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Photo Credit: Eric Kilby, via flikr

Morning Roundup: “Maybe now you can say that I didn’t play a second, but in five years you guys are gunna forget, in ten years I’ll still be a champion, in twenty years I’ll tell my kids I probably started and in thirty years I’ll probably tell them I got the MVP, so I’m really not too worried about it.” - Brian ScalabrineThree lines on the nation:

The Celtics handled the Lakers to give Boston the 2008 NBA Championship, and the spoils of their victory, and Italy got France once again in a World Cup rematch.

Three lines on the world: Back here, the Home Team’s bats were never able to get going, the other Boston team took care of our Phillies, and the Mets skipper change hasn’t exactly yielded positive just yet.

Phillies, Birds, Sixers, Flyers and more from a town that has now officially gone 101 seasons without a chip after the jump

PHILLIES

The result of last night’s Phillies Red Sox game is the front of the Inqy and the Daily News’ sport sections, but is pretty much out of the Boston papers entirely.  That is expected, of course, and the Celtics did just bring home a Championship that the Sixers stopped playing for a month ago - but on a night when the Celts earned their 17^th set of rings with ease and the Red Sox dismissed the Phils without a run, the long distance between us and titletown couldn’t have been more apparent.

The game itself was what it was.  Jon Lester held the boom-or-bust Phillies offense to six hits and one walk - none of which went to the Phils 3-4-5 hitters - over seven shutout innings and Jonathan Papelbon overmatched the Phils in the 9^th for his 20^th save.

Jamie Moyer looked bad against a team that takes pitches, he gave up five walks over five innings, but the goats of this one were Chase Utley, who went 0-4 once again to drop his average below .300 for the first time all year, and Ryan Howard who cooled down in a hurry by picking up yet another Golden Sombrero.

Tonight’s rubber match pits Phils starter Kyle Kendrick (6-2, 4.54) against Red Sox prospect, righty Justin Masterson (3-1, 2.90).  If the Phils drop the game it will be the third straight series that they’ve let get away.

Other Notes …

• the Phillies are tied for the league lead in runs with 389, but have been shut out four times already.
• the Phils have averaged 7.2 runs in its 42 wins and just 2.8 in its 31 losses
• The Red Sox six steals matched a franchise record
• Kendrick is 5-0 with a 4.57 ERA over his last 11 starts, and the Phillies are 10-1 in those games.
• Comcast SportsNet had another bad showing last night, with local cable going down for a good part of the game across the region.
• Red Sox OF Coco Crisp homered for the second straight night at the Bank.  He told the Red Sox website that he doesn’t believe either of them would have gone out in Fenway
• Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell have all made small steps forward in all-star voting.  They now rank 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th, respectively, in the ballot count for their positions.

Now, who said what …

Todd Zolecki writes about the struggles of the Phillies’ hitters. READ

Ashley Fox blames the Phils for offing Mets manager Willie Randolph, poorly. SKIP

In his notes, Todd Zolecki takes look at what has made Kyle Kendrick successful, the Phils search for pitching help, Chase Utley’s popularity and the anniversary of Robin Roberts‘ debut. READ

David Murphy’s notes look at Utley’s near day-off, Cholly on Willie Randolph, Kris Benson, and more. SKIP

Randy Miller hopes the coaching change won’t help those Mets. READ

Kevin Cooney writes that the Phillies need to go all-in. READ

EAGLES

Single game tickets go on sale tomorrow at 10 in the morning. SKIP

The Eagles came to terms with three rookies: cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu, linebacker Joe Mays, and offensive tackle King Dunlap. SKIP

Elizabeth Wellington, the Inquirer’s Fashion Columnist, writes about Philadelphia Eagles/recent models Lito Sheppard, Correll Buckhalter, Jeremiah Trotter, Stewart Bradley, Reggie Brown, A.J. Feeley, Hank Baskett, Chris Gocong, Todd Herremans (!) and, Ike Reese. READ

SIXERS

Matt Gelb writes that prospects don’t want to work out for the Sixers. READ

So does Tom Moore. SKIP

Keith Pompey writes that five local high school basketball players are playing at this week’s NBAPA Top 100 camp.  The players include Seniors Aaric Murray, the Glen Mills center, Pennsbury guard Dalton Pepper, and Chester forward Rahlir Jefferson as well as several underclassmen.  SKIP

Bernard Fernandez writes that the Sixers are working out Michael Sturns, a 6-5 senior guard from Holy Family University. READ

FLYERS

Brian Biggane of the Palm Beach Post tells the story of former Flyers’ top draft pick Ryan Sittler.  Good stuff. READ

TODAY and MORE

I will be away from the computer most of today but I’ll try to stay at least moderately on top of the game.  As always, feel free to email me with any questions, suggestions, comments or complaints.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 8:18 am and is filed under Morning Rounds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.