Staff Blog
Morning Rounds, September 30th
Happy New Year, Chosen Ones. Tomorrow we can worry over whether or not Hollywood is the hero our city needs, if Brad Lidge can forgot about postseasons past, if Ryan Howard can stay unconscious for another month, and even if Brian Westbrook’s ankle is going to behave. Today, let’s what the fact that we don’t win things around here and believe that we actyally might be able to Fo’, fo’, fo’ our way to championship glory.
I’m cheery because without local televised sports I actually slept last night. Feel free to keep this in mind if (fine, when) I try to talk with authority on what happened during MNF.
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“When you expect a team to win, believe me, that goes a long way.”- Jimmy Rollins
Three lines on their world:
- The White Sox and the Twins play 163 for the right to play 1-3 in the second season
- The Rams gave Scott Linehan the mercy kill he deserved
- and Al Davis seems to searching for replacements for a coach he hasn’t fired
Three lines on ours:
- The Brewers announced their starters for games 1 & 2
- As do the Phillies
- And Brian Westbrook remains questionable for next week
Phillies, Birds, Sixers, Flyers and what everybody is talking about, after the jump
PHILLIES
Todd Zolecki looks at Ryan Howard’s hot end to the season and wonders if it can continue into October. What he doesn’t do is answer the question, other than to get Milt Thompson to give the vague analysis “he’s seeing the ball better”, at which point Zolecki delves into some MVP which seems like it should have been another column altogether. Anyway, if you’ve read this far no need to check the actual article. SKIP
Phil Sheridan drops an ‘Edsel’ reference, which made me break out the ol’ google search (well played, old head), before absolutly lighting into the cliches as he attempts to convince us the masses to believe that the Phils are capable of stepping on a throat or two this year. I guess I can’t write the whole “believe we’re going to win” intro up there and then skip this though. READ
Marcus Hayes dives into Cole Hamels‘ injury history and recent health. It’s long but worth the time. READ
Jim Salisbury talkes the Phillies infield and the Dodgers’ chances with Larry Bowa. READ
Todd Zolecki reports that the Phillies’ NLDS rotation is set for as long as they hope to play, then guesses at games 4 and 5. READ
Mark Kram looks at the year after a team makes the playoffs. Not a bad column idea. SKIP
Someone at Philly.com fucked up the byline (anyone with a hard copy got the name?) looks at 20 key games on the Phillies’ road to October. READ
Paul Hagen says that if the Phillies want to advance, they better not repeat the mistakes of last year’s postseason. READ
Frank Fitzpatrick is shocked (SHOCKED) that the Brewers made it back to Philadelphia. Here’s an idea: it wasn’t that the Brewers are awful, it was that the Phillies are really good (and the Mets, really not good). SKIP
Nick Fierro says that this year the Phillies are lined up and ready to go. SKIP
Randy Miller argues that Charlie Manuel has proved he’s a winner. READ
Mike Sielski looks at J.A. Happ’s prospects of making the postseason roster. READ
EAGLES
Les Bowen analyzes the goal line stand, then looks at the storylines that weren’t storylines, and wishes the Birds look Felix Jones (leaving the Cowboys with their backup plan: DeSean Jackson?). READ
John Smallwood gets a little panicky, even if this does feel like a must-win from where we’re all standing. SKIP
Ashley Fox looks at David Akers‘ struggles, and Andy Reid’s faith. SKIP
Bob Brookover has three “keys” to the Eagles’ loss, but unless Juqua Parker and Jon Runyon playing well somehow correlate with the Birds losing, he’s just talking about three players. SKIP
Les Bowen says that Brian Westbrook may miss a second game. SKIP
Reuben Frank says that Andy Reid needs to face the hard questions. READ
SIXERS
Phil Jasner talks to Elton Brand about the team and his role. READ
Kate Fagan thinks that Elton Brand is a “storyline”. SKIP
Kevin Tatum reports that AI2 doesn’t care where he plays, then goes on to print that the three is actually a “power forward”. SKIP
Kerith Gabriel looks at Larry Brown’s current situation. SKIP
FLYERS
Sam Carchidi reports on Bryan Berard’s attempt to earn a roster spot. SKIP
Ed Moran looks at Antero Niittymaki’s quick return. READ
TODAY and MORE
Quick hits, positive thoughts, a look at MLB awards and more. As always, feel free
to email
with any questions, suggestions, comments or complaints.
