Beerleaguer for breakfast: Phillies hurry up and wait

In wrapping up the NLDS so soon, the Dodgers and Phillies have until Thursday to rest up before Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. The ALDS continues today.

Don’t make plans. Like, until November. The boys of summer stole the season away from football yesterday at precisely 4 p.m. All those tailgate parties you planned on attending wearing hunter green will be spent in fire engine red. A maximum of 14 games are scheduled through Oct. 30. Heck, if the NLCS goes the distance, Game 7 will be settled Oct. 18, which is next Saturday. No complaints, however. Every day is new territory. There’s even a thrill in seeing LAD/PHI listed seven times over the next two weeks. That’s a good, long while to marinade a nice, peppery playoff hatred toward Manny Ramirez.

Nothing against the division series, but the championship series truly feels like the road to the World Series. The Dodgers and Phils have the Fox broadcasts all to themselves, except Friday's Game 2 when the Phils have a most inconvenient tentative 4:15 p.m. start. After that, they alternate days with the ALCS, which will broadcast on TBS. (Fox is the bigger network, but I'd rather get the excellent package of analysts and visuals TBS assembled over Team Smug Tim McCarver and Joe Buck). It’s a high-profile, large-market series between classic teams and cities. It’s Red vs. Blue, and why not? So is everything else this fall.

It’s all brand new. Familiar faces in unfamiliar places, like Pat Burrell, master of the post-game disappearing act, holding a news conference, pictured right. It’s awesome. Become a hero and become a household name. Even those gray sweatshirts they’ve been wearing are becoming visually symbolic of their transformation into Phillies 2.0 Playoff Edition. I just added one to my fall wardrobe. After all, nothing says fall in Philadelphia like Phillies baseball.

Comments

[BobbyD]

I missed most of game one of the NLDS because I was at work. Now I will miss game 2 of the NLCS because we're having a company party that night. Talk about bad luck.

[BobbyD]

Just thinking about it.. Pat Burrell hitting a huge postseason homerun.. makes me want to cry.

[Anthony]

Good luck to the Phils and Dodgers from a Mets fan. Should be a great series. If only the Mets players had 1/4 the heart and grit that your players have...

[Edmundo]

"we're having a company party that night"

You can't blow that off, or at least sneak out the back door after a token appearance? Unless you work for a happenin' company, those kind of forced fun events are usually pretty dreary.

[BobbyD]

Edmundo: I have no doubt it will be lame but I'm semi new at the company so I have to see how it goes. It'll be much easier to take if the Phils win game 1.

[kdon]

"we're having a company party that night"

I'm definitely picturing an "Office" like party, where Michael Scott is insisting that no one be allowed to watch the game, and everyone is forced to have "fun."

Be the cool kid and bring a radio so you and the secretary can listen to Harry and LA on the roof.

[DanTheMan]

I have an SRO ticket for Friday's game 2. Anyone want to speculate when game time will be since the ALCS game 1 is Friday as well.
You'd expect primetime on Thursday since it's the only game, but would they go primetime again on Friday to avoid giving the teams short rest? Or would they do ALCS at 7pm and NLCS at 10PM to pander to the LA audience?

My guess is a lot will depend on whether or not the Angels can pull it out. If they do, it should be Phils at 7 and ALCS at 10

[Edmundo]

Burrell looked so freakin' happy yesterday, it's a shame that he's come to the end of his road in Philly. There's just no reasonable scenario where his value ($ and duration) to the Phillies is anything close to his value to an AL club.

[J. Weitzel]

I forgot to mention that this Friday is shared with the ALCS, tentative 4:15 p.m. start. That's convenient.

[Ryan]

Dantheman: All of the phillies Dodgers games will be at 8 pm et

[John]

The 4:10 start certainly does seem to bank on the Red Sox and Rays winning their series. That's the bankable option at this point, but if the Angels pull-off a comeback, I wonder if those times will be changed.

