After stumbling down the stretch and losing 5 consecutive games, the Flyers got it together on Saturday night to clinch the Atlantic Division and lock up their spot as the 2 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Flyers were able to win 7-4 over the New York Islanders thanks to Scott Hartnell and Andrej Meszaros who had 2 goals a piece. Briere, Powe and Timonen also scored for the Flyers helping out goalie Sergie Bobrovsky who gave up 3 goals on just 10 shots early on. Bobrovsky was quickly replaced by Brian Boucher who filled in nicely giving up just 1 goal.
With the 7-4 victory over the Islanders, the Flyers ended the season on a positive note and avoided a possible fall to the 4th seed in which they would have played the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Flyers will instead play the 7th seed Buffalo Sabres in the Stanley Cup Playoffs which beginning Thursday night in Philadelphia.
Although this team struggled greatly in the final month and especially the final week, they are still a veteran team that knows what it takes to win in the playoffs. I expect the veterans on this team like Pronger, Briere, and Richards to rally the troops and stress the importance of putting the final month out of their heads. The Flyers need to have a short memory and get ready for a brand new season.
Get Flyered up for the playoffs by checking Broad Street Marching throughout the week for previews and analysis of the upcoming Sabres Flyers series.
This weekend, the Phillies will travek to Atlanta to take on the Braves in their first road trip of the year. After successfully opening the season with a 5-1 homestand, the Phils will look to keep things going against their division rivals.
Phillies Last Series
The Phils took 2 out of 3 from the New York Mets in their second series of the 2011 season. After being blown out in the first game of the series, the Phils responded nicely in the final 2 games, mainly because of their offense. Ryan Howard and Placido Polanco are leading the attack along with Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins. Right now it seems like everyone is hitting the ball which is a very good sign, especially this early in the season. In the upcoming series, the Phils will send Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels to the mound.
Braves Last Series
The Braves boast a solid pitching staff behind a young offense that has a lot of potential. But the Braves are coming off a tough 4 game road series in which they lost 3 out of 4 to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Braves are getting solid pitching, but Freddie Freeman, Dan Uggla and Alex Gonzalez are not hitting well. Brain McCann and Chipper Jones are the only ones hitting above .300 for Atlanta.
What To Look For
Look for the Phils to continue their recent streak of hot hitting. Shane Victorino is settling into his role as lead off hitter nicely, so I expect him to have a big series this weekend. Also Ben Francisco is really stepping up and hopefully he can keep it going. Even when he gets out, Francisco is still hitting the ball hard. On the pitching side, it will be interesting to see how Cole Hamels responds after his disaster against the Mets earlier this week. Hamels needs to regroup, put all distractions aside, and go out there and pitch a solid game and not try to do too much. If Hamels can take the game one pitch at a time, he should be good to go.
Pitching Match-Ups
Friday 7:05 PM Cliff Lee (1-0, 3.86 ERA) vs Tim Hudson (1-0, 1.29 ERA)
Saturday 1:10 PM Roy Oswalt (1-0, 3.00 ERA) vs Brandon Beachy (0-0, 1.50 ERA)
Sunday 1:35 PM Cole Hamels (0-1, 20.25 ERA) vs Derek Lowe (1-1, 0.77 ERA)
Overall it's going to be a great series between 2 bitter division rivals. I personally feel that it's going to be a 2 team race between the Phillies and Braves for the N.L. East crown, so the Phils need to come out this weekend and set the tone. They need to show the Braves who's boss, and hopefully take at least 2 out of 3.
Right now, the Phillies are tearing the cover off the ball. After today's 11-0 shellacking against the Mets, the Phillies now find themselves at 5-1 on the season.
The Phils got the win today thanks in part to Roy Halladay who was his usual outstanding self in today's game. Although he allowed a lot of base runners, Halladay managed to pitch 7 scoreless innings for the Phils. It was all about command for Halladay who located all of his pitches, and got key ground ball outs to get him out of difficult spots. On a day when the bullpen desperately needed rest, Halladay came through, eating up innings, and giving the guys in the pen a break. Baez pitched a scoreless 8th, and Herndon a scoreless 9th.
