Kuzul

Texas Rangers pitcher, Cliff Lee had one of the 2010 MLB postseason’s best performances last night at Yankee Stadium.  He struck out 13 New York Yankees hitters, while only allowing two hits and zero runs in eight innings.

While that seems like an outstanding game, (which it is) a couple other performances have one-upped Lee when it comes down to the final stat line.

2010 is definitely the year of the pitcher (outside of 1968), a couple of hitting performances have been just as important. 

Did the slugger of your favorite postseason team make the list?

Here are the top five performances of the 2010 playoffs (besides Cliff Lee).

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Due to timely hitting and a dominating pitching performance by Roy Oswalt, the Philadelphia Phillies defeated the San Francisco Giants 6-1 in Game 2 of the 2010 NLCS.  

Cole Hamels and the Philadelphia Phillies now need to focus on how to defeat the Giants in San Francisco in Game 3.   

Matt Cain will get the start for the home team, as he will try and lead the Giants to a 2-1 series lead. 

With the series tied 1-1, Game 3 may determine the winner of the series.  The losing team will face some daunting questions.  

If the Phillies lose, will Roy Halladay get the start in Game 4?  If the Giants lose, will Tim Lincecum get the start in Game 4? 

If the San Francisco Giants can defeat another member of “H2O”, the series may take a turn for the worst for the Phillies.  

Here are five keys for victory for the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 3 of the NLCS.  

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Even after just two games in this NLCS, one thing is as clear as ever: The two-time defending NL Champion Philadelphia Phillies have their hands full this time around.  These San Francisco Giants are not “your father’s Giants.”  This team has gotten it done all season long with pitching and timely hitting when necessary, and present a very tough challenge for the Phillies in the NLCS.

The Phillies, hoping to get to a third consecutive World Series, are playing a different type of game this time around and it has worked to fruition.  It’s been their pitching, not offense, that has brought them here. Their H20 rotation of Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Roy Oswalt has carried them as their bats were often silenced this season.

The Giants on the other hand have an entirely different lineup than they did in the beginning of the season and caught fire down the stretch to rip the NL West away from the San Diego Padres.  Pitching alone may not be enough for San Francisco, but Cody Ross has made sure that pitching isn’t the only thing the Giants can do as well as the Phillies in this series.  

With two games in the rearview mirror, it’s now a best-of-five with the Giants holding home-field advantage, hosting the next three games in consecutive days.  This may go down to the wire.  Someone will need to swing the pendulum of momentum out West before the series shifts back to Philadelphia, if necessary.

Now, let’s go ahead and bear witness to some of the better performances over the weekend.  

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We panicked every year that they wouldn’t win the division, but they did. We panicked during their July slump, but they overcame this by having a hot August and September.

Who were they?

The Philadelphia Phillies.

The panics have already started again in Philadelphia after a 4-3 loss to the San Fransisco Giants in Game 1 of the NLCS.

For some reason, this loss has made fans start to doubt the Phillies, and even forget about Roy Halladay‘s no-hitter.

Let me be the first to tell you not to panic.

If you watched closely to Halladay’s outing last night, it really wasn’t that bad. Although he gave up four runs, he pitched well.

He kept his velocity throughout, and racked up seven strikeouts.

Those two solo shots were just two out of his 105 pitches that he left hanging, something Halladay never does.

Don’t expect Roy to stop the engine in the playoffs.

In Games 2 and 3 we have Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.

Two experienced playoff starters, and Hamels is a NLCS and World Series MVP.

On to the Phillies offense, there’s no need to panic there either. Does anyone realize we scored three runs and hit two homers off of Tim Lincecum?

Chase Utley and Jayson Werth combine for 22 postseason home runs.

Carlos Ruiz has been our most clutch and consistent hitter. His double off of Lincecum last night proved it.

Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino have good postseason pasts.

The only player to panic about is Jimmy Rollins, and I think he will come around.

This 2010 Phillies team is probably the best team the franchise has ever had.

