Phillies June 2007 By the Numbers

June, while on the surface appearing to be an average month by an average ball club, was not especially kind to the Philadelphia Phillies and may well be the beginning of the end of this baseball season.

Starting pitching, seen as the strength of the team coming into the season, now appears to be a bigger weakness than their already shockingly weak bullpen with the season ending injuries of Freddy Garcia and Jon Lieber. The Phillies and Garcia are pretending as if he'll be back, but I wouldn't bet on it when it comes to shoulder and rotator cuff problems. Lieber broke his foot and had season ending surgery the other day. Both will be free agents at season's end and neither will be back with the team next year. More on this later, but onto the numbers for June.....

15

The number of wins the Phillies pulled down in June. It's also the exact number they won last month. As of June 30th, the Phils were in 3rd place; 6 games behind the division leading Mets in the NL East and 2 games behind 2nd place Atlanta. If this number means anything, it signifies the mediocrity of this team. They were 3 games above .500 for the month (15 wins, 12 losses), but they couldn't seem to gain any ground on the Mets (they went 3 - 2 with the Mets in June) and they could only hold serve in Inter league play (6 - 6 vs. their AL counterparts).

5.83

This is the ERA of the Phillies' starting pitchers for the month of June. All of them. In the beginning of the year, I stated that the success and failure of this team would be dictated by the starting pitching and June has borne out that prediction. You cannot win in this league when your starters have an ERA this bad for any length of time. With holes in left field and third base (again with the hole at 3rd base this year) and no real protection for Ryan Howard in the lineup, the Phils cannot out slug teams on a regular basis, so they definitely need better work from their starting rotation. For the year, the Phillies' team ERA is 4.91, good for DEAD LAST in the National League.

10

The number of home runs 1B Ryan Howard hit in the month of June. The Big Man appears to be back. While his average is not above .300 yet (he's at .251 for the year), Howard did hit .280 for the month of June. The quad injury is probably still bothering him, and even though he has no protection for him in the lineup, Howard is beginning to produce as a clean up hitter should as he is in the top 5 in both HRs and RBIs in the National League as of this writing.

.386

The batting average that 2B Chase Utley hit for in the month of June. He was definitely the MVP of the team in June, and added 6 HRs and 23 RBI in addition to hitting for a high average. Utley, far and away the best 2B in baseball, was also selected to start his second All-Star game. Since starting somewhat slowly in April, Utley has clearly picked up the mantle of offensive leader on this team.

.129

The batting average that LF Pat Burrell hit for in the month of June. The Phillies can no longer give this guy regular at-bats. I thought he was killing this team with his miserable May (.179 in May 2007), but Burrell actually managed to be much worse during June. For the good of the ball club, Pat Gillick needs to bite the bullet and get rid of this guy by any means necessary. Burrell has not listened to the various suggestions he has received over the years with respect to his looping swing and strange idea of the strike zone (he was actually deemed to need contacts to see properly, yet refuses to wear them). His lack of pride and weak will continually undermine this team until he is gone. The best power hitter the team has in AAA or AA ball, or even playing Michael Bourn more often, cannot be worse than Burrell at this point.

3

The number of losses sustained by SP Jon Lieber before his injury. Lieber's ineffectiveness aside, his injury hurts this ball club on a couple of levels. On one level, they are now down another starting pitcher after already losing Freddy Garcia, who is also likely done for the year. On another level, the whole move of Brett Myers to the bullpen was orchestrated to get this fat loser some starts so the Phillies could ship his fat free agent ass out of town at the trade deadline in exchange for some bullpen help. That will now not happen and coupling the Lieber injury with the Myers injury (from which, Myers has not yet returned) and the whole move of keeping 6 starters and stashing Brett Myers in the bullpen has been an unmitigated disaster. Some believe that Myers will be returned to the rotation after the all-star break, but Myers himself has disputed that in the press.

I predict Myers will return the rotation, as I believe the plan was to be all along, but Myers will not be happy about it. The Phillies brass wasted a whole year of his career because of Jon Lieber. I'm speechless as I write that.......

8.53

The ERA of RP Geoff Geary for the month of June. Congratulations Geoff! You've won an all expenses paid trip to beautiful Ottawa, Ontario, in lovely Canada! See you in September!

Other notable events in June:

- Wes Helms finally registered a couple of home runs in limited duty. He has all but lost his starting job and is platooning with Abraham Nunez and, occasionally, Gregg Dobbs. Don't be shocked to see him moved at the trade deadline. He is a veteran bat off of the bench that would be coveted on a good team.

- In addition to Chase Utley, Cole Hamels and Aaron Rowand will both be going to the All-star game. It is the first all-star game for each player. Don't be surprised to see free agent to be Aaron Rowand moved at the deadline if the Phillies can get a competent starter for him. I'd like to see the Phils sign Rowand long term, however, as his attitude and hustle fit right in with Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins.

- Jayson Werth went on the DL on June 29th with a sprained wrist, bringing back fan-favorite Chris Coste.

- Rookie Kyle Kendrick went 2 - 0 with a 5.06 ERA taking Freddy Garcia's spot in the rotation during the month of June. Kendrick is not heralded as a hot prospect, but has not looked terribly out of place either. Too early to get too excited yet, but not bad so far.

High Point of June 2007:

The 3-game sweep of the Mets, at Shea Stadium, from June 6th to June 8th. The homer hit by Rollins during the June 7th game was a classic.

Low Point of June 2007:

A tie between getting swept in a day-night doubleheader by the Mets on June 30th and losing Jon Lieber for the season with a foot injury. Losing Lieber led directly to the Phillies desperately reaching out to talented, but troubled J. D. Durbin to start the first game of the DH against the Mets. After striking out the side in the first, Durbin got roughed up and the Phils lost game one of the DH. The likes of J. D. Durbin and J. A. Happ (who also got roughed up by the Mets in his first ML start) are who the Phillies will be depending on the rest of the season because of Lieber's injury.

Chew on this one:

Three of the top four Phillies in terms of salary are either ineffective (Pat Burrell at $13.25 million) or were ineffective before they were injured for the year (Fred Garcia at $10 million and Lieber at $7.8 million). That is a lot of money to have tied up in injury and incompetence.

Rubber Match Today vs. Tigers

The Phils split the first two games of their series against the Tigers, getting pounded on Friday (6/15) by a score of 12 - 8 and winning yesterday's game 6 - 3.

Friday (6/15): Jon Lieber really didn't have a chance in this one and they way he fielded his own position, he didn't give himself much of a chance. He couldn't motivate his fat ass to get to a dribbler off of the bat of pitcher Jeremy Bonderman and later, misread a sign from the bench and threw away a pick-off attempt to first base. Oh yeah; he also gave 7 runs in 5 innings of work. The Phils did hit 5 homeruns in this game, with Jimmy Rollins particularly enjoying a good game with 2 homers and a triple (Howard, Victorino, and Dobbs hit the others). But it wasn't enough to overcome the surging Tigers.

Saturday (6/16): Veteran Jamie Moyer baffled the Tigers with 7 innings of 2-run ball and the Phils got home runs from Shane Victorino and Aaron Rowand to seal the win. Victorino went 3 for 5 in the game, scoring a couple of runs and knocking in one. With this win, and the Mets loss to the Yankees last night, the Phils are only 2 games behind the Mets in NL East.

Today, the Phils will send Adam Eaton (7-4) to the mound against Justin Verlander (7-2), who threw a no-hitter in his last start.

Other Phils Items:

- I was excited as anyone by the prospect of the Phillies acquiring Freddy Garcia in an off-season deal, but I can't believe they didn't do a bit more homework with respect to his arm. It was revealed earlier last week that the Phillies did not do an MRI on Garcia's arm and did not give him a physical exam period when they traded for him. On Friday, it was revealed that Garcia would NOT undergo surgery to repair his ailing right shoulder and will undergo a rehab program. The fact that the Phils knew he had posted those years of throwing 200+ innings and DID NOT look at the health of his arm is simply galling.

I doubt Garcia will be effective for the Phillies this season if he makes it through this rehab program and it's certainly speaks poorly for GM Pat Gillick that he allowed this to happen. The entire rotation gets thrown into chaos because of Garcia's injury and it pretty much means you need to keep pending free agent Jon Lieber for the entire season. Reportedly, Myers is NOT a candidate to return to the rotation. You have to hope at this point that a starter from the minors, like Kyle Kendrick or the heralded J.A. Happ can step up and fill Garcia's role in a positive fashion.

- Apparently, the Phils number one from last year, Kyle Drabek (currently pitching with Lakewood), is dinged up with an elbow injury.

Phils Sweep Pale Hose, Get Ready for Tigers

The Phils completed the sweep of the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday, by defeating the South Siders by a score of 8 - 4. They completed the sweep with six solid innings from rookie starter Kyle Kendrick and a grand slam off of the bat of Aaron Rowand. The Phils seemed to do all the right things in this series and pulled to within 2 games of the division-leading New York Mets. You have to like the position the Phils are in at the moment.....they just need to avoid those nasty bouts of inconsistency that they are prone to get caught up in.

Other items of note from the series:

- Wes Helms FINALLY hit his first home run of the year in the 3rd game of the series on June 13th, a mere two months into the season. Are you telling me that we don't have a guy in the minors who could have turned in Helms' .252 average with 1 homer and crappy defense at a lesser price than whatever it is they're paying Helms? Really?

