Perfection. That's what was on display for the Phils and Roy Halladay tonight. As the man widely considered the best pitcher in baseball it has come to be expected that Halladay will pitch a gem every time he takes the mound, but this so much than that. It was clinic in every sense of the word. Never has a pitcher in a Phillies uniform been in more command of his pitches than Halladay was tonight. You could have tied the smallest of strings into knot, placed it over the outside corner of the plate and he would have hit it. The Marlins never new what hit them and really had no chance against him. They spent pretty much the whole night guessing what he was going to throw next and failing miserably.
The Phils didn't do much better against Josh Johnson. Sure they managed 7 hits, but only a misplayed fly ball by Cameron Maybin averted another shutout, as Wilson Valdez scored from 1st and Chase Utley wound up on 3rd on the error. The Marlins weren't so lucky. 27 of them came to plate against Halladay and 27 were retired. Juan Castro, playing at 3rd in place of Placido Polanco, gloved the final out, spun, and threw to first to complete the 20th perfect game in MLB history and 2nd in Phillies history after Jim Bunning on father's day in 1964. Yep that's what went on in Miami tonight. Perfection.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
FLYERS NEWS
The night all Flyers' fans have been waiting for finally came tonight as the Puck was dropped for game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals and what a game it was. Thanks to a complete lack of goaltending and defense on both sides the two teams combined for a near record 11 goals. Neither team was ever really able to find their footing defensively. At the same time neither team was ever really able to string enough positive plays together to truly take control of the game. Sure it made for an exciting night with a goal seemingly every 5 minutes but it's probably not the way either team envisioned the night going and not the way either team woud like the series to continue. If nothing else though the game did prove one thing. The Flyers can play with these Chicago Blackhawks.
Anyway early on the Flyers struck first blood with Ville Leino scoring off an assist from Danny Briere 6 minutes into the contest. Just a minute later Troy Brouwer tied it at 1. 4 minutes after that Dave Bolland broke away shorthanded, after Braydon Coburn lost it at the blueline, and scored on a helpless Micheal Leighton for a 2-1 lead. 5 minutes later Scott Hartnell scored the Flyers only power play tally of the night to knot it up at 2, off another Briere assist. A few minutes later in the final seconds of the period Briere finally scored himself to put the Orange and Black up 3-2. A little over a minute into the 3rd ex-Flyer Patrick Sharp tied it up again at 3. About 6 minutes later after Chicago lost the puck in their own zone, Blair Betts rumbled in and fired one by Anti Niemi for a 4-3 lead. Unfortunately it would be the Flyer's last lead of the night. A couple minutes later Kris Versteeg tied it up at 4.
6 minutes after that Brouwer scored again for a 5-4 Hawks' lead. A few minutes later Aaron Asham grabbed another Blackhawk turnover and scored to knot it up at 5. Incredibly it was 8 minutes into the 3rd period before anyone scored again. By then Brian Boucher had replaced Leighton in net and he was totally fooled by Thomas Kopecky for a 6-5 Blackhawk lead. From there the Flyers had a couple of good chances to tie it up again but they could not as Chicago finally tightened up a bit defensively, just enough to hang on for the 6-5 win. So the Flyers trail in the finals 1-0 but it's only 1 game and now that it is clear we can score against the Hawks, we simply have to tighten up defensively and the cup is ours.
Anyway early on the Flyers struck first blood with Ville Leino scoring off an assist from Danny Briere 6 minutes into the contest. Just a minute later Troy Brouwer tied it at 1. 4 minutes after that Dave Bolland broke away shorthanded, after Braydon Coburn lost it at the blueline, and scored on a helpless Micheal Leighton for a 2-1 lead. 5 minutes later Scott Hartnell scored the Flyers only power play tally of the night to knot it up at 2, off another Briere assist. A few minutes later in the final seconds of the period Briere finally scored himself to put the Orange and Black up 3-2. A little over a minute into the 3rd ex-Flyer Patrick Sharp tied it up again at 3. About 6 minutes later after Chicago lost the puck in their own zone, Blair Betts rumbled in and fired one by Anti Niemi for a 4-3 lead. Unfortunately it would be the Flyer's last lead of the night. A couple minutes later Kris Versteeg tied it up at 4.
