Bob Vetrone Jr.
Sure, a 7-0 thrashing of any NHL team would give a hockey fan cause for celebration, but if recent history is any indication, Flyers fans will be coming back to earth shortly.
The last seven times that the Flyers scored seven or more goals in a regular season victory, they have not answered the bell in their next game, going 0-5-2 and scoring just 13 goals, less than two a game.
| FLYERS' RS WIN & SCORE 7+ GOALS | FLYERS' NEXT GAME | |||||
| Date | Opponent | Result | Date | Opponent | Result | |
| 12/30/10 | at Kings | W 7-4 | 12/31/10 | at Ducks | L 2-5 | |
| 4/ 9/11 | Islanders | W 7-4 | 4/14/11 | at Sabres | L 0-1 | |
| 10/18/11 | at Senators | W 7-2 | 10/20/11 | Capitals | L 2-5 | |
| 11/ 5/11 | Blue Jackets | W 9-2 | 11/ 9/11 | at Lightning | L 1-2 (ot) | |
| 2/16/12 | Sabres | W 7-2 | 2/18/12 | Penguins | L 4-6 | |
| 3/29/12 | at Maple Leafs | W 7-1 | 3/31/12 | at Senators | L 3-4 (so) | |
| 1/26/13 | at Panthers | W 7-1 | 1/27/13 | at Lightning | L 1-5 | |
| 2/18/13 | at Islanders | W 7-0 | 2/20/13 | at Penguins | ??? | |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
So, Sunday was Michael Jordan's 50th birthday, so we take this occassion to steal some Jordan nuggets, mostly from ESPN Stats & Info:
♦ As a player, Jordan's teams had a .659 winning percentage. As an executive, his teams have had a .357 winning percentage.
♦ Jordan had five future Hall of Famers as NBA teammates, and another in college. Obviously, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman were long-time Bulls with Jordan. George Gervin (1985-86), Artis Gilmore (1987-88) and Robert Parish (1996-97) each shared a different season in Chicago with Jordan. And he had James Worthy as a Tar Heel teammate as a freshman.
Bob Vetrone Jr.
If the Flyers could shake their early-season slump enough to win at least 14 more times over their final 32 games — and he sticks around for all of them — Peter Laviolette could move into third place on the club's all-time coaching victory list. And that would be impressive, since he is already among the top three on that list for two other NHL clubs, including the New York Islanders, whom the Flyers face Monday afternoon.
Throw in the Carolina Hurricanes, for whom Laviolette has a Stanley Cup ring, and that is a pretty impressive top three threesome.
| FLYERS' COACHING VICTORY LEADERS | |||
| Coach | W | L | OL/T |
| Fred Shero | 308 | 151 | 95 |
| Mike Keenan | 190 | 102 | 28 |
| Pat Quinn | 141 | 73 | 48 |
| Ken Hitchcock | 130 | 77 | 39 |
| Peter Laviolette | 128 | 82 | 27 |
| ISLANDERS' COACHING VICTORY LEADERS | |||
| Coach | W | L | OL/T |
| Al Arbour | 740 | 537 | 223 |
| Terry Simpson | 81 | 82 | 24 |
| Peter Laviolette | 77 | 62 | 25 |
| HURRICANES' COACHING VICTORY LEADERS | |||
| Coach | W | L | OL/T |
| Paul Maurice | 384 | 391 | 129 |
| Peter Laviolette | 167 | 122 | 30 |
| Jack Evans | 163 | 174 | 37 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Monday night in Toronto, Peter Laviolette pulled goalie Ilya Bryzgalov early from a game for the sixth time in the goalie's Flyers career. Thanks to Daily News' Flyers beat writer Frank Seravalli, who points out how well he has responded to those. In his next start (all on the road) following each of those six pulls, Bryz is 5-0-1 with a 2.43 goals-against average and a .904 save percentage (*left with injury; **playoff game):
| BRYZGALOV PULLED EARLY |
BRYZGALOV NEXT START |
|||||||||
| Date | Opp. | Time | G | Sh | Date | Opp. | Time | G | Sh | |
| 11/23/11 | @NYI |
20:00 |
3 |
9 | 12/2/11 | @Ana | 63:29 | 3 |
22 |
|
| 12/10/11* |
TB | 46:45 | 2 | 16 |
12/13/11 |
@Wsh |
59:52 |
1 | 32 | |
| 12/17/11 | Bst | 27:06 | 5 | 20 | 12/19/11 | @Colo | 64:40 | 2 | 27 | |
| 2/18/12 | Pit | 36:57 | 3 | 13 | 2/21/12 | @Wpg | 63:16 | 4 | 26 | |
| 4/18/12** | Pit | 23:07 | 5 | 18 |
4/20/12 | @Pit | 58:33 | 3 | 23 | |
| 2/11/13 | @Tor | 26:15 | 4 | 14 | 2/12/13 | @Wpg | 60:00 | 2 | 26 | |
| Totals | 180:10 | 22 | 90 |
Totals | 369:50 | 15 | 156 | |||
| W-L: 1-3 / GAA: 7.33 / SvPct: .756 |
W-L: 5-0-1 / GAA: 2.43 / SvPct: .904 |
|||||||||
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Michael Vick is back ... and that would be fine if it is the 2010 version that replaced an injured Kevin Kolb in the opener and had a good-enough season to sign a contract seemingly worth — at the time — nine figures.
