ryan howard | The Baseball Zealot

Yankees Turn to Sabathia on 3 Days Rest

85125458JM010_BALTIMORE_ORI C.C. Sabathia was matched up against fellow Cleveland Indians starter Cliff Lee in the opener of the Series. Lee outpitched C.C. in that game, but only Sabathia was ready to go on three days rest, Cliff would need one more day before he could go. So on Sunday night Joe Blanton would answer the bell for the Phillies versus big C.C.

Derek Jeter got the Yankees going in the 1st with a leadoff single, went to 3rd on a Johnny Damon double, and Derek would score on a Mark Teixeira groundout, and then Damon would be plated on a Jorge Posada sacrifice fly, after Alex Rodriguez was drilled by a pitch, Yanks up 2-0 with the Phils coming to bat. Back to back first inning doubles by Shane Victorino & Chase Utley would cut it to a one run game, 2-1 after one.

BIG Ryan Howard got a leadoff single in the bottom of the 4th, stole 2nd, and scored on a Pedro Feliz base knock to knot the game at two. It was time for New York to get to work in the top of the fifth, Nick Swisher started it with a base on balls, went to 2nd on a Melky Cabrera single, and then C.C. Sabathia struckout trying to bunt the runners up. With one out Derek Jeter plated Swisher with a single, then Cabrera scored on a base hit off the bat of Damon, and the Yanks again had a two run lead, 4-2.

The Phillies got their first two guys on in the bottom of the 5th as Jimmy Rollins singled & Shane Victorino walked, bringing up Chase Utley (who had homered twice in game one off C.C.), BIG Ryan Howard, and Jayson Werth, the meat of the order. Two popouts & a strikeout later, and the threat was over. Neither starting pitcher allowed a run in the 6th, Ben Francisco batted for Blanton, ending his night.

Chan Ho Park pitched a scoreless 7th. When Sabathia delivered his 98th pitch of the night in the 7th it struck me, while thinking about this superhuman’s accomplishments, pitchers routinely went the distance in the olden days, often times throwing 200 pitches in a game, sometimes working on two days rest. Still it was great to see this workhorse, C.C., going about his job, mowing down the top of the Phillies order, one, two… But then Utley chased Sabathia from the game with his third home run of the Series off C.C. (so much for platooning), once again it was a one run ballgame, all six Philadelphia home runs being solo shots. Damaso Marte was brought on to get BIG Ryan Howard to popup to end the inning, 4-3 NY.

There were two on & one out in the top of the 8th, Nick Swisher could’ve iced it, but he took strike three down the middle, shaking his head, rather than lighting up reliever Ryan Madson. Joe Girardi didn’t want to have Mariano Rivera pitch more than one inning, thus Joba Chamberlain was called on to face the hot hitting Jayson Werth (down on strikes), Raul Ibanez (K’s him on heat), & Pedro Feliz took the kid over the wall for a game tying homer. Oh brother, wasn’t supposed to happen that way if you’re a Yankees fan, what a ballgame, what a Series! A wicked breaking ball to Carlos Ruiz, and Joba’s struckout the side, but now it’s all tied at four, going into the 9th.

I know this from experience, sometimes you try to save your closer for tomorrow, and then there is no tomorrow. Chamberlain looked overpowering, but Rivera is overpowering. Charlie Manuel called on his closer Brad Lidge to work a tie ballgame in the top of the 9th, getting the first two before Damon singled to left, stole 2nd & went around Feliz, and went all the way to 3rd (the Phillies had a shift on for Teixeira), he’s credited with 2 SBs on that one play. Lidge hits Teixeira, bringing up ARod (1 for 13 in the Series). Alex hits a double off the leftfield wall, big moments for big players. With the Yankees up, Mo starts seriously loosening up to try to close it out with the lead. A couple of insurance runs score when Posada delivers a single into leftcenter, continuing on to 2nd, where he is tagged out easily, 7-4 Yanks.

Not that it matters, but Rivera faces pinch hitter Matt Stairs and then the top of the order. A groundout, a popout, & a groundout, all three to firstbase, and it’s over. The Bronx Bombers now have a three games to one Series lead, with one ballgame in Philadelphia before heading back to New York (if necessary). Philadelphia needs to win three straight, if not impossible, close to it. Game five features Cliff Lee versus nasty A.J. Burnett on three days rest. Joba Chamberlain was credited with the win in this one, but we all know it was C.C. Sabathia on three days, getting the job done.

