As a Villanova alum, I'm pretty pleased that Villanova beat Temple last night to claim the city championship (4-0!). But as a huge Big 5 fan, I'm even more pleased that both teams met while they were nationally ranked - the first time it's happened since Temple was #1 in '98.
Another Inspector Closeu-like "investigation" by Goodell. Nothing to see here, move along....hey, look it's the NFL playoffs over there!
My brother suggests a new NBC graphic for David Akers:
"Akers says his range is 58 yards in this direction, but his actual range is 49 yards."
Lost amid all of the recriminations for the poor defensive play was the two most salient points to a successful Eagles' playoff run.
1) Vick looked hurt and horrendous - he could have easily thrown 3 more INTs which would have given him 7 turnovers for the game!
2) The offensive line can't pick up pressure.
That critical last 3rd down spot last night was one of the worst of the season, compounded by when the linesman moved the ball forward another two feet after the already generous spot. And while I give credit to Torico for explaining why there wasn't going to be any booth review, that play typified some of the absurdities of instant replay. To wit, that play can only be booth reviewed if the Saints actually got the first. Ironically, the Falcons got screwed by the linesman not moving the ball 4 inches more.
If the Eagles do wind up with the #3 seed, do you think the NFL really screws them by scheduling their wildcard game on Saturday and giving them another short week - and their 3rd game in 10 days?
My friend views last night's game as a "win-win."
He writes:
Tonight was a win-win. If Saints lose, there's a chance they fall to 6 seed, beat StL/Seattle, then take down Atl. Giving us possible NFC title home field.
Now, screw it, roll the dice. Beat Minne, beat Dallas. Then let's see how Bears handle Lambeau and how Smith/Ryan/Falcons handle pressure of knowing they've gotta win against Carolina.
Shit, we could leap frog up to No 1.
Is the NFL is setting itself up for future trouble with its pious explanation that the postponement was out of concern for the traveling safety of the fans. Cris Collinsworth seems to think so.
How much (or how little) snow does there have to be for the NFL to concern itself with fan traffic in future games?
4 inches?
6 inches?
8 inches?
10 inches?
a foot?
My brother's take on the Vikings-Eagles postponement.
I believe the invention of thursday night football helped change this game. 20 years ago u played on sunday and 2 teams played monday night in the marquee game of the week. Now there are 2 games the first monday night, many thursday night games, etc. 20 years ago they would never give that short of rest to players. It would be considered too short. Now since thursdays are common (yes I know thanksgiving was around 20 years ago, but that was the ONLY exception) they can play whenever. Sucks.
Have you guys seen how over the top Ed Rendell is in criticizing the postponement?
my favorite quote
"My biggest beef is that this is part of what's happened in this country," Rendell said. "I think we've become wussies."
"We've become a nation of wusses. The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything," Rendell added. "If this was in China do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down."
Penna. Governor Ed Rendell is letting it all hang out in his last days of elective office. My favorite part of his quote about the postponement of the Vikings-Eagles game is the part about calculus.
"My biggest beef is that this is part of what's happened in this country," Rendell said. "I think we've become wussies."
"We've become a nation of wusses. The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything," Rendell added. "If this was in China do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down."
The postponement of the Vikings-Eagles game wouldn't have even been an issue except for the NFL and NBC "flex" scheduling the game to 8pm. Now, because of the impending foot of snow Philadelphia is forecast to receive tonight, the game has been pushed back to...Tuesday!?
What the?!
Why not move the game FORWARD to 4 pm (1pm wasn't realistic because of each team's preparation needs, but a 4pm start would have given both teams plenty of advance notice to get ready if the call had been made earlier this morning).
And why Tuesday? i presumed it was because of concerns about the inability to clear the snow from the Linc's stands (hello snow bowl II) and the parking lot, but preliminary explanations are that the league didn't want the game to conflict with the ESPN Monday night game.
What a mess. Clearly NBC and their need/desire to broadcast the "national" game of the week is driving all of these decisions - from the initial scheduling change to the postponement, the Tuesday night game).
Great, now the Eagles get to face the Cowboys on really short rest. Thankfully it's a home game, but there's a nagging fear that all of this will negatively impact the Eagles' playoff chances and the possibility of the #2 seed.
My friend PK's reaction to the stunning Cliff Lee re-acquisition:
Righty-lefty-right-lefty -- Doc, Lee, Roy, Cole.
