Saturday, March 08, 2008
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyer's are making a push at just the right time, as they knocked off the New York Islanders tonight for another big win. Marty Biron got the start in goal tonight and saved 32 of the 33 shots he faced to spirit the Orange and Black to victory. In the first period of play neither team could light the lamp. Early in the 2nd period Danny Briere scored on the power play for a 1-0 Flyer's lead. Late in the period Jeff Carter added another power play goal for a 2-0 Flyers lead. About midway through the 3rd period Scott Hartnell scored yet another power play goal for a 3-0 Flyers lead. A few seconds later Freddy Meyer scored for New York to cut the lead to 3-1. Finally late in the period Hartnell scored again on the power play for 4-1 Flyer's lead, which would prove to be the final score. So the Flyers improve to 35-26-8 overall, but remain 4th in the Atlantic division, and 8th in the Eastern conference, now 4 points clear of the 9th place Buffalo Sabres.
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils continued spirng training today with a matchup against the Cleveland Indians. Youngster Travis Blakeley, one of many fighting for the 5th spot in the Phils rotation, got the start, and got roughed up allowing 5 runs, 4 hits and 4 walks in 1 and 2/3rd innings of work. Meanwhile Fausto Carmona of the Indians tossed three shutout innings and Ryan Garko launched a three homer and Cleveland defeated the Phils 9-5.
Friday, March 07, 2008
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers stayed hot tonight as they returned to the Wachovia center, where they have not lost since February 1, to welcome Kevin Durant and the Seattle Supersonics, winner's of just 6 road games thus far this season. They never had a chance. Seven, yes seven Sixers scored in double figures(Andre Miller, Andre Iguodala, Willie Green, Samuel Dalembert, Reggie Evans, Thaddeus Young, Jason Smith) with Slammin Sammy's 22 leading the way. On defense, it was also Slammin Sammy leading the way with 13 rebounds and a block, as the Sixers out rebounded Seattle 43-35, forced them into 20 turnovers, including 11 steals , and held them to just 48% shooting from the field. The Sixers meanwhile, shot over 50% from the field and beyond arc, and turned the ball over just 12 times, en route to a well, route. In the first quarter of play the Sixers jumped out to an 11 point lead, with the score 33-22. In the second quarter the Sonics, playing catch up cut into the Sixers lead, and by the half it was only 9, with the score 61-52. In the 3rd quarter of play, Seattle kept cutting into the lead, and at one point it was down to 5, before the Sixers finally powered away, to the point where by the 4th quarter of play the lead had ballooned up to 22, with the score 88-66. Finally, in the 4ht quarter of play the pounding continued even with the Sixers reserves in the game, and eventually they won going away by 34, with the final score 117-83. So the Sixers improve to 29-33 overall, and remain 3rd in the Altantic division and 7th in the Eastern conference, now a comfortable 3 games ahead of the Nets.
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils continued spring training today with an afternoon matinee against the Tampa Rays. Cole Hamels got the start and got a little roughed up allowing 3 runs and 5 hits in 3 innings of work. His counterpart Jeff Neiman was a little better off for the Rays. Tampa's Erick Hinkse knocked in two runs, and Jason Bartlett went 2 for 3 with an RBI and 2 stolen bases as Tampa pounded the Phils 9-1. Pat Burrell knocked in the only run of the day for the Phils with a single in the 6th inning. Oh well, better luck next time.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
FLYERS NEWS
The orange and black got a huge win tonight over the Tampa Bay Lightning, not because the Lightning are one of their top rivals right now, but because coming into tonight they were dangling somewhat precariously in the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern conference, by just a point over the Buffalo Sabres. Marty Biron got the start in goal tonight and played well, saving 18 of the 20 shots he faced to help spirit the Flyers to victory. Early on in the first period of play, it didn't look so good as Tampa Bay's Jolli Jokinen scored just 31 seconds into the period for a 1-0 lead. Then late in the period Danny Briere and Jeff Carter each scored late goals to push the Flyers ahead 2-1. Midway through the 2nd period Maxim Ouellet score to tie it up at 2. From there the Flyer's defense, yes the defense smothered Tampa Bay until with just under 2 minutes to play Jeff Carter scored to put the Flyers up for good 3-2. So the Flyers improve to 33-26-8 overall, but remain 4th in the Atlantic division and 8th in the Eastern conference, now a more comfortable 3 points ahead of the Sabres.
EAGLES NEWS
The Eagles made a somewhat surprising move today, releasing veteran linebacker Takeo Spikes. Spikes was second on the team last season with 139 tackles. Still, the Eagles didn't think he was good enough to keep. Why? well the obvious reason is to free up some more cap room, as he would have been owed about $5 million, plus if you're going to release someone, now is the time to do it, when they can still become a free agent and sign on with someone else. Anyway, cap room is not only reason they released him. Apparently they just didn't feel he played up to par last season. It's not hard to understand why. When he was a pro bowl linebacker with the Bengals back in 2003-2004, he consistently racked up interceptions and sacks. Last season, he recorded only one sack and failed to haul in an interception. Also the Eagles are clearly looking to bring together as many playmakers as possible on the team this season, so one sack and zero interceptions just wasn't go to cut it. Thus, they think the youngsters Stewart Bradley and Akeem Jordan are playmakers enough to cut it. Now if I hadn't seen Stewart play late season with my own eyes, I might be inclined to disagree with them, but I saw Stewart and he looked pretty good, so this might to turn out to be a pretty smart move in the end.
