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One of the most offensively intensive games, maybe in all of MLB history, involved the Cubs and Phillies in Wrigley on May 17, 1979. MLB Network ranked this game #20 on the list of 20 greatest games of the last 50 years in 2010. Though I was not born yet (game happened less than five months before I was born), so much happened in this game to not recap.
Just a reminder of where the baseball world was at that time. The two time defending World Series Champions were the New York Yankees, who had beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second straight season. The Yankees would suffer a big loss this season as their captain, Thurman Munson, would die in a plane crash in August of this year. The Pittsburgh Pirates would defeat the Baltimore Orioles in this season’s fall classic in a rematch of the 1971 WS. The Phillies and Cubs would finish the season 4th and 5th place, respectively in the NL East. The Phillies would see their streak of 3 straight NL East titles end as well as change managers from Danny Ozark to Dallas Green. Cubs manager Herman Franks would also be replaced that season behind the bench. Joey Amalfitano, who would later join Tommy Lasorda’s coaching staff for several years, would take over for Franks with 7 games to go in the 1979 season. Franks would never manage in the big leagues again while Ozark would finish off the 1984 season behind the bench for the San Francisco Giants.
The most well documented part of this game was the fact that the wind was blowing out at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The game did not get off to the best of starts as the Phillies scored 7 runs in the first inning of Cubs starter Dennis Lamp, knocking him out of the game. Mike Schmidt and Bob Boone homered off Lamp, with Phillies starting pitcher Randy Lerch homering off Donnie Moore (yes, that Donnie Moore) to cap the scoring. The Cubs rallied, though, and scored 6 of their own in the bottom of the inning, ending Lerch’s night. Dave Kingman would hit a 3 run HR, while Moore would partially redeem himself with an RBI triple of reliever Doug Bird. Amazingly, even with 7 and 6 runs scored, respectively, each team sent just 10 men to the plate.
The second inning would go mysteriously scoreless for both teams. Philadelphia was back at it in the 3rd. RBI singles by Boone and Bake McBride made the game 9-6 and a 2 run Pete Rose 2B chased Moore. Willie Hernandez, another 1980s dominant closer, would give up a run on a groundout and then a 3 run HR by Garry Maddox, making it 15-6 Phillies.
The Cubs would strand a single in the 3rd, sending the Phillies back to bat in the 4th. RBI doubles by Rose and Maddox made it 17-6. The game had to be over at this point, right? In the bottom of the 4th, Kingman hits his 2nd HR of the game, a 2 run shot and 3B Steve Ontiveros follows with a solo blast making it 17-9. Both HRs came off Bird, who was still in the game. Hernandez was still on the ropes in the 5th inning as a Larry Bowa 2B gave the Phillies another run. However, the Phillies scored their next 3 runs off an error and 2 sacrifice flies. It still made the game 21-9, giving the Phillies their second lead of 11 runs or more of the game.
Phillies manager Ozark decided it was time to go to his closer, Tug McGraw, in the bottom of the 5th inning. You can trust your closer to protect a 12 run lead, right? Not in this game. The Cubs quickly filled the bases and after a bases loaded walk, Bill Buckner hits a grand slam, bringing the Bears closer to the Eagles, 21-13. CF Jerry Martin hit a 3 run HR and after catcher Barry Foote doubled, McGraw’s day was done after recording just two outs.
After Ron Reed came in and got the last out for the Phillies, Cubs reliever Bill Caudill got himself out of a jam in the top of the 6th. It was the first time since the 2nd inning that Philadelphia did not score. The Cubs were back at in their half of the 6th. A single and double started the inning, with the Cubs scoring runs on consecutive ground outs. Reed had two outs and nobody on, but up comes Kingman to hit his 3rd HR of the game and all of the sudden the game was 21-19. Without checking the records, I would find it hard to see two teams scoring 40 runs in the first 6 innings of the game. For the pace of this game, the last 3 innings (plus the 10th) were kind of boring.
The Phillies would add themselves a run in the 7th with an RBI double by Boone, making it 22-19. Reed gets a double play ball to get himself out of the bottom of the inning unscaved. Cubs reliever Ray Burris comes into the 8th, giving up a Rose leadoff single but retiring the next three to get out of the inning. Reed is left in the game for the Phillies in the bottom of the 8th. The Cubs once again break through, as RBI singles by Buckner, Martin and Foote tie up the game.
The Cubs go to their closer, Bruce Sutter, to pitch the 9th. Sutter would give up a walk, but no runs as the Phillies failed to score. Rawly Eastwick came in to pitch for the Phillies in the bottom of the 9th. Eastwick would do what no other pitcher was able to do to that point, get a 1-2-3 inning. Sutter comes back out for the 10th, retiring Bowa and Rose with ease. Then Schmidt hits a solo HR (2nd of the game) to give the Phillies the lead again. Eastwick comes back out and gets another 1-2-3 inning to preserve the game. Final score: Phillies 23, Cubs 22, 10 innings, WP- Eastwick LP- Sutter.
Outside of the score, what impressed me the most was the well known relievers that were used throughout the game. The Cubs used Moore, Hernandez and Sutter, while the Phillies had McGraw; with Moore, Hernandez (the eventual 1984 AL Cy Young Winner) and McGraw all looking like minor league pitchers, at least for the day. They pitched a combined 5 1/3 IP and gave up a total of 22 runs, 17 ER! Veterans like Tim McCarver, Bobby Murcer, Mike Vail and Greg Luzinski all came off the bench, with Bud Harrelson not getting in this game. As far as a regular season game goes, it was certainly one of the most exciting games one will ever see. A total of 11 HRs were hit in this game, 5 by the Phillies (2 by Schmidt, Boone, Maddox and Lerch) and 6 by the Cubs (3 by Kingman, Buckner, Martin and Ontiveros). 45 runs, 50 hits, 10 2Bs and 2 3Bs, 15 walks to go with just 11 strikeouts.