Here's my back-of-the-napkin calculations on those 4 guys combined for 2010:
882 innings pitched
807 Ks
164 BBs
I'm too mathematically disinclined to figure out the combined ERA.
But think of it this way: The guy we just gave $100 million had the WORST of the quartet.
Lee's ERA was 3.18 for the whole season, worse than Cole's 3.06, Oswalt had 2.76 and Doc had 2.44.
A Phillies friend forward this picture to me with the following message:
Somebody posted this on their Facebook page asking for comments
The first person wrote the following: I'm afraid to be honest but sorry I feel this way but think its horrible to mix commercialized sports into a Jesus nativity scene......Christmas is loosing its value within peoples hearts ....
And then this is what I wrote: And I think it's Sacrilegious because the picture does not contain the archangels Harry Kalas and Whitey Ashburn looking down on the scene from heaven! (LOL)
Today they sold 28,000 - 'nuff said!!!!!
What was more impressive - that the eagles called a bunch of running plays to run clock at the end of the game or that they actually gained significant yardage?
Cris Collinsworth calls him like he sees them, and he and I are in full agreement about the threat of head trauma to the ultimate fate of the NFL. This is THE ISSUE for professional football moving forward.
"The very fundamental question for the long road is, Do you want your kids playing football? That's the scary question, especially for the N.F.L. I think we're talking about the survival of the game to some extent."
I was surprised to see the NY Times describe Ray Davies as just a "songwriter" and author of a forthcoming book, and not as the founder and lead singer of the legendary Kinks, in his paean to John Lennon today.
Wow, didn't see that coming.
The Troubled Assets Relief Program, which was widely reviled as a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street titans, is now expected to cost the federal government a mere $25 billion - the equivalent of less than six months of emergency jobless benefits.
Ok, in his post-game on the field interview, did anyone else find it both strange and disgusting that LeSean McCoy placed his mouthpiece behind his ear?!
It was a loss, but still a triumphant return to his hometown for WC East grad, Matt Schaub! Not to be confused with Eagleseye classmate and starting offensive tackle Rich Schaub.
Up by 10 with 1:45 to go...so why is Reid/Mohrninweg calling running plays for LeSean McCoy now?
From the NY Times:
Fight May Benefit Eagles
The Titans' Cortland Finnegan and the Texans' Andre Johnson were ejected after ripping each other's helmets off and fighting, with Johnson punching Finnegan at least twice in the back of the head. Finnegan has long had a reputation as one of the N.F.L.'s most annoying noodges, but if both players are suspended for a game — shouldn't they be, considering suspensions have been threatened for hits to the head that occur during play? — it will provide a huge break to a third party: the Philadelphia Eagles, who play the Texans on Thursday night.
As previously mentioned, last week's Giants game was poorly reffed. Herremans got called for a "cut" block because the defender was currently "engaged" with another lineman. The reality is that this "engagement" consisted of the center extending his left hand to give him a single chest shove before turning to his right (away from Herremans and the defender) to double team another Giant.
Al Michaels brieflly and vaguely referenced Eli Manning fumbling in similar fashion last year (on a head first dive). It was nearly one year ago. And it was against the Eagles and the game was broadcast on NBC. Inexplicably, NBC never did cue up the replay from last year and show it. Why is a great mystery. I thought these kind of things were digitally preserved and on the fingertips of the vaunted producers.
At the 3-min mark, you'll find Eli's flop from last year that led to the most ridiculous fumble ever -- until last night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TQr-32UYoA
weird, weird game. in short, a typical Giants-Eagles game.
atrocious officiating in the 1st half. how many holds did they show of the Giants' line? and then the make up (non) call on the Eagles receiver contact near the goal line. Samuels' roughing the receiver call (helmet to helmet).
Bradshaw's bizarre non-fumble instant replay reversal (was the forearm really down before the wrist?).
Eli's early INTs that lead to FGs that should have been TDs.
Avant's drop in the endzone.
The blocked FG at the end of the half that should have been a Giants TD but wasn't thanks to David Akers(?) and Sav Rocca (?!).
Thanks to th Ellis Hobbs injury and the Eagles last possession of the first half combined with their lengthy possession to start the 2nd half meant that Eli and the Giants offense didn't touch the ball in like an actual hour of real time.
The Asante INT and fumble. Ugh.
