I don't know about you, but I'm heading into this post season in a much more relaxed and confident mode than last year. I really think this Phils team can do some damage this postseason. As everyone has pointed out, the key to our postseason will be Brett Myers. If he performs well and returns to the form he showed after his trip to the minors, but prior to his last two brutal starts, then the Phils could make this a pretty short series.
When I look at the Brewers, they look awfully top heavy. Sure, they have Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and CC Sabathia, but what else do they have that scares you? Not a whole lot. Do Ray Durham, Corey "I Wear My Sunglasses At Night" Hart, washed up Mike Cameron, Jason Kendall, Jeff Suppan, Dave Bush and Manny Para get you excited? Didn't think so.
Plus, yours truly will be in the stands tomorrow and as of right now, I have an extra ticket. If you are interested, email me, call me or text me. I'm pretty excited about going to my first ever post season baseball game. I can't thank my main man Uncle Farrell enough.
Sure, everyone will point to the goal line stand and the muffed punt by DeSean, but I think this game was lost in two places:
1) David Akers. He's done. His kick offs leave something to be desired and he now longer can make kicks over 40 yards. It seems like he is compensating for lack of leg strength, which causes him to be incredibly inaccurate. I would not be shocked to see the Birds bring in some kickers this week. Kickers are too valuable to keep a guy around for sentimental value; and
2) On the third down prior to the Bears' last field goal, Kyle Orton clearly, clearly grounded the ball, but it was not called. Had that 10 yard penalty been called, the field goal would have been a 51 yarder, which would have been much tougher.
There were so many missed opportunities tonight. They really shot themselves in the foot. Hopefully, a game like this doesn't come back to haunt them, but it could in such a tight division as the NFC East.
By the way, Reid just said he didn't call a QB sneak on 4th and goal because D Mac was banged up from last week. Sorry. That's a total bullshit play. Had they called a sneak, he gets in. No doubt. Watch the replay and watch the initial line surge by the guards and center. They got some push. D Mac would have gotten in the end zone. What a friggin mistake.
This game feels way too much like last year's Giants' Sunday night game where the Phils clinched on the same day and a ton of guys were out injured. I see a Bears 17-10 upset.
Don't kill the messenger. Just trying to read the tea leaves.
I'll blog more on this in detail in the next day or so, but how friggin' awesome was it to see this again.
Two straight years of division titles is unbelievable. Now, let's do something in the postseason this year. Last year's division series, didn't seem like it actually exisited since the games were relegated to either late afternoon or late night viewing. Let's hope the friggin powers that be put us on at a decent hour so we actually watch the games this year. (I'm hoping the Mets lose out for this very reason.)
Anyhow, I was bitching about the lack of signature plays this year, but we finally got one for this year. It just took 161 games. The double play to end yesterday's game was beyond clutch. I think we'll be remembering that one for years to come.
I just read that Kendrick is starting today. I was really hoping to see Adam Eaton get a start and get torched. That would have been humorous.
Have a great, stress free Sunday....at least until 8:30. And, let's all root for the Mets and Brewers to have a similar result so they have to play a playoff game and tire out their pitching staff's even further.
I would like to personally thank the Cubs for throwing in the towel tonight and failing to put a major league lineup out on the field. Thanks guys. You brought a pitcher in the top of the 9th with a 6.50 ERA. You had no intention of helping out the Phils tonight. We'll see how Karma pays you back in the playoffs.
I guess we'll now have to sweat out the weekend with the Phils up a game and the Nats coming to town. The Mets have the Marlins coming in and let's hope we see a repeat of last year.
As for the Wild Card situation, at worst the Phils will go into the weekend 2 games up on Milwaukee. They face the Cubs, which isn't such a good thing since it appears they are now more concerned with getting their team set up for a postseason run instead of playing it straight.
On the bright side, this team over the past two years always seems to react well to situations like this. They seem to rise up and play well just when it looks like they are ready to implode. Lord, I can't tell you how bad I would like to see a 5 or 6 run 1st or 2nd inning tomorrow night. I don't think this weekend will be that easy though. It never is.
I'm going to go on the record now....Brett, you never had me fooled. I knew you were a piece of shit no matter how well you pitched for a six week span after you were sent to the minors. Your last two starts just confirmed my suspicions.
