Ch ch ch changes

I don't know how much will actually be different, but I am back, and hopefully for good. I hope I can set aside enough time to update this pretty regularly again. I'll probably cover a bit too much USF football, which is pretty far away from Philadelphia, but they're my team now. I'm going to slap up a pic on the left side, and you can make all the humorous photoshops you want.

This is definitely getting the cheap entry tag. Good to be back.

Game 117: Pirates at Phillies (3/3)

Pittsburgh Pirates: 53-63
Philadelphia Phillies: 63-53

Jason Davis (1-1 2.57 ERA, 0-0 --- ERA)
Jamie Moyer (10-7 3.78 ERA, 6-7 5.54 ERA)

Lineups

Sanchez 2B 3/6, 1 HR, 2 RBI, .500/.500/1.167
Rivas SS 7/19, .368/.368/.421
McLouth CF 0/3
Doumit C 0/1
Michaels RF 1/4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, .250/.250/1.000
Moss LF N/A
Mientkiewicz 1B 5/20, .250/.318/.350
Gomez 3B 3/29, .103/.161/.103
Davis P

Rollins SS N/A
Victorino CF N/A
Utley 2B N/A
Howard 1B N/A
Werth LF N/A
Jenkins RF N/A
Bruntlett 3B 0/0, .000/1.000/.000
Ruiz C N/A
Moyer P

Storms coming short entry.

Posting From My Ipod

Absolutely awesome.

Roster Shuffling

I haven't posted much besides game previews, so I'll catch up on a little news.

In terms of pitching, Adam Eaton has accepted a demotion to the minor leagues. He'll be pitching for Lakewood on Thursday, and hopefully he won't damage their playoff chances. To take his place, J.A. Happ was called up again. I think he'll stick this time around. He's going to pitch out of the pen, probably as a lefty specialist, until Myers falters or someone in the rotation gets hurt. Speaking of Myers, I don't want to take too much away from this game. He was in control and he looked like vintage Brett, but Washington does have the worst offense in baseball. However, it was still a nice start and something to build on.

On the offensive side, Pedro Feliz has been placed on the DL with back issues. It was previously believed that he would be able to play on this road trip, but that's obviously not the case. In his place, Greg Dobbs and Eric Bruntlett will likely platoon. That's a pretty sizable downgrade defensively, and even at the plate, Feliz was having one of his better years. Mike Cervenak was recalled from AAA to take the roster spot.

Game 105: Braves at Phillies (3/3)

Atlanta Braves: 49-54
Philadelphia Phillies: 55-49

Jorge Campillo (5-4 2.83 ERA, 0-1 5.27 ERA)
Joe Blanton (0-0 7.50 ERA, 0-0 --- ERA)

Lineups

Blanco LF
Escobar SS
Teixeira 1B
McCann C
Kotsay CF
Francoeur RF
Johnson 2B
Infante 3B
Campillo P

Rollins SS
Victorino CF
Utley 2B
Howard 1B
Burrell LF
Werth RF
Bruntlett 3B
Coste C
Blanton P

Shortened today.

Rationally Looking Ahead

The way they lost today was tough, but the reality is, the Phillies just finished a 9 game road trip against three good teams at 5-4. If you asked people if they would be happy with 5-4 before it started, everyone would've said yes. They gained a game on Florida, which is what it's all about.

The other reality is things don't get easier. They'll be back home for six games, but it's against two of the best teams in the AL in Boston and Anaheim. Boston isn't particularly good on the road, but they've owned the Phillies in recent years. Anaheim is very good on the road, and they have a very good staff. These two teams are tough, so I think we should be satisfied if they take three.

After that, the Phillies will wind down their interleague schedule by heading out west for Oakland and Texas. Texas is currently a game under .500, so these six games won't be any easier. They can hit the ball, and the Phillies should get in three slugfests with them. At 37-31, the A's present their own challenges.

To start off July, the Phillies will play three more games in Atlanta, and even though they swept the last meeting, you can count on a tough stretch. This brings them home to a ten game homestand to close out the first half. St. Louis and Arizona have good records, and you can throw away records when the Phillies meet the Mets.

This is obviously a tough stretch of games. It might be frustrating for fans when they're not winning 2 of 3 every time and putting up pretty winning percentages, but these aren't easy games and series to win. The Phillies just need to hold their ground for now and make their move in August and September.

Brief Summary of the Phillies' Draft

Most of us knew that Gillick preferred the high ceiling talent that high school players have to offer, but he took it to the next level today.

