I can’t tell you how much this pains me to say this being a diehard Giants fan. But a noble journalist puts his allegiances aside.
Here is an in-depth comparison of two teams, in amazing detail and quality (HD detail and quality). The main determinant in the series, I believe, will be the powerful offense of the Phils…and the three-runs-is-a-chore offense of the Giants.
On a few different fronts, it’s as easy as “1-2-3” for the Philadelphia Phillies this postseason.
Last night, of course, the Phillies dispensed the upstart Cincinnati Reds 1-2-3 in the NLDS. The series sweep was of historic significance as it was the first ever in the postseason for the 127-year old organization— at least on the winning end.
And the Phillies plan for the 2010 postseason revolves around the rock solid 1-2-3 foundation provided by “The Big Three” trio of ace starters. Cole Hamels fulfilled his part of the plan almost to perfection (a term that cannot be used gratuitously with Roy Halladay on the staff) by tossing a low-stress, high-gloss five-hit shutout in last evening’s clincher.
Although Phillies players engaged in the customary series-clinching champagne celebration, they did so in a manner that suggested they had been there before, and still have places to go.
Wrapping up the division series was but step one in their 1-2-3 postseason formula. Next on the agenda is achieving a similar outcome in the NLCS and then the World Series.
From the outset of last night’s game until the final 95-mph heater that set Scott Rolen down swinging to end the game, Hamels displayed his unwavering determination to execute on those plans.
In contrast to last season’s postseason, “Hollywood” brought a Halladay-like focus to wrap up the series last evening. When asked about his performance, Hamels made it abundantly clear that the NLDS victory was but one step towards the team’s goal of bringing another World Series Championship to Philly.
That type of attitude and pitching performance has to be unnerving to the rest of the postseason field.
After Shane Victorino made a terrific running catch of a Brandon Phillips liner in the first, Hamels never seemed to break a sweat as he suffocated the Reds’ high-powered offense.
When Phillips started the home ninth with a base hit to awaken the Great American Ballpark crowd and provide a sense of hope, Hollywood coolly induced soon-to-be-MVP Joey Votto to ground into a tailor-made double play.
Suddenly, it was as if a huge wet blanket had been dropped from the gaudy orange “Conan” blimp hovering above the stadium.
Hamels’ mid-90’s fastball, low-90’s cutter, nose-diving change-up, and occasional hook had Reds hitters flailing and guessing all night. Never did he allow a free pass or more than one baserunner in an inning, while racking up nine strikeouts.
The Phillies offense remained somewhat in hibernation as it managed but two runs of support for their ace lefty. One run was again donated by the unexpectedly generous Reds defense, and the other came by virtue of a Chase Utley bomb into the right-center field bleachers.
Besides the superior pitching of Halladay, Hamels, and the bullpen, the Phillies’ edge in postseason experience proved to be a large difference in this series. Not to take anything away from an excellent Phillies team, but the Reds were perhaps a little tight.
Similar to the Phillies in 2007, Cincinnati got a taste of the postseason and appears to have a very bright future. They have a young core of talent that should provide strong offense, defense and pitching over the next few seasons—much like this now-seasoned Philly team.
In this series, though, the Phillies took care of business 1-2-3 to accomplish step one of their postseason plan.
With the champagne cobwebs mostly cleared from their heads today, it’s now time for the Phillies to focus on step two.
They will take the wise course of one step at a time, but the big celebration will wait until the postseason plan becomes a matter of 1-2-3.
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It wasn’t supposed to be this easy, was it?
Riding the brilliant pitching of lanky lefty Cole Hamels, the Phillies traveled to Cincinnati and left the Great American Ball Park with a 2-0 win and a 3-0 series sweep of their NLDS showdown.
Their reward: five days off, while the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves duke it out to see who will travel to Philly on Saturday to start the NLCS. Either team will be considered the underdog; with their win today, the Giants are up two games to one.
Back to Cincy. If the Reds thought that playing at home–in their friendly confines–would automatically bring them a different result than the two previous games, they were mistaken. Sadly mistaken.