[RK]

Someone please explain to me how it is that shortly after "extra" batting practice by Pat Burrrell he goes 3 for 4 with 2 homers. I recall sometime ago Howard got so frustrated he did it with similar results and Rollins did it last year to extend his batting run.
Now how is it that these guys who are "professionals" don't get the connection beteen practice and actual delivery and do this on a daily basis.
Ortiz does it(as DH he can go between innigns and check the tapes) Schilling's success is directly attribuatable to studying the game and batters.

[DanTheMan]

JW, can you share your source for the 4:15 start? Not very convenient for those of us who need to get out of work, so it sounds like I need to start doing some groveling in advance.

[MG]

Hate, hate the delay as MLB tries to milk every ounce of TV rating they possibly can.

[DanTheMan]

RK, my guess is that when a player breaks out of the slump, he is always asked why and so he mentions BP. I'm sure players will take extra BP sometimes during a slump, but if they continue to struggle they don't get on the "Star of the Game" show to be asked, "Gee, what can you attribute that 0-5 with 3 Ks to today?"

[J. Weitzel]

Saw it on Phillies Nation, so hold off just a bit longer. Still tentative. Don't know where he got the exact time, but it stands to reason it will be 4:15 if Boston makes it. MLB has the entire schedule without times.

[Tony D]

Those gray and red hooded sweatshirts are symbolic of playoff baseball. I've become so accustomed to watching teams like the Yankees and the Red Sox wear them every year that it seems weird to see Phillies players in them on the bench. When you think of cold Phillies games the first thing that comes to mind is April, not October.

[tarheelphan]

I work in a heavily basketball-oriented lab, so everything comes to a grinding halt during March Madness. Unfortunately, no such luck for baseball around here...

[J. Weitzel]

Hitters can break out of a lot of slumps if they get the type of pitch Suppan served up to Burrell.

[GM-Carson]

You know Fox and other media outlets are hoping for a Dodgers BoSox Series...ugh!

Go Phils!

[Jimmie J.]

Great day for me yesterday! At the bar watching the Phillies win on one TV and the Redskins on the large screen.

[The Theory]

I'd love one of those playoff hoodies. Unfortunately, I doubt if I'll be able to afford one. But that is a great color and looks ultra-comfy.

[NEPP]

Games on Fox means Jeanie Zolasko.

~shudders~

She is the most annoying, talentless, knows nothing about baseball, commentator on Earth. And she looks like a plastic surgery gone wrong Discovery Channel Special.

[MG]

Phils' starting pitching carried them in the series but I still can't help but think that it was more the Brewers playing poorly rather than the Phils clearly being the superior team that made the difference in this series.

Only 1 game (Game 3 against Moyer) did the Brewers seem to have a good advance scouting and stick to their game plan early.

Good thing is that I don't think the Phils have to fire on all cyclinders to beat the Dodgers either though. Control Manny (like they did when they swept them a few weeks ago) and this series is there for the taking.

Two wild cards - Furcal and Lowe. Everybody talks about Manny (and rightly so) but the Dodgers are a different team with Furcal at the top of the lineup. Doesn't quite have the speed he once did and not sure how bad he is still hurt but he changes the entire complexion of the Dodgers' lineup.

Other wild care is Lowe. Their is "good playoff Lowe" and "bad playoff Lowe." Witnessed both first hand while I lived in Boston. If he his offspeed mojo working like in Game 1 vs. the Cubs and gets a few GIDP, he is awfully tough to beat. If he gives the Dodgers two really good starts, I don't see the Phils winning the series.

[Bubba]

Wiyhout a lot of notice, Ryan Madson is pitching pretty well lately.

[Lake Fred]

Great series! Phils go all the way!

I taught my daughter a lesson in life on saturday, when all the TBS talking heads predicted a sweep and were wrong. I told her that just because so called experts say something, that doesn't mean it will necessarily happen. I told her about the Villanova-Georgetown NCAA final game years ago. I told her, when the experts go against your team, don't get down. That's why they play the game.

Now I'm hearing all of the pundits picking the Dodgers!...based on what?!! Based on years and years of the media loving L.A. I grew up with all this L.A. loving. I'm sick of it. On FoxSports, you can vote who will win the series. I voted for the Phils and found I was among 33%. What the frick?! Go Phillies!

