Saturday, July 08, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
Tonight Cory Lidle made it two good pitching performances in a row for the Phillies going 6 innings and giving up just 2 runs on 6 hits. The Phillies bullpen again did their job and kept the Pirates off the board in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. The Phillies offense for once also did their job, starting off with 4 runs in the 1st inning on RBI singles from Pat Burrell, Aaron Rowand, David Bell, and Chris Coste. Coste would eventually knock in two more runs for the Phillies to cap off a sweet 6-2 victory over the Pirates. The Phillies played a complete game today and deserve this win. I hope that they can add on to this win tomorrow and enter the all-star break on a high note. At the present time the Phillies are 39-47 good for 2nd place in the NL East a whopping 12 games back, but hey this time yesterday they were 12.5 games back, so they are at least gaining ground on the 1st place Mets, all though not much ground. Now in the wild card race they are incredibly just 5.5 games back, but there are 7 teams ahead of them. Obviously they have a lot of ground to make up in the 2nd half of the season. Right now, most people think that it is too much ground and they are probably right, but I am not ready to give up on the Phillies just yet. So in closing let me just say Let's go Phillies! and happy trails everyone.
Friday, July 07, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
As I mentioned before, Jon Lieber returned to the Phillies today and made his first start since May 29. On the whole he gave the Phillies everything they could have hoped for and more. He pitched 7 innings giving up just 3 runs, 2 in the 1st inning, and 7 hits. The Phillies bullpen did their job once again with two scoreless frames in the 8th and 9th innings. However, the Phillies offense again failed to do theirs with just 2 runs on 4 hits. Apparently, Pirates starter Ian Snell has some sort of power over the Phillies. This is the second time Snell has faced the Phillies and the second time he has befuddled the Phillies hitters. So far his career ERA against the Phillies is .064. I don't know about you, but if that is not dominance I don't know what is. Anyway because of Snell's mastery of the Phillies the game ended in 3-2 victory for the Pirates. Now to me losing to the Pirates is just pathetic, I mean right now they are the worst team in the National League by far, but of course if the Phillies keep playing the way they have been it won't take them too long to fall to the Pirates level. If they don't win the next two games in this series against the Pirates, then there maybe no hope left for them. I mean you can't go up against the worst team in the league and get swept or drop 2 of 3 games and then expect to still be able to turn things around. If you can't win a series against the worst team in the league than you can't win a series against anyone. Well, I don't know if things can get any worse for the Phillies than they are right now, so maybe just maybe at this point in the season things can only get better for the Phillies. Tune in next time to find out if they do and until then happy trails everyone.
PHILLIES NEWS
The hits just keep coming for the Phillies. For about 2 innings tonight, it looked like Phillies starter Ryan Madson was on his way to another 9 inning masterpiece and the Phillies were on their way to a big win as they racked up an early 3-0 lead. However, as soon the Padres lineup got a second chance against Madson, from the 3rd inning on, they lit him up for 8 hits and 5 runs, as the Madson left the game after just 5 innings of work. The Phillies bullpen did the job for once, and kept the Padres off the board for the rest of the game but the Phillies were not able to add on to their three runs, despite 2 hits each from Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. Translation, Padres 5, Phillies 3, and more frustration for the Phillies and their fans. Well, you know what they say there is always next year, and the year after that, and the year after that, and oh well you know what I mean. Anyway, on a more positive note the Phillies did receive some good news today as it was announced that Jon Lieber will start for the Phillies in the series opener with the Pittsburgh Pirates tomorrow night. It will be his first start since going on the DL on May 29. Hopefully he will be able to give the Phillies his best stuff, or at the very least a win. After all, he is technically the Phillies designated staff ace and the Phillies really need him to play like one. Well, until tomorrow happy trails everyone.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers just keep plugging away this off-season and today they resigned R. J. Umberger to a 2 year deal. Yes, Umberger struggled during the playoffs, but he played well during the regular season with 20 goals and 18 assists, and the Flyers seem to think that he can only get better.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
PHILLIES NEWS
