Cheered on by a briefly full stadium and the Fox broadcast crew, the Dodgers clawed their way back into the National League Championship Series with a 7-2 win over Jamie Moyer and the Phillies. LA got to Moyer early, scoring five times in the first inning--three on a two-out, two-strike bases-loaded double by #8 hitter Blake DeWitt--and again in the second on a Rafael Furcal home run before Charlie Manuel pulled the plug. Phillies relievers were again effective in limiting the Dodgers to one run over the last 6 2/3 innings, but the lineup could not generate much offense against Hiroki Kuroda, who allowed just two runs and five hits in six-plus innings. 

The good news was pretty much limited to Ryan Howard notching his first two hits of the series, and the solid relief work from Clay Condrey, J.A. Happ, Scott Eyre, Chad Durbin and J.C. Romero. Otherwise, the game was of interest only for the near-beanball war that erupted after Dodgers catcher Russell Martin was hit by a pitch in the first inning (on a 1-2 count, by Moyer, to load the bases--so intent likely was not an issue), and brushed back by Condrey in the second before hitting into a double play and throwing a hissy fit better suited for one of MTV's semi-reality shows about teenagers than a playoff ballgame. Kuroda responded by throwing over Shane Victorino's head in the third, and both benches emptied. The humorous coda came in the seventh, when Durbin hit Martin on an offspeed pitch. 

While this loss wasn't much fun, one could argue that this never looked like a good matchup. Moyer has gotten hit hard by the Dodgers a time or two in recent years and wasn't sharp in his NLDS start, and Kuroda absolutely owned the Phillies in two August starts against them. Tomorrow's game takes on more urgency now, of course, and the Phils will send Joe Blanton to the hill against Derek Lowe, taking the ball on short rest for Los Angeles. 

It was jubilation early and jitters late as the Phillies beat the Dodgers 8-5 to take a two games to none lead in the National League Championship Series. 

Brett Myers was the story today--not with his arm, but with his bat. As the FOX bobbleheads told us again and again, the high-strung right-hander's three hits in the game nearly matched his 2008 regular season total of four. But they were big hits: a two-out second-inning single to drive in Carlos Ruiz and give the Phils a 2-1 lead, and a two-run single in the third to stretch the advantage to 6-2. Both times, Myers came around to score, driven in by Shane Victorino. The Myers/Victorino combo worked in NLCS Game Two much as it did in the first round, with the Flyin' Hawaiian delivering a two-run triple in the third to push the advantage to 8-2. 

After batting around in both the second and third innings and chasing Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley--who, after striking out four of the first six Phillies hitters, fell apart as quickly and completely as I've ever seen--the Phils looked like they might put this one away early. But Myers, perhaps tired from running the bases, gave back half the lead in the fourth inning when Rafael Furcal reached on a strikeout/wild pitch, Russell Martin singled, and Manny Ramirez muscled a fastball just over the wall in left field. Myers scuffled through the fifth inning without further damage, and was done after 102 pitches. 

Both bullpens were electric, the Dodgers holding the Phillies right where they were behind young pitchers James McDonald, Clayton Kershaw (whose 18 pitches probably took him out of the running for a Game Four start), and Corey Wade. The Phils made things a bit more interesting: Chad Durbin pitched around one hit in the sixth, and J.C. Romero and Ryan Madson each allowed a baserunner in the seventh before the inning ended on a fantastic Victorino catch against the wall in center off the bat of Casey Blake. Madson--shaking off the near-disaster and continuing to show the form that's turned him from digestive threat to setup ace--mowed down the Dodgers in the eighth on a weak grounder and two strikeouts. But Brad Lidge walked two in the ninth before striking out Matt Kemp and Nomar Garciaparra with a barrage of vicious sliders to close it out. Thirty-one years and change after the infamous Black Friday, there would be no repeat. 

For manager Charlie Manuel, the win was a welcome balm after very sad news: earlier today, Manuel lost his beloved mother, June, at the age of 87. We at TGP wish Manuel and his family all the best.