The Chiefs are now being coached by Andy Reid who led the team to numerous NFC championship games and a Super Bowl.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, on that date, Reid’s mainstay quarterback Donovan McNabb will retire as a Eagle.

McNabb spent back-to-back years 2010 and 2011 under center for the Washington Redskins and Minnesota Vikings.

Both of those runs were crash and burn disasters.

McNabb recently went back to Syracuse University where he played his college ball.

“I will retire as an Eagle and I look forward to that opportunity and that day,” McNabb told ESPN, via Syracuse.Com

McNabb also talked up his relationship with Eagles fans.

“There was never any animosity from the Philly fans,” McNabb said.”The handful of fans that are the ones that are kind of being seen, they’re not a high percentage of fans who truly appreciate what you were able to do while you were there. I have nothing but love for the Philly fans, even the ones who were highly criticizing me or opinionated in any way. I can’t get upset at them because my job is to get out on the field and be productive. That’s what quarterbacking is all about.

McNabb discussed his Hall of Fame credentials.

“I didn’t play the game for the individual accolades,” he said. “I didn’t play the game to say, ‘Hey, I want to make the Hall of Fame.’ Yeah, that’s great. I think that’s a goal that you kind of write as a kid up on the sheet, you look at it like, yeah I wanna be like Warren Moon or I wanna be like Jim Kelly, Randall Cunningham. Those were guys I watched and tried to watch and take parts of their game out and add it to mine. And when I had an opportunity to compete against those guys, I wanted to be better. Now that I’m not playing, you look at my numbers, yes my numbers speak for themselves, but none of that would’ve been able to happen if I didn’t play with a great group of guys around me.

“If I’m rewarded by getting in the Hall of Fame, hey that’s great. But to me it’s like graduation. You step across the stage and say you know what, I made it, and I’m happy for it.”

More on this story as the ceremony details are released from the Eagles camp.

Video: Donovan McNabb Eagles highlights

The post Donovan McNabb to retire as a Philadelphia Eagle appeared first on Players View.

Check out other great articles at Players View.

Especially, if the team had a disastrous season the year before like the Eagles did. So, they will go with the flow of Kelly’s new philosophy and they will be all in for now.

If they get off to a bad start, they will tune him out quick. Especially with a college coach, they have very little room for error with professional football players.

Some coaches like to conform to their roster, while others want the roster to conform to them. Kelly is doing the latter, we will see how it works out.

Check out other great articles at BlackSportsOnline.

