So About That Defense

Throughout the league, the Phillies are considered one of the best fielding teams in baseball. They typically catch the ball and rarely make any errors. That was key to their World Fucking Champion 2008 campaign, and that trend has continued; the Phillies entered last night with the fewest errors in the majors (5).



So, what do the Phillies do against the best pitcher in baseball? They make their lives even tougher, committing 3 freakin errors. It's tough enough to beat Johan Santana, the margin for error is already razor-thin, so the Phils go out and forget how to field for a night, giving up an unearned run in a 1-0 loss.

Pathetic. It's one thing to lose to Santana, after all, the guy has been nearly unhittable, but to waste a rare, rare excellent game by Chan Ho Park (who was awesome last night, by the way), is really a shame. Something tells me the Phils aren't getting too many more of those performances from Park.

Still, it's hard to blame the loss solely on the defense, seeing as the Phillies didn't hit the ball at all. Those things tend to happen when going up against 2-time Cy Young winners. Three hits ain't gonna cut it though, especially when Johan left after 7. I expect the Phillies to plaster Pedro Feliciano every time out. Last night, they didn't.



It always sucks losing to Mets, especially when the pitching staff combines to give up just two freakin hits. I hate the Mets so very much.

And to top things off, fucking PIttsburgh won in overtime too. I despise that city.



I have to admit though, just like the majority of Stanley Cup playoff games I've watched, that game last night was awesome. A minute in, bam, Ovechkin scores on a gift of an odd bounce off the boards. The Penguins tie it, then Evgeni Malkin, who has been lambasted in the first two games for being invisible, scores with just 5 minutes left in the game to give PIttsburgh a 2-1 lead.

Malkin seemed to be a man on a mission last night, standing out head and shoulders above both Crosby and Ovechkin. He was a wizard with the puck, routinely making the Capitals look like fools, and he easily could have had much more than one goal.



The only reason he didn't was the brilliant play, yet again, from Simeon Varlamov. This kid is just filthy. Kind of makes me wish I would have ventured out to Hershey to see him play earlier this year. After the first 10 minutes or so of the game, it was all Pittsburgh, but the Pens couldn't pull away because Varlamov was playing incredible.



Thanks to the young netminder, the Caps still had a chance, even after Malkin's goal, when Pittsburgh was called for a penalty with 2:28 remaining. And of course, the Caps scored, forcing overtime, as Nicklas Backstrom banked the puck of Fleury and in. Overtime yet again in these playoffs.

Unfortunately, Kris Letang scored 11:23 in on shot from the blue line that went off a Capitals defender and past Varlamov, who never even saw it. Awesome game, terrible outcome.



But as I keep on saying, these NHL playoffs are really awesome and should be on everyone's radar. Especially when the Celtics are blowing out the Magic in yet another boring NBA game. Unfortunately, I didn't make it through the Rockets-Lakers game, falling asleep at halftime with the score 57-57, but apparently the Lakers won 111-98. Wish i wasn't so damn old and could have stayed up to see it.