By Pete Thompson
As I write this, the wind is howling and the rains are falling from Tropical Storm Isaias. The winds are supposed to be the strongest our area has seen since Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Here’s hoping that by the time you read this, everyone is safe, the damage is minimal and we can all go on with the month of August. Hasn’t 2020 hit us enough already?
Since I last wrote, the Phillies got an extended break from baseball thanks to the actions of the Miami Marlins The Eagles had a key member of their nest test positive for COVID-19. The Flyers began round robin play in the NHL postseason in impressive fashion. The Sixers were dangerously close to starting out their return to play at 0-2. The Philadelphia Union are still alive and one of only four teams remaining in the MLS return to play. It’s time for the PGA Championship in golf, but first we have to address the winner of last week’s WGC event in Memphis and who was on his bag. Finally, on the local level, the Atlantic County Baseball League playoffs are underway, as they’ve adopted a model similar to college that appears to be working.
From the entertainment world, I’m going to take a different tactic this week and recommend a few books that I have read that I found quite enjoyable. There’s a novel concept right? Read a book! As always though, we begin with sports, and my thoughts:
What a weird week for the Phillies. I briefly touched on the fact that some members of the Miami Marlins had tested positive for COVID-19 in last week’s column, but that set off a full seven days where the Phillies did not pay a baseball game. At one point, a coach and two staffers on the Phillies side of things tested positive, but then it came back that those were false positives and ultimately the Phillies finally returned to the field against the Yankees on Monday in New York, where they lost. Because of the Tropical Storm Isaias, the Phillies chose NOT to stay overnight in New York and they bussed up to Yankee Stadium and returned after the game. So, a day that started with saliva swabs, ended with a 6-3 loss to the New York Yankees.
All things considered, Jake Arietta pitched pretty decent as the Phillies hung with the Yankees for five innings. Arietta actually at one point last week was going to a local high school in New Jersey just to play catch with Tommy Hunter to keep his arm loose, so the fact that he went five innings and only gave up three runs was pretty impressive if you ask me.
The Phillies “Achilles heel” if you ask me, is their bullpen. Just like Ramon Rosso on opening night, and Cole Irvin two days later, this time it was Deolis Guerra who got roughed up when he came into the ballgame. Guerra issued a leadoff walk, hit a batter, and gave up a three-run home run to Gio Urshela that changed a 3-1 ballgame into a 6-1 deficit and that was the momentum changer.
Up next, the Phillies will host the Yankees for a doubleheader at Citizens Bank Park on Wednesday. In fact, because of the weird shift in the schedule, the Phillies next 13 games, and 16 of their next 17 will now be played at home.
The Phillies aren’t the only team dealing with COVID-19 troubles. Seven Cardinals players and six staff members have tested positive for the virus. That means the Cards series with Detroit has been postponed. Like I wrote last week, the “bubble” in hockey, basketball and soccer appears to be working, but in baseball we are seeing outbreaks. That makes me really nervous about how the NFL is going to handle things next month.
Speaking of football, the big story out of the Eagles was that offensive tackle Lane Johnson had tested positive for COVID-19 along with Nate Gerry and Jordan Mailata. That was quickly overshadowed on Sunday night when the team announced that Head Coach Doug Pederson had tested positive for coronavirus and was quarantining at home. Pederson will continue to lead the Eagles virtually as much as he can, while assistant head coach and running backs coach Duce Staley assumes head coaching responsibilities at the NovaCare Complex in Pederson’s absence.
My goodness, if the head coach can get it, how is the NFL going to keep the league and everyone involved safe once things start for real in September? That is the $64,000 question right now!
Back to Coach Pederson, as this could actually work out to be a good thing for Duce Staley. He’s been bypassed before for a head coaching job in the NFL, but to the other teams, the fact the he’s the one actually there running the team while Pederson quarantines, might give him an edge in the next interview. For his part, Staley says he’s happy with his role, telling the media last week that, “we all want to advance” Staley said. “You [media] guys want to advance. That’s life. But right now, I’m super happy in my role. Proud of my role. Being assistant head coach, running backs coach. I’m proud of that. Doug gives me things. Puts things on my plate. I’m thankful to him for having those opportunities. I’m excited for where I am and what I’m doing now.”
