I predict whichever team that scores more runs will win the game. Call me crazy.
Just a heads up: this here entry starts at the bottom, so scroll down to get the preview/early innings.
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Final: Phillies 3, Rays 2.
Brett Myers will take the hill in Game 2 for Philadelphia and be opposed by James Shields for the Tampa Bay Metropolitan Area. This match-up probably favors Shields, as Myers has struggled on the road this year.
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Whew...I was afraid all those runners stranded would come back to bite the Phils, but Cole Hamels proved his ace-ly-ness again, and the Madson-Lidge combo gave the Rays nothing in the eigth and ninth. The Phils have now won the opening game of all three rounds this postseason thanks primarily to Hamels' sublime efforts.
Popped up. Happy Pete Feliz makes the grab in the bullpen in fair ground to end it.
Crawford, staying patient, runs the count full. The packed house at the Thunderdome is pretty quiet right now.
Crawford looks foolish on an outside slider, 1-2.
Lidge just needs to keep Crawford in the park here. 1-1.
Longoria suffers the same fate as Pena. One to go.
Pena is unable to hold up on Lidge's filthy 0-2 slider. He had to know it was coming, but goes down anyways. Two outs to go.
Lidge gets an early 0-2 edge on Pena, who has struggled tonight.
Brad Lidge, entering stage right. Pena, Longoria and Crawford due up for St. Petersburg.
Middle 9th, Phils 3, Rays 2.
And Bruntlett pops out, inning over. Big surprise.
Dan Wheeler facing the Bearded One, Eric Bruntlett, with two outs. My guess is that Wheeler will win this matchup. As mediocre as Wheeler is, Bruntlett is truly a replacement-level player, if not worse. In fact, Bruntlett had a negative VORP (value over replacement player) this year. I also had a negative VORP this year.
Howard goes down looking. Strike three was right down the middle, belt high. And another pitching change.
Lefty Trever Miller in to face Howard. RHow unable to check his swing at the first pitch he sees.
Utley will get an intentional walk, bringing up Howard.
Werth with the ground-rule double. On second thought, I'll take a run or two here.
Down goes Rollins to start the inning. At this point, I just want to get to Lidge as fast as possible.
End 8th, still Phils 3, Rays 2.
Great shut-down inning from the Mad-dog.
BJ's absurdly long swing pays off for the Phils, as Madson gets him to miss on a low change-up.
Upton fouls Madson's first pitch off of his left ankle, and misses Madson's second pitch that
went right down the middle. He could probably do with shortening up that swing, but as far as I'm concerned it can wait until after the Series.
Up comes BJ Upton, who has been atrocious tonight but was a revelation in the ALCS.
Iwamura flys out to Werth.
Ahead of Iwamura 1-2, Madson goes for a change-up that just tails off of the outside corner. Now a full count.
Bartlett pops out to Howard in foul territory. A good start.
Mad-dog has been throwing gas so far in October. Let's hope, for the sake of my mental health, he keeps it up.
Middle 8th, Phils 3, Rays 2.
It's Ryan Madson time. Something I never thought I'd say during the 2008 World Series.
Ruiz hits one hard to right field, but Zobrist is able to catch the fading line drive just below his waist.
Coste shatters his bat on the weak grounder. Two out.
Feliz flies out to lead off.
End 7, Phils 3, Rays 2.
Zobrist hits one right back at Hamels. Three up, three down. A phenomenal job by Cole Hamels tonight. If he asks for $8 million in arbitration, he should get it.
Navarro waves at Hamels' changeup. 5th K for young Colbert, and two down.
Hopefully, Cole can mow down the bottom of the order here, get Madson in for the eighth, and hand the rock off to Lidge to close this out.
Willy Aybar pops out to start the Rays' half of the 7th.
Middle 7th, Phils 3, Rays 2.
That makes 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position tonight for the Phightins.
Balfour is bringing the heat...that last fastball clocked in at 96 MPH. Now the count even at 2. And down goes Victorino, again swinging through some high cheese.
Victorino swings at two high fastballs to start the at-bat. Looked like he was trying to replicate his heroics off of Sabathia from the NLDS.
The Flyin' Hawaiian has been clutch so far this postseason. Grant Balfour will come in to face the holy hula hooper.
Burrell holds off on a second consecutive ball in the dirt to run the count to 3-2. Good plate discipline, as ball 4 is just a bit outside, and Burrell takes the walk to bring up Victorino.
Howell drops a curve just in the top of the zone to go 1-2 on Burrell. The Thunderdome is rockin' now.
Burrell could be the hero here if he brings Utley home.
