Battle of the Beltway – Camden Yards vs. Nats Park

The past two days, I have the pleasure of seeing the Orioles and Nationals play each other in both ballparks. Although I haven’t been to an extensive amount of major league stadiums in my life, I have frequented these two over the past couple of years. Let’s take a look at which one offers the best baseball experience and overall fan atmosphere.

Nationals Park

First Thoughts: Nats Park - When heading down to DC for a Nats game, it is about a 40-50 minute metro ride to the Navy Yard stop where the ballpark is. After you exit the stop that leaves you outside the ballpark, you are greeted with a large tailgate party area, vendors selling food and water (that you can actually bring in!) and that is about it. There isn’t much to do around the Nats ballpark other than check out what the party area offers. The area is called “The Bullpen” (how clever) and although I have never actually been in there, it looks like a cool spot to take in a few beverages before first pitch and after the final out.

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Camden Yards - After trekking on I-70 and a little bit of I-95, the entry into the city of Baltimore is really unique. You drive right around the Ravens Stadium and pretty much right into downtown Baltimore. While driving may be a bit more hectic than the metro, I believe that the scenery that B-More offers on the drive in is something that adds to the experience. After parking in a garage a few blocks away and heading towards the ballpark, there is a sea of orange and black at the bars across the street from OPACY that fans gather in before and after games. Pickles Pub & Slides offer a cool experience to drink with your fellow O’s fan while consuming some drinks and perhaps some beer battered pickles (my favorite!) Verdict - While the outdoor party area in DC seems more spaced out than the bars outside of Oriole Park and they let you bring in water, the whole ambiance of being right in downtown Baltimore is a cooler experience for me. I am going to give the opening salve to Camden Yards.

Eutaw Street at OPACY

Unique Stadium Features: Camden Yards - Right out of the gates, I am going to come out and say the concourse at OPACY is much spacier than that of Nats Park. I don’t really think it has to do anything with the amount of fans, but there is just more walking area. Moving on…Eutaw Street is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Maybe it is because I am a sports nerd, but it is just an awesome sight when the stadium is packed with fans. Obviously you have the historical warehouse in right field and plaques on the sidewalk that have names on it of players that have hit homers there. They also recently added a center field bar area to the stadium. Nats Park - The scoreboard walk area is what I found to be the most unique at Nats Park. Behing their enormous scoreboard, there are some great places to get food and a cool couch area to sit in if you would like to take a load off and eat your dinner. You can also check out a cool bar/restaurant area known as the Red Porch. There is a full service restaurant and bar on the bottom floor and a pretty awesome view of the game from center field as well.

The Red Porch at Nats Park

Verdict - While it seems like this one is a bit of a stalemate, I am going to give this one to Camden Yards. Eutaw Street is just one of those really unique aspects of a ballpark that is tough to top. I’ll give it to Nats Park on this one though, it was a tough choice.

Food: Nats Park - As I mentioned in the previous section, Nats Park has the scoreboard walk area that offers a lot of really good food items. There’s the Shake Shack, El Verano Taquiera and Blue Smoke BBQ – all have great tasting food on the menu. On Tuesday night, I consumed a double shake shack burger with their shack sauce, which added some zest to the burger. While my body might hate me for it, the burger was really good. I had the steak tacos at El Verano last year  at a game and they were small but extremely delicious. Next time, I am heading to Blue Smoke BBQ. Nats Park offers a cool Taste of the Majors stand as well. When other teams are in town, they offer a food item from that city. They have a stand, Ben’s Chili Bowl, that sells some awesome eats, including chili dogs, chili tots and chili fries. Camden Yards - I honestly haven’t really tried any super unique items at an Orioles game when it came to food, but maybe I haven’t looked hard enough. They have some good choices when it comes to their concourse items, including crab cakes. Located under the green tent behind the center field bleachers on Eutaw Street is Boog’s BBQ. During many Orioles home games, Boog Powell, the former All-Star first baseman, can be found signing autographs and serving up some of Maryland’s finest barbecue beef, pork, and turkey. Boog’s BBQ is also served in the All-Star Café on the Oriole Park Club Level. They have a couple of pubs in the stadium, which is cool but a little overpriced for my tastes. Verdict - I am going to give this one to Nats Park. Their scoreboard walk food options are better in my book and their stadium hot dogs are Hebrew National, which are my favorite.

