Meet the new Phillies

We're just a few days away from the World Champions of Baseball resuming play. I know you remember all the regulars from last year (even little Carlos "game winning run" Ruiz) but here's a look at some of the new faces on the team to get you ready for 2009:

Raul Ibanez -- This long-time Seattle outfielder will try and fill Pat Burrell's slow-but-powerful shoes. He's driven in more than 100 runs the last three years, so he should be up to the task.

Chan Ho Park -- The Korean journeyman is the Phillies new fifth starter; He wanted the job so badly he skipped the World Baseball Classic to spend more time in camp.

Marcus Giles -- This former Brave is looking to revive his career
Cut from team, nevermind.

John Mayberry Jr. -- One of the Phils' top minor league prospects
Sent back down, nevermind

Ronnie Paulino -- The front office brought him in to push Coste
Traded from team, nevermind

Mike Koplove -- The Phils' AAA pitcher has a chance to make the
Sent back down, nevermind

Sean Jones -- This safety has the daunting task of
Plays for the Eagles, nevermind

Carlos Carrasco -- He' a long-shot to make the team, but
Sent back down, nevermind

Ummm, yeah. Just really Ibanez and Park, I guess. Although, all Ibanez has to do is hit twice in the World Series, and that should be enough for a second trophy.

Question of the day

Jimmy Rollins: Cool, or too cool?

Discuss.

Field of 64 ... Philly style

Just like last year, here's a look back at 2008 in Philly sports in NCAA basketball style. Click on the picture to enlarge it.


Now with more Koy than ever!

10 best in Philly sports

After last week's downer, it's time to move on and look at the positive. So here are the 10 greatest moments in Philly sports history over the last 20 years.

Moments that just missed the cut:
Aug 2004: T.O.'s 81-yard TD on first pre-season play at home
Jan 1995: Eagles beat Lomas, Lions 58-37
Sep 2000: The Pickle Juice game; Dallas loses 41-14
May 1996: Pat Croce high-fives suits after winning draft lottery
July 1995: Schmidt, Ashburn admitted to HOF

10 -- Jul 2007: Phils lose 10,000th game
As great as seeing two Phils greats inducted in the Hall of Fame on the same day, this moment beats it. A sell-out crowd gives a standing ovation as the losingest franchise in all American sports drops the big 1-0-0-0-0 to the Cardinals. They might be losers, but they’re our losers.

9 -- Dec 1995: The Groundhog Day game
Also known as “They stopped him again!” Barry Switzer sends Emmitt Smith into the Eagles D-line on fourth-and-one, but the refs claim the two-minute warning occurred before the men in green stoned him. After the break, Switzer calls the same play, and Smith picks up even fewer yards. The Eagles kick a FG on the next possession and win 20-17.

8 -- Sep 2007: Phils win NL East on final day
The Mets and Phils entered the day tied atop the NL East. By the time the Phils first inning against the Nads started, the Mets were already down 4-0 to the Marlins. By the time the day was over, Jimmy Rollins had his 20th triple of the year and the Phils were headed to the post-season.

7 -- Jan 2003: Eagles beat Packers in OT 4th and 26
With the Eagles losing by a FG late in the fourth, all the Packers had to do to get to the NFC Championship game was stop Freddie Mitchell from catching a ridiculous last-chance heave down the middle of the field. They couldn’t.

6 -- Dec 2008: Eagles thump Cowboys in finale
For the Eagles to make the playoffs, all they needed were two conference upsets and a home win against the Cowboys on the last day of the season. After the first two improbable games went the right way, the Eagles hung up 27 points in the first half, and embarrassed Tony Romo with two defensive TDs in the second half to win 44-6.

5 -- Oct 1993: Phils beat Braves in NLCS
All-World pitcher Greg Maddux wasn’t a match for Tommy Greene this day. A Darren Daulton double, a Mickey Morandini triple and a Dave Hollins HR gave the Phils a 6-1 lead that even Mitch Williams couldn’t blow, and the team made their first trip to the World Series in a decade.

4 -- May 2000: Flyers down the Pens in fifth OT
In the eighth period of the game, at 2:35 am, Keith Primeau fired a slapshot past Pens goalie Ron Tugnutt to end the third-longest game in NHL history and tie up the Flyers playoff series at 2-2. The loss was a backbreaker for the rival Pens, who went on to lose the series in six games.

3 -- Jun 2001: Iverson steps over Tyrone Lue
You knew the Sixers weren’t going to beat the heavily-favored Lakers. But in overtime of the first game of the Finals, Allen Iverson drained a three, then disgustedly stepped over the Lakers pesky PG as he marched backed down the court. The Sixers stole game one and for a moment you thought it could actually happen.

