The Phils continued their series with Giants tonight and got another brilliant pitching performance from Joe Blanton who went 7 innings allowing just 2 runs(both on sac flys) on 7 hits. Unfortunately, the Phils lineup looked tired and sluggish again and never got anything going against Tim Lincecum, producing 0 runs on 7 hits. Admittedly though, I don't know if the Phils would have fared well against Lincecum even if they had been fresh. He was just too tough, exactly what you would expect from the reigning NL CY Young award winner. The Phils best opportunity to score came in the 5th inning when Blanton himself led off with a single, and the Phils loaded the bases with 2 out for Raul Ibanez. Unfortunately, Ibanez could only ground out to end the inning. Things won't get any easier for the Phils tomorrow either as the Giants other ace Matt Cain, is scheduled to pitch and he could easily give the Phils another 2-0 loss. Cole Hamels who get's the start for the Phils, is going to have to be lights out if the Phils still hope to get a split out of this series. Anyway so the Phils drop to 59-43 overall and still 6 games up in the NL East.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Friday, July 31, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils continued their series with the Giants tonight as Cliff Lee made his first start for the Phillies. Shane Victorino was absent from the lineup again, but it didn't matter as Lee brought an unmistakable energy and aura to the park that was all his own. He really was electrifying from start to finish and took a no hitter into the 6th inning before Juan Uribe broke it up and ultimately caused Lee to finish the night with only a memorable complete game victory, while allowing just 1 run on 4 hits. Surprisingly Lee's bat was almost as impressive tonight as his arm as he collected 2 hits and actually scored a run. In short he could not have had a better Phils debut. The fact is that no one in the NL has really seen him so it's not unreasonable to expect him to be this dominant the rest of the season and let's face it just the thought of that is reason to celebrate already. I mean who needs a bullpen when you've got this guy. Anyway getting back to the game as good as Lee was the Phils lineup was sluggish again and Lee had to wait until the 7th inning before they finally gave him a nice 4-0 cushion following a bases loaded walk to Raul Ibanez and a bases loaded single by Jayson Werth. Then Lee himself doubled and scored in the 8th inning for a 5-0 lead and then closed it out from there but only after allowing his only run of the night in the bottom of the inning. In the end I think perhaps most impressive thing about Lee tonight was that he only needed 109 pitches to get through the whole game. Even Cole and Happ needed like 120-130 pitches for their complete games against the Dodgers and the Blue Jays respectively. I mean Lee didn't even look tired while talking to the media after the game. Anyway so the Phils move to 59-42 overall now and still 6 games up in the NL East.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyer's continued their busy offseason a a couple days ,coming to terms on a one year $600,000 contract with 6-2 211 defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefson. Tollefson has size, defends well, fights occasionally, and is young at just 25 years old. Still considering he's coming off 2 knee surgeries, he is a bit of a gamble and obvious move by the Flyers to free up cap space. That means that defenseman Randy Jones and his 2.75 million contract could be headed out of town, literally just because Tollefson is cheaper than him. Still Tollefson apparently is at the same skill level as Jones so perhaps he'll be a nice addition and the Flyer's use the extra space to get another scorer to round out their roster.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils traveled to San Francisco tonight to begin a 4 weekend set with the Giants. With Cliff Lee not available to start until tomorrow Rodrigo Lopez got probably his last start for the Phils this season, barring any injuries or Pedro Martinez flopping badly. Unfortunately Lopez went out on a bad note allowing 7 runs on 8 hits in just 4 innings of work. The Giants not only jumped on him early but the Phils also killed themselves with an uncharacteristic 3 errors. So it wasn't all Lopez's fault, and in fact only 3 of the 7 runs he gave up were actually earned runs. You just can't win baseball games making mistakes like that, especially not against a talented team like the Giants. The Phils lineup wasn't much better than Lopez, again appearing sluggish while scoring just 2 runs on 5 hits, 1 run on a solo homer by Chase Utley and the other run on a double by Ryan Howard. That also won't win many games for you. It's not as if the Phils didn't have opportunities either. They could easily have scored more after Howard's