Some fans were upset when the Phillies took HS player Anthony Hewitt with their first pick because he won't be ready for a while. However, you have to consider a few things. They're not a bad team anymore. They don't get any easy picks like Pat Burrell first overall. When you're that late in the draft, you're not going to get a good player that can help out very soon. Yes, it's probably going to take Hewitt a few years to reach the majors if he develops, but if he was closer to being ready than that, the Rays would be picking him, and not us.

Then he took another in Zach Collier. And another. In fact, when the first day was done, the Phillies only took two four-year college players. The Phillies haven't spent that much on bonuses in the past couple seasons, and if they intend on signing a lot of their picks, it's probably going to have to change this year. People wanted the owners to open up the wallets and bring in some real talent. Here's their chance.

I trust Pat Gillick to make the right decisions and take care of business for this team. He has an eye for talent, and it would be great if he found some today. He recognizes that this farm system already has some bench players, bottom of the order hitters and back end starters. They have a weak system, but they have the Happs, Naylors and Donalds teams need to fill out their roster and make solid contributions. Today, he tried to find the Rollins', Hamels' and Myers' to put this roster over the top. Now they just need to sign the dotted line and get on the diamond.

Wii Sports

This is loosely related to sports, so I'm going to post it here.

I played a Nintendo Wii for the first time yesterday, and I had a blast. Mario Galaxy was a lot of fun, but that has little to do with sports at all. I hope to get one of these systems very soon.

I started off with Wii Tennis. Once I figured out the timing to hit the ball with my front player, this one became very easy. This was still one of the more relaxing games, and it was nice to take a break from some of the other ones with Tennis.

Baseball was surprisingly hard. I was a mediocre at best player for ten years, but I still expected to have some success. Instead, I was met with a loss every game I tried to play. I couldn't hit, and I couldn't pitch. The fielders couldn't field. It was a disaster. When I actually get this, I'm going to have to improve my skills badly.

Wii Boxing was surprisingly easy the first time around. I won my fight in the third round by KO, and the opponent was lucky he held on that long. I kept missing my headshots with my left hand though, and I don't know what I need to do to get them to land. I made my living with my non dominant hand, and I really didn't have to do much to defend myself.

The Bowling game reflects my actual bowling ability. I can get in the low to mid 100's with a few decent rolls and a few chokes. I was unable to get a strike in the entire game, but I picked up 6 or 7 spares. I was not able to perfect my roll and just repeat the same motion every time.

Surprisingly, I picked up on Wii Golf pretty quickly. I'm no expert, but I was able to hang around par on the first two courses on my first couple tries. The putting game is tough, but my short game is very good. The distance gauge on the overhead map is very misleading, but once I got past that, I was set.

All in all, it was a very fun experience. My next purchase has to be one of these things, but it might be tough without a job.

All Great Things Must Come To An End

And that includes fantasy baseball minor league hitting streaks.

If you'll look closely at that leaderboard, you'll see me sitting in 10th place. That 15 game hitting streak came to an end late last night, when Brad Nelson of Nashville went 0/4. Coming into the game, he was hitting .329, so it's anyone's guess as to why he failed to get a hit. Maybe it was the pressure of continuing a great streak, or maybe it just wasn't his night. We'll never know. Hopefully he gets his head back in the game because I could rely on him in the future.

There were highs and lows on this great run. There were multi hit games, hits in the last AB and some very tense moments when players did not play. All in all, this hitting streak was something to be remembered.

Triumphant Return To Blogging

I've been working on my investigative report on Yankee Stadium in my spare time. My real job has been taking cuts off of pitchers like Josh Newman and Chris Sampson. 35 runs in two games is impressive. Let's not get shut down tonight.

I would feel bad for the Rockies, but their domination of the Phillies in the playoffs last year has left a bitter taste in my mouth. They are really banged up, and they weren't as good as they finished last year to begin with. Some of their starters haven't performed the way Colorado expected them to, and the back end of their bullpen hasn't been good either. Not to mention their lineup; they're missing Matt Holliday, Brad Hawpe, Garrett Atkins and Troy Tulo Tulo Tulowitski. With a bunch of players from Colorado Springs up, they're a very beatable team, and the Phillies should be able to continue to bury them.

My hope for Wednesday is for Adam Eaton to not put his team in a hole early. The last two times I've gone, the starters have gotten down right away, and it's tough to always climb out of a hole. Greg Reynolds will be fun to watch, but they should be able to hit his fastball.

