The Phils continued their series with the Mets this afternoon. Roy Halladay got the start and was brilliant going the distance again while allowing just 3 hits and striking out 6. The Mets like most teams this season never really never figured him out. Meanwhile, Mike Pelfrey who came in riding a 27 inning scoreless streak, with and ERA under 1 for the season, saw everything come crashing down for him today as the Phils got to him in the 4th inning. Up until then it was a scoreless pitcher's duel but then NY opened that inning with 2 errors. Jayson Werth followed with an RBI single, Ramon Castro slapped a 2 run double and Shane Victorino crushed a 3 run homer to put 6-0. From there they never looked back.
Raul Ibanez crunched a 2 run triple in the 5th to make 8-0. Then Werth and Carlos Ruiz each collected RBI singles in the 7th for a 10-0 lead. Halladay took it from there retiring the last 4 batters in order for the win. Now that's all well and good with Roy on the mound but the real question is whether or not the Phils can play that consistently without Roy on the mound. Hopefully this win gets them going again. Certainly the lineup looked like itself again so that is a good a sign. Also the bullpen didn't have any work to do so they will be rested for tomorrow night with Jamie Moyer on the mound. I guess for now then all is good for the Phils. Right now at 13-10 overall they're back up to 2nd in the NL East .5 games behind NY, not a bad place to be at the beginning of the 2nd month of the season.
Saturday, May 01, 2010
FLYERS NEWS
The Flyers and Bruins began their conference semifinal series this afternoon with game 1 in Boston and what a game it was. It start so well with the Flyers appearing a little sluggish, and maybe affected the 8 game layoff they rode into today. Whatever the reason they just didn't play a good 1st period and found themselves down 2-0. They picked it up in the 2nd period with the scores by Ryan Parent on an odd man rush and Chris Pronger on the power play. Unfortunately, Boston, perhaps benefiting from an illegal pick, managed a power play goal of their own to stay ahead 3-2 heading into the 3rd. Early a questionable penalty call on Brian Boucher and Danny Briere's failure to stay with his man led to another Boston power play goal and 4-2 lead.
All hope seemed lost but the Orange and Black did not give up. Five minutes Mike Richards scored on the power play to cut it to 4-3. Then with just over 4 minutes to play Danny Briere broke away on his own and made a spectacular through 2 defenders, was stopped initially by Boston's Tuuka Rask and then slapped in the rebound to tie it up at 4. Both teams had opportunities for the win in regulation after that, particularly Darrell Powe who was all alone crashing net but somehow Rask knocked puck the away from him at the last second. So the game went into overtime where Boston was dominant but somehow thanks 14 saves, many incredible, the Flyers hung in there for about 7 minutes and actually had a couple chances of their own for the win. Finally about 7 minutes into the period Marc Savard got hold of the puck thanks to a lucky bounce and let one fly, that Ville Leino was too lazy to block away and Boucher too stunned to stop as it caught the net for 5-4 win.
So the Flyers fall 1 game down to start series and but I still feel they can win this series. In my mind they really were the better team in this one they just made too many mistakes. You could even make the argument that everything Boston got in this one the Flyers gave them. I mean just one less mistake by the Orange and Black and they would have won 4-3 in regulation. Boucher had 41 saves and it appears he's still on his game. The defense still looked pretty good also, well other than Briere's mistakes and laziness by Leino and Scott Hartnell, but that's something the Flyers can correct. Also they really had no problem scoring even without Carter and Gagne, plus Boston lost Marco Sturm for the rest of the playoffs early in the game. So there are still plenty of reasons to believe the Flyers can pull this one out, it's just probably going to be a longer series than round 1 against New Jersey.
All hope seemed lost but the Orange and Black did not give up. Five minutes Mike Richards scored on the power play to cut it to 4-3. Then with just over 4 minutes to play Danny Briere broke away on his own and made a spectacular through 2 defenders, was stopped initially by Boston's Tuuka Rask and then slapped in the rebound to tie it up at 4. Both teams had opportunities for the win in regulation after that, particularly Darrell Powe who was all alone crashing net but somehow Rask knocked puck the away from him at the last second. So the game went into overtime where Boston was dominant but somehow thanks 14 saves, many incredible, the Flyers hung in there for about 7 minutes and actually had a couple chances of their own for the win. Finally about 7 minutes into the period Marc Savard got hold of the puck thanks to a lucky bounce and let one fly, that Ville Leino was too lazy to block away and Boucher too stunned to stop as it caught the net for 5-4 win.
