We all knew Doc was good, but perfect game good? Damn.
Roy Halladay threw the 20th perfect game in major league history in beating the Florida Marlins 1-0.
Doc had been victimized by poor offensive outputs from the Phillies’ anemic offense his last few times out, and this time was no different. The Phils could only muster one unearned run in the third inning, but that was more than enough for Halladay.
Halladay had actually come within one out of a no-hitter before, but he finished this one out, and without a baserunner to boot. Not normally a big strikeout pitcher, Halladay had 11 in this game, including one of pinch hitter Wes Helms for the 2nd out in the 9th inning.
Roy Halladay joins Jim Bunning as the only Phillies’ pitchers to throw a perfect game, Halladay’s coming 46 years after Bunning’s Father’s Day masterpiece.
For all of the losing that the Philadelphia Phillies’ franchise has endured, they are only the 5th team in baseball history to have 2 perfect games.
Even thought the offense is still struggling big time, having a shutdown pitcher like Halladay is huge right now. Jamie Moyer has owned the Marlins in his career, so hopefully this little win streak can continue tomorrow.
For the record, Cliff Lee has never thrown a perfect game. Just sayin`.
13 years ago I was a 10-year-old. That was the year we cleaned up the East, beating each team 4-1 on our way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Then we ran into the beginning of the Detroit dynasty. We ran into Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Larry Murphy, and Nicklas Lidstrom. The end result was a devastating sweep where we only managed six goals in four games.
We’re a long way from 1997. We’re a long way from our incredible run in 2000 and the legend of 2004. We’re different from 2008. This is 2010, and we may have the best team we’ve iced in decades.
Still, talent doesn’t win you a Cup. Yes, we’re the Eastern Conference Champions, but that means nothing unless we can prove we’re better than the Western Conference Champions.
On the other side is a team that dominated the West and cleaned up by sweeping the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Finals. They are young, they are talented, and they want the Cup.
So how do we beat them?
The answer is of course a little tricky. They are basically us. Their team make-up is the same, their talent level is the same, and their desire is the same. How do we beat what basically amounts to ourselves?
We will have to play to the differences. You automatically think of guys like Dustin Byfuglien, who is basically their Hartnell, and Patrick Kane, who is basically their Briere, and Jonathan Toews, who is basically their Richards, and Marian Hossa, who is basically their Gagne. But looking at their depth they have a Patrick Sharp, who is a lesser version of Carter, and Kris Versteeg, who is a lesser version of Giroux. That leaves Dave Bolland, Troy Brouwer, and Andrew Ladd to fill out their top nine. When compared to Ville Leino, James vanRiemsdyk, and Arron Asham, you can see that the Flyers have the slightly deeper offense.
Our fourth line of Powe, Betts, and Laperriere is one of the most defensively responsible and edgy shut-down lines in the game. Their fourth line is John Madden, basically as good if not better than Betts, along with former Flyer Ben Eager and former Red Wing Tomas Kopecky. In a straight match-up, the Flyers’ fourth line is slightly better.
Then looking at the defense, it will be a battle of Duncan Keith, their do-it-all defenseman who is in much the mold of a Timonen despite being slightly better. Their shut-down defenseman, Brent Seabrook, is talented, but he is still no Pronger. Then you have Brian Campbell, who is a better version of Carle, paired with Niklas Hjalmarsson, who is a weaker version of Coburn.
They also have a solid number five defenseman in Brent Sopel who can jump in and log some minutes, but unless the Flyers start feeling comfortable with Parent, the Blackhawks might be able to spread their defensive minutes more evenly.
Then it comes down to rookie goalie Antti Neimi against Michael Leighton. Neimi has the advantage skill-wise, and he also has a very good defense to help him out. He’s also very quick laterally. He can move to side to side, and the best way to beat him is the same way we beat Halak: get involved in the crease to bang home the junk and get involved in the crease.
Strong defensive teams are nothing new to the Flyers having battled through New Jersey with Brodeur (#2 regular season defense), Boston with Rask (#1 regular season defense), and Montreal with Halak. Likewise, strong offensive teams are nothing new to Chicago having dealt with Vancouver (#2 regular season offense) and San Jose (#4 regular season offense). They also met up with some strong defensemen in Nashville named Shea Weber and Ryan Suter.
The Flyers have a slightly better offensive and a stronger defensive top 4, but this is not going to be easy. The Hawks are filled with some tough, two-way forwards and some solid defensemen just like us.
