Monday Sports Update

It was a great weekend for me and sports and a lot of my weekend revolved around precisely that activity. I went 2 for 3 this weekend and if it weren't for the Eagles last night, it may have been one of the best sports weekend ever. And as extra bonuses, in each of my sports a rival team lost, so that made me even happier. Let's recap.


The Phillies. So Friday night the Phillies beat the Nats 8-4 and the Mets lost to the Marlins 6-1. So that meant that the magic number was now 1: either we had to win or the Mets had to lose on Saturday for us to clinch the division. And if for some reason the Phils lost and the Mets won on Saturday, we still had Sunday to work with. The Mets played before the Phillies on Saturday afternoon and they won 2-0, so it was up to the Phillies to control their own destiny. I had been out shopping most of the afternoon and I was nervous about the Phillies, but I came home just in time to see the 9th inning. Brad Lidge, our ace closer who hasn't blown a save all year (41 for 41), had loaded the bases with only one out in a 4-3 game. My boyfriend's father, a lifelong Phillies fan, texted him that it would be ironic if Lidge blew his first save in arguably the most important inning of his season so far. Ha ha, yes very ironic. However, a clutch team effort double play by Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard saved the save for Lidge and the Phillies clinched their second NL East title in as many years. We popped the bubbly and celebrated.

So the Phillies clinched a day early and could take it easy on Sunday. We started pretty much all of our second string, except for a few pinch hit curtain calls for some players who were clutch in the last month, like Jayson Werth and Ryan Howard. Sunday was actually Howard's 162nd consecutive game, the only player on the team to play every single game this season. Even with our starters out, the Phils still beat the Nats 8-3. To make the day even sweeter, the Mets collapsed for the second season in a row. After losing on Friday, they were tied with the Brewers for the NL Wild Card spot. Playing at roughly the same time yesterday afternoon, the Brewers managed a big rally with CC Sabathia pitching his arm off. The Mets, however, blew it against the Marlins at the last game at Shea Stadium. Booooo hooooo.

The Phillies take on the Brewers on Wednesday in Philly.


After a joyous celebration of the Phillies win, we then went out to a bar for the Penn State primetime game against Illinois. The game itself was exciting, but too close for comfort in my opinion. The Lions won it 38-24, aided by a great performance by Derrick Williams, who ran, caught a pass, and returned a punt for 3 touchdowns. I would have loved to be at Beaver Stadium for the game; the White Out looked awesome and my brother said it was a high energy game to be at. Now the Lions are ranked #6 after the win and some upset losses by other teams. One of those teams were Wisconsin, the only Big Ten team to have been ranked higher than PSU last week. They lost to Michigan, who suck this year. So too bad for the Badgers; there's only room for one Big Ten power house this year, and that's the Nittany Lions.

Okay so my weekend was going great and I was on a spiteful high after the Mets loss yesterday, so it was really late to me when the Eagles came on at 8pm. We've been plagued with injuries this last week and I was in agreeance with the coaching staff that Brian Westbrook should not play on Sunday and should concentrate on resting his hurt ankle. Well the Bears came out and roughed us up in a close game, ultimately beating us 24-20. But I think we did the most damage to ourselves. The play calling was terrible (the classic nonsensical short passes 5 yards behind the first down line on 3rd and long), we couldn't capitalize on several turnover opportunities, and there were more dropped passes than I can remember. Really not a good showing by an Eagles team that is better than what they put out last night. Now the Eagles move to 2-2 in the toughest division in all of the NFL.

The only thing that made the Eagles loss not so horrible was that the Cowboys lost too. To the Redskins. The supposedly best in the business get housed by the Skins and in Dallas. It was great. And Terrell Owens started his bitching again that he didn't get the ball enough. I'm so glad that whining isn't directed at my team anymore.

So for the most part, great weekend for my sports team. And great losses for my rivals. As you can see, my sportsmanship runs deep.