So the Flyers fall 1 game down to start series and but I still feel they can win this series. In my mind they really were the better team in this one they just made too many mistakes. You could even make the argument that everything Boston got in this one the Flyers gave them. I mean just one less mistake by the Orange and Black and they would have won 4-3 in regulation. Boucher had 41 saves and it appears he's still on his game. The defense still looked pretty good also, well other than Briere's mistakes and laziness by Leino and Scott Hartnell, but that's something the Flyers can correct. Also they really had no problem scoring even without Carter and Gagne, plus Boston lost Marco Sturm for the rest of the playoffs early in the game. So there are still plenty of reasons to believe the Flyers can pull this one out, it's just probably going to be a longer series than round 1 against New Jersey.
Friday, April 30, 2010
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils opened their series with the Mets tonight it everything but as planned. Kyle Kendrick got the start but was rocked allowing 4 runs on 5 hits, 3 of them home runs in just 5 innings. The Phils meanwhile continued to struggle at the plate, as Met's rookie John Niese held them to just 1 run on 4 hits with 7 ks over 7 innings. 3 of those 4 hits came in the 2nd inning and could have easily have caused a lot of damage to Niese, if not for some spectacular Met's defense with Jeff Franceour and Jason Bay each robbing the Phils of extra base hits. They never really made any inroads on Niese after that and their effort level dropped the rest of the way as they wallowed in their continued frustration. Still, only down 4-1 heading into the 7th inning the Phils still had a chance to stage comeback but then Danys Baez ,who was trying to get through a second inning, just lost it and a hit batsmen, wild pitch, walk of the pitcher, and 3 Met hits later it was 8-1 NY. From there Phils watched NY tack on another run before the finishing off the embarrassing 9-1 loss.
Rod Barajas, yes that Rod Barajas the ex Phil who did nothing while he was here except single handedly ruin Brett Myers' career, once again killed his old team going 3 for 4, with 2 homers and 3 RBIs. I just wonder how he keeps doing it against the Phils, I mean the rest of the season he isn't even Mendoza, but suddenly against the Phils he turns into Babe Ruth. Brad Lidge got a chance to pitch in the 9th but only briefly and it was mixed bax for him. With a lucky swing Barajas homered off him to start the inning. Then he looked good in getting Frank Catalanotto to fly out, but finished his outing by allowing Angel Pagan to slap a single. So all in all considering all the time he's missed it was not an awful first outing for Lidge. He like most closers struggles in non save situations and obviously it is going to take him a few outings to catch up with everyone else so I wouldn't count him out just yet. If nothing else J.C Romero, who came for Lidge, did look pretty good again in finishing off the 9th inning, but he's still not quite ready for his old work load just yet. A few more outings should do the trick.
The bad luck with injuries continued for the Phils earlier today as Ryan Madson went on the DL with a broken toe after kicking a chair following his last outing. So you guessed it, Antonio Bastardo is back with the big club, at least until Monday when Joe Blanton is scheduled to come off the DL. As for the Phils with the loss they drop to 12-10 overall which puts them in the 3rd place in the NL East behind NY and the Washingon Nationals. Obviously things won't stay like that for the rest of the seaon but the Phils are going to have to pick it up again at some point
Rod Barajas, yes that Rod Barajas the ex Phil who did nothing while he was here except single handedly ruin Brett Myers' career, once again killed his old team going 3 for 4, with 2 homers and 3 RBIs. I just wonder how he keeps doing it against the Phils, I mean the rest of the season he isn't even Mendoza, but suddenly against the Phils he turns into Babe Ruth. Brad Lidge got a chance to pitch in the 9th but only briefly and it was mixed bax for him. With a lucky swing Barajas homered off him to start the inning. Then he looked good in getting Frank Catalanotto to fly out, but finished his outing by allowing Angel Pagan to slap a single. So all in all considering all the time he's missed it was not an awful first outing for Lidge. He like most closers struggles in non save situations and obviously it is going to take him a few outings to catch up with everyone else so I wouldn't count him out just yet. If nothing else J.C Romero, who came for Lidge, did look pretty good again in finishing off the 9th inning, but he's still not quite ready for his old work load just yet. A few more outings should do the trick.
The bad luck with injuries continued for the Phils earlier today as Ryan Madson went on the DL with a broken toe after kicking a chair following his last outing. So you guessed it, Antonio Bastardo is back with the big club, at least until Monday when Joe Blanton is scheduled to come off the DL. As for the Phils with the loss they drop to 12-10 overall which puts them in the 3rd place in the NL East behind NY and the Washingon Nationals. Obviously things won't stay like that for the rest of the seaon but the Phils are going to have to pick it up again at some point
Thursday, April 29, 2010
PHILLIES NEWS
The Phils activated Brad Lidge from the DL at last. He'll be available to pitch in the series against the Mets starting tomorrow. We'll know soon enough whether he's back to his old self this season or not. To make room for the Lidge the Phils sent Antonio Bastardo back down to AAA for now anyway. He had pitching pretty well his last couple times out so it's just a shame they ran out of room for him.