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils continued spring training today, with an outing against the Tampa Devil Ray, er excuse me Tampa Rays. Yeah they have officially dropped the Devil, big whup. Anyway, Adam Eaton got his second start of spring today and got a little roughed up allowing 4 runs on 5 hits in the two innings, as the Phils fell 6-4.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils continued spring training with a little split squad action, meaning the team split in half today, with the starters playing the Toronto Blue Jays, while the reserves went up against the Tigers. On the strength of 4 shutout innings from Brett Myers, the starters defeated Toronto 6-1. On the other hand thanks to 3 innings of 1 hit ball by Justin Verlander, the Tigers outlasted the Phils reserves 6-2. So once again it's a mixed review for the Phils this spring.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
FLYERS NEWS
Just when it seemed like the Flyers had shed their losing ways, the Sabres came into the Wachovia center tonight and pushed them right back down again. Marty Biron got the start in goal tonight and thanks to more sluggish defense and far too many penalties, he had a rough night, as did the rest of his teammates. In the first period of play Jason Pominville put the Sabres up quickly 1-0 just a minute into the game. Halfway through the period Maxim Afinogenov scored for a 2-0 Sabres lead. Then late in the period Scottie Upshall began bringing the Flyers back, with a score to cut the lead to 2-1. Early in the 2nd period of play Steve Downie brought the Flyers all the way back ,scoring to tie it up at 2. Thus, as the 3rd period of play began, there was renewed hope in the Wachovia center. It didn't last long. Less than 2 minutes into the period, Derek Roy and Jason Pominville each scored for a 4-2 Sabres lead. Finally a few minutes later Afinogenov scored his second goal for a 5-2 lead and that was about all she wrote. The Flyer's had no answers the rest of the way and eventually succumbed to Buffalo 5-2. So the Flyers drop to 33-26-8 overall, but remain 4th in the Atlantic division and 7th in the Eastern conference, but only by a point.
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils continued spring training today, matching up with the division rival Atlanta Braves. Kyle Kendrick made his second start of the spring and got roughed up a bit, allowing 7 runs on 9 hits in 2 and 2/3rds innings, as the Phils fell to Atlanta 10-1. Ryan Howard knocked in the only run of the day for the Phils. All I can say is thank God it's still spring.
Monday, March 03, 2008
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils continued their spring training trials and travails yesterday and today. Yesterday Cole Hamels struggled a bit allowing 4 runs on 3 hits, including 2 homers in a 7-7 tie with the Yankees. Today the youngster Doug Savery pitched two solid innings and new Phillie Eric Bruntlett went 3 for 4 with 2 RBIs as the Phils defeated the Pirates 3-1. So its another mixed review for the Phils thus far in this spring training. Go figure.
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers continued their west coast swing late tonight, in L.A against the once again lowly Clippers. Still riding high off their upset of Shaq and the Suns the Sixers rolled in and rolled over the Clips. Six Sixers scored in double figures on the night(Andre Iguodala, Willie Green, Thaddeus Young, Samuel Dalembert, Louis Williams, Rodney Carney) with Iggy's 18 leading the way. Defensively, Slammin Sammy led the way with 12 rebounds and 2 blocks, as the Sixers out rebounded the Clips 33-27 and forced them into 18 costly turnovers. In the first quarter of play, the Sixers jumped out to a 4 point lead, with the score 25-21. In the 2nd quarter of play, the Sixers continued to extend their lead and by the half they led by 12, with the score 54-42. In the 3rd quarter of play, L.A attempted to push back into it, but the Sixers held firm and actually pushed their lead up to 14, with the score 73-59. Finally, in the 4th quarter of play, the Sixers ran away with it, or perhaps the Clippers just packed it in, but at any rate, when all was said and done the Sixers had won going away 106-80. So the Sixers improve to 28-33 overall and jump back up to 7th in the Eastern conference and 3rd in the Atlantic division.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
FLYERS NEWS
The orange and black rode a 3 game winning streak into this afternoon's matinee in New York against the Rangers. Unfortunately, that streak ended today, despite yet another valiant effort from the fly guys. Still, the Flyer's appear to have mended whatever was troubling them just in time for a playoff run. In the first period of play Vinny Prospal and Martin Straka traded early goals for a 1-1 tie. A couple minutes later Braydon Coburn scored for a 2-1 Flyers lead. Then Late in the period Fredrik Sjostrom and Ryan Callahan each scored for New York within a couple minutes of each other to forge a 3-2 Ranger's lead. Finally, Jeff Carter scored a couple minutes later to knot it up again at 3. Early in the 3rd period Cristian Backman scored for a 4-3 Ranger's lead. Late in the 3rd period Jeff Carter scored again to tie it up at 4. From there neither team scored again until the game had lurched into a shootout. There Kimmo Timonen failed to score for the Flyers and Brendan Shanahan was successful for New York in the first round. Finally, in the second round of the shootout Nigel Dawes was successful for New York, so it came down to Jeff Carter again to keep the game alive, and he like Timonen was unsuccessful. So the Rangers got the win 5-4 and the Flyers took the loss, but since they earned a point for losing in overtime, they remain in 4th place in the Atlantic division and actually jump to 7th in the Eastern Conference.
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