So there was supposed to be a Phillies game tonight, but the weather in Colorado acted like the weather in Colorado does nine months out of the year, so the game was postponed. Instead, the Phillies and Rockies will take part in a day/night doubleheader tomorrow. Jamie Moyer (4-2, 4.38 ERA) will go in the afternoon game against Jason Hammel (0-2, 9.16 ERA), while the Roy Halladay/Aaron Cook matchup has been pushed back until tomorrow night. Considering the Phillies are 13-3 against the Rockies since they were swept out of the 2007 playoffs, I think there's a good chance the Phils take at least one of the games tomorrow.
However, when the Phillies do play tomorrow, there's a good chance that they won't have Brad Lidge available. Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com is reporting that Lidge was held out of Monday's game and would not have been available tonight due to stiffness in his surgically repaired elbow. Lidge has only pitched in a handful of games this season, and picked up his first save of the year Sunday against the Braves. Hopefully, this is nothing major, but if Lidge does have to go back on the disabled list, it's going to be a major blow for the Phillies. Ryan Madson is already out for two months because he kicked a chair, leaving very few pitchers with closing experience on the team. Jose Contreras has never been a closer, and Danys Baez seems too inconsistent so far this year. I hope it's only a speed bump on the way back from surgery, like Lidge seems to think it is, but you can never be sure with these elbow issues.
Might as well get all the Phillies related news out of the way first. For those Toronto Blue Jays fans getting ready to enjoy seeing Roy Halladay again, Bud Selig and the G20 Summit just decided to rain on your parade. Thanks to the added security pressures that Toronto is going to have to deal with in hosting the G20 Summit, the Blue Jays/Phillies series that was scheduled to be in Toronto is now going to take place in Philadelphia. The Phillies will still be considered the "road" team, and the DH is going to be used, but this is crazy, even for me. Why couldn't Bud Selig have found a neutral site for these games to take place. Sure, I'll take having three extra games in Philadelphia, and I'm sure the Phillies will, too. Rather than have to travel up to Toronto now at the end of June, the Phils will instead get a nice nine game homestand at the end of the first half of the season. It's great news for the Phillies, but bad news for Blue Jays fans and the Mets in general. I can't wait to hear what Mets fans have to say about that.
Speaking of whining fans, the Boston Bruins will have one less player to worry about for the rest of their series against the Philadelphia Flyers. Brian Boucher was confirmed to have a sprained MCL and is out for at least a month, meaning that his season is over. It's going to be up to Michael Leighton now to carry the Flyers into a Game 7 showdown with the Bruins. Leighton can do it. He played very well during the regular season and was one of the reasons that the Flyers even made it into the playoffs, but this is a different animal now. The Flyers can't lose another game, or their season is over, and Boston fans that just remembered that they even have a hockey team will get to celebrate. I don't want to see that happen, especially not in Philadelphia. To have the Flyers even force a Game 7 would be a thing of beauty, and something that I, and every other Flyers fan, is hoping for. While Claude Giroux is still questionable at this point for playing tomorrow night, I don't think there's any way he's going to not be on the ice for Game 6. He has nine points in ten games so far in the playoffs, and the Flyers need him out there. Unless you can't walk or risk ending your career, I expect all hands on deck tomorrow night for the biggest game of the season.
One last story for the night, because it appears as if the Washington Redskins are trying to assemble the 2009 Philadelphia Eagles, at least on offense. According to CSNPhilly.com through ESPN, Brian Westbrook is expected to visit with the Redskins tomorrow. Now, you all know that the Redskins already acquired Donovan McNabb from the Eagles in early April, but they've also picked up Larry Johnson and Willie Parker so far this offseason to go along with Clinton Portis. Do they really think having four running backs on their last legs is going to give them one running back that can do well? I don't think it's such a good idea, but there's no guarantee that Westbrook is even going to sign with the Redskins. I think this might just be more of a favor to McNabb, because he asked to see if the Redskins would give Westbrook a look. I don't know what's going to happen with this, but the idea of McNabb and Westbrook coming back to Philadelphia next season as members of the Washington Redskins just made me die a little inside. I'm sorry, it's true.
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