- Just a masterful 7 inning pitching performance from Adam Eaton in game 1 (6/11) of this series, which the Phils won 3 - 0. With this win, he raised his record to 7 - 4. He did not give up any runs and struck out 5. He's helping in salvaging Pat Gillick's reputation as some of his other free agent acquisitions (*cough* Wes Helms*cough* Rod Barajas) have not worked out so well.

- Speaking of Rod Barajas, I wonder how much longer we're going to have this guy on the team. I already documented some his defensive blunders here that have hurt the team, but when is this guy going to hit? He was 1 for 9 for the series to bring his average to a mind-boggling .214 average. In the third game of the series against the White Sox, he even managed to treat the fans to a 3 strikeout performance. The fans are now seriously starting to get on this guy. This isn't like Pat Burrell, where he makes so much money, you can't gas him or trade his salary. Barajas needs to be made to disappear in favor of Chris Coste and soon.

- Cole Hamels had another stellar outing in game 2 of this series (6/12), going 8 innings, giving up two runs and striking out 9 in the Phils 7 - 3 win. Basically, it seems the starting nod for the NL in the All-Star game will come down between Hamels and the Padres' Jake Peavy. Unfortunately for the Phils, Hamels will not be starting against the mighty Detroit Tigers this weekend.

- Shane Victorino stole his 20th base of the season on Wednesday. He stole a base in each game of the White Sox series.

- With the RBI in Wednesday's game, 2B Chase Utley now has 53 RBI, good for 2nd in the NL behind Carlos Lee of the Astros.

The Phils have a 3-game set coming up against the Tigers at the Cit-house.

Other Philly Sports News:

- The Flyers re-signed goalie Antero Niittymaki to a 2-year deal as insurance against Martin Biron falling on his derriere. At the season ticket holder Q&A session I went to that featured GM Paul Holmgren and coach John Stevens, it was obvious when listening to Stevens speak that he holds Niitty in high regard and that he wasn't simply being nice in a hockey sort of way.

- Donovan McNabb actually did a little practicing for the first time since his knee injury in last year's Tennesee game. Naturally, the way the sports media is in this town with the Eagles, the media was all over it and I was completely bored of this story about an hour after I heard about it. Call me when training camp starts, please.......

Your Consistently Inconsistent Phils

In the past week, the Phils have gone from completely exhilarating their fanbase to completely annoying them. Despite finishing a recent 6 game road trip with a 4 - 2 record, the Phils can't seem to take advantage of a good situation when one presents itself.

The road trip began with a 3-game sweep of the much-hated New York Mets. The great thing about these wins (other than who it was against) was that every night there was a different hero:

June 5th: Chase Utley goes yard against the Mets' Jose Feliciano in the 11th inning to propel the Phils to a 4 - 2 win.

June 6th: Down 2 - 0 in the top of the 7th inning, Jimmy Rollins silences the booing Queens faithful by hitting a 3-run bomb off of Aaron Heilman to put the Phils ahead for good. Phils win 4 - 2.

June 7th: In what may have been the most dramatic blow of the 3-game series, Pat Burrell ruined Billy Wagner's 31-game streak without a blown save by burying a 3-2 offering from Wagner to tie the game in the 9th inning. Burrell later put the game away in the 10th inning with an RBI double that plated Ryan Howard.

It should be noted that the Phils received excellent starting pitching throughout the course of this series (Moyer, Eaton, and Hamels) and that Antonio Alfonseca saved all 3 ballgames.

Naturally, the way that the Phils swept away the division leading Mets had Phils fans talking and feeling pretty good. Especially, because the Mets had some injury trouble and Phils were entering their next series against one of the worst teams in baseball, the Kansas City Royals.

Just when you thought it was safe to follow the Phils.....

Kansas City went on to not only take 2 of 3 from the Phils, but the Royals emphatically kicked the snot out of the Phils by a score of 17-5 on the last day of the series. The bullpen just imploded as the combination of Ryan Madson, Jose Mesa (yes, THAT Jose Mesa), Geoff Geary, and Francisco Rosario gave up an astounding 11 runs. Mesa managed to uncork 2 wild pitches in his inning-plus of relief in his return debut with the Phils.

Further adding to the doom and gloom that was brought about by dropping 2 of 3 to one of the worst teams in baseball is that Freddy Garcia appears to have hurt himself pretty bad and appears to be done for the season, although nothing is official.

The MLB Draft: The baseball draft came and went and if you blinked, you missed it. This is in stark contrast to the NFL draft, where everyone has an opinion. To me, the baseball draft is entirely too long. Apparently, the draft is designed to have 50 (that's 5 - 0) rounds and concludes after all 30 teams have passed on a selection or after the final selection of the 50th round, whichever comes first. That is not a player draft....that's a death march.

Not only is the draft too long, but no one ever knows who any of these players are. This is unlike football, where the majority of NFL fans also follow NCAA football. Same with the NBA. Even in hockey, if you follow hockey, you know who the top junior players are because the hockey press actually covers that stuff. Almost no one covers the baseball draft to the point where you know the players real well. I really don't know any NCAA baseball fans (and have no desire to follow the sport). I wonder how much of that has to do with the fact that that the draft is held almost in the middle of the MLB season does it detract away from the event itself.

Anyway, the Phils took a pitcher with their first round pick named Joe Savery, a lefty from Rice University. According to BaseballAmerica.com, this guy is supposed to have a lot of talent, but is somewhat of an injury risk. That is the same sort of thing they said about Cole Hamels when the Phils drafted him a couple of years ago.

Phillies May 2007 By The Numbers

I've been as consistent in keeping up with this blog as the Phillies have been through the MLB season so far (which is to say I haven't been consistent, but neither have the Phillies). So, before we get any further into the month of June, today seems like a good day to go back and take a look at the merry month of May and see how our Phils did by the numbers....


15

The number of wins the Phils pulled down in May 2007. Not for anything, but it should have been more and there were certainly opportunities. Unfortunately, the Phils were 2 - 7 in 1-run ballgames, with a foul mixture of poor situational hitting and a crappy bullpen. These wins gave the Phils a grand total of 26 wins for the year; good for 3rd place in NL East. As of May 31st, the Phils were 8.5 games behind the division leading Mets, who can seemingly do no wrong.



1

The number of wins the Phils were able to get against the freaking Arizona Diamondbacks in the 6 games they played against the D-backs in the month of May. As of today, the D-backs are 1/2 game behind the Dodgers in NL West and they have the Phillies to thank for that.


.344

This was the batting average of bench player and Ryan Howard fill-in Greg Dobbs. Dobbs, whose presence on the team I was beginning to question, kicked in some excellent games for the Phils while Howard was on the DL. Dobbs also showed good power, with 5 home runs during May. This performance will definitely merit some more starts around the infield for the left-handed swinging Dobbs, who can apparently play both 2nd and 3rd base.


.179

This was the May batting average for my favorite Phillies whipping boy, Pat "The Broken Bat" Burrell. There are two starting PITCHERS who had better batting averages than Burrell during May (Cole Hamels - .250; F. Garcia - .273). Burrell is the leader of a handful of players that are simply killing this team to date.


5

The number of wins accumulated during May by the most exciting young pitcher in the league, Cole Hamels. He has simply held this starting pitching staff together on his own and is clearly the ace of the team. Hamels also accumulated 49 strikeouts and as of this writing, is 3rd in the majors in strikeouts with 91, which puts him behing Eric Bedard of the Orioles and Jake Peavy of the Padres. His 8 wins overall at this point of the season leads the National League and is second overall in the Majors (behind John Lackey of the Angels). With just 2 months and a couple of days into the season so far, it's fair to say that Hamels has been the MVP of the team to date.


3

The number of losses sustained by Freddy Garcia during the month of May. While Garcia's numbers aren't completely brutal (he had an ERA of 4.17 during May, which was comparable to Hamels), he certainly has not pitched as he is capable of at this point. He seems to have trouble getting past the 6th inning (only past it once to date) and simply does not look like the innings eating strikeout pitcher the Phillies thought they were getting. I could have easily hung the starting pitching goat horns on either Jon Lieber or Jamie Moyer as well, but neither had the expectations coming into this year that Garcia had.

0

The number of home runs during the month of May that Wes Helms hit. It is also the same number of home runs he has for the entire year, which is also the same number I've hit so far. Wes Helms should be careful or he'll find even more time on the bench, as the Phils have been trotting out Greg Dobbs at 3rd base lately in addition to Abraham Nunez (.338 average during May 2007). Third base should be a position to produce offensive power numbers, even in a platoon situation, and Helms is simply not getting it done to justify his deficiencies in the field (which are many).

High point of May 2007:

Clearly, the 3 game sweep of the Braves during Memorial Day weekend after a near disastrous series in Miami against the Marlins. The Phils had trouble with the Braves all year till that point and they really smacked the Braves around by scoring 27 runs in 3 games to finally establish some semblance of superior play against a good opponent. Winning 3 of 4 games against the emerging Milwaukee Brewers comes a close second....they were one of the hotter teams in baseball coming into Philly and they got beat pretty good.

Low Point of May 2007:

This is easy....the events of May 23rd against the Marlins. They actually won the game 8 -7, but it didn't feel much like a win.



