Start of Free Agency Leaves Eagles Fans Frustrated

March 8th, 2010 by Johnny G | 3 Comments | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

This years Free Agency started off with a bang on Friday with Julius Peppers going to the Chicago Bears, Antrel Rolle to the Giants, Kyle Vanden Bosch to the Lions, Anquan Boldin being shipped to the Ravens, and Aaron Kampan going to the Jaguars. There has not been much excitement for Eagles’ fans in Philadelphia though. The only activity for the Birds has been resigning Fullback Leonard Weaver and slot receiver Jason Avant. On top of their extreme inactivity, the Eagles have made it clear that they will pay Michael Vick his $1.5 million roster bonus, essentially saying the Eagles will enter the season with Donovan Mcnabb, Kevin Kolb, and Mike Vick all on the roster.

You really have to wonder what the plan of action is for this off-season. In the Eagles defense they do have a plethora of draft picks that can be used to address specific needs on the defensive side of the ball. There are glaring weaknesses that were exposed badly by the Dallas Cowboys in the week 17 and first round playoff embarrassments. They need at least one safety, in addition to a couple linebackers, a defensive end to play opposite of Trent Cole, and a running back. They will also need a back-up plan in case Jamaal Jackson is not ready in time for the season and another guard, unless you want to depend on Shawn Andrews staying healthy and contributing.

For all the talk about Donovan Mcnabb being traded and the multiple sources that have stated the Eagles have been in discussions over these trade talks, it has ultimately been reported that any move regarding Donovan is being vetoed by Andy Reid. Whether or not you agree with that course of action, the Eagles are clearly in a state of turmoil. To keep three quarterbacks on the same roster like the trio the Eagles have now is a pure waste of resources. We can only hope there is something in the master plan that we don’t know about.

Good Start

March 5th, 2010 by Christian | 2 Comments | Filed in Baseball, General, Phillies

Don’t want to get too excited about two innings of a spring training game, but Roy Halladay was dominant against the Yankees, striking out three in two innings. That’s half the batters he faced for you math wizards. And it took him only 24 pitches to do it, 21 of which were strikes!

As Advertised

Most impressive is the movement on his pitches. The ball looks like a high speed frisbee going to the plate. On a called strike three, Nick Swisher was frozen at the plate, simply overmatched. Check out the video at Philies.com.

Great stuff! Keep it up Roy!

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Ryan Howard’s Not So Secret Enemy

March 4th, 2010 by Johnny G | 6 Comments | Filed in Baseball, General, Phillies

Ryan Howard struck out 13 times in the 6 game series.

If you noticed an alarming pattern during Ryan Howard’s at-bats in the 2009 World Series it was probably his .174 batting average and 13 strikeouts in the six game series. What is even more alarming though, is the strategy the Yankees used to isolate the Phillies best power threat. Throughout the six game series Ryan Howard saw 101 pitches. 40 of those were fastballs, 36 were sliders, 22 were curveballs, and 3 were cutters. That’s right, in a six game series Ryan Howard saw a fastball less than 40% of the time. That is absolutely unheard of when comparing pitch selection by pitchers in the MLB. Phillies fans could rest easily going forward if the trend stopped there, but thanks to phenomenal research by Tom Verducci and Stats inc., it has been proven that we have quite a bit to worry about.

Let’s start from the top. In the first six innings of a game, Ryan Howard is a .298 career hitter. Any Phillies fan would take that from the big man any day of the week, but after the first six innings that average drops to a very mediocre .237. There are a lot of fluky reasons this could occur if we were comparing a week, a month, or even a season of stats, but when comparing his whole career this is a real issue. Late in games managers have the option of using left-handed relief specialists who live and die by their breaking ball, which is obviously the reason for the substantial drop in production.

When comparing the amount of breaking balls Howard sees compared to the rest of the MLB it is not a competition. Last season over the course of 2009 Ryan Howard saw 1,127 breaking pitches and number 2 on this list was Dan Uggla at 930 breaking pitches. Howard now sees way more breaking balls than anyone else in the big leagues and its only getting worse. Each year the amount of breaking pitches has increased for Howard and so has the amount of at-bats he has against left-handers per season. The average left handed hitter faces a left handed pitcher in 18.5% of their plate appearances. Howard on the other hand faces lefties in a whopping 35.8% of his at-bats, most in the big leagues.

Here’s where the numbers start to get really alarming: Last year when facing a breaking ball, Howard either swung and missed or fouled the pitch off 73% of the time. 73% of the time against a breaking ball it was a strike against Howard. 27% of the time the ball was put in play and that doesn’t mean it was for a hit. You have to assume at least 15% of the balls put into play were recorded outs. That should give you an idea of how often he successfully reaches base against breaking balls. Finally, Howard saw 1,127 breaking balls last year and hit exactly 3 home-runs off of left-handed breaking balls. With those types of struggles it is amazing he puts up the final numbers he does season in and season out.

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Spring Training News and Notes

March 2nd, 2010 by Johnny G | 12 Comments | Filed in Baseball, General

Bright House Field

  • Victorino may not play in Spring Opener: Shane Victorino did not participate in throwing drills on Monday at Phillies camp because of a sore shoulder. Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel and the training staff did not expect it to be serious but were being extra cautious this early in camp. .”We didn’t want him throwing in our drills,” Manuel said. “We want him to take it easy a few days. He’ll be all right.” Victorino did participate in batting practice but his status for Wednesdays exhibition game against Florida St. is unknown
  • Romero and Lidge work their way back: J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge both threw off of a mound on Sunday and both reported they felt fine. “Still going slow, but it’s going in the right direction,” Lidge said. Lidge threw 35 pitches with “6 or 7” sliders mixed in. Romero threw only fastballs in his first session on a mound. “It went well,” Romero said. “I feel good and I’m very positive about it.”
  • Hamels working on cutter: As many fans have noticed, Cole Hamels has become a two-pitch pitcher. With only his fastball and change-up as legitimate pitches, his repertoire has become pretty predictable for fans and hitters alike. “It’s hard, but I’m willing to put in all the work to do it, because I understand the importance and significance behind having more pitches against big league hitters,” Hamels said. Whether Hamels will be comfortable enough with the cutter for this season remains to be seen, but tinkering with other pitchers can only be a positive for Cole.

