The700Level.com - Philly Sports & Minutiae

Welcome Back, Young James

Jimmy Rollins is back and boy did we miss him. In case you didn't catch it, the reigning NL MVP returned to the starting line up last night in San Francisco and went 3-5 with a HR, a double, and 3 RBIs.

The Phillies won 7-4.

Seeing Jimmy back and fairly healthy surely brings a smile to Phillies fans everywhere. But that's not where Jimmy's influence ends. The Daily News' David Murphy, who spends more time with the team than just about anyone not named Todd Zolecki, thinks Rollins return will have huge implications on the club.

Murphy writes:

But I'm convinced that Jimmy Rollins is one of those rare athletes whose presence really can invigorate a team. It's why I disagree with those who say he shouldn't have been MVP last year. By now, I'm sure you all know he singled, doubled and homered in his first start in over a month. But beyond that, I'm convinced his presence made his teammates better. Not in a concious way. Jayson Werth and Greg Dobbs didn't walk up to the plate thinking, "I'm going to single now because Jimmy Rollins is here." But baseball is a team sport, and sometimes we forget about it, and a good baseball team is a beautiful thing to watch. The past month, the Phillies really haven't been a complete team. They've ridden some spectacular individual efforts by guys like Pat Burrell and Chase Utley. Werth got hot at the right time. Eric Bruntlett gave them everything they could have asked for.

Ladies and Gentleman, Don Cherry!

Jimmy Rollins Returns to Starting Line Up

Jimmy Rollins just led off the game tonight out in San Francisco. He started the game with a ground out but we're so happy to see Young James back in the line up that we'll forgive him. Welcome back, Jimmy.

The Phils real ace, Cole Hamels, is up against Pat Misch. The Phils got four earned off Misch back when the Giants were in Philly so hopefully they can get to him again.

Feel free to discuss the Phils action in the comments or just spout off about all the negative things about Pittsburgh. I'll start: "yinz."

Flyers-Penguins: Game 1 Thread

After almost a week of waiting around and drinking on week nights without a good reason, we finally celebrate the return of playoff hockey into our lives. The Flyers and Pens face off tonight in Pittsburgh, with the game getting underway at 7:30.

A win tonight would go a long way toward building the team's confidence over the course of what's bound to be a tough series, whereas a blowout neck-stepping will make leaving Pittsburgh with a split even more difficult. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for play to get chippy. Riley Cote won't be dressing, so Georges Laraque won't have a dance partner. But Scott Hartnell and Scottie Upshall are never shy, nor are Jason Smith and Derian Hatcher. Surely, Jarkko Ruutu will piss someone off tonight, it's just a matter of when.

We're without Kimmo Timonen, the club's best two-way defender, who is on the ice nearly half of every game. But John Stevens has had a day to shuffle pairings and establish a new gameplan to accommodate for the loss, and this young squad peppered with veterans should react to his absence with some fire rather than a wilt.

Fallen Officer's Son Leads Flyers Cheer During Ceremony

The murder of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski last Saturday put life in perspective for much of the Philadelphia community. Sometimes when things get tough, people turn to sports. Often, when friends or family members who have passed are remembered, one of the first things to be mentioned is their lifelong support of their favorite team.

The applause thundered through the cathedral Friday as hundreds of people mourned a Philadelphia police officer killed in the line of duty.

"Let's go Flyers, let's go!" (Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap!)    

The cheer for the city's hockey team came toward the end of the funeral Mass for Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski. It was led with a smile by his oldest son, Matt, who wanted to show some support for his father's favorite team before that night's playoff game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Also, "his casket's lining bore the team emblem, and a jersey and flower arrangement in the shape of the logo were displayed nearby before the Mass."

We've also heard the Flyers may have a moment of silence in honor of Liczbinski at their first home game of the Eastern Conference Finals. Condolences to all who knew the fallen officer.

>>Funeral for slain officer includes cheer for favorite team [York Daily Record]
>>Sgt. Liczbinski celebrated at Cathedral [Inquirer]

Penguins Series Links: War

"I think it's on the ice. We hate each other more. Great players on both teams, battling hard every night, we all want to win. If you want to be on top of your division or win a Stanley Cup, you've pretty much got to go through each other. You can't hide from each other."

  -Flyers forward and Pittsburgh native R.J. Umberger

ESPN.com's splash page right now hypes up the interstate rivalry that is set to start tonight. Seeing any of our teams in the national spotlight always gets the juices flowing just a bit more.

Scott Burnside's take is that he thinks this series will be a war. We expect nothing less.

Some random Flyers/Pens links after the jump.

