Monday Morning Mehta 4/23/07

Edition # 202
April 23, 2007

NEXT MMM: Monday May 7th. From now and then you'll have the NFL Draft and the Kentucky Derby.

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For all your NBA Playoff analysis go to www.nba-jam.blogspot.com

Phillies

The Phillies now stand at 6-11 after putting together thier first back to back wins of the year. Let's break down the first couple of weeks:

- Another terrible April. The Phillies love doing this. They start off like crap, get the fans all pissed off, then start winning and get upset at the fans for getting all bitter. If the Phillies and their fans were husband and wife it would've already ended in divorce or in OJ Simpson type fashion decades ago.

- Won 3 out of last 4. So I'm not sure whether today I need to take a "Here comes a hot streak" tactic, or say "They're buried". It's way too long of a season to get too bent out of shape, so I'll take the "Here comes a hot streak" tactic.

- The Phils have the next 7 games at home including 3 against the lowly Nats. Weather is heating up which means Utley and Howard will start hitting.

- Starting pitching has been solid most of the year and exceptional as of late.

- I hate the decision to make Brett Myers a setup man. If he closes, that's a completely different argument. I still would rather have him as a starter, but I can understand the need to put him in the closers role.

- Jon Lieber needs a few more good starts. We gotta get a reliever for him and move Myers back into the rotation. I hope the Phils don't fall in love with him as a closer.

- This version of the Phillies, overall, looks eerily similar on offense to years past. Lots of men left on base, not much from the lower part of the order, and even Roward hitting well in April.

- Pitching wins. If the Phillies can clean up thier bullpen, they'll be fine the rest of the year even with the woeful hitting with RISP.

- Key offensive player this year - Wes Helms. The Phils gotta get some power from their third baseman this year now that they have less power in the outfield.

Around the League

The Red Sox sweep the starting pitching deprived Yankees. The series started off bad for the Yanks as Mariano came into the 8th inning and blew a save on Friday night. The Yankees will win a lot of games in the summer months with their offense, but this starting pitching is just sad right now. Chase Wright?? I thought somebody was messing up Jaret Wrights name. Jeff Karstens? Kei Iwaga? Sad. Jon Lieber would be their ace! (OK they still have Pettitte but still)

The Braves taking 2 out of 3 over the Mets in Shea is the biggest story out of the NL. That's 4-2 against their divisional rivals. The Phillies are going to have their work cut out with the way the Braves and Mets are playing.

I really like the Brewers chances this year.

I can't believe the Giants have won 5 in a row. If the Giants can climb back to .500, so can the Phillies.

NHL Week in Review By : Ed Wasser

- OK people settle down. This is going to be quick because it's Sunday, 80 degrees and sunny, perfect weather for sitting in a dark bar and drinking beer all day and watching the Phillies. So here is my end of the year report card for the Flyers.

- Management, FFF.....Even Bobby Clarke knew that he did such a tinkle poor job that he needed to go. The Forsberg trade was really good, yet the move to get Todd Fedoruk back was asinine. The real test of Paul Holmgren will be when the free agent season opens. He'll have a ton of money to spend plus he has the luxury of seeing Bobby Clarke's mistakes

- Coaching, FFFFF.....John Stevens acts more timid behind the bench then the guy who walked into the house naked on "To Catch A Predator". I'm not saying that he won't be a good coach someday but let him learn behind someone else's bench and then come back. I think the Flyers will rue the day they unloaded Ken Hitchcock.

- Simon Gagne, A.....He was the only player that looked like he gave a crud all year long. He had 41 goals on a team that probably couldn't beat the Albany River Rats.

- Young players, FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.....Jeff Carter and Mike Richards were awful. They were looking for them to step up and score and....well, they're still looking. R.J. Umberger was OK, he had an occasional good game. Defenseman Joni Pitkanen was absolutely terrible. I mean really, really terrible. Pitkanen was so bad the Flyers are thinking of unloading him even though a fast, puck moving defenseman is a luxury.

- Goaltending, FFFFFFFF.....The Flyers were dying to give Antero Niittymaki the starting job but he went down faster then Paris Hilton at George Clooney's house after 3 champagnes. (HEY YO!!!) Robert Esche was his usual mediocre, he thinks he's way better then he really is, self. The jury is still out on Martin Biron. Biron probably got here thinking it couldn't be as bad as he thought, only to find out it's worse. But he'll be around for a while so let's see how he handles a full year as the full time goalie.

