Phillies-Dodgers: Carlos Ruiz, Raul Ibanez Power Philadelphia to Game One Win

If Jimmy Rollins doesn’t beat you, then Shane Victorino will beat you. If Victorino doesn’t beat you, then Jayson Werth will beat you. If Werth doesn’t beat you, then Chase Utley will beat you.

And if none of those guys beat you, Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez, and Carlos Ruiz will beat you.

That is how deep and powerful the Philadelphia Phillies lineup is. The Los Angeles Dodgers found out firsthand how deep the Phillies lineup is in their 8-6 loss in Game One of the NLCS last night.

The Phillies took advantage of seven walks handed out by Dodger pitching, as well as some just horrendous managing by Joe Torre, to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

This was a weird game because it started off as a pitcher’s duel between Clayton Kershaw and Cole Hamels. Both pitchers looked very sharp early. I was particularly impressed with Kershaw. He had electric stuff through the first four innings.

Then the fifth inning happened, and this game went from looking like a two-hour and 30-minute game to a game between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.

Ibanez led off the inning with a single and advanced to second on Kershaw’s first wild pitch of the inning. Pedro Feliz walked, and now you had first and second with nobody out for Ruiz.

Ruiz proceeded to tomahawk a ball about 360 feet over the left field wall. Kershaw was cruising through the first four innings, and with just one pitch he was down now 3-1.

What a good little player Ruiz is. He is really underrated. He is just another player in a long list of gritty, gutty gamers the Phillies have.

To put it in perspective how underrated Ruiz is, according to Marc Hulet over at FanGraphs, Ruiz was worth about $10 million to the Phillies this season. His salary for 2009 is around $475,000. Not a bad deal for the Phillies.

Once Ruiz hit that home run, Kershaw unraveled like Armando Benitez in any pressure situation. Kershaw walked Hamels on four pitches, got Rollins to hit into a fielder’s choice, and then struck out Victorino on a ball that bounced five feet in front of home plate.

In that sequence, Kershaw, channeling his inner Rick Ankiel (Ankiel threw a record five wild pitches in an inning in 2000) threw two more wild pitches. He was done. Toast. Finished.

This is when Torre went into sleep mode. I would have taken Kershaw out before facing Utley. It was clear this kid was rattled and had nothing in the mound.

Torre left Kershaw in to face Utley, and he promptly walked the Phillies’ second baseman.

After that, there is no way on earth I am leaving Kershaw in to face Howard. It was still a 3-1 game, and the way Hamels was pitching up to that point, three runs might have been enough. There is no way Torre can let that game get out of hand.

He had a lefty warming up in the pen in Scott Elbert and a righty warming up in Ramon Troncosco. Torre either had to bring in Elbert to face Howard, or he could walk Howard and let Troncosco face Werth.

Either way, Kershaw can’t be pitching to Howard.

Of course, Torre left Kershaw in the game, and Howard proceeded to rip one down the right field line. The game was now 5-1, and Torre was a day late and a dollar short with his decision making.

Not only was that a terrible managerial move by Torre, but there was also another part of this game that would have me really concerned about where Torre is mentally this series.

In the bottom of the sixth, with two on and two out, Torre called upon Jim Thome to pinch-hit.

First, I have no problem with Torre going to Thome that early in the game. Thome is their big gun off the bench, and who knows if the Dodgers would get another chance like this for the rest of the game? An extra-base hit gives the Dodgers a lead, and Thome is their best chance at an extra-base hit off the bench.

Now here comes my issue with Torre and where I would have lost my mind if I was a Dodger fan.

Thome walked, and right now he can’t run. He has plantar fasciitis. Everyone seemed to know this except for Torre. Thome got to first, and there was no pinch runner coming off the bench.

Torre was so asleep at the wheel on this, it was disturbing to watch. Any manager worth his salt plans ahead and goes to someone on the bench, “Hey, if he walks or gets on base, you are going to pinch-run.”

It was like Torre was only expecting a HR or a strikeout from Thome. He was completely unprepared for anything else.

The TV camera went into the Dodgers’ dugout, and it appeared Torre was asking Don Mattingly if he could run. Joe, it’s your job to know that.

I will assume Mattingly said no, and now they are scrambling for a pinch runner. Are you kidding me? I could not believe what I was watching.

Torre eventually pointed to Randy Wolf, who had that “Who, me?” look on his face. Wolf had to head down to the clubhouse and put on cleats, which proved Torre had not prepared for the situation.

It was a complete clown show.

Wake up Torre! You are not in the American League, and you are not in Yankeeland anymore. You actually have to work in the National League and make decisions.

You were embarrassed in Game Four in last year’s NLCS (the Matt Stairs game), and you were embarrassed in Game One of this year’s NLCS.

Dodger fans can’t be too pleased with what they have seen from Torre.

Even with Torre in never-never land, the Dodgers still had their chances in this game. Down 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh, the Dodgers had Andre Ethier on second with nobody out.

Then Chan Ho Park entered the game. Park came into the game looking like a guy who just on vacation for a month. He had that “I don’t give a darn about anything” beard going and looked extremely relaxed.

He looked like Vincent Chase when he disappeared on that island during last season’s Entourage. Park came into the game throwing bullets.

Park got Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, and Casey Blake 1-2-3, and the Phillies had the lead. That inning was huge. Enough can’t be said about Park’s effort in Game One.

The Phillies got three insurance runs in the top of the eighth on a Raul Ibanez three-run HR off of George Sherrill.

Some interesting notes about that inning:

Sherrill walked the first two batters of the inning. Up until that inning, Sherrill had never walked the first two batters of an inning in his career. The last HR Sherrill gave up to a left-handed hitter was on June 14, 2008 to Adam LaRoche.

Ryan Madson did his best to cough up the lead in the bottom of the frame but limited the damage to just two runs. With the Phillies up 8-6, Brad Lidge came into the game to close the Dodgers out.

This was a long but entertaining game. The Phillies will try to take a 2-0 series lead today and will have Pedro Martinez going to the mound.

The Dodgers will counter with Vicente Padilla. This is a must win game for the Dodgers.

Hero for Game One: Chan Ho Park

Goat for Game One: Joe Torre

Series MVP: Raul Ibanez

Game Two is today at 4:07 ET.

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