CuseAdelphia

NCAA Tournament Live Blog

2010-03-20T17:07:00.003-04:00

Join National Featured Columnist Jameson Fleming for a Live Blog of Saturday night's NCAA Tournament action. He'll be discussing the following games:

Northern Iowa vs. Kansas: The Panthers try to slow down the Jayhawks enough to knock Bill Self's team out of rhythm on the offensive end of the floor. Kansas has rarely allowed opponents to slow it down out of its comfort zone which makes this game an even tougher matchup for Northern Iowa.

The Panthers have had a history of shutting opponents down for long stretches of time, but with so many options on the floor for the Jayhawks, chances are KU won't go cold for an extended amount of time.

Washington vs. New Mexico: West Coast basketball suddenly looks respectable after California, Washington, Gonzaga, and Saint Mary's going undefeated through the first two and a half days of the tournament. Washington is playing better basketball of late and could pose problems for a New Mexico team that isn't the most efficient team in the world.

Old Dominion vs. Baylor: Defeating Notre Dame shouldn't come as too surprising for Old Dominion since both of those teams play a similar style of basketball. Beating Baylor however would be quite a surprise. Baylor's size and athleticism should allow the Bears to dominate the paint and force the Monarchs into bad shots all game long. ODU is a tremendous defensive team, but they haven't faced scorers like Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn this year.

Brigham Young vs. Kansas State: The Cougars are a hot shooting team, but may lack the big, athletic bodies to keep Kansas State off the glass and off the free throw line. Between K-State's guards and depth, it may be too much for a BYU that relies heavily on Jimmer Fredette.

Wake Forest vs. Kentucky: The Demon Deacons are No. 1 in the country in terms of defensive field goal percentage which could be enough to knock off Kentucky. The Wildcats sometimes take too many bad shots and Wake Forest's defense will exacerbate that. If UK does take good shots, Wake doesn't have the offense to keep up with the 'Cats and John Calipari's club will roll.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=2910813144" &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Basketball Live Blog&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

B/R Test Blog

2010-03-19T12:21:00.000-04:00

&amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php/option=com_mobile/task=viewaltcast/altcast_code=651f4f2f6c" &amp;gt;Test Blog&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;
This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

Live Test

2009-09-16T00:33:00.002-04:00

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;task=viewaltcast&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;altcast_code=6fa2aa652d" &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Test Live&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

This is a Bleacher Report Live Blog test. I'm attempting to use Cover It Live to see if we can live blog games during the year in order to generate more traffic and interest to the site.

April Month In Review

2008-05-01T22:52:00.004-04:00

April is always one of the best months in sports simply for what's going on. Baseball season is beginning, the NBA and NHL playoffs are just getting going, March Madness rolls over into April; for those of you in college towns, spring football holds their first practices and of course the NFL Draft.

With that said, a lot has gone in CuseAdelphia during the month of April. Six CuseAdelphia teams are in action and winning. Now this post comes in May, the day of the 76ers elimination from the playoffs, but the Sixers reached the playoffs for the first time in several years.

The 76ers, the Flyers, and Syracuse Lacrosse are all having tremendous bounce back years after terrible 2007s for those teams.

The 76ers completed only a five game turnaround, but their late season surge through March and April put them in the playoffs for the first time since 2005. The youthful bunch of players created some lasting memories with Andre Iguodala's thunderous slams down the lane and Thaddeus Young's emergence.

The Sixers under new GM Ed Stefanski reached the playoffs looking to pull off an absolute shocker by taking down the two seeded Detroit Pistons. Things looked good early for the 76ers after Game One. A frenetic comeback in the Motor City meant Philly would head into Game Two with a 1-0 lead.

Game Two ugly. Sixers lose badly.

Game Three. Things are much different. Mo Cheeks' crew figures out what they did in the second half of Game One and blow the Pistons out of the gym.

Then things got ugly. Really ugly again. For the next three games it would be terribly ugly.

The Pistons outscored the Sixers by 19 points in the second half of their Game Four win. Game Five was domination all game; Pistons by 17.

Game Six was the worst of all. The 76ers season was officially declared dead at 8:12 PM EST. A 10-0 lead for the Pistons was essentially as close as Philly would get the rest of the game, Pistons win by 23.

Syracuse Lacrosse has also made a very solid turnaround. After a 5-8 season in 2007, the Orange rebounded in 2008 in impressive fashion. SU finished April undefeated, beating their opponents on average 14-6.

The Orange have dominated behind the likes of Tewaaraton Trophy nominees Mike Leveille and Steven Brooks. Leveille has a team leading 61 points while Brooks has anchored the midfield all year. In goal, John Galloway has played increasingly well as the year has gone on.

The 'Cuse capped off the perfect April with an absolute handling of recent pain in the UMASS 16-3. The Orange scored the first nine goals of the game and scored more goals in each quarter than UMASS had the entire game.

Philadelphia's team in orange- the Flyers - also completed the best turnaround in the NHL this year. The Fly Guys were last, dead last in the entire NHL in 2007, but managed to reach the playoffs as the sixth seed in the East.

Being the sixth seed is one of the best seeds you can be in the playoffs. Often the third division winner is always barely worthy of the playoffs, and this year was pretty much no different. The Capitals needed a long winning streak at the end of the year to reach the playoffs, but that streak ended at the hands of the Flyers.

Seven games, several blown leads, one Alexander Ovechkin explosion, and one Daniel Briere goal scoring binge later the Flyers were moving onto the next round.

Now throw in four more games, three of which are Philly wins, lots of angry Canadians, some more blown leads, no Briere scoring binge, but rather one by R.J. Umberger and you get a 3-1 series lead against the Montreal Canadiens.

One CuseAdelphia team already has won a title. The Syracuse women's Lax team took home a Big East Championship in South Bend in dominating fashion. A 22-7 blow out followed by a 12-6 victory over rival Georegtown and the women have an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

Basically every scoring record you think of, Tewaaraton trophy nominee Katie Rowan broke it.

Two CuseAdelphia teams used April to get off to extremely solid starts.

The Phillies finished out April 15-13. Now that doesn't seem too impressive, but when you look at their past four Aprils, it's rather impressive. 11-14 in 2007, 10-14 in 2006, 10-14 in 2005, 10-11 in 2004. You get the picture.

The Phillies did it in probably the most improbably way: great pitching from both the starters and bullpen. The entire staff has posted a combined ERA of 3.79, the lowest its been in years.

The relievers have been much better; the Phillies' pen ranks first in the National League in ERA. J.C. Romero, Brad Lidge, Chad Durbin, Rudy Seanez, and Tom Gordon (minus the first week) have been lights out.

Cole Hamels is throwing his name in the hat for Cy Young during the early season with his 2.70 ERA and 36 strike outs in April.

Chase Utley and Pat Burrell have provided MVP moments throughout the entire month as the two are near the top of practically every offensive category. Utley ends the month with a major league leading 11 home runs.

The team that plays across the parking lot, the Philadelphia Soul of the AFL has been blistering hot. Two QB's Tony Graziani and Matt D'Orazio have combined for astronomical numbers in leading the Soul to an undefeated record through April.

Bon Jovi's team finished off the month with a 57-28 romping over the previously undefeated Dallas Desperados. Philly held Dallas scoreless in the first quarter, a monumental task in of itself.

The other football team in Philadelphia just completed the 2008 NFL draft with some disputed success. The Eagles set themselves up for a monster 2009 draft with the acquisition of the Panthers 2009 first round pick. The Iggles also got another second round pick in the same deal when trading away their first round pick to Carolina.

Now the Eagles only got one player that will have an immediate impact this year with DeSean Jackson, but it's still a major accomplishment to get one of the most explosive players in the draft half way through the second round.

The Birds also grabbed DT Trevor Laws who's a workhorse on the defensive line.

The later round picks weren't anything special, but the Eagles overall had a solid draft.

No matter how good all of CuseAdelphia's teams did, there's going to be a few bad notes that cannot go unmentioned.

In the same NFL draft, no members of the Orange heard their names called for the first time since 1975. Taj Smith, Jameel McClain, DoWayne Davis, and several others eventually found a home, but it wasn't for NFL draft level money.

Orange fans also learned they might hear the name of one of the fabulous freshmen from the 2007-2008 seasons. Donte' Greene declared he's making himself eligible for the 2008 NBA draft, but he left some hope for Orange fans when he didn't sign an agent.

Greene's team also found themselves sitting at home from the NCAA Tournament and NIT Tournament finals which both took place in April.

Finally on a sad note, we remember John Marzano who was found dead in South Philly home. The cause of his death hasn't been revealed yet.

What's Going on in the CuseAdelph'

2008-05-01T22:44:00.000-04:00

Canada and Philadelphia are about to go war.
Ryan Howard Beats Up the Dads
Phillies-Padres Preview for 4/30
Philadelphia Beats Dallas AFL style.
Greg Maddux Wants a Milestone.
189 Days til Basketball.
The Flyers Win.
The Orange won't be going to a Bowl game in 2008.
The ADD Show is my source right for Sixers Basketball. Stupid TNT is showing the games in Syracuse.
Happy Birthday Kristof! [TNIAAM]
Mike Lieberthal will be a Phillie again. [MLB.COM]
A QB Controversy in Philadelphia? [Peter Bukowski on Bleacher Report]

Ryan Howard Beats Up the Dads

2008-05-01T22:21:00.002-04:00

Ryan Howard breaks his slump at least for a day thanks to one very awful Joe Thatcher cutter.

He put the eighth inning pitch into the right field seats to break up a 2-2 tie. Howard also knocked home the Phillies first run of the game.

Howard doubled off former Phillie Randy Wolf in his return to Philadelphia. Wolf left the Phillies after the 2006 to head to his home state California.

Wolf pitched well against the Phillies potent lineup. He worked his fastball all game, finishing off seven Phillies for strikeouts using his deceptively good fastball. Wolf left the game after six innings allowing only two runs and striking out nine.

His counterpart Adam Eaton who started his career with San Diego, pitched just as well. Eaton started off shaky as five of the seven batters that reached based against him were in the first three innings.

The righty looked like his old self early in the game. He couldn't find the strike zone and when he did it was up in the zone.

Tadahito Iguchi looped a pitch up in the strike zone for a base hit. Adrian Gonzalez followed with a home run on another pitch up in the strike zone.

Despite his first inning blip, it seems like Eaton is finally getting the concept of high pitcher in Citizen's Bank Ballpark equals lots of home runs. He's only allowed three home runs in six starts this year as opposed to 30 in 30 starts last year.

Besides Eaton pitching phenomenally, the bullpen went three no hit innings to secure the Phillies win after Howard's homer.

Flash Gordon already has five decisions after he picked up the win to move to 3-2 on the season.

Adam Eaton has six starts and still no decision.

Brad Lidge threw the perfect ninth for the save.

Part of the reason the bullpen has been so good is because they aren't overworked. The Phillies starting pitching has gone six innings consistently. The bullpen has routinely only had to throw two or three innings a game which helps a lot.

It looked like Adam Eaton was going to make the pen work early because he had around 80 pitchers through four innings. Entering the fifth it looked like he was going to finish that inning around 95 and probably would have been done for the night.

Instead he went one-two-three and could give the Phillies a sixth inning.

I'll leave you with what my good friend Tony texted me after the game, "Phils are in 1st place!"

Danny Briere Line: Welcome to the Canadiens Series

2008-04-30T21:27:00.002-04:00

For the first time since Game Two, the Danny Briere, Vinny Prospal, and Mike Knuble line found the back of the net.

Briere's goal couldn't have come at a better time.

With the clock ticking away in the third period in a tie game and all the momentum on Montreal's side, Briere showed why he's worth 52 million dollars. His power play goal gave the Flyers a 3-2 lead and the goal was his eighth of the playoffs, but only second of the series.

The Canadiens couldn't find the back of the cage for the first 52 minutes of the game, but once Tomas Plekanec scored, it took only 37 seconds for another Hab to tickle the twine. Saku Koivu redeemed himself for a previous penalty that led to a Flyers goal by beating Marty Biron to tie the game at two.

The Flyers crawled out to a two nothing lead as it took the R.J. Umberger seven minutes into the second period to score the first goal of the game and his sixth goal of the playoffs. Umberger hadn't scored goals in back to back games all year, but now he's done it in the playoffs.

In the third period, Scottie Hartnell notched the Flyers second goal after he followed the rebound of a Prospal shot that went out in front of net. Hartnell slapped into the right side of the net and the Flyers had their patented 2-0 lead.

Of course as we all know, no two goal lead is safe for the Flyers. They had already blown four two nil leads, losing three of those games. As mentioned above, a few minutes later Montreal had the game tied at two and Philadelphia scrambling to retake control.

More on the game later.

Flyers Try to Take Both Home Games Tonight

2008-04-30T12:30:00.005-04:00

Philadelphia looks for a repeat of the Capitals series by winning both home games to take a 3-1 series lead.

Of course that will allow the Flyers to subsequently blow the next two games, put Flyers fans on the edge of their seats only to pull off a Game Seven shocker.

But let's hope it doesn't get to that point.

The 700 Level says Mike Knuble has been cleared to play, but also raises the question: where does he play and where do the Flyers move R.J. Umberger to? Umberger has been too good to knock him down to the fourth line so Knuble can move back with his linemates Scottie Upshall and Jeff Carter. It will be interesting to see what Coach John Stevens does with the lines.

The Flyers' attack no matter what way its shaped must go after Carey Price. They shook his confidence in Game Three so what better way to see what he's made of than aggressively going after him.

The Flyers have kind of laid back in the first three games and let the Canaidens come at them. It's led to a ridiculous shot advantage for the Habs, but it's something that hasn't hurt the Flyers because of the stellar play of Marty Biron.

This is Price's first year in the NHL, and Price has played a lot down the stretch. His struggling could just be a matter of some fatigue. Unfortunately Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau doesn't really have the option of benching him to give a rest until either Game Five or Game Six. Those games are back to back so I wouldn't be surprised if the Habs play Jaroslav Halak in one game and Price in the other.

The Flyers also need to stay off the penalty kill. Legitimate penalties here and there most fans can live with. But Derian Hatcher putting the Flyers down a man for five minutes that's 100% unacceptable. Dumb penalties will cost the Flyers a game just like in the first round it was almost guaranteed Alexander Ovechkin was going to single handily win a game for the Capitals.

Side Note: I didn't realize how much Canada as a whole hates the Flyers.

The Pension Plan Puppets Blog which is a Maple Leafs Blog linked to my game story yesterday and the comments in response were so anti-Flyers. Here's a taste:

Chemmy wrote, "What sort of Leafs fans root for Philly over Montreal?"

The response he got from a writer for PPP wrote, "

We all should. You can't put aside over 80 years of rivalry and hatred just because the Flyers have recently been a pain in the ass. The greater evil is the Habs getting past Philly. After this round, we can cheer against Philly again. Although, realistically, we're all cheering on the meteor."

Chemmy later wrote, "The thing is, Montreal already has 24 cups. If they win another one who cares? If Philly wins the cup this year we'll all have to hear about how they went from 30th to 1st in one season, and not about how they're cheapshot goons who injured a lot of players (Patrice Bergeron anyone?). Sorry, I don't want Montreal to win the cup, but their team isn't hockey cancer like Philly.

The poster by the name of Leosc named his comment Flyers=Satan and said this, " I don't even allow Philadelphia cream cheese in this house. Phillies, hate them. 76ers, hate them. F**king Flyers, hate them to the nth power. Philadelphia and Philadelphians show their crack, even on a bell. Philadelphia Flyers have been a bunch of goons all their life, it doesn't matter who they were before they don that stinking sweater. They won the cup twice by injuring the opposition. Because of them the NHL had to impose the anti-bench clearing rule. Bobby what's-his-name is the worse one. Once the other teams stood up to them, they disappeared from the playoffs. Now its time for the Habs to take them out."

There's even more comments to read here.

Plus The 700 Level also had this story from a Philly.com writer asking if the Flyers are playing Canada's team.

And of course we cannot forget the Pig Man for desecrating Philadelphia's Rocky Statue.

This is absolute war. Send out the war kittens!

This post just lost all credibility because of that but frankly I don't care.

189 Days til We Start Hyping Up the UCONN Game

2008-04-30T12:22:00.003-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 189 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 189: Hasheem Thabeet is returning to UCONN for the 2008-2009 basketball season. If both Syracuse and UCONN pan out to be top 25 and even top 15 teams, this game could be one of the best in the rivalry in recent memory. UCONN basically loses no one from the 2007-2008 team while SU only loses Donte' Green, but gets back Eric Devendorf and Andy Rautins.

Philadelphia's Ageless Wonder Gets His Turn Tonight

2008-04-30T12:00:00.002-04:00

Last night San Diego's 42 year-old Greg Maddux took the mound for the Padres, but tonight it's 45 year-old Jamie Moyer.

Moyer will try to get better results than Maddux who went six plus innings, allowed three runs, and came away with a loss.

The slow throwing south paw will attempt to win the Phillies eighth game out ten and put Philadelphia at 16-12 which would be their best record in April since 2003. Considering the Phillies ended up around 88 wins the last four Aprils, it's a good sign the Phillies are off to even better start because of their tendency to get hot after the All-Star break.

Opposing Moyers is 6'10'' Chris Young who in starts has shut the Phillies down. He's 1-1, but has 1.46 ERA, .89 WHIP and 12 strike outs in almost as many innings.

Shane Victorino should be back in the lineup tonight. He came off the bench last night to pinch hit.

Tonight's projected starting lineup and career numbers vs. Chris Young:
1. Shane Victorino 0-3
2. Jason Werth never faced Young
3. Chase Utley 2-5
4. Ryan Howard 0-0 with three walks
5. Pat Burrell 2-6
6. Pedro Feliz 1-12
7. Chris Coste never faced Young
8. Eric Bruntlett 0-1

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Phillies 6 Padres 5. Chris Young has been awful since coming back from an injury last year. He's just 1-7 with 5.20 ERA in 15 starts since returning from a strained left oblique. The Phillies will make that number 1-8 after tonight.

Syracuse Isn't Going Bowling in 2008-2009

2008-04-29T22:41:00.003-04:00

SU despite what looks to be a new and improved offense and well still a pretty sub par defense isn't going to one of at least 28 bowl games in the 2008-2009 season. Well that's according to Sports Projections.com

Sports Projections already has who they think will be playing in those wonderful bowls like the Papa John's Bowl and Pointsettia Bowl. Six Big East teams will make a playoff game with the only two being left out: Louisville and Syracuse.

Now it seems surprising that they are projecting six teams in bowl games this year from the Big East because this year is setting up to be an awful year for Big East football.

Pitt and West Virginia look like the only two teams that will consistently play Top 25 caliber football. After that Cincinnati and South Florida look like the next two best teams that could squeak into the Top 25 for a week or two.

A lot of projections have Rutgers and UCONN down towards the bottom of the Big East again in 2008. So at this point, it doesn't seem like more than five teams will be bowl eligible. The team that finishes sixth might squeak in with a 6-6 record.

Now SU probably isn't going to win six games, but it's a realistic chance in 2008. Look at the schedule: Northwestern, Northeastern, and Akron could easily be wins although Northwestern does look to be much improved in 2008 after having an okay 2007.

Penn State has a lot of issues on the field and off the field and everyone knows about Notre Dame's 2007, but of course the Fightin' Irish will also be much better in 2008.

SU could come away with three maybe even four wins out of conference if they can pull things together.

Then there is Big East play. Louisville is going to be very beatable, plus that game is in the Dome. UCONN and Rutgers also look beatable. If SU can take two of those three games and spring an upset against one of the top four teams in the league, they are suddenly bowl eligible.

Sean from Troy Nunes reported three more bowls are in the works with one of them having a spot for another Big East team. That means six spots would be guaranteed to bowl eligible Big East teams. Sean also pointed out that a team can use a win against a Divison I-AA team towards becoming bowl eligible once every three years.

The Orange becoming bowl eligible in 2008 is a distinct possibility. Will it happen? Better than 50% chance no. Is it a realistic possibility? 100% yes.

But for now, here's Sports Projections' Big East Bowl Projections:

Pointsettia Bowl: Utah vs. Cincinnati

Papa John's.com Bowl: Rutgers vs. Marshall

Armed Forces Bowl: TCU vs. UCONN

Meineke Car Care Bowl : Miami, Florida vs. South Florida

International Bowl: Bowling Green vs. Pittsburgh

Orange Bowl: Clemson vs. West Virginia

After looking closer at the projections. There's obviously a major flaw. There is no bowl given to the Big East number two team. Obviously they are forgetting Syracuse as the number two team in the Big East and left them out of a bowl game.

Haha who am I kidding?

Phillies Eighth Inning Explosion Downs Padres 7-4

2008-04-29T21:30:00.003-04:00

The Phillies nearly blow an eighth inning lead, but instead blow up open the game in the bottom half of the frame.

Cole Hamels went seven very strong innings, but for the second straight game, he ran into trouble in the eighth. Against Milwaukee he surrendered a two run home run to Prince Fielder which cost Philadelphia the game.

