TenuredVulture wrote:Is that really Andre champagne?

Warszawa wrote:"Let's go Phillies" chants at the Eagles game reports Rendell

ek wrote:

LongDrive wrote:

ek wrote:

For some reason I don't think winning this round is worthy of a champagne celebration.

LongDrive wrote:For some reason I don't think winning this round is worthy of a champagne celebration.

cshort wrote:

Barry Jive wrote:If Hamels goes 1, 4, 7 he only pitches on three days rest once (Game 4) and would have full rest for Game 7. And he'd likely only be able to pitch two games in the World Series anyway unless he goes three days rest twice in the series. So would it be much of a strain to have him pitch one extra start this season?

If he pitches 1 and 5 in the NLCS, he'd be ready to go Game 1 in the WS, and could go three games if he had to. If the NLCS goes 7, which I doubt, they'll keep Moyer on a short leash, and plug Blanton in if they need to. They might even go to Blanton directly in a game 7 if he's pitching better than Moyer after their first games in the NLCS.

1 wrote:

Before Burrell went onto the field, he taped a miniature cardboard cutout of his English bulldog, Elvis, outside the door leading to the field. He gave faux Elvis a high five twice before he left the building.

They've known each other since high school, these two native Northern Californians, since they played together in a California high school draft showcase called the Area Code Games. And they've been big league teammates through more than 1,300 eventful baseball games.

So Rollins and Burrell know how to push each other's buttons when it matters most. And this was one of those times. After a Game 3 loss Saturday. With a potential Game 5 start by CC Sabathia lurking. This was a day to get it done. So suffice it to say the button-pushing was in full throttle.



"He was giving me some lip [Saturday], about not getting [Ryan] Howard over," Burrell confessed Sunday afternoon. "[Howard] was on second with no outs, and he's right. I didn't get him over. So I said, 'Hey, why don't YOU do something.'"

So of course, Rollins did. Almost willed himself to do it, in fact.

The shortstop had found himself thinking before this game, he said, that "You know what? It had been a long time since I hit a leadoff home run. So I looked up at that blue sky and said, 'God, this would be a great time for it.'"

Bingo. On the sixth pitch of Game 4, Brewers starter Jeff Suppan served up a full-count meatball. Rollins lofted it into the right-field lower deck. And as he circled the bases, Burrell laughed to himself and said, "OK, now it's on me."

Only a couple of hours earlier, in the early-morning dead time before a noon game, these two had had another conversation that turned out to be just as prescient.

"I walked in [to the clubhouse]," Rollins said. "And he said, 'They've been pitching around the big guy [Howard] and Chase [Utley].' And he said, 'I'm going to get 'em today.' He said, 'I feel good. My back's all right. I worked some things out in the cage.' ½ He said it. I heard it. And I was paying attention."