Saturday, October 06, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
With their backs to the wall, the Phils turned to veteran Jamie Moyer to keep their season alive. Moyer delivered with 6 strong innings of work ,while allowing just 1 run on 5 hits. Unfortunately the Phils didn't do much more themselves and trailed 1-0 heading into the 7th inning. There, Shane Victorino leadoff by clubbing a solo homer to tie it at 1, and suddenly they had life again. Tom Gordon kept the Rockies off the board in the 7th. and it looked as if J.C Romero would do the same in the bottom of the 8th. Then with two out and nobody on, Colorado put together 3 consecutive singles, with the final one by rookie pinch hitter, Jeff Baker, putting the Rockies ahead 2-1, and suddenly the Phils were just 3 outs from elimination. All season the Phils had faced adversity in one form or another, and they had overcome it time and time again. Surely, they could do so one last time, right? Well. not this time. as the Phils went down in order in the 9th to fall 2-1. So in their 1st playoff appearance in 14 years, the Phils were swept in the first round, not quite the way they were hoping to finish the season. Oh well, better luck next year guys.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers unbeaten streak to start the season is over before it even started. The Flyers fell to Edmonton tonight 5-3. As luck would have it, former Flyers Joni Pitkanen and Geoff Sanderson dealt the crushing blows to their old team tonight, well sort of. Sanderson scored two goals on the night, including an empty netter with under a minute that put it way for the Oilers. Pitkanen, well, he just got lucky. Jeff Carter, Daniel Briere, and Simon Gagne scored the Flyer's 3 goals. Initially it was a back and forth game. Edmonton lead 1-0 early in the 2nd period, then the Flyers tied it at 1-1. Minutes later Edmonton went back ahead 2-1, but the Flyers tied it again at 2. Then Daniel Briere found Gagne open in front of the net for a 3-2 Flyers lead, their only lead of night. It didn't last long as Sanderson scored to tied it at 3 with just 4.8 seconds left in the period. Then just a minute into 3rd period Pitkanen slapped at a puck behind the Flyer's net. In his haste to clear it, Mike Knuble, hustled back and accidentally tipped into his own goal. Since he was the last Oiler to touch it, Pitkanen was credited with the goal and Edmonton went ahead 4-3. Yes he was indeed very lucky. The Flyers never really recovered from Knuble's gaffe, but the dazzling goaltending of Martin Biron, with 29 saves, kept the Phils in it until there was under a minute to go. The Flyers then pulled him from the game in an effort to get the equalizer, but it was for naught and Sanderson scored on the empty net to put it away at 5-3. So the Flyers are now 1-1, which is still, better than they were last year, so they'll just have to regroup and win the next one.
Friday, October 05, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
As mentioned the Phils take on the Rockies in game 3 of the their NLDS, tomorrow night in Colorado. The Phils must win, or their season is over.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers return to action tomorrow night against the Oliers in Edmonton. Hopefully, they will continue to play well.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
Well, the Phils are up against it now. As mentioned Kyle Kendrick got the start today and he pitched well for a little while, but only after allowing back to back homers in the 1st inning. Still, Kendrick was effective enough through 3 innings, for the Phils to take an early 3-2 lead, on a solo homer by Jimmy Rollins, and a 2 RBI triple by who else? Rollins. Rollins heroics would not be enough though, as Kendrick wound up walking the bases loaded in the 4th and was yanked from the game having completed only 3 and 2/3rds innings of work while allowing 5 hits, and eventually 5 runs. Kyle Lohse replaced Kendrick, looking to get out of the jam with a quick strikeout of Kaz Matsui, but instead he erroneously jerked his last to pitch to Matsui down and in to his wheel house, and Matsui responded by slamming a grandslam for a 6-3 Rockies lead. The Phils never recovered from this crushing moment, as the rest of the Bullpen allowed a combined 4 runs on 6 hits. Thus, although the Phils tried to rally back with a solo homer by Ryan Howard in the 5th, and a fielder's choice hit into by Rollins, that led to a 5th run. it was all for naught. These runs unfortunately, only cut the final score down to 10-5, instead of a laughable 10-3, as Rollins' effort, knocking in 4 of the 5 Phils runs, went for naught as well. So the Phils now trail 2 games to none and its all up to veteran Jamie Moyer to win game 3 and keep the series going.