Tonight, Hamels allowed a first and third situation with one out in the eighth with a 3-1 lead when skipper Charlie Manuel pulled him in favor of lefty specialist J.C. Romero. He walked the first batter he faced and was lifted in favor of Flash Gordon. He worked the outside of the plate against Tadahito Iguchi and Kevin Kouzmanoff to get both to ground out. One run scored, but the Phillies still held a 3-2 lead.

That's when the fun began. Three doubles, a single, and a walk later and the Phillies had four more runs on the board. Of course who better to start the rally off than Chase Utley who doubled on a fastball that hung out over the middle of the plate. He continued his MVP campaign with a 2-4 effort to raise his average to .364.

Cole Hamels put the Phillies in a position to win this game through his absolute stellar pitching. He allowed just two extra base hits, both to Scott Hairston Jr. who had a monster game with two home runs and a double. The Camel struck out six and walked just two. King Cole moves to 3-3 on the season.

Ryan Madson made things a bit interesting at the end allowing Hairston's second home run on the day.

It was nice to see the Phillies get a little production out of the bottom of the lineup. Pedro Feliz and Carlos Ruiz both came through in the eighth inning with hits and were both 2-4 on the day.

After Jason Werth, Pat Burrell and Chase Utley, the Phillies lineup has been severely lacking. Check out Phillies Flow to see how bad the rest of the lineup has been.

Tomorrow night will feature Jamie Moyer vs. Chris Young.

The Soul Dominates Desperados

2008-04-29T15:59:00.002-04:00

Philadelphia absolutely pounds Dallas in the the battle of two AFL undefeated teams 57-28 in a game that showed the Soul can play some defense to compliment the explosive offense.

This game wasn't even close at any point. The Soul scored the first 21 points of the game and held Dallas scoreless in the first quarter.

One of the best quarterbacks in the history of league, Clint Dolezel had one of his worst games in his career. The Soul got to him on the very first play from scrimmage. Soul defender Mike Brown intercepted Dolezel to set up Philadelphia's first touchdown.

It wouldn't get any better for Dolezel the rest of the game.

The next series, the Desperado offense stalled and resulted in a turnover on downs. Philadelphia would score on the following possession.

The Dallas QB met his nemesis on the next series. Soul DB Eddie Moten took over the game intercepting Dolezel for the first of his three times on Dallas's third series.

The Soul rolled through the rest of the game behind QB Matt D'Orazio and the wide receiving tandem of Chris Jackson and Larry Brackins.

D'Orazio finished the game 20-29 with six touchdowns while the two wide receivers combined for 14 receptions and 160 yards.

D'Orazio's play is setting up a QB debate between he and injured starter Tony Graziani. I haven't watched enough of each to really have an opinion on who should start.

The announcers did make a good point last night, D'Orzaio has this offense running the best it has all year, so it does seem logical to keep with the hot hand. If D'Orazio starts to struggle, get Graziani and his veteran leadership back in there.

The most entertaining part of last night's game was the jawing that took place between Eddie Moten and Clint Dolezel. The two have a history going back to 2007 and continued their rivalry last night. Moten continued to get into Dolezel's face at every chance he took. Moten got in Dolezel's head to the point that Dolezel was called for an un-sportsmen like conduct penalty for spiking the ball after scoring.

Moten did show restraint when most thought that was impossible. After Moten's last interception, he went to rub in Dolezel's face but realized he was down injured. Moten stopped 15 yards away and turned to celebrate with his teammates after realizing Dolezel was injured after the play.

Maddux Goes for Milestone Win Tonight

2008-04-29T15:24:00.006-04:00

The former Braves Cy Young hog Greg Maddux will try to pick up win number 350 tonight against the Phillies.Maddux set himself up to bring home the historic win during his last outing, but closer Trevor Hoffman blew the save. Tonight, the Phillies will try to prevent the game from even being Hoffman's hands.

Maddux has revived himself a bit during the early going in 2008. He's given up three earned runs or less in every start but one. Unfortunately for Maddux, that one start was a career high nine earned runs in his first attempt at win 350.

One reason for Maddux's resurgence is it seems like he's retuned two-seam fastball which was always one of his best pitches in the 90s. Every time he pitches, it seems like his two-seam fastball shows up on Baseball Tonight during the "That's Nasty" segment.

His pinpoint control is as good as its almost ever been. Maddux issued a mere 25 walks in about 200 innings in 2007, and is off the same strong start in 2008. The former Cy Young winner has just six walks in 2008. The Phillies have typically been very good at working pitchers and creating base runners so tonight the Phillies might need to manufacture an extra run or two because Maddux is going to keep base runners to a minimum.

Shane Victorino will most likely be back in the lineup tonight to face Maddux giving the Phillies another solid left handed bat.

Here's the projected lineup and how they've fared against Maddux.
1. Shane Victorino (1-3)
2. Jason Werth (0-3)
3. Chase Utley (1-4 with a home run)
4. Ryan Howard (1-3)
5. Pat Burrell (15-41 with two home runs)
6. Pedro Feliz (5-22)
7. Chris Coste never faced Maddux
8. Eric Bruntlett (1-7)

Cole Hamels throws tonight for the Phillies. He's been a hard luck loser twice this year which makes his 2-3 record not representative of how he's pitched this year. Manager Charlie Manuel left Hamels in the eighth inning to pitch to the heart of the Brewers lineup last time out and got burned.

Hamels's overall numbers are still very strong. He's got 30 strike outs in 36 innings and a phenomenal WHIP and ERA of 1.08 and .275. He's basically two bad breaks from opening the season 4-1 and in the early season Cy Young talks.

The Camel has pitched well against his hometown team in the past. He lost a tough start last year when Chris Young out dueled him 1-0 in San Diego.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Phillies 5 Padres 3. The Phillies really like to bash pitchers who don't have a pitch with a ton of extreme movement. Ryan Howard hits another home run tonight (last time I predicted it, I nailed it right on the head).

190 Days Until Collegiate Roundball

2008-04-29T14:20:00.002-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 190 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 190: The start of basketball season means we begin a new countdown until Syracuse plays UCONN in women's basketball. I'm looking forward to it after getting a response from the director of women's basketball at UCONN almost four months after I emailed him my post on good old Geno Auriemma. Coach Eisenmann thanked me for my comments and appreciated my input. Overall the email was very nice and I don't want to criticize Eisenmann since he actually got back to me, but his email came off like he didn't read my post on Geno. Who knows, maybe Coach Eisenmann is just a really nice guy and really has nothing negative in response. Anyways, I really appreciated him getting back to me and hope he responds to the next email I sent him further explaining my stance.

Flyers Escape with 3-2 Victory

2008-04-28T21:47:00.000-04:00

The Flyers have kept fans on their seat by blowing several leads in the playoffs, and tonight almost wouldn't be any different.

Philadelphia's ability to squander leads during the last portion of the regular season and the playoffs almost cost the Flyers a chance at the playoffs and the first round series against the Capitals, but did cost Philly Game One against Montreal.

The Flyers scored the first goal, then got another short handed and before they could even begin to lose the lead R.J. Umberger scored a third before the second intermission.

The Flyers practically buried Montreal before they could blink.

A scoreless first period filled with hard hits and multiple wasted chances by the Habs to take an early advantage and take the boisterous Flyers crowd out of the game.

It was obvious that Montreal's inability to score put the pressure on Habs's goalie Carey Price to stand on his head and keep Montreal in the game.

The key time to this game was after the first Flyer goal. How was Price going to respond?

He didn't respond well. Price gave up a soft goal and then a rebound on another shot that led to a third Flyers goal.

At that point, the game was far from over. Derian Hatcher took another dumb penalty giving Montreal a five minute power play. Hatcher's penalty was a five minute boarding major in retaliation for a hit on R.J. Umberger. The Canadiens score twice on the major penalty making it a one goal game with ten minutes left to play.

The first three quarters of the final period belonged to the Canadiens. The Habs controlled the first 15 minutes notching 16 of the first 18 shots on goal in the period. The Flyers made it easy on the new Habs goalie Jaroslav Halak who replaced Price in the third period.

The first two periods were pretty clean, a few penalties and only a little extra curricular action after the whistle.

The third period - much different. After almost every whistle there was some kind of extra pushing and shoving. The Canadiens tried to push the Flyers around as long as the refs would tolerate it and it worked.

Another penalty against the Flyers with six minutes left put the pressure on the Flyers penalty kill once again. A Canadien goal could have been an absolute series changer, but Philly was able to kill off the Lasse Kukkonen interference penalty.

Instead, the Flyers killed it off and killed off the rest of the Canadien's charge.

The Flyers survived probably the most one sided period of the series and took a 2-1 series lead.

Notes:

Who didn't enjoy the graphic for too many men on the ice at the end of the game when the technical crew froze the shot at the wrong time so that there would only be five Habs on the ice. Smooth Versus. Real Smooth.
Mike Richards took a shot at Habs goalie Jaroslav Halak during the Kukkonen penalty. That was about the worst time to hit Halak in the head. The last thing the Flyers need is to have to kill off another penalty with under four minutes left.
The Flyers won another game with no contributions from the Briere line. This is like the Capitals series except its the other way around, Ovechkin wasn't scoring in that series.

CuseAdelphia Weekly Preview

2008-04-28T13:51:00.002-04:00

Monday: Canadiens vs. Flyers 7:05 PM. Game Three.
Desperados vs. Soul 7:05 PM. Both teams are undefeated.

Tuesday: San Diego vs. Philadelphia 7:05PM. Greg Maddox (2-1) vs. Hamels (2-3)
76ers vs. Pistons 7:00 PM. Gave Five

Wednesday: San Diego vs. Philadelphia 7:05PM. Chris Young (1-2) vs. Jamie Moyer (1-1)
Canadiens vs. Flyers 7:00PM. Game Four.

Thursday: San Diego vs. Philadelphia 7:05PM. Adam Eaton (0-0) vs. Randy Wolf (2-1)
Pistons vs 76ers TBD. Game Six

Friday: San Francisco vs. Philadelphia 7:05PM. Kyle Kendrick (2-2) vs. Barry Zito (0-6)

Saturday: San Francisco vs. Philadelphia 7:05 PM. Brett Myers (2-2) vs. Matt Cain (0-2)
76ers vs. Pistons TBD if necessary. Game Seven.
Flyers vs. Canadiens 7:00PM. Game Five

Sunday: San Francisco vs. Philadelphia 1:35 PM. Cole Hamels (2-3) vs. Tim Lincecum (4-0)
Canadiens vs. Flyers 7:00PM. Game Six if necessary.

The Philies need to come away with at least four wins in the six game home stand. Two anemic offenses should help the Philly pitching continue to excel if the offense cannot get hot. The Phillies get lucky and don't have to face one of the National League's best in Jake Peavy.

The scheduling the Flyers series is just dumb. Back to back nights for Games Five and Six if the series gets that far? I could maybe see that if the games were in the same city, but that means both teams have to travel that night and play the next day. Seriously NHL, what's the deal with that? It's just a stupid move.

191 Days Until We Begin Wondering When Sean Williams Is Going Pro

2008-04-28T13:37:00.002-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 191 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 191: As soon as someone on any college basketball team who has NBA potential has a monster game, people begin asking is he leaving school and going pro. So I declare if Sean Williams sees action next year and has a breakout game, the Syracuse sports world begin question when he's going pro to mock the ridiculousness of sensational journalism.

Eagles Draft Breakdown

2008-04-28T13:14:00.002-04:00

Okay, so every blog, website, and TV station has covered the Eagles draft ump-teen times.

But I'm still going to provide my perspective.

I'm fairly happy with this draft and the moves the Eagles made. Now a couple of the picks were a little questionable, but overall I think the Eagles did a pretty solid job with the draft.

I wouldn't give them an A or A-, but probably a B or B+. The Eagles made three very solid moves and a few not so solid.

The trade with the Panthers was very good and a little bad at the same time. It was bad from the stand point the Eagles haven't drafted in the first round for two years now. For a team that finished 8-8 and last the division it would have been nice to get a player who could make an impact now. With that said, the haul of picks the Eagles brought in was quite impressive. When I first saw the trade I was like oh yay! they got a second and fourth, but then it was announced they also got the Panther's first round for next year. There is a realistic chance Carolina is going to be awful next year and that pick will be a top five or ten pick. I think the window is closing on this group of Eagles within the next two or three years, so to have potentially a great pick next year will definitely help put the Eagles over top.
The next move is getting DeSean Jackson in the second round. He's got first round talent, mid-round size. He's got tremendous potential as a kick returned and a burner downfield. He should see playing time right away with the lack of talent the Eagles have at the wideout.
The final move is a move that didn't happen. Not trading Lito Shepard means the Eagles have one of the deepest secondaries in the league. The Eagles will have three solid corners with Asante Samuel, Shepard, and Sheldon Brown. With the questions the Eagles have at safeties with Brian Dawkins's age and health of Sean Considine/can Quentin Mikell be an every down player allows the Eagles to move Shepard to safety if they absolutely have to.
I'm not really a fan of the Jack Ikegwonu pick. From what I've read, he's high risk, high reward, but the guy had a devastating knee injury and has some legal issues. I'm skeptical he'll ever step on the field as an Eagle with those issues.
A lot of teams made a lot of solid picks in the late rounds, but the Eagles didn't with the exception of the 7th round. I really liked the King Dunlap pick. A lot of experts projected him in the fourth round, but he slipped down to the Eagles in the seventh. He's got excellent size at 6'8'' 310 pounds. If he matures well, he could fit in nicely with the gigantic line the Eagles are used to having.

Flyers Head Home Looking to Gain Control

2008-04-28T12:39:00.002-04:00

For the second straight series, the Flyers head home with the series tied at one. The Flyers hold home ice advantage for the rest of the series since the series is now a best of five and the Flyers have three home games left.

The Flyers have jumped out to 2-0 leads four times in playoffs thus far, including the first two games of this series, but are only .500 in those games.

The Flyers have had difficult holding leads as teams begin to get overly aggressive and put the pressure on Marty Biron. He's not been up to the task in several of the playoff games this year and has let the lead slip away.

Saturday night was much different. Montreal dominated the game, out shooting Philadelphia 36-23. Biron stopped all but two of those shots and withstood a first period flurry to keep Montreal off the board.

The Flyers have been able to send this series back to Philadelphia tied at one despite getting almost no contributions from the top line. In Game One, the Briere line was a non-factor; in Game Two, Briere did score a second period goal to make it 3-1.

What the Flyers need to today tonight to win:

Stay back and let Montreal come at you. The Flyers have typically been keeping an extra man back off the rush to prevent Montreal's speed and depth from beating the Flyers. It's worked very well so far despite the shot differential between the two teams.
Avoid the stupid penalties. The Hab's top ranked power play has been fairly silent so far due to the lack of chances they've had.
The Briere line needs to score at least once and set up power play opportunities through getting extra pressure on Montreal. The Flyers need more than two power plays in a game in order to control the game.

Sobs: Best Player Quote

2008-04-25T18:00:00.001-04:00

Thanks Sean from TNIAAM for handing the SOBs off to me to give out the award for Best Player Quote.

For a player quote to stick out in the minds of bloggers for a whole season, he had to have said something profound and meaningful.

The quote had to be in a critical moment in the season and represented something greater.

There was a general theme among a lot of the Syracuse Bloggers on this one. A few bloggers nominated quotes about Donte' Greene's draft status.

Nick Loucks chose a quote from Donte' after the UMass game,

"I just didn’t want to lose the game. I can’t even remember what was going through my head, really."

The Three Idiots on Sports went with Paul Harris after Kyle McAlarney tore SU a new one,

"He had a huge game. His game was so good, it was like we didn't even know the scouting report. He just hit everything.''

The runaway winner for this category however, is something Paul Harris said.

Matt Glaude from Hoya Suxa,

"Paul Harris talking about mentally checking out of the Villanova debacle: "Jonny kept telling me, come on when are you going to be ready to play? I don't know. It is what it is." Nice.

Brian Harrison from Orange:44,

"I shot a three and coach yelled at me. It kind of threw me off and I didn't play after that." – Paul Harris after the Villanova regular season loss. Oh Paul, you actually admitted to dogging it during a game. While I gave him points for honesty, it was something that would not please any fan of the team. He more than made up for it the rest of the season, but when you are a sophomore you are not supposed to act like that anymore."

Josh from Cuse Country,

"I didn't even really try to go get rebounds." Paul had a number of 'brutally honest' postgame quotes this year, I respect him for that.

Sean from TNIAAM,

"[Paull Harris's quote is] not a "favorite" per se but it was Paul Harris stripped bare. And from that game on he rebuilt himself, on and off the court."

So this year's award for Best Player Quote goes to Paul Harris for admitting he quit after the Villanova game.

Back to Troy Nunes for the Final Award at 7PM.

76ers Need to Take Game Three Tonight

2008-04-25T17:13:00.002-04:00

The 76ers are almost facing a must win already in Game Three tonight. Yes, they've shown the ability to win in Detroit.

But let's face it, Philadelphia needs to take at least of their three home games to win this series, if not all of them.

That's going to be a tough task after the way Detroit completely took every 76er starter out of the game. The Philadelphia top five tallied just 38 points, the lowest total in the playoffs in the last two years.

Detroit limited the 76ers transition game in Game Two and completely shut the Sixers down in the half court.

I don't have much too say pre-game on this one since its already less than two hours from tip and about nine people are going to read this from now until then.

I will give a prediction though.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Pistons 98 76ers 88. The Sixers will win one of these two home games. I'm thinking it's Game Four.

Yes, I'm Covering the Philadelphia Soul

2008-04-25T15:38:00.003-04:00

The Arena League Football team Philadelphia Soul is off to a GREAT start in the 2008 season. Bon Jovi's team is undefeated and has its biggest game of the season coming Monday night.

Who would be Philadelphia's biggest rival this year? Of course it has to be the Dallas Desperados.

The Desperados are also undefeated this year. The two will square off in Philadelphia on national television. Of course the Flyers also play Monday night in Philly. So if you aren't headed off to the Flyers game, head over to the stadium complex, enjoy some Flyers tailgating and catch the AFL game.

Or just watch both on TV.

If you aren't familiar with the AFL. The field is half the length of an NFL field, the goal posts are much narrower, a rushing offense isn't really necessary, and you can slam guys into the padded walls.

Wide Receivers can move vertically in motion before the play giving them a running start before the play as long as they don't cross the line of scrimmage before the ball is snapped.

Games are obviously much higher scoring. It has only taken Philadelphia wide receiver Chris Jackson to score a half dozen more touchdowns than Randy Moss did in an entire 16 game season.

Jackson's 29 touchdowns make him the most explosive wide receiver in the AFL right now. He's second in league in receiving yards with 915, but it's his ability to score is what makes him so special. He catches the ball anywhere in the end zone without problem.

He has SEVEN more touchdowns than anyone else in the league through eight games. That's almost a touchdown a game more than anyone else!

The Soul's second receiver is more of their threat. Larry Brackins averages over 14 yards per catch which is a pretty high number for the AFL. He's got 16 touchdowns in eight games this year. He's a big target down field at 6'4'' 225.

To catch that many touchdowns, the Soul receivers need a solid quarterback.

Well they have two.

Tony Graziani opened the season as the QB, but missed four games with a sprained knee. He injured the knee in week three, but returned against Columbus. He didn't last long; he re-injured the knee in the second quarter. He's listed as day-to-day for the Dallas game.

His replacement has exceeded Graziani's stud numbers. Graziani connected for 24 touchdowns and two interceptions, but Matt D'Orazio has gone above and beyond that. He's got 31 TDs and just two picks. His QB rating and completion percentage are both higher than Graziani's.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Soul 62 Desperados 56.

The Battle of Pennsylvania

2008-04-25T14:14:00.003-04:00

Now that the Pennsylvania Primaries are over, the Pirates and Phillies can duke it out for best team in the state.

This shouldn't be too much of a battle. The Phillies enter the game winners of four of five games while the Pirate's pitching cannot get anyone out.

Feast away Pat Burrell and Chase Utley. I wrote yesterday about the absolutely ridonkulous numbers the due are putting up. Zack Duke hasn't really been getting anyone out this year or last year or the year before that. It's been a rough three years for him since having a great rookie season (8-2, 1.81 ERA in 2005).

In 2008, Duke has pitched a little better than 2006 and 2007, but has still struggled. He's 0-1 with a 4.37 ERA and very high WHIP at 1.76. Hitters are smacking him around at a clip of .347. Duke's ERA is still respectable despite the BAA because he still hasn't allowed a home run in 2008.

Here's what tonight's projected lineup has done against Duke:
Jason Werth: Never faced Duke
So Taguchi: 5-17
Chase Utley: 2-7
Pat Burrell: 2-6
Greg Dobbs: Never faced Duke
Pedro Feliz: 1-5
Carlos Ruiz: Never faced Duke
Eric Bruntlett: 1-3.

Ryan Howard is not expected to be in the lineup again. Look for Greg Dobbs to fill in at first. If Charlie Manuel doesn't want Dobbs in the lineup for the lefty-lefty, Utley might move to first. Brad Harman would play second base.

Adam Eaton pitches for the Phillies. He was cruising in his last start against the Mets until the sixth inning when he got hit around quite a bit. Overall, Eaton has kept the Phillies in every start, allowing no more than four runs in any start. He's allowed just one home run all year which is the biggest reason he's had much more success in 2008.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Phillies 7 Pirates 5.