Herremans being called for a clip and chop block in the same game.
completely dominating for 2 1/2 quarters and all the sudden seeing a 16-3 lead turn into a 17-16 deficit.
3rd and 1 shotgun - only Andy Reid. Followed by 4th and 1 toss for the TD. McCoy was totally shut out but for 2 plays all game.
Coughlin's questionable call to go for it on 4th and 6 with 3:13 to go and all his TOs from his own 44..
Which looked good till Eli fumbled on the slide. So glad Michaels referenced last year as i was initially thinking it looked familiar but couldn't recall which Manning did and it and whether the Eagles were involved. How NBC did not have a replay of last year's play is inexplicable.
there's probably more i missed.
weird, weird game.
My friend PK writes:
What else is better in late November?
Two football teams squaring off against one another with a long history of battling for regional supremacy. First place on the line. A sellout crowd, as always, on hand. An explosive offense for the home team propelled by a QB who, just 3 years ago, was left for dead, athletically speaking.
It doesn't get any better than this.
Go Fightin' Blue Hens.
Villanova at Delaware, noon tomorrow, at Tubby Raymond Field.
Pat Devlin, the pride of Downingtown, tries to finish the season off for the No. 1 ranked Hens, capping off an amazing recovery from his days on Joe Pa's bench. (He's now ranked among the top 5 QBs in next year's draft.)
'Nova, always snobbishly looking down upon its state-school rival just down the highway, desperately needs a win to have any chance to get to the playoffs.
Game on. Check your local Comcast sports listings.
PS -- Oh, did you think I was talking about the Eagles-Giants? Sorry.
What is with the Colts-Eagles line?
Eliot Spitzer astutely lays out the reasons for the Democratic disaster on Tuesday in Slate.
2) The Wall Street bailout. President Obama lost his capacity to harness the support of the disaffected middle when he enhanced the bailout of Wall Street without getting anything meaningful in return. That was the emotional Rubicon for this administration. Had the bailout been accompanied by fundamental reform, genuine contrition, and actual pounds of flesh, the public might have accepted it. But when the banks, in the midst of the foreclosure morass and economic disaster, returned to the same old bonus behavior, the public sensed one thing: betrayal. The president had become one of "them," and the space for the Tea Party to capture the anxiety of the middle was created. Franklin Roosevelt never would have let it play out this way. He would have raked the Wall Street titans over the coals, demanded that all bonuses be returned, and forced real reform on them. Compare the president's meek statement to Wall Street: We are all in this together. The president ended up getting the worst of all possible bargains. He gave Wall Street what they wanted yet got their enmity. He evoked taxpayer ire by making taxpayers pay for Wall Street excess, yet didn't align himself with the taxpayer emotionally.
One of the great unreported stories of the NLCS...Utley's really poor defense.
Chase Utley deserves a lot of the blame for the loss, but so too do Ibanez and Victorino, I think, in that order.
Ibanez was terrible. such a streaky hitter and he never caught fire during the entire series. I was looking at the stats and he hit .211 with 0 RBIs (only he and Howard were the only regulars with no runs batted in). Ibanez's futility is highlighted by the fact that Jimmy Rollins didn't score a run the entire series, even while batting 6th (ahead of Ibanez) and getting on base 8 times with 2 stolen bases.
Victorino hit .208 but didn't really seem to be a factor. Still don't understand why Charlie didn't run him more.
Interestingly, Carlos Ruiz only hit .167, worst among regulars, even below Utley's pathetic .182. But he did get on base in every game but one. He's been such an underrated player for this team, maybe this stat among all others highlights the adage "so goes Chooch, so go the Phillies."
Obama's Housing Secretary offers this nugget of wisdom in response to foreclosure-gate and the administration's opposition to a foreclosure moratorium:
Another unintended consequence of a blanket moratorium on foreclosure sales, even where problems haven't yet been found, is that it could cause servicers to take their eyes off the ball when it comes to helping at-risk homeowners stay in their homes well before their problems reach the crisis of a foreclosure.
Across the country, struggling homeowners are increasingly tripped up by mortgage lenders that press ahead with foreclosures regardless of any effort they make to provide borrowers with relief on unaffordable mortgages.
One need only look at senior Senate Democrat (and thankfully retiring) Kent Conrad and his bizarre defense of the TARP program to understand why Democrats are about to get their asses handed to them in Tuesday's elections.
Former Eagle and now Giant Shawn Andrews gets a NY TImes profile. Things appear to be working out for him in New York. Congratulations and good luck, Big Kid.
