Tampa Bay scored 3 runs in the 1st two innings on Brett Myers, 2 on groundouts in the first inning with runners on 3rd base, and the other run on a bases loaded single to right by centerfielder B.J. Upton.   The Phillies left another 11 runners stranded against James Shields and the Rays’ bullpen in falling by a 4-2 score in Thursday’s game 2.

Brett Myers was touched for 2 runs in the first inning.  He walked leadoff hitter 2nd baseman Akinori Iwamura on 5 pitches and gave up a rightfield single to Upton which Jayson Werth bobbled for a rare error, allowing both runners to advance putting runners on 2nd and 3rd base with none out.  Then single runs scored on successive groundouts as Tampa Bay scored 2 runs while grounding out for all 3 outs of the inning.

The Phillies looked like they were about to break out against starter  James Shields in the second inning.   1st baseman Ryan Howard lined a 1-2 pitch deep to centerfield for a double and leftfielder Pat Burrell worked a full-count before walking.  Centerfielder Shane Victorino popped out to 3rd base for the 1st out.  Shields worked a 1 ball, 2 strike count to dh Greg Dobbs before tossing a wild pitch moving the runners up to 2nd and 3rd with one out.  But Dobbs struck out looking and 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz lined out to centerfield ending the inning and stranding the runners.

AP baseball writer Mike Fitzgerald provides a recap of the Rays’ 2nd and 4th inning scoring for Yahoo sports;

…A confusing call in the second… helped Tampa Bay make it 3-0.   Rocco Baldelli walked on a checked swing that seemed to confuse players and umpires alike.

He checked his swing on a full-count pitch and plate umpire Kerwin Danley immediately raised his right arm as if to call strike three. But then Danley pointed to first base for an appeal, and umpire Fieldin Culbreth signaled safe.

“It was his intention to go to first base for help on a half-swing that he had as ball four,” said Mike Port, Major League Baseball’s vice president for umpiring. “He just gave a confusing mechanic. But he had called it a ball, and it was ruled no half-swing anyway. So it was just that particular mechanic that caused confusion.”

Myers and several Phillies infielders were puzzled, along with Manuel, who took a few steps out of the dugout but didn’t argue long.

“I thought he called the guy out,” Manuel said.

Port said the umpires would not be available for comment.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Upton hit an RBI single to right. Werth made a strong throw to cut down Baldelli, who crashed into [Carlos] Ruiz but couldn’t dislodge the ball.

In the fourth, [Jason] Bartlett, the No. 9 hitter, drove in Cliff Floyd with a safety squeeze—one pitch after fouling off a suicide squeeze attempt. Rays fans clanged their cowbells, just as they were instructed on the scoreboard in a campy “public service announcement” before the game.

Tampa Bay never really got a huge hit, but neither did the Phillies as Jimmy Rollins & crew fell to 1-for-28 with runners in scoring position.

“That might be one of our sloppiest games all year,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “I’m concerned about us hitting with guys on base, because it looks like at times we might be trying a little too hard. But we can fix that.”

After the fourth inning, Myers settled down and allowed only 2 Rays to reach over his last three innings, a fifth inning walk to 1st baseman Carlos Pena and a lead-off seventh inning single by Bartlett.

Myers threw 85 pitches through seven innings walking 3 and striking out 2 in a losing cause. Lefthanded reliever J.C. Romero saw his first 2008 World Series action retiring the Rays on 9 pitches in the eighth.

Winning pitcher Shields, surprisingly, was pulled after throwing 5 2/3 innings of shutout ball.  The Phils threatened against Shields in both the fifth and sixth innings but came up empty.

In the fifth, with runners on 1st and 2nd base with 1 out, 2nd baseman  Chase Utley lined into a doubleplay, from rightfield to 1st base with Werth being doubled off of 1st base.

With 2 outs in the sixth inning, Victorino and Dobbs laced successive singles to right and centerfield chasing Shields.  Reliever Dan Wheeler entered and got Feliz to ground a 1-1 pitch into a fielder’s choice retiring Dobbs at 2nd base for the final out. 