They’re not as physical as Boston, but they have as strong a defense. Their offense is better than any we’ve faced to this date.
But if we come out playing our game, then they can be beaten.
One thing their offense likes to do is work the transition and cross the blueline. They can also dump and chase, but if they try to skate into the zone on their own power, our defense can hold them. If they do start to dump and chase to make the battles in our zone toss-ups, then they will have to win the battles. They have the talent to do so, and we have the talent to stop them from winning the puck. We have to want it more. We have to beat them in those battles and get pucks out on the break-out cleanly and effectively. We can’t turn the pucks over in our own zone. Like Montreal and New Jersey, this is when they’re the most dangerous.
Offensively we’re going to have to pressure them. Their defense is good and deep, but if we knock them backwards and force turnovers with our high-energy forecheck, we can attack from any possible angle.
It’s still not going to be easy. This series will come down to execution and desire more than skill.
Leighton will have to remain hot, our defense will have to continue to clear his rebounds, and our offense will have to make life miserable for their back-end. We have to get in Niemi’s face and crash the net.
Carter, Gagne, and Laperriere have had a little extra time to rest. Our team has looked pretty good. Boucher will be the back-up on the bench as he returns earlier than expected from his injury.
We have a great opportunity to win this. We can’t just let it slip away.
Thirteen years is a long time to wait.
We need 100% determination and 100% execution. We need everyone to play like Alpha-males.
After the first round of results was announced for the 2010 MLB All-Star game, five Phillies were leading the way and would be starters in the Summer Classic if voting ended today.
Chase Utley leads all 2nd baseman, as well as all vote getters. Utley has been one of, if not the, best 2nd baseman in the majors over the past few years, so this comes as no surprise.
Placido Polanco is leading at 3rd base, which is kind of surprising considering he just came over to the NL and switched positions. Good to see Polly’s work being recognized by the fans early on.
Jimmy Rollins is leading all shortstops in what is clearly the biggest sign that this is all a popularity contest. J-Roll missed a ton of time and hasn’t really done much to garner an All-Star bid at this point.
Jayson Werth and Shane Victorino are 2nd and 3rd in outfielder voting, so they’d both get the not to start as well. Werth is having a monster year for doubles, and Victorino filled in very nicely in the leadoff spot while J-Roll was on the DL.
A couple of other Phillies are very close to getting a starting not. Ryan Howard trails the machine that is Albert Pujols at 1st base, while Carlos Ruiz trails Yadier Molina in the catcher’s race. It will be hard for Howard to beat out the player that is generally recognized as the best in the game, but it’s possible. One hot week from RyHo and the votes should start pouring in. Good to see Chooch getting some recognition after all of the work he’s done for the top team in the NL.
Raul Ibanez is sitting 8th among outfielders, so he’s got some ground to make up if he wants to make the team. Granted, he’s not having a great start to the season, so I don’t see that happening.
Charlie Manuel will be the manager of the NL squad, so he’ll have a ig say in the naming of the reserves. You can be sure he’ll bring as many Phillies as he can.
Voting ends July 1st, so be sure to get your votes in. You can vote on Phillies.com.
For the third time in this year’s Eastern Conference Finals, Michael Leighton recorded a shut-out.
It feels a lot better to be the team ahead in the series as opposed to the one facing elimination, but you can be sure the Canadiens are not going to go down without a fight. This is the same team that knocked off the first seeded Washington Capitals in the first round and the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. In both series, the Canadiens were down before taking the each series to game seven and eventually winning.
In elimination games, Jaroslav Halak is 5-0 with a 1.60 GAA and a 0.962 SV%. Those are hardly numbers to scoff at regardless of his numbers against us so far this series.
We are at home for game 5, and we don’t want to send this back to Montreal where they have a chance to bring it back here for game 7. Basically we want to end this tomorrow night on home ice. Laviolette will not let his team sleep on the Canadiens, and that blowout loss in game 3 was probably the best thing that could have happened to the Flyers.
On the other side of a victory, the mighty Chicago Backhawks, our Western Conference carbon copies, are waiting for us after a sweep of the San Jose Sharks. We can’t worry about them now though. First we need to get there.
Some of you may remember the last time the Flyers went to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1997. Since then we’ve lost in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2000, in 2004, and in 2008. The Flyers don’t want to let this end here.
We need the crowd to get into their heads. We need to dominate the game. We need to keep them playing chase-the-puck in their own zone. And we need to get past Halak to kill their resolve.
It won’t be easy, but this is for the right to play in the Stanley Cup Finals. It’s never going to be easy.
