The Phils continued their series with the Padres tonight, looking to even it at one game a piece. Brett Myers got the start and pitched well, allowing just 3 runs on 2 hits in 6 and 2/3rd's innings of work. The Phils meanwhile slugged 3 homers and took a lead into the 9th inning once again poised for a win, but would it be enough this time?. In the bottom of the 2nd, Raul Ibanez slapped a solo homer for a 1-0 lead. In the top of the 3rd Adrian Gonzalez lined a 2 run homer into the seats to put the Padres up 2-1. In the top of the 5th Brian Giles doubled in a run for a 3-1 lead. In the bottom of the 5th Myers himself doubled and scored on a sac fly by Shane Victorino to cut it to 3-2. In the bottom of the 6th Ryan Howard crushed a solo homer to tie it at 3. In the top of the 8th Nick Hundley singled in a run to put the Padres up again 4-3. In the bottom of the 8th Chase Utley clobbered a solo homer and Ibanez singled and scored on a sac fly by Pedro Feliz for a 5-4 lead. That set the stage for Brad Lidge to convert his 48th consecutive save in the top of the 9th. Sadly it was not to be. First Jody Gerut doubled and scored the tying on a fielders' choice, then Kevin Kouzmanoff stunned the Phillies faithful by blasting a 2 out 3 run homer to put San Diego up 8-5. In the bottom of the 9th the Phils again came up empty to finish off their 3rd consecutive loss and drop to 4-6 overall. These San Diego Padres are just too hot for anyone right now.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils returned to the Bank tonight for the first time since the death of beloved announcer Harry Kalas. The night began with several tributes in Kalas' honor, including the naming of the tv broadcast booth as the Harry Kalas broadcast booth(the radio booth is already named after Richie Ashburn), among others. The Phils were looking to add to the tributes with a win over the visiting San Diego Padres, to get back to .500 at the Bank this season and back over .500 overall. With Cole Hamels on the mound the honorable win seemed destined to be a reality. However, Hamels again did have his best night, allowing 5 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings of work. For a while though it looked like that would be enough as the Phils were equally jarring to Padre's ace Chris Young, tagging him for 7 runs on 9 hits, but in the end it was not to be the Phils night. In the bottom of the 1st, Chase Utley slammed a 3 run homer and Chris Coste slapped a 2 run double for a quick 5-0 lead. In the top of the 3rd Luis Rodriguez launched a solo shot to cut it to 5-1. In the bottom of the 3rd Raul Ibanez tripled and scored on a single by Pedro Feliz for a 6-1 lead. In the bottom of the 4th Ryan Howard doubled in a run for a 7-1 lead. In the top of the 5th Scott Hairston lined a 2 run homer into the seats to cut it to 7-3. In the top of the 6th, Nick Hundley hit another 2 run homer to cut it to 7-5. It was still 7-5 heading into the 8th which with the Phils bullpen would seem to assure victory, but Padres weren't done yet and Ryan Madson just wasn't himself tonight. Jody Gerut singled in one run, and Hairston doubled in two more and suddenly San Diego was ahead 8-7 in the top of 8th. Brad Lidge managed to get it to the bottom of 9th with the score still 8-7, but Howard struck out leading off and Matt Stairs went down looking with one on and 2 out and the Phils had lost 8-7. So the Phils drop to 4-5 and will have to honor Harry with a win tomorrow instead after his memorial ceremony at the Bank early tomorrow morning.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers continued their opening round playoff series with the Penguins tonight in game 2. The Flyers played much better tonight but got unlucky late in the game. Marty Biron was spectacular with 46 saves out of the 49 shots he faced, and Braydon Coburn picked up two assists. In the though 46 saves just weren't quite enough for the Flyers on this night. Late in the 1st period Scott Hartnell scored off the power play for a 1-0 lead. Late in the 2nd period Bill Guerin tied it up at 1 for the Pens. Early in the 3rd period Darroll Powe scored for a 2-1 lead. From there Biron did everything in his power to push the Flyers to a win, but with just under 4 minutes to play Evgeni Malkin tied it up off the power play and the game wound up in overtime. There with about a minute and a half remaining in the overtime period, and the Pens holding a 5 on 3 advantage following a stupid penalty by Claude Giroux, for breaking another player's stick, Guerin scored to break the Flyers hearts and win it for Pittsburgh 3-2. So the Flyers trail 2-0 now and probably have only a slim chance of winning the series at this point, but you never know stranger things have happened.