Yankees Make the Wait Werthwhile

arod There was a one hour twenty minute rain delay before game three finally was set into motion. Southpaw Andy Pettitte was on the bump for the Pinstripers, while lefty Cole Hamels (I see that commercial with those kids dad, every time he pitches) was matched up against the cagey vet.

It looked like Pettitte was the kid with the jitters in the 2nd inning, when he allowed a leadoff homer to Jayson Werth to give Philly a 1-0 lead. Before the second inning dust had settled, Andy walked Jimmy Rollins with the bases loaded, and then Shane Victorino’s sac fly made it 3-0.

In the top of the 4th with a runner on 1st Alex Rodriguez’ flyball hit off a camera in rightfield, it appeared as though the camera was out over the field of play, but it was reviewed and ruled a two run home run, making it a 3-2 game. With one out in the 5th Andy Pettitte took matters into his own hands when he singled home Nick Swisher from 2nd base with the tying run, Swisher had doubled to open the inning. Derek Jeter kept the line moving with a base knock. The big blow came moments later when Johnny Damon’s double plated both Pettitte & Jeter, giving NY a two run lead.

In the sixth inning the teams exchanged runs with Nick Swisher hitting a home run in the top of the frame and Jayson Werth matching it with a big fly of his own in the bottom for Philadelphia, still a two run Yankee advantage. New York took control in the 7th & 8th, with one run in each inning, Jorge Posada’s RBI single in the 7th and pinch hitter Hideki Matsui’s solo shot in the eighth.

Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz hit a solo blast in the 9th off reliever Phil Hughes to cut it to three, but then Mariano Rivera was called upon to close it out. Andy Pettitte was the winning pitcher, his 17th postseason victory.

I want to say something about the talking heads, they are crazy, and for the most part they talk about stuff which makes no sense. They talk about pressure & clutch, they talk about slumps, and meaningless statistics of what batters are doing off certain pitchers in certain situations. The problem here arises in the fact that there isn’t a whole lot of data, the statistics are very limited, and they are skewed as a result. What I’m talking about in particular is Alex Rodriguez 0-8 with six strikeouts after the first two games, Chase Utley with two long balls in one game off a lefthanded pitcher, Nick Swisher & his woeful slump, and then there’s Ryan Howard 0-8 with seven K’s in his last eight at bats. This isn’t about pressure and coming through or not coming through in the clutch. This is the World Series, featuring the best of the best, don’t over analyze everything, just sit back & enjoy.

Yankees Chased over Cliff in Game 1 of World Series

It was the the Cliff Lee and Chase Utley Show last night. They certainly quieted the pundits who were so giddy over the Yankees chances in the World Series. That includes ex-Cub Mark Grace who was predicting the Yanks would take the Series in 6 games.

While the Yankees came in the Series with all the momentum, it is the Philadelphia Phillies who now gain the upper hand. Former Cy Young winner Cliff Lee was masterful beyond compare. Allowing no walks, he kept the Yanks scoreless until the ninth inning when Jeter scored on a measly groundout.

Chase Utley was the total offense for most of the game (up until the eight inning). Thanks to his two solo dingers. Philly had a 2-0 lead which is all they really needed with Lee on the hill.

Props goes to C.C. Sabathia. Despite the ‘L’, he pitched a fair game, allowing just 2 runs in seven frames, good enough for a win in most any other game.

Two observations: Ryan Howard’s line looks pretty good (2 for 5, 2 doubles, rbi) but I thought he looked pretty miserable at the plate for his two strikeouts. Also, the Yanks were obvious pretty anemic with the bat last night but one exception was Derek Jeter. He was 3 for 4 and scored their only run.

Tonight, Pedro Martinez for the Phils and A.J. Burnett for the Yanks.

I checked out PJ’s stats and they’re quite interesting. Not the most durable fellow but it’s amazing how times he’s led the league in certain categories.

Obviously, ERA, five times. Hits per 9 IP, five times, Win/Loss Pct, four times, Strikeouts per 9 IP, four times. walks and hits per 9 IP, six times, and shutouts, 3 times.

Innings pitched, Games Started, and Complete Games… eh, not so much.

Go Phillies.

2009 Rookies of the Year: Gordon Beckham & J.A. Happ

Dodgers Sox Spring Baseball The Sporting News has announced the winners of the 2009 Rookie of the Year Gordon Beckham of the White Sox and J.A. Happ of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Beckham was called to Chicago on June 4th, playing thirdbase everyday, he ended up batting .270 with 28 doubles, 14 home runs, and 63 RBIs, in 103 games. The most remarkable thing was that Gordon was a SS at the University of Georgia last year when he hit more homers than anyone in NCAA Division I. So he was learning a new position in the big leagues, and learn it he did, I predict several Gold Gloves in his future. Other White Sox Rookies of the Year are 1951 Minnie Minoso, 1956 Luis Aparicio, 1963 Pete Ward & Gary Peters, 1966 Tommie Agee, 1969 Carlos May, 1983 Ron Kittle, and 1985 Ozzie Guillen.