This NLCS loss was just so disappointing because the expectations were so high. This team is stacked.
And it's not being a sore loser to point out that this Giants team is not very good - the lineup is pathetic though the pitching is pretty good. I mean, Aubrey Huff? Juan Uribe? Edgar Renteria? Rowand? Give me a break. On the other hand, they managed to win the west, beat the Phils and win the pennant so there must be something there.
For whatever reason, the Phils couldn't get the hits when they needed them - when guys were on base. And the Giants seemingly did get hits every time they got a guy in scoring position. And even with all that, they barely eeked out 3 1 run games.
On another note, I once again need to re-evaluate my relationship with sports and why i am so emotionally invested in my favorite teams winning when rationally speaking I derive no tangible benefit from their winning (nor suffer a measurable loss when they lose). In the larger scheme of things whether Ryan Howard, who doesn't know me from a hole in the wall, can hit a ball safely and score a run to win a baseball game probably shouldn't affect me the way it did.
By the way, check out some of the philly.com message boards today. It looks like Ryan Howard may be the new Donovan McNabb in the philly fandom pantheon of hate. What I don't understand is while he didn't get an RBI, Howard hit pretty well overall, just not with runners on. There are plenty of other guys in that lineup that were worse offensively over the course of the series: Victorino, Utley and especially Ibanez.
How telling is the Phillies' LCS offensive slump that not one but two pitchers have the highest batting averages on the team through five games. Both Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt are batting .333. The next highest are Howard and Polanco at .294.
The normally sane Bill Conlin suggests sitting Ryan Howard - he of the .294 LCS average with 3 walks and 3 doubles - because he hasn't driven in a run this series?!!?
More hope from the Times:
Twice — in the 1987 N.L.C.S. against St. Louis and the 2002 World Series against the Angels — the Giants have led three games to two and lost the final two games on the road. If they scrap as they have all series, they have a chance to reverse that history.
"I think we're all looking forward to what it's going to be like," Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. "We know something's going to happen — something magical is going to happen." - NY Times.
Random thoughts from last night's nail biting, must win:
* Lincecum looked uneasy early in 1st and then settled down. Halladay looked unsettled in the 2nd and now we know why, a strained groin he suffered that inning.
* We know Halladay is intense, but we saw the feistiness last night as stared down Burrell in the 2nd.
* The Phillies really missed the opportunity to deliver a knockout blow in the 3rd with 4 on the board and runners on 2nd and 3rd.
* Werth's throw to get Ross at third to end the 4th didn't look like a hose but it was a strong, strong throw.
* Was this Halladay's best outing of the season? Yes, he's thrown a perfect game and a post-season no-hitter. And yet, grinding out a win when you don't have your best stuff, are hurt, and conditions are poor (like the downpour last night) when your team's season is on the line is a masterful performance even if it isn't pretty.
* Question for Manuel - in the top of the 7th, if you knew you were pinch hitting for Halladay why didn't you have the struggling Ibanez bunt Rollins to 2nd after his lead off hit. that way, you give Ruiz and Gload chances to knock him in. Or maybe the plan was for Rollins to steal 2nd during Ibanez's at bat, but never got the chance. he wound up stealing 2nd and 3rd.
* Pat the Bat's 8th inning strike out was vintage Burrell: flailing at a low and away pitch.
My brother's take on Game 4 maneuvers:
I love Sheridan. I think that's a good assessment, but everyone changes the way they manage in playoffs and give early hooks. Blanton wasn't bad.
Also - announcers kept saying how Blanton didn't get through 5. NEITHER did Bumgarner. They didn't mention that once.
We lost because of 3 things -
Better timely hitting, but still need to improve Ruiz thrown out at plate - just a terrible call by 3rd base coach - 1st and 3rd with Utley up and 1 out. That's a run we gave up there.
Our bullpen didn't come through.
Unless there was a matchupo he didn't like with lidge, Lidge has to be in game before you use Oswalt. You have to use your relievers before going to 2 games ago starter. Didn't kill us, but just thought it should have been Lidge/Romero.
By the way, Kendrick should come up with injury so we can bring someone else onto roster. He obviously is not going to play. Obvious at this point thye only way he was getting in series was if we were down 9-1 in 3rd inning.
