Ben there, done that

There were a few tense moments early on, but for the purposes of this review Game 3 of this series began with a Shane Victorino leadoff single in the seventh.

After a passed ball, Victorino was on second and almost got tagged out returning to second after John Mayberry flew out to right. It was a "Victorino being Victorino" moment that wasn't, thankfully, because it would have killed the inning and let a tiring Jaime Garcia off the hook. But he was safe, and Garcia intentionally walked Crlos Ruiz to face a pinch hitter — maybe because Tony La Russa wanted Cole Hamels definitely out of the game, maybe because he just thought Ruiz was better than anyone coming off the Phillies' bench.

Boom. Three-run home run from Ben Francisco.

I thought La Russa actually made the right call on the intentional walk. But for a guy who was more than willing to shuffle bullpen guys in to face a single hitter, he curiously wasn't even considering a reliever in this spot. And it hurt, because Garcia left a lazy fastball up to Francisco for the homer, and had to stay in against Jimmy Rollins, who cracked a double.

Maybe La Russa — in a 0-0 game at the time — was thinking about the possibility of extra innings. But his pen did have a day off Monday, and he seemed to go against his own style in leaving Garcia out there.

Of course, that wasn't the end of things. Just as Victorino's leadoff hit finally put some pressure on the Cardinals, the Red Birds got their first leadoff hit in the bottom of the seventh off of Vance Worley, and ended up scoring a run.

This is when I started to think Charlie Manuel might have taken some crazy pills today. Or forgotten to take them, whichever is applicable.

Despite Worley struggling to get through the seventh, Manuel sends him back out for the eighth, and hitting machine Ryan Theriot promptly singled. Now, Manuel probably figured to send in Bastardo to face Jon Jay no matter what happened — but why not just start the inning with him? Bastardo's fastball is much more electric, and Theriot — despite being the aforementioned hitting machine in this game — really doesn't handle the hard stuff.

Nick Punto hit for lefty Jay, flied out, and Matt Holliday — possesor of a sore finger that's kept him out of this series so far — comes in as a pinch hitter. What does a guy with a bum hand probably not want to face? Mid-90s fastballs on the inside corner. But he didn't have to worry about those as Manuel pulled Bastardo for Brad Lidge.

I don't care if it was a righty on righty matchup, I thought this was a mistake. Bad tie wearer Bob Brenly thought it was a mistake. And Holliday proved us right by hitting a slider for a single. Furcal — hitless from the right side up to this point — hit lefty off of Lidge and singled, loading the bases.

So, with five outs to go and the bases jammed, Manuel naturally went to closer Ryan Madson. What?!?!

In retrospect, I guess Manuel might have figured it was all going to hell, so let's get the team's best reliever out there. But I could have sworn the writer of the "Where it all went wrong for Charlie Manuel" chapter in the history books was cracking his knuckles readying his pen and ink at this point.

Oh me of little faith. Allen Craig did the one thing that could stave off disaster and hit a bullet grounder to Chase Utley, who turned a double play himself. Some Cardinals got on in the ninth, but after that eighth I couldn't muster the energy to get worried.

Roy Oswalt and Edwin Jackson in Game 4 tomorrow, tentatively set for 6 p.m. but dependent on tonight's Brewers/Diamondbacks result.

NOTES:

• Some stuff happened before the seventh, but it was mostly good pitching from Hamels and Garcia. Hamels got a deserved win for his efforts.

• Madson came to the plate in the ninth with 2 outs. Did anyone else think La Russa might have considered hitting him with a pitch in an attempt to get him out of the game? Would any baseball manager have ever done it? Nah.

Saints alive

It's late, I'm tired and may want to watch Breaking Bad before turning in, so I'll keep this brief.

That great Game 2 pitching matchup didn't really materialize. The Phillies lit into Chris Carpenter — who started on three days rest because Tony La Russa is such a genius — in the first inning. Cliff Lee started strongly, but blew up in the fourth and sixth innings, handing St. Louis a 5-4 lead. Only some clutch relief from Brad Lidge kept the Phils' deficit that small.

