Morning Roundup: "This is a good test for us. But I think – I don’t think, I know – we can play with them." – Charlie Manuel, on the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Three lines on their world : Wimbledon is under way , Euro 08 is down to the semis , and the NHL draft is a thing of the past .

Three lines on ours : The Phils got swept for the first time all season , and fall into a tie in the loss column with Florida because of it, while the Flyers bulk up their blue line on draft weekend .

Phillies, Birds, Sixers, Flyers and more thoughts knowledge , after the jump

PHILLIES

Last night, after the Phillies dropped their forth straight series and their fifth straight game at Citizens Bank Park to finish off a 1-5 home stand and draw them into a tie in the loss column with the Florida Marlins, I think its safe to say that the Phils are at their low-water mark for the season. It’s worth mentioning that the Phils didn’t lose five straight games at any point during the 2007 season. That said, the team is still in first, Myers looked marginally better (although Eaton did look like Myers circa a week ago) and this could be the wake up that call a team that was quoted as not worrying last week might have needed.

Lets hope it was, because despite two hits from Ryan Howard and a ‘slump-busting’ single by Chase Utley , the Phillies managed only two runs. Ace Cole Hamels dropped to 7-5 after allowing three over seven full innings. Those three runs would equal sixty percent of the Phillies offense across the entire series, as the Phils boom-or-bust offense came up short three times in a row to score a total of five runs against LAAA.

The goats were plentiful – Utley Kd twice more and is mired in a 1-27 skid; So Taguchi popped out on a 2-0 pitch with the bases loaded in the 9th against a wild Franciso Rodriguez ; Pat Burrell went 0-4 and left four guys on base; and everyone on the Phils except Jayson Werth failed to go yard for the entire series.

After a night off the Phils travel to Oakland to start a nine-game stretch. Jimmy always plays well back in his hometown, so look for that and hope its enough to get this team back on track.

Other Notes …

• The Phillies +79 run differential is second best in the league, and 77 runs better than the 40-35 Marlins
• The Angels are a major league-best 24-12 on the road this season.
• The 9th inning could have ended differently if Jayson Werth hadn’t been throw out at first by a nice Casey Kotchman grab off a low Chone Figgins throw.
• Chase Utley snapped his 0-for-24 skid with a two-out double in the 3rd
• Over the course of his skid he is 0-11 with runners in scoring position
• J-Roll stole 2nd and 3rd in the first, pushing is league-best consecutive steals streak to 31
• The Phils stole four bases, a season high
• Despite three steals in the first inning the Phillies stranded two and did not manage a run
• The Phillies have sold out nine straight games at Citizens Bank Park. You always hate to loss sellouts.
• Cole Hamels didn’t say anything about the World Series following this game
• The Phils hit just .156 with runners in scoring position over the course of the homestand.
• Jimmy Rollins was quoted as saying that the team needs "to go out … that will help." Not sure if he’s talking about the West Coast or the club, but either way those aren’t exactly the words I was hoping the MVP would offer during a dry spell.

Now, who said what …

Bill Conlin says don’t panic yet, but this team is awfully similar to all those high 80 win second-place teams the Phils specialized in over the last decade or so . SKIP

Kate Fagan writes that the momentum from Utley ’s drought-stopping double was short lived . READ

Jim Salisbury’s notes look at Taguchi ’s misstep, Hamels ‘ work on the homestand, Jason Knapp , the Phils recently-signed second rounder and more . READ

Paul Hagen’s notes look the fact that the Phillies won’t make a move to utilize the DH (makes sense to me, don’t we have four good outfielders?), Utley ’s double, Hamels ‘ successful headhunting against Vlad Guerrero and more . For once the Inqy and the DN don’t have ‘Phillies Notes’ that say the exact same thing. Feel free to READ them both.

Curt Schilling ’s season is over and his career will probably follow suit . READ

Jim Salisbury thinks that Schill is a Hall of Famer – even if his teammates never were fond of the guy . READ

Joe Juliano’s Sunday notes look at Utley ’s day off, the Phils not getting emotional, possible lineup changes and Kris Benson . SKIP

David Murphy writes that Pat Gillick is already thinking about making moves, and more . READ

Joe Juliano’s Saturday notes look at Mike Sciosci ’s return to/love of the Philadelphia area . READ

Randy Miller writes that Charlie Manuel is suddenly under the press’ gun . SKIP

Randy Miller analyzes the Utley benching . SKIP

Randy Miller breaks down the two sides of the odd saga that was Joe Saunders ‘ potential Phillies career . READ

Speaking of unsigned draft picks, the Phillies are no longer battling Pac-10 basketball for the time of their 7th rounder, but still might not get him signed . READ

EAGLES

Jevon Kearse got a DUI outside Vanderbilt . SKIP

Bob Fernandez and Larry King report that Walt Disney Co. (read: ESPN) is on the verge of copping the NFL Network . My Two Cents; You’re a pretty serious business if you can stealthily buy the NFL Network, maybe this is one of the evil big-business mergers you’re always hearing about, but until proven otherwise Robert A. Iger and George Bodenheimer are gangsters in my book. SKIP

Mike Sielski writes about 5 and the McNabb parents , who all seem oddly defensive about the fact that they seem to like each other. I don’t think Donovan likes it here much. SKIP

I understand that the Eagles’ are having trouble finding a #1 wideout, but this search has gotten out of control . READ

SIXERS

Phil Jasner reports that Texas A&M Center DeAndre Jordan has worked out for, and is formally interviewing with, our hometown Sixers .  Jordan may have upside written all over him, but at best the word is scribbled in the margins of 7.9 and 6 – his actual production numbers at A&M.  Also in the piece, Jasner notes that the 76ers may have interest in Alexis Ajinca , a 20-year-old 7-footer from France, and that Kosta Koufos is probably the sixers pick of choice. READ

The 13th annual Sixers summer hoops tour is underway . SKIP

Matt Gelb expects the Sixers to pick a big man with the 16th pick . READ

Phil Jasner reports that the Sixers worked out Roy Bright (Delaware State), Charron Fisher (Niagara), John Griffin (Bucknell) and Gary Ervin (Arkansas) . The first three are local products. SKIP

Tom Moore says the Sixers are going to pick big, and have the options to do so . SKIP

The NBA draft sounded like it used to be a lot more fun . READ

FLYERS

Sam Carchidi breaks down what happened with the Flyers draft . READ

Matt Gelb writes that new Flyer Steve Eminger forged his identity as a player against the Flyers in most recent playoffs . SKIP

Ed Moran writes that Marc-Andre Bourdon , the Flyers’ third round draft choice (67 overall) could be the steal of the Flyers draft. He also breaks down most of the picks . READ

Ed Moran says that, with the draft over, it’s gametime for the Flyers front office . He throws out several possibly directions management could take. READ

Sam Carchidi says that the Flyers focus is all about defense . SKIP

AP wrap up of the Flyers draft . SKIP

In a notes column that skips around subjects, Mike Sielski says the salary cap forced the Umberger move, Schilling ’s annoying persona shouldn’t keep him out of the Hall of Fame and Sielski cares not about who are you as a person , so long as you win. READ

TODAY and MORE

We’ll be in and out all day. As always, feel free to email me with any questions, suggestions, comments or complaints.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 9:05 am and is filed under Morning Rounds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.