EAGLES NEWS
The Eagles finally made a big offseason move today trading the lower of their 2 1st round picks, and a 4th round pick in this years draft, and an undisclosed pick in next year's draft, to the Buffalo Bills for left tackle Jason Peters and then signing Peters to a deal. Peters is a two time pro bowler and at 27 is still in the prime of his career. So on paper this is a great move for the Eagles as it finally completes the rebuilding of their offensive line(Tra Thomas signed elsewhere, and Jon Runyan is likely unavailable to anyone this season as he recovers from knee surgery). Presumably at this point with two new tackles, in Peters and Stacey Andrews and a healthy Shawn Andrews back at right guard, the Eagles could now have one of best offensive lines in the NFL. They also still have one first round pick left in the next weekend's draft with which to go after a running back or other offensive playmaker. Of course they could also use that pick a long with their 3rd round pick in a trade with the Cardinals for WR Anquan Boldin. Either way they're in good shape.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
PHILLIES NEWS
After two rainfilled afternoons, the Phils concluded their stay in Washington tonight. Joe Blanton, who was supposed to start yesterday,got the start tonight. Once again as in hirst first game Blanton was not able to put forth his best effort, but he was decent, allowing just 3 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings of work. Meanwhile his teammates didn't give him much support as the Phils plated just 2 runs on 5 hits on the day. So in the end the Phils just didn't quite have what it took to keep the Nats winless, but they did keep playing hard to the end. In the bottom of the 1st, Adam Dunn slammed a 3 run homerun for a 3-0 nat's lead. In the top of the 4th Raul Ibanez singled in a run to cut it to 3-1. In the top of the 5th Lou Marson doubled and scored on a sac fly to cut it to 3 -2. In the bottom of the 7th Josh Willingham slammed a solo homer for a 4-3 lead. In the bottom of the 8th Elijah Dukes and Alberto Gonzalez each homered and Roger Bernadina and Ryan Zimmerman each singled in runs for an 8-2 lead. From there the Nat's bullpen closed out the Phils, as the Nats got their first win 8-2. So the Phils drop back to 4-4 overall and will look to bounce back tomorrow night at the Bank.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers finished the regular season in Cleveland tonight and seemingly caught a huge break as Lebron, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Mo Williams, and Ben Wallace all sat the night out. However, they stupidly allowed the Cavs to do one thing they still could to hurt the Sixers, and that is to shoot threes and lots of them. In all Cleveland hit 10 three pointers and that was really all that kept in the game. If the Sixers would have just stayed with their man, instead of triple teaming every guy who drove to the basket, they could have won easily. I guess they maybe they were trying to both win and expend as little energy as possible at the same time. In the end their lazy play probably caused them to have expend more energy they may have wanted, in order to eek out an overtime win. Frankly they should be embarrassed that they needed overtime to beat a bunch benchwarmers. Anyway, they got the win and I guess that's all that matters. 24 points from Iggy, 20 from Thad, and 30 from Andre Miller were just enough for the win. Despite all that scoring the Sixers actually trailed until late in the 4th quarter, but finally at that point they found themselves ahead by 3 and seemingly headed to victory with the score 98-95 and just 4 seconds remaining. Instead Thad fell down trying to defend Daniel Gibson, who then drilled the resulting open three to send the game into overtime. In overtime again the Sixers seemed safely ahead, but Andre Miller missed a pair of free throws that probably would have sealed it, leaving the Cavs down 111-110 and and yes 4 seconds left. This time Royal Ivey defended Gibson and forced him to lose control of the ball long enough to not get a shot off. So the Sixers finish the season 41-41, their first .500 or better record in years, and thanks to a Bulls loss earlier in the night, just good enough for the 6th seed in the East. So the Sixers will be play the Orlando Magic in the first round of the playoffs and although the Magic swept the season series, they were all close games, so the Sixers have a shot to beat them, even if it is a slim one.
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers opened their first round playoff series with the Penguins tonight in Pittsburgh. From the beginning they looked sluggish and never really managed pick it up. Marty Biron was solid saving 29 of the 33 shots he faced, but the Flyers struggled to score all night, needing 8 power plays before finally lighting the lamp. So ultimately the Flyers did not put forth their best effort tonight and will need to play better if they expect to win this series. Early in the first period "the Kid" Sidney Crosby scored off the power play, after the puck somehow bounced off his skate without being kicked and went in, for a 1-0 Pens lead. Early in the 2nd period Tyler Kennedy made it 2-0 Pens. Early in the 3rd period Evgeni Malkin made it 3-0 Pens. Midway through the period Mark Eaton made it 4-0 Pens. Finally with just under 5 minutes to play Simon Gagne put the Flyers on the board with a power play goal. Alas, it was too late and Pens went on to win 4-1. So the Orange and Black trail the series 1-0 and will want to win game 2 to avoid putting themselves in to deep a hole against the defending Eastern conference champions.
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils got an unexpected day off today rain washed out their nightcap with Nationals. No word yet on when that game will be made up, although they could probably just play a doubleheader tomorrow if they really wanted to, its' much more likely that they'll do so later in the season.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
SIXERS NEWS
The Sixers welcomed the Celtics to the Wachovia center tonight hoping to catch a break and get a win, as with nothing left to play for, the Celtics were expected to use their starters only sparingly. Unfortunately, Paul Pierce kept annoyingly finding his way onto the court, and he alone with 7 three pointers was enough to thwart the Sixer's hopes of victory. Even Thaddeus Young , finally back in lineup tonight, couldn't save the Sixers despite 18 points and 3 steals. The Sixers' defense just wasn't good enough once again to win this one, as they allowed Boston to shoot 51% from the field and 56% from beyond the arc. It was a close game in the end only because Boston played about of half their starting lineup and only Pierce was still in the game at the end. The Sixers actually had the lead by 8 at half time with the score 58-50. Boston slowly cut into the Sixer's lead and by the halfway point of the 4th quarter they had themselves a lead. With 2 seconds to play and the Sixers possessing the ball, Boston was still leading by 2 with the score 100-98. Andre Iguodala took the inbounds pass and managed to get off a three from way beyond the arc amidst a swarm of defenders. Not surprisingly it fell short and the Sixers lost 100-98. So the Sixers drop to 40-41 overall and into 7th in the Eastern conference. At this point they cannot finish any lower than that but they can still get at least that 6th seed, if they can just figure out a way to win their last game of the season against the Cavaliers, and the Bulls lose their final game.
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