Live Blog: NLCS Game Two

7:43:  Okay, here we are for Game Two, in very unfamiliar territory.  This is the eigth Phillies playoff series in the in the past three years, and this is the first time the Phils have found themselves in an 0-1 hole.  So, it should be really interesting to see how this team, which is so resilient, responds to a deficit.  Let’s not call this a “must-win” because with the pitching staff that the Phils possess, they can certainly come back from 0-2, but I’d rather not have to find out.

7:46:  Tonight’s pitching matchup:  Roy Oswalt versus Jonathan Sanchez.  At first, it seems like a big advantage for the Phils, but it’s not.  Sanchez has been murder against the Phils in his career, and he’s throwing as well as he ever has.  But, still, if I had to pick, I would definitely take “Little Roy” tonight.  He need a big game from the little guy.

7:50:  Lineups have been announced, and there is an interesting change to the Giants lineup, as Uribe has been replaced at shortstop by one of the two way overpriced veterans sitting on the Giants bench, Edgar Renteria.  Renteria, who has a lot of postseason experience, including the game-winning hit in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, will hit 8th.  Last night’s hero, Cody Ross, has been upgraded to #6.  But, the Giants change is not quite as big news as the Phillies change.  The Phils are going with the same 8 guys, but Charlie has made the interesting move of flip-flopping Utley and Polanco in the order tonight against the lefty.  Utley will hit 2 and Polanco will hit 3.  A very interesting move, especially since, as Doogan has explained in a couple posts, Polanco’s power has almost completely disappeared since the All-Star Break.  Interesting, and I actually like it because I think people are sometimes too concerned by “traditional” lineups.  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a contact-spray hitter hitting 3rd if he gets on base for the big boppers, Howard and Werth.

7:55:  If you’re nervous, like me, and looking for something to get your mind off of the game–we’re still 20 minutes away…ugh–I just put up a quick post on today’s Eagles game.  Spoiler alert:  they looked really good.

8:14:  I know everyone is in love with Jonathan Sanchez and his “stuff,” but I’d like to see him get through a game in The Bank before we exalt him as an elite left-handed pitcher.  I actually expect him to get rattled tonight and struggle.  I also expect Lil’ Roy to come through big.  Oh, in case you were wondering, I’m a very unbiased observer of this game.  But, honestly, the big thing tonight, for the Phils, is putting Sanchez out when he’s on the ropes.  We can’t let him off the hook if he’s on the ropes because I think he really might implode.  Plus, he can get pretty wild, so with this patient team, we could take advantage.

8:20:  Great start for Oswalt on leadoff hitter, Torres, as he throws three heaters right by him.  The big problem for Oswalt in the start against the Reds was that he couldn’t command his breaking stuff, so that’s still to be seen if he has better command of the off-speed pitches tonight.

8:23:  Quick 1-2-3 for Roy, as he throws all fastballs.  He’s got some great life on the #1 tonight, but like I said above, it wasn’t the fastball that got him in trouble against the Reds.  I’m completely confident in him tonight, but I’m still anxious to see how he commands the offspeed stuff.  Either way, this Giants lineup is not nearly as threatening (or patient) as the Reds, so his live fastball might be enough with only moderate secondary stuff.

8:25:  I mentioned this in our playoff preview podcast, but I think that the Phillies leadoff men are incredibly important for this lineup (even more so than most teams).  Shane went 0-for-5 last night, so let’s see if he can get to Sanchez tonight.

8:29:  Patience against Sanchez is going to be huge for the Phils tonight.  Victorino didn’t show it in his at-bat, chasing a high pitch on 0-1, but Chase followed up by looking at 5 straight pitches for a walk.

8:30:  Nice to see the Phils running, as Chase steals on the first pitch.  The Giants were pretty bad at throwing runners out this year (though Posey was better than the various catchers in the first half).  With young pitchers who are prone to being rattled, the running game can really speed up the “implosion” process.

8:33:  Mike Fonenot, in partially because of his defensive advantage over Pablo Sandoval, just threw one in the dirt for a big early error.  I think that the biggest advantage that the Phils have over the Giants in this series is the defense.  Despite what some “sabermetric” things might tell you, the Giants are really bad defensively.  The Phillies, as they have been for several years, are one of the best defensive teams in the game.  Let’s see if the boys can capitalize.

