A Hint of ’64; Eagles Bounce Back
Ryan Madsen
I’m old enough to remember the Phillies collapse of 1964. I was only eleven so the details are fuzzy, but I remember the pain most of all. My dad was a sportswriter covering the team so like the rest of the Phillies fans, I thought the World Series appearance was in the bag. I felt fortunate. This was my first year as a Phillies fan. The year before I was devastated when my beloved Yankees (Mantle, Maris, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra) lost the World Series to the Koufax and Drysdale-led Dodgers. I had switched teams and leagues.
I’ve been feeling just a hint of stale ’64 around the edges this past week as the Phillies remained a team with no closer they could depend upon, while the Braves have been on a tear, winning fourteen of sixteen. It helps that the Phillies inflicted their only two losses in that stretch. The Fightins’ 5-5 road trip has reduced their magic number to three games with seven left to play. The Braves have conceded the division; they are concentrating on overtaking the Rockies for the wild card spot.
The starting pitching remains solid, but it seems that every pitcher audition for the closer role is suffering from a case of stage fright. Brad Lidge was not going to be perfect in 2009 but who could have imagined 11 blown saves? Ryan Madsen has looked decent in the role; he certainly has a strong enough fastball for the job.
With seven games at home to go, against Houston and the Fish, the Phillies should wrap it up in the next few days.
Forgive me, however, for not counting on it until the magic number is zero.
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The Eagles were awfully lucky to have such a weak opponent to face this week, following the horrible outing against the Saints. The Kansas City Chiefs were just what the doctor ordered to the tune of 34-14.
Kevin Kolb
Kevin Kolb showed that he is good enough to be a starting NFL quarterback. The play of rookies LeSean “Shady” McCoy and Jeremy Maclin, joining the fabulous, if over exuberant DeSean Jackson (whoa, young fella, don’t forget the injured groin; let’s skip the flip and split next time into the end zone), made for an enjoyable afternoon. And, as a bonus, you have the excellent play of third-year tight end Brent Celek. As much as Eagles’ fans knew they would enjoy not seeing L.J. Smith on the field this year, did we really expect Celek to be as good as he has been? Seriously?
I hate when the Eagles have the early bye-week, even though they really need it to get Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook healed up and ready to go. Maybe I will try one more day of boogie-boarding this Sunday with no Eagles game on tap.