The Seats: Camden Yards - The seating bowl area at Camden Yards is really nice. It is different than a lot of stadiums I have been in and just looks very state of the art. The left field seats are really close to the field, which is completely different from Nats Park. It almost feels like you are only five feet from the field. The club level in OPACY is also nice. They have plenty of trophies and gold glove awards from year’s past to check out as well. The suites are really nice, but so are most. The closer you get to the field, the better the seats get. I sat in section 46 this week, which is a level up from the field and the seats were padded! Nats Park - The seating bowl area at Nats Park really isn’t that exciting. It bares a striking resemblance to Citizens Bank Park with the layout and there really isn’t much about it that screams “new” even though the ballpark is one of the newest in MLB. They have a really sweet deal on Tuesday night’s for $5 tickets, which I took full advantage of, but both stadiums have their respective ticket deals. Verdict - This one definitely goes to Camden Yards. The ballpark is much older than Nats Park, but has a newer feel to it. Nats Park just comes off kind of uniform when it comes to a ballpark, and it doesn’t really offer much in the aspect of state of the art. It is very basic in my opinion.

Apter Thoughts - Although food is a big part of the ballpark experience, Camden Yards is just a better overall atmosphere for a game. I do like the Nats Park PA Announcer better than the O’s but unfortunately, that didn’t make a difference. If you are looking to go to a game at either one of the two, I suggest going to Camden Yards for the downtown city feel, a cool ballpark experience and perhaps a crabcake, if you like that kinda stuff.

Thanks for reading!

The Friday Four – Brown Stays Hot; Flyers Struggle

Dom Brown is hitting .426 with three homers this spring with the Phillies

1. Phillies Brown & Howard keep spring bats hot

Despite the Phillies subpar 6-7 record this spring, fans are keeping their eyes on the Phils offense. First baseman Ryan Howard and outfielder Dom Brown have been drawing a lot of attention this spring, and it is deserved. Brown has adjusted his stance and seems more comfortable at the plate while Ryan Howard is coming back strong after a season that was shortened by his Achilles injury in 2012.

Let’s talk quickly about Brown first. If you have watched or listened to any Phillies coverage this season, the thing surrounding Dom is his confidence and his approach. He changed his hand position on the bat and it seems to be working out well for him. When interviewed in late February, Brown stated he is just trying to simplify.

 “I’m just keeping it simple. Just going up there and making sure my approach is good. I’m seeing the ball well and trying to swing at strikes. I wouldn’t say I’ve changed approach, just fine tuning. That’s it. … I making sure I’m going out there and working hard and not putting pressure on myself and having fun and doing it because I want to do it like Chuck always says. I’m out there because I want to do it, not because they’re forcing me to do it.”

He talked about his success this spring thus far with Phillies beat reporter, Todd Zolecki yesterday as well.

“It’s definitely a confidence booster,” Brown said. “The thing about it is, with the hitting coaches we have, they don’t let you take an at-bat off. If I do something during an at-bat, they’re saying something to me when I get back to the dugout, even if I get a hit on the next pitch. That keeps me focused.”

Let’s move on to Ryan Howard, who many consider to still be a contractual nightmare. I don’t completely disagree, but if he fully recovers, there is no reason we shouldn’t see 30-40 homers and 100+ RBI this year. Through 12 games this spring, Howard is hitting .364 with three homers and 11 RBI. After playing 14 straight games, Howard got the day off today. In a CSNPhilly.com article by Jim Salisbury, Charlie Manuel planned for Howard to play this much.

