There is nothing new to report
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Friday, January 01, 2010
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers faced off against the Bruins this afternoon in the winter classic, the NHL's annual outdoor game and it really was classic, until the end unfortunately. Early on it was all Flyers with defenseman Danny Svyret scoring his first career goal just 4 minutes into the 1st period for a 1-0 lead. They had ample opportunities after that to put Boston away, but the Flyers were unable to light the lamp again. It looked like it wouldn't matter though as Micheal Leighton took a shutout into the final 3 minutes of the 3rd period. Then Danny Briere was called for tripping, to give Boston one last chance for the equalizer. The Flyers nearly killed off the power play and sealed a win, but with about 30 seconds left on the penalty, Boston was able to get one past Leigthon at last to tie it at 1. Later with about a minute to play Kimmo Timonen hit with a questionable tripping call himself, as 6-7 behemoth Zdeno Chara tripped over Timonen's stick after Kimmo had fallen down in front of the net. So Boston was on the power play the rest of the way. Flyers managed to escape regulation with the game tied, to secure at least a point, and then they killed it off to start overtime. Unfortunately, just after the power play Boston somehow managed to get 5 guys on the ice, 6 by some counts(only 4 players can be on the ice at once during overtime), and Marco Sturm used the advantage to score the winning goal for Boston, in a 2-1 hearbreaker. Still, the Flyers get at least a point for the 5th game in a row, and with 41 points, they are still 9th in the East, just a point out of 8th.
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils have agreed on contract with free agent relief pitcher Danys Baez, formerly of the Orioles. Baez had a 4.02 ERA, while allowing just 59 hits in 71 innings last season for the O's. In his career Baez has 114 saves so he could be valuable as a guy who can close games every now and then. That's especially important for the Phils, with both Brad Lidge, and J.C Romero coming off elbow surgery. Also it appears Chan Ho Park won't be back with the Phils next season, and Scott Eyre still has not decided whether he'll play another year for the Phils or retire. So while Baez will help to improve the Phils bullpen they're no deeper back their now than they were last season, but at least now they have another option at the back of the bullpen, besides the usuals, Romero, Lidge, and Madson.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers rang in the New Year on the west coast tonight as they continued their road trip in L.A with a matchup against the Clippers. Incredibly the Sixers actually got off to a quick start in this one and had the lead at halfime 51-49. Unfortunately everything went sour from there for the Sixers. I mean they just lost it almost completely in the 2nd half. Meanwhile, the Clips did what the Sixers have the last couple games and started shooting lights out, outscoring the Sixers 29-14 in the 3rd quarter en route to an easy 104-88 victory. All told the Sixers wound up shooting just 36% from the field and 25% from beyond the arc, which isn't going to beat anyone. They also allowed L.A to shoot 54% from the field and 62% from beyond the arc with 10 threes, the kind of numbers anyone could beat the Sixers with. In short it was a game to forget for the Sixers and what they need to remember are the two games prior to this one. That's the way they need to play the rest of the season. Anymore games like this and it won't be too long until there is nothing left for them to play for. By the way, have a Happy New Year everyone!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers continued their road trip tonight in Sacramento with a matchup against the Kings. After a stirring victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in their last game the Sixers actually came in looking to string together back to back wins. With the King' s top 2 scorers, Tyreke Evans, and Kevin Martin missing for the game, the Sixers had a golden opportunity to take it too the the young Kings for the victory. Instead they almost let the opportunity get away from them. Early on just couldn't hit anything, as they fell behind the Kings by 11 after a quarter of play. Then they slowly started to get their rhythm in 2nd quarter and by the half they picked it up completely, rallying all