Final Notes
Four hours after it began, the Phils stand with a 1-0 series lead in the 2009 NLCS. Cole Hamels received the win and Clayton Kershaw took the loss with Brad Lidge recording a save.
Thanks for tuning in, and remember to catch up on all LCS games right here. And remember, I'll be back.
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Bottom of the Ninth
Brad Lidge, the shaky closer of the Phillies, comes in to close out the game. He quickly puts Kemp in an 0-2 hole, but Kemp hits a slider right over J-Roll for a single.
Case Blake is up as he looks to avoid an 0-5 night. The announcers say how the Dodgers have 12 walk off wins, behind the Yankees and... the Florida Marlins.
Blake hits a grounder to Utley who turns the double play with Rollins. 2 out.
James Loney is up looking for his fourth hit. With a full count and a nervous/shaking Dan Rorabaugh, Brad Lidge walks Loney. Belliard is the new batter, representing the tying run. But against the odds of this season, Lidge gets Belliard to fly out to end the game.
Phildelphia Phillies 8, Los Angeles Dodgers 6
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Top of the Ninth
Jonathan Broxton is the new pitcher to face Rollins. The childhood pal of Dontrelle Willis flies out to left fielder Juan Pierre. Victorino singled to left for his second hit of the night to bring up Utley. Utley also flies out to Pierre, who shows his lack of an arm as he throws the ball in. Two down with Victorino on first and Howard up.
As the temp bats, Phillie fans have to wonder: Who's coming in? Lidge? Blanton? Does Madson stay? I'm assuming Lidge, which means we're in for an exciting final three outs.
Broxton strikes out Howard for the third out.
Phillies 8, Dodgers 6
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Bottom of the Eighth
Loney starts off the inning with a single off Ryan Madson to go 3-4 on the night. Great night, James. Thanks for your help this fantasy season. Belliard shows the Dodgers aren't giving up as he hits a line drive to center. Runners on first and second with none out.
Even more exciting than the game, 2003 Marlin sparkplug Juan Pierre is in the batting circle. Clearly Martin was excited about this as he hit a grounder to left and scored Loney from second. Aggressive base-running as former Phillies skipper Larry Bowa sends Loney to close the gap to 3. Juan Pierre is up. The old speed demon shows he hasn't lost his touch as he works the count... and then swings one of the ugliest swings I've seen and grounds into a fielder's choice. It's okay, Juan, I still love you for 03. One out, runners on the corners.
Furcal scares Phillie fans with warning track power but flies out to Werth. Belliard scores on the sac fly. Phillies 8, Dodgers 6
Ethier singles, sending the former Fish Pierre to third and bringing up Manny. You can hear the excitement in the announcers' voices. Madson gets ahead in the count 1-2 with two BIG swings by Manny. But Manny ends up grounding out to third, bringing a wave of relief to the city of Philadelphia and Phillie fans everywhere.
Phillies 8, Dodgers 6
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Top of the Eighth
George Sherrill opens the inning against Ryan Howard, who walks to give the Fightin' a leadoff runner. Jayson Werth follows Howard with a walk of his own, bringing up Ibanez. Ibanez sends Sherrill's first pitch over the right field wall for three more runs. Phils 8, Dodgers 4
Ruiz singles on a grounder to left. Sherrill is still in and you've gotta assume Torre is throwing in the towel tonight. Pinch hitter Ben Francisco flies out to Matt Kemp, who fires a bullet to first to double up Ruiz and bring up the bottom half of the inning.
Phils 8, Dodgers 4
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Bottom of the Seventh
Good news: My car isn't towed or ticketed. Bad news: The roads are getting bad and my car doesn't do well in the snow (already had an accident in March.) If this is my final posting, I'd just like to say it has been an honor serving you faithful readers tonight. And let's face it, I've been waiting for a field hockey blog for two months, so this probably will be my final blog post.
Anyway, Antonio Bastardo (insert joke about his last name here) comes in to face Ethier. Ethier leads off the inning with a double to the right corner. Manuel has seen enough from Bastardo, so he is bringing in Chan Ho Park to face Manny "I'm still not better than Hanley" Ramirez. The first Korean player in MLB history forces Ramirez into a ground out to get one out. Park looks solid as he opposes his original MLB team and strikes out Matt Kemp with a 96 mph heater.
Casey Blake grounds out to Utley for the final out.
Phils 5, Dodgers 4
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Top of the Seventh
Pinch hitter Miguel Cairo faces new pitcher Hong-Chih Kuo. Kuo strikes out Cairo in one of the most boring playoff showdowns you'll ever see. Rollins comes up still looking for a hit, and he gets it with a single passed a diving Furcal. Victorino grounds to thirdbaseman Casey Blake who gets Rollins at second. Belliard was unable to turn two, so Utley comes up with two outs as he looks for his first hit of the night. The announcers warn fans to watch him to lean in to get hit by a pitch. How do they still have jobs? Manuel is no Morris Buttermaker...