The Phils threatened again in the seventh inning as Ruiz led off with a walk and stole 2nd base as Rollins struck out.  Werth followed by going down on strilkes looking.  Young closer David Price replaced Wheeeler and walked Utley on 4 pitches putting 2 men on with 2 out.  But Price struck out Ryan Howard looking on a 2-2 pitch to retire the side.

The Phillies scored single runs in the eighth and ninth innings against Price.  Eric Bruntlett pinch hit for Dobbs with 2 out in the eighth and lined Price’s 1st pitch out for a a solo homer to leftfield.

The Phils threatened once again in the ninth inning off of Price but got only 1 run to show for it.  Ruiz led off with a double to leftfield on a 3-2 pitch.  After Rollins popped out, Werth reached on an error by 3rd baseman Evan Longoria allowing Ruiz to score.  With the tying run at the plate, Price struck out Utley on 3 pitches and got Howard on a 1st pitch grounder to 2nd base to end the game.

The Phils appear to be in one of their failure to score with runners on funks.  We’ve had Rays’ pitching on the hook numerous times and have come away empty. In game 1, they got lucky because their pitching was THAT GOOD.  But, to win this series, they will have to capitalize on a far high percentage of scoring opportunities than they have thus far in the series.  With a bit of offensive elbow-room provided to this pitching staff, this series is winable. 

On Saturday, the venue switches to Philadelphia for game 3 as 45 year old lefthander Jamie Moyer faces Matt Garza.  In Sunday’s game 4, Joe Blanton contests against Andy Sonnanstine.  On Monday, lefthanders Cole Hamels and Scott Kazmir face-off in a rematch of game 1.

However, there could be a fly in the ointment with predictions of a 70% chance of rain in Philadelphia on Saturday which could alter the world series schedule and, as a result, the pitching plans for both teams.

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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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Josh Beckett was sufficiently more effective than James Shields, 3rd baseman Kevin Youkilis homered and drove in 2 runs, catcher Jason Varitek homered to give Boston a sixth inning lead which their bullpen held onto over the final four innings going one walk short of perfection as  Boston rallied to tie the ALCS with a 4-2 win over Tampa Bay.

And so this blog’s previous post about the Rays being where Boston wants them comes closer to actuality as both teams now stand one game away from a World Series meeting with the NL Pennant-winning Phillies.  My guess: it’s going to be the Red Sox facing the Phils beginning Wednesday.

In the previous post, I wrote about the 2 21st century ALCS’s that the Red Sox played in and came back from 3-0 and 3-1 game deficits to win.  But the Red Sox, who many call the comeback kids have already three-peated. 

Everyone remembers the 1986 World Series where the Red Sox held a 3-2 lead in games over the New York Mets who managed to tie the game 5-5 in the 10th inning.  With 2 outs and a Mets runner on 2nd base, 1st baseman Billy Buckner made his memorable flub of a lazy ground ball along the 1st base line as the winning run scored enabling the Mets to tie the series and to win it in the 7th game.

But in remembering the 1986 World Series, few may also remember that Boston was down 3 games to 1 to the California Angels in the ALCS that season as well.

The Angels, one may recall, were managed by Gene Mauch, formerly manager of the Phillies who suffered their 1964 Pennant collapse under Mauch’s managership.  Although Mauch managed 3 other teams after leaving the Phillies, he never managed a team to a Pennant in his 26 year managerial career.

Down 3 games to 1 and with the Angels holding a 5-2 lead in game 5 going into the Boston ninth inning, the Red Sox got two 2 run homers to take a 6-5 lead.  The Angels tied the game in the bottom of the ninth.  After a scoreless tenth inning, Boston pushed across the winning run in the eleventh and then their bullpen made the lead over the Angels stand in the bottom of the inning for a comeback 7-6 win from which the Angels never recovered.  Boston went on to win games 6 and 7 by 10-4 and 8-1 scores.

