Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino were awarded gold gloves today, for their defensive efforts at shortstop and centerfield respectively, this past season. They both deserved it and I am not surprised.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, November 09, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers welcomed the Phoenix Suns to the Wachovia center as they looked to get back on track after losing to the Pistons yesterday. They played much better offensively on this night, then they had against the Pistons, shooting 53% from the field and 38% from beyond the arc, with 5 Sixers in double figures. Andre Iguodala led the way with 24, Lou Williams had 13, Elton Brand chipped in with 10, Thad Young scored 15, and Maurice Speights came off the bench for 20. Unfortunately, the Sixers just couldn't stop the high powered Sun's, who also shot 53% from the field and 50% from beyond the arc. The Sixers hung with them for a while, and even had a 12 point lead at the half, but it was all but gone by the 4th quarter. Still, they managed to hang in there until Phoenix finally pulled ahead for good with a little over 2 minutes to play and eventually hung on to win 119-115. So the Sixers drop under .500 for the 1st time this season at 3-4 overall and hopefully they won't stay there for too long.
Sunday, November 08, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers traveled to Detroit this afternoon for a matchup with the Pistons. With Tashawn Prnce and Rip Hamilton both missing the game for Detroit, you would think this would have been an easy eay evening for the Sixers. Instead Ben Wallace played some inspired defense, pulling down 16 rebounds, and racking up 3 steals and block each, as he helped limit the Sixers to just 43% shooting from the field and 16.7% shooting from beyond the arc. The Sixers just simply couldn't get any rythm going offensively. They hung in there though, with Andre Iguodala's 24 points leading the way. In fact after 3 quarters of play they were only down by 4 with the score 64-60. Even as late as about 2 and half minutes to play in the 4th quarter, the Sixers were within 2 and had actually led at one point before that. Then Detroit turned it on even more defensively, the Sixers went cold the rest of the way, and the Pistons hung on to win 88-81. So the Sixers finally lose one they probably should have won as they drop to 3-3 overall. Better luck next time I guess.
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils decided today not to pick up the option remaining on 3B Pedro Feliz's contract. Now that doesn't mean yet that he won't be back with the Phils next season. It simply means the Phils are keeping their options open. So ultimately we'll have to wait and see what happens.
EAGLES NEWS
The Eagles welcomed the Dallas Cowboys to the Linc tonight for yet another showdown to decide 1st place in the NFC East. It was not a well played game with several penalty flags on both sides and 3 interceptions, 1 by Tony Romo and 2 by Donovan Mcnabb, but it was a typical tight NFC East battle. The Boys led early 7-0 on a 2 yd TD run by Tashard Choice following Mcnabb's fist int. The Eagles came back with a couple of field goals in the 2nd quarter to cut it to 7-6, before Nick Folk drilled a 22 yarder as time expired for a 10-6 Dallas halftime lead. The Eagles then opened the 3rd quarter with 77 yard drive, capped off by a Mcnabb TD pass to Brent Celek for a 13-10 Eagle's lead. Sadly they never led again, as luck was just not on the Birds side tonight. First Mcnabb miscommunicated with the rookie sensation, Jeremy Maclin on a crossing route, resuling in Mcnabb's 2 int of the day and a Dallas field goal to tie it at 13. Later the Eagles went for it on a 4th and inches from about midfield. It appeared for all intensive purposes that Mcnabb got the needed yardage on a QB sneak, but the officials did not give him the spot and then would not overturn the spot they had given simply because they couldn't see whether or not one of his elbows was down before he got the needed yardage. That then left the Eagles with no timeouts and a 20-13 deficit after Dallas, taking over from about midfield, drove down into Eagle's territory and turned a 3rd and 14 into a 49 yd TD pass to Miles Austin. It was his only catch of the game, after a combined 300+ yards recieving the last 3 weeks, and it made all the difference. The Eagles put together one more drive to try and tie it, but on 3rd down from inside the Dallas 40, Mcnabb came a shoestring tackle away from scrambling for a 1st down, and the Birds decided to settle for another Aker's field goal, this one 52 yards out. That left the Eagles down 20-16, and with no timeouts, desperate to stop Dallas quickly. Unfortunately, LB Akeem Jordan went down with a knee injury on the ensuing kickoff and Dallas exploited his absence on 3rd and 3 from inside their own 40, with Romo completing a short pass to Jason Witten to move the chains and allow Dallas to run out the clock. The Eagles have the toughest part of their schedule coming up now and really needed to win this one to solidfy their spot atop the NFC East and towards the top of the NFC. Instead they drop to 5-3 overall and now must hope they can survive this upcoming stretch well enough for another shot at Dallas and the division. It won't be easy though.