Offense Derails Phavored Phils in NLCS
October 25, 2010
by Tom Krasovic
Filed under: Giants, Phillies, MLB Playoffs, National League Championship Series
PHILADELPHIA — Not without good reason, many Phillies fans were overconfident about the National League Championship Series that ended Saturday night with the San Francisco Giants earning the World Series berth via a 3-2 victory in Game 6.
The Phillies seemingly had the better player at seven of the eight field positions — take a bow, Buster Posey — and would trot out not one, not two, but three aces, all of them rested
For all the talk about how their offense coughed and wheezed during the season, the Phillies, buoyed by improved health, led the major leagues in runs scored from Sept. 1 through season’s end. Momentum lovers could cite also the first postseason sweep in Phillies history, which broomed the Cincinnati Reds in the Division Series.
All that remained was for the Phils to win four games over an NL West champion for the third straight NLCS. Then, await the Texas Rangers and Cliff Lee, the pitcher the Phils shouldn’t have traded last winter, for Game 1 of the World Series.
Except when the NLCS ended Saturday, Phillie Fan was forlorn and fleeing a home ballpark whose sea of blue seats was empty.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Giants Only Need One Win, but Phillies Confident for NLCS Game 6
October 23, 2010
Filed under: Giants, Phillies, MLB Playoffs, National League Championship Series
PHILADELPHIA — The NLCS will resume Saturday with Game 6, and the Phillies have the Giants right where they want them.
And vice versa.
If ever a 3-2 series could seem to be even, this is it. Obviously the Giants have the mathematical edge, needing to win just once to go to the World Series, but the Phillies are going to be at home, with the momentum of a Game 5 victory – for whatever that’s worth – and a pair of aces to take the mound in the next two games.
Roy Oswalt is 10-0 in his career at Citizens Bank Park, including a stifling eight-inning performance against the Giants in Game 1. The Giants will give the ball to Jonathan Sanchez, who is talented but less experienced.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
With Game 5 Win, Phillies Just Wasted Everybody’s Time
October 22, 2010
Filed under: Giants, Phillies, MLB Playoffs, National League Championship Series
SAN FRANCISCO — The only thing the Philadelphia Phillies did Thursday night at AT&T Park by extending the National League Championship Series with a 4-2 victory was postpone the inevitable.
To paraphrase Russ Hodges: The Giants will win the pennant. The Giants will win the pennant. The Giants will win the pennant.
They’ll just have to do it in Philadelphia.
That’s all.
The suddenly cocky Phillies disagree, of course, but you wouldn’t expect anything less from a team whose core has contributed to a splendid run during the last few years. They’ve won four consecutive National League East titles, the last two NL pennants and a world championship.
Now this for the Phillies: Hope. It’s false hope. Even so, they expect to spend the weekend pulling an epic comeback after trailing 3-1 in this best-of-seven series, but such a thing won’t happen. Magic teams never see the clock strike midnight or have the wicked witch keep from melting, and the Giants are a magic team. They have the feel of the ’69 Mets, or maybe the Miracle Braves of 1914, or perhaps that Chicago White Sox team eight years before called the Hitless Wonders.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Giants Won’t Be Bullied by Phillies
October 20, 2010
by Tom Krasovic
Filed under: Giants, Phillies, MLB Playoffs, National League Championship Series
SAN FRANCISCO — Finally, a California team is standing up to the Broad Street Bullies.
The Philadelphia Phillies are finding the San Francisco Giants a tougher bunch than the wimpy Los Angeles Dodgers of the last two National League Championship Series.
Tuesday, when the best-of-seven match moved to California, the Phillies weren’t able to kick sand into the face of this NL West champion.
Not with Giants pitcher Matt Cain buzzing inside fastballs.
Not with Giants cleanup man Pat Burrell, the former Phillies slugger, getting into the head of former teammate Cole Hamels.
Not with Phillies killer Cody Ross — the Rocky Balboa of the West — landing another uppercut to Philly’s jaw.
And there was this: a peppy crowd cheering throughout the 3-0 victory, the Giants’ first NLCS game at their ballpark since 2002.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Business As Usual for Roy Halladay, Phillies Day After Historic No-Hitter
October 7, 2010
by Tom Krasovic
Filed under: Blue Jays, Braves, Phillies, Reds, Yankees, MLB Playoffs, National League Division Series
PHILADELPHIA — The morning after throwing the second no-hitter in postseason history, Roy Halladay beat several of his Philadelphia Phillies back to the ballpark.
Phillies players weren’t surprised to see the 6-foot-6 bearded ace back on the job soon after Halladay overwhelmed the Cincinnati Reds in the first playoff outing of his decorated career.
“I wasn’t here nearly as early as he was,” outfielder Jayson Werth said early Thursday afternoon. “I would say, business as usual. Just another day, which is pretty standard. I wouldn’t think anything else.”
Said manager Charlie Manuel: “Same old Roy. I said, ‘Hello Roy.’ He said ‘Hello Charlie,’ and grinned and went on about his business.’ By him grinning, he showed me that he’s happy.”
