Big games require players to step up into the limelight and shine.  Joe Blanton did just that as he gave the Phillies six and 1/3 innings of great pitching limiting the Brewers to just a solo home run by Prince Fielder.  Jimmy Rollins shined by leading off the game with a solo home run to give the Phillies the early lead.  Pat Burrell shined by belting a three run home run in the third inning to put the Fightins up by four, he stepped up again in the eighth and belted another home run, this one a solo blast.  Jayson Werth shined as he also belted a solo home run.   The Phillies led the majors in home runs and displayed that skill predominantly in this one! 

On defense the big man Ryan Howard made a spectacular stop on a ground ball to record a 3-1 out in the eighth inning.  Howard did not hit the ball in this one but found another way to contribute.  Brad Lidge pitched the ninth to end the game and make the Fightins a perfect 80 and 0 when leading after eight innings.

Chatter

“Beat L.A., Beat L.A.”  will be the chant beginning thursday in the NLCS.  Cole Hamels will get the ball and will have had seven days rest so lets hope our young ace performs as well as he did in the first game of the NLDS.  The Phillies hold home field advantage for the series so Philly fans can and will have an impact on the series, positive approach on and off the field can take us to the Series……….time to shine folks, lets get it done ! 

Cole Hamels pitched magnficently in his second chance at the playoffs unlike last season when nerves got the best of him.  Hamels pitches eight shutout innings striking out nine brewers.  The Phillies gave Hamels a lead in the third inning as Carlos Ruiz led off with a singleand advanced to second on a sacrfice bunt by Hamels.  Hamels reached first base himself as Milwaukee second baseman Ricky Weeks erred by dropping the throw from third baseman Bill Hall while covering first base.  Chase Utley then smoked a double over the head of Brewer center fielder Mike Cameron to score both Ruiz and Hamels.  Consecutive walks were then issued to Ryan Howard, Pat Burrell and Shane Victorino to score a third run.

Milwaukee starter Yovani Gallardo did not pitch bad and kept the Brewers in the game thru four.  The Milwaukee bullpen did an excellent job after Gallardo as they did not allow the Phillies to score another run. 

Brad Lidge came on to pitch the ninth inning and struck out the side albeit he struggled. Ryan Braun knocked in Ray Durham with a double with one out.  Lidge then struck out Prince Fielder and walked J.J. Hardy, both Braun and Hardy advanced to scoring position on a wild pitch.  Lidge then struck out Corey Hart to close the game.  Lidge ended up striking out the side.  42 saves in 42 tries!  80 and 0 when leading after eight!

Chatter

Skipper Charlie Manuel most surely will be second guessed for taking Hamels out after eight as Lidge struggled with the ninth.  Hamels had thrown less than 100 pitches and was dominating the Brewers.  Lidge needed over 30 pitches to get thru the ninth.  Ryan Howard was walked three times and would have been four but he got impatient and swung at a high pitch.  It seems the Brewers have decided that he will not be the man to beat them in this series.  Getting the first win is key as in the previous 26 NL series that were five game sets the team winning the first one has prevailed in the series 23 times.  Brett Myers goes at it tommorrow against C.C. Sabbathia,  I feel a very good outing coming on from Mr. Myers, we just need to get him some runs to work with!  

Phillies kept lefty J.A. Happ on the playoff roster along with both left hand hitting outfielders Geoff Jenkins and Matt Stairs.  Pitcher Rudy Seanez was kept off the roster, the Fightins are going with 11 pitchers and 14 position players at least for this series.   The win was the first post season victory for the Phillies since 1993 when they won game five of the World Series.   Cole Hamels was working on six days rest, if he can pitch like this with that type of rest maybe the team should invest in a six man rotation next season!