“If you’re going to play 162 games, you’ve got to get in shape to play 300,” Manuel said.

Manuel, of course, was kidding about playing Howard in 162 games. He’ll get days off during the season. But Manuel is serious about having Howard come into the season ready to go, especially after the slugging first baseman missed all of spring training and half of the regular season last year as he recovered from a torn left Achilles tendon.

“I felt like we had to get him in shape,” Manuel said. “He’s getting to where we want him. Hard work never hurt nobody. He’ll be in shape. I’ll monitor him and he’ll get his time off.”

2. Flyers fall to Rangers and Pens this week

After finally reaching the .500 mark, the Flyers entered a tough stretch, two games that have been played already. On Tuesday night, they got beaten by the Rangers, and last night they blew a 4-1 lead over the Pens and lost 5-4. The best way to describe the Flyers this year would have to be disappointing yet still undefined. With 23 points, they are sitting at 11th place in the Eastern Conference with 23 games left to play. The biggest hole in the team at this point seems to be defense. They are older with Timonen and Grossman and lack the experience with their young guys in Gustafsson, Gervais and others. The defensive breakdowns and lack of offensive consistency (with the exception of Voracek and Simmonds). Chris Pronger spoke to the media for the first time since late 2011 and shed his light on the defense.

“I would say they’re like the rest of the team,” Pronger said. “We’re just a little inconsistent right now with mistakes. It’s not always the same guy making the mistakes. I think we need to just make the game simple.

Voracek leads the team with 29 points (12 goals, 17 assists), while Giroux and Simmonds follow with 24 and 19 respectively. Goaltending has also been an issue this year. Although Bryz has looked a little better than last year, he has still looked very out of place on plenty of goals. In yesterday’s game against the Penguins, coach Laviolette kept things pretty basic when it came to explaining the first-to-second period change.

“The second period was not a good period,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “It was the opposite of the first period. In the first period, we were skating, we were physical, we put the puck behind them and looked to establish our game. And in the second period, they picked up their game, we stopped working. The second period went to them.”

Zac Rinaldo, in a recent CSNPhilly column, said that the team is not worried about where they are right now. Are you?

3. Sixers continue season downfall

I am not one to root for my teams to fail to get a draft pick, but with how ugly the Sixers (23-37) are playing right now, I really see nothing to gain by winning. The season is a huge disappointment, with the Bynum saga and and another “eh” year from draft bust Evan Turner. John Gonzalez of CSNPhilly wrote his thoughts on whether or not the Sixers should tank for the lottery. Find that article here. Doug Collins spoke about the team and winning in the column.

“To play every game to win,” Collins said without hesitation. “We’ve still got younger guys that we’re trying to develop and grow. And we want to win. We’re going to play to win every single game and keep the spirits high. … Keep guys positive, keep them competing, keep them having fun. You know, I want them to have fun playing and not make it look like they’re playing out the string. I’ve never been in that situation before. You’re sort of asking someone who’s foreign to that. I’ve never done that. From our standpoint, we’re going to try to play hard every single night and compete.”

The lone bright spots this season are obvious in Jrue Holiday and Thad Young. Heading into tonight’s game against Miami - yikes - Jrue is average 19 points and 8.6 assists per game while Thad is averaging 14.7 points and 7.7 rebounds. What is lacking in the Sixers game? A big man. Thad Young and Evan Turner both average more boards than Spencer Hawes, who has been defined as nothing less than a soft defender. The strength of this team last year was the bench. Sure, Nick Young pretty much replaced Lou Williams, but Lou brought an attitude to the game and team that seems to be missing. The loss of Jason Richardson doesn’t help either, but his days were numbered as is.

Where should this franchise go from here? Other than regretting this Bynum trainwreck, I think it is time to cut the losses and restructure. Thad and Jrue are the keys to this team, but I wouldn’t want Bynum re-signed and I wouldn’t mind seeing Evan Turner traded while he is still worth something. In three words, I’ve given up. If you need another reason – here you go - During the final stretch of the season, they must play Miami, the L.A. Clippers, Denver, Utah, Atlanta again, Miami again, Brooklyn and Indiana….and most are on the road. My final record prediction? 28-54.