Both teams' bullpens were very good, and since the Cardinals had the lead they won, with Jason Motte picking up an impressive four-out save.

The Cardinals had pen troubles all season, seemingly, but actually seemed to figure some things out in their run toward the post season. The revolving closer door got back around to Motte, and he settled into the role down the stretch. Octavio Dotel, Mitchell Boggs and Marc Rzepczynski have done well in their roles as late, too, with left hander Rzepczynski especially giving the Phillies headaches.

Cole Hamels and Jaime Garcia for Game 3 Tuesday at 5 p.m.

NOTES:

• That home plate umpire missed too many blatant strikes to count. La Russa was whining early and, at the risk of being biased, had much less to complain about compared to the Phillies later in the game. But either way, for a playoff umpire, a lot of those calls were pretty alarming.

• Damn shame the Phillies wasted a great play at the plate — in which Carlos Ruiz took an elbow to the head while tagging out Jon Jay, preserving a then 4-3 Phillies lead — in a loss.

Overrated frauds

The Dallass of the 2011 season blew another game today. This was worse than the 2 before it. The Eagles blew a 23-3 lead to a west coast team at home by allowing 21 unanswered points in the second half. Brutal.

The defense is absolutely atrocious and a complete joke. GEE, WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED? Once again the lowly, know-nothing fans know more about football than Andy Reid and the morons in the front office do. But we're not geniuses, it's simple basic common sense:

• an offensive line coach is not a good candidate for a defensive coordinator.
• Not having competent linebackers and safeties is a recipe for disaster.
• Starting a season with rookie kickers will cost the team a game or 2.

Once again execrable red zone execution by the offense. Did anyone think they were going to score a TD on that 3rd and goal on the 6 inch line? Again, bunched in tight and again slow handoff for a run up the middle. What Brown was doing nobody knows with his attempted pass, but then to challenge it when a backwards pass is always a lateral?!?! A team of idiots led by an idiot.

So a team that put up 513 total yards loses to a scrub team led by a rookie coach and Alex Smith, 24-23.

Other notes:

• Coming into the game the 49ers were the worst rated offense in the league.
• Eagles were 2 for 7 in the redzone. Absolutely pathetic again.
• Eagles have been outscored 36-0 in the fourth quarter in the last 3 games.
• Eagles have given up double digit leads in 3 straight games now.
• Fifth straight loss at home.
• Up big and still throwing the ball every damn play. Typical Reid.
• Early in the game they were forcing the ball to Jackson and on those 2 50/50 balls he didn't get either and one led to an interception.
• 49ers defense isn't that good, but they hit way better than the Eagles do. I miss that.
• In other words, Eagles defense is as soft as cotton candy resting in a pool of melted butter, which coincidentally is Reid's favorite snack.
• There was only 1 positive play for the Eagles in the entire third quarter on both sides of the ball - the desperation heave to Jackson that worked.
• McCoy needs to trust his blockers more and stop trying to dance and freelance.
• Babbin showed up on defense, but nobody else.
• Eagles tackle like a high school team.
• The Fox direction of this game was terrible - needed a replay to see if Jackson complaining about interference was legit, needed one on the late hit on Vick out of bounds, needed to see McCoy's injury replay again.
• I would have predicted McCoy would have fumbled the ball away the way he carries it, not Maclin.
• Stolen from Twitter: When the Cowboys play the Eagles, both teams will be too busy rolling over to play the second half. (I would have used choking.)
• Time for the Andy Reid Error to end.

Yoffense

The Phillies' 2011 postseason didn't start too smoothly.

Roy Halladay gave up a single and steal to Rafael Furcal, pitched around Albert Pujols for a walk, and then put a fastball on a tee for Lance Berkman, who smacked it off the facing of the second deck for a 3-run homer and Cardinals' lead in the first.

