2nd baseman Chase Utley pounded a first inning 2-2 pitch out to rightfield with a runner on and 1 out and ace lefthander Cole Hamels pitched a solid seven innings as the Phillies edged the Tampa Bay Rays by a 3-2 score to take game 1 of the 2008 World Series in Tampa Bay.

This game was a battle of young lefthanders as Hamels was opposed by  Scott Kazmir.  Hamels was severely challenged in only the third and fifth innings and benefited from 2 big doubleplays and a pick-off to elude trouble.  Hamels also benefited by the Rays’ 2 through 5 hitters, as well as the dh, going a collective 1 for 19.

Kazmir, however, found himself in a slew of trouble throughout his six innings as the Phillies left a ton of runners on throughout the game.

After Utley homered to give the Phils a 2-0 lead, they loaded the bases in the second inning with one out.  But when Jimmy Rollins flew out to center, centerfielder Shane Victorino, who reached on an infield single to begin the inning, was nailed at home on an on-target one-hop throw by centerfielder  B.J. Upton to end the inning.  Both Utley and Victorino were 2 for 4 for the game.

There were enough rally-killers on the Phillies side as Rollins, 1st baseman Ryan Howard and leftfielder Pat Burrell went 0 for 12 striking out 7 times as the Phils left 11 runners stranded for the game.  They will have to do more scoring and give their pitchers more elbow-room to win the series.  The Rays are no push-over, and like any great team, they are capable of scoring a bunch in a hurry. 

The Phillies scored their decisive 3rd run in the fourth inning when, with runners on 2nd and 3rd base with 1 out, catcher Carlos Ruiz grounded to shortstop for the second out with Victorino scoring.  The “Flyin’ Hawaiian” had opened the inning with a single to right center and went to 2nd on 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz’s single to center.  DH Chris Coste grounded out advancing both runners.

In the Rays’ fourth inning, leftfielder Carl Crawford pounded Hamels’ first pitch for a 2 out solo shot to rightfield to cut the lead to 3-1.  Hamels retired the side in the fourth getting dh Willy Aybar to fly out to centerfield on an 0-2 pitch after taking a strike and fouling off 2 other pitches.

The Rays scored their 2nd run in the fifth inning as Hamels issued a 2 out walk to shortstop Jason Bartlett followed by leadoff hitter 2nd baseman  Akinori Iwamura’s RBI double. Hamels got B.J. Upton to foul out to 1st base to end the inning

But after Hamels walked 1st baseman Carlos Pena to open the sixth inning and promptly picked him off 1st base, the young ace retired the final 5 hitters he faced.  Hamels threw 102 pitches through seven innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 5 to win his 4th post-season game.  Then reliever Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge put the lights out on the Rays with perfect eighth and ninth innings.

Kazmir gave up 3 runs on 6 hits while walking 4 and striking out 4 while tossing 110 pitches through six innings.  4 Tampa Bay pitchers closed out the Phillies through the final 3 innings as 4 Phillies reached, 2 on hits and 2 walks.

AP sports writer Ronald Blum recorded these comments from 2 Phillies on the importance of winning game 1 and trivia on Hamels’ 4th post-season win for Yahoo sports;

“It’s huge,” Phillies closer Brad Lidge said. “You try and downplay it, but obviously you’re coming into a place like this, you want to make sure you get the first game, especially because you got your ace on the mound. It’s really important to do that.”

It seems the rust vs. rest debate as been around almost since, well, the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Philadelphia had six days to reflect and relax after winning the National League pennant. The Rays had two days to recover after beating Boston in Game 7 for the AL title on Sunday night.

“I don’t think it threw off our timing too much,” Utley said of the layoff. “I think tomorrow we should definitely be more back on track.”

It was the first Series game on artificial turf since 1993—the Phillies’ previous one. … The only other pitchers with four wins in four postseason starts were Dave Stewart (1989), David Wells (1998) and Josh Beckett (2007).

In Thursday’s game 2, Brett Myers is opposed by James Shields.   On Saturday, the venue switches to Philadelphia for game 3 as 45 year old lefthander Jamie Moyer faces Matt Garza.