This team drives me up a wall. I was totally confident that we'd have a spot wrapped up by Thursday and we'd have Adam Eaton pitching this weekend for shits and giggles. Now, we'll all have to endure an excruciating, pressure filled weekend of baseball. We'll probably be tied in the division and have a one game lead in the Wild Card come Friday night with fat ass Joe Blanton going to the mound. I can't wait to have that worthless turd pitching with our season on the line.
The more I think about it the more I realize that I completely despise this team. There is nothing romantic about this group. Even if they make the playoffs, there's not many memorable moments about this team except for their inconsistency.
Once again, we were reminded what it is like to be a Philly Sports Phan. Nothing ever comes easy. There are no hand outs given to the teams which inhabit sterling facilities in South Philly. The Phils are going to have to work for their post season spot as they lost one tonight to the Braves and the Mets conveniently won and it looks like the Brewers will win also. I knew things were going along too smoothly.
Anyhow, is anyone else questioning whether Cole is a true ace? He has not had his best stuff in his last couple outings. His last two starts were a struggle despite not giving up a lot of runs. I'm just waiting for him to grab the team in a big spot and carry them on his back. We haven't seen that this season.
Ok, I'm going to bed. I'm pretty perturbed tonight.
Pat Burrell hasn't done much the last couple months, but he has hit two mammoth home runs to win games against the Braves in the past week or so. Christ, I'm really going to miss his inconsistency when he's DH'ing in the AL West next year.
As big as the Burrell homer was, the quality start from J.A. Happ and especially the run scratched out by Greg Golson may have been bigger. Thank God the Braves didn't start Brian McCann because the rookie in his place did a real shitty job blocking the plate. It almost seems to me like the Braves are trying to stick it to the Mets.
As for the Mets, they lost again, with the big hit being a grand slam by the Cubs starting pitcher, Jason Marquis. Yes, the Mets gave up a grand slam to a pitcher. Folks, you can't make this stuff up at this point. We are moving to the "Theater of the Absurd" area. How else can this team blow games?
As promised, I am not commenting on our prospects to make the post season.
I was wr...wr....wro.....wrong! B Dawk is not done. He showed on Sunday that he's still an outstanding blitzer and can play close to the line in the box on run downs. However, let's not forget what happened last week. I don't think you can leave him in single coverage anymore, especially against top notch Tight Ends or WR's. I am not really sure if he can play a pure centerfield either. I suppose I'm being slightly negative and should bask in the glow of his outstanding performance Sunday.
In any event, this picture:
is almost as good as this one.
I think we have to agree on one thing, no one has better action shots than B Dawk.
After watching his 8 catch performance yesterday, I suppose Hank has been, as Sarge Matthews would say, "generized" by his new woman. Good for him, I guess. From watching the show, she seems like a complete slut and I hope he doesn't spread any potential diseases in the locker room.
I also came across Ryan Howard's girlfriend. He apparently has taken a more low key approach as he's dating some chick from Kutztown. Call me crazy, but I think this is a much smarter approach. Plus, I'd definitely hit it.
I'll go into more depth tomorrow, but today's game had a bizarre feel to it with our various injuries and the return of our pass rush. We moved the ball pretty well until D Mac was pile drived onto his right shoulder and B West twisted his ankle on successive plays. From there on out, moving the ball was quite a chore.
Thankfully, the defense stepped up and every member of the defense played their best game of the season. Stewart Bradley finally flashed the promise that he showed last year. The defensive ends were disruptive and the safeties were a factor. In fact, Dawk made one of the best plays I've seen him make in years. He might have a little more in the tank than we all thought. Sav Rocca also played his best game as an Eagle. He was absolutely booming some of those punts.
However, the health of B West is the real issue facing this team. We all know what this team becomes with out him.
The Phils continued their series with the Fish this weekend. However, since any time I write anything positive about this team, it seems to spur them to a losing streak, I won't acknowledge what happened out of my desire to not derail anything positive they have going on. I'll just post a few pictures that explain what occurred the last couple days.
Although, I would like to thank the Mets' bullpen for making things a bit easier on the Phils.
Fuck Brett Myers you wife beating piece of shit...Fuck Rudy Seanez for being an old ass scrap heap pick up....Fuck Alfredo Amezaga for hitting that gut wrenching homer...and Fuck Les Walrond because every time you come into the game I feel like I'm watching a Triple A game. Yes, I'm pissed. We just can't beat these guys.
