EVIL~! alkeiper

In the Philadelphia city limits it's the Eagles. In Eastern Pennsylvania, Penn State football is by far the biggest attraction.

Clearly as well, there's a difference between watching a team where Rico Brogna is your RBI man and one where Ryan Howard is the cleanup hitter. The Phillies became a better team, have a new ballpark, marketable players, and for only the second time in their history have established themselves as a long term winner. Philadelphia's fan base has really underwent a dramatic transformation the last five years or so.

The Dodgers went 17-8 in September. Of course, the Phillies had the exact same record so whatever advantage the Dodgers had from being "hot" went completely out the window. Announcers last night harped on teams winning without the benefit of the home run. As if scoring runs without doing it via the most effective manner is a sign of moral character or something. I took at look at ten teams. There is a very strong connection between runs and runs scored via home run, and a smaller but significant correlation between scoring runs and percentage scored via home runs. Hitting home runs is a good offensive strategy, no matter how sexy smallball sounds this week. That of course assumes you're not just bailing and wailing.

Watching last night, they showed a few video packages highlighting mainly the NLCS in 1983. The Phillies and Dodgers though had far more memorable encounters over the years. A few highlights. 1947: Led by manager Ben Chapman, the Phillies engage in disgraceful bench jockeying of Dodgers' star Jackie Robinson. Chapman is forced to apologize later in the season for his behaviour. 1950: Phillies defeat the Dodgers on the last day of the season, 4-1 in 10 innings, to clinch the NL pennant. A loss would have sent the teams into a best-of-three playoff. 1977: The Phillies suffer what I consider their most devestating franchise loss. Leading by two runs in game three, the Phillies give up three runs in the top of the ninth, all with two outs. A double off Greg Luzinski's glove and a safe call at first are particularly costly. Larry Bowa and Davey Lopes, now coaching for opposite teams, still argue about that call. The Dodgers go on to win in four games. 1978: The Dodgers again defeat the Phillies 3-1 in the NLCS. Bill Russell drives in Ron Cey in the 10th to score the walkoff run. 1990: August 21. Trailing 11-3 going into the top of the ninth, the Phillies score nine runs and win 12-11. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/LA...199008210.shtml

MSG from 1975 is sweet, I love those '70s house shows. A 20 minute best of three falls midget match though?

http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/ Cot's Baseball Contracts. Roberts isn't a free agent. I think the Cubs offense is in good shape, though they could probably use another outfielder as Fukudome insurance. They have a few bullpen guys on the market and they will probably need another starting pitcher.

Since I was in a bit of a rush last time, let me expand on my prediction a bit. 1. The Phillies swept the Dodgers in four games last series, WITH Manny Ramirez in their lineup. 2. The Dodgers' front three of the rotation is all right-handed pitchers. It's lefties who give Utley and Howard problems. 3. The Dodgers still only won 84 games this season. One interesting note about this postseason. If it ends up Rays vs. Phillies in the World Series, it will be father vs. Son in the broadcast booths. Harry Kalas does tv for the Phillies, son Todd works tv for the Rays.

Non spoiler match listing. Brad Rheingans vs. Steve Regal Candi Devine vs. Sherri Martel (AWA Womens' Title Match) Giant Baba, Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu vs. Harley Race and the Long Riders (Asian Six Man Tag Title Match) Little Mr. T vs. Little Tokyo (Midget World Title Match) Mil Mascaras vs. Buddy Roberts Kerry Von Erich vs. Jimmy Garvin Greg Gagne, Curt Hennig and Scott Hall vs. Nick Bockwinkel, Ray Stevens and Larry Zbyszko The Road Warriors vs. The Fabulous Freebirds (AWA Tag Title Match) The Crusher, Dick the Bruiser and Baron Von Raschke vs. Krusher Khruschev, Ivan and Nikita Koloff (NWA Six Man Tag Title Match) Sgt. Slaughter vs. Boris Zuhkov (AWA Americas Title Match) Crusher Blackwell vs. Kamala (Bodyslam Match) Magnum T.A. vs. Ric Flair (NWA World Title Match) Rick Martel vs. Stan Hansen (AWA World Title Match) Has any wrestling show ever featured as many Hall of Famers? I count 16 of them from the WON Hall on the card itself, plus Verne Gagne makes a live appearance.