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Nearly 25 year old Matt Garza outpitched his opponent lefthander Jon Lester, but not by much, in their second meeting of the ALCS and dh Willy Aybar got 2 hits, scored 2 runs including his insurance solo homer as  Boston watched Tampa Bay thwart it’s comeback attempt  (after coming from 3 games to 1 to tie the series) by a 3-1 score.

AP Sports Writer Fred Goodall recaps the game for Yahoo sports;

The Rays were a 200-1 shot to win the World Series before the season started. Now, they’ll host the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 Wednesday night.

Garza beat Boston twice in a week and was picked as the MVP.

“As a kid I think everybody pictures this night,” he said. “Usually it’s Game 7 of the World Series but I’ll take Game 7 of the ALCS.”

Willy Aybar homered and Evan Longoria and Rocco Baldelli also drove in runs to support Garza. Acquired in an offseason trade with Minnesota, Garza limited the Red Sox to Dustin Pedroia’s first-inning home run.

Longoria’s fourth-inning double off Jon Lester tied it at 1-all. Baldelli’s RBI single put the Rays ahead in the fifth after Aybar doubled and Dioner Navarro reached on an infield single.

Garza took the mound for the biggest game of his life with something, perhaps cotton balls, stuffed in his ears to help drown out the noise at sold-out Tropicana Field.

The 24-year-old right-hander struck out nine before shortstop Jason Bartlett booted Alex Cora’s ground ball for an error, leading off a tense eighth.

Boston went on to load the bases when Kevin Youkilis drew a two-out walk.  [David] Price, the No. 1 pick in the 2007 draft, became the fifth Tampa Bay pitcher of the inning—quite a spot for someone who started the year in Class A.

[J.D.] Drew, who capped the Game 5 rally with a ninth-inning single, struck out with a check-swing on a 97 mph fastball to end the threat. Price worked around a leadoff walk in the ninth and when pinch-hitter Jed Lowrie grounded out, the celebration began.

“I wanted the ball,” Price said. “I think everybody down there in the ‘pen wanted the ball tonight.”

So the Rays, who finished the 2007 season with an AL-worst 66-96 record, went from worst-to-first in 2008 with their top pitcher James Shields with a 14-8 record and 4 other pitchers with between 11 and 14 wins each, perhaps the most balanced staff in baseball in 2008, but noone hitting near .300 and their leading homer hitter Carlos Pena with 31 and with 102 RBIs.

Game 1 of the World Series is on Wednesday with the first 2 games being played in Tampa Bay followed by a day off and then with the next 3 games in Philadelphia, with the final 2 games, if necessary, back at Tampa Bay.

Just a few comparable team offensive and pitching stats;  both teams hit about the same with the Phils at a team BA of .255 and the Rays with a team BA of .260 in the regular season.  The Phils hit 214 homers to the Rays’ 180 although the Phils drove in 762 runs to the Rays 735. The Phils scored 799 runs to the Rays’ 779.  The Phils pitching staff seems even matched statistically with the Rays; Phillies Team ERA 3.88 vs the Rays at 3.82 ERA.  

The Phils have announced their starters games 1 and 2; ace lefthander  Cole Hamels starts game 1 and Brett Myers starts game 2.  The Rays have yet to name their starters.

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Shortstop Jimmy Rollins led off the game by working a full-count on Chad Billingsley before depositing the next pitch in the stands in right centerfield for a 1-0 Phillies lead.  Ace lefthander Cole Hamels once again came up big with a seven inning gem as the long-suffering Phils, losers of over 10,000 games in their history, beat the Dodgers by a 5-1 score to clinch their 1st NL pennant since 1993.

For his 2 wins in the NLCS, Hamels was awarded the MVP award.  He’s won his 3 post-season starts giving up a total of 4 runs in 22 innings.
 
Meanwhile, in the AL, the Boston Red Sox have been pummelled in their last 2 games at home against the Tampa Bay Rays, most recently in Tuesday’s 13-4 drubbing.  Boston now trails by 3-1 with one more game left in Beantown. games 6 and 7, if necessary will be played Saturday and Sunday in Tampa Bay.