Offensively, the Phillies were relentless. The Phils scored 2 runs in the third off a Shane Victorino single that scored Valdez, and a Polanco double that scored Victorino. The Phils then followed with a 4 run 4th, in which Carlos Ruiz and Wilson Valdez both had RBI singles. In the 4th Polanco continued his hot hitting with a 2 run single to give the Phils a commanding 6-0 lead. The Phils added insurance in the 5th off a 2 run double from Valdez, and in the 7th off a 2 run HR hit by Raul Ibanez. The key for the Phils offense today was the top of the order. Victorino, Polanco and Rollins all went 2-5 and combined for 5 RBI's. Wilson Valdez went 4-4, and is really doing a great job filling in for the injured Chase Utley.
I think it's fair to say that the Phils' first homestand of the season was a great success. The Phils are hitting and getting great pitching from their bullpen and most of their starters. The Phils travel to Atlanta this weekend to take on the Braves. Tomorrow night, Cliff Lee will pitch against Tim Hudson in the first game of the series.
Let's flash back for a second to January 25, 2011. The Flyers had just beaten the Montreal Canadiens, by a final of 5-2 and went into the All-Star break with an NHL best 33 wins and 71 points. They had a comfortable 5 point lead over the Penguins for the division, and a very solid 8 point lead over the Washington Capitals. It seemed like the Flyers were a lock to capture the number 1 overall seed.
Directly after the All-Star break they continued to play strong going 5-2 in their first 7 games after the break. But after February 18th's 3-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Flyers season took a drastic turn for the worst. Since February 18th, the Flyers have gone a dismal 8-15, picking up just 22 points.
The Flyers now find themselves in the midst of a 4 game losing streak, and 4 points behind the Washington Capitals for the number 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. With 2 games remaining, the Flyers are clinging to a 1 point lead over the Penguins for the division. If the Flyers somehow lose the division race to the Penguins, they would fall all the way to the 4th seed and end up playing the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Flyers want nothing to do with Tampa, as the Flyers went 1-3 against the Lightning this year.
It is truly amazing how the Flyers have fallen from first place. On January 25th they were sitting pretty atop the entire NHL. But now on April 7th, the Flyers are struggling just to win the division. The Flyers will close out the season this weekend when they travel to Buffalo tomorrow to take on the Sabres, and host the Islanders on Saturday.
After Tuesday's disappointing 7-1 loss, the Phils bounced back tonight with a 10-7 victory over the New York Mets. The offense did a lot of the work, producing 10 runs and overcoming Joe Blanton's disappointing performance. Blanton went 4.1 innings, giving up 7 runs on 10 hits. Blanton did a good job early on as he maintained a shutout through the third inning. Blanton continued to pitch a solid game giving up only 2 in the 4th, but then imploded in the 5th, giving up 5 runs. Blanton left the game in the 5th, replaced by Antonio Bastardo. Luckily the offense had Joe's back. The offensive attack was led by Ryan Howard who went 4-4 with 2 doubles and a homerun. Placido Polanco also had a big night, going 3-5 with 3 RBI's. The offense was able to hold off the Mets who were able to tie the game after their big 5th inning. But in the bottom of the 5th, the Phils picked up 2 runs, and later picked up an insurance run in the 6th to secure the 10-7 victory. The Phils bullpen did an excellent job of keeping the Mets off the scoreboard. Bastardo pitched the remainder of the 5th, and the entire 6th, Romero pitched the 7th, Madson the 8th, and Contreras picked up the save by pitching a scoreless 9th. In addition to seeing a great game from the bullpen, it was also good to see the Phils offense bounce back after Tuesday's performance. The Phils will send ace Roy Halladay to the mound tomorrow afternoon to face Jon Niese in the ruber match of the series.
