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The New York Yankees won game one of the American League Championship Series 6-5, defeating the Texas Rangers at home in dramatic fashion.

After looking stymied by the pitching of CJ Wilson throughout the first seven innings, the Yankees staged a ferocious comeback, scoring five runs in the eighth inning to take the lead.

How did the Yankees perform? I’ve graded the performances of CC Sabathia and other contributing factors to the Yankees victory.

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Game 1 of the ALCS is complete and the Yankees pulled off a stunning comeback. After trailing 5-0 at one point, they stormed back with a run in the seventh and five in the eighth to take the lead.

It was a rally that crushed the crowd at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington and sent the Yankees to a 1-0 series lead, allowing them to regain home-field advantage.

The Rangers came out swinging early but couldn’t build an insurmountable lead and saw their bullpen implode. Here’s a report card, breaking down how the Rangers fared and what went wrong.

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Things didn’t exactly begin as planned for the New York Yankees against the Rangers on Friday night in Texas, but a slow start meant little in a 6-5 comeback victory that secured them a 1-0 ALCS series lead.

Yankees ace CC Sabathia could not find the strike zone to start the game, and his team stumbled to an early 3-0 deficit after a three-run home run by Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton in the first inning.

Sabathia’s struggles continued throughout the night, as he gave up another two runs off a Michael Young double in the fourth inning, giving the Rangers a 5-0 lead. Sabathia did not have his best stuff and threw more balls than strikes in an uncharacteristic performance. No. 52 departed after four innings, finishing with five runs allowed on six hits and four walks.

As Sabathia left the game, in came reliever Joba Chamberlain. Yankees fans cringe at the sight of Chamberlain, but the big righty came through on Friday, pitching a scoreless fifth inning with no hits and one walk allowed.

As Chamberlain settled things down for the Yanks, MVP candidate Robinson Cano finally got to Rangers starter C.J. Wilson, who had been brilliant all night long. Cano hit a solo shot in the top of the seventh, cutting the Rangers lead to 5-1. Cano finished 3-for-4 on the night with two RBI.

Relieving Chamberlain was Dustin Moseley, perhaps the most important pitcher of the game for the Yankees. Moseley pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh, striking out four and walking none. Moseley held the Rangers’ lead to four runs, which proved to be no problem for the Yankees offense.

After being dominant for seven innings, Wilson finally began to fold. The confident lefty gave up an infield single to a hustling Brett Gardner, who dove to first base to beat it out. Derek Jeter then hit a double down the line to score Gardner all the way from first.

That proved to be it for Wilson, as he could not get an out in the top of the eighth.

Darren Oliver relieved Wilson and loaded the bases for former Ranger Alex Rodriguez, who hit a bullet that took a tough hop right over Michael Young’s glove into the outfield. Rodriguez’s single scored Jeter and Swisher, cutting the Rangers’ lead to 5-4.

Cano followed with a single up the middle that tied the game at five. With runners on the corners, Marcus Thames singled to shallow left, scoring Rodriguez and giving the Yankees a 6-5 lead.

The Yankees’ eighth-inning man, Kerry Wood, relieved Moseley and gave up a leadoff walk to Ian Kinsler. The Yankees did not want to give up their lead right away, and they didn’t. Wood caught Kinsler sleeping and picked him off for the first out of the inning, then nailed down the final two outs of the eighth to set things up for Mariano Rivera in the ninth.

Rivera gave up a leadoff single, but it did not faze the best closer of all time. Rivera got the save as he always does, securing the Yankees’ dramatic comeback. 

Phil Hughes will be on the mound for New York in Game 2 on Saturday, as he will take on Colby Lewis.

in Texas

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Months before Stephen Strasburg‘s name (and elbow) was mentioned in the same sentence as Tommy John, the hype surrounding him and the anticipation of his arrival into Major League Baseball rivaled fans consumption of Fernandomania in the 1980s.