6 minutes after that Brouwer scored again for a 5-4 Hawks' lead. A few minutes later Aaron Asham grabbed another Blackhawk turnover and scored to knot it up at 5. Incredibly it was 8 minutes into the 3rd period before anyone scored again. By then Brian Boucher had replaced Leighton in net and he was totally fooled by Thomas Kopecky for a 6-5 Blackhawk lead. From there the Flyers had a couple of good chances to tie it up again but they could not as Chicago finally tightened up a bit defensively, just enough to hang on for the 6-5 win. So the Flyers trail in the finals 1-0 but it's only 1 game and now that it is clear we can score against the Hawks, we simply have to tighten up defensively and the cup is ours.
Friday, May 28, 2010
PHILLIES NEWS
Its over. It's finally over. After 3 excruciating nights in New York and another 3 innings in Florida tonight the Phils finally scored a run when Raul Ibanez ,of all people, slapped an RBI triple in the 4th inning. At the time all it did was the cut the Marlins lead to 2-1 but it fell like so much more. The Phils weren't finished either. In the 5th, Chase Utley walked, stole second, and scored on a single by Ryan Howard. In the 7th the Phils executed a double steal, with Shane Victorino stealing 3rd and Wilson Valdez stealing 2nd. Then Utley hit a sharp grounder to deep second, allowing Victorino to score for a 3-2 lead, the Phils first lead who knows how long.
It was thanks to Kyle Kendrick's 6 strong innings while allowing 0 earned runs, 2 unearned on his own throwing error in the 3rd, that Phils were able to take that lead. After 3 more scoreless innins out of the Phils bullpen that lead turned into an important 3-2 win, ending the Phils 5 game losing streak. It didn't come easily though. Chad Durbin and Danys Baez had a pretty easy of time of it in the 7th and 8th, but the Fish really gave Jose Contreras a run of it in the 9th. He managed to strike out Hanley Ramirez to start inning, but Jorge Cantu and Dan Uggla followed with singles to put 2 on with one out. First Cody Ross had a chance to drive them in but Contreras froze him on a splitter for out number 2. Then ex-Phil Ronnie Paulino got his chance but Contreras got him to pop up to Victorino for the final out. So Jose got his 3rd save, the Phils got their 27th win and the City of Philadelphia got to breath a huge sigh of relief.
It was thanks to Kyle Kendrick's 6 strong innings while allowing 0 earned runs, 2 unearned on his own throwing error in the 3rd, that Phils were able to take that lead. After 3 more scoreless innins out of the Phils bullpen that lead turned into an important 3-2 win, ending the Phils 5 game losing streak. It didn't come easily though. Chad Durbin and Danys Baez had a pretty easy of time of it in the 7th and 8th, but the Fish really gave Jose Contreras a run of it in the 9th. He managed to strike out Hanley Ramirez to start inning, but Jorge Cantu and Dan Uggla followed with singles to put 2 on with one out. First Cody Ross had a chance to drive them in but Contreras froze him on a splitter for out number 2. Then ex-Phil Ronnie Paulino got his chance but Contreras got him to pop up to Victorino for the final out. So Jose got his 3rd save, the Phils got their 27th win and the City of Philadelphia got to breath a huge sigh of relief.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
PHILLIES NEWS
This was it. This is the game that will be remembered later this season if the Phils go on to more greatness. This is game that will be remembered years from now the next time it happens. Yes it happened. For the 3rd night in the row the Phils failed to score a run and thus completed their series with the Mets without having scored a single run. If he were still alive, his whiteness, Richie Ashburn, would have something like 'You've got to be kidding me', like he did the last time this happened to the Wheeze Kids back in 1983. Of course that team went on to the world series. So there's still hope for this year's group. After all it wasn't the Met's great pitching that caused this, but rather the Phils beating themselves and a plethora of bad luck. It just seems like everything they hit hard these days winds up in someone's glove instead of going for a hit.
