{"id":1018,"date":"2010-10-17T19:54:19","date_gmt":"2010-10-17T23:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=1018"},"modified":"2010-10-17T23:25:43","modified_gmt":"2010-10-18T03:25:43","slug":"live-blog-nlcs-game-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=1018","title":{"rendered":"Live Blog: NLCS Game Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

7:43:\u00a0 <\/strong>Okay, here we are for Game Two, in very unfamiliar territory.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 So, it should be really interesting to see how this team, which is so resilient, responds to a deficit.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

7:46:\u00a0 <\/strong>Tonight’s pitching matchup:\u00a0 Roy Oswalt versus Jonathan Sanchez.\u00a0 At first, it seems like a big advantage for the Phils, but it’s not.\u00a0 Sanchez has been murder against the Phils in his career, and he’s throwing as well as he ever has.\u00a0 But, still, if I had to pick, I would definitely take “Little Roy” tonight.\u00a0 He need a big game from the little guy.<\/p>\n

7:50:\u00a0 <\/strong>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.\u00a0 Renteria, who has a lot of postseason experience, including the game-winning hit in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series, will hit 8th.\u00a0 Last night’s hero, Cody Ross, has been upgraded to #6.\u00a0 But, the Giants change is not quite as big news as the Phillies change.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Utley will hit 2 and Polanco will hit 3.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Interesting, and I actually like it because I think people are sometimes too concerned by “traditional” lineups.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

7:55:<\/strong>\u00a0 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<\/a>.\u00a0 Spoiler alert:\u00a0 they looked really good.<\/p>\n

8:14:\u00a0 <\/strong>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.\u00a0 I actually expect him to get rattled tonight and struggle.\u00a0 I also expect Lil’ Roy to come through big.\u00a0 Oh, in case you were wondering, I’m a very unbiased observer of this game.\u00a0 But, honestly, the big thing tonight, for the Phils, is putting Sanchez out when he’s on the ropes.\u00a0 We can’t let him off the hook if he’s on the ropes because I think he really might implode.\u00a0 Plus, he can get pretty wild, so with this patient team, we could take advantage.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>8:20:\u00a0 <\/strong>Great start for Oswalt on leadoff hitter, Torres, as he throws three heaters right by him.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

8:23:\u00a0 <\/strong>Quick 1-2-3 for Roy, as he throws all fastballs.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 I’m completely confident in him tonight, but I’m still anxious to see how he commands the offspeed stuff.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

8:25:\u00a0 <\/strong>I mentioned this in our playoff preview podcast, but I think that the Phillies leadoff men\u00a0are incredibly important for this lineup (even more so than most teams).\u00a0 Shane went 0-for-5 last night, so let’s see if he can get to Sanchez tonight.<\/p>\n

8:29:\u00a0 <\/strong>Patience against Sanchez is going to be huge for the Phils tonight.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

8:30:\u00a0 <\/strong>Nice to see the Phils running, as Chase steals on the first pitch.\u00a0 The Giants were pretty bad at throwing runners out this year (though Posey was better than the various catchers in the first half).\u00a0 With young pitchers who are prone to being rattled, the running game can really speed up the “implosion” process.<\/p>\n

8:33:\u00a0 <\/strong>Mike Fonenot, in partially because of his\u00a0defensive advantage over Pablo Sandoval, just threw one in the dirt for a big early error.\u00a0 I think that the biggest advantage that the Phils have over the Giants in this series is the defense.\u00a0 Despite what some “sabermetric” things might tell you, the Giants are really bad defensively.\u00a0 The Phillies, as they have been for several years, are one of the best defensive teams in the game.\u00a0 Let’s see if the boys can capitalize.<\/p>\n

8:38:\u00a0 <\/strong>Great at-bat from Howard, as he draws the walk to load the bases for Jayson Werth.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

8:41:\u00a0 <\/strong>Wow, just saw that Werth is 0-12 against Sanchez…shocking.<\/p>\n

8:44:\u00a0 <\/strong>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.\u00a0 A very patient, great at-bat for Rollins, who is not exactly known for his patience.\u00a0 We might look back on that at-bat as being gigantic in this game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

