Phillies Playoff Scouting Report
October 4, 2010
Filed under: Phillies, MLB Playoffs, National League Division Series, Advanced Scouting
No team is entering the playoffs in better shape than the Phillies. It’s hard for anyone to argue that point at this stage. They are a better team than they were last year at this time and should enter the proceedings as a huge favorite to represent the National League in the Fall Classic.
The Phillies are armed with a sharper version of Brad Lidge closing out games and Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt are all rejuvenated and headline a deep and potentially dominant rotation. Couple that with their always explosive offense and it’s going to take a perfectly played series to bounce the Phils out of the playoffs in 2010.
There’s only one thing that could slow the Phillies’ march to the World Series and that’s the back of their bullpen. For the most part it has held up over the 162-game season, but it’s something to at least monitor in October. Lidge has certainly been much better this season, but he is still prone to a postseason implosion.
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Phillies Come Out Swinging to Stay Alive
September 2, 2010
Filed under: Phillies, MLB Playoffs, World Series
PHILADELPHIA — Phillies hitting coach Milt Thompson didn’t need any detailed analysis to get his players to understand what they needed to do differently against A.J. Burnett.
The game plan might as well have consisted of one word: “Swing.”
“Be ready to hit the fastball,” Thompson told FanHouse after the Phillies walloped Burnett for six quick runs en route to a season-saving 8-6 victory in Game 5 of the World Series. “We let him get first-pitch strikes on us last time and he got his confidence and started getting his curveball over. Tag the fastball. That’s all.”
Game 5: Phillies 8, Yankees 6 | Box Score | Series Home
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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