"Did I promise you a sky, where rain would never fall?"-THRESHOLD, "Pilot in the Sky of Dreams"
A string of perfect innings from Ace Cole Hamels. Home runs from Aaron Rowand and Pat Burrell. A scoreless ninth inning from closer Brett Myers. A wild CBP crowd, as the Phillies hosted their first playoff game, since Hamels was a Little Leaguer. It should have been the formula for the Phillies' 90th win. But some other pesky variables got in the way.
Rockies starter Jeff Francis was superb, allowing only the two (solo) home runs. He shut down Phillies' sluggers Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, who combined for seven strikeouts (Utley had four of them, on 13 pitches!). Hamels allowed three runs in the 2nd inning, when he was haunted by a poor fashion choice (LONG sleeves, Colbert Michael?), and sweated through three (!) walks, a triple, and a single, while throwing forty energy-sapping pitches. The rest of the game didn't feature too much offense, as both teams struggled with the shadows caused by the mid-afternoon start. (Thanks, TBS!) Rockies closer Manny Corpas shut out the Phillies in the bottom of the ninth, and the Phillies now trail the best-of-five series, 1-0.
I guess I thought the Phils would cruise through the NL playoffs, after their impressive qualifying run. (Of course, the Rockies are even hotter, having now won 15 of 16 games.) It's going to be a little tougher. It's going to take TWELVE playoff games to bring the World Series Championship back to Philly.
Playoff win #1 comes today, as Phillies rookie Kyle Kendrick opposes Rockies rookie Franklin Morales. TBS/NESN announcer Don Orsillo had never heard of either of these guys, until he had me prep him for the series on Tuesday. The Phillies just need to keep things close until the bottom of the 7th inning, when they unveil their secret weapon. (No, they will NOT be using Abe Nunez as a pinch-hitter, I am referring to a different secret weapon.) Peter Tork, the fourth most popular Monkee, will be perfoming during the 7th inning stretch. Tork performed during the Boston Red Sox Fan Rally on Monday, and look where the Sox are today. Yep, I'm a (Phillies) Believer!
No comments:
Post a Comment