SU Lax: Seniors Look for Revenge Saturday

2008-04-25T13:21:00.003-04:00

UMass will enter the Dome Saturday trying to ruin senior day for the Orange's top four year players.

Tewaaraton Trophy finalists Mike Leveille and Steven Brooks will step on the Carrier Dome turf for the last time ever as players tomorrow. Their four years has seen some disappointing losses to UMass so what better way to leave your mark on the Dome by obliterating the men who have caused you so much pain.

The Minutemen are awful this year. They are just 5-7 on the season, but in their defense, eight Minutemen were suspended before the season for off the field actions.

This series isn't really a rivalry since SU has dominated overall 26-8, but it does have historical significance. A big win would be some sweet revenge for the Orange.

UMass has ended two of the Orange's most prestigious streaks during the last few years. In 2005, the 'Cuse didn't reach the final four for the first time in over 20 years after UMass defeated the Orange in the first round of the NCAA tournament 16-15. Little known face, the Orange actually played the Minutemen to end the season as well and lost in overtime.

In 2007, the Orange clinched their first losing record in decades with their 9-7 loss at Garber field in Amherst.

SU shouldn't have too much trouble with UMass. The Minutemen's best player is their goalie Doc Schneider who has a solid .610 save percentage. He leads the nation's top man-down defense.

Offensively, UMass is lacking. They've got one solid scorer in Tim Balise who has 30 goals. Basically the Orange need to do what they did against Albany. Clamp down on the rest of the team because one player, in this case Balise, isn't going to single handily beat you.

Hopefully the Orange can blow UMass out in order to get senior goalie Peter Coluccini back in the cage for a few minutes in his last game in the Dome.

The game is at 2PM in the Dome.

Troy Nunes has the women's lacrosse team and their trip to the Big East Tournament covered already. If I wrote something on them at this point it would just be over kill. So enjoy TNIAAM's coverage.

194 Days Until SOB Moments Start Happening Again

2008-04-25T10:33:00.003-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 194 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 194: At the end of every season Syracuse Orange Bloggers give out the SOBawards for many different categories. We are just 194 days away from experiencing moments that will be SOB worthy.

Check back at 6PM today for the award for Favorite Player Quote.

Canadiens Comeback to Take Game One

2008-04-24T22:12:00.000-04:00

I've mentioned several times during the playoffs, the Flyers have been playing incredibly unpredictable. As soon as you think Philadelphia is going to close out a game, the team blows it. When the odds are against them, the Flyers set themselves up to win again...

...but then that's what makes sports great.

Tonight of course was no different. The Flyers were playing the top seed Montreal, the game was the Flyers' third game in four days, and the game was in Montreal.

But it didn't appear to matter.

The Flyers stayed back in all game and started their rushes from their own zone. It neutralized the Canadiens rush and speed throughout the Habs' top three lines. Montreal won the face-off battle by a lot 41-27. This should have stalled the Flyers offense.

But it didn't.

The Flyers out shot Montreal and drew more legitimate power plays (see below for details). The Flyers got goals from two unlikely sources: R.J. Umberger and Jim Dowd in the first period.

But the lead didn't last.

Montreal came storming back in the second period. The Habs controlled the pace, out shooting the Flyers 13-9 and out scoring them 2-0. Andrei Kostitsyn scored his fourth playoff goal and with less than four minutes left in period, Alexei Kovalev scored short handed.

But the Flyers came back.

The third period belonged to the Flyers. A shot advantage of 13-9 led to the Flyers controlling most of the period. Joffrey Lupul scored just 19 seconds into the period on a power play that carried over from the end of the second period.

But it didn't matter.

A penalty on Mike Richards with just over a minute left gave Montreal a six on four when the Habs pulled their goalie. Fast forward to 29 seconds left and the puck is in the net thanks to Alexei Kovalev. The Habs had all the momentum going into the overtime period.

And this mattered.

First shift in overtime, Tom Kostopoulos scored for Montreal and it was over. Two goals in the last 1:17 meant Montreal escapes with a 1-0 series lead.

__________________________________________

The Flyers did several things very well. Philadelphia limited the amount of penalties they took big time. Dumb penalty after dumb penalty against Washington allowed the Caps to stay in several games they should have been out of early.

That just wasn't the case tonight. The Canadiens' only power play for the majority of the game came early in the second period.

The Flyers also managed to stay in this game without any contributions from Philly's top players. Daniel Briere in his return home to Quebec, Scott Hartnell, and Vinny Prospal didn't notch a single point.
__________________________________________

The Flyers had this game stolen from them. I didn't get to watch, only was able to listen to the radio coverage. I did get to see the highlights which showed the wrong calls.

The second Montreal goal cannot be a goal in any way. There's no justifying it. How could Kovalev scored? His stick came down on the top of the goal after he hit the puck. That is a TEXT BOOK high stick. I don't understand how that can possibly be anything different. You clearly see his stick come down after he hits the puck, it's not like it went upwards after he hit the puck and then down onto the goal. That shouldn't have been a goal.

The Mike Richards penalty that gave Montreal a power play with under a minute left was not a penalty. It was ruled kneeling. His knee never makes contact with the Canadiens' player. That was a clean hit. Philadelphia has legitimate gripes in this game.

Chase Utley and Pat Burrell are Officially Ridonkulous

2008-04-24T20:50:00.003-04:00

Chase Utley and Pat Burrell have opened the 2008 season hotter than probably any duo has in the last decade.

The two have combined for 18 home runs, 46 RBI, 15 doubles, two steals, 35 runs, a .371 BA in just 23 games. They've out homered 12 teams in the Major Leagues. Kansas City has scored 64 runs all season. Utley and Burrell are responsible for almost that many.

Against the Brewers today, Burrell doubled home Utley and Greg Dobbs for the go ahead runs in eighth inning to give the Phillies a 3-1 lead. A Jason Werth sixth inning homer run accounted for the Phillies first run.

Burrell and Utley were responsible for basically the rest of the Phillies offense. They reached base six times on four hits and two walks. Utley raised his batting average to .385 with his 3 for 4 day.

One of the biggest things responsible for their hot start is their ability to put the ball in play. They've combined for just 29 strike outs in over 160 at bats. That's less than one K per five at bats.

That's a lot different than in the past. Burrell had been striking out almost 25% of the time and Utley just over 20%.

The three runs Werth, Burrell and Utley produced was more than enough for soon to be AARP member Jamie Moyer. He threw six stud innings working in and out of jams all game. He allowed 11 base runners, but only one made it home. Moyer's last solid start against the Mets went without reward as the Phillies couldn't give him the run support. He surrendered just two runs in six innings against New York.

The 45 year old handed the ball over to 41 year old Flash Gordon who handed the ball over to 32 year old J.C. Romero, who handed the ball over to 28 year old Ryan Madson who handed the ball over to....not someone younger. 32 year old Brad Lidge threw a solid ninth inning for the save.

Lidge's fifth save extended his scoreless streak to open the year to ten innings.

Quick Hits:

Ryan Howard didn't start, but came into the game as a pinch hitter. He stayed in the game and replaced Greg Dobbs at first base. The former MVP is three for his last 28 after going 0 for 2 this afternoon with two strikeouts. He started off slow last year partly because of his injury. Hopefully this is just a funk and there's not something wrong with his knee again.
I mentioned above Jason Werth hit his fourth home run of the year. He's 14 for 44 with four home runs since moving into the everyday lineup after Shane Victorino went down.
The National League's best bullpen gave up just two base runners in three scoreless innings tonight.

SOBs: Most Disappointing Player

2008-04-24T15:00:00.002-04:00

Thanks Cuse Country for handing off the SOBs to me. If you missed it they gave out the award for Worst Moment during the Syracuse basketball season.

If you do not know what the SOBs are check out TNIAAM.

I'm giving out the award for Most Disappointing Player of the 2007-2008 Syracuse basketball season.

Dictionary.com defines disappointing as "failing to fulfill one's hopes or expectations." So what member of the Syracuse basketball team was the most disappointing?

Three players stood out the most among the Syracuse Bloggers: Josh Wright, Donte' Greene, and Scoop Jardine, but only one would be the most disappointing.

I'm going to do this Time Warner commercial style:

"Now Chose What's the Most Disappointing"

Before I reveal who was the most disappointing, here's what Orange Bloggers had to say:

Matt Glaude from Hoya Suxa says,

"Josh Wright. Say hello to Dayshawn Wright and James Theus for me."

A.E.M from The Orange Squeeze doesn't disagree,

"My most disappointing player has to be Josh Wright. Had he stuck it out and finished his education (which is most important) and played he could have been part of the team and probably helped them enough to get to the NCAA's."

Josh from 'Cuse Country wrote a book for this response so here's the cliff notes version,

"if you add in the rest of his [Josh Wright] career, this could become kind of a Lifetime Achievement in Disappointment award."

I wasn't on the same page with them,

"Donte' Greene. I was under the impression that he was going to come in and score a lot down low and be a great rebounder who could shoot the three if he had too. Turns out he was the complete opposite."

Nick from Nick's 2 Cents knows where I'm coming from,

"Donte' Greene - Hard to bag on the team's top scorer, but I've seen better shot selection in 6th-grade All-Star games."

Sean from TNIAAM agrees on Donte',

"Last year I tagged Paul Harris here, not because I was severely disappointed with him but just because he didn't live up to the hype that proceeded him. Same went for Donte Greene this year. Clearly Mr. Greene thinks he's good enough for the NBA but the jury's still out for most Syracuse fans. Greene has great moments, but he also had some pretty bad ones as well. We'll miss his abilities and potential but we won't miss his shot selection."

Our last nominee goes to Scoop Jardine.

Three Idiots on Sports went with Scoop,

"Getting suspended when the team was already short handed, not smart. Hopefully it's a learning a experience."

Brian Harrison from Orange:44 agrees,

"After a nice start being added into the lineup when Devendorf went down he was playing very well. Then he laid a goose egg at the Georgetown game in DC. Immediately upon his return to CNY he was suspended for the SUpercard incident."

So with all that said....

If you chose Donte' Greene you know what Disappointing is!

Congrats Donte' Greene- You are the most disappointing member of the 2007-2008 Syracuse Orange Basketball Team. We enjoy the memories you gave us and a lot of SU fans want you back for 2008-2009 for you to redeem yourself. Either way Good Luck next year!

Here is your SOB Trophy:

Former Winners: 2007 Josh Wright.

Orange:44 will have Best Video at 4 PM.

Time to Get to Know the Canadiens

2008-04-24T13:00:00.002-04:00

The Eastern Conference Semifinals begin tonight as the Flyers travel to Montreal (say it in a fake French accent...it's a good time).

It's a tough turn around for the Flyers since they played back to back nights on Monday and Tuesday. It's a little surprising that the NHL is making them play three games in four nights, but sometimes you just have to suck it up and play.

The Habs dominated the Flyers during the regular season. They outscored Philly 15-6 and won all four games. That reason alone makes me want to pick against the Flyers, but the series will be closer.

The Flyers are playing much better and after watching Montreal struggle a little bit against Boston, I do think they are beatable. The Flyguys should be able to take a few games, but if Philadelphia is going to win this series its going to be in at least six games, probably the full seven.

Montreal is just too strong across the board. They are fast and they can score. The Habs are widely considered one of the fastest teams in the NHL with three lines that can score. They are very reminiscent of the Buffalo and Ottawa teams the first two years after the lockout.

The Canadiens were second in the league in scoring at 3.09 per game. Defensively, the Habs were middle of the pack at surrendered 2.59 goals a game.

Carey Price has stepped up in goal after the Habs traded away the last goalie the Flyers faced. Montreal shipped off Cristobal Huet in late February for a second round pick in the 2009 draft.

This series will feature the two best powerplays from the regular season. The Canadiens cashed in on almost a quarter of their man up opportunities while the Flyers score on just over a fifth of their powerplays.

Penalties could be the major turning point of every game in this series. The team that can control the puck usually draws penalties. Which ever team can do this, will be able to turn games around with their powerplay.

Montreal doesn't kill penalties well; they are in the bottom of half of the league at 82%. The Flyers are just over a percent better at 83%, but that's good for 10th in the league.

Overall, Montreal is going to try to wear the Flyers down with their depth. The Flyers defensively don't have three lines that can match up well against the Canadiens. Philadelphia will probably come out Game One a little slow due to playing three games in four days.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Canadiens 4 Flyers 2. Philadelphia just doesn't have the talent to match up well in this series. That's going to be evident in the very first game. Montreal rolls to a Game One victory.

195 Days Until a Potential Kansas Game

2008-04-24T12:20:00.002-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 195 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 195: Mike Waters reported the CBE tournament the Orange will be playing has the four host schools play each other at the finals location. That means Syracuse will have the opportunity to play two of three following schools: Kansas, Florida, and Washington. That will be a big time strength of schedule booster.

Hamels Labors Into 8th Inning, Brewers Win

2008-04-23T22:41:00.003-04:00

You would never know sometimes that Charlie Manuel managed in the American League before moving to the Phillies. Usually AL skippers can manage pitchers better than hitters because of the lack of the double switch and pitching spot in the lineup.

That's just not the case for Manuel. The Good Phight reported that the Phillies were first in the league in both bullpen ERA and pinch hitting in 2008. Manuel's worked his bench to absolute perfection. He's great at double switches and making the necessary fielding and hitting substitutions.

What he doesn't do well is manage the pitching staff. He's not terrible at managing the staff, but he makes a lot of bonehead decisions. The worst of the year so far, tonight against the Brewers.

Cole Hamels went into the eighth inning with around 110 pitches and had given up three runs in the game. Granted he'd given up none since the first inning, but he was going to face the meat of the Brewers lineup in the eighth with a 4-3 lead.

The Phillies bullpen is relatively rested. Ryan Madson would be the only guy I would stray away from tonight. That leaves Tom Gordon, J.C. Romero, Chad Durbin, and Brad Lidge in the pen ready to go.

Charlie, you need two innings from the pen! Just go to it. It's early in the season, no reason to put extra strain on a fragile body.

The Brewers threw their ace Ben Sheets a few extra innings late in games earlier this year and he was scratched from today's start with shoulder soreness.

There's no reason to risk Hamels in this situation.

With all this said, Hamels surrendered a double to Rookie of the Year Ryan Braun and then served up a fat home run to Prince Fielder (pun intended). The game went from 4-3 to 5-4 in an instant.

It ruined a superb outing for Hamels. His final line: seven innings, two walks, three runs, and 11 Ks. He gave up three first inning runs and then settled down until the eighth.

The Phillies got another MVP performance from Pat Burrell and Chase Utley. The two combined for two more home runs and went 3-7 on the day. Burrell now has eight homers and 23 RBI while Utley is 10 and 21.

After the two of them, the rest of the lineup essentially did nothing except for Greg Dobbs. He hit a two run home run to tie the game at three in the fifth inning.

Ryan Howard took an oh-fer with two more strikeouts and Geoff Jenkins went hitless in his return to Milwaukee.

The Phillies also blew a chance in the ninth to score off of Derrick Turnbow who was filling in for Eric Gagne. Gagne had pitched very poorly in several consecutive games and got a much needed day off.

So Taguchi reached third with one out. He walked, stole second, and went to third on an error on the throw by Jason Kendall.

Jason Werth struck out on the seventh pitch of his at-bat. He swung at a pitcher that according to MLB's Gameday was a 93MPH fastball that looked right of the middle of the plate at the knees. He had to get the ball in play and bring Taguchi home.

Pedro Feliz was the Phillies last chance. He swung at the second pitch that was out of the strike zone and grounded out to J.J. Hardy. Game over, Brewers win.

The SOBs Are Back!!!!!

2008-04-23T16:39:00.003-04:00

No, no, the SOBs aren't something derogatory, but the Syracuse Orange Blogger Awards!!!

This is my first year participating in the awards.

To get a full feel of what the SOBs are check out last year's awards at Troy Nunes.

For the full schedule of when the awards will be handed out check out Troy Nunes again.

I'll be awarding the Most Disappointing Player Award tomorrow at 3 PM.

At 6 PM on Friday I'll present the Favorite Player Quote Award.

The Flyers Need to Win to Save the City of Montreal

2008-04-23T15:06:00.009-04:00

The Sport Hump ran this story about rioting in Montreal after the Canadiens won Game Seven of their first round playoff series. At least 16 cars were torched and fans broke into numerous businesses.

I saw the video on I think SportsCenter and it looked like it got really bad into Montreal.

Because of this, I call on the Flyers and serve the Canadian people by beating Montreal in the semifinals of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

You will save the city of Montreal and its suburbs by knocking the Habs out. You saw what happened after the first round of the playoffs. I cannot imagine what the city would look like if a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals was enstore for the Habs.

I'm thinking something like this:

Current Canadiens Patrice Brisebois, Steve Begin, Mathieu Carle, Mathieu Dandenault, Yann Danis, Maxim Lapierre, and Guillaume Latendresse are from the Province of Quebec. Save your homeland! Take a dive (like throw the game, not flop when a Flyer touches you)! Give the series to the Flyers. Do you want your homeland looking like war zone?

And now I call on current Flyers Marty Biron, Daniel Briere, and Simon Gagne too save your homeland by going on the greatest quest ever and defeat the Canadiens. Gagne lace them up, be like Willis Reed. Hobble out onto the ice dizzy and get the first shot on goal. You will fire up your teammates to save the Province of Quebec.

Briere: you turned down the Canadiens during the off-season to play for the Flyers. Show them it was your secret plan to come back to Montreal in the playoffs and save the city from itself by defeating Montreal in the playoffs.

Do not let a Canadiens victory destroy the land you love and call home.

Photo Credits: USA TODAY, History Channel

Pistons Preview Game Two

2008-04-23T14:19:00.004-04:00

The 76ers look to defy all odds and take two from the Pistons in Detroit. Most experts, media members, average Joes picked the Pistons to win this series in four or five games.

The Sixers will try to make all the haters look like idiots tonight by jumping out to the 2-0 lead and forcing the Pistons to play at least six games if they want to win the series.

So what do the 76ers need to do to make it two in a row?

The 76ers need to be able to take the ball inside without Rasheed Wallace being a big time defensive factor. 'Sheed blocked seven shots and forced the Sixers to change their game plan at times because of his presence.

Sammy Dalembert and Reggie Evans need to draw Wallace away from the basket, opening up the lane for the more athletic Sixers' guards and forwards to move through the paint freely.

The 76ers also need to shoot better from the field. They shot just 43% from the field in Game One and that's not going to cut it in most games against the Pistons.

The 76ers forced the Pistons into 39% shooting in Game One and the 76ers only won by four points. It's going to be tough to keep the Pistons down around that mark consistently as the Pistons shot 45.8% from the field during the regular season.

Each game the 76ers will need someone off the bench of have a very, very strong game. In Game One, Philadelphia got that from Reggie Evans. He scored 11 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, he also hit two key free throws. They'll need one of either Evans, Thaddeus Young, Lou Williams, or Jason Smith to contribute each game to have a chance in this series.

The Piston's bench is too good with Jason Maxiell, Ronny Stuckley, and Lindsey Hunter for the 76ers to survive without strong contributions from their sixth men. In Game One, the 76ers' bench outscored the Piston's bench 22-17.

Philadelphia also needs to finish every transition opportunity they get. The Pistons are very solid in the half-court defense which means the 76ers' transition game must continue to be their strength.

Brew Crew Preview

2008-04-23T12:13:00.002-04:00

Cole Hamels takes the mound tonight looking to extend the Phillies win streak to four games against the Brewers.

Hamels is coming off a loss against the Mets in which Johan Santana out-pitched the Phillies ace. The Cole Train still enters this game with very solid numbers; 1.86 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 19 strike outs.

Hamels has a high ERA against the Brewers, but overall has solid numbers against Milwaukee. His ERA, 4.22, isn't quite indicative of how he's pitched against Milwaukee. He's got three starts against the Brewers, a 1-0 record, 21 strike outs in as many innings, and a 0.89 WHIP.

Tonight's projected Brewers lineup is a mere 7-39 against Hamels with three home runs and 16 strikeouts.

For Milwaukee, David Bush will toe the rubber. To put it lightly, Bush has been awful this year. He's got a healthy 7.02 ERA and an 0-3 record to boot.

He hasn't fared well against the Phillies in his career either. He's also thrown 21 innings against the Phillies like Hamels against the Brewers, but with much different results.

His 6.23 ERA and 1.57 WHIP say it all. The projected lineup's success means Bush could and should be in for a very short outing.

1. Jason Werth (never faced Bush)
2. Geoff Jenkins (never face Bush, but was his teammates for several years)
3. Chase Utley (2-5 with two walks)
4. Ryan Howard (3-8 with a home run)
5. Pat Burrell (3-7 with two home runs)
6. Pedro Feliz (3-12 with two home runs) or Greg Dobbs (3-7 with a homer)
7. Carlos Ruiz (2-4)
8. Eric Bruntlett (0-1)
9. Cole Hamels (0-2)

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Phillies 8 Brewers 2. The meat of the Phillies lineup has blown Bush up in three starts. Look for more of that. I think Howard will homer tonight and break out of his funk for at least one night. Cole Hamels goes seven innings and strikes out five.