[EastFallowfield]

Debating with another phan on another site led to this...

Check out the regular season split-team batting vs LA.

Cubs really bad vs LA in regular season too. Phils pretty good vs LA in regular season.

Phils scored 24 more runs vs LA than the Cubs did. Granted, we played them one more time.

[MPN]

McCarver should be forced to return any playoff share he received in 1980 plus penalties and interest if he's as much as a jerk in this series as he was on the Saturday game of the week when we clinched our playoff spot this year. Total jerk. First his comments in the 8th inning when he was talking about cheering in NY and then for his 9th inning performance when he was almost wishing we'd lose. Horrible.

[Lake Fred]

This was the first game I have ever seen with Bulldog Blanton pitching. I like his style. He's a no nonsense fast pitch artist. Batters can't get comfortable between his pitches. I hope this is an example of his future, going after each and every batter. Maybe we could call him Boom Boom Blanton because of the way he pitches.

[Lake Fred]

My wife is coming around. In each of the last two years, I took her to a Phillies game at Minutemaid Park in Houston and she announced yesterday that she starting to enjoy watching baseball. She came up with this observation, too: She said that she enjoys the parts of the game when the Phillies are at bat, because the other team can't score while the Phillies are batting!!

[Len39]

Great blog Wietzel. I also got a kick about seeing ESPNews break into their coverage for a live Pat Burrell press conference last week.

What a great weekend. You gotta love it when you can watch 12 hours of meaningful baseball in a day like I did yesterday. Every game has been good and competitive too except for when the Dodgers clinched against the Cubs and that was just entertaining for the fact that the Cubs lost again (I see their fanbase becoming more obnoxious than the Red Sox if they win).

This Phillies/Dodgers series will be a battle. I see it going all 7 games. It really is a pick 'em to me. I think both teams match up real well. I also think every game will be close and we won't see 5 runs by either team much. Chase Utley needs to bust out like it was April.

Funny thing is I was talking with my wife the other day and we were making day trip plans for October 18th. Everything was set and then I realized it could be game 7! Needless to say, plans were pushed back. At least my wife is cool and understands. Gotta get used to this meaningful October baseball.

[Malcolm]

Jason,

I got the times from Zolecki's notes. SI.com also has those three times listed.

[phanatic's brother]

Think Manny and Co get piss tests before this series?

[ozark]

Utley needs some serious extra BP. Hopefully he'll crank a few of Lowe's sinkers. Situational hitting could be the key in this series. LA did it, Phils didn't in the NLDS.

[Bonehead]

phanatic's bro' - Where are you going with that question?

[bay_area_phan]

I wouldn't get too carried away about Derek Lowe. He is a good pitcher, not a great one. He has handled the Phillies, though: 4-0 against them in 6 starts, since coming to the National League. But he has faced them once this year and once last year and, though he got the win both times, he didn't dominate in either game (6 to 7 innings, 3 runs allowed in both). Billingsley is the Dodgers starter I am most afraid of. If Lowe starts Game 1 and faces off against Hamels, it's a game we ought to win.

[PB]

Every serious baseball fan I know has expressed contempt for Tim McCarver. I often ask myself why the hell he's still in the booth for the most important games of the season. I always mute the TV and listen to radio broadcasts, but still, why does he still have a job?

[RSB]

Jeannie Zolasco aside, it's hard to imagine a bigger know-nothing embarrassment than David Aldridge. Not only did he make Tom McCarthy look like Steve Carlton, talking through entire at-bats, but he routinely mispronounced and bungled names (my favorite was when he asked Victorino after Game 2 about "Randy" Myers' performance), leaving a strong impression that he follows baseball one week per year.

[EastFallowfield]

The ultimate McCarver moment to me was many years ago when the Phils were playing the Mets and there was a routine foul ball. Harry said, "Foul, strike two." Then he did what he did best, shut up when there's nothing to say.