Thankfully, there's more than one inning per baseball game. The Phils' bats woke up a bit in the fifth, when Shane Victorino drove in a two-out run. And they really woke up in the sixth, with Ryan Howard and then Raul Ibanez sending Kyle Lohse change-ups way out to right for three- and two-run homers, respectively.

Now with a lead, and Lohse out of the game, the Phillies stepped on the Cardinals' throats, posting 5 more runs in the seventh and eighth innings.

Halladay rebounded from a bad first to pretty much dominate the Cardinals' lineup the rest of the way, exiting the game after eight innings.

The ninth inning took a while as Michael Stutes let a bunch of Cardinals on base before Ryan Madson annoyingly had to be called in to close it out, but the Phillies opened up their playoff run impressively with a blowout.

Cliff Lee vs. Chris Carpenter in a great pitching matchup for Game 2 tomorrow night.

What if they lose this one...

10/02 1:00 PM ET	Opening	Legends	5Dimes	SBGGLOBAL	JustBet
San Francisco @ Philadelphia	44.5 -10	44 -9	44 -10	44 -9	44 -9

Matchup

Bonus Question: Will DeSean Jackson have more touches than Owen Schmitt this week?

What a sad pathetic joke the Eagles are, Reid is worse

Eagles can't score a touchdown with a first down on the 3, can't score a touchdown AGAIN with a first down on the 2 that included 3 chances from the inch line, and then that idiot Reid, with a terrible call for the ages, thinks it's a good idea to go for it on fourth and 1 at the Giants' 43. Who in the world thought the Eagles were going to convert? Only the moronic Eagles braintrust. From that point on the loss was ensured. (Before that it was just very likely.) Giants took that handwrapped gift from Reid and went down the field and scored the go ahead touchdown with ease. The defense then also surrendered another TD for good measure to match their 4th quarter awfulness from last week.

This game also featured some of the worst tackling ever, idiotic mistakes the entire game especially to end the first half, a somnambulant offense and defense to start the game, a home crowd that was just as sleepy, and a coaching staff that was outcoached from beginning to end. So a Giants team that had a short week, was on the road and decimated with injuries on every side of the ball walked out of Philadelphia with a 29-16 win despite the Eagles having 11 more first downs, 42 more total yards, 52 more rushing yards and a better third down conversion rate.

Eagles are simply pathetic.

Other notes

• McCoy had a great game.
• Vick gets hit almost every play. He's not lasting many more games. He also looked out of it. I wonder why?
• Steve Smith had the turnover that started the Giants collapse last year. His inability to catch a ball right in his hands to convert on 3rd down at the 10, and instead pop it up in the air for an easy interception set the tone for the Eagles for the rest of the game.
• Safeties suck.
• Matthews was moved out of the middle and closer to where he should be - the bench.
• Giants played smart and targeted the biggest chumps on the defense in the first half - Page, Matthews and Coleman. They hit on the last 2 for long touchdowns.
• The performance by the Eagles deserved to be heartily booed several times during the game, but the crowd was so asleep they couldn't even do that.
• The offensive line false starts were worse at home than on the road in domes.
• The pass rush was weak this week. Trent Cole is still the best player on defense.
• How is this defense so inept?
• Defense got no turnovers.
• It's a sad day when Asante is the biggest hitter and best tackler in the secondary. He even hurt the Giants tightend.
• If the Eagles were an actual contender, they would have had 31 points by the third quarter instead of 16.
• Another game, another missing-in-action Jackson.
• I seem to remember hearing something this week about the Giants faking injury because they were so exhausted by a no-huddle offense. Maybe I imagined that...

7 losses in a row, maybe fans will finally begin to worry

The Phillies lost their seventh game in a row today, falling to the awesome pitching of knuckle baller R. A. Dickey, 2 to 1. A few weeks ago I listed three reasons why Phillies fans should be worried about the team's post season chances. I will now revisit these shortcomings:

The Phillies' offense is overrated, that is why the bullpen has been called upon to save so many one run games.