the way back to tie it at 50. In the 2nd half they just kept it going at a blistering pace, shooting 52% from the field and 56% from beyond the arc with 9 threes, and before you knew it the Sixers had rolled to another win, 116-106. Lou Williams and AI led the way with 22 and 20 respectively, while Andre Iguodala added 19, Thad Young dropped 11 and Elton Brand and Rodney Carney each chipped in with 14 off the bench in a true team effort. This really was the best game the Sixer's have played this season. For the first time they actually looked like they were running Eddie Jordan's offense and succeeding. They also fairly good defense against a highscoring Kings team. If they can just keep this up the rest of the season they'll be tough beat it and then who knows what can happen. For now anyway they are 9-22 overall and just 3.5 games out of the 8th in the Eastern conference.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers continued their road trip tonight in New York, this time against the Rangers, as they looked for their 4th win in a row. The last time these two teams faced each other at the Wachovia center, New York go the win as the Flyers were shutout by Henrick Lundqvist. Tonight the Orange and Black returned the favor. Once again they got off to a quick start with Blair Betts scoring against his old team just 54 seconds into the game for a 1-0 lead. Then later in the first period, Danny Briere and Claude Girouz each added goals for a 3-0 lead that got Lundqvist pulled from the game in favor of Chad Johnson, no not that one. In the 2nd period Johnson faired no better than Lundqvist as Simon Gagne beat him twice for a 5-0 lead. Finally, halfway through the 3rd period Gagne scored his 3rd goal of the night to complete his 1st hat trick since 2005 and all but finish off a 6-0 win. Micheal Leighton was pretty good in goal again, saving all 22 shots that came his way for his 4th career shootout. Again though, it was really more great defense in front of Leighton than great goaltending by Leighton. Still, with that kind of goaltending and scoring each night it appears the Flyer's are rounding into shape at just the right time. We'll see if they can keep it going but for now at 19-18-2 overall for 40 points, they are all the way back up to 8th in the Eastern conference and are firmly back in the discussion for the playoffs.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
EAGLES NEWS
The Pro Bowl selections were announced today and 6 Eagles were selected. Desean Jackson was selected as a starter at WR and kick returner, the first time in NFL history that a player has been selected to start in the pro bowl at multiple positions, and the 1st in Eagles' history that a player has been selected to start as the kick returner. Joining Jackson as NFC starters are tackle Jason Peters, CB Asante Samuel, FB Leonard Weaver, and kicker David Akers. Defensive End Trent Cole was also selected as a reserve and QB Donovan Mcnabb was selected as a first alternate.
Monday, December 28, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers continued their current road trip tonight in Portland with a matchup against the Trail Blazers. Coming in the 20-13 Blazers had won 4 in a row and the Sixers had lost 3 of 4, so the chances of a Sixer's victory did not seem high. However, Allen Iverson finally returned to the Sixer's lineup on this night as well and his return seemed to spark the Sixer's offense which put on an awesome display. They got off to a slow start as usual and trailed by 10 at the half. Then in the 2nd half the Sixer's offense just caught fire, erasing the deficit by the end of the 3rd quarter and pushing the Sixer's ahead by 4 heading into the 4th. The Sixer's never looked back from there and never cooled off as they went to roll to shocking 104-93 victory, just their 8th of the season, against 22 losses. All told the Sixer's shot 57% from the field, with Andre Iguodala, 14, 9 assists and 7 rebounds, AI, 19, Sammy Dalembert, 14 and 8 rebounds, Mo Speights, 14, and Elton Brand, game high 25, all in double figures on the night. Defensively, they were just okay allowing Portland to shoot 42% from the field and 33% from beyond the arc, but it was good enough. When you shoot and score like the Sixer's did tonight you don't need to D up that well to win. So Anyway with the win the Sixers remain 4.5 games out of 8th in the Eastern conference and who knows maybe AI can continue to spark on dare I say it? a winning streak. Hey it could happen.
