NLCS Game 1: Cody Ross Rocks Doc, Giants Beat Roy Halladay

Regular season baseball is a funny game. Postseason baseball is knee-slapping, Will Ferrell in Anchorman game.

Of all the things that we thought about as we entered Game 1 of the NLCS, Cody Ross hitting two home runs off of Roy Halladay wasn’t one of them. Every postseason like clockwork, we see players who we would never expect to become heroes do the unthinkable.

 

Ross tagged Halladay for two solo HRs, and Tim Lincecum outdueled the Phillies’ ace as the Giants won 4-3 to take Game 1 of their best-of-seven NLCS.

This game featured two of the games best in Lincecum and Halladay, and the game kind of lived up to the hype. Were both pitchers great? Absolutely not. But they were both very good.

Halladay made four mistakes in his seven innings of work.

The first two came to Ross. Halladay tried to bury an inside fastball to Ross in the third, and he missed bad and Ross deposited it 417 ft into the leftfield bleachers. The hit by Ross was the first one Halladay had given up in the postseason.

Then in the fifth, Halladay made the same mistake to Ross. Again he tried to throw an inside fastball and again missed and again Ross hit it into the leftfield bleachers.

Take a look at the pitch plots on the two Ross ABs.

 

 

The turquoise plot indicates the ball that was hit in the AB and as you can see, the pitches that Ross hit out were almost in the same spot. The other mistakes Halladay made were in the sixth, and the pitch sequence to Pat Burrell was the turning point in the game.

With two outs and Buster Posey on first base, Halladay threw a perfect cutter to Burrell that home plate umpire Derryl Cousins called a ball. In all fairness to Cousins, he hadn’t called that pitch a strike all game, but that pitch was a strike.

On the very next pitch, Burrell ripped a ball to the wall for a *double. I put an asterisk next to the double because any other leftfielder besides Raul Ibanez would have caught that ball. Ibanez catches that ball and the non-strike call to Burrell doesn’t become such a big deal.

The last mistake Halladay made was to Juan Uribe, who was the next batter in the inning. Halladay left another fastball over the plate and Uribe singled up the middle to give the Giants a 4-1 lead.

On the flip side, Lincecum only made two mistakes.

The first one was to Carlos Ruiz in the third and the second one was to Jayson Werth in the sixth. Both were on fastballs out over the plate and both were hit for HRs to rightfield.

Lincecum struck out eight over seven innings of work. He only threw 41 percent first-pitch strikes, but rebounded in the count because of a wicked changeup that he threw for a strike 70 percent of the time.

Here are some other observations from Game 1…

Very impressed with Javier Lopez in this game. He went through Chase Utley and Ryan Howard in the eighth with no problem what so ever. Didn’t think he had that in him.

I thought Bruce Bochy managed a great game. Pinch-running Nate Schierholtz for Burrell in the sixth was a smart move at the time, and I loved the fact that he went to Brian Wilson in the eighth to face Werth.

Jimmy Rollins has gotten old fast. The 2007 season seems like 10 years ago. He has a $8.5 million club option for 2011, which the Phillies will certainly pick up, but I doubt he will be in a Philly uniform after 2011.

I can’t wait for the WWE to have a lookalike tag-team match at WrestleMania. Edge and Werth vs. CM Punk and Wilson. This needs to be done.

Is Game 2 a must-win game for the Phillies? No, not at all. Winning Game 2 would certainly help, but the Phillies are a team that can come back from an 0-2 series deficit.

Game 2 is Sunday at 7:57 PM est and will pit Jonathan Sanchez against Roy Oswalt.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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NLCS 2010: Cody Ross, San Francisco Giants Dampen the Mood in Philadelphia

Not once, but twice.

Unfortunately, I’m not talking about the number of no-hitters Roy Halladay threw in back-to-back playoff postseason appearances. Instead, I’m talking about the number of home runs Cody Ross had in back-to-back plate appearances against the aforementioned Halladay.

Ross has his name in the record books, and now the Phillies must regroup, look ahead to Roy II and his start on Sunday night and find a way to prevent themselves from falling to 0-2.

But in order to do so, they’ll have to look back and figure out what went wrong in Game 1. The maddening part is it’s not a long list and it’s the same issues the Phils have had all year long.

If the pitching can’t get the job done, the odds are against the bats picking up the slack.