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers began their regular season today in Calgary against the Flames. Initially, it appeared that the Flyers would romp to victory, as new Flyer Daniel Briere and Mike Knuble comined for a pair of goals in the 1st period, as the Flyers led 2-0 through 1 period. Despite 24 saves by Martion Biron, the Flames rallied back with goal a each in the 2nd and 3rd periods, by Damon Lankgow. Then first time in a long time, fortune smiled on the Flyers, as Daniel Briere scored his 2nd goal of the night, with a minute and 48 seconds remaining in the 3rd period, for 3-2 Flyers lead. Biron and the much improved Flyers' defense, kept Calgary out of the net the rest of the way and just like that Orange and Black had opened its season with a 3-2. Thus, the Flyers are clearly already better than they were last season and are headed on the right back. Also the Phils debacle early today, this game was a welcome site for me and probably for some other Philly sports fans out there. So let's go Flyers.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
A loss is not the way, you want to start your first playoff series in 14 years, but that's exactly what happened to the Phils. Cole Hamels got the start this afternoon and pitched well, except for a fateful 2nd inning in which he allowed 3 runs on 3 hits. However, after that he did not allow another hit and wound up striking out 7 in 7 strong innings of work. Meanwhile, Pat Burrell and Aaron Rowand(the Phils only position player with playoff experience) proved themselves october-worthy, with back to back solo homers in the 5th inning to cut the lead t0 3-2. However, Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard didn't look so worthy, going 0 for 3, and 0 for 4 respectively. Then Tom Gordon allowed a solo homer off the bat of Matt Holiday in the 8th inning and that was about all she wrote. Although Brett Myers and J.C Romero shutdown Colorado in the 8th and 9th innings, the Phils weren't able to score in either inning as well and fell 4-2 in game 1 of the NLDS. Tomorrow, rookie sensation Kyle Kendrick gets the start and the chance to help the phils even the series at a game apiece before it shifts to Colorado for game 3.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils begin their playoff run tomorrow at the Bank against the wild card champion Colorado Rockies. The Rockies are coming in red hot having 14 of their last 15 games to force last night's one game playoff and win the wildcard. So it's going to be an interesting series and I can't wait for it to start.
FLYERS NEWS
last year the Flyers were about as bad as you can get. They finished the season not just with worst record in the Atlantic division, or he Eastern Conference, but in the entire NHL. With some key offseason additions, including defenseman Jason Smith ,who replaces Peter Forsberg as team captain, and Kimmo Timmonen, and winger Daniel Briere, the Flyers should be better this year, after all, how could they possibly be any worse. Anyway on Thursday the Flyers begin the 2007-2008 regular season, in Calgary against the Flames. They finished their preseason a few days ago with a record of 3-5, not bad considering they went winless in the preseason last year. They were able to consistently score goals in the preseason, but they also allowed far to many goals. So while, they'll be able to win the shootouts they couldn't last year, they won't be able to win any of the close ones, unless Martin Biron has a monster year. Thus, although they'll be better, they likely will still be no better than midde of the pack ,struggling to make the playoffs.