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers welcomed the St.Louis Blues to the Wachovia center tonight as they looked for their 4th straight win. Thanks to another inspiring night of defense and 30 more saves by Ray Emery out of the 31 shots he faced, they were able hold off St.Louis and extend the winning streak to 4. It wasn't easy though. Scott Hartnell scored the only Flyer's goal in regulation with a power play tally late in the 2nd period. For a while it looked like that would hold up, but just under 6 minutes into the 3rd period T.J Oshie finally got one by Emery to knot it at 1 for St. Louis. It stayed that way through the rest of regulation and all the way through overtime as went into a shootout, which usually means bad things for the Flyers, but not tonight. In the 2nd round of the shootout Brad Boyes beat Emery to give St. Louis the edge, but Claude Giroux, the hero the last time the Flyerr's played a shootout, came through again to even things at 1. After 2 more rounds and 2 more Emery saves, Mika Pyrola, who had not previously scored a goal on the season, finally ended it by beating Chris Mason to start the 5th round of the shootout. So the Flyer's got the 2-1 victory for their 10th win of the season, and at 9-4-1 with 19 points they're still only 6th in the Eastern conference.
Friday, November 06, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers welcomed a beat up New Jersey Nets team to the wachovia center tonight. New Jersey came in with only 9 healthy players and half the starting lineup on the injured list, except center Brook Lopez and shooting guard Courtney Lee. In fact New Jersey came in winless on the season, so this stood to be an easy Sixer victory. In the end was a Sixer victory, barely, but a win is a win. The Sixers actually trailed most of the night, despite shooting 50% from the field and beyond the arc. It wasn't because New Jersey played all that well, the Sixers just simply let them stick around, committing 15 turnovers, almost getting out-rebounded and allowing a shorthanded team shoot 47% from the field. Ultimately though, the Sixers were able to take care of business thanks to hot shooting down the stretch from the likes of Andre Iguodala with 16 points, Lou Williams, with a game high 18, and Jason Kapono who came off the bench to drill 4 threes and score 14. The Sixers trailed by 2 after 1, clung to a 3 point lead at the half, and were down again by 5 after 3. Finally in the 4th the Sixer's shooting heated up again, as Iggy nailed a 3 with 2 minutes to play to put the Sixers ahead for good, and then swiped the ball from Terence Williams as time expired, to preserve a 97-94 win. So the Sixers are now 3-2 and have beaten everyone they were supposed to, if only they could learn how to do it a little more easily.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers traveled to Buffalo tonight for a matchup with the Sabres. who came in having allowed the fewest goals in the NHL thus far, while the Flyer's came in with the NHL's best power play thus far. Of course the Flyers also came having the last 4 meetings between these two teams and having won their last 2 in a row, this season, while Buffalo came in having lost 2 of their last 3. Ultimately the Flyer's picked up right where they left off, destroying the Sabres 5-2. The Flyer's were just better than the Sabres tonight in all facets of the game, except oddly enough the power play, the source of both Buffalo goals. Otherwise Ray Emery outshined Ryan Miller with 28 saves out of the 30 shots he faced to 32 out of 36 for Miller. The Flyers limited Buffalo to only 30 shots on goal, while getting 37 themselves. Sometimes good defense is all you need to win, even in today's wide open NHL. The Flyer's led 1-0 after the first period with Dan Carcillo of all people scoring late in the period. After 2 periods they were up 3-1 with goals from Chris Pronger and the rookie James Van Reimsdyk, who continues to impress. Finally in the 3rd period goals from Daroll Powe and Dan Carcillo again, this into the Sabres empty net put away the win. So the Flyers now have 17 points with an 8-4-1 record, good enough only for 6th in the Eastern conference, because everyone ahead of them has played more games than the Flyers have.