Happ was 12-4 with a 2.93 ERA for Philadelphia, appearing out of the bullpen until late May when the young lefthander moved into the rotation. I remember seeing his changeup in spring training in Clearwater, FL, and thinking how much he reminded me of Phillies ace Cole Hamels. He pitched two shutouts, while striking out 119 batters in 166 innings. Other Phillies Rookies of the Year are 1946 Del Ennis, 1948 Richie Ashburn, 1957 Jack Sanford, 1964 Dick Allen, 1980 Lonnie Smith, 1984 Juan Samuel, 1997 Scott Rolen, and 2005 Ryan Howard.

Phillies Let the Good Times JRoll

JimmyRollins.hit-751600 First inning of game #4 BIG Ryan Howard boomed a two run blast over the wall in right, catching up to a fastball & turning it around in a hurry, so much for the lefty lefty matchup, and I thought, “here we go again”.

Things remain the same until the top of the 4th when LA ties the score off Joe Blanton, a walk to Matt Kemp sandwiched between two outs started things off, Manny Ramirez lined a single to left sending Kemp to 3rd, James Loney then singled to right scoring Kemp, Ronnie Belliard draws a base on balls, Russell Martin gets a sharp single to left scoring Manny, then out number three on a Casey Blake groundout to end the scoring, but it’s a brand new ballgame.

The Dodgers take the lead when Kemp rips a two out solo homer off Blanton in the 5th. LA adds to their lead in the 6th when Pedro Feliz commits a throwing error allowing Manny to reach base, after Loney pops out, Belliard pops one up just out of the reach of Jimmy Rollins & Raul Ibanez for a single, Martin strikes out looking, Blake serves a soft single to right scoring Ramirez & Belliard to 3rd, Wolf flies out after Blake steals second, Los Angeles leads by two into the bottom of six.

With one out in the bottom of the 6th Shane Victorino pulls a hard grounder down into the leftfield corner, when Manny airmails the relay throw over the cutoff man’s head Shane flies into 3B with a triple, Chase Utley rips a single to right scoring Victorino, coaches visit, Howard walks, wonder what the coach told Wolf?, pitching change as Ronald Belisario is called on to replace Randy Wolf, facing Jayson Werth. A graphic shows Phillies 1st batters are 0-8 with 3 walks versus LA’s bullpen, here is the crazy talk from Chip Caray, “0 for 8 are the Philadelphia hitters against the first batter faced by these Dodger pensmen”, swear to God, that’s what he said. Now 0 for 10, as Belisario retires Werth on a FC & Hong-Chih Kuo gets Ibanez on a fly to left, Phillies narrow the gap to one after 6.

That’s the way things remained heading into the bottom of the 8th, with two on & 2 out, Jonathan Broxton was called on to replace George Sherrill to get Werth to fly to right to end the threat. With one out in the top of the 9th Rafael Furcal rips a line drive base knock, knocking Scott Eyre out of the game, closer Brad Lidge was brought into the game, Charlie Manuel was thinking (gotta stop ’em here), Furcal steals 2nd & Kemp strikes out, Lidge wild pitches Furcal to thirdbase, but lefthanded batter Andre Ethier (luckily Charlie Manuel must’ve fallen asleep, not replacing his righthanded pitcher with a southpaw to get the lefthanded hitting Ethier, he K’d to send the game to the bottom of the 9th.

Broxton was sitting in the Dodger dugout while LA batted in the top of the 9th, the adrenalin draining from his system as today’s closers are used to going one inning. With one out Matt Stairs was sent up to pinch hit for Pedro Feliz, Stairs homered off Jonathan in the regular season, the relief pitcher was scared shitless & walked Matt, Eric Bruntlett was put in as a pinch runner, Carlos Ruiz was nailed on the elbow with a pitch, tying run on 2nd & winning run on 1st, pinch hitter Greg Dobbs popped out, leaving it all up to JRoll who lined a 1-1 fastball into the right-centerfield gap, driving home the tying & winning runs, Phillies win the game 5-4, and take a 3-1 series lead. In order for the Dodgers to advance they will need to win three straight, highly unlikely.