From PK:
Manuel still had Romero in the 'pen as well. I don't think using Oswalt was crazy, but I'd have preferred waiting till the 11th or 12th inning, if we got into one of those types of games. The inability to plate Werth, standing on 2nd with no one out, is criminal. I was wrong when I suggested Francisco should have been bunting, i forgot that Jimmy was hitting behind Werth, so he made that 1st out.
At that point I think you've gotta go with Gload. I'm also tired of watching our guys get on base and not steal bases. We did it in Game 2, and that's it.
Phil Sheridan says Manuel should have stayed with Blanton longer - that if he was going to pitch him in game 4, then he should have gone "all in" with him and let him pitch through the 6th (when the phils still had the lead), rather than rely on Contreras, durbin, et. al.
My one big question/curiousity is that Madson pitched two innings. I know the Giants had last ups and the standard play is for the visiting team to only throw their closer if they take the lead in the top of the extra inning. But still, the preference was to pitch Oswalt on his in between day rather than try to have Lidge go 2 innings (the 10th and possibly the 11th)? At the very least, by putting lidge out there you forestall a decision on having to pitch Oswalt.
From PK:
He left Blanton in 1 batter too long - could have gone lefty-on-lefty with Huff up in bottom 5, but didn't. He got lucky Durbin only gave up 2 runs - 4 of his 1st 5 batters were doubles and walks.
And letting Francisco hit with Werth on 2nd, no one out, was a mistake. Ben either needed to be laying down a bunt or lifted for a lefty bat.
Oswalt was curious, but not horrible. An in between day, that didn't burn him for Game 6.
It just felt like Charlie was managing for the tie, not the win.
A real gut punch loss. What in the world was up with usiing oswalt? Had a bad feeling when they couldn't score werth from 2nd in 8th.
And yet, a halladay win tomorrow gets us back to philly for game 6.
The flyers proved it possible and the phils have the talent to do it.
Ugh, the Giants were the only team this season to have beaten all three of the Phils' aces: Halladay, Oswalt, AND Hamels.
From the NYTimes editorial today about the mortgage/foreclosure debacle:
Throughout this crisis, the Obama administration has been far more worried about protecting the banks than protecting homeowners.
Fascinating look at MLB's attempts to orderly archive every play of every game for future reference.
Apparently President Obama's vow to make his administration the most transparent in history doesn't extend to releasing a report by his Homeland Security department examining how an illegal immigrant who was twice arrested for DUI wasn't deported before he tragically drove drunk again and killed a nun. Who the heck is the Obama administration protecting and why are they burying the investigation's findings that would help avoid repeating the shameful government permissiveness in tolerating illegal and deadly actions by illegal immigrants.
If Utley did miss third and was called out on a Reds' appeal, what happens to Werth's run?
Did Utley touch 3B last night? Was he actually hit by a pitch? The answer to the 2nd question is likely "no."
The utley at 3rd they showed one replay and pretty quickly. Missing 3rd is kind of a big deal (like ron burgundy). IF he misses it then that's possibly the play of the series. Phils would be down 4-3 inning over (I think). 1 replay!!! Utley at 2nd was brutal too. And even the camera on rollins hit sort of sucked.
My friend PK's take:
Bruce has struggled in RF in both games. He's battling weird demons out there. He does this bizarre thing where he shades his eyes with his glove every time there's a fly ball out there. I've watched a ton of Phillies baseball the past 3 yrs. I've never seen Werth do that, once. Yet Bruce can't seem to see a thing out there. How odd.
TBS announcers stink so bad, their camera angles are soooo bad. We still don't have a good view of the Utley play at 2b, nor one of him at 3B, whether he touched either bag.
And then in the 9th we had to tolerate Joe Simpson's "analysis", in which he talked about how Lidge "lost his slider" last year. Huh? Dude, he lost his fastball. He couldn't locate his fastball in the K zone, so it didn't matter how good his slider was, because they knew it was coming and just teed off on it.
Wierd game last night. Oswalt didn't have much but managed to limit the damage - which would have been even less if the phils normally stellar defense hadn't been so poor. The phils in the field looked as unsettled as little roy on the mound. (Phillips' comments about oswalt making a lot of mistakes I hope doesn't hold).
But then the reds collapsed. Chapman must still be figuring out how they scored on him.
How did Doc lose 10 games?
Toronto is still a fan of Halladay and apparently thrilled about his opportunity to play in the playoffs and the no-hitter. Of course, the perfecto and no no may not compare to the "good part about being a baseball player." And who knew Halladay is Mormon?