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils have already started to making offseason moves. Today they picked up the $9 million option to keep ace Cliff Lee here for another year. They also decided not to negotiate a new contract with former ace Brett Myers, meaning his tenure here is effectively over. So it will be interesting to see what the Phils rotation looks like next season. Obviously, the top 4 will or should remain intact, with Lee, Cole Hamels, Joe Blanton, and J.A Happ, but will be interesting to see who the number 5 starter. If Pedro Martinez comes back then it would probably be him, otherwise they can go with the ageless one, Jamie Moyer, who will be back for one more season, or Kyle Kendrick who looked very good late last season, and was the Phils no.5 starter in 07 and much of 08, or there's even a 3rd option, the young phenom Kyle Drabek, the 1st round pick from a couple years back who's been tearing up the Phil's farm system, but he's probably not ready yet. Aside from that the Phils also want to bolster their bullpen and bench, which were really the only weaknesses for this year's team. Finally the Phils also have to decide whether or not to resign 3B Pedro Feliz for another season. There are a few free agent 3B who might be an upgrade over Feliz, offensively, but defensively he is about as good as it gets, so it will be a tough decision. I think we should stick with the Feliz though , as his numbers this year, contrary to popular belief, were up from 08, with 154 hits, 30 doubles, 82 RBIs, and a .266 batting average. As far as I am concerned if you can get that kind of production from your #7 hitter in the National League, you're lucky and you'd be crazy to give it up.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Yankees won their 27th world series tonight, defeating the Phils 7-3 in game 6 of the World Series. The Phils kept fighting until the bitter end, but they simply were not able to come up with the big hits when they needed them tonight. Actually for the most part the Yanks didn't come up with any big hits tonight either, that is except for one particular Yankee, Hideki Matsui. Matsui put forth a performance for the ages, smashing a 2 run homer and a 2 out 2 run single off Pedro Martinez, and launching a 2 run double off J.A Happ for a total of 3 hits and 6 RBIs. The Yankees as a team meanwhile, had just 8 hits, and 7 RBIs. So Hideki really carried them through the night. In fact if you take what he did away, the Phils would have won tonight 3-1 and pushed the series to game 7 on the strength of 2 run homer by Ryan Howard in the 6th inning. Instead that homer only served to cut the Yankee lead to 7-3. The Phils then had a couple chances after that with Chase Utley at the plate, to start a serious rally but they could not capitalize and eventually they succumbed in the top of the 9th, as Shane Victorino lined a slow roller to 2nd for the final out. Oh and to answer my question from the other night, obviously Pedro Martinez did not have another masterpiece left in him, Hideki made sure of that. So the Phils bid to repeat as world champions fell short but ultimately they have no reason to hang their heads. They should still be proud of their accomplishments. I am still proud of them for forcing a game 6 against these powerful Yankees and for repeating at least as National League champions for the first time in their history. They will still always be the 2008 world champions and nothing the Yankees do will ever take that away. I feel privileged to have had the honor to have witnessed first hand the greatness this team has displayed on and off the field these last few years and I look forward to witnessing their continued greatness in the years to come. Not long ago I could never have imagined I would get to see my beloved Phils win a World Series and then return next year with the chance to repeat and even if they never make it back to world series and they're never this great again I'll always have the memories from these last 2 years to have and to cherish. Finally to those of you who believed we needed to win this one for Harry, you're wrong. Yes the title last year was for the long suffering city of the Philadelphia as much as anything, but just that chance at last to call the final out of the world series for the team he loved, was likely the greatest gift Harry could ever have received. He didn't need to see it again this year. This team and this magical repeat season was his lasting gift to us. So now you'll know the next time things suddenly start to go right for the Phils, against all odds, it's just Harry pulling some strings for us. Oh and don't worry boys we'll get them next year. You can count on it.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers welcomed the Boston Celtics to the Wachovia center tonight in a showdown for top billing in the Atlantic division. There wasn't much belief coming into tonight, despite their 2 game winning streak, that the Sixers would be able to seriously challenge Boston, but for a time early in the 1st quarter, an upset victory for the Sixers seemed a real possibility. The Sixers just came out hot, while Boston started slow and before you knew it they were up by 8. Then Boston finally started to wakeup defensively and Rasheed Wallace and Eddie House hit a barage of threes, and after Rajon Rondo drilled a jumper over the backboard at the buzzer, Boston led after 1, 19-17. The Celtics never looked back from there. The Sixers really cooled off offensively the rest of the way, shooting just 36% from the field and .06% from beyon the arc. They jut couldn't get anything to fall, and they couldn't get the ball inside or get out on the break for easy baskets. The Boston defense was just too smothering the rest of the way, and eventually the Celts got to be in full control of this one, rolling to a convincing 107-54 win. So ultimately the Sixers just weren't ready to challenge Boston quite yet, but give them some time to perfect that princeton offense and figure it out on defense a little more and we'll be right on their heels. For now the Sixers drop to 2-2 overall and remain 2nd in the Atlantic division behind Boston.