Plus, since the Mets won, we're back in 2nd place in the NL East, but lucky us, we're still leading the wild card race. Since the Brewers look to have totally hit the skids, I suppose it doesn't matter if we win the East or not. A post season spot is a post season spot.
Was anyone else incredibly frustrated watching Brett Myers giving the lead right back after the Phils clawed back from a 5 to 2 deficit? It was all started after Ryan Howard dropped a pop up that he made ten times more difficult than he needed to.
Let's see if fat ass Blanton can pick up where he left off last Sunday. I'm not getting the warm and fuzzies for this series.
I know I am. I really don't want to acknowledge the fact that they've won seven in a row since I wrote them off. We've been trained to expect the worst in this city (our most recent example being Monday night) and I'm just not ready to fully give myself up to this team. They have toyed with my emotions most of the year and I'm not really sure what to expect night to night, inning to inning, let alone over 9 games.
I'm just going to leave it at that and hope they can keep raking in victories over the next 9 games and somehow claw their way into the postseason.
In one of the least shocking moves in recent club history, the Flyers announced Mike Richards will their 17th Captain in franchise history. Seriously, was their any other choice? Sure, the kid is only 23, but he is the closest thing to a Bobby Clarke/Mark Messier I've seen on this team since...Bobby Clarke! Ok, Dave Poulin and Keith Primeau were pretty good captains over the years, but neither combined the leadership, scoring and physical play that Richards brings to the table.
In the early part of his career, Richards has been the epitome of Flyers hockey. I can't agree any more from this comment from Coach Stevens:
“I just think Mike Richards is a player that has all the characteristics we want on our team. We want a guy out there, that when we see him playing, he is representative of the identity of our hockey team. I think Mike is all of that.”
I know we have a lot going on in this city with the Phils' post season push and the Birds looking pretty strong in the early season, but I'm always excited to talk a little hockey. Can't wait for training camp to get here.
By the way, I came across this picture of Mike Richards and Porn Star Gina Lynn. I guess he scores off the ice as well.
Last night's Birds/Boys Monday Night Football game, provided a ton of great, fun moments and memories, but ultimately the Birds just couldn't get it done as the Boys took advantage of a curious fumble at a very inopportune time and the defense pretty much let the Cowboys do whatever they wanted all night long.
Despite the loss, I came away from this game feeling really good about this team. D Mac looks completely healthy and has the look of a mature QB ready to lead his team to great things. Other than the ridiculous fumble in the 4th quarter, I really do not have any complaints about D Mac' s performance thus far in the 2008 season. He has the look of a guy who is ready to dominate. Unfortunately, the same thing can't be said of the defense.
Last night's loss falls squarely on the shoulders of the defense. The Birds failed to generate any pressure on the QB and had no answer for stopping Jason Witten, which maily fell to the responsibility of Brian Dawkins. While I think Trent Cole and friends will show up at some point this season and provide a better than average pass rush, I really think we have to come terms with the fact that B Dawk is done as a useful player in the NFL. In fact, if we had anyone competent behind him, I think the Birds would have done to Dawkins what they did to Trotter last year. It's sad to say as I really appreciate everything the guy did for the Birds over the years, but he's done and the Eagles would be better off with someone younger at that spot on the field.
The Birds now come back to Philly for another big time matchup against the formidable Steelers. We really could be looking at a 1-2 hole after this Sunday. However, if the offense shows up and plays similar to how they looked last night, I think we'll be ok.
Here are some other thoughts:
-I heard a rumor that the ball that Tony Romo fumbled on the Birds first defensive TD in more than a year, was the same K ball he bobbled at the end of the Seahawks/Boys Wild Card game two years ago.
-When DeSean Jackson prematurely celebrated his touchdown last evening, I thought it was the first time I had ever seen anything like it in my life. Boy was I wrong. Not only has there been several similar moments like that, but it wasn't DeSean's first experience screwing up a TD celebration.
I guess my memory is starting to go on me.
-Why wasn't one of our three main corners used to cover Jason Witten? Christ, the Boys barely have a 2nd WR option, let alone a 3rd.