The first round of the playoffs starts tommorrow so I thought it would be a good time to review the matchup and predict the outcome.   Cole Hamels will face off in the first game against a relative unknown Yovani Gallardo.  Gallardo only threw 24 big league innings this year but my son tells me that Gallardo has a live arm and is one to watch in the future.  He had knee surgery only four months ago but worked very hard to push himself back to the show.  The Phillies historically struggle against pitchers they have not seen so not sure what to expect with facing Gallardo.  Hopefully they will figure him out early and get to the Brewer Pen which I think is a weak spot.

The  regular season series went to the Phillies by a count of 5 to 1 in the six games played, included in that tally was a four game series sweep in September that set the stage for the Fightins drive to the N.L. east division title.   It is acknowledged that the Phillies have yet to face Brewer superman C.C. Sabbathia as his turn was not included in the September series and that may have indeed put a different slant on the outcome. 

The Phillies will open the playoff series with young ace Cole Hamels who battled nerves in last years playoff round against Colorado.  Hamels has outstanding stuff and when he is on is very tough to beat, the Phillies have not given him much in offensive support this season else the 14 wins he did get may have been more like 18 to 20.   Sabbathia was forced to throw on Sunday so the Brewers will not have their ace to match up with Hamels in the opener but rather will pitch him in game two on three days rest once again.  No one else in the Brewer starting rotation puts much fear in me at this point, Ben Sheets would but he is hurting physically.  The Phillies will follow Hamels with  righthander Brett Myers, his first playoff start, and then the staff’s best starter Jamie Moyer (16 wins)  in games two and three.  Philadelphia’s bullpen is amongst the best in the game anchored by Brad Lidge who had 41 saves in 41 tries, the team is perfect when leading after eight innings going 79 and 0 when that happens.   Key to the team success will continue to be the relief firm of Chad Durbin, J.C. Romero, Scott Eyre and Ryan Madson as they most assuredly will be counted on for innings 7 and 8 and potentially as early as the sixth.  The eighth inning has been the achilles heel this season so these boys gotta step up for the Fightins to have continued success.

Philadelphia’s offense is keyed by National League Home Run and RBI champion Ryan Howard who had a torrid September to carry the team on his back, in my opinion he is the National League MVP.  Other keys to the series will be the spark ignited both defensively and offensively by Jimmy Rollins, as he goes so do the Phillies.  Shane Victorino has been the most consistent Phillie offensively and will have to continue to do so and second sacker Chase Utley will need to continue his steady “best in the game” form at second base.  Jayson Werth and Pat Burrell had big hits down the stretch along with Greg Dobbs who led the National League with over 20 pinch hits this season.  The Phillies led the league in homeruns this season collectively, in short they are a very good offensive ballclub.

The Brewers counter with Ryan Braun and Prince Feilder in the power department and Mike Cameron is one of the games best defensively in the outfield as well as at the plate with 25 bombs this season. Corey Hart and J.J. Hardy are very good players as well and will be a challenge to the Phillies.  Milwaukee did struggle in September,(11-16), and are not as strong in the pen where Solomon Torres,( 7 blown saves), is the closer.  Eric Gagne imploded many times down the stretch so I feel if we can get to their bullpen early we can do some damage with our offense. 

Overall I think that the Brewers  really scuffled in September resulting in the firing of Ned Yost as the  manager and rode Sabbathia heavily to get to the playoffs. I’m hoping that they may be spent by doing so, they also come into the playoffs relatively inexperienced.  Sabbathia pitched on short rest for most of September and albeit he is a true stud should be running on a low tank.  I think that the Phillies are deeper in pitching, are overall better on offense and are at least a match as a defensive team.  It is my opinion that they will win the series in four games, hope that I am right!

With the division won yesterday the final game of the regular season became one that allowed skipper Charlie Manuel to rest his core players and play callups and reserves.  Kyle Kendrick was given the start and he pitched four innings but had similiar struggles as he displayed during the stretch drive.  Kendrick gave up three runs on four hits while walking one.