Women's BBall in 196 Days

2008-04-23T10:36:00.002-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 196 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 196: When TNIAAM linked to this article, I realized that I was leaving out women's basketball in my countdown. So today's reason is what's pointed out in the article linked to. Coach Q turned this team around by 13 games, in 2008-2008 we will see another solid improvement for the women's team.

Howard Cosell Tribute

2008-04-23T00:10:00.002-04:00

I'm a broadcast-journalism major at Syracuse University and I want to get into sports broadcasting for a career. There have been many different pioneers during the last 50+ years that have changed the way we listen to and watch sports. One of the greatest broadcasters/announcers/commentators or whatever you want to call them was Howard Cosell.

Cosell died 13 years ago today from a heart embolism in New York City. I thought I would honor his great work with some YouTube clips of him in action.

Cosell influenced popular culture more than probably any other sports broadcaster. He was the face of broadcasting. His legacy still lives on in movies today.

In Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Cotton McKnight, the announcer, makes the epic call "Down Goes Goodman! Down goes Goodman." It's a spoof of Cosell's call the 1973 George Foreman and Joe Frazier fight. When Foreman knocks Frazier out, Cosell calls it as "Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!"

Cosell was not afraid to call out an athlete or speak his mind about him. He claimed Muhammad Ali would lose to George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle and then Ali would retire promptly after the fight. Cosell gave Ali bulletin board material with what he had to say.

Cosell and Monday Night Football had an odd relationship with John Lennon. The former Beatle appeared on MNF as a guest with Cosell talking about the differences between rugby and American football.

John Lennon would reappear on MNF, but for the wrong reason. Howard Cosell broke the news to the country that Lennon had been killed outside his apartment. The YouTube clip of this isn't embeddable, so here's the link.

Cosell also was a columnist for the New York Daily News. Here he does a Daily News commercial with Mike Lupica all the way back in 1985.

Cosell also hosted his own comedy show on ABC called "Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell." The show only lasted three months, but it gave us this great skit with Dean Martin and Dick Martin.

I leave you with one last Cosell video. The description from the person who posted this video says it all,

"This is the theme of MNF WAY before Hank and are you ready stuff. This is for us old timers who remember when MNF was great and looked forward to. "

R.I.P. Howard Cosell (3/25/1918 - 4/23/1995)
Photo Credit: kipadotta.com

Fightin' Phils Win Again!

2008-04-23T00:01:00.000-04:00

Pat Burrell and Chase Utley continued their hot hitting to send the Phillies to their sixth comeback win in just 21 games.

The dynamic duo combined for five RBI in the Phillies 8-6 win over the Rockies. Utley knocked home two runs in the third to gives the Phils an early 2-0 lead. Burrell did it when it mattered in the ninth. Pat the Bat drilled a bases clearly double to left-center to give Philly an 8-6 lead.

The Phillies need the offense after Brett Myers looked as hittable as I can ever remember. He lasted seven innings, but surrendered 11 hits and two walks. Myers kept the ball over the middle of the plate all game and the Rockies made him pay. Luckily he mostly scattered the 11 hits to only give up the six runs, but it could have been much, much more.

Unlike Myers's last start against Houston, he didn't go after each hitter with fastballs. He started many hitters off with sliders and his cutter. This change in approach could be due to the catching change. Chris Coste caught Myers's last start and went with a fastball heavy approach. I remember noticing other games Coste caught, he tried to get his pitchers to go with the fastball first.

Carlos Ruiz caught Myers tonight and called a game heavy on the breaking pitches. I'm going to try to keep track of this and see if it's a trend that Coste calls for fastballs and Ruiz for the breaking pitches.

Chase Utley did it all for the Phils tonight. He had the RBI double mentioned before, but his biggest hit of the game came in the ninth. With one out and So Taguchi on first, Utley singled, but made the hustle play to get to second on the throw to third base. This set up an intentional walk to Ryan Howard and then the bases clearing double for Burrell.

Plus, Utley made another defensive gem which made top plays on SportsCenter. It's always nice to see his defense get recognized after he struggled a bit earlier this year with the glove.

Side note, did anyone notice on the Burrell double that Ryan Howard was literally ten feet behind Utley? He must have gotten one heck of a jump on the ball and Utley must have been holding at second in case Willy Taveras caught the ball in left-center. Even if this was the case, I would have thought Utley could out run Howard from second to home by more than ten feet.

Just thought I would point that out.

So far so good in the Brad Lidge experiment.

Lidge pitched a perfect ninth for the save. He struck out two Rockies in the process. He's now thrown eight scoreless innings to open the year with eight strike outs. The six walks are a little worrisome, but he's only surrendered four hits.

Quick Hits:

Pedro Feliz notched three hits. He's starting to look more comfortable in this lineup.
Jason Werth homered for the second straight game. He cleared the fence tonight, instead of going the inside the park fashion like last night.
Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless eighth.
Both Garret Atkins and Matt Holliday homered and doubled for Colorado.

Thank You Joffrey

2008-04-22T22:10:00.003-04:00

The Flyers live to play another day after defeating the Capitals in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.

Joffrey Lupul knocked home a rebound into essentially an empty net on a power play in overtime for the game winner. The goal was Lupul's first of the playoffs and it couldn't have come at a better time.

The Flyers were trying to avoid becoming the 21st team out of 225 to blow a 3-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They avoided this fate well after let the Caps knot the series up at three.

The Flyers blew two straight chances to knock the Caps out of the playoffs, but very strong goal tending from Marty Biron kept the Flyers in the game. Biron recorded 39 saves in 41 chances including 16 saves in the third period alone.

Biron didn't have to be flashy, just good. He stopped everything that came at him including several point blank chances for Alexander Ovechkin in third period and overtime.

Biron made the saves, the second and third lines scored the goals. Unlikely names like Sami Kapanen, Joffrey Lupul, and Scottie Upshall came through with the goals. The usual names, Mike Richards, Scott Hartnell, Vinny Prospal, and Jeff Carter couldn't find any part of the score sheet.

One of the most controversial goals in the entire playoffs gave the Flyers the lead in the second period 2-1. Sami Kapanen brought the puck into the Caps zone, twirled around on the right side of the net. Patrick Thoresen checked his man into goalie Cristobal Huet knocking all three players to the ice. Kapenen recognized the open net and flung a wrist shot at the empty net for the goal.

Alexander Ovechkin wouldn't be out done. He tied the game up at two later in the second period.

The third period feature the Caps really going after the Flyers. They outshot the Flyguys 16-5, but somehow couldn't get the puck by Biron.

The goal-less third period set up an up and down overtime as both teams got quality chances in the first several minutes. Tom Poti made a really stupid mistake and tripped up R.J. Umberger in a situation where Poti just didn't to commit a penalty to stop a play.

It lead to an aggressive powerplay as the Flyers started blasting away at Huet. It eventually lead to Kimmo Timonen shot. The rebound trickled off to the right of Huet, but he looked left thinking he deflected the rebound in that direction.

Lupul knocked the puck into an uncontested net and that was it. Game over. Flyers win.

Slapshots:

Derian Hatcher committed a really stupid penalty in the first period that led to a Washington powerplay goal.
Philadelphia blew another 5 on 3 powerplay opportunity that lasted the full two minutes. A four minute slash followed by another penalty led to two full minutes of five on three action for the Flyers.
Cristobal Huet deserves a lot of credit for how well he played and how many great saves he made in this series.
The Flyers will play the Canadians who also won their series in seven games.

Rocktoberfest Revenge Part Two

2008-04-22T12:30:00.003-04:00

The Phillies look to finish enacting their Rocktoberfest Revenge tonight behind Brett Myers's arm and Chase Utley's bat.

Brett Myers looks to continue his strong pitching in Coors Field. The right hander has toyed with the Rockies in eight career appearances against Colorado. Myers has never lost to the Rockies and has a very low 2.21 ERA against them.

The former closer opened the year with two straight disappointing starts suggesting he may not have finished the transition of moving back to the starting rotation. That changed quickly during his last two starts.

Myers was flawless against Cincinnati and Houston throwing 15 innings and the only runs he surrendered were four solo home runs. Myers has kept the walks down the last two starts which has helped keep those four home runs as solo blasts.

The Rockies will send Jeff Francis to the mound. Francis hasn't fared to well against the Phillies historically, but pitched well when it counted. In Game 1 of the NLDS last year, he gave up just two runs in six innings in the Rockies 4-2 win.

Overall against the Phillies, Francis is 2-1 with a 7.08 ERA in four starts.

Here's how the projected line up has done against Francis:
1. So Taguchi, 4-13 with a home run
2. Jason Werth 3-10 with three doubles
3. Chase Utley 2-8 with a home run
4. Ryan Howard 2-5
5. Pat Burrell 3-8
6. Pedro Feliz 8-38 with a home run
7. Chris Coste 1-3
8. Eric Bruntlett 0-1
9. Brett Myers never faced Francis.

Quick Hits: Chase Utley hit his ninth home run of the year last night. He's hit six in five games, and homered in five consecutive games. Pat Burrell also jacked his seventh home run and team leading 19th RBI. Burrell and Utley are going to be fighting for the Triple Crown at this rate.

Last night Kyle Kendrick wasn't keeping his pitches down and it cost him dearly. He's going to put his spot in the rotation in jeopardy pretty soon if he doesn't return to his 2007 form. Kendrick has struck out eight batters in four starts. That's awful. More hitters putting the ball in play naturally means they are going to get more hits. Kendrick has got to find a way to start k'ing his opponents up.

Paul Harris Flops 197 Days Away

2008-04-22T12:21:00.002-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 197 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

The title of this post gives away reason 197 to be excited for basketball season. Do it all Paul really does it all. At least acting wise. He flails arms and body in the air, flops, pretends to get hit a lot harder than he really does. As annoying and Duke-like this is, it actually works. Now it can get frustrating and overdone, but that one time a game Harris goes flying or flailing makes for a good time.

Groundhog Day for the Flyers

2008-04-22T11:29:00.003-04:00

I'm absolutely awful at Photoshop. Enjoy!

I alluded to the 2001 series a few days ago when the Flyers were up three games to one on the Devils but blew the series. Following game four, I said this, "The goal gave Philadelphia game four and a 3-1 advantage that's nearly impossible to overcome. Teams trailing 3-1 in a series are just 18 of 59 in game fives. It gets better for the Flyers; in 90 years of NHL playoffs, just 20 of 224 teams that fell behind 3-1 in a series went onto the next round. That's a winning percentage of 8.9%."

Washington at this point has all the momentum in the series and has home ice advantage for game seven. Plus the Flyers have to bounce back one day later from a really bad home loss (more on that in a minute). All the signs up towards Washington taking this game, but with how back and forth this series has been, I don't know if anyone can really predict what's going to happen.

The Flyers need to aggressively go after the Caps. Hit them until they can't skate. Get an early lead and don't let up. The Flyers have been great at blowing leads this year. Philly takes the lead and doesn't necessarily sit back, but lets the opposing team put the pressure on them. I don't know what school of hockey Coach John Stevens went to, but he's got to change his mentality when he's got a lead.

Tonight the Flyers have three keys: Contain Ovechkin, limit penalties, and fore check.

Onto last night now. I've been saying it all series. Alexander the Great makes every series almost a best of six series. He's going to single handily win the Caps a game. That game finally came last night. Tied at two, Ovechkin scored two goals to break the tie.

I didn't get to watch the game, Versus was carrying the Montreal-Boston game where I was. So I'm not going to comment on the game itself too much. I will say, after looking at the box score and the ridiculous number of shots, this game must have been really up and down. I don't think that plays into the Flyers' hands because of Ovechkin and really also Nicklas Backstrom's ability to score and create in the open ice.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Game seven will go to the Capitals. They are going to do the improbable and comeback from 3-1. The Flyers too many opportunities to take this series in the first six games and it's going to comeback to haunt them. I think a late three period goal will decide this game.

Don't Get Eliminated MXC Style!!!!!!!

2008-04-21T14:15:00.005-04:00

The Washington Capitals will try to follow the advice of the Spike TV show Most Extreme Elimination Challenge and not get eliminated tonight.

That's going to be a tough task since the game will be in Philadelphia in front of the rowdy Flyer crowd. Washington struggled in the first two games in Philly against the strong Flyer fore check.

The Flyers fore check has kept the puck off Alexander Oveckin's stick; he's scored just one goal all series. I've been saying since after game three, A.O. is going to explode, it's only a matter of time. I still think the Flyers are really playing a best of six series since Ovechkin should in a seven game series single handily win one game.

While Oveckin has struggled, Flyers star Daniel Briere has played some of his best hockey as a Flyer. He's got multiple points in three of the first five games and his nine points total lead are the most in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Briere is finally showing why he deserved the eight year-52 million dollar contract the Flyers gave him.

Briere and the rest of the Flyers will have to rebound from Game Five. Washington completely out played the Flyers for about the first 50 minutes of the game. Solid goal-tending from Marty Biron kept this game close and gave the Flyers a chance to tie in the last minute.

Washington controlled the flow of the game, forcing the Flyers into several stupid penalties. The puck stayed in the Flyers' defensive zone for essentially minutes on end. The Flyers went over 12 minutes during the end of the first period and start the second without a single shot on goal.

The biggest key to Game Six for the Flyers will be re-establishing the fore check. Philadelphia won games two through four by not allowing the Caps to move the puck up ice. If Philly can get back to that pressure, the Flyers will run away with this game again.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Flyers 5 Capitals 3. I'm going to get specific with this prediction; Flyers jump out to 2-0 lead in the first period, Capitals comeback, draw the game within 4-3 in the third period. The Flyers then add an empty net goal to seal the deal and eliminate the Caps.

Rocktoberfest Revenge

2008-04-21T13:22:00.003-04:00

Rocktoberfest swept the nation last year and a playoff series against the Phillies. The Rockies entered the playoffs winning 14 of 15 games and made it three more in a row in the NLDS against the 'Fightin's.

Tonight the (9-9, 2nd place NL West) Rockies host the Phillies (9-10). Left hander Mark Redman takes the mound for the Rockies. He's 2-1 with a 4.60 ERA. He's got two straight solid starts (not quality, only went five innings in each).

Redman isn't going to strike out a lot of batters which plays into the Phillies hands. Ryan Howard and his 26 strike outs in 19 games might actually make some solid contact tonight. Add in the Coors Field effect and the Phillies could tee off tonight.

The Phillies as a whole have struggled however against Redman.

Here's the projected lineup and how each has fared against Redman:
1. Jason Werth (1-3 vs Redman)
2. So Taguchi (3-9 and 2RBI)
3. Chase Utley (2-7 and 3BB)
4. Ryan Howard (0-5)
5. Pat Burrell (4-19 and one home run)
6. Pedro Feliz (1-12)
7. Chris Coste (1-2)
8. Eric Bruntlett (1-3, triple and 3 RBI)
9. Kyle Kendrick (never faced Redman)

Mark Redman was an all-star for the 2006 Royals. Yes, the Royals were that bad in 2006 that he was the "best" player on that team.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Phillies 9, Rockies 7.
Be prepared for lots of runs, early and often from both teams. Scoring in Colorado has been down the last few years, but this will have an old time feel for it. Chad Durbin picks up the win in relief.

198 Days til Tip

2008-04-21T12:33:00.003-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 198 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 198: SU will open the season against some cupcake like Cansius or Fordham and steam roll them by 25. This will spur talk about how weak the schedule is. That will end when SU hosts Virginia in the Dome and goes on the road against Memphis. Plus the CBE classic will give SU a chance to play the likes of Kansas, Florida, or Washington.

So Reason 198 to be excited for basketball is a strong strength of schedule will put SU near the top of the RPI ratings heading into the conference season.

Weekly Preview

2008-04-21T12:02:00.003-04:00

Here's a look at what's going on in CuseAdelphia for April 21st-April 28th.

Philadelphia Phillies head out Colorado to face the Rockies for the first time since the Roctoberfest.

Probables: Today, Kyle Kendrick vs. Mike Redman

Tomorrow: Brett Myers vs. Jeff Francis

It's only a two game series, followed by another two game series. I cannot remember the last time the Phillies played back to back two game series.

The Phillies then travel to Milwaukee to play the Brewers.

Wednesday: Carlos Villaneuva vs. Cole Hamels

Thursday: Ben Sheets vs. Jamie Moyer

After that the Phillies play Pittsburgh for three games into Pittsburgh.

The Phillies should come away with at least four wins from this road trip.

76ers: Game two is Wednesday night in Detroit

Game three and four are in Philly on Friday and Sunday night.

Flyers: Game six and seven are tonight and tomorrow at home, then on the road.

Eagles: NFL Draft this weekend. We'll see if the Eagles screw it up or get it right. It never seems like its in between.

Syracuse Lacrosse: UMass in the Dome Saturday at 2 PM. The WLax team is in action tomorrow night on the road against Cornell and then the Big East Tournament begins. On Friday, SU plays Rutgers in South Bend.

Chase Utley: Front Runner for NL MVP

2008-04-21T00:02:00.005-04:00

Three weeks into the baseball season, one player has already put his foot forward in the Most Valuable Player race.

Chase Utley knocked two balls out of the park against the Mets in a 5-4 victory and now has eight, count them eight home runs in 19 games.

MVPs perform against the best teams. Utley is now 9 for 22 against Mets pitching for sleak .409 BA and four home runs. He notched five hits in 14 AB against the Cubs for a .357 BA.

MVPs continue to hit when teammates struggle. Ryan Howard has four home runs. After that, he's done diddly-squat. Shane Victorino couldn't hit a beach-ball when he was healthy. Eric Bruntlett, Pedro Feliz, and Carlos Ruiz are fighting to stay above the Mendoza Line. The offense as a whole has sputtered.

MVPs pick up slack for the injured. Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino, the two spark plugs to the Phillies offense both haven't started in over a week. Both are now on the DL. When Victorino was healthy he wasn't hitting and getting on base. Utley has 17 RBIs; if Victorino would have been getting on base ahead of Utley, Chase probably would be over 20 RBI now.

MVPs single-handily win games. April 4, Chase Utley hits two home runs to give struggling pitcher Kyle Kendrick a lead to pitch with. The Phillies win 8-4. April 20th, Chase Utley homers twice in the first five innings to give Adam Eaton a 4-0 lead. Utley also battled through a very long at-bat in the third to draw a walk and forced Mets pitcher Mike Pelfrey to throw almost 15 extra pitches. In the seventh inning, Utley singled, starting another rally, but the Phillies couldn't cash in on having runners on first and second, one out.

MVPs are leaders.

MVPs are fan favorites.

MVPs hustle on weak ground balls for that one chance to beat them out and start a rally.

Chase Utley is an MVP.

_________________________________________________

If the Phillies are still in the race when both Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins return from injury and Utley is still hammering away, he'll be very far out ahead in the MVP race.

Now there are several other National Leaguers off to hot starts for good teams.

David Wright is batting .344 with four home runs and gold glove defense for a team expected to contend all year.

Derrek Lee entered the day leading the league in home runs, but now finds himself second behind Utley. His 1.133 OPS and gold glove defense for another team that will compete all year puts him in contention for the MVP.

Albert Pujols is quietly punishing pitchers for the second place Cardinals. No one expected this team to contend this year, but Pujols and his .356 BA, four home runs, and 16 walks have the Cards off to a quick 12-7 start.

Photo Credit: Yahoo Sports

They Call Him Mr. Big Shot

2008-04-20T20:49:00.001-04:00

But tonight he didn't show why. Chauncey Billups missed 3 of 4 free throws and an easy layup in a span of a minute late in the fourth quarter tonight and passed on what could have been a foul-line jumper as the clock ticked away. In incredible fashion, the Sixers came back from 15 down and stunned the Pistons in their playoff opener, 90-86. It was Philly's first playoff win in the Palace and it was certainly unexpected.

It was also Philly's first nationally televised game of the season, not counting NBATV. They are proving themselves to everyone, not just the Sixers fans any more.

I knew going in that this was the best-case scenario for the Sixers, who proved late in the season that they couldn't beat the Cavs, struggled against Orlando all year, and well... the Celtics were the other option. Okay, no words necessary. Let's go Hawks!

Back to the game. The Sixers came out running. Thaddeus Young was hitting shots and things were clicking on all cylinders. But Andre Iguodala struggled early and Andre Miller wasn't looking for his shot, so soon things were all Detroit. The second half was most interesting, with run after run until the Sixers quietly took control. A 27-point fourth quarter to Detroit's 16 clinched it. As did Philly's defense down the stretch. I was nervous when Sammy Dalembert committed that extremely stupid and completely obvious offensive foul when he could have easily passed to the guy cutting to the basket. I was nervous for the entire fourth quarter when I started to smell victory. I was nervous. And I think the Sixers were too, but those nerves are what drove them to what many call the incredible, unbelieveable, huge upset that we just watched unfold.

My favorite moment HANDS DOWN of this game was when Reggie Evans-- a just-under 47% free throw shooter-- hit a pair and then Chauncey Billups (Mr. Big Shot, 92% from the line) missed a couple. Reggie Evans was a star in this one with 11 points and 14 boards. He averaged just five points during the regular season. Thaddeus Young and Lou Williams also looked more seasoned than they are. The team as a whole played like they were more seasoned, so kudos to the coaching staff and players with the little playoff experience they have for getting the guys ready.

