Tuesday, July 18, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phillies went from the thrill of victory against the Giants on Sunday, to the agony of defeat against the Padres earlier tonight, wasting a golden opportunity to collect their 3rd win in a row. In the process, a sparkling performance by Cole Hamels, in front of his hometown, Ryan Howard's 31st homerun, a pair of RBIs by the suddenly red hot Pat Burrell, and a streak extending double(19) by Chase Utley all went for naught. For most of the night the Phillies trailed 2-1, and if not for the brilliant pitching of Hamels giving up just 3 runs on 5 hits through 5 and 2/3rds innings, they would have trailed by more. Finally in the top of the 6th inning using clucth hits from Chase Utley, Burrell, and pinch hitter Abraham Nunez the Phils scored 3 runs to go ahead 4-2. With 2 outs in the bottom of the inning, Adrian Gonzalez homered off Hamels to end his day, but it looked like it wouldn't matter, as reliever Rick White got out of the inning without further incident, and Ryan Howard answered in the 7th inning with a 2 run homer to seemingly put the Phillies, with the NL's 2nd best bullpen, up for good, but it was not to be. In the bottom of the inning Ryan Franklin recorded one out, but gave up 2 hits and was relieved by Rheal Cormier, who promptly served up Adrian Gonzalez' 2nd homerun of the day, a 3 run homer, tying the score at 6. Geoff Geary then relieved Cormier and somehow got out of the inning with the score at 7-6. Although the Phils were only down by 1 at this point the damage had been done. Geary could only manage one out in the 8th and gave up another run before being relieved by Aaron Fultz who got out off the inning. The game was over before the Phillies even stepped to the plate in the 9th inning as legendary closer Trevor Hoffman dazzled and retired the Phillies in order for an 8-6 Padres win. In all, the Phils bullpen gave up 5 runs and 7 hits, which at this point in the season in the 1st game of a series is simply inexcusable. As a team the Phillies did all they had to do to get a win tonight, it just came down to the bullpen closing out the game, and they didn't get the job done. The Phillies just cannot continue to allow games to slip away like this, otherwise they might as well kiss their playoff hopes good bye right now. Well happy trails everyone.
EAGLES NEWS
The Eagles Signed 2d round draft pick, offensive tackle Winston Justice to a 4 year deal. This now gives them 7 of their 8 draft picks under contract. Only 1st rd pick Broderick Bunkley remains unsigned. Justice is a solid offensive tackle, good enough to have gone in the 1st round of the draft. He will likely start this season as the backup to Tra, sorry William Thomas.
Monday, July 17, 2006
WEEKLY POLL QUESTION
Which is your favorite Philadelphia sports team?
a. The Phillies
b. The Eagles
c. The Sixers
d. The Flyers
e. other
f. I have No favorite I just like all of them
last week's results:
50% B. out in the 2nd rd
25% A. he'll crush 'em all
0% C. out in the 1st rd
a. The Phillies
b. The Eagles
c. The Sixers
d. The Flyers
e. other
f. I have No favorite I just like all of them
last week's results:
50% B. out in the 2nd rd
25% A. he'll crush 'em all
0% C. out in the 1st rd
PHILLIES NEWS
Well, the Phillies played another enertaining game today and this time I was able to watch and I didn't regret it. Today the Phillies rode the brilliant pitching of starter Brett Myers, back with the team for the 1st time since his infamous leave of absence, and timely hitting to an impressive 6-2 victory over the Giants, giving them 2 straight series wins, and 4 wins out of their last 6 games. Now, obviously those last numbers are nothing to brag about, but for a Phillies team that had been marred in a slump throughout June and into early July, they are an encouraging start. In addition, if the Phillies still hope to make the playoffs, they are going to have to continue winning 2 out a three like this for the rest of the season. Anyway back to the game, as I said before Brett Myers pitched brilliantly, going 7 innings and giving up just 2 runs on 5 hits. Meanwhile, his counterpart Matt Cain was pitching a gem of his own as he went 6 innings and gave up just 1 run on 1 hit. Cain actually left the game after the 6th inning with a 2-1 lead on homers by Ray Durham and Barry Bonds, but David Bell answered the Bell in the 7th inning with a homer of his own to tie the score at 2. Bell then followed with a triple, to cap off a 4 run 8th inning for the Phils, highlighted by Giants miscues in the outfield, one of which allowed a sure flyout by Chase Utley to fall in for a base hit, extending Utley's career best hitting streak to 18 games. From there with a 6-2 lead the Phillies coasted to the finish via another strong outing by their bullpen. Well, I don't know about you but I am starting to get excited at the prospects of a long phillies hot-streak. The Phillies rotation has some bite again with Jon Lieber, Cory Lidle, and Brett Myers all together again, Randy Wolf closing in on his return to the rotation, and Mike Lieberthal back behind the plate. Also the Phillies lineup has suddenly started to - gasp! manufacture runs. Put these 2 figures together and you've got the potential for another desperation-fueled playoff run like they had last year at this time in the season and wouldn't that be sweet. Well, happy trails everyone.