4. Eagles bits and pieces

Reuben Frank analyzes the five best and worst free agent signings for the Eagles here. Among the worse are Nnamdi and Vince Young while Jon Runyan and Troy Vincent make the best.

If you haven’t heard, Freddie “Fred Ex” Mitchell, best known for his 4th and 26 catch, faces up to 10 years in prison for being a part of a tax fraud scheme. More details on that here.

Another Eagles front office member is heading to join Reid with the Cheifs. Top scout Brett Veach is headed to KC. This is quite unfortunate, especially with the draft upcoming. Veach talked about his new opporunity on CSNPhilly.com.

“Basically, an opportunity presented itself in Kansas City to be a part of Coach Reid’s staff again and [general manager] John Dorsey staff, and it was an opportunity I was excited about,” Veach, a native of Mount Carmel, Pa., and former University of Delaware standout, told CSNPhilly.com.

Veach said he left on great terms with the Eagles, calling his time there “six unbelieveable years” of learning under general manager Howie Roseman, former player personnel chief Ryan Grigson (now the Colts’ general manager) and director of college scouting Anthony Patch.

“Those guys taught me everything I know to this point,” Veach said. “You’re talking about three really sharp minds that I learned from every day.”

Upcoming schedule - This weekend the Sixers face the Heat tonight at 8PM and then head to Orlando for a 6PM match-up on Sunday. The Flyers will try to rebound from two straight losses as they travel to Boston for a 1PM matchup against the Bruins. They quickly head home afterwards for a Sunday night match-up against the Sabres at 7:30PM.

Thanks for reading

-BA

Turnbuckle Talk – Old School Raw Thoughts

When I heard about Old School Raw, I was really excited. Although the night was still mainly focused on setting a tone for Wrestlemania, I was eager to see what was in store. As a guy who watched wrestling back in the early to mid 90′s, guys like Duggan, Ted Dibiase and others were a large part of my generation. When I tuned in, I expected a lot and was disappointed. Things started off well, with the Undertaker, who still has it at 50 years old, making an entrance to start the Wrestlemania hype with his streak at the big event. When he lifted his hands and the Wrestlemania logo appeared, it kind of set a standard for the rest of the show. That was followed by the old school Raw theme song, that immediately brought me back to my childhood.

While it was cool to see the announcers, including Jerry “The King”, dressed as the commentators used to, it wasn’t really one of those things that I noticed right away. The show began with an angle involving who would eventually square off against “Taker” at Mania. While I understand building up the angle is necessary in any TV show drama, this wasn’t even mildly entertaining in my eyes. Bad script and even worse acting by CM Punk, The Big Show and others. Like I said, I get that each of the guys had to say “why” they deserve to face Undertaker, but in the old school days a 15-20 minute period of time spent just “talking” never really happened. Let’s get to the legends, the main reason I watched this whole thing.

I have a picture of me with the Honky Tonk Man from back in the day and seeing him smash the guitar over Slater’s head made me smile as well as Dibiase doing his thing. Seeing Ric Flair was cool, but I feel like he wasn’t used quite as well as he could have been. The best part, if you ask me, was seeing the match that involved Billy Gunn and Road Dogg. It had a very old school ambiance to it and it was that feeling that I was waiting for the entire show. The most disappointing part of all of this is no matter how popular Flair was or how good the Billy Gunn match was, the whole match involving Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter and the American Dream, Dusty Rhodes was absolute crap. The entire crowd always gets into Duggan, chanting U-S-A and yelling HOOOO, but the WWE disappointed. After about a minute of wrestling, Duggan’s opponent grabbed his 2 x 4 board and jabbed him in the chest. After that, Slaughter and Rhodes tried to intervene, but they just took “hits” by Hacksaws board and fell to the mat with no fight in them. If you ask me, that was an insulting way to bring back those legends. Sure, they are old, but I am pretty sure everyone in attendance would’ve like to have seen Hacksaw triumph with a victory, right tough guys? A night like this was to see them take the new age of the WWE and put an old school feel to it and that whole match just left a sour taste in my mouth. I get they are older, but seeing them be more physical would’ve been more cool. Maybe I just expected too much, oh well.