Let’s turn to hockey now as the Flyers sure surprised me with their excellent effort in game one of the round robin format against Boston. Where do I begin? Carter Hart with 34 saves kept the Flyers in the game in the 1st period when the ice seemed tilted more for the Bruins than the Flyers. The 4th line came up huge as Michael Raffl had a goal and an assist. Nate Thompson scored his first playoff goal as a Flyer, and Tyler Pitlick had four hits and drew a penalty. Oh yes, the 4th line was big in the Flyers 4-1 win over the Bruins for sure.
There were timely goals too, as when Boston got a lucky bounce near the end of the 2nd period to score their only goal, the Flyers responded immediately as young defenseman Phil Myers scooped up a loose puck in the neutral zone and picked the top corner just eight seconds later to extend the Flyers margin back to a three-goal lead. I was completely surprised and pleased by how well the Flyers played against Boston. Up next, a Thursday game against Washington before they close out the round-robin on Saturday with a game against Tampa Bay.
The only negative from the Flyers first “real” game since March was the loss of Raffl late in the game. Raffl had to be helped off the ice with 6 minutes and 17 seconds left after what appeared to me to be a “slew foot” kind of move from Bruins defenseman Jeremy Lauzon. It’s unfortunate because Raffl had a goal and an assist in the win. He also plays a big role on the Flyers effective penalty kill. The 31-year-old will be replaced in the lineup by rookie Joel Farabee and we’ll have to wait and see how the loss of Raffl impacts the Flyers. For now though, as I write this, it’s nice to see them win with contributions from a lot of “secondary” names. That means if & when guys like Claude Giroux, Jake Voracek, Travis Konecny and Sean Couturier start to step up, they will really be tough to beat!
Which brings us to the Sixers. First of all, they let a guy named T.J. Warren light them up for a career high 53 points in the Pacers 127-121 win over the Sixers to kick off the restart. Not only couldn’t they stop him, they also couldn’t stop turning the ball over! The Sixers committed 21 turnovers in the loss, and that left an ugly taste in their mouths to start things off.
So, then they faced the San Antonio Spurs in their second game, and point guard Shake Milton bailed them out in that one, as his three-ball with 7.2 seconds left, helped the Sixers hang on and win 132-130 to improve to 1-1 in the reboot. The Sixers may have won the game, but there’s no denying that 4th quarter defense continues to be a problem for this team. The Spurs scored 43 points in the final quarter, after the Sixers let the Spurs score 46 in the 4th quarter the game before. Joel Embiid, Tobias Harris & Josh Richardson all played well on the offensive end, but if the Sixers can’t figure out how to stop anyone, they’re not going to last long in the playoffs when they get there.
Ben Simmons is missing in action in Orlando right now. Against the Spurs, he finished with eight points, five rebounds, one block, and one steal before fouling out with 2:12 left in the game. He didn’t attempt a three-pointer. The big move of Ben to the “four” position at power forward, doesn’t seem to be working so far…!
Ultimately, it all falls on Head Coach Brett Brown to get this right. Sure this is all happening during strange times, but you get the feeling that if the Sixers don’t go deep into the playoffs, this might be the final year for Brown on the bench with the team. The old saying holds especially true in the NBA, and that is, “When things are going poorly, you can’t fire the players!”
From golf, I was so excited by playoff hockey returning, I actually caught myself watching more of the Rangers-Hurricanes playoff game the other day than the WGC Fed-Ex St. Jude Classic in Memphis. I did enjoy that Justin Thomas won and reclaimed his world #1 ranking. I really enjoyed that Phil Mickelson had a top-five finish at age 50. What I enjoyed most though, was seeing Phil’s former caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay on the winning bag in the same group as his former boss on Sunday. Thomas’ longtime caddie, Jimmy Johnson, fell ill during the third round of the Memorial two weeks ago. Thomas’ dad and swing coach, Mike, was in the gallery and took over his bag there. When Johnson still felt dizzy last week, Thomas reached out to Mackay and asked if he would step in. “Bones” will be on JT’s bag this week at the PGA Championship at Harding Park in San Francisco.