WEEKLY TRIVIA QUESTION
Who is the last Phillies Player to compile 30+ homeruns and 100+ RBIs in the same season?
last week's answer:
Ryne Sandberg and Dale Murphy
last week's answer:
Ryne Sandberg and Dale Murphy
Sunday, July 16, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
I am going to be honest, I was busy mowing the lawn this afternoon, so I didn't watch the Phillies game today(Saturday) and you know what, for once I am truly sorry that I didn't because from all the highlights and postgame reports I saw they put on a real show this afternoon. From start to finish in this game the Phillies were Goliath and the Giants were David, but today David misplaced his trusty slingshot and was thrashed by Goliath. No the Phillies pitching staff didn't have it best day today giving up 6 runs, 5 off starter Cory Lidle, and no the Phillies defense wasn't at its best either, committing 2 errors, but the Phillies offense was simply spectacular. They racked up 18 hits and 14 runs, both season highs, against a shellshocked Giants pitching staff. However, despite their 14 runs, the Phillies actually started this game behind 2-0 following the 1st inning and again 3-2 following the 2nd inning. From there though, things took off, as the Phillies scored run after run after run, until they had racked up 10 runs through 7 innings. Even then though, the result still remained in doubt as the Giants had scored 6 runs of their own. Then in the top of the 9th inning the Phillies put all debates of a victory to rest scoring 4 runs to widen their lead to the eventual final score, a laughable 14-6. Today's victory was made all the more sweet by some Phillies players who had the chance to celebrate their own achievements, with career and season milestones. Pat Burrell, who had been struggling so mightily for the past month, suddenly came to life and went 4 for 4 on the day collecting 4 RBIs on a three-run double, and a solo homer his 20th of the season. Ryan Howard, went 2 for 5 on the day collecting 2 RBIs on a 2 run homer, his 30th of the season. Last but not least we have Jimmy Rollins, noted for his normally brilliant defense play, but not usually for his hitting, he may finally have garnered a little respect at the plate today, collecting 2 hits in 7 at bats, 1 of them, his 1,000th career hit, joining Bobby Abreu and Mike Lieberthal, who made his 1st start for the Phillies today since returning from the disabled list, as the only active Phillies players with 1,000 or more career hits. Now when you win a game like this it tends to make you feel good about yourself, and that's probably how the Phillies are feeling right now. Hopefully that good feeling can carry over for the rest of the season. Well, happy trails everyone.
Saturday, July 15, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
As you traverse through the long winding road that is the MLB regular season, you will come across some bumps in the road, that you know should have flattened but you didn't. Tonight's(Friday) game was one of those bumps that should have been flattened. It's not often that any team, even the Phillies, builds an early lead with their staff ace on the mound and is unable to make it stand up, but that is exactly what happened to Phillies. They built an early 3-0 lead over the Giants on a sacrifice fly by Bobby Abreu in the 1st inning, and a 2 run homer by Ryan Howard in the 4th inning, yes it's official the home run derby is not still bothering him. This 3-0 lead however, would not last long as Jon Lieber just did not have his best stuff today when needed it. In the very same 4th inning in which Howard had homered, the Giants Ray Durham hit a two homer of his own, following a walk and a stolen base by of all people, Barry Bonds. 2 innings later in the bottom of the 6th things got worse for the Phillies, as with one out and 2 on Chase Utley booted a sure double play ball. By the time the smoke had finally cleared on the inning the Giants had scored 2 more runs, and Utley had gone from All-Star to goat in less than a week. At this point the Giants led 5-3 and as they say in some news circles that's the way the cookie crumbled. The Phillies never recovered from Utley's gaff, and the bullpens of both teams shut things down the rest of the way. Not quite what I had in mind yesterday when I was hoping that the Phillies would get on off the on right foot in this the second half of their season. In fact if you ask me I'd say they got off the wrong foot. With this loss the Phillies are now 8 games under .500 at 40-48 and seem to be slipping closer and closer towards the dark abyss of rebuilding, and selling off all of their veterans. For the sake of all those like me, who have suffered with this team for the last 12 years, let's hope it doesn't come to that, but if it does just remember I told you so. Well happy trails everyone.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers continued their busy off-season today (Friday) by resigning defenseman Joni Pitkanen to a one year contract. Pitkanen led all Flyers defenseman in points last season, but he spent considerable time on the injured list and struggled during the playoffs. If he is to make a significant contribution to the Flyers this upcoming season he will have to learn how to be more durable and reliable.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
As I mentioned the Phillies are on break until tomorrow when they start the 2nd half of their season by opening a 3 game set in San Francisco with the Giants. Jon Lieber will be on the mound for the Phillies in the 1st game of the series. Opposing him for the Giants will be Matt Morris. Here's hoping the Phillies get off on the right foot, and happy trails everyone.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers announced today that they have signed free agents Boyd Kane, Daniel Corso and Martin Grenier and re-signed right wing Matt Ellison each to a one-year contract. As far as I know all of these guys are career AHLers with limited NHL experience, but I guess since virtually every player on the Phantoms roster ended up with the Flyers last season, they had to give them something.
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