From the Mets booth next door you could hear McCarver going on and on, and Harry and Richie had a chuckle about how he could talk so much about a simple foul ball.

[RSB]

I'm a serious baseball fan and have no contempt for Tim McCarver. C'mon, haven't any of you heard the tape of him laughing uncontrollably when the Phillies won the LCS in 1980? His form and voice can be grating, but he knows the game inside-out. I don't mind Joe Buck, either. He's ten times better than his father, for one thing.

[GoPhilsGo]

I remember listening to games on the radio with Bill Campbell, By Saam and Richie Ashburn. Often, they said so little that if you were tuning in to a game in progress, you didn't know if you were actually on the right station because of the silence.

[Bubba]

GoPhilsGo- Thanks for the "Lehigh Avenue Moon" memory jog.
We have had some great announcers over the years.

[MPN]

RSB that was Anakin Skywalker McCarver, he's Darth McCarver now, more machine than man, and a total NY homer. He may know the game inside and out, but his grating personality and biases outweigh his net positives.

[kdon]

McCarver is horrible, but he knows baseball. My problem is that he tries to turn every phrase into a pun, or some not-so-clever analogy.

He's sort of like an annoying uncle, nothing evil about him, but he's just tiresome, and you wish he would shut up or least have some self-awareness.

Buck, on the other hand, seems to be under the illusion that being smug and charmless is, in and of itself, funny and sophisticated.

[MG]

RSB - Agreeed but I am curious to see what your comments will be about your favorite "Vin Scully" during the Phils-Dodgers series.

[MPN]

Buck lost all credibility with me when he went off on am hysterical tirade over Randy Moss' dropping a deuce touchdown celebration against the Packers a few years back. Hearing that you'd have thought that Randy Moss had just forcibly sodomized Mrs. Buck, taken her out for a nice seafood dinner, and never called her again.

[Tray]

Jason, where did you get the sweatshirt?

[GoPhilsGo]

Bubba, it might be just nostalgia or revisionist history, but I thought By Saam had a classic baseball voice. How well he knew the game is another story.

My issue with McCarver is not his knowledge of the game, but his incessant repetition. He will make a point, then make it again and again until he kills it.

[squatter]

Remember that guy from Iraq who posted here a while back? I forget his name. Has anybody heard from him? Is he back yet?

[Grumpy Gramps]

Just to weigh in on the broadcaster debate, now and again the talking heads can provide a bit of insight, but please, just please shut up sometimes. Yes, I go back to the By Saam days too and you know it was nice to actually listen to the sounds of the game, to hear the crowd, the crack of the bat and all of that while listening to the radio. It made you feel like you too were at the game. Like the four man rotation, those days are gone.

Just one other remembrance. Trade deadline 2006, I seem to recall Pat Gillick commenting that 2008 would be the year...or something like that?

[NCPhilly]

The black horse (i.e. not Furcal or Manny) Dodger who worries me is James Loney. In albeit a small sample size, Loney has hit well against the Phils and is a good-eye patient hitter who has the pop and contact rate to drive in Manny when we walk Manny.

[chaz]

Tray, dunno where J got his sweatshirt, but they have them on shop.mlb.com
http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3262189&cp=3313265

[clout]

RSB: McCarver gabs too damn much but he is very astute when it comes to the intricacies of the game. Casual fans, who know just a little about baseball, are baffled by him.

[Red Sox Fan]

Congrats to the Phillies, It's been a long time coming. Hope to see you play the Red Sox in the World Series.

[J. Weitzel]

MLB shop, Tray.

[Justin Wells]

RSB that was Anakin Skywalker McCarver, he's Darth McCarver now, more machine than man, and a total NY homer.

Try again. I'm a Met fan, McCarver doesn't like us and he certainly doesn't like the Yankees outside his man-love for Jeter. He's actually a total homer for the Red birds.

At least you guys don't have to watch Buck and McCarver call an NLCS where the Cards are involved. It's the worst possible occurance. (Except Joe Morgan calling a game where your team is playing the Cincinati Reds).

Good luck Phillies fans. Way Manny is hitting, you're going to need it.