Because soccer in the U.S. doesn’t get the mainstream attention like it does around the rest of the world, maybe you’ve missed how GREAT the Philadelphia Union have performed at the MLS restart in Orlando. They are through to the final four and will face the Portland Timbers in a semifinal match as of the writing of this column. No matter what the outcome is, you have to tip your cap to a Union team that finally has the right players, playing the right system, against the best of the MLS. It’s been about two years since Ernst Tanner joined the club as Sporting Director (sort of like the GM in other sports), and Oreland, PA native Jim Curtin now has the horses he needs to compete on a nightly basis against other top teams. Again, I’m not the world’s biggest soccer nut, but even I can recognize success when I see it, and no matter how you break it down, the Union’s play at this point is a resounding success!
My last sports item is about the locally run ACBL, or Atlantic County Baseball League. I do want to point out that last week I wrote about the uniqueness of the league being a wood-bat only league. Well, it wasn’t that way for all 135 years, as there were a bunch of years that the ping of aluminum led to scores of 22-20, for example. However, it’s wood-bat only now, and it’s just great. The playoffs are here, and other than Tropical Storm Isaias, nothing is going to slow the ACBL down. Again, I urge you if you have a chance, get out and watch some great baseball for free. Bring your chair, bring your mask, and enjoy!
Instead of TV shows or movies this week, I hope you’ll indulge me and allow me to recommend a few books that I just read. The first one is “The Answer Is……Reflections on My Life” about Alex Trebek. Now, I’m a JEOPARDY geek, like many, I love watching the game each night at 7p on 6abc. I was so saddened to learn that Trebek is fighting pancreatic cancer. The book combines illuminating personal anecdotes with Trebek’s thoughts on a range of topics, including marriage, parenthood, education, success, spirituality, and philanthropy. Trebek also addresses the questions he gets asked most often by JEOPARDY fans, such as what prompted him to shave his signature mustache, his insights on legendary players like Ken Jennings and James Holzhauer, and his opinion of Will Ferrell’s Saturday Night Live impersonation. It was a very quick read, but I loved it. What is…..we love you Alex!
Finally, I also enjoyed the Al Michaels book titled “You Can’t Make This Up: Miracles, Memories, and the Perfect Marriage of Sports and Television”. This one was even more in my “wheelhouse” as I spent 20 years working as a TV sportscaster on a regular basis. When Michaels exclaimed “Do You Believe in Miracles? Yes!” at Lake Placid in 1980, I was only nine years old and didn’t fully appreciate the moment I think until years later. I absolutely love Al Michaels, and you’ll definitely enjoy his stories about working with Howard Cosell, Monday Night Football, the earthquake in San Francisco in 1989 and more. He even addresses his relationship with O.J. Simpson, all in an entertaining and can’t put it down sort of way. I highly recommend this one if you haven’t read it.
I’ll close by reiterating what I wrote at the top of the column. Tropical Storm Isaias is swirling as I write this and I hope & pray that everyone is safe. Lord knows we’ve had a difficult 2020 and don’t need any more bad news. No matter what, please try and be kind to one another! Nothing bad ever happened to someone who led with kindness, right? Oh, and wear your mask. Let’s all knock down this COVID-19 together!
Pete has been the local “sports guy” at the Jersey Shore since 2004. After a decade with TV 40, he joined 97.3 ESPN radio to talk Eagles, Phillies, Sixers & Flyers with Mike Gill on “The SportsBash” each day from 2-6 p.m.
Pete is proud to be a “voice” for the annual ShopRite LPGA Classic each June, and does emcee work for groups like the National Football Foundation, The Old Grad Awards, and The 200 Club of Atlantic County. You can hear Pete each Tuesday on 97.3 ESPN at 5:30p, and if you see him out & about in the community, he requests that you please say “Hi”. Send comments to PBrooksT@aol.com
