Philadelphia 1 - New York 1

On a showdown day when Philadelphia was pinned against its old buddy New York, the games were split 1-1. The Phillies ended their 8 game nauseating skid with a nice 9-4 win over Mike Pelfrey (the crybaby) and an Eagles’ full out collapse versus the New York Giants losing 29-16. We can take a quick look at each of these games.

Phillies 9   Mets 4

The Phanatic wins again. What a character.

This game was an overall great sign for the Phillies in what could be the exact lineup in Game 1 of the NLDS. The offense was put together and seemed to click on all cylinders with Hunter Pence in the 3 hole and Victorino giving Howard some protection in the number 5 spot. Obviously with the 9 runs everything seemed to be smooth. There was timely hitting, 2 out run production, and some power shown with Pence’s 2 run homerun in the first inning. It was a huge confidence boost for an offense that looked sluggish and out of sorts as of late with most regulars getting some rest. Defensively, there were no errors and Roy Halladay did what Roy Halladay does best. He was a strike-throwing machine with almost no flaws. He left after 6 innings with only four hits allowed and a shutout still in tact, but Charlie wanted to rest him up for next Saturday. The only thing that was troubling from this game was the bullpen. Worley came in and gave up a run in the 8^th, but Bastardo seemed to come unraveled again, giving up 3 runs in the 7^th. Other than that, it is a pheel good day for the Phillies who hopefully let the Braves sweep them so we can avoid the hoT hOt Hot Cardinals in the first round (We are not kidding).

Eagles 16 Giants 29

"I thought I remembered you guys making some kind of upgrade in the offseason? Must have been mistaken."

This game was awful in more ways than one. Not only did our defense look absolutely atrocious the entire second half and first quarter, but we have more injuries that can do nothing but hurt us moving forward. First, the injuries that are incredibly significant are (obviously) Michael Vick’s broken right hand and Jeremy Maclin’s hurt hamstring. Vick may be done for a couple weeks, which could lead us to a Vince Young/Mike Kafka competition for #1 this week. That could be interesting to see who starts and if we can win with all that talent, but a B lister at quarterback. The severity of Maclin’s injury is not known as of yet, and even though he is an important part of our offense, we can survive without our second number 1 receiver. Now, to the pathetic game by the defense and offense overall. First, the offense was actually pretty effective most of the game, and only looked hindered when Vick got hurt and had to leave the game. The only thing we have to rip on them for is the pitiful short yardage situations. It was something that appeared to have been corrected as of late, but after a performance on the goal line that would have made Reggie White roll over in his grave, fans were left scratching their heads. The inability of the line and the running game to take advantage of those situations will kill a team’s entire season in the long run. The defense, where can we even begin? The linebackers are such a joke that it is hard to put a finger on whether or not they were worse against the run or the pass. Chaney is a better MLB than Matthews, but Matthews still seemed to be a liability on the outside. One prime example is when he looked lost in coverage on the 40 yard passing TD to Brandon Jacobs in the first. Aside from this, the defense needs to learn how to tackle. Due to a lack of tackling, they made VICTOR CRUZ look like an All-Star and helped Bradshaw extended numerous drives in the game. With all the money spent on the defensive side of the ball, the LBs should have been addressed. The thought that strengthening every other position would help hide the weakness at linebacker obviously didn’t work out. This needs to be corrected or else this season is going to be just as bad as these last two weeks have gone.

Philadelphia is still winning.

In the grand scheme of things, we will still unfortunately give New York the win overall seeing as the Mets still took two of three from the Phillies this weekend and the Giants game was a huge surprise. In a 16 game season, a loss to a division rival is far more devastating than a late September win over a terrible opponent in a 162 game season. Even though New York won this battle, by our records, Philadelphia is still dominating in the war about 1,000,000 to 1 so they can go back to sucking their thumbs at night and dreaming of one day being as great as the city of Brotherly Love.

In-Game Twinsights

If you’re not watching the Phillies game right now, we beg of you…

TURN IT ON.

Forget that the score is 8-0 and we’re cruising. The boys right now are playing with energy, tenacity, and a little bit of straight ANGER.

We all hated to see that bush league loss yesterday but maybe it left the little sour taste in the mouths of the Phils that we needed to fire us up for tonight.

Things to watch:

Shane is back to playing the way he usually does versus the Bravados. He’s running everywhere for the ball in center, getting great at-bats, getting big hits, and even trying to get creative with his base running to go for a double steal.

Chooch is so fiery that whether or not the umpire is calling the third strike, he has been sprinting away from home plate as soon as he thinks it is. Multiple times in the game now, he has had to come back to finish catching an at-bat because he thought it was strike three so he took off for the dugout.

Utley threw in one of his trademark glove flips to first on a close play (We’re Lovin’ It.)

Howard (still struggling a bit running the bases from just being beat up) is making ballerina-like dives in foul territory for balls. (Oh and don't forget the mammoth long ball he just hit - Wow, Mr. Big Piece)

The Boys are cookin’ – just sit back and soak it all in – we’re getting the Phils’ version of September baseball.

Funny detail from the game today: During one of Wheelers' senseless rants today about who knows what, something funny popped up on the bottom of the screen.

L- Wheeler (2-2)

Now this was obviously speaking of Dan Wheeler, the relief pitcher for the Red Sox, but this automatically made us think about how Wheels loses in the hearts and minds of Phillies fans on a daily basis with his awful stories and repetitive unfunny sayings. In our record books, he is more like (2-1008).

Chase Utley is to Citi Field as (Blank) is to Chavez Ravine...

