Comments on: 2009 NLCS Preview: Phillies vs. Dodgers

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:56:57 +0000

I like the Lee – Kuroda matchup. If there is a game we would concede it would be this one (just like we were thinking about Wainwright), so I will look forward to seeing how he does, if he is on, he could compete with Lee (he was our opening day guy, and in the running for No. 1 guy), but with his injury and being out Im a little doubtful. So maybe this will be a good test for him, if he blows it, chances are this would be a loss anyway. I dont like to think this way, but with our limited resources sometimes you have to manage with what you have.

By: bski

bski — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:36:52 +0000

I agree with Ian that the Dodgers scoring runs, as in will they, is a major issue, probably the deciding one, in this series. Manny hurt us last year, but he was the only one that did any significant damage. We pretty much shut everyone else down and Manny couldn’t do enough by himself to beat us. The Dodgers need more from somewhere in order to beat us this year as well.

To that end, I think a key for the Dodgers is how much they get out of their young guys like Ethier and Kemp (who had not a single home run or RBI between them in the entire series last year, btw). If they have grown from their playoff experience against us last year and are productive this year, it will go a long way for the Dodgers and make it that much tougher for us.

I agree with Pete that Cole Hamels is a key for us. If he can give us two Cliff Lee-like (or Cole Hamels 2008-like) starts, which added to two from Lee should mean four very good starts for us, I say we win the series in 6 games. If he doesn’t (and let’s face it, we’ve been waiting and waiting for the 2008 postseason Cole Hamels to show up), we’re going to have a tough time getting past the Dodgers. I can’t make myself pick against us, but in that case we’d either need to have Pedro or Blanton (maybe both) give us a good start to make up for any poor showings by Hamels, or we’d need or offense to step up and cover it.

Can’t wait to see how it plays out.

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:29:25 +0000

Found you guys last year and thought it a pretty good place to get scoop on your guys. I dont follow all teams much, so during playoffs try to find what to watch for. You all were decent enough last year, I sort of get tired of the ESPN chats. Also, we had too many walk off wins this year, that game plan get my blood pressure up.

By: jkay

jkay — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:55:44 +0000

Ian: for a Dodgers fan on a Phillies blog, you’re remarkably cordial. as per men left on base I wouldnt worry too much about that stat. Its the same problem we have with the Phils here. Firstly leaving a lot of men on base means you managed to get a lot on. Thats a good thing. When runners are on base, the pitcher doubles his effort, so its hard for any club to have a great average with ROB. but in the end all that matters is if you score runs or not, how you do it I dont care. Errors, Bloopers, Walks, it dont matter. people always get on here about the Phillies relying the long ball to score. we won a game against the Nationals with 4 or 5 solo HRs and no hits otherwise. as long as you can score somehow, thats all that matters.

By: bski

bski — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:54:53 +0000

I found this on the LA Times Dodgers’ Blog, Dodger Thoughts:

“……there’s a flu bug circulating through the team, so far affecting Jeff Weaver and Russell Martin (along with coach Don Mattingly). So the team might not be at 2,500%* when the series begins. ”

Hate to have something like this affect this series——who is available, how they will perform, etc……

By: bski

bski — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:39:47 +0000

Nice story, Stu.

I guess that explains Torre’s thinking about starting Padilla in game 2 in LA. He knows that if Padilla were to pitch in Philly there is a good chance he’d be tempted by the night life, not get enough sleep, and perform poorly, whereas in a sleepy town like LA there’s nothing to keep him out at night and he’ll get to bed early.

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:34:43 +0000

Morty, Kershaw is young and is a good lefty match against Hamel, the home croud will calm him down, Torre might have been worried about him getting rattled by the Phillie crowd?? He’s solid too, and if he has a good outing can shut down Phillies lefties, I think it’s a good choice. He is a little more dominant that Wolf. I’m a little nervous about Kuroda, he has been out for some time, but I guess I gotta trust Honeycut that he’s back. Padilla was incredible against the Cards last week, if he repeats, we’ll either be 1-1 or 2-0, probably better to have a veteran that has pitched well for us go #2 and make up for a first game loss, than young Kershaw, who has to be nervous, and would take even more weight on his shoulders if we are down 0-1. (Although, he’s been rock solid, and should have won many more games, he didn’t get very good run support this year, as is the case with Wolf too)
On the run support thing, I’m wondering why we are talking about pitching for the Dodgers so much, what they really need are runs, and I’m still nervous every time I watch them, we had to have set a record for men left on base this year. We really don’t allow that many runs. But we don’t score that many runs either. If they can produce runs, I am confident in our pitching, meaning, I think our pitchers are all capable of allowing only 2 or 3 runs a game. But even with that, we could easily lose. I’ve seen too many games where we had good pitching (2 runs is good in my book) and only scored 1 run. I think back to Hamels game earlier this year, we lost 0-2. One home run and we were out, we couldn’t even score a single run.
Looking forward to a good series, I’m hoping it’s a good fight on both sides. Dodgers in 6.

By: stu

stu — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:56:59 +0000

Here is an interesting fact about Vicente Padilla:

A few years ago, he showed up to “Club Deco” at 2:30 in the morning with a bunch of his entourage. I happened to be there as well (don’t ask). Club Deco is a seedy Philly club next to Delilah’s Den. My friends and I were astonished to see him because…he was pitching the next night against the Marlins! Go to bed dude.

I haven’t taken him seriously since that night.

By: stu

stu — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:40:40 +0000

What are the odds that Rollins leads off game one swinging at the first pitch and bouncing out to the infield? 2/1?

By: jkay

jkay — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:24:43 +0000

good call. we need more position players than relievers for a 7 game series.

Morty: I didnt understand why he set it that way at first but to be honest they have no #2 pitcher behind Kershaw so it doesnt make a difference who goes, its all the same.

If we can beat Kershaw today, then the pressure will really be on. we need to have a solid start from that #2 guy. I dont like all this Pedro mania. has Charlie announced it yet?