The Phillies were down 4-3 at the top of the ninth inning when Pirates’ closer Matt Capps took the mound.
After Pedro Feliz grounded out to second to start the inning, Carlos Ruiz shot a double to left field. Ben Francisco followed as a pinch hitter and doubled Ruiz home to tie the game. Jimmy Rollins hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field, moving Francisco to third. Then Shane Victorino put the Phillies ahead with an RBI triple to deep center.
Headed to the bottom of the ninth inning, the rolling Phillies were up 5-4.
Enter Brad Lidge. Tuesday was Lidge’s fourth straight appearance. In his previous three outings, Lidge had two saves in two opportunities with no runs allowed, a small victory for the struggling closer.
The Pirates opened the inning with a single to left field by shortstop Luis Cruz. The next pitch got passed catcher Carlos Ruiz, advancing Cruz to second base. Brandon Moss tied the game with a single to shallow right, handing Lidge his ninth blown save of the season, by far the …
Eagles’ coach Andy Reid announced Tuesday that quarterback Michael Vick will play the fourth quarter of Thursday’s preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Lincoln Financial Field.
“Michael will have an opportunity to play,” said Reid, who indicated Vick won’t play much. The Eagles will “take it play by play, see how he adjusts to game speed.”
It will be Vick’s first action since serving a 23-month prison sentence for running an illegal dog fighting operation.
So we want to know, if you are going down to the game Thursday night, are you going to cheer or boo Vick when he walks onto the field for the first time?
After allowing just two unearned runs over seven innings against the New York Mets Monday, Cliff Lee’s ERA with the Phillies is a stunning 0.68.
Lee got into some trouble in the first inning, showing signs that he was perhaps human afterall. Angel Pagan led the inning off by reaching first on a fielding error by Chase Utley, and then scored when Utley threw the ball away. No outs, one unearned run. After getting Luis Castillo to flie out to center, Lee gave up a triple to Gary Sheffield. He would score on a sacrifice fly by Fernando Tatis.
That would be all the runs the Mets could muster. Lee allowed a total of six hits, but struck out five and walked none. He looked in control for the rest of the game, with a strike-to-ball ratio of almost 3:1.
Ryan Howard, on the other hand, had little problem generating runs throughout the game. With Shane Victorino on third and Utley on second, Howard sent a shot over the …
Coming off a three game sweep of the Diamondbacks this week, the Phillies appear to hold a commanding lead over the National League East division, 6.5 games up on the Marlins and Braves.
The Phillies appear to be firing on all cylinders. Their potent power offense is crushing the ball as Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth heat up. The pitching seems to have settled itself out and is performing better than it has all season.
But as the Phillies head to Queens for a four game series with the Mets this weekend, they need to be mindful of the recent troubles of their northern division rivals. The Phillies cannot get complacent; they cannot assume they will win this division.
From here on out, the Phillies have 13 series left to play, eight of which are against teams in their division. While eight of those series are against teams with losing records, five of those series are against teams that still have something to play for.
In case you missed it, Lee pitched another gem Wednesday night, almost completely shutting down the Diamondbacks’ offense on his way to his second complete game with the Phillies.
Here’s his statline: 9.0IP 1R 0ER 2H 0BB 11K 0.00 ERA
Yea, so the guy can pitch.
Lee has drawn numerous comparisons to Roy Halladay since being traded from the Cleveland Indians before the July 31 trade deadline as the Phillies were in serious conversation with the Blue Jays over acquiring the ace righty. He has also drawn comparisons to CC Sabathia, who was the biggest name traded at last season’s deadline, another player who the Phillies were in serious discussions over.
So let’s take a look at the three pitchers. We’ll compare Lee’s first four games with the Phillies with Halladay’s four since the trade deadline and Sabathia’s first four with the Brewers last season.
The Eagles will make play their second preseason game Thursday night at Indianapolis against Peyton Manning and the Colts, but they will be without a good portion of the roster.
A total of 12 players will not be making the trip west, including most of the rebuilt offensive line. Guards Todd Herremans and Stacey Andrews tackles Jason Peters and Shawn Andrews are all injured. Center Jamaal Jackson is the only member of the offensive line, which was supposed to be greatly improved from last season, to remain healthy throughout the entire preseason. All five members of the offensive line have yet to play together as a unit this preseason.
