Two weeks ago it was Meat Loaf in the title. Now it's the Beastie Boys. How bout that for diversity?This past weekend was one of which Philadelphians should be proud.
Our Boys of Summer continued their red-hot September by taking two of three from the Florida Marlins. Saturday's 3-2 win was one of the gutsiest, grittiest wins of the season, and not just because the Phightins regained first place from the Mets. Joe Blanton had another solid outing, the Flyin' Hawaiian came through with another clutch line-drive homer, and Greg Dobbs, aka Mr. Timely, knocked home the game winner in the 6th.
Then, Jamie Moyer went out to the hill yesterday, and did what he does best: shut down the Marlins. Like shooting fish in a barrel. (Get it? Fish in a barrel? I kill myself!) I couldn't get my brain around why the man would be so good against one team, when teams change over so many years. But my new theory is that he dominates them because, no matter who's in their lineup, they're always a young team, guys who haven't been in the big leagues too long. So his changing of speeds throws them off, cause they're not used to someone who pitches like that.
The question is: if a baseball team plays in Miami, and no one comes to see them, did the games really happen?
Now that the Phils are back in first, here's hoping they never give it back. And that Milwaukee takes the wild card from the Mets.
Not to be outdone by their baseball counterparts, the Iggles showed a whole lot of character in slugging out a 15-6 victory over a very good Pittsburgh Steelers team. Big, big ups to defensive coordinator Jim Johnson the Eagles' D, who continue to make me look a genius in fantasy football. 9 sacks including a safety, 2 fumbles forced and recovered, and another Asante Samuel interception. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger should be thankful for his team's huddles. Otherwise he might have forgotten what his receivers looked like. When the front office signed Johnson to that huge extension, I said then that it was bigger than any defensive free agent signing. Except for maybe Asante Samuel.
We were all nervous and fearing the worst when we saw Westbrook go down, and we've been holding our breath since. The latest report is that he's day-to-day with an ankle strain, and that he should be alright to go next week. Even the atheists among us are thanking God for that piece of news. In the meantime, the honest truth is that we shouldn't need too much of Westbrook (if any at all) to take down a mediocre Bears team this Sunday night. Correll Buckhalter showed yesterday that he's still got it, and alongside Lorenzo Booker, we actually have decent depth at the position. So I hope they don't rush him back too soon, cause we're gonna need him at 100 percent come playoff time.
The first two games proved that the Birds have tremendous offensive capabilities. Yesterday's game proved that when we have to win the ugly, low-scoring, defensive battles, we can do that too.
I love Philly sports more today than yesterday. But not as much as tomorrow. (Thanks, Spiral Starecase.)
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Other musings: Have you seen the commercial (I think it's Verizon) with the guy with the endless playlist? You see the entire course of their lives--meeting, dating, getting married, having children, sending them off to college, and in their older years (with horrible "old man" makeup, to boot)--and he's reading her his playlist. Who is this guy? What kind of girl is interested in a guy like that? And the tagline is, "Love 'em or hate 'em, you get 'em all." Why would I want songs that I hate? "Oh yeah, I absolutely despise that song. But, man, do I need it! I'm so glad I have Verizon!" I can't even stand to mute it, cause I still have to look at it. So now I change the channel to anything else for 30 seconds. What's upsetting about these commercials is that there was a person who came up with this idea. What's more upsetting is that there was at least one other person who liked it.
I wish I were in a position of power to be able to do something about this. Maybe I'll run for commissioner of the More Taste League.