8:46:\u00a0 <\/strong>A quick inning-ending strike out for Raul, but\u00a0the Phils draw first blood here in the first. They\u00a0got to Sanchez and have made him throw a TON of pitches (37, I believe).\u00a0 The first inning set a good tone for this game, if you’re a Phillies fan.\u00a0 Now, after a long rest in the dugout, we’ll see if Oswalt can rev it back up for the second.<\/p>\n

8:50:\u00a0 <\/strong>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.\u00a0 Thank god for Shane Victorino roaming center, as he made a great play for out number one.<\/p>\n

8:57:\u00a0 <\/strong>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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

9:02:\u00a0 <\/strong>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.\u00a0 Sanchez left a couple pitches up in the zone, and Ruiz and Victorino both hit the ball very hard, but right at people.\u00a0 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).<\/p>\n

9:04:\u00a0 <\/strong>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?”\u00a0 If you scoring at home, Timmy has already nailed three different ways of pronouncing the Giants starter in just two innings:\u00a0 SAN-chez; san-CHEZ; and SAHN-chez.<\/p>\n

9:08:\u00a0 <\/strong>Another breezy 1-2-3 inning for Mr. Oswalt in the third.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Fortunately, for the Phils, the Giants have not made him pay (maybe because his fastball is really <\/em>good tonight), so hopefully, they won’t figure out, like the Reds did, to just sit dead-red.\u00a0 But, results are results, so let’s not complain about three quick innings in a huge playoff game.<\/p>\n

9:16:\u00a0 <\/strong>Howard crushes a double to left-center (a ball that probably goes out of the park in July).\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Utley, who also got ahead, chased a 2-1 pitch down low and a 2-2 pitch up high.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

9:19:\u00a0 <\/strong>Werth strikes out to end the inning\u00a0and is now 0-14 with 8 K’s against SAN-chez in his career.\u00a0 In both at-bats tonight, Werth had gotten a very hittable pitch middle-in and fouled in back.\u00a0 When he’s going well, he pounces on pitches like that, and he’s had two chances in big spots tonight and missed them.\u00a0\u00a0A 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.\u00a0 Werth has had two hittable pitches to add to this Phils lead and he’s missed them both.<\/p>\n

9:24:\u00a0 <\/strong>Another quick inning for Oswalt, as he is cruising now.\u00a0 Oswalt made two good pitches on the first two hitters of the inning on 1-1 pitches.\u00a0 I heard a stat the other day that ML hitters this year hit around .170 after a 1-2 count.\u00a0 But, after a 2-1 count, they hit about .365.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

9:28:\u00a0 <\/strong>Well, a simple popup from Rollins on the infield (swinging at the first pitch…ugh) falls to the ground and Rollins is on.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 There have been so many missed plays against the Phils in the playoffs.\u00a0 But, to their credit, as good teams do, they seem to always make the opposition pay for bad plays.\u00a0 They did it against the Rockies in the NLDS last year and the Reds in the NLDS this year.\u00a0 It’s time to do it here.<\/p>\n

9:38:\u00a0 <\/strong>Well, after a long battle with Oswalt, SAHN-chez gets out of the 4th.\u00a0 It looked like it might be another great at-bat by a Phillies pitcher, but Oswalt swung at ball four and popped out.\u00a0 It was good to see J-Roll running a couple of times in that inning, though.<\/p>\n

9:44:\u00a0 <\/strong>Cody f’ing Ross just hit another bomb.\u00a0 What the hell is going on with this guy?\u00a0 That ball was absolutely crushed, and this game is tied.<\/p>\n

9:50:\u00a0 <\/strong>Oswalt gets through the 5th with only the home run by Ross to tie the game.\u00a0 But, he was behind on every hitter that inning except the pitcher.\u00a0 Again, not complaining because Roy has been very good tonight, but it’s walking a tight-rope when you fall behind hitters.\u00a0 The good news is that he threw a nasty (and important) 2-1 slider to Renteria that inning.<\/p>\n

9:54:\u00a0 <\/strong>Big double to leadoff the 5th here by Victorino.\u00a0 It’s the first time he’s reached base this series.\u00a0 Big spot for the middle of the order now.<\/p>\n