Strasburg set the bar so high for the 2010 rookie class that most casual fans missed out on a handful of first-year talent making their mark prior to K-Burg’s grand entrance in June.

In the National League, you had the amazing start for Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Leake, Atlanta’s Jason Heyward made the All-Star team and Buster Posey helped lead the Giants to the playoffs. In the American League, Detroit’s Austin Jackson made possibly the catch of the year and the Rangers’ Neftali Feliz was lights out in the closer’s role.

Thanks to Whatifsports.com’s MLB Dream Teams feature we were able to create a 2010 All-Rookies team, based on the statistical output and notoriety of the players, to face a collection of Rookies of the Year. We drafted ROY award winners over the past 15 years to construct a full roster.

Using our MLB simulation engine, we welcome the spirit of the playoffs and created a best-of-seven series to determine which team would win, the 2010 All-Rookies or past Rookies of the Year.

Stephen Strasburg had no issues with the Pittsburgh Pirates in his major league debut. He quickly learned in Game 1, this series wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.

The kid with a rocket for an arm only lasted 2.2 innings giving up three runs before they pulled the plug on him. Hanley Ramirez hit a two-run bomb in the second inning to push the Rookies of the Year up early. Baltimore’s Alfredo Simon would inherit one of Strasburg’s runners and allowed him to score to put the Rookies in a 3-0 hole.

Strasburg had a 1.35 K/IP in 2010, the highest in majors for rookie pitchers. Hideo Nomo was not impressed. The former Dodger ROY handcuffed the All-Rookies, going eight innings, allowing one run on six hits and struck out 15.

Ichiro and Dustin Pedroia each had an RBI in the fourth inning and an Albert Pujols RBI single in the seventh added insurance the ROY would not need.

The All-Rookies’ lone run came in the seventh inning off the bat of Neil Walker, who hit 12 dingers for the Pirates in 2010, a solo shot on this night.

It didn’t take long for the scoreboard to light up in Game 2 as current teammates squared off in the first.

Detroit’s Brennan Boesch cracked a two-out, two-run single to give the All-Rookies an early lead against current Tiger Justin Verlander.

Verlander lasted only five innings.

The ROY would cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the first when Albert Pujols followed up Ryan Howard’s triple with a double, driving in the Phillies’ franchise player.

With the ROY trailing 3-1 in the third, Howard would lead the offensive charge again. A solo dinger in the inning would cut the All-Rookies’ lead to one and then a fielder’s choice in the fifth would tie the game up at 3-3.

Hanley Ramirez continued to swing a hot bat and gave the ROY the lead for good with his second home run in as many games.

AL Rookie of the Year from 2009, Andrew Bailey, pitched a hitless 2.1 innings and got the win. Former Mariners closer, Kaz Sasaki got the save.

Down 2-0 in the series, the Rookies made some lineup changes to help wake up their offense. Alcides Escobar replaced Ian Desmond at SS and batted eighth. Brennan Boesch was bumped up to fifth in the lineup, and Danny Valencia started at 3B replacing Pedro Alvarez.

These changes paid off as the 2010 All-Rookies got their first win of the series, breaking out for nine runs on 14 hits. The Rookies also received a much-needed solid seven innings on the mound from Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia.

The Rookies found their power in this game hitting three homeruns—Buster Posey, Brennan Boesch and Neil Walker (his second of the series) all went deep.

Posey’s HR came in the first inning and was part of a 3-4, three RBI performance for the Giants catcher. Austin Jackson added three hits for the Rookies.

Former ROY, Jason Jennings, got rocked allowing six ERs on seven hits in 2.1 IP.

This was a much-needed win for the 2010 All-Rooks who now trail 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

Mike Leake faced Kerry Wood in this pivotal Game 4. The connection between these two is they both debuted with Dusty Baker as their manager. Baker has had to answer a lot of questions about pitch counts throughout his career and perhaps hurt Wood’s arm due to overuse in Chicago. He was very cautious with Mike Leake in 2010 keeping his innings and pitches under strict watch.