The Phils look to put a stranglehold on the series Sunday night in Game Three, as Jamie Moyer faces off against Hiroki Kuroda. 

My guess is that if you polled a thousand baseball fans as to who was a better manager between Dodgers head man Joe Torre and Phillies skipper Charlie Manuel, you’d get about 997 responses for Torre, with perhaps a three-vote margin of error. And on the merits, this makes some sense: after all, Torre has four world championships on his resume. He's a nationally known icon who stars in credit card commercials in which he does yoga. This recent Hardball Times article pegged him as the current manager perhaps most likely to gain baseball immortality in Cooperstown, New York; for much of his Philadelphia tenure, Manuel was probably the current manager most likely to become a former manager. Torre won the high esteem of the press and public in New York with his mastery of the postgame press conference; Manuel endured relentless mockery from Philadelphia’s baseball scribes, and his most famous press conference moment was when he threatened to give Howard Eskin a supremely deserved ass-kicking.

But stripped away of their press notices, accents and regionalisms, and past job postings (Torre managed both New York teams; Manuel ran the Indians), these are surprisingly similar baseball men—both in methods and outcomes. As David—stealing my thunder—mentioned in a piece earlier today, Manuel has the slightly higher career winning percentage, with a .543 rate (574-484) to Torre’s .538 (2151-1848). Manuel has just one losing campaigns—actually, a half-season in 2002—in his seven seasons as a manager; Torre has seven (one of which was a half-season) in his 25 years at the helm, though the first six of those were in his forgettable managerial bow with the Mets in the late ’70s and early ‘80s.

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The Phillies took care of business in Milwaukee today, defeating the Brewers 6-2 to win the National League Division Series in four games and earn the right to face the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL pennant, starting Thursday. Pitching and power were the stories again, with Joe Blanton tossing six brilliant innings and Pat Burrell slugging two of the team's four home runs in the win. 

Jimmy Rollins got things started with a solo shot on a full-count pitch to begin the game, and from the jump, the lineup had good at-bats against Jeff Suppan. But as in the first three games, the Phils struggled to cash baserunners, leaving two on in the second. More frustration seemed imminent in the third inning, but after Suppan intentionally walked Ryan Howard to put two men on with two outs, Burrell hit a majestic blast over the left-field wall on a 2-2 pitch to stretch the lead to 4-0. Jayson Werth followed with a solo shot, and the Miller Park crowd went silent. 

Joe Blanton kept them that way, striking out seven Brewers through six scoreless innings with an effective mix of fastballs and curves--and walking none. Finally tiring in the seventh, Blanton allowed a long home run to Prince Fielder and a single to J.J. Hardy, and took a seat. Ryan Madson put out that fire and allowed one run in the eighth; meanwhile, Burrell jacked his second homer off former Met Guillermo Mota. 

Brad Lidge nailed it down in the ninth, pitching around a one-out single, and the Phils had their first playoff series win since the 1993 NLCS. Now they wait until Thursday to host the Dodgers--probably the one franchise with which the Phillies could be said to have an actual playoff rivalry, having faced off in the NLCS three times in six years between 1977 and 1983. 

Savor this one today and tomorrow, then back to work. 

In their first 125 seasons of play, the Philadelphia Phillies had never swept a postseason series. It didn't happen in season #126 either, as the Milwaukee Brewers took a 4-1 decision to register their first playoff win since 1982 to pull within two games to one and extend their season at least one more day. 

This one seemed star-crossed almost from the beginning, as Jamie Moyer's usually pinpoint control deserted him when the veteran walked the first two Milwaukee hitters of the game. Both came around to score, and though Moyer stranded runners in each of the first two innings, he threw over 60 pitches in doing so and could only last four frames. Charlie Manuel, who managed such a good game on Thursday in Philadelphia, was at his semi-random worst tonight: Clay Condrey in the 5th, as the Brewers added a run to make it 3-0, then Chad Durbin and Scott Eyre--brought in to retire Prince Fielder in a key spot to close the 6th inning. The problem was that Manuel inexplicably left Eyre in to start the seventh against a succession of right-handed hitters, and after the Phillies had gotten on the board, the veteran gave the run right back. By the time Ryan Madson came in to clean up the mess, the damage was done. 