Myers was injured in the second game of the Marlins series in the 9th inning of a game that featured more bizarre 9th inning twists than I've ever seen. It was a non-save situation in the 9th, with the Phils up by a score of 7 - 3. The Phils brought in Brett Myers, who to that point, had an ERA of under 1 working out of the bullpen, and the game started to unravel in the strangest ways. It started with Myers giving up a couple of extremely fluky hits that were essentially popups that found open spaces. After a solid base hit by Dan Uggla, two of the biggest defensive blunders of the season took place over the course of two batters (a big one by Greg Dobbs and a worse one by Rod Barajas), and by that point, the lead was all but gone. The next batter proved to be the dingleberry on top of what was a huge excremental sundae when Brett Myers threw what turned out to be his last pitch of the night and immediately clutched at his right arm. Many Phillies fans could think of only one pitcher at that point, and that pitcher was "Tommy John" (as in, "Brett Myers would need "Tommy John" surgery and would be out for the year"). Clay Condrey came in and shutdown the Marlins to pick up the win, but it didn't feel very much like a victory. Myers went on to be put on the 15-day DL; the injury, a strained shoulder, is described as not as bad as originally feared.



This injury puts a crimp in any plans they had to to have Myers keep the bullpen together till they could ship Lieber out of town. It also hurts an already hurting bullpen, with Tom Gordon still on the shelf.



In addition, I think the defensive blunder by Rod Barajas pretty much cost him from getting any major playing time in the immediate future. Barajas, during the 9th inning debacle, had a chance to tag out a runner that was clearly going to be out at the plate and end the ballgame. Instead of getting down to block the plate, however, Barajas stood up and allowed the baserunner to slide beneath him, which he was successfully able to do. It was a brutal mistake at an awful time. Furthermore, it cast Barajas in the somewhat cowardly light of wanting to put avoidance of contact with the runner ahead of preventing the tying run. Bundle this stunt with Barajas' weak .212 average and you've got yourself a seat on the bench.

Phils Ace Drops One to Fish....

- Cole Hamels was not his usual self as the Phils got beat 5 - 3. Hamels went 6 innings, but gave up 5 earned runs. The Phils' offense was anemic and supplied only by two Jayson Werth homeruns. Overall, a bad night for the Phightins. When your ace is on the mound and doesn't have his best game, a professional, consistent offense is usually capable of picking up your best pitcher. That didn't come close to happening, with the Phils garnering only 5 hits (2 by the aforementioned Werth).



It merits mentioning that Wes Helms played first base last night and still has the same number of home runs on the year that I have (which is to say, zero). It gives those Chris Coste fans something to complain about, if nothing else.



On the plus side for the Phils, Ryan Madson came off the DL last night and blew away the Marlins in two innings of hitless, runless relief. That was the Ryan Madson I expected to see all year to this point.

- Last night's NBA draft lottery gave the Sixers exactly what they were expecting....the 12th pick of the draft. With that pick, ESPN's Chad Ford is predicting (Insider account required for link) that the Sixers will take Al Thornton from Florida State in effort to push a more up tempo game. I'm ok with that. Even more exciting, I thought, were the other picks Ford had the Sixers making. He had the Sixers taking PF Josh McRoberts at 21 (from Denver and the Iverson trade) and PF Glen "Big Baby" Davis at 30 (via Dallas). Both would be smart picks and would immediately give the Sixers much more competent options at power forward than Louis Amundson and Shavlik Randolph.

One interesting tidbit from last night's draft lottery was that the Celtics got completely shut out of the 1st 2 picks and slipped all the way to five. It serves them right as they tanked games down the stretch last year to get high into the lottery to begin with, whereas other teams like the Sixers, gutted it out and played hard. Couldn't happen to a better franchise and fan base.

The Phils and the NBA Draft Lottery

- The Phils begin a road trip tonite that starts in Miami against the Florida Marlins. The roadtrip begins with the squad feeling pretty good about itself after taking 2 of 3 from the Blue Jays to cap a 7 - 3 homestand. You have to like the Phils chances tonite with Cole Hamels (6 - 1, 3.30 ERA) going against some guy I never heard of. Also, apparently, Florida has some idiot pitcher (who used to be a Phillie) who got "I love Billy Koch" tattooed on his ass. Can't wait till Wheels regales us with that little nugget when that guy pitches over the next couple of days.

I went to the game on Saturday night and unfortunately, it wasn't Jamie Moyer's night. He easily had his worst outing as a Phillie to lose 13 - 2. Reliever Clay Condrey gave up a grand slam to prototypical AL player (slugger whose power numbers have dwindled now that steroids have been outlawed DH-type) Matt Stairs to complete the debacle. Fortunately, for me, I was watching that from the comfort of McFadden's, since the game was long over by that point.

It was probably the first time I ever felt sort of old at McFadden's. Usually, when you go to McFadden's, the music is a bit more diverse (i.e.--not all club music) and it's not that difficult to get around to use the bathroom.

Last Saturday night felt like "A Night at the Roxy" as I kept waiting for Will Ferrell and his brother Chris Kattan to come dancing by at any second. I had a good time...don't get me wrong, it was good for just people watching, but I definitely didn't feel compelled to stick around as we kept getting run into by drunk people who clearly had no business even trying to dance. Perhaps it was "Grand Mal Seizure" night at McFadden's. Anyway, maybe McFadden's (and the ballpark in general) is still in "College Night" mode (a much younger demographic) until Summer officially starts and they'll start catering to a more widely dispersed age range (and actually play music that contains some guitar).

- The NBA draft lottery is tonite and let's hope the Sixers do better than the 12th pick that they'll probably end up with as a result of needlessly playing hard down the stretch. I hate like hell to pick on Bill Simmons again, but I hope he was kidding when he says that the Boston Celtics deserve some sort of good luck because of some of the things that have happened to the franchise since they last won in 1986. Boston fans have celebrated 3 Super Bowls and 1 World Series title in the last 5 years, yet somehow, we're supposed to feel bad that the Celtics have fared poorly? Yeah, ok.

Here's to rooting for the Celtics to somehow get bumped from the top two picks and end up with some unknown project like that Chinese kid with the fake birth certificate.

Start of Interleague Play

I have to get something off of my chest: I absolutely hate American League baseball. Hate it. It's like watching those slightly overweight former high school heroes play softball in a beer league. I get more enjoyment out of watching a video game in autoplay mode than a Texas Rangers/Kansas City Royals matchup on ESPN. AL baseball is simply not that interesting. There is too much offense, the games go on and on forever, there's not enough strategy, and it's all because of the most ridiculous rule in all of sports, the designated hitter. Honestly, having the DH in the AL is the worst idea that Bowie Kuhn could have allowed in the 70s as the commissioner of baseball. It weakens the game by allowing a dopey gimmick to change the way the game is played.

Further exacerbating my hatred of American League baseball is that fans of AL teams have been crowing about the superiority of AL baseball for the past couple of years, because most of the more successful teams in the past 5 years have been AL teams (Red Sox, Angels, Yankees, etc.). Unfortunately, what they fail to realize, is that these things come and go in cycles and despite the AL's alleged superiority, they've only won 3 of the last 6 World Series. Hardly the stuff of dominance.

Take Bill Simmons, the ubiquitous "Sports Guy", for example. He has taken things a step further, calling the NL "quadruple A" baseball. In his running diary of last year's NL Championship clinching game, he mentions the fact that because Jeff Suppan, a pitcher that failed in an appearance in Boston a few years back, was the MVP of the series, that his winning the award was somehow indicative of American League superiority. That's pure crap. You could go through a big list of players since the advent of free agency and you could pinpoint quite a few players who went from the NL to the AL and dominated. Needless to say, Simmons rightfully took a lot of crap when the Cardinals defeated the Tigers in the World Series a few weeks later.

If American League teams are better than National League teams at anything at all (other than unnecessarily prolonging games), it's in buying their teams. Of the top 10 teams, in terms of payroll, 7 of the teams are American League teams. That includes Bill Simmons' precious Red Sox, who are second only behind the supposed "evil empire" that is the New York Yankees. The Red Sox have spent much money in recent years, they are almost indistinguishable from the Yankees in terms of foolish spending on player salaries (witness dropping $51 million dollars JUST FOR THE RIGHTS TO NEGOTIATE with Diasuke Matsuzaka).

So, needless to say, I was pleased with last night's 5 - 3 victory by the Phils over the Blue Jays. Things are definitely going the Phils' way as they scored 5 runs on only 3 hits (all singles). I plan on going to my first game of the year tonite, with Jamie Moyer taking the hill. Moyer is actually an example of a player who got kicked around in the National League for a few years, only to go to the AL and find success with the Seattle Mariners, where he won 20 games twice.

The Phrenetic Phillies

The Phils began a series with the hottest team in baseball last night, the improbable Milwaukee Brewers, with a come-from-behind 8 - 6 victory. The Phils scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th and had the lead for good when Wes Helms hit a long single off of Derrick Turnbow to plate Gregg Dobbs for the game-winning run. The win gave the Phils a 7 - 6 record so far in the month of May.

Some of the particulars from the past couple of weeks:

- The Phillies lost 3 one-run ballgames during their 10 game road trip out West. Simply winning one of those would have given the Phils a .500 roadtrip. As it is, to date, the Phils have a record of 1 - 6 in one-run ballgames. This is a tribute to their bullpen, which has been substandard (Relief ERA and BA against WELL above NL averages), and their below average ability to hit with runners in scoring position.

- The last game of the Phillies 10 game road trip that ended in Arizona could have easily been a loss and made the sub-par road trip a complete catastrophe. If it wasn't for Jamie Moyer keeping the Phils in this game and Ryan Howard's pinch grand slam, they could have very easily let this game slip away as well. They were flailing mightily at Randy Johnson's offerings all evening before Johnson got wild and got yanked. Couple that with the Phils recent woes in hitting against Arizona's bullpen, and you had the makings of a series sweep. Fortunately, the ailing Howard came on to pinch-hit and save the day to give the Phils the 9 - 3 victory.