Utley strikes out to end the Phils attack. Now for the 7th inning stretch, I will go make sure my car isn't a) towed or b) buried in snow.
Phils 5, Dodgers 4
***Bottom of the Sixth
Blake leads off the inning for the Dodgers and pops out to Howard near the Phillie dugout. The Phils bullpen gets going as Hamels faces the Bopp Knight, James Loney. Had the first basemen recorded a couple more hits over the year and the Knights would have been first and $200 richer... but I digress, Loney singles to left to bring up Belliard. Charlie Manuel has got to be thinking about pulling his ace, while his ace has got to be thinking about Heidi... or the baby... I'd pick Heidi.
Belliard also singles to left, giving the Dodgers men on first and second with one out. And with that, Manuel pulls Hamels. He finishes the night with: 5.1 innings pitched, 8 hits, 4 earned runs, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. Now people HAVE compared him to Beckett, but with numbers like that, I'd rather see the great Dontrelle Willis pitch.
The new pitcher is Chad Durbin. He comes in to face Russell Martin, who hits a screaming line drive straight to Jayson Werth for the second out. The out brings up the former Phillie Jim Thome. Manuel is taking no chances as he brings in new pitcher J.A. Happ. Happ was also a Bopp Knight this season, the anchor of a staff that included Greinke, Beckett and Halladay. And yes, that rotation carried us to 2nd.
Thome shows the Phils what they're missing as he drew a walk to load the bases and bring up Furcal. Randy Wolf comes out to pinch run for Thome. Clearly surprised, Wolf didn't have his spikes on and required an equipment timeout. The entire few minutes of the timeout, the announcers whined about the timeout. Once everyone was set, Furcal grounded out on a full count to end the inning.
Phillies 5, Dodgers 4
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Top of the Sixth
Ronald Belisario relieves Troncoso and instantly gets Ibanez to ground out. Feliz grounds out as well as Belisario makes quick work of the Phils. Ruiz gives Belisario the hat-trick of groundouts to end a quick half-inning.
Phils 5, Dodgers 4
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Bottom of the Fifth
I'm relieved I didn't make a premature analogy and compare Kershaw to another young ace who stepped up big in the playoffs to give his team a victory and cement himself as an ace: Josh Beckett. Anyway, Martin opens the inning with a ground rule double down the left field line. Hamels eases in and strikes out pinch hitter Orlando Hudson for his fourth of the night and first of the inning.
Furcal hits a line drive to right, sending Martin running. But with his eyes set on home, Martin slips rounding third and has to stay 90 feet away from home. With runners on first and third and one out, Hamels gets a double play ball from Either. Rollins tosses to Utley who wildly throws far from Howard, giving Either a fielder's choice RBI as Martin scores. Phillies 5, Dodgers 2
Much to the delight of L.A. and the game's announcers, Manny is up again. The estrogen-popping giant jacks a two-run home run to left center, just after TBS showed his homer off of Hamels in last year's NLDS. The finally full Dodger stadium erupts with joy as the announcers try to hide their strong affection for the slugger. Hamels gets Kemp to ground out to second and get out of the inning.
Phillies 5, Dodgers 4
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Top of the Fifth
Raul Ibanez singles on a line drive to left to open the inning for the bottom of the Phillies order. With Feliz up, Kershaw bounces a pitch in front of Martin, giving Ibanez an easy bag. And for the record, catching for a wild pitcher is a lot tougher than it looks. I feel for you Russ. Kershaw fails to find the strike zone and walks Feliz to bring up Ruiz. L.A.'s pitching coach and infield meet with their young and shaken pitcher at the mound as the Phillies threaten for the first time all night.
Kershaw still struggling, but throws a 2-1 strike high that Ruiz drives to left for a three-run homer. Football editor and Phillie die-hard Matt Brown shows his psychic abilities and two-sport talent as he proudly called the homer before the at-bat. Kershaw gives the L.A. faithful uneasiness as he walks his counterpart on four straight balls.
With Hamels on first, J-Roll looks to keep the inning going with still no outs. The Dodgers make an early call to the bullpen. Rollins grounds into a fielder's chocie to third, Hamels out at second. After a few failed attempts to pick off Rollins, Kershaw strikes out Victorino. Unfortunately for the Dodgers, the pitch was wild and let Rollins move to second with two outs. Kershaw follows with another bounced pitch by Martin, moving J-Roll to third. Though I'm partial to catchers and Kershaw is very erratic, Martin needs to help out his young ace and stop a ball.