Leake would not get any help in the second thanks to an Alcides Escobar throwing error allowing the ROY to take the early lead.

The Rookies would come back in the third when Jason Heyward crushed a Kerry Wood fastball to center field allowing Austin Jackson and Alcides Escobar to score giving the 2010 All-Rookies a 2-1 lead.

That lead quickly vanished with a solo homerun by the ROY’s Ryan Braun who made up for his two errors in this game.

Later, in the sixth inning, with Ryan Braun on second base, Kerry Wood helped out his own cause with a single to left allowing Braun to score to give them a 3-2 lead.

Leake ended up throwing 90 pitches through 5.1 in this game only allowing two earned runs.

The game would remain 3-2 until the ninth inning. Kaz Sasaki came in for the save. Boesch and Valencia went down swinging for two quick outs as the Rookies of the Year seemed poised to take a 3-1 series lead. However, Sasaki would walk Neil Walker and Escobar followed up with a bloop single that advanced the tying run to third base. Pedro Alvarez came in to pinch hit for the pitcher and drew a walk.

Huston Street would come in to replace Sasaki with two outs and the bases loaded.

It was Austin Jackson’s turn to play hero as he hit a line-drive single into center. Walker scored easily from third. Escobar was waved around from second, Ichiro’s throw was not in time and the 2010 All-Rookies walk off to victory and even the series at 2-2.

After losing two straight, the Rookies of the Year bounced back in a big way scoring 10 runs on 12 hits. Madison Bumgarner started for the 2010 Rookies and was rocked as was Hisinori Takahashi, who took over in the fifth. The two combined for five IP, nine hits and seven runs (six ERs). Not a great performance in a crucial Game 5.

On the other side, the Rookies of the Year’s pitching staff performed just as poorly. Dontrelle Willis started, but could not get out of the fifth inning either. Their bullpen struggled as well. Tim Worrell gave up a three-run bomb to the Marlins’ Gaby Sanchez in the eighth inning. All three runs were charged to reliever Andrew Bailey. Gaby’s homer tied the game at seven.

Orioles closer Alfredo Simon came on in the ninth for the All-Rooks and served up a three-run dinger to the Brewers’ Ryan Braun to hand the ROY a 10-7 lead.

Kaz Sasaki then entered redeeming himself with a lock-down ninth to pick up his second save of the series.

Buster Posey had his second three-hit game of the series going 3-6 with three RBI. In fact, the top four hitters for the 2010 All-Rookies (Jackson, Heyward, Posey and Sanchez) combined to go 10-19 with seven RBI, all of which comes in a losing effort.

The Rookies of the Year lead the series 3-2 heading into Game 6.

When it mattered the most, Hideo Nomo delivered for the Rookies of the Year.

The ROY received another phenomenal pitching performance from for the Dodgers ace. Nomo struck out 15 in Game 1 and followed that up with 12 Ks in Game 6.

Stephen Strasburg was a late scratch due to a shoulder injury. Arizona’s Daniel Hudson struggled in the spot-start situation. He allowed three runs in three innings of work.

Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols each hit a home run to help out the ROY’s offensive cause.

Nomo’s stuff was too much for the 2010 Rookies to handle. He was Player of the Game for Game 1 and Game 6 and also earns MVP of the series.

The Rookies of the Year win the best-of-seven series 4-2.

Hard to believe all this was accomplished with a talent like Evan Longoria spittin’ seeds on the bench.

Make sure you give this matchup a whirl—just click any of the Simulate Game links located inside the box scores.

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I apologize for this post coming out so late, but with a late New York Jets game last night and a busy day at work, I really didn’t have much time to write.

That being said, I thought Game 4 of the Atlanta Braves-San Francisco Giants NLDS was a pretty awesome game.

For that matter, I thought every game in this series was pretty amazing. Four games and each game decided by one run. I take that any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

That is some serious nail-biting time if you are a fan of either of these teams. I don’t have any rooting interest in either of these teams, and I was nervous in all four games.