And two of the culprits that defeated them in Philadelphia would show up to bring them down again before their hometown fans. Just as in Game Two, their defense was suspect, if not quite as disastrous. And just as in Game One, they ran into a terrific pitching performance, if not quite as superlative.
The Reds would be victimized by their defense in the top of the first. With runners on second and third and two outs, starting pitcher Johnny Cueto (who would give two runs, one earned in his five innings) coaxed Jayson Werth to hit a routine grounder to shortstop Orlando Cabrera. Cabrera’s high throw pulled first baseman Joey Votto off the bag, allowing Placido Polanco to score the game’s first run.
As it turned out, that run was the only run that Hamels would need. For some reason Hamels dominates the Reds lineup (statistically the best in the NL in 2010), even though they play in one of the most hitter-friendly parks in baseball.
Hamels would go the distance, yielding only five hits and zero walks while racking up nine strikeouts. If it weren’t for Roy Halladay’s “no-no” in Game One, this would have easily been the best pitched game of the series. Halladay’s treasure notwithstanding, Hamels’ five-hit shutout ran his career record at the Ballpark to a remarkable 7-0 in 8 starts.
Of Hamels’ masterpiece, Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, not one who is easily impressed, allowed that “He was sharp, and I mean, he was good the whole nine innings.” Understated? Perhaps. But coming from Manuel, it was almost a Shakespearean sonnet of praise and admiration.
It was good that Hamels brought his “A” game, as the Phillies bats only came alive for two runs on eight hits. Their second run came with two outs in the top of the fifth when Chase Utley got just enough of a Cueto offering to drive it one row deep into the right-center field seats.
The apparent homer wasn’t without some controversy as the play was reviewed to ensure that fans did not cross over the wall to interfere with center fielder Drew Stubbs’ path to the ball. After the umpires huddled, the home run ruling was upheld and Hamels had a second run to work with.
As it turned out, two runs was overkill for Hamels, who threw 82 of his 119 pitches for strikes. Indeed, he can savor his sterling effort, as he won’t pitch for at least another week.
WHERE ARE THE BATS?
The 2010 Phillies are a very good hitting team, if not quite the fence busters of the last few years. Of course, when a team enjoys the type of games that Halladay and Hamels pitched, and the kind of youthful, self-destructive effort that plagued the Reds in Game Two, they did not need much offense.
Indeed, if you looked at the composite stats of the Phillies’ starting eight, they don’t resemble a team that just swept a series.
Shane Victorino: 3-13, .231, 2 R, 3 RBI
Placido Polanco: 1-9, .111. 1 R
Chase Utley: 3-11 ,273, 3 R, 4 RBI, 1 HR
Ryan Howard: 3-11, .273, 0 R, 0 RBI
Jayson Werth: 2-12, .167, 2 R, 1 RBI
Jimmy Rollins: 1-11, .091, 1 R
Raul Ibanez: 3-12, .250, 0 R, 0 RBI
Carlos Ruiz: 2-8, .250, 1 R, 1 RBI
Of course, the Reds were even less potent at the plate. With only 11 hits in the series, they set a record for least hits (ever) in a postseason series.
GOLD NOTES
Was anyone here a baseball fan in the 1940s? If so, you may remember the St. Louis Cardinals team that won the pennant three straight years, 1942-44. The Phils are one round away from being the first NL team since then to match their “hat trick.”
With the victory, Hamels improved his career postseason record to 6-3. The other members of H2O, you ask? Roy Oswalt is 4-0, and you may have heard that Halladay made his postseason debut last Wednesday. It was kind of successful.
The Philadelphia Phillies debuted as a franchise in 1883. Their sweep of the Reds was their first-ever postseason sweep. There’s a lesson in there somewhere. If you live to be 127, great things will come to you.
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Hey everyone, baseball fanatic Evan Adrian here, live blogging game 3 of the NLDS between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds. Cole Hamels will attempt to close out a sweep of the Reds. Cincinnati turns to Johnny Cueto, hoping the right-handed fireballer can keep this series alive.