All in all, I think I would’ve been better served playing some PS3 rather than waiting for three hours to see mediocrity. Maybe one day, wrestling will get as intense and nerve-wracking as it once was for me, but it definitely doesn’t seem to be going in that direction. Wrestling is sports entertainment, but it is heading more towards where Nascar is in the scheme of things….just entertainment. Nascar is watched for wrecks, which seem to happen every now and then while the WWE is watched for wrestling, which now also seems to happen every now and then.

Like someone told me about the show last night, it was an “abortion”. Agreed.

Flyers & Sixers Struggle, Phils Sign Another Young

This past week or so in Philly sports was supposed to be good when the Flyers returned to the ice after the lockout. Little did we know, three games in, their offense cannot score and their special teams is hard to watch. The Sixers continue their downward spiral in the Eastern Conference to a place Andrew Bynum may not even be able to help them out of when/if he comes back. The Phillies, on the other hand, made a signing that has gotten mixed reviews from fans.

When the Flyers hit the ice against the Penguins, chills ran up my spine and a big smile was on my face. Even after the loss to them and even Buffalo, I was extremely excited that hockey was back. After the loss to New Jersey, the defenses lapses and special teams play is no longer cute. Their 6.7% power play success rate is horrendous and their 62.5% penalty-kill numbers are far from where they need to be. Through three games, they have just one goal on the powerplay and have given up 3.7 goals per game, which can be blamed primarily on a defensive unit that leaves a confident-looking Ilya Bryzgalov looking baffled. Brayden Schenn just got suspended for a game after he left his feet on a charging hit against NJ. Scott Hartnell is out indefinitely (so is the Sixers Andrew Bynum) and Danny Briere is still out of the lineup. This team misses Jagr and Matt Carle. Giroux has looked solid in the first few games as has Wayne Simmonds, even though the numbers don’t show it. Hopefully the loss of Hartnell can spark a flame in this team to step up, because otherwise they may be heading down a road the Sixers currently find themselves on right now.

Winners of just three games since 2013 began, the Sixers are struggling to get started in games. Since winning two out of three at the beginning of December with a record of 12-9, the Sixers went from have gone 5-14. The lone bright spots on this team are Jrue Holiday, of course, and Thaddeus Young. Holiday is having a great season, averaging 19 points per game and nine assists. Thad Young is averaging 14.9ppg and 7.3rpg in his sixth season. The lack of success in the first quarter has crippled this team beyond belief. Their bench that was so strong last season lacks the consistency it needs. After a 110-102 loss at the hand of the Bucks last night, they have slipped to 27th overall in the NBA in scoring (93.2) and 22nd overall in rebounds (41.2). This year was supposed to be a big one for Evan Turner and I think we all expected to see Andrew Bynum back on the court by now. As this team stumbles towards the All-Star break in February, they have to start games better and come out of halftime stronger. They are 26th and 27th in the league respectively when it comes to first & second quarter points. If they don’t start better then they will not be able to keep coming back from large deficit’s.

The Phillies made a move to add a ninth outfielder to their already crowded outfielder by signing ALCS MVP Delmon Young to a one year contract worth $750,000. The contract could reach as much as $3,25 million, including a $600,000 incentive for keeping weight down. While mixed reactions have filled the fan base, I am alright with this move. Young brings a right-handed power bat to the lineup, but his defense is largely in question because of his weight and the fact that he hasn’t played right field in six years. It is a low-risk, high-reward signing. At the age of 27 years old, the former first round pick has had off-field issues.

