Morning Report: Sixers follow form with draft pick

The first thought that hit me at 9:30 last night was that the 76ers always draft somebody whose name is hard to spell.

Lest we forget, this team followed last year's Thaddeus Young selection by picking Daequan Cook, Petteri Koponen and Kyrylo Fesenko. The year before, they drafted Thabo Sefolosha.

OK, the last four were traded. But what happened to guys named Allen?

Here's some of what was said before the Sixers made Florida's Marreese Speights the 16th pick in the NBA draft.

The Web site Draft Express said the 6-foot-10 forward is "as skilled a big man facing the basket as you will find in this draft."

It also credited him with being fundamentally sound in his shooting mechanics with eye-opening accuracy.

The downside may be that Speights falls too much in love with the jumper, spending far too much time beyond the three-point arc.

But you have to tip your hat to a kid who wasn't even a top-50 prospect in high school and worked his way halfway up the NBA draft's first round in just two years.

And remember, he hardly played at all his first year at Florida while the Gators were stalking their second consecutive NCAA title with a veteran team.

Numbers crunching. The Phillies have scored 60 runs in their last 15 games, which would appear to be 4 per outing.

But a third of the total came in the 20-2 blowout at St. Louis on Friday the 13th, so the average drops dramatically. To 2.85, to be exact.

The numbers don't really tell you how deep a slump the Phillies have fallen into. They had two bloop hits and Pat Burrell's ringing, ninth-inning triple yesterday.

We're not quite at the point where the Phillies starter has to pitch a shutout to win. But we're close.

Kyle Kendrick pitched eight shutout innings on Wednesday night when the Phillies beat Oakland, 4-0, and Cole Hamels limited heavy-hitting Boston to two runs in seven-plus innings on June 16.

Those are the only two games the Phillies have won in their last 11, and they now have lost seven of eight.

Maybe they should draft a guy whose name is hard to spell.

Finally. The way the American League contenders have toyed with the Phillies, who are 3-9 in Interleague games, has camouflaged the trouble the entire National League has had.

Yesterday's games were nearly a complete AL sweep.

Houston beat Texas for the NL's only win. The Senior Circuit's closest brush with another victory came when the Yankees were rained out in Pittsburgh.

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