The funny thing is that much of these offensive struggles for the Phils have come at the expense of some great pitching performances. On this it was Cole Hamels who did everything in his power to avert a sweep. He went 6 and 1/3rd innings allowing just 3 runs on 9 hits while striking out 3. His line actually should have been even better but again bad luck intervened in the 6th inning. First Placido Polanco booted a potential inning ending double play ball. Then Cole sawed off Jose Reyes but could only watch as a double, that literally stayed fair only because Reyes broke his bat, looped into right for 2 runs. That coupled with an RBI double in the 1st inning by Jason Bay was all the Mets needed to scratch out a 3-0 win.
After suffering their 4th shutout in their last 5 games the Phils are going to have to completely erase everything that has happened this past week and move on. They just can't afford to dwell on all they head down to Florida for the weekend for a meeting with Marlins. The Phils scoreless streak needs to end there or they're going to be in big trouble. For right now at 26- 20 overall they remain in 1st place, 1.5 games up on the Atlanta Braves and if nothing else they can at least feel good about that.
The funny thing is that much of these offensive struggles for the Phils have come at the expense of some great pitching performances. On this it was Cole Hamels who did everything in his power to avert a sweep. He went 6 and 1/3rd innings allowing just 3 runs on 9 hits while striking out 3. His line actually should have been even better but again bad luck intervened in the 6th inning. First Placido Polanco booted a potential inning ending double play ball. Then Cole sawed off Jose Reyes but could only watch as a double, that literally stayed fair only because Reyes broke his bat, looped into right for 2 runs. That coupled with an RBI double in the 1st inning by Jason Bay was all the Mets needed to scratch out a 3-0 win.
After suffering their 4th shutout in their last 5 games the Phils are going to have to completely erase everything that has happened this past week and move on. They just can't afford to dwell on all they head down to Florida for the weekend for a meeting with Marlins. The Phils scoreless streak needs to end there or they're going to be in big trouble. For right now at 26- 20 overall they remain in 1st place, 1.5 games up on the Atlanta Braves and if nothing else they can at least feel good about that.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils recent struggles at the plate continued for another night. They racked up 7 hits and again had runner's in scoring position a few times but were never able to cash in. Hikenori Takahashi who went 6 scoreless, combined with Jenry Meija, Ryota Igarashi, and Fernando Nieve to handle the Phils their 3rd shutout in their last 4 games. That's first time that has happened to the Phils since 1990 and for a lineup that boasts the talent they do it is a bit embarrassing. However, it is also not all that surprising. The 3 shutouts came against 2 knuckleballers, and lefthander Takahashi, both pitching types against which the current Phils lineup has been historically unsuccessful. Also the lineup hasn't quite been solidly in place since Jimmy Rollins went back on the DL. Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, and Carlos Ruiz have all been in and out the lineup lately and Carlos is apparently experiencing shoulder pain again.
The Phils starting pitching which had been rolling along as of late, as dipped a bit in these few games as well. Joe Blanton had a little trouble with is command in this one, as he allowed 5 runs on 6 hits in just 5 and 1/3rd innings, basically his worst outing of the season thus far. Fortunately, the bullpen, really the only bright spot at the moment, picked him up with 2 and 2/3rd's scoreless innings. More than good enough to keep the Phils in it, but they just couldn't figure out a way to score so it didn't matter anyway. Still that is at least something to build on and with everything this team has done over the past 3 years it is hard to believe that this isn't just another slump they can get out of with a little renewed focus and effort. Considering they haven't been swept in this series thus far this season and Mike Pelfrey, whom the Phils bludgeoned into submission the last time they faced him, will take the mound for the Mets , tomorrow could well be the day the Phils start to get out of this. Otherwise their 2.5 game lead in the NL East won't last much longer.
