Merril Hoge is a Douchebag & Jimmy Johnson Loves The Eagles

Once again, Merril Hoge picked the Eagles to lose. He always picks the Eagles to lose. Why? Because he's a douchebag. I hate Merril Hoge. You would think that he would be more supportive of Andy Reid - they're both Mormons - but no, Merril Hoge insists on picking against the Eagles every chance he gets.

But we do have one unlikely supporter - Jimmy Johnson. Jimmy Johnson brought years of misery to Eagles fans, but Jimmy told FOX Philly that the Eagles are his choice to win the Super Bowl this year. See him make the call in THIS VIDEO.

Vick is #1 in Jersey Sales: 6,140 Michael Vick Jerseys Sold

Updating a previous post, Michael Vick has now surpassed Brett Favre as the leader in NFL jersey sales. Vick's home and away jerseys combined for a total of 6,140 sales for the week ending August 30. That's a lot of jersey sales for a guy whose been blacklisted at Dick's Sporting Goods. Read the full article online at The Boston Herald.

Vick, who served 18 months in federal prison for dogfighting charges, will not be reinstated until the third game of the season - a home game against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 27. No doubt there will be lots of Vick jerseys at that game. And, perhaps nobody will be more excited for Vick's return than Donovan McNabb. Read his comments here. Only time will tell how all of this will work out. . .

Alex Smith - Signed

As predicted, Alex Smith is now a Philadelphia Eagle. Tony Curtis looked decent against the Jets, but I'm much more comfortable having a proven red zone threat lining up in the double tight formation. Anyone else predict some fake-block delayed release to the corner of the end zone routes? More details on Alex Smith's signing.

Postseason Closers: A Look at This Decade's World Series Champs

With 26 games left in the regular season, Brad Lidge is only 4 meltdowns away from tying the MLB single-season record of 14 blown-saves, a dubious distinction currently held by a quartet of relievers, two of which are Hall of Famers - Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, Bob Stanley and Ron Davis. And indeed it looked like Lidge was on pace to narrow the gap again last night, when he loaded the bases and appeared to be on the verge of blowing his 11th save of the season.

But Charlie Manuel finally decided to yank his erratic closer.

Manuel said, "...I didn't have a very good feel about the game, and I made up mind I wanted to try Madson." So Charlie replaced Lidge with last year's "Bridge to Lidge", a risky move considering that Madson has had problems in the closer's role - coming into last night's game, Madson had blown more saves (5) than he'd converted (4). But Madson got the job done. He preserved the Phillies' two run lead and prevented the slumping NL East leaders from losing their fifth straight game.

So what does this mean for Lidge? Are we moving to a closer-by-committee scenario? And how does this all effect the Phillies' World Series aspirations? I decided to take a look at each championship team since 2000 and evaluate their Closers. There was some encouraging information there, for example. . .

Of the 8 Championship teams in the 2000's, four of them had 5 or more blown saves in the regular season, and two of those teams had at least 10 blown saves ('06 Cardinals, '03 Marlins). In fact, each World Series winner from 2003 - 2006 had at least 5 blown saves.

Also, half of the championship teams relied on unproven closers for the World Series. Here are the stories:

2006 Cardinals: Jason Isringhausen was the team's closer for the regular season. Isringhausen recorded 33 saves and 10 blown saves before getting sidelined by injury. Adam Wainwright took over for Isringhausen, and the rest is history. Wainwright, MLB's current wins leaders, had 4 postseason saves and allowed 0.00 earned runs over 9.2 innings of work.

2005 White Sox: Dustin Hermanson was the closer for the majority of the regular season when the south siders won the World Series. Hermanson had 34 saves, 5 blown saves, 5 holds and an ERA of 2.04. He then got injured and lost his job to Bobby Jenks, and Jenks did a great job in the postseason - 4 saves, 1 blown save and a 2.25 ERA.

2003 Florida Marlins: The regular season closer was Braden Looper. Looper had 28 saves and 8 blown saves before losing the job to Ugueth Urbina. Urbina wasn't perfect in the postseason - Despite blowing 2 saves, he converted 4 other saves and helped the Marlins to a World Series championship.