Tim Redding Presented Bill Mueller Career Achievement Trophy

After his domination of the Phillies on Monday, Tim Redding was presented with the 2008 Bill Mueller Career Achievement Award. This honor, presented by Phillies Chairman Bill Giles, is given to the player who excels in defeating the Phillies. In two 2008 starts against them, Redding is 2-0 without giving up a single run.

"Any time you can help the team, it's great," said Redding in the clubhouse after Monday's start. "I didn't know there was an award for beating the Phillies, but I hope I can defend my title in 2009."

Redding, despite having a career ERA of 4.74, has always shown up against the Phillies. In 8 career starts, his ERA is just 2.34 with a 4-2 record. He actually spent 2006 in the minor leagues but found life with Washington in 2007. He's now doing better than ever.

"I attribute it to working hard to get back to the level I know I can compete in and also being in the Phillies division. In the NL East, there's a great chance I take the hill against them, and that just kind of makes you focus more."

How The East Was Won

Note: This was originally going to be released after the Flyers' game seven victory, but the mainstream media's inside sources for my content leaked it, so I'm just putting things out there for everyone to see.

Film treatment "How The East Was Won"

World-renowned baker John Stevens always had hockey aspirations in his home town of Campbellton. At the age of 30, he threw down his goofy white hat and laced up the ice skates one last time in a tryout for the Philadelphia Flyers. He was signed to a contract and named team captain of the AHL's Philadelphia Phantoms. In 1999, not too long after leading the Phantoms to a Calder Cup, an eye injury caused Stevens to retire and become an assistant coach. Little did he know he would be leading a team to one of the greatest comebacks in sports history.

After finishing the disastrous season in 2006-2007 that Ken Hitchcock started, John Stevens faced many problems. He had to help turn around a team that just had one of the worst seasons in hockey history. Paul Holmgren acquired several talented players to rebuild the franchise, but that did not guarantee success. Using team building activities such as locker room shuffling, Stevens got the roster to gel and play well on the ice. In the first round of the playoffs, the Flyers defeated the red hot Washington Capitals in seven games. They built up a 3-1 lead, but nothing came easy; it took a Joffrey Lupul OT goal to clinch. Against Montreal, the Flyers pulled a stunning upset, but their greatest test still stood before them: the Pittsburgh Penguins.

After going down 3 games to none, Stevens was almost out of answers. He lost his two best defensemen, and the Flyers were getting completely outplayed. With nothing to lose, he did the unthinkable and switched some lines. His team took advantage of a lazy Pittsburgh squad in game four, and took the series back to the Steel City. Facing a tough crowd and that's been unstoppable at home, Stevens watched his team come together to keep the season alive. Brayon Coburn somehow returned back to the lineup and scored a key game six goal to force a deciding game seven in Pittsburgh.

He couldn't believe what he saw. His team committed fewer turnovers, cleared the puck, and took advantage of power play opportunities. Their physical game was frustrating the Penguins, who believed they already had the series clinched. Prior to game seven, Stevens used a new tactic, maybe his greatest yet; he delivered a killer pregame speech. No man with a soul could not be inspired by this rare show of emotion, and the Flyers played like it. They were determined to skate away victorious, and they advanced to take on the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals.

To be continued.

R.J. Umburglar Arrested For Second Degree Canadien Murder

Last night's post-series victory celebration was short lived, at least for one Flyer.

Shortly after the handshakes at center ice, R.J. Umberger was escorted out of the arena by Canadian police. It turns out he was a person of interest in four murder cases, ranging from April 26th to just last night. After rounds of questioning in custody, charges were officially pressed against Umberger.

"It turns out he was in fact the guy that scored eight goals this series. One of them was even a game winner. He is a serial goal scorer, and guys as sick as him need to be locked up for a very long time."

The detective went on later to say that Carey Price is being investigated as an accomplice. Neither Umberger nor Price's lawyers had any comment on the situation.

Eastern Quarters Game 5: Flyers at Capitals (3-2) POSTGAME

Obviously there was no preview today, so I'll at least talk about the game.

When I got in around 2:30, about halfway through the second period, the Flyers were getting outplayed badly. They were being outhit, outshot, and outgoaled with a score of 2-0. That's when things really started to click. They got some PP time, and Prospal scored to make it a one goal game. All of a sudden, things were going the Flyers' way. They were winning battles along the boards, creating turnovers and getting some nice chances. Unfortunately, some untimely penalties led to an insurance goal for Washington, and the Hatcher goal several moments later wouldn't be enough.