Our pitching staff is loaded, and we are the most experienced postseason team along side with the New York Yankees.

The Phillies have won and lost a World Series, so they know what it’s like to be on both ends of the stick.

Why are we doubting experience?

We’ve seen what this team can do when they are down in the count. They have overcome many obstacles in years past, so why can’t they overcome this one?

I’m not sure if it’s Philadelphia fans in general, but the panicking needs to come to an end.

Don’t ever doubt the Phightin’ Phils.

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Regular season baseball is a funny game. Postseason baseball is knee-slapping, Will Ferrell in Anchorman game.

Of all the things that we thought about as we entered Game 1 of the NLCS, Cody Ross hitting two home runs off of Roy Halladay wasn’t one of them. Every postseason like clockwork, we see players who we would never expect to become heroes do the unthinkable.

Ross tagged Halladay for two solo HRs, and Tim Lincecum outdueled the Phillies’ ace as the Giants won 4-3 to take Game 1 of their best-of-seven NLCS.

This game featured two of the games best in Lincecum and Halladay, and the game kind of lived up to the hype. Were both pitchers great? Absolutely not. But they were both very good.

Halladay made four mistakes in his seven innings of work.

The first two came to Ross. Halladay tried to bury an inside fastball to Ross in the third, and he missed bad and Ross deposited it 417 ft into the leftfield bleachers. The hit by Ross was the first one Halladay had given up in the postseason.

Then in the fifth, Halladay made the same mistake to Ross. Again he tried to throw an inside fastball and again missed and again Ross hit it into the leftfield bleachers.

Take a look at the pitch plots on the two Ross ABs.

Ross AB in the third

Ross AB in the fifth

The turquoise plot indicates the ball that was hit in the AB and as you can see, the pitches that Ross hit out were almost in the same spot. The other mistakes Halladay made were in the sixth, and the pitch sequence to Pat Burrell was the turning point in the game.

With two outs and Buster Posey on first base, Halladay threw a perfect cutter to Burrell that home plate umpire Derryl Cousins called a ball. In all fairness to Cousins, he hadn’t called that pitch a strike all game, but that pitch was a strike.

On the very next pitch, Burrell ripped a ball to the wall for a *double. I put an asterisk next to the double because any other leftfielder besides Raul Ibanez would have caught that ball. Ibanez catches that ball and the non-strike call to Burrell doesn’t become such a big deal.

The last mistake Halladay made was to Juan Uribe, who was the next batter in the inning. Halladay left another fastball over the plate and Uribe singled up the middle to give the Giants a 4-1 lead.

On the flip side, Lincecum only made two mistakes.

The first one was to Carlos Ruiz in the third and the second one was to Jayson Werth in the sixth. Both were on fastballs out over the plate and both were hit for HRs to rightfield.

Lincecum struck out eight over seven innings of work. He only threw 41 percent first-pitch strikes, but rebounded in the count because of a wicked changeup that he threw for a strike 70 percent of the time.

Here are some other observations from Game 1…

Very impressed with Javier Lopez in this game. He went through Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in the eighth with no problem what so ever. Didn’t think he had that in him.

I thought Bruce Bochy managed a great game. Pinch-running Nate Schierholtz for Burrell in the sixth was a smart move at the time, and I loved the fact that he went to Brian Wilson in the eighth to face Werth.

Jimmy Rollins has gotten old fast. The 2007 season seems like 10 years ago. He has a $8.5 million club option for 2011, which the Phillies will certainly pick up, but I doubt he will be in a Philly uniform after 2011.

I can’t wait for the WWE to have a lookalike tag-team match at WrestleMania. Edge and Werth vs. CM Punk and Wilson. This needs to be done.

Is Game 2 a must-win game for the Phillies? No, not at all. Winning Game 2 would certainly help, but the Phillies are a team that can come back from an 0-2 series deficit.

