My morning intro paragraph turned into a full fledged rant, and as such deserves its own post.  For now I’ll just say that the four-game sweep was more about the Brewers than the Phillies - and that’s fine; if the Birds’ game isn’t memorable it will be the product of an injury - and that scares me to even think about; and the morning rant includes thoughts on Matt Cassel, Jon Kitna, and Ivy League admissions.  As DeSean Jackson would say: get crunk.

Chicago’s Carlos Zambrano, celebrating a no-hitter against Houston in Milwaukee

via the chicago sun-times

“This series was a complete and total disaster,”- Brewers’ Star Ryan Braun

Three lines on their world:

1. Playing in a neutral stadium with playoffs on the mind, Carlos Zambrano no-hit the Astros
   
2. USC embarrassed TOSU
   
3. and Denver looked for real against the Chargers

Three lines on ours:

1. The Phillies took down the Brewers to climb within one game of the wild card
   
2. Then took them down again once more to even it up
   
3. And there is a pretty big football game going on tonight

Phillies, Birds, Sixers, Flyers and what everybody is talking about after the jump

PHILLIES

The Phillies can flip a coin. They won four in a row to insure that if the season ends in a tie the tie breaker will be played in Philly.  FYI, if you ever have the chance to get Charlie Manuel’s opinion on coin flips, take it.  Trust me on that one. SKIP

The Phillies picked up Ryan Ariail, who will not affect the playoff race. SKIP

Bill Conlin laments the fact that the Phillies traded away Gavin Floyd, a move he now calls “one of the most indictable screwups in Phillies history.”  That may be so, but a quick nexis search reveals that when the Phillies made that trade 1Chair called Freddy Garcia “a trophy”, a “top of the rotation starter” and ensured us that Floyd would “never be missed” before proclaiming that

Perhaps the White Sox have a secret formula that restores a lost yard to a fastball. They better, because that’s what it will take.

(FYI the article is entitled Nobody and nobodier got Phils stud like Garcia. It came out Dec. 14th, 2006 - just a week after the trade.  I couldn’t find it in the Inqy archives but it comes up in Nexis no problem). The lesson? Oh you all know.  Thanks for chiming in Bill. SKIP

Jim Salisbury, plugged in as always, gives the scene from the clubhouse right after the win; then says it is feeling like 2007 again. READ

Phil Sheridan remembers that September is the reason Ryan and Jimmy own the last two MVP awards. READ

David Murphy’s notes look at Joe Blanton’s struggles, Ryan Howard’s MVP push, and more. SKIP

Todd Zolecki faces the possibility that this is Pat Burrell’s swan song. I had thought his departure was pretty much set-in-stone when the Phillies gave Lidge his money, but I’ve been wrong before. SKIP

David Murphy says that the Phillies didn’t want the doubleheader.  Management didn’t, but the players were happy for it.  I’m guessing all sides are pretty okay with it today. SKIP

John Gonzalez has done a 180 and thinks these Phillies are a virtual lock for the postseason. SKIP

Gonzalez sits down with Mitch Williams and gets him to trash Cole Hamels, talk the 93 Phils and more. READ

Mike Sielski says that if we were paying attention we’d realize that Cole Hamels has been pitching like an ace. READ

Randy Miller says new additions Joe Blanton and Scott Eyre are happy to be in Philly. SKIP

and oh yeah … the Mets’ bullpen blew another one.

 

EAGLES

Les Bowen breaks down the Eagles’ offensive gameplan and expects more Brian Westbrook. READ

Bob Brookover says that Shawn Andrews already has his victory-meal picked out. READ

Paul Domowitch breaks down the matchup position-by-position.  If you’re paying attention today you’ll probably read better versions of this by accident. SKIP

A Wichita Falls columnist comes to bat for the Eagles.  READ

Les Bowen makes his pick. (Spoiler alert: 17-13 Bad Guys) SKIP

Rich Hofmann eulogizes the Birds’ time at Texas Stadium. READ

Bob Ford looks back at the stadium too. Both pieces are worth a look. READ

Kevin Roberts on the Birds-Boys hatred and the evolution of the rivalry. READ

Inspired by T.O., Kerith Garbrial tries to find out what would happen in the 04 Birds took on the 08 Cowboys. SKIP

Les Bowen on Quintin Demps‘ infatuation with Deion Sanders. SKIP

Mike Jenson looks at Jeff Pearlman’s new book Boys will be Boys about the white house-era Dallas team, which I’m guessing we’re all going to read. READ

Ashley Fox on Jerry Jones, the stadium and the Cowboys. SKIP

Bob Brookover gives tales from the flight to Dallas and provides the full version of his sunday story. READ

Les Bowen says that the Eagles D has to make some big plays tonight. SKIP

Phil Sheridan says the best way into Romo’s head is through his rib cage. READ

Ed Barkowitz spends a couple minutes with Chris Gocong. SKIP

Reuben Frank confirms that these two teams really, honest-to-god, don’t like each other. READ

Brian Dawkins tells Reuben Frank to keep some perspective. SKIP

Reuben Frank throws some cold water on the whole “Tony Romo is an up-and-coming superstar” train of thought. READ

Reuben Frank gets Merrill Reese to break down his favorite Boys-Birds moments. READ

Reuben Frank wrote like a hundred articles this weekend (this one is on Marion Barber). SKIP

 

SIXERS

nothing

 

FLYERS

Frank Seravalli takes a look at Scottie Upshall’s success with celebrity gambling. READ

Timonen is itching to get back. SKIP

Sam Cardichi Rick Reillys Glen Metropolit. SKIP

Wayne Fish reports that Briere is moving to right wing on the Richards‘ line and take a look at the Flyers new top unit. READ

TODAY and MORE

I’m not exactly sure what THIS means, but Comcast seems to be intent on putting their shoes online.  Ironically, their cutting-edge new site doesn’t work with Chrome.  If someone more web-savvy than I would read this over and let me know what it means for the future of my sports-viewing I’d appreciate it greatly.

After a gorgeous week one for betting I got bent over backwards last night - even a win on the Monday nighter won’t bring me back to .500 for the week - so personally I’ll be licking my wounds trying to recover from that.

As far as around here goes, the combination of a Phillies’ off-day and an Eagles-Cowboys showdown means that it’s probably going to be pretty Birds-centric today - although we may try to line up a quick interview and poke some fun at the free-falling Brewers and/or the Metros.

As always, feel free to email with any questions, suggestions, comments or complaints.  

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