Phils One Win Away from Title

Yeah, so you may have noticed the lack of an update surrounding last night's World Series Game 4. Why? Who the hell cares, that's why. Outside of Philadelphia, no one watched this thing, including the St. Petersburg market. No one cares.

That said, the Phillies have a chance to wrap the series up this evening after last night's 10-2 blasting of Tampa Bay. (Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria are now a combined 0-25 at the plate in the World Series. That warms my heart.) Cole Hamels is on the mound tonight for Philadelphia, so you can pretty much put this one in the books. We'll have a nice, extensive update and/or coronation piece tomorrow afternoon.

-- Dan Zappulla, Probably Falling Asleep in the Sixth Inning.

Happy Fourth Anniversary!

In my mind, Foulky's still lobbing the ball to first.


-- Dan Zappulla, Quietly Reminiscing.

NFL Week 8 - Patriots 23, Rams 16

I haven't missed a Patriots game since the infamous "Bledsoe Injury" game of 2001. I can often tell you the 53rd man on their 53-man roster. I remember what color hoodie Bill Belichick wore during Super Bowl XXXIX. And yet, there were at least three instances in yesterday afternoon's game when I turned to my girlfriend and said, "I have no idea who the hell that is."

Her response was usually, "I bet they dragged him off the street this morning." They could have done exactly that, and it wouldn't have made a difference. Why? They somehow keep on winning. The Patriots are under an injury cloud the likes of which I've never seen before. They've lost perennial MVP -- and the best quarterback in the history of the game -- Tom Brady for at least this entire season, maybe more. Starting running back Laurence Maroney has been placed on Injured Reserve. Backs Sammy Morris and LaMont Jordan were both inactive for yesterday's game. As a result, Matt Cassel -- whose name still makes me shudder a little -- has been your starting quarterback. Yesterday's starting running back? BenJarvis Green-Ellis, who I'm 83% sure played Alfonso Spears on "Silver Spoons."

All of this aside, they had to deal with the red-hot St. Louis Rams yesterday in Foxboro. The Rams have been a team who's apparently remembered how to play fundamentally sound football. Since new head coach Jim Haslett took the helm three weeks ago, the Rams have gone 2-0, handily beating playoff-bound clubs Washington and Dallas. Yet, with Deltha O'Neal and Ellis Hobbs missing the vast majority of the contest, the Patriots defense managed to shut down the Marc Bulger-led Rams offensive attack.

Matt Cassel, somehow, managed to throw for almost 300 yards, and Randy Moss eclipsed the 100-yard mark on his own, while also grabbing his 800th career reception. The Patriots offense overcame a few of its own inconsistencies, as Moss and Wes Welker both dropped simple passes.

As a result of this game, as a Pats fan, you have to feel good. I understand that this season is never going to feel right without Tom Brady. I've come to terms with that. However, considering all the mistakes and injuries they overcame yesterday (and the entire season in general), you can't help but feel a bit more confident today than you did after the Week 1 victory over Kansas City. Matt Cassel is maturing before our eyes as a legitimate NFL quarterback, the defensive unit is functioning well with some forcefully-injected youth, and Randy Moss hasn't quit on the team yet. That's got to be worth something.

Next Sunday night will be a big, big test: a nationally televised game in Indianapolis against the Colts, who haven't looked like themselves for one moment this season. Peyton Manning's offensive line has given him roughly half-a-second to think before throwing the ball, their running game is non-existent, and the defense is a shell of what they were during their Super Bowl run of 2006. The Colts are 3-3 as of this morning, and face 6-0 Tennessee on the road tonight. Indianapolis could very well be a sub-.500 team when the Patriots take the field six days from now. If Cassel can lead the New England boys to victory, we might have a reason to get excited again.

Player of the Game: Wes Welker (WR, New England). Without him, Cassel would've been in deep trouble. He's become the new Troy Brown.

-- Dan Zappulla, Feeling Optimistic.

World Series Game 3: Philadelphia 5 - Tampa Bay 4

An hour and a half delay with HEAVY rains in Philadelphia was not enough to discourage this fan (Don McCracken), nor was it enough to derail the Phillies as they took a 2-1 series lead against the Devil Rays in the 2008 World Series.

It was a throwback night for Jamie Moyer, as the 45-year old was tough to solve through 6.1 innings, and held the Rays to only 3 runs in an eventual Phillies 6-5 victory. As always, it's tough to understand exactly how he goes about being so effective with an 82 MPH fastball, 75 MPH change up and slider, and a curve that sits at 69. Even with the pinpoint accuracy he sometimes shows, it just doesn't seem like his stuff is enough to keep hitters off balance three times through the lineup. But what I noticed this time, was that even Moyer's fastball (although I think we should call it a not-necessarily-slow ball) has a ton of movement on it. So it becomes harder for hitters to determine exactly where that fastball is going to end up. He also cuts it and tosses a two-seamer which I'm beginning to believe is one of the best 1-2 combinations in the game.

On the other side, Matt Garza took a minute or two to regain his composure after the hour-and-a-half rain delay, and his control was never what it was when he looked like the best pitcher in baseball against the Sox, but he was mostly solid through his 6 innings of work. The obvious exception being back-to-back home runs he surrendered to Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in the 5th. Howard seemed to find his stroke in this game, which is a dangerous prospect to Rays fans (do you think they know there's still more baseball to play?). Actually, it was an odd "coincidence" (I don't believe in such things in baseball) that Maddon told the wonder-bitch announcers that he'd have the flaps of his hat down at "5 past midnight" due to the cold. Well, he didn't and at exactly 12:05, Chase Utley hit a home run. More proof that the Baseball Gods dislike people who don't keep their word - remember that Mr. Maddon.

The end of the game was a bit of an oddity for both clubs, as neither bullpen could keep the other team at bay, the way it had all year long. Granted, each team was helped out by some costly errors and great base-running, but these teams have become accustomed to shut down pitching from their bullpen guys. Ryan Madson allowed a run to score in the top of the eighth, and going into the bottom of the 9th with a tied game, I was gearing up for a long night (and it was almost 2AM by that point). However the Tampa bullpen could not hold down the Phillies, and a lead-off walk by Eric Bruntlett and his glorious beard was turned into a triple by a stolen base, and a throwing error on that steal. In a classic Maddon move, the next two guys were walked and he went with 5 infielders to try and get three outs. The first batter, Carlos Ruiz, hits a dribbler down the third base line, and Longoria could not make the play at home.

The weird thing was, and never mentioned by the Buck-McCarver failure, was that if he had let that ball go, it might have had a chance to roll foul. But at that point in the game, you need to try and make a play. So the Phillies go up 2 games to 1, and the question becomes “how will the Rays respond?” Well, this is been a most resilient team all year long. Every time they have been counted out (by me more often than anyone, I assure you), they have bounced back and kept themselves on track. Can they do it again? Well they have Andy Sonnanstine taking the hill against Joe Blanton tonight, so we'll have to gear up to find out.


Written by Kyle Baxter: Certified Silly Goose