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I don’t claim to have watched every game this postseason, due to the unfortunate condition of having things to do during the day. And yet, somehow, I’ve managed to see many, many blown calls. This is rather alarming, seeing as MLB lacks any process to review these mistakes.
You may have heard of some of them. There was the ball that Yankee’s right fielder Greg Golson trapped before it could even bounce (a feat that I bet few Hall of Famers could lay claim to). There was the three-run home run Ranger’s third basemen Michael Young hit after swinging and missing with two strikes (the only play here that I haven’t seen).
There was Giants catcher Buster Posey scoring the only run in Tim Lincecum’s gem, despite being tagged while stealing second earlier. I would even add Phillie’s second baseman Chase Utley‘s trip around the bases in Friday night’s game.
I’m a little skeptical that Utley got hit by Aroldis Chapman in the seventh inning. I would have to say that my suspicions were aroused when Utley managed to show absolutely no reaction to apparently getting nicked in the fingers by a 102 mph fastball (I’m guessing fingers; if you forced me to guess what part of the body he was hit on based on his reaction, I’d have to guess “personal space bubble”).
Chase, here’s some advice: in a couple of weeks, you’re going to get some time off. Get some acting lessons in that time in case this situation arise again. That performance looked like Keanu Reeves next to Derek Jeter’s Shatner-esque show a few weeks ago.
I would also love to see the following play at second again, but apparently, TBS has taken the Division Series-wide stance of “Maybe if we ignore the close plays, they’ll go away.” We got two camera views following the original play, one of them apparently taken from the cell phone of a drunk fan standing on an building adjacent to the stadium (just my two cents).
TBS, some more advice: don’t be afraid to show close plays repeatedly. People love to have something to be angry about. Especially anything involving the Yankees or Red Sox in any way.
In any case, Bud Selig has apparently decided that the adage “Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it” is actually an Ancient Phoenician curse never meant to be heard by the ears of man.
After ignoring calls for more instant replay after last year’s playoffs (and last year’s regular season, and the Armando Galarraga game, and the Phillies-Marlins game, and…), Selig has continued to ignore calls for more replay (shocker, I know), claiming he hasn’t heard anyone close to the game request more replay.
For his sake, we’re not going to go too in depth with that claim; he doesn’t need anymore help to look dumb (although, in Bud’s defense, maybe those close to him have assumed that the need for replay was obvious and that Bud didn’t need THAT much help to make such a leap).
Look, whatever your reasoning is, Bud, it’s not funny anymore. We can put a fifth umpire in the booth to review any close plays, and it won’t slow down the game (especially compared to the time a manager takes to come out and argue). It doesn’t even have to be strikes and balls, it can just be close plays on the field.
I don’t really know what’s holding this up. Do you think umpires don’t deserve the right to correct their mistakes? Is it some crippling case of technophobia? I mean, you’re looking worse than my grandfather, and he didn’t know you had to delete e-mails to save space UNTIL THIS YEAR. He even STILL uses his VCR because he can’t figure out how to work a DVD player. This is pitiful. Or maybe this is the cause of some wild bet with Murray Chass to see just how fast you can turn people against you?
Whatever, the case, you can’t just continue to ignore the problem. Maybe you can say “the bad calls even out over the whole season”. That’s because the regular season consists of somewhere in the neighborhood of 70 bajillion plays.
The playoffs aren’t that forgiving. Any one play can alter who wins the game, or even the series, and guess what? There aren’t enough games to say it’ll even out later. What is it going to take, a blown call that affects which team wins the World Series?
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In a sport where style points (luckily) don’t count, the Phillies played a little “prettier” than the Reds in claiming a 7-4 victory and a 2-0 lead in their best of five NLDS.
In Game One, Roy Halladay was the clear star; in Game Two, the Phils mostly benefited from the largesse of their visitors.