Unfortunately for the Braves, they came up on the short end of the stick in three of those games. The Giants once again won 3-2 in Game 4 to send them to their first NLCS since 2002 and send Bobby Cox into retirement.

This game was like all the rest in this series: tightly contested, solid pitching by both teams and one or two plays that really decided things.

The Braves had a 1-0 lead going into the top of the sixth, and Derek Lowe was just dealing. I have followed Lowe for 14 years, and for the first five innings I have never seen him as good.

His slider was ridiculous, and he hadn’t allowed a hit in 5.1 innings. That is until Cody Ross came to the plate. Lowe threw a rare flat slider, and Ross sent it into the left field bleachers.

It’s amazing who become heroes in the postseason. One of the main reasons Ross is even on the Giants is because they wanted to keep him away from the San Diego Padres. If the Padres don’t show interest in Ross, then there is a very good chance he never becomes a Giant.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Braves came right back as Brian McCann ripped a HR to give the Braves a 2-1 lead. But just like in Game 3, the Braves couldn’t hold the lead.

The Giants scored two runs in the seventh thanks to a couple of walks, a couple infield singles by Buster Posey and Juan Uribe and another timely hit by Ross.

Of course, the biggest decisions of the game was the decision by Cox to leave Lowe in the game with two on and one out in the sixth. The classic second-guess says that Cox should have pulled Lowe and let Peter Moylan face Pat Burrell.

I believed at the time and still do even knowing the results that Cox was correct in sticking with Lowe. Lowe to that point still only had allowed two hits, the Giants weren’t hitting the ball hard against him and Burrell was 0-for-2 coming into that AB.

People want to compare that situation to the Grady Little and Pedro Martinez situation in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS, which is complete nonsense. The two situations were completely different.

The New York Yankees started to knock Martinez around pretty good that inning, and it was clear he was spent. Lowe was still dealing, and the Braves needed a ground ball in that situation, and who better to throw a worm burner than DLowe?

The Giants went into the ninth with a 3-2 lead, and Brian Wilson closed the door. Albeit it wasn’t pretty, he got the job done.

Here are some other observations from Game 4…

Madison Bumgarner was clearly pumped for this game. He averaged 91 mph on his fastball throughout the season but averaged 93 last night.

His adrenaline should have cost him because he was leaving a lot of balls up in the zone early. If the Braves weren’t so inept on offense, it could have hurt him.

Note to Brian Wilson: YOU THROW 97 MPH—STOP NIBBLING!

The Giants seem like this hodgepodge of players, but when you watch them on a day in and day out basis, they really play well as a team.

Classy move by the Giants saluting Cox at the end of the game.

Wilson might have gotten the “save” last night, but the real save should have gone to Santiago Casilla. He struck out two and allowed just one baserunner in 1.2 innings of work. Despite looking like he drank five Red Bulls prior to coming out to the mound, he did a phenomenal job of holding the Braves in check.

The Giants’ starters finished with a 0.93 ERA in this series.

The Giants will now play the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS, and Game 1 will be Saturday night in Philadelphia. Roy Halladay vs. Tim Lincecum is must watch TV.

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

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Bobby Cox exited Turner Field Monday night for the last time as the Atlanta Braves‘ manager.

His emotional exit was seared into the memories of baseball fans worldwide, and a tear, no doubt, trickled down the cheeks of many, both male and female alike.

Game 4 of the NLDS was a must win game for the Atlanta Braves. It looked very promising for Bobby’s bunch until a costly error by shortstop Alex Gonzalez allowed the Giants to score two runs in the top of the seventh and take the lead by a score of 3-2.

With one out and the bases loaded, a ground ball was hit sharply to the right-hand side of Gonzalez. He made a great play to reach the ball and backhand it; however, his throw to second pulled Omar Infante off the bag, and all Giants runners were safe. A run scored on the play, tying the game at two runs each.

Had Gonzalez made an accurate throw, the Braves would have recorded their second out. Instead, the Giants accepted the gift of only one out with the bases still loaded.