That four runs was not only enough, but comfortably enough, is tribute to the continuing struggles of Phillies hitters to deliver in this series. The team notched nine hits against Dave Bush and four Brewer relievers, but stranded runners in scoring position in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th, and 9th innings. The final frame was the most frustrating, as Ryan Howard, Greg Dobbs and Shane Victorino all singled off struggling Milwaukee closer Salomon Torres to load the bases with none out. But Pedro Feliz, first-pitch swinging, rolled a grounder to third baseman Bill Hall for an easy 'round-the-horn double play--and with Victorino called for runners' interference, Ryan Howard, who evidently had scored on the play, was ordered back to third, with Dobbs to second. A Carlos Ruiz groundout later, the game was over. 

Suddenly facing the prospect of a fully rested CC Sabathia out for revenge in Game Five, the Phillies try to end it tomorrow behind Joe Blanton. Tested Playoff Veteran (tm) Jeff Suppan gets the ball for the Brewers. 

It's hard to imagine how this could have gone much better. After a first-inning hiccup in which he walked three Brewers, the last to force in a run, Brett Myers allowed one hit over the next six innings and looked far more like the dominant, efficient ace of late July thru mid-September than the guy who was sent to the minors or knocked around in his final two starts.

Meanwhile, the Phillies worked the count against CC Sabathia--led by Myers himself, who drew an enormous walk to conclude a nine-pitch battle in the second, and was retired on a flyout after ten pitches in the fourth. Two batters after Myers drew his two-out walk, Shane Victorino blasted a hanging breaking pitch over the wall in left for his first career grand slam, giving the Phils a 5-1 lead they would not relinquish. Victorino had three hits and two steals on the night, while Jayson Werth and Jimmy Rollins--who played all game with the intensity to which we became accustomed in his 2007 MVP campaign--each had two hits and a steal. 

After Myers was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh, Ryan Madson and J.C. Romero worked through some trouble in the eighth, and Brad Lidge--looking like a very different pitcher than the guy who struggled through the ninth on Wednesday--set down the Brewers in order to give the Phillies the 5-2 win. 

Those inclined to quibble might point to the ten runners stranded by Phillies hitters, including eight in the middle innings when they had chances to salt the game away. But the bottom line is that they didn't let this one get away--and that, as TBS noted at the end of the broadcast, this win gives the Phillies their first 2-0 lead in a playoff series since the 1980 World Series. Gotta like that. 

In the biggest start of his life, Cole Hamels pitched arguably the best game of his life. 

That might sound like hyperbole, but against a lineup that smacked around lefthanders at a .269/.348/.458 clip during the regular season, Hamels put up eight innings of scoreless, two-hit, one-walk ball, striking out nine. (And for the sake of my stomach lining, seeing him go for the complete game might have been nice.)

In earning the first Phillies postseason win since Curt Schilling's 147-pitch (!) effort in Game Five of the 1993 World Series, Hamels silenced the doubters who had pointed to his so-so performances in two earlier tests: last year's playoff opener and his early-September showdown against the Mets and Johan Santana. This was the biggest of stages, and he stood taller than any Phils pitcher since Schilling on that October night fifteen years ago. Signs of Hamels' growing maturity--staying healthy thanks to great diligence in his pre- and post-game conditioning, staying focused despite a painful lack of offensive support for a six-week stretch over the summer--have been evident all year. Today was the payoff, and perhaps the coming-out party of Philadelphia's next legendary pitcher. 

As for the offense, they were opportunistic and patient in key spots, taking advantage of shoddy defense and Yovanni Gallardo's wildness to score three runs in the third inning. But against a supposedly shaky Milwaukee bullpen, they went down quietly again and again, putting just one runner in scoring position. With CC Sabathia looming tomorrow, a quick turnaround seems unlikely--but eventually the bats will have to deliver if the club is to play deep into the month.

Three runs and four hits won't often be enough. Thanks to Hamels--and to Brad Lidge, making huge pitches when he absolutely needed to--it was today. 