Pens Fans Evoke Rocky Jinx

Hey Pens fans, why don't you ask the Canadiens how this worked out for them? Clearly the wusses from the Burgh needed the cover of darkness to shroud the Rocky statue in cheap Penguins tee shirts. After some crack Internet sleuthing, we think this took place earlier this week.

See also Puck Daddy's take.

Image via Pittsburgh Hockey Net

Kimmo Talks About His Injury

Perhaps a slight glimmer of hope on a gloomy day. From a Q&A Kimmo Timonen did with Eklund of HockeyBuzz.com:

Q: What is the best-case scenario?
Timonen: “That hopefully it is better next week. I honestly asked the doctor do you have any hope playing this series and he said only if it really goes well the next week and a half to two weeks.”

No matter what the Timonen situation is, it's not a time for hanging our heads. We're about to see the start of a great Eastern Conference Finals, the Keystone Cup, and losing any single player does not ruin the chances of the Flyers upsetting the Penguins.

Ryan Howard Can't Hit Any Longer, Decides to Live in Bubble, Dress As Fat Man

Perhaps a vacation to the North Pole is in order?

Yesterday the Reading Phillies gave away this lovely Ryan Howard snow globe to the first 1,000 boys and girls who showed up for the game against Binghamton. As Dmac says, "I'm not sure why Howard is batting with a french fry there."

Commenter Tartan69 brilliantly points out, "Hey wait a minute...this is a stroke of genius. This snow globe gives us the ability to boo Ryno and Santa Claus AT THE SAME TIME! It will open up a whole new chapter in Philadelphia booing history."

Kimmo to Miss Conference Finals, Maybe More, With Blood Clot

Via ESPN and 15 text messages I got while at the bar tonight:

Flyers All-Star defenseman Kimmo Timonen will likely miss the Eastern Conference finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins because of a blood clot in his left ankle.

Philadelphia general manager Paul Holmgren said Timonen was hit by a shot by Montreal's Andrei Markov late in Game 4 of Philadelphia's second-round victory over the Canadiens. Timonen had an MRI taken Wednesday that didn't show a clot, but a vascular surgeon found a small one Thursday.

Who needs your best defenseman when you're about to square off with arguably the best offensive team in the conference, right? Terrible news for Flyers, but hopefully Timonen recovers quickly and completely.

One characteristic of this year's Flyers squad is that when one man goes down with an injury, another steps up and takes his game to a higher level. Even in these playoffs, when Mike Knuble went down, R.J. Umberger stepped up and now leads the team in goals. Timonen's will be some pretty big skates to fill though.

Phillies End Series in Arizona, Live Blog!

According to Tom Fornelli, the Phillies shouldn't even show up today in Arizona.

If I were a member of the Philadelphia Phillies, I'd probably just skip the trip to Chase Field and go straight to the airport to catch my flight to San Francisco. I mean, Brandon Webb is starting for the Diamondbacks this afternoon, so you already know you're going to lose, why waste your time?

Yeah, the Phillies should just go hit the links today instead, right? Wait just a minute. Mr. Fornelli later contradicts himself a bit.

He hasn't been that good against the Phillies in his career, though, as even though he has a respectable 3.99 ERA against them, he's 2-3 in eight career starts.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the Phillies should show up.

It's Friday (Thursday), we ain't got no job (today) and we ain't got shit to do (except imbibe and watch baseball), so we may provide you with a Phillies live blog today.

Sir Charles is a Dumbass

Via Odenized.

James Mirtle's Q&A With The 700 Level and The Pensblog

If you haven't seen his work before, James Mirtle is one of the best in the business when it comes to hockey blogging. He's a journalist who contributes to the Toronto Globe and Mail, as well as numerous other publications, and he keeps a very tight and informative blog at mirtle.blogspot.com. Mirtle mixes SABR-like statsmanship with incisive commentary and Canadian wit, a breed of blogging even Buzz Bissinger would appreciate. For these reasons, it was a pleasure to participate in his Conference Finals Q&A session. Representing the Penguins is, you guessed it—The Pensblog, who even have a clothing line dedicated to "Dr. Mirtle."

Our Q&A can be found here, and you'll likely also be interested to read The Pensblog's responses.

Thanks to James for the invitation.

Shane Vic Got... CoJacked Up!

The Phils stole another one in the desert last night, coming back from two late-inning deficits to take a 2-1 series lead heading into today's finale with the Diamondbacks. After tying it in the 7th, the Phils found themselves down by a run in the 8th. Shane Victorino struck out swinging, but the ball got past D-Backs catcher Chris Snyder, and Vic tore toward first base, where his helmet met Conor Jackson's face, and CoJack's arm clotheslined Vic and sent the Hawaiian, well, you get the point.

Happy birthday, CoJack!