It's the second straight victory in the Palace for Philly, who downed Detroit 83-82 on March 12th.

All that said, the Pistons will come out firing on Wednesday. Stealing two games is nearly impossible; winning the series is still a long shot. This W feels good for now, but it's nothing to celebrate. The Sixers have to stay focused, get back to work, go out and get it done.

With the win Philly becomes the first lower seed to steal homecourt advantage.
BELIEVE!

Basketball in 199 Days

2008-04-20T14:19:00.002-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 199 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 199: The talk of whether Jim Boeheim should step down will be put off for a year. He's going to lead Syracuse back to the NCAA tournament which will spur talk of Boeheim taking this team to another national title in 2009-2010.

Typically Good Hitters Going Bonkers Early

2008-04-19T20:00:00.002-04:00

Every year numerous hitters across baseball get off to incredible starts in April. Most years its a group of guys not typically known for their bat or are unknowns in general. See Chris Shelton or Dmitri Young.

This year is a little different. While there are some fairly unknowns like Mark Reynolds and Nate McClouth off to phenomenal starts, many of the league stars are coming out of the gate already in mid-season form. Here's 10 all-star caliber players starting out the 2008 campaign right.

1. Chipper Jones. One of the few remaining members of the dominant Braves teams of the 1990s, Chipper has been injury free to begin the year and he's absolutely raking the ball. Now Jones typically isn't a slow starter as he's got a career .323 average and .967 OPS in April. But this year, the Braves 3B is off to the best start in baseball. He's leading the majors in hits (30) and average (.455). He's also tied for the league lead in home runs (6) and RBIs (18). Jones says, "This is one of those crazy streaks you get in once every couple of years."

2. Manny Ramirez. Remember that "disappointing" 2007 season? The one where Man-Ram only hit 20 home runs and .296. Well Manny is doing everything he can in April to help Boston fans forget about it. Ramirez has 13 extra base hits already including seven doubles and five dingers. His OPS is almost .150 higher than his 2007 OPS. Manny is keeping a first place team running while slugger David Ortiz has struggled.

3. Derek Lee. The Cubs 1B suffered through a power outage during the first half of 2007, but after he returned from his broken hand, Lee has 22 home runs in 83 games. Six of those have already come in 2008. He's tied with Chipper Jones for the league lead in home runs and has a cool .357 average. Lee's a solid hitter in April with a .282 career average, but this great start has to have Cubs fans excited for dawg days of August.

4. Chase Utley. The trendy pick to be the Phillies' third straight MVP is off to a roaring start. He's showing the best power of his young career, belting six homers already. His compact stroke is allowing him to rip inside pitches out to right field. Utley is also batting a solid .332 just like he did in all of 2007.

5. David Wright. Gold Glove defense, speed, and power. Wright encompasses it all. It's quickly looking like his fourth full season in the bigs will without a doubt be his best. He's batting a slick .333 with an OPS well over 1.100. Throw in an improved eye, 13 BB to 8 k's, and Wright is battering opposing pitches early on. He's picking up the slack for his teammates who aren't exactly hitting the ball all too well right now.

6. Pat Burrell. Alright so Pat the Bat isn't a year in and year out all-star, but Burrell has been one of the best hitters in baseball since July 1st last year. He's got 28 homeruns since then which is near the top of the league. He's continued that success in 2008 with six dingers and a .364 batting average. Burrell is showing early in 2008 he can be the protection the Phillies need for Ryan Howard to see some pitches to hit.

7. Matt Holliday. His numbers are slightly off his 2007 pace, but Holliday is still turning in all-star quality numbers. He's batting an impressive .333 with an OPS just below 1.000. Holliday only has three home runs in the early going, but he's running the base paths very well. He's already swiped four bags in April.

8. Chone Figgins. Who remembers the start to his 2007 season? He missed almost the first month due to injury. Angels fans wish he would have sat out the next month after he tallied just 15 hits in 94 at bats. The ultimate utilityman followed his 2007 May up by batting .461 in June. Figgins has been on fire ever since. He's batting almost .400 and already has seven steals. The Angel's spark plug is firing on all cylinders.

9. Tori Hunter. A change of scenery certainly hasn't slowed Hunter down. The Twin's former Spiderman found a place in Angel's fans hearts early in 2008 with a walk-off grandslam in the 7th game of the year. Hunter's overall numbers remain strong. He's got a .323 BA and four homeruns. His gold glove defense is always a plus too.

10. Lance Berkman. Rounding out this top ten, Big Puma himself. The last member of Houston's deadly killer Bees is stinging pitchers and catchers early in 2008. A smooth .995 OPS and three steals means Berkman is off to another great start. He's got a long way to go if he wants to top his 2006 April when he belted 10 home runs and .728 slugging percentage.

Honorable Mention: Vernon Wells, Nick Markakis, Hanley Ramirez, and Brian McCann.

This originally appeared on Bleacher Report.

Washington Pulverizes Philadelphia

2008-04-19T16:07:00.003-04:00

The Caps extend the series to a game six with a 3-2 win in Washington.

The score says this game was close, but Washington absolutely dominated the first two periods of this game and part of the third.

The Flyers couldn't do anything offensively or defensively. As soon as the Flyers moved the puck down ice, Caps defenders quickly forced the Flyers into bad shots and no second opportunities.

The Caps didn't forecheck too well, but it didn't matter because Washington routinely beat the Flyers to all the loose pucks for the first two periods.

The added pressure forced the Flyers into many penalties and resulted in two power play goals for the Caps. Three penalities in the first period kept the puck in the Flyers zone the entire period.

Washington put significant pressure on Philadelphia during the period and picked up three more power plays with the last resulting in the Caps third goal.

During the last half of the first period and opening minutes of the second period, the Flyers didn't record a single shot on net. During this streak, Washington scored twice, burying the Flyers in a 2-0 hole. Up to that point, it looked like Philadelphia had no chance to come back.

The terrible ice surface in Washington also hurt both teams ability to get consistent scoring opportunities. The ice got worse as the game went on, making it tougher and tougher for the Flyers to comeback.

If this series goes to a game seven and heads back to Washington, whoever jumps out to the early lead will have an even bigger advantage.

Capitals Rookie Nicklas Backstrom has looked as impressive and been more of a gamechanger than Alex Ovechkin during this series. Backstrom has great awareness of where all his teammates are on the ice. He's a great passer and very nifty skater.

Slapshots: Vinny Prospal and Derian Hatcher scored their third and first goals respectively. The Flyers outshot the Caps 21-6 in the third period. Marty Biron went to the bench with one minute left and the Flyers got their best opportunities to score all game with the extra man on the ice. Game six is in Philadelphia Monday night.

SU Lax Wins: Brett Queener Disappoints

2008-04-19T15:29:00.004-04:00

No tights for Brett Queener didn't mean success for the Albany goalie.

One year after giving up eight goals in just 14 minutes while wearing Spandex tights, Queener returned to the Dome spandex-less.

The results for Queener were a little better in 2008, but Albany still went home with a 10-5 loss.

The opening quarter looked like it might be a lot like 2007 as the Orange jumped out to a 5-2 lead. The first quarter was played at a frenetic pace. The two teams combined for 21 shots and 21 ground balls.

Lots of hits led to a lot of ground balls which led to a very up and down pace. Brett Queener's tendency to try to move the ball up the field himself also led to a couple situations where the Albany defense was completely discombobulated.

I have to question why Queener is keen on coming out of the crease to try to make defensive plays 10-20 yards up field. His departure from the crease directly led to several goals and a couple more chances for SU when there was no goalie in net.

Queener leaving the net didn't once result in a goal for Albany off the break that ensued. So what does Albany get out of having Queener running around wildly?

The answer: pretty much nothing except a hole to dig out of.

The pace of the game slowed down quite a bit after the first quarter. The two teams combined for just eight goals the rest of the way.

Mike Leveille continued his Tewaaraton Trophy campaign moving forward with another hat trick. He's averaging almost a hat trick per game with 33 goals in 12 games. He's tallied 55 points this year.

I mentioned in the preview, Albany has only had one legitimate scoring threat this year, Corey Small. In this game, the Great Danes had none, as Small sat out with a pulled muscle.

The Orange played close to a flawless game. If I had to take one negative out of the victory, it would probably be the fact the 'Cuse only scored five goals during the final three quarters.

Ten goals is a solid total for a game, but five over three quarters is somewhat unacceptable for this team. Queener was responsible for a lot of SU's struggles. The Orange did get almost half of their shots on cage.

John Galloway was by far the bright spot of the game. The frosh played one of his best games as a member of the Orange last night. Galloway bailed the defense out several times when seams opened up, allowing Great Dane attackmen to get clear shooting lanes.

Albany seemed like they were trying to attack the upper half of the cage. Galloway recorded most of saves with his stick at eye level or higher.

SU also limited second chances, especially in the first half. The Orange was perfect on clears in the first half going 12-12.

Syracuse will look to extend its winning streak to ten games against rival UMASS next Saturday in the Dome. The Minutemen defeated the Orange at Garber Field in Amhearst to officially knock SU out of playoff contention last year.

A Mere 200 Days 'Til Basketball!

2008-04-19T15:11:00.002-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 200 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 200: Home crowds will be larger than usual next if this team pans out to be a top 25 team. I'm salivating at the thought of having either Georgetown or UCONN at home. Depending on the home schedule. Look for several games to be pushing 25,000 with some closing in on 30,000.

Does it Get Any Better: Hamels vs Santana

2008-04-18T14:14:00.002-04:00

This is baseball.

Two teams in a renewed rivalry fueled by an NL East title race and spring training predictions.

It may be April 18th, but every Phillies and Mets player, personnel, and fan knows these games mean something.

It's a chance for the Phillies to rebound from losing two of three last week to the Mets to get back into the psyche of the Metropolitans.

It's also a chance for New York to show last year's epic collapse is a thing of the past.

Tonight's battle in this long 18 game war features two of the best changeups in all of baseball. Johan Santana, the majors most dominating lefty squares off with Cole Hamels whose quickly becoming one of the league's best southpaws.

New York is pretty much getting everything they could ever want Santana so far despite what his 1-2 record says. He's given New York two very superb starts; the second allowing just one run in seven innings but was saddled with a loss after receiving no run support.

Cole Hamels has been even better. Only Jake Peavy and Brandon Webb in the National League have gotten off to better starts than the Camel.

The Cole Train is picking up speed. His last start came against Chicago and was one of the best of his short career. Seven innings, one hit, and no runs against one of the best offensives in the league.

Through three starts, Hamels is showing he's ready to be without question, the ace of the Phillies staff.

The Mets might have the upperhand tonight since the Phillies essentially have never faced Santana. The projected lineup tonight (no Geoff Jenkins most likely due to the lefty-lefty matchup) is just 1-5 with two strikeouts against Santana.

CuseAdelphia prediction: Mets 6, Phillies 4. I have this gut feeling that both pitchers are going to be hit around a little bit tonight.

SU Lax to Open a Can of Hatorade on Brett Queener

2008-04-18T12:25:00.003-04:00

Tonight's match up between Albany and SU in the Dome will feature a team on a nine game winning streak against a goalie that gives the world a million reasons to dislike him.

There are so many things about Great Danes goalie Brett Queener that make fans despise the guy.

For starters, the guy is good. He's got very solid numbers this year as he gives up just 7 goals a game and has a save percentage over 56%. He can't help his team cannot win a faceoff to save his life which is probably the biggest factor for why Albany is 5-6.

Queener also likes to get out of the net and play some offense. He'll play the EMO at times. He's got five shots this year with only one on goal. He's asking SU defenders to level him all game as he's not afraid to run the ball upfield.

Third, Queener's last name is well Queener. He's asking for it with that name. It's easy to say and a funny name.

It's bad enough his name is Queener, but then he goes and plays for the Great Danes which is one of the worst nicknames in collegiate sports. Great Danes sounds like a seal on an English Coat of Arms.

Finally, Queener wears tights in goal. Not sweatpants like most goals or just shorts. He wears tights. Really Brett? You find it necessary to wear tights in lacrosse? You look like an absolute pansy down on the turf.

Alright, onto the actual game.

Albany doesn't win faceoffs. That without a doubt is their biggest problem. You cannot win against teams as efficient on offense and defense as Syracuse without winning close to half of the faceoffs, if not more.

Albany just doesn't that. It's not even close. The Great Danes win just 40.7% of faceoffs.

Albany has tried three players at X and none have worked. Jordan Levine has been the best, winning just 14 of 30 draws.

This game could simply come down to, if Albany doesn't win the faceoff battle, they aren't winning the game.

This makes Danny (not Jerome, thanks OrangeGirl2010, combined John Jerome and Brennan) Brennan for SU a major factor tonight. He leads the nation in faceoff percentage. If he dominates tonight, the Orange are going to blow the Danes out of the Dome.

Albany also only has one legitimate scoring threat. Corey Small has 28 goals in 11 games. Throw a second defender at him at times, force him to give up the ball.

Albany has two other players in double digit goals, Brian Caufield and Steve Ammann. To be fair to Caufield, he does have 14 goals in just eight games. He'd probably be close to 20 had he played the whole season.

Last year the Orange offense exploded against Albany for 17 goals. SU was able to chase Queener in just 14 minutes after allowing eight goals.

The Danes were 11-1 coming into the game as the Orange were having a disappointing season.

Sounds a lot like this year with the roles reversed.

Thank You Mike Knuble

2008-04-18T10:42:00.004-04:00

Mike Knuble says his goal in double overtime was, "by far the biggest one"of his 11 year NHL career.

The goal gave Philadelphia game four (I have to brag here, I nailed the final score of 4-3 in my preview) and a 3-1 advantage that's nearly impossible to overcome.

Teams trailing 3-1 in a series are just 18 of 59 in game fives. It gets better for the Flyers; in 90 years of NHL playoffs, just 20 of 224 teams that fell behind 3-1 in a series went onto the next round. That's a winning percentage of 8.9%.

Of course the Flyers have experience recently losing a playoff series after holding a 3-1 lead. Remember 2000?

Flyers were up three games to one against the Devils. That didn't stop New Jersey in the least bit. The Flyers went on to collapse in epic fashion, losing three straight games. This series also featured the Scott Stevens hit on Eric Lindros that left number 88 with another concussion. That game would be the last Lindros would ever play for the Flyers.

__________________________________________________________

Thursday night's game proved the Flyers can win when they don't play their best game.

The powerplay was awful, the penalty kill gave up two goals in the first period, and the Flyers struggled to keep constant pressure on Cristobal Huet until the third period.

Despite this the Flyers made several great plays to essentially get looks at an empty net. The Flyers second goal came on a great look from Jaroslav Modry. He passed up a pretty open slap shot from the point to make a smooth pass towards the net across the ice to Jeff Carter who had an empty net to shoot at.

The Flyers' third goal to the game came on a goal similar to Washington's Alex Semin's goal earlier in the game. Both goals came as a result of a great pass through the crease to a wide open teammate with an empty net to shoot at.

Daniel Briere scored his fifth goal of the series this way with the pass coming from Mike Richards.

I didn't get to watch the overtime periods last night (had a friend's concert and sorority function to attend), but I went through the game log. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems the refs ate the whistles in the OT periods as there were no penalties called.

Since I didn't see the OT, maybe there weren't any actual penalties, but that's hard to believe. Players get desperate in overtime and tend to commit stupid penalties, many of which aren't called in OT.

Now I understand refs don't want to take over games in overtime, but sometimes calls do need to be made.

Enough digression, my early thoughts for game five are the Flyers aren't going to win this one. Alex Ovechkin is just too good and has been too much of a non-factor so far. He's going to break out eventually and I think game five will be that game. It's hard to believe that he can be shut down again and go five games with only one goal.

The game will be Saturday at one in Washington.

Initial CuseAdelphia prediction: 4-3 Washington. Both teams can score, so expect lots of it again.

College Basketball: 201 Days Until SU Domination

2008-04-18T10:34:00.004-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 201 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Kris Joesph will rapidly turn into a glue guy like Kristof!, but can score at times and not be an offensive liability. He's one of the few recruits I've seen for any team that says he wants to do a the little things first and scoring comes second. He's said he recognizes all the great scoring threats and SU needs a guy to put everything together.

Kris Joesph, a player who wants to play both ways and knows his role already, is the 201st reason any Orange fan should be excited for Syracuse basketball in 2008-2009.

Phillies Batter Backe's Changeup

2008-04-17T21:12:00.002-04:00

The Phillies teed off on Houston's Brandon Backe this afternoon in a 10-2 Philadelphia win.

Brandon Backe went after the Phillies with constant changeups, but the Phils' potent lineup punished his off speed pitches to score six runs in the first four innings.

Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell hammered changeups in the first inning for RBI singles in the first inning. Chase Utley's fourth inning homerun came on a changeup, belt high on the outer half of the plate. Utley drove it over the right-centerfield fence for the two run blast.

Backe also struggled to locate his fastball which led to several hits and two walks in three plus innings. He departed the game after the long ball he surrendered to Utley.

Pat Burrell's homerun gives him 28 homeruns during his last 98 games. That's about a 45 homerun pace when extrapolated over an entire season.

Add in the fact Burrell has drawn a tremendous amount of walks during that streak, throw in a batting average near .300 over that same span, and you can make a case he's been one of the best hitters in the Major Leagues since July 1st.

It's a little early, but a Pat Burrell for MVP campaign could be coming.

Brett Myers also put together his second straight quality start. He seems to be re-acclimated to his role as a starting pitcher after two very shaky starts to open the year.

Myers came out throwing absolute gas. Every pitch in the first inning, either a two seam or four seam fastball.

First ten pitches of the second inning? You guessed it ten more fastballs.

It's a very good sign for Myers that he is going back to his fastball after having trouble locating it in his first two starts.

The second time through the lineup, Myers really stayed away from his heater. Instead, he got his outs through the use off his off-speed pitches.

Myers left the game after the 7th inning, with a final line of five hits, a walk, an earned run, and eight strikeouts.

Basketball Frustrations: 203 Days Away

2008-04-17T11:10:00.003-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 202 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 days before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 202: If Syracuse plays UMASS next year, the Orange doesn't have to deal with Minutemen coach Travis Ford. He's gone, outta hear, no longer in the A-10. He's gone west to coach Oklahoma State. Ford was the first coach since 1926 to win
twice on the road against Syracuse. Bon Voyage Mr. Ford, don't let a tornado hit you on the ass on the way out.

With the current state of Syracuse basketball, the ghost of Travis Ford will probably still find a way to haunt the Orange.

Flyers Look to Gain 3-1 Advantage Tonight

2008-04-17T10:44:00.003-04:00

The Flyers have taken Alex Ovechkin out of the first three games of the series which has put the Flyguys in a position to take a 3-1 series lead.

The Flyers haven't really felt Ovechkin's presence yet. A.O.'s only contribution to the series, a game one goal, has left the Caps without a scoring threat the last two games.

The Caps have scored on three goals the last two games on a total of just 43 shots. The free shooting Ovechkin has been slowed to nine shots over the last two games despite averaging almost six per game.

Without Ovechkin controlling the game, the Caps lack the ability to get solid scoring opportunities from its second and third lines. The added pressure Ovechkin's line creates forces the defense into taking bad penalties to stop the onslaught.

The Flyers need to keep the constant fore check going to prevent Washington from getting out into open ice where Ovechkin is at his best. The Flyers also need to be careful though, fore checking, like a full court pressure in basketball, can lead to easy opportunities.

The Flyers continue to send an extra man forward to stop passes coming out of Washington's zone. One good outlet pass can spring Ovechkin on a breakaway. Eventually he'll show why he's scored 165 goals in just three seasons in the NHL.

Philadelphia has been rolling so far through this series on the offensive end, but something they do need to improve on is the powerplay.

The Flyers were near the top of league in the powerplay all season, but in this series, they are only two of 16. The second and third games could have been decided a lot earlier if the Flyers could have cashed in on more than just one of their 13 powerplay opportunities.

The aggressive fore check has kept the pressure on the Washington defense which has led to 13 powerplays the last two games. The Flyers need to make them pay for the Caps inability to move the puck.

This game will probably prove to be a little closer than the last two. Alex Ovechkin is too good and too much of a game changer for the Flyers to be able to absolute control the game for a third straight contest.

Tonight will probably be another high scoring affair, especially if the Flyers can continue to fore check like they have been.

CuseAdelphia prediction: Philadelphia 4, Washington 3.

What's Going on in the CuseAdelph'

2008-04-16T23:14:00.001-04:00

Roy Oswalt dominates the Phillies.
Dear lord, Syracuse 24, Colgate 6. This was women's lacrosse not football.
Countdown to Basketball Season.
The Flyers take command of their playoff series.
The Phillies are the comeback kids.
Syracuse was going to Tyreke Evans next year if chose either of his top two choices, Villanova or Memphis. Apparently his favorite cat is a Tiger. He'll be a member of Memphis next year.
Dickey V is the HOF. Whaaaaat???
Why isn't this a bigger story?
I attempted to do this with March Madness '05, then my X-Box broke. Orange Squeeze is taking it the next step.

