That ’ s twelve minutes of quality television right there

Victorino ties the Phils game, Eli throws a pick-six to effectively guarantee a loss for the previously undefeated Giants against the Browns, and Stairs hits that ball halfway to Santa Monica, all in about twelve minutes? 

As you might imagine, it was just a very special bonding experience for me and the television. 

(Hopefully the bullpen can lock this thing down.) 

Birds confirm existence of less organized teams than themselves in win over Niners

Whew!  Close one.  I was admittedly nervous until the spread-busting return from Juqua Parker nee Thomas.  Note well that a play prior to that I had remarked to my buddy that it struck me as odd that a defensive end was dropped so deep in coverage at the snap; it wasn't like they were showing a four-man front and then he dropped into coverage.  Nope, he was playing linebacker (in the post-game coverage I'm sure there will be much discussion of the "Joker" linebacker position).

We've actually got a full house coming for the Phightins here at BountyBowl HQ, so expect post-game reactions to trickle through slowly.  Still, my quick hitters after the game:

David Akers makes it through the bye week.  Did he actually make the challenged one?  We'll never know.  Leads one to wonder why there isn't a more definitive camera angle for that sort of thing, but hey, we're more than happy that Nolan wasted a challenge on it.  If he had missed it...and the block...and well...you can kind of guess what the big storyline would have been in a loss.

Game balls to the deserving vets.  Correll Buckhalter and Juqua Parker nee Thomas, take a bow.  You guys both played great games -- heart-and-soul-of-the-team-type games.  And it's nice to see it from the guys who aren't on the cover of the media guide or on the tickets. I thought Buck's stamina was especially impressive; he really seemed to keep running with energy deep in the game.  And Parker, well, we wrote the following two weeks ago, and it feels even more true today, "Also, at what point can we admit that Juqua Parker is playing really well and isn’t some sort of undersized liability?"  Juqua Parker, you've earned yourself a place in my official taxonomy: enjoy your tag.  Quintin Mikell is an honorable mention here.

Heroics in the secondary.  Speaking of, the Birds were a couple diving deflections away from some scary things late in that game.  Kudos to Sheldon Brown and Mikell for making some huge plays.  Also Dawk stepped up and got stronger later in the game (who needed to make up for some sloppy tackling earlier in the game).

Lito's hurt?  Dude.  I mean.  They're going to give you grief for that.  It's not fair, but they will.

Andy Reid isn't actually crazy.  That is, he seems to have agreed with the assembled masses and majority of the blathertariat (yours truly included) that DeSean Jackson is the best guy they have on offense with Westbrook out.  Jackson seemed to have gotten a lot of different looks and touches, and the kid played well.  I get more excited about him every week.

Takeo Spikes, you're a cruel, cruel man.  Dude, you catch JUST ONE ball that hits you in the chest last year and the Birds might have made the playoffs (the Seattle game was the most offensive).  And now you gotta be picking off Dunavin in the red zone?  Seriously?

That's it for now.  More later, let's go Phightins.

Our wandering eye(s)

Since a bunch of other folks have already weighed in on this topic over the past week, and even though I don't actually believe that the Eagles' long-term hold over the sports feelings of the Delaware Value is at risk, I thought it might be an appropriate moment to dredge up a "prediction" from this past summer:

1. The Eagles own Philly.  I know we’re all nuts for the NFL, but, man, this Phillies team is puh-retty charming.  Can you imagine if Chase Utley played quarterback?  He’d be elected Emporer shortly thereafter.  And I can definitely imagine a couple things breaking right for the Phightins and then, BAM, the championship drought is over.  That might actually bump the Birds down a few pegs.  Not permanently, mind you, but long enough to reduce Sunday evening domestic violence in the Delaware Valley for a couple months/ sell a significant amount of Phillies Officially Licensed Products.

Again, I don't want to risk being struck by lightning, but let me imagine a scenario: Birds struggle against SF and (cough cough) lost another close game.  Eagles head to bye week.  Sun continues to shine on Phillies.  That means two weeks until Atlanta whilst the Phightins charm the city with their can-do optimism.  Even I'll be purposely avoiding the Birds for at least a week in that scenario.

It doesn't mean that we're divorcing the Birds, but at this point, battered and bruised as we are, no one's going to be too judgmental if we treat ourselves to a bit of a fling with the Phightins.  It's really for the best.

Off-Topic: Live from CBP, Let ’ s Go Phightins

Did I actually head down to the Illadelph for an unprecedented third sporting event in as many weeks (and three different sports no less!)? Yes. Yes I did. And it was...glorious.

The atmosphere at CBP last night was, how do you say, "the exact opposite of the pervasive malaise that attended the Birds game on Sunday." Whoa. Very cleansing -- I had forgotten that you could actually have fun at these game things! All it takes it a little effort from the hometown team.