double and should have scored Jimmy Rollins after he leadoff the top of the 3rd with a double, but they did not. It was just an overall poor performance and a deserved 7-2 loss to the Giants. I think part of the problem is that Shane Victorino, nursing a knee contusion was not in the lineup, and he's really the guy that brings the energy to park for them. At the same time they're clearly running out of gas right now after about 2 weeks without an off day and they desperately need the one that is coming Monday. Ultimately I think they're going to have to figure out some way to at least get a split out of this series and then they can relax knowing at least that they haven't lost any ground in the NL East. Hopefully Cliff Lee's first start tomorrow will be a very good one, because I don't think he's going to get the increased run support he was hoping for just yet. Anyway so the Phils drop to 58-42 now, but still 6 games up in the NL East.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
There is good news and bad news for the Phils tonight. The good news is that the Phils pulled off a huge deal for a top starting pitcher early this afternoon. No not Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee the reigning AL cy young award winner and outfielder Ben Francisco from the Indians in exchange for 2B Jason Donald, Catcher Lou Marson, pitcher Carlos Carrasco, all from AAA, and pitcher Jason Knapp from A. So in other words the Phils got the starting pitcher they wanted, plus the righthanded bat they needed off the bench in Francisco(the rookie John Mayberry Jr just isn't ready yet), without losing any of their top prospects(Dom Brown, Kyle Drabek, and Micheal Taylor). Plus they of course were able to hold onto J.A Happ as well. In short the Phils couldn't have a made better deal than this one and are now in position to win now and in the future. Now Happ is where the bad news comes in. He started the Phils last game of their series with the Diamondbacks tonight and despite allowing just 2 runs on 3 hits over 6 innings he took the loss. The emotional strain of all the trade rumors swirling around all week and the fatigue of having played non stop for nearly 2 weeks finally caught up to the Phils tonight, as they could muster just 7 hits and no runs. The Dbacks meanwhile hit a couple homers and just barely held off a couple late charges by the Phils for a 4-0 win. You can't win every game and they had already won the series, so it winning tonight wasn't all that important for the Phils. The trade for Lee really overshadowed the whole game anyway. I can't wait to see Lee in a Phils uniform. Although he is only 7-9 this season, that is more the fault of his team, close to last in the AL central and not very good at giving him run support. He also has a sparkling 3.14 ERA, leads the AL in innings, has been lights out so far in the 2nd half the season. Although only time will tell, he should ultimately fit well in the Phils rotation and they should be infinitely better with him than they were without him. Anyway so the Phils are now 58-41 overall and down to 6 games up in the NL East.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils continued their series with the Diamondbacks in what was billed to be a pitcher's duel between Dan Haren and "Hollywood" Cole Hamels. Ultimately it lived up to the hype score wise, but Cole Hamels really got the better of Haren allowing just 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 9 in 8 innings while Haren allowed just 3 runs on 4 hits but had to leave after 5 innings because the Phils had already ratcheted up his pitch count to 117. Like last night though it was Diamondback errors that really did in Haren and opened the door to victory for the Phils. Arizona actually had the lead after the 1st inning thanks a solo shot by Ryan Roberts. In the top of the 3rd the "Flyin Hawaiian", Shane Victorino brought the Phils back with a solo shot of his own. In the top of the 5th Hamels himself doubled with one out and a 2 errors and Victorino double later the Phils were up 3-1. Later in the top of the 7th when the Stephen Drew couldn't get the ball out of his glove to start a sure inning ending double play, Victorino scampered safely home again for a 4-1 lead. It stayed that way until Brad Lidge allowed Mark Reynolds to slug a 2 run homer in the 9th, but he cooly retired the side from there for the 4-3 win. Even against the lowly Diamondbacks it was encouraging to see Hamels go deep into a game for the 1st time in a while. If Brad Lidge keeps giving up runs like he did tonight the Phils are going to need Hamels to do that more often down the stretch to save the pen and allow Lidge some time to find himself. The Phils are now 31-15 on the road this season as they wrapped up another series win tonight, and that is just remarkable. Anyway So the Phils are now 58-40 overall and still 7 games up in the NL East.