The series will now come back to Philadelphia for a game six on Monday night. The Flyers need to wrap it up here. If they let things go back to Washington, the Capitals are going to have all the momentum and could be tough to stop. The Flyers are a better team, and they need to show it.

Eastern Quarters Game 4: Capitals at Flyers (1-2)

Cristobel Huet v. Martin Biron

The game is about to start, so this will be a quick one. What do the Flyers need to do to win? They have to continue to frustrate the Capitals. They're imposing their will on Washington, and things are starting to get tough for them. When Mike Green dropped the gloves with Scottie Upshall, Washington was basically saying that they're playing Flyers hockey. The goal for teams is to set the tempo, not go along with it. Now they're resorting to tactics like diving and embellishing to try and gain an edge. The Flyers need to keep their composure and take advantage of their opportunities.

Day Games

This is the Phillies' 4th in a row, and it's time to stop. I have no idea why Cincy had three consecutive afternoon games, and it's just annoying. Hopefully, I'll be able to do previews for the next few night games.

Right now, the Phillies are down 2-0 in the top of the 7th. Jamie Moyer kept them in the game, and the offense couldn't take care of opportunities against Oliver Perez, who is also out of the game.

Eagles Sign Rocky BalBoiman

No, he's not going to defeat communism in the boxing ring.

He's not going to run up the Art Museum steps with inspirational music playing in the background.

He doesn't have a statue at the bottom of those steps.

He probably won't embarrassingly come out of retirement twenty years from now.

He's just Rocky Boiman. A special teams Linebacker. He wasn't bad starting a few games for the Colts, and I guess this is a positive move for the Eagles. At the very least, it's nothing to complain about. They need to upgrade the special teams badly, and this is a good start. He's a pretty big guy that can fill in at all three Linebacker positions, so getting a veteran behind the kids is a good idea.

Mets v. Phillies: The Rotation

Can be found here. Thanks to Blogspot's poorly conceived post editing system, it was posted when I originally started it, making it very difficult to find.

Chalk up another cheap entry.

National Valiquette League

Feeling that a change was needed to improve the league, Gary Bettman stepped down as NHL commissioner today. Before stepping down, he named his successor, Rangers' backup goalie Steve Valiquette.

"Well, we were impressed with the Islanders when they promoted (backup goalie) Garth Snow to General Manager," said the departing commissioner, "that we needed to advance the goalie to executive promotions. We decided that Steve is the right guy for the job."

Steve Valiquette has had a busy day on the job. His first step towards change has been drastic; the league has been renamed the National Valiquette League. Getting a star's name in the league name should result in an instant improvement in league image. Gone are the Eastern and Western Conferences; in are the Long Island and Manhattan Conferences, in honor of his career for both New York NHL teams. The six new divisions include Providence, Lowell, Springfield, Bridgeport, Toronto and Hartford, signifying the AHL teams he has played for in his outstanding minor league career.

He is the new Owner-GM-Coach-Player of the New York Valiquettes, who play their home games in Valiquette Square Garden. Henrik Lundqvist has been traded to Frolunda of the Swedish Elite League for the rights to Peter Forsberg. The Valiquettes are no longer restricted by the NHL's salary cap.

Asked if he has any other major changes in the works, Valiquette laughed. "Rome wasn't built in a day, you know. We'll see what happens in the offseason after we award Lord Steve's Cup."

He's Back...? Remix

All of the signs are pointing to it. I don't want to call it official, but I'm going to be very shocked if it doesn't happen. I've felt this way all along, and it's only a matter of time before it gets done. The Bionic Man will be a Flyer again.

Think about it:

- Holmgren's "secret" scouting trip to Sweden. The Flyers kept that under wraps for about five minutes.

- Forsberg always maintaing he loved Philadelphia and felt like he owes the team something.

- His great relationships with current Flyers such as Gagne and Scott Hartnell.

- Naslund's comments about how he's returning to a former team, with Nashville being ruled out.

- Gagne's "joke" about Forsberg trying to decide which number to wear since Jason Smith has #21.

- The Flyers ordering special equipment for skates and ankle/foot health.

Again, it's not a sure thing yet. I'm not Mark Eckel. Peter Forsberg may not be a Flyer by the time you wake up in the morning. LeCharles Bentley likely won't be either. However, when it's all said and done, I think Forsberg will be a Flyer, and it's going to take some press conference shenanigans coaching from Kevin Jones or Antonio Logan-El for us to be fooled.

Take it for what it's worth. Likely not much.