Injuries, Injuries, Injuries

The injury bug has clearly bitten the Fightins pretty hard this year, with the starting rotation and bullpen taking the biggest hits. Here’s where we stand for the time being.

-Jimmy Rollins will be back with the team starting tomorrow. There has been no official word on whether or not he’ll be in the starting lineup, but the smart money says he will be. Wilson Valdez will likely be the one sent back to the minors, but since he is out of options, he will have to clear waivers first. Shane Victorino has done a tremendous job hitting out of the leadoff spot, batting .300 and entering the night second in the league in RBIs with 32, but J-Roll is the spark that makes this team go. They’ll be thrilled to have him back.

-Carlos Ruiz will also likely be back with the team tomorrow; Tuesday at the latest; after leaving Friday’s game against the Rockies with a sprained ligament in his right knee. Because Brian Schneider is on the 15-day disabled list, Paul Hoover will remain on the roster. Personally, I was silently rooting for Hoover to get hurt as well so we could see The Bearded One’s catching abilities, but the baseball gods didn’t share my hopes and dreams.

-On a not so happy note, Brad Lidge is back to the DL with inflammation in his right elbow. The team says that they knew that another trip to the DL was a possibility after an MRI showed the inflammation, but did not want to risk injecting it with anything, instead hoping that rest would clear up the mess. When it did not, the decision was made to sit Lidge down for a few weeks. In his absence, Jose Contreras will take over closing responsibilities. Contreras is 2-1 with a .68 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 13.1 innings this year. He has been far and away the team’s best reliever, so the hope is that he can keep his hot streak going until Lidge’s elbow is stabilized.

-Finally, J.A. Happ’s return is still a few weeks away. He was able to play catch this weekend and is looking to throw a bullpen session next week. If he is able to do so, he is still a few rehab starts away from returning to the rotation, so my guess is we’ll be seeing Happ some time in mid-June. A long way away, but Kyle Kendrick is finally starting to hit his stride and give the Phils some quality innings, posting a 2.77 ERA in two starts in May, so Happ’s absence doesn’t hurt quite as badly as it could… for now.

-On a totally unrelated note, my buddy Turk and I made it down to Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals tonight. Words could not even BEGIN to describe it. If you watched the game, you could hear how loud the place was. The crowd, the game, everything about the night just screamed Philadelphia passion. I was at the clinching game of the NLCS last year and Game 4 of the World Series, and neither of them even came close to the electricity that was running through the Wach tonight. I’m a baseball man through and through, but this hockey game was hands down the coolest sporting event that I have ever been lucky enough to be a part of. If you can get to a game this series or (fingers crossed) the next one, it’ll be worth every penny. I promise.

They Did It

You all watched it. You’ve heard or said everything that I would so I won’t even waste your time. That was fucking amazing.

A few quick stats from last night’s game and the upcoming series.

- As you heard a million times, it was only the third time in NHL history that a team came back to win after being down 3-0 in a series.

- The Philly-Montreal series marks the first time that a 7 and 8 seed will meet in the conference finals. Ironically, it’s 1 vs 2 in the West.

- The Flyers and the Canadiens split the season series 2-2, with Montreal winning the first and last games.

I don’t see any possible way the Flyers lose this series. The only team that I can think of that had as much fight and resiliency as this year’s Flyers do was the 2008 Phillies, and they brought home the hardware. Not saying  or expecting that will happen again, but the way this team is playing, I’m not counting anything out.

Bring it on, Montreal. Flyers in 6.

How to stop an oil spill…

Can the Flyers Do It?

Sorry for the long time in between posts, guys, but life’s been pretty crazy for all of us lately. Now that the summer’s hit, expect a new post every couple days like usual.

Also, my good friend Dennis McLaughlin will now be joining us on here every once in a while to write about pretty much whatever he wants so keep your eye out for that. He’s a literary genuis.

Now, on to the good stuff.

HOW BOUT THEM FLYERS!? I know this is a Phillies site, but come on. Shit is ridiculous. The Flyers made this series a hell of a good one the past couple days and they couldn’t have done it without the unbelievable play of a couple guys. The returns of Simon Gagne and Michael Leighton and continued excellence from Danny Briere and Mike Richards have put the Fly Guys in amazing position to do what only a few teams have done before them.

Watching the game last night, you could tell the Flyers knew what they were doing was special and that they wanted it a hell of a lot more than Boston did. They out-hustled, out-skated, and overall outplayed a clearly overmatched Bruins team.