8:38:  Great at-bat from Howard, as he draws the walk to load the bases for Jayson Werth.  Werth, who hammers left-handed pitching, might be the most important hitter in the lineup against Sanchez, and he gets a shot to do damage right away.

8:41:  Wow, just saw that Werth is 0-12 against Sanchez…shocking.

8:44:  After Werth struck out looking with the bases loaded, Sanchez could see his way out of it, but J-Roll had a HUGE at-bat, walking in the first run of the game.  A very patient, great at-bat for Rollins, who is not exactly known for his patience.  We might look back on that at-bat as being gigantic in this game. 

8:46:  A quick inning-ending strike out for Raul, but the Phils draw first blood here in the first. They got to Sanchez and have made him throw a TON of pitches (37, I believe).  The first inning set a good tone for this game, if you’re a Phillies fan.  Now, after a long rest in the dugout, we’ll see if Oswalt can rev it back up for the second.

8:50:  Well, Oswalt’s first two breaking pitches were two pitches way out of the strike zone, putting him way behind on Posey, who crushed a 3-1 pitch to dead center.  Thank god for Shane Victorino roaming center, as he made a great play for out number one.

8:57:  Oswalt continues to struggle to find the zone with anything but a fastball, but only has a harmless two-out walk to show for it, as he’s through two innings.  Just spitballing here (and I don’t think this is the case at all because it would be an irresponsible overreaction to 7 innings pitched), but I wonder if the Mississippi kid, who has played his whole career in Houston, might find it difficult to get a grip in the colder October weather in the Northeast.  Again, it would be an irresponsible overreaction to actually suggest it as a theory, but let’s keep an eye on his breaking stuff here in the colder Autumn weather.

9:02:  A much cleaner inning for Sanchez in the second, results-wise, but the Phils, even in their 1-2-3 inning, had two very hard hit balls.  Sanchez left a couple pitches up in the zone, and Ruiz and Victorino both hit the ball very hard, but right at people.  The Phils look much more comfortable against Sanchez than the Giants do against Oswalt through two, but they only have a 1-0 lead to show for it (and no hits).

9:04:  By the way, do you think Tim McCarver comes into games thinking to himself, “I wonder how many different ways I can pronounce the starting pitcher’s name tonight?”  If you scoring at home, Timmy has already nailed three different ways of pronouncing the Giants starter in just two innings:  SAN-chez; san-CHEZ; and SAHN-chez.

9:08:  Another breezy 1-2-3 inning for Mr. Oswalt in the third.  Now, I hate to keep harping on a criticism of a guy who has cruised through three innings here, but he continues to stuggle locating anything but his fastball.  Fortunately, for the Phils, the Giants have not made him pay (maybe because his fastball is really good tonight), so hopefully, they won’t figure out, like the Reds did, to just sit dead-red.  But, results are results, so let’s not complain about three quick innings in a huge playoff game.

9:16:  Howard crushes a double to left-center (a ball that probably goes out of the park in July).  The difference between the Utley at-bat this inning (a strike out) and Howard’s is that Howard was more patient and let Sanchez get behind and then jumped on a fat pitch.  Utley, who also got ahead, chased a 2-1 pitch down low and a 2-2 pitch up high.  No criticism of Chase here, just want to see the Phils hitters start to jump on pitches ahead in the count to get on sahn-CHEZ.

9:19:  Werth strikes out to end the inning and is now 0-14 with 8 K’s against SAN-chez in his career.  In both at-bats tonight, Werth had gotten a very hittable pitch middle-in and fouled in back.  When he’s going well, he pounces on pitches like that, and he’s had two chances in big spots tonight and missed them.  A lot of strikeouts in this game don’t really happen on the last pitch, usually it’s a big pitch that a pitcher comes up with or a hitter misses that dictates results in big spots.  Werth has had two hittable pitches to add to this Phils lead and he’s missed them both.

9:24:  Another quick inning for Oswalt, as he is cruising now.  Oswalt made two good pitches on the first two hitters of the inning on 1-1 pitches.  I heard a stat the other day that ML hitters this year hit around .170 after a 1-2 count.  But, after a 2-1 count, they hit about .365.  So, the old baseball adage that the most important pitch was strike one should probably be updated to say that the most important pitch is strike two.

