The Flyers returned to action tonight, as they welcomed the Florida Panthers to the Wachovia center. The last time these 2 teams met, Florida delivered a stunning victory so the Flyers were looking for a measure of revenge in thid one. They got it and then some. They played probably their best defense of the season thus far, allowing just 18 shots on goal, and Ray Emery saved 17 of them. So Florida could really never get anything going in the Flyer's zone. The Flyer's meanwhile, couldn't stop creating scoring opportunities with 5 scores on 38 shots. Danny Briere scored early in the 1st period, Aaron Asham scored early in the 2nd period, Simon Gagne scored on the power play late in that period(his first goal of the season), Danny Briere scored on the power play again early in the 3rd period and finally late in the period James Van Riemsdyk capped off the scoring to finish off a 5-1 win with his 1st career goal. So the Flyers really looked like a different team tonight then the one that took the ice the last time these two teams met. The Flyers have now won 2 in a row and are back to looking like the team that started the season 3-0, rather than that team that lost to the Panthers. The win tonight really was a team effort with several top Orange and Black performers. Briere had a 2 goals and an assist, JVR had a goal and an assist, and Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, and Chris Pronger each had 2 assists. You just hope the Flyers can keep playing like this now for the rest of the season. The only black eye for the Flyers on the night was a vicious hit delivered by Richards on David Booth in the 2nd period that left Booth in the hospital with a concussion and Richards kicked out of the game and possibly facing a suspension. Replays clearly the show the hit was legal, as Richards never left his feet and led with his shoulder rather than his helmet. If Booth had not made the mistake of turning his head away from the play which left it vulnerable to Richard's hit. If Booth had only kept his head facing forward he would taken the hit on his shoulder rather than his head. Hopefully, Booth who actually scored the Panthers only goal on the night, will be okayand the penalties levied on Richards won't be too harsh.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
After another lengthy layoff the Flyers finally returned to action again as they faced off tonight at the Wachovia center against the big bad Boston Bruins. It was the Flyers though who turned out to be big bad on this night. Of course they were also a bit fortunate that Boston was playing for 2nd night in a row and thus were not as fresh as the Orange and Black. Even if they had been fresh I'm not sure the Bruins could have won this one. The Flyer's just outplayed them for most of the night and deserved the win. They were more physical than Boston, and they out shot them 39 - 26. So it wa a pretty good effort defensively for the Flyers. Ray Emery had another dazzling as well, saving 23 of the 26 shots that came his way on the night. As for the scoring, the Flyer's top scorers were held in check during this one but they were able to grind out a few goals from unexpected players and get the Flyers the lead a few times. Late in the 1st period Chris Pronger scored for a 1-0 lead. Still later in the first period Derek Morris scored off the Boston power play to knot it up. Matt Hunwick scored a fluky goal to make it 2-1 Bruins early in the 2nd period, before the Daroll Powe and Aaron Asham within 5 minutes of one another to push the Flyers ahead again 3-2. Later Steve Begin scored another Fluky goal to tie up at 3 with under 4 minutes to play. From there neither team could score for the remainder of regulation or in the overtime so the game went into a shootout. There in the 3rd round of the shootout Claude Giroux scored and then Ray Emery and the Flyer's got lucky as Micheal Ryder's attempt to start the 4th round hit the post to clinch the Flyer victory. So after 3 straight losses the Flyer's rebound in a big way tonight with the shootout win, as they move to 4-2-1 overall.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils squared off with the Dodgers tonight in game 5 of the NLCS as they looked to clinch their 2nd NL title in a row. Cole Hamels got the start but was a little uneven allowing 3 runs on 5 hits in just 4 and 1/3rd innings of work. It didn't matter though as the Phils powerful lineup proved to be too much on this night, racking up 10 runs on 8 hits. Jayson Werth slammed a 3 run homer in the 1st inning, Pedro Feliz lined a solo homer in the 2nd inning, Raul Ibanez slapped an RBI double and Shane Victorino got clunked with the bases loaded in the 4th inning, Victorino tomahawked out a 2 run homer in the 6th inning, Werth slugged a solo shot in the 8th inning, and finally a wild pitch plated Jimmy Rollins in the 9th inning. Meanwhile, although Hamels struggled a bit and could not get out of the 5th inning, the bullpen was sublime yet again. J.A Happ, Chad Durbin, Chan Ho Park, and Ryan Madson combined to get the game to the 9th while allowing just 1 run. There, Brad Lidge came in to close out the Pennant and even in a non save situation he was perfect again, getting Ronnie Belliard to pop out to Victorino in center and begin the celebration. So the Phils advance to the World Series for the 2nd year in a row and with the way they're lineup and pitching have performed thus far in this postseason, you have to like their chances to take their 2nd world title in a row, regardless of whether they face the Yankees or the Angels. Let's Go Phillies!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
EAGLES NEWS
The Eagles made a rare move at the NFL trading deadline today sending rookie WR Brandon Gibson to the St.Louis Rams for LB Will Witherspoon. With no Stewart Bradley, and Omar Gaither questionable for next week, and with Jeremiah Trotter showing his ag, the Birds needed someone to fill in at MLB and Witherspoon fills that void. He is also versatile enough to play weak side linebacker as well and led the Rams in sacks with 7 and tackles with 132 in 2007. He's also very good in coverage on pass plays, so he can make some things happen that the Eagle's current MLB's can't and should be a solid addition to the team. As for Gibson he was lucky to be on the Eagle's roster. Normally the Birds only take 5 WRs into the season, but with Gibson they had 6, so he was expendable and at least he gets to go somewhere where he can contribute.
