{"id":196,"date":"2008-10-20T15:21:27","date_gmt":"2008-10-20T20:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=196"},"modified":"2008-10-20T15:28:40","modified_gmt":"2008-10-20T20:28:40","slug":"world-series-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=196","title":{"rendered":"World Series Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"dobbs\"The DH Question:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Charlie Manuel hasn’t said much about who will be the designated hitter for the games in Tampa, so that leaves us to ponder the question.\u00a0 Bob Ford covered the issue<\/a> in today’s Inquirer, and says that Charlie has ruled out the possibility of Ryan Howard DH’ing during the series.\u00a0 Against righties, I think it’s\u00a0almost definite\u00a0that Greg Dobbs will find his way into the line-up, either at third or as the DH.\u00a0 Geoff Jenkins and Matt Stairs are also pretty good options to DH if Dobbs plays third.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The options against lefties are not nearly as good.\u00a0 The right-handed\u00a0bats are basically just Eric Bruntlett and Chris Coste, who\u00a0could be\u00a0freed up to DH with the addition of catcher Lou Marson to the post-season\u00a0roster.\u00a0 So Charlie will basically have\u00a0three options for Game 1: play Bruntlett (.217 BA on the year)\u00a0in left field\u00a0and DH Burrell,\u00a0DH Coste (.107 BA in September), or DH Dobbs (9 out of 226 AB’s this year vs. lefties).\u00a0 Luckily, one of the benefits of the ALCS going seven games is that the Rays’ only lefty starter,\u00a0Scott Kazmir, will pitch Game 1.\u00a0 That means Game 1 will be the only game of the series where the Phillies will face a lefty with the DH, as Kazmir’s next start will be Game 5 in Philly.<\/p>\n

The Phillies Rotation:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Charlie has said that they will stick with the\u00a0same rotation they’ve used in the first two\u00a0rounds: Hamels, Myers, Moyer, Blanton.\u00a0\u00a0That means Moyer will be in line to pitch Game 7, if necessary.\u00a0 Personally, I would have flipped Moyer and Blanton, so that Blanton would be there in Game 7, but Charlie is obviously looking at Moyer’s two postseason starts so far as aberrations.\u00a0\u00a0Right now, Moyer in Game 7 is a scary thought, but I’m ok with the decision.\u00a0\u00a0He’s had a great year,\u00a0he pitched well over the last couple of months of the season, and, with all his experience, he’s capable of putting those bad starts behind him and pitching\u00a0well in this series.\u00a0 If he blows up again in Game 3, options for Game 7 will have to be looked at, including pitching Blanton on\u00a0three days rest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0X-Factor:\"price\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Rays’ rookie phenom pitcher, David Price, may have taken over the closer’s role in Game 7 of the ALCS.\u00a0 Their bullpen has been strong all season, but Dan Wheeler as a closer isn’t really\u00a0going to scare anyone.\u00a0 Price was the #1 pick in the draft last year and is looking like he was a good choice.\u00a0 He’s got a high-90’s fastball, great slider, and throws strikes.\u00a0 He’s the type of big, powerful left-hander that can\u00a0make life very hard\u00a0for hitters like Ryan Howard and Chase Utley.\u00a0 If he can be a shut-down closer, and guys like Wheeler, J.P. Howell (2.22 ERA), and Grant Balfour (1.54\u00a0ERA) are setting him up, this Rays bullpen is outstanding.\u00a0 I was rooting for the Rays in Game 7, but as I watched Price work in the 8th and 9th, I saw one of the Rays few weaknesses possibly disappearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The DH Question: Charlie Manuel hasn’t said much about who will be the designated hitter for the games in Tampa, so that leaves us to ponder the question.\u00a0 Bob Ford covered the issue in today’s Inquirer, and says that Charlie … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[382,332,389,376,368,327,308,16,360,319,388],"class_list":["post-196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb","tag-charlie-manuel","tag-chris-coste","tag-david-price","tag-eric-bruntlett","tag-greg-dobbs","tag-jamie-moyer","tag-joe-blanton","tag-phillies","tag-playoffs","tag-rays","tag-world-series"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}