The700Level.com - Philly Sports & Minutiae

Is Brett Myers Serious?

I mean, for real? Was that the first pitch? I couldn't tell if I missed any pitches. Dude gives up HRs to the first two batters he faced. Ugh.

Hartnell Says Flyers May Shake Up Lines

When you've lost three games in a row, perhaps it's time for a change. Scotty Hartnell, on his blog on the Flyers official website, says you might just see a shake up.

Today we made some changes for practice this morning, and I was on a line with Mike Richards and Danny Briere. Richie is a great player and he’s having a great series. He’s done everything well all playoffs long, and hopefully we can just use our grit and speed and skill in getting in there and make some stuff happen. We’ll push hard into their zone and hopefully get a goal or two.

Also of interest, Braydon Coburn may return to the line up tomorrow. Those hockey players are gamers.

Eagles Cheerleaders Get In Touch With Nature

As part of the Eagles "Go Green" campaign, they're latest swimsuit calendar has been dubbed eco-friendly.

Each of the team's 38 cheerleaders was photographed in a natural setting - on the beach, alongside a stream, amid forest trees - while wearing makeup, swimsuits and accessories that are kind to planet Earth, she said.

I mean, why stop there? If you're going to try and be eco-friendly you can certainly be a bit more natural than that.

One of the Bell sisters from Media, PA, after the jump.

Dollar Dog Night Lives Up to Reputation

Apparently the scene wasn't pretty last night at Citizens Bank Park. Before the game even started, throngs of undercover police were busting underage kids in the parking lot for drinking adult beverages. Tisk, tisk, kiddies. Then, once the game actually kicked off, mayhem ensued. The Philly Burbs blog writes:

The event was an absolute disgrace and an embarrassment to anyone with an even an ounce of dignity. I sat in the 200 level and looked up above to a constant screaming of “Let’s go Mets!” I almost missed Jason Werth’s heroics as the attention turned back to the area which had now turned into a food fight. Hot dogs were flying, sodas were thrown. It was a battle zone up there that never ended.

Now is that Mets thing a typo or were there really New Yorkers causing a ruckus at a Braves game in Philly?

The Phillies ended up winning on the strength of Jayson Werth's great night at the plate. I missed this one so I can't really add much commentary. What'd we miss?

Anyway, here's NBC10's video of the crackdown via HHR.

WATN: Nelson Figueroa is the Last Laugh

Former Phillies prospect Nelson Figueroa became quite the story for the Mets earlier this season. He got roughed up by the Nats (!) this week and called out the Washington team for cheerleading like schoolgirls. Well, he just got sent down to the minors. HA HA [Mr. Irrelevant]

George W. Bush Loves Him Some Chase Utley

Politico.com has a lengthy Q&A with our Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush. As often does when GW is involved, the conversation turned to baseball.

Q: Mr. President, I know you're going to hate this, but I'm hoping that we may twist your arm and talk about baseball for just a moment. (Laughter.) Mr. President, you're a Major League Baseball team owner again. Everyone is a free agent. You have a Yankees-like wallet. Who is your first position player? Who's your pitcher?

THE PRESIDENT: That's a great question. I like Ottley [sic] from the Philadelphia Phillies. He's a middle infielder, which is always -- you know, they say you have strength up the middle -- there's nothing better than having a good person up the middle that can hit. And Roy Halladay from the Toronto Blue Jays is a great pitcher. He's a steady guy, he burns up innings.

You'd think a website that gets to interview the President could at least Google the baseball players names for accuracy? U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

>>Interview with President Bush [Politico ] [via L.A. Times] [via HHR]

Matt Walsh is Just Like Every Other Male Football Fan, Loves Cheerleaders

Patriot haters all across the country were pretty disappointed with the lack of information coming out of yesterday's press conference. But the Inquirer's Don Mckee finds a gem that can make us all chuckle.

The most scandalous part of the tapes - which were shown to reporters before Goodell's news conference - had nothing to do with stealing signals. The footage showed several minutes of close-ups of San Diego Chargers cheerleaders performing during a 2002 game.

If you're going to tape "close-ups" of any cheerleaders, you have to give him credit for picking the lovely ladies of San Diego.

Outplayed.

There's plenty that can be said about injuries, bad calls, and non-calls from last night's game 3 between the Flyers and the Penguins. True, it's hard to win without your two best defensemen, the guys who run your power play, control the breakouts on offense, and mark the opposing team's top offensive players. And regarding the work of the men in stripes, you can always look at weak calls that result in power play goals and say, "That was the difference maker."

But last night, none of those things were the deciding factors. The Flyers were simply outplayed by what increasingly looks to be a better team.

Flyers and Pens Take the Ice in South Philly

We'll keep this short since we're headed to the game tonight, and every road is completely jammed with commuters and Phillies and Flyers fans.

Home ice has meant a ton to both of these teams. The Flyers have only dropped one playoff game at home this year, and the Penguins have only dropped one at all, and it came on the road in New York. The players will no doubt be motivated to get this series to 2-1, and the insanity in the stands will hopefully energize them even more. Down a man for most of the last game, the Flyers were beaten to a lot of pucks due to tired legs and a galvanized Penguins team. With Ryan Parent called up to play tonight, the boots shouldn't be as heavy, and the energy in the building added to that brink-of-elimination desperation should be all the motivation they need to take a W on home ice.