For whatever reason, the offense has simply not been there. Overall the numbers aren’t bad for the year, but even in baseball there’s a lot to look at past the stats.

The clutch hits don’t seem to be there as often anymore. The support for their pitcher when he has an off day hasn’t been as prevalent. The big-name bats just simply are not pulling their weight and instead they’re relying on Carlos Ruiz to produce for them out of the eight hole.

Shane Victorino, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Raul Ibanez and Jimmy Rollins were a combined 2-19 with 9 strikeouts and only one run scored. Jayson Werth—who probably slumped harder than anyone on the team in the regular season—was the only other guy to show up.

Werth, along with Ruiz, hit a home run. Both players accounted for all three RBIs on the team.

Someone needs to pull aside Victorino and Rollins and inform them that their game should be small-ball. They need to get on base and work from there. They are the fast guys who can score from first or steal a couple bases and walk home from second. Instead they’re constantly trying to smack the ball out of the park and it results in nothing but strikeouts most of the time.

I recall closer to the beginning of the season when Rollins first hurt himself and the cameras caught him talking to Juan Castro before he went to the plate. Rollins pointed at the scoreboard and said something to the effect of “See that zero in the home run column? You have to change that. Just go for the fences.”

I almost went through the roof.

Clearly Rollins’ mentality all year has been to swing for the fences. He’s not focused on hitting the ball in the gaps and running the bases. He wants to take the stroll with the fireworks in the background and doesn’t seem to understand anymore that he’s not that guy. Never has been.

It becomes quite evident his priorities are messed up when he’s trying to convince Juan-freaking-Castro that he just needs to swing for the fences because not having a home run is a travesty.

Even the guys who are known for their ability to hit home runs quite often—Ibanez, Utley and Howard—are trying for the long-ball too often. If they would just head to the plate thinking they’re going to take whatever the pitcher gives them (especially against a guy like Tim Lincecum) they would be much better off as individuals and for the team.

But right now, the only guys doing that are Ruiz, Werth and Wilson Valdez. No offense intended to any of those three players, but they’re not the guys who are going to decide who wins and loses a World Series. Or, more to the point, who gets to play in the World Series.

If this team is going to make history they’re going to need better decision-making from their superstars and get them back into the mentality that they’re going to play as a team and for the team rather than seeing themselves on SportsCenter.

Notice, by the way, I haven’t said anything about Placido Polanco. He’s really just a guy at this point and is playing as such. Not too much can be expected of him—especially when the guys around him can’t even make contact.

This team going 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and leaving seven on base is just not acceptable. There is far too much talent at every spot in the lineup for that.

They made it through the regular season and the NLDS with an underachieving offense, but the Giants’ pitching staff is too good to allow them to just waltz their way into the World Series. They will have to earn it this year perhaps more than any other year, and can’t rely on Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels to do it for them.

Yes, Halladay could have been better, but he’s only human. These guys should be able to bail him out at least once since he’s done it countless times already—including the night of his no-no.

And I leave you with this thought: what if Oswalt is as shaky Sunday night as he was for Game 2 against the Cincinnati Reds?

Oh boy.

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NLCS 2010: Philadelphia Phillies Drop Game 1 for the First Time in 3 Years

Early in the seven o’clock hour, the rally towels were already waving. The noise was already to the max, and the fireworks were already firing.

The historical city of Philadelphia always finds a way to write and rewrite history. The action was preceded by the world-famous Philadelphia’s boys choir opening with the National Anthem, and then it was time to play ball.

The Phillies came into the game on what can be considered a hitting slump by their standards. Turns out the irony of everything is, in a game that was thought to have been a pitching duel, turned out to be a battle of the bats.

Both teams started off swinging strong. The innings still ended three up, three down on hits sent into play.

At that point, it was evident, this wasn’t going to be your traditional pitcher’s duel: something was going to give. The question at the time still remained what? And who?

Each pitcher got through the first inning on seven pitches, which, quite frankly was symbolic of the match-up. 

Cody Ross, by far the Giants MVP of the night, hit two home runs to make it 2-1. That opened the door for the sixth inning when Roy Halladay got into trouble, a close umpire call kept Pat Burrell at bat.

That’s when Burrell took advantage of his extra life with a two-out/two-strike double which scored two, making it 4-1. 