And so, the long-time pennant-starved Phillies won their 6th NL Pennant in workman-like fashion putting on another late-season charge through the month of September and through a post-season in which they are 7-2 thus far. 

The Phils scored 2 in the third and two more in the fifth on 3 errors in the inning by shortstop Rafael Furcal.

AP Sports Writer John Nadel describes the Phils’ third and fifth inning scoring, Furcal’s errors and leftfielder Manny Ramirez’s solo shot for Yahoo sports;

Billingsley walked Rollins, who stole second, and Chase Utley in the third before [Ryan] Howard and Pat Burrell hit RBI singles with two outs to make it 3-0. Chan Ho Park relieved with the bases loaded and worked out of trouble.

Billingsley, 6-0 with a 1.60 ERA in his last seven regular-season starts at home, lasted just 2 2-3 innings. The 24-year-old right-hander, who went 16-10 with a 3.14 ERA this season, gave up a career-high eight runs in 2 1-3 innings in Game 2, won by the Phillies 8-5.

The Phillies made it 5-0 in the fifth against [Greg] Maddux thanks to the errors by Furcal. The first two came on one play, when he booted  Burrell’s potential inning-ending double-play grounder and then threw the ball away, allowing one run to score. The second came when Furcal made another throwing error on Carlos Ruiz’s two-out grounder, drawing boos from the disappointed Dodger Stadium crowd of 56,800.

The only other player to commit three errors in one inning in the postseason, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, was  Dodgers center fielder Willie Davis, who did so in the fifth inning of Game 2 in the 1966 World Series against  Baltimore.

The crowd came alive in the bottom of the fifth after a leadoff single by [Casey] Blake when Hall of Famer Tom Lasorda, who managed the Dodgers from 1977-96, stood near the team’s dugout waving a white towel, with the image shown on the video board. Matt Kemp followed with a single, but rookie Blake DeWitt grounded into his second double play of the game and Kent struck out as a pinch hitter.

Ramirez hit a 1-2 pitch over the right-field wall with two outs in the sixth, but Russell Martin took a called third strike to end the inning.

Hamels walked Kemp and pinch-hitter [Nomar] Garciaparra with two outs in the seventh before throwing a called third strike past Kent—the last of his 104 pitches.

The keys to the Phillies pennant-clinching win were getting to Billingsley early once again, as they had 5 days ago in game 2, flawless defense and the pitching of NLCS MVP Hamels, reliever Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge even though the Dodgers had at least 1 hitter reach in all but the third and fourth innings.  Hamels coaxed rookie Blake DeWitt into 2 big doubleplay grounders, the 2nd of which rubbed a 2 on, none out jam.

Centerfielder Shane Victorino, also a prime candidate in my book for MVP, is hitting .281 for the post-season, although he hit only .222 against the Dodgers.  His tying homer in the eighth inning of game 4 was huge.  Utley, Howard and Burrell were huge in this series, not so much with homers as with consistently getting on base and driving in runs.

Closer Lidge is perfect for the seson and post-season thus far; 46 saves in 46 opportunities and the Phillies extended their perfection when holding a lead after eight innings to the post-season and are now 86-0.

The Phillies now have the week off to savor their NL Pennant and to prepare for the World Series which starts next Wednesday in either Tampa Bay or Boston.   Charlie Manuel left after the game to attend the funeral of his Mother who passed away before game 2.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Thursday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.

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Down 5-3 in the eighth inning, centerfielder Shane Victorino and pinch hitter Matt Stairs each struck 2 run homers and closer Brad Lidge made the lead stand for a Phillies 7-5 win and a 3 games to 1 lead over the Dodgers in the NLCS and to the threshold of the World Series.

Meanwhile, in the American League, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays shockingly pounded lefthanded ace Jon Lester and the Boston Red Sox by a 9-1 score to take a 2-1 lead in their ALCS.