Kershaw walks Utley for the fifth walk of the night in only the fifth inning. With two guys in the pen, Torre has got to wonder if it's time to pull his wild ace. The temp, Ryan Howard, jacks a line drive to the right hand corner, driving in both Rollins and Utley. Phils up 5-1.
And that will be the end of the night for young Clayton Kershaw. His stats: 4.2 innings pitched, 4 hits, 5 earned runs, 5 walks and 3 strikeouts. It was a rough night for him, but to quote The Offspring, "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid."
Torre brings in Ramon Troncoso with two outs and Howard on second. Werth flies out to shallow left to end the Phillie attack.
Phillies 5, Dodgers 1
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Bottom of the Fourth
Hamels punches out Blake to open the inning, but he is throwing a lot of pitches and still not looking as sharp as a season ago. Loney comes up after his homer but pops out to second. Ronnie Belliard follows with his own pop up to second to the end a rather boring inning. The game is turning into a pitcher's duel, even though the pitchers aren't as pitching as well as advertised.
Dodgers 1, Phils 0
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Top of the Fourth
After more stomach-churning commercials by George Lopez, Victorino opens up the inning with a pop up to first as Kershaw keeps rolling. Joe Torre is interviewed and gets the chance to talk up his very young pitcher. Right on cue, Kershaw gets Utley to pop out to third for the second out. Howard draws a walk after many close pitches, bringing up Werth. Werth gives Phils fans hope with a deep fly to left, but Ramirez pulls an un-Manny like move and catches the warning track ball to strand Howard and end the Phillies attack.
Dodgers 1, Phils 0
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Bottom of the Third
Hamels strikes out Either to open the bottom half of the inning. Man-Ram comes up and the camera shows Jim Thome, sparking an argument in the office about whether or not Phillies fans should hate the over-sized hitter. Ramirez pops out to second, falling 0-2 on the night and embarassing the number 99 on an LA jersey. (You'll always be 99, Great One.) Hamels seems nothing like the 08 World Series MVP, but he manages to get a ground out from Kemp to end the inning.
Dodgers 1, Phils 0
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Top of the Third
Pedro Feliz faces the 21-year-old Kershaw and gets him to pop out for out number one. Kershaw walks catcher Carlos Ruiz to draw Mr. Heidi Hamels, who bunts to the pitcher and lazily jogs to first for the second out. Ruiz advances to second. J-Roll breaks his bat but grounds out to end the inning, stranding a runner on second.
Dodgers 1, Phils 0
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Bottom of the Second
James Loney, one of the "stars" of the 2nd place Bopp Knights, jacks a solo shot deep to right to give the Dodgers the first run of the series. Victorino comes through with a nice warning track catch to get one out, and Martin grounds out to third for the second out of the inning. Kershaw comes up against last years World Series MVP, and beats him for a walk. Furcal hits a dribbler to the pitcher, but Carlos Ruiz guns him down at first to get out of the inning.
Dodgers 1, Phils 0
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Top of the Second
The former temp of Dunder Mifflin, Ryan Howard, opens the inning for the Phils with a fly ball to the warning track, snared by the No. 2 best Ramirez in the National League. Jayson Werth stares down strike three, right down the plate, sending the five Dodger fans behind the plate in a frenzy. Raul Ibanez, one of the best acquisitions of the year for the Phils, comes through like he has the second half of the year with another strike out, watching once again.
Phils 0, Dodgers 0
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Bottom of the First
Dodgers open up with a deep fly out before Hamels can get going. The new father lost his no-hitter with an Andre Either slapper to left. Manny "I wish I was Hanley" Ramirez comes up for his first NLCS at-bat and quickly fell behind 0-2. (And yes, I am a Marlins fan) Ramirez gives the few Dodger faithful hope as he hits a deep ball just a few feet foul. After a few more fouls balls, Hamels gets the better of Ramirez and strikes him out for the second of the inning. Kemp sends his first pitch into left for a single, giving the Dodgers runners in scoring position in the first. Mountain man-looking Casey Blake pops out to end the threat and the inning.
Phillies 0, Dodgers 0
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Top of the First
Hey guys, Kurt Bopp of the field hockey beat here keeping you posted on the Phils/Dodgers game 1 from LA. Due to unforeseen circumstances (meaning snow in mid-October in Happy Valley) I just got in to keep you posted on tonight's action. We begin with 1 out after J-Roll popped up to catcher Russel Martin, and Victorino on first after a grounder past Furcal.
After an Utley deep fly ball to center, Victorino gets caught in a run-down after Kershaw picked him off. Three out, time for the Dodgers.
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