The Phillies have had a lot of trouble with the Red Sox in interleague play, and after getting a win last night, those troubles came back today.
Daisuke Matsuzaka took the mound against the Phillies, facing off against Kyle Kendrick. In only his fifth start of the season, Dice-K took a no hitter into the 8th inning before Juan Castro blooped a single over shortstop Marco Scutaro’s head to get the Phillies’ only hit of the night.
Going almost 8 innings without giving up a hit against this Phillies offense is a significant achievement and Dice-K deserves major props for doing that. The defense behind him made some nice plays to preserve the no-hitter, and Dice-K himself snagged a Jayson Werth line drive up the middle to steal a sure double. Hell, Matsuzaka himself had has many hits as he gave up, grabbing his first career hit in the second inning.
Once again, the Phillies offense goes through phases of scoring a ton of runs and then going silent for a stretch. When the bats are working, the Phillies are almost unbeatable. They score runs in bunches and have one of the deepest lineups in all of baseball. There is no reason that this team should be no-hit, or even come close to it.
Splitting the first two games against the Sox sets up the Phillies to win the series with Roy Halladay going against Tim Wakefield in the rubber match on Sunday. Grabbing the series win against Boston would get the Phillies off to a great start in interleague play.
I hope that we all learned a lesson from that game. Even if we had two straight shut-outs to take a 2-0 lead, we can’t throw a party just yet. San Jose or Chicago will have to wait. We have to take the Canadiens out first.
And after a 5-1 win on home ice, they’re pretty cocky.
They have a right to be though. They out-skated us, matched our physicality, beat us to loose pucks, created havoc in our zone, got to rebounds around Leighton while working in front of the net, and stole numerous turnovers. The tables turned quickly.
We cannot have a game like that again, and I’m sure Laviolette’s doing his best to make sure we won’t. Four straight times the Flyers have come out sluggish. They have to be awake for this early Saturday start tomorrow at 3 P.M. They can’t let the Canadiens skate around for a period and hope to make it up later in the game.
Laviolette said himself that he wants to play this series with a lead. He has his team up 2-1 with a crucial game 3 in Montreal staring him down. This is the one team you don’t want to take to seven games. They can beat anyone if you give them the chance.
One thing that needs to be better in particular is the Pronger-Carle pairing. Pronger is sick right now, so there’s a little bit of an excuse there. Still the rest of the team can’t be lulled to sleep or left stupified by the atmosphere at the Bell Centre.
It can’t all be pinned on Pronger’s illness though. We skated like crap. We should have at least competed with them even if Pronger isn’t 100%.
We’ll have to wait and see how the Flyers come out tomorrow.
On another note, it’s possible that either Carter or Laperriere take the ice again for game 4. They both practiced with the team today, but despite a lot of noise, there are plenty of conflicting rumors. Some say it will be Lappy. Others say it will be Carter. We’ll know more right before game time. I think the organization is playing it by ear.
Either will be a boost, but don’t expect Carter to be slotted down the middle right away if it is him. They did have him centering some at practice, but down the middle the Flyers have looked good with the exception of last night.
There you have it. We’ll know just how much fight is left in this team tomorrow; how much they want to control their own fate. Laviolette is angry (use your imagination with the expletives). Pronger and Richards are too. The team felt they were embarrassed, and they all say they don’t want to be embarrassed again.
The crowd will be loud though. Let’s see how much resilience we have. We have shut them up before.
Here’s a little something courtesy of Montreal:
Let’s shove it right back in their face.
Get ready for game 5 regardless. Let’s show them how loud we can get.
A few years ago, Citizens Bank Park became Fenway South for the games in which the Red Sox were playing the Phillies. Last year, Phillies’ fans had a better showing. This year, expect fewer Massholes.
Now that interleague play is back, you can expect Red Sox Nation to show up at the Bank this weekend. They travel well and it’s usually easier to get a ticket down here than it is in Fenway. Hopefully Phillies’ fans won’t look to make a quick buck and sell their tickets on StubHub. With a string of 62 straight sellouts, Phillies fans are leaving little room for Sox fans.
With the Red Sox struggling this year, currently sitting at 4th place in the AL East, maybe the Phillies can finally get off to a good start in IL play. The Phillies are woeful in games against the Junior Circuit, going 96-121 since 1997. They’re 15-22 against Boston. While these games haven’t hurt the Phillies too much the past 3 years, winning some more of them wouldn’t hurt.