- Speaking of Ryan Howard, he's now on the disabled list with a quad strain. You wonder if the stuff that surrounded Ryan as a result of his MVP year last year hampered his ability to be right mentally and physically for the start of this season. You have to hope he's also using this time to fine tune his swing.

- As a result of Howard's DL stint, the Phils recalled last year's folk hero, utility man Chris Coste. Coste was hitting a mere .233 at the time of the call-up. While many fans were upset that Coste was not part of the team this year after hitting .328 in 198 ABs last season, I actually thought that Rod Barajas would be an upgrade over both Coste and Mike Lieberthal. Barajas, meanwhile, hasn't seen the field since the Phils beat the Cubs last Friday, 9 - 3, and for good reason. He's carrying a .178 average into tonite's game. People are going to continue to clamor for Chris Coste unless Barajas picks it up offensively.

- Greg Dobbs, since starting against Arizona on May 8th, is 8 for his last 12 (.318 overall).

- I know this is hypothetical, but at their current pace, if Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley play in 140 games apiece, they are on pace to score a mind-boggling 122 and 111 runs respectively. Currently, Rollins ranks 4th in runs scored (with 33) in all of MLB and Utley ranks 9th (with 30).

- While Freddy Garcia has started slow to this point (1 - 2, 5.17 ERA), he is at least now stretching into and past the 6th inning and his last two starts (vs. Chi and vs. Atl) were "quality starts". The Phils will need more of the same going forward.

Phillies April 2007 By The Numbers

April 2007 is in the books for the Phightin' Phils and May 1 makes for a good day to do a quick review by the numbers:

11

The number of wins the Phillies had in the month of April to give them a record of 11 - 14, 5 games behind the division leading Braves. Clearly, the 1 - 6 start hurt them; let's hope it doesn't come to haunt them in September.

1

The number of games the Phillies won against the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves in the 8 games they played against those two teams. They have yet to beat the Braves this season in four games. The Phillies maddening inability to beat these teams is the single biggest story in this young season. They will not make the playoffs if they don't start beating these two teams.

.378

This is Aaron Rowand's team leading batting average in the month of April. The spark plug centerfielder has been on a torrid streak and has 5 homers and 12 RBIs to go with his gaudy batting average. Hopefully, this quiets those that want to trade him and hand center field over to Shane Victorino (.260-0-8).

.221

This is reigning MVP Ryan Howard's batting average to date. The best thing Ryan Howard can say about the month of April is that it is finally over. It goes without saying the Phils will need Howard to get it going. Complicating matters, in terms of Howard breaking out, is that no one is pitching to Howard in big spots. He's been intentionally walked 8 times; 1 behind ML leader Barry Bonds. A shift in the lineup could be in the offing to get the Big Man going if he can't shake off the April doldrums.

3

The number of wins by the Phillies' resident Methuselah, Jamie Moyer. The Pride of Souderton and St. Joe's University leads the Phils pitching staff in wins has the second best ERA among starters behind only short-timer Jon Lieber. He has been the stopper of the rotation so far.

37

The number of strikeouts by "Kid" Cole Hamels. This is good for 5th (as of this writing) in all of the Major Leagues and 2nd in the NL (Jake Peavy, SD, 46 Ks). Hamels looks to be validating the scouting reports many have about him and his ability.

3

The number of blown saves by closer Tom Gordon. Pat Gillick should be watching this situation VERY carefully for the eventuality that Gordon just doesn't have it anymore. Gordon is 39 years old which, in addition to fear of an eroding skillset, also makes him an injury risk.

4

The number of extra base hits that 3B Wes Helms has to date in 81 ABs. I don't expect Helms to come in and become Mike Schmidt, but he's got to start hitting with more pop. Here's hoping his bat warms up as the weather warms up.

All in all, this could have been a much worse month for the Phillies. I give them credit for battling back from a 1 - 6 start, but they have a lot of work to do. They are going to need bullpen help and they cannot count on 43 year old Jamie Moyer to be their best pitcher all season. They will need more power from Pat Burell (1 HR) and the aforementioned Ryan Howard (3 HR).

The move of Brett Myers to the bullpen has much less to do, I believe, with Brett Myers or the Phillies bullpen troubles than it does needing to have Lieber in the rotation, if only to show him off to potential trade suitors. How well Lieber pitches and what the Phillies get for him when they deal him will be one of the more intriguing story lines going forward this season.

Draft Post-Mortem

The NFL draft, with the seemingly never ending first round on Saturday, is finally over. Strictly from an Eagles perspective, there were more questions created as a result of this draft than there were questions answered. I went over the Kevin Kolb pick pretty well on Saturday and my opinion has not changed. Today, the pick of a quarterback with such a high pick by the Eagles was on the minds of everybody I talked to at work today about the draft and was spoken about on both sports radio stations in town. The thing to stress here is that people's dissatisfaction really has nothing to do with Kevin Kolb personally. He might become a very good player; even a great one. The problem is that the Eagles seemingly threw up the white flag on this season and possibly next season by saying that they will now begin rebuilding around Kolb, rather than retooling their defense for a Super Bowl run as I, and many Eagle fans, wanted them to do.

The rest of the Eagles picks were as follows:

Round 2 Victor Abiamiri DE NOTRE DAME
Round 3 Stewart Bradley OLB NEBRASKA and Tony Hunt RB PENN STATE
Round 5 C.J. Gaddis DC CLEMSON and Brent Celek TE CINCINNATI
Round 6 Rashad Barksdale CB ALBANY
Round 7 Nate Ilaoa RB HAWAII

Some conclusions:

1.) The Eagles have finally recognized that they never adequately replaced Duce Staley's skillset. The Eagles have not had a tough, between the tackles running back since Duce Staley left. Dorsey Levens had some success in that role, but Levens' best days were clearly behind him. With the drafting of Tony Hunt from Penn State and Nate Ila0a from Hawaii, Andy Reid has signalled a willingness to get a power running back as long as they had other skills to offer. Like Duce Staley, Tony Hunt runs with a low center of gravity and will almost always run between the tackles. Also like Staley, Hunt is an effective pass receiver out of the backfield and will be tough for LBs and DBs to tackle in space. Ilaoa has best been described as a bowling ball with legs. Expect some semblance of the return of the "3 headed monster" running game the Eagles had 4 or 5 years ago. All of this signals perhaps the end of Reno Mahe's and/or Ryan Moats' Eagle careers.

2.) The Eagles recognized they have depth issues on defense. Drafting Bradley, Gaddis, and Barksdale highlights was Eagle fans already knew; that the Eagles lack depth defensively in their back seven. CJ Gaddis has been portrayed as a guy who can play safety and corner. Barksdale's athletic skills are supposed to be off the charts, but it's projected he'll play special teams until he comes up to speed on playing DB in the NFL. The Eagles like LB Stewart Bradley so much, the finally cut LB Dhani Jones, who has infuriated numerous Eagle fans with that bizarre and slightly effeminate banjo/guitar thing he does the few times he does make a play.

3.) The only two players in this draft who will help the team next year are Tony Hunt and Victor Abiamiri. Hunt will absolutely make the RB rotation for the Eagles this fall. DE Victor Abiamiri played on a bad Notre Dame defense, but he stood out not only for his pass rushing (10.5 sacks), but he played the run tough as well. This is a skill the Eagles sorely need out of their DEs. If I'm Jerome McDougle, I would look to update my resume.

Final Conclusion: Grading a team's draft is the average of two grades for me. One grade is given for how the team drafted to help the current incarnation of the Eagles. Another grade is speculative in that how do these players project going forward.

"Help Now" grade: D. Hunt and Abiamiri are the only players who will see the field regularly, and in supporting roles at that. They really squandered an opportunity to help on defense in drafting a QB so early.

"Futures" grade: B. This all depends on Kolb and the defensive depth they drafted. If Kolb turns out to be everything his supporters are saying about him, they this could be an A. Let's call it a B for now.

Overall: C. The Eagles were largely passive observers in this draft and seemed disinterested in helping the team this year.

The Eagles Drafted a WHAT??!!??

Take a good look at the picture I added with this post. This is the next QB of the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles, who shocked fans by trading out of the first round with Dallas (of all teams), then completely mortified their entire fanbase by taking a quarterback with their high second round pick obtained from the Cowboys. Many observers, including myself, predicted the Eagles would draft defensive help with this draft in order to make a run at the Super Bowl. Drafting a QB was the last thing on the minds of many of the Eagle faithful. Afterall, this was the one position that most observers felt the Eagles were most secure. McNabb was expected to be back for the season opener, with AJ Feeley and veteran Kelly Holcomb to back him up. Seems like a solid roster of QBs, right? Apparently, Eagle management is not impressed as Andy Reid is already looking at an Eagles future without Donovan McNabb. How will this reverberate through Eagle-dom?

1.) You will hear about the Eagles unexpected pick of a quarterback A LOT from now until the season begins. I cannot stress this enough. Talk radio will get so much mileage out of this, it will make your ears bleed to listen.

2.) How will McNabb take this? Clearly, if past history is to be believed, he'll take it as a slap in the face. He finds disrespect in the smallest of perceived slights. This is not just some perceived swipe at McNabb...this is a blast of cannonade across his bow. I'll bet he'll be cool on the outside, but absolutely apoplectic on the inside. He's probably doing everything in his power to keep Mama McNabb away from her computer so she won't blog about it.