2 -- Jan 2005: Eagles win the NFC championship
We were beginning to think this would never happen – after three consecutive championship game losses, the Eagles faced the Falcons in Philly for their fourth try at the Super Bowl. TE Chad Lewis broke his foot in the fourth quarter catching the clinching TD. Best moment within the moment: Seeing Dawkins in tears holding up the NFC trophy.

1 -- Oct 2008: Phils win World Series, have a parade
Billy Penn provided a little rain delay to remind us he’s in charge, but the curse was finally lifted when Brad Lidge blew a fastball by Eric Hinske to win the championship at home. The parade on Broad Street took three times longer than it should have because the crowd kept spilling over in front of the floats. WFC. Unbelievable.

In fact, let's relive that last one again.

10 worst in Philly sports

We've already been through the first three stages of grief (shock, pain, anger) over Dawkins' departure, but before we can move on to stage five (calm rationalization) we need to bulldoze our way through stage four: reflection. So that means ranking where losing the greatest Iggle of the last two decades fits in the worst Philadelphia sports moments of the last 20 years.

I submit it ranks pretty high. Discounting untimely deaths of sports figures (because that's an actual tragedy, not a sports one) and the destruction of the Vet (it sucked, but it didn't make me want to stop watching sports altogether, here's my top ten:

Moments that just missed the cut:
Oct 2007: Phillies swept by Rockies in first round of playoffs
Aug 2005: Terrell Owens threatens holdout
Mar 1993: Reggie White signs with Packers
Jan 2004: Eagles lose NFC Champs to Panthers, 14-3
Dec 2006: Allen Iverson traded to Nuggets

10 -- Dec 1994: Eagles lose last seven games to finish 7-9
Included in that streak was a 31-19 loss to the Cowboys where Randall Cunningham had a fourth-quarter interception returned 100 yards for a touchdown. That was my 18th birthday.

9 -- Jun 1997: Flyers swept by Red Wings in finals
Sweeps are always painful. It had been 10 years since the city had seen great hockey, and that unstoppable “Crazy Eights” line got run over in Ron Hextall’s last chance at a Stanley Cup trophy.

8 -- Jul 2000: Curt Schilling traded to Diamondbacks
We all knew it was coming, we just didn’t know that all the Phils would get back in return were Omar Daal, Travis Lee and Vincente Padilla. Nothing like trading a Hall of Famer for a 20-game loser.

7 -- Jun 2001: Lakers and Kobe beat Sixers in the finals
Why did it have to be Kobe? And did the Lakers really need another one?

6 -- Sep 1997: Hutton fumbles, Eagles lose 21-20 in Dallas
The only regular season game on this list, but undoubtedly the most painful. Tommy Hutton handled the ball more than 800 times in five NFL seasons. Losing a FG snap in the last seconds of a Dallas game is the only one anyone remembers anymore.

5 -- May 2000: Flyers lose conf finals after leading 3-1
The Flyers became the first team ever to lose the conference championship when up three games to one. And they did it to Marty Brodeur and the Devils. And Eric Lindros was killed on the ice in the start of decisive game seven. Good stuff.

4 -- Jan 2005: Eagles lose Super Bowl to Patriots, 24-21
The Patriots were clearly the better team, so there’s some solace in that. But they had the ball with a minute left down by three, and instead of throwing up some points on the board all Donovan McNabb could throw up was air.

3 -- Oct 1993: Phillies lose WS on Joe Carter’s walk-off homer
I’ve finally forgiven Mitch Williams for this blown save. I still haven’t forgiven him for the three other blown saves he had this postseason.

2 -- Feb 2009: Brian Dawkins signs with Broncos
I think this is that bad. Dawkins is (was) the only Hall of Famer on the Eagles, and through all the ups and downs Dawk was always there fighting. He’s the only player in NFL history to have a sack, a fumble recovery and a TD catch in the same game. He’s had at least one interception each of the last 13 years. He has been to seven Pro Bowls. When he held up the NFC championship trophy four years ago, it was one of the greatest sports moments in the city’s history. When he left last week it was one of the worst.

1 -- Jan 2003: Eagles lose NFC Champs to Bucs, 27-10
As bad as Dawk leaving is, it doesn’t top this disaster. This was the Eagles final game at the Vet. They had beaten Tampa in the playoffs the two prior seasons. They took the opening kickoff 80 yards. They were up 7-0 in the first 30 seconds of the game. The Eagles were going to win and go to the Super Bowl. We all knew the Eagles were going to win and go to the Super Bowl. It was obvious the Eagles were going to win and go to the Super Bowl. And three hours later, when they lost a one-sided disaster, none of us understood how or why they weren't going to the Super Bowl. This was the year the Eagles should have won it all, and I’m still waiting for Andy Reid to explain it and apologize adequately.

OK, we're past the mourning now. Next week I'll do the top 10 happy moments and we'll roll with that right into the Phils season.