Weekend’s Best & Weekend’s Worst in One Game

CLIFF LEE ESPN’s Dan Patrick has a feature where he asks for the weekend’s best & the weekend’s worst performances. The third game between the Phillies & the Dodgers last night featured both for me. There are only four teams left in baseball, the top four, pretty evenly matched, and you get an 11-0 outcome, unbelievable! Late in the game Chip Caray & the Chipettes (Buck Martinez & Ron “You don’t have to call me Darling” Darling) came up with their version of stupid when they were talking about how it’s easier to lose one like this, rather than a tough loss. Where does that kind of logic come from?

Cliff Lee was dominant from the beginning to the end, no runs, three hits, no walks, and striking out ten. Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda, wasn’t, he was out of there after going just 1 1/3 innings, surrendering 6 runs on 6 hit, it was like the Phillies were still taking batting practice, on the plus side he didn’t walk anybody, he was wild in the strike zone, not locating his pitches in the strike zone. BIG Ryan Howard ripped a two run triple into the rightfield corner in the 1st & Jayson Werth launched a monster blast deep over the centerfield wall to make it four zip after one. When the game was over, in the 2nd inning, Joe Torre brought in a series of relievers, one looked worse than the next, two walks off Scott Elbert in 1/3 of an inning, Chad Billingsley allowed 2 runs on 2 hits & 2 walks in 3 1/3 innings, Ramon Troncoso walked 2 in 2 innings, and served up some 8th inning BP to Shane Victorino, who nailed him for a three run bomb, the game would’ve been over if there a 10 run slaughter rule (LA would’ve only lost 9-0 if they’d simply forfeited.

Not to second guess Joe Torre, but he did decide to go with Scott Elbert & the injured Hiroki Kuroda (although his interpreter Kenji said he was okay, maybe he got it wrong) over veterans Jon Garland & Jeff Weaver. Dodgers pitchers(?) have walked 7 Phillies in two of the three games so far, they’d be down in the series 3-0 if it weren’t for Charlie Manuel pulling Pedro Martinez in game two after 87 pitches. Cliff Lee demonstrated that you don’t need to throw the ball hard to win, change speeds, spot your pitches in the strike zone, he made it look easy.

I’m not saying LA would’ve won this ballgame, whomever they started, but now the talking heads are wondering whether Billingsley earned(?) a start in place of Kuroda next time, Chad was touched for 2 runs in 3 1/3, remember that?, better than Hiroki, but still, do you think that type of performance will beat Lee?, highly doubtful. Perhaps if Torre had kept Garland & Weaver active, moving Clayton Kershaw to the bullpen, similar to what the Yankees have done with Joba Chamberlain, the Angels have done with Ervin Santana, & the Phillies have done with J.A. Happ this postseason. The postseason is not for the young or the faint of heart.

So now the Dodgers will attempt to regain home field advantage with veteran lefthander Randy Wolf pitching against his old team, with Joe Blanton toeing the rubber for the Phighting Phils. As many of you know I play in a dice baseball league featuring the board game APBA, have done so for 35 years, in the game when you’re beating somebody badly, rolling hit after hit number, your opponent is saying, “get it out of your system”. But this isn’t a dice baseball league, this is real life, their hitters seem spot on, although I did hear somebody ask the question, will Philadelphia need some of these runs tomorrow? Well tomorrow is here today, we shall see what we shall see, can’t wait.

Dodgers Enjoy Walk-In LA

pedro Game two was a snappy contest, whereby the patience of LA won out in the end. Both teams were accustom to the ending which occurred, the Phillies bullpen often times implodes, while the Dodgers had more come from behind victories than anyone in the league. It didn’t necessarily have to end this way, but holding to the script, it did.

Pedro Martinez was on the hill for Philadelphia, returning to where he started his career at Dodgers Stadium with LA at the age of 20 in 1992, since then he’d hit the highs, winning the Cy Young Award three times, capturing the ERA title four times, and is the tops in career active winning percentage at .687. But this wasn’t that Pedro who joined the Phillies in midseason, he’d been castoff by the Mets after going 5-6 with a 5.61 ERA for New York last season. Nobody would give him the money he’d earned based on his career numbers, until he signed with Philadelphia. Immediately he showed he still had some gas left in that 37 year old arm, and oh, what a heart! Martinez was 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA in nine starts during the regular season, but this is the postseason, where the great ones shine.