3.) This pick will piss off a fanbase who largely wanted defensive reinforcements to make a Super Bowl run this year. Drafting a QB who will not start this season may signal that Eagle Management has already given up on this season.

4.) Which backup QB will stay with the Eagles? Holcomb or Feeley? Smart money says Feeley.

5.) Lastly, how long will it be before they turn the reins over to this guy? I say two years. By then, McNabb will be 32 years old and have 10 years in the league. It is thought that as much as McNabb has meant to the franchise, he's not getting any younger, and has lost several games over the past 4 seasons to injury. A good example of what McNabb leaving Philly might look like might be to look towards Tennesee, who unceremoniously jettisoned Steve McNair after several years of quality work.

The NFL Draft

The unofficial start of the next football season begins today when the NFL holds it's annual draft of amateur players. I go back a long way with the NFL draft. The NFL did not always hold the draft on a Saturday; it used to be during the week. I can remember faking illness so that I could stay home from school in grammar school in order to watch the draft when ESPN first started carrying it. I always thought the draft was a neat intersection between College Football, which I love, and the NFL, which I love equally. I always went into the draft thinking two thoughts: 1.) Who will the Eagles pick? 2.) Where will the Penn State players go?. I still do the same thing today.

Now the draft is a much bigger deal with a boatload of media coverage, draft publications, and of course, the dreaded group of self-appointed draft experts. The NFL draft is like your favorite dive bar that all of a sudden, remodelled and became so popular that you barely like to go there anymore. Of all of the changes that have swirled around the NFL draft, the proliferation of the "draft expert" is the thing that makes me roll my eyes the most. Mel Kiper should be hitting his knees every night and thanking God that he is able to make a living as a "draft expert" because I doubt he's qualified to do much else. The fact is, sports drafts are mostly a crap shoot. You can no more predict a 22 year old athlete's future than you could the winning lottery numbers. Folks like Kiper may treat these kids like stocks, but the fact is, there is no way of knowing how well a college kid will develop when he goes into the NFL. Will the money go to his head? Did he get by on pure talent in college, but is really dumb as a stone? Does he not test well, but capable of studying what he needs to know to play football? The fact is, you don't know until you see the player suit up in the NFL. If you could predict this stuff, there would be no such thing as a draft day bust.

Some predictions (Penn Staters included):

-JaMarcus Russell will be the first pick.
-Brady Quinn will end up in Cleveland.
-The Eagles will pick Texas CB Aaron Ross. At the very least, they will pick a DB.
-Paul Poszluzny will go to the New England Patriots (1st Round).
-Tony Hunt will end up in Green Bay (4th Round).
-Levi Brown will end up in Miami (1st Round).
-Tim Shaw will end up an Eagle (5th Round).

Here and There...

- Charlie Manual's decision to move Brett Myers to the bullpen is either one of two things: A desperate move by a manager desperate to keep his job or an ordered demotion from Pat Gillick to showcase Jon Lieber for potential trade partners. I think it is more the latter than the former. Do you think Gillick would allow Manual to pull a stunt like this if it didn't have his blessing? They just gave Myers a huge 3 year contract extension, so I doubt very seriously if anyone in the Phillies really thinks Myers is the Phillies long term answer in the bullpen. I think Gillick has Charlie Manual on a short leash and the fact is, Lieber is a tradeable asset in need of a market. If Lieber pitches well (which he did against the Reds on Friday), then perhaps he will be moved for the bullpen assets we need sooner rather than later.

- Speaking of Uncle Charlie, the NY Times did an article on the trials and tribulations of the skipper (thanks to 700level.com for bringing to their readers' attention). It provides a credible description of why Uncle Charlie has so many problems here in Philly. The writer, Jere Longman, is a former Inquirer writer and currently lives in Philly, so the writer is not speaking with a detached viewpoint.

I do have a couple of issues with the article. The first issue I have with the article is that the writer plays the "poor old country boy getting picked on in the big city" angle just a little bit too much for my taste at the end....as if, we only pick on Charlie Manual because of his country accent.

Actually, we pick on Charlie Manual because he's not a credible major league manager.

The writer additionally underplays the fact the fact that Manual was hired instead of Jim Leyland, who took a brutal Tigers team to the World Series last year. It is disconcerting that Charlie Manual was chosen over the more accomplished and seasoned Jim Leyland. After his hiring, Charlie Manual, especially on talk radio, was viewed as they guy that was hired because he would be a good company man as opposed to the more outspoken and blunt Jim Leyland. The Phillies fan base has been so alienated over the years, with how cheap and short-sighted the organization is, that a man like Leyland would have not only provided competent management from the bench, but would tell the front office what they needed to hear instead of what they wanted to hear. To many Phillies fans, Manual's hiring represents just another in a long line of hirings and signings by the Phillies that showed that they are not interested in winning...only in not rocking their boat, both financially and organizationally speaking.

- It was sad yesterday to hear of the passing of author David Halberstam in a car accident in Menlo Park, California. I have a relationship with his writing going all the way back to freshman year in college when I read "Summer of '49" about the Red Sox and Yankee rivalry that year. I've also read "Breaks of the Game" about the time he spent with the 1978 Portland Trailblazers and I recently finished "Education of a Coach" about the rise of Bill Belichick to "genius coach". His writing kept you interested in the topic and you left the book with the idea that you were actually there or that you initimately knew the person or persons about whom he was writing. I don't know that there is a credible individual out there that writes that way. I highly recommend you pick up any of the books I describe above written by Halberstam. I've also heard good things about the Michael Jordan book he wrote in 1999 ("Michael Jordan and the World he made") that I look forward to reading.

The Eagles 2007 Schedule

The 2007 Eagles Schedule is out and I, like most Eagle fans, feel the irrational need to try to predict what will happen to an NFL team during the Fall in the month of April. Need I remind you we still have the draft and all of the mini-camps, training camp, and 4 preseason games until we will really know what the 2007 Eagles (along with the rest of the NFL) will really look like? But that won't stop us from peering into our crystal ball....

Sun. Sept. 9 - at Green Bay.....this is a Win. Green Bay was average in a bad division last year and Brett Favre is returning. This means irrational decisions followed by spates of brilliance. Record: 1 - 0.

Mon. Sept. 17 - vs. Washington......this is a win. Monday night. The home opener. A dreadful Redskin team with a young QB. Win. Record: 2 - 0.

Sun. Sept. 23 - vs. Detroit.....this is a win, although not an easy one, coming off an emotional win versus a division rival. I think Detroit will be better than people think. I think Rod Marinelli is a good coach who can turn them around provided Matt Millen doesn't screw up their draft again. Record: 3- 0.

Sun. Sept.30 - at NYG.....this is a tricky one. Not sure how the Giants will look this year. Whether or not the Giants can get past losing Tiki Barber largely depends on how much Eli Manning will have developed over the course of the off-season. He is no where near where he should be considering he was the first pick of the draft. I do think the Giants picked up a good running back in Reuben Droughns, but I wonder what that means for Brandon Jacobs? There doesn't seem a whole lot of difference between the type of runner Droughns is and the type of runner that Jacobs is (or is to become). I think this is a loss going into the Bye week. Record: 3 - 1.

Oct. 7 - BYE. If it wasn't for the rise in Fantasy Football, this would be the worst week of the year. Some fans like the bye week because it affords an opportunity for their liver levels to go back to normal for one week. I used to hate the bye week before fantasy football. With fantasy football, EVERY game is important.

Oct. 14 - At NYJ.......This is a win. There is no way they drop 2 in a row at Giants stadium. The Jets went to the playoffs last year, but they had a soft schedule down the stretch last year, so it may have been a mirage. Chad Pennington's arm might have fallen off by this point in the season. Record: 4 - 1.

Oct. 21 - vs. Chicago........This is a loss. Chicago's defense is tougher than nails and I don't see the potential loss of Lance Briggs slowing them down. If Rex Grossman is still their QB, do not take the "over" in this game. I see this game ending in a score of 14 - 10 or something very low scoring. Record: 4 - 2.

Oct. 28 - at Minnesota........Win. Who is playing QB for Minnesota? I don't know and don't know if it matters. They lost their defensive coordinator, Mike Tomlin, to the Steelers, so there is no telling how that will work out for them. I doubt Vikings head coach (and playcaller) Brad Childress will be able to surprise Eagle defensive coordinator Jim Johnson, as the two were colleagues with the Eagles for several years. Record: 5 - 2.

Nov. 4 - vs. Dallas.......Win. This is a game on Sunday night, in primetime, at home. I see the Eagles winning this game in emotional fashion. No one knows for sure what the Cowboys will be like with Wade Phillips as coach and Tony Romo starting right from the beginning. Record: 6 - 2.

Nov. 11 - at Washington......Win. The drums will be beating for the sainted Joe Gibbs' head by this point in the season. Record: 7 - 2.

Nov. 18 - vs. Miami........Win. Not sure what Miami will look like this year. They have a good defense, but who will be the QB? Does it matter? How do we know if former San Diego offensive coordinator and new Dolphin head coach Cam Cameron is a good coach. I could look like a good coach when you have LaDainian Tomlinson as your running back. Record: 8 - 2.

Nov. 25 - at NE.......Loss. Bill Belichick did a tremendous job in getting players in free agency this year. Furthermore, I believe he could out-coach Andy Reid with one playbook tied behind his back. Record: 8 - 3.

