The Phillies Does Their Part and Cap Off an Incredible Sports Weekend in Philadelphia

What more can I say? ::

THE PHILLIES ARE ONE WIN AWAY FROM BEING WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!

wow....what a way to end an incredible sports weekend for Philly fans...

Above: Whoddathunkit?? Phils pitcher Joe Blanton has more home runs, hell, more hits, than the Rays #3 and #4 (Carlos Pena and Eva Longoria respectively) hitters combined. Hee hee...


First the Flyers get off their season-opening schnied by waxing the Devils in a home-and-home on Friday and Saturday night...then as the Flyers are polishing off the Devils for the second time in 24 hours, the Phillies are just starting their assault against the Tampa Bay Rays....going long into the Saturday evening and early Sunday (Game 3 ended at 01:47) and securing a 5-4 win.

Then the Eagles come off their bye and handle a very game Falcons team 27-14...and as Ashley Fox, an almost unheard phenomena struck the Linc: Phillies chants at an Eagles game!!!

Brett Myers said this of the pre-game warm-up: "I went out to throw a bullpen today," said pitcher Brett Myers, a man who has dreamed of this night for seven seasons. "And I heard one of the greatest things I've heard in a long time. "It's 4:15 in the afternoon. The Eagles are playing across the street. There's 2 minutes left. And I'm hearing Phillies chants. And that's weird, man. I'm used to hearing Eagles chants all these years. So to hear that, it gave me chills. It told me, 'These people are ready to go.' "

Then the Phils step-up in the hot glare of prime time and lay a whuppin' on the Rays 10-2....fed by Ryan Howard's two towering home runs (a three-run and a two-run shot), the first of which ripped open a close 2-1 game in the 4th inning and gave starter Joe Blanton a nice cushy 5-1 edge. He quickly gave up a solo shot to the Rays in the top of the 5th, but then right in the bottom of the inning he got it right back, and "Joltin' Joe k.o.'d a 93mph heater from Ray's pitcher, I can't remember who...what I can remember is that a hefty pitcher in Phillies pinstrips jacked a non-doubter in the 5th inning of Game 4 of the World fucking Series!!

As Sam Donnellon writes: Blanton did his usual thing last night: Six innings, two runs allowed on four hits. He worked quickly. He threw strikes, he struck out seven and walked two. He created a pace that finally loosened the grips on the Phillies' bats, or at least created the unfamiliar sights of consecutive hits, and a home run to leftfield off the bat of Ryan Howard.He also hit a home run, the first by a pitcher in a World Series in 34 years. And when he walked off, it wasn't yawns."My job is not to go out there and hit home runs," Blanton said. "My job is to go out there and throw the ball well and give my team a chance to win. And when you hear that applause coming off the mound after pitching, you kind of get that sense you did your job."

This is a guy most everyone groaned about when GM Pat Gillick picked him up at the trade deadline in July. Hell, it barely registered on my radar...I don't pay much attention to baseball. The season is too long for me to get emotionally invested like I do with the Eagles....I just figured the Phils had a chance to go get a real top-of-the-rotation stopper and decided to go for the cheaper alternative...I was wrong...the Phillies went for a competitor. Blanton competes when goes out to the mound, and the Phils responded, and going 12-4 (counting post-season) in games he's started since coming here from the A's.

Well all he did was win the biggest game in the past 15 years for the Phillies...hopefully it will soon be remember as only the 2nd biggest game in the past 15 years, as Cole Hamels goes to the mound tonight to try and close out the series...

I mean, Philly hasn't been this close, in...in...well fuck...I can't even tell you when...The Eagles SuperBowl run was awesome, but it was a single game, and the Eagles squandered early chances to score TDs in the first quarter, and we Iggles fans got that all-too-familiar creeping feeling of dread deep in our gut that we'd pay for it (and we did).

So it is not without some trepidation that we await the start of Game 5...it is scripted just as we'd want it...Staff ace Cole Hamels is our best pitcher, and we can close out the World Series at HOME! How perfect would that be....but first things first...we need to pitch, hit, run, and catch better than the Rays for 9 more innings. Now is NOT the time for celebration....I know we can't help but anticipate it....leading 3-1 in the World Series is certainly better than the alternative (we could be using our rosaries to pray for an improbably 3-game comeback by the Phillies instead of anticipating a trip down Broad Street.)