[Jim]

Oh to be a Mets fan (from Metsblog):

Comment by BaysideBillyD
2008-10-06 12:57:31
I wouldn’t root for Philly if they were playing Team Afghanistan and Bin Laden was pitching.

[clout]

NCPhilly: "Loney has hit well against the Phils and is a good-eye patient hitter."

Loney's .338 OB doesn't look too patient to me. He only walked 45 times in more than 600 appearnces. It's true he doesn't strike out much.

[Squonk64]

Re: Game Times during the NLCS.

Don't get too upset about this folks. MLB announced the LCS schedules months ago. They decided the NL would play the first game, and history shows that the league that starts the LCS plays the day game the next day, with the other league getting prime time for their opener.

Schedule a personal day, a sick day, or a vacation day, whatever you call it. Or work late, and watch the game on MLB.com.

PS, Grumpy Gramps: My favorite By Saam moment, "long drive, deep... It's going, going... Caught by (shortstop) Roberto Pena." Circa 1967 or 68.

[doubleh]

I have no problems with Met fans rooting against the Phillies. That's the way Met fans should feel; I felt the same way when they were in the NLCS a few years ago. I rooted my guts out for the Cardinals.

[Squonk1964]

HH: I agree. Every division city should root for us. In my perverse way of looking at things, if the team in my division goes far into the playoffs, then my team was probably better than the teams they beat.

[Squonk64]

BTW--I still can't believe you all are talking about anything serious. Loney? Manny?

Where's the afterglow, post moment "feel good" that takes a few days to wear off.

Don't you folks take any time off from your worry and analysis to bask in the glow, a bit?

[Grumpy Gramps]

@Squonk
Saam did a few of those, and I got a foul ball off the bat of Roberto Pena and it was 1968 against the Dodgers.

[EastFallowfield]

I personally would root for the Mets against Bin Laden. But not on the days the other guys start.

[bay_area_phan]

I have no problem with McCarver either. He's one of the few announcers who I can listen to and actually learn something new about tactics. He does have a tendency to over-analyze even the most mundane decisions, but that's kind of his job to do that.

The fact that we're debating the merits of tv announcers tells you that there's not enough baseball going on. This 3-days off stuff is kind of a drag.

[Squonk1964]

@ Grumpy: Unfortunately, I caught By Saam during a period when he probably should have retired, by today's standards. I don't know if it was bad vision or outright dimentia, but it some of his calls were outright laughers.

Good thing he didn't stick around until today. People wouldn't have the love for the great voice and tradition By Saam characterized. They'd be too worried about how Saam didn't call a good game. But we are talking about a bygone era.

[towncrier]

It's funny how far they've come, and how much crow many of us have to eat:

http://beerleaguer.typepad.com/beerleaguer/2008/09/phillies-fall-t.html#comments

[CY]

I am still basking....

I also just bought that sweatshirt. Very nice, thanks for the heads up, I only saw it in red on the phils site.

[mike cunningham]

@squonk -- Where's the afterglow, post moment "feel good" that takes a few days to wear off

I don't think it lasts a few days... i think it lasts about 12 hours before, the glass is 3/4 empty begin crying the sky is falling and worrying about game 5 starters when you haven't played game one yet.

the extra time between games, figures we'll be through the negative somewhere around midnight Tuesday with Wednesday sniping between Beerleaguers over adding Seanez or Kendrick to the roster versus Keeping Happ. Although that discussion could begin now.

We also should be due for a Marson/Ruiz/Coste discussion in that time frame as well. And of course the requisite posts from MG who is probalby still concerned about which Brett Myers will show up, the Feliz-Dobbs debates, and some idiot will stumble on here and will propose to trade Burrell between series because his value can't get any higher.

Hopefully, somewhere on Thursday we'll get a post from Weitzel where he mysteriously alludes to a slumping player in a post, and that player will break out with a 2 HR and 4 RBI day...

[kdon]

"The black horse (i.e. not Furcal or Manny) Dodger who worries me is James Loney."

Unless you're limiting your selection to racial categories, I believe the term is "dark" horse.

