For all intents and purposes 2009 might as well be 2008 for the Phillies and the Eagles. The striking similarities between these two years for each franchise goes beyond the realm of strange coincidences and into the category of “beyond bizarre.” Don’t believe me? Have a look for yourself.
The 2008 Phillies had their extra motivation to win it all (ending Philly’s title drought), while the 2009 Phillies are on a mission to win it for Harry. The ‘08 and ‘09 teams made two huge pre-trade deadline moves that paved the way to the title, adding a pitcher (Blanton/Lee) and a bench hitter (Stairs/Francisco). Both teams were among the league leaders in come-from-behind wins, and each had their breakout rookie pitching performance (Kendrick/Happ) along with a breakout offensive performance (Werth/Ibanez).
What about the Phillies road to the Series? In 2008/2009 they beat a red-hot team in the NLDS that barely managed to make the postseason (Milwaukee/Colorado) led by one good pitcher and little else (Sabathia/Jimenez). In the NLCS both teams beat the Dodgers in five games with LA fans stumbling all over each other to jump off the bandwagon, Cole Hamels pitching the clincher, and Brad Lidge recording the final out.
As for the Eagles, they had their early season blowouts against crappy foes (Ram/Niners in ‘08, Chiefs/Bucs in ‘09) and their inexplicable early season defeats (Bears last year, Raiders this year). Shawn Andrews and Brian Westbrook were missing games with injuries, and Kevin Curtis was struggling to get back to form due to offseason surgery. Rookie receivers made great early impressions (Desean then/Jeremy now) and Eagle QBs were dealing with their share of adversity (McNabb’s benching in ‘08, and the Mike Vick saga in ‘09). Eagle fans were already starting to lose hope after the narrow loss to the Bears much how they are now after that abomination of a game against the Raiders.
That being said it’s easy to forget that this team still has plenty of time to right the ship. Who would have thought they would make the playoffs, much less the NFC Title Game after their humiliating Week 12 loss to Baltimore? The team will surely have plenty more highs and lows as the season goes on and the schedule gets tougher, but as tempting as it is to give up all hope after the epic Oakland fail just remind yourself that this is essentially the same team as last year and the conference as a whole really isn’t that much better. If the 2008 trends keep carrying over to ‘09 the Birds should find themselves in another position to take a crack at making it to the Big Game. Let’s just hope that part of it ends a bit differently this time around.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia…When Our Teams Win at Least
The Fightins have a review up for last night’s Phillies-centric “Always Sunny” episode. This is the second time an episode revolved around a Philly sports team: Season 3 Episode 2 “The Gang Gets Invincible” has the group trying out for the Eagles. One of the first appearances of Green Man, and an absolute classic.
Thank God for Will
MLB Omar Gaither is officially out for the season, making the deadline deal for Will Witherspoon all the more important. Witherspoon is also known for being a good coverage linebacker, meaning we should start seeing a lot fewer big games from opposing tight ends.
Loading ...