The Phillies bats though stayed hot as rookie catcher Lou Marson, the Phillies minor league player of the year,  collected his first big league hit in his first at bat in the game and later belted his first major league home run.  It is expected that Marson will make a strong push to make the ballclub next spring.  So Taguchi had a good game out of the leadoff spot as he had three hits.  Eric Bruntlett and Tadahito Iguchi also had two hit game.  The Phillies prevailed by an 8 to 3 count capped off by a pinch home run by Matt Stairs.  Les Walrond got the win in relief.  The Fighins finished the season with a record of 92 wins and 70 losses.

Chatter

Kendrick will be sent to Clearwater, Florida to work at the spring training complex.  He will not be on the initial playoff roster but as needs arise may be added later.  Management must decide who they are going to place on the playoff roster as the NLDS will start on Wednesday.  The Milwaukee Brewers will be in town Wednesday to kick off the best of five series, their ace C.C. Sabbathia threw today in the clincher so he will not be available till at the earliest the second game.  Cole Hamels will take the ball for the Phillies, lets hope he does not psyche himself out like he did last year. 

Great time to be a Phillies fan!  Sure hope our team stays fired up and approaches the playoffs to win, team members admit that last year they were pretty happy to just make it, this year there is an urgency to do some damage!

Brett Myers took the hill for the Fightins in the series finale against Atlanta and staggered thru a shaky first inning as the Braves hit him hard and often.  They scored two runs in the first frame on four hits before he was able to coax a ground ball double play ball to end the inning.   The Phillies bounced back in the second to score one as Pat Burrell doubled, went to third on an infield hit by Shane Victorino and scored on a single by Pedro Feliz.

The Braves got the run right back in the third as the key blow was a triple by Brian McCann.  Chase Utley hit his 33rd home run of the year in the home third to make the score 3-2.   Big Ryan Howard tied the game with his 47th home run in the fourth.   Pat Burrell got his second double as he hit an outside pitch perfectly down the right field line which albeit he did not score was a great sign that he is seeing the ball again!  The Braves re-took the lead in the fifth as Brian McCann doubled to score Martin Prado.   That marked the end of Brett Myer’s evening as Charlie Manuel went to Chad Durbin.  Durbin came in and gave up an unearned run on a Ryan Howard error and another on single by Brandon Jones.  Charlie then lifted Durbin for Scott Eyre to face pinch hitter Chipper Jones, remember this is only the fifth inning!    Chipper bombed Eyre with a three run home run……….. Braves took a 9 to 3 lead!

The Braves added a run in the eighth to make it 10-3, included in the mix was a steal of second base up by six…………..old school thought process was to put the next pitch in the batters ear!  J.C. Romero chose not to do that, guess these are not old school times!  There was a bench clearing in the bottom of the eighth though when Julian Taveras chose to physically run over to third base and attempt to “pick off” Shane Victorino.  Victorino took exception with it noting the score to Mr. Taveras!  Both benches cleared shortly thereafter.  No ejections though.  The Phillies did pick up a run to tighten the score to 10-4.

Chatter

Some of the loser element of the Fightin’s  faithful tried to start Eagles chants in the eighth…….. give me a break please, either stay with this team to the end or stay home.  

Phillies bats need to wake up this weekend or a possible early winter is at hand, what seemed like a sure playoff berth is now back up for debate.   The Fightins will send Joe Blanton, Jamie Moyer and Cole Hamels to the mound but they will need offensive support to succeed.  J-Roll needs to lead the charge and the others must follow!

Don’t know what has happened to Brett Myers the last two games, location was horrible again as too many pitches are middle of the plate, needs to get head back into “pitching” and not “throwing” it would seem.  The Marlins and Braves simply teed off on him these last two contests. Might need him in the bullpen this last weekend and I am sure with his moxy he will make himself available!

 Three left with those pesky “Nats”, a team the Fightins should beat but have historically always played the Phillies tough, expect no different in these three.

This season has been a roller coaster ride so there the fitting end indeed is that it comes down to the last series of the season.  The Mets and Phillies have given their fans agina on many nights but hope on many others, one of the teams is gonna lose out but they have been so close all season what better way than have it decided on the last weekend of the year……..only thing better is if they played head to head to decide it !  Stay tuned Phillie fans, we have felt heartache many times but here is hoping that we are playing next week instead ! 

