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It's Brett Myers against Matt Chico in the Phillies season opener. We're down at the ball park for the festivities. For those stuck at work, feel free to comment along in this post.
For those down at the game today, be sure to add your photos to The 700 Level's flickr group this evening.
There's a reason I think fans aren't as bullish on the Phillies this year. The Fightins come into 2008 as the reigning National League East Champions. That's a position none of us are used to. We're more accustomed to getting behind a team playing the role of underdog, with their sights set on the Braves. This defending the East thing doesn't quite fit right just yet.
But that doesn't mean we're not confident in our boys. One of the things I like about all of the predictions by national media types, who love the Mets and Braves, is that the Phillies aren't the favorites despite having won the division last year. I bet that doesn't sit real well with Chase and Jimmy.
Baseball fans in Philadelphia have extremely high hopes for Chase Utley in 2008. I believe it's with good reason. The National media seems to be catching on to the spectacular second basemen as well. In talks I've had with baseball fans outside of Philadelphia, however, the average fans aren't as sold on two-six as we are. I'm going to enjoy watching prove them wrong in 2008.
Jayson Stark put together this ESPN video focusing on Utley's role on the Phillies and potential as an MVP candidate. Shane Victorino's tale of Utley giving him "the look" is pure gold. Utley is the leader who has to keep the fun-loving Victorino in line.
What's Utley's take on all this MVP chatter? "Trendy pick. Just talk."
ESPN has summarized their MLB expert picks into one nifty page: 2 of 19 writers picked the Phils to win the NL East while another 4 picked Philly for the Wild Card. The Mets and Braves seem to be the popular pick this year and for good reason. Chase Utley appears to be the second most popular pick for NL MVP with the Mets David Wright being the popular choice. I'll have my guess on season outcomes later this morning.
Thanks to reader Keith for the link. We encourage all readers to pass along everything Phillies related the next few days (and always).
An amazing shot of the Philly skyline from over the weekend. Much like the lighting display on 30th street's Cira Centre, we're ready for Opening Day.
President George W. Bush threw out the first pitch tonight at the Washington Nationals new ball park in Washington, DC. G-Dubs brought the high heat and didn't bounce it in to home like a little sissy -- very Republican of him! Bush later joined Joe Morgan and Jon Miller in the booth for an inning and a half of brilliant baseball analysis.
The Nationals open up their season tonight against the Atlanta Braves before heading down to Philly tomorrow to take on our Phillies. The crowd in Washington tonight seemed to have had a little Philly in them, booing our nation's leader quite a bit.
Update: It was quite the ending for the Nats.
After watching this video, which we have courtesy of Meech, we're left thinking: (1) I bet the Dude has killed a man with his bare hands; (2) I wonder if he has any openings on his magazine staff; (3) Leonard Kyle Dykstra, aka Dirt, aka Nails, aka the Dude, is smarter than we are. And it's not even close.
A beautiful goal by Danny Briere ensured the Flyers wouldn't be the victims of a second consecutive shootout loss Saturday night, winning 4-3 on Long Island. For the second straight night, the Flyers found themselves down in the third period, but Mike Richards rammed home the equalizer to send it to overtime. A last minute penalty had them down a man for the first 2 minutes of OT, and when another penalty immediately followed, it looked like the Flyers might be in line for another sympathy point. But tenacious play stifled the Isles' power play, and once again the Flyers headed to the dreaded shootout.
Tonight's round was just the opposite of last night's, in which only one save was made in six attempts; Antero Niittymaki was perfect on the three attempts he faced, and Wade Dubielewicz stopped the first two Flyers shots, but couldn't answer Briere's multi-deke backhander. Briere scored in regulation as well, and his hot streak continues. Joffrey Lupul added the Flyers other goal, lighting the lamp for the first time since returning to injury.
Dubielewicz and Niitty both played great games in net, with a total of 83 shots between the teams. The Flyers' 54 marked a season high, and tonight's game was the sixth time in the past 10 games the Flyers have gone to overtime or beyond. Video highlights after the jump.
I like to think I'm a fairly open sports fan. Whether it be MLS or the NHL, I like to give the lesser leagues a chance. That said, one sport I don't think I've ever wanted to watch is women's basketball.
ESPN, however, had an interesting piece today on the first powerhouse in the world of women's college basketball. It's a local school that will likely surprise you. Look for St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli's wife as one of the former star hoopsters in the video below.