And so, the Red Sox stand on the threshold of a 4th ALCS comeback in the span of 22 years as Sunday’ game 7 pits young lefthander Jon Lester against his game 2 opponent Matt Garza as the Phillies await the outcome of the game.

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After the 9-1 and 13-4 drubbings which Tampa Bay put on Boston in games 3 and 4 to take a 3 games to 1 lead in the ALCS, you would expect the guys on any team on the short-end to fold, to go through the motions, to mail-in game 5 and pack it in.  But Boston?  Not!  Trailing 7-0 and coming up in the bottom of the seventh, the Red Sox had the Rays right where they wanted them.

AP Sports Writer Jimmy Golen describes Boston’s comeback 8-7 win and what may be the makings of the “Mother of Red Sox comebacks” for Yahoo sports;

The defending World Series champions pulled off the biggest postseason comeback since 1929, beating the Rays 8-7 Thursday night on J.D. Drew’s two-out single in the ninth to stave off elimination in the best-of-seven AL championship series.

“The first six innings we did nothing. They had their way with us every way possible,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “And then this place came unglued, and we’ve seen that before. But because of the situation we’re in, it just—that was pretty magical.”

Boston trailed 7-0 with two outs in the seventh, then rallied when David Ortiz’s three-run homer followed Dustin Pedroia’s RBI single against Grant Balfour. Drew hit a two-run homer in the eighth, and Coco Crisp tied it with a two-out RBI single off Dan Wheeler.

“It was pretty much the most amazing thing I’ve ever been a part of,” Crisp said, “to be down 7-0 in an elimination game and be able to come back.

Then in the ninth, Kevin Youkilis grounded to Evan Longoria with two outs, and wound up at second when the throw bounced in front of first baseman Carlos Pena.  Jason Bay was intentionally walked and Drew lined a single to right off  J.P. Howell over the outstretched glove of Gabe Gross to score the game-winner.

“There’s a lot of fight in that dugout, and a lot of guys knew as soon as we got some runs on the board, we could get something going,” Drew said.

And so, there is still a decent shot that what I’ve been saying since the spring, well actually for the past 2 seasons since Jimmy Rollins started  spouting off in early 2007 about the Phillies winning the NL East, that a  Phillies, Red Sox World Series could come to fruition in 2008.

For those fans who think that I’ve lost it, that I belong “up the Boulevard” or who wonder what I must be sniffing, let me remind you that we’re talkin’ about the Boston Red Sox who dropped the first 3 games of the 2004 ALCS to the New York Yankees, including game 3 by an ignominous 19-8 pounding.  But these guys edged the Yanks in games 4 through 6 before pummelling them in game 7 by a 10-3 score to win the Pennant and crush the “Curse of Ruth.”   By the way, the Yanks were the home team in games 6 and 7 and the “Bombers” haven’t been the same since.  And the BoSox went on to shut down the St. Louis Cardinals by 4 games to 0 in the  World Series. 

And don’t forget that these are the same Red Sox who, in their next ALCS appearance, dropped behind the Cleveland Indians by 3 games to 1 only to comeback and pummel the Indians in games 5 through 7 (game 5 in Cleveland) to again win the Pennant –their 2nd in 4 seasons.  They went on to dispatch the previously red-hot Colorado Rockies in 4 games in the  2007 World Series.

Josh Beckett, who was stewed, blued and tatooed for 8 runs in 4 1/3 innings in his previous start against the Rays, gets a shot at redemption in Saturday’s game 6 against James Shields who went 7 1/3 innings in losing to Boston by 2-0 in game 1.  Sunday’ game 7, if necessary, pits young lefthander Jon Lester against his game 2 opponent Matt Garza.

The Phillies will work hard to see that, if Boston makes this World Series,  there is no three-peat of Boston’s 2004 and 2007  shut outs of it’s National League opposition.

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

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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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