The next batter struck out. This should have ended the inning. With an extra out, so to speak, Cody Ross came up to the plate with intentions of doing more damage to the Atlanta Braves.

Earlier in the night, Ross broke up a no-hitter by Braves pitcher Derek Lowe when he hit a solo home run. Now, with the bases loaded and an extra out with which to play, the Giants would make the Braves pay once again.

Ross hit a single to left field, and the go-ahead run came across the plate. The Giants attempted to add an insurance run on the same play. However, Braves left fielder Matt Diaz threw a strike to catcher Brian McCann, and with a collision at the plate, Atlanta finally had its third out.

From that point forward, no more runs would be scored by either team. The Braves had hope in the bottom of the night when Giants closer Brian Wilson walked two batters and put runners on first and second. The game ended when Melky Cabrera dribbled a grounder to third and was thrown out at first.

As soon as the game ended, chants of “Bobby, Bobby, Bobby” could be heard throughout the stadium. With tears in his eyes, longtime Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox returned to the field to acknowledge fans and players, including most of the San Francisco Giants, who had remained on the field to pay tribute to Bobby before enjoying a cold champagne shower.

It will not be the same without Bobby Cox. We will miss him. He is one of the most beloved men in baseball and will always be. Still, I believe it is time for Bobby to go. It is time for a new man to take control of the Atlanta Braves and get them back to postseason success.

I dare say that Bobby Cox has not been making his best decisions for some time now. In the late 1990s, Bobby would not have let a pitcher talk him into staying in the game, even if that pitcher were named Smoltz, Glavine or Maddux. Just a few short years ago, Bobby would not have played Brooks Conrad at third base after losing Chipper Jones and Martin Prado.

For the past few years, Bobby has made a lot of decisions based upon emotion and feeling instead of doing what was best at the time. He loves those players, and he has always been a players’ manager. However, when it came time to win a baseball game, Bobby was never afraid to hurt a player’s feelings. He would take a player or a pitcher out at the drop of a hat.

Over the past few years, he accepted a lot more from the players, and because of his relationships with them, he would, at times, put decisions off that ended up hurting the team. 

Little by little, as the years rolled by, those who know baseball best could tell that Bobby’s decision-making process was changing. Did it hurt the Braves recently? Yes, it did, but more realistically, it was the lack of offense and the errors that ended the Braves’ hopes of making it to the World Series.

Derek Lowe should have been pulled much sooner, but he deserved to be out there, and Bobby made the decision to leave him out there. It was not a good decision, but it was fair and deserving. Just a few years ago, Bobby would have pulled Lowe after the sixth inning. Had he pulled him after the sixth last night, the Braves would have had a much better chance to hold the lead.

Please don’t misunderstand me, reader. Derek was dealing, but he was pitching on three days’ rest, and by the end of the sixth inning you could tell that Derek was laboring. A fresh reliever to start the seventh would have most likely shut the Giants down. We can only speculate, and we’ll never know for sure.

Bobby Cox will go down as one of the greatest managers in Major League Baseball history. No other manager will ever win 14 consecutive division titles. Bobby has had tons of success, including a World Series title in 1995. He managed every game to win, and he gave all he had at all times.

Just as many fans feel today, I am sad and I hate to see him go. Players loved to play for him, and fans loved to cheer for him.

Bobby Cox will always be, in the hearts of many, the manager of the Atlanta Braves.

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It’s been too long, but the Giants have won their first NLDS since 2002, when they beat these very same Braves in five. The series was tight, emotional, ugly and brutal. Of course, the fourth and final game was a great reflection of the series in an almost poetic fashion.

All of the games were decided by one run, three of the four games were won in a comeback fashion. All of the games featured superb pitching, maybe with the exception of Sergio Romo. And all of the games featured questionable defense and officiating.

With three lead changes, a 3-2 ending and a crucial call made at second base, this game lived up to all the hype, and set an unofficial record for grey hairs induced. With all that, lets take a look at each component of this game.