Opposing Pedro was a pitcher whom the Texas Rangers cut loose during the year, even though they were in the race for postseason, and needed pitching. Although Vicente Padilla came up as a relief pitcher with the Arizona Diamondbacks, it was a starter with the Phillies where he first showed off his gritty style as a winning pitcher, not as good as Pedro, but a .536 winning percentage none the less. It was pointed out Vicente has more career HBPs (99) than victories (98), a fact which did not endear him to Ranger batters, who did not appreciate getting hit in retaliation. Although he’s mellowed in this area lately, Pedro was known as a headhunter in his day, nailing 141 batsmen, all be it in over 2,800 innings. Both pitchers are examples of, if you want to win, you’ve got to pitch inside. The Dodgers gladly signed the Nicaraguan righthander, who moved right into the starting rotation, going 4-0 with a 3.28 ERA in seven LA starts.

In the top of the 3rd Carlos Ruiz lined a leadoff single to centerfield, Pedro popped up a bunt attempt, and James Loney intentionally dropped it and threw to Ronnie Belliard covering first, Belliard stepped on first, then tagged Ruiz, who was still on the bag. The announcers correctly stated the umpires ruled Loney had intentionally dropped the attempted sacrifice and the batter Martinez was ruled out, Ruiz did not have to run. However because Belliard stepped on firstbase first, removing the force, Ruiz was okay to remain at firstbase. Nothing much happened as a result of this ruling, although Ruiz did steal secondbase when Rafael Furcal dropped the throw, should’ve been an error, in my opinion, he was stranded there when Shane Victorino popped out, after Padilla had gotten Jimmy Rollins to fly to right.

Chip & the Chipettes were at it in the bottom of three, with one out & Russell Martin on first, Padilla bunts him over, Martin gets a good read and makes it to 2nd easily as Pedro throws to first. The talking heads comment about how, if Martinez had pounced on it & whirled to secondbase, he might’ve had a shot at a force play. This guy knows how to win, stay away from silly mistakes which could end up beating you, and really on your good stuff. Chase Utley fielded an easy bouncer off Furcal’s bat for out number three.

The BIG MAN, Ryan Howard caught a hanger from Padilla and mashed it deep over the leftfield wall in the 4th to put Phillie up 1-0. I don’t remember so many hitters taking balls the other way out of the park, back in the day, don’t get me wrong, there were some shots, but they were generally pulled or hit straight away, I wonder why that is.

Matt Kemp opened things up in the bottom of the frame with a line single to center. With lefthanded hitting Andre Ethier at the dish, it looked like a perfect opportunity as Howard was holding Kemp, leaving a big hole between 1st & 2nd, and Martinez was not fully concentrating on the batter, with the speedy baserunner aboard. Moments later Ruiz gunned down Kemp trying to steal and that was the end of that.

Joe Torre was asked what he was looking for from his starter Padilla. Joe said, “I’m looking for him to match Pedro, just keep us within striking distance, Martinez is tough to beat, but maybe we can make him work & outlast him”. More prophetic words were never spoken, as Vicente looked tough, other than Howard’s BIG FLY.

Chip Caray, trying to fill airtime, tells about how Ryan Howard came into camp this spring in great shape, and has worked tirelessly with coach Sam Perlozzo on his defense at firstbase. Then Chip says, Ryan cutdown on his errors from 19 to 14, which isn’t really that much of an improvement. Well actually Chip, you are wrong, five fewer errors, from 19 to 14 is quite a drastic percentage decrease, except when you look at range factor, total chances, & assists, and you see that Howard was down in all three categories (fielding percentage went from .988 to .990, not much difference there, so wonder why Caray would bring it up, perhaps to hear himself talk). Did I mention Chip wouldn’t be a pimple on his grandfather’s behind?

Other than Pedro nailing Russell Martin with a pitch to leadoff the bottom of the 6th (he was stranded at 2nd after Padilla’s bunt moved him up) and Ryan Howard singling in the top of the 7th (he was quickly erased on a Jayson Werth 6-4-3 DP), the pitchers dominated in the 5th, 6th, & 7th, as the score remained 1-0 in favor of the Boys from the City of Brotherly Love through seven.

87 pitches was all Pedro threw while dominating LA over seven innings of work, it looked like the 5’11” 175 pound righthander could’ve gone twelve, he looked shocked when informed in the dugout that his day was done, like, what?, don’t we want to win? Greg Dobbs was sent up to bat for Martinez with one out and Ruiz on first, lefty Hong-Chih Kuo was brought on to face the lefthanded pinch-hitter, Phillie skipper Charlie Manuel, not to be outdone, sent up the righthanded hitting Ben Francisco, who promptly hit into an inning ending 6-4-3 doubleplay, deja vu all over again.

