I always struggle to handle my Wood the mornings after Flyers and Phillies games. There aren’t typically game recaps on CB, so that’s not the issue. Rather, do I limit the Wood to just Phillies (the usual) or do I include some Flyers links and perhaps a GIF or two because that’s what I would have done anyway?
Today, there’s enough of Wood to go around, if only because, through two games, the Phillies are a cold water splash.
Old Man Halladay (I know, it hurts to write that) fanned nine last night with swing-and-miss stuff… unfortunately, that stuff was reserved for only about half of the batters he faced, as the others tattooed him for six hits and five runs aided by two walks and two home runs. Doc threw 95 pitches in three and a third. His start was pretty much the sum of all fears: Oh hey, the guy who concerned everyone all spring with decreased velocity, an odd illness, and poor starts, who wanted us to believe that everything was cool, came out of the gate clearly not ready for the regular season.
Driving to and fro quizzo, I listened to Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen try to take positives out of Halladay’s start. The strikeouts made it pretty easy, but it was sad to hear LA drop a line like this (paraphrasing): Doc should improve as he builds up arm strength.
Um, we’re acting as though Halladay is coming back from Tommy John here. He’s not. He had a sore back last year and the flu this spring. Sure, he’s a week or two behind, but he’s a workout nut and an otherwise healthy pitcher (supposedly). This is a guy who, 18 months ago, was still considered the best on the planet. Now we’re talking about him as if he’s the grandfather who just got out of the hospital that will be able to keep down solid foods in a week, or two.
After the game, Halladay was still pissed off: [Phillies.com]
“I’m going to fix it. I’m going to fix it,” said a visibly aggravated Halladay in front of his locker. “It will be fixed. And the results will be better.
“I’m frustrated. I should have gotten deeper than that. Not aggressive enough early in the count and went deep counts, and that’s the most frustrating part, really. I’m going to clean that up and be more aggressive. I’ve got to be more aggressive getting ahead of guys and putting guys away. I can’t take three or four pitches to put guys away. We can take ground balls earlier in the count and do something to be more efficient and go deeper. I’d rather get beat 20-0 and pitch eight innings than pitch 3 1/3. So that’s got to change. But I felt good, felt good in the bullpen and felt good on the mound.”
Didn’t look so good, though.
Nats bloggers: Keep taking the bait:
In the park itself, NL East Champion banners now hang above the centerfield gate entrance, above the center field HD scoreboard, and outside the Presidents Club. The giant Scoreboard Walk photo has also been changed to feature Jayson Werth’s walk-off home run in the 2012 playoffs. In the scheme of things, the signage changes are small, which makes the recent whining by a prominent Phillies blogger all the more perplexing.
Flyers: The difference between 2010 and this season is that, three years ago, they had a defense and a well-constructed team that was capable of making a run if they got into the playoffs. This year, they’re decimated by injuries and, well, don’t have a defense. And Ilya Bryzgalov is still nuts. Here’s your $51 million goaltender ducking out of the way of a knuckle-puck:
He was ripped a new asshole by Mike Milbury for this:
“[Goodbye] Philadelphia, hello KHL. This is unforgettable for me. You’re supposed to try to get in the way, Ilya. You’re a goaltender. Get your head in the way, have you ever seen Lundqvist do that? This thing gets deflected, it’s a knuckle-ball. But he can’t wait to get out of the way. You got to be kidding me.”
Video of that is after the jump.
They won, though, 5-3. And they’re going to cock tease us for a couple weeks.
Sportsmenship: This is awesome– Zac Rinaldo asks Brandon Prust which shoulder is injured so that he can avoid hurting him during their fight. Pure class.
37 Responses
Kyle, get off of Bryz’s nutsack. He’s the only reason these dogs aren’t 10 points behind Florida for worst overall record. For you to blame him above all else just proves you have no clue about hockey….now go get your shine box
Ok, so we can blame Bryz when we miss out on the number one overall pick in the 2013 draft?
Another brain washed, Flyer apologist. Bryz has been amazing, except don’t look at his statistics. Statistically, he is the worst starting goalie in hockey. But of course, its the defenses fault. Explain to me why goalies make any money then if there play is totally depending on the defense? Wouldn’t it make more sense then to spend $$$ on defense and sign a goalie on the cheap. (GOT YA THERE WITH SOME LOGIC)
Also, to the rest of you brain washed Flyers fan, stop arguing your Flyers point by asserting that you “watch the games” or “know hockey”. That is really a lame arguing point. I don’t care how many Flyer games you watch.
This is not the first time bryz has ducked when the puck gets shot high. He does it all the time. He really doesnt want to get hit in the mask with a puck. Not a great quality in $51 million dollar goalie.
Zac lost that fight to a one arm man. Kyle are you going to do a story on how delco’s economy is going to suffer Friday with all their trash heading down to xfinity?
The only thing staler than Kyle complaining about Bryzgalov is everyone crawling all over Kyle about his whining about Bryzgalov.
What do you want him to do Zoidberg, praise Bryz for a good effort? The guy game up 3 goals on 17 shots (only 6 shots in the last 40 minutes). Despite showing flashes of brilliance he’s not living up to his contract and thus has earned the ire of the fans like many players before him (Namdi, Iguodala, Dalembert, that nutjob we got from the lakers).
