A half-dozen quick stats that caught our attention recently ...
♦ In Thursday's 4-1 loss to the Mets, the Phillies struck out 15 times without drawing a walk, something they have done just three times in 100 years. The last time was also against New York and a fellow named Dwight Gooden on Sept. 17, 1984. The Phils won that game, 2-1.
♦ On the same night that Ryan Howard belted his walk-off, three-run home run against Colorado, Reading's Cam Perkins was doing the same (in the bottom of the 12th inning) against Trenton ... And Clearwater's Art Charles was launching a three-run shot with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to send the Threshers to extra innings, where they eventually beat Fort Myers.
♦ The last time that Jimmy Rollins played in an All-Star Game (July 2005), the Eagles were the defending NFC champions.
♦ One of our twitter followers pointed out that every one of the Flyers and Bruins that played in the Stanley Cup Finals 40 years ago was from Canada, except Boston forward Ken Hodge, who was born in the United Kingdom. That, obviously, was why he always drove down the left side of the ice.
♦ The Sixers right now have more picks in the upcoming NBA Draft (7) than the Eagles had when the NFL Draft started (6).
♦ So Microsoft CEO Steve Ballme is going to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion. Doesn't he realize he could have bought a couple of newspapers and a website 22 times for that amount?