Monday, November 02, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils and Yanks squared off in game 5 of the world series tonight with the Phils needing to win to keep the series alive. Looking to replicate his game 1 win, Cliff Lee got the start and was not quite as dominant as he had been, but effective enough to help the Phils pull out an 8-6 win. Lee allowed 5 runs on 7 hits, in 7 strong innings, while striking out 3. Meanwhile, the Phils' bats, other than Ryan Howard who did at least get on base a couple times , finally woke up, with Chase Utley bashing 2 more homers, for his world series record tying 4th and 5th homers, Raul Ibanez slamming his first homer of the series, and a pair of singles by Jayson Werth and Ibanez, and a fielder's choice, leading to 3 more runs. In all the Phils racked up 8 runs on 9 hits, with Utley accounting for 7 of 8 runs, and 2 of the 9 hits. He was simply on fire tonight and has been all series long. Still, despite all that the Phils almost lost it late again. An exhausted Lee gave up 3 runs in the 7th, to help the Yanks cut it to 8-5. Then in the 9th against Ryan Madson the Yanks put their 1st 2 runners on and got it down to 8-6 with 1 on and 2 out for Mark Teixeira, the AL home run leader. With A-Rod looming in the on deck circle Madson had to get him out, and after a long at bat he did, striking Teixeira out on a nasty changeup to preserve the win. So the Phils and Yanks head back to the Bronx for game 6 on Wednesday with Pedro Martinez to go up against Andy Pettitte. Hopefully Pedro has one last masterful performance left in that golden right arm.
FLYERS NEWS
After throttling the Hurricanes 6-1 in their last game, the Flyers came right back out and did it again tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning, in a 6-2 win, for pretty much the same reasons as their last game. Ray Emery was strong in the front of the net as always, registering 26 saves out of the 28 shots he faced. The Flyers again won a good amount of faceoffs, which in turn helped them to kill them off 2 more power plays. Finally, they jumped out a quick lead with goals by Scott Hartnell and Mike Richards in the 1st period. Jeff Carter made it 3-0 early in the 2nd period and a few minutes later after Tampa finally got on the board, David Laliberte scored yet another goal(I mean really who is this guy and why didn't they bring him up sooner) and Mike Richards added a 3rd goal in the period to push it to 5-1. Carter then rocketed in a power lay goal early in the 4th quarter to push it to 6-1 and that was about all she wrote. So the Flyers win their 2nd in a row, against another subpar team mind you, and appear to be on the rise.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
EAGLES NEWS
The Eagles welcomed the Giants to the Linc this afternoon for a show down for 1st place in the NFC East. It was thought that this would be a close game against the two division rivals, but instead it quickly turned into a shootout in the Birds favor. Leanard Weaver got it started with a 41 yard TD run early in the 1st quarter. A few minutes later Donovan Mcnabb hooked up with Brent Celek on a 17 yd TD pass, for which the extra point was blocked. David Akers later added a field goal for a 16-0 early in the 2nd quarter. Then after the Giants had finally scored with under 2 minutes to play in the 1st half, Ellis Hobbs returned a kickoff into Giants' territory, which was followed by Mcnabb hooking up with a wide open Desean Jackson for a 54 yd TD pass. Later after an Eli Manning interception, Mcnabb hooked up with Jeremy Maclin for a 23 yd TD pass and just like that it was 30-7 Birds at halftime, and New York did not know what had hit them. The Giants tried to come back in the 2nd half cutting the lead to 33-17 heading into the 4th quarter. Early in the 4th quarter though, Lesean Mccoy put the Gmen away for good with a 66 yd TD run to cap off a convincing 40-17 Eagles win. It was just a totally dominant afternoon for the Birds on both sides of the ball. On defense, they sacked Eli Manning twice and intercepted him twice, while holding New York to just 17 points. On offense New York just couldn't stop the Eagles who rolled to 391 yards of offense, including 180 rushing yards, and 40 points. They really could not have scripted the afternoon any better, and I think today shows that they really do need to run the ball a little more consistently if they want to continue to have success going forward. I just wonder though after seeing the Eagles dominate in this game, how they ever lost to the lowly Raiders. I guess you just really have to give Oakland some credit now for what they did that day. Anyway so the Birds are now 5-2 overall and first in the NFC East as they prepare for another divisional showdown next week against the Dallas Cowboys.