EAGLES NEWS
The Birds signed Kevin Kolb to a 1 year 12.26 million extension today so he now two seasons to prove himself and ink an even bigger extension.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
PHILLIES NEWS
There's a been a lot of talk over the years of the Phils losing early season games that they shouldn't, but for each of those instances there always seems to be a game the Phils win that they shouldn't have. This afternoon one such affair. Cole Hamels got the start and was his usual uneven self. He struck out 10 over 6 innings but also wound up allowing 4 runs on 10 hits after failing to get out of a bases loaded jam in the 6th. With Tim Lincecum, the reigning CY Young award winner, on the mound for the Giants you would think this was going to be bad day for the Phils but it wasn't. Lincecum went and 8 and 1/3rd allowing just 1 run on 3 hits, 2 of them by Ryan Howard including a solo homer. Then Giant's skipper Bruce Bochy made the bone headed decision to remove Lincecum from the game in favor of Bryan Wilson who had been the best closer in the NL this season up until now.
He wasn't so great today. He loaded the bases with 2 out for Jayson Werth, who after a great at bat, blooped a bases clearing double to right field just in inside foul line to tie things up at 4. From there in the top of the 10th, Brian Schneider was hit by a pitch, sacrificed to 2nd, moved to 3rd on a Shane Victorino single and then scored a wild pitch to put the Phils up 5-4. Ryan Madson couldn't hold the lead in the bottom of the inning though and the game went to an 11th inning tied at 5. There Eugenio Velez gave away the Giant's hopes of a sweep. First Wilson Valdez launched an RBI double just over Velez's head for a 6-5 lead. Then Velez dropped a routine pop up allowing Valdez to score and push the lead to 7-5. Finally in the bottom of 11th Nelson Figueroa of all people got closed things out for his first career save, but only Nate Schuerholz slapped an RBI double and Schneider made a spectacular play at the plate doing a 360 almost after a slightly wide Howard throw to spin around and tag out Juan Uribe, who tried to score on a ground ball, and preserve the 7-6 win.
Chase Utley collected his 1000th career hit in the game. As Harry would say, Chase you are the man. The Giants had 17 hits in the game but only 6 runs which again shows how bad they are at knocking in runs. It was great to see Howard collect two hits off Lincecum. Maybe he is more than just a slugger after all. I wonder which is the real Cole Hamels. The one who struck out 10 or the one who allowed 4 runs on 10 hits. I still believe it is the latter but only time will tell. With the win the Phils did indeed finish 4-5 on the road trip, not bad considering how awful they played at times. They are now 12-9 overall and remain 2nd in the NL East. They can move back in to first if they can take of the NY Mets this weekend.
He wasn't so great today. He loaded the bases with 2 out for Jayson Werth, who after a great at bat, blooped a bases clearing double to right field just in inside foul line to tie things up at 4. From there in the top of the 10th, Brian Schneider was hit by a pitch, sacrificed to 2nd, moved to 3rd on a Shane Victorino single and then scored a wild pitch to put the Phils up 5-4. Ryan Madson couldn't hold the lead in the bottom of the inning though and the game went to an 11th inning tied at 5. There Eugenio Velez gave away the Giant's hopes of a sweep. First Wilson Valdez launched an RBI double just over Velez's head for a 6-5 lead. Then Velez dropped a routine pop up allowing Valdez to score and push the lead to 7-5. Finally in the bottom of 11th Nelson Figueroa of all people got closed things out for his first career save, but only Nate Schuerholz slapped an RBI double and Schneider made a spectacular play at the plate doing a 360 almost after a slightly wide Howard throw to spin around and tag out Juan Uribe, who tried to score on a ground ball, and preserve the 7-6 win.
Chase Utley collected his 1000th career hit in the game. As Harry would say, Chase you are the man. The Giants had 17 hits in the game but only 6 runs which again shows how bad they are at knocking in runs. It was great to see Howard collect two hits off Lincecum. Maybe he is more than just a slugger after all. I wonder which is the real Cole Hamels. The one who struck out 10 or the one who allowed 4 runs on 10 hits. I still believe it is the latter but only time will tell. With the win the Phils did indeed finish 4-5 on the road trip, not bad considering how awful they played at times. They are now 12-9 overall and remain 2nd in the NL East. They can move back in to first if they can take of the NY Mets this weekend.
EAGLES NEWS
The Eagles signed punter Ken Parrish today. He is a local product from East Stroudsburg and will compete with Sav Rocca to be the Eagles starting punter. He tried for the Birds before but it was cut before the season. With Rocca having an inconsistent season last year he stands a better chance of making the team this time around. Who knows a local hero could be just what the Birds to break the curse that's been hanging over them for the last 50 years.
