Saturday, April 04, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers welcomed the Detroit Piston to the Wachovia center this afternoon for a key matchup. Coming in the Sixers could also clinch a playoff spot with a win. Early on it looked like they wouln't able to do so, as they did what they normally do during games, falling behind early, and then desperately attempting to rally back. Thanks to some stellar defense in the 2nd half, holding the Pistons to 37% shooting from the field, and the Andres, with Iggy scoring 31, and Miller compiling a triple double with 21 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds, the Sixers were able to mount a rally and this time it did not come up short. Early on after clinging to a 2 point lead through a quarter of play,the Sixers found themselves down by 4 at the half with the score 50-46. By the 4th quarter Detroit had their lead up to 6 with the score 74-68. Finally in the 4th quarter, when they needed to the most, the Sixers were able to pick it up on both sides of the ball, as they rolled to a 5 point win, with the final score 95-90. So the Sixers move to 40-35 overall and remain 5th in the Eastern conference by percentage points over the Miam Heat. Perhaps more importantly though, the Sixers have now clinched a spot in the playoffs as well.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers traveled to Ottawa tonight for a matchup with the Senators. Coming in the Flyers could have a clinched a playoff spot with a win and for a while it looked like they would do just that. Then the wear of playing their 2nd game in as many nights, caught up to them and the win slipped away. Antero Niittymaki had a decent night in goal, saving 35 of the 38 shots he faced, but there would be no offensive onslaught on this night. Late in the first period Nick Foligno scored off the power play for a 1-0 Ottawa lead. Early in the 2nd period Chris Kelly scored for a 2-0 lead. Seconds later Darroll Powe scored to cut it to 2-1. Late in the period Mike Richards scored off the power play to knot it up at 2. Early in the 3rd period Simon Gagne scored for a 3-2 Sixer's lead. It lasted just 3 minutes before Jason Spezza knotted it up again at 3. Finally, after neither team could score for the remainder of regulation or in the overtime period, the game went into a shootout. There, in the first round, Danny Briere scored while Mike Comrie was unsuccessful. In the second round, Mike Richards was unsuccessful while Daniel Alfredsson scored. In the 3rd round Jason Spezza and Simon Gagne were each unsuccessful. In the 4th round Jeff Carter and Nick Foligno were each unsuccessful. Finally in the 5th round, Claude Giroux was unsuccessful while Mike Fisher scored to clinch the 4-3 Senator's victory. So the Flyers get just one point and move to 42-25-11 ,for now, 95 points overall, but remain 4th in the Esstern conference.
PHILLIES NEWS
Raul Ibanez and Greg Dobbs each slammed homers, but Cole Hamels allowed 5 runs over 6 innings of work and the Phils dropped their final exhibition game to Tampa Bay Rays 9-7. Tomorrow night they begin the regular season and defense of their world title against the Atlanta Braves. With their lineup returning mostly intact, and the rotation probably a little better than it was last season, assuming Cole Hamels is healthy, there's no reason the Phils can't repeat.
Friday, April 03, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers finished a home and home with the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight back at the Wachovia center. This time Cujo got the night off and the Flyers put on an offensive display as Jeff Carter posted a hat trick. So good was the Flyers offense tonight, that Marty Biron couldn't even screw them up as he allowed 5 goals, many of them pretty weak. Early in the 1st period Randy Jones scored for a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later Claude Giroux scored for a 2-0 lead. A couple minutes later Simon Gagne scored for a 3-0 lead. Late in the period Scott Hartnell scored for a 4-0 lead. A few minutes later Carter scored his first for a 5-0 lead. Early in the 2nd period Carter scored his 2nd for a 6-0 lead. Late in the period Luke Schenn scored to cut it 6-1. A minute later Boyd Deveraux scored to cut it to 6-2. A couple minutes later Mikhail Grabovski scored to cut it to 6-3. Early in the 3rd period Carter scored his 2nd to push the lead back to 4 with the score 7-3. A few minutes later Nikolai Kulemin scored to cut it to 7-4. A few minutes later Danny Briere scored off a pretty pass from Giroux for an 8-4 lead. Finally a minute later Jamal Mayers scored to cut it to 8-5. From there Biron finally shut things down, and the Flyers hung on to win 8-5. So the Flyers improve to 42-25-10 overall for 94 points and still 4th in the Eastern conference.