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For the first time in my life, I am ashamed to call myself a Cincinnati Reds fan. I have endured 15 straight years without a playoff appearance, twelve of which have been losing seasons. In 2000, Ken Griffey Jr. was traded to the Reds. He was supposed to be the missing piece to a team that had just missed the playoffs the year before, after going 96-66. Instead, Griffey spent time on the disabled list during every season in Cincinnati.

Great American Ballpark opened in 2003 and was supposed to bring a fresh start. Instead, the Reds lost over 90 games and were forced to rebuild their roster. They traded stars Aaron Boone and Jose Guillen, in an effort to implode the roster and rebuild.

The Reds have had rocky leadership during these 15 years. They have had several owners, presidents and general managers. In addition, the Reds have had seven different managers since 1995.

Through all of this, I have stuck with the Reds. I was never ashamed to call the Reds my favorite team because, even though they were terrible, they played hard and never quit. They did not win very many games because they just did not have the talent or leadership. But they never quit.

I was overjoyed when the Reds won the National League Central Division and made the playoffs this year. I felt, along with most Reds fans, that my loyalty had been rewarded.

But when the Phillies completed the three game sweep of the Reds in the NLDS, I felt like I had been cheated. The Phillies did not defeat the Reds. The Reds beat themselves. They had the opportunity to win, but they played like they just did not care about winning. They did not play with enthusiasm and intensity. They abandoned the fundamentals and it seemed like they just gave up.

The Reds had six errors in three NLDS games. They looked like a bunch of little leaguers wearing Reds jerseys. They were making bad throws, and dropping and bobbling balls.

The Reds left 23 runners on base in three games. That was inept. The Reds could not turn the Phillies mistakes into runs scored. 

They also could not hit the ball. The Reds only had 11 hits in the series. Granted, they faced great pitching, but they could have at least put the bat on the ball. The Reds struck out 24 times. The Phillies’ pitchers made the Reds look like children.

As a Reds fan, I am passionate about my team. I love baseball and I love the Reds, but I was embarrassed. This is the worst performance that I have ever seen from an MLB team. I hope the Reds have learned their lesson from this series. Perhaps next year, they will try to win the games, instead of trying to lose them.

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When Philadelphia Phillies’ LHP Cole Hamels took the mound in the 2009 postseason, he looked like a guy that had lost all confidence in himself. Hamels took the mound last night against the Cincinnati Reds the complete opposite of that guy in 2009.

Hamels pitched a complete game shutout against the Reds as the Phillies won 2-0 to sweep the Reds 3-0 in their best-of-five NLDS. This is the third straight year that the Phillies will advance to the NLCS.

Hamels in this game was just flat out awesome! There is no other way to describe it. His fastball was popping (average of 92 and high of 95) and his change-up was lethal.

Hamels threw his change-up 33 times last night and 26 of them were thrown for strikes. Impressive. What might have been more impressive was that Red hitters swung and missed at 36 percent of those change-ups.

That a look at his strike zone plot on change-ups via Pitchfx…

The change-ups are in yellow. As he can see, he pounded the lower half of the zone with those change-ups. Very rarely did he miss up in the zone and that’s when a pitcher can get hurt.

Hamels overall struck out nine, didn’t walk a batter, and gave up just five hits in the 119 pitch effort. Hamels is now 6-3 in his postseason career. He is the second pitcher to win six postseason games before turning 27 years old. The other is Jim Palmer.

Here are some other observations from this game…

The biggest play of this game might have occurred in the bottom of the first. After Drew Stubbs led off the game with a single, Brandon Phillips hit a rare mistake from Hamels into the left center field gap that Shane Victorino ran down for the first out.

If that ball gets by Victorino, the game is tied at one and Phillips is standing on third with nobody out.

Johnny Cueto was very good in this game and will be overshadowed by Hamels’ performance. After a rocky first, he settled down and pitched five very solid innings. The only reason he didn’t pitch deeper into the game was because with the Reds desperate for offense, he was pinch-hit for in the fifth.

