Philly Sports Chat

Roy Halladay started his second spring training game as a Phillie last night against the Braves and picked up right where he left off last week. He pitched three shut out innings and struck out five batters. It was just like his first time out against the Yankees where he pitched two scoreless innings, striking out three batters. It’s already clear that he is in top form.

As the regular season approaches (26 days away), we will continue to see Halladay more and more. It will be interesting to see when he gives up his first run of Spring training. It’s good to see this out of the Phillies ace this early in the year. Read the rest of this entry »

Weekly Prediction: 2-2

The Sixers have a busy week with 4 games between Tuesday and Sunday. Of those 4 games only one of them is against a team with a record worse than their own. The Cavs have all but locked up the top spot in the East and the Heat and Bobcats are in a close battle for the 7th and 8th playoff spots.

The Pacers (20-43) are the worst of the 4 and happen to be the first game of the week. The Sixers are riding off a big double-digit win against the Raptors and should be able to lock this one up. The teams have been pretty evenly matched this year though. That was evident back in January when they played back to back games and each team won 1 by at least 10 points. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night the Flyers took on the Toronto Maple Leafs and there was a ton of action.  The Flyers since coming back from the Olympic break were 1-2 going into last nights game.  Now they are 2-2 and last night showed a lot of things about the team.  From defense to offense the Flyers played an exceptional game and I can only hope that they can continue to play at that level.

I saw three things from last nights game that I was impressed with:

3) Leighton has what it takes to be the goalie that can push the Flyers through the post season.  He made all the Read the rest of this entry »

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

Selection Sunday is just over a week away so the brackets aren’t set yet but there’s no doubt that Temple and Villanova will be representing Philly in the NCAA tournament later this month. Philadelphia is one of the greatest college basketball cities with so many skilled, competitive teams and this year there’s hope that a Champion will come from this city.

It’s no surprise that Villanova is having such a great year. They were ranked 5th in the AP’s preseason rankings. The last rankings come out on Monday but they are 9th right now and will probably finish the year right around where they were projected. They were ranked as high as number 2 this year but couldn’t hold onto the spot for more than one week. Read the rest of this entry »

The Sixers are riding a 4 game losing streak into town tonight for a home game with the Boston Celtics. On this four game losing streak, the Sixers are playing some of the league’s best but losing by large margins. They lost each game by an average of 15 points.  The games aren’t even close and it shows us where the Sixers really stand.

They have a chance to pull out of this slump tonight though. They will be home against Boston who is currently the 4th seed in the East. But the Celtics have had their share of troubles as of late. Injuries and age have slowed down the big three and they even lost to the NETS last week. If the Nets can do it, the Sixers have a shot. Read the rest of this entry »

AP Photo/Kathy Willen

Watch out Mets. The Yankees are challenging you as the Phillies biggest rival from the state of New York.

Last year, there was no heat between the usually hard fought Mets/Phillies rivalry. The Mets flat out sucked and the series’ weren’t even close to as electric as they had been the past few seasons.

Even though it’s still early, it doesn’t look like the Mets will be a real threat to take the NL this season either. Every year they’re uncompetitive, more excitement drains out of the rivalry which makes room for the Yankees to fill in as the Phillies biggest enemy. Read the rest of this entry »

There is no doubt that JA Happ had a tremendous season last year.  He won the Phillies numerous games and was the bright light in the pitching staff when Hamels was failing and before Cliff Lee joined the squad.  He was a 27 year old rookie and many experts question his true ability.  They say that a lot of his success was due to luck this past season.  When I read this I laughed…literally.  How can someone goe through an entire MLB season and win game after game be considered lucky?  That’s not saying that there is no such thing as luck.  I’m sure Happ got a win or two due to a blown call or a fluke play, but every pitcher does. Read the rest of this entry »

So the Sixers announced today that Iverson’s year with the team was over. Unfortunately, it ended in a way nobody wanted it to- with his young daughter having a health issue serious enough to keep him away from the game. I’m not a parent but I can imagine that he must be going through some serious stuff right now and I wish his family the best.

The 25 game rental of Allen Iverson was fun while it lasted. He put some extra people in the seats, got the Sixers their first All-Star in a while and brought back memories from when this team had heart. Read the rest of this entry »

The Eagles need a running back, and preferably one who has been in the league for a couple of years.  As of now the only running back that the Eagles know will be on the roster come August is second year Pitt running back McCoy.  There are really a handful of options that the Eagles could explore but two of the most interesting ones are Thomas Jones and Chester Taylor. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite their long list of obvious problems to fix, one of the Eagles top off-season priorities should be locking up fullback Leonard Weaver to a long term deal. Reports say the talks have begun.

Weaver was an important part of the offense in 2009. It was his first year with the team but he fit perfectly into the position and gained about 500 total yards and 4 touchdowns. He was even selected to his first pro bowl and proved to be a huge piece of the west-coast offense that this team was missing for years. Read the rest of this entry »