76ers Preview

The Philadelphia 76ers will open their season tonight in Toronto where they will face off against the Raptors. Many predictions that you will read say that they will finish last in their the division. I am no different but I think that if the Knicks blow up, like they did last year, then the Sixers will finish above the Knicks. You will see mostly the same faces when you go to the Sixers game. Andre Iguodala is still the star of the team, and with the exception of a couple of draft picks and free agents, this team is mostly the same. They picked up rebounding machine Reggie Evans. Their first two picks, which you might see in a game, are forwards Jason Smith and Thaddeus Young. I think Iggy needs to pick it up this year and carry this team. He has the potential to do it and I think he will. I think he needs to have the ball in his hands a lot if the Sixers hope to win. Andre Miller can give it to him, being as though Miller is one of the league's best in assists. Then, when the team starts to double or triple team Iggy, Miller dishes to Korver for a wide open three.
Overall this season is just to build chemistry with the people on the team and try to win a decent amount of games. That might not happen, though, because their division is pretty tough. Next year the Sixers will have a lot of money to go after some big free agents. But, until then, the Sixers will build a solid nucleus with the players they have. Then again, who knows, they start their season off on Halloween night.

Red Sox Rock Rockies

The Red Sox certainly showed why they are the best baseball team in the world by sweeping the Rockies in the World Series last week. The Red Sox are just too good a mix of hitting and pitching. The Sox made it look easy as they outscored the Colorado Rockies 29-10. Everyone for the BoSox contributed from Manny Ramirez to John Lester.
I guess an eight-day rest for the Rockies cooled them off. Before this series the Rockies won every playoff game they played in this year.
Boston sports fans are joyful for two reasons: one, they won the World Series and two, their football team is undefeated.
The Red Sox are a great team, so don't count them out for next year. Their won't be any post-world championship drought for this team, believe me. They deserve to win.

NFL Picks of the Week

Last week: 9-5
Detroit at Chicago: winner-Detroit
It won't be a high-scoring game as the Lions just edge out the Bears.
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati: winner-Pittsburgh
The Steelers' offense will over power the Bengals.
New York Giants at Miami: winner-New York
Miami stinks this year (they haven't won a game) and this one shouldn't be close.
Philadelphia at Minnesota: winner-Philadelphia
The Philly D should hold Peterson to a relatively quiet game. If they don't, they will get beat.
Cleveland at St. Louis: winner-Cleveland
The Rams should get a little more offense going but not enough.
Indianapolis at Carolina: winner-Indianapolis
With Joseph Addai back and Peyton as good as ever the Colts should take this one easily.
Oakland at Tennessee: winner-Tennessee
Oakland wants this season to be over so they can get JaMarcus Russell at QB next year.
Houston at San Diego: winner-San Diego
Look for Phillip Rivers to have a good game but this will probably be a close one.
Jacksonville at Tampa Bay: winner-Jacksonville
Maurice Jones-Drew will have a good game as the Jaguars move up to 5-2.
Buffalo at New York Jets: winner-Buffalo
The Bills will beat the pitiful Jets.
Washington at New England: winner-New England
Washington is good but the Pats are better. Look for the Tom Brady and the rest of the Pats offense to have yet another great day.
New Orleans at San Francisco: winner-New Orleans
The saints have the same record as the 49ers (2-4) but the Saints should get it back on track. Watch for an explosive afternoon from Reggie Bush.
Green Bay at Denver: winner-Green Bay
It will be tough for Green Bay at Denver on Monday night but the Packers will scrape up the win.

Red Sox Take 2

The Boston Red Sox beat the Colorado Rockies last night in game two of the 2007 edition of the World Series of baseball. It was a pitching duel last night as Curt Schilling added to his postseason reputation. The final score was 2-1 Red Sox.

The Bostonians are now leading the series 2-0 and if they win game three, it will be extremely difficult for the Rockies to come back. I would definitely consider this next game, game 3, to be a must-win for the Rockies. If they lose, the Red Sox might bring up Josh Beckett for game 4 and with his history in pitching in big games, you might as well give the trophy to the Sox.

There is an off day today so maybe Clint Hurdle can get his boys together and the Rockies can beat the veteran Red Sox. They need to do better at handling the explosive Red Sox offense. It should be very intresting.