Coming off of a disappointing 4 game split against the Pirates and Cubs, the Phillies should be looking to increase their lead in the division, but only if they can find their offense. The bats went quiet during this week and they struggled as a result. Solid outings by Roy Halladay and Jamie Moyer were wasted as the Phillies could only manage one run each in their starts.
The Fightins should have their hands full this weekend, as they face John Lackey, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Tim Wakefield in the 3 game set. Wakefield takes the place of the injured Josh Beckett. The Phillies counter with Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendrick, and Halladay.
The Red Sox don’t figure to be a .500 team all season, so getting this series in now, while they’re struggling, should be good for the Phillies. A lot of experts had these two teams meeting in the World Series this year, so the Sox will have to pick it up if they want that to happen.
Until then, it’s only 3 games in May against an American League team, but it’s still a solid measuring stick for the Phillies.
For many of us, the tenure of Eddie Jordan one-year stint as head coach of the 76ers was ill-advised before it even began. His known disdain for developing players (“Free Jrue!”) and the Princeton offense did not fit the current unit, and as the season wore on, those who weren’t initially convinced that he wasn’t the right man eventually fell into place.
From team discord to questionable rotations to his sometimes peculiar press conference behavior, Jordan fell out of favor quickly. By the time he was fired, the entire Delaware Valley breathed a collective sign of relief. At least the handful of us that were still paying attention.
Since Larry Brown rode off to Detroit in 2003, the Sixers have had six different head coaches, with Maurice Cheeks having the longest tenure at three years. It’s been a revolving cast, some of which did well with what they had, while others were clowns.
This team is in sorry shape and is in real need of direction. Tuesday’s lottery win, which earned them the #2 overall pick in the draft on June 24th, goes a long way in bringing some respectability back to South Philly. All signs point to the team choosing Ohio State star Evan Turner.
The biggest piece of the puzzle will be the man that replaces Eddie Jordan. The new coach needs to understand that the future of this franchise will be built around the nucleus of Jrue Holiday, Maressee Speights, and Thad Young.
According to Bob Cooney in the Inquirer yesterday, it looks like the coaching search is over. Once money and terms are agreed upon, former Wizards coach and current NBA analyst Doug Collins will take the reins of the team.
Am I excited? Not exactly. But it’s not because I don’t like Collins. The Sixers have put fans through hell, with terrible contracts and middling teams. It might be the right decision, but I won’t feel right until I see the team moving forward.
Collins has not coached since 2003, but he had previously led the Bulls, Pistons, and Wizards over eight seasons, compiling a 332-287 record. He was also the first overall pick by the Sixers in 1973, playing his entire career in Philly.
Granted I’d like to see Avery Johnson or Tom Thibodeau to be seriously considered for the job, but with the lottery result, Collins could likely be the best man for the job.
His track record suggests a man who truly understands the game, especially on the defensive end. With the likely pick of Turner, the talent of this team’s young nucleus will be off the charts. If he enacts the right long term plan and sees it through, our lowly Sixers could return to the promised land of the postseason.
But I’ll be reserving my judgment until I start to see progress on the court.
The Phillies managed to get 9 innings out of Roy Halladay only giving up 2 runs but they couldn’t crack the “ace” pitching staff of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Games like these are ones that the Phillies should win. They are better than the Pirates in every way. Getting a split of the 2 game series is not good enough when a pitcher of Roy Halladay’s caliber is on the rubber.
The Fightins could only mange 1 run in the game, when Juan Castro, playing in place of a sick Chase Utley, singled with the bases loaded to score Ryan Howard, but Jayson Werth was thrown out at the plate without even a slide to end the threat.
The loss to the Pirates was Halladay’s first loss at Citizens Bank Park this season and it also snaps the Phillies’ 4 game win streak, but their lead in the NL East still stands at 4.
When it all comes down to it, this is a game in mid-May against the NL Central basement dwellers, but it’s a game the Phillies should have won. They’ll win games like this much more often than they’ll lose, but it’s still disappointing.
Phinally Philly is a new source for news in the world of Philadelphia sports. Unlike other forms of mainstream media we take pride in presenting our honest, uncensored take on anything and everything related to Philly sports. We’re breaking news, insightful commentary, and a whole lot more brought to you live from the City of Brotherly Love by the Philly fan, for the Philly fan.
We all knew Doc was good, but perfect game good? Damn.
The Phillies have had a lot of trouble with the Red Sox in interleague play, and after getting a win last night, those troubles came back today.
What else is there to say? 
