Joe Blanton continued his good form allowing just 2 runs on 8 hits while striking out 3 in 7 innings. Meanwhile, Ben Francisco tripled in a run in the 4th for a 1-0 lead and Jimmy Rollins slapped an RBI single in the 6th to even the score at 2. After Blanton got through the 7th, Danys Baez and Antonio Bastardo combined for scoreless frames in the 8th and 9th to force extra innings. Kyle Kendrick then tossed another scoreless inning in the 10th. Finally with 2 out in the top of the 11th Ryan Howard belted a 2 run double for a 4-2 lead and that was more than enough for Ryan Madson to come on for his 2nd save of the season. With the win the Phils now have 10 wins in a row at Petco Park, the first time they've done that to a team since 1955. Now that's what I call dominance.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
PHILLIES NEWS
Cole Hamels was close to untouchable tonight in San Diego tossing 8 scoreless innings, while allowing just 4 hits and striking out 8. Meanwhile, Ryan Howard slammed a 2 run triple in the 3rd inning to give the Phils their only runs of the night. They would be all the Phils would need. After retiring the Padres in the 8th, Hamels gave way to Ryan Madson who came on to get his first save of the season in the 9th and close out the 2-0 win.
FLYERS NEWS
It was another virtual must win tonight for the Flyers in game 5 of their opening series with the Sabres, but this time they did not deliver. Brian Boucher allowed 3 goals on just 11 shots before being benched in favor of Micheal Leighton, as the Flyers quickly fell behind 3-0 in the first period. They would rally behind Leighton though. About halfway through the 2nd period, James Van Reimsdyk slapped home a rebound to cut the deficit to 3-1. About a minute later Andrej Meszaros followed with a blast from the point that found it ways in to cut it to 3-2. Just under 4 minutes into the 3rd period Kris Versteeg, from the seat of his pants, slid a beautiful pass in front of the net to Danny Briere who poked it in to tie things at 3. After that the Flyers had chances to get the winning goal, including a 2 minute power play in the final 2:22 of regulation, but could not cash in to cap off another 0 for 5 night on the power play. Unfortunately, the lack of success on the power play came back to haunt them in this one as game went into overtime. Just about 5 and a half minutes into OT Leighton letup a big rebound which Tyler Ennis deposited for his 2nd goal of the night and the 4-3 Sabres win.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
PHILLIES NEWS
Roy Oswalt tossed 6 scoreless innings while allowing just 1 hit and striking out 7 and Brian Schneider and Ben Francisco each homered as the Phils opened their west coast trip with a 3-0 win over the Padres. Francisco and Schneider both homered in the 2nd inning and later Francisco added a sac fly, okay technically it was an error by Chris Denorfia who dropped Ben's routine fly to right, for a 3-0 lead. Oswalt mowed them down from there, losing a no hitter with 2 out in the 5th. After he left following the 6th, David Herndon, Antonio Bastardo, and Jose Contreras, who racked up his 5th save, combined for 3 scoreless innings to finish off San Diego.
SIXERS NEWS
Elton Brand had 21 and 11 rebounds, Jrue Holiday had 20 and 8 assists, Lou Williams had 15, Spencer Hawes had 12 and 6 rebounds and Andre Iguodala had 10 and 10 assists, as the Sixers found their scoring touch again but still dropped a heartbreaking game 3 to the Heat 100-94. They Simply didn't do a good enough job cleaning up on the glass defensively as Miami wound up with 20 offensive rebounds, as the old saying goes, 10 more then most coaches would tolerate. I think a big part of that is the Sixers seeming insistence on double teaming the big three every time one of them gets the ball. It's just near impossible to double team 3 different guys and get back and block out if they miss. They've got trust Iggy to guard Lebron, Jrue to guard Wade, and Elton or Thad guard to Bosh and allow everyone else to get in position to rebound. They did that at the end of game 1 and that was really when they were at their best in this series. If they go back to it in game 4 and keep up the same scoring they had today and in game 1 they might just avoid a sweep.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils had to win today to avoid getting swept for the first time all season. Cliff Lee was okay, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings, but again the Phils bat's struggled. In fact Chris Narveson took a no hitter into the 5th inning, before John Mayberry Jr. broke it up with a double, but they remained scoreless into the 6th inning. That left Lee perilously close to taking his 2nd loss of the season, but Placido Polanco's 3 run shot in the bottom of 6th handed Lee a no decision. Later in the 8th, Shane Victorino launched a solo bomb for a 4-3 lead. Then Jose Contreras retired the Brewers in the 9th, to salvage the 4-3 win and narrowly avoid a sweep.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers looked to put a strangle hold on their opening round series with the Sabres tonight but Ryan Miller would have none of it. He stopped all 32 of the Flyers in a masteful performance. Brian Boucher just about as good stopping 28 of 29 shots, with the Sabres one score coming on a turnover in front of the net that probably shouldn't have happened. The Flyer's penalty kill was great again, as they stopped all 4 Buffalo power play opportunities including a 5 minute major to start the 3rd period. That major, called in the final seconds of the 3rd period, should have been a 2 minute minor on Mike Richards who was only protecting himself. Unfortunately that was only one of the questionable moves by the officials the cost the Flyers in this one. The Flyers took a lot of cheap shots after the whistle from the Sabres which weren't called and Dan Carcillo was mugged in front of the Sabres net and did nothing in retaliation, yet he was given a penalty leading to a sloppy 4 on 4 instead of a Flyer's power play. So to recap great goaltending + bad officiating = a 1-0 Flyers loss in game 4 and 2-2 series.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
PHILLIES NEWS
It was an ugly Tuesday night for the Phils in more ways than one. Roy Halladay had his first off night of the season allowing 6 runs(only 4 scored while he was still in the game) on 10 hits, while striking out 3 in 6 and 2/3rds innings. The Phils bat's weren't much better as they managed 0 runs and just 2 hits, a bunt single by Jimmy Rollins and a double by Shane Victorino. The bullpen provided the icing on the cake and David Herndon and Mike Zagurski combined to allowed another 3 runs on 3 hits in 7th inning, at which point it was 9-0 Brewers with no sun light on the horizon. After that Danny Baez was at least one bright spot, tossing a pair of scoreless innings to finish the night and a 9-0 loss the Phils will want to forget quickly.