Dec. 2 - vs. Seattle........Loss. Too much Shaun Alexander coupled with getting physically beaten by New England. The Eagles will need to prove they can stop the run again this year. This will be a difficult game for them to win, despite Seattle travelling cross-country to face the Birds. I just don't think the Eagles match up well against Seattle. Record: 8 - 4.

Dec. 9 - vs. NYG........Win. There is no way they get swept by New York. By now, the players could be forming a lynch mob for Tom Coughlin. Record: 9 - 4.

Dec. 16 - at Dallas........Loss. Going on the road after a tough home game against the Giants always makes the Eagles look a little vulnerable the week after. Record: 9 - 5.

Dec. 23 - at New Orleans......Bad loss. Again....playing New Orleans in their dome. Again. Sean Payton is a good coach who clearly has Eagle defensive coordinator Jim Johnson's number. Record: 9 - 6.

Dec. 3o - vs. Buffalo......Win. They will beat a rudderless Bills team to go 10 - 6....good enough for the NFC East crown once again.

There you have it. The meaningless April prediction of 10 - 6, which will be good enough for the NFC East crown.

As I see it, the keys for the Eagles this season are as follows:

1.) Donovan McNabb MUST be ready by the opener. If AJ Feeley or Kelly Holcomb's services are required for anything more than a game or two, and the Eagles will be lucky to get the wild card.
2.) The Eagles must address some defensive deficiencies (depth at DB, LB) at the draft.
3.) Defensive tackles Broderick Bunkly and Mike Patterson need to be significant contributors. Especially the highly touted Bunkly.
4.) Darren Howard and Jevon Kearse need to return from injury to play like their former selves.

Notice I did not include wide receiver as an issue here? There is no single, more overrated issue in Eagle-land, than the position of wide receiver. People were upset over the Eagles' not retaining Donte Stallworth, but they also forget that Donte Stallworth missed 3 games with a bad hamstring. Furthermore, he did show an inability to stay healthy when he played in New Orleans. I don't think Kevin Curtis can replace Donte Stallworth, but I do think Reggie Brown is ready to be a number 1 receiver in this league and Curtis is almost certainly equipped to be a good number 2 receiver. Hank Baskett should also progress and there is also the draft if they still feel short at WR.

Further making the WR issue a moot point is the fact that the Eagles, after the success late in the season with Jeff Garcia at QB, will almost certainly run the ball more. The win at Dallas last year, where they essentially ran it down the Cowboys throats to the tune of 204 yards on 42 carries was exactly what long time Eagle fans had hoped for: a legitimate running attack. Hopefully, it was an epiphany for Andy Reid as well, as he must have seen the good effect the improved running game had on not only his offense, but it allowed his defense to rest as well. I certainly don't think Reid will become Bill Cowher overnight or anything, but a balanced offense will allow other holes (i.e.--the inability of the recent Eagle teams to stop the run) to not be such glaring holes.

Why Do the Phillies Hate Us?

I really want to do a post on the Eagles (still in the works), but the recent play of the Phillies demands comment. I can sum it up in 3 words:

What. The. Fuck.

After just a brutal winter for Philly sports fans, the promising Phillies came along with their MVP in Ryan Howard, the improved starting rotation, and a comparable lineup to the reigning NL East champion Mets. The team unexpectedly surged towards a playoff spot last year only to be rebuffed at the end of the year. Jimmy Rollins, the de-facto leader of this bunch, even called out the Mets in the press stating that the Phillies were the team to beat. I mean, the Phillies could not have teased us more with their potential than they have teased us in the last 9 months.

Then this baseball season began. Now this. One and Six to start the season.

I simply do not understand how a group of players such as this, who have been together for a few years now, do not seem to understand the importance of starting the season on a winning note (or at the very least, remaining even). Let's review the recent history of slow starts:

2004: Started 1 and 6. Finished 86-76, 2nd in NL East
2005: Started 3 and 6. Finished 88-74, 2nd in NL East
2006: Started 1 and 6. Finished 85-77, 2nd in NL East
2007: Started 1 and 6. Finished: ?????

Notice the trend? Slow start = looking up some other team's skirt. It's not too difficult to figure out.

You know what's worse? The way they dropped their 6th loss, by giving up 7 runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to the despised New York Mets. The sight of the Mets and their douche bag fans celebrating at the Phillies expense is both nauseating and frustrating. If the Phillies want to spare themselves some grief from the home fans when they return from this road trip, they better take the next 2 games at Shea Stadium. Otherwise, this overly sensitive bunch of Phillies players will know what real fan anger sounds like.

To me, the following should be considered fair game to be on GM Pat Gillick's mind right now:

1.) Make Charlie Manual the sacrificial lamb. It's not like this is all Manual's fault, although I do believe he is overmatched as a manager in every way (i.e.--on and off the field dealing with the media). These players like Manual too much and acquiescing to them by firing Larry Bowa a few years back did not help them as their record has been rather consistent since. Firing Manual will remind them that the bar has been raised and the safety wheels of a doddering Grandpa-like manager have been removed. This team has weaknesses in the lineup and in the bullpen that will take longer to fix, but their little comfort zone with Manual should be removed and soon. The manager can be fired now and replaced with either Jimy Williams or Davy Lopes with little ill-effect.

2.) Turn Jon Lieber into bullpen help. This is obvious, but it needs to be done. That said, I understand it needs to be done in it's own time so we get full market value for Lieber, which is exactly how "Stand" Pat Gillick will approach it. Eventually, a good team (my bet is one of the teams that is going through these snow postponements) will lose a starter for a prolonged period of time and will be desperate for an experienced starter. Or we may lose a starter for a prolonged period of time and need an experienced starter.

3.) Figure out if Michael Bourn can play. He's made the roster out of spring training, so obviously someone likes him. Then ask: "Is he better than either Shane Victorino or Aaron Rowand?". If not, then Bourn should have his roster spot cleared by sending him to AAA and a veteran bat with some pop off the bench should be acquired. If he is better than either of them, then either Victorino or Rowand should be moved. To me, Victorino and Bourn are the same player....fast guys with no pop in their bat. Rowand does have a bit of pop and his grittiness is definitely welcome.

Who knows? Maybe today's day off will help. Somehow, I doubt it.

Odds and Ends

- No sooner do I write a flattering post about Ryan Madson than does he give up not one, but two back breaking home runs in the late innings of the first two games of the season. Thanks, Ryan. Thanks a lot!

- Speaking of Ryan Madson, he claims that he didn't make a bad pitch the whole night during the game last night against the Braves where he gave up the winning homerun in the top of the 11th inning. Memo to Ryan Madson: Anytime you give up the winning homerun.....THAT'S a bad pitch.

- I know Mike York scored a goal the other night for the Flyers to tie their game with Toronto, but he has no business playing in the NHL from what I can tell. He has the reputation for being a good energy player, but he has no discernible skills and has seemed to lack energy since he's been with the Flyers. He looks very weak on the puck and easy for opposing defenders to push around. The fact that we traded a serviceable center like Randy Robitaille for this guy does not make that trade look good at all. Even if you want to argue that he's an NHL calibre player going through a rough year, I don't want him on the Flyers next year.

- I haven't said much about the Eagles because frankly, I think it's premature to comment on an NFL team during the free agent period and before the draft takes place. Now that it looks like the Eagles are done in free agency (they had Mike Doss in for a visit, but he signed with the Vikings) my next article will concentrate on the Eagles and their comings and goings.

- The Sixers beat the Knicks last night, but the bigger news is that with the spate of success the Sixers have enjoyed lately, they are tied with the 8th worst record in the NBA. Clearly, they are not in Greg Oden contention anymore, but hopefully, a good big man like Florida's Al Horford can fall to the Sixers with the 8th pick.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame.....

Today is opening day of the baseball season....a day of promise, new hopes and dreams, and the start of a new series of disappointments for the Philadelphia sports fan.

No franchise (not even the Eagles) can so incense the Delaware Valley as do the Philadelphia Phillies. It is the franchise that has been in Philadelphia the longest, it is the sport that runs the longest during the course of a calendar year, and also has the most vexing ownership group of any team in the city. It is also one of the losingest franchise in all of professional sports, closing in on 10,000 losses (10,000!). Yet hope springs eternal every year for the Philadelphia Nine, our beloved Phigtin' Phils.

My thoughts for the opening of a new Phillies season are many and varied. On paper, they are alot like the weather forecast today: Sunny with a high of 73, absolutely beautiful. Why do I get the feeling they are going to be more like what the weather today really turned out to be: Overcast and cool, with a high of 61 degrees. I believe that ultimately the Phillies will make the playoffs. I would really like them to beat out the Mets for the NL East crown, but I fear that that will not happen. I would really not be surprised by anything that happens with the Phillies this year. As such, I have 5 reasons why they'll stink and 5 reasons why they'll make and suceed in the playoffs.

5 Reasons why the Phillies make and suceed in the playoffs:

1.) Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are the two most exciting young position players in the game today. They will be the cornerstones of this franchise for years to come.

2.) The starting pitching is probably as good as there is in the National League, with Brett Myers, Cole Hamels, Freddy Garcia, Adam Eaton, and Jamie Moyer. It far outstrips the Mets starters and is comparable (or better than) to the Braves and Cardinals.

3.) The return of Ryan Madson to the bullpen. Madson was lights out in the bullpen, before he requested to be tried out in the starting rotation to ill effect to the team. Sorry Ryan, you're just not a starter.

4.) The Phils' catching situation is the best it's been since the early to mid 90s when the Phils had good defensive catchers who could handle pitchers like Daulton, Santiago, and a young Mike Lieberthal (who still had a pulse back then). I am more confident with Rod Barajas and Carlos Ruiz (with Chris Coste not far) behind the plate than I have been since those halcyon days of the early 90s.

