Well the wait is almost over for Phillies fans, as we're about 10 minutes from getting the 2008 NLCS underway.
This is Steve and I'll be bringing the live blog for tonight's game between the Dodgers and Phillies. Our pitching matchup pits a couple of 14 game winners against each other, with Derek Lowe going for the Dodgers and Cole Hamels on the bump for the Phils.
Starting Lineups:
Dodgers
1. R Furcal, SS
2. A Ethier, RF
3. M Ramirez, LF
4. R Martin, C
5. J Loney, 1B
6. M Kemp, CF .
7. C Blake, 3B .
8. B DeWitt, 2B
9. D Lowe, P
Phillies
1. J Rollins, SS
2. S Victorino, CF
3. C Utley, 2B
4. R Howard, 1B
5. P Burrell, LF
6. J Werth, RF
7. P Feliz, 3B
8. C Ruiz, C
9. C Hamels, P
I have a feeling this one will be a defensive battle. The players haven't faced live pitching in a while, and Lowe and Hamels both threw well in the NLDS. Back with more after first pitch.
With first pitch comes the voice of Tim McCarver, who despite his incoherent ramblings, is synonymous with playoff baseball. Thankfully the ambient noise in the newsroom will drown out most of McCarver's painfully obviously analysis.
Top 1
Furcal grounds out for the first out of the game
Ethier doubles to left for the first hit, and now Manny Ramirez strides to the plate.
Ramirez is really incredible. That double was about as long of a shot that could possibly stay in the park at Citizen's Bank, and puts the Dodgers ahead 1-0. Definitely a questionable decision to pitch to Ramirez with first base open. I'm not saying that you intentionally walk Manny there, but you try to get him to chase out of the zone.
Either Charlie Manuel has a lot of confidence in Cole Hamels or he really respects Russell Martin. Hamels just fanned Martin, making the decision to pitch to Ramirez even more suspect.
Loney draws a walk from Hamels, which gives Matt Kemp a chance to hit. Kemp struck out 158 times this year, but he hit .290 with 18 homers, and has tons of potential. He is streaky though, and had only 2 hits in the NLDS. Hopefully for the Phillies his cold streak continues.
Kemp flies out harmlessly to right center, but this was not a good start for Hamels. He threw 23 pitches in the first inning, and gave up the run.
Middle of the First 1 run 2 hits 1 walk 2
Dodgers 1 Phillies 0
LOB
The Phillies now get the chance to respond to the Dodgers first inning.
Derek Lowe, the Dodgers' starter is known for inducing a lot of grounders with a hard sinker. He's a veteran that throws strikes , and will forever be known for winning all three series clinching games for the Red Sox in '04.
Utley just slapped a two-out single to center to give Howard a chance to hit in the first.
Howard grounded right into the defensive shift the Dodgers were employing, giving Lowe two ground ball outs to the start the game.
It appears as though Lowe's sinker will be on tonight. He gets through the inning with 14 pitches.
End of First
0 runs 1 hit 1 LOB
Dodgers 1 Phillies 0
Top of Second
It's still very early, but I think Hamels needs a quick inning here. He strikes out Casey Blake to start it off.
Blake DeWitt flies out to center, but seeing this kid, along with Matt Kemp and James Loney, reminds me of how ridiculous the Dodgers' farm system is at spitting out solid young players.
The Dodgers are the anti-moneyball team, as they value scouting and toolsy players like Kemp over sabermetric analysis. It doesn't get as much publicity as the moneyball philosophy, but its a tried and true method that works.
Hamels strikes out Lowe to get through a quick inning. Just what he needed. 12 pitches for Hamels in the 2nd, giving him 35 total.
Middle of 2nd
0 runs 0 hits 0 LOB
Dodgers 1 Phillies 0
Bottom of 2nd
Burrell slams a double to left, and Lowe falls behind Werth 3-0, but Werth grounds into a double play.
After Pedro Feliz draws a walk, Carlos Ruiz grounds out to the shortstop Furcal, who has an absolute cannon at short. How glad do you think a ground ball pitcher like Lowe is that Furcal is back from his injury?