Let the Trash Talking Begin

The upcoming series with the Pittsburgh Penguins should be a great one. With both teams having quite the passionate fan base, the trash talking will surely be at playoff-caliber levels. Let's get it started with this fine work by reader Karen:
 

A Completely Scientific Analysis of Adam Eaton's Penchant for Sucking

As Matt pointed out this morning, Adam Eaton is giving fans and Charlie Manuel agita. But the fine people at Baseball Digest take things to a much deeper, scientific level. They analyze the amazing achievement of throwing four straight balls to Randy Johnson.

Subtract the upper limit (42.7 inches) from the lower limit (21.6 inches) and we get 21.1 inches. Add our rough estimate of The Big Unit’s extra 4 inches to it for 25.1 inches. If we multiply that by the width of the strike zone, 21 inches, we get 527 square inches – the area of Johnson’s strike zone. How did Adam Eaton miss? According to MLB Gameday, Eaton was only close with one pitch:

Heck, even Mayor Nutter coulda thrown a strike.

>>Quite an Achievement for Adam Eaton [Baseball Digest]

Garrett Reid Pleads Guilty to Drug Smuggling Charge

It was originally believed that Garrett was going to plead not guilty but in court today he plead guilty in some sort of plea agreement. I'm sure the Reids can't wait for all of this to go away and start over fresh. [FH]

Fan Report: D-Backs Come Correck With the Hotties, Phanatic Responds Accordingly

Mike, aka MPR529, is our man on the scene in Arizona for the Phillies series this week. Via his flickr photostream, we have some great photos of Ryan Howard striking out (rare capture!) and, perhaps more importantly, some AZ poon that the D-Backs pay to be in attendance. Brilliant!

The Phanatic, hero to us all, was in Arizona, showin' em how a real mascot does, and took the opportunity to be a true ambassador.

Charlie Manuel Feels Your Pain

If you groaned when you saw Adam Eaton revert to his 2007 form last night, you weren't alone. Charlie Manuel's reaction when Eaton walked Randy Johnson (on four pitches) with the bases loaded was a good sign his night would soon be over.

Phillies Fans Are Far and Wide

Seriously guys, awesome job rep'ing the Philadelphia fans all the way across the country.

Put This One In The Win Column For The Fightin' Phils, originally uploaded by MPR529.

(Wave that flag, wave it wide and high)

Get loud again tonight and help the Phillies take game 2.

Great photo by Flickr user and the700level Group member MPR529. Head over to his photostream for some hilarious pics and captions.

Quotable: Marty Biron on the Upcoming Flyers-Pens Series

Via Tim Panaccio, we have this great quote from Flyers goalie Martin Biron on the battle that is about to go down:

"You look at Washington, you look at Montreal, it took a game and a half to get the emotions involved into the games," Biron said. "I think against Pittsburgh, it will be a half minute and things will get going. They might not want to say that. They might not feel the same way, but that's how things will go."

I can't believe they're making us wait until Friday for that half minute.

The Andy Reid–Philly Media Feud Is Underway

We're one mini-camp into the 2008 season, and Andy Reid and the Philly media already appear to be in a disagreement of sorts.

Some Perspective on Rivalries

With the Flyers-Penguins series set to get underway this weekend, you'll hear the word "rivalry" thrown around quite a bit, and in the buildings housing the games, the comments under the posts here, and everywhere that fans congregate, you'll see why. It gets intense. You start to hate people you don't know. And usually, it can be fun, adding a little spice off the ice.

But there's a line. And unfortunately, that line is being crossed too often these days. Off-the-ice/field events should not be making headlines, and certainly not the obituaries:

Ticked off by an earlier scuffle and taunted by anti-Yankees chants, a 43-year-old mother pulled out of a New Hampshire parking lot last week and rammed into one of the Red Sox fans taunting her, prosecutors said today.

The man who was hit by the car is now dead.

Damn It, Burrell!

Pat Burrell had to ruin the all the fun last night. He was the only Phillies starter to fail to notch a hit in the Phillies win. When asked about Burrell's ineptitude last night, the Everybody Hits Guy said, "Pat just didn't want me 'Woohoooooing!' tonight. He must have forgotten to oil the Machine before the game. We'll give him the night off. He deserves it."

In more serious news, Charlie Manuel thought Jamie Moyer was going to make history. "I thought he was going to go for the cycle there for a while," Manuel said.

Moyer stroked a single to left in the second inning and later added this RBI double in the third:

Phils Head West to Face Rookie Scherzer and the First Place D-Backs

We can't ask for a whole lot more than the Phillies have been giving us lately, with several series wins or ties in a row and some fairly solid play on the whole. Tonight, however, the Phils start a 4-game series against the best team in baseball, the Arizona Diamondbacks. You name it, and this team does it well. They are at the top of their game, and we get to stay up late four nights this week in the hopes the Phils can ride this streak a little longer. It won't be easy.