2001 Arizona Diamondbacks: Byung-Hyun was the team's closer. He had 19 regular season saves, but after blowing 2 save chances in the World Series, the Diamondbacks called on Randy Johnson in Game 7 - one night after picthing 7 innings in a Game 6 victory - to keep their championship hopes alive. Johnson came on in the top of the 8th with Diamondbacks trailing 2-1. He flyballed Knoblauch and retired the side. Then he came out again and retired the side 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth, setting the stage for Arizona's stunning 9th inning victory. Granted it wasn't a save situation, but it was the most important relief appearance of the year. Johnson got the win. Kim watched from the bench.

What does all this mean for the Phillies? It means that there is no precedent in place dictating that you have to have a perfect closer to win championships. Teams have won with patchwork approaches before, so if the Phillies have to run a mixture of Lidge, Madson, Meyers, Martinez and Moyer, so be it. Crazier things have happened. But what hasn't happened is this: No team in the last decade has made it to the playoffs with a closer whose ERA is above 4.00. Lidge's ERA is currently 7.15. And, when you combine his numbers with Madson's, the result is scary - 5.15 ERA and 15 Blown Saves. I can't say for certain, but I'm willing to bet that no team in MLB history has ever won a championship with those numbers.

First things first, though. The Phillies still need to need to make the playoffs, and things are looking grim. They've just been swept by the Astros and only scored a total of 3 runs in a 3 game series against the Giants. The offense needs to come alive, otherwise all this postseason bullpen talk will just be a giant waste of time.

Eagles Ranked 4th in ESPN Power Rankings

ESPN.com released its NFL Power Rankings for week 1, and the Eagles are 4th on the list. The top 3 teams are the Steelers, Patriots and Giants with the Chargers rounding out the top 5. Apparently the ESPN.com gurus are more confident in the Eagles than the Phillly faithful are, as today on the 610WIP morning show callers predicted the Eagles would win (on average) just over 8 games this year, citing the health of the O-Line and questions about the middle linebacker and safety positions as areas of key concern. Neverthless, the Eagles have lots of weapons on offense, and I'm sure that's why they're ranked so high. Between Westbrook, Jackson, Curtis, McCoy, Celek, Maclin, Weaver and Avant, Reid and McNabb will have lots of weapons to tinker with. Let's just hope the O-Line gets consistent and healthy, and the defense can gel without mastermind Jim Johnson, spiritual leader Brian Dawkins, and leading tackler Stuart Bradley.

Vick Speaks to Students at Nuevo Esperanza Academy

Michael Vick will address a class of 200 incoming freshmen at the Nuevo Esperanza Academy today. The topic: Dogfighting. Vick is set to share his experience with the students and discourage them from violence towards animals. All of this will make Jeffery Lurie happy, as Lurie maintains Vick's status on the team is 100% contingent on his work OFF the field. Vick will be accompanied by Wayne Pacelle, President of the Humane Society.

This all comes shortly after the Eagles circulated a draft plan to animal rights organizations that calls for "an immediate, widespread campaign to combat animal abuse in Philadelphia." Read more about the plan online at Philly.com.

Alex Smith - Eagles New TE?

The Patriots have released Alex Smith. The former Tampa Bay TE was picked up in the off season in exchange for a fifth-round pick. Smith competed for roster spots with Benjamin Watson and Chris Baker. He lost, mostly because he sucks at blocking. He's a decent receiver, though. In 4 years with Tampa, Smith had 129 receptions for 1252 yards and 11 TDs. He averaged almost 10 yards per reception, and he only fumbled once. Not bad. It was rumored that Eagles were in talks with the Pats to make a trade - Feeley for Smith - but it appears both sides can get the players for free if they want. That is, of course, if the Giants don't beat the Birds to the punch. According to one source, Smith has already worked out for the Giants. It'll be interesting to see what happens with this, and if the Eagles feel Smith would add necessary depth to TE position.