Monday, October 01, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils begin their playoff run at the Bank on Wednesday, against either the Padres or the Rockies, who are currently battling in a one game playoff for the wildcard. Either way it will be a tough divison series for the Phils, and All I can say is good luck guys, and let's keep it going.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
PHILLIES NEWS
How sweet it is. After 14 years of frustration, and 162 games of edge of your seat ups, downs, and all around excitement, the Phils are finally back where they belong. Coming into today's game the Phils needed a win and a loss by the Mets to clinch the NL East division title, and their 1st playoff berth since 1993. The Marlins took care of New York early, as the Mets already trailed 7-0 in the 2nd inning, by the time the Phils took field at the Bank, so they knew by day's end that a win would give them the division. Veteran Jamie Moyer got the start today and delivered 5 and 1/3rd tough innings, allowing just 1 run on 5 hits ,while striking out 6. The Phils meanwhile, got off to a quick a start, as Jimmy Rollins leadoff with a single, stole second, stole 3rd, and scored on a line drive sac fly by Chase Utley, for a 1-0 Phils lead. Later Ryan Howard slapped a 2 run, bases loaded single in the 3rd inning for a 3-0 lead. Then after Washington had cut the lead to 3-1 in the 4th, Rollins came up big again with a 2 out triple(his 20th of the season, making him just the 4th, 20 homer-20 triple -20 double -20 steal guy in MLB history), following a sac fly by Tad Iguchi, to put the Phils up 5-1. Then Ryan Howard put it away for good in the 7th with a towering solo shot, to put the Phils up 6-1. As usual, Tom Gordon ,and J.C Romero combined to get the Phils to the 9th, where it came down to Brett Myers and 3 more outs. First, Dmitri Young struckout, then Austin Kearns flyed out, and finally Willy Mo Pena was called out on strikes, setting off a raucous celebration at the Bank. That's right the Phils, 7 games behind just weeks ago, have come all the way back to win the NL East, clinching their 1st playoff berth in 14 years, and helping the Mets to complete the greatest September collapse in MLB history. Yes, life is beautiful again.
EAGLES NEWS
How Bitter it is. Leave it to that stinkin city up north that never sleeps, to ruin what started out as such a great day. They say Sunday night is football night America, well someone forgot to tell the Eagles that. For a franchise that's suffered a lot of them over the years, this one ranks up there as one of the most embarrassing losses in Eagles history. If not for their final few drives, the Eagles offense would have nothing to show for themselves. As it is they wound up with only 190 yards of total offense, and a measely 3 points, on a 53 yard David Akers field goal. Donovan Mcnabb was sacked a whopping 12 times, and although he hit 15 of 31 passes for 138 yards, the Eagles as a team only gained 76 yards in the air. However, thanks to 114 yards rushing, 103 for Correll Buckhalter, the Eagles did actually pound to 16 1st downs, and won the time of possession battle, with 30 minutes and 26 seconds of possession time. Well, aside from the defense somehow holding New York to 212 yards, and only 16 points, mostly because of Giants mistakes, that's about all of the positives for the Eagles tonight. So what happened, well there were couple things that killed the Eagles. First, injuries hurt the Eagles, as William Thomas, Brian WestBrook, L.J Smith, and Brian Dawkins all sat the night out. Okay, so Dawkins and Smith weren't missed all that much, but other two, well, the Eagles were lost without them. Thomas' replacement, Winston Justice, was overmatched all night long, allowing Osi Umenyiora to sack Mcnabb 6 times. Perhaps, with Thomas in the game, and Westbrook bouncing around all over the field, Mcnabb would have had the time and the target he needed to spread the field against the Giants. 2nd, the Eagles' inability to provide Justice with some help blocking Umenyiora. It was pretty clear even in the 1st half, that Justice, in his first pro start, wouldn't be able to stop Umenyiora on his own, but Andy Reid, was either unwilling, or unable to realize that this was the case. Perhaps, if Justice had a tight-end blocking with them, he could've protected Mcnabb. Finally, Mcnabb's sudden lack of escapability, ruined virtually all of the Eagles' drives. The old elusive Mcnabb, could easily have scrambled away from the Giants pressure and made some things happen, but this Mcnabb jus wasn't fast enough to slip away. Time after time, he stepped up under the pressure, seemingly a tackle from escape, only to slip up at the last moment, for a sack, just before he could fire the ball down field. If only he could've stayed on his feet a little longer, he could've gotten his recievers open down field. This became pretty clear towards the end of the game, as when he finally eluded the rush for the 1st time, he found Reggie Brown wide open in the endzone for a TD. Of course he had stepped over the line of scrimmage just before throwing the ball and the play was called back, kind of microcosm for the entire game, which also featured 15 Eagles penalties for a 132 yards.
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