The Phillies offense has only grown worse in September. Rollins, Victorino, Polanco and especially Chase Utley have been awful over the past few weeks. Despite what pundits say about the veteran team- hitting does not just turn on- in the playoffs or at any time. Especially when Utley, Rollins and Polanco are not only in slumps, their offensive output has been trending downward over the last few years. Charlie Manual should have already shuffled the line up and moved Rollins, Utley, & Polanco down in the order. Except there is no one to move up, with the possible exception of Ibanez.

The bullpen IS weak.

And it has gotten weaker. Bastardo imploded, and today's loser Lidge has proven he is no longer a top shelf reliever. It appears post season hopes are pinned on converting Vance Worley and Kyle Kendrick into effective relievers in a week.

The Phillies are 6-6 against Atlanta, 3-3 against Arizona, 1-2 against Milwaukee. These are the teams they will face in the playoffs.

The Phillies actually handled Atlanta and Milwaukee head to head, beating them 6 out of 7 in early September. Maybe this is the silver lining.

Right now I am predicting a first round loss 3 games to 1 where the Phillies score less than 10 runs over the course of the series.


Anyone else worried?

Seven in a row?

9/25 1:00 PM ET	Opening	Legends	5Dimes	SBGGLOBAL	JustBet
New York @ Philadelphia	48.5 -9	48.5 -9	48 -9.5	48 -8	48 -9

Matchup

Bonus Question: Will Jacobs have more yards running than Manning passing?

Eagles blow it

The Eagles gift wrapped this game for the Falcons and the refs lent their finger to help tie the bow on that one non-interception call (but Reid probably has to challenge that.) The single biggest play of the game was the fumbled pitch/handoff whatever play that resulted in a 14 point swing. Instead of going up 17-7, the Eagles fell behind 10-14. Then Vick threw a ball that skipped off the ground that was called an interception which the Falcons turned into another touchdown to go up 21-10. But despite all the mistakes and turnovers, and despite Vick getting knocked out of the game, the Eagles still only trailed by 4 on the road and were driving with Kafka at QB. Then on 4th down with just under 2 minutes to go on the Atlanta 22, Kafka hit Maclin in the hands with the pass and he dropped the easy first down for a final Eagle mistake that sewed the game up for the Falcons. Up until that point Maclin had been the offensive player of the game.

But Maclin isn't alone at being a goat. Despite playing well for the majority of the game many others had huge, killer lapses. Vick with his careless turnovers, Celek with another terrible drop, Jackson dropped another TD, Avant dropped a first down, and the defense that had stopped the run well ALL game after the first minutes of the first quarter, let Turner rip off a huge 61 yarder that led to the go ahead touchdown. In fact the defense was playing great the majority of the game, but then collapsed in the fourth quarter as Atlanta went on long drives to score 14 unanswered points that won them the game, 35-31.

Other notes:

• Reid/Mornhinweg got way too conservative with the play calling when Kafka had to come in. They played not to lose, and of course lost.
• It pisses me off the Eagles couldn't gain 1 yard on 2 plays at the 3 in the first quarter and had to settle for a field goal - 4 blown points, the difference in the game.
• ENOUGH with the stupid end-arounds and reverses. How many times do they have to fail? How many hits by 200+ pound guys are you going to expose Jackson to?
• I thought Chaney could cover tight ends. I was wrong.
• The other linebackers sucked too.
• Page is slow. He is ok in run support, but when he came up that left Coleman alone and he can't cover. When is Allen going to be healthy?
• The tightends are almost invisible in this offense.
• Despite it being a big-time Sunday Night game, NBC couldn't come up with a good angle showing Vick's non-interception skipping off the ground until 5 minutes too late. On Asante's legitimate pick they had some super spy satellite zoomed in CSI style view though.
• Defensive line continued to apply really good pressure. Cole was steamrolling his guy.
• Stop jumping offsides though.
• Our cornerbacks are pretty damn good. Too bad the safeties and linebackers are as bad at covering as the corners are good.
• Offensive line was decent. Vick has to throw the ball away more often though. And it was dumb for him to be dancing around at the end of the first half trying to make a play when time was the most important thing.
• Tuck the ball away Vick. Stop being dumb and careless.
• Can the Eagles win vs. the Giants next week without Vick?