Or ... will it be the 2011/2012 Vick, who generated 33 turnovers in 23 starts.
Here are how his regular season numbers for the Eagles in 2010 compare to the last two seasons. (We are graciously throwing out the 2009 "Wildcat" season as an aberration):
| 2010 | 2011-12 | |
| QB Starts | 11 | 23 |
| W-L | 8-3 | 10-13 |
| Comp.-Att. | 233-372 | 457-774 |
| Pct. | 62.6% | 59.0% |
| Yards | 3018 | 5565 |
| Yds./Att. | 8.11 | 7.19 |
| Touchdowns | 21 | 30 |
| TD Pct. | 5.6% | 3.9% |
| Interceptions | 6 | 24 |
| Int. Pct. | 1.6% | 3.1% |
| TD/Int. | 3.5/1 | 1.25/1 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 11-3 | 20-9 |
| Total TDs (Run+Pass) | 30 | 32 |
| Total Turnovers | 9 | 33 |
| TOs in Red Zone | 1 | 10 |
| Passer Rating | 100.2 | 81.2 |
| Rushes-Yds. | 100-676 | 138-921 |
| Yds./Att. | 6.8 | 6.7 |
| Rushing TDs | 9 | 2 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
The Flyers head to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs Monday. It will be their first meeting with former teammate James van Riemsdyk, dealt for defensemen Luke Schenn in the offseason.
JVR was one of eight No. 2 picks by Philly teams over the last 40 seasons. (*Van Horn was dealt to the Nets two days after being drafted, but returned to the Sixers in a 2002 trade.)
| PHILLY'S NO. 2 PICKS (Since 1970) | w/Philly | |||||
| Year | Team | Draftee | Pos. | Yrs. | GP | No. 1 |
| 1973 | Phillies | John Stearns | C | 1 | 1 | David Clyde, P, Rangers |
| 1974 | Sixers | Marvin Barnes | F-C | 0 | 0 | Bill Walton, C, Trail Blazers |
| 1993 | Sixers | Shawn Bradley | C | 3 | 143 | Chris Webber, F-C, Magic |
| 1997 | Sixers | Keith Van Horn | F | *1 | 74 | Tim Duncan, F-C, Spurs |
| 1997 | Phillies | J.D. Drew | OF | 0 | 0 | Matt Anderson, P, Tigers |
| 1999 | Eagles | Donovan McNabb | QB | 11 | 148 | Tom Couch, QB, Browns |
| 2007 | Flyers | James van Riemsdyk | LW | 3 | 196 | Patrick Kane, RW, Blackhawks |
| 2010 | Sixers | Evan Turner | G | 3 | 192 | John Wall, G, Wizards |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Although he won’t be getting on base until at least April 28 (due to his 25-game suspension for using Adderall, a banned substance), it’s a pretty good bet that Carlos Ruiz will do so quite frequently once he returns to real games. In the meantime, the Panama native will have to make do with rounding the bases in the Florida sun of the Grapefruit League.
Over the last three seasons, Ruiz has the seventh highest on-base percentage (. 388) among the 162 major league players with at least 1,300 plate appearances.