One knew that tonight’s script would be different when it took all of four pitches for starter Roy Oswalt to lose his shutout bid. Leadoff hitter Brandon Phillips, deposited a lackluster Oswalt change-up deep into the leftfield seats.
The Reds scored again in the second inning, primarily because of Chase Utley‘s errant arm. Laynce (correct spelling) Nix got to first base after Utley made a fine grab ranging to his glove side, but pulled Ryan Howard off the bag with his throw. Nix would score on a Ryan Hannigan grounder to Rollins who threw to Utley for the force.
Trying to complete the 6-4-3 double play, Utley’s throw—affected by a hard-sliding Drew Stubbs—bounced by Howard.
The Reds’ unearned run—set up by Utley’s two errors—would be a harbinger for the wild things to come.
The Reds’ third run was clean: a monster, second-deck home-run by Jay Bruce to lead off the fourth. And the Reds would score another single run in the fifth highlighted by a Phillips double and a Joey Votto sacrifice fly.
Oswalt would be pulled after a very short (by his standards) five innings of work, snapping a string of gems that he has authored at Citizens Bank Park.
To his credit, he did kept the game close, and the second half of the game would be all Phillies—helped immeasurably by the Reds’ uncharacteristic putrid play.
The Fightins got to starter Bronson Arroyo, sort of, in the bottom of the fifth. It was a two-out rally ignited by a fielding error from the normally sure-handed Phillips and a bad throw by rocket-armed third baseman Scott Rolen. With the bases jammed, Utley made them pay with a two-run single to right.
After JC Romero and Chad Durbin combined to keep the Reds off the board in the sixth, the Phils would get one more back when Shane Victorino drew a bases loaded walk.
How did the Phillies load the bases? A Jayson Werth leadoff walk, and two hit batsmen: Carlos Ruiz was nailed on his left knee, and Ben Francisco, in a scary moment, was beaned in the helmet.
But if you thought the bottom of the sixth was ugly, it was Spalding Guide-pretty compared to the bottom of the seventh.
With the heralded, fireballing rookie Aroldis Chapman on the hill, it did not seem that the Phils would be able to touch the phenom. Chapman immediately got two strikes on Utley, but then came inside on Chase, who immediately ran to first base with the apparent hit-by-pitch. Was it a Derek Jeter-esque bluff?
Whatever the case, with Utley on first, Chapman blew away Howard on three straight pitches before inducing Werth to hit a one-hopper to Rolen. Rolen fielded it cleanly and threw to second to try to get the force out on Utley. Utley was ruled safe on the bang-bang play
Things were just getting really interesting.
Jimmy Rollins then hit a sinking liner to right that Bruce turned into a two-base error when he seemed to lose the “can of corn” in the lights. The ball rolled past him, and Utley scored the tying run.
Werth also scored on the bizarre play when Phillips dropped the relay throw. Two errors on the play, four errors for the game, and the Phillies found themselves with a 6-4 lead.
Riding a super bullpen effort—two hits and no runs in three innings of work—the two-time defending NL champs tacked on a seventh run more conventionally. Werth singled in Utley who had singled and stolen second. Actually, the stolen base could’ve been ruled a wild pitch, but Utley was credited with the pilfered bag as he wasrunning on the play.
All of this craziness set the stage for closer Brad Lidge to enter the ninth with a three-run cushion. It appeared that he might need all of those runs when he walked leadoff man Bruce. But this was not the Reds night, and Lidge retired the next three batters to save the game for winning pitcher Jose Contreras and give the Phils a 2-0 lead in the series.
On a night when Roy wasn’t Halladay and was also a poor version of Oswalt, the Phillies won an ugly game that neither team really deserved to win.
But with a 2-0 series lead, and Hamels on the hill in Game Three (with the Reds needing to beat him and Halladay at some point if they’re going to win this series), the Phils will look back on this as a thing of beauty.