The Phils starting pitching which had been rolling along as of late, as dipped a bit in these few games as well. Joe Blanton had a little trouble with is command in this one, as he allowed 5 runs on 6 hits in just 5 and 1/3rd innings, basically his worst outing of the season thus far. Fortunately, the bullpen, really the only bright spot at the moment, picked him up with 2 and 2/3rd's scoreless innings. More than good enough to keep the Phils in it, but they just couldn't figure out a way to score so it didn't matter anyway. Still that is at least something to build on and with everything this team has done over the past 3 years it is hard to believe that this isn't just another slump they can get out of with a little renewed focus and effort. Considering they haven't been swept in this series thus far this season and Mike Pelfrey, whom the Phils bludgeoned into submission the last time they faced him, will take the mound for the Mets , tomorrow could well be the day the Phils start to get out of this. Otherwise their 2.5 game lead in the NL East won't last much longer.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils' lineup has really been struggling as of late. Tonight against the Mets in NY, was unfortunately no exception. Facing a knuckleballer, R.A Dickey, for the 2nd game in a row the Phils again could not get off the mat. They racked up 9 hits, 7 off Dickey, and had runner's in scoring position multiple times, but went just 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and could not push across any runs. In all Dickey tossed 6 scoreless innings while striking out 7 and Raul Valdez went the final 3 innings scoreless while striking out 3, to hand the Phils their 2nd shutout in their last 3 games. Offensively things just can't any worse for the Phils.
Pitching wise things seem to be okay though. Jamie Moyer went another solid 5 innings allowing just 4 runs on 7 hits. David Herndon was solid in the next 2 innings allowing just 1 run on 2 hits. Finally ,Nelson Figueroa, who hadn't pitched in quite a while, got roughed up a bit allowing 3 runs on 4 hits in the 9th to make the final score 8-0. Really though it wasn't that lopsided of a game the Phils just had some bad luck and could easily have scored 7 or 8 runs themselves with a little more timely hitting. It was just another one of those nights to forget where nothing went their way. In fact I don't even want to think about it anymore so I'll stop here. Let's get them tomorrow boys.
Pitching wise things seem to be okay though. Jamie Moyer went another solid 5 innings allowing just 4 runs on 7 hits. David Herndon was solid in the next 2 innings allowing just 1 run on 2 hits. Finally ,Nelson Figueroa, who hadn't pitched in quite a while, got roughed up a bit allowing 3 runs on 4 hits in the 9th to make the final score 8-0. Really though it wasn't that lopsided of a game the Phils just had some bad luck and could easily have scored 7 or 8 runs themselves with a little more timely hitting. It was just another one of those nights to forget where nothing went their way. In fact I don't even want to think about it anymore so I'll stop here. Let's get them tomorrow boys.
Monday, May 24, 2010
FLYERS NEWS
It was a night to remember for the Orange and Black on this Monday. 13 years ago the Flyers made their last trip to the Stanley Cup Finals and now they're finally back. It wasn't easy though. Having already comeback from 3-1 and 3-2 down to win their two previous series and riding a 6-0 record this postseason in elimination games, the Habs weren't bothered by the 3-1 deficit they brought into tonight and they gave the Orange and Black all they could handle. In fact Montreal claimed the early 1-0 lead just 59 seconds into the 1st period. Only a few minutes later the Habs got a power play and a golden opportunity to extend their lead to 2-0. They couldn't take advantage though.
Instead Mike Richards cleared the puck down the ice, chased it over the blue line, collided with Jaroslav Halak, somehow maintained control of the puck as he fell to the ice and got himself up in time to slap it into the now empty net for the 1-1 tie. It was without doubt one of the most electrifying one man efforts you'll ever see and it ignited the Orange and Black. Just 3 minutes into the 2nd period Aaron Asham scored for a 2-1 lead. A minute later Jeff Carter registered his 1st goal since returning from the DL, to push the lead to 3-1. Thanks to Micheal Leighton and the superb defense and penalty killing in front of him it looked like that would be enough. Then Scott Gomez scored early in the 3rd to cut it to 3-2 and suddenly things were interesting again
From there on out Montreal desperately threw everything they had at Leighton to get that equalizing score, but he didn't budge, saving 25 of the 27 shots he faced. Try as they might Montreal just couldn't get it by him. Finally with less than 30 seconds to play, another stellar Richard' s effort led to an empty netter by Carter for a 4-2 lead and that about sealed the deal at last as the Orange and Black skated away with the 4-2 win and the Eastern conference title. All the members of the team are to be commended for their efforts thus far in this postseason. Never have I season a Flyer's team play with more heart than this one and never has it been more satisfying to watch them win. Here's hoping there's still 4 more satisfying nights to go.
