Los Angeles Dodgers
Phils Win Pennant – Advance to World Series With 5-1 Win Over Dodgers
Thursday, October 16th, 2008 | MLB, Sports | No Comments
The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series to advance to the World Series with a 4-1 series win. Phillies starter Cole Hamels pitched 7 strong innings to win his 2nd game of the NLCS. He gave up only 5 hits and 1 run on a solo home run by Dodgers star Manny Ramirez. Hamels struck out 5 and walked 3 and was named the NLCS Most Valuable Player. Jimmy Rollins set the tone in the 1st inning with a feisty at-bat to lead off the game against Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley. After working the count and fouling off several pitches, he struck a solo home run to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead it would never relinquish. The Phils added 2 more runs in the 3rd inning on RBI singles by Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell. In the 5th inning, the Phils took advantage of 3 Rafael Furcal errors to tack on 2 more runs to extend the lead to 5-0. Ryan Madsen pitched a scoreless 8th inning and Brad Lidge pitched a scoreless 9th inning to seal the victory for the Phillies. For the Dodgers, Billingsley lasted only 2 2/3 innings giving up 3 earned runs. Billingsley never got into a groove allowing 4 hits and walking 4 while throwing 66 pitches. Manny Ramirez, James Loney and Matt Kemp each had 2 hits for the Dodgers, but they never managed any significant threats that Hamels couldn’t work out of. For the series, Manny Ramirez lived up to his post-season hype – he got 8 hits in 15 at-bats for a gaudy .533 batting average. He hit 2 more home runs, scored 4 runs, and had 7 RBI’s – in each game of the series he drove in a run. His on-base percentage was over .660 and his slugging percentage was over 1.050. Ramirez managed a 8-game hitting streak during the Dodgers’ 2008 post-season run.
The Philadelphia Phillies will represent the National League in the 2008 World Series. The Series will open up on Wednesday, October 22nd in either Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg or at Fenway Park in Boston. Currently, the Rays lead the Red Sox 3 games to 1 in the ALCS.
Phils Can Advance to World Series With Win Over Dodgers Tonight
Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
The Philadlephia Phillies face the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series tonight, October 15th at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Phillies will throw ace Cole Hamels, while the Dodgers will counter will young star Chad Billingsley. Hamels picked up the Game 1 NLCS victory over the Dodgers, while Billingsley took the Game 2 NLCS loss. A win tonight puts the Phillies into the World Series for the 1st time in 15 years. A Dodgers win forces the NLCS back to Philadelphia, where the teams would play the final game or 2 games on Friday October 17th and Saturday, October 18th.
Unsung Heroes Lead Phils to 7-5 Win Over Dodgers
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-5 in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series on Monday October 13th. The Phillies lead the Dodgers 3 games to 1 in the best of 7 series. Trailing 5-3 entering the 8th inning, the Phils used 2-run home runs by each of Center Fielder Shane Victorino and Pinch-hitter Matt Stairs to vault into the 7-5 lead. Reliever Ryan Madson picked up the win in relief, pitching 1 2/3 inning allowing only 1 hit and 1 walk. Fellow relievers J.C. Romero and Brad Lidge closed the game out for the Phillies, as Lidge picked up his 3rd save of the NLCS. After a shaky 1st inning in which Dodgers starter Derek Lowe allowed 2 earned runs, he settled down through 5 innings of work to put his team in a good position to win the game. But the bullpen could not hold onto the lead – Hong-Chih Kuo and Jonathan Broxton each allowed earned runs in relief, while Cory Wade allowed 2 earned runs to take the loss. Manny Ramirez continued his hot hitting – he had 2 hits and an RBI and was walked by the Phillies 3 other times. Dodgers 3rd baseman Casey Blake hit a solo home run in the 6th inning. The Dodgers now have their backs up to the wall – needing to win each of the next 3 games to advance to the World Series. The Phillies will throw ace Cole Hamels in Game 5 of the NLCS on Wednesday October 15th. Hamels won game 1 of the NLCS by allowing only 5 hits and 2 earned runs to the fiery Dodgers offense. The Dodgers will put their season in the hands of Chad Billingsley, who gave up 3 earned runs on 7 hits in Game 2 of the ALCS.
Dodgers Win 7-2, Trail 2-1 in NLCS
Monday, October 13th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 7-2 in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. The Dodgers scored 5 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning to jump out to a commanding 5-0 lead. Manny Ramirez and Casey Blake had RBI singles and Blake DeWitt drove in the final 3 runs of the inning with a crushing 3-run triple. Dodgers Starting Pitcher Hiroki Kuroda pitched 6 strong innings giving up only 2 earned runs on 5 hits. Kuroda walked one and struck out 3 in picking up the Dodgers first ALCS win of the 2008 post-season. Phillies Starting Pitcher Jamie Moyer lasted only 1 1/3 innings giving up 6 hits, 6 earned runs and striking out only 2 Dodgers batters. Tempers flared over whether or not pitchers were throwing at certain batters. Moyer hit Russell Martin with a pitch in the 1st inning. Kuroda later threw at the head of the Phillies Shane Victorino and Victorino shouted at Kuroda to avoid throwing at his head. After Victorino grounded out, he and Kuroda exchanged words and Manny Ramirez also joined the fracas because he was upset when Phillies Starter Bret Myers threw behind him in Game 2 of the NLCS. No punches were thrown and no players were ejected. It will be interesting to see if the feud continues when the 2 teams face off in Game 4 of the NLCS on Monday night. The Phllies will throw mid-season pick-up Joe Blanton, while the Dodgers will pitch Derek Lowe on 3 days rest.
Phils Take 2-0 Lead Over Dodgers
Saturday, October 11th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 8-5 to take a 2 games to none lead in the National League Championship Series. Although Phillies starter Bret Myers had a sub-par pitching performance – giving up 6 hits, 4 walks and 5 earned runs in only 5 innings of work – his bat helped spark rallies in the 2nd and 3rd innings to lead the Phillies to victory. Myers went 3 for 3 with 3 RBI’s at the plate including an RBI single in the 2nd inning and a 2-RBI single in the 3rd inning. Phillies Center Fielder Shane Victorino had 2 big hits – a 2-RBI single in the 2nd inning and a 2-RBI triple in the 3rd inning. Myers scored a run on each of Victorino’s hits. Victorino’s triple in the 3rd inning extended the Phillies lead to 8-2 and although Manny Ramirez’s 3-run home run off of Myers in the 4th inning cut the lead to 3, the Phillies bullpen shut down the Dodgers hot offense for the final 4 innings of play. Brad Lidge walked to batters in the 9th inning to make things interesting, but he was able to strike out Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp and Nomar Garciaparra to pick up his 2nd save of the NLCS in as many days.
The series now shifts to Los Angeles on Sunday, October 12th. Veteran Jamie Moyer will toe the rubber for the Phillies while Hiroki Kuroda will try to lead the Dodgers to their first NLCS victory of the series.
Phillies top Dodgers 3-2 in NLCS Game #1
Friday, October 10th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
The Philadelphia Phillies defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 in the 1st game of the National League Championship Series played on Thursday, October 9th. Phillies Ace Cole Hamels pitched 7 strong innings giving up only 2 earned runs on 6 hits. Hamels struck out 8 and walked only 2. Hamels picked up his 2nd victory of the 2008 post-season, and Brad Lidge worked a perfect 9th inning to record the save and preserve the all-important NLDS Game #1 victory. Los Angeles Dodgers starter Derek Lowe was effective until the 6th inning when he gave up a 2-run home run to Chase Utley and a solo home run to Pat Burrell. Lowe didn’t make it out of the 6th inning and only struck out 2 Phillies batters. Manny Ramirex continued his torrid post-season hitting, delivering 2 hits including an RBI-double in the 1st inning to open up the scoring.
NLDS Game #2 is scheduled to start at 4:35PM EST on Friday, October 10th. Chad Billingsley will start for the Dodgers while the Phillies count with veteran Bret Myers.
Cubs Choke Again…
Monday, October 6th, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
Cubs 2008
For the 2nd consecutive year, the Chicago Cubs were swept out of the playoffs with a 3 games to none disaster against the NL West representative – this time the Los Angeles Dodgers. Dodgers Manager Joe Torre (ex- New York Yankees Manager and winner of 4 World Series titles) bested friend and Chicago Cubs Manager Lou Pinella in the short 3-game set. After the Cubs fell behind 4-2 on James Loney’s Grand Slam off of Ryan Dempster in the 5th inning of NLDS Game 1, the 2 teams could have called it quits and saved a lot of time and money for players and fans traveling cross-country to Los Angeles. The Cubs bumbled their way to a 10-3 loss at home in NLDS Game #2 (each Cubs infielder committed an error in the contest), and then showed no heart in the decisive 3-1 loss in Los Angeles on Saturday night. The Cubs bats did not show up for a 2nd consecutive year – although the team had numerous opportunites to score in all 3 games, the Cubs only scored runs in 4 of the 27 innings played. The Cubs hit only one home run all series, and productive stars Left Fielder Alfonso Soriano (1 for 14 just as he did against the Diamondbacks in 2007), Third Baseman Aramis Ramirez (2 for 11), Catcher Geovany Soto (2 for 11) Center Fielder Jim Edmonds (2 for 10), each had atrocious series. With runners in scoring position, the Cubs got only 2 hits in 28 bats. On the opposite side of the ball, Manny Ramirez had 5 hits in 10 at-bats, including 2 home runs, 5 runs scored and 3 RBI’s in the series. The top 3 hitters in the Dodgers lineup (Rafael Furcal, Russell Martin and Ramirez) did all the damage in NLDS Game #3 – 4 for 9 with 3 weeks and all 3 runs scored – and for the series, hit a collective .371 with 11 runs scored and 10 RBI’s. 100 years has come and gone for the Chicago Cubs – will it be another 100 years before we see a Cubs World Series Championship? Ask Cubs fans, and most will likely say … yes!
Here We Go Again… Cubs Lose in the Playoffs?!
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | Sports | No Comments
The Chicago Cubs turned in another lackluster playoff performance, losing 7-2 to the Los Angeles Dodgers in front of more than 41,000 diehard Cubs fans at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field. After taking an early 2-0 lead on Mark DeRosa’s 2nd inning home run, the Dodgers scored the next 7 runs en route to a dominating win over the deflated Cubs. It was the Cubs 7th consecutive post-season loss. Ryan Dempster walked 7 batters in less than 5 innings of work. Twice, he walked the bases loaded in an inning. He worked out of his own-bases-loaded jam in the 3rd inning, but his luck ran out in the 5th inning when James Loney crushed a 1-2 splitfinger fastball over the center field fence for a Grand Slam that put the Dodgers ahead for good. The Dodgers added home runs by Manny Ramirez and Russell Martin, and although the Cubs out-hit the Dodgers 9-8, they never managed any other threats throughout the rest of the game. NLDS Game #2 features Chad Billingsley for the Dodgers and Carlos Zambrano for the Cubs in a must-win game for the Cubs.