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils and Yanks met in game 4 of the world series tonight with the Phils looking to even the series at 2 games a piece. Joe Blanton got the start and was effective, allowing just 4 runs on 5 hits in 6 tough innings. Meanwhile, the Phils could only come up with 3 runs off Yankee starter C.C Sabathia. on an RBI double and a solo homer by Chase Utle, and an RBI single by Pedro Feliz. Still that was only good enough to put the Phils behind by one heading into the 8th inning. There with 2 out and Feliz down to his last strike he rocketed a game tying solo homer to the seats in left to tie it up at 4. Next it was up to Brad Lidge to keep it tied in the top of the 9th and give the Phils a chance to pull it out in the bottom of the inning. He got the 1st 2 outs of the inning without issue and then Johnny Damon gave him an extraordinary at bat before lining a 2 out single. Damon then stole 2nd and with the Phils infield shifted to the right to neutralize Mark Texeira, no one was covering 3rd base, allowing the alert Damon to advance all the way to 3rd. Since he often bounces his slider in there to get guys to chase, he didn't feel safe enough to pitch it to A-Rod or Jorge Posada they made him pay with a pair RBI doubles to put New York back haed 7-4. From there to no surprise Mariano Rivera rolled another postseason save and the Phils had a lost a heartbreaker 7-4, to drop 3-1 behind the Yanks. With Cliff Lee to start tomorrow there is still a good chance the Phils can push this thing to a game 6, but who knows after that.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
Fresh off their first win of the season, the Sixers traveled to New York for a matchup with the Knicks, just another Philly-New York matchup on this Philly-New York weekend. Anyway the Knicks weren't very good last year and frankly they still aren't that good that this year, so this should have been an easy win the for Sixers. Through the first 3 quarters it looked like it would be as the Sixers took a 23 point lead into 4th quarter. They simply dominated in the 1st half with 70 points annd had an unbelievable night from the field, shooting 60%, and 37.5% from beyond the arc. The Knicks shot only 35% from beyond the arc, but they put up 40 of them, to only 8 by the Sixers and hit 14 of them, to the Sixers 3. Those 14 treys were almost enough to save the Knicks, as they came roaring back in the 4th quarter, cutting the lead to 1 after a three by Danilo Gallinari. Then Jason Kapono missed 1 of 2 free throws, allowing New York to tie it at 122 with 5 seconds to play. Andre Iguoadala then missed a 15 footer at the buzzer and it was on to overtime. There the Sixers, angry that they even needed overtime to close this one out, came out firing and outscored New York 19-5 to runaway to a 141-127 victory, that is, an especially big win, considering their next game pits them against the Boston Celtics. Bring it on.
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils and Yanks squared off in game 3 of the world series tonight. Cole Hamels took the mound as the Phils came out firing. Jayson Werth homered and Hamels had New York hitless for 3 and 1/3rd innings as the Phils jumped to a 3-0 lead. Alex Rodriguez then hit a flukish 1 out 2 run homer in the 4th and it all went south from there. Hamels was touched up for another 3 runs in the 5th inning, to put New York ahead 5-3. After the Yanks added a 6th run in the top of the 6th, Werth hit his 2nd home run of the night in the bottom of inning to cut it to 6-4, but that was as close as the Phils would get. New York added a run in the 7th and 8th inning to push the lead to 8-4 coming into the 9th. There the Phils made one final rally as they always do with Carlos Ruiz slugging a solo homer to cut it to 8-5. From there though Matt Stairs grounded out and Jimmy Rollins popped up to end a tough 8-5 loss. So the Phils fall behind 2-1 but there is a still a lot of series left if they can just knot the series at 2 tomorrow than they would be in good shape with Cliff Lee to start game 5. So don't give up hope yet.