Halladay was in the groove last night. Anybody could see that. He was in a real rythym mowing them down till the walk, which really bummed me out because I was considering the unthinkable possible. Simply amazing.Before the game, I was afraid that if the Phils somehow lost that they would have to stew for a whole off day thinking about having their ace lose and being down 1-0 and the pressure on Oswalt to even the series. I never thought that the Reds could be no-hit -- and now its them that have to sit around for an extra day and think about being no hit.If Oswalt can start the first couple of innings strong tomorrow night, this thing could snowball against the Reds and really get into their heads about how unhittable the Phils' staff is. BTW, I was at Halladay's last regular season start vs. the Nationals where they clinched the division (coincidentally in weather very similar to last night with showers throughout the middle innings.) He threw a 2 hit shutout then, so in his last 18 innings he's thrown 2 complete game shutouts with 2 hits and 1 walk.
Welcome to the post-season, Mr. Halladay!
Forget about the lack of a public option in the health care act. Forget about not closing Guatanamo Bay or not stopping the torture of terrorism suspects in custody. Forget about the appointments of Turbo Timmy Geithner and Larry Summers to lead his economic team. Forget about defending the Bush TARP program. Forget about the criticism of the "professional left." Forget about the failure to extend middle class tax cuts and to impose slightly higher rates on the richest Americans.
PK suggests that it is pitching and especially defense that helped the Phillies to the best record in all of baseball. And by the way, it is amazing that this is the first time the Phillies had the best record in the entire league...after 123 years!
The best defense in NL is something that is more scary than anything else.
The Braves defensive breakdown against the Phils is what led to us sweeping them. I'm increasingly falling in line with the defensive saber-metrics guys.
F walks and OBP - the things that make Adam Dunn so valuable - what makes Werth soooo valuable is his fielding. He's just about the best RF fielding wise in MLB.
Our defense - with Gold Glove-caliber-play at catcher, 2B, SS, 3B, CF, RF - is a hallmark of this Phillies squad. And it is, in large part, why we won the division this season.
The ESPN crawl notes that the Rangers are the only MLB team to have never won a playoff series. Seriously?!
Much has already been made of Andy Reid's boneheaded clock mismanagement at the end of the 1st half of the Redskins-Eagles game that resulted in a delay of game that likely cost the Eagles a TD and probably the game.
Stat that was just shown on ESPN.
My brother is also getting pre-NLDS nerves. He writes:
Want to get scared read philly.com article on 20 things about reds
Volquez - sub 2 era in september. Game 2/3 pitchers 3.8 range
Best offense in NL. Led league in runs, homers, batting average, rbi's. tied best D in NL. Least errors in reds history (72, previous best was 89).
Votto best ops in NL. Hit .393 against phils.
Oswalt is 23-3 lifetime (part of pk 30-4 comment) BUT 0-2 this year w/ 6.75 era.
Last - baker and manual were once traded for each other!!!!!
Again from my friend PK who suggests Dusty Baker's strategy in throwing Voquez in game 1:
Look at these Reds' pitchers' stats. Arroyo is clearly their best pitcher, 17-10 on the season with a 3.88 ERA.
Baker seems to be offering up a worse pitcher against Halladay in order to back load for Games 2, 3, expecting to lose Game 1 -- no matter who he starts -- but then giving himself a better chance in the other 2 games. If he can get 4-5 innings in Game 1 from Volquez, then just put in all his lefty relievers -- Wood, Rhodes, etc -- he might be able to steal game 1. If not, no big deal.
Hamels' stats at Cincy may be the reason he's the game 3 starter vs. the Reds, rather than the Manuel's desire to pitch Oswalt in a game 5.
My friend PK, who is "officially freaked out" about this upcoming series with the Reds (as am I) turns to the stats to try to soothe our nerves.
* Our Big 3 are career 30-4 against the Reds.
* Hamels is 3-0 with a 1.00-ish ERA at Cincy.
* The Reds opening starter, Volquez, went 4-3 with a 4.31 ERA this season, roughly matching his career 4.36 ERA.
* Volquez is 1 of 3 right-handed starters the Reds are throwing against us.
* Wood - the lefty who nearly threw the no-no/perfecto against us, is not starting. He's in the 'pen.