““Delmon is an experienced major league bat who will add some depth to our relatively inexperienced outfield and another layer of competition for playing time there as well,” general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said in a statement.

Amaro has indicated the Phils will go into Spring Training with Young as their primary right fielder. What does this mean for Dom Brown? Darin Ruf? Laynce Nix? John Mayberry? Only time will tell, but I can see Ruf starting the season in Triple-A and with a Mayberry/Nix/Brown platoon in left field. If Ruf impresses in Spring Training, he could get the nod to start the season. With nine OFers on their 40-man, the Phils have plenty of options going into camp. The question lies what their lineup will be turn out to be when they open their season on April 1st against BJ Upton and the Atlanta Braves.

A Chip off the Ol’ Block

After the firing of Andy Reid, the Eagles interviewed candidate after candidate and it seems they have found their guy. Only about a two weeks after deciding to stay at Oregon, Chip Kelly changed his mind and has accepted the position as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. While it looks like their are mixed thoughts about this hiring from the fans, there is plenty to take into consideration. I don’t follow too much college football, but Chip Kelly has done impressive things with the Ducks program and will bring his high-powered offensive scheme to Broad Street, hoping to bring the Eagles back from a dismal 4-12 season. Let’s address a few things that are on the minds of fans.

Why Chip Kelly and not Gus Bradley? - After Kelly decided to stay at Oregon, it looked like the birds were eyeing Gus Bradley as their next coach. The Seattle defensive coordinator met with the Eagles twice, but never reached an agreement even though sources said the sides were close. The Eagles front office has always seemed to pride themselves on offense. With guys like Jackson, McCoy and even Vick, the Eagles have the chance to put up points, but just couldn’t execute well enough to be effective. Going with an offensive coach is a good idea, because the offense needs plenty of work, especially in the red zone. Bradley would have brought new light to an also struggling defense, but I think Kelly’s coaching attitude will bode well with whoever the Eagles remain with in the secondary.

What is the quarterback situation? - Mike Vick seemed on his way out, but with the hiring of Kelly, the chances of Vick returning seem more likely. His speed fits more into Kelly’s system than Foles and well, he is still under contract. Nick Foles showed signs of promise this past season, but will that not matter with Kelly being hired? It is tough to say. After Foles was set to graduate from Arizona, Kelly praised the youngster. ““I’ll tell you what; I’m glad Nick Foles is graduating,” Chip Kelly said in September 2011. “I catch myself watching him in awe sometimes. … Nick is a hell of a football player. That kid’s a warrior. He’s as good as anyone in the country.” (CBS Sports) While Vick could fit into his spread offense more, Foles could be the guy Kelly is planning to work with after all.

Will his spread offense work in the NFL with the Eagles? - Kelly’s Duck teams over the years (45-7) were in the Top 5 in the nation and his offense exhausted college defenses, which led Oregon to a BCS Bowl game each season with Kelly under the helm. While the QB situation could be up in the air, I believe that the rest of the offense could fit very well into his spread. The Eagles have some of the quickest wide receivers in Jackson and Maclin and LeSean McCoy is one of the top running backs in the league. The spread offense is known to wear out defenses because they have to cover more space with the same 11 guys on the field. Kelly has been praised by other coaches, being called a smart guy who adjusts to the personnel he is given. That being said, I think his offensive scheme has the opportunity to do really well in the NFL and with the Eagles, if players are utilized correctly.

I think Kelly’s coaching style will bring new light to a team that has lacked energy and heart. He seems like a hard-nosed coach who could really make this team embrace it’s potential. Over the coming weeks, I expect the Eagles will bring attention to their other coaching positions and what they/Kelly plan to do with the staff that remains. The other big question is what will the birds do with this defense that struggled mightily this past season? Only time will tell, but there sure is plenty more to unfold and it begins tomorrow at 1:30 pm when the Eagles introduce their first new head coach since 1999.