Don't worry I promise the answer to the blank is not this loser.

Okay, so for those of you who don’t know what that title is… its from third grade grammar and its called an analogy. First, lets break the concept of analogy down a little bit for our slower readers. An analogy compares to things that are very much alike in an easy and explainable way for all. So, in order to fill in the blank for the title of the story, we have to determine what the first part means and then find a comparable counterpart. Chase Utley dominates Citi Field in such a way that not only is he hated there immensely, but he has his own corner as many locals and Phillies fans alike will call “Utley’s Corner”. That is obviously the right field porch where Utley destroys the likes of Johan Santana (When hes not in jail or on the DL), Francisco Rodriguez (When he was still with the team and when he wasn’t in jail), and finally Mike Pelfrey (This says it all, no joke needed). Utley’s numbers may not be the most gleaming there, but its about the intangibles that he has brought to that ballpark in New York in general, whether it was big hits or just big plays.

Now that we have broken down the first part of the analogy, we have to use these clues to place a name in the blank of an individual who has huge games, huge plays, and huge at bats in Dodgers Stadium. If we look at stats, we do see one name that sticks out. He is batting a solid .314 with 2 doubles 2 three baggers and 3 homeruns. As we look further into it, we see this player has had some memorable moments there in the past. Whether it was when he wouldn’t stand down versus the likes of that Poor Man's Bruce Chen as he threw a fastball right over his head or hitting a huge homerun in Game 4 of the LCS to tie the game in the 8^th inning, he always seems to be in the thick of things in Los Angeles. I mean, if it wasn’t for him, the likes of Matt Stairs’ Moonshot, may not have ever happened or even have been possible. The fans at Chavez Ravine even love him so much that they Boo him whenever he approaches the plate, which is a sign of flattery for the All-Star outfielder. Although, it doesn’t bother him much. I mean, who would be bothered by 45 people booing you between the 3^rd and 6^th inning anyway?

"Yes guys, its me, Im the answer. Don't be so stupid."

So after all of our deductive reasoning we have come to the legitimate and worthy answer: Shane Victorino. We knew you would get there on your own, but we figured we’d throw it out there anyway. The man has established himself not only as a hero to Phillie fans, but also a villain to Dodgers fans, which is what really makes a player special. Becoming a villain in an away ballpark is the sincerest form of respect from an opposing fan base. And if that is the case, keep booing Los Angeles, in fact, we hope every fan base in every city boos the Phillies for the next 5 years. Because that means that we are respected, feared, and hated for our winning ways. Keep it going, Shane, and all the Phillies for that matter, so that we can see more analogies like this:

Chase Utley is to Citi Field as Shane Victorino is to Chavez Ravine as the Philadelphia Phillies are to Major League Baseball.

Better to be lucky than good?

"That's it boys, we only get Hawaiian pizza for the postgame from now on. Shane has spoken."

Here is a look at what we learned from the “important” weekend series versus the Ginas (San Francisco not New York)

1. This is becoming one of the most intense rivalries in, not only the National League, but in Major League Baseball. If the Ginas keep acting like a bunch of crybabies every time they are losing by more than a couple of runs than these series could become all out wars. If Brian Wilson ever comes up to the plate, I hope Madson drills a fastball right between his legs (I know that really doesn’t have much to do with this part, but I just can’t stand that bearded asshole). And, if this becomes another postseason meeting, look for more exciting fireworks like this to keep happening.
2.  As the Ginas can attest to from last year in the playoffs, it may sometimes be better to be lucky than good. Last year, we can all be completely honest when we say, we were the better team and we should have won the World Series. However, Cody Ross got hot at the right time and our bats just got lost in a deep, dark cave never to return. This weekend was a similar occurrence. The Phillies did pound the 3^rd and 4^th pitchers, but look at the last two games of the series. In the 3^rd game, Cain pitched very well and could have come away with the win if they weren’t forced to play with a Single-A catcher for the remainder of the season.  The game could have gone into extras where it would have been anybody’s game. Finally, the last game of the series was a classic game for San Fran, hang on by a thread due to some great pitching and some situational hitting. If this were the playoffs, we are looking at a 2-2 series and it is still anybody’s to win. We did play extremely well, but still it could have gone very differently if Whiteside could catch a baseball.
3. This series in all honestly meant absolutely nothing. It was a lot of fun to talk about and see how both teams stacked up, but when it gets to October, we don’t care if we swept the Giants in the regular season or got swept by them. In October, the real baseball is played and the games really matter. For the fans that jump up and down and claim that this is the most amazing thing ever, get over it. This was just another series that we won, like we did so many other times this year and last year, but if this year ends the same way last year did, we spent a lot of money for nothing.

On a side note, Shane Victorino is by far the heart of the Phillies. There are a lot of titles to give out: Jimmy is the Catalyst, Howard is the Big Piece, Chase is the Unquestioned Leader, but Shane is the Heart.  A clear example of this was the pitch that Ramon Ramirez threw at Shane. Remember when Hiroki Kuroda did the same thing? When teams have a problem with the Phillies, they go after one man and one man only, His Airness, the Flyin Hawaiian, Shane Victorino. They do this because he is the heart of the team, a juice guy that is connected with every member of the team.  (This was something that we learned this weekend also, but it wasn’t team wide, it was a solo person so we made it a side note instead of a number.)

These are a couple of the most important things that we learned this weekend. Let's hope that in the postseason, if we face the Giants yet again for the NL Crown, that we are just as lucky then as we were this weekend, or just as good, whatever gets us the Pennant.