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Community Corner

Birds Ready to Fly; Phils Battle West, Weather

Is it worth it to protest Sunday's loss to the lowly Marlins?

Welcome back, Patch readers!

This week we'll take a look at a questionable call by MLB Umpire Joe West, and we'll post up the Philadelphia Eagles official 53-man roster.

Get your replay ready!

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Fan Interference?

Cliff Lee's gem on Monday night helped ease the sting of a tough weekend for Phillies fans, who watched David Herdon give up homerun after homerun on Saturday night, only to watch the Fightin’s lose again on Sunday in 14 innings.

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Still, Herdon's struggles and the series loss to the lowly fish took a backseat to a questionable fan-interference call by umpire Joe West during Sunday's series finale in south Florida.

At issue is the use of instant replay to overturn a Hunter Pence double in the sixth inning of Sunday's loss. According to the official MLB rules, instant replay may only be used in determining a home run call.

“instant replay will apply only to home run calls—whether they are fair or foul, whether they have left the playing field, or whether they have been subject to fan interference. The decision to use instant replay will be made by the umpire crew chief, who also will make the determination as to whether or not a call should be reversed.”

Regarding the call in question, Pence hit a line-drive to the top of the right field wall, which careened right after a failed leaping catch by Marlins right-fielder Bryan Peterson. The initial result of the play was a double for Pence, placing runners on second and third with Ibanez to bat.

Marlins manager Jack McKeon immediately came out of the dugout, stating that a fan had interfered while the ball was in play, which should have resulted in a deadball and an out for Pence. Television replays showed that a fan had, in fact, reached over into the field of play, knocking the ball with his hat. Whether or not the catch could have been made without the interference is debatable.

With the initial call on the field being a double, and no one questioning whether or not it was a home run, using replay to review a fan-interference call would have been against the rules.

Here's where it gets a bit tricky.

Umpire Joe West said after the game that Phillies manager Charlie Manuel had stated that he thought it was a home run—something Manuel vehemently denied. Because of this, the umpiring crew took a look at replay, and returned to the field to overrule its initial call of a double, stating it was an out due to fan interference.

If Manuel did not state that he thought it was a home run, replay should have never been used.

The ball clearly wouldn’t have made it over the wall—which should have made the crew immediately return to the field to uphold its initial call of a double. Instead, the crew used the replay to confirm interference—something that is not allowed by rule. The Phillies played the remainder of the game under protest and eventually lost eight innings later. 

Depending on how the Phillies front office phrases its formal complaint to the league, there is a chance that the result of the game could be invalidated, and the two teams would have to resume play in the top of the sixth inning with runners on second and third. 

Bear in mind, that the last successful protest of a baseball game happened 25 years ago when the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals were ordered to resume play of a game that had been mistakenly called short due to rain.

So, what should we make of all of this?

The Phillies are 41 games over .500 with the best record in baseball and a 8.5 game lead over the second-place Braves. Though the Phillies have a legitimate argument, is it really worth the hassle?  Especially considering the game went another eight innings?

Question: Would you like to see the protest force the teams to replay the game from the sixth inning?

Bleeding Green

Cut day in the NFL has come and gone as teams across the league set their respective 53-man rosters, along with their respective eight-man practice squads. Opening day is Thursday, with Green Bay playing host to New Orleans, and the Birds will officially begin their season on the road Sunday at 1 p.m. against the St. Louis Rams.

Here is a list of your 2011 Philadelphia Eagles

53-Man Roster

#

 Name

Pos.

Ht.

Wt.

Age

Exp.

College

29

 Allen, Nate

SS

6-1

210

 23

2

South Florida

30

 Anderson, Colt

S

5-10

194

 25

2

Montana

24

 Asomugha, Nnamdi

CB

6-2

210

 30

9

California

81

 Avant, Jason

WR

6-0

212

 28

6

Michigan

93

 Babin, Jason

DE

6-3

267

 31

8

Western Michigan

36

 Brown, Ronnie

RB

6-0

230

 29

7

Auburn

87

 Celek, Brent

TE

6-4

255

 26

5

Cincinnati

51

 Chaney, Jamar

OLB

6-0

242

 24

2

Mississippi St.

57

 Clayton, Keenan

LB

6-1

229

 24

2

Oklahoma

42

 Coleman, Kurt

FS

5-11

195

 23

2

Ohio State

58

 Cole, Trent

DE

6-3

270

 28

7

Cincinnati

14

 Cooper, Riley

WR

6-3

222

 23

2

Florida

68

 DeVan, Kyle

OG

6-2

306

 26

3

Oregon State

90

 Dixon, Antonio

DT

6-3

322

 26

3

Miami (Fla.)