FLYERS NEWS
It's official the Flyers will play the Boston Bruins in the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs starting saturday. That's right mr. Ovechkin and the Capitals were knocked out last night by the Montreal Canadiens losing game 7 of their series 2-1. I can't wait until Saturday.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
PHILLIES NEWS
Tonight was one of those nights for the Phils where nothing went right and I mean nothing. The best thing they can do after this one is forget about it move on, but that won't be easy. Once again they couldn't hit with runners in scoring position. They also compounded things with some very sloppy play. Chase Utley and Ryan Howard each got thrown out at 2nd trying to stretch a single into double. Although they did turn a highlight reel double play early in the game Chase and Juan Castro mistimed a double play late in the game leading to an error when Chase couldn't get the ball out of his glove right away. That caused Chad Durbin to have his first bad inning of the season. Finally although he pitch effectively enough to keep the Phils in the game and give them a chance to win Jamie Moyer allowed 2 homers in the 2nd inning putting the Phils in a hole from which they would never escape. Oh and once again there were questionable balls and strikes almost all going in the Giants favor.
As poorly as they played the Phils actually only lost by 4 with the final score 6-2, which just shows how poor the Giants lineup is and how well Moyer battled in allowing just 4 runs against 10 hits in 6 solid innnigs. It was such a disgusting effort I don 't want to too much more about it. However, there were a few positives the Phils can take out of this one. With his 6 innings tonight Moyer has now 6 innings in all 4 of his starts this season and has yet to allow more than 5 runs which makes him, behind Roy Halladay, the Phils most consistent starter right now. As long he keeps eating up innings and saving the bullpen like he did tonight he won't be leaving the rotation any time soon. J.C Romero made his 2nd appearance tonight since coming off DL and looked sharp with a 1-2-3 8th inning. In fact he really looked like the old J.C pumpimp himself up after every pitch. That's a good sign that the Phils bullpen can indeed improve over the coming weeks and might not be in too much trouble after all if indeed Romero and Brad Lidge, who returns Monday, are strong and healthy again.
With the loss the Phils drop out of 1st place for the 1st time since last May. They've got a lot to be thankful for though. Despite their awful play of late they have still managed to go 3-5 on their current road trip and could 4-5 on the trip with a win tomorrow, basically breaking even. Conversely, the Braves, who are on a similar road trip and have played just as poorly, have lost 7 in a row. So even the Phils worst is better than most teams below average play and that's really why they are so good. After all how many teams do you know that can be awful and still play near .500 ball?
As poorly as they played the Phils actually only lost by 4 with the final score 6-2, which just shows how poor the Giants lineup is and how well Moyer battled in allowing just 4 runs against 10 hits in 6 solid innnigs. It was such a disgusting effort I don 't want to too much more about it. However, there were a few positives the Phils can take out of this one. With his 6 innings tonight Moyer has now 6 innings in all 4 of his starts this season and has yet to allow more than 5 runs which makes him, behind Roy Halladay, the Phils most consistent starter right now. As long he keeps eating up innings and saving the bullpen like he did tonight he won't be leaving the rotation any time soon. J.C Romero made his 2nd appearance tonight since coming off DL and looked sharp with a 1-2-3 8th inning. In fact he really looked like the old J.C pumpimp himself up after every pitch. That's a good sign that the Phils bullpen can indeed improve over the coming weeks and might not be in too much trouble after all if indeed Romero and Brad Lidge, who returns Monday, are strong and healthy again.
With the loss the Phils drop out of 1st place for the 1st time since last May. They've got a lot to be thankful for though. Despite their awful play of late they have still managed to go 3-5 on their current road trip and could 4-5 on the trip with a win tomorrow, basically breaking even. Conversely, the Braves, who are on a similar road trip and have played just as poorly, have lost 7 in a row. So even the Phils worst is better than most teams below average play and that's really why they are so good. After all how many teams do you know that can be awful and still play near .500 ball?
FLYERS NEWS
Bad news Flyer's fans, Ian Laperiere is finished for the season as he apparently suffered a brain injury when he took that puck to the face during game 5 of the conference quarterfinal series. It will simply be to dangerous for him to play again this season. Losing him really hurts the Orange and Black as he along with Blair Betts formed the Flyer's penalty kill unit which will be key in the next round of the playoffs whenever it starts. Now they'll have to penalty kill without him laying out to block shots. Since their defense remains healthy and intact they may just be able to get by without him. Also the team could be doubly motivated now to play well in his honor. So don't count the Orange and Black just yet. If they can score without Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne then why can't they penalty kill without Laperiere. Hey it could happen.
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