Now this is where the real game begins, this is what Joe Torre & his Dodgers were waiting for. On the other side of the diamond, Charlie Manuel had to be saying to himself, “Oh shit. Now we have to go to the bullpen, and we have no bullpen”. As Chan Ho Park was summoned into the game, Craig Sager was miked up, he commented about how he’d talked to Park about pitching on two consecutive days, after not pitching for a month because of a hamstring, and that Chan Ho said, he had great command. It surely didn’t seem that way, as Park only threw 7 of 12 pitches for strikes in his 1/3 inning of work, allowing two basehits, and two earned runs, but this didn’t stop the booth talking heads from repeating Sager’s statement about how Chan Ho had great command, idiots.

The shadows were perfect for the Dodgers batters to be overpowered in the 8th, Pedro had them all game long even without no stinking shadows, and where was Ryan Madson, the normal 8th inning setup man for Phillie, afraid to use him after he’d allowed two runs in game one? Casey Blake singled off his counterpart at thirdbase Pedro Feliz’ glove, for a leadoff single, Feliz was guarding the line against a double & the ball was hit to his left, the light standard was casting a shadow by thirdbase, which also might have factored into the basehit. Juan Pierre was put into the game as a pinch runner, Pierre was wearing his spikes, so the game didn’t have to be delayed while he went into the clubhouse to put them on, ala first game Dodger pinch runner Randy Wolf.

Ronnie Belliard stepped up, looking to advance Juan to second with a bunt, the first pitch from Park was so far inside that it almost hit him. Talking head Buck Martinez commented, how he’s never going to get the bunt down with that technique, he needs to get the bat out in front of homeplate. Belliard bunted the very next pitch, pushing it past a hard charging pitcher, and out of the reach of a not really improved fielding firstbaseman for an infield single. The next batter Russell Martin hit a tailor made doubleplay grounder to Feliz, but when Chase Utley, using the bag to shield himself from a hard sliding Belliard, threw off the wrong foot, the ball sailed over BIG Ryan Howard, and allowed Juan Pierre to score from secondbase to tie the game at one.

All of that great pitching from Pedro was for naught, but the game was still there for anybody to win. That’s when Joe Torre sent up his new secret weapon, Jim Thome to pinch hit. 564 home runs in 19 major league seasons is what the lefthanded slugger brings to the table as he steps into the batter’s box. The quick witted Charlie Manuel, don’t laugh, knows Thome bats lefthanded, so he calls for his southpaw reliever Scott Eyre. Just as the ever alert Buck Martinez, what a dolt, says, Thome is 0-7 career against Eyre, and he has no chance, Thome lines a single to rightfield sending Martin to third, I don’t know how they do that. But I do know this, this wasn’t the same Jim Thome I’ve come to know and love from his days with the White Sox, that Thome was a slugger, who went up to the plate with one thing on his mind, hit it as far as possible, either a homer, a walk, or a strikeout, this Thome was a batter with a purpose, who got the job done, Juan Castro, who also was wearing his spikes, came on to run at first for Jim.

Finally setup man Ryan Madson is called into the game to face Furcal, the infield pulled in to cutoff the go ahead run, Madson loses the pesty Rafael to fill the bags, bringing up Matt Kemp. Ryan is not a strikeout pitcher, but Kemp swings at one in the dirt, trying to hold up, and strikes himself out for the second out.

Now the best hitter in the Dodgers lineup steps to the plate, Andre Ethier, get back there Manny, I wasn’t talking about you. Again, can’t slip one past Charlie Manuel, who notices Ethier bats from the leftside, so he makes the ill-fated call (don’t do it Charlie) to bring on rookie of the year candidate, portsider, J.A. Happ. Happ gets ahead of Andre, but then trys to get him to go fishing, and ends up walking in the go ahead run when the batter lays off a 3-2 pitch that missed low. Chad Durbin is brought on to get Manny to pop out to end the inning, but not before the damage was done as LA pushes across two runs to take a 2-1 lead heading into the 9th with their closer Jonathan Broxton in there, trying to nail it down.

I must ask the question, I know Brad Lidge was shaky all season long, but if he’s the best you’ve got in your bullpen when the game is on the line, when you’re trying to “save” the ballgame, then where was he? We’ve gotten away from what a save truly is, it’s not just a bargaining chip to be used when negotiating a reliever’s next contract, it’s meant to indicate that a pitcher actually was saving the game, keeping the other team from winning. I know Lidge would’ve been brought on to face LA in the 9th if Philadelphia had maintained their lead, but he was needed in the 8th, before the go ahead run was on the board. I know Happ is good, but he’s a rookie, and as Joe Torre learned with his youngster Clayton Kershaw in the first game, the playoffs are not the place for a youngster to cut his teeth. It might not be fair to jump on Manuel, as Utley’s error on a DP grounder opened the floodgates, but Ryan Madson the 8th inning setup man should’ve been in there from the beginning to work the eighth, if he was crazy enough to bat for Pedro, he could’ve gone twelve.

