‘Close' Calls Key Two Critical Philly Victories

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On April 11, 2012, the sports gods smiled upon Philadelphia.

The Sixers, Phillies, and Flyers went three-for-three on Wednesday night, each club picking up an important victory at varying stages of their respective seasons. However, two of them benefited from a blown call by officials.

With one out in the bottom of the third inning, Juan Pierre singled for the Phillies, then attempted to steal second. The catcher's throw seemed to beat the runner by a mile, and Jose Reyes applied the tag, but Pierre was called safe, despite every piece of visual evidence indicating otherwise. Three pitches later, Pierre was the first of five runs to come across in the inning, setting the tone for a 7-1 win.

Trailing 3-0 early in the second period, Brayden Schenn fed an outlet pass from right outside Flyers territory to a surging Danny Briere, who slipped past the defense for a breakaway. A freeze frame shows Briere beat the puck into the attack zone by a few feet, but the linesman called the play onside, and the shooter buried the rubber top shelf. The Flyers eventually came all the way back, pulling off a stunning 4-3 win in overtime.

The Pens had a few calls go their way too, including an icing wave-off
that resulted in a goal. More
on that here
.

The Phillies moved to 2-3 for the season, but more importantly, snapped out of an offensive funk that was strangling the enthusiasm out of a brand new campaign. The Flyers, of course, stole game 1 right out from under the rival Penguins in their own building -- again.

On a related note, the Sixers defeated the Raptors 93-75 for their second consecutive victory. Perhaps they can regain some momentum yet.

Great night for Philly sports, terrible night for zebras. I guess sometimes you've got to be lucky to be good.

Pierre photo via US PRESSWIRE. Briere photo via @NOTSCNHL.

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