Another Red October?

The Phillies have won 10 in a row.

Gonna let that one simmer for a second. 10 in a row, at just the right time. Of course, there’s never a bad time for a 10-game winning streak, but these Phillies always seem to play their best baseball when it counts the most.

September is their month. The 13-4 stretch to close out the ’07 season when they passed the Mets, along with a 13-3 stretch to close the ’08 season – also passing the Mets in the process – and after last night, 18-3 this month.

In the past, it was the offense that carried this team. Sure, they had good starting pitching, plus a lights out closer in 2008 – who is quietly rounding into that form again this year – but the late season runs in those previous years were largely fueled by the bats of Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins to name a few.

This year, it’s been all about pitching.

The Phillies now have three aces, a full house (every night), and a straight (path to the NL’s best record), after a clean flush of the Braves.

Cole Hamels is pitching better than he ever has, including the 2008 postseason run. Roy Halladay – although not looking quite as sharp as he did earlier in the year – just won his 20th game, and Roy Oswalt has been spectacular since his first start with the Phillies almost two months ago.

And then there’s Lidge. Perfect in 2008. Lousy in 2009. Close to perfect in 2010. Having Lidge effectively close things out at the end of games helps make the whole thing come together, since Ryan Madson can stay entrenched in the 8th inning role he has become very successful at, currently enjoying his best season on the mound as well.

Howard and Utley are still there, too. Rollins is set to rejoin them soon, and should add a nice dose of late-season experience (as long as Charlie Manuel keeps him far away from the leadoff spot), and Jayson Werth, Raul Ibanez, Shane Victorino, and Carlos Ruiz are all contributing down the stretch.

Where will it all end? Who knows? All three starting pitchers could go in a funk. The bats could go quiet, and the Phillies could get swept in the first round. They could all get food poisoning by some ill-prepared ribs from Greg Luzinski’s stand at Citizens Bank park. You just don’t know.

But after a late-season surge to capture a division crown in 2007, plus a World Series win, and follow-up appearance in the fall classic last year, and now this season, something has been instilled in even the most critical Philadelphia fan; confidence.

Forget the rarity of 10-game winning streaks. How much more improbable is it to put the words Phillies, and confidence together in a sentence?

With this group of players, though, at this time of year…maybe 10-game winning streaks aren’t as far-fetched as we think.

October, here they come.

The Real NFL Opening Day Is Here

Let's let summer reality star Rex Ryan -- coach of the New York Jets -- get everyone geared up for an afternoon of football, and snack eating.

Kiddies, get your earmuffs on for this uncensored, and NSFWS(peakers) clip.

Ok, Nevermind

Alright, alright. So, my theory on Tiger's recent -- albeit brief -- successful return to "Tiger-like" golf seems to be losing steam by the second.

After shooting an opening round 65 at The Barclays just hours after finalizing his divorce, he slowly faded out of that tournament.

This week, the news on the course is not so good either for Eldrick, as pointed out by the AP...

Coming off his best tournament since June, and needing a solid week to advance to the third round of the FedEx Cup playoffs, Woods opened with four bogeys in six holes. He hit one shot sideways across the fairway to escape nasty rough. He had to scramble for bogey on another. Six holes into the opening round, he was last in the field of 99 players.

“I didn’t drive it very good. I didn’t putt good. I didn’t hit my irons good,” he said. “Other than that, it was a good day.”

Hmmm, maybe this is distracting him a bit.

54-million dollar mortgages will do that, I'm guessing.

Tiger's Swingin' Again

Tiger Woods' 65 in the opening round of The Barclays today makes one thing perfectly clear.

Tiger's got his mojo back -- on and off the course -- and ladies, lookout.

It's never been simpler to figure out the secret to Woods' success...

Single Tiger + Married (but cheating) Tiger = Best golfer in the world.

Married Tiger that got caught, went through "rehab", felt obligated to play it safe for awhile, and eventually headed for a costly divorce = a golfer that resembled James Woods, not Tiger Woods.

Freshly divorced Tiger, free to resume his shtooping all across the globe = a 65 in the first round at The Barclays, his best round of the year.

Safe to say Tiger will be in a late foursome on Sunday...after the golf event is over.

Ahhhh, That New Blog Smell

Ok, so the blog isn't technically "new", but as you can see, and if you've been paying any attention at all to this thing, it at least looks new.

And, if you've been paying attention, you've realized that I've been a tad slow on the posting. The miracle run of the Flyers revitalized my interest in blogging, because I had plenty of thoughts going through my brain as the Flyers were marching toward the Stanley Cup Final.

Then the unthinkable happened. They ended up meeting my 2nd favorite team, the Blackhawks, for the the crown.

Never thought that matchup would take place in my lifetime. And, as much as I had hoped I would be neutral during the finals and just accept whoever ended up winning as a good thing, it was clear as the series went on that I was rooting for the Flyers.

After the Hawks won the Cup -- which against any other opponent would have me jumping up and down -- I felt a pit in my stomach for a few days.

I didn't feel like writing about it, and a few days turned into a few weeks, and blogging about anything became something I didn't have a lot of time for.

So, I thought I'd change up the look of the blog -- frankly, as much as I liked the look of the old blog, it was getting a little difficult to read the white text against the black background -- and this one looks pretty good.

So, my hope is to get back to a regular pattern of blogging the mundane details of my work and personal life, the shtuff that's interesting me, etc.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to plow through a few more cans of Miller High Life Light that I bought two months ago for $8.99 a case -- a 30 pack! -- that I had purchased in preparation for a family birthday party that I forgot to remember features a primarily tee-totaling crowd which left me overstocked with beer that is now on the verge of going skunky, as if Miller High Life Light had much wiggle room between normal taste and "skunky", anyway.

Rough job, but it's gotta be done.

Kane Was Able

Yep...still trying to figure that one out.

Truth Be Told...

...I'm rooting for the Flyers.

It's becoming more apparent game after game. On the opening night of the series, I felt fairly indifferent to who won.

But, I think that as that game, and especially as the series has gone on, I'm starting to bleed more Flyers' orange than Blackhawks' red.

Part of it may be the fact that the Flyers playoff run has been a bit more remarkable, and unexpected. Chicago is supposed to be here, and very well may be here several more times in the next few years.

For the Flyers? Not so sure. Things are just lining up for them better this year, and I don't have the same amount of faith -- amazing, coming from a Philly fan, right? -- that they'll be able to get back here again.

Ideally, whichever team loses this series would win the Cup next year, but we all know that it's not that easy.

So, I'll be donning the Hextall jersey tonight, hoping the Flyers run can continue. A win tonight guarantees the series goes six games, and gives me a few more days to continue to ignore the Phillies.