Monday, October 19, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
After drubbing the Dodgers 11-0 last night you expected the Phils to go for the kill and come out firing tonight with Joe Blanton on the mound. For 3 innings they were able to do just that, as Blanton retired the first 10 batters he faced and Ryan Howard slammed a 2 run homer off ex-Phil Randy Wolf in the first inning, for his 8th straight playoff game with an RBI, tying him with the "Iron Horse", Lou Gehrig for the most in major league history. So it was 2-0 heading into the 4th and it was there that Blanton ran into trouble for the 1st time, as singles by James Loney and Russell Martin knotted it up at 2. In the 5th inning Matt Kemp crushed a solo homer to dead center field to put L.A up 3-2. In the 6th inning Casey Blake slapped a 2 out single to make it 4-2 and it looked for all intensive purposes that the series was destined to be tied at 2 after this game, with Randy Wolf getting one final win in Philly. As usual though, the Phils would not make it easy. Chase Utley lined a single right on numbers into right field to score Shane Victorino and cut the lead to 4-3 in the bottom of the 6th. Still, from there all the way up to the start of the 9th the Dodger bullpen kept the Phils without a hit, including a strikeout by Howard in the 8th inning with 2 on and only 1 out. That left the Phils with Raul Ibanez plus the bottom of the order to face ultra tough Dodger closer Jonathan Broxton in the 9th. Ibanez started it off with a groundout and the 4-3 loss seemed inevitable at that point. Then Matt Stairs, who left Broxton beaten in this same game just a year ago with a 2 run 8th inning homer, worked a walk as Broxton wanted no part of him. Next Broxton hit Carlos Ruiz with a pitched ball and suddenly there were 2 on and 1 out for pinch hitter Greg Dobbs. Dobbs came close to flaring a game tying single to left field, but Casey Blake was able to snare it for out number 2. So it was up to Jimmy Rollins to keep the game alive and at most tie it up at 4. He had never gotten a hit off Broxton before so it was crazy to think he would get one now and apparently Broxton felt the same way as he layed a slider over the plate for strike 1 and then went for the fastball inside. He didn't throw it inside enough and JRoll timed his shortened swing just quickly enough to rip Broxton's 0-1 offering into the gap in right field for a game winning double, as Eric Bruntlett, pinch running for Stairs, scored from 2nd, and Ruiz dashed all the way around from 1st to score the winning run, with his teammates literally already surrounding the plate before he even slid in safely. They then mobbed JRoll who had kept running all the way to 3rd, even though the game was already over. Perhaps just as remarkable as JRoll's was the game's winning pitcher, Brad Lidge, who pitched brilliantly to get the final 2 outs in the top of the 9th and keep it at 4-3. Lidge was winless in the regular season at 0-8 so this was actually his first win of the year, in game 4 of the NLCS no less, Believe It!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
After a heartbreaking loss in game 2 of the NLCS the Phils returned to the Bank tonight looking to retake control of the series with their ace Cliff Lee on the mound. Lee delivered soundly with 8 scoreless innings on just 3 hits and while striking out 10. The Dodgers really never had a chance against him. Meanwhile, the Phils destroyed Hiroki Kuroda and virtually every other Dodger pitcher that came in to pitch, scoring 11 runs on 11 hits. In the 1st, Chase Utley tripled in 2 runs and Jayson Werth bashed a 2 run homer for a quick 4-0 lead. A Jimmy Rollins double and a fielder's choice pushed the lead to 6-0 in the 2nd inning. In the 5th inning Pedro Feliz tripled off the wall in center field and Carlos Ruiz followed with a single for 2 more runs and an 8-0 lead. Finally in the 8th inning Shane Victorino Tomahawked a 3 run homer just inside the foul pole in right field for an 11-0 lead. From there since it was 11-0 Lee was replaced in the 9th in favor of Chad Durbin who finished off a combined shutout. So the Phils now lead the series 2-1 and remain in control of the series. Now they only need to win 1 of the next 2 to at least take a lead back to L.A if need be. Hopefully that won't be the case though and they'll close it out home.
EAGLES NEWS
Fresh off an easy win over the Tampa Bay Bucs, the Birds traveled to Oakland this afternoon for a date with the lowly Raiders, who came in with just 1 win on the season. Thus, it was going to be another easy Eagle's win. There was no way the Raiders would be able to challenge them. Unfortunately left tackle Jason Peters went down with a knee injury in the 1st quarter and that spelled the Eagles' doom. With no Peters, King Dunlap was forced into his first regular season game and he spent the day watching Richard Seymour run circles around him as Donovan Mcnabb was sacked 6 times, hit about 30 times, and under pressure and running for his life on just about every snap. It's hard for any quarterback to be successful under that kind of pressure, and Mcnabb was not on this afternoon. Nor was the rest of the Eagles' offense which gained just 283 yards, most of them passing yards, while failing to score any TDs on the day. Inspired by their defense, the Raiders were able to score a TD, by taking advantage of an apparently still rusty Jeremiah Trotter, who misdiagnosed a play action and left TE Zach Miller wide open to rumble for an 86 yd TD pass. In the end that TD was the difference, as the teams traded field goals the rest of the way in a 13-9 Raider victory. The Eagles actually could have won even without scoring any TDs, but David Akers missed 2 field goals on the day. In reality though, for offense with as many weapons as the Eagles, it should not have come down to Akers hitting field goals and I don't know too many kickers who could have hit 5 field goals of over 40 yards, as Akers kicks all were today. The only bright spot for the Birds on the day then was the defense, which intercepted Jamarcus Russell twice and sacked him twice, while holding Oakland out of the end zone other than that one TD pass. It wasn't enough though and now the Eagles must go back to the drawing board as they prepare to play their first divisional games against the Redskins and the Giants in the next 2 weeks. At 3-2 overall and with plenty of season left the Birds are still in position to have a sucessful season, but they can't lose anymore games like this.
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