46

 Dorenbos, Jon

LS

6-0

250

 31

9

UTEP

65

 Dunlap, King

T

6-9

330

 25

4

Auburn

53

 Fokou, Moise

OLB

6-1

236

 26

3

Maryland

82

 Harbor, Clay

TE

6-3

252

 24

2

Missouri State

6

 Henery, Alex

K

6-1

177

 24

R

Nebraska

8

 Henry, Chas

P

6-3

220

 22

R

Florida

79

 Herremans, Todd

G/T

6-6

321

 28

7

Saginaw Valley State

27

 Hughes, Brandon

CB

5-11

188

 25

3

Oregon State

76

 Hunt, Phillip

DE

6-0

244

 25

1

Houston

10

 Jackson, DeSean

WR

5-10

175

 24

4

California

67

 Jackson, Jamaal

C

6-4

325

 31

8

Delaware State

26

 Jarrett, Jaiquawn

S

6-0

196

 21

R

Temple

97

 Jenkins, Cullen

DT

6-2

305

 30

8

Central Michigan

56

 Jordan, Akeem

OLB

6-1

230

 26

5

James Madison

74

 Justice, Winston

T

6-6

320

 26

6

USC

3

 Kafka, Mike

QB

6-3

225

 24

2

Northwestern

62

 Kelce, Jason

C

6-3

282

 23

R

Cincinnati

91

 Laws, Trevor

DT

6-1

304

 26

4

Notre Dame

27

 Lewis, Dion

RB

5-8

195

 20

R

Pittsburgh

35

 Lindley, Trevard

CB

6-0

183

 25

2

Kentucky

18

 Maclin, Jeremy

WR

6-0

198

 23

3

Missouri

31

 Marsh, Curtis

CB

6-0

197

 23

R

Utah State

69

 Mathis, Evan

G

6-5

302

 29

7

Alabama

50

 Matthews, Casey

MLB

6-1

232

 22

R

Oregon

25

 McCoy, LeSean

RB

5-11

208

 23

3

Pittsburgh

41

 Page, Jarrad

S

6-0

225

 26

6

UCLA

75

 Parker, Juqua

DE

6-2

250

 33

11

Oklahoma St.

98

 Patterson, Mike

DT

6-1

300

 28

7

USC

71

 Peters, Jason

T

6-4

328

 29

8

Arkansas

23

 Rodgers-Cromartie, Dominique

CB

6-2

182

 25

4

Tennessee State

59

 Rolle, Brian

LB

5-10

227

 22

R

Ohio State

22

 Samuel, Asante

CB

5-10

185

 30

9

Central Florida

32

 Schmitt, Owen

FB

6-2

245

 26

4

West Virginia

19

 Smith, Steve

WR

5-11

195

 

5

USC

55

 Tapp, Darryl

DE

6-1

270

 26

6

Virginia Tech

73

 Vandervelde, Julian

G

6-2

300

 23

R

Iowa

7

 Vick, Michael

QB

6-0

215

 31

10

Virginia Tech

63

 Watkins, Danny

G

6-3

310

 26

R

Baylor

9

 Young, Vince

QB

6-5

232

 28

6

Texas

 

Practice Squad

#

 Name

Pos.

Ht.

Wt.

Age

Exp.

College

16

 Hall, Chad

WR

5-8

187

 25

2

Air Force

39

 Havili, Stanley

RB

6-0

230

 23

R

USC

 

 Hill, Anthony

TE

6-6

277

 

2

NC State

 

 Johnson, Ronald

WR

5-11

199

 

R

Southern Cal

96

 Lloyd, Greg

LB

6-1

247

 22

R

Connecticut

66

 Reynolds, Dallas

G/C

6-4

320

 27

1

Brigham Young

52

 Te'o-Nesheim, Daniel

DE

6-3

263

 24

2

Washington

Question: Were you surprised by any of the cuts the Eagles made on Saturday?

Quote of the Week

"David Herndon is this year's Dannys Baez," — Tim Myers, of Lansdale, after Herdon got shelled Saturday night.

Video of the Week

Are you ready for some football?

Looking Ahead

The Phillies will play host to the wild-card leading Braves for two more before hitting the road to take on the Brewers. The Eagles will be on the road for opening day in St. Louis, and the Union have games against New England and Portland.

Here’s your schedule for the upcoming week in Philadelphia sports:

Tuesday

  • Phillies versus Braves 7:05 p.m. on CSN and MLBN

Wednesday

  • Phillies versus Braves 7:05 p.m. on CSN and ESPN
  • Union versus New England 8 p.m. on TCN

Thursday

  • Phillies at Brewers 8:10 p.m. on CSN and MLBN

Friday

  • Phillies at Brewers 8:10 p.m. on CSN and MLBN

Saturday

  • Phillies at Brewers 7:10 p.m. on PHL 17
  • Union versus Portland 7:30 p.m. on TCN

Sunday

  • Phillies at Brewers 2:10 p.m. on PHL 17 and TBS
  • Eagles at Rams 1 p.m. on FOX

If you have questions you would like to see answered in next week's Phour for Phour column, email them to slavetologic@gmail.com.

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