Monday, April 18, 2011
FLYERS NEWS
With the series tied 1-1 it was the win tonight in Buffalo for the Orange and Black and they delivered. In his first start of the playoffs, Brian Boucher was great stopping 35 of 37 shots and getting his team a huge breather, by throwing his helmet away during a late penalty kill in the 3rd period. The Flyer's penalty kill was just as great killing 5 of 6 power plays, including a pivotal 5 on 3 late in the 3rd period with the Flyers up by 1. Up until that point the Flyers spent the night front running. Just under 5 minutes into the 1st period, Jeff Carter finally scored the Flyers first power play goal and his first goal of the playoffs for a 1-0 lead. Later about 3 minutes into the 2nd period Danny Briere scored his 2nd goal of series for a 2-0 lead. Then with about 4 minutes left in the 2nd Mike Richards setup Nikolay Zherdev, subbing for in Andreas Nodl, with a perfect pass for his 1st ever playoff goal and a 3-1 lead. Buffalo managed to sneak in a goal in the final minute of the period to cut it to 3-2, but thanks to the penalty kill it would be their last goal of the night. In the final seconds Kimmo Timonen netted an empty netter to to finally ice the huge 4-2 win for a 2-1 series lead.
PHILLIES NEWS
It was a long and wacky night for the Phils and Brewers in their series opener at the Bank tonight. Joe Blanton provided his best start of the season thus far, allowing just 2 runs on 7 hits while striking out 4 in 7 innings. Unfortunately the Phils only support for Blanton was Ryan Howard's RBI single in the first inning and fielder's choice in the 7th inning. Placido Polanco was then robbed of an RBI single later in that inning that would have given Blanton a chance to get the win. Instead he was forced to settle for a no decision. Just one inning later they fell behind again on another fielder's choice. Then in the 9th Pete Orr ripped a 1 out game tying single and moved to 2nd as Ryan Braun airmailed the throw home, but he was stranded after Shane Victorino struck out, Polanco walked, and Jimmy Rollins popped up. In the extra innings the Phils were unable to come up with anything through 11. From there things got away from them as the Brew Crew scored 3 in the 12th. Finally in the bottom of the 12th, the managed to get the tying run to the plate, but Howard was robbed of a hit, and Ben Francisco flied out to end a tough 6-3 loss.
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers continued their series with the Heat tonight as they looked to rebound from a game 1 loss. Unfortunately they went cold from the field in this one and never really had a chance. On the whole they shot just 34% from the field and 65% from the free throw line. They did shoot a decent 42% from beyond the arc which kept them in it early on but that was about as good as it got for them. Defensively, they did a decent job on the big three again, limiting DWade to just 14 points and Lebron to just 10-19 shooting. They still had no answer for Chris Bosh underneath though, as he hit 9-13 for another 21 points. It doesn't really matter how tough you defend if you can't hit shots on the other end of the floor. Thad Young led the way again with 18 and 6 rebounds, Evan Turner chipped in with 15 and 6 rebounds, and finally despite struggling quite a bit, Jrue Holiday was able to add 12. All together it was not nearly as the Heat whipped the Sixers 94-73 for a 2-0 series lead. The Sixers will have to return the favor on their home court.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
PHILLIES NEWS
With yesterday's game rained out the Phils simply had to win today to avoid their first series loss of the season. Cole Hamels obliged, allowing just 2 runs on 7 hits, while striking out 7 in 7 innings of work. Unfortunately, that was only a good enough for no-decision, with the Phils only managing 2 runs of their own on an RBI single by Raul Ibanez and a solo blast by Carlos Ruiz in the 1st inning. Finally in the home half of the 8th , just after Hamels exited for the day, Ruiz came up big again with a sac fly for a 3-2 lead. Jose Contreras had a bit of an adventure in the 9th, but eventually got through it unscathed to finish the 3-2 win that keeps the Phils 2 games up in the NL East.
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