PHILLIES NEWS
Joe Blanton allowed just 2 runs over 6 innings of work, as the Phils knocked off the Rays 3-2 in the first of two exhibition games at the Bank. The Rays just don't know how to win in Philly.
Thursday, April 02, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers welcomed the struggling Milwaukee Bucks to the Wachovia center tonight. Without Thaddeus Young in the lineup they were going to need someone to pick up the scoring slack. Surprisingly, Reggie Evans who got the start in Young's place, did so with 13 points, as well as Maurice Speights and Lou Williams with 14 and 21 respectively off the bench. In fact as a team the Sixers shot 50% from the field and got to the free throw line 43 times. So they really picked things up as a team, to get on without Thad. Defensively, the Sixers had a decent night as well outrebounding Milwaukee 44-28 and holding them to 28% shooting from beyond the arc. Early on after playing to a tie in the first quarter, Milwaukee actually took a 9 point lead into the half with the score 59-50. In the 2nd half however, it was all Sixers. By the 4th quarter they had already rallied back ahead by 1 with the score 80-79. Then in the 4th quarter, thanks to the clutch scoring of sweet Lou the Sixers were able to comfortably pull away to a 10 point win,with the final score 105-95. So the Sixers improve to 39-35 overall and move at last to 5th in the Eastern conference by .5 games over the now 6th place Miami Heat.
PHILLIES NEWS
In their last game of the spring at Brightfouse field, Ryan Howard crushed yet another homer, but Jamie Moyer allowed 9 runs on 11 hits in 4 innings of work and the Phils eventually fell 12-10 to the Washington Nationals. So now the Phils will return to Philly to finish off a few exhibition games and open the season on sunday.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers traveled to Toronto tonight for a matchup with the struggling Maple Leafs. Unfortunately, it was the Flyers who looked like the ones who were struggling tonight as in a rare start, the wily veteran Curtis Joseph, better known as Cujo, came up with 32 spectacular saves to stall the Flyers. Meanwhile, Marty Biron allowed three early goals, and was replaced halfway through game by Antero Niittymaki. Although Niittymaki kept the Leafs scoreless the rest of the way the Flyers just didn't seem to have enough in the tank to rally back. Early in the first period Jamal Meyers scored for a 1-0 Leaf's lead. Halfway through the period Arron Asham scored to knot it up at 1. Early in the second period Lee Stempniak scored for a 2-1 Leaf's lead. Late in the period Ian White scored for a 3-1 lead. In the 3rd period with just under 3 minutes to play Claude Giroux finally pushed across another Flyer's goal to cut it to 3-2, but it was too little too late. The Flyers just weren't able to get another one past Joseph and fell 3-2. So the Orange and Black drop to 41-25-10 overall but remain 4th in the Eastern conference.
PHILLIES NEWS
Since it's that time of the spring when the regular season is drawing, and teams are simply trying to avoid injuries, minor leaguer Kyle Drabek got the start for the Phils today, and was roughed, allowing 5 runs on 5 hits, as the Phils lost to the Yankees 8-5. Jayson Werth slammed his 6th homerun of the spring in the loss.
SIXERS NEWS
The news came back on Thaddeus Young, it wasn't great. Fortunately, it also wasn't that bad either. He will miss 2-3 weeks, which means his services will not be available for the rest of the regular season, however, he will be back at least for the playoffs, so assuming the Sixers don't collapse without him for the rest of the season, he'll be back.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers welcomed the Atlanta Hawks to the Wachovia center tonight. After consecutive losses, the Sixers actually came in still able ,with a win, pull within .5 games of 5th place in the Eastern conference, with the Miami Heat idle on the night. Fortunately, Sammy Dalembert suffered only a calf strain, was able to play tonight. Thus, with Sammy back patroling the middle the Sixers picked it up on defense, and frankly the Hawks missed a lot of open shots, in shooting just 44% from the field. The Sixers weren't much better shooting just 46% from the field, but they hit em the when the Hawks missed em, and were able to build up enough of a lead early on, to hang on for the big win. The Sixers jumped out to a 12 point lead after a quarter of play, and a 14 point lead at the half with the score 51-37, but Thaddeus Young went down with an ankle sprain. In the 3rd quarter without Thad to keep up the scoring the Hawks made some inroads, but the Sixers were still up by 8 heading into the 4th quarter with the score 77-69. The Hawks actually made it tighter in the 4th quarter, but the Sixers stayed composed and Maurice Speights came up big with 16 points, as the Sixers were able to push back out to a convincing 13 point win, with the final score 98-85. So the Sixers move to 38-35 overall and remain 6th in the Eastern conference, now just .5 games behind the 5th place Heat. Also at the moment Young is listed as day to day.