FLYERS NEWS
With their top 2 scorers on the shelf and the defense struggling coming in the Flyers were in for a tough night against the big bad Carolina Hurricanes, or at least we thought they were. Apparently no one told the team they were supposed to be struggling now, as they blitzed Carolina from start to finish. By the end of the 1st period it was already 3-0 Orange Black, with scores by Scott Hartnell on the power play, Matt Carle, and recent Phantoms call up David Laliberte in his 1st NHL game. In the 2nd period Carolina tried to pick it up, outshooting the Flyers 20-9, but Ray Emery saved 19 of them, and James Van Riemsdyk answered the Carolina score, off an assist by who else Laliberte. Finally in the middle of the 3rd period Braydon Coburn scored twice within a minute of himself to finish off a 6-1 blowout victory. Perhaps the Canes were a little tired, but they still outshot the Flyers 40-28 and had 5 power play opportunities to 4 for the Flyers. So it should not have been such a lopsided win, and yet it was. It easy to see why too. The Flyer's killed off all 5 Hurricane power plays, Ray Emery was huge with 39 saves out of the 40 shots he faced, and the Flyer's actually won most of the faceoffs for a change. Thankfully, while Briere and Gagne went on the injured list, top faceoff man Blair Betts returned to the lineup and was just what the doctor ordered winning 13 faceoffs, Mike Richards won 12, and Jeff Carter won 7. So while they didn't step up their scoring, Carter and Richards did step up big time. The funny thing is when the Flyers started out 3-0 and looked to be headed for a great season, it was thanks in large part to Betts winning faceoffs and controlling the puck on the 3rd line. It was only when he went out that the Flyers began struggling. Now he's back and suddenly the Flyers look like that team again. So Betts is the key to Flyer's success this season. Who knew.
Friday, October 30, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
After an embarrassing loss to the Orlando Magic in their season opener the Sixers returned to the Wachovia center tonight looking to get back on track in their home opener against the Milwaukee Bucks. Thanks to some improved defense, admittedly against an opponent not nearly as talented offensively, and a more balance offensively they were able to do just that. All 5 Sixer starters scored in double figures with Andre Iguodala's 19 leading the way. Elton Brand scored 17, Lou Williams posted 16, Thad Young added 13, Sammy Dalembert chipped with 10 and 12 rebounds. Jason Kapono also came in off the bench to score 12, including 2 threes. Offensively, the only thing down from the opener, was the Sixers shooting percentage which dropped from the 50s to 45%, but that was really because they were focusing more on defense tonight then their scoring. The defense really was a whole lot better for the Sixers tonight as they held the Bucks to just 40% shooting from the field and only 30% from beyond the arc. They also outrebound the Bucks, barely, 45-44 and posted 12 steals and 7 blocks. Sure, it was against the Bucks, but it was still an impressive defensive effort by the Sixers and it is what they need to do every game if they want to be successful. The Sixers actually trailed by 6 at the half with the score 47-41. They picked it up on defense from there and by the 4th quarter they were up by 9 with the score 76-67. They simply handled the Bucks in the 4th and eventually put away a 99-86 win.
