P.S. The last Phillies pitcher other than Doc to have a no-hitter is Kevin Millwood in '03. Remember him?!
Earlier this week Josh Beckett threw the first no-hitter of the 2014 season against the Phils. Yes, Josh Beckett is still in the Majors, crazy right? Watching a no-hitter is perhaps the most exciting thing that can happen in sports. Everyone gets into it; the fans, the broadcasters, and especially the players. Witnessing a no no has to be one of, if not the best experience one could hope for when attending a baseball game, unless it is your team that can't get a hit. So while it sucks the Phillies got no-hit from a guy who hasn't been relevant since G.W. Bush was president, we can always think back to happier times when this sort of thing never happened to the Phils. The run the Phillies had from 2007-2011 was full of awesome moments and post-season performances like the one in 2010 when Roy Halladay no-hit the Reds. This was Doc's first ever post-season start, something that everyone kept bringing up. The experts were worried that due to his lack of experience, Halladay wouldn't know what to expect. Well he proved to everyone that he could handle the pressure. It is truly a shame that he spent most of his career with a lousy Blue Jays team and when he came to the Phillies they could never make it to the World Series. I, along with the rest of America, would have loved to see what he would have done in the ultimate pressure situation with the World Series on the line. Oh well, at least we have the NLDS no no.
P.S. The last Phillies pitcher other than Doc to have a no-hitter is Kevin Millwood in '03. Remember him?!
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DeSean Jackson is an incredibly talented wide out and is capable of making some awesome plays. This much is known. What is also know is that Jackson didn't fit the mold for what Coach Chip Kelly was looking for in a teammate. Chip knows the kind of players he want on his team, and apparently "DJax" wasn't an ideal player for what Chip wants. Heading into the draft, the Eagles had a vacant spot on the wide receiver depth chart. Jackson, along with Jason Avant, was let go. This led to the Eagles drafting guys that they believe can fill in the void; Jordan Matthews and Josh Huff. It is also important to know that now both of these guys are under contract and seem ready to start their careers as Eagles.
What's left unknown is just how much Philly's offense will miss the big-play making Jackson. Last year DeSean led the league in big plays of 20+ yards, which helped the offense greatly. But now he will be helping a new team, the Redskins. So who will fill in the role of the big play WR? Most people look to Jeremy Maclin, who is coming back from a injury that caused him to miss all of last season. No one has gotten a chance to see what Maclin is capable of under Kelly's faced pace offense. Maclin proved to be a bit of a playmaker under Andy Reid's West Coast offense, so it would only seem plausible for him to make a smooth transition into Chip's system. Speaking of players who transitioned into Chips system, the Birds also have newly signed WR Riley Cooper in the mix. Cooper is coming off of a career year with the Eagles in which he showed his own ability to make plays both with and without the ball in his hands. It seems that another year in the system will only improve Coop's production. Also, it's important to remember TEs Brent Celek and Zach Ertz. Chip likes to use a lot of two Tight End sets, which allowed these players to contribute to the offense both in the passing and running game. Entering the fold are the players mentioned above, rookies Jordan Matthews and Jordan Huff. Both showed great playmaking abilities in College and seem as though they will help out, in some capacity, the passing game as well. At Oregon, Chip's old stomping grounds, Huff showed similar traits to Jackson. He is undersized, but very fast and able to avoid defenders. He may also provide a punch in the Special Teams unit as a return specialist. Matthews ran a lot of bubble screens in college, something the Eagles also do. His size and strength make him seem like a perfect fit for what the Eagles were looking for in a replacement for Jackson. The passing game was not the only aspect of the Eagles offense that made them so successful last season. A lot of the credit towards the team's progress came because of LeSean McCoy. Shady is coming off of a year in which he won the NFL rushing title. His explosiveness as well as football intelligence and elusiveness adds another element to the offense that not many teams in the league can match. In addition, Philadelphia added one of the more elusive running backs in the NFL to the backfield in Darren Sproles. The combination of Sproles and Shady could prove to be the most dangerous backfield the Eagles have ever boasted. So while I recognize the fact that losing DeSean is a big loss, I believe the Eagles have done a good job at adding guys that can and will make him a distant memory. For now, it's time for the players mentioned above to work on becoming a cohesive unit and be ready to play come September. As for DeSean, he's Washington's headache now. There is approximately one month until the 2014 NHL Draft which will be held in the Flyer's own backyard at the Wells Fargo Center. The four teams left in this year's playoffs (Kings, Hawks, Rangers, and Habs) are still unsure of their draft position; this will be determined after the Stanley Cup. The losers of the Conference Championship will get the 26th and 27th overall selections, while the cup loser will pick at 28th, and finally the Cup Champs will pick 29th. The Devil are already slated to pick 30th overall due to a penalty by the