Phillies in six, maybe five. My internet is out at the house, so I may be around only sparingly during this series.

All games on TBS. WEDNESDAY Boston (John Lester) @ LA Angels (John Lackey), 10pm ET. THURSDAY Chicago WS (TBD) @ Tampa Bay (James Shields), 2:30pm ET. FRIDAY Chicago WS (TBD) @ Tampa Bay (Scott Kazmir), 6pm ET. Boston (Daisuke Matsuzaka) @ LA Angels (Ervin Santana), 9:30 ET. SUNDAY LA Angels (Joe Saunders) @ Boston (Josh Beckett) Tampa Bay (Matt Garza) @ Chicago WS (TBD) Times to be announced MONDAY Potential Game Fours WEDNESDAY Potential Game Fives

As an aside, Bill James raised a good point on the shift. What's the point? If the offense wanted, they could beat you with a single the other way. So the purpose is really to negate the hitter's power. If he parks one, it's going over their heads anyway.

All games on TBS. WEDNESDAY Milwaukee (Yovani Gallardo) @ Philadelphia (Cole Hamels), 3pm ET LA Dodgers (Derek Lowe) @ Chicago Cubs (Ryan Dempster), 6:30pm ET THURSDAY Milwaukee (C.C. Sabathia) @ Philadelphia (Brett Myers), 6pm ET LA Dodgers (Chad Billingsley) @ Chicago Cubs (Carlos Zambrano), 9:30pm ET SATURDAY Philadelphia (Jamie Moyer?) @ Milwaukee (Johnny Wholestaff), 6:30pm ET Chicago Cubs (Rich Harden) @ LA Dodgers (Hideki Kuroda), 10:00pm ET SUNDAY Games if necessary, times to be determined TUESDAY Game Fives, if necessary

Bingo.

Harold Reynolds made the point that Baldelli should drop a bunt with the third baseman playing so deep. Four runs down, it seems like a reasonable move. That's one of the frustrating things about baseball nowadays. Players establish their strengths, the opposition adjusts. From there it becomes a battle of wills. Ryan Howard comes up yesterday, team down several runs and the defense playing the shift. The team needs baserunners. Why not make the opposition's strategy work against them? Baseball needs another Billy Martin. A guy looking for every possible angle within the ballgame.

Heenan managed Bockwinkel as world champ in the AWA for the better part of a decade, and they got their victories over Hulk Hogan in the process.

We have more than a chance, I think the Phillies are the flat out better team.

Seeing the bird flying around the infield reminds me of a minor league game a few years back in Scranton. Bird flies on the field. The players try to shoo it. First it settles around first base. Moves to second. Shooed again, on to the third base area. Damn thing rounded the bases!

Hey, Eagles lost today. P-H-I-L-L-I-E-S! I got out of work in time to catch the last three outs on radio. Michael Kay?! Jesus. Blanton came up big though.

Often tiebreak games like tonight are overlooked, probably because they do not show up in postseason results. But there have been some great ones over the years. October 3, 1951. Dodgers vs. Giants at Polo Grounds, Game Three. Bobby Thomson's home run caps a four run ninth inning as the Giants win the pennant, 5-4. September 29, 1959. Braves vs. Dodgers at the LA Memorial Coliseum, game two of a three game set. The Braves lead 5-2 going into the ninth, trying to force game three. The Dodgers score three to tie it, and win the pennant with Carl Furillo's single in the 12th. October 3, 1962. Giants vs. Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, game three. The Dodgers blow a 4-2 lead in the ninth, giving up four runs to the Giants. October 2, 1978. Yankees vs. Red Sox at Fenway Park. Bucky Dent. October 1, 2007. Padres vs. Rockies at Coors Field. Padres score two runs in the 13th inning, Rockies score three.

Well shit. Hopefully the Phillies can get past the Brewers and take out the Dodgers. What I don't get is when the Cardinals reached the playoffs two years ago, no one could stop talking about their mediocre win/loss record. I really don't want to see an 84 win team in the World Series.

The Phillies swung at junk all night long. They need to get their heads on straight tomorrow.

Now this is getting dangerous. Feliz has no OBP but he can pop one.

Shame on TBS for not zooming in on those fans with a 2, 8 and a moving arrow. Quality.

The Phillies are really up there hacking. They need to settle down.

Not the greatest start, but the Phillies are well in this if they can hold this to two runs.