Note to Dusty Baker: If you are going to pinch-hit for your pitcher, can someone other than Miguel Cairo do it? He’s an automatic out.

Homer Bailey was very good for two innings. I thought he was going to give the Reds a Sid Fernandez-like Game 7 of the 1986 World Series performance to keep his team in the game and spark the team offensively, but it just never happened.

Quick 2011 prediction: Bailey wins 15 plus games for the Reds next year.

If the Phillies are going to beat either the Braves or Giants in the next round, Jayson Werth and Jimmy Rollins are going to have to wake up. Combined they hit .129 in the three games with no extra base hits.

Scott Rolen might have played his worst three-game stretch defensively ever. Outside one or two plays, he looked terrible all series.

Reds fans chanting “Cheat-er, cheat-er” when Chase Utley came to the plate was fantastic.

Though I am sure they didn’t think it was so great when he launched one to right center to give the Phillies a 2-0 lead.

Regardless if the Braves and Giants series closes out Monday night or Wednesday, Game 1 of the NLCS will start Saturday in Philadelphia.

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

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Dominant. That is just about the only term that could justly describe the Philadelphia Phillies’ 1st Round sweep of the Cincinnati Reds.  The Phillies rode the arms of Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels and got themselves back to the NLCS for a 3rd consecutive run.  Add that in with timely hitting and taking advantage of costly Cincinnati miscues and that is exactly what we saw over this short, 5-day series.

This all had to start somewhere so why not with ace #1 Roy Halladay.  Halladay set the tempo on Wednesday afternoon in his post-season debut.  His no-hitter of the Reds let them know early that the “H20” rotation was all about.  Halladay only allowed one base-runner and was thisclose to perfection again.  

Cole Hamels’ stellar start on Sunday against the Reds made this series and quite frankly, the past few years of Hamels’ life come full-circle.  Ever since being awarded the 2008 World Series MVP questions have surrounded Hamels’ ability to perform in big games.  Those questions may now be put to rest as it appears as if vintage Hamels circa 2008 has returned and is hopefully here to stay for the Phillies. 

The most surprising thing in this series was the Reds’ struggles on the field defensively.  They had committed only 72 errors all season, yet committed seven in just three playoff games.   Most notably, 7-time Gold Glover Scott Rolen had a poor defensive series for the Reds.

In Game 2 the Reds had the defending two-time NL Champs on the ropes for most of the game.  A few errors later and the Phillies turned this into an advantageous scenario and took a 2-0 tilt to The Queen City.  Jay Bruce’s error in particular was the tell-all of this sloppy game.  

From the beginning of this series one thing was crystal clear.  Even in having the top NL offense in the regular season, the Reds were going to have trouble solving H20.  They hit .123  as a team and never really got the offense started throughout this series.  This was mainly due to MVP favorite Joey Votto’s struggles.  He was 1-10 in this series and was totally shut down by the Phillies in this series. 

Now the Phillies look ahead to the NLCS, where they will face either the San Francisco Giants or Atlanta Braves.  Though both teams boast very solid pitching, they simply will not be able to hit with Charlie Manuel’s club.  This could be the difference in the NLCS which starts Saturday evening in Philadelphia. The Phillies’ rotation will look to stifle the opposing offense once again and be the ending place for another NL foe en route to a 3rd consecutive World Series appearance.  

The bottom line is that Cole Hamels is at the top of his game right now and this could lead to another parade down South Broad St.  He has been here before and knows what it takes to get it done.  Along with Halladay and Roy Oswalt, this trio of aces could deliver another World Championship.  

This champagne-poppin’ thing will never get old for these Phillies as they have done it in each of the past three seasons.  This current period is the greatest in Philadelphia Phillies baseball history.  This dynasty, as many refer to it as, seems to be growing by the year and looks to now be at its peak.  Only time will tell how the rest will play out for these Phightin’ Phils.  

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