-Did Stewart Bradley even suit up last night? Other than get beat deep by Marion Barber, he was inconspicuous last night.
I'm on my way out the door to meet up with my boys to watch the Birds/Boys up at Skeeter's Pub (formerly Reggie's). Please with hold your jokes as to how I weaseled my way out of the house to the end of this post.
Anyhow, before I leave, I want to put my pick up on the site.
I see an Eagles 24 to 21 victory....in overtime. Yes, OT. I just have a feeling that after a pretty dramatic week of football, the Birds/Boys will cap it off with an instant classic.
Dallas Day is finally upon us and I am beyond myself with excitement. I think we are faced with the defining game of the season. If the Birds can play with or possibly beat the Boys tonight, I really think we'll be setting ourselves up for a season of excitement.
I, for one, think we are definitely going to bring our "A game". We may lose, but the Boys will know they were in a fight.
There are two keys for me:
1) Keep the pressure off D Mac; and 2) Get after Romo.
If the Birds are successful on both fronts, we win the game. However, those things are easier said then done.
By the way, if DeSean Jackson has a big game, I'll be afraid of the hysteria he will cause in this city.
Nothing wakes up our Phils like yours truly counting them out. I had them dead and buried after losing 2 out of 3 to the Marlins. Well, lo and behold, the Phils swept four straight games from the Brew Crew to pull themselves even in the wild card race and one game back in the division. Now, they have totally sucked me back in Godfather III style...see below.
I've only given up on them once so far this year, which means I'm way behind last year's pace. I have to say that truly don't know what to expect down the stretch this year. The number of guys that have been up and down over the last month has been overwhelming. One night, Blanton looks like a bum and then today he gives a solid performance. J Roll looks like shit for 2/3 of the season, then flips a switch and now seems poised to get on a hot streak. (By the way, he had 3 walks in tonight's night cap. I'm not a stats guy. Can someone look up how many times that's happened in his career? It has to be under 10.) It took up to September, but Brett Myers finally is showing why he was named the #1 starter out of Spring Training.
At this point, I think I'm just going to enjoy these last 12 games and see if the Phils can pull out a post season spot. I offer no predictions whatsoever. It just depends who gets hot when, and Christ would it be nice for Chase to finally contribute.
Yup, things were that bad on the Banks of the Raritan last evening. As horrible as the game was, three good things did come out of it:
1) I no longer have to worry about Penn State trying to steal Greg Schiano away when Joe Pa retires. (Something tells me Greg woke up this morning rethinking his decision to turn down Miami AND Michigan.)
2) so many people left early, I was able to get home at a decent time; and
3) my schedule of Fall Saturdays just opened up quite a bit!
I don't think you guys are going to have to worry about me talking RU sports any time soon. This season is OVER for all intents and purposes.
(I wrote this after the game on Wednesday, but due to technical difficulties it is being posted today. Sorry about that!)
We are gathered here today to pay our respects to the 2008 Phillies. They officially died today in the top of the 8th inning when Brett Myers and Chad Durbin combined to give up the deciding runs agains the Marlins. The Phils are now 4 games back in loss column in both the NL East and the NL Wild Card with only 16 games left to play. We should not expect another miracle. I simply can't see the Mets or Brew Crew falling apart down the stretch like the Mets did last year when both teams have stud #1 pitchers.
We will be left wondering what happened to this year's team. At different parts of the season, the Phils had a productive offense, respectable starting pitching and a dominant bullpen. Unfortunately, they could never put it all together and the offense went ice cold at several points in the season with the bullpen absolutely shit the bed since the 13 inning game victory against the Mets last month.
I'll remember the great early season by Utley, Ryan Howard's moonshots and horrible at bats, the whacky up and downs of Brett Myers, Brad Lidge becoming the most reliable Phils' closer of all time and that crazy finish early in the season when Victorino threw a Brave out at the plate to save a victory.
However, since we are a pessimistic group of phans, I'll remember more the frustration level that I experienced with this group of Phillies. Something was missing with this group. Alas, the magic just wasn't there and now it's time to say good bye to this group as they head into the afterlife.
Tonight, Cholly Manuel and the rest of the Phils' braintrust quite possible gave away the season. Should the Phils finish a game out of the playoffs, something tells me that we'll be looking at the decision to put Kyle Kendrick back on the mound tonight as a turning point.