PHILLIES NEWS
Brett Myers allowed just one run on 3 hits in 4 innings of work, while Jimmy Rollins, Jayson Werth, and Raul Ibanez each collected 2 hits as the Phils knocked off the Toronto Blue Jays 9-1. In other news Brett Myers was announced as the Phils opening day starter, since Cole Hamels just won't quite be ready in time. Also in a somewhat surprise move the Phils released Geoff Jenkins. At 35 years old, he spent a good bit of last on the DL, and didn't seem to have much left in the tank, save for one huge hit. So for now, the Phils bench is Matt Stairs, Greg Dobbs, Eric Bruntlett, Chris Coste, and for now anyway, Miguel Cairo. The Phils are still shopping though for a righthanded bat to add to their bench, and have reportedly contacted agent of Gary Sheffield, recently released by the Tigers, with 499 career homers in a once stellar career now tarnished by accusations of steroid use. He looked pretty washed up himself at times, last season, but it could interesting to have him around.
Monday, March 30, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
Chan Ho Park allowed 2 runs on 6 hits in 5 and 2/3rds innings of work while Jimmy Rollins, Eric Bruntlett, Ryan Howard, and Carlos Ruiz each smashed homeruns as the Phils clobbered the Astros 13-3. This is Park's last start of spring training so it won't be long now before the Phils decide who will start their 5th game of the season. In other news the Phils made some roster decisions today, releasing Marcus Giles, who had been competing for a job on the Phils bench but had a terrible spring, and optioning off top prospects John Mayberry and Carlos Carrasco to triple A, so they'll be ready to be called up later in the season if need be and so that they can continue to develop, rather than just getting spot duty with the big club. So the Phils bench for now, will be Greg Dobbs, Geoff Jenkins, Eric Bruntlett, Matt Stairs, Chris Coste, and possibly Miguel Cairo if the Phils decide to go into the season with only 11 pitchers, or if Jenkins or Stairs is traded before the season.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers traveled to Detroit for a matchup with Allen Iverson and the Pistons, as they looked to rebound from their loss to the Bobcats on Friday. Early on it looked like the Sixers would handle the struggling Pistons, but then Sammy Dalembert went down with an injury, and at the end without Sammy D protecting the middle the Pistons were able shred the Sixers defense and pull out the win. 27 points from Andre Iguodala, and 22 from Thaddeus Young just were not enough, as the Pistons shot 52% from the field. Early on the Sixers had the lead and actually were clinging to a one point lead at the half and a 4 point lead heading into the 4th quarter with the score 83-79. Then the Pistons turned it on in the 4th, and with no Sammy D to shut them down, they rallied to a point lead of their own and did not relinquish it, winning 101-97. So the Sixers drop their 2nd in a row and fall to 37-35 overall, still 6th in the Eastern conference, but now 1.5 games behind the 5th place Miami Heat.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers welcomed the Boston Bruins to the Wachovia center tonight, looking to add another one to the win column. Just like last night, they fell behind early, just like last night rallied back in the 3rd period, unfortunately this time Boston had an answer. With the Flyers playing on back to back nights, Antero Niittymaki got the start in goal, and allowed 3 goals early, but from there he saved 15 of the next 16 shots he faced to help the Flyers rally back. Early in the first period Claude Giroux scored for a 1-0 lead. Late in the period Milan Lucic scored to knot it up at 1. A few minutes later Dennis Wideman made it 2-1 Boston. A few minutes later Lucic scored again and it was 3-1 Boston. Late in the 2nd period Mike Richards scored to cut it to 3-2. Early in the 3rd period Mark Recchi, the ex Flyer, scored for a 4-2 Boston lead. Finally with just over a minute to play Simon Gagne scored to cut it to 4-3. The Flyers then had chances to to tie it up late, but they could not, and finally fell 4-3. So the Orange and Black drop to 41-24-10 overall, but remain 4th in the Eastern conference.
PHILLIES NEWS
Joe Blanton allowed just 2 runs on 4 hits in 6 and 1/3rd innings of work, but Jon Lester allowed jusst 1 run on 6 hits in 5 innings work, and the Red Sox outlasted the Phils 3-1. It's okay it is only spring training.
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