In the early parts of the 2013 season, a lot of talk has been made about the starts of the Toronto Blue Jays (16-24, .400) and Los Angeles Angels (15-24, .385). In the New York area, talk has been about the struggling Mets, who currently sit at 14-22, .389. Though much was expected from the Jays and Angels, the before mentioned teams have to lose a lot of games to be considered the worst in baseball. Currently, the Houston Astros sit at 10-30, .250 while the Miami Marlins are 11-28, .282. If the two teams keep up the pace, they have a chance to finish amongst the worst in the history of MLB.
To put it in perspective, the Astros are directly on pace to match the 1962 New York Mets in regards to winning percentage. Of course, the Mets of 1962 played only 160 games while the Astros expect to play 162. Based on the amount of talent both the Astros and Marlins have, there is a chance both teams could finish with a winning percentage of .300 or less. Since 1890, that has been done just 24 times. An interesting aspect of this is the fact that MLB chooses to recognize the worst records since 1900. This allows people to not acknowledge two of the worst seasons possible.
In 1890, the Pittsburgh Pirates (still in the National League) finished a 146 game season at 23-113. That was good enough for a .169 winning percentage. Not a lot of information is available about that team as it is just understood the team was not any good. A more interesting story follows the only MLB team to finish with not only more losses than the 1962 Mets, but a lower winning percentage than the 1890 Pirates. The 1898 St Louis Browns finished with a 39-111, .260 record. The owners of the Cleveland Spiders, the Robison brothers, bought the Browns before the 1899 season. The fact that the owners owned two NL teams at the same time was not outlawed until later on. So, the owners decided to improve the Browns team with the best players of the Spiders team, including Cy Young. The Browns renamed themselves the Perfectos and finished the 1899 season with an improved 84-67 record. That team is now known as the St Louis Cardinals. The stripped Spiders would finish with a 20-134 record, good enough for a .130 winning percentage!
After the season, the Spiders were among 4 NL teams contracted (the others were Washington, Louisville and Baltimore. This, of course, made way for the American League which officially started in 1901. The 1916 Philadelphia Athletics finished with a 36-117, .235 record after Connie Mack traded away all his star players from his previous World Series titles in 1910, 1911 and 1913. The 1935 Boston Braves finished with a 38-115, .248 record, the only other team since 1890 to finish with a lower winning percentage than the 1962 Mets.
After the Mets would be the 1904 Washington Senators (42-110, .276), Browns of 1898, 2003 Detroit Tigers (43-119, .265), 1952 Pittsburgh Pirates (42-112, .273) and the 1909 Senators (42-110, .278). After that, out of the final 13 teams to finish with a winning percentage of .300 or below, the Philadelphia Phillies have 6 of them. Four of those seasons happened from 1938-1942. The 1938 Phillies went 45-105, .300 while the 1939 team went 45-106, .298. While the 1940 team finished with a winning percentage over .300, the 1941 team went 43-111, .279 and the 1942 team went 42-109, .278. The Phillies were back at it in 1945, when they finished with a 46-108, .299 record. For what its worth, the 1928 Phillies finished with a 43-109, .283 record.
Among the other final 13 teams to finish with a winning percentage under .300, the St Louis Browns had two more of them (1911: 45-107, .296 and 1937: 46-108, .296). Four of the five teams were all from Boston, 2 in the NL and 2 in the AL. The Red Sox in 1926 (46-107, .300) and 1932 (43-111, .279). The NL team did it in 1909 as the Doves (45-108, .294), 1911 as the Rustlers (44-107, .291) and of course as the Braves in 1935. The Philadelphia Athletics in 1915 finished 43-109, .283.
The Astros are on a path to match or finish slightly higher or lower in winning percentage to the Mets of 1962. The Marlins are just about where the 1928 Phillies and 1915 Athletics are, assuming they stay on the same pace. With parity as it is in MLB, odds are both of these teams could make history.