In Broad Street Marching's second installment of Philly Sports Overload, I am sad to report that the Phillies, Flyers and Sixers all lost today. 0-3 is painful, and very different from Friday in which the Phillies won on a walk off and the Sixers won big. But tonight, all 3 teams came up short, let's go through each game.Phillies vs Mets
Cole Hamels was unable to follow the performances of fellow aces Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, and Roy Oswalt. Hamels lasted just 3 innings, giving up 6 runs in the process. After working his way out of a difficult top of the first, Hamels pitched a 1-2-3 2nd, but then imploded in the third giving up 6 runs. Offensively, the Phils could only come up with one run on a night where the wind was blowing, and homeruns were hard to come by. Overall it was a bad loss for the Phils who will look to rebound tomorrow night when they send Joe Blanton to the mound to face Mike Pelfrey.
Flyers @ Senators
The Flyers lost, again. For the Flyers it is their 4th consecutive loss and with only 2 games remaining, the Flyers need to find some answers and fast. Mike Richards scored the first goal of the night on the power play, and the Flyers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead. The game was 1-1 in the second when Mike Richards again scored on the power play to give the Flyers the lead. But the Senators scored 3 unanswered goals to end the game and give the Senators a 4-2 victory. The Flyers are now 2 points behind the Capitals for first place in the Eastern Conference. In the Atlantic Division race, the Flyers are clinging to a 3 point lead ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Flyers will look to rebound on Friday when they travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres.
Sixers @ Celtics
After an impressive 3 game winning streak that included wins against the Bulls and Rockets, the Sixers now find themselves in the midst of a 2 game skid after falling to the Boston Celtics tonight by a final of 99-82. The Sixers had a total of 5 guys in double figures, but ultimately were unable to hold off Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo who all were in double figures and all shot a very high field goal percentage. I guess the only real positive that can be taken from this game is the performance of rookie Evan Turner. Turner led the Sixers in scoring with 21 points and shot 9-14 from the field. The Sixers will look to rebound tomorrow when they host the New York Knicks in a very important game. After the Knicks' win tonight they are currently tied with the Sixers for the 6th seed.Sometimes, you just flat out lose and that's exactly what happened tonight in Philadelphia. Cole Hamels had a very shaky start, the Flyers continue to struggle, and the Sixers were unable to knock off the Celtics. There are some definite concerns stemming from each of tonight's losses, but all teams will be back at soon enough, and hopefully they can all rebound nicely.
After an exciting walk off win on Friday, a welcome home party on Saturday, and a good old fashioned beat down on Sunday, the Phils opened the 2011 season with a sweep of the Houston Astros. For the Phillies, this is their best start to a season since 2001 when they opened with a 3 game sweep against the Florida Marlins. Statistically, the Phils have done very poorly in recent opening series. During the Phils' past 10 opening series, they are a combined 12-18, including 2 consecutive years in which they got swept in 2006 and 2007. To get off to a great start like this is rare for this team but very much welcomed. Let's take a quick look at how the Phils were able to get off to such a hot start.
Saturday: Phillies 9 Astros 4 
The man, the myth, the legend, made the walk from the bullpen to the dugout amidst a long and loud standing ovation. Phillies fans showed their gratitude to the man who chose the Phillies over the evil empire. Lee proved that he was worth the money by pitching a solid 7 inning game, giving up 3 earned runs and earning the victory. Lee kept the Astros hitters off balance all night by locating his cutter and having great command over his fastball. Cliff had 11 K's on the night and walked none. On the offensive side, the Phils jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to 3 singles from Polanco, Rollins and Howard and a double from Raul Ibanez. In the bottom of the 4th the Phils added 2 more off a 2 out, 2 run single from Shane Victorino, his first hit of the year. From there the Phils added 3 runs in the 5th, and 1 in both the 7th and 8th to secure the 9-4 victory. It was a great welcome home party for Cliff Lee who received the greatest gift of all; run support.