With a runner on and 1 out in the eighth inning and the Dodgers holding a 5-3 lead, Victorino slammed Dodger reliever Cory Wade’s first pitch out to rightfield to tie the game.  After 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz lined out to leftfield, catcher Carlos Ruiz singled to left. With 2 outs and a man on, pinch hitter Matt Stairs (batting for reliever Ryan Madson) took reliever  Jonathan Broxton to a 3-1 count before blistering a fastball out over the plate halfway up the rightfield pavilion for a 2 run Phils lead.

Starters Joe Blanton and Derek Lowe, pitching on 3 days rest, each pitched 5 innings with the Dodgers carrying a 3-2 lead into the 6th inning.  2nd baseman Chase Utley and 1st baseman Ryan Howard each drove in first inning runs for the Phils.  1st baseman James Loney doubled in a first inning run for the Dodgers and leftfielder Manny Ramirez and catcher  Russell Martin each drove in a run in the fifth to give the Dodgers the lead.

With Howard on 3rd base and leftfielder Pat Burrell on 2nd with 2 outs in the sixth inning, reliever Chan Ho Park wild pitched in the tying run for the Phils.   But Chad Durbin, in a rare blown relief effort, could get noone out in the sixth giving up 2 runs on 2 hits, including 3rd baseman Casey Blake’s leadoff homer as the Dodgers took a 5-3 lead.  Relievers Scott Eyre and Madson retired the Dodgers with no further damage in the sixth.  Madson held on to get credit for the win getting the Dodgers out in the seventh despite issuing a walk and giving up a hit. 

Tim Malcolm of Phillies Nation describes a great defensive play by 2nd baseman Chase Utley in the sixth inning which saved the game, and perhaps the Phillies post-season;

No play was as important — maybe all season — than Chase Utley’s one-man stumble.

The Chase, as I’ll call it from hereon, occurred with the sacks jacked and one out in the sixth. Chad Durbin had already checked himself out of the game, and Scott Eyre and Ryan Madson were walking the tightrope, put in precarious situations. Russell Martin lined one square to Utley, who snared the ball. With runners going and retreating, Utley hustled to beat Rafael Furcal back to the bag. The Chase was on, and by a second, Utley beat Furcal. By a second, we could have a different ballgame.

“I guess I was just in the right place at the right time. Everything happened so fast. I just tried to get there before the runner did.”

Utley has made some incredible plays, especially in the postseason, but none has been as important.

With the Phils now holding a 7-5 lead, J.C. Romero replaced Madson to open the eighth and issued a leadoff walk followed by getting a double-play.  Lidge entered with 2 out in the inning and gave up a double to Manny Ramirez and got Martin on strikes only to see Martin safe at 1st base and Ramirez at 3rd on the 3rd strike wild pitch.  Loney the flied out to end the inning.  Lidge then easily retired the Dodgers in order in the ninth to seal the win and making the Phils 85-0 this season when holding a lead after eight innings.  Broxton, who gave up Stairs’ winning 2 run homer in the eighth — the first homer he allowed since July 2006, was charged with the loss.

The teams have the day off on Tuesday before Cole Hamels and Chad Billingsley oppose each other Wednesday in what could be the clinch game for the Phillies.  It is the final of the 3 games in L.A.  The series will return to Philadelphia on Friday and Saturday for games 6 and 7 if necessary.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s games, click here and here.

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The Dodgers’ offense pounded lefthander Jamie Moyer for 5 first inning runs on 5 hits and a hit batsman while sending 9 men to the plate.  Shortstop Rafael Furcal chased Moyer in the second with a leadoff solo shot.  The Phillies offense mounted threats in only the second and seventh innings, both falling short, as the offense took a siesta for the rest of the game as the Dodgers put game 3 in the win column by a 7-2 score.

AP sports writer John Nadel described the Dodgers’ first inning for Yahoo sports;

The Dodgers had a 1-0 lead by the time Moyer had thrown five pitches on singles by Rafael Furcal, Andre Ethier and  [Manny] Ramirez. Casey Blake singled in another run before [Blake] DeWitt lined a 2-2 pitch into the right-field corner to clear the bases and send the towel-waving, blue-clad fans at Dodger Stadium into a frenzy.