The Phils took the lead in the bottom of the first as, with one man out, Kevin Frandsen hits a solo home run, his second home run of the season, giving the Phils a 1-0 lead. The Indians took the lead in the top of the second as, with runners on second and third, and with one man out, Michael Brantley hits a two-run single, scoring Nick Swisher, who had started the inning off with a single, then stopped at third base on Carlos Santana’s double, and Santana, who had earlier doubled, giving the Indians a 2-1 lead. The Phils regain the lead in the bottom of the fourth as, with two men on, and with one man out, John Mayberry, Jr. hits a two-run double, knocking in Dom Brown, who had earlier singled, then moved up to second base on Carlos Ruiz’s walk, and Ruiz, who had just walked, giving the Phils a 3-2 lead. The Phils increased their lead in the bottom of the sixth as Brown hits a lead-off home run, his seventh home run of the year, giving the Phils a 4-2 lead. The Phils added to their lead in the bottom of the eighth as, with a runner on second, and with one man out, Mayberry hits an RBI single, knocking in Ruiz, who had earlier singled, then moved up to second base on Bryan Shaw’s wild pitch, giving the Phils a 5-2 lead. The Phils then took a 6-2 lead three batters later as, with two men on, after Mayberry had stolen second base and Jimmy Rollins was intentionally walked, and with two men out, Freddy Galvis hits an RBI single, scoring Mayberry, while sending Rollins over to third base, before he is thrown out at second base, 7-5, trying to stretch his single into a double, for the inning’s final out. That would be the final score as Jonathan Papelbon threw a scoreless inning.

Jonathan Pettibone (3-0, 3.41) got the win as he pitched six and two-thirds innings, giving up just two runs on four hits, two walks and a hit batter, while striking out three. Antonio Bastardo collected his six hold of the year as he pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up two hits and a walk, while striking out a batter. Justin De Fratus collected his first hold of the season as he pitched a third of an inning, getting out the only batter that he would face. Jeremy Horst collected his first hold of the season as he struck out the only man that he would face. Jonathan Papelbon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit. Scott Kazmir (2-2, 5.33) took the lost as he pitched five innings, plus one batter, as he gave up four runs on six hits, two walks and two hit batters, while striking out three. Cody Allen pitched a 1-2-3 inning, striking out a batter. Bryan Shaw pitched an inning and a third, giving up two runs on three hits and a walk. Rich Hill pitched two-thirds of an inning, giving up a hit and a walk.

The Phils collected ten hits in the game, with John Mayberry, Jr. (2 Singles, Double, 3 RBIs) leading the team with three hits, followed by Dom Brown (Single, Home Run, RBI) with two. Jimmy Rollins (Single), Kevin Frandsen (Home Run, RBI), Freddy Galvis (Single, RBI), Ryan Howard (Single) and Carlos Ruiz (Single) had the other five Phils’ hits. The Phils also had four walks (Rollins, Michael Young, Howard and Ruiz), two hit batters (Frandsen (2)) and a stolen base (Mayberry (2)) in the game.

Status Radio 5-12-13

Knowing that the Eagles had given released Cowboys RB Felix Jones a try out earlier this week I asked what had come of that.  The Eagles fan told me at about 9am this morning that the Eagles had sent him packing and that it was OK because he was a “stinking Cowboys” who was a “bum” who was “hurt all the time…and was done.”

The conversation was interrupted by work at that time.

In the less than 2 minutes it took to get back to my desk the Eagles fan sent me an email stating that he had just heard on the radio that the Eagles had signed Jones to a 1 year deal.

Seems Jones is a much improved player now.

Go Eagles Fans!

And that was only the beginning.

Reporting live from Eagles headquarters Monday, ESPN’s Jeannine Edwards made note of Kelly’s transformation of the team’s cafeteria into a beacon of healthy nutrition.

“Everything in the cafeteria has been re-made, and everyone in the organization from upper management to the staffers to the players are commenting on it,” Edwards said, via SI.com. “You go in the cafeteria and you see nothing but healthy food choices because Chip Kelly believes elite athletes need optimal nutrition.”

Kelly has taken it to the extreme, eliminating weekly staples such as “Taco Tuesdays” and “Fast Food Fridays,” to the chagrin of many.

“Gone are things like Taco Tuesdays and Fast Food Fridays, which the players are not too happy about,” Edwards continued. “Pizza, chicken wings, fried foods — and even red meat — are off the menu. [Kelly wants] nothing but organic hormone- and antibiotic-free lean meats.”

The Eagles were once a franchise that embraced junk food under former coach Andy Reid. No more. Kelly has come in and completely shifted the culture of the club, with tactics — no red meat, for example — that are largely unconventional.

(Photo credit: Matt Rourke/AP)

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