As the Phillies wait to begin what they hope will be a deep playoff run, one of the players most responsible for their reaching the post-season has been recognized for an unexpectedly great season: 

Cliff Lee, who won the American League leader in wins and ERA, and Philadelphia closer Brad Lidge, who converted 41 of 41 save opportunities to help the Phillies win a second consecutive National League East crown, are MLB.com's Comeback Player of the Year Award winners for their respective leagues.

...

Lidge finished with 53 points and was followed by Kerry Wood of the Cubs (34), Ryan Ludwick of the Cardinals (27) and Jorge Cantu of the Marlins (23).

...

Lidge was traded by Houston to the Phillies last November after going 5-3 with 19 saves and a 3.36 ERA for the Astros in 2007.

The right-hander quickly showed he still had dominating stuff. Lidge had a 0.82 ERA in his first 12 save opportunities and retired 21 of 24 batters at one stretch. As the months went by, Lidge kept converting every opportunity. His reliability, especially after the Mets lost closer Billy Wagner to injury, was a key factor in the outcome of the division race.

Lidge finished the regular season 2-0 with a 1.95 ERA and was 41-for-41 in save opportunities. His place as the most reliable closer in Phillies history became all but official. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no Phillies closer with 20 or more saves in a season had lasted an entire year without a blown save since saves became an official statistic in 1969.

 

"That's kind of tough to beat," Phillies assistant general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "It is what it is. It's pretty amazing that he went out there for 41 chances and did it 41 times. Hopefully he can do it another 10 or so."

I'm barely old enough to remember some of Tug McGraw's hair-raising escapes in 1980, and Al Holland's strong bullpen work in 1983. Steve Bedrosian obviously was effective in 1988, when he won the Cy Young Award, but that was for an awful team and I don't recall his work very clearly. Lidge has set the standard for Phillies closers. 

From David Murphy at High Cheese: 

According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the Brewers are going to throw young righty Yovani Gallardo against Cole Hamels in Game One on Wednesday. A very interesting move. Stuff wise, this guy is probably the second-best pitcher on the staff. He went 9-5 last season with a 3.67 ERA in 20 starts. The Mexican-born 22-year-old was considered one of the top young pitchers in the game, but he has made just four starts this season. He underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in spring training, then aggravated the injury early this season. He made his first start since May on Sept. 25, allowing one run on three hits in four innings before leaving after 67 pitches.

The move has a couple of benefits for the Brewers. First of all, the Phillies haven't seen Gallardo at all this season. They faced him once last season, when he held them to one run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings on Aug. 3. But Gallardo has pitched just one game since May, and he has never pitched in the playoffs before.

Gallardo is an ace-quality pitcher whose May injury, ironically enough, arguably created the need to go get CC Sabathia. He came up huge last Thursday in his first start after a layoff of more than four months. That he threw 67 pitches in four innings offers the hint for how the Phils will have to go at him: with patience. It's not that Gallardo is wild--he's never walked more than three in a big-league start--but as a young strikeout pitcher, he's generally not super-efficient. At age 22, coming off the long layoff, it's hard to believe the Brewers would let him throw more than 90 pitches at the absolute most. The Brewers' bullpen isn't bad--their collective 3.83 ERA was fourth in the NL this season--but they will give the Phils shots. Even if Gallardo is lights-out, it's a winnable game for that reason. 

The championship hopes of a venerable franchise, with a long-suffering fan base and a boatload of heartbreak in its distant and recent history, rest in large part upon a big right-hander who starts the postseason with a question mark over his head. His 2008 season was filled with peaks and valleys—none more pronounced than what he did in its final month. The pinnacle came with a dominant, headline-grabbing performance on Sunday night, September 14: a complete-game masterpiece that changed the entire playoff picture. But the two starts after that, his last two of the regular season, were nothing short of disastrous. After past incidents of public tantrums, his temperament—arguably even his stability—is always at least a little in question. Nobody doubts his talent, but consistency has been sufficiently elusive that he’s a considerable X factor as the playoffs begin.

Brett Myers?

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