5.) Love the additions to the coaching staff of Jimy Williams and Davey Lopes. They'll bring both technical baseball acumen and fire to a team desperately in need of both since John Vukovich was bumped upstairs because of his illness.

5 reasons why the Phillies will stink:

1.) There are potential health issues with 3/5ths of the starting pitching staff. Garcia is starting the season on the DL and Hamels and Eaton always seem to be nursing some injury. I am especially worried about Hamels, who has never had a full season of health in his professional career. The health and consistency of the starting rotation will be the single biggest factor in how this team performs this season.

2.) Tom Gordon is a DL trip waiting to happen. Gillick must acquire a "back-up" closer by converting either Aaron Rowand or Jon Lieber into bullpen help.

3.) Pat Burrell is a malcontent who could potentially singlehandedly sink this offense with another crappy performance. He needs to cut down on his strikeouts and fulfill at least some of the promise that he had when he was drafted first overall in 1998.

4.) Anyone else nervous about Shane Victorino starting full-time? I'd be more comfortable if the Phils had a power bat to platoon with the energetic, but slap-hitting Victorino.

5.) Wes Helms is not an adequate fielding third baseman. Hopefully, Rollins can cover alot of ground to his right.

So there you have it.....ultimately, I believe they will make the playoffs (but we'll see).

Other baseball predictions:

1.) The Mets will trade Lastings Milledge for starting pitching when Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez either don't effectively come back from injuries or are simply ineffective.

2.) Diasuke Matsuzaka will be barely above .500 for the season. My prediction: 14 - 12. He'll start with a handful of wins and a lot of hype and will come back down to Earth (like most pitchers that come over from the Japanese Leagues). Certainly, not worth what the Red Sox paid.....

3.) Bobby Abreu will have a big year with the Yanks, fueling endless talk on Philadelphia sports radio (most of it angry-talk).

4.) NL MVP: Albert Pujols; AL MVP: Vlad Guerrero

5.) Roger Clemens will come back with whatever AL-East team is leading in July (either New York, Boston, or Toronto).

6.) The Angels will win the World Series. Not sure why....I just like how their team is set up.

7.) There will be at least one time during the year where Steinbrenner attempts to fire Joe Torre. He'll get talked out of it by Cashman and Torre will retire at year's end.

8.) Despite the presence of Alfonso Soriano, the Cubs will still stink.

9.) Derek Jeter and David Ortiz will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated AT LEAST once this baseball season. Sports Illustrated has forgotten that baseball is played in cities other than New York or Boston.

10.) Randy Wolf will have a 15 win year in LA.

11.) Barry Bonds will break Henry Aaron's home run record. Sammy Sosa will crack the 600 homer mark in his comeback season.

12.) AL Cy Young: Jered Weaver; NL Cy Young: Brett Myers

The Resurgent Sixers

It makes me uneasy to discuss the next topic in some ways. I was really hoping that the Sixers would simply tank the season in order to bring on the Greg Oden era.

Naturally, the Sixers chose not to cooperate.

From February 26th to March 10th, the Sixers ripped off 7 straight wins that included wins over the Lakers and the Suns. Despite the beatings the Sixers took on Sunday March 18th against the Rockets and their March 20th whipping at the hands of Detroit, the hometown hoops team has a record of 8 wins and 4 losses for the month of March. That goes with their just below .500 record in February. What does this all mean? It means they're getting better as a team, somehow.

But how?

There are several theories being bandied about, with all of them having some truth to them that, when combined, probably best explain why the Sixers are playing better basketball.

I think it's fairly obvious at this point that the departure of Allen Iverson, while traumatic to a segment of the fan base, has been the jumping off point for the remaining players on the team to perform as an actual team rather than acting as Allen Iverson's support system.

No matter what Iverson does in Denver in the way of hanging offensive numbers, I firmly believe that Allen Iverson does not, in any way, make his teammates better through his self-centered style of play. To support this point, the Nuggets record since the Iverson trade is below .500 (22 wins, 25 losses), whereas, they were above .500 (13 wins, 9 losses) when he got there. Iverson is a great offensive scorer, but not a winner.

Alone, the mere absence of Allen Iverson does not explain the recent Sixer surge towards respectibility. For all of his selfish tendencies, Iverson is a tremendous talent and an offensive scoring machine. Somehow, Iverson's offensive output, while never replaceable, needs to be made up for in some way. Enter true point guard Andre Miller. Miller, part of the Iverson deal, has been exactly what the Sixers have truly lacked since Eric Snow got old right in front of our eyes and we realized he couldn't shoot....a real point guard. A point guard that runs the offense and looks to get other players involved. Miller has averaged 13 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds per game, which suggests that Miller is not only a good setup guy, but can score and help out on the boards when needed. His assist to turnover ratio is approximately 2.7:1, which is comparable to perrenial league MVP Steve Nash's ratio of 2.95:1. His floor leadership has helped immensely on a team which was getting perfectly content to watch Allen Iverson hoist an average of 25 shots per game (the less shot-needy Miller averages a measly 11 shots per game).

As Miller has asserted his game with the Sixers, the rest of the team has gotten in on the act. Andre Iguodala has made a transformation from talented slasher to well-rounded star in the making. He is averaging a shade less than 5 more points per game (from just above 15 ppg to just under 20 ppg) and approximately 2 more assists per game (from about 4.5 apg to just over 6 apg) since the Iverson trade. That Iguodala has more assists even with the departure of a scorer like Iverson is astonishing. It tells you that when Iverson scored, it was mostly in the form of drives where Iverson brought up the basketball and simply kept it and scored. Iguodala is not the only player who has seen his numbers increase since the Iverson deal. Kyle Korver's point output per game has increased as well as that of Sam Dalembert and Rodney Carney. This increased scoring activity amongst the young core of the team can only assist in the development of confidence that every NBA player needs in order to succeed.

So, yes, while it is painful to watch the young Sixers win games and continue to fritter away their opportunity to draft a talent like Greg Oden, it is also fun to watch the Sixers develop and function as a team.

From here, I simply hope the Sixers continue to develop their core players and draft wisely this upcoming draft. Specifically, I'd like a bigger body in the middle and/or a scoring option down on the low blocks in the form of a real power forward. They need to retain Andre Miller's services and keep with the philosophy that a true point guard is the best way to foster team play. It might also be wise to begin grooming a successor to the 31 year old Miller. Louis Williams may or may not be the answer (no pun intended), but they are going to need to find out.

The NCAA Tournament

The weather is starting to break, St. Patrick's day is this weekend, and the NCAA tournament begins this Thursday. Two out of three of those events I regard as very positive. I have very mixed feelings on the NCAA tournament. I think my feelings can be best distilled in two lists:

Five Reasons I really like the NCAA basketball tournament:

1.) Gives you something sports related to watch on TV while binge drinking during St. Patrick's day, which always seems to fall around the first few days of the tournament.

2.) Mindless sports gambling in the form of bracket pools. Filling out the brackets is always fun as you track the winners and losers through the first 4 days of the tournament.

3.) Upsets. The Cinderella team that enters the tournament and surprises the hell out of everyone. Think George Mason. Admit it: You love it, every year, when a snooty basketball oriented school like Duke gets beat by the likes of Coppin State.

4.) The NCAA basketball tournament is very American in the sense that all types of schools have a chance. I especially like spotlight on smaller colleges. Villanova, St. Joe's, Gonzaga, Santa Clara, Creighton, College of Charleston, Southern Illinois, etc. These are schools you never think about on the National level, in terms of college athletics, until the NCAA basketball tournament.

5.) Except for *maybe* the NBA Finals, the quality of play, in terms of pure basketball, is as good as it gets for the entire sport. I prefer to watch well coached college basketball players than watch well coached professional players everytime.

Five reasons I absolutely hate the NCAA basketball tournament:

1.) The personalities and writers that come out of the woodwork this time of year. Billy Packer is a bitter, loathesome human being, who is an unabashed apologist for the ACC conference. Dick Vitale's enthusiasm becomes an extreme annoyance when exposed to his broadcasting for prolonged periods of time. Why do I even know of a dork like Joe Lunardi, a self-appointed "bracketologist"?

2.) The complete non-event that is "selection Sunday". If people think the NFL draft is boring, they should get a load of the TV programming involved in simply selecting the teams to play in the tournament.

3.) How in the hell can anyone think they know something about all 64 teams in the field, let alone those teams that didn't make the tournament and may have deserved to? My point: it is impossible to handicap all of these games and the various potential permutations of games down the road in this tournament with any semblance of skill. I believe the tournament and bracket pools are all about luck and that annoys me. I think it is more likely to win a multi-million dollar lottery than it is to win a $10 bracket pool. Please note: I have never come close to winning a bracket pool, but that doesn't stop me from playing them.

4.) The entire tournament is insufferably long. They call it "March Madness", but the Championship game is always played in April. Are you telling me they can't get this whole thing done in two weeks? No way this tournament should be allowed to extend into April.

5.) If a player has even a modicum of success in NCAA tournament, they always seem a little too eager to declare for the professional draft, even if their game isn't ready.

I guess the overriding conclusions about the tournament is that it gives us something to get worked up over until baseball season starts and the winter sports playoffs start. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to fill out my bracket pools and buy beer for the weekend......

