The Red Tornado wrote:

phorever wrote:
cent #2: i think happ should start in the place of moyer whenever that spot in the rotation comes up, whether it be in the nlcs, the ws, or next season. i really like moyer, and was (thankfully) very wrong in thinking he was going to fall apart before midseason. but he has now really, really reached the end of the road.

you're judging this on 2 games?!

Woody wrote:Can we be real here? There is less than a 1% chance that Happ gets to start a game in this series. And that's only if there is a severe illness or injury to one or more of our starters. Or if suddenly LOBLAW is made manager while Charlie grieves.

Bob Loblaw wrote:

JFLNYC wrote:Shirley: You jest. Happ gave up 4 hits and 2 walks in 3 IP, hasn't started a game since oil was $125 a barrel and has started 5 games in his career.

I am one of Happ's biggest supporters.

That being said, no freaking way do I want a rookie out there for game seven of the NLCS. Out of all the pitchers in the organization not named HAmels, Myers, or Blanton, I'd rather have Kendrick.

(My choices are limited -- Happ, Moyer, Eaton, and . . . uh. . . Swindle)

Phillies at Dodgers

Series: NLCS, Game 4; Phillies lead 2-1
Time: 8:22 p.m. EST
TV: FOX
Starters: Joe Blanton (1-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. Derek Lowe (1-1, 3.18 ERA)
The Dodgers needed to win last night, and they did. They need to win tonight just as much. L.A. simply can't allow Cole Hamels to take the mound for Wednesday's Game 5 with a chance to pitch his team into the World Series. Even with a Dodgers victory tonight a Hamels win on Wednesday would send the series back to Philadelphia with the Phillies having two chances to clinch at home. L.A. cannot afford to be in a worse position than that, and if they lose tonight they will be.
With an extra off-day between tonight's Game 4 and Wednesday's Game 5, Joe Torre has decided to bring back Game 1 starter Lowe on three days' rest to avoid having to use a fourth starter, a move that was surely his intention all along as potential fourth starters Greg Maddux and rookie left-hander Clayton Kershaw pitched in relief in Games 1 and 2, respectively. With the extra day of rest tomorrow, Chad Billingsley and Hiroki Kuroda, as well as Lowe in a potential Game 7 on Saturday, will be on regular rest in their subsequent turns.
Lowe has pitched well in his two postseason starts this year, but after five shutout innings in Game 1 of this series he was bounced by a pair of home runs in the sixth. After allowing just one home run over his last 64 regular-season innings, Lowe has allowed three taters in 11 1/3 postseason innings. Of greater concern for Dodgers fans is the fact that in his only other start on short rest this season, on May 18, Lowe was torched by the Angels for seven runs on 10 hits in five innings. Last year Lowe's season came unraveled when he tweaked his groin in a one-inning relief appearance made on a between-start throw day in late July. Following that relief appearance Lowe lasted just four innings in his subsequent start, which was technically on two-days' rest, missed a turn, then went 4-5 with a 4.94 ERA and 11 home runs allowed over his final 10 starts of the season. Coming into that relief outing he had a 3.51 ERA and had allowed eight home runs in 21 starts.
Given that history Lowe seems like the wrong starter to take a chance on with short rest, and not just because there's no factual basis for the old baseball belief that sinkerballers pitch better when tired. On the flip side, Lowe's only postseason start on three days' rest came for the Red Sox in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS against Joe Torre's Yankees. Lowe allowed just two baserunners in six innings in that game, but that was four years ago, when he was 31 years old, and there were extenuating circumstances. Not only did the Red Sox's offense put the game away early, but the Yankees were in shock as the Sox were in the process of becoming the first team in major league history to come back from an 0-3 deficit in a League Championship Series.
Blanton, meanwhile, was excellent in his clinching Game 4 NLDS start in Milwaukee, holding the Brewers to one run on five hits while striking out seven and walking none in six innings, but one wonders how much of that was a fluke. Blanton has had a hard time on the road this year, posting a 5.37 ERA, and is otherwise a very ordinary pitcher with a pedestrian strikeout rate. Ordinary will be good enough if Lowe suffers from working on short rest, but if Lowe stays sharp the Dodgers could pull this one out, particularly given their improved offensive performance at home. In his only other career start in Dodger Stadium, Blanton allowed four runs on nine hits (two of them home runs by Andre Ethier and, of course, Manny Ramirez) and three walks in just five innings. Both that start and a more successful turn against the Dodgers in Philadelphia (6 IP, 1 R) came this August.
As you might expect, Ramirez owns Blanton, boasting a career .560/.600/.720 line against him in 30 confrontations, though with just that one home run. Conversely, Blanton owns Dodgers third baseman Casey Blake, who is 1-for-21 with seven strikeouts against the big righty. Torre started Nomar Garciaparra at first base against lefty Jamie Moyer last night. With Garciaparra having gone 2-for-3 last night and 3-for-9 with a homer in his career against Blanton, Torre should consider keeping Nomar in the lineup, but moving him across the diamond in place of Blake, for tonight's game.

Wizlah wrote:Won't be watching with y'all tonight as I can't take another day off sick and I need to be back in work bright eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow. Prolly watch the last hour over breakfast in t'morning. with any luck I'll be back watching us win game five in LA.

God speed, good cheering and great cupcakes.

VFB wrote:pierre, we're doomed

VFB wrote:pierre, we're doomed

. I know a handful of people going to the game that aren't Phillies or Dodgers fans.

The ones that do show up though are vicious. I heard no end of threats yesterday -- and they were literally booing and throwing popcorn and trash at a Dad and his two kids under ten while they walked to a concesion stand. When the scuffle was about to occur...I shrugged my shoulders and said...well -- if they're fighting -- we're fighting.
I know Philly isn't exactly friendly confines...but Dodgers fans did shoot a Giants fan in the parking lot two years ago.
And...even though we're not really rivals and I have no problem going to random Dodgers games for the love of the game...they couldn't stop chanting Philly sucks last night. They booed louder for our players than they cheered for their own. Even during the last out of the game -- it was PHILLY SUCKS - PHILLY SUCKS! How does that make they're players feel? Uh...do you like us or do you just hate them?

Warszawa wrote:Are there any possible advantages to pushing Hamels and Myers back to a game 6 and 7 at CBP?