NFL Picks of the Week

Baltimore at Buffalo: winner-Baltimore
Both of these teams have been in disarray all season but the Ravens D will stop the Bills' offense.
Tampa Bay at Detroit: winner-Detroit
This will be a close match up but the wide receivers for the Lions will make a couple of big plays and a few touchdowns later the game will be over.
New England at Miami: winner-New England
This game should not even be close, isn't Miami on a 9 game losing streak or something. Remember what I said about the Pats going undefeated.
Atlanta at New Orleans: winner-New Orleans
I think the Saints will get back on track this week.
San Francisco at New York Giants: winner-New York Giants
Maybe if Alex Smith was playing in this one but the Giants will over power the 49ers.
Arizona at Washington: winner-Washington
Jason Campbell will have a big game as the Redskins beat the helpless Cardinals.
Tennessee at Houston: winner-Houston
If Vince Young is a 100% than the Titans might have a chance at winning but I don't think so.
New York Jets at Cincinnati: winner-Cincinnati
This one shouldn't even be close because the Bengals will throw it all day against the lowly Jets.
Kansas City at Oakland: winner-Kansas City
Larry Johnson will finally get it together this week.
Minnesota at Dallas: winner-Dallas
Look for Peterson to have another great game the Cowboy offense will over power them.
Chicago at Philadelphia: winner-Philadelphia
Brian Westbrook will have a great day and also look for the Birds' defense to get it done.
St. Louis at Seattle: winner-St.Louis
The battle of the struggling teams. Look for Alexander to be non-existent again today. It won't be a high-scoring game.
Pittsburgh at Denver: winner-Pittsburgh
The Steelers' offense will over power the Denver D and whats ever left of it's offense.
Indianapolis at Jacksonville: winner-Indianapolis
Should be a fairly competitive game but look for Indy to blow it open late.

Undefeated Pats?

I know you hear every year that one team in the NFL might go undefeated but it never happens. The New England Patriots might do it this year. All the pieces are together for the Pats to do something that has not been accomplished since the 1972 Dolphins did it.

The quarterback, Tom Brady, is having a career year and that's saying something about a guy who has won three Super Bowls. And For the first time Brady has a great wide receiver in future-Hall-of-Famer Randy Moss. He also has Donte Stallworth; the speedy receiver could be a number 1 guy on some teams. Laurence Maroney and Sammy Morris combine to give the Pats the running game the sting it needs so defenses can't just cover the pass. Put that staff together with a solid D and you have a team that has a good chance of going 16-o.

Patriots Remaining Schedule

@Miami
vs Washington
@ Indianapolis
bye
@ Buffalo
vs Philadelphia
@ Baltimore
vs Pittsburgh
vs New York Jets
vs Miami
@New York Giants

This scheduleis pretty tough, especially the games at the undefeated Colts and the home games against the Steelers. Most of their opponents are decent teams but I think the Pats can pull it off. We'll just have to watch and see.

Eagles Beat Jets to Save Season

The Eagles just might have relinquished their season yesterday at Giant stadium. It wasn't the most convincing win but hey, if it's a W added on to their record then they will take it. Brian Westbrook gained 156 all-purpose as he dampened the thought that he may still be hampered by an injury that made him miss the Giants game two weeks ago. Kevin Curtis stepped up, with 5 catches for 121 yards and a TD. Reggie Brown finally woke up this game. He had 6 receptions for 89 yards. And even though David Akers continued his kicking woes at Giants Stadium, the Eagles beat the Jets 16-3.

That will improve the Eagles record to 2-3 and might have just kept the Eagles in the playoff picture all together. This win may be a confidence builder and the Eagles might go on a run. Their next opponent is the Chicago Bears and I know what your thinking, "The Eagles won't score a point against that brick wall of a defense." Well, not exactly, the Bears D got run over by the Vikings rookie sensation Adrian Peterson. In my opinion, Westbrook is better than Peterson, so the Eagles should run right through them. Unless, of course, that was just a fluke day for the Bears D and they will come back better then ever next week.

The Eagles looked a lot better this game than any other game besides that Lions game. They kept possession of the ball and advanced it pretty well. McNabb also completed consecutive passes for a first down. That is what McNabb did to gain success this decade and that is what he needs to do this year. The Eagles looked like the Eagles of old yesterday. (well, maybe not old but maybe a couple of years old)

Preview: Eagles at Jets

This afternoon the Eagles will try to save their season at Giants Stadium against the Jets. The Eagles are 1-3 and if they lose today they might as well kiss their postseason aspirations goodbye. They will be playing a team that is 1-4 and definitely in deep trouble. Their quarterback, Chad Pennington, has been horrid this season and let's just say that their might be a different QB out their if he continues to complete less than 3/4 of his passes. The Eagles should easily stop Thomas Jones. The Eagles' D has been better than expected this season and don't expect a change today. The Eagles' D backs have to handle the Jets' talented 1-2 punch at wide receiver (Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery). I see the Eagles intercepting two passes off Chad Pennington.
The Eagles will be a lot better off this week with Brian Westbrook back to being a 100%. McNabb should look better this game, considering that the Jets' D isn't as good as the Giants' D. McNabb should be happy that one of his prime targets from last year is back for the first time this season (TE L.J. Smith). Expect less sacks this week with William Thomas back from injury and not the invisible Winston Justice starting.

