pretty good too, sacking Texans QB David Carr 5 times, and keeping the Texans off the scoreboard for the entire 2nd half. They also held the Texans to just 70 yards rushing, which is a lot better then they ever did last year. Just to summarize, the Eagles certainly looked like a much improved football team today, but they made a few mistakes and didn't play as well as they could have. I mean they played well enough to beat the Texans, but they didn't blow them out as they would have in the past. If they hope to get back on top, they are going to have to raise their level just a little bit, because they are going to need everything they've got next week against the Giants. If they win that one then they will make me a believer, but until then I'll just be content with this week 1 victory.
PHILLIES NEWS
If last night was frustrating then today was just down right ugly. Not only were the Phils once again unable to take advantage of their opportunities, they really never got any opportunities. Basically, the Phils offense just couldn't get anything done today as Marlins starter Dontrelle Willis blanked them for the entire game on just 3 hits. Phils starter Cole Hamels meanwhile, lasted just 4 innings, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits and walking 5. Yes, the Phils bullpen performed admirably and kept things close, giving up just 1 run in their 5 innings of work, but it didn't matter as the Marlins prevailed 3-0 anyway. I'd like to talk about it some more but that's really all there is too it. The Phils just ran into a buzzsaw today in Willis and never really had a chance. Anyway, for what it's worth the Phils ,at 72-71, are now tied with the Marlins for 3rd in the wild card race. At the moment they trail the Padres by 2 games, but if the Padres lose again tonight, the Phils will still be 1.5 games back. However if the Padres win they will fall to 2.5 games back. Now, I would love to tell whether the Padres won or lost, but as I write this the Padres and the San Francisco Giants are locked in a scoreless in the 2nd inning so I will have to update you on the situation tomorrow. Well, happy trails everyone.
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