league in regards to New Jersey going over the salary cap in 2010 with the signing of Ilya Kovalchuk (who continues to screw over the Devils). The Flyers know their fate and will choose at the 17th slot in the first round. Look for new GM Ron Hextall and the rest of the Flyer's draft team to look to improve the team's offensive production by possibly selecting a sniper. They could even take a defenseman, though this is less likely due to the fact that last year's draft was used to try to sure up the defense. Either way it should be exciting to see what the Flyers choose to do in a draft where they will have the majority of crowd support. NOTE: The Flyer's had the 17th overall pick in 19 ![]() Another piece was added to the puzzle that is the Eagle's offense on the opening day of team activities when they signed WR Jordan Matthews to a four year contract. Matthews was a standout at Vanderbilt becoming the SEC's all time leading receiver. He showed great ability to make catches and head up field, a skill that made Chip Kelly trade up to grab the wide out with the 42nd pick of this year's draft. Matthews is expected to battle another rookie, Josh Huff, for the slot receiver position that was left vacant when the Eagles released Jason Avant. Matthews seems to have the size, talent, and mental abilities to become a contributor to the offense in his first year, but like with everything else, only time will tell. What do Christmas decorations and old clothes have in common with this year's Phillies team? They are going to be in the basement for a long time. So let's go back to moments when this club gave their city something to be proud of. The 1980 Phillies were a team full of talent. Michael Jack providing power at the hot corner, Lefty throwing pearls, and Tugger coming in to wrap up the season with a nice pretty bow. 2008 was the same song, different tune. This team, while talented no doubt, kind of came out of nowhere. Not one baseball "expert" picked the Phils to win that year (same with the Rays, which made that postseason so memorable) so they really turned some heads. So I present the question: Who would win in a best of seven game series; The 1980 or 2008 Phillies? NOTE: This is not asking who was the better team; that is a different question all together. I want to know who do you think would win the series.
The order is in place and the Philadelphia 76ers have won the 3rd and 10th overall selections in this year's NBA draft. What that means, I'm not quite sure. After a terrible season in which the team prided itself on building (fancy talk for them sucking) the silver lining was that they would receive a chance at winning the number one overall pick. Due to the NBA draft lottery system, all logic get thrown out of the window. I think you either need to be a mathematical genus or a master of witchcraft to understand how the lottery works. All I know is that the Sixers were robbed of the number one pick. So where does that leave them? The third overall pick will probably land them either Duke Forward Jabari Parker, or Kansas Center Joel Embiid. Both picks seem to be great players that would benefit the Sixers. Parker showed a scoring touch while a freshman and is thought to be able to make an immediate impact in the NBA.
Embiid has shown signs of becoming the next Hakeem Olajuwon, something the Sixers do not want to miss out on. What's interesting here is the fact that Philly already seems to have their big man of the future in Nerlens Noel. However having two good big men doesn't seem like a huge problem when considering some teams don't have one. There is still a slim chance one of these two players are taken with the first two picks, in which case the Sixers will land Kansas standout Andrew Wiggins. This is wishful thinking, though. It is also important to remember that the Sixers also hold the 10th pick. This pick could be used to grab sharpshooter Doug McDermott from Creighton. Other possibilities include Michigan State Guard Gary Harris, or Kentucky Forward James Young. There is also a third option, which is to package a trade with two picks and possibly Thadeus Young (poor Thad) for a higher selection or an already proven talent. Let the speculation run wild and hopefully this abomination of a season is not wasted. The Phightin' Phils come into this weekend at a modest 20-24 record, five games out of first place in the NL East. I have good and bad news regarding the club; the bad is that they're 20-24, the good is that they're only five games out in the division. This season the phils have played mediocre baseball and have found themselves with a losing record. The offense can't decide if it wants to produce runs or not, while the relief pitching has been outright terrible. As of right now, the core of the team is in good health, but one wonders if this will last all season long considering the age of most of these players. The Phils have played roughly 1/4th of the season thus far, and it's hard to tell what direction they will enter going into the final 3/4th of the year. Only one thing seems apparent; the NL East is still up for grabs. As bad as the Phillies have been, they are still in the hunt to win the division. The Braves, who are in first place and seem to be the best team in the division, only hold a five game lead on Philadelphia. The NL East have collectively been played sub-par ball, but that means that one of these teams will walk backwards into the playoffs. Why can't that team be the Phillies? If they remain to stay healthy and heat up when the weather cools down, who is to say they Phils won't be the NL East representative in this year's NLDS? Their chances are slime to say the least, but then again.....stranger things have happened to this club.