After the 5 run outburst in the first, Furcal solo-homered to open the second and the Dodgers scored their 7th run in the fourth on a Nomar Garciaparra single after two 1 out walks.

Aside from catcher Russell Martin being hit by a pitch twice, Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino nearly being leveled by rookie starter Hiroki Kuroda and the benches-clearing near-melee which resulted, there was not much to the game, surely not much good in it for the Phils who mailed in their offense through most of the game. 

1st baseman Ryan Howard went 2 for 4 with a run scored as he was involved in both innings where the Phils scored single runs.  In the second inning, he doubled to rightfield and scored on 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz’s single.

In the seventh, when the Phils mounted their only opportunity to do heavy scoring, Howard followed 2nd baseman Chase Utley’s leadoff double to leftfield with a single to right.  leftfielder Pat Burrell followed Howard with a single to shallow centerfield scoring Utley and putting runners on 1st and 2nd with still noone out.

Kuroda, who had pitched a gem until then only allowing the Phils a run on 2 hits through six innings, got the win although exiting a this point for reliever Cory Wade who struck out rightfielder Jayson Werth, got Feliz to fly out to centerfield and got pinch hitter Greg Dobbs to ground out to shortstop to end the threat.

The 45 year old Moyer deserves a pass for the 1 1/3 inning pummelling he took on the merit of all he’s done this season with a record of 16-7 and 3.71 ERA. But I’m seeing numerous blogs suggesting that he should not get another start in the NLCS, regardless of how many games it goes to.   I had hoped that Moyer would have had the kind of outings in the playoffs that would put him in contention for the CY Young award.  But off of both  the loss to Milwaukee in the Division round as well as the pounding he took here, I just don’t know regarding the Cy Young.

By and large, pitching has been a strong suit so far for the Phils in this series as well as in the Division series.  Clay Condrey was workmanlike in getting the side out in the second.  J.A. Happ held up through 3 innings in his post-season playoff debut giving up a run on 4 hits while walking 2 and striking out 2.  Scott Eyre, Chad Durbin and J.C. Romero who allowed only 3 Dodgers to reach through the final 3 innings, 2 on walks and 1 hit batsman.

The Phillies offense has to come alive again if they are to take this series.  Shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who is a woeful 1 for 13 including 6 strikeouts in this series, must regain his form from the Milwaukee series as the catalyst for the Phils offense.  I’ve seen this refrain on many a blog today; “as Rollins goes, so go the Phillies.”  To view the play-by-play on the game, click here and here.

On Monday, Joe Blanton is listed to start for the Phils while the Dodgers will bring back Derek Lowe on 3 days rest.  The teams have the day off on Tuesday before Cole Hamels and Chad Billingsley oppose each other Wednesday in the final of the 3 games in L.A.  The series will return to Philadelphia on Friday and Saturday for games 6 and 7 if necessary.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Monday’s and Tuesday’s games,  click here and  here.

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Brett Myers was shakey on the mound in his 5 inning outing, but found some hitting skills going 3 for 3 with 3 RBIs.  Centerfielder Shane Victorino drove in 4 other runs with a single and triple as the Phillies parlayed 4 runs each in the 2nd and 3rd innings pummelling Chad Billingsley enroute to an 8-5 win over the Dodgers in the NLCS game 2 on Friday.

Meanwhile, in the other league, Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka, off an 18-3 - 2.90 ERA regular season, shut out the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on 4 hits by a 2-0 score in Friday’s opener of the ALCS.  Dice-K walked 4 but struck out 9 over seven innings. 2 relievers bridged the Red Sox over the eighth inning to get to closer Jon Papelbon who closed out the ‘Rays on 12 pitches in the ninth striking out 2.

In a game where manager Charlie Manuel found out that his Mother passed away, and where Shane Victorino was told after the game that his grandmother died, Myers quickly put the Dodgers down in the first inning striking out 2.  Billingsley followed suit retiring the Phils in their half of the first, including 2 strikeouts.  2nd baseman Chase Utley was walked on 5 pitches, the 1st of 4 times in the game that he was walked.

