(Mostly) D.C. Sports Update

The Philadelphia Phillies are one game away from clinching their first World Series since 1980. The Phillies beat Tampa Bay in Game 4 at Philadelphia last night with a final score of 10-2. Philadelphia had 4 homeruns on the night, one of which came from pitcher Joe Blanton. Blanton became the first pitcher in 34 years to homer in the World Series. Game 5 will be held tonight, in Philadelphia at 8:00 pm eastern time.

The Washington Wizards finished the preseason with a loss to Cleveland. The Wizards had a final preseason record of just 2 and 5. The regular season begins on Wednesday at home against New Jersey.

Keeping with basketball, the George Washington University men and women’s basketball teams were introduced last Wednesday at the annual Colonial’s Invasion. During a shooting exercise with the men’s team, Head Coach Karl Hobbs said over the loudspeaker, “Jesus Christ, somebody make a basket.” Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come for the new season.

In hockey, the Washington Capitals snapped their losing streak on Saturday with a big overtime win against the Dallas Stars. Earlier in the week the caps fell in their road games against Calgary and Phoenix. Sergei Federov and Tomas Fleischmann each had two goals in regulation and Tyler Sloan gave the Caps a lead early in the third period. Dallas’s mike Modano tied the game at 5 all when he scored with just over a minute left on the clock. 2 minutes and 17 seconds into the sudden death overtime, Alexander Semin netted his 7^th goal of the season to win the game for Washington. Federov’s two goals brought his career total up to 475, making him the highest scoring Russian born player in NHL history. The Captials play at home tomorrow night against the Nashville predators.

Finally, the Washington Redskins beat the Detroit Lions yesterday. The final score was 25-17. Washington was statistically dominant the entire game in everything except for the score. Jason Campbell completed 23 of 28 for a season high 328 yards and a touchdown. Clinton Portis rushed for 128 yards on 24 attempts. This was the 5^th game in a row that Portis had over 120 yards on the ground. Big plays on special teams were critical for Washington as Santana Moss took a punt return 80 yards for a touchdown and kicker Shaun Suisham completed 4 field goals. The win improves the redskins’ record to 6 and 2. The next game is at home against the Pittsburg Steelers on Monday.

-Joe Lewis