[Kutztown fan]

I don't post much on here, so I hate to repeat myself, but Tim McCarver drives me insane. His know-it-all attitude coupled with his penchant for beating a dead horse is a tactic probably used at Guantanamo Bay.

I wish they'd broadcast a game without any announcers and make it seem more like you're at the park. I can follow a game just fine when I'm in the stands. Just because I'm at home in front of the TV doesn't mean that I need to have everything explained to me over and over as if I were an idiot.

Another thing I hate with every fiber of my being (and McCarver is guilty of this) is when they try to build up suspense where no suspense exists. For instance, it's the bottom of the ninth. Phils are ahead by 3 in a game in which the pitching has dominated. Two outs. One guy is on first. McCarver will ALWAYS say, "The tying run is on deck." AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

[EastFallowfield]

As for eating crow, I did say I wish we were chasing last year's Mets....and it turned out, this year's Mets were only one win better!

[Bubba]

Still 3 days and 5 hours until baseball- way too long.

[RSB]

Too long? The Phillies have already won a division championship and a postseason series, and are poised for an electric showdown with the Dodgers. I'm more than happy to soak that in for half a week.

[Squonk1964]

Now having said that...

I agree with most of y'all. Fox needs better announcers. Life was good back in the 70s, when Vin Scully did national broadcasts. I didn't care that Vin was the Dodgers play-by-play guy. He was a smooth talking announcer who knew his stuff.

Instead, we now have guys with experience on national broadcasts. No matter that they aren't any good. No matter that hiring a bad announcer for another season gives him even more experience on national broadcasts and, as a result, even more reason to bring him back next year.

Missing are all the great baseball announcers. Kalas, Jon Miller, Vin Scully. They are the best in baseball at play-by-play. The Color Guy is just about anyone but McCarver. He has awful delivery, takes himself too seriously, and is better suited for the third wheel. The third wheel should be McCarver, or Bob Uecker. Some guy to add humor to an otherwise tight moment.

[EastFallowfield]

Hey, let's not complain about the schedule and act like we've been here before.

[TK]

I'll gladly eat that crow and wash it down with a Yunegling. That mid-September Brewer series changed everything. It was pretty incredible that 4 days later we were tied for the WC and 5 days later Howard hit the biggest HR of the year in Atlanta. Fate in Baseball can turn on a dime, but good starting pitching can drastically hinder that turn. Here's hoping the Phils continue their good starting pitching.

[p. Red]

Kutztown fan: "I wish they'd broadcast a game without any announcers and make it seem more like you're at the park. I can follow a game just fine when I'm in the stands. Just because I'm at home in front of the TV doesn't mean that I need to have everything explained to me over and over as if I were an idiot."

You know your TV has a mute button right?

PS I wish Typepad had a reply feature.

[Tony D]

What's with all of the Viva Viagra commercials? Granted it is a catchy tune but come on.

[JK]

One analyst on Baseball Tonight said the Phillies are at a considerable disadvantage in the NLCS because their lineup changes from day to day -- how players go to bed at night without knowing if they'll play the next day or not. He referenced Feliz/Dobbs and Burrell in particular. The Dodgers lineup, in comparison, is set. I'm not sure a platoon, by definition, is a handicap in the playoffs. And I'm not sure how Burrell factors into that argument.

[TK]

oops, Yuengling, not Yunegling. That's blasphemous

[GoPhilsGo]

Living in LA, it had been quite some time since I heard a game called by Harry. I got XM radio and started to hear Phils games again on the radio and was able to listen to Harry again, and the fact is he ain't what he used to be, either. Yes, he still has the voice, but he is inaccurate in a lot of his calls. Eventually, everyone wears down. (I heard games in the last few years of Harry Carey and Jack Buck and they were both almost unlistenable. Phil Rizzuto was great if you wanted to know what he had for dinner last night)

[bake]

Yesterday I had the TV sound off and Michael Kay (et al) on ESPN radio.

I like Michael fine, but he did mention that the Brewers fired Yost after the "Cubs" swept them in 4 games. Goldangit.