SU Women's Lax wins 24-6 against Colgate

2008-04-16T23:00:00.003-04:00

Katie Rowan scores 11 points, seven goals and four assists. Her performance led to a 17 goal first half for the Orange. Rowan also became the school's all-time leading scorer.

One of the referees made a classy move stopping play after Rowan broke the record to make sure the ball was taken out of play for Rowan to keep.

I was sitting third row behind Coach Gary Gait and it seemed he didn't pick up on what the ref was doing at first which gave the crowd a little chuckle during this laugher of a game (pun was totally intended there).

This game got ugly and ugly fast. I was in attendance for the first half when the Orange absolutely poured it on. The 'Cuse scored six goals in the first seven minutes, including four in a 46 second span. That's just insane and not right.

I'm not a women's lacrosse connoisseur, so I cannot break down the women's lacrosse team in detail. What is very noticeable for someone new to the game is girls who can just move the ball the around are very successful.

Katie Rowan, Haley Quillanan, Christina Dove, and company are very talented at receiving passes and making quick, deliberate actions with the ball. This allows them to move the ball faster than the defense can react which leads to a lot of one on one situations with the goalie.

Colgate goalie Sara Drexler didn't stand a chance tonight. Most of the 'Cuse's shots came at point blank range that the best goalie's in America probably wouldn't stop.

So Yeah...Roy Oswalt not in Decline Wednesday Night

2008-04-16T21:29:00.002-04:00

Roy Oswalt proving me absolutely wrong, well for at least tonight.

Oswalt's performance during the last year or so has suggested he's already peaked which isn't too surprising since he's 31. I wrote that there were some startling trends over the last few years with his strikeouts decreasing and hits allowed increasing. Here's the full breakdown of my thoughts on Oswalt.

But back to what actually happened tonight. Oswalt went seven strong innings tonight, only giving up a handful of hits in Houston's 2-1 win.

In the past, Oswalt has always shown the ability to go late into games. To do that, a pitcher must have the ability to use multiple pitches effectively during different at-bats.

The first time through the lineup, Oswalt pounded the first couple batters of each inning with fastballs and curveballs. Towards the end of each inning, he strayed away from those pitches, unleashing his repertoire of sliders, sinkers, and changeups.

The second time through the lineup he reversed his approach. He stayed away from first pitch fastballs and attacked with changeups and sliders.

In the fifth and six innings, Oswalt goes back to the curveball and complements it with fastballs and sliders.

When you can go through a lineup with three distinct approaches effectively, you are going to be very tough to beat.

Oswalt did prove me right when he lacked the ability to strike Phillies out. He recorded just four strikeouts and two came against the pitcher Kyle Kendrick.

Most pitchers who only record two strikeouts against the legitimate part of the lineup are going to have a lot of trouble. This includes Roy Oswalt on most nights. Oswalt's stuff is very nasty to say the least, but when 24 of 26 hitters are putting the ball in the play, odds are on most nights those balls are going to consistently fall for basehits.

What's disheartening for the Phillies is they wasted a superb start from Kyle Kendrick. The young righty actually outpitched Oswalt in pretty much every way, but the scoreboard.

Kendrick was one middle-in sinker to Michael Bourn away from throwing an absolute gem. Bourn took the pitch in his wheelhouse down the right field line, clearing the outfield fence by A LOT. Who thought Bourn could hit a ball that far, but then again, Kendrick couldn't have put that pitch in a better spot for Bourn to go deep. Click the link for video of the homer.

Phillies fans got to know Houston reliever Wesley Wright very quickly. The rookie left hander came in to face the 2-3-4 hitters of the Phillies lineup.

He retired them before those watching at home could figure out where this guy came from. He struck out Pedro Feliz, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard to quell the Phillies best opportunity in the late innings to score.

Here's something you probably didn't know about Wesley Wright. His real name is Dequam LaWesley Wright. I think shortening his name to Wesley was probably a good PR move.

Quick hits: Utley went 1-4 with a double. Howard finally got a hit, but he's still in Kevin Stocker territory with his .189 batting average. J.C. Romero and Ryan Madson threw scoreless innings in relief. Doug Brocail picked up the save. Yes, Doug Brocail picked up the save. I'll repeat it again. 41 year old Doug Brocail picked up the save. Jimmy Rollins pinch hit for Carlos Ruiz and singled in his only at-bat in the ninth inning. So Taguchi pinch ran for Rollins.

76ers vs Bobcats: A Game that Means Nothing, a Post That Means Everything

2008-04-16T14:19:00.002-04:00

One major thing can be taken from a game that basically means nothing for both the Charlotte Bobcats and the Philadelphia 76ers.

The 76ers are struggling after going on a monster roll through the months of February and March. The Sixers have lost four of five including a tough loss in the waning moments against Cleveland. Originally, I thought the 76ers loss against the Cavs was good for the team because it ensures the Sixers will play the Pistons in the first round of the playoffs, a team the 76ers can beat.

I'm now somewhat back tracking on that thought. Yes, I'm glad the 76ers get to play the Pistons, but what I didn't realize at the time was the loss was the Sixers fourth in five games. You want your team to have confidence heading into the playoffs and losing four of five before the season finale can put a damper on your confidence.

Tonight's game will be important for the 76ers to win if and only if Mo Cheeks plays his starters and doesn't get a disproportionate number of minutes from his bench tonight. If he does go to the bench early, then it's key the 76ers are leading at the time the starters head to the pine.

Other notes for tonight: Charlotte is 31-50, fourth in the Southeast conference. The 76ers hold the season series 2-0. A win would also give the 76ers a .500 record for the first time since 2004-2005 when they finished 43-39 when they lost to Detroit in the first round in five games.

203 Days Until Basketball Season

2008-04-16T12:12:00.002-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 203 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 dayss before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Since we are about 203 days away from basketball season, then that means we are about 200 days away from the first Syracuse.com Basketball article that is in the least controversial in anyway. What does that mean you ask? Well it means about 13 different people on ridiculous screen names will post completely idiotic statements, rumors, and unrelated comments on the articles. These comments equal humorous, funny reading material.

So in 203 days look forward to wonderful Syracuse.com articles ruined by dumb comments. I pity Mike Waters, Donna Diota, and Brent Axe for having to put up with that.

Phillies Preview: Roy Oswalt isn't What He Used to Be

2008-04-16T10:42:00.005-04:00

The Phillies will look to win the first two games of a series for the second series in a row tonight against the Astros. The Phillies took the first two games against the Cubs and will try to do the same tonight against the Astros.

Roy Oswalt throws tonight for Houston which used to stir fear in hitters across the National League, but that's just not the case this year.

Oswalt has become more and more hittable during the last few years. During the last three years his strike outs are down and the number of hits and walks he's allowed has increased. In 2004, he struck out 206 batters in 237 innings. The next year, he struck out 22 fewer batters in four more innings. That trend has continued through 2007.

Oswalt also used to be a control freak. His walks issued used to be astronomically low, but in 2007, he walked 22 more batters in eight less innings than 2006.

His WHIP typically averaged around 1.15, in 2007, his WHIP was 1.33.

When a pitcher begins striking out fewer players, batters are going to put the ball in play more often which naturally means more base hits.

One reason for Oswalt's slow demise comes from his very small stature. Oswalt is considered a power pitcher, but he's a mere 6'0'' 195. His windup allows him to generate a lot of speed, but it can be very tiring over the long haul of a season. His quirky delivery puts strain on different parts of his body. Oswalt battled through a 2003 injury plagued season which limited him to 21 starts. Last year, Oswalt began feeling significant pain on the left side of his body. The Astros shut him down in the September as a precaution since they were out of the playoff race.

Roy Oswalt will come at you with a deceptively quick fastball and two awesome curveballs. His 12-6 curveball is one of the best in the game. He complements those pitches with a pretty hard slider and a changeup that on a good day will have a 10-15 MPH difference from his fastball.

Last year, Roy Oswalt struggled against the Phillies. In two starts, he pitched 12 innings, gave up 17 hits, 6 walks, and 10 runs. His third start of the year came against the Phillies where he gave up six runs and six walks in five innings.

In 2008, the little right-hander has struggled once again. He's been hammered in all three of his outings, but his walks are down and strike outs up. He's 0-3 and has given up as many earned runs as innings pitched.

Since the Phillies are a fairly free swinging offense, Oswalt definitely has a solid chance to rebound tonight if he can get the Phillies chasing pitchers. If the Fightin's can work Oswalt, it could be a very short outing once again for Roy Oswalt, especially since the game is in Citizen's Bank Ball Park.

Roy Oswalt is still a very good pitcher, but definitely is on the backside of his career at the age of 31. If I had to guess what his overall numbers will end up, he'll probably have an ERA around 3.75 and a WHIP of 1.35.

SU WLAX Finishes off its Home Schedule

2008-04-16T10:33:00.004-04:00

Senior Day in the Dome for the Women's Lacrosse team will feature the Lady Orange against the 7-7 Red Raiders.

Only five seniors will be honored tonight from the young Orange team that has just two losses all year. Kristen Brady and injured Bridget Looney are the two most notable members of the senior class.

The last four wins for the 5th ranked Orange have been by double digits. Colgate has struggled this year against ranked opponents, going winless in three tries against ranked foes. The Red Raiders are 5-0 in the Patriot League, but just 2-7 against the rest of the NCAA.

Junior Katie Rowan will look to add to her NCAA record for points in a single season. She already broke her own record with 46 goals and 41 assists for a total of 87 points. Rowan is just four points away from tying the SU record for career points.

The game will be at 7:00 tonight.

CuseAdelphia Prediction: Syracuse 21, Colgate 5

Things are Looking Good for the Flyers

2008-04-15T23:34:00.004-04:00

The Flyers absolutely took it to Washington tonight to take a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Below I recapped the first period and take that first period and basically multiple it by three and you get the game. I didn't get to watch the third period because I had to go to a meeting, but from looking at the play by play and stats it seems like it was a lot like the first two.

The Flyers forechecked and they forechecked and they forechecked Washington into oblivion. Smart, aggressive play won the Flyers this game. It led to the Flyguys outshooting the Caps 33-19. Several Flyers goals came from a direct result of the extra pressure they put on Washington. At times the Caps just couldn't get the puck out of their own zone.

Also playoff penalty shots are awesome. Kudos to Mike Richards for scoring on it. Nice to see he can score on a penalty shot but during the regular season none of these guys could ever score in a shootout.

Game four will be in Philadelphia Thursday night.

Here's a not high quality video of the Richard's penalty shot. You can see everything clear enough which is all that matters. Enjoy.

That's all I got to say on this one. Again check out my recap of the first period, and you can get a real gist of what went on in this game.

Also no link dump tonight. I've got an 8 AM tomorrow and I need sleep. I'll leave you with a link to Troy Nunes's link dump.

Phillies Win in Dramatic Fashion

2008-04-15T23:05:00.003-04:00

This should just be accepted at this point. Does this team know how to jump on a pitcher and hold a lead the entire game? Looking at the last two seasons that answer has to be no. The Phillies won 48 of their 89 games by coming from behind at some point in the game. 2008: no different. The Phillies moved back to .500 tonight and now have four comeback wins out of seven total.

The Phillies have the perfect recipe for come from behind success.

First: You must have okay to subpar starting pitching. Your starters must be prone to giving up early runs and overall three to five runs per start. Check.

Second: You must relief pitching that's going to blow games and put you a run down late in the game. Double Check.

Third: You have to have the best or a premier offense in the league. That offense must be able to work pitchers. Even if the offense doesn't get to the pitcher early in the game, they beat him up late. The offense must create match up problems for bullpens. Triple Check.

Fourth: The team has to have a desire to fight and never give up. For the Phillies, it's obvious they have the confidence and the never say die attitude. Quadruple Check.

Fifth: Versatility and good players off the bench. The last two years the Phillies have gotten timely hitting from guys like Greg Dobbs, Michael Bourn, Jason Werth, Chris Coste, Chris Snelling, and Wes Helms. Quintiple Check.

The Phillies are never out of game because of the offense. Look at the Phillies' first win. Down 6-1 going into the sixth inning, the Phillies manufactured six runs during their third time through the lineup against Jason Bergmann.

But back to tonight, tonight's hero: Pedro Feliz. The man has been offensively challenged in 2008 until tonight. Chalk up three hits for the second 30+ Giants third basemen to play for the Phillies in the last handful of years. Feliz was the only Phillie to hit Shawn Chacon for awhile.

Adam Eaton's line looks pretty good, but it's a little deceptive. He went six innings, gave up seven hits, two walks, three runs, and three strikeouts. I couldn't watch this game, but I hate the MLB gameday up and I was tracking his location. When he was giving up base runners the ball was staying up in the zone. Houston hit a lot of flyballs early, but Eaton started to get the ball on the ground as the game went on. When he got the ball up in the zone last year, hitters victimized him with a lot of home runs. This year, Eaton has kept the ball down, minus early in tonight's game, and he's only given up one long ball all year.

This will be Eaton's key all year, if he keeps the ball down, he's tough to beat. He's got some really nasty stuff that he has to continue to control. When he starts hanging his stuff, its some of the most hittable pitches in all of baseball.

Through three starts for Eaton, so far so good. If I'm Charlie Manuel, I'll take three straight quality starts and a 4.12 ERA any day from the guy who essentially had to win his starting job out of spring training.

Interesting note: All three of Adam Eaton's starts have been 4-3 finals with the Phillies only winning one of those games.

Flyers Forecheck=Awesome and 3-1 Lead

2008-04-15T19:45:00.002-04:00

If the Flyers can forecheck like they did in the first period, they will be almost impossible to beat. The Flyguys forced frequent turnovers that led to constant pressure the entire period minus the four minutes they were on the penalty kill.

Washington has no answer to the Flyers pressure and if they don't fix something coming out of the intermission, the Flyers will absolutely blow them out of the water tonight.

Marty Biron set the first Flyers goal up beautifully with a nice stop and drop off to the Flyers defense. What I don't understand was why the announcers kept raving about Biron not holding onto the puck forcing a whistle. It was a common sense play 90% of the goaltenders out there would have made. Three Flyers were back in the zone with one Capital who was peeling away. The Caps forecheck has been non-existent in this game so there's no reason to hold onto the puck and force a faceoff in your own zone.

Overall there is nothing I think the Flyers really need to fix. The pressure was on Washington all period. The Caps only real chances came on their goal and two powerplays.

The crowd sounds like it's absolutely rocking and mostly in orange.

Daniel Briere scored the first goal, answered by Eric Fehr for Washington on a pass from Donald Brashear (since when was Brashear a solid offensive player?). Scotty Hartnell scored just over a minute later, followed by Sami Kapanen off a great pass from Jim Dowd 17 seconds after Hartnell. Four goals in 2:33 and on four shots. Now that's hockey.

Pence and Ausmus in Lineup Against the Phillies

2008-04-15T19:06:00.003-04:00

Hunter Pence returns to the lineup for the Astros after being given a day off to "clear his head." Pence is hitting just .180 this year without a homerun. Pence was widely considered the leading rookie of the year candidate last year until Ryan Braun of the Brewers went off.

Brad Ausmus will catch Shawn Chacon tonight. JR Towles had been doing most of the catching, but Ausmus will return to the lineup tonight. Ausmus is hitting just .200 this year. The 'Stros catcher is just 1-8 against Adam Eaton all time.

One last note, ESPN's accu-score has the Philies as 60% favorites. Take that for what it's worth. Thought I would mention it.

What's Going on in the CuseAdelph'

2008-04-15T15:05:00.004-04:00

A quick look at what's going on today (full link dump from others coming tonight):

Initial thoughts on 2008 Eagles schedule.
Carmelo Situation Gets Messy.
Did the 76ers actually benefit from losing last night?
Countdown to College Basketball Season.
Phillies play Houston tonight.

Thanks anon. for reminding the Flyers play the Caps tonight at home in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I don't have enough time between now and game time to produce a preview as I'm at my campus TV station producing and anchoring a sports block. So here's the Worldwide Leader's wonderful preview.

Initial Thoughts on 2008 Eagles Schedule

2008-04-15T14:48:00.000-04:00

Look below or click here for complete 2008 Eagles schedule.

Here's some initial gut predictions and thoughts.

Week 1, St. Louis: The Rams are probably going to be better this year, but they still aren't that great. This is a nice game for the Eagles to open with and should probably be a good opportunity for the Eagles to win even if they struggle. Of course that's what I thought with last year's opener against Green Bay...we all know how that ended.

Week 2, @ Dallas: Oh boy. Statement time week two. One of these two teams is going to put up or shut up. Both Philadelphia and Dallas have somewhat easy openers, so this game probably won't mean the loser begins the season 0-2 and in a hole.

Week 3, Steelers: The Black and Gold come to Philadelphia in the NFL's attempt to divide a state. The Eagles will play their second straight tough game of the year. If the Iggles can get through these opening three games 2-1 they will be in good shape.

Week 4, @ Bears: I'm not sure what to think of the Bears yet, they could be anywhere from really good to really bad. Will that offense and defense rebound? Or will they struggle again. This game should be a good opportunity for Philly to pick up a win.

Week 5, Redskins: Washington hasn't really added a lot of good players or lost any this post season so this team will probably be very similar to last years. Wouldn't surpise me if these two teams split their season series with the home team winning each game.

Week 6, 49ers: Remember the last time the 49ers played Philly? Mark Simoneau was kicking extra points. Not the same 49er team unfortunately for the Eagles. Should be a tough game. Home crowd should help the Eagles win this one.

Week 7, Bye. Pretty solid timing for the bye. Not too early, not too late.

Week 8, Falcons: If the Eagles don't win, they've got serious issues. You can thank the Eagles last place finish last year for this game.

Week 9, @Seahawks: Very few teams win in Seattle with that stadium and crowd. The Seahawks are going to be good; I'll be shocked if the Eagles win this game at this point.

Week 10, Giants: The Eagles finally play the Super Bowl Champs in week 10. This game will be home and probably coming off a loss. A quick start will be very important for the Iggles.

Week 11, @Bengals: Cincinnati has the potential to be very dangerous, especially if Chad Johnson plays. Who knows maybe he'll be returning to Cincy in green. That's a nice thought to have for Eagles fans.

Week 12, @Baltimore: The Rust Belt tour continues with Baltimore. The Ravens aren't going to be very good again most likely. Should be a good chance for the Eagles to pick up a "road" win. Not much of a road game for the Eagles since its only 90 minutes away.

Week 13, Arizona on Thanksgiving: So many bird jokes leading up to this game. Also quick turnaround could make this game tough. Luckily it's at home and the Eagles played just to the south the week before.

Week 14, @Giants: This game starts a very tough stretch to end the season. I'm guessing the Eagles will split this season series like they will against the Redskins and the Cowboys.

Week 15, Browns: I just don't see the Browns being as good as last year. I wasn't too big on Derek Anderson last year, I think he was somewhat a fluke. We'll know by this point in the season whether he's the real deal.

Week 16, @Washington: Continues a favorable schedule for the Eagles travel wise. Week 12 on the furthest the Eagles go is New York.

Week 17, Dallas: What a way to start and end a season. Week 2 against Dallas, week 17 against Dallas. Thanks NFL. The Eagles beginning and finish will have extra meaning this year.

I think this schedule definitely has the potential of producing 10-12 wins for the Eagles. I can't really see them winning more than 12 games or winning less than about 8 as of right now. Weirder things have happened of course.

Carmelo Situation Gets a Bit More Messy

2008-04-15T14:24:00.005-04:00

The Denver Police Department is opening an investigation into whether Carmelo Anthony received preferential treatment by police officers.

I don't think this investigation is going to be that tough to investigate. Let's look at the facts:

Denver's CW2 has the facts:

"Anthony was then handcuffed and taken to Denver Health Medical Center where he submitted to a blood test. That's when police called Anthony's fiancee to pick him up.The law states when you're arrested for DUI in Denver, you're either
taken to Detox or released to a sober, responsible party. Anthony's fiancee refused to come get him, leaving police with only one choice -- take Anthony to Detox. Instead, the sergeant who responded personally took Anthony in his police car to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown Denver, were Anthony and his fiancee were staying."

It gets better though:

"In addition to the Sergeant driving Anthony to his hotel, another officer drove Anthony's $130,000 silver Mercedes to a parking lot at the Denver Police Traffic Operations Bureau until he could pick it up later in the day. Typically, the arresting officer would tow a car involved in a DUI case to an impound yard or drive it to a safe, but neutral location."

I think it's pretty clear, 'Melo got pampered after doing something terribly immoral.

Police investigate preferential treatment in Anthony DUI case (CW2)

Eagles 2008 Schedule Released

2008-04-15T13:56:00.006-04:00

The NFL released the 2008 schedule today and the Eagles will be on Monday night football when Philly will travel to Dallas on September 15th.

The Eagles will play the AFC North this year. Pennsylvania will be divided by green and gold instead of Obama and Hillary. On September 21st the Eagles will host the Steelers.

The Eagles host the Browns December 15th on MNF. Really. The Eagles and the Browns on MNF...together? I definitely didn't see that one coming.

The Eagles also play on Thanksgiving against the Cardinals.

What a weird schedule this year.