Herremans has a stress reaction in his foot and is expected to miss the entire preseason. Stacey Andrews has been practicing, but the Eagles are playing it safe with his surgically repaired right knee and keeping him out of Thursday’s game. Peters suffered a quadriceps strain last Thursday in the team’s first preseason matchup against New England and has …
And around and around we go. According to Randy Brown of the Bucks County Courier Times, the story surrounding how Brett Myers got a black eye has changed, again.
The initial story from Myers was that he got the black eye from playing catch with his son. He later changed the story, saying that he fell out of his wife’s Escalade and landed on his face after tripping on some of their kids toys in the back seat. His justification for lying the first time was that he was embarassed over the incident and was afraid he’d come off looking like a klutz. This scenario was confirmed by his wife kim.
Then reports came out that Myers was involved in a verbal altercation at a bar before he supposedly later fell out of his car. A friend of his was involved in a physical altercation, but witnesses confirmed that Myers was not.
“I don’t believe any of it,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said Tuesday before his …
The Phillies are in first place in the NL East and have the second best record in the National League, despite having the worst closer in baseball, a struggling pitching staff and one of the worst benches in the league.
The from first to worst story of Brad Lidge has been well documented. After saving a perfect 41 games in 41 opportunities last season, Lidge has a record of 0-5 and has 23 saves in 31 opportunities. His ERA of 7.21 is the worst amongst all relievers in baseball. Not just closers, but all relievers. His eight blown saves are the most in the majors. He has allowed at least a run in 21 of his 49 outings this season. His saves completion percentage of 74.2 is the second lowest in baseball. I could go on and on. Suffice it to say that Brad Lidge is having a terrible year.
The Phillies’ pitching overall, including their bullpen, which was the best in the National …
Through all of the explanations and discussions and soul searching by Andy Reid, Donovan McNabb and Jeffrey Lurie over the signing of the Michael Vick, what has been most intriguing, and confusing, is the idea that a major part of this move is the Eagles’ desire to “save” Vick. As much as the team’s brass believes that Vick will be able to help them on the football field, they appear to want to help Vick off the football field even more.
So for Eagles fans everywhere wrestling with their own feelings and beliefs over Michael Vick and his abhorent actions and whether he deserves a second chance and whether they want him on their beloved football team, the question is: why do we care about saving Mike Vick?
“My hope as we go forward is Michael will prove his value in society,” team owner Jeffrey Lurie said during his press conference on Friday. “Whether he becomes a good football player again, it’s …
Let me say from the outset here, I do not care that the Eagles signed Michael Vick. I’m not happy they did it and I’m not outraged they did it. I long ago decided not to care who wore the jersey so long as he contributed to a winning and entertaining team. I find Vick and his actions morally reprehensible, and I do not buy his claims that he is very sorry for what he did and is a changed man after two years in prison. Maybe he’s sorry, maybe he’s not. Maybe he honestly believes dog fighting is a outrageous offense, or maybe he’s just listening to his PR guy. I don’t know, and I don’t care.
What I care about is how will Michael Vick contribute to the Philadelphia Eagles and their pursuit of their first SuperBowl championship. By all accounts, Vick has been signed to be a quarterback, not a running back, not a fifth wide receiver, but a quarterback. Unless Donovan McNabb gets injured (I hold my breath as I type those …
The Eagles officially announced the signing of controversial quarterback Michael Vick with a press conference at the NovaCare Complex Friday morning. Vick was flanked on either side by Eagles’ head coach Andy Reidnapolis Colts and former India coach Tony Dungy. Vick said all the right things. He showed remorse, humility, and a desire to get back on the field and help the Eagles win a SuperBowl.
“I’m glad to have an opportunity at a second chance and I won’t disappoint,” Vick said.
When asked about how he planned to get back in people’s good graces, Vick indicated that he would continue to work with local and national animal rights groups, including the Humane Society.
“My actions will speak louder than my words, to be proactive, involved in community,” Vick said. “People will see that in due time. I have been working with the Humane Society, working with certain inner cities and communities to make sure we attack the problem.”
Whether his remorse is genuine, only Michael Vick knows, but he appeared to be very contrite during the press conference, …
"Personally, from my experience, it's not fun. It's a frustrating thing, especially for a guy who runs, who needs his legs, who needs his speed. Hopefully, it's not as bad as mine.''
-Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino on the injury suffered by shortstop Jimmy Rollins.
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