Three quick observations about the game:

1. The three-run home run offense is very popular. You gotta love that the Phils are defiantly anti-Sabermetrics. Walks? Putting the ball in play? Getting on base? Totally overrated. Just swing as hard as you can and the runs will come (especially in our wiffle-ball park). Cheers to the other number 5 for his continued redemption story in the playoffs. Maybe it's just because he wants to get paid, but Burrell seems determined, and that's a very good thing.

2. No Eagles jerseys last night. The message from the gear was unanimous -- I just didn't see any Eagles merch. At all. Just a million different variations on red with blue (and let us note that the Phils do an excellent job moving merch in that place).

3. The food remains the best ballpark food on Planet Earth. Who can challenge this statement? Who? Tell me where they have better ballpark food anywhere on the planet. I'll go there and let you know. And I'm pretty sure they won't be able to offer me a cheesesteak AND a roast pork sandwich (with the broccoli rabe).

Go Phightins.

(Actual Eagles content forthcoming later today.)

What A Crowd

Awesome showing by the Bank fans tonight.  Brought it all game.

And that was a heck of a game.

Will there be Phillies gear at the Linc?

Not to get too far ahead of ourselves here, but I'm actually curious to see whether there will be any Phillies merch in evidence tomorrow at the Linc.

The crowd shots from Thursday night's game contained the standard smattering of Eagles sweatshirts and hats -- pretty standard for a Philly sporting event, and not surprising considering the Birds' alpha-dog status in the local sports scene.  But will we see the inverse of that scene tomorrow at the Eagles game?  If Milwaukee wins tonight, will they be posting score updates at the Linc as well (first pitch in Game Four is scheduled for 1:07)?

Just curious.

Farewell Spectrum, Go Phightins

Heckuva day for the Illadelph yesterday.

I had the distinct pleasure of attending the Flyers-Hurricanes game yesterday at the soon-to-be-kaput Spectrum. This would have been the final Flyers game played at the Spectrum had they not sold it out in 35 minutes and decided to add a Flyers - Phantoms scrimmage to the queue as well. So yesterday's game was actually only the final NHL game to be played at the Spectrum.  Good times, indeed.

I'd forgotten what non-shopping mall arenas were like; even Key Arena was an order of magnitude fancier than the Spectrum.  Still, it was quite a treat to visit one final time and see some old-time hockey (on the day Reg Dunlap passed away, no less!  He knew Eddie Shore!).  Other items of note: the holistic awesomeness of the Spectrum font; the absence of the video replay screen was positively crippling -- however did we watch games with instant replay at the arena?

I also had the pleasure of drinking my first-ever beer at the Spectrum (seen below); I was definitely underage when the Flyers and Sixers played there.

In other news, GO PHILS. Let's see if we can't hang around for a series or two more this time around.

Lots of goodness in Philly. Let's embrace the good karma and get a W tonight as well.

Respek!

Pat The Bat?

Yeah, I know, football blog and all, but I couldn't let this Rich Hofmann story go unremarked upon.  Let's cut right to the chase:

Since 2000, when Burrell broke in with the Phillies, there are only 23 players who have hit at least 200 homers and driven in at least 750 runs. He is one of them. Alex Rodriguez, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Albert Pujols, Pat Burrell - all on the same chart.

And then at the bottom of the story he then helpfully goes on to provide that chart.

Now I'm not what you'd call a real baseball stat head, but doesn't focusing entirely on home runs and RBIs seem like it's putting a bit too much weight on just two, not particularly comprehensive stats?  If you look at the list, you see that Todd Helton is "ranked" one spot above Burrell.  So they're pretty much the same player, right?

Uh, no.  Burrell's career OPS is .859 (which isn't bad).  Helton's is 1.005.  And yes, ballparks effects, but there's a 22-point gap in the their OPS+ as well.

Hofmann is also just using cumulative numbers from a very specific date range, which makes the comparison even more meaningless.  You won't find either Chase Utley or Ryan Howard on that list (yet), but you're not going to get many people arguing that those guys haven't been better than Burrell the last few years.

Besides, the problem with Burrell has never been that he isn't a pretty good hitter.  It's that being a pretty good hitter and being an underachiever are not mutually exclusive labels.

Take it away, Tom.

Great Profile Of "Nails"

In honor of opening day, here's an unbelievable New Yorker profile of Lenny Dykstra and his newest non-sports venture.  It advances the stories a few years past the "Holy crap, Nails is a successful businessman???" stage.

Phree Phillies -- um -- Phreading?

There will be plenty to say about the Eagles for the next two weeks, but right now it's worth savoring everything we can about the Phillies.  Like BIll Lyon coming out of retirement to give us a little of the old magic.

If last night's play-in game was any indication, this is going to be a wild postseason. 

If you're looking for more info on the Phillies than you can find in the papers, I highly, highly recommend Balls, Sticks & Stuff.  Tom also runs a great sports pheed over there that captures articles from lots of Philly bloggers.