Speaking of twelve, twelve pitches later from Broxton, and the Phillies were done, 1-2-3, with BIG Ryan Howard standing in the ondeck circle. The two teams played it out perfectly, just like Joe Torre drew it up. The two teams leave LA with one win apiece, but the Phillies have stolen the home field advantage, as they head back across the country to the Keystone State.

Before the telecast was over buffoon Craig Sager had a couple of on field interviews. First he talked with the hero of the game, Andre Ethier, who drove in the go ahead run without hitting the baseball, sometimes patience truly is the better part of valor. Sager asked Ethier how he was able to not swing, Andre credited batting coach Don Mattingly. Then Craig tried to be witty by saying something about this almost being a walkoff walk. When Sager asked catcher Russell Martin about Dodgers starting pitcher Vincent Padilla, rather than Vicente, I had enough, and turned off the TV. Where is that mute button anyway?

Kershaw Can’t Survive Wild Stretch

Cardinals Dodgers Baseball To say the opening game between the Dodgers and Phillies last night was exciting, would be a stretch, it was a close game, ending at 8-6 Philadelphia, but it was over four hours long. LA hurlers walked seven batters, coincidentally they were the only Dodger pitchers that were scored upon.

James Loney took Cole Hamels deep to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead. Surprisingly Clayton Kershaw was rolling along, pitching almost exclusively from the windup. Shane Victorino picked up a first inning single, Chase Utley lined out hard to CF, but then Kershaw picked off Victorino with Ryan Howard at the plate, SHANE, where were you going? With one out in the 3rd Carlos Ruiz walks, then is bunted to 2nd by Hamels, allowing Clayton to return to the windup, from which he got the third out of the inning. In the 4th the young Dodger lefty walks Howard after retiring the first two hitters on popups, Jayson Werth hits the ball on the nose, but it’s hauled in by Manny Ramirez. A sign of things to come.

Then comes the 5th inning, Raul Ibanez (or as Craig Segar would call him E-BEENEZ) rips a line drive single to left, Kershaw can’t find the strike zone with his curve out of the stretch, bounces a wild pitch, and ends up walking Pedro Feliz. Pitching coach Rick Honeycutt comes out to talk to Kershaw, I don’t know what he told Clayton, but almost before Rick was back in the dugout after delivering his sage advice, Carlos Ruiz sat on a fastball and rode it over the leftfield wall for a three run jack. But the inning wasn’t over, in fact nobody was out. Still the announcers babbled on about how this was a tough decision for Joe Torre because Kershaw was due to bat 2nd in the bottom of the inning, I didn’t get it, did he have to get tattooed a little more before being lifted from the game? The pitcher Cole Hamels walks, this kid was done with a capital D, but then he induced Jimmy Rollins to hit into a fielder’s choice, struckout Victorino on a wild pitch sending JRoll to 2nd, threw his 3rd wild pitch of the inning (all on breaking balls) sending Rollins to 3rd, and walking Utley.

Here is where it gets REALLY crazy! The announcers say, this is a growing up moment, as Joe Torre is leaves Kershaw in the game to face Howard. He was done after he walked Hamels! After Ryan lines a two run double into the corner, Ramon Troncoso is brought in to get Werth. The Dodgers were down 5-1 heading into the home half of the fifth and it looked like the game might be over.

LA had runners at the corners with one out when Andre Ethier hit a tailor made double play grounder to short, Utley threw the relay throw away after Rollins gave him a late feed when he couldn’t get the ball out of his glove. So instead of an inning ending DP, with Manny leading off for the Dodgers in the 6th, Ramirez would bat in the 5th with 2 outs, a run in, and a runner on secondbase. Pitcher Cole Hamels was visibly upset, the Phillies sent a coach to the mound to settle him down. I don’t know what the coaches tell their pitchers, but you guessed it, MANNY BEING MANNY turned on one, putting LA back into the game.

