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[Phillies Red]

I have really loved the images used for this NLCS. This one in particular captures something haunting, and yet slightly hopeful, about today's game.

Go Phils.

[The Offseason]

Miss me?

[king myno]

Season = over?

[EastFallowfield]

From crashburnalley:

Offense

OBP: Phillies .317; Giants .287
SLG: Giants .338; Phillies .328
RBI: Giants 14; Phillies 13
SB: Phillies 4-for-5; Giants 1-for-2
Pitching

ERA: Giants 3.34; Phillies 3.63
K/9: Giants 10.3; Phillies 9.4
BB/9: Phillies 2.6; Giants 3.6
K/BB ratio: Phillies 3.6; Giants 2.9

[Scott]

Go Phillies!!

[nonamePHame]

Don't let us win this one, timmy jim. You don't wanna bring this back to philly"

[Martin]

Phillies win....no Willie McCovey...no Willie Mays...no Bobby Thompson...no Monte Irvin...Bobby Bonds

[NEPP]

7-0 Phillies.

[GBrettfan]

We shall soon see whether Shane is able to translate his eagerness to prove himself in this situation into actually proving himself in this situation. Same for the whole team.

[GTown_Dave]

Matt Gelb (via Twitter): "Charlie Manuel would not rule out using Cole Hamels in relief tonight if needed. Remember, Ryan Madson threw 32 pitches last night."

I'm curious as to whether or not Hamels threw a side session today. Also worth noting: Cole has never pitched in a game on less than 4 days rest in his career.

[Tray]

But Martin, they've got the Benjamin Button of catchers. He's going to get worse and worse/look more and more like Brad Pitt with age!

[GBrettfan]

I knew the peace I'd made with the prospect of losing would be chased away by those darn butterflies when the game was upon us. Darn!

[GBrettfan]

JW - You have done a super job, as usual, with the postseason game graphics.

[NEPP]

7-0 Phillies.

[Matt]

I think tonight's outcome is wholly dependent on how many replays of close plays are given to each team.

[phlipper]

Let's do this. We'll see Madson if needed. Pitch him until his arm falls off. There is no tomorrow tonight.

[NEPP]

How do you not use Hamels after the mastery Oswalt demonstrated in relief?

[goody]

Phils + post season + rain = bad memories.

[Heather]

"We shall soon see whether Shane is able to translate his eagerness to prove himself in this situation into actually proving himself in this situation."

For some reason, this struck me as amusing. Thank you for the laughter.

"I knew the peace I'd made with the prospect of losing would be chased away by those darn butterflies when the game was upon us. Darn!"

You could always take my dad's approach to high stress games. He would turn the TV/radio off whenever the Phillies were pitching. "Nothing good can ever happen when you're fielding. You can't score any runs on defense. So either it will be the same, or they'll eff up, but you won't have to see it."

Quite a character, my dad.

[nonamePHame]

gulp. Today is the day the Werth jersey may be retired :/

[craig_one]

LETS GO PHILLIES OBVIOUSLY

[joe l]

Pitch #2 was a strike last night.

[Matt]

Shane doing his thing.

[nonamePHame]

and that is the way you start it, victo.

[phlipper]

First Fox screw-up of the night came before the first pitch - their graphic listed Doc's last performance as a no-hitter. Wish that it were true.

[Heather]

My husband just told me that it really doesn't matter who wins the NLCS, the real World Series is being played now between the Rangers and the Yankees, and whoever wins the ALCS will beat up on either the Phils or the Giants.

I think he was actually trying to cheer me up. I'm not sure though.

[NEPP]

Going down softly so far...

[phlipper]

Why does Linecum's fastball appear faster than it is as measured by the gun?

[NEPP]

I'd almost rather see Valdez than Utley...

[phlipper]

How was that a strike?

[NEPP]

Utley sucks right now.

[johnnysanz3]

popup and weak grounder already..should i finish watching tonight?

[Matt]

Halladay has his work cut out for him.

[nonamePHame]

ha ha ha. Chase Utley you aint the man no more.

[phlipper]

Hmmm. Groundball to second. Why do I have the feeling I've seen that before?

[Heather]

Our mighty offense is just lulling the Giants into a false sense of security. Dropping 3 of the first 4 wasn't enough.

Don't worry though...when we're down 4 in the middle of the 5th...it's then that the Phillies will pounce, like a tiger!

Yeah right.

[joe l]

phlipper - in their defense, I think Buck did preface that graphic with, "this is what we showed you before game one."

[The Truth Injection]

Utley was fooled on the change-up there.

[EastFallowfield]

Joe Buck says Utley had a good World Series last year, then adds 'power-wise', as if it was a bad thing to hit with power.

[NEPP]

A very weak groundball to 2B. That's approximately the 2,345,034th time he's done that this post-season.

What the hell is wrong with Utley?

[phlipper]

OK - I missed that joe..

[nonamePHame]

i would rather see anyone rather than utley right now...he is an automatic out

[kuvasz]

Yet to a strike swung at.

[NEPP]

That was a strike last night.

[timr]

I know Lincecum is tough, but Shane and Utley just had the same at-bat they've both had for the entire series. Nothing changed in their approaches, and nothing changed in their results. Where's the fire, boys?

My prediction: first team to score will win this one.

[phlipper]

It's amazing given the stats of how evenly the teams have hit so far in the series that I have a dread when the Giants are batting and no confidence whatsoever when the Phils are batting?

[NEPP]

That was also a strike last night.