Why We Really Hate Kobe Bryant

Last Friday, Kobe Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers came to town and got dumped by the hometown Sixers. With Bryant's arrival into town, there were articles and the usual talk about why Sixers fans do not like Kobe Bryant. For example, the following is from the Associated Press' account of the game:

"Of course, the sometimes-boorish Sixers fans booed Bryant almost every time he touched the ball. The unforgiving crowd has never forgotten when Bryant proclaimed he was "coming to Philly to cut their hearts out," in the 2001 NBA finals."

I have heard this explanation before as to why the locals don't like Kobe Bryant and while that may be a small part of it, it is a gross generalization. I have a much simpler reason why the locals don't like him much here; Kobe, by all appearances, seems to be very much a contrived personality. His entire body of work over the course of his career has shown him to be a big phony. He always aspired to be the heir to Michael Jordan as a mainstream, cross-over cultural phenomenon, but in reality, he has behaved like a self-aggrandizing jackass.

Disliking Kobe is not a recent sentiment; in my opinion, it goes back to before the 2001 Finals. It goes all the way back to his draft year in 1996, when he stated that he wouldn't play for the then-Charlotte Hornets, who had drafted him. This was seen by many as a move to a big market where endorsements could be had rather than a decision based on basketball. It was considered an audacious move by a guy many thought was not immediately ready for the NBA at the time. Kobe's perceived arrogance about this entire situation rubbed a lot of people (including me) the wrong way.

Furthermore, many in the area wanted Kobe to go to one of the Big 5 schools. His father, Joe, was an assistant for LaSalle University at the time and many thought and hoped he would go to LaSalle because of that. We all know how this scenario ultimately worked out in Kobe's favor, but in '96, high schoolers going into the NBA was not as commonplace and many looked on the practice as bad for the player and the sport. Ten years after Kobe was drafted, the NBA mandated in 2006 that high school players must wait 1 year after their graduating class has finished high school to be eligible for the draft. You can debate the merit of this rule or high schoolers in the NBA, but what is not under debate is the impact many thought Kobe would have had for one of the Big 5 schools had he chosen to go to school for a year or two in Philadelphia. I still believe there is a segment of folks who still hold that against him.

It wasn't until then that you started to hear people on talk radio say things like "Kobe wasn't raised here, but in Italy" or "Kobe isn't from Philly, he's from Lower Merion"....essentially, a perjorative nod to Kobe's attending an upwardly mobile school like Lower Merion High as opposed to one of the more famous basketball city high schools like Simon Gratz. Furthermore, the scant playing time he received as a rookie seemed to justify many of these sentiments people believed about Kobe's not being ready for the NBA and would have been better served by going to college.

As time passed, and Kobe got progressively better during his NBA career, many believed his development has come as a result of the Lakers having a force such as Shaquille O'Neal as the centerpiece of the team. Many believed (and still believe) that the Lakers success at the end of the 90s and into the 2000s was more as a result of a motivated Shaquille O'Neal and not the mercurial Kobe Bryant. Kobe marched on, playing alongside O'Neal and garnering lucrative endorsement deals, shilling everything from McDonald's to Adidas. All the while, he maintained and cultivated a veneer of a squeaky clean superstar.

It was during the run of championships from 2000 - 2003 that Bryant began to complain about his own game being stifled with the offense going through Shaquille O'Neal. In a town like Philadelphia, whose fans observed the Lakers go through this tiff while winning championships, this sort of attitude does not go down well. It has been well publicized that no sports team has won since 1983 in Philly. It made people question what Kobe cared more about...his own statistics or winning championships. Caring more about one's own stats than a Championship is anathema in this town (unless your name is Allen Iverson).

In the eyes of Sixers fans, the argument about Kobe Bryant was always couched against what kind of player Bryant was compared to the very popular Allen Iverson. People wondered how Iverson might have developed differently if he had O'Neal to play with rather than the likes of Matt Geiger. In these comparisons, Bryant was universally perceived as the more physically gifted player, but it was obvious from the tone of the conversations that Bryant was not the more respected player of the two.

When Bryant made the "cut out their hearts" remark in 2001, I would argue he was already disliked by a big segment of the Philly sports populace. That remark just sort of sealed public opinion of Kobe that he was an "L.A. guy" and that he would never be a real "Philly guy" despite his stated affection for the area.

The alleged rape incident in Eagle, Colorade further sullied Bryant. Whether he actually did it or not is something only two people will ever know. What is part of the public record is that Bryant essentially talked out of school about Shaquille O'Neal paying off women to keep their liasons private and the whiny press conference he gave with his aggrieved wife at this side after the entire incident. Sometimes, in adversity, people say and do things they regret....I'm guessing Kobe regrets both of these incidents as both revealed him to be small and petty.

That he was additionally painted as a petulant, uncoachable whiner by Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson in his book "The Last Season: A Team in Search of Its Soul" cemented and reinforced Kobe's perceived status as a prima donna.

With this body of public work from the talented, but tainted Kobe Bryant, it's amazing that more fans don't boo him when he comes to their town.

Extreme Makeover - Orange and Black Edition

The Flyers have been in full rebuilding mode. As such, I thought it necessary to make a few comments as to the progress of their rebuilding as it pertained to the recently passed trade deadline. The Flyers made several deals both before and at the trade deadline.

Peter Forsberg for Scottie Upshall, Ryan Parent, and two 2007 draft picks (1st and 3rd round): As I mentioned here, I knew there was no way Peter Forsberg was going to be with this team through the remainder of the season (he was traded by the Flyers on February 15th to Nashville) and let me also say there is no way Forsberg will sign here in free agency this summer. What Forsberg does next year will depend on his deformed foot, that defies all medical and podiatric science, and how the Nashville Predators fare with him in their lineup. Certainly, the Flyers don't owe Forsberg a damned thing....they have been patient and very supportive of Foppa as he went on an extended odyssey that extended from Arizona to Montreal to Sweden in order to find an adequate skate to fix his surgically repaired foot. They did not wig out on him last year when he played for Team Sweden after being out of the lineup leading up to the Olympics. The team could have rightfully challenged him for playing for his national team when he wasn't playing for the team that was paying his salary. As great as Forsberg was, ultimately, it will be better for the Flyers if they put Peter Forsberg in their past.

As for the Forsberg trade itself, I am not entirely in love with the deal. Scott Upshall could not uproot rookie Alexander Radulov for a job as one of the top six forwards and Nashville management felt so good about Upshall last year, they went out over the offseason and picked up JP Dumont. Clearly, the didn't believe he was ready for a full-time job in the NHL. Ryan Parent, the defenseman the Flyers got in the deal, struggles with back problems, but is apparently a big time d-man when he does play. And the draft picks are high picks, but they happen to be in this year's very thin draft. I think it was an ok deal, but fraught with risk and "what if" potential, much like Nashville's gamble on Peter Forsberg's foot and skate problems.

Kyle Calder for D Lasse Kukkonen and a 3rd round pick in the 2007 draft: I think that they got anything for perhaps the most overrated NHL forward I've ever seen is amazing. Kukkonen played on the same Karpat team as Joni Pitkanen as a Finnish junior player and was the captain of the team. If they got him for no other reason than to pal around with Joni Pitkanen, then I am ok with this deal. Pitkanen's play has regressed this year, and Coach John Stevens has described Pitkanen as a "loner" in the press, so this trade reeks of a security blanket for the enigmatic Pitkanen.

Calder, on the other hand, was probably the poster child for everything that has gone wrong with this team this year. He was traded for the immensely popular Michal Handzus in a deal I guess they had to make in order to make room for Jeff Carter and Michael Richards to get more ice time. It took Calder 28 games to score a goal in Philadelphia. He was known as a gritty player who put out a tough effort every night; he was not that way with any consistency in Philadelphia. The Flyers did offer him a contract, but you can assume they low balled him in an effort to get him on the cheap. Frankly, I'm glad he's gone; he made poor decisions with the puck, doesn't appear to be all that skilled, and I don't think he fits with current direction of the team.

Alexei Zhitnik for Braydon Coburn: I'm OK with this deal only because they got a good, young defenseman back and because I'm pretty confident they'll replace\upgrade Zhitnik's skill set\experience through free agency this summer. Coburn has a real good reputation as a skater and passer. He can be physical when necessary according to the scouting reports, but he apparently isn't much of a fighter (see: Coburn's ill-fated duel with Mike Rupp). Zhitnik lent credibility to a group of Flyers blueliners that sorely needed it when they acquired him earlier this year, but now, with the team going in a different direction, they did the right thing and found a panicky GM who needed a veteran defenseman.

A 2nd round pick for Martin Biron: This deal was a bit of a pleasant surprise for me. Not necessarily because of who they obtained, but the trade indicates that the Flyers have realized that they have a problem between the pipes. Esche is as good as gone and Antero Niitymaki has gone backwards in his development (not unlike fellow Finn Joni Pitkanen). Martin Biron was the starter in Buffalo before Ryan Miller was all but given the job by Buffalo management.

Personally, I was hoping the Flyers would sign a high profile goalie this summer, such as Jean-Sebastian Gigure or Jose Theodore (I refuse to believe the 2002 Vezina and Hart trophy winner is as bad he has gone in the last two years), but now they will get a look at a lower price, but possibly, just as talented alternative.

Overall: It seem interim GM Paul Holmgren did a nice job of moving pieces of the team that won't be part of the next Flyers team to get to the playoffs in a couple of years. The overall theme seemed to be getting young, unproven talent from teams that had young, unproven talent to spare, which is good, because the Flyers have too little of this type of talent at the AHL level currently. The only question is whether or not it's NHL ready talent or not.