9:55:\u00a0 <\/strong>I really hope Chase isn’t actually sacrificing here.<\/p>\n

9:56:\u00a0 <\/strong>Fly ball to right field for Utley gets the job done, as Victorino’s speed gets him to 3rd.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

9:57:<\/strong>\u00a0 Right on cue, Polanco hits a sac fly, and Victorino scores.\u00a0 A manufactured run for the Phils, and they jump right back on top, 2-1.\u00a0 Nice professional bat work by the 2 & 3 hitters there.<\/p>\n

9:58:\u00a0 <\/strong>Line drive single by Howard, and he’s really swinging the bat well right now.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

9:59:\u00a0 <\/strong>Werth, very uncharacteristically, swings at the first pitch and grounds out to end the inning.\u00a0 He’s now 0-15 against Sanchez, and I hope it’s not in his head.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

10:00:\u00a0 <\/strong>Okay, Roy, got you that run right back, ball’s back in your court…<\/p>\n

10:04:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Beating that dead horse again, but Oswalt’s fastball is awesome tonight, but he’s falling behind when throwing the soft stuff.\u00a0 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\u00a0a single to left.\u00a0 Now, he’s got to deal with Huff and Posey with a guy on.<\/p>\n

10:06:\u00a0 <\/strong>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…<\/p>\n

10:07:\u00a0 <\/strong>But, two good fastballs later and Posey is done and so are the Giants in the 6th.\u00a0 Six strong for Lil’ Roy, but it’s time for the offense to add on a couple here.\u00a0 The bottom of the order is due up, and they have been really good all year, so maybe this is the inning.<\/p>\n

10:11:<\/strong>\u00a0 An incredible play by Renteria on a little popup by Rollins gets the first out.\u00a0 As a former shortstop, it sucks to have a tenative (and slow) leftfielder because you never know what popups for which you’re responsible.\u00a0 Pat Burrell is the reason that that ball nearly fell.<\/p>\n

10:14:<\/strong>\u00a0 After Sanchez breezes through the 6th, Oswalt heads back out to the mound in the 7th.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

10:17:<\/strong>\u00a0 Gorgeous slow curve gets Burrell waving for out number one.\u00a0 Now, Cody Ross comes up.\u00a0 STAY AWAY!\u00a0 Nothing inside, Roy.<\/span><\/p>\n

10:18:<\/strong>\u00a0 Ross crushes another one, but it’s to the deepest part of the park, and Victorino had room to run it down.\u00a0 Exhale…<\/span><\/p>\n

10:19:\u00a0 <\/strong>Another 1-2-3 inning for Mr. Oswalt, and now we’ll see what Charlie does about the pitching situation.\u00a0 If it were me, I’d let Oswalt hit, and give him at least another inning out there.\u00a0 His pitch count is low, and he has only given up two hits.\u00a0 I do trust Madsen and Lidge, but if you’ve got a guy going like this, you ride him.<\/span><\/p>\n

10:24:\u00a0 <\/strong>Looks like Charlie agrees, as Roy comes up to leadoff the 7th.<\/span><\/p>\n

10:26:\u00a0 <\/strong>And a leadoff hit by, who else, but Roy Oswalt, Sanchez’s night is done.\u00a0\u00a0A pretty good game thrown by the young lefty and now the game is handed over to a very good bullpen.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 But, it is obviously nice to have the leadoff guy on, no matter who it is.<\/span><\/p>\n

10:29:\u00a0 <\/strong>A sacrifice by Victorino sacrifices Oswalt to 2nd, forcing the Giants to walk Utley and pitch to Polanco with two on.\u00a0 I like the call to sacrifice there, especially with the meat of the order due up.\u00a0 Another run here might be insurmountable, so do anything you can to get it.<\/span><\/p>\n