The Atlanta Braves drew first blood in this one as they scored a first inning run. Martin Prado doubled off Phils starter Cole Hamels and scored on Kelly Johnson’s single. The Phillies tied the game in the home second as Pedro Feliz knocked in Ryan Howard.

Atlanta re-took the lead in the third as Hamels had picked off Kelly Johnson going to third but threw the ball away allowing him to score. Casey Kotchman hit a solo home run in the sixth to put the Braves up 3 to 1. It marked the third time this year that Kotchman has taken Hamels out of the park. The big fella, Ryan Howard led off the home sixth with a triple and scored on an RBI stand up double by Pat Burrell.

Cole Hamels pitched seven effective innings for the Fightins, he struggled early with command but settled in and threw a good game. Hamels gave up 2 earned runs on eight hits and left trailing 3-2. He had seven strikeouts and only issued one walk. Scott Eyre came on in relief and got one out in the eighth before giving the ball to Chad Durbin who got the next two outs. Durbin also recorded the first two outs in the ninth before giving the ball to J.C. Romero who struck out Greg Norton to end the inning.

Mike Gonzalez closed the game for Atlanta as they won 3 to 2.

Chatter

Office talk today was whether Ryan Howard is worth the expected big money he is due to receive. If he goes to arbitration again this year he most likely will be seeking between 15 and 18 million. To sign him to a long term contract the Phillies would most likely have to pay an average rate of 20 million or more. Is the big man worth it? My opinion is yes, I think he is an unique player that only comes along infrequently. We are honored as Philly fans to see his efforts on a daily basis, yes he strikes out alot but hey he is a 50 Home Run 130 + RBI guy, how many of those folks exist ? I say he is worth the money and the Phillies should sign him as the cornerstone to our team. Just my opinion but I do not feel equal value would ever be attainable for the big fella in any trade!

Average attendance at Phillies games this year was close to 43,000 per game with 48 games to date being sold out! As stated in last night’s review this season will establish a new attendance record for the club as the attendance will go close to 3.3 million!

The Fightins need to bounce back and win the series tommorrow night. The Mets won so they gain back the game they lost last evening. As of this writing the Brewers were trailing against Pittsburgh.

Unlike in the first two games of this series Jimmy Rollins started this one by getting a hit. Rollins singled to lead off the game but was stranded in the first, however he led off the top of the third with a double and scored ahead of Chase Utley’s home run to put the Fightins up 2 -0. The Phillies added another run in the fourth as Jimmy Rollins got his third hit of the game to score Carlos Ruiz. Florida’s defense again hurt them as right fielder Cody Ross dropped an easy fly ball hit by pitcher Jamie Moyer that would have been the third out of the inning before Rollins would have come to bat !

The Marlins scored a run in the home sixth as Josh Willingham crossed the plate on a flare single by Alfredo Amezaga. Staff Ace Jamie Moyer gave the Phillies another quality start as he went six innings holding the Marlins to only one run. Moyer baffles the young Marlin hitters with location, change of speed and savvy, I am sure they are happy to not see him again this year!

The relief pitching roulette began once again in the seventh as Chad Durbin started the seventh and got the first out before giving up a double to catcher John Baker and a flare single to Jorge Cantu. Charlie Manuel then tapped the pen again as he brought in lefty J.C. Romero who got the second out but then proceeded to walk the bases loaded and give up a run on an infield hit which could have been much more if not for a very good stop by third baseman Greg Dobbs on the ground ball hit hard down the line. Charlie went to the pen again as he tapped right hander Clay Condrey , Condrey got out of the inning by coaxing Cody Ross to ground out to third base.

Shane Victorino led off the eighth with a single and Pedro Feliz then ripped a two run home run into the left field bleachers to give the Fightins a three run lead again! Ryan Madson pitched a perfect eighth to set up the final inning. Good job Ryan!

