Chase Utley: Front Runner for NL MVP

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.

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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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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.

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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

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

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

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

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'

• 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.