L.A. was first to hit the scoreboard in the second on a single, double and a sacrifice fly.  The Phils responded with 4 runs in their half.  The Dodgers notched a 2nd run on 2 walks and a single after which the Phils responded with 4 more runs in their 3rd to take an 8-2 lead.

In the fourth, the game appeared to be taking a wild turn as a 3rd strike wild pitch with 2 outs gave the Dodgers new life.  With two men on, leftfielder Manny Ramirez nailed Myers’ 1-1 pitch to the seats in leftfield to draw the Dodgers to within 8-5.  But the Phils held on with some gritty relief pitching.

AP Sports writer Rob Maaddi describes the game for Yahoo sports;

Myers unnerved some of the Dodgers’ hitters [early]. He threw some high-and-tight fastballs in the first inning and the one really wild pitch that sailed behind Ramirez.

Myers knocked down Russell Martin with a fastball right before he struck out on a slow curve. That brought up Ramirez with two outs and nobody on.

Myers’ first pitch was in and the next one, a 94 mph fastball, was several feet behind the Ramirez. Never shy to tell a pitcher he doesn’t appreciate getting brushed back, Ramirez didn’t say a word and ended up striking out on a 3-2 slider.

Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley allowed eight runs—seven earned—and eight hits in 2 1-3 innings. The 24-year-old right-hander pitched 6 2-3 strong innings in a win over the Cubs in Game 2 of the division series.

Myers had a go-ahead RBI single with two outs in a four-run second inning, and his two-run single chased Billingsley in the third. Myers was 4-for-58 in the regular season and is a lifetime .116 hitter.

“It’s crazy,” he said.

Billingsley struck out four of the first six batters he faced, but quickly ran into trouble after fanning Pat Burrell and Jayson Werth in the second.

Greg Dobbs hit a soft single up the middle and scored when  Carlos Ruiz hit a double to left-center. Myers lined the next pitch to right-center to drive in Ruiz and give the Phillies a 2-1 lead.

Jimmy Rollins bounced a single up the middle and Myers chugged toward third. [Matt] Kemp misplayed the ball in center field or he could’ve thrown Myers out to end the inning. Rollins hustled into second on the play.

Victorino followed with a two-run single to left-center to make it 4-1. The Flyin’ Hawaiian slapped his hands after rounding first and the fans went wild.

Loney’s two-out RBI single to center cut it to 4-2 in the third. The Dodgers loaded the bases when Kemp reached on third baseman Dobbs’ fielding error, but Myers escaped the jam by striking out Blake DeWitt on a slow curve.

Pumped up by his pitching, Myers came through at the plate again. The Phillies loaded the bases with no outs. After Ruiz’s grounder forced Burrell at home, Myers slapped a liner past first baseman [James] Loney down the right-field line to give the Phillies a 6-2 lead.

Chan Ho Park came in and struck out Rollins, but Victorino tripled to right-center to make it 8-2. Los Angeles used two more pitchers to get out of the inning.

Victorino made a leaping catch of Casey Blake’s drive at the center-field fence to end the seventh.

“He hit it well,” Victorino said. “I just told myself, try to get back.”

Myers had thrown 102 pitches after five innings and replaced by reliever  Chad Durbin who gave up a sixth inning hit but retired the Dodgers on 10 pitches.   J.C. Romero retired 2 in the seventh and Ryan Madson finished out the the inning and retired the Dodgers in the eighth.  Closer Brad Lidge finished the Dodgers off in the ninth by striking out the side for his 2nd save of the series.   Billingsley, who gave up 8 runs in 2 1/3 innings, was charged with the loss.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Friday’s games, click here.

The teams have a travel day on Saturday before 45 year old veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer opposes rookie Hiroki Kuroda in Los Angeles on Sunday.   On Monday, Joe Blanton is listed to start for the Phils while the Dodgers have not yet determined their starter.

For the scores, boxscores and recaps on Saturday’s and Sunday’s games,  click here and here.

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