So you got smoked by Kansas last night. Who didn't know that was coming? The good news is, Tyreke Evans is said to be split between Villanova and John Calipari's squad in Memphis, with Seton Hall and Texas also in the mix. Dig:
Rangers antagonist Sean Avery has been named as a paying client of Kristin Davis, New York's other famous hooker. Avery, who's bedded such belles as Elisha Cuthbert and Rachel Hunter, denies that he's visited Davis or any other prostitute, but when the New York Daily News called the number listed next to his name on Davis's client sheet, he answered.
Avery, who will be a free agent in the off-season, isn't known as a great scorer, but the Rangers are a far better team with him in the lineup than without. He's the kind of player many Flyers fans liken Steve Downie to, as both like to mix it up and get under the opposing team's skin, but can also light the lamp. There's a lesson in all of this, Steve... Don't use your real name.
Rangerland reacts accordingly.
The Phils dropped the first game of the On-Deck Series last night, falling 3-1 to the Blue Jays. I don't know about you, but I got offered three different tickets to this one, and from the sounds of it, I'm glad I didn't head down (please continue to offer us tickets though). Cole Hamels had a good line, giving up 2 earned on 5 hits over 5 innings, striking out 3, and walking none. We'll take a 1.00 WHIP in Cole's final tune-up before it counts.
Wes "trade bait but no one's biting" Helms was on display, and he knocked in So Taguchi for the Phillies lone run. Jamie Moyer faces off against the Jays' John Parrish at 1:05 today. Gametime temp expected to be about 52º and sunny.
The Flyers ran into their two arch nemeses on Friday night, the Devils and the shootout. After a strong third period that saw the Flyers come back to tie the Devils, both team "earned" a point by heading to a fruitless overtime. Two Flyers managed to beat Marty Brodeur twice in penalty kicks, with Jeff Carter again going backhand and Danny Briere putting a slick move on to get Marty moving. But Mike Richards' failed attempt on the first Flyers chance meant Martin Biron had to make at least one save, and on this night, he couldn't, and the Flyers lost 5-4.
I've about had it with the shootout business. I've never been a fan, viewing it as settling one game by playing another, and now I'm just sour because the Flyers have been terrible at it. At least they get another matchup with the Islanders tonight. Those usually go well.
Richie did have the highlight of the night though, a behind the back, no-look pass to Mike Knuble for a goal.
Continue reading "Mike Richards Has Eyes in the Back of His Head" »
We previously reported on the rumor that Glen Macnow would be moving from evenings to middays on 610 WIP, and that part of the story has been confirmed. Glen will be opposite his former co-host, 950's Jody Macdonald, who moves from drive time to middays starting on Tuesday. Midday sports talk radio has a lot of class and talent with these two gentlemen. Former Eagles special teamer Ike Reese will be taking Glen's evening slot.
One twist we heard yesterday, which is not yet confirmed, is that Anthony Gargano will join Glen from 2 to 3, then share the 3 to 7 slot with Howard Eskin. Again, this part has not been confirmed, and Laura Nachman says it's only for next week.
The following is a guest post from James Beale of Philadelphia's City Paper. He wrote the CP's Phillies Preview which you can check out here. This post summarizes his preview while providing some additional outtakes for us.
We decided to put together a non-traditional preview – instead of basic sportswriter analysis, we went to the writers of Baseball Prospectus and The Bill James Handbook, the Wharton Professors who refuted Clemens’ steroid denial, and the author who literally wrote the book on late-season collapses. Believe it or not, the guys who published “BioOptimizer: Improving Models for Discovery of Transcription Factor Binding Motifs” are the new authority on baseball.
What we found was that Johan Santana makes the Mets clear favorites - unless he doesn’t. Moving Myers to the rotation is both common sense and a daring move, Rowand won’t be missed – except for the significant offensive and defensive decline, and the Mets will not be affected at all by last season – until it ruins this one. Basically we have an upcoming season so close that even the numbers do not fully agree.
For what they have to say about the impact of the Santana trade, the Myers move, the Rowand loss, and the effects of the collapse hit the link above, for their thoughts on everything from the importance of clubhouse leadership to one reserve who could be a diamond in the rough (hint: your guess is wrong), hit the jump:
Continue reading "SABR Experts Weigh in on Phillies in '08" »
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