Phillies 2013 Outlook – The Rotation

As we get closer to the day when pitchers and catchers report, the Phillies rotation has plenty to prove in 2013. With the departure of Vance Worley and acquisition of John Lannan, the Phils will need plenty of help at the back of their rotation if then intend to compete for the NL East again this season. Let’s take a look at the rotation in the order I believe it will be when the season begins.

Cole Hamels - Cole signed a lucrative six-year, $144 million contract to stay with the team that drafted him this offseason. The 29-year old lefty has developed into one of the more dominant south paws in the league over the years, and his 17-6 record with a 3.05 ERA proved that he has what it takes to be the ace of this staff. The Phils were winners in nine of  Hamels’ in 2012, when they missed the postseason for the first time since 2006. Cole’s change-up has always been the pitch he centers himself on but the addition of the cut fastball has made his arsenal a bit more impressive. In 2013, hopefully he works on his curve ball to keep hitters off balance even more than he already does. I think King Cole will secure his first 20-win season this year.

Roy Halladay - After elbow issues caused Doc to have one of his worst seasons in his career, the 35-year old workhorse looks to return with vengeance in 2013. His ERA of 4.49 was his first ERA over four since 2004, when he posted a 4.20 with Toronto. That said, I think 2012 was just a year of bad luck. The prior four seasons for Halladay saw him sporting an earned run average in the two’s. His injury from last season is a concern, but he works extremely hard in the offseason to get to where he needs to be. If Hamels doesn’t make the opening day start, look for it to be Doc, who is entering the last year of his three-year, $60 million contract. He does have a $20 million vesting option for 2014. This season, 12-16 wins would be okay for Halladay after a disappointing 2012.

Cliff Lee - Though he seemed to be the Phillies most consistent starter last season, I put Lee in the three spot because I believe Cole has deserved the “ace” role and you have to break up the lefty starters in my opinion. Although Lee was involved in some trade rumors this offseason, keeping the 34-year old lefty was a wise decision. If Halladay doesn’t bounce back from last season, the Phils will rely even more on Lee. His 6-9 record is not at all what it seems. He didn’t secure his first win until July, but he gave up three earned runs or less in 21 of his 30 starts last season, where he sported a 2.83 ERA on the road. Hopefully Cliff gets some more run support from the offense this season, resulting in what could be a 15-18 win season.

Kyle Kendrick - With the departure of Vance Worley, Kendrick looks to be the guy to take over the four spot in the rotation. He has had a love/hate relationship with this city, but has proven time after time that his versatility comes in handy. Being swapped from the rotation to the bullpen a bunch of times couldn’t have been easy. He was 11-12 with a 3.90 ERA last season, which for Kendrick, really isn’t that terrible. He started 25 games and appeared in 12 out of the bullpen. With a rotation spot all but guaranteed, hopefully Kyle can replicate his 2012 season and keep that ERA below four.

John Lannan/Tyler Cloyd - Lannan could go into camp with the five spot, but I believe Tyler Cloyd will be able to prove himself, if not as a starter, as a reliever. Lannan spent most of his time in Triple-A last season with the Syracuse Chiefs, where he went 9-11 with a not so great ERA of 4.30. In the six starts he had for the Nats, he was 4-1 with a 4.13 ERA. He was a main part of their rotation in 2011, when he posted Kendrick-esque numbers with a 10-13 record and an ERA of 3.70. I would find it hard to believe he would be left out of the rotation, but I think Cloyd has an outside chance. After going a combined 15-2 with a 2.26 ERA between Reading and Lehigh Valley, Cloyd made his MLB debut against the Mets on August 29th. Over six starts for the Phils in 2012, Cloyd posted pedestrian numbers with a 2-2 record and a 4.91 ERA. That being said, his stuff isn’t overpowering, but he pries himself on location. If he learn to locate pitches like Jamie Moyer could at his old age, he could find himself in the rotation at some point this season. His minor league success is too good to ignore going into 2013, so look for him to compete for the number five spot or a long-relief role.

