You all know that in the last few articles I’ve been pretty negative about how the Phillies have been playing since the all-star break. That might be changing now since they managed to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers on the road in their last two games. I hope this has awakened them from their slumber, but they still have three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks (they won the first). They have to make a good showing there to make this West Coast trip successful. We will know if they are back to normal if they can win this series. The Diamondbacks are not as good as they were last year, but they can still be dangerous.
The National League East has not been as competitive as most people thought it would be at the beginning of the season. The Phillies still have an eight-game lead over the second-place Mets, but if they want to go far in the playoffs, the pitching staff needs to step up again big time.
As expected, the U.S. is going to dominate the overall medal count in the Olympics. The track and field team has definitely lived up to expectations and seemed to be winning some kind of medal in every race during the first half of the week. I expect them to round out the track and field portion of the competition the same way.
Congratulations to the USA women’s soccer team for getting to the gold medal game against Brazil. It will be on Saturday at 11 a.m. EST. For some reason, before the tournament, the FIFA rankings had the USA as No. 5. Probably because they struggled in last year’s World Cup. I hope this is a big motivation for this young team to prove that they’re the best in the world. The USA should be able to beat Brazil in the finals. The Brazilian women’s team has never been anywhere close to winning the World Cup. I hope I’m correct. Go USA!!
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A 2002 Cape grad and 2007 UD grad, Lewes resident Sumner Spence is one of the Cape area's biggest sports fans. Although he’s used a wheelchair his entire life, he has lived vicariously through his sports-playing father, brother, and friends, who gave him his love of sports. He hopes to provide new and interesting perspectives on the sports stories and issues of the day. Email Sumner at sumspence@gmail.com.