End of the 2nd
0 runs 1 hit 1 walk 1 LOB
Dodgers 1 Phillies 0
Top of 3rd
Ethier reached on what I think should have been an error on Ryan Howard. I realize that Howard is one of the premier run producers in the league, but his fielding leaves a lot to be desired.
Hamels, however, won round 2 with Manny Ramirez, getting the left-fielder to pop out to Jimmy Rollins. He followed that up with a walk to Russell Martin, but struck out James Loney on a pitch in the dirt.
The southpaw's pitch count is now 55, so its doubtful that he will go eight innings like he did in the NLDS.
Middle of 3rd
1 hit 1 walk 2 LOB
Dodgers 1 Phillies 0
Bottom of the 3rd
I'm sorry but I hate the National League. Hamels grounded out to start the 3rd, which in my opinion was a waste of time. Give me the designated hitter anytime.
Victorino grounds out to first, and tackles Derek Lowe, who was covering the bag on the play. It appeared to be an innocent collision but it wouldn't be a bad idea for the Phils to try unorthodox methods to get Lowe out of this game (just kidding). Seriously though, Lowe can be dominant when he's on, and tonight he's on.
End of 3rd
0 runs 0 hits 0 LOB
Dodgers 1 Phillies 0
The Dodgers manufactured a run after Matt Kemp's leadoff double. Casey Blake ground out the right side, allowing Kemp to move to third, and Blake DeWitt's fly ball was deep enough to allow Kemp to tag for the second run of the game.
Solid fundamentals from the Dodgers, who are looking like they should have done much better than their 84-78 record in the regular season.
The Dodgers also got Derek Lowe's spot in the lineup out of the way. Furcal will lead off next inning.
Middle of the 4th
1 run 1 hit 0 LOB
Dodgers 2 Phillies 0
Bottom of 4th
Chase Utley looked lost leading off the inning, striking out swinging against Lowe.
Derek Lowe threw a no-hitter when he was with the Red Sox and was also a dominant closer for the Sox, saving 85 games from 1998-2001. This is a guy with potentially dominant stuff, and he's looking to be on his game tonight.
The Phils go down in order in the 4th, with Utley and Burrell striking out.
End of the 4th
0 runs 0 hits 0 LOB
Dodgers 2 Phillies 0
Top of 5th
Rafael Furcal leads off this inning. Furcal is a free agent-to-be, and as an Oriole fan myself, I'm hoping the O's make a push for this guy. I've already gushed over his throwing arm, but people forget he had an .OPS over 1.000 before getting hurt earlier this year. He grounds out to Rollins here, however.
Hamels fans Ethier, retiring him for the first time tonight. More imortantly, Manny Ramirez will bat with no one on base.
Ramirez singles to center for another base hit, but Hamels strikes out Martin again to end the inning. However, Hamels hasn't been able to keep his pitch count in check, as he has now thrown 84 pitches through five innings, meaning the Phillies will be lucky if he gets through seven frames tonight.
Middle of the fifth
0 runs 1 hit 1 LOB
Dodgers 2 Phillies 0
Bottom of the fifth
After two groundouts to start the inning, Carlos Ruiz pokes a groundball into right field for the Phillies third hit.
Cole Hamels just singled and the Phillies officially have a two-out rally brewing.
Rollins flied out to left to end the threat, but the Phillies finally made Lowe throw some pitches, as he needed 18 to get out of the inning. He has now thrown 75 pitches total.
End of fifth
0 runs 2 hits 2 LOB
Dodgers 2 Phillies 0
Top of sixth
Thanks to a double-play Hamels gets a quick inning despite allowing a leadoff single to James Loney.
Hamels should definitely get a chance to get through seven innings and maybe even eight. Even if the Phillies can't come back tonight, that would be huge to save the bullpen for the rest of the series.
Middle of sixth
0 runs 1 hit 0 LOB
Dodgers 2 Phillies 0
Bottom of sixth
The momentum is shifting quickly. Remember Rafael Furcal's strong throwing arm? Well he just airmailed a throw to first, allowing Shane Victorino to move to second on what should have been a ground out. Now the Phillies have a man in scoring position with Utley and Howard up next.