Kevin Kolb's "big miss" was not the DeSean Jackson pass, but failing to see and throw to a wide open Jeremy Maclin running a slant from the left side on the failed 2 point conversion try. That easy completion would have allowed the Eagles to tie the score with a FG at the end of the game rather than try for the Hail Mary.
It is interesting that because of the intradivision prohibition, the Phils and Rays both get to play division winners with worse records than the wildcard teams in their own divisions. The Rays get a 90 win Texas team and not the 95 win Yanks. the Phils get a 91 win Reds team and not the 91 win Braves (the Giants wound up with 92 wins). The Twins wound up with 1 less win than the Yanks but get homefield advantage against them for winning the division.
Could yesterday's game gone any better for Donovan McNabb in his return to Philadelphia?
Maybe more important than getting home field advantage in the World Series for winning the all-star game-- especially for the Phils and this year in particular -- is the fact that the NL team with the best record gets to decide when it starts the NLDS. The one NLDS series has an extra off day, meaning that the Phils could throw pitch their top 3 aces on normal rest for the entire 5 games.
And for the NLCS and World Series, they could pitch all three twice (if necessary) on normal rest with presumably Blanton getting the other two (game 4) starts.
I have 2 theories about the Mike Vick replacing Kevin Kolb as the starter, one of which has already been publicly floated in lots of places. 1) Reid's genuinely concerned about Kolb long-term, especially with the current state of the O-line, and didn't want to put him at risk long term both in terms of physically and psychologically coming back after Vick's big 6 quarters of football. This would fit his MO of making bizarre statements and decisions in an attempt to protect his players - in this case, the O-line. The problem with this theory is that Reid could have achieved the same ultimate goal by saying that while Kolb's concussion test was normal, out of an abundance of caution they are going to keep him out till his head is completely cleared. This would also play well given the controversy surrounding their game day handling of Bradley and Kolb in the Packers game. 2) My personal theory (that I am still working out) is that Reid viewed this season as the Kolb transition season with relatively low expectations on both O and D and the long-term plan was for Kolb to get the experience necessary for a really great season next year. Of course, after 4 years you would think Kolb could easily take the reins but there is something to be said for actual game experience. Under my theory, it's not really Kolb or Vick's play so much that influenced Reid's decision (though Vick helped his cause) but the realization that the NFC is WIDE OPEN this year now that Dallas is 0-2, the Vikings are 0-2, the Giants are middling, the NFC west is mediocre and the Eagles held their own against the best team in the conference (the Packers). So Reid has now switched gears and instead of expecting to take his and Kolb's lumps against Dallas, New Orleans, et. al, he's going to play Vick and actually try to make the playoffs. Forget about the nonsense about needing to give Vick a contract extension. Has no one realized that the Eagles already shipped a better QB than Vick out of town to make way for Kolb. You don't think they'll let #7 test the free agent market next year and say sayonora to him after the season and return to the Kevin Kolb experiment? Please. If Vick plays well and the team wins games and maybe even makes the playoffs, it's a win. if Vick doesn't play well and the team loses games, then I would fully expect Kolb to be back as starter before the end of the year. Heck, even if Vick plays well but the team still loses Kolb would likely be back as starter as they lay the groundwork for next season (unless the O-line doesn't gel and is truly horrendous in which case they might stay with Vick to keep Kolb from getting killed).
My brother is as bewildered as anybody about the Kolb-Vick saga and Andy Reid's role in it:
Possible issue w/ Kolb – that's a guess. Something the team knows – i.e. drugs, steroids, beat his wife, something??? Nothing else makes sense.
Why not just say – going with the hot hand and we want to make sure Kevin is fine before putting him out there. We have 2 great qb's and we're lucky and we have confidence in both and Mike is going to play this week. Sure you get the looking over your shoulder possibility and the media would feed off that, but it HAS TO BE BETTER THAN WHAT HE SAID.!!!!!!
NOW, Reid looks like a liar. This is his most obvious one, but Reid says he's my guy and we're happy with our receivers all the time. It's BS and this is another example. He's lying and people now know that. Loses credibility and that's not good.
My friend PK's take on the stunning QB turn of events:
The most annoying thing about Andy over the years was also one of the things that made him a great coach: his stubborn loyalty, his sense of never hitting the panic button.
It was maddening at times -- why did you call 62 pass plays and 13 runs in a game you never trailed by more than 4 pts, coach? I did what was best for the team, blah, blah, blah.
