Vick's "Final" Chance

Michael Vick has been in the news over the last couple of months for all the wrong reasons and it involved a shooting at a Vick hosted event back in his stomping grounds in Newport News, VA.

There were many stories and articles regarding the event and I completely agree with the people who have said that Vick hasn't been remorseful in the least and I'm not sure what he proved to the commissioner but he clearly has him fooled.

Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie remains steadfast in his support for the Eagles QB and it was obvious he would since he made such a big deal last summer about wanting to help Vick that it wouldn't have been easy to just release the embattled quarterback, but Vick should at least appear to appreciate the chance he's been given by Philadelphia. it seems like the only time he opens his mouth is to say how "unstoppable" he is and how he can't wait to start again, truly remorseful.

The signing of Michael Vick was a head scratcher in the first place and it's done more to distract the team than unite them.

Coach Andy Reid clearly isn't a Wildcat guy and it showed last season when Vick got on the field, he threw a total of 13 passes and ran the football only 24 times. There were no rhyme of reason to Vick's involvement and there was only a couple instances when he made a true impact.

In Game 13 for the Eagles, Michael Vick helped in a nice win for the team. Against the Atlanta Falcons, he threw for a touchdown and ran for another in a 34-7 win.

Other than that, there was the occasional five yard TD run and to his credit, he was the only sign of offense in the disappointing playoff loss to Dallas, but with Kevin Kolb taking over the reins this season from Donovan McNabb, rhythm is going to be key. Throwing Vick in there on third downs could stall drives and it certainly did last season.

A chance to rehabilitate a lost soul seemed to be the reason Vick was picked up last summer, but since that hasn't happened, you at least hoped that he would provide a different dimension to an explosive offense and he hasn't.

And how incompetent do you have to be to blow a great opportunity given to him by the Eagles to correct what became a mess of a career and he responds by continuing to be a headache.

Vick has been a mistake from the beginning and the Eagles needs to rid themselves of this basket case so he can go be "unstoppable" somewhere else.

Cole vs. Johan Recap

It was what we thought it would be, just with a different result. Two of the best in the NL East went at it last night and one mistake by Cole Hamels spelled his eighth loss of the season, a tough-luck loss for the Phillies as they couldn't drum up any offense with Johan Santana looking the best he's been in his last three starts.

Last night's game invoked memories of the three-game disaster up in New York when the Phillies were sweep and shutout in three consecutive games.

I'm not going to say that last night means the Phillies are cold again, but every so often you come up against a guy who has your number and Johan had it working last night and he also made a fantastic play in the bottom of the eighth when the Phillies got two singles from Jimmy Rollins and Raul Ibanez to lead off the inning.

Placido Polanco attempted to bunt Jimmy over to third but Santana did a masterful job of fielding his position and firing to third base and catching Jimmy in the nick of time and ruining what could have been a another eighth inning rally for the Phillies.

It's been an eventful weekend for the Phillies as they have been able to claw back into second place in the division and within a game of the Braves who won last night and dropped the Phils to two back as of this morning.

The loss last night also snapped the Phillies' five-game winning streak and 12 game home winning streak, their longest winning streak at home in 19 years.

This season has not been kind to Cole Hamels, record-wise. On the season Hamels now has a record of 7-8 on the year and has not won a game in almost a month. The numbers don't indicate the type of performance Hamels has had this year as it has been a return to 2008 form for the former World Series MVP.

Hamels has an ERA of 3.45 this season and has been on fire the last two months. In July, he had an ERA of 2.16 to along with a shocking record of only 1-1. And so far in August, he has one loss to go with an ERA of 3.21. Cole has gone at least seven innings in seven of his last eight starts and has 21 strikeouts in his last two games. And again, he only has a record of 7-8.

Today, Roy Halladay will take to the mound and he's been tough to beat at the Bank. In Halladay's last five starts at home, he's 4-0 with an ERA under one. In his last seven starts at home, he has gone at least seven innings in each start and has only given up more than two earned runs once in those starts.

You can say Halladay has adapted well to pitching in such a hitter's ballpark and has an ERA of 1.77 at home this season and he will look to win the series against the hated Mets today and help the Phillies pull closer in either the wild-card or the division.