Wrong about Chan Ho

Sam Donnellon, Daily News Sports Columnist

Thursday, August 13, 2009, 9:39 AM

I would like to apologize to Chan Ho Park. I wasn’t crazy about this signing last winter. I put him on the list of those guys who pitched well when it really didn’t matter, tried to get too cute and too precise when it did. I saw the up and down career that started with such promise when... Read more

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A cautionary/prodding trade tale

Sam Donnellon, Daily News Sports Columnist

Monday, July 27, 2009, 10:35 AM

When it comes to trade deadline deals, everyone has their favorite cautionary/prodding tales. Mine concerns Frank Viola and David West. The year was 1989, the season after Viola won a Cy Young Award with the Twins, two years after he was the MVP of the World Series. Frank was an innings-eating, lefthanded... Read more

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Happ or Halladay?

Sam Donnellon, Daily News Sports Columnist

Monday, July 20, 2009, 11:30 AM

Amid the giddiness of Sunday’s shutout and sweep of the Marlins, I typed this into my Facebook page: ``Happ or Halladay?’’ When I went to the page this morning, I found about two pages of responses, and the count, as I write this, is 10 for making the much –talked about trade... Read more

Pedro and the Expos: What might have been

Sam Donnellon, Daily News Sports Columnist

Thursday, July 16, 2009, 10:50 AM

A moment in Wednesday’s Pedro Martinez press conference brought it all home to me, how long he’s been around, how much more our paths had crossed then I realized. He told a colleague, ``You’re probably too young to remember,’’ and although the reporter responded that ``I’m... Read more

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Michael vs. Michael?

Sam Donnellon, Daily News Sports Columnist

Thursday, July 9, 2009, 10:30 AM

.Michael vs. Michael? Have to admit, when I read this headline the other day in the Wall Street Journal, I thought it was a comparison of icons. Michael Jackson or Michael Jordan? It wasn’t, so permit me to introduce the debate on this blog, with these parameters: Which of these two has affected... Read more

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Is '08 finally in the past?

Sam Donnellon, Daily News Sports Columnist

Tuesday, July 7, 2009, 10:23 AM

The other day in the Phillies clubhouse, televisions were tuned to a replay of the fifth and deciding game of the 2008 World Series. ``Here it comes,’’ Ryan Howard said, just before Chase Utley made his incredible pump-fake play to the plate to nab Bartlett. He stopped, he watched, and... Read more

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ROLLINS RESURGENCE NOT JUST ABOUT LEADING OFF

Sam Donnellon, Daily News Sports Columnist

Monday, July 6, 2009, 9:52 AM

Donnellon blog Leadoff, Jimmy Rollins said about a month ago, is as much a state of mind as it an actuality. ``That’s something that I’ve learned,’’ he said before a game in New York in early June. ``Technically you only lead off an inning once or twice a game. But you’re... Read more

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Sixers lose badly, final team meeting at noon Friday

Sam Donnellon, Daily News Sports Columnist

Thursday, April 30, 2009, 11:33 PM

With just under eight minutes left to last night's 114-89 elimination loss to Orlando, the courtside illuminaries were dialing up the next chapter in their lives. On the far end of the court, Jimmy Rollins, in a green Phillies warmup, was talking on his cell. Former Sixers President and GM Billy King... Read more

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Sixers on the brink -- again

Sam Donnellon, Daily News Sports Columnist

Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 10:11 PM

The other day Peter Luukko, who oversees both arena sports, said it would be folly to panic over the Flyers first-round exit. Despite a season of almost seeking a level of mediocrity, Luukko proclaimed the team to be close to the elite, proclaimed to still be excited about their core group. Well,... Read more

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Sixers miss Magic chance, series tied at 2

Sam Donnellon, Daily News Sports Columnist

Sunday, April 26, 2009, 9:21 PM

In last year’s playoffs, the beginning of the end to the Sixers Disney-esue ride against Detroit came in the third quarter of the fourth game, when the Pistons erased a 10-point Sixers lead by doing what they do best —defending. For the Magic, doing what they do best is dropping it into... Read more

About this blog

Donnellon's career began in Biddeford, Me., in 1981, and has included stops in Wilkes-Barre, Norfolk, and New York, where he worked as a national writer for the short-lived but highly acclaimed National Sports Daily. He has received state and national awards at each stop and since joining the Daily News in 1992 has been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors, the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the Associated Press Managing Editors of Pennsylvania and the Keystone Awards. He and his wife of 26 years have raised three fine children, none of whom are even the least bit impressed with the above. E-mail Sam at donnels@phillynews.com
Reach Sam at donnels@phillynews.com.