Full count to Howard. The second ball was tantalizingly close to a strikeout. The Thunderdome crowd rises as Howell gets Ryno on a low curveball. Two out.
Howell is wearing an assortment of ugly necklaces. Hopefully, this comes back to haunt him.
Howell throws one in the dirt and gets Howard to swing, but the ball bounces away from Navarro and Utley moves up to third.
Apparently the Phils are 0-9 with runners in scoring position. A good number to blame if they drop this one.
Utley goes on first movement by Howell, and takes second easily.
The Fox guys are discussing whether the pickoff of Pena from the bottom half of the sixth was a balk. It could have been, but it was close. Could have gone either way.
Utley punches a grounder right back through the box. One on, one out.
As I say that, Howell makes Werth look downright clueless, striking him out on some hard breaking stuff.
JP Howell in for the Rays. Lefty specialist who struggles some against righties, which makes it a slightly odd move because Werth is up first here. Werth hits lefties hard.
End 6th, Phils 3, Rays 2.
Hamels at just 91 pitches now, so we should be seeing quite a bit more of the young man. If he keeps cruising, a complete game isn't out of the question, although it would be a little bit unnecessary with all the rest days in the schedule.
Crawford obliges young Colbert with a second pitch groundout to Utley, inning over.
Longoria with the backwards K, going down looking on an inside fastball for out number two.
Annnd Pena is caught stealing on the pickoff by Hamels, tag applied by J-Roll at second. Phenomenally dumb decision by whoever put that on, or terrible baserunning by Pena. I'll take it.
Howard bobbles the Pena grounder. Safe at first on the error, but not the easiest play for Howard to make. The ball took a sharp hop as it got to Howard.
Middle 6th, Phils 3, Rays 2.
J-Roll needs to deliver here. But a liner to Upton ends the inning, and Kazmir ought to be done after 110 pitches.
Ruiz lines out to Crawford, two out.
Coste pops up, one out. He's really fallen apart the second half this year, and I don't think he'll be back next year. King Lou Marson is ready and waiting to take the catching job.
Some activity in the 'pen for St. Petersburg... Chad Bradford and I don't know who else.
Coste with a foul pop that barely eludes Pena. Lucky break for the Phls.
Happy Pete, second pitch swinging, pokes a single into right center field. If the Phils get another guy on here, they could chase Kaz.
End 5th, Phils 3, Rays 2.
Upton doesn't disappoint, hitting a pop-up into the first row along the first-base side. Howard lumbers over and snags it to end the inning.
Upton at the dish here, hopefully he can reprise his earlier rally-killing roles and end the inning for the Phils.
Zitzman is getting me off my game here, rambling about getting comped for drinks in Atlantic City, parlays in Canada, and high-roller baccarat tables. Just a little flavor from sports copy desk, folks.
Double for Iwamura, and Barlett scores. That is why you don't walk the ninth hitter in the batting order. 3-2 Phils.
Bartlett swipes second easily...looks like he surprised Hamels there. He got a massive jump, and not even a good throw from Chooch could get him out.
2-0 count to Iwamura. Not a good place in the lineup to start missing the plate, but Cole rebounds with a strike for a 2-1 count.
Now Cole is running a full count to Bartlett, and walks him for the second time tonight. Again, not good.
Zobrist grounds the full count pitch to Feliz, who guns him down at first. Two out.
Hamels gets Navarro on the check swing with a ball in the dirt.
Middle 5, Phillies 3, Rays 1.
The upside of that inning is the 25 pitches Kazmir had to throw, leaving his tally at 96 for the evening.
Victorino gets excited, and slaps the first pitch to Iwamura, who flips to Bartlett to end the inning.
The Bat puts down a dying grounder just fair on the first-base line, and Pena can't handle Kazmir's weak toss, so two on and two out.
Burrell gets a hold of Kazmir's 1-2 pitch, but he pulls it foul. Same with the next pitch. Kaz just misses inside twice in a row for the full count, but both could have gone either way.
After Ryno fouls off a couple of 3-2 offerings, Kazmir misses high and inside for a walk. Kazmir is at 87 pitches.
Howard wayyyyy late on the 3-0 from Kazmir, and misses again on the 3-1 slider.
Utley gets under the 1-2 pitch from Kaz, and pops out weakly to Iwamura at second, two out.
Jayson Werth leading off the fifth here. Down 0-2 right away, and then lines out to Upton. One out.
End 4, Phillies 3, Rays 1.
Aybar with a soft flyball to Victorino to end the inning.
