Archive for November, 2013

« Older Entries

My 2013 Philadelphia Phillies’ Team Award Winners

November 30th, 2013 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on My 2013 Philadelphia Phillies’ Team Award Winners | Filed in Baseball, General, Phillies
philliesaward

Phillies Awards 2013

The Phillies had another disappointing, mediocre season this year at 73-89; a win-loss record only good enough for fourth place within the NL East division. The team throughout the year, as many know, were plagued by various injuries, young players’ struggles, poor management, and flat out poor play. Regardless of the abysmal year the team had, here are my Phillies’ individual, annual team award winners for this season.

MVP (also Most Valuable Pitcher)

-Cliff Lee- SP= All-Star- 14-8, 2.87 ERA, 222.2 IP, 222 strikeouts

Cliff Lee, despite the team’s frequent inability to score runs for him, had another brilliant year, to say the least. Most baseball writers league wide have him within the top 5 of their NL Cy Young Voting list. It is fair, and true, to say that had the Phillies not performed so poorly and below par this year, Lee would be higher up on the voting list (Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw is a lock to win the award) once the award winner is announced.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Philadelphia Flyers (10-10-2) vs. Florida Panthers (6-13-5)- Pre-Game Article- including breakdowns, statistics, injury reports and predictions

November 26th, 2013 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Philadelphia Flyers (10-10-2) vs. Florida Panthers (6-13-5)- Pre-Game Article- including breakdowns, statistics, injury reports and predictions | Filed in Flyers, General, Hockey

 

Philadelphia Flyers (10-10-2; 4-3-2 away) vs. Florida Panthers (6-13-5; 3-4-3 home)

Location- Sunrise, FL
Arena- BB&T Center
Time: 07:30 PM EST
TV Channel(s)- FSFLP, CSN Philly
Radio- 97.5 the Fanatic
Starting Goalies- Steve Mason (PHI)- Tim Thomas (FLA)

The Flyers are back on the road again, folks. This time it’s brief, at least for now, and only for two games- both of which are in Florida. After tonight, they face off against Tampa, at the Tampa Bay Times Forum, two days from now on the eve of Thanksgiving. They’ll play a rare 11:30 AM game this Black Friday at home vs. Winnipeg, on a back-to-back game schedule, before traveling to play at Nashville on Saturday. The Fly Guys have been playing excellent, extremely competitive hockey as of late under new head coach, interim Craig Berube. They’ve won three straight and are undefeated in seven straight games, since November 9th. So far this year, Philadelphia has been a somewhat better road team, than home team, going 4-3-2 away from the Wells Fargo Center.

As for Florida, they’ve lost two straight (one was a shootout loss), and went 2-2-1 on their five-game road trip that they just wrapped up prior to tonight’s game. They’re 6-13-5 this year, and are currently in second to last place in the Atlantic Division standings, ahead of Buffalo.

Offensively this season, Florida ranks 25th in the league in goals (51), 21st in shots on goal (673), 27th in assists (83) and 27th in goals-per-game (2.13). They’re dead last in the NHL on the man-advantage, with a percentage of 9.3. They’re also very poor on the penalty kill as well: ranked 27th overall with a percentage of 77.1. This is why their record stands as it is. They’re poor in special-teams’ scenarios, they’re poor five-on-five and in the face off circle as well (ranked 24th; with a 48.1% face-off win percentage).

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sixers Waive Kwame Brown and Darius Morris, Sign Elliot Williams and Lorenzo Brown

November 21st, 2013 by Sam Shipley | Comments Off on Sixers Waive Kwame Brown and Darius Morris, Sign Elliot Williams and Lorenzo Brown | Filed in Basketball, General, Sixers

sixersbrownwilliams

The Sixers made a few roster moves on Wednesday, waiving Kwame Brown and Darius Morris, and then signing guards Elliot Williams and Lorenzo Brown.

Brett Brown spoke about Kwame, “Kwame’s injuries got the best of him…was never able to get on the court”. Brown spoke about Darius Morris as well, “Darius had some really good moments for us. He’s an NBA player.”

Now the Sixers bring in former first round pick Elliot Williams and Lorenzo Brown who was the 52nd pick in this years draft. Williams is a talented player, but has never been able to stay on the court. He has appeared in just 24 games in his NBA career due to many injuries. He ruptured his left Achilles last fall, and has had multiple knee surgeries and shoulder injuries.

Lorenzo Brown was drafted by Minnesota in this years draft, and was down in the D-League before being signed by the Sixers today. Brown is a big point guard at 6-5, but he isn’t super athletic. Here is what DraftExpress wrote about Brown before the draft, ” Though he possesses good quickness in the open floor and compensates somewhat with his agility and body control, he lacks the overall explosiveness scouts covet in point guard prospects.”

Both of these players will be available tonight against Toronto, and they are both players to keep an eye out for to see if they can crack the rotation and contribute.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , ,

Philadelphia Eagles- 24- Washington Redskins- 16- Post-Game Thread/Recap

November 20th, 2013 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Philadelphia Eagles- 24- Washington Redskins- 16- Post-Game Thread/Recap | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

(Photo by Rich Schultz /Getty Images)

Nick Foles hugging backup QB Kirk Cousins after the game (Photo by Rich Schultz /Getty Images)

Leave it to Brandon Boykin to make a big play to save the game for Philadelphia, with 32 seconds left in the game at home vs. rival Washington.

The Eagles looked as if they were going to cruise easily to victory this past Sunday vs. the now 3-7 Redskins, but the game drastically changed, in Washington’s favor, when the Eagles decided to slow down the pace of the game with a 24-0 lead after halftime.