Mayor Nutter, Man of Enthusiasm

Mayor Nutter may want to work on his cadence just a bit, but we'll give him credit for getting the words right and showing his support for the Flyguys. (remember when Mayor Street botched Ryan Howard's name?)

Pretty big game tonight, kids. Pret--ty, pret--ty big.

We Lied: Flyers Fans in the Burgh Dress Statue in Giant Flyers Jersey

So we lied about the moratorium on jersey on statue pictures.

610 WIP's Glen Macnow and Anthony Gargano hooked up with the Flyers to have an extra large jersey sent to a WIP listener, Ryan, who goes to school in Pittsburgh.

The loyal Flyers fan, like the sneaky Pittsburgh yinzers, needed the stealth of darkness to show those pesky statues who the boss is.

The statues that were dressed up in lovely orange and black include a dinosaur at Carnegie (Museum?) Mellon University and the Pitt Panther at the University of Pittsburgh.

Kudos, Flyers fan in the Burgh. Uh, we guess.

2 more photos after the jump.

On Ryan Howard's Struggles

Ryan Howard's struggles have been quite horrible lately. And Bill Conlin does a real nice job documenting the range of differing opinions on The Big Guy's penchant for walking back to the dugout with his head down. Put me in the Mitch Williams school of philosophy:

I direct the "Just Leave Him Alone . . . " folks to Mitch Williams, who is a passionate advocate of that approach. The Wild Thing is unwavering in his belief that you don't just have back-to-back seasons of 58 and 47 homers with a total of 285 RBI by accident. This is a brutally honest guy, by the way, who in 15 years has not attempted to deflect an ounce of blame for that pitch he made to Joe Carter in Game 6 of the Phillies' most recent World Series. "He'll figure it out," Mitch says, "just like he did the last 2 years."

I kind of feel like Howard is getting a bit of a pass. The Flyers playoff run and the Sixers brief playoff appearance has taken some of the spotlight away from Ryan and his amazing strikeout numbers.

Honestly, there's probably only one solution: Ryan Howard needs another vacation.

>>Suddenly there are more experts than strikeouts in Ryan Howard's slump [Inquirer]

Quotable: Crosby on Playing in Philly

After a long wait, the Eastern Conference Finals swing to Philly tonight. The faithful will be out in force, showing trademark intensity and venom laced with desperation. In his third year in the NHL, Sidney Crosby knows what to expect when the fans see him take the ice:

"I would say it's a pretty tough place to play," Crosby said yesterday before the Penguins departed for tonight's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals at the Wachovia Center.

"But at the same time, it makes for a great atmosphere in the playoffs," he said. "The worst thing? I can't really name one thing. They're just a tough crowd. They're not afraid to say anything. They're a very vocal group."

You damn right.

Crosby's earned a lot of nicknames from fans in Philly and around the league, but with that pathetic excuse for a playoff beard, we're going with "The Dirty Sidney."

Crosby and Penguins await rude awakening [Inquirer]

Pic via Sean Leahy's Going Five Hole, who are doing a Crosby Playoff Beard Watch. This was at Day 32.

A Much Needed Off Night For Philly Fans

Mother's Day didn't go all that well for our Philly sports teams. As you know, the Flyers fell to the Pens again and now find themselves in an 0-2 hole. Out on the West Coast, the typically dependable J.C. Romero gave up a 2 run HR that proved to be the difference in the Phils loss last night, costing them the series with the Giants.

For the first time in ages, there will be no game for any of the major teams tonight. What will you do with yourself this evening? After the jump, a list of things you could do tonight that you haven't done in ages. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Quotable: Jevon Kearse is Like Pudding

"I'm still the same player, but that scheme up in Philly was different. All I've got to say is proof is in the pudding, so I can't even talk about it. Just watch and see."

-Jevon Kearse

Two hundred and forty dollars wortha puddin'. That's a whole lotta puddin.

Apparently, Jevon Kearse and his coaches think he still has something left in the tank and has something to prove. "Back in '99 I had a chip on my shoulder," Kearse said. "Ten years later, that chip's turned into a boulder. So now I've got a boulder on my shoulder."

So that's why he was holding his shoulder after every single play the past three seasons.

>>Kearse a 'Joke in Philadelphia' [DN]

I Can Has Umberger, and So Can You.

If you watched the Comcast Sportsnet lead-in to the atrocity that is the Versus hockey broadcast last night, you may have seen the feature on Cocco's Pizza's latest addition to their menu: The Umberger.

Angelo and Andy on Eagles WRs

Andy Reid was a guest of the WIP morning show today, where Angelo Cataldi went right for the questions pertaining to the Eagles sometimes puzzling approach to wide receivers.

Let's Go Play With Statues! YEAH! FUN!

Pens fan at Rocky statue talking to camera: "Do you see this!??! Do you see it!??!"

Me: No, jerkwheat, we don't see it cause it's pitch black out.

More over at Puck Daddy. And I would like to state for the record I think this statue garbage is horribly boring and this will be our last post about it.

Philly Walks For The Cure

While Major League Baseball was using pink bats yesterday to help raise breast cancer awareness, the city of Philadelphia joined up for the same cause. I put on the brightest pink shirt I own and joined 45,000 other Philadelphians for the 18th annual Susan G. Komen Philadelphia Race for the Cure.

My family walked in honor of my Mom Mom who lost her battle with cancer a few years back. About 20 of us enjoyed a 5K stroll through Center City to help a good cause. If you'd like to donate to the Susan G. Komen Foundation you can do so in the name of our team here.