Here's the whole schedule:

Week 1
Sept. 7
St. Louis Rams
1 p.m.
Week 2
Sept. 15 (Mon.)
at Dallas Cowboys
8:30 p.m.
Week 3
Sept. 21
Pittsburgh Steelers
4:15 p.m.
Week 4
Sept. 28
at Chicago Bears
8:15 p.m.
Week 5
Oct. 5
Washington Redskins
1 p.m.
Week 6
Oct. 12
at San Francisco 49ers
4:15 p.m.
Week 7
Oct. 19
Bye

Week 8
Oct. 26
Atlanta Falcons
1 p.m.
Week 9
Nov. 2
at Seattle Seahawks
4:15 p.m.
Week 10
Nov. 9
New York Giants
8:15 p.m.
Week 11
Nov. 16
at Cincinnati Bengals
1 p.m.
Week 12
Nov. 23
at Baltimore Ravens
1 p.m.
Week 13
Nov. 27 (Thurs.)
Arizona Cardinals
8:15 p.m.
Week 14
Dec. 7
at New York Giants
1 p.m.
Week 15
Dec. 15 (Mon.)
Cleveland Browns
8:30 p.m.
Week 16
Dec. 21
at Washington Redskins
1 p.m.
Week 17
Dec. 28
Dallas Cowboys
1 p.m.

More to come...

76ers Better off Losing?

2008-04-15T11:58:00.003-04:00

I never want a team to lose on purpose, but every once in awhile it can be better for a team to lose. Last night may be one of those cases. Now I didn't want to see them lose in the way did, because it's a tough loss to swallow, but their playoff situation did improve.

The loss sets up a date with the Pistons in the first round of the playoffs. As I eluded to yesterday in my welcome back post, a first round matchup against Detroit wouldn't be that bad for the Sixers. Mo Cheeks's squad has taken on the Pistons three times since they started playing well in late January. The 76ers have won two of those three meetings, and looked really good in the last two meetings which Philadelphia both won.

A 76ers win last night would have kept the possibility of playing Orlando still open, something Philadelphia doesn't want. The Magic have won three of four meetings this year as the last two wins were in very convincing fashion. The Magic create a lot of matchup problems with the Sixers between Dwight Howard's post presence and the many guards and SF's Orlando has that can drill threes all game long and get to the paint if necessary.

So maybe this loss wasn't totally bad because I think the 76ers have a much better chance of getting out of the first round of the playoffs against Detroit than Orlando.

Basketball Season is Just 204 Days Away

2008-04-15T11:30:00.004-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 204 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. I started this countdown about 205 dayss before the season, so some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason 204: The Big East is going to be absolutely awesome in 2008-2009. Depending on what players come back for next season, the Big East could have one of the best seasons any conference has had ever. Look at the top nine teams in this conference from 2008 and most of them are getting much better, several will stay strong, and a few won't be quite as good, but teams like that for example Georgetown will still be very strong. The Hoyas bring in a strong recruting class to replace Jonathon Wallace and Roy Hibbert. I'll have more on this to come during the next month or so, but I'll leave you with "Bracketologist's" Joe Lunardi's early 2008-2009 bracketology which feautres nine, countem' nine Big East teams. SU slips in as seven seed.

Phillies Host Houston Tonight

2008-04-15T11:10:00.002-04:00

The Phillies will meet Houston for the first time in 2008 after the Phillies and the 'Stros split their six meetings in 2007.

Adam Eaton will pitch for the third time this season. Eaton is looking to string together his third consecutive quality start. Charlie Manuel has switched Eaton and Kyle Kendrick's spot in the rotation. Kendrick will pitch tomorrow. Eaton will throw today because it is his normal day to pitch which is probably a good move with Eaton's durability. You want him to get into a consistent routine to feel comfortable in the rotation.

Adam Eaton's first two starts have been two of his better starts he's had as a Phillie. One of the reasons: he's keeping the ball on the ground. 18 of the 41 outs he's gotten have come via the ground ball. A groundball rate over 40% is solid, especially since he's pitching in hitter friendly Citizen's Bank Ballpark tonight. The only homerun he's allow came when he was laboring through his final inning against the Reds.

The Astro's are currently without the services of super utilityman Ty Wigginton who's out with a broken thumb. Houston's lineup will most likely look like this:

1) Former Phillie speedster Michael Bourn.
2) Close to being the ageless Mark Loretta.
3) He's got three steals already Lance Berkman
4) Carlos "The horse in Spanish" Lee
5) He's got the same birthday as me, Miguel Tejada.
6) He's still got a spot in a starting lineup? Geoff Blum.
7) See batter number 6, Darin Erstad.
8) He's an awesome rookie, J.R. Towles.

Pitching will be Shawn Chacon. Chacon has bounced around the majors pitching for Colorado, the New York Yankees, and the Pirates. Chacon has been tough against two subpar hitting teams in St. Louis and San Diego. The current Phillies on the roster are a combined 17-61 against Chacon. Pedro Feliz has faced him the most, going 5-20 against Chacon with two homeruns.

Carmelo is Arrested

2008-04-14T16:20:00.003-04:00

Carmelo Anthony now has two strikes on his record after being arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence.

'Melo was suspended last year for 15 games after his role in the Madison Square Garden brawl below.

Anthony wasn't driving in a single lane and failed to dim his lights. He was released on bond early Monday morning is scheduled to appear in court May 14th.

It's been a great week for SU basketball...Donte' going pro and now Carmelo being arrested. I'm feeling maybe Josh Wright is going to ask the coaching staff to let him come back as a graduate assistant.

Cole Hamels Fact of the Day

2008-04-14T15:17:00.001-04:00

Everyday I will pay homage to Cole Hamels by listing one of the 1600+ facts from the vault of Cole Hamels Facts.

Today's fact:

1685. The Devil went down to Georgia because he knew if he went to Philadelphia, Cole would strike his ass out.

Non-CuseAdelphia Related Post Time Edwin Jackson Style

2008-04-14T14:52:00.003-04:00

I wanted to take a moment to praise Edwin Jackson for two quality starts after having one of the statistically worst stretches for a pitcher in a long time.

For those of you who don't know who Edwin Jackson is, you've been missing out. The guy has an absolute electric fastball that tops out close to 100mph on a good day. He's started out 2008 with two quality starts, allowing just one run in 14 innings and collecting two wins.

What most people don't know is Edwin is buried on what used to be a terrible Devil Rays team and no one knows of the guy except AL East fans that know their team gets to feast on his terrible pitching of the past. SportsCenter once showed a graphic comparing Jackson to Roy Halladay. This was not a flattering graphic in the least. It showed the two having astronomical ERAs over a certain number of innings, and this pathetic-ness was unmatched by anyone in the last decade or so. Now I couldn't find the exact numbers, but they were really, really bad. I think they were the only two pitchers to have 10 plus ERAs after pitching 50 innings to start a season. The Blue Jays sent Halladay down to Single A after his terrible stretch in 2000. Now Halladay is considered one of the premier starting pitchers in the league.

Now I'm not saying Jackson will become a premier starting pitcher because he never had great minor league numbers either, but the guy has nasty stuff. He could definitely turn into a 10-15 win pitcher for years to come. He's only 25 and has his best years ahead of him. Maybe the Rays are doing things right down, they never gave up on Edwin and their dedication may finally be paying off.

The Rays play the Yankees tomorrow and Edwin will be taking the mound so we'll see how Edwin does and if he's ready to take the next step.

And for the fantasy nerds out there (I'm one of them), grab Edwin and give him a bench spot. You don't have to start him yet, but he's definitely worth having on your bench to spot start and hold onto him if he becomes the real deal.

2008-2009 College Basketball Season is Near

2008-04-14T14:39:00.005-04:00

College Basketball always begins around November 5th or so which means college basketball is approximately 205 days away. Everyday I will have a new reason to look forward to the 2008-2009 season. Some of these are going to be lame, but hey I need 205 freaking reasons why you should be looking forward to the 2008-2009 season.

Reason number 205: Syracuse gets a shot at the nation's most notable terrible free throw shooting team December 20th. Syracuse will reportedly travel to Memphis. Remember the year SU won the national title? Yeah they played Memphis. Let's hope this is an omen.
My prediction for this game, Syracuse goes 17-28 from the line led by a 4-11 peformance by Arinze Onuaku. Memphis shoots 11-20.
Of course everyone thought having a stud point guard and a SF/PF combo from Towson Catholic coming off an NIT year like 2001-2002 meant SU was going to win a national title in 2008 and we all know how that worked out.

CuseAdelphia Makes its Triumphant Return

2008-04-14T14:15:00.004-04:00

After my toughest and busiest semester up on the hill, which severely limited my ability to run this website, my workload has finally decreased significantly. I didn't have the two plus hours a day to work on this site. I wasn't going to run this site half-fast. So now I think most days I'm going to have the time regularly update this site.

So what I have missed since my last post around two months ago?

Syracuse men's basketball goes to the NIT, blows a big lead again, Donte' Greene says schools ain't for him, and pursues millions of dollar in the NBA.
Syracuse women's basketball reached new heights going to the NCAA tournament. Looking back at the last two months if I regret not writing anything on this site, it's not covering the women's team because they deserved coverage they weren't getting.
Syracuse men's LAX is awesome. Plain and simple. This team went from 5-8 to being one of the most complete teams in the country. That's a phenomenal turnaround that I give both the players and coaches credit for.
Syracuse women's LAX has been great, not completely awesome though. They've lost pretty convincingly in statement games. They still beat Georgetown for the first time ever in the regular season 18-3 as Christina Dove broke her own scoring record the next game.
SU football has been toning down their offensive linemen in attempt to get them to be faster and nimbler. Averin Collier has a broken foot: an injured SU running back, what a surprise. What is a surprise is that the University isn't carting his injured ass around campus so he doesn't have to run awkwardly to the South Campus bus.

The Phillies are off to one of their best starts in years which sadly is only 6-7. With the way they get hot through May, they've got the National League right where they want them.
The 76ers have already clinched a playoff spot and will be heading into the playoffs with a likely first round opponent of Orlando or Detroit. A first round matchup with Detroit could mean a series win looking at the 2008 head to head and the way these two teams match up.
The Flyers are back into the playoffs after finishing dead last in 2007. The Flyers basically have a best of five left with home ice advantage against the Caps.

Now I must ask, did you miss me?

Unsung Heroes

2008-03-12T22:07:00.002-04:00

... Hero.

Rodney Carney is his name, fooling the Pistons is his game. What's encouraging about this one is, Willie Green sat out. Andre Miller left in the fourth quarter. The Pistons came back and took the lead as the Pistons do. But the Sixers fought through it and got the W. Rodney Carney had 16 points and played some great defense.

So far Philly is 1-1 in Judgement Week. After getting embarrassed by the Celtics on Monday, the Sixers clung to a lead and eeked out a one point win, 83-82. Detriot just looked confused. Not at all like themselves. Maybe they won't sweep Philly in the playoffs.

The Celtics, however... now THEY are GOOD. And I mean very good. Just a quick note about that game-- Sam Cassell's past in the then First Union now Wachovia Center absolutely haunts him. He picked up three fouls in about two minutes the other night.

So what happened?

2008-02-28T09:30:00.008-05:00

The Sixers are actually looking like a legit squad. What's even better-- Ed Stefanski didn't pull the trigger on any silly trades before the deadline passed. Everything is safe, at least for this season.

Philly's put together a nice little streak as of late, winning 8 of 10 since giving up a 20 point lead in a loss to Atlanta on February 4. And they've beaten some good teams: Orlando, Dallas... ok, so just the Magic and Mavs. Anyway, during that time, Andre Miller has been OWNING the competition. His PPG is up to 19.8 for February. Through January, Miller was averaging 15.8 PPG.

Honestly, Miller's numbers for February have padded his season stats. Check out this line: 19.8 points, 8.8 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. The point guard is shooting 84% from the charity stripe and 57% from the floor this month. The change can't be explained, but it is absolutely for the better.

Enough on Andre Miller... now to the rest of the team. The Sixers have *skyrocketed* to third in the Atlantic division. That's basically like second place. I don't count the Celtics.

The Sixers are also in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. However, unless they finish fourth or fifth they probably won't get out of the first round. Things are just so shaken up now because it remains to be seen how much better Ben Wallace will really make the Cavaliers. I think the Sixers could play the Celtics tough because of the rivalry-- no way there would be a sweep. The Pistons would absolutely own the Sixers. But a Magic matchup would be intriguing.

Oh what a great segue. Ironically Philly beat Orlando 101-89 last night at the Wachovia Center just five days after losing to the team in Florida. The Sixers starting backcourt outscored Orlando's 52-2. I am not kidding. That is a factually accurate statistic people. Miller and Green destroyed Nelson and Evans. Granted Maurice Evans played just ten minutes in the first half. But still, that's an incredible number.

Things are on the up in Sixerland. The team is also playing as just that-- a team. Stat lines are incredible... last night, forced 20 turnovers and only had 11. Andre Miller is becoming an assist machine. The weapons are firing from all angles. Last night it was all about the guards/swingmen-- Willie Green, Andre Miller, and Andre Iguodala each scored over 20.

One more game left in February-- hopefully the Sixers can leap their way to another victory this month.

LAST PLACE

2008-02-22T01:20:00.002-05:00

- 30-17-5, 65 points, 1st in the Atlantic, 2 points up on both New Jersey and Pittsburgh

How about this? Just three points back of Ottawa now for the top spot in the conference. The Senators have been struggling (the Flyers gave them a nice pounding) and with the Flyers playing the way they are, 1st in the East is not out of the question by any means. Of course, 3rd place in the division is not out of the question either. I hope Stevens is emphasizing the importance of every game at this point to the team. February will be a critical month to set up for the final push. Capitals at home tomorrow, then a couple division games against the Rangers at home and the Penguins on the road. We need a good game tomorrow against Washington, because the next two will not be easy.

That's what I wrote on February 5th. Now we are in the basement of the division and are 10th in the conference. Funny how the sports world works. I really have nothing more to say on the matter. I'm not NHL-savvy enough to break down exactly what's going wrong with the team and how we can turn it around. I can't offer any more insight than other people. All I'm going to say is I'm still hoping we will return to form in enough time to make a serious playoff push.

-ajd

And Still Losing...

2008-02-20T19:39:00.002-05:00

Sure, I could rant about how the Flyers are shooting themselves in the foot as the season nears the home stretch. I could rant about how frustrated I am that Peter Forsberg isn't healthy enough to make a return. I could rant about how we can't beat any divisional opponents. I could rant about how this team was the worst team in hockey last year, got off to a completely unexpected start this year, only to see the incredible turnaround start to slowly fade into oblivion. I could rant about how ineffecitve Danny Briere has been over the last month. I could rant about Simon Gagne's injuries. I could rant about the suddenly unstable goalie situation.

But really, what's the point? All I (or anybody) can do at this point is keep on rooting for the Flyguys to snap out of this funk and return to their early season form. Plenty of time left in the season, so here's to hoping the team wakes up starting now.

-ajd

Still Losing

2008-02-17T13:34:00.003-05:00

I was so caught up in the euphoria of Syracuse's win over Georgetown that I plum forgot that there was a Flyers game later in the day. Of course, once I checked ESPN.com last night, I realized that indeed there was one, and that we had lost yet again. Just terrific.

We lost to Montreal, 1-0. We failed on our power plays, including our 5-on-3 effort. We couldn't get the puck past ANOTHER backup goalie, this time Carey Price (?). We managed to play a good defensive game, and Antero Nittymaki played well, but it all went to waste. Nitty lost his concentration for a split second when Andrei Kostitsyn stunned him with a crazy goal. And that was it. It's all the Canadiens needed.

Now we've lost SIX in a row. We are officially in panic-mode, people. I don't want to hear the ol', 'oh there's plenty of time left in the season, there's no reason to panic yet' excuse. In case you're not paying attention, we are in the 6th spot in the East, but we are a meager 4 points ahead of the 12th team, the Islanders. In this new NHL where points are given out so generously because of overtime losses, a six game pointless streak for a team competing for a division title/playoff spot is inexplicable and potentially fatal. Let's face it, this team was awful last year. They weren't supposed to be this good this year. Maybe the magic is wearing off. But when you get off to the start like they did, you just expect that to be the norm for the whole season. Hopefully the Flyers will wake up tonight and split with the Canadiens. If they don't, it's possible that we'll be in the 8th spot after today.

- Nittymaki did what he had to do: .950 save%
- The once potent power play is sagging.
- Please get Forsberg a uniform.
- Should that goal for the Flyers have counted late in the 3rd? Maybe. But methinks the refs are not responsible for another loss.
- 30-23-5, 65 points, 3rd in Atlantic, 6 points behind New Jersey. 24 games left.

-ajd

By No Means is Syracuse's Season Over

2008-02-14T21:52:00.003-05:00

I've been checking out a lot of talk on the message boards and discussions taking place in comments on syracuse.com and what is out there is just ridiculous.

Yes, Syracuse doesn't have the greatest resume right now and will need to win some tough, hard games the rest of the year. What the majority of the rest of the world doesn't realize is, it's not how good your resume is, it's how it compared to the other teams out there.

Right now, Syracuse looks pretty darn good against a lot of teams they are competing against for the last five or so at large bids in the tournament.

Last night was a prime example of this.

Duquesne beat Dayton which put both teams at 16-7, however Duquesne is 6-4 in the A-10 and Dayton is 4-6. Both are bubble teams. Now if Duquesne finishes 9-7 in conference which is very likely with their remaining schedule and Dayton can get to 8-8, do you think they would take those teams over a Big East team that's 9-9 (and to get those nine wins they would have beaten some very good teams). The answer is no as long as Syracuse wins a game in the Big East Tournament.

Also Rhode Island lost to Temple last night 92-89. The Rams are now 6-4, for them to make the tournament over Syracuse they would need to finish at least 9-7 which could be difficult with their remaining games in the A-10. Charlotte's bubble also burst last night. They had a chance to beat Xavier last night, but couldn't a close game out. They drop to 5-4 in the A-10 and already have nine losses.

The last two nights really hurt a few SEC schools. Florida, Ole Miss, and Kentucky all took steps back. Florida lost to a terrible LSU team (a comparable loss for Syracuse to South Florida). The Gators are now 19-6, 6-4 in the SEC and have one of the worst out of conference schedules ever.
Kentucky was making a run, starting out 6-2 in the SEC, but suffered their worst loss in decades on the road in Vanderbilt. Had they finished 13-3 or 12-4 in league play would have made them an interesting case for the bubble because of their terrible start, but strong finish. The loss to Vanderbilt really throws that scenario out the window unless they dominate down the stretch.
Mississippi is this year's Clemson. Undefeated out of conference, 3-6 in conference and playing terrible. They are 17-6 in conference and if they don't get back to about 9-7 in conference which will be virtually impossible or go to the conference finals, they aren't getting in.

In the ACC, several more bubble teams are hurting the last two nights. Maryland's impressive run thus far in the conference ended with a pretty convincing loss last night at Duke. They are still 6-4 in conference and 16-9 out of conference, but have a terrible loss to American. NCST missed their chance to pick up a solid road win over BC tonight; this leaves the Wolfpack under .500 in conference including a complete embarrassment against North Carolina.

In the Big 12, Baylor has really started to fall off. After starting conference play 4-0, they've lost four of five including a bad road loss against Oklahoma State. This team has not been the same since winning in quintuple overtime at Texas A&M. What the Bears have going for them is, they have a lot of quality wins. Also in the Big 12, Oklahoma is largely considered in by a lot of "bracketologists," but they are 4-5 in conference and have lost three of their last four.

Davidson is another interesting case. They are rolling through the Southern Conference. Should they lose a game in their conference tournament after finishing their regular season slate in conference undefeated, I don't think they should be in. I commend them for going out and scheduling, UCLA, UNC, Duke, NCST, and Charlotte. People argue they should be awarded for this, and I agree with that to a point. The problem? They didn't win a single one of those games. They also went on the road to an above average MAC team in Western Michigan and lost. The NCAA Tournament at large builds are for the best teams not to win their conference tournament. How can this team be considered one of those teams when they lost every single test they had out of conference? They don't have a single quality win and don't deserve to be in the tournament should they lose their conference tournament.

In the Big East, there's really only two teams legitimately on the bubble, West Virginia and Syracuse. WVU has done enough to get in the tournament. I would be shocked if the Big East doesn't get at least seven bids. Their ability to get an eighth will come down to whether SU can win some big games down the stretch or if Seton Hall could go on an amazing run to get them back into contention.

Finally in the PAC-10, Oregon, Cal, Arizona, Arizona State, and USC are all on the bubble. They are all either 6-5, 5-5, or 4-5 in the conference right now. Any team that finishes 10-8 or better in that league is in. Any team that's 9-9 won't be in unless it's Arizona because of their great strength of schedule, any team that's 8-10 isn't getting in. That conference probably gets six teams in, UCLA, Stanford, and Wazzau are almost locks at this point. Out of those five teams above on the bubble, two should get to 10-8, Arizona will probably reach 9-9 because of a tough remaining schedule, but that should get them in as long as they win a game in the PAC-10 tournament.