Halladay’s appetite for work, and his capacity for working out, is legendary among baseball people. Growing up in Colorado, Halladay was a cross-country star. The 33-year-old remains fit and energetic, as if his Mile High upbringing gives him extra oxygen.
“He works harder than everybody,” said Werth, who also was a teammate of Halladay’s nearly a decade ago with the Toronto Blue Jays. “His stuff’s better than everybody. He competes harder than anybody. He’s just that guy, that one guy you may or may not be able to meet in your life. Nothing really blows me away just because you expect so much out of him.”
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Halladay, Philadelphia Start Red Doctober in Righteous Fashion
October 7, 2010
Filed under: Phillies, Reds, MLB Playoffs
PHILADELPHIA — At exactly 7:35 p.m. on a damp, raw Wednesday night early in the new month of Doctober, Roy Halladay jogged to the pitcher’s mound for his final set of warm-up pitches to a rousing ovation. By the time he was finished, as the ball whipped around the infield behind him and Ramon Hernandez of the Reds trudged helplessly to the plate, the crowd fell completely silent.
A constant for much of the late day into evening, the billowing noise suddenly ceased, as though someone accidentally hit the mute button at Citizen’s Bank Park. It was no coincidence. Everyone knew the situation. The zero under the H in the Reds’ linescore that glowed on various scoreboards throughout the ballpark was the elephant in the room.
It felt that way beginning in the fourth inning, right after Halladay whiffed Brandon Phillips looking, Orlando Cabrera swinging and retired Joey Votto on a routine grounder to short. Twelve up, twelve down for the Doc in his first career postseason start. When he walked Jay Bruce in the fifth on a 3-2 sinker that failed to tail back across the plate like so many of his pitches did, the moment sort of paused because there was finally a blemish and lest we forget the perfection he performed once already this year, down in Florida, back in late May.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Jimmy Rollins Feels ‘Good,’ but Phillies Mum on Whether He’ll Lead Off
October 5, 2010
by Ed Price
Filed under: Phillies, MLB Playoffs, National League Division Series
Ask Jimmy Rollins if he’s finally right at the plate, and all he will say is, “I feel good.”
No elaboration.
“No matter how many ways you ask it,” he said, “I feel good.”
Rollins hasn’t been himself for most of the year, but if he can get straightened out for the postseason, it will make the Phillies that much more of a favorite in the National League.
A calf strain that he couldn’t shake resulted in trips to the disabled list from April 13 to May 17 and again from May 22 to June 21.
Then, after hitting .281 the first eight days of September, he had to sit with tightness in his right hamstring. He came back for the final week of the regular season, going 4-for-19 (.211) with a double and a grand slam.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Phillies Choose Longer Division Series, Still Mum on Rotation Order
September 28, 2010
Filed under: Phillies, MLB Playoffs
WASHINGTON — Champagne and beer still soaking the carpet of his team’s clubhouse after their NL East-clinching win Monday night, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel let it be known that his team will select the “A” National League Division Series, which begins next Wednesday and includes an extra off day.
“That’s when we start,” Manuel said. “We’re gonna start Wednesday.”
Philadelphia clinched not only its division, but also top seeding in the National League by virtue of a tiebreaker with the Giants (the Phillies have a better record against the NL West than San Francisco has against the NL East). San Francisco is the only team remaining in the NL that could equal the Phillies’ final record.
Because of that, the Phillies were awarded the right to choose between the “A” and “B” series, the former of which takes place over eight days as opposed to seven for the other three Division Series.
Opting for the longer series allows Manuel to use just three starting pitchers in the first round, an optimal setup for a team that possesses three aces in Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt.
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Few Mysteries as Phils Abdicate Throne
September 2, 2010
Filed under: Phillies, MLB Playoffs, World Series
NEW YORK — This was not the type of World Series that the Phillies are going to spend much time replaying in their minds. Not long after they watched the Yankees celebrate on the field, taking the title that they won last year, the Phillies were already in full shoulder-shrug mode.
Regrets? Not really.
“They got the hits and we didn’t,” Jimmy Rollins said. “Simple. There’s no science other than that. Get a hit or you don’t. And they did.”
Game 6: Yankees 7, Phillies 3 | Box Score | Matsui MVP
Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
Playoff Pulse: It’s in the Manuel
September 2, 2010
Filed under: Phillies, Yankees, MLB Playoffs, World Series, Playoff Pulse
Playoff Pulse is our morning rundown of the night that was and the night that will be during the MLB postseason.
Looking Forward …
Much will be made in the lead-up to Game 6 of another Yankees starter — Andy Pettitte — going on three days’ rest, assuming of course that that is officially announced Tuesday. Of course, there wasn’t much of a choice for Joe Girardi.
The Phillies do have some interesting options as they head back to New York. Game 6 starter Pedro Martinez was the easy part, but you can’t expect him to go all nine innings, so, especially if the Phillies have a lead, what happens then?