As I typed "easy" Hamels leaves a curveball up for Crawford, who tags one to about the same spot as Utley did. 3-1 Phils. I should have known this wasn't going to be easy.
Easy Longoria grounder for Feliz, two out.
Pena tops a bouncing ball to Howard. This time, he and Heidi Strobel's husband figure out the toss to the bag, one out. A good start for the Phils.
Middle 4th, Phils 3, Rays 0.
Rollins strikes out to end the inning.
Ruiz hits his usual double play ball in a clutch spot, but no runner on first means, of course, there is no double play, and Victorino scores on the fielders choice with Feliz going to third. Two out.
2nd and 3rd for Ruiz.
With two on and nobody out, Coste fists a soft grounder to Pena at first, and the runners advance.
Feliz reaches out and just gets enough of Kazmir's 1-2 slidepiece to get it into center field. The Phils really need to get to Kazmir here and give Cole same breathing room.
Victorino leads off the fourth with a pop-up to center that falls in front of Upton. Phils in business again.
End 3rd, still Phils 2, Rays 0.
Upton swings for the fences on the 1-0 pitch and misses. But Colbert gets him hit a grounder to Feliz on the 2-1 pitch, and the Phils take it around the horn for a double play, Upton's second in two at-bats. Ryno accentuates the play with a nice fist pump, good to see some emotion.
BJ Upton strides to the dish with the bases loaded. A strikeout would be good, a home run, not good.
Iwamura gets a 1-2 pitch and hits a soft line drive to right field. Werth gets to it fast to hold Zobrist at third. Looking a little unlucky right now.
Hamels runs a 3-1 count on Bartlett. It would be a really bad idea to let the weakest hitter in the Rays' lineup have a free pass, but Hamels throws ball four, so two on for Iwamura.
Zobrist, whose numbers from the end of the season look a lot better than 8th-in-the-order quality, smashes a grounder past the diving Feliz.
Navarro lifts a weaksauce pop-up to Howard, one out. I was careful to not spell his name Navorro, as in Navorro Bowman, heir to Lavar Arrington's throne.
Middle 3rd, Phils 2, Rays 0.
Maslowsky says the Phightins are "squandering chances." I agree.
The Bat waves at the 1-2 offering from Kaz (slider I think), as Kazmir escapes another dangerous Phillies chance.
Howard is punched out on a check swing. Nice slider there by Kazmir. Two outs for Bat Burrell.
Utley grounds out, but moves Werth up to third for the big bopper, Howard. How does this enormous teddy bear of a man not have a great nickname yet?
Utley just misses a 1-0 "meatball" from Kazmir, swinging under it. That meatball quote gets attributed to...me.
Werth pokes one down the right-field line for a double. A great piece of hitting to get a ball that was low and outside, and the Phils will look to add some more here.
Kazmir at 40 pitches through 2 innings...at this rate, he'll be done after 5.
End 2, Phils 2, Rays 0.
Hamels' tally so far: 3 groundballs, 1 flyball, 2 strikeouts. Lookin' sharp.
Hamels gets Willy Aybar to whiff on some high cheddar to end the frame.
Crawford flies out to deep center, two outs.
Big swing and a miss by Longoria, who looked like he was trying to win the whole series in one swing there.
Evan Longoria up, insert your own "Desperate Housewives" joke here.
Middle 2nd, Phils 2, Rays 0.
Phils let Kaz off the hook.
Rollins lifts a short pop to Upton, who guns down Victorino at home for the double play. Good call, Steve Smith ... NOT. Upton used to be a shortstop, and while he can't pick up a grounder, he does have a cannon, which he just showed there.
Walk to Ruiz on the full count, bases loaded with one out for J-Roll. Like I said, Kazmir is wild.
"Chooch" Ruiz being patient, 2-1 count. Looks like the Rays want to pick off Victorino here. He needs to be careful. As Joe Morgan doesn't know, outs are the most precious currency in baseball, not dirt and grass stains on the uniforms. Full count to Ruiz.
Coste flys out to right, one out.
Victorino jussst beat that throw to the bag. Good thing he did, or I would have burned my Flyin' Hawaiian figurine in effigy.
Annnd a five-pitch walk to Feliz, two runners on and no outs. Looks like a golden chance to rattle Kaz early and make a statement, as long as Ruiz doesn't hit into a double play.
Pedro Feliz lets the first three pitches of the at-bat go without swinging. I just lost a $500 prop bet because of him. Make that four. Who are you, and what have you done with "Happy Pete?"
Victorino with the weak grounder up the middle, but Iwamura didn't even attempt a throw as the Flyin' Hawaiian zoomed down the first-base line.