As maddening as it was, it sent a sense of calm amid the storm. That he knew what was going on, that he had the confidence in the system and the team, and that the players fed off that.
These moves this week are only the 2nd time in his 11-plus-year tenure when it appears he hit the panic button. The 1st, at halftime in Baltimore in '08, when he yanked Donovan from a 12-7 game, which we ended up losing 36-7. The panic button was immediately placed back inside its box as Donovan was quickly named the starter and the team went on a great run in which No 5 probably played the best football of his life, coming up just short of beating Ariz to go to the Super Bowl.
This, this week, this is soooooo out of character. No clue what to make of it.
My friend who is a Giants' fan asks:
DId the Colts fan have a legal obligation to give the helmet back to the Giants, or the NFL or anyone? Do you waive your right to keep objects that come into the stands at a football game as part of yoru ticket purchase?
not sure if its just baseball culture that lets you keep objects that fly into the stands that isn't there in football....
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Stunning news that Andy Reid has reversed course and named Mike Vick the Eagles' starting QB.
Well, opening day could not have gone worse for Andy Reid and Kevin Kolb.
As an Eagles' season ticket holder, i found this article about declining attendance at NFL games rather interesting. Notwithstanding the lousy economy that has had a measurable impact on attendance, this is going to be an ongoing problem/trend for the NFL.
Two things of particular note:
Tickets are expensive. As the article notes, the average price is $75, making a season ticket package worth $750...for one ticket.
While some teams, the article references New Orleans and Tampa as two teams that whose cheapest tickets are $35, it doesn't mention that these are obviously the worst tickets in the stadium and fans would be better off watching the game on TV than in person from the nose bleed section. It also doesn't account for all of the ancillary costs that accompany the $35 ticket....$25 parking, $8 beers, $6 hot dogs, etc. Economically, staying at home is a much better deal and that doesn't even count the time involved in traveling to and from the stadium which is at least a 5-6 hour time commitment (not counting tailgating) as compared to the 3 hours from start to finish of watching at home.
And lets face it. The NFL has a huge fan problem in the stadiums. The consensus among my season ticket holding friends is that 14 is the minimum age at which we would bring our children to a game. Because of the language, drunkeness, machismo, and generally boorish fan behavior - all of which is tolerated if not tacitly supported by the teams (actions that i have engaged in myself). It is definitely not a family friendly environment. Certainly not of the order of the other major professional sports, especially baseball. I had the occasion of attending the Eagles-Giants football game and Yankees-Phillies world series game last year and the experiences could not have been more different. Even though it was a world series game, Citizens Bank Park felt more welcoming, more friendly, and more family oriented than the Linc and the rowdiness and aggressiveness that permeated the crowd.
The larger issue is that the NFL blackout rules are nonsensical. The less fans that go to a game, the less (i.e. NO) fans are able to watch the games on TV. The less games on TV, the less fans are likely to go to games. The NFL relies on approximately 70,000 fans to subsidize the ability of several hundred thousand fans to watch the game on TV. Admittedly, some of those 70,000 change each week, but a core group of 30-40,000 season ticket holders subsidize several magnitudes larger tv viewers. The bottomline is that it is an unsustainable business model.
NFL execs are quick to note that the league is the only one that still offers its games on free TV. That will soon come to an end. The not too distant future is a model in which TV viewers subscribe to watch their home team's games. The only question is how much such a product will cost. My guess it will still be cheaper to buy the games on TV than actually attend in person. The TV experience will still be better and a better deal, though not having a packed stadium in the background will take some getting used to. From the comfort of my couch, i'm sure i'll adjust.
More evidence that brain trauma can happen to any football player - not just the pros - and not just to older players but in this tragically sad case, to 21 year-olds who played since they were 9.
The money quote from the article.
"It's pretty hard to make a jump with one case," said Dr. James Moriarity, the University of Notre Dame's head physician, who oversees the athletic department's medical care. "But if it's true that that happened, it would kill the sport," he said, referring to an amateur player getting C.T.E. "As a parent, it's going to be hard to justify kids going out and doing that."
Hamels' 25 inning scoreless streak ends but still... 3-0 and 1.77 ERA (or is it 0.77?) in last 5 five starts.
Maybe it's just me and the lack of excitement over the first Eagles team in more than a decade that isn't a favorite to grab one of the top playoff seeds, but I can't help but think that this season- particularly the way this season has started - does not bode well for the NFL.