Two pitchers that only allowed a total of two hits combined in Game 1 of the NLDS, turned around to belt 16 hits in Game 1 of the NLCS giving the Phillies their first game one loss of their four-year NL takeover.

“You find out what you’re made of. You never expect it to be easy,” Halladay said after the game. And it wasn’t easy; at all.

A series after Halladay’s gem, Lincecum had 14 strikeouts in San Francisco’s 1-0 win over Atlanta. He gave up six hits and struck out eight against the Phillies.

Lincecum, the reigning two-time NL Cy Young Award winner, had some adventures with a bat in his hands, though.

The notoriously rough Philadelphia fans came up with a unique way to mock Lincecum instead of the usual boos.

They serenaded him with whistles when he batted in the fifth and seventh, mocking his “beauty” with the long hair and innocent face.

Lincecum responded, in jest, “I must have a really nice butt. I was hearing a lot of them.”

In the end, though, that innocent face and long hair got the best of Philadelphia. The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the NLCS.

Game 2 is Sunday, Oct. 17, same place, at 8:19 p.m. EDT.

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NLCS 2010: Philadelphia Phillies Need the Other Roy To Win Game 2

So the Phils lost game one with their ace on the mound. This should not be as surprising as you may think, given that the Giants had an ace of their own in Tim Lincecum on the mound.

But the Phillies simply have to win one at home or they are done.

Recognizing that, the Phils turn to their “other” Roy, Mr. Roy Oswalt, in an effort to salvage one game at home before heading to San Francisco for three games.

The current 2-3-2 scenario hardly favors the team with the best record, in my opinion, as all the “underdog” has to do is steal one game on the road, as the Giants have done, and they are in position to potentially win the series without ever going back on the road.

But look, not only are the Phils too good to even consider this, they have a very solid veteran in Roy Oswalt on the mound on Sunday. They will need him to pitch well or this could easily become a Giants sweep.

As crazy as that sounds, the best team does not always win these series, so all the pressure falls on the shoulders of Oswalt. Fortunately, he goes up against a Giants pitcher in Jonathan Sanchez who, despite no-hit stuff, is playing in his first playoffs.

For the Giants to go up 2-0 heading home is simply a scenario that the Phillies cannot consider. Oswalt is 4-0 in his postseason career, though he was shaky in his last start against the Reds, giving up four runs in five innings.

Now that Roy Halladay appeared human in his start on Saturday, Oswalt needs to pitch better against the Giants on Sunday. The fact that the Giants decided to go with Sanchez over Matt Cain in game two may be a blessing in disguise for Philly.

While Cain has not pitched well in Philadelphia, he is a stud. Sanchez allowed only a run in over seven innings of work in the NLDS, but Cain was equally good in the first round and is largely considered to be the better pitcher overall.

No matter what happens, anyone who considered this to be a cake walk for the Phillies is crazy. The Giants may not have as good of an offense as the Phils, but their top three pitchers match up well against anyone.

Since adding Cody Ross to the offense, this 92 win team is a lot like the Phils in that all they need is some offense and their pitching will take them the rest of the way.

Cody Ross needs to be pitched to very carefully, and if Oswalt does that, the Phils should be able to take game two.

If not, they are in serious trouble. Nobody said this was going to be easy.

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NLCS Game 1: Halladay and Lincecum Duel a Whimper, Not a Bang

Here are a few unsolicited thoughts about Game 1 of the NLCS tonight. First of all, we learned that—gasp!— Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum are human. Neither threw a perfect game, or a no-hitter, or a shutout. In fact, the hype was so strong for this matchup, it couldn’t help but be a letdown. The only way people in Philly would have been happy after Halladay’s no-hitter in the NLDS would have been if he threw a perfect game tonight AND hit a grand slam.

I actually heard people saying that they EXPECTED him to throw another no-hitter tonight. Really? A pitcher has only thrown back-to-back no-hitters once in the entire history of baseball, and now you EXPECT Halladay to do it again? Look, I’m with you, the guy’s freaking awesome. He deserves to win the Cy Young this year and I love that he’s on our team. But how about we just hope for a win. Is that too much to ask? Just a win.