Come on fellas, bring it home...and if you do, you might just hear me cheering all the way from Japan!

Another Good Day to be a Philly Fan

WOW, folks, by almost any measure Saturday was a damn fine day to be sports fan in Philly.

The Phillies stomped the Pirates to take their road-trip to a 5-1.

The Flyers rebounded strong from a disheartening OT loss in Game 1 to even up their best-of-seven series, beating the Canadiens 4-2 and wresting home-ice advantage for the hometown boys on Broad Street.

And did the Eagles ever make some waves on Day 1 of the NFL Draft. Did they have the best day? No, it hard to make the best impression when some other teams (Carolina, KC, Dallas) came away with multiple first rounds picks. That said, the Eagles scored themselves some DT depth with ND Trevor Laws and go themselves a KR/PR and a potential contributor, match-up nightmare guy in Cal WR DeSean Jackson.

Its not the players themselves that have Eagles fans buzzing, it's how we got there. The Eagles FO swung 3 draft-day trades on Saturday.

First they got a sweet-offer for their first-round pick, #19, from Carolina. You see, Carolina wanted an OT. There were five certifiable blue-chippers this year (Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear you, two, maybe three of them will pan out and live up to expectations, but all five are considered really good). Well the top 4 prospects were gone by pick 15 (when KC moved up to take Branden Albert), and hell, even Detroit got into the act and picked up a non-Top 5 OT at Pick 17. So Carolina was desperate. They wanted them at OT, and there was NO CHANCE that a guy like Jeff Otah from Pitt (shout out to my old alma mater) was going to linger around until the second round.

So Carolina forks over a #2 and #4 pick this year, and next year's #1 selection to for Philly's #19 this year. Lo' and behold, they select Otah. Just to show how this tumbled even more teams to fall all over themselves. It helped the Washington Redskins too, because then Atlanta panicked, and seeing 6 of the Top 8 OL gone, they traded with Washington for the Redskins pick at #21, and they selected an OT as well.

So they then had two #2, one #3 and three #4 picks (along with 1-5th, 4-6th and a 7th).

Then the Eagles ship their own #4 (not Carolina's, it was higher, and they can't trade the comp pick) to Miami for scatback Lorenzo Booker. Evidently, a guy they wanted to draft last year but didn't get the chance.

However, this left the Eagles without a first round selection, and the fans, well, they were a-howling. We want to see picks! We want to debate the selection and all that fun shit. And here the Eagles are, trading down, amassing more picks in a draft were we already have 11!!

So finally, after HOURS of waiting it the Eagles turn again in round 2, and there are still a TON of quality players out there...they lost out on WR Devin Thomas, who the Redskins snagged with the second rounder they got from Atlanta, but NO wide receivers went in the first round, and Eagles were sitting there at #43 (overall) with their choice of a bevy of Wideouts...

and what do the Eagles do??

THEY TRADE DOWN AGAIN!!!!! Augh, the howls got louder. Dave Spadaro and Merrill Reese on Philadelphia Eagles.com are going looney...

They trade with Minnesota....Minnesota gets the Eagles #43 pick and Eagles lone 5th round pick (#152). The Eagles get Minnesota #47 pick and Minnesota's 4th round (#117).

So, for moving down 4 slots, the Eagles get to move back up into the 4th round (essentially moving a pick "up" 35 slots....) Here is the thinking folks...the next teams on the board following the Eagles were the Bears, Lions and Bengals. They were probably assured by the Viking that they wouldn't take a player the Eagles were targeting....So the Vikings take a safety (T Johnson), the Bears reach for a RB (M. Forte), the Lions reach for a LB (J Dizion) and the Bengals go for a hella-reach and chose some WR few people outside of the draftniks have even of and pluck some dude from Coastal Carolina (yeah, watch this dude rock). So the Eagles, still have their choice of some top-tier WRs.....and now its #47, followed, quickly by #49. THe only team in between - WASHINGTON. And the Redskins already picked a WR.