First test of the season

9/18 8:20 PM ET	Opening	Legends	5Dimes	SBGGLOBAL	JustBet
Philadelphia @ Atlanta	50.5 1	50 2	49.5 1.5	49.5 1.5	49.5 2.5

Matchup

Bonus Question: Will Atlanta's fans be a factor or will half be rooting for Vick?

Ram it

I was hosting a party and did not take my usual notes or have my usual laser like focus on the game. My general impression was Eagles were sloppy, but the Rams were sloppier. Eagles are also more talented overall and that played a large part in the outcome of the game. It also seemed Vick was trying his best to stay in the pocket and make passes early, but when he decided to start taking off downfield the game started to go the Eagles way as the Rams defense got confused and became undisciplined. Also, Vick is pretty damn good. The line wasn't horrible and only fell apart on blitzes for the most part. They were really good on run blocking as the Eagles were finishing off the game and it looked like the Rams quit.

The defense looked very susceptible to the run, but because the offense gradually built its lead, the Rams were then forced to pass more than they wanted to. Fortunately Bradford did not have his best game and his receivers dropped a bunch of gimmies, especially on third down conversions that could have made a big difference in the game. The Eagles pretty good pressure on Bradford was also nice to see. Tapp looked good until he got hurt and Babin lived up to his resume.

So a big win on the scoreboard that felt like a struggle until late, but never really in doubt. And unlike last year where the defense gave up big leads late, this year they kept everything under control and the Eagles won "easy," 31-13.

Did rams ever live in St. Louis?

9/11 1:00 PM ET	Opening	Legends	5Dimes	SBGGLOBAL	JustBet
Philadelphia @ St. Louis	45 4	44 4.5	44 4.5	44 4.5	44 4.5

Matchup

Bonus Question: Who will have the better game, LeSean McCoy or Stephen Jackson?

Don't forget to make your season long predictions in the post below.

Yes, it is time to worry.

I am sick of hearing the fan refrain that there is no need to panic about the Phillies recent losses, particularly the ones blown by the bullpen. After all the Phillies are 40 games over .500, these games are meaningless and, besides, the starting pitching is good enough to overcome any deficiency. Please stop drinking the red kool-aid and eating the Graham Slam ice cream. Here are three reasons Phillies fans should be worried:

The Phillies' offense is overrated, that is why the bullpen has been called upon to save so many one run games. Chase Utley is a fraud. In yesterday's game he left 7 men on base. This is the Phillies' number 3 hitter, obstinately a RBI guy. Mayberry (in about 100 fewer ABs) has more RBIs than Utley. Pathetic. Rollins is no longer a star, Polanca stinks post injury, and Ibanez is so far over the hill he is halfway up the next mountain. Victorino has had a very good season and Howard and Pence are also good at what they do, but both are susceptible to rally-killing strikeouts.

The bullpen IS weak. Bastardo has been a pleasant surprise, but Madson is no shut down closer. Stutes is okay but unproven, Lidge is a shell of his old self, and the rest of the guys stink. (Excepting Kyle Kendrick who I assume will be in the bullpen for the rest of the season and playoffs)

The Phillies are 6-6 against Atlanta, 3-3 against Arizona, 1-2 against Milwaukee. These are the teams they will face in the playoffs.


Anyone else worried?

2011 Predictions

By coincidence, today I was going through an old pile of newspapers that I had saved for some reason. The pile included the coverage of the Eagles second round victory over the defending Super Bowl champion Giants, and their loss a week later to the Cardinals in the NFC championship game. Almost nobody in those games is currently on today's team. The current 53 man roster includes 21 players who weren't here last year, 33 who weren't here in 2009 and only 10 from before 2008. And a lot of that turnover involves major players at "star" positions.

