Staff Blog
Morning Rounds, August 8th
Morning Roundup: “There’ll be days when we score a lot of
runs, and there’ll be other days when we don’t.” – Uncle Cholly
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Three lines on their world:
- The 90th PGA Championship is a day in and wide open
- The Olympics’ Opening Ceremony goes off tonight
- And the Jets officially introduced Brett Favre
Three lines on ours:
- The Phillies dropped another series in the back-and-forth NL
East - And made a move for Scott Eyre
- Everyone seems to agree that a Brian Westbrook deal is going
to get done sooner rather than later
Phillies, Birds, Sixers, Flyers and one and a half quarters
of our best stuff after the jump
PHILLIES
It was a day game and Hollywood
was on the mound, so it came as no surprise that the Phils were unable to get
anyone across. Cole didn’t deserve to lose – Charlie thought he pitched better
than his numbers, and his numbers weren’t bad – but he lost again, dropping his
record on the season to 9-8.
If you want a telling sign of the struggles of the Phillies
offense, here is as good a one as any: for the second straight game Cole Hamels
had to break up an opposing pitcher’s no-hitter when he singled in the fifth. Hamels has received a total of nine runs in
his last six losses.
The entire offense could be the goat – they only had three QOs the entire game – but Ryan Howard, who went 0-4 and
committed his major-league leading 14th error of the season – five
more than Prince Fielder, the second-place guy – deserves special mention.
The loss brings the Marlins back within 1.5 games of the
Phils (two in the loss) and the Mets back within two.
The Phils welcome the Pirates into town tonight when Joe
Blanton (1-0, 4.80) takes the mound against Pirates’ lefty Paul Maholm (7-7,
3.95). The Pirates stink, so anything
less than a sweep is pretty much unacceptable.
Other Notes …
- The Marlins head to New
York to square off against the Mets - The 45,521 fans who saw the game were the largest of 2008
- Hamels now has 15 hits this season, the most by a Phillies
pitcher since Tommy Greene had 16 in 1993 - In the three months since the Phils last faced the Pirates
the Bucs have overhauled their roster. Only
13 of the 25 guys the Phils faced last time are still are on the Pirates’ team - Philadelphia
(62-52) is second in the NL in runs (563), but it has scored three or less in
39.5 percent of its games, going 9-36 - The Phillies string of 14 straight games with a home run was
broken last night - The Phillies were shut out only six times in 2006 and 2007 combined.
Thursday’s game marked the seventh time
they’ve been zeroed this year. - Hamels‘ winless streak is now at a career high six games
- The Marlins, second in the NL in home runs coming into the
series, didn’t go yard once in the three-game set - Chris Volstad hasn’t allowed a homer this season in 124 2/3 innings
in the minors and majors - The Phillies were 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position
Now, who said what …
Jim Salisbury says that Hamels‘ teammates let their ace down
again. READ
When Bill 1Chair is king of the world Greg Dobbs will be an
all-star, the Dodgers’ GM will be associated with leprosy by all, and the MLB
will begin an investigation on Ryan Howard’s glove. SKIP
In his notes David Murphy looks at the Scott Eyre trade, the injury reports on Flash Gordon, Pedro Feliz and Rudy Seanez, and then gives a nice Mike Cervenak tidbit. READ
Todd Zolecki’s do much of the same. SKIP
Paul Hagen looks at Jamie Moyer’s future (and his past, via a fun Juan Samuel nugget) and more. READ
EAGLES
Tim Panaccio looks at the Birds’ new fade route. SKIP
Les Bowen went to bed believing that the Westbrook deal would get done. SKIP
The Inqy previews the Eagles first preseason game. READ
Les Bowen’s quick guide to the game. SKIP
Bob Cooney checks in on Kevin Kolb and more. SKIP
Ed Kracz reports that Andy Studebaker is on that learning curve. READ
Rueben Frank says that DeSean Jackson is getting giddy for the real action to start. READ
SIXERS
No news today
FLYERS
Former Phantoms coach Craig Berube has been promoted to assistant coach of the Flyers. SKIP
Berube was replaced by former NHL Head Coach John Paddock. SKIP
TODAY and MORE
Nothing huge planned for the day – I’ll be away from the computer until at mid-afternoon, then headed down to the ballpark. Not a bad day to feel
free to email
with any questions, suggestions, comments or complaints.