Instead Mike Richards cleared the puck down the ice, chased it over the blue line, collided with Jaroslav Halak, somehow maintained control of the puck as he fell to the ice and got himself up in time to slap it into the now empty net for the 1-1 tie. It was without doubt one of the most electrifying one man efforts you'll ever see and it ignited the Orange and Black. Just 3 minutes into the 2nd period Aaron Asham scored for a 2-1 lead. A minute later Jeff Carter registered his 1st goal since returning from the DL, to push the lead to 3-1. Thanks to Micheal Leighton and the superb defense and penalty killing in front of him it looked like that would be enough. Then Scott Gomez scored early in the 3rd to cut it to 3-2 and suddenly things were interesting again
From there on out Montreal desperately threw everything they had at Leighton to get that equalizing score, but he didn't budge, saving 25 of the 27 shots he faced. Try as they might Montreal just couldn't get it by him. Finally with less than 30 seconds to play, another stellar Richard' s effort led to an empty netter by Carter for a 4-2 lead and that about sealed the deal at last as the Orange and Black skated away with the 4-2 win and the Eastern conference title. All the members of the team are to be commended for their efforts thus far in this postseason. Never have I season a Flyer's team play with more heart than this one and never has it been more satisfying to watch them win. Here's hoping there's still 4 more satisfying nights to go.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
PHILLIES NEWS
After registering just 1 hit last night the Phils were glad to face anyone other than Dice K as they took the field today in the rubber match of their series with Red Sox. Unfortunately, the man they got to face today was knuckle baller Tim Wakefield and he like Dice K was on his game. They hit a lot of balls hard just like last night, but a hard hit 65 mph knuckle ball is like a popped up 95 mph heater. Thus, there were a lot of long loud outs for the Phils as they scuffled through another 8 scoreless innings. Meanwhile Roy Halladay got roughed for pretty much the first time this season, allowing 7 runs on 8 hits in just 5 and 2/3rd's innings. It wasn't all his fault as the Phils committed two major blunders in the field contributing to 3 of the 7 runs, but it also wasn't Hallday's best night either. He allowed a homerun and walked 2 batters while only striking out 1, giving him more walks than strikeouts in game for the first time all season.
Ultimately though, I wouldn't blame Roy as much as the defense. If not for those errors the Phils might have actually had a chance in this one. In fact they did rally for 3 runs in the 9th, on Raul Ibanez' s RBI double and Ross Gload's 2 run homer, but it was too little too late. Maybe if those errors had not occured and Gload's homer had cut the lead to 5-3 instead of 8-3 then they would have been able to continue the rally long enough to win, but instead Shane Victorino popped up to end the disappointing 8-3 loss. Now this game might have given you reason to panic but I am still not tworried. The Phils have never been great in interleague play. The past 2 seasons combined they had just 2 wins in interleague play and yet they still advanced back to the world series. Why should this season be any different. Moreover, the Red Sox have historically had Halladay's number. In his career Roy is just 14-15 with a 4,40 ERA against the Red Sox so what happened today is nothing new. That said, the Phils are currently 26-17 overall and remain 3.5 games up in the NL East.
Ultimately though, I wouldn't blame Roy as much as the defense. If not for those errors the Phils might have actually had a chance in this one. In fact they did rally for 3 runs in the 9th, on Raul Ibanez' s RBI double and Ross Gload's 2 run homer, but it was too little too late. Maybe if those errors had not occured and Gload's homer had cut the lead to 5-3 instead of 8-3 then they would have been able to continue the rally long enough to win, but instead Shane Victorino popped up to end the disappointing 8-3 loss. Now this game might have given you reason to panic but I am still not tworried. The Phils have never been great in interleague play. The past 2 seasons combined they had just 2 wins in interleague play and yet they still advanced back to the world series. Why should this season be any different. Moreover, the Red Sox have historically had Halladay's number. In his career Roy is just 14-15 with a 4,40 ERA against the Red Sox so what happened today is nothing new. That said, the Phils are currently 26-17 overall and remain 3.5 games up in the NL East.
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