10:32:<\/strong>\u00a0 Uh…wow!\u00a0 What was that?!?\u00a0 Polanco hit a line drive single to center.\u00a0 Sam Perlozzo tried to hold Oswalt, but he ran right through the stop sign, seemed to slow up, but still made it…somehow.\u00a0 WOW!\u00a0 A huge run that did not come routinely, but it came.\u00a0 Weird play all-around.\u00a0 For the record, I can’t stand pitchers.\u00a0 They can’t do anything but pitch.\u00a0 They can’t run the bases; they can’t catch popups; they can’t throw to first.\u00a0 They’re certainly a breed of their own.\u00a0 But, they’re oh so important, and ours has been fantastic tonight…at\u00a0pitching.<\/span><\/p>\n

10:38:<\/strong>\u00a0 How great of ballplayers are Chase Utley and Placido Polanco?\u00a0 Utley takes off for third, with the pitcher not seeing him, and Polanco, recognizing it right away, follows suit, for the double-steal.\u00a0 It seems obvious, but that’s great, alert\u00a0baserunning on both ends.<\/span><\/p>\n

10:44:<\/strong>\u00a0 JIMMY ROLLINS, YOU ARE THE MAN!!!\u00a0 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!!!\u00a0 Phils have blown this one open and lead 6-1.\u00a0 Wow!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

10:46:<\/strong>\u00a0 Professional athlete experience things that only a handful of people ever get to experience.\u00a0 When Rollins came to the plate there, he heard 47,000+ people chanting “Let’s go, Jimmy!\u00a0 Let’s go, Jimmy!”\u00a0 I cannot comprehend what that must feel like.\u00a0 I really can’t even wrap my head around it.<\/span><\/p>\n

10:54:\u00a0 <\/strong>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.<\/span><\/p>\n

10:56:\u00a0 <\/strong>After a line drive hit by Freddy Sanchez, Oswalt’s night is done.\u00a0 What a fantastic performance by a big-game pitcher…oh wait…wow!\u00a0 Charlie went out to the mound, and he’s leaving him in.\u00a0 I’ve never seen that with Charlie.\u00a0 Some managers go out there to talk, Charlie doesn’t…usually.\u00a0 Give us one more out, Roy.<\/span><\/p>\n

11:00:\u00a0 <\/strong>Got it!\u00a0 A line drive out by Huff, and Oswalt is through 8…and since he’s due up\u00a02nd this inning, is almost assuredly done for the night.\u00a0 As I started to say before, what a fantastic performance by a big-game performer.\u00a0 I don’t think I’ve ever seen a low-90’s four-seam fastball be as dominant as Oswalt’s was tonight.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 But, that #1 was devastatingly heavy tonight, and he showed up when the Phillies needed him the most.\u00a0 Kudos to Ruben Amaro for bringing him in.<\/span><\/p>\n

11:04:\u00a0 <\/strong>So, who pitches the 9th?\u00a0 Lidge and Madson both worked last night.\u00a0 If it were me, I’d go to Madson with Lidge warming.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

11:08:\u00a0 <\/strong>Phils go quickly in the 8th, though we did see another hit by Victorino, which is nice to see.\u00a0 Charlie has decided to go with Madson to start the 9th.\u00a0 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

11:22:\u00a0 <\/strong>Woo!\u00a0 Game Two is in the books, and the Phils win, 6-1.\u00a0 Madson gives up a couple of baserunners in the 9th, but gets Renteria to ground out to Rollins to end the ballgame.\u00a0 All in all, in retrospect, a pretty workmanlike effort by a veteran postseason team.\u00a0 Oswalt pitches a gem, the offense comes through with clutch hits, and the defense makes all the plays.\u00a0 We’re heading to San Fran 1-1.\u00a0 I’m okay with that.\u00a0 Hamels in Game Three on Tuesday night will just need to continue what he’s been doing recently.\u00a0 This win was huge, and now the Phils are probably still pretty big favorites to win this series.\u00a0 Okay, time to switch over and see how McNabb falls short at his comeback bid against the Colts.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

7:43:\u00a0 Okay, here we are for Game Two, in very unfamiliar territory.\u00a0 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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[782,13],"tags":[1093,1092,177,16],"class_list":["post-1018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-blog","category-mlb","tag-2010-mlb-playoffs-2","tag-2010-nlcs","tag-giants","tag-phillies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1018"}],"version-history":[{"count":66,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1020,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions\/1020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}