[bob]

anybody read the article over at the OC Register? (link posted on the right).
The author says the Phillies, unlike the Cubs, are going to dominate the Dodgers, and win in 5. Sounds like pure reverse (hi)jinx to me.

[GoPhilsGo]

"You know your TV has a mute button right?"

p Red..Great point!
Pretend you're at the game and left your radio at home.

[Bob]

To me the real question this comes down to is whether the offense shows up; and in particular, Chase Utley.

If he bounces back and shows us the late spring Chase Utley, I think we can wipe out or reverse the [Manny superior to Utley] equation for the number three slot in the order. If, however, we see the Chase Utley of the last several games and Manny is the Manny we've seen before in the postseason, we are going to have big, big problems.

Of course, if anyone goes completely off their game, it will be a big problem. But if everyone else just maintains roughly where they are and Chase gets back on track, it will be a significant edge for our guys that they haven't enjoyed for (seemingly) quite a while.

Anyone have an update on what is happening with him? There are the contentions that he is injured, but I have not heard this verified by the team. Injury, end of season burnout, I can't get a handle on it.

[Squonk1964]

Mike Cunningham: If "the glow" doesn't last a few days, or at least until Wednesday morning, you need help.

The glass isn't 3/4 empty. It might be for the Washington Nationals or the Seattle Mariners, two teams that have nothing to look forward to this year, but probably next year, too. The Phillies cup is full and overflowing. Seriously!

"the extra time between games, figures we'll be through the negative around midnight Tuesday with Wednesday" Are you kidding me? So you worry things when there is nothing to worry about, but have the world aligned to your way of looking at things right before game time. Therapy. You need therapy.

"We should be ready for a Marson/Ruiz/Coste diwcussion..." What is there to discuss? Ruiz gets the start because he is the Phils starting catcher and, after all, these are the playoffs. The extra days rest during travel days means your starting catcher starts all the games. You play the team that got you there. What is there to discuss?

I hope Mr. Weitzel gives us a headline stating "Happy Days...for at least one more day..." headline.

[Sophist]

JK - I heard that argument and was confused by it. Hard to argue with a former player concerning player psychology, but I found it odd that he weighed it so heavily as a factor in the outcome of the series. For one thing, the Phils have been messing with the lineups for most of the second half and have been playing just fine in doing so since late July. In fact, if anything it's gotten simpler with the move to make Werth a full-time player and the injury of Feliz. Dobbs is the one most effected but he's seemed to handle his dual role just fine all year. He's been a difference-maker as a PH and as a starter in September. He should start at least 2 of these game, if not all three.

As for Lowe: yes, he's been trouble for the Phils. The one piece of perhaps contrary evidence I'd introduced into the discussion yesterday was his severely different numbers this year and home as opposed to outside of LA.

Home: .206/.242/.300 -- 2.30 ERA
Away: .292/.334/.413 -- 4.42 ERA

Billingsley has the most severe LHB/RHB split in favor of the lefties.

[John]

I'm going to step in and defend David Aldridge. I saw him do some interviews this past week where even he referenced how weird it was for him doing baseball reporting.

David's a terrific basketball writer and sideline reporter. Judging by the TBS crew this past week across MLB, it looks like Turner Broadcasting tried to get by with a lot of their basketball crew (Aldridge, Sager, Johnson, etc.)

[Sophist]

I will say, though, that the new, steady Dodgers lineup does make them a better team. But not due to some inherent value in steadiness, just simply because it's a better lineup: no Pierre, Furcal leading off, no Jones or Nomar, etc..

I also meant to say that, as nice as the NLDS was, this feels more like playoff baseball. The NLDS, maybe because of how easily the Phils handled the Brewers, felt more like a qualifying round. Or maybe it just hasn't sunk in yet. It's been awhile.

[Ira]

Apparently, from the analysts I have heard, the Dodgers are real hot right now, and the Phils are about to run into a buzz saw. Though I kind of like the feeling of us being the "underdogs" I think we work better as a team from that mentality. We faltered when were in 1st, but pulled it together when we were playing catchup.