So I think this was the Eagles thinking - the Reskins need to shore up their OL and DL, so lets chose our DL first, and heck there is no way the Skins can chose all the WRs, so we're still sitting pretty. With #47 - The Eagles select Trevor Laws, DT Notre Dame. Then the Redskins go TE, and the Eagles pluck a guy many suspected they pick (if he was still around) at the #19 position - Cal WR Desean Jackson.

So to summarize: the Eagles got a 3rd down back from Miami, their 3rd DT and some much needed depth at DT, and their KR/PR+potential slot WR threat in Jackson.

I see potential immediate help from both players. Laws should be able to step in and join Bunkley and Patterson in the DT rotation. The DE are pretty much set with Cole, J. Thomas, Clemons and Abiamiri. Jackson can flat out fly. So I'd hope that in addition to return duties, the Eagles O-minds could come up with some personnel packages designed to isolate Jackson on a safety or 4th CB and just see if the young guy can blow by them.

Good Time to be a Sports Fan in Philly

Well there is something on tap for all sorts of sports fan in Philly.

The Flyers won GAME 7 versus the Capitals. IN OVERTIME no less! What a game, what a gritty performance....next up, the Canadiens...oof...that's going to be a stern test for John Stevens' team.

Chase Utley is kicking much ass in Major League Baseball and the Phillies, for the first time in a while, they haven't fallen on their face in April.

In the basketball arena, the 76ers stunned the Detroit Pistons in Game 1 on the road, and they're just about ready for tip-off in Game 2. Now, I don't care about the NBA at all, but I do hope the 76ers give basketball fans in Philly something to cheer and get excited about...its been too long for them.

And finally, there is the NFL Draft, the primary off-season moment of excitement (outside of training camp and preseason games). Come this weekend, fans around the country will be debating their team moves...who they drafted, yada yada yada....Its fun, but its a completely useless exercise to be perfectly honest.

Put it this way - this year is really the first year that we can legitimately judge a team's performance in the 2005 Draft. Those players have had three years to make an impact. That accounts for any long time to injury, etc, etc. These guys should be established young pros, and if they aren't....well then....perhaps a sterner evaluation or the removal of rose-colored glasses is in order.

Recent Occurrences and Other Things

A lot has gone on this week.

This is what I liked:
Finally breaking down and getting in on the Beta-build for Sins of a Solar Empire....the Beta is open until 9 July, and when I saw that I could get in on the ground floor of this game and perhaps help shape it in some small way. I jumped. If you like empire-building games (Civ, Galactic Civ2) or real-time strategy games (Command & Conquer, Supreme Commander) or space, battle-oriented games (Homeworld) - this game is an absolute must buy.

The Flyers finally getting with the program in the new NHL and picking up speedy, skilled guys and ending their fetish with finding another Lindros-LeClair-Renberg "Legion of Doom" line to beat-up the rest of the league. So they nabbed Daniel Briere from a team I despise, the Buffalo Sabres. They also swapped an under-achieving D Joni Pitkanen to the Oilers for, get this, the Oilers team caption and defensive stalwart Jason Smith (and some winger, Lupul). HA...I bet that move had Tasha groaning....Throw in the fact that the Flyers traded for and signed prospective free-agents Kimmo Timmonen and Scott Hartnell from the Predators....and its been a very productive off-season for the Flying Ps. Of course, they have nowhere else to go but up after the most miserable season in their history. Hopefully, this is a start of new direction for them.

The Shield - Season 6. This is simply the best police drama to ever grace television. Period. Bar none. NYPD Blue? fuck them. Hill Street Blues? don't make me laugh. Dragnet? ok, different era and I won't rag on a show that clearly would never have thought to go place the Shield has gone. The only thing I wish for: more episodes. 10 episodes is simply not enough for junkie.

What I didn't like:
The aborted terror bombing in England. Ok. Not the aborted/we-stopped-em part. That I loved. But the fucking idea that these home-grown or imported fucks are still at it. I don't know how to stop it without a pogrom....

The wife having to scrap some leave and go to Florida early because the military couldn't find her a flight on the day she was supposed to leave. So instead of a week apart, its 10 days.