I am having a hard time figuring out the thinking behind starting Kendrick after skipping him in the rotation last week. Lt. Kendrick has not been the same since late June as he hasn't gone more than 6 innings since June. However, more problematic is that he gave up 6 or more runs in three out of his last five starts. Basically, heading into tonight, it was pretty clear that he's lost it and the league has caught up to the guy. Throwing him into a pennant race was down right criminal. We deserve Cholly's head on a platter.
I truly believe that J.A. Happ would have been a better option tonight. Instead of thinking outside the box a little, the Phils went with the predictable option and now we're behind the 8 ball again. To compound matters, the Mets won again putting the Phils 2 and 1/2 games back.
It's a shame how far Kendrick has fallen so fast, but I sure hope we are done with him until next year. I've seen enough from him in '08.
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By the way, when the hell did the Phils pick up Tad Iguchi? We now have the Japanese invasion on our better.
Dallas' part time cornerback and full time scumbag thug, Adam "Pacman" Jones, wasn't blown away by the aerial show unleashed yesterday by D Mac, DeSean and Co. When asked about whether he was impressed by the Birds' performance yesterday, Pacman responded:
Boy, could I have not been more wrong about what to expect from the Birds' offense today. I predicted the following:
As for the offense, I see it being kind of a struggle to score without Curtis and Brown, but I think we'll make enough plays to get the job done.
Well, the Birds had more than enough big plays in their 38-3 destruction of the Rams earlier today. After watching the Cowboys in the 4 o'clock game, I wish they had held on to a couple for this week's upcoming Monday Night showdown with the dysfunctional egomaniacs from Big D.
Today, McNabb once again showed why he is the greatest quarterback to ever play in the month of September. Of course, I have no statistics to back this up, since I have a life and no time to run queries through the NFL statistical data base. However, I'm willing to bet a very large sum of money that D Mac has the best quarter back rating for games playing in the month of September in league history. (The only hole in my theory is last September where he was mostly brutal except that Lions game where they wore the funny uniforms and blasted the Lions.)
While McNabb didn't scramble for much yardage, he certainly looked more nimble when avoiding the rush, which bought him time and enabled him to get the ball down field to his backup receivers who looked pretty damn impressive, especially DeSean Jackson.
I loved what we saw from DeSean today. I just don't know if he can keep this up all season. He is woefully small and I'm afraid of whether he can hold up to the pounding or get off the jam of corners like Al Harris, etc. However, for one day, he was electric. Undoubtedly, the most exciting receiver we've seen since that WR who must not be named.
The defense played pretty well also. The most impressive thing they did was hold the Rams without a third down conversion. That is something we must see more of this season. The only downer was the lack of turnovers which we saw way too much of last year. The law of averages has to turn around, doesn't it? In any event, today's game was more like a 5th preseason game for the defense. They'll see a much stiffer test against Romo and crew next week.
As great as the defense played, I'm pretty sure this is the only defensive play from this game that we'll remember at the end of the year:
As if we needed to be reminded again, Sheldon Brown can flat out lay the wood to people.
Today's win was a great way to kick off the season, but more importantly, it sets up the upcoming week perfectly. There is no better way for us to head into Dallas week, then to come off a pounding. Next Monday night can't get here soon enough.
Finally, week one is here and I can start talking about my beloved Birds.
Today's game will be very telling. If the Birds' defense doesn't dominate today, we could be looking at a long season. These are no longer the "Greatest Show On Turf Rams" that we recall from years gone by. In fact, if you had a Ram on your fantasy roster last year, you probably didn't make the playoffs in your league. About the only good thing I can say about the Rams is that they employ my favorite all time Rutgers player, Brian Leonard. (I hope we see the above pictured Leonard Leap sometime today.)
As for the offense, I see it being kind of a struggle to score without Curtis and Brown, but I think we'll make enough plays to get the job done. I think we'll rely heavily on B West to move the ball for us and make the big plays (like this is news to anyone.)
Overall, I see a 21-10 win. Hopefully, it will be as comfortable as I envision it.
As I detailed in my last post, I have a friggin' Christening Party today, so I don't have the time to put in a detailed 2008 Season prediction, but I do want my picks on the record before the season starts and someone has a catastrophic injury that screws up a team's season (Adrian Peterson and the Vikings come to mind).