Game 2 is Sunday at 7:57 PM est and will pit Jonathan Sanchez against Roy Oswalt.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Game 1 of the NLCS was supposed to be an epic pitchers duel between two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum and no-hit wonder Roy Halladay. 

Instead, both pitchers did not have their best stuff, though Halladay continued where he left off with retiring the first seven Giants he faced. 

Then, No. 8 hitter Cody Ross stepped into the batter’s box. 

Ross has an unimposing figure, being 5’10” and 195 pounds, and had a career batting mark of 3-for-16 against Halladay before the game. 

However, that changed in a hurry.

Ross turned on two inside fastballs for home runs to help the San Francisco Giants win 4-3 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series over the Philadelphia Phillies. 

The 30-year-old journeyman provided the necessary spark for the Giants to overcome Halladay. The first homer was in the third for a 1-0 edge.

After Carlos Ruiz tied it with his own blast, Ross put his team ahead 2-1 in the fifth. 

In the sixth, Buster Posey singled and then Pat Burrell doubled him home. Juan Uribe finished the scoring with an RBI single for the 4-1 lead. 

Jayson Werth had a two-run homer to cut the deficit 4-3, but Giants’ relievers Javier Lopez and Brian Wilson shut the Phillies down. 

Ross, a right fielder claimed on waivers from Florida on Aug. 21, also had key hits against the Atlanta Braves in Game 4 of the NLDS. 

He homered and had the go-ahead RBI to win the series for San Francisco. 

Not bad for Ross’ first postseason. 

And Halladay is now a peg lower after his legendary no-hitter, giving up eight hits and four runs in seven innings.

Having Ross and his teammates beat the Phillies’ ace could give them confidence when facing Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels. 

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Torture. That is what the Giants like to do to their fans.

Although the Giants took the NLDS 3-1 against the Atlanta Braves, there was no absence of nail-biting, heart-stopping moments. Each game was decided by one run, and one of the four games went into extra innings.

Now with a few days to rest, the Giants will need to continue to dominate on the mound and have some good old luck if they are to win the National League pennant from the Philadelphia Phillies. 

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The San Francisco Giants made short work of the Atlanta Braves in the National League Divisional Series.  Tim Lincecum and his teammates gave Braves manager Bobby Cox a rude farewell, winning the series three games to one.

Their reward?  They get to play the Philadelphia Phillies, who swept the Cincinnati Reds in their first round match-up.

But, that series won’t start for a couple days, so let’s take a look at five players who played key roles in the Giants’ first round victory.

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With a gem of a shutout by Tim Lincecum, it’s hard to look at game one of the NLDS through anything but rose colored glasses for Giants fans.

The Incredible Hulk (Lincecum) pitched a two hitter, struck out 14, broke a Giants postseason record for Ks in a game, and tied a major league record for most Ks in a postseason debut.

But as great as Lincecum was, Lady Luck was even greater because Atlanta Braves starter Derek Lowe was also dealing.

Buster Posey led off the 4th inning with a single.Then, Pat Burrell swung and missed for strike three on a hit and run.

Posey slid into second base and tried to dodge the tag of 2B Brooks Conrad. Posey joked after the game, “I’m glad we don’t have instant replay.”

It was his first stolen base at the Major League level. And probably his last.

After Uribe struck out, Braves Manager Bobby Cox intentionally walked Pablo Sandoval so Derek Lowe could square off against Cody Ross.

Lowe would try to dance around Ross with Lincecum on deck and an open base.

But Lowe made a mistake and threw a 2-0 pitch too close to the plate.Ross smashed it to the left of third baseman Omar Infante.

Lady luck took over as Infante misplayed the ball.

Even though it was scored a single, anyone watching the game could see it was a misplay and should have been ruled an error.

So the Giants tripled up on luck in the inning to score the only run of the game: Posey’s stolen base, Lowe’s mistake, Infante’s error and Cox’s gamble in not intentionally walking Ross.

You may recall the reverse happened to the Giants earlier in the year versus Colorado when Bochy let Lincecum nibble at Clint Barmes.