And only two of the six players above him in OBA (Joey Votto and Miguel Cabrera) have both a higher batting average and a higher slugging percentage than the Phillies’ catcher (. 303 and .454).
| OBP LEADERS 2010-12 (Min.: 1300 PA) | ||||
| Player |
On-Base Pct. |
Plate App. |
Bat. Avg. |
Slg. Pct. |
| Joey Votto | .424 | 1842 | .321 | .564 |
| Miguel Cabrera | .420 | 2033 | .334 | .604 |
| Prince Fielder | .409 | 2096 | .291 | .521 |
| Jose Bautista | .400 | 1737 | .271 | .593 |
| Joe Mauer | .399 | 1558 | .315 | .437 |
| David Ortiz | .391 | 1594 | .296 | .558 |
| Carlos Ruiz | .388 | 1326 | .303 | .454 |
| Matt Holliday | .385 | 1879 | .302 | .517 |
| Ryan Braun | .384 | 1991 | .318 | .563 |
| Paul Konerko | .384 | 1868 | .304 | .530 |
| Adrian Gonzalez | .382 | 2092 | .312 | .507 |
| Shin-Soo Choo | .378 | 1690 | .284 | .446 |
| Andrew McCutcheon | .376 | 2004 | .291 | .487 |
| Albert Pujols | .375 | 2021 | .298 | .550 |
Bob Vetrone Jr.
♦ The Flyers’ Claude Giroux went shotless in their win over Tampa Bay Tuesday night. Frank Seravalli points out that it was the third time this season (in 10 games) that he failed to get something on net.
Entering this season, Giroux had registered at least one shot on goal in 105 of his previous 106 regular season and playoff games.
♦ The Phillies’ equipment truck is packed and heading to Florida for Spring Training. It will go through eight of the 15 states in which I-95 runs (Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida). For the record, our favorite Interstate goes through New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine if you head north (and have enough money for gas).
♦ Sixers’ opponents have committed just 13 personal fouls over the last 98 minutes and 25 seconds of playing time. That is one foul just about every 7.5 minutes.
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Most hills are harder to climb the nearer to the top you ascend. Not so on Hawk Hill.
Only 111 points separate the 11 places from 3rd to 13th on Saint Joseph's men's all-time scoring list. And Carl Jones began taking those steps in the Hawks' loss at Dayton Wednesday.
Jones, who entered the season 19th on the team's list, began the night with 1,675 points, and proceded to pass Marvin O'Connor (with point No. 4), Rodney Blake (5), Bob Lojewski (8) and Mike Bantom (10). He slipped by the first three in a playing-time span of 2:37 early in the second half, then hit a three-pointer with 4:15 remaining to pass Bantom and move into eighth place.
Bob Vetrone Jr.
Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal will draft their respective Rising Star Challenge teams from a pool of 18 first- and second-year players Thursday night at 7 p.m. on TNT.
But before the Chuck and Shaq have at it, we asked BoopStats' NBA experts Mark Perner (Daily News) and Greg Frank (Cherry Hill East) to conduct a little draft of their own. We awarded Greg the first pick since he had the disadvantage of having to draft via cell phone while trying to watch the Sixers-Pacers game at the Wells Fargo Center.
Below is how their draft went. See how they compare to how you might have drafted and what Barkley and O'Neal will do Thursday:
| TEAM FRANK | TEAM PERNER | |||||||
| No. | Player | Team | Pos. | No. | Player | Team | Pos. | |
| 1. | Kyrie Irving | Cavaliers | G | 2. | Damian Lillard | Blazers | G | |
| 3. | Anthony Davis | Hornets | F | 4. | Kenneth Faried | Nuggets | F | |
| 5. | Kawhi Leonard | Spurs | F | 6. | Kemba Walker | Bobcats | G | |
| 7. | Harrison Barnes | Warriors | F | 8. | Nikola Vucevic | Magic | C | |
| 9. | Tyler Zeller | Cavaliers | F-C | 10. | Klay Thompson | Warriors | G | |
| 11. | Dion Waiters | Cavaliers | G | 12. | Tristan Thompson | Cavaliers | F | |
| 13. | Brandon Knight | Pistons | G | 14. | Chandler Parsons | Rockets | F | |
| 15. | Andre Drummond | Pistons | C | 16. | Bradley Beal | Wizards | G | |
| 17. | Alexey Shved | T'wolves | G | 18. | Michael Kidd-Gilchrist | Bobcats | G-F | |