Eagles Escape Week 1 With A Win

In what was probably one of the most painful regular season games to watch until the game-winning drive, the Eagles left week one with an ugly 17-16 win over the pesky Browns. Most of the blame on this game was put on that of Michael Vick, and how could you say anything otherwise? Vick threw four interceptions and looked confused on the field, something that won’t be as easy to overcome next week in the home opener against Baltimore.

While we all know Mike Vick had a terrible game, let’s focus on some other aspects first. Were there reasons he threw four picks other than throwing into coverage? Probably not, but having 60 pass plays and 23 run plays over the game didn’t help. Penalties (12 for 110 yards to be exact) brought back strong run after strong run by LeSean McCoy and the Eagles coaching staff must have gotten fed up with it and decided to rely primarily on the pass. It’s baffling with McCoy being one of the premiere backs in the league that he gets such little respect from his own staff. This team is not the Mike Vick show, its LeSean McCoy’s. He has proven time after time that he can be a leader, carry the workload and most importantly, take some of the pressure off of Vick. This is Shady’s team, yet there were three straight series in the third quarter that he did not register a carry. That being said, the offensive line needs to do a better job of protecting Vick and creating space for LeSean to run. King Dunlap looked lost out there on Sunday and many of his blown blocks led to Vick getting hurried or McCoy losing yards. With a dominant Ravens defense to contend with next week, the offense needs to rely on McCoy and Vick to lead this team to a 2-0 start without a shaky O-line or a coaching staff that wants to pass 80% of the time. McCoy ended up with 20 carries and 110 yards after a breakout fourth quarter.

Getting back to Vick, if the Eagles plan to contend in the league, let alone their division he needs to think smarter and play smarter. He was lucky he even got the chance to throw that final touchdown pass to Clay Harbor after nearly throwing his fifth pick of the day. He didn’t read the defense well, he threw into double and triple coverage and didn’t seem to trust his own game. He finished the game with 29 completed passes out of 56 attempts for 317 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions. That was good enough for a 51.0 QB rating. I don’t need to beat a dead horse on this subject, so let’s move on to the good parts.

Move Vick’s QB rating decimal point one space to the left and you will have the rating of rookie Browns quarterback, Brandon Weeden. Yep, 5.1…which, if you want to know is 12-for-35 for just 118 yards and four INT’s.  His crappy day was due in large part to the one bright spot for the Eagles, which was the defense. With the departure of Asante Samuel to Atlanta, Dominique Rodgers-Cronmartie was back to the position he had excelled at, slot corner. He showed great hands on one of Weeden’s four INT’s and picked off two passes on the day. Eagles safety Kurt Coleman also intercepted a pair of passes to contribute to the strong overall defensive effort. All things considered, this was a Browns team that is expected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL, so the defense will have to be even better to get to Joe Flacco. Newly acquired DeMeco Ryans had a strong debut with five tackles while Fletcher Cox and Jason Babin registered a sack a piece on Sunday. Oh, and they also held Browns power running back to just 39 yards on 19 carries.

The Eagles and Ravens kickoff at 1 p.m. on the 16th. The Ravens disposed of the Bengals easily on Monday Night Football, 44-13. Joe Flacco went 21-for-29 for 299 yards and two touchdowns, good for a QB rating of 128.4, which is 77.4 higher than that of Mike Vick’s week one rating.

Punter Henry has record-setting day – In the offseason, the Eagles brought in veteran punter Mat McBriar, who was sure to win the job over Chas Henery after ranking close to last among punters last season. After a preseason that saw Henry drop eight of his 12 punts inside the opponents 12-yard line, the Eagles decided to stick with him and it was a good choice. On Sunday against the Browns, Henry set a franchise record for highest gross punt average in a game with a 55 yard average. Last year, Henry punted 66 times and hit one 60-yarder. On Sunday, he punted six times and hit three 60-yarders. Along with a 54-yarder, a 52-yarder and a 41-yarder inside the 20.

Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports