Phillies Deliver Knock Out Punch – Take Game 1 over Dodgers 8-6
Friday, October 16th, 2009 | Brad Lidge, Carlos Ruiz, Clayton Kershaw, Cole Hamels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Manny Ramirez, MLB, Philadelphia Phillies, Raul Ibanez, Sports
The Phillies defeated the Dodgers 8-6 in Game 1 of the NLCS to take a 1-0 lead in the best of 7 series – home field advantage right back to Philly. For the 1st 4 innings, it looked like we were going to have a pitcher’s duel between Cole Hamels and Clayton Kershaw. Up until that point, the Dodgers led the Phillies 1-0 with the lone run scoring on a solo home run by James Loney in the 2nd inning.
But with the 5th inning came an explosion of offense – - Carlos Ruiz’s 3-run bomb to deep left gave the Phillies a 3-1 lead and Ryan Howard’s 2-run double increased that lead to 5-1.
But the Dodgers answered right back in the bottom of the inning with 3 runs of their own – 1 run on Andre Ethier’s RBI groundout and 2 runs on Manny Ramirez’s 2-run bomb to deep left center. 5-4 Phillies on top.
It looked like the Phillies had put the game away for good in the top of the 8th inning when Raul Ibanez’s 3-run HR gave the Phillies an 8-4 lead. But the Dodgers answered in the bottom of the inning with 2 runs on a Russell Martin RBI single and a Rafael Furcal sacrifice fly.
Give some props to Brad Lidge for closing out the game in the 9th inning. We only know about Lidge’s struggles in 2009 – 0-8 record, 7.21 ERA, 31 saves but 11 blown saves. But after a lead-off single by Matt Kemp, Lidge induced a Casey Blake double play to pick up 2 quick outs. And even after a James Loney walk, Lidge buckled down and got Ronnie Belliard to pop out to end the game. Despite shaken confidence during the regular season, Lidge has earned the save in 3 of the 4 Phillies wins in the 2009 post-season, and he has yet to give up a run in 2 1/3 innings pitched.
Hamels notched the win, despite giving up 4 ER on 8 hits and 1 walk in 5 1/3 innings. Kershaw struggled with his control too much on Thursday night – walking 5 and giving up 5 ER on 4 hits without even making it out of the 5th inning.
The 2 teams won’t have much time to dwell on Game 1, as they square off in Game 2 at 4:07PM EST today on TBS. Pedro Martinez will take the bump for the Phillies against Vincent Padilla of the Dodgers. It will mark Martinez’s 1st post-season start since he won a World Series game for the Boston Red Sox back in 2004. It becomes a must-win for the Dodgers who do not want to go down 2-0 to the Phillies having to face ace Cliff Lee in Game 3 back in Philadelphia on Sunday…