Well, its' official the Phillies are not turning things around yet. Tonight they wasted the best start of the short career of Scott Mathieson, since his call up in June. Mathieson went 8 innings giving just 3 runs on 6 hits, with 5 strikeouts and no walks. On almost any other night, that performance would have given Mathieson a win, but on this night all it got him was a no decision. Early on it appeared that the Phillies might be on their way to another win as they took a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning on a passed ball by Mike Piazza. However, in the 4th inning Piazza atoned for his error with an RBI single tying the game at 1. Pitcher Jake Peavy, yes pitcher Jake Peavy then followed Piazza with a 2 run homer for a 3-1 Padres lead. The Phillies would eventually battle back to tie the game at 3 in the 8th inning but they could have had so much more. Not once, not twice, but three times in the 2nd, 3rd and 7th innings they had Padres starter Jake Peavy on the ropes with runners in scoring position and less than two outs, and came up with just one run. In the 8th inning they had the bases loaded and nobody out against reliever Scott Linebrink, and Ryan Howard at the plate, but all Howard could do was ground out into a double play, which oddly enough plated Jimmy Rollins with the tying run. All told the Phillies were a mere 1 for 7 on the night with runners in scoring position. However, despite all those missed opportunities, the Phillies still had a chance to win in the top of the 9th inning with the game tied at 3, but relievers Arthur Rhodes and Tom Gordon could not get the Phillies to the bottom of the inning with the game still tied. Kahlil bleeping Greene hit a three-run homer off Gordon with two outs, to give the Padres a 6-3 lead. In the bottom of the inning the Phils managed to get a runner on base with two out and Shane Victorino at the plate. Victorino hit a line drive which carumed off the back of closer Trevor Hoffman, to 2nd baseman Josh Barfield, who flipped to 1st, but Victorino appeared to beat Barfield's flip, which would have brought the tying run to plate. However, umpire Jim Wolf, Randy's brother, inexplicably called him out to end the game. Now, I would love to blame Wolf for today's loss, but really the blame for today's loss falls squarely on the shoulders of the Phillies offense. Way to go guys, not!
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers once again continued their busy off-season today by resigning goalie Antero Niittymaki to a one-year deal. Niittymaki had his moments last season, but it is obviously still unclear as to whether or not he is the Flyers goalie of the future. The Flyers also signed center Mark Cullen to a one year deal. Cullen is yet another small but skilled player joining the Flyers this off-season. He spent last season, his rookie season, with the Chicago Blackhawks and scored 7 goals and 9 assists for 16 points in 29 games.
PHILLIES NEWS
Could the Phillies finally be turning things around? Hey it could happen. Today's dramatic 6-5 win over the Padres gives the Phillies 2 wins in a row and renewed confidence. The Phillies started behind trailing 2-0 after 2 innings, but then the rains came and the game changed completely. In the 4th inning, following a rain delay the Phillies roared back and scored 5 runs, on a RBI double and run scored by Ryan Howard and a two run homer by Carlos Ruiz, the 1st of his career, to go ahead 5-2. The Phils bullpen took it from there, but they could not hold the lead, and by the time Tom Gordon left the mound following the top of the 9th inning he had blown a save and the game was tied at 5. Now, normally just having a tie in the 9th inning would not be cause for concern for the Phillies, but on this day they were short on pitchers, since they had used just about everybody in their bullpen considerably in getting the win on Sunday. So the Phillies really needed this game to end in the 9th and end it would. Ryan Howard led off the inning with a single. He moved up to second base, on a slow groundout by Pat Burrell. Then Aaron Rowand stepped to the plate and delivered. After falling behind in the count 0-2 Rowand worked it to 3-2 then hit a line drive base hit, that landed just fair to plate Howard with the winning run, and touch off the 4th of July celebration. Now I am a big believer in momentum, and I feel like they have a lot of it following this win. If they can just ride it until the all-star break they might just be able to get themselves back in the playoff picture and wouldn't that be sweet. Well, Happy 4th of July everybody.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers continued there busy off season today (July 4) by signing Center Randy Robitaille to a one-year deal. At 5-11, 195 pounds Robitaille is yet another small but speedy and skilled player joining the Flyers next season. In 67 games for the Minnesota Wild last year Robitaille recorded 12 goals and 28 assists for 40 points. Those aren't spectacular numbers but apparently good enough for the Flyers to think that Robitaille can add to their offense.
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