Sunday: Phillies 7 Astros 3 
The Phils dealt their third ace in today's series finale, sending Roy Oswalt to the mound to face his former team. Oswalt pitched a great game, going 6 and giving up just 2 runs. The Phils again provided great run support that was sparked by Ryan Howard who had a 3 run blast in the first inning, and Ben Francisco who had a solo shot also in the first. The 4 first inning runs would be enough as the Phils eventually went on to win by a final of 7-3.
It was great to see everyone hitting in the series especially Rollins and Howard. I really wanted Rollins to hit lead off, but so far it looks like he is settling in nicely to his role as the 3 hole hitter. It just seems like everyone is hitting the ball, and that is a good sign especially this early in the season.
And let's forget about 162-0, we all know that it's not going to happen. But is the April 20-7 goal that I suggested in earlier a possibility for this team? They are already 3-0 which would mean that they would only have to go 17-7 in order to achieve it. The schedule certainly favors the Phils as the Mets come in to town on Tuesday. The Phils will send Cole Hamels to the mound against Chris Young in the series opener.
I remember it like it was yesterday. During the past off season, my friend texted me saying that the Phillies were the mystery third team in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes. All off season, the only story behind Cliff Lee was whether or not he was going to remain with the Rangers or sign with the Yankees. The possibility of Lee returning to Philadelphia was never even brought up. Naturally I had my doubts, but as the day went on the reports kept coming in that the mystery team was in fact the Phillies, and the return of Lee suddenly became a reality. The next morning was like Christmas morning, as the news became official that Cliff Lee was again a Philadelphia Phillie. Cliff Lee left money on the table in New York, and instead chose to return to a city in which he was beloved. When Lee left there was an absolute uproar amongst Phillies fans. Lee was a gamer who was willing to take the ball on 3 days rest, or pitch deep into games in order to help his team win. An athlete like that is sure to be loved in any city, but even more so in a blue collar city like Philadelphia that values athletes that play hard. Tonight, Lee will make his second debut in a Phillies uniform. Although it will be tough to match yesterday's Opening Day excitement, I feel that Lee is going to get a huge ovation tonight, and the atmosphere is going to be electric. After trading Lee last off season for prospects last off season, Cliff Lee is back in Phillies pin stripes and ready to help this team win another World Series.
Today was one of those rare and beautiful days in which 3 out of the 4 Philadelphia sports teams played. The Phillies, Sixers and Flyers all had games and if you are an extreme Philly sports fan, you may be at this time suffering from a case of Philly Sports Overload. Philly Sports Overload is fairly common and very treatable when all the games are processed properly. Allow me to break down each game for you.
Flyers @ Devils
Lets get the only loss on the day out of the way first. After beating the Penguins by 3 goals on Tuesday night, the Flyers have followed that performance with 2 consecutive losses with an ugly 1-0 defeat last night to the Thrashers, and tonight with a 4-2 loss to the lowly Devils. Patrick Elias had a hat trick, and Flyers goalie Brian Boucher didn't have one of his best performances. Craig Miller, Braod Street Marching's official correspondent attended the game tonight and said "the Flyers looked confused at times." It's becoming increasingly difficult for Flyers fans to deal with this team's terrible inconsistency. Ever since the All-Star break, the Flyers have struggled to stay consistent and need to get it together in these final 4 games. The Flyers have a 1 point lead over the Washington Capitals and a 4 point lead over the Penguins. Looking ahead the Flyers will host the Rangers on Sunday.Sixers vs Nets