Update, as I wrote those, South Alabama lost to Middle Tennessee State. Before this game, South Alabama was 20-4 and had just one loss in the Sun Belt Conference. They were another team that was considered a strong bubble team if they won out and then lost their conference tournament. This second loss in the Sun Belt is very damaging to their over profile.

Also, another Atlantic-10 team on the bubble fell tonight in another game comparable to Syracuse-South Florida. Fordham (who Syracuse handled early) beat UMASS in Amherst. This drops UMASS to 15-9. In all likelyhood, UMASS will finished with 11 or 12 losses. I can't see that A-10 team getting in over a 20-13, 21-13, or 22-12 Syracuse team, SU's three most likely records that would keep them in at large contention. UMASS would fall to 4-6 in the conference also. UMASS has a fairly easy schedule the rest of the way and can only afford to lose one more game in conference.

So overall, Syracuse 100% controls their own destiny. If they win four more games between the conference schedule and the Big East Tournament they are in this year. This isn't like last year when there was an obnoxious amount of 20 win BCS conference teams. 20 wins in any BCS conference will almost gaurenteed get the team in.

Sixers = playoffs?

2008-02-14T15:03:00.002-05:00

Am I getting ahead of myself? Yeah, probably. In fact definitely. But, I can't help but be excited about this nifty 5 game winning streak going into the All-Star break. And if the season ended today, we'd be the 8th seed in the East. That's pretty cool, considering what most experts predicted of us this year.

With the Flyers in struggle mode, it's nice to see the Sixers streaking toward a possible playoff push. And now since it looks like the Nets are shipping Kidd off (I don't know the details of the whole Devean George deal), they probably aren't going to get better. 3rd in the division and 8th in the conference ain't too far-fetched when you've got a bunch of equally-mediocre teams around you.

Here's to hoping we keep Andre Miller through this season and make a serious run at getting into the postseason and then losing to Boston or Detroit in the first round! You know, I hope we get in and play the Celtics in round one. If the Warriors can top Dallas, I see no reason why we can't do the same to Boston, especially given the heated rivalry where anything can happen. Good luck to the Sixers in the second half. Let's do it for Mo Cheeks.

-ajd

The Women Win Again

2008-02-14T10:27:00.003-05:00

After starting out worst than the men did, Coach Quentin Hillsman's women's team was able to rebound literally and figuratively against Seton Hall.

The Ladies went almost eight minutes without scoring and fell behind 15-2, but like the Orange did against Marquette, they went on two big runs 9-0 and 11-0 to eventually take a 26-22 lead.

The second half the Orange exploded for 51 points on 66.7% shooting. For the game the Orange finished at a VERY impressive 55.1%. The 'Cuse also drilled their three-pointers and free throws, hitting 7 of 12 threes and 20 of 22 free throws during the game.

That's quite a turn around from the previous couple games when SU struggled to shoot even half those percentages.

The Orange used their rebounding abilities to their advantage collecting eight more rebounds than the Pirates.

Some more positives:
Erica Morrow was awesome again. She dropped 23 on the Pirates, giving her 47 points in the last two games. Maybe she should keep the pink hair for the rest of the year she's been sporting to raise awareness for breast cancer.

Fantasia Goodwin is back on track with a solid 10-12 shooting performance for 20 points.

Some negatives:
Chandrea Jones is struggling as teams focus on her. This has allowed Erica Morrow to go bonkers, but Jones needs to find better looks at the basket. She can't be shooting 5-13 against better teams and expect to win.

Turnovers once again was an issue. Six players had at least two turnovers and the Orange had 19 for the game. SU almost gave the game away to Marquette with more than two dozen turnovers and struggled again last night against SHU. Turnovers lead to easy points, something they can't afford to give to the top tier of teams in the Big East.

Overall:
The Orange are now 19-4 and 7-3 in the conference. They have an RPI of 19th. If the Orange stay on track they should be heading towards a five or maybe even a four seed in the NCAA tournament. Who would have thought on Valentine's Day the women's team would be projected as a four seed while the men are struggling to get into the tournament.

SU faces off against Notre Dame Saturday night in the Dome. The Fighting Irish enter the game with a solid 7-3 record in the Big East and 19-5 overall. The winner moves into fourth place in the Big East.

Looks like Nitology Edition II is Coming Syracuse's Way

2008-02-13T21:24:00.001-05:00

SU just did not come prepared to play tonight in South Florida. I said they would get off to a slow start, but this was just ridiculous and unacceptable.

Despite the furious comeback late in the game by the Orange, the Bulls win it 89-78. The Orange showed heart late in the game, but the terrible turnovers and overall execution cost Syracuse too much.

Syracuse had all the size in this game, but didn't take advantage of it. Paul Harris should have been all over the Bulls. He tore apart an undersized Villanova lineup, but also played well against a huge lineup against UCONN. He should have been able to completely take over this game, but didn't.

Jim Boeheim is a great coach, a Hall of Fame coach, but USF's coach Stan Heath took him to school today. Boeheim had a week to prepare for this game, but had nothing for South Florida. The Bulls attacked the zone perfectly and then really picked apart the man to man Boeheim went to.

First half free throw shooting also helped bury this team. They shot 6 of 13 from the line in the first half which helped extend the deficit. As the 'Cuse began to fall further behind with the missed free throws and turnovers, the Orange began resorting to bad looks at the basket as soon as they got down court.

When you're down 20 with 14 minutes left, you have a size advantage, and your opponent's big men are in serious foul trouble, take the ball to the hoop every single possession. Just go to the hoop and go up strong. You should score almost half the time plus the fouls you'll pick up. The Orange could have really cut down this lead if they had done that.

Defensively, I'm not too entirely sure what to think. Overall, you have to say it was a poor effort between the constant easy opportunities off the failed press and turnovers. SU also often forced South Florida to take a long time to get off a shot, but many times late in the shot clock the Orange defense just broke down.

The press was absolutely killing Syracuse the entire second half. Yes, they forced some turnvers, but USF got so many easy baskets and drew so many fouls because they broke the press without a problem. Several times, Syracuse doubled once in the half court, but USF got a couple of wide open looks which they drilled.

Kudos to Kentrell Gransberry though. He played tough all game in foul trouble. He completely took over the game in the second half. He got USF off to a solid start with a couple early baskets and then kept South Florida rolling in the second half.

Same to Jesus Verdajo. The guy played the game of his life. For USF to win this game, they needed someone other than Dominique Jones and Kentrell Gransberry to step up, and Verdajo was that guy. When Syracuse was able to shut the two of them down, Verdajo was able to get a very good look.

Thanks Kristof! for showing up to play today. Orange nation appreciates your one rebound, three personal foul performance today during the first 35 minutse of the game. I know he had a couple big players late in the game, but his performance or lack there of during the bulk of this game really helped put SU in a massive hole. When you're playing seven players, you can't have one just absolutely not show up like this.

What this does in terms of Syracuse's NCAA tournament status:
SU didn't have a terrible loss yet this year until tonight. Standing at 16-9 with a 6-6 conference record with a remaining schedule from hell, things don't look good at all. I thought they could get in the tournament with a 9-9 conference record if they were the right nine wins. SU is now setting up to be able to get a "solid" nine wins if they can get there. To get to nine wins they would need to beat Seton Hall on the road and then pull out two games against five of the six best Big East teams. If they can get those two wins plus a win at Seton Hall they will still be alright heading into selection Sunday if they win a game in the Big East Tournament. With all that said, obviously Syracuse needed this win badly and it will hurt them dearly. This was one of those games that in no way was going to help your resume, but only hurt it.

On a side night, awesome crowd again for the Orange. There were several very noticable "Let's Go Orange" chants in the second half.

For Syracuse, they need to just do the old cliche of put it behind them and go after Georgetown. I have a feeling the Georgetown game will either be another butt kicking like tonight or Syracuse will come out and put a hurt on the Hoyas in front of the massive Dome crowd. The crowd for that game should be over 30,000. The best tickets you can buy online through SUAthletics are in section 320 and 336 near the top of those sections. Those are the second longview sections on each end of the court. If you are going to that game and don't have tickets get them ASAP or you will be sitting so far away you might as well just watch the game on the jumbo screens. For those of you going to the game, get there early. It takes awhile to get 30,000+ people onto the campus and into the Dome.

On the bright side, the women's team beat Seton Hall 81-72. More on the game after I write a paper for CFS 362: Youths, Schooling, and the Pop culture (Yes that class actually exists and yes it is a part of the education program at Syracuse).

Syracuse Bracketology Edition VI

2008-02-12T20:35:00.001-05:00

Syracuse is barely hanging on in the Bracket Matrix. Although they are in 28 of the 37 brackets that make up the matrix, the Orange is just the third to last team to get an at large bid. They are beating out other contenders like Oregon, Arizona State, George Mason, and North Carolina State who in my mind are ways behind Syracuse in overall resume.

NCST stands 36th in the RPI right behind Syracuse. They are 15-8 and 4-5 in the ACC, but have a strength of schedule over 20 spots behind Syracuse. Their best win is home against free falling Miami. They have one very questionable loss at RPI 237 East Carolina.
George Mason is 17-7 and 9-4 in the CAA. They are 59th in RPI which is a good 15 spots too low to get a bid this year. They have three solid wins, home against Dayton who's also free falling, Kansas State, and CAA conference leader VCU. They also have several questionable losses worse than NCST's. They lost at HOME to East Carolina and on the road to RPI 288 Georgia State. Any team that loses to a team 275 or worse in the RPI and is on the bubble should be passed up every single time.
Arizona State is 72nd in the RPI, 15-7 and 5-5 in the PAC-10. They have four quality wins, two over Arizona, one at California, and against Xavier. They have two terrible losses to a bad team in Illinois and to Washington, a team Syracuse beat. ASU was also beat handily by Nebraska, Washington State, USC and UCLA blew ASU out.
Oregon is RPI number 47, 14-9, and 5-6 in the conference. The Ducks have solid wins over Arizona, Cal, Stanford, and K-State, but lost on the road to St. Mary's, Oakland, Nebraska, and got the living daylights blown out of them at Stanford.

Syracuse has shown an ability to win on the road recently, something most of the bubbles teams above and below them have not. This suggest Syracuse should be able to win at least two of their four remaining road games (Notre Dame, Louisville, South Florida, and Seton Hall). Since the Orange have Georgetown, Pitt, and Marquette at home, they should be able to win one if not two of those games.

The Hoops Report puts Syracuse in as an 11 seed facing off with Washington State in the first round. That would be a tough game to win since WSU is a real tough it out, grind it out kind of team, something Syracuse might have problems with because of their depth problems. The second round opponent in would likely be Michigan State. MSU is a team I personally would like to play because when Drew Neitzel struggles, the rest of the team tends to not show up. Case and point tonight. Purdue has kept Neitzel out of the game and MSU has put up 52 points heading into the final minute.
Bracketology3 has Syracuse in as a part of their last four in along with St. Joe's, Oklahoma (another under .500 in conference), and Arizona State.
Bracketology 101 has Syracuse in their last four out and writes this about Syracuse:
Syracuse failed in its attempt to pick up a big win against UConn this week. They have another shot at one this weekend with Georgetown coming in. After that their remaining schedule is brutal (@Louisville, @ND, Pitt, @Seton Hall, Marquette) so we don't like their chances getting to at least 10-8 in conference play, which is what it is going to take to get an at-large out of the Big East.
Breaking Down the Bracket gets featured for the old school logo of Syracuse they have in must see TV. They write about the Orange's upcoming game against Georgetown:
While I have Syracuse in the tourney (barely) this would be a huge opportunity to solidfy a postseason berth with a win against a Georgetown squad that is just getting by in recent wins.

Overall, as long Syracuse finishes 9-9 in the Big East, with a top 40 RPI, win one game in the Big East tournament, and don't get blown out in any other their remaining games, they should get in. The other teams they are competing with for the last few at large spots are almost all under .500 in their conference with just as tough remaining schedules as Syracuse.

South Florida Preview

2008-02-12T20:10:00.000-05:00

The last time Syracuse and South Florida met, they played a very up tempo game. Syracuse was able to turn many transition opportunities into easy scores. They recorded a 114.6 offensive rating, their third best performance in Big East play. South Florida had one of their best games in the Big East offensively also against a Syracuse team that was just beginning to come into their own defensively. The 99 rating South Florida put up was their fourth best output in conference play.

South Florida plays slower than average at a pace off 66 possessions a game which is around what Syracuse has been playing at in Big East play. The Bulls don't excel at any one part of the game, and overall they generally bad at almost every aspect of the game. South Florida doesn't rebound very well, especially defensively. On the offensive glass they will get their fair share of boards thanks to center Kentrell Gransberry.

Gransberry leads a very undersized lineup. KG is just 6'9'' and is typically undersized against most Big East centers, but he is still in the top five in the league in rebounding. Of the six players that receive the most playing time for coach Stan Heath, only two of them are taller than 6'4''. If Syracuse sticks with their big lineup of Jonny Flynn, Paul Harris, Kristof!, Donte' Greene, and Arinze Onuaku, four players from Syracuse will be taller than the Bulls' third tallest player.

Syracuse needs to rebound out of the zone well. If they can do this and hit the offensive boards hard, they should really be able to control the game. Syracuse is 18th in the county in offensive rebounding, while South Florida is 200th in defensive rebounding. The Orange will limit South Florida possessions while gaining more looks at the basket for themselves.

South Florida's size is also evident in blocks. They have one out of every eight two-point shots blocked, an extremely high rate. Syracuse is very solid at blocking shots, so seven or more blocks is definitely possible in this game for the Orange. Blocks lead to extra transition opportunities which means easier points for the Orange. We saw this against UCONN, the many Hasheem Thabeet blocks led to numerous easy baskets for the Huskies. SU hasn't been able to get out into transition as much lately, minus the Villanova game which is one of various reasons why the Orange have struggled to put up points recently.

South Florida features several young guards. Dominique Jones is one of the best freshman guards in the country you've never heard of. If he was on a better team in the Big East, he would be getting serious contention for Big East Rookie of the Year. Sophomore Chris Howard has also been solid for the Bulls in the back court. South Florida's guards are definitely the strength of this team.

South Florida will chuck up a lot of threes with little success. They shoot about 16 a game and hit just 5.5. Not a single USF Bull shoots better than 40% from three as they have seven players who shoot between 30 and 40%. Six of those players will take at least one three-pointer a game.

USF has a solid assist to turnover ratio, partly due to their strong guard play. They average 15 assists to 13.5 turnovers which is a very low amount for a team that's won only one Big East game.

Overall, the Orange should be able to take this game. South Florida hasn't had a pulse in Big East play as they've lost ten in a row since winning their opening at home against Rutgers. USF will probably play them tough for awhile, but probably fade down the stretch as they did last year in the Sun Dome.

CuseAdelphia prediction: Syracuse 78, South Florida 66.

Feel free to post your predictions.

Gosh darn it

2008-02-10T16:23:00.000-05:00

I didn't want to come here today, to talk about a 3-game losing streak. Rather, I wanted to talk about how the Flyers had tied the Penguins for the Atlantic lead after a momentary lapse of quality games. Unfortunately, I'm not posting about that.

A 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh today means Philly is back in 3rd place alone in the division, which obviously isn't terrible because we're only 4 points back, but IS terrible because we've lost 3 in a row and we got beat by two division opponents. As I've said before, I'm OK with a little losing streak against non-division teams. But when you go on a skid against the rest of the Atlantic, it's bad and it annoys me. Especially when you get shut out AGAIN by the Rangers BACKUP and lose to a team you're competing with for the division title.

Losing to Washington at home didn't hurt too bad because that team is on a roll and looks like they may just win the lukewarm Southeast Division. But the Rangers game was very disheartening. I watched the game here in Syracuse, and once again our offense was very uninspiring against the Rangers D and Mr. Valiquette. Also, as "big momma" pointed out yesterday, our penalty kill seems to take days off when we play against a mediocre power play team. The Devils were godlike and the Rangers were also extremely effective against us. For as great as our power play is, the other end of the special teams likes to let us down at the worst times.

Today's performance against the Penguins wasn't bad, but a lame second period killed us in the end. Marty Biron didn't have his best performance, but I can't really make a judgment because I didn't see the game and I'm just interpreting what I'm reading from the AP report. But in a rhetorical sense, we can't keep losing these games to divisional opponents. Losing streaks are bound to happen over an 82-game season, but it really ticks me off to lose 5 of our last 6 against Atlantic teams. That kind of thing can't happen at this point of the season if you want to be either a division champion or taken seriously come playoff time.

- R.J. Umberger, 2 goals, very nice.
- 1/2 PK, eh.
- Daniel Briere is in a bit of a scoring funk.
- 30-20-5, 65 points, 3rd in Atlantic, 4 back of Pittsburgh, 1 back of New Jersey.

Interestingly, our fall to 6th in the conference means we would match up with the Capitals in the first round if the season were to end today. I've said all along if we don't win the division, our best bet is to finish 6th so we can go up against the Southeast champion, who probably won't be a great team. But we'll see.

Peter Forsberg is close to making a decision on his comeback. Any Flyers fan should be crossing their fingers and hoping he returns to the orange and black. If our last few games are any indication, especially the Rangers game, I don't think anybody would argue we could use the extra spark.

-ajd

The Flyers are depressing me...

2008-02-09T22:49:00.000-05:00

...which is why I haven't got around to posting on their last two defeats. But don't worry, I'll have stuff to say after tomorrow's clash with the Crosby-less Penguins. Let's just hope they win, otherwise it'll take me awhile to get around to writing about their recent failures.

-ajd

The Syracuse Women host Marquette Sunday

2008-02-08T13:19:00.000-05:00

The Ladies will try to rebound from their loss at Georegtown last Saturday against Marquette in the Dome Sunday at 2 PM.

The Lady Orange are 17-4 and 5-3 in the conference while Marquette is 13-9 and 5-4 in conference.

The Golden Eagles have a few quality wins, but also have a couple puzzling losses. They lost to a terrible Oregon and an even worse Northwestern team. NU has just four wins this year, one of them being against Marquette. On the flip side, they beat SU's last opponent Georgetown at home, and also beat DePaul at home. They've also shown an ability to win on the road against a tough opponent when they beat UW-Green Bay who's 17-4 out of the Horizon League. Marquette's RPI is 75. For a complete look at their schedule, check out realtimerpi.com.

Marquette is an extremely deep team as they consistently go ten deep. Krystal Ellis leads the team in scoring at 19.1 per and is the only Golden Eagle averaging double digit points. Ellis is the team's only three point threat. She's the only player on the team to average one three-pointer per game. As a team, Marquette only shoots 26.6% from behind the arc. Look for the SU zone to try to force MU into as many three point attempts as possible.

The Golden Eagles best post player is Svetlana Kovalenko. Yes, she is Russian, and she's 6'3'', but she attended high school in Michigan. Svetlana averages 8.4 ppg and 7.9 rpg.

As a whole Marquette is a terrible shooting team, but does a lot of the intangibles well. Case and point, they shoot just 40% from the field, 27% from three, and 65% from the line. They do however out rebound their opponents by three a game and record more than 12 steals a game. As a whole, they force 22 turnovers a game.

Keys for the Orange:

Chandra Jones can't get into foul trouble. She did against Georgetown and the Orange lost.
Active 2-3 zone. Don't let Marquette penetrate. Force MU into three pointers, my high school church league team shoots better than them for three.
Don't the ball over. If the Golden Eagles have any chance in this game they are going to have force upwards of 22 turnovers, their season average, to compete with the Orange.

CuseAdelphia prediction: Syracuse 76, Marquette 68. Marquette has played a lot of close Big East games and this should be another. It will be interesting to see what kind of impact the Dome crowd which has been up over 3,000 people the last two games will have on the Golden Eagles.

Syracuse's Relay For Life

2008-02-08T13:16:00.000-05:00

Every year Syracuse University hosts a Relay for Life event during the spring. If you don't know what Relay for Life is you can check out their website here, but cliff notes version is it's a charity event to help the American Cancer Society.

Different organizations across Syracuse University form teams of up to 15 people to raise money. Each team gets to camp out on the Dome turf for the night as one person must continue walking around the perimeter of the track during the entire event, some of which is during the night. Teams can win awards for best campsite, most spirit, and best banner.

Teams also raise money during the event through their own fundraisers. Otto's Army, the student section group raised money by pieing members of the group in the face.

I am an active member of Otto's Army and we have formed another team this year. The University wants to raise $300,000 as a whole. Otto's Army wants to raise at least $5,000.

Last year we raised almost $3400, third most for any group in the University.

If you want to help us attain our goal you can donate in the name of Otto's Army here.

CuseAdelphia Odds and Ends

2008-02-07T19:52:00.000-05:00

I've been terribly busy the last few days, hence no posts in awhile. Let's start with a few links.

A Daily Orange columnist free lances for Sports Illustrated about the feel good story of a walk-on the Syracuse basketball team.

The 700 Level got to talk with 76ers GM Ed Stefanski.

It's not the Quest-o-Meter, but it's still an awesome Bubble Meter.

A.J. wrote last week about bringing Chad Johnson to Philadelphia, The ADD Show writes how to bring him here.

Tennis's version of A-Rod is an Orange?

David Wright might be the smartest guy ever.

Paul Harris was so good against UCONN I wish there were five of him on the court.

Don't send a lame Holiday eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!