Utley just knotted this one up with a blast into the right-center field seats. You could feel it coming. First, the bottom of the Phillies' order gets Lowe into a jam in the fifth, then Hamels gets through an inning with only eight pitches, and Victorino reaches on a costly error.
This game is still tied, but the Phils have all the momentum.
After Howard grounded out, Pat the Bat provided some instant offense, slamming one into the left field seats, and that will be it for Derek Lowe. Lowe dominated through the first four innings, but the Phillies adjusted and have knocked Lowe out after just 5 1/3 innings.
The entire complexion of this game has changed. It is now Hamels' to win, and the Dodgers are looking at having to tax their bullpen early on.
Chan Ho Park will come on to pitch, and he'll face Jayson Werth
Park gets Werth and Feliz out, but the damage was done. The Phils now have to protect the lead.
End of the sixth
3 runs 2 hits 0 LOB
Phillies 3 Dodgers 2
Top of the seventh
Hamels continues to keep the momentum in the Phillies' corner, striking out Blake DeWitt and pinch hitter Jeff Kent to start the seventh, and getting Furcal to ground out for a three-up, three-down inning. His pitch count is 105, but he doesn't appear to be tiring, and if Charlie Manuel wanted, he could send Hamels out for the eighth. Doubt that will happen though.
I was hard on Hamels earlier, but he has responded to adversity tonight in a big way. He threw 24 pitches in the first inning and 20 in the third, and wasn't looking to be long for this game. But he has settled down beautifully, and is really looking like an ace. He didn't allow falling behind early break him, he waited patiently for his offense to wake up, and now he has the lead.
Middle of the seventh
0 runs 0 hits 0 LOB
Phillies 3 Dodgers 2
Bottom of seventh
The Phillies continue to come on strong. Ruiz just singled off of Greg Maddux and now So Taguchi will pinch hit for Hamels, meaning his night is done.
Hamels' final line: 7 ip 6 h 2 er 2 bb. It's his game to win if the bullpen holds.
Taguchi popped out trying to bunt, and Rollins hit into a double play to end the inning.
End of the seventh
0 runs 1 hit 0 LOB
Phillies 3 Dodgers 2
Top of eighth
My colleagues that blogged the NLDS games bemoaned the lack of excitement in the Phillies-Brewers series, but I have been blessed tonight.
What looked like it might turn into a dominating night by Derek Lowe has turned into a pretty exciting game.
I'm still a little surprised at how quickly Derek Lowe lost his mojo tonight. He was cruising along, inducing groundballs, sweating profusely as he usually does and generally having his way with the Phils, but it all fell apart quickly. Giving up the single to Hamels was the beginning of the end. I still hate the pitcher batting in the NL, but seeing a pitcher get a hit is usually a sign that the opposing pitcher may be self-destructing.
Ethier struck out to lead off the inning, meaning Manny will bat with the bases empty.
Charlie Manuel is out to have a pep talk with Ryan Madson before Manny's at-bat. No way I would pitch to Ramirez here with no one on base. It's still a one run game, one swing of the bat ties this up.
Manny lines out sharply and Madson gets out of the inning.
The Phillies then go in order in the bottom of the eighth.
Sorry about the lack of posts in the past few minutes I'm back for the top of the ninth as Brad Lidge is in to slam the door.
Kemp flies out for the first out.
Lidge has had a remarkable year, and he reinforces the notion of the importance of the back end of a bullpen being the key to success.
Blake flies out to the warning track in center and Lidge is an out away from ending this thing. Blake DeWitt is the only thing standing between the Philies and a 1-0 series lead.
DeWitt strikes out, and the Phillies win. 3-2
Final Score Phillies 3, Dodgers 2
W: Hamels
L: Lowe
S: Lidge
The player of the game has to be Hamels, who recovered after a rocky start to toss a solid seven innings and give the Phillies the win.
A huge advantage to get the win at home as well. Having the 1-0 series is not so big, but avoiding dropping a game at home definitely is.
The Phils will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at 4:35 p.m. Chad Billingsley pitches for L.A. and Brett Myers throws for the Phils.