That’s when Washington’s defense came up with a few stops in succession, to be able to put their offense, struggling at that point, in a position to score some points and get back in the game. Well, that’s exactly what they did. Washington scored 16 unanswered points in the 4th quarter, and after a 24-point deficit, cut the lead to just a touchdown (plus a two-point conversion). Even more impressively perhaps, on top of the touchdowns to cut the Philly lead, was Washington’s red-zone offense’s effectiveness on the two-point conversion attempts. They were 2-2 in two-point attempts, even though they were poor outside of that in the red-zone.

The first time they made it to the red zone was with little over nine minutes to play in the second quarter, when backup running back Roy Helu Jr. ran for a 24-yard gain to setup 1st and 10 on the Philadelphia 20 yard line. On the very next play, Eagles’ linebacker Connor Barwin sacked Griffin for an eight yard loss, and subsequently stripped the ball from him for a forced fumble, which lead to an Eagles’ recovery by Fletcher Cox.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

NHL Trade Rumors: Flyers Actively Shopping Brayden Schenn

November 20th, 2013 by Mike Pantaleone | Comments Off on NHL Trade Rumors: Flyers Actively Shopping Brayden Schenn | Filed in Flyers, Hockey

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about Flyers youngsters Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier. In a nutshell, I made some points on why the Flyers should hold on to Couturier, and trade Schenn – should the right deal come along.

Apparently, the Flyers organization was listening.

(more…)

Tags: ,

“View from the Philly Pressbox” – Can the Eagles make the Playoffs? – UPDATE!!!

November 20th, 2013 by Philly Pressbox | Comments Off on “View from the Philly Pressbox” – Can the Eagles make the Playoffs? – UPDATE!!! | Filed in Eagles, Football, General

Logo

4 WEEKS HAVE PASSED , WHERE DO THE EAGLES STAND NOW??

We wanted to revisit the article we wrote a month ago, see that article below, to see how our predictions were and where the Eagles stand going in to the home stretch. We will take a look at the Eagles, Cowboys and the resurgent Giants.

First the Eagles, we called the Giants game a MUST WIN and the Eagles lost, however, they were able to steal a game back by beating the Aaron Rodgersless Packers in Green Bay. We called for wins over Oakland and Washington and they got both of those. The bottom line is they go the 3 wins out of 4 games just not how we expected them. The Eagles still have games against three teams with 6-4 records, Arizona, Detroit and Chicago as well as 2-8 Minnesota before the final showdown with the Cowboys in Dallas. We see the Eagles needing to go 2-2 at a minimum, preferably 3-1 going to Dallas. That would give them a 9-6 or 8-7 record.

As far as the Cowboys, they got hammered by the Saints and lost to Lions while beating the Vikings. We said that would happen, however, losing to the Lions means they must beat the Bears in Chicago. They still have the Packers on December 15 so Rodgers should be back. We still call that a loss. They still have the Raiders and Redskins, both games they should win. That brings us to this weeks game against the Giants. Dallas must win to stay tied at the top of the NFC East with the Eagles and move the Giants 2 games back of The Birds with 5 to go. A Dallas loss and Giants win puts them in a tie one game behind the Eagles. Lets go with this scenario for Dallas, wins against the Raiders and Redskins, a loss to the Packers and a loss to the Bears, that makes them 7-7 not including the Giants and Eagles. A loss to the Giants this weekend puts the Cowboys in big trouble. They will have to beat the Bears or Packers to stay on pace.

That bring the Giants back in to the discussion. They’ve now won 4 in a row. Their schedule still shows a trip to San Diego and a home game against Seattle that will both be tough. They also have the Redskins twice, Detroit and this weeks game against Dallas. The Giants definitely have the toughest road. They will have to win 5 of the final 6 games to reach 9-7. We don’t see that happening with the remaining schedule. A loss to Dallas this week means the Giants will have to win out to stay in the mix.

Our conclusion: The Eagles are in the drivers seat. The schedule is in their favor among the three remaining teams. A Giants win Sunday would sure be helpful. The other key team in this mix is the Detroit Lions. The Lions are 6-4, tied for the NFC North lead, and play all three teams, the Eagles, Cowboys and Giants. This team is no pushover for anyone. It should be a fun final 6 weeks in the NFC East!!!!

(more…)

Tags: , , , , ,

Phillies and catcher Carlos Ruiz agree to a 3 year, $26 million dollar deal

November 19th, 2013 by Kyle Lutz | Comments Off on Phillies and catcher Carlos Ruiz agree to a 3 year, $26 million dollar deal | Filed in Baseball, General, Phillies

(AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

The potential loss of an All-Star caliber catcher, and one of the best defensive catchers in the game, had to be looming over the Phillies’ heads, prior to re-signing the nine year veteran (all with Philadelphia) and All-Star to a lucrative deal on Monday.

Ruiz and the Phillies agreed to a $26 million dollar, 3-year deal that will keep him a Philadelphia Phillie for at least another three years (and overall, a decade almost) potentially. The contract also includes a club option for 2017.

Ruiz, in the thin market this off-season for catchers, was heavily pursued and contacted by numerous teams, many of which were contenders or playoff teams this past season, including Boston, the Yankees, and Colorado, among others.

Last season was a tough one, to say the least, for Ruiz. Not only was he officially suspended by Major League Baseball for 25 games, just over a year ago, prior to the 2013 season, due to testing positive for an amphetamine, but he performed poorly on the field as well offensively- perhaps due to his body weaning itself off of the drugs.

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , ,

« Older Entries
en English
ar Arabiczh-CN Chinese (Simplified)nl Dutchen Englishfr Frenchde Germanhaw Hawaiianit Italianko Koreanla Latinpt Portugueseru Russianes Spanishuk Ukrainian