I had said to several people before the game that the Phillies COULD get to Lincecum, if they played smart and had good at-bats. While it’s true he is one of the best pitchers in recent years, he’s young and he can be rattled. But I didn’t see too many smart at-bats tonight. With the exception, of course, of Ruiz’ and Werth’s home runs, the offense was pretty disappointing. In at least three innings (I wasn’t keeping track) the Phillies got their leadoff man on base and failed to score him. Rollins had three strikeouts. Howard had three strikeouts. Victorino was 0 for 5 in the leadoff spot.

But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. You have to look at the individual at-bats. In one inning, Howard struck out on three straight pitches. Late in the game, Rollins worked a 3-1 count, a perfect hitter’s count, and then watched strike two sail right over the center of the plate. He proceeded to strike out. In the ninth inning, down by only one run, Raul Ibanez worked a full count and then struck out looking. You can’t get on base if you don’t swing the bat, Raul.

Now you can’t take anything away from Lincecum and Brian Wilson. It’s why they get paid the big bucks. They did their jobs. But the Phillies had plenty of chances and they squandered them.

Oh, and one more thing. After Cody Ross hit two home runs off of Halladay, why not plunk the guy in his next at-bat? Show him you’re the boss. Show him you’re not gonna take this lying down. Show the Giants that you’re serious. Show your teammates that you’ve got a fire in your belly and you’re mad and it’s time to wake up. What’s happened to old school pitching?

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NLCS Game 2: 5 Things the Phillies Need To Do To Get a Win

As Game 1 comes and goes, so does the Giants’ magic number of winning this series, and that stands at 3. The team that has one Game 1 of the LCS has won the past three straight seasons, and 15 out of the last 17 series.

As a Phillies fan, that is definitely a concerning statistic. However, it’s definitely possible with as good as the ball club is.

We have to fix and change some things up in my opinion for Game 2, and that includes quite a change in the lineup, which is where we will start the ‘5 things the Phillies need to do to get a win in Game 2’. 

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San Francisco Giants Vs. Philadelphia Phillies: Game 1 Live Blog

Greetings everyone, baseball addict Evan Adrian here, live blogging game one of the NLCS between the San Francisco Giants and the Philadelphia Phillies. We’re in for quite a showdown tonight, as both teams trot out their aces for Game 1 in Philly.

Tim Lincecum is on the mound for the Giants, fresh off his brilliant, 14 strikeout, complete game two-hitter over Atlanta. Meanwhile, Roy Halladay toes the rubber for Philadelphia. All he did in his first career playoff start last Wednesday was throw the second ever no-hitter in MLB playoff history.

Both clubs are hoping for repeat performance for their aces. Lets find out which Cy Young winner brought their A-game tonight.

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ALCS 2010 and NLCS 2010: Lineups, Live Updates from Saturday’s Pivotal Games

Both halves of the Major League Baseball championship series will be taking place today, with the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers squaring off in Game 2 of their series in Arlington, while the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies open the NLCS at Citizens Bank Park in Philly.

The Yankees staged a stunning comeback against the Rangers in Game 1 and will be looking to head back to the Bronx with a 2-0 series lead. Meanwhile in the junior circuit, fans are hotly anticipating two of the league’s best pitching staffs going head-to-head in what should be a tense NLCS.

Keep it here for all your critical MLB playoff updates. We’ll bring you the starting lineups for all four teams, a look at the pitching matchups and live in-game updates as the drive towards the Fall Classic continues for the four remaining teams.

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NLCS Preview and Prediction: San Francisco Giants Vs. Philadelphia Phillies

I will go on record as saying the matchup between the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies is the most anticipated NLCS we have seen in quite some time. I can’t remember a NLCS where people are looking forward to it as much as this one.

The main reason? The pitching matchups. These two teams feature All-World pitchers and it kicks off in Game 1 tonight with Tim Lincecum against Roy Halladay.

Let’s take a look at the entire series at a glance:

Schedule

Game 1: Saturday, October 16 at 7:57 PM EST. Tim Lincecum vs. Roy Halladay

Game 2: Sunday, October 17 at 8:00 PM EST. Jonathan Sanchez vs. Roy Oswalt

Game 3: Tuesday, October 19 at 4:00 PM EST. Cole Hamels vs. Matt Cain

Game 4: Wednesday, October 20 at 7:30 PM EST. Joe Blanton vs. Madison Bumgarner

*Game 5: Thursday, October 21 at 7:30 PM EST. Halladay vs. Lincecum

*Game 6: Saturday, October 23 at 4:00 PM EST. Sanchez vs. Oswalt

*Game 7: Sunday, October 24 at 8:00 PM EST. Cain vs. Hamels

 

 

Prediction

Lincecum vs. Halladay. Sanchez vs. Oswalt. Hamels vs. Cain. If you are a fan of pitching, this matchup is baseball porn for you. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Halladay, coming off his no-hitter in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds goes up against Lincecum, who is coming off a dominant performance himself with 14 K=s against the Atlanta Braves. This Game 1 matchup is worth the price of admission alone for the whole series.