Tonight, the Phillies will face rookie Max Scherzer, who will be making his cherry start after fanning 7 in his lone Major League appearance, which was some long mop-up duty last week. Before his call-up, Scherzer was the most dominant pitcher in the minors, jumping levels until he inevitably broke into the bigs and subsequently the rotation. However, word is that when Doug Davis returns from thyroid cancer surgery, Scherzer could be headed back to the 'pen, at least in the short term. Not great news to get on the day of your first start, which just happens to be against one of the best hitting teams in the league.

The Phillies Go Green in Big Way

We missed this last week when the Phils wore green hats for a game, but the organization has taken some of the most impressive steps among any franchise in sports in terms of offsetting their carbon footprint.

To offset the carbon footprint created by the team's utility power usage at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies have purchased 20 million kilowatt-hours of Green-e Energy Certified Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). According to the EPA, this is the largest single purchase of 100% renewable energy in professional sports and is equivalent to the planting of 100,000 trees.

Maybe we can get a little more ivy on the bricks around the ball park as well. Look out for beer cups at CBP to be made out of corn instead of plastic. Big ups to the Phils.

>>Phils lead way in clean energy movement [MLB]
>>Phils Unveil New Strategy: Green Power [Inquirer]
Via The Illadelph

The Roots - Rising Down

As a tenaciously independent-minded hip-hop group, the Roots are accustomed to tension in the face of major-label pressure. But as ?uestlove observed moments after the call, the climate has felt especially urgent lately. “I’m not ashamed to say that this is probably the first we’ve ever been afraid: afraid of not being relevant, or afraid of not actually having a record deal after this album, or afraid of failure.” Long pause. “But I think that’s a good thing.”

>>New Album, New Fears, Same Old Attitude [NYTimes]

I haven't heard The Roots latest release Rising Down yet but I did just order it off Amazon. Video of their performance last week on Letterman after the jump.

Don't Hold Your Breath for Gagne

As the playoffs got underway, there was some discussion that Simon Gagne could rejoin the Flyers if they were to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals. When he traveled with the team to Montreal last week, the chatter again stirred, but Ed Moran reports that GM Paul Holmgren has in effect put those talks to an end.

According to Holmgren, there is no chance Gagne will return to play in the postseason.

"He hasn't done anything in terms of fitness," Holmgren said yesterday. "I don't see him being an option no matter how long this thing goes. He's around and he went to Montreal and it's probably eating at him, but it's in his best interest for him to wait.

Like many of you, we think it's best that Simon take his time and get healthy. Sure, a scorer of his caliber would be a great addition, but the Flyers' chemistry is amazing right now, and anyway, we don't want another concussion saga to drag this hot team down. A rejuvenated Gagne in '08-'09 will be far more valuable.

Eagles Discuss Their Tri-Cornered Camp

With Eagles camp opening this weekend, all eyes are on the cornerback situation. Most feel that Lito Sheppard's days in Midnight Green are numbered, but with no trades in the works, Lito is still an Eagle. He has manned up, and arrived at camp on schedule with a respectable demeanor. But how long will the "harmony" last?

Eastern Conference Finals Set as Pens Blow Through Rangers

It was bound to happen. If the Flyers played well enough for long enough, they'd be rewarded with a battle against their newest rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Pittsburgh closed out their series with the Rangers on Sunday, and the Battle of Pennsylvania headlines started flying. Although the Pens needed extra time to seal Jaromir Jagr's Rangers (NHL?) coffin, at no point did it seem as though any other outcome were possible. Their opening round series against the Senators ended in a four-game flash, and the first three of the second round went Pittsburgh's way as well.

Photo Finish: Jenkins Knocks in Howard, Phils Win

A quick photographic recap of the Phillies win against San Francisco earlier today:

Phillies vs.Giants, originally uploaded by gajdam1.

Amazing capture by Flickr user and the700level group member Gajdam1. Down in front, Feliz!

Showdown of the Young Guns

Fans headed to Citizens Bank Park this afternoon should be in for a great game, with Phillies ace/ninja Cole Hamels taking the mound against Giants phenom-fireballer Tim Lincecum. A diminutive pitcher a la Roy Oswalt, Linc is listed at 5'11, but that might be in his cleats. Kid's got a cannon though, and he can put some K's on the board.

No wonder he is so good., originally uploaded by pendeho.

Lincecum struggled at times last season, getting a little wild here and there, but he's been outstanding during the first month of the 2008 campaign, earning 4 wins despite poor run support. His only loss came in his last turn, although he only gave up 3 runs in the effort. This pitcher is a lot of fun to watch, with some crazy mechanics, violent torsion, and a wind up that makes you think he might throw his whole arm at the plate.