[Heather]

"i would rather see anyone rather than utley right now...he is an automatic out"

I know. I would settle for the last years of Ricky Henderson where he would just foul a bunch of crap off and take a walk.

But no....

[GTown_Dave]

Well, that was an inspiring Top of the 1st.

[NEPP]

I'd rather have the current day Rickey Hendereson's bat than Utley right now.

[phlipper]

Oh boy, another wacky ump - calling balls strikes and strikes balls.

[nonamePHame]

that is a good start, roy.

[NEPP]

This is starting well.

I'm guessing that we wont have to bother about staying up to watch the way things are starting out.

[phlipper]

Double play here.

[Heather]

"Well, that was an inspiring Top of the 1st."

Don't worry, though. According to Victorino, they are right where they want to be.

Right now, that's looking like having a tee time on Saturday.

[Jim]

Well, not to add to the "omg Chase is doing badly he must be hurt" thing, but crashburn alley just did a nice article examining his swing since he came back from his thumb injury:

http://crashburnalley.com/2010/10/21/chase-utleys-power-outage/

Says that apparently he's not getting good contact on inside pitches anymore--which could possibly be a lingering result of the thumb injury.

[NEPP]

Et tu, Doc?

[Heather]

WTF. Maybe Roy needs to channel Cliff Lee.

[johnnysanz3]

Wow This game may be over after the first inning

[The Truth Injection]

Turn out the lights- the party's over.

[phlipper]

Unbelievable. This can't be happening.

[timr]

So much for the perfect game, and the no hitter. Lets get the shutout out of the way too before we get the first out of the game.

[GBrettfan]

This seems familiar. And not in a good way.

[GBrettfan]

Can he start throwing strikes yet?

[LarryinLA]

This is the most depressing, absurd display of fandom I've ever seen.

This is Game 5 of NLCS. Seriously!

[johnnysanz3]

WTF seriously, I guess you have to throw it down the middle for a strike

[GTown_Dave]

Perhaps putting so much on a guy who has an utterly dismal record vs. the Giants wasn't such a great idea.

[Heather]

Roy Halladay showing us he is not a big game pitcher.

:-(

Oh well it's over quick.

[NEPP]

Cliff Lee is a better post-season pitcher than Roy Halladay.

Discuss.

[timr]

Halladay getting squeezed, not that it matters.

[johnnysanz3]

shitty strike zone = phillies losing because they won't take pitches, they will just hack

[nonamePHame]

wow...ryan that was a heck of a play

[Heather]

If it's not a strike unless it's right down the middle, at least our guys won't have a problem waiting on their pitches and taking walks.

Ya right.

[johnnysanz3]

Great play by Howard, hopefully that wakes you up Halladay

[Matt]

Lol, not a big game pitcher. Seriously, stfu Heather.

[phlipper]

Ok, so now's the double-play. I was off by one batter.

[The Truth Injection]

NEPP: No- let's not discuss. Let's stick to the game at hand.

Nice defense by Howard there

The ump needs to give Halladay that outside corner to lefties.

[NEPP]

Chase Utley...YOU ARE A POS!

[johnnysanz3]

UTLEY GOAT OF THE YEAR

[nonamePHame]

chase man.

[timr]

There's our guy!

Not sure if Uts would have been able to make that play anyway, but jesusfrickinchrist you gotta pick the ball up!

[johnnysanz3]

best 2b in the league? Unless he turns it around next year, I'm thinking top 10

[Heather]

"Cliff Lee is a better post-season pitcher than Roy Halladay.

Discuss."

At the present moment, there is nothing to discuss.

If Halladay gets through this game with 8 or 9 innings and 2 ERs or less, and the Phillies win...the discussion is back open.

[Matt]

I can't remember when Chase Utley has played so poorly.

[phlipper]

I have a feeling that Utley has some money on the outcome of this series; and it's not on the Phillies winning.

[Jordan]

utley was paid to intentionally lose

[seattlephan]

nice play chase - wtf

[The Truth Injection]

There is that whole execution thing. It's a tough play and it's something that has to happen quickly.

Normally Utley makes that play- tonight he didn't.

[johnnysanz3]

Cliff Lee would of struck out the side

[NEPP]

Utley has had the worst post-season I've ever seen out of a supposed "star" player.

He looks like Uggla out there at 2B and he's hitting like Steve Jeltz.

[kuvasz]

well that was some nasty crap. WTF IS UP WITH UTLEY!

[GTown_Dave]

Halladay can't going Walk, Single on the first two batters & expect to get out of the inning unscathed.

[The Truth Injection]

Who gives a flying fvck about Cliff Lee right now? Go find a Rangers blog if you want to discuss him tonight.

[timr]

Phillies absolutely have to respond here. Just have to. Can't let that lead hang there and loom larger and larger each inning.

[seattlephan]

utley is playing so poorly, it makes me think of eight men out

[Matt]

It was the aggressive baserunning by the Giants that got them that run. Phillies don't do that anymore. They get on first and turn into statues.

[ozark]

Polanco to 2nd, Valdez to 3rd, Utley to the crapper.

[Noah]

Even great players have horrible series. Mike Schmidt had one in 1983. Chase Utley is having one here.

I'm not sure if people are serious with the accusations of throwing a series but that's some pretty insidious and irresponsible stuff.

[nonamePHame]

chase comes up small this year....simple as that. I am going to enjoy this game regardless because when I grow old, I know that this is kind of glories last shot. We will always talk about 07-10

[NEPP]

Utley has never been this bad.

He's officially off the untouchable list. Never thought it would happen.