Not only do we get this tonight, we could also get this matchup next Thursday. I personally can’t wait.

I think coming into this series, the Phillies have a couple of concerns.

First, despite sweeping the Reds, they really didn’t hit the ball. They only hit .212 as a team in the three games. Their big outburst of seven runs in Game 3 of the NLDS was aided by four Red errors.

Jayson Werth (.167), Placido Polanco (.111), and Jimmy Rollins (.091) all hit under .200 against the Reds, and if the Phillies are going to score some runs against the Giants’ stout pitching staff, these three guys are going to have to wake up.

I would also be concerned with that Game 4 matchup of Blanton vs. Bumgarner. If we ranked all the pitchers in this series, Blanton would end up on the short end of the stick.

Not only that, but he hasn’t appeared in a game since October 3. That is a long layoff, and now he will be asked to win a pivotal game on the road against one of the better young pitchers in the game. That’s a very tough task.

As for the Giants, I like the decision to start Sanchez in Game 2. His numbers during the regular season were better on the road (2.86 on road. 3.26 at home), and he carried his hot pitching on the road with a masterful performance in Game 3 against the Braves (11 Ks and two hits in 7.1 IP).

Plus, the Phillies have a very left-handed dominated lineup, so getting him to pitch twice in this series is a good thing.

My concerns with the Giants are twofold.

First, can Javier Lopez continue to get lefties out late in the game? It will most likely be him who will face Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, or Raul Ibanez in a big spot. Lopez is pitching well, but I just have my doubts about him against that caliber of left-handed hitting late in the game.

Second, how are the Giants going to score runs in this series? I have a hard time seeing them scoring enough runs to beat the Phillies. Asking your pitchers to win 2-1 every game is a tall task.

Outside of Buster Posey, the one guy who needs to do damage in this series is Aubrey Huff. He had a nice NLDS, hitting .267 with a .389 OBP, but he needs to start driving the ball.

It’s very hard to piece together hits off of Halladay, Oswalt, and Hamels. If the Giants are going to win, they are going to need some quick strikes offensively. Going up against three righties in this series, Huff needs to be the guy for the Giants who hits a couple of HRs.

If I were to compare this series to a college basketball game it would be looking at an ACC team against a team from the Big West Conference in the tournament.

The Big West school has a couple of good players that they will try to ride for the game, but overall, they don’t match up well. The school from the Big West conference will try to slow the game down, make it a low-scoring game, and then try to steal it late with a three.

That strategy will work for one game, but not for a series of games against the same team. Talent usually wins out.

In this case, the Phillies are the ACC team.

Phillies in 6

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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Baseball Postseason: The 10 Key Factors That Will Determine the 2010 NLCS

The 2010 National League Championship has some compelling story lines. 

The Philadelphia Phillies seek to be the first team in 66 years to win three consecutive NL Championships. They also look to move one step closer to staking their place amongst baseball’s greatest teams.

While Philly concentrates on continuing its current era’s success, the San Francisco Giants are looking to bring the Bay City it’s first World Series Championship. 

Since each team clinched early in the week, most of the talk has centered on the series marquee match-up of starting pitchers— and for good reason. Each club sports a “Big Three” unrivaled by any other teams in baseball.  

Tomorrow night’s opening game pitching match-up is being billed as the best ever in NLCS history— and for good reason. Besides a dramatic contrast in style, “Doc” versus “The Freak” should provide tremendous theatre to kick-off the NLCS.

Surely these two pitchers and their starting staff cohorts will play a key role in the series, but the outcome will be influenced by many other key factors. 

Also looking a little beyond the bright spotlight that will surround the Citizens Bank Park mound tomorrow evening, here are the 10 key factors that will determine the 2010 NLCS:

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