Results tagged “tampabay”

The Sixers are still motoring along, posting a win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night (101-89), and fueling… playoff fever? We’ve felt this before, haven’t we Philly? Breathe through it. It’s not worth the morning after remorse. They’re not home again until March 7; hopefully they’ll keep up the winning away against Golden State (tonight 10:30PM), Phoenix (tomorrow 9PM), and the LA Clippers (Monday at 10:30PM); you can catch all on SportsNet.

The Sixers are still going (for now) as they seek to match their season-high four game winning streak (they’ve won at home against Washington 101-96, Miami 101-84, and the LA Clippers 101-80) with a win over the Dallas Mavericks tonight at 7PM at the Wach (get tickets or watch here). They will host the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday at 7PM at the Wach (get tickets or watch here). If you’re going to that game, get there early: they’re honoring Marc Iavaroni (member of the ’83 Championship Team) by giving away a Mr. Potato Head to the first 5,000 fans.

Landon Donovan continued to put ’06 in the past with a stellar performance against Mexico last night. He capped off USA’s victory with a blistering charge through midfield, in which he shed two defenders before deftly turning to the left to avoid keeper Oswaldo Sanchez and slamming the ball home to make it 2-0 at the 90 minute mark. In his last two games he has 3 goals after going 18 international appearances without a score. Playing before a hostile crowd in Arizona - that’s right, US fans were outnumbered at The University of Phoenix Stadium - the game seemed to present a tough challenge, though we haven’t lost to Mexico on home soil since 1999. Mexico had bolstered its squad by recalling all available top internationals, including Omar Bravo, Francisco Fonseca and danger man Jared Borgetti. Top US defender, Oguchi Onyewu, was unfortunately unavailable for the match, due to obligations to club team, Newcastle. Borgetti has given the US trouble in the past and nearly equalized the score with a header that barely went wide of the right post. After Jimmy Conrad’s goal (his first in 19 appearances) in the 52nd minute - headed home with conviction after a beautiful corner kick by Landon Donovan - Mexico turned up the heat. Seven of Mexico’s nine shots came in the second half. The US defense held firm, however, with Jimmy Conrad playing a stellar all around game. Though US goalie Tim Howard had to come up big on two excellent chances, all other scoring opportunities were heavily hindered by the US defense. Our main problem was a lack of consistent flow through midfield. At times the service just wasn’t there for the forwards. When he got the ball, Bobby Convey stood out. His charges up the wing repeatedly confounded Mexico’s defense and he nearly put the US up by two goals in the 72nd minute. Close in to the keeper, he shot the ball right into Sanchez’s waiting arms. If Convey adds a defter touch to his game he could be one of the US’s deadliest players.

The Second Coming wasn’t supposed to be like this. On his return to Philadelphia, the Flyers seemed set to dominate the league. Prior to the NHL returning from the 2004-2005 season, Bob Clarke assembled what had appeared to be a sure Cup contender. Former 30-plus goal scorer Mike Knuble was added along with versatile forward Turner Stevenson. The signing of massive and proven defensemen Mike Rathje and Derian Hatcher was announced on the same day in early August ’05. We seemed set for a title run. But, after a somewhat inspired early season, the level of play dropped off dramatically through March and April, prior to the team being absolutely embarrassed by the Buffalo Sabres in a first round playoff loss. Knuble proved to be the only one of those big ’05 additions that has had a lasting impact. Rathje and Hatcher are too slow to be effective in the speedier NHL of today, and Stevenson was lost last season after continuous hip problems (Rathje is currently out indefinitely with Piriformis Syndrome, which is described as condition that causes backside pain). Besides having slow footed defensemen, the Flyers have sorely missed Stevenson as his two way play was invaluable on the penalty kill and in close game situations. Additionally he demonstrated the tireless work effort that this team currently lacks.

Not too lazy to give you a few post-turkey news bullet points, though:

Election night, NBC 10 had the best broadcast locally, supplying the right mix of live coverage, analysis and discussion, as seen on both its own newscast, and the one it produces for WPHL. Admittedly, Tim Lake seems like he should be hosting Good Day Tampa Bay or some late night infomercial rather than a newscast. Also, there is something disconcerting about Renee Chenault-Fattah anchoring election coverage, seeing as how her husband is U.S. Congressman Chakah Fattah. It has the appearance of something not-quite-kosher, but hey, this is Pennsylvania politics, where pork is not a four letter word. And anyway these are only a few minor complaints about some informative and insightful coverage.

The Eagles played a good game against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday afternoon, but not good enough this time. The teams were evenly matched, and ended up tied 24-24 in the fourth quarter. The Eagles had a chance to stop a strong Saints offensive drive near the end of the game, and even seemed to have done so by sacking the quarterback for a loss on a crucial third down. But they made a stupid mistake - putting 12 men on the field - and the penalty gave the Saints the chance they needed to keep going. Poor time management had left the Eagles with no time outs, and in a slow and agonizing finish, the Saints just ran the clock down to three seconds left and then kicked a field goal to take the win.

Merial, the makers of Heartguard Plus, recently conducted a survey of their 15 biggest markets, asking folks in each area how good they thought local dog-owners were about picking up after their pooches (don't worry, the respondents included both dog-owners and non-dog-owners alike, for fairness). The cities were then ranked from least to most responsible. The results are as follows:

The Philadelphia Flyers return to the ice tonight, playing a nationally broadcast game to kick off the NHL's new season.

Bobby Abreu’s first inning grand slam off of Mark Prior in the 92 degree heat at CBB gave Brett Myers a four run lead, enough room to pitch with a good amount of sloppiness. Myers flirted with disaster, giving up 10 hits to the 30 batters he faced. But luckily for Myers, and for the Phillies, Myers held off the Cubs without giving up one home run, although he did allow five doubles. The Phillies hit three home runs off of Prior, adding a Chase Utley shot in the fifth and a Todd Pratt blast in the fourth. Because the long ball tallies were all courtesy of the Phillies, the Cubs were never able to score more than 2 runs in an inning. Due to the early Phillies lead, Brett Myers could afford to be a little more aggressive to Derrek Lee and Aramis Ramirez than he otherwise might have been.