Briere’s shots have started finding the back of the net. Leighton picked up right where he left off before his injury, stopping anything and everything shot his way. Even freakin’ Scotty Hartnell has picked up his game after looking like a 15-year-old high school player for the first series and a half.

Games 5 and 6 have been a complete reversal of what the first three games (with the exception of Game 1′s overtime) looked like. Home ice advantage certainly helped last night, but if the Bullies keep playing the way that they have the past three games, it’s not going to matter.

In the history of the four major sports, 286 teams have been up 3-0 in a best-of-seven playoff series. 283 of them have gone on to win. Only the 1942 Maple Leafs, 1975 Islanders, and 2004 Red Sox have come back to win 4 straight. Only 5 teams in NHL history have even made it to this point after going down 3-0.

Not making any predictions because I don’t want karma to bite me in the ass. I’ll just say I’m uber excited for this game. After the Canadiens won last night, 41 people were arrested for rioting in Montreal. Let’s shoot for 80.

Phils Slug Their Way to a Series Win; Rollins, Happ Setbacks

I thought I was going to be right when I said the Phils might not be able to put up a 10-spot on Johan.

I’m happy I wasn’t.

With help from home runs off the bats of Polanco, Utley, Howard, a grand slam from Victorino, and the most epic walk since Brett Myers’s in the 2008 NLDS from Jamie Moyer, the Fightins lit up Santana for the worst start in his major league career.

Moyer started off slowly, giving up a three-run shot to David Wright in the first inning, but Polanco and Howard each hit solos in the bottom of the inning to bring it to 3-2. Phillie killer Rod Barajas (who, I might add, is one of my all-time least favorite players, both for what he does against us and what he did for us) came back with a two-run homer off the foul pole to extend the lead to 5-2.

Then the fourth inning happened.

Moyer’s walk was the catalyst. With the bases loaded, he worked a full count, fouled a pitch off, and then took a fastball inside to walk in a run to make it 5-4. Then, in an at-bat eerily similar to his against CC Sabathia in the 2008 NLDS, Victorino lifted one into the left field seats. Senor Santana was shaking in his sombrero.

When it was all said and done, 13 batters came to the plate in the inning, 9 batters reached safely in a row, and 9 runs, 8 of which were charged to Santana, crossed the plate.

Any slump the lineup may have been in should be over after the past two games. Feels good to come back, win that series, and be back on top of the division.

- In not so good news, both Jimmy Rollins and J.A. Happ will be out a little bit longer than expected.

Rollins has been taking batting practice and jogging, but still has lots of pain when he tries to run or move laterally. Though he’s been out for three of the 2-4 weeks that he was expected to be, indications are pointing to him not being ready until mid-to-late May. If the offense continues to hit like they have the past two games, this isn’t a problem. If they fall into another funk, we want him back ASAP.

J.A. Happ’s setback isn’t quite as bad, but unnerving to say the least. His forearm tightened up while throwing off a mound on Friday, so he will not attempt any throwing activities for the next few days. He will resume in the middle of this week, but no timetable has been set on his return. Joe Blanton will be returning on Monday, which lessens the blow a little bit.

To make room for Blanton, lefty Antonio Bastardo was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley after the game tonight.

Boatload of Crap 2.0

Incredible sports weekend. Let’s get down to business.

- Continuing their trend of being the most frustrating and inconsistent team in the league, the Fightins came back from a disgusting 9-1 loss to Los Mets on Friday with a vengeance yesterday, throwing up a 10 spot. As if Doc needed it.

For the third time in 6 starts, Halladay went the distance, this time against the hottest team in baseball. I keep expecting him to slow down and he just keeps getting better. His next start will be against a dangerous Cardinals’ lineup, but with what we’ve seen, he can go up against an all-star team and throw a no hitter.

- Phils are going up against Johan tonight on ESPN. He has a career 4-1 record with a 2.90 ERA against us so I wouldn’t expect another double digit run game.  Sure would be nice to take two out of three from the Mets early in the year.

- Ryan Madson is a moron.

- Kentucky Derby and the Mayweather-Mosely fight were both pretty legit. This is a baseball/Philly blog though, so go elsewhere if you want to know about them. I’m probably not the guy you want analyzing a horse race.

- Flyers went down 1-0 to the Bruins yesterday in OT, which, by the way, was one of the best overtimes I’ve ever seen in any sport. Look for them to bounce back tomorrow.

- Go Phils. Go Flyers.