Let's get the Birds out of the way first. I came into the preseason thinking the Birds were a 10-6 team this year and then the National media came along and for some reason anointed the Birds as this year's fashionable team to make a giant leap. I'm not sure I agree with all the love that the Dr Z's of the world have showered upon them. Where is it coming from? It's not like the Birds looked phenomenal in the preseason or added anyone of significance in the last two months. I've made up my mind that I'm not going to let this tidal wave of support sway me in any way.
So, with that being said, I'm just going to stick to my gut and put them at 10-6. I think McNabb will have a great early season, but wear down as the year goes on as he always does. I think the defense will be better than last year also. My big prediction for the season is that the Birds' 6th Round Pick, Joe Mays, will be the starter at MLB by week 8, with Stewart Bradley moving to the strong side and Chris Gocong moving to DE full time. I also think Lorenzo Booker will help the offense immensely.
I see a wild card season, with one playoff victory before losing to one of the top two NFC seeds in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. If that happens, I think we'll probably all be happy.
As for the rest of the NFL, here it goes:
NFC EAST:
1) Cowboys - 12-4
2) Birds - 10-6
3) Giants - 9-7
4) Skins - 7-9
NFC South:
1) Saints - 11-5
2) Panthers - 9-7
3) Bucs - 7-9
4) Falcons - 3-13
NFC Central:
1) Vikings - 11-5
2) Packers - 10-6
3) Lions - 8-8
4) Bears - 6-10
NFC West:
1) Cardinals - 9-7
2) Seahawks - 8-8
3) Rams - 6-10
4) Niners - 5-11
Playoff teams:
1) Cowboys
2) Saints
3) Vikings
4) Cards
5) Eagles
6) Packers
AFC East:
1) Pats - 11-5
2) JETS! - 10-6
3) Bills - 9-7
4) Dolphins 7-9
AFC South:
1) Jags - 12-4
2) Titans - 10-6
3) Colts - 9-7
4) Texans - 7-9
AFC Central:
1) Steelers: 9-7
2) Browns: 8-8
3) Ravens: 7-9
4) Bengals: 5-11
AFC West:
1) Chargers: 12-4
2) Denver: 7-9
3) Chiefs: 7-9
4) Raiders: 6-10
AFC Playoff Teams:
1) Chargers
2) Jags
3) Pats
4) Steelers
5) Titans
6) Jets
FINAL FOUR:
NFC: Cowboys over Saints
AFC: Chargers over Jags
Super Bowl:
Cowboys over Chargers (I just threw up in my mouth as I wrote this. We could be in for a long year.)
I wake up this morning excited on one hand, yet incredibly frustrated.
Today, we have an incredibly important double header for the Phils as they try to gain ground against the Mets in the NL East. We also have the Birds' NFL opener and all the fun that comes with week one of the NFL. If you care (and I do), the final "race before the Chase" in the Nascar season takes place today after being delayed a day by Hurricane Hanna. I suppose there are some people excited about the close of the U.S. Tennis Open, but I don't know of any of them.
Despite all this excitement, I am totally pissed off right now. I am going to miss part of today's Eagles' game and likely most of the first Phils' game as I have to go to a Christening party that was postponed from yesterday to today. I understand that the weather was bad yesterday, but what the fuck? How selfish a move is it to have a party on a day like today. I just got in a huge blow up with the wife over this. Of course, by not wanting to go, I'm being viewed as totally selfish and not wanting to spend any time with my daughter. I offered to take her all day and let her go to the party without me and the baby, but this was not an option.
Hey Guys, I'm finally moved into my in laws, picked a new place to live, got through Labor Day weekend, and drafted all my fantasy teams. I'm now ready to back to blogging.
Over the next couple days, I hope to get my Eagles' season prediction and a quick comment or two about the Phils. (You may recall that I broke up with them last month. Well, I'm happy to report that we may be getting back together.)
I hope that most of you come back to read my meandering musings on the world of Philly sports and promise not to leave you so long in the lerch again...At least until when I move into my next place.
(By the way, does anyone have ESPNU? I want to watch the Temple/UConn game, but Comcast doesn't have access to ESPNU. I'm really pissed off about this.)