With a 115-90 victory tonight over the New Jersey Nets, the Sixers have clinched a playoff spot. The Sixers have surprised the experts, and have reached the post season after a dismal 2009-2010 season and a horrific 3-13 start. Tonight's win not only puts the Sixers in the playoffs, it also puts them in the midst of a 3 game winning streak. The Sixers are looking to build momentum as the playoffs draw nearer. Tonight, the Sixers used high flying dunks and alley oops and of course a balanced offensive attack to down the Nets. Thad Young continued his recent streak of strong games by going 9-12 from the field and recording 22 points. Elton Brand, Jrue Holiday, Andre Iguodala and Lou Williams all reached double figures for the Sixers. Brand, Young, Holiday and Williams combined to shoot 29-43 from the field, a dazzling 67%. They also accounted for 73 of the Sixers 115 points. Overall it was good to see the Sixers come out and play at such a high rate. Tomorrow night, the Sixers will travel to Milwaukee to take on the Bucks at 8:30 PM.Phillies vs Astros
I thought it would be appropriate to save the best game of the day for last. I included a direct recap of the game in an earlier post so I would like to take this time to talk about the magnitude of this win. Coming into today's game the hot topic surrounding this team is the injury bug and whether or not the Phils have what it takes to overcome injuries to Lidge, Utley and Brown. But today, the Phillies showed their resilience and unwillingness to give up which is a big reason they have been so successful in the past and a reason they will have continued success in the future. No matter what obstacles are put in front of them they find a way to fight through and come together as a team. This season is going to be all about resilience, determination, and a whole bunch of great starting pitching. At this time, the Phils clearly don't have as much offensive fire power as last year but that doesn't take away from the fact that they are going to continue to fight, no matter who is hurt. Remember, the Phils had a revolving door of injuries last year and still managed to end up with the best record in baseball. Today was a great way to start things off. Halladay was his usual outstanding self, and it was good to see Rollins and Howard coming through offensively. Tomorrow night, the Phils will send Cliff Lee to the mound against Wandy Rodriguez. Overall it was a great day for Philadelphia sports. 2 out of 3 isn't bad, and that Phillies win was the best Opening Day I've ever seen. And today is only the beginning of a still jam packed weekend of Philadelphia sports. To stay updated on all the action, continue to follow Broad Street Marching, your source for Philly Sports.
Up until the 7th inning of today's opening day game between the Phillies and Astros, it was boring and uneventful. Halladay pitched 6 innings giving up just 1 run, and the Phils couldn't get anything going offensively against former Phillie Brett Myers. It was a boring, and wet pitcher's duel between Halladay and Myers on a highly anticipated opening day. After throwing 100 pitches plus, the Phils pulled Halladay and put in David Herndon in the top of the 7th. Herndon gave up 3 and heading into the bottom of the 7th, the Astros held on to a 4-0 lead. Coming into the 7th, Myers had pitched a brilliant game by keeping the Phils off the score board and getting a lot of ground ball outs by throwing a lot of off speed pitches. The Phils however finally got on the board by having some good at bats and were able to manufacture 2 runs against Myers in the 7th, cutting the lead in half making it a 4-2 game. Madson kept it a 2 run lead in the 8th, and after a scoreless bottom of the 8th, the Phils turned the ball over to Danys Baez in the 9th to keep the deficit at 2. Baez pitched a great 9th and the Phils were down just 2 heading into the bottom of the 9th with Rollins due to lead off the inning. Here is where the magic starts. Rollins worked a walk, and Howard followed with a single up the middle. After Rollins stole third, Ibanez popped out so it was runners on the corners for Ben Francisco. Francisco had a great at bat and was able to lace a single into left field, scoring Rollins and moving Howard over to second. Down by just 1, Ruiz also singled loading the bases for Wilson Valdez. Valdez wasted no time and swung at the first pitch, and he too laced yet another single to left, and scored Howard to tie the game. Tied at 4, John Mayberry had an unbelievable at bat and with the Astro's infield and outfield in, he laced a hit over center fielder Micahel Bourn's head, scoring Francisco and winning the game for the Phils. Ultimately it was a great comeback win for the Phils who showed a lot of resiliance and never gave up. Rollins and Howard had big days offensively, and led the come back in the 9th. Hopefully this win will set the stage for the rest of the season.
After stumbling down the stretch and losing 5 consecutive games, the Flyers got it together on Saturday night to clinch the Atlantic Division and lock up their spot as the 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. 