9:28:  Well, a simple popup from Rollins on the infield (swinging at the first pitch…ugh) falls to the ground and Rollins is on.  If, for whatever reason, you hate the Phillies and have rooted against them in the playoffs these past couple of years, you must be really frustrated.  There have been so many missed plays against the Phils in the playoffs.  But, to their credit, as good teams do, they seem to always make the opposition pay for bad plays.  They did it against the Rockies in the NLDS last year and the Reds in the NLDS this year.  It’s time to do it here.

9:38:  Well, after a long battle with Oswalt, SAHN-chez gets out of the 4th.  It looked like it might be another great at-bat by a Phillies pitcher, but Oswalt swung at ball four and popped out.  It was good to see J-Roll running a couple of times in that inning, though.

9:44:  Cody f’ing Ross just hit another bomb.  What the hell is going on with this guy?  That ball was absolutely crushed, and this game is tied.

9:50:  Oswalt gets through the 5th with only the home run by Ross to tie the game.  But, he was behind on every hitter that inning except the pitcher.  Again, not complaining because Roy has been very good tonight, but it’s walking a tight-rope when you fall behind hitters.  The good news is that he threw a nasty (and important) 2-1 slider to Renteria that inning.

9:54:  Big double to leadoff the 5th here by Victorino.  It’s the first time he’s reached base this series.  Big spot for the middle of the order now.

9:55:  I really hope Chase isn’t actually sacrificing here.

9:56:  Fly ball to right field for Utley gets the job done, as Victorino’s speed gets him to 3rd.  Now, it’s one of the hardest guys in MLB to strike out comes up in a spot where we need anything but a strikeout.

9:57:  Right on cue, Polanco hits a sac fly, and Victorino scores.  A manufactured run for the Phils, and they jump right back on top, 2-1.  Nice professional bat work by the 2 & 3 hitters there.

9:58:  Line drive single by Howard, and he’s really swinging the bat well right now.  He’s not hitting as many long balls as you might like, but it’s nice to see line drives because the long balls will come.

9:59:  Werth, very uncharacteristically, swings at the first pitch and grounds out to end the inning.  He’s now 0-15 against Sanchez, and I hope it’s not in his head.  For the third straight year, he led all of baseball in lowest percentage of first-pitch swings, so it’s strange to see him chase one there.

10:00:  Okay, Roy, got you that run right back, ball’s back in your court…

10:04:  Beating that dead horse again, but Oswalt’s fastball is awesome tonight, but he’s falling behind when throwing the soft stuff.  He blew a couple fastballs by Torres (who, ridiculously uses a 35-ounce bat–wow) and then fell behind with two missed offspeed pitches to Freddy Sanchez, before he ripped a single to left.  Now, he’s got to deal with Huff and Posey with a guy on.

10:06:  Referencing the study above about the difference between 1-2 and 2-1 counts, and Oswalt just got squeezed on a 1-1 to Posey…

10:07:  But, two good fastballs later and Posey is done and so are the Giants in the 6th.  Six strong for Lil’ Roy, but it’s time for the offense to add on a couple here.  The bottom of the order is due up, and they have been really good all year, so maybe this is the inning.

10:11:  An incredible play by Renteria on a little popup by Rollins gets the first out.  As a former shortstop, it sucks to have a tenative (and slow) leftfielder because you never know what popups for which you’re responsible.  Pat Burrell is the reason that that ball nearly fell.

10:14:  After Sanchez breezes through the 6th, Oswalt heads back out to the mound in the 7th.  He’s due to leadoff the bottom of the 7th, so you’d think that any shakiness would mean that this is his last inning, but we’ll see.

10:17:  Gorgeous slow curve gets Burrell waving for out number one.  Now, Cody Ross comes up.  STAY AWAY!  Nothing inside, Roy.

10:18:  Ross crushes another one, but it’s to the deepest part of the park, and Victorino had room to run it down.  Exhale…

10:19:  Another 1-2-3 inning for Mr. Oswalt, and now we’ll see what Charlie does about the pitching situation.  If it were me, I’d let Oswalt hit, and give him at least another inning out there.  His pitch count is low, and he has only given up two hits.  I do trust Madsen and Lidge, but if you’ve got a guy going like this, you ride him.

10:24:  Looks like Charlie agrees, as Roy comes up to leadoff the 7th.