Barmes got a hit and Colorado won the game, so maybe the Giants were owed one.

In any event, this game was decided in the tiniest details.

Most of the Giants postseason games probably will be.

Which makes the other managerial blunder so hard to take.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Posey led off with a double and got to third on a fielding error.

After Burrell struck out, Juan Uribe walked to give the Giants runners on first and third with one out.

This was the nail in the coffin moment. If the Giants put another run or two on the board, that was it.

Cox knew it, so decided to turn Pablo Sandoval around by making a pitching change to lefty Jonny Venters.

It was Bochy’s turn to return serve.

He could have pinch hit Aaron Rowand or Edgar Renteria, and in case Cox fired back he had lefties Fontenot, Ishikawa, and Schierholtz ready as well.

But with several options, he just let Cox’s serve go right by him.

Giants fans all knew what the most probable outcome was: Pablo Sandoval would ground into a double play. It would probably be a first pitch swing, and out of the strike zone.

It doesn’t take any statistical analysis or a PhD in probability theory to know it was a terrible, terrible move by Bochy.

It was like torturous slow motion as the exact thought in the back of every Giants fan manifested itself on the field.

So on a night that might inspire cautious optimism, it’s important to remember reality.

Thank Lady Luck and hope the Braves keep playing bad defense.

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The Giants have a magic number of one.

The only way the Giants do not win the division is for the struggling Padres to win four in a row against San Francisco.

What I am trying to say is that it’s over.

For those who have commented on my articles, I will say it: I was wrong. But I did say the Giants would win the division at the beginning of the season.

Since that’s out of the way, we can move on to what we all want to know. Who should be on the Giants 2010 postseason roster?

Any player added to the roster by September 1 is eligible for the postseason, and it is only a 25-man roster. Teams can also change rosters between series. This roster is only for the National League Division Series.

The easy choices are the following:

SP: Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner, Barry Zito

RP: Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo, Jeremy Affedlt, Javier Lopez, Santiago Casilla

INF: Buster Posey, Aubrey Huff, Freddy Sanchez, Pablo Sandoval, Juan Uribe, Mike Fontenot

OF: Pat Burrell, Andres Torres, Jose Guillen

That is 19 guys. With six spots remaining, we have to take a closer look at who they have and who should be in.

There are 10 pitchers on that roster. Who else should be added to that staff?

Ramon Ramirez? Dan Runzler? Chris Ray? Maybe Guillermo Mota?

This is a team that has struggled more to score runs and may not carry as many pitchers to let more hitters on board.

San Francisco will probably go to a four-man rotation, meaning one of the lefties in the rotation will go to the bullpen. That would give the Giants three lefties in the pen.

Probably enough.

Ramirez maybe the only addition to the roster from the staff.

Now the hitters/defenders. The candidates are Cody Ross, Nate Schierholtz, Travis Ishikawa, Aaron Rowand, Edgar Renteria, and Eli Whiteside.

Whiteside is in because they need a backup catcher.

Ross and Schierholtz have come up huge in clutch situations and are the defensive replacements in the outfield. Ishikawa has been the Giants’ best pinch hitter all season and could provide some very good defense at first base.

One spot remaining. Pitcher or hitter?

For my last roster spot, I go back to the 2004 Boston Red Sox.

In game four of the ALCS, Dave Roberts stole second base late in that game and went on to comeback and win the game and the series.

Speed kills.

With that statement, I give my last roster spot goes to Darren Ford. He never has to pick up a bat. He doesn’t ever have to play defense.

All he would have to do is run the bases and wreak havoc on opposing pitchers and catchers.

As I am writing this, FP Santangelo named his 25-man roster and the only difference is Ford for Eugenio Velez.

I’m glad to hear I am not the only one to think this is the roster that should play in the NLDS.

One step at a time and the final step is to win Friday night. But after Friday night, this is what matters.

The best 25 men for the job.

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