End 1st, Phils 2, Rays 0.
A shutdown inning from young Colbert, exactly what the Phightins needed after Utley's mammoth homer.
Nice play by Rollins on the overshift, ranging left and snaring Pena's grounder before throwing to first.
Upton bails out Howard/Hamels by hitting into a double play, Utley to Rollins to Howard. Two out.
Iwamura grounds to Howard, who fails to make the pitch to Hamels at the bag. Probably both should share that mistake there. Iwamura is safe at 1st.
Akinori Iwamura, most famous for his outrageously goofy celebration of the last out of the ALCS, runs a full count to lead off against Colbert.
Middle 1st inning, Phils 2, Rays 0.
Burrell down on strikes, inning over.
Howard grounds out on the first pitch,two outs.
HOME RUN!!! Young Chase Utley gives Kazmir's 2-2 offering a ride to right field. Kazmir put one in the low, inside lefty wheelhouse, and the best second baseman in the game didn't let him get away with it. 2-0 Phils.
Rays have the shift on for Utley, who tries to bunt for a hit on the first pitch and pushes it foul. Now an 0-2 count after a swing and miss and a foul back to the screen. Now 2-2 after a near-miss and Utley laying off a ball in the dirt.
Apparently the Trop used to be called "Thunderdome," I hate corporate sponsorships.
Werth looks at a couple of balls, a good sign. The Phillies need to look at lots of Kazmir's offerings so they can get to the 'pen as early as possible. Now a 3-1 count. Kaz paints the low outside corner for strike 2, but walks Werth on the full count.
J-Roll digs in and lofts one down the right-field line, caught for an out.
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It's go time.
Apparently the Phils need to "line up behind Hamels," and the Rays need to pounce on home-field advantage." I kid you not, those are Fox's keys to the game. What that means, I have no idea. Please email me with ideas.
Fox just showed us some token Rays fans. That's cool and all, but what percent of the people at the game tonight had ever been to Tropicana field before August 15th? ten percent? five percent? four percent?
FrankTV commercial, again. While the commercial's are outrageously grating, the man is a genius. The show is garbage, but his stand-up is phenomenal. Search him on YouTube and see what I mean.
Annnnd, as Steve Maslowsky just said, "Backstreet's back." That would be the greatest boy band of alltime, Backstreet Boys, is delivering a stirring rendition of the national anthem. First pitch upcoming.
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Hey everyone, I'm student government reporter Ben Skalina, and I'll be taking you readers through World Series Game 1 here on MAKE PLAYS. The sports staff threw me a bone on this one, so I'll try not to disappoint. I'm a lifelong Phillies phan from suburban Philadelphia (my house is 20 minutes from Citizens Bank Park), and I've been following our previously hopeless and hapless franchise since Doug Glanville was roaming the vast putting green of centerfield at the Vet and Curt Schilling and Scott Rolen whined their respective ways out of town. So I guess I've been waiting for this for a while.
The pitching matchup tonight is Cole Hamels for the Phillies and Scott Kazmir for the St. Petersburg Devil Rays of the Tampa Bay area. They were the 17th and 15th overall picks in the 2002 draft, respectively, and both strike out a lot of guys, but Hamels is probably slightly better because he induces more grounders and was much less wild:
Hamels walked 2.1 batters per nine innings and induced groundballs on 39.5% of balls in play.
Kazmir walked a whopping 4.1 batters per nine and only had a 30.8% groundball rate.
Because of his wildness,don't expect to see Kazmir past the 7th inning tonight,while Hamels will probably try for 8 tonight if he is in good form.
Kazmir is downright dominant against lefthanded hitters, though, meaning Ryan Howard will probably not be hitting his first playoff home run tonight. Pat Burrell and Jayson Werth will need big games to pick up the slack.
For more sweet sabermetrically inclined analysis on lineups, starting pitchers, and bullpens, check out The Good Phight, a verrrry good Phillies blog. It's the Black Shoe Diaries for Phillies fans.
Lineups:
Phillies:
Jimmy Rollins - SS
Jayson Werth - RF
Chase Utley - 2B
Ryan Howard - 1B
Pat Burrell - LF
Shane Victorino - CF
Pedro Feliz - 3B
Chris Coste - DH
Carlos "Chooch" Feliz - C
St. Petersburg
Akinori Iwarmura - 2B
B.J. Upton - CF
Carlos Pena - 1B
Evan Longoria - 3B
Carl Crawford - LF
Willy Aybar - DH
Dioner Navarro - C
Ben Zobrist - RF
Jason Bartlett - SS