Couple that massive amount of change with an offseason that had no OTAs or the usual amount of practice and meetings and it could spell disaster for the Eagles, despite all the talent they now have. Or maybe that talent will be able to overcome any chemistry and "not being on the same page" issues. Who knows??? Maybe you do.

In the comments make your season long, game by game predictions for the Eagles and whatever reasons you might have to justify them. Also, what teams will be in the AFC and NFC championship games, the Super Bowl, who will win it all, and what teams will be this year's worst? Convenient link to last year's parade of wrongness here.

EAGLES 2011 SEASON SCHEDULE
Sun, Sept 11 1pm @ St. Louis Rams, Edward Jones Dome Fox
Sun, Sept 18 8:20pm. @ Atlanta Falcons, Georgia Dome NBC
Sun, Sept 25 1pm New York Giants, Lincoln Financial Field Fox
Sun, Oct 2 1pm San Francisco 49ers, Lincoln Financial Field Fox
Sun, Oct 9 1pm @ Buffalo Bills, Ralph Wilson Stadium Fox
Sun, Oct 16 1pm @ Washington Redskins, FedEx Field Fox
Bye
Sun, Oct 30 8:20pm Dallas Cowboys, Lincoln Financial Field NBC
Mon, Nov 7 8:30pm Chicago Bears, Lincoln Financial Field ESPN
Sun, Nov 13 1pm* Arizona Cardinals, Lincoln Financial Field Fox
Sun, Nov 20 8:20pm* @ New York Giants, MetLife Stadium NBC
Sun, Nov 27 4:15pm* New England Patriots, Lincoln Financial Field CBS
Thu, Dec 1 8:20pm @ Seattle Seahawks, CenturyLink Field NFLN
Sun, Dec 11 1:00pm* @ Miami Dolphins, Sun Life Stadium Fox
Sun, Dec 18 4:15pm* New York Jets, Lincoln Financial Field CBS
Sat, Dec 24 4:15pm @ Dallas Cowboys, Cowboys Stadium Fox
Sun, Jan1 1:00pm* Washington Redskins, Lincoln Financial Field Fox
* Indicates that the game time is subject to change as a result of flexible scheduling.

Last fake game

The Eagles dominated this game from start to finish. With Vince Young at QB the offense moved the ball easily and Kafka didn't do too bad either. The defense also dominated. The only points they gave up was because of a short field. The other Jets TD was a pick six. The Eagles scrubs did have a big advantage - the Jets scrubs just played on Monday night and looked tired and uninspired.

Other notes:

• Rookie RB Dion Lewis played great - great 5th round pick. If co-idiots Reid and Marty Mornhinweg don't run the ball this year with McCoy, Brown and Lewis in the backfield they really, really need to be fired. Especially since the patchwork offensive line is barely adequate protecting the fragile Vick.
• I was going to write "Riley Cooper sucks" again after some drops, but he took the hardest hit I've seen all preseason and got right back up - to retrieve his helmet.
• While Rocca was really good downing the ball inside the 20, the new guy is very good kicking it into the endzone every single time.
• The rookie kicking tandem will cost the Eagles 1 game guaranteed, probably 2. Henery hooked a 43 yarder badly, and Henry dropped a hold on a chip shot like good ol' Tommy Hutton and threw it up for grabs just as pathetically.
• Vince Young looked much better this game. His passes were right on the money except for a wide open bomb to Moss that he overthrew. Hopefully the hamstring pull isn't serious.
• The defensive line continued to apply pressure and get sacks no matter who was playing. Hargrove and Hunt stood out.
• Brian Rolle made some plays at LB early on.
• All the kickoffs were returned but one late in the game. On that lone touchback the idiots in the booth made the cliche comments about the new rule, never mind everything that happened before it.
• Eskin had a nice summary of the obvious regarding Vick at halftime in case you missed it.
• After listening to "Baldy" and "Tolle," I'm convinced that the Eagles players could easily send a man to the moon and then do brain surgery while there. They are all just that smart.
• In the Battle of the Bulges, Reid is fatter than Ryan.

Coming this weekend - the Eagles season preview and predictions post.