Cliff Lee, who has been suffering from elbow soreness all season, has been placed on the 15 day DL. He is scheduled to have a MRI soon to tell how bad the damage is. Lee is the Phil's best pitcher and is one of the top 25 highest paid athletes in the world, so losing him would be huge. Some people are claiming the injury is so bad he will need Tommy John Surgery to heal it properly. Lee didn't make any comments regarding his injury, but based on his demeanor, he doesn't seem too worried: http://m.mlb.com/video/v7099837/ws-2009-gm-1-lee-makes-two-plays-look-easy In honor of this week being the 40th anniversary of the Flyers' first of two cups, I present footage and interviews of their cup clinching game. P.S. A lot of people complain that the Flyers of the 70's still get too much attention and Philly needs to move on. This came in the wake of the statue outside of Xfinity Live being revealed. Here's a few things to know regarding the bullies that make them timeless:
A. They were the first expansion team to win the Cup, taking on 7 years to accomplish that feat. 2. They used a style of play that has never before or since been used, physically beating their opponents. D. At one point they literally were the best team in the world. The Flyers have to sit at home and on the golf course and watch the remaining teams play for this year's Stanley Cup. The team wants so badly to be able to make a longer run into the playoffs, but in order to do so must make some changes this offseason. Here's a positional breakdown of how the Flyers can improve for next season.
GOALIE: For the first time since Ron Hextall was patrolling the pipes, Philadelphia seems to have found their guy in net. Steve Mason, who signed a contract extension with the Flyers last season, will return as the number one goalie. Mason proved to be very solid in net for the orange and black last year and in the games he played in the playoffs against the Rangers, looked really sharp. Who knows, if Mason started the whole series against New York, perhaps it would be the Flyers still alive and a New York sports blog that's being written right now. Finally the problem with the Flyers is not who is playing in net. While the starting job is clearly taken, the backup position is still up for grabs. Ray Emery, who played well last season as a backup, may not return. While Emery provided solid net play last season, his age seemed to have caught up to him a bit. While they Flyers would like to have him back, it seems as though he won't resign with the team. If that is the case, look for Cal Heeter, who made a few guest appearances last season, to be the backup. FORWARD: Expect the same core group of guys back in the mix for the Flyers. Giroux, Hartnell, Voracek, Simmonds, Read, Couturier, Lacavalier, and Brayden Schenn will all likely be back next season. Look at young guys like Rinaldo, Raffl, Akeson, McGinn, and Scott Laughton to possibly make more of an impact to the team. The big concern coming after last season seemed to be a lack of scoring. The Flyers would like to get another scoring threat at left wing to compliment Claude Giroux and Jake Voracek. No disrespect to Scott Hartnell, but he has a better chance of talking Teemu Selanne out of retirement than he does at being a liable top line winger. Michael Raffl showed great play-making ability at times, but doesn't seem ready to be a first line starter just yet. Some notable free agents available this offseason that may tickle the Flyers' fancy are; Matt Moulson, Thomas Vanek, Milan Michalek, Jussi Jokinen, and Mason Raymond. Look for the Flyers to try to find someone with speed and skill to insert into the top unit and make their top line one of the scariest in the league. DEFENSE: Where do we begin? The Flyers defense from a year ago showed ups and downs, but ultimately needs to improve greatly. Expect Coburn, Grossmann, McDonald, Schenn, and Mark Streit all to be back. The huge question regarding defense is whether Kimmo Timonen will retire or not. Timonen is the Flyers' alternante captain and their best defenseman. If he chooses to retire, he will leave a gaping hole that need to be filled. Andy McDonald could possibly play the role as puck moving defenseman that Timonen has played for the past seven seasons. In addition, the Flyers will lose Erik Gustafsson who signed with a Russian team in the KHL. That makes two holes needed to be fixed on D. Philadelphia does have some younger players in the system who have tons of potential. Guys like Samuel Morin, Robert Hagg, Oliver Lauridsen, and Shayne Gostisbehere could all help improve the Flyers defense, but all seem too young to be full time NHLers just yet. One possible Free Agent the Flyers could take a look at is Dan Boyle who was just released by the Sharks. Whoever they bring in, the Flyers need a fast, puck moving defenseman who can help on the power play. |