The team would have been better off using that money to lock up a number 1 defenseman and roll with an above average goalie that you had in Bob.
Hmm…I’m a little confused, seeing as Pronger was healthy and playing back then, with big bucks already being spent on him. And if I remember correctly, Bob shit the bed the second half of the previous season…And here I thought hindsight was supposed to be 20/20….
For one thing, I’d like you to invest in some reading comprehension classes. I wasn’t commenting on Bryz’s performance last night.
But since we’re in Wish List Territory, I’d the like the MENSA members on this site would stop ragging on Kyle about his not liking Bryz. Trolls complaining aren’t going to make Kyle like him. As for Bryz’s performance of late, it hasn’t been great. But then again, he’s first or second in the league in starts. I don’t blame him if he’s a bit tired and a bit too much in his own head. As for earning the ire of the fans, you act like he ever had a shot at them loving him.
And really, enough of the effing hindsight about what the Flyers should have done. Jesus, it’s almost as annoying as the people whining about Kyle not liking Bryz. It’s really easy to decide what to do when you’re two years after the fact. You’re like that annoying guy who tells you what moves you should have used in Mortal Kombat *after* your heart has been ripped out of your chest.
You make a good point, Bryz is over worked and likely tired, and I’m not trying to play “What if” or “They should have done this…”.
I’m trying to say that most team don’t win The Cup with the full year dominate Goalie (alla NJ devils and Marty B.) the trend has seemed to favor team who have a solid goalie who can get hot at the right time (alla the Kings and Jonathan Quick).
Bryz has shown he can get hot, just look at that stretch of games last season. But he hasn’t shown that in playoffs (except for 2006 – and wow that seems like a long time ago).
The Flyers paid Bryz to be a Marty Brodeur or a Tim Thomas, and he can’t do it, at least not with this defense.
“The Flyers paid Bryz to be a Marty Brodeur or a Tim Thomas, and he can’t do it, at least not with this defense.”
Again, that’s not his fault he was given an albatross contract, just like it isn’t Lu’s fault or DiPietro’s fault as much as we mock them. It’s the front office’s fault.
And he surely can do it, he excelled and was great and a Vezina candidate in Phoenix with a defensive-minded system. The issue, as you pointed out, is that he doesn’t have that here. He has a shitty, patchwork defense of #5/6 dmen and a team that plays a style that is uptempo, offensive, and hangs him out to dry nearly all game, every game. Were that to change, I’d expect Bryz would have a lot better numbers. The other issue with that though is that we don’t even have defensive prospects, which PHX had in uber excess, so it would take a TON of work and a good amount of time for us to get and switch to a defensive system.
It’s not Bryz’s fault the Flyers gave him a shitty contract. What are you gonna do, say no, give me less money? Of course he’s gonna take it if Homer/Snider were dumb enough to give it to him. You can rip Bryz for his play (I mean, could; don’t know if you should), but you really have to stop comparing his play to his contract and blaming it on him.
Bryz looked Like a catholic co-ed ducking a cumshot, horrible goal. He’s not going anywhere though, the chairman said “he’s played well for us this year, he needed to get used to philadelphia. Philadelphia can be hard on goaltenders”. When they asked him about the 51 million? “That was Paul’s decision”. I’m betting Homer goes before Bryz. Bryx is getting 1 more year.
I missed that goal, but it was deflected…was he really trying to duck out of the way or was his momentum carrying his upper body/head down and he adjusted to the changed flight path by raising his arms? If he was falling fwd he wouldnt have had time to raise his body higher, even his head…
bryz has given up more than his fair share of soft goals, but he’s also been stellar, especially late in 1-goal games. With how shitty this D and team as a whole has been playing all season, he’s been one of the bright spots…
why so much hate?
Also:
Simmonds is a fucking BEAST
I’m just going to paraphrase what someone said on the previous flyers post…Because it pretty much destroys this, “51 MILLION DOLLARS!!! HES GETTING PAID THAT MUCH TO SUCK, EVENTHOUGH HES THE ONLY REASON WE’RE ABLE TO CONTEND FOR THE 8TH SPOT NOW!!!!! 51MIL 51 MIL 51 MIL!!!!!!!! LOOK AT HIS STATISTICS!!!! THATS NOT WORTH 51 MILLION!!!!!”
Lets look at the stats, as most Bryz haters are apt to do…Despite everyone’s howling over his supposed ludacris contract, his contract is only 8th in the league amongst goalies…Now, when you look at goalies who have started at least 30 games in this abridged season, his stats hover between 7th and 10th in the league….So hes hovering around 8th in the league, which is what his contract is worth…So this argument that hes not playing up to his contract is completely invalid. And either way, if you look at the stats amongst all goalies or just goalies who have played 30 games, theyre still goalie stats, which at times can be extremely misleading…They don’t reflect how important Bryz has been to this team.