FLYERS NEWS
It's been a rough last couple of days for the Flyers and they weren't even playing. First Simon Gagne went on the injured list with a hernia in his shoulder a couple days ago and now today Danny Briere came up lame in practice with a pulled groin. This is exactly what the Flyers could not afford to have happen. They were already having some trouble scoring with their top 2 forwards in the lineup, now what they are going to do. The Orange and Black are just going to have to play unbelievable defense or it's going to be long wait for those guys to come back. Also Jeff Carter and Mike Richards are really going to have to pick things up.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils and Yanks squared off in game 2 of the World Series tonight. Like game 1 it was largely, a pitcher's duel, this time with Pedro Martinez dueling A.J Burnett. Unfortunately, for the Phils Burnett got the best of duel, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits, while striking out 9 in 7 innings. The Phils just couldn't figure out his curveball. As for Pedro he pitched well too, allowing just 3 runs on 6 hits and striking out 8 in 6 innings of work, but thanks to Burnett that was only good enough to put the Phils behind 3-1 going into the final 2 innings. Chan Ho Park, Scott Eyre, and, Ryan Madson combined to keep the Yanks scoreless after the 6th inning, and give the Phils a chance to pull a comeback, but with Mariano Rivera coming to pitch the 8th and 9th that was not a favorable propisition. Still, in the 8th inning the Phils actually got to Rivera and had their chance to pull the comeback with 2 on and 1 out for Chase Utley. Unfortunately, Utley grounded into a force out, or at least in reality it was a force out at 2nd, as replays showed Utley beat Derek Jeter's relay to 1st, but he was wrongfully called out to end the inning and strand Ryan Howard in the on deck circle. Howard later struck out to begin the 9th inning, but the Phils managed to give themselves one last chance to rally, as Raul Ibanez lined a 2 out double to bring the DH Matt Stairs to plate with a chance to tie it on one swing. Sadly Stairs could only strikeout to end it. So the series shifts to Philadelphia tied at 1 and the Phils still in good shape.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils and the Yanks began the world series tonight before a packed crowd at the new Yankee stadium. For their 6th straight postseason series the Phils came out firing there best shots and were able to stun the Yankees for an early series lead. Cliff Lee got the start tonight against his former teammate, C.C Sabathia and he was just magnificent tossing a complete game, while allowing just 1 run on 6 hits while striking out 10 and walking none. Sabathia wasn't so lucky serving up 2 solo homers to Chase Utley, making him the first lefty to hit 2 homers in a world series game off a lefty pitcher, since Babe Ruth himself 81 years ago. Thanks to the homers Sabathia was forced to exit after only 7 innings. He then had to watch his bullpen blow any hopes for a Yankee victory, as Raul Ibanez slapped a 2 run single in the 8th inning and "the Flyin Hawaiian", Shane Victorino singled in 1 run and Ryan Howard doubled in another in the 9th inning for a 6-0 lead. From there a Jimmy Rollins error in the bottom of the inning, was all the averted a shutout for the Yankees, as Lee closed out a dominating 6-1 win. It was just unbelievable the way Lee performed tonight. I have never seen a pitcher look calmer on the mound in game 1 of the world series than Lee did tonight. He not only shut the Yankees with his arm, he made the most nonchalant catch of a pop up you've ever seen and incredible back handed stab of line drive. There just wasn't anything he couldn't do tonight. Really the whole team looked relaxed tonight, and it all came almost a little too easy. I new the Phils were a good team but I didn't know they were this good. Now, all of the sudden with Pedro Martinez on the mound tomorrow the Phils have a golden opportunity to take a 2-0 series lead and perhaps turn the lights out on the Yanks for good.
SIXERS NEWS
After a going 5-3 in a pretty good preseason the Sixers opened their 2009-2010 regular season tonight in Orlandon against Dwight "superman" Howard and the defending Eastern conference champion Magic. It wasn't pretty. Maurice Speights led the way with a career best t26 points 5 rebounds, and Jason Kapono, Rodney Carney, each scored in double figures off the bench and Lou Williams, in his 1st start at the poiny for the Sixers, scored 18 to go along with just 4 assists. Defensively however, it just wasn't there for the Sixers, as they allowed Orlando to shoot 55% from the field and beyond the arc, which is pretty much the kiss of death against the most teams. Thus, the Sixers lost convincingly 120-106, not exactly the way they wanted to start the season. The Sixers were really only in it for a quarter, as they trailed by 24 at the half with the score 70-47. Embarrassingly the lead was up to 31 by the start of the 4th quarter. There the Sixers finally woke back up again and at least mounted a rally to cut the final margin to 14. Going the forward the Sixers need to play much better defense if they hope to have any success this season or it's going to be a long year.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
After running out of gas against the San Jose Sharks in their last game, the Flyers looked to get back on track tonight in Washington against the Capitals. For a while it looked like they would do just that as early in the 2nd period Scott Hartnell and late in the period Braydon Coburn each scored on the power play for a 2-0 Flyer's lead. However, just 2 minutes after Coburn's goal Alexander Ovechkin scored to cut it to 2-1 and then 2 minutes after Niklas Backstrom scored to knot it at 2. Just like that Washington seized the momentum, and did not let go for the remainder of the night as Alexander Semin scored early in the 3rd period for a 3-2 Caps lead and Ovechkin scored again on the empty net with under a minute to play to put away a 4-2 Caps' win. It's hard to say where this one went wrong. The Flyer's outshot the Caps 43-36, went 2 for 5 on the Power play, to just 1 for 4 for Washington, and got 32 saves out of 35 shots faced from Ray Emery, all numbers that should have been enough to get a win over the Caps, but they weren't. Perhaps the defense wasn't strong enough as 36 shots is a little high or maybe they just didn't do a good enough job keeping the pressure on the Caps after getting that lead or maybe they should have taken better advantage of those 5 power plays. Whatever the reason, the Orange and Black need to figure it out fast because this can't keep happening. They just can't afford to keep letting winnable games slip away from them like this.