EAGLES NEWS
The Eagles got some bad news today as they learned that center, Jamal Jackson who hurt his knee yesterday against the Broncos, tore his ACL and is finished for the season. This means either Nick Cole or Mike Mcglynn will be at center for the Birds the rest of the season and that could really hurt them.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
EAGLES NEWS
The Birds welcomed the Broncos and old friend Brian Dawkins to the Linc this evening for an important game with playoff implications for both teams. Denver needed the win stay safe in the AFC wild card race, while the Birds needed the win to stay on course for an NFC East title and a possible 1st round bye as the #2 seed in the NFC heading into the playoffs. Offensively, it was another explosive afternoon for the Birds, at least in the 1st half anyway. Still, despite a 2nd half dropoff they Eagle's amassed 394 yards and 30 points, with Donovan Mcnabb throwing for 322 yards and 3 Tds. Brent Celek with 4 catches for 121 yards and a TD and Jeremy Maclin with 6 catches for 92 yards, were Mcnabb's favorite targets and they had to be as Desean Jackson was covered up most of the game by Champ Bailey, and made just 4 receptions for 33 yards on the day. The Eagles mixed in plenty of runs, mostly by Brian Westbrook who finally returned to the field following the 2nd of two concussions he suffered 6 weeks ago. Lesean McCoy and Leonard Weaver also got their fair share of carries, but Westbrook was big story on ground, as gained 39 yards on 9 carries and looked good doing it. So he'll be a useful asset for the Birds come playoff time. Defensively, the Birds were solid for the 2nd week in a row, limiting Denver to just 241 yards offense, with just 70 on the ground and only 189 passing yards from Kyle Orton whom the Eagles sacked 3 times and intercepted once. Unfortunately, they also committed 9 penalties and allowed Denver to stay in the game throughout with some poor tackling. Early it was just about all Birds, as Mcnabb fired a 2 yd TD pass to Jackson and a 47 yd TD pass to Celek and David Akers booted 2 field goals for a 20-10 Eagle's halftime lead. Midway through the 3rd quarter Mcnabb added a 3rd TD pass to Jason Avant for a 27-10 lead. Then with 2 quick TD passes by Orton and a field goal, off defensive stops and an Eagle's turnover on a kickoff return, Denver was able to rally all they way back to tie it up at 27 midway through the 4th quarter. The two defenses held for a while after that, before a 26 first down scramble by Mcnabb changed the complexion of the game with under 3 minutes to play, as it finally reversed the field position in the Eagle's favor. After stopping Denver on downs the Eagle's were able to start their next drive in Denver territory. After a short run by Lesean McCoy, Mcnabb hit Jeremy Maclin on 2nd down for a 27 yard completion down to the Denver 13. Maclin made an incredible catch along the sidelines to complete the play and set up Akers for the game winning field goal attempt a few plays later. With only 4 seconds Akers booted a 28 yard field goal for the 30-27 win. So again it wasn't pretty the Eagles move to 11-4 overall and are now just 1 win over the Cowboys next week from a division title and at least the 3rd seed in the NFC.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers continued their road trip this afternoon in New York with a matchup against the Islanders, as they looked to get their 3rd win in a row. Considering they have owned the Islanders for the last few years this was another game they should have been able to win easily. Thanks to some questionable officiating that went against the Flyers, it turned out be a little closer then they probably planned but they got the job done with a 2-1 victory. Micheal Leighton got another start in goal and was pretty good again with 28 saves out of the 29 shots he faced, but once again it was really more solid defense in front of him, then great goaltending by Leighton. Meanwhile, Danny Briere and Jeff Carter each had a goal and an assist and Scott Hartnell assisted on both goals as well. This is first time since the first two games of the season that Carter has scored in back to back games, and his goal on this evening, with just over 3 minutes to play was the game winner, so that's a real positive for the Flyers to take forward with them. Also Hartnell, whose frequent penalties had been killing the Flyers when they were losing, did not take a single penalty which is a good sign that he is reverting back to his winning ways. So there's a positives for the Orange and Black as they move to 18-18-2 overall, and with 38 points now, jump all the way back up to 11th in the East, 2 points out of 8th.
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