10:26:  And a leadoff hit by, who else, but Roy Oswalt, Sanchez’s night is done.  A pretty good game thrown by the young lefty and now the game is handed over to a very good bullpen.  On another note, if you’ve ever followed one of my live blogs, you know how scared I am of pitchers running the bases late in a game, so let’s hope that it’s not a long trek for Roy.  But, it is obviously nice to have the leadoff guy on, no matter who it is.

10:29:  A sacrifice by Victorino sacrifices Oswalt to 2nd, forcing the Giants to walk Utley and pitch to Polanco with two on.  I like the call to sacrifice there, especially with the meat of the order due up.  Another run here might be insurmountable, so do anything you can to get it.

10:32:  Uh…wow!  What was that?!?  Polanco hit a line drive single to center.  Sam Perlozzo tried to hold Oswalt, but he ran right through the stop sign, seemed to slow up, but still made it…somehow.  WOW!  A huge run that did not come routinely, but it came.  Weird play all-around.  For the record, I can’t stand pitchers.  They can’t do anything but pitch.  They can’t run the bases; they can’t catch popups; they can’t throw to first.  They’re certainly a breed of their own.  But, they’re oh so important, and ours has been fantastic tonight…at pitching.

10:38:  How great of ballplayers are Chase Utley and Placido Polanco?  Utley takes off for third, with the pitcher not seeing him, and Polanco, recognizing it right away, follows suit, for the double-steal.  It seems obvious, but that’s great, alert baserunning on both ends.

10:44:  JIMMY ROLLINS, YOU ARE THE MAN!!!  After the Giants walked Werth to load the bases, they brought in Casillas to turn Rollins around to the left-side, and Jimmy crushed a 2-0 off the top of the wall for a bases-clearing, 3-run double!!!  Phils have blown this one open and lead 6-1.  Wow!!!

10:46:  Professional athlete experience things that only a handful of people ever get to experience.  When Rollins came to the plate there, he heard 47,000+ people chanting “Let’s go, Jimmy!  Let’s go, Jimmy!”  I cannot comprehend what that must feel like.  I really can’t even wrap my head around it.

10:54:  Speaking of AAAA players (in a comment below), Andres Torres has absolutely no prayer against Oswalt tonight, as he strikes out for the fourth time.

10:56:  After a line drive hit by Freddy Sanchez, Oswalt’s night is done.  What a fantastic performance by a big-game pitcher…oh wait…wow!  Charlie went out to the mound, and he’s leaving him in.  I’ve never seen that with Charlie.  Some managers go out there to talk, Charlie doesn’t…usually.  Give us one more out, Roy.

11:00:  Got it!  A line drive out by Huff, and Oswalt is through 8…and since he’s due up 2nd this inning, is almost assuredly done for the night.  As I started to say before, what a fantastic performance by a big-game performer.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a low-90’s four-seam fastball be as dominant as Oswalt’s was tonight.  He doesn’t throw in the upper 90’s, and he doesn’t have Halladay’s movement on the fastball, but he was utterly dominant tonight without all that great of a command on anything but his fastball.  But, that #1 was devastatingly heavy tonight, and he showed up when the Phillies needed him the most.  Kudos to Ruben Amaro for bringing him in.

11:04:  So, who pitches the 9th?  Lidge and Madson both worked last night.  If it were me, I’d go to Madson with Lidge warming.  Of course, that is assuming that the Phils don’t add a couple more and allow them to just throw Durbin out there and be done with.

11:08:  Phils go quickly in the 8th, though we did see another hit by Victorino, which is nice to see.  Charlie has decided to go with Madson to start the 9th.  Aside from easing my nerves a little, I’d like to see this inning go down without Lidge having to get up and throw, considering he pitched the 9th last night and keeping him rested at this time of year is important.

11:22:  Woo!  Game Two is in the books, and the Phils win, 6-1.  Madson gives up a couple of baserunners in the 9th, but gets Renteria to ground out to Rollins to end the ballgame.  All in all, in retrospect, a pretty workmanlike effort by a veteran postseason team.  Oswalt pitches a gem, the offense comes through with clutch hits, and the defense makes all the plays.  We’re heading to San Fran 1-1.  I’m okay with that.  Hamels in Game Three on Tuesday night will just need to continue what he’s been doing recently.  This win was huge, and now the Phils are probably still pretty big favorites to win this series.  Okay, time to switch over and see how McNabb falls short at his comeback bid against the Colts.