And as a Bryz supporter, I’m not gonig to make excuses for that duck he did last night. Just because I don’t want to amnesty the guy at every turn doesn’t mean I dont call him out…That play was bad…But if you are really going to use that one play to try and add to your bogus argument that hes terrible and should be canned, youre an idiot. Hes kept us in games all year this season, has stolen games against teams like NYR, Canes, Ottawa, TB, and more…And hes stoned numerous superstars from around the league, point blank, in many key moments of those games and others…And hes done it all behind an anemic and defensively inept offense and a decimated defense that lets said superstars wreak havoc in our zone at will….And hes done it with zero rest….But none of that matters because, “RAH RAH RAH 51 MILLION!!!!!!!!! LOOK AT HIS GAA OMGOMGOMG LOOK AT WHAT JEFF CARTER AND SERGEI BOBROVSKY ARE DOING!!! BRYZ MUST SUCK!!! OOMGMOMGOMOGOG51MILLION!@$#$$”
Doc is done
Kyle should hire Johnson to write for this blog. He’s bringing a lot to the table today
FUCK MILBURY. Bryz was looking for a shot along the ice.
This just in……Ed Snider sez BRYZ AINT THE PROBLEM. NOT GOING ANYWHERE.
Yeah… And the Flyers organization has never been know to tell a lie or stretch a truth!
Wow, you must be a fucking moron if you’re relying on the judgment of Mike Milbury.
it’s pretty clear Milbury just hates Russian hockey players (see Ovechkin, Alex). His credibility is gone IMO.
beLIEve the Truth.
i don’t trust anybody……for right now, Bryz is our guy. There’s Marty Brodeur and Tim Thomas….then everybody else.
Milbury is right up there with Joe Theisman, Joe Buck and all those “back when I played” assholes.
No, he’s worse. Just look at the 8-Year-Suck that was the Islanders under his leadership.
Ah back in the days when he was a coach, then a GM, then a coach again, then back to GM and the whole time the Islanders were in disarray.
I miss those days.
The goal was a fucking travesty, plain and simple. However, Snider is right he has played “well” this year. He’s not going anywhere, The fact that he’ll make 51 million dollars over the length of his contract is irrelevent. As stated above by Johnson he’s compensated fairly. Kyle needs to reign in his jealousy or see a shrink if he thinks an athletes performance should always equal his pay. He was overpaid last year. He’s not this year. He may be underpaid next year. Get the fuck over it. It’s just sad to see that the blog has moved so far into negative mode that you get a gif of a bad goal after a 3rd period comeback win, 3 wins in a row, Kyle, are you angling to be the next Eskin? You really want to go down that route? How long till you send flowers to Julie Dorenbos?
For real…First time we’ve won 3 in a row all season, first real decisive win in awhile (despite the two lousy quick goals in the 2nd), and the first glimmer, however small it might be, of hope for this team in awhile….And the only thing we get is bitching about Bryzgalov….I get not wanting to jump on the gun and say we’re going to suddenly make a playoff run, but cmon man…Enough with the negative crap.
You missed pitching guru, Big Boobs, on TV telling us “Doc’s mechanics were good”. How in God’s name does he know. JACKASS! S T F U, T Mack
I really don’t see the big deal with the Bryz duck. You don’t really expect to get hit in the head and no goalie tries to block a shot from the mid-wallwith their head. If they get hit in the head it was an accident and usually they’re a bit stunned too afterward. I totally am okay with Bryz ducking that one and not risking a concussion if it means Mason starts for a period of time. It’s not like he dove out of the way, he still got his hands up to try and stop it, but I’m sure as hell not trying to stop an NHL slapshot from the mid-wall with my fucking head. The helmets aren’t THAT thick and protective. I don’t think there’s another goalie in the league who would blame Bryz for that or not do what he did. They duck shots all the time.
see roman cechmanek
“On Sunday, Lundqvist was dazed from a slap shot off the mask by Capitals forward Mike Ribeiro in a 3-2 home shootout loss to Washington. Then on Tuesday night, after Lundqvist headbutted a first-period slap shot by Flyers forward Brayden Schenn but still made 32 saves in a 5-2 win in Philadelphia, the goaltender volunteered this information: “I didn’t feel great … The last two days, I have been feeling a little off.”
Two times just this year and just with one goalie where he inadvertently got hit in the head AND seemed concussed, though players almost never will go out and say they have them, they’ll just keep playing and risk their lives like idiots. Bryz is a $5mil cap hit, and we literally have no capable backup. I don’t want him risking that while we’re playing for the playoffs, and see that huge cap hit be wasted space while injured and not have a goalie who can play in his absence.
Does anyone else realize that he does this all the time? He’s kinda tall to begin with so he always ducks on the ones flying high and wide to avoid crazy deflections and awkward rebound. Not saying that he shouldnt have had it. But he lieterally does that onec or twice a game to avoid those.
That was a heckuva redirection by Brayden Schenn on that shot. But I don’t see that Schenn was credited with the goal, they gave it to David Desharnais. Desharnais should of just had an assist on it. Christ, they didn’t even give Schenn an assist. Crazy.
Had Schenn not redirected it, that would have been a normal stick save by Bryz. Thank god Schenn was there to make sure it was a goal.
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