Brad Lidge finished the game and earned his 40th save in 40 tries. He struck out two in the inning. With the win the Phillies now go up 1 and 1/2 games on the Mets in the division race and maintain their three game lead on the wildcard. They now have a magic number of 4 to clinch a playoff spot. The boys came up big in Miami and now just have to finish it at home against the Braves and Nationals ! Jamie Moyer gets the win, his 15th of the season.

Chatter

The Mets bullpen blew another lead at Atlanta as they turned a 4-2 lead into a 7-6 loss. It looks as if J.A. Happ will get another start against the Braves tommorrow else Cole Hamels would have to pitch on three days rest, Hamels will probably be held back till tuesday’s game.

I sure am glad to be done with the Marlins bunch, they do not quit, have really good hitters, and some young arms with nasty stuff, the Mets have them to end the season and our buddies from New York will have a handful to deal with!

Good starts in games usually help relax things a bit.  The Phillies got off to a good start again in this one as Jayson Werth hit a double off the center field wall to plate Chase Utley with the games first run.  Werth advanced to third when the Atlanta centefielder bobbled the ball.  Ryan Howard then drove Werth home with a sacrifice fly to left field.  This gave Cole Hamels a two run lead before even throwing a pitch!   Atlanta answered back in the bottom of the first however as Brian McCann doubled off the wall to score Chipper Jones who had walked.   Casey Kotchman tied the game in the second inning with a solo home run. 

Pat Burrell hit a two run bomb in the sixth inning that scored Jayson Werth ahead of him.  Werth had reached on an error.   Cole Hamels struggled with his control but managed to pitch six innings and left the game with a two run lead.  Hamels was high with most of his pitches but was able to make key pitches when he needed them, it was a gutty effort by the young ace.

Ryan Madson pitched the seventh inning and some shaky fielding allowed Atlanta to score an unearned run.  Both Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins committed errors that gave the Braves five outs in the inning.  Rollins error was actually a fly ball that Pat Burrell should have called him off on but did not, Rollins went deep into left field and attempted an over the should catch that fell out of his glove.   Howard’s error was later changed by the official scorer to a hit for Kelly Johnson, it extended Johnson’s hitting streak to 16 games but it was a pretty weak change of heart to be honest! Howard botched an easy ground ball and Johnson should have been out.

J.C. Romero pitched a scoreless eighth inning for the Phillies.  Brad Lidge pitched a perfect ninth inning to close the game striking out two batters.  He earned his 38th save in 38 tries.  The Phillies improved to 78 and 0 when leading after eight innings.  They swept all nine games played in Atlanta this year, first time Braves were swept at home by Phils since 1909!

Chatter

Chipper Jones and Brian McCann are really the only two hitters in the Atlanta lineup that scare anybody at the moment.  It is a far cry from the Braves heydays when they dominated the division.  Despite being in a deep slump Pat Burrell remained in the lineup,  I think one of the things players appreciate most about skipper Charlie Manuel is the fact that he shows confidence in guys both when they are going good or bad.  That trust paid off as Burrell blasted career home run # 250 in the sixth inning.  Earlier in the year Ryan Howard could not hit dirt and now he is on an MVP pace, baseball messes with ya that way !

The Brewers lost earlier in the day to the Cubs, good and bad news for the Fightins.  Good that Milwaukee lost but bad that the Cubs magic number is down to 2 to clinch the central division.  The Cubs play the Mets next and one has to wonder if they rest a few folks after they clinch. 

Question to Ponder

Atlanta’s John Smoltz is a free agent next season, what about Mr. Smoltz in Phillies pinstripes in 2009 ?