[Squonk1964]

GoPhilsGo: Kalas used to do the CBS radio broadcasts, and (I believe) Notre Dame radion broadcasts. He's a great football announcer. I just think Harry Kalas has talent, regardless of the sport.

Kalas signed with a new agent a few years back, one that insisted that he not have an exclusivity contract with the Phillies when it came to baseball. (Remember, when the Phillies opened The Bank?) The unfortunate part is Kalas never got the FOX/ESPN/TBS deal he deserved, which is unfortunate.

The nation is sorely lost without having Harry Kalas call a nationally televised game. I can almost hear him, "One ball, two strikes to A-Rod. Santana steps off the mound." (Comment from the color guys talking about how Santana is cleaning the bottom oh his cleats.) "The pitch..."

[RSB]

The Dodgers have been one of the streakiest teams of 2008. They can go from red hot to ice cold in no time flat. A week ago, the Cubs were the ones being described as a 'buzzsaw'. I'm not buying it about the Dodgers. They're going to be tough, but hardly indomitable. Their pitching is solid, but not scary. They're a completely different *offensive* team than they were earlier in the season, true. But the Phils have the bats to match them. I'd be shocked if the series didn't end in Philadelphia.

[duder-WA]

Listening to live game commentary these days is painful. Even the decent commentary gets old throughout the course of a game. I usually put on records at home while the game is on tv. But I do miss getting the occasional crowd reactions and general game sounds. Perhaps there should be an option to only get crowd noise and game sounds. Networks could try this for an inning or two to see how the viewers react.

Another idea: with all the great game comments made on beerleaguer, perhaps there is a way to listen to a live verbal stream of the blog comments during the game. Each person can have a unique voice and you can filter out certain people that get too annoying. In this way, we would all benefit from great commentary.

[Squonk64]

JK: "One analyst on Baseball Tonight said the Phillies are at a considerable disadvantage in the NLCS because their lineup changes from day to day..."

I saw that too, and almost fell off my chair, FLOTF.

Did you notice how tight both the Krukster and the third wheel was? Obviously, the editors told them what to say, and they said that.

I like the Phillies chances against the Dodgers. I agree with Mr. Manuel, that we can beat any NL team on any given day. I agree with Jayson Werth, that this team has a workman like mentality that does the job necessary to win the task at hand.

I think we need more Dobbs at third. But that isn't my decision.

GO PHILLIES!!

[Kutztown fan]

P Red and GoPhilsGo...

"You know your TV has a mute button right?"

If I mute my TV, then how will I know what fantastic shows FOX will run when baseball is over? Or even worse, how will I know what pharmaceuticals I should be talking about with my doctor?

[doubleh]

I read the Dodgers team BA and pitching stats from the NLDS, and they are good, but comparative to the Phils. People are saying the Brewers just shrunk under the bright lights, but that could be said about the Cubs as well. I see both the Phils and Dodgers as being equally "hot," in terms of pitching; Dodgers situational hitting was better in their round, but a week off can change things (as well as running into better pitching). The Cubs pitching down the stretch and in the playoffs was NOT good; even the Brewers was better. 5.19 team ERA (Cubs) vs 3.18 (Brewers). Even their vaunted BP came up short while the Brewers was much hotter and solid in the playoffs.

Bottom line: these 2 teams are comprable. The Phils were the only team in the regular season, other than the Mets, who gave the Dodgers' SP fits (lefty bats) and Hamels and Myers, if on, can beat LA. Anyone can win this series. It's going to boil down to consistency--will the offense suddenly come together? Which Myers shows in game 2? Will good Lowe or bad Lowe show up in game 1?

[EastFallowfield]

Yo, new thread.

[Squonk1964]

HH: "these 2 teams are comprable." It is good I agree with someone today, outside of the (obvious) complaints about how the FOX coverage isn't that good...

[Matt B.]

I am going to miss game one because the company I work for has a game that night and then I will miss the beginning of game 2 because of work. thank god for Tivo or I would be screwed.