Archive for May 18th, 2011

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Roster Moves On The Horizon

May 18th, 2011 by Mike H. | Comments Off on Roster Moves On The Horizon | Filed in Baseball, Phillies

Is Utley coming back to soon?

Jayson Stark made his weekly appearance on 97.5 FM on Wednesday. He brought a bit of good fortune to the Phillies fans. His sources have relayed to him that it is very possibly that Chase Utley could be in Philadelphia manning second base by the beginning of next week and almost certainly by the end of the home stand.

Personally, I think that move is a little premature. The quality of the pitching in High A Clearwater is significantly different than that of major league pitching. I would rather see Utley play a couple games, even if only three games each, at AA Reading and AAA Lehigh Valley. Utley’s time table on his rehab assignment expires on the 30th, meaning that, barring the inability to play, he has to be back on the active roster by the 30th of May. Which is more than 10 days away. Lehigh Valley has two more games in Scranton and then has a home stand that lasts until the 29th. Reading has one more game in Portland and then has a home stand until the 26th. So why are we rushing him?

Stark and Missanelli also went on to talk about the possible promotion of Domonic Brown. Stark went on to say that despite the Phillies top prospects’ .341 batting average, that the holes in Brown’s swing are so big, that he will be easily picked a part in the majors. Anyone want to bet me that these problems will either be improved enough or solved by the end of the third week of June or the beginning of the fourth week?
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Chris Wheeler’s Stupid Comment of the Day

May 18th, 2011 by Tophat | Comments Off on Chris Wheeler’s Stupid Comment of the Day | Filed in General

Duhhhh

In the eighth inning, Shane Victorino sacrifice bunted the ball to the first base side, moving Wilson Valdez to second base.  Chris Wheeler offered up this astute color commentary:

[Paraphrasing] “That was a good bunt because the 1st baseman must go further to get the ball.”

Now what did Wheels mean? Must he go further than the third baseman to get the ball? I already know he must go further than the pitcher, but I don’t need Wheels to tell me that!

Valdez eventually scored the winning run, in spite of Wheels’ moronic statement.

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Not even the best pitching will help if you can’t score runs….

May 18th, 2011 by EricW | Comments Off on Not even the best pitching will help if you can’t score runs…. | Filed in Phillies

As just one example, Cole Hamels has been terrific tonight, just as he has been terrific in almost every start this season. He’s only given up one run, five hits, and a single walk with eight strikeouts through eight innings. That’s as much as any manager can possible hope for from a starting pitcher, and it should certainly be good enough to win.

Except for the anemic offense of the Phillies, who have only managed a single run themselves tonight (just like last night). Nobody is hitting except for maybe Jimmy Rollins and John Mayberry, Jr. Ibanez has been awful and Francisco worse. Chooch is in a horrendous slump and so is Howard, who is whiffing at a record pace.

The Phils got great pitching last night from everyone not named Danys Baez or J.C. Romero. Night after night, it’s like this. Baez was useless last year, and he’s worse this year. Romero, who is always REALLY iffy demonstrated again last night that’s not dependable. Stutes got hurt. Kyle Kendrick continued his run of really excellent work out of the bullpen–who’da thunk it? But the Phils managed to scrape out only one run last night and again tonight. It’s pathetic.

Keeping Jayson Werth is starting to look like a much better investment than Cliff Lee right about now…..

Dirk Drops 48 on Thunder!

May 18th, 2011 by Christian | 1 Comment | Filed in General

Michael Wilbon gave Nowitzi’s performance in Game 1 the ultimate compliment, calling it “Larry Bird-esque.”  I concur, with the one caveat that Bird did this with regularity, and in championship games.  Still, a heckuva game by the big German!  Unreal!!

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Is it a must win for Miami tonight?

May 18th, 2011 by Brandon Pemberton | 1 Comment | Filed in Basketball
 

Miami's "Big 3" will look to rebound from a bad performance in game 1 tonight. Bosh held his own, scoring 30 points.

By Brandon Pemberton

www.brandononsports.WordPress.com

The Miami Heat came out flat in game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Bulls, and the play along with the final score showed.  Lebron James (15 points, 5-15 from the field) and Dwayne Wade (18 points 7-17 from the field) were flat out brutal, while Chris Bosh carried the team with 30 points and 9 rebounds.  When I watched James after the game 7 win against the Celtics on the ground resembling a player who had just won a NBA title, I thought to myself “he is acting like the season is over and they won it all.”  And he and his team’s play was a disgrace on Sunday night.

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Random Thoughts 5/18 Edition: Dirk Wins Game 1 for Mavs, Flyers Sign Goaltender, Heat-Bulls Game 2, Phillies Struggles Continue

May 18th, 2011 by Scott Dargis | Comments Off on Random Thoughts 5/18 Edition: Dirk Wins Game 1 for Mavs, Flyers Sign Goaltender, Heat-Bulls Game 2, Phillies Struggles Continue | Filed in Baseball, Basketball, Flyers, General, Hockey, Phillies

Last night was a fantastic television night for sports. The Thunder-Mavs, Bruins-Lightning, and Phillies-Cardinals were within six channels  of each other, so I hope you used your clicker as much as I did last night.

Dirk takes over, Barea plays huge minutes

The comparison that is dominating the sports airwaves today is Dirk Nowitzki’s performance to that of Larry Bird. It is a fair comparison,  Dirk put on a show last night that included setting the record for the most consecutive free throws made in a game with 24. He scored 48 points on just 12 shots, he went 12-15 from the floor. It was the best performance in a playoff game in the past decade.

Oklahoma City could not find the correct scheme to shut down the big shooter. Ibaka did just about everything he could, but it was no where near enough. Dirk is in a zone right now the likes of which we haven’t seen before. The only answer is going to be finding the two people who can play the correct double team because it is clear that if you leave one person on him he is going to burn you.

Again Russell Westbrook took too many bad shots, he was able to get to the line 18 times, but you can’t shoot 3 of 15 and expect to be effective. Thunder coach Scott Brooks finally had enough and went to Nate Robinson early in the 4th quarter instead of putting Westbrook back into the game. Robinson responded with two air balls and a shot that barely hit the rim. Brooks had no choice but to put Westbrook back in. If there was a game to bench your second best player, Game 1 is the time to do that.

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Phillies vs Rockies Preview

May 18th, 2011 by Mike H. | 1 Comment | Filed in Baseball, Phillies

The National League West leading Colorado Rockies (22-18) are coming to town for a short two game series against the Phillies (25 – 16 ). The Phillies have stumbled offensively as of late and are holding on to the slimmest of leads as the Florida Marlins and Atlanta Braves are right on the Phillies heels. So let’s take a look at the matchups. (more…)

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