EAGLES NEWS
It is a sad day today for the Eagles fans, players, and coaches for, we have lost one of our own. He was the Eagles defensive coordinator from 1999-2008 and one of the game's all-time masterminds, but sadly he was not invincible. In 2001 he was first diagnosed with skin cancer but he beat it then and stood firmly on the sidelines as a calming influence over a defense that routinely skirted routine and convention in favor of invention and imagination to stay at the top of the NFC defensive ratings season after season. That is until late last season when there was suddenly an empty space on the sidelines that hadn't been there before. Where was he? relegated to talking through a microphone in a small booth not visible to the naked eye of most, where he suffered in a silence from back pain that wouldn't go away. A trip to the doctor after the season finally revealed the worst news of all. The painful back was in reality the cancer announcing its return. He fought bravely from then on, even pushed himself through one more rookie mini camp despite not being able stand, but this time the fight ended in defeat, for the cancer had spread to his spine where no treatment could alleviate it. And so earlier today we lost him but perhaps the one consolation through all the grief is that we ever had him at all. We had him through five trips to the NFC championship game, mostly painful but rewarding nonetheless. We had him on that one glorious trip to the pinnacle of the sport, that so tantalizingly almost was. We had him through a decade of greatness at a level neither seen nor even dreamed of before in this town. And it is only now that he is gone that we finally realize we had him at all. So long old friend. You'll be missed but never forgotten.
RIP Jim Johnson 1941-2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils traveled out to Arizona to begin a series with the Diamondbacks tonight. Jamie Moyer got the start and had a roller coaster of night, walking 4 batters and allowing 6 hits. He just got himself into 1 jam after another, 2 on and 2 out in the 1st, bases loaded and nobody out in the 2nd, 2 on and noboody out in the bottom of the 3rd and a man on 2nd and 2 out in the 5th. Somehow though ,he got out of each jam unscathed and wound up tossing 6 and 2/3d's scoreless innings for the win. Arizona didn't even score until they a couple of runs in the 8th inning and by then the Phils were already ahead 6-0, thanks a 2 run jack by Ryan Howard in the 4th inning, an RBI double by Jimmy Rollins in the 5th, and an RBI single by Raul Ibanez and 2 fielder's choices resulting from poor Diamondback's defense. Brad Lidge then came in the 9th and put the Dbacks away in order. This game just goes to show you the difference between a division leader and a team at the bottom of its division. Simply put, the Phils took advantage of their opportunities and didn't make mistakes, while Arizona did the opposite. Anyway so the Phils move to 57-40 overall and now 7 games up in the NL East.
EAGLES NEWS
The Eagles began training camp today and big news out of camp at this point is that 1st round pick WR Jeremy Maclin remains unsigned and apparently he and Eagles are struggling to come to terms at this point. Fortunately, the rest of the Eagles including 2nd round pick Lesean MCcoy, who only signed about a month ago. All I can say is that Maclin better hurry up and sign, because he's not going to be able the Eagles too much this season even if he misses only half of the training camp.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils finished their series with the Cardinals this afternoon. Joe Blanton got the start and was brilliant allowing just 2 runs on 7 hits while striking out 6 in 8 innings. Meanwhile, Chase Utley in the 3rd inning, Ryan Howard in the 5th inning, Raul Ibanez in the 7th inning, and Jimmy Rollins in the 6th inning, each slammed 2 run homers and Howard slapped a sac fly back in the first inning to help power the Phils to a 9-2 win. St. Louis really never woke up from the coma that 14-5 loss put them in yesterday. It was a thoroughly dominant performance for the Phils and fun to watch. So ultimately the Phils bats won out over the Cardinals supposedly top notch pitching in this series. I mean really who needs pitching when you can hit like this. Still the Phils would probably do well to add another starter before the trading deadline on July 31. At this point two Phils offers for Roy Halladay have been rejected so it looks the asking price may just be too for him at this point. On the other hand reigning AL cy young award winner Cliff Lee could be available for the Phils and he would probably cost them less. So I would say he's the better bet at this point. However, the Phils clearly have shown they want Halladay at this point and there's still time for them to work out a deal, but I just don't see it happening. Brad Lidge came in to pitch the 9th for the Phils today and actually got out of the inning without allowing a run. That's good news for the Phils who will undoubtedly need him to close games down the stretch. Anyway so the Phils are 56-40 overall and still 6.5 games up in the NL East.
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