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The Eagles Season of Change & How They Must Rearrange!

February 27th, 2010 by seanfrancissmith | 5 Comments | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

The Time Has Come

Okay folks, it is time to turn it over and see some MAJOR changes for these “same old song and dance” Eagles.

The first mistake Lurie made was giving Reid too much power, adding the GM position to the taxing job of coach.  Bad move.  Rarely have I seen one man wear two hats in the NFL and succeed. It was ridiculous and plain stupid of Lurie to do so.  How can you do two jobs well and keep focus?  Answer: You can’t in the NFL.  Many have tried and failed!  So Lurie has gone out and hired a GM to help offset some of Reid’s burden, which is a good thing.

Some may argue that Reid is a great coach, but I believe he is a good coach at best, who comes up short in big games and repeats his mistakes over and over.  That being said, unfortunately I don’t see Lurie going out and getting a coach like Cowher who believes in offensive balance. Reid’s tendency to pass way too much and not build a sustained running game has worn out OUR OWN defenses, which this year was absolutely on dead legs by the end of the year.

Take a look at our time of possession. Yes, we scored points, but in quick bursts. Passing often will actually win you a Super Bowl once in a blue moon with a Montana, Brady or Manning at the helm, who were incredibly accurate, but where McNabb is NOT! Still with Manning, look what the Saints did to him in the Super Bowl anticipating the pass!

They have released Westbrook, which is okay with me, moving towards a youth movement. Weaver  running & blocking for McCoy is fine with me. What scares me is they will not go out and use some of that money on a Julius Peppers-type player to compliment Trent Cole. We know Banner is a frugal bean counter!

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Johnny G’s 2010 NBA Power Rankings

February 24th, 2010 by Johnny G | 13 Comments | Filed in Basketball, General

2010 NBA Power Rankings

1. Los Angeles Lakers- With an overall record of 43-14, the Lakers are clearly the class of the NBA right now. With the injuries to Kobe Bryant, the boys in LA have also proven they can survive without their star for a period of time if necessary. The overall length of this roster provides a lot of problems for their opponents to address. Gasol, Bynum, and Odom down low are very difficult to handle on the boards and create mismatches all over the floor.

2. Cleveland Cavaliers- The Cavs made the biggest splash at the deadline, acquiring Antawn Jamison to take some of the pressure off of Lebron. James has proven he can do it all himself in the past but with Shaq and Jamison on board now, his task should be a lot easier. After the trade Big Z is expected to return to the Cavs through one of the ridiculous loopholes in the NBA bargaining agreement. This team is the favorite to come out of the East at this point.

3. Denver Nuggets- Sitting at 37-19, the Nuggets did not do much at the deadline, but did they really need to? Chauncey Billups playing at a career level, Carmelo Anthony taking over games by himself, K-Mart at the 4, and Nene in the middle, this roster is very dangerous. J.R. Smith coming off the bench is a pure scorer who can put the ball in the basket in bunches and the bird man is a defensive force. Watch out for this team in a crowded Western Conference. Thoughts and prayers go out to George Karl, who is in another bout with cancer.

4. Utah Jazz- On January 9th, this team was on the outside looking in at the playoff picture, sitting in the 10th seed. Since then all they have done is run off 17 wins in 19 games, pushing their record to 36-19. Jerry Sloan, the NBA’s longest tenured coach and recently inducted Hall of Famer is doing wonders with this group led by Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer. This team will go as far as Williams can take them.

5. Orlando Magic- When this team is playing to their capabilities, the Magic have as deep of a starting 5 as you’re going to see. Jameer Nelson has recovered phenomenally since his shoulder injury of last year and Vince Carter is suddenly rejuvenated after having a counseling session with former coach Lawrence Frank. Matt Barnes has been a welcomed edition to the starting lineup and Dwight Howard is putting up double doubles on a nightly basis. They are likely to at least hook up with the Cavs in the Eastern Conference finals.

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Leave Tiger Alone?

February 20th, 2010 by Christian | 19 Comments | Filed in General, Twitter, talksportsPhilly

I was enjoying dinner with friends last night, when inevitably the Tiger Woods subject came up. By the end of the discussion, I was (surprisingly) alone in my opinion that this isn’t just Tiger’s business. I was amazed that three of my friends and my wife held the position that this should be between Tiger and his wife, and the media is blowing things out of proportion. People shouldn’t be this interested in this guy’s sex life, they argued.

While I respect their opinions, I think that’s total BS. Tiger Woods is currently the most famous athlete in the world. He has presented himself for over a decade as the perfect athlete, who wins through conditioning, preparation, and being mentally tougher than his opponents. He was invincible, with no apparent flaws in his game. He also projected an image of domestic bliss, with a beautiful blonde, model-esque wife, and two adorable children. The picture was carefully crafted, and perfect.

To say that image has been shattered is the understatement of the century.

If Tiger had simply cheated on his wife, and had, say one or two mistresses, people would understand. He just made a mistake. And if he and his wife reconciled in private, that would be the end of it. Hey, men and women cheat on their spouses sometimes. Everyone knows that. It would not be the spectacle it is becoming.

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