Jimmy Rollins started this one off hot as he doubled in his first at bat, advanced to third on a single by Jayson Werth and scored on a double play ground out by Chase Utley.   The Phillies scored three more in the second as starting pitcher Brett Myers came thru with a two out single to score Pat Burrell who had led off the inning with a walk.  J-Roll stayed hot in his second at bat as after Chris Coste, ( on with an intentional walk), and Myers had advanced on a wild pitch Rollins singled to center field to plate both runners.   Pat Burrell smoked a long solo home run to the upper deck in  left field in the fourth to make it  5-0.  Shane Victorino doubled and then a HBP to Coste and walks to Rollins and Jayson Werth forced in another run and Brewer starter Jeff Suppan was done for the evening after only going 3 and 2/3 innings!  The score at the end of four was 6 -0 Phillies.

The Brewers scored a run in the seventh on a Prince Fielder solo home run.  It was only the second hit allowed by Brett Myers in the game !  Myers was outstanding and on three days rest!  He pitched a complete game two hitter !  The man is full of energy and propelled the team to win in this one!

Big offensive game for J-Roll as he was on base all five plate appearances with two hits and three walks.  Shane Victorino also had a big game as he had three hits in the contest. 

Chatter

The Phillies will definitely need a fifth starter on either Tuesday or Wednesday.  With the rainout this past Friday forcing Joe Blanton to throw on Sunday the only pitchers amongst the first four capable of throwing Tuesday and Wednesday are  Jamie Moyer and  Cole Hamels, both would have to go on three days rest…………. while possible it is not likely they will ask Hamels to throw on that short a rest.  J.A. Happ or Adam Eaton will likely get a start in one of the two initial games of the Braves series.

Shout out to Catherine Hildwine who won the $100 McDonalds giveaway for the game when Pat the Bat smoked a home run in the fourth……….. good job Cath bringing the team good luck in this one!  There was a major league game in Milwaukee tonight even though the Brewers were in Philly!  In a rarity the Houston Astros “hosted”  the Chicago Cubs at Miller Park as Houston is still in recovery from the hit of Hurricane Isaac.

The Phillies have fared relatively well whenever they have been featured on Fox TV’s regional telecasts as today’s game was. Jimmy Rollins started the game off right for the Fightins as he led off with a single and scored on a double to right by Chase Utley. Jayson Werth scored Utley with a single and then scored himself as Shane Victorino knocked him in with a single. The Phillies added two more in the second as Ryan Howard plated both Rollins and Utley with a single. Both Rollins and Utley had collected thier second hits of the game to lead off the inning.

The Brewers scored two runs in the fourth as Jason Kendall was credited with a two out two RBI double that Pat Burrell misplayed. Cole Hamels was upset with the misplay and put his arm up in disgust, the young fella has to learn it is not a smart thing to show up a teammate on a mistake ! Just an inning before Burrell made an excellent play on a ball hit off the wall by Prince Fielder holding Fielder to a single, this allowed for Fielder to be doubled up when the next batter grounded into a double play. Hamels needed to pick up his mate the way Burrell had done for him on that play. It comes with experience.

Jimmy Rollins got the two runs back for Hamels with a two run home run in the Phillies sixth. Hamels pitched 6 and 1/3 innings of strong baseball to earn his 13th win of the season. The closing firm of Chad Durbin, J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge finished the game for the Phillies to put the team within 2 games of a tie for the wild card playoff spot!

J-Roll had three hits in this one, when he is on base and Mr. Howard is hot like he is this team is very tough. Why anyone would want to trade Ryan Howard is beyond me, especially when he gets in streaks like he is in now. Even what some perceive to be a subpar season for him he is still leading the league in home runs and RBI’s !!

Chatter

Since the game friday night was rained out there will be a doubleheader tommorow to make it up. It will be the same setup as last week with a day/night format. Joe Blanton will take the ball in the first game and Brett Myers will go in the second. Myers will be working on three days rest for the first time this year and like teammate Jamie Moyer did not hesitate to accept the assignment. He was even spotted in the bullpen during thursday nights game after pitching on Wednesday and stated he could go a inning then! Gotta love the guys desire to help the team in whatever way he can! The Brewers could have opted to play on Monday, an off day for both teams but given choice decided they would rather face Myers on short rest. Geoff Jenkins is off the disabled list and eligible to play but not sure what his status is in regards to effectiveness.