- Defense, FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.....The worst defensive unit I've ever seen. Yes I know that they had pretty good penalty killing but don't let that fool you, as a whole they were dreadful. I don't even know what happened to Mike Rathje. I think he was so incredibly bad and getting booed so mercilessly that the Flyers just told him to get lost and they'll send him his paycheck. The aforementioned Joni Pitkanen was awful, Denis Gautier only cares about hitting people at the expense of his positioning, Jussi Timonen only played in 14 games and yet managed to be a -10, and defensive scoring was nonexistent. I know I was tough on Derian Hatcher, which he richly deserved, but at least he was trying which is more then I can say for a few of these guys.

- The fans, A+.....I can't believe that 19,000 fans showed up to watch that slop night after night. They all deserve a personal thank you from Flyer management not to mention a rebate. Flyers games are a strange phenomenon in that even if you get free tickets somehow you spend $50. So I'll give them credit for filling the building.

- OK, so I'm off to wet my whistle. I'll have some news on the playoffs in two weeks.


NBA - Derreck Sura

This year's tap dancing segment is the smallest it's ever been since I started covering the NBA full time mid-way through the 2002-03 season. I ended up missing only one team per conference for a grand total of 14 out of 16 playoff teams.

EAST

I had in…

6. Indiana (35-47) – I should have taken the shootout outside that strip club in training camp as a sign of things to come. Nothing went right for the Pacers this season. From Jermaine O'Neal, Jamaal Tinsley & Marquis Daniels being injured, to the trade for Troy Murphy & Mike Dunleavy Jr., to coach Rick Carlisle losing control of the locker room. It all went from bad to worse in a hurry. Losing 11 straight games from 2/23 to 3/14 pretty much sealed their fate.

I had out…

11. Toronto (47-35) – I mentioned in my Eastern preview that I liked the looks of the Raptors roster on paper, but thought they were still at least a year away. As it turned out, T-Dot came together faster than anyone expected, so I really don't feel all that bad about missing on them.


WEST

I had in…

7. Clippers (40-42) – This has to be the most disappointing squad in the NBA for a variety of reasons. It's easy to blame the injures to Sam Cassell & Shaun Livingston, but it's deeper than that. Elton Brand got off to an extremely slow start, Corey Maggette feuded with coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. and Tim Thomas reverted to his non-contract-year form. The biggest thing for me though was their inconsistent effort as a team. For evidence you need look no further then their home loss to a floundering Sacramento club in the third to last game of the season.

I had out…

12. Golden State (42-40) – Again, I don't feel too bad about missing on the Warriors because they weren't a playoff team until they pulled off the biggest trade of the season. If I messed up on anything it's that coach Don Nelson definitely still knows how to win games in the association.

All-Defense Team

PG – Kirk Hinrich (Chicago)
SG – Anthony Parker (Toronto)
SF – Shane Battier (Houston)
PF – Jermaine O'Neal (Indiana)
C – Marcus Camby (Denver

Sixth Man of the Year

1. Leandro Barbosa (Phoenix)
2. Manu Ginobili (San Antonio)
3. Matt Harpring (Utah)

Executive of the Year

1. Bryan Colangelo (Toronto)
2. Chris Mullin (Golden State)
3. John Paxson (Chicago)

Coach of the Year

1. Sam Mitchell (Toronto)
2. Jerry Sloan (Utah)
3. Avery Johnson (Dallas)

Rookie of the Year

1. Brandon Roy (Portland)
2. Andrea Bargnani (Toronto)
3. Paul Millsap (Utah)

All-Rookie Team

PG – Rajon Rondo (Boston)
SG – Brandon Roy (Portland)
SF – Andrea Bargnani (Toronto)
PF – Paul Millsap (Utah)
C – LeMarcus Aldridge (Portland)

Most Valuable Player

1. Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas)
2. Steve Nash (Phoenix)
3. Tim Duncan (San Antonio)
4. Kobe Bryant (Lakers)
5. Tracy McGrady (Houston)

All-NBA

PG – Steve Nash (Phoenix)
SG – Kobe Bryant (Lakers)
SF – Tracy McGrady (Houston)
PF – Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas)
C – Tim Duncan (San Antonio)

Second Team

PG – Gilbert Arenas (Washington)
SG – LeBron James (Cleveland)
SF – Chris Bosh (Toronto)
PF – Carlos Boozer (Utah)
C – Amare Stoudemire (Phoenix)

Third Team

PG – Jason Kidd (New Jersey)
SG – Vince Carter (New Jersey)
SF – Kevin Garnett (Minnesota)
PF – Elton Brand (Clippers)
C – Dwight Howard (Orlando)

– Don't forget to check out my blog for daily updates throughout the post season!