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Phillies Will Meet Dodgers in NLCS
The Phillies have done it, well they have started to. The Phillies ended their series with the Brewers in four games and now they get the opportunity to welcome the Dodgers to Citizens Bank Park for the first two games of the series. The Dodgers came to Philly earlier this season and left with zero wins out of four, however when the Phillies came to Chavez Ravine for a series with the Dodgers they also were swept. Home field advantage could be a major factor in this series, however the Dodgers have shown they can play great baseball on the road by knocking out the Cubs twice at Wrigley and then ultimately ending them at home. The Phillies have one of the best home records in the National League as well as a solid road record. The Phillies won both games in Philly against Milwaukee and that was a springboard to a series win because Milwaukee had their backs against the wall going back home.
Milwaukee won game 3 with the score of 4-1. The Phillies did not get timely hitting at all as they stranded the leadoff runner on base for three out of the first five innings. Dave Bush’s pitching definitely did not hurt either as he pitched five and a third innings giving up one run on five hits. He was lifted quickly because he gave up a double and there were two outs in the inning in a tight ball game. Coach Dale Sweum did not want to take any chances at all because the Phillies had scored 7 of their 9 runs in the series with two outs. Jamie Moyer got into some trouble early with his control. The Milwaukee Brewers showed great patience at the plate and it paid off as they got two runs off of Moyer and got three walks as well. Moyer’s pitch count was already near 100 by the fourth inning when he was taken out. The Brewers also played superb defense and came away with their much needed win.
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If Milwaukee had any momentum going into game 4, nobody knew it. Jimmy Rollins led off the game with a solo homer and the Phillies cruised to a 6-2 victory and a trip to the NLCS. Pat Burrell also unloaded off of Jeff Suppan in the Phillies win. Burrell hit a three run shot off of Suppan in the third inning and the Phillies quickly had a 5-0 lead. Joe Blanton made that lead stand up too. He was phenomenal for the Phillies. He was branded as an innings eater who was very inconsistent, well he pitched six innings of one run ball and struck out seven, keeping Milwaukee off balance all day. Prince Fielder hit a shot off of Blanton in the seventh inning but it was not enough to lead this young team to a victory.
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Next up the Phillies welcome Manny and the red hot Dodgers to town. The Dodgers are coming off of a sweep of a team that was considered the best in the National League. The pitching has been phenomenal and pitching tends to carry teams through the post season. The Phillies have also had phenomenal pitching in their series so this will be an amazing series for a trip to the World Series.
By Andrew Nuscis
Philadelphia Phillies & Tampa Bay Rays Correspondent
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