Prediction: 21 to 14 Eagles

Flyers Preview

The Flyers home-opener is tonight at seven. The New York Islanders will be visiting them at the Wachovia Center. The Flyers team you saw last year is nothing like the one you will go to see this year. The team is reformed and looking good after its first three games this season, especially the last game, in which the Flyers blew out the Vancouver Canucks, 8-2. Among the many new-comers, Danny Briere, the team's big free agent signing in the offseason, has 4 goals and 7 points in three games. They also signed Kimmo Timonen who was probably the best free agent defenseman out on the market. They got another veteran defenseman in Jason Smith, who was named the team captain. They got two good wingers in Joffery Lupul and Scott Hartnell. General manager Paul Holmgren looked like a mad scientist reforming his experiment this off-season.
The Flyers also look like the old Broad Street Bullies early this season but that might not be a good thing. Steve Downie was handed a suspension in the pre-season for a nasty hit. Steve Downie was handed his 20 game suspension for a brutal hit in the Vanouver game.
This is one of the fastest turnarounds I have ever seen in sports. And it's all because of Paul Holmgren. He traded veterans (including Peter Forsberg) for draft picks and young players even though some protested. He also took out Comcast's wallet to get Daniel Briere along with the veteran defensemen.
So the season opens tonight, and even though you see some new faces and hear some new names, you will know that this team is way better than the one took the ice last year.

Tough Order for Phils

The Phillies now have the improbable test of trying to win three games in a row to advance to the next round of the 2007 MLB Playoffs. How did this happen? Well, the Phils blew the first two games against the Rockies, both day games. Hopefully, that had something to do with it and the Phils can do better when they head to Coor's Field for two games at night. The Phillies hitting has been struggling most of all, it was supposed to be the pitching. Aside from some Jose Mesa, who has an ERA of about 13, the pitching staff has been unexpectingly good. The Phillies have an off-day today, that will give Charlie time to get this team back on track. Whatever happens, I know it isn't going to be easy.

Preview: Rockies and Phillies, Game 1

Game one between the Rockies and Phillies is this afternoon at 3 at Citizen's Bank Park. It will be a high-scoring series between the two teams because both of them are on top of the N.L. in runs scored. So much for pitching gets you to the playoffs. Here are the probable starters for both teams.

Phillies: Rockies:

pitcher Cole Hamels pitcher Jeff Francis
shortstop Jimmy Rollins shortstop Troy Tulowitzki
rightfielder Shane Victorino or Jayson Werth rightfielder Brad Hawpe
second baseman Chase Utely second baseman Kazuo Matsui
first baseman Ryan Howard first baseman Todd Helton
leftfielder Pat Burrell leftfielder Matt Holliday
centerfielder Aaron Rowand centerfielder Willy Taveras
third baseman Abraham Nunez or Greg Dobbs or Wes Helms third baseman Garrett Atkins
catcher Carlos Ruiz catcher Yorvit Torrealba

The lineups look pretty much the same. They are pretty equal, the Phils might have a slight edge because the Rollins, Utely, and Howard combination has been deadly recently. The pitchers, Cole Hamels and Jeff Francis, are pretty equal in ability and wins. The Rockies are red-hot going 20-8 in September. The team who will win will get to the starting pitchers more and hold on to the lead. The Phils do have a lot of come-from-behind wins. It should be great.

Phillies Win Pennant

The Phillies have won the National League East pennant. The Phillies will be playing in October for the first time since 1993. These fans are hungry for some good postseason baseball; heck, they haven't had it in 14 years. The Phillies were tied for the lead in the division going into yesterday's game at Citizens' Bank Park. The Phillies beat the Nationals, 6-1, yesterday and by the time the game was over, the Mets had already been killed by the Marlins. The Mets have had a great fall from grace, and a very historical one as well. The New York Mets had a seven game lead on the Phils with 17 games left in the season. That is the greatest fall in the history of Major League Baseball.
The hometown guy clinched it for the Phillies with his great pitching performance. Jamie Moyer did not give up an earned run in the 5 1/3 innings that he pitched. Moyer took off from school to go to the parade in 1980 when the Phils won their last World Series. Howard also helped by getting three RBI's and smacking his 47th homer of the year. Jimmy Rollins had a big RBI triple in the game. Rollins is only the fourth person in MLB history to reach the 20-20-20-20, triples, doubles, homers, and stolen bases.
This is the tenth postseason the Phillies have reached in their 100 plus years of playing ball. They will play wednesday, at home, against the winner of the one game playoff featuring the Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres. It doesn't matter who they play, the Phillies are still red hot and for the first time in a long time: division winners.