GOLD NOTES
Any resemblance between tonight’s Reds and the Reds team that tied the Padres for fewest errors in the league—with only 72—was purely accidental. And the Cincy players who were guilty of errors were: second baseman Brandon Phillips (two), third baseman Scott Rolen, (a throwing error and a poor choice to throw to second on the Werth bouncer) and right fielder Jay Bruce (losing the ball in the lights was the key play of the game) are among the best in the league at their positions.
The game featured six errors (four by second basemen), two wild pitches and three hit batsmen. Only two of the Phils’ seven runs were earned.
Reds starter Bronson Arroyo has the most innings pitched in the NL since 2006, his first year in the league. Thanks, TBS, for that stat.
Brandon Phillips’ leadoff home run was the Reds’ first postseason hit since Slow Eddie Taubensee did so in 1995. No, these have not been the Reds of Rose, Bench and Morgan the last 15 years—or tonight, for that matter.
The starters for Game Three—a tentative 7:07 p.m. Sunday start at Cincinnati—will be Cole Hamels against Johnny Cueto. 7-oh-7?
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Hey there, baseball fans. Die-hard baseball fan Evan Adrian here, live blogging game 2 of the Reds-Phillies NLDS. Let’s see if Roy Oswalt can follow Roy Halladay’s lead and shut out the National League best Cincinnati Reds‘ offense.
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Part 4 of 7 Phillies Championship Advantages
As they say, timing is everything. After a highly challenging 2010 season wrought with unending obstacles, that little bit of wisdom might particularly ring true for the Philadelphia Phillies.
The primary hurdles related to the non-stop stream of injuries that proliferated throughout the season. Perhaps the others involved a sense of confidence that spilled over to become a lack of urgency.
As the season edged toward late July, to say the Phillies were a disappointment is putting it mildly. Losing six out of seven games after the All-Star break left the team just two games over .500 with a 48-46 record.
The Phils found themselves staring up at both the Atlanta Braves and New York Mets, a full seven games off the pace. Additionally, they had four teams ahead of them in the wild-card race.
The next day, Cole Hamels locked into a pitcher’s duel with Adam Wainwright in an attempt to avert a four-game sweep at the hands of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Phillies finally broke through to score a pair of runs in the 11th inning to secure a gut-check victory.
Something seemed to kick in on that day. Or perhaps it was the next day.
Upon returning to Philly, the club announced a changing of the guard in its coaching staff. Hitting coach Milt Thompson was out, Triple-A instructor Greg Gross was back in.
With all due respect to his abilities, surely Gross didn’t immediately bring pearls of wisdom that caused the club’s dormant bats to awake, but in fact they did.
The Phillies proceeded to sweep the seven-game home stand against the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks to draw back into contention.
The impact could be felt in both the clubhouse and the front office. Any notions that maybe this just wasn’t the Phillies year quickly evaporated in favor of a renewed conviction to succeed.
General manager Ruben Amaro and the organization responded by taking a couple risks. First, they summoned prized prospect Domonic Brown to the big leagues to replace disabled Shane Victorino.
And, then on July 29th with the trade deadline looming, Amaro pulled the trigger on a blockbuster deal to land Houston Astros ace hurler Roy Oswalt. The Phillies now had matching “Roys” to wrap around a resurgent Hamels.
Surprise that the second-year GM was able to land yet another premier starter was exceeded only by the Phillies ownership’s willingness to take on another big salary.
Like the uncharacteristic in-season coaching change, the move signaled that the front office was “all in” for 2010. The preseason aspirations of attaining another championship were still clearly in their sights.
After a somewhat disoriented Oswalt struggled in his Phillies debut and a Brad Lidge meltdown led to a pair of losses in the nation’s capital, the team quickly shook off any disappointment.
A stretch run to remember resumed.
The Phillies needed just 66 games to double up their 48-win total. A 48-46 record was followed up with their current 48-18 run.
Doing the math, that’s a 216-point jump in winning percentage to a spectacular .727 mark.
As they say, the Phillies truly are peaking at the right time.
Beyond the empirical evidence, lie the more subjective assessments that further support this to be true.
