Morning Report: Flyers used to be mightier than Pens

Flyers fans mourning the loss to the Penguins yesterday can take succor in remembering that Pittsburgh once went 15 years without ever beating their in-state rivals at all.

Penguins GM Ray Shero recalled that when his fabled father Fred Shero coached the Flyers, "the Penguins were not their top rival."

"It was worse than that," former Penguins winger Phil Bourque told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "We were the dirt on the bottom of their shoes."

Just wondering. Has there ever been less Eagles talk in an off-season than right now?

Let's play two. As the Toronto Blue Jays fade in the rearview mirror, let's take a stab at making interleague baseball more meaningful.

I know you're palpitating for that Red Sox series in June, but does anybody in Philadelphia really want to see Oakland and the Texas Rangers later in the month? Even the old A's fans can't have a whole lot of interest in the current club.

So what it would take?

The most obvious is to have the Red Sox cemented as the Phillies' "traditional" rival. The Red Sox really only have one rival, and since they play the Yankees 18 times a year, they don't need more. So Boston shouldn't have any objection to being paired in the "Spirit of '76" rivalry with Philadelphia.

Second, why not adapt one of the NFL's ideas, and match teams up by position in the standings? The Phillies finished first in their division last fall so they would be matched with the three divisional winners from the AL this summer.

If there was any duplication in that format (and the Red Sox won the AL East last season), the second-place team could be substituted.

I know that sounds like a roundabout way of getting the Red Sox and the Yankees here every year, but isn't that a good thing?

History in the making? Big Brown has eased to victory in both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness and now has the first Triple Crown in 30 years in his sights.

Which brings us back to the opinion of many horsemen in April: that Big Brown was an exceptional colt but that the rest of the three-year-old class was not. So history may be beckoning Big Brown.

Finally. On May 19, 1981, Pittsburgh's Jim Bibby gave up a leadoff single to Terry Harper of the Atlanta Braves, then retired the next 27 batters for a 5-0 one-hitter.