Orange and Black turning Black and Blue

On the Flyers website, Paul Holmgren updated all the injury news regarding the first-place Flyers. It is quite the laundry list.

Jofferey Lupul - has an abdominal pull and will likely be out at least 2 weeks. He has been placed on injured reserve. The injury to Lupul is huge because the Hartnell-Carter-Lupul line had developed such great chemistry.

Simon Gagne - still day-to-day with a shoulder injury. He might be able to play tomorrow.

Arron Asham - still day-to-day and may be available tomorrow or Thursday night.

Darroll Powe - may have a severe hip issue, but they are only listing him as day-to-day for the time being. He's likely out tomorrow.

Claude Giroux - has a mild concussion and is listed as day-to-day. Because he is one of the Flyers top prospects, I would not expect him to be rushed back anytime soon. Also, I hope someone puts Corey Perry's face into the glass.

Josh Gratton - has a stomach issue and is listed as day-to-day. They're hopeful he can play tomorrow. Gratton has played well as of late, even scoring his first goal with the Flyers recently.

Jon Kalinski - he's out a least a couple of weeks. He's currently in the hospital after a surgery procedure done because of a contusion on his thigh.

Daniel Briere - Briere feels that he is still a week or two away from game action.

If you can't count, the Flyers currently have 8 forwards injured. Put it this way, you dress 12 forwards.

Also, the injury bug doesn't stop there. Antero Niittymaki is also injured and will likely be out 7 to 10 days with a lower body injury.

Don't forget defenseman Ryan Parent too who is currently conditioning and will likely remain with the Philadelphia Phantoms this season. Forward Andreas Nodl and goaltender Scott Munroe were called up to the Flyers.

Continuing reading...

To Make Bad News Worse...

Well Birds fans, if you are still swallowing the pill of realizing the Eagles have dug a deep grave, this news will not help it any more. You already know that with a tie to a poor Bengals team has kept the Eagles in the basement of the NFC East and no where near a playoff seed, that your quarterback and coach are completely clueless, and that your playoff hopes won't get any better this Sunday in Baltimore.

Well it gets worse. Brian Westbrook is 50-50 for this Sunday's game, said ComcastSportsNet.com. Not only has he been struggling with injuries and health, but he has also struggled against good teams. And when he isn't playing to his full potential, neither is the rest of the team.

Comcast:

“He has a sore ankle and a little bit of swelling in his knee and inflammation in both,” coach Andy Reid said. “It is gradually coming down. We’ll see how he does here over the next couple days.”

We will thankfully get to see more of Correll Buckhalter, who has not been used at all the past 2 weeks. He had an unbelievable catch for over 40 yards versus Cincinnati and then got 2 carries. He is a good back up and there is no reason to not use him.

At least our bozo coach realized that:

“Correll will have an opportunity to play,” Reid said. “We probably could have played him more last week and probably should have. That’s my responsibility, and he’ll get a few more opportunities this week.”

Continuing reading...

Utley to have hip surgery next week

Philadelphia Phillies reported:

Well it's the off season and there is nothing to fear with this surgery. Chase will have right hip surgery that could hinder his availability for Opening Day versus Atlanta but that is all. Also on another note, Pedro Feliz will have surgery on his lower back today and should be ready for Opening Day. Utley's is scheduled for next week.

The Silver Slugger 2nd baseman had hip troubles all season, causing his numbers to fall of drastically towards the end of the year. His 2nd half batting average was still a .292 but his power numbers dropped drastically. He hit 53 extra base hits with 25 homers in the first half but only had 25 more in the final 65 games, 8 of those being homers.

Utley still had a good year, which earned him his 3rd Silver Slugger award, but his numbers could have been a lot better if he was healthy. He would have contended for the MVP as well. Heck, Howard's monstrous RBI total could have been higher too.

Phillies web site said:

Team physician Michael Ciccotti at the Rothman Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Dr. Bryan Kelly at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York both recommended surgery. The recovery will allow for the initiation of baseball activities after three to four months, though the total recovery time may be four to six months.

Continuing reading...

Injury Update:

There is not much information to be found on the Eagles two biggest injured players right now (besides Kevin Curtis).

Shawn Andrews (back) had an MRI Tuesday and did not practice Wednesday, the Eagles team site reported. He is listed as Questionable.

Reggie Brown (hamstring) should be available Sunday versus Pittsburgh. He was a full participant in practice the site said and he is also listed as Questionable.

Other injuries:
DE Victor Abiamiri - Wrist - OUT
FB Tony Hunt - Hamstring - No Participation
LDT Trevor Laws - Quadriceps - No Participation
C/G Jamaal Jackson - Excused/personal reasons - No Participation
RDT Dan Klecko - Hand - Limited Participation
S Sean Considine - Hand - Full Participation
LB Tank Daniels - Wrist - Full Participation

Continuing reading...