Monday, October 26, 2009
EAGLES NEWS
The Birds traveled to Fedex field for a divisional showdown with the Washington Redskins tonight as they looked to rebound from last week's loss to the Raiders. Fortunately, the Redskins are playing even worse right now than the Raiders had been and simply didn't have the confidence in themselves to beat the Eagles tonight. A dominant performance by the Eagles' defense and a spectacular game on offense for Desean Jackson also contributed heavily to an 27-17 Eagles' victory. The defense had Redskin QB Jason Campbell running for his life all day, sacking him 6 times and forcing him into 2 of the 4 Redskin turnovers on the night. Clinton Portis and the Redskins' running game was also held in check with just 68 yards, including only 43 by Portis. So it was up to Campbell to carry the load for the Skins on offense and he could not. Newly added linebacker Will Weatherspoon intercepted Campbell for the turnover # 1 and returned it 9 yards for a TD. Later Weatherspoon stripped Campbell and Quintin Mikell recoverd the fumble to set up a David Aker's field goal from 47 yards out. Later Antwan Randle El muffed a punt for turnover # 3 to set up a 44 yard Akers field goal. So the standouts on defense for the Eagles this week were Trent Cole with 2 sacks, and Witherspoon who had quite a debut with the Birds, with an interception, a fumble recovery, and a sack. As for the offense, it was all Desean Jackson, who took an end around on the Eagles first drive of the game and raced 67 yards for a TD. Later Jackson hauled in a 57 yard TD pass from Donovan Mcnabb, to account for all 14 points generated by the Eagle's offense. All in all it was just an ok night for the Eagles' offense which accumulated just 262 yards to go along with those 14 points. They did rush for a solid 122 yards, made all the more impressive by the fact that Brian Westbrook went down early in the game with a concussion, but hopefully he'll be all right. The Eagles' passing game tonight though left something to be desired, but it was good enough for the win and that's really all that matters. Ultimately the Eagles did not play great tonight, they simply played good and that was enough against the struggling the Redskins, but they'll have to pick it up next week against the NY Giants in a showdown for 1st place in the NFC East.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers welcomed the San Jose Sharks to the Wachovia center tonight, as they looked to get their 3rd straight win. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Since the Flyer's were playing on back to back nights, Brian Boucher subbed in for Ray Emery, for his first start in goal this season and he was less than stellar, allowing 4 goals on only 28 shots, including a few that were a bit weak. Considering this was his 1st start of the regular season and that he barely played at all in the preseason, it's not totally surprising that Boucher wasn't sharp in this one. You just have to hope he can pick it up and be effective again, before the season moves to much further along. Anyway, thanks to the weak play by Boucher, the Flyers ultimately fell 4-1, despite outshooting the Sharks 38-28. The Orange and Black was probably also a little tired coming off the win over the Panthers last night. Darroll Powe, who has quietly been making a name for himself on the Flyers, accumulated the only Flyer's only score of the night in the 1st period. After that it was all San Jose skating past the tired Flyers. With the loss the Flyers drop to 5-3-1 overall but remain 7th in the Eastern conference.
PHILLIES NEWS
Well it's official the Phils opponent in the World series beginning on Wednesday will be the New York Yankees and their 26 world titles, as they finished off the L.A Angels in the ALCS tonight. 59 years ago the Phils' Whiz Kids and Yanks faced off in the 1950 world series. The Yankees swept the Phils in that series and now finally the Phils can exact revenge. So all I can say to the Yankees is bring it!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
FLYERS NEWS
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.
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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