Eagles, Phillies Collapse
Two
big leads weren’t enough for the Eagles or the Phillies on Sunday, and suddenly
both seasons are in peril.
Phillies
The
Phillies came back from a shocking 3-0 first inning deficit on Saturday to blow
out the Cardinals, 11-6. Roy Halladay settled in after a rocky first inning and
shut down the Cards until the offense kicked in. With the offense rolling, I
didn’t think the Cardinals would get a win in the series.
Instead,
they flipped the script on Sunday. The Phillies were up 4-0 in the third inning
with Cliff Lee on the mound. It felt like the series was over. Apparently, the
Phillies offense felt the same way. After running St. Louis starter Chris
Carpenter early in the game, the Phillies were shut out by their bullpen.
I
know Philly hates to credit Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, but I think you
have to last night. He made the boneheaded decision to start Carpenter on short
rest, but then worked his bullpen masterfully.
Lee
threw a ton of pitches early on, recovering from a lead-off triple in the first
and a double in the second to keep the Cardinals off the scoreboard. But he
threw a lot of pitches, and gave up 3 runs in the 4th, 1 in the 6th,
and 1 in the 7th. He’s 0-3 with a 7+ ERA in his last 3 postseason
starts. I’m not panicking about him, but it’s something to be aware of.
Eagles
Heads
should roll.
But
it’s the Eagles, and they know more than everyone – just ask them – so we know
nothing will happen.
Up
23-3, the Eagles managed to lose 24-23 to the San Francisco 49ers who came into
the week with the worse ranked offense in the NFL.
That’s
what happens when you hire your offensive line coach to be your @#!$ offensive
coordinator.
Their
rookie kicker missed two makeable field goals, their running back had the
dumbest play anyone will ever see, and a last-second comeback was thwarted by
another end-of-game choke by Jeremy Maclin who fumbled as the Eagles approached
field goal range.
But
the worst part was that fans felt it coming with a 23-17 lead in the fourth
quarter. The Eagles had missed field goals. Ronnie Brown had his brain freeze,
throwing the ball as he was being tackled at the goal line for absolutely no
reason. And as classless as it was to hear an Eagles fan screaming at Brown
that he needed to be cuton television (good job, Fox), it’s hard to argue.
The
Eagles said they were “all-in” this season, and they need to react.
Ronnie
Brown should be released to wake this team up.
Juan Castillo
should be fired.
Andy Reid should
be fired.
But none of it
will happen because the Eagles know best – just ask ‘em.
The difference between the two
franchises
Moving
forward, I do believe both seasons are in jeopardy. The Phillies are suddenly
in a 3-game series where anything can happen. The Eagles are in last place.
The
Phillies have Cole Hamels to turn things around.
The
Eagles have Andy Reid.
Thank
God we have the Phillies.
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