The overall team is currently healthier than it has been all season, particularly the starting eight and the back-end of the bullpen. Additionally, each of the “Big Three” has a history of pitching their best when the stakes are the highest.
In the case of Halladay, his “big-game” reputation has been built with superior work down the stretch in pursuit of a playoff spot. He is 28-11 with a 2.47 ERA over his career in September and October.
Oswalt has done the same. The other Roy sports a 32-9 lifetime record with a 2.59 ERA in those two months—plus a 4-0 postseason record.
Hamels simply has a pair of 2008 postseason MVP trophies as a testimonial.
All in all, the timing appears right for the Phillies’ best work of the season just as the fall tourney begins. Yes, timing really can be everything.
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Everyone knows the playoffs are about pitching, especially pitching depth. However, of course some lineups are easier to pitch to than others. The teams that can support their pitchers are the ones that are going to win in the postseason. These are the teams with the lineups that are going to give pitchers the most trouble in October.
Part 3 of 7
Although the Phillies have a league-wide reputation as an offensive powerhouse, their numbers were down across the board this season. Appearances can be deceiving.
A peek at the rankings suggests that the Phillies might take a back seat to other playoff teams in terms of offensive output.
The Cincinnati Reds lead the National League in runs, batting average (.270), home runs (181), and slugging percentage (.434.)
Although in-season acquisitions have bolstered their run production, both the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres are built around pitching. Similarly, the Atlanta Braves rely more on pitching than offense to win games.
Although the presence of the designated hitter makes comparisons between the two leagues difficult, all four American League clubs have posted impressive offensive statistics this season. The AL contenders have varying formulas, but each of them ranks in the top five in runs scored.
When it comes to the 2010 Philadelphia Phillies, though, the stat sheets don’t tell the true story. Sometimes there is truth in the old adage “figures lie and liars figure” and this is a prime example.
For the past several seasons, the Phillies reigned at the top of league rankings with their high octane offense.
The previous two seasons placed them first in home runs. Last year, they captured that distinction by a large margin, clubbing 34 more than the next National League team.
As further validation that the Phillies have been built for the long ball, they ranked one or two in slugging percentage over the past four campaigns.
And, in the true measure of offensive prowess, the Phils ranked first or second in runs scored each of the previous five seasons.
In 2010, Philadelphia’s home run production currently sits 61 dingers behind that of a year ago. It is safe to say, regardless of any further exploits by Ben Francisco, John Mayberry, or Mike Sweeney in the regular season’s last three games, the final tally will be a very large drop-off.
After a strong stretch run, they have climbed the rankings a bit in runs scored, but will likely finish third.
Statistics and rankings aside, though, this is probably the team’s most dangerous lineup in the current era of prosperity.
The recorded numbers mask the lineup’s true offensive potential as well as the level of anxiety it stirs amongst opposing hurlers.
Just ask Jonathan Broxton.
The reason that the numbers seem not to align, of course, is simple—Phillies regulars logged an inordinate amount of time in the training room this year.
The injury impact on the statistics has been two-fold. The most obvious has been the lost production associated with the roughly 200 games that regulars have not stepped on the playing field due to physical ailments.
And, then, when players returned to action, their productivity suffered from inactivity and an often compromised physical state. This was most notable with Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, and Jimmy Rollins as they struggled to regain their swings.
And, I would be remiss not to mention that Howard’s stint on the DL and subsequent recovery non-fortuitously coincided with the stretch of season that has historically been his own personal fireworks display.
The way this season has gone, it would be foolish to rule out anymore physical setbacks. That notwithstanding, though, it is the Phillies’ good fortune— and opponents’ ill fortune—that the lineup is set to be intact for the postseason.
And, as good as the Reds hit all year, this Phillies lineup as it was conceived in the offseason is the gold standard.
It possesses the rare combination of game changing speed and power capable of alternately intimidating opposing hurlers while instilling confidence in its own.
Count this Phillies potent offense as another key October advantage. It appears poised to do some postseason damage.
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