Dodger relievers Ronald Bellisario & Hong-Chih Kuo held the Phillies in check in the 6th & 7th, while Chad Durbin & J.A. Happ (a rookie of the year candidate, but not quite ready as a prime time pitcher) each worked one third of an inning to close out a very shaky 6th, Durbin came on to get the Russell Martin for the 2nd out of the inning, after Loney & Ronnie Belliard had singled off Hamels, to send Cole to the showers. Happ lost pinch hitter Jim Thome on ball four to fill the bases, it’s a good thing a pitching coach didn’t go out there to talk with J.A. Then a bizarre incident occurred in which Joe Torre wanted to send in a pinch runner for Thome, however we all had to wait while Randy Wolf got on his shoes, thus freezing Happ. Rafael Furcal grounded out to Utley to end the threat.

In the bottom of the 7th Antanio Bastardo (what a Bastard-Oh) allows a leadoff double to Andre Ethier (what was Antonio even doing in the game, on the roster?) and is replaced by veteran Chan Ho Park. Chan Ho gets Ramirez, Matt Kemp, & Casey Blake to earn a well deserved hold.

Former closer, lefthander, George Sherrill was brought on to face the Phils in the top of the 8th in a one run game, sometimes closers do better in save situations. Rick Honeycutt again comes out to talk with his pitcher after Sherrill walks the first two batters he’s faced, you guessed it, on the very first pitch to Raul Ibanez, he launches a three run blast, again seemingly putting this game on ice.

Ryan Madson, alot of the talking heads thought he should be the team’s closer, was brought on to throw a little batting practice in the 8th inning, and make the game a little interesting. There was a coaching visit to the mound after Loney & Belliard opened with base knocks, but Martin only produced a run scoring single, rather than a three run dinger, what a bum! Pinch hitter Juan Pierre hits a comebacker, which Madson fires to Utley to get the first out of the inning, leaving runners at 1st & 3rd. After Furcal’s sac fly to Werth in right, Ethier kept the inning alive with a single to right, Ryan got Manny on a grounder to third to end the inning. Phillies fans let out a huge sigh of relief.

But before Philadelphia fans could relax too much, it was the 9th inning, and Brad Lidge time. I remember Lidge fondly from the 2005 World Series, where the White Sox beat him twice, no saves, with a 4.91 ERA, he was even worse for the Astros in the LCS versus the Cardinals, although he did save three games, he had a loss, and a 7.20 ERA. Last season was magical for Brad & the Phillies, as he was a perfect 41 for 41 in saves during the regular season, with a 1.95 ERA, earning 7 more postseason saves in 2008. What a difference a year makes, as he struggled all season long, a 7.21 ERA to go along with an 0-8 record, while converting only 31 of 42 save opportunities. The ship seemed to have been righted in the LDS against the Rockies as he converted his only two save chances.

Kemp greeted Lidge with a hard basehit to left, then Blake tore the cover off the ball, but hit it right at Utley on the ground for an easy (once Chase fielded the hardhit ball) DP. Loney walks, but Brad gets Belliard to pop to short to end the game with Loney on 2nd.

The Dodgers outhit the Phillies 14 to 8, but lost the game mainly because of wildness, maybe if they had started somebody else. Everybody seems to be talking about Chad Billingsley, but he may be hurt, as he has not been throwing well. Still what about Hiroki Kuroda or Vicente Padilla, or why was Jon Garland left off the playoff roster, out of the mix? Veteran righthander Garland was 3-2 with a very nice 2.72 ERA for LA this season in six starts and was 1-0 in two starts for the White Sox in postseason play in 2005 with a 2.25 ERA over 16 innings pitched. You might call it hindsight, but you are not going to win very many ballgames walking seven, Jon has walked under two batters per start for his career.

Dunno which was worse, this long drawn out game or listening to the three jackasses in the booth, headed by Chip Caray, fill airtime, talking nonsense. Never thought I would say this, but were Tim McCarver & Hawk Harrelson busy? Just kidding, but these guys are brutal, no insight at all!

With Howard’s $10 mil, players batting .167

Fortunately for him, this was no practical joke. Ryan Howard won his arbitration case against the Phillies. The Phils offered Howard $7 million but in arbitration, he was awarded $10 million.

The arbitrators were comparing Howard’s case to Miguel Cabrera’s from last year. Cabrera hit the $7.4 million mark when he was with the Marlins. Apparently, they felt they couldn’t go lower than that figure.

Howard’s victory was the first arbitration win by a player in six tries so far this off-season.

So now, Howard’s price got a lot steeper. Is he worth it? If there is one young slugger out there I would want